Preached Sunday, September 12, 2010
from
2 Corinthians 5:17

Theme: The promise of God is that, if anyone is ‘in Christ’, he or she is a ‘new creation.’

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

This morning, I’d like to share with you primarily from just one verse of Scripture. But even though it’s only one verse, it’s a truly amazing verse that makes a truly amazing offer!

That one verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17—one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Just think about the amazing offer this verse makes! It proposes good news for every human being—whether young or old, whether rich or poor, whoever they may be—who has ever looked at their life and wished that they could just “start over”.

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Now; I’d have to say that, if someone didn’t have any deep regrets about themselves, and never wished—with all their heart—that they could just wipe the whole slate clean and start over again, this verse probably wouldn’t mean much to them. It really doesn’t have anything to offer to someone who’s absolutely satisfied with themselves, and believes that they’ve earned for themselves the right to be in God’s favor. But then, I haven’t really met very many people who sincerely looked back on life with absolutely no regrets whatsoever. (I’ve met a few who talked as if they had lived life with something pretty close to perfection. But I had a feeling that they were putting on a bit of a show; and that I’d hear something completely different if I invited their family members to sit in on the conversation.)

Most of us, if we’re honest, look back on life with some very profound and painful regrets. Most of us have secretly wished there was some way to start over and to live differently than we had. I’ve grown to think of those regretful things that we’ve thought, or said, or done, as bits and pieces of ‘spiritual graffiti’ with which we have defaced our inner being—nasty and regretful things written on the walls of our soul that, no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to scrub away; words we said to someone that we wished had never come out of our mouths; things we did with someone else . . . or to someone else . . . that we wish we’d never done; things we took from someone that were not ours to take; attitudes we held against someone that were hurtful and wasteful and destructive to hold on to; things we deliberately saw or heard that were not ours to see or hear; habits that we never should have allowed to develop in our lives; relationships we never should have gotten into; paths that we never should have trod.

And that’s just the regretful things that we did. There’s also the regretful things that someone else may have done to us—and the impact they’ve had on us. There were the ways we may have become the victims of someone else’s wickedness. There were the ways that someone else may have brought scars and wounds upon us that time has not been able to heal. There were the things that others may have done to us that—for the rest of our lives—made us feel dirty, small, and robbed; and that taught us to become bitter, angry, resentful people who pass our own hurt on to others.

So; I suggest that this verse doesn’t really have anything to offer to people who are absolutely satisfied with themselves—people who are ‘righteous’ and ‘pure’ in their own sight. Jesus Himself, the Savior of all men, once turned to a group of self-righteous religious leaders away and said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matthew 9:12). But for those of us who have come to realize what a terrible mess we are, and who look back with regret and shame over the sin in their life, and who wish with all their heart that they could just “start over”, then this amazing promise from God’s word is the greatest news that could be heard:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

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Think for a moment about this great offer! First, notice that it is universal in scope. It says “if anyone is in Christ”; and that means that the offer it makes is available to whoever truly wishes to ‘start over’. It says “he” in the translation I’m using; but there’s no “he” in the original language. Literally, it reads like this: “If anyone is in Christ—new creation!” Anyone—no matter if they’re a man or a woman, no matter how bad they may have been, no matter how much of a mess they have made of life—may receive the wonderful offer this verse makes, and can become a “new creation” in Christ.

Second, notice how thorough an offer it makes. It doesn’t simply promise that they will remain the same old person—but just become “cleaned up” and “reformed” a little bit. Rather, it says that if anyone is in Christ, they become “a new creation”—something completely and radically different from what they once were. It may not mean that they will ‘look’ different on the outside. It may not mean that the difficulties and problems of life will instantly go away. It may not mean that they won’t still have to ‘make right’ the wrongs they may have done to others. But it does means that the whole inner person—the man or woman as he or she stands before God—will become an utterly new creation!

And finally, notice the implications it gives us of what it means to become a “new creation”. It means that “old things have passed away”! Those bits of ‘graffiti’ that used to deface our soul will have been completely washed away by a holy and merciful God; and that when He looks upon the condition of our soul, He will no longer sees anything that displeases Him. And it means that, “behold, all things have become new”! A new dynamic will have come into operation in our lives. As far as God is concerned, it will be as if that old person that we once were will be gone, and a completely new person will have come into being.

I don’t believe there’s anything more wonderful than the offer that God makes to us in this one amazing verse:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

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Now; such an amazing offer deserves closer consideration. So; let’s ask, first of all . . .

