The Putting off of This Old Man - J. C. Philpot, 1867

For My New Year's Resolution!

I pray that  God would teach us to practice endurance in whatever trials we are going through. May we come out of our trials with hearts full with patience, faith, gratitude and love.   

To find out why this short prayer, read January 1 post)

 This post below is an excerpt from the new uploaded Kindle 

"The Old Man Put Off—The New Man Put On " by J. C. Philpot 

Download the FREE  Kindle  HERE 

The putting off of this old man

The old man is to be put off much in the same way as we put off a dirty garment. How glad the workman is, say the mason or the bricklayer, at the end of a long, dusty, laborious week to get a thorough good wash on the Sunday morning, and put a clean shirt upon his back. How nice and fresh he feels with his clean skin and his clean shirt. Excuse the figure, for though homely it may not be the less true or less impressive. Our old man is like a shirt which has gone through all the dust and sweat and toils of the week. And he is put off when he is not allowed to stick any longer close to the skin, but is pulled off and thrown away with disgust as a dirty garment; worn unwillingly and put off gladly. The apostle, after speaking in another place, of some of the worst sins which have debased and disgraced human nature, adds– "And such were some of you– but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11.) "You are washed," there is the washing of the person in the fountain open for all sin and uncleanness; "you are justified," there is the white clothing all bright and clean put upon the washed person; "you are sanctified," there is the presence and power of God's grace, the comfort of being thus washed and dressed; and all this "in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God;" for it is only by believing in his name, and by the power of the Spirit that there is any washing, any justification, or any sanctification.

But remember this, you can only put him off for a time. He is put off from time to time in his workings, in his defilement, in his filth, but alas! he soon makes his appearance again, and you will never put him off altogether until he is put off in death.

2. The other leading thought which strikes my mind as an interpretation of the exhortation to put off the old man is, to put him off his seat of authority and power. He is put off, then, when he is not allowed to have dominion. Put him, then, off the throne; don't let him reign and rule. Thrust him from sitting at the head of the table and occupying the arm chair; let him not be the master of the house. Get him into the place where Bishop Bonner thrust the martyrs– into the coal cellar. Mortify him, bind him, set your foot upon him, keep him down, and gag his mouth when he would vent his blasphemies and try to stir up deceitful lusts. He is to be put off; he is not to be cuddled and indulged, put in the best chair, fed upon the best food, kept close and warm by the fireside, handsomely dressed, and made the pet of the whole house.

He is to be treated with great rigor. The word of God bids us crucify him, and pronounces a sweeping sentence, which, if we take as a description of all who truly belong to Christ, cuts off thousands of 'splendid professors'– "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Not they are going to do it, think about doing it, mean to do it some day or other, hope they shall do it before they die, but "have crucified the flesh;" that is, have already nailed it to Christ's cross. This is indeed a putting off the old man, for it is taking it and fixing it to the cross of Jesus. Now, crucifixion was a painful and lingering death. We cannot expect, therefore, to crucify the old man without his crying out against his crucifier. And yet the pleasure to the new man is greater than the pain to the old man, for we may rest well satisfied that the more we are enabled to mortify, crucify, and put off the corrupt old man, with his deceitful lusts, the more happy we shall be, the less cause there will be for repentance and sorrow, and the more we shall walk at liberty as seeking God's precepts.

The Old Man Put Off—The New Man Put On - Written in 1867, by J. C. Philpot

For My New Year's Resolution!

I pray that  this year would be the year where we truly decide FOR God. 

A year where we would learn to consecrate ourselves to Him

and move forward with Him as His true priests.

