The New Life - Part 2

The New Life - Part 2

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things are passed away;
behold, all things have become new. II Corinthians 5:17

The Promise of a New Life

• A Do Over
  
  • God has made this a reality through your commitment to & faith in Jesus Christ.
    
  • We still have the same name, address, and family, but we have begun a new life.
    
• II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
• Romans 6:6 NCV “We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin.”
  
  • It was condemned – Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
    
  • It was crucified – Jesus died for the sin of all humanity.
    
  • It was crushed – The power of sin was broken - At the cross, Jesus Christ triumphed over sin and broke its power over all those who receive Him.

How Do We Become New?

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ live in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

• By being forgiven
  
  • I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
    
• By being born again
  
  • John 3:5 “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
    
• By living a life of faith
  
  • I John 4:5 “And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.”

Sin is Forgiven:

• Past Sin
  
  • proto-prophecy of Genesis 3:15 & fulfilled in the cross
    
• Present Sin
  
  • Ongoing continual forgiveness
    
  • Proverbs 28:13 “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
    
• All Future Sin
  
  • Sanctification
    
  • Hebrews 13:12 “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”

What Becomes New?

• Romans 8:29a “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son”
  
  • The Lord has sent His Spirit into our lives to accomplish this renewal.
    
• The Holy Spirit will convict us in those areas that He is targeting for change.
  
  • As we yield ourselves to Him, He will begin the work of recreating us according to God’s design.

Spiritual Formation

Galatians 4:19 “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you”

1. Realize that this is a lifelong process.
   
2. Realize that this is an ongoing walk.
   
3. We must follow Him.

Life and Music

Growing Up

• Ephesians 4:15-16
  
• High in the Alps is a monument raised in honor of a faithful guide who perished while ascending a peak to rescue a stranded tourist. Inscribed on that memorial stone are these words:
  HE DIED CLIMBING.

Where to begin - 3 Keys

• First – Come to God – Seek Him!
  
  • Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
• Second – Get planted in a church
  
  • Psalm 92:13 “Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.”
• Third – Be obedient
  
  • James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

All New

A New Identity

• Galatians 3:26 “For you are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus”
  
• Jesus’ ID = John 13:3 “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God”

¿ SELF ?

• We live in a time where we are obsessed with:
  
  • Our self-actualization
    
  • Our self-image
    
  • Our self-worth
    
• We major in cultural blame-shifting and self-deception.
  
• Our philosophy is “I’m OK, you’re OK.”

People who continually congratulate themselves on their own OK-ness are not good candidates for grace. Need is the best incentive to entice us to the all sufficient Christ. Those who know they are spiritually hungry are swift to find the bread of God.
--- Calvin Miller - Into the Depths of God

Image Bearer
...for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13

A New Nature

• Galatians 4:6 “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’”
  
  • From innocence to guilty to redeemed!
    
• II Peter 1:4 “partakers of the divine nature.”
  
• What happens in the new birth is not getting new religion but getting new life.
  
  • “Christ showed us an entirely new way to be human.”
    --- Maximus the Confessor