Sunday English Service – 24 JUL 22

Transcript

Please turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We’ve been teaching a series on redemption, titled redeemed. And we’ve been looking at what God gave man in the beginning, when He created him, so that we may understand what man lost in the fall and then only you can understand what is redeemed and given back to him in and through redemption, in Christ Jesus. So last week, we talked about what man lost in the fall and what was redeemed back for him. Man lost the righteous status he had with God became unrighteous in his status as well as in his deeds. That’s what Romans chapter 1 and 2 tell us. Then we went to chapter 3, and I showed you how God makes the sinner righteous, the unrighteous righteous. Today, I want to go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and show you once again, how Jesus Christ changes everything in our lives, when Jesus comes into our lives, He changes everything a major change happens in our lives. Now, let me read you first the passage and then we’ll proceed 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 16 to 21, is what we’re going to deal with now. It’s a wonderful passage that describes the gospel, salvation like no other passage, verse 16, 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 are passed away, behold, all things have become new. 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 as committed to us the word of reconciliation, 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, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Now, I told you that Paul is talking about how when Christ comes into our life, certain big changes happen in our life. That’s the thing that he’s trying to say when he says, if any man be in Christ is a new creature, old things are passed away, all things have become new. So he’s indicating some major changes have happened as a result of Christ coming in. The context in which he talks about it is something very important. The Corinthian church was started by Paul, I talked about the whole thing, on Tuesday nights when I taught on the apostle Paul. He went to Corinth and stayed there for a long period of time, and taught there and established this church, in this very commercial city, with all of the problems that come with the being commercial. Then after establishing the church here to move away and go to other places, but then after some time, he writes to the church. And in that first letter, the first epistle to the Corinthians, you’ll see that there were some problems in the church, they were fighting among themselves. It was division, strife bickering going on. And a lot of problems were there. So Paul was writing and correcting them, disciplining them. And so that has gained him some enemies within the church, and they wanted to attack him. Their aim was to undermine and if possible, overthrow the pastoral authority that he had in that congregation. He felt like he was the original pastor of that congregation, he was exercising some authority and discipline, and they wanted to get rid of that.

How to get rid of that they use the age old trick, character assassination. The best way to really pull down a person who’s so strong and people follow him is to assassinate the character of the person. Just call him a fraud. That is a swindler, and so on. So they assassinate this character. That was the weapon of their choice. And in 2 Corinthians this letter from which I read this passage, Paul is defending himself in a way. The words come as a result of his defense of himself, his ministry, and so on, specifically in chapters 4 and 5, he is strongly defending his ministry. Because they were charging him as a spiritual fraud, really. And so Paul was making it clear, by telling them that he himself is a very changed man, that Christ has changed him. Yet he does not take credit for the change. He testifies there in chapters 4 and 5, as he talks about himself and the change that he has undergone, he testifies to the difference that Christ has made in his life. So through those words, we get a glimpse of the difference that Christ makes for those who trust in Him, for all of us. He is talking about himself. But then from there, he launches out the talk about the big changes that come into a person when that person believes in Christ. So 2 Corinthians 5:16 to 21 teaches three ways in which Christ changes everything for those who trust in him or Christ brings major changes in three areas of our lives in three ways. The first thing is, Christ changes our perspective on life, the very way we think about everything. Our thought, life has changed our whole up approach, perspective changes.

Now, as you know, Paul was a Pharisee before he came to Christ. And as a Pharisee, he could not understand Christ, he could not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. He didn’t have the revelation and the light to understand who Jesus was. So he was a man who was totally against Christ. In fact, he had studied in Jerusalem before Jesus started his ministry. So he is not familiar with Jesus. He had gone back to Tarsus, which is his native place. And then Jesus started his ministry here. And it ended with this death and resurrection and so on. After the resurrection of Jesus, there was a great revival going on in Jerusalem, from street to street everywhere, there was Christian congregations gathering people gathering in their homes, praying, believing in Christ, Jews turning to be Christians, believing in Jesus, because the Jesus who was crucified in that town was raised in before them. Just imagine in that same town had to happen, they crucified Him and He was raised from the dead. And everybody knew they were trying to give all kinds of reasons to help people to not believe that but people knew that something has happened. Not only because the apostles witnessed it, but because of the power that was present in the ministry and the life of the apostles, the kind of miracles that they were doing, and so on, attract a lot of people and from street to street, they were gathering, preaching Christ, house to house they have a prayer meetings going on. So the Jews were very annoyed about it. They wanted to bring in a man who can stop this great revival, Christian revival that is taking place.

