In Christ – New Creation

Introduction: The Central Issue of True and Saving Religion

0:05 September 12th, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Now may I urge you to turn with me in your own Bibles to 2 Corinthians, Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth, that book in our Bibles that we commonly identify as 2 Corinthians and chapter 5, and follow as I read in your hearing verses 10 through 21, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10. For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God, and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves unto you, but speak as giving you occasion of glorying on our behalf, that ye may have wherewith to answer them that glory in appearance, and not in heart.

1:38 Or whether we are beside ourselves, it is unto God. Or whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you. For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh, even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away. Behold!

2:37 They are become new. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We are, ambassadors, therefore, on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God, him who knew no sin, he made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

3:39 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 and their families will be present at the stated meeting of the Holy See, of the Holy See, of the Holy See, of the Holy See, of the Holy See, of the Holy See, of the Holy See. with relatively little disruption from vacations, visits to family conferences, and visits to sister churches, and all of the other things that can make the summer months so disruptive. New Sunday school classes are in place and began today with many of you undertaking a

5:05 new curriculum of instruction, and with all of these things, we will be returning to our regular consecutive expositions here in the morning and evening ministries of the Word of God. However, lest we lose sight of the most essential, the most fundamental, the most crucial issue of all, I have chosen to take the first step. First, Lord's Day morning after the last hurrah, not to take up again the manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, that we shall do, God willing, next Lord's Day, but rather I want to draw all of your minds to that central life and death issue that undergirds all of the ministries of every facet of the life of this church. And which? Though it cannot be brought into the center of our focus in a concentrated, explicit way in every service, nonetheless, it is always there as the undergirding burden and passion of every ministry.

6:25 And I know of no better text that brings that central, fundamental issue into sharp and definitive focus than does this. The text to which I direct your attention this morning, 2 Corinthians 5, 17 and 18a. Wherefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away, behold, they are become new.

7:00 But all things are of God. Now, what is? What is that underlying central concern that is there throbbing through all of the ministries in the Sunday school, in the adult class, in the morning and evening, preachments, when we come to the table of the Lord? What is that central issue that is always there undergirding, surrounding, suffusing the various ministries, though of necessity it cannot be?

7:36 The explicit and central focus of every opportunity of teaching and preaching, well, basically, it is the issue of true and saving religion. It is the issue of what does it mean to really be right with God? What does it mean to be ready for that solemn hour when you and I will be made manifest, we will be displayed before the entire moral universe in the presence of God? At the judgment seat of Christ.

8:10 What is true, vital, saving religion? And furthermore, do you and I possess it? That's the central issue. That's the undergirding reality that pulses and throbs through all of the ministries.

8:30 And lest we lose sight of it here on this first Lord's Day, after the last hurrah of the summer months. I want us to concentrate our attention on that issue, true and saving religion, what is it, and do you possess it? And our guide in answering that question will be the text that I've already announced, 2 Corinthians 5, 17 and 18a. First of all, consider with me from this text, the essence, or the heart, of God.

The Essence of Saving Religion: Being 'In Christ'

9:06 I want us to concentrate our attention on that issue, true and saving religion, what is it, and do you possess it? Of all saving religion. If we have to boil down everything that the Bible tells us about the things that constitute true and saving religion, the knowledge of God in Christ that will stand us in good stead now, in death, and ultimately in the day of judgment, what is it? Well, our text answers.

9:38 Look at the words. Wherefore if any man is in Christ, and that little prepositional phrase, in Christ, is perhaps the most important prepositional phrase in the whole of the Bible with reference to this issue of what is the essence or the heart of saving religion. For the Apostle Paul, the answer is, saving religion consists in the reality of being in Christ. That little phrase, in Christ, in him, in whom, is found no fewer than approximately one. One hundred and fifty times in the New Testament, most of the references coming from the pen or from the mouth and the one who became the penman of the Apostle Paul. That little phrase, in Christ, means essentially to be in union with Christ, to be united to Christ. And therefore, according to the Apostle, by the inspiration,

11:02 by the inspiration of the Spirit, the very essence or heart of saving religion is to be in Christ or united to Christ. Now notice with me from the text two things about this union. First of all, its object, and then the nature of that union. Who is the object of this saving union?

