Walk in Holiness Pt 1

And so, it's running after me.

And so, of the goodness of God.

And so, couldn't count them.

I've heard through the years in song, count your blessings. Name them one by one. Bless us so much. Because you so love the world, you gave your only begotten son. That's pretty heavy duty. Your heart so hot, so lost in him. So much that you deserve. We praise you when we don't feel because you're worthy.

Jesus, Lord, this is your love. This is your love.

This is your love.

This is your love.

We used to sing a song about that section in John 15. Jesus says, I'm the vine.

The branch we know, Lord, cannot get any sustenance without abiding in the vine. And we thank you, Lord, that you are our strength, our sustenance. My sleep and dry.

My strength, my song. And teach me too. Would you teach me, would you teach me too, oh, boy, teach me too, oh, boy. Father, we continue our service, Lord, as we fellowship, as we prepare to hear your word taught. Would you anoint, Pastor? Father, would you give us a heart yielded that we may receive that which you have for us this morning by the leading and guiding of your Holy Spirit, Lord.

Weak to serve, Lord, give us strength.

Yesterday, when worship. Brings about service. They are very connected. Teach us to worship, Lord, and in turn to serve, because then we serve with a worshipful heart. See, service is that word service there in Romans 12 there, beseech you, therefore, brother and brother, mercies of God, as you present your body, a living sacrifice, fully and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, our reasonable act of worship, depending on

the translation you would get. They're connected. They're connected, worship and service. We give you praise, Lord. Oh, melt our hearts for the things of you. Give us a hunger for your word and a desire for the things of you. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. The Lord bless you. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning. If you could begin the process of locating your seat, grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Glad to see you this morning. A few things to take note of. Over on the left-hand side, we have a week, so take note of some of those and find some spots to get plugged into. In the middle section of your bulletin, the only thing to pay attention to is that, fellows, we have men's breakfast next Saturday. So come join us, 8 a.m. in the agape room down at the other end of the hall, and we'll

eat some food, we'll talk about Jesus, and we'll fellowship a little bit. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading, we're going to be in Psalm 130. Psalm 130. Looking at the New American Standard, so we sound the same. If you need a copy, it should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 130, if you are able, please stand with us in the honor of the reading of God's Word. Okay, I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen, and the even verses. Psalm 130, a song of ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul does wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning. Indeed, more than the watchman. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with him

is abundant redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. And Father, we do praise you that you are the God of redemption. And Lord, you are the one for whom our soul waits. And so, Lord, do your work in here this morning in the way that only you can through the power of your Holy Spirit. Minister to us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, chapter 4.

Ephesians, chapter 4.

We are a series in the practicality of walking with Jesus. The first three chapters, of course, of Ephesians were who we are in Christ, our position, but now this is how we live in light of who we are in Christ. The first thing that we said is that we are to walk worthy, and we said that walking worthy means to have a heart of unity, but also to have a goal of maturity. Well, now we come to the next section, which will occupy the last half of chapter 4, and that's that we are to walk in holiness.

Walk in holiness. And so, today is part one of that series, and let me give a quick introduction before we get into it. The word holy, in the Greek, is the word hagios. Now, the Greeks used this word for a specific purpose. When the Greeks used this word, they indicated something that was separated unto the gods. And, of course, we know that the New Testament sanctified the word, and now we know it as

set apart or sanctified unto God. And so, the idea of being holy is the idea of being set apart for a specific use or a specific purpose. In particular, set apart for the use of God. Set apart unto the Lord. Set apart. then that is God's desire for his church. That is God's desire for his people, is that we would be set apart from the things of the world that are opposed to God

and set apart unto the service and worship of the Lord. And so what Paul is going to do is he's going to walk us through those ideas in the last half of chapter 4. He's going to do so in two ways. Number one, he's going to teach us the principle. And number two, he's going to teach us the practice. This morning, part one, we'll be looking at the principle. And so we pick up in Ephesians 4, verse 17.

And this is what it says. So this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer as the Gentiles also walk in futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

But you did not learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted, in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. And so as Paul lays out this principle for us, the principle of living in holiness, there's three things he tells us.

Number one, he tells us that we are to change the way that you walk. Number two, he wants us to remember what you learned. And number three, he says out with the old and in with the new. So let's take this first one, change the way that you walk. Starting in verse 17, it says this. So this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles walk.

