Let's open our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. In the New Testament, Ephesians chapter 4. Matthew, Mark, Luke, Ephesians. Just kidding. Acts, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians. Anyway. All right, I'll begin reading in verse 17. Now, we've been going through this book of the Bible on Sunday mornings. I have been personally blessed by it, and it's been challenging, as the Apostle Paul pens to this church, some things to help them. And he's speaking to us as well. Now, this passage, this thought, begins in verse 17. It actually goes to the end of the chapter, but we don't have enough time to deal with all of that, so perhaps we could call this a part one. And we'll just take verses 17 to 24. So when you've found that book and those verses, would you stand with me if you're able to? If you need to remain seated for health reasons, that's fine. Just follow along as we read Ephesians chapter four and verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. Remember that? I'll get to that. Having the understanding darkened. Being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Who being past feeling have given themselves over under lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ. if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye 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 ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now, for the remainder of the chapter, he's going to get into some specifics of what exactly that looks like, putting off the old man and putting on the new man. But for now, we're just gonna deal with the principle. So let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness. It's been a joy to be here today already, to have fellowship one with another, to sing the great hymns of the faith, to hear the choir, to hear that wonderful special. Lord, now we've come to the apex, if you will, of the service. the preaching of your word. Lord, we know everything we've done so far has led to this. And I pray, Lord, that you'd remove distractions from our minds and from this room this morning. Give us understanding. I pray you'd fill me afresh and anew with thy spirit as I yield myself as best as I know how to thee to preach thy word. May your word have free course. May you, by your spirit, touch the hearts of every person in this room Pray if someone's here today that's not saved, that today they'd come to know Christ as Savior. And for the believer, Lord, that we would choose what you want us to choose here in this passage, knowing that our testimony is so important in this world. So please bless as I preach. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. The Book of Ephesians is a letter, it's an epistle, something the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, don't miss, these are God's words here now, they're inspired words, that the Apostle Paul penned while he was under house arrest in Rome to a church that he and his co-laborers planted about eight years ago. in the city of Ephesus. Ephesus was a city located in modern-day Turkey today, Asia Minor at the time. And Paul and his co-laborers went there at the end of their second missionary journey. It was a heathen place, an ungodly place, a metropolis-type place, kind of like one of the big cities that we have in America. And he went there and planted a local New Testament church. in order to be a light in that dark place. He stayed with them for about three years, training them, teaching them, grounding them in the Word of God, and those people became a strong light in all of Asia Minor. What a great church this was. It's been about four years since the Apostle Paul was with them when he's penning this letter. Four years since he saw them. Three years he spent with them, plus four years since he's seen them. A lot has gone on in his life. He went to Jerusalem, he stood before the Sanhedrin, he got arrested, he was sent to Caesarea Maritime where he was imprisoned for two years and stood before Felix and Festus and Agrippa, he appealed to Rome and he was sent to Rome and here he is now in Rome under house arrest awaiting his trial before Caesar. And he uses this time to pen what are known as the prison epistles, one of them being this letter to the church at Ephesus. And what is he trying to do? He's trying to encourage them. Encourage them to keep on keeping on. May I say we need that same encouragement today. Now Ephesians chapter 4 marks the beginning of what many commentators refer to as the practical section of this letter. In other words, the first half of this letter, chapters 1 through 3, is referred to as the doctrinal section of the letter. It is where the Apostle Paul was reminding these church members, and us by the way, of doctrinal truth, about what we believe, what the Bible teaches. for three chapters he was reminding them of things like what they have in G or had in Jesus Christ what they were before Christ and what Jesus Christ did for them he reminded them of the church's purpose in this world and how God wants to continue to do in them and through them what we read in Ephesians 320 exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think God wants to use them, and he was reminding them of that. So chapters one through three was reminding them and us of what we believe. But then in the second half of this letter, beginning in chapter four, it's different. Chapters four, five, and six, the apostle Paul is now dealing with not with what we believe, but how we