Hello everyone, welcome to another session of our Bible study. This is week 15 of our Ephesians study. Just want to make mention of the fact that next week is week 16, which is the end of chapter 4, and then afterwards we're going to be taking a one-week break, and then we're going to be jumping right back into the book of Ephesians to finish the second half as a condensed special summer session of Ephesians.

And we'll go week to week studying the passage. So as just a quick heads up to the schedule, please know that next week is another session finishing off chapter 4, and then again we'll take a quick breather and start back up again. Let's take a moment to pray as we jump into our study for tonight.

Lord, we want to thank you, God. Lord, it is our prayer that God we would be more like you. God, it is our desire, our growing desire, that the more we learn about you, we recognize how glorious, how holy, righteous, all the descriptions, Father God, of who you are, are all of the more attractive and more beautiful in our sight.

And it is our prayer that we, as those who have been adopted as your children, sons and daughters, God, that we would reflect our heavenly Father. And to this end, God, I pray that we would hear your exhortation, we would hear your word, and all the more have the spiritual conviction, God, that we must change, that we must change as individuals who are being formed to the image of Christ.

And God, that we are following after you. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, I'd like to begin off with a review just to draw the thoughts up until this portion. We've been learning a lot. And one of the things that we have been learning is that by the ramification of what Christ has done for us individually, we together are one.

Remember that scripture talked about we are becoming one body, right? What's more, at the beginning of this chapter, there was such a description of, listen, we have one faith, one baptism, one spirit, one Lord, right? And so it emphasized such a oneness for every believer that is in Christ.

At the same time, the scriptures emphasize our individuality. And the passage of the scriptures right before or earlier in this chapter talked about how to each of us, Christ has given gifts. And what's more, within that same context, says Christ has given gifts to the church to minister the scriptures.

So we learned about how Christ says he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, right? And he talked about how he did all this with the desire and a vision so that we would grow to the stature of Christ. He's talking about our own maturity.

That when you think about the growth of the church, we have to be thinking on the spiritual level. We have to be growing in unity. We have to be growing in like-mindedness according to the word of God and so forth. But what's more, the vision of God for the church would be that every single one of us be equipped, be matured in such a way that we are involved in ministry, okay?

That we are the ones taking hold of serving all this for the purpose of the building up of the body, that the church would build itself up in love. Okay? That's where we left off in the previous section. And then so it's not so separate, but that moves on that all of these thoughts then contribute to these next verses that we were going to be studying tonight.

So reminding us that the vision of God that he has for the church is comprised of these kinds of things that we're responsible for. We have this passage. It says, "So this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer as the Gentiles also walk, in the 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, that 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 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 that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, which sorry, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Okay.

What I'd like to do is just take a moment to look at this passage and because it's a little bit long, truthfully, it'd have been nice, I think if I was planning it more closely and thought about this passage to break this up because there's a lot in here.

But what I'd like to do then, since it's a little bit of a longer passage, I'd like to outline it for you. And so therefore we're going to read it again. And so when we read it again, we recognize distinct portions of this passage that have to be emphasized.

And typically it's the command. So verse 17 says, "So this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk." We should be underlying and underscoring that command that you are to walk no longer as the Gentiles. Okay. And if you notice all of the other portions of this passage here in this first section up until the end of verse 19, it is all descriptions of a walk of the Gentiles.

Okay. How are the Gentiles like? And so it says that these Gentiles, they walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in 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.

So it's clear to see that all of those descriptions have its pointer and an indicator of the walk of the Gentiles. And a second half of it clearly contrasts, but you, okay, you as an individual who is set apart from the Gentiles, you did not learn Christ in this way.

If indeed you have heard of him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus. Notice how I indented that a little bit further because he takes a moment to do a check. He says, this is not true of you that you are just like the Gentiles.

Rather, you didn't learn Christ in this fashion, right? That's not you. If of course, indeed. And so he does that cross check and then he describes, he describes what it means to not walk like the Gentiles, but rather, okay, the way that we have learned Christ is that we should be able to lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted and the accorded in accordance with the lust of the seat and that you being renewed in the spirit of your mind, put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in Christ in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Okay. So that's a brief outline, how you can separate that passage into two sections. Let's begin by observing that first command. Essentially, he is calling us to cease and desist to stop from walking like the Gentiles. The old life needs to go, right? We know that scripture has described this command in so many different ways.