 So they thought about who to bring and finally decided on the apostle Paul, because he’s a man known for his zeal. I’ve spoken about the zeal of the apostle Paul in my teachings on Paul. He was more zealous than his elders, than the people that were older to him and more experienced in Judaism. He is a man that is so zealous, that he thought that if you have to kill for God, you need to be able to do that. To kill a person is well justified within the framework of his thinking, that was well justified, you can kill because blasphemers ought to be killed. That’s the punishment you need to give. That’s the kind of thinking that this man had. He was almost like a terrorist. So they brought him in, and he took letters from the Jewish authorities hunting down, preachers and churches and gatherings, persecuting Christians, persecuting preachers, and so on. He was behind the killing of Stephen. All this was happening. And in that context, only these were Words can mean something to us. He says in verse 16 to 17. Verse 16 to 17, is where we really see him talk about how his thinking has been changed. Now, regarding so many things, about Jesus about himself about others, he thinks in a totally different way. He’s trying to tell all Christians that a true Christian is one whose thinking has completely changed. I’m sure you can identify with this when we talk about it today. If you’re a Christian, if you’re a true believer, there must be major changes in the way you think about things. Think about yourself, the way you think about others, the way you think about Jesus. Paul starts with his thinking about Jesus and then is thinking about everything else. He says, therefore, from now on, that is, since I’m now saved, since I’m a child of God now, since I have this revelation concerning Christ, I know the gospel from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. In other words, we don’t look at anyone carnally. Just like the world looks, just like everybody looks at each other. We don’t try to understand people and circumstances in an ordinary way.

He says, we don’t regard it no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet, now we know him thus no longer. In other words, he says, in even looking at Christ, I thought about him the way everybody thinks about him, normally. He said he was the Messiah, I thought he’s a fraud. I thought he’s got to be a fraud, how can he be the Messiah? How can this Jesus be the Messiah? How can this be Jesus that was born like this be a Messiah? How can Jesus make such tall claims and he felt that he was a messianic pretender and he made tall claims about him being a Messiah and God, what was coming to him the persecution, the condemnation, and finally the crucifixion of Jesus, he felt was very well justified. The Sanhedrin and the Jewish authorities did the right thing in crucify him because he was going around fraudulently claiming himself as Messiah. So that is why he went about persecuting the church. For him, he looked at the crucifixion of Jesus, the fact that he hung on a cross. And he said, Well, the Bible itself says that he who hangs on a tree is cursed by God, Deuteronomy 21:23. Under Moses, there was a revelation regarding people that are hung on a tree and killed because of some offense that they had committed. If a person is hanged on a tree and killed, he is considered as a cursed person, cursed of God therefore, his body should not be hanging on the tree overnight. Because if it is left to hang on the tree overnight, the curse that was upon that man, the curse of God upon the criminal, would now come upon the entire promised land. So Moses gives this ordinance saying, if you have to hang a person and kill him for something that he has done, he must be a terrible criminal. So don’t let a person hang overnight like that take his body down and bury him before sundown.

And they followed meticulously in the title of Joshua, Joshua kills five kings, when they possess the promised land. At one point, he kills five kings, and they hang them because they were terrible Kings, Canaanite kings. And their bodies are hanging on the tree. But before sundown, they take it and bury it. They’re ordered to take it down and bury them under the earth. In the cave, actually. Then, when Jesus died, we read in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 27, that when the evening had come, that’s how the verse begins. I think 27:52 When the evening had come, Joseph of Arimathea, went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus and took it down and buried the body of Jesus in his grave, when the evening had come, because before the sundown, Jesus body was taken down and buried because he was considered as cursed of God, according to the Jewish belief. He is hanging on a tree, therefore he’s cursed of God. So to Paul, these are evidences that this is a cursed man, that he is not a good man. And it is well justified that he hung on a tree and was killed. That’s the way he thought about it, thought about it in those terms, but then, when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was convinced that Jesus is the Lord, that He is the Messiah. And from that point on, he began to preach Jesus Christ as the Messiah. So he says, no, I’ve changed, my thinking has completely changed. I’m a Christian. And Christian essentially means that your thinking is completely changed. There is a big change in the way you think. I do not think about Jesus in the way that I used to think he was educated man knew theology, understood the Bible very well. But is natural understanding said that Jesus was a fraud. But when he got light on that, when God shed the light on that he began to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and began to preach Christ as the Messiah.

He says, I do not see things as I used to see before. Now, by taking off from that, he says that’s the general thing that happens to every Christian. We regard no one according to the flesh, not only with Christ, that I don’t regard him as I used to regard him, I have now changed my thinking on him. I regard no one according to the flesh, I don’t even think about other people, in terms of the flesh. Now, there are people in the world today, they think only in terms of the flesh, this carnal idea, they only think in terms of the earthly identity, they want to know when they meet a person. They want know what his status is. In our country, particularly. I remember talking to people, some people will always be inquiring, who’s your grandfather? Where are you originally from? And I never understood that. What business does he have to ask me? Maybe they’re curious, I thought, but then I found out they want to know what cost I am. And they’re such decent people, they don’t want to point blank ask. And if they even if they ask, they won’t tell. So they are going round and round, wanting to find out what cost is this person? Should I follow him? Should I be friends with him? Should I have anything to do with this guy? What kind of cost does he belong to? Where is he from which town? Where are you from? Who’s your ancestor? And they can’t sleep until they find the route. They have no peace until they find out where you came from? In Christian churches is like that, it’s amazing. And they’re not satisfied to just with that, then they go on to wanting to find out how much you’re earning? What is your salary? Where are you working? Whether you own your house or not. All of this, they want to know, because they judge people only according to the status, this is a plain thing.

