All Things New

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. Because we found out if we want to learn how to face the future, we're going to have to look to the past. If we want to know what God is going to do and wants to do, we need to look back and see what God has done when his people trusted him so long ago. So we're studying the book of Acts, finding out what our Lord did in that early church under the heading that old time religion. Now in just a moment, we'll read together the scripture, but it's a long chapter.

I want to just give you the title of the message and a setting for the scripture, and then we'll read the scripture. I want to speak to you today on this subject, all things new. For the Bible says, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Nature forms us. Sin deforms us.

Schools inform us. Prisons reform us. But only Christ transforms us. In Christ, we become new.

A Christian is not just somebody who has become nice. He's become new. He doesn't just turn over a new leaf. He receives a new life. Now a Christian is not like a tadpole that has become a frog. He's gone through a series of changes, but basically he's the same creature. No, a Christian is more like a frog who has received the kiss of grace and become a prince.

That's what we are. We are changed radically and dramatically. I heard of a lady who was coming out of a beauty shop and she saw a lady there at the door and she said, oh, Mary Jones. Mary, what a joy to see you. Mary, it's been years since I've seen you. Mary, you look so different. Why, you've slimmed down. You've lost weight. You've fixed your hair different. You've made your face different.

Oh, you even look taller than you used to look. Well, she said, I'm not Mary Jones. Oh, she said, you even changed your name. The apostle Paul got saved, so saved he even changed his name. His early name was Saul. And now he becomes Paul, the greatest missionary, the greatest preacher, the greatest evangelist I believe the world has ever known. And he was changed by the grace of God and what God did for him, God wants to do for you if he hasn't already done it.

And I want to tell you how God can give you a brand new life. Now again, before I read the scripture, let me give you the background. Paul was a scintillatingly brilliant, well-trained young Pharisee. He had deep passionate emotions. He had rigid standards.

He had his philosophy of life all worked out. He had a bitter hatred against Christ and the church. He was persecuting the church.

He had official sanction to do it. He had letters from the high priest to arrest Christians, put them in bondage. Many of them were put in prison and some of them were being killed for their faith. And the apostle Paul was persecuting and making havoc of the church.

He's on the road to Damascus. It is high noon and suddenly there is a blazing light at high noon. The apostle Paul said it was brighter than the noon day sun. Now if you burn a candle when the sun comes up, the candle looks dim. But the noon day sun was blazing and it looked dim in the light that shone around about the apostle Paul. It was so bright it blinded him. He fell from his horse and the Lord Jesus spoke to him and said, And said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

It's hard for you to kick against the pricks. And Saul said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus that you're persecuting. He said, What would you have me to do, Lord? He said, You go to a place in the city of Damascus, to a certain house on a street called Street, and I'll send somebody there to tell you what you should do. And Saul goes off to this place and waits. And now the Lord finds a man named Ananias and the Lord comes to this disciple and says, Ananias, I have a job for you to do.

I want you to go to the house of Simon. I want you to find a man named Saul and I have a message I want you to deliver to him. Ananias may have said something like this, Lord, there's another man named Saul. He's the one who's persecuting the Christians.

It's interesting to have the same name. There's not another man, Ananias, it's the same man. Well, who's going with me?

No one. You're going by yourself. Now every word that he said came from his heart because his heart was in his throat about that time. He said, well, all right, Lord, if you want me to go, I will go and deliver your message to this man. And that's the background for the passage of scripture here that I'm going to read to you in a moment.

And in this passage of scripture, you're going to find five marks of a man made new. All right, let's begin reading here in Acts chapter 9 verse 17. And Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem? And came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priest. But Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

All right, let's think of them. The five marks of a man made new. Mark number one, Saul had a new Lord. Looking at verse 17, Ananias went his way and entering into the house and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me.

The Lord, even Jesus. Remember when Saul first met the Lord Jesus? He asked the two greatest questions that anybody in this world could ever ask. Who art thou, Lord? And Lord, what would you have me to do? Somebody said the apostle Paul spent the rest of his life finding the answer to those two questions. Who art thou, Lord? And Lord, what would you have me to do? What wonderful questions.

I would to God that everyone could ask and have those questions answered in the whole wide world. Who is Jesus and what does Jesus want us to do? Now the apostle Paul didn't ask, Lord, what do you want others to do? And he didn't ask, Lord, what do others want me to do? But Lord, what would you have me to do? Now the fact of the matter is that Jesus had become his Lord.

