Now the word of God in 2 Corinthians
5. I shall begin reading with verse
11 and read through to verse 19. The Apostle Paul has been speaking
of the fact that he longs to be clothed with his habitation
from heaven, that is, his glorified body. While here on earth, he
has said, we walk by faith and not by sight. And yet our constant
ambition is to be well-pleasing unto Christ because we're going
to be made manifest before his judgment seat. Picking up the
thread of thought then at verse 11, knowing therefore the fear
of the Lord, we persuade men. that we are made manifest unto
God, and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves
unto you, but speak as giving you occasion of glorying on our
behalf, that ye may have wherewith to answer them that glory in
appearance, and not in heart. For whether we are beside ourselves,
it is unto God. For whether we are of sober mind,
it is unto you. For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge that one died for all, therefore all
died. And he died for all that they
that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him
who for their sakes died and rose again. Wherefore we henceforth
know no man after the flesh, even though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Wherefore, if
any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things are
passed away. Behold, they are become new. But all things are of God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the
ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their
trespasses. and having committed unto us
the word of reconciliation. The great biblical theme assigned
to me for these four evenings is that of union with Christ. And in the two previous studies,
we have seen that this doctrine of union with Christ is a pivotal,
a central doctrine of the word of God. as surely as salvation
from sin is to be found rooted in the person and work of Jesus
Christ, and in that person and in his work alone, so it is equally
clear that the manner by which sinners come into the blessings
of that salvation is nothing other than union with Christ
the Savior Himself. Our previous studies have demonstrated
that for all of the people of God, this union spans eternity. From election in Him before the
foundation of the world to glorification with Him and entrance into the
eternal state, union with Christ is basic, and it is equally fundamental
to everything that happens in time. both in the procurement
of and application of that salvation. Now tonight we move to a consideration
of a very vital principle with reference to this doctrine of
union with Christ. And the principle is this. And
pull down your thinking caps and listen carefully. I've reduced
the statement as far as I was able to. Some of you who are
a bit more economical with words could do better. but this is
the best I've been able to do. The only way in which a man may
discern the certainty of his union with Christ in eternity
past, and be assured of the blissful fruition of union with Christ
in eternity to come, is to know the reality of vital union with
Christ in the present. We have seen in the Word of God
that union with Christ spans eternity, from election in Him
to glorification in Him. But the great, great question
is, how can I know if I am within the orbit of that blessing that
comes through union with Christ? And my answer to that question
is in this statement. The only way that you may discern
the certainty of your union with Christ in eternity past and be
assured of the blissful fruition of union with Christ in eternity
future is to know the reality of union with Christ in the present. In other words, we are warranted
to reason back to our election in Christ and forward to our
glorification with Christ only from the posture of present experiential
union with Christ. Have you been elected in Him?
Will you be glorified with Him? Only if presently you are vitally
joined to Him. Union with Christ is like a mighty
chain forged by omnipotence. One end is in this side of eternity,
if we may use that figure, and the other end is in that side
of eternity. Election in Christ is the first
and anchoring link of that chain. Glorification with Christ is
the final and complete link in that chain. But those chains
are out of sight, those links. And the only way we can know
if we are thus within the framework of that mighty chain of blessing
is to see the middle link. a vital, present, experiential
union with Christ, and seeing that, we may reason back to the
link in eternity here, and out to the link in eternity there. Now there is biblical warrant
for this kind of reasoning, for this is precisely what the Apostle
Paul does with reference to the Thessalonians in chapter one
of his first letter to that infant church. We read in 1 Thessalonians
1 that the apostle was convinced of the election of these people. He says in verse 4, knowing,
brethren beloved of God, your election. How in the world did
Paul come into this knowledge of their election? When he was
caught up in the third heavens and heard things not lawful to
utter, did God give him a peek into the role of his elect and
show him the names of these Thessalonians? Of course not. He says, I am
convinced of your election because I have reasoned backwards from
your effectual calling. Notice. Knowing, brethren beloved
of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you
in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in
much assurance, even as you know what manner of men we showed
ourselves toward you for your sake, and ye became. Knowing your election, because
the word came and ye became. That's the summary of it. Because of what you became, in
your own present life history. We reason back from the fruit
of calling to the root of your calling and election. And furthermore,
he closes the chapter by saying, We are waiting for His Son from
heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth
us from the wrath to come. He reasons not only backward
to their election, but forward to their glorification and final
deliverance from sin. And the pivot, the hinge on which
all turns, the Word came and ye became. From the present fruit
of union with Christ, He reasons back to election in Christ and
forward to glorification with Christ. Now why am I saying all
of that? For the simple reason that the
great burden of our study tonight focuses, like all of the rays
of the sun passing through a magnifying glass upon one point out there
in that little pile of hay when you're trying to start a fire.
