Verse 14, Romans chapter 13,
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Now what in the world does it
mean to put on Christ? I know what it means to put on
a shirt or put on a jacket, but what does it mean to put on the
Lord Jesus Christ? And the Bible doesn't really tell
us how to do it. If you can show me where the
Bible tells us how to, I would be appreciative. But that being
said, I know what somebody looks like. who has put on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And my prayer is that I might
be someone who has put on the Lord Jesus Christ and that God
will put Him on me. Back up to verse 12. The night
is far spent. It's almost over and the day
is at hand. Now this can only be interpreted
in light of verse 11, when he said, now is our salvation nearer
than when we first believed. That state of sinlessness, that
state of perfect conformity to the image of Jesus Christ, where
I'm not dealing with sin anymore, but I'm beholding his face, having
his favor, that time's closer than it was when I first believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand. And I'm 56 years
old. It's not going to be long. It's
not going to be long. Maybe five years, maybe 25. I
don't know. But it's not going to be long.
I'm going to be beholding His face. Now, the night is far spent,
the day is at hand. Verse 12, let us therefore cast
off the works of darkness. And let us put on the armor of
light. In light of that, cast off the
works of darkness. Now what you do in the dark is
always associated with sin, isn't it? Always. Whether the sins of the flesh
or the darkness of salvation by works, he says let us cast
them off and put on like clothing the armor, the protection of
light. I love the way the Lord is called the light of the world.
I love how he calls himself that. He's the light of how he could
say to somebody like me, where are your accusers? Hath no man
condemned thee? No man, Lord, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. That's what
he said to that woman. And then he said, I'm the light
of the world. I'm the light as to how that can be. He says,
put on the armor of light. I wish we had time to go into
Ephesians chapter six where that armor is spoken up more specifically,
but look at that this week when you get a chance. Ephesians chapter
six, verses 10 through 18, the armor of the child of God. He said, let us put on armor,
the armor of light. He says in verse 13, armor's
for what? For protection, for protection. He says in verse 13, let us walk
honestly. My marginal reading says decently,
but I like the way our translator said honestly. Don't be put on. Don't pretend to be something
you're not. Don't try to project an image. Be honest before God
with one another, not trying to outdo each other in godliness. Be honest. Let us walk honestly
as in the day. And then he names three different
sets of things that he tells us to stay away from in walking
honestly. Not in rioting and drunkenness. That's talking about the party
life. The party life. Not in rioting and drunkenness. Not in chambering and wantonness. Chambering is literally bedding.
It's a reference to sexual sin, fornication, adultery, and so
on. He says don't walk in chambering and wantonness, unbridled lusts. And then he says, not in strife
and envying, not in quarreling, not in envying, not in contention. Don't walk that way. Well, how
am I going to keep from walking that way? By putting on the Lord
Jesus Christ. By putting on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And not making provision for the flesh to fulfill it in
the lust thereof. Now when he says put on the Lord
Jesus Christ is putting on a garment. He says in doing this will make
no provision or foresight or plans for the lust of the flesh. Now you know what it is to plan
to fulfill the lust of the flesh. Everybody in here knows exactly
what that means. You take time and thought to
think about what you want to do to fulfill this matter. He
said put on the Lord Jesus Christ that you will not do that. And I love the way he says put
on the Lord Jesus Christ. I love his name. He's the Lord.
He's Jesus. He's the Savior. He's the Christ. He's the prophet. He's the priest.
He's the king. Now what does it mean to put
him on as clothing? Well what are clothes for? Why
do we have clothes? Well let's go back to the Garden
of Eden and we'll know the primary reason for clothes is because
of sin. Remember before the fall they were naked and it was not
an issue. But once the fall took place then they had to have a
covering. Clothes are for covering because
of our sinfulness and because of our evil natures, to hide
our shame. That's what clothes are for,
but that's not all clothes are for. Clothes are for protection,
aren't they? Protection from the cold, protection,
you might wear some for protection from the heat or going through
the forest to keep from getting torn up with thorns and so on.
