2 Corinthians

[0:00] I ask the Lord to be pleased to help me. I should call your attention to a subject you will find in the second official to the Corinthians, chapter 5, and the 17th verse.

[0:25] Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature.

[0:39] All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Chapter 5, 17th verse, the 2nd epistle to the Corinthians.

[1:00] This is a great subject to contemplate, as grace is given.

[1:10] And it will be well if you are concerned to search within as to whether you possess those evidences, the Spirit of God alone can be so as to whether you are indeed a new creature.

[1:39] And that you and I must be to be real Christians. There is one little word in this subject, which is one of great importance.

[1:58] If, if any man be in Christ Jesus, you may say, I hope you do, say it inside, say it before God.

[2:12] I wish I could be sure. I was on the right side of that all-important word, if. But alas, I cannot always feel, as I should like to feel, that I possess well-grounded evidences, that the good work is indeed begun, and that I am indeed a new creature, as the word declares.

[2:41] The great thing is, to be on the stretch, to be made manifest that you are. I do like the word of the Lord Jesus.

[2:54] Blessed are they, present tense, blessedness. Blessed are they, which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be killed.

[3:08] Blessed are they, which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be killed.

[3:38] And that new aim can be summed up like this, to know my Jesus, crucified, by power, excels, all things besides.

[3:55] And in that new aim, there is a deep down concern to be after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

[4:05] And now, I want the Lord to help me to look at the subject from two or three viewpoints of it.

[4:18] And it might be well, not only to think about this little, all-important word, if, as to whether you are on the right side of it.

[4:30] And remember, let your consciences tell you, my dear friends, the truth of the matter. It is good, if you have in your heart a concern, that you might be found on the right side of it.

[4:47] And that you are asking the way to die on with your faces, this award. And that often your prayer is, Assure my conscience of her part in the Redeemer's blood, and bear the witness with my heart, that I am born of God.

[5:09] And now, I look first of all, at what it is for a man to be in Christ. Therefore, if any man be in Christ.

[5:25] And now that, brings us right down to bedrock truth. Our most holy faith. And you will read about it, also, in the epistle to the Ephesians, where the Apostle Paul declares, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame, before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

[6:28] And you remember how the Apostle Paul wrote to the godly Romans. And that is a good word, too, to contemplate.

[6:44] And it might help you to encourage your soul in God if you think about it. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

[6:59] And how are we to know them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit?

[7:10] for now? What kind of a life are you living? What are you living for? What is your bent of mind in the life you live?

[7:26] Are all your concerns on this side of the grave? Are you living for time alone? or is there something deep down in your heart which thinks of eternity?

[7:46] Eternity. Tremendous sound. To guilty souls a dreadful wound. But oh, if Christ and heaven be mine, how sweet the accent, how divine, who walk not after the flesh.

[8:07] You know, do dear friends, young and old alike and those in life after me weigh up your life if you live in it from that standard set up in the word of God which is an evidence that you are in Christ Jesus if you are living not after the flesh but after the spirit and that is the things of God are offer most.

[8:36] You would have them to be offer most in your thoughts. You would have them to be as meat and drink. You would have them to be the element in which you live and move.

[8:52] You would live with a feeling like this Lord Jesus make thyself to me a living bright reality who walks not after the flesh but after the spirit.

[9:11] And now if any man be in Christ it includes if any woman any youth any maid and if such are in Christ then they were in Christ before the world was built or time was born.

[9:34] You sing about that and I do encourage you to think more on the truth that you sing.

[9:45] You sing about it well but the reality of what you sing is learned through much tribulation and it must be also reduced to practice for what you sing and what you sing is the songs of Zion and remember it is based upon the word of God whatever you sing about under Union Chapel roots and there is this viewpoint of it something must be known and sour poured up the sacred word and tea thereon and grow go on to seek to know the Lord and practice what you know if any man be inclined and now you do sing this in Union with the

[10:48] Lamb from Condemnation Street the saints from everlasting were and shall forever be you may think about it and you may have a thought right up alas I am no saint no and yet you might have got some hallmark in how you were being led into the truth whereby the word of God declares you to be a saint for a saint is a sanctified sinner and that means a sinner set apart for God and to amplify that it means that you although you do not feel to be a saint yet as a poor sinner you seek divine aid every day that God may come into your life and guide you by his counsel and guard you from ill and evil and help you by his grace to show who you are and whom you serve the Lord bless you if any man be in

