[0:00] I'd like us to see me, please, to turn back to the portion of scripture that we read in Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 5, and maybe we can read again the verse 17. 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, and we read the verse 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. If any man be in Christ, then that man is a new creation, or that man is a new creature.
[1:01] Now in this verse here, the second Corinthians, the apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, and within just that verse alone, although you'll find it in other verses as well, just within that verse alone, you will find the very heart, and you will find the very essence, and you will find the very soul of the Christian religion. The fact that we are in Christ, or that we are to be in Christ. The true definition of a Christian, the absolute definition of all that we hear, many definitions today of what it means to be a Christian, we could be this, we could be that, or we could be the next thing, but the very true definition of a Christian is to be in Christ. And that is where the dividing line comes between the
[2:06] Christian and the world. The Christian is a man or a woman who is in Christ. The person who is unsaved is a man or a woman who is still outside of Christ. Now it is quite true as well, surely, that a person may be a part of the visible church. And we see that around us quite often today. And somebody is a part of the visible church, and may even be a member within the visible church, but yet that person might not be in the Lord Jesus Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? What exactly is it that the Apostle is saying there? Well, to be in Christ surely means to be grafted into Christ by faith, to become part of Christ. Remember the Lord himself speaking in the discourse after the upper home at one point there in John chapter 15, John records for us there that the Lord taught and said, I am the vine, he said, ye are the branches.
[3:27] And going back to that day and even to our present day, you know that a gardener can take a vine, branch of one vine, and he can graft it into another vine. Now to do that the gardener has to cut the vine, the vine has to be cut, for the branch to be fitted in and then tied in. Then all of a sudden, after a period of growth, that branch becomes part of the vine. That branch is engrafted into the vine. And that is the way that the Christian is grafted and engrafted into Christ, who is the through vine. And just as the vine in the garden would have to be cut, so the vine of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, had to be cut, so that we could be grafted in, so that our life would come by him, and our life so it would come through him. And so, that is what it means to be grafted into him, to be engrafted into Christ.
[4:41] But this being in Christ, that Paul is speaking about here, it comes through and it is brought surely through a glorious and a wonderful mystical union that takes place between God and the one to be grafted into Christ.
[5:08] And what I want to be grafted into Christ. And what I want to be able to look at here, in connection with this verse really of scripture, is really just quite simply, a new creature. And maybe to ask what is a new creature?
[5:26] And maybe as well, what does it mean if we are not a new creature? What is a new creature? Well, surely, firstly we must say that the new creature is a work of divine power. It is a second birth that is added to the first birth. You will remember when Nicodemus came to the Lord.
[5:52] Nicodemus comes by night and he speaks to the Lord. He is looking for the way to eternal life. He is looking for the way to salvation. He is looking for the way to be saved. And the Lord said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. There must be a second birth in your experience.
[6:15] Nicodemus wasn't you must go and do this or you must go and do that or you must go and do the next thing. He said you must be born again. Fundamental tonight that we are born again.
[6:28] Nothing else is going to matter in the final analysis when we stand before the judgment seat of God. It is not enough that we were born one time. We must go there having been born twice. We must be born again.
[6:48] topic of the silents. We must be born again. Got a parent care. Let them know. Proceed and gather at the end of the night. Hopes for little inquiries. We must go, 한번 before the book. Ah, we must go to bed as anybody who seems to be able to be vehicle of them. A direct flashback. An example is the 로es. The true spirit of God who haven't thrown off the despite of the ash was found who God was been given.
[6:59] That's story. So, beside the bay, theader Bayer which came on we've found that theencial 권 in our recording spirit of God, how do certain things that каб moons bonuses but it was Professor of us. dessus runway to the key goodness of God? And perfect life brings people to action but you must be born tonight as a larger thing. forms the heart that was dead and the heart that had lost in a sense. All devotion to God, he turns that heart into the divine likeness. And so the power behind this new creature, the power behind this new creation, or the cause of the new creature is God the Holy Spirit.
[7:42] You know, not even the angels and the archangels with all the great qualities that they have, and all the great qualities that God bestowed upon them there when he created them.
