I want you to turn back to 2
Corinthians chapter 5. For the last few Sundays, I've
been preaching several messages concerning the subject of what's
really new in a Christian, in a sinner saved by grace. This
series has been based on verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 5. I've been
trying to study through the scriptures, and hopefully that you'll do
the same, to understand what this verse teaches. Anytime I
do a series, though, I try to make each message stand on its
own, so if you haven't heard the ones before, you won't have
trouble understanding the The communication of this, whether
you believe it or not, it's our prayer that we all believe it,
isn't it? But here's what he says in verse 17, therefore if
any man be in Christ, salvation is to be in Christ. What does
that mean? That means Christ died for me.
That means when he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose the third day, I arose. But look back there
at verse Verse 14, listen to what this says. For the love
of Christ constraineth us. That constraint means it motivates
us. It holds us back in the issues
of sin and depravity and keeps us motivated towards him. Because
we thus judge. Now people say, well, if you're
a Christian, you're not supposed to judge. Well, this says the
opposite. The problem with judging in man is he by nature judges
based on a wrong standard. That's what Matthew 7.1 means.
Judge not that you be not judged. That's talking about self-righteous
judgment. Self-righteous judgment. Don't
judge that way. Judgment is to be based upon
what God says. God's Word. In other words, if
God's Word tells me He that believeth not shall be damned. That's a
judgment, isn't it? If you don't believe this gospel
and you live that way and die in that unbelief, you'll be damned.
That's what I'm telling you. Now that's not my personal opinion.
That's not bigotry or anything like that. It's what God's word
says, the great judge of all. So we thus judge, now listen
to this, he said that if one died for all, then we're all
dead. Now, literally, here's the way
this would read from the original language. If one died for all,
that's Christ dying for all his people, then all died. That's the way it would literally
read. If Christ died, all for whomever he died, they died too. That's what that verse is teaching.
It's not talking about Christ dying for everybody without exception. and salvation therefore being
conditioned upon their decision or their belief. If that's the
truth, we're all, if that's true, we're all damned, according to
the scripture. So he says, if any man be in
Christ, if Christ died for me, he's a new creature or a new
creation. That's the fruit of his death. If he died for you,
at some point in time, you're gonna be born again by the spirit.
Look at verse 15. and that he died for all that
they which what live now by nature we're all spiritually dead but
here he's talking about living people they which live should
not henceforth from that time forward live unto themselves
but live unto him which died for them and rose again that's
the fruit All died that they should live and live not unto
themselves, not for their own selfish purposes, but live for
the glory of God in Christ. And so if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. To be saved is to be a new creature.
Well, how do I know I'm a new creature? How do I know if Christ
died for me? How do I know I've been newly created? Look at the
next line, verse 17, old things are passed away. Now, what are
those old things that are passed away? And I dealt with that a
little bit last week. You know what people naturally
think about that. Well, I used to live like this,
now I live like that. Well, that may be true in some
people's lives and all that. But he says, behold, all things
are become new. The old things passed away, the
old things become new. That's past tense. That's something
that's not progressively, gradually getting that way. That's the
way it is. Now, look back at verse 10. What's
really new? Last week I dealt with this.
What's new in light of the judgment? We all have a life to live. We
all have a death to die. We all have a judgment to face.
We all have an eternity to spend. When you come to judgment, how
are you going to face judgment? That's what that's talking about.
And what this has to do with is with this. How can I, a sinner,
Come before a holy God who judges according to truth and be accepted,
be received, be saved. Because God is holy and He must
judge according to truth. He cannot just look over sin
and deny sin. He has to deal with sin. And
the scripture says the only penalty for sin is death. The wages of
sin is death. And that's all I deserve. is
dead. That's all you deserve is death.
You say, well, hold on, I'm a pretty good fellow. You may be, but
you're not as righteous as the Lord God, as the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the standard of judgment.
