Sermon #1807[1]                                                                    Miscellaneous Sermons

      Title:                                 The New Creation

      Text:                                 2 Corinthians 5:17

      Subject:               Regeneration and Reconciliation

      Introduction:

My subject is The New Creation. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5:17.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all-things are become new.”

As we look at this vast declaration of grace, and seek to know the message of this very important and instructive text, I pray that God the Holy Spirit will be pleased to perform this mighty work of grace in our midst this hour. — Oh that you might all leave here today new creatures in Christ!

“Therefore”

“Therefore” is a connecting word. It connects this statement with that which precedes it. “Therefore” is a word of conclusion. Paul is saying, “This is the conclusion, the only logical and reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from what I have just written.” This is the conclusion of his argument, the conclusion of the things he has declared for the instruction, comfort and edification of God’s elect.

His conclusion is, that all old things, even those of Divine appointment, having served their purpose and having waxed old, must pass away forever as of no value whatever to the new creation work of grace performed by God in the salvation of our souls.

·      Ceremonies

·      Priests

·      Holy Places

·      Holy Days

·      Holy Sabbaths

·      Holy Feasts

·      Symbols

·      Ceremonies

·      Laws

·      Carnal Ordinances

·      Old Motives

·      Old Ways

Someone has well said, that the cross of Christ is God’s monument erected over the grave of all carnal ordinances, sensuous ceremonies, fleshly sacrifices, earthly types and fleeting shadows.

“Therefore” directs our minds to the preceding context. Look at verse 14. — “For the love of Christ constraineth us.” In these words we have a figure of speech setting forth the irresistible power of the love of Christ. Like the current of a mighty river, it bears the souls of God’s elect to life, and peace, and joy, found only in the ocean of God’s infinite love.

(Psalms 46:4) “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.”

(Revelation 22:1) “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

The course of that river, the river of God’s eternal, uninfluenced, invincible and irresistible love is hidden from carnal minds. The sovereignty of God’s love is seen in this river proceeding from His throne, the throne of God and of the Lamb. It runs to the full extent of every redeemed sinner’s necessities, coming just where he is, sweeping away like a flood all his iniquities, transgressions and sins, overcoming his old prejudices, slaying his natural enmity to God’s way of saving him, and bringing him into association and communion with the great and glorious Three-in-One.

“For the love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.” — Precious, glorious revelation of grace! When Christ died, all His members died in Him.

·      We are dead to the law which has exhausted all its claims upon us.

·      We are dead to sin which lost its damning power over us when Christ our Surety died.

·      Sin as we may, and here I will tell you something more, — sin as we must, our sins can never damn us. God’s love is too vast, His grace too rich, His compassions too great to admit of the thought for a single moment.

See! “He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” Christ died for us, the Just for the unjust, that we might be just and live, not unto ourselves but unto God. — As the redeemed sinner is brought by the power of God the Holy Spirit into the experience of this blessed union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, as we are brought into experimental oneness with Christ in His sufferings, the ransomed, blood bought, heaven born soul lives not to himself, but to Him who loved him, died for him, rose again for him, appears in heaven for him and is ready in every season of temptation and trial to undertake for him, take up his cause and succor him with His richest consolations of grace.

Now look at verse 16: — “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.” What a mercy! We are not on the look out for the infirmities and failings of our tried and tempted brethren of Christ. We are not ready to judge the halting child of God after the sight of our eyes or according to the outward appearance. We are not eager to sit in the judgment seat to condemn those who, though sinning and sinners, are near and dear to Christ, who has compassion upon the ignorant and upon them that are out of the way.

Possessing the Spirit of Christ, being taught of God, we are brought down to the footstool of sovereign mercy and made to know and own ourselves the chiefest of sinners and the vilest of the vile. This I know by painful experience. I am compelled to cry with Paul, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.” There is in me a concentration of all that is abominable, bad, corrupt and depraved in connection with fallen humanity. Yes, that is a solemn confession and a terrible fact, horrible to acknowledge, but worse to deny (1 John 1:7-2:1).

When I know by the Word of God, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit and by my own heart that I am nothing but sin, how can I sit in judgment upon the weak, the erring and the fallen? Indeed, I cannot.

Yet how often I do! How often I find myself on old covenant ground speaking in old covenant terms, acting according to old covenant law and not according to new covenant liberty, judging according to wrath and not according to love, after the flesh and not after the Spirit, ignoring or not realizing the blessedness set before us in this precious portion, — “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.”