Clothes are for protection. And clothes are to supposedly
try to make us look better. Everybody I know, when you put
on something, you hope you look better by it. You hope you're
beautified by it. Men like to beautify themselves
with clothes. That's what clothes are for.
First, clothes are because of sin. And the scripture points
that out. Clothes are for protection. And
clothes are for what people think they look better with. And the
scripture says we are to put Him on. put him on as that wedding
garment, as that best robe. Now, what does this look like? Well, turn with me to Galatians
chapter three. Galatians chapter three, verse
27. For as many of you, I like that
word, as many of you, Everybody in this group, as many as, for
as many of you, as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ, as many as. Now, thou has given him power
over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou has given him. Everybody in that group. Everybody
that was baptized into Christ. Thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life. As many as were
ordained to eternal life, believed. As many as received him, that
he didn't give you the power to become the sons of God. Now
everybody who was baptized into Christ. Everybody, without any
exception to this rule. Everyone who was baptized into
Christ. Now, this thing of being baptized into Christ, you know
you can't baptize yourself. It's spoken of in the passive.
And this is not something you can do. The only way you can
be baptized into Christ is if God baptizes you in Christ. If
he places you in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what baptism signifies. When I'm baptized, I'm saying
my only hope is that I was in him. That when he lived, I lived. When he died on Calvary Street,
I did too. My sins were paid for. When He
was raised from the dead, I was too. As He's right now seated
at the right hand of the Father, I'm there with Him because I'm
in Him. I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what being baptized
into Christ signifies. It means you're in Him. Now,
I can't tell you how to get in Him. I can tell you this. For
you to get in Him, the Father must put you in Him. I can tell
you that much. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. I can tell you that the only
way you can get in Christ is if God put you in Christ. And
I can also tell you this, there's one evidence of being in Christ,
that's faith in Christ. If you are relying on Jesus Christ
right now as all you have in salvation, I repeat, as all you
have. Beloved, you're in Christ. You've always been in Christ
and you always will be in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says,
as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Christ is their clothing. Now
what does that look like? Well, let's go on reading. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. But you are all one in Christ
Jesus. Now, when somebody has put on
Christ, there's no hierarchy. There's no bond or free or rich
or poor or male or female. You're all one. If you're in
Christ, you're one with every one of God's people because you're
one in Christ. That's what it looks like. You
don't look at yourself as above or beyond anybody. You know you're
one in Christ. That's all your salvation. When
you put on Christ, you know you're one with all God's people in
Christ. And if ye be Christ's, then are
ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. You're all one
in Christ Jesus. Everybody, I've said this, this
is going to be the third time I've said this, I like saying
it every time, third time today. Everybody in heaven, there's
only going to be one reason why they're there. Abraham, Moses, David, Isaac,
everybody in heaven, there's one reason why they're there.
Jesus Christ. That's it. Because they were
united to Christ, and what he did, he did for them. Everyone there is precisely like
that. And I thought, you know, you're
all one in Christ Jesus. And most religion has hierarchies. You know, you've got the pastors
on top, and then you've got the deacons, and then you've got
the more spiritual church members, and then you've got the ones
that are just kind of, you're not really, you've got this spiritual
hierarchy. No, not in the kingdom of heaven.
You're all one in Christ Jesus. And that's why we like it, isn't
it? In Christ Jesus, you're all one. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
4. What's it look like when somebody
has Christ Jesus on? Like I said, I wish I could give
you some kind of how-to. I can't. I don't know what to
say about it, other than I say, Lord, put him on me. Cause me
to put him on. Deliver me from not having Christ
Jesus on me. Now let's look here in Ephesians
chapter 4, verse 24. And that you've put on the new
man. Now there's that language of putting on, like putting on
clothing. You put on the new man, which after God has created
righteousness and true holiness. Now, when you put on Christ,
you put on the new man. You've got a new man there that
was not there before. And this man is righteousness,
the creation of God. Now, a creation of God, that
means God did it all and you did nothing. That's what creation
means. And I like salvation being that way, don't you? I'm a creative
work of God. God created something from nothing.
