Elder Mike Levenhagen Nov. 26, 2023 You know, with cell phones and online stuff, it is so easy to express sometimes our feelings, we order online, we get service online, and sometimes if it's not stellar, we want to just go and, you know, give them a one star rating, right? And it's just that, but, we don't know, maybe that driver that was, delivered our, Food order was, ran into traffic, or there were things beyond his control, or maybe, that cranky person that served us just had a terrible morning, found out something about their family, and they weren't having a good day, but it's so easy, and it makes it even easier when we have cell phones and, online stuff that it shoots out, and we don't take the time to think, and we don't take the time to process. So today I'm going to be talking a little bit about the, you know, putting on and putting off the old man and the new man.
Why don't we open in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you that, you are so faithful, patient, and so gracious. Thank you that, you sacrificially love us, gave your life that we could Have the hope and relationship with you and Lord, today, I just pray as we explore your word that you would, give us the hope, the, the courage that we need to, move forward in this dark and fallen world in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Ephesians is a great, great book and it follows a great pattern because When you have is doctrine followed by the practical and if we open up the Ephesians chapter 4 verses 22 starting in verse 22 Ephesians chapter 4:22. It says that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which girls corrupt according to the deceitful laws And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Now these verses are really crucial verses with regard to true understanding of the New Testament teaching on the all important matter of holiness. We can't pay too close attention to these verses. They're of great importance to us and it's also great importance from a practical perspective. This is that transition where Paul starts laying out the doctrine, then he starts giving us practical applications of that doctrine. And if you watch the pattern of Paul when he gives these directives, he always starts out with a negative. Don't do this. And then he goes on with the positive, but do this, and then he gives a reason why we should do this. And that's the pattern that you can see as Paul gives us these admonitions and directives throughout applying doctrine. And so he always combines doctrine and practice. A lot of churches, and a lot that we see today, they sort of make church like a department store. They have different departments. They have evangelism department. They have the fellowship department. They have the discipleship department. They have all these different departments. But that isn't what Christianity and the body life should be. It's one combined. It's everything. So you have doctrine and practice. You don't have doctrine outside of practice. You have justification and sanctification. You don't have just salvation without growth and conforming to the image of Christ. You have evangelism, but then you have body life and building each other up. So those things all go together in our Christian life. And, and we gotta keep that focus that that's what the body of Christ is about. The putting off and putting on are to be actions performed once and forever. It's a done deal. Although the connecting link, when we read that, is by the renewing of the spirit of our mind, which is an ongoing process. So, the Christian needs to put off, once and for all, the old man. And, he puts on, once and for all, the new man. It's done. And we continue that process, though, of keeping them off and keeping them on by the renewing of our spirit of our mind. And it's a continuous action. And that goes, Paul reinforces that in Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. He directs us to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And here's the thing, Paul just doesn't give us the negative, put off the old man. He doesn't leave it at that. The negative is only the start of the action. And there's another side. It's like a two sided coin. You take and put it off, and you put it on. It's like, we have to put it on. We can't take something off and just remain naked. You know, it's, we, uh, there's no in between. When we take off the old man, we need to put on the new man. The two things must always be put together. Nature hates a vacuum. There is no such thing as a vacuum. There's something there. And the spiritual life is just like that. There's never a condition where man merely puts off the old man. You put off the old man, and you put on the new man. At the exact same time. But sometimes, when you look back, the church has failed to realize this. And Their sole emphasis could be on putting off the old man. Mysticism starts with putting off the old man. It starts on the negative phase, the negation. You start getting introspective, and you go into the dark night of the soul, they call it. And you look at the deep, deep, sins, and seeing your sinfulness, and then you begin dealing with it. But if you stop there, You set yourself up for a form of mysticism and you try to, go back, you just wind up having this spiritual experience trying to resolve the darkness of your soul. Unfortunately, people who get caught up in that wind up going back and get caught up into the sinful lifestyles because, Or they're very miserable. And they're just, because they have this mystic experience, they're not, life isn't really changing from the inside out. Another danger of that, it can be seen in Puritanism. The Puritans focused on, don't do this, don't do this, and, and this whole focus on holiness without putting on the new man. And realizing who they were. And Puritanism lapsed into Legalism. And it can lead to spiritual depression. Have you ever seen just people bummed out and weary because they're trying to put things out of their lives and put things out of their life and they can't get a handle on it and they wind up being spiritually depressed? You know, they wind up having an attitude of, whatever, everything I tried doesn't work. And above all, the most serious problem with this is you wind up having a false representation of what the Christian life really is