I'm going to conclude a message
that I began last week on putting on the new man from Ephesians
chapter 4 if you want to turn there. But I just want to make
a comment on the passage that Brother Robert read because this
is kind of a parallel passage. And there in Romans 6, he concluded
with this statement in verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion
over you. It means it won't rule over you.
And what does it mean? Because I've often said that
in this world, there's only two kinds of people. There's sinners
lost in their sins, and sinners saved by grace in Christ. But all are sinners. And we,
even as saved by grace, we cannot free ourselves from the influences
and the contaminations of the flesh of sin. Sin mars everything
we do. That's why even the works that
the Holy Spirit enables us to do, which comes through us, are
contaminated with the flesh, not as He creates those works,
but as they come through us, they can only be accepted with
God on one ground, and that's the blood of Jesus Christ. Our
prayers, our prayers are so full of self, isn't it, sometimes?
Our singing, our preaching, our whatever. are trying to do good,
always fall short of the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. So when he says, sin shall not
have dominion over you, sometimes it feels like it rules us, doesn't
it? But it doesn't. And how do we know that? Well,
he explains it here. He says, sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under the law, but you're under grace. That's how sin does not have
dominion over us. We're not under the law. Now,
what does that mean? It means we're not condemned by the law. Wherever sin is imputed, the
law condemns. And that's why we say in the
gospel, the only way for us to not be condemned is to have our
sins not imputed to us, not charged to us. And the only way that
can happen is by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, to
whom our sins have been imputed. So sin, the law cannot condemn
us. But here's another facet of it.
We're no longer motivated by fear of the law. It's not fear
of the law that motivates us to trying to please God, to be
obedient. Now I know, you know, we can
talk about different realms of existence. I mean, when you go
out to drive, sometimes it's fear of the law that keeps you
from speeding. I mean, you think about it. You
get to going real good, turn that corner and there's that
police car sitting there and you put that brake on. And that's
the fear of the law. But I'm talking about the law
in our relationship to God. You see what I'm saying? The
law, if the law motivates a person by fear, that's unbelief. Well, when he says we're not
under the law, does that mean we don't have any rules or guidelines
to go by? No. People will sometimes use
the word antinomian. I don't know if you've ever heard
that term. But that's a person who is without
law. And they sometimes go to the
point and they say, well, it doesn't matter what we do, we're
saved by grace. That's not what grace is about.
And this is what I want to talk to you about in Ephesians 4 here.
Look back up at verse 20. I'm just going to read through
some of these verses real quick, just to catch us up, and then
conclude it. He's talking about learning Christ,
verse 20. And what he says here is, Don't
act like you used to act. That's what he's saying. Having
your understanding darken, like the Gentiles walk. He says in
verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ. How have we learned
Christ? Well, we've learned the glory
of his person, the power of his finished work, the power of his
blood, the power of his righteousness, and the power of his word. Yes, we have guidelines. Yes,
we have rules, if you want to call them that. You can call
them laws. I know this, when Christ gives out a command, it's
not a suggestion. It means it has behind it the
force of law. And so He says in verse 21, If
so be that you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him as
the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former
conversation how you used to walk. The old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust. Now what is this old man? We
need to have this clear in our minds. The Bible speaks of the
old man and the new man. The old man was our connection
with Adam in spiritual death. It's how we were born. We fell
in Adam. into a state of sin and depravity.
And we're born into this world spiritually dead and depraved,
dark and ignorant in unbelief. And that's the old man. The new
man is our connection, our spiritual connection with Jesus Christ
in the new birth, begins in the new birth, where he brings us
from darkness to light. the darkness of self-righteousness
and sin, the light of the gospel, the light of God that shines
forth in the face of Jesus Christ. How God saves sinners. The old
man was totally in unbelief. The new man is a man of faith.
The old man was unrepentant. The new man is repentant. Now,
we still have the flesh. You know, people talk about,
well, the old man is dead. Well, what Robert read there,
he talked about the old man being crucified, that's a legal standing. What he's saying there is that
the old man, the sins that identified us with the old man, and that
still remain with us, cannot condemn us. Because Christ took
those sins to the cross. They were imputed, charged, accounted
to Him, and He died, and He drank damnation dry. For by one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And He sat
down, He purged our sin. And He sat down at the right
hand of God, ever living to make intercession for us. So that
when we sin, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. So
even though we're a new man in Christ, we still have the vestiges
of the old man in the flesh. And we struggle. And we fight, like I'm fighting
now, just to preach. And it's all of this that we
have to keep in mind. So he says in verse 23, he says, be renewed in the spirit
of your mind. How do we do that? Through the
Word of God. infiltrate ourselves, our minds,
with God's Word. What does God say? What does
God command me to do and not to do? And that's a continual
renewing. Learning and growing in grace
and in knowledge. Not to be saved, but because
we already are. Not trying to make ourselves
righteous by our works or our sincerity, but because we have
by the grace of God His righteousness. imputed to us. And so he says,
verse 24, that you put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. Putting off the old man, you
know what that involves? Repentance. Putting him off. Don't give in. It has to do with
fighting the sinful passions of the flesh. We're in a warfare. Paul said, the flesh lusts against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. So we're in a battle. So engage yourself in that battle.
