Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Mankind was created a lovely creature – a very good work of God’s Hands. Yet, he ultimately cast himself into a miserable and sinful state by his own poor choices – and we continue to do likewise. Every person born has been given the freedom of choice – we are not robots. We have been given free will and God does not force our obedience. It is a choice – our choice – and one of which we are all held personally accountable for. We cannot choose for others, nor can they choose for us. Further, there is nothing truly good or acceptable to God in our fleshly nature – in and of ourselves - we all fall short of His glory and His goodness. Since the fall of mankind, corruption is ingrained in the heart of man – it is in his very nature. Our understanding became darkened and confused and our affections disordered and corrupted. That is man’s fallen state – a blind mind, disordered affections and a perverted will. We are all this way apart from Christ. Paul tells us in Romans 3:10B-12: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
In all this we see our hopelessness and our need and necessity for regeneration – a total change of that crashing nature of ours that gets us nowhere fast. The cure must permeate our beings – not just one part but all parts – new mind, new heart, new affections. We need the living water that fills us to the fullness of God. We all need Jesus. His perfect blood shed for us covers all our iniquities. Believers are now clothed in Christ’s righteousness. When God looks at a believer in Jesus He sees a perfect life. Further, when we receive Jesus through faith, He gives us the indwelling power of the Hoy Spirit equipping us to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel. No longer do we have to wallow in the pigpen, making one poor choice after another. As we depend upon Him instead of ourselves or the frail hand of man we are empowered to walk as Jesus did in all loveliness and goodness. This change only comes by the mighty power of God never from the hand of man or from something we muster up within us. Be wholly his and do not think lightly of sin. It is not your friend.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:22-23 (NIV)
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NIV)