Sermon Part 1: “Settle it Once and For All, In Christ, You are a New Creature That Has Never Existed Before!”
Good morning Saints of God and Happy Sunday.
Introduction
I'm glad to be back in the pulpit following the wonderful 2023 Speaker Series held during the month of August. Indeed, it’s heart-warming to see the Saints of God move from spectators to speakers of God's Word, and every speaker did an excellent job in Christ.
The born-again Christian is the Minister of Christ, called and anointed to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, with miraculous works following never seen before in the earth, so that God may be glorified in all things. (Mark 16:15-20 & Eph. 4:10-12) I'm so very proud of you all. Grace and peace be multiplied to you, and keep up the good work!
Welcome to this brand new Series entitled:
“The New Creature in Christ Creates New Things from Eternity."
From the title of the Sermon, I hope you can glean that we are going to be talking about, “ALL Things Spiritual," based upon sound Biblical doctrine and principles.
Yes, during this Series we are going to explore the deep things of God. These things belong to the “Doctrine of Perfection,” in which the body of Christ, the Church, should have been teaching and practicing long ago. (Heb. 6:1-3) We all should learn to live in the Spirit—to live by every Word of God and experience heaven's best before our eyes.
If we are going to see and do the works of Christ, and greater works, as Jesus Christ said we would do, then it will be because we finally come to place where we believe, and accept to full ownership, that God has made us "New Creatures" in Christ. (John 14:12) So let’s jump right into today's Lesson and see what the Lord will do.
Born-Again Christians Are "Brand New People" On the Inside
Now today, I am only going to get across to you a single truth. That is, in Jesus Christ, you are a “brand new person.” Without this priceless knowledge and its application, as born-again Christians, we will be stuck in mediocrity and fall short of God’s expectations for us. We are not going to let that happen, because our aim is only to do those things that are pleasing in God’s sight—am I right about it?
Saints of God, the moment you accepted Jesus Christ, as Savior and Lord, you became a brand new person on the inside—in your born-again sanctified heart (spirit, soul, and mind of the soul). You were born again by God’s Will and not that of human determination and flesh. (John 1:10-13, Titus 3:5-8, & Ezek. 36:26-27)
God has taken away the heart of stone (rebellion) and given to you a new heart and a new spirit, and His Spirit causes you to walk in His ways and do them, says the Lord!(Ezek. 36:26-27)
So in this moment examine yourself, and your way of thinking and living with the following questions:
*Do you “live” in the truth, that you are a “New Creature in Christ,” or have you forgotten this, or taken it for granted?
*Do you carry yourself, and present yourself to others, knowing that the Spirit of the Life and Mind of Jesus Christ is in you, and seeks to live through you?
*When people are around you, including your enemies, do they typically get a heavy dose of you, or Jesus Christ?
*Do you see yourself as a natural man or woman born of the flesh, or a Spirit-filled man or woman, born of God?
Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote about our born-again experience at Romans 6:3-4. It reads,
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Paul says as born-again Christians, we should be walking in the “newness of life.” To walk in the newness of life, means that we possess the Spirit of the Life and Mind of Jesus Christ within us, and we are allowing Christ’s life to live and be magnified through us in our daily living. The life not only of Jesus Christ as He lived and ministered on earth, but as seated at the right hand throne of God the Father. (Rom.8:1-3, Col.3:3, & Gal.3:20) God desires for His Son Jesus, “The King of kings and The Lord of lords to live through you—God wants the King and the Lord to live through you!
Oh, I am feeling the joy of the Lord rising up in my soul! Come on, let's settle the matter once and for all about who we are as Christians—let there be no more meandering, pandering, doubting, and uncertainty about who we are in Christ.
As I stated last week, I’m so very tired of hearing Christians, confess that they are “not perfect” and “only human.” This is “Nonsense,” please see Hebrews 10:12-14. We are born-again Christians, sons of God, New Creatures in Christ, and Jesus is living in and through us! Yes, Jesus Christ, the Anointed One and His Anointing, is living through us right now and God has forever perfected you in Him!
Come on and say this with me:
"I am a New Creature in Christ.” “I walk in the newness life, as the Spirit of the Life and Mind of Jesus Christ is living in me and through me to do new things for God!"
Just let the Holy Ghost witness to your heart that this is true. Say it with me again, three more times, and hold fast to the confession of your faith, as God is faithful who promised! (Heb.10:23)
Well, think about it this way. As a child, you had to say and rehearse your name, the alphabet, and basic math, and much more numerous times before it became an established truth and institution in your brain. So likewise, the truth that you are a New Creature in Christ must be rehearsed until your brain knows so—until consciously and subconsciously you know you are a New Creature in Christ and function as such!
