All Things New Again

17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Introduction:

I. For many people the making of something old into someting new is rather fascinating.

A. That is the giving of new life to that which the life has perhaps long been gone.

1. Some months ago, Maryann came home and said, “I found it.

a. We had been looking for a “new” desk to put our computer system on.

b. We had looked at several new desks, but none seemed quite right.

2. Then she found it, so we went and looked together.

a. The paint was faded and chipped.

b. The doors wouldn’t stay shut,

c. The wood was cracked and pitted,

3. But it was the one.

4. We took it home, stripped all the paint, reglued the drawers, repaired the doors, and repainted it.

a. I took it completely apart and rebuilt it.

b. Today, it sits in our living room, not quite perfect, but much better than it was.

5. Almost new life, placed into something that could just as easily have sat on the curb.

6. I won’t say we do it often, but once in a while, “trash pickin’” can be fun, and for some, even profitable.

B. Tell me, have you ever given new life to something old?

II. To give new life to something old and discarded can be extremely exciting; but the ultimate thrill must be to give new life to that which is considered dead.

A. Today is Resurrection Sunday; I prefer Resurrection Sunday to Easter.

B. The very essence of the word “Resurrection” is new life, the giving of life to that which was dead.

III. In going to the cross, Christ became death for us.

A. He took upon himself the punishment for our sin.

B. But had he stayed in the grave, all that would have been proven was that Christ could die.

C. It was in the resurrection that God proved He had the power to give new life to that which was dead.

IV. I want to show you a music video this morning.

A. I warn you; some of the scenes may be a bit disturbing.

B. If you have young children, you may want to leave for about 5 minutes.

C. The song tells the story of a mothers anguish at the death of her son, BUT it also tells the story of God promise that I read a few moments ago, “if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature” in other words, “I make all things new again.”

We Are A New Creation In Christ (vs. 17)

I. New life, for what was once considered dead, but this newness is not automatic, for “All Things to be New” we must first be in Christ.

II. 17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.

III. When I was in the Army, we used to have a drill that we did, in order to be prepared for a nuclear attack.

A. The drill really didn’t make a lot of sense to me, and I can honestly admit that I still do not believe it would work, BUT

B. We were told this is how we could survive a nuclear attack.

IV. Step one, when you see the mushroom cloud of an exploded nuclear bomb.

A. Take your plastic rain poncho out of your pack.

B. But on your protective mask,

C. Drop immediately to the ground

D. Throw your “poncho” over you, and it will act as protection from the nuclear attack.

E. When told to “uncover” you would throw off your poncho, and see all things dead around you, BUT you, because you had been “IN” the protective cover of your poncho would be ALIVE.

V. Like I said, I don’t really believe it to be possible, but that is what I was told, and fortunately, I never had to find out if it would work or not.

VI. Look back at 2nd Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 17

A. It states, “If any man IS IN Christ, he is a new creature...” or creation.

B. The Army told me, “If any man is in his poncho, he will be survive where other things die.”

1. I suppose that would depend on how close to the cloud you were at the time,