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Sermon Starters

New Creatures Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 I. What is the natural man like? A. The natural man does not perceive God (Rom. 8:7). B. Consequently, he cannot please God (Rom. 8:8). II. It is Christ who makes the difference. A. Christ must actually indwell us (John 17:23, 26; Rom. 8:10; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27). B. It is only when Christ is in us that we become acceptable to God (Rom. 8:1; 1 Cor. 1:30). C. In this state, nothing can separate us from God’s love (Rom. 8:38, 39). III. Christ enters us because of our faith in Him. A. Christ and the prophets before Him proclaimed that He was the way to salvation (Is. 53:11; Matt. 3:11; John 5:24; 10:9; 11:25; 14:6). B. The apostles also preached salvation through faith in Christ alone (Rom. 10:8–11; Eph. 2:8). IV. Those in Christ are changed people. A. Paul used the Greek word kainḗ, which means qualitatively new (2 Cor. 5:17). No one can be in Christ without being radically changed. B. This transformation is also called katallagḗ, “reconciliation” (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18–20). We change from being an enemy of God to becoming a friend (Rom. 5:10). C. The old nature is being “crucified” or put to death (Rom. 6:6). D. Likewise, John says, “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not …” (1 John 3:6). The verb is in the durative present, meaning habitually. However, if we commit a single sin (hamártē), “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). V. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” A. The word used for “old” is archaía, “original,” and not simply palaiá, “old.” Original sin has been done away with by Christ’s death on the cross (Heb. 10:10). B. The verb “passed away” is parḗlthen, meaning “gone forever.” C. Then the exclamation “behold” indicates surprise and delight at the total change which has taken place in the believer. D. “All things are become new.” The verb gégonen is in the perfect tense which indicates that things not only became new in the past, but continue to become new in the present. E. Furthermore, the change is all-inclusive (tá pánta), each individual thing and all of them collectively become new in the life of the Christian as he sees things in relation to Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Spiros Zodhiates, Sermon Starters : Volumes 1-4 (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1998).

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