about. Christianity means a balanced life. We have to be aware of concentrating wholly on the negative. At the same time, we can't just focus on the positive. We have to, you know, that leads to the high road of what people might call cheap grace or antinomianism. You know, I'm safe so it doesn't matter, I'm under grace, it doesn't matter what I do. And we focus on the new man, and it's like, I don't know. That's just the old self. I couldn't help it, that was the old man, that old man is that, so I don't have to worry about what I do. That's not biblical either. And again, when that happens, the testimony of our faith and the Christian walk is nullified. People look at that and say, that, that's not something, there's, there's no difference. Putting off and putting on is the difference between Christianity and morality. We're not called to become moral, we're called to conform to the image of Christ. Christianity is about a relationship with Christ and, and communing and being empowered by the Holy Spirit, not working things out in the flesh. You know, it's like, if, why would Christ make the sacrificial death and that if we could change ourselves? So, morality stops at the negative. But the problem is, if you turn to Luke chapter 11, verse 24, and I think you can apply this to just focusing on one aspect, leaving a void. Luke 11, verses 24, 22 through 24. This is after Jesus. Cast out the demon, and he's having a conversation, and he says, But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils. He who is not with me is against me. And when a certain spirit goes out of a man, he goes to dice places seeking rest, and finding none, he says, I'll return to my house which I came from. And when he comes, he finds it swept and put under. And then he goes out and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they entered and dwell there, and the last state is of that man is worse than the first. And that's what happens when we focus just on one or the other. There's a vacuum there. And our state is worse than when we began. Now, over the past century or so, There's been organizations that developed to deal with particular sins. You had everything from gambling, overeating, narcotics, sexual addictions, and it goes on. In fact, I saw a sign about fentanyl addiction, program at a church. The problem is, it's, You cannot, if you're not getting, using, and focusing on the positive power of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel of Grace to change a person's life, you're not going to have a lot of success. In fact, when you look at the reality and the statistics of some of these programs, they have just as high a rate. of people going back than others. And if they do find freedom, they're not finding freedom because a lot of times, they'll just switch addictions. They'll switch their compulsive behaviors. I can remember when I was When I was dealing with, my sexual addiction and the whole darkness in my soul and all of that, I wanted to go and start trying to deal with things in, Sexaholics Anonymous. And I, had a person that was discipling me and I told him, it's like, I'm gonna, I got information, I'm gonna go to this. He challenged me and asked me, Good, what are you gonna bring to that group? You have truth, you have light. Are you going to be bringing the gospel and sharing that? Or are you going there to take? And it really challenged me because positive preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit deals with every one of our problems. And we have verses like 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 14, 13 and 14. Right? No temptation has overcome us, but that which is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what you are able, but the temptation will also make a way of escape. God's not a liar. But so many times, if we're not applying the full, teachings of Scripture, we miss out, and then we blame God. I can't even tell you how many people have come to our ministry Totally lost and frustrated because they were praying that God would take away these urges. Well, actually, that's demanding that God would do something that He never promised to do. And then they blame God because He didn't remove their urges. He wants to change our identity. He wants us to conform to Christ. And in doing that, we'll have freedom that we never imagined. It's like, when I asked, you know, when I was dealing with a lot of these issues, I didn't need another issue to sub you know, it's like I thought the opposite of homosexuality was heterosexuality, and it's like, no, I don't need something else, I don't need heterosexual lust now I need to deal with in my life, I need to find wholeness in Christ. And when I started our ministry, Reclamation Resource Center, I actually considered a bait and switch. People come to Reclamation looking for help with a specific issue. Whether it's a personal issue of dealing with gender identity in their own lives, or they have a family or loved ones dealing with their lives. And that's what they come for. What they get is the truth. They get the gospel of grace, how to apply the Bible in their lives, and they get true discipleship. And the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. So, Let's look at this verse a little bit more, these verses. The turn's put off and put on. It's a figure of putting off a garment. You take off your coat and you lay it aside or you put it on. And unless you're, some people and you get your arm stuck and you can't get it on, you need help. But normally, um, you take off your coat or you put it on. It cannot be half on. Or half off. That isn't how we wear coats, alright? It is either something you put aside, or, when, there it is, you finished it, discard it as it were, or you take it up and put it on. So, this concept then is, putting off and putting on is the idea of forsaking and renouncing. Laying a thing aside, not using it anymore. What are we supposed to put off? The old man. We find the term the old man consistently in the epistles. And it means the unregenerate person we once were. The old, because comparing to something believers used to be, versus what we are today. The old man really consists of the total personality. It also uses, uh, in the sense of original sin. Everybody sins, and everybody sins as soon as he's capable of doing it. Just look in the nursery. Right? You