Verse 10, put on the new. And
verse 12 is where we begin today. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God. Although this convicts us, it's
talking about putting off the old that we struggle with. It's so difficult putting on
the new, which we feel like we don't do a very good job of. become so short. Yet, this ought
to give us some consolation, because if there were not a struggle, that means there's no new man
in there at all. There's this struggle, this warfare
that goes on in every believer when the Lord creates this new
man, this new creature in Christ. That's when it began. It wasn't
there before. The old man, before the Lord
gives this new life, there was no struggle at all with sin and
so forth. Ephesians 4 is a companion chapter
along with Colossians 3. It sounds just like it. And he
says that old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
That's all he is. Corrupt. Wretched. That's what
Paul said in Romans 7. Oh, wretched man that I am. Well, he didn't think that before
until the Lord came and revealed Himself to him. He didn't think
he was wretched then. So this struggle, though it gives
us great grief, yet it should give us some consolation to know
If there were no struggle, there's no new man there. And know this
for your comfort, too. Every single child of God wrestles
with every single temptation and sin that you do. You don't
think that, do you? You look at various ones and
think, they can't think the thoughts I think. They don't struggle
with what I struggle with. Oh, yes, they do, starting with
me. So that's where I come. If Paul
said that, I see a long warring in my memory. If the Apostle
Paul said that, the things that I would, I do not. The things
that I would not, that's what I do. That gives me some hope
if Paul said that. If he struggles like that, how
much more do I struggle? Well, no more. No more. But this putting off of the old
man, It's not putting him away. You can't get rid of him. We won't get rid of him till
the day he's put in the grave. He's going to be with us till
the day that we die. And it's not changing him. You can't change him. You can't
change him. He can't be changed. The old
man can't be put away or can't be changed. He can be denied,
that's what this putting off me, putting down, but not in
our own strength. I always quote Martin Luther's
hymn because I love it so much. He said, did we in our own strength
confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our
side, the man of God's own choosing. Do you ask who that may be? Well,
it's Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord Sabbath is his name. From
age to age the same, he must win the battle. Christ said,
without me you can do nothing. Without my Spirit you can do
nothing. That's why it says, pray without ceasing. We struggle
without ceasing, unless, except those times we're under the sound
of the Gospel. And so he says, pray without
ceasing. Without me you can do nothing,
but Brother John, he does say, with Christ, put off. He may not be put away, but he
may be put off. He may be put off. Romans 6,
I was going to have you turn, but don't do that. Romans 6 says
don't yield. Over and over again, don't yield.
You've yielded yourself before, you just yielded yourself before
An unbeliever just yielded to it, ran after it. He said, don't
yield now. How? Lord, don't let me yield. You know, we cannot resist one
temptation. Can't do it. Christ could not
be tempted, really. He was tempted by a poem. I don't
understand that. But yet there was nothing in
Him to tempt. But He knows our frame. It's enough for us to
know that He experienced everything we'll experience, yet without
sin. But in us, there's so much to
be tempted. There's so much to succumb to
that. And we cannot resist one temptation
in our own strength. Not one. We'll fall to every
temptation. The woman in the garden, the
man in the garden, They didn't have any sin. One temptation
came along, didn't it? One. What does that tell us? We're weaker than they are. So,
that's why it says pray without ceasing. How do you put off the
old man though? How do you do this? Somehow or
another, don't answer when he calls. Don't answer. Put him off. You ever been put
off by someone? Call and call and they won't
answer you? Huh? After a while, well, it depends
on how bad you want them. Our adversary is not going to
go away, but temporarily. The Lord rebuketh thee. That's
what Peter wrote. He said, whom resist in faith. Resist steadfast in the faith. Resist him in the faith. Well,
even Gabriel, was it Gabriel or Michael? Michael, the archangel
said to him, the Lord rebuked him. The Lord rebuked him. Put off. Don't answer. Don't
listen to his lies. He's a liar. The old man's a
liar. He's deceitful. He's lying to
you. This looks good. It's not good. It's not good. Whatever he entices.
Don't listen to him. Don't feed on him. Don't feed
him. Don't feed him. What's the old saying? Roland,
you nurses, what's true? You feed a cold and starve a
fever? Starve a cold, feed a fever?
