The
Oberlin Evangelist
March 15, 1843
HOLINESS OF CHRISTIANS IN THE PRESENT LIFE:--No. 6.
PUTTING ON CHRIST
Modernized by Cliff
Collins
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:14)
It is my purpose today to discuss the following:
I. What does this command mean?
II. What does it mean to obey this command?
III. What are some of the essential conditions that
will enable us to obey this command?
IV. Is the obligation to obey this command
universal?
V. Do we have to obey the requirements of this
passage for salvation?
VI. What are some of the consequences of obeying
this requirement?
VII. What are some of the consequences of disobeying
this requirement?
I. What does the command to put on the Lord Jesus
Christ mean?
Did you know that this idea comes from the Greek
Theater? ‘To put on a person’, is to
assume his character, and his peculiarities.
This is what an actor does on the stage. This commandment, therefore, commands us to imitate Christ, just
as actors imitate the people they represent.
II. What does it mean to obey this command to put on
the Lord Jesus Christ?
1. This command, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
means that we must put away selfishness.
Christ was not selfish.
Selfishness prefers self-gratification to God’s will and the good of the
universe. Christ never did this. The Apostle Paul adds, “and make no
provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts”. Here, Paul makes “putting on Christ”, the opposite of “making
provision for the flesh”, and making provision for the flesh is the same as
being selfish. Paul was more
philosophical than any of the sacred writers were, and he uses such phrases as
“'works of the flesh”, “following after
the flesh”, and “carnal mind”, to indicate the nature of sin. But, the Bible condemns self-seeking as
wrong, self-seeking is inconsistent with the true service of God. It is inconsistent with imitating Christ.
2. If we live for the same goal that Christ lived
for, we will put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
What was Christ’s goal?
Certainly, it was not gratifying himself, but His goal was to secure the
overall good of the universe; and whoever puts on Christ must put on the same
goal.
3. Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ means we will
focus our eye on the same goal that Christ’s eye focused on. Christ’s eye was not double. Christ’s focused his eye on one goal, the
glory of God.
4. Obeying the command to put on the Lord Jesus
Christ means that we have so much sympathy with Him, that we will want to
imitate Him. We must have a strong
sympathy with Christ if we want to imitate Him, and a strong sympathy naturally
produces imitation.
III. What are some of the essential conditions that
will enable us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ?
1. The first essential condition we need to have to
put on the Lord Jesus Christ is that we must deeply and intensely study His
character. Let us study His character
until we see the great principle behind everything He did when he walked on
this planet, and still does. Let us
study His character until the real idea of the reason why He lived and died
clearly develop in our mind. People,
who try to imitate others, must pay very close attention to their
behavior. This is essential to the
success of any dramatic actor, or any other artist. Who, when looking at a picture by West, and observing all its
delicate shadings, has not noticed the deep attention that he give to his
subject? One shade is stronger, and
another shade is weaker, precisely displaying the position and form of each
limb; and the various expressions that are on the faces of the people, are appropriate
to their circumstances. Now in order to
express these things, by coloring on a canvass, the artist must have studied
his subjects very intensely. The same
is true with a good actor. He doesn’t
merely commit and rehearse his piece as a student does for his class play. He does not stand and recite his lines, but
he seeks to represent his character in dress, habit, spirit, style, manner. In fact, he seeks to imitate his character
in everything, and the perfection of the dramatic art consists in this.
Now, in the same way, the Apostle Paul commands us
to put on Christ. He commands us to
imitate Him, to really think about and meditate on Christ so we can get at the
true idea of His character, and to commit ourselves fully to the same goal that
Christ was devoted to. To enjoy a piece
of poetry, you must put yourself into the same state of mind that the author
was in when he wrote it. Then, as you
read it, your tone and manner will naturally represent him. This is the problem with so many people when
they read hymns or poems. They read as
though they don’t understand its sentiment at all. They simply recite the words without any emotion. The reason is, either they don’t have the
spirit of devotion, or they have never paid any attention to the sentiment of
the hymn. But, in order to represent
Christ, we must catch His spirit, and make His grand goal our goal. Then we will act as He would act under
similar circumstances.
2. Another essential condition of putting on the
Lord Jesus Christ is that you must fully believe that, through grace, you can
put Him on. As long as you don’t
believe you can put Him on, you won’t.