The Object of Saving Union: The Biblically Revealed Christ

11:26 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 chapter 4, in verse 4, he designates him as the...

12:33 Notice 2 Corinthians 4, 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

12:55 Paul declares that this Christ is none other than the very image, the very representation in space-time, time. The history of God incarnate. He is the Lord. In verse 5 of the same chapter, we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Kurios, as Lord, as the Sovereign of the universe, as the Jehovah Jesus.

13:27 For there are text after text which in the Old Testament reference is made to Jehovah, that are picked up and directly applied to Jesus in the New Testament and again particularly by the Apostle Paul. So that the object of this union is the one whom he designates as the very image of God, who is the Lord. He is the one who was crucified but has been raised from the dead. Verse 14 of chapter 4.

14:03 Knowing that he that raised... Raised up, the Lord Jesus shall raise us up with you and present us...

14:11 Raise us up with Jesus and present us with you. He is the Jesus who is the judge of every single human being who has ever lived. Verse 10 of chapter 5. We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ.

14:31 Verse 21 of this chapter. He is the...

14:34 Sinless one. Him who knew no sin. He is the substitutionary sin bearer. He was made sin on our behalf.

14:49 Our trespasses were reckoned to him. They were imputed to him. You see when Paul says if any man is in Christ and gives us the very essence of saving, religion as union with Christ, he does not leave us the luxury of saying, well, whoever Christ is to you, so long as you trust him, all is well. Whatever he is to you is of relatively little importance so long as your heart goes out in sincere trust in Jesus, whoever he is to you, all know.

15:31 When he said, if any man be in Christ, he said, if any man be in Christ, there was tremendous theological content to the object of that saving union. It was the Christ of biblical revelation. The Christ who is the eternal word, who was with God and was and is God. The Christ who took to himself a true human soul and body, who lived in our condition yet without, who lived in our condition yet without, he is the one who died and rose from the dead and shall raise all men in the last day as we read in John 5 in our reading this morning.

16:15 He will sit as the judge of all men in the last day. He is the substitutionary sin bearer. In other words, when Paul says that the very essence, the heart of saving religion is union with Christ, the object of that union is the Christ of full-orbed biblical revelation. And where a man is ignorant of the Christ of the Bible, or where a man or woman deliberately makes a Christ spun out of the stuff of his own imaginations, there is nor there can be no true saving religion.

The Nature of Saving Union: A Monergistic Work of God

16:58 For the object of that union is the Christ of biblical, revelation, and then the nature of that union. When Paul said, if any man be in Christ, to Paul, what was the nature of that union? How did someone get into Christ? Was he brought into Christ by heredity?

17:24 By having the good fortune of being born of good Christian bloodlines? Having good religious values? Background and instruction? Are we in Christ by virtue of heredity?

17:42 No, for Paul knew well the teaching of Scripture that those who are brought into union with Christ are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, John 1 and verse 13. Well, are they in Christ? Are they in Christ sacramentally, because they happen to have partaken of the sacraments or of baptism and the Lord's supper? Surely the apostle Paul was under no such delusions, for he said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

18:26 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 meeting, all he's proving is that he has two good feet and two good legs that are functioning. It proves nothing else. When a man raises a hand and says, pray for me, it means nothing else but that he has a hand and can raise it. And there is not a shred of evidence in the Bible that one gets into Christ by some man-made ritual of walking an aisle, praying, a prayer, parrot-like, after someone has placed it in a man's ear and mind.

19:41 No, the Bible tells us that the nature of this union is such that only God himself can effect it. Turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and let the scriptures themselves tell us the nature of this union. It is not hereditary, sacramental, decisional, connected with a physical act. 1 Corinthians 1.30 But of him, who is the him, it is God, that no flesh should glory before God, 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.

20:42 But of him, that is by his sovereign, gracious, almighty operation, sinners who by nature are in Adam and in a state of death, 1 Corinthians 15.22, as in Adam all die, as we are in union. With Adam in a state of death, it is God himself and God alone who can take us out of that union with Adam and place us into union with Christ in the realm of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This is why earlier in this very chapter, 1 Corinthians 1, when Paul describes the conversion of the Corinthians, he uses the language of verse 1. Verse 9, look at it. God is faithful. God is trustworthy.

21:42 Through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He leads the Corinthians to believe that if they have been incorporated into Christ, into a shared life, that's what the word fellowship means. God has been faithful. He doesn't say, you have been wise.

