Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
From a sermon by Preacher Clark probably in the late 1970’s
taken from Gary’s Reel #1, CD #3, Track 3
The apostle Paul made a distinction between the “old man” of the flesh and the “new man” of the Spirit. Under the Old Testament, the “old man” of the flesh carried out the worship of God. He was involved in everything that was done. The feast days were celebrated using natural food that the flesh, the “old man”, consumed; circumcision was performed with an earthly knife that cut the flesh; baptism was performed by putting natural water on the flesh; religious clothing was made of earthly materials that covered the flesh; incense was made of “fleshly”, or earthly, materials and was burned in an earthly, golden censer; and animal flesh was placed on earthly fires and burned as sacrifices upon earthly altars. I could offer more examples, but the point is made: under the law of Moses, the “old man”, the fleshly bodies of men, participated in all of the service of God.
In this New Testament, the old man has no part, and the new man of the Spirit does everything. The new man’s form of feasting with God is in spirit, not in the flesh (1Cor. 5:7-8); his circumcision is that of the heart, by the Spirit (Rom. 2:28-29); his baptism is the holy Ghost baptism (1Cor. 12:13); his garments for worship are his righteous deeds (Rev. 19:8); his incense is prayer that rises up to the Father (Rev. 5:8); and his sacrifices are those from his heart (Heb. 13:15-16). In the New Testament, the new man alone may carry out the service of God.
Preacher Clark said it this way: “Under the law, the old man got it all; under the new law, he gets nothing. Under this new law, the new man gets everything.” If you are worshiping in symbols and ceremonies, you are “in the flesh”, and all your worship is “worship in vain”. Symbolic ritual was the way men worshiped before Jesus came and suffered. Now, he has made “a new and living way” for us to worship the Father, the way of “spirit and truth”, and the old man is left out; he cannot attain to it. There are no religious rites in Christ, only worship in spirit and truth, and only the new man is allowed to do that.
This is the fundamental difference between the Old and the New Testaments. The Old was in the flesh and the old man did it all. This New Covenant in Christ is “in spirit and in truth”, and the new man does it all. The fleshly old man does not like to be left out, and those who are “in the flesh” often become angry when the truth about their fleshly religious ceremonies is preached. But whether the old man likes it or not, this New Covenant is in spirit, and the old man of the flesh will never partake of it. If you are “in the spirit”, you understand that this is good news, indeed, glorious news, and you are rejoicing in it with me.