I suppose one of my favorite
scriptures in all the Word of God is 2 Corinthians 5, verse
17. Would you turn there with me
in your Bible? Many of you could quote that scripture. Now while
you're turning, I want to remind you again this morning that the
epistles, beginning in Romans and going all the way through
to the little book of Jews, all the way till you get to the book
of Revelation, they are letters written to believers. They're not written to everyone
in the world. They were written to those who trust in God, believe
in God, trust in Christ. They were written to chosen sinners
that God divinely revealed Himself to. They weren't written to those
that have no interest in God or His word. The book of Romans
was written to all who have received grace and apostleship. That's speaking of a believer.
That's speaking of a child of God. In verse 5 of Romans 1,
Paul is writing to those who are the called of Jesus Christ. In verse 6 of Romans 1, he tells
us that his letter is for all that be in Rome who are the beloved
of God, called to be saints. Those who have received grace
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. These
letters were written to a specific people. In 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Paul is writing to the church of God, not the whole world.
not a particular denomination, but to God's church, to Christ's
bride, to God's people. He's writing to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, those who call
upon the name of Christ their Lord. And he thanks God for His
grace that was given to God's people who were enriched by Christ. This is speaking of a believer,
an elect child of God, not someone that has no interest in the things
of the Spirit of God. The letter to the Ephesians was
written to the saints in Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. It wasn't written to men and
women that hated God without a cause. Paul wrote that letter
to them whom God hath blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. He wrote all those encouraging
words to those whom God had chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, to those who in Christ are holy and without blame
before Him in love, to those who have been predestinated predetermined
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. These letters are written to
God's children, to God's sheep. This is talking about God's people.
And salvation is not by accident. Salvation is by the purpose of
God. Salvation is by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. So let's always remember
when reading these epistles, these letters, that they were
written for those who have redemption in Christ through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. And you can go right on through
each epistle, each letter, and see that each of these letters
whether written by Paul, Peter, James, John, or Jude, they were
given these words by the inspiration of God's Spirit. So the wondrous
truths that are contained in these epistles, these letters,
are for the sinner who believes and trusts in Christ alone, to
those whose names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So
your first question might be, how do I know that I'm one of
those? How do I know if I'm one of God's
chosen people? Well, I hope to help you answer
that question this morning. Oh, that God might be pleased
to enable me to preach and for you to hear the gospel of Christ
as God's Word sets it forth. Now, in 2 Corinthians chapter
5, are you turned there? The Apostle Paul is talking about
the comforting assurance that a believer can have while in
this lost and religious world in which we live. In verse 1,
Paul reminds us of our flesh. He calls our flesh, speaking
of our bodies, the earthly house of this tabernacle. Now the word
tabernacle here means temporary residence. That's very important
for us to understand. This body, this flesh in which
our spirit and our soul dwells is temporary. Have you figured
that out yet? These bodies are dying. I get
up every morning and look in the mirror and I say, my, who's
that old fella? Just temporary. Paul says to
the believers at Corinth and Verse one, he says that if this
body, this tabernacle were dissolved, demolished, destroyed, that's
what the word dissolved means, that the child of God has a building
of God, a house that is not made with hands. You and I can't make
this house. It's eternal in the heavens.
Beloved, earth is not our home. And these bodies are not our
final dwelling place. We've got a home in the heavens.
And the true believer, according to verse 6, is always confident
knowing that while they are dwelling in this home, in this body, that
they're absent from the Lord. And also knowing that to be absent
from this tabernacle, this dwelling place, this body of flesh in
which we temporarily dwell is to be present with Christ. And I say it all the time, and
it becomes more obvious to me every day, but heaven will be
heavenly because Christ will be there. What makes heaven heaven
is that we will see Christ face to face without the cataracts
of sin that causes us to see darkly and dimly. I love what
Paul says in verse 9, and it's the same with every believer.
He said, wherefore we labor, we endeavor, we attempt, we aspire,
that whether present or absent, whether in this body or out of
this body, that we may be accepted of Him. Beloved, in order to
be saved, we've got to be accepted of God. So again, the real question
is this, how can I be accepted of God? How can I know that I'm
saved? What evidence can I find that
I'm one of God's chosen sheep? Paul told us in another place
that we can only be accepted one way, and that's in the Beloved.
