Walk As A New Creation (a)

Good morning. I'm the one getting over the flu here. You all should have more energy than that. What would you like to change about yourself? We're going to think about change this morning, so I'm just curious, what would you like to change about yourself? Maybe it's your appearance, your ability, your awkwardness, your age, your attitude. We've just gotten to the A's, we could keep going with the alphabet and there's numerous things I'm sure that we could think about when we would change. And what was your New Year's resolution? That really says a lot about what we desire, what we love, what we want to accomplish. As I wrestled with change and the demands that the text we're about to read put upon us, I contemplated, what causes someone to really pursue significant change? And there has to be two things. One, it's achievable. And two, it's worth it. It needs to be achievable and worth it. So let me just walk through what that looks like. For example, it has to be achievable and worth it. So I'm really bad at math. I'm so bad at math, I can't calculate how bad at math I actually am. I could get better. It's actually achievable. I think I could study math and my ceiling is not real high, but I could get a little higher. But to me, it's not worth it. I have other things to fill my mind with, and I can always call Sam or Ben and ask them, what do I do here? So it's achievable, but it's just not worth it. The other option. To exercise to become a professional athlete. To me, that would be worth it. But it's not achievable. All right, you're all with me. That's fantastic. You really believed that one very quickly. So here we are. We've got to think, when I want to change, is it achievable? Is it worth it? Is it worth the effort and energy, the labor? We have to, what Jesus says, count the cost. You see, as we're about to dive into the text you just heard read, there's a really high calling of change. A complete putting off of an old self, some serious self-denial. And putting on a new self. following Christ. Is it achievable? Is it worth it? Is the question we really have to start with and ask ourselves as we hear this. Because what those commands, what Paul, what Christ is calling for us here, to put off your old self, to put on the new self, it's a character change. It's the way we think, the way we desire, the way we internally process. That's hard. I'm not going to make any apology about that. I just want to make it very clear that what Paul is calling us to here is hard. But I want to be very clear. It's achievable. Not because of the strength that we have within, but because what we've seen throughout Ephesians is that God is a great God of grace. His grace is efficient. He's called us to this. He will give us the grace. But it does take our effort. Is it worth it? Here we have to keep going back to Ephesians chapter four, verse one. I urge you to walk worthy of the calling to which you've been called. We go back to Ephesians one. We've been blessed with every heavenly blessing in Christ. It's worth it to actually be able to know God the Creator, the way He has designed us, the way He's loved us, the way He calls us to truly enjoy this life. You have to first see it's worth it. And then it's achievable, and then we'll start doing the hard work. And what we are talking about here in chapters four to six is sanctification. That continual, gradual, ongoing process of becoming more like Christ. So as we look at this, I want to encourage you and challenge you. It sounds like a high and hard calling, but it is achievable in Christ by His grace. And it's worth it. Because in Christ you will see true glory. Let's look at the text. I want you to see that the text breaks up into two parts very clearly Verses 17 to 19. It talks about the way we used to live It talks about the the the patterns of the old self apart from Christ It's calling us to stop those patterns the clear break in the two parts of this text that divides the text is the word but and There's a great contrast here. The old way of life is in contrast, it's contrary to the way you have learned Christ. Verses 17 and 19, what we're called to walk away from, and 20 through 24 is what we're called to walk toward. You must no longer walk this way, but now, because you've learned Christ, put on Christ. That key concept. You see it in verses 22 and 24. To put off your old self. To put on the new self. We have to realize here a great conversion has taken place. We can go back to Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 10. We were dead in that old self. Walking according to the world. Walking in the pattern of destruction. But God made us alive. The same kind of contrast. So that we might walk in the works that God has put before us. A key word for Ephesians, if you take that little sermon card that's in front of you in the pew, it's blue. You'll see the one word that's going to unite the sermons from chapters 4 to 6 is walk. That's because that's what unites this entire chapter. Chapter 4 verse 1, walk worthy. Chapter 4 verse 17, no longer walk like Gentiles. Chapter 5 verse 2, walk in love. Chapter 5 verse 8, walk as children of the light. Chapter 5 verse 15, look carefully how you