I'm kind of at odds as to title
the message. I began with the title, The Old
and the New. And as you can tell by the two
texts that I read, he's talking about the old creation. And then in 2 Corinthians 4,
he's talking about a new creation. But he's also here talking about
light shining into the heart, shining into where darkness once
dominated. Now the older I get and the longer
I preach, the more I am enabled of God to see through the fog
of religion and religious ideas and see the simplicity of Christ
and to see the power and glory of God in this thing called salvation. Everywhere I'm asked to preach,
the pastors there introduced me to their congregation as one
whose message is very plain and easy to be understood And they
even sometimes make an appeal to the children. Even the children
can understand what this man is going to say. And no greater
compliment could be paid to me than that. I've set my mind and
heart to do that when I stand before you. I can't make you
see the glory of what I'm saying. I can't make it affect you in
your heart. But I'm charged to make it clear.
and to make it plain, and that's what I want to do. That's my
goal. Paul said to the church at Corinth,
when I came to you, he said, I came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined, I made up my mind, I said it in my heart,
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and the power. Now I'm going to ask you a question.
How does one demonstrate the Spirit of God? What if God gave you commandment
The next time you get up to fill in for me, what if God gave you
a commandment that you were to demonstrate the Spirit of God? Huh? That make you nervous? Well,
it does me. It does me. Well, how does one
demonstrate the Spirit of God? Well, I believe we demonstrate
the Spirit of God by keeping our message in tune with the
Word of God. which is inspired by the Spirit
of God. He is the author of the Word
of God. If I'm to demonstrate the Spirit
of God in my preaching, I must keep my message in tune with
the Word of God. I hear this all the time. I think I feel. You've heard that, haven't
you? Men say, and on and on it goes, that has
no place in the preaching of the gospel. Rather, our speech
should be like this. God said. God did. God is. And God will. That's how our preaching ought
to go. When you can tune your preaching with the Word of God,
you're demonstrating the Spirit of God. So we demonstrate the Spirit
as we use the Word of God as a basis of our preaching. And
then secondly, we demonstrate the Spirit as we zero in on the
work of Christ. He is the message. To Him give
all the prophets witness. If you're gonna demonstrate the
Spirit of God, I'm gonna have to zero in in the Word of God
on the work of Christ. And that's what Paul said, I'm
determined not to know anything. You wanna talk about creation?
We're gonna talk about Christ crucified. You wanna talk about
sanctification? We're gonna talk about Christ
crucified. In John 16, verse 14, He says this about the Spirit.
He said, when he's come, he shall glorify me. He's gonna show you, declare
to you my preeminence. He's gonna show to you the glory
of God in my person and my work. He's not gonna speak of himself. But He's going to receive of
mine and He's going to show it to you. And Christ said, all
things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that He
shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. He's not only
declaring to you the Spirit of God and demonstrating the Spirit
of God, but He's declaring to us the will of the Father. Isn't
that what He said? All things of the Father are
mine. Therefore I said unto you, the
Spirit's going to take the things of mine and show them unto you. And then thirdly, to demonstrate
the Spirit in our preaching is to convince men of the truth
of the gospel. Don't leave any loopholes. Don't
leave a way out. Tell them as it is. These truths he sums up in John
16, 8 through 11. as of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now that's what the Spirit, when
He's come, that's what He's going to do. He's going to convince
men of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. All men are sinners, and the
greatest evidence of this sin is their unbelief. And so therefore
He tells you that. He's going to convince them of
sin, because they believe not on me. There is no greater evidence
of our total depravity and ignorance and darkness than our unbelief
when it comes to Christ. Man loves darkness rather than
light because his deeds are evil. And that man must, by the Spirit
of Christ and the preaching of the gospel, Convince men of sin. And then he must be convinced
of righteousness. Not that it exists. Not that there is a righteousness. But that there is a righteousness
wrought out by the Savior for sinners whose righteousness of
their own is nothing but filthy rags. When the Spirit of God
teaches a man about righteousness, He doesn't teach him what men
call holiness and righteousness. He teaches him that his righteousness
is nothing but filthy rags. We are together become unprofitable. There's nothing in us. There
is no righteousness. There's none righteous. No, not
one. I can't tell you how righteous
you are when you don't have one. There's none righteous. But I
can tell you that now there's a righteousness without the law.
