Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: Last week we gave the example of a serial killer being adopted by the governor who pardoned him.

Once adopted, he was brought into the household of the governor and made an equal heir of his estate.

Let me ask you this question: how many of you think it would be wise to invite someone who was once a serial killer into your home?

How can anyone bring a serial killer into their home and promise to give them an inheritance?

The good news for us is that God does not just justify us and adopt us but he also makes us into new creations and sets us apart as saints.

A New Creation

God has done for us what the governor could never do for the serial killer.

God has changed the hearts of those who are in Him from hearts of constant rebellion and disobedience to hearts fully capable of loving obedience.

In this passage God promises to do two things: 1).

He promises to radically change our hearts and 2). to put the Holy Spirit within us who enables us to obey God.

The complete fulfillment of the promise still awaits us in the new heaven and the new earth when sin is totally and absolutely removed from creation, but this promise has its beginning in each of us at the time we place our faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior.

2 Corinthians

Once again we are reminded that it is because we are in Christ that we can become a new creation.

Paul says that the old has passed away.

What he means is that our identity in Adam is completely gone and it is no longer our identity.

God has taken away our stoney hearts and given us hearts that are alive and responsive to Him.

This is why God can take us into his family.

We have become new creations.

also tells us that not only are dead to sin but we are also alive to God.

So, Paul adds in verse 12, “Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body.”

Now that we have become new creations we must engage in spiritual warfare against remaining corruption within us.

We must remember that the full inheritance, including the obliteration of sin, is coming but until then we must continue to be vigilant against the enemies we face.

Example: POW Camp

So, we are free from the power of sin, but what about when we fail?

When we fail we must continually go back to the cross and give our guilt (emotional) to Christ because He has already bourn the guilt (legal).

A Saint

Saint is probably one of the most widely misunderstood Christian words.

At some point in church history people began to refer to the original apostles as saints.

In the Roman Catholic tradition people of unusual achievement are sometimes referred to as saints.

As time went on, people as a whole began to think of saints as exceptionally holy and godly people.

However, the word saint simply means one who is “separated or set apart.”

So, the question we must start with is this: what has a saint been set apart for?”

These two verse get at the heart of what it means to be set apart.

We have been set apart to be Christ’s own possession.

A saint is someone who no longer belongs to themselves, but is set apart for Christ.

Today this sounds like a radical concept.

We talk about giving things to God (money, time, etc . .

.) when the reality is that God already owns us and everything we produce.

Now God has given us a huge amount of freedom in our own decisions and choices in regards to how we spend time and money, but we should take more serious thought as to whether our decisions are pleasing to our Owner.

As in all of life, saints must grow.

The difference between the growth of a plant or an animal and the sanctification of a Christian is that a Christian will never reach full maturity in this life.

However, every saint must be engaged in progressive sanctification.

The motivation by which we engage in progressive sanctification is out of love and gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ.

Out of thankfulness and love Paul reasonably reasons with us to present our bodies, our entire selves, to him as a continual daily living sacrifice.

Conclusion: In closing tonight, I want to appeal to you, as saints and new creations, to evaluate your lives.

Do we actually show evidence of being a new creation in Christ?

Are we truly growing as ones who are set apart for Christ?

What is my attitude toward God?

What is my attitude toward sin?

What is my attitude toward Jesus?

What is my attitude towards the Bible?

What is my attitude toward prayer?

What is my attitude towards other Christians?

These are all important questions that we should seek to answer truthfully.

The stakes are too high to play games here.

Your eternal destiny is at stake.

So, the question for all of us is this: Do I have some evidence that I am a new creation?