All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn today to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter
5. I'd like to deal with verses
17 to 19. The Apostle Paul says in verse
17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."
Now, when it comes to God Almighty, He has set forth the truth of
His immutability. That means that God doesn't change. He said in Malachi 3.6, I am
the Lord, I'm Jehovah, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Now, the foundation of a man's
hope with God is that God doesn't change. That means if the Lord
has purposed, He told Moses, He said, I will have mercy on
whom I have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I'll have
compassion. And if God's purposed to show
mercy to a people of His choosing, God doesn't change. To change
would indicate imperfection, indecisiveness, and God doesn't
change. but for a sinner, a sinner born
in Adam, fallen in sin from the garden, come forth from his mother's
womb speaking lies, if there's not a change in him, I'm talking
about a radical change, I'm talking about to go to the opposite extreme
change. He's going to perish. Because
the scripture says that He's born dead in trespasses and sins. 2 Corinthians 5.14 says, For
the love of God constraineth us, because we thus judge, or
come to this conclusion, that if one died for all, and obviously
for all of his elect, all that he chose and loved in Christ,
then all were dead. And without a change in a man's
state before God, which is separation, the cause of sin, unless there
is a change, that man is going to hell. He's going to perish
in his sins. The wages of sin is death. So God doesn't change and man
must change. He must. Well, our text sets
forth the only acceptable. change before God that gives
a man a hope. There's got to be a change that
is wrought by the Lord. And it's got to be a change that's
not a mere alteration in the old nature. You know, you hear
this, it's reformed. I can have a coat altered. but it's still the same coat.
I mean, I have to make a few changes here and there, but when
it comes to a sinner before God, there's got to be a change wherein
there is a new creation that is performed whereby this new
creation wasn't there before. It's got to be another man created
in righteousness and true holiness. It's got to be that kind of change.
Verse 17 says, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature. That word new means unused. You know, you buy something at
the store, And let's say that it's got the packaging of it. It looks like it's been re-taped.
And what's the first thing you're going to think? Somebody's opened
this box. And somebody's already gotten
into this. And there's a possibility there
was something wrong with it. And they brought it back. This change here, a new creature,
means unused. It means quality. of a different
nature. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things, that means the condition
prior to conversion, are passed away. Behold, all things have
become new. Now, as far as the Apostle was
saying, if any man be in Christ, now you know when we hear that
term there, in Christ, We know that scripture says forth that
God's people were all chosen in Christ. They were mysteriously,
wonderfully, divinely placed within Him who is their surety,
their haven. They were represented by, united
eternally in That's just over our heads. We understand it,
we believe it by faith, but it's just so high. And we know that we were chosen
in Him, by the Father before the foundation of the world.
But the truth that Paul is talking about here, of being in Christ,
It's not talking about though eternal election is so, there's
no doubt about that. But he's referring to being united
to the Lord by grace through faith in regeneration. And it's
to be vitally grafted into him as the branch is to the vine. It's talking about a union, a
visible union. Listen to this scripture, 1 Corinthians
12, 12 and 13. For as the body is one and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body being many are
one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into the
same spirit. So the apostle is using the analogy
of a human body, and he's saying this, though the human body has
many parts. All the parts make up one body,
one complete body. And likewise, where there be
Jew or Gentile or bond-free, male, female, whether it be the
saints that have died before and gone to heaven, whether it
be the saints that are here on the earth right now, whether
it be God's elect that have yet to be born. They are the body
of Christ. And that's true. That's the church. That's the
Lord. It's His own. But the Father who has sent the
Son is going to, in time, have by His Spirit They're going to
be baptized. They're going to be immersed
in regeneration into the visible body. They've always been the
Lord's. Always been in Christ. But there's going to be a revelation
of who they are in time. And that regeneration of those
people openly shown. They're going to cross paths
with the gospel, and they're going to hear it, they're going
to believe it, and the Spirit of God will baptize them into
the visible church. And so in regeneration is what
Paul is talking about. He's talking about now, if any
man be in Christ, that's what he's talking about, he is a new
creature before we were regenerated, we were the elect. We were God's
elect. But before we're regenerated,
there's just the old man. That's all there is. We're still
dead in trespass. We were all like everybody, just
dead in trespasses and sins. But now, if any man be in Christ
in regeneration, he is a new creature. There's a new heart
imparted. There's a new mind, a new spirit. He's created in righteousness,
the scripture said, in true holiness. And it's not the old man that
has been reworked. It's not, you know, it's not
that they've been patched up, we've got a few rough edges and
we've got to, the Lord kind of, we turn over a new leaf. No,
no, no. There is a brand new creation
that is formed within. There has been the setting forth
of divine power in creation and conversion of a sinner. It's
the same power that When God spoke this world into existence
and He made the earth out of nothing. He created it. This is it. We've not been created
out of anything. God spoke us into existence and
now there's a new man there that wasn't there before. This is
unused. This is an unused man. This wasn't
the man that fell in Adam. This is a brand new creature. And this man has got new views
and new motives and new principles, and he seeks and lives after
the Lord, who loved him and gave himself for him. The apostle
says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
are passed away. Now, one thing we know for sure,
the presence of sin, and our grief over it stays with a man
as long as he lives on this earth. You know this. If we say we have
no sin, we make God a liar. We know that there's an old man.