22:10 The evangelist was persuasive. The apostle was overpowering in his influence. He said, no, if you are in fellowship with Christ, in saving union with Christ, it's because God is faithful, trustworthy. Trustworthy in his promise made way back in Genesis 3.15, that he would take the initiative to bruise the head of the serpent, that he would secure a seed for the woman. He is to be trusted when he made promises to his own son, as recorded in Isaiah 53, that if he would take the posture of the suffering servant and pour out his soul unto death, he should have a vast seed, a spiritual seed, and that the pleasure of the Lord would prosper, in his hand he should see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He prays at the right hand of the Father. He says, I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world.

23:17 I pray not only for them, but for those who shall believe on me through their word. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and one sheep. Peppered, know the nature of this union is such that it is God himself and God alone who can effect it. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, graciously and powerfully conspire and act to take sinners out of their death-condemned union in Adam and place them into a life, and let them be saved. and let them be saved. and let them be saved. and let them be saved.

24:04 and let them be saved. and let them be saved. And let them be liberated union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is the essence, the heart of saving religion.

24:15 It is to be united to Jesus Christ, this Christ of biblical revelation, by a union which has no explanation, but that the God who spoke galaxies into being out of the womb of man, nothing, and upholds those galaxies by the word of his power, has worked in this sinner, and so worked in him as to unite him vitally to Jesus Christ, so that I am in Christ, not standing off apart from him, pointing to him saying, I believe he lived, he died, he rose, and that's, that's the beginning, middle, and end of it. Oh no, believing he lived, died, and rose. I have embraced him to be mine. I have, by the grace and operation of the Holy Spirit, seen such beauty in Christ that I've embraced him as the supreme object of my trust, as the supreme unrivaled object of my affections.

25:32 I've taken him as my prophet to teach me my priesthood, to forgive and intercede for me, my king to rule over me. I am in Christ, and by the Spirit he dwells in me. That's the essence, the heart of all saving religion. All short of that, and whatever else you have, it will find you destitute in the day of judgment.

The Effect of Saving Religion: A New Creation

26:00 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, a new creation. The words are not there in the original. A literal rendering would be this, wherefore, if any in Christ, exclamation point. It's as though the apostle in writing this letter describing what happens when a sinner is brought out of Adam into Christ, begins to write if any in Christ, puts his pen down and says, now how shall I describe it?

27:22 With what imagery? With what analogy? With what comparison shall I set forth the effect of a sinner who by nature and birth was in Adam, dead, condemned, bound, led about by the God of this world, now in Christ, forgiven, alive, with a heart to love and serve the living God. How shall I describe the effect of this union with Christ?

27:53 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 activity of God described in Jesus, Genesis 1 and 2, that that alone could even begin to point to the reality of the effect of a sinner coming into union with a mighty Savior. He says the effect of saving religion is a new creation. This is one of Paul's favorite images of saving religion. Look at two other texts to buttress that statement. In Ephesians chapter 2, the very familiar words beginning with verse 8.

28:58 For by grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should glory, for we are his workmanship, now here's our word, created in Christ Jesus. There's the prepositional phrase, in Christ, and in close conjunction with it, created in Christ. And that doesn't refer to our original creation, for in our original creation, we were conceived and born not in Christ, but in Adam. In a state of sin, behold, I was shapen in iniquity, cries David, and in sin, sin did my mother conceive me. He's referring to their conversion, which comes by grace through the instrumentality of faith, and even that faith not self-generating, but the gift of God. And all of this displays that we are the workmanship of God, a workmanship that is not patchwork on old Adam, it's a new creation.

30:17 We're a workmanship that is not the old patched up, not the old patched up, not the old repaired. It is a workmanship of new creation. Created anew in Christ Jesus for good works, which God aforeprepared that we should walk in them. Again, at the end of the book of Galatians, notice how this imagery of creation grips the apostle.

30:48 He has been hurling out thunderbolts, both of polemic, and invective against those who have tried to muddy up the clear waters of the gospel of grace with circumcision and ceremonies and Jewish rituals. And at the end of that epistle that is white-hot with Paul's passion for the purity of the gospel, he says in verse 14, but far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which I will be saved, through which the world has been crucified unto me and I unto the world, for neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

31:44 Paul says the end of my discussion is this. I glory in an immolated, crucified Savior. And in my relationship to that Savior, this world is a new creation. This world's system, with all of its evil, yes, with even its religious rituals that have been buried in Christ's tomb, I have been crucified to that world and it unto me.

