Genuine Christian Experience

Scripture Reading and Series Introduction

0:01 Now the word of God in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

0:17 I shall begin reading with verse 11 and read through to verse 19.

0:24 The Apostle Paul has been speaking of the fact that he longs to be clothed with his habitation from heaven, that is his glorified body. While here on earth he has said we walk by faith and not by sight. And yet our constant ambition is to be well pleasing unto Christ because we're going to be made manifest before his judgment seat. Picking up the thread of thought then at verse 11.

0:50 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord we persuade men that 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. For whether we are beside ourselves it is unto God or whether we are of sober mind it is unto you.

1:25 For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that one died for all therefore all died. And he died for all that they that live should not die. And they that live 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.

1:56 Wherefore if any man is in Christ he is a new creature the old things are passed away behold 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 to wit 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. The great biblical theme assigned to me for these four evenings is that of union.

The Central Principle: Present Union as the Only Ground for Eternal Assurance

2:40 With Christ and in the two previous studies we have seen that this doctrine of union with Christ is a pivotal a central doctrine of the word of God as surely as salvation from sin is to be found rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ and in that person and in his work alone. So it is equally clear that the manner by which sinners come into.

3:10 The blessings of that salvation is nothing other than union with Christ the Savior himself our previous studies have demonstrated that for all of the people of God this union spans eternity from election in him before the foundation of the world to glorification with him and entrance into the eternal state.

3:41 Union with Christ is basic and it is equally fundamental to everything that happens in time both in the procurement of and application of that salvation. Now tonight we move to a consideration of a very vital principle with reference to this doctrine of union with Christ and the principle is this and pull down your thinking caps. Listen carefully I have reduced the statement as far as I was able to some of you who are a bit more economical with words could do better but this is the best I've been able to do.

4:23 The only way in which a man may discern the certainty of his union with Christ in eternity past and be assured of the blissful fruition of union with Christ in eternity to come. Is to.

4:42 Know the reality of vital union with Christ in the present we have seen in the word of God that union with Christ spans eternity from election in him to glorification in him but the great great question is how can I know if I am within the orbit of that blessing that comes through union with Christ and my answer to that question is in this statement. The only way.

5:13 The only way that you may discern the certainty of your union with Christ in eternity past and be assured of the blissful fruition of union with Christ in eternity future is to know the reality of union with Christ in the present. In other words we are warranted to reason back to our election in Christ and forward to our glorification with Christ. Over.

5:44 Only from the posture of present experiential union with Christ have you been elected in him will you be glorified with him only if presently you are vitally joined to him union with Christ is like a mighty chain forged by omnipotence one end is in this side of eternity if we may use that figure.

6:16 And the other end is in that side of eternity election in Christ is the first and anchoring link of that chain glorification with Christ is the final and complete link in that chain but those chains are out of sight those links and the only way we can know if we are thus within the framework of that mighty chain of blessing is to see the middle link. Vital present experiential union with Christ and seeing that we may reason back to the link in eternity here and out to the link in eternity there.

Biblical Warrant: Paul Reasoning from 1 Thessalonians 1

6:59 Now there is biblical warrant for this kind of reasoning for this is precisely what the apostle Paul does with reference to the Thessalonians in chapter one of his first letter to that infant church. We read in first Thessalonians chapter.

7:16 One that the apostle was convinced of the election of these people he says in verse four knowing brethren beloved of God your election how in the world did Paul come into this knowledge of their election when he was caught up in the third heavens and heard things not lawful to utter did God give him a peek into the role of his elect and show him the names of these Thessalonians.

7:47 Of course not he says I am convinced of your election because I have reason backwards from your effectual calling notice knowing brethren beloved of God your election how that our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance even as you know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake and ye became knowing your election.

8:19 Because the word came and ye became that's a summary of it because of what you became in your own present life history we reason back from the fruit of calling to the root of your calling and election and furthermore he closes the chapter by saying we are waiting for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivereth us from the dead.

8:50 From the wrath to come he reasons not only backward to their election but forward to their glorification and final deliverance from sin and the pivot the hinge on which all turns the word came and ye became from the present fruit of union with Christ he reasons back to election in Christ and forward to glorification with Christ.

The Sermon's Single Focus: Are You Vitally United to Christ?

9:20 Now why am I saying all of that for the simple reason that the great burden of our study tonight focuses like all of the rays of the sun passing through a magnifying glass upon one point out there in that little pile of hay when you're trying to start a fire everything we say tonight from this text of scripture is to focus upon this one great issue and I trust that every one of you will feel that your own heart is that

9:51 focal point of all the rays of truth from holy scripture and this is the focal point are you vitally savingly united to Jesus Christ for if there is not present vital life union with Christ where you sit tonight you have no grounds to believe that you were ever chosen in him or that you should be glorified.

10:22 With him and I know of no text of scripture that is more helpful in assisting us to answer that great question than the text which was read in your hearing second Corinthians five and verse seventeen this text that we shall study tonight under the general consideration of this whole matter of genuine Christian experience what is it and do I.