They want to know, do I ought to have anything to do with this guy? Do I want him as a friend? Is he the same status as me? So that I can move with him so that I can feel comfortable with him? Do I reject Him or take him? This is the question they have in their mind. And they have so many categories then, not only cost and income and what assets you have and all of that. They even have categories like education and all those things. They go on and on and on, never satisfied. But Paul says, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, we don’t care what the person’s cost is. We don’t care where he comes from, we don’t care how much he earns, we don’t care what his status is, financially, or otherwise. We don’t care anything about that. We don’t care about, we don’t regard anyone according to the flesh. Christian is a person who’s had a very radical change in his thinking, he does not think in the way the world things in the way that everybody thinks. This is I think one of the first things that we as a church must understand, as Christian people must understand, if you’re still thinking like the world, then I think that is not a being a true Christian. Don’t regard anyone according to the flesh, he says. He’s telling us how not to regard some person not to regard them according to the flesh. Even with Christ, I used to think like that he says, I used to regard him only according to the flesh. I’m sure Paul thought about Jesus and said, we’ll look at how well educated I am. I got a PhD. And this is just a carpenter’s son, what education does he have? How can he claim to teach all these things? How can he bring in this new theology? How can he claim to be the greatest teacher? All of this was going on in his mind, because he was thinking and measuring Jesus according to the flesh.

There is no — we don’t regard one another according to the flesh anymore. That is the spirit of this age, that is measuring people according to the flesh. Then he talks about how we should regard one another. First, he tells us what not to do. Don’t regard one another like this, he says, then how should we regard one another? How should we look at one another, verse 17, goes into that. He says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. One great preacher preaching on this says that this is the biography of every Christian. This is our life story. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, all things have become new. All things have become new. Sometimes I’ve had people come and tell me, so and so is coming to your church, do you know the background, their background? They want me to know what a bad background they come from. As if they don’t belong in here or something like that? I say no, I don’t need to know their background. Because for Christian, we think differently. As far as we are concerned, life starts the moment you come into Christ. That is why it is called a new birth. That is when you start your life. Old things are passed away, all things have become new. Any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. This is the biography of every Christian. What does it mean to be a new creature? What does it mean to say old things have passed away old things have become new means that the old sin has gone, the burden of sinners gone, guilt is gone. The sense of condemnation and alienation from God and the lessness is gone. Wonderful new things now fills my life. New truths really delight me today. I wasn’t that kind of a person before I didn’t delight in the Word of God, I didn’t love the Word of God, it didn’t bring me great joy. How many Christians are there with that we are born Christians, we went to church, but the Word of God did not delight us.

As I was growing up, the general Christian world at the time was like this, that they told us Christians that you’re most likely not going to make it when Christ comes, you’re not going to go with him. Because look at you. Every time we came to church, they were very keen on reminding us all our shortcomings. You like this, you like that. You didn’t pray today,you didn’t read your Bible today. You talked about this, and that, and you did something that’s bad, that’s not acceptable. Therefore, you’ve got all these problems. You cannot, you will not make it if Jesus came today, you will not make it. So those days back when I was growing up, I don’t know who particularly said it to me. But the general trend was like that. So the some total of Christian teaching, and what it told me was that I’m not going to make it. Every time they said there. when Christ comes, will you go with him, I was sure that I’m going to be in the left out crowd. I was very sure about that. And that very, that unsettled me very much. You know this troubling to me very much, many times I would go out to the altar call and give myself to the Lord because I wanted to get that reassurance that everything is all right with me. I didn’t know how to get this right with me. But then when I went to study abroad, something wonderful happened to me. I started attending a church I’ve told about this man, whose church I attended the first three years that I was there. His Church was 30 kilometers 17 miles, in other words, from the college where I was, and it’s in a major city, and I had no way to go there. And his church service starts at 10:30. That’s the service that I started attending. Then I found out that he had a service at seven o’clock, not a service. But in the church basement, he gathered men, and taught just men for three hours every Sunday, 7 to 10 and then 10:30 he preached in the main church, but more than 1000 people came there. Morning 7 to 10 about 70-80 people young and old, of all kinds men came there. He taught men he had a philosophy like this, that when God created man and woman, God never said anything to the woman. Everything he had to say he said it to the man, that he must tell it and keep it, guard it and that he can eat of all the trees, but not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the day that he eats, he will surely die and all of that.

Everything that was to be told, was told only to man, God never spoke to the woman. So he had this philosophy that men must be taught, and men must teach their wives and their families. Men must be like a pastor. He must teach, how would Eve know anything that God said, she had no way of knowing because God never spoke to her and told her anything. God told everything that he had to tell to Adam, the only way she would have known is when Adam told her, so he had this philosophy, you teach men, families will be well, and all the problems will be solved, he thought the men was the problem. So that is why he gathered men taught them for three hours. And, I liked this man’s preaching, I wanted to go to that seven o’clock meeting so as to get ready six o’clock in the morning in our college and get out there and stand in the cold, it’s in the Canadian border, it says in America, but border of Canada near Niagara Falls. And you have to stand there, in the freezing cold. During the winter time, , six months in a year, it would be snowing and so on. And then I had no car, no way to get there. And if somebody is leaving in their cars from the Bible college that early in the morning, it must be to this church, they’ll be leaving around 6:15 6:30.

