Today, out of verse 17, that's
my text. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. What in the world does it mean?
What does it mean? to be a new creature. When it
says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
are passed away, behold, all things will become new. What
does that mean? What is he talking about? Paul said in Ephesians
5.24 that we were created in righteousness and true holiness.
A new man, created in righteousness and true holiness. Now, there's
a theology that says that there's no such thing as a new creature.
We're not made partakers of the divine nature, we just have fellowship
with God. And I don't know what nature
can have fellowship with God. I'm an old nature saint, that's
for sure. Damn it. I didn't know God in my old nature.
I wasn't interested in knowing God in my old nature. But what does it mean to be a
new creature? You know, our Lord told Nicodemus, except a man
be born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. Then He told
him again, He said, except a man be born of water and the Spirit,
he can't enter the kingdom of God. And that word, see, means
to perceive, to understand, to grasp, to comprehend, and enter
it. Enter it. Now, the only way in
the world we can come to an understanding of what this means, what it is
to be a new creature, is to look at what the scripture says. Right
where it says it. Right where it says it. Right
in its context. Look at the context it's when
it says. You know they say if a preacher takes a text and then
divorces from its context, all he's doing is preaching a pretext.
Because you know you stay, you deal with what it's saying, where
it's saying it at. Why did he say this at this particular
time? Why did he say it? Huh? And that's what he says there
in verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. Well, first look there at that
first word. It says therefore. Therefore. Whenever you see a
therefore, you've got to look and see what therefore is there
for. So you've got to go back to see
what he's saying to see why he said, therefore, therefore. And he says, therefore, if any
man be in Christ, any man claims to know Christ, claims to have
a relationship with Christ, and this is the key right here, if
any man be in Christ, not know some things about Christ,
Not to know some things about the Bible, not to know some things
about theology or some doctrine. But this is a different thing
if it meant to be in Christ. That is the key, in Christ. How
do you get in Christ? You can't put yourself in Christ.
No more than I can put myself in your family. I can take your
name, but that don't make me be in your family. I say I'm
going to come live with you. That's going to make me be in
your family. And to be in Christ, you'll see a man can say anything,
but how in the world do you get in Christ? Do you get in by coming
to the front, walking in the aisle, praying the sinner's prayer,
raising your hand, signing a decision card, having the preacher take
you through the sinner's prayer, whatever in the world that might
be? Huh? Well, I'll tell you how you get
in Christ. God puts you in Christ. Ain't that what the next verse
says there in verse 18? All things are of God? And it
says there in, what is it, in verse 5? Now, He that hath wrought
us for the self-named thing is God, who hath also given us the
earnest of the Spirit. So this is God's work. Well,
how in the world did God put us in Christ? First of all, He
put us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We were chosen
in Christ. before the foundation of the
world. Where is it? God's people were in Christ by
electing grace. Ain't that what the Scripture
says? For whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate.
Them he did predestinate, them he also called. Them he called,
he also justified. Them he justified, he also glorified. What shall we say, then, to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Who's going
to condemn us? It's God that justified us. So
we were in Christ. Those that are just talking about
being in Christ, they were in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Chosen in Christ. Elected of
God. Elected of God. That's how you
get in Christ. And this election is not this
way. It's not God made us. a vote, and the devil made a
vote. Now you, by your free will, you cast a deciding vote. That's
not this election. This is something that God does.
Our Lord Jesus said six times in John 17, that those that God
has given me, those that He has given me, those that He has given
me, when were we given to Him? In Christ before the foundation
of the world. Huh? And then when Christ Beloved,
by effects of calling, by hearing the gospel. You know, we didn't
know we was in Christ before the foundation of the world until
somebody came and preached the gospel to us. Somebody came and
told us about the Lord Jesus Christ, told us about what He
accomplished, who He accomplished it for, and told us about His
glorious power, His glorious blood, His glorious might, His
glorious grace, His glorious might, and, O beloved, in His
wisdom, and somebody told us about Christ. And we had all
these experiences, we had all these professions, and all my
soul, and we had to throw them all away, and here we are, we're
confronted with this thing that God has a people. Am I one of
His people? Do I know Him? Do I actually
know Him? Have I experienced God coming
into me and saving me by His power, saving me by His grace,
conquering me by His will? Oh, my, this is factual calling.