[7:57] Not even the angels themselves are able to produce this new creature or this new creation. Who but God tonight can alter the heart of a man or a woman and turn the heart of stone into a heart of flesh?
[8:20] Who else but God can turn this inanimate, dead, hard, stony heart into a fleshly heart, and a heart that is alive unto him? I can't do it. You can do it. Only God can do it.
[8:38] And if tonight, my friend, you're sitting here and your heart is still hard to the gospel and hard to the things of God, then you need to go on your knees and you need to appeal to the only one who can change your heart, and who can alter your heart, and who can bring you into a relationship with himself.
[9:06] You see, if the new creature, if the new creation is not produced by the Holy Spirit, under the influences of God, if it is not that, then the greatest glory that would be in a person's conversion would belong to the person that is converted.
[9:29] How many of God's people sitting in this building here tonight bring any glory to themselves in the fact that they are gloriously slain?
[9:42] How many of you can say it was a queen? Not any of us. Because this is a glory that God is not going to give to any other.
[9:54] For salvation belongs unto the Lord. Salvation is the Lord's. It has always been the Lord's. Yes, he chooses sometimes to use frail witnesses and many different means.
[10:09] That is his choice to use. He doesn't need to use these things. But he chooses to, that the saving belongs to him. He is the one who saves.
[10:23] The turning of the will to God is from God. Remember the old prophet, the old prophet of the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah said, after I was turned, I repainted.
[10:42] And so, in the new creature, you will find the restoring of God's image. That our first parents lost in the fall.
[10:57] What kind of image did they have? Let us make man in our own image. What kind of image was that? How could the man and the woman be in God's image?
[11:13] What were the qualities that they were endowed with that one could say that they were created in the image of God? Well, you see, there were many perfections surrounding our first parents when they were created, first of all.
[11:32] There was surely a physical perfection surrounding them. There was a spiritual perfection. There was an intellectual perfection. And there was a moral perfection.
[11:49] And in that way and in that sense, they were bearing the image of God and the perfection of God in these things that God had bestowed upon them.
[12:02] There was no temptation. There was no temptation. There was no temptation. There was no temptation. Their tendency was not like the tendency of the natural man. Their tendency was not too slow. Not at all.
[12:17] The man who created, first of all, Adam and Eve, they learned holiness. This inclination was always towards God. That's the way that he was inclined.
[12:30] Inclined to be towards God. Inclined to listen to God. That was the way that he was created.
[12:42] And you can see even in the result of the fall, moments after they fell, how that was when the woman's inclination towards God, how it was gone.
[12:54] Because you find them hiding from God and separating themselves from God as they hide behind the trees in the Garden of Eden.
[13:05] The inclination towards God as they fell, how it was gone. The inclination towards God has gone. The communion with God. The fellowship they enjoyed with God. The perfection with which they had been created. Their innocence. Their spiritual perfection. And intellectual perfection. And their moral perfection. It was gone. And they were scared of God. And they hid behind the trees.
[13:32] And they saw their feelings together. They hid their shame. Sometimes I wonder, this is probably wrong, sometimes I wonder if that is any pain in the way. The Lord in the New Testament cursed his hatred.
[13:47] Cursed that thing which man was going to be used to, to cover his own nakedness and his own shame. And so everything that they were was lost in the fall. And that them hides and he hides from God.
[14:10] But just let me question before we go on. Just let me aside. I want to ask the question. Does God in the new creation, not in the new creation.
[14:25] Does God give a new soul? Well, the answer to that would have to be no. He does not give a new soul. He does not bestow new faculties, as one author puts it, but he does bestow new qualities. Somebody once explained this by the picture of the old house, an old, old house. It was ancient.
[14:57] And the house, it was completely out of tune. It sounded awful when one went and plucked its strings. But one day the harp was tuned. Somebody came and tuned the harp. And the strings of the harp are not new. And the harp itself is not new. But now the sound is repaired.