To find out why this short prayer, read January 1 post)

 

"HOW DO WE CONSECRATE OURSELVES? - We go to Him once and for all empty handed and give Him our all

THE MAIN ROLE OF A PRIEST? Is to minister to to God

HOW DO WE MINISTER TO GOD? We minister to Him when we learn to worship Him in all that we do and say

In other word we make our whole life a living prayer and sacrifice to the King of kings and the God of all gods"

This post below is an excerpt from the new uploaded Kindle 

"The Old Man Put Off—The New Man Put On " by J. C. Philpot 

Download the FREE  Kindle  HERE 

The putting on of the NEW man

But why is he called "the new man?" You will observe that both are called men, and doubtless for this reason, that they have, both of them, the parts, members and qualities of a man. But every part and quality of the two men are totally different, or, if they have similar members, they use them for different purposes. The old man has eyes, but eyes full of adultery. The old man has ears, but ears to drink in every lie and every foolish word which can feed his lusts. He has lips which he calls his own, but the poison of asps is under them. He has a tongue, but with it he uses deceit. He has hands, but these hands are always on the stretch to grasp what is evil. And he has feet, but these feet are swift to shed blood. Every member and every faculty of the old man is for sin, to serve and indulge it.
Now, the new man has the same faculties of a man as the old man has. He has eyes, and by these eyes he sees Jesus; he has ears, and with those ears he hears the gospel of salvation and drinks in the precious sound; he has lips, and with these lips he blesses God; he has a tongue, and with his tongue he praises the name of the Lord, speaks of the glory of his kingdom, and talks of his power; or if a minister, instructs, comforts, admonishes, or warns the church of God; he has hands which are open to bestow liberally on the poor and needy; and he has feet which are swift to walk, yes, to run at times, in the way of God's commandments when he has enlarged his heart.
Thus the old man employs every member in the service of sin, and the new man employs every member in the service of God. Now, as when we are under the influence of the old man, we do, or at least we are tempted to do, what he may suggest, so when we are under the influence of the new man, then we gladly do what he inclines us to do according to the will and word of God.
B. But we have in our text a blessed description of what the new man is. Of course you know it is the spirit which is born of the Spirit, the new man of grace, that is meant by the term, and that he is called new as being of a newer birth than the old man, and as coming also from him who said– "Behold, I make all things new." The possession of this new nature is the chief evidence of our saving interest in Christ; for "if any man has not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his," and "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature."
1. But he is young as well as new; for as the old man is always old, so the new man is always young. He has, therefore, all the vigor of youth, the feelings of youth, the tenderness, the susceptibility, the impressibility of youth, and all that is lovely in youth. As the old man is a picture of depraved old age, so the new man has every feature that we admire in the young; everything that is tender and teachable, impressible and affectionate, warm, active, and vigorous. All we admire in youth is seen in the new man; all we loathe in depraved old age we see in the old man. And, indeed, he must be a beautiful man, not only from his youth and freshness, tenderness and vigor, his strong arm, his manly bearing, his modest, yet firm look; but he is supernaturally beautiful as being God's own creation, for you will observe that he is not born, but created. God himself created him by the power of his Spirit in the day of regeneration.
2. There is, therefore, another reason why he is so beautiful. He is created after the image of God. We find the apostle speaking in almost similar language (Col. 3:10)– "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him." When God first created man, he created him in his own image, after his own likeness. That image was lost by sin; but that it might not be wholly lost, lost forever, God creates in his people a new man, after his own image and his own likeness. So that man is restored and placed upon a higher pinnacle than that from which he fell; for he is put into possession of a new man which is created by the power of God, after the very image and likeness of God, in righteousness and true holiness.

Spiritual Fruit - Part 3 Last One

Preached at North Street Chapel, Stamford, on September 2, 1858, by Philpot

"From Me is your fruit found." Hosea 14:8

What is this fruit then? It is faith, hope, love, godly fear, submission to God's will, tenderness of conscience, love and esteem for the brethren, self-denial, putting off the old man, putting on the new—and I might stand here until midnight and then not exhaust the catalogue. These are set forth by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians, where he says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance—against such there is no law." Here are all the fruits of the Spirit penned down by the Holy Spirit himself; but you may examine it for yourselves, and indeed compare what is in your soul with it; then you will confess how short you come of bearing that fruit—the bearing of which stamps the Christian indeed—but we shall never bear fruit to God, until we are brought to see that our fruit comes from God.

