 We are in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 in this text, certainly this text that deals with the Christian ministry as a whole, but specifically now in this paragraph that runs from verses 16 through 19. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14, Paul makes a clear and defining statement pertaining to Christian ministry. He says there, for the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all that those who live, those who now live in him should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. For those who have been united together with him in the likeness of his death according to Romans chapter 6 verse 5, their old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with. That we, those who are in him, should no longer be slaves of sin. Those who are said to be in Christ are dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. They no longer live for themselves. That old man is dead. Those in Christ walk in newness of life. They now live for him who died for them and rose again. So before the Spirit of God gives them life from dead, from the dead in new birth, before someone is united together with him by faith, before Christ loves for them, displayed at the cross, arrests them, constrains them, compels them to live for him, all that a lost person can do is live for themselves. And to prove this point, I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, a lost person does not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as king over them. Someone who is not genuinely repented and genuinely put saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ does not honor Christ as king. They all ultimately do what is right in their own eyes and God gives a damning diagnosis of the human condition clearly laid out for us in Romans chapter 1. Look at Romans chapter 1 verse 18, the unbeliever, the one who rejects Christ as Lord, the unbeliever suppresses the truth of God in their sin. Romans chapter 1 verse 21, the unbeliever, the unsaved person, they know God but they do not glorify him as God nor are they thankful. If they were truly thankful, they would follow Christ by faith. If they were truly grateful, they would turn from their sin. They would turn from their rebellion and they would turn to Christ in faith. Their thoughts are futile or vain or worthless. Their hearts are darkened. Romans chapter 1 verse 22, thinking themselves to be wise, they are fools. Romans chapter 1 verse 24, they are given over to uncleanness, the lusts of their hearts. They dishonor their bodies in which they are to glorify God and they use their bodies in sexual immorality in all manner of ungodliness. Romans chapter 1 verse 26, their passions are vile. Some of them, even to the point of homosexuality, that which is unnatural and shameful. Romans chapter 1 verse 28, they forget all about God. They don't want to remember God. More than that, they don't want to retain God in their mind at all. They don't want him influencing their thoughts. They don't want him influencing or oppressing their actions. Romans chapter 1 verse 29, they are filled with unrighteousness. Their unrighteous deeds include sexual immorality, which includes pornography, it includes lustful desire. They are filled with wickedness, covetousness, which means jealousy or greed, wanting something that belongs to someone else. Something that you are willing to sin to get. Example, you want someone's approval so bad that you're willing to lie to them to have it. They are malicious. They are envious. They are murderous. They cause strife. They cause contention. They deceive. They devise evil plans. They whisper. They gossip. They slander to divide. They backbite against those who get in their way. Some of this sounds like professing Christians we know. Romans chapter 1 verse 30, ultimately the lost person hates God. If not by their words, certainly by their works, right? They do violence. They are proud. The unbeliever is boastful. They invent ways to be evil. They're inventors of evil. They're disobedient to parents. They're undiscerning, untrustworthy. A lost person is unloving. An unbeliever is unforgiving, unmerciful. Romans chapter 1 verse 32, they know the righteous judgment of God. They have a conscience. They have the laws of God written on their heart. They know that both those who practice such things as well as those who approve of such things are deserving of death. The problem is that the lost person just doesn't care. The unbeliever doesn't care. Romans chapter 2 verse 1, they have no excuse before God. Romans chapter 2 verse 5, they are hard-hearted and in their impenitence they are storing up wrath for themselves. Many say to themselves, I'm rich. I've become wealthy. I have need of nothing. I've become comfortable. I liked my life. I don't need to change. They do not know that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Romans chapter 2 verse 8, these who live for themselves and they do not obey the truth, they will suffer the eternal torrent of God's righteous wrath in hell. By their thoughts, by their actions, if not by their words, the lost person cries out against the knowledge of God. