New Creations in Christ

We were made a new creation when God placed us in Christ and indwelt us with his Holy Spirit.  The flesh was set aside so that we no longer have to live in it.  We  can now yield ourselves to His Spirit and God can work in and through us.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Before we even get started, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for who you are. Thank you for all that you've done for each and every one of us. By sending your son to die in our place and pay for our sins, thank you for uh giving us your spirit that we can be led and into all understanding. And thank you for placing us in Christ and revealing that mystery to us through your word, that we can have all things that pertain to life and godliness, that we can be uh blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, Lord. So just thank you for all of those things and uh thank you for uh taking care of that sin nature, that flesh of ours that stands in the way of accomplishing your will here on this earth and keeps us from living the life that we should when we yield to it instead of you. So, Father, as we get into your word, I do ask for wisdom and understanding that we would have attentive minds and hearts to take these truths, to apply it to our lives, to live them out, to glorify and honor you. So thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us. And Lord, I do ask that you would use me this morning to communicate your message clearly in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we're going to be in the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 11. And as I was preparing the message and thinking about a good way to illustrate things and to bring about our minds into what I believe Paul is getting at here, uh it reminded me of more of us guys in general and how we like to fix things. Uh, if you've ever noticed, I I know I'm like this, I see something that's broke, and I want to fix it. I want to take care of it, I want to get it to where it's right. And uh, whether it's uh a picture hanging on a wall that's crooked, whether it's a sound of an engine running that's not doing well, as Jason can attest to, uh, you want that thing fixed. You don't just want to keep using it and making it get worse, you want to take care of it. Uh but sometimes uh you have to come to a point where you realize it's not worth fixing and it needs replaced. Uh long ago, uh I remember when I was a young kid, one of my father's friends bought this nice piece of land, nice property, had this older house on it, and he lived there for a couple years. And I thought, oh, he's gonna you know fix it up and remodel it. And no, he didn't. He tore it down and he built new. And I remember as when I was young, I thought, man, what a waste. You know, he could have just you know rebuilt it. And then uh as I got older and I bought a fixer upper and and uh went in the endeavor of fixing that up, I started realizing how smart that guy was. That uh sometimes you are better off uh tearing it down or leaving it and having something new, it's just not worth the effort. Well, when it comes to us as Christians, we have this problem called our flesh, our sin nature. And instead of fixing it up, we need to realize we need to leave it and have a be a new creation that God has created us to be. And this this thinking isn't just for men, I know ladies would do it too. Uh it goes all the way back to the garden. Uh, if you remember the first man, when sin comes into the world, he goes and he he hides from God, and what does he do? He he makes fig leaves, he takes fig leaves and he makes aprons to try to cover his sin and his shame. He's trying to fix the problem. He brought sin into the world by disobeying God, and his first reaction is one, hide from God, two, cover your sin. Try to hide it, try to fix the problem. And of course, that did not fix the problem. When God confronted man, uh, Adam said, uh, I hid because I was naked. Even though he had an apron that he made or some kind of covering, it wasn't sufficient when he stood before God. And that is no different than us. Our sin, the things that we've done wrong, there's no way to make it up. There's no way to for us to cover it. God had to provide the covering for Adam. God killed an innocent animal and he covered his sin in shame. He says, No, uh, nice try, Adam. Uh, that's good enough. He didn't say that. He said, No, that is not sufficient. I will have to provide the covering for you. And so this is a concept we see throughout scripture that man has a need. Uh, God will show man his need, provide for that need, and then man has a responsibility to take what God has provided by faith. That is definitely true for our justification. My need is I'm a sinner, uh, in need of a desperate need of a savior. I deserve hell. And yet God showed me his my need through his word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and I realize I need him. I'm in deep trouble, and God provided something. He became a man, he lived a perfect life, he died on the cross for my sins, for the sins of the world, and I have a responsibility simply to take that by faith, to trust in what he did for me. Well, our sanctification is very much the same thing. I'm going to have to recognize my need. I need to understand