Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 63. Hymn number 63. Number 63. Take the name of Jesus with you. Child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give
you. Take it then where'er you go. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth
and joy of heaven. Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Take the name of Jesus with her. as a shield from every snare. If temptations round you gather,
breathe that holy name in prayer. Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Oh, the precious name of Jesus,
how it thrills our souls with joy when his loving arms receive
us and his songs our tongues employ. Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth
and joy of heaven. Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. At the name of Jesus bowing,
falling prostrate at his feet. King of kings in heaven we'll
crown him when our journey is complete. Precious name, oh how
sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
295. 295. He leadeth me, O blessed thought, O words with heavenly comfort
fraught, What e'er I do, where'er I be, Still tis God's hand that
leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me
By his own hand he leadeth me His faithful follower I would
be for by his hand he leadeth me. Sometimes mid scenes of deepest
gloom, sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom, by water still
or troubled sea, still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
by his own hand he leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, for by His hand He leadeth me. Lord, I would clasp thy hand
in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine. Content whatever lot I see, since
tis my God that leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. by his own hand he leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, for by his hand he leadeth me. And when my task on earth is
done, When by thy grace the victory's won, In death's cold wave I will
not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me
By his own hand he leadeth me His faithful follower I would
be for by his hand he leadeth me. I'm going to read from 14 down
to the end of the verse, 2 Corinthians 5, 14. For the love of Christ
constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all,
then we're all dead. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him that died for them and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth
know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, now henceforth know we him no more. 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 or because 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 then, we
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by
us, we pray you in Christ's stead be you reconciled to God. For
he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. Lord Jesus, and our great glorious
God in heaven. Lord, that God whose the heavens
is his throne, this earth is his footstool, that God who says
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and you
do according to your will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and no one, no one can stay your
hand or question what you're doing. Oh Lord, we worship you
as that God. We worship you with all power
and all glory vested in you and your blessed son. We are so thankful
that you and your sovereign mercy separated us unto yourself. You
didn't leave us to ourselves, didn't leave us to our will,
didn't leave us in our sin, didn't leave us in our flesh, Didn't
leave us, oh, Lord, to try to figure out how to be saved. But, Lord, you taught us that
salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end, and we thank
you for that. Oh, how we bless you that our
souls can rest. Our souls can rest in Christ.
Our souls can rest in the promises. Our soul can rest in what a salvation
complete and accomplished. And Lord, meet with us tonight.
Oh, God, come and meet with us. Please allow us to worship you
tonight in spirit and in truth. We thank you for my brothers
and sisters. Thank you for my preacher brethren as they stand
tonight to labor in the gospel. God bless them. Lord, encourage
them. And again, we pray for our brothers that's sick, for
our brothers that's not well. We pray for them. And Lord Jesus,
please have mercy upon our families, sons and daughters, daughters-in-laws and son-in-laws,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Lord, you're the only one who
can do anything for them. We ask these things in our Lord
Jesus' name. Amen. Number 31 in our course books.
31 on the course book. When I was lost in sin and shame,
how Thou let me take the blame. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me. When I could look down deep within,
and see the sinfulness of sin. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
was to me. Oh, how merciful. How merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful. How merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful. thou art to me. A sinner lost and so hell-bent,
yet thou say'st I must repent. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
was to me. I wonder why should I rebel and
with a soul deserving hell. Blessed Lord, How merciful thou
was to me. Oh, how merciful. How merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. I'm not ashamed of all thy grace
when thou came and took my place. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. And when this world ceases to
be, Eternal blood to speak for me. Blessed Lord, how merciful
Thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, How merciful,
blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me. I want to get my subject, my
title, and my message out of verse 17 here of 2 Corinthians
5. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Now, what in the world does it
mean to be a new creature, a new creation? What does it mean? Well, the only way we can come
to a true understanding of what it means is to look at what the
Scripture says, and look at the context. You know, it says there
in verse 17, therefore, if any man be in Christ. And if will
you see a therefore, you've got to see what it's there for, what
it's there for. He comes to a conclusion, he
starts somewhere else and then he said all these things and
said, therefore, I'm going to tell you something else, therefore.