1. HOW SUCH AN OFFER COULD BE POSSIBLE.

This offer comes to us authoritatively from the apostle Paul. And let’s be very clear about it: Paul isn’t presenting us with mere ‘spiritual sentimentality’—mere ‘religious talk’—mere ‘greeting card’ feel-good stuff. It wouldn’t be much of an offer if, when you got down to it, it wasn’t something really true. Rather, Paul is boldly asserting the promise of something that is objectively true—something that has actual substance—something that has its basis in, and is a product of, a real, literal, historic, factual thing.

Paul’s opening word “Therefore” leads us to see this promise as the consequence of something else. And when we look back to verses 14-15, we find that the apostle Paul based this promise on the literal historic events of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and of His resurrection from the dead three days later. It was those historic events that led Paul and the other apostles to preach the good news of Jesus to people so faithfully; even though they suffered greatly for it. He wrote;

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again (vv. 14-15).

You see; when our very first earthly father—the first ‘Adam’—sinned, he fell from God’s favor, and brought the whole rest of us down in the fall with him. And yet, it was Paul’s conviction that, in love, God the Father in heaven looked down upon our need and sent His beloved Son to be born into humanity, to live on this earth as one of us, and to die on behalf of all humanity as ‘the last Adam’ (see 1 Corinthians 15:45-49). Paul was convinced that, in Jesus’ death, the death-penalty for the guilt of the sin of all humanity was completely paid for; so that it could be said that, because of Him, “all died”. If you were to look down further at verse 21, you read these words: “For He [that is, God the Father] made Him [that is, Jesus His Son] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

It was by Jesus Christ—the Son of God who was born into humanity as one of us, but who had no guilt of sin upon Him—that God has completely paid the death-penalty for the sins of mankind. And not only that, God has proven that He is completely satisfied with the payment Jesus made for our sins by the fact that God raised Him from the dead.

That’s why God can now make sinful men and women into “new creations” who no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again! That’s why no one has to remain in the fallen condition into which Adam’s sin placed us. That’s why no one ever has to stay a prisoner to what the sins of the flesh have made them. Each human being has the potential of being set free, and experiencing a brand new life.

Paul goes on to say, in verses 16-17;

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (vv. 16-17).

This is now true of everyone who is “in Christ”. I like to illustrate it this way. Suppose I hold a book in my hand. And suppose I have a pen in the other hand. When I put the pen inside the book, everything that now happens to the book will also happen to the pen. This is because the pen has been placed “in” the book. If I set the book on a chair, the pen is also now sitting on the chair; because the pen is “in” the book. If I wrap the book up, take it to a post-office, and mail it to another city, the pen will also go to that city; because the pen is “in” the book.

In very much the same way, we are made “new creations” by being placed “in Christ”. The Holy Spirit—as a spiritual act—places us “in” God’s Son through faith; so that, as far as God the Father is now concerned, when Jesus died on the cross in the past, we also died “in” Him, and when He was raised from the dead three days later, we were also raised into new life “in Him”. “Therefore,” as Paul says, ” if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation . . .”

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So you see; there’s a real, historical, substantial basis for the promise Paul presents to us—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can now receive the great “new creation” offer.

And that leads us, next, to consider . . .

2. WHAT THIS WONDERFUL OFFER INVOLVES.

Paul speaks only briefly in this verse of what this great offer involves—that “old things have passed away” and that “all things have become new”. Even though we could never describe them all, think with me about at least a few of the “old things” that pass away whenever anyone becomes a new creation in Christ—particularly the ones that would mean a great deal to someone who wishes they could wipe the slate clean and start life over.

There are many old things that pass away; but one of the most important of them is our old condemnation before God. “Condemnation” is a horrible word. It brings to mind the ideas of “guilt” and “judgment”. And as unpleasant as those ideas are, we have to be honest and say that, because of the sin of Adam, such truly is the condition into which we’re all born. We are guilty before God, and deserving of judgment! God would have been absolutely just to leave us in such a condition; but He did not. In love, He sent His Son Jesus to take the guilt of our sin on Himself and pay the death-penalty for us. And so, as the Bible says in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus . . .” So; that’s one of the ‘old things’ that pass away when we become new creations in Christ—condemnation before a holy God! When He looks upon us, He no longer sees the guilt of sin!