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. Some might say to themselves, I know a nice unbeliever. He's not like that. What's likely then, you're not married to him. It's likely then that he doesn't live under your roof for any length of time. Let him live in your house for a while. Crawl into his heart and mind and this diagnosis is what you will find to be true there. Many will protest. I love Jesus. Many will say that. John chapter 14 verse 21, Jesus says to the one who loves me, he's the one who keeps my commandments. Luke chapter 6 verse 46, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say? First John chapter 4 verse 20, how can you say that you love God whom you don't see when you don't demonstrate biblical love for your brothers here in the church whom you do see? No. You don't love Jesus if you live that way, if you live for yourself. God's diagnosis of the human condition is grim. We are not inherently good, despite all of this world would try to tell you. To the contrary, you are not inherently good. Solomon says that life lived for yourself is vanity and grasping for the wind. Solomon says I've seen all the works that are done under the sun and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from pleasure. My heart rejoiced in all my labor and this Solomon says was my reward. I looked on all the works that my hands had done on all the labor in which I toiled. Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no prophet under the sun. Why does Solomon say that? Because one event happens to you just like it happens to the fool. It happens to both small and great. It happens to those who try to do good and it happens to those who do not do good. It happens to rich, poor, it happens to male, female. It happens to imprisoned, free, strong, weak. You brought nothing into this world. You can be certain that you're carrying nothing out of it. And if you're living life for yourself, then all the days of this vain life pass like a shadow and you go to the dead with nothing but an expectation of suffering. All is vanity and grasping for the wind. When you put your priorities in work, when you put your priority in pleasure, when you put your priority in comfort, when you put your priorities in the things of this life, it is vanity. You are grasping for the wind. It slips through your fingers and it's gone. And then you're in hell. Solomon says, remember your Creator. Remember the one who made you, who fashioned you to live for His glory. Fear God, Solomon says. Keep His commandments for this is man's all. This is not your best life now. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. And understanding that we know that in Him there is hope in Christ beyond the grave. There is no hope beyond this short, vaporous, fleeing temporal life if you're not in Christ. But there is hope in Christ beyond the grave. As we'll see from our text this morning, that hope is not grounded in a work done by you. That hope is only possible based upon a work done in you by Almighty God. We must be radically transformed from the inside out. We just heard a damning diagnosis of our condition apart from any work of God in us. We need to be radically transformed. This is our nature's overhaul. For those who give up living life for themselves and turn to sin, turn from sin to entrust themselves to Christ and to live for Christ, behold, Paul says, in Christ all things have become new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. God, in and of himself, according to the good pleasure of His own will, in great and abundant grace and mercy to us, God reaches into our wretched condition and He creates something new from the old. And Paul talks about that blessed reality in the text before us, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 16 through 19. If Christ died for us, then we died to sin and self in Him. We die to ourselves and live in Him. And He died for us so that we who now live in Him live in union with Him. We should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again. Therefore, therefore verse 16, from now on living for Him, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore verse 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Verse 18, now all things, now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Behold, Paul says, all things have become new. Amen. Referring to the outline provided for you in your worship folder, I want you to see that in Christ, Paul has one, a new perspective. Two, he is a new person. Three, Paul has a new position in Christ. And four, he has a new priority, a new perspective, a new person, a new position, and a new priority. Look first with me at Paul's new perspective, our new perspective if we're in Christ from verse 16, where Paul says, therefore from now on, since we have died in him, since we now live to him, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Notice with me from verse 16, that those in Christ have an entirely new outlook on the world. They have a new perspective. We have stopped considering people, considering others in ways in which we used to consider them. We have died to sin and self in Christ. The old man has been crucified with him. We now live in union with Christ and the way that we see the world has been transformed. If you are in Christ, you have a new outlook on the world. You have a new world view. Your mind in Christ has been renewed and you just see things differently, right? You see things differently, the things that we value, the things that we love, the way that we think about marriage, the way that you think about your spouse. Tell me, when you are converted, do you think about your spouse then differently? Yes, you have a new mind, a new heart. The way that we think about work, the way that we think about family, about child-rearing, the way that we think about our finances. Our priorities change. They should change, right? They will change if you are in Christ, if you are in new creation. Our goals, our desires, our plans, the things that we want, right? The