10:54 Possess it where for if any man is in union with Christ he is a new creature the old things are passed away behold they are become new now just a word about the setting of this verse as you will remember in the reading the apostle Paul is writing the things he writes because he wants to give fuel to the Corinthians.

Setting of 2 Corinthians 5:17: Paul's Apostolic Motives and Personal Transformation

11:27 To refute these people who were trying to undermine his apostolic authority and therefore his apostolic message and he says I'm writing these things to give you occasion of glorying on our behalf in order to deal with these people that look on the outside of things but do not understand the heart of things and what he has been telling them is that in his labors as an apostle. He has been actuated.

11:58 By pure gospel motives he says my great concern has been the salvation of your souls in the light of the day of judgment in which all men will be manifest before Christ the judge we seek to persuade men we're not seeking something from them but we seek them and may I say to every person here tonight we seek not yours but you this is why we labor in the word this is why we labor in the word.

12:28 This is why we study simplicity this is why we labor at clarity this is why we give ourselves to preaching to your consciences because we seek not yours but you and he goes on to say that in his ministry he is moved by this great motive of the constraining love of Christ the love of Christ constrains us and then he goes on in verse 16 to say he's moved.

12:59 Totally new perspective of evaluating men he's not regarding men after the flesh on the basis of carnal systems of evaluation but he's regarding them in terms of their relationship to God through Jesus Christ having vindicated the purity of his own motives having laid out as it were what makes him tick as a true Christian and as a God sent apostle. He then launches into.

13:30 This tremendous statement where for if any man be in Christ is a new creation now what's the connection well the connection is precisely this in describing what makes him tick as a Christian man and a Christian minister Paul says there's no explanation for these things but the fact that I have been made a new creation in Christ but he says what has happened to me is not qualitative.

14:00 Different from that which happens to anyone who becomes a Christian therefore what has happened in my own transformation is simply an index of what happens to every person who is transformed by the same grace of God so there is this abrupt shift from personal testimony concerning personal motivation concerning personal transformation.

14:31 Into this broad generalization if any be in Christ there's the connection of verse 17 with the entire passage and I say that not because a preacher is not supposed to preach from the text so say the experts unless he tells you something about the context but because that connection will be essential to the further development of the text later on in our study now then coming to the text itself.

First Point: The Universal Scope — 'If Any in Christ'

15:01 Will you notice in the first place the extent of the legitimate application of this text God helping me my purpose is to lay this text close to the conscience of every man woman boy or girl in this building tonight is it right for me so to do I answer yes because the text opens with the words where for if.

15:33 Any man is in Christ a better rendering would be if any in Christ in other words this text is as broad in its application as is the application of redemption to needy sinners and wherever a sinner is brought into vital life union with Jesus Christ what this text says will be true of him if any. Is in.

16:05 Christ it does not matter what your background is the things that have disciplined and molded you culturally intellectually it matters not if you're in Christ these things will be true it matters not what your outward life has been I've had people when they face this text say well that's only for people who like Paul were real naughty people before they were converted they become new creatures but some of us who had Christian nurture in a Christian background we don't.

16:35 Become new creatures we just sort of become the old thing a little bit more refined no no if any is in Christ it matters not what the background was it matters not what the outward life was it matters not what the religious climate was or is and children listen it doesn't matter what age is in view when a five year old is united to Christ this text is true of the five. Year. When.

17:06 Seventeen year old man who has lived all his life in unbelief and debauchery and open anarchy to God's law when he is in Christ this is equally true now granted the expression of the truth will differ in terms of many variables but the essence of what the text says will be true in every single case therefore if you claim to be in Christ.

17:37 Tonight and this text does not describe you you have but one conclusion to which you must come and begin to act in the light of it you are not in Christ if you're not in Christ you better listen carefully to the text or if you ever get into Christ this text will be true of you do you see the breadth of its legitimate application if any be in Christ. Now then. Coming to the text we consider in the second place. The very essence of genuine Christian experience what is.

18:17 What is a Christian. What is the essence of genuine Christian experience. Paul describes it in the two words in. Christ.

Second Point: The Essence — Union with the Distinct Person of Christ

18:30 If any is in Christ. The essence of genuine. Christianity genuinely. Say.

18:40 Living religion is nothing more or less than union with Jesus Christ the Lord or as we have seen in our previous studies the little phrase in Christ is a word that comes to us with the connotation of union with him so as Paul would describe himself as a true Christian. And state that what has happened to him is not. Qualitatively different from that which happens to any man who becomes a true Christian he describes it in those simple words in Christ.

19:21 Now will you notice as we look carefully at his words the person with whom we are united in genuine Christian experience. If the essence of union of real Christian experience is union with Christ. Paul is careful to underscore the. Person.

19:42 To whom we are united. In this genuine Christian experience. He does not say if any man is in Jesus. He does not say if anyone is in the Lord.