So I’ll stop the every one of them and ask, are they going there they can they take me and bring me back. So finally one guy decided to take me and bring me back every week. So I used to go there. Seven o’clock we used to be there. Wonderful teaching, amazing teacher, he recently passed away. I did my internship with him for six weeks, where I stayed within his house and got to know him very well. And it was there that I first began to hear things that gave me some assurance. Now it was He who gave these ideas like, because we Indians, we had this idea that only if you’re perfect, you’re going to make it. If you’re perfect, you can take baptism, if you’re perfect, you can take communion. According to this, the guy who gives the communion himself is not qualified. Tell me who’s perfect. But this is the way I heard it ever since I was born and raised. If you’re perfect, even now I hear this. One fella came and told me, I got these things to deal with after I deal with that and get perfect, then I’ll come and take baptism. That’s the right thing. I said, I respect your desire, but you’re never going to make it. You got to take baptism only in heaven. And in heaven, there’s no baptism. You’re not going to achieve perfection here. And I used to miss most of the communion because I was not perfect. And I was told time and again that I was not perfect. I knew I was not perfect. But nobody ever told me the kinds of things that this man told me. He said well you may not be perfect, but the Bible says you are a new creation. What is a new creation? A new creation does that mean that you are no perfect? It means there are some major changes that has happened to you. ‘

And the first change that has happened to you is you are different in your thinking. You’re different in your thinking. He said the very fact that you get a five o’clock in the morning, get ready and go out there and stand in the cold and catch a ride and come to church here tells me that you are a changed person. Who will get up there early in the morning, who will come to church seven o’clock in the morning, who will sit through three hours of talk, some of these guys won’t sit through a movie for three hours, they want short movies, not more than one and a half hours or one hour 45 minutes they can take it. How can you sit through a preaching of three hours, three hours he preached straight and we sat there he said these very things that you are inclined to do that you want to do that you long to do you desire to do, these are things that you go after. That is an indication that you have become a new person. You are not the old person that you are the old person that you are you will be sleeping in your bed today. Not be here. The very fact that you’re coming every time and getting into church delights you the Word of God delights you, you’re drawn to this, you desire it more than anything else, as the deer pants for water, you panty after the things of God, that very fact tells me that you are a new creation. That’s what a new creation is. I slowly began to lift up my head, I began to realize, oh, yeah, something is happening inside of me. Because I like to sleep in the morning too. And in the cold, the bed seems the best place to be, with a good quilter, don’t want to get out of it, you feel like the Holy Spirit is telling you stay on brother. Sleep on.

But in that cold, I’ll get out there, and I’ll find a ride. I don’t even have the money to go there. I don’t have the right to go there. But I’ll find the ride, catch a ride and go there. And I began to think about it. Yeah, something has gone different inside of me, I become a different person. My thinking is different. My priorities have changed. I now love the gospel, I now love the Word of God, I now love the teaching of God’s word, I’m ready to go 30 kilometers, to go find a man to preach the Word of God for three hours and sit down and listen, and after half an hour break, go upstairs and participate in that worship. That’s where I learned those songs. Like, that’s a feeling in the air, and I will arise and so on. Those songs that I love to sing, I learned from that man, powerful singer, and their excellent musicians. And worship was, you felt like you’re going to take off. That’s how these guys played and sang. Amazing It was, for me at that time being new there. I felt so amazed at these things. And I learned a lot from him. But above everything I learned what a new creation is, he talked a lot about the new creation idea. He said, yeah, that indicates that you are a new creation, that you are a new person. You have new kinds of friends now. Not the old kind of friends that wasted your time in this and that. But you have new kinds of friends that want to attend to the things of God, that’s an indication that something new has happened in your life.

And not only that you love church. You also love the gospel, the fact that the gospel is going everywhere where people are not reached. And when you hear about somebody going and preaching to the people that have never been told, you’re happy, there is a joy in you, there is a gladness in you. And you want to pray for those people and you want to uphold those people and you love that very idea of taking the gospel to a place where the gospel has not been preached. That is an indication that you are a changed person to people in the world. These things don’t matter. The biggest thing they want to know is where you can get the best biryani in town. They don’t care about whether the gospel went to such and such place. They don’t care about any of these things. They don’t care about whether God is glorified, whether they don’t care about reading the Bible, meditating on the Bible, learning the truth and understanding that, they don’t care about all that, they’ve got other priorities. That’s the old man. You can see that you are a new creation because you have new inclinations. You have new desires, new friends, new longings, that is what makes you a new creation, any man be in Christ is a new creation. Are you a new creation today? I’m not asking you if you’re perfect. No, I’m saying, do you see these changes in your life? Is there a desire for God a love for God’s love for God’s word, love to worship God? Is that a love for the things of God? Is that a love for the gospel? That’s the name of Jesus when we sang Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there’s something wonderful in that name. Our heart is thrilled as we sing. Is there a thrill in your heart as you sing the name of Jesus? And as you mention the name of Jesus on your lips, do you feel a thrill, do you feel a joy?

