PUT OFF THE OLD MAN AND PUT ON THE NEW MAN
Sermon preached by Rev Dr Koa Keng Woo at Lunar New Year Service, True Life BPC,
22 February 2015
The New Year is a joyous time for many non-believers as well as believers. The important custom of the Chinese in the Lunar New Year is the reunion dinner where everyone is joined together with their loved ones, their parents and other family members.
Another Chinese custom is that before the Lunar New Year, all things must be changed. And we see that, from house to house, everyone is preparing for the great clean up. Many old things that we owned for many years, which we do not want anymore, are discarded. Everything should be cleaned and those old things are thrown away.
Cleaned and Changed
Note that for non-believers this clean up should be done before the Lunar New Year. It cannot be done on the first day of the first month of the Lunar New Year. No one should clean up or tidy the house on New Year’s Day. When visitors and friends come to visit you on New Year’s Day, they expect to see the house to be totally clean and changed and not like before. Even children must put on new clothes and not old ones.
This is exactly like what Paul said in Ephesians 4:21-24, “If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Christ Will Change You
A person who comes to know Christ and accepts Him as his or her personal Saviour must be a totally changed person like the Apostle Paul. Paul was a prosecutor in the Jewish Council in Jerusalem called the Sanhedrin. He was a very learned man who studied under the great Jewish rabbi Gamaliel. He knew the Aramaic as well as the Greek language and was given the power by the Sanhedrin to prosecute believers. He went out to arrest people who called themselves Christians. In Acts 9:1, Luke tells us that Paul was “breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” The high priest gave him authority to go to Damascus to arrest men and women in the synagogues who worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ. According to historians, the Sanhedrin had the power to arrest people concerning religion and scourge them with whips and put them in prison but could not pass the death sentence.
In Acts 9:4-6, while on his way to Damascus to arrest believers, he met Jesus Christ. A great light shone upon him and he fell onto the earth. The voice of Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Saul then asked, “Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”. Saul was struck with blindness and could not see. He then asked, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” He was told by the Lord to go to Damascus and there he would be told what he must do. He remained blind for three days without food and drink. Then Ananias was sent by Jesus to Damascus to lay hands upon Saul. Saul received His sight after that, and was baptised. In Acts 19:20, we see Saul a totally changed man, preaching boldly and telling people that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Totally Changed
Dearly beloved, here we see that Saul in the beginning was a very powerful man. He was given authority to arrest believers of the Lord. He was given power by the Sanhedrin not only to arrest but also to scourge them and put them into prison. It was the same Saul who witnessed the stoning of faithful Stephen who preached courageously Jesus Christ. (Acts 7:58).
Who was this Saul? He was the Old Man who persecuted the believers. The moment he met Jesus Christ, he became a New Man. He became Paul who preached Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul said, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”
I bought several new shirts for myself as many of my shirts are already old and beginning to tear. I did not buy them specially for the New Year. But most children, especially during the Chinese New Year season, will put on their best. They wear their brand new shirts and trousers because it is New Year and everything must be new. No one would put on a new shirt but wear old and torn trousers. So it is with Christians. Christians must day by day, week by week, year by year, put off the Old Man. Paul said in Ephesians 4:22-24, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
How to Put Off the Old Man
Paul also said in Romans 6:6, “Know this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” How should we put off the Old Man? Here is how, “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, 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, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” (Eph 4:25-31).
How to Put On the New Man
After we put off the Old Man, we must put on the New Man. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph 4:32). Colossians 3:8-14, “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 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. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”
New Man for the New Year
Dearly beloved, we are just entering the Chinese New Year, the year of the goat. As we enter the Chinese New Year, we must do what God wants you and me to do, and it is “TO PUT OFF THE OLD MAN” and then “PUT ON THE NEW MAN.”
How can we know that we have put off the Old Man and put on the New Man? Are we continuing in sin and doing things in a way that will not glorify God? Instead of glorifying God are we putting God to shame by our sinful behaviour? We must make sure we stop sinning against God for sinful behaviour does not glorify God.
We must be a changed person. How do we know that? Our behaviour and ways of doing things and treating people are totally different from what we used to do before (eg the Apostle Paul). People can see that we are changed. We have put off the Old Man and put on the New Man. Through this, many will see our good testimony and come to the Lord. Amen.
ARE YOU A SHEEP OR A GOAT?
Jesus is coming back soon. When He comes back He will divide the sheep from the goats. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” (Matt 25:31-46).
How can we tell that we are sheep and not goats? Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. … I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:11, 14-16, 27, 28).
Do you know the good Shepherd? Do you hear His voice and follow Him? Make sure you are His sheep and not a goat.
