Colossians 3:9-10

Alright, the book of Colossians chapter 3, verses 9 and 10, lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and I put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Have you ever tried to cut something with one scissor blade? you know, paper or cardboard isn’t going to cut well with just a single scissors blade. You can keep scoring it and putting pressure on the blade, but it’s not a very good cut. Twin blades, working in unison, make a pair of scissors that can truly cut things precisely. Christians often struggle to affect spiritual change, in their lives. There is a desire to live a godly life, but somehow bringing it about isn’t very successful. What you may not realize is that spiritual change is a twofold process. There’s something to put off and there’s something to put on, as our text indicates to us. Too many Christians are working with a single scissor blade. If you even only do half of what is stated here in our text, then you’ll not be successful. We have to pull off the old man and we have to be able to put on the new man. Now, some people are constantly stressing the negative. They exclusively are focusing on mortifying their sin. Some people are constantly stressing the positive, and they’re exclusively focusing on good. Good deeds being performed, Scripture avoids both extremes here by telling us you need to do both actions. The bad actions have to be replaced by good God-honoring behavior. It’s this twin action, putting off and putting on, that provides a complete pair of spiritual scissors, if you would, in order to affect spiritual change. Now you’ll notice your spiritual change involves putting off the old man and his deeds. In verse 9, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, we read. Now what is your old man? This old man denotes the corruption inherent in your old nature here. What the nature you had from Adam, the inclination of all your faculties to evil. This corruption affects your whole person, as we’ve already studied. It affects your body, the members of the body, and it affects your soul, your mind and your will and your affections. And for this reason, it’s called a man. It’s complete in that sense. The whole being is affected. It’s called the old man, not merely because you’re born with it, but because it certainly takes us back to Adam’s fall, and the corruption is conveyed from father to son. And through the line, we see all who descend from Adam are corrupted in this way. It’s also called old because for the believer, who is now different than he once was, this particular being is being put to death. and it no longer has the dominating power that it once had, as Romans 7 indicates to us. So what is your old man? What are the deeds of your old man? Well, the corruption within you is very active. You know, it’s not like other things. You know, as we grow older, we become more quiet and less active. You know, we become weaker and not as active. But this old man still produces many deeds. An example of them are what we have studied in verse 5, when we list the things like fornication, uncleanness, and so forth. And also we looked at verse 8. We talked about anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, out of your mouth, and the first part of verse 9, lying, and so forth. We looked at all these particular sins. These are examples of the deeds of the old man. So what it tells us is we sin because we have a corrupt nature. And this still troubles us. If we have to put it off as those who have come to faith in Christ, that means that it’s still something that is a problem. Even though as a Christian you’ve been granted spiritual life, you find you still have a conflict with this corruption. or at least the remnant of it, which remains with you. And these deeds spring from it. I read a story about a man who once had a young leopard that was domesticated. He kept it as a pet. And he would play with the young leopard. It would follow him all around the house. The story reports that the leopard licked the master’s hand one day while he slept, and he drew blood from his hand. and the first taste of blood transformed this general creature into a wild beast, and then the result was a terrible deed because he ended up killing his master. Even though he was domesticated, there was something of the wild still in this animal. In a similar way, your original corruption has been subdued because of God’s regeneration. But there’s still something of the wild within you. You’re still something of this corruption within you, capable of resurfacing from time to time and creating havoc in your life. And as long as there are any remnants of this old man, you’re still capable of producing evil deeds. So what are the deeds of your old man? Well, we have looked at these. What does it mean to put off your old man in his deeds? We talked about this phrase put off several times. It has reference to clothing. You know, to put off something, take off garments and lay them aside. To put off here is related to renouncing, forsaking your old sinful deeds that you did prior to being saved. The idea is not letting the old man have a position of dominance, not allowing the lust of the flesh to be the flesh to be the same. the controlling factor, making no provision for the flesh to support the old man’s corruption and lust. So why is their illusion to clothing? Now, we have a common expression that clothes make a man. And in scripture, it’s interesting how a person’s nature or character is often closely connected with the idea of clothing. For example. In 1 Thessalonians 2.5, we read about a cloak of covetousness. In 1. Peter 2.16, a cloak of maliciousness. Isaiah 59, 17, we read about being clad with zeal as a cloak. Proverbs 3125, Strength and honor are her clothing, speaking about the Proverbs 31 woman. Psalm 10918, he clothed themselves. with cursing. We also read in scripture about being clothed with humility. He covered me with a robe of righteousness. We read in Isaiah 61.10. Violence covered them as a garment. Psalm 736. And on and on. We could go. To be clothed with something seems to indicate that is a dominant factor in your life. So that if