Happy New Year

Happy New Year 

It has become an almost universal custom that denominational auditoriums overflow with people who assemble for the watch-night services a few hours before the New Year. The reasons for which people congregate on the New Year‟s Eve differ from one person to another. To some, there is no better place to the end the previous year and begin the new year than in the presence of God, to others, it is a mere festal culture and to many more, it is a period during which resolutions are to be made.

It is highly remarkable that many who have never been to any church building are equally present during such periods and for various reasons too. One person‟s particular denomination is too far and he wouldn‟t want to risk traveling at night, another person comes around because prophecies for the year will be released by anointed men of God, and the majority are available only to be able to shout the customary Happy New Year alongside the multitudes populating the church buildings.

But we pause to inquire, what is a person meaning when he jubilantly announces Happy New Year?  It is obvious that the majority, if not every one, are simply expressing gratitude to God for allowing them to see the dawn of a new year in spite of the  many perils that daily confronts men especially in a nations like ours.

Sir, let me ask you. As soon as ecstatic shouts of Happy New Year ascend the skies in waves of emotions and excitement and you join the multitudes in the joyful shouts, are you aware that heaven looks down and takes note of every one present including you? 

A brother declares Happy New Year and is acknowledged by the heavens as uttering something appropriate. You do the same and the heavens seeing you still spiritually clad in rags wonders why you would want to come into the sanctuary to perform your profanity and announce your blasphemy.

Before you become very uncomfortable with these lines of thought, let us consider what the word of God tells us about one who truly qualifies to shout Happy New Year in the face of the heavens and remain uncondemned in doing so. Therefore, if any one be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new—2Cor.5:17  

That Scripture teaches more than it appears to say on the surface. First, we notice that entering into a new year is not really limited to the first of January or any other particular day as we wrongly imagine. This implies that many will exit the church building even today, the first day of the year having shouted Happy New Year but never really enter into a new year. To religiously begin the New Year in the presence of other Christians has nothing to do with truly experiencing a new year.

The word of God tells us, if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creation. It matters not at what date a person comes to trust and put his faith in the Lord Jesus for the salvation of his soul. Once a person approaches the Lord under the weight of conviction and penitence, he becomes unburdened as the Son of God removes his guilt and blesses him with a new spiritual status.

Indeed, several people not present in any church building during the first few hours of the year will seek the face of the Lord and will find Him irrespective of their location while many who are present in church will undeniably return home as captives of the prince of this world. It is a sad fact but nevertheless a true one.

Sister, are you moving from pew to pew shaking hands with different brethren and announcing Happy New Year over each handshake because you noticed another sister doing it?  You noticed the other sister‟s face glowing with some kind of light and joy as she does it and you imagine that to attain to that kind of joy all you need to do is go around and shake hands too? No the conscience within you will still ring out to your knowledge the existence of a large vacuum crying out for something more than mere pretentious joy and vain handshakes.
That which makes the other sister full of joy is simple, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus—Rom.8:1. That sister whom you seek to imitate has found something more than the ceremonies we refer to as watch-night services. She came into the church with a heavy heart soberly pondering over the gradual wasting of her life in past times, and now in realizing her guilt, she has mournfully poured out her heart to the Savior, offering herself to Him and He in mercy has given her the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, the oil of joy for mourning and beauty for ashes. She is not who you used to know, she has entered into a new beginning because she has been granted a new life.

You cannot imitate that. You will only be adding to your own discomfort. As that sister rightly rejoices saying, “Happy New Year,” she is, from the depths of her consciousness, uttering a profound truth deeper than any careless utterance of that mere ecstasy that usually fill church buildings at the end of the watch-night meetings.

I understand that many who upon seeing other people praying seriously into the New Year will be taken up by the heat of the moment and because of the nature of the environment will momentarily appear religious. They will pray loudly and even shed tears in penitence. All such suddenly become saints because of the emotion of the hour when everyone wants to identify with God.

But the truth is God is not interested in crash sanctification programs. No matter how long you pray, it doesn't matter how serious you appear in the church during those early hours of the first day in the year, virtually everyone else considers that moment to be solemn and may easily put on a countenance of sobriety.

The test of your profession lies not with the auditorium among worshipping saints. It goes farther than that. Our text reads, If any one be in Christ, he is a new creation old things have passed away. Have you professed faith in the Lord Jesus? Congratulations! But if that is not the result of some worked up emotion, then you must realize that for any who is truly a new creation in Christ Jesus, Old things have passed away. That is the practical side of the issue. 

Every habit that belongs to your past life has been promptly and consciously discarded. Old things are not passing away they have passed away. It takes only a few minutes of discussing with your former acquaintances before they discover that old things have passed away if indeed this is so.

A lot of talk about New Year resolutions is going around. If you are really serious, you had better put away such rubbish. No human resolve will morally refine your nature. By strength shall no man prevail, and indeed experience has taught many of us that these resolutions usually take us no where. They practically are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Barely a week after the resolution is made in the sanctuary; the vow is broken on the streets. The reason is plain. The Lord no where promises man that he shall live by his works or strength.

No marvel then that the same man who assembles with children of God on the first day of the year eventually repairs to his former accomplices on the seventh! That is not the story of a person who is genuinely saved. He is not merely reformed. He is a new creation. Nothing of the old pleasures him anymore. He has been to the depths of depravity and knows the awful reality of being taking captive by sin and Satan but now having breathed in the fresh air of freedom on the heights of liberty, has made a final, decisive break with low living.