And here is what this creation is. Righteousness. Righteousness. Every believer is the very righteousness
of God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God." Now this is what this looks like, this new man. It's
the very righteousness of God. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
is the righteousness of God. That's my personal righteousness.
It's not how I treat you. It's not how good I am. It's
having His perfect righteousness as my personal righteousness
before God. And Paul says it's true holiness,
not false holiness, not the phony holiness of religion, but it's
true holiness. A new nature, a new man created
in Christ Jesus. Let's go on reading. Wherefore,
since you have this new man, wherefore putting away lying,
Speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we're members one
of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let
not the sun go down upon your wrath." Now that means be mad
at your sin, be angry and don't sin, and don't go to bed angry.
Neither give place to the devil. Well, he can turn us inside out,
but he says, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole
steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands,
the thing which is good that he may give to him that needeth.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, either
coarse language or false religion, but that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. You know, you can only
grieve somebody that loves you. He says, grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption.
I love that. He didn't say because you'll lose him if you don't.
He says you're sealed by him to the very day of redemption.
You're sealed for good. Verse 31, let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another. tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you." Now that's what somebody looks like who has put
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They're kind, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. Isn't that beautiful? Turn with
me to Colossians chapter 3. Beginning in verse 8. But now also put off all these
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lime out one to another. Do you see that as an occurring
theme? To be honest. To be honest with one another.
Not to be pretending to be what we're not. Lime out one to another. Seeing that you've put off the
old man with his deeds and put on the new man, And that is,
again, you put on the new man. That's putting on Christ. You
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him. This new man is a creation of
God, once again, a creation of God. And here's the renewed knowledge,
where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bound nor free, but Christ is all. Now, when somebody is put on
Christ, I know this. This is how I can know whether
or not I have put on Christ or whether you've put on Christ.
If you've put on Christ, I know this. Christ is all to you. Now, first of all, He's all to
God. He's all God requires of you.
He's all that God is. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete in Him. All
the fullness of God dwells in Him. He said, He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father. He's all that God is. He's all
in the Bible. The Bible is concerning Him only. He's all in every doctrine. You
don't understand any doctrine apart from Him. The first thing
I think of every time I say something about this is election. What's
election without Christ? It's some kind of arbitrary choice.
It doesn't do us any good, but according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. If I'm justified,
I'm justified by his righteousness. I'm redeemed by His blood. I'm kept by His intercession. He is all. He's all in salvation
and He is all in my salvation. Now what do I mean by that? Well
somebody says Christ is all we need. That's not a good way to
put it. He's all we have. He's all we have. One reason
that I'll be in glory and only one, Christ Jesus. He is all and gets all the glory
in my salvation. Now the last passage I'd like
to look at because this is, turn to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. I suppose the best portrait of
one who has put on Christ would be the Beatitudes. This is what
a believer is. Not what a believer should be,
but what a believer is. He's described very clearly here
by our Lord in what are known as the Beatitudes. Now, we read in verse 1, And
seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when
he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth,
and taught them, saying, Blessed. Now I want to hold up right there
for a second. Blessed. What is blessedness? Well, the thing that comes to
my mind is the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man fared sumptuously
in fine linen. He had an easy, prosperous life. Lazarus was very sick, filled
with sores. Which one was blessed? Why, Lazarus
was blessed and the rich man was under the curse of God. Now
what is blessedness? I think this is as good a definition
as I can think of. Blessed is having God's face
shining toward you. What a state of blessedness to
have God's favor, to have God's face, reconciled face, shining
toward you. What a state of blessedness.