know? That's sin. People want to do things, little children want to do things that isn't good for them. Right? Original sin. It's a manifestation of the pollution in our nature. The depravity. The defilement that's been in human nature ever since the fall of Adam. We can see the universality of it today. Read the headlines. Listen to the news. It's, it's there. You can even read it in your Bible. And you see it there everywhere, right? People's sin. It appears from the very beginning. Genesis chapter 3. To the end. The old man then is what we are by birth and by nature. Fallen, polluted, depraved, corrupt, sinful, and a bias against God, and towards evil. Now, although in my relationship with God, it is true to say that the old man is dead. I mean it's a positional thing. Not, it's done. It's, it, God's declared the old man dead, right? But from an experiential standpoint, is that true? Uh, and we bring stuff along because of our habits, because of our old practices, lack of knowledge and understanding. And many of the characteristics of the old man still cling to me as a new man. And here's the thing. What the Apostle Paul is teaching us here in this verses is we ought to be what we are. And stop being what we're not. Slaves, after the Civil War, they were declared free, and they were free, but they still kept living in those subservient lifestyles because they didn't know any better. Have you ever told somebody to stop acting like a baby? Right? Don't be such a baby. Well, you're telling them, you're not a baby anymore. Act like it. That's what Paul's telling us here. As believers, do we really realize that the old man's been crucified? You're no longer in Adam. Have we realized that the person that we were in Adam has been blotted out in God's light for eternity? The person we were, is God. Cease to be. We no longer need to think of ourselves as a person trying to make ourselves a Christian, or hoping that we will be a Christian someday. Our reliance upon morality teaching is not only unchristian, unscriptural, but it's naive. Telling people to do certain things or not do certain things, um, you're stimulating the desire within them to do it. It's counteractive. I know I've done this before, it's like, don't think of the number eight. I don't want you for the next 10 seconds to think of the number 8. Where does your mind go to right away? The number 8, right? so, telling somebody not to do something isn't the way of change. Another aspect of sin is that sin always involves betrayal. Sin always involves betrayal. All parts of scripture tell us that. And when you look at it, I mean, Judas is the primary example of betrayal. Sin hardens a man, sin deceives. It says in Hebrews, Beware lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. If a person becomes, as a Christian, if a person becomes hardened, it's always because of the deceitfulness of sin. People say, you know, I don't feel the way I used to. I seem to have become hard and cold. If so, then someone or, somehow or other, they've been deceived by sin. And they're living outside of the new man. And here's the thing, sin always comes to us as a man, as a friend. It flatters us. Look at Genesis chapter 3, verse 4. How did the serpent approach Eve in Genesis chapter 3 verse 4? Genesis 3 verse 4 said, then the serpent said to the woman, you will surely not die For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil The devil in a subtlety and his deceitfulness came to even flattered her That's flattery. That she can be like God. He's saying, God isn't fair to you. There's something wrong with God. You're better than God. You wouldn't do that. He's put a prohibition on you. He should not have done that. Right? He's afraid you're gonna become like he is. He was paying a subtle, subtle compliment to her, wasn't he? He was picking on her pride. Sin also discourages us to stop and think. Tells us, encourages us to stop and stop meditating. When we slow down and think of our responses and what we're doing, what will be the consequences, and start meditating on scripture, It slows down the process. But too many times we're quick, quick to anger, quick to response, quick, and we don't take the time to think and apply scripture to a to the situation. So sin robs from us, exhausts us mentally, physically, morally, in every respect. And at the end it leaves us a scrap heap. Unwanted. It's entirely destructive. And it takes away and robs us of character, chastity, purity, honesty, morality, uprightness, delicacy, balance, sensitivity, and everything that is the most noble part of how God created us. What the dignity that God breathed into us. Is it surprising then that Paul told us to put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts? So against this background let's look at putting on the new man. He goes on to say that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Now the, this exhortation is addressed to Christians and believers. So the exhortation is You need to put on this new man. Paul is really exhorting them to live in a manner that's consistent with the new man that they already are. The new man that's within us. Paul means stop being what you're not and be what you are. Trouble is, with all of us, we're not living as we are. Who we are. We're not living that out. This is Christianity. Be what you are. Right? What was that motto? Be all that you can be? Right? It is. Be all that you can be. Because, in Christ. The main reason for putting on the new man is because of the nature and character of the new man. We look at the nature and character of the new man. We are put on the, we are to put on the new man because the nature and character of the new man, who after God, is created in righteousness and holiness, true holiness. That's what the scriptures teach us. We see the whole of Christianity in this statement. This really putting on the new man that's created in Truth and righteousness, that part really is the heart of Christianity. People who are purely moral, good, they know nothing about the new man. I know a lot of what you would call very nice people, the young peas, very nice people that aren't believers. Right? And a lot of times when you look at the heart, a lot of reason why they're being very nice. is because they're controlled by pride, fear, and wanting to look good, and do good, and