And that's what I want to talk to you about. When the Spirit of God has come,
when we demonstrate the Spirit of God in our preaching, this
is what we convince men of their need for the righteousness of
God in Christ. And then thirdly, of judgment.
And again, not so much that there is one. Man's conscience tells
him that. but rather of judgment satisfied,
judgment passed. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. There's no condemnation and there's
no judgment. No judgment, there it passed. So we demonstrate the spirit
in our preaching as we convince men and women of the truth of
the gospel. And then fourthly, we demonstrate
the spirit as we set before men the revelation of God in the
person and work of his son. To know God is eternal life,
Winston. It's to know God. But how can
we know God? We know God through the person
and work of Jesus Christ. John said, and we know that the
Son of God hath come, and given to us an understanding that we
may know him that's true, and that we're in him that's true. even in His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life. He tells us, I have not seen
or heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed
among us by Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, even
the deep things of God. And now having said that, Paul
now says this, He said, now we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. Verse 13,
which things we also preach, not in words which man's wisdom
teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches. How does he do that? Comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. That's how he does it. True preaching
is a demonstration of the Spirit, preaching in tune with the inspired
Word of God, always focusing on Jesus Christ and His accomplished
redemption, convincing men of the truth of the Gospel and setting
before them the revelation of God and God's glory and the salvation
of chosen sinners. And then he goes on to tell us
this. When we preach in demonstration of the spirit, we preach in his
glorious power. What on earth is he talking about? Any man who knows the gospel
has experienced the power of God's spirit in his regeneration. Now he has. He's felt the hand
of God within him He knows what he never knew. He wants what
he never wanted. He sees what he never saw. He
walks in a path that he's never walked. There's a turning in
his life. He turns completely around. All
of these things. He experiences the power of God's
Spirit. And he cannot but preach with
that same power. And that's what I want to do
this morning, or as we, I wanna show you some things here in
comparison of these two creations. This old creation, all my soul,
wasn't there a, you know how that began? The spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. Isn't that how it began? That's
how it begins in the new one too. He begins to move upon that
darkness and chaos and so on in your heart. That's how it
begins. And so I want to draw a line
between this first creation and the second. And I've got six
things that the Lord will give me if time will allow me to go
over these things. The first thing I want you to
see is who it is that begins the work. Over here in Genesis
chapter one, I read it to you a few minutes ago. In the beginning,
God created. No creation apart from God. God didn't come on the scene
after the planets collided and And the Big Bang Theory went
into action, and everything spun out, and then it got a little
nuclear fission involved, and then a little bit of salt water,
and then man crawled out on the bank as a paramecium or something,
and then evolved into man. God didn't come along somewhere
in time and fix up creation. In the beginning, God created. Now that's what faith perceives. He's the creator. Listen to this. David said, let all the earth
fear the Lord. Psalm 33, nine. Let all the earth
fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him, for he spake and it was. That word done is in italics
in the psalm. They added that to make it read
easier. I think it reads easier when you leave it out. He spake,
and it was. It wasn't there before, and now
it was. Something was missing, and now it's here. Isn't that your story? There was nothing there, and
then there was. There wasn't any light, and now
there is. He spake, and it was. And he commanded, and it stood
fast. Everything begins with God. It
says in Hebrews 11 that faith understands that the worlds were
framed by the Word of God. What does that mean? So that
the things which are seen were not made of the things which
do appear. Neither the first creation or
the second offered anything for God to use in their making. Everything He required, He provided. Is that right? When God saves a man, He creates
him anew. He's a new creature. If any man
be in Christ, he's a new creation. He's a new creature. He uses
nothing of the old. That's man. Man wants to incorporate
the old. God doesn't use them. He uses nothing of the old. In
fact, he said old things are passed away. Behold, all things
are become new. So then, it's not a reformed
theology, but a new understanding. Is that right? He didn't come,
you know, we had some, I kind of led astray and I had some
mistakes in my theology, but I got, read the right books and
got all fixed. No, no, it's a new understanding. Not a reformed theology. It's
not a reformed body, but a new man within. It's not an improved nature,
it's a new nature. It's not the outcome of a cursed
birth, but born again of incorruptible seed. It's a new man, a new creation. In the beginning, if there was
one, God created. God created. When He does, you'll
know. You'll know. Secondly, in both
creations, the conditions were the same. Why don't you see that? The conditions were the same.
