Resurrected Life: New Life, New Beginnings | 2 Corinthians 5:17-19, John 3:3-7, Acts 2:38 and Colossians 3:11

[0:00] Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we're dedicated to encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ. Located in Ontario, Oregon, Pastor Patrick Daly preaches insightful sermons from the Word of God, offering practical applications for modern living.

[0:16] We're delighted to share this sermon with you. Here we go. Well, good morning again, everyone.

[0:27] It's great to be here with all of you this morning, as we've just taken of the bread and the cup together. Just what a wonderful time for us to remember Jesus, and as Christ says, do this in remembrance of me.

[0:44] This last Sunday, we were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is risen. When we come to celebrate that time of Easter, it's not just a one-time event for us to celebrate.

[0:59] It is something for us to continue to celebrate, something that we take to heart, and it's something that we live out. It's a great encouragement that you will always hear the gospel message.

[1:15] And I pray that every single one of you here today will come to believe in the Lord and to be saved. For there is such power in the name of Jesus Christ, the name that we worship and the God that we serve.

[1:30] In believing in the Lord, it is recognizing that Jesus Christ, that he was born in the manger, that he had his earthly ministry, that he performed many miracles, turning water into wine and healing the sick, walking on water.

[1:48] That would have been a wonderful thing to see. All of his miracles, his teachings, and the fulfillment of prophecy, that he was crucified and died, and on the third day he rose again.

[2:00] This is the significance of the Christian faith that Jesus rose from the dead. And like what I mentioned on Easter, do you know of any other person who has risen from the dead?

[2:12] You can think of an actor or a politician, right? Or somebody, well, unfortunately, no. Because Jesus Christ is the one who conquered sin and death.

[2:24] And the impact of the resurrection affects all of us who believe in him. And so today we're gonna have this message that transitions from the sacred journey, if you remember that series, right?

[2:35] Sacred journey from death to life into our next sermon series. So this is kind of that middle sermon between. There is such an importance in believing in the Lord and knowing that we are saved.

[2:49] There's such importance in knowing that we are a new creation in Christ. Upon believing in the Lord, we are called to be baptized. For in believing in Christ, there is the internal decision, right?

[3:03] Believing in the Lord. It's a personal decision that you make. And it has eternal consequences. And baptism is the public proclamation or the external proclamation and telling the world that you believe in Jesus Christ.

[3:19] But before we go any further, I would like for us to take a time to pray. Let us go to the Lord before we go further into this message. And let us ask God to be with us, to reveal truth to us and to motivate us to act.

[3:34] Let's pray together. And Father, we thank you for bringing us all here today as the body of Christ. We thank you for our brothers and sisters that are here today and may we be hungry for your word.

[3:48] May we be hungry for truth. And we pray that you bless this time today as we open your word and we turn to the pages of scripture. It is amazing how we're already in this month of April, one week after Resurrection Sunday.

[4:04] And we ask that you can help us take to heart what it means to have new life and new beginnings in this gospel message proclaimed.

[4:16] May we come to understand that the foundation of Christianity is believing in you. For your son, Jesus Christ, is the way, the truth and the life.

[4:28] May we be called upon that salvation to be baptized and follow in the footsteps of Christ by being disciples and being a student of the word, having that childlike curiosity for who you are.

[4:42] And may we be motivated to take to heart the message this morning but also to live it out to be doers of the word. May you mold us.

[4:53] May you bless us. May you lead and guide us. We thank you Father. We thank you so much. Be with us this morning. It is in the name of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lords of Lords.

[5:08] We say together, Amen. Amen. Let us begin with our first scripture reading, which we're going to open the Word of God together. It's going to be on the screen here, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 17 through 19, which is going to be on page 1148.

[5:44] All right, are we all there? All right, let us read together from verse 17 to verse 19. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

[5:59] The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. And this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

[6:15] That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

[6:29] And so in reading these first set of passages, it's speaking of transformation that happens when someone becomes a Christian.

[6:39] I pray that we all realize that when we believe in the Lord, our lives will never be the same. Do you believe in the Lord? That is the question that you must ask for anyone who doesn't.

[6:52] What a path you can be on to believe in him. You know, one of the things that we have seen with Easter and the Resurrection Sunday is understanding that Christ sacrificed himself.

[7:04] And it goes to show that God keeps his promises. Jesus Christ so much spoke about what it means to believe in the Lord and be saved. Just think of John 3.16.

[7:16] Whosoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life. And in verses like these, like the 2 Corinthians passage, we see that our old self passes away and that we are a new creation.

[7:30] And this is one of the significant things about being a Christian. In order to see the kingdom of God, we must be born again, just as mentioned in John 3.3.

[7:43] It's just like how Christ says in the Gospel of John that we must be born again. What powerful words and it can be confusing to some people.