He's going to judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained, he's appointed the man who's the standard, in
that he hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath
raised him from the dead. How many of us here would say
in our character and our conduct that we're as good as Jesus Christ?
None of us. And yet, he's the standard of
righteousness. He's the standard of goodness.
He's the standard of holiness. Well, where's my hope then? Where's
your hope? Well, it's certainly not in the
best that we can do, because the best we can do is not good
enough. Man at his best state is altogether what? Vanity. That's what the book of Ecclesiastes
is about. You know that famous word, vanity
of vanities, always vanity. What Solomon has been led by
the Holy Spirit to describe there is man at his best state going
through life without God, without Christ. And you come to the end
of it and it's all vanity. The best of the best. From the
best of the best to the worst of the worst, it's all vanity
because it will not equal righteousness. And that's what he's talking
about. How can I be reconciled to God? And there's only one
way. That's what he's talking about there in judgment. We must
all appear before him at the judgment. And it's gonna be declared
by God that everyone may receive the things done in his body according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. In other words,
it's going to be declared by God whether it's good or whether
it's bad. And let me tell you how that
works. If you stand before God without having been washed clean
from your sins in the blood of Jesus Christ, if you stand before
God without having His righteousness charged, accounted, imputed to
you, it's all bad. Even your best. And I always
refer to Matthew 7 there. Matthew 7, Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Lord, haven't we cast out demons?
Lord, haven't we done many wonderful works? And what did he say? Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. What is iniquity? It doesn't balance out. It doesn't
equal righteousness. Should the people of God be obedient?
Of course. but our obedience is not our
righteousness before God. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Should the people of God be a prayerful people? Yes, but our prayers
are not our righteousness before God. Should we be dedicated,
sincere, moral? Yes, all of that. There's no
question about that. There's no argument there. But
none of that equals righteousness. There's only one way to be righteous
before God, and that's to be found in Christ. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Now look back at 2 Corinthians
5. He says in verse 11, He says,
and what he's talking about there, what's really new? What's new
when it comes to judgment? I know that if God were to judge
me based on the best thing or the best things that I've ever
done, I would be damned forever. I didn't used to think that way.
How about you? But that's old, that's passed away, see. All
those things I thought recommended me unto God. You see, it has
to do with reconciliation. How does God reconcile sinners
to himself? Not on the best that we do. It's
on the best that his son did. And that's how we think now if
we're new creatures. We've repented of our works and
we lay hold of Christ and his work. That's new. That's old
things passed away. We've come to repentance of dead
works. And now we lay hold of Christ.
He's our all and in all. That's what's new in light of
judgment. All right. This changes our whole worldview.
Do you know that? I mean, that turns our world
upside down. Do you realize that? because it gives us a new view
of God. How we view God. I mentioned
in the Bible study this morning about Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet
in Israel, and he goes back and describes his conversion this
way. He said, in the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
high and lifted up. His train filled the temple.
And he said, holy, the cherubims and the seraphims were crying,
holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. God is holy, God is just, God
is righteous, God is true. And you remember what he said?
He said, for I am undone. That literally means I am cut
off. I'm a sinner. I can't stand before
this holy God. I cannot, I don't have any right
or title or worthiness or recommendation to come before this just God
and claim anything. I'm undone, I'm cut off, and
he said, I'm a man of unclean lips. I've been talking about
things that I didn't know anything about. I've been preaching a
false gospel. Salvation conditioned on man, not on Christ. And he
said, I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. In other words,
it changed his whole view of things. That's what it does.
When we see that God can only save sinners, accept sinners,
receive sinners, bless sinners, based upon the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, freely imputed, charged to count. If
you really believe that, if you've been, if you're in Christ and
you've been made a new creature, that's going to change your whole
worldview. Because it'll change your view
of God. That's, you've got a new view of God. It'll change your
view of self. You've got a new view of, you
view yourself in a whole different way. Just like Paul, you remember
Paul? And when he was Saul of Tarsus
in Philippians three, he said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. That
meant something to him. I was circumcised the eighth
day. That recommended him to God. He was of the tribe of Benjamin,
an honored tribe. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, full-blooded,
not a mixed breed. I don't know how he knew that.
