Audio Teaching • 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
God does not offer a fresh start on the old life. He gives a new one.
The full teaching, spoken. MP3, 25 minutes 41 seconds.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
Many of us have wished for a do-over in life. In this full-length audio teaching I open 2 Corinthians 5:14–21 and show that the only real second chance is not an external change but an internal one, and that internal change is an eternal change. In Christ the old self is passed away and all things are become new, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What This Teaching Covers
Verse 17 is the conclusion of an argument, not an isolated promise. The love of Christ constraineth us (2 Corinthians 5:14). Jesus Christ died for all and rose again, so that those who live should no longer live unto themselves but unto Him who died for them (2 Corinthians 5:15). From that point forward we no longer know any man after the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16).
Most people have wanted a do-over. We reach for it in familiar ways: a new location, a new job, a changed appearance, a new relationship, a fresh set of resolutions. Every one of them changes something around a person. Not one of them changes the person.
The Word of God promises a change that begins on the inside and works outward. It is spiritual. It is inward. It is eternal. And it is from God, not from the one being changed.
This is where the new life begins, and it is open to everyone without exception. A person in Christ is not repaired. That person is made a new creature, and the old things are genuinely passed away.
By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
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