09 - The Old Man's Ruin 2011

We saw last time that, if we died with Christ from the way the world thinks and acts, and the evil spiritual powers of this world no longer hold us, we are not to allow the world to bring us into its bondage again. We are to “Make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law” (Gal 5:1).

And we also saw that the law can include man-made rules and regulations that bind us in a way that is contrary to the will of God. The legalists of Paul’s day were all about “Touch not, taste not, handle not” pertaining to things that are no longer relevant to the N.T. believer.

The Christian has died with Christ, and has also been raised with Christ. Paul is emphatic that since these two things have taken place, we are to live in the reality of a resurrected life.

First, he deals with our affections and attention:

3: 1-2 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Your heart is the seat of your affections—what you love, what you desire.

Your mind is the seat of your thought life—what you ponder, meditate on, think on.

As Paul told the Philippians, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”—4:8

Next, Paul addresses the “old man” of sin that was crucified with Christ. First, he is ruined:

3:3 “For you died…”

Who died? The old man of sin we inherited from Adam; he died, having been crucified with Christ. The “old man” is the man we used to be. The “new man” is what we are in Christ. The “old man” is what we are by natural birth. The “new man” is what we are given when we place our faith in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17).

The old nature remains, however. God does not convert it or condone it; He crucifies it. Ro. 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

Still, it remains lodged in out innermost being, and we triumph over it only so long as we “reckon” it dead. Ro. 6:11 “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

As far as God is concerned, the “old man” is already dead. Yet we are sadly aware that it is still there, warring against our new nature. Nevertheless, let God be true and every man a liar. It doesn’t matter whether or not the “old man” feels dead. Paul gives us the fact, “You are dead” (Col 3:3). His own awesome testimony rings out in Galatians:

Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Next, Paul tells us how we should live in light of the awesome truth of our having been crucified with Christ, died with Christ, and raised with Christ to live a resurrected life:

3:5 “Therefore, mortify your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

What an ugly list this is! It perfectly pictures the exceeding sinfulness of our sin.

Fornication: porneia Phonetic Spelling: (por-ni'-ah) This word provides the root of the English terms "pornography, pornographic.” It means "to sell off" –a selling off (surrendering) of sexual purity; promiscuity of any (every) type.

Uncleanness: Moral impurity

Inordinate affection: strong feelings (emotions) which are not guided by God (like consuming lust).

Evil concupiscence: Passionate desire also not guided by God. It means to be focused intently on an object of lust with the thought, “If I get the chance, I will.”

Jesus used this Greek word in Matt.5:28, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Covetousness: Lusting for a greater number of temporal things that go beyond what God determines is eternally best for us.

All these emotions and urges war against the child of God from time to time. We have not yet received our perfect, undying, and sinless spiritual bodies (1 Cor. 15:39-58). The old Adamic nature seizes every opportunity to express itself, taking advantage of those moments when we fail to “reckon” it dead.

This is why Peter wrote, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Pet.2:11).

ABSTAIN means “to hold yourself off from, to keep yourself away from. But Paul goes a step further and says, “Kill the impulse by applying God’s truth…you are dead to sin!”

The word “mortify” means “give to death, therefore.” It comes from the Greek word that means “to make dead.” The Holy Spirit demands that we actively appropriate the fact that we died with Christ to deprive the old nature of its efforts to use our living bodies as the instrument of its own expression.

In other words, when the “old man” rears his head in an attempt to use your body as his instrument, reckon him dead! Say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ!”

Next, Paul warns of coming judgment for the very things the “old man” revels in:

3:6-7 “Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

The kind of behavior Paul just described—illicit sex, lustful living, depraved passion, and wicked desires, and the worship of money—are what one would expect from the lost.

But the redeemed have been delivered from this kind of behavior positionally by the Cross, and we are delivered from it practically when we claim our birthright as believers to live on resurrection ground.

Paul goes on to say that the lost are subject to the wrath of God. The word he uses for wrath mean “hot anger.” Even though our generation has grown totally permissive concerning sin, God has not! Sin causes His anger to burn.

The wise understand that God has various ways of dealing with sin. He deals with it in this life often by sovereignly overruling a person’s circumstances, bringing His hand of rebuke and judgment.

From time to time, He acts against whole nations, bringing about their overthrow. Now and then He acts in catastrophic judgment, bringing about a holocaust as when He overthrew the antediluvian world and Sodom and Gomorrah.

He will act in judgment in the terrible events described in the Book of Revelation. And He will act in judgment in eternity at the judgment of the Great White Throne. Those who die in their sins shall be judged on that day.

So Paul says, “You used to live in those things.” But no more. More than anything else, Paul wants the Christian to understand what God did for them on the Cross. God has His part. We have our part. Let’s summarize:

God’s part—“You are dead.”

Our part—accept it—“mortify, therefore, your members.”

God’s part—truth revealed—“You are dead.”

Our part—truth realized—“mortify therefore.”

God’s part—the eternal fact—“You are dead.”

Our part—the daily act—“mortify therefore.”

Then Paul instructs the Christian to “put off” some things:

3:8-9 “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds…”

The “old man’s” rags, his stained and tattered clothing, are his habits. The dictionary defines a habit as, “a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition. It can also mean, clothing; for instance a “riding habit” is clothing sometimes worn when horseback riding.

So we can legitimately think of the “old man’s” habits, his habitual bad behavior, as his clothes. He wears these evil habits as the characteristic clothing of his fallen nature.

Paul says, Put off the “old man’s” rags! Take them off and lay them down, never to pick them up again. We must deliberately shed the evil habits we acquired from our Adamic nature.

FACT: Not one of us was born with any evil habits. We have “put on” every evil habit we have.

Paul goes on to elaborate on some of those old rags.

ANGER: This is talking about the habitual anger, the settled, habitual anger that makes some people so hard to live with and work with, and makes them lash out at all who offend them. It includes within its scope the deliberate planning of revenge. Put it off!

WRATH: Is the combustible kind of anger that explodes and blazes all of a sudden. It is the boiling up of hot temper in sudden, violent rage.

MALICE: Is the fostering of ill will. It suggests the desire to injure another. The person who wears this rag from the “old man” nurses grudges against other people.

BLASPHEMY: This word means “to defame.” It carries the idea of slander, of speaking out to tear down another’s reputation, to injure their good name.

FILTHY COMMUNICATION: Foul speaking and obscene speech; telling smutty stories.

TELLING OF LIES: The Christian is not to lie. Living within us is the Spirit of truth. To lie is to be like Satan, for he is “a liar, and the father of lies,” Jesus said (John 8:44).

Why should we “put off” these rags from our former life? Because, “you have put off the old man with his evil ways…” 3:9

Next, Paul will stick with the “getting dressed” analogy. In the same way we are to “put off” the rags from our former life, we are to “put on” the new man, the new clothes of our resurrected life.

3: 10 “…and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…”

God did not choose to “patch up” our old nature. He replaces it with a new one—the old man is replaced by the new man, the carnal nature by the divine nature. Ultimately, even our old body will be replaced by a new body! (1 Cor. 15:44, 48)

This new man is “created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph.4:24). When Paul says “and have put on” it means “did clothe yourselves.” But then there is a change. Paul says, “which is renewed,” or “which is bring renewed,” or “which is being ever renewed,” or “ever maintained.”

So at the time of our conversion, we received a “new man.” That is a finished fact. And that “new man” is always in the process of God’s renewing. He is ever bringing us into a fresh knowledge of Himself.

This is why Paul wrote elsewhere, “For we are (on-goingly) His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). And, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you (the new birth) will complete it (the ongoing renewing) until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil.1:6).