What's this? I don't know. But I know this
is true. Starve the old man, feed the
new. I know that's true. Starve the old man, don't feed
him what he feeds on. What's that? Flesh. The lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the lust of the world. Don't
feed him. John talks about that, when lust
of the eyes, when it's conceived, brings forth sin and sin death.
It doesn't resolve. It's snowballed. Don't feed him.
Don't feed him. And here's the key, I believe. The best way to put him off,
deny him, is put on the new man. Feed the new man. Put on the
new man. What you're doing right now is
feeding the new man. Don't do this. That old man is
going to be stronger. The less you feed the new, the
stronger the old gets. So, what we're doing right now
is feeding, hopefully, prayerfully, growing in grace and the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we feed on His Word, His
Word is what strengthens us. His Spirit, His Holy Spirit is
who strengthens us. Feed, nurture, instruct, encourage,
build up the new man. And what do we feed on? Christ. Christ. He is our strength. All
that He is, all that He says. Put on the new. Put on the new. We don't make ourselves new.
No, no, no. We don't make ourselves new.
We are His workmanship. We don't make ourselves new any
more than we can get rid of the old. We can't. It won't happen. But there are these means of
grace that the Lord has given us. Peter wrote this, he said,
He's given unto us many exceeding precious promises whereby we
might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption
that is in the world. Exceeding great promises. Our Lord said in John 13, He
said, if you know these things, Happy are you if you do them. You know these things. I know
these things. Well, happy are you if you do them. If you do
them. The way of the transgressor is
hard. It's hard. If we follow that
old man, we're going to get in deep trouble. But the new, our
Lord Jesus Christ, that new man in Him, His ways, the Scripture
says are pleasant paths. Alright, look at here how we
put on the new, verse 12. Colossians 3 verse 12. Put on,
therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. As the
elect of God. He said, In Ephesians, be therefore
followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given Himself for us and offering a
sacrifice to God, a sweet smelling savor. It says in Ephesians 4,
let all wrath and bitterness and wrath and anger, that sounds
just like Colossians. clamor and evil speaking be put
away from you with all malice." Remember he said that. Now put
off this malice. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. There's the key. We can't do
it in our own strength with looking to Him. This is our Lord, isn't
it? Kind. He's the elect of God. Behold, mine elect. Isaiah 42
said. My servant. Mine elect. As the elect of God. Dear children. Holy and beloved. Set apart. Loved by God. This is how you
know. This is how all men shall know.
You're my disciple. You do what I do. You'll be like
I am. Kindness. Be kind one to another,
tend to heart. Love is kind. Listen to this, Romans 12. Romans
12 verse 10 says, Be kindly affectioned one
to another with brotherly love. You remember that? Love is brethren. Love is brethren. In honor, preferring
one another. How do you prefer someone else?
How do you esteem someone else better than yourself? That's
what we're supposed to do. There's only one way. It's if
you disesteem yourself. The only way we will look down
on our brother is if we think too highly of ourselves. This
is why the Scriptures make so much of sin. It's to humble us. We need humbleness. This whole
life is a lesson from our Lord in humility. It says there, in
humbleness of mind, kindness and humbleness of mind. That
shouldn't be hard. You know, it shouldn't be hard
for us to think low thoughts of ourselves. Shouldn't. Shouldn't be hard at all. We
forget ourselves. When we get to thinking too highly
of ourselves and low thoughts of others, it's because we've
looked in the mirror and went away and forgot what manner of
man we were. We've forgotten. We've forgotten a pit from which
we were digged. We've forgotten where the Lord
found us. We've forgotten the mercy He
had on us the night before or this morning. We forgot all that
wretchedness that went through. He had mercy on us and delivered
us temporarily. Humility of mind. That shouldn't
be hard. And I'll tell you how to put on humility of mind. Pray. Pray. Prayer humbles us. We start calling
on God, we'll start remembering how dependent we are. Repentance
humbles us. Reading God's Word will humble
us. Because it doesn't say anything good about us. It says a lot
good to us. A lot of good news to us, but
it doesn't say anything good about us. The Word of God convicts
us, reproves us, rebukes us, exhorts us, admonishes us, doesn't
comfort us, consoles us. But if we're really reading the
Word of God, not as information, but asking the Lord to teach
us by His Holy Spirit, He convinces us of sin, righteousness, judgment,
reproof, rebukes, like I said. The Word of God is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, chastens us, Like little children, that's
what we need all the time. We need the encouragement, yes,
that you parent with young children. You think you're correcting them
more than you are comforting them, aren't you? You think you're
telling them what not to do more than you are telling them what
to do. Why? Because foolishness is bound
up in the heart of child. And so is it with us. We're His
little children. And John, you said, even at 73,
it's still there. So the cutoff point is getting
higher, John. He's still struggling. We're
still his little children. We still need these things. We read the Word and it humbles
us. Humility of mind. We look at
the Lord Jesus Christ. Boy, that humbles us. We look
at how He loved. We look at how merciful He was.
