turn with me in your bibles to
the book of second corinthians chapter five second corinthians chapter five
we look at verse seventeen once again for the past several weeks
i've been doing a series of messages entitled what's really new and
what i'm talking about in those messages is that when god saves
a sinner When God brings a person from unbelief, the darkness and
deception of unbelief, to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
light, the truth, the Bible says that that person is a new creature
or a new creation. Look at verse 17. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, That refers to the union of a sinner
saved by grace to Christ, united to Christ. And in the Bible,
if you read, you can study the whole gamut of Scripture and
you can see what all that entails. It's a lot. We don't have time
to go into all that. I've gone into some of it in
earlier messages. But to be in Christ is to be
in Him from the foundation of the world, the Scripture says.
those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the foundation of the world. To be in Christ means that He
died for me. He represented me. He stood as
my surety. He paid my sin debt with the
price of His blood. He stood as my substitute and
died in my place. The death that I earned because
of my fall in Adam and my sin, Christ took that death for me.
how do I know that? well he says if any man be in
Christ look at it he is a new creature that is a new creation
and that new creature is not only one who's been chosen of
God before the foundation of the world one who's been redeemed
by the blood of Christ but one who has been regenerated born
again by the Holy Spirit given spiritual life raised from the
dead spiritually and the evidence of that is this old things it
says behold all old things are passed away that means that's
past tense now that's not that's not a gradual passing away he
says behold all things are become new things are new now now what's
really new And you know what the natural man, the religious
lost, religiously lost people, how they go into that and speculate
about it. Well, I used to, I used to smoke. Now I don't smoke, you know,
can a Christian smoke? Somebody said, no. I said, well,
where does it say that in the Bible? Yeah. Should a Christian
smoke? Well, should anybody smoke? You
know, I mean, all that junk, you know, people get into. I
used to be this, I'm now, what's really new? And that's what this
series have been dealing with. And today I'm going to preach
the last message on this series. And it's a tough message because
it deals with an issue that I believe, number one, is universal to every
true believer that's ever been born. And it's also one of the most
difficult trials that true believers have to deal with. Every true
believer at some stage, in some way, to some degree. And that
has to do with family, our families. Because one of the things that's
new, when if we're in Christ, if I'm a sinner saved by grace,
which means I'm justified before God. I'm not guilty. I'm standing
before God in a righteousness that I had no part in producing,
the imputed righteousness of Christ. I'm not charged with
my sin. And as a result of that, I've
been made new. I've been born again. I've been
brought to faith in Christ. All right. If that's the case,
Then old things have passed away, all things have become new. And
one of the things that's new is I now have a new family. A
new family. Well, what about my old family? You know, people, people talk
about the universal brotherhood of man. Do you know that the
Bible does not teach that? Now we can say in philosophy
or in sociology, well, we're all brothers in the human race.
And in a sense, that's true. But does that mean there's a
fellowship between us, that we're members of the same household?
And the answer is no. The Bible doesn't teach the universal brotherhood
of all men without exception, all men and women. Now the Bible,
let me tell you what the Bible does teach. It teaches the universal
neighborhood of all men. That's why it says,
love your neighbor. And that doesn't mean the person
that's living next door to you. That means every human being,
even your worst enemy. You say, well I can't do that.
I know you can't, you're just being honest. Some people, I've
had people in churches all the time, they say, I just love everybody.
No you don't. Quit lying. You don't love everybody. Universal neighborhood, in which
we're told the Bible says love God perfectly with all your heart,
soul, and mind, and strength. Well, that's what we ought to
do. But we don't. You ever have a struggle with
sin? Well, we all do. That means you don't love God
perfectly with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Or
you wouldn't have that struggle. Wouldn't even be an issue with
you. And then it says, love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Now, the Pharisees were good at picking and choosing their
neighbors. But Christ told them, you can't
do that. He told him in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter
five, you've heard it said by them, oh, love your friends.
