The Will WHEN ALL THINGS ARE NEW
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5:17.
This text doesn't say that some things are to become new, but that all thingsare become new. Have you ever wondered when this was going to happen in your life? Many young people have expected that as soon as they were first converted, everything was supposed to be different, and they would have no more problems or failures from that point on; and that if they did, they probably weren't converted in the first place. This has discouraged many people.
We must understand that the new heart that is promised to us leads to a new life (see Steps to Christ, p. 18). We have a Bible full of case histories of people who have demonstrated the fact that when a person is born again, there still is the race to run, the battle to fight. Godly people didn't go from being sinners to saints, in terms of performance, overnight. Some people get nervous here and say that if we talk that way, we will open the door for license. But let's face reality. It is because we haven't faced reality that we have a lot of discouraged people. The disciples bickered and argued for three years about who was going to be the greatest. They knew that what they were doing was wrong. On their last rip to Jerusalem, when the Samaritans refused them hospitality, they wanted to call down fire from heaven. But Jesus didn't ask to start over with a brand-new twelve. He made allowance for struggling, growing Christians.
Let's make allowance for growth, but let's not leave all the victories God has in mind for us until just before we die or are translated. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is not just for the end of the line somewhere.
The truth is that at any time when we are depending on God's strength instead of our own strength, we can know complete victory, or all things new, now. And at any time we depend on our own strength, we fail. As growing Christians we fluctuate between depending on His strength and on our own. That's the painful swing that we all experience. However, the growing Christian, even the baby Christian, can understand victory in the ultimate sense, so long as he depends upon God's power that for obedience. It is when he depends upon his own power that he is defeated.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5:17.
This text doesn't say that some things are to become new, but that all thingsare become new. Have you ever wondered when this was going to happen in your life? Many young people have expected that as soon as they were first converted, everything was supposed to be different, and they would have no more problems or failures from that point on; and that if they did, they probably weren't converted in the first place. This has discouraged many people.
We must understand that the new heart that is promised to us leads to a new life (see Steps to Christ, p. 18). We have a Bible full of case histories of people who have demonstrated the fact that when a person is born again, there still is the race to run, the battle to fight. Godly people didn't go from being sinners to saints, in terms of performance, overnight. Some people get nervous here and say that if we talk that way, we will open the door for license. But let's face reality. It is because we haven't faced reality that we have a lot of discouraged people. The disciples bickered and argued for three years about who was going to be the greatest. They knew that what they were doing was wrong. On their last rip to Jerusalem, when the Samaritans refused them hospitality, they wanted to call down fire from heaven. But Jesus didn't ask to start over with a brand-new twelve. He made allowance for struggling, growing Christians.
Let's make allowance for growth, but let's not leave all the victories God has in mind for us until just before we die or are translated. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is not just for the end of the line somewhere.
The truth is that at any time when we are depending on God's strength instead of our own strength, we can know complete victory, or all things new, now. And at any time we depend on our own strength, we fail. As growing Christians we fluctuate between depending on His strength and on our own. That's the painful swing that we all experience. However, the growing Christian, even the baby Christian, can understand victory in the ultimate sense, so long as he depends upon God's power that for obedience. It is when he depends upon his own power that he is defeated.
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