[7:53] And I want to take a slight detour to help us understand this 2 Corinthians passage. I want us to turn to John 3.3. It's going to be on the screen here.

[8:06] And it says, this is the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, right? So Jesus answered him, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he what?

[8:20] He cannot see the kingdom of God. So then Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? That's a good question, right? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

[8:33] Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

[8:43] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I have said to you, you must be born again.

[8:54] So Christ saying like, don't overthink it, right? Don't get confused about what's going on. But yet when you're reading this, you're like, wait, what are you trying to say here, Jesus? So there is that aspect to that.

[9:05] And in terms of being born again, it's believing in the Lord, right? It's placing your faith and placing your trust in Jesus Christ. There is also the aspect that's being mentioned of being born of the spirit.

[9:19] And that is being part of, it's connected to the second Corinthians passage of being a new creation, right? If you're born again, being a new creation. It's important to note that there are two births that are being mentioned here, and I want to make it very clear.

[9:33] So I want to go ahead and put this chart up here. You'll see it in your notes as well. When you see in John chapter three, you see there's two births here.

[9:44] Born of birth of water and born of the spirit. And then Jesus reiterates that by talking about being born of flesh and being born of spirit.

[9:56] So what it's talking about, it's kind of this repetition, so to speak, of the physical birth that happens, right? When the water breaks, when someone is born into the earth, would be being born of the flesh.

[10:12] And then of course, you see being born of the spirit, which is the spiritual birth, which is being born again. And we're looking at the context here. We can see that Christ is talking about being born of water and being born of the flesh, right?

[10:28] So there's the spiritual birth, which is spiritual rebirth, being born again. And all of this helps us with our understanding of the second Corinthians passage of being a new creation.

[10:44] We don't go back into the womb, right? Like what Nicodemus was saying. Rather, the former self has passed away and the new self is here.

[10:54] It is by faith that we are saved. And this leads us to our understanding of that next verse in the second Corinthians passage, verse 18.

[11:04] It's speaking about how Christ reconciled us to himself. To be reconciled is talking about change or an exchange that is happening.

[11:16] In other words, it's speaking about how Christ paid for our sins by sacrificing himself on the cross. In other words, Jesus paid it all, right? Just like that song some of you may know, Jesus paid it all.

[11:30] And when this verse is speaking about the ministry of reconciliation, it is talking about the service or the relief or the divine favor or the atonement.

[11:41] In other words, the sacrifice that Christ gives us restores us to the Lord. It all comes down to speaking of God's grace for us.

[11:52] And this leads us to that final verse in second Corinthians, the verse 19, which is talking about again the exchange that is happening. That Christ took upon the sins of the world, right?

[12:03] And that Christ is sacrificing himself for us. And that is true love, right? Just like John 3.16, for God so loved the world.

[12:17] We thank God for that. Thank you, God, for sending your son. And it certainly seems like there's repetition in those verses, but the point that is being driven home is that Christ died for our sins.

[12:29] And there is not a sin that is going to be held against you. Hallelujah, right? Knowing that Christ paid for all of our sins and that nothing can separate us from the Lord.

[12:42] Does that give you a ticket to sin? Does that give you a ticket to ride? Absolutely not. It means that in being a new creation, you're focusing on the things of God, the things that are higher instead of the things that are lower.

[12:56] And God gives us this amazing and this inexhaustible grace for us. Because God's grace, it covers our sins. What we need to do is to believe in Him.

[13:08] And just like I've mentioned before, when we talk about repentance, it is the changing your mind about who the Lord is, right? Changing your mind to come to believe in the Lord.

[13:21] One and done. It is finished on the cross. And as we are going to our next section of Scripture, believing in the Lord is the beginning.

[13:34] It is not the end of your life. It is the beginning of your life in Christ. And that is a call for excitement, a call for encouragement here, knowing that I am safe and I am secure in the arms of the Father.

[13:49] It is living out the gospel in your life or living in the resurrection. When you know that you are secure in the arms of God, shouldn't that be motivation?

[14:00] Shouldn't that be encouragement for you on how you live your life and the things that you say and the things that you do and how you interact with people? Isn't that motivation knowing that you are secure under God's grace?

[14:15] Wouldn't that be motivation to tell your friends and your family that Jesus lives or telling in your testimony? How many of you are the same person that you were when you first became a Christian?

[14:27] You don't have to raise your hand, right? Because when you first become a Christian, you're placed on the path where God works in and through you.

[14:37] Are you going to listen to God or are you not? And if you are the same as you were when you first became a Christian, and I hope you're a brand new Christian, right? There should be a path of change that happens, right?

[14:48] Just like how I've been talking about before, Metanoia, right? Or Metanoeo, to change your mind that God changes your mind, He transforms you.