32:11 And he said, the only thing that counts as the true and vital religion is not circumcision or uncircumcision, but this one thing, are you a new creation? He said, that's the thing that counts.

32:25 Not the presence or absence of Jewish rituals. But the presence or absence of the mighty creative work of God in redemptive mercy. It is a new creation. That's the effect of saving religion.

32:41 It doesn't merely patch up old Adam, redirect old Adam, or just stick a decision card in old Adam's pocket. It makes new men and women, boys and girls. Makes new creations of them. Now why did Paul use that?

32:59 Why did he use such an image? Well, I'm convinced, and I believe I can demonstrate it from the scriptures, because there are at least two aspects of the effect of saving religion that the concept of creation beautifully captures. And the first is the solitary action of Almighty God. What the theologians call monergistic salvation.

33:23 Mono, one, as opposed to syner, together, synergistic. You see, in creation, you didn't have a monergistic salvation. You see, in creation, you didn't have a monergistic salvation. You see, in creation, you didn't have a monergistic salvation.

33:32 You have a bunch of matter waiting around, humbling amidst itself, crying out, saying, Oh, living God, do something with us. Inform us into something. No, no. You open up the pages of your Bible and you read this, In the beginning, God.

33:49 What was there before the beginning? Nothing but God. No matter. No galaxies.

33:59 No world. No oceans. No men. And God created, and how did He create?

34:07 He created ex nihilo, out of nothing. By the word of His power, He speaks and says, Let there be light, and there was light. Let the dry land appear, and it appeared. You see, the whole concept of creation to Paul's biblical mindset underscores the solitary action of Almighty God.

34:37 Notice in verse 6 of chapter 4 how he connects this with salvation. This is no fanciful notion of my own. Seeing it is God that said, a direct reference to Genesis, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shines not into, but who shines in our hearts. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

35:09 The God who spoke into the spiggy and darkness of that primeval creative situation. There was darkness upon the face of the deep, and God spoke out of the darkness. Light burst by the word of creative power, assisted by nothing. Now he says in the same way, That God who said, light shall shine out of the darkness.

35:38 You and I can shine light into the darkness. Only Almighty God can make light shine out of the darkness. He says, He has shined in our hearts. By a gracious, saving, creative word of power.

35:56 And so when He says, if any in Christ, and gives us the essence of saving religion as union with Christ, the effect of it is a new creation. There has been a solitary action of Almighty God in grace and power. And the second aspect of creation that I believe is inherent in this imagery, is the efficacious nature of God's activity in creation. Whenever God spoke a creative word in Genesis, what do you read after each speaking of God?

36:29 And it was so. And it was so! And it was so! And it was so!

36:34 And it was so! And it was so! God alone acted. And God acted what He spoke into being, came into being according to His word.

36:45 Now Paul says, if any in Christ. That's the essence of saving religion, to be united to Christ. By the bond of faith on the part of the sinner. By the bond of the Spirit regenerated and indwelling from the perspective of God.

37:02 And what is the effect whenever that union is present? There is a new creation. There has been action in which God has so acted in sovereign, solitary power, that there is no analogy that does it justice but that of creation. And having acted, what He intends to bring to pass has come to pass.

Self-Examination: Does Your Life Defy Explanation Apart from God's Creative Work?

37:31 It is so. Now I want to ask you before we move on to the third observation, in our text, what in the world is there about you sitting here this morning? Boys, girls, men and women, visitors, members, what is there about you? The way you think about yourself?

37:54 The way you think about God? The way you think about right and wrong? The world, things, people? What is there about the way you act?

38:05 Your mom, dad, brother, sister, husband, wife, work associates? What is there about what you watch and don't watch on the television? What is there about what you do and don't do with your money? What is there about the total complex of your life that defies any other explanation but this?

