Excerpted from The Divine ConqestFor our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. (1Ths. 1:5) If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Revelation 3:1) To one who is a student merely, these verses might be interesting, but to a serious man intent upon gaining eternal life they might well prove more than a little disturbing. For they evidently teach that the message of the gospel may be received in either of two ways: in word only, without power, or in word with power. Yet it is the same message whether it comes in word or in power. And these verses teach also that when the message is received in power it effects a change so radical as to be called a new creation. But the message may be received without power, and apparently some have so received it, for they have a name to live, and are dead. All this is present in these texts.By observing the ways of men at play I have been able to understand better the ways of men at prayer. Most men, indeed, play at religion as they play at games, religion itself being of all games the one most universally played. The various sports have their rules and their balls and their players; the game excites interest, gives pleasure, and consumes time, and when it is over, the competing teams laugh and leave the field. It is common to see a player leave one team and join another and a few days later play against his old mates with as great zest as he formerly displayed when playing for them. The whole thing is arbitrary. It consists in solving artificial problems and attacking difficulties that have been deliberately created for the sake of the game. It has no moral roots and is not supposed to have. No one is the better for his self- imposed toil. It is all but a pleasant activity that changes nothing and settles nothing at last.If the conditions we describe were confined to the ballpark, we might pass it over without further thought, but what are we to say when this same spirit enters the sanctuary and decides the attitude of men toward God and religion" For the Church has also its fields and its rules and its equipment for playing the game of pious words. It has its devotees, both laymen and professionals, who support the game with their money and encourage it with their presence, but who are no different in life or character from many who take in religion no interest at all.As an athlete uses a ball, so do many of us use words: words spoken and words sung, words written and words uttered in prayer. We throw them swiftly across the field; we learn to handle them with dexterity and grace; we build reputations upon our word skill and gain as our reward the applause of those who have enjoyed the game. But the emptiness of it is apparent from the fact that after the pleasant religious game no one is basically any different from what he had been before. The basis of life remains unchanged; the same old principles govern, the same old Adam rules.I have not said that religion without power makes no changes in a man's life, only that it makes no fundamental difference. Water may change from liquid to vapor, from vapor to snow, and back to liquid again, and still be fundamentally the same. So powerless religion may put a man through many surface changes and leave him exactly what he was before. Right there is where the snare lies. The changes are in form only; they are not in kind. Behind the activities of the nonreligious man and the man who has received the gospel without power lie the very same motives. An unblessed ego lies at the bottom of both lives, the difference being that the religious man has learned better to disguise his vice. His sins are refined and less offensive than before he took up religion, but the man himself is not a better man in the sight of God. He may indeed be a worse one, for always God hates artificiality and pretense. Selfishness still throbs like an engine at the center of the man's life. True he may learn to "redirect" his selfish impulses, but his woe is that self still lives unrebuked and even unsuspected deep within his heart. He is a victim of religion without power.The man who has received the Word without power has trimmed his hedge, but it is a thorn hedge still and can never bring forth the fruits of the new life. Men do not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles. Yet such a man may be a leader in the church, and his influence and his vote may go far to determine what religion shall be in his generation.The truth received in power shifts the basis of life from Adam to Christ, and a new set of motives goes to work within the soul. A new and different Spirit enters the personality and makes the believing man new in every department of his being. His interests shift from things external to things internal, from things on earth to things in heaven. He loses faith in the soundness of external values, he sees clearly the deceptiveness of outward appearances, and his love for and confidence in the unseen and eternal world become stronger as his experience widens.With the ideas here expressed most Christians will agree, but the gulf between theory and practice is so great as to be terrifying. For the gospel is too often preached and accepted without power, and the radical shift that the truth demands is never made. There may be, it is true, a change of some kind; an intellectual and emotional bargain may be struck with the truth, but whatever happens is not enough, not deep enough, not radical enough. The "creature" is changed, but he is not "new." And right there is the tragedy of it. The gospel is concerned with a new life, with a birth upward onto a new level of being, and until it has effected such a rebirth it has not done a saving work within the soul.Wherever the Word comes without power its essential content is missed. For there is in divine truth an imperious note; there is about the gospel an urgency, a finality that will not be heard or felt except by the enabling of the Spirit. We must constantly keep in mind that the gospel is not good news only, but a judgment as well upon everyone that hears it. The message of the Cross is