Only Christ can make us accepted in the Beloved because He is
God's Beloved. And He Himself said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father
but by me. No other way but by Him. Christ
is the only way to God. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man of Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2.5.
If God is ever going to have anything to do with you, it's
going to be in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look
down at verse 14. It says, For the love of God
constraineth us. I found it very interesting that
the word constraineth there means to arrest. to arrest. It was the love of Christ that
arrested us. And Paul says, because we thus
judge, and that word means we conclude, we distinguish that
if one died for all, then we're all dead. Now I want you to listen
to me close here. I learned something in studying
this that was very helpful to me. Verse 14 is not talking about
us being dead in trespasses and sin, even though we are. This
is talking about being dead by the virtue of our federal union
with Christ. What do I mean by that? All who
the Father gave to the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation
of the world to save, Christ being their substitute, their
sacrifice. their surety they were in him
and in him they died being crucified with him that's exactly what
Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 let let me show you
that we're we're so close not to turn turn over just a few
pages to Galatians chapter 2 with me you can stick your Marker
there in 2 Corinthians 5, we'll come back to it, but look at
Galatians 2, verse 20. Look closely to what Paul said. He said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And again, we see here that our
union with Christ is so inseparably one, that when He died on Calvary's
cross, God's elect died with Him. And that's why Paul goes
on to say in verse 20, look at it, he says, and now the life
that I live, after being crucified with Christ, after being made
a new creation, he said, the life that I live now, I live
by the faith of the Son of God. who loved me and did what? Gave himself for me. What is
that talking about? That's substitution. That's the
heart of the gospel. It's in Christ only and being
one with Him that we're saved. My union with Christ is such
that when He died, I died. When He rose from the grave,
I rose with Him. You rose with Him, child of God,
and the life that we now have is in Him, in Him, by Him, through
Him. It's all through the scriptures.
Men and women need a revelation of Jesus Christ. If He hasn't
revealed Himself to you yet, oh, may He be pleased to reveal
it to you now. Now, back in 2 Corinthians 5,
Look again at our text, verse 17. Give you a moment to get
back there. Verse 17, therefore in lieu of,
or on the behalf of all these things that Paul had written,
he says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Now, with that said, by reason
of deduction, we know that if any man be in Christ, he or she's
a new creature, a new creation. But we also know that if any
man or woman be not in Christ, he or she is not a new creature,
not a new creation. And this is how I know that we
can't save ourselves. This is how I know that we cannot,
by something that we do, put ourselves in Christ. Only the
triune God can do that. Only God can create. It was God
that created the universe. Genesis 1-1, in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. And it was the Lord that
created man. Genesis 2-7, in the Lord God
formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.
And only God can make all things new. You can't. I can't. Nobody can but God. And that's
why our Lord said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. You have to be reborn, born from
above, born of God, created anew. He told Nicodemus, if you're
not born again, you can't even see the kingdom of God, much
less enter it. Did you know that the Greek word
for new, N-E-W, that little word, new, means regenerate? Did you know that the word regenerate
means reborn, or born again, to generate again? Now think
with me here. To make an old creature into
a new creature, there must first be an end to the old before the
new can begin. To put it plainly as I know how,
there must be a death before there can be a new life. Was
it not so with Christ our representative and our substitute, our mediator? Oh, it must be so if Jesus Christ
is to be my federal head, if He is to be my representative
before God. Remember what we said a few moments
ago, if one died for all of God's elect, then all the elect died
with Christ, with Him. Romans 6 verse 8 says, now if
we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
him. We know that Christ died. How
do we know that? Well, we know that the executioners
didn't break his legs. We know by that, that Christ
died. You see the legs of the one crucified
were often broken so that the one crucified couldn't push themselves
up and support their weight, causing them to eventually asphyxiate. Let me read a couple verses in
John 19 to you, you don't have to turn there. It says this,
then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first, speaking
of one of the male factors, and of the other which was crucified
with him. When they broke their legs, they couldn't support themselves
and they eventually asphyxiated. But when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was dead already, They break not his legs, but
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith
came there out blood and water." Couldn't help but to think about
that hymn, Rock of Ages. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin, the double cure. Save
from wrath and make me pure. That's the only way we can be
made pure, friends, is by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that Christ died,
for we know that the jealous, envious eyes of His enemies hated
Him so much, and without a cause, the scripture says, that they
would have never, ever permitted our Lord to be taken down from
the cross alive. Our Lord Jesus was put in the
tomb of another, assuredly dead. And as our one and only substitute,
we died with Him. That's what I want you to see.
