I invite you to take your Bible out and turn to Ephesians chapter 4 this morning. If you don't have a Bible, you can use one in your pew, page 1244. Looking together at Ephesians 4, 17 through 24 as we make our way through this letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus. Ephesians chapter 4, beginning at verse 17, reading through verse 24. This now is the word of God. Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learn Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord abides forever. Well, for Paul the Apostle, doctrine always leads to discipleship. Doctrine always leads to discipleship. In other words, doctrine is never an end to itself. What we believe will make a difference in the way that we live. Paul is insistent on that. Those who love Christ will live differently. Notice, boys and girls, I didn't say perfectly. Notice I didn't say victoriously. But truly, truly there will be a difference in the way that we live because we belong to Christ and because we have His Holy Spirit. And there is a hunger and a thirst and a desire within ourselves to do what God commands us to do. That's how we respond to the doctrines of grace, right? And the first three chapters of Ephesians unfold the breathtaking good news of the gospel, that God is for us in Christ Jesus. But these doctrines then, in chapters four, five, and six, give birth to discipleship. As we've seen, the gospel indicatives lead to gospel-shaped imperatives. In other words, what Christ has done and is doing then leads to a response. The question before us is this, how then shall we now live? And this morning we'll look at three things as we move through this wonderful passage, the what, the why, and the how. What we're called to be, why we're called to be it, and how to go about it. So the what, the why, and the how. So let's begin with the what of this passage. And notice that the what comes in the negative. We find it in verse 17. Paul says, now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must, here it is, no longer walk as the Gentiles do. That's the what. You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. Or to put it differently, you must no longer walk as the world walks. Paul here has in mind his audience, former Gentiles, who were converted in Christ, and so he is saying to them, don't go backwards, don't go back to those old patterns, those old habits. But he was also calling them to make sure that they understand that they live in the midst of a context and culture surrounding them which thinks worldly thoughts and does worldly things. And so he is calling them to a life of gratitude and obedience in light of the gospel that has rescued them. Now, when Paul says, do not walk, this is one of the apostles' favorite ways of saying live. Don't live as the Gentiles do, or even do not think as the Gentiles do. Now, when you and I think of worldliness, we usually, I think, equate it with a certain lifestyle, certain activities, right? The world does this and that and we can think of things right now, I'm sure, as we think about what the world is like. It's a certain lifestyle, certain activities or sins. But when Paul thinks of the world, when Paul thinks of worldliness, he begins with the mind. This is very important to see. He begins as he understands and defines worldliness with the mind. We see that at the end of verse 17. You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. And then he says, in the futility of their minds, Into verse 18 he continues, they are darkened in their understanding, and then he mentions because of the ignorance that is in them. In his wonderful book, Losing Our Virtue, David Wells defines worldliness as the system of values in any given age, which has at its center our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and His truth from the world, and this is really important, and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. in any given age, displaces God from the center, confuses the truth for the lie, which then ends up resulting in this making sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. That's a really helpful, I think, definition of worldliness and the worldly mind. So for Paul, he is saying to these Christians, no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the corruption of their minds, which then affects their hearts, in verse 18, due to the hardness of heart. He says in verse 19, they have become callous. That's, I think, a powerful word picture here. The world has become callous. They've become calcified. They've become numb to anything having to do with God and his truth. Don't go back. Don't become numb to God's spirit and God's word and God's truth. And so when the mind is corrupt and when the heart becomes hardened, it then leads to sensuous desires. Verse 19, they have become callous, and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity." So, I want you to notice the progression. It begins with the mind, which is corrupt, then it goes down to the heart, and then it comes out in terms of actions and activities. In fact, perhaps you are thinking of a parallel passage Romans chapter one. Some of you, do you remember our study of Romans? Turn there with me if you have your Bible open to Romans chapter one. The parallels are striking between Paul's words in Ephesians four and Paul's words in Romans one. Notice the, I say progression, but perhaps better, digression, right? Mind, heart, actions. Before I read it, one commentator says, by constantly arguing with the conscience, stifling its warnings and muffling its bell, they, the world, had at last reached the point where conscience could no longer bother them. It was seared. So look now at Romans chapter one. Verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress, notice what they suppress, they suppress what? The truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their what? In their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. So there's the mind and the heart. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Let's continue, verse 24, therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity. So the mind is corrupt, the heart becomes hardened, and now they give themselves to all sorts of sensuality, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. Why? Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women, exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." Notice, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents. Foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. You see the digression there. The debased, corrupt mind exchanging the truth for the lie gives way to a hardened heart, a calloused heart, right? And so they give themselves up to all sorts of manner of sensuality, sexuality, and et cetera. The list goes on. And as we think about Paul's words here then to these Ephesian Christians, as we apply it to our own situations, we need to understand the link between the mind and activity. Much of the problems that arise, arise from wrongful thinking. Wrongful thinking. And that is absolutely counter-evangelical, if I could use that. That's counter-church, right? We're living in a hyper-emotional time. We're constantly hearing things like doctrine divides, right? It's all about how you live your life. It's all about how you act. As if those things were separate, were divided. But Paul is very clear here. How you think is going to impact how you live. We cannot separate those from each other. What does the commandment say? Love the Lord your God with what? All your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So if you and I want to make progress in terms of our actual living, which is absolutely crucial, absolutely vital and necessary, we need to also realize that how we live is intimately connected to how we think. How we think. Remember Paul the Apostle's words in Romans 12 in verse 2, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind. So the way not to be conformed to the pattern of this world is by being renewed in your mind. And how do you get renewed in your mind? You get under the word. You study the word. Moms and dads, that's why it's so important to bring our kids to church this way and so important to have family worship. That's why it's so important to work at memorization, memorization of scripture, memorization of the catechism. We need to be into the word. We need to make sure that we're giving ourselves every opportunity to know what we believe and why we believe it. Because it's not just, you know, theology is for the nerdy types like me, no. We've gotta make the connection between what we know and how we live. Sometimes for our desire to be practical, we just wanna know how to live. But that, again, that suffers that off from the mind. And we never find that in the word. They're intimately connected. So if you're like me and you wanna make progress, I wanna make progress as a Christian, I wanna grow in my obedience. The answer is not simply to work on these three things or whatever, but it is to continue to have my mind renewed in the word of God. It is to know my theology, it is to know doctrine, that sound doctrine which has been given to us in the scriptures. And we are such blessed people who have a tradition of catechisms and confessions that help us to understand what the Bible teaches. So that's the what. It's put in the negative by Paul. You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do or as the world does. But let's move to the why. Why is it important that we not walk as the world does? Well, look with me in your Bible at verse 20. He says what he says in verses 17, 18, and 19. And then he says with an exclamation point, but that is not the way you learned Christ. That's why. A godless worldview, a sensuous living is not consistent with a life that has been impacted by Christ. Elsewhere Paul says in Philippians 1.27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel. Remember the gospel, it's the good news, the announcement that you are saved, not on the basis of your performance, but on the basis of Christ's performance. So we're not saying here, legalism or moralism, just be a better person or do enough and God will accept you. No, the gospel says God does accept you. You're in Christ, you're free, you've been liberated, you're no longer under the law, you're now under grace. Only let your manner of life now as a free man, as a free woman, Be in conformity to the word of God, worthy of the gospel of Christ. You see, grace, that which we speak of so often, is opposed to both legalism on the one hand and antinomianism, a big word, anti-law on the other. Legalism says that salvation is earned by your efforts. Antinomianism says that grace makes the law of God irrelevant. But the gospel says you are free, now live as a free person, which in Christian terms means live according to God's word. Remember, you're adopted. You're a son. You're a daughter. You're no longer a slave. But in Christian terms, now you're a slave of Christ. Isn't that interesting? You're no longer a slave to death. You're no longer a slave to the devil. You're no longer a slave to sin. Now you're a slave to Christ. That's where freedom is found. That's where joy is found. It's interesting what he says here in verse 21. In our ESV it says, assuming that you have heard about him, and we're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. But I think a better translation than this is assuming that you have heard him. We don't find the about in the original. In other words, what Paul is saying is you have heard him. He is reminding the Ephesians that they have heard Christ. And you think, well, wait a minute, how? And how have we heard Christ? Well, He is near you in the preaching of His Word. He is here by His Spirit when the Word is faithfully proclaimed. And so not only when we gather together are we hearing about Christ, but when we gather together under His name, we are hearing Christ Himself. Which is, I mentioned in my prayer, if we came to church with that sort of a, you know, Jesus is going to meet with us this morning by his word, wouldn't that sort of, I don't know, give a little bit more of a hop in our step? Wouldn't we want to come to church with a little bit more anticipation? We're not just hearing another man, we're hearing Christ. And that gets me excited because Because I'm here to preach Christ, and I'm under the same word that you are. And so together, by his grace, we are here to receive Christ. And