Blessed. Now, in the next eight or nine
verses, the Lord gives eight marks of blessedness. But first of all, these marks
are embodied by the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to know how
these states of blessedness, these beatitudes are seen most
completely, let's see them as they are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse three. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now somebody says, how
can you use that with Christ? Easy. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That though He was rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor. That you through his poverty
might be rich. Now, I think of the poverty of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one. For us to
feel sinful, we're born that way. We don't know anything else. For us to feel alone or separated
or isolated, well, we feel that way all the time. But we're talking
about Him who is holy He lost everything. He lost righteousness. He lost the connection he had
with his father. He lost praise. He lost everything. He was made sin, and how poor
he became. Blessed are the poor in spirit. And what about mourning? It says
in verse 4, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted. How he mourned when he lost the presence of God.
He said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And then
in verse 5, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
The Lord said, I'm meek and lowly in heart. That's the Lord. The Son of God is meek and lowly
in heart. He's humble, lowly, and you'll
find rest for your souls. Verse 6, Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Now
who hungered and thirsted like the Lord Jesus Christ did on
Calvary's tree? When he was separated from his
Father, he cried out, I thirst. How he thirsted for righteousness
when he was made sin and made to feel all the horror of hell
and separation from his Father. How he thirsted and hungered
for righteousness. Verse 7, Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy. Who is merciful like the Lord
Jesus Christ? No one can be compared to him.
And then blessed at verse eight are the pure in heart for they
shall see God. Oh, how pure his heart is. He
knew no sin. He never sinned. He could say,
which of you convinces me of sin? Blessed are the peacemakers. For they shall be called the
children of God. Who's the peacemaker? Having made peace, the scripture
says in Colossians 1.20. Having made peace by the blood
of His cross. by him to reconcile all things
to himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight."
Now does that give you peace? That he made peace? And that
because of what he did by his blood you're actually holy and
unblameable? and unreprovable right now before
the very presence of God. Oh, he is the peacemaker, isn't
he? Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Who was persecuted like him for
righteousness' sake? Oh, the beatitudes embody the
glorious character of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember this
about the beatitude. This is what a believer is. So
you listen real carefully and see if I'm describing you. Ask
God to give you honesty. I'm asking him to give me honesty
so I can know if this is me. This is what somebody looks like
who has put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love where he begins. blessed are the poor in spirit. You know what poor means? It
means you don't have anything. You don't have one thing to recommend
you to God. You are poverty stricken. You know what the Lord says about
that person? Theirs is the kingdom of God. Now if you're poor, You're nothing
but a sinner. You don't have one thing to recommend
you to God, not one. You've got Christ on. You wouldn't
feel that way if you didn't. This is what it is to wear the
Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are they that mourn.
Do you mourn over your sin? Now let me tell you when you
mourn. I can tell you when you mourn. It's not when you feel
real sorry that you're caught and you promise you'll never
do it again. It's not when you make some kind of, I'm going
to lick this thing. I don't want to do this anymore.
And I appreciate that. We all don't want to do it anymore.
But that's not mourning over sin. What is mourning? Now, when someone's
sick, you're sad and you're praying for them. But you have some kind
of hope that maybe God will heal them. You mourn when they're
dead and there's absolutely nothing you can do to bring them back. You mourn over your sin before
God when you see there's nothing you can do about it. You don't excuse it. You don't
comfort yourself in that. You mourn over your sin. Blessed. The Lord said, thirdly,
you're the meek. The meek. Who are the meek? Meekness
is associated with humility. Meekness is that temper and attitude
of spirit that says whatever God brings my way is right because
it was him who did it. I might not understand it. I
might not enjoy it. But since he brought it, I know
it's best. It's for my good and his glory.
