WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:04.240 All right, church, this morning we will be in Ephesians chapter 4. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:18.000 Ephesians chapter 4, and this morning we will be looking at verses 17 through 24, which is all about putting off the old self. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:21.600 Out with the old, in with the new. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:28.239 So all of Ephesians up to this point has mostly been theological. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:38.560 So far, Paul has established doctrine concerning God, the nature of our salvation, the nature of the church. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:58.640 We saw last time here in chapter 4, in verses 1 through 16, this vision that Paul gives for the church, that Christ gives for the church, that we would be unified, diverse, connected, growing together in maturity, in Christ likeness. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:04.319 It's this amazing vision, isn't it, when we look over those verses. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:11.920 All of us together, connected as one, walking towards Christian maturity together. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:16.879 Everyone is exercising their God-given gifts. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:26.640 The leaders are equipping the saints for the works of ministry, and the saints are using that equipment to do the works of ministry. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:31.040 So every body part is functioning as it should. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:38.000 This vision of looking more like Christ as we head together towards glory. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:46.560 But immediately after sharing this vision, Paul will now transition to our behavior. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:48.159 Why? 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.840 Because it's not enough to share a vision. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:04.640 You could say yes all day to this vision, but you will never get there if you don't say no to a thousand other things. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.640 Let me give you an example. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:16.879 You could have a vision for losing 50 pounds, but you will never achieve it if you eat at McDonald's every day. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:26.960 You could have a vision for having a successful business, but that will never happen if you're knee-deep in gambling addiction. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:44.159 In the same way, you can have a vision for being a healthy, stable, contributing member of Christ's body, but it will never happen if you continue to live in your old sinful lifestyle. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:03:04.319 Imagine for a moment if I told my wife, honey, I am going to cherish you, I will lay down my life for you, and I will be the best husband I can be to you, but I'm gonna start using drugs and sleeping around with other women. 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:05.840 It's absurd. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:07.599 It's absolutely absurd. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:15.039 In the same way, saying yes to Christ is saying no to your old lifestyle. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.360 You can't serve two masters. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:20.560 You can't be healthy if you're drinking poison. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:26.080 You can't hope your team wins the Super Bowl if you're a Browns fan. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:30.479 Yet so many of us try. 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:31.039 Right? 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.039 We want spiritual maturity, but we don't want to change. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:37.199 We want to feel God's blessings. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:42.879 I know I do, but we continue to drink sin down like it's water. 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:49.120 We want God's power in our lives, but we don't want to give up nasty habits. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:04:00.080 As Leonard Ravenhill once said, everyone wants to be clothed with power, but no one wants to be stripped of self. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:08.719 Throughout the rest of Ephesians, Paul is going to teach us what this new life looks like. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:20.639 But before he teaches us about how to walk out the spirit-filled life, he starts his entire discourse by telling us to put off the old life. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:22.639 That's the starting point. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:27.279 Put off the bad so that you can walk in the new. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:32.079 So look at how Paul starts the conversation in verse 17. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:44.319 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. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:53.199 So before Paul gives us any command here, he starts by saying, Hey, I testify in the Lord. 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:59.120 What he's about to say, it's not an opinion, it's not a suggestion. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:03.360 What he is about to command us is from the Lord's testimony. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:09.920 He highlights divine authority here to let us know that this should be taken seriously. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:16.079 Now, why would Paul feel the need to underscore authority here? 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:27.360 Because anytime we get into the realm of Christian behavior or holiness, we're really good at kind of brushing it over. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:28.240 Right? 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:37.920 If a preacher says, hey, God is love in Christ has given us forgiveness, I don't have a problem living that out. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:43.279 I'll shout that all day long, that I'm a sinner saved by grace. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:45.279 I will sing that all day long. 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:55.199 But once the preacher starts saying, hey, be holy, stop mistreating your wife, don't gossip, remain sexually pure. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:58.560 Now we start to become a little bit uncomfortable. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:01.680 My flesh will make excuses. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:05.199 As an excuse, I'll call it legalism. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:05.759 Right? 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:10.399 Our inner lawyer attempts to self-justify. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:13.839 Which is why Paul says here, this is from the Lord. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.519 It's not from me, this is from the Lord himself. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:19.600 And the command is what? 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:25.759 To no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:28.639 This is principle number one, church. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.519 Don't walk like a sinner. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.360 That's what the word Gentile is referring to here. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:38.399 Don't be like the world. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:39.920 Why? 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.000 Because you don't belong there anymore. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:55.680 You once walked like a sinner, you once talked like a sinner, but ever since Jesus Christ He rescued your soul, that is no longer you. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:10.160 You have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, you've been declared legally righteous in the eyes of God, and you have been eternally adopted as a child of God through the Spirit. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.920 You are in every sense a new creation. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.639 Next, Paul expounds on the way of sinners. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:19.920 So what's that mean? 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:21.600 Don't walk like a sinner. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:24.000 How do lost people walk? 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:28.079 Well, look at verses 17 into verse 18. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:43.040 So, first, in the futility of their minds, they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.759 The world walks with an empty mind. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.920 Futility, it means meaningless pursuits. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:59.920 They are human efforts apart from God, and therefore they have no eternal value or significance. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.480 The thoughts of unbelievers are useless. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:12.959 They have no value because their thoughts are independent, they're self-generated, and they're not considering God. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:20.720 And if you have an empty mind, then you will have, look at the verse, a darkened understanding. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.079 It's kind of like having sunglasses on. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:29.519 Everything that you see and that you perceive in life is darkened. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:34.240 It's dark because it's disconnected from God in his presence. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:38.720 All of your moral reasoning will be clouded. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:42.639 You will have a distorted view on morals. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.120 You will have distorted priorities. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:49.200 The way that you see life in yourself, it will be twisted. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:53.279 Jesus talks about this in Matthew 6 in verse 23. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:59.679 He says, if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:03.919 And the underlying causes are outlined here. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.039 First, it's because you're alienated from God. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:10.320 You're separated from Him. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:14.720 The only thing you can do apart from God is sin. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:22.480 You're without His aid, His love, His guidance, His redeeming benefits. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:26.000 And secondly, you are ignorant. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.720 And by the way, the word ignorant doesn't mean a lack of information. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:36.480 It denotes this willful disregard of revealed truth. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:38.080 That's what it means. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:41.440 You resist reality. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.840 And lastly, your heart is hardened. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:52.159 You don't have a teachable, tender, sensitive heart towards the things of God. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:54.720 And so it's this progression. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:03.600 An empty mind leads to a darkened understanding, which leads to alienation, ignorance, and ultimately it's a hard heart. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:14.399 This depicts someone who is no longer sensitive to God's truth, to God's will, his voice, his conviction. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.519 You're no longer stimulated at all to the things of God. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:24.879 Jesus describes this condition for us in Matthew 13. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:31.519 He he quotes Isaiah and he says, You hear, but you never understand. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:35.840 You will see, but you will never perceive. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:44.000 You have shut your eyes and closed, or shut your ears and closed your eyes, is what he says. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:55.759 This condition, it's like a little kid when you're trying to tell them something, that they just close their ears and they shut their eyes and they just scream, blah, blah, blah, I can't hear you. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.399 That's a hard heart. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:01.200 In this condition, it's terrifying. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:07.679 It's describing a heart that cannot be penetrated because sin has so conquered it. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:18.000 No sense of guilt, shame, morality, just an absolute refusal to heed the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:23.200 You become stiff-necked, resistant toward repentance. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.080 Your conscience becomes seared. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.240 This is the way, church, that sinners walk. 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:35.840 They walk with an empty mind, a darkened perspective, and a hard heart. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.559 And this condition will lead to what? 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:40.159 Look at verse 19. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:48.639 They give themselves up to sensuality and greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:54.000 This is the progression of sin that we see in Romans 1. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:12:01.919 A depraved mind leads to a hard heart, which leads to perversity and immorality. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:09.679 God, as a form of judgment, will give people over to their evil desires. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:17.600 He will remove his restraint, if you will, and say, go and do whatever you want to do. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:24.240 Go and indulge the things that will destroy you and torment your soul. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.519 I don't know if any of you have read C.S. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:36.399 Lewis's series, The Chronicles of Narnia, but in the book, uh, The Voyage of the Don Treader, it's one of my favorite parts. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:46.480 There's this part in the book where the crew on the ship approached this island where all of your dreams can come true. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.320 It's an island where all of your dreams can come true. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:53.120 And in the water, near that island, they saw a man. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.039 His name was Lord Roop. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:04.960 He's in the water, he's fleeing the island, and he screams in the book Mercy, mercy, take me on board, he says. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.240 Take me, even if you strike me dead, take me. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:14.879 But in the name of all mercies, do not fade away and leave me on this horrible land. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:18.559 Can you imagine the response of the crew? 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:24.559 You want to leave an island where all of your dreams come true? 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:27.120 Like, what's so terrifying about that? 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:28.559 That sounds great to me. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:31.360 I don't know about you, but that sounds great. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:37.600 And Lord Roop, as he explained to the crew, he said, friends, you're not hearing me. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:39.840 Did you hear what I said? 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:44.480 All of your dreams will come true. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:48.000 And then they began to tremble. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:58.879 Imagining how hellish and heinous an island would be where all of your dreams would come true. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:04.480 Friends, the human heart is desperately wicked. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.559 It's desperately wicked. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:09.600 Our hearts are so stained with sin. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:15.279 In the depth of evil that we can imagine and do, it knows no end. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:26.320 The worst thing that could ever happen to us is if God stopped hindering us from our evil pursuits and said, Go and have whatever you want. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:29.679 I will no longer create barriers for you. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:31.679 I will no longer convict you. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:33.519 Go and have at it. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:42.480 This naturally leads to sensuality, which means pursuing pleasure and gratification with no self-control. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:49.840 Sensuality, it often involves excessive physical and sexual pleasures. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:59.200 It's when someone is totally dominated by their desires and they say, I will do whatever gives me a dopamine hit. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:05.120 Or I will, my, my God, my cravings will be my belly. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:06.320 Right? 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:17.679 And if sensuality becomes our pursuit, we become, look at the verse, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:22.240 We're like kids at a candy store with unlimited money. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:27.120 We're trying all the different flavors and the kinds and the shapes, right? 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:30.320 Vanilla ice cream is no longer enjoyable. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:34.000 We need more flavors to enhance our taste buds. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.240 In the same way, that is how we become with sin. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:40.720 We become greedy for it. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:45.519 We progress in sin, in severity and in frequency. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:55.759 Like Romans 1 says, we begin to invent, we come up with inventions of new sinful behaviors and we we celebrate it. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:03.039 We are greedy to practice every kind of impurity, trying to enhance sinful pleasure as our life goal. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:06.720 And do you know why sin is always progressive? 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.480 Because it never satisfies. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:14.080 Sin never satisfies. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:22.240 Maybe for a short fleeting moment, but just like a drug, we become tolerant to it. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:30.720 The level of craving increases while the pleasure that we gain from it decreases. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:32.480 And so we need more. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:44.799 We need to try harder, stronger, weirder things to chase fleeting pleasure, trying to enhance satisfaction, which is never enough. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:52.639 So Paul commands us, with the Lord's authority, do not walk in this way anymore. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:55.600 Church, don't walk in this way anymore. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.600 This is your old man. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:02.639 This is the way of sinners, and they're heading towards hell. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:08.160 The day Jesus Christ came into our lives, he buried this old man. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.680 So why would you try to resurrect him? 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:20.000 And the fact that Paul commands this, it implies that we are still capable of such things. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:22.559 Do Christians still sin? 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.039 Yes, we do. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:28.960 Will we ever become sinless? 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:31.279 Not on this side of heaven, right? 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:40.240 But should Christians continually live in and be dominated by sin's power? 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:40.880 No. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.640 But it is possible, right? 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:47.200 But it is possible. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:57.119 It's possible for Christians to be stuck in old sinful patterns, spiritually depressed, misrepresenting Christ on earth. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:58.880 We see it all the time. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.440 Walking in the old ways of the old man, which is why Paul says this. 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.240 Don't walk in that way anymore. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:09.359 Can we not all relate? 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:13.599 You're in this sweet season with the Lord. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:15.519 You're in his word every day. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:17.119 You're praying a lot. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:18.319 You feel close to him. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:23.599 You've got Shane and Shane worship music playing in the car on your way to work. 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:27.039 And then time passes. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:32.720 Then you start slacking a little bit here, a little bit there in your daily devotion. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:38.880 Next thing you know, instead of praying on your way to work, you're worrying about things. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:44.319 Instead of Shane and Shane on the playlist, all of a sudden ACDC's on there. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:53.039 More time passes, you can't even remember the last time you got in the Word, let alone just talk to the Lord. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:57.119 Your thought life starts to become a little darkened. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:04.480 You start checking out at home, just being lazy and doom scrolling on your phone. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:08.880 You're getting more frustrated with people around you and your spouse. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.240 You start looking at forbidden things. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:17.599 Old sinful habits that you thought you you conquered, they're back. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:18.880 They're back. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:21.119 You're lusting again. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:23.359 You're worried about money again. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.599 You're easily angered again. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.920 You're criticizing other Christians. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:32.160 You're resisting spiritual authority, trying to control people. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:35.359 You're craving fleshly things. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:37.359 And it's like he's back. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.160 He's back. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:39.839 The old self is back. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.559 He's controlling the ship. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:45.519 Your perspective is dark again. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:47.200 God seems distant. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.160 Going to church feels like a chore. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:55.200 Sharing the gospel with someone is the last thing on your mind. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.279 And it's like, what happened? 00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:58.640 Just a few months ago. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:00.880 I was so close to the Lord. 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:07.359 It's like now I'm right back doing all of the sinful things that Christ died for. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:10.880 Things that I thought were gone and forgotten. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:16.160 What do we need to hear in these seasons? 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:21.440 Stop walking like a sinner. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:24.319 You're not a heathen. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:26.559 You're not a pagan. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:30.799 You don't belong to this world anymore. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:36.799 God the Father no longer sees you as a sinner. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.640 Therefore, don't look like one. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:43.279 Stop acting like one. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:51.200 Because Paul says, look at verses 20 through 21, that is not the way you learned in Christ. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:57.599 Assuming that you have heard about him and you were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:06.079 Paul is destroying any form of teaching that promotes perverted grace or licentiousness. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:08.319 It's an old heresy. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.160 It's still around today. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:26.640 And it says this since you're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, since you're not saved by your works, and since there's nothing you can do to earn or keep or maintain your salvation, live however you want. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:28.480 Sin all you want. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:31.119 Christ's blood will cover it. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.519 No, says Paul, that is not the way you learned in Christ. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:39.279 You are forgiven so that you will sin no more. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:44.319 God's grace teaches us, Titus 2, God's grace teaches us to what? 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:48.000 To deny ungodliness, not to indulge it. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:53.920 Christ's grace doesn't just cover your sin, but it empowers you to overcome it. 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:59.599 You're not saved by good works, but you are saved, Ephesians 2, 4. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.359 Good works. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:13.200 Church, anyone who uses the grace of Christ to condone, excuse, or promote sin doesn't understand the cross at all. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:14.960 They don't understand it. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:18.319 They don't understand the very essence of grace. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:21.359 That is not the way we learned in Jesus Christ. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:22.960 That is not the gospel. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:36.880 According to the true gospel, we're not just set free from the legal penalty of our sin, but we are given enabling grace to overcome the power of sin in our lives. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.640 Not perfectly, but we are given that power. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:46.559 A new relationship with God means that you have a new relationship with sin. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:54.319 So Paul in verse 21, he assumes that they've heard about Christ and they were taught in him correctly. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.000 Read the Gospels. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:05.440 Jesus Himself taught us to live differently, to have different attitudes, different desires, to be holy, to pursue righteousness. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:11.759 He explains how we ought to walk and talk and interact with others and the world around us. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.839 Christ teaches us holiness. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:24.720 Jesus gives us a new life, and he teaches us how to walk in it, and he gives us the power to walk in it. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.680 And that is what Paul expounds on next. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.119 The new man, the new creation. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.319 What is the way of Christ? 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:38.000 What is the life that Christ has called us to? 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:40.960 Look at verses 22 through 24. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:24:01.839 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. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:08.880 The new life starts by first putting off the old self. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:12.160 Don't indulge it or embrace it, put it off. 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:20.319 As Paul says in Romans 6, he says, put to death the deeds of the body. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:23.279 This is justifiable homicide. 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:28.720 Okay, kill the old man in you that wants to rebel and defy God. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:32.960 Kill him and leave him dead, leave him in the grave. 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:35.839 And I don't mean to be offensive here. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:37.680 Please understand me when I say this. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:43.920 I'm not trying to be offensive here, but I say this all the time because it's a very helpful analogy. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:48.880 But every Christian, in a sense, is bipolar. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:54.559 And what I mean by that is there's the old self and there's the new self, right? 00:24:54.720 --> 00:25:03.039 So even though your old man has been dethroned and you have a new life in Christ, the old man still lingers. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:04.319 Does he not? 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:08.240 There's Jimmy, here I am, I'm Jimmy, right? 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.720 The new man, hopefully, right? 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:13.440 Then there's Jimbo Slice, as I call him. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:13.839 Okay? 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:15.119 He's the old man. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.680 Jimbo Slice is not a good guy. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:34.000 He's selfish, he's narcissistic, he's critical towards everyone, he hates authority, he likes uh putting anything in his body that can manipulate his reward system. 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:36.960 He has a thing for crude, crude humor. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:43.440 He's greedy, he's stingy, he's manipulative, and he could care less about the needs of others. 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:45.599 He's a nasty guy. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:50.319 Anyone who knows me closely, they've seen parts of him. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.519 Ask my wife, ask Connor Riedel. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:26:01.359 And although I stand here today, saved and redeemed, I'm telling you that Jimbo Slice is still in here. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:06.720 He's defeated in a sense, but he makes a ruckus all the time. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:13.440 He tries to take the steering wheel and catch me on a bad day, and he comes out. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:25.359 On days or moments when I am not surrendered to the Lord, living my life at his disposal, Jimbo Slice will take the wheel. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:28.559 He will take the wheel, and it's never pretty. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:35.359 And if I allow him to lead, I cannot move forward spiritually. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:40.640 I cannot do anything spiritually productive when he's got the wheel. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:46.480 So I must first put him off because he's a thing of my past. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:47.599 Look at the verse. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:55.839 The old self belongs to your former manner of life, and it's corrupt and through deceitful desires. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:58.720 I put him off because he belongs in my past. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:00.319 He's corrupt. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:04.000 He belongs in the grave and he needs to stay there. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:13.440 You know, in modern Christianity, I think, I could be wrong on this, but I think we blame the devil way too much. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:20.880 Uh, we'll blame him when we're angry, uh, for giving us bad thoughts or causing me to worry and control things. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:25.039 We blame the devil when we forgot to set our alarm clock, right? 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:30.240 But most of the time, I think, it's just the old man. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:34.400 It's just the old sinful flesh, old fleshly habits. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:39.599 You know the phrase, I am my own worst enemy, it holds true here. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:47.119 Now, if you're familiar with scripture, you realize that it's not enough to just stop sinning, right? 00:27:47.920 --> 00:28:00.079 So, following the principle of Matthew 12, you can, you know, clean up your house from a demon, but if it returns and your house is empty, seven more will come back. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:05.039 And so it's not enough to merely put off your old self. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:09.039 This is just the starting point, not the finish line. 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:12.799 And this, friends, is where so many people go wrong. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:15.440 I see this a lot in addiction ministry. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:26.400 Someone will stop using drugs, uh, they they quit getting drunk, uh, they give up old friends, but then they just stop there as if that was the finish line. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:29.680 This is not true repentance. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:41.759 True repentance is not merely turning from sin, it's turning from sin and turning towards God for all life, purpose, and satisfaction. 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:56.480 If you stop eating junk food, but you don't replace your appetite with something else, you will begin to starve and you'll end up going right back to the crispy creams. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:06.319 If you take off your dirty clothes, but you do not put on new clothes, so then you're just kind of standing there awkwardly naked, right? 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:14.559 It's like you'll end up putting on your old clothes because at least you're clothed with something rather than nothing. 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:25.359 Think of a prisoner who's released from prison but still wears his prison clothes, and he acts like a prisoner and not like a free man. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:33.039 The first thing to tell that person is, hey, you need to put on some new clothes. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:50.240 And so fundamentally, Paul says that for the Christian, there must be a break with the past so that we can put on the new man, the new creation, the spirit-filled life. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:54.240 So after putting off the old man, how do we then put on the new man? 00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:55.200 Look at the verse. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:09.759 The starting point is being renewed in the spirit of your minds to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.319 Look back at the description of Gentiles above. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:20.319 Where is the starting point for their spiral of depravity? 00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:24.559 It started with the futility of their mind. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:34.880 In the same way, walking in the new man starts with being renewed in the spirit of your minds. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:41.920 The spirit of your mind, it refers to the believers' thoughts and attitudes. 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:49.359 The mind is the arena where the Holy Spirit constantly works on renewal. 00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:52.640 Think of Romans 12, verse 1. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:56.960 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be what? 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:00.000 Transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:09.200 The mind is the source of every thought, the seat of every passion, and the judge of every decision. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:15.119 As one commentator says, physically you are what you eat, right? 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:17.680 But spiritually you are what you think. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:39.200 As we meditate on God's word day and night, and we delight in the law of the Lord, we become firmly re-established, like trees planted alongside riverbanks, bearing fruit in each season, where the leaves never wither and they prosper in all that they do. 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:48.240 You have no chance of walking in the new man unless you first renew your mind in God's truth. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:56.880 I don't know about you, but I am constantly bombarded with lies that come and go. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:58.799 I'm never enough. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:01.440 God doesn't love me. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:03.759 I'll never measure up. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:05.440 I'm just a loser. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:09.519 I'm a wretched sinner, I'm an imposter, I'm such a hypocrite. 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:10.960 There's no hope for me. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:18.480 I'm too far gone, too far broken, I'm uniquely dysfunctional, and I can't change, I'll never change. 00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:39.279 And so long as I believe those lies, I will be discouraged, trying to mask my depression, my spiritual depression, with sin, allowing Jimbo Slice to rule, allowing the devil to keep a foot on my neck, and I'll even reinforce those lies by acting on them. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:59.519 And what Paul is commanding us to do here is to transform our minds with God's word, to replace negative thinking patterns with God's truth, and to interrupt those lies with God's promises, to rise up and say, Shut up, old man. 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:01.680 Stop talking. 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:04.000 Those thoughts are lies. 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.599 According to Romans 8, God does love me. 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:09.599 That's what his word says. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:12.319 He is for me, he's not against me. 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:17.440 And it also says that I'm not defined by yesterday's sins. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.279 According to Galatians 3, Christ has redeemed me. 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:22.880 He set me free. 00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:27.599 According to 2 Corinthians 5, I'm not defined by my past. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:29.519 I'm a new man. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:35.119 And according to Philippians 1, God will finish what he started in me. 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:36.559 He's not going to give up. 00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:39.200 It says he will complete what he started. 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:43.279 According to Malachi 3, his love for me hasn't changed. 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:48.160 According to Ephesians 1, I am a saint, even though I don't feel like it. 00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:56.319 I am a saint, and I'm a child of the living God, and I have been chosen before the foundation of the earth, and I am destined for glory. 00:33:57.200 --> 00:33:59.440 This isn't positive thinking. 00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:02.720 Okay, this is biblical reality. 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:04.640 It's biblical reality. 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:17.920 And when the mind is renewed with truth, then and only then can we put on the new man that's created after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness. 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:20.880 It's this amazing picture. 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:28.320 I take off my old smelly shirt of pride, thinking I'm so important and significant. 00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:31.840 I take off my shoes, they're stained with lust. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:34.800 I take that appetite and I throw it away. 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:40.880 I take off my pants that are drenched in greed, I throw them in the garbage and I say no more. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:47.519 I take off my socks, they they reek of people pleasing, and I throw those away. 00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:51.039 I remove my sin-stained hat of self-hatred. 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:52.079 I take that off. 00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:54.800 I rip off my useless gloves of shame. 00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:57.519 They don't even keep my hands warm, anyways. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:08.800 And I throw away this nasty wardrobe full of false identities, this disgusting outfit that looks like the rest of the unbelieving world. 00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:14.800 And I take the precious robe that Christ has freely given me. 00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:24.480 A robe that permeates righteousness and holiness, and I wrap it around myself, and it actually covers my nakedness. 00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:30.079 It gives me true peace and security and protection. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:39.360 I put on the new man who is created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. 00:35:39.519 --> 00:35:42.400 I clothe myself with Christ. 00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:47.519 The new man, look at the verse, it looks like God. 00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:53.679 Not in the sense of being all-knowing or all-powerful or omnipresent. 00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:54.639 Like who can say that? 00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:56.320 That's not what I'm talking about. 00:35:56.639 --> 00:36:03.039