walk. Christians, We are saved by grace apart from works, but that does not mean that we're gonna continue on in sin. No, how we live after Christ, confessing Him, believing in Him, repenting matters. We're called to walk in a new way. The last piece I wanna show that's significant in our text is Christ. Look at verse 20. You weren't walked as the Gentiles, but but that's not how you learned Christ Assuming you have heard about him. You were taught in him. There's this glorious declaration the truth is in Jesus The way to stop walking in the futility of our minds is to recognize the truth is in Jesus Here we're going to come as a as a body looking up to our head where the truth is so that we grow up in him Together. One more thing before we walk into our outline and start walking through the text. I want us to recognize here who Paul's talking to because that's very important. This letter is addressed to Christians. Paul is telling Christians what is expected of them. That's important because I want to talk to you who are Christians first. When we look at this passage and we look at the kind of declarations, we have to remember we don't put these commands over the world and complain that they don't live up to them. Paul's saying, this is how they actually are. This is what Gentiles do when they're apart from God. They live in the futility of their minds. We don't put these passages over the non-Christians, those who reject Christ, and complain about it. No. What we're supposed to do is put these expectations over us. Over ourselves and one another. These judgments, these declarations, these expectations, these calls to repentance and to obedience are for us to speak to one another the truth in love so we're built up together. We do a lot of damage when we are more concerned about the world living up to Christ's standards than the church. We need to be very careful We need to have the high bar for ourselves. Non-Christian. If you're not a Christian this morning, we're so thankful you're with us. We are thankful you're here to hear the word of God. And again, this passage is God speaking to Christians based upon now, since they believe in Jesus, how they're to live. And the first thing that's very clear is we rarely live up to these expectations. But that doesn't make Christ and His truth and His power to save any lesser. Recognize that Christ has come to actually save people who are described here who are futile, who are darkened, who are distant, who are callous, who are sensual, who are impure, who are hard in heart. See, that is the universal predicament of all humanity apart from God. That's something we all actually share in common. Paul's saying, stop that, Christian. It's where we all begin. The key is not to end there. And the way you move out of the futility, the darkness, the distance from God, there's only one way, and it's by believing in Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world. He comes and He sheds light so that we don't live in darkness. He comes and brings us closer to God by dying for the sins we've committed that draw us away from God so that in Christ we're drawn near to God. For a Christian, the one thing you need to hear this morning is this description is all humanity apart from Christ, but you can believe in Christ, that He came. And He lived a life you could not live because of your sin. He came and He died for the sins you've committed so that you can be forgiven. He rose again to give you new life so that you can actually put away these sins. And you can join a church like ours where we're all striving to fight against these sins. But you can't clean yourself up enough to do that. You should come. Filthy like all the rest of us. and proclaim Christ alone can save me. Believe in him. Do not leave here without talking to somebody about that. So Christian, as we look at what this text calls us to, I want us to see the first point, and this is the first half. Walk in the truth of Christ by repenting. Walk in the truth of Christ by repenting. Paul takes us into this glorious picture, chapter 4, verses 1 to 16, about the way we all now are called to live together, building up, growing up. And then he makes a very clear transition. Now this I testify to you in the Lord. Stop it. He doesn't soften this at all. All right, what does it mean to speak truth and love here, Paul? He just says, stop it. You are not supposed to keep living the way you used to live. Quit. Stop doing the things that you have always done that were leading you to death and destruction. Stop the way you think. Look how many of these declarations have to do with our internal process. The mind, the heart, the desires. Again, verse 23, the mind. Stop. Your way of living, your way of thinking, your way of processing, your way of desiring, everything about you must change as a Christian. Because before Christ came and saved us, everything about us was heading straight to hell and destruction as we sang about earlier. And all I have is Christ. This is what we call repentance. Paul is calling all Christians to repentance because we were all like this. Now notice he says that you must no longer walk, again that key word, as the Gentiles do. Now as we saw earlier in