[14:58] It is wonderful for us to think about. It is encouragement for you to live your life in such a way that honors the Lord and that glorifies God.

[15:10] Be on a path of continued sanctification. We are justified in faith, and we have this continual sanctification in our spiritual walk with the Lord.

[15:23] And as we begin in our faith journey in Christ, like I said, there's that idea of repentance changing your mind. How do you see God? Do you see Him as a cool teacher?

[15:34] Or some hipster with long hair, right? Some of us have. But having that change of mind is seeing that Christ is more than just a great teacher, seeing Him as more than just a prophet, seeing Him more as just a cool hipster that you would see in Portland, Oregon, right?

[15:50] It's much more than that. It is knowing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. That's much greater than just seeing Him as just a teacher. I mean, we've got lots of teachers here, don't we?

[16:01] Or people who have been teachers, right? Teachers are cool, right? But Jesus is kind of the greatest teacher ever, right? He's much more than a teacher. He's the Savior of the world, the Son of the living God.

[16:15] That's just part of the changing of our mind, right? And doesn't God continue to change our mind, though? Into knowing more about Him and knowing more about His Word?

[16:26] How many of you have read the same passage before and you've seen that, hey, this speaks to me very differently than it did when I first read it? Or this speaks to me in a time of, this spoke to me in a time of crisis.

[16:40] But now I really know the meaning. That's one of the wonderful things about Scripture. Let's go ahead and turn to that next verse in Scripture. It's Acts chapter 2, verse 38, where Peter said to them, repent and what, go to sleep, no, repent and be baptized.

[16:57] Every one of you, I got to keep you on your toes here, right? And the name of Jesus Christ for the what? Forgiveness of your sins and you will receive, this is important here, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, right?

[17:10] How critical, how important is that to know? And on the surface of reading this passage, it would appear, right? You got to change your mind, right? Metanoia, change your mind about who the Lord is, right?

[17:22] There's that repentance. That's when you're coming to believe in the Lord. And then there is this idea of being baptized. Change your mind about who Jesus is and be baptized, right?

[17:35] So you have the belief and then you have the baptism that happens after that. The way to truly understand this in terms of the consistency of Scripture is to understand first and foremost.

[17:48] Repentance leads us to believe in the Lord, right? It makes us come to understand that Christ is our Savior and Lord, right? Because Christ died on the cross for our sins and because of our repentance comes belief and through belief, right?

[18:05] We're saved right there. There is the call for you to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. It helps us with our understanding of the context and the connections of Scripture.

[18:19] In believing Him, we are saved. We're called as the next step to be baptized. Let us keep in mind that when you believe in Christ, I'm going to emphasize this so much here.

[18:35] It's a very personal decision. It's a decision that causes you have to reflect on who Jesus is to you, right? It's acknowledging the death, burial and resurrection, the ministry of Christ.

[18:51] To be baptized, on the other hand, is making that public proclamation of an internal decision. And if you ever desire to get baptized, I'd like to talk to you.

[19:01] You know, baptism is a wonderful, it's just a wonderful celebration. And it's a representation also of the death, burial and resurrection. In fact, I'm going to put that slide on here.

[19:12] What's very interesting is the representation of baptism. We are remembering Christ, right? When you're standing in the water, it's like the death, right? It's a representation of the death.

[19:24] When you're immersed or submerged in water, that is the burial. And the rising up represents the resurrection. Just as mentioned, we're not going to go into those verses, but it's mentioned in your notes in Romans chapter six and in Colossians chapter 12.

[19:40] It's very important. So it's that public proclamation saying that I believe in the Lord and I want to tell my friends about it. I want to tell my family about that as well.

[19:51] Baptism shows a mirroring of that death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's so, I love how things in scripture are connected like that, right?

[20:03] You have baptism that is pointing to the death, burial and resurrection, much like how Jonah being swallowed up by the whale, right? Being in the belly of the whale and being vomited out is a representation.

[20:17] It's a connection points us to the death, burial and resurrection. And although we've gone through this sacred journey, we remember, we celebrate his death, burial and resurrection.

[20:31] There is no better time for you to believe in the Lord than now. If you've never been baptized and you are a believer, come talk with me sometime.

[20:42] If you have been baptized, we recognize that there is one baptism and we acknowledge one faith. Just as communion is a time where we take of the bread and we drink of the cup to remember Christ, baptism is done to represent the death, burial and resurrection.

[21:05] And you know, isn't it kind of cool seeing those kind of connections with scripture, the representations, the symbolism, if you will, right? The scripture is full of wisdom and truth, the story of salvation, the gospel narrative and prophecy and it's unlike anything else.

[21:24] It is through the connections that we find consistency and we allow for God to speak through us and we should allow for God to transform our lives.