So if we have a true understanding of what the context is and all
things are new, we've got to understand. And at first it says,
if any man be in Christ, be in Christ. And what is it to be
in Christ? What is it to be new in Christ? Well, there's only one way a
person can get in Christ, and that is for God to put a man
in Christ. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. God puts a man in Christ. But
we're also in Christ by election. God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. We're in Christ by election. GOD CHOSE US IN CHRIST. NO YOU'RE
NOT THAT YOU'VE NOT CHOSEN ME, BUT I'VE CHOSEN YOU. I'VE CHOSEN
YOU. AND THEN, SECONDLY, WE'RE IN
CHRIST BY GOD'S ETERNAL PURPOSE. GOD PURPOSED US TO BE IN CHRIST. WE WERE GIVEN TO CHRIST IN THE
ETERNAL COVENANT OF GRACE. GOD GAVE US TO CHRIST. YOU GO
THROUGH JOHN 17, GOES TO MANY PLACES. THOSE THAT THE ASK GIVE
ME, THOSE THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, THOSE THAT YOU'VE GIVEN ME.
A RIGHTEOUS SEED. And I tell you, we're in Christ
by God's purpose. We put there by purpose, on purpose. And then we were in Christ when
he is on the cross. Then he may be in Christ. If
you're in Christ, you got there by election, by God's purpose,
and by God putting us with Christ on the cross. Christ, God said
he made him sin to be sin for us. us is elect, the one God
purposed to save. And we were in Christ when He
was on the cross. We were crucified with Him, and
then we were in Christ by an effectual calling. If God elected
you and chose you in Christ, and then by purpose He put you
in Christ and gave you grace on purpose, and you was in Christ
on the cross and you died with Christ, Then God comes along
and He calls you effectually because you're one of the elect,
because you're one whom God purposed, because Christ died for you,
because He will effectually call you and bring you to what God
purposed from you for all eternity. You know, whatever, Romans 828. Let me tell you something about
Romans 828. Let me just take a minute. Minute, let's talk
to somebody most people thinks Romans 828 takes effect once
you become a believer But God being eternal God and having
foreknown us and having chosen us and having elected us Everything
that happened in our life was for God our good and His glory
to bring us to Christ and Every one of us went a different way.
Every one of us was raised in a different way and different
religions and different things. But everything that happened
in our life was for our good until God in sovereign mercy
effectually called us to himself. And then what happens? The gospel
tells us that God did all that. EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TO ME
IN LIFE, AND THERE'S A LOT OF TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED TO ME
IN MY LIFE, BUT I COULD NOT BE WHERE I AM HAD NOT GOD MEANT
FOR THEM TO BE MY GOOD TO BRING ME TO THE PLACE WHERE I CAN KNOW
CHRIST AND TRUST CHRIST AND REST IN CHRIST. HE LETS SOME PEOPLE GO A LONG
WAY, AND OTHER PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, THEY DON'T GO SO FAR. They don't
go so far. But if any man's in Christ, by
effectual calling. Now, what does it mean? Oh, the
first thing is, if any man be in Christ. That's the key. You
gotta be in Christ. Gotta be in Christ. And now look
over here in verse 14. Chapter five, verse 14. You know,
we're this therefore, and we gotta go back and find out what
the therefore's for. So we're gonna start back here
in verse 14. Look what he says, you know, one thing about a person
in Christ, he's loved to Christ and he loves Christ. For the
love of Christ constrains us. Now what does that mean? Christ's
love constrains us. And you know what that means?
