‘Therefore if any man be in Christ’ – trusting in him; if you like, plugged in to his death for sinners – ‘he is a new creature,’ says the King James Version. Creation is what it means.
Sometimes it is true in the church that there are many people who are not truly saved and think they are. That is because, often when the message of salvation is preached, repentance and faith are not emphasised: turning away from sin, and total trust in the atoning death of Christ. It is made easy for people to come in and they are not truly converted. They just make an intellectual assent. The doctrines of Christianity appeal to them intellectually. Even ministers sometimes, are not converted.
Sometimes you see it in a young person. You hope that they have come to Christ, but then you begin to sense that the old gossip is still there, all the talk about boys or girls is still predominate in the life. Entertainment is still desperately important, parties and excesses which belong really to the old life. The great change has not taken place and you have to urge people like that to really come to Christ and seek him and find him. You cannot bring about conversion by training a person into it.