Well, there's no problem there. Most of the time. But he said,
love your enemies. Love those who would despitefully
use you. Love those who would do you the
most harm. Think about somebody, you got children? Think about
somebody who would harm your children. Can you say you love
them as you love yourself? Well, not immediately anyway.
That's why we need salvation by grace. You see, when Christ
died, you know who he died for? Bible says in Romans 5 he died
for his enemies. And that's what we are by nature,
even God's elect. We're by nature his enemies.
And what happens? By the power of the Spirit through
Christ, he makes us his friends. In fact, he makes us his household. So whenever God brings a sinner
to be saved by grace, we have a new family. Well, does that
mean that we're to neglect our earthly family? No. Let me tell
you something, and this is one of the, you know, one of the
best things about the Christmas season, hopefully one of the
best things, is that we get together with our earthly families, our
children, our grandchildren. Now, maybe you don't have a,
maybe it's not so joyous with some earthly members of that
family, but you know what I'm saying, you know, always black
sheep and all that stuff, you know, but I'm talking about our,
generally, we have our families, and generally, they are gifts
from God, aren't they? our fathers, our mothers, our
sons, our daughters, our children, our grandchildren, our wives,
and all that. I'll tell you what, we are to
love our families and cherish our earthly families. We're to
enjoy our earthly families. We're to thank God for our earthly
families. We're to take responsibility
for our earthly families. You know the Bible says that
a man, for example, who doesn't take care of his wife and children
is worse than an infidel. If you have children, God gave
them to you and they're your responsibility to raise them
in a right way. Hopefully in the love and admonition
of the Lord. Now, not everyone does that,
but to discipline them and teach them and do right by them, to
take care of them. And we're to love them. But here's
the thing. The Bible makes a clear distinction
between brothers and sisters in the flesh, which is a purely
physical and temporary relationship now that comes by natural birth. You were born into your earthly
family. But the Bible makes a distinction
between brothers and sisters in the flesh and brothers and
sisters in Christ, which is a purely spiritual and eternal relationship
that comes by God's grace in Christ, comes by adoption. You know, the Bible speaks of
the adoption of grace. It comes by redemption. the redemption
of grace, it comes by new birth. The families that we have here
on this earth, now listen, and I know sometimes it's kind of
sad to think about this, isn't it? But actually all our earthly
relationships are temporary. When we die, that's dissolved. But if we're saved by the grace
of God, if we're washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness
and regenerated by the Spirit, the family we have there goes
on forever and ever and ever and ever. That's right. Now, when he talks about old
things passed away here, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, all things have become
new, the first thing we have to confront is this. Everything
that he says here about what's old and what's new has to be
understood in light of how God saves sinners. How God reconciles
sinners unto himself. how sinners are commanded to
be reconciled to God. We talked about the judgment.
When you stand before God at judgment, upon what ground do
you expect to be accepted, received, and blessed of God? Because if
it's not the right ground, you're gonna be rejected, isn't that
right? And he tells us what it is. Look at verse 17 again. He says, therefore, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature, a new creation, old things are
passed away, all things are become new, and all things are of God. Now look at this, who hath reconciled
us to himself. Reconcile means peace between
God and his people. And how did he reconcile us to
himself? By Jesus Christ, not by your works, not by your baptism,
not by your church membership, not by your dedication or sincerity.
He reconciled you unto Him by Jesus Christ and hath given to
us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, that's our ministry
now. We're to tell people Sinners who cannot save themselves who
cannot make themselves righteous that God can only reconcile them
unto him By his grace through Jesus Christ and based on Christ
righteousness alone Nothing else I Can look at my wife and I can
say I love you dearly More than any any other earthly relationship. I have you know, she's my life
in that sense But I got to tell you You cannot be reconciled
to God on any other ground but his righteousness. Christ's righteousness
imputed. And I've got to tell you that
if you seek to be reconciled to God or claim reconciliation
with God based upon any other ground, you're lost. I love you so dearly, but you're
still lost. Don't want to harm you. Don't
even want to offend you. I love you enough to tell you
you're lost, if that's the case. And I love you enough to rejoice
if you and I are in the same spiritual family. You see what
I'm saying here now? You see where I'm headed with
this? I love my earthly family. But I've got earthly family members
who are lost in their sins. Do you? Every believer. in every generation. I've had
people get so upset with me when I tell them the gospel and they
would always refer to somebody like their grandma. Well, you're
saying my grandma's lost. Well, I don't know your grandma.
