Put Off the Old, Put On the New! (Ephesians 4:17-24)

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Well, please turn over in your Bibles with me to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, and this morning we'll be looking at verses 14 down to verse 24. Ephesians chapter 4, beginning at verse 14.

This is God's Word. It's hopeful. It's perfect. It deserves your attention this morning. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all signs, all kinds of uncleanness and greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you may put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. The grass withers, brothers and sisters, the flower fades, But the word of our God endures forever.

Well, during the summers of my college, it was a great joy and a good workout to be able to go and to clean carpets. And it's amazing what you learn about people's lives as you go into their homes and as you clean their carpets and furniture. Most of the time, it was a nice experience, but sometimes it was not.

And I remember one day walking into a house and all the stuff was out on the front yard. And as we walked up to the house, there was a peculiar stench that was wafting out the front door. Come to find out that someone had some mental health issues and a woman had been living with over 25 dogs inside of this small house. And our job was to go in there and to clean up any remnant that they had left. And I remember thinking as I was pulling up to the house that evening, and I realized if these feet, if my shoes step foot in Olivia's house, she might die of a heart attack.

And if I dared to walk into her house and sit on the couch with these clothes on, I might not see tomorrow. And so I needed to take off the soiled clothes. I needed to take off the filth and I needed to go get in the shower and get cleansed and put on new clothes. Well, that is what God is calling us to do today. To close ourselves with a new man. to take off the old and to put on the new. And so as God calls you to that this morning, first we need to remember what the old man was.

Look with me at verses 17 through 19. Let's remember what this old man, what these old clothes were like. This is what I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all kinds of uncleanness and greediness, And then drop down to verse 22. That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Put off the old man. Put off the former way of life. How do we remember what that was? Well, verse 17 tells us it was marked by a futility of mind.

This world has been searching for philosophies to understand what is the good life, what is the purpose of life, what is moral, what is right, what is just, what is good since the beginning of time. But all philosophy, apart from the fear of the Lord, is futile. It's empty, hollow. The prevailing philosophy of our time comes out of the 1940s with a school called existentialism. And one of the main writers of the philosophy that we soak in and that we live in in the culture was a man, a French man named Albert Camus. And his whole point in that was life is absurd. Life doesn't have any inherent meaning. So the only value you have in life is either to commit suicide or to live for every moment and experience.

We wonder where YOLO came from. You only live once. We wonder why our culture is so driven by experience, so driven by the need to go see this thing, to experience that thing, to delve into the experiences of this life. But what do they find again and again? It's two-time. It's empty. It's hollow. One of the reasons why we have the highest suicide rate we've ever had in our country. Because we've lost the anchor of the soul. Because we've lost what is actually meaningful in our society. Their thinking became futile. No purpose.

But their understanding, verse 18, verse 18 tells us, having their understanding darkened, from the core of your heart, apart from God, apart from worshipping the true and living triune God, what happens to our understanding, what happens to our heart, what happens to the seat of our reason? It becomes darkened. Romans 1 is clear about that. What happened? Instead of worshipping the God who created everything, They worshiped the created instead. Their hearts became darkened. And then from that darkened heart engaged in all sorts of impurity and immorality. Brothers and sisters, these are hard words. Thank the Lord that He doesn't pull punches. Thank the Lord that He doesn't sugarcoat the reality of our sin. Thank the Lord that He tells us, this is empty, this is futile. There's a better way. Put off that old way. Put off that old man.

Because when we remember that old way, we remember what else verse 18 tells us, that we were alienated to God. Aliens to his person, alien to his presence, alien to his grace, far away from him, his face turned away from us. That is what that old man was. No grace, no eternal joy, no mercy, no peace of our soul as it comes down from the Father. That is who we were. Do not go back there, brothers and sisters. Put off that old man. Remember who that person was. Turn away. But it keeps going. There's even more. Verse 19 tells us we need to remember that we were those who were past feeling.

The idea there is that you have have had your heart become calloused. Many of you who work with your hands know what it's like to have calloused hands. Why do your hands grow calluses? Your hands grow calluses because they've had blisters on them and they've had work applied to them and your calluses actually end up protecting your hands so that the tender skin underneath doesn't get damaged. Brothers and sisters, when we are alienated from God, our hearts that were meant to beat and to bleed and to feel for him became callous.

So the idea that there's no more feeling there. So delving in the pleasures and in the darkness of this world, that your heart does not feel the things of God anymore. Brothers and sisters, I need to ask you this morning, have you found yourself? This is a trap, and I thank the Lord that he's warning us this morning. You might feel his Holy Spirit now as a scalpel cutting off those calluses from your heart, and it might be painful. But how often have you this week, this month, this year, has your heart been callous to God? Has your heart become callous to his word? Have your eyes become fixed on the things of this world that you have become callous. Even the reading of His Word, the prayer, the preaching, or when you came to the Lord's Supper, do you look back and you remember your heart being callous?