That’s a new creation because out there in the world, nobody is feeling that. The only time they mentioned Jesus is to curse. And you mention Jesus is only to praise and to worship. You’re a new creation. Everybody say I’m a new creation, a brand new man, all things are passed away. All things have become new. The new man be in Christ, the in Christ is very important. Because in Christ means in Christ speaks of our security in him, or securities in him, because he is the one who has delivered us from the judgment of God that is to come. Our acceptance is also is in him because God will accept him, he’s pleased with him, and it’s only through him I find acceptance. My future is in him. Because he’s the resurrection and the life. My inheritance is through him. God gave everything to Adam. And Adam lost it, he turned it over to the devil. Now, Jesus came redeemed everything, got it back. Now he didn’t give it to another man, he gave it to this man whom God Himself had sent. Man, who’s God, Jesus, the God man, he gave it to him so that is not just an ordinary man, that he will lose it tomorrow, that he won’t be a second Adam to lose it, he will be the second Adam will never make a mistake, never lose it. He is impeccable and without sin. So in Christ is very important. But then when Paul says, makes a statement like this, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature, old things are passed away, old things have become new, you cannot take it lightly. Because Paul is a man that is so thorough with the Old Testament, so many things are running through his mind. That is the thing that causes him to say there is a reason why, he is saying if any man be in Christ is a new creature, old things are passed away all things have become new. There’s something going on in his mind, and I can find out what’s going on in his mind.

Because couple of chapters before chapter 5, in chapter 3, in verse 6, he’s talking about the New Covenant, the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Have you ever noticed that? He says, also made us sufficient as ministers, the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, the Old Covenant was of the letter, but the new covenant is of the Spirit, he says. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. So he’s got this idea of the Old Covenant versus the New Covenant. And in Jeremiah, in chapter 31, verse 31 onwards, you read the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the new covenant that is going to come. And he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. Paul is very familiar with all these things. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was husband to them, says the Lord. He says, not that covenant, that Old Covenant, they broke that covenant, he says. But this is the current, this covenant is a new covenant that I will make for the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, what will the new covenant do? I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. The old covenant, God wrote his 10 commandments, on a stone with his own fingers and gave it to Moses. They had it they were very proud of that. Because to know people who had God given anything like this hand written laws of God, on a stone, never to be erased, kept forever. The Word of God on stone. God Himself gave it which people can claim such great things. They were proud that they got the word of God. But the problem is, they got the word of God, but they could never do it.

They got the 10 commandments, but they all failed. Nobody could keep the 10 commandments, because they got the letter printed on the stone, but the heart was not willing. That stone had the right words, the word of God is good. The commandments of God are great. But the heart is rotten. The heart is a sinful heart. So even though the commandment of God is good, the heart is not willing to accept it, receive it, believe it, appropriate it and practice it. So what is in the stone letters in the stone could not come into the heart, it could not turn to a belief and faith and practice. It could not.

That was the disadvantage of the Old Covenant. That is why God says I’ll bring a new covenant, where I will put the law in their minds and write it in their hearts. I’ll be their God and they shall be my people. So people were looking for the New Covenant to come, because that’s the problem. They could not keep the laws of God, every time they failed, no one had kept it. Everyone failed. So they thought, well, we have the laws of God, but we cannot keep it. What’s the use? Said wait New Covenant is coming. In that New Covenant, I’m going to write it in your heart, the heart is going to be a different kind. I’m going to give you a different kind of heart, a heart that is willing to believe and take it, and practice it. Then No more shall every man teaches neighbor, every man his brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. The second problem with the old covenant was that everybody didn’t know they didn’t have a revelation couldn’t understand some great prophet, anointed by God, and had this understanding had to get up and teach them saying, know the Lord. I’m telling you know the Lord, hear me. That is why in the Old Testament says, Believe the prophets and so shall you prosper. The Prophet spoke the word of God and explained the Word of God, people believed. But under the New Covenant, it’s not like that. Under the new covenant, God says, no one will have to teach you, every man will know every man is like a prophet. You and I, everyone can know. We can read, we can understand. Why? Because the Spirit of God gives the revelation of God’s word we can know and we can understand what the Word of God is saying.

Then thirdly, I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more. These three ways the New Covenant is going to be an extraordinary covenant that achieves things that the Old Covenant could never achieve. So that now with the new covenant that’s going to come, Jeremiah says, there is going to be a new obedience, because law is going to be written in their hearts, there is going to be a new relationship with God, because God will be their God, they will be his people, there’ll be a new knowledge because everyone can know Him. And there will be new forgiveness, because God would remember their sins, no more. Paul is thinking about this, as a Jewish man, as a Pharisee, as a trained Pharisee, trained in theology. He knows this was the expectation, that coming new obedience, new relationship, new knowledge, new forgiveness, these were all their expectations, and these have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. That is why he says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away all things that become new. In other words, he says, we’ve been talking about the new thing that’s coming. That’s going to make possible the things the old covenant couldn’t make it possible. And it has come now. It is in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature, because he’s coming to the new the old is over, he says.