what God did for me, I need to rely on what he accomplished. I would like to call this sermon following the steps of Abraham. Colossians chapter 2, verse 11, he says, in whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. Now, let's back up a little bit. Do you remember a couple weeks ago when I was going through this portion of Colossians chapter 2, how that in him are hid all the things, all the wisdom and knowledge. In Christ, we have all things that we need. We are complete in him, we're rooted in him, we're built up in him. It's all about what we have in Christ. We lack nothing in Christ. And now he says, in whom also. In addition to that. You mean I need something more? I thought I had everything. I thought I was complete. Yes, we're complete in him, but we still have a problem. We still have that flesh, that sin nature. In fact, turn with me to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, verse 17. Says this the flesh, my sin nature, uh, and the Bible calls it many things. It calls it the natural man, the old man, the flesh. Sometimes we call it the sin nature, whatever words you want to use, terms. Uh, for the flesh lust against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. See, there's a war going on inside of us. Uh, there's there's God's spirit inside of us that wants to lead us into to follow God. We we walk in the spirit, then we we manifest the fruit of the spirit. Uh we God uses us and works through us, and it's a it's a life of righteousness, or we can yield ourselves to our flesh. And usually when we think of yielding ourselves to the flesh, we think of all the manifestations of the flesh and the sin and all these terrible things. Well, sometimes, and I think way too often, as believers, we try to take the flesh and dress it up in fig leaves. We try to make it conform it to the image of Christ. We work on it, we try to do something instead of realizing, no, that's not worth it. God is not a mechanic, he's a creator. He didn't say, let's work on this, let's fix the old. No, he says, I'm making it new. It's very, very different. So let's go back to Colossians. He says, Whom you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. Now, this isn't talking about the ritual, this is talking about the representation. What does it represent? Okay, so he said he's saying very clearly, this is a circumcision, you are also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. Like no, no, no hands, okay. Uh, in, then he explains it further, in the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. In other words, he's comparing uh the physical act of circumcision to us as believers, as Christians, not as the old Jewish uh religious system, but as Christians that were separated from our sins, that flesh, that sin nature. Okay? Now, let's go and look at this a little bit closer to do so. We'll have to go all the way back to uh the book of Genesis in chapter 17. Uh Genesis chapter 17. You can uh keep your marker there in Colossians. Genesis chapter 17. This is the time when God introduces this concept of circumcision to Abram. And we're going to look at this a little closer. It says, when Abram, chapter 17, verse 1, now remember, this is after the Abrahamic covenant, what we call the Abrahamic covenant, where God told Abram to cut these animals in pieces, and they would walk between the pieces to establish a covenant. Except in this one, Abram could not walk in those pieces because he had already failed. He didn't leave his father's house. He stayed with his dad in Haran until his father died. He didn't leave his kindred, he brought Lot with him, his nephew. Uh, and he went down to Egypt after he was in the land, and he lied about his wife. He did all of these things. And so when God says, uh, we're going to make a covenant, because Abraham was questioning, uh, he believed God. God credit him with righteousness, and he said, Well, how do I know this is going to happen? I failed, God, so how will I know that this can happen? And God told him to take those animals and he cut them. And Abram doesn't walk through, but God does twice. Once for himself and once for Abram. In other words, because of Abram's failure, his sin, God is going to pay the price. God's blood will spill. And so this is after that time. It's important to understand as we get into Romans here in a minute. So chapter 17, verse 1. When Abram was 90 years old and nine, or 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and he said to him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. I would love to see the look on Abram's face. How would you like that? Uh he's he's 99 years old. God appears to him, and he says, I'm the Almighty God. Now I'm going to command you. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Kind of a high standard, isn't it? Perfection? I would, you know, it would take like milliseconds for me to fail. How is he gonna do this? Can you imagine God saying, You, I want you to walk before me, I want you to be perfect. Well, if God calls you, God equips you. Let's let's go on. I will make my covenant between me and you. I will multiply thee exceedingly. Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, So, Abram, he hears this, and he does a face plant, right? He just he's down, he's on his face, and God starts telling him all the things that God is going to do. I will make my covenant. Uh as before me, behold, my covenant is with you. Thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall your name be called Abram, but it shall be called Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee. Now, this is important. Abram means like exalted father. Like, I've got lot, I've got some, I've got a good amount of kids. I'm I'm an exalted father. And how many kids did Abram have? One. Ishmael. Right? Ishmael. He's 99, and God says, No more, no more. We're gonna call you Abram. I'm giving you a new identity. You are a new person from this moment on. Your name is Abraham, which means a father of many nations. Wow, what an upgrade. Father, exalted father, father of many nations. How would you like to be Abram when you come out of the 10 and you start talking to people and say, hey, everyone, stop calling me Abram? From now on, you gotta call me Abraham. I'm I'm not could you imagine that some of the people going, Abraham? Really? Father of many nations? You got one 13-year-old kid, Abram? You know, where's your grandkids? Where's your great-grandkids? Where are they all? Father of, you know, why should we call you that? How do you why do you think that's true, Abram? Or I'm sorry, Abram. Why do you think that's true? He's got one answer. God said it's true. That's why it's true. Because God said it. God's doing the work. It's not up to Abraham. He says, I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, I will make nations of these. Kings shall come out of thee. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and thy seed after their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto them, and the seed after thee, and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land where you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. God said to Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. So if you start counting the I wills, you'll find seven I wills. God is saying, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this. He says further on, he says, This is my covenant that you will keep in verse 10, between me and you, and after they seed every man-child among you shall be circumcised, and you and you shall circumcise the flesh of the foreskin, and it shall be a token, a picture of the covenant between me and you. He that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man, child in your generation. He that is born in the house or bought with money, any stranger which is not of thy seed, that he is born in thy house and he is bought with money, he must needs be circumcised. And my covenant shall be in the flesh of the for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people, for he has broken my covenant. So you're either part of this and you get all the blessings, or you're out on your own. You're not part of it, you're not partakers of that. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai anymore. But Sarah shall her name be. Now, what God is doing with their names is very interesting. And you've probably heard us talking about this before, but Abram to Abraham is a letter in Hebrew called a he. It's the breath. Okay? So in essence, what God is saying is, Abram, I want you to walk before me, be thou perfect. And Abraham falls on his face. He's like, How can I do that? And God says, uh, I'm making you a new person. I'm putting my breath in your identity, in your name. In other words, it's a picture of God's Spirit being in Abraham. And the same thing with Sarai to Sarah, it's the same letter that hey, he's changing their identity. He's making them new, he's making them fruitful. So I will bless her, I will give her a son. I will bless her, she shall be the mother of nations, kings of people shall be out of her. So Abram, you know, he hears this, and what do you think his response is going to be? Remember, he's he's 99 years old. He's already fell on his face, and he's hearing all this stuff, and he says, What? Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, Shall a son be born to him that is a hundred years old, and Sarah that is ninety years old bear? In other words, God, this is impossible for us to do. Yeah, so it's being perfect. This is impossible. How can I do this? So Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael may live before you. In other words, that's impossible. I can never do that. We're not having any more kids, but this is what we've done. We have Ishmael. You know, we we had this great idea to use Hagar as a as a surrogate, and and we have Ishmael. This is this is what we accomplish, God. So let that walk before you. Let him walk before you. Let's just use Ishmael. God says, no. See, there's there's a lot of us that go through this this process. You know, first when you start to realize that there's a God, then we say, whoa, I better I better clean up my act. You know, I don't want to be in trouble. I want to I want to do good. I want to I want to try to live right. And and and if we're honest with ourselves, we start realizing that I just can't do it. I I fail all the time. I try to do good and I fail and I and I try to stay away from the things I shouldn't do, and I end up doing them, and and I I just can't do it. And that's when you realize, yeah, you can't. That's why God became a