Now the word Gentile there, we could also exchange for the word pagan. It speaks of the unbelieving world. And so what he tells us is, we should no longer walk like the unbelieving world all around us. And I want to point a couple of things out to you before we get into the things that he has to say about the unbelieving world around us. Now, perhaps you remember

when you first started walking with Jesus and you were very excited about it. You were very excited about following after the things of the Lord. But not long after you started walking with the Lord, you started to notice something. You started to notice that you still had a little bit of a craving for the things of the world. And you still kind of wanted to be accepted by the world,

even though, you were now a follower of Jesus Christ. And that tells me that each of us as Christians can struggle with two main things. Number one, we want as much of the world as we can have and still be Christian. That's not me, Ryan. I bet it is sometimes. Because it's me sometimes. Sometimes we want as much of the world as we can possibly have and still be a Christian.

How much can I get away with and still love Jesus? And that can be a problem for us as believers in Jesus Christ. The second problem that we can have is that we want to, we want to look just like the world so that we can be accepted by the world. We want to look just like the world so that we can be accepted by the world. When I was a preteen, there was a word that I started hearing a lot,

a phrase. That phrase was peer pressure. Y'all ever heard that word before, that phrase? And then as I became a teenager, they talked about it even more. Now I'm sure that the phrase predates my teen years, even though there are some in this room that think nothing predates my teen years. I'm sure that that phrase predated that quite a bit. But it really became something that was talked about a lot.

And oftentimes we think that that only involves kids, right? We think kids are the ones that are susceptible to peer pressure. I'm here to tell you right now that everybody, no matter how old you are, is susceptible to the influence and the opinions of others. And oftentimes as Christians, we still want to be loved by the people of the world and stand for the things that we love.

And what Paul tells us here is that you're going to have to make a decision. You're going to have to decide to change the way that you walk. Because the reason why we feel that way is because we oftentimes forget just how lost the world is. We have forgotten just how far gone they are, and so we don't realize what a dangerous slope it is to walk like the world.

And so Paul tells us, I affirm to you in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. And then Paul goes on to describe five things about the way that the Gentiles walk. Five descriptions of the walk of the Gentile. And I want you to take note of something as we go over these things. You will notice a downward spiral that begins to take place

because one causes the next. So five things. Number one is futility of mind. He says that you walk, middle of verse 17, no longer, just as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind. That word futility means vain, aimless, or without result. Vain, aimless, or without result. Let me tell you what that means. That means that the things that the world are pursuing right now,

they lead to nothing. They are completely empty. The things that the world considers important are only the things, that they can see, the things that are right in front of their face. Jesus put it best in Matthew chapter 6 verse 31 when he said, don't worry about the things that the Gentiles worry about, because they always think about what will we eat, what will we drink, and what will we wear. You see, those are

all temporary things, and yet the world says those are the most important things to pay attention to. Therefore, they are lost in the futility, the emptiness of their mind, and it's one thing when the world is like that, but when the church starts to match it and live in that same emptiness, we have a real problem. And so he says, walk no longer as the Gentiles do in the emptiness of their mind. Number two, he says that their understanding is darkened. Their understanding is darkened.

Having their understanding darkened because they are excluded from the life of God. The idea of having their understanding darkened doesn't mean that they're stupid. After all, when we look at the world around us, there's a good number of very, very smart people in the world. Don't get me wrong, there's a handful of stupid people in the world too, but that's not what's being talked about here when he talks about their understanding being darkened. It's not the understanding of the things of the world, it's their understanding of spiritual

truth. And because their minds are futile, because all they can think about is the empty things of the world, they're not going to be able to understand the things of the world. They have no spiritual understanding. And for the believer in Jesus Christ, we know that our understanding was not truly enlightened until it became spiritually enlightened, until the spiritual side of us was made alive. And then all of a sudden, everything made sense, right? All kinds

of things started to come together. I understand the battle that we face now. I understand the war that's waged now. I understand the bigger picture of things because I have a spiritual understanding. I can see all of the things that led me to faith and all of the things that were keeping me from it. But you see, if my mind is constantly caught up with all of the futile things of the world,