Secondly, he’s got another thing in mind. In Isaiah chapter 43. There’s another prophecy that was always playing in the minds of the Jewish people. Isaiah 43 verse 18 and 19. We sing it as a song here in our church back in the old days, we used to sing. Remember, not the former things, not consider the things of old, Behold, I will do a new thing, even now it should spring forth. And Rivers and rivers shall flow in the desert. I don’t know if you heard me sing that song. I love that song. Exactly what 18 and 19 verse saying in Isaiah 43. Isaiah prophesied to them said don’t remember the former things. That means don’t remember. Forget the old because the old is going to go away. Don’t remember the former things. Do not remember the things of old. I’m going to do something new and all the Jewish people were expecting when is this new thing going to happen? What is the new thing that’s going to happen? It’s going to come forth quickly. Very soon they were told, what is the new thing? I’ll make a road in the wilderness, even rivers shall flow in the desert. In other words, just imagine you being in a desert where there’s no water you don’t. Within sight, there is no water. Desert is the most depressing sight. But all of a sudden rivers are running. In the wilderness, there is no way but God makes a way. This is what salvation is. There is no way for man to come to God, there is no way for men to be blessed. There is no way for a sinner to be blessed, but God makes a way where there is no way and rivers shall flow in the desert. Here’s another prophecy.

All the Jewish people are expecting in the wilderness; God is going to make a way. Rivers are going to run in the desert. When is that coming? Paul says, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. Old things are passed away,old things have become new. The old is gone, we’ve come away from the old now we are in the new, we’re living in the days when God has made a way through Jesus Christ, and rivers are flowing in the desert, we are living in the days when the laws was written in our hearts. God has become our God. He doesn’t remember our sins anymore. And every man can know the Lord. So when Paul says, when a man be in Christ is a new creature, old things are passed away, old things have become new. He is not simply just saying something, he’s got these things running through his mind. He is thinking about the Old Covenant, thinking about the new thing that’s going to come the expectation of every Jew, and he sees Christ as the fulfillment of all those things that he was expecting. That is why he was ready to preach Christ. That’s why he immediately started preaching Christ as Lord and Savior. Another thing is, he says, not just creation, but a new creation. Everything that is new has to become old. Anything you buy new, doesn’t stay new forever. It soon becomes old. But this one always stays new. New Creation is like that. It always stays new. It is everlastingly new. The eternally new has come. The law written in our hearts, the knowledge of God, that God will be our God will be his people. We shall know the Lord, this is a new that’ll never wear out. It will always stay with us. The new where there is way made in the wilderness rivers running in the desert, that’s a new that will always stay there, it will always remain new.

Now, secondly, our relationship with God undergoes a major change. The first thing is our thinking undergoes a major change, we think of everything differently. Now we think the only way we look at people and think is new creation, he is a new creation. This has helped me over many years in ministry, because I’ve seen people come in here and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. They’ve got so many things going on in their lives, in many ways, you will find them imperfect, but I’ve always encouraged them, I’ve always seen them as new creation, that something is happening in them, I believed that God is working, that God is bringing a change, that God will do it. And God has done it, if you just keep beating them saying you’re no good, you took baptism, but look at you, that’s not the right approach. Because you’re not even believing that they are new creature, you have to start with a place of new creature when I first started here, preaching here, that’s one of the truth that I first preached here, the new creation, what the new creation is all about. So radically different thinking, I’m a new creation. Yeah, with all my faults with all my shortcomings, I’m a new creation, I’m a new person. I’ve every indication of that. And it is God was begun a good work and even completed, he will do it. The beginning signs are there, and he will end up beautifully.

Secondly, there’s a major change in our relationship with God that is indicated in 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse 18, and 19. Now all things that have gone. Notice that. All things are of God, which all things, the things that he was saying now, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away,old things have become new. This all happened because God accomplished it, he says, all things that have God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and, he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not including the trespasses to them, and as committed to us the word of reconciliation.

In other words, God has done everything to bring men back to Himself. God has wanted reconciliation always. When man got separated from God due to sin. From that moment, God always intended to bring man back to himself. That’s not a very ordinary thing. Sin is not a very ordinary thing first of all. Now, people think sinners — one fella told me, when Adam and Eve they committed a small mistake, brother. God said, don’t eat this fruit, and they ate it. Small mistake God could have forgiven and taken them in. Why didn’t God forgive. It’s not a small mistake, you see. If you understand it like that, then you haven’t understood the biblical teaching on sin. Sin is sometimes called transgression means the same thing sin but transgression is a wonderful word that it tells us how bad sin is. How horrible sin this that’s why they weren’t used the other word transgression many times, sin is transgression. And transgression tells us something about sin, the nature of sin. God told Adam and Eve, God told Adam, you should eat of all the trees, but not of this tree, the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, the day that you eat it, you will surely die naturally in the Hebrew language, it says you will die, die. Why he says die? I mean, that’s like saying, listen, you will die, die. If you can’t make anything very clear to such a person.Tells it very clearly yet, man sins. That tells me something about sim. Have you ever seen children, sometimes you tell them, listen, I’m telling you, if you ever do this, I’m going to whip you, you’re going to get it good. Don’t do this, I don’t want you to do this. I don’t want to ever see you doing this. And you know what happens? The child always decides, well, I’m going to do it, let’s see what he does.

