The Christian is a New Man

We are going to be back in Ephesians 4, really the third message dealing with these three very critical, crucial passages dealing with our sanctification found in Ephesians 4, verses 22, 23, and 24, just for the sake of flow and context. Let's start in verse 17. Now this I say, Paul is saying, this is Paul being carried along by the Holy Spirit to give us God's words. He's speaking to the church at Ephesus, to Christians. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They're darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Now here's where we really get to the section in Scripture that we want to deal with today. That is not the way you learned Christ. And I love the way Paul argues there. Why can't you live that way if you're a Christian? Because Paul's assuming if you're a Christian, you've been taught something of Christ. That's the automatic assumption behind this Apostle's words. You have been taught by Christ. That is not the way you learned Christ. In other words, to live like Gentiles, like you formerly did. Verse 21, assuming that you have heard Christ and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. This is what he teaches. This is what you learn. To put off your old man which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt. The old man is corrupt through deceitful desires. And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds. And the passage we're specifically dealing with today is verse 24. And, so we're taught this, to put off our old man, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, verse 23, and verse 24, to put on the new man. Created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So let's pray. Father, I do pray as these are inspired words, this is Your Word, Lord. Grip Your people with what You want them to know. Lord, certainly You want Your people to hear Your voice. These are Your words. You speak through them. Christ teaches us. We want to be brought into remembrance of what it is we've been taught by Christ. Lord, we would have You to so act, to so work, that the realities of these verses would be a reality in our life, in our church. Lord, we need Your help. These passages deal with sanctification and we know it is the will of God. This is the will of God, even Your sanctification. The same Apostle says somewhere else. Lord, sanctify us. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. May it wash us like water. I pray that in Christ's name, help us. Amen. So, brethren, right to the point. V. 24, that's our focus. You can see the words. Paul knows. See, this is not up for debate. Paul knows this. True Christians are Christ-taught. What does that mean? That means that you have heard His voice. My sheep, they know My voice. They hear My voice. That is a reality. You can't get away from that. You say, I've never heard His voice. You're not a Christian. That's plain and simple. You say, what do you mean, audibly? We hear it, brethren. We hear that. And those of us that have heard it, we know it. And no, it didn't come audibly. Not to most of us. I know you can look through history and you can find different things, but the reality is He speaks to us in our conscience. He speaks in our heart. He speaks to us in a way that He makes Himself heard. He makes Himself known. And it's not just this ambiguous voice. This is the voice of a teacher. He's leading us somewhere. He calls us to something. It's like He spoke the audible words to Levi, follow Me, but He still speaks those words to us today. It's interesting. I mean, you may find this strange, but I think that you won't actually maybe if you think about this. The angel, I was just reading recently when we were down in Mexico, I read Luke and Acts. It was very strange that when the angel addresses Mary by name, Mary, it came to me as though you could have put Tim in there. That reality that He was speaking to her by name and she was known by name. And that's what happens. It's like, follow Me isn't just to Levi or to Peter or James or John. It comes home to us where it resonates with us. Where yes, we read those words off the page and they may be spoken to somebody else, but suddenly in some mysterious way, they're spoken to us. And we hear that we need to follow. And many things are taught to us as we think of Christ and we read Christ in the Scriptures. And Paul knows this is a reality. Every Christian has heard this voice. Christ saves. Christ makes His voice heard. He teaches those who He saves. And you know what Paul's assuming? One of the things that every one of us who truly gets converted, we have been taught by this mysterious voice to put on the new man. That's what he's assuming here. You see in v. 20, that is not the way you learned Christ. V. 22, to put off your old man. V. 23, to be renewed in the Spirit of your minds. V. 24, and to put on the new self. Paul hasn't moved so far away from that teaching that you want to lose that reality. This is one of the things that he teaches us. Put off. Put on. And the thing is, these two things must always be taken together. He never teaches anybody to put off without also teaching to put on. And put on. Put off. It's the idea of clothing. And you don't... Look, is it possible in our human realm to actually put clean clothes on top of dirty clothes? Yes, we could imagine such a scenario. But the reality is nobody does that. You don't do that. And that's the reality here. It's just assumed. The dirty clothes come off. The clean clothes come on. And that's always the assumption. The assumption is you take off clothes and you don't remain without clothes. The reality is that there's never a situation in which a man is merely put off the old man. The Lord Jesus Christ has never taught us to live in a vacuum. That's not possible. You see, the old man is corrupt. The new man is righteous. We're never called to be amoral. I'm not saying immoral. Amoral. Just without. You're either corrupt or you're righteous. And there's no in-between. There's no vacuum. Both of these have to happen. Both of these have to happen simultaneous. Man can't be neutral. There's no such thing. It's put off, put on, and they must be simultaneously. And the thing is, if we try to live our lives, and you know we can do this. We can get to where we focus on one to the exclusion of the other. We can really become overly focused. And you know you can come under teaching that is overly focused on one. You can come to churches or movements or denominations that will overly focus on one. And there's dangers. Neglecting either one is dangerous. I mean, you think about, if the whole emphasis is put on putting off the old man, you don't think about putting on the new, then you know what you have? You end up with this focus that becomes very self-examining. Do we need to examine ourselves? Yes. But can it become morbid? Can it become excessive? Yes. And if you've ever been around any circles like that, you know that is not a healthy