Believing You’re Made New – Living Made New
Believe You’re Made New
Together Church | May 25, 2025
Pastor Brandon & Pastor Jerry | Series: Living Made New
INTRODUCTION
Brandon
Living Made New means…
Living your life surrendered completely in obedience to God’s will.
To Live Made New, you must believe that Jesus has already made you new!
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Jerry
“Believing in your ability to succeed is the cornerstone of success.”
This principle of success is used by every successful motivational speaker.
Everyone successful in their craft – athletes, artists, military leaders, politicians, teachers, business owners, and the like – have this in common: they have confidence they can be successful. The cornerstone of their success was their belief in their ability.
Brandon
This principle of success is found in the stories of people throughout the Bible…
- Noah would have never attempted to build an ark without having confidence in his God given ability to build it.
- Moses would have never saved Israel from Egypt without having confidence in his God given ability to perform miraculous signs.
Jerry
- David would have never fought Goliath without having confidence in his God given ability to defeat Goliath.
- Jesus would have never died without having confidence in His God given ability to defeat death.
These heroes of the faith believed in their God given abilities to be successful! Their belief led them to accomplish great things for God.
Brandon
Too many people allow their feelings and experiences to define their beliefs. Feelings and experiences are real, but they are poor indicators of what is true.
The truest thing about you is what God says about you. To live made new, you must believe that you have already been made new by Jesus!
If you don’t believe you’re already a new creation, you’ll have no success living like a new creation. Instead of living made new, you’ll live according to the dictates of your flesh.
Jerry
If you don’t believe you’ve been made new, you’ll…
- Always be defeated by one or more besetting sins
- Never develop the character that God wants you to have
- Never have the ministry God wants you to have
Brandon
- Never be the kind of spouse God wants you to be
- Never be the kind of parent God wants you to be
- Never be the kind of worker or disciple-maker God wants you to be
If you’re going to live made new, you must believe that you have already been made new by God!
Jerry
It is natural for us to have doubts about our natural abilities.
As children, our parents and grandparents have a lot more confidence in our natural abilities than we do. I have said countless times to my children and grandchildren, you can do this, when they have a lack of confidence in their natural ability.
From crawling to walking to riding a bicycle to swimming to playing a musical instrument to playing sports to getting good grades to graduating to being successful in their careers to being a good mother or a good father, I have said, “You can do this!” I can’t tell you how many times I have said you can do this after they have tried and failed because they did not believe in their natural abilities.
In the same way, it is normal for us to have doubts about our spiritual abilities.
Brandon
Do you know what I’ve found? Most Christians do not believe that they have literally already been made new. Even though the Bible says it clearly, they don’t believe it.
Most followers of Jesus find it way easier to believe God paid for their sins on the cross than to believe they are new creations.
Jerry
It’s easier to believe our sins are forgiven because our belief that God paid for our sins is based on a historical event that was recorded by eyewitnesses. That historical event is the physical death and resurrection of Jesus.
It is harder to believe we’ve literally been made new because our belief that we are new creations is based on the promise that Jesus made to His followers that the Holy Spirit would dwell in them and that they would be born again.
There are so many factors that make it difficult for followers of Jesus to live their lives in complete confidence that they’ve been made new!
Brandon
It’s difficult to believe we are new creations because there’s no physical experiential evidence to support our belief. None of us have ever had a tongue of fire come to rest on us and become multi-lingual when we received Jesus and were made new.
Jerry
It’s difficult to believe that we are new creations because we are subject to the skepticism of this lost world. It’s like they are just waiting for us to relapse into our old sinful ways so that it will support their unbelief in Jesus.
Brandon
It’s difficult to believe that we are new creations because of all these competing voices that tell us it’s not true.
- The world is constantly telling us what we believe isn’t true.
- There are spiritual forces of wickedness that attack our minds and tell us what we believe isn’t true.
- Sin and its desires in our flesh are constantly manipulating our emotions and our minds and telling us what we believe isn’t true.
Jerry
It’s already hard enough to believe that Jesus Himself died and rose from the dead for our sins. It’s even harder to believe that Jesus has also ALREADY raised us up from the dead to be new creations!
But as disciples of Jesus, this is a spiritual battle for our faith that we cannot afford to lose.
To Live Made New We Must Believe That We Have Been Made New
Brandon
Here’s how this works…
Let’s say that before you became a Christian, you were a liar. There’re all kinds of reasons you might lie. Perhaps you lied…
- When you did something wrong so you wouldn’t get caught.
