ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW
March 25, 2001 AM
Sermon Outline
2 Cor 5:17
INTRO: Something about the word new appeals to us. We like new cars, new gadgets, new houses and such. While some of us know well the meaning of hand me downs and have appreciated them, we would still have preferred new. The Bible has some very important (critically important) things to say about new. For example, the expression new heavens and a new earth appears in both testaments of the Bible.
I. MY EMPHASIS THIS MORNING? NEW COVENANT
A. Note Jer 31:31-34
1. the prophecy is clear ... there will be a new covenant unlike the first one
2. the first covenant is expressly identified
3. the first covenant is the Mosaic covenant (Heb 9:18-20)
B. The old covenant was broken by Israel
1. that broken covenant would not remain in force
2. that broken covenant, a national covenant, would be replaced - so, Heb 8:7,8
3. ours is the age of the new covenant
II. WHAT SIGNIFICANT THINGS ABOUT THE NEW COVENANT?
A. The new sacrifice!
1. Mt 26:26-28 with Heb 9:15 ... Jesus
2. we all remember Heb 10:1-4 ... a fault
3. but the new sacrifice really does take away sin - Heb 10:14-18 ... no remberance ... remission ... one perfect sacrifice
4. and 1 Jno 1:7,9 the truly perfect sacrifice!
B. The new law!
1. note 2 Cor 3:6,7,11 old and new
2. the old law is called ministration of death!
3. note, also, Jno 6:63 and the joining of spirit and life
4. Acts 7:37 a new law giver and new law are consistent with Old Testament prophecy (so, Heb 7:12)
C. New blessings!
1. Eph 1:3 all spiritual blessings in Christ
2. consider the blessing of knowing the ways, hows and wheres of our eternal future
3. Heb 4:14-16 blessing of prayer through the very Son of God
4. or the blessing of the perfect offering which removes the physical sacrificial system and ordinances
D. New Jerusalem!
1. Gal 4:24-26,31 Jerusalem which is above
2. Heb 12:22,23 with Rev 21:2,3, and 9,10
3. while new Jerusalem may suggest numerous things, it most assuredly encompassed the church ... and the church (spiritual Israel) is the home of the redeemed
4. new Jerusalem is the place of the privileged!
E. New creature!
1. 2 Cor 5:17 IN Christ ... a new creature!
2. declared to be such by God because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus (5:21)
3. the new start in life bearing none of the guilt for the old life marred by sin
4. Jno 3:5 and Rom 6:4 new birth - resurrection
5. new creature bears with it new responsibility ... so,
1 Pet 4:2,3 which notes the contrast of the new and the old
CLOSE: May I conclude with a text already read? Rom 6:4 with 5,6 ... all things, for each individual, become new in the moment of a penitent believers baptism. The invitation to you, then, is to become a new creature. Continuing to serve sin is eternally fatal, my friends.
Cecil A. Hutson
25 March 2001