Know Who You are in Christ-A New Creation

July 1, 2024

Know Who You are in Christ-A New Creation

In order for you to know who you are in Jesus Christ, you must first have an idea of His character.

Some passages of Scripture that give us a description of Jesus Christ are:

Holy: 1 Peter 1:15-16 “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Righteous: 1 John 3:7 “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”

Pure: 1 John 3:3 “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

Absolute love: Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

Forgiving: Colossians 3:13 “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

These are just a few of the character traits of Jesus Christ. The one quality that the Lord continuously displays for us over everything else is love. Due to the Love of Christ for each one of us He made the ultimate sacrifice giving His life for us so that we can have a chance of eternal life with Him.

One thing that we have to comprehend is the fact that Jesus was there even before the foundation of the World. 1 Peter 1:19-20 details, “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

Here we can see Peter giving us an account of Christ being there even before the World began. Jesus knew what that He would have to give up His life for us and still chose to do so. How did sin enter the world to begin with? When Adam and Eve fell into temptation by the devil and disobeyed the Lord. Due to the fall of man, there had to be a perfect sacrifice made in order to pay the sin debt for all of mankind. That perfect Sacrifice was Jesus Christ.

When Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, completed His atoning sacrificial work on the cross of Calvary He completely paid the sin debt for the whole world. This would include past sins, present sin, and future sin. Now when God looks at us, He doesn’t see our sin, He sees His Son Jesus and we are treated as if we never transgressed. The Lord’s amazing mercy and grace allows us to be declared righteous through the righteousness of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:21. He wipes our slate clean and it is just as if it never happened.

Some of the words that describe how the Lord feels about our sin after we have been justified through the blood of Christ are:

He removes them as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

He blots your sins out and remembers them no more (Isaiah 43:25).

He washes you sins that resemble scarlet and makes them whiter than snow (Isaiah 1:18).

Due to our Lord and Savior putting His life for ours on the Cross at Calvary we have the opportunity to be reconciled back to the Father, 2 Corinthians 5:18. This is a fact that we do not want to take lightly. Two important passages of Scripture that needs to be mentioned is Colossians 2:14-15 “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

When the Lord died for us not only did He wipe our sin debt clean but He also took the power that Satan and his demonic kingdom had over us. Jesus wiped away the spiritual legal documentation that had us bound by sin and nailed it to the cross. What this did was disarm the powers of darkness weakening the power that sin had over believers.

Satan, the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10) can no longer accuse us day and night as he used to as long as we remain in right standing with God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Sin can no longer have dominion over us, Romans 6:14. The most important thing to remember is in order for sin to have no dominion over you, you have to stay as far away from it as you possibly can!

A New Creation

The perfect passage of Scripture that sums up exactly what being a new creation means is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Paul details, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” When you invite the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart, you receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit to live inside you. His role is to be your Helper, leading you into all truth, John 16:13.

The fact of the matter is at the moment that you receive salvation you are declaring that you are now ready to turn away from your old ways, the old things that you used to do, and your past sins and live surrendered to Christ. Unfortunately we are all born with the sin nature already in us so we all will fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23.

That is why the Spirit of God plays such a significant role in the life of a believer because He gives us the power to overcome our flesh and sin nature. Changing from your old life into a new life living for Jesus Christ does not happen overnight, it is an ongoing process. That doesn’t negate the fact that it is your responsibility to know what it means to turn away from your old nature of sin and become a new person.

One way that you can gage if you are heading in the right direction is if you are not the same person today as you were a year ago. I know for me it was definitely a process and the Lord had to sift out all of the filth that was in my life before I became a Christian. I knew that I was living upright doing the right things as a believer when the things I used to do, I no longer wanted to.

My outward appearance was changing and I attempted daily to ensure that I had a clean heart that was pure and living for Him. When you see how good the Lord is and how much peace and joy you have with Him in your life, you will not want to go back to the former things that you used to do.

One passage that sums it up perfectly is found in Proverbs 26:11 as Solomon states, “As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” In other words, a person that wants to return back to their sin after they have already cleaned up their lives with the help of the Lord is like a dog that goes back to his own vomit. This is a very descriptive analogy of how vile living immorally actually is.

As a child of God you are now considered a new creature striving to live right in the Kingdom of God. The best way that you can achieve this goal is to have an entire renewal of your mind with God’s Word. Romans 12:2 explains, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Having the right mind shift can only be done by abiding by God’s Truth which is the Holy Bible. Your entire Bible is saturated with wisdom, knowledge, warfare tactics, and everything that you will ever need to succeed in living right for God. The problem is that a lot of Christians do not read their Bible for themselves.

God is very clear when He states, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” 2 Timothy 2:15. The key word in the verse of Scripture is “yourself” meaning that the Lord expects every single one of us to read and understand His Word for ourselves.

Going to a church service twice a week and thinking that is enough of God’s Word to get you by is only going to set you up for failure. The Lord calls the Word of God “daily bread” because He intended for us to read the Scriptures every single day. As you wash and renew your mind with the Word, the Holy Spirit will begin to bring Scriptures to your remembrance when you need them, John 14:26.

This plays such a vital role in you becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus. When I came to the Lord I was so demonically oppressed that I couldn’t even think straight. He taught me how to climb out of the hole that I was in with my double-edged Sword which is the Word of God. The first things that I had to change were the way that I talked and the way that I dressed.

Then I began to transform from the old me and my old ways little by little as the Lord dealt with me on the things that I needed to change. I could not get rid of my own sin on my own but I needed the power of the Spirit of God to help me overcome every lie, scheme, temptation, and trap that the devil was trying to ensnare me in.

One thing that you can never forget is that the enemy wants nothing more than to steal, kill, and destroy you by any means necessary, John 10:10. He is not going to want to let you go easily so it will be a battle to transform from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. One thing that I can guarantee is if you keep pressing forward, you will reap your reward and breakthrough if you don’t stop, Galatians 6:9.

Conclusion

Becoming a New Creation and living upright for the Lord Jesus Christ is going to take dedication and perseverance. The devil is going to tempt you and entice you in the hopes that you will fall back into your old ways and your old sin. You have to be willing to submit to God and His ways and resist the devil and his lies.

It can be done but you are going to need the help of the Holy Spirit and the power of God’s Word. When the devil attempted to get Jesus off track, He came back at the enemy with “it is written.” We are going to have to fight the same way, but you will not be able to combat the tactics of the adversary with a dull Sword (God’s Word) it will be very difficult. The more Scriptures you have in your heart and mind, the more weaponry you have to battle with!

Also, don’t forget to check out my other blogs:

Who is Jesus’ brother James?

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Fight Back

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Feed Your Spirit

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Renouncing

Breaking Spiritual Strongholds-Confess and Repent

Recognizing Spiritual Strongholds

What are Spiritual Strongholds?

The Spiritual Laws of God-Poverty Part 1

The Spiritual Laws of God-Poverty Part 2

The Spiritual Laws of God-Restoration

The Spiritual Laws of God-The General Principles