What Is a Christian 21 Christian Is a New Man — James K. Boswell

Already has given you somewhat of an outline of what I've been talking on during these past days. He's got a very good memory. I think that is absolutely wonderful. Now, the Christian, as you remember, is the child of God.

He's an heir of God, he's redeemed, he's an influence, he's a soldier, he's a temple, he's an instrument, and he's an ambassador, and lastly, he's a new man. A new man, or if you like, he is a new creation, but for sake of time, we're going to use the expression, he is a new man.

The Christian as a New Man

Now, you cannot but think some of us have become new men, and women journeys for a particular day. Oh yes, we're children of God, all right, thank God, the matchless wonders of his matchless grace, and what he has done in us.

And now, during these days we've been together, transactions have taken place in your hearts, and in my heart with the Lord, but I don't think we'll just be the same men and women again. So today, in a very real way, we are a new people, and we trust we're going to move forward onto new heights, walking in newness of life, men and women in living touch with the living Lord, energized by the Holy Spirit, bringing forth fruit unto holiness, fruit unto righteousness, fruit unto God, and manifesting the fruit of the Spirit.

Now with that before you, go across will you, to 2nd Peter, and chapter one. 2nd Peter, and chapter one, and look at verse number four. So read verse number three for the connection here. According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through love.

Now you've got the word, haven't you? A new man has a new nature. He has a new nature. Lewis says here, we become partakers of, know this expression now, the divine nature. Now let that just sink in for one moment.

Let something of the majesty, and the glory, and the wonder of this come over your spirit life, just to recognize we've got the very nature of God indwelling us. We have become partakers of the divine nature, and all that God is in himself is in us this morning, because Christ by his Spirit is in us, the wonder of it all.

Putting Off the Old Man and Putting On Christ

We'll come back to that just in one moment, but go back with me to Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three. I'm only going to give you a skeleton outline this morning, and going to develop the clothing theme tonight in the will of the Lord.

This is what it says here, Colossians three, and I want us to read in at verse number 10. Again look at the connection, will you? Verse number eight. Verse number eight says, but now ye also put off all these malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Lie not one to another. See that ye have put off the old man and his deeds. Now notice, these are the ugly workings of the flesh. This what belongs to the old nature. I might say, and I repeat, these are the ugly workings of the flesh.

Now remember, he's writing the same to Colossians, and he's saying to them, now put off these. Put off all that pertains to the old man, the old nature. Put off. Notice verse number 10 now. And has put on the new man, the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him.

Now, verse number 12. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another.

If any man ever quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, and above all, and above all these things, put on love. Put on love, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule arbitrate in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful.

I'm very struck with that expression, all. All. We're going to deal with a little later. It means the sense of completeness. The sense of completeness. Notice what we got to put off? The ugly work of the flesh, and notice what they got to put on?

The lovely character of Christ. Now, did you get that? Put off the ugly workings of the flesh, but put on the lovely character of Christ, and just see what pertains now belongs to the new nature, the nature we now possess because we are Christians.

Look at them again. Verse 12. Put on, therefore, having put off, now let us put on, and I like this, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. Notice what's said, forbearing one another.

The same kind of person, when a couple get married, there are two bears go into the house. The one is bearing and forbearing. Isn't that lovely? Bearing and forbearing. Oh, we could see this more and more, all of us who are married to Christ.

And, forgiving one another, he goes on to say, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Then he says, I like this one, put on your overcoat. Now, what is the overcoat?

Having, my friend, put on all these, then he sums the whole thing up. The overcoat's the thing that wraps them all together in his love. See what's said in verse 14, and above all these things, above them all, put on love, which is a bond of perfectness.

I always want to say perfection here. The bond of perfectness, and you see how my friend, the overcoat keeps them all bound together in perfect, in perfect, in perfect, in perfection. Imperfectness is really the word, and so they, we want to get this wonderful joy here of putting on this wonderful, warm, beautiful overcoat.

Oh, what a lovely overcoat this is, the overcoat of love. Binding them all together, keeping them in the unity, keeping my friends so beautifully bound together, all these that belong to the new nature, and this is one of the first evidences of the new nature being displayed in our life.