behave, how we live. In other words, how what we believe should affect how we live. And by the way, it should. It's supposed to. You see, if we truly believe what we say we believe, then it will be evident in the way we live. It'll be evident in our daily lives. By the way, if we don't live it, then we're telling others that our faith is not real. And there's a word that I would like for us to notice. It's in our text this morning, but it's also found eight times in this letter, seven other times. And it's found six times in chapters 4 and 5, and we find it in verse 17 of our text. Here it is. This I say, therefore, and testify unto the Lord that ye henceforth walk. Walk. I want to deal with that word this morning. Walk. Over and over, the Apostle Paul, in this section in particular of the letter, uses that word. Emphasizes the believer's walk. Not our talk. Our walk. Notice, if you will, glance back at chapter 4 in verse 1. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech ye that ye, say it, walk. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. I already read verse 17. Look over at chapter 5 in verse 2. We read, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Look at verse 8 of chapter 5. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. There it is. Walk as children of light. Look at chapter 5 in verse 15. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. He's emphasizing our walk. You say, there's nothing wrong with the way I walk. He's not talking about that. I think we get it. It's a metaphor, right? The Bible speaks of a believer's walk. It's talking about how you and I live on a daily basis, how we behave. Another word would be our deportment, if you will. You see, there are many Christians in this world today that say they are Christians, that say they are saved, that say, oh yes, I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. They can even tell you a time in their life when they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, but there are very few who truly live in the Christian life. Many say it, but few live it. Or can I even add, are even trying to live it. You see, there's a disconnect somewhere between what they say they are and how they act, what they say they believe and how they live. Could not we say this morning that something is drastically wrong with that? I'm not saying we're not all guilty of that at some time, one time or another, but isn't there something wrong with that? There absolutely is. What this world needs to see more than anything else are Christians that consistently live a Christian life. That, my friend, is how we're going to make a difference. That's how we'll make a difference. Again, I say, when we do not live what we say we believe, we are telling others that our faith is not real. So this morning I want to preach on this subject. Are you walking the walk? Are you? Let's look at several things from this passage as the Apostle Paul, some things he says about walking the walk. Want to learn some things this morning? I do. Let's see what he has to say. Notice, first of all, number one, the distinction in our walk. Look what he says in verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord. Interesting how he starts it that way. testifying in the Lord what's it what's that that she henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk we'll stop there continue in a moment remember that Paul is penning these words to saved people people that profess to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. They were saved Gentiles. And he's telling these church members, it would be like him writing a letter to us, just think of it that way. He is telling them that they should not walk as other Gentiles walk. In other words, a believer's life ought to be distinctively different from the life of an unbeliever. Well, I just fit right in with everybody. That's the problem. That's the problem. You see, most Christians have the idea that living the Christian life means simply living a little better than the world. Well, I'm not as bad as they are. Well, maybe not so, but are we living biblically? Are we doing what the Bible says? You see, the Christian life is more than that. It is a life that is completely different. Can I even say this? Radically different from the life of an unbeliever. There ought to be a difference. There ought to be. Notice Paul mentions two ways it ought to be different. I didn't read these verses. We'll read them here in a moment. But there's two ways. Here's the first one. In the way we think. Notice what he says in verse 17, again. He says, to walk not as other Gentiles walk. Here it is, in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened. He's describing how they think, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Notice this collection of words and phrases that Paul uses here to describe the minds of those that are lost, to describe the minds of those that do not know the Bible, that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the four phrases. The first one is this. He says they walk in the vanity of their mind. You know what that word vanity means? Empty. You've heard people say, well, you're just vain. You see, unregenerate man is vain. He's filled with pride. I mean, we are living in the selfie generation. Look at me. It's a generation that thinks much of themselves, that revel in their worldly accomplishments, the lost, the unregenerate, strut around as though they were something, and they think they