Everything we say tonight from this text of Scripture is to
focus upon this one great issue. And I trust that every one of
you will feel that your own heart is that focal point of all the
rays of truth from Holy Scripture, and this is the focal point.
Are you vitally, savingly united to Jesus Christ? For if there
is not present, vital life union with Christ, where you sit tonight,
have no grounds to believe that you were ever chosen in Him or
that you shall be glorified with Him. And I know of no text of
Scripture that is more helpful in assisting us to answer that
great question than the text which was read in your hearing,
2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. This text that we shall study
tonight under the general consideration of this whole matter of genuine
Christian experience. What is it, and do I possess
it? Wherefore, if any man is in union
with Christ, he is a new creature. The old things are passed away. Behold, they are become new. Now just a word about the setting
of this verse. As you will remember in the reading,
the Apostle Paul is writing the things he writes because he wants
to give fuel to the Corinthians to refute these people who are
trying to undermine his apostolic authority and therefore his apostolic
message. And he says, I'm writing these
things to give you occasion of glorying on our behalf in order
to deal with these people that look on the outside of things
but do not understand the heart of things. And what he has been
telling them is that in his labors as an apostle, he has been actuated
by pure gospel motives. He says, My great concern has
been the salvation of your souls in the light of the Day of Judgment,
in which all men will be manifest before Christ the Judge. We seek
to persuade men. We are not seeking something
from them, but we seek them. And may I say to every person
here tonight, we seek not yours, but you. This is why we labor
in the Word. This is why we study simplicity. This is why we labor at clarity. This is why we give ourselves
to preaching to your consciences, because we seek not yours, but
you. And he goes on to say that in
his ministry he is moved by this great motive of the constraining
love of Christ. The love of Christ constrains
us. Then he goes on in verse 16 to
say he's moved by a totally new perspective of evaluating men. He's not regarding men after
the flesh on the basis of carnal systems of evaluation, but he's
regarding them in terms of their relationship to God through Jesus
Christ. Having vindicated the purity
of his own motive, Having laid out, as it were, what makes him
tick as a true Christian and as a God-sent apostle, he then
launches into this tremendous statement, Wherefore, if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Now, what's the connection?
Well, the connection is precisely this. In describing what makes
him tick as a Christian man and a Christian minister, Paul says
there's no explanation for these things but the fact that I have
been made a new creation in Christ. But, he says, what has happened
to me is not qualitatively different from that which happens to anyone
who becomes a Christian. Therefore, what has happened
in my own transformation is simply an index of what happens to every
person who is transformed by the same grace of God. So there
is this abrupt shift from personal testimony concerning personal
motivation, concerning personal transformation into this broad
generalization, if any be in Christ. There's the connection
of verse 17 with the entire passage, and I say that not because a
preacher is not supposed to preach from the text, so say the experts,
unless he tells you something about the context, but because
that connection will be essential to the further development of
the text later on in our study. Now then, coming to the text
itself, will you notice in the first place the extent of the
legitimate application of this text? God helping me, My purpose
is to lay this text close to the conscience of every man,
woman, boy, or girl in this building tonight. Is it right for me so
to do? I answer yes, because the text
opens with the words, wherefore, if any man is in Christ, a better
rendering would be, if any, in Christ. In other words, this
text is as broad in its application as is the application of redemption
to needy sinners. And wherever a sinner is brought
into vital life union with Jesus Christ, what this text says will
be true of him, if any, is in Christ. It does not matter what
your background is. The things that have disciplined
and molded you culturally, intellectually, it matters not. If you're in
Christ, these things will be true. It matters not what your
outward life has been. I've had people, when they face
this text, say, well, that's only for people who, like Paul,
were real naughty people before they were converted. They become
new creatures, but some of us who had Christian nurture and
a Christian background, we don't become new creatures. We just
sort of become the old thing, a little bit more refined. No,
no. If any is in Christ. It matters not what the background
was. It matters not what the outward
life was. It matters not what the religious
climate was or is. And children, listen, it doesn't
matter what age is in view. When a five-year-old is united
to Christ, this text is true of the five-year-old. When a
seventeen-year-old man who has lived all his life in unbelief
and debauchery and open anarchy to God's law when He is in Christ,
this is equally true. Now granted, the expression of
the truth will differ in terms of many variables, but the essence
of what the text says will be true in every single case. Therefore, if you claim to be
in Christ tonight and this text does not describe you, you have
but one conclusion. to which you must come and begin
to act in the light of it, you are not in Christ. And if you
are not in Christ, you better listen carefully to the text,
or if you ever get into Christ, this text will be true of you. Do you see the breadth of its
legitimate application? If any, be in Christ. Now then, coming to the text
we consider in the second place, the very essence of genuine Christian
experience. What is it? What is a Christian? What is the essence of genuine
Christian experience? Paul describes it in the two
words, in Christ. If any is in Christ, the essence
of genuine Christianity, genuinely saving religion, is nothing more
or less than union with Jesus Christ the Lord. For as we have
seen in our previous studies, the little phrase, in Christ,
is a word that comes to us with the connotation of union with
Him. So as Paul would describe himself
as a true Christian, and state that what has happened to him
is not qualitatively different from that which happens to any
man who becomes a true Christian, he describes it in those simple
words, in Christ. Now will you notice, as we look
carefully at his words, the person with whom we are united in genuine
Christian experience. If the essence of union, of real
Christian experience is union with Christ, Paul is careful
to underscore the person to whom we are united in this genuine
Christian experience. He does not say if any man is
in Jesus. He does not say if anyone is
in the Lord. He uses the one descriptive title,
if any is in Christ. And to Paul's mind, steeped in
Old Testament thinking regarding the Messiah, the Anointed One,
this could mean nothing less than union with that One who
was the Anointed Messiah of God, God's appointed prophet, priest,
and king, and poured into that little word, Christ, is all the
Christology that has been opened up before us these mornings. The Jesus of the New Testament,
who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the everlasting Father,
the Ancient of Days, that one prophesied throughout the Old
Testament, that one anointed in the waters of Jordan with
the Spirit, set apart for his official messianic functions. The Apostle says our union is
not with the man Jesus in some kind of a sentimental, non-theological,
irrational Jesus trip. You've tried your drugs, they
tell us. You've tried booze. You've tried sex. Now get high
on Jesus. My friends, that's not Christianity.
