Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the transformative power of being in Christ, highlighting that true desire for God stems from being a new creation. He explains that mere religious activities cannot substitute for a genuine heart change, which is essential for reconciliation with God. The sermon calls believers to examine their desires, urging them to seek a deeper relationship with Christ, who empowers them to overcome the flesh and live in obedience. Beach encourages the congregation to recognize the importance of their desires and to align them with God's will, ultimately leading to a life that reflects Christ's love and righteousness.

The Lord is altogether lovely, seeking that we might love him with all of our hearts, our minds, our strength, and all of our soul. Let's bow our hearts for just a moment and ask the Lord to open up our hearts and our ears to his word this morning. Father, we pray that you'll grant to us eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart that responds. We look to you as our sufficiency. We look to you as our competence. We pray, Lord, that you will grant to us, Lord, the power to follow after you. We ask in Jesus' name, amen and amen. I'd like to ask you to think for a moment this morning about a particular word that is very important. This word is affecting you this morning more than perhaps you realize. The word is desire, desire. Just think for a moment. What are your desires? Might I say that ultimately you will do that which you desire. I'm going to be reading from a few places this morning, beginning in 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Beginning in verse number 17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit or because that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, 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. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Verse 17, all things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. Now verse 18, and all things are of God. Now in order for us to understand verse number 18, we have to understand verse 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. To be in Christ is to be born again. To be in Christ is to be saved from one's sins. To be in Christ is to be translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. You are not in Christ simply because you associate yourself with a church. You are not in Christ simply because you pray. You are not in Christ simply because you have been born into a Christian home. You are not in Christ because you pay tithes. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. To be in Christ is to be born from above. It is to be saved by God's Holy Spirit, delivering you from the kingdom of darkness and translating you out of it and putting you into the kingdom of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, unless a man is born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He cannot see the kingdom of God. That is, he has no understanding of who God is or the kingdom of God. You must be born again. You must be born from above. Are you born again? Does Jesus Christ live on the inside of your life? You might be religious, but being religious does not make you born again. It is imperative that a man is born again. Jesus said, truly I say unto you, surely I say unto you. Whenever Jesus said, truly, truly in the New Testament, it was an act of emphasis. He was emphasizing. He didn't want you to miss it. He didn't want you to listen in a careless way. Truly, you must be born again. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Christianity is not a sinner becoming religious. Christianity is not a sinner engaging in good acts. Christianity is not a sinner joining a church. Isaiah. I'm going to read from Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. This was the prophetic word that Isaiah gave to the nation of Israel, but it also applies to all nations. It applies to all people. Listen to what Isaiah says here. Verse number 5, Isaiah chapter 1. Why should ye stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed. Neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts hath left us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Now God was talking to Israel here, and he actually called them rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah. Now we know that Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament was one of the most wicked cities. They were engaging in total lawlessness. Every kind of sin that you can imagine was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah. And here God addresses the nation of Israel as Sodom and Gomorrah. Now verse 11, this is very important. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? Listen, bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination to me, the new moons and the Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies. I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meetings, your new moons and your appointed feasts. My soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary to bear it. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Now God was telling the prophet Isaiah to speak to the nation of Israel, and this is what he was saying to him. The nation of Israel. All the things that you're doing that I commanded you to do. Who commanded Israel to offer sacrifices? The Lord. Who commanded Israel to appoint feasts? The Lord. Who commanded Israel to keep certain days and make them holy? The Lord. Who created this whole system of religion that Israel was to keep? The Lord. But what did the Lord say about all of the things that they were doing? I'll have none of it. It is an abomination to me. It is detestable to me. It is grieving in my heart and in my eyes. I despise it. Why did the Lord speak so harshly about these things? Because God was looking at the heart. God was looking in the depths of the being. And God says to the nation, it doesn't matter what kind of religious ritual that you're involved in, unless your heart is changed. Unless you are delivered from the awesome sin that has plagued you like a deadly disease, there's nothing that you can do that will please me. There's nothing that you can do that will bring satisfaction and pleasure to my heart. There is nothing that you can do in the multitude of your offerings, in the multitude of your songs, in the multitude of your prayers, in the multitude of keeping your holy days and your feasts. All of those things gathered up together, raised up to me. I'll turn my face to it and say I reject every bit of it. It's abominable to me. You cannot bring pleasure to me, saith the Lord. That's what he was saying to the nation of Israel. God is so firm on this point because he was from the very beginning, even in the prophets and in the law and in the Psalms, revealing that the only way that we could come to God and be acceptable to him was if God changed our heart. Verse 16 is how Isaiah ends this indictment against Israel. Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. God is not for sin, he's against it. God is against sin. He is not for it. And he says you can't hide your sin in all of your religious activities. Your religious activities will not make your sin right before God. All of the things that you do will not make your sin right before God. You cannot hide the sin, God says. You can't put on a religious robe and pretend you're something that you're not. God says you might have fooled everybody around you. You might have convinced everybody. But you've not fooled the Lord. And you've not convinced him. You've not fooled him. Verse 18. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet. Your whole religious ritual is an abomination in my eyes, God says to Israel, because your sins are as scarlet as they are ever before me. All of your religious deeds are tainted with that sin in you, and I have none of it at all. You cannot make yourself acceptable in the eyes of God, beloved, through becoming religious. You can't make yourself acceptable in the eyes of God by simply making a commitment to go to church or reading your Bible. You can't make yourself acceptable to God by simply having a benevolent heart and becoming altruistic, kind, or giving. You can't make yourself acceptable to God by going to church four nights a week. Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, have you come to see, beloved, that apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, your sins are as scarlet in the eyes of God, and that it is our iniquities that have separated us from the Lord our God? Have you come to see that there is absolutely nothing that you can do to cleanse yourself from your sins? You stand guilty and helpless and hopeless before a holy God deserving of nothing but damnation in hell and eternal separation from Him. There is nothing that you can do. Nothing. You are guilty before God. And all of the religious activity that you are engaging in, God says to Israel, that you have hoped to be that which would cover, from my eyes, the wretched state that you really are, all of that stuff is an abomination to me, and I reject every bit of it. Come now, let us reason together. We don't reason with God until we first agree with God. You know that? You can't reason with the Lord until you agree with the Lord. If you want to reason together with God this morning, you must come and agree with the Lord. Now remember initially the word that I had said we were going to talk about this morning? Desire. Desire. What do you desire? Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. And though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. God's remedy to the human condition is not implementing some kind of religious activity to make us appear that we are something we are really not. God's remedy, God's solution to the human condition is, let us reason together, though your sins be as dreadful as they are, God says, I will cleanse you from your sins. Though they be like crimson, they shall be as wool, white. Beloved, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. To be in Christ is to be a new creature. To be a new creature is to have been changed by God on the inside. Do not equate being a new creation in Christ with anything that you are doing religiously. Do not suppose you are a new creation in Christ simply because you are here this morning. Do not suppose you are a new creation in Christ simply because you are engaging in religious activity or even hanging out with Christians. Don't suppose it. To be a new creation in Christ is what it means to be in Christ. Now, follow with me here, beloved, please. Got a few more moments. Follow with me. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Now, to every new creature in Christ, there is that which has passed away and there is that which has become new. Notice what it says. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Now, and all things are of God. So, when verse 14 speaks of all things are of God, that word all is very inclusive, isn't it? I mean, it doesn't say some things are of God. In verse 18, it says all things are of God. Now, connect that with verse 17. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. All right. The all things in verse 18 that are of God specifically refers to verse 17, the latter part. Behold, all things are become new. So, therefore, whatever it is that God has done in you through the power of his Holy Spirit, that coincides with verse 18. All things are of God. All that God is doing in you is of God. It's from his hand. It's by his power. Now, notice what it says in verse 18. All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation. Beloved, open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians. Remarkably, it was already read this morning, Ephesians chapter 2. Beginning actually in chapter 1, I'm sorry, beginning in verse number 16, we've read this. Paul said that he ceases not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. Now, he's talking to people who are what? Saved. People who are new creations in Christ Jesus. People who have experienced the all things are become new. Notice what he prays, that we would be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. That the eyes of our understanding or the eyes of our heart being enlightened may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. These are incredible statements that we need to pray over and meditate on continuously. So here, Paul is praying under the Holy Spirit's power for believers who have become new creations in Christ Jesus that they might receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. There is an incredible need within our lives as the church once we have been born again to see and to understand and to comprehend the depths of what has happened to us through the power of Jesus Christ. Because beloved, our whole Christian life and the victory therein in a practical way hangs on this prayer being answered individually in each one of our lives. Being able to see and understand and comprehend and grasp and lay hold of the incredible transforming power that has come into our lives through the new birth. It is that very revelation and its power coming to us on a daily basis that determines whether we stand or whether we fall in our practical life before the Lord. Seeing, understanding, and knowing him. Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And again, verse 19, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe. So there is a great power that is toward us, that is working in us. What kind of power is this? According, verse 19, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Can you see the connection, beloved? If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. If any man be in Christ, there is a power that is working in that man or woman that is the same power, not inferior to, it is the same power that was working in Christ when he was raised from the dead. But it doesn't stop there. It is the same power that was working in Christ when he raised him from the dead, but also that set Christ down at the right hand of the Father in the heavenlies above all principality, above all power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also which is to come. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. Beloved, being in Christ Jesus is not me reforming myself by becoming religious. Being in Christ Jesus is not me trying to change myself through my own religious efforts. Being in Christ Jesus is God delivering a soul out from the dominion of darkness, cleansing him from the sins, and placing within him the mighty power of the Spirit of God, making available to that believer the same power that was working in Jesus Christ when God raised him from the dead, set him down at the right hand of the Majesty on high above all principality and power and dominion and authority. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Do you know what the direct result, the direct result of experiencing such an incredible salvation is? Turn with me, if you will, to the Old Testament, the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 31. Now listen closely, beloved. This is a scripture in the Old Testament that speaks way back then, that speaks of this salvation that we just talked about. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31, beginning in verse 31. Listen carefully. Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, listen carefully, are you ready? I will put my law, where? Everyone together, where? In their inward parts. Wow. I will put my law in their inward hearts, listen, and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. That word all includes everyone who becomes a partaker of this new covenant. This is the covenant of grace. This is the covenant that Jesus Christ came to secure. But notice the characteristic of this covenant. God says he's gonna put his law where? In our inward parts, in our heart. Now, you know the word desire is directly connected to the heart. Generally, when someone desires something, it's a desire they have in their heart, right? So a chief characteristic, perhaps the most important characteristic of being a new creation in Christ Jesus is it affects our desire, desires. Psalm 19. This is so precious. Psalm 19, verse number 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Verse 10. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb. What are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold? What are? What is the scripture speaking of? The word of the Lord, the law of the Lord, the way of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, the fear of the Lord. Everything that has to do with the Lord we find in Jesus Christ, don't we? So if you want to take the totality of the Old Testament and put it in something, and then if you look at that thing, you say there is everything that the Old Testament spoke of that had to do with bringing pleasure to God and anything that had to do with what God was like, we see that in who? The Lord Jesus Christ. So when the scripture says, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb, it is safe to say that we can conclude that that thing that is more to be desired is not so much a thing, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Where are we going this morning? What are we getting at? What we're getting at is this, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. And the essential difference between the new creation or the one who is in Christ, the born again believer, and the one who is not in Christ, the essential difference is that the born again believer has a desire, a longing, and a hunger, and a love, and a reaching out for God. Their desire is toward God and the things of God. What do you desire this morning? What do you want more than anything else this morning? Now, Ephesians chapter 2. Beloved, being a new creation in Christ Jesus, born again, God has forgiven us of our iniquity because of the blood of Jesus Christ. God has given us the earnest of His Spirit. God has taken His law and written it upon our heart. That is, He has given us a heart that desires Him. The scripture says in 2 Peter chapter 2 that we have become, those who are born again, have become partakers, sharers of the divine nature, the God-like nature. God gives us, through the Holy Spirit, a renewed spirit. This renewed spirit desires God. It is recreated, according to Paul, into the very image and likeness of God. Now, bear with me. Why does Paul pray in Ephesians chapter 1 to believers that they would see, that they would know, that they would understand, that they would have wisdom, that they would comprehend, that they would grasp this calling of being sons and daughters of God? Why does he go on to say that we would understand and grasp and know the power that is working in us? Why does he then further go on and show us that this power is the same identical power that was working in Christ when God raised Him from the dead and set Him down at His own right hand, far above every principality and power? Why, why, why does God do this? Here's why. Chapter 2. And you. Now, connect that with what Paul was just saying in verse number 17 through 23. Paul was just talking about what God did through His Son, raised Him up from the dead and sat Him down at the right hand of the Father. And you. So he goes from talking about what God did in Christ to you and I. Now watch what he says. And you, who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's the past tense. Who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now notice verse number 2. This is what Helen read. It's very important. Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world. Make note of that. According to the course of this world. All that is in the world. 1 John chapter 2. What? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Paul is saying that in times past we walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air. The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. So here we are. Walking according to the course of this world under the power of the prince of the air. That's the devil who is now working in the children of disobedience. What were we doing? Walking according to the course of this world under the devil's power. What were we doing? Verse number 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation. That word means way of life. In times past in the lusts of our flesh. Notice what we were doing in the lusts of our flesh. We were fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. So according to the Bible here. Here we were dead in sin. Walking according to the course of this world under the power of the devil fulfilling the lusts of both the flesh and the mind. So therefore the flesh has desires and the mind has desires. And when we were dead in sins and trespasses we were following and fulfilling those desires. And we're by nature the children of wrath. But God, verse 4, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ for by grace you are saved and have raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So there has been a transition that has taken place, beloved. This is what the book of Ephesians is all about. The Holy Spirit is trying to show the church that if we are a new creation in Christ we are no longer what we used to be nor are we walking the way we used to be. But we are united to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. And instead of walking according to the course of this world we are to walk according to what? God's word. God's Holy Spirit. Now, we are awakened in Christ. God saves us. We see in Ephesians 2 that our desires, our life used to consist of fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind. Now, go to Ephesians 3. Having communicated this incredible truth Paul breaks out into an incredible prayer. After we are done we are going to close in a few moments and we are going to see the main points. And if we can get a hold of these main points and meditate upon them and get into the scriptures they can transform us. Alright? For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father. For this cause. He is picking up from Ephesians 3. For this cause. Then he includes a bunch of thoughts that he gets and then he goes back. For this cause. But in Ephesians 3.1 he is bursting out here for this cause because of what he just said regarding the incredible truth that the believer has been raised up together with Christ. So really, when we go to Ephesians 3.14 for this cause that includes what Paul has just been saying. Because of this incredible truth of Christ as our life and we are united to him. For this cause I bow my knee unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant to you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. You see the transition now? All of a sudden as new creations in Christ we are planted in Christ we are raised with Christ we are sit down together with Christ and now we are to be experiencing the strength and the might and the power that comes from Christ and we are to be strengthened on the inside by the power of Christ. So everything about Christianity now is a transition from what we used to be from following and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind from being controlled by the Spirit that works in this world it's a transition from that whole mess which is what Paul meant when he said old things have passed away that's what's in that old things all of those old things being in sin being under the control of the devil walking according to the course of this world fulfilling the lust of the flesh and the mind now we need to be strengthened by Christ with might in the inner man do you know where you are to get strength and power to conquer the desires of the flesh now that you are a Christian the desires of the flesh don't go away the desires of the mind don't go away it's just that now we are not to be slaves to them anymore why? why? because we are united to Christ the same power if you get a revelation of this the power that raised up Christ from the dead is the power that's working in me what for? so that I can be delivered from the tyranny of sin so I can be delivered from the desires of flesh and the desires of the mind that I had enmity to God I can be strengthened in my inner man I, my spirit can be strengthened by God in Christ to say no to temptation to say no to flesh to say no to the lies of the devil this is what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate to us in this incredible thing not only does he pray that we'll be strengthened with might but he prays that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Christ is now our life all that Christ is his righteousness, his holiness his love, his gentleness, his forgiveness that is now available to us all that he is is now available to us through the power of the Holy Spirit of God beloved, if you believe anything less than this let me tell you what you're believing a lie a lie that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith and then he prays about the love that you might be filled with the fullness of God's love so you see, there is a complete transition and only the Holy Spirit can make these things real in closing chapter 4 I therefore now again, I therefore I therefore therefore is there for because of what Paul just said follow his thought follow the revelation that's coming to his heart get into this book and weep over it children of God, weep over it pray God open my eyes to the truth in this book I therefore as the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called what's the vocation he's talking about? what's the calling? it's the calling of being what? sons of God children of God we are called we are united to Christ Paul just got done saying that we are united with Christ in heaven that he is our life that we are his body now Paul just got done saying that we've been translated out of darkness our sins are forgiven that now Christ is our life we have access to the power that raised up Christ from the dead why do we walk around on this earth dabbling in earth when essentially we are heavenly creatures united to Christ with all the treasures of Christ available to us why? Paul said I beseech you therefore to walk worthy of the calling verse 17 this I say therefore that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind see Ephesians 2 said we used to fulfill the lusts of the mind here Paul says the vanity of the mind we're not to do that anymore having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them who being past feeling that means you don't have a conscience anymore giving themselves over to lust and uncleanness we're not to walk like that anymore as Christians now verse 22 we've put off concerning the former way of life the old man verse 23 and be renewed in the spirit of the mind and verse 24 and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness there you have it beloved the revelation if any man be in Christ he is a new creation all things pass away behold all things become new have you been born again this morning is Jesus Christ living on the inside of your life have your desires changed you might say yes alright to that I ask another question have you seen now that you're born again that your life is now Jesus Christ and that as being a born again Christian you are called to live in obedience to God not fulfilling the desires of your flesh or your mind but through the power of Jesus Christ walking in obedience to him desire listen as we close stop being mindless beloved don't be mindless anymore don't aimlessly follow any desire that comes to you don't do it discern be discerning be discerning through the word of God and through prayer and through the power of the Holy Spirit ask God what desires are you obeying what desires are you yielding to today our desire for God and the things of God must continuously be strengthened in us by the word of God and prayer and communion with him unless we find ourselves being seduced by the desires in the world by the desires of our own mind and by the desires of our flesh we are in a warfare Jesus Christ is our armor and our life let's flee to him and by him fight a good warfare let's bow our hearts and ask the Lord to grant to us this revelation Father thank you for your Holy Spirit thank you for the truth we pray God that by thy truth you will strengthen us equip us we ask Lord that you would grant to us Lord a desire for you and that we would discern between the different desires we have for different things and not find ourselves being governed by desires that aren't springing from you but say no to them Lord help us to see Jesus Christ our life I pray God that you will shine light for your own glory in Jesus name