chapters 2 and 3, the Jews and Gentiles, they're two different kinds of people groups. Jesus saved some from the Jews and some from the Gentiles and he became one new man. And so it doesn't mean against the Gentiles necessarily, but he's speaking of those who have no light. He's speaking of those who have rejected God. They're living in the depravity of their own sin and their own pride. And again, let me just walk through the description of what the Gentile is like. The futility of minds, verse 17. Verse 18, darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God, hardened hearted. Verse 19, callous, given over to impurity. And then verse 22, corrupt through deceitful desires. Now I'm willing to make a bet that no one chose any of those for their New Year's resolution. Like no one is actively pursuing any of these things They're all somewhat kind of natural dispositions though. They're all things that we're trying to strive out of if we actually recognize that we have them. No one strives for these things, but the hard part is we're all somewhat inclined to follow in these patterns. This is why a resolution commits to change a pattern. To stop an unhelpful pattern by practicing the things that are going to lead to a right pattern. That's what Paul is calling us to. To be resolved to follow Christ. It affects our internal processing. Again, we see the words mind, understanding, heart, desires. Let's look at this next phrase that qualifies what a Gentile is. Stop walking like the Gentiles, those who are apart from God, no light, no truth. They're living in the futility of their minds. Okay, futility. That's useless. That's vanity. That's opposite of chapter 4 verse 1, worthy. Right? There's a worthy way to walk that Paul is going to present, and he's saying stop walking in a worthless way. That unworthy way. It's how they process in their own pride. It's how we process in our own pride. It's how we desire and think without looking to the Word of God for light. Now we thankfully have a number of other qualifications that explain what the Gentile is and what the futility of their minds are. Okay, verse 18. He continues to qualify this with two declarations. They are darkened in their understanding alienated from the life of God. Those two things mark the Gentile and the futility, and those two things necessarily come together. One of the key truths of the Old Testament, wisdom begins with the fear of God. There's a dark understanding and a distance from God over here, and there's wisdom and the fear of God over here. Those are the two ways to live. In the darkened, distant God way, or in the fear of God, wisdom way. You don't get to mix and match. One of the most important lessons is a proper reverence, letting the word of God change where you place your reverence, where you put your worship, your love, your desires, so that you receive wisdom from above, so that you receive light that shows you what's wrong and what's right. Being darkened doesn't mean you cannot have incredible intelligence. It really means you don't see what's truly good and valuable and worthy of your pursuit. Think about the young athlete. So the young athlete now is younger and younger. If they're really good, they're pampered from that early age. Everyone tells them how great they are. They're paid way too much money way too early. And all the vanity, it draws them in, and what do they oftentimes do? They stop practicing the skills that make them great athletes, and they start living in futility, and what happens? They lose everything. I believe this is how God often looks at us. He's given us so much, being made in His image with such great ability. He's given us so much, His own Son to die for us and rise again to give us a new life, and He looks and says, why are you practicing the things of this world when you could be practicing the things of God, looking up to me for wisdom? We're wasting away God's good gifts. If you're not a believer, I want to promise you, there is a better life that you can have in Christ. God created you. He designed you. I promise you, if you submit to Him, it is a better life. If you're a non-Christian, We have to stop being drawn in to think the better life is us improving upon the Word of God. His Word is sufficient. It is what keeps us and protects us and leads us to Him. It keeps us out of this darkness and keeps us near to Him. Notice that verse 18 continues, there's a because. the Gentiles, they're in the futility of their own minds, they're darkened, they're alienated, and then there's a reason given, and there's two, because of their ignorance. And notice it's ignorance in them. I believe Paul is talking about here a willful blindness. There's ignorance, just not knowing. And then there's a willful ignorance. You hear but you don't want to know. If you're a youth or a child here, be aware of how dangerous this is to always be hearing but not believing. Do not have a willful ignorance. This is a dangerous place. That is what leads to the darkness and understanding and the alienation. To have a willful ignorance. To refuse to look up and see that God is worthy of all honor and thanks. To refuse to look at the word of God that's in the pew in front of you that you