38:27 That the God who spoke worlds into being by the word of His power has made you a new creation in Christ. What have you got in the total complex of your life that defies any other rational explanation but that the God who made the heavens and the earth has united you to His Son and made you a new creation? You have a whole new set of perspectives and loves and hates and longings and aspirations, aversions, and desires. And with ever-increasing growth and power, those new realities are working themselves out in your life. My friend, don't take this as just the rhetorical exercises of a preacher. I ask you in the name of the God of heaven, what is there about you that has no explanation but that God's made you a new creature? Are there a church?

39:25 Are there a church? Are there a church? Are there a church? Are there a church?

39:34 Are there a church? Are there a church? There's a church that doesn't wash. Hell'll be full of people who warn pews for a lifetime.

39:48 I believe everything the Bible says about Jesus. So do the demons, and they tremble. Not enough. Well I made it this profession and then gave up the cigarettes and chasing women!

40:03 Well, I'm glad you gave up your cigarettes so you don't get lung cancer, and chasing women so you don't destroy yourself for social diseases and destroy your family. don't smoke and aren't whoremongers that'll roast in hell. No, no, my friend, gotta be something more. What is there about you that defies explanation that God's made you a new creation with new eyes to see glories you never saw before, with new affections that are set upon things you never loved before and never hated before? That's the great question.

The Fruit/Manifestation: The Old View of Christ is Gone, the New Has Come

40:40 That's the effect of all saving religion, a new creation. It doesn't say, wherefore if some are in Christ, they are. No, wherever there is true and saving religion, there is a new creation. We've looked at the heart of saving religion, union with Christ, the effect of it, new creation. But now thirdly, note from the text, the fruit or the manifestation of it, the fruit or the manifestation of saving religion. What does the text say? The old things are passed away. Behold, stand back, throw up your hands in amazement, they are become new. The apostle uses different tenses in the verbs here. When he says, the

41:33 old things are passed away, he uses a form of the verb which means they are passed away radically, decisively, once for all. And then when he says, behold, they are become new, he uses a form of the verb which means at a point in time they became new and they remain in that state of newness. Much like we might say, I threw away my old couch and we've bought a new one that now sits in our family room. Throwing away the old couch was a decisive once for all act. The brick and mortar of the new began at a given point in time, but the effect of it remains to this day, and if anyone doubts it, they go to your family room and there it is. Now that's what Paul is saying here. That the fruit or the manifestation of saving religion is that the old things have passed. There has been a fundamental, although not perfect, a radical, though not entirely consummated, putting away of the old things.

42:46 And an introduction and a steady state possession of the new. That's what he is saying, is the fruit or the manifestation of saving religion. Now, that brings the question, what are the old things that pass once and for all, definitively, radically, fundamentally? And what is the new that is introduced and remains and abides?

43:14 Well, look into the Bible. The very context of this statement, and I can set before you several things. Look, first of all, at what we call the old view of Christ and his work. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, Paul says that the God of this world, that's the devil, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. Now notice where Satan's blinding work is focused. Not on the so-called arts and sciences, and on the intricacies of advanced mathematics and computer technology. Focus, no, no. He focuses his blinding work on one precise point. The God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. There is no light raised from the glory inherent in him. He is God. The

44:15 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.

44:26 They are the outshining of the sun's heat and glory and light. So the glory of God that is in the face of Christ is constantly going forth from Christ.

44:40 When you turn to the book of the Revelation, John had a vision of that glory and it struck him down on his face. Other pictures of the Lamb in the midst of the throne makes him the object of the worship and adoration of the four and twenty elders, of the angels, and of all of the creatures that cry out blessing and glory and honor. Be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. You see, there is a glory that constantly exudes from Jesus Christ.

45:14 The glory of his person is the God-man, the one who, though rich, became poor for our sakes that we through his poverty might be rich. There is a glory that breaks forth from his life of selfless abandonment to the needs of others. Up late healing, up early praying, constantly, as Peter said, going about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead. There is a glory in that horrible baptism of suffering to which he subjected himself.

45:47 When he willingly, voluntarily said not my will but thine be done and undertook to take into himself the unleashed fury of God against the sins of his people. There is a glory in his immolated body, in every wound that streams blood, in every matted piece of his beard, mingled with blood in spittle. There is the glory of one who voluntarily dies the just for the unjust. There is the glory of one who voluntarily dies the just for the unjust.

46:16 There is the glory of one who voluntarily dies the just for the unjust. That he might bring us to God. There is a glory in Joseph's empty tomb. That tomb at which the angel stood and said he is not here.