The love of God is shared abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost himself. And so there, beloved, you've got now, first of all, the new man has a new nature. Now, before I go one step further, I want you to go back with me to John, chapter one.

The New Nature Comes Through Christ

John, chapter one, and we're going to read in verse number nine. We're kind of recapping in some ways this morning, but look at verse number nine. John's gospel, one, nine. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, now the divine nature, the new man, this is not something apart from Christ.

This is Christ in you, Christ in me. He himself is a new man. We receive the new man, we receive the divine nature, receive the very spirit of Christ. And it says right here now, and as many as received him, to them gave he power, the legal right, the authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood.

It is not hereditary, nor of the flesh. It is not by self-will, nor by the will of man, not by action of any man, but of God. I know that verse 14, and the word became flesh, and tabernacled among us.

We beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten Father, full of grace and truth. Now, this new nature is full of grace, and truth, and glory. Now, go to 1 John, the first epistle, and the very first chapter.

The first epistle of John, and the first chapter, keeping in mind those scriptures from the first chapter of John's gospel. Now, verse number one. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, though the word of life.

Now, here's the verse. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. There you have again the divine nature, which has been manifested in our adorable Lord Jesus, and to Peter, James, and John, on the Mount of Transfiguration, now displayed his moral glory while here upon earth.

The Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Beloved, now go to 2 Corinthians, chapter four. 2 Corinthians four, and we're going to read in at verse number six. In four, in verse number six. We're still dealing now with this new man, and the new nature.

Verse six. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have, notice this expression, the present we have this treasure.

Where? In earthen vessels. What is the earthen vessel? Go to verse 10. You get the answer. The body. Verse 11. The laws of flesh. Verse number 16. The outward man. So, here we have now the earthen vessel, and we have the treasure within the earthen vessel.

But notice what it says. That the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. Now, notice very carefully and watch this reading. We are troubled on every side, now that's the earthen vessel.

Yet not distressed, that is the treasure within. We are perplexed, that is the vessel. But not in despair, that's the treasure within. Persecuted is the earthen vessel, but not forsaken is the treasure within.

Cast down, earthen vessel, but not destroyed. May I quote to you, Rotherham's translation of these wonderful words? Every side pressed hard, but not hemmed in. Without a way, but not without a byway. Pursued, but not abandoned.

Thrown down, but not destroyed. Your heart was my heart, says Hallelujah. Yes, there is the earthen vessel, but thank God for the treasure within the earthen vessel. The outer man may perish, but the inner man is renewed day by day.

Verse number 10. Always bearing about in the body the earthen vessel the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest square in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.

The life also of Jesus might be made manifest square in our mortal flesh. And just as light shone through the darkness, darkness comprehended it not, so now we've got the treasure within us. We've got the new nature.

This light shall be shining up to us day by day. Christ in himself was a living reality. Your life and my life are now shining of the indwelling Christ. This does not mean we're going to go around with a great big halo around our head, a great big bible under our arm, sanctimonious kind of look upon our faces.

Oh no, but in the most practical way, there shall be a manifestation in our demeanor, in our deportment, in our manner of living, in our tone of voice. My friend, the most unconscious ways where we are concerned, others will detect something of the beauty, and the virtue, and the ecstasy of this new, this divine nature.

Seven Features of the Life in Christ

I want you to come with me this morning in your mind, and I want to bring before you something of the life that we now possess because we have Christ indwelling us. Now, I want to give you that understanding in seven headings.

Life From Above

First of all, it is a light from above. This is not your air-to-light factor. The old man, my friend, meeting you, not the old man cleaned up, or refined, or cultured, or educated, or becoming religious.

Oh no, that which is born of flesh is flesh. Now, you may do all that to the flesh, but it's still flesh, and God says, all flesh has come before me, I will destroy. His condemnation, His curse is upon you, all the damning nature upon the flesh.

Now, maybe see God's side about this, and maybe to condemn it. Maybe take God's side, my friend, against all nations. See, the old nature grew in the place of death, but now we've got a new life all together.

It's a light, which is a light from above. That which is born of the earth is earthy. Earth, earthy. Born of flesh is flesh. Born of the spirit is spirit, and this spirit, by which we all know so well, is the new nature, the new man in Christ Jesus, and so this is life from above.