Now, friend, the mark of a man made new is that he's under new management. He has a brand new Lord. There's some silly preaching and teaching going on around in the world today where people say something like this. Now that you have accepted Christ as your Savior, why not make him your Lord? Hey, friend, if he is not your Lord, he is not your Savior, okay?

I want you to understand this. Don't get the idea that salvation is like a cafeteria line where you say, I believe I'll have some salvation today but no lordship, thank you. Now the Bible doesn't put the emphasis upon receiving Christ as Savior. The Bible puts the emphasis upon making Jesus Lord. And when you make Jesus Christ Lord, he is therefore your Savior.

Now, I'm not saying that he doesn't save. Indeed, he does save, but in the Bible, while the Bible mentions him as Savior 24 times, it mentions him as Lord 433 times. When they spoke of the Lord Jesus, they called him the Lord Jesus. Nobody is saved who has not made Jesus Lord. Listen, friend, you cannot have what he gives salvation unless you receive what he is, and that is Lord, okay? The Bible says in Romans 10, verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and it literally says in the Greek language that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, is he the Lord of your life?

If he is, dear friend, then you have a right to believe that he is the Savior of your life. You cannot have what he gives unless you receive what he is. Someone wrote these words. Ye call me Master, and obey me not. Ye call me Light, and see me not. Ye call me Way, and walk me not.

Ye call me Life, and desire me not. Ye call me Wise, and follow me not. Ye call me Fair, and love me not.

Ye call me Rich, and ask me not. Ye call me Eternal, and seek me not. Ye call me Gracious, and trust me not. Ye call me Noble, and serve me not. Ye call me Mighty, and honor me not. Ye call me Just, and fear me not.

If I condemn you, blame me not. Is he your Lord? Is he your Lord, Lord of every thought and action? Lord to send, and Lord to stay. Lord in speaking, writing, giving. Lord in all things to obey. Is he Lord? The apostle Paul said on that Damascus road, what would you have me to do, Lord?

He's under new management, one of the marks of a life made new, a new Lord. Second mark, Paul had a new light. Look again, if you will, in verse 17. And Ananias went his way, and entering into the house, and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, has sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight. Now notice, again in verse 18, and immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales.

He was able to see. You see, the Lord is my light, and my salvation, the psalmist said. When you receive the Lord, you receive with the Lord a new light. You're able to see things that you've never seen before.

Now this was in the physical realm. Saul was literally blinded, and he was literally healed, supernaturally healed of blindness. But the Lord puts it here to give an illustration and an emphasis to the greater fact that Jesus is the light of the world, and except a man be born again, he cannot see. That's what Jesus told Nicodemus. Except a man be born again, he cannot see. Don't scold a blind man for not seeing. You'll never argue anybody into being a Christian.

There needs to be a miracle. When a person comes to our Lord in surrender, God just brings the scales from his eyes, and he sees things that he never saw before. He understands things that he could not possibly understand apart from the Lord. Now Saul was brilliant.

I mean he was stunningly brilliant. He had the equivalency of a double PhD. He had a facility in many languages. He had saturated himself in the scriptures, but he didn't know Jesus. And then when the scales fell from his eyes, he saw in the Bible things he'd never seen.

Why, he went into Arabia, he put the Old Testament in his knapsack and went into the desert, and when he came out of the desert, he had Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians and Romans in his heart. He looked into that Old Testament, and in the tabernacle he saw Jesus. In the Levitical offerings he saw Jesus. In the ceremonies he saw Jesus. In the law he saw Jesus. In the prophets he saw Jesus. In the Psalms he saw Jesus. The whole Bible was full of Jesus, but he'd never seen it before. Now the Lord's just taking the scales from his eyes.

Friend, when you get saved and you get a new Lord, you'll get a new light, and the Bible will burst a flame in your hands and you'll be able to see with the light of the Lord Jesus those things that you've never seen. Brother Jim, down in Florida we had a young man who came to our services one time to mock you. You will remember his name was George. He was an atheist. He had written in the newspaper when people stopped believing in a non-existent God to send them to a non-existent hell.

Then one more time the world will be populated by people rather than sheep. It was a caustic letter, but he came into the services to mock, but God was there, and those people so prayed the power of God was there, and it just cut through all of his arguments. And it's as though the Lord just revealed himself to this young man, and he was saved. He came to me later and said in my office, he said, Pastor Rogers, he said, it's the most amazing thing. He said, before I knew Jesus, he said, I was so sure there is no God, and he said, now I can't even remember the arguments.