That's a cheap, tawdry prostitution of the sacredness of saving religion. Whenever there is true, genuine
Christian experience found in the context of union with Christ,
it is union with Christ, God's appointed prophet, priest, and
king. the pre-incarnate Creator, the
sinless crucified Savior, the exalted Lord of glory, the One
whom God has constituted the reservoir of all spiritual blessing,
as we read in Ephesians 1 in verse 3, that in Christ are all
of these treasures of blessing. And so God does not parcel out
some forgiveness here and some peace there and some joy here. No, no. All spiritual blessings
are stored up in Christ, and He doesn't parcel them out of
Christ. He puts sinners into Him who is the reservoir. And
in him all of those blessings become theirs. Therefore the
Apostle can say, ye are made full in him, Colossians 2 and
verse 9. And so the essence of saving
religion is union with Christ, but it is union with this distinct
person who comes to us from the pages of this book in all the
glory of his person. and in all the perfection of
His work. Now, the nature of this union
we've already discussed at some length, though even in doing
that we've touched the highlights. It is that union which has many
analogies in the Word of God, the stones and the building,
Adam and his posterity, the body and its members, the man and
the wife, the vine and the branches, And we will not go back over
that ground. Suffice it to say, though, that
it is a union that speaks of intimate, vital, living relationships. And therefore, all ideas of Christianity
being a once-for-all coming to Christ for something, such as
safety or forgiveness, and then going one's way, utterly indifferent
to attachment to his person, is an entire contradiction of
the Pauline concept in this text. He regards a Christian not as
one who was once put into Christ, but who is presently joined to
Christ. in a union that is not only spiritual,
as we saw last night, effected by the indwelling of the Spirit,
but a union which is experiential, called into the fellowship of
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Not only is there this emphasis
on the person to whom we are united in genuine saving experience,
the nature of the union, but the means by which that union
is established. When Paul writes of himself and
of all Christians, if any, is in Christ, how do men get into
Christ? Well, he tells us in this very
passage, But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us,
and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And then he
goes on to say, We are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though
God did beseech you by us. Be ye reconciled to God, him
who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf. This union
with Christ is the union that always occurs in the context
that we underscored last night. It's the context of the objective
truth concerning the Lord Jesus, that truth proclaimed, that truth
believingly embraced by the heart of the sinner, quickened by the
grace of God. This, then, is the essence of
genuine saving experience, nothing less nothing more than union
with Christ, a vital living bond with this glorious, exalted Lord
manifested as prophet, priest, and king. Oh, my friend, are
you in Christ? Not by some association with
others who are in Him, not by some association with the doctrines
and truths about him or by virtue of external profession. No, no,
are you in him vitally in a bond that only God himself could have
produced. Having considered the extent
of the legitimate application of this text, the essence of
genuine saving experience, Now consider in the third place the
effect of genuine Christian experience. Look at the text. Wherefore if
any is in Christ, and then you'll notice, children, that you've
got little italics. You've got some words that are
in a little lighter print, and they're sort of toppled over
on their side. That's what we mean when we talk about italics.