That's what a meek spirit is. It bows before God's providence. Whatever God does is right. Fourthly, Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Now, if you're hungering and
thirsting, it's because your stomach is empty. It's not full. It's empty. It's a conscious
Awareness that I have no righteousness of my own, not in me, but oh
how I hunger and thirst after it. I hunger and thirst to be
righteous before God. Now that's someone who has Christ
on them. They hunger and thirst for righteousness. They shall be filled. Blessed
are the merciful. Let me tell you something. if
you ever experience God's mercy to you. Now remember, mercy is
for people whose sin is all their fault. They can't blame anyone
or anything else. Guilty as charged. That person is a candidate for
mercy. If I ever experience the mercy
of God, here's the evidence of it, I'll be merciful. And if
I'm not merciful, I don't know anything about the mercy of God.
And you find me somebody that has Christ on, you're going to
see a merciful person. And then next he says in verse
8, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now who
is this person with a pure heart? Who is this person with this
pure heart? Does your heart feel pure? Can
you look within your heart and say, yeah, pure as the driven
snow. Nothing but holy thoughts and holy desires. A pure heart
never, ever sees itself like that. A pure heart is the heart
given in the new birth. The regenerated heart. A new
heart will I give you. Now this new heart, this pure
heart, this is the heart that sees sin. If you don't have a
heart like this, you can't even see sin. You can see sins. You
can see bad things you did. And you can feel bad about them.
But you can't see sin. You can't see this evil nature
that makes everything about you sinful. Everything you do and
everything you think is sin. It's only the pure heart that
sees that. It's not a heart that, well, I'm really pure. I feel
so good. Somebody says, well, I had a good day today. I had
a good day today. I had my devotions and read the
Bible and had some liberty in prayer and witnessed some people
at work and seemed to be less sinful than usual. Had a good
day today. Let me tell you what that is.
That's called idolatry. You're worshiping yourself. There's
nothing true about that. That's the product of an evil
heart, not a pure heart. A pure heart sees that Christ
only is the only righteousness there is. That's a pure heart. That's given in the new birth. That's the heart that doesn't
sin. That's the heart that looks to Christ only. And then he says
in verse 9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God. Peacemaker. I preach the gospel
of peace, you know. I'm a peacemaker. I preach the
gospel of how God can be at peace with you. You believe the gospel,
you're a peacemaker. And you know, if you believe,
you don't want to be contentious. You want to be a peacemaker.
Peacemaker. Everybody who has Christ on,
they're peaceful people and they're peacemakers. They believe the
gospel that actually makes peace. And that's the gospel they stand
for. You stand for the gospel that makes peace. You're a peacemaker. And then he says in verse 10,
blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Now what came to my mind while
I was reading that, I can remember things I've done that I got persecuted
for. But I wasn't being persecuted
for righteousness sake. I was being persecuted for being
a jerk. Religiously. People got me along being persecuted
for righteousness sake. No I wasn't. No I wasn't. You're
persecuted for righteousness sake. When you're persecuted
for maintaining that the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness
there is. It's not being persecuted because
you helped somebody, or gave something to somebody, or did
some kind of good work, or started a food line. No, no. You're persecuted
because you maintain that the righteousness of Christ is the
only righteousness you know anything about. You really believe that.
Verse 11, blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute
you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for
my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. Now put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make no provision for the lust of the flesh, to
fulfill it. Now how do I go about doing that? Well first, be poor. Mourn over sin. Be meek. hunger and thirst after
righteousness. Be merciful. Be pure in heart. Be a peacemaker. Be persecuted
for his righteousness sake. And you have put on the Lord
Jesus Christ. May God enable every one of us
by his grace. to put him on. Let's pray together. Lord, the lust of the flesh is so powerful in us and Lord we confess that When we're tempted, we do fall. And that's why we ask that we
might be delivered from temptation. Lord, don't even let us be tempted,
but enable us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that
we might be baptized into him so that he is all that's seen
and that you'd cause us to put him on. to cover our shame, to
protect and strengthen us, and to beautify us. Now bless this
message for your glory and for our good. In Christ's blessed
name we pray. Amen.