Well, last week we spoke on the
previous verses to this ninth verse and the eighth verse tells
us, but now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of your mouth. And it continues with
this one further statement, lie not one to another. And we may think, well, that's
an obvious word to put before us, and of course it is in one
way. But it's very easy to actually lie without really appreciating
it. And when I say that, sometimes
when we tell a story, a true story, we may just alter it a
little bit, change it a little bit. perhaps not always intentionally
but nonetheless we do and sometimes it is altered intentionally and
of course such words are really lies and we need to understand
this and try and be very careful that we do not lie when we speak
one to another but are honest and truthful so that we give
a good and a right picture And the apostle goes on to tell us
really why, saying that you've put off the old man with his
deeds. Now, the old man of course is
our old nature. The nature with which we were
born. And that nature which we do carry with us through life. But yet, when the Holy Spirit
comes and touches our hearts, then there is that desire truly
to walk in accordance with the Word of God. And to take notice
of those things which the Apostle points out in the 8th and 9th
verses, and to be concerned therefore that we do turn away, we do put
off such things. And it says, put off the old
man with his deeds. We are not to Therefore give
in to those things which are clearly not of God, clearly of
the devil. All these things emanate from
the devil and he wants to stir us up. And he wants to make us
sin and offend the Holy God. His hope is, of course, that
by so doing he will destroy us. And so here we have this statement,
saying that you have put off the old man with his deeds. And then he tells us, and have
put on the new man. The new man, of course, is the
new man of grace. that which all of God's children
possess when they are born again. And so there is on the one hand
putting off the old man, on the other hand there is the putting
on the new man. And here we have this thing which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. And so The Lord does shine light
into our hearts and give us therefore that right knowledge to understand
that which is good and right and that which is wrong. And
so he tells us, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. And that's a tremendous statement,
of course, because when we think that we were created by Almighty
God, And we have indeed His image, that perfect image, that sinless
image. And so here we have the Apostle
telling us that we are to be renewed in knowledge after the
image of Him that created Him. So to think that we have, and
we know of course, we have this glorious example set before us
in the Word of God, of the Saviour and how he lived his perfect
life. And our concern should be then
to be a true follower of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We can often take that quite
glibly without realising the significance of it, but it's
a great blessing if the Holy Spirit directs us and gives us
this knowledge after the image of him that created him. And
then he says, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free. He lists there all type of people,
all type of believers. And then he says, but Christ
is all and in all. There is that glorious and wonderful
and common bond which joins the Church of God and as the Apostle
says when he wrote to the Galatians, there is neither male nor female
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. It doesn't matter what
country we live in, what colour we are, What language we speak,
there is that common bond to realise that, but Christ is all
and in all. Well, the hymn that we are singing
through together tonight, Hymn 122, it just gives us a little
insight into the glory and the reality of Christ being all and
in all. And what a comprehensive statement
that is. to think if Christ is our all,
he is our Lord and he's our saviour, all our hope based on him, all
our happiness is in him, and to those who are sanctified,
made holy, one as well as another, and whatever they are in other
respects, he is all. in all. What a great blessing
for us tonight if we have a right view of this. You see it puts
everything in a right perspective and in reality we esteem others
better than ourselves. We don't exalt ourselves, we
desire to exalt others as we see Christ in them. As the Apostle
says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well, may the Lord
instruct us and bless us as we think upon these verses, and
may they be truly profitable to us. Lie not one to another,
seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the
image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor
free, but Christ is all and in all.