46:27 He is risen from the dead. As he said, there is a glory as he passes into the heaven. Wherever you look at him, there is the outshining of the perfections of who he is and what he's done for sinners enough to ravish and overcome the heart of any rational. and what he's done for sinners enough to ravish and overcome the heart of any rational.

46:47 But by nature, when we're in the old creation, in Adam, we hear of Christ and say, oh hum. We hear of Christ and say, oh that's interesting. Or we may hear of Christ and say, that's a lot of humbug. But whatever we say of Christ, from the most crass, coarse, ungodly, blasphemous, negative things, to the most kind, accommodating, gentle things, one thing is true of us when we're still in Adam.

47:22 We see no bursting forth of the radiance of God in his person and work that captures our hearts and makes us his willing bonds. That we never see. The God of this world blinds us. We can get excited about anything and everything but Jesus crucified.

47:52 But if you're in Christ, you know what's happened? The old is past. The old view of Christ and his work is past. It has come and it remains.

48:02 And what is the new? Look at verse 6 of chapter 4 again. Seeing it is God that said, light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where?

48:18 In the face of Jesus Christ. You see, Paul said he was saved not by the light that came from heaven on the road to Damascus, but by the light that blinded his physical eyes. He said, I got saved by an inward spiritual light that opened my spiritually blinded eyes. And when I saw the very glory of God in the face of Christ inwardly, spiritually by the operation of the Spirit, what was the first response of a heart that beheld Christ in his glory?

48:50 Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. What are his first words? Lord, what will you have me to do?

49:02 No man ever saw the glory of God in the face of Christ and clung to self-will as the rule of his life.

49:14 No man, no woman, no boy, no man. You behold the glory of God in the face of Christ and you add it and say, here I am, Lord. You're worthy of all my trust and all my love. You're worthy of all my trust and all my love.

49:31 You're worthy of all my love and all my devotion and all my loyalty. Here, Lord, I give myself to you. It is all that I can do. Now, if any is in Christ, he is a new creation.

49:46 That's always the effect. And what's the fruit of it? The old has passed. The old view of Christ is gone.

49:52 The new has come. And we trust him implicitly as our Savior. We bow to him unreservedly as our Lord. Master and our Lord.

50:04 And therefore, the word of God can say of every believer, whom having not seen, you love. And the proof of love is, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And we are joined to Christ in a bond of faith and love and obedience. Does that happen to you?

50:25 Is that fruit or manifestation of saving religion in your heart and in your life? Today?

The Fruit/Manifestation: The Old Focus of Concern is Gone, the New Has Come

50:37 Furthermore, the old focus of concern or the old focus of preoccupation goes and a new one comes. What's the old one? Look at chapter four again. Verse 18.

50:50 Paul speaks of his relative indifference to all his sufferings. While why? Why does he do this? Second Corinthians 418.

50:58 While we look not on the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, but the things which are. The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. There was a time when Paul was totally preoccupied with what could be seen. His whole life, both religious and personal and social, was taken up with his standing before the eyes of men.

51:25 As a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he was concerned to outstrip his peers in zeal and in knowledge and religious activity. His mind and heart was focused upon this present world. But he says no longer, my gaze is not on the things that are seen. He says there's another set of things.

51:49 They're not notions. They're not wispy phantoms. They're things. This pulpit is a solid, substantial thing.

51:57 Oh yes, I know that it's made up of atoms and there's more nothing than there is something. And yes, I know. But for our purpose. Yes, I know.

52:05 For our purposes, this is a thing. If you don't believe it, whack your head on it and you'll have a doctor putting stitches in it. And go tell the doctor, nothing did this. No, it's a substantial thing.

52:17 I can touch it. I can feel it. I've made my knuckles blue on it from time to time. Paul says there's another set of things just as substantial, but these human eyes can't see them.

52:29 Human fingers can't touch them. Human tongues can't taste them. And human noses can't smell them. But those who are new creatures in Christ have been given a set of spiritual hands and eyes and tongues and noses and ears.

52:46 And their gaze is upon the things that are not seen. God, Christ at his right hand, the things that are above, a life of holiness, the hope of resurrection, the age to come, the realities of a new heavens and a new earth, the smile of Christ, the company of his people. Paul says that's why the things down here are not of concern to me. Sure, I have it rough at times.

