Thank you guys, appreciate that. Let's take our Bibles and turn to Ephesians 4, 17 through 24. There's a simple note-taking outline in the bulletin if you're interested. Ephesians 4, 17 through 24, the potter and the clay. As we continue to move through Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is really focused. He's not trying to be a jack-of-all-trades. He's really talking about three things. Who Jesus is and what Jesus did, number one, and then who you are in Christ, Number two, and then who we are as Christ's church on earth. The foundation, who Jesus is and what he did for sinners. And then secondly, who the believer is in Christ. And then thirdly, who the church is and what the church is called to do. This is his focus. And we come to a section on how God, the potter, calls and commands his people to live as vessels of righteousness and holiness. A coach will call and command his players to work hard. A boss will call and command his employees to be on time. The God of righteousness and holiness calls and commands his children to live life as vessels of righteousness and holiness. Righteousness in general is living in obedience to God's will. Holiness is what that makes you in relation to the world around you. Righteousness, living in obedience to God's will, and then holiness is what that makes you in relation to the world. You're set apart, you're consecrated, you're different then. Righteousness and holiness. Let's pray and then we'll read the passage together. Father, apart from you, nothing good will happen. So we come by faith into your throne room where your glory shines and where Christ serves as our intercessor. And we ask that you would sanctify these lips and we'll make a feeble attempt to speak of the glories of Christ. And we also ask that you would sanctify our ears that we might hear Christ's voice through his word and by the power of your spirit. Finally, we ask, oh God, we ask that you'd sanctify our hearts, that these truths would penetrate through our ears and into our hearts and give us a greater endowment of holy affection for Jesus Christ this morning. Father, we pray that you would teach us, help us, in our time of need. In Jesus' name, amen. Ephesians 4, 17 through 24. 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. Verse 19, they've become callous and they've given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. They don't want just a little bit of impurity, greedy, hungering to practice every kind of impurity. Verse 20, but that is not the way you learned 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. For a lump of clay to become the useful vessel that the potter intends, a cup or a bowl or a dish, two things must happen to it and they happen simultaneously. That lump will become less and less a useless lump and more and more a useful vessel. Likewise, as the Christian is to grow into the likeness of God, two things must happen, and friends, they happen simultaneously. We become less and less like the world around us. We become less and less like the old self, but we become more and more holy in God's eyes. Those things happen in the child of God. And we can see them in our passage. First, verse 17, you must not. You must not walk as the Gentiles or as the nations. That's referring to the pagan nations. Israel was set apart as God's chosen nation, and the surrounding nations in the world did their own thing. You must not walk as the Gentiles, and then you can bookend that with the opposite in verse 24, the second half, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness, that is the polar opposite from walking as the nations walk. You become less and less like the nations, you become more and more like God. And also you can see the contrast in the opposite in verse 22, where he says, put off your old self. with 24, where he says, put on the new self. So now you see the second dimension to what we're becoming less and less like. Not only are we becoming less and less like the world around us, we're becoming less and less like our own old fallen selves. Put off the old self. Less and less like a useless, Lump. More and more in the image of God. My number one problem and your number one problem is not that we live in a world of sin, but that a world of sin lives in us. We must pursue holiness to be vessels for God. It's the reason we must repent daily. Hopefully you have not graduated from repenting. We must repent daily. We must cry out for Jesus daily. We must ask God for the Holy Spirit daily, striving to live as vessels of righteousness and holiness. 2 Timothy 2.21, this is a good cross-reference here. If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use. set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Romans 6, 12 through 14. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. And do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness. but rather present yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life and your members, your body parts, to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will not have dominion over you since you are no longer under law. but under grace. Now, in Christ, child of God, you are a vessel created by God. You are a vessel who's purposed to live for God, and you are a vessel that desperately longs after God through Jesus Christ. Vessel of righteousness and holiness begins with loving God through faith in Christ. Isaiah 64, eight, but now, O Lord, you are our Father, We are the clay. You are our potter. We are all the work of your hand. He is the potter and we are the clay. And in Christ, he's making us less and less like the world, less and less like our old selves, and more and more like himself. Let me front load some application on this and just let you know that you must take this message personally, which means you must make a heart commitment to live as a vessel for God. Number one, that means making a heart commitment to be a servant of Jesus. Jesus was a servant. He served his father. He worked for his father, John 6, 38. Jesus said, I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Jesus also works for the benefit of others. He was and is a servant, Mark 10, 45. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And he reigns in heaven now as a faithful high priest, mediator for the people of God, serving as your priest. If we are going to imitate the likeness of Christ in this world and to each other, we must be servants. We must make a heart commitment. I'm going to be a servant. I'm not in this for me. I'm here to be a servant. we become more and more humble servants and less and less entitled consumers, amen? Must also make a heart commitment to live as a soldier of Jesus. Servant, soldier. Soldiers fight. Soldiers take a stand. Soldiers suffer and soldiers often get wounded. But we must be waging war against the corruption and complacency in our hearts. In 2 Samuel 3, 1, Bible says there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of, anybody know? David. Also within us, there's going to be a long war between the sinful flesh and between the Holy Spirit. Make sure you're in the battle. By the way, it's not too late to get in the battle through faith in Christ. But make sure you're fighting. I'm not so much worried of the brother or sister who's really suffering and really struggling in their fight against sin as I am worried about the one who has no clue of any kind of concept of a fight against sin. You must be a servant to others. You must be a soldier. waging war against sin. Sin is not a friend you invite over for lunch. Sin is an enemy on the battlefield for your soul. You must be a servant, a soldier, and a seeker of Jesus. And by seeker of Jesus, I'm not talking about before you come to faith and you're looking and trying to figure out what you wanna do. I'm talking about for Christians. Why do you eat every day? Why do you drink every day? Why do you breathe every day? You need these things. Do you pray every day? Are you in the word every day? Are you aware of your need for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit every day? Brothers and sisters, we need these things. We need these things for spiritual life and thriving. Be a servant, a soldier, a seeker, before any of that, you must be saved by Jesus Christ. And his invitation is out here to any and all, to those who've not come to Jesus Christ to be a servant, a soldier, a seeker by faith, you must be saved by Christ and you can come to him today through faith and repentance. Well, let's work through the passage. And what we're going to see are three things. Number one, the corruption of the clay, that's referring to the, the clay of this mass of corruption that is the world, the creation of a lump, that's God plucking you out from the corrupt world, consecrating you, setting you apart to be his vessel, the corruption of the clay, the creation of a lump, that's you, you're the lump, and the crafting of the vessel, that's God making you into something that you're not, Roman one, the corruption, of the clay, verses 17 and 19 and also verse 22. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They're darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. And you'll see this as we come through and talk about these things. These are issues of the mind and issues of the heart and issues of practical living, hands and feet, the whole life, the whole person. They've become callous, verse 19, and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity, and 22, I'm referring to this now as our former way of life is corrupt through deceitful desires. He's talking about just basic everyday living that's focused on me, myself, and I, rather than God. It's life lived according to my desires rather than God's desires. It's life lived based on my will rather than God's will. It's life lived pursuing my glory rather than God's glory. And is this not the default setting of culture? The first thing he says here is that we, you, me, the Christian, must take personal responsibility to flee the self-centered corruption of the world. Verse 17, you must no longer walk. You must no longer walk." What was Israel's chief sin, generally speaking? You'd say idolatry, right? But in a general sense, they became like the nations around them. They were set apart and commanded to live according to God's revealed will, not like the nations around them. What do they do? They become like the nations around them. Children, You must honor your parents, which means you must not curse them or rebel against them. Husbands, you must love your wives with a sacrificial love, which means you must not be selfish and self-serving. Workers, you must be responsible and have integrity, which means you must not be lazy and be a troublemaker. Child of God, you must love and obey Jesus Christ. which means you must no longer walk as the nations do. The only way forward, the only way to make progress in these things is daily communion with Jesus Christ. If the branches don't abide to the vine, they will bear zero