Now, I don't know how, you know, all we do is preach the gospel. And how in the world God calls
people is by that gospel, by the Word. And when that Word
goes out, and that's why, you know, I said that, I prayed,
you know, the hour is coming in nine years when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. Now, that's a factual calling. Now, I don't know who hears.
God knows who hears. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
and I know them. Ain't that right? Everyone the Father gives me,
what are they going to do? They don't come to me. And you
know why you come to Him? Because you were in Christ before
the foundation of the world. That's why our Lord Jesus Christ
did not come here and roll the dice to see if men would give
Him the chance, give Him the opportunity to let Him save them. That's not what it's about. Our
Lord Jesus Christ came here, and He has a people, and those
people are in Him. And I guarantee you this, and
I won't have a bit of qualms in saying this, it does not frighten
me, it gives me great confidence to say this, that everyone that
was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, everyone
for whom Christ died, shall be effectually called, shall realize
their relationship with Christ, and shall come to Christ, even
those that haven't been born yet. And if you don't come, if
you don't come, and if you don't never hear the gospel, you know
why? Because you never was in Christ. Now that shuts people's mouths.
That shuts people's mouths. Salvations of the Lord. I don't think. God's not interested
in what we think. He's interested in what He does.
His will. Ain't that right? And oh my,
let me show you something now. If any man's glad, that's new.
To be in Christ, that's new. But look here in verse 14. This
is new. Talking about all things new,
the things that are new. The very fact that we're in Christ
and being called to the gospel, that was new to us. Then look
here in verse 14, for the love of Christ constrains us. This
is new. We realized the love of Christ. We didn't know Christ loved us.
And we certainly didn't love Christ until we were made these
new creatures. Is that not right? His love constrains
us. It never constrained us before.
It had never done anything for us before until we were in Christ,
until we were called to Christ, until we were brought to Christ,
until we were made new creatures in Christ. And, O beloved, not
only does He love us, but we love Him. And this love constrains
us. The love that Christ has for us constrains us, and our
love for Him constrains us. Now, this word, constrain, means
to exert force. Exert force. And beloved, either
urging to action or restraining from action. And because Christ's
love for us, it was exertion of a force. Exertion in putting
into action to come into this world, to live for us, and be
our representative, and do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Herein doth my Father love me.
Why? Because I laid down my life for
the sheep. And oh no, we love Him. Why? Because He first loved us.
And it kept Him and called Him and brought Him into this world.
And His love, our love for Him, it exerts a force on us. Don't it? We love Him because
He first loved us. And His love Our love for Him
urges us to love Him. It exerts a force on us. It moves
us to live for Him, to live for His glory, to live to His honor,
to obey His Word, to see what He has to say. It moves us to love Him. It moves
us to obey Him. It moves us to come to hear the
gospel. It moves us to want to be with the Lord's people. It
moves us to love one another. It moves us. It's in reforce
on us. You know, it's sad that people,
you know, go on and on about the Ten Commandments. The Ten
Commandments. Want them in their yard. Want
them in their courthouses and all that. That's fine. That's
fine. But every time you look at them, and every time you have
them, they say, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, condemn, condemn,
condemn, condemn, condemn. Ain't that right? A fellow asked me one time, he
said, how in the world do you keep people from committing adultery
and lying and stealing if you don't use the law as a rule of
life? I knew all those things was wrong
and I was unconverted. But you know what? It's not law
that makes me treat my wife right. Keep me from beating her so I
won't go to jail for domestic violence. Law don't keep me from doing
it. Love causes me to treat her right.
Love causes me to treat you right. Love is the greatest motivator
and the greatest force known to the human mind and the human
heart. Love of flesh and love of pleasure, look what a force
it exerts on people to do the things that they do. and exert
this love for self, love of the flesh, love of pleasure. Look
at what it does in men's lives as it exerts that force on men.
But then you take the love of Christ, the force exerted, and
then constrain Him and draw Him into this world to do for us.