But I know this, if grandma sought reconciliation with God based
on anything but his sovereign grace through the blood and righteousness
of Christ, she was a lost woman. No matter how religious she was,
no matter how kind she was, That's the case. And I don't hate your
grandma. Don't even know. Saul of Tarsus
had a grandma. This is the issue now. When God,
the Holy Spirit, we'll look back at verse 19. He says, to wit
that God was in Christ. reconciling the world unto himself."
Now the world there is not everybody without exception. How do I know
that? Because not everybody without exception is reconciled to God.
He's talking about the world of his people. Not just Jews,
but Gentiles too. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And here's what he says. Here's
the qualification. Not imputing. You see that word
imputing? That means he doesn't charge
or reckon their sin debt to them, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation,
which we're to tell everybody, that we have opportunity to tell. He says in verse 20, now then
we are ambassadors for Christ, that's what I am, that's what
you are if you're a sinner saved by grace, a believer. you represent
a higher authority. So whatever you tell anybody
concerning this issue of salvation, whether it's your wife, your
daughter, your son, your grandchild, Brother, sister, whatever you
tell them about this issue of salvation, this issue of Christianity,
this issue of new birth, it has to represent a higher authority.
In other words, you can't just give them your opinion. And you
can't compromise in the name of love. Say, well, I don't want
to hurt your feelings, so I'm going to go along with it. No,
you're ambassador of Christ. You have to tell them what Christ
would tell them. Right? Be ye reconciled to God, we beseech
you. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God.
And here's the ground, verse 21 of 2 Corinthians. This is
the ground of reconciliation right here. Now look at it, verse
21. For he, God the Father, hath made him, God the Son, to be
sin for us. Christ, the surety and substitute
of his people, having their sins charged to him. Christ who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
His righteousness charged to us. That's it. Somebody said,
well, I know my dad, I know he was saved because he didn't miss
a Sunday school. He had the Sunday school pen.
That's not the ground of reconciliation, folks. You're not representing the higher
authority when you say things like that. If anybody in my earthly family
is saved, they're saved the same way that every new creation is
saved. And it's upon the same ground.
That's what he's talking about. You see, whenever we're reconciled
to God by His grace based upon the righteousness of Christ,
having been made new creatures, that changes our whole worldview,
doesn't it? We've talked about that, that old world view. That
changes our estimation. It changes our view of God, who
he is, that we see God now as a just God. He's a savior, but
he must be just. He must be righteous. He must
tell the truth. He cannot overlook our sins.
He cannot deny our sins. Somebody says, well, he just
feels so sorry for it. Go to the Bible and find out
about God. He must be a just God and a Savior.
