It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, O Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I'm reading from 2 Corinthians
5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature or creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, All things are become
new. I've entitled this message, In
Christ, A New Creation. Now, there are a lot of ways
to describe God's salvation, but a phrase that the Scripture
uses as much as anything else is the two-word phrase, In Christ. In Christ. For instance, Paul said in Ephesians
1, 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. In Christ. According as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. that we should
be holy and without blame before Him, in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
Christ. Paul says, if any man be in Christ. Now, the fact that he uses the
word if presupposes that not everybody is in Christ. If everybody
is in Christ, then everybody would be saved. Not everybody
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does it mean to be
in Christ? Well, here's a scripture that
I think that will be helpful. First Corinthians 15, 22 says,
For as in Adam, all die, even so in the same manner in Christ,
shall all be made alive." Now, what does it mean to be in Adam? When Adam fell, he did this as
a representative man. I was in his loins. Whatever he did, I did. When he ate the fruit, I ate
the fruit. When he died spiritually, I died. Whatever he did, I did because
I was in him. In the same manner, in Christ
shall all be made alive. Everybody in Christ, just as
everybody in Adam died, everybody in Christ shall be made alive
because in Christ, whatever He did, I did. When He kept the
law, I kept the law. When He died on the cross, I
died on the cross. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. Now, there's a Scripture in Hebrews
chapter 7, I think, that illustrates this, talking about Levi. We
read in Hebrews chapter 7, verses 9 and 10, And as I may say so,
Levi also, who received tithes, remember, Levi was the priest
who took care of the tabernacle and who all the people paid tithes
to. This I say, Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes
in Abraham, his great-grandfather, For he was yet in the loins of
his father when Melchizedek met him. Now when Abraham met Melchizedek
and paid him tithes, Levi did too because Levi was in Abraham. When Christ kept the law, I did
too because I was in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the scripture
gives us so many illustrations of this. Do you remember when
God passed through the land of Egypt to destroy the firstborn?
And he told the children of Israel, you take blood, the blood of
the paschal lamb, and put it over the lintel of the door of
the house. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Now, where was their safety?
Outside of the house with the blood? No, only in the house
where there was blood. And God said, when I see that
blood, I will pass over you. What about the ark? Remember
when God commanded Noah to make an ark, and God's wrath came
down upon the earth in the form of floods and rain. There was
one place of safety. Where was that place of safety?
It was in the ark. Now, in Christ, that's where
I want to be. I understand exactly what Paul meant when he said,
Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. You see,
in Christ I have nothing to fear. Just like you didn't have anything
to fear if you're in the ark, or if you were in the house with
the blood over the door. In Christ, when God comes looking
for me, this is where I want Him to find me. in the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Christ. We're in Him as members
of His body through the indwelling of His Spirit. We're in Him consciously
by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which works by love. We're in Him consciously by faith.
That means we know we're in Him in believing the Gospel. And
the only way we can be in Him is if God places us in Him. I Corinthians 1.30 says, Of Him
are you in Christ Jesus. Somebody says, How can I get
in Christ? God's got to put you there. Of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Now, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. He is a new creation. He's not so much changed or healed. He is a new creation. He's something that He was not
before. He has been created. Not so much
changed or healed. but He is something He was not
before, a new creation. Now, only God can create. We talk about creative people,
and I appreciate creative people, and I appreciate the creative
genius of man. I'm so impressed with the things
that men can do, the advances in technology, in medicine, in
architecture, engineering, The arts, we're thankful for creative
genius, but that's not really creative genius. You see, those
people who are enabled to do those things are only working
with what God has given them. God gave them the brains. God
gave them the materials to use. But in creation, God creates
something from nothing. He brings into existence that
which was not there before. Now, when God created the heaven
and the earth, how much help did He have? With whom did He
consult? With whom did He take counsel?
He spake the universe into existence, He willed it, and matter was
brought into existence that was not there before, and this new
creation mirrors the old creation. Now, in Genesis chapter 1, verse
1, we read, In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And the earth was without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, And God said,
let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. Did God create the earth without
form? and void, lifeless, waste, worthless. Is that the way God created the
world? No. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Something happened between Genesis
1-1 and Genesis 1-2. I believe that what this is a
reference to is the fall of Satan. You can read about the fall of
Satan in Isaiah chapter 14, but Satan was around before the fall
of Adam. He was already here on the earth,
but I think something catastrophic took place during his fall, and
that's why the earth was without form and void and darkness covered
the face of the deep. Now, water was already there,
but darkness covered the face of the deep. Now, what this does
is it mirrors what happened in the fall. Adam fell and became
in utter darkness, utter blindness, sinfulness. That's what happened
when Adam fell. He became without form and void,
darkness covering him, sinfulness, the total depravity and the total
inability of man And then the Scripture says, the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters. The Spirit of God moves
on a dead sinner and gives him life. And what was the command?