so Paul can say to the Ephesians, remember when you heard him? They're going, we didn't hear him. Yes, you did. Yes, you did. As the apostles stood up and preached and proclaimed the living Christ, it was as if he was there with you. And that's what happens every Sunday, isn't that glorious? Why would we wanna miss that? Why, why would we wanna miss Jesus? He's so glorious, he's so beautiful, he's so true and good and tender and wise and he meets with us. And so I think what Paul is getting us to see the why in the second heading, we're talking here about gospel motivated gratitude, gospel motivated obedience, right? Recently, in the Women's Bible Study, we talked about this because really the parallel passage is Colossians 3, which we just happened to study and we're still in the middle of. And we talked together about the right motivation in terms of obedience. And it's interesting, at the end of chapter 2 of Colossians, Paul is showing the emptiness of these man-made traditions, rules, and regulations. And at the end there, in verse 23 of Colossians 2, he says, these have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion. But they are of no value, he writes, in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. I think that's really interesting. So if you want to stop indulging the flesh, the answer, the power is not in man-made regulations. So what's the answer is sort of the logical question. So what does help stop the indulgence of the flesh? And we might think that Paul is then going to begin with verse 5, put to death therefore, but he doesn't. In fact, he preaches the gospel again, the indicatives. When he says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. Set your mind on things that are above. Notice the mind, not on things that are on earth. For you have died objectively, definitively, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. That's how he argues. So do you want to stop the indulgence of the flesh like I do? Are you here this morning with that desire? That's an evidence that the Holy Spirit is working within you. Not, are you perfect? But do you desire to grow? The power is not in another list of rules and man-made regulations. And even before he says, put to death, what does Paul do in Colossians? He says, remember the gospel. Remember who you are. Remember what's happened to you. Don't think that now you have to sort of climb up this ladder to achieve more or to have God love you more. No, as you want to grow, this is the interesting thing about sanctification, as we want to mature, Paul is saying, remember and rest in what Christ has done. Maybe you think, well, pastor, I've already got that, I get that, right? Jesus died for me, let's move on. No, Paul is saying, you can't move on. Because by nature, you and I want to jump back on to that performance treadmill. We want to perform. We want to do. We want to work. That's our nature. So Paul says, even before put to death, he says, remember what's been done. Remember that it is finished. Remember that you are in Christ and that you are free. And that there is therefore now no condemnation. You have Christ's spirit dwelling within you. It's interesting, isn't it, that the fundamentalist, the moralist, the legalist, the Pharisee equates godliness with abstinence. Godliness equals stay away from this, stay away from that. Don't taste this, don't taste that. If we could just avoid certain things. But the gospel of God's free grace teaches that godliness equals replacing sin with a greater love for Christ. Replacing sin with a greater love for Christ. The Puritan Thomas Chalmers called this the expulsive power of a new affection. Replacing sin with a love and affection for a greater, superior, more satisfying person. So that's what we're gonna look at in our third point. So we've seen the what, we've seen the why. We're no longer to live as the world does. We're no longer to think like the world. We're no longer to live like the world. Why? Because that's not the way we learned Christ. He freed us from that. He liberated us into a life of joy and freedom. But now let's consider, thirdly, the how. And there's a negative and there's a positive in our passage. Let's start with the negative, verse 22. The truth that is in Jesus, verse 22, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. Or again, the parallel passage in Colossians 3, verse 5, put to death therefore what is earthly in you. And then he lists sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming, and these you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. That's what we're called to do, children. Listen, that's what we're called to be as Christians, as disciples. We're called to put off the old self or the old man. But here's the challenge. The old self is hard to escape. Boys and girls, I have this old pair of blue jeans. I call them my holy blue jeans. They're a mess. Filled with holes. It's an embarrassment to the family when I ever wear them. But they're so comfy. You know what I mean? They're just so comfy. And when I need just a comfy day, that's where I go to, right? You all have something comfy, don't you? That's kind of like sin. Sin is so comfy. You know, and we have days where we just need to be comfy and we think and we tell ourselves that, well, this isn't gonna hurt that much. And so we go back to that which is sort of comfortable and natural, what we know. So when the going gets tough, we just sort of go back into complaining and grumbling. Or when the day isn't going my way, then we just sort of put on those old jeans of anger. Or when we face trials of life, we just sort of put on that comfortable pair of jeans and we're anxious. or maybe it's alcohol, or it could be a number of things. We just sort of go back to that because that's what we're used to, and that's what's comfortable at the time to get us through whatever it is we're going through. Paul calls these deceitful desires, deceitful desires, like the shimmering silver that lured Judas. And on one level, we look back at Judas's decision and we think, you are crazy. 