have all the answers. And they're telling us what to do and how to live life. They're guided by their own minds instead of the revelation that God gives us in his word. The vanity of their minds. This is why a lost man, I don't know if you've ever tried to have a discussion or hear some of them talk, they sound so foolish when they try to speak about spiritual things. And they so easily embrace strange things. You know, lost people so easily embrace, and I'll call it this, the fairy tale of evolution. It's a fairy tale. Well, that makes a lot of sense. It rains for millions of years on a rock and out comes life. Well, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, rain on a rock produces life. Yeah, that's a good one. I much like better, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. That makes a whole lot more sense to me. An unregenerate man thinks up all kinds of false religions and philosophies and he goes around boasting how right he is and how smart he is. This is the vanity of his mind. Then notice the second phrase in verse 18, having the understanding darkened. He doesn't get it. His understanding is darkened. You know, Isaiah 8.20 says this, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to his word, it's because there's no light in them. There's no light in a lost person. It's nothing but darkness. Think of the nonsense that the unregenerate man believes. This shows how darkened his understanding is. A Christian scientist, he says this, well, death isn't real. What? That's what they say. It's not real. And they also say pain is an error in the mortal mind. Well, I'm making a lot of errors lately then. What? Mormons say, yeah, if you follow what we say and go through all the rituals in the Mormon temple and wear your holy underwear, you can be a god one day. That's a smart one if you ask me. Hindus, they believe that depending on how you live in this life, you may come back as a cow, or a cockroach, or a rat. Oh, that's smart. That's a good one. But then think about the humanists, the liberals, the unbelievers. They believe that man is essentially good and just leave it to him and he can solve all of our problems. Their understanding is darkened. see unbelievers see right as wrong they proclaim lies as truth they proclaim immorality as morality they proclaim high-sounding nonsense as science can we stop and think about this for a moment Who in their right mind would say that murdering a baby in the womb is a woman's right? Who would say that? Who in their right mind would say that men marrying men and women marrying women is natural? It's normal. Have you lost your mind? Who in their right mind would say it's okay for a teenage boy to walk into a girl's restroom if he feels like a girl? What's going on? Who in their right mind would say that defunding the police is a good thing? And we're supposed to trust what a scientist says about COVID. When they can't even figure out whether a baby's a boy or a girl. A lot of credibility there. Listen, do you get it? They've lost their minds. It's gone. Their understanding, notice, has been darkened. Look at the next one. They're alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. You see, no unregenerate man, no matter how smart he is, no matter how many letters he has after his name, no matter how many degrees he has, can tell you one thing about God. They don't know God, they don't understand God, and they cannot understand His Word. 1 Corinthians 2.14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. You cannot understand the Bible without the Spirit of God dwelling in you. He's alienated. And then look at the fourth phrase. The blindness of their heart. I don't think I have to say much more, but unregenerate man is blind. We're living in a crazy world, a crazy society. You almost want to look and see, is there anybody in there? As you look into their eyes. because they're blind. 2 Corinthians 4, 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Watch this, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Even the most brilliant of them are blind leaders of the blind. Stop looking at them for answers and not going to God's word. They're not thinking right. God says you're to be different. Don't walk as the other Gentiles. That's what God saved us out of. Don't think like them. So we should be different in the way we think. But then look at verse 19. He also talks about we should be different in the way we act. Verse 19, who being, look at this phrase, past feeling. have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." You see, as the unregenerate man continues in his sin, read Romans chapter 1, what happens? He gets further and further away from God, he gets more and more rebellious, his heart gets harder and harder and harder, and sin becomes easier! That's what we're seeing today. Notice he is given over to lasciviousness, uncleanness, and greediness in verse 19. You say, what do those words mean? I'm glad you asked. Lasciviousness means this, a lack of restraint. It means shameless conduct. It means the stirring up of lustful desires. That's what the world is like. Uncleanness means this, basically a dirty mind. And then greediness is the never-ending desire for more and more and more because the flesh is never satisfied. They get worse off and worse off and harder and harder and farther and farther away from God. That's what we're seeing in our world today. This is a result of rejecting God. So why in the world are we looking to them for