The Old Man Put Off, The New Man Put On

Next Part The Old Man Put Off, The New Man Put On 2

"That you put off concerning the former conversation the OLD man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put onthe NEW man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Ephesians 4:22-24

In handling the subject before us, I shall cast my thoughts upon it mainly under two leading divisions.

First, I shall attempt to describe the old man, his character and condition, and show you how he is to be put off.

Secondly, I shall in a similar manner paint the new man, with his character and condition, and how he is to be put on.

I. The OLD man. You will find, if you look at the context, that the apostle is speaking of the Gentiles among whom the Ephesians had their way of life in times past, and speaks of them as "having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart;" adding, as a description of their habitual practice; "Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." Having in these forcible words described the character and conduct of the Gentile world, he contrasts with it the character and conduct of those to whom he writes, namely, the saints of God at Ephesus– "But you have not so learned Christ." He has not been to you a cause of unrighteousness as their heathen gods have been to them, nor has the religion which you have learned of him encouraged or allowed you to abandon yourselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness, as theirs has done.

"If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus." You will observe the holy caution and wise reservation with which the apostle speaks; and how with all his love to the Ephesian saints and his belief of their general Christian character, he still puts in an "if so be." It is as if he would thus speak– "If so be that you are what I hope you are and what you profess to be– saints and faithful in Christ Jesus; if so be that you have heard his blessed voice, and he has spoken with power to your soul; if so be that (O miracle of grace) you have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus;" that is the truth as connected with him and flowing out of him, the truth of which he is the vivifying power, the beginning and end, the sum and substance, the subject and object, the center and circumference; now, what follows? "If you have so learned Christ, if you have so heard his voice, if you have been so taught of Him, it is that you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts."

A. Now, this is "the old man" whose character and condition I have undertaken to describe. Let us see, then, what is this old man, and why he bears that name? We will consider his name first, for that will serve to give us some idea of its character. Why is he called so?

1. He is called "the old man" for various reasons. The first is on account of his great antiquity, for sin is as old as the Adam-fall, and therefore in that sense older than our soul and older than our body. It is true that we were not possessed of the old man until we first had being, when, according to David's confession, we were shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin; but the old man existed in the world ages before we were born, and was propagated to us by our parents, who themselves had received it in lineal succession from Adam. So the old man only reached us in our conception, only made itself manifest at our birth and grew with our growth and strengthened itself with our strength; but it existed in the loins of our ancestors many, many years before it personally reached us. Thus, in this sense, he is the oldest man in the world; and yet strange to say, never manifests the weakness of old age, or will ever die while a man lives beneath the sun.

2. But he is called the old man for another reason. Our old nature is of course older than our new. At whatever age God might have been pleased to quicken our soul, whether in boyhood, youth, or manhood, in every instance the old man must have been older than the new. In that sense, therefore, he is the old man, as having priority of birth in our heart. He is the Esau, whereas the new man is the Jacob; he is the Ishmael, whereas the new man is the Isaac; he is the Saul, whereas the new man is the David; he is the first who shall be the last, the elder who shall serve the younger.

3. But I think there is another reason why he may be justly called the old man. Is human nature ever so depraved as is manifested in a depraved old man? Is not a depraved old man one of the most loathsome objects of our disgust and one of the vilest of all vile beings? How deeply rooted must sin be in his heart who is ever feeding his imagination with base lusts and living as it were, upon the recollections of the past, painting to himself sins which he never will be likely or able to accomplish. How hardened, impenitent, obstinate, and unyielding, for the most part, is old age.

Take a depraved old man– what argument, what appeal can influence a man hardened through a long succession of sin until he has reached old age, and in reaching old age has reached with it its almost proverbial obstinate adherence to old ways and old habits? We must not, we cannot limit the sovereignty of God, but to speak after the manner of men, our hope of success in reaching the consciences of those who are grown old seems well near desperate. Our hopes of a crop, our expectations of the blessing of God upon our ministry rest chiefly in the young; and sometimes the Lord is pleased to call by his grace those who are advancing into middle life; but I should say from what I have observed in my own ministry and that of others that it is a rare thing for the word to lay hold for the first time of the conscience of any one far advanced in life.

This is a needful distinction to make, for old age is in itself no bar to the blessing of God upon the word. One may, having been called in early days, have sunk into great lethargy and deadness of soul; and God may revive his work in old age, for he has promised that his people "shall still bring forth fruit in old age to show that the Lord is upright." This is one thing, but a distinct call by grace is another. Revivals and renewings are not quickenings. The bringing forth of the top stone with shoutings of "grace, grace unto it," is not the laying of the foundation stone. Excuse this digression. Taking, therefore, the OLD MAN in our text as descriptive of our corrupt nature, we may view it as inheriting everything which we see in a vile, lewd, covetous, fretful, wicked, and depraved old man.

Some of you will, perhaps, call me a "corruption preacher" because I speak in such strong language of what we are by nature; but do I go beyond either the language of Scripture or the observation of daily experience? Does not the Holy Spirit, describing the old man in our text, declare that he is "corrupt according to the deceitful lusts?" Am I wrong then if I express my conviction that he is rotten to the very core, and that there is not in him, as in some vile, sensual, depraved old man, one right feeling, one right principle, one single speck or spot of soundness? For what does "corrupt" mean? Rotten; and if rotten, rotten throughout, for it is "according to the deceitful lusts."

B. Let us examine the meaning of these words. The corruption, then, of the old man is according to the measure of the deceitful lusts. This is the test whereby his corruption is to be weighed and measured. Take as an illustration two men, or rather two old men. Let both be thoroughly bad, but let one be more crafty, more designing, more deceitful, more false, and more lying than the other. Which is the worse of the two? Which is more to be guarded against, shunned, and abhorred? You will say at once "the falser, the one who is more crafty and deceitful than the other, for his deceit not only adds to his sins, but makes him more dangerous."

Now, apply this illustration to our subject. Your old man, my old man, is corrupt according to the measure of the deceitful lusts which it harbors, and which work in it and manifest themselves through it. Nor is there any worse character in our lusts than their deceitfulness. O how deceitful is lust in every shape and form! Whether it be of the flesh, or of the eyes, or a lusting after money, worldly advantage, prosperous circumstances, rising in life, doing well for ourselves or our families– whatever shape it takes, for indeed it wears a thousand forms, how deceitful it is! How gradually, if indulged, will it lead us into everything which is vile. How it blinds the eyes, hardens the conscience, perverts the judgment, entangles the affections, draws the feet aside from the strait and narrow path, buries and all but suffocates the life of God in the soul, until one scarcely knows what he is or where he is, and only knows that he is full of confusion, and burdened with guilt and fear and bondage. How deceitful, too, it is in ever promising what it never can perform. How it promises happiness and pleasure if we will but indulge and gratify it, and paints all sorts of pleasant pictures and charming prospects to entangle the thoughts and allure the affections. But if listened to and obeyed, what does it give us in the end? Alas! we find that as we sow so we reap, and that if we sow to the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption. Well, then, may the apostle describe lusts as "deceitful," and measure by them the corruption of the old man. Nor are these lusts few or small, for this old man of ours is full of them.

There is not a passion, nor an inclination, nor a desire, nor a craving after any one earthly or sensual enjoyment; there is not a sin that ever has broken out in word or action in man or woman that is not deeply seated in our old man; for he is according to, in the measure of, and in proportion to our deceitful lusts. You need not wonder, then, that whether old or young, male or female, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, morally trained or running in childhood about the streets, lectured to and watched over by tender and gracious parents, or suffered to grow up without any restraint put upon you, deceitful lusts are ever moving in your breast. They were born with you, your family inheritance, and all that you can strictly call your own. You need not wonder, then, if the vilest thoughts, the basest ideas find a harbor, a resting place, and a nest in your corrupt bosom. I say this not to encourage you to cherish what should be your plague and torment, but as a word that may be suitable to some who are deeply exercised at finding in themselves such monstrous sins, and think that theirs is an unusual or exceptional case. If the old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; if he is incurably depraved, and never can be anything else, do what you will with him, try your very best, but a desperately wicked old man, need you wonder if he is continually manifesting his real character, showing his ugly face, and, if you are a vessel of mercy, is to you a continual grief, a plague and a torment?

For I only say what I feel, that I do believe this old man is the greatest plague a child of God has or can have. I do believe that all our trials, afflictions, bereavements, and sorrows are not worthy to be compared with the trouble and exercise, sorrow and anguish, which have been caused by the plotting, the contriving and the working of this wicked old man in the various deceitful lusts by means of which he has at various times more or less, drawn us off the path of holiness and obedience into some of his crooked ways.

You may fancy, though I fear it is too often a fact, and thus more than a fancy, in the ward of a London workhouse some vile old man hardened in sin and crime, glorying in iniquity, and taking an infernal pleasure in pouring his filthy conversation into any youthful ear which will listen to it. Now, is there not enough sin and depravity in that vile wretch to pollute the mind, inflame the passions, and harden the conscience of every poor, miserable youth of whom he may get hold? But what a dreadful thing it would be, if that wicked old man were shut up in the ward of your heart, and were continually pouring his depraved thoughts into your mind. Have you never seen this old man's face? Have you never heard his foul whispers? Has he never suggested any schemes or plots of wickedness and crime? Has he never recounted any of his former villainies until you have felt shocked and distressed beyond measure, that you should have such a wretch about you and within you?

I know that all this strong language will seem very shocking and dreadful to some of you; and if you have had little or no experience of what human nature is– I mean, of course, as to its workings, not its works; its inward dealings, not its outward doings; you will scarcely think it credible, that any one with a grain of godliness in his heart, should have such a corrupt, depraved inhabitant in his breast. And yet I am saying no more than some of the holiest, chastest, most circumspect, conscientious, and tender of the family of God have inwardly felt by painful and long experience. It is your mercy if this depraved old man's presence is your grief; his temptations your trial; and his movements and workings your sorrow and your burden. He will never do you any real harm so long as he is your plague and torment. As long as you sigh and cry under him and against him, and resist him even unto blood, striving against sin, he may tempt, but he will not prevail; he may fight against you, but he will not overcome you. But this leads me to my next point.

C. The putting off of this old man. You will observe that the apostle, though he recognizes the presence and describes with astonishing force the character of the old man, bids us "put him off;" and you will observe also, that this exhortation is addressed to saints, not to sinners; to those who have been made near by the blood of Christ and who are being built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Does not this clearly show that the saints of God still possess the old man; for if he had been destroyed at regeneration, as some talk, they would not be called upon to be ever putting him off? And you will observe also, the expression, "concerning the former way of life." Let us see, then, what instruction we may gather up from this precept of the apostle. I seem myself to gather from it two leading thoughts.

1. The old man is to be put off much in the same way as we put off a dirty garment. How glad the workman is, say the mason or the bricklayer, at the end of a long, dusty, laborious week to get a thorough good wash on the Sunday morning, and put a clean shirt upon his back. How nice and fresh he feels with his clean skin and his clean shirt. Excuse the figure, for though homely it may not be the less true or less impressive. Our old man is like a shirt which has gone through all the dust and sweat and toils of the week. And he is put off when he is not allowed to stick any longer close to the skin, but is pulled off and thrown away with disgust as a dirty garment; worn unwillingly and put off gladly. The apostle, after speaking in another place, of some of the worst sins which have debased and disgraced human nature, adds– "And such were some of you– but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11.) "You are washed," there is the washing of the person in the fountain open for all sin and uncleanness; "you are justified," there is the white clothing all bright and clean put upon the washed person; "you are sanctified," there is the presence and power of God's grace, the comfort of being thus washed and dressed; and all this "in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God;" for it is only by believing in his name, and by the power of the Spirit that there is any washing, any justification, or any sanctification.

But remember this, you can only put him off for a time. He is put off from time to time in his workings, in his defilement, in his filth, but alas! he soon makes his appearance again, and you will never put him off altogether until he is put off in death.

2. The other leading thought which strikes my mind as an interpretation of the exhortation to put off the old man is, to put him off his seat of authority and power. He is put off, then, when he is not allowed to have dominion. Put him, then, off the throne; don't let him reign and rule. Thrust him from sitting at the head of the table and occupying the arm chair; let him not be the master of the house. Get him into the place where Bishop Bonner thrust the martyrs– into the coal cellar. Mortify him, bind him, set your foot upon him, keep him down, and gag his mouth when he would vent his blasphemies and try to stir up deceitful lusts. He is to be put off; he is not to be cuddled and indulged, put in the best chair, fed upon the best food, kept close and warm by the fireside, handsomely dressed, and made the pet of the whole house.

He is to be treated with great rigor. The word of God bids us crucify him, and pronounces a sweeping sentence, which, if we take as a description of all who truly belong to Christ, cuts off thousands of 'splendid professors'– "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Not they are going to do it, think about doing it, mean to do it some day or other, hope they shall do it before they die, but "have crucified the flesh;" that is, have already nailed it to Christ's cross. This is indeed a putting off the old man, for it is taking it and fixing it to the cross of Jesus. Now, crucifixion was a painful and lingering death. We cannot expect, therefore, to crucify the old man without his crying out against his crucifier. And yet the pleasure to the new man is greater than the pain to the old man, for we may rest well satisfied that the more we are enabled to mortify, crucify, and put off the corrupt old man, with his deceitful lusts, the more happy we shall be, the less cause there will be for repentance and sorrow, and the more we shall walk at liberty as seeking God's precepts.

