It was awesome to be here listening to you all sing, worship and enjoying our Lord. So I’m here this week because last Friday I was asked if I would be willing to speak this week on the topic of being changed with a new identity. When this question came to me immediately, some verses popped into my head and I said, I need you to give me a few hours before I can let you know if I’m actually able to preach today. And a few hours turned into 24 hours and I responded to Mr. Modig saying, sure, I’ll take it. Let’s go.

So if you have your Bibles with you this morning, and I hope you do, we’re going to be looking at Second Corinthians, chapter five. Our main focus is going to be verses 15 and 16 or 16 and 17 this morning. But as you’re turning there, I would like you. Yeah, I heard over here that, oh, as you’re turning there, I couldn’t stop it. I had to do it. I’d like you to think about the topic. I was given this idea of being changed with a new identity. What are some ways that people are changed with a new identity? You know, in one sense, ladies, if you get married one day you will be changed. You will have a new identity, your last name will be different.

You’re going to have to go through a ton of paperwork to have your last name changed because now the government sees you as an individual with a new identity. Take my wife for example. For 20 something years she was a Whitmer. But on the 4th of August, 2007, she legally became a Coley. She was no longer a Whitmer. And in a very real sense, she did get a new identity. The government does not recognize her as Whitmer anymore. It’s not just the government, though, that views her as someone with a new identity. Even the Lord sees her as someone who has a new identity. This goes back to the creation account when the Lord made it crystal clear, a man shall leave his mother and father and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

In marriage, both the husband and the wife have a new identity. A new family has been formed by the grace of God. That’s one way you can get a new identity. How about a person who just decides they want to legally change their name? Like this happens in various ways. Some people are put in witness protection because they oversaw a crime, and they get a new identity. Often people just don’t like their names, so they go and they have their name changed. My mom did not like how Marjorie was spelled, so she went in and legally had the G taken out and the J put in, which means when you do something like that, you have to change your license, your passport, sometimes your marriage certificate. You have a new identity.

What about someone who comes here from another country and they decide they want to become an American citizen, so they go through the process of becoming a citizen where in the end, all of a sudden, they have a new identity. They’re no longer someone from England or France or Germany or Hungary or China. Now they are an American citizen. They have a new identity. And it’s also even possible when someone comes from another country, that their last name is changed slightly, possibly even their first name is changed. My friend from seminary is named Young Chan oh, and he did not think Americans could say Myung Chan oh. So he had his name legally changed to Gustin. I think Myung Chan was better, a better fit for him. So all throughout seminary, I refused to call him Gustin. He was Myung Chan.

But these are just a few ways, in a very real sense that you can get an identity, a new identity. The thing is, with each and every one of these new forms of identity, you are still yourself. My wife still has strong ties to the Whitmers. We see them several times a year. And whenever we need to go, we’re going through a hard time, or she’s trying to lift weights or do something new to challenge herself. I look at her and I say, you know, it’s time to whitmer up, get the job done. And she smiles and she gets the job done. So even if you have your name changed, in a sense, you still are yourself. Even with those people in witness protection, they are still themselves. They just have a new name.

Even people who come here from another country, they still have their identities, even though they have a new one. What we’re going to see here, though, in second Corinthians is vastly different when it comes to having a new identity. So let’s consider what the Lord is telling us in these verses. I want us to look at verses 16 and 17, and then we’re going to go back and look at 14 and 15 real quick. But in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 16 and 17, we read, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.

You know, when you’re looking at a section of Scripture and you see a word like therefore in a sentence, you always need to understand what therefore is. Therefore. Yes, Mrs. Rank. So what is this therefore? That’s where verses 14 and 15 come in. For the love of Christ controls us. Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all. Therefore all have died. And he died for all. That those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. You know, this passage here, this whole section of Scripture that we’re looking at 14 through 17 and even more of it has to deal with the doctrine known as regeneration. It has to deal with the doctrine, simply put, of what does it mean to be born again.

This reality of spiritual rebirth, though we have to understand, is not something that’s new to the New Testament. It is found all throughout Scripture. Jesus says in John, chapter three, you cannot see, you cannot act, enter the kingdom of heaven unless you are born again. And yet we see on the mountain of transfiguration with Jesus, who are the two people there? Give you one of them. Moses. Who is the other one? Elijah. So we have two people from the Old Testament who were with Jesus. So one of the earliest signs or shadows of being born again can actually be found in Deuteronomy chapter 10, where the Lord tells Moses to tell the people this. And now, Israel.

What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, and to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord which I am commanding you today for your good. Behold, to the Lord your God belong the heavens and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them. You, above all peoples, as you are to this day, circumcise therefore the foreskins of your heart and no longer be stubborn like verses 12 to 15. Here are self explanatory. You, as a follower of God, really you, as someone who is one of God’s creation, are to fear God.

