Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new.
—2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 NKJV
Sitting in a Denny’s restaurant at 2 A.M. talking about masturbation is not what I consider “a good time.” Yet there I was across the table from my friend Larry, who had called to see if I was available to talk.
Drearily the waitress asked, “Would you like more coffee?”
I responded, “Yes, please,” fully aware that I had a long night ahead.
Larry began, “Well as I said before, I just can’t seem to stop looking at porn. I don’t know man, am I an addict?”
“Whoa!” I said, “Before you go labeling yourself and messing with your identity, how about we back up a little.”
He started again, “I just can’t stop watching the free porn on the Internet. Being a single guy I have a thousand justifications: I am not hurting anyone, it is hidden, everyone is doing it, and last but not least—why not?”
“OK bud, that is a list I totally understand. Your last reason actually is the most important one to look at: ‘Why not?’ This is the million-dollar question of the night. Why not look at porn?”
I said this just as our waitress delivered our food. Having overheard my last statement, she was a little awkward, but hey, I should have been at home snuggled comfortably in my bed anyway; I was bound to say something embarrassing!
“Why not look at porn…” He seemed to be mulling the question over under his breath.
“Larry, if you can understand the answer to that question, then the issue will be completely solved.” He looked at me incredulously, as if I were baiting him into a philosophical pursuit.
“No Larry, I am serious. The answer to that question is the answer to your issue! I am not messing with you. If you grasp the answer to that question, then that is the truth that will set you free.”
“OK, Jonathan,” he said with a slow thoughtfulness. “I guess the main reasons I have heard for why I shouldn’t look at porn are: it is a sin, it distorts my view of intimacy, it demeans and objectifies women, and it is addictive.”
“That is a pretty standard list of reasons why you shouldn’t look at porn,” I said in agreement. “But none of those are the answer that you need to grasp to be free.”
“OK, smarty-pants” he said humorously, “What is the right answer to the question?”
“OK, remember how I have shared with you in previous conversations that every man struggling with temptation needs to realize that his flesh nature has been crucified, satan is a defeated foe, and the law is powerless to help him? In addition to that, I have talked about how we need to view women as sisters and not objects of selfish pleasure, and how a person’s identity does not come from his actions, but from the identity God has given him.”
Larry was all ears at this point.
“Yet understanding these truths alone is not enough to bring full and lasting freedom. There is one more major key which must be grasped to answer the question, ‘Why shouldn’t I look at porn?’ To understand this key, let me illustrate from the story of Nehemiah. Do you have a Bible on your smartphone?”
“Yes,” he said.
“OK. Look up Nehemiah 6:11.”
“But I said [Nehemiah narrating], ‘Should a man like me run away? Or should one like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!’”
“Larry, in this story Nehemiah’s enemies were trying to use fear tactics to intimidate him to step into sin. The reason that Nehemiah didn’t fall into their trap was because he knew who he was. If only men knew who they were in Christ they would be able to say, “Should a man like me look at pornography? I will not!”
“Whoa…that is amazing. So you are saying that if I understood my identity and walked in it, it would answer the question of why I don’t look at porn?”
“Let me ask you this: As a new creation, have you ever thought about what Christ made you into?” I asked. (See Second Corinthians 5:17.)
“How do you figure?”
“Well,” I continued, “if we have been made into something new, then what have we been made into? Do you have a new nature? How different are you from what you were?”
“I guess I never really thought what it means to be a new creation…” Larry said thoughtfully.
“Larry, do you realize that at this very moment you are completely righteous?” (See Romans 5:17; First Corinthians 1:30; Romans 6:17-18; Second Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 10:14; Ephesians 4:24; First Peter 1:13-16; First Corinthians 6:11.)
“Ha! You are, kidding right?” he said, a little stunned. I guess he wasn’t expecting to hear that from me when we sat down at 2 A.M. to talk about his porn-viewing.
“I am not kidding. The Bible is very clear that Christ has already accomplished the work of making you righteous.”
“But my pastor regularly tells me that my heart is desperately wicked, so how can I be righteous?” (See Jeremiah 17:9.)
“Actually, Larry, that verse is more accurately translated as ‘the heart is beyond cure.’ That is why Jesus came and gave us a new heart, because the old one was incurable. As a new creation, you have a spiritually God-given new heart!” (See Ezekiel 36:25-27; 11:19-20; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 8:10.)
