Transcript: New Creation in Jesus Christ: A Fresh Start with God

Music In our last message entitled, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, part two, we are looking at a very exciting mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations from angels and men, but has been revealed through Apostle Paul, who was chosen by God to share and make known this awesome secret called Christ in you, the hope of glory. I encourage you to listen to part one of this part two series in I Am a New Creation in Jesus Christ. We found that scripture in Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 25, where Apostle Paul begins saying, In it I became a minister in accordance with the divine stewardship, which was entrusted to me for you as its object and for your benefit to make the word of God fully known among you. 26. The mystery of which was hidden for ages and generations from angels and men, but is now revealed to his holy people, the saints, to whom God was pleased to make known how great and for the Gentiles, how are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ within and among you, the hope of realizing glory. When Apostle Paul speaks about the mystery of Christ, for which I am in bonds and chains, in chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, he does not vaguely mean the gospel, but rather he means the freedom in the gospel and its revelation of the mysteries. He declares in Colossians chapter 4 verse 4 that I may proclaim it fully and make it clear, speak boldly and unfold the mystery as is my duty. But now the day had come, Paul felt his time was short, for all he had to do in letting people know that the great and merciful God was actually for them and not against them, and longed to come and live within them and make them a living temple of their Creator. Christ in you, the hope of glory, is found again in Colossians chapter 1 verses 26 through 29, which I repeat declares, The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints. Verse 27, To them God willed to make it known what are the riches of his glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Verse 28. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Jesus Christ. To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. Apostle Paul worked laboriously in an effort to make clear that God's glory should not be underestimated or taken lightly in this understanding. God's glory, dear listener, should be noted that it is not simply located in heaven and is not entirely future that we may embrace it, but rather it is now in our lives that Christ's glory may live in us as we live in him. understand jesus christ in us is the hope of the full manifestation of our character in the love of christ that can never be achieved here but you must know that it begins here reiterating a little we must know that a copy or godly love begins to awaken within us as we realize and understand that our precious Lord loved us first. We can see in the example of the immature faith of how an individual like Peter might fail, falter, and fall. But in God's magnificent grace and mercy, he can appeal or cry out from the very failure of his weakness to the heart of his Lord's love and cry out three times, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. or Lord Jesus have mercy on me a sinner you see yours and my victory is gradual we go from strength to strength to where the image of the old man is gradually blotted out and the image of the new created being the new man or new woman is growing into perfection which in the Greek means maturity or the fullness of Jesus Christ. In spiritual experience, we are conscious of the indwelling of Christ, or we're not. There begins to be a yearning and longing for God in knowing Him in His holy love and kindness and tenderness, as well as we become more aware of growing in a passionate consecration to Him and a fervent worship of Him and longing for deeper fellowship with Him. You see, you begin to understand that love for God and His ways is very contagious. We become more aware of our relationship with others, to our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, how we relate to them. Do we have compassion and true godly love for them? Well, I've come to see that during these years of growing in my precious Lord, Jesus Christ. A true measure of our developing maturity begins right in our own household with those whom we dwell with and love the most How do we treat our loved ones Do we have compassion for them Do we respect them? So, do we show kindness for them? In other words, God's love and maturity in the members of the whole household exemplify Jesus' nature, his love, his kindness. Or it's a battleground every day with works of the flesh, which Paul describes in Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 19. Now doing practices of the flesh are clear, obvious. They are immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, ill-tempered, selfishness, divisions, dissensions, party spirit, factions, sex, with particular opinions and heresies. Verse 21. Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warned you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the work in which His presence within accomplishes is love, joy, gladness, peace, patience, an even temper, forbearance, kindness, goodness, benevolence, faithfulness. Verse 23, gentleness, meekness, humility, self-control, self-restraint. Against such things there is no law that can bring a charge. Verse 24, and those who belong to Christ Jesus, the Messiah, have crucified the flesh, the godless human nature, with its passions and appetites and desires. If we live by the Holy Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. And if by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let's go forward, walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit. Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another. Jesus said that all who abide in me and I in them bring forth much fruit. The life of Christ that does not find expression in the ways of humility, holiness, and unselfishness is false. It's counterfeit and worthless because Jesus says by their fruit you will know them. I believe one of the most revealing scriptures that sum up what we have been speaking about is found in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ the Messiah, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. The old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come. You see, what we're talking about in Christ begins and ends in him. Ending and beginning shows us in Revelation chapter 1 verse 8. It reads, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord. and this is saying to us dear listener that the Lord Jesus Christ was from the beginning of eternity a witness to all the deliberations and forethoughts of God. Jesus Christ is first born from the dead who will by his own power raise up his people. He is the prince of the kings of the earth and by him their counsels are overruled and to him they are accountable. Sin leaves a stain of guilt and pollution upon the soul. Nothing can erase or take this stain out but the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus shed his own blood to satisfy divine justice and purchase pardon and purity for his people. Only he has made believers kings and priests to God and his father, as our scripture shows in Revelation chapter 1, verse 6, and declares, And formed us into a kingdom, a royal race, priests to his God and Father, to him be the glory and the power and the majesty and the dominion throughout the ages and forever and ever. You see, these have overcome the world. They have mortified their sin, and they have learned to govern their own spirit with their helper called Precious Holy Spirit. They have resisted Satan and prevailed in God with prayer. He has made them priests and given them access to himself and enabled them to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices unto him. These have truly been made new creations in the Lord Jesus Christ. our scripture in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 speaks to us about some endings and beginnings within our own lives it declares therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passing away and all things are becoming new how encouraging how very very encouraging For the believer, there is a constant change going on as we grow spiritually in our Lord Jesus Christ. Life is being reshaped. It begins in a new birth experience as we grow in the Lord. And this new life constantly changes as we are reshaped into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit dwelling within. It is good for us to take a look of what the natural or the carnal man is like You do know that we must look into the book of life called the Bible to learn about this don you And we will find honest answers that are spoken of and come from the very heart of our Heavenly Father Paul, in Romans chapter 8, verses 7 and 8, tells us what the carnal nature or the natural man looks like. Verse 7, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You should understand that enmity in the Bible means a deep-seated hatred for God. They are hostile to God. so therefore the carnal or natural man cannot understand the things of god and consequently he cannot please god according to verse 8 you see in order for this wonderful and awesome change to come into our hearts and make us into a new creation it is jesus christ who makes this change and it is possible only by his sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. Jesus tells us in John's Gospel, in chapter 17, verse 23, as he was praying to his father in the garden before he was going to be taken by the Roman soldiers to the cross, he said, Father, I in them and you in me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united that the world may know and definitely recognize that you sent me and that you have loved them even as you have loved me continuing in verse 26 i have made your name known to them and revealed your character and your very self and i will continue to make you known that the love which you have bestowed upon me may be in them felt in their hearts and that I myself may be in them. Jesus Christ tells us as his followers that he actually must dwell in us. And Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 makes it clear as well that our new life is in Christ. In verse 20, the word declares, I have been crucified with Christ. In him I have shared his crucifixion. It is no longer I who live, but Christ the Messiah lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by faith, by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I appreciate the Amplified Bible at times like this when it amplifies and makes clear that when we live, as Paul said and the life I now live in the body I live by faith the addition is by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in the Son of God so we see that it must truly be in It's not just a mental condition or state that we are working in our old nature, but it truly is a change. We need to absolutely understand that it is only when Christ is in us that we become acceptable to God and we have our new life in him. In 1 Corinthians 1, verses 30 and 31, we read, But it is from him that you have your new life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation, previously hidden, manifesting itself as our righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God. and our consecration making us pure and holy and our redemption providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin. But then as it is written, let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories boast and proudly rejoice in glory in the Lord. You see, we come to see that in this state nothing can separate us from the love of God. Jesus enters us because of our faith in him Christ and the prophets before him proclaimed that he was a way to salvation and the prophets in the Old Testament echoed forth the truth of that Messiah he would come and provide the necessary salvation for all of mankind Isaiah in chapter 53 verse 11 proclaim he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied by the knowledge of himself which he possesses and imparts to others shall my uncompromisingly righteous one my servant justify many and make righteous upright in right standing with God for he shall bear their iniquity and their guilt with the consequences says the Lord Jesus in John chapter 10 verses 9 and 10 tells us, I am the door. Anyone who enters in through me will be saved, will live. He will come in and he will go out freely and will find pasture. All the apostles also preach salvation through faith in Christ alone. For instance, in Ephesians 2, verses 8-10, Paul declared, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works, lest anyone should boast. So we see and must know that those who live in Jesus Christ are changed people, or as our title declares they are a new creation in Jesus Christ No one can be in Christ without being truly radically changed This transformation is also called reconciliation. We change from being an enemy of God to becoming a friend of God. In Romans 5, verse 10, Paul says, For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, it is much more certain now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved daily, delivered from sin's dominion through his resurrection life. How wonderful when we truly understand this awesome miracle and gift from our God, our Abba Father, that when we live in his Son, the miracle of enlightenment comes to our understanding that Christ, my Savior, truly lives within me. You know that you know that you are being made a new creature in Christ, and you have no desire anymore with that old rotten life, with all of its sinful pleasures that stole your peace and joy and made you miserable. This should truly excite and invigorate your spirit, dear listener. You begin to truly guard your heart in all manner of daily living. And this is telling us that our old fleshly carnal nature is being crucified or being put to death as is told in Romans chapter 6 verse 6 which declares We know that our old unrenewed nature, self, was nailed to the cross with him in order that our body, which is the instrument of sin, might be made ineffective, inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin. And also, John the Beloved tells us in 1 John 3, verse 6, that no one who abides in him, who lives and remains in communion and in obedience to him, deliberately, knowingly, and habitually commits and practices sin. No one who habitually sins has either seen or known him, recognized, perceived, or understood him, or has had experiential acquaintance with him. Whoever abides in him sins not. And that means they will habitually live in him and will willingly obey all of his precepts. However, we are comforted that if we commit a single sin, we have an advocate with the Father and Jesus Christ, our righteous one. in 1 John chapter 2 shows us this comfort of our gracious Father that he gives us. The word declares in verse 1, My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God's law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an advocate who will intercede for us with the Father. It is Jesus Christ, the all-righteous, upright, just, who conforms to the Father's will in every purpose and thought and action. Understand, please, in this new creation the old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new, is a process. Little by little, that our old nature is growing in understanding and change. our desire should now be towards our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. We guard against sin and offense to God and man. Our sin has been done away with by Christ's death on the cross as we have seen in this part two message today. And this is saying that old things are becoming new, being made new in Jesus Christ. as a true believer maintains a close relationship with Jesus their Savior, you know that your soul is being sanctified in Christ. And it is only when we begin to be like Christ that we begin to know Him as He is. He comes to us. He opens our eyes and changes our hearts that we may both see Him and be like Him. What a generous Savior. What a godly, loving Savior we have. And you know it is your responsibility to obey him. Mine too. You know that your king's commandments live within you, and you delight to do his will. Christ lives in me. You love it knowing that the very one who created all things, visible and invisible lives within you. We are here to do his will, and therefore we will gradually understand the truths which he has taught us concerning himself. Dear listener, hang on to what you know and treasure in your knowledge of your beloved, and be assured and have faith that he will increase the precious truths and enlighten the eyes of your heart to see more so that you will truly fall deeply in love with him as you grow and mature in him. It is a process. Hold fast to the one who loves you with a love that will never fail you or disappoint you. He will keep unfolding the wonderful mystery of his living within you. He lives within you and will continue doing his good work in you until he comes to you to take you home if, if, if you remain faithful to him until the very end. Thank you.