The Bible Baptist Church located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor David Edmondson. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
5, 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. In connection with Christ, there
are three stages of the human soul. Without Christ, man's position
by nature, in Christ, which is the state of grace, and thirdly,
with Christ, which is our state of glory. So let's consider first
the believer's position. They are said to be in Christ. Every believer, at first, was
in the first Adam. Adam was mankind's federal head. In other words, Adam represented
every man and woman. If Adam had kept the command
of God, every man and woman would have been forever blessed. But
Adam partook of the forbidden and fell, and all of us fell
in him. Sin fell upon every man and woman
because Adam, as our covenant head and representative, disobeyed
God. Now, for some, those whom God
foreknew, those whom God predestinated, those who would be conformed
to Christ and perfectly restored, God called and justified by the
sacrifice of himself. So Christ, the second Adam, the
only other representative man before God, the heavenly man,
the Lord from heaven, became the propitiation for all his
people's sin. Now, propitiation, a big word,
but a very glorious word. It's the act of appeasing God. It's the act of satisfying God. So by being in Christ, we are
by union with him reconciled to God. The Lord Jesus is the
only one who can make us one with the Holy God whom we have
offended. And just as the animals and the
eight souls were preserved from the flood of God's wrath against
sin, went through that one door of Noah's ark, that door being
Christ, picturing Christ, the Lord shut them in. He shut them
up in Christ the ark. And we are in the same sense
in Christ, shut up from the wrath and condemnation of God. Christ is the ark that God has
provided for His chosen people in the day of holy judgment and
justice. And as the Israelite who unintentionally
slew another might flee to a city of refuge provided throughout
Canaan, we must flee to Christ our refuge. Christ is God's eternal
city of refuge. We have offended We have slain,
we have murdered the commandments of God, and we must flee for
our lives and enter into Christ, our city of refuge, before the
justice of God finds us. And as the branch is in the vine,
so are we in Christ. We receive all our nourishment,
all our vitality, all our fruit-bearing power from Christ the vine, with
whom we are united. Our Lord said, I am the vine,
you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing. John 15, 5. How do we come to
be in Christ? Only when we lean our soul wholly
on the beloved Son of God in whom we are accepted. In Christ
there is redemption. Romans 3, 24. being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Beloved, in Christ there is no
condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8, verse 1. In Christ
there is inseparable love. Romans 8, 39. Nothing shall separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Christ we have wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1.30, But of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Oh, to be in
Christ! What a blessed thing! In Christ
we, believers, are blessed with all spiritual blessings. Ephesians
1.3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In Christ, we are
God's workmanship. Ephesians 2.10, for we are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. In Christ
we are saved and called. 2 Timothy 1.9, who hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works. but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began." In Christ, we're made strong in grace. 2 Timothy 2.9,
Paul told Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. There is no grace apart from
being in Christ. In Christ, our salvation is obtained. In 2 Timothy 2.9, Paul said,
Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with
eternal glory. In Christ we live and suffer
persecution. 2 Timothy 3.12, yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And in Christ we have peace. 1 Peter 5.14, Peter ended his
first epistle by saying, Peace be with you all that are in Christ
Jesus. And what a wonderful privilege
to be found in Christ Jesus. Every believing sinner is in
Christ Jesus. Not the world as a whole. The
Lord prayed not for the world. He prayed for them which God
gave him, John 17, 9. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that he might save the whole
world. Know that whosoever believeth in him, in Christ, should not
perish, but have everlasting life," John 3.16. Secondly, I
would have you to consider the character of the child of God. It's said that if any man or
woman, any sinner, be in Christ, they are a new creature, a new
creation. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. The Word of God asks three questions. Can an Ethiopian change the color
of his skin? Can a leopard remove his spots? And can a sinner that is accustomed
to doing evil do good? No, no to all three. They must
become a new creation. Why, even if an Ethiopian could
change his skin or a leopard could change his spots, the Ethiopian
would still be black at heart. the same as we all are, and the
leopard would remain a leopard. The improvement could not be
called a new creation. So a sinner can give up every
outward lust and weep and be sorrowful over their sin and
not be considered a new creature. How does this new creation come
about? In the first Adam, the chosen
sinner is judged and condemned, weighed in the balances, and
found wanting. But when his punishment is laid
on Christ, their substitute, their sacrifice, their surety
and Savior, they're born again a new creation. So in the second
representative man, Jesus Christ, the sinner is legally before
the bar of God's holy justice made a new creation, a new creature. The sinner who believes in Christ
and by faith, by believing, is found in Him, They find themselves
completely pardoned by the sin-atoning blood sacrifice of the one who
loved them and gave himself for them. They love Christ. They love the God who gave Christ
to be their redemption. and the God they once hated without
a cause they now love, and the God from whom they once hid and
had no interest, they openly and constantly desire communion
and fellowship with Him. Grace doesn't reform us. Grace
recreates us. Creation is the work of God. It's a divine working of the
Creator. The new creature is the work
of God. and it's the work of God in Christ,
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1 13. Mankind, in and
of themselves, cannot come to Christ for life. John 6 44. And
they will not come to Christ for life. John 5 40. Man doesn't
have the ability, man doesn't have the will, nor does man have
the power to give himself life. How, then, is a man born of God
and made a new creation? Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." Only God can make this come about. Who
helped God create the world? Why, no one. Nobody. When God
created the world out of nothing, who or what was there to help
Him do so? In the new creation, there's
nothing within us that could help. But there was much within
us that could and did oppose Him. Our stubborn wills, our
dark prejudices, our love of iniquity. Well, they opposed
the very One who gives life. Yes, there was darkness in the
first creation, and God said, Light be, and light was. By nature, men loved darkness
rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil. Our deeds were evil because we
are evil by nature. But like in the first creation,
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep. And God
said, let there be light. And there was light. And the
same Spirit, the Spirit of God, moved upon the deep recesses
of the chosen sinner's beam. and their soul yielded to his
light. Wyatt had no choice. who hath
resisted his will, Romans 9, 19. In the first creation of
the world, God first gave light and afterwards he created life.
And it's the same, dear friends, in the new creation. For God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 6. And Christ
was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." John 1
verses 4 and 5. You see, that which is dead cannot
comprehend anything. not until life is given to see
and to comprehend. God sent Christ the light in
the world to seek and to save that which was lost. And that
is why this new creation in Christ is not speaking of our human
physical birth. Salvation is not of blood. That's
why we're not born of the will of the flesh nor of the will
of man. A dead man has no will. A man that is born again is born
of God. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.