How forgiving He was. How gracious He was. How He loved
like a brother. Oh, we have a friend that's thinking
closer than a brother. I want to be one like that. But
I've come so far short. That's humility of mine. Lord help me. Be like you. Humbleness
of mine. Meekness. Meekness is another
word for submission to God's will. Submission to God's will. Our
Lord said, take my yoke upon you. That's the yoke of service.
And learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And He said,
you'll find rest for your soul. There is rest for your soul in
submitting to the will of God. In everything, by prayer and
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. In everything,
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Whatever it is, it's God's will.
Submit to it. Bow to it. Just rest in it. Lord, I don't know what you're
doing, but I know you're doing it. I don't know what your will is
for me, but I know thy will be done. We have men that pray that
all the time. Lord, not our will, but Thy will. That's what Christ said, didn't
He? When we get in troubles, when
we want what we will, that's when we start getting in trouble.
Meekness is submission. Christ Himself learned obedience,
how? By the things that He suffered.
And so must we. in everything. Take my yoke.
Long-suffering, meekness, long-suffering. Love suffereth long. Peter said this. I love this.
Peter said, take this into account. Remember this. The long-suffering
of the Lord is salvation. The Lord said, John, how long
must I suffer with you? He said to his disciples. He
kept putting up with them, putting up with them, putting up with
them. Like Israel of old, provoked him, provoked him, provoked him.
How long did he suffer with them? Forty years. His long-suffering is my salvation. The Lord is long-suffering. And
I'm so thankful. He says, be ye holy as I am holy. That means be long-suffering. Do it. You be long-suffering
with your brother, I'll be long-suffering with you. You forgive your brother
their trespasses, I'll forgive you yours. If you don't, I won't. With the merciful, he'll show
himself merciful. With the forward, he'll show
himself forward. We do ourselves a favor when
we show mercy to others. Long-suffering. Long-suffering. Oh my. Forbearing. Look at this, verse 13. Forbearing
one another. Go over to Proverbs 10. Forbearing. Proverbs 10. You know what the word forbear
means? Cover. It means to cover. That's what
forbear meant. Cover. Forbearing. Covering over. Love covereth. Oh my. Oh my. There's another proverb, I didn't
write it down, but it says, it is the glory of a man It's the glory of a man to cover
it over. It reveals real love. Proverbs
10, look at it. Hatred stirreth up strife. Uncovers. Exposes. Love covereth. Covers what? All sins. I'm so thankful our Lord, His
perfect love, cast out my fear of my sins, exposed me. Love
cover. Love cover. It's the glory of
a man to cover. Our Lord, when He stood before
the law, stood before God, stood before Satan, our accuser, open
my mouth. He could have exposed us all. But He didn't say a word. Oh,
my. He died with our secrets. He
died with them. Proverbs 19, verse 11. Go over there. Here, I did write it down. This
is great. Proverbs 19, 11. The discretion
of a man, the wisdom of a man, the prudence of a man, deferreth
his anger. Oh, the Lord is slow to anger,
isn't He? It's His glory to pass over a transgression. That's
what love does. Covers. You know all about your
children, don't you? You know pretty much all about
them. They went years thinking, Dad doesn't know, this mom doesn't
know. Oh, yes they do. My, my. As a teenager, I used to think,
my parents, they sure are slow. They know, my soul, they were
one themselves. They know exactly. You came from them. They know
exactly what you've done, what you're doing, but they've just
forgotten it. It's covering it. Love doesn't tell others. It
covers it. Love doesn't rejoice in it. Love
doesn't want it to be found out. Love wants to cover it. Cover
it. So know that Proverbs 17 says
this, he that covereth the transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth
the matter, why is he doing that? In some effort to build himself
up, he has to tear others down. That's what hatred does. In fact, tear down others makes
us look better, we think. In fact, it's the opposite. It's the glory of a man to pass