Set yourselves apart. Okay. Do not love the world or the things in the world, right? You're separated from this world. You need a book of Romans chapter six, you need to stop presenting yourself to unrighteousness, but present yourself in holiness and righteousness towards God. So in so many different ways, the scripture has challenged us.

Stop looking like the world. Okay. And recall that at the beginning of chapter four, apostle Paul said, therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility, gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another and love being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

So apostle Paul, in describing all of the beauties of the gospel and the blessings in Christ, chapter four, he made this strong command that we need to be walking in accordance, right? In appropriate accordance with all that the gospel says. And he describes it this way, the negative form of that is stop walking like them anymore.

Stop living like you still are the exact same. Okay. And so that means that this command expects us to change. It expects us to have that element of transformation that the scriptures talks about in so many different times. That the scriptures expects us to walk with a newness of life.

And this should be a regular checkpoint for us. We're the ones who have the responsibility to assess ourselves, to examine, am I actually changing? Am I open to change? And I want to talk about this because there are sometimes at different moments in our lives where we are filled with a kind of rebelliousness.

We are like children. And sometimes our parents will tell us do this. And we're so resistant, right? Whether it be the outright rebellion of like, Oh, what, what are you going to do about it? Just watch me. Right. And you just so defiant or we turn the tables and like, you can't just tell me to do that.

Why? You explain to me why I need to do this. Okay. Why is it so bad that I run with those individuals? Why is it so bad that I retain this aspect of my life? Okay. What's more, I think most of us have experienced in some shape or another, the classic blame shifting that existed from Adam and Eve, right?

Adam and Eve, their natural recourse to being caught was she made me do it, right? The snake made me do it. And everything happened to have a pointing finger. It's like, you know what, the way that I was raised, you know what my disposition, you could just blame the universe, you know, the way the universe is, my circumstance, the way you made me God, right?

Like that's, that's all part of the blame shifting. But I want to take this moment to just focus our attention and just accept the truth that the scriptures expect and command us to change. And the thing about it is, it's very simple, obviously very difficult. And we have contrived of every which way to try to dodge it.

Now, if I'm speaking to our congregation, just about, you know, I'm very much encouraged that so many people want to grow. And when they say, I want to grow is they're not satisfied with what they see as a matter of fact, through the scriptures, they're in line to the fact that there are many things that need to change.

But perhaps some of you are discouraged that change is impossible. That sometimes you look up from trying to live your life as a Christian and you realize I'm still struggling and failing at the very same thing. I want to take a moment to just challenge and encourage you that the scriptures desire.

When I say scriptures, God desires us to grow. God wants us to experience greater newness in life. I mean, he's been describing to us new motives, new patterns, new resource, new blessings. I mean, everything he's been describing to us, he's been describing all the foundations for change. And I want to encourage you, right?

The big portion of hitting a passage like this, where it says put off and put on, right? Put aside the old self is just that acceptance of the reality. I have to change. Okay. Moving forward then we ask this question. It may be difficult. It may be hard, but what does he actually want us to change?

Right? What is the description of the Gentiles? What am I not supposed to do? We should be asking those questions whenever we hit this kind of command, right? No longer walk, no longer just as the Gentiles. Well, there's a big section, several verses on the description of the Gentiles.

Here, if you outline it like this, it's kind of like a laundry list. There's many points that which we're not supposed to do, but I saw a certain pattern. And I noticed that there was two main categories of descriptions. And what I mean is if you take a look here in the middle of verse 17, it says in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them.

And what you notice is that there is a repetition of the foolishness of mind that those who are of the world, this may be really offensive. If this, let's say a non-Christian was listening to this, but there is a futility of the way they think, meaning it's empty. It's vanity, right?

There's almost a pointlessness. There is a darkened nature to their understanding and they're excluded from the life of God because there is ignorance, right? Again, you see what I'm saying? Like if we dwell on this, like, wow, we, if a non-Christian was to hear this, they would find this quite, quite offensive.

But we Christians actually, when we think about our previous life, we are actually saying that was us. As a matter of fact, many times in scriptures, when a godly individual comes to the temple of God and sees God, they recognize, oh my goodness, I was just a beast. I was a mindless beast.