No one can intend to do what he believes he can’t do. It is absurd to think that you can intend to
do something you believe is impossible to do.
No one intends to fly by flapping their arms. Why? Because everyone
knows that he can’t fly. We may want to
fly even while we don’t believe we can, but to intend to fly is
impossible. Therefore, unless you
believe you can put on Christ, it is completely impossible that you will intend
to do it, and this is the main reason why so many have never actually put Him
on.
3. Therefore, you must not only fully believe that
you can put on Christ, but you must actually intend to put on Christ. You must intend to make Christ your whole
example. You must intend it; it will
never happen by accident.
4. You must be fully prepared to make any sacrifice
to put on Christ. You must count the
cost and make up your mind to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to
accomplish this goal. You must sacrifice
your friends, property, or even your credit.
You must sacrifice whatever stands in your way. The Lord Jesus Christ teaches this, and
warns people not to be foolish by beginning to build, without being able to
finish. The truth is, unless people
make up their minds to completely sacrifice
whatever hinders them from fully
putting on Christ, they do not have a grasp of the very first principle of
religion.
5. You must realize the importance of putting on
Christ. Suppose a dramatic author
should write a wonderful drama, powerfully designed to grab the attention, and
arouse the passions of those who come to see the play, but the actors prepare
themselves so poorly, and they act so poorly, that it completely misrepresents
the author and his work. It is easy to
see how they could damage the credit of both the author and the drama. Therefore, people who do not fully put on
the Lord Jesus Christ, while they claim to be His followers, are doing Christ
and His cause the greatest harm that they could possibly do. If only they would realize the infinite
importance of fully representing Christ.
6. Another condition of putting on Christ is that
you should maintain a constant fellowship with Him. You must commune with Him
in prayer without ceasing. Who does not
know that an actor needs to drink into, and deeply commune with the spirit of
the author, if he wants to truly represent him? He must acquire the same state of mind of the man who wrote that
drama. In short, he must ‘put on’ the
writer. If he does not, he will
misrepresent him. In the same way,
there must be constant communion with the Spirit of Christ, in order to put Him
on and act just as He would.
7. As long as there is any unrepented or unconfessed
sin between your soul and Christ, you must not rest until you deal with
it. You must maintain a clear
medium. Let me explain what I
mean. Let’s say, that you know two
friends who’ve agreed with each other for a very long time. They confided in one another and spent a lot
of time together. But, one day, a
little disagreement works its way in between them. A little mist begins to cloud their relationship, and now, when
they meet, you will begin to notice this difference in their eyes and on their
faces. There is some friction between
them, and unless they immediately remove it, it will get worse, until, finally,
they will destroy their precious relationship.
The same it true with a husband and a wife; they should carefully keep a
clear medium of mental fellowship and agreement between them. Suppose a husband grieves his wife. Now, if he is a sensitive man, he can’t be
at peace. When he goes to pray, he
remembers the wound that he has inflicted, and he can’t pray any more. He gets up from his knees, and goes and
confesses to his wife the harm he has done to her. The cloud is now removed from the medium, and he is happy. The same is true with the Christian. If he has grieved Christ, and injured our
Lord’s tender feelings, he can have no more communion with Christ until he has
repented, confessed his faults, and the tender breathings of mutual love are
once again restored.
8. You must abandon from all your
self-dependence. As long as you depend
on yourself, you won’t see why you need to put on Christ.
9. You must take advantage of God’s exceedingly
great and precious promises. You must
realize why God gave those promises to you; and that God gave those promises to
you personally. The Apostle Peter says,
“by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that
through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust”.
(1 Peter 1:4) The purpose of the
promises, then, is, to make all of us like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, a promise is good for nothing unless it
is fulfilled. Ten thousand unfulfilled
promises would be just as worthless as a book of blank checks would be to a
poor man.
IV. Everyone is obligated to obey this command.
1. This does not mean that everyone should do
exactly the same things that Christ did, for no one, is, in all respects, in
the same circumstances. As our
circumstances vary, our outward duties will differ. Christ practiced celibacy; and, in the circumstances that He was
placed in, this was His duty. But it
never could be the general duty of the human race to imitate Him in remaining
celibate. Nor can it be our duty to
imitate Him in many other things.