environment. It is an environment that can become legalistic. You've got your disciplines. You've got your certain rules. These certain movements, you've got to be just like them. There's this hyper introspection. There's a morbidity that surrounds it. People tend to lack assurance. Legalism. And if you'll remember in Scripture, these people tend to lack assurance too. One of the things that I think is interesting that the Apostle John tells us is this. John says, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him. You want assurance? Assurance doesn't come from just trying to put off the old man. That's not what Scripture teaches. And people who become obsessed with that, people who become hyper introspective, they tend to neglect the world out there. They tend to very much focus on their own sin. We need to look at our sin. There is a reality that we need to put off the old man. There is a reality that we need to be killing by the Spirit. We need to be killing the deeds of the body. That's a reality. But if you do one to the exception of the other, it's unhealthy, it's dangerous. And then of course you can go to the other extreme. You never think about putting off the old man. It's all putting on the new. It's I'm not going to trouble with the old man. And one of the things then is you're on this road to antinomianism. Now you don't care about righteousness. You don't care about the commandments that Christ has given. I'm forgiven. What does the old man matter? I mean, the famous saying, it's no longer me, it's sin that dwells in me. Well, that kind of thinking is, the old man gets excused. And that's not any good either. Let's just be Christians. Let's sound like Christians. Let's do Christian things. Let's debate doctrine. But it's all a deception. You know what Scripture says? What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? And there's no fellowship between light and dark. And the reality is the old man is dark. He's corrupt. The new man is righteous and holy. True righteousness. True holiness. There's no fellowship between these two. It's a deception to try otherwise. You can't put off the old man and not put on the new. And you can't put on the new without putting off the old. And to try to do otherwise, there might be some semblance of an appearance of it, but it's a deception. They have to be simultaneous. Now, think with me. This is your life. This is your life. You've been taught to put on the new man. We need to be thinking about what this is. Obviously, put on. We've got symbolism going on here. The word put on is exactly what it sounds like. This is a Greek word that has to do with clothing oneself or to dress oneself. The new man is portrayed to us like a piece of clothing to be put on. And Scripture gives frequent pictures of Christians being clothed with that which is not clothing. In other words, Scripture is constantly talking about clothing oneself with that which is other than clothing. It's being used in a symbolic sense. Like think about this. Scott was reading in Revelation right there at the end. You know, a couple chapters before he read, do you know what Scripture says? It gives us a picture of the Bride of Christ. Have you ever read that? The Bride of Christ is robed with fine linen which is pure and white. It's beautiful, white and pure. They followed Christ on white horses. But you know, right in the same context, it says this. It says, it was granted to Christ's Bride, it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. Now listen to this. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. The fine linen is, I mean, that's perfect metaphor right there. That's symbolism. We're being robed with righteous deeds. What's the significance of that? And what's the significance of clothing being likened to these righteous deeds? And it's something we wear. I mean, I don't think it takes an incredibly high IQ to figure out our clothing. I mean, think about clothing. I mean, I'm just thinking, what is the significance? And I'm just thinking, what's the significance of clothing? The significance is, I mean, some people recognize clothing. And you know, I've come home from church and, you know, all the ladies are like, well, did you see what she wore? And I don't have any idea what she wore. But the reality is that if I'm right here and I look at you, the vast percentage of your body area is covered by clothing. And that's just the reality. Especially if we're going to be modest Christians. We walk around all the time. Basically, the only thing that shows on us is from the neck up and from the sleeve forward. That's what shows on us. The vast majority of it is covered. And when you look at somebody, if their clothing is bright, like if somebody came in here with this like psychedelic red clothing, everything, well, that would jump out at you, right? I mean, I remember a preacher that came over here from the east side. And remember the church on the move? Way back in the beginning. This guy had like red shoes, red suit, red... I mean, it jumps out at you. What does clothing do? Clothing gives a sense. Certainly, it's that which is externally seen. Certainly, clothing is visible. Clothing covers. Clothing, it's enveloping. It's that which is identifying. You know, if a guy has a uniform on, you have some idea about if he has a police uniform on or a marine uniform on or whatever. I mean, there's some kind of identification that goes with it. It is defining. Sometimes it's protecting. Clothing. You know, if you really start to think about it, it's like the Lord likes to use this kind of symbolism. And you don't have to look very far. Just listen to some of them. In the Old Testament, St. Job, I put on righteousness. I mean, you think about when that's used. Immediately, there is a picture of something. I put on righteousness. Again, it's an idea of clothing. He says it, and it clothed me. What does it mean to be clothed with something? Enwrapped means as people look at you, that's what they see. It gives you that external identity. He says, my justice was like a robe and a turban. It was like simile. We get these metaphors and these similes in Scripture. How about this? I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. Of course, that's Isaiah. The Lord Himself, speaking in Psalm 132, says, let your priests, and you know in the New Testament context, we are the priests. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Isaiah says, of the Lord, He put on garments of vengeance. I mean, can you imagine? For clothing. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing. What a picture! God clothed in garments of vengeance. This is the way Scripture speaks. And He's wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak. So you get this idea of clothing, of cloaks, of robes, of turbans. The New Testament also abounds in this imagery. Just think, you know this. Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Armor. I mean, that's one type of clothing. I mean, it's armor. Again, it's something that we cover the external of our body with. Or put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says in Romans 13. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. We're going to get to that in Ephesians 6. Having fastened on yourself the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, or 1 Thessalonians, put on the breastplate of faith and love for a helmet, the hope of salvation. But here's the thing, just wait a second. This is external. Is this really the way that we want to view and envision Christianity? Just based on the external? I mean, who wants external religion? And yet, Scripture repeatedly, over and over, talks about the Christian characteristics as being worn externally like clothing. I mean, a man can put on a police uniform and not really be a policeman. Just external? I mean, besides, isn't the things that are mentioned here as being worn? You think about righteousness and zeal. You think about the love, the hope, the faith, the truth, the justice. These are the things. Vengeance. God is clothed with vengeance. You think about all these things. Aren't these things really heart matters to start with? Why are they pictured simply as external? Well, certainly they are heart matters. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. Show me a person who is really righteous at the heart level, whose righteousness doesn't break forth. I mean, that's the reality. Our Lord said it. The good person, think about what our Lord said. The good person, do you know how that finishes? The good person out of the good treasurer's heart does what? Oh, don't you love those words? Brings forth. That always happens. And guess what the evil person does? They bring forth. Now, sometimes it may be that the evil person brings forth hypocrisy, and they try to look like something on the outside. But the reality is where you have the true thing on the inside, it's always going to break through to the outside. And in fact, God means for what's inside to break through to the outside. Let your light so shine before men. Why? You see, God wants people to see it. That they may see your good works. They want to see the good break through on the outside. That they give glory to God. God wants that. God says something very similar in 1 Peter, right? That the Gentiles, you want your conduct before the Gentiles to be what? Honorable. Why? So that when they speak evil, what's going to happen? They see something. What do they see? They see your good deeds. And what do they do? They glorify God on the day of visitation. You see, that's the reality. God wants us to break out. Didn't Jesus Himself say, you know what guys, if you have love for one another, you're going to show all people that you're My disciples. He means for it to be real. He means for it to be in here, but to break through to the outside. And you know what? What does Scripture say? They're known by their fruit. Because if you don't have it on the external, it's no good on the inside. This is the reality of Scripture. Do you recognize God wants you to wear your Christianity on your sleeve? That doesn't mean He wants you to walk around performing in front of people and doing what you do to be seen. But the reality is He does want you to be seen. What's your primary motive? Glorify God, not to be seen. But God wants you to be seen so that He is glorified, right? He wants it to break through on the outside. Colossians, put on then. Be robed with. Be clothed with. What? What? As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, you want to be robed with compassionate hearts, kindness. Did you get that? Put on a compassionate heart. Wait, the heart's in here. How do I put that on on the outside? Look as it breaks out. You can't help but show compassion on the outside. How do you put on a compassionate heart? It's clothing. I mean, this is a picture of what's outside along with humility and meekness and patience. He wants us to wear it. He wants us to be fully robed with it. Cover yourselves. Clothe yourselves. Put on the new man. That's what you're being told here. Now, I'll tell you what jumped out at me as I was looking at this. One word that I just thought, wow. Well, let me tell you the words. Look at verse 24. Put on the new man created. That word just jumps right off the page at me. I'm not supposed to put on a performance or put on an idea. God created the heavens and the earth. He brought out of nothing something into existence that did not exist before. God is being set forth here as the Creator of the new man. I mean, that is critical. Created. In the same way that God created the heavens and the earth, God Almighty has exercised His divine power and has actually created something that did not exist before He created it. And what's it called? It's called the new man. In other words, and He brings it out of nothing. He doesn't bring it from the old man. He doesn't just improve the old man. He doesn't renovate the old man. He is bringing something into existence. Speaking something into existence. That just wasn't there before. This is not just a new disposition. There is a new disposition. But it's not just that. It's not just a new way of thinking of things, even though when you're a Christian, you do think differently and new. Not just a new standing before God, even though we do have a new legal standing before God. But that's not... There is an entire new man that's been created. When God creates something, you need to think about this. It is something. I mean, there is a real new man that has been created in the life of every single genuine Christian. It is something. It is real. It exists. It has been. The question that we would ask is this, where is it? Where is the new man? And you can know this right off. Nothing about the new man has to do with the body. Oh, now the body becomes submissive. There's a new ruler at the helm. But this has nothing to do with the new body. The new body is fading away. The old body is fading away. Your body is not redeemed. This body is dying. This is still in Scripture called the body of sin, but it's being brought to nothing. And I'll tell you how it's being brought to nothing, by the fact that the old man has been crucified. The new man is now on the throne. But it has nothing to do with the physical body. The new man is entirely non-physical. And you have several texts, because sometimes the new man is also referred to as the inner man. And you know these texts. Though your outer self is wasting away. That's the physical body. Physical body wasting away over against our inner man who's being renewed day by day. Or you have this in Ephesians, just a chapter before. Paul is praying that God may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner man. There's the new man. It's that which is strengthened by the Spirit. It's that which is being renewed day by day. The new man is the inner man in the Christian. But what's