good news indeed for the penitent, but to those who "obey not the gospel" it carries an overtone of warning. The Spirit's ministry to the impenitent world is to tell of sin and righteousness and judgment. For sinners who want to cease being willful sinners and become obedient children of God, the gospel message is one of unqualified peace, but it is by its very nature also an arbiter of the future destinies of men.This secondary aspect is almost wholly overlooked in our day. The gift element in the gospel is held to be its exclusive content, and the shift element is accordingly ignored. Theological assent is all that is required to make Christians. This assent is called faith and is thought to be the only difference between the saved and the lost. Faith is thus conceived as a kind of religious magic, bringing to the Lord great delight and possessing mysterious power to open the Kingdom of heaven.I want to be fair to everyone and to find all the good I can in every man's religious beliefs, but the harmful effects of this faith-as-magic creed are greater than could be imagined by anyone who has not come face-to-face with them. Large assemblies today are being told fervently that the one essential qualification for heaven is to be an evil man, and the one sure bar to God's favor is to be a good one. The very word righteousness is spoken only in cold scorn, and the moral man is looked upon with pity. "A Christian," say these teachers, "is not morally better than a sinner; the only difference is that he has taken Jesus, and so he has a Savior." I trust it may not sound flippant to inquire, "A savior from what"" If not from sin and evil conduct and the old fallen life, then from what" And if the answer is, "From the consequences of past sins and from judgment to come," still we are not satisfied. Is justification from past offenses all that distinguishes a Christian from a sinner" Can a man become a believer in Christ and be no better than he was before" Does the gospel offer no more than a skillful Advocate to get guilty sinners off free at the Day of Judgment"I think the truth of the matter is not too deep nor too difficult to discover. Self-righteousness is an effective bar to God's favor because it throws the sinner back upon his own merits and shuts him out from the imputed righteousness of Christ. And to be a sinner confessed and consciously lost is necessary to the act of receiving salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. This we joyously admit and constantly assert, but here is the truth that has been overlooked in our day: A sinner cannot enter the Kingdom of God. The Bible passages that declare this are too many and too familiar to need repeating here, but the skeptical might look at Galatians 5:19-21 and Revelation 21:8. How then can any man be saved" The penitent sinner meets Christ, and after that saving encounter he is a sinner no more. The power of the gospel changes him, shifts the basis of his life from self to Christ, faces him about in a new direction, and makes him a new creation. The moral state of the penitent when he comes to Christ does not affect the result, for the work of Christ sweeps away both his good and his evil, and turns him into another man. The returning sinner is not saved by some judicial transaction apart from a corresponding moral change. Salvation must include a judicial change of status, but what is overlooked by most teachers is that it also includes an actual change in the life of the individual. And by this we mean more than a surface change; we mean a transformation as deep as the roots of his human life. If it does not go that deep, it does not go deep enough.If we had not first suffered a serious decline in our expectations, we should not have accepted this tame technical view of faith. The churches (even the gospel churches) are worldly in spirit, morally anemic, on the defensive, imitating instead of initiating, and in a wretched state generally because for two full generations they have been told that justification is no more than a not guilty verdict pronounced by the heavenly Father upon a sinner who can present the magic in faith with the wondrous "open sesame" engraved upon it. If it is not stated as bluntly as that, at least the message is so presented as to create such an impression. The whole business is the result of hearing the Word preached without power and receiving it in the same way.Now faith is indeed the open sesame to eternal blessedness. Without faith it is impossible to please God; neither can any man be saved apart from faith in the risen Savior. But the true quality of faith is almost universally missed, namely, its moral quality. It is more than mere confidence in the veracity of a statement made in Holy Writ. It is a highly moral thing and of a spiritual essence. It invariably effects radical transformation in the life of the one who exercises it. It shifts the inward gaze from self to God. It introduces its possessor into the life of heaven upon earth.It is not my desire to minimize the justifying effect of faith. No man who knows the depths of his own wickedness would dare to appear before the ineffable Presence with nothing to recommend him but his own character, nor would any Christian, wise after the discipline of failures and imperfections, want his acceptance with God to depend upon any degree of holiness to which he might have attained through the operations of inward grace. All who know their own hearts and the provisions of the gospel will join in the prayer of the man of God:When He shall come with trumpet sound,O may I then in Him be found;Dressed in His righteousness alone,Faultless to stand before the throne. It is a distressing thing that a truth so beautiful should have been so perverted. But perversion is the price we pay for failure to emphasize the moral content of truth; it is the curse that follows rational orthodoxy when it has quenched or rejected the Spirit of Truth.In asserting that faith in the gospel effects a change of life motive from self to God, I am but stating the sober facts. Every man with moral intelligence must be