then my understanding is darkened. Number three, they are alienated from the life of God. Alienated from the life of God. In verse 18, it says, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. That word estranged or alienated means that they are alienated from God. Therefore, they are alienated from life because real life finds its source in God. But if your mind is full of empty

things and your spiritual understanding is darkened and you're estranged from God, then you're estranged from life. And it all comes about because of ignorance. Because they don't understand the world that is around us. Are you noticing the downward spiral that takes place here? That one compounds upon another? Well, it goes on to say this. Paul says that because of the ignorance that is in them, because of their hardness of their heart,

which brings us to number four, they have become calloused. They have become, calloused. Now, I shared this illustration in first service. I may as well embarrass myself in front of you all as well. I built a fence for my parents this weekend. Part of their fence came down when a tree came down. And so, so I did the whole thing. I first had to rent the post hole

digger. And, and do you know it hasn't rained in Kansas? I learned that the other day. Not just because I don't have any grass to mow, but because I tried to use a post hole digger. And I just, I kept pouring water on the crazy thing. Eventually the thing punched through, but, I'm putting all 180 pounds of myself on that. I literally sat on the thing at one, I'm like doing

this. I'm like jumping up. And the neighbors were like, what is that moron doing? They're used to that with me. But, but I'm trying to get these holes dug. And so I got the holes dug and I got the post set and I set them in concrete. Got that done. The next day I put all the stringers up. I put all the, all the pickets up. Everything was done. And you know what was wrong with my hands

when I was done? I don't have callouses anymore, right? I, I sit behind a desk all the time. Read and talk for a living. That does not require you to get callouses on your hands. And so when I do work like that, I notice it because I get sores on my hands because my hands aren't used to the work. They feel everything. They feel all of the splinters in the boards. They feel all of the

overuse of the drill and all that kind of stuff. I can feel everything because there's no callouses. You see, when I work construction, I use my hands over and over again all the time to do that kind of work. And pretty soon it started to build up this hardness and the hardness of the work. And it was built up, made it to where when things happened, I didn't feel it anymore because my

hands were calloused. See, that's what he's talking about when he says they have become calloused. They don't feel anymore. See, when you get that callous on your hand, it's, it's dead. It's dead skin. They can't feel. And the world around us has become calloused. They've become shameless. One commentator, gave this quote. He said, what does it mean to be calloused? Being calloused means having gotten

over the pain. Having gotten over the pain. Let me tell you what that means. See, saved and unsafe people are alike. The first time you give into an area of sin in your life, you were shocked. It was hard to do because you had to suppress the truth and unrighteousness and you were pretty afterwards. You were like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I just did that. But then the temptation

rolls around again because that's what sin does is it rolls that temptation around again. And the second time around, it wasn't as hard and it didn't hurt as bad. You weren't as shocked the second time around. In each subsequent time, the same thing began to happen. It wasn't as hard and it didn't hurt as bad afterwards because you became calloused until eventually it's second

nature and you don't even notice it. That's what it means to, to become calloused. Now that's the world that we're living in. The Gentiles are living like that. The pagan unbeliever in the world is living like that. But that's why the believer in Jesus Christ can't walk like the rest of the world. Because it's one thing when someone who doesn't know Jesus has never tasted of the goodness of the redemption of Jesus Christ allows themselves

to become calloused to the things of the world. It's a whole other thing when a believer in Jesus Christ finds that the callousness, that the callouses on their heart are so strong, that they no longer feel the splinters of the conviction of God. They have become calloused. They've gotten over the pain. You notice the spiral? The last one that it says is this, number five, they are given over to sensuality. Notice what it says, verse 19,

and they having become calloused have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of sin. They are given over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of sin. That phrase given over is an interesting phrase because the phrase given over means to give into the hands of another. That's what it means in the Greek. Picture, if you will,

you carrying something heavy and somebody comes along and says, let me help. And you hand it to them. You give it over to them. You put it into their hands. Well, it's one thing when someone comes alongside to help you with a heavy burden. But in this instance, it's taking on an extra burden because what have they given themselves over to? Sensuality. Sensuality. He goes on to describe it as the practice of impurity, which is sexual

