Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. I'd like to deal with verses
20 to 24. We'll have a little recap, bring you right on up.
But before we do, let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, call upon you this
evening in the name of the Lord Jesus. Hear our prayer. Hear our prayer for Christ's
sake. Bless, we pray. Lord, teach us. Give us a heart
to understand. Forgive us where we fail you
for Christ's sake. Amen. The Spirit of God, through the
means of the Apostle Paul, said in verse 17, speaking to these
Ephesian converts, this I say therefore and testify in the
Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk. in the vanity of their mind. Don't walk with these worthless
thoughts concerning God. Verse 18, 19, how do they walk? How do these
other Gentiles walk? Well, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness, the hardness of their
heart. Who being past feeling have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all in cleanness with
greediness. Don't walk like those who are
alienated from the life of God because of sin. Don't do that. He said their hearts are hardened
against God. They have no heart for His glory. They like to speak of Him, but
they speak of Him as it brings glory to themselves, to their
will, to their choice, to their works. Paul said their past feelings,
their conscience seared with a hot iron. He said they just
give themselves over to lasciviousness, unrestrained desires of the flesh,
whatever the flesh wants. They do whatever their old corrupt
nature desires and there's no moderation. in their conduct. He said, don't walk like that.
He says in verse 20, but ye've not so learned Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the prophet from God, speaks to the hearts of
His people. God speaks. The Lord Jesus Christ. John 10, 27, He said, My sheep
hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me." False religionists, they cater
to the flesh. They're false preachers. They
give the hearers that which puffs up man. Apostle Paul says, you
have not so learned Christ that way. That's not the way he taught.
Don't walk as other believers walk. He said, you've been taught
better than that. That's what he said. You've been
taught better than that. You know, man can naturally hear
the preaching of the gospel with the carnal ear. But the Savior
speaks to the heart. They hear the Master's voice
heartfully. When the gospel is preached,
they heartfully hear the truth. They rejoice. And the happiness
of a believer arises from hearing his voice in the soul. And a believer understands what
I'm talking about. An unbeliever doesn't have any
idea of what I'm talking about. An unbeliever says he does, but
he doesn't. He doesn't. A believer rejoices in Christ
Jesus, has no confidence in the flesh, and he hears the gospel
of God's grace and he says, that's what he's taught me. He's taught
me. One preacher can plant, another
preacher might water, but it's the Savior that gives the increased
He teaches. He teaches. It's the Lord's pleasure
to teach His people. And I'll tell you this, it's
the believer's desire to want to be taught. I want to learn. I want to hear His voice. He
said, my sheep, hear my voice. I want to hear it. I want to
hear it. Lord, the way you speak, speak to me. This world gives
its corrupt advice and the believer says, He taught me better than
that. I have learned Christ that way. He who has eternally stood for
his sheep instructs them concerning himself. When you hear the Master's voice,
you're going to hear that voice that speaks of Him. It's going
to speak of Him. And it won't be speaking or puffing
up or given homage to, the sinner. It's going to be to the heart
through the preaching of the gospel. And he instructs them. You've not so learned Christ. Here's what you've learned. Now
let me just give you some of these things that I've jotted
down. He instructs His people in the things that concern them through His merit, through His
work, through His faith, by the faith of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you, believer, what
you've been taught. that Almighty God the Father
has elected you in Christ. Christ taught you that. You've
learned Christ. You've learned of Him. Here's
what you've learned. You've learned from the Master
that you were adopted, sons of God, adopted, predestinated unto
the adoption of children. Now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know this when we see Him, we're going to see
Him as He is, and we're going to be like Him. That's what you've
learned. You've learned that you've been
justified by the grace of God. That there's no charge. That
God's law holds no charge against you because He was made sin for
us, His people, that we might be made the righteousness of
God. The righteousness of God in Him. Robed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's taught you. Robed in His righteousness, you
stand before God Almighty. Robed in Him, as holy as He. As He is. As He is. So are we, in this world, right
now. Now that's what you've learned
of Christ, having been taught by Him. Let
me ask you this. Can I freely, having been taught,
regenerated by the power and grace of God, can I freely, without remorse,
without conviction, can I walk in the vanity of my old mind?
Without remorse, with no conviction whatsoever, can I just freely, without conviction,
just give myself over to lasciviousness, just loose, righteous living? Can I, without care or concern,
rebel against Him unchecked? Not a believer. Not a believer. Now let me tell you something.
I know that that old man is there, and a believer knows he's there.
A believer's quite aware that he's there. But I'm telling you,
that believer does not walk unrestrained. Sin does not have dominion over
him. No, sir. No, sir. He has a concern
for his walk before God Almighty and before men. He's concerned. And that's the result of being
taught by Christ. He said, don't walk as other
Gentiles walk. You've not so learned Christ.