Can't even remember the arguments. A new light, the scales, fell from his eyes. Friend, I want to tell you that the Lord will give you light, and he'll give you insight and things that you can never know apart from divine illumination. I'll tell you a third thing the apostle Paul had when it was made new. Not only did he have a new Lord and a new light, but because of those things, he had a new liberty. Look, if you will, again in verse 17. And Ananias went his way and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, has sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Now, what does that mean? Well, 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 17 says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. He received a new liberty. He received power. Here was a man that had been bound by the law of sin and death. Oh, he'd been struggling.

He'd been trying. He was religious, but the more he struggled, he was like a man in quicksand, the deeper he sank. But he said in Romans chapter 8 and verse 2, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. There's a new liberty that comes through the Holy Spirit to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Again, I want to emphasize, dear friend, that a Christian is not just somebody who endeavors to turn over a new leaf and to be nice. God infuses us. God energizes us.

God puts within us his power. You see, I said that the Christian life was a changed life. Let me draw the focus down a little tighter and say not only is it a changed life, it is an excellent life.

Not only is it a changed life, it is an exchanged life. Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He's saying that Jesus through the Spirit has inhabited me. His divinity has inhabited my humanity and now I am filled with the life of God. Whole friend, listen. So many of you out there saying, you know, I'd like to be a Christian but I just know that I don't have it in me to live a Christian life.

Friend, I don't and you don't and they don't and we don't and nobody has. The Christian life is what God does in us and through us. He's the one who gives us that liberty. He's not asked you to do the impossible.

He has just simply said, you come to me. Let me be your Lord, let me be your light and I will be your liberty. I will give you strength.

I will give you power. Now listen, the Spirit-filled life therefore is not for those super saints or those who have graduated or those who've lived a long time in Christ. Do you know what the apostle Paul was at this time? Friend, he wasn't the mighty apostle.

He was a little baby Christian. I mean brand spanking new, brand new Christian and Ananias said to him, be filled with the Spirit. Every Christian ought to be filled with the Spirit when he gets saved.

Born again. And if you have been saved and you're not filled, you ought to be filled today. The mighty apostle wrote in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18 because of what God had done in him, be not drunk with wine when in success but be filled with the Spirit. That's not a request.

That's not a suggestion. That is a command to be filled with the Spirit. It is foolish and wicked to be filled with God's work without being filled with the Spirit. How can you be filled with the Spirit? It's not complicated. We're not talking about visions and ecstasies.

We're not talking about weird feelings. Listen, if you will say what Paul said in minutes, you'll be filled with the Spirit. Just Lord, what do you want me to do?

I am available to you. What we surrender, he takes. What he takes, he cleanses. What he cleanses, he fills.

And what he fills, he uses. Would you say it? Would you pray it today? Have thine own way, Lord.

Have thine own way. Hold all my being absolute sway. Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always living in me. Now, let me give you the fourth mark of a man made new. Not only did he have a new Lord and see a new light and gain a new Liberty, but oh dear friend, he had a new love.

A new love. Begin reading now in verse 19. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

Now, look at that. With the disciples which were at Damascus. Now, let your eye go back to chapter nine, verse one. And Saul, yet breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went unto the high priest.

Now, look. A few days ago, he is threatening them. He's breathing out slaughter.

The word literally means murder. I mean, his heart is filled with bitterness, vindictiveness, malevolence toward these who are called Christians. And those he once loathed, he now loves.

He's with them. He's blind. The scales fall from his eyes. The first sight he sees is the face of Ananias.

The first words he hears are these. Brother Saul. Brother Saul. Isn't that wonderful? I mean, here's a love. Here's a fellowship. You see, there's some people who get the idea that you can get saved and you can be a Christian without loving the brotherhood, without loving the fellowship, without loving the saints of God, because that's impossible.

That's impossible. If you love Jesus, you're going to love what Jesus loves. You see, look.

I mean, be reasonable. What happens to you when you get saved? Well, you receive the Spirit of God.

Okay? Now, what is the Spirit of God? What is the nature of God? You read in 1 John this that God is love and everyone that loveth is begotten of him. God is love. How can I have God in me and not have love in me, huh?

Can't do it. God is love. If I say that I'm born again, if I'm a man made new, then the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. He's filled the Holy Ghost, the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. No wonder he loved them. You see, it's the nature of God and the nature of the church also says we're going to love the church, the nature of the church.

