I love that hymn, and I love
to think about that verse. When I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart. Can you imagine that? Then, Lord,
shall I fully know not to then how much I owe. Ephesians chapter
four, look in verse 22, that you put off concerning the former
conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Now we read in this passage of
scripture of an old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts. And we read of a new man, which
is created in righteousness and true holiness. An old man and a new. Now what this speaks of is the
two natures of the believer. The one, the old man is the one
we were born with. The new man is the one we were
born again with. That's the new nature that God
gives to every believer. And this is so important. If I don't believe in two separate,
distinct natures, an old man and a new man, I don't believe
in total depravity. And that's the issue here. You
cannot believe men are dead in sins and yet God's grace works
with that which is dead in sins and helps it. No. There's an old nature and a new
nature. And if you do not understand
that, I fear, I don't mean to intellectually comprehend it
because I don't intellectually comprehend it. I just believe
it. But if you don't experience this, I'm afraid it's because
you only have one nature. Now here's what is difficult
about this. You have these two separate natures
funneled through one consciousness. And that makes difficulties,
to say the least. You have these two natures, the
one you were born with, and the one you were born from above
with, funneled through this one consciousness, so you can never
really say, well, that's the new, or you can never really
say that's the old. I think that the man in Mark
9 summarized this with his statement, Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. The new nature always believes. You cannot not believe. You cannot not believe. And the old nature never believes. Hence, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Now, while the old man, and this
is what Paul is dealing with, and this is so important, while
the old man is, as Paul said, Corrupt. That's all he calls it. Corrupt
according to deceitful lusts. While the old man is corrupt
and every believer possesses this old man, that is no excuse
for acts of sin or disobedience ever. That's so important. Because I have an old nature
that is never an excuse for sin. And that is what Paul is dealing
with in this passage of scripture. The Ephesians that he was writing
to were Gentiles. And the life of a Gentile was
a life of immorality, sin. Look in our text, Ephesians chapter
four, verse 17, he says to the Ephesians, this I said, therefore, and testify
to the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind. Now you've been with unbelievers
and you've understood, you've been around somebody with a totally
vain mind. No fear of God, no understanding,
no interest. You've been around people like
that, perhaps you were that way one day before God saved you.
But devoid of any spiritual understanding, devoid of any love for God, Could
care less. Bind with things the way they
are. Verse 18, these people have their understanding darkened. They can't see. Being alienated
from the life of God, just total aliens through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their heart. They're so calloused, they're
so desensitized, they don't even think. They're fine with things
the way they are. Verse 19, who being past feeling,
have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness
with greediness. They do not feel guilt. Grief
or pain, they've given themselves over to all lasciviousness. Now this is what happens when
God hardens a man's heart. Hardens a man's heart, he just
lets him alone. That's all he's gotta do. For him to actively
harden my heart and your heart, all he has to do is leave us
alone and we'll become as hard and callous as these Gentiles
we're reading of. Who being past feeling, they
are not troubled. They're fine with this. They're
not ashamed. Past feeling. They have given
themselves over. This is what they've given themselves
to. lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Now, lasciviousness is unbridled and unashamed and unrestrained
pursuit of wickedness in general, whatever it might be. No shame. They've given themselves over
to uncleanness. Now that's the pursuit of sexual
sin. That's what he's talking about.
Now you think about this. The Lord put Adam and Eve in
the garden. He made a man and wife, and the
two were to become one flesh. And the Lord invented sex within
the covenant of marriage. It's beautiful. It's holy. What
a gift from God. And I want you to think about
how men have debauched it. Good grief. This society we're
living in is driven by sexual sin. Nobody cares. I mean, there's
no, anything goes. of sexual sin, that's what he's
talking about. And then he says next, with greediness,
covetousness, getting more stuff. Wouldn't that pretty much describe
what we live around? People giving themselves over
to lasciviousness, uncleanness, and covetousness. Getting more
stuff, materialism, getting more. That's what drives most people. And he's talking about the Gentiles
in this sense. They've given themselves over to this. Now, I love what he says in verse
20, that you have not so learned Christ. You didn't learn this
from Christ. I love the way he says it. You
have not so learned Christ. Not just that you've learned
things about Christ that makes you see that this is wrong, or
you've learned the doctrine of Christ, but Christ himself. Learning
his person. Knowing him. Knowing him as your
prophet. You really believe he's your
prophet. You've got to hear from him. It won't do you any good
to hear from this preacher here. You need to hear from him. You
need Him as your priest. You need to know Him as your
priest, the one who represents you before the Lord. And you
wouldn't dare come on your own. You know Him as your priest.