Putting on the new man has to do with looking to Christ by
God-given faith. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, and seeking to be like Him, to obey
Him. And this new man is not something
that we accomplished. How do you know that? Look at
verse 24 again. The new man is created in righteousness
and true holiness. We can't create anything at all. But if we could, we couldn't
create anything in righteousness. Only God can do that. For we
are His creation. We're His workmanship. Created
in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, but unto good works. Ephesians
chapter two and verse 10. So he says in this, look at it,
verse 25, therefore putting away lying. Now, as I said last week,
I don't need to give you a 12-step program on this thing about lying.
Stop lying, be honest people. But the import of this mainly
is to be honest before God about who you are, who I am. Look over
at Psalm 32 with me. Psalm 32. I know this Psalm is
familiar to just about all of you. We quote from it quite a
bit. Paul quoted from it. Psalm 32. Verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered, And of course we know the picture
here is the blood of Christ, the sacrifice. Verse two, blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, charges
us not with sin, and in whose spirit there is no what? No guile. Now, does that mean if I'm saved
by the grace of God, if I'm a new man, that there's no guile in
me? Does that mean that I never tell
a lie? Well, if it does, we're all in
trouble. The guy that he's speaking of is lying to God as a hypocrite,
claiming to be something that we're not. What am I in God's
sight? I'm a sinner saved by grace. No more, no less. I deserve nothing
that God has given me. No good thing. I've earned nothing
that God has given me. If God were to judge me right
now based upon my best works, I'd be doomed forever. Lord,
if Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who would stand?
That's what I am. That's the guy that he's talking
about. We're not hypocrites. We know what we are. We know
we're saved by grace based upon the righteousness of another
and not our own. And I believe that's the import
of what he's saying here. Verse 26, back in Ephesians 4. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath, neither give place to the devil. You know, people
look at that verse and they say, well, never go to bed. If you
have an argument with your wife, don't go to bed angry. Well,
that's good advice. But that's not what he's saying
here. What he's saying here is that don't let resentment and
anger settle into your soul. And how do we not do that? We
realize how blessed we are of God. Somebody makes me mad. Somebody makes you mad. And you
just harbor that vengeance and that resentment in your soul.
And it's not going to do you any good. It just makes you a
bitter person. But realize this. If the Lord, who could justly
harbor resistance or vengeance against you, Where would you
be? Oh God, how merciful you've been
to me. And even when we were enemies,
Christ died for us. And what we have by way of blessing,
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ
Jesus, it's all by grace. He says in verse 28, let him
that stole steal no more. Don't be a thief, he's saying.
But rather, let him labor, working with his hands the thing which
is good, that he may have to give to him that need it. Work
for what you get, so that you can give to others who are in
need." That's what he's saying. That's simple, isn't it? Well,
what basis do I have to work from that kind of attitude? Well, think about how hard our
Savior worked to give unto us what we need and don't deserve. Salvation, full and free. You
see, this is all motivated by grace, and that's the renewing
of our minds. You know, when I get to thinking
legally, and we still do, I can't remember what preacher it was,
but he said, even we who are saved, we're recovering Pharisees,
and we are. Legal thoughts, we have to find
them. But whenever I get to thinking like that, what should I do?
Think about how God saves me, how He gives to me. Everything
I need, everything He requires, God has given to me through Christ. That's the motivation. Verse
29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers. Now, people go to that verse
and they say, well, don't tell dirty jokes and don't cuss. Well,
okay, don't tell dirty jokes and don't cuss. But that's not
the import here. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the kind of communication that believers engage in that
would edify, build up one another, not tear down one another, that
would minister grace unto the hearers. This is the Gospel. This is the Word of God. This
is the Word of Life and the Word of Love. If you preach a false
Gospel, that's corrupt communication. Isn't that right? Denying the
Lord God. Putting Him on the back burner.
Don't do that. And don't tear down one another. But we're here to build up the
church. That's what Paul wrote back here in Ephesians 4 when he was talking about how
he had appointed different offices. In verse 12 he says, for the
perfecting, the maturing, the completing of the saints, the
work of the ministry. We're in this together. And so we were to serve. The word minister means to serve. And then he says in verse 30,
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. whereby you are sealed unto
the day of redemption. Now, a lot of times in the scripture,
we'll have what's called, I don't want to try to impress
you using big words, because I'm not trying to impress you.
They'll use human language to describe something about God.
But God is not human, you know that. He's not flesh and blood,
He's spirit. For example, Isaiah says this
in one of his prophecies in Isaiah 53. He said, To whom shall the
arm of the Lord be revealed? Well, God doesn't have an arm.
Christ has an arm. He is God, but that's His humanity.