You’re to walk in his ways. You’re to love him. You’re to serve him with all your heart and all your soul. And you are to keep all of his statutes and commandments. These truths right here in Scripture are true for all Mankind is required to do these things. And yet we know that because of the Fall. We know that mankind out there desires to suppress God’s truth. We think we can be like God, knowing good from evil. But all of these things we should be walking in. It’s verse 16 here that points to the process of regeneration. It points to what it means to be born again in Deuteronomy 10. To circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and no longer be stubborn like, how do you circumcise the foreskins of your own heart?

Is there a single person in this room that is able to perform heart surgery so that they can circumcise the foreskins of their heart? I already know the answer. I’ve even asked doctors this. There is not a single person in this room who can do that to themselves. Honestly, there’s not a single person on this planet who can circumcise the foreskins of their own heart. And so what the Lord is pointing to, even in the Old Testament, in the Law, is this spiritual reality that only he can do. Only he can make someone a new person. Only he can give someone a new identity. Which is why In Ezekiel chapter 36, starting in verse 25, the Lord shows us even more of what he’s doing to give us a new identity.

Because In Ezekiel chapter 36, we’re told that the Lord is going to draw his people in from the nations. He’s going to draw people, and if you read it, who have been. I can’t believe I’m saying this word here in the Christian school, but he’s drawing his people and who’ve been whoring themselves to the nations. And he lets us know in Ezekiel 36 that he’s not doing this because of anything good in and of ourselves. We’ve gone after the nations. But he says, I’m doing this for my own glory. And as I draw my people and I’m going to sprinkle them with water, pointing to baptism that we see in the New Testament. But it doesn’t end there.

As he draws us in, as he sprinkles us with water, he takes out our heart of stone and he replaces it with a heart of flesh. What does it mean to circumcise, therefore, the foreskins of your own heart? It is a work that God does in the lives of those who are His. But it doesn’t even end there. After he gives us a new heart, the Lord tells us in Ezekiel 36 that he’s going to Put His Spirit on His people, and with His Spirit on them, he’s going to give them. So if you’re one of his people, he’s going to give you the desire to keep his commandments and statutes. Which means if you desire at all to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, it’s because the Lord has given you that desire through His Holy Spirit.

And we see all that right there in Ezekiel, chapter 36, verses 25 to 27. This is how spiritual rebirth works. It’s all by the work of our faithful, merciful, gracious Lord. And Jesus makes that even more clear when you get to John chapter three, and you have this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, where in verses five to seven, Jesus says, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water in the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

And so to have a new identity in Christ. And I almost wanted to watch again what that guy was saying last week because he was getting you guys, like, riled up, saying, in Christ, I almost did that. But to have a new life in Christ, that’s only possible because of God’s work in your life. And we see this in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, where the Lord lets us know right there at the beginning of verse 14. For the love of Christ controls us. If you’re a follower of Christ, who’s the one controlling you? It is the love of Christ. This is what it means to be born again. The love of Christ controls you. He controls you because the Lord, through His Spirit, has given you the desire to keep his commandments and statutes.

So if you are born again, and I want to repeat that one more time, if you are born again, you are now controlled by the love of Christ. And as one who is controlled by the love of Christ, verse 16 is something we really need to look at. You are no longer. You are to no longer regard anyone according to the flesh. Even though you once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old has passed, the new has come. So what the Lord is telling us to the Apostle Paul here is that if you are in Christ, you now are A new creation, you’re born again. The the old has passed away, the old you is gone, and the new you has come.

And this is what we can learn from this spiritual reality. I’d like to point out three things we see here in this text. If you’re born again, if you are no longer to view people according to the flesh, if you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then there are three things we need to look at as new creations. The Lord is telling us that we are to look at everyone around us in a new way. You see it right there in verse 16. We regard no one according to the flesh, for we once regarded Christ according to the flesh. We regard him thus no longer. This part here about regarding Christ according to the flesh could be a sermon in and of itself. The first four verses of Hebrews points out to us who Christ really is.

Where we’re told by the writer of Hebrews long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs for those of us who are born again. Before we came to faith, we used to regard Christ according to the flesh.

We would think of sweet little baby Jesus in the manger. That’s why a lot of churches these days have epic Christmas Eve services where the places are packed but the rest of the year no one’s. Well, they’re not as packed as on that evening. So many people still regard Jesus as sweet little baby Jesus. Even in a movie there was a prayer about sweet little baby Jesus. Before we came to faith, we would regard Jesus according to maybe the miracles that he performed when he was feeding people or healing people. Before we came to faith, maybe we thought Jesus’s teachings were good moral teachings that we needed to follow. Some people, even before they came to Christ, and they would say this to this day, well, I know Jesus went to the cross and he died for my sins.