over. It's the love to cover it. Love to cover it. Forbearing. I dwelled on that because, well,
I love it. And I need it. The Lord's forbearance. Forgiving one another. Forgiving
one another. Now listen, folk. I need to listen
too. We don't really forgive anybody
if we don't forget it. You know that? We don't forgive them if we don't
forget it. In other words, if we bring it
up later on. I remember that you didn't forgive
me. You're still harboring that in
the back of your head. You're still thinking about that. I
am so thankful that our Lord said, their iniquity is gone. I won't
bring it up again. Our hearts and minds, we can't
forget it. We can't, you know, modern, hath not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world? Modern wisdom and psychology
and religion says you need to forgive yourself. That's what
they say. The answer to all your guilt
and all that is just forgive yourself. You need to forgive
yourself. Oh no, we don't need to do that. No, no, no. No, no, no. We need to ask Him
for forgiveness. And we get it. His conviction
is good. toward one another, we need to
forget it. I mean forget it, drop it. As
I said, that's what parents do. I bring up things to them all
the time. In other words, I bring to their
remembers how they used to spank me and so forth. My dad to this
day claims he never spanked me. He does. He says, I didn't whip
you. See me? He used to take a cat
of nine tails. I thought it was. Didn't you? His belts. Boy, you'd get thrown
in jail today, wouldn't you? For reaching for your belts.
He did! What a cruel man. No, what a
loving man. What a loving man. What a foolish
child. What a rebellious child. What
a little hellion I was. He didn't give me half of what
I needed. Not half. He didn't deal with
me according to my sins. Neither does our Lord. But thank
God he got the belt out. You did. You did, I honestly. Mom didn't. Mom was too kind. No, but he did. They did. They did. And whom the Lord loves,
He chastens too. He chastens. They forget it. You see, that
was the point. They don't even remember it.
They don't remember it. Because they've forgiven them.
They've forgiven them. What's our motive? What will
enable us to do this as Christ forgave you? He's not through
forgiveness. He's not through forgiveness.
We may go through the worst. We may have not yet committed
the worst sin. Know that? His mercy, thank the Lord, His
mercy endureth forever. We're going to need it till the
day we die. We're going to need it. And bless God we have it. Why
do you think, oh, the Scriptures are not redundant? They're wonderful.
There's one psalm that says, I think, 26 times, every single
verse, His mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. To
the average person, that's redundant. Why does he keep saying that?
One man told a father of one of our sisters, he said, I read
the psalms and it's boring. I read the Psalms and it's glorious.
And I read that over and over again, His mercy endureth forever.
And I think, yes, say it again. I said it 150 times. How many more you need? One more
time. His mercy endureth forever. He remembers His covenant. He
won't forget it. as Christ forgave you. If anybody
has a quarrel against anybody, verse 13, you've got a quarrel
against anybody, a complaint? You've got a complaint against
anybody? Oh, James said, in many things
we all offend everybody, every one of us. If you're a son of Adam, everything
in you is offensive. In many things we all offend. Anybody got a quarrel against
any? You know why our Lord said, if
your brother offends you, go and tell him? Because if you do, your brother,
most of things are misunderstanding. Most things are lack of communication or a false witness by somebody
else. We need to hear our brother's
side. He that answereth the matter before he hearth it, is not wise. There's two sides. Before you
condemn, convict, and cut him off, you better hear his side.
Wouldn't you want the same? So our Lord said, you go to them
and you talk to them. It could be you're wrong. It could be you're the one that's
wrong. But if he is, and he's your brother, I know what he's
going to do. I know what he's going to do. He's going to say,
forgive me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.
Please forgive me. I didn't really. That's what
he's going to say. She's going to say, yes I am.