And so that very thing happens to us. When we're making new
creatures, there's an exertion on our line. To love Him, embrace
Him, and do like Mary said at His feet. Say, I found that good
part. Would I mistreat Him who loved
me so? Would I lie on Him who loved
me so? Would I curse Him who loved me
so? Would I deny Him who loved me
so? Would I not want to be in His
presence who loved me so? Would I not want to read of Him
who loved me so? Would I not want to talk about
Him who loved me so? Huh? And because of the love of Christ
that constrains us, watch this, we come to a judgment there in
verse 14. Because we thus judge, since
the love of Christ constrains us, we come to this judgment. Christ's love for us and our
love for... that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
What in the world this mean? It means because of Christ's
love for us, one died for all. Now, not every man, but all that
the Father gave him. Out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, tongue, character, class. Huh? And if he died for all,
Why He died for them? Because they were all dead. I'm
going to give you two interpretations of this now. See, we were dead
in sin. We were dead in law, or dead
to law. We were dead in Adam. And our Lord Jesus Christ died
for His people. And when He died for all these
that were dead this way, It also says that He died for all, then
all were dead, or all died with Him also. Huh? When He died, all died in Him.
Huh? And ain't that what it says in
verse 15, that He died for all? How much if we were dead in sin,
then He was made to be sin. Ain't that what it says down
there in verse 21, for He hath made Him to be sin? To be sin
through us. Who's us? All that He died for. all that died with Him. So if
we were dead in sin, He bore our sin in His own body on the
tree. And then if we were dead to law,
the Scripture says He was made a curse. He bore the curse of the law
for us, to redeem us from the curse of the law. And we were
dead in Adam. Even so now, sir, we've been
alive in Christ. That's what it is to be a new
creature in Christ. Dead in Adam, alive in Christ.
Dead to law. Christ bore the curse of that
law for us. Huh? We was made sinners. He was made to be sinned. Born
sinners. Let me show you Romans 6, just
a minute. Look in Romans 6 with me. Oh, that's what the apostle meant.
He says, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. How can you be dead and alive
at the same time? That's why I said, I'm crucified
with Christ. Where was He crucified with Christ?
The same way He was in Christ. When Christ died on the cross,
He died with Him. When Christ died on the cross,
we died with Him. The life that I live in the flesh,
I live by who? The Son of God. What did He do?
He loved me. He loved me and gave himself
for me. And now I'm living by the very
faith of that Son of God. And then he said again in another
place, when Christ, too, is our life, not just the most important
thing in our life, make Christ priority in your life. You're
a day late and a dollar short. Christ is our life. We live in
Him and He lives in us. But look here in Romans 6, in
verse 6. Now watch this, this is what
I'm, this is, we come, this is the journey that we come to since
the love of Christ constrains us. His love for us and our love
for Him. Now watch this. Knowing this, that our old man,
our old man, who's he? Well, he was born in the Garden
of Eden and he sinned against God and God threw him out and
threw all of us out with him. He's as old as Adam. That's how
old he is. This old man is crucified with
him. that the body of sin, when he
died on that tree, all the sins of all of God's elect, God made
him to be sin, the whole body of sin, all the sins of God's
people was nailed to that tree, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now watch,
he that is dead is freed from sin. When you're dead, what can
love do to you? When you're dead, what can sin
do to you? When you're dead, what can anybody do to you? Now watch this. He that is dead
is freed from sin. Now watch it now. If we be dead
with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with Him. Well, He's dead, but now He's
alive. Now watch this. Knowing that
Christ, being raised from the dead, He ain't gonna die anymore.
He ain't gonna die anymore. Death don't have any more dominion
over him. Now watch now. For he died, he died under sin
one time. So since he died, sin has no
more dominion over him. No more over us. But in that
he liveth, he lives under God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but all alive unto God." How? Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now let's look back over in our
text. All new creatures had new motives. We've got new loves. Christ loved us. Now look what
it says in verse 15. that he died for all, and we
come to this judgment, that all were dead, and so we died in
him, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them, and rose again for them. See, now he says we don't live
for ourselves. There was a time we lived for
ourselves. This is new. This is something new. This is
something new. You find somebody that lives
for themselves as selfish and self-centered, egocentric. You found somebody who don't
know the Master. That's just all there is to it.
We don't live for ourselves, we live for Him. We live under
Him. He is our life. We don't have any life apart
from Him. We don't live for ourselves anymore, but live under Him.
We don't live for our own glory. We don't live for our own happiness. We don't live for our own pleasure.
We don't live to satisfy ourselves. We live for Him. We live under
Him. Why? Because He died for us.