[12:11] Christ so then there was that number which no man can number given by God the Father unto Christ in eternal purposes you will remember in that holy of holies chapter in John's gospel chapter 17 Jesus Christ as verily man addressing his father said thine they were and thou gavest them me and they were given to Jesus Christ that he might save them with an everlasting salvation and thus he came down into this world to do love redeeming work and he did it well and remember what he said it is finished cried the

[13:13] Lord in his dying minute holy ghost repeat the word full salvation in it yeah oh my dear friends it is a wonderful mercy to have just a little evidence that you are in Christ and that you were born into this world to be born again and you find the Lord Jesus gives an illustration of it for he says I am the true vine and my father is the husband man I am the vine ye are the branches and now the branch must be in the vine by a living union so that the fat flows up from the root and the branch gets the benefit of it and becomes fruitful and now that is a very simple illustration but it sets forth a tremendous truth how do you sing this jesus immutably the sound thou true and living vines oh around thy all supporting sense my feeble arms wine quicken by thee and kept alive

[14:40] I flourish and bear fruit my life I from thy fat derive my vigor from thy root you you see all you dear people some of you young people I believe and I'm very glad to believe it you seek divine aid every day that you might live a right you realize your need of divine aid and you are glad as help is given in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to let your request be made known unto God and now that comes from the fat speaking with great reverence it comes up from the root of him who said I am the vine ye are the branches the trees of the Lord are full of fat the psalmist declares and that fat speaking with great reverence again what is it but the grace of

[15:46] God and to have the grace of supplication welling up in our hearts and flowing out heavenward Godward that is to be in Christ Jesus yes therefore if any man be in Christ God and and now it must be said also that the whole church of Christ is in Christ Jesus because not only in union with him as the church's living head but in covenant relationship for God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit they made a covenant ordered in all things and sure and every poor sinner ordained to life eternal was locked up as it were in that covenant when and where they should be born and when and where they should be born again and all to do with their life as they journeyed on therein wonderful consideration and you find that it's confirmed again and again throughout the sacred pages the steps of a good man were ordered by the

[17:13] Lord and he delighted in his way nothing comes into our lives a hazard or by chance but you can see when you are in a right mind in heaven's own light we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the cause according to his purpose yes but I must look at the subject from another viewpoint therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature and now that adjective new as it were lays the act at the root of all the doings of the great eye whereby man would be something before God and bring what he can do supposing it to be righteousness which

[18:19] God will regard nor know by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh living be justified do remember that not the labour of my hands can fulfil the law demand and there is one viewpoint of this adjective new a new creature which might be helpful if I can get right words to set it forth and now go back how often I ask you to do it and you must do it go back to the Adam fall all the mischief under the sun stems from the Adam fall what was done then and now God in his wisdom created the heavens and the earth and he built

[19:24] Eden's garden and filled it with all that could produce happiness for the two creatures Adam and Eve whom he made to dwell therein and if they had done what God enjoined them to do they could have been there to die still living in all the happiness Eden's garden afforded but then it did not last long how long it did last no creature can tell you God God alone knows the length of time that Adam and Eve lived in Eden's garden as creatures coming from their creator's hands and perfect creatures made in the image of God but they did dwell there in a world then the word of God tells us sin entered into the world and death by sin so death has passed upon all men for that all have sin and God came down into the garden to deal with the calamity which had befallen

[20:40] Adam and Eve and as I have told you often in the ultimate issue the Lord God drove out the man and the woman and the world was placed under a curse and an angel with a fiery flaming sword was placed at the entrance to guard the way that led to the tree of life but there was a wonderful word lodged in Adam's breath the seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head and remember this you dear young people remember this it will help you to be sure of what it found God then when the Adam fall took place Adam and Eve didn't lose heaven what they lost was paradise and they were turned out of it therefore you read as paradise lost they did not lose heaven because

[21:49] God had ordained they could ultimately be there as sinners saved by grace but they lost all the earthly happiness they had enjoyed in Eden's garden when they took of the forbidden fruit and disobeyed God which they could do being the only creatures ever made on the earth perfect creatures with a free will and they exercised it and they lost paradise by it and had to go forth into the world under a curse and now what is to be learned from that viewpoint of the Adam fall if free will had any merit which it had not but if it had for a supposition it could only bring back on the earth a garden of Eden state with earthly happiness to the full known and felt therein but it has no merit it is just a policy a dogma therefore the Adam fall has taken place but God in his great mercy what did he do go back to what