“Come on man, do you honestly believe that I have a new heart and I am righteous? What about in Isaiah where it says that God’s ways are not my ways and God’s thoughts are not my thoughts? I regularly feel like I can relate to that verse!” he said. (See Isaiah 55:8.)
“That verse was true of us,” I said. “But again, we have been made into new creations, and God has not only given us a new heart, but also a new mind. We have been given the mind of Christ. With the mind of Christ, it is no longer true to say of us that our thoughts are not His thoughts and His ways are not our ways.” (See Romans 12:2; First Corinthians 2:16.)
“Oh man, this is too much!” he said with a bewildered look. “Are you saying that I have believed wrong things about my identity which actually drag me down and actually keep me from living as a new creation?”
“That is exactly what I am saying!”
“OK Jon, what about my righteousness being as filthy rags? That’s another verse I have clung to for years.” (See Isaiah 64:6.)
“Your righteousness was as filthy rags; that is why the Bible says Christ has become your righteousness!” (See First Corinthians 1:30; Second Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:17.)
“So…what you are saying…is that I wasn’t righteous; I didn’t think like God, and I didn’t have His heart, but then Jesus came and reversed all of that? Yet, I am continuing to live like the old creation because I don’t understand or believe that I am a new creation?” Larry seemed noticeably strained, but he was starting to grasp what I was saying.
“Let me ask you a few questions,” I said. “What is your nature?”
“Huh? What do you mean?” he replied.
“If when you were born, you inherited the nature of Adam, the so-called sin nature, then it would stand to reason that Christ didn’t just give you a new heart and mind, but also a new nature, right?”
“Yeah, I am following you,” he said.
“So can a father produce a son of a different nature? By that I mean, humans produce humans; cats produce cats; cows produce cows; and divinity produces—” Larry looked at me in astonishment.
“Jonathan, you can’t mean—that just sounds too far-fetched. If you said that publicly, people would stone you on the Internet!” remarked a very concerned Larry.
“Seriously. Consider again the truth that we are called the children of God and that we are made in His image and likeness. Don’t all children carry the very same DNA as their parents? I believe that is why the apostle Peter wrote that we are partakers of God’s divine nature. God has given us a new nature; actually, He has given us His nature!” (See John 3:8; Second Peter 1:4; Hebrews 3:14; First John 3:1-2.)
“Shall I go on?”
“Yes, I need to hear this!” he said eagerly. He was becoming more alert and interested at this point. I glanced at my cell phone; it read 2:35 A.M. No problem. I am a night owl anyway, or so I reasoned, as I took a long sip of coffee.
“OK Larry, let me ask you another question. Are you worthy of the death of Jesus on the cross?”
He gave a long pause while chewing his oversized burger. “I don’t think so. I guess I have heard all my life how I am totally depraved, evil, and sinful. So how could I be worth the death of Jesus?”
“Larry, do you believe that God is dumb?”
“No,” said a surprised Larry.
“Are you sure that God isn’t stupid?” I pushed harder.
“Nope,” he said defensively.
“Actually, Larry, I agree with you. God isn’t dumb, nor is He stupid. In fact, I believe that God is the most brilliant thinker and makes the most intelligent investments that could possibly be made.”
“Yeah, so?” said Larry, trying to see where I was going with this line of reasoning.
“So if God is a good investor, He did not take the most valuable thing in Heaven—Jesus—and trade Him for what the Father would consider a piece of trash. Apparently God perceived that you were worth the death of Jesus. The Father didn’t get a raw deal. Maybe you have underestimated your value and worth?”
I continued, “Value is determined by what a person is willing to pay for something. If God was willing to purchase you by the death of Jesus, then apparently your value is equivalent to that of Jesus. You are worth the blood of Jesus, and according to the Father, you are a good investment!”
“Whoa, I have never thought about it like that before!” he replied, noticeably excited.
“Yeah, most people have not truly seen their value through God’s point of view. Once we can view ourselves His way, our lives will agree with what He says about us. Are you ready to hear some even heavier truth?”
“Give me both barrels!” he said with anticipation.
