If any man be in Christ he is a new creature

Sermon notes from 11 March 2018 pm

2 Corinthians 5 verses 14 - 21

Text verse 17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away behold all things are become new."

The Corinthian Church were a messed up church morally speaking.  Period of divisions, sued each other in courts, allowed anyone to take the Lord`s supper.  It is as if Paul comes to them and says "if a man is in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away."  It may be totally different if you are in Christ.  Radical is a word we are not supposed to use yet we are in desperate need of radical conversion.  People have had no real radical change in their lives, it is just the same but parcelled up in great garb.  Maybe you are mixed up just as the Corinthian church was.  Long to be totally different.  Life might be lived in an entirely different way tonight.  Christ is the answer. 

The implication that is tragic.  If you have to be in Christ then surely you have to be out of Christ.  Can you tell me of a situation most tragic in an age like ours?  Ephesians 2 verse 12 "that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world."  It is a dreadful thing to be out of Christ.  Ephesians 2 verse 13 "ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."  Out of Christ, without a Savour, with no hope, no refuge.  Like a ship without a rudder.  How terrible to be out of Christ.  To be out of Christ, no Saviour, no pardon, no prospect of hope in heaven.  Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones` commentary on Ephesians 2 verse 12 said "without Christ, apart from Christ, not in a relationship with Christ."  Maybe there is nothing more terrible that can be said of anyone - they were out of Christ, living apart from Christ.  Are you out of Christ tonight? An implication that is tragic, utterly tragic.  Jonathan Edwards wrote "Saints in the hands of an angry God."  "Therefore let everyone that is our of God now awake and fly from the wrath to come."  Out of Christ without a Saviour with no hope.  How can you  dare to live or dare to die.  Are you going to live and die without a Saviour because you need to be in Christ.  It implies we must be out of Christ.

Second a conversion that is inconceivable.  "If any man be in Christ."  When a guilty rebel sinner, someone who hates God, has no time for God can come to this wonderful experience of being in Christ.  Paul speaks of being in Christ many times.  These Christians were geographically in Corinth but spiritually in Christ.  Are you in Christ tonight?  I have asked you if you are out of Christ but are you in Christ?  Romans 8 verse 1 "therfore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Charles Wesley wrote that great hymn PNo condemnation in him I dread." What a blessed thing it is to know a conversion experience, transformed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.  How wonderful to be in Christ.  "My hope is found in Christ alone."  What a blessed transformation.  An implication that is tragic.  

A transaction that is radical.  He is a new creation.  Spiritual conversion is a radical thing.  Birth is a radical thing.  One moment a child is in the womb and in darkness then all of a sudden he is out in this big world.  Paul to Galatians in chapter 6 verse 15 says "for in Christ neither circumcision availeth anything no uncircumcision but a new creature."  We are new creatures, new persons.  The idea of a complete change doesn`t appeal to many people today.  We want to be sure, on the right side when it comes to death but don`t want to change.  Same people with a religious garb is all we want.  New creatures completely new.  When you are truly saved by grace of God entirely new.  That is the meaning.  1 Samuel 10 verse 9 "God gave him another heart."    What a transformation, a new situation.  A transaction that is radical.  Jesus came to do not a remould, make a few improvements but came to bring something totally new.  The old is gone the new has come.  We are new people in Christ.  Born in his heart.  Wonderfully converted by the grace of God.  Paul is talking about not expecting to see old person if you profess to be a child of God.

A separation that is inevitable.  "old things have passed away."  A whole generation of Christians have come up believing it is possible to accept Christ without living the word.  Philippians 3 verse 7 "but what things were gain to me these I counted loss for Christ.  Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the  excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them as dung that I might win Christ."  This was a man willing to part with the old life completely in order to follow Jesus.  A separation that is inevitable.  Old things will pass away.  Too many wanting to hold onto the old things.  Paul says you cannot do that.  Do you know what it is to experience this - has there been separation from the world.  Paul is saying if a man be in Christ he is a new creature old things have passed away.  

A transformation that is total, "old things become new."  Not just some things all things.  The mind thinking new thoughts, the body is completely new, voice, heart all new things.  Paul is telling us all things are become new.  We live in the midst of an old creation with a new creation all things become new.  For todays youth we must go beyond, modern youth must be taught why they believe and what they believe if we want to develop as mature Christians.  If we don`t see transformed lives we fail.