sin. Brothers and sisters, there is a spiral that takes place in the life of an individual. And the spiral that takes place in the life of an individual is this. Their minds are futile. Their understanding is darkened. They're alienated from the life of God. They become calloused. They become calloused. They become calloused. They become calloused. They become

calloused. And then they give themselves over to sensuality. The same is true in the life of a culture. Because in the life of a culture, that same thing has takes place. And may I say right now where we are in the Western culture today is we're at the end of that spiral because we have given ourselves over to sensuality. We have given ourselves over to sensuality. Only there's one

other word that he used there. Did you notice it? They've given themselves over to sensuality to practice every kind of impurity. They've given themselves over to sensuality. They've given themselves over to sensuality to practice every kind of impurity. Did you notice that last part in greediness? What does it mean to be greedy? It means you never have enough. There will never

be enough. And brothers and sisters, I want to point something out to you because this is what sin does. Sin says, I will never have enough. I always need more. I don't care if it's the sin of materialism. I don't care if it's the sin of hedonism. I don't care if it's the sin of voyeurism. I don't care what kind of sin it is. It will never be enough. You will always need more. There will

always need to be one more thing. You will have to add to the high. You will have to add to the experience. You will have to add to the sin. You will have to add to the bank account. You'll have to add to your closet. You'll have to add to your garage. Because when you give yourselves over to those things, it's with greediness because it's never enough. And brothers and sisters, that's

what the world looks like right now, which is why as believers in Jesus Christ, Paul says, this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer as the Gentiles walk. There should be a distinct difference in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. There should be a distinct difference in our lives because we should not be only worried about the futile things of the world. We should not only be worried about whether or not the world accepts us. We should not allow

our understanding to be darkened. We should not allow our understanding to be darkened. We should not allow ourselves to be calloused to conviction. We should not give ourselves over to the things of the world. Instead, we should walk in holiness, set apart unto God. So if we're to walk in holiness, number one, we need to change the way that we walk. Number two, we need to remember what we've

learned. Remember what we've learned. Notice what it says in verse 20, did not learn Christ in this way. If indeed, it's not done yet. Hang on. I still have a bit of a chesty cough. Where was I? Oh yeah, that's not what you've learned. Verse 20, but you did not learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as the truth

is in Jesus. Now there's three things he's going to tell us about what we've learned, and they'll have to do with the subject, the teacher, and the truth. But before we get to those three well thought out points, I want to point something out to you. And that's what he says at the very beginning. He says, but you didn't learn Christ this way. How many of you growing up, you got

yourself into something you never should have gotten yourself into, and your parents use that famous line, that's not the way we raised you. That's not the way we taught you to be. And man, not something that just drives home in your heart. When you're doing something you're not supposed to do, and somebody comes along and says, but that's not the way you were taught. But that's not how

you learned Christ. And sometimes the best thing that we can do, and listen, if you're here this morning, and you've been walking like the Gentiles, you've been walking like the pagan world around you, you've been walking like the rest of the world, then the best thing that I can tell you is, it's time to remember what you've learned. It's time to get back to the basics. Because that, that is not what you learned. Notice what he says. He says, but that is not how you learned

Christ. You did not learn Christ in this way. Okay, three things he's going to tell us. Number one is the subject. Did you notice what the subject is? But you did not learn Christ in this way. Christ is the subject of what we always go back to. How do we go back to remembering what we've learned? Well, we always go back to Jesus. We always go back to Christ, because he was always

at the heart of everything that we were supposed to do. We always go back to Jesus. We always go back to those who have learned as believers in Jesus Christ. He's at the very heart of our salvation. He's at the very heart of our sanctification. He's at the very heart of the word of God, and he's at the very heart of the message that should come out of everyone who

ever gives out the word of God. It always comes back to the subject of Christ. And so he brings them back to this. But I want to point something out to you. Notice what he did not say. He did not say, but you did not learn about Christ in this way. Notice what he did not say. He did not say, but you did not learn about Christ in this way. And I point that out to you for one reason.

