On a cold night in April of 1912, the Titanic sailed into
history. It was the largest ship in the
world, called Unsinkable by many who believed nothing could
destroy it. Built with both luxury and
pride, the Titanic carried rich and poor dreamers and workers
across the Atlantic Ocean. Music played, lights glowed, and
passengers slept peacefully as the ship cut through the dark
sea. But at 11:40 PM on the 14th of
April, the massive ship hit an iceberg hidden in the black
water. At first it seemed like a small
problem, but deep below the surface, the ship was badly
wounded. Waters rushed in.
Panic spread. Lifeboats were lowered as the
ship began to tilt. Table decorations fell to the
floor. Chairs crashed into each other
and then crashed into the walls. Rumor has it that the band kept
playing, trying to keep people calm.
Families clung to each other as the freezing Atlantic Ocean
opened wide and swallowed the lives of over 1500 souls.
And on this weekend, in December of 1997, James Cameron released
the movie based on the tale titled the same as the sunken
ship, The Titanic. It was.
And this is an interesting genre of movie.
It was called a romantic drama disaster.
Some of you like I married that. I married a romantic drama
disaster. Yeah.
Your love story's that of the Titanic.
The this romantic disaster drama followed Jack Dawson, played by
Leonardo DiCaprio, and Rose, played by Kate Winslet.
It went on to become the highest grossing film of its day and
today it sits on in fourth place, bringing in $2.2 billion.
When it showed up at the Oscars, it had 14 nominations and walked
away with eleven wins, tying the record for the most Oscars won
by a single film. Then when it showed up for the
Golden Globes, it had eight nominations, walked away with
four Golden Globes, which was the most that year.
And the soundtrack. Oh, the soundtrack skyrocketed
to #1 on the Billboard 200. And it stayed there for 16
consecutive weeks, eventually going 11 times platinum.
How did it do it, you might ask? Well, with the star-studded help
of lead vocalist Céline Dion singing the title track, My
Heart Will Go on the opening lines, I am making all the
middle-aged women all across this region so happy today.
Every night in my dreams, I see you.
I feel you. That is how I know you go on far
across the distance and spaces between us.
You have come to show you go on near, far where?
Yeah, you know exactly what's happening.
I want to welcome all of our campuses, joining at all of our
different locations, those of you watching online and inside.
And for those of you who are here for the first time or the
first time in a long time, yeah, we're that crazy.
That's just what this is. Hear me before I get all the way
into the message. We will be starting our
Christmas Eve services next week.
Two things for you to do 1. Make sure you have found your
service and make sure you have found the person that you are
going to invite and bring it with you.
But today we are in a series called Behold.
What Happens when You Claim the Promises of God?
The word Behold shows up because there is something that God, His
Spirit, and the Scriptures want us to look at because there is
something there that they do not want us to miss.
I grew up going to church. And when I say I grew up going
to church, I mean, we went to church on Sunday mornings to
Sunday school, and then we stuck around for Sunday service.
And then on Sunday night, because this church was crazy,
we went to Sunday night services.
And then on Wednesday we went to Wednesday church.
My parents made financial sacrifices and they sent me and
my siblings to a private Christian Academy 30 miles away
from where we grew up. And so every day my mom would
drive us there, drop us off for school, and then she'd pick us
up and drive us the 30 minutes home.
And this private Christian School dedicated an hour.
One of our classes every single day was on the Bible and on
Wednesdays we had to wear a button up shirt and a tie
because we would go to Chapel and do you know what you they
did in Chapel? They would teach us the Bible.
And then my parents, when I got into high school, they
financially prioritize spiritual environments for me.
And so every year they would spend me for a week to summer
camp and they would send me for a week to a Christian
conference. And guess what they did two
times a day at church camp and two times a day at the Christian
conferences. They would teach us the Bible.
And in between my junior and my senior year of school, I decided
that I was going to go into full time ministry, that God had put
a calling on my life to tell people about Jesus.
And so I enrolled in a Christian college that trained men for
ministry, leadership, and Christian service.
And when I showed up at this school, their classes started at
7:00 AM. Do you know what you learn at
7:00 AM? Not much.
But you know what they were teaching us at 7:00 AM?
The Bible and I had a class at 8:00 AM and you know what they
taught us at 8:00 AM? The Bible.
And guess what they taught us at 9:00 AM?
Another class, The Bible. And from 10:00 to 11:30, guess
what? They taught us the Bible.