Paul talked about that in Romans chapter 7. What I see in me that
is my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. So the presence of
sin is still with us. But the old notions of the old
man don't have dominion over us. Before man or woman is converted,
they only have one attitude. Their mind is enmity against
God. They have no love for God. They have no life. They have
no desire after God. They don't want to walk after
God. They don't walk after God. But these old things are passed
away that the old man doesn't rule anymore. The old beliefs
of God being one who loves everybody and wants everybody to be saved
if they'll let Him, and those old thoughts of man's free will
and self-righteousness for a believer, they don't think that anymore.
Oh, that old man, you know, the old man can suggest that? Nobody
said I know better than that. Being able to come to God and
be accepted by Him, by the works of the law, and Paul the Apostle
said that's the way he formally thought. You know, Hebrew, Hebrews,
Pharisee. Old things are passed away. And
behold, all things are become new. That renewed man by the
Spirit of God is the workmanship of God. He is created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. What good works? Well, the works
of the Spirit. The Spirit of God who has moved
upon him, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, he's living
in the same body. But he possesses a new character
and a new desire after the Lord. There's a new man here, a new
man that is in this old body, this old decaying body. Formerly, he didn't see any beauty
in Christ, that he should desire Him. But now he loves it. He loves it. He seeks Him in
prayer, seeks Him in the hearing of the Gospel, in the reading
of Scripture. And before, that carnal mind was all he knew.
That's all he had. And it was filled with resentment
and separation from God, and he didn't care. And now a believer,
like we looked at last Sunday, a believer seeks the Lord, No,
it's darkness to him and he sees through a glass darkly and he
wants to know. But now being reconciled by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, now there's a hungering and there's
a thirsting after righteousness. And now the believer is grieved
with the inconsistencies that he sees in himself. The thought
of offending God. And just disregarding the will
of God, he can't do it. He just can't do it. He wants
to walk after the Lord. He wants to and he grieves because
he sees himself in gross inconsistencies to do it. But now being quickened
to life in Christ, by that new nature that he willingly bows,
he bows to the true and living God, and all the while he's still
struggling with sin. There's a new man there. There's
two men there and now, you know, he struggles. But that new man
is a brand new one. He's not worked over. He's new. He's new in regeneration. He's new in desire. He's new
in love. And he doesn't lay anything that's
been done to it to himself. He knows better. Verse 18 says,
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ. All things. Now we know that
all things in creation are of God. We know all things in providence
are of God. He worketh all things. But that's,
again, that's not what Paul's talking about here. Paul is still
talking about the same subject that he's been talking about,
the new creation. Everything that the law demanded
for justification before God, that justification again. What does that mean? It means
that the law looks and says, no charge. No guilt. No record. No record. Justified
freely by God's grace. So everything that the law demanded
for justification before God. What is it going to take for
the law of God to look at a believer and say, No charge. What's it going to take? God's
going to have to do something. That's what Paul's saying. All things are
of God. It was the Lord alone that could
remove the enmity. That division between Himself
and His people. And that only in the Lord Jesus
Christ the Substitute. All things are of God who has
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. Our sins separated us
from God. Well, what is it going to take?
for the Lord to look and see no guilt. The Lord's going to
have to take them all. All of them are going to have
to be His. I can't have any to answer for before God that I
see sin in myself, yes. But the guilt of it and the penalty
of it, there's therefore now no condemnation to them that
be in Christ Jesus. So for God who, because of my
sins that it separated me, for me to be reconciled to the Lord,
it's got to be that God is going to have to reconcile us. How
am I going to get my sins off of me and give them and they
be the Lord's? I can't do that. But God did. And the righteousness, I've got
to have righteousness before God. To be reconciled to God,
I have to have no guilt. And I've got to be holy. And
that's of the Lord. Old Brother Scott used to always
say, this is righteousness. It can't be just pasted on righteous. I can write the word righteous. I know how to write righteous.