advice? Not to stay away. Don't think like them and don't act like them. Do you remember the days when living with a woman, a man and a woman, out of wedlock was considered dishonorable? People were embarrassed by that. If you asked them their situation, not anymore. Not at all. That's no big deal. Where are you from, dude? When you crawl out from under a rock when you say it's wrong, that's how they think. Having children out of wedlock used to be a shame. Not anymore. They just have them all over the place. It doesn't matter anymore. It's hard to connect the dots with families anymore today. You remember when tattooing your body was a sign of rebellion? Now it's almost like a trophy. Look what I got. Look at me. Look at everything I got. What in the world happened to us? I'll tell you what happened. We rejected God. And the world lives that way, but we are not to live that way. There should be a distinction in the way we think and in the way we act. God's telling us here, don't walk and don't think like them. Don't do it. See, a saved person should never copy, mimic, embrace, or want to be like the beliefs and the thought patterns and the conduct of the unsaved world. There ought to be a difference. People ought to know you're a Christian where you work and where you live, by the way you think and the way you talk. If you're fitting right in, something is wrong. You're not doing what God wants you to do. Sorry, that's just the way it is. So there's a distinction of our war. Can I challenge you? Is there one? You living differently? You thinking differently? I want to see which one. That's the problem. That's the problem. So we see number one, the distinction of our walk. Number two, notice the foundation of our walk. So Paul says after he says this, I say therefore and testify in the Lord that she henceforth from here forward walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having their understanding dark and being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, being of the, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, they're numb, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Notice the contrast, but ye have not so learned Christ. Oh, if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, What he's saying here is this, there's only one way that a person can truly live the Christian life, that can truly walk the walk, and that is this, they have to be a Christian. They have to be saved. There must be a conversion that takes place. God must change us. How does He change us? Look, it's not me trying to change myself. It's God changing me. How does He do that? Through salvation. That's why it's called regeneration. There's a regening. There's a new nature that's there. I'll get into that here in a moment. You see, salvation is not merely saying the words of a prayer. It's not just, here, say these words and you'll go to heaven. What? That's not what it is. It's not merely trying to change your life around. It is not becoming religious. It's not deciding to adhere to a new set of standards that you think conform to the Bible. You see, in order to be saved, a person must first recognize their loss. A lot of people have a problem with that today. Why? Because sin is not sinful anymore. but in order for a person to be saved, it must begin with recognizing that all of us are sinners, you're a sinner, I'm a sinner, we stand guilty before a holy God, we've all done wrong things, we've all violated his word, maybe to different degrees and in different ways, but all of us stand before a holy God, guilty and deserving of hell. And then realize what Jesus Christ did. that God saw our condition, but God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God came to this earth as Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and He went to the cross of Calvary. Why is that? To die on the cross. God the Father took the sins of the world, and He laid them all on Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ was dying, He was paying your sin debt and mine in full. He shed His blood for our sins. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 1 Peter 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. So you realize what Jesus Christ did. But then you repent. You say, what do you mean? Repentance means this, to change your mind. I mentioned this yesterday. It is a change of mind about yourself, it's a change of mind about your sin, and it's a change of mind about your Savior. You see, before I was saved, I thought I wasn't that bad. Until I saw the Bible, and I went, oh, I may not be bad compared to other people, but when I look at the Word of God, I realize I'm a wicked sinner deserving of hell. And then I changed my mind about my sin. I realized my sin is an offense to God, and I deserve hell because of it. And then I changed my mind about the Savior, the Jesus I once knew, who I didn't really know who he was. He was a person that lived 2,000 years ago. Now I realize, no, he is God in the flesh. He's the Savior of the world. He bore my sin that upon a cross of Calvary for me. And then the last thing is I receive Him as my personal Savior. John 1.12, But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. I bowed my head and trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It's that simple. That's what salvation is. There's so much confusion about that. And understand, that is the foundation of living the Christian life. You can't do it unless you're saved! So I asked you this morning, have