19:55 He uses the one descriptive title if any is in. Christ. And to Paul's mind steeped in Old Testament thinking regarding the Messiah the anointed one. This could mean nothing less.

20:14 Then union with that one who was the anointed Messiah of God. God's appointed prophet. Priest and King. And poured into that little word Christ is all the Christology that has been opened up before us these mornings.

20:36 The Jesus of the New Testament who is the Jehovah. Of the Old Testament. old testament the everlasting father the ancient of days that one prophesied throughout the old testament that one anointed in the waters of jordan with the spirit set apart for his official messianic functions the apostle says our union is not with the man jesus in some kind of a sentimental non-theological irrational jesus trip you've tried your drugs they tell us

21:14 you've tried booze you've tried sex now get high on jesus my friends that's not christianity that's a cheap tawdry prostitution of the sacredness of saving religion whenever there is true genuine christian experience you found in the context of union with christ it is union with christ god's appointed prophet priest and king the pre-incarnate creator the sinless crucified

21:52 savior the exalted lord of glory the one whom god has constituted the reservoir of all spiritual blessing as we read in ephesians 1 in verse 3 so it says that in christ are all of these treasures of blessing and so god does not parcel out some forgiveness here and some peace there and some joy here no all spiritual blessings are stored up in christ and he doesn't parcel them out of christ He puts sinners into him who is the reservoir and in him all of those blessings become theirs therefore the apostle can say ye out crushed since that broken harvest of the earth shall be not of them watch honor of incent and blessings drowning the earth through all your vengeance in hear me that Jerusalem does not share the kingdom if you belong to as well than you know I respect the recip but god does not varsaem bigger certain us triangle twenty percent M just one hundred hizj a sthink of the world are some ma store that was that whatever local� Mmm what do I do. doesn't He left to suis salving the waters of przedef tentar Jim致 befuters

22:37 Ye are made full in Him. Colossians 2 and verse 9. And so the essence of saving religion is union with Christ, but it is union with this distinct person who comes to us from the pages of this book in all the glory of His person and in all the perfection of His work. Now, the nature of this union we've already discussed at some length, though even in doing that we've touched the highlights.

23:13 It is that union which has many analogies in the word of God, the stones and the building, Adam and his posterity, the body and its members, the man and the wife, the vine and the branches. And we will not go back over that ground. Suffice it to say, though, that it is a union that speaks of intimate, vital, living relationship. And therefore all ideas of Christianity being a once-for-all coming to Christ for something such as safety or forgiveness and then going one's way utterly indifferent

23:52 to attachment to His person is an entire contradiction of the Pauline concept in this text. He regards a Christian not as one who was once put into, into Christ, but who is presently joined to Christ in a union that is not only spiritual as we saw last night, effected by the indwelling of the Spirit, but a union which is experiential, called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The Means and Nature of Union

24:30 Not only is there this emphasis on the person to whom we are united in genuine saving, and saving experience, the nature of the union, but the means by which that union is established. When Paul writes of himself and of all Christians, if any, is in Christ, how do men get into Christ? Well, he tells us in this very passage, But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And then he goes on to say, We are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God did beseech you.

25:06 by us, be ye reconciled to God, him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf. This union with Christ is the union that always occurs in the context that we underscored last night. It's the context of the objective truth concerning the Lord Jesus, that truth proclaimed, that truth believingly embraced by the heart of the sinner quickened by the grace of God. This, then, is the essence of genuine saving experience, nothing less,

25:43 nothing more than union with Christ, a vital living bond with this glorious, exalted Lord manifested as prophet, priest, and king. Oh, my friend, are you in Christ? Not by some association with others who are in him. Not by some association with the doctrines and truths about him or by virtue of external profession. No, no. Are you in him vitally in a bond that only God himself could have

Third Point: The Effect — New Creation (Divine Sovereignty and Power)

26:22 produced? Having considered the extent of the legitimate application of this text, the essence of genuine saving experience, now consider in the third place the effect of genuine Christian experience. Look at the text. Wherefore, if any is, in Christ and then you'll notice children that you've got little italics.

26:51 You've got some words that are in a little lighter print, and they're sort of toppled over on their side. That's what we mean when we talk about italics. Little lighter print and toppled over a little on their side, like they're about to fall on their noses, those words. And in any standard translation where the translators have had to insert many phrases, there is a little difference. So I ask, how can we separate the quotes and the words.

27:06 I mean, you're singing, you know, where are they singing? We're singing. You're singing insert major words or verbs or phrases for the sake of good English, but words or phrases that are not strictly there in the original. They want us to know that this is not word-for-word translation, word-for-word reproduction, but it is translation in an effort to make it flow smoothly.

27:33 So then, when Paul wrote, he didn't put in the verb, he is. And the way Paul wrote it, it occurs like this. Wherefore, if any, in Christ, and then I like to picture him pausing and putting down his quill,

27:51 and he's thinking upon what is the effect of this union with Christ. Having described genuine saving religion as union with Christ, he now wants to tell us something about the effect of this union. And he lays his quill. And he lays his quill down, and he thinks of what has happened to himself.