He says in verse 21, If so be that you've heard Him and have
been taught by Him as the truth as is in Jesus. If He has taught
me inwardly, it's going to manifest itself outwardly. There's a new
man that was not there before. There's a new love, there's a
new interest, there's new desires. Why? Because we've been taught
of God, taught of Christ. We've heard Him, been taught
and convinced of the truth. as it is in Christ Jesus. Now,
I possess now, being taught of Him, regenerated by His Spirit,
a good hope through grace. And if that be so, then the apostle
admonishes us in verse 22 that you put off concerning the former
conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lust. Putting off the former conversation, the
former walk, the old man. Putting it off. What does that
mean? Put it off. Put off the former walk or manner
of life. Put it off. Putting off means
to cast aside and not cater to the former conversation or walk
of the old man. And let me tell you something
now. Let me tell you this. That is not something that you
can accomplish in the power of your flesh. Well, you know, somebody
says, well, I think I'm just not going to do that anymore. I see. And how is that going
to be accomplished? How are you going to do that? Putting off that former conversation,
putting off that old man, I'm going to tell you what it is.
And when we see what it is, you're going to say, you know what?
That sounds right to me. It's a work, number one, of God's
grace. whereby there is because of the
impartation of a new nature. Now before there's a new man
there, this putting off this old man doesn't even enter into
it. There's just one nature until a man is regenerated by the grace
of God. It's just one nature, just an
old man there. But when that new man in regeneration
is imparted, when there's a new nature, when he's born, from
above. Let me tell you what happens
immediately. There is now a hatred for the
former walk that wasn't there before. Now there's a despising
of those former loves and former desires. There's a despising
of them, a hatred of them. By that new man, imparted in
regeneration, that old man is now seen to be deceitful. Now
you just think with me for just a second. Before you were converted,
now I've told you before, I came up in false religion. And I was
sincere. I was sincere. I've told you
before. I came and knelt down by that
little old confessional. And you know, the only thing
that separated me and this other guy from the other side was some
rickrack. And I really thought, I really thought, I was sincere.
If I tell this man my sins, you know, I really believed that
this guy could forgive me. That's what I was taught. That's
what they told me in catechism. That's what they told me. I believed
it. I believed it. I believed when I got out of
that false religion into the next false religion, I really
believed that when I walked down that aisle right now, right then,
and when I repeated that sinner's prayer, and they asked me, did you mean
it? And I said, yeah, I thought I did. I hope I did, I thought
at the time. And when I was baptized, I saved
because the Lord wanted me to give Him my heart. I believed
that. I was sincere. And I could tell
you the date. It was a certain day at a certain
time on a certain Sunday night. When Almighty God comes In regenerating
grace, I realize now that my old heart is deceitful above
all things, and it's desperately wicked. Who can know it? To put off that old man, to put
him off, is to absolutely give him no credence. To cast him aside. I don't cater
to him anymore. I don't believe him. He's a liar.
That's putting off the old man. Not that I have the ability to stop those desires in my heart
by that old nature. That's not it. It's not that
I can stop. I cannot not sin. I've told you that before. But
now, Romans 12, 9, the Scripture says, Abhor that which is evil.
That's putting off the old man. That's not catering to him. It
doesn't mean that putting off the old man is that he's removed
or destroyed or changed in his nature. I just don't cater to
him. I don't like him. I just don't
like him. He's a wretched man. And here's
the situation. That's me. That's me. That old man. Let's look at Colossians
3.8. Colossians 3.8, just a few pages
toward the back. But now you also put off all
these. Anger. Wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of your mouth. Is it that I can just completely
do away with it? I wish I could, but I don't like
it. Anger. Don't let the sun go down
on your wrath. The sun comes up, it better be
over with. I wish it would. Oh, I can't justify it. I can't
justify it. Put it off. That old man, that
old conversation, he doesn't rule anymore. He doesn't govern
as he once did, but he's still there. And the putting off of
the old man. I'm going to tell you something.
We're going to go to our graves doing that. You're going to go
to your grave despising him. Not giving him any credit. Cast
him aside. No catering to him. A man regenerated
by grace. One made to understand the corruption
of his old nature. I'll tell you what he's going
to do. He's not going to talk about his ability and his free
will. And he's not going to speak of
progressive sanctification. You know, getting more and more
holy by you know, keeping the law by his obedience, and you
know, it's foolishness. You've not so learned Christ.
The Lord hasn't taught you that. A believer knows that he has
an old man that's not going to get any better. And he has a
new man that's not going to get any better. That old man is still
that old man. He's corrupt. That new man is
holy. And that old man, to a believer,
Paul admonishes us, put him off. Put off concerning the former
conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lust. Putting him off don't cater to
him. He's there and there's a battle that's going on. I'll admit it. But I can tell you this, I don't
give him any honor. I said I don't like him. I don't
like him. Look at verse 23, "...and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind." Now, we recognize this
renewing as something that is done for us and in us. Just exactly that putting off
of that old man, where did that desire come from to put off the
old man? Where did that desire come from?
the Lord put a new man in us. And when He put a new man in
us, I'm going to tell you something, there's a desire now to put off
the old man. This right here, be renewed in
the spirit of your mind, that's something done for us, in us. Titus 3.5, listen to this, not
by works of righteousness which we have done, But according to
His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. Now, that renewing right there
of the Holy Ghost, let me tell you what it does. The Lord has
made us new in Christ. In regenerating grace, He renews
us one time. Regenerated. One time. But there's a need of continual
refreshing by the Spirit of God through the hearing of the Gospel,
the searching of the Scriptures, and prayer in my mind. In my mind. Listen to David,
Psalm 51 10. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, Now this is a believer praying.
