Title: “3 Notable Men in II Cor. 5:17” Scripture: II Cor. 5:17
Type: Expository. Where: GNBC 1-3-21
Intro: A few years before John Newton died, a friend was having breakfast with him. Their custom was to read from the Bible after the meal. Because Newton’s eyes were growing dim, his friend would read, then Newton would comment briefly on the passage. The day the selection was from 1 Corinthians 15. When the words “by the grace of God I am what I am” were read, Newton was silent for several minutes. Then he said, “I am not what I ought to be. How imperfect and deficient I am! I am not what I wish to be, although I abhor that which is evil and would cleave to what is good. I am not what I hope to be, but soon I shall put off mortality, and with it all sin. Though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor yet what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was: a slave to sin and Satan. I can heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge that by the grace of God I am what I am!” (Source unknown) Today, we will examine the verse that supports Newton’s claim.
Prop: Examining II Cor. 5:17 we’ll see 3 notable men.
BG: 1. II Cor. was written by Apostle Paul. Was actually his 3rd letter written to Corinth. I Cor. 5:9 makes reference to a previous letter Paul had written. So technically, I& II Cor. are actually II &III!!
2. The Gospel has transforming power. In theology call the doctrine of Salvation “Soteriology”.
3.
Prop: Examining II Cor. 5:17 we’ll see 3 notable men.
I. 1st Man: “Any Man” – Epitomizes the Gospel’s Offer.
A. Reading II Cor. 5:17 we ask what type of man does the Gospel call?
1. The Gospel’s Call is to “Any Man”.
a. “If any man…” – any – tis – indefinite pronoun. Can mean a certain one, someone, or anyone. If you are here today, man or woman, you are by definition, “Any man”. This message is for you! Listen up, it could change your life.
b. Now I know, some of my more Reformed friends might get a little uptight w/passage like this. Shouldn’t! A free offer of the Gospel can be made to every person ever born. It is completely true that “whoever will” may come to Xst for salvation and NO ONE who comes to Him with genuine faith and repentance will be turned away. Xst’s death has infinite merit and is sufficient to pay the penalty of as few or as many as the Father and the Son have decreed.
2. The Gospel’s offer is for payment in full for all of the sin have committed.
- Friend, regardless of who you are or what you have in your past, if you come to Christ by faith you can rest assured that he has paid the penalty for all your sins! He didn’t just redeem us potentially, but he redeemed us actually, as individuals He loves. Illust: All of our kids had orthodontia. Five kids. That’s enough money to buy a car. Had to sign a separate contract w/each child. Not for potential payment but for actual payment in full! Smiles came at a cost. Price had to be paid for service rendered. Why did I pay: “They were my children.” Just as I particularly paid the individual bill of each child, Christ’s Particular Atonement really and completely secured your salvation.
B. What Kind of Man Can Respond to the Gospel’s Call?
1. Paul declares that “any man” can respond.
a. One of the saddest statements I have ever heard has been: “Oh pastor, I am too great a sinner for the Gospel. I would need to clean up and change my life before I could be saved.” No! Not true dear one! In fact, you are very close to walking thru the door of salvation!
b. Illust: Let me read I Cor. 6:9-11. Look at that list. Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, SHALL NOT inherit the KOG. See yourself there sinner? Bad company. But wait, the passage doesn’t end there! Rather, it says: “And such were some of you!!!!” (That’s good news! That’s happy news! That’s shouting news!) Corinth was a church that displayed God’s great trophies of redemption! Some had been… Illust: Let me take a moment to address a crisis in the modern Church. We take one of these sins and attempt to justify and purify it for our culture! Nonsense! There is not another one from this list that we would say go on and feel secure in your sin! Would we say you can be a Christian and fornicate? Idolater? Thief? Covetous? Of course not! You don’t do a service to the homosexual or lesbian by saying they are fine in their condition. You do them the greatest disservice of all. You lie to them and you kill them with your supposed kindness which is nothing more than spineless passivity. The GOOD NEWS is for every man!