28:13 And his mind goes back to those pre-Damascus road days, as he wandered in the blindness of his own religious prejudice, as he was bound in the chains of a hopeless legalism, as he was ensnared in the terrible trappings of an external and decadent religion called Phariseeism. And now, as he finds himself yearning for people to be brought into union with Christ, as he finds himself held in the vice-like grip

28:53 of this constant sense of amazement at the love of Christ to him,

29:02 as he contemplates the effect of his own union with Christ, as he thinks of what has happened at Corinth and in other major population centers in the Roman Empire, filled with vice and ignorance and idolatry, and what has happened when the gospel is come with power, and he ransacks his mind for something to describe the effect of this union with Christ, suddenly picks up his pen, and where he left off, if any, in Christ, if he were writing in English, he puts a dash, and then in capital letters he puts, NEW CREATION! Exclamation!

29:43 EXCLAMATION POINT! If any, in Christ, NEW CREATION! Exclamation point. He says there is nothing to describe the effect of that union in the personal life history of any man, woman, boy or girl, but that Almighty God has made a new creation.

30:15 Now by using this term, a new creation, Paul is emphasizing the fact that the effect of genuine, saving experience is an act of divine sovereignty. In creation God alone acts. He doesn't wait with arms folded until some glob of matter rolls at His feet and says, I would like to be formed into something, somehow, somewhere. In the beginning, God created, spake,

30:53 And it was dark, if any in Christ, a new creation. The same God who acted in powerful sovereignty in bringing worlds into being out of the womb of nothing has acted to bring into being this Christian called Paul. He not only is underscoring the fact that it's an act of divine sovereignty, but that it is an expression of divine power. As you heard this past Lord's Day morning,

31:29 creation is everywhere regarded in Scripture as one of the great manifestations of divine power. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. But what aspect of His glory is most clearly underscored by the creation? Paul tells us in Romans 1, His everlasting power and Godhead.

32:02 There's been a putting forth of divine power. Nothing but creative power could have ever taken this blinded Pharisee, this epitome of self-righteousness and spiritual darkness, and brought him into his present state. And then by using this word, he's underscoring the fact that it was an evidence of divine workmanship. In the creation account, the Lord beholds all that He makes and He says, it is good.

32:35 It is good because it bears the stamp of His own wisdom and power and loving concern for His world. And all of that is bound up in that word, a new creation. Paul does not view genuine Christian experience as a glossing over of Adam with a religious veneer, a mere refining of Adamic nature, or a mere rediscovery. He's directing of some of the grosser channels of Adamic appetite and passion and lust.

33:13 No, no, he says, I view saving religion as a new creation.

New Creation Confirmed Across Scripture

33:20 And he was careful to emphasize that in his epistles, writing to the Galatians who were being adversely affected by these Judaizers,

33:36 glorying in the external, glorying in the trappings of religion, that can be seen and touched and felt. Notice Paul's word to them in verse 15 of chapter 6. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

34:04 Some of you are debating on the issue of circumcision. He says, in a sense, listen, both of you are wrong if you think the issue is whether or not you have some external religious sign. The issue is this. Have you been made a new creation?

34:21 That's the great issue. And when he's described the after of the experience of the Ephesians, having given the before in chapter 2, 1 to 3, what they were, verses 4 to 10, what they now are, he concludes the statement by saying we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, unto good works. Now in using this pregnant concept of the effect of union with Christ being that of a new creation, Paul is not introducing anything qualitatively new. He is simply enforcing the whole drift of the teaching of the word of God.

35:06 For the change necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God is called elsewhere a resurrection. Ephesians. 2. A birth.

35:16 John. 3. Being given a new heart. Ezekiel.

35:21 36. Being made a new man. Colossians. 3.

35:25 8 and 9. It is entrance into a new kingdom. Colossians. Chapter 1.

35:31 And oh dear people, all thinking and all preaching which minimizes this dominant biblical emphasis upon the magnitude of the... The effect of vital union with Christ has two great and tragic results.

35:54 Number one, it will open the door to self-deception. When genuine saving religion is viewed as anything less than being a new creation, it will open the door to every form of self-deception. 2. 3.

Transition: 'The Old Is Past, the New Has Come' — Grammar and Summary

36:22 4. 5. 6. 7.

36:26 8. 9. 10. 11.

36:30 12. 13. 14. 14.

36:35 15. 16. 17. 18.

36:39 19. 20. 21. 22.

36:44 22. 23. 24. 25.

36:48 26. 27. 28. 29.

36:52 30. 31. 32. 33.

36:56 34. 35. 36. 36.

37:00 37. 38. 38. 39.

37:07 39. 40. 41. 42.

37:11 43. 44. 44. 45.

37:15 46. 47. 48. 49.