To exert force. And I read the other day what
it means to exert force contrary to your nature. Contrary to your
belief so God comes the love of Christ comes and exerts a
force on us And not even a you know in our nature and what he
does because he loves us he exerts his force on us and what And he urges us and exerts his
force on us to turn around and love him and The scripture we
quote all the time, we love him because he first loved us. And
that's what he's talking about here. How can you be a new creature
in Christ? How can you do that? Because
the love of Christ exerted a force on us, exerted a power on us,
and brought us to Christ himself and made us love Christ. What
he says, for the love of Christ constrains us. CONSTRAINS US. IT EITHER CONSTRAINS US OR RESTRAINS
US FROM CERTAIN ACTIONS. AND OH MY! AND THEN LOOK WHAT
HE SAYS HERE NOW. HIS LOVE FOR US, FOR THE LOVE
OF CHRIST CONSTRAINS US. HIS LOVE FOR US URGES US TO LOVE
HIM. HE EXERTS FORCE ON US AND IT
MOVES US TO LOVE HIM, COME TO HIM, BOW TO HIM AND WORSHIP HIM. WHAT IT DOES, IT CAUSES US TO
DO WHAT WE WOULDN'T DO AND KEEPS US FROM DOING WHAT WE WANT TO
DO BECAUSE THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINS US. AND THEN LOOK
WHAT ELSE HE SAYS IN THIS VERSE. HE SAYS THIS, WE COME TO THIS
JUDGEMENT. WE COME TO A JUDGEMENT OVER THIS
ABOUT THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINING US AND CAUSING US TO LOVE HIM.
WE COME TO A JUDGEMENT BECAUSE OF CHRIST'S LOVE FOR US AND THIS
IS WHAT WE If one died for all, then we're all dead. Now, what
do you reckon that means? That means that when Christ died,
everyone he died for died too. That's exactly what that means.
If he died for all, then all died with him. All are dead with
him. Huh? Oh, my. We were all, then
we're all dead. I mean, if he died for all, then
we're all dead. They all died with him. When we were dead in
sin, we're dead to law, dead in Adam, that's why and when
he died for his people. And when he died, all he died
for were in him. God said he made him sin for
us. Our Lord Jesus Christ bore the
curse of the law. And as we were dead in Adam,
now we're alive in Christ. in Christ. Look over in Galatians
chapter 2. Look in Galatians chapter 2.
This is one of them. Then I'm going to look at something
else. Look here in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. When
Christ died, then we all died with him. There was a man, he's,
the Lord took him home and he would come and be in the men's
meeting and he studied the scriptures all the time. And he'd come up
on that verse scripture one day and he said, what does that mean?
If one died for all, then all were dead. What does that mean?
And I told him, if Christ died for all, then all died with him. Everyone that was given to him
died with him. And I can show you that in the
scriptures. Look what he said here in Galatians 2.20. I'm crucified
with Christ. Now, when Christ was crucified,
did he die? But he said, nevertheless, I
live. Yet not I, but Christ living in me. And the life which I now
live in this body, I live by the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. So that's what happened. Now
I want you to look over in Romans chapter six. Look in Romans chapter
six. We're talking about You know,
therefore, you got to go back to what therefore is therefore,
and I'm going back to see what therefore is therefore. How you
get to be a new creature in Christ. And oh, my. You know, Christ,
when Christ, our life shall appear, that's what the scripture, Colossians,
Colossians 3, 3, 4 says, when Christ, our life shall appear. Christ is our life. He's not
going to be our life. He's not going to be our life
in eternity. He's our life right now. Without Christ, we're nothing. Without Christ, we have nothing.
And when He died, bless His holy name, I'm grateful that because
I was in Christ and God put me in there by election and purpose
and grace and put me in Christ, that Christ now lives in me. You can't be in Christ and Christ
not be in you. Look what he said, talking about
dying, Christ dying for all his people. Look what he said here,
Romans 6 and verse 6. Knowing this, he said, we know
this, there's no arguing about this, that our old man is crucified
with him. That the body of sin, this body
that's just full of sin, might be destroyed. And if it's destroyed
that his fourth, we're not a servant of sin anymore. Now listen to
this, for he that is dead is freed from sin. And if the son
sets you free, you're free indeed. The truth sets you free. When
you're dead, there's all obligations you have are gone. When my father-in-law
died, I got a bill for tens and tens of thousands of dollars
for a helicopter ride. I just wrote on the bill, he's
dead, and sent it back to him. He's dead, he don't have no,
he don't have to pay that. And we're dead. Dead to sin,
and when dead from sin, we're free from sin. Now watch this. Now, if we be dead with Christ,
listen to this, we believe that we shall also live with him.