I can spell that. I can write it on a sticker and
stick it on my head right there. But that doesn't make me righteous.
I have to be righteous. I have to, and only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every need that a believer has
for acceptance with God, no guilt, no condemnation, righteousness
before God, All things are of God. That's what Paul says. And
being reconciled to God. What does that mean? All things
are of God who hath reconciled. What does reconcile mean? That
means all the enmity has been removed. There's no barrier between
God and His people that He has received us into favor with Himself
made us to be in harmony with Him in Christ. Christ is our mediator. Christ
is our go-between. Christ is our life before God. And the redeemed and regenerated
sinner embraces that truth, and he thanks God that the Lord has
saved him by grace, kept him by grace. Now this truth of God
reconciling his people to himself by Jesus Christ, this is the
message of the gospel. You say, what is that? That's
the gospel. When we preach the gospel, that's what we're saying.
God's got people. Man's dead in trespasses and
sins. Only God can take him and take his sins and Christ died
for him and imputes righteousness to him and separation between
God and His people has been abolished and they're reconciled. The Lord's
reconciled. How can I reconcile myself back
to God? Man by nature is telling everybody
and their brother, all you got to do to reconcile yourself back
to God is just say, I'm sorry. I heard somebody say one time,
you know, you come up and stab somebody with a knife right in
the heart and say, I'm sorry. That's what kids do, you know,
when they're caught. I'm sorry. It didn't change anything. He
still did it. That's got to be paid for. Justice has got to
be served. God only can reconcile His people
back to Himself. So Paul says, all things are
of God who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and
has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. He's given
us this calling. to preach this truth, to wit,
to wit, that means this is how he did it, this is how he did
it, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
listen to this, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. The Lord of
heaven has been pleased to make the announcement of His good
pleasure to show mercy and compassion to fallen creatures, fallen creatures,
that God's been pleased to save and redeem by the Lord Jesus
Christ and call by His Spirit. Paul says God has been pleased
to commit that message unto us. And he said, God was reconciling
the world. Again, not all the world without
distinction, because it's God's people. And he's reconciled the
world of his people unto himself by not imputing their trespasses
unto them. He has been pleased. Talk about
the wisdom and the mercy of God. God has chosen, I'm not going
to charge you with it. That's what it means. I'm not
charging them with the guilt. And how is he going to do that? Paul, under the inspiration of
the Spirit of God, is going to set forth how God, in which I'm
going to Lord willing, I'm going to deal with verses 20 and 21
in the next message, but this is how he's going to do it. And
he said in verse 20, and I'll just read this and deal with
it later, then we're ambassadors for Christ. As though God did
beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ dead be you reconciled
to God. And here's how God did it. He
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. This is the message
that we preach. The Lord had promised in Jeremiah
3.15, He said, I'm going to give you pastors according to my heart,
which will feed you with knowledge and understanding. So these men
who are called to be watchmen, this is the duty of a pastor. They don't hold their peace,
peace day or night. They don't keep silence. That's
what Isaiah 62.6 said. And they watch for the souls
of God's heritage. We know that God's got a people.
We know that the Lord's going to call them out. We know that
the Lord's been pleased to reconcile His people unto Himself. We know
that He's done it only through and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it is the responsibility of God's preachers to preach
that truth, and where and when it pleases God, God's going to
bless it. He's promised. He's promised.
My word is not going to return void. Men hear this and one or
two things happen. Either they're going to hear
it and they're not going to believe it because God leaves a man to
himself. He's not going to believe it.
He's dead. He can't hear it. He can't hear it. Or the Lord is going
to give him a new heart. He's going to give him new ears.
And that man is going to have a new ear to hear it. He's going
to have new eyes to see it, understand it, perceive it. He's going to
have a new spirit to believe it, new heart to long after it,
made willing in the day of God's power. And he's going to recognize
the Lord did this. I never could have done this.
But God's going to reconcile His people unto Himself. And
I pray that even today, as we hear this blessed truth, we'll
thank the Lord. that he reconciled us and given
us a heart for him as he's revealed his heart for us. I pray the
Lord bless this to our heart and understanding for Christ's
sake.