A New Creation, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In his article in Christianity Today, Russell Moore says, Jesus doesn't want to be in your life. Your life is a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life, and his life isn't boring or purposeless.

It's wild and exhilarating and unpredictable. When we come to Christ, he doesn't just polish up what is already there. He makes us a new creation. The old is passed away. We become dead to self and alive to Christ. Listen as Pastor Rich shares what it looks like to be made new in Christ.

From 2 Corinthians 5, 12-17. Most notorious criminals. Once the ideal of prison architecture, the facility fell into disrepair and was condemned in 1973. Seventeen years and 150 million dollars later, the Charles Street Jail is now the Liberty Hotel. Which boasts luxury accommodations that cost up to and above $5,000 per night. Just so you know, Dwight and I did not go there.

Former inmate Bill Baird visited the hotel on the 40th anniversary of his arrest. I'm not sure how much he celebrates that, but it was anyway. It was so horrible and turn it into something of tremendous beauty. I don't know. I have news for you this morning. The Bible doesn't tell us that we as Christians are just renovated. We are more than that. We are new creation.

And you know what? God is in the business of taking something in a horrible condition and making it brand new. If you are in Christ, if you are a new creation, what that means is that within you exists a principle of life that did not exist before. Christian, you need to know that. This is why when we speak of coming to faith in Christ, it's not just a decision I've made. We speak of it in terms of conversion. You are in one state and now you are in another.

We read it earlier. He takes you from the domain of darkness and transfers you into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And because that state of newness is now in you, then God launches a process of transformation. That's the glory of the Gospel. The eliminating Word of God with the regenerating Spirit of God transforms the redeemed people of God based on the reconciling Son of God pointing to the righteous goodness of God and overcomes the distracting enemy of God. That is the glory of the Gospel. We see that reflected, for example, in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 22 to 24. This is what Christians are called to, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts.

That's the condition we were born in. But as we come to faith in Christ, He makes us new creations. Therefore, be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

Not renovated, created. Know that. Stephen Baldwin is one of the famous Baldwin brothers of a family of Hollywood actors, probably familiar with that name. Referring to his faith in Christ, Stephen said, and I quote, I've never been as excited or happy about where I am in my life.

There's no one I know in Hollywood who can say that. Stephen's wife came to Christ in the year 2000 and she came to him and announced, Stephen, I'm going to be serving Jesus now. Baffled at her conversion, Stephen thought, who is this Jesus dude showing up around here anyway? And then the events of September 11 happened in 2001 and there was a pivotal change in his mind. It's what we call repentance. And as he realized that the impossible was now possible, Stephen described it, it made me say that the Bible is true and that Jesus could come back tomorrow.

It's a wake up call. And how has his life changed? Stephen's work as an actor has largely dried up. He won't work in a film that includes adultery, violence or profanity.

Well, that just kind of wipes Hollywood right off the map, doesn't it? Stephen spends his available time presenting the gospel and he directs and hosts a DVD project aimed at reaching young people through extreme sports. As for his marriage, Stephen says he and his wife are now as one.

Stephen truly is a new creation. The Apostle Paul says something very, very similar to that in 1 Corinthians where he lists a list of categories of sin that characterize and define people's lives. Sexual sins, greedy sins, violent sins. And then he says this, and he's writing to the Corinthian believers, 1 Corinthians 6 and 11, And such were some of you, but you are washed, you are set apart, you are justified.

What does that mean? You are made right before a holy God in Christ. It doesn't mean that now all of a sudden they are perfect people who live perfect lives. But it does mean that there is something new inside of them and that they are different than they were before. Different in what sense?

Well, let's consider six of them this morning that we get from this text. New creation, how? First of all, in status. That is the difference of one who is in Christ.

These two words are so important. In Christ. What does in Christ mean? It is a status. It is your element as water is the element for a fish. Christ is your element.

How does that happen? When you surrender yourself in faith to Jesus Christ, he gives you his righteousness. And because you have his righteousness, not your own, you have his righteousness, you are then reconciled to a holy God. And once you are reconciled to a God, you are accepted and secure.

Done. You are in Christ. That is what it means to be in Christ. And when a holy God looks at the believer, he sees the righteousness of Christ. Do you realize how comforting and liberating that is for me to know a sinner saved by grace?

I thought I might get some amens there, but particularly for my family. But when God looks at me, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is what it means to be in Christ. And if you are not in Christ, then when God looks at you, he sees your rebellion and your sin. And that's why we are constantly inviting you to come to Christ, so that when the holy God looks at you, he will see the righteousness of his son.

This is the glory of the Gospel. In Christ, in Christ who died for all. We thus judge that if one that died for all, then all died.

What does that mean? Death does not mean annihilation or ceasing to exist. Or death does not mean being just simply a lifeless entity like a rock or something. Yes, people are still alive and they're rational and volitional and emotive beings. But what does death mean? Death means separated. Christ died for all.

And that word for means on our behalf. This is when Jesus, celebrating the Passover with his disciples, took the bread and broke it. This is my body, which is broken for you.

For you. And then he took the cup and he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. When he says in my blood, what is he referring to? His forfeited life. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.