Good morning again. This morning we're turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. If you want to turn there with me in your Bible, 2 Corinthians 5. We'll be looking at a few verses together this morning, spending most of our time in verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 5. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. What an amazing truth about the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus is powerful to give spiritual life to those who are dead in trespasses and sin. He's powerful to forgive sin perpetually. If you're a sinner, that's good news. That your sin can be forgiven perpetually through the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus is powerful to completely reconcile sinners to God. He is powerful to impart his righteousness to unrighteous people, people like us. not only in position, but in practice, Christ in power imparts to us his righteousness. Jesus, eternal God, who became flesh and lived a perfect life, who died an atoning death, who rose again and is alive today, is powerful to make all things new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Today, we're continuing a look in scripture at familiar truths, verses that we know well. This is another such verse, same disclaimer as in weeks past. If you have been here in weeks past, you're not gonna hear anything new this morning, perhaps. But we are simply taking familiar truths from the Word of God and asking a couple of basic questions. The first question is simply, do I believe this? Do I believe that in Christ all things are made new? And if I believe this, then what are the implications in the way my daily life is lived in light of this truth I profess to believe? Today we have the privilege not only of singing of this new life and hearing of it through the Word of God, but celebrating it this afternoon down at the Spokane River through baptism. And baptism, of all of the things that can be said about it, is a celebration of new life in Christ. I wonder this morning, do you have this new life? Are you one of whom it can truthfully be said all things have become new? How many of you know the Christian life is not a slightly different life from the life that a person has apart from Jesus Christ? The Christian life is not a slightly improved life. It is not a carnal life with religious trappings. It is not a self-centered life with Jesus added on. It is a God-centered life, a new life. And it's a new life that can only result from a new birth. It's so dramatically different. Jesus Himself says, Marvel not, I say you must be born again to have this new life. As light dispels darkness, as new displaces old, so Jesus, who is all powerful, gives new life. And so Paul declares in absolute terms in this verse that we're squeezing kind of hard this morning. Do you notice that this isn't a maybe, this isn't a probably, this isn't a hopefully, this is a declarative truth from God to our hearts this morning. If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. Are you a new creation? Can that be said of you? Well, it can be said of me and it can be said of you if we are in Christ. So we need to know what that is. Who can be in Christ? What does it mean to be in Christ? What is the result of this new birth that comes only from being in Christ? Well, as most of you know, I think the word gospel means good news, and God gives us the good news right up front here. Who can be in Christ? Just look at the verse. Anyone. Anyone. If you ever wonder what you must do to qualify to have your sins forgiven, to be made right with God, to inherit heaven instead of your natural born destiny, which is hell, please be encouraged this morning. You simply have to belong to this broad group of people called anyone. In the King James Version, the rendering is any man, meaning any Any human being, male or female, any person qualifies to be in Christ. Are you a person? Then be sure of this, you qualify. You qualify. And we need to stop here for just a few minutes and look at those who fit into this broad category that we're calling, because God does, anyone. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. What can be said of such people? What can be said of any of us? Anyone who is born physically, naturally, is also a spiritual person. And all of us who belong to this group called anyone are born spiritually natural, or the scripture says sinful, predisposed to violate the law of God. We don't have to be taught to do this. This is our natural inclination to be imperfect in some way. All people, the scripture says, are by nature alienated from God. The symptoms of this alienation manifest themselves in different ways. There's great diversity when it comes to what can be said of those who are alienated from God. But by nature, we are born without an intimate relationship with God. I wonder this morning, do you have some, I'm not asking you if you're a religious person, a spiritual person, by nature you may be a spiritual person, do you have a sense that you have an intimate personal relationship with God? You weren't born with that, naturally, that requires the new birth. By nature, we resist intimate relationship with God. God is brilliant and holy and imperfect in all of his ways, and people by nature actually love darkness. That's why most of us show our true colors in the darkness, in the secret places, you see. By nature, the natural man loves darkness, and he loves self, and he loves sin in some form. And by nature, man tends to be spiritual, as I said earlier, but even his spirituality is tainted by this curse of sin. He worships a god or gods of his own making. She runs around saying things like this, well, I just think God is like this. Or I just, I don't think God would ever be like that. You see, that's a God of man's own defining. Naturally, man will even make a God of himself. He will worship himself. He will be at the center of his world. I wonder this morning, who