things that we desire change. Those who have died to send himself in Christ have been given new values. It's an entirely new value system. This is not something you can do in yourself, right? This is something that God, by His Spirit, does in you. He transforms you. You in Christ have new affections, new desires, new goals, new priorities, new plans. That new perspective, that new outlook on the world certainly includes here how Paul views other people. Paul now no longer regards, he no longer perceives them, he no longer views them according to the flesh. He doesn't appraise anyone according to worldly or external standards. He no longer judges people according to outward appearance. That's a person I'd hang out with. That's a person I wouldn't. She looks pretty good to me. We don't regard someone according to outward standards. According to the flesh, our perspective has been transformed. This once hateful and racist Pharisee was freed from prejudice, from wicked racism. The one who persecuted Christians, the one who consented to their death, the one who hated Gentiles, hated Christians, now would say we are all one in Christ. In Galatians 3 verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek. For Paul the Pharisee to say that, that is a paradigm shift in Paul's thinking, right? There is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In verse 16, Paul once viewed Christ according to these worldly standards. Paul saw him as a traitor to the Jews. Jesus Christ was a rebel. He was an insurrectionist. Christ was a heretic, a rule-making messianic imposter. And Paul was set on his eradication. Jesus Christ in Paul's eyes deserved to be crucified as did anyone who followed after him. He was cursed of God because cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. And Paul says in verse 16, that yet now he knows him thus no longer, right? An encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus changed Paul's perspective, changed his understanding of who Jesus Christ is. It radically transformed the way that he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, his Savior, God's promise deliverer. It just changed the way that he viewed the Lord. When the light of the knowledge of the glory of God blinded Paul, knocked him off his high horse on the road to Damascus, when the Spirit of God caused his spiritually blind eyes to now finally see. Imagine the picture, right? Paul physically blinded on the road to Damascus by the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, physically blinded. He now has spiritual eyes to see as he should. When his heart of stone was crushed upon the rock of our salvation, Paul saw the risen Christ no longer according to the flesh. Paul saw the Pharisee saw much differently than Paul the apostle, right? The one whom he had persecuted is Lord of heaven and earth. The one whom he had sought to destroy any remembrance of is God the Son, crucified for sinners, raised from the dead in glory. Lord Jesus Christ transfigured before the sight of Paul. When Paul's view of Christ changed, Paul's view of everything else changed. And that's a lesson that you and I need to take from this part of our text. When Paul's view of Christ changed, Paul's view of everything changed. Philippians chapter 3 verse 7. But what things were gained to me? These I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung that I may gain Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being conformed to His death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. If someone says, I've been saved by Christ and they don't have this affection for Christ, they've not been saved by Christ. They haven't had that perspective transformed. They've not been given spiritual eyes to say Christ is precious. He is the treasure in the field. He is the pearl of great price. He is the one for whom you will count all things lost to gain Him. When a sinner is born again from being dead in sin, when they're knocked off their high horse in the course of living life for themselves, when they are given a new heart and their blind eyes are opened, they see Christ no more according to their foolish and worldly standards, right? He's no longer the one who gets in the way of what you want to do. I'm just trying to live my life here and you're getting in my way with your Christianity, right? He's no longer boring. You're no longer indifferent to Him. You could no longer just take Him or leave Him. The joy of heaven will be the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ among His people. The worship of Him, the praise of Him, the love of Him from a pure heart and a clean conscience with no sin getting in the way. The worship of Him, not someone you merely pay lip service to on a Sunday morning. He is the Lord of glory. He is altogether lovely, adorned with majesty and splendor and glory and beauty. One for whom you would gladly suffer the loss of all things to gain, all sufficient, all satisfying Savior of your soul. And when you see Him that way, when your perspective of Christ is transformed, when you see Him no longer according to the flesh, you suddenly see your sin as exceedingly sinful. And Peter's on the boat in Luke chapter 5, and he sees a glimpse of a glorious God in the face of Jesus Christ. Peter's first response was, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man, right? Do you see your sin as exceedingly sinful? And you see Christ as the one who has paid the price to save you from your sin. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. When you get a new perspective, that's the response of the Christian. That's the response of renewed heart. That's the response of a renewed mind. That's a response to the spirit's work in the heart and in the mind. When you see Him with spiritual eyes, you suddenly see others also, don't you, in relation to Him. They're just not any longer. An object of lust, an object of greed, an object of covetousness. You see them in relationship to Him. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus was preaching to the multitudes. When he was told that his mother and his brothers were outside wanting to speak to him, Jesus answered, Who are my brothers? Who's my mother? For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. He no longer regarded his mother, his brothers, according to the flesh. He saw them in the right perspective. Jesus Christ always regarded them the way that he should. He did not regard them according to the flesh. Every true Christian, for every true Christian, skin color is a non-issue. If you are in Christ, that wicked, deplorable, disgusting racism is gone. You do not regard anyone according to the flesh. Skin color is a non-issue. When you're in Christ, it doesn't matter if they're attractive or unattractive, if they're rich or if they're poor. If they're like you or not like you, the one in Christ sees the world relative to Christ. Are they in Christ or not? That's how you see them, right? That's the basis on which we are to assess those we meet. Is this my brother or is this someone I need to evangelize to? Like every genuine Christian has a new perspective. Where does that new perspective come from? Where does that radical change in the heart and in the mind come from? What's the cause of that? That's our second point. Paul is a new person. He's a new person. We see that in verse 17. Paul says there in verse 17, If anyone is in Christ, Jew, Greek, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, male, female, those worldly distinctions are gone. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now notice first that Paul begins here in verse 17 with a conditional statement. It's a conditional statement. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Literally in the Greek, if anyone is in Christ, new creation, right? If someone is turned from sin to saving faith in Christ, if their faith is genuine and their faith is saving, then they are, they are a new creation. No exceptions, no excuses. There is no such thing as a carnal Christian. There is no such thing as an in-between. If they are in Christ, they are a new creation. Someone in Christ who is not a new creation is defined by the world now as a carnal Christian. No one can claim to be in Christ who has not been radically transformed by the Spirit of God. No one can claim to be in Christ who has not been transformed. The distinguishing mark of every true Christian is that they have been made a new creation. Those who say, I'm in Christ and nothing happens to their life, there's no change, they profess to know Him, but in works they deny Him. You see, there's no power in that quote-unquote gospel. The call of the gospel is not behavior modification. The call of the gospel is not to make your decision. The call of the gospel is not improvement. The fruit of the gospel is not salvation without transformation. The salvation of sinful man necessitates an entirely new creation out of the old. Our condition as we are born in Adam, being totally depraved by nature, children of wrath, like sons of disobedience, that reality necessitates an entirely new creation out of the old. Spurgeon said, He is not the old man purified. He is not the old man improved. He is not the old man in a better humor. He cannot be mended. He must be ended. The scripture does not say he must be improved. The scripture says you must be born again. Notice next by implication. If anyone is not in Christ, then that one is not a new creation. Nor will he ever be renewed. Nor will he ever be changed. Nor will he ever be a new creation, apart from a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, all things grow old, and all things are ready to perish as a fruit of this new creation, verse 17. Old things, your old way of life, old desires, old affections, old values, old priorities, old goals, all those things, all of those things which characterize the old man, which was growing corrupt according to deceitful lusts. Paul says all these things, all these old things have passed away and behold. There's a sense of joy, exuberance, delight. There's a sense of delight in that word. Behold, Paul says. Put three exclamation points behind it. All things have become new, not some things. The transformation of heart and mind is an entire break with the old. It doesn't mean you're automatically saved as sin was perfection. But the way that you think changes, the way that you see the world changes, your perspective changes, your desires change, your affections, all those old things change. They're changed, and then by virtue of that new birth, being made alive in Christ, the Spirit of God goes to work in the heart of man to conform that one into the image of the Son of God, separating Him day by day from His sin, working in Him to do into will according to God's good pleasure. The Lord describes in Ezekiel 36, verse 26, is getting a new heart, a new heart, a heart transplant. He places a new spirit within you. You have a new heart within you, a new spirit within you that inevitably, inevitably results in new attitudes, new affections, new desires, new priorities. You yourself are under new management. No longer living according to the flesh, but now walking according to the Spirit. The doctrine that is being spoken of here by Paul is the doctrine of regeneration, the doctrine of the new birth. Paul explains that beautifully for us in Ephesians chapter 2. Turn there with me. Ephesians chapter 2, and we see here in verse 1, the doctrine of regeneration. In his conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3, the Lord refers this as the new birth. Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. It speaks of inability. You're unable to, you can't. Apart from new birth, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1. Paul says, and you, you are in Christ, and you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, not sick, not under the weather, dead. What can a dead man do? Stink, right? A dead man can't do anything. A dead man can't raise himself to life. A stillborn child can't birth themselves. We are born, and we live physically, but by virtue of Adam's fallenness in, we are stillborn spiritually. We are walking dead, like zombies, right? Now we can see verse 2, this spiritual death is easily seen in how this walking corpse lives. Look at verse 2. In which this walking corpse once walked according to the course of this world, in the flow of this world, has this world's opinions, shares this world's viewpoint, argues this world's arguments. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, they have a different spirit, right? There is a spirit which works in them, sons of disobedience. Verse 3, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. You get into a conversation, if you're a lost person, you get into a conversation with a believer, and they just absolutely make no sense to you. Their arguments, like, what are you talking about? This person is crazy. They don't think the way that you think. They are by nature different than you. Where are your loyalties? Where are your allegiances? What is it that you have affinity for in this world? If you are by nature a child of wrath, you will be budding heads with the Lord of the Universe in His Word when it's preached to you. You won't think like a Christian. And those Christians, in the way that they argue, in the way that they think, seems entirely counter-cultural to you. And that's because it is. It is entirely counter-cultural. Listen, they are by nature children of wrath. We didn't become that way because we sinned. The condemned man is that way by nature. Titus adds in Titus 3 that we were once foolish, once disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Again, here we have this diagnosis from Paul in Ephesians 2. Same diagnosis of Paul in Titus 3. Let me ask you, can that one who is by nature a child of wrath change their nature? Can an Ethiopian change his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? No. Neither can sinful man ever change his nature. He needs a radical recreation. He needs new birth, new birth. I can't remember where I heard this example. But I heard the story of an obstetrician who was converted, saved. He was an older man when the Lord saved him, working in a hospital as an obstetrician, delivering babies for years, and he got converted. As the days and weeks passed by after his conversion, he meditated on the blessing of the new birth. I would commend that, right? Meditating on the great joy, the great blessing that is the new birth. And he thought about the new birth as he delivered babies in the hospital. And it dawned on him, as he was delivering babies, that these babies being born had no past. And they had an entirely new future. They were entirely passive in their birth. He didn't have to wait for the baby to do his or her work so that they could be born. And they were being given a new start. He concluded that in thinking about the new birth. That's what sinners need more than anything else. A sinner is in a hopeless condition, unable to birth themselves, unable to do anything for themselves. God describes the nation of Israel in Ezekiel 16 as wallowing in their own blood. They're just a baby, they're wallowing in their own blood. And they need their past entirely obliterated. Drop into the sea of God's forgetfulness. They need an entirely new future. They need to be born, right? The sinner needs to be born again. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But this new creation results in a new perspective, a new view on the world, a new view of others, a new view of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But this new creation also results in, point three on your notes, a new position, a new position. We see that in verse 18. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. We have a new position in Him. This new perspective, this new person, this new heart, this new renewed mind, these new affections, this change of heart and mind regarding my sin, this new change of heart and mind regarding God's Word, this new love for Christ, this new love for His people, this new birth, this new life from the dead, this new creation, all these things are of God. This start to finish was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes, amen? Salvation, start to finish, is God's sovereign work, and it is God's work alone. In other words, salvation is monogistic from a compound Greek word meaning to work alone, monogistic, monogism, rather than synergistic. Salvation is monogistic, it is not synergistic. The word synergistic is also from a compound Greek word meaning to work together. Salvation is entirely of God. All things are of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 that it is by His doing that we are in Christ Jesus. And that's so that we have no ground for boasting. It's not of work that anyone should boast. God will get all of the glory for our salvation. There's several texts which speak to this, and I want to take a little bit of time to look at a few of those. Start with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, remember hearing a sermon a while back where a false teacher who doesn't know his own Bible made the comment that there's only one text in the whole Bible that they've got, and it doesn't mean what they think it's it. Listen, this doctrine is taught throughout the Bible. It is all over the Bible. You just have to know your Bible, read your Bible to see it. Romans chapter 8, look at verse 28, verse 28. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We are called according to His purpose. There's no room there for human autonomy, no room for potentiality, no room for a mere possibility. We are the called. Why are we the called? Because it is according to His purpose. God purposes, and then God calls. You see, no room for human autonomy. Verse 29, for whom he foreknew, those whom he called he foreknew, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. When did that foreknowledge and predestination take place in eternity past? Before you and I were ever born, before you or I had ever done anything good or evil, so that God's purpose according to election might stand, he foreknew, he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, and notice these personal pronouns, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. Where do you see man in any of that? There's no room for man in any of that. These things are all of God. Salvation is entirely of God. Look at Romans chapter 9. One chapter over and drop down to verse 10. Drop down to verse 10. Using as an example two couples here from the Old Testament, the Lord is going to make the point that salvation is according to his purposes, his will, and his elective calling. His election. Look at verse 10. Not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children not yet being born, or having done any good or evil, that so that the purpose of God, according to election might stand, that's what counts, right, that the purposes of God, according to his election might stand, not of works, not anything that you do. Do you understand, right? We see that. Not of works, not anything that you do. Not walking an aisle, not saying a prayer, not making a decision, not anything, not breathing, not going to a church on a Sunday morning, not taking masks, not anything that you do. It is not of works, but of him who calls. It was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Ethel I have hated. What should we say then? Verse 14, is there unrighteousness with God? Is there to me? Is that what we think? Paul is answering that objection. Certainly not, Paul says. And he gives us another example. Verse 15, he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him who wills. It is not of him who runs. Who strives. Who makes the even the most diligent effort. It is all of God who shows mercy. Wow, you know, this was the only, if it was the only text in the Bible, that's enough. I don't know how much clearer you can get. Look at Ephesians chapter one. Macchina Ephesians chapter one. No room for human effort. No room for human decision. In other words, you can't make a decision to regenerate yourself. You can't make a decision to change your nature. You can't make a decision to be born again. That's called decisional regeneration. Decisional regeneration is essentially the same heresy as baptismal regeneration. You just change the mechanics. You know, a person that be baptized, he's going to be baptized because he's washed away his original sin and it's going to cause him to be born again. Well, you're doing a work to be born again. You just change the mechanics and now it's walking out to make a decision. It's the same heresy dressed up in different garb. Do you see? There's no room here for human effort. There's no room here for human decision. Of necessity. Because of our depravity, because of our incapacity as a resident sins, our sinful condition necessitates that we are born again so that the Spirit of God will work in us so that we will respond in faith and in repentance. Regeneration of necessity precedes faith, doesn't come after faith. Do you see? Ephesians chapter one, look at verse three. Paul worshiping here in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. If you're thinking to yourself from Romans chapter eight that he foreknew us and that somehow that foreknowledge simply means that God looks down the quarter of time and he's going to accept me into his heart and so I foreknow him and I elect him to salvation. It's not what it's talking about. Here's what it's talking about. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, right? To foreknow essentially God choosing to set his love upon objects that he has chosen in and of himself according to his own good will and good pleasure to love, right? He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Before we were born, before we had any opportunity, Romans chapter nine to do any good or any evil, right? Verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, speak to God's purpose in our election, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he made bound toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather together and won all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to our own will, no? According to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. Wow! Amen! I mean amen Thank you God because apart from this work I am hopeless and lost apart from his grace and apart from his mercy I will suffer the torment of his wrath in hell forever. Praise God Now listen having done all that having done all that in him you also trusted After you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed were sealed pasted with the Holy Spirit of promise no room for human autonomy no room for human effort all these things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ Acts chapter 13 verse 48 upon hearing the gospel the Gentiles heard this they were glad and they glorified the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed there are a couple of reasons why God alone must work to affect our salvation one it's because we're incapacitated by sin we are by nature children of wrath unable to do anything for ourselves if it's going to be done God has to do it two so that man would have no grounds whatsoever for boasting God will have all of the glory for man's salvation I walk an island to the prayer just something about which you can boast I was a faithful Catholic my entire life are you going to boast of that before God boast of that before your friend who goes to hell who wasn't the faithful Catholic all his life no if our salvation comes through any work of our own Paul says in chapter 2 that Christ died in vain any work of our own how much clearer can it be baptismal regeneration guys decisional regeneration guys what has God sovereignly done himself monergistically in grace and mercy for us Paul says here back in second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 that he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ the word for reconcile originally referred to an exchange or a substitution originally an exchange of money for example but this word eventually became used for the exchange of peace for war or the exchange of love for anger the exchange of amity for enmity we Paul says by nature were alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works as Colossians chapter 1 verse 21 yet now Paul says he has reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death to present us holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight notice that it always speaks of God being the one who reconciles us because God doesn't get reconciled it's not that you go not today's the day I'm going to go reconcile God to myself by doing this that or the other thing no he has reconciled us Romans chapter 5 verse 10 for when we were enemies we were passive reconciled to God through the death of his son this reconciliation is of God all things are of God when we were enemies we were reconciled to God to the death of his son it is through him Romans chapter 5 verse 11 that we have now received the reconciliation the goodness the kindness the mercy of God a loving relationship now replaces former hostility this is closely related to our justification isn't it we are declared innocent declared righteous by virtue of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ we are then reconciled to God through Christ reconciliation is possible through forgiveness of sins reconciliation is possible through the doctrine of imputation our sin imputed or credited to Christ and he bears that sin on the cross in his body on the tree he bears the punishment that we deserve in our place he bears our sin the righteousness of Jesus Christ who perfectly fulfilled the law of God and the just demands of God's law in his perfect life that righteousness imputed to us so that we are in Christ righteous as if we had done nothing wrong and as if we had done everything that God commanded us to do that is imputation and all of that is a monogistic work of the triune God monergism that new position in Christ then results in a new priority and that new priority given to us as a stewardship by Christ in light of these things 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18 now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation point 4 on your notes we have a new priority a new priority verse 19 that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation now again let's take a look at verse 19 and what's being said here the word world in verse 19 cannot refer to everyone in the world otherwise everyone in the world would be reconciled and there would be no hostility between God and anyone do you see it cannot mean that because there are those who are enemies of God by their wicked works they are alienated from God there are those with whom God is angry God is angry with a wicked everyday to reconcile if reconciliation is only potential or only possible then what does it mean that Christ was reconciling the world to himself if there is no reconciliation that's just crazy isn't it it's weird there is no reconciliation reconciliation is only possible or potential but God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself that's not possible either the world does not mean all people without exception the world here refers to all people without distinction we need to understand that again Paul doesn't view anyone doesn't regard anyone any longer according to the flesh the world does not mean all people without exception the world refers to all people without distinction Jew and Greek barbarian, sithian, slave and free male and female the world we don't have time to get into it today but there is also a sense in which a very real sense in which in Christ through redeeming sons of glory that God is also reconciling the created world to himself worthy of some study on your own when you have opportunity here we see reconciliation verse 19 