aware of the curse that afflicts him inwardly; he must be conscious of the thing we call ego, by the Bible called flesh or self, but by whatever name called, a cruel master and a deadly foe. Pharaoh never ruled Israel as tyrannically as this hidden enemy rules the sons and daughters of men. The words of God to Moses concerning Israel in bondage may well describe us all: "I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering." And when, as the Nicene Creed so tenderly states, our Lord Jesus Christ, "for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and the third day He arose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father," what was it all for" That He might pronounce us technically free and leave us in our bondage" Never. Did not God say to Moses, "I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey"" For sin's human captives God never intends anything less than full deliverance. The Christian message rightly understood means this: The God, who by the word of the gospel proclaims men free, by the power of the gospel actually makes them free. To accept less than this is to know the gospel in word only, without its power.They to whom the Word comes in power know this deliverance, this inward migration of the soul from slavery to freedom, this release from moral bondage. They know in experience a radical shift in position, a real crossing over, and they stand consciously on another soil under another sky and breath another air. Their life motives are changed and their inward drives made new.What are these old drives that once forced obedience at the end of a lash" What but little taskmasters, servants of the great taskmaster Self, who stand before him and do his will" To name them all would require a book in itself, but we would point out one as a type of sample of the rest. It is the desire for social approval. This is not bad in itself and might be perfectly innocent if we were living in a sinless world, but since the race of men has fallen off from God and joined itself to His foes, to be a friend of the world is to be a collaborator with evil and an enemy of God. Still the desire to please men is back of all social acts from the highest civilizations to the lowest levels upon which human life is found. No one can escape it. The outlaw who flouts the rules of society and the philosopher who rises in thought above its common ways may seem to have escaped from the snare, but they have in reality merely narrowed the circle of those they desire to please. The outlaw has his pals before whom he seeks to shine; the philosopher his little coterie of superior thinkers whose approval is necessary to his happiness. For both, the motive root remains uncut. Each draws his peace from the thought that he enjoys the esteem of his fellows, though each will interpret the whole business in his own way.Every man looks to his fellowmen because he has no one else to whom he can look. David could say, "Whom have I in heaven but You" And earth has nothing I desire besides You," but the sons of this world have not God; they have only each other, and they walk holding to each other and looking to one another for assurance like frightened children. But their hope will fail them, for they are like a group of men, none of whom has learned to fly a plane, who suddenly find themselves aloft without a pilot, each looking to the other to bring them safely down. Their desperate but mistaken trust cannot save them from the crash which must certainly follow.With this desire to please men so deeply implanted within us, how can we uproot it and shift our life drive from pleasing men to pleasing God" Well, no one can do it alone; nor can he do it with the help of others, nor by education, nor by training, nor by any other method known under the sun. What is required is a reversal of nature (that it is a fallen nature does not make it any the less powerful), and this reversal must be a supernatural act. That act the Spirit performs through the power of the gospel when it is received in living faith. Then He displaces the old with the new. Then He invades the life as sunlight invades a landscape and drives out the old motives as light drives away darkness from the sky.The way it works in experience is something like this: The believing man is overwhelmed suddenly by a powerful feeling that only God matters; soon this works itself out into his mental life and conditions all his judgments and all his values. Now he finds himself free from slavery to man's opinions. A mighty desire to please only God lays hold of him. Soon he learns to love above all else the assurance that he is well pleasing to the Father in heaven.It is this complete switch in their pleasure source that has made believing men invincible. So could saints and martyrs stand alone, deserted by every earthly friend, and die for Christ under the universal displeasure of mankind. When, to intimidate him, Athanasius' judges warned him that the whole world was against him, he dared to reply, "Then is Athanasius against the world!" That cry has come down the years and today may remind us that the gospel has power to deliver men from the tyranny of social approval and make them free to do the will of God.I have singled out this one enemy for consideration, but it is only one, and there are many others. They seem to stand by themselves and have existence apart from each other, but it is only seeming. Actually they are but branches of the same poison vine, growing from the same evil root, and they die together when the root dies. That root is self, and the Cross is its only effective destroyer.The message of the gospel, then, is the message of a new creation in the midst of an old, the message of the invasion of our human nature by the eternal life of God and the displacing of the old by the new. The new life seizes upon the believing man's nature and sets about its benign conquest, a conquest that is not complete until the invading life has taken full possession and a new creation has emerged. And this is an act of God without human aid, for it is a moral miracle and a spiritual resurrection.