Let me here appeal to your personal experience on this point. What has caused you thousands of sighs and cries and groans? What has darkened your evidences and obscured your hopes of heaven? What has put stumbling blocks in your way, and strewed thorns and briers in your path? Has it not been this old man, and because you have not crucified him, but instead of doing so have been secretly indulging him and letting him have his own way? And have you not found how deceitful all his lusts have been, how fair they have promised and how foully they have performed?

What vexation, what sorrow, what bondage, what grief, what a burden has been often brought upon your back by giving way to deceitful lusts. O, if I could read the heart of some here, or listen to their words when they are secretly confessing their sins before God, how many a heart would I see lacerated and bleeding through the guilt and shame of having given way to deceitful lusts. What confessions I would hear if I listened sometimes at your bedroom door; and I might see, if I looked in, tears running down your cheek, and hear sobs and sighs vented from your loaded bosom.

And why? Because these vile, deceitful, and damnable lusts have often entangled and drawn you aside, got hold of you, promised much and performed nothing, and left behind them nothing but bitter, bitter reflections, and sad, sad remembrances of how you have fallen by their secret power. O for grace to be ever putting off this old man, to have no more to do with him than we would have to do with a depraved wretch whose character for profligacy is generally known, and whom we would not let darken the door of our house. O that we could say to our old man as we could say to him if he had gained admission into our house– "There is the door; get out of it, and never show your face here again."

But this, alas, we cannot do with our old man, for he is a tenant for life, has a claim upon the house, was once its master, and will never leave it until it falls to pieces. If, then, we must have him in our house, we must say to him, "You shall not be master here; you have had your own way too long, have corrupted the household, and turned what should have been the house of God into a den of thieves. As, therefore, I have his warrant and authority for so doing, I shall degrade you to the lowest place. No head seat at the table for you; no arm-chair, no chimney corner, no best cut of the meat, no finest of the wine. You are here, I know, in fixed and firm possession, and happy would I be if I never saw your face or heard your voice again. But as you are tied to me, as I cannot get rid of you, I hope I may starve you, not feed you; be your enemy, not your friend; your master, not your servant; and, therefore, never allow you to exercise power over me, for I know what you would do if you could. It is not once, nor twice, nor ten times that you have imposed upon me by your deceitful ways and your oily lips. God grant I may never listen to your wily tongue again, but may hate you and be enabled to view you as God's enemy and my enemy– as well knowing that if I were overcome by you I would sin against the best of friends and the dearest of masters."

Now, if you could meet the old man with this language, and encounter him with this holy boldness, he would hang his head down. It is your giving him an inch that makes him take an foot; it is your listening to him that makes him talk so flatteringly– like a weak woman who gives way when she ought to resist, and falls by giving way. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Put off the old man with his deeds and you will not fall into condemnation.

D. But you will observe that the apostle's words are "concerning the former conversation;" implying that we put off the old man when our life, conduct, and conversation are so changed that our former conversation– that is, the way in which we formerly lived and acted– is fully renounced. A change of heart will always produce a change of life. If sin is repented of, it will be forsaken; if the old man is crucified inwardly, he will show but little strength outwardly. Nail him to the cross and he will have no feet to walk with, no hands to work with. His strength is ended when his crucifixion begins. He loses heart at the sight of the cross; and that which gives to the soul its life, gives him his death blow. And as he dies, and the soul lives, what follows? Godliness of life as well as godliness of heart. Make the tree good and you make its fruit good; let there be a good treasure in the heart and good things will come out of it. It is useless, and worse than useless, to talk about religion unless it is manifested by our lives.

Now, as we are enabled– and I am sure nothing but the grace of God, and a very powerful measure of his grace, can enable us, to put off the old man– we are in a posture of soul to listen to the other part of the precept, which brings us to the second leading division of my discourse, in which I proposed to show the character of the new man and how he must be put on. But you will observe, that the apostle previously says– "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind," which I must, therefore, notice.

E. We see from his words that as the old man goes down the new man begins to rise, and as he lifts up his head there springs up at the same time a renewing in the spirit of our mind. As long as we are under the power and dominion of the old man there are no sweet renewals, blessed revivals, or comforting visitations of God's presence. There is either a giving way to the old man, or else the consequence of giving way to him– either sin indulged, or sin mourned over; sin practiced or sin confessed; pleasing lusts or painful remorse. But when we are enabled to put off this old man, then there is a being renewed in the spirit of our mind. There are droppings in of the forgiving mercy of God; and this produces a renewal of faith and hope, with love and every grace. This, therefore, leads us on to our next point.

Next Part The Old Man Put Off, The New Man Put On 2

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