Excuse me sir, how long will you continue to say, “I'll gradually meet up, it will take me sometime to adjust. I just can‟t suddenly stop using vulgar language, I grew up on the streets” No, you must stop it. If you are truly saved, then the new life which you profess says, if any man bridle not his tongue then his religion is in vain [Jm.1:26]. Old things have passed away. They are in the past and there they ought to remain. To continue in them is to acknowledge to have uttered a blasphemy in church, where you supposedly professed Christ. May the Lord give you wisdom. To pass away means to die.

Old things have passed away. There is a marked difference in the Christian from what he used to be. When you encounter him, it becomes obvious that a new life is begun, a new Master is now being served, new desires pervade the mind, just everything is discovered to be new!
Many, are perhaps wondering, “this is not the kind of message we expected to hear at such a time as this. “We are here to rejoice with one another, listen to some encouragements and prophecies and then shout „Happy New Year‟ as soon as it is twelve o‟clock.” That is very good but you need to know what is involved, you need to know that only he who is in Christ is new, and is truly free from condemnation and that all such people are characterized by a passing away, that is the death of all habits inconsistent with the nature of God.

Such a person is not ashamed of what his friends will say about his change in attitude. It matters not to him that he might be the object of mockery and ridicule. What concerns him is that the old man within him has passed away and the new man is birthed. A dead man can never be ashamed of his friends. He is dead to sin and will not to be entangled in its dangerous maze again no matter what the cost is.

“But we know and have just done all that!” Congratulations and very good, I can neither deny that nor certify it. It is not my prerogative to validate or invalidate your profession now, but we can read the text together again¸ Therefore, if any one be in Christ, he is a new creation old things have passed away, behold all things are become new—2 Cor.5:17

Look very well at that Scripture and you will notice that God cannot be deceived. You say, „I am in Christ,‟ you announce, „Old things have passed away‟ but God says that is not all. Whether you are genuine or no, there remains a test! The Lord calls every one to BEHOLD!

You are placed on advertisement. “Heaven and earth, aye, hell and the nether regions too, hurry ye! Hurry ye for thou art summoned of Him who is Omniscient! Come, hear ye the charge of the Most High God; Behold, look very well, consider earnestly, examine and observe the man who professed Christ.” 

If you are a new creation, then you shall be found in a state that God can say very good.  He summons all to behold and to testify if you are very good and can be said to be one of His. 

What will be said of you when you go to the markets, to your schools or to your offices?  Will it be said of you in February, “I have been watching my wife since the inception of this year and she is just seems different” Will your boss at work say, “Your character has been very good, I wish many more were like you”

Or will it be said of you, “When will you ever grow up and stop messing around, when will you stop being the heartache of this family, the chief trouble in this company?” 

My friend, you may have made your profession to the acknowledgment of every one. But as you are stepping out of the hall, the Lord calls men, women, children, and angels to behold. To critically examine and to consider what manner of life you will lead outside the sanctuary and apart from the saints.

The supreme question is, will your life befit one that God has wrought His work upon? Will men and angels find it even as you have professed in the church on the first of January? Will God be pleased to identify with you or will heaven shrink in horror at the thought that you seek to endorse your sinfulness with a false profession? It is a bad thing if you lie to a person but it is much worse when you tell yourself a lie. Do you really think you could deceive all? Even if you could achieve such an undesirable feat would you class the most High Himself among those whom your treachery will successfully subdue with deception?

Let us beware. The Lord watches us all closely and will eventually put our profession to test. My soul shall be sad for you if you remain fettered in the chains of the enemy having been shown a way of freedom. Something must be terribly wrong with your heart if you shout, “Happy New Year” in another hour and heaven shakes her head over you and say, “Why is this woman rejoicing like the others? Over what is that man laughing and shouting? What‟s new about rags, what‟s there to glory in while still manacled in bonds of spiritual slavery?”

For those who are only present to hear prophecies and to know God‟s program for the New Year. Our text says it all. You are either in Christ or outside Christ. There can be no neutral stand. The one is a life of liberty and the other one of condemnation. A life without Christ is a life in crisis. The end of all who do not know the Lord Jesus will be eternal damnation while the destiny of the Christian is everlasting peace in the Lord. That is the prophecy you need and which you can expect without failure.
Really, many of us await divination in the name of prophecies. I am too glad to disappoint you. It is inconceivable how even men who have no heart for God have become interested in so-called prophecies. The majority of prophecies advertised from today‟s pulpits are false anyway.

One of the foremost preachers here in Nigeria, declared, “The Lord says, this year 2009 shall be full of much evil and plenty good together” I am surprised at the way many are running around and saying, “Daddy has prophesied what the year holds.” The logic should be apparent to any right thinking mind. The speaker holds a P.hd in Mathematics and he has simply translated simultaneous equations into words! What is prophetic about good and evil happening in any given year? Prophecy or no prophecy, has this not been the story since the world began? If so, why then do we continue to allow these men take us for mindless fools? Aren‟t we only itching to hear what we want to hear? May the Lord have mercy and deliver us from spiritual dullness. 

Another preacher desperate for popularity has foretold many evil things, “this year 2009, the kainji dam will likely overflow and cause a lot of damage including lose of lives. The president‟s life and those of certain political ministers are not safe, diseases shall be on the rampage and there shall be terrible famine” It requires no intelligence to reasonably conclude that the man has been reading the news papers and listening to our nation- wide news recently.

My beloved friends, we must not allow such trivialities cause us to deviate from our worthy focus. If you are yet to know the Lord and you really want to do so then I rejoice with you. I want to and I earnestly long to shake your hands and be able to say to you and hear from you, „Happy New Year‟ and find it so throughout the years to come. For all who have professed that the Lord has burst the bonds iniquity that has kept them bound all these years, we shall be happy to behold this reality even as the Lord has invited us to do. May we truly find that old things have passed away and all things have become new.  Happy New Year.