If you're a believer, you know Him as your priest. And you know
Him as your King. He's the King, you know it. He's the King of kings and Lord
of lords. You know Him as your Lord and your master. You know
Him as your shepherd. Oh, I love what David says, the
Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. You know him
as your husband. You know him as your best friend. You know him. You know him. You recognize his
character. And you know when you're hearing
somebody preach, it's not him. You know, that's not the Christ
I know. That's not the Christ I recognize.
You know, the Lord said, my sheep hear my voice. Other voices,
they will not follow. They will not listen. The sheep
know the voice of the shepherd. You have not so learned Christ. Look what he says in verse 21.
If so be that you've heard him. I wanna hear him, don't you? If so be that you've heard him. and have been taught by him.
Now, if you've heard him, he's been your teacher. I love thinking
about this. When I think of preaching, and
if I start thinking about my responsibilities, I get pretty
upset, but then when I remember, I can't teach anybody anything
anyway. It's the Lord that does the teaching. Takes all the pressure
off me. Lord is the teacher of his people.
Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh
unto me. If so be you've heard him, Now
what does it mean to hear him? Does it mean to hear an audible
voice? Anybody that says they've heard an audible voice is lying.
It's just not so. You've heard him when you know
what you're hearing is his truth. It's not just a man's thought
or a man's opinion. This is the very truth of God.
When you've heard him, you know that you're hearing his truth.
If so be that you've heard him, and have been taught by him,
and I love this next phrase, as the truth is in Jesus. I wish I could talk about this
as it ought to be talked about, but he is the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. He's the way to God. He's the
truth of God. All that God is, He is. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. Everything that God is, is Jesus
Christ. He has all the attributes of
the divine being. All the fullness of sovereignty
and holiness and power and grace. Whatever attribute God has, it
finds its fullest expression in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's how glorious He is. In him dwells all the fullness
of the God-headed body. All truth is in him. And you
know, the only way you're gonna know the truth about yourself
is by seeing him. You're the reason so many people
don't believe in total depravity is because they've never seen
him. That's why. The reason people have such high opinions of themselves
and don't see their own personal sinfulness is because they've
never seen him. Like Daniel said, when I saw
him, my comeliness turned to corruption. The only way you're
going to find out the truth about yourself is seeing who He is.
I can talk about how sinful we are, and it'll be meaningless
until we see who He is. He's the truth regarding salvation.
I love what Simeon said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart
in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. All of God's salvation is in
Christ. That means none of it's in you. It's all together in
Him. Now, I love the truth as it is
in Jesus. Now look what he says in verse
22. Here's what we're called upon to do. And this verse caused me a lot
of stress for several weeks, because I didn't know how to
handle it. Because I didn't read it right. He says that you put
off concerning the former conversation, the old man. which is corrupt
according to his deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit
of mind that you put on the new man. And somehow I was reading
this, put off your old man. How? I'm going to be carrying
him with me to the day I die. Now, that's just so. I'm always
going to have that old man with me. But he said, put off the
former conversation concerning the old man. and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind. Now, what is that saying? We
can't put off the old man, but we're called upon to put off
the former conversation of the old man. Now, here's the best
way I know how to express this. Don't live like your old man
wants to. Live like y'all do. That's simple, isn't it? Don't
live like your old man wants to. And you will, and I will, unless
God gives us grace. So we're crying for grace for
this. And that's what is meant by the
renewing of your mind. Don't look at this separately
from what he says next. He says, put off concerning the
former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt. According
to the deceitful lust, you know him very well right now and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind. Now that word renewed is
in the passive tense. You can't renew your mind, but
you can ask the Lord to renew your mind. And that's what he's
saying. This is not something that I
can, well, I'm gonna start thinking differently. I'm gonna renew
my mind. You can't do that. Try it, it'll get worse. I guarantee
if you're trying to, if you're trying to renew, but this is
actually spoken in the passive tense to let us know this is
the work of God himself. This is the work of Christ. And
we're called upon to ask the Lord to do this for us. You see
everything God calls upon me to do, everything he gives me,
he's going to cause me to ask for it. He's going to renew my
mind and he's going to make me say, Lord, renew my mind. I think
that passage in Ezekiel chapter 36 where he talks about all these
things he's going to give out a new heart, a new spirit. Well, I give you all these things
that he gives. You can read about in Ezekiel
chapter 36. And then he says, I shall yet
for this be inquired of, of the house of Israel. to do it for
them. And Lord, I'm asking you to do
this for me because I can't do it. I can't do it. I'm asking
you by your grace to do this for me. Give me this renewing
of the mind. And you know, every time that
word renewing is used in the New Testament, it's used several
times, it's always in the passive. It's not like you can renew your
mind, but you can sure enough ask the Lord to renew your mind.