There's another thing. Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead, he ain't gonna die no more. Death has no more
dimension over him. Why? For in that he died, he
died under sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth
under God. And then look what he says to
us. Likewise, Just as knowing that you're crucified with Him,
knowing that Christ died unto sin, that we're dead to sin,
likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Huh? Oh. And then now let's still
go on to the back over in our text. So we talked about the
love of Christ. We talked about coming to this
judgment. If Christ loved us, then he died for all of us and
all of us died with him. We died with him in every way. And then look what he says here
at verse 15. Now watch what new creatures
have new motives to live and that he died for all. Now listen
to this. Here's here's something that's
new that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again." Being a new
creature, we have a new motive for what we do. We don't live
for ourselves. Self, you know, I got an article
in there. I put it in the bulletin years
and years ago, and I put it in there several times. Dying to
self. dying to self we have the sentence of death on ourselves
but oh my if christ died for us died for us then we wish live
and paul said i live but i live by the faith of the son of god
that which live should not his fourth live under ourselves Not
to our flesh, not to please ourselves, not to seek our own glory, not
to seek our own way, not to seek our own will. We're not henceforth
lived unto ourselves, but unto Him, unto Him which died and
rose again. We live for Christ. We live for
His glory. We live according to His will,
according to His purpose. We're not ourselves. We're bought
with a price. I wish folks would really believe
that. If they did, oh my goodness, the building wouldn't hold the
people to really believe that. We don't live to ourselves. We
live to Christ. We live for his glory, for his
honor. And oh my, nothing grieves us
worse than when we feel like that we've dishonored our master.
Oh my. But we live for him and to him
which died for us. Look what he says down here in
verse 19. And this is the reason to wit,
or because that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
and all, bless his name, not imputing, not charging their
trespasses unto them, and gave us a word, a gospel, a truth,
A word of reconciliation. God reconciled us to Christ.
Oh, my. And I tell you what, that's what
he meant, you know, for he made him to be sin. I can't get over
that. I can't get over that. I don't
know how to understand that. I don't know how to deal with
it. But it says there that God made Christ to be sin for us.
Now, shouldn't we live to him, live for his glory? Does He not,
did we not owe Him? If nature is not enough, anything
that we did in any way we think of Him, it's not enough for what
He's worthy of. Not enough for what He deserves
from us. Not enough. We can't love Him
enough. We can't worship Him pure enough. We can't glorify
Him enough. We can't. But oh my, because
God, if He died for us, we don't live for ourselves, bless His
holy name. I mean, listen, He is our life,
and our low life is taken up with Him. Take Christ away from
us, and we got nothing. But with Christ, oh, we got life. We got a reason to live. We got
a reason to worship, a reason to glorify Him, a reason to honor
Him. Oh, my. And that's because all
things are of God. My God made him to be sin. Oh, I just scared to death to
talk about that and I can't I can't get into it You know, he was
born of a sinful woman. I know they'll worship Mary and
they'll talk about how Immaculate she is. She is a sinful woman
But God chose her to bear the Son of God in her womb and then
he was made a made in the likeness of sinful flesh. When you looked at him, you saw
a man. When you looked at him, you saw a man with dark hair.
You saw a man who was probably very slight. You saw a man that,
in fact, he had to be pointed out to people at different times. But it says himself, he knew
no sin. did no sin, did no sin. And when Christ died for us,
it was died for our sin, for us, our sin. Our sin became his sin. His life
became our life. And all he was actually, he did
actually die and he was actually forsaken of God, his father's,
his father. And then look what Nelson says
in verse 16. Oh, we're going to get to that.
We're going to get back to verse 17 in a little while. Look what
it says. Now you're in verse 16 of second Corinthians five,
but unto him that died and rose again for the wherefore henceforth,
since we know Christ and he lived for him and we don't live for
ourselves and he died for us. And he rose again for us, wherefore
henceforth know we no man after the flesh." Now, what does that
mean? Every one of us in here, we have
our flesh. But I don't consider you after
the flesh. I consider every one of you believers.