A little lighter print and toppled over a little on their side,
like they're about to fall on their noses, those words. and in any
standard translation where the translators have had to insert
major words or verbs or phrases for the sake of good English,
but words or phrases that are not strictly there in the original,
they want us to know that this is not word-for-word translation,
word-for-word reproduction, but it is translation in an effort
to make it flow smoothly. So then, when Paul wrote, he
didn't put in the verb, he is. And the way Paul wrote it, it
occurs like this, wherefore if any in Christ, and then I like
to picture him pausing and putting down his quill, and he's thinking
upon what is the effect of this union with Christ. Having described
genuine saving religion as union with Christ, he now wants to
tell us something about the effect of this union. And he lays his
quill down and he thinks of what has happened to himself. And
his mind goes back to those pre-Damascus road pains as he wandered in
the blindness of his own religious prejudice. as he was bound in
the chains of a hopeless legalism, as he was ensnared in the terrible
trappings of an external and decadent religion called Phariseeism. And now, as he finds himself
yearning for people to be brought into union with Christ, as he
finds himself held in the vice-like grip of this constant sense of
amazement at the love of Christ to him. As he contemplates the
effect of his own union with Christ, as he thinks of what
has happened at Corinth and in other major population centers
in the Roman Empire, filled with vice and ignorance and idolatry,
and what has happened when the gospel is done with power, and
he ransacks his mind for something to describe the effect of this
union with Christ, suddenly picks up his pen, and where he left
off, if any, in Christ, if he were writing in English, he puts
a dash, and then in capital letters he puts, A NEW CREATION! Exclamation point! if any in Christ, new creation!" He says there is nothing to describe
the effect of that union in the personal life history of any
man, woman, boy or girl, but that Almighty God has made a
new creation. Now by using this term, a new
creation, Paul is emphasizing the fact that the effect of genuine
saving experience is an act of divine sovereignty. In creation,
God alone acts. He doesn't wait with arms folded
until some glob of matter rolls at his feet and says, I would
like to be formed into something, somehow, somewhere. In the beginning,
God He spake, and it was done. If any in Christ, a new creation,
the same God who acted in powerful sovereignty in bringing worlds
into being out of the womb of nothing, has acted to bring into
being this Christian called Paul. He not only is underscoring the
fact that it is an act of divine sovereignty, but that it is an
expression of divine power. As you heard this past Lord's
Day morning, creation is everywhere regarded in Scripture as one
of the great manifestations of divine power. The heavens declare
the glory of God. The firmament showeth His handiwork,
but what aspect of His glory is most clearly underscored by
the creation? Paul tells us in Romans 1, His
everlasting power and Godhead. There has been a putting forth
of divine power. Nothing but creative power could
have ever taken this blinded Pharisee, this epitome of self-righteousness
and spiritual darkness and brought him into his present state. And
then, by using this word, he is underscoring the fact that
it was an evidence of divine workmanship. In the creation
account, the Lord beholds all that He makes and He says, It
is good because it bears the stamp of His own wisdom and power
and loving concern for His world. And all of that is bound up in
that word, a new creation. Paul does not view genuine Christian
experience as a glossing over of Adam with a religious veneer. a mere refining of Adamic nature,
or a mere redirecting of some of the grosser channels of Adamic
appetite and passion and lust. No, no, he says, I view saving
religion as a new creation. And he was careful to emphasize
that in his epistles, writing to the Galatians, who were being
adversely affected by these Judaizers, glorying in the external, glorying
in the trappings of religion that can be seen and touched
and felt. Notice Paul's word to them in
verse 15 of chapter 6. For neither is circumcision anything,
nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Some of you are debating on the
issue of circumcision. He says, in a sense, listen,
both of you are wrong if you think the issue is whether or
not you have some external religious sign. The issue is this. Have you been made a new creation?
That's the great issue. And when he's described the after
of the experience of the Ephesians, having given the before in chapter
2, 1 to 3, what they were, verses 4 to 10, what they now are. He concludes the statement by
saying, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Now, in using this pregnant concept,
of the effect of union with Christ being that of a new creation.
Paul is not introducing anything qualitatively new. He is simply
enforcing the whole drift of the teaching of the Word of God.
For the change necessary for entrance into the kingdom of
God is called elsewhere a resurrection, Ephesians 2, a birth, John 3,
being given a new heart, Ezekiel 36, being made a new man, Colossians
3, 8 and 9. It is entrance into a new kingdom,
Colossians chapter 1. And oh, dear people, all thinking
and all preaching which minimizes this dominant biblical emphasis
upon the magnitude of the effect of vital union with Christ has
two great and tragic results. Number one, it will open the
door to self-deception. When genuine saving religion
is viewed as anything less than being a new creation, it will
open the door to every form of self-deception. And secondly,
it will open the door for the greatest doctrinal confusion
concerning the whole matter of how to live the Christian life.