John 10, verse number 10, says, I am come that ye might have life. Where did he come from? He came down from above, and that ye might have it more abundantly. Now, I'm going to say something, it may startle you here.

I trust it will into action. But, you know, each and every believer, the woman who was born again, received life, received a spiritual life, but all believers have not, and are not in the enjoyment of the abundant life.

The moment we're born again, we receive life. The moment Christ is enthroned as Lord, we enter into the good of the abundant life, and that's what God desires for us, each one. Not only we might have spiritual life, but we might have this life, and life in abundance.

And I would suggest, and I repeat, seek to underscore the fact that we allow Christ to stand before us, Lord of life, by the indwelling spirit, and he fills us, and we know the joy and the fullness of this abundant life, and that's what we desire above everything else, isn't it?

We sometimes sing that grand old hymn, life, life, eternal life, life, life, abundant life, Jesus, Lord of the giver, life, life, abundant life, glory to Jesus, and forever. And this life, this abundant life, is all treasured up in our adorable Lord Jesus Christ.

The Sinless Life of the New Nature

Not only is it a life from above, but you know, it is a sinless life. It is a sinless life. Now, each and every believer here this morning, you are the possessor of a sinless life. You're the possessor of a life that cannot sin.

Don't look at me so hard. God's word says it. They say, this sinless life is in this new nature, and this new nature, my friends, the nature of God cannot sin. Remember, I love this. The old nature's still with us.

I'm still capable of sinning. I'm still prone to sin. We know that old nature wails, but this new life, God simply cannot sin. And this is the eternal life, and this is a life that will never perish. This is a life, my friends, can never fall away.

That's why I believe in the eternal security of the believer, because of this new life that is given to us in the reception of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, the father said concerning him, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, the one whom I find all my delight.

His friends could say, he did no sin. He knew no sin. There was no sin found in him. We think to have his fault. Pilate said three times over, I find no fault in this man. Herod the king said, I find nothing worthy of death in this man.

Judas cried out, I have sinned in that I betrayed the innocent blood. Please notice the death article there. He does not say, I sinned and I betrayed innocent blood, but the innocent blood. The only blood that is innocent, the only blood that is sinless, the only blood that is pure, the very fiends from hell when they met Christ said, we know who thou art, thou holy one of God.

So father, friends and foes, heaven and earth and hell, angels, men and demons, the all points of adorable Lord Jesus, and he declared sinless, a perfect man. We bow before him this morning, and we worship and cry, worthy O Lamb of God of love, that every knee to thee should bow.

Your heart, my heart bows before him this morning in worship and in true adoration, and we yield to him wholehearted allegiance. I'll come back and qualify that statement in one moment, that we are the possessors of a sinless life, but then there's something more.

A Life Yielded to the Father's Will

The life of the Lord Jesus, not only from above on a sinless life, his life was a life yielded to the will of God the Father. His life was a life yielded to the will of God the Father. I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me, and to finish the work which he gave me to do.

Father, not my will, but thy will be done. And there we have my friend today, the life of the Lord Jesus, his life was utterly yielded to the will of God the Father. I came not to do my own will. He's a perfect bondservant, he's a perfect servant.

He said last night, remember the will of the bondslaves lost in the will of his master, the Lord of the purpose in coming into the world, and his will was lost in the will of his Father. But then, something more.

A Life Empowered by the Holy Spirit

The fourth part here is the life of the Lord Jesus, a life empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit. He did not speak up from himself. Now, get that. He did not speak up from himself, but as the Father spoke, so he ushered.

He was the vehicle, the instrument through which the Father spoke. Now, remember again, all the Lord Jesus ever did was in the energy and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Here's to the life energized, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

What does it lead to? The full surrender to the will of God the Father, and to the word of God. He said, remember I delight in the law of the Lord, this law is in my meditation day and night. And then, to the work of the Lord.

Remember when the disciples came back when he stood excited as well, they marveled he was sitting there talking to the woman of Samaria, and remember when he said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish the work which he gave me to do.

O beloved, let it come over your spirit life again. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and glory, the creator of all things, veiled all his glory. He never laid it aside. He veiled all his glory.