So you go to them. That's what our Lord said. You
go and tell them. But you forgive them no matter
what. You've got a quarrel no matter what it is. A quarrel
against them. Our Lord, any complaints? Does our Lord have any complaints
against us? I just read the letters to the
churches in Revelation again. And nearly every single one,
Ty, He said, I have somewhat against you. Nearly every single one. He commended
them. But then He said, I have something
against you now. Turn from this. Repent. The Lord got anything against
us? Oh my. So as Christ forgave us,
so also do you. Above all, verse 14, above all
these things, put on charity, which is the bond, the unifying
principle, what unites us of perfectness or maturity. Above all, love is the key to
all of these things. Love is the key. If love is there,
malice won't be. He began, I say, put off all
these things, anger, wrath, malice. If love is there, malice won't
be. It can't be. Premeditated to do someone harm,
to gossip on somebody and talk about somebody. It can't be.
Malice and love can't coexist. It can't do it. Love is the key. If love is there, if love is
in the heart, hatred can't be. If love is in the heart, bitterness
won't rise up. And I remind us all what the
Scripture says, he that loveth not, loveth not like this, doesn't
know God. Love is present. He said, did
love like you love yourself? Remember that? Love like you
love yourself. Every man loves himself. Yes, he does. Well,
love your brother. Do unto him, our Lord says, as
you have done unto you. We need forgiveness. He does
too. It's the bond of maturity. It's what unites us. It's the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. He forgives. No malice toward us. No bitterness
toward us. No anger. Slow to anger? Why? Because He loves us. He loves us. It's the bond of
maturity. It's what unites us. And it's also what proves that
we're growing in grace to the measure of the stature of Christ. I love my daughter now. I loved
my daughter as a child. And I love her even more now. And I forgave her everything. I forgot everything. I was reasonably patient with
her as a young parent. Reasonably, not always. I'd like to do it all over again.
In fact, I'd like to turn my whole life back and start over
again. Not to say that I would do any
better with it, but I would. I'd like to do it all over again.
But especially as a parent, a friend, a pastor, all those things, I
would. But now that I am a little older, and I now have two more daughters,
and you know, when you think of grandparents, you think they're
just easy. You just think they're, you know,
they're just over-easy. No, I'll tell you what it is.
It's growth and maturity. That's what it is. You've grown
older and wiser, hopefully. Your love, I did not think I
could love another child like I love Hannah Marie. I did not
think it's possible. But I do. I love those two granddaughters
so much, it hurts. You know what I'm talking about.
And I'm more patient with them than I was with Hannah. It's
not being easy. It's growth. It's maturity is
what it is. That's exactly what it is. I
realize now, and it's not too late, I finally realize that
there's some things just not worth it. I realize now, things not worth
living for. Things not worth fighting over. Things not worth quarreling over. Things not worth being miserable
over. Time is short. The vanity of
things and how precious. Did you read the article by Brother
Crabtree in last week's bulletin a couple of weeks ago? A child.
How precious time goes by so quick. I don't want those little
ones to grow up, but they're going to. Too fast. Too fast. And they're going to
be gone. Or I'm going to be gone. Time
is short. And these relationships get shorted.
Brother Charles, do you miss him? Would you like to have him
back just for one more service? Why? What would you tell him?
Hmm? Would you like to have Ellen
back one more time? Just one day. What would you
tell her? I love you. I love you. Hmm? Time is short. Next service might be one of
us missing. That's a fact. I'm realizing that now. All this
stuff, you know, the young man going after this, going after
that, there's nothing worth going after. like this, one thing needful. These relationships are worth sacrificing yourself for. Yeah,
they are. Mary, we've already lived our
lives pretty much. Yeah, we have. It's nothing. We don't need anything.
We don't need to accomplish anything. It's all over. But boy, we've
got some souls entrusted to our care, don't we? We've got some
brethren that have need. A blessed fellowship, precious,
precious fellowship that needs nurturing, that we're highly
privileged and honored to be a part of. Oh my Lord. It's the
bond of maturity. Love is the bond of maturity
that proves that you're growing like Christ. But bitterness and
wrath and anger and quarreling, that's carnal. That's what Paul
said. That's carnal. Are you not carnal?
Yeah. Grow and break the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. May the Lord bless that.