that? What's the inner man? Strip away your flesh. Strip away your body. It's who you are. It's everything that is inside. And we use all these different words. Spirit, soul, heart. But it's you. As a man thinks, it's what's happening in your thoughts, in your affections, in your desires. It's your conscience, your emotions, your beliefs. It's the mind. It's your will. It's you. It's who you are. The fact is, you can cut off your arm. That hasn't changed who you are. You can whittle this body down. But the you is separate from that body. And that is what's new. It's a new man. A new inner man. God crucified the old man. He killed him. He's brought something new into being. God has created. I mean, if you just think about yourself and who you are, you are a creational miracle of God. He didn't just make you in the beginning. When you were born again, there is a recreation. Something massively new. The new man is not something that just slowly evolves out of the old man. It's not that. It's not an improvement in the old man. It's creation. And Scripture specifically identifies it as a new creation. God has put a new man within me that was not there before. The Christian is not the old man improved. The Christian is not someone who's merely trying to better themselves. The Christian is not somebody who simply makes a decision or who makes a resolution to change their lives. Something absolutely new has been put within me at the very center of who I am. The new man is in you. That's where he is. That's where he dwells. Are we just... I mean, is the Christian just an ordinary person trying to live a better life than the majority? What we have to recognize is we are infinitely beyond that. Infinitely better than that. God has done something. Now notice this. Notice what comes next. There's more. You see, just saying the new man is created by God falls short of what's actually being said here. Notice, yes, the new man is created by God, but that doesn't exhaust the reality that we find. Put on the new man created after the likeness of God. If you've got the New King James Version, it says created according to God, or the KJV says created after God. But the ESV is capturing this. After the likeness of God. The new man is created by God, but more than that, created to be like God. You know, one of the first questions you might ask is, wait a second, we remember you were just preaching out of Genesis. Isn't this a redundant thing to say? Because aren't all men created in the image of God? I mean, you ought to think about that. We ought to give consideration to that, because the reality is when you go back to Genesis 1, this after the likeness of God is Genesis 1 language. But you can't miss that. Listen to what it says in Genesis 1. God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. There's your terminology right there. Oh, with one exception, that plural pronoun our, we don't need to get into that right now, but the reality is that man was made after the likeness of God. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God. He created him, male and female. He created them. Now, here's the thing. Even when you go back to Genesis 1, man is not God. God existed forever. Man is being created. God is not created. Man is created. The reality is man is not God. Man will never be God. God is not created. God will never be created. Man can never have an exact likeness to God, because there are things that are true of God that can never be true of man, no matter what. And yet, there is a certain something about man that makes this verbiage a reality. I mean, God doesn't say that man is made after our likeness because there's no resemblance. Obviously, there is much resemblance. Obviously, there's something that these words mean. What does it mean? That in some way, man is a created copy of God. That's what that language means. A created copy. How? In what way? And you know, the thing is, I don't even find this said about the angels. Now, I don't know what God would say about the angels, and we don't really have a whole lot of detail about the creation of the angels, but I can tell you this, in all the things that were created in those first six days, never was this said of any of God's other creations. It wasn't said of whales. Whales are smart. It wasn't said of elephants. It wasn't said of dogs. I have a smart dog, but it wasn't said. It's only said about man. It wasn't said about stars and galaxies. That means there's something true and essential about God that is true about man when he was made back there in the beginning. But I think the question we have to ask is, wait a second, why are we now jumping to Ephesians 4 in the New Testament and we're finding that God is creating again? Because we know that this new man is something new being created. Man is already there, but now something new is being created that brings man into this likeness of God. So what happened? Was God created man in the likeness of Himself back at the beginning, but now He creates us more like Himself? Or what's going on? Why does this have to happen? And the thing to think about is this, man is never made a god, but God created in man something that is a reproduction of something that is true in Himself. And if you just start thinking, I mean, you can let your mind wander and ponder through all the Scriptures what God is Spirit. Now, I know we're physical, but we are spiritual. We are spiritual and you don't find that that's a reality in the animals. Obviously, not in the inanimate objects that God created. What else can we say? I mean, God is immortal. And you know, we were made immortal. And even though sin came in, man is still going to exist forever. And even in the beginning, he was made to live forever. It was sin that took that away. Man has an intellect. Man has a will. Man has a conscience. Man has a self-consciousness. I mean, even if you try to get a dog to look in the mirror, I mean, I guess they can. They can see their reflection in something, but have you ever seen them? They think it's somebody else. They think it's another dog or bird. They'll try to peck at themselves. They don't have a self-awareness. We do. Man has the power to think. He has the power to reason. God gave us dominion over all of this in the very beginning. God made man upright. And I don't just mean upright as far as righteousness. We walk on two feet. And you say, well, a gorilla can do that. Yeah, but a gorilla doesn't... A gorilla is not primarily designed to walk that way. Can he take some steps on two feet? Yes, but if you watch a documentary, they run around on all four. The reality is we walk upright. That's not true of the animals. Man has a moral compass. So man is in the likeness of God already. So what's with this new man? I think all you have to do is look at v. 24 to recognize what's with the new man. The likeness that is found in the new man is true righteousness and holiness. And we know what happened in the fall. In the