He never ceased to be God. He was God manifest in flesh. No wonder we sometimes think, thou art the everlasting word, the Father's only son. God manifests in her in heaven's beloved one. Worthy O Lamb of God of God, there is need of thee should bow.

Yet beloved while here, he is empowered, he's energized by the Holy Spirit, leading him to full surrender to the will of God the Father, and to the work. He came to finish the work the Father gave him to do, and with the do, and also my friend, obedience to the word of God.

Now, that's the life that we possess, a life remembered from above, a sinless life, a life healed to the will of God the Father, a life empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit, leads to surrender to the will of God, the word of God, and to the work of God.

A Life of Concentrated Activity

Something more about the life of our adorable Lord Jesus. Now, I just want to see something of the grandeur, and the majesty, and the purity, and the glory of the life that we now possess as new creation in Christ Jesus.

His life was a life of concentrated activity. Get that? A life of concentrated activity. I know no life so full of activity than the life of our adorable Lord Jesus. Remember how the enemy tried to get him to deviate the left hand or to the right hand, and try to hinder him from going to the cross?

Ah, beloved, he had a purpose in coming into the world. He was undeterred in the carrying out of that purpose. He would not be impeded in that purpose. He went all the way. Pray God for that. Many a night, his locks were wet with the dew of the night.

Many a time, he had not even time to eat, and yet, in the midst of all this concentrated activity, he was never divorced from fellowship with, and devotion to the Father. Now, I want you to get that. The life of concentrated activity was never divorced from fellowship with, and devotion to the Father.

A Life of Unwavering Faith

He was ever in touch. Oh, may God give us grace to recognize this more and more. Another thing, his life was a life of unwavering faith in God. A life of unwavering faith in God. He went all the way. He set his face at the place that goes into Jerusalem.

He knew all the way ahead of him, even before he left the realms of yonder glory. He knew Gethsemane was waiting him, he knew Pilate's hall was waiting him, he knew the Scourge was waiting him, he knew the cross was waiting him, and he knew by faith he was going to be forsaken of friends, and of God.

The Father never forsook him. God as God forsook him, and he knew, but he knew that God was going to forsake him. Yet, in love for the Father, and in love for you, and in love for me, he was willing to come from the heights of heavenly glory, write God, and he moved forward with an unwavering faith in God the Father.

A Life Crowned With Glorious Victory

That's the life that we now possess, dear child of God. Lastly, in this connection, the seventh point, it was a life crowned with glorious victory. For him, it was once a long day of suffering, and sorrow, and misunderstanding, but today, look, ye saints, the sight is glorious.

See the man of sorrows now, from the fight returned victorious. Every knee to him shall bow, crown him, crowned become the mighty victor thrall. The last verse that Henry just sung, number 312, he triumphed gloriously over sin, and death, and hell, and Satan, and the mighty conquering law this morning.

Look, the heaven's crown was born, his crown with glory now. A royal diadem adorns the mighty victor's brow, and the Christ of the cross is now the Christ of heaven's throne. Dear child of God, lift up your heart.

This is the life that we now possess. Oh, it's what it means to be a new man in Christ Jesus, to be a new creation. We have put off the old man, and indeed are today the new man. This is all ours because we're in Christ, and Christ by his spirit now lives in us.

Living Out the New Life in Holiness

Now, you may say, well, how's this going to work out in a practical way? Thank God we know we today are going to live from above. Oh, I trust all of us know this. Not just theoretically, nor doctrinally, we know the living reality.

We have a life from above, and remember it is a sinless life. Now, may I pause here? In the life of God, and in the nature and character of God, even the very heavens are not pure before him. God cannot tolerate sin.

God cannot look upon sin. When the very darling of his own heart became sin for us, God is going to turn his back upon him. We hear the cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the word of my authority?

What is the answer? Thou art holy, yet of holier eyes than to behold iniquity. He cannot tolerate sin. He cannot look upon sin. May I pause here? Now, we got the divine nature, nature all pure, nature so sinless and holy, and dear child of God, we too should look upon sin with all its heinousness, with all its ugliness, with all its vileness, and we too should hate sin with the same holy hatred that God hates sin.

