Old Man/New Man, Part 2

Driving home: The putting off and putting on as decisive and done, but the renewing as a continual process.

Pastor Martin notes that no one came to church today by leaving the soul in the car and ordering only the body inside - we are total integrated entities. So 'old man' and 'new man' name the whole person, not a part.

A man is a total entity. If you are a man or woman and came to this place today, you came here as a total integrated entity. You didn't leave your soul out in your car and order your body in here. Nor did you order your soul in here and leave your body out in the car. If you're a man or woman, a boy or girl, and you are here, all of you is here. And so the apostle is very careful.

17:39 - 18:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Render Christ the full, unreserved, wholehearted obedience He deserves from those who have learned Him in saving truth.

When the Word is opened and preached, it is Christ Himself by the Spirit speaking to sinners and saints - so to hear the Word truly is to hear Christ truly.

When it is an opening up of the Scriptures, it is Christ by the Spirit through the Word addressing Himself to men, both to sinners who are without the pale of His saving mercy, calling them in and speaking to those who are His own, that they may be nourished by His own Word. And so, as Paul describes the saving instruction of Christ, that came through the Gospel to the Ephesians. He says, among the many things it taught you, this it taught you, not as a notional concept, but with power to effect the very thing it taught you. It taught you to put off the old man and to put on the new. So we rig...

24:01 - 24:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Reframe every sin you fight as something inconsistent with the new man you have become - then put it away.

He pictures a believer in conversation when a friend begins to spread an unkindness or untruth, and the believer is tempted to parrot it. The new man's identity is the basis for refusing to join.

with your friend, man or woman. And in the course of conversation, that person begins to say something that is unkind or untrue. You begin to pick it up and to parrot falsehood. And you remember, no, no, the Word of God says, wherefore, putting away falsehood, I have in Jesus Christ put off the old man with his deeds. I have put off new man. I'm talking on this phone as a new man, a new woman in Christ. By the grace of God, my speech will reflect what I am. Lord Jesus, give me grace to be in this telephone conversation, what I am, a new man, a new woman, in union with yourself. Maybe you're a ...

30:42 - 31:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Single believers should fight self-pity with the truth that union with Christ is the new identity that defines them, not their relational status.

A single adult tempted to spew bile and self-pity in a family-oriented church must deal with that vicious attitude in light of the reality that they are a new man or woman in Christ.

in a couple's family-oriented church and society. And there are times you're tempted to sit and, as it were, spill out the bile of self-pity and bitterness. And when you begin to see that framing in your mind and heart, you stop and say, wait a minute, I have put off the old man, the old woman with its deeds. I have put on the new man in union with Christ. This has no place.

31:40 - 32:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember that sin promises life and gives death - never trust its promises again.

From Eden onward, sin has promised what it cannot give and given what it never promised - 'ye shall be as gods' but the result is hardness, ignorance, and death.

That's the tragedy of sin. It promises what it cannot give and gives what it never promises. In the original entrance of sin, the promise was an advancement from your present state. Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. But it was no advancement. It was that tragic plunge into darkness, death,

35:21 - 35:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember that sin promises life and gives death - never trust its promises again.

Hell is, in one sense, sin's deformity carried to its ultimate - the everlasting display of what sin actually is when grace no longer restrains it.

In reality, this is the tragedy of hell. Hell is simply, in one sense, the extension of the ugliness and the deformity and the deception of sin carried to its ultimate in the judgment of God. My dear friend, is that what you will choose? Ignorance, darkness, hardness of heart now,

37:11 - 37:37 Read in full sermon