A lot of people know about Jesus. A lot of people know a lot of facts about Jesus. They maybe know some scriptures about Jesus. They maybe know some truth about Jesus. They can tell you a lot of things about Jesus, but they don't know Jesus. As I've shared with you before, I'm a big sports fan, and I can't imagine showing up at one of my favorite athletes' houses and being like,

but I know so much about you. Yeah, I know all of your stats. I know your favorite color. I read all of the bios. I know all of the things about you. I know all of your favorite snacks, right? I know that you love Skittles and combos. I know all of these things about you. Let's hang out. No, he calls security. Why? Because I know about him, but I don't know him. And that's the way too many people are with Christ, is they know all about him,

but they don't know him. He didn't say, but that's not what you learned about Christ. He said, but that's not how you learned Christ. Because we learned about him. We learned in relationship with him. You see, when I came to salvation, I didn't come to a religion. I came to Jesus. When I confessed my sins, I didn't confess it to a priest. I confessed it to Jesus. When I started walking with the Lord,

I didn't start walking just with a church. I started walking with Jesus, because he was the subject. He was the content. He was the focus. He was the point. You did not learn Christ in this way. But not only is he the subject, I love this, but he's also the teacher. Notice what it says. I keep getting lost here. I don't know why. But you did not learn Christ

in this way. Verse 20, verse 21, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him. You see, Christ is the teacher of the subject. He was the first one that we heard. You may not realize this, and you probably couldn't identify it before you started walking with Jesus, but he was the one calling you out. He was the one calling your name. And it's always fascinating

to look back and realize, I mean, that was Jesus the whole time. That was Jesus who was drawing me to himself. He was the one that I was hearing me call. I thought it was just my conscience, but it was actually Jesus. He was the one who I heard. It says, if indeed you have heard him, since you have heard him call you. But not only did we hear him, we were taught

in him. Because all of this is about Jesus, and all of it is ministered to us through Jesus. Therefore, he is the one who is teaching us. There's a great book by Andrew Murray. Full disclosure, I've not made it all the way through this book, but what I've read has been good. And it's called With Christ in the School of Prayer. Now, I love the title of that book,

because I think that that best paints for us the teacher from whom we have learned things in Christ. Because as I have learned, it is with Christ. Because he is my teacher, right? Remember what you've learned, because Christ is the subject, and he's the one that's been doing the teaching. And the essence behind all of it is the truth. Notice what it says. Just as truth is in

Jesus. As truth is in Jesus. The truth of Jesus is the very foundation upon which all other truth is built. It's the foundation upon which all other truth is built. Because he is not only the author of truth, but he is the truth. As a matter of fact, in, hold on, I have a scripture here. There it is. In John chapter 14, verse 6. Go to John chapter 14 with me really quickly.

Go to your left. If you hit Matthew, you've gone too far. Just past Acts. John chapter 14. We're going to look at verses 1 through 6. Starting in verse 1, John chapter 14 says this. Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come to you. I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am there, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. And Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How do we know the way? And Jesus said to him, that's where I want you to lock in. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the, go ahead, shout it out, truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is not only the way, he is the truth. I hear people say it sometimes. You know, Ryan, there are true things that are found outside of us. That may be true, but they still find their root in Scripture because all truth finds its root and foundation in Jesus. You know how I know that? Because he created all things. Therefore, he is the author and he is the foundation of everything that is true.

Remember what you've learned because Christ was the subject, Christ was your teacher, and he was leading you into all truth. Back to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter four. Because not only, are we to change the way that we walk, not only are we to remember what we've learned, but number three, out with the old and with the new. Starting in verse 22, it says this,

that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed, in the name of Jesus. In the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Now, as he talks to us about out with the old and in with the new, again, there's three things he's going to tell us. Number one, he says to lay aside the old. He starts off in verse 22 by saying that in reference to your

former manner of life. There's one word I want you to pay really close attention to, there, and that's the word former. Because as believers in Jesus Christ, who we were before is just that. It is our former manner of life. I tell us that because too many people that are Christians still live like the former manner of their life is their identity. And it comes out in

two ways in the lives of believers that think this. It either comes out in the way that you live because you still live in that former way, you're still giving in to all of those former things. You're still walking just like the rest of the Gentiles walk. That's one way that it comes out when we don't realize that that's who we were, not who we are. The second way that it comes out is that

you live in your guilt. You live constantly feeling guilty about what you did before. And you have a hard time forgiving yourself. And you have a hard time allowing yourself to live in the beauty of God's grace. Because all you can do is say, but you don't understand this is who I am. And I will always be this. Forgetting that that's not who you are. It's who you were. And that in regards to your former manner of life, there's something specific