And then we would have lunch from 11:30 to 1:00 and then we'd
have an afternoon class from 1:00 to 2:00 and guess what they
taught us there? They would teach us the Bible.
And on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the 10:00 to 11:30 time
slot, they would have Chapel. So twice a week I would go to
Chapel and guess what they did in Chapel?
They taught us the Bible. I grew up being inundated with
the Word of God. One day in the spring of my
freshman year, I was going to the cafeteria.
I may have missed class from time to time, but I did not ever
miss the cafeteria. I showed up and there was a
folding table and behind it were seated some people in folding
chairs. And they worked at a summer camp
and they were interviewing people that they were going to
hire to come help them with their summer ministry.
And I got hired. They hired me, and I don't want
to brag. They hired me to be a Wrangler.
Yeah. Eat your heart out.
Don't let these golf pants fool you.
I was rough and tough. My job was to, every morning at
this camp, saddle forty horses and teach horseback riding to
the campers because I had grown up with horses and that was kind
of my thing. And so after my spring semester
ended, I hopped in my Ford Ranger and I drove down the
winding 2 lane roads to Colcord, Oklahoma.
What is or where is Colcord, Oklahoma?
It's as if Arkansas could get even worse and move 20 miles.
That is Colcord, Oklahoma. And as I was driving down the
big hill into a beautiful valley nestled on the far southwest
edge of the Ozark Mountains, I arrived at a place called New
Life Ranch. We were going through the
orientation where they were teaching us all the things that
we would need to know about being on staff with this
particular organization over the summer, how we were supposed to
interact with the students, what are different responsibilities
are going to be what team we are going to be on all this stuff.
And I started to ask myself this question, why is it called New
Life Ranch? And the person said, we should
you know, there's a, there's a scripture verse on the sign.
So I saw the scripture verse on the sign and I was like, OK, I'm
going to look it up. And so I opened up my Bible and
I could not believe what I read. Then I ended up reading the
entire chapter and could not believe that this chapter
existed. This was the first experience
that I can remember of these powerful, life changing words.
I don't know if I had heard it before.
I don't know if maybe I was coloring during Sunday school
and they taught it and I didn't pick it up.
I don't know if I was asleep in the 7:00 AM Bible college class,
but it was. I couldn't make sense of it.
I had spent so much time being around the Word of God that I
was frustrated the fact that I did not know that these words
existed, that somebody had not told me these words.
I have since made it my ambition to make sure that the people
within that sound of my voice on a regular basis hear the power
of these life altering, eternal destination changing words.
What are the words? They're found in Second
Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come. This is the ultimate tattoo
verse. It is easily a top five verse in
a top five chapter in all of scripture.
Let me walk you through it. It begins with one of my
favorite words. Anyone.
Anyone, Because anyone means everyone.
What God wants you to know, what this church has a heartbeat for
you to know. What I want you to remember.
What God is trying to speak to you is that this message, this
verse is for anyone and everyone.
This message is for those who pretend to have it all together.
It's for those who think they have it all together.
It's for those who have no idea what having it together even
looks like. It's a message for the person
who thinks that they've never sinned and for the person who
all they seem to know is sin. This message, this verse, our
God, is for people who have a past, have made mistakes, and
are afraid that if the people who are sitting next to them
really knew them, they wouldn't sit as close to them.
It's for people who hate who they have become.
It's for those who pretend that they have not become what they
have actually become. This anyone is not just for the
strong and the perfect few. It is not for the saved, for the
clean, or the ones who belong. It is not earned by the right,
and it is not erased by the wrong.
This anyone includes the weary and the worn, those who hide in
the night. For those who can never get it
right. It's for the doubter who wonders
if grace still applies. It's for the center who hides
with regret in their eyes. This anyone is welcome, from
every place, every story, every fear, every face.
No past too heavy, no chain too tight, no soul too lost to be
called to life. For anyone who is in Christ, the
old is gone. The weight of the past is no
longer drawn. A new life begins, rewritten and
free. Not who you were, but who you
were made to be. And this promise still stands,
unwavering and true. This anyone is me, and this
anyone can be you. But what does it mean to be new?
Well, I think if you were to ask God what is one of His top five
words, I think He would say one of his top five words is new.
Now, I don't say that flippantly.
I'm not saying that just to fill space in a sermon.