This is a believer praying. Listen to what he says. Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, a constant spirit
within me. He's already regenerated, but
he's praying that the Lord would renew a right spirit within him. This renewing in my mind has
to do with growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior. And it is as much a work of God's
Spirit as regeneration was the first time. Colossians 3.10,
let me just turn back if you want to turn there. Colossians
3.10, listen to this. and put on the new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created
him. There's a renewing of our mind,
a refreshing. Let me say it like that, a refreshing. There's a refreshing of my mind
when I hear the gospel of God's free grace. Believers are justified
before God, justified by the blood of Christ. But I'll tell
you this, they need a daily cleansing for forgiveness. Renew within
me a right spirit, a constant spirit. And then the apostle
says, and we'll finish up right here for tonight, And that, verse
24, and that you put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. Now he said two things. Put off
the old man. What is that? Don't cater to
him. Don't cater to him. Don't give him credence. Don't
walk as other Gentiles walk in the darkness. of their minds. Don't do that. But now he says, and now I want
you to put on the new man. Now just like you don't have
the ability to put off the old man, you don't have the ability
to put on the new man. So what is he talking about?
Putting on the new man. One that is created in righteousness
and true holiness. Now you know this, is not a work
attributed to man's ability. It can't be. If it was, then
salvation would be by the works of the flesh. If I had the ability,
if putting on the new man meant that I could regenerate myself,
put him on, just you know, then that would be, that is a work
of righteousness that I've done. And the scripture says not by
works of righteousness that we've done. But the putting on of the
new man, one created in righteousness and true holiness, is the attitude and agreement,
the admittance of the revealed truth that Almighty God is all
my salvation. Now this is what I mean. To put
on or to clothe yourself with a new man is first to walk in
agreement with him that I did not make myself new. He did. Putting on the new man, putting
it on. Clothe yourself with this mine,
this mine. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
that's the complete opposite of false religion. False religion
is going to tell you, you have the ability. Putting on that
new man, putting on the mind of Christ. Putting on the new
man is to recognize and to admit that all of my righteousness
before God is His imputed righteousness. That's putting on the new man.
I'm in agreement with I love that. I'm comfortable with. To put on the new man is to have
been baptized by God's Spirit into a spiritual union with the
Lord Jesus and to be accepted in Him. Galatians 3. Galatians
3.27. Listen to this. Galatians 3.27.29. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized, immersed into Christ, have put on Christ. There's neither
Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither
male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you
be Christ, then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. The putting off of that old man
and putting on of the new man is a work totally of God's grace. For me to abhor that which is
evil, put it off. You know, if I were to say something
like this, this is a good understanding of it. Marvin, somebody's here that
wants to talk to you and I know you don't want to see them. Yeah,
you're right. I'll just put them off. Put them off. I'm not going to
cater to them. That would be the idea. But to
put on Christ, to be clothed with, to love, to agree with,
putting Him on, that's by the grace of God. Believers lay no
claim to the accomplishment of either. It's by the grace of God that
they do both. I find myself, I'm kind of funny
about this, since I grew up and got taller
and stuff like that, when I go out to buy a shirt, I have to
kind of be careful because I have to have a sleeve length that's
a little bit longer. If I'm looking for a shirt, let
me tell you what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a sixteen
and a half, thirty-seven, thirty-eight sleeve length. Because what's
going to happen is after I wash it a time or two, it's going
to come up to about right here. And I want to tell you something.
I don't like it. I don't like it. It doesn't fit
right. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't
look good. I don't like it. And let me tell you what I'm
going to do. I'm going to put it off. It's going to hang in
that closet, Kevin, because I don't like it. I don't like it. But
you can't take a shirt, a well-made shirt, and if the sleeves are
long enough and the neck fits and it's not too tight and it's
not too loose, I can tie my tie. I can put that shirt on and I
like it. I like the color. I like the
fit. I like the feel of it. It's comfortable. It's comfortable. That old man,
that old conversation, Sleeves are too short. Necks wore out. I don't like
it. It's not comfortable anymore.
It used to be. It used to be. But it's not comfortable. And I'll put it away. I'll put
it off. Put it off. Put a shirt that
fits. That new man, That new man. That new desire. That new comfort
in Christ. The beauty of our Lord. That's what a believer puts on.
I want Him. I want Him. He is my life. Lord, I pray, teach us. Teach us of Yourself. And help
us by Your grace Putting off that old man. Don't cater to
him. Don't cater to him. We got an
old nature that wars against the nature of our new mind. I
know that. But don't cater to it. Lord help us for Christ's
sake.