Brothers and sisters, put off that old man. That old man. Self-destructive in nature. Look how verse 19 tells us about that being beyond or past feeling. Having given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. It's the idea of lack of constraint. Have you ever heard someone use the phrase before, they were acting like a dog, just following their instincts, no longer controlling themselves, no longer disciplining themselves. When we were in that old man, when we were before, how often did we run headlong into sin? Brothers and sisters, sin will take you to places that you never wanted to go and further than you ever intended on going. This is what sin does to us. This is what the deceitful desires, the passions of the heart going after lewdness and all types of uncleanness does. This is what the world parades in front of us in our culture today.

Brothers and sisters, if you flood yourself with the culture and with the philosophy of today, and you are not purposeful in putting off that old man. Brothers and sisters, I warn you, do not be consumed. This world wants to pull you back. sin wants to entangle you again. But just don't don't just remember this. But the clear command of God is to put off that old man. Look with me again at verse 22. This is a command from God. That you put off. Concerning your former conduct The old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Oh, Hebrews 11, 25, when it speaks about Moses, gives us an amazing insight into sin. Moses turned away from all the riches of Pharaoh's house because of the deceitful desires of sin.

Sin promises you everything, and it delivers nothing. Satan promised Adam and Eve in the garden that they would be like gods, and instead we die. Sin promises you that if you go after these drugs that you will feel better, but what does everybody who gets addicted to drugs find out?

That it's empty and hollow. Sin tells you, Satan whispers in your ear, oh, if you just indulge in this sexual immorality, it'll fulfill you, it'll make you feel good, and you'll be happy. And indeed what you find, pain, misery, brokenness, disease, broken families, and indeed death. Oh, brothers and sisters, I'm warning you, children, especially now, I am warning you, this world, children, again, I need your eyes up here. Children, this world is going to tell you that sin is fun. Sin, the world is going to tell you that sin is fun. But you will break your father's heart. Not me. Your heavenly father will be grieved if you run down that broad way that leads to destruction. God says, put that old man off.

But it's not just put it off. It's not just put it off. But what does he tell us in the remainder of this section? Look with me at verse 20. But you have not so learned Christ If indeed you have learned Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, verse 22, that you put off concerning form or conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness, Brothers and sisters, the gospel is not just put off the old man, but it's put on the new man. It is not just turned away from sin, but it's turned to holiness. It is not just run away from wickedness, but it's walked in the very presence of God. Put on the new man. What does that look like?

What is God calling you to? What is God inviting you to? What is God commanding you to do with that this morning? Well, He's telling you to remember first, remember Christ who you have learned. Look with me at verse 21. 20 and 21. But you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard Him and have talked by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, but you have not so learned Christ.

It is Jesus Christ who is the object of our faith. It is Jesus Christ who is our standard. It is Jesus Christ who has been tempted with every sin just as we are and yet without sin. He is able to help you. He is able to cleanse you. He is our standard of righteousness. He Himself is our righteousness.

We did not look to Jesus, we did not learn about Jesus and find a sinner, but we found a perfect Savior. You did not hear of Jesus and hear of one who drank deeply of this world, but one who overcame this world. You did not learn of Jesus, you were not taught by Jesus as one who was consumed by sin, but one who has had victory over sin.

It is Jesus Christ we look to. It is Jesus Christ. who we fix our eyes on. It is Jesus Christ who will aid you in your time of temptation. It is the word of Jesus Christ that we soak up deeply. We put on the new man, which means putting on the image of Christ. But what does that look like? Well, we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind.

Look with me at verse 23. and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The Christian walk is not just feeling. The Christian walk must not just be about an emotional high. The Christian walk must not just be about feeling good Brothers and sisters, you come here week after week, you go to His Word morning after morning, you go to your knees and pray day after day that He might teach you, that the God of truth Himself might, by the power of His Holy Spirit, renew your mind.

We need our thinking cleansed. We need our thought patterns changed. We need our minds redirected. And this happens in His Word. It happens in the preaching of His Word. It happens as we meditate on His Word. It happens as the Holy Spirit applies His Word to your heart because we remember that it was Jesus Himself who said that He is the truth.

Titus 3.5 says that we are not saved by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy and the renewal of the Holy Spirit and the washing of regeneration.

Brothers and sisters, what are you feeding your mind? Brothers and sisters, what are you washing yourself with? I promise you, wherever you go, Someone's trying to sell you something. Wherever you go, you are being influenced by someone's worldview. The question is, are you purposeful about how you are thinking? Where are you going to think about God? Where are you going to learn about righteousness? Where are you going to learn about ethics? Oh, if there's anything the world wants to sell you right now, it's their version of morality.

This is why time and time again, they'll label us as bigots, as backwards, as non-progressive. Because we go to God's word and we say, well, no, hold on. We have the truth. But the question is, are you devoted to this truth? This is why our late mentor, R.C. Sproul, why they labeled their podcast, Renewing Your Mind, that every day we might hear of God's word, every day we might think rightly. How are you? How are you thinking? What are the highways of your thought? What are the signposts that you're watching to tell you how to think? Are you still thinking according to the futile ways of this world?