fall, that was lost. In the fall, that image of God in man was defaced because he became ugly. He became distorted. He became more like the devil, a follower of the devil. He became one who did evil. Now the image of God wasn't destroyed altogether. He still bears, lost man, fallen man, still bears some of the marks of the image of God. He can still think. He can still reason. He still stands erect. But that crowning likeness of God, righteousness and holiness, it's gone. And you know what the Scripture says? There's none righteous. No, not one. It's like when you look around, that is entirely void. They may be nice people, but they don't have any true righteousness or holiness. It's not there. The whole world. But when God causes somebody to be born again, that new man is created. And this is the crowning characterization of the new man. This is the heart of what it means to have the life of God in the soul of man. Very essence of the image, the likeness of God. God is righteous. God is holy. God causes men and women to be born again. This is the central reality. A righteous and holy new man. And this is real. And this is in you. God created it. If you've truly been born again, God created a new you that is truly righteous and holy. And that is a reality. That is a fact. And nothing can ever undo that. Nothing can cloud that. Oh, a true Christian can wander into sin. A true Christian can grieve the Holy Spirit. But you cannot take away what God has created. If God has created this in you, then it's real. If anyone is in Christ, He's a new creation. And Scripture doesn't say the old may have passed away or the old has passed away. If God has created this new man, the old has passed away. You are a new creation. The new has come. That's what we know. And you know the thing that you have to ask is this, do you know this about yourself? I mean, do you realize what Paul is saying? You are being called upon to actively do something, to draw on something. What you are being called to do is bring this new man that you are to the outside. You're to clothe yourself. And you've got the ability to do it because the new man's on the inside. And if you don't have the new man on the inside, it doesn't matter what you call yourself, what name you go by, if the new man is not on the inside, you'll never clothe yourself on the outside with him. Everything you do on the outside will be hypocrisy. It won't be real. It'll be a deception. Christian, you need to realize this about yourself. Within you is such a man as is truly righteous. No matter how you feel. Feelings can be very deceptive. But if your faith, if your trust, is solely on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can know this reality about yourself. No matter how weak you may feel. No matter what you think. No matter what emotions you may have streaming through you. Within you is such a man as is truly righteous, truly holy. Now yes, your new lives, your new man is couched in and enveloped by this, really what Paul calls the body of sin. The flesh. That's flesh. This is the unredeemed part of us. It wraps the new man. And you know what? The old man was corrupt. So the old man corruptly gave himself to the deceitful lusts and passions of this body. But there's a new man on the throne. There's a new man at the controls. And so you have the ability now to take these members and rather than giving in to sin and letting sin reign in your mortal body, you know what you have the ability to do now? Present your members to the Lord. I am going to serve you with this hand. I'm going to serve you with this mouth. I'm going to serve you with this mind, with these feet. Because you can. There's someone new at the controls. And back there in Romans 6, we looked at it several weeks back, it's to bring the body of sin to nothing. And Christian, do you know this? I mean, do you know this reality about yourself that this new man has been created and is there? Have you faced that reality? Because we need to be gripped by that reality. Every true Christian here needs to realize this. This new being is within you. You're no longer the old man. And the thing about it, one of the things that really strikes me about this is that the new man is never alone. You say, what do you mean? I mean this, wherever you find the new man, you find God. And that's precisely what Scripture tells us. Listen to this. Paul is praying for these Ephesians in Ephesians 3. According to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit. Where? In your inner man. Inner man. That's where you get strengthened. By who? By the Holy Spirit. And what do you get strengthened for? Anybody remember? That Christ may dwell where? In your heart. That's on the inside. That's the inner man. You're being helped and strengthened by the Spirit in your inner man. That Christ might dwell in your heart. Inner man. And you know what came in the chapter before? We are now being built together into a dwelling place for God. We are a dwelling place for God. Do you remember what Jesus said? Jesus said that He and His Father would make their home with us. Wherever the new man is, He's not alone. The new man has God dwelling side by side. See, this is what's so encouraging about this reality. The new man is God's man. The new man is the new man in Christ. And wherever that new man is, God puts His Spirit, God puts His Son, and God puts Himself. And you know what is behind all that? Is that where God is, God's power is. And what God is promising is to empower. When you think about the promises in Scripture, you're to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because God is at work in you. You see, He is working with the new man. The strength. You may be strengthened in your inner being. What? By the Spirit. Or you think about this. We are kept by the power of God through faith. 1 Peter 1.5 Or the promise of the New Covenant is what? God is going to put His fear within us that we not depart from Him. Or you think about this. God says He's going to write His law on our heart. What you need to recognize is God is at work inside. You hear this. The Spirit of God convicts men of sin, righteousness, judgment. The Spirit of God is in you. The Spirit of God is convicting. Christ lives in there. He manifests Himself. It is the new man where we have an awareness of God. God, the life of God in the soul of man. What happens is this new man has a God receptivity. And so, once we're born again, the new man is aware of God. The new man knows God. The new man is being empowered by God. The new man is being empowered to stay in the faith. The new man is being empowered to fear so as not ever to fall away. The new man has that law being inscribed on the inside. God causes us from the inside. Jesus said this, He said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. God is at work in the appetites of this new man. He dwells with the new man. The new man is the dwelling place of God. That is a very encouraging