fruit. And the only key that will open the door to these things we're talking about this morning is the key of a holy devotion and affection to the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. You must love him. And if you love him, you will obey him. So first, personal responsibility. to flee the self-centered corruption of the world. And next he gives five marks of corruption. Five marks of corruption. Number one, godless thinking. Look at verse 17b, which means the second phrase. And he says, futility of the mind. Godless thinking, futility of the mind. Futility is referring to something that's useless. It's something that's pointless, like square wheels on a tractor. Futility of mind, and that's referring to how the mind operates and what the mind is fixed upon. The corrupt mind operates as if it determines what's right and wrong, as if it determines what's beneficial and what's harmful, as if it determines what's true and false. Godless thinking. like a tick, fixes itself on the skin. The corrupt mind fixes itself on things of this world and thinks that if it can just get enough of things of this world and keep sucking and sucking and getting more things and more stuff and more money and more prestige, that will lead to happiness. Friends, that will not lead to happiness. That is godless thinking. Now, sin is irrational. You know that sin is wicked, but sin is also irrational. Children do irrational things, not my children. Children in general. How many cereal boxes have I found on the counter, box open, bag open? Reminder after reminder, fatherly exhortation, ad nauseam. Bag open, box open on the counter. But I will also find in the pantry, bag closed, box closed, put where it belongs, completely empty cereal boxes. Because that would be easier than crushing it up and putting it in the recycling. Sin is irrational. Sin is irrational. Now, some of these things are, some of these good illustrations are funny to think about, but that is the irrationality and the wickedness of godless thinking. We do the opposite of what we're supposed to do. We do the opposite of what will bring us true satisfaction. God says, this is right. We say, no, you're wrong, God, this is right. God says, this is where you need to be to live a blessed life and have true hope in life. Well, no, God, this is where I need to be, where it's totally irrational. The creator of the universe, infinite being, tells us what's right, and we correct him. Godless thinking, futility of mind, godless beliefs, second mark of corruption, godless beliefs, 18a. darkened in their understanding, and then two phrases later, still in verse 18, ignorance that is in them. Godless beliefs. Now this is related to godless thinking, but it's a little bit different. Godless thinking is more of how you think. Godless beliefs is what you actually believe. It says darkened in their understanding. Light represents God and all that God delights in and all that God approves of, darkness is the opposite of light. And we're darkened in our understanding, naturally speaking. And of all the wrong beliefs that we have in our natural selves, the central one, the foundational one, is that man is Lord of himself and over himself. He is not under the authority of God. That's godless belief prime. Of course, there's glaring examples in our culture right now regarding gender. We think we get to define gender rather than God, and sexuality, and marriage. We think we get to define those things and say what's right instead of submitting to God's revealed will. But there are all kinds of examples in our own lives where God says, prioritize this. We say, no, God, I hear what you're saying, But if I prioritize that, the body life of the church, daily prayer time, daily in the word, it will be an obstacle to my comfort and happiness. And so we do the very thing in a different way, the very same thing that the world does in a different way is acting as if we are the authority rather than God. Number three, simply godless, simply godless. marks of corruption. This comes from the middle of 18 where it says this, alienated from the life of God. What does alienated from the life of God means? It simply means away from God. It means not having God. If a criminal is alienated from a country, he's exiled from that country. He's away from it. He's out of it. He's gone. He's alienated. Alienated from the life of God means not in a relationship with Jesus. But praise God, this is the great problem that Jesus came to fix. And you can come to Jesus through faith by virtue of his blood shed on the cross. And you can come into a relationship with God. You can be reconciled to God through Jesus. It means not in a relationship with Jesus. It means not filled with the Holy Spirit. But this is, praise God, the great gift Jesus gives. He gives the Holy Spirit. alienated from the life of God, means not transformed by grace as a vessel for God. But praise the Lord, this is the great work he does in the heart. Two more of these marks of corruption. Number four, godless living. Look at the second half of verse 19. Given themselves up to sensuality. Sensuality, I'm yours. Sensuality, I'm your servant. I'm giving myself up. That's the picture. Sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. This basically is referring to a lifestyle of open disobedience to God's will. Open disobedience to God's will. Wrap it all up into one because there's so many marks of disobedience, so many ways we stumble. Godless living is feeding and following