For the plethora of false doctrines on the Christian life—deeper
life, higher life, neo and old Pentecostal teaching, Wesleyan
holiness, semi-perfectionism—all of them together have this common
error at their root. They do not understand the magnitude
of what it is to be joined to Christ. They say the majority of Christians,
that is, people who are in Christ, have yet to show any evidence
of being new creations. The only thing that distinguishes
them basically from those who are not in Christ is that they've
made a profession to have received Christ. But this will not do
to have all these people that are in Christ yet act as though
they are yet in Adam. So we must move them on to the
baptism. We must move them on to full
surrender. We must move them on to the life
of abiding. We must move them on to this
and that. No, no, my friend, if any, in
Christ, a new creation. No new creation, no union with
Christ, no union with Christ, no salvation. That is the inescapable
logic of this text. Now having seen something of the great extent
of this text in its legitimate application, the essence of genuine
saving experience union with Christ, the effect of it on new
creation, consider with me finally the fruit or the results of genuine
Christian experience and look again at the text. Wherefore,
if any in Christ a new creation, the old things are passed away,
behold, they are become new." Now, the form of the verbs that
Paul uses is very significant. When he says, the old is passed
away, He uses that tense of the verb which means, the old is
past once and for all. There has been a decisive, definitive
breach with the old. The old is past and is done. Then he says, behold, and the
word behold is always a call to careful attention. The old
has passed. Behold, stand back in amazement. They, that is, the all things,
have become and are remaining new. He uses a form of the verb
to describe that which comes into being and remains in existence. The old is past, the new has
come and remains. Now then, what is the old that
is past and the new that has come? We may say in a summary
statement the Apostle is saying that the fruit of a new creation
is a new life composed of new thoughts, new motives, new standards,
new joys, new sorrows, new dispositions, new loves, new hates. In short,
the new man created in Christ Jesus becomes the man active
in the power and directives of his new life. In other words,
a resurrected sinner begins to walk and live like a man who
has been resurrected. Now, of course, it would take
a week of sermons to begin to expound on the specific ways
in which the old is passed. The new has come, and it would
be perfectly legitimate from this text to range far and wide
throughout the entire scriptures to expound the significance.
But I shall limit myself to the context, the more immediate and
somewhat less immediate, but this general portion of the word
of God, and direct your attention to several areas in which the
old is past and the new has come whenever a sinner is in union
with Christ. And the first thing we notice
is that the old view of Christ passes and the new has come. For it was this very statement
that sprung loose our text, verse 16, wherefore we henceforth know
no man after the flesh, even though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Paul says, as a new
man in Christ, my old view of Christ is done away with. A new
has come and it remains. Now, what was his old view of
Christ? Well, it's that view that he describes as true of
all men in chapter 4 of this epistle in verse 4. Chapter 4, verse 4, we'll back
up to verse 3. And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled in them that are perishing, in whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the
light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of
God, should not dawn upon them. What is the view that Paul had
of Jesus Christ before he became a new creature? His view was
one essentially in which he saw no glory in the face of Christ,
that is, no outshining of the perfections of deity. All he
saw was an imposter, one who was a threat to the religion
of his forefathers. And he says that what he did
in those days, he did ignorantly in unbelief. He had a view of
Christ which at its foundation was a view devoid of any perception
of who Christ Jesus really was. And he says behind that blindness
was the very power of the devil himself. The God of this world
blinding the minds of them that believe not." But now what is
his new view? He has had such a view of Jesus
Christ in His glory that he says, a knowledge of who He is and
what He has done is the overarching, great, constraining motive of
the entirety of my life. To me, to live is Christ. The love of Christ, that is His
love to me, constrains me. What had happened to Him? Well,
in this work of a new creation, He got a new sight of Christ.
Look at verse 6 of chapter 4. Verse 4 states that His mind,
like others, was blinded. For the blinds of others, and
of course true by inference of Himself. But what happened? Verse
6, and here He does include Himself. Seeing it is God that said, Light
shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Paul says, something happened
to my darkened heart. And that which happened is this,
the same God who spoke into the thick darkness of that original
creation and said, let there be light. And light came forth. That God spoke to our hearts. He shined in our hearts. And
the first image that was seen was the very glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. That's an explanation of what
happened on the Damascus Road. For you remember in the account
given in the book of the Acts, there was that blazing light
above the light of the noonday sun? And that's a bright light
with the sun in its zenith in the area of Palestine. And here's
a light brighter than that which Paul, knowing his Old Testament
history, immediately recognizes as the Shekinah glory. This is
a divine manifestation. And out of it comes a voice,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he knows this is a divine
voice speaking from the context of a divine manifestation. It
spoke to him in the Hebrew tongue, and he answered in Hebrew, Who
art thou? In what word would he use? What
is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Lord? Who art thou, Jehovah? Identify yourself. And the answer
came, I am Jesus. And you saw the glory of Jehovah
in the face of Jesus Christ. You talk about a new view of
Christ. The old had passed, the new had come. And oh, listen
to me, dear people. Unless this has happened to you,
you're no Christian. You say, Mr. Martin, you're saying
that unless I've heard a voice and seen a light above the brightness
of the noonday sun, I'm not a Christian? No, no, no, no, no, I'm not saying
that. That would be heresy. That would be trifling with your
soul ever to assert that. But what I'm saying is this.
