Paul tells us that we are indeed “dead men walking” without Christ Jesus. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-2). Without Christ we are bound by sin, Satan, and death. We are “dead men walking” without hope – without Christ.

But the good news is that there is hope, freedom, and new life in Christ. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). In another movie about death row entitled “The Green Mile”, a black death row inmate has the power to vicariously take people’s sicknesses into his own body and thereby heal them. Although the story is fiction, the Son of God, Jesus Christ actually did that for us. On the cross Jesus vicariously suffered for us. The spotless, sinless Lamb of God took our sins, sorrows, and sicknesses on his own body. “For he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities and by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Paul describes a new life in Christ in Ephesians 2. “But now in Christ Jesus you who were far off are made near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).

If you sense your lack of hope life and liberty you can be a “New Man Walking”. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away, all things are made new” (II Corinthians 5:17).

A former Miss USA beauty pageant winner, Sheri Rose Shepherd, shared her testimony at a conference recently. She told of being raised in a dysfunctional family in which her parents were divorced five times. She was 60 pounds overweight in high school, dyslexic, and abused drugs. After a drug overdose, her step-mother helped her straighten out her life on the outside. But she still felt empty and lonely on the inside. One day this Jewish girl met her Messiah and Savior, Jesus Christ. She became a new person on the inside through Jesus Christ. Her identity was realized in her relationship with the living Christ. She became a new woman, walking in the Spirit - Jesus took her sorrows, sickness, and sin. Sheri wrote a book entitled My Prince Will Come – Getting Ready for My Lord’s Return about how much Christ loves us and will one day return to take us home with him.

“Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God . . . Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone . . . in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

You can be a “new man walking” in the Spirit.

A - Admit you have sinned. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

B - Believe in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

C - Confess and leave your sin. “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).