2. But our obligation to put on Christ means that we
must do as He did, as far, as our circumstances are the same or similar, that
we are to do everything that we believe Jesus would do, if He were in our
circumstances: for example; if He were a father, a merchant, a mechanic, a
lawyer, or a citizen. In his early
life, Jesus was a carpenter, and worked with his father at his trade. Let a carpenter ask these questions, “What
sort of a carpenter was Jesus Christ?
How honest was He? How did He do
His work? How did He associate, and
what kind of conversations did he have with his fellow workers?” Now you should do exactly what you think
Jesus would do in your situation.
Suppose the Lord Jesus Christ was a merchant. What principles would He use to conduct His business? Or, if He were a physician, how would He
practice medicine? Would He avoid
visiting the poor, and seek to practice medicine only among the rich?
3. You must think about, how Jesus would act in your
circumstances, and do, what you think He would do. It is very important for a minister of the gospel, to ask, “what
kind of a pastor would Christ be if He were in my circumstances”. The same it true with every other
person. Ask what Christ would do in
your circumstances, for the same reason.
If Christ were a physician, what would He do? Would He try to reject the customs of the poor, and adapt the
customs of the rich? When a poor man
comes to solicit His aid, would He say, “I won’t get a lot of money for
this. Therefore, I don’t care whether I
help him or not.” Now beloved brethren,
who among you, in this congregation, are physicians? Are you the kind of physician that you think Christ would be, if
you take into account the different circumstances? In the same way, you can look at any other occupation, even the
lowest; for no one who is honest, is too low to picture Christ being in similar
circumstances. Jesus’ purpose in
washing His disciple’s feet was to illustrate this. When Jesus walked this earth, the people in the Mid-East wore sandals,
which exposed their feet to the hot sands and dust of the roads, and it was
customary for the lowest servant of the house to wait at the door with water,
to wash the feet of visitors. Now the
Savior did this, to impress His disciples with the importance of lowliness of
heart, and to show the spirit with which everyone should perform their duties
in life. Whatever your condition may
be, whatever you suppose Christ would be like in your place, that is how you
should be. An important question for
each one to ask is, “Would Christ pursue my calling, if He were placed in my
circumstances, and would He pursue my calling as I do?”
4. It is a universal duty to put on Christ. This is clear from the following facts: 1)
It is simply the right thing to do. 2)
Everyone can do it by His grace. 3)
Universal reason demands it. 4) It is essential
to the good of the universe. 5) Sinners
are commanded to put on Christ, just as much as saints are.
V. Obedience to the requirement of today’s passage
is naturally indispensable to salvation.
1. By this, I am not saying that no one can be saved
who has not always put on Christ.
2. As far as they know, they must put Him on, and
live a life that is devoted to the same end that Christ is devoted to.
(1.) Everything short of putting on Christ is sin.
(2.) Nothing short of intending to be, or do, what
Christ would be, or do, with the light that we receive, and in our
circumstances, can be acceptable to God.
Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon”. What does this mean? It
doesn’t mean that you can’t serve God at one time, and mammon at another time;
but that you must be completely devoted to either one or the other, and you
cannot serve both God and mammon at the same time.
(3.) True unselfish love is a unit, and will always
manifest itself the same way in every circumstance that is similar.
(4.) Christ was no more than virtuous, and you must be no less than virtuous or God cannot save you. I have often been astonished, that people talk as if Christ did something more than His duty, and performed works over and above what God really required Him to do, as if such a thing were possible. True love requires nothing more than doing your duty. Now, if Christ should do more than true love requires, it would be neither love nor duty, and as a result, it would not be virtue. Let me ask you; was God any more loving than He should be when He made the Atonement? If He was, He was not virtuous in making the Atonement. The truth is, people are in the dark on this subject. No being in the universe can perform works over and above what he is required to do; for everyone, is simply required to do his duty. Christ unselfishly loved God with all His heart and His neighbor as Himself, and this was His duty; and if you put Him on you will also Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.
(5.) You must be like Christ, or you can never be
with Christ.