53:13 I've had them stone me. I've had them throw me in jail. I've been shipwrecked. I've been beaten.

53:20 He says like what you. Why? Was he a stoic? No.

53:25 He was a new creature in Christ. A new creature who knew what it was to have the old focus of concern gone. The old are past. Behold, they are become new.

53:41 You see, no one will be ushered into the new heavens and the new earth in the new age who doesn't have his fundamental heart's affection put there in this age. You hear me? This idea you can have your heart wedded to this earth now and go to heaven then is sheer nonsense. God never takes a man bodily to heaven.

54:06 But what he first of all takes his heart. What he first of all takes his heart. He says, Where your heart is, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And where your heart is, that's where you're going to be.

54:20 And that's why it takes a mighty creative work of God. We're so bound to what we can see. The smiles of our peers. The frowns of our peers.

54:29 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.

54:49 But oh, I wouldn't be considered old fashioned and have a granny bathing suit. Oh, you mean the acceptance of people is more important than the eye of God? What is your set of values? I don't want anyone to look twice at me because I'm not quite with the latest bizarre styles that are not morally neutral.

55:15 Reflect a view of reality that is all filled with cacophony and disharmony. My friend, you're a slave to the smiles and frowns of your peers. You're not a new creature in Christ. And the sooner you face it, the better.

55:37 Because the old focus of concern and preoccupation is gone. And you become a new creature in Christ. You now are looking fundamentally, primarily upon the things. The things that are not seen.

55:52 They're the eternal things. And when those who would mock at me and those who would sneer at me now have long since been consigned to hell if God does not save them, I'll be shining with the redeemed and angels and all of the glorified saints forever and ever. Utter a few frowns for a few more years down here. Third aspect in which the old will pass and the new will come is found very clearly in verse 15.

The Fruit/Manifestation: The Old Purpose for Living is Gone, the New Has Come

56:24 Look at it. That he died for all that they who live. 515 should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. You see, Christ did not die just to satisfy the wrath of God that we might be accepted with God and have all our sins righteously pardoned.

56:47 Blessed reality though that is. It says he died for all for whom he died that those who live from his death should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him. Now what could be plainer? Jesus Christ died to change the whole center of your life from self-pity.

57:09 And he did not die in vain. And wherever his death is applied with power to a sinner, that sinner will find that the old has passed. No longer is the fundamental orientation of life self. My desires, my appetites, my passions, my standards, my ideas of right and wrong and good and virtue and all of the rest.

57:40 No, no. I turn from this principle of self-centeredness and self-will. And now it's not religion and just rules. No.

57:51 It's unto him who died for me and rose again. It's that person to whom I've been united who becomes the focal point of my life. For me to live is Christ. Look at verse 9 of chapter 5.

58:07 This is why Paul could say we make it our aim. It's a weak translation. At least in contemporary English it could be rendered. We are all so ambitious.

58:18 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.

58:45 I'm going to follow my brother and get an appointment to West Point. And everything he did, one of the most focused kids I've ever seen, it frightened me at the time. He's in West Point. I thank God in the midst of that, God's laid hold of him and his great ambition now is not to be a rah-rah soldier, it's to be a servant of Christ.

59:11 But oh, how focused he was. And you couldn't be in his presence very long before you knew. You couldn't think of his name and not think West Point. Military officer!

59:21 It oozed out of him! And my friend, when Christ has laid hold of you so that you can say with Paul, we're ambitious to please him, you can't be around such a person long before something of Christ is going to ooze out. And the young man starts whispering sweet nothings in your ear. Young lady who belongs to Christ won't be long before he knows.

59:41 You tell him, look, this body isn't mine to do with what I please. It's been purchased by my Savior. Keep your hands off. And when somebody comes with the latest girly magazine, hey, have you seen the latest?

59:54 You say, look, sorry, fellas. My eyes are not free to look on anything yours may be. They've been purchased by a mother. You don't say, oh, that's against my religion or my father's religion.

60:08 What a cop-out. You say, that displeases my Lord. That's right. When the other kids get together and brag on how they conned their parents, you have the guts to speak up and say, hey, you kids, let's cut the baloney.