Let there be light. And there was light. And when
God saves somebody in the new creation, there is light. Light
concerning who He is. Light concerning who I am. light
concerning how God saves sinners, and that light is all comprehended
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to know who
God is, look at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
I see God in His holiness. He will not let sin go unpunished. There I see God in His love,
giving His Son for sinners. There I see God in His justice
and His wisdom. Every attribute of God is displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the cross, I have
light of who I am. I am so bad that if God took
the restraint off me, I would have been one of the murderers
of His Son. In the cross, I see the beauty of God's salvation
through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as soon as
that command of light came, there was a division. A division between
night and day. When God makes a new creation,
there's a division. There's the new man and the old
man. Night and day. And that division
is seen in the understanding of the new and the Old Testament. Now, the Old Testament can be
summarized like this. Do and live. If you do this,
you'll live. If you don't, you won't. The
New Testament can be summarized like this, live and do. Not do and live, that's salvation
by works, but live and do. That is salvation by grace. Now the word creation emphasizes
that this is entirely God's work. It's utterly unique. It's utterly unlike the works
message. And here's the message that I
hear preached in our day. See if I'm not being accurate. The message that I hear preached
for the most part in our day is God loves everybody. Christ
died for everybody. God wants to save everybody.
He's paid for your sins. He's made salvation available
to you. But it's up to you to accept
or reject what he did as to whether or not you'll be saved. Salvation
is in your hands. He wants to save you. He wants
to save everybody. But it's up to you, if you as
an act of your free will accept what he did, he'll save you. But if you don't, you will not
be saved. Salvation is ultimately dependent
upon you. And my dear friends, That is
the message of salvation by works. It puts the burden of salvation
in the hands of the sinner. And the Bible doesn't recognize
this. In John chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, we read, As many as
received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons
of God, even to them which believe on His name, which were born,
not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, Not of the will
of man, but of God. You see, creation says salvation
is of the Lord, which is another way of saying salvation is by
grace. Now, this new creation, if any
man be in Christ, he's a new creation. This is God's work.
This new is not with respect to time, but new in respect to
Totally different. If any man being Christ, he's
a new creation. It's not the old changed. It's
not the old improved or healed, but something completely different. I've heard people call this a
radical change, but that's not it. It's not a radical change. It's a new creation. If any man
be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. And behold, all things have become
new. I remember one time I was preaching
in a prison, and the chaplain got up before I preached, and
he looked at the inmates, and he quoted this verse of Scripture. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Old things are passed away, and all things have
become new. And he proceeded to tell the
inmates, I used to desire sin. I used to desire partying, and
I used to desire sexual sin, and I used to have a craving
for sin. But I don't have that craving
for sin anymore because God saved me. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. And I thought to myself, you are a liar. That's all you
are. Getting up and telling those
men that you no longer have those sinful cravings. That was a lie. You see, a believer still has
an old nature. And that old nature isn't any
better than it ever was. Now, I'm not saying your conduct
won't change because if the Lord does save you, your conduct will
change. But it's not your old nature becoming better. That
old nature is still there. And when he's speaking of those
old things passing away, He's speaking of our old standing
before God's law. My old standing before God's
law was guilty. Guilty. Lawbreaker. Guilty as charged. And that standing
has passed away. Because of what Christ has done
for me, I am now justified. That means I do not have any
guilt before God. If you're justified, that means
you never have done anything wrong and you've always done
that which is right. That's the believer standing
before God's holy law, that of being justified. Old things have
passed away also has something to do with repentance, a change
of mind. In my own way of thinking, I
used to believe that whenever I decided to, I could be saved. Whenever I wanted to, I could
accept Jesus and turn things around and be saved. I used to
believe that I had a free will. True, I had problems, I had sins,
but I had a free will. And when I wanted to, I could
be saved. I don't believe that anymore.
Old things have passed away. I used to believe, like most
people do, that God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, God
the Holy Spirit is calling everybody, but salvation is left up to man. It's up to you as to whether
or not you'll be saved. I don't believe that anymore.
