Good morning. That's my handsome
group in here today, with the exception of myself. I found
myself to be rather homely. I wanted to bring a message this
morning having to do with the believer and the anticipation
of a new year. And I started down that road,
but before I could actually think with no doubts about it that
that's where I wanted to be, I had to change my mind just
a little bit. So if you'll find the book of
2 Corinthians, some guy I used to know, he said
2 Corinthians. And unlike my predecessor, I want
you to stay camped out right here. So our text, our main interest is
in verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Is that what
I said earlier? Yes. Oh, boy, that's better.
The other Sunday, I don't know where I was, but I got everything
mixed up. Here's a beautiful statement.
We need to try to find out what it means and what it says. whether or not I have a saving
interest in it. So let's pray first of all. Lord God of heaven and earth,
the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, this morning we are privileged
to be able to assemble in this place without anybody dictating to
us how we are to worship you, what portion of this book we
are to speak from. We pray for divine guidance in
these things that you would help us And we pray as we come to
these verses in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, that you will indeed,
as it pleases you, we beg of you, speak with that voice that
wakes the dead and make your people hear. If you don't do that, O Lord, all the eye-walking creature
handshaking, coming to an altar that ain't an altar, and falling
down and crying a bunch of tears. These things are nothing but
flesh. No gospel in them whatsoever,
but are in fact detrimental to the gospel, speaking the exact
opposite of what is there. But Lord, I know one thing, and
I think everybody in this place knows this. We may not believe
it, but I'm sure we know it. This is your book. This isn't a Baptist Bible, or
a Methodist Bible, or any other kind of Bible. It is the unadulterated,
absolutely perfect Word of the Living God. And we beg and pray that you
would work in our minds and in our hearts as we cover these
precious things that are before us in this chapter. Lord, please visit this place.
You've done so before. Why not again? You've helped us in time past,
how about helping us again? Without you, we're nothing. Without you, the creature is
absolutely nothing. We pray for your forgiveness,
but we also pray that we might honor you in this place today. We beg these things in Christ's
name for His sake. Amen. Alright, we go straight to verse
17. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he or she is a new creature or a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who
has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and has given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are to tell people, men and
women, young people, whomever, whoever enters this place or
any other place where the gospel is being preached, we need to
tell them how God can be reconciled to them and not stain his purity,
his absolute perfection. All things are of God who has
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. Now this is an old King James
word to wit. It simply means, you know, to
be. You'll understand it better when
we put the statement with it. The word translated is, I can't
get the definition to come, I just had it in my head, but I couldn't
get it on my tongue. That is to say, that God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Well, now, if Christ reconciled
everybody when He went to the cross, how come everybody is
not saved? And there are several characters
in our Bibles that are unmistakably said to be in hell. Now, what
about them? if he reconciled them. Our Lord
came to reconcile a certain people. They are not white or black,
yellow or red. These are people that God chose
in eternity past, in that original covenant of grace, and He gave
those people to Christ as their surety. Christ is responsible
for those people, no matter how many there are, and the Bible
says it is an innumerable number. A lot of people get upset when
you say it's a large number such as that, but I'm just telling
you what it says. Not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, this being true, we
are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by
us. We pray you, in Christ's stead,
be reconciled to God. You and I be reconciled to God. Let us make sure there is nothing
between us and Him. If it is, we need to consult
him and beg for him to remove it, whatever it is. Verse 21, for he has made Christ,
I know it says him, for he has made Christ sin for us. I know it says to be sinned,
but that ain't in the original. Anything italicized in the King
James Bible, and if you don't have one, you should have one,
just simply makes that impossible. He has made Him, I'll leave out
the words, to be. God has made God's Son sin for
us. Christ, who knew no sin, never
sinned in 33 years of living in this world. Not once, not once, who knew
no sin. Now, why is that important to
us? That we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Now, I know this beyond a doubt,
and I think you know it. If you don't know it, you ought
to know it. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. And these people who claim to
have a righteousness of their own, they're lying. They're just
flat out telling a lie. And they hate the pure, true
gospel that says Christ is our righteousness. Every ounce of
it. And that is vital and important. I probably shouldn't say this,
but I'm going to anyway. The main goal of modern day religion
is to get people involved in one particular church or another. And so they just keep wooing
them this way, and if that doesn't work, they'll try something else,
and pretty soon you've got a big thing going on. But the problem is, there's no
salvation there. Whoever the preacher is, he's