you’re clothed with violence, you’re a violent person. That is a major part. your character, that that shows itself. Now, you’ve renounced the evil behavior coming from the old man. So you’re to put off the cloak of covetousness. Put off the cloak of violence. Put off the cloak of maliciousness and cursing and so forth. That used to be a major part of your character. So this is the kind of the idea that’s being portrayed here. Just as we would set clothes aside, put this aside. I don’t longer have that be part of you and what you are. Now, let me make some practical observations here. The first is this. The putting off of your old man in his deeds is to be permanent. The idea of putting off your is not that you just temporarily do it, and then the next day you put it back on, and we’ve talked about this before. I’ve heard of homicide detectives who, normally buy cheap suits and you might say well why do they buy the cheap suits the reason is they’re always getting blood on them from the crime scene and they’re always having to take put them off and throw them away so they don’t buy expensive suits because they’re always ruining them they don’t keep wearing the blood-stained clothing and this is what we’re to do spiritually we’re to cast these corrupt garments away suppose you once were clothed with cursing as an unbeliever. This is something you used to do all the time. You used to use, you know, damn this person and that person and you were always using profane language. Now you’re saved by God’s grace. Now you’re asking God to put a guard on your lips every day. So you no longer want to do this. You’re no longer that person. I’m reminded of John Bunyan. If you ever read his background. was a tinker. It went around repairing like pots and pans and things of this nature, soldering and fixing. Well, he was quite a swearer. He was quite a profane man. He confesses to us. And so it was like every day all this profanity would come because you get burnt, you’re sometimes soldering and things like this, and he was constantly sweared. But when God saved him, this changed in his life. was no longer that kind of person that would be constantly using, you know, the D word, you know, to this person and that person and using some type of profane language. It wasn’t their regular habit. Could he have slipped and said something because it was a habit in the past? Yes. You could, like Peter, who the scripture says when he denied Christ, he cursed and swared at one point. Is that his regular? habit? No. Could we fall into the, yeah, we could. But the idea we don’t wear a condo, we don’t put it on. It’s not a garment that I’m wearing around all the time. That’s the key factor here. We put away the evil of our doings and we cease to do evil. We learn to do good as Isaiah 1 talks. It’s not your normal character to be like. You repent of it. and you go back to what you should be doing. So putting off your old man and his deeds is to be permanent. Notice something else here. You cannot simply gauge an outward reformation. Some people are satisfied with making outward changes regarding their deeds. But our text requires the putting off the old man as well here. This requires an inward change. change of regeneration. Modifying behavior alone doesn’t touch the inner man of corruption that’s behind the evil deeds. There’s an interesting account in the book of Matthew chapter 12. I invite you to turn with me there. Matthew chapter 12, Jesus tells this story. And verse 43, I want to read through verse 45. Jesus said, the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out, meaning the man. And when he has come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth and takeeth with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter, and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first, even so it shall it be also under this wicked generation. Here’s a man who has a demon. The demon leaves, goes out and does his thing for a time somewhere else, evidently. What does the man do? He reforms his outward actions, doesn’t he? He sweeps his home, so speak, the home of the demon. In other words, he cleans up his act here. He’s involved in sweeping and garnishing and, you know, basically cleaning up himself. He cleans the outside of the cup. And what happens? Well, the demon comes back. He says, little boy, this guy’s made all these changes. But he enters in, he brings with him seven other demons, more wicked than himself, so the last state of the man is worse than the first. What was the problem? Self-reformation isn’t going to cut it. Because the heart isn’t changed. He needs the Spirit of God with him. Not something that’s empty. Just not having a demon does not change this situation. He’s still an evil person in God’s sight. And so as soon as these other demons come back, he goes back to a worse state now than he was before. Don’t make the same type of mistake. Regeneration is essential if you want to renounce the old man and his deeds. Both are necessary. So your spiritual change involves putting off the old man and his deeds. Our second point this morning is this. From verse 10. Your spiritual change involves putting on the new man evidenced by the image of God. Here’s what we read in verse 10. And having put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Now this is the necessary second scissor blade that I mentioned. You know, there’s an old children’s riddle. When is a door, not a door? And the answer is it when it’s a jar. One is a liar, not a liar. When he just stops telling lies? No, but according to Ephesians 4, when he begins to tell the truth. Put away lying, speak truth every man to his neighbor. That is the change we’re talking about here. But one is put off, but there’s other one to put on. So what is your new man? Well, the old man refers to the inherent corruption of your nature where all your faculties are inclined to do evil, but the new man speaks of this renewal that takes place by the Holy Spirit, including all your faculties now, inclining them to do what is right in God’s sight. Just as you receive your old man from Adam, we can say you receive your new man from the second