that, to build them, to help assuage their guilt. They won't acknowledge that, but that's what's going on. And people who think that just to be good as Christian know nothing about the new man. They're not interested. In fact, very often they object to the very term of being, uh, putting on the new man. So what is this newness? Especially this newness means in quality, something of a different quality and order. Something that is essentially in every aspect different from the old. And notice the word that is used in this verse, it's created. Created. The word creation itself to us means something new, a complete contrast to the old. Creation is the beginning of life. You're creating something out of nothing. The old is linked with all that is fading. The corrupt deeds, it's corrupt, it's decaying. That's what the old man is. And now God breathed in, when we put our trust into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, God breathed in His Holy Spirit and created, His Spirit a newness within our lives. So creation is the beginning of life. It's the exact opposite of the corruption and the decay of the old man. Still more important, though, is the idea that something is being brought out of nothing. When we really understand the depth and depravity and darkness of our old man, and then see the creation that God has made in our souls. When God created the heavens and the earth and all things, He spoke them, and he created them out of nothing. Right? God said, let there be, and it was. He brought them into existence. And creation is making something out of nothing. So similarly, the new man, Paul says, is something that was created. In other words, the new man is not something that evolves gradually, and we need to grow, and it grows, and the minute we put our trust, the minute the Holy Spirit comes into our life and baptizes us into the body of Christ, we have the new man created. And it's not a slow, imperceptible process of renovation. It's not an improvement of the old man. It's a totally new creation. So, we gotta get out of our heads the idea that the new man is the old man improved. Not at all. Something absolutely new is put at the center. It's created within us. God has done in our souls the same thing he did when he created the world. Ephesians 2, chapter 10. Another verse that we're all familiar with. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. And it says, for we are his workmanship, we're his creation. He created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Isn't the church at large today in the state? It is because most churches don't realize what we are and who we are as Christians. Are we people merely trying to live a little better than the majority of the world? Are we trying to be a little bit better moral? Are we just moral, decent folks? We are that, but infinitely more. And we need to live that out. God's put some of his own nature within us. We're partakers of the divine nature. That's what it means to be Christian again, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. I've got to watch my time, because I wrote all my notes down with the scripture verses, so I don't have to look them up. Alright, 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have become passed away. Behold, all things have become new. The Christian has a new disposition, the life of God in the soul of man. Believers are God's workmanship. The work is not something we painfully do, it's God's. So, Paul, it says that we're created, but he introduces the initial, additional phrase, after God. Not by God, but after God. So it's words, little words that make a difference. It, we're created after God. This is something additional. Literally, it means that the new man has been created by God after God's own image. That, what God has created and planted in us. is something that partakes in his own likeness. And these words take us back, again, to Genesis, when he says, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish, the sea, the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his image. And then, in order that we may never forget it, the word is repeated. In the image of God, he created, he, he created the male and female, he created them. Notice the repetition of the word image. And so when we look at the condition of our world today, what we see as man is a complete travesty and a complete insult to the name of man. It's the decay we've been talking about under the old man. So, what is man? And then what does it mean to have the image of man? Of God? What does that mean? The image and likeness of God. Obviously, man was not in the exact likeness. We're finite. God isn't. God is totally independent. We're totally dependent. We depend on God for every function of our life. Our whole existence, our, everything about us, how we function, how we interact, how we relate, is all determined by God. But something happened at the fall. So, and we became depraved. So these images, how do we represent, how do we represent God? Jonathan Edwards said that the image of God in man can be divided into two parts. The natural and the spiritual. So you start talking about the natural, and we make choices. God makes choices. We make, we think. We're rational, we're rational. We also have feelings. Right? Plus we have that ability to have relationship and we're essential spiritual buildings. That's that spiritual aspect of us. When man rebelled, It didn't destroy the brain. It didn't destroy the rational. It didn't, but it defaced it and distorted it. Far from what God created it to be. So, we experience feelings, but those feelings could be used destructively now in our fallen state. Instead of to build relationships, we experience a negative event. We become angry and we lash out versus Approaching the person, discussing it, and finding out, and building a relationship, and seeing an opportunity either to encourage them in their walk with the Lord, or sharing the gospel. We, so there's all these feelings that we have can either be used destructively, now they are in the fallen nature, the new man, we have the ability to use that as constructive. Our thinking is not man, and the scripture teaches that the spiritual. Things man does not discern man is not natural man. The old man is not enlightened by truth and that's why you have people looking to To philosophy and