I genuinely believe that God's top five words has got to
include the word new. Let me show you we read about
Jesus, God's Son in the New Testament, the New Covenant.
Mark chapter one, verse 27 says that the people were amazed at
the teachings of Jesus and they asked what is this a new
teaching? And Jesus tells them in the New
Testament that His new teaching cannot fit in the old wineskins
of their life. It needs a new wineskin, it
needs a new heart. And when Jesus takes the Last
Supper with his disciples, he says that his blood is going to
be poured out and will usher in a new covenant.
Mark chapter 14 verse 24. And that he will not drink it
again until he drinks it new in his Father's Kingdom.
To those who would follow Jesus, he gives them a new command.
John chapter 13 records what this new command is.
This is Jesus talking. As I have loved you, so you must
love one another. By this all men will know that
you are my disciples. If you love one another, that
because of Jesus's death and resurrection, you and I are able
to, as Ephesians 424 says, put on the new self created in God
or created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
We get to put on the new self in the new covenant purchased by
Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
And then God tells us that one day He will make a new heaven
and a new earth. Second Peter chapter 3 verse 13,
where there will be a new temple and a new Jerusalem in the new
city. Revelation chapter 21, verse 2.
And what does he say in verse 5 where He will make all things
new? God has promised that one day He
will make all things new. But guess what is the first
thing that He starts to do? He starts to make His people
ready for the new by making them new.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.
Who are the people who will see all the newness that God is
creating? It is the people who have been
made new. How are they made new by the
Jesus that shows up in the New Testament with the new teaching?
That is not because of what we have done, but because of what
He has done. And then He makes this new
covenant in His blood. All of this happens and then
what happens? If you're in Revelation, all of
a sudden you're starting to experience all this newness.
Your ears pick up what the Bible says, a new song.
But before that happens, to those who come, to those who
cling to the promises of God, to the people who hang on to faith
in Him and never let go, to the overcomers, God says that He
will give them a new name. And just after you hear Him say
your new name in the new heaven and the new earth, when God is
making everything else brand new, your ears will pick up a
new song, a song that has not been sung before.
It is a brand new song sung in the new heaven, in the new
Jerusalem, in the new heaven and earth.
And what are the lyrics to the song, you might ask?
Well, Revelation chapter 5, verses 9 through 13 tells us
what it is. It's singing to Jesus.
This is what they say. You are worthy to take the
scroll and open its seals, because you were slain, and with
your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and
language and people and nation. Remind me in January to tell you
something cool that God's been doing in my life about that
verse, verse 10. You have made them to be a
Kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the
earth. Then I looked, and I heard the
voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and
10,000 * 10,000 they encircled the throne and the living
creatures and the elders, and in a loud voice they were saying,
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and
wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and praise.
And then I heard every creature in heaven, and on earth, and
under the earth, and on the sea, and all that is in them.
Saying to him, they're talking about Jesus who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and
power forever and ever. The promise of Scripture is that
all of this will be yours when you are made new in Christ. 7 *
7 times. Seven different times, the
Titanic got a message that there were icebergs in the waters that
got them from other ships. In fact, another ship called the
s s America sent information to the Titanic asking the Titanic
to pass along the message. So the Titanic received a
message saying that there were icebergs in the waters, and they
sent the message that there were icebergs in the waters to the
office in Washington DC, but they did not send it to the
captain. The hydrographic office later
went on to say this and their reports.
It is a lamentable fact and a remarkable coincidence that the
sinking of the Titanic was caused by an iceberg, the report
of which she had transmitted. Had she but heeded the one
warning that she transmitted, she would probably have saved
herself. There are some of you gathered
across this region, sitting in one of our locations or watching
online who you need to take warning.
Maybe you have heard the gospel. Some of you have even shared the
gospel. Some of you have served the
gospel. Others of you have contributed
to the spread of the gospel. However, for some reason or
another, you have not received the gospel.
You have transmitted the message, but you have not
followed the message. You've shared the.
Message. But you have not submitted your
life to the message. You've passed on the message,
but you have not come under the power of the message.
And if you are not careful, your story could just be as tragic as
that of the Titanic that if you had heeded the one warning that
you transmitted, you could have saved yourself.
One of the. Biggest lies that Satan weaves
into the heart of a believer is that the good news of the gospel
is for everybody else, but it could not possibly be for you.
And because you believe. That message you will invite
other people, you will talk to other people about the love of
God, but you will not allow the love of God to be received in
your heart, and so you never fully allow yourself to be made
new in Him. We're moving to a.