is at the center of your world, your life? This anyone, any man, any woman, is born utterly apart from relationship with God. And he's destined to live out this separateness from God. And ultimately, his destiny will be eternal separation from God in hell. And now a person might say, well, I just God is loving, right? I just I don't I don't believe God would ever do that to people. God is love. Be sure of this, God is perfect in all of his attributes, amen. The love of God is perfect. The love of God does not conflict at all with the holiness of God, the justice of God, the righteousness of God. Listen, God's heaven is a place for perfect people. There is no sin in heaven. And if you feel the weight of having been born a sinner by some measure. That creates for you and for me a dilemma. A need for help from God himself. If you haven't picked up on it yet, let me just say tenderly and with absolute certainty, you are this anyone. And I am this anyone. And we must see this, if we are ever to become those of whom it can also then be said, we're in Christ. You see, we must know that we're separated from God by nature, by our sin nature, so that we can do what? So that we can repent of that, we can acknowledge that and cry out to God. The obvious truth that apart from Him, we are helpless and hell-bound. I wonder, have you accepted this personally? The verse happily continues. Look at the words, in Christ. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. This Jesus, this Christ, must be unspeakably wonderful if he is able, on his own, to take those who by nature are born alienated from God, those who by nature are born inclined to oppose God and his ways in some way. This Jesus must be unspeakably wonderful if he's able to rescue such people. Let me just be clear on this, this Jesus is unspeakably wonderful. There are not enough words in our vocabulary to describe the wonders of Jesus Christ. I certainly don't have enough time this morning to describe the wonders of Jesus Christ. I don't believe there's enough time in human history to fully describe the wonders of Jesus Christ. But the Bible does so in various ways. Listen to Colossians 1.15. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Is this your Jesus? For by Jesus all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. Paul says to the Colossian believers, remember who Jesus is. Jesus is God, eternal God, who became flesh. He left the glory of heaven and he became a man. He became a representative of all of the anyones. Like you and me. And unlike any other of those anyone's, Jesus lived a perfect life. He perfectly fulfilled the law of God. He perfectly loved God, something that we cannot do. He loved God, the Father. And then God, the Father, the scripture says, allowed Jesus to be crucified, to be sacrificed on Calvary's cross, And as our substitute, he bore the wrath of God, the condemnation of God that you and I, as anyone's deserve because of our sin. He was judged by God, the father, as if he had committed all of your sin. Past. Present. And future. And then in power, the power of God himself, he rose again. He's not only defeated sin with his perfection, he defeated the curse of sin, death itself, through his resurrection. And this Jesus, who is God, is alive today, offering to exchange his perfect life and his substitutionary death to anyone who will turn to Him. I pray you're one of these anyone's who is in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? It simply means to be one who has repented of his sin, repented of her sin, acknowledging the obvious truth before God, and turning to Jesus alone as your substitute and Savior. I pray that you're trusting in Christ for your righteousness this morning. That you're trusting in his death in your place. This is what it is to be in Christ. And if you are not so inclined, then be sure of this this morning. You are not in Christ. Jesus Himself says to us, He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. We must either rest in God the Son and His work on our behalf, or know that the wrath of God still rests on us. The word in, as in, in Christ, has as its primary meaning, rest. I think that's a wonderful thing. God invites you and he invites me to rest in the powerful work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. How many of you believe that in Christ, God has done everything necessary To reconcile you to Himself. To bring you into relationship with Him. To pardon your sin. To change your sin nature. All of that is provided us in Jesus Christ. He is sufficient for all of this. If you're in Christ this morning, you're not trying, working hard, hoping to be good enough to be right with God. Jesus, who is God, was and is now and will ever be good enough for you, good enough on your behalf. Do you believe this? If you're in Christ, you are not somehow laboring to justify yourself before God. You cannot do that. You must simply rest in the power of Jesus Christ. And friends, the rest you find in Jesus is a rest like no other. In Christ, let's just look at this new creation now. We know we're in anyone. We know what it is to be in Christ. What is this new creation? Well, it gives to me, first of all, a new position before God. I can rest fully in his work on my behalf. What a liberating life that is. To live what we just sang, my chains are gone. I've been set free because I'm resting in the work of Jesus Christ on my behalf. Now, it's helpful also to think of a more plain meaning for the word in. You're in this building right now. Whether you like it or not, you have an intimate personal relationship with this building to this extent. Whatever happens to this building while you're in it, it's going to happen to you. Noah and his family and all of those creatures whom God collected escaped the flood, not by being good swimmers, not even by being good people. or good navigators, this sort of thing. They escaped the judgment of that flood by being