Darkness, emptiness, and chaos. When our Lord began His ministry,
it was said of the place and the people that He preached to,
He said, the people which sat in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. Of the first creation,
he says in Genesis 2, verse 2, Genesis 1, that the earth was
without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
It had no shape. It had no form. It had no image,
no purpose. Void. That's what he said. Boy, what God saw was an emptiness
into which to pour his fullness. Darkness into which to shine
the light of his glory. They tell me when they display
a, I've never been in the market for one, but they tell me when
they display a rare diamond or a rare jewel, they always use
a black backdrop. or dark purple or blue or something
that will accentuate whatever it is they're trying to get you
to see. And that's the way it is. God saw this darkness. That's gonna be the backdrop.
Now into that darkness, he's gonna display his glory and his
light. In Colossians chapter one, verse
16, he tells us, for by him were all things created that are in
heaven. that are on earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were made by him, now listen, and for him. And for him. And he is before
all things, and by him all things consist or have a continuance. God didn't speak the heavens
full of stars and then sit back to see what would come out of
it. He created all things for the
manifestation of His glory in the salvation of sinners. And
that creation, Romans 8 verse 20, was made subject to vanity,
not willingly. This is not the outcome of a
natural circumstance, as men make it out to be. It was made
subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected
the same in hope. There was a purpose to the first
creation, there's a purpose to the second. In that new creation we discover
that we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. What moves God to save sinners
is his own purpose and grace in Christ. Is that right? That's what moves God. Oh, we
want God to feel sorry for us, don't we? That's not what moves
God. We're told when we pray, he gave
us that outline to follow when we pray, and he said to pray,
not my will, your will be done. It's the glory of his own name,
his love, his grace, his will, his mercy, his justice, his righteousness,
his wisdom. And so he goes on to say there
in Ephesians 1, he said that we should be to the praise of
God's glory who first trusted in Christ. And I'm gonna tell you something,
there's no creation outside of Him. The beginning of both creations
are the same. In the beginning, God. God created. And the conditions in both creations
are the same. Darkness, chaos, emptiness, nothing
but a great void. And then thirdly, consider this.
The remedy's the same. Light. Like nothing gonna happen
in your soul until God commands the light to shine out of darkness. In 1 John chapter 1 verse 5,
the apostle begins his gospel this way. He said, this then
is the message which we've heard of him and declare unto you that
God is light. God is light. And in him is no
darkness at all. So that the salvation of our
soul begins with light. That's how it begins. Those who sat in darkness saw
a great light. Well, what does this light do?
It exposes the hidden things of darkness. That's what the
scripture said. It reveals what you could never
see apart from that light. God shines that light in a man's
soul, he'll argue with you up to then. Now I'm not, you know,
I might not always done the right thing, but I'm not, I don't hate
God. Huh? You're still in darkness. God shines that light in there,
you'll see your hatred for God. You'll see your hatred for your
fellow man. Oh, wretched man that I am. Paul didn't see that when he
was a Pharisee. He said, touching the law, he's blameless. But
boy, that ain't what he saw when the light shined, is it? Huh?