What is the church? When the Apostle Paul was on that road and Jesus appeared to him, do you know what Jesus said to him? He said, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Do you know what Saul could have said? I don't know who you are or whoever you are. I want you to know I haven't got anything against you. I'm persecuting these Christians. It's not you I'm persecuting. It's these Christians I'm persecuting. But do you get the inference? Do you get the lesson? Friend, when you persecute the church, you persecute Christ.

Why? Because Christ is the head and the church is the body. Now, friend, listen, when the body suffers, the head suffers. And to persecute the church is to persecute Jesus. To ignore the church is to ignore Jesus. To honor the church is to honor Jesus. Are you understanding what I'm saying?

Are you understanding what I'm saying? There's no such thing as saying Christ yes and the church no. You see, it is the nature of the Christian to love and it is the nature of the church that the church and Christ, listen, the church and Christ are not identical but they are inseparable like a head and a body. And you cannot love Jesus without loving what Jesus loves. Oh, how important it is that we have this new love.

This verse says that he was with those disciples and he was made strong. We need one another. I have been to California and seen the giant sequoias. Have you ever done that? You ought to see those trees. You ought to go out there and see General Sherman. That tree, as tall as a 20-story building, I'm in with a 70-foot circumference, a giant, it's been growing since the time of Christ. You would think a tree that big would have a tremendously deep taproot that would go down, down, down, down to keep it standing so tall and so long.

Do you know what I discovered recently? Those trees don't have deep taproots at all. Their roots grow very close to the surface and the experts say the reason they have survived and the reason they have grown so tall and so long is that they grow only in groves and their roots all intertwine with the others. And when the winds come, they hold one another up.

That's the idea. Oh, friend, would you be a giant for God? You'll be so in the fellowship of a church where we're intertwined, where we love one another, where we love one another, where we're intertwined, where we love one another and care for one another and the Bible says they received this man and he was strengthened. He had a new love, a new love. When you love Jesus, you're gonna love his church. The church that the apostle Paul once persecuted, he now fellowships. Let me give you the last mark of a new life in Christ and it is this that he had a new labor. Look at him in verse 20. And straightway, that means immediately, he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God but all that heard him were amazed and said is not this he that destroyed them which called on his name in Jerusalem and came hither for that intent that he might bring them bound unto the chief priest but Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwell at Damascus proving that this is the very Christ. Now, what had been his labor before to destroy the church? What has been his labor now to build the church? What had been his labor before to minimize Christ? Now, what is he doing maximizing Christ? The mark of a man made new is this that he wants others to know about his savior. He's in a bad mood.

He's in a bad mood. He wants others to know about his savior. He's an evangelist.

He's a soul winner. I can give you a personal testimony. When as a teenage boy the Lord Jesus Christ found me, saved me, blessed his holy name, I had immediately, immediately in my heart a desire that others would know the Jesus I know. I wanted my brother Buddy to know Jesus. I wanted my sister to know Jesus. I wanted those guys that I played football with to know Jesus. And from that time to this there has been a burning, blazing, passionate, emotional desire in my heart that others would come to know the Jesus I know. It's absolutely inconceivable to me that a person could say that he's been saved and not want others to know what he's received. I mean here's the apostle Paul. He meets the Lord Jesus and there's such a change. They say look at him.

Who is this? Why he came to destroy the church and now he's building the church and now he's preaching Christ and proving that Christ is the son of God. It's the mark of a man made new. It's the mark of the new life in Christ that we want to share Jesus Christ. We may not all do it the same way. We cannot all do it the same way. I don't believe there'll be another apostle Paul till Jesus comes.

I'll tell you what. We can all have the same passion that Paul had. We can all have the same love, the same desire. Listen, listen. Here's the mark of a man made new. There's a new Lord. Because of that new Lord there's a new light.

Because of that new light and a new love and a new labor. Some years ago Billy Graham was preaching in California, in Hollywood and kind of a hard living, rough living Hollywood cowboy actor named Stuart Hamblin came and heard Billy Graham preach. Stu Hamblin was saved like the apostle Paul. He had a life made new. He found his good friend John Wayne and said to him, John I want to tell you what happened to me. And he witnessed to John Wayne and he said, John you ought to give your heart to Jesus. Then he looked John Wayne in the face and said, John it's no secret it's no secret what God can do. What he's done for others he'll do for you. John Wayne said, Stu that's a beautiful phrase.

You ought to make that into a song. It is no secret what God can do. What he's done for others he'll do for you. Friend I want to tell you what the Lord did for the apostle Paul he'll do for you. It is no secret what God can do.

What he's done for Adrian Rogers he'll do for you. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And if any man be in Christ he's a new creature. Whole things are passed away. Behold all things are become new. you