Putting on Christ II: Practical Helps | Behold Your God Podcast

Welcome back to another episode of the Behold Your God podcast. I'm Matthew Robinson, director of Media Gratiae, and I'm here again with Dr. John Snyder, pastor of Christ Church, New Albany, and the author and host of the Behold Your God study series from Media Gratiae.

John, we're in part two of a short series about putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're getting a little help from William Mason, who was an 18th century fellow who wrote in the latter half of the 18th century.

He wrote a little book called The Believer's Pocket Companion, The One Thing Needful to Make Poor Sinners Rich and Miserable Sinners Happy. And he's talking, of course, about this action of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yeah, in our previous episode, we talked a lot about, well, what would that be? And it is the act of faith, of taking what God has explained, what God has revealed of Himself through His Son's person and work, as the provision for the sinner in the great work of the new covenant.

Taking that and clothing yourself with that. I mean, it's really a very simple picture. We don't, you know, clothing ourselves. We do it every day. We don't even think about it. But take those truths, button them up, belt them on.

Make sure that all of your neediness, all of your fears, all of your susceptibility to sin, in a sense, is covered with the fullness of Christ. And that sounds nice. I mean, it's the kind of thing you expect preacher people to say.

But Mason's going to help us because he's going to give us some really specific statements about, well, what does that look like exactly?

Right. And again, putting on Christ is one of those statements from the New Testament, like follow Christ, that we read all the time. We know that we should do. We're not exactly sure how to do it. And so we want to dig right into it.

We're going to take three specific things that Mason says that this is all about, this action of putting on Christ. Talk about that. And then we'll take three aspects of Christ's person and His work. And we'll ask ourselves, how do I put on Christ day in and day out in light of these realities about Christ's person and work?

The Believer’s Interest in Christ and Constant Use of Him

So William Mason, in his book, he says that being commanded to put on Christ clearly points to the believer's interest in Christ and the free and constant use which he is called upon to make of Christ.

Oh, consider, he says, that Christ is given to us to be enjoyed by us. Now, I think there's some language there that we're going to need to define. So what does he mean by the believer's interest in Christ and then his free and constant use that we're called upon to make of Christ?

So interest, I think, you know, some simple words we could use today would be that the King has given us a right to Christ, a share in Christ.

Yeah, I have an interest in this piece of property, meaning I own something.

Yeah, I'm not just interested in, but someone has come and given me an interest in it, a share in it, a right to it that I didn't have before on my own. And God himself has given you an interest, a part, a share in Christ.

And you are to make constant use of that. You are to live on that. And the wonderful thing that he says at the end of that, which we wouldn't naturally maybe think of the old writers as being people that emphasize this.

We think this is more of a modern thing. We might think that John Piper invented it, you know, that you're to find joy in or to you are to enjoy Christ. And I think that is such a it's such an important thing that we don't want to miss over.

Mason is not saying to us, I've got a list of rules that you're going to have to do. And then you think, oh, great. You know, I've already was blowing it yesterday. I didn't do such a good job last week.

And now this guy named William Mason and Matt and John are going to tell me I got 14 more things I got to do. And I didn't even do my other things right. So I'm going to blow it completely. No. Mason says, look, what I'm about to tell you that Paul is telling you to do.

You have a share in Christ. So daily make use of that in a way that brings such joy to you. And so it's really it's really a sweet command.

Oh, consider Christ is given to us to be enjoyed by us. So go tweet that and link to the podcast. And but beyond that, live on that and really try to try to pull out from that. What is what does that mean?

Renewed Acts of Faith and the Means of Grace

So Mason goes on to say that putting on Christ implies the renewed acts and fresh application of the believing soul to Christ in. And he's going to list some ways that we are to believe on Christ and make fresh applications of Christ in the exercise of faith in him, in hope towards him, in delight in him, calling upon him, hearing the gospel of his grace preached, reading the scriptures which testify of him, feeding upon his blessed body and drinking his and drinking his precious blood at the table, etc.

And Mason says in the use of all these means, we should aim to put on Christ afresh as the glory of our hearts and as the joy of our souls. And if we just work backwards from there, if we take the last three things that he said, these are these are some of the means of grace that Christ himself has established for us to use in public worship.