III. How this fruit is from the Lord—"from me is your fruit found." How positively and clearly is this set forth in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of John's Gospel, where the Lord says, "Without me you can do nothing." "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abides in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me." So you see that union with Christ is indispensable to the bringing forth of fruit; for as the sap flows out of the stem, so it is with the believing soul and Jesus—only so far as Christ flows into his soul is he able to bring forth fruit unto God. "Abide in me and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abides in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me." Then there is a being in Christ by vital union, and an abiding in him by faith, prayer, hope, and love, and a receiving grace for grace out of his fullness—so that from him is our fruit.

Now, as we begin to feel day by day our barrenness, and as our wrinkles arise in our face, we begin to see that from Jesus only is our fruit. Let us then raise our souls up out of our miserable selves, and fix our eyes upon him at the right hand of God and beg of him to communicate his grace to our souls, and send down the influence of his Spirit that will bring forth fruit in us—which is peace, praise, and honor to God. No one can bring forth fruit without a conflict with self—self checks the crop like the ivy clinging to and strangling the vine.

I have a grape-vine in the front of my house, and almost the first thing I noticed when I returned home yesterday was that every leaf was struck with mildew—in fact the whole tree has been struck, as it were, with the same withering disease. What an emblem of a poor, withered professor! There will never be a cluster either fit to be made into wine or eaten as dessert. Now, when we see what we are in ourselves we see nothing but mildew. As the grape-vine seems to have more enemies than any other fruit, because, as it is said, it cheers the heart of God and man, and we are represented in Scripture as branches of the vine, therefore we need the grace of God in order that we may overcome these enemies. Though I have not sufficient skill to cure the mildew on my vine—yet the Lord has skill to cure the mildew in our souls, for his grace can and does and will sanctify the sinner's heart.

Therefore whatever despair I might feel about having any fruit from the vine on my trellis, there shall be no mildew upon the trellis of your soul, for he can send a shower to wash off the mildew, and put forth his hand to knock off the insects that feed upon the fruit of the vine. The Lord says, "From me is your fruit found." The fruit flows forth—the spirit of thankfulness, of brokenness, and godly sorrow for sin. And yet there will be times and seasons when we sink very low, and when we feel or fear that there never was a spark of grace in our heart. But your very feeling of your unfruitfulness, is in itself a fruit. Your mourning over your unfruitfulness and your being cast down into dejection—these very things are spiritual fruit, for they are produced by the same Holy Spirit that brings forth the blossoms of faith, hope, and love.

III. There is the FINDING of this fruit. In a vine some of the richest clusters are found under the leaves. Leaf and fruit go very much together, for where there is a leaf full of mildew, you find nothing but a cluster of rotten fruit. Well, so in grace—if there be little fruit there will be a withered profession, because the 'leaf' represents the 'profession'. The world can see what you profess, and they will see the mildew spots upon it. "O," they say, "that man talks about religion—but he is just like us. You who have to deal with him know how he deals, how he can laugh and giggle like other men, and how angry he is if anything crosses him. It is only a profession—he goes to chapel, but we all know what he is."

Here is a profession with the mildew upon it. "See," they may say, "that man was drunk last night—yet he goes to church on Sundays." If the 'leaf' is so bad, what must the 'berry' be? If the man's profession is such, what must be the man himself? So if the mildew has struck the leaf you may be sure the mildew has reached the clusters.

We find that the best clusters sometimes grow on the lowest bough; so it is in grace—the humbler a man is the more fruit he will bring forth. The same sap that feeds the branch nearest the stem feeds the branch farthest off. "From me is your fruit found." Your soul may be often cast down, and you may say, "Was there ever any sinner like me?" but your complaints do not take you into the world again—you are not telling lies or joking and gossiping with your neighbors—but you are mourning and groaning that you are not bringing forth fruit unto God.

Now, the Lord may speak these words to encourage his saints—"Come out of the world. From me is your fruit found. Not from the world. Do not be carried away with the things of time and sense. Not from worldly-mindedness, not from family distress is fruit produced—but from me, out of my fullness by the communications of my grace."

If you don't get it from that source you will get it nowhere, and every branch that does not bear fruit, he hews down. So that we come to one of two things—you must either be a branch that bears fruit from Christ—from the communications of Christ's love to your soul—or else one that bears not fruit, which the Father takes away. There is no intermediate state whereby we have part from ourselves and part from Christ, for "from me," says the Lord, "is your fruit found."