Adam, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s called new because if any man being Christ, he is a new creature and all things are passed away and all things become new. Remember how Jesus counseled the church at Leia to see it a buy of me without money and without prices, Isaiah 55 would indicate to us, White Raymond, that thou mayest be be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedest do not appear. This garment involves all the graces of the spirit of God. And thus we see that we’re covered with the garment of praise, as Isaiah 61-3 indicates, clad with zeal as a cloak. We’re clothed with humility, 1 Peter 5-5. Or as Isaiah 61-10 puts, he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. We get a robe of righteousness from Christ, and all the graces of the Spirit are also part of the garment we’re given. Now, if you would, look at the book of Zachariah with me. This is one of those minor prophets. You know, if you back up from Matthew, just three books. You will run into the book of Zachariah. I want you to look at chapter three for a moment and the first four verses. Zachariah chapter three, the first four verses. And he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuked thee. Is not this a brand plucking? out of the fire. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and he stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him, he said, behold, I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee. I will clothe thee with change of garment. Now this vision represents Joshua, the high priest, standing me, God and he’s being accused by Satan because he’s guilty of many sins. Joshua’s clothing here is symbolic of his spiritual condition and of the people that he represents. In other words, they were spiritually polluted, the people of God here. Verse 4 indicates the taking away of the filthy garment. Jesus Christ here, who is portrayed as the angel Lord, intercedes on behalf of Joshua. He’s always the one who intercedes. He’s always the one that provides for his people. And Joshua is one of God’s elect. He is one of a brand plucked out of the fire. Now, the whole of God’s elect is, I think, found here in this phrase, the Lord hath chosen Jerusalem. the whole Jerusalem here is the true Jerusalem, the true people of God. And he’s one of them as the elect here. Now his filthy garments are taken off. Regeneration here is portrayed for us. It represents the removal of all his iniquities, the putting off of this filthy garment of the old man. And then he says in verse 4, I’m going to clothe you with a change of. of garment, and this represents being clothed with Christ’s righteousness. But along with salvation, all the graces of the Spirit are granted as well. And so we see here that this is portrayed for us in a very vivid way here with Joshua, with a high priest here in the Old Testament, and how God speaks of it. And so for us, we have to put off, we have to have put off the old man, we have to put on this change of garment. Now why is it said that your new man is renewed? Renewed, it says. Doesn’t renewal indicates a previous condition being restored? When you renew a car, and you, you know, if you have a 57 Chevy or something in one of those classic cars or something, you restore it, you take in this old car and you’re putting it into pristine condition. It has fallen into disrepair, maybe it has rust, maybe it needs all kinds of, you know, upholstery redone, the engine rebuilt and all this, but you’re going to restore it to pristine condition. You once had this new man, all the gracious qualities previously mentioned, at man’s first creation. God made man upright. in his own glorious image. Isn’t that what the scriptures revealed to us? But all those gracious qualities were lost when Adam fell. You fell with him. He was your representative. He was your head. Regeneration results in a restoring of this original image of God that you’ve lost. That was defaced, if you would. by the fall. And this is the indication here that it’s renewed. It’s the same way with the word regeneration. Why does it say regeneration? Wouldn’t you say you’re just generated? No, you’re regenerated. You once had life in Adam and then you die. You have to be regenerated. Well, here we have to be renewed. There’s a very similar concept here. Now, this new man is also said to be created in this text. In other words, this renewal is done by God’s divine power. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works. You are God’s workmanship in this whole issue of salvation. It’s clear that the new man is after the image of Christ, as the Bible indicates to us. It’s God’s image, but it’s the image. of Christ in particular. He is the creator of all things, and he creates this image, this spiritual image within us. We read in Galatians 419, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. That’s what we’re talking about. So you being renewed after the image of Christ to which all the elect of God are predestinated to be conformed according to Romans 829. is what our text talks about. Now it’s not completed in its full as sense immediately, which is renewed, indicates a sense of which it’s an ongoing process here. There’s some things that we are renewed in, but we’re progressing in these things. It’s not perfectly renewed yet. Thus, we read in 2nd Cranthians 416. though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. There’s a progression of this renewal. So that’s why it’s said that your new man is renewed. Now, why is the chief characteristic of the new man’s renewal knowledge here. He says you’re renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created. Jesus Christ in in granting you the new nature grant you knowledge of his truth. The word knowledge here epigenosis it means a full knowledge. It’s not a simple or bare knowledge but it’s a life-giving effectual illumination of the mind. It’s the same word that you find in chapter 1 and verse 9 of the book of Colossians when it says here. in the second part of the verse that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That’s the depth of this knowledge that is being provided. Ephesians talks about being granted the wisdom and the revelation of the knowledge of God. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. This knowledge works a change in your inner man which in turn produces a change in the behavior of this outer man that you have. Until you become a new creature in Christ, you neither know nor capable of knowing the things of the Spirit of God. Ephesians 424 states it this way, and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So Ephesians talks about righteousness and true holiness whereas Colossians talks about knowledge, but they’re all interrelated here. The text in Colossians doesn’t deny that the new man is characterized also by righteousness and true holiness. But the understanding what righteousness is and what true holiness is, it would be impossible if you didn’t have knowledge of divine revelation. Non-rational animals like cows and dogs and birds can’t sin because they don’t understand moral things. God imposed no moral commandments on them. They weren’t given the Ten Commandments. But you created after the image of God, you were given the Ten Commandments. The man fallen in Adam has lost this ability. He needs to have a renewal in him because of the image being diminished and tarnished and lost. This restoration and regeneration begins with the granting of spiritual knowledge. And it proceeds to provide righteousness and true holiness in your life. And so if you ask what is the image of God, it’s certainly spiritual knowledge and it’s certainly righteousness and it’s certainly true holiness. This is the kind of image that we’re talking about. We’re not talking about. about some physical image, but a spiritual image. Now let me make these practical observations. The first is this. Your new man is created by the power of God. Paul clearly states this new man has to be created. It’s not a result of man’s will. It’s not the result of man’s work. It’s a result of God’s power. Vane man wishes to take some part or credit for his salvation, but that doesn’t coincide with the creative act of God. Salvation is solely of the Lord. I want you to look at Second Corinthians if you would. Notice how clearly that he points this out in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 3 to 6. Paul writes, but if our gospel be hid is hid to them, they’re lost, whom the God of this world have blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glory gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, that’s the image we’re being conformed to, should shine under them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, have shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge, the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Do you notice how Paul talks about this light that’s branded to us, this knowledge of the glory of God, the salvation that’s granted to us, he compares it to creation. The original creation. When did God cause light when everything was dark? Isn’t the scripture revealing to us here? What? man’s natural state is unregenerate, he’s blinded by Satan. He’s in the dark. He’s just like the world when it was first created. There was no light. Darkness was upon the face of the deep, the Bible tells us. So he’s taken us back to Genesis 1 with the earth without form and void at that point. And what was God’s first creative word? Let there be light. And there was light illuminating the whole earth and dispelling the darkness. Now, Paul indicates there is a picture here of God’s recreating grace in the heart of those who are lost. It begins with an admirable work of God granting you knowledge which he claims here is spirit. light being granted to you. God says, let there be light and that person all of a sudden is illuminated spiritually. It’s like creation. It’s that powerful. It’s a miracle. That that occurs. Don’t tell me you gave yourself light. Don’t tell me you regenerated yourself. You can’t create, but God can create. And the comparison here is such that he illuminates your heart. It’s just like creation, he says. Sovereignly done. Just like he created the world. What part does man have in it? None. This should stimulate your heart to thankfulness because when you realize it is all of God, salvation is of the Lord. Let us be thankful. He illuminated us. He chose to do that. There’s no bragging on our part. So your new man is created by the power of God. And secondly, unless you put on the new man, you cannot claim to be saved. If you’re regenerated, you must have something of the image of God about you. Isn’t that what this text is indicating? A Christian is a new creature. All things are passed away. You are being renewed. and are to progressively reflect more and more in the image of God in your life. You have to have a spiritual mindset. If you’re renewed in knowledge. You know, this Bible speaks about the mind of Christ and we possessing the mind of Christ. That has to do with spiritual knowledge. Do you have the mind of Christ? Are you capable of? of elevated spiritual thoughts? Do you have righteousness granted to you by Christ? Do you have true holiness of life? Where you separate from the evil? Or do you still bear the image of the old man? Examine yourself. See if you be in the faith. Because the scripture indicates to us there’s a drastic change. It’s like between light and darkness. One scissor blade is practically useless. Need two scissors blade to cut anything precisely. Christians often struggle with change in their lives and they need to realize they have to put off something, they have to put on something. Spiritually, don’t try to work with one scissor blade. It’ll be unsuccessful. And if indeed we are changed by the Spirit of God, then these kind of things that relate to the image of God, spiritual knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness must be something that is in our life. I’m not saying you perfectly have these things except for Christ’s righteousness and justification is granted to us perfectly, but we don’t, we’re declared righteous on his basis, but in this life, we’re still struggling with these sinful things. But as we look at this, this are the things that would indicate a changed life regeneration of heart. Let us close.