60:25 We claim to be Christians, and the fifth commandment says honor father and mother, and you're willing to be nailed and nabbed by your peers in this church.

60:35 As being Mr. and Ms. Goody-Goody. Why?

60:39 Because you want to please Christ. The old purpose for living is dead and buried. It is no longer living unto self, acceptance of my person, having my way, living out my desires. No, I have a focus, and that focus is to live unto Christ.

61:02 The old basis of evaluating people is gone. Verse 16. Our old position before God is gone, no longer alienated and under condemnation, but reconciled and accepted. Those are the fruits or the manifestations of saving religion.

The Source of All: All Things Are of God

61:19 And now I want to close in the remaining three minutes on 18A. We've looked at the essence of saving religion, union with Christ, the effect of it, new creation, the fruit and manifestation of it. The old is past, the new has come. Now what's the source of all of it?

61:39 Look at verse 18A. But all things are of God. Old things are passed away. Behold, they are become new, and all the things that pertain to this marvelous transformation, they are of God.

62:00 God the Father who so loved that He gave His Son, God the Son who died, the just for the unjust, the one who knew no sin, being made sin on our behalf, God the Spirit who in our own space-time history comes with and by the Word and opens our eyes to see our lostness and our hell-deservedness and through the Word shows us that Christ is exactly suited to all our needs and powerfully works in us a disposition to turn from sin and self and to throw ourselves upon Christ for mercy while embracing Christ as Lord and Life and Master. All things are of God. So if you sit here this morning and you can say by the grace of God, Pastor, as you've preached this morning I've been able to sit here and say thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

63:04 I'm not what I know I one day shall be and I'm certainly not what I want to be. Yes, God, I'm not what I once was. I am a new creature in Christ and this desire I have to deal with sins that no one knows but God this desire to humble myself and go to my husband or wife and confess my sins of a sharp word and irritability and insensitivity this willingness to be humbled before my children and at the table to tell them I'm sorry that I've been irritable and unkind this desire to be honest to the penny in my place of business this is not of me this is God's work in me this desire to be as pure in the deep chambers of my thought life as I am in the sanctity of my marriage bed in my relationship to my wife this is not of myself this is of God this desire that whatever I have and whatever I shall ever be would redound to the glory and praise of Christ this desire that this body that God has given me be used as his purchased possession not a playground for my own passions or the passions of others this is not of myself this is of God this willingness for me to face patterns ingrained in me by nature

Call to Seek Saving Union with Christ

64:31 by bad example and poor training that as a mature adult I've got to wrench every fiber and cell of my being from my own natural inclinations to be disciplined to get out of bed to do my duties as a workman and a provider as a keeper of my home for my determination to do the will of God at any cost if it means I must trample on my own inclinations a thousand times a day Pastor, there's no explanation but God's made me a new creature is that what you've been able to say? you sat there scratching your head inwardly saying, what in the world is that man talking about? I've gone to church, I believe what the Bible says and I've made a decision I thought that's all there was, my friend that isn't all there is maybe God's brought you here this morning because in mercy he doesn't want you to go to the day of judgment and have that flimsy moth-eaten, corrupt pseudo-Christian experience shown up for what it is the word he's shown you you see it this morning it stinks, it's moth-eaten you say it's not worthy to be held now

65:58 let alone be held up to God in the day of judgment go to God and say, oh God you found me out in the word this morning the preacher made it plain from the word it's of you that men get into Christ God, you work in me oh God, you have mercy on me you who sent your son for sinners you who can change any sinner oh God, have mercy on me and have dealings with that God who is the source of all saving religion and you have his promise he shall seek me and find me in the day that you search for me with all your heart seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord for he will have mercy and to our God for he will abundantly pardon dear people as we enter the fall months if God spares us and delays the coming of his son underneath all of the detailed instruction that will take us in many directions remember there's an underlying burden and concern and it is that you have a saving union with Christ if you do not have it seek it at the only place it can be found and seek it today let us pray

Closing Prayer

67:23 our Father we are so thankful for the scriptures that are a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway a lamp and a light on this most critical issue of what it means to have true and saving religion we pray that the Holy Spirit will so accompany the word that many many oh God will mark this day as the day when they were brought into Christ oh gracious God have mercy have mercy we pray that your word may not return unto you void but may accomplish that where unto you have sent it hear our cry we plead through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen