Putting on the New Man
Putting on the New Man
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self [man] with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9,10)
I do not hear it preached as much as I would like to, but the Christian salvation is not the saving of people. Rather, it is the transforming of them by the power of God, that the New Testament refers to as "grace."
The Apostle Paul wrote that if any person be in Christ he or she is a new creation. A new creation! Not an individual who has reformed himself or herself by endeavoring to follow Christian principles, but a "new creation."
An individual who is a new creation must be new in mind; new in the life by which he lives; new in speech; new in behavior. Finally, in the Day of Resurrection, new in body.
Paul spoke to us about being new in mind:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)
In the time in which we live, people are being bombarded as never before by worldly media. The individual who desires to become a new man must discipline himself so that he is exposed to a limited amount of the enticements of the media.
Paul commanded us to set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth. The new man will make a practice of thinking about the things of God and Heaven. Doing so requires a real effort that only the most sincere Christian is going to make.
The Bible says that as a person thinks in his heart, so he is. It is ridiculous to claim we are a new person in Christ when our mind is filled with the attractions of the world.
Then I said, the new man is new in the life by which he lives.
We need to press forward in the Lord Jesus until we are living by His Life. The Life of Christ is in His body and blood. We are given to eat and drink of His body and blood as we overcome sin and press forward in Christ.
The expression "growing in Christ" means increasing in the Life of His body and blood. As we open our personality to Christ continually we dine on His body and blood. The body and blood of Christ are the Life of the new man. They are the resurrection that will carry us up to meet the slain Lamb in the air.
To not grow in Christ is to continue in defeat, living by the life of Adam, hoping God will catch us up in our adamic nature so we can lie on our couch in Paradise.
This will not take place. The spirit world is nothing like we imagine. It is filled with all sorts of people, many of whom we will not care to be with, I believe.
It is the Life of Christ in us that is the new covenant, the writing of the eternal moral law of God in our mind and heart.
The new man is new in speech. He does not blurt out whatever fanciful thought invades his mind. He thinks carefully and prayerfully about what he says, seeking, when it is appropriate, to build up the listener in Christ.
The tongue is a world of iniquity. The mark of the new man is that his or her tongue is a source of life to the hearer, just as is true of the tongue of our Lord Jesus Christ, our example in all matters.
The new man is new in behavior. He is not bound by sin or self-will.
Is there a difference between sin and self-will? Yes there is. Sin is behavior that is alien in us. It proceeds from an unclean spirit that dwells in our flesh, as Paul said.
Sin can be dealt with rather easily, in many instances. When the Spirit of God points out to us some behavior we are practicing that is not in the image of God, we are to denounce it as not being acceptable in the Kingdom of God.
Then we are to renounce it with all our might, declaring that by the help of the Lord Jesus we will not practice it again for eternity.
If we are sincere and resolute in our denouncing and renouncing, this spirit will lose its fire and life. It is an eternal judgment on the spirit.
When Christ transforms our body in the Day of Resurrection, the evil spirit will be removed from us completely.
If we do not go through the confessing, denouncing, and renouncing I have mentioned, after we die physically that spirit, still powerful, may accompany us into the spirit world. Sin began in the spirit world. As God said to Cain, "Sin lies at the door and you must overcome it."
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." (Genesis 4:6,7)
I think Christians must believe that when they die, sin no longer is an issue. Yet they have no passage of Scripture I know of to support their belief. This would be to make death our redeemer.
It is true, as Paul pointed out, that when we count ourselves as crucified with Christ, sin has no power over us. By this Paul meant that the Law of Moses no longer has power over us.
But after we leave Moses and press forward in Christ, we are judged by the Spirit of Life in Christ. If we then continue sinning, as judged by the Spirit, we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Our end in that case is corruption in the Day of Resurrection.
As I said, if we are faithful in confessing, denouncing, and renouncing, looking to Christ in the meanwhile, and when we face temptation again using our new strength to overcome it, sin readily can be deprived of its fire and life. We are free from it.
What I have just described is the manner in which the Lord's victorious saints pass through the Judgment Seat of Christ today.
But there is another and far more serious issue. That is, self-will.
The only acceptable will in the Kingdom of God is the will of Christ, which is the will of God. "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done in earth as it is in Heaven."
Self-will cannot be removed as readily as sin can. Self-will is what we are. Many of us are in love with ourselves, and do not willingly give up our self-love, self-centeredness, and self-will.
Most of us Christians, before we are successful in overcoming our self-will, are certain that God can save us and bring us to Heaven while we still are "me."
While we still are "me" we cannot have enduring fellowship with God. We cannot serve as the brother or sister of Christ, or as a son of God. Sons of God are not adamic in nature, they are partakers of the Divine Nature. They are new creations in Christ.
We never shall lose our uniqueness as a person. But we absolutely must lose our adamic, animal nature. When Jesus cried out, "It is finished," He meant not only that the atonement had been completed. He was signifying that the original, adamic creation was finished and God was ready to make all things new in Himself.