And a lot of people say that three days later he rose again. That’s how we used to think before we came to faith. We used to think about him in human terms for the Jews. At the time of Jesus, they. They knew him. They knew who his father and mother were. They knew who was siblings were. And yet they despised him. Brothers and sisters, before were born again, we despised Jesus. We might not have used those words, but before were born again, did you love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, soul and strength? Before you were born again, did you worship Jesus or did you just go through the motions? After you were born again, though Jesus changed. He became his true person. We saw him in the light of who he really was.

We realized that he is the heir of all things. We realize, as we see in Hebrews 4, that in him all things were created. We realize that he is the radiance, as we see in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3. He’s the radiance of the glory of God. He’s the exact imprint of the Father’s nature, of the Lord’s nature. And on top of that, now in Christ we know that he upholds the universe by the power of His Word. He upholds all of it. In the blink of an eye, he could snap his fingers and everything would be undone. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. For those of us who are in Christ, we know that right now he is seated at the right hand of the Father. He’s ruling, he’s judging. He has authority. Overall.

Well, how do you not just know this stuff? How do you believe this stuff? It’s because you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It’s because now you have been given a new identity. Which is why with this knowledge, we need to realize that we are not to regard anyone according to the flesh. Look at everyone here sitting in this room right now. Think about your friends and your family and your neighbors and your. If you have a job, your co workers, think about even your enemies. Think about the politicians that are out there. We are to regard no one according to the flesh. But what does that mean? That’s point one. We’re to regard no one according to the flesh. What does that even mean? Well, how does the world regard people according to the flesh?

The world typically looks at people and they go and they start thinking, what can I get from this person? Think about how politics work. You have politicians pandering to a certain group of people in order to get their way. Think about sports. How do Ohio State fans feel about Michigan fans? How do Florida Seminoles fans feel about the Gators? Yuck. How do we go Red Sox or Guardians fans? Think about the Yankees. Yeah. Boo. This is how the world views other people as followers of Christ who have been given a new identity. We are not to view people that way. Which brings us to point number two. When we look at other people, when we see people around us, we need to view them all with spiritual lenses.

They are not just flesh and bones, other people, everyone around us are people who are spiritual beings who will one day be in the presence of the Lord where they’ll have to give an account. And upon giving an account to the Lord, they will either find themselves welcomed into the kingdom of heaven or they will find themselves kicked out into the eternal lake of fire created for Satan and his angels. We are to no longer see other people in their flesh and bones. We’re to see them as phys, or spiritual beings. And what does that mean for us? If we’re looking at everyone around us as spiritual beings, are we going to start treating them differently?

Are we going to treat our friends differently if we realize that these people are spiritual beings who one day, if they’re in Christ, we will find ourselves worshiping and enjoying the Lord for eternity? Obviously, we’ll treat them differently. We might not joke around with them anymore. We actually might help them. When they’re walking in sin, we’re told if a brother or sister sins against you’re to call them out in their sin. Why? Well, the reason is simple. The Lord disciplines those who are his.

And so we call our brothers and sisters out in their sin, pointing them back to Christ, knowing that one day, as the Lord’s working in him, as the Lord’s sanctifying them, as the Lord is washing them by the water of His Word, they will be perfected as the Lord continues from one degree of glory to another to bring them to perfection. Will we find ourselves in perfection this side of heaven? The answer is no. We’re all going through different stages of sanctification. Honestly, we’re all at different places in our walk with the Lord. Some of us have been walking with the Lord for years longer than others, and some of us aren’t walking with the Lord yet at all.

And so if we look at one another according to the Spirit, this spiritual reality, we’re going to start praying for our brothers and sisters in the flesh who don’t know the Lord. We’re going to start praying for our enemies who don’t know the Lord. We’re going to pray for our neighbors, our family members, going to start doing what Jesus called us to do in Matthew, chapter nine. We’re at the end, we see Jesus walking through the towns and the villages. He’s going from synagogue to synagogue, teaching and healing. And he has compassion on the masses. And we’re told he has compassion on the masses because they are like sheep without a shepherd. And so we’re going to look at our friends and family who don’t know the Lord.

And like Christ, we’re going to have compassion for them because we know they are sheep without a master and or without a shepherd. And then Jesus tells us what we’re to do concerning them. Jesus tells us in the last verse or so of Matthew chapter 9 to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest, that he might send out his laborers into his harvest. Like every single person in this room knows they have a friend or family member or enemy who isn’t of the Lord. And as a new creation, you’re to see them in that light. That could be a person who, if they were to die today, would spend eternity under the wrath of God. And we’re talking even about politicians who we. You know who we might go, ooh, that person’s evil. Yes, but so were we before we came to faith.