dependent upon the doctrine of imputation God was not imputing their trespasses to them by faith in Christ your trespasses are imputed to him in your place look down at verse 21 here is the great exchange the doctrine of imputation second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 we'll get to this text next week for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him if the world without exception if every person in the world without exception does not have their trespasses imputed then what in the world do people go to help for if the world has their trespasses imputed to Christ that would include unbelief even in everybody from Stalin to Hitler any normal unbeliever would go to heaven that's not what the bible teaches we cannot have contradictions in the word of God God's word is inerrant he has reconciled the world without distinction to himself meaning all of us who are in Christ from every tribe every people every nation every tongue you see now what is the result of that verse 19 that was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation God being the source of reconciliation Lord Jesus Christ being the agent of reconciliation you could say that ourselves we are instruments of that ministry of reconciliation now he has committed to us he has deposited to us this word of reconciliation notice verse 18 that he has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is a gift it is a privilege it is a blessing it is a delight he has given us the ministry of reconciliation and verse 19 that ministry involves him entrusting to us committing to us the word of reconciliation it is both a gift of his grace a blessing of delight and it is a responsibility a stewardship and that ministry given to us is the ministry of the proclamation of the word do you see he has given us the ministry of reconciliation and that ministry involves the proclamation of the word to those who are not yet reconciled to God that's our ministry that's clear the apostle Paul now speaking to himself of his co-workers in Corinth and of the church at Corinth and us by implication the Lord has given to us the ministry of reconciliation the word of reconciliation has been entrusted to us verse 20 now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us to implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God we're all ministers of reconciliation if we're in Christ for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him that's our ministry that's our mission that's our responsibility that's our work and Paul here is elucidating the blessings Christian ministry to motivate us to compel us in this work these things should cause us like Paul to lay down our lives in sacrificial service with the gospel to the loss to preach this word of reconciliation so that lost people can be saved we are ambassadors for Christ let me ask you a question are you a new creation have you been radically remade radically renewed renewed according to the image of him who created you anew do you have new affections do you have a new hatred for that sin that you once loved do you flee from sin do you hunger and thirst after righteousness are his priorities now truly your priorities if his priorities are truly your priorities then this ministry of reconciliation is your ministry of reconciliation if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation old things have passed away behold all things have become new there's a popular story that's told about St. Augustine after his conversion in 386 AD and the story goes that Augustine was walking down the street when he recognized a woman that was walking toward him it was a former mistress a woman that he had been immoral with when he saw her Augustine immediately bowed his head diverted his eyes and crossed the street away from her the woman called out to him Augustine but he would not look up and he wouldn't answer so she began to call out with more urgency to the point where those around Augustine began to take notice and she said, Augustine do you remember me? don't you remember those nights that we spent together Augustine in his eye and finally Augustine shouted in reply as he trotted away from her yes but it is no longer I if you're in Christ you can proclaim with Augustine it is no longer I proclaim with Paul it is no longer I who lived but Christ lives 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 God in Christ has given us a new perspective he has made us a new person we have a new position in union with Christ we have preached the gospel behold all things have become new this new reality drives the apostle Paul in the Christian life it fuels and motivates him to lay down his life in sacrificial service to the one who laid down his life for Paul it should do the same for us compelled by the love of Christ put off the old man put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him do not live any longer for yourself but for him who died for you and rose again if you're not in Christ then this is impossible for you it is not a work that can be done by you it must be a work done in you by God he can raise you from the dead and even now you can cry out to him to do just that and once you are a recipient of this glorious reconciliation brother sister preach it preach it that's our ministry all glory, honor and praise to him who makes all things new let's pray pray silently consider whether or not you this morning are a new creation consider your perspective consider your position consider your priorities ask the Lord even now to work in your heart by His Spirit to conform you into the image of His Son