Are you ready for this? Are you willing to say in every instance, "Not my will, but Yours be done"? Will you place your fondest treasure in Heaven, realizing your pleasure may be deferred until you die physically?
If not, you are in rebellion against God. If you hope to live in the new world of righteousness, in the Kingdom, of God, all that you desire must be placed in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as all that He desired had to be placed in the hands of the Father.
Such is the "new man."
Consider Abraham: Isaac did not represent a sinful bondage. Isaac was Abraham's heart, His self, the dearest of all possessions to him and Sarah.
God said to Abraham, "Offer your boy as a burn offering. Death. Death. Death to Abraham.
Sometimes I have wondered what the old man thought as they went on their Journey to Mount Moriah. How am I going to explain this to my Sarah?
Only the obedience of the Lord Jesus on His way to the cross came anywhere near what the gray-haired old man experienced at that time.
I read somewhere that later the Temple was built on the spot where Abraham bound his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. I am not certain this is true, but it would be fitting. Our greatest legacy will come from the time we died in the Lord.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you." (Genesis 22:2)
When we read the Book of Second Corinthians we can get some small idea of Paul's sufferings. But did you ever stop to think of the degree of fruit that has been borne in the world from the writings of this Jew?
What is true of the "new man"? He is new in mind, in the life by which he lives, in his behavior, in his freedom from the bondages of sin, in his steadfast obedience to God in any and all situations.
It may be true that the prevailing assumption among Christian people is that any day now there will be a "rapture" in which all who profess faith in Christ will be caught up from the earth and brought to Heaven where they may recline on their mansion and do nothing of significance for eternity.
This is a mammoth lie. The purpose of this lie is to keep God's people from pressing forward into the new man. They may understand that vicious persecution may be facing Christian people in the near future, but why worry! We all will be in Heaven before long.
We ought to bury the term "rapture." It is not found in the Bible. The proper word is "catching up." It is the catching up of the saints, not the "rapture" of the saints.
The next appearing of Christ to the world will be the first resurrection, the resurrection of the Royal Priesthood. Before they are caught up, they will be transformed in body. Then they will be lifted to the staging area in the air, in preparation for their descent with Christ on the white war stallions.
This is the answer to their prayer, "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is done Heaven."
Here is the point. The only people who will be transformed (resurrected) when Jesus appears are the blessed and holy members of the Royal Priesthood.
Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
Do you remember that in the days of Gideon, God reduced the number of warriors from 32,000 to 300? This is telling us that the number of saints who ride with Christ in the Day of the Lord will be only a fraction of the total number of believers.
Consider: only those who have become "new men," so to speak, will be transformed and caught up in that hour.
What about the great majority of believers? I do not know. However, the Bible states that when Lot went out of Sodom, fire came down.
It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:28-30)
Those "virgins" who go into the marriage will be new creations in mind, in the life by which they live, in speech, in behavior. Finally, in the hour of Christ's appearing, new in body.
Now consider honestly—how many Christian people of your acquaintance actually have become new creations in Christ?
But they are new creations "by grace"!
That is our hope, isn't it. We think Christ will have an army that consists of new creations by "grace."
Satan would laugh at them.
The False Prophet would laugh at them.
Antichrist would laugh at them.
The armies of Antichrist would laugh at them.
The demons would laugh at them.
The wicked people of the earth would laugh at them.
"Look at them! They will not follow Christ. They are all over the place, each one doing what he or she desires to do!"
Is that the way the "army of Christ" is today? Are the believers disciplined? Are they ready to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ?
Or do they push and shove each other at Christmas time so they can get the last toy for their child?
Are they truly new creations in Christ?
I am sounding the alarm in the United States. Incredible chaos, both moral and consequently physical, is on the horizon. We have leaders who support abortion and gender confusion. Christ and the Bible are being driven from our land.
It is time now for us to put on the new man who is created in true righteousness and holiness by the grace of the God of Heaven.
There are some Christians who will remain true and faithful before Christ. They will stand in the gap and make up the hedge before the Lord for themselves and their loved ones.
Such will save themselves and their families during the approaching calamities.
Some of the faithful ones will be killed. No matter. They will be rejoicing as they come into the Presence of the Lord Jesus.
I suppose, regretfully, that numerous "believers" will be caught off guard and perish in the confusion.
Out of this destruction will arise a chastened America, no longer a world leader, now a third-rate nation. Whether Christ will be worshiped I do not know. Perhaps America will be a Muslim state by then; or a mixture of religions adhered to by people who have to labor to have shelter, clothes on their back, and food to eat.
Such is true of many cultures today. Most of us Americans are not accustomed to economic hardship, because Christ was worshiped and provided bountifully for us..
But once Christ and the Bible are driven from our land, who knows what deprivations will follow?
Sin we can get rid of easily, if we are determined to do so. The removal of self-will requires years of cross-carrying obedience to the Lord Jesus, the deferring of our most intense desires. Some will come through successfully. They will be a minority.
Remember Gideon's three hundred.
You can be one of the godly remnant who survive the appearing of Christ, and then who reign with Christ during the thousand years of the Kingdom Age.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)