man and he did it. He did it for you. He lived that perfect life. He died, he took the penalty that we deserve on himself. And we take that by faith. We we rely on what he did for us. And then we go, wow, I am so thankful for what you did, Lord. I just want to live for you and I want to serve you. And we go out and we give it our best shot in the flesh. And we're saying that Ishmael may live before you. I'm trying my best, I'm trying to live right, I'm trying to do what I'm supposed to do, and I fail. And we're trying to take our sin nature, that old man, the flesh, and conform it to the image of Christ. It's a lot of work. God's not wanting us to be a mechanic, he's not a mechanic, he created us new. Abram, your your old life. I don't want that. I'm making you new, and the flesh needs to be separated from you. He's giving a wonderful picture. And what does Abram want to do? I want to just use what I have. I want to fix what I have. Uh I can No, you can't, Abram. You can't. Neither can we. So God said God said, Sarah, your wife, shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. He says, no, the first Ishmael is going to be replaced by the second, Isaac. The first was the work of your own flesh. The second is of promise. It's going to be miraculous. The first, you were Abram, now you are Abraham. Very, very different. Now we have to understand what is going on here. Later on in the rest of the chapter, you'll find out that that same day, Abraham circumcised everyone in his house, his son Ishmael, and himself included that same day. Now let's go to the book of Romans, chapter 4, and we're going to sort some of this out. Because there is what we call our justification, Christ dying for us, and then there's our sanctification. And our sanctification is about us, our identity of being dead with Christ, so that we can live him, that flesh being separated. Romans chapter 4, I'll start at verse 6. Now, in the early part of Romans 4 here, he's focused, Paul's focus on righteousness by faith without works, without a ritual, without the law, regardless of our circumstances, it's righteousness by faith. So I'll start at verse 6 to get some context here. Even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. So righteousness, God's right standing, transferred, imputed to your account without works, without a list of things to do and a list of things not to do. He says, regardless of works, by faith you receive this. Verse 7 says, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So that your account, so to speak, is not having sin imputed or reckoned or credited to that account, but instead you get Christ's righteousness. Your sin got credited to him when he died on the cross. So then he asks the questions, Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, the Jews, or upon the uncircumcised also, the Gentiles? For we say that the faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Now this is going all the way back to that Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 15. So he says, How was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? And then he answers it, not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. In other words, this is before circumcision was even talked about. He believed and he was credited righteousness. In other words, there's no ritual you have to go through to have the righteousness of God credited to your account. You simply take that by faith. So he goes, as he received a sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also, and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. So again, here we have this concept of there's the steps of Abraham's faith. And that's what I'll be trying to bring out and applying to our daily living today, because we need to follow those steps. Realizing our need, I can't do this. Understanding that God has done it all for us. And then taking those truths by faith. Go down to verse 17. Here's where I believe it really gets interesting because he says, as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations. Remember that was what we had read back there in Genesis 17. I made you a father of many nations, and before him who believed, even God who quickens the dead calls those things which be not as though they were no more Abram, but you are Abraham. You are father of many nations, because I've made you. Not that I will make you, but I have made you. It's a in the past tense a done deal. Now look at what it says about Abraham here. It says in verse 18, who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be, and being not weak in faith. He considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah's womb. So here in Romans, he's saying, you know, you go back to that Genesis 17, you go back to that, and first Abraham's reaction was, uh, I can't do this. You know, walk before me, be thou perfect. You're gonna have a son. How is that gonna happen? That is impossible for me to do, God. I cannot do that. I'm a hundred years old, and Sarah is in her 90s, it's not gonna happen, it's impossible, and God keeps saying, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this. It's done. And then Abraham realizes it's not about his ability. God's not trying to fix, God is giving him a new identity. He's now Abraham. God is the one doing it, not him. And so