WBS.198
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
WHO AM I?
– II
The New
Man
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Messiah, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
When a person believes that Yahushua died for
them, that he was sacrificed in their place; and they believe that he rose from
the dead; and they openly profess him to be their Master and Messiah, a creative
miracle occurs. They are “born again.” They become something brand new; something that
did not exist before their declaration of faith in Yahushua Messiah.
In John 3, Yahushua was discussing this
miracle with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews (a member of the Sanhedrin); but
Nicodemus could not understand what he was saying.
John 3:3 Yahushua answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of IAUE.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he
is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Yahushua answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of IAUE.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The key to understanding what Messiah meant is
found in verse 6. The flesh gives birth
to the flesh. This, Nicodemus understood. A woman carries a child in her womb and
delivers the child by giving it birth; but he could not comprehend “that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This is the simple mechanics of the new
birth, of being born AGAIN. We are born
the first time of the flesh; and we are born the second time of the Spirit.
This second birth is a prerequisite both for our seeing and for our entering the
kingdom of IAUE.
When a person is born again, he/she becomes “a new creature” in Messiah; and yet, after that creative
miracle takes place, they do not look any different. This is why I have chosen to title this
series, “Who Am I?” Who and what we
become in the new birth is not readily apparent to us or to others. It is something we must discover, something
we must learn; and having learned it, we must walk in the revelation of it.
Man is comprised of body, soul and
spirit. We have discussed this in great
detail in prior studies. When you want
to ascertain what your body looks like, especially your face and head, you look
into a mirror (what the Scriptures refer to as a “glass”). You can see in the mirror whether or not your
hair is in place, if you have blemishes, if you need to shave, if you need to
wash, etc. The moment you walk away from
the mirror, the last condition you saw reflected back to you is your best
understanding of what you now look like; but of course, a gust of wind can
change your hair. Hard work can make you perspire or get dirt or smudges on
your face. Working long hours or
straining at a computer screen can redden your eyes. All manner of activity can change your
appearance from what you remember in the mirror. Any time, however, that you want to know how
you look, you can just check it again and again in the mirror.
What about the soul? How do you know what your soul looks like, or
rather, what is its condition?
Introspection can instantly determine if you are angry, upset,
rebellious, spiteful, resentful; or if you are happy, peaceful, joyous, elated,
calm, serene, etc. Just as easy as it is
to know what your body looks like (you have a mirror to reveal it to you), it
is easy to tell what your soul’s condition is.
You need merely to assess your mind, will and emotions as to what they
are registering. You may be speaking
nicely to someone, but you know on the “inside” you really do not like the
person. You are always fairly conscious
of the state or condition of your soul. Its nature and condition are not
unknown to you. You can, however, “forget yourself,” and act or behave out of
character to that which are your true feelings or attitudes.
Now, what about the spirit? You can’t see yourself in the mirror. You can’t ascertain what your spirit is thinking
or feeling by introspection. Your spirit
seems inaccessible to you in every possible way. You know it’s there simply
because if it wasn’t, your body would be dead. (“The
body without the spirit is dead…” James 2:26) So, how do we see what is the nature and
condition of our spirit? Is there a
mirror that will show it to us?
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the
word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a
glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
There is a lot going on in this passage of
Scripture. Ultimately, the heart of it
is that we should be doing what we have revealed to us in the Word of IAUE (the
Scriptures). We see that instruction being contrasted with a natural man (the
physical body) looking at himself in a mirror.
He gets a reflection of his outward condition, and shortly afterwards,
he forgets what he saw. Why is this? It
is because the natural man cannot look into a mirror and know what he will look
like thirty minutes later. His outward appearance can change. The natural man looks into a mirror for a “spot
check.” He wants to know what he looks
like right now. He knows there is no
point in remembering what he looked like; because he knows it will not remain the
same throughout the day.
It is the spiritual man, not the natural man
that looks into the mirror of the “perfect law of
liberty.” Basically, James tells us that what the
spiritual man sees in that mirror (the revelation that he receives from the
Holy Spirit in the word of IAUE), if that man continues, keeps, obeys, does
what he sees, will remain with him even when he is no longer looking at it. The question is, “What does he see?”
2 Corinthians
3:17 Now IAUE is that Spirit: and
where the Spirit of IAUE is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as
in a glass the glory of IAUE, are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of IAUE
Paul was discussing the fact that under the
old covenant, Moses’ face shone with the glory of IAUE, such that he had to put
a vail over his face so the people beholding him could not tell when that glory
dissipated from his face; because it was temporary in the same way a natural
man looking into a mirror only gets a temporary fix on his appearance. The glory on Moses’ face did not last
long. It was recharged each time he went
into the tabernacle to meet with IAUE.
Paul says that the glory of the new covenant
is far more glorious than that of Moses; and that when we look into the “perfect
law of liberty” (the word of IAUE) it is like looking into a mirror. It shows
us what we look like in the spirit…and what we see is the glory of IAUE.
The new creature we become when we are born
again, the new spirit birthed within us, looks like IAUE; because our life is
hidden with Messiah Yahushua in IAUE. We
are what the word of IAUE says we are.
The only way to understand the answer to “Who am I?” is to look into the
word of IAUE to see what the Holy Spirit says we are. The Scriptures and the voice of the Holy
Spirit is the mirror that reflects to us the image of who we have become once
we are in Messiah.
The part in James 1 about doing or continuing
in the word of IAUE is critical. If the
Holy Spirit shows us that we are the righteousness of IAUE in Messiah Yahushua
(and it does), our soul must embrace that truth and walk in the light of
it. If the mind rejects that image as
unreal or not true, then we cannot continue in that and our lives will not be
changed into the glory that revelation provides.
We are going to see that our new man is
exactly like Yahushua. We look like him
and whatever he has, we have. Whatever
the mirror of the word of IAUE reflects to us that we are and we have…we are
and we have. It may take some time for
us to realize the significance of this truth; but once we do, it will transform
our lives.
Ephesians 4:24 …put on the new
man, which after IAUE is created in righteousness and true holiness.
The apostle tells us to “put on the new man,”
and states that the new man has been “created in righteousness and true
holiness.” Most believers do not think
of themselves as righteous or holy because they are using the wrong mirror. They are using the mirror of introspection to
spot their unrighteous thoughts and bad attitudes; or they are using a natural
mirror to see their blemishes and disobedient behavior.
If your spouse or your parents were to tell
you to go back to your room and change into your “new man” clothes; you would
go to your closet and look with total confusion as to what your “new man”
clothes were. How do you “put on” the
new man? What does that mean? Does that even make sense?
Colossians 3:9 Lie
not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Paul gives us some idea about how to put on
the new man in his message to the Colossians. First, before you can put on the
new man, you must put off the old man.
You do that by terminating the works of the flesh… cease doing the deeds
of the old man. You see, it is all about what we do…just like James said. We must do the word, we must continue in the
word, to put on the new main. The tree is known by its fruit. What we do is a
manifestation of who we believe we are.
The new man is put on and is “renewed” (lit., is enabled to grow up) through the
knowledge of the one who created us. We grow
up “after the image of him that created”
us. That is what the mirror tells us our
spirit looks like. We look like our Father. This is who we are; and what we are;
and to the degree that we see it in the mirror of the perfect law of liberty,
it will be manifested in what we do. Our
job is to increase in the knowledge of the one who created us and to look at ourselves
in this mirror until our soulish man “gets it.”
When it does, we will be transformed by the renewing of the mind.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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