[23:13] I said when Adam and Eve were ridden out the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head and God made that claim to Adam instructed him that there was another purpose which in the fullness of time he would bring to pass and that he would send down into this world his own son and now this will bring you to the point I want you to remember and not forget it what do you sing in him the tribes of Adam boast more blessings than their father lost their father lost Eden's garden and the happiness that filled it while they dwelt therein but Jesus Christ came down to make a countless multitude of sinners meet for the inheritance of the saints in light and that when their journey on the earth was done they should rest forever with the

[24:28] Lord in heaven therefore that will help you to understand what the word new means and to be a new creature it is not that you are bound back to the garden of Eden state and your life committed to do all you can to bring all the earthly happiness possible that the world again may be made like the garden of Eden and dwell therein no no nothing whatever like that it is that you might be fitted to be made the guest of God yes therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature the margin is he is a new creation then you see dear friend your religion if it is going to take you to heaven must not have a jot or tittle of the flesh connected with it not one jot or tittle otherwise it will not be you all to do with you and the flesh is old and God will not accept it and now let us see how that is worked out therefore if any man be in

[25:58] Christ he is mark the word in he is a new creature he has something lodged in his breast which he never possessed before and that something is that which a man cannot receive except it be given him from heaven and now the great thing is do you and I possess that something something which must be known and health a new nature go back to the starting point and you will find what is recorded in the first epistle to the Corinthians but the natural man receive it not the things of the spirit of God that they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually deserved and now that brings you right down to a foundation truth ye must be born again margin born from a book and now our great concern should be to be confirmed in our souls again and again that we are and not take it for granted that we are but again and again to be waiting on

[27:36] God for yet further evidence gracious assurance and still praying when old and grey headed show me some token Lord for good some token of thy special love show me that I am born of God and that my treasure is above those who are grey headed in our assembly can say amen to that petition still you are not journeying on and taking it for granted that heaven is your home you do hope it is but you want to feel assured that God alone can help you to feel that it is hence you will be saying often remember me oh Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people and now in

[28:36] Ezekiel with regard to being a new creature we get a starting point and it is set forth like this a new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh there is a starting point dear friends and I hope quite a few of us in our course of truth by the grace of God do possess a new heart a new spirit God has taken away the stony heart out of our flesh which is this the carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be he has subdued that enmity and brought us over the lines to be no longer living after the flesh the things of the flesh but to be after the spirit the things of the spirit therefore if any man be in

[30:00] Christ he is a new creature he no longer lives as he used to live a kind of revolution has come into his life and he now has to live according into a different standard and it is not to do with the flesh nor it is to do with the spirit what is revealed in the word of God thy word is a lamp unto my teeth a light unto my past and the apostle Paul speaks about newness of life and it can be discerned you can see it like it was with young abijah in jeroboam's day some good thing in his heart is found toward the Lord God of Israel and it could be seen that was the nature of it toward the

[31:07] Lord God of Israel but this new heart a new spirit causes you to be the subject of a new concern so that in your life eternity takes precedence of time I know that needs thinking about but if you think about it before God you will find that is how it is with some of you that in a right mind you do think of eternity before time you are bound to think about time to earn the bread which perishes and fill the niche in life that God has put you in but when all is said and done you come right down to this how stands that I my soul with thee for heaven are thy credentials clearly and now there you are on the stretch to be sure you are a new creature made so by the spirit of

[32:24] God therefore you find all kinds of new characteristics coming into your life all to do with being a new creature you have new aspirations maybe in your teenage life your school life college life it might be you had got your aspirations and lawful ones it may be too you wanted to be this and that in the world at large as you grew up and the way was made for you to be this or that which was lodged in your breath is an ambition an aspiration but when this new heart is communicated and this new spirit you may still have the same aspirations but you have to weigh them up before God as to how lawful they are and how much they are to do with the flesh and if there is anything whatever to do with the spirit and then your concern will be show me now thy way

[33:34] O Lord if I have found grace in thy sight read me in thy truth and teach me and help me to be whatever thy purpose is I shall be whatever is thy will for me to be and to do and you become a new creature from this viewpoint you have to do with God you cannot let a day go by although you may be weary and worn in body and mind alike and jaded in your spirit but you must not let the day go by without trying to do a little business in heaven's marketplace even if you may not gain much by trading there it is not a good day if you have not been seeking to draw near to God and seek his divine aid upon all that you are and all that you desire to do and remember one petition you will be offering up every day all that thou would bless me indeed the emphasis is on the word indeed you want something real something from