[15:24] The sound of the harp is mended. And so it is, my friends, with the new creature. The substance of the soul is not new. But the soul has found a new creature. It has been tuned by grace. It has been tuned by grace itself. And the heart that was proud, all of a sudden, that proud heart, that proud heart, it is humbled. And the eyes that were full of lust are now the eyes that have grown tears, of confession and tears, of repentance and tears, of an awareness of the great need that there is before God for salvation. And so a new creature is a soul that has been tuned by by grace, by grace, by grace alone. And I wonder sitting here tonight, if this is your own personal situation. Has your own heart been tuned by grace?
[16:32] Have you a new creation in Christ? A new creature in Christ? Or are you still out of tune? Is your soul still out of tune?
[16:44] And still lost in your sins? And in danger of dying eternally? Of going into a lost eternity without Christ and without hope?
[16:58] Unless your soul is still out of tune? Unless your soul gets tuned? Well, eternity is going to be very difficult for you. We live in a day where we don't like to hear the word hell anymore. It's not really correct to use that term.
[17:20] And we try to tell it down and we use terms like Out of darkness and all of these other kinds of fancy terms that are there and they're not quite so difficult to bear when we hear them.
[17:34] But if your soul goes in front of God on the judgment day and it has not been tuned by grace, if you are not being grafted into the mind, you will spend eternity in hell.
[17:48] It is as soon as soon as that. Where shall I have to be my dust? You are standing there and you are talking about this hell.
[18:02] Where is it? We have no wear against that it exists. Where is this hell? It's at the end of our Christ-less life. That is where it is. You know, you are not going to swear to this. You know, maybe one of your biggest fears you have tonight after Christ is dying.
[18:24] You fear death, most of us do in our way. But for you, blood of Christ, you might fear death. You fear death more than anything else.
[18:36] You fear death more than anything else. You fear death more than anything else. You fear death more than anything else. Imagine that, your great enemy here on the earth. That would be a hope for you if you were going to spend eternity in hell.
[18:54] There is not even a hope of dying. It is a place of no hope. I urge you to not. To seek the Lord. I urge you to seek and graft me into this life.
[19:06] I urge you to come to Christ. To seek and graft me into this life. To seek and graft me into this life.
[19:20] That you might find salvation for your soul. That God might transform you into a new creature. And a new creation.
[19:34] As I said, a new creature is a work of divine power. And we ask the question, well why does this need divine power? This new creation. It needs divine power because it is a work. Because it is a creative work. And because it requires creation.
[19:56] And the same power. And the same power. And the same power. And the same power which raised Christ from the dead. Is required and employed. For the production of this new creature.
[20:10] You know my friends. It is a work of divine power. You know my friends. It is a work of greater power. To produce the new creature. There is more power involved in producing the new creature. Than there was power involved in the creation of the world.
[20:26] And you might ask, well how can that be? Just to convert me and to bring me into the fold. Are you telling me that it is going to be a new creature?
[20:38] Are you telling me that it is going to cost more? That there is going to be more work involved? In saving me than there was in the creation of all that we see? You see when God created the world. When God said let them be. God had no opposition. All that was employed in the creation of the world.
[21:05] God was the prime God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And he created the world. And nobody opposed him as he created him.
[21:17] But when God is about to make a new creation. And when God is about to make a new creature. He leads with the great opposition of the one who caused the great fall in the garden of Eden.
[21:31] He comes face to face with the great fall in the garden of Eden. He comes face to face with the opposition of Satan. Is that the only opposition that there is in this work of the new creation?
[21:43] The Lord might be striving with you in here tonight. And you know that you need to be saved. And you know the truth of the gospel. And yet you oppose it. Yet you resist it. Yet you push it away.
[22:05] Yet you push it away. And you push it away. And you push it away. And the fact that you're not moving forward to the garden of Eden. And you're not moving forward to the garden of Eden. It's a very simple way. And you know, you've got to look at this another way as well. way as well. You know, you remember when God said let them be and he created all of us, created ourselves, created the world and all that it contains. It didn't cost him anything.