30 pieces of silver, really? But at the time, it shimmered. You know, you and I can look back at our life. I can look back at my week and go, I was so foolish. But it shimmered, right? It sort of, it was shiny. And my desire sort of goes to that. or like King David, the sexual lust that motivated him. You see, at the time, all sin looks good. All sin looks good at the time when we give our heart to it. It's interesting, John, in his letter Quates defines worldliness as the lust of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. You could actually take that and plant it back in Genesis 3, and those are the very same three things that the devil lured Eve into. The lust of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. You could be like God. But we have to understand, young people, you have to see that sin always leads to death of some kind. Sin always leads to death of some kind. This is what James teaches in his first chapter, verses 14 and 15, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. William Hendrickson, the commentator, says, truly the old nature flaunts a golden cup, but upon inspection it is found to contain nothing but Filth. And that's how you and I can help each other. Husbands and wives, that's how you can help each other. Parents and children, that's how you can help each other. Church members, that's filthy. Don't go there. Because sometimes we're blind to it. Our desires are so captivated with the things of this world that we just want to give it a try. And we can point these things out and say, don't go down there. Stay away. You're going to get burned. So Paul is saying, here's the real practical section, put off the old man. Don't wear those old jeans. But then he also is positive, verses 23 and 24. and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self. So notice, put off and now put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. This is really important to see. This is not a one-time thing. This is a daily thing. This is a daily putting off, putting on. It's interesting, the Heidelberg Catechism puts conversion, where would you expect conversion to go in the Heidelberg Catechism, with the three sections? Guilt, grace, gratitude. Grace, right? Conversion, I mean, right? Guilt, grace, gratitude. But it puts it where? In the third section, daily, Converting, this doesn't mean that you lose your salvation. That's not what it's talking about there in conversion. It's talking about the daily mortification of sin, putting to death, killing, and vivification, putting to life. A daily converting, right? That's what you and I are called to do, day after day after day. Be converted in this sense. Kill and put to life. In fact, Ephesians 4, 25, all the way through chapter six, verse nine, is really all about putting off and putting on. Write that down. That's really important to see as we go through this. Chapter four, verse 25, through chapter six, verse nine, is all about putting off and putting on. As we'll see, put off lying and put on the truth. Put off stealing and put on labor and generosity. Put off bitterness and put on forgiveness. See, we usually parent by teaching our kids to put off. Don't do this, stay away from that. But in the end, it's not enough because our desires are strong. Even if we stop doing X, we'll replace it with some sinful version of Y. But you see, we need to replace it with something good, something true, something beautiful, something superior, more powerful, more satisfying, this expulsive power of a new affection. We need to learn to kill sin, but that's not enough. We need to replace it with something better, Christ and his word. That's the key to sanctification, not just stay away. And I think that's common for us, isn't it? You know, Christianity is just about avoiding certain things. Don't do this, don't do that, don't touch, don't look. But Jesus is saying, no, you can't just put off, you have to put on. Don't just avoid lying, young ones, but be truth tellers. Don't just not steal, but work. so that you can have something to give those in need. Don't just avoid bitterness, that's part of it, but forgive, love, welcome. For Paul, it is so vital that we pursue a holy life. But he wants us to understand sort of the categories and the distinctions. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We are no longer under law, but under grace. We've been liberated from that treadmill to perform. But to sin so that grace may abound is not how we learned Christ. He has given us his Holy Spirit. That power that we need and don't inherently have to more and more put off the old man and put on the new. And this does not happen apart from our minds being renewed and transformed by the word of God. So that's your assignment this morning. Be in the word. If you're not in the word, your minds won't be renewed. And if your minds aren't being renewed according to Christ, your lives aren't going to change. So if you're wondering this morning, I just can't get beyond this one besetting sin, get back to the word of God, repent, and soak yourself in the scriptures, and remember the gospel. Remember that you are now free in Christ, and he has liberated you, and he has worked on your behalf, not so that you can live like the prodigal, but so that you can be his servant. who gladly, willingly says, I'm yours. Help me to obey, and thank you for the Spirit's power. So let's ask the Lord to do just that in our midst, in our hearts, in our homes, and as we work through the remainder of Ephesians, to see this put off, put on principle. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and we ask the Lord for your help. Lord, to take what we've heard and then to apply it, to believe it, to trust it, to remember and rest in the gospel, to not get ahead of ourselves, not thinking that now it's all about us, it's all about what we do. No, it's still all about what you do, what you're doing in us and through us. So, Lord, in our lives, may we be specific in those areas where we need to put off, we need to kill, we need to mortify. But then also, Lord, may we see as parents, may we see as children, may we see as Christians how we then are to put on, what we're to put on in its place. Father, this is sanctification, this is growth. And so encourage us in these things. We thank you for Christ. We thank you for his precious word. We thank you that we hear him. In his name we pray, amen.