Noah’s Sons

I ask God the Holy Spirit to give me grace to behave toward my brethren as Noah’s two sons behaved toward their father. You remember the scene in the vineyard. Noah was drunk as a skunk. His son Ham saw it and reported his father’s shame; but the other two sons (Shem and Japheth) took a garment, went backwards and covered their father’s nakedness. They would not look on their father’s shame. They acted as though they knew nothing about it.

That is something like the way our God, in His rich and sovereign mercy, deals with us, His poor, weak and erring children. He brings us into the sweet enjoyment of that grace through which He will not and cannot see our failures, falls and imperfections in covenant union with Him in His Son. Thus favored and blessed, let us ever be ready to walk backward, turn their eyes another way and set our ears in another direction, when a brother or sister falls, or behaves inconsistently. — “Love covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). Only “an ungodly man diggeth up evil” (Proverbs 16:27).

(Galatians 6:1-2) “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (2) Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

Read on…verse 16 ——

“Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more.” — Few there are who have not known Christ after the flesh. There are many who vainly imagine that saving faith is nothing but fleshly, carnal knowledge. Modern heretics, like their Gnostic forefathers proudly, but foolishly, deny the work of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration, asserting that regeneration is not the new creation this passage declares it to be, that it is not the imparting of a new and righteous nature, but merely the acquirement of knowledge.

·      Historic knowledge is not heavenly knowledge.

·      Factual knowledge is not faith knowledge.

·      Religious knowledge is not righteous knowledge.

That which can be acquired without the supernatural work of the Spirit of God is not the work of the Spirit.

Spiritual knowledge is heavenly, not earthly. It is taken up with heavenly things, not carnal, earthly things. Let me show you an illustration of this. In 20:11-18 Mary Magdalene stood at the tomb of the risen Christ.

(John 20:11-18) “But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, (12) And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (13) And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. (14) And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. (15) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. (16) Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. (17) Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (18) Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.”

Mary was looking for the risen Redeemer in the regions of death, but He revealed Himself to her in the regions of life. — “Jesus saith unto her, Mary.” She knew His voice, and said unto Him, “Rabboni; which is to say, Master,” the One who had won her affections and held her heart. She was about to embrace him, when He stopped her and kept her at a distance on nature’s ground, saying: “Touch Me not: for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and to your God.” —— The Savior’s heart was in heaven with His Father, and He would have Mary’s there as well. He would have her not linger in selfish gratification with Him, but go and tell His brethren of His ascension to the home and the glory He was going to possess for them.

Let me ask you, Where is the place for true communion with our Lord Jesus Christ? Paul found it in the third heaven. (2 Corinthians 12:2); and he teaches us to set our hearts heavenward as well. — “For our conversation is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Our citizenship, our home is in heaven. This is set before us throughout the whole book of Ephesians.

·      Blessed with Christ in heavenly places (1:3) —

·      Glorified with Christ in heavenly places (1:20) —

·      Resting with Christ in heavenly places (2:6) —

·      Revealing the mystery of redeeming love to the angels in heavenly places (3:10) —

·      And wrestling with wicked spirits in heavenly places (6:12).

Heavenly places are places of Divine communion, instruction and learning. Surely that is one of the many things to be learned from what Paul tells us of his experience in 2^nd Corinthians 12. — “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth), such an one caught up to the third heaven,” there to enjoy a blessed revelation of grace too wonderful to put into words. With this revelation “a thorn in the flesh” and “the messenger of Satan” must be encountered. But that is little compared with the things learned in the Savior’s presence. Yonder, in heaven above, is the place of spiritual knowledge and learning.

Mary must not linger amid the shades of darkness, desertion and death. While her body was upon earth her spirit must ascend with the risen and glorified body of her Lord to His home, and to her home. This is the Word of the Spirit to you and me.

(Colossians 3:1-3) “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

Buffeted by Satan, burdened with sin and bowed down under the weight of the body of this death, look up to Christ in heaven. Set your affection on Him. There is no true place of worship except heaven. There we come to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant with “the spirits of just men made perfect” in living identification and union with the glorified God-Man heaven (Hebrews 12:22-24).