can take home and realize there's light, there's wisdom, there's words of life. If that's not scary enough, the willful ignorance that leaves you trapped The hardness of heart. Notice he's not, there's a state of being here. The hard heartedness. The heart is hardened. A heart that is hardened is a scary state because it refuses to listen. The pride builds up this exterior wall. It refuses to hear correction. It refuses to hear truth. It refuses to hear encouragement sometimes. It just turns in on itself, and it's a scary place because when we turn in ourselves, what I believe the most important thing you can see from this text, the deceitful desires, the darkened understanding, the ignorance that's within us. Paul is saying there is nothing good that's going to come from you looking deeper into your soul to find solutions to your problems. When we turn in, we only find lies and poison. Help comes from outside. Help comes from the Word of God, and other brothers and sisters who are going to have the Word of God for you, help comes from inside. That hard heart is turning in, and it's dangerous. It's deadly. It's wrapping ourselves in the truth we want to accept, rather than letting the truth of God penetrate. The one thing that marks Gentiles here, and we can look back to Romans 1 to verify this, there's a pride that says, I got this. There's a pride that says we don't need light, we're gonna figure it out on our own. Okay, it gets scarier and more dangerous. Let's look at verse 19. The result. They become callous and given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. We know what a callous is, right? You've probably gotten them or you should shake hands with some folks and see what they feel like if you've never gotten one. You know, they're from where you've had blisters over and over again, where there's been a lot of wear and tear and the skin builds up and you don't feel anything where there's a callus. He's describing the heart, he's describing the person as callous, insensitive to the things of God. There's a lack of feeling the true things of God. And so what do you do when you stop feeling the true things of God? You lose hope. You lose feeling. Therefore you go find something that will give you some kind of feeling. You give yourself up to sensuality and impurity. Because you know you want to feel something. Paul here is talking about this internal process by which we tell God, we don't need you. We're going to try to figure things out in our own minds in a worthless way, what Paul says. So we're darkened, we're alienated, we're callous, we're hard, we're ignorant. And he's telling Christians, this is the way we were apart from God. Stop it. Now, just to be clear, I want you to understand, there are times where I have let myself slide into my own thoughts, recently. Retelling others' wrongs against me, upset about the amount of injustice, or just entertaining and flirting with the idea of sin, whether it be anger, lust, or greed, and then it eventually hits me, the great terror, how did I get from there all the way to there? There is a dangerous ability we all have because of 17 and 19 to spiral down. It takes very little work. But praise God for His grace that illumines the heart to show us this is where you can be. This is where you so naturally go. That this is the danger of sin and it's terrifying. I share that to say, if you wrestle with this, you're not alone. Okay, if no one else does, maybe I'm alone. But who he's describing are Gentiles, that's like 95% of the people who've ever been alive. This is a common, universal problem for those who reject God. We so easily get turned in And when we don't look up, we don't look out for help, we get turned in, and God's light is the only thing that can help us. So what is this? What's the final verdict here of what happens when we become callous, we give ourselves over? Well, oftentimes we look for some kind of coping mechanism to make us feel something. A drug. Alcohol is a popular one because it's legal. We look to food, we look for comfort food, or we look to control our intake. Those are both ways of falling into the sensuality of the callousness because of the darkened heart. We look at pornography that presents us with all kinds of promise to satisfy, and then leaves you with a gut-wrenching guilt. We look to entertain anger and bitterness, comforting ourselves with meditating on the injustice We look to self-righteousness, trying to find a sense of superiority over others. These are just some of the many ways we end up in sensuality, in callousness, because of our dark hearts, because of the fuel of our minds, because we do not let the word of God shine in. You see, when we turn in, we try to heal ourselves, and it only makes things worse. Again, I believe that one of the things basic truths we have to see from what Paul is saying. There's no help for the real problem inside. We have to look out. We have to look for the word of God that he's planted in, the Holy Spirit that is in us, but it's help that comes from outside. Christian, be very clear as we think about what we have been called to, how worthy the call is that we're to walk. Christ did not purchase us to remain in the domain of