Now we see them not according to the flesh, but we see them as eternal spiritual beings. From the time the Lord formed them in their mother’s womb, they were an eternal spiritual being. And as someone in Christ, you were to see them that way. You’re to see every single person in this room as an eternal spiritual being whom you will serve the. The Lord, worship him and enjoy him for eternity. But that brings me to point number three this morning, and I switched manuscripts as I was throwing it on my tablet here. But point number three this morning is we are no longer to see brothers and sisters in Christ as sinners, chiefly, but we’re now to see brothers and sisters in Christ as new creations. Are we still sinners? Is there a person in this room who could say they’re not a sinner?

No. No, we are. We are still sinners, but we’re sinners who have a hope. We’re sinners who have a hope that 2000 years ago our Lord and Savior went to the cross, where he didn’t just go there and hang on the cross in agony. No, he took on every single one of your sins, past, present and future. All of your sins were nailed there with Jesus to the cross. And he didn’t just do that. He also drank in the full wrath of God in your place. This is why the night before, he’s in the Garden of Gethsemane as his disciples keep Falling asleep because they just couldn’t stay up. Well, Jesus is there and he’s praying to the Father. He says, father, please take this cup away from me. What cup are we talking about? We’re talking about the cup of God’s wrath.

His wrath that would keep you under his judgment for eternity because you would not be able to drink in his wrath. And Jesus is praying, father, please take this cup away from me. But not my will, your will. And so on that cross, Jesus, with all of your sins, drank in the wrath you deserve for each and every one of your sins. He drank in that wrath that would take you an eternity. And he did it in the matter of a few hours. And while he was on that cross, we know he cried out, my God, why have you forsaken me? He wasn’t crying that out from the physical pain. He was crying that out from the eternal reality of God’s wrath that would be on each and every one of us if he hadn’t gone to the cross.

But then, just before he gave up his spirit, what did Jesus say? He said, it is finished. God’s plan of redemption that was started before the foundations of the world was accomplished. Right there. Jesus conquered all of sin, but he didn’t just do that. I mean, if he had just done that would have been amazing. He didn’t just do that, though. Three days later, he rose from the grave, not only conquering sin, but he also conquered death on your behalf. So that now, in him as new creations, you are able to hold on to the promise that one day, for eternity, you will be in his presence. But also you’re able to hold on to the fact that right now you have died to your sins and you’ve been raised anew in Christ. And so why.

Why would we regard brothers and sisters according to their sins? Why would we go around? And in the end, you know, in some Presbyterian circles, not mine, but in some Presbyterian circles, there are pastors out there who will say it’s okay to be a gay Christian. If we have died to our sins and we are in Christ, do we regard anyone according to their sins? The answer is no. How about I look at each and every one of you and there are times I know some of the sins you guys have walked in the past. How would you feel if I or one of your brothers or sisters in Christ would come up to you and remind you constantly of the sins you used to walk in? How would you feel about that? Yeah, you’d feel miserable about that.

We’ve died to our sins, and we raised anew in Christ. And what is Christ doing for us right now as we humbly submit to Him? He, Ephesians, chapter five, is washing us by the water of the Word. And why is he doing that? He’s doing that so he can prepare us, so that he can present us to himself spotless and without blame. So this is how we are to view one another. When a brother or sister sins against us, we are to call them out in their sin as we point them back to Christ. Christ. But we look at our brothers and sisters and we realize they’re new creations, just like I am. They’re new creations, and while they might still be struggling with a sin that I overcame through the work of the Holy Spirit decades ago, they’re just like me.

The Lord is working through them. Like, this is one of the things I love about the Gospel. The Lord doesn’t take the whole of the law and lay it on us at one point. If he were to lay the whole weight of the law on your shoulders the moment you came to faith, it would break you. So instead, the Lord, from one degree of glory to the next, continues to shape and gently thank God for it being gently moldless back end of images, image bearers, vessels of mercy. I praise God for that. And I challenge y’ all to start looking at one another as the spiritual beings you are in Christ. Let us pray. Oh, Father, I come before you this morning just thanking you for the opportunity to bring the word to my brothers and sisters here at Agape.

I thank you for each and every one of these children of yours. And I ask that you draw in those who aren’t yours, but those with those who are yours. Lord, I ask that you gently shape and mold them, that you, by your love, control them in your ways, and that you constantly remind them in their times of doubt that they are yours. You have adopted them and you unconditionally love them. Father, I just thank you for this opportunity. And we come now in Christ’s name, Amen.