lost. I don't care how many degrees he has. He's lost. It tells people, if you do this,
God will do that. Man, you've got the wrong horse. It doesn't work that way. I know,
I used to say those very same things. Because I heard other
preachers say it. Now we back up to verse 17. Christ makes all things new. He is the author of the new creation. The new creation is a spiritual
creation. It's not fleshly, it's not carnal,
it's not worldly. It is spiritual indeed. This word new has reference to
the name and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord
Jesus comes in after the old system failed. He could have
been born whenever Genesis was written, but he wasn't. How many
years, Craig? How many centuries went by? Fifteen,
twenty? A lot. Thousands of years passed,
and the Christ, the promised Redeemer, the Messiah, has not
yet come. And then all of a sudden, He
appears. at a manger in Bethlehem, an infant, a brand new baby. Why did He come like that? So
He could represent His people. He did it for us, that He might
set us free. He is called in our Bibles the
Mediator of the New Covenant. Well, when did we have the old
covenant? Well, it started with Abraham. It started with the
law. That's the covenant of works. And it ain't going to help you
one little bit. You have to be absolutely perfect to think you
can walk by that rule. It just can't be done. And the
more you try, the more you make a mess of it. And the same is
true of me. Christ is the mediator of the
new covenant. His blood is called the blood
of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews chapter 13, you can find
this, I forget the verse number, but Christ's blood is said to
be the blood of the everlasting covenant. That is vital and that
is important and that is all that saves sinners is the shed
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today's religion doesn't want
to talk about blood. That's messy. It's not fashionable to talk
about such things in public. Well, you'll regret it one of
these days, because in hell you'll be wishing you had said some
things about the blood of Christ and found out for yourself what
it is and how to find it. He is said to be the mediator
of the new covenant. His blood is the blood of the
new covenant. is a new thing, an absolutely new thing. Now
what is it that had never been done before on this earth all
those thousands of years that lead up to Bethlehem? How come?
Here it is. I'll give you the verse after
I read it, because my wife's printed it out for me. How long
will you go about, O you backsliding daughter, For the Lord has created
a new thing in the earth. A woman shall compass a man. A woman shall have a child without
the aid of a man. It's the regenerating work of
the precious Spirit of God, the Triune God. that this miracle, and it is
a miracle, you can't deny that this is a
miracle. It had never occurred before.
I'm not talking about all these newfangled methods they use today. Those things were not heard of
for thousands of years again. Not only what preceded, but what
followed the New Testament period in our Bibles. So this new birth is the means whereby God can
save sinners in Christ and Him crucified. Without this, there
is no salvation. Salvation is the work of God,
and Christ is the God-man. this doctrine, the one to which
we have read in this chapter, especially verse 17. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The King James
says he is a new creature. They're both the same. It doesn't
matter. You can have either one you want.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. That is, then, this wonderful grace of God in Christ. And this
gospel is said to have the dew of its youth. I was quoting you
from Jeremiah 31, 22, and now I want to quote you from the
book of Galatians. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, a new creation. That's what this has just told
us. A new creation. This is all that will work. This
is what avails. Our entrance into the King of
Heaven is said to be in our Bibles by a new and living way. By the way, that was Galatians
6.15 and the one I just read you came out of Hebrews chapter
10. Alright, we come now to the first,
I forget how many points there are, I don't remember. Yeah,
four, I think. But the first one is simply this. What is the basis in this verse,
17, in 2 Corinthians 5, what is the basis of this new creation,
this new creature? On what foundation does it rest? Now, the Bible talks in many
places about foundations that are secure and foundations that
fail. You can find this plainly and
clearly represented both in the negative as well as the positive
in Matthew chapter 7. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature, a new creation. That's the only explanation that
will suffice. Behold, all things are become
new. If any person be in Christ. Our Lord made the first creation. He spoke and it was done. You've
heard that many times. Somewhere not long ago I was
preaching somewhere else and I decided to try that on, but
I don't know if it went over too good. Without Him, there was not anything made that
was made. And if you read Colossians chapter
1, and the latter part of the chapter, and the middle part
of the chapter as well, if you read that, you find out that
Christ is indeed the Maker of all things. Creation was given
to Him. to accomplish. He's very intricately
involved in this because he's coming in this way into this
world. But how is it that the believer
is a new creature? How can you be talking about
a new creature, a new creation? It comes from the representative
character of the Lord Jesus Christ. This represents Christ. is who He is and what He did. There must be death before there
can be life. We must be alive physically before
we can be alive spiritually. You can't start off with the
spiritual. You have to start off being just one with everybody
else in this human race that everybody thinks is so much fun
Maybe we're learning a little better than that, I don't know.