So the Lord's Supper there and the reading of the scriptures which testify of him and hearing the gospel of grace preached. It's a great opportunity for us to ask ourselves, when I go to public worship, when I sit down to read the scriptures in private worship, am I doing that with the aim to put on Christ afresh as the glory of my heart and as the joy of my soul?

Yeah, that really is a helpful guide for us. I mean, it keeps us from legalism. You know, why are you having your quiet time today? Why are we getting dressed and going to church? Why are we taking the Lord's Supper?

I mean, how many times have I taken the Lord's Supper and thought of it almost like, OK, so I'm reminded again of Christ's death for my sins. I'm reminded again of my sins. And like, it's like a little act of penance, like, dear God, please forgive me for my pitiful rate of Christianity.

Let me work up feeling bad enough.

Yeah, and tomorrow I'm going to do better. Instead of thinking, look at the fullness of Christ. Yeah, we grieve over sin. We don't mean to make light of that. So I lay that before my King. Then I see the fullness of Christ.

And even in that act, I clothe myself afresh with His infinite fullness to wash me, to supply everything I need for godliness. And, you know, do we do that? Are we consciously doing that? He goes on to say, faith, which is the instrument of putting on Christ.

So faith is the instrument by which there are these renewed acts and fresh applications of Christ to me. He goes on to describe what it looks like when faith acts in the Bible. He says it's believing in Christ, coming to Christ, leaning on Christ, cleaving to Christ, abiding in Christ, living upon Christ, and putting Christ on from day to day.

So even though we don't have time to slow down and look at all those, you could just take each of those phrases and you could come to the truth that we find about our Savior in the Scripture. And we say, okay, how do I cleave to that today?

Or how do I believe in that today? Or, you know, how do I rest in that today, abide in that today? So, you know, really we're talking about faith being acted upon.

And those are all aspects of how Christ is given to us to be enjoyed by us.

Yes.

He goes on and says that true faith is never satisfied merely to look back at what we once had or received from Christ. And true faith is not satisfied merely to look forward to what He will do one day for us.

Those are good things. But true faith desires to look to Christ in the present moment for all that we need for life and godliness right now and right here. And I want to say here, you know, people in 2019 go on and on about these concepts.

They're sort of just the old 70s mantra of live in the now man has sort of been, it's been brought back and it's been made new and cool and sort of this Eastern mysticism of mindfulness and being present.

So we're encouraged by memes all the time on on social media and Pinterest or whatever to be mindful, practice mindfulness, practice being present. And in a sense, that's so much spiritual nonsense. But there's a very real sense in which a lot of people live in the past.

Right. So they either they can't get past a failure that has happened in the past or a terrible thing that has happened in the past. Or maybe they look back to the golden age of their life that they think, man, back then, if you just know me back then when I was cool and, you know, when I had hair and when I was when I did all of these great things.

Well, I wish I could say live in the past and that's awful or they live in the future. Man, if I can just get through these hard days ahead, if I can just make it to Saturday and get through the work week, then I can be happy.

Where we're called to put on Christ in the present moment. And the reality is the Christian life, the battle is fought and won in the present moment. That's when we need to put on Christ. And so Mason is encouraging us to in the moment right now, faith should not be satisfied without putting on Christ now.

Yeah. And I think spiritually, you know, it's very easy to live in the past and say, I remember when I really walked near the Lord. You know, someone might think back in the early days after conversion.

Or I remember when I had, you know, I would just, you know, when my wife and I, you know, we would walk with the Lord together, but it's been a long time and, you know, I've drifted. Or people that are always looking spiritually to the future, like, oh, one day, you know, God's going to take me to glory land and it's going to be all right.

And there's nothing wrong with appreciating the kindness of the Lord to us personally in the past. There are experiences that we've had, but we don't look, like Paul says, we forget what lies behind. We don't look to those as a substitute for the present.

And we don't even look at the future as a substitute for the present. But like, you know, the things He gave us here, I need to believe in the present. I need to come to Him today, lean on Him today, cleave to Him, abide in Him, live upon and clothe myself with Christ in the present moment.

And so, you know, for me, if there's a spiritual event coming up, like a conference, or even just a vacation where you think, man, I'm going to have a break. I don't have to worry about church things.