And He rose again for us. That's why I look down there
in verse 19 with me, just a minute. See, this is to wit that God
was in Christ. God was in Christ. God was in Christ. We live unto
Him who died for us. Down in verse 21, that He made
Him to be sin for us. So how can we live for ourselves
that God was in Christ, reconciled the world unto Himself, and that
God made Him to be sin for us? How can we live for ourselves
after one doctor such an incredible, glorious, and blessed sacrifice? In verse 18 it says, And all
things are of God. God's the one who made him to
be sin. You can't make anybody to be sin. Christ didn't know
any sin. He knew what sin was because
He came to put it away. He knew the consequences of sin
because He came to die for it. He knew the penalty of sin. He
bore it. He knew that sin brings forth
death because he died. But to experience sin, to experience
sin, to thank sin, to feel sin, to act sinful, he knew no sin. There was no sin in his heart,
no sin in his mind, no sin in his flesh, no sin in his soul,
no sin anywhere. So how did he become a sinner?
God made him to be sin. You see, he was born of a sinful
woman. They can call on Mary all they
want to. They call on a woman that's dead. Sinful. Even she rejoiced in
that God gave her a Savior. She said, God has given us a
Savior. How can my Lord be in my womb? How can my Savior be in my womb? Oh, born of a sinful woman, and
He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. When you looked at Him,
He looked like any other human being. He walked like anybody else.
He cried like anybody else. He bled like anybody else. He
hungered like anybody else. He thirsted like anybody else.
He had to sleep like anybody else. He prayed like everybody
else. He was in the likeness of sinful
flesh, but knew no sin. Did no sin. He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, higher than the heavens themselves. And oh my, when Christ died for
us, our sin was His. Became His. Became His. Was he actually sin? Well, let
me ask you this question. Was you? Are you? Would he become actually what
you are? Huh? Did he actually die? If he wasn't
actually made sin, why did he actually die? It wasn't God regarding the sin.
They could have had a legal transaction, said, here, we're just going
to settle the books up here. I'm going to write down all the
people's sins against you, and I'll write down all your righteousness
over here and put it on account, and that way we'll just settle
the account, and you'll just say, well, I paid off the debt,
and you sit down here in my right hand. That's not the way it took.
No. The soul that's in it, it's got
to die. It's got to die. God cannot by no means clear
the guilty. Our criminal system, it may be,
our justice system may be in shambles, but even our own law
says that you cannot clear a guilty man. If a man's guilty, he's
got to suffer the penalty of that law. If a court finds him
guilty, he's got to suffer the penalty. A year, ten years, or
death. And God says that soul that sins, he's going to suffer
the penalty of the law. He's going to suffer the consequences
of it. I'm not going to clear him of his guilt. I'm not going
to black my eyes, close my eyes, and say, no, I'm just going to
overlook it. They had good intentions. They meant well. They're pretty
good folks. That's not the way God deals
with things. The soul that sins, it's going to die. God's got
a sword. It's called the sword of injustice.
God's got a law. He ain't going to bend it or
compromise it in any way. So Christ came into this world
born under that law. And He lived under that law. And He had no sin of His own. So what God did, this is the
wisdom of the gospel, God Himself came down in the person of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, made flesh like unto us, His own brethren. And God in His wisdom sent come
Himself and His Son and took all the sins of these people
and made Christ to be sin. So He's not going to clear the
guilty, He's going to punish them. They're going to die for
their sins. God's sword of justice is going
to punish them. And so His laws of hell, He's
kept His law. It's not being brought down. Then there He is, our Lord Jesus
Christ, down on the cross. God made Him to be sin, and that's
why He said, Oh, my soul, is there any way that this cup can
pass from Me? No! Not My will, but Thine, be
done. And then on the cross, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? That's the consequences of sin
is to be forsaken of God. And God made Him to be sin. He actually became what we are
and what we did. Only God can do somebody like
that. Not only did He die for us, but
watch what it says, He rose again for us. And that's why all our
sins are gone. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're gone. They're all taken
away. Oh, my. Oh, boy. I've been punished for my sins.
That's why I don't feel any guilt. That's why I don't feel any condemnation.
There's no condemnation of them that are in Christ. Amen. How
can I be condemned? There's nothing to condemn me.