We should not waste God's creative genius by living beneath our privilege. Saints, in our thought-life, are we going to be conformed to this world’s system, (thinking and living like mere mortals) or transformed into the glorious “New Creatures” God has made us to be? (Rom.12:1-2)
Satan, above all else, seeks to tempt us (born-again Christians) to "think and act like what we use to be," rather than thinking and acting like who we are in Christ. If Satan can get Christians to consider themselves as only “human beings,” (Imperfect Mortals) like every Non-Christian on the planet, then we become natural people who are neutralized spiritually and morally—carnal in our thinking and deeds, which leads to destruction. (Rom. 8:6-10)
The New Creature in Jesus Christ Has Experienced an Infinitely Greater Transformation than What Most Christians Realize
In Christian circles, we all are familiar with the oft quoted Scripture written by the Apostle Paul at II Corinthians 5:17. It reads as follows:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Also pay close attention to the Amplified Bible Version, it reads:
Therefore if any person is engrafted in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creation altogether); the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold the fresh and alive has come.
In the Amplified Version, did you catch that in Christ Jesus, we are a "completely New Creation." Completely new means, never existing before, original, never tried before, or the first of its kind! An original Handiwork of God is what we are in Christ!
Praise God, as born-again Christians, we are far superior beings than, the first man God created named Adam with mankind following after him. In Christian circles, we tend to tie and limit our blessedness in Christ, to that of Adam before he sinned. This is not incorrect, but far from being complete, as our blessings are infinitely higher than Adam’s were. Here are some examples.
Adam was made in the "image and likeness of God." (Gen.1:26) But, we are "recreated/engrafted in Jesus Christ, according to II Corinthians 5:17." We have been made an identical copy to the Spirit of the Life and Mind that dwells in Jesus Christ. (I John 4:17)
Furthermore, Adam was given dominion and authority over the earth, blessed of God, and made fruitful. (Gen 1:26-28) In contrast, in Christ, we not only have dominion and authority over the earth, but also we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph.1:3) Later in the Series I will share with you that everything in the present and future of the world to come, including death, belongs to us! Glory be to God!
I don't think many Christians understand, nor fully appreciate, what it means that we possess “all of the blessings of heaven.” In short it means, we share the exact same blessings that God has bestowed upon Jesus Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, and Christ’s inheritance equally with Him!
Sadly, most Christians would not dare say they are as “blessed” and “rich” as Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Oh, when will we just let the Bible speak for itself and believe God?
Check out Romans 8:17 in the Amplified Bible.
And if [we are His] children, [then we are His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance], if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory.
Check out Romans 8:32.
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
God has freely given to us all things with Jesus Christ. Everything bestowed upon Jesus has also been freely shared with us. This was not Adam’s fortune while on earth!
Furthermore, when Adam sinned and died, like the Old Testament Saints, his soul resided in a compartment of hell called “Paradise,” until Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth and led captivity captive. (Eph. 4:8-9) However, when born-again Christians experience physical death, our spirit/soul immediately go to heaven to be with the Lord. We never see, taste, nor experience death, as Jesus has conquered death for us! (II Cor. 5:8, John 8:51, & 11:25-26)
Oh, what manner of love God has poured out on us, that He would make everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, His Son; fellow sons of God. Jesus said “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away.” (Matt. 24:35)
This present heaven and earth we inhabit, is going to melt with fervent heat and be destroyed by fire, and many will perish with it because they failed to believe in Jesus Christ. (II Pet. 3:10-12) But, because we believe in Jesus Christ and have been made “New Creatures” in Christ, we will not perish with the world. Therefore, we are to have no fear of death, tribulation, or the world coming to an end; for Jesus has abolished death and brought immortality to light for us! (John 15:1 & II Tim. 1:10)
Lastly, Adam lacked the power to forgive sins. Whereas, we have been given an eternal inheritance of forgiveness. (Gen. 2:25, Rom. 6:23 & Eph.1:7) We own forgiveness and the ability to forgive the sins of others, just like Jesus forgave us for our sins on His cross! Many Christians have a hard time coming to grips with this inheritance. But again, just read what the Bible says and believe! Respectively, see Ephesians 4:32 & Luke 23:34:
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
On the Lord's cross at Calvary Jesus said these words to God about his enemies:
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
In closing, I say to every born-again Christian, its high-time that we settle in our thought-life (brains) that we are “New Creatures in Christ that never existed before.” Given the Biblical evidence cited, if we are true followers of Jesus Christ, we must affirm, that through the Lord’s sacrifice at Calvary, God reconciled us to Himself. (II Cor. 5:18-19) Our old man and its sinful nature of spiritual and moral depravity were crucified with Jesus; and when the Lord was risen from the dead, we also rose in the newness of life with Him.
And, now that our identity in Christ, as New Creatures, is settled, we can sit down at the Lord’s Table where the feast of the Lord is going on. (Rev.3:20) Paul wrote that as New Creatures, we are to “behold”…to look, see, perceive that all things have become new—fresh and alive unto us.
Over the next several weeks, we are going to follow Paul’s instruction at II Corinthians 5:17, and “behold” eternal things—new things that God has put in store for us in Christ Jesus. Thanks be unto God for the preaching of the Word of God. Amen.
Please send your tithes and offerings in support of Exousia Ministries, Inc. to the PayPal link below. May God exponentially multiply your cheerful and hilarious giving to our Ministry and ever take you deeper into the knowledge of Himself.
http://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=H928GMBX3YG8S