[35:06] God say unto my soul I am thy salvation here is the new creature sending up new desires new longing new wishes new hope new aspirations all coming from a new heart a new nature and you say my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God another thing to do with this new creature you will have new trouble you will have trouble with the world because you may not become a new creature till you have passed a teenage life or even if you are still in teenage life there are those who have been friendly to you and you friendly toward them and now you have got to make a stand this new creature which you will now become bids you let your yea be yea and your nay be nay lest he fall into condemnation and you do need divine aid so that you make a stand on God's behalf to show that you are now concerned to live a new life under a new standard as to how you should live and you can no longer be in the world and of it but you must be separated from it and be like the filmist when he said

[36:54] I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness and like Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and remember sometimes you get that feeling although I don't think the hymn is sung very often in our causes and there is a reason why because you are not very often in the spirit to sing it let worldly minds the world pursue it has no chance to meet once once I admired it try for two but grace has set me free you know dear friends I'm not putting any caps on but this just comes to my mind how would you like someone with divine authority to come round to your homes and have a look the area of got it furnished and judge how you are living your lives according to that standard it has no chance for me what you going to do then with television and the radio and all the comfort you are training with might and main to get into your house from top to bottom which when all is said and done are much more to do with the flesh than they can ever be to do with the spirit and now

[38:37] I'm bound to tell you things like that and you dare not stand up and sin let worldly minds the world pursue it has no chance for me ah you you will need to think deep down about the charm and it will be good if you can say boast not ye sons of earth or look with scornful eyes above your highest mercy our saddest hours we prize for though our cup seems filled with gall there something secret sweetened all oh this new creature he wants to live in a new world not the world such as he has known where he lived after the flesh the things of the flesh he wants now not to be carnally minded which is death but to be spiritually minded which is life and he therefore if any man be in

[39:47] Christ he is a new creature his great concern now is eternal reality and he will have new troubles his trouble will be what he was before he was born again and what he still is being what he is by nature which shall know every man the plague of his own heart so that he will have trouble because what he is by nature will often churn up within and he will have sins in thoughts words and deeds whereby he will need divine aid to appear before God and confess his guiltiness his undone state his inability to do good and to live the life that he would it will be a trouble to him that he cannot live as a new creature that seems so much of what he was before as the old creature that keeps intervening in all that he would be and do in living the life of the righteous but there is help to be had if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness which I must come to the amen he is a new creature and can you appear before

[41:23] God as it were you really are before God but can you look down into your heart and appear before God there that he has given you new eyes open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law new ears so that you say I would hear what God the Lord will say oh that is a mercy surprise not only so he will give you new feet new hands hands whereby you are glad to be prompted to do good work this opportunity is afforded do good unto all men especially they that be of the household of faith and remember new feet whereby you go up to the house of God with will and peace yes with joy they hasten to the place where they their saviour oft have met but they are prompted because they have a new heart a new nature and such and one is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new much might be said along that line of talk and there is just one word here for you to think about when you get home and now there is a very solemn picture in the old testament of one man who was head and shoulders above all the rest of

[43:11] Israel Saul Israel first king and now it says and remember it is the inspired word of God and the Lord gave unto Saul another heart not a new heart then you will see that he did quite a deal through the prompting of another heart but he failed altogether in becoming a new preacher and that needs thinking about you can become religious with another heart you can have a religious heart but the great thing is to become a new creature so that what God is pleased to work in he by his grace enables you to work out in your lips and life to show who you are and whom you serve and now from another viewpoint

[44:14] I'll be glad of this from the past this viewpoint you read about Ather Judas king he was a godly man he was a new creature he had a new heart but when you come down to Ather in his latter days there are very unhappy pages in that chapter of his life where it even speaks about that he was in a rage and he oppressed some of the people listen god has put in this qualification nevertheless the heart of Ather was perfect with the Lord all his days he was still right at heart though he was left to fall afraid of what he was by nature tempted by the devil to do it beyond all question and brought a reproach upon his profession in his own life evening time but now dear friends let this be our chief concern therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature all things are passed away behold all things are become new all that you and

[45:49] I may have grace to live right and at the last to die right this prayer and this ambition mind living and dying to be dying amen me you