But how is it that the believer is a new creature? We are dead by virtue of our
federal head in the Lord Jesus Christ. This has to do with a legal Look at this death. We have been joined before we
were ever born, before this world was ever made. God gave His elect
people, every last one of them, to Christ. And charged Christ
with their care and keeping and their redemption. And His death
is necessary in that process. Dead by virtue of our federal
union with Him. Let me read you just a few verses. It keeps on growing, my goodness.
Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with Him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies
no more. He cannot die again. If it didn't
work the first time, it won't work the second time. But if
it accomplished everything he intended, there ain't no need
to die again. And that's exactly how it has
to be. So in this passage of Scripture
that I'm on the wrong page with, let's see where I'm supposed
to be. Oh, goodness. I ain't going to tell you what
I was thinking, but I done got it now. Now, if we be dead with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dies no more. He cannot die again. Dies no
more. Death has no more dominion over
Him. For in that He died, He died
unto sin once. But in that He lives, He lives
unto God. Likewise, reckon you also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Romans chapter 6, verses 8 through
11. So this is a legal process. Christ is our federal head. Just like in our human nature,
Adam was our federal head. But in this case, the Lord Jesus,
Oh, how much difference there is between Adam and Christ. It
is entirely a world, absolute world. We are said to be made
new creatures. 2 Corinthians 5.17, if any man
be in Christ, we are new creatures or a new creation, whichever
one you want. And this, in an actual sense, This is not legal language. This
is simply everyday language. It is a vital union with Christ. We're made new creatures by spiritual
death and resurrection in Christ. And His resurrected life is given
to us. And that's something I cannot
explain. And I don't know who can. I know
some people that would try, but I don't think that's worth much.
One more sense in which this oneness with Christ, it has to
do with practical matters. In the believers' everyday actions, they will try to show this new
creature by nearness, newness of actual conduct, new delights,
new goals and new principles. Grace kills our old confidences
and makes us build upon a new foundation. And Paul tells us
in 1 Corinthians 3, there ain't but one foundation and Christ
is that foundation. All right, number two, what is
the essence of this newness? If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature, a new creation. Not the old man patched up. That's what the doctor does for
you when you go to see him, or at least try. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Brand new. Something he's never
been. We're told in Mark chapter 2
that new wine, freshly made wine, during Bible
times, must be put in new skins. They made bags to store wine
in out of animal hides. But it must be, it cannot be, the skin cannot be old. Because
when that wine begins to work, it'll bust those bottles right
wide open. You know, I never made any, but
I know some people that have. And I might even know some that
still do, but they've got another process now.