- To impress someone.
- To get something you wanted – like calling in sick when you weren’t sick.
For all these reasons, before you met Jesus, you were a liar.
But after you become a Christian, you start being convicted by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. You came to believe that lying is a sin and you decided you should stop. How’s that going to happen?
Jerry
Well, maybe you were hoping you that God would just take away from you the desire to lie.
Notta! I have heard testimonies of Christians who have said that God took away their desire for a specific sin. I am grateful for these testimonies. I never discourage Christians from praying for this to happen. But if it happens, this is the exception. Paul made it very clear that the law of sin is alive in the members of our flesh.
Brandon
So, as a disciple of Jesus, you believe you shouldn’t lie, but God didn’t take away your strong compulsion or addiction to lying. So, you’re left with this question: “How do I stop lying and become the truthful person that God wants me to be?”
When it comes to answering that question, we’ve heard it all…
Jerry
There are some well-meaning Christians who would tell you that God is going to discipline you if you don’t stop lying. In fact, He may just kill you. The fear of consequence is a very powerful motivation for change. The fear of God is a good thing. But, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. God has an even better way to stop lying.
Brandon
There are some well-meaning Christians who would tell you to memorize scriptures that tell you not to lie. There are many scriptures that I could recommend to you. Learning the laws of God are good. They are used by God to shape our conscience and our biblical world view of morality. But the Jews had 613 laws. They constantly reviewed these laws in their synagogues, in the temple, and in their homes but this knowledge did not enable them to defeat sin.
Jerry
There are some well-meaning Christians who would tell you to pray more, read the Bible more, and attend church more. They might tell you that the temptation to lie is coming from your sinful nature and to defeat that temptation you have to feed your new nature more by praying more, reading more, and attending church more. But how many stories have you heard about Christians who were faithful in all of these spiritual disciplines who were still defeated by some besetting sin?
Brandon
There are some well-meaning Christians who would tell you we are all just sinners saved by grace so don’t beat yourself up too bad. In time, you may change if you keep trusting God. But if you don’t, there’s no sin that God will not forgive because of the blood of Jesus. This is true! But it is definitely not what the apostles taught with regards to sin and victory over sin.
Jerry
There are some well-meaning Christians who would tell you that there is something wrong in your heart if you keep lying. And they would encourage you to use the Word of God to look inwardly to discover a deeper problem such as greed or the fear of man or some other lust in your heart. They may even recommend a conference or a seminar that focuses on discovering these deeper problems. I am all for looking deep into our inner self to see if there is a root problem such as pride, greed, or some other evil lust. It can be helpful to know what deeper sins in our hearts are causing us to sin. For example, if your besetting sin is that you are jealous of the success of others, it reveals that in your heart, you love the world. But what do you do with these root problems if you find it? Confess it and ask God to cleanse your heart. That’s a good thing but how do you keep it from coming back?
Brandon
There are some well-meaning Christians who would tell you that you need to experience a deeper level of sanctification by having a deeper encounter with the Holy Spirit. They may encourage you to have specific people pray over you or they may tell you that you need to go on some kind of retreat to have a deeper encounter with the Holy Spirit. I am all for deeper encounters with the Holy Spirit however they happen. I believe our capacity to experience the Holy Spirit is often limited by our will to surrender to Him. I believe you cannot go wrong setting aside more time to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Jerry
And there are some well-meaning Christians who would tell you that you have a demon! Maybe someone has said that to you. Maybe you did what they said and had others pray prayers of deliverance over you, or you prayed prayers of resistance yourself, but you ended up discouraged because the sin in your life continued.
Brandon
Well meaning Christians might give all this advice and more when trying to point you to freedom from sin and teach you how to live made new.
Jerry
But if you are seeking God’s guidance on how to stop being a liar or how to stop some committing some other sin, I can save you some time. I already know what Jesus is going to tell you.
Are you ready?
BODY
Main Idea:
To live made new, you must believe that you have been made new!
If your struggle is with lying, when you are tempted to lie, you will receive God’s power to overcome the temptation to lie by believing that you have been made new.
Brandon
In Colossians 3, Paul said it like this…
Colossians 3:9-11
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Jerry
Notice that, when Paul told the church to stop lying, he did not use any of the counsel to this church that we mentioned earlier.