reality. But mark this well. The man who does not and has not got this new man cannot put on the new man. That's an impossibility. It's only because the new man has been created in us that we're able to put him on. And you see what Paul's calling us to do. He's calling us to robe ourselves externally with what's inside. But you have to realize, well, that's who I am. That makes it altogether possible. That makes it altogether a reality. I am able to draw on that which is a creational work of God. God doesn't create things haphazardly or backward. Have you ever noticed that when God designs something to do something, He designs it perfectly to do that? Which means God has designed your inner man perfectly for you to become what you need to become to live this Christian life. And so, this is obviously the question we need to ask. How do we put on the new man? That's the question. This is what makes Christians so starkly and radically different from the rest of the world. God has created something in us that we somehow make come out of us so as to robe ourselves externally on the outside with all that's true of what God has created on the inside. God empowers on the inside and we put it on on the outside. Have you ever heard? I know you've heard. Scripture teaches that there are those that have an appearance of godliness. But what? They deny the power thereof. An appearance. You know what's interesting about an appearance? That's on the outside. But you see, all it is is an appearance because they're not drawing on the reality. There's a denial of the power. There's a denial of that necessity. People thinking that they can basically be religious or be Christians in their own strength. But the only way you'll robe yourself on the external is if you've got this new creation. It's like, I mean, what this is, is God has basically... This is real. I mean, He created it. He created something out of nothing. And what did He create? A new man, righteous and holy. That is the tool God has given to you to live this life, to be like Christ. It's real. It's there. It's on the inside. It's like God has given you a tool that He has put within you. And that tool you can draw from to build, to be what you're supposed to be. Now, we don't want to simply consider the doctrine of the new man at a distance. We don't want to be academic or theoretical about it. This needs to be real. This must be personal. This must be lived out. As with putting off the old man, I'm not going to get all wrapped up in the verb again, but the reality is, it's the same with the old man as it is with the new. It's a middle voice, which means it is an active verb that you do to yourself. You've got to do this. This is something we must do. Paul's not asking lost people to do this. They can't. Christian, this is for you. It's no use saying, I don't have the power. You do have the power. You have the new man. Paul's exhorting each of us Christians to realize this power is in us and exercise ourselves so as to discover the power that's there. And you don't wait until you feel like the new man. You don't wait to get the power. We don't wait until we feel better. It's as you seek to exercise it that you will find that you do have the power. Now, in physics, this is basic physics 101. Many of you know, kinetic energy, potential energy. What is kinetic energy? Kinetic energy is energy in motion. If I drop something while it's falling, something is moving, you see energy being expended. There is also something called potential energy. You know, if I put this here, well, that has potential. Why? Because it's that high off the ground and you've got the potential for this thing, given its certain mass, to accelerate and to hit the floor. And I could put something down there and this impacts it. So it's potential. It's not in motion, but there's potential for this thing to do some things. That's what potential energy is. You know what God is saying to you, Christian? You have potential energy. It may not be active right now, but you're called upon to exercise it. And the reality is that as you seek to exercise it, you will find that you have it. Joshua and I were riding our bikes out in Colorado up this long, relatively steep climb. It just went on straight. It was really hard. He and I are huffing. This woman, she was probably in her 60s. She just goes cruising past us. She was on an e-bike. You know what an e-bike is? It assists. It's like as you pedal, if you put 100 watts into it, it matches it with another 100 watts. So she basically has an electric bike that is supplementing power. Now look, I'm not saying live in the Christian life, any of the power is ours. But you know as well as I do that you have the ability to initiate. And as you initiate, you're going to find much like that e-bike, that wow, God is helping me. God is enabling me. There is something here. Brethren, you know how God has designed the muscle. You know one of the things that's so addictive about going to the gym or exercise is that you get somebody maybe that's never done it before, and so they're like, it doesn't have much attraction to me. But you get them there. And you know if you can get somebody to consistently work out, maybe even correct their diet a little bit, just for like two weeks, you know what happens? Any idea what happens? I mean, God has designed our muscles. And you know, bringing this muscle thing in, bringing like physical exercise in, that's consistent with Scripture. You have a text that says, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, rather train or exercise or discipline yourselves for godliness. So obviously, the apostle himself is likening us in the spiritual realm over against the physical realm. He sees discipline and exercise in the physical realm as being a good analogy to describe what happens in the spiritual. And you think about these muscles, and the reality is the way God has designed muscles, and one of the reasons that physical fitness can become so intoxicating is because you start to use your muscles, and what happens? They suddenly start getting bigger, and where you were bench pressing one thing one time, you notice all of a sudden several months later, you're able to do significantly more, maybe double what you were able to do. That's the way God's designed us. But you know in the spiritual realm, you don't want to be far off from that, because the reality is if you begin to exercise yourself, what you will find is that God has designed spiritual muscles that come right out of what this new man is, that you will be able to clothe yourself. You draw on this strength, you draw on this reality, and you say, I have the new man in me. This is not only possible, God wants me to do this for His glory. He wants me to be robed with these righteous deeds. He wants me to be robed with zeal. He wants me to be robed with humility. He wants me to be robed with compassion. He wants these things from me. All you have to do, you