you been saved? Well, I don't want that religious stuff. Better think about that statement. Because one day you're going to die. And as is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment, you're going to stand before God, and the only way you're going to get into heaven is if you've trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's it. There's no other way. There's no argument. Well, I wasn't that bad. Stop already. You're guilty. But you can be saved through Jesus Christ. But understand, when a person truly gets saved, God, God changes them. Well, I'm trying to... No, God does it. He puts in us His Spirit, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Understand, a person that is not saved will not want to walk the walk. They won't want to do it. They won't want to live for God. They won't have a desire to live what the Bible says. In fact, they'll see living the Christian life as a burden, as something they don't want to do. They'll have no desire to read their Bible. They'll have no desire to pray. They'll have no desire to talk about God. They'll have no desire to attend church or sing the hymns or even listen to some guy up here preach the word of God. It'll bother them. They'll have no interest in the things of God. You see, it's only when we know Him that we can truly walk the walk. I want you to think about some of the examples in the Bible of this changing that God does. For example, Saul of Tarsus. He was a man who was religious, who was going his own way, who did not know the Lord. He was persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ. He was persecuting the churches. He was an enemy of the gospel. Yet after he got saved, he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? What happened to him? God changed him. I think of Zacchaeus, you know, the wee little man in the tree we sing about, that hated, he was a hated man. He was a Jewish tax collector that worked for the Roman government and people despised him. After he got saved, what did he say? He said, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I've taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him Fourfold! Why did he do that? God changed him. See, what changes a person and gives him the foundation of living the Christian life is knowing Jesus Christ as their Savior. Salvation is the foundation of our walk. Have you been changed? It's not conforming. It's a transforming. And God does it. So we see number one, the distinction of our walk. We see number two, the foundation of our walk. Then we see number three, and finally, the decision each day to walk. So notice what he says in verse 22, that ye 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 ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Now let me explain what he's saying here. When a person gets saved, the moment they get saved, truly saved, truly born again, the Holy Spirit of God indwells them. It is not something that happens later, at the moment itself, it's not something you feel, it's something that's a fact. He indwells us, and we are given, the Holy Spirit gives us a new nature. God's nature. That new nature is called the new man. Notice how he's described in verse 24, and that she put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. But understand something, we have that new nature, but we still have living within us the old nature. I wish I could preach to you this morning that that puppy goes away. But he doesn't until we get to heaven. The old man. The old nature it's called. The sinful Adamic nature. We call it, it's called in the Bible, the flesh. And notice how it's described in verse 22. It's described corrupt according to the deceitful lust. So we have this one nature in us that is created in righteousness and true holiness. Then we have another nature in us, the old man. that is corrupt according to the deceitful lust that will be with us as long as we're on this earth and understand something those two natures are at war with one another go over to Romans chapter 7 quickly Romans chapter 7 if you've been saved any amount of time you know exactly what I'm talking about Romans chapter 7 Paul has been saved for 30 years And listen to what he says, you'd think he had it down. Verse 15, for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that I do. He's talking about this battle. He says, I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't do it. And when I do something, my nature wants to do wrong. Verse 16, if then I do that which I would not, I consent under the law that it is good, now that it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. for the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do how many live that right there there's stuff I don't want to do I know I'm not supposed to do but I do it anyway it's there And he goes on to say, now that in verse 20, now if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Verse 21, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. It's a battle. Galatians 5 17 puts it this way for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that she cannot do the things that she would so how do we get victory how do we do this how do we live how do we walk the walk when I have two natures well the answer is back in Ephesians and that is simply this we can have victory over the old man by yielding to the new man. And notice the phraseology there in verse 22 that she put off concerning the former conversation, the old man. Verse 24, and that she put on the new man. Now