And that's what Asaph says in Psalm chapter 73. You think about, uh, you know, King David when he, when he speaks in Psalm 51, when he's repentant, it's like, I just spoke not knowing anything, right? So take a moment to think about this. But when we are thinking outside of God, there is an absolute futility because the perception is small and there is no understanding.

An example is if you imagine a family, a father who is so concerned because their finances are looking like, like they're going to be completely bankrupt and so concerned because there is no solution. He gathers a family and says, family meeting. I gotta, I gotta let you guys know we can't, I don't think we have the money to pay for your school.

I don't think we have the money even to pay for this house, the mortgage. I don't have the money to sustain the business. We are, we're lost, right? And can you imagine if let's say a young boy, five years old, sitting there like, don't worry dad, I'll break my piggy bank for you.

I got like 10 quarters and like $4, right? Like it's almost laughable, but in his world, breaking the piggy bank was probably like the greatest sacrifice he would ever make, right? But without God in the picture, it would literally be a juvenile thinking that in his world, he can solve everything, right?

I mean, so many times through scriptures, I mean, you think about old Testament, new Testament. If, if a prophet says, your sins have removed you far from God and he will not face you anymore. And you're like, well, wait a minute, you know, maybe I have an idea. Maybe if we sing some songs, right?

Like someone, someone can think like that. But again, many times in scripture, God is actually going the length to try to teach us, no, the distance is such so much bigger than, you know, right? The depth of your sin is so much greater than you know. And that's essentially what we're saying when we become Christians, like, oh my goodness, I was blind as a bat.

I didn't know what I was talking about. All I was pretty much doing was running circles in my room. But when God comes into our lives, we have our eyes open. But what's more, sometimes it's not just a matter of just not knowing, right? I mean, I wish it was just that we would, you know, it's just juvenile thinking.

All we need to do is educate them. All we need to do is have them learn. No, that's not the case, is it? Because it's not just naivety. A lot of times it's actually darkness. It's a darkness that is over us that causes us to not see even if we wanted to, right?

And this exclusion of God in the picture, it is the biggest thing in the picture, right? It's like trying to guess this 1 million piece jigsaw puzzle with one piece. What is this? It's just dark, right? Like that's how it's like. And so for us, we have to recognize we can't be thinking in the world's wisdom, the world's value, the world's understanding, because why?

Huge piece missing. Here's a passage I want to highlight for you in 1 Thessalonians 4 3-5. This is the will of God, your sanctification. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor, not in lustful passions like the Gentiles who do not know God.

Here's an interesting thing I want to say to you. Why do we sometimes act like we just don't know God, right? And I would just challenge you. The next time you're making a huge decision, I would, this is sometimes what I do for myself is I take a piece of paper and I do start writing pros/cons, but I always leave this massive space there.

Where is God in this decision? Where was he? Where is the thought of him? Where is the consideration of him? Where is his input? Like where is his good pleasure? Where is his displeasure? Where is he on this decision piece of paper? And that has to come. Otherwise, we will be acting like those who are Gentiles who do not know God.

Did you guys know that May 6th was Sigmund Freud's birthday? And so a lot of psychiatry sites and stuff paid homage to him, credited him for a lot of contributions to psychology and psychiatry. Now, the thing about it is for the thought of trying to assess a human being, he did have some really just as considering like one of the foundation laying individuals for psychology.

He tried to assess what is the basic driving motive for an individual, for a human being. And he essentially started talking about we're doing exactly what gives us pleasure. From the age of an infant, a baby, we have erotic desires. Basically, sex drive. The sex drive to a human being is the greatest motivator.

What's very interesting is that he wrote that the sex drive for whether male or female is going to be the greatest weakness in the person's life because this is also the prime objective. Interesting. This is also the prime motivator and he described it as the prime common denominator amongst us all.

Okay. See, when you don't have God in the picture, that is actually a pretty good description. Even the apostle Paul would say, "You know what? If God doesn't exist, tomorrow we die. Let's live it up." That's pretty much what King Solomon is saying in Ecclesiastes. "You know what? If God doesn't exist under the sun, then what I'm going to do is I'm just going to not limit myself in terms of pleasure.

So let's go at it." There's a rationale and reason when God's not in the picture. And it all kind of makes sense. Why would you deprive yourself? Tomorrow we die, let's do it. But scripture says we know God. God, the one Lord, one God, one Father. He is our common denominator, greatest source, greatest motivator.