darkness. He purchased us to walk in the light of the kingdom of his own Son. He purchased us to be children of the light, to have our eyes, the eyes of our heart illuminated according to Ephesians 1, to have our minds transformed, to draw near to God with a clean conscience because of what Christ has done. As we look at this passage, I want us to see it truly just comes down to pride. Refusing to give thanks to God, refusing to honor God, refusing to confess our sins to God. This is hard. This is hard. But by God's grace, we can see these sins, we can repent of them, and we can help one another. Let's look to the solution, chapter four, verse 20. Paul says to stop it because that is not the way you learn Christ. The second point is walk in the truth of Christ by renewal. The first one was by repentance. We have to put off those sins, which we'll talk about again a little bit in a moment, so that we can put on the renewed life of Christ. Let's look at verse 20. But That is not the way you learned Christ. Now, this word learn is quite interesting because it captures so much. When you learn something, you learn new content, right? There's information that comes. There's truth. And that truth, if it's truth that really is helpful for living, that truth, when you learn it, you're also learning how to adjust everything else you've ever known. And sometimes that means you actually have to recognize, what I thought I always knew, I have always been wrong. When we learn Christ, His light shines into our darkness, and it corrects us. It adjusts us. It changes what we think. What we believe. What we value. How we act. What words we use. How we use them. And I also want you to notice it's a person. It's not some kind of abstract, impersonal information. No, we're learning the God who speaks. The God who has demonstrated the greatest love. We're learning Christ. Who he is and what he has done. This is the truth that we are learning. And if we go back to chapter four, verse 13. Let me read that from last week. Until we attain to the unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God. Again, he's already assuming you've learned this. Until we attain the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ. Verse 14, so that we no longer be children. tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. When we learn Christ, we're learning to be stable, to be reliable, to depend upon him so we're dependable as we learn Christ and who he is and what he's done. Now Paul here qualifies what it means to learn Christ in verse 21. That is that you've heard of him and you've been taught of him. He's assuming that there has to be some information relayed and received. We have to have heard of Christ, and I believe he's referring here to believing. Hearing the gospel that Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose again, we believe Him, we hear Him, we receive Him, and then we're taught in Him. It's something we grow in. I wonder if we recognize what a great privilege it is. to be invited in to the school of Christ. Do you recognize what a privileged position that is? The greatest master, the wisest man, God Almighty says, come and I'll teach you. Do we give him the priority that he deserves, recognizing what a privilege that is? I fear we're oftentimes too tempted and allured by what's bogus, rather than the great God who wants to teach us. Then this phrase. Paul throws this out as this simple phrase, learn Christ. You've heard of Him. You've been taught of Him as the truth is in Christ. This is similar to what Jesus taught. I'm the way, the life, and the truth. He's the truth. He is the foundation. He's the rock. He's the light. What we need to know is found in Him. He invites us in. We must see the importance of believing in the truth. Now the truth of Christ is so important because if we look elsewhere in scripture, there's a devil who's always lying. There's a world that's full of lies. But I want you to see the way Paul applies this, to put off your old self, which belongs to your foreman of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires. The truth of Christ is important for you, not because of the lies that are gonna be coming from outside of you, but primarily because the lies are gonna come from inside of you. Do you see that? Everybody look down at the text and recognize The truth in Christ is important because our former manner of life is marked by deceitful desires that come up from within us. All right, just take a moment and think about how terrifying that is. We all want some kind of basis to know we're making the right decisions. And everything our world tells us, just look inside and be at peace with the decision you make in your heart I think Paul's saying, no, that's probably not so wise. What comes from within is deceitful. That's why we need Jesus Christ and the truth that comes from outside. Christ has given us that new identity so that we know who we are. He's called us to a new manner of life so that we have a new way of conducting ourselves. One of the most remarkable things here is Christians who have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. When we start going back to this old manner of life, the sinful desires, we don't lose