We've got to die before we can be made alive, made anew, born
again. Our sin was punished in the Lord
Jesus by the death which He endured for us. Now you think about that.
Our sin's gone because Christ put it away. That's why the message
of salvation is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 1, he said, But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks its foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
is the power of God and the wisdom of God. We live in a day with
so much religion, while there's yet so little understanding and
so much confusion concerning the true and the living God.
People are satisfied just to take the word of a preacher instead
of looking into God's Word and studying God's Word and finding
out for themselves if these things be so. What evidence do we have
that we're saved? What assurance can we have that
we belong to God? I know that the evidence is not
found in an experience. I know that it's not found in
a feeling, so whatever you do, don't look for that. I know a
lot of professing Christians who do. They're always talking
about their experiences and their feelings. Salvation is not in
an experience, and salvation is not in a feeling. Salvation
is in a person, and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. We've got to look to Him. Don't
try to find any evidences in yourself, and certainly don't
try to produce the evidence. It's then that you'll begin to
trust in what you're endeavoring to produce. That's exactly what
the Lord told the Pharisees. They walked in the streets with
all their religious guard. But the Lord said to them, woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they're
full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and the platter, but the
outside of them may be clean also." Matthew 23, 25, and 26. And it's also very important
to understand that all believers don't have the same degree of
revelation, the same degree of spiritual knowledge, the same
degree of faith, but they will all have the revelation, knowledge,
and faith in Christ. For it's in Him that we're made
anew. If any man beware in Christ,
He's a new creation, not improved, not reformed, not remodeled. I was thinking this morning about
an old dilapidated and condemned house. It's got to be torn down. We have to be leveled. We have
to die in order to be remade, reborn, regenerated, and conform
to the perfect image of Christ our Savior. The scripture is
very clear. There are babes in Christ. There
are young men in Christ. And there are elders in Christ,
very much like our own families. In our own families, there are
grandparents that are in their 60s and 70s, and there are parents
in their 40s and 50s, and sons and daughters in their 20s and
30s, and then there are grandchildren and even some babies. Now, let
me ask you, do those babies have the same knowledge, understanding,
and experience that their mother and their father and their grandparents
have? Well no, that's ridiculous. You
won't find the same amount of fruit on a newly planted tree
that you'll find on one planet 30 years ago. So, not all of
God's children have the same degree of revelation, understanding,
or even faith. But all who are in Christ are
new creatures. A new creation. And just as saved
as any child of God. And the two key words there,
as in all the Scripture, is in Christ. In Him. Paul said so
plainly in Romans 8, verse 9, he said, If any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. A tree that has no leaves
or no fruit has no life. Jesus Christ is the life-giving
vine. You and I were the dead branches.
He's the only one who can create life in us. So how do I know
that I have life? Well, our Lord said you would
know a tree by the fruit that it bears. The Bible talks a great
deal about the fruit of the Spirit. Let me give you an example. Love
is a fruit of the Spirit. And the Bible says by this, shall
all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one
to another. John 13, 35. How do we know that
we've passed from death unto life? Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. 1 John 3, 14. If a person is
filled with hate, malice, envy, jealousy, how can they love God? He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4, 11, Beloved,
if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. We
know we've passed from death to life by our love for one another. What evidences do I have that
I'm born of God? What evidence do I have that
with me all things have become new? Well, first, old things
are passed away. Do you see that in verse 17?
My sin and my guilt are passed away. They're passed away because
Christ put them away. Christ I have no sin all things
have become new secondly verse 18 tells us that all things are
of God all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself
you know what the word reconciled means reconciled he reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation Now the word reconcile here means to change. I like to see what these words
mean sometime and then read what they mean in place of the word.
So listen to this. Paul's saying here, all things
are of God who has changed us. He had changed us to himself
by Jesus Christ. He's reconciled us to himself.
He's changed us to himself by Jesus Christ. That's the only
way we can be changed. in Jesus Christ. We are as holy,
righteous, and just as Christ is, while we're as righteous
as God is because we've been given the very righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. God changed us. He conformed
us into the image of God the Son. He's also given every believer
the ministry of reconciliation. And here the word reconciliation
is very similar, but a different word, and it means atonement.
