Thank you.
Welcome aboard.
All right.
You've all seen these advertisements before.
Maybe it's a late night TV program.
Maybe it is in some kind of, I don't know, magazine you're looking at.
Imagine with me, the Gut Buster 3000.
And you have a before and after picture.
The before picture is of Jim.
He's 38 years old and he's gigantic.
He's huge, head disheveled, sticking his gut out so you can see his size.
And he probably plays Donkey Kong in his parents' basement.
That's the kind of impression you get with Jim.
That's the before picture.
And then there's the after picture.
Jim, 185, 3% body fat.
Hair is impeccable.
He is on a yacht with ladies.
You know what I mean?
It's like the Gut Buster 3000 has changed him.
There was the old Jim.
And then there's the new Jim.
And the Gut Buster 3000 did the changing.
Well, this morning, we're going to look at a passage in Ephesians that talks about our old self,
who we were before we became Christians.
And then it's going to point us to the new self, who you are now in Christ.
And the big difference between the two is not a Gut Buster 3000.
It's the resurrected Christ who made us new creations.
And so would you open up your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4.
We're going to look at verses 17 through 24.
This is a wonderful passage.
And what it is, it's setting up to help us as Christians to know how to walk as Christians.
How to live out our calling in Christ.
So let me read this.
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.
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 their heart.
But they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality,
greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
But that's not the way you learn Christ.
Assuming that you've heard about Him and were taught in Him,
as the truth is in Jesus,
to put off your old self,
which belongs to your former manner of life
and is corrupt through these 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.
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
You've got to think of yourself as you truly are.
A new creation in Christ.
Your old self is history.
Your new self in Christ is the present reality.
You have a new identity in Christ.
You're not who you used to be.
Now, knowing and believing what God says to be true of you in Christ
will change the way you live your life.
Who you are determines how you live.
And so this morning, I want to help you from this passage,
see who you are.
So three moves this morning.
The old you,
the new you,
and the need to renew.
So the old you,
the new you,
and the need to renew.
You must believe what God's Word says is true of you.
You're a new creation in Christ Jesus,
and it changes the way you live your life.
So, the old you.
The old you.
Now, I have a little warning in front of this.
This is going to be a little bleak.
And so, to be faithful to the text
is to show you some things about yourself
that you may not necessarily like to see.
And so, little warning ahead of time.
Unless sin be bitter,
Christ will not be sweet.
And so, we're going to be reminded of some things right now
that you may say,
that's hard to hear.
Well, in verse 22,
our Lord Jesus,
through the Apostle Paul,
tells us to put off the old self.
To put it off.
So, we've got to ask the question,
who is the old self?
Verse 22 says,
put off your old self,
which belongs to your former manner of life,
and is corrupt through deceitful desires.
The old self, the old you,
is who you were,
former manner of life,
before you became a Christian.
That's the old self.
And notice,
that the former you,
is corrupt through deceitful desires.
Who you were before becoming a Christian,
was corrupt.
The word corrupt,
is describing the nature,
of our old self,
before Christ.
And Paul,
is not painting a pretty picture here.
What he's actually saying is this,
not only were we corrupt,
we were moving from bad to worse.
We were becoming more and more corrupt.
We were on a disintegrating descent
towards destruction.
We were dead to God,
and decaying morally.
Ephesians 2, 1-3.
The old self is the non-Christian you,
walking in darkness.
Now let's press into this a little bit more.
If you would look at Ephesians 4,
17-19,
God wants us to understand
what we've been called out of.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord,
that you must no longer walk
as the Gentiles do.
Those Gentiles who didn't believe in Christ.
Don't walk like them,
in the futility of their minds.
They are darkened into their understanding,
alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them
due to their hardness of heart.
They've become callous
and have given themselves up to sensuality,
greedy to practice
every kind of impurity.
What we read in Ephesians 4, 17-19
is a description of the nature
and practice of non-Christians.
Of those separated from the life of God
in Christ.
And this is a description
of our former way of living.
This is who we used to be.
Our old non-Christian selves.
You see in that passage in verse 17,
in the futility of their minds,
our thinking was empty,
hollow,
without substance.
Now back in the day,
we would never have said that.
We probably thought we were on target.
Thinking the right thoughts.
We know what reality was.
But we were actually
futile in our thinking.
We didn't know the truth,
nor did we have the ability
to comprehend it.
And so what we see in verse 17
when we're talking about
the futility of the mind
is an emphasis on your mind.
We were darkened in our understanding.
Verse 18.
Again, another word.
Understanding referencing
the importance of the mind.