Time of decision. Some of you at.
This point might be asking yourself, so how does he make us
new? And you can go.
Home and back me up on this. If you were to go home and read
second Corinthians chapter 5. I mean it one of the top five
chapters in all of Scripture you'll read verse 17.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation, the
oldest God and the newest come. You'll read 18 which is good, 19
which is good, 20 also good, and then you'll come across verse
21, and verse 21 describes how you and I are made new.
How it happens? This is what it.
Says God made him, That's Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us
so that we might become the righteousness of God.
This is how I would describe this to 1/6 grader.
You have God, the righteous, fair, holy Judge, wrapped in
perfection. You have his Son, Jesus.
Who knew? No.
Sin and then you have you and me and all of human history.
And 2nd. Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21
says this. God made him, That's Jesus to be
sin for us. How did he do that?
God came over to. Us to you and me, and every sin,
every cuss word spoken or thought of, every lustful
thought, every adulterous encounter, every lustful moment,
every bit of rage, every mistake, every failure, every
shortcoming. Not just for you, but for all.
People for all of time, not just the sins that you know you did.
But even the sins. That you are not aware that you
did and he spooled them up. He got out a.
Broom in a dustbin and he made sure he left no sin behind.
And he put. It in a big bag.
And he took it. Over to the one.
Who was perfect and righteous and holy in every way.
The one who had never sinned. And he emptied.
All the contents of sin in all of human history, and he poured
it on him who knew no sin, and then he took all of the
righteousness and holiness and perfection and blamelessness of
Christ. And he spooled it.
Up he got out of broom in a dustbin, and he made sure he got
every piece of righteousness and holiness and perfection, and he
put it in a bag. And he took the.
Righteousness and the holiness and the perfection of Jesus.
And he poured it. Out on us.
And after he had. Placed all of the sin of
humanity on Jesus and all of the perfection of Jesus and put it
on humanity. Then he dealt.
With the sin, and in doing so he treated Christ like our sins
deserved. So you and I.
Could be treated like Christ deserved to be treated, and all
of His perfection and all of His Holiness.
That is. The gospel message.
That is how you and I are made new.
Jesus was treated like our sins deserved so you and I could be
treated by God the way Jesus deserved.
Hear me clearly. You are not made new by how
often you go to church. You are not made new by whether
or not you wear out your knees in prayer.
You are not made new based on how much you give, how much you
serve, how many old ladies you help reach, tall stuff at the
shelf at the store. You are not made new by how many
sermons you listen to, how many Bible verses you read.
I am not made new by how many services I write or how many
sermons I preach. We are made new because God made
him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him in
Christ. We could become.
The righteousness of God, I take offence.
When people say God. Is not loving.
Because if. That's not love.
I don't know what is. And so if.
You are here today and you've never started an intimate
personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The promises that I just claimed of how you are made new can be
for you if you are in Christ. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. You might be asking yourself, so
how do I become in Christ? The Bible is incredibly clear
when you are buried and raised with Him in the waters of
baptism and in. Just a few moments.
The people around you are going to stand and sing and some of
the people are going to come to the steps and pray.
And I want to encourage you to walk right over there underneath
that screen next to the baptistry and talk to somebody
about you claiming the promises of God, of what it means to be
in Christ. Because I.
Got to be honest. With you, I don't need an
upgrade. I don't need an.
Update There doesn't need to be a Clayton 2.0.
I don't need to be tweaked. I don't need to be fixed.
I need to be. Made new.
And so do. You to the rest.
Of you in the. Room To those of you who already
have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ,
I'm just going to ask you one big painful question.
What? Is the proper response to that
kind of love. What should the?
Rest of your life look like because God made him who knew no
sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God. What does that require out of
the rest of your life? Who is the person in your life
that needs to hear this would. You stand with me, Heavenly
Father. I just want to begin with a
gigantic thank you. Thank you for.
Being so good to us. Thank you for being.
So long-suffering, so patient. We have failed you again and
again and again. We've returned to you again and
again and again. You have every right and every
reason. To walk away from.
US. And yet your promise.
Still stands. Thank you.
And God in faith. We're coming to you right now,
in this moment, asking you to give every person in here
clarity on what it is that you want them to do.
And then father through. The power of your Holy Spirit
would you give us the courage and the strength to do it?
In your name, our praying. Amen.