VI. Some of the consequences of putting on Christ.
And here, I want to be very candid, and hold nothing
back. I have often commented on how
much the Lord Jesus Christ differs from many who set themselves up as
reformers. Jesus would often press
those who listened to him, until almost all of them would forsake Him. Once, everyone left Him but His twelve disciples,
and He turned to them and said, “Will you also go away”? Jesus implied that He would rather lose them
than to hold back the truth. We must
not preach a false Christ, or our outer garments will appear as if we belong to
heaven, but inwardly we will belong to the world.
1. The first consequence of putting on Christ is
that you will have a lot of opposition.
You can expect no better treatment than Christ received. “It is enough for a disciple that he be like
his teacher, and a servant like his master.”
(Matt 10:25)
2. Once you put on Christ, you can expect great
trials! The inheritance of all who will
live godly in Christ Jesus is that they will experience trials. Look at Paul. While he was a Pharisee, his life went smoothly. The winds of popular favor swelled his
sails. However, when he became a
preacher of the cross, ah, then he knew what it was like to go against the wind
and the tide.
3. Others will accuse you of having a bad spirit
after you put on Christ.
They have always brought this charge against the true followers of
Christ, and especially against Christ Himself.
Christ said so much about their teachers, creeds, and traditions, and
rebuked them so plainly, that they finally tried, and executed Him as a blasphemer.
4. Putting on Christ means that you will need great
meekness, and at the same time, you will need a lot of assurance in your true
character. Without both of these
qualities, you cannot endure the shock of a world that is arrayed against you.
5. Once you put on Christ, you will experience a lot
of misunderstanding. Men will not understand
you. Many wonder why Christians are so
misunderstood. But, this shouldn’t
surprise you. Who was more
misunderstood than Jesus Christ? The
simple fact is, a selfish mind does not understand the principle on which a
true Christian acts.
6. If you are misunderstood, you will of course, be
misrepresented. You must expect this.
7. Once you put on Christ, you can expect to loose
many friends. They will think you are
extreme, extravagant, and carrying matters too far. And every new step you take, you will see more people abandoning
you. They won’t want to walk with you
anymore. However, not all the
consequences are evil. For,
8. You will inherit His peace of mind; and this is worth
more than the whole world can give you.
You will sleep just as sweetly, eat with just as much relish, and enjoy
your quiet hours just as fully, as if you had the whole world’s favor. People often wonder, if true committed
Christians are ever happy. I answer,
yes they are. In fact, they are the
only people who know what true happiness is.
9. God will fulfill His joy in you when you put on
Christ. This is His promise; and His
true followers sympathize with Him in all the joys He has.
10. If you put on Christ, you will share His glory
in being a representative of the one true God.
“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one
just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in
one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as
You have loved Me.” (John
17:22-23) God sent Christ to reveal the
true character of God. Christ took the
law that laid on tables of stone, and lived it; thus showing mankind just what
God was like. Without such a
manifestation of God’s true character, men would have had to always remain in
ignorance. Who is God? Is He a glorious, infinite, and invisible
Spirit, lying back in the depths of eternity, where no eye can reach? What finite mind can comprehend Him? God concentrated His glory in Christ, and
sent Christ forth to walk this earth so He could reveal Himself to the
world. Everyone, then, who puts on the
Lord Jesus Christ, will share this glory with Him; the glory of making known to
the world the true character of God.
11. When you put on Christ, you will be able to say
with Paul, “For me to live, is Christ”.
The Apostle Paul seems to have had the idea that Christ was living His
life over again in him. The same will
be true with you. Christ renews His
life in His true followers.
12. When you put on Christ, you will be able to say
from your own heart, as John says, “truly our fellowship is with the Father,
and with His Son Jesus Christ”. (1 John
1:3)
13. When you put on Christ, you will be as happy as
you can possibly be in this life. And,
you will be no less useful, than you are happy.
VII. What are the consequences of disobeying this
requirement to put on Christ?
1. If you are a professing Christian, you will be a
hypocrite, and people will know it.
There are, perhaps, some, who are successful in wearing such a
mask. But most, betray themselves
eventually, and their true character becomes known.
2. If you refuse to put on Christ, you will render
peace of mind impossible.
3. If you refuse to put on Christ, you will render
yourself justly despicable. Everyone
loves to see people live up to their profession of faith, and they naturally
cry out against your hypocrisy.
