Title: Becoming A New Creation
Series: New Beginnings for the New Year
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:12-21
Introduction: The Power Of The Gospel
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation” Romans 1:16).
People want to change. All advertising is based on the presupposition that people want things different from the way they are. They want to look better, feel better, think better, and live better. They want to change their lives but, except from an external standpoint, they are unable to do so.
Only the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change people and deliver them from sin, from Satan, from judgment, from death, and from hell. Acts 4:12 says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And that name is Jesus Christ.
So God’s Word, which is all about Jesus Christ, can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We are sinful and unable to remedy our condition, but from God comes the incredible, limitless power that can transform our lives. (MacArthur, J. “Truth for Today : A Daily Touch of God’s Grace.” Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman, 2001. Page 12.)
Note: All those who profess to know Christ speak of salvation, but many know little else. But the Scriptures speak of a change that takes place in an individual when they are saved; a change that is so dramatic that it simply cannot be explained. It is the kind of change that makes a drunk sober, a drug addict clean, and a prostitute pure.
Understanding this, it is little wonder why so Christ speaks of so many who profess salvation, but never possess salvation. No one can encounter the living Christ, experience the change that He alone makes possible, and be the same person they were before.
Today I will either encourage you, or challenge you. If you truly know Christ in salvation, you will be encouraged to understand all the implications that salvation brings. If you are, however, a professor and not a possessor, you will be challenged to the very core of your religious beliefs. Religion has never taken anyone to heaven. Only genuine salvation in Christ will accomplish that.
I. I AM A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Illustration: Futile Renovations
London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs.
Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.
As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.
“Forget about the repairs,” the buyer said. “When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.
Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God’s, the old life is over (2 Cor. 5:17).
He makes all things new. All he wants is the site and the permission to build. (Ian L. Wilson. Cited online at http://www.bible.org.)
A. I Am Indwelt By The Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9-11
1. My whole being, nature, life, and behavior have changed because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (1 John 3:4-9)
2. I was dead in trespasses and sins, but now I have been made alive. (Ephesians 2:1)
3. I am now a child of Almighty God. (Romans 8:14; Galatians 3:26; 1 John 4:4)
B. I Am Circumcised “Without Hands.” (Colossians 2:11-15)
Illustration: Surgery for the “New Born”
Several years ago an orthopedic surgeon performed an operation on my son to repair a torn ACL. The operation didn’t restore his knee to its original condition, but it did allow him to walk, even though he still experiences pain from time to time.
Recently my wife had surgery to remove a ruptured disk in her back. Once again it was successful, but she, too, was not restored to her original condition. She was spared much of the pain she was experiencing, but her back will never again be like new.
Then it was my turn to have surgery. I tore the meniscus in my left knee, and part of it had to be removed. Yet again a successful operation alleviated the pain I was experiencing. But my knee will never be what it once was.
There was another operation, however, that was performed on me that was “without hands.” It was a spiritual operation performed by God the moment I was saved. I was sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13) and made alive (Ephesians 2:1), being raised with Christ through faith (Colossians 2:12). I put off the body of the sins of the flesh (Colossians 2:11), and have been forgiven of all my trespasses (Colossians 2:13). This operation no doctor can perform. It can be experienced only by submitting to Jesus Christ in faith. This is the “new birth,” and it didn’t make me better, it made me an entirely “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
II. I AM RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
A. I Have Peace With God Through The Blood Of Christ. (Colossians 1:19-20)
Illustration: His Blood Was Big Enough
In the day of horse and buggies, a father went to the school house to pick up his three children ages 9, 11, and 17. As soon as he had them in the buggy--just before he stepped in--probably out of fear of the storm, the horses bolted and took off in the blizzard. Hours and miles later, when he found his children, the 17-year-old girl stood over the dead and frozen bodies of her brother and sister ages 9 and 11. Sobbing uncontrollably, she collapsed into his arms. When she had regained her composure, she explained to her dad that she tried to take her big, heavy coat and wrap it around them all. But she said, "The coat wasn’t big enough."