I brought something up here this morning to kind of illustrate it. You've probably seen this before. I'll put this guy here. I think everybody can see me. And I'll put this guy here. This is a jacket I've owned for years. You say, I can tell. Well, thank you, fashion consultant. I've had this thing for a long time. If I remember right, and it may not, but I have jackets like this. But let me just use this one as an illustration. I wore this when I was lost. I worked in the casino wearing this jacket. It was there. It saw all those things. I'm personifying, OK? It heard all those things. It did things that I don't even want to mention in this place. That's a picture of what I was. I bought this one here as a preacher. I got saved I wanted a couple new suits right now. This has been around a while. I know you can tell But this was the opposite I was saved with this one. I want you that's the old man That's the new man This one's preached the Word of God for years This one's taught people this one's done so much not perfect, but I have and I want you to think about that that we have living in us a Two natures. What I used to do and be. And it's still there. It's still in my closet. And what I am today. And we're told by God, if you and I want victory, if we want victory in our lives, we are to put off the old man, right? Because this guy is always with us. He's there. I could kind of, I don't want to go through all of it. I'd put that over. It's not going to do that. Kind of ugly, isn't it? So is the old man. And I'm supposed to put off the old man and put on, I won't do it now, because I'm going to take it off in a second, put on the new man. It's a decision that you and I have to make, not only day by day, but moment by moment. Because there's a tendency in all of us, when something happens in our lives, to immediately put on the old man. All right? Excuse me. Driving in my car. Things are going well. Amen. All of a sudden, somebody comes and just about takes my bumper off, because he's got to rush into this lane. And I see him on his cell phone, not even paying attention. All right, let's talk about it. Guess what I want to do? Ant-Man, pay attention! Get off your stupid phone! You're going to kill somebody! Right? That's what I want to do. But I can't do that. Here's what I'm supposed to do. Watch this. The knee jerk is, you know. What's the big deal? Maybe he didn't see me. I've done things myself. I've messed up. No big deal. It's not the end of the world. Nobody got hurt. We'll be fine. You know what? This guy probably needs to be saved. And if I do this, and he sees my face, and then the next week I knock on his door to give him a track, he's going to be like, wait a minute. I remember you. I remember you. Now watch this. We could use this example with just about everything. Somebody says something, maybe a spouse to you, you don't like. The kids are misbehaving over the top today. And guess what? Mr. Old Man is ready to rumble. And what do we do? We freak out on everybody. Yeah, time to go to church. Praise the Lord. God bless you all. It's been a wonderful week. Pray for this and pray for that. No. Put off the old man. Put on the new man. It's a daily, moment-by-moment decision. Listen, in everything that occurs in your life and my life, and it may only be a split second, because we like to say, well, I can't help it. That's the way I am. You see, I'm Italian, or I'm Polish, or I'm this, and we have tempers, and I'm Irish. And yet, stop! The problem's the old man. That's the way I was brought up. No, it's the old man. And in that split second, you and I have a choice. Which one am I going to choose? It's only a split second to make that choice. If you want to walk the walk, you better flee immediately, put off the old man, and put on the new man, and let that corrupt man die. You see, putting off the old man will help us to stop thinking like the old man. It will help us to stop acting like the old man. It will help us to stop re-acting like the old man. And we are to put him to death every single month. Don't take him out of the closet. Leave him in there. Because putting on the new man is simply this, yielding to the Lord. I can't do it. You can do it. And I can do it. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. Let him control your thinking. Let him control your actions. Let him control your reactions. And as we put off and put on, understand you and I in this wicked world can walk the walk. You say, I can't do it. You can. Romans 13, 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. This morning, I'm not asking you to tell me what you believe. I don't want to hear your doctrinal dissertation. I don't want to see your doctrinal statement. I'm asking you this. Are you walking the walk? More than what you just say you believe, are we walking? Is there a distinction between you and the world? Are you thinking like a Christian? Are you behaving like a Christian? Do you have the foundation of salvation? And are you making that daily decision to put off the old man and put on the new man? Because that, my friend, is the formula for the walk. This world needs to see Christians living the Christian life. They're laughing at us right now. You guys say you believe that. Look at this one over here. He's drinking his booze, and this one carousing the town, and this one's screaming at her children like a maniac. You're just like us. Yeah, we are. Because we're not putting off and putting on. God help us, amen? Let's pray.