Just because you’re so stuck up on that issue, he wants to provoke you want to give you. I want to give you an incident, but don’t try it out. When we were little boys, we used to walk through this process for the same roads, going home, used to come in a group as little boys and there was a house that was there. And outside, there was a calling bill. There used to be an old man sitting there grumpy old man in always shouting and screaming and then one guy, accidentally little boy just wanted to press it. And he just yelled like anything and, came to catch us and all that. So what we did after that was, when we come there, we’ll be ready with a matchstick, and press the bell and stick the matchstick over there. And the guy won’t be there sometimes, then we will be inside and this thing will ring so loud. And he will come out and we’ll go to the end of the street and stand there and watch him shouting, just wanted to provoke him and see what you’ll see if he catches us, he will say horrible things. And we want to see if he can do it, provoke him every day, every day on our way back. That’s a foolish way of thinking about things. And sin is like that, that sinful nature is in every person you see, you want to do something just to provoke that person. You know, if he catches, he’s going to wring your neck. But you’re dead man, that you’re dead, but you still want to do it because there is something very attractive about that. That’s what transgression is when God saw definitely said, Don’t do it. If you do it, you will die, die. That’s the way he put it. You can’t put it any better. Man says let’s see if I die.

Let’s see if that happens. I want to try it. I want to show you it won’t happen. And the devil comes and says exactly that. He says, you eat it you will not die. You surely will not die the devil says, just see what kind of provocation he comes up with. God said you will die, die the devil says you will surely not die. Eat it. That’s the nature of sin. It’s a transgression. It is crossing the boundary line, it is daring. God telling him let’s see how you do it. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see what you said happens. That’s the thing sin is. So it’s a horrible thing. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s not just a mistake. It’s a deliberate crossing of the bar line. Deliberate transgression, where you disobey, rebel. It’s a rebellion. It’s a revolt. It’s like a war. That you start with God. That’s what sin is. It’s not an ordinary thing. And for such a person, God wants to reconcile. God wants to bring him back. That’s why he’s to give you all this explanation, to show you what the love of God is like, we have sinned like that a terrible sin, and God wants to reconcile. In the old days, sometimes, we tried to explain to our little ones these days a lot of explanation they need nowadays, because they have not seen our old phones, landlines, that you pick up the phone and you yell, and people in the next street can hear you. And you try for one call half a day, then you finally get through, and then you can’t even clearly speak. And one of the pleasures that you have in those days in the phone is when you don’t like someone and they’re talking all nonsense to you, you can hang up the phone, hang it up in such a way that he feels like he got slapped in his face, and you take pleasure. Kids these days don’t know how to do it. I thought, but they’ve got their own way. Nowadays, they hang up different way. They’ve got multiple ways to do it. They block you. They unfriend you. They hide. There are so many ways.

Now all of a sudden, you see that you’re unfriended? You’re blocked. Sometimes you don’t even know you’re blocked. They can insult you like give it back to you again. What I’m saying is if God had to pay us back for the kind of rebellion and revolt that because in sinning, daring God, saying to him, let’s see if you can kill us. Let’s see if we die or not. We believe the devil he says you surely won’t die. That’s exactly what sin is, I’m going to do what the devil says rather than what you said. Let’s see what you said happens or not. And God could have hung up on us. God could have unfriended us. God could have gone hiding, never hear our prayer, never hear our cry, God could have completely blocked us. So the world itself would have become hell if he did that. But this God of mercy not only does he keeps the line open and picks up as soon as it rings, he comes searching for us, Jesus that I came to seek and save that which was lost. And this reconciliation, the Bible is talking about that Paul is talking about here is all by God. All these things are from God. That’s a very interesting thing. All these things are from God. And today, the greatest need of mankind is that the consolation that God offers. God offers man, the greatest thing, it’s not very difficult to get God himself is coming with that offer. It’s not that we’re going in begging God, please save us from the mess that we are in. No, he’s coming and saying, Don’t get into the mess, please come, come into my phone come to me. And I will give you rest all either a burden or not heavy laden, come unto me and I will give you rest, he says.

We’re not going and begging him. He’s coming up to a seeking and searching for that which is last. Reconciliation is the greatest need of mankind. Today, I don’t know if churches and people Christian people recognize that today. We think our problem is this and that, some people think, you know if our problem was political God would have sent a politician. If our problem was financial, God would have sent a economist as many of them. If our problem was the fact that that we don’t have enough education that we are dumb. He could have sent an educationist to educate us so that we can become smart and good. If our problem was self-esteem, that we lacked self-esteem, God could have sent the therapist and treated us, fixed our minds. Because our problem is sin He sent a savior. The very fact that Jesus Christ was sent this telling us that what mankind needs today is a savior, because the problem of mankind is sin. And how are we saved? We are saved through the work of Christ on the cross. How? This verse tells us, it says in verse 19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. How did you reconcile the world to Himself? How did he bring people to Himself, the sinners back to Himself? Not imputing their trespasses to them. Not putting their sins to their account.