The lights of our understanding
were off towards God.
We were blind
to recognizing the light
of the knowledge of Christ.
We were futile in our thinking.
We were darkened in our understanding.
And we were alienated
from the life of God
in Christ Jesus
because of the ignorance
that was in us.
Again, ignorance.
Another reference to the mind.
What were we ignorant of?
We were ignorant of the truth
that is in Christ Jesus.
We did not know God.
We were not in a life-giving relationship
with the resurrected Christ.
Our ignorance of Christ
was essentially a rejection
of Christ.
And mind you,
this is not
an innocent ignorance,
but a culpable rejection
of Christ,
which demonstrates
the fact that we were separated
from the life of God.
We were dead to God.
We were futile in our thinking.
We were darkened
in our understanding.
We were alienated
from the life of God
because of the ignorance in us.
And then we get to the heart
of the matter.
Paul brings us to
the cause of it all.
You see that at the end
of verse 18.
Due to their hardness of heart,
we were hardened to God.
Our futility of mind,
our darkened understanding,
our ignorance and alienation
was all a result
of our hardened hearts.
Remember,
your heart
is the control center
of your life.
What controls your heart
controls your life.
What controls your heart
controls what you live for,
how you walk through your days.
And back
before we were Christians,
our hearts
were hardened
towards God.
Now, not all of us
had the same degree
of hardness.
We are on varying degrees
of hardness to God,
but we are all
hardening
towards God.
We didn't live for Christ.
We lived for our own pleasures.
This was our nature.
This is who we were
apart from Christ.
That's who we used to be.
This is a picture
of our old self.
And just to be
absolutely clear,
God places the blame
for our futility
of thinking,
darkened understanding,
alienation and ignorance,
squarely on our
hardened hearts.
We're responsible.
He holds us responsible
for our corrupt natures.
sinners.
This was who we were
by nature.
And remember,
who you are
determines how you live.
So our corrupt nature
worked its way out
into practice.
And we see that
in verse 19.
19.
They have become callous
and have given themselves
up to sensuality,
greedy to practice
every kind of impurity.
Callous.
It's another way of talking
about a hardened heart.
You know,
when you're working outside
or doing something
a lot with your hands,
you get calluses
on your hands.
And what they end up doing
is they keep you
from feeling pain.
They make you unfeeling,
numb you to pain.
And what Paul is saying here
is that a callous heart
is numb to God
and His ways.
And so out of a callous heart,
people,
formerly ourselves,
to varying degrees,
gave ourselves up
to sensuality.
Giving ourselves over
to the godless pursuit
of sensual pleasures.
Without God on the scene,
we're still going to pursue
something to make us happy.
It's the law
of diminishing returns
played out in morality.
Maybe you've experienced this.
Maybe you know other people
who've experienced this.
When someone has a heart
that's hardening
towards God,
they'll seek pleasure
apart from God.
They'll pursue satisfaction
somewhere else.
Somewhere where God forbids.
And over time,
that gets old.
And so you look for
another kind of fix.
And instead of repenting,
you move deeper down in.
You fall further into
the disintegrating
descent
of decay
towards destruction.
That's the practice.
That's the lifestyle
of those apart from Christ.
You move from bad
to worse
because your heart
is hardened to God.
It's not static.
It's dynamic.
It's regressive.
Now, not all of us
were in the same place
when God graciously
intervened in our lives.
Some of us
were just
getting started
down the
descent of decay.
Others of us
were well down
that slippery slide.
But the point
you need to see here
is that
the descending
into moral decay
was because of
who we were.
dead to God,
alienated from
the life of Christ.
We see this being
played out.
Who you are
determines how you live.
We see it here
in the first part
of 17 through 19.
Now, would you look back
at verse 17?
We read this.
Now this I say
in testifying to the Lord.
Paul is saying,
listen to me
as your apostle.
Now this I say
in testifying to the Lord
that you must
no longer walk
as the Gentiles do.
We are no longer
to live this way.
Why?
Because it's not
who we are anymore.
God through Christ
has changed
our very nature.
And because He's done that,
we have a new way to live.
So we've looked at
the old self.
The old you.
Now let's look at
the new you.
Let's look at what God
has done through Christ
in you.
He's given you
a new nature.
Verse 24.
And put on the new self,
created after the likeness
of God and true righteousness
in holiness.
Well, we just got done
looking at the nature
and practice
of the old you.
Now we're going to
bear in on the nature
of the new you.
Who we are now
in Christ.
And so,
in verse 24,
you see the word
created.
Created and put on Him.