37:19 50. 51. 52. 52.

37:23 53. 53. 54. 55.

37:28 56. 57. 58. 59.

37:32 60. 61. 62. 62.

37:36 63. 63. 64. 65.

37:40 66. 67. 68. 69.

37:44 69. 70. 71. 72.

37:48 73. 74. 75. 76.

37:52 76. 77. 78. 79.

37:56 80. 81. 82. 83.

38:02 84. 85. 86. 87.

38:09 88. 89. 90. 91.

38:14 92. 92. 93. 93.

38:19 94. 95. 96. 97.

38:23 98. 97. 98. 99.

38:27 100. 100. 100. 100.

38:31 100. 100. 1. 100.

38:35 2. 1. 10. 6.

38:39 1. 9. 1. 2.

38:43 1. 1. 1. 1.

38:47 1. 2. 1. 1.

38:51 5. 2. 1. 1.

38:55 1. 1. 5. 1.

39:00 1. 1. 1. which means the old is past once and for all.

39:08 There has been a decisive, definitive breach with the old. The old is past and is done.

39:18 Then he says, behold, and the word behold is always a call to careful attention. The old is past. Behold, stand back in amazement. They, that is, the old things, have become and are remaining new.

39:37 He uses a form of the verb to describe that which comes into being and remains in existence. The old is past. The new has come and remains.

39:53 Now then, what is the old that is past and the new that is come? We may say in a summary statement the apostle is saying, that the fruit of a new creation is a new life composed of new thoughts, new motives, new standards, new joys, new sorrows, new dispositions, new loves, new hates. In short, the new man created in Christ Jesus becomes the man active in the power and directives of his new life. In other words, a resurrected sinner, a resurrected sinner,

40:33 begins to walk and live like a man who's been resurrected.

First Old That Passes: The Old View of Christ

40:41 Now, of course, it would take a week of sermons to begin to expound on the specific ways in which the old is past, the new has come, and it would be perfectly legitimate from this text to range far and wide throughout the entire scriptures to expound the significance. But I shall limit myself to the context, the more immediate and the somewhat less immediate but this general portion of the Word of God, and direct your attention to several areas in which the old is past and the new has come whenever a sinner is in union with Christ. And the first thing we notice is that the old view of Christ passes

41:25 and the new has come, for it was this very statement that sprung loose our text. Verse 16, 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. Paul says, as a new man in Christ, my old view of Christ is done away with.

41:58 A new has come and it remains. Now what was his old view of Christ? Well, it's that view that he describes as true of all men in chapter 4 of this epistle in verse 4.

42:14 Chapter 4, verse 4, we'll back up to verse 3. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing. In whom the God of this world hath 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. What is the view that Paul had of Jesus Christ before he became a new creature?

42:44 His view was one essentially in which he saw no glory in the face of Christ. That is, no outshining of the perfections of deity. All he saw was an imposter, one who was a threat to the religion of his forefathers. And he says that what he did in those days, he did ignorantly in unbelief.

43:11 He had a view of Christ which at its foundation was a view devoid of any perception of who Christ Jesus really was.

43:25 And he says behind that blindness was the very power of the devil himself. The God of this world blinding the minds of them that believe not. But now what is his new view? He's had such a view of Jesus Christ in his glory that he says a knowledge of who he is and what he's done is the overarching, great, constraining motive of the entirety of my life.

43:58 To me, to live is Christ. The love of Christ, that is his love to me, constrains me. What had happened to him? Well, in this work of a new creation, he got a new sight of Christ.

44:12 Look at verse 6 of chapter 4. Verse 4 states that his mind like others was blinded for the blinds of others and of course true by inference of himself. But what happened? Verse 6.

44:28 And here he does include himself. Seeing it is God that said light shall shine out of darkness who shined in our hearts to give the light of the night the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul says something happened to my darkened heart and that which happened is this the same God who spoke into the thick darkness of that original creation and said let there be light and light came forth.

45:11 That God spoke to our hearts. He shined in our hearts and the first image that was seen was the very glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's an explanation of what happened on the Damascus road. For you remember in the account given in the book of the Acts there was that blazing light above the light of the noonday sun and that's a bright light with the sun in its zenith in the area of Palestine.

45:48 And here's a light brighter than that which Paul knowing his Old Testament history immediately recognizes as the Shekinah glory. This is a divine manifestation and out of it comes a voice Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he knows this is a divine voice speaking from the context of a divine manifestation. It spoke to him in the Hebrew tongue and he answered in Hebrew Who art thou?

46:18 And what word would he use? What is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Lord? Who art thou Jehovah? Identify yourself.

46:32 And the answer came, I am Jesus. And he saw the glory of Jehovah in the face of Jesus Christ. You talk about a new view of Christ. The old had passed.

46:50 The new had come. And oh, listen to me dear people. Unless this has happened to you you're no Christian. You say, Mr. Martin, you're saying that unless I've heard a voice

47:03 and seen a light above the brightness of the noonday sun I'm not a Christian? No, no, no, no, no, I'm not saying that. That would be heresy. That would be trifling with your soul ever to assert that.