If there has not been an operation of the Holy Spirit in divine
recreating power that has revolutionized your natural view of Christ,
and given you a view of Christ that only the Spirit can give,
you are no Christian. Some of us can well remember,
reared in Christian homes, nurtured at the feet of Christian preachers
and teachers, Christ Jesus sent before us in the preaching of
the Word from our parents and preachers and faithful spiritual
shepherds to our souls. And though Christ was set before
us in the perfection of His humanity, in the essential reality and
dignity of His Godhead, though He was set before us crucified,
set before us enthroned, as it were, we walked up and down in
front of that constant display of Christ, bored to death. And if someone asked us, do you
believe in Jesus Christ, we'd glance over our shoulder and
say, yeah, I believe in Him. Mom and Dad talk about Him. The
preacher preaches about Him. What do you know about Him? Oh,
He lived. Born of a virgin, He died. And we walked up and down
with this general enactment of the person and work of Christ
as the constant backdrop of our lives. But there was no glory
in all of that. What dazzled before our eyes? the opinion of our peers. And
listen to me. I'm speaking directly now to
some of you young people. I spoke to the younger ones.
I speak to you teenagers tonight. What dazzles before your eyes? The approval of your peers. The
acceptance of your friends. To be in. That's what really
turns you on. And some of us can remember when
that was true of us. The acceptance of our peers.
The titillation. of our own carnal appetites and
desires, the aggrandizement of things, the gathering together
of possessions. This is what excites us. Oh yes,
Christ is there, He lives, He died, I believe all of that,
but no glory in it. Thank God some of us can say
with Paul, the old view of Christ is gone. Where once we regarded
Him as unworthy of the place of supreme affection, the place
of absolute religious trust in the highest sense, where we once
regarded Him of unworthy of loving devotion. We regarded time spent
with Him as wasted time. We have such a view of Christ
now that we no longer regard Him in that light. We regard
Him as the altogether And our greatest grief is that we love
Him so feebly and serve Him so inconsistently. We no longer
walk up and down in front of that manger seat, that life of
obedience and suffering and agony. We don't walk up and down in
front of the cross and the clouds in which He ascended. We no longer
walk up and down regarding it with indifference. It's now glorious
to us. We've beheld glory in the face
of Jesus Christ. We've had no vision. We've heard
no voices. There's been no fluttering of
angels' wings. But there's been a mighty operation
of the Holy Ghost that has made Christ our most treasured possession. If any in Christ, a new creation,
the oldest past, The new has come! Has it come to you, my
dear friend? What's been the disposition of
your heart in these morning sessions, when the glory of Christ's person
has been opened up before us? Has your heart run out and said,
O Lord Jesus, can it be that you are all those things, not
only in yourself, but for my sake? Why have you sat there saying,
when in the world is that preacher going to be gone? Well, I hasten on now to the
second old that passes and the new that comes. The second old
that passes is what I'm calling the old focus and preoccupation
of life. What is the old focus and preoccupation
of life? Read further on in chapter 4,
beginning with verse 16. Wherefore, we faint not, though
our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed
day by day, for our light affliction, which is but for the moment,
worketh for us a far more exceedingly and eternal weight of glory,
while we look not on the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things that are seen
are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
And then he launches into this discourse on his longings, his
pantings, his groanings to come into the full possession of that
world which is now the focal point of his concern. What is
the old focus of life for Paul and all men by nature? It is
the things that are seen. the things that are temporal,
things that can be touched and felt and beheld and heard and
tasted. And he says this is no longer
true of us. Oh yes, we are in the world that can be seen. And
Paul must eat his two squares or three squares a day as any
other man, though he's willing to relinquish them for higher
ends. He must sleep, he must shave
if he didn't have a beard, and he must trim his beard if he
had one. Oh yes, he must live in this
world and touch it and be in constant contact. But he says
it's not the focal point of concern. While in it, the focal point
is the world of unseen spiritual reality. And my friend, whenever God delivers
a sinner from the clutches of the world, brings him into union
with Christ, the old focus of life will pass, the new will
come. And if God has made a new creature
of you, you will not be bound by fashions and fads or cower
before the frowns and smiles of fellow earthlings. You will
not be bound to the counsel of the ungodly. But you will listen
to the counsel that Evangelist gave to Christian when he said
to him, Let nothing this side of the world to come get within
you. That's it. Let nothing this side
of the world to come get within you. You must touch it to fulfill
your God-given duty. You must give ours to it. For
six days shalt thou labor. And there must be, if there is
to be true biblical holiness, the implementation of all the
directives of the Word of God concerning labor and domestic
responsibilities and the providing for our own and for others. Yes,
but though we're in that world and hours are spent in real,
genuine, biblical interaction, let nothing this side of the
world to come get within you. For according to our Lord, it
is when the cares of this life get within us that they choke
the word, and it never brings forth fruit to perfection. My Bible says, The world passeth
away, and the lust thereof, but only he that does the will of
God shall abide forever. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. If you claim to be a recipient
of the Father's love in Jesus Christ, it is only because you've
been brought into union with Christ. And if you've been brought
into union with Christ, the Old is past and the New has come.