I think he just fooled himself. But he said, it's touching the
law of Pharisee. In other words, in dedication and sincerity,
nobody could surpass him. It's touching the righteousness
that is in the law blameless. In other words, nobody could
rightly accuse Paul. of breaking the law. He did,
he was a lawbreaker, he admitted that later, but nobody, man,
we don't see the heart. And Paul said, all that stuff
that I thought so highly of and honored and thought recommended
me unto God and contributed to my righteousness before God,
he said, I count it all but loss that I may win Christ in light
of his righteousness. He said, I count it but dumb.
You talk about old and new, there it is. upside down. That which is highly
esteemed among men is what? An abomination to God. It gave him a whole new view
of salvation, of Christ, brings us to faith and repentance, gives
us a whole new view of the world, both religious and irreligious,
and so Look at verse 11, now here's what's new in our relationship
with others. That's what Paul's talking about
here. Our relationship with people. Because right here is where the
rubber hits the road. When we talk about what's old
and what's new. Well first of all, in the way we approach people
in this matter of salvation. Verse 11. Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We persuade men. We evangelize. That's what he's
talking about. We preach the gospel because
we view the world as being lost. Now turn to Romans chapter 10.
Paul, the apostle, physically speaking, was a Jew. The Jews basically boasted of
three things as forming their ground of having a right relationship
with God. Number one was their natural,
physical connection with Abraham. Remember they, in John chapter
eight, they told the Lord, they said, well, we're fine, we're
not, we're free, we're not lost, we'll be Abraham's seed. And
Christ told him, he said, well, that doesn't mean anything. Just
because you're a physical Jew doesn't mean anything has a right
relationship with God, but they thought it did. The second thing
they boasted of was their circumcision. The Jewish males were to be circumcised. That was a sign of their physical
connection with Abraham. We're circumcised. In fact, the
Jews came to be known in the Greek world as the circumcision. There were the Jews, the circumcision,
and then there were the Gentiles, the uncircumcision. And they
thought their physical circumcision recommended them unto God. The
third thing they boasted of was, we follow Moses. We keep the
law. Remember what Christ told them
in John chapter five? He says, Moses will be your judge. You don't keep the law. You think
you do, but you don't. You fall short. Now that was
Saul of Tarsus. who later became Paul. And as
long as he was Saul of Tarsus, in unbelief, without Christ,
he was fine with his Jewish brethren. But when God saved him, when
he became a new creature, when the old things passed away and
all things become new, listen to this in Romans 10 and verse
1. Look at it. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now he wouldn't
have said that before. He said, well, they're already
saved, but not now. Old things passed away. All things
have become new. You see what I'm saying? Look
at it. Well, why would you say such a thing, Paul? I mean, Why
would you say this about your brothers in the flesh? They're Abraham's seed. They're
circumcised. They keep the law. He says in
verse two, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God.