47:15 But what I'm saying is this. If there has not been an operation of the Holy Spirit in divine recreating power that has revolutionized your natural view of Christ and given you a view of Christ that only the Spirit can give you are no Christian. Some of us can well remember reared in Christian homes nurtured at the feet of Christian preachers and teachers Christ Jesus set before us in the preaching of the word from our parents and preachers and faithful spiritualists and faithful shepherds to our souls and though Christ was set before us

48:00 in the perfection of his humanity in the essential reality and dignity of his Godhead though he was set before us crucified set before us enthroned as it were we walked up and down in front of that constant display of Christ bored to death. And if someone asked us do you believe in Jesus Christ we'd glance over our shoulder and say I believe in him. Mum and Dad talk about him. The preacher preaches about him.

48:31 What do you know about him? Oh he lived, born of a virgin, he died and we walked up and down with this general enactment of the person and work of Christ as the constant backdrop of our lives. There was no glory in all of that. What dazzled before our eyes?

48:52 The opinion of our peers. And listen to me. I'm speaking directly now to some of you young people. I spoke to the younger ones.

49:00 I speak to you teenagers tonight. What dazzles before your eyes? The approval of your peers. The acceptance of your friends.

49:09 To be in. That's what really turns you on. Some of us can remember when that was true of us. The acceptance of our peers.

49:20 The titillation of our own carnal appetites and desires. The aggrandizement of things. The gathering together of possessions. This is what excites us.

49:32 Oh yes, Christ is there. He lived. He died. I believe all of that.

49:36 But no glory in it. Thank God some of us can say with Paul, the old view of Christ is gone. Where once we regarded him as unworthy of the place of supreme affection. The place of absolute religious trust in the highest sense.

49:56 Where we once regarded him of unworthy of loving devotion. We regarded time spent with him as wasted time. We have such a view of Christ now. That we no longer regard him in that light.

50:13 We regard him as the altogether lovely one. And our greatest grief is that we love him so feebly and serve him so inconsistently. We no longer walk up and down in front of that manger seat. And that life of obedience.

50:33 And suffering and agony. We don't walk up and down in front of the cross. And the clouds in which he ascended. We no longer walk up and down regarding it with indifference.

50:45 It's now glorious to us. We've beheld glory in the face of Jesus Christ. We've had no vision. We've heard no voices.

50:57 There's been no fluttering of angels' wings. But there's been a mighty operation. The resurrection of the Holy Ghost. It has made Christ our most treasured possession.

51:11 If any in Christ. A new creation. The old is past. The new has come.

51:20 Has it come to you, my dear friend? What's been the disposition of your heart in these morning sessions? When the glory of Christ's person has been opened up before us? Has your heart run out and said, Lord Jesus, can it be that you are all those things?

Second Old That Passes: The Old Focus and Preoccupation of Life

51:43 Not only in yourself, but for myself? Or have you sat there saying, When in the world is that preaching going to be done? Well, I hasten on now to the second old that passes and the new that comes. The second old that passes is what I'm calling the old focus and preoccupation of life.

52:13 What is the old focus and preoccupation of life? Read further on in chapter 4, beginning with verse 16. Wherefore we think not, though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction, which is but for the moment, worketh for us a far more exceedingly and eternal weight of glory, while we look not on the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things that are seen are tempted, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

52:49 And then he launches into this discourse on his longings, his pantings, his groanings, to come into the full possession of that world which is now the focal point of his concern. What is the old focus of life for Paul and all men by nature? It is the things that are seen, the things that are temporal, the things that can be touched and felt, and beheld and heard and tasted. And he says this is no longer true of us.

53:28 Oh yes, we're in the world that can be seen. And Paul must eat his two squares or three squares a day as any other man, though he's willing to relinquish them for higher ends. He must sleep, he must shave if he didn't have a beard, and he must trim his beard if he had one. Oh yes, he must live in this world and touch it, and be in constant contact, but he says it's not the focal point of concern.

53:55 While in it, the focal point is the world of unseen spiritual reality. And my friend, whenever God delivers a sinner from the clutches of the world, brings him into union with Christ, the old focus of life will pass, the new will come. And if God has made a new creature of you, you will not be bound by fashions and fads, or cower before the frowns and smiles of fellow earthlings. You will not be bound to the counsel of the ungodly.

54:35 But you will listen to the counsel that Evangelist gave to Christian when he said to him, Let nothing this side of the world to come get within you. That's it. Let nothing this side of the world to come get within you. You must touch it to fulfill your God-given duty.

55:00 You must give hours to it. For six days shalt thou labor. And there must be, if there is to be true biblical holiness, the implementation of all the directives of the word of God concerning labor and domestic responsibilities, and the providing for our own and for others, yes, but though we're in that world, and hours are spent in real, genuine, biblical interaction, let nothing this side of the world to come get within you. For according to our Lord, it's when the cares of this life get within us that they choke the word, and it never brings forth fruit to perfection.

