2008年5月11日星期日

Bible Study on 14th May 08 2 Corinthians 5:17

How might the world identify a person who is a Christian? People think Christian as someone who has got religion; someone goes to Church in regular basis; someone believe in the bible message; someone different from me. What conversions have taken place? What changes a person would experience when he is in Christ?

Tonight, we will focus on the verse 17 from 2 Corinthians 5:

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new had come.
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (KJV)

Human once were new creature when God by His mighty created power created the heaven and earth and all within. All have sinned and for short of glory of God. Sin has separated human from God. God is love, by His great mercy and infinite grace, all believers have been in right relation again with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. God has infinite power to create the infinite universe; the infinite and all in its ordered universe require infinite power to be created. God has the infinite power to create the vast universe, moon, sun and all the glaciers, therefore, God also in no doubt has the power to renew us from our sin, and we are called new creature when we are in Christ! It is wonderful news for everyone who believes in Christ, isn't it? We are renewed by God' infinite power through Christ. Only Christ is worthy, able and willing to bear the sins of the world.

I. In Christ, we are new creature. What means by in Christ?

In John 15, Jesus talked about the Vine and the Branches. ‘Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.’ If we are in Christ, He is in us. If He is in us, we then can bear fruit, the fruit of truth and love.
In Him, we have redemption. Ephesians 1:7 "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.". "In fact the law requires that nearly every things be cleansed with Blood and without the shedding of Blood there is no forgiveness." (Hebrews 9:22)
In him, our sins God remembers no more and we are not under God’s wrath but His Grace. Hebrew 10:11-17”…..”. His death is once for all. As our sins have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin needed. Romans 8:1-2 declares: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.....'.
1 John 1:8 and Paul’s illustration of “our struggling with sin” in Roman 7. Sins are still dwelling in us but not overrule us, sin has lost its power and authority, Roman 8:9 (Spirit in control if we are in Christ) because Colossians 2:13-15. Rome 6:22 “But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. “
Not only our sins are forgiven, but we are holy and blameless in God's sight if we are in Christ. Ephesians 1: 4 “For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Col. 1:22 “Yet now He has brought you back as His friends. He has done this through His death on the cross in His own human body. As a result, He has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault. “
In Christ, we are co-heir with Christ. Romans 8:17: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and CO-HEIRS with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.”

II. In Christ, we are new creature.
There are two Greek words with meaning 'New'. One is Neos: new in general. The other is Kinos: brand new, freshly developed, and wonderfully renewed. Here the new is the Greek word Kinos implies the transformation is complete and it is totally change by God. How? 1 Peter 1: 3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” I like the example of Butterfly. Butterfly looks so different after the transformation taken place. It has been totally changed from the looking of a caterpillars to the looking of butterfly. Which one you like? Or you like non of them. However, when we are converted, we change inwardly--- we became a totally new man, old things passed away and behold, new things have come. If we are truly in Christ, we will have a heart for the Lord, hunger for His spiritual food, thirst for His divine word and want to live a holy life to please Him. Outwardly, we are old we, still in our perishable body, but inside, God is living in our heart if we are in Christ.
And, what are the contrasts between old and new.

1. Walk in the light, but not in the darkness.
1 John 1: 5-7 'This is the message we have heard...., purifies us from all sin.'

2. Suffer for Christ sake and for His glory, but not for our own.
1 John 3: 13, 1 Peter 1:1, 6-7 and John 16:19-24, blessings are in disguise.

3. Not love the world but love Trinity God and love one another.
Psalm 73:25 'Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire beside you.' 1 John 2: 15 ',....’ The greatest commandment Mark 12: 30-31, 1 John 4:7-12.

4. Have confidence and faith in God rather than in our own.
Hebrews 11:1 'Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see'. Hebrews 11:6.

Our faith in God is based on the divine character of God, on what he has done for us, so great and immeasurable, for sinner like me He forsake his one and only son to die for me so that our sins could be forgiven. Our confidence in God comes from the fact that 2 Corinthians 1: 20. Before we were converted, we have confident in our own, believe our own strength. But, there is far more mighty, far more great, far more wise than we are, the trinity God, He is mighty in power and abundant in love, who we could firmly rely on.

In Christ, we are new creatures. It is like: Once we were lost and now we are found. Once we were walking in the darkness and now we are walking in the light. Once we were blind and now we see. He who is in Him is born again, born of spirit and not of flesh.