The new me sees people like Jesus sees them, as immensely valuable people, eternal beings. So if you just start to look at people as whether they can get you ahead you'll just be the same old person you used to be. You'll say you're a Christian, come to church, but you're living out of someone you used to be, not out of who you are now. This is the [dilemma. 00.19.04] I want to show you how you can shift on the inside in that area, so the Bible says henceforth we know no man after the flesh, but you know people after the spirit. In other words you can feel something about them the moment you meet them. You can weigh them up, you can sense where they're at, you begin to feel the person's flow of spirit. You can sense when they've got walls up, you can sense things about them. Why? Because I'm knowing people after the spirit now. That's a whole new way of living, of learning to relate to people after the spirit.
There are no old people, young people, rich people, poor people, Jew people, Gentile people. There's all just one kind of people. These are valuable representatives of God and I need to learn how to love them; old and young, black and - whatever colour, see? And you understand that old mentalities will stop you doing that. We've got to upgrade our thinking how we see people, otherwise you'll see well that's women, women don't do that. Well who said? Where did you get that idea from? Well that's a man, men do that. Where did you get that idea from? Why don't you see people in the spirit? Why don't you see them according to the way God sees them, which is according to their new identity in Him, a child of God with enormous potential? If you saw people that way you wouldn't talk against them, judge them, find fault with them, look at the outside and judge them according to appearances.
How can you judge people according to appearance? You've got no idea what's going on and you've got no idea what motivates them. The only way you'll ever find out is if you don't judge them on the outside; you let God show you things and you listen to what God says about them. It's one of the hardest things of all to do is to withhold judging people, just not to judge them, just hold it until God has given you some insight. Okay, so we're getting on - now notice what it says here about our new identity. We're getting to it now. If anyone is in Christ he is totally new. I like that. Old things, all of them are gone away. They're passed away, meaning they're dead. He passed away means he died. The old things passed away. Notice it says behold, all things have become new. Now of course when you look - I used to look at that scripture and think oh man, that's a tricky one because I don't feel like it and I definitely don't live like it, so what's the deal here?
God saying I'm a new creation means when I'm born again I got a total renovation on the inside of the house, a fresh start. Therefore the Spirit of God coming into me gives you and me a fresh start, and now the Bible says behold or take a look at this! But all the old stuff's passing away and there's new things are coming into your life. Get the picture? You see if you don't get the picture that having come to Christ, that everything old passes away and now new things are coming into your life, you're going to live out of the old instead of embracing the new. And He says behold, get a grip on it, get a vision of it, get a picture of it that old things - old things means the selfish way of running your life, self-centred, self-sufficient, just the way of relating to God and to people and to life. It's all gone away. He said behold, new things have started.
Now the problem is even though God has practically and legally made all things new, it's not my experience until I start to make it mine. So for example when Jesus died on the cross all men potentially could be saved and go to heaven, but only those who actually make a response to Him by faith. Then they're born again, they receive Jesus as Saviour, sins are forgiven. Now we're positioned for a life of becoming a new person. In God's eyes He said everything is changed. This is a new person. It's a child of God that was a sinner. This is a child of God, this is one of My family now, totally changed. Now have they changed in the way they think? Not so much. Have they changed the way they live their life? Yeah, a little bit. But there's a lot of stuff has not changed yet, so why is it not changed? Because something's required of me. God says everything is passed away, and now you can be that new person I've called you to be. You need to discover it.