There is no longer that fixation upon the world of sense, of sight,
and of time. But there is this blessed fixation
upon that which is eternal. To our shame as Christians at
times, There is a blurring of the vision. Yes, there is a casting
of the eyes downward. There is the shooting out of
those ever-growing tentacles of inordinate appetite and desire. Yes, I'm fully conscious of all
the struggles and wrestlings of a man in Christ, I must live
with myself. But my friend, if there has been
no basic, pervasive, fundamental change of focus from time to
eternity, from the world here to the world there, you have
never been a Christian. If any in Christ, the old has
passed, the new has come. And in the third place, The old
purpose of life will pass and the new will come. Not only the
old view of Christ, the old focus of life, but the old purpose. And what's the old purpose? Well,
look at chapter 5 and verse 15. And he died for all that they
that live should no longer, three words, live unto themselves. The purpose for which every man,
woman, boy or girl lives who is not united to Christ is found
in those three words, living unto themselves. I'm waiting for some of you young
people in the back row. I'm not preaching into the air.
If you don't care enough for your own soul to listen, don't
be charged with distracting others. You better leave and take your
own condemnation without increasing it. The old purpose of life, according
to the Apostle, for every man not in Christ is to live unto
himself. That is to gratify his sinful,
Adamic, depraved self. That's the driving motive of
his life. Now that leads some people into
a life of open profligacy and immorality and debauchery. It
leads some people, as it did in the case of the Apostle Paul,
to a very religious, devout life. But the lecher and the self-righteous
Pharisee have this in common. They are living unto themselves. But blessed be God when the old
passes and the new comes. What's the new purpose of life?
Look at the text. "...should no longer live unto
themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose
again." The new, the new purpose is nothing less than living unto
Christ. And that means to live under
the direction of His Word, to live constrained by His love,
to live with His smile and His frown is my greatest concern. Verse 9 of the same chapter,
wherefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to
be well-pleasing unto Him. Now, when a man wants to please
his wife, if he's living unto his wife, you can tell it in
the totality of his lifestyle. He doesn't pause at the local
gin mill on the way home to drink a few beers with the boys. If
he's living unto his wife, the moment he gets out of that office,
he's home to give his wife an embrace. And to enjoy her communion
and fellowship as she prepares the supper, and to sit down with
her and the family of a man's living unto his wife, you'll
see it in his whole lifestyle. He goes off on a business trip.
He's not consorting with harlots. and call girls in the city where
he is. No, he's on the phone with his
wife. The first thing he does when he gets in his motel room
is he breaks out the picture of his wife and sets it up before
him. She's in his thoughts wherever he is, wherever he goes, whatever
he does. He's living unto his wife. It's a very real thing. Oh, my friend, if you're living
unto Christ, this is not theory. It means that in the performance
of what constitutes your life, getting up in the morning, splashing
water on your face if you need to to wake up, whatever you have
to do, shaving or trimming your beard or curling your eyelashes
and going for breakfast and going to work and packing lunches and
spanking the kids and hugging your husband and washing the
dishes and all that constitutes life for you, my friend, if you're
a new creature, you're living unto Christ. Not perfectly. And that's your
great grief, that when you come to an end of the day, you say,
Lord Jesus, I confess there have been minutes, and maybe hours,
when you were not in my thoughts. Forgive me. But the difference
is, in the heart of a true Christian, when he is not enjoying conscious
communion in this context of living unto Christ, he knows
he's in foreign territory. He's out of his element! And
he's uncomfortable until he's back in it. Is that your purpose in life?
Living unto Christ? Not because you hope that by
so doing you'll gain some merit. Look at the text. They live unto
Him who for their sakes died in Rome. It is not living unto
Christ in the spirit of legal obedience. It is living unto
Christ in the spirit of evangelical obedience. The standard does
not change. It is the holy and flexible law
of God. But the motive is as different
as night from day. I am living unto Him. not hoping
that He will drop a few crumbs of His mercy to make up what
I lack to find acceptance. No, I've come stripped and empty
of all my own righteousness. I've cast myself upon His righteousness
in His alone and in the embrace of faith, which is the embrace
of naked hands, empty hands. I have freely received of His
mercy And because I have thus received, I want to please him
who loved me and gave himself for me." And then, if time permitted,
we could just open up verse 16, but I'll just make a suggestion.