(Hebrews 12:22-24) “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (23) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (24) And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”

Here we meet together to sing sweet hymns of praise. Our hearts are moved by prayers of our brethren. And we hear the Gospel word proclaimed by faithful men. But if the heart is not lifted up by the power of God the Holy Spirit, if Christ is not spiritually present in our midst, if there is no identification with Him in the new life of grace, in the new creation, there can be no real worship.

“Therefore,” because the revelation of God to His people through Christ, in Christ, with Christ and by Christ, makes a clean sweep of the creature altogether, drives away all his plans, schemes, doings and dealings, and makes known to us the glorious fact, that the salvation of elect men and women is God’s work from first to last.

·      God the Father for me in purpose before the worlds were framed and to all eternity.

·      God the Son with me and me with Him in His life of suffering and sorrow and in His death and resurrection here below, and now in heaven above.

·      God the Spirit in me, regenerating, restoring and refreshing, creating a new man in me in righteousness and true holiness/

“Therefore,” all that I may have and everything I can have as the means of grace and the hope of glory, must be wholly of God and by God.

“If any man be in Christ”

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ.” — To be in Christ is to be one with Christ. — “In Christ.” What a glorious position that is! Are you in Christ? Am I in Christ? — To be in Christ is to be…

·      In His hands as my Surety.

·      In His Loins as my Head and Representative.

·      In His heart as my Priest.

·      In His Body as my Mediator.

(1 Corinthians 1:30-31) “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

I often hear God’s people, who know better, speak contrary to the revelation of Holy Scripture. Sadly, God’s people talk contrary to the revelation of God in Holy Scripture because preachers are far too careless in the way they handle, or mishandle the Book of God. Always cling to chapter and verse. There is nothing so convincing as “Thus saith the Lord.”

Sometimes people talk about being “Put into Christ;” but God’s elect were and are eternally in Christ, so there can be no such thing as putting into Christ. John Gill wrote, “faith does not put a man into Christ, but makes him appear to be in him.” The gift of faith makes it manifest that he is in Christ.

There’s a secret being in Christ from everlasting. All who are loved by Him, espoused to Him, chosen and preserved in Him are in Him secretly. He is their covenant Head, Surety and Representative. They are in Him, united to Him and one with Him, from everlasting. As Christ is one with the Father and the Father is one with Him, so we are one with Christ and Christ is one with us. As the head is in the body and the body is in the head, so we are in Christ and Christ is in us.

·      All God’s elect are in Christ by sovereign purpose, chosen, blessed and accepted in Christ.

·      We are in Christ by special purchase, by blood atonement, redeemed, reconciled to God and righteous..

·      Then, at the appointed time of love, God the Holy Spirit makes it manifest that we are in Christ spiritual power, by the gift of life and faith in Him.

‘Twixt Jesus and the chosen race

Subsists a bond of sovereign grace,

That hell, with its infernal train,

Shall ne’er dissolve nor rend in vain

Hail! sacred union, firm and strong,

How great the grace, how sweet the song,

That worms of earth should ever be

One with incarnate Deity!

[One with Christ Jesus as He lived

My righteous Representative,

One with my Savior crucified,

I died with Jesus when He died!]

One in the tomb, one when He rose,

One when He triumphed o’er His foes,

One when in heaven He took His seat,

While seraphs sang all hell’s defeat.

This sacred tie forbids their fears,

For all He is or has is theirs;

With Him, their Head, they stand or fall,

Their life, their surety, and their all.”

— John Kent

This is a living union. If any man be “in Christ” he is justified and accepted. (Ephesians 1:6). If any man be “in Christ” he is alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22). If any man be “in Christ” his sin is put away, for him death is abolished and life and immortality brought to light through the Gospel. If any man be “in Christ” he has every blessing of God stored up for that man in Him.

If you are in Christ and I am in Christ, as we are one with Christ, so we are one in Christ. In Christ all outward distinctions forever cease. In Christ all are of one mind and one spirit. — “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Galatians 6:15). The Holy Spirit tells us plainly that the middle wall of partition, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances which stood as a barrier between Jew and Gentile, was broken down by the death of Christ, and now God looks upon mankind as divided into two classes only — the elect and the reprobate — the redeemed and the unredeemed, — “To make in Himself of twain (elect Jew and Gentile) one new man” (Ephesians 2:15). Blessed be God, there is now no distinction whatever between the two.

