Thanks to Calvary

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I’m new, I’m brand New  1 Cor 6:9-11

EBC    1/28/09

  After I got saved, there were many new songs that became my favorites. One was “Thanks to Calvary”.  It went something like this:

 Today I went back to the place where I used to go,
Today I saw the same old crowd I knew before.
And when they asked me what had happened, I tried to tell them:
Thanks to Calvary I don't come here anymore.

  Many of us can say “thanks to Calvary, I’m not the person I used to be”. D.L. Moody said that when he got saved, "I went outdoors and fell in love with everything. I never loved the bright sun shining as much as I did that day. When I heard the birds sing, I fell in love with the birds. Everything was different.”

 John Newton the writer of Amazing Grace once said to a friend, “ I am not all I should be, or what I want to be, but thank God I’m not what I used to be”.

I. The Corrupted Life prior to Salvation (9-10)

   The life Paul describes in these verses are descriptive of many believers. Some of us were saved out of these kinds of lives.

  A. We see a lost condition

    1. John MacArthur- this is not an all inclusive list but a catalog of sinners who are typical of the unsaved.

    2. People who are characterized by this type of activity shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

    3. The application is clear, Paul asks “Why do you continue to live like the unsaved”.  Why do you keep falling into your old ways?

    4. Fornicator- sexual immorality. This sin is exalted in books and magazine and on TV by Hollywood. But is in all it’s various forms an abomination to God. Those who habitually practice it can’t be saved.

     5. Idolaters- those who worship false Gods or false religious systems. I;m thinking of the religious system of many in Hollywood. Scientology

     6. Adulters- married persons who indulged in sexual activities outside the marriage. Marriage describes a unique relationship between a man and a woman.

    7. Effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind- both refer to those who corrupt male/female sexual relations. These refers to tranvestism, sex change, homosexuality. Anything that attacks the family is particularly evil.

    8. Thieves and covetous- relate to the sin of greed. This person desires that which belongs to someone else.

    9. Drunkards-

   10. Revilers- those who destroy with their tongues.

   11. Extortioners- those who take unfair advantage of others.

II. The Changed Life Because of Salvation (11)

  Paul now uses the word “but” (Greek alla- strongest of Greek particles). He uses it three times to contrast the new life in Christ. It made no different what we were before coming to Christ we are new creatures now.

  A. There was a positional change

    1. We were unrighteous but now we have been cleaned up. We were dead in trespasses and sins.

       a. Eph. 2:2b-3-

       b. Rom. 8:17- we are joint heirs

    2. Justified- this is a brand new standing before God. He no longer sees us as sinners but as children. An act of God whereby we are brought into a new relationship with God thru the forgiveness of sins.

      a. Thru Christ we have been declared righteous.

  B. There was a personal change

    1. 2 Cor. 5:17-

      a. Some used to be the embarrassment of the family now they’re the envy of the family, some used to curse like a sailor now they proclaim like a saint.

      b. ILL. Norma McCovey- Some of you may have heard of Norma McCorvey. She was named as "Jane Roe" of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that legalized abortion in the United States. A few years ago McCorvey was working in a women's health clinic in Dallas. The national headquarters for Operation Rescue moved in next door to this women's clinic. The head of this pro-life organization was Philip Benham. It was there that Benham first encountered Norma McCorvey.

Now you can imagine that two such individuals in such close proximity would generate a significant amount of hostility. After all, this was the same woman who (in a reporter's hearing) invited a critic who accused her of killing babies to "bring yours over here and we'll do them too." At first, the relationship was tense. Recriminations bounced back and forth the protest lines. But Benham, instead of personally attacking McCorvey, the poster child of the pro-abortion movement, lowered his defenses, cooled the rhetoric, and simply began talking to her. He took an interest in her. He listened to her. He showed her love and compassion. The two became unlikely friends.

Norma McCorvey slowly began to reveal the secret doubts that plagued her heart. The sight of empty swings in a playground one afternoon suddenly gripped her. She later told ABC News, "They were swinging back and forth, but they were all empty, and I just totally lost it. And I thought, Oh my God, the playgrounds are empty because there's no children, because they have all been aborted." Within a few weeks, Norma McCorvey began visiting the offices of Operation Rescue, even volunteering to do a few odd jobs. The folks at Operation Rescue showed her courtesy, warmth, and friendship. Then seven-year-old Emily, daughter of the office manager, invited McCorvey to church. McCorvey accepted and that very night she accepted Jesus Christ as her Saviour. Now Norma McCorvey volunteers at Operation Rescue and has become an outspoken opponent of the cause she once defended so fiercely. A correspondent from the Washington Times reported that she "prays, sometimes from 1 A.M. to 3 A.M."1

What can make such a drastic turnaround and difference in a Norma McCorvey? It is the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    2. What has God done?:

      a. Washed- he cleaned us up and made us new creatures. All of our wickedness from the past has been forgiven and washed away.

       1. Eph. 2:10-

      b. Sanctified-speaks of new behavior. We are separated from the world and consecrated to God. Sin’s dominion is broken and is replaced by a life of holiness.

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