Put on the new self.
Created after the likeness
of God
and true righteousness
and holiness.
Think new creation.
A new creation
created by God
in the likeness of God.
Would you flip over
to Ephesians 2.10?
For we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus
for good works.
God made us alive in Christ.
Ephesians 2.5.
He made us alive in Christ
in order to be like Christ.
In true righteousness
and holiness.
And this gracious act of God
in which He made you alive
was a decisive act of God.
There once was a time
when you were dead in your sin.
God intervened
and then you were alive in Christ.
It was a decisive moment
in your life.
The new self
is who you are now
in Christ.
Redeemed.
Made new.
Indwelt by the Spirit.
You've been given
a new nature in Christ.
We are a new people now.
Claimed by Jesus.
Now let me just do some truth
in advertising right here.
Because there can be
some misunderstanding.
When we are made new in Christ,
God does not eradicate
from our experience
our sinful nature.
He doesn't completely eradicate it.
So though we have been made new,
we are going to have
an inclination still
to do things
according to our
former way of life.
But we have a new desire now
through what Christ has done.
Look at verses 20 and 21.
But this is not the way
we learn Christ,
assuming that you've heard
about Him
and were taught in Him,
as the truth is in Jesus.
Paul has just said
we are not to live
like non-Christians.
Who they are
determines how they lived.
But we have come
to know Christ.
We've learned Christ.
And so our former manner
of life stands
in sharp contrast
to the way we were to live.
Stands in sharp contrast
to the way we live now.
Because we've been
fundamentally changed.
Jesus has made us new people.
Notice,
there's a shift
in this passage.
So 17, 18, and 19
is focused on
the old man,
nature,
and practice.
And then in verse 20,
there's that little word,
but.
It's a change of direction.
It's a change of focus.
It's a movement away
from looking at
who we were
to looking at Christ
who has made us new.
Christ calls us
to a dramatic change
in how we live our lives.
And we're not to live
like non-Christians anymore
because they were dead to God.
Now we live
as those who are alive to God.
It changes the way we live.
We were hardened to God,
verse 18,
and then God gave us
new hearts.
There's something
I need to point you to.
This is,
this is wonderful.
Would you turn back
in your Bibles
to the book of Ezekiel?
Ezekiel was a prophet.
And in Ezekiel chapter 36,
there is a prophecy
pointing to
what life would be like
for God's people
under the new covenant
when Messiah would come
and by His blood
establish a new people.
Here's what they will be like.
Chapter 36,
verses 25-27.
I will sprinkle clean water on you
and you shall be clean
from all your uncleanliness
and from all your idols
I will cleanse you.
Old man gone.
And I will give you
a new heart
and a new spirit
I will put within you
and I will remove
the heart of stone
from your flesh
and I will give you
a heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit
within you
and cause you
to walk in my statutes
and be careful
to obey
all my rules.
What we see here
in Ephesians chapter 4
is the fulfilling
of Ezekiel 36.
Jesus accomplished
something on the cross.
He purchased for Himself
a new people.
In a new way
His people live.
A new nature
for His people.
We were hardened to God
but God through Christ
gave us new hearts.
When you became a Christian
you were given
a heart transplant.
Your heart of stone
was removed
and God graciously
gave you
a new soft heart.
The hard and callous heart
gone.
And in its place
a soft heart.
A fleshy heart.
Malleable.
Tender towards the Lord.
Inclined to His ways.
Our hardened hearts
before we were Christians
made us futile
in our thinking.
Darkened in our understanding.
Alienated because of our ignorance.
And what God did
through Christ
is that when He gave us
a new heart
our darkened understanding
was enlightened
by the light
of the knowledge
of Christ.
Our empty thinking
was given substance.
Christ.
Who He is.
What He's done.
What He's doing now.
And what He will do.
God is uniting
all things
in Christ.
Our alienation
due to our ignorance
became our reconciliation
due to our knowledge
of Christ.
He is our life.
He is our peace.
When we became Christians
we were given new hearts
made new
so that we would be
able to see the truth
that is in Jesus.
Verse 21
He made us new
so that we could
walk in His ways.
This is the new you
in Christ.
This is who you really
truly are
right now
if you're a Christian.
And if you're not a Christian
you need to become a Christian.
you need to turn
from your old ways
and turn to Christ
who will give you life.
This is true of you.
You are no longer
the old you
the old self.
Christ has made you new.
This is the truth
that is in Christ.
The old is gone
the new has come.
So we've looked
at the old you
we've been looking
at the new you
in Christ
and then let's look
at this word
renew.