know what happens? How do you start exercising the muscles properly? Well, you have to tell yourself, you're going to the gym. Oh, but you know, I don't feel like it. No, you're going to the gym. You're going to take that bike ride. You're going to get on that treadmill. Oh, I don't feel like it. I don't feel strong today. I mean, that's what happens in the physical. But you tell your muscles, no, you're going to do that. And you're going to eat right. You're going to take that smoothie. You're going to take that protein drink. You're going to stop eating the garbage, the bear claws, the candy bars, drinking the soda. And you see, that discipline sets in. But what Scripture is saying is, you, Christian, have the new man. Apply yourself. Give yourself to this. You don't realize what a muscle is capable of until you begin to use them. And then you're surprised at the strength. You're surprised at how your body grows. You're surprised at how your body responds. You're surprised at how God has designed the muscle to be able to do a whole lot more than you ever thought it could do. Because you gave yourself to this. You exercised yourself. And all of a sudden, you're surprised at the strength and the power you're capable of. So it is with the new man spiritually. So how do we do this? I would just say this, this is pretty logical, but pack this away. I mean, if you want to take this Christian life seriously, then take this seriously. Use everything at your disposal that you know feeds and helps to strengthen and build up the new man. I mean, look, if you want to get maximum impact from developing your muscles, what are you going to do? I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to consider every way that you can possibly make those muscles stronger and you're going to apply yourself to that. You're going to give them the proper nutrition and the proper exercise to bring about the result that you want. And I would say this, that new man is in you. Do everything possible. You know, make no provision for the flesh. Don't make provision for anything that has to do with your old corrupt life. And feed the new man. Give the new man the sustenance that is necessary, the exercise that is most likely to make him grow. And look, don't just do this hit and miss. You have to be constant. You know one of the things that makes for those Christians that really make a difference and turn the world upside down and get remembered? Is when you look at their life, they were consistent. You know one of the things that just destroys clothing yourself with the new man is inconsistency. It's like spanking your children. You want the surefire way to have a bunch of rebel children just be super inconsistent. One of the ways here just to mess this whole thing up is inconsistency. Inconsistent in Scripture. Inconsistent in walking with the Lord in your prayer life. Inconsistent in fasting. Inconsistent as Craig was saying in the first hour about just being in the church where you get built up, where you stir up one another to love and good works, and all these one another's that he's going to look at next time. I'm just going to focus on one thing right now as I wrap this up. I want you to consider this one fact because this jumps out at me. This one fact. In other places, the same apostle calls the new man by another name. Inner man, yes. But I'm thinking of another name. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian, you know what Jesus said. How are we taught by Him? Follow Me. He said, learn of Me. I'm meek and lowly in spirit. Paul says to us, imitate me as I imitate Him. Brethren, any of you that have watched the Logic on Fire, you'll remember one of those guys says, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, like every day of his life, he dressed in this three-piece suit. Same suit all the time. When he was in the pulpit, he wore a robe. But he wore this suit all the time. And the guy said he would even wear it to the beach. Now, the guy made a comment, and they show a picture of him standing at the beach, all the sand, and he's got his suit on. And the guy telling the story said, well, you know, others sought to do the same thing. They'd wear theirs to the beach. You know why they did it? Because he did it. Do you know those guys, when you look at the guys that were close to Lloyd-Jones, one of them said, he was the greatest man I ever knew. Do you know when you get around somebody that you think is great, you want to be like him? And we can laugh that other people would wear their suits to the beach. But you know what this is saying? If you see Christ wear a suit to the beach, then you should do it too. And you know why they did it? You know why they wanted to imitate Lloyd-Jones? Because they loved him. They respected him. Jeffrey Thomas in that Logic on Fire says, oh, I just wanted to preach like him. Listen, rouse yourself. Stimulate yourself. Prime the pump. Jesus says you go to Scripture for these other reasons, but in the Scripture, that's where I'm found. You want to find Christ? You go to the Scriptures. You especially want to find Christ? Go to those four Gospels. Listen, it's good to read Scripture through on a yearly basis. But I'm telling you, just checking off the fact that you read something, that's missing the mark here. You want to find Christ. And you should go to Scripture to study Him. You should go to Scripture to find Him. You should go to Scripture to know Him. You want to read it to see where He is. And you want to concentrate. And you really do want to find Him. And you want to ask questions about Him. And you want to see the way He lived. Because I'll tell you this, if men could walk close to Lloyd-Jones and feel like I want to be as much like Him as possible, I'm going to wear my suit to the beach. Think of how much greater Christ is. You know what? Martin Lloyd-Jones had the Spirit. People saw the power of the Spirit on his life. I've noticed this. You get around somebody, I remember the Lighters told me one time they were visiting over in Scotland, and they met a man, and they said there was a fragrance of Christ. These guys up here today, they were talking about the fragrance of Christ that they felt over in Nepal. But you get around some people's lives, and they're like that. And there's something that is really attractive and drawing. The thing is, if you were able to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, you would have felt that in a way that you've never felt in anybody else. The Spirit was given to Him without measure. There would have been an aura about Him. Not in His physical beauty. There was nothing in that. Isaiah talks about that. But there was something about His character that is most attractive and most appealing. You can tell your own children will get around somebody that they want to have the friendship of. And they will begin to act like that person. They will begin to talk like that person. Imitation is very much a