that you need to do. It is your former manner of life. And this is what he says to do. Who you were before you came to Christ needs to do this. You need to lay aside, the old self, lay aside the old self. Now, if we're going to lay it aside, the first thing we have to do is identify what the old self is. The old self is the unsafe person who is dominated by the sin nature. The unsafe person who is dominated

by the sin nature. It's everything I just described as your former you. It's the part of you that lives with the guilt of what you've done before. It's part of you to live in the sins that you took part in before. It is who you were before you came to know Christ. And he tells us that we're to do something specific with the old self, with the old man that was dominated by the sin nature. Do you notice what he said we're supposed to do to it?

He said we are supposed to lay it aside. That word lay aside is a very brilliant phrase that Paul uses there because in the Greek that means to put off like an old garment. To put off like an old garment. Let me paint for you as vivid of a picture as I possibly can. Friday afternoon, it was hot. Did you notice that? It was hot Friday afternoon. I did because I was jumping up and down

on a post hole digger. And so by the time I was done Friday afternoon, I was covered in two things. Sweat and dirt. You know what happens when you put sweat and dirt together? It makes mud. And I smelled like sweat and mud, right? And so I came into the house and I knew that the first most important thing for me to do was to lay aside my old garments. See, when I used to work construction,

I had a hamper in the garage because my wife would not let me come inside the house in my old garments. So I would go in and I'd close the garage door. And then I'd lay aside the old garments. I would jump into the shower because nobody wanted to smell that, right? Nobody wants to be around that business. I'd walk by and she'd go, I think you know what you need to do. And so we always

just knew that you had to lay them aside. And that's exactly what's being talked about here is that you have to lay aside those old garments. What are the old garments? Well, it's who we were before Christ. It's all of the stinky things of who we were. And we have to lay them aside. Let me paint for you a couple of scriptural pictures. Go over to the book of Romans. Romans chapter six.

Sometimes I do the Bible Olympics thing. So hang with me. Romans six. We're going to read a ton of verses. The goal is to get to verse 11, but I want to start in verse one because I'm a sucker for context. Romans chapter six, verse one. It says, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin live in it? Or do you

not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into Christ Jesus? Into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly shall we be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self, there's that word again, our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ,

we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. All of that to get to this verse. Even so, consider your old self to be dead to sin, but alive. To God in Christ. You see, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin. Put off the old garments.

One more place I want you to go. Go all the way over to your right. Go to the book of Hebrews. I want you to go to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, nestled right between Philemon and James. And I want us to look at verses one and two. Hebrews 12, one says this, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin

which so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Did you notice what it said? Let us also lay aside, same word, every weight, uses the word encumbrance here, and sin that ensnares us. That, that philosophy, that philosophy, that philosophy, that philosophy, that

philosophy, that principle is used all throughout scripture that eventually, brothers and sisters, in regards to our former life, we have to take off those old clothes. We have to take off those old clothes. Now, if you were to look at this in the Greek, you would find that the, the position in which the Greek word is used there means that you have once and for all, let me read it to you. Back in Ephesians chapter four, verse 22, that in reference to your former manner of life, you once and for all lay aside the old self.

Which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceitful sin. That creates for us the idea that there is a one-time thing that we do of laying aside our old self. Uh-oh. What does that mean for me? I still struggle to lay aside my old self. I still feel like I'm wearing old garments sometimes. Well, I've come to understand something. There's a difference between

positional sanctification or positional holiness and practical holiness. The day that you came to Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you confessed your sins, you laid aside your old self. It was a once and for all thing that took place. But now every day of your life, you have to lay aside those old garments. You have to allow the Holy Spirit to cause your nose to become sensitive

to those stinky old garments that you're wearing. You ever been around somebody that's been out working all day long and they don't know how bad they smell and they come in thinking, they're going to bro hug it up with you and you're like, whoa. Easy, son. Yeah, you need circulation, right? We need distance, right? You know why they don't notice it? Because they're

nose blind to it. They've been wearing them stinky clothes all day long, right? They don't know that's what's taking place until they come around you and you're like, whoa, change of clothes in the shower is going to go a long way, my friend. That's what the Holy Spirit does for us. You see, we become nose blind to the stinky garments that we're wearing and the Holy Spirit allows us to start to go,

