NU THANG 1

New Creations.

 

Bruce Chant

generation-j

26/07/2002

 

 

Who likes new things? I love new things. Today I got a new car!

I love the new car smell – in fact you can actually get new car smell trees for your car. That proves people love the newness!

 

Look at my car and look at Yestin’s. Which would you prefer? The old or the NEW? New – why? It’s better!

 

2 Corinthians 5:17  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

 

Because of Jesus – we are new creations. We are not what we used to be we are transformed and new. Jesus has given us a NEW start, a NEW life, a NEW way of understanding the world, a NEW value system, a NEW hope.

 

New things, new smells, newness is to be valued – it’s things that aren’t broken down, damaged, messed up, hurt, stained, rusted. It’s fresh, clean, sturdy, together. It’s a great thing that the Lord promised us – if you are in my kingdom, you aren’t the old broken down, stained, rusted, dented old you – you are a NEW you!!

 

What does it mean to be a NEW creation?

And how do I live as a new creation? (maybe you need a circuit-breaker in your life)

 

Ephesians 2:1-5

1Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. 2You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.
4But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!)

 

 

This shows us we were dead in Sin – OLD way living.

This was because we walked according to the Spirit of this World.

Sin is our enemy and Jesus defeated it.

Passions and desires of our evil nature – OLD way.

But because of Jesus we are CHANGED:

 

We are transformed by 2 things:

  1. God’s Love (v4)

John 3:16 – Jesus embodied the Fathers love for us.

Love never fails.

 

Romans 5:7-10
7Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment. 10For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.

 

Have you ever been around someone that just showed you love? A silly example is a dog – it lifts your demeanor – because it shows straight out love.

 

Thru God’s love for us (his creation as sinful and old and rotten as we are) we are totally changed:

We are made alive – no longer dead.

We are reconciled to our Father in heaven (no longer His enemy). Things changed when this took place.

 

  1. God’s Grace (v5)

It means a New Start:

By God’s GRACE we have a new start. It’s a circuit breaker.
All the old mistakes are forgiven.

All the old ways of living are behind you.

 

It’s not because of who you are – but only as a gift because of Jesus Christ.

He was the perfect, sinless sacrifice who died to pay the price of our sins. The wage of sin is death – and Christ paid it so you could be free, to live as you were created and bring him glory.

It isn’t because you are nice so stop thinking you can deserve it you can’t.

 

All you need to do is RECEIVE it.

 

Being a New Creation is not living by man’s rules but by God’s Book. We follow Jesus not the Philosophies of man. The bible is from God not just about God. It does not originate from man. Neither does our NEW start. Living as a new creation is living according to the book not our opinion.

 

OLD vs NEW ways.

Even though NEW things are so much better than old things - it’s surprising so many people live stuck in the OLD way of living life.

 

Acts 7:39 “But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.”

 

It says Moses led the Israelites out of the desert but they liked the old better. Because of God they had so much to have hope in but they decided it was too much, lets go back to the old way.

That’s like me waiting to get a new car saying nah it’s too much I’ll go for the old car.

 

Notice what is says – “they rejected Him in their hearts.”

 

The Heart – Seat of all Decision Making.

You can have the NEW creation life – but you have to decide to embrace it IN YOUR HEART.

 

The heart is the seat of all decision making – eg footy tipping – head vs heart.

 

It isn’t about rules – it’s about the condition of your heart.

Is it towards God? Open to God? Embracing God? Thankful to God?

Or is it rebellious rejecting God? Is it full of self? Human folly?

 

Rejecting God and His gift is no small thing – but everytime we live by the old rules we do exactly that. It’s insulting! God will forgive you – but don’t mess with Him.

 

We need to decide with every area of our lives we will live as NEW CREATIONS. The Holy Spirit has been given to us. He lives within us – but in our hearts we still need to make the decision to go with the NEW over the old.

 

We will look at how you do this – the NEW ways in many areas of life over the next term.

 

 

 

 

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