“Here goes. Remember how the apostle Paul rebuked the Corinthians for thinking like mere humans? Can you imagine being rebuked for thinking like a human? Paul expected that they shouldn’t live on such a low level! Paul taught that we are filled with all of God. We have not just been given the Holy Spirit; we have actually been made one with the Spirit of God! In the same way that Jesus was full of God, so are we!” (See First Corinthians 3:1-3; Ephesians 3:19; Colossians 1:19; 2:9-10; First Corinthians 6:17.)
I continued unloading both “barrels” of truth. “The apostle John taught that we are designed to live just like Jesus! And he said that ‘as He [Jesus] is, so are we in this world.’ This is not in reference to the Jesus of the past—the Suffering Servant; this is in reference to the present-tense Jesus—the reigning, righteous King, full of grace. These are the attributes that now describe us, ‘…who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ…’ ‘As He is, so are we.’ Or to paraphrase, if it is true of Jesus, it should be true of us!” (See First John 2:6; 3:2; 4:17 NKJV; Romans 5:17.)
“Jon, that is a lot to take in. I feel like the room is spinning!”
“I know man; that is a bit much for 2:54 in the morning, huh?”
“It is very stretching, because I have never heard this perspective before…but it is biblically sound.”
I said, “Before we go get some sleep, allow me to summarize. Proverbs 23:7 says, ‘As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he’ (NKJV).
So if you were taught to see yourself as a mere human, one who does not think like God, with a desperately wicked heart and even your righteousness is as a filthy rag, then you would live life under that perspective.
“In contrast, the Bible teaches that God gave you a new heart, mind, and spirit…that you are one spirit with God and filled with His fullness. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, you are a partaker of the divine nature, and as He is, so are you in this world! If you would come into agreement with the Word and believe what God says about you, then your life would come into agreement.
“As Paul wrote, ‘Only let us live up to what we have already attained.’ The problem for most Christians is that they have never been taught these things, and those who have, typically don’t believe it.” (See Philippians 3:16.)
Larry said with a slowness that was palpable, “You are saying that the answer to ‘Why not look at porn?’ is that my identity has changed and now I am completely incompatible with pornography! And I can say similarly with Nehemiah, ‘Should a man like me look at pornography? I will not!’ WOW, it may take me awhile, but I want to renew my mind to the truths you have dropped on me tonight.”
“I understand; it took a season of meditating on these truths before I could fully grasp them myself.1 And for the future, maybe we should eat at IHOP; my appetizer sampler is like lead in my belly.”
“Ha-ha, no problem, bro!”
Copy and post this prayer in several places so that you can pray through it regularly:
Lord, thank You that I am a new creation. You have made me holy, righteous, and perfect. You have completely sanctified me and made me in Your image and Your likeness. You have conformed me into the image of Your Son. You have filled me with the fullness of the Godhead.
I ask that You would burn these truths into my heart and renew my mind with them until I am completely transformed. Thank You for crucifying and putting off my old nature; I choose this day to sink into Christ. I am a partaker of Your divine nature; I am a receiver of Your abundant grace and Your gift of righteousness.
I will not look over my shoulder at the past; I will not follow the voice of a stranger. Instead, I focus on being seated with You in the heavenly places. You have given me Your mind, Your Spirit, and Your heart. You have made me Your ambassador. I am now one spirit with You. Therefore, I choose to live this day just as Jesus would in this Earth. I will think like Him, walk like Him, and love like Him. Because, as He is, so am I in this Earth!
It is essential for a Christian man to understand that he is powerful and that he is the only one in charge of his emotions, responses, and decisions. He does not get to choose what life hands him, but he always gets to choose what he will do in response. There are only two options in life—make a powerful decision to walk in love, or make a powerless choice to walk otherwise.
Your identity is not the sum of your actions. Your identity flows from who God says that you are. You must understand who God says you are and come into agreement with Him; then your actions will change.
The “spiritually suicidal” branch of Christianity—that is, those who are still trying to kill their flesh—will never see success. We must lay aside this terrible doctrine once and for all. It is time to sink into Christ and rest in the work He has already accomplished on our behalf.
It is time to grasp the revelation of who we are as new creations in Christ. We cannot afford to continue wallowing in our past condition as totally depraved, filthy rags, and so forth. We must realize that what God says about us is truer than what we think of ourselves.