in the ark. The Bible says that God himself shut them in the ark. They didn't even close the door. He did that. And we who are in Christ escape the judgment of God for sin? Not by being perfect people, not by cleaning up our act. First and foremost, there's no hope for that. We must simply be in Christ. And whatever happened to that ark happened to all who were in it. It was preserved. God will relate to us who rest in Jesus' work on our behalf. Get this. The same way he relates to his son, Jesus Christ. If you are resting in Jesus for your salvation, God the Father will no more cast you away from himself than he would cast away his only begotten son. Why? Because you're so special. Well, you may be special, but here's the thing. You're in Christ. You're in Christ. He is special. And you're in him. In Christ, I am eternally secure in my relationship with God. You might even cross out the word relationship there. We can do better than that. Let's just call it friendship. I am eternally secure in my friendship with God if I am in Christ. God's disposition toward me does not change day by day depending upon my unworthiness. And I don't know about you folks, but I'm glad for that because I can't think of a single day of my life in which I have been worthy of the love of God. But He loves me anyway because I'm in Christ. This afternoon when we go down to the Spokane River, those who are being baptized are proclaiming to all of the anyones who are gathered around there to watch, I am in Christ. My salvation rests in him alone what he has done for me and I am eternally secure in my friendship with God. Listen to be in Christ is to have an intimate personal oneness with Jesus. What Jesus is as a man. You are becoming. That's what Paul means when he says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. You see, in Christ, I not only have a new position, but by having been born again in this way, I have a new nature. I wonder this morning, do you have a new nature? Your salvation is not just a positional thing, a get out of hell free, a get into heaven free card. It is a new birth, a completely new life. And a fruit of this new birth is the new nature that God gives to us. A new heart, a new mind, a new outlook, a new purpose. All of those things are affected by being in Christ. That's why Paul says to the Corinthians, look, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. In Christ, I have a new nature. I now delight to live for God. I wonder this morning, who are you living for? Who's at the center of your life? Do you have this new nature that inclines you toward God himself, that places God in his rightful position at the center of all? If any is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. I didn't used to be that way, see? Behold, all things have become new. Be sure of this, friends, the Bible knows nothing of a Christian who claims Jesus as Savior and yet is not being changed in this way. That is not a biblical reality. There is a new nature. just as a newborn baby bears evidence of life. I mentioned earlier in the prayer time, I got a text from our son Jacob at about four o'clock and it just said, baby on the way. And we kind of know what this is about, see. And I don't know what's going on right now at all. But I suspect if little Rosie's being born, at some point there will be evidence of life. There might be crying and hands flailing about and plumbing starting to work and all of this. I'm just saying, there's evidence of life in the normative sense here. And so a Christian bears evidence of spiritual life. There's no choosing to do this. It is a natural thing that happens to all who are in Christ. She craves the things of God. He hungers for truth. No one's going to have to tell that little baby, you should think about eating. She's going to scream and tell you won't stop feeding her. I mean, that's just a natural thing. And so it is with the spiritual new birth. He hungers for truth. She desires to be with God's family. He has a desire to obey the commands of God. He won't do so perfectly because he's still attached to this wretched, fleshly, sinful, mortal body, see. But in his spirit, he is a new man. He's a follower of Jesus, not a mere professor of Jesus. This is the nature of the new birth. There is always evidence of Christ making things new. in those who are born again, those who are in Christ. Now, Paul has already said in an earlier letter to the Corinthians that this new birth imparts to the believer a new mind. Now, that's hard to really understand, but Paul says we have the mind of Christ, meaning what? That God enables us through the new birth, his spirit dwells within us, and we can now understand the things of God. The natural man cannot do that. That's why he runs around defining who he thinks God is. With his own yardstick, he purports to measure God. The person who was born again is no longer doing that. She knows God. And it has a mind to understand the things of God. In Christ, I have a new mind that is enabled to know God. Romans 5 says the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us in Christ. I have you have if you're born again a new heart that is enabled to love God. Do you love God? You do if you're born again see. Romans 6 says, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. But what in the world is that even about? In Christ, I have a new will that's enabled to obey God. God doesn't command us to do things that we're incapable of doing. Do you believe this? Because in Christ, We have the enablement from God himself to walk in his ways. And he's given us a will to actually desire that. And you can't look at this verse that we're squeezing this morning and not see how glorious Jesus is. Because all of this is true, not because of who we are, but because of who Christ is and what he has done for us. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new." I want you to notice that little phrase, all things. It actually translates a Greek phrase that means all things. It's interesting how this works. I studied this hard. If you are in Christ, you are all in. I know I've said this before, but when our Precious brothers and sisters go down to the river this afternoon and are baptized. Every bit of them is going to get wet. Those of you who are being baptized, you should know this. I think I told you this already. But there's not a bit of you that's not going to get wet. Because what you're saying in baptism by God's design, not ours, is that, hey, I'm all in for Jesus. There's not a part of me that now does not belong to Jesus as my Savior and Lord. And it will remind the rest of us too, I trust, that there is no part of your life, there's no corner of your life that Jesus does not intend to shine his light into to overcome the darkness there. Notice that this new life is not merely a fresh start. We wouldn't marvel nearly as much as we are this morning at this verse. If Paul simply said, if anybody is in Christ, he's a slightly improved person. If anyone is in Christ, they become a little bit more religious. But why am I saying this? Not to be funny, but to remind us that Christendom is full of this kind of nonsense. We're not talking about people calling themselves Christians. What we're talking about this morning, by God's grace, is the new birth. And when someone is born again, they are a new creation. It is a qualitatively different life. Progressive, of course, but qualitatively different. Every facet of life is now identified with Jesus Christ. This is what Paul means when he says to the Romans, Romans 6, 4, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. In Christ we have a heavenly nature, we have his nature, and it produces a life in us that is increasingly like the life of Jesus. In Christ, I have a new position, secure friendship with God. In Christ, I have a new nature, a new mind, a new heart, a new will. But you know, our salvation is even better than that. We can keep going. In fact, this verse is given to us in the context, not so much of a believer's position or even a believer's new nature, but a believer's new purpose. Look at verse 18. Now all things are of God. If you're saved this morning, you need to know in your life, God says, all things are about me. You are of God. He's at the center, 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 has 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. We've been given, those of us who are born again, we've been given a ministry of reconciliation. That's our mission. What has been committed to us, Paul says, is the word of reconciliation. That's our message. God desires and intends to plead through you and I, we who believe, to other sinners, be reconciled to God. You see, in Christ, I have a new purpose. I am Jesus representative. I wonder if you are in your workplace or you're at your school or whatever, do other people have a sense that you're about God? I don't mean in some kind of corny way where you put a label on yourself or something, but do they have a sense that your life is kind of all wrapped up in God? And you have a desire for other people to actually know God intimately, in a friendly way, through the powerful work of Jesus Christ. You see, that's how God purposes to use us. We're representatives of Jesus. The Christian, Paul has said to the Corinthians, is the fragrance of Jesus to God the Father and also to the world. I wonder what kind of fragrance do we leave when we've left the places that God has pleased to put us in. 2 Corinthians 2 says this, now thanks be to God. who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death. Not everybody likes who we represent and what we have to say as Christ's ambassadors. and to the other, the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? See, an ambassador for Jesus is one who diffuses the fragrance of Christ wherever she goes, wherever he goes. Our new nature that God himself gives to us, desires to make God known, desires to make Jesus Christ known. This Jesus who makes all things new is so sufficient and so wonderful. Have you noticed we haven't even mentioned heaven yet? It'd be wrong not to mention heaven though, wouldn't it? In Christ, I have a new destiny, heaven. I personally believe that most Christians need to think of heaven more than they do because this world is not our home. And if we live with the goal of trying to be comfortable in this world, we're aiming at the wrong target. We're not staying here. We're going to go home one day, a day of God's own choosing to that heavenly home that Christ has prepared for us. Death and hell have no claim on us. We who are in Christ. In Christ, I can no more end up in hell than Jesus can end up in hell. Because I'm in Him. I'm with Him. Revelation 21 gives us just a tiny glimpse of this place that we all ought to be a little bit homesick for. It says, God's home is now among His people. He will live with them, and they will be His people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. And there will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain. All these things are gone forever. And Jesus, the one sitting on the throne, said, look, I am making everything new. In Christ, we are a new creation. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that by your Spirit, you would open our hearts to wonder at who you are, what you've done for us, what you continue to do for us, Lord. And Jesus, if there is a heart here this morning apart from you, but right now is inclining toward you, Lord, I pray that you would grant repentance and faith in your work. Lord, I pray today as we go down to the Spokane River and enjoy a celebration of this new life that can only be had in you, that you would bless that time, Lord. Let it be a great time of encouragement, not only to those being baptized, but to all of us who come. Lord, be high and lift it up among us, we pray. And it's in your name that we pray, amen.