But what that is, that's a metaphor for the power of God. The arm
of God. The eyes of God. He doesn't have
eyes like you and me, but that's His omniscience. He knows all,
sees all. When it says to grieve the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not an emotional being that cries
one day and laughs the next. But He's using human language
for our limited understanding to show this, that whenever we
thwart or deny or ignore the Word of God, This is not good. Now that's what he's telling
us. The Holy Spirit who indwells
us operates in our minds through the word of God. And you read
something like this. You read, let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. When you deny that, ignore it,
and go headlong into it, that's grieving the Holy Spirit. And
this is what he says, read it again. Verse 30, Grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. What does that mean you're sealed?
That means you're eternally secure in Christ. And there's not one second of
our lives that we can stand up on our hind legs and say, I finally
made it. I've done it. I deserve it. I earn it. And so what are we
to do? We're to foster that attitude
of grace and love and gratitude in seeking to build up the brethren,
to be like Christ. And He says in verse 31, let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor evil speaking,
be put away from you with all malice. Do you think believers
are capable of such things? You better believe it. Else these
commands wouldn't be here. Fight the flesh. Fight the flesh. Verse 32, Be ye kind one to another,
tender hearted, forgiving one another. Well, how much am I
to forgive you? even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you." How much do you reckon He's forgiven
you? How much do you reckon He's forgiven
me? Now, turn over to Romans chapter 7. Now, when I preach these things
from the Word of God, don't ever think that I'm telling
you that this is an easy matter. Because it's not. It is a struggle. This thing of putting off the
old man, putting on the new, is a struggle. And what I think
we need to have clear in our minds here is what is that old
man? That's our connection with Adam in the fall, spiritual death,
blindness, unbelief. The new man's our connection
with Christ in the spirit and the new birth, bringing us to
see the glory of God in his face, submitted to him as the God-man
mediator, submitted to his righteousness, which is the only righteousness
we have. You know, one of the big heresies that goes around
today about this old man and new man, they'll call it two
natures. And I've always said, I don't, I'm not gonna argue
with a person over the terms, But that can be confusing. But some people say, well, the
new man is a new divine nature that cannot sin and cannot be
contaminated. That's heresy. The new man, what we are in Christ,
we cannot attain what we desire in sinless perfection. We can't
make it. Look at Romans 7 verse 15. This is what Paul's talking about
here. He says, for that which I do, I allow not. Paul's saying
there's some things that I do that I don't approve of. Well,
Paul, what are you doing? Well, he doesn't give us a list
like Pharisees would. He just says, I want to be like
Christ. And I do things that are not Christ-like. He says,
for what I would, that do I not. What I want to do, I don't do,
I want to be like Christ, perfectly. One day I will be, but not in
this life. But what I hate, he says, that
do I. Paul's talking about the remaining
flesh, the remaining vestiges of the old man, the connection
that we had with Adam. Verse 16, if then I do that which
I would not, I consent unto the law that it's good. The problem's
not with the law. Now, when I compare myself to
the law of God, I always fall short. Because the law reveals
the perfection of righteousness that cannot be found in me, but
that can only be found in Christ. And that's why my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. You see what
I'm saying? But when I do look at myself to the point of godly
sorrow over sin, because the law requires perfection, the
problem's not with the law. You know, a person might get
mad at somebody who breaks the rules, whatever situation you're
in, and that person might say, well, those rules are too strict.
They may be, but not God's. Problem's not with the law, the
problem is right here. So he says in verse 17, now then
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now
Paul's not passing the buck there. He's not saying that there's
another person inside me doing all the sinning and another person
inside me doing all the obeying, no. He's simply saying this,
and I want you to listen to this very carefully. I'm a sinner,
but my sin does not identify me. You understand that? In other words, if you just look
at me, look at my life, you might at times wonder, how in the world
can that guy be saved? But I want you to know my sin
doesn't identify me. What does identify me? My relationship
with Christ. That's right. How I stand in. And that's something you can't
see with the physical eye. All you see is a weak person
up here, growing older, getting sick. That's all you see. But
you don't know my heart until I tell you my hope. And what
is my hope? Not here, not in this vile body. It's in Christ. And that's what
Paul's talking about. And look down at verse 24. You
can read through the rest of this chapter, but I'm about to
give out. So I'm going to have to quit
today. Here's the conclusion. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Now last week I made this statement,
I want you to hear it well. The new man and the wretched
man are one and the same. It's mind boggling, isn't it?
I'm a new man, you're a new man. New woman, if you will. If you're
looking to Christ, submitting to his righteousness, repenting
of dead works, seeking to be obedient to Him, motivated not
by law, but by grace. But as we look at ourselves and
take inventory of ourselves, what are we? We're the wretched
man. But is that the end of the story? No, look at verse 25.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God. but with the flesh, the law of
sin. I'm in a battle that I cannot get away from in this life. But
the battle's been won because I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord. Let's bow our heads in prayer
and then we'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, how grateful
we are for your mercies unto us. You've been so good to us
through Christ and by your grace. and we don't deserve the least
of your blessings. But you've brought them forth,
dear Lord, and given to us freely and fully and completely. And
so we plead the blood and righteousness of our Savior, in whom we have
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. We pray that you would
be with us and guide us throughout this week and keep in our minds
these glories of your grace in Christ, what we have and what
we are, and that which identifies us, to where we sing, my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
Be with us and guide us, for it's in Christ's name we pray.
Amen.