to teach and all these different things outside because they they can't comprehend truth It's foreign to in fact, they they push against truth in in the old man's there also we have choices And you look at the choices, all of those are fueled, most fallen man, when you really look at it, it's really fueled by pride. Either protecting ourselves from being hurt, or making ourselves look better, but it's all about us. You even look at something as beautiful as a wedding vow. I think if a man and a woman were honest, pre Christian, their vows would be like, I promise to be with you in life and death unless you make me upset and, you know, right? And unless you love me and make me feel important, then, you know, the deal's off. That's sort of what happens. And so, the spiritual is that communion with God. The ability to commune with God and that was destroyed and lost because we became unholy and God can only commune with holiness. And so the righteous, God is a righteous God and he needs that righteousness. So what is the new man, what is this new thing that God creates in us and puts in us? Scripture tells us that believers have been created again after the image of God and that we receive back the righteousness. So we're able to have communion with God, holiness and truth, which were lost through sin. We also have the ability to, with the Holy Spirit and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have the ability to understand absolute truth, to make good choices, and to use feelings constructively. The whole matter of putting on the new man is in essence the application of truth. To ourselves, the renewing of our minds. So we need to use, you know, we need to, to, how do we get there? Okay, first of all, it's a once and done deal. I'm just declaring this right now. I am dead to the old man. I'm alive to the new. I want to start this experiential now. I know what God's Word says. This is what God's Word says. The old man is dead. The new man is alive. I'm going to walk in that. And now I need to renew my mind, in the spirit of my mind, those truths. And if we don't continue to do that, the old man will continue to creep up and continue to harden us. So, what are some of the things you can do? We need to do things that renew Our mind that to remind us who we are in Christ that were to remind us of the new man. What's the one? Absolute source for telling us about the new man The Word of God, right? We need to get into the word Read your Bible another way We need to pray We need to pray about every aspect of our lives Tell God about our weaknesses, our difficulties, and ask for wisdom. Ask for understanding. Now combine those two. You have God speaking to us through His Word, and now we have communication with Him. We're now righteous in His eyes. We have, He's available to us. We can now, as the more we pray, the more we are enlightened, we can, we move into a life of gratitude and thankfulness. The more you thank God for what he's done for you and to you in Christ, the more you are feeding the true man, the true self, the new man, who we are. Another very critical thing is seeking fellowship with fellow believers, like minded believers. It's hard. You can have believers that are caught up into putting off the old man. You need to connect with believers, like minded, that are pursuing the same thing. The new man is there in church and talks to others, right? Who recognizes the presence of the new man. And as you see the same nature in another, it's like, I can remember when I first, started dealing, and I met a guy that, that was open to, to be my discipler. And the first time I met him, it's like, he has something I want. I can tell the difference. I was a believer, but I still walking in the old man. I never really grasped that concept. And as he discipled me, but there was something about that, that, that taste of relationship, the aroma. He has something I want. I had it. I just wasn't walking in it. I wasn't realizing it. So, there really is a value in church. And, there's circumstances and there's things that you can do to get messages and, and participate in a worship service. But, relational. And one to one relationship really is critical. And that's why I think as Christians we need to also be aware, if there are shut ins, if there are people that can't come to church, bring the church to them. We need to be one anothering in our new man. That is so critical. So those are the three things that we really need to focus on is getting into God's Word, renewing our mind to the truth, the absolute truth of who we are. We need to be praying and communing with our God, our Father, who delights in us, bringing our concerns. And then, we also need to connect with other believers. We need to remind ourselves that we've been bought and purchased by the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish, without spot. And he gave himself, and all that involved, that we might. Be new creations. We might be the new men. We need to remind ourselves of that. Remind yourself of that the first thing in the morning when you get up. Who you are. Remind yourself of that constantly throughout the day. You're not your own. You've been bought. If we remembered who we are and the dignity of our calling and our position, then there'd be Just like The problems that we have in our lives, we'd be able to have that peace. Because we know that God is working all things out for those that are in Him, and we're in Him. And we know that. Let us ever remind ourselves of the family that we belong to. God not only restored the vertical, but He's restoring the horizontal. We're, and when you connect with other believers, There's a connection there. There's a sweetness of spirit there that you can't experience with non believers. Finally, we need to remind ourselves that Christ is dwelling in our hearts by faith. That the Holy Spirit of God that dwelt in Him now dwells in us. So with that, why don't we close in prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your seal of your presence in our lives. Lord, thank you that you've created a newness in our lives that we can walk in and help us, Lord, to encourage each other and keep mindful always of you and what you are and whose we are. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
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