4. If you refuse to put on Christ, you will ruin
your own soul, and you will do the most you can possibly do to ruin the souls
of others.
5. If you refuse to put on Christ, you will bring on
yourself the endless curse of every moral being in the Universe, both good and
bad.
REMARKS.
1. Inconsistent professing Christians sometimes gain
the hollow applause of the unthinking, and ungodly.
2. However, they never gain the solid respect, of
any group of people for any considerable length of time. Instead of this, they eventually lose
respect. For as soon as their true
character appears, everyone must condemn and abhor it. Their inward lack of confidence that other
people have in such professing Christians often manifests itself in a trying
hour. A Methodist minister shared this
fact with me that made a deep impression on me. A wealthy man in the South, who had sat under the preaching of a
worldly minister, became sick, and he was about to die. His friends asked him if they should send
for his minister. He said, no, I do not
want to see him now; we used to go to the horse races together. They urged him to send for somebody, and
mentioned several people. But, he
rejected them all; and at last told them to call in Tom, one of his slaves;
for, he said, “I have often heard him pray alone”. Tom came, laid his little hat at the door, and asked what his
master wanted. Said the dying man,
“Tom, do you pray”? “Yes, master”, in
my weak way”. “Can you pray for your
dying master?” “I'll try”, he repeated. “Come here, then, and pray for me”. And Tom drew near, and poured out his soul
to God for the dying man. Ah! The master knew, in his inmost soul, that
his minister could not pray for him.
However, he knew his poor slave Tom was the man who knew how to pray.
3. The lives of many professing Christians are the
most terrible examples of Christianity.
They make Christianity look ridiculous in the eyes of many. Satan, it would seem, has pushed these professing
Christians into the Church to disgrace it.
People who have a strong sense of the ridiculous, are often tempted to
laugh at the absurd religious notions that some manifest. These so-called Christians never seem to
think of asking what would Christ do. I
have sometimes seen servants, in families where they were called to family
worship, come in cowering, and get behind the door, hidden away from the family
circle. I wonder if they think it will
be like that in heaven. In some
families I know, it is not their wish, but the choice of the servant, and of
course, they are not to blame. Since I
have been here, I have seen people pick up their hats and walk out of church,
when they see the colored people sitting among the whites. I wonder if such people would do so in
heaven. Let me ask you, isn’t this the
direct opposite of the spirit of Christ?
How would Christ treat the poor slaves, and the colored people, if He
were in this country?
4. Do you see the importance of always remembering
the person whom you have undertaken to represent? Do you see the importance of remembering the part you are
expected to play on this stage called life?
For example, everyone can see that a minister in the pulpit, and
everywhere, should put on Christ. Yes,
he should. But every Christian should
put on Christ as he walks through life.
5. Let us ask ourselves whether we have represented
Christ in such a way that it gives those around us the true idea of
religion. Suppose a minister should
never ask himself, “what idea of religion do my people get from me”? It’s easy to see that he would not be able
to convey a very definite idea of religion to his people. Every professing Christian should ask
himself the same question, “What idea of religion do other people get from
me”? Every professing Christian should
do this. Now beloved, do you live in
such a way that you make the impression that religion is unselfish love? Would anyone get that idea from you? A man said not long ago, “if religion is
unselfish love, I know of only one man in our church who seems to be
religious”. How many do you know in this
City? Religion is unselfish love in
action. Nothing else is religion. Do you live that way? Do I?
If not what will become of our souls?
6. Those who do not put on Christ are the worst kind
of heretics. There is no heresy as bad as a false profession of Christ.
7. Inconsistent professing Christians are the
greatest curse to the world that there is in it.
8. Professing Christians who have not put on Christ
should confess to those around them and instantly reform. Confess to your wife, your children, your
church, and your neighbors. Will you do
it?
9. Sinners have no excuse. God requires every sinner to put on Christ just as much as He
requires professing Christians to put on Christ.
10. Unless every one of us, in our calling, fully intends to put on Christ, and keep Him on, we are on the way to hell. If you are not what you think Christ would be in your calling, you are not a Christian. How different is this from what we commonly call religion today! The religion that we currently see is full of pride, and starch, and fashion, and death. Oh! Brethren, let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and “make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts”.