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Devotions from Gospel Chapel Ministries HOME SERMONS SERMON NOTES
A NEW CREATION
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new," 2CO 5:17.
As the result of the fall, man by nature will serve self, Satan, and sin, but when the Holy Spirit works the work of regeneration, we become new creatures with new desires. This work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts renewing our desire to do whatsoever He commands us becomes the evidence of our salvation. 2CO 5:17 tells us, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." We have new desires and affections which set on new things rather than on the things of this world. Our desires and affections are set on things above.
The work of regeneration makes you a complete new man with new desires. Now you like and serve that which you once hated. Also, you come to hate those things of this world that you once loved. The work of regeneration is beautifully described in EPH 4:21-24, "If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
The fruits of regeneration, or this change of attitude, is revealed in our observance of the law of love as we see in the following verses. "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth," EPH 4:25-28.
The work of grace is a new creation; God created the world out of nothing, and there is nothing within us of our fallen nature which is pleasing to the Lord. The word grace as it is used throughout the New Testament comes from the Greek. It means "the divine influence of the Spirit upon the heart which is revealed in the life." It is by this divine influence of the Spirit upon the heart that our entire thought process and frame of mind must be renewed. It is a new creation which restores the heart's desire to be the friends of God; we are enemies of God by nature, and we have no desire to serve the Lord. By grace we become His friends; as JOH 15:14 says, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." This regeneration is the work of grace.
The new creation has the same purpose as the first creation: the glorifying of God, as we see in EPH 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." What does it mean to be foreordained? In the beginning before God created man, He ordained that we are to walk in the path He created us to walk; we should walk according to His will. Now do you see the central point of the gospel? The good news of the gospel is that man can be restored to the image from which he fell; we are created anew unto good works in Christ Jesus which God foreordained.
However, if we hold this in the context in which it was written, we see that there is no merit in our keeping of the law. The word do is the pivotal point of the entire gospel, even though it is our evidence that we have salvation, yet it is without merit. We do not do for the purpose of meriting salvation. EPH 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." So many people misunderstand what it means to be saved through faith. The word through in this instance comes from the Greek word dia which means by reason of, for the sake of the faith of Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ is "the channel of an act," or the channel through which it is conveyed. We are justified "by the faith of Jesus Christ," GAL 2:16. Our blessed Saviour is both "the author and finisher of our faith," HEB 12:2. Faith is the channel through which salvation is conveyed to us.
In EPH 2:8-9 we are told we are not saved by works so we might not boast of them. Even if we have done everything exactly as the law has demanded of us, we can only lay our crown at His feet to say that we are unprofitable servants for we have only done our duty. This leaves us nothing to boast of.
Here is an illustration. Suppose you drive your car cross country to New York. All the way you have not broken a speed limit, gone through one stop light, nor violated any law. When you arrive in New York, you make a mistake and go through a red light. Can you tell the police officer that you traveled all the way from Montana to New York without breaking any law, therefore this is excusable? No. It is your duty to keep the law all the way, that gives you nothing to boast of. Now we are talking about this one violation. That one violation is enough to bring you under the condemnation of the law.
It is not of our good works lest we should boast. If we kept every law of God but one; we have nothing whereof to glory; we have nothing to boast of, it is our duty to keep the law. It is the transgression of the law with which we must deal. That is why we need the atonement of Christ for salvation. We need the blood of Christ to take away the penalty of our sin, even if we broke only one commandment. JAM 2:10 says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
Before we can rightly understand how that word do can become the very contingency of our friendship with Jesus Christ, we must understand the difference between legal works and being re- created. Legalism is keeping the law out of compulsion; one obeys the letter of the law like a slave under a whip. The letter of the law is obeyed as the orders of God, and only because it is God's law. That is legalism.
The new creation is a transformation of our will; it gives us new desires to do the will or the pleasure of the Lord with delight. The Lord has no delight in anything we do grudgingly out of compulsion; the new creation gives a new desire to do His will because we hate sin. Now we have a desire to be delivered from sin.
Continuing on to EPH 2:10 we read, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Our old nature is brought under subjection by the Spirit, GAL 5:17. Then our new nature desires to do good works. Amen.
Revive thy work, O Lord,
Thy mighty arm make bare;
Speak with the voice that wakes the dead,
And make thy people hear.
Revive thy work, O Lord,
Disturb this sleep of death;
Quicken the smouldering embers now
By thine almighty breath.
Revive thy work, O Lord,
Create soul-thirst for thee
And hungering for the Bread of Life
O may our spirits be.
Revive thy work, O Lord,
Exalt thy precious Name;
And, by the Holy Ghost, our love
For thee and thine inflame.
Revive thy work, O Lord,
Give pentecostal showers;
The glory shall be all thine own,
The blessing, Lord, be ours.
These on-line devotions are a ministry of Gospel Chapel located in Conrad, Montana. We also have a daily devotion. See also our sermon notes. We pray this devotion has been a blessing to those who read it. Thank you.