They put it in a bottle and put a cork in it. I'm pretty sure I remember somebody
telling me that plenty of them have exploded anyway at various
times and places. Alright, this essence describing
the newness of this life in Christ. It's not something new about
Him, but He is Himself new. Salvation is the work of God. Shall nothing create something
out of nothing? This word, new, some things altogether
different from what previously existed. It is simply a new creation. Now we come to the effects of
this newness. Christ makes all things new. Note the effects of this newness. A believer is a marvel and a
mystery to himself. How come this happened to you,
not to me? You can blame that on God. For He chose us and gave us to
Christ in that precious covenant. You could just about say we're
a bunch of hogs that's been transformed. And I can think of a good illustration
in our Bibles. I think there's three of the
synoptic Gospels, all three of them, Comment on this particular
one, but Luke seems to be the most moving. I could read it
right off of there, but I'd rather you turn to this one. Luke chapter 8. Now you remember, I'm sure, most
of you anyway, the Lord Jesus took his disciples in one of
their fishing boats and went to the country of the Gadarenes
on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. And this, there's a man there,
there's a graveyard. There's a man who cannot be chained
or tied or anything. He's just wild. I do mean wild. And then there's a herd of swine,
2,000 swine, and the Jewish religion forbids the eating of pork. You think they're just growing
them just because they like to watch them? No, sir, they're
winding up on somebody's dinner table. Now this man, the demons within
him, spoke to our Lord and begged that He would remove them. Let me just pick up the reading
in Luke chapter 8. Let's start at verse 26. And they arrived at the country
of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when our
Lord went forth to land, there met Him out of the city a certain
man which had demons, or devils, a long time, and wore no clothes,
neither lived in any house but in the tombs." He stayed in the
graveyard. When he saw Jesus, that's the
demons within this man that are saying this. We'll learn that
a little bit later, or I think it's later in this same passage.
When he saw Jesus, the man cried out and fell down before Him,
and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with you, Jesus,
you Son of God Most High? You tell me the devils don't
know who Christ is. This one did. Oh, they know all right, and
they plead with him, and win their suit in this very passage. Verse 29, For he had commanded
the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for oftentimes it
had caught him And he was kept bound with chains and fetters,
and he broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the
wilderness. And Jesus asked him, saying,
What is your name? And the demon within him said,
Legion. That's a bunch. That's more than
enough to take care of 2,000 hogs. That's a lot. Because many devils were entered
into him. I know you don't believe in demon
possession, but this book does. God does. Therefore, God's people
do. We may not be comfortable with
it. We may not be able to explain it, even to ourselves. But I'm
telling this in this book. And this ain't the only place,
by any means. They besought Him that He would command
them to go out of them into the deep. They wanted to go into
the Sea of Galilee. And there was there a herd of
many swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought Him, they begged
Him that He would allow them to enter into them. They did
what? They asked His permission if
he would let them enter this herd of swine. Now, who's ruling
whom? The devil's God's devil, and
so are all his demons. And Christ does with them as
He pleases. Anybody who knows a different
God than that doesn't know the true God. We'd like a little
God that we can just let Him out of His cage when we want
Him to and put Him up when we don't. And that's no God at all. And it simply says at the end
of verse 32, and He suffered them, He allowed them. He said,
help yourself, and they did. Then went the devils out of the
man. entered into the swine, and the
herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were
choked, as in died, when they that fed them saw what was done."
Now see if you can understand this arrangement of different
people. Now here's a group of people
that stay a good bit of time, I imagine every day on that mountain,
feeding these swine. Or if you want me to call them
hogs, I can call them that, it doesn't matter. And they go and
tell it in the city of Gadara, and in the country. And I'm sure
whoever the owners were, were the first to receive this information. Then they went out to see what
was done, and came to Jesus, and found the man out of whom
the devils were departed. Sitting, notice these things,
number one, sitting at the feet of Jesus. What a glorious sight. Clothed in the righteousness
of Christ and in His right mind. Boy, I can handle some of that.
In His right mind. And these crazy people who thought
they knew something were afraid. That's just incredible. Incredible. So the effects of this being
made new, I tell you what, if that's not the most imminent
illustration of it in our Bibles, I don't know what is. Now that's
graphic. Even if it repulses us, it's
still graphic. And it shows us who Christ is
and who the devil is. Oh my goodness. That ought to
help you a little bit. The devil can't do anything without
God's permission. Now there's one drawback to what
I've tried to tell you this morning. I don't know if I ought to tell
you or not. To tell people who Christ is, and who the devil is, and who
rules who, will make you a stranger and a pilgrim wherever you live. It don't make no difference.
There's people that'll ride you out of town if they can get by
with it. And I've had my fill of that,
too. It was meant to be. And whatever takes place, whatever
comes, whatever goes, or doesn't come or doesn't go, Christ is
still reigning and ruling. mmm all right Craig it's your turn
buddy I gotta quit