I'm just going to take some good books and read them. And you tell yourself every day as you're leading up, just make it through today because the vacation's coming, like a spiritual break's coming. And you waste the opportunity to do what we're commanded to do today, to put on Christ today.

You know, don't wait till tomorrow.

Yeah, and praise God, we do have a Christ who is sufficient for our past, no matter what has happened in our past. And we do have a Christ who will be sufficient for our future. But Mason is encouraging us to realize that we have a Christ who is sufficient for right now.

And we should put Him on, and to put on Christ may more precisely mean, he says, that we daily, yes, constantly, clothe our mind, memory, and conscience with the truths of Christ. The truth of what He is to us, and what He's done for us, and what He is now doing for us at the right hand of God.

The Humanity of Christ as Daily Help

Yeah, and so when we talk about that, that all just sounds wonderful. And it sounds again like the stuff we're supposed to say in church. But I think, you know, what would really be helpful, and you don't need Mason for this, but what would really be helpful is just to give some specific examples of truths about His person, and truths about His work that we could just grab hold of and clothe ourselves with.

And how would that counteract some of the distractions, and the despair, and the despondency that a Christian can be tempted toward, or the next attack, the next sorrow, hardship. How does that defend us?

But not just how that defends us, because I tend to think of that defensively. Like, I need to put on Christ so that I don't listen to the next temptation. Put on Christ so that I'm not paralyzed by the next sorrow.

Well, that's true, but there's more than that. There is put on Christ so as to get up for the goal of walking, so as to live out the obedience that God calls us to. Because to put on the fullness of Christ is the sweetest fuel for the heart, and mind, and will of the believer to say, you know, I mean, honestly, Matt and I were talking in the break.

I don't wake up every morning and say, you know, I just can't wait to live for somebody other than King John. There's some mornings I wake up and I think, today is John's day. You know, today will be King John day.

And then if I stop and think, you know, think about him. Think of the realities of your Savior. Before my feet hit the floor, if I start to clothe myself with Christ, if I clothe my mind with just some of the truths of my King, before I hit the floor, I think, you know what, actually, I'd rather live for Him again.

Yeah, yeah.

We remember the truths of these things. We reach out, and in a sense, by faith, we grab these truths and we appropriate them. You know, we bring them and make them ours all over again. So just a few examples.

Like we said, there would be three that we would just run through in the time that we have left.

Yeah.

But again, like you said, you don't need Mason for this. You have the Scriptures, and you can go and you'll not find an end to what aspects of Christ's person and work that we can live on. But let's take these three.

Yeah, if we, let's take, the first one we talked about was the humanity of Christ. Just the fact that He is deity and humanity, true humanity, full humanity. And we've kind of hit on the edge of some of this in previous episodes.

And there's, I mean, really, it's like walking. When we talk about the union of humanity and deity, I feel like, you know, the Scripture leads us up into the Alps. And we start getting to certain heights where the air is getting thin.

Like, man, it's pretty, it's a steep climb for us to grasp. And then there's a lot of mist and fog. But if we humble ourselves and accept what the Scripture says and lay the truths alongside of each other so we get a balanced appreciation and we make all the use we can of the believers that went before us who really hammered these issues out, the view that we see from the top is worth it.

So, let's just take the humanity of Jesus. Oftentimes, personally, even as a pastor, and people might find that a little strange, a lot of the job, stuff I do as a pastor is really mundane. It's not super spiritual, you know.

It's running errands that need to be done for the church. And then you think of the duties of a dad or of a husband. So, all of us have a lot of tasks that we do that anybody watching it from the outside would say, you know, that doesn't look like a very spiritual thing.

And you might be tempted with this lie that most of life doesn't matter. It's just the religious stuff that matters. And the rest of it, God just doesn't really pay much attention to. So, it's kind of a waste of time and you might as well just, you kind of endure those mundane tasks until you come to a spiritual thing.

And then that's important and you can offer that to God. But when I look at the humanity of Christ in the Bible, I can take that truth of His person and clothe my life with His example. And it reminds me, John, the God-man was an infant, a child, a young adult, a man.