A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

In Word, Or In Power

For Reading and Meditation:      2 Corinthians 5:11-21Now that we have looked at the aspects of our faith which make it unique among all world religions, we must face some other important issues before finally drawing to a close. Being Christians does not mean we therefore have to believe that all other religions are completely wrong. As C. S. Lewis pointed out: "If you are an atheist you have to believe that the main point in all religions is simply one huge mistake. But if you are a Christian you are free to think that all religions, even the queerest of them, contain at least some hint of truth. Being a Christian, however, does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in arithmetic there is only one right answer to a sum and all other answers are wrong. But some wrong answers are much nearer to being right than others." While never budging from what we believe, we must show a loving disposition toward those of other faiths. A group of adherents to the Muslim faith gathered outside a church in one of Britain's northern cities shouting: "Jesus, Yes; the Church, No." Their complaint was based on the fact that the minister and people of that particular church had pushed thousands of leaflets through local mailboxes stating: "Islam is a devilish religion; only the Christian religion is of God." We can be passionate in our faith without being discourteous to people. We may disagree with what someone believes, but we must disagree agreeably. As one old preacher quaintly put it: "To win some we must be winsome."Father, I see from the text before me today that You want me to implore people to come to You, not intimidate them. Make me a firm but loving witness - one who can disagree without being disagreeable. In Christ's Name I ask it. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>1 Corinthians 9:19-27</li><li>Romans 10:1</li><li>Matthew 10:16</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What was Paul's approach to people?</li><li>What approach were the disciples to take?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." (v. 20)

For Reading and Meditation:      Romans 3:21-31Herbert Spencer, whom we quoted earlier, wrote: "The task of religion is at-one-ment: atonement. If it fails to do this it fails at the vital point." Its ritual may be beautiful, its sanctions may be ancient, its precepts may be good, but if it fails to bring men and women into correspondence with God it fails vitally and irretrievably. All else is useless, for if the problem of evil is ignored or passed over, we are like the person who dreams about and plans next year's happiness while an incurable disease is eating at his vitals. The wonderful distinctive of Christianity is this - Jesus Christ has done something about the problem of being out of correspondence with God. He puts the hand of a penitent sinner into the hand of a pardoning God. Because of the nature of the problem - the problem of evil - no other solution is possible. Salvation is a task which only God could engineer. As one theologian puts it: "It is a task worthy of God." The ancient Greek playwrights used to warn their students that when writing a tragedy they should not bring a god onto the stage unless there was an entanglement worthy of a god. The presence of evil in this world, I suggest, presents an entanglement worthy of God. But it is no mere stage affair. It is a tragic fact. To deliver men and women from evil was a problem that challenged God's power and made the deepest claim upon His love. The cross is the answer. If we don't take God's way of salvation, then nothing else will do. Father, I rejoice that You have brought me to Your way -t he only way. Help the millions who strive to earn their salvation see that the penalty for sin has been fully paid. And all they have to do is humbly receive. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>1 John 2:1-2</li><li>1 John 4:10</li><li>2 Corinthians 5:11-19</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is at the heart of atonement?</li><li>What did John assure the believers?</li></ul></div></div>

"God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." (v. 25) 