God has given us the word of atonement. That's what this book
is that you're holding this morning. The word of salvation, the word
of redemption, the word of God. It's the word of reconciliation.
It means atonement. And what are we to do with this
word? Well, this word of atonement, this word of redemption, we are
to preach. Look at verse 20. Now then we
are ambassadors for Christ. The word ambassador means preacher. It means a representative of
God. And you might say, well, David,
I'm not a preacher. Well, you really are. What evidence
do you and I have that God has saved us? You love to tell sinners
about Christ. Oh, what a evidence that is.
I know some of you that just love to tell folks about what
the Lord's done for you. We tell them what we've heard.
We tell them what we've seen. We tell them what God has done
for us. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. That'd be good news to a sinner.
An ambassador for Christ beseeches. You see that word? That word
beseech means to call. It means to exhort, to give,
to desire, to implore, to persuade. We persuade sinners in Christ's
stead, in Christ's place, or for Christ's sake to be reconciled
to God. That's our message. In Christ,
you can be reconciled to God. It's the only way you can. Now,
I can't see your faces this morning, but I hope that made you smile.
In Christ, you can be changed. In Christ, you can be made new.
In Christ, you can be born again. In Christ, you can be created
into Christ's image. In Christ, you can be made the
very righteousness of God, but it's only in Him. And this is
the reason, this is the cause and the remedy for our dead and
hopeless condition and the disease called sin. Look at verse 21. You know the verse well. For
He, God, hath made Him Christ to be sin for us. You notice
the words to be are italicized, meaning they were added in the
translation, but God made Christ sin for us. Who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God? Where? In Him. Who was it that knew no sin?
Why was the Lord Jesus Christ? Who was it that was made to be
sin? The Lord Jesus Christ. Whose
sin was Christ made to be? The elect people of God. Who
was it in that we are made the righteousness of God? It was
in Him, in Christ. Are you in Christ? What evidence
do you and I have that we're born of God? Do you see that
God is holy and that you're unholy? Do you have a deep sense of your
sin and the inability to please God in and of yourself? Do you
have an understanding of your sin and your unworthiness? Do
you have a clear view of the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you see what He's done for
sinners? Do you have faith in the Lord
Jesus? Do you have the desire to continue in that faith until
you die? John wrote, if I may paraphrase,
he said, there are a lot of folks that's left us, said they went
out from us, but they were not of us. 1 John 2, 19. You see,
it's those that endure to the end that shall be saved. Child
of God, you will endure. Do you know how I know? Because
you're kept by the power of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1, 5. Do you know God? What evidence
is there? You'll grow in the grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. You'll have a desire to
grow. You'll have a desire to learn.
You'll have a desire to hear the things of the Spirit of God.
A natural man sure doesn't. While these things are foolishness
unto him, but not if you have been made a new creature in Christ. You know, anything that does
not grow is not alive. But you who are growing in the
grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus are alive and well. I'm convinced that the only reason
that this world looks so attractive to some professing Christians
is because they've never really left it. But you have some evidence
of redemption in Christ if you have left it. Our Lord said to
His people, you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out
of the world. And He also told us that you
have not chosen Me, but I've chosen you. And I ordained you
that you should go and what? Bring forth fruit and that your
fruit should remain. And there again, we see the evidence
of life. What is it? It's fruit. We endure
to the end because Christ, having loved His own that were in the
world, He loved them until the end. That's the only way we're
able to endure. Kept by the power of God. I just
love that. Oh beloved, I remind you that
salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and salvation is through the Lord Jesus Christ. So I must ask, what think ye
of Jesus Christ? Oh may God enable you to trust
in Him alone. Father, thank you for this means
that you provided for us to meet together in these trying times.
Lord, we look forward to your divine providence when we can
again meet together face-to-face and fellowship together around
your Word. Lord, we pray for those who do
not know you. Oh, how horrible it must be to
be without Christ, without hope, and without God in this world.
Lord, in the midst of these troubles, we know and acknowledge that
you're still on your throne. You're still ruling and reigning
and working all things together according to your sovereign will
and purpose. Thank you, Lord, that you continue
to call your people. Thank you, Lord, for bringing
your sheep into the fold. Thank you, Lord, for your word
and the revelation of it. But Lord, we thank you most of
all for Christ and the salvation that's in him. and in Him alone. For it's in Christ alone that
we ask these things and for His sake and for the glory of His
own great name. Amen.