We know something better. Now, because we need to move on, let's do the second part of who the Gentiles are. And it says, "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 and greediness." And what you realize is not only is he describing the mind of the Gentile, he's talking about the heart of the Gentile.

And remember, when he's talking about Gentiles, he's not specifically pointing to the Gentile sitting in the Ephesians church. It's like that one guy, right? Gentiles, ethnic, that's just like everybody. Okay? It's anybody who's not a chosen person. It's anybody who's not part of the chosen nation of God. So essentially, don't ever use the excuse like, "But everybody else does it." Because that's the point, right?

Stop thinking and wanting what everybody else wants. You're different. That's the point. Now, in taking a look at this and making observations, notice the descriptions that there is, I highlighted in red, there is hardness, there is callousness, there is sensuality, impurity, and greed. Okay? And when you think about that, when you think about the first two terms, hardness and callousness, we are describing and seeing somebody who is willfully resistant.

Okay? So it's not always an issue of just not knowing. There is willful resistance. I have decided not to care. I'm going to be honest with you guys. That song, "Let It Go, Let It Go." I think I've mentioned this in a previous sermon before. "Let it go, let it go." A song that we just play over and over again mindlessly.

If you think about what she's saying, she's just not going to care what anybody else thinks. Now, yes, it's kind of like, "I get it." You know, people are judgy. People are, you know, critical. They make you feel like something's wrong with you and stuff like that. But if you buy into that, that's pretty dangerous.

As a matter of fact, it'll make you so isolated. Some kind of ice cold castle. Okay. Now, moving forward, think about callousness. How repeated friction basically makes you desensitized. You know, what's really funny is I took the time to look up callousness, how to prevent it in WebMD. And it says, "Well, because callousness comes from repeated injury and friction, please stop your activity." I think that's pretty funny.

Okay. The thing about it is, brothers and sisters, beware. If you have this self-defensive mechanism where someone tries to talk to you and it's just like, "Wah," you know, "How dare you point the finger at me?" It's difficult to talk to you because your pride comes out and you're not willing to listen and hear.

Right? You don't like the way they said it. You're just not hearing them out because X, Y, and Z. Okay. That callousness is a real thing, meaning that that kind of self-defense mechanism, that rejection of truth or anybody's input, it doesn't just stay there. It crusts and it hardens.

Like the more you decide, "I'm not going to care," it doesn't just stay there. It gets worse. Right? That's kind of like what the picture is describing there. What's more, it says, "They've given themselves over to sensuality." Meaning that's like a conscious decision. That's like a willful, conscious decision that's saying, "I'm just going to do this." Right?

And I feel like that little phrase, like, "You know what? I'm just going to do it." Beware. Right? No, no. You make your decisions based on careful consideration of what glorifies God. Okay? If your, "I'm just going to do this," means, "I'm just going to do this at the cost of my own preferences, at the cost of my own convenience and my comfort.

I'm just going to do it because it glorifies God. Good for you." But if you're sitting there thinking, "Oh, I don't know if I should do it because I don't know if God's going to be pleased. I don't know if I should do it because, and then people are going to be hurt.

And then, you know what? I just want to care about everybody else. I'm just going to care about myself." If you do that, beware. Because that kind of decision-making is absolute absurdity and it opens you to every impurity. Now, one of the questions I asked in the Bible study was, "When you behave like a Gentile, what are the consequences?" That's what I'm talking about.

It's not explicit in the passage, but when you look at this passage, there are descriptors here. There are descriptions of what happens as you give yourselves over. There's a callousness that happens, but also it opens you up to every kind of impurity because that kind of rationale, when someone says, "You know what?

I know this is grossly wrong, but I almost feel like it's better to just do it at least once. So, I know what it feels like and I can get over with it. And then I won't want it anymore." Lies. Absolute lies. Your selfish heart, once it gets a little bit of thing, will want more.

And what's more than that, it's going to open you up to every other kind of impurity because that's what that rationale does. Stop it. Stop it. Scripture says there is sensuality, impurity, and greediness in us that is growing and we have to kill it. We have to put it to death.