It changes our view of ourselves. I know that in me, in myself,
and by my best efforts, I cannot earn or deserve my salvation. I'm telling you, and I try to
put it in perspective for myself and for you, that if God were
to judge me right now, based upon my best efforts to serve
Him, it would be eternal damnation. You say, well, I don't believe
that. Well, you don't believe in Christ then. That's why he
came to this earth. That's why he was born. People
celebrating his birth, okay, that's fine. But don't just stop
there. He came to earth to do for me
what I cannot do for myself. And if he didn't do it all, I'm
gone. That's it. That's why he is the Lord, my
righteousness. So it changes my view of me. It changes my
view of everybody else, including my earthly family. I love my
earthly family, and I desire every last one of them to be
reconciled to God. I do. But I'm not going to lie
to them, because I represent a higher authority. I could tell
you one thing, but God may say another. You understand what I'm saying
there? We have a new family, we have
a spiritual family. Turn to the book of Hebrews chapter
two with me, I wanna show you something here. Hebrews chapter two, verse 10. Now he just said, talking about
Christ who tasted death for every man in verse nine. Now he's not
talking about everybody without exception. In fact, that's not
really the best translation of it. He tasted death for everyone,
and here's the qualification. For whom did Christ die? Well,
look at verse 10 of Hebrews 2. For it became him, for whom are
all things and by whom are all things, That's God. In other
words, whatever Christ did on the cross, it was appropriate
to the nature and character and dignity of God. That's what he's
saying. It became him. You ever heard
somebody wear something inappropriate and somebody might say, well,
that's unbecoming to you. All right. Well, whatever Christ
did on the cross, To establish the ground of reconciliation,
the ground of salvation, the ground of justification by his
righteousness, it was becoming to God. It was appropriate to
God. It satisfied his law, his justice, as well as his mercy
and his love and his grace. And he says, by whom are all
things in bringing many what? Many sons unto glory. to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. That means Christ completed the
work by his suffering. Who did he die for? God's sons. Now, you may have sons, you may
have daughters, all right, in your earthly family. You don't
count anyone else's sons and daughters to be your sons and
daughters, is that right? Proof of that is if you have
a will and you die and they read the will, you think everybody's
gonna come? And claim what you have, what you bequeathed? Same
way with God, he has sons, they're called his elect. That's what
the Bible calls them. I know people don't like to hear
that, but that's what the Bible says. And then he says, look
here, verse 11, for both he that sanctify, sanctify means to set
apart. I'll guarantee you that you are
grandparents. I'll speak to grandparents today
because I'm a grandfather now. I guarantee if you go to one
of the Christmas plays or go to one of the dances or go to
one of the ball games and one of your grandchildren's out there
performing or playing, I guarantee you who you got your eye on.
Isn't that right? I guarantee you who you want
to see do the best. You sanctify them in a sense.
You set them apart from everybody else. Even if they're riding
the lonesome pine. That's what I used to do. I had
a t-shirt when I played basketball. I was born to ride the lonesome
pine. And that's who you got your mind
on, isn't it? That's where your heart is. And that's what that
means when it says He sanctifies, He sets them apart. For both
He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified, they who are
set apart, are all of one. One with Christ. If any man be
in Christ. That means we're one with Christ
in the eyes of God's law and justice. For which cause? He
is, listen to this now, He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Christ calls these people who
are sanctified, the many sons for whom he suffered unto perfection
and made righteous before God, he calls them brethren. Now what
qualifies me to be called a brother of Christ? What qualifies me? Nothing I've done. Nothing I
plan to do, nothing I promise to do, nothing I try to do. There's
only one thing that qualifies me, and that's God's grace through
His righteousness imputed to me, charged to me. That's it.
Look at verse 12. He says, saying, I will declare
thy name unto my brethren. That's the gospel. When God declares
His name, that's the preaching of the gospel of reconciliation.
And who's He going to declare it to? His brethren. Now, we
preach it to everybody, but only His brethren are going to hear
it. In the midst of the church, they're called the church, that's
the called out ones, that's what that literally means, ecclesia.