I don't have any sin. I died to it. How? I died for
it. He was dead and sprang from sin. Oh, what a gospel we have. What
a gospel that allows you to be punished and live at the same
time. The old man is crucified with Christ and the new one lives
with him. Just as he died under sin once
and rose again, we died under sin once and now we are risen
in him. And God can look at me now and
be just and say, I find no sin in that man. Because it says,
we're made the very righteousness of God. We're in Christ. All right, now look at me show
you another one here right quick. In verse 17, you know, verse
15, excuse me, old things are passed away. Now, there's some
old things that pass away. What are some of the old things
that passed away? Verse 16 says, wherefore henceforth know we
no man after the flesh. Now what does that mean? That
means, beloved, that we were in the flesh. That flesh means
our old nature, our fallen nature. And since we're new creatures
in Christ, Christ died for us and we died in Him, we don't
consider ourselves or one another as being in the flesh. We can,
you know, I don't judge you after the flesh. You don't judge me
after the old nature. You see somebody do something
and you don't hold it against them. Why? Because you don't
consider them that way anymore. You consider them as being in
Christ. Huh? And then what's this? Yea, though
we've known Christ after the flesh. You see, there was a time,
that's all we knew about Christ is what? Our flesh knew. There was a natural understanding,
a fleshly understanding, that we had of Christ. Every one of
us had a fleshly understanding. When we were in fundamentalism,
legalism, and free willism, we just knew Christ after the flesh. That's all we knew in that. We
thought we actually got saved because we shed a few tears when
somebody told us we was. We actually thought we were saved
because we made a decision. We accepted Jesus. We just knew
Him after the flesh. Huh? We was like those who said,
how did He say come down from heaven? We see His brothers and
His sisters here. We didn't know that He laid down
His life for the sheep. We thought He died for everybody.
That's knowing Him after the flesh. We didn't know He was
God Almighty manifesting in the flesh. That was knowing Him after
the flesh. All these people that are going
to go to these nativity scenes and stand around and talk about
baby Jesus and go on about His incarnation, His incarnation
didn't save us. His death on a cross is what
saved us. That the only purpose He was
born was to die. We knew Him after the flesh.
We did not know Him as One who gave Himself for His
people? We didn't know Him as a substitute
for sinners. He was Jesus. All we had to do
was just let Him into our hearts and accept Him and believe a
few things about Him, believe He died for us, believe He loved
us, and we were fixed up forever. Oh, we were natural with a natural
understanding. And I'll tell you how also we
know the act of the flesh. We try to make our flesh acceptable
to God. Yes, sir. Yeah, we try to make ourselves
acceptable to God. Did any of y'all ever do that? Huh? Y'all try to make yourself, well,
I know I got to pray so much today. I got to read the Bible
so much. I got to attend so many services. I got to get my tithes.
And I've got to witness so much, and I've got to visit the hospital.
I've got to do all these things to make my flesh acceptable to
God. Let me tell you something, what the Scripture says. We've
got to see what the Scripture says. They that are in the flesh
cannot please God. I know that in me, in my flesh,
dwells no good thing. But oh my, Paul thought he was
an imposter. Paul thought he was a false messiah.
And he tried his best to imprison, making havoc of the church, imprisoning
men, women, children, putting them in jail because they worshiped
the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, see, we didn't know him
as God. We didn't know him as sovereign.
We didn't know him as one who had power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as the Father has given.
We didn't know him as Redeemer, as the Redeemer, as this Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. We didn't know him
as one who came into this world to satisfy justice and embarrass
him in his own body. No, no. We didn't know he loved
his sheep and laid down his life for the sheep. We knew him after
the flesh. Now we don't, that's what he
says, now we don't know him that way anymore. We don't know him. How do we? We're new creatures.
We're in Christ. Now we know who he is. We know
He's the Lord of Glory, King of Kings. We know what He did. We know He came into this world
to be our sin offering, our sacrifice, our substitute to bear our sins. We know who He did it for. All
that was given to Him, His elect. We know where He is now. Sitting
on a throne at the right hand of God with all power and authority
given unto Him. Oh my, we're in Christ, we're
new creatures. Well, how did we become these
new creatures? Well, in verse 18 tells us. All things are of
God. God's the one who reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ. God did this. You see, only God
can create. Now, you can take something and
change it. You can take some material and
make something new out of it. But nobody can take nothing and
create something. But God can. And you know when
He made us new creatures and created us in Christ. You know
the original creation, while you turn over here to 2 Corinthians
4, the original creation did not resist God. He just spoke
and it was done. But we, in our fallen nature,
we resisted it. The original creation didn't
resist it. We resisted it. He didn't have to overcome any
prejudice in the original creation. He has to overcome prejudice
in the new creation. There was no will against him
in the original creation. We have a will against him. That's
why it says in the day of his power, what does he have to do?