worldly pleasures. Feeding and following worldly prestige. Feeding and following worldly things. We all have these little pet sins. We try to rationalize it. We even try to rationalize it for each other. Oh, that's just their personality. We have these little pet sins. We're like a little boy following around a cute baby monster in the woods. And we feed it, and we're playing with it, and we follow it, and we feed it, and we feed it, and we follow it, and then we're devoured by it. Some of you have these secret lingering sins, and maybe not so secret some of them. You must repent. You must repent, why? Because God is crafting you into a vessel of righteousness and holiness. And the fifth mark of corruption is God hardened. That means hardened against God. The end of verse 18, look at the end of verse 18. It's almost as if this is the one fountain spring of corruption that all these other aspects flow due to their hardness of heart. Hardness of heart, a heart hardened against God. And also look at the beginning of verse 19, they've become callous. What is a callous? It's a spot on your skin that's hardened. And it's more dull to sensation. This is the heart that's hardened against God. One pastor and a very good friend of mine talks about the difference between appetite and taste. Appetite and taste. And he says, naturally speaking, we all have an appetite for God in the sense that he's the only thing that will fulfill us. But the problem is we don't have a taste for God. and we just as soon pursue the things of the world and flee from God, worship the gifts, and have all the gifts, but ignore the giver, what we need is an appetite for God. Now that's a mistake there. No, we have a natural appetite for God. Only He can fulfill us. What we need is a taste for God. We need to acquire a taste for God, and of course, through His word and through His Spirit. to hunger and thirst, that language comes from a book I'm familiar with, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, the God-hardened heart. Well, these are marks of corruption, the corruption of the clay, this world of corruption. Now, clearly, if God is going to do something good from something out of this corrupt clay, it's going to be an act of mercy, and it's going to be an act of gracious love. It cannot be something that the clay deserves. It cannot be something that the clay has earned. It cannot be something that the clay receives from God based on the goodness of the clay. The reason must be found in God, and that is his mercy and grace. Roman 2, the creation of a lump. Who's the lump? That's you, the believer. The creation of a lump. Verses 20 and 21. But that is not the way you learned Christ. First phrase here, you can underline that. Learned Christ. Also could be translated received, which it is in other places in scripture. Received Christ. Assuming that you have heard about him. That's the second phrase, you can underline that. Heard. So learning, hearing, and we're taught in him. Again, learning. You received him, you heard about him, you were taught in him as the truth in Jesus. Now before it's fashioned into something useful, clay must be scooped out of, plucked out of the larger batch. That's what it's like to receive Christ. It is God scooping us out of, theological, biblical term, which would probably be better, would be sanctify or consecrate, consecrating us, sanctifying, scooping or plucking us out from the world of corruption and setting us apart that he might do something magnificent in our lives for his glory. And so before Paul goes into any detail of what God is doing and making the Christian into, he reminds them of where we came from and that there was this time when you first Received Christ or learned Christ where you heard of Christ and you were taught of Christ you were taught according to the truth Now what specific truth is he referring to here? I believe in the context. It's clear. It's the here's the way. How did they learn Christ? How did they hear of Christ? How are they taught in Christ here? Here's how that those who are forgiven by Jesus are changed by Jesus. A very simple concept. You're forgiven by Jesus, you are changed by Jesus. You're not the same person. You don't live the same way. You don't talk the same way. You don't value the same things. You don't pursue the same things, the same goals. Very simple, those who Jesus saves, Jesus changes. That's how they learned Christ. That's how we learned Christ if we did learn him. That's how we were taught. That's how we heard. A seed cannot grow up into a tree and also remain just a seed. A body cannot be a living, breathing body and also, at the same time, be a dead body. It's got to be one or the other. Jesus used the illustration of a good tree, bad tree. You'd be a good tree, bear good fruit. Bad tree, bear bad fruit. You're gonna be one or the other. You can't be both. This is how they learned Christ. This is how they heard of Christ. This is how they were taught in Christ. They were taught according to the truth, that they're no longer the old self. And clearly when they heard of Christ, they heard of the fact that he is God and man, and therefore the only qualified person to stand as mediator between sinful people and a holy God. And certainly when they learned about Christ, they learned of his righteous life. fulfilling the law of God, obeying God's will at every point, and that it's this righteousness that if you believe, you receive this righteousness to your account before