“A New Creature”

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” — If anyone is in Christ, in the blessed experience of grace, if anyone is in Christ in this living and vital union of God’s making, he is a new creature, or a new creation.

What is it to create? It is not making or forming a new thing out of an old one. It is not changing something. It is not transforming an object. It is not converting something from one thing to another. A new creature is not an old creature renovated, adorned and beautified. It is not the flesh with its corruptions and lusts trimmed and trained; but it is the new and Divine nature with its spiritual blessings, immunities and privileges. It is not taking old Adam and washing, clothing and adorning him, making him religious and very pretty to the outward eye. It is not that.

It is a new creation altogether. Therefore if I am in Christ Jesus, I am a partaker of a new nature — a partaker of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), a partaker of His resurrection life (Ephesians 2:6), and all this according to the Father’s promise before all worlds (Titus 1:2).

(Titus 1:2) “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”

Life was promised to Christ for His people, and at the set time of love He communicates it to His own by His Spirit through the ministry of His own Word. Exactly how this is brought to pass, I daresay, few if any really know. The poor, broken-hearted, heavy-laden sinner finds himself trusting Christ. When he is questioned by those who seek to judge the validity of professed grace in others, most can only answer in the words of the blind man recorded in John 9:25: — “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

Once I was blind and dead to God’s Christ, to God’s covenant and to God’s salvation. I was blind and dead to precious, sin-atoning blood, justifying righteousness, regenerating grace, restoring mercy and that peace of God which passeth all understanding. But now in union with the Lamb I love to dwell upon those glorious things that are found in Him alone. In Him, by Him and through Him I delight in electing love, redeeming grace and regenerating mercy. I love to experience the revivings of grace that flow to my soul through the wounds of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to my heart.

“A new creation” is found only in union with Him who was made sin for us, that they “might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” A new, Divine nature, (2 Peter 1:4) not a mere influence, but a real existence in living union with a risen, exalted and glorified Christ is what Paul is describing. This new creature is not a new principal, but a new person, “Christ in you!”

This is always attended by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but the new creature is not the Holy Spirit. It is born of the Spirit. It was the Spirit of God who formed the sacred humanity of our Lord Jesus in the virgin’s womb; but He is not that humanity. What a glorious union this is! — One with the Person of a glorified Christ! Words cannot be found better suited to describe this union than the words of our most glorious Christ in His prayer to the Father in John 17:21-23.

“That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One. I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in One; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.”

This is glorious oneness. As the Divine Three are equally, eternally and essentially One, so are the members of Christ one with Him, their living Head. This is a marvelous and mysterious oneness which can never be fully known until we stand perfect and complete in the light of His glory. Then we shall know even as we are known. As the Three Persons in the Godhead are One, so are the partakers of the new creation one with Christ. He appears in heaven for us, and blessed be His holy name, “as He is so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). If we are one with Him by His Father’s electing love, His own redeeming blood and His Spirit’s regenerating grace, then His Father is our Father, His righteousness our righteousness, His nature our nature, His home our home and His glory our glory.

“Old Things Are Passed Away”

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away.” — Blessed be God, that old thing SIN, which, in my unregenerate state, maintained its authority over me, is gone, passed away. How did it pass away? I can only answer you in the language of God’s blessed Word.

(Isaiah 53:6) “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

(Hebrews 9:26) “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

By the faith of God’s own giving I see by the Father’s own act, all my sin passed away from me to my adorable Surety and Savior, and an end made of it by His sin-atoning death.

That old thing, THE CURSE OF THE LAW, passed away. How? — “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Galatians 3:13). In thus becoming a curse for us He became the “end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4). “The end of the law” — What an expressive term! What does it mean? It means that He went to the end of all the law’s requirements in the perfect obedience He rendered to its precepts, that He went to the end of all the law’s penal threatenings which He silenced by the sufferings He endured. What is the end of a debt? The payment. Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, took and paid every debt owed by His bride, and in the sweet experience of this we sing,-

“Complete atonement Thou hast made,

And, to the utmost farthing, paid

Whate’er Thy people owed;

How, then, can wrath on me take place,

If sheltered in Thy righteousness

And sprinkled with Thy blood!”

By the application of that precious blood to my heart, every question of sin between me and my God is settled, every transgression over which my chastened spirit has grieved is removed, is passed away.