[22:28] Not one thing did it cost him. Not a thing. But to make new creations and new creatures, it cost him dearly. It cost that the second person of the Trinity was constrained to become a man.
[22:52] In making the world and creating the world, it was nothing more for God than just speaking a word. But in making a new creature, it cost the Father his Son and it cost the Son of God his life.
[23:10] Where is there a greater cost than that? Do you understand that? It cost the Son of God his life. There was a great cost to Christ to make the new creation and the new creatures.
[23:34] He laid aside his glory and he became a man. And he lived as a sinless man in a sinful world.
[23:48] And ultimately those to whom he came, went forth and ensured that he was crucified and that he was broken. And he died.
[24:02] And you know, I wonder sometimes with the great fact that he will always be a man. Yes, I glorified man. Yes, I glorified man. But he will always be a man.
[24:17] There was a cost to Christ. There was a great cost in making the new creatures, the new creations. And it's an ongoing cost as well, sure.
[24:33] Remember, God created the world in six days. But the work of making new creatures goes on in the lives of these new creatures until they are brought into the perfection of heaven's Son's likeness.
[24:51] It is an ongoing work. An ongoing work. And so the new creature is a work of divine power. But secondly, I would say that the new creature is a work of free grace.
[25:07] Of free grace. There is nothing in us to move God. To make us new. We can only speak when we speak from personal experience.
[25:22] When we know what's in our lives. And we know all the sin and all the pollution and all of the darkness that was there. It is then that we realize that there was nothing in us.
[25:37] To merit this new creation taking place in our own hearts. By nature we are full of sin. By nature we are polluted.
[25:50] By nature we are a divinity with God. We are in a sense hiding there. Behind the trees that Adam did. In Eden. And the carnal mind is in direct opposition to God.
[26:06] It cannot be any other way. And the carnal mind cannot. In and of itself decide. That it is going to close in with Christ.
[26:16] It cannot. But we are not willing to have God in our lives. Isn't that the way it was? For all of you do not have been in the Lord here.
[26:29] For so long and for so many years. But yet in the midst of all of that. God in his mercy and in his kindness.
[26:41] For us the new creature. And behold then. Above that creature there is displayed. The great banner of God. And the new creature we say.
[26:57] By the grace of God I am and I am. See my friends. In the creation we may see and behold.
[27:08] The strength and the power of almighty God. But in the new creature and in the new creation. We behold and we see the great merciful and loving workings.
[27:23] Of the heart of an almighty God. God consecrating any heart.
[27:35] An anointing that heart and ascents with grace. Is an act of pure mercy. And an act of pure love. It is a work of free grace.
[27:46] It is unmerited favor. A work of God's grace alone. Nothing to do with us.
[27:57] Apart from the fact that we receive it. And when we receive it. We can't do anything else. Isn't that the way it is? That good job. That is the way it is.
[28:10] For the car of mind would never accept it. The car of mind, unless something happened. Would never ever close in with this curse. The old curators are relieved.
[28:24] But this very truth in itself. Will make the saints in heaven. Mine will. Even more than anything else. That they are there.
[28:36] In heaven. And that God himself chose it. To be so. That God himself destined it. To be so. And that God himself loved them so.
[28:47] That he brought them there. That God made new creatures of them. By his own free grace.
[29:00] New creatures that could enter that place. That would otherwise have been barred to them. In their old fallen state. In the carless state.
[29:11] In the natural state. They could never have gone into glory. Something had to happen. Something had to be overdone. Something had to be undone.
[29:22] So that they could go to heaven. And go to glory. New creature. Is a work of divine power. It is a work of free grace.
[29:34] That I would say. I briefly have last. It is a work of excellence. It is a beautiful thing. It is a wonderful thing.
[29:45] Isn't it tonight? To be in Christ. Sometimes I wonder. If we praise God enough.
[29:56] that we have had this work. It has taken place in our lives. And in our hearts. We focus on everything else.
[30:10] Something great. And something excellent. And something wonderful. Has taken place. In our souls. You see. A natural man.