Will I sing praise unto thee? And again, verse 13, I will put
my trust in him, and again, behold, I and the children which God
hath given me. Christ said, all that the Father
hath given me shall what? Shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Verse 14, look here. For as much then as the children,
God's children, his family, are partakers of flesh and blood,
we're human, he also, Christ also himself likewise took part
of the same flesh and blood. That's the Christmas story. The
word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That's why he came
into this world. And it says that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the
death. That's the Christmas story. It's not just the babe in the
manger, it's the Christ on the cross. And he says, and deliver them,
verse 15, deliver them, who through fear of death were all their
lifetimes subject to bondage, that's unbelief, for verily he
took not on him the nature of angels, but he took upon him
the seed of Abraham, that's the family of God, the seed of Abraham,
wherefore in all things it behooved him, he was indebted to be made
like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God. to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. You see that? Now turn to Matthew
12, and I'll hurry here. I had Brother Randy read this
portion. Now again, we have earthly families, and I thank God for
my earthly family. And I, listen, as I said, we're
to love and cherish, we're to be kind, we're never to bring
harm, we're never to neglect our earthly family. But in love,
we're to tell them the truth. That's what this is about. Look
at verse 46 of Matthew 12. Christ, He's preaching in a household
here. It says in verse 46, while He
had talked to the people, behold, His mother, that's Mary, The
Virgin Mary. And his brethren. Christ had
half-brothers and sisters. Joseph and Mary had other children. And Christ, according to his
humanity, was their half-brother. I know that certain religions
don't want to admit that Mary had any other children, but she
did. And it said, his brethren. And also in John chapter seven,
it talks about how his brethren did not believe in him. His earthly
brethren did not believe in him. And they stood without desiring
to speak with him. In verse 47, then one said unto
him, behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring
to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto
him that told him, who is my mother and who are my brethren?
He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold,
my mother and my brother. What he's saying is, who is my
family? And he stretched forth his hands
to his disciples and he said, this is my family. For whosoever shall
do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my
brother and my sister, that's my family. What is it to do the
will of the father? The Bible tells us it's to believe
on the son. Believe in Christ. and repent
of our dead works and our idolatry. I want to show you one more verse. Turn to 2 John. And as I turn to 2 John, the
little book of 2 John, and I'll conclude with this. But I want
you to notice something. I'll just give you a note on
this. The first murder that was ever
committed. Remember what it was? Somebody
tell me. Cain and Abel. Two earthly brothers
who were not brothers in spirit. Right? And do you know why Cain
killed Abel? Well, that's because Abel was
going to get a bigger inheritance than Cain. No. 1 John 3 tells
us It's because his brother's works were righteous and his
were not. Cain hated Abel over religion
and the religion specifically in how God accepts, saves, receives,
and blesses sinners. What did Abel, what was Abel's
ground of salvation? The blood of the Lamb which typified
Christ. What was Cain's ground of salvation? His works, the works of his hands.
And Cain, the first murder was committed between two earthly,
the first friction and murder by two earthly family members
over how God saves sinners. Now look at 2 John verse 9. He says, whosoever transgresses
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of reconciliation,
the doctrine of God, the gospel, how God receives and accepts
and blesses sinners, the doctrine of righteousness, the doctrine
of grace, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Now, if there come
any unto you and bring not this doctrine, Receive him not into
your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is a partaker of his evil deeds. Now let me tell you something,
John's talking about the church. He's not talking about your homes.
I've had people look at that verse and they say, well, if
I've got a family member who's an unbeliever, I can't even let
him into my house. That's not true. That's crazy. That's fanaticism. Many of you
will have family members into your homes this coming week,
or next two weeks, who are not believers. And you're to love
them, you're to feed them, you're to have good times with them.
But when it comes to the household of faith, the church, if their
foundation and their faith is not built upon the doctrine of
Christ, how God justifies the ungodly, By His grace, through
the blood and righteousness of Christ, you cannot bid them Godspeed. You cannot accept them as a member
of your spiritual family. You see what he's saying there?
You cannot speak peace to them. You can tell them the truth,
and they may receive it by the grace of God, or they may say,
I don't want to hear it anymore. If they say, I don't want to
hear it anymore, don't tell it to them anymore. Let them know that you love them.
Let them know you're concerned for them. Let them know you want
them to come to Christ. That's their only hope. But you see what he's saying
there? You can't bid him God's, you can't say, well, you're okay
anyway. You know, you're part of my family. You gotta be okay.
No. Unless they have Christ as their only hope of salvation,
there's no hope for any of us. Isn't that right? So understand
that. Well, I hope that's been helpful
to you.