2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
When we were born-again from the Lordship of Jesus, then we're not only saved like the world and some in the Church teach, but we have become new creations. We're new creations in God's eyes, from the moment we received Jesus and we have no past. The adversary likes to remind us of who we used to be, but God says we are new creations, with no past or sin to condemn us.
In order to live free of the bondage of condemnation and guilt that satan tries to keep us under, we must renew our minds by God's Word and see who we are now in Christ Jesus. Our Heavenly Father sees us as righteous, judged not guilty and sanctified. He has brought us into His Own family, and made us clean and righteous. If we'll renew our minds by God's Word, then we'll see ourselves like the Father has now created us to be. We'll see ourselves through the eyes of the One Who was crucified in and with Jesus. The wages of sin are death, so we died with Jesus died on Calvary's cross, where He paid our debts. We are now new creation by and in His Resurrection into Glory.
Jesus said, "Whomsoever the Son sets free, is free indeed," speaking about how we're free from the past and now have Life with and in, the Father and His Kingdom. Few churches teach this, so we believe we're just "old sinners saved by Grace." We were sinners and our penalty was death, but Jesus died in our place and paid the debt we owed. We are judged in Him and found righteous because of Him. We're found to be not guilty, in the eyes of the One True Judge of Heaven.
Here in America, we have a Supreme Court which judges the cases of the people. When someone is accused or when a controversial law is passed, the Supreme Court might hear and overturn these cases. God is the Chief Justice of Heaven's Supreme Court. He ruled and overturned the ruling made against the old man/woman we once were. He has found us to be not guilty, because Jesus Paid the bill and we don't owe that bill any longer. The Son has made us free, so we should walk in the freedom from condemnation and guilt. God didn't overlook or forgive our sins, but He actually removed and completed the penalty for those sins, when He judged u8s in Christ Jesus Who fulfilled that Law, for all who would accept Jesus.
If we paid off the mortgage on our home, then the bank can no longer repossess it, even if someone paid off that mortgage. The debt is cancelled and we're debt free from that mortgage. This is a simple comparison, but it's essentially what happened to us through the new birth in Christ Jesus. Satan is the "father of lies" and would like us to believe that we still owe the debt, because we weren't the ones who "paid the debt." We must renew our minds and realize who we've become in Christ, so we can shut out the lies and accusations satan tries slinging against us.
God gave Paul the responsibility to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and it was much different than anyone had ever heard before. Those under the Law continued trying to make restitution for themselves, instead of allowing Jesus to pay their debt. Their sacrifices and rituals couldn't set the people free, because the blood of animals only covered their sins. Only a Man without sin could forever settle the debt for us. All had sin, so Jesus, Who was sinless, laid down His Life, in order to pay the debt and clear the penalty that a Just and Holy Judge required to be paid.
The man Adam brought sin and death to humanity, and it would take a Man without sin, to pay that penalty for sin. Through faith in the Finished Work of Jesus, our entire debt has been paid and we're no longer responsible to pay it. We only need to receive this free Gift. When we don't walk under the old condemnation of the adversary, we can enter into fellowship with the Father and He will reveal the fullness of what we, as new creations, have inherited through Jesus. This is His Peace. It's not the world's peace, but is His Peace which passes all understanding. It's difficult to have God's Peace and actually stand in His Presence, when we haven't renewed our minds by faith in the Salvation that Jesus brought and paid for, on our behalf.
Paul writes about our going "from faith to faith," in Rom.1:17, which is a growing Revelation of the Finished Work of Jesus. Jesus has done everything needed to be done on our behalf. We haven't seen it all, but we're growing into it. It's a continuing Revelation, which won't be totally clear to us, until we get Home. We can though, see it more clear if we dare to believe what God says, instead of satan's lies.
All that we've received through Jesus, isn't only for when we get to Heaven, but is now ours, in this world. Putting these off for only when we die and go to Heaven, is a religious way of saying that we're only "sinners that God can't fix, while we're living in these flesh and blood bodies." In Matt.19:26, Jesus tells us that, "With God, all things are possible and all things are possible to those who believe." The limits we put on this are based on renewing our minds and believing what God has said and done for us, in Christ Jesus.
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