every single day. You've got an old man every single
day that you're dealing with, and you're asking the Lord to
renew your mind every single day. Lord, don't leave me to
myself. Give me this new mind, this new
man. He said, put it off, according
to the former conversation. You know, sexual sin's wrong. So let's talk about it in the
context. Put it off. Be faithful to your spouse. Covetousness. Paul said it's idolatry. What
is this country given to? Covetousness, materialism. Put
it off. Put it off. And put on concerning
the new man. Be renewed in the spirit of your
mind that you may put on the new man, which after God, I love
this, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Now let's talk about this new man for a moment. It's a creative
act of God. created. Only God creates. This is His creation. Be a new
creature. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. He's a new creature. I think
of Ephesians 2.10 where were created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk
in them. He's a creative act of God. That
means God does it all. How much did you participate
in the first creation? None. How much do you participate
in this new creation? How much help do you give God?
None. Now you ask him for it. He's
going to put it in your heart to ask him for it. But as far
as anything you do, this is a creative act of God. And notice it's created
in righteousness, two things, righteousness and true holiness. And this new man created by God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now, Maybe I've
done it. I don't remember if I have. Have
I ever talked about righteousness and justification being a forensic
term? Well, if I have, don't tell me. But I've heard that
so much. Righteousness, justification
is a forensic term. And through this, this means
you have a perfect standing before the law of God. And righteousness
is a whole lot more than a perfect standing before the law of God.
Righteousness is righteousness. It's not just a standing for
the law of God, but that's not what I am. Righteousness is righteousness. When the Lord was speaking to
John the Baptist and he was asking John the Baptist or telling John
the Baptist, he didn't ask him to, he told him to, baptized
him. John felt awkward behind, what is this? There's something
wrong with this picture. You ought to be baptizing me. He
said, suffer to be so now for thus it becometh us, us, to fulfill
all righteousness. Now, if I'm righteous, that means
I've fulfilled all righteousness. That means I've never done anything
wrong, and I've always done that which is right. That's what righteousness
is. Now, let me show you this in
the scripture. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter five. This is a scripture
that somebody wrote me about this. recently and asked me to
explain it to them. So I've got this fresh on my
mind. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad. Now, most people take that verse,
a lot of people, a lot of even reformed people, they take that
verse and they say, this is about the believer's judgment. This
is not the general judgment. This is just where the believers
are going to be judged for the things they've done in their
body. whether it be good or whether it be bad. It's called the Bema
judgment, is what they call it, the Bema judgment. This separate
judgment from the judgment where you're gonna be judged according
to your works, the things done in your body, whether good or
bad. Now, let's read what it says
next. Verse 11, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. The terror. of the Lord. I'm going to be judged for the
things done in my body. And you know what? They're all
good. My sin was so put away that it
is no righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ is my personal
righteousness before God. And I am going to be judged for
the things done in my body. And God is gonna say to me, well
done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord. And he didn't pretend. This is
what I've really done because of Christ. I did. Now this is righteousness. This is the work of God, isn't
it? Created in righteousness. And I love the next phrase, true
holiness. Not that phony stuff that men
talk about. True holiness. A holy nature given by God in
regeneration, actually said to be partakers of the divine nature. Now this is the new man. It's
created, it's the creative act of God in righteousness and true
holiness. Never, oh, I wish the Lord would
give me grace to not think of my righteousness being this standing
before God, but I'm still me. No, his righteousness is my personal
righteousness before God. And what joy there is in that.
You know, I really don't have anything to feel guilty about.
His righteousness is my righteousness. created in righteousness and
true holiness. Verse Ephesians, I'm looking
at Corinthians, looking for my place. Get back to Ephesians
chapter four, please. Now you were told to put off
concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind and that you put on the new man. This renewing
is of God. You put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now he goes
on to tell us what that looks like. This is what it looks like
when you put off the conversation of the old man and put on the
new man. Put away lying. Speak every man
truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Now, let me tell you what that doesn't mean. It doesn't mean,
well, I'm just gonna be honest with you, and then you say something
hurtful. Doesn't mean that. I've had people do that to me.
I'm just gonna be honest with you, and I'm just getting ready
to get knocked backwards. No, it doesn't mean that. It does mean this. We're members
one or another. That's how close this union is.