He worked, He got dressed, He ate, He walked, He talked to people, He had relationships. And every aspect of that was offered to His Father in a way that the Father was perfectly pleased. So, if I'm a follower of that Savior, that means I can wake up tomorrow morning and by the work of the Spirit, though I will not do it perfectly, in the same way, the same path, I can offer the way I eat, the way I dress, the way I drive down the street, the way I talk to my wife, the way I do the little tasks of life, and it can all be an expression of love to the Father.

Thirty years of almost completely unrecorded, menial, daily tasks where our Savior is living the life that we should have lived, where His positive obedience is being worked out for every believer. And so, even when we fail, and even His obedience is there, and we lay hold of that again, and it's just fuel for the next day, the next moment, to remember that Christ has lived and He has done all of these things perfectly, loving the Lord as God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And that's counted as mine now, and I can now live in light of that reality.

Yeah, and there's other things. I mean, there's so many things. As Matt and I were looking at these things, you know, I feel like sometimes, you know, we kind of cringe at the thought of the podcast, because we think, like, but this really needs to be...

This needs to be followed out over...

Seventy sections. Seventy episodes.

But we just want to give you an example. So, even in the example of Christ's humanity, think of what He says in Hebrews 2, since He Himself was tempted, in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

So, if I think that Christ doesn't understand the struggles of my soul, the fears that face me, you know, when I look at the next act of obedience, and I think, but God, do you understand that if I take that next step, I'm risking friendships, and it may cost me everything, and, you know, and the enemy whispers in the ear, so to speak, well, why would He understand?

I mean, He's God. He's aloof. He's transcendent. I mean, He's great. But, you know, maybe you need to be like the Roman Catholic and talk to Mary, who will talk to God. No. Christ is my kinsman. He's one of us.

You know, He wears this humanity. And I can cry out to the mediator, who still bears the scars on His body, and He experientially knows, and He is not ashamed. Later, we read in, you know, in Chapter 2, He is not ashamed to call us His brethren.

The Atoning and Sanctifying Death of Christ

So, that's one thing, you know, the truth of His person, fully divine, fully human. But let's think of this. Let's think of the death of Christ, the atoning and sanctifying death of Christ. When Paul writes to the Corinthians, and they lived some, you know, they lived some pretty wild lives in Corinth, and so he has to, he gives this list in Chapter 6 of the way that pagans live, the way that unbelievers live.

And then he says in Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 6, Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God. So, what Christ did, and what the Spirit applied to you, even though that used to be you, let's take those two things.

You were washed, and you were sanctified. Tomorrow morning when I wake up, there will be enough failure from today that I can look in the spiritual mirror of the Bible, and I can think to myself, why does He even hear you?

Why does He not throw you as far from Himself as He can? You know, or I think, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, God, let me go clean this John up, and then I'll bring back a clean, better, happier John, you know, and you'll be proud of me.

And I have to take the truth of the atoning and sanctifying death of Jesus. I feel so stained, yes, but I look to Him again, and I say to Him, Paul told me you washed me, so God, apply that to me, I take that to me, and then I think of my life, how I've wandered from Him at times, and, okay, I belong to Him, but yesterday I wandered, and I walked over close to the old life, and I feel like sometimes, have I actually gone back?

And then I read that passage, and it says I was sanctified. Now, not talking about the process of sanctification, I've become perfectly Christ-like, but the position of sanctification, the death of Christ bought Matt Robinson, bought John Snyder, so we might have a pretty bad day when we go home today, stress, carelessness spiritually, we might act like the old Matt and John, and you wake up tomorrow morning, and you look in the mirror, I look in the mirror, we think, well, I guess we kind of went back to the old life.

No, because you were bought, and that purchase separated you unto God forever. Or as Hebrews says, one sacrifice, once and for all, sanctifies us to God. You know, what chapter 10 in Hebrews says, the Old Testament sacrifices could only teach us by portraying it, Christ actually accomplished it.

So we take those truths when we feel filthy, and when we feel like we have gone back, and we cry out to God and say to Him, I will not be paralyzed and just lay down in the despair and sin and selfishness that I've gotten myself into.

I will repent, and I will come to You. Why? Because of the truth of Christ's death that I'm going to clothe myself with again. I am a washed and set-apart man.