Brothers and sisters, there's a narrow way that has a fast track to heaven. A way in which God renews our thinking. It's hard to get on that road. Much easier to go on the broad path. Brothers and sisters, will you discipline yourself to put on the new man, to be renewed day by day, to have the blessing of God's truth seep deeply into your soul? Indeed, this is what the psalmist says and what we just sang in Psalm 51. Create in me a right spirit, O God, cleanse me from my unrighteousness. Have you cried out to God to give you a right spirit?

This is one of the ways we put on the new man, by being renewed in our mind. But when we put on the new man, we now walk, not according to the deeds of this world, but in righteousness and in holiness. Look with me at verses 23 and 24. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Let me ask you, Are you walking in righteousness?

If I asked your spouse, if I asked your parents, if I asked your siblings, does your brother and sister seem more whole to you last year or this year? What would your children say? What would your spouse say? Husbands, let me ask you, if you asked your wives, this is a dangerous question, I'm going to challenge you to do it when you get home, you might get an earful. I encourage you to take it with humility.

Go home and ask your spouse, do I make you more righteous? Because of our marriage, are you more holy? Indeed, we're going to get there in Ephesians chapter 5, that that's exactly what God calls marriage to be. Do you struggle for righteousness? Do you fight against the old man? This is what Romans chapter 6 tells us, that you are not a slave to the old man.

Some of you here this morning have a besetting sin. Some of you here this morning struggle with your tongue. Some of you here this morning struggle, if you're like me, with things like gluttony. Some of you struggle with envy. Some of you struggle with strife. Some of you struggle with sexual purity. Some of you struggle with backbiting. Some of you struggle with the sin of anxiety. Some of you struggle with the sins that beset you day after day.

Let me ask you, have you given up? or be pleaded with God. Romans chapter 6 style saying that I am no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to Christ. Tell the devil to go kick a can and to get out of here. He does not have dominion over you. It'll be a struggle all your life. Don't mishear me here. I'm not saying you're going to be perfect.

Well, you're going to be perfect one day, but you're going to need to be next door to the church or on the wrong side of the church if you're going to be holy right now. You become perfectly holy when you move to the other side of the church. Feel free to move your eyes there and pick out your plot. That's when you'll become perfectly holy.

But right now we fight for holiness. Right now we fight to take off the old man and to put on the new one. There are going to be times There are going to be times where you will say, Roman 7 style, that the things that I do not want to do, yet I do, and the good things I want to do, yet I do not do. There's a struggle between the old man and the new man, but do not give up the fight. Run with perseverance, a race set before you, for the Holy Spirit is in you.

And he who has conquered the world is greater. Brothers and sisters, we're not talking about self-righteousness. We're talking about true life in Jesus Christ. God raised you up from the dead. Ephesians chapter 2, we were those who are dead, were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God made us alive together in Jesus Christ. And verse 10 tells us, He has prepared a good work for you to do in advance that you may walk in them. What is that good work but holiness and righteousness?

We put off the old man. We put off the deeds of the flesh. We put off the sinful ways and the sinful thinking of this world. We put on Christ. We put on righteousness. We put on holiness. And brothers and sisters, that is how you will thrive. When you fix your eyes upon Jesus, when you're honest about who you are naturally, but who God is supernaturally. There you will find strength. There you will find righteousness. There you will find holiness.

There, as we get into the rest of Ephesians, as we get into the second half, we talk about marriage. As we talk about child rearing, as we talk about interaction and commerce, as we talk about fighting against the spiritual principalities of this world, we must fix our eyes upon Christ. This is a theme that we will be in for the foreseeable future. As we put off the old man and as we put on Christ, put off the old man with his disgusting deeds, put on the new man.

I'm going to end this morning challenging you. You're going to walk out of here today. You're going to leave in a few minutes and you're going to go back into your daily life. Let me ask you, will you be content coming back in with those shoes that you know you shouldn't wear inside? And with those clothes that you knew if your family members smelt the stench, would shake their heads. Will you put off that old man? Or will you walk in spirit? Will you put on the new man who is being renewed in the image of Christ?

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you so much. that you are honest with us, Lord, we thank you that you do not just give us self-help, Lord, that you do not just tell us that we are enough, that you do not just tell us that we are good enough, Lord, but you tell us that you are good enough. Lord, we thank you, Father, that your Holy Spirit cuts us to the core, that, Father, your Holy Spirit opens our eyes and gives us light, that we are no longer blind, but that we see and that we see more clearly now the depths of our sin and the grace of your cleansing. Father, we pray that we would not be those who say that we are without sin, Lord, but that we would confess our sin and that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that you would teach us to walk in the light as you are in the light. In Jesus name. Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.