For Reading and Meditation:      John 8:31-47Jesus publicly made the challenge: " Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?" Here we are face to face with a kind of person who had not been seen since Adam in his pre-fallen condition - a man without sin. The disciples had shared every kind of experience with Him that mortals can share, had seen Him at all hours of day and night, had seen Him tired, hungry and disappointed, scorned, abused and hunted to death, had ridden with Him on a wave of popularity and hidden with Him from inquisitive miracle-mongers, yet they certainly could find no fault in Him. It is quite possible to know too much about some people. A gardener who was employed by a minister was asked why he did not come to hear him preach. Half in jest but half in earnest he replied: "I know too much about him." But none of the disciples ever said that concerning Jesus. They saw no flaw in Him. Moreover, not only were His intimates unable to discover sin in Him; He had no awareness of it in Himself. He lived intimately with God His Father, but the holiness of God did not rebuke Him. It didn't because it couldn't. He was sinless, spotless, perfect. If it be granted that Jesus was a good man, and if it be granted that a good man is ready always to tell the truth, are we not constrained by His own words to believe that He was something more than a good man? He is much much more than a good man; He is the God-Man. O Jesus, my Savior and my God, when I think of how You, the sinless One, took on Yourself my sins and bore them all away, I feel it must be too good to be true. But yet I know it is too good not to be true. Thank You, my Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>2 Corinthians 5:1-21</li><li>Isaiah 53:9</li><li>Hebrews 4:15</li><li>1 Peter 1:18-20</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did the centurion declare?</li><li>How did Peter describe Christ's sinlessness?</li></ul></div></div>

"Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?" (v. 46) 

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old 
has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)


The Word teaches us very
clearly that Christ has been taken right out of this old creation
and set at God's right hand in the heavenlies. On the other hand,
it shows us that His being there, and our being in spiritual
union with Him, means that for all spiritual purposes and
resources, we also are in the heavenlies in Christ.... Let us 
ask the Lord to give us a real, spiritual, quick, living apprehension of this 
great truth concerning our Lord Jesus, the great realm of the new creation into 
which we are brought, and let us apply it, practice it, put it into operation from day to
day. 

You may have to go into a place
where there is not much spiritual wealth on the outside, not much
upon which to feed. Remember you have Christ, the whole Land,
lying before you. You may have to go into scenes where there is
anything but rest, spiritual rest; where all is fret, care,
drive, strain. Remember that you are in the Land; you are in
Christ; you have Him as your Rest. You may have to go into the
conflict, into the battle, into the tremendous activities of the
enemy to overthrow you. Remember you are in Christ, Who is
Victory, complete, final victory. That remains true, whatever the
enemy may say about it. Christ is all that we need for
a life which is glorifying to Him. It is what Christ is, what we
have in the new creation.

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

The Essential Newness of the New Creation - Chapter 4

 Operation New Creation 

If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. But all things are of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17,18 ASV)

The all-inclusive rule of the
new creation is that "all things are of (out from)
God." Concerning this fact the Apostle Paul uses the word
"but" – "But all things are of God"
– as though he would anticipate, intercept, or arrest an impulse
to rush away and attempt life or service upon an old creation
basis, or with old creation resource. The great question then is: What
does it mean that all things in this new creation are out from
God? What kind of a life will such a life be? To answer that
question adequately would be a very comprehensive task and the
most revolutionary thing conceivable. 

To begin with, we should have to
be settled regarding the difference between the old and
the new creations, and then as to how far-reaching that
difference is. In addition, we should need to see that God has
put these two creations asunder, utterly and forever, and however
gracious and forbearing He may be with us in our ignorance and
slowness of apprehension, He never accepts the overlapping or
intertwining of the two. Then there would be the further need of
an inward, intelligent judgment and power by which we are made
aware of the Divine veto upon the one and energy toward the
other....

It is not what is done for God that will last, but what is
done by God. The measure of spiritual value is determined by the measure in
which God promotes it, not the measure of human activities
according to human judgments and energies in the name of God.

A New Creation

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? § I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. § He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. § If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. § As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us. § You are the body of Christ, and members individually. § Because I live, you will live also. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

As you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. § I beseech you … , brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. § In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them. § This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind. You have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: … put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.