Yeah, let me remind you what William Mason said, that faith, which is the instrument of putting on Christ, is seen in the Bible in the ongoing acts of coming to a passage like this, and believing in Christ, coming again to Christ in light of these realities, leaning on Christ in light of these realities, cleaving to Christ in light of these realities, abiding, living in Him, living upon Him, and putting Him on in light of these realities from day to day, and I would say from moment to moment.

Yeah, and we don't have time to go over even the next examples we'd love to give you, but if you were to simply take the dictionary of redemption, you know, those big biblical words that we hear that represent the different aspects of His work, and search out scriptures, write it down on a card, put it on your phone, however you remind yourself, and just wrap the realities around you so that those are the things that you live upon.

You make your decisions differently because of those, you desire things differently because of those, you are happy because of those, and you can just take the words like regeneration, or adoption, or glorification, you know, just to mention a few, and begin there to live upon Christ.

Testimonies from Church Studies and the Call to Adopted Sonship

One of the things we love most about going to conferences is interacting with people who have gone through our studies, or seen the films, and hearing the way that they've influenced their families, their small groups, or their churches.

Eventually we started asking if they would let us record those stories so that we could share them with you. Scott and Paul took their church through Behold Your God, Rethinking God Biblically, last year, and they're currently taking the church through Behold Your God, The Weight of Majesty.

I thought the first one was wonderful. From the perspective of all the church history, it was a really neat element that added to that I had not been exposed to in other Bible studies. Hearing about the great kind of fathers of the faith, and learning about them, and then applying that to the studies of God, and how they emphasized who God was.

You just don't hear that. We hadn't heard that in the churches we've been attending.

It just tells us about, and helps us with understanding God biblically, and really got into understanding, have a high view of God, and a low view of self, which is usually the reverse of what we have.

It talks about, really, the understanding, well, what does God say about evangelism? What does God say about worship? How does God want to be worshipped? Is it about us, or is it about God? What's the most important?

There's just so many great things that we learned, and really want to share with others, and this is a great mechanism for doing so.

For more information about Behold Your God, The Weight of Majesty, visit TheMeansOfGrace .org.

We wanted to throw in one more with adoption. Paul makes it clear in Galatians, When the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law.

And then he goes further, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and that's just one place Paul mentions adoption. Adoption is another one of those that you can clothe yourself with. It's one thing to think that I've been brought into His kingdom, and you might think that God saved you to turn you into a worker.

Now make my name great in the world, now do my work for me, or now pay my bills, put your money in the offering plate. You might think that because of your failures in the past, that you're in the kingdom, but your house is on the very edge of the realm, and God doesn't really want you near Him.

Then you come to this word adoption, and you realize that the work of redemption is so wonderful, that God has given me a love like the love of a father, the tender, careful awareness that the father has for a child, the strong help that's there.

That's the way he views his people in Christ. And I wake up tomorrow morning, and when I think, I bet God's probably pretty tired of John, then I say to myself, wait, I am adopted in Christ. And so I clothe myself with that word adoption, and then I live the rest of my day.

I don't have to worry, I don't have to fret. I have a perfect father, and I entrust this day to him, and I do his pleasure out of gratitude.

Study Christ’s Person and Work to Put Him On Daily

Well, we could go on and on, but instead, we will say to you, with Paul, and with all the authority of the triune God and his word, put on Christ. It's not optional. This is the Christian life. We must put on Christ.

Where do we start? Start with study. Start with intentional, focused study of the word of God, and ask God, as you read his word, to teach you all about his son's person and his work, and record what you're learning, and then use those categories that William Mason helpfully uses.

I need to cleave to Christ here. I need to hope in Christ in this way. I need to abide in Christ in this aspect of his person.

And his work.

And maybe you can take just one or two of these truths a day and take them around with you throughout the day and live on these things. And as John has said again and again, wrap your life in these things as you put on clothes until all of you, your past, your future, but even now in this present moment, is completely covered with all of Christ's fullness.

Thanks for listening, and we look forward to talking again next week. Thanks for listening to the Behold Your God podcast. All the scripture passages and resources we mentioned in the podcast are available in this week's show notes at mediagratia .org slash podcast.

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