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If Any Man be in Christ
2
Corinthians 5:10-21
This is the judgment seat,
literally, the bema. There is still a bema in
When Paul says, "We must
all appear," remember that he is writing to believers. All we believers will
be judged, that we may receive the things done in the body. We will be
judged on the way we lived the Christian life, how we have lived in these
bodies down here. When we go into His presence, we will be finished with
these old bodies. The question He will ask is how we used these bodies. How
did we live down here?
Paul faces this question
when he writes to the Philippians. He says in Philippians 1:21, "For to me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Then he talks of his desire to go to
be with Christ but also of his desire to live longer so that he can minister
to the Philippians. He wants to stay so that he can preach the gospel of
Christ a little longer. And though none of us would complain if the rapture
happened now, we have something to live for down here, and we want to see
God do more too.
ill--The preacher asked one
night, "How many want to go to heaven?" Everybody put up his hand except
that one boy. The preacher looked down at him and said, "Don't you want to
go to heaven?" The boy answered, "Sure, I want to go to heaven, but I
thought you was gettin' up a load for tonight." Like that boy, I don't want
to go right away necessarily. Paul didn't want to go. He said he wanted to
stay in his body and preach a little longer. He wanted Christ to be
magnified in his body that he might be accepted of Him and that he might
receive a reward. This is the
way I feel. I want to stay in this body and do as much for the Lord as I
possibly can.
Here is the first
motivation for believers: We are all going to appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, and we will answer to the Lord for our lives. We are going
to give a report to Him. Let me make it very clear that this is not the
Great White Throne judgment of Revelation 20:11-15 where only the unsaved
will stand. If you are a believer, your name is written in the Book of Life,
and you have eternal life. However, you will stand before the bema, the
judgment seat of Christ, to be judged for rewards. You and I will stand
before Him. This should motivate us to serve Him acceptably. Then when we
come into His presence, He will be able to say, "Well done, thou good and
faithful servant."
Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and
I trust also are made manifest in your consciences [2Cor. 5:11].
I think the word terror
could better be translated "fear." There is a great deal said in the Bible
about the fear of the Lord. We are told that the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom (see Prov. 9:10).
One of the tenets of
liberalism is that we don't need to be afraid of God. They characterize God
as a sweet, indulgent old man whom you can treat most any way. Liberalism
teaches the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of
man, which is one of the most damnable doctrines abroad today. Do you know
that the Word of God says: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God" (Heb. 10:31)? Let us not preach a watered-down, sunshiny
gospel. Our God is a holy God, a righteous God. It is this holy God who
loves you. It is this holy God who wants to save you. But, if you don't come
to God His way, you will have to come before Him in judgment. "Knowing
therefore the terror [fear] of the Lord, we persuade men." There is many a
pulpit from which is never preached a sermon on hell. There are few sermons
on punishment, few sermons on judgment. As a result, God's judgment is
almost a lost note today. We need to fear the judgment of God. We need to
recognize that we are going to be held accountable to Him.
For we commend not
ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that
ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in
heart [2Cor. 5:12].
In other words, we're not
trying to win a popularity contest, but to tell the truth. If we do say
that, we are not commending ourselves. I am always afraid of the soft-soap
type of thing we hear today. There is so much today that goes the way of
psychology, how to become a well-adjusted human being. May I say to you that
if you are without Christ, it is not a psychological adjustment that you
need. You are a hell-doomed sinner, and you are on the way to hell. What you
need is Christ!
It may not make me popular
to say this to you, but it is the Word of God. We don't commend ourselves to
you. We don't want you to glory in us. The important thing for us to do is
to declare the whole counsel of God. Our motivation to get out the Word of
God is a recognition of God's judgment. That is the thing that would arouse
many a sleepy church member today.
Missionaries come and tell
about the needs out yonder. May I say that there is a real need in this land
of ours. The
For whether we be beside
ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause [2Cor.
5:13].
Paul says that the people
may think he is crazy. That is all right. He is doing this for God. Or some
people may think he is sober -- well, it is for their sakes that he is
sober.
For the love of Christ
constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were
all dead: And that he died for
all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but
unto him which died for them, and rose again [2Cor. 5:14-15].
"Constraineth us" is a
phrase that has been misunderstood. The thought has been that the love of
Christ restricts us or straps us down. That is not the meaning of the word
that Paul is using here. He says it is the love of Christ that is pushing us
out. It is the love of Christ that is motivating us. It is the love of
Christ that causes us to give out the Word of God. The love of Christ
constrains us.
"Because we thus judge,
that if one died for all, then were all dead." It was this that sent Paul
out to the ends of the earth with the message of the gospel.
Mankind is under the sentence of death. When Adam was in the Garden
of Eden, he was our federal head; he was the head of that old creation. That
old creation was on trial in Adam. God told him, "...Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam deliberately disobeyed God. He came
under the sentence of death, and when he did that, he took the entire human
race down with him, for all were represented in him. You and I have been
born into a family of death. All mankind now is under the sentence of death.
ill.--I come from God's
country in NM! Right behind our
house was
The Lord Jesus Christ came
to this world all the way from heaven. He was the absolutely sinless One. He
was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He came down here to
save sinners. He came down from heaven, but He didn't go to the mountaintop.
There are no people there -- He couldn't find any man on that plane of
holiness. They are all in the valley. They are all dead in trespasses and
sins. So what did He do? He came down into the valley. He came down into the
place of death where all men are. "And that he died for all." Because men
were dead, He went down into death, and now He brings believers up with Him
in resurrection life. Does He take them back up to the mountaintop where
Adam had been? No, He takes them with Him into the heavenlies. We who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are now seated in the heavenlies. He has
"...raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6).