55:41 My Bible says, The world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but only he that does the will of God shall abide forever. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If you claim to be a recipient of the Father's love in Jesus Christ, it is only because you've been brought into union with Christ. And if you've been brought into union with Christ, the old is past, the new has come.

56:13 There is no longer that fixation upon the world of sense, of sight, and of time. But there is this blessed fixation upon that which is eternal. To our shame as Christians at times, there is a blurring of the vision. Yes, there is a casting of the eyes downward.

56:33 There is the shooting out to those ever-growing tentacles of inordinate appetite and desire. Yes, I'm fully conscious of all the struggles and wrestlings of a man in Christ. I must live with myself. But my friend, if there's been no basic, pervasive, fundamental change of focus from time to eternity, from the world here to the world there, you've never been a Christian.

57:06 If any in Christ, the old is past, the new has come. And in the third place, the old purpose of life will pass and the new will come. Not only the old view of Christ, the old focus of life, but the old purpose. What's the old purpose?

57:27 Well, look at chapter 5 and verse 15. And he died for all, that they that live should no longer, three words, live unto themselves. The purpose for which every man, woman, boy or girl lives who is not united to Christ is found in those three words, living unto themselves. I'm waiting for some of you young people in the back row.

58:10 I'm not preaching into the air. If you don't care enough for your own soul to listen, don't be charged with distracting others. You better leave and take your own condemnation without increasing it. The old purpose of life, according to the apostle, for every man not in Christ is to live unto himself.

58:54 That is to gratify his sinful, Adamic, depraved self. That's the driving motive of his life. Now that leads some people into a life of open profligacy and immorality and debauchery. It leads some people, as it did in the case of the apostle Paul, to a very religious, devout life.

59:15 But the lecher and the self-righteous Pharisee have this in common. They're living unto themselves. But blessed be God when the old passes and the new comes. What's the new purpose of life?

59:31 Look at the text. Should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again. The new, the new purpose is nothing less than living unto Christ. And that means to live under the direction of His word, to live constrained by His love, to live with His smile and His frown as my greatest concern, verse 9 of the same chapter.

Third Old That Passes: The Old Purpose of Life

60:08 Wherefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing unto Him. Now when a man wants to please his wife, if he's living unto his wife, you can tell it in the totality of his lifestyle. He doesn't pause at the local gin mill on the way home to drink a few beers with the boys. If he's living unto his wife, the moment he gets out of that office, he's home to give his wife an embrace and to enjoy her communion and fellowship as she prepares the supper and to sit down with her and the family.

60:43 If a man's living unto his wife, you'll see it in his whole lifestyle. He goes off on a business trip. He's not consorting with harlots and call girls in the city where he is. No, he's on the phone with his wife.

60:57 And the first thing he does when he gets in his motel room is he breaks out the picture of his wife and sets it up before him. She's in his thoughts, wherever he is, wherever he goes, whatever he does, he's living unto his wife. It's a very real thing. Oh, my friend, if you're living unto Christ, this is not theory.

61:17 It means that in the performance of what constitutes your life, getting up in the morning, splashing water on your face if you need to to wake up, whatever you have to do, shaving or trimming your beard or curling your eyelashes and going for breakfast and going to work and packing lunches and spanking the kids and hugging your husband and washing the dishes and all that constitutes life for you, my friend, if you're a new creature, you're living unto Christ. Not perfectly, and that's your great grief if when you come to an end of the day you say, Lord Jesus,

62:00 I confess there have been minutes and maybe hours when you were not in my thoughts. Forgive me. But the difference is in the heart of a true Christian, when he is not enjoying conscious communion in this context of living unto Christ, he knows he's in foreign territory. He's out of his element and he's uncomfortable until he's back in it.

62:28 Is that your purpose in life? Living unto Christ? Not because you hope that by so doing you'll gain some merit. Look at the text.

62:48 They live unto Him who for their sakes died and rose. It is not living unto Christ in the spirit of legal obedience. It is living unto Christ in the spirit of evangelical obedience. The standard does not change.

63:09 It is the holy and flexible law of God. But the motive is as different as night from day. I am living unto Him, not hoping that He will drop a few crumbs of His mercy to make up what I lack to find acceptance. No, I've come stripped and empty of all my own righteousness.

63:35 I've cast myself upon His righteousness in His alone and in the embrace of faith, which is the embrace of naked hands, empty hands. I have freely received of His mercy, and because I have thus received, I want to please Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. And then, if time permitted, we could just open up verse 16, but I'll just make a suggestion. The old perspective with reference to people has changed.

64:09 Well, maybe I will say a few words on it. He says, Look, we henceforth know no man after the flesh. What's he saying? He says, as a new man in Christ, I've got a totally different basis of evaluating people, choosing my friends, assessing men and women.