I consider you as people of faith, people that know Christ, love
Christ, delight in Christ, and love to worship Christ, that's
good to one another, love one another, kind to one another,
forgiving one another, and doing for others that need done for. Now, I tell you, I don't know
you after the flesh. I really don't. I don't know
you after the flesh. I hope you don't know me after
the flesh. We view ourselves as brothers and sisters in Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ.
And then look what he says, but now look what he says. Yea, though
we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know
we him no more. What in the world you reckon
that means? We did know Christ after this old flesh. We were
natural men. We all had a fallen nature, and
what we knew about Christ, we just knew him after the flesh.
Our flesh is what I'm talking about. Our flesh, you know, we
had a natural understanding, and we tried to make our flesh
acceptable to Christ, acceptable to God, because we only knew
Christ after the flesh. We knew him in something that
we had to do something for him to be accepted of him. And we
did not know him. Paul thought he was an imposter.
Paul hated him. But oh my, we didn't know him
as God and man. We didn't know, I didn't know
him as a savior. I knew him as a prophet, I thought great teacher.
You know, somebody that I was trying to, you know, I thought
if I could mix my faith with His blood, I could be saved.
If I repented, mixed my tears with His blood, I could be saved.
I knew Him after my flesh, after my, not His flesh, my flesh. And we didn't know Him as God
and man. We didn't know Him as Savior.
Jim was telling me about a free will man that he hunts with.
And, you know, free wills do not know Christ as a Savior.
They can't know Christ as a Savior. If they knew Christ as a Savior,
they would believe that they would be eternally saved. The
very fact that it says he's a Savior means that he saves. Why is he called a Savior? Because
he saves. thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Why you gonna call him that for? Because he shall save his people
from their sin. Oh my. And I'll tell you, we
didn't, we didn't know him as our redeemer, as the shepherd
who laid down his life for his sheep and the lover of his sheep.
We didn't know him that way. We knew him after the flesh.
We knew him after the flesh. But we don't know him that way.
Look what he says. But yet henceforth, we don't know him that way anymore.
We don't know him after the flesh anymore. This old flesh got nothing
to contribute to it. We don't know him like that anymore.
Now we know who he is. We know who he is. He's a sovereign. He's a lord. He's a king of kings. Oh, my. He's God and man in one
united purpose. Oh my, he is eternal as his father. And we now know what he did.
He saves his people. He went to a cross and he died
for his people, died for his elect. And we know who he did
it for. He did it for sinners, for his
chosen people. And I tell you what, we know
where he is now and he's not down here in the front. He's
not out here pecking on people's hearts' door to be let in. You
don't do things like that. Christ don't do things like that.
When it says the love of Christ constrains us, I'm telling you
what, people say, well, he's out there knocking on... He'll
kick that door in. He'll kick it in. I'm telling
you, Christ, if you're his, he died for you, he's gonna get
you. And I tell you, we know who he did it for. I believe He did it for me. Them
girls sang this morning, He did it for me. He did it all for
me. He did it all for me. And now
we know where He is. He's sitting at the right hand
of God with all power and authority given unto Him. Oh, my. And we're in Christ, and we're
new creatures, and that's what verse 17 brings us to. Therefore, Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. He's a new creature. How in the
world can a person become a new creature? You know, only God
can create. Only God can create. And He calls
us new creatures. He calls us those that He created
Himself. Look over here, 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 6. How do we become new creatures
only God can create? For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light, to give the understanding in our hearts, the knowledge
of God's glory in the person of his blessed, blessed son.
You know, God commanded, and that's what he does for us. He
commands life. And you keep 2 Corinthians. I
want you to look in Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter
5. Look what it says over here in
verse 24. No, wait a minute, that's not
right. 424. 525. Where am I at? Ephesians 424. Oh, here, let's
see. Well, bless my heart. I put down the wrong thing. I thought I corrected it. Well, I'll find it here in a
minute. Oh, here we go. Ephesians 4, 24. I know that's
close. Ephesians 4, 24. And that you put on the new man.