those blessings. You cannot lose the blessings that Christ has sealed for you. Know that as a simple clear truth from all Scripture. I can explain that for you later. But what you lose is your enjoyment of those blessings because we're seeking to enjoy something else or something more. And do we realize how foolish that is? How futile? How dark? We alienate ourselves from enjoying the blessings of God by pursuing to learn something better from someone else. Now let's look to the positive. He says to put off that old self. Put off means we repent. We look at it, we see that it's worthless, it's a filthy rag, it's gross, it's destructive. You're not going to put off something until you see actually how dangerous it is. You don't take it and put it in your closet to wear another day. No, you destroy it. You destroy sin. You don't protect it to wear another day. And the language here is as simple as putting off clothes and putting on. In Christ, you're able to do this. Put off that old self and put on Christ. Learn him by first, be renewed in the spirit of your minds. To be renewed. the spirit of your minds. You learn Christ to be taught in Him, to trust in Him, by putting off sin. And then letting the truth of Christ penetrate what you believe, how you think, how you process, what you value. This is what Paul will say elsewhere. Think about the things above. Whatever is pure. This is hard work. What it means is that we take every thought captive. Every thought, every desire, every ambition, every idea, we're supposed to take it and not analyze it based upon what our heart wants, but analyze it based upon the truth of Christ. Is it good? Does it line up with what God says? Does it line up with what Christ says? Does it line up with the word of God? If not, put it off. If it does, embrace it. share it. That this is a pattern of thinking. A way of not going deep into our own depravity, but a way of putting off those things that so easily deter us. The language is very straightforward. Let's look at verse 24. Put on that new self. It's a simple command. To put off means to put on. You don't simply stop certain habits, you start new ones. And as you look at the text later, for next week, it's very clear what these particular things are. You stop lying and you tell the truth. You stop stealing and you work so that you have something to give away. You stop grieving the Holy Spirit because you're stealing Him. You stop having bitterness, you forgive. There's putting off. There's putting on. There's putting on of the newness of life that Christ has given us. There's putting on, being created as a new kind of being. Created, giving a new life, the resurrected life of Jesus Christ, being sealed with the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we can know God. You know, one of the greatest dangers I see in the Christian life is expecting blessing and to enjoy blessing without obedience. This is what I wanna challenge you this morning. Where are you expecting to enjoy blessing in your life, but you're withholding obedience? That's a question for you as an individual, it's a question for us as a church. Where are we expecting to enjoy blessing, but withholding obedience? Saying, I wanna hold on to that old self and those things that I've always enjoyed because it, let's just face it, sin sometimes just feels like a good friend, because it feels like it's comforting, but it's enslaving. Where are we trying to hold on to that sin and disobedience? but still saying I wanna enjoy blessing. Last thoughts as we go back to our questions. This call to put off your old self, to put on your new self, is it worth it? Is it worth forsaking the things that you're submitting to that teach you to sit at the foot of Christ and learn more of him? Is He worth it? Is Christ worthy of whatever He might ask of you? And let me be very clear. He might ask you to stop something that is not clearly sin. Is He worth it? Is He worth enduring and repenting and changing anything He asks? And the second question is also quite hard. Is it achievable? You see, we have to confess God's grace is sufficient for us to do whatever he calls us to do. But it requires our believing that, trusting that, and following. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it is clear These hard words that there are things about us that are unbecoming, you know these, we know these, we try to hide them. We thank you for your light that allows us to recognize that we all know this truth because you've told us this is what we're all like apart from Christ. I pray that we'd be a church that welcomes and expects and rejoices in confession of sin. for the rejoicing of the restoration of believers, of relationships? Lord, as we look to this high calling, this invitation to learn from your own Son, to be taught by the greatest teacher, to learn, to delight in the most delightful, As we consider this call to put off those sins and those ways of thinking that we find so comforting but are yet so destructive, Lord. Help us to see the glorious calling of what we put on. Your righteousness. Your holiness. Help us to see, Lord, that Your grace is sufficient and You are worthy. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.