2. The Key for Any Man to Come to Christ is Contentment to be a “has been” (I Cor. 6:11)
a. Illust: What do I mean by saying someone of something is a “has been”? In sports a “has been” is someone who can’t perform like they used to. Joe Louis was one of greatest heavyweights of all time. Yet, broke and last years of life served as a doorman in Vegas. Unkind people: “Louis is a has been”. Well’ here’s the great news. You can experience new and eternal life in Christ when you declare yourself and old life dead. You declare self to be a “has been” for the sake of Christ! Your past is done! New in Christ.
b. Illust: I believe one of the defining moments of my new life in Christ took place first week in college. Had been a Christian for a few months. Old HS friend was an upper classman at ISU. Called me up. “Hello Chris. This is Myles.” “We are having a party Saturday night. Will be plenty of booze and weed, and women.” “Would love to see you!” I paused for a long moment. Attraction was strong: “Myles, I sure would love to see you again too…but I don’t do that anymore. See, I got saved last winter. I don’t do that type of partying anymore.” “Oh, ok. Let’s get together sometime.” That was over 35 yrs. ago.
c. Applic: 1st man in II Cor. 5:17 epitomizes Gospel’s offer: Any man!
II. 2nd Man: “One Man” – in Christ – Epitomizes the Gospel.
A. Salvation is the Grand Theme of the Bible.
1. Salvation is focused in One Person, Jesus Christ.
a. “Soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, must be the grandest theme in Scripture. It embraces all of time as well as eternity past and future. It relates in one way or another to all of mankind, without exception. It even has ramifications in the sphere of the angels. It is the theme of both the Old and New Testaments. It is personal, national, and cosmic. And it centers on the greatest Person, our Lord Jesus Christ.” (J. Hampton Keathley)
b. According to the broadest meaning as used in Scripture, the term salvation encompasses the total work of God by which He seeks to rescue man from the ruin, doom, and power of sin and bestows upon him the wealth of His grace encompassing eternal life, provision for abundant life now, and eternal glory.
2. What is this Great Salvation we have in Christ?
a. The word “salvation” is from Greek word soteria which is derived from the word soter meaning “savior.” The word “salvation” communicates: deliverance, safety, preservation, soundness, restoration, and healing. In theology, however, its major use is to denote a work of God on behalf of men, including doctrines of redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, conviction, repentance, faith, regeneration, forgiveness, justification, sanctification, preservation, and glorification. On the one hand, salvation is described as the work of God rescuing man. On the other hand, salvation describes is also the estate of a man who has been saved and made a partaker of the inheritance of the saints. (Systematic Theology, Chafer, p. 21)
b. Illust: Pioneer days: A man going west came to the Missouri River. Winter -ice covered the river How could the man be sure it would hold his weight? People often drowned in that river when the ice broke. He walked out a little way, then gripped with fear then crawled on his hands and knees. He looked back and saw how far the bank was now and knew would drown if broke thru! He lay out flat on his belly to spread weight more and slowly drew himself sliding across the river a few inches at time. All of a sudden from behind him he heard whistling. Turned head around to see big man, walking across the ice leading a team of horses drawing a heavy wooden sleigh full of hay. He was smiling and whistling and tipped his hat. The timid man stood up and brushed off the ice snow and ice and managed a sheepish smile. That old farmer had crossed the river many times and knew the ice could be trusted. Unsaved friend here today: Look around this congregation. Many people have trusted Christ. You can too!
B. The Unique Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
1. Christ is the focus of our Salvation.
a. Illust: Our culture screams: “All roads lead to God!” With all the various religions in the world how dare the Christian believe Jesus is the only way!” How does one respond to such interrogations?
b. (Read) 1 Timothy 1:15 contains one of the most succinct answers to that question in all of Scripture. That text informs us that: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Those words inform us that in providing a salvation that is “done” and not “do,” the person of Jesus is foundational. Jesus is able to do what He does because He is who He is. Or, to state it yet another way, it is the uniqueness of the person of Jesus that secures the validity and efficacy of the work of Jesus. No one else in all history “came into the world”. Such language clearly implies preexistence in another realm prior to existence in this world.
2. What does it mean to be “in Christ”?
a. I would encourage you, later today, to read Ephesians 1:3-14. There in those few verses the Apostle states 10 times what we have due to our union with Christ! To be “in Christ” is to be united with Christ thru faith alone in His finished work.
b. The believer’s union with Christ has long been a neglected doctrine in many churches, yet it is a central doctrine in the Bible. WOG teaches us that we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and that we are united to Christ by God’s justifying grace alone through our faith alone because of the atoning death of Christ alone (John 15:4–7; 1 Cor. 15:22; 2 Cor. 12:2; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 1:4, 2:10; Phil. 3:9; 1 Thess. 4:16; 1 John 4:13). The nature of this union is not only that we are in Christ but that He is in us (John 6:56; Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:17; Col. 1:27). The theological implications of our union with Christ are astounding! Two words hold the key to your destiny: “in Christ”. Are you “in Christ”?