oh, that's me. That's me, isn't it? Oh, those are my old garments, right? And so every day we have to take off more of what was former so that we can put on more of what's new. And the only way that we can do that is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Fellas, I feel like I'm talking to you here when I say this. You understand what it's like to have an old t-shirt. It's your favorite old t-shirt and it's

your most comfortable t-shirt you ever worn, right? And you had it in high school. It's the only article of clothing that still fits you from high school and that's only by the miracle of God, right? And it fits you just right. It feels just right and it has your favorite saying on the front of it, right? Your favorite dad joke, whatever on the front of it. But eventually your wife comes to you and she says,

hey, here's the thing. Nobody likes that shirt. It's time to get rid of it. But it's so, it's what's the word we always use. It's so, it's so comfortable, right? And that's the way it is with these old garments that we wear. They're so comfortable. And the Holy Spirit says, it's time to get rid of that. And all we have to do is obey. He says, in regard to your former manner of life, you need to lay aside the old self. The

second thing that he tells us to do is that we are to be, verse 23, renewed in the spirit of your mind. Renewed in the spirit of your mind. I think it was the Amplified Bible that translated it like this, but it said, be being renewed in the spirit of your mind. That creates in our mind the idea that there is a constant process that takes place in us, and the constant process that takes place in our mind, because that's where most of the fleshly battles begin, because that's where most of the fleshly ideas reside, that there is to be a constant renewing of our mind. How do we

constantly renew our mind? I only know of one way, and that's with Scripture. That's to be in what God's Word has to say, to allow it to wash our minds. To be renewed with what it has to say, because you know what the Scriptures do for us? The Scriptures show us what all of the old garments look like, and the Holy Spirit is so good to apply that into our lives and go, you see, that's what you're wearing right now, and that's what you need

to get rid of. In Psalm 1, it says, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. Instead, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates. Meditates day and night. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to your Word. Your Word, O Lord, have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. More of this coming

in to wash more of this, and it's amazing how God begins to give us sensitivity. Sensitivity to the things of the world as he renews our minds. Things that you didn't used to be sensitive to, you probably are now if you're growing in Jesus. If you're not continuing, to gain an increased sensitivity to the sins that are going on around you, you need to ask yourself, why? Because it could very well be that there's some calluses.

There's some calluses that only repentance will get rid of. I was watching a show the other day, and a long time I wasn't affected by a whole lot of things, especially language and stuff like that, and all of a sudden that's bothering me more than it used to. And I'm going, man, that's a bummer. I hate hearing that. I hate hearing that. I hate hearing that. I hate hearing that. I hate hearing

it. It kind of hurts your ears just a little bit, right? I used to always say it takes a lot to offend me, and it still does, but I just don't like hearing it anymore. But now I'm even starting to be mildly sensitive to the worldly attitudes that I see, and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so ingrained in the world today. That's the problem in the world today is what they're saying is the

right thing to do. And the only way that that happens is if we're continually being renewed in the spirit of our mind with the truth of the word of God washing us. And so he says to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And then it comes to the third thing. Notice what he says, verse 23, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness

of truth. That you put on the new self, the man who is dominated not by the sin nature, but by the new nature. The word new there doesn't mean brand new in time. It means new in quality. In other words, put on something that is brand new in quality, a new nature that only comes from Jesus Christ. Now, what does it look like to put on the new nature? Well, it means if I take off hatefulness and he'll go through this just a little bit,

I'm getting ahead of myself just a little bit. If I put off hatefulness, I'm going to put on love. If I put off lust, I'm going to put on self-control. You understand what I'm saying? You put these things, you put on the love that God wants us to have. You put on the patience and the kindness and the gentleness and the faithfulness and the self-control. Those become the garments that

you wear. They become the things that occupy who you are. They become the identification marker for who you are through the power of the Holy Spirit, because the power of the Holy Spirit takes the word of God and not only shows us what the old garments look like and helps us take them off, but he shows us what the new clothes looks like and helps us to put them on. So that we can do things like love our neighbor as ourselves. That's what being renewed in the