Oh, my soul. Oh, that I might win Christ and
be found in him, not having my own righteousness. Oh, that's
why believers pray. And they pray that way because
God shined light in their soul. Now they can see. John said, if we say we have
fellowship with God and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. And just as light manifested
the emptiness, chaos, and darkness of pre-creation, so the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
exposes the sinner for what he is. And then Paul said to the
Ephesians, he said, you remember where God found you. And you
remember how things were. You were heathens. You were heathens. Is that how you remember yourself? Self-righteous men don't. They
talk about the good old days. We were heathens. Without Christ,
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world. And then God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, shined in our hearts. That which will take the worst
of sinners and make them trophies of God's grace, it all begins
with light. Light. So the remedy is the same,
light. And then fourthly, the means
are the same. How did the first creation come
to be? Huh? Did it just happen? Was it circumstantial? How did
that first creation come to be? God spoke. Huh? Isn't that right? Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in his stead be you reconciled to God. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. Let me read you something. I
know we've referred to this a lot, but over here in 2 Corinthians
4, Paul writes of himself and his ministry to the Corinthians,
telling them that God had made him an able minister by the Spirit
of God. He tells him that over there
in chapter 3. And this is what made his ministry
effectual. He said our sufficiency is of
God. We're nothing without Him. We
have no purpose, no value, no strength, no hope apart from
God. And then he goes on in 1 Corinthians
4 verse 1. Therefore, based upon what he
just said, the Spirit of God making him
an able minister, enabling him to do what he could never do.
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received
mercy, we faint not. Rather, we have renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. How do you discern if a man is
a man of God or not? By his message. By his message. You listen to his message. Listen
to what he's preaching. If the spirit of God is in his
message, he'll demonstrate the spirit, just as I told you in
my introduction. God spake through him. And that's
how light comes into and upon the new creation. God speaks
through a man. Our Lord said to his disciples,
he that heareth you, heareth me. Well, how could he hear him? He wasn't there. Oh yeah, he's
everywhere. And he's everywhere all at once. He that heareth you, heareth
me. But, are you listening to this, verse three? If our gospel
be hid, If no light shines into your
soul, if there is no exposing of the emptiness and darkness
and chaos of the fall, if there is no bowing to the word, if
there is no submission to God's ambassador, no obedience to the
commandments of God, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that
are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. The means are the same. And then fifthly, the results
are the same. When God spoke and commanded
light to shine in this new creation, What happened? A clear division
was drawn between darkness and light. Is that right? He didn't say he looked at the
darkness and said it was good. He said he looked at the light
and said it was good. And he said, I'm going to call
the light day and the darkness night. The results are the same. It's a clear division between
light and darkness. The salvation of the soul begins
with a clear division between darkness of their fallen soul
and the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And for the first time in their
lives, they see a clear division between religious nonsense and
the glory of God in Christ. They can tell a difference. God's will. man's will, God's
grace and man's work, God's glory and man's glory. They see a division,
it's clear. When light comes into the soul,
there's a clear division. John said, we are of God. He
that knoweth God, heareth us. He heareth us. He that's not
of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. A man with light in his soul
can discern truth from error, darkness from light, eternal
life from superstitious religion. And then lastly, the end of both
creations is the same. God looks upon the work of his
son and declares his divine approval and rest from all his works. Huh? It's the same, isn't it? For years I was told to look
for something within that I might find it and approve of it and
rest in it. I never found it. Never found
it. I looked. I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it because it
wasn't there. And one day I heard the gospel. and found out it
was not my approval of my work, but God's approval of his own
work that brings peace and rest into the soul. Isn't that what brings rest?
I'm going to tell you something. You keep looking for evidences
in your heart, and you're going to walk around with your head
down, sad, and have no assurance the rest of your life. What made
God work was when He rest, is when He looked on the work of
His own hands. He looked on His own work, looked
on His own Son. My Son created this work. And
He did it for my glory, and He did it to manifest my glory. And He did it to save a people
that I gave Him, and I approve of it. And I'll rest in it. And now Paul tells us in Hebrews
4, there remaineth therefore rest. Ah, to the children of
God. There's a rest, and that rest
ain't in you, that rest is in him. My soul, Christ ain't up there
wringing his hands in glory, wondering if anybody's gonna
believe on him. He's seated, expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. He's resting. He's resting. And God the Father's resting.
And God the Spirit's resting. And we'll rest if he works in
our heart. I hope it's been some benefit
to you. I'm not just trying to fill in time. I want folks to
understand this. This Bible tells one story. I just gave you the beginning
of creation and a new creation, and everything in between says
the same thing. All right, Lord bless you.