 Walk in newness of life. 

Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. § If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. § Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump. § The new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name. Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. § Since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

Evening Daily Light

 Behold, I make all things new. 

The king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. § The temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house. § Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. § Who once were not a people but are now the people of God. You are God’s building. § Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. § Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

 We are His workmanship. 

<blockquote>
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (<a id="verse_1632879639114016" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Psalm/51/10">Ps. 51:10</a>).
</blockquote>A healthy spiritual birth results in the falling away of many of the more obvious works of the flesh, often causing the new believer to claim <a id="verse_1632879639292373" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Corinthians 5:17</a> or <a id="verse_1632879639321067" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Galatians 2:20</a> as his testimony. However, for the Lord Jesus to be fully manifested, it is going to involve a lifetime of the Holy Spirit's deep dealing with the more subtle and deadly characteristics of the self-life "always delivered unto death" (<a id="verse_1632879639563188" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/4/11">2 Cor. 4:11</a>)."By the daily supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ' (<a id="verse_1632879639468677" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/1/19">Phil. 1:19</a>), the believer united to his Risen Lord grows continually to a more perfect knowledge and likeness of his Creator,' and grows up after the image of Him that created him, in the sphere where Christ is all, and in all.' "The child naturally grows up in the likeness of his father, and the new life communicated to the redeemed grows up in the likeness of Him who is the Creator of the new creation if so be that the death with Christ is unflinchingly recognized, and old things' are truly allowed to pass away to make room for the growth of the new man, which is after God . . . created in righteousness, and holiness of truth' (<a id="verse_1632879639713908" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/4/24">Eph. 4:24</a>).""How many earnest and religious people belong to the Old Adam Improvement Society.' It is the recognition of the Christ-life, it is union with the Risen Christ, that men need instead of the culture of the religious self-life." -E.H."Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (<a id="verse_1632879639821401" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/4/13">Eph. 4:13</a>).

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Subtle Self 

<blockquote>
The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (<a id="verse_1632879976470015" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/7">Rom. 8:7</a>).
</blockquote>The Cross is the altar upon which God sacrificed His Son. It is upon this same Cross (take up your Cross "daily"), this same altar (the place of death), that I am to be consecrated to God as "a new creation" (<a id="verse_1632879976354073" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>). This eventuates in my intelligently yielding myself to Him as one who is "alive from the dead" (<a id="verse_1632879976989550" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/6/13">Rom. 6:13</a>)."God asks us to present our bodies as living sacrifices to Him (<a id="verse_1632879976151374" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/12/1">Rom. 12:1</a>). Until we have done this, there is nothing else we can do. But notice that this exhortation comes after Romans Six. There is a reason for this order - crucifixion comes before consecration. Uncrucified self refuses to be consecrated (to say nothing of God's refusing to accept it). That is why so many people with all sincerity walk down the aisles again and again, consecrating uncrucified self to God." -H.D."We must learn to know Him and to love Him. Then we will not have to struggle to move into consecration. The heart will lead into it. A lover never thinks about giving himself to a loved one. He cannot do otherwise. He loves to do it. Is there not here a key to consecration? Why do we not yield? Because we do not love. Why do we have to fight the battle and vow and groan and struggle? Because we do not know Him." -C.A.C."That I may know Him...and the fellowship of His sufferings" (<a id="verse_1632879976281115" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/3/10">Phil. 3:10</a>).

 The Cross, Then Consecration 

<blockquote>
Not I, but Christ" (<a id="verse_1632880664788144" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>).
</blockquote>It is not a matter of what fruit, but of which tree!"What salvation has done is not merely forgiving me my sins; forgiveness, cleansing, justifying, applies to my responsibility and guilty condition in the first Adam; but salvation applies to my standing in the Last Adam. It is a new creation (<a id="verse_1632880664442724" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>)."What would you do if you wanted to make something of a crab tree? Not nurture, and prune, and dig about it. That God has done with His fig tree (Israel). If you know anything about it, you will cut it down and graft it. Until you find out that the old man is utterly bad, and that there is no mending it, you will not give it up. If you cultivate the old crab tree you will have fair blossoms but only bigger and more sour crab apples." -J.N.D."Before we were saved, worldly objects and affairs usurped the place of Christ; but after being saved, spiritual objects and affairs now tend to occupy His place. Earlier God took from us the things of this world; presently He is taking away our spiritual thing or things. He removes our personal patience, love, power, gentleness, humility."Indeed, He removes all, that we may not live by these good things but live by a Person instead. We are patient not because we have received a power to be so, but because we have got a patient Person. So it is with humility and the rest: not a power but a Person." The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Christ."For to me to live is Christ" (<a id="verse_1632880664975153" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/1/27">Phil. 1:27</a>).