Another of the old things that passes away is our old slavery to sin. Because of the fall of Adam, our old nature of being was that of a helpless slave to sin. We knew what God required of us; but we could not do it—nor could we even want to do it. Sin had a complete grip over us; and we had to do what it said to do. But we are set free from our slavery to sin when we become “new creations” in Christ. Just like a slave is free from his or her master after death, Romans 6:5-6 says, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” This doesn’t mean that, once we become new creations in Christ, we won’t ever sin. Sadly, we will. But we are no longer sins slaves. Whereas we once could not choose but to sin, we are now set free in Christ to choose not to sin!

Still another of the old things that passes away is our old bondage to the past. So many people are stuck where they are in life—the sad prisoners of the terrible things they have done in the past. They think about those things all the time. They never seem able to get over them. And perhaps no one had more reason to be a prisoner of his past than the apostle Paul. He was once a violent enemy of Christians. He arrested them and dragged them off to their deaths. But when he became a new creation in Jesus Christ, that same Jesus sent him off to become a preacher of the very gospel he once opposed. And Paul’s dreadful past didn’t hold him back from doing so. He was set free from what he once was. He wrote; “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).

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There are many other “old things” that pass away when we become “new creations” in Christ. These are just a few of them. And personally, as a “new creation” in Christ, I am very thankful to God that those old things are gone. But let’s also think about just a few of the “new things” that come.

One of the first that comes is a new peace with God. Nothing could be more precious than that! When you think about it, what people need more than anything else is peace with God. When someone does not have peace with God, they don’t have peace with their neighbor, or with their circumstances, or even with their own selves. Most of human religion—with all its rituals, and rules, and regulations, and good works—is a nothing other than men and women trying to bring about that desperately needed sense of “peace” with God through their own efforts. This is utterly fruitless; because God cannot have peace with someone who is still under the condemnation of Adam’s sin. God is a holy God; and cannot but be in a state of enmity with sin. But when someone puts their trust in Jesus, and they are made “new creations” in Him, their guilt in Adam is removed and their own sins are completely washed away. They are no longer “condemned”. They are declared by God to be “justified”—that is, 100% righteous in His sight. They are “justified”—that is, “declared righteous before God”. And so, Paul writes in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . . .”

Another wonderful thing that comes is a new identity. Before I trusted Jesus, and became a “new creation” in Him, I was characterized by conduct that was consistent with my old identity. I was a sinner who was under the just wrath of God. And I behaved like what I was. But when I trusted Jesus, I became a “new creation”—and with my new identity came a new motivation to behave like what I now was. Paul wrote;

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him . . . (Colossians 3:5-10).

A third “new thing” that comes is a new outlook of eternal glory. Before we are made “new creations” in Christ, we lived without hope. The only thing that awaited us was the dreadful prospect of standing before the judgment seat of God. But because Jesus took all the guilt of our sin upon Himself, and experienced God’s judgment for sin on our behalf on the cross, and was then raised from the dead, our outlook changes when we are placed “in” Him. But as the apostle Peter wrote;

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).

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We could never list all the “old things” that pass away—and all the “new things” that come—when we become “new creations” in Christ our Savior. But these are enough to show us what a wonderful offer this verse gives us:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

And now, there remains just one question . . .

3. HOW TO ACCEPT THIS OFFER PERSONALLY.

As we have seen, God the Father has done everything that is necessary through Jesus His Son. It was Paul’s privilege—and the privilege of others—to announce it. In the verses that followed, Paul wrote;

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (vv. 18-19).

And then comes Paul’s appeal:

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God (v. 20).

And that, really, is all that is required—a willingness to accept the fact that God has already done all that is necessary in Christ to remove the sin that has separated us from Him, and to place our trust in what He has done and be reconciled to Him.

There was a famous discussion Jesus once had with a religious leader named Nicodemus about how to become a “new creation”. As Jesus’ teaching was becoming well-known, and as the things He was saying about Himself became more controversial, this man came to Him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). Jesus knew the real question he was asking Him; and so, He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). In other words, Jesus said that it was absolutely necessary that someone become “a new creation”.

Nicodemus was understandably astonished at this! How could such a thing be done? He asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (v. 4). Nicodemus thought that Jesus was talking about a second physical birth. But Jesus was speaking of a spiritual “new birth” that makes someone a “new creation” in the sight of God.

And it was in this context that Jesus uttered the words that are in what is probably the best known verse in the whole Bible. It tells us plainly how to become a “new creation” in Jesus. Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

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And that really is all that is required—that you and I place our faith in what Jesus has done for us on the cross. I sincerely pray that you will do so; and thus take up the amazing offer that God makes to us in this verse.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.