"If one died for all, then
were all dead." He took our place. And those who believe on Him are risen
with Him. They are not risen so they can be put back on the mountaintop and
come tumbling down again. No, He takes them all the way up to the
heavenlies. Christ took our place. And if we are going to live, it is going
to be by faith in Him -- that those through faith "should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."
Christ died, not only that we should be delivered from death and judgment,
but also that we should be brought up from our state of death into newness
of life. Now our lives should be devoted to Him that we should live
henceforth to the glory of God.
For the child of God this
puts a whole new interpretation on the human family.
Wherefore henceforth know
we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we him no more [2Cor. 5:16].
Now we do not know men
"after the flesh." Now we see men through different eyes from those we used
when we belonged to the world. Out in the world there are only lost men. I
have an uncle who is a Ph.D. who teaches at a university. He is a brilliant
fellow, but he is a lost man because he is not in Christ. I know a man from
the gutter; he is also a lost man because he is not in Christ. "Henceforth
know we no man after the flesh." That is to say, we do not evaluate men
according to their racial background or their social background or their
color. We know that according to the old nature they are all lost in sin.
But Christ died for all of them. Christ died for the Ph.D. and He died for
the man in the gutter. He died for all.
James writes about this in
the second chapter of his epistle. He says it is wrong to give the honored
place to a rich man who comes into your midst with a ring on his finger and
with fine clothing on his back while you give the poor fellow a place to
stand in the back. Why is that wrong? Because as the children of God we are
to look upon the whole human family as sinners for whom Christ died. Even
the line between Jew and Gentile has been erased. All in the human family
are sinners before God. The only solution for all is the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We do not recognize any man after the flesh. All are on the same
level.
"Though we have known
Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." I believe
that Paul did know Christ after the flesh. I think that he was present at
the crucifixion of Christ. I can't imagine that brilliant young Pharisee not
being present at the Crucifixion in
Jesus Christ walked on this
earth nearly 2,000 years ago. He was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth,
walked in Galilee, began His ministry in Cana of Galilee, went to Jerusalem,
died on a cross there, was buried outside the city in Joseph's tomb, rose
again the third day, appeared to those who were His own, and ascended back
into heaven. We don't know Him anymore as the Man of Galilee, friend. There
is no man of
At Christmastime there are
a great many people who make a trek to
Right now, at this very
moment, He is up yonder at God's right hand. He is the glorified Christ.
"Though we have known Christ after the flesh," now we don't know Him that
way anymore. We are not identified with the One who walked on this earth
over nineteen hundred years ago; we are identified with Him who is in glory.
That is why it says that we have died with Him and have risen with Him and
are now in Christ Jesus in the heavenlies.
Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new [2Cor. 5:17].
Here we have a tremendous
statement. Allow me to change the word creature to the word creation. "If
any man be in Christ, he is a new creation." We hear this verse often at
testimony meetings. People will quote this verse and tell about their
conversion. They say they no longer indulge in certain bad habits that they
had before their conversion, and they consider this change in their habits
to be a fulfillment of this verse.
If you and I are a new
creation in Christ Jesus, what are the old things that have passed away?
Remember that we have talked about all mankind living at the bottom of the
hill where all of us are sinners. Now that we have trusted Christ, those old
relationships have passed away. We are no longer identified with Adam. We
are no longer identified with the world system. We are now identified with
Christ. We have been baptized into the body of believers and we belong to
Him. The old things have passed away, and the new thing is this new
relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are now in a relationship with the
glorified Christ.
Let's be very practical
about this. You may ask, "I know that is a wonderful verse, but how may I
know absolutely that I am a new creation in Christ?" Listen to what the Lord
Jesus said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Have you
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you trust Him? If you do, He assures
you that you have eternal life and will not come into judgment; you have
passed from death unto life. This makes you a new creation, no longer
subject to judgment and death. You have passed into life.
And all things are of God,
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation [2Cor. 5:18].
The ministry of
reconciliation is actually God's call to lost men everywhere to come to Him
with all their sins, all their burdens, all their problems, all their
difficulties, and to be reconciled to God. The word is used twice in this
verse, twice in the next verse, and once in the following verse. This
Reconciliation is not the same as salvation. Reconciliation goes a step
further. It is more than having our sins forgiven and divine justice being
satisfied. Reconciliation involves a changed relationship -- completely
changed. It means to change something inside out and upside down and right
side up. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation."
Now then we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God [2Cor. 5:20].
Who is an ambassador?
Webster says an ambassador is a minister of the highest rank accredited to a
foreign government or sovereign as the official representative of his own
government or sovereign. "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ." We are in
a foreign land -- Peter says that we are pilgrims and strangers down here.
Paul says, "For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). Since our
citizenship is in heaven, we are ambassadors down here.
When one government sends
an ambassador to another government, it means they are on friendly
relations. God is still friendly with this world. He has sent us as His
ambassadors. One day He will call His ambassadors home. Then judgment will
begin.
When man sinned, God in His
holiness had to turn away from the world. But God loved man, so He sent His
own Son to die on the Cross. Now God can hold out His arms to the world and
say, "You can come." We are His ambassadors. As His ambassadors, we are to
tell folk, "God will save you!" All God is asking any man to do is to come
to Him. God will not try to get even with you. He doesn't want to punish
you. He doesn't want to lay a hand on you. He invites all people everywhere
to come to Him.
On Him almighty vengeance
fell That would have sunk a world to hell, He bore it for a chosen race, And
thus becomes our hiding place.
God is reconciled. You
don't need to do one thing to win Him over. You don't have to shed tears to
soften the heart of God. He loves you. He wants to save you. Why?
For he hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him [2Cor. 5:21].
He took my hell down here
so that I might have His heaven up yonder. He did that for me.
[with helps from J. Vernon McGee]
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