being not weak in faith, he he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah's womb. So I guess uh he he came to a place where he goes, you know what? That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that I'm a hundred years old, it doesn't matter that Sarah's 90 years old. Why? Because God said this is true. He did not say, Well, I wonder if I feel that way. Do I feel like we could? No. Did he look and he says, well, does this make logical sense that a hundred-year-old man can have? No, he didn't do anything like that. He didn't even consider those things. God said this is true, so it is true. I'm taking it by faith. As we've been going through Colossians, it says we're complete in Him. We lack nothing. Do we do that same thing? Go, well, I just don't feel like I'm complete. I don't, I don't feel like I have all things that pertain to life and godliness. I don't, I don't feel like I'm blessed with all spiritual blessings. Do we consider, well, my life has never really looked like that? Do we look at our experience? Do we go by our feelings? Or do we say, well, if God says it's true, it must be true. So he didn't consider those things. He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded, here's the key, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, what God had promised, God was able to perform. So instead of looking at his own abilities, he looked at God's. Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, who's delivered for our offenses, and was raised for our justification. You see, our our problem in the Christian life is wanting to do what's right and not being able to do it. It's wanting to take our flesh, the old man, the sin nature, and improve it to the likeness of Christ. Well, it's a lot of work and it's a lot of failure. Instead of coming to that point where you know, it's just not worth fixing up. It's just not worth it. I need something new. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul's gonna explain this. He's gonna go through and he's using Christ as an example. I'll start at verse 14. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 14. For the love of Christ constrains us, motivates us, because thus we thus judge. That if one, meaning Christ, died for all, then all, all the world were dead under God's judgment, under his condemnation. And that he died for all, that they which live that hear the gospel and believe, have new life, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. So it's just a very logical argument. If Christ died for all, then all deserve death, all deserve condemnation, and so that anyone who realizes what Christ did for him, then they shouldn't be living for themselves anymore, but they should live to the one who died for them, who bought them, who paid for them with his own life. So then he says, wherefore, henceforth, from this point on, know we no man after the flesh. That is the the old. We don't know Abram as Abram anymore, we know him as Abraham. We know no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, when he was here on the earth, but he ascended up, yet now henceforth know we him no more, because he's ascended up. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, well, how do you be in Christ? As a believer, as part of the time of the church, you are placed in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. We're a new creation. We don't have to live in the flesh, the old man, uh, the sin nature. We don't have to work on trying to fix it up. We need to come to that realization that it's not worth fixing up. God doesn't want me to. It's it's just a fig leaf apron that that is no good. I have to look to God and what he has provided for me, which is all things. He's made me new, he's put our his spirit into us. Notice it, that's exactly what Abraham needed. Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect. How can I do that? I'll tell you how I'm gonna change your whole identity. I'm making you a new person. I'm giving you my spirit. You are now Abraham. So now I I've called you, I've equipped you, you can do this. And what did Abraham do? He realized it's not about me and my works, it's about him and what he's doing for me. I'm going to take those things by faith. I'm not going to stagger at God's promises through unbelief. I'm not going to consider my condition. I'm going to look at God's promise and saying, I know he cannot lie. I'm going to take that thing by faith. What he said is true, and I'm going to live it out. That's what we're called to do. Colossians says, you've been circumcised without hands. The circumcision of Christ. You've God has taken and set the flesh aside. You don't have to live that. You don't have to follow it. You don't have to yield to it. And you certainly don't have to try to improve it. Because He's made you new. If you're in Christ, you are a new creation. All things are passed away. All things have become new. That's a prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for all that you've done for each and every one of us. Thank you that we are placed in Christ, your dear Son. That you've you've set aside the flesh that we don't have to live in it, that we can yield ourselves to your spirit. That you can work in and through us. Thank you for all that you've done for us in Jesus' name. Amen.