spirit of our mind does for us. Because when we understand that we have been created in the likeness of God and that we have been created in righteousness and holiness and truth, those are the things that we start putting on instead of all of the things of the world that is around us. And so, let's kind of wrap this thing up. And I'm not going to say anything new. I'm just going to

reiterate these points because I think that they need to be reiterated and bring with them a question. Number one, do you need to change the way that you walk? Do you need to change the way that you walk? Is the way that you're walking right now looking a whole lot more like futility of mind and darkened understanding, maybe even given over to sensuality? Is it time to change the

way that you walk? And Jesus is coming soon. It's time to change the way that you walk. Number two, do you remember what you've learned? Do you remember what it was like to have Christ teach you to hear from him and be taught by him? Because I would venture to say that there's somebody in this room this morning that you just need to get back to hearing from Jesus again.

You just need to get back to remembering what you learned. You don't need a whole lot of other things in your life. You just need to get back to the basics and get back to Jesus. Do you remember what you've learned? And then number three, what of the old needs to be gotten rid of and what of the new needs to be put on? What old comfortable t-shirt are you still wearing? What old comfortable clothes are you still wearing

that the Holy Spirit thinks smell pretty bad and it's time to take off? And what new clothes are you not putting on that you need to? What new garment of kindness and graciousness do you need to put on? In your life today. Because brothers and sisters, the world around us needs genuine Christians. The church you go to needs genuine Christians and you need a genuine walk with your Savior. Amen.

Listen, I'm going to call an audible here real quick. The Lord laid this on my heart during worship and I feel like I wasn't obedient to share it. And I don't know who needs to hear this, but I feel like the Lord wants me to share this. In my reading, in my reading the other day, I was in, the part in John with Lazarus, where Lazarus died. And Jesus goes to him after he has died,

his, sorry, I'm looking for a verse and trying to talk at the same time. That never works very well. There it is. Okay. So Jesus had a friend named Lazarus and Lazarus fell ill and his sister sent a message to Jesus. And they said, hey, the one whom, the one whom you loved is sick. And Jesus waited two more days to come. And in the two more days, Lazarus died. And when Jesus showed up, he had a conversation with Mary, reminded her that he was

the resurrection and the life. That anyone who believes in him would never die. And Jesus had planned all that time to raise Lazarus from the dead so that he could show that he had power over death. But he had them take, Jesus said, take me to the tomb. And when Jesus went to the tomb, everyone was around because he had power over death. And he had power over death. And he had power over death.

it was an untimely death. The death of Lazarus was untimely and everyone was broken over it and everyone was hurting over it. And as you come down through, it says in verse 34 of John chapter 11, it says, where have you laid him? And they said, Lord, come and see. And then there's this little verse right after that. Shortest verse in the entire Bible. And it simply says this,

Jesus wept. Now I want to point something out to us. This has been a hard time in our community these past couple of weeks with some things that have taken place. And I know that there's a lot of hurting kids in high school and college right now. And I feel like I've been disobedient not to share this up to this point in time, so I have to do it. I want us to know that even though Jesus

knows the end, he still wept. He didn't weep because he wasn't able to handle it. He wept because he felt the pain of the people around him and it moved him to tears. And I think it's so important. It's so important for us to know. I know there's a lot of hurting people in here right now. It's so important for us to know that if we weep, he's right there with us.

Even though he knows the end, even though he's powerful enough to handle anything, he still feels it. And he still takes part with you. And he puts his arm around you and he sheds the tears with you. And kids, I want you to know that because I know it hurts, but so does Jesus. Jesus knows it hurts too. And he's weeping right alongside of you. And so kids, put your hope in

Jesus. Put your trust in him and let him be your comfort right now in a very difficult time. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you. And Lord, full gamut of emotions this morning. Lord, may you help us to take the truth of your word and live according to it by the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, may we walk as you would have us to walk. May we walk in holiness because there is a world that needs to see genuine

believers who are walking in holiness because as the world gets heavier, they need shoulders to help load, to help bear the burden. And Father, I lift up the ones that, Lord, are just brokenhearted. And God, I ask that you would bring the closure to their lives that only you can bring. Lord, the peace to their lives that only you can bring. And Lord, may they know

and understand. Father, we thank you for who you are and pray that you would continue to move in our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

God is serving you. Strengthen us, Lord, with your grace. You're made strong. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless now.