properly – Praying Pint

21.f. “Cast off and cast away your cloak of filthy rags”

Romans 13:12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Ezekiel 18:31-32   Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

John 3:19-21   And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

1 John 1:5-7   This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Galatians 5:16   But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

1 Thessalonians 2:12   we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

We must cast off before we can put on. “The rags of sin must come off if we put on the robe of Christ. There must be a taking away of the love of sin, there must be a renouncing of the practices and habits of sin, or else a man cannot be a Christian. It will be an idle attempt to try and wear religion as a sort of celestial overall over the top of old sins.” (Spurgeon)

The flesh will be as active as we allow it to be. We have a work to do in walking properly, as in the day – it isn’t as if Jesus does it for us as we sit back; instead, He does it through us as we willingly and actively partner with Him. (Guzik)

Spurgeon makes the point of the idle attempt to think it is possible to wear the cloak of religion over the top of unrepentant, unchanged, self-reliant, self-worthy, and self-serving heart, and expect it to, by some means, make you right before God’s eyes. There are those who spit on the garment of salvation. They want no part of it. They see this garment as a filthy rag. They deny it has any beauty or purpose.

There are people that may recognize the need for Christ but they continue to wear the cloak of self-reliance to cover their sin rather than an intentional choice to cast off the cloak of all hope in anything they can do and put on the garment of salvation. They are quick-change artists. They are able to slap an off-market garment that gives the appearance of being a Christian but under that garment still remains the filthy rags of un-repented sin and self-reliance. They never want to take off their filthy rags only cover them up.

The Word of God exposes the stench and ugliness of these filthy rags we cling to so tightly. In His Word, we are able to see them for what they are. We smell the stench and see the ugliness. We become aware and are able to cast them off. It is in this “casting off” that we are able to put on the pure clean garment of salvation. Casting off requires us to recognize the stench and ugliness of what cloaks our hearts, minds, and souls. Without this recognition, the need for the garment of salvation will never be put on. Jesus Christ paid the price (bought our new garment) and when we recognize the filthy rags clothing us and humbly take them off and lay them at His feet, He places this new garment of salvation on us. The stench and ugliness garments are removed forever.

The stench and ugliness of our filthy rags is sin. The garment of salvation is believing in, clinging to, trusting in, and relying on and in Jesus Christ. Recognition, confession, repentance, turning away, from the cloak of sin to the garment of salvation is an intentional choice. We can never buy the garment of salvation, it can only be given to us by Jesus Christ as we cast off our cloak of filthy rags.

19.n. “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

2 Corinthians 5:17   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Ephesians 4:17   Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

Ephesians 4:22-24  to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

1 John 2:6   whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Colossians 1:10-12    so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Philippians 3:17-18    Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.  For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Romans 13:13-14     Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

“That we too might walk in newness of life.” “Behold the new has come.” “He is a New Creation.” Renewed in the spirit of your minds.” “Put on the new self.” “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” “Let us walk properly as in the daytime.” What does it mean to walk properly and in a manner worthy of the Lord? The easiest way to think about answering this is to know what sin is and to know what is pleasing to God. How do we know what sin is? Do we know it by instinct? Do we instinctively know what is good and bad – right and wrong – true and false? Unfortunately, we do not instinctively know, but through our upbringing and our culture, we determine what is socially acceptable. If something is socially or culturally acceptable is it good, right, and true? – (Maybe) If it is socially and culturally acceptable can it still be sin? – (absolutely) Someone said wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it, and right is right if there is only one doing it.

If we base our rights, wrongs, and truths on what is culturally acceptable then we can easily fall prey to doing what is sin in God’s eyes. There is only one place we gain insight into what is good, right, and true. That is in God’s word. He is steadfast. His Word is true. His promises are true. He is truth. There is no falsehood in Him. If we want to know what is true, right, good, and honorable then we need to not only spend time in His Word but also spend time with Him in prayer. Jesus said that out of the abundance of our heart our mouth speaks. If we are only feeding our heart with a token stab at daily devotions then His Word will not abide in us but rather pass through us as if we were empty vessels. There must be a heart-deep desire connected to our seeking of what is true, good, and right. There must be a hunger and thirst. If there is stagnate “life” flowing through your veins and if there is a neglect of God’s Word in your day, and if there is a foggy haze to your understanding of what is good, right, and true in God’s eyes, then repent and turn away from this right now. You are a new creation that has been born with the newness of life through Jesus Christ. Jesus did not die for you so that you could keep on sinning but rather so that you would choose to intentionally live to honor and glorify Him alone. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

17.v. “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Johne 12:35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Isaiah 2:5    O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Isaiah 42:6-7   “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,  to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Romans 13:12-14     The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

2 Corintians 6:2 I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

We must believe on Jesus while the light is there, because it won’t last forever. God’s Spirit will not always strive with man and we must answer His call while it rings to us. If we believe it is because God has revealed Himself and His truth to us through His Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and His Word. John emphasized that unbelief was because God acted in judgment upon those who refused to see His truth and turn to Him. God would strengthen them in their decision, either for Jesus or against Him. “The blinding takes place without the will or against the will of these people. So with the hardening of their heart. These men chose evil. It was their own deliberate choice, their own fault”.

“To walk in the Spirit (LIGHT) first means that the Holy Spirit lives in you. Second, it means to be open and sensitive to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Third, it means to pattern your life after the influence of the Holy Spirit. When someone walks in the Spirit, they listen to what the Holy Spirit says as He guides us in the path and nature of Jesus. The Holy Spirit doesn’t move in us to gratify our fallen desires and passions, but to teach us about Jesus and to guide us in the path of Jesus. This is the key to righteous living – walking in the Spirit, not living under the domination of the flesh. (Guzik) “When the flesh begins to temp and influence the only remedy is to take the sword of the Spirit, the word of salvation, and fight against the flesh. If you set the Word out of sight, you are helpless against the flesh. I know this to be a fact. I have been assailed by many violent passions, but as soon as I took hold of some Scripture passage, my temptations left me. Without the Word I could not have helped myself against the flesh.” (Luther)

Do not become complacent or neglect the Word of God each day in your heart, mind, and life.

16.d. “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly and unspiritual.”

Philippians 2:4  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 13:13     Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

1 Peter 2:1-2    So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation

James 3:14-16     But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

2 Corinthians 12:20     For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

Unity is the goal, “Like-minded”, “having the same love”, “one purpose”, “On mind”. What comes in-between members, families, and churches that cause a lack of unity. The list is long. Pride, envy, jealousy, greed, selfish-ambition, quarreling, slander, conceit, hostility, anger, etc…… are all present in the worldly realm and should not be present in the church. When we were born again we became new creatures, a new creation. During our growth from an infant believer into a mature believer, we will encounter these worldly attributes in ourselves as well as others. The Holy Spirit will bring these to light within us as we continue to grow in our walk with the Lord. I don’t care how mature you are, there is always going to be something the Holy Spirit will bring to light in your life that is not in line with honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ. We need to be mindful of worldly influences. We need to be able to identify that which is of this world and at odds with living godly lives. The church is made up of Christians both new and old to the faith. Learning to live in harmony with one another requires each of us to ensure we are seeking unity and not being influenced by how the world thinks we should react to certain situations, comments, people, etc…. When we stay in God’s Word we will find peace, comfort, and strength to identify and keep out worldly influences. Don’t you wonder how many divisions have taken place just because of pride, anger, gossip, slander, conceit, greed, jealousy, selfish-ambition, and envy? Ask God to reveal what He sees in your heart so that you can confidently know you are living your life full of the Spirit and honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ in all you think, say, and do.