reality. But you want to ask questions. What was He like? You want to see Him. Don't just superficially read your Bible like to get the chapter done. It's better that you stop and stay on one verse than to not profit from it. You want to see Him. Ask yourself, how did He treat women? How did He treat His parents? How did He talk? How did He treat His friends? How did He treat His enemies? How did He treat God Himself? How did He worship? How did He pray? I'll tell you, those disciples that were watching Him, if you even think about the fact that they asked Him, Lord, teach us to pray. Well, you know why you ask somebody to teach you to pray? Because you knew He was a man of prayer. If you see Christ, immerse yourself. We are to be putting on the new man. The new man is Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this new man is. Created in the image of God. Created in the image of Christ. It is Him. We are being conformed to the image of His Son. That's what Scripture says. It's like one time we bore the image of the man of dust, but what's happening? We shall bear the image of the man of heaven. Transformed into the same image. That's what Paul told the Corinthians as you behold the glory of the Lord. You're transformed from one degree of glory to the next. You want to be robed? I'll tell you this, live in the atmosphere of Christ. I mean, visit Him, look to Him, talk to Him, go into Scriptures to find Him. Ask yourself, what does He live for? Make Him your life study. Look for Him everywhere. Read those authors, extra biblical, that find Christ everywhere, that exalt Christ, that put doctrines in the light of Christ. I'll tell you this, God wants us to be absorbed with Him. And God has sent His Spirit to transform us into that image as we are absorbed with Him. That's where you want to sink your life. And then what? And then robe yourself with it. Do it. In other words, you see how He acts towards parents? Do it. You see how He acts towards the opposite sex? Do it. You see how He acts towards His friends? He laid down His life. Look at His sacrifice. And I'll tell you in all of it, I mean, think about what He's done for you. Because if your love for Him is growing, I'll guarantee you, the greater your love is for Him, the more you'll want to be like Him. Just as it was with those friends of Lloyd-Jones. They looked at Him. They admired Him. They loved Him. They thought He was a great man. They sought to imitate Him. As Christ impacts your own soul that way, feed the new man. That's what we're getting at. Regard the world around you like Christ does. Treat God like Christ does. Look at Christ's sacrifice. Let His mind... Isn't that what Paul said to the Philippians? Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let His mind be in you. Think like He thinks. But you've got to be aware. You've got to be acquainted. Look, if you're acquainted with something more than Him in your life, if you're more acquainted with how to make money, you're more acquainted with work, you're more acquainted with sports scores, you're more acquainted with exercising, you're more acquainted with anything in your life, your job, your garden, your children, your whatever, then your life is out of balance. You need to be absorbed with Him. He needs to be in your thoughts. You need to be constantly, let this mind be in you. Put on the new man. Put on Christ. Be up and at it. You've got to give yourself to this. Nobody does this by osmosis. Nobody does this simply by letting the Scriptures run while you sleep. You've got to think. You've got to apply yourself. You've got to give yourself to this. You've got to make this your prime objective. Seek Him. Seek to love Him. Seek to be thrilled with Him. Seek to be in awe by Him. Seek to worship Him. Love Him. Know Him. Study Him. The Spirit will move as you behold the glory of the Lord. Christian, put on Christ. You've got to actively know what Christ looks like, acts like, talks like, thinks like, if you're going to put that on. Do it. Do it. Apply it. Listen, where does it begin? You can get overwhelmed. Oh, Christ was this perfect man and He was perfect in every area and I'm imperfect in every area. You know what? It's by consistency. An ant is consistent. You ever seen the mounds that they build? And if you watch those little ants, they're carrying one tiny little grain at a time, but all of a sudden you look one day and there's that big ant pile. Why? Because they were consistent. And it's the same way. You can take a small step, but if you keep going, if you're like the turtle, you'll oftentimes beat the hair. You've got to be consistent. You've got to no compromise, folks. We're in this to endure to the end. Brethren, you want to finish this race as much like Christ is possible, but not just finish the race. You want to be as much like Him tomorrow. You want to put on Christ today. You want to do it this week. You want to live in that light. No delay. If only the church would recognize the reality of what you have within you. God has created the very tools that you need to be like Christ. The new man. Spurgeon had the same new man. Some of these guys you read about through history. Hudson Taylor. You read about these guys. You admire these guys. You admire Lloyd-Jones. They had the same new man. And one of the things is, they sought to apply themselves oftentimes more than us. And there's a lot of unknowns. They lived in the back alleys, the back farms. We don't know about them. But far more like Christ. Far more the fragrance of Christ. Why? They applied themselves to it. They did it. The new man is real. The new man is created by God. The new man is created after the likeness of God. The new man is in you. The new man is righteous. The new man is holy. And the whole church will be transformed if we let this grip us and get a hold of us. Realize this. Live your life. Start your day. Preach to yourself. Tell yourself, it's in me. It's here. I'm going to feed that new man. I'm going to robe myself with it. And I'm going to put on Christ. Convince yourself of this reality. Christ. Christ. Christ. If there's anything that's healthy for the new man, it is doses of Christ. Consistent. More and more. Ongoing. Deeper. Beholding His beauty. Becoming like Him. Being transformed. Having the light shine from your face as it did for Moses when he beheld God. This is a reality. And the reality is there are Christians you can meet that have a distinct fragrance of Christ above others. And there's one explanation for it. They are putting on Christ. They're doing it. It's not happening by accident. It's not happening because they're careless. It's happening because they're applying themselves to it and they're applying themselves to living in the presence of Christ and knowing Him and knowing His sufferings, knowing His sacrifice, knowing Him from Scripture. Father, I pray for more of this reality among us. More and more. I pray in Christ's name, Amen. You're dismissed.