Look back with me
in verse 20.
But that is not
the way you learn
Christ
assuming that you
have heard about Him
and were taught in Him
as the truth is in Jesus
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.
Look again
at verse 23.
And to be renewed
in the spirit
of your minds.
Alright.
Let's be honest.
We forget.
We forget who we are.
We forget
that God in Christ
has radically changed us.
We forget that.
It escapes our minds.
We forget who we are.
And often times
what that leads
is to living
doing things
corrupt behavior
that's more in keeping
with our former
manner of life
than who we are
right now.
So the question becomes
how do we live
in light of who
God in Christ
has made us to be?
And the answer
is right here.
It begins by
renewing our minds.
It begins by
remembering
who we are
in Christ.
This is the
starting point
of Christian
practice.
We've just looked
at who we are
by nature.
The new you.
Now we're starting
to move towards
what that looks
like lived out.
And it starts
with your mind.
Remembering
what God has done
for you in Christ.
We must regularly
renew our minds
on the truth
of who God
in Christ
has made us to be.
It's got to be regular.
We've got to call
it to mind.
When we renew
our minds
on the truth
of who we are,
God gives us
resolve
to live for Christ.
It's his chosen
means to do it.
Truth functioning
in our minds.
Minds that have been
awakened
enlivened.
Now
we are able
to know
who we are
and live.
Has anybody
seen The Help?
Great movie.
I really enjoyed
The Help.
There were several
scenes that I just
thought were
particularly well done.
Minnie's chocolate pie,
I will never forget that.
I think that's
incredibly funny.
But the one
who steals the show
is Abilene.
So she's an
African American
slave,
not a slave,
maid,
functioning like a slave.
Abilene was
a black maid
and she was
essentially
raising
May Mobley
in the South
during the 1960s.
And one of the scenes
is Abilene
sitting in a rocker
with May Mobley
in her lap.
May Mobley
just is
woken up
and this little
white girl
who she's
essentially raising,
she says this to.
You remember?
You is smart.
You is kind.
You is important.
Remember that?
Remember what
Abilene had
May Mobley do?
Repeat after me.
You is smart.
You is kind.
You is important.
And throughout the movie,
every time
Abilene
gets May Mobley
to wake her up,
you is smart.
You is kind.
You is important.
When May Mobley
makes a big mistake,
Abilene brings her in
and says,
You is smart.
You is kind.
You is important.
Over and over,
Abilene
is reminding
this little girl
of who she is.
this is who you are.
Christian,
God is saying to you,
You is mine.
You is alive.
You is holy.
You is mine.
You is alive.
You is holy.
And this is true
regardless of how you feel.
You is mine.
You is alive.
You is holy.
Just think,
every morning,
you wake up,
you open up God's Word,
and you renew your mind
on the truth
that God speaks to you.
You is mine.
Love from eternity past.
You is alive.
I made you alive
in Christ.
You're a new creation now.
You is holy.
Created in the likeness of God
for true righteousness
and holiness.
That's who you are now.
When these words of our God
sink into our mind,
they renew our mind.
Yes, that's who I am.
They strengthen our resolve
to live in light
of who we already are.
Who God has made us to be.
And so,
we look at verse 22
and we read this.
Put off your old self
which belongs to your
former manner of life
and is corrupt
through deceitful desires
and be renewed
in the spirit of your minds
and to put on the new self.
Put off,
renew,
put on.
Paul is pointing us
to the practice
of a Christian.
Of someone who is
made new in Christ.
So what he's saying is this,
is we are to put off
the practices
that are
former way of life practices.
It's not true of us anymore.
We're to put those off
and we're to put on practices
that are consistent
with being created
in the likeness of God
and true righteousness
and holiness.
Paul's actually comparing
the Christian life
to putting off
dirty clothes
and putting on
clean clothes.
And we're going to come back
to that
for the next several weeks.
Because in Ephesians 4
what Paul does is
he starts us
in a direction.
Christian,
this is who you are.
this is how you must think
and this is how
it gets
really concrete.
Just look at verse 25.
You're not to speak
falsehood anymore.
You're to speak
the truth
to one another.
And so why?
Speaking falsehood
is not true
of who we are anymore.
We've been made new.
And so we speak
the truth
in love
to one another.
We're going to come back
to this
over and over
for the next few weeks.
Putting off the old self
and putting on
the new self.
Alright.
Christ changes
the way we live.
Because Christ
has changed
who we are.
Who you are
determines how you live.
And Christian,
you is
God's.
You is
alive.
You is
holy.
Let's pray.