[30:22] Is nothing more. Than a lump of earth. Than a lump of sin. That is all. The natural man is. And you know. What tonight. My friends. In that state.
[30:33] God loathes the man. God loathes. Cannot be doing with him. But upon a new creature.
[30:45] There is. A spiritual glory. Thomas Watson says. It's as if we should see. A piece of dirty clay.
[30:57] Turned into the most. Sparkling and glorious diamond. That is what it means. To be a new creature. Of a new creation.
[31:08] In Christ. I cannot help. But to remind. The other first. That we find. In the own testament. And in the song of Solomon. Where we read.
[31:20] Who is this. That cometh out of the wilderness. Like pillars of smoke. Perfumed with murder. And with frankincense. Who is this. Now see.
[31:33] That is the natural man. Coming out of the wilderness. Of sin. And the natural man. Being. Perfumed. With the wonderful. With the wonderful. Graces.
[31:43] Of the excellent. Graces. Of God's spirit. The prophet Isaiah once said. A soul.
[31:54] Beautified with holiness. Is like the firmament. To be spangled. With glittering starch. God. It is God's lesser hell.
[32:08] In the incarnation. Here in the world. God made himself. In the image of man. But in this man.
[32:19] In this wonderful new creation. Man is made again. In the image of God. God. And everything that was lost. To a great degree. It is restored again.
[32:31] And there is fellowship. And there is communion. With God. There is an inclination again. Towards God. The car of mind.
[32:42] That was a dignity with God. Pairs in a sense. In real significance. By our being creatures.
[32:55] We are the sons of Adam. But by being new creatures. We are members of Christ himself. Reason will only ever make us.
[33:08] Serve the life. Of a man. But the new creature. Makes us live the life. Of God. God has intervened.
[33:20] And God has. Replaced this old. Car of mind. This old nature. He has replaced it. With that new nature. And that new nature.
[33:32] Influences the will. The will that was again. Into God. And in our decision. God. This new nature. Influences that will. To choose Christ.
[33:43] To follow Christ. To love. Christ. What a glorious change.
[33:55] What a marvel. So wonderful. What. This is. It's always a great thing. For us to hear. That the Lord Jesus Christ. Was.
[34:06] Crucified. Hearts. And sacrificed. On our behalf. Christ. But I suggest. It is an even greater. And more wonderful. Thing tonight. To have Christ.
[34:17] Formed in us. To have Christ. By the spirit. Dwelling. Within our hearts. And within our souls. to have Christ at work in our lives every day conforming his grace more and more into his own image sometimes we can't see that and we don't feel it I know but that is what God has promised that we will be conformed into the image of his own son and so to make us a new creature it is a work of divine power and it is a work of free grace and it surely and truly is the most beautiful and the most excellent of whites therefore if any man being grasped he is a new creature all things have passed away behold all things have become new wouldn't it be a wonderful thing tonight my friend for you if for the first time tonight you were to become a new creation a new creature in Christ if tonight you were to feel and you know in your own experience that you have been grafted in to the through mind to feel the peace that comes with that when you put your head on the pillow at night knowing that if you do not wake up in this world that you will wake up in the realms of glory within knowing what I know now personally and understanding what I know personally of the word of God
[36:12] I don't know how anyone without Christ can sleep at night I can only sleep because I have Christ because of this divine power and the work of free grace in my life and in my heart and the beautiful excellence of which it manifests itself in our souls with any man being Christ he is a new creature may God bless it in the days to come that there will be a rose here they will come to know and to feel what that is like and know it in their own experience to know what it means to have the work of grace taking place in their lives and know their minds that were against God and again that you have gone closing in with Christ and desiring God and desiring the Lord's things don't ever my friend be my dad don't ever think that the works of your own hands will lead you into the promised land they will not they will get you no way you must be born again you must be made a new creation you must be a new creature may God grant us so in your own souls let us pray to stop going thank you thank you thank you thank you yeah oh thank you if you we'll take key thank you for right there is from grandpa we got to let me if you don't but before I hear from and we just want to make sure all these in front of you don't really know what the that sounds that right we are to and this is and I say