C. Applic: 2nd Man in II Cor. 5:17 is Christ Who epitomizes the Gospel. He is our salvation.
III. 3rd Man: “New Man” – Epitomizes the Gospel’s Power.
A. As Believers who are Positionally “in Christ” we Are Designated a “New Man”.
1.Our standing as a New Creature is based directly to our being “In Christ”.
a. “New Creature” – ktisis – literally a new creation! The phrase is borrowed from the rabbis who used it to express the condition of a proselyte. But the meaning is not mere Jewish arrogance and exclusiveness, but the deep truth of spiritual regeneration and the new birth (John 3:3; Ephesians 2:10;etc.) Have you “blown it” in life? Like to start over? You can in Christ!
b. Illust: Christian, Satan would like to defeat us by telling us that we are no different than we were before we were saved. That’s a lie! But God says that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” And I’d rather believe Him, wouldn’t you? – (H.G.B. Our Daily Bread, Thursday, April 29) Believe truth not lies.
2. Our sin nature wants to keep us from Christ.
a. Sin’s tyrannical power over us is broken in our regeneration and conversion to Christ, and because we have received the Holy Spirit, wickedness can never again rule our deeds and affections as it does in those who do not know the Savior (Rom. 6:1–14; 8:9–11; 2 Peter 1:3–4). God frees us from the reign of sin when we are united to Christ by faith, but He does not remove sin’s presence from us entirely. His Spirit comes to dwell in us, to empower us to put our remaining sin to death. (1 John 1:8–9). This will continue until our glorification.
b. Many people are sitting in churches today unaware that they must be born again. It’s possible to grow up in the church and never put your faith in Jesus, even if you have been baptized and confirmed and taken communion. Have you been born again? What Jesus told Nicodemus, He tells you today! Has your heart been changed so that you love the things of God?
B. What is “New” for the New Man?
1. The Gospel has a Transforming Power to Create New out of what was old and ruined.
a. Regeneration is the first step in the total experience of redemption that God takes us through. When people say that they’re born again, they often think that their rebirth is the same thing as their new life. After all, the New Testament says that the person who is in Christ is a new creature: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). The fact that someone is a new person, a new creation, means that he has a new life, but his new life is not the same thing as his new birth. Rather, his new life is the result of his new birth, in the same way that each day of his life is the result of his physical birth. Each of us has a birthday each year, but we are not born each year. Birth happens once, and it indicates the beginning of one’s existence as a person in this world. So we make a distinction between the beginning and the life that flows out of that beginning, both in terms of natural (physical) birth and with regard to spiritual birth. (RC Sproul)
b. Illust: A legitimate question to ask when one is born again, is “What’s made new?” Oh friend, let me tell you! We have a new nature! – We are indwelt by the HS, we have access to grace, we are sealed by the HS, we have our names written in the Book of Life, we have a new legal status before God!. We have new affections! – We love the things that God loves. We hate the things God hates. We desire to do His will. We have new relationships!- We are reconciled to God, we are adopted and we have a new family and a new identity and a new inheritance. We have a new citizenship with a new calling and task, we are priests, servants, and ambassadors! We have a new destiny! -We have a blessed hope, we have a mansion in heaven, we have eternal life!
2. Are you a New Man in Christ?
a. Someone may be here today and wondering if this is true. It is! Ah, sinner, if you hear the loving call of Jesus you will recognize it. Turn to Him. The world may treat you unkindly; but Christ never will. You’ll never have a better Friend in this world. What you need is– to come today to Him. Let His loving arm be underneath you; let His loving hand be about you; and He will hold you with mighty power. He will keep you. He will remove that stony heart of yours and put a new heart within you. He will love you!
b. Illust: The story is told that when Augustine was still without God and without hope, the Holy Spirit convicted him on the basis of Paul’s words in Romans 13:14, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Augustine acknowledged his sinfulness, accepted Jesus as his Savior, and became a different person. His entire outlook on life began to change because of his new nature. One day he had to attend to some business in his old haunts in Rome. As he walked along, a former lover saw him and began calling, “Augustine, Augustine, it is I!” Realizing the dangerous predicament he was in he reminded himself of his new position in Christ, he quickly turned and ran from her, shouting, “It’s not I! It’s not I!” Augustine had found the secret of Paul’s words: “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20).
C. Applic: 3rd Man that we see can be you. If any man be in the One Man, he can be a New Man!
