Knowledge is Power part 3
Today I want to talk about the concept of putting off the old man, and putting on the new. But, specifically, I want to talk about the truth that we HAVE put off the old man and we HAVE put on the new. Because, see, the finished work of the cross is... well... finished. It's a done deal. And when Jesus died (both for you and as you) and then rose again (both for you and as you) it was all about what HE did. Its true that we got the benefits of it. Its true that we get to enjoy the fruit of Jesus' labor. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. But this is not a fruit WE have to produce. The putting off and putting on is not a work or a labor that we need to do. Look at Galatians 2:20 in the NLT, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." This is what happened on the cross. On the cross... we died. And then three days later... we rose again. To walk in newness of life. The key is trusting in the Son of God. Because just as I am living in Him, He is living in me. When we know and believe Jesus is living in us, that's when we have the power to experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love! That's when we have to the power TO love, because we know that we ARE loved. Because we know that we are LOVE. So this idea of putting off and putting on is really a mindset. Its the renewing of our mind through the knowledge of Christ. Look at Romans 6:11, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." See, we don't need to die to sin. We already did that. We were dead IN our trespasses and sins, and then--on the cross--we received the second death. The death OF death. And then we received the new birth. The old (man) passed away and the new (man) came forth. We don't need that to happen. That already happened. What we need to do is RECKON ourselves. We need to know the truth, so that it can set us free and make us free. We need to stop dragging around the corpse of the old, dead, man. We need to lay aside the sin (unbelief) that so easily besets us. We need to let the mind of Christ (that's already in us) BE in us. We need to USE the mind of Christ to think differently. To see things the way God sees them: through the eyes of grace. We need to see each other--and ourselves--the way God sees us: as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. If we see ourselves as a sinner (even as a sinner saved by grace) we will always, at the end of the day, act like a sinner. Because what we DO flows from what we BELIEVE. If we believe the lie that God is mad at us, we will always run FROM Him instead of running TO Him. But when we know the truth--that God is not mad AT us, but mad ABOUT us--then we can come boldly to the throne of grace to find grace to help in times of need. We can go straight to the source. And the source of love is God. Because God is love. The source of love is the heart. OUR hearts. GOD'S heart beating with love in our chests! So to put off the old and put on the new is really to know the truth that the old HAS been put off, and the new HAS been put on! We are new creatures in Christ. Behold, all things are become new!