Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17.

The new creature is new all over. Grace, though it is but in part, yet it is in every part. not a new ear or a new tongue, but a new man. There are new dispositions, new principles, new aims. All things are become new.

In the new creature, there is a new understanding. The first thing an artist draws in a portrait is the eye. When God newly draws us and makes us new creatures, the first thing He draws in our souls is a new eye. The new creature is enlightened to see that which he never saw before. He knows Christ after another manner. An unconverted man, by the light of common grace, may believe Christ to be the Son of God.

But the new creature knows Christ after another manner, so as to esteem Him above all, to adore Him, to touch Him by faith, to fetch a healing virtue from Him. The new creature knows himself better than he did. When the sun shines into a room, it reveals all the dust and cobwebs in it. Just so, when the light of the Spirit shines into the heart, this reveals that corruption which before lay hidden. It shows a man his own vileness and nothingness.

Behold, I am vile. Job 40, verse 4. A wicked man, blinded with self-love, admires himself. He is like Narcissus who, seeing his own reflection in the water, fell in love with it. Saving knowledge works self-abasement. Has this day-star of knowledge shined on your mind?