In Christ – New Creation

The point: Examine whether you possess true, vital, saving religion.

Uses the American holiday markers for vacation season to illustrate the transition from summer's disruptions to the steady schedule of fall church life, setting the context for a foundational sermon.

Now for most Americans, and that includes all but a very small handful in this auditorium this morning, Memorial Day weekend in the month of May each year marks the first hurrah of the beginning of the vacation season. And the Labor Day weekend in early September marks the last hurrah of that same season. Well, we have just passed the last hurrah, and have entered the more steady state schedule of the four months in our individual, family and church life. And with this reality, those of us who minister the word of God regularly, look forward to the fact that the vast majority of God's people a...

3:39 - 5:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin clarifies that the 'Christ' in 'in Christ' is not a subjective figure but the Christ of biblical revelation: the Messiah, the image of God, Lord, judge, sinless one, and…

Compares 'Christ' to common proper names like John or Mary, then contrasts it with Paul's Jewish understanding of 'Christ' as the Messiah, emphasizing its theological weight.

Paul says, if any man is in Christ. And for Paul, the term Christ was not just another proper name, such as we speak of John or Mary or in the Hispanic world, address someone by his last or family name and call him Pinero or Garcia or some other similar name. But for the Apostle Paul, steeped in his Jewish heritage, the word Christ was nothing less than a patent declaration, of his consciousness that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-promised anointed one. He was the Messiah. And in this very context, he leaves no doubt in our minds as to his understanding of the identity of this Christ. In chapt...

11:26 - 12:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But of him, by his doing, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Who is it that places? A sinner into union with Christ. It is God himself and God alone.

Describes man-made rituals like raising a hand or walking an aisle as 'decisional calisthenics' to illustrate that such physical acts do not bring one into union with Christ.

Surely if the waters of baptism administered at the hands of an apostle would bring a person into union with Christ, he would get as many people in contact with the water as was humanly possible. But he says, my commission is not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. It is not a union that comes to pass by proper bloodlines, by the sacraments, nor by man-made rituals such as we have in our day, raising a hand, walking an aisle, doing what I call decisional calisthenics. When a man walks an aisle in an evangelistic ...

18:26 - 19:40 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And I don't know how long he sat and pondered before the Spirit of God moved him to pick up his pen. And then he writes these words, if any in Christ, dash, move, creation, as though the concept of the great cosmic activ…

Metaphorically describes Paul pausing, putting down his pen, and pondering how to describe the effect of union with Christ, concluding that only the imagery of 'new creation' suffices.

But then, secondly, notice the effect of saving religion. For the apostle not only sets forth, in this text, the heart, or the essence of all saving religion, union with Christ, but the effect of it. Look at the language. If any, and in the original it's not the word man, could be rendered, if any, any person, man, woman, boy, or girl, if any, is in Christ, and if you have one of the older translations, or any of the newer ones that try to tell you, when they've supplied words that are not there in the original, to give it smoother English, you'll find the words in italics, he is, or there is,...

26:00 - 27:22 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first fruit of new creation is a decisive putting away of the old, blinded view of Christ and His work. The new view involves seeing His glory, leading to implicit trust…

Compares the glory of God in Christ to the rays of the sun, which are the outshining of the sun's heat, glory, and light, to explain the constant emanation of Christ's perfections.

whole Lord does not last for him, the Father does not. The Spirit does not die on a weeping continually. The Hands of God areageeth the Parent in Jesus Christ, glory is the outshining of the perfections of God. God's glory is like the rays of the sun.

44:15 - 44:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Another manifestation is the shift from preoccupation with visible, temporal things to unseen, eternal realities. This new focus on God, Christ, holiness, and the age to come…

Uses the physical pulpit as an example of a 'seen' substantial thing, then contrasts it with 'unseen' spiritual realities that are just as substantial, to explain the new focus of a believer.

They're not notions. They're not wispy phantoms. They're things. This pulpit is a solid, substantial thing.

51:49 - 51:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be a slave to the smiles and frowns of your peers or the latest fads and styles, especially those that are not morally neutral, as this indicates a lack of new creation.

Illustrates worldliness by describing how some slavishly adhere to latest fads and styles, even to 'degrees of nakedness,' prioritizing peer acceptance over God's eye, demonstrating a lack of new creation.

Their mocking words. My heart grieves to see how slavishly some of you adhere to the latest fads and styles no matter what their origins are. You'll allow yourselves in the silence. Some are months to go to degrees of nakedness that ten years ago would have landed you in jail.

54:29 - 54:49 Read in full sermon

The point: If you belong to Christ, let your ambition to please Him 'ooze out' in your interactions, purity, and honesty, even when it means defying peer pressure.

Tells the story of his nephew's singular ambition to get into West Point, illustrating the intense focus and drive that should characterize a believer's ambition to please Christ.

Whether at home or absent, be well pleasing to him. Oh, I love to see someone driven by this holy ambition to please Christ. I've seen young men and women driven by the ambition to get into the military academy, have a couple of nephews. One of them from the time he was about so high, his older brother made his way to West Point and he had one obsession.

58:18 - 58:45 Read in full sermon