That old thing, CONDEMNATION is passed away. All that was due to me was borne by my sinless Surety by Him who said, to sin, law, condemnation and death, which sought and found Him, — “If ye seek Me, let these go their way” (John 18:8).

That old thing of fleshly fear, DEATH, passed away. “Christ hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel; and when Christ who is our Life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” Death may be dreaded, but can never be felt or experienced by a sinner in living union with Christ. “Old things are passed away.”

·      My old notions of salvation by merit, salvation by my fleshly co-operation, salvation by my doing something and Jesus doing the rest, passed away.

·      My old degrading views of Christ passed away.

·      And now in the light of His glorious Gospel, I see Him altogether lovely, His salvation perfect, His righteousness complete, His intercession effectual and His glory sure.

He is the Author and the Finisher of my faith, and the Performer of all things for me in the presence of His Father and mine. We now notice,—

“All Things New”

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” — Yes, a Christian, a believer is a new man, with a new life, in a new world. He experiences life in a risen and ascended Christ and immortality in spiritual union with Him.

(John 11:25-26) “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (26) And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

(Galatians 2:20) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Here is a wonderful paradox — dead, yet in full possession of a life that can never die. The time of dissolution must and will come to all who are not to remain until the coming of the Lord. But this will be a ceasing of death, ceasing to die and a beginning to live unfettered and free in the eternal embrace of our covenant God in Christ! It is this which cheers our souls under many dark and trying dispensations and gives us a gracious lifting of heart in the midst of earthly bondage and causes us to rejoice in spirit when the hearts of all around us are bowed down. The living in Jerusalem know that neither law, nor sin, nor Satan, nor condemnation, nor death, nor hell, nor all combined, can ever affect our interest in God, nor God’s interest in us.

In Christ Jesus the new creature enjoys the blessings of this world, even of a world in ruins, yet possessing beauties and blessings rich and rare to the sanctified mind and spiritually illumined eye. The possessor of life in oneness with Christ, though he may not possess an ounce of this world’s goods, can look upon all things with joy and say, “All things are mine, for I am Christ’s and Christ is mine!”

“All things are become new.” LIFE instead of death! —Salvation instead of slavery! — RIGHTEOUSNESS instead of sin! — JUSTIFICATION instead of condemnation! — ACCEPTANCE instead of banishment! — PEACE instead of enmity!

·      New affections fixed upon things above.

·      New hopes entering within the veil.

·      New relatives: God my Father, Christ my Brother, The Holy Ghost my Friend and Companion, The saints my associates, Heaven my home.

The new creature has all things new!

·      A New Nature

·      A New Covenant

·      A New Name

·      A New Record

·      A New Relationship

·      A New Understanding

·      A New Mind

·      A New Heart

·      A New Will

·      A New Father

·      A New Brother

·      A New Family

·      A New Rule

·      A New Husband

A New Hope

JEHOVAH Three-in-One and One-in-Three my exceeding and eternal joy. And blessed be His holy name, He has put a new song in my mouth and given me a new heart, by which I can praise Him for bringing me up from the pit of corruption, setting my feet upon the Rock of eternal ages, ordering my goings, holding my hand and keeping my feet in the way.

Almost every year I travel to a foreign country preaching the Gospel of Christ. I have crossed the borders of our nation north, south, east and west. Whenever you leave this country and cross into another, three things are required.

(1)           You must have a birth certificate to prove your citizenship.

(2)           You must have a visa from the country receiving you.

(3)           You must have a clean record, no criminal record.

Soon I will leave this land of sorrow and sin. I hope to enter into the bliss and glory of heaven. I hope to stand forever accepted as a citizen of the New Jerusalem. Here is the basis of my hope.

A BIRTH CERTIFICATE — The Lord God has given me a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). There is in me a new man, created of God in righteousness and true holiness.

A VISA — I Have a right to enter into heaven itself by the blood of Christ, because I am robed in His righteousness. God says, “It must be perfect to be accepted,” and in Christ I am perfect! He has made me perfectly righteous before God!

A CLEAR RECORD — Jesus Christ has purged away all my sins with His own precious blood. Therefore God will never charge me with any sin (Romans 4:8). When I stand before God and He searches the books for iniquity and sin under my name, He will find none (Jeremiah 50:20). DO YOU HAVE WHAT GOD REQUIRES?

May the Lord add His blessing to His Word for His own name’s sake.

Amen.

Don Fortner

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