But oh, how many of us make excuse for our sin. There's no excuse for sinning, dear child of God. A believer may sin. We've still got the sinful nature. A believer may not sin, but if we do sin, we've got an advocate for the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

We're living a day, my friends, of a cheap evangelism, and a very low standard in holiness, and there, my friends, is a lower standard morally and spiritually among us as God's professing people. My friends, we gloss over sin, and we say, oh, you ought to go and see a psychiatrist.

There's something wrong, and all the time it is sin. Oh, so-and-so, you know, and he calls it some immoral practice. Oh, yes, but he can't be well. He can't be well and do a thing like that, and they make all the excuses, try and gloss it over.

They call it, by all senses, what kind of name, when all the time we ought to call it sin. Listen, beloved, to have right thoughts about sin is to have right thoughts about God, and the right thoughts about God spell catastrophe.

I could make your hair stand on end, and blast to the very roots of your feet, my friend, by things that come across my pathway as a teacher of God's holy word. I was preaching an assembly not very far from here some time ago.

I felt in my own heart, the time when I was there before, there was something radically wrong. God has given us a spirit of discernment. People discern, my friend, very quickly. People accuse me of being told about the assembly.

When I go there, I say, now, don't you tell me anything about your assembly until my ministry's finished, because I don't want anything to hinder my ministry. And if the spirit of God is offering, that's quite all right, but don't tell me before I've finished my ministry.

I went back the next time to preach, and I preached on the holiness of God. The holiness of God. I left the meeting, went into another room. The centrist next door, she's a full of tears. I knew it fairly well.

She broke right down and said, Jim, Jim. Wonderful, I rejoice with you, but it says not to my husband. I nailed her in the assembly. Her husband had been defrauding his wife regarding intercourse. She turned to a young boy, bored as she had, a young teenager, for sexual satisfaction.

And I detected that the time when I was there before, and I warned them about it. Not John Blunt, not Clare, but I hinted. I felt there's something going on that ought not to be going on. The husband and the boy in, they're both in the meeting.

God will forgive us. We can't gloss over sin. Remember today we've got a holy God, the very nature of God, we're a new people in Christ Jesus. Can I just, I have to be clear. I mean, I won't touch you tonight because of a different group of people.

You'll all be here. I know you will. For others to be here, probably someone's safe. I won't touch this particular point tonight, but I want to stress far short of the standard God's given. But here's a young woman, and all of us who've passed this way, here's a young woman, and to recognize her virginity has been given to her the trust from God.

And she holds that as a sacred trust, something so precious, so beautiful, something she's going to keep for the young man that God brings into her life in the holy state of matrimony. I do not go to my friend in any way to debate, or to give that, or betray that trust.

Here's this young girl, a girl with character, and she's out with a young man, probably got him to retire. On this particular night he begins to make an advantage to her. Indecent, nature repulsed, and he's full of righteous indignation, and he pushes away and said, get away from me, I hate you.

I know many a young man has gone home with a scratched face, because a young girl would not betray her virginity. She recognized with the trust from God, and she looked upon the trust of God, and then my friend approached it, she repulsed it, it was a very low standard.

It was in my heart that we too, God looks upon sin with a holy hatred, is given us that, and we too should look upon sin with the same holy awe. May God give us grace to recognize that we're a new creation this morning in Christ Jesus.

We've got a new life, a new creation all together, and maybe just come to recognize something of the beauty, and the virtue, and the purity, and the holiness, and the glory of this new nature which is ours, and maybe now depend upon the indwelling spirit to make all this for glorious reveals, every moment of every day.

May God bless this simple word to your heart, my heart. Number two hundred and one hundred and twenty-five. One hundred and twenty-five, and we'll go on from there. This evening God willing, be much in prayer regarding me tonight.

Number one hundred and twenty-five. Thoughtfully and prayerfully, one five. Hey my heart, hey now, rhyme. Notice the words we're saying, they're merely real in all the this morning with longing, all day, all together, let's hear it.

Oh lovely thou art, calm and abiding, a rubric every better, thy face let me see, then thou shalt ever be precious to me. Through Jesus Christ our wonderful Lord, to whom be glory both now and forevermore.

Amen.