Don't believe it for a second. I used to dislike the notion
of God's sovereignty in the dispensation of His grace. When I'd hear how
He chose some to salvation and passed by others, I'd get mad.
I'd think, that's not fair. How can it be fair for God to
choose one and pass by the other? When I would hear that Christ
died only for His people, I would think, how can it be fair for
Him not to die for everybody? Now what I was doing at that
time, I was being God's judge. I was setting judgment on God
to see whether I agreed with what He did. I don't think that
way anymore. I know that whatever He does
is right. I repented. Those old ways of
thinking. have passed away, behold, all
things have become new." How can this be? Because He said
in Revelation 21, verse 5, Behold, I make all things new. I have a new standing. I have a standing of perfection
and justification before God. I have a standing before Him
that when He sees me, He sees no sin." Now, that's the glory
of the Gospel. I have a new heart. He said,
a new heart will I give thee. This new heart is one that I
didn't have before. It's new, created in Christ Jesus. And with this new heart, are
new motives. My motive is His glory. There's
a new desire, a new will. My will is for not my will to
be done, but His will to be done. There's new desires and new goals.
Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, I'd like to read this passage
of Scripture to you. Philippians chapter 3. Paul says,
What things were gain to me? He said that in Philippians chapter
3 verse 7. I looked at them as being advantageous
to me on the plus column. What things were gain to me?
Those I counted loss for Christ. They're not gain anymore. Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss. but rubbish, for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom
I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung. Everything
that I've lost, it's not like I'm thinking I've lost something
worthwhile. It's nothing but dung, that I
may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, my own personal law keeping, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. I have in Christ Jesus the very
righteousness of God. It's a righteousness that's equal
to God because it is God's righteousness. My righteousness before God is
not based upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. My
righteousness before God is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, this is this new standing.
I'm not standing in my own self. I'm standing in Him. Paul said
that I might know Him. This is my great desire, to know
the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection, the
accomplishments of His resurrection, that I might know that, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, that I might know that what He
did, He did for me, being made conformable to His death, that
I might, like Him, be obedient even unto death, if by any means
I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Old things have
passed away. That old way of thinking, behold,
all things have become new. I've got this new heart with
new desires. And I've got a new view of the
world. Number one, it's my father's world. It belongs to him. And the ways of this world, the
maxims of this world, this world that doesn't love God, I have
no love for this world in that sense. Love not the world, John
said, neither the things that are in the world. For all that's
of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world.
I have a new relationship. I'm a son of God, not a slave
cringing in fear, but a son of God. And I'm enabled to draw
near into the very presence of God and be accepted as a son
through the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a new knowledge. In Colossians
chapter 3, Paul said, beginning in verse 9, Lie not one to another,
saying that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man, which was renewed in knowledge, after the
image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, skiffy, and bond or
free, but Christ is all. That's my new knowledge. Christ
is all. He's all to God. He's all in
the Scriptures. He's all that I need. We have
a new name. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. That's the name
of every believer. What's your name? Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. We have a new song. We read in
Revelation 5 verse 9 and they sang a new song. It's always
new. It's always fresh. It's always
powerful. You see, the Gospel always comes
as news. It's not old news. It comes just
today. It's just what I need. That's
why I know the Bible is the Word of God. It's always new. It's
always powerful. It's not like any other book.
You get tired of that other book. You don't get tired of this book,
not if you know what it says. Revelation 5, 9, and they sang
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to
open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation, and has made us kings and priests, and we shall reign
on the earth. This song is ever new. We have
a new commandment. Our Lord said, A new commandment
I give unto you, that you love one another. as I have loved
you." He said, behold, I make all things new. Now somebody
is thinking, how can I be in Christ? How can I be this new
creation where old things have passed away and all things have
become new? The Philippian jailer said to Paul and Silas, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? And they replied, Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now my dear friend,
if you believe, that means you rely upon You trust Him. He is the only reason. Your relying
on Him is the only reason why you can be accepted by a holy
God. If you rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. You shall be in the Lord Jesus
Christ. and you'll be this new creation.
Old things will have passed away and behold all things are new. This is the heritage of every
believer. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. Now we have this message on DVD
or CD if you call the church or write or email, we'll send
you a copy. I'd like to invite you to service
at Todd's Road Grace Church. Our Bible study begins this morning
at 9.45. The morning worship is at 10.30.
The evening is at 6. We'd love to have you come out
and visit with us. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
our prayer. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.