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. I. WHAT A NEW CREATURE IS. It "is a second birth added to the first. 1. The efficient cause is the Holy Ghost; who but God can alter the hearts of men, and turn stones into flesh? 2. The organical cause or instrument is the Word of God (James 1:18). 3. The matter is the restoring of God's image lost by the fall. He does not bestow new faculties, but new qualities. As in the altering of a lute, the strings are not new, but the tune is mended; so, in the new creature, the substance of the soul is not new, but is new tuned by grace; the heart that before was proud is now humble, etc. II. WHAT KIND OF WORK THE NEW CREATURE IS. 1. A work of Divine power (Ephesians 1:20). It is a work of greater power to produce the new creature than to make a world. (1) When God made the world He met with no opposition; but when God is about to make a new creature Satan and the heart oppose Him. (2) It cost God nothing to make the world, but to make the new creature cost the shedding of Christ's blood. 2. A work of free grace. There is nothing in us to move God to make us anew; "By the grace of God I am what I am." 3. A work of rare excellency. A soul beautified with holiness is like the firmament bespangled with glittering stars; it is God's lesser heaven. In the incarnation, God made Himself in the image of man; in the new creation, man is made in the image of God. 4. Concerning the new creature, I shall lay down two positions:(1) That it is not in the power of a natural man to convert himself, because it is a now creation. (2) When God converts a sinner, He doth more than use a moral persuasion, for conversion is a new creation. III. THE COUNTERFEITS OF THE NEW CREATURE. 1. Natural honesty, moral virtue, etc. Morality is but nature at best. Heat water to the highest degree, you cannot make wine of it. 2. Religious education. This is a good wall to plant the vine of grace against, but it is not grace. Have not we seen many who have been trained up religiously, who have lived to be a shame to their friends? 3. A form of godliness. Every bird that hath fine feathers hath not sweet flesh; all that shine with the golden feathers of profession are not saints. How devout were the Pharisees! Daedalus, by art, made images to move by themselves, insomuch that people thought they were living; formalists do so counterfeit a devotion that others think they are living saints — they are religious mountebanks. 4. Change of opinion. Man may change from error to truth, yet only in the head, not in the heart. 5. Sudden passion, or stirring of the affections. Many desire heaven, but will not come up to the price. King Herod heard John gladly; his affections were moved, but his sin was not removed. 6. Trouble for sin, i.e., while God's judgments lie upon men; when these are removed, their trouble ceaseth (Psalm 78:34-36). Metal out of the furnace returns to its former hardness. 7. Possession of the Spirit. A man may have some slight transient work of the Spirit, but it doth not go to the root; he may have the Spirit to convince him, not to convert him, the motions of the Spirit, but the walk after the flesh. 8. Abstaining from sin. This abstaining may be from restraining grace, not renewing grace. Men may leave gross sin, and yet live in more spiritual sins; leave drunkenness and live in pride; leave uncleanness and live in malice. IV. WHEREIN THE ESSENCE OF THE NEW CREATURE EXISTS. 1. In general it is — (1) A great change. He who is a new creature is not the same man he was. He is of another spirit. (2) A visible change, one from darkness to light. Paul, when converted, was so altered that all who saw him could scarcely believe that he was the same. (3) An inward change. Though the heart be not new-made, it is new moulded. 2. More particularly it consists in two things. (1) "Old things are passed away." Old pride, old ignorance, old malice; the old house must be pulled down ere you can set up a new, yet though it be a thorough change, it is not a perfect change; sin will remain. If sin then is not quite done away, how far must one put off the old man, that he may be a new creature? There must be — (a) A grieving for the remains of corruption (Romans 7:24). (b) A detestation of old things, as one would detest a garment in which is the plague (Psalm 119:63). (c) An opposition against all old things; a Christian not only complains of sin, but fights against it (Galatians 5:17). (d) A mortification of old corrupt lusts (Galatians 5:24; Romans 6:11). (2) "All things are become new." The new creature is new all over; grace, though it be but in part, yet it is in every part. There is — (a) A new understanding (Ephesians 3:24). The new creature is enlightened to see that which he never saw. before. He knows Christ after another manner. He knows himself better than he did. When the sun shines into a room it discovers all the dust and cobwebs in it; so, when the light of the Spirit shines into the heart it discovers that corruption which before lay hid. A wicked man, blinded with self-love, admires himself; like Narcissus, that seeing his own shadow upon the water, fell in love with it. (b) A renewal of conscience. The least hair makes the eye weep, and the least sin makes conscience smite. A good conscience is a star to guide, a register to record, a judge to determine, a witness to accuse or excuse; if conscience doth all these offices right, then it is a renewed conscience, and speaks peace. (c) The will is renewed. An old bowl may have a new bias put into it; the will having a new bias of grace put into it is strongly carried to good, and carries all the affections along with it. (d) A new conversation. Grace alters a man's walk; before he walked proudly, now humbly; before loosely, now holily; he makes the Word his rule, and Christ's life his pattern.Conclusion — 1. In this, true Christianity consists. It is not baptism makes a Christian; many are no better than baptised heathens. 2. It is the new creature fits us for communion with God. Birds cannot converse with men unless they had a rational nature put into them, nor can men converse with God, unless they partake of the Divine nature. Every one that hangs about the court doth not speak with the king. 3. The necessity of being new creatures. Till then — (1) We are odious to God. (2) Our duties are not accepted with God; they are but wild grapes. When they brought Tamarlane a pot of gold he asked what stamp it had on it, and when he saw the Roman stamp on it he refused it; so if God doth not be His own stamp and image on the soul, He rejects the most specious services. (3) Get no benefit by ordinances. The Word preached is a savour of death; nay Christ Himself is accidentally a "rock of offence."(4) We cannot arrive at Heaven (Revelation 21:27). Heaven is not like Noah's ark — that received clean and unclean. Only the pure in heart shall see God. 4. The excellency of the new creature. (1) Its nobility. The new creature fetcheth its pedigree from heaven; it is born of God, and is fellow-commoner with angels. (2) Its immortality. The new creature is begotten of the incorruptible seed of the Word, and never dies. 5. The misery of the unregenerate creature; dying so "good were it for that man if he had never been born." (T. Watson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. |
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