[21:37] So much connections. It goes to show that scripture is not like any other book you've ever read, right? I mean, I know there's some really good books out there.

[21:49] I'm going to name a couple books, right? Like The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings. Those are some really cool books, right? You have good movies out there. But it's not as, it's not divinely inspired.

[22:00] It doesn't have the hand of God working in it and knowing that there's one reference here in Psalms, it's somehow speaking in the Gospel of Matthew and why is this here? Like in Nahum where it's talking about how the Lord is slow to anger, like why was that randomly in there?

[22:16] There's things that you find you're like, that's interesting God. It goes to testify to the power and the consistency of our Lord.

[22:28] And in this, knowing that scripture is living inactive, it also goes to show us or it should go to show us that Christ works in and through us, much like how God has made each and every one of us, that Christ is our all in all.

[22:47] I'd like to turn to one final verse and kind of give you a teaser of what's to come. You know, this next week we're going to be starting a series on the book of Colossians.

[22:57] And the main verse that our series is about is that last part. Let's read this together. Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free.

[23:15] But what? Christ is all and in all, because Christ is all that we need and is in everything.

[23:26] That's a very powerful verse. In being a believer, you are seen as a brother or sister in the eyes of God. And by believing in him, you will see that Christ dwells within you.

[23:40] Christ has been with us all along since the foundation of the earth. And I'm reminded of how Romans speaks about how nature and the creation of the world, that how Christ was in it all, right? That you see creation that testifies to the power of our God, right?

[24:00] Just like the heavens declare the glory of God, nature testifies to the Lord. And some of you may have even heard in the, if you read scientific journals, the God particle, something that is all connected in nature.

[24:20] So much. It goes to show that the Lord has had his hand in all of this. And many of you may remember the series that I gave not that long ago about Christ being the creator, the redeemer and the sustainer. And that series was based off of a Colossians passage.

[24:36] And it's connected to how we did our series in Philemon. So I feel that this has been, we've been going down this trajectory. And I think it's going to be a wonderful sermon series for us to do.

[24:49] So let's go to that next slide here. This will be our next sermon series over the book of Colossians, Christ, Our All in All. And it's going to be a wonderful series going into the depths of Scripture, the truth of Scripture, and explaining it in such a simplistic way for us to understand.

[25:11] If you have not placed your trust in the Lord, I pray that you make a decision for Christ. The Scriptures tell us that in believing in the Lord, we are saved. And upon being saved, we are safe and secure for there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. And if you are a believer and you haven't been baptized again, I'd like to come talk to you about baptism. That's something that's just wonderful. And as we've gone over this passage from 2 Corinthians, chapter five, verse 17 through 19, this should give us confidence in our Lord and our God, that in believing the Lord, we are a new creation. It speaks of the ministry of reconciliation that God had is his active hand in giving us grace. Right? We think of forgiveness. We think of atonement. We think of how Christ paid it all. And not one God's not going to hold our sins against us when we believe in him. That's one of the significant things in there.

[26:13] We are a new creation. And as we have celebrated Easter, the encouragement today is that we live our lives as the new creation, not focusing on the former things of this world, but focusing on the new things. Does that make sense? Being a new creation, you should focus on the old things, right?

[26:33] No. Right? Old life, old things, right? New life, new things, right? We should focus on the things of God. Let us live our lives as that new creation, focusing on the things of the Lord, living out the gospel and sharing in the resurrection story with others. The power of the gospel changes lives, just as the name of Jesus Christ has power. And I pray that all of you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and you will be moved to act. Let your life be a reflection of the love of Jesus Christ, standing in truth, but dealing in love. Let's pray together.

[27:19] And Heavenly Father, we are grateful that we've had the chance and the opportunity to open your word and to find truth in it. Let us be reminded that upon believing in you, we are that new creation. May we place our faith and our trust in you if we have it before.

[27:38] Lord, we pray that for those among us who have not made a decision for you yet, that they will be moved to make a decision for you. Let your Holy Spirit work in their minds to be changed in their hearts to live and love like you. We ask for your strength and your guidance. And we'd also like to pray for those who do believe in you. For the ones who haven't been baptized, may they be moved to make that public proclamation that they are ready to do that. Let your Holy Spirit lead and guide us as we close with this final song and as we go from the doors of this church into the community and into fellowship. May our lives as the new creation, may we share in the resurrection story, may we not be afraid of the gospel, but may we be a beacon of hope that shares and shines the light of Jesus Christ and truth of your word to others. Let us show grace and truth to our neighbor.

[28:39] It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you for tuning in to the Ontario Community Church sermon podcast. For more about our church and how you can get involved or support our mission, please visit ontariocommunitychurch.org. May God's blessings be with you.