Their problem is not lack of zeal. Their problem is not lack
of sincerity. Their problem is ignorance. Look at it. But not according
to what? Knowledge. They're missing some
knowledge. Now, it's not just intellectualism that Paul's talking
about. He's talking about a real saving
knowledge by which the Holy Spirit, through the truth, the gospel,
brings a sinner into a right relationship with God. And here's
what they're ignorant of. Look at verse three. For they,
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and, now look at this, and going
about to establish their own righteousness. You see, their
problem was not immorality. You say, well, immorality is
a problem with people. Yes, it is. But that wasn't their
problem. They were religious. They were
trying to be the best they could be. but they were going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Now, what is the righteousness
of God? Look at verse four, for Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That word end,
it's the word finished, complete, perfected. Remember when Christ
was hanging on the cross in John 19 and verse 30, he said, it
is finished. Same word. He is the completion,
the fulfillment, the perfection, the finishing of the law. Christ
kept the law. He satisfied justice for everyone
that believeth. Not for everyone without exception,
for everyone that believeth. That believing is the fruit of
his finishing work. It's not the cause. So you see
what he's saying? His whole relationship to his
whole nation as far as the general population of the unbelieving
Jews was concerned, it changed. Go back to 2 Corinthians 5. Now
let me show you how this works out. Verse 11, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Paul began to preach the
gospel. He was mainly a preacher to the
Gentiles. But you know, when he went into
a Gentile town, remember where the first place he would go to
preach the gospel? Synagogue. Because there was
a Jewish population there too, and you know what he would preach
to them. He'd preach Christ crucified and risen, salvation by the righteousness
of Christ imputed, and the Jews, the religious Jews, were usually
the ones who got the angriest. You're saying I'm lost? You're
saying that all my heritage and my circumcision and my law keeping
means nothing? And Paul would say, well, it's
less than nothing. It's dung compared to Christ. You think that would change your
relationship with somebody? You think they'd look at you
a little differently now? And you know why? Because old things
have passed away. All things are now become new.
And so he says, verse 11 of 2 Corinthians 5, but we're made manifest unto
God. What he's saying there is this
is what God, this is how God reveals himself and reveals his
people right here. He says, and I trust are made
manifest in your consciences. In other words, I hope your conscience,
you know what the conscience is, don't you? That's the seat
of judgment in the heart, in the mind, by which we determine
what's good and we judge what's good and what's evil. Now here's
a person, all right, for example, this is real appropriate to the
old and new. Here's a person who's doing their
dead level best to please God. in every way, sincere, dedicated,
zealous, but they're doing it in order to establish their own
righteousness. Now what does my conscience say?
If my conscience has been changed from old to new, if my conscience
has been cleansed, I'm going to look at that and I'm going
to say, that's evil. Before I would have said, oh, that's good. I'll
never forget when I was in seminary and I was a lost person. I came
to this conclusion. People, if they do the best they
can, that's gotta count for something. I used to say that. Well, that's
old now. That's passed away. Now I know
that without Christ, it's all, all evil. That's what the Holy
Spirit convinces a person of. Well, look at verse 12. Paul says, for we commend not
ourselves again unto you. In other words, I'm not trying
to win friends and influence people. This is not What's the
guy who wrote that book, How to Win Friends and Influence
People? Yeah, I'm not Dale Carnegie. I'm the preacher of the gospel.
Now listen to me. When it comes to your relationships
and your family on your job and things like that, do everything
you can to win friends and influence people, short of compromising
your principles and all of that. Be a person, but when it comes
to a right relationship with God, You can throw all that out
the window. Paul's saying, I'm not doing
this. I'm not preaching this gospel to try to gain a following. Well, that's kind of obvious,
isn't it? You go around telling people that they're lost, you're
not going to win a whole lot of friends and gain a big following. We commend not ourselves, Paul
said, but he says this, he says, but give you occasion to glory
on our behalf. Now that word glory means to
boast. It means to have confidence.
I want you to boast. Now, when Paul says to boast
on our behalf, he's not claiming that he wants them to boast in
him. But he says, on our behalf. What
he's talking about is the message of reconciliation that makes
you glory, boast in Christ. You see, what a true preacher
of the gospel, what is his desire? It's to glorify God, exalt Christ,
and his desire is that God the Holy Spirit will bring his hearers
as well as himself to glory in Christ. Paul said, that's my
joy that you follow him. I'm not trying to gain a following
for me. I want you to follow Christ like John the Baptist.
He said, I must decrease, Christ must increase. That's his whole
ministry. That's his whole purpose. I want you to look to Christ.
