One of the most amazing things that the Apostle Paul taught is the New Creation.
When Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane to drink the Father’s cup, Isaiah’s words were being fulfilled.
Here is just a portion of Isaiah…the whole chapter is relevant.
Isa 53:4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
The only way for us to be healed was not to simply afflict Jesus with our afflictions…but God actually put us IN JESUS. You and I and all creation were put into Jesus Christ in Gethsemane when He chose to drink the Fathers cup.
Just as Satan entered into Judas immediately he ate the bread…and so the union of two persons – Judas and Lucifer – acted together in getting Jesus arrested. So also, when Jesus said “Not my will but thine be done” in the garden of Gethsemane He willingly drank you and me into Himself.
All your iniquities, all your guilt and shame, all your sicknesses and diseases, but more than that—the false self that you had imagined yourself to be….that too Jesus became.
Jesus became you and me and together we said Yes Father, not my will but Your will be done.
Together with and in Jesus we went to the cross. We died there with Jesus.
That old self that we were, that we had imagined we were….died in Christ on the Cross.
Eph 2:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, Eph 2:16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
The enmity was your old self. The self that was the lie of Satan. The self that thought of itself as separate and independent of God…the self that imagined it could obey God…the self that thought more highly of itself than it ought to….the self that imagined itself to be something when in actual fact it was NOTHING!!
That old man of sin died in and with Jesus on the Cross, putting to death the enmity between you and God.
You have been created anew in Christ Jesus.
When Jesus was raised up by the glory of the Father–you were raised up with Him and in Him.
Everything happens IN CHRIST. In fact, we all live and move, exist and have our being in Him.
In Christ Jesus you are complete.
And you are in Him…and He is in you.
You are a new self…a new creation.
You and Jesus are one person, yet you are still you.
Paul wrote it this way…
Gal 2:20
I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.
This is the wonderful Gospel of God….you are crucified NOW.
You do not need to die to yourself…that self died already in the ONE DEATH of Jesus when He took all mankind to the Cross with Him.
You are not to crucify yourself…but to believe it is done already.
Jesus Christ lives in you—actually living as you–with you.
You live by HIS faith…not by trying to have faith in Him…big difference!
You live by His life—not by trying to work up any kind of life.
You contain Jesus and you and He are fused together as one person, so that you are as He is –right now–right here –on this earth.
All this talk of working FOR GOD is nonsense. The old self thought that way.
No one works for God.
God works…we rest.
We think it is humble to say that we are working for God. The old self thought of itself as a separate entity that had in itself an ability to obey God. This is part of the original lie that Satan spoke into the garden.
You and I have no ability in and of ourselves.
Instead we are made to contain another person as our substance inside.
The inner man is the substance–the outer man is the appearance.
The new self is Christ Jesus in substance–joined with your human spirit as ONE person.
Person inside of person in a perfect union.
You in Jesus and Jesus in you.
The outer appearance of you is the outer appearance of Jesus!!
Yes ! With all the things that make you you….Jesus is your life–your heart-your desires–your self. You are still there,,,but not the old you for it died. The you that you are now–and what you must believe is true to enjoy it’s reality is –You are as He is.
The thinking of the Old Self still pervades everything in our life until we replace it by speaking what God says about us now.
God says we are a new creation in Jesus.
God says we have no other Life in us than the life of Jesus.
There is not an evil me and a good me….according to the Father there is now only a Jesus me!
Appearances say the opposite and the Accuser of the brethren tells us so. But we are to overcome him by the words of our mouth spoken in faith…the faith of Jesus.
It is a good thing to agree with God that your old man died and now you live only by the life of Jesus. To agree that when Jesus died you died. That when He rose up you rose up. That where Jesus is now you are now. That you are ONE with the Father JUST AS Jesus is one with Him.
It is Life and salvation to speak these things to God. It does not save you–Jesus does and He has. But by speaking in line with what is true and real according to God’s reckoning–you begin to enjoyu the reality of it..
God is your Father and He dearly wants you to enjoy what He has provided in Jesus.
The old self enjoys nothing from God. God does not help us become a better person. That phantom of a person died on the cross. The only person there is now is the Man Jesus Christ and all those who are hidden in Him.
Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
We frustrate the grace of God through unbelief. Most of what we think and say about ourselves is unbelief. Whenever we are trying to be a better person we show our unbelief.
There is no better person than Jesus Christ and He is your heart, your only life. If we see you we see Jesus…so how can you say “make me a better person Lord”?
Christian Religion is the denial of the new creation man. Religion is man’s effort in keeping the old show going. Keeping up appearances. Pretending to be obedient to God.
God put all that to death and gave us a new life in Jesus..and Jesus AS OUR NEW LIFE.
Phm 1:6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Christian religion tells us we have an evil heart that needs to die on the Cross…BUT IT HAS ALREADY BEEN CRUCIFIED. Instead the Truth says you are filled with all Goodness Himself.
You can beat yourself up if you want to…God won’t force you to accept Jesus as your new life.
Pride says, “I am a separate self trying to be obedient to God, with God’s help.” But the Truth says…
Gal 6:12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
Gal 6:13 For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
No one obeys God…no one!!
If you hear it on a Sunday that you better obey God…then you are hearing death and unbelief.
Not even those who are preachers keep the Law. The Only THING THAT AVAILS is a new creation. The ONLY thing that overcomes is a new creation. Trying to keep the Law fails. Trying to be good fails. Trying to not sin fails! But simply accepting by faith that you died, and are now raised up in Christ Jesus-a totally new creature in Him–fully pleasing to the Father –being one heart with Jesus is the thing that avails.