God. Certainly, certainly, when they heard and learned of Christ, they heard of his sacrificial death on a cross. He took your guilt upon himself. He took your sin upon himself. He took God's punishment against your sin upon himself so that you could go free. Certainly they learned all of that, and certainly they learned about his resurrection, giving us true and lasting hope in the face of imminent death. We need hope. And we know by experience, it's not found in the things of the world, although we resist that, of course. But that's not all they learned in Christ. They not only learned the truths of the gospel, but they learned about the effects of the gospel for those who receive it. Those who Jesus saves, he changes. I'll give you three points on this, overarching points. Hearts that deny self for the good of others is the kind of heart we received. Hearts that deny self for the good of others. Hearts that delight in God out of sincere love. Hearts that delight in God out of sincere love. Don't delight in television more than you delight in the creator of the universe. Don't delight in hobbies and toys more than you delight in entering into the throne room of heaven to speak with God, a.k.a. prayer. Don't delight in personal comfort and leisure more than the fellowship of God's people. You are the temple of God on earth. Scripture teaches that. You're the dwelling place of God's Holy Spirit on earth. You, church, are the manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth. Why do we treat these things as obstacles to our happiness rather than vehicles to our happiness? Well, it's because there's still work to be done in our hearts. Isn't it true? Still less and less like the world around us, less and less like the old self, and more and more in the image of God that needs to happen. Hearts that deny self for the good of others. What did Jesus say? If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, not prioritize himself, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. And friends, that begins first at home, living that out. At home, be a self denier for the good of others. And then it spreads out from there. Church, work, school, friends, wherever. Hearts that delight in God out of sincere love. And by the way, when you delight in God and love God, we delight in and love the things that he delights in and loves. His word, his people, his purpose, his church. We love what he loves. And third, hearts that desire personal holiness and obedience. Man, when I was lost, it was just so clear. All I wanted to do was sin. And it wasn't this deep spiritual thing. It was just fun. I was lost. I was in darkness. I didn't know any better. But it's what I wanted to do was sin. I was like a fish in water, a pig in mud. And brothers and sisters, if I did not receive a new heart by the grace of God through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I'd still be that same old person. But God is making us into a new kind of people that we might be lights in the darkness, not just blend in with the darkness. vessels for God. You know, a cog in a machine is perfectly fine just to go back and forth. What's a cog do? I don't know. It's to go around, but my hand doesn't have 360 motion. That's fine for a cog, just to keep doing what it's doing, go through the motion over and over. The machine keeps working. A conveyor belt in a factory is perfectly fine just to go through the motions, go through the rituals, go through the ceremonies, Not so for the child of God. Friends, not so for the church member. Personal, spiritual transformation is what we're about. It's what God has called us to. We're not cogs or conveyor belts. Number three, Roman three. So the corruption of the clay, the creation of a lump out of that corrupt clay. And Roman three, the crafting of the vessel. Do you want this third point? Do you want me just to leave you hanging? Yeah, that's right. The third point's the good one. The best one, they're all good. The best one. What God is doing in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit is our greatest concern. It's God's greatest gift to us. It should be our greatest concern. The crafting of the vessel, verses 22, through 24, to put off your old self, which belongs to the former manner of life. That's who you used to be. That's who you used to be, former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires. That's where I got that word corrupt from. And to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Do you remember that? Less and less like this, more and more like God. Less and less like the world, less and less like old self, more and more like God. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Now, another key word in here is God. To be like God. Don't miss that. God is restoring his image in you to be like God. That's another thing you'll see if you read through the history of Israel. When I mentioned earlier what was their chief sin, becoming like the nations, around them, and central to that was worshiping the idols that the nations worshiped. And one of the things God says, you worship these idols, you become like them. There's these pieces of wood and these pieces of stone that have ears, but they can't hear. You're becoming like that. You have ears, but you can't hear. And those idols, pieces of wood, have eyes, but they can't see. And he says, you're becoming like that. You have eyes, but you can't see. Boy, let your child watch a TV show for, I was gonna say a week, but probably like three hours, where