64:32 What was his old basis? You came sauntering down the street somewhere in Tarsus where Paul was as a young Pharisee, and someone was about to introduce you before he'd stick out his hand. You know what he'd want to know? Have you got A.B.'s blood in your veins?

64:47 If you don't have A.B.'s blood in your veins, you're a Gentile dog, your persona non grata. Are you a fellow son of Abraham?

64:58 You're my friend. He regarded men after the flesh in terms of distinctions that are rooted in genes and chromosomes and heredity and religious environment and association. He said, that's all changed now as a new man in Christ. I know no one after the flesh.

Fourth Old That Passes: The Old Basis for Evaluating People

65:19 What was his new basis of evaluating people? Here it is. You come down the street now after the Damascus Road, and someone's about to introduce you. What's Paul's first concern?

65:30 Not whether or not you're of the stock of Abraham. His first concern is this. Are you a royal son or daughter of the living God through faith in Jesus Christ? And if you are by nature and birth a Gentile dog, he embraces you in the embrace of true brotherhood.

65:48 He cares not whether you be barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, Jew, Gentile, black or white. My whole new basis of evaluating people and therefore of establishing relationships is this. What is their relationship to Him whose glory I have beheld? Ah, listen to me, people.

66:12 What's the basis upon which you evaluate people? Is it if they're from your background, your temperament, your race, teenagers? Is it if they show they're really with it by their lifestyle, by their clothing styles? Some of you bragging about your so-called liberty from the tacky, stuffy styles of your papa and your mama.

66:40 Listen. You're in the worst kind of bondage. You wouldn't dare go one day without your clothing and hairstyle matching your peers. I dare to stand up here tonight and take my tie off while I preach.

66:56 You wouldn't dare to cut five inches off your hair. You're in bondage. I'm free. Your basis of evaluating people are you my kind?

67:16 Do you fit in with my perspectives? Oh, dear people, would to God that I could stand here and weep genuine tears of compassion and brokenness for the hopeless plight of your body. How blessed it is to be released from all those evaluations, all those bases of evaluation, and to be a liberated man or woman in Christ so that you're first convinced that your concern is, as you evaluate people, are they in Christ? If they are, they're brother, sister, and if not,

67:58 I am their servant for Christ's sake. 2 Corinthians 4, 5. Are you becoming servant to those people in your neighborhood who are from a totally different cultural background? What about the blacks in your community?

68:16 You draw your robes around them and say they're not our kind. You don't have them in our church. No. They're in love with one of their daughters.

68:29 I find it hard to believe that churches representing so many areas, we are totally insulated from the black and Puerto Rican and other minority groups in our own nation. I don't say this is a blanket criticism. I only ask you to search your own heart to see if the reason might not lie right here. You're not living consistently with what you are as a new creature in Christ.

68:56 The whole basis of evaluating people has changed, and I submit to you that these are the areas in which the apostle says the old is past, the new has come. And who's the author of all this? Look at the first phrase of verse 18. And all things are of God.

69:12 And all things are of God. What things? The old things that have passed and the new have come. It's God who's wrought the change.

69:21 For we read in 1 Corinthians 1, 30, But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Oh, what a wonderful thing to parallel this text with 1 Corinthians 1, 30. 1 Corinthians 1, 30 tells us the objective blessings that are ours if we're in Christ. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.

Closing Appeal: Are You in Christ?

69:47 Paul says here, the subjective experimental fruit of union with Christ, new creatures, the old is past, the new has come, the old view of Christ, the old purpose for living. The old focus of life. The old basis of evaluating men and women. The new has come.

70:08 And whenever a sinner has the objective blessings of union with Christ, he also will have the subjective experimental expression of union with Christ. Are you in Christ? I close where I started an hour ago. Are you in Christ?

70:29 Have you been made a new creation? I trust the study of Christ I trust the study tonight has strengthened the assurance of many of you that you've been able to stand back and say, Oh God, though my resting place is not anything that's happened in me, but all that is in Christ, His objective work on my behalf. Oh Lord, I am strengthened in the conviction that my attachment to Him is indeed vital and real because I am an amazement to myself. I find nothing explains what I now am, but that I'm a new man in Christ.

71:09 And I look down right now at one of our own church members and a smile broke across his face. I know his life history. I know what that smile meant. Oh, may God grant that many others from the heart will be able to say, Yes, Lord, thank you.

71:25 What about some of the rest of you? You've been shaken? Shaken not because of an over-sensitive conscience that takes the principles to an unwarranted level, and unbalanced, extreme, but shaken because in all your profession you know nothing of the passing of the old and the coming of the new. My friend, you better be shaken.

71:45 You better cherish those doubts. They may be the first rays of the dawn. Cherish those doubts. They may be the first rays of the dawn.

71:59 Are you in Christ? God grant that you'll give yourself no rest until you can answer in the affirmative with your eyes fixed on 2 Corinthians 5. And verse 17. Let us pray.