 The Tree Of Life 

<blockquote>"As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly" (<a id="verse_1632877486203443" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-Corinthians/15/48">1 Cor. 15:48</a>).</blockquote>Christians have a poor self-image simply because they are thinking and looking upon the condemned and crucified first-Adam life within, instead of being occupied with their glorified Last-Adam life above. "Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory" (<a id="verse_1632877486762576" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/3/18">2 Cor. 3:18</a>).If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new' (<a id="verse_1632877486626615" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>). Does this not mean a new sort of creature, as the Word implies? Do we go back to Adam, the innocent man in the garden in which God set him to dress and keep? No, that would be no creature new in kind. Adam even, pure and good before his fall, was yet of the earth, earthy."Is the Lord Jesus but the first man set up afresh? No, He is the second man, the Lord from heaven.' He is a heavenly man, the Last Adam - head of a new race; beginning of a new creation - and you and I who believe are in Him,' seen and accepted before the Father in His Beloved.' The full image of Him we have not yet: true. That will be ours in the day of His coming. The thing we are!" -F.W.G."A sinner in himself, the believer has, by faith, taken upon him the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in Him,' he has been made the righteousness of God in Him. He is accepted in the Beloved' (<a id="verse_1632877486602728" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/1/6">Eph. 1:6</a>). Faith alone gives him all this comeliness. He has been recreated in the Lord Jesus. This is the beauty of the believer; and he is lovely in the eye of the Lord Jesus. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him' (<a id="verse_1632877486842808" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Psalm/45/11">Ps. 45:11</a>)." -J.C.B."And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (<a id="verse_1632877486192233" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-Corinthians/15/49">1 Cor. 15:49</a>).

 The Last Is First 

<blockquote>
You really need some one to teach you over again the very rudiments of the truths of God. . . Such persons are mere babes" (<a id="verse_1632878031948669" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Hebrews/5/12">Heb. 5:12</a>; <a id="verse_1632878031205414567" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Hebrews/5/13">13</a>, Wey.).
</blockquote>When it comes to spiritual growth, sooner or later the thought arises, "Surely the work of the Cross produced more than this!" It surely did! Now you are on the march for the Father's very best as it is in Christ Jesus."Sonship represents growth into fullness and maturity. It is quite a good thing to be a babe while babyhood lasts, but it is a very bad thing to be a babe when that period is past. This is the condition of many Christians. While sonship is inherent in birth, in the New Testament sense sonship is growth to maturity. With this growth comes the greater fullness of the Lord Jesus and the abundant spiritual wealth unto which we were saved. It is a matter not so much of that from which we were saved, as of that unto which we were saved. The grand climax of the new creation is the revealing of the sons of God (<a id="verse_1632878031942264" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/19">Rom. 8:19</a>)." -T. A-S."It is one thing to drop off or renounce certain things, and quite another to be engrossed with the right thing. Monks renounce much, but they are not occupied with the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. It must be not only forgetting those things which are behind,' but also reaching out unto the things that are before. It is that which you give yourself to, not what you have abandoned, that colors you and which imparts character to you." -J.B.S."Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (<a id="verse_1632878031943409" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor 5:17</a>).

 Sonship 

<blockquote>
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"  (<a id="verse_1632878184681162" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>).
</blockquote>The old life is neither to be recycled nor reformed. We are all-new creations in the all-new Man, Christ Jesus."The illustration of a man drafted for the army, and finding a substitute to stand in his stead is not the Gospel. The Gospel is that you were under the judgment of death, and that the Lord Jesus has borne that judgment. It is not that you should keep the man who was under judgment, but that you should be completely severed from him in your death on the Cross." -J.B.S."We could not be saved by Him, and keep the life on account of which He died. Here there is great confusion among believers. If there were true apprehension of the work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross - that He so bore the judgment on man that all the man who had offended against God has been judicially removed to His infinite satisfaction, and that He who saved us from death is now our Life - there would be a wonderful testimony to the grace of God.""The Reformers failed because they did not see that as faith alone could save, and place man outside himself in the Lord Jesus, he must not return to that which through grace has been crucified. In not seeing this, the Reformers left the door open for the system and ritualism which have grown up since in the church; and hence the simple and only effectual way of dealing with either is, at the start, to refuse any place to the old man except crucifixion." -J.B.S."The Lord Jesus is the answer, but the Cross is needed to clear the way for Him.""For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (<a id="verse_1632878184632440" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/2">Rom. 8:2</a>).

 No Recycling! 

<blockquote>
I have been crucified with Christ" (<a id="verse_1632878360517890" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>).
</blockquote>The difference between stultifying carnality and growing spirituality is the believer's realization that he the sinner, as well as his sin, were taken down into death. Seeing one's identification in the Lord Jesus' death, burial, resurrection and ascension is the necessary foundation for spiritual growth to maturity."How often do we find believers plunged into the very depths of distress and darkness as to their spiritual condition and prospects! So many do not as yet see the application of the death of the Lord Jesus to their old man. They do not realize the glorious truth that in that death they were delivered from this present evil world, from the dominion of sin and the law, and from the power of the enemy."All believers see that the Blood of the Lord Jesus screens them from the judgment of God; but most do not as yet see that they are dead unto sin' in the Lord Jesus; that their old man was crucified with Christ'; that not only have their sins been put upon Him at the Cross, but they themselves, as sinful children of Adam, have been personally identified with Him in His death unto sin; that God pronounces them dead and risen with Him. But if this foundational truth is not apprehended by faith, there is no bright, happy, emancipating sense of full and everlasting salvation." -C.H.M."We are to hold by faith the position which the Father has given us in the risen Lord Jesus, and abide therein, occupied with the interests of our Father and not our own. Taking thought of ourselves is a divergence from the place of faith.""We enter the heavens in order to be qualified for earth; we do not begin on earth, to reach the heavens. Our simplest earthly responsibilities require us to be conversant with the things above.'""If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (<a id="verse_1632878360314064" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>).

 Peaceful Knowledge 

<blockquote>
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation" (<a id="verse_1632878400456842" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>).
</blockquote>All the "religions" of Christendom are mainly Judaistic, and the present-day Church is not far behind."The teachings of the kingdom (as illustrated in the Sermon on the Mount) have not yet been applied to any man. Since they anticipate the binding of Satan, a purified earth, the restoration of Israel, and the personal reign of the King, they cannot be applied until God's appointed time when these accompanying conditions on the earth have been brought to pass."The kingdom laws will be addressed to Israel and beyond them to all nations which will enter the kingdom. It will be the first and only universal reign of righteousness and peace in the history of the world. One nation was in view when the Law of Moses was in force on the earth; the individual is in view during this age of grace; and the whole social structure of mankind will be in view when the kingdom is established on earth."Christianity is totally opposed to Judaism, and any mixture of the two must result in the loss of all that is vital in the present plan of salvation. One made its appeal to the limited resources of the natural man and conditioned his life on the earth; the other sets aside the natural man, secures a whole new creation in Christ Jesus, and counsels that new being in his pilgrim journey to his heavenly home."The Jewish nation is the center of all things related to the earth. The Church is foreign to the earth and related to it only as a witnessing people. They are strangers and pilgrims, ambassadors whose citizenship is in heaven." -L.S.C."There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile). . . for ye are all one (new creation) in Christ Jesus" (<a id="verse_1632878400711619" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/3/28">Gal. 3:28</a>).

 Unique Identity 

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,<cr>1</cr> the new creation<cr>2</cr> has come:<ft>1</ft> The old has gone, the new is here!<cr>3</cr>

2 Corinthians 5:17

 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,   the new creation   has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,   the new creation   has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!  

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December 30, 2021

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

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