The blood that Christ shed on the cross was big enough to cover all of your sins and mine--all your lusting, all your lying, all your cheating, all your hatred, all your own faults. (R. Larry Moyer, "Right Smack in the Middle of Sin," Preaching Today, Tape No. 148.)
1. We need reconciliation because sin has ruined our relationship with God. (Romans 5:12)
2. Because of sin, we are naturally children of wrath and are at enmity with God. (Ephesians 2:3)
3. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christian’s relationship with God is changed for the better. (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:16)
4. We are now able to have fellowship with Him. (1 John 1:3; Philippians 3:10)
B. In Christ I Am Blameless And Above Reproach. (Colossians 1:21-22)
1. God has justified me as one of the elect. (Romans 8:33)
2. I am beyond condemnation because my sins are paid for. (Romans 8:1-2)
III. I AM AN AMBASSADOR OF GOD. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
A. An Ambassador Is An Authorized Representative Of A Sovereign.
1. He does not speak in his own name, voicing his own opinions.
2. He speaks on behalf of the ruler whom he represents.
3. His whole duty and responsibility is to interpret the ruler’s mind faithfully to those to whom he is sent.
B. I Am An Ambassador Proclaiming Christ’s Message To The World. (Ephesians 6:19b-20)
1. I do not speak in my own name, voicing my own opinions.
2. I speak on behalf of God whom I represent.
3. My whole duty and responsibility is to interpret God’s mind faithfully to those to whom I am sent.
IV. I AM REDEEMED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Illustration: Buying Back The Boat
One of the old favorites is the story of the father and son who worked for months to build a toy sailboat. Every night when he came home from work the man and his boy would disappear into the garage for hours. It was a labor of love--love for each other and for the thing they were creating. The wooden hull was painted bright red and it was trimmed with gleaming white sails.
When it was finished, they traveled to a nearby lake for the boat’s trial run. Before launching it the father tied a string to its stern to keep it from sailing too far. The boat performed beautifully, but before long a motorboat crossing the lake cut the string, and the sailboat drifted out of sight on the large lake. Attempts to find it were fruitless, and both father and son wept over its loss.
A few weeks later as the boy was walking home from school he passed his favorite toy store and was amazed to see a toy sailboat in the window--his sailboat! He ran inside to claim the boat, telling the proprietor about his experience on the lake.
The store owner explained that he had found the boat while on a fishing trip. "You may be its maker," he said, "but as a finder I am its legal owner. You may have it back--for fifty dollars."
The boy was stunned at how much it would cost him to regain his boat, but since it was so precious to him he quickly set about earning the money to buy it back.
Months later he joyfully walked into the toy store and handed the owner fifty dollars in exchange for his sailboat. It was the happiest day of his life. As he left the store he held the boat up to the sunlight. Its colors gleamed as though newly painted.
"I made you, but I lost you," he said. "Now I’ve bought you back. That makes you twice mine, and twice mine is mine forever." (James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 37-38.)
A. My Redemption Was Obtained For Me At The Cross. (Hebrews 9:12)
B. My Redemption Was Sent To Me In The Gospel. (Psalms 111:9)
Conclusion: Unopened Letters
A childhood accident caused poet Elizabeth Barrett to lead a life of semi-invalidism before she married Robert Browning in 1846.
There’s more to the story. In her youth, Elizabeth had been watched over by her [oppressive] father. When she and Robert were married, their wedding was held in secret because of her father’s disapproval. After the wedding the Brownings sailed for Italy, where they lived for the rest of their lives. But even though her parents had disowned her, Elizabeth never gave up on the relationship. Almost weekly she wrote them letters. Not once did they reply.
After 10 years, she received a large box in the mail. Inside, Elizabeth found all of her letters; not one had been opened! Today those letters are among the most beautiful in classical English literature. Had her parents only read a few of them, their relationship with Elizabeth might have been restored. (Daily Walk, May 30, 1992. Cited online at http://www.bible.org.)
· The Holy Bible is God’s love letter to mankind.
· Unfortunately, many have never opened it, and have never become a new creation.
· Becoming a new creation only comes through faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Word of God.
· When we submit to Him, confessing our sins and making Jesus the Lord of our lives, nothing can separate us from His love.
Romans 8:35-39
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