all the characters are just super bratty and snotty to each other. And what happens? They become bratty and snotty. You watch movies and you watch TV with all kinds of crude jokes and just pointless sarcasm and being rude. What happens? You'll become like that. You become like, the things we pour into our hearts shape us and then we reflect it out to others. That's why you must be, one of the reasons you must be pouring over Scripture in prayer daily. You become more and more like God, not more and more like the silly things of the world. Now let me give you an illustration for how this crafting of the vessel happens. It's a simple illustration, I think, give me feedback after the service. It's a simple illustration to help to explain how this happens, how we're crafted. And then I have three essential ingredients that come right from the text. But I wanna give you the illustration first, sort of as a paradigm for understand how, well, how do I do this? How does this happen? Think of a man who's freezing to death. and he's got a half an hour to go and he'll be dead. Freezing man, and he sees in the distance a blazing fire. Now for him to be saved, two things are true. Number one, only the fire can save him, right? He can't save himself, he can't warm himself up. The fire alone is the source of his salvation. Number two, that's one thing that's true. The second thing that's true is this, he must make a personal effort to draw near to the fire. If he stands far off, saying and thinking that he trusts in the fire, only the fire can save me, it will do him no good. This is why I say, I think I said this last Wednesday night, I should say it more. We must lay hold of Christ. You must break through to Christ. Feeling spiritual does not save us. Being around saved people does not save us. Wanting to go to heaven does not save us. Feeling guilty for our sins does not save us. You must come near to Christ and grab hold of him by faith. Only Jesus saves. Two things are true, simultaneously true. The freezing man must draw near to the fire, 100% his effort, but also only the fire can help him, 100% trust and dependency. So now that's a paradigm for how you can grow in holiness and righteousness. In short, the way you grow in these things is by drawing near to God, only God can make you more holy. Only God can make you more obedient and more righteous. We do not stand far off and just try to do these things on our own. And one of the reasons some of us have just not seen the spiritual growth that we want is because you're going about it the wrong way. And quite simply, you're not prioritizing a daily personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. You must draw near to him. He will do all of the work, but you must draw near in faith. Like the freezing man three essential ingredients in crafting this vessel and then we're done. Thank you for your patience. I do see the time Thank you brother We don't have time for side notes but but side note I hear all, because of what's going on in the culture here, I hear all the time, I wanna see a change in the nation, a change in the culture, a change in this, a change in that. It starts in the household of God. It starts in the hearts of God's people. We must prioritize the word of God. We must prioritize prayer. We must prioritize the body life of the church. We must prioritize outreach and evangelism and relationships. We must prioritize, God works through his people. through his church. End side note. Three essential ingredients of crafting this vessel of God. Number one, this vessel is crafted by killing sin. Number two, by the renewing of the mind. And number three, by cultivating holiness. Number one, this vessel for God is crafted by killing sin, verse 22, put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. You must put it off. You must put off, shed off, do away with the old self. Romans 8, 13. If you live according to the flesh, you'll die, but if by the Spirit, listen to this, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. You must put to death the deeds of the body. You must kill sin with the bow of faith, slinging arrows of prayer daily, you must work to kill sin. And I said it earlier, just make sure you're in the fight. Make sure you're crying out to God, and it's not too late to get in the fight. Colossians 3, 5, put to death, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. David killed Goliath, you must kill sin. And David did not win the battle because he was stronger. He won the battle because God was stronger. And he did not win the battle because he believed in himself. He won the battle because he trusted in God. And that's the way we'll kill sin. Crafting a vessel also happens by renewing the mind. Verse 23, renewing the mind. You need to be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Romans 12, too, is a common verse you probably haven't memorized. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Child of God, you're like a piece of gold taken from the mountain, and you must be purified. All of these impurities must be burnt off of us. purifying power of the Word and Spirit. And so the mind must be renewed to be less and less like it used to be. And the world around us and the old self is full of discontent and complaining. Nothing's ever good enough. On an individual level, each one in here probably eats more food than many villages across the world. And yet we still find, and we have some of the greatest healthcare, And we have freedom of worship and freedom of speech. I mean, blessing upon blessing, common grace upon common grace. We still find ways to walk through life just grumpy and discontent and complaining and negative. And that's the way the world lives. It's the only way ultimately the world can live because they can't see what God is doing. And seeing what God is doing is the only foundation of rejoicing and walking in joy and freedom. That's just one example. Another example would be unforgiveness. The world walks in unforgiveness and grudges and gossiping and slandering and being bitter toward each other. We're becoming less and less and less like the old self. Praise the Lord that he's doing this work. We cannot do this on our own. Kill sin, renew your mind by the word and by prayer, if I haven't said that yet. That's a joke, I know I've said that, by the word and by prayer. Finally, the last ingredient, God is crafting a vessel by cultivating godliness, verse 24, to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. You must put on the new self that resembles and reflects and represents God in this world of darkness, that's characterized by righteousness, that means obedience to God's revealed will, and holiness, with what that makes you in relation to the world around you. You're set apart for God. You're consecrated and holy unto God. And you're like the freezing man. 100%, you must make an effort. You must strive to do this. You must draw near to the one who can do this. Only God can do this work. All right, continue to humor me for maybe four or five more minutes and turn to Galatians 5.22. Galatians 5.22, and many of you already know that this is the verse that talks about the fruits of the, yes, fruit of the Spirit. You must cultivate godliness. You must work hard and strive. This is a battle, I know. I understand. I'm trying to walk through this by faith just like you are. It's not easy to kill sin. It's not easy to have our minds renewed. It takes effort, it takes work, it takes sacrifice, it takes denying self. It takes daily communion with Christ. And it takes effort and work to cultivate godliness. But we know where it comes from. It comes from God. Galatians 5, 22 through 24, about the fruit of the Spirit, which means he's the one who creates it and bears it, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. In other words, there's no law, there's no limit, where it says you can love this much, but you can't love this much. No, it's always good to love. It's always right to care. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have, listen, crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And like a farmer must care after his crops and tend to them properly and take care of them in order to grow up and see a crop, so also the Christian must tend to his own heart and to his own mind, to his own soul, to his own words, carefully seeking God that the Holy Spirit might create a crop. the fruit of the spirit. You must draw near to the one who has the power to cultivate and give you that fruit. The power to kill, the power to cultivate, and the power to renew the mind. Now that's our three essential ingredients of how God is crafting a vessel in his likeness. And I'm gonna quickly here go through the fruit of the spirit. And I'm gonna read them just so I can be clear about it. We must approach God, who has the power to kill hatred and jealousy and to cultivate love. And he has the power to renew our minds that we might prioritize and pursue self-giving love and charity. We must draw near to the one who has the power to kill anger and to kill discouragement. Boy, what a demon that could be, discouragement. And the one who has the power to cultivate joy. The one who has the power to kill chronic negativity and just restlessness, but cultivate peace. The one that has the power to kill impatience and cultivate patience. The one who has the power to kill selfishness, which plagues every single one of us, but cultivate kindness, which is pleasing to the Lord. The one who has the power to kill lust and to cultivate goodness and purity. The one who has the power to kill a wandering, distracted heart and to cultivate faithfulness. The one who has the power to kill a harsh tongue and cultivate gentleness. The one who has the power to kill a loose tongue and cultivate self-control. Brothers and sisters, Christians should be self-controlled people. In Jesus, God is crafting for himself vessels of righteousness and holiness. As the tide lifts a ship, we daily lift our hearts to him in prayer. As we eat daily and drink daily and breathe daily, daily we should be feeding on the word of God, crying out for the Holy Spirit. Fools, fools trust in earthly treasures, but they who trust in Christ are wise. Now, to be called a clump of clay, I understand is not a flattering metaphor, but to be called clay in the compassionate hand of God, in the mighty hands of God, that he is crafting into a vessel for his use is the best thing ever. And through his power, by his power alone and by his grace, you and I, brothers and sisters, are becoming less and less like the world around us, less and less like the old self, and more and more like God in true righteousness and holiness. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They shall be satisfied. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and for your spirit. We ask for your power in our lives, your transforming power of your spirit in our lives, and we return praise unto you for all that you are and all that you promise to do.