Don't look to me. I'm just a signpost pointing
sinners to Christ. And so he says, We want you to
have occasion to glory on our behalf that you may have somewhat
to answer them which glory in appearance and not in heart. Now, to glory in appearance,
think about this. What is it to glory in appearance?
He said, I want you to glory in heart. Now that word glory
means boast. There are people who boast in
appearance And then there are people who boast in heart. What
does that mean, to glory in heart? Well, to boast in appearance
has to do with false, self-righteous, works-oriented religion. Christ told the Pharisees, you
do indeed appear righteous outwardly. But it's more than that. To glory
in appearance has to do with boasting of a right relationship
with God of salvation itself in a way that opposes the gospel. For example, if you say, well,
I know I'm a Christian. Well, that's fine. Or you say,
I know I'm saved, or I know I'm right with God. What is that
based on? What ground do you make that
boast? That is a boast now. What is
the ground upon? Now, remember, this is all done
in light of judgment. You stand before judgment. What
are you gonna plead as your ground or right of being accepted with
God? Now, a lot of people today, let
me tell you how it goes. Now, I've been here. I've been
there. Whatever you've gone through
in false religion, I can pretty much tell you I've been where
you were. A lot of people say, well, I know
I'm saved because when I was 12 years old, I went to a revival
meeting and I heard a preacher preach and I just felt like I
needed to go up and give my heart to Jesus. Now, let me tell you
something. I'm not just making fun of people
and I'm not just trying to be arrogant here, but that's not
biblical. That's not biblical. You see, I always express this
when I preach in my favorite hymn. I believe that I'm saved. I believe
I'm a Christian. I believe I have a right relationship
with God. What's my ground? My hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
My ground is Christ crucified, his righteousness imputed alone. And what happened to me when
I was 12 matters not. I'm telling you the truth. If
you always have to go back to some experience, the emotional
that you had, That's not good. Who are you looking to today?
What is your hope today? What can wash away your sins
today? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can take all my sins away? What is my hope? What is my righteousness? You see? Any boast that has to do with
experience or feeling or sincerity or zeal is boasting in appearance. What is it to boast in heart?
The glory in heart? Well, you know the heart in the
Bible is the mind, the affections, the will, the conscience. It
doesn't have to do with just good intentions. You know the
old saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Well, that's true. That's not in the Bible, but
that's true. It's not just being sincere or
zealous. How do people judge the presence
of the Spirit? Well, I just felt His presence.
Let me tell you how to judge biblically the presence of the
Holy Spirit. Is Christ being preached in His
truth? There's the presence of the Spirit.
He's the Spirit of truth. If that makes you emotional,
that's great. That's all right. But don't judge
it by the emotions. That's glorying in appearance.
Some people say, well, to glory in appearance just means somebody's
shallow. Like the old guy who said that
religion in America is 3,000 miles wide and one inch deep.
And you know why he said that? It's because most people who
claim to be Christians, they don't know and read and study
the Bible. They just have the testimony of their own feelings,
their own heart. What's wrong with having the
testimony of your own heart? Look over at Jeremiah 17 that
Brother Mark read. Look at verse nine. And as I
often tell you, one of the biggest mistakes that people make in
reading the Bible is when they read passages like this and they
always defer them to somebody else. That can't be talking about
me. This is talking about every person
born of Adam by nature. And if this is not talking about
you today, It's because God, by His sovereign, powerful grace,
has given you a new heart. Now listen to this, chapter 17,
verse 9. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Listen, what
he's saying there is this. He's saying here that the heart,
the heart of man naturally, is something that he really cannot
know. You can't even know your own
heart naturally. I can't even know it. Well, what's our hope
then? We'll look at the next verse,
verse 10. I, the Lord, search the heart. I try or test the
reins. You know what the reins are?