He didn’t tell them…
- God is going to discipline you
- Memorize more scriptures
- Pray more, read the Bible more, and attend church more
- You’re just a sinner saved by grace, so give yourself a pass
- There must be something wrong in your heart
- They needed to experience a deeper level of sanctification by having a deeper encounter with the Holy Spirit.
- They have a demon.
Brandon
When Paul told them to stop lying, he didn’t say any of those things!
This is what he said: “do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.” That is past tense. When did that happen in your past? When did you put off the old man?
You put off the old man the moment you received Jesus and the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you.
Jerry
Notice Paul also said, “do not lie to one another, since you have put on the new man.” This is past tense. When did that happen in your past? When did you put on the new man?
You put on the new man the moment you received Jesus and the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you.
Brandon
And in whose image did Paul say your new man is created? He said, according to the image of Him who created him.
In other words, just as God created Adam and Eve in His image, when you became a follower of Jesus, God saved you from sin and recreated you in His image.
Jerry
Well, you say, I do not see that image when I look into the mirror.
You may not see it when you look into the mirror, but God sees it when He looks through your physical being at your spirit.
He sees you as the new man created in His image!!!
God sees it! Do you?
Brandon
This is why Jesus said this to Nicodemus in John 3:3…
John 3:3
3 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
The power to live made new does not come from you. You receive power to live made new when the Holy Spirit comes and makes you new! And you walk in that power when you BELIEVE you are new in Christ.
Like Noah, Moses, David, and Jesus, the power you need to live made new comes from God and from faith or belief in Him.
Jerry
To live made new, you must believe that you have been made new!
God gives His power to us when we exercise faith in Him!
If you can see by faith the new man when you look at yourself, you will be empowered by God to say no when you are tempted to lie (or do anything other than surrender completely in obedience to the will of God).
CONCLUSION
Brandon
We began this message by saying that every successful athlete, artist, military leader, politician, teacher, etc. in world history has had confidence in their ability to be successful.
The cornerstone of their success is their belief in their ability.
What we did not say was that their belief in their ability was developed by the hours and hours of work they devoted to developing their skills.
For disciples of Jesus, our belief that we can live made new does not come from our work. Our belief comes from our faith in His Work in us!
To Live Made New We Believe That We Have Been Made New
Jerry
This is how it worked for me when I first became a follower of Jesus. Before I received Jesus I was a very bitter angry young man. I was angry at God due to the death of my mother. I was angry at my father for becoming an alcoholic. I was angry at other people for abandoning me. I felt unwanted and unloved and I was angry. I felt like I was a ticking time bomb or a volcano about to erupt.
After I was saved and baptized, I learned that I was a new creation in Christ. I learned that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in me and that I was born again by the Spirit of God. I learned that meant that I was the new man.
I learned because I am the new man, I am forgiving and not bitter. I learned that because I am the new man, I am meek and not angry.
I learned that when I was tempted to be angry, I could put off anger by believing that I am the new man and not the old man. I learned that if I believed the truth that I was forgiving and meek, I experienced God’s power over that temptation to sin.
As a result, I began to respond differently to my father. I began to respond differently to other people.
Any time anger gained control of me, I learned it was because I allowed it. I allowed it because in that moment I was not believing the truth that I am the new man.
INVITATION
Brandon
How do you need to respond to this message today?
If you are a follower of Jesus, what sin do you need to put off by believing you are the new man? What temptation to sin is defeating you?
Is it lying?
Is it fornication?
Is it adultery?
Is it homosexuality?
Is it drunkenness?
Is it anger? Is it stealing?
Is it greed?
Is it being rude?
Whatever temptation has been defeating you, tell Jesus that you believe you have been made new and that you are not going to let that sin define you anymore!
If you are not a follower of Jesus, this message is a defining moment for you. What you choose to do with this message will determine your destiny in this world and ultimately your eternal destiny.
Do you want to become a new man created in the image and likeness of God? Do you want to be born again by the Spirit of God?
If you do, you need to become a follower of Jesus.
- You need to believe that He is the Son of God who died for your sins to save you from the judgment you deserve for your sin.
- You need to believe that He rose from the dead and that He is Lord of heaven and earth.
- You need to profess your faith through baptism and welcome His Spirit into your soul.
If you will believe in Jesus and become His follower, God will forgive your sins. Jesus will send His Holy Spirit to dwell in you. The Holy Spirit will give birth to your spirit and transform you into a new man.