The old perspective with reference to people has changed. Well, maybe I will say a few
words on it. He says, look, we henceforth know no man after
the flesh. What's he saying? He says, as
a new man in Christ, I've got a totally different basis of
evaluating people, choosing my friends, assessing men and women. What was his old basis? You came
sauntering down the street somewhere in Tarsus where Paul was as a
young Pharisee, and someone was about to introduce you before
he'd stick out his hand. You know what he'd want to know?
Have you got Aby's blood in your veins? If you don't have Aby's
blood in your veins, you're a Gentile dog. You're persona non grata. Are you a fellow son of Abraham?
You're my friend." He regarded men after the flesh in terms
of distinctions that are rooted in genes and chromosomes and
heredity and religious environment and association. He said, that's
all changed now as a new man in Christ. I know no one after
the flesh. What was his new basis of evaluating
people? Here it is. You come down the
street now after the Damascus Road and someone's about to introduce
you. What's Paul's first concern?
Not whether or not you're of the stock of Abraham. His first
concern is this. Are you a royal son or daughter
of the living God through faith in Jesus Christ? And if you are
by nature and birth a Gentile dog, He embraces you in the embrace
of true brotherhood. He cares not whether you be barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, Jew, Gentile, black or white. My whole new basis of evaluating
people and therefore of establishing relationships is this, what is
their relationship to Him whose glory I've Ah, listen to me people,
what's the basis upon which you evaluate people? Is it if they're from your background,
your temperament, your race, teenagers? Is it if they show
they're really with it by their lifestyle, by their clothing
styles? Some of you bragging about your
so-called liberty from the tacky, stuffy styles of your papa and
your mama. You're in the worst kind of bondage.
You wouldn't dare go one day without your clothing and hairstyle
matching your peers. I dare to stand up here tonight
and take my tie off while I preach. You wouldn't dare to cut five
inches off your hair. You're in bondage, I'm Your basis of evaluating, people,
are you my kind? Do you fit in with my perspectives? Oh, dear people, would to God
that I could stand here and weep genuine tears of compassion and
brokenness for the hopeless plight of your heart. How blessed it
is to be released from all those evaluations, all those bases
of evaluation. and to be a liberated man or
woman in Christ, so that your first concern is, as you evaluate
people, are they in Christ, if they are, their brother or sister?
And if not, I am their servant for Christ's sake. 2 Corinthians
4, 5. Are you becoming servant to those
people in your neighborhood who are from a totally different
cultural background? What about the blacks in your
community? You draw your robes around them and say, they're
not our kind. We don't have them in our church. No, my son might
fall in love with one of their daughters. I find it hard to believe that
churches representing so many areas, we are totally insulated
from the black and Puerto Rican and other minority groups in
our own nation. I don't say this is a blanket
criticism. I only ask you to search your own heart to see
if the reason might not lie right here. You're not living consistently
with what you are as a new creature in Christ. The whole basis of
evaluating people has changed. And I submit to you that these
are the areas in which the Apostle says, the old is past, the new
is coming. And who's the author of all this? Look at the first
phrase of verse 18, and all things are of God. And all things are
of God. What things? The old things that
have passed and the new have come. It's God who's wrought
the change. For we read in 1 Corinthians
1.30, But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us. Oh, what a wonderful thing to
parallel this text with 1 Corinthians 1.30. 1 Corinthians 1.30 tells
us the objective blessings that are ours if we are in Christ.
Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Paul says here, the
subjective experimental fruit of union with Christ. New creatures,
the old is past. The new is come. The old view
of Christ. The old purpose for living. the
old focus of life, the old basis of evaluating men and women,
the new has come. And whenever a sinner has the
objective blessings of union with Christ, he also will have
the subjective experimental expression of union with Christ. Are you
in Christ? I close where I started an hour
ago. Are you in Christ? Have you been
made a new creation? I trust the study tonight has
strengthened the assurance of many of you that you've been
able to stand back and say, Though my resting place is not anything
that's happened in me, but all that is in Christ, His objective
work on my behalf. O Lord, I am strengthened in
the conviction that my attachment to Him is indeed vital and real
because I am an amazement to myself. I find nothing explains
what I now am but that I am a new man in Christ. And I look down
right now at one of our own church members and a smile broken across
his face. I know his life history. I know
what that smile meant. Oh, may God grant that many others
from the heart will be able to say, yes, Lord, thank you. But
what about some of the rest of you? Have you been shaken? Shaken
not because of an oversensitive conscience that takes the principles
to an unwarranted and imbalanced extreme, but shaken Because in
all your profession you know nothing of the passing of the
old and the coming of the new. My friend, you better be shaken.
You better cherish those doubts. They may be the first rays of
the dawn. Cherish those doubts. They may
be the first rays of the dawn. Are you in Christ? God grant
that you will give yourself no rest until you can answer in
the affirmative with your eyes fixed on 2 Corinthians 5. In
Bruce 17, let us pray.