You know, if you've got a horse, you put reins on him and you
go left, right, or whoa and stuff. That's what motivates us, tells
us which way to go, when to go and when not to go. The Lord
does this, He says, even to give every man according to his ways
and according to the fruit of his doings. Well, now how does
the Lord search the heart? Well, we'll form a committee
and we'll just look at you and we'll figure out what you're
like and what, no, the Word of God. Remember what I read at
the beginning of the service today, Hebrews 4, the Word of God is
quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. He does
it by the Word of God. In other words, my boast or my
claim of being a Christian has to be based on what God says
in His Word. It can't be based on my feelings
or your opinions or the general acceptance of the general population. That can't be. It's got to be
based on God. What does God say? What saith the Scripture? And
so He says in verse 11, As the partridge sitteth on eggs and
hatcheth them not, so is he that getteth riches, and not by right
shall leave them in the midst of his days, and in his end shall
be a fool. What he's saying there is like a bird that cheats. By
laying its eggs in another bird's nest is the person who gets riches
by cheating. That word, it's hypocrisy. When
the eggs hatch, the deception is exposed. And then he looks
like a fool. That's what that means. And cheating,
getting riches by cheating. Now let me tell you something,
you can relegate that to people who get money by cheating. But
that's not what he's talking about. Now again, do you claim to be
saved? To be saved, let me tell you
something about salvation. It's being rich. Rich in the things of God. And
if your claim of salvation is not based upon the blood and
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, you're cheating. And when that egg hatches, you'll
be exposed. That's what he's saying. What
is it to glory in heart? At no time in the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation are we allowed, we who are new creatures,
we who all things have been made new, we who are sinners saved
by grace, commanded to glory in our sincerity. We're not commanded
to glory in our depth. We're not commanded to glory
in our works. We're not commanded to glory
in anything but Christ. And let me conclude by that.
Turn over to Galatians chapter six. To glory in heart, is the
expression of faith of the new heart. Remember, Ezekiel said
when he was prophesying of the new covenant, God said, I'll
give you a new heart. A new heart. Well, that new heart
is the heart that is circumcised. It's the heart that's been cleansed
by faith in Christ. It's the heart and the conscience. that has been cleansed by the
application of the blood of Christ to see that he alone is our salvation
and our righteousness. Look at verse 14, Galatians 6. Paul writes, but God forbid that
I should glory, boast, save except in the cross, the death, the
righteousness, of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is
crucified unto me. To be crucified means to be cursed. I look at the world as cursed,
even that Jewish world, an unbelief, my brethren according to the
flesh. And I unto the world, they look at me as being cursed.
Verse 15, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, a new creation.
In other words, I used to think circumcision recommended men
of God, and now I see it doesn't mean a thing, whether you're
circumcised or uncircumcised. That has nothing to do with a
right relationship with God. Has nothing to do with being
reconciled to God. Verse 16, and as many as walk according
to this rule, this doctrine, God forbid that I should glory
in the cross. Peace be on them. They're at
peace with God. and mercy. God's been merciful
to them and upon the Israel of God. The Israel of God there
is the church, believers. Now, in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul
brings up the question, when you come to glory in heart,
that means to glory in Christ, to glory in his blood, to glory
in his righteousness. That's what that means. That's
what the new heart does. doesn't glory in anything else,
doesn't boast in anything else. Christ crucified. And you, all
things have been made new. You have a new view of God, a
new view of self, a new view of Christ and salvation, a new
view of the world. You know what people are gonna
say? Have you gone crazy? Look at verse 13. False preachers had accused Paul
of being crazy. For whether we be beside ourselves,
you're beside yourself, Paul. Much learning has made you mad. You're a madman. Well, Paul says if that's true,
it's to God. This is through the glory of God. Or whether
we be sober, sound of mind. It's for your cause. I'm pointing
you to Christ, he's saying. You know, man by nature is spiritually
insane. He's crazy when it comes to a
right relationship with God. But I'll tell you, when the grace
of God empowers a person to glory in Christ, glory in heart, then
he's been brought to his senses. The heart no longer deceives
him in the way in these matters of salvation. And that's our
prayer. All right.