Now listen to this, which after God is created. This new man,
God created a new man. We're new creatures. We're the
new man. And when God creates something, it has to be righteous.
God creates us in righteousness. And listen to this, and he creates
us in true holiness. So when God creates a new man,
a new creature in Christ, he creates him righteous. And he
creates him in true holiness. Holiness is not something you
get later, holiness is what you got right now. I'm so thankful for the things
God, God says about what we have in Christ. And it's a creation.
It's a creation. Oh, God reconciled to himself
through our Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't impute our sins against
us, made him to be sin for us. And he made us these new creations.
And he gave us new desires, a new will, a new heart. You know,
he got to give us a new heart. I never will forget the first
time I heard somebody say, You know, give your heart to God,
and the preacher answered back and said, God don't want your
old stinking, rotten, corrupt heart. He don't want that thing
the way it is. He got to take it out and give
you a brand new one. You can't give this old sorry
heart to God. God's got to take out that stony
heart of flesh and put in a new one, one that can feel, one that
God can touch with and be in touch with the feelings of firmities. And I tell you he gave us as
he gave us these new desires this new will this new heart
these new affections these desires These new this new life this
new will our wheels caught up in the will of God And oh my
look what it says here now and look he gave us. He's the one
that gave us faith To be these new creation look what he says In verse 5 Now he hath wrought, 2 Corinthians
5, 5. Now he that hath wrought for
us the selfsame thing, who has also given unto us the earn of
the spirit, therefore knowing we're always confident, knowing
that whilst we're at home in the body, we're absent from the
Lord. But until that happens, we walk by faith, not by sight. God gives us faith. And I tell
you what, we're looking for a new heaven and a new earth, We're
looking for a new body. We're looking to sing a new song. I love new things, don't you? You know, you go out and buy
something, you come in, you say, well, I like this. And then you
get in front of the mirror and you put it on, see if it's gonna
fit right and all that. Well, everything God got, it's
all new. Oh, so new. And this is what's
so amazing about the gospel. that as many times as we heard
it, it's still new. It's still new. But, oh, let
me go down through verses, a few verses here and quit. He causes us to desire, when
we're new creatures, causes us to desire to be with Him. Look
what He said in verse 1. For we know, 2 Corinthians 5,
1, for we know that if our earthly house were dissolved. You notice that? Dissolved. We
have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. And because God made us new creatures,
listen, for in this we grow. Sometimes we groan earnestly,
desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so being, so being that being
clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this
tabernacle, in this tent, do groan, being burdened, not for
that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. Now, he that wrought for us these
things in us is God, God. And then he gave us the Holy
Spirit to let us know that that's just a down payment on what we
have. Therefore, we're all confident
knowing that as long as we're in this body, we're absent from
the Lord and we walk by faith. not by sight. And oh my, thank
God for His work in us. Thank God for His love that constrains
us. Thank God that Christ was made
sin for us. Thank God that if we have a,
God created us in righteousness and true holiness.
It's a creation. It's a creation. And what a creation
is, is just like God created the world with his word, the
same word is what he uses to take that light into our old
darkened minds and turn on the light, and then we see the glory
of God. Where we see it at? In the Lord
Jesus Christ. And oh, what a joy that brings,
what a joy. Our Father, oh, our Lord Jesus,
our blessed Savior, thank you for allowing us to worship again
tonight. Thank you for your precious truths.
They're so precious, so real. Oh, they do my heart so much
good. Oh, Lord, when you give me understanding of your word,
it just does my heart so much good. And oh, Lord, how may it
I pray that it'll do the hearts of those who were here tonight,
do them good. Be a blessing to their hearts
and their understanding. And oh Lord Jesus, we thank you
that you made Christ our life. You gave us a new heart, new
will, new mind, that can know God, worship God, call on God,
rejoice in Christ, We thank you for it. Blessed be your holy
name. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Oh, in His wonder In the light of His glory and
grace. I'll see you Wednesday, God willing.