We're members one of another. Members of the same body. Don't
deceive your body. Don't lie to your body and use
your body. And it means, Paul says it in Colossians chapter
three as well. Don't be some kind of phony religious
person, pretending to be what you're not, trying to make out
yourself to be some kind of super saint, super spiritual person,
trying to be above somebody else. Lie not one to another. Speak, wherefore, putting away
lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbor, for we're
members of one another. Be ye angry and sin not. You know, when the Lord made
that whip and drove those people out of the temple. He was angry. Did he sin? No. What about when he looked at
the hardness of those people's heart? He looked around them
with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their heart because
they were upset that he healed the man on the Sabbath day. He
was angry, but he didn't sin. Anger can be good in that sense,
but if there's sin in it, it's no good. It's just no good. He says, be angry. Be angry at
yourself. Be angry at your own sin. Be angry. That's a command. It's a good thing. Be angry. And sin not, neither let the
sun go down upon your wrath. When you go to bed, by the grace
of God, don't be mad at anybody. Remember, whatever happened to
you is the Lord's will being done. Whatever happened to you,
the Lord directed them to do that. Don't go to bed resentful. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. Verse 27, neither give place
to the devil. Now, if I let the sun go down
on my wrath, I'm giving the devil plenty to work with, is what
he's saying. He's got plenty to work with
in that. He says in verse 28, let him that stole, Steal no
more. But rather let him labor, working
with his hands the thing which is good that he may give to him
that needeth. Don't be a thief, be a giver.
Let no, verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of
your mouth. There's too many forms of that.
Cursing, speaking ill of people, harsh criticism, He says, let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying, building up, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God. In another place, it says, don't
quench him. Don't quench his influences. And here it says,
don't grieve him. You can only grieve somebody
that loves you. You can only grieve somebody that loves you. And look at the assurance he
speaks of in our relationship with him. Grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed. You are sealed. You are preserved into the day
of redemption. You're not going to lose him.
You're sealed by him into the day of redemption. Now, anytime
we sin, we grieve. He's the Holy Spirit. Then he says in verse 31, let
all bitterness, resentment, remembering the wrongs, and wrath, that's
a temper tantrum, anger, that's more of an abiding anger, and
clamor, and outcry, and evil speaking, slanderous words, malignant
words, let all that be put away from you. With all malice, ill
will, desire to injure, let that all be put away from you. And
I think this is interesting once again, that put away is in the
passive. You know what I'm doing? I'm
asking the Lord to give me this tongue. I'm asking the Lord to
do this for me. I can't, I'm asking the Lord
to do this for me. And then he says in verse 32,
and this is what putting on the new man looks like, be ye kind
one to another. I love that word, means gracious. It means easy. It's actually
translated easy, pleasant, as opposed to harsh and sharp. It's being nonjudgmental. Be
kind one to another. Tenderhearted, pitiful, compassionate. Oh, don't you want this to describe
you? Be kind. Tenderhearted, compassionate.
forgiving one another. Now, everybody in here that I'm
looking at is somebody that is going to offend somebody else.
I'm going to do it. You're going to do it. You know
why? We're sinners. We're sinners. We're going to self-vindicate
and self-justify and on down the line. We're sinners. We're
gonna do that. Doesn't make it right. We're
gonna do that. What are we to do? Forgive one
another. Forgive one another. I said this
once, 90% of the stuff just needs to be overlooked. But forgive
one another. And how did he say to do it?
Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Now, why did God forgive you?
Did he do it because you were sorry? Did he forgive you because
you promised to never commit that sin again? Well, I hope
you don't do anything that foolish. Did He forgive you because you're
gonna start doing better and straightening up and your life
is gonna become better? Is that why He forgave you? Did
He forgive you for any reason in you? Was there any reason
in you why He forgave you? No. Be ye kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake. had forgiven you. He did it for Christ's sake. Didn't have anything to do with
you being sorry. Didn't have anything to do with
you apologizing. Didn't have anything to do with anything
you've done or thought. He did it for Christ's sake. Isn't that the gospel? That is the gospel. God forgiving for Christ's sake,
no other reason is needed and no other reason is wanted. May the Lord enable us to put
away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbor, to be
angry and sin not, to let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
need to give place to the devil, giving him something to work
with. Let him the stole still no more, but rather let him labor
working with his hands. The thing which is good that
he may give to him that need it. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying that it may minister grace under the ears. Grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed into the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil speaking be put away from you. Lord, put that away
from me. With all malice, ill will and
be kind one to another. Tenderhearted, forgiving one
another even as God for Christ's sake had forgiven you. I said
this this morning. I cannot find one reason in myself
as to why God would forgive me. Can you? I can't find one reason
in myself that is not needed. He forgives for Christ's sake. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would enable us to put off the former conversation of
the old man and put on the new, that which is created by you
in righteousness and true holiness. Lord, enable us to be kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another. even as you for your son's sake
hath forgiven us. Oh, how we thank you for the
forgiveness of sins. Lord, as we face this coming
week, we ask that you would enable us to walk by faith, walk in the joy of knowing who
you are. Lord, we ask that you would open
up doors for us to preach your gospel to others and that they
might believe. In Christ's blessed name we pray, amen. Matt, come
listen closely.