There are two things happening here in salvation of mankind, not only did God not put man’s sin to his account, God put God’s righteousness to his account. Two things, double imputation, two things happen here, then put a sin on his account, removed sin from his account, put righteousness in his account. That’s what God did. That is why the psalmist again, we come back to David, one of the most beautiful Psalms, Psalm 32, verse 1 and 2 nowadays, in Friday night prayer service. I’m dealing with the Psalms, amazing study of Psalms and how to pray. Psalm 32, verse 1 and 2, the David says, remember after his sin with Bathsheba and killed her husband, this terrible sins it committed for which there is no remedy, the Jewish law, if you killed someone, you get killed, that’s the answer. There is no way you can make atonement for it. He goes to God and says, purge me with hyssop, I shall be made clean, wash me and I will be made white as snow, he says. How can he believe there is any remedy because under the Law of Moses, it is clearly said there’s no remedy for that. If you take a man’s life, you give your life. How can you go and say purge me with hyssop and I’ll be made clean? How can you believe that not only believed it, he was made clean. He went home having peace that he was made clean? How do I know?

Look at Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2, where he says Blessed said is the one who’s transgression is forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one who sin, the Lord does not count against him. That is reconciliation. That’s how God reconciles. He does not count their sins against him. All right. Not only that, thirdly, price changes our allegiance to the world, our relationship with the world is changed in a major way. We’re in this world, but we are not of this world. I heard one preacher talk about this and said, he saw a parade going it seems and boys marching boys and girls marching in that parade. Everybody’s marching so perfectly their trestle, well trained to go over the music. And all of a sudden, he notice there’s one boy that’s marching out of beat off beat. And he’s not doing what everybody else is doing is putting the wrong steps. And he was wondering how that boy was ever taken into the group. It didn’t seem to have a sense of rhythm. And he was looking at him and then he found this a wire going around his years into his collar. And he found out that guy had an ear plug in his years, he is marching to a different drummer, he’s hearing some other music and he’s marching to it. That is exactly what Christians are. We are in this world. We look like we are in the parade but our drummer is someone different. We are hearing some other voice,we are marching to that. That is what we are in this world. And verse 20 says, we are ambassadors for Christ. What are we in this world? We are ambassadors for Christ. Why does Paul use that word ambassador? Ambassador is the official representative of one country, sent to another country. He is a person of great authority speaks on behalf of that country from which he was sent on behalf of the king on behalf of that constitution. He is the voice of the country from where he was sent. So he needs to know the King well, he is to be very familiar with the laws of the country from where he comes from where he is sent. And he has to have a great love for the country from which he sent us an ambassador, only then can he be an ambassador.

Not only that Paul uses this board analogy, to describe his ministry to indicate something here, you know what, mainly, that when he speaks and brings this message of reconciliation, calling people to God, he is not speaking of his own. He is speaking the very words of God. When Paul spoke, God spoke. That’s why he calls himself as an ambassador, he calls every one of the believers as ambassadors in this world for God, that when we speak the gospel, when we present the gospel, it’s like God is speaking the gospel. And how does he speak? How does he reach the people through us? He is using us? He speaks through us, how? The Bible says, is pleading it seems God is pleading the God of heaven. The Almighty God is pleading with people. That’s the way he does it. We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. That’s the way God is because that’s the way the gospel is preached. Pleading people, telling them not to be destroyed, but turn and put their faith in Jesus and be saved. And how did they get saved? Verse 21, the last verse for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that he might become the righteousness of God in Him. In other words, Jesus was sinless, he was impeccable, but God put our sins on him. That’s why Isaiah says he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquity, he was not suffering there because of what he has done. He is suffering there because of what he had done. This is what Paul began to understand. He thought he was suffering that because of what he had done, and he deserved it, he thought.

But when light was shed on that he began to understand now that he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquity. In other words, Christ stood before the Father, with the filthy rugs of our sin, my sin and your sin, so that you and I can stand before God with a robe of righteousness, clothed with a robe of righteousness. That’s exactly what happened on the cross of Calvary. God treated Jesus as if he had committed all our sins. And he allowed him to die on the cross, so that he may treat us as if we have performed all the righteousness of Christ. All that Jesus wants in His goodness in his righteousness, was put into our account so that God looks at us as wonderful, righteous, good people. Amazing. One guy, he says, no mortal tongue will ever be able to thank God sufficiently for such boundless grace. No human tongue can thank God sufficiently for such an amazing grace, he says. Well, I can see that but I think we should still try. We should still try to thank Him and worship Him. And I say when I learned truths like this, when I understand this, when I understand the grace of God, in reaching out to us, I want to thank God more and more love God more and more, serve God more and more. And I want to reach out to God more and more, and belong to Him more and more, thank him more and more worship will flow from our heart. When we believe truths like this, let’s all stand up together.

Sin ruined everything. It started in man’s heart and destroyed his thought life is thinking is the emotions his body, his family, the work of his hands, curse came in every area. Then finally into the creation, it came, even the creation was affected. Starting in the heart of man, sin worked its way through everywhere. Salvation works the same way it starts in the heart of man. Here God starts, then the redemption of our body happens redemption of our emotions happened redemption of our thought life happens redemption of our world, our creation also happens. Starting from our heart, it reaches everything else. And it has begun. You are a new creation. You are a brand new person, old things are passed away old things have become new. Let that cause you to rejoice today. Think about that. When you go from this place today, keep saying I’m a new man. I’m a new creation. Old things have passed away, old things have become new. I belong to God, I have a new way of thinking I have a new life, new relationship with God. I have a new kind of relationship with this world. Everything has changed. I’m a new creation of a brand new man.