Has to make his people willing. We've made willing. We're not
willing until we're made willing. Ain't that right? He said he
has to cause us to approach unto him. No man comes unto the Father
except, no man comes unto me except the Father which sent
me. What's he got to do? Draw him. So only God can create. Only
God can. He hath made all things new.
Look here, 2 Corinthians 4.6. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, just like He did in the creation,
Darkness was upon the face of the deep, and God said, Let there
be light. Darkness was upon the deep of our souls, and God said,
Let there be light. And He hath shined in our hearts.
What kind of light did He shine in our hearts? The knowledge
of the glory of God. God made us to know His glory.
Where's that glory at? In the person of His blessed
Son. Here's the brightness of His glory, the expressed image
of His person. When you've seen God, when you've
seen Christ, you've seen God. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
in Him bodily. You know, the only God we're
going to see when we get to glory is going to be Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory. And everybody that saw Christ
on the face of this earth, they was looking at God. They was looking at God Almighty
that created this world. and uphold it by the word of
His power. That's who we are. And, O beloved, God reconciled
us to Himself. God reconciled us to Himself. Now watch this in verse nineteen.
To wit that God was in Christ. This is how we're made new creatures.
Reconciling the world unto Himself. not imputing their trespasses
unto him, taking their sins and putting them somewhere else.
No wonder David said, Blessed is the man whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. And, oh beloved, he's the one
who gave us faith. Look here in verse 5. He gave
us this faith. He wrought this faith in us.
2 Corinthians 5.5. Now, he that hath wrought us
for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the
earnest of the Spirit. And it says in verse 7, we wrought
by faith, not by sight. You know, you don't see Me in
Christ, and I don't actually see you in Christ. I don't see
His body. Only place I see His body is
in His church, in you. But what I mean by saying by
that is, is that I've never actually seen Christ, but one way. That's
my faith. How do I know it is? made Himself
known to me. How do I know that my sins are
gone? He told me so in His Word. How
do I know He's at God's right hand? How do I see Him? By faith. By faith. And, O Beloved, let
me show you this, and I'll be done. See, we look for a new
body, even a new heaven, a new earth. He calls us to desire
to be with him and be done with this old body. Look what he says
there in verse 1. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were to suffer, this old tent's dissolving. And it is. Ain't it fading away?
We watch it fade away right in front of us. But that inward
man's made new every day. We get up every day and that
old new man, that new man's still there. He still got more power,
got more love, needs Christ more. But oh my, when this is dissolved,
we have a building of God, one that God Himself built. A house
not made with hands. Not like that tabernacle out
in the wilderness. Not like the houses we live.
This is eternal and it's in the heavens. And we grow earnestly
designed to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
That new body He's talking about. The soul being clothed, we won't
be found naked. Do you remember how our Lord
says, you know, I tell you to, I suffer you to be as gold-tide
in the fire that your nakedness appear not. That's what he's saying here.
We don't want to appear naked. We don't want to just have this
house dissolved and just stand there naked. We want this new
house. We want this new body. We won't
close the door with Christ. For that we are in this tabernacle.
We've grown. We're burned. Burden with this
world. Burden with its wickedness. Burden
with ourselves. Burden with our lack of conformity
to Christ. Not for that we would be unclothed.
We're not just wanting to have our clothes taken off, this old
body just be done away with. But clothed upon. What do we
want clothed with? Immortality. That this mortality
might be swallowed up with what? Life. That's when we're going
to live. Huh? Now who done this for us? God
did this for us. Thank God for this work. Yep. And He hath given us this ministry
of reconciliation. That's why He says in verse 11,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
We persuade men. He gave us this ministry of reconciliation. We're here to tell men, tell
women, boys, girls, God was in Christ. God made Him
to be sin. And you need a righteousness
that you don't have. You can't face God in your own sins. If
you do, you'll be found naked. And knowing that we all must
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, I persuade you. I
persuade you for Christ's sake. I persuade you because of the
judgment. I persuade you because of your sin. I persuade you because
of your flesh. I persuade you because of your
inequities and iniquities and trespasses. I urge you, and I
persuade you, and I pray you. Be reconciled to God. Call on
God. Look to God. Submit to God. Call on God. Come to God. Come
to Him the way He sent in Christ.