We're the ones responsible for doing that. So, there is a foolishness of heart. I think I was supposed to give that to you earlier. I apologize. So, absolute foolishness of heart, which I am describing as a will, desire. There is a willingness to want this kind of stuff. Now, there is a passage I want to point out for you guys because, oh sorry, there is a, the reason why I want to mention that a little bit is because by observation, can we just want to observe and observe and observe, but because one of the things that it says here is that because of the hardness of heart, that's why the previous stuff was going on.

So, if you think about it, okay, all these descriptions of the mind, it's all futile and darkened and excluded. Notice how it says because, because of the hardness of the heart right at the beginning. So, when you think about that, you got to ask the question, what's the relationship between the mind and the heart here?

Now, what I would like to just simply say because I'm taking a lot of time on this is that sometimes the greatest cause of our irrationality, the greatest cause of our frustration in our minds, it's not because I don't have enough brain cells to work out my problems, it's because I have a stubborn will.

That's why sometimes it's so difficult. We don't want need to sometimes overcomplicate why we do certain things. It's not always because I don't know enough and I don't have the wisdom to make decisions. It's because the rationale comes from the want. And that's why scripture says, "He who is able to control his heart is mightier than those who control cities and reign over kingdoms." Because it's that hard sometimes.

And so, I kind of think, take a moment to think about myself a little bit sometimes. And I realize now that I'm, you know, I'm not old, but I'm not like super young either, right? 37, just like right there in the middle of prime, I would like to say.

Now, as I think about that, sorry if anybody is watching this older than me, I hope you're not offended by what I just said. Okay. Well, anyway, what I'm trying to say is sometimes I wish like the sins that I commit were like juvenile mistakes, but they're not. At this point, I've been a Christian since like 1998 and walking with the Lord.

And it's not like I haven't read the scriptures, you know, like I just didn't never knew that part of scripture, right? Like a lot of the sins that I'm committing now, I'm actually creating the rationale to excuse it, right? Majority of the sins that I commit now are not going to be knee-jerk reactions because I happen to be the youthful guy who's never experienced that temptation before.

A lot of the sins that are coming up now are like temptations I've had. And so, I just want to highlight that because this call for us to not walk like the Gentiles, if you were thinking like, I'm not perusing out there like, you know, out of Vegas every night, like living in abject like licentiousness and just completely disrespecting God.

But at the same time, there are elements and patterns that are very similar. And so, that's what I'm getting at here. We have to be careful about those things. Okay. For the sake of time, I'm going to pass this, but just cross-reference 1 Peter 4, 3-5 as another challenge to us, a prescription for us, instructional to let go of that which is Gentile, meaning our previous selves.

And so, he turns the page and he says, "But instead, you did not learn Christ this way, if indeed you heard of him and have been taught of him, just as Jesus, sorry, Christ Jesus, well, just as truth is in Jesus." Okay. So, after believing upon Christ and receiving all the blessings, Apostle Paul is saying, "So, you're different.

You didn't learn like them. You didn't think like them, right? You didn't receive like them." And what's more, he gives this kind of check again, which is, "If indeed you have heard and been taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus Christ." And so, this is a huge challenge for us when we think about this.

And I just want to take a brief moment to ask this, when he does the contrast and says, "But you, if indeed you," right? You need to take a good look at yourself. If you're walking with some kind of weird notion and you're like surprised, like, "What? Jesus expects me to change?

Why do I have to change?" How in the world did you get introduced to Christ and what did you learn about him that gives you this worldview and framework of mind that you could just simply be the same guy that you were 20 years ago and not grow? Jesus is Lord and King, saving you, right?

Saving you from the pits of darkness, adopting you into his kingdom. Any single particular description of the gospel absolutely necessitates newness of life. So, if you did the, "Jesus will accept you as you are forever and evers and he'll never make you change," right? You didn't learn Christ that way.

And if you thought that some people who believe that, you know, you need to accept Christ because he's going to then hear all your requests and he's going to fulfill the desires of your heart and we get to bargain with God in some way or another, by giving him our worship and he's going to give us everything we will ever long for, you did not learn Christ that way.

You did not receive Christ in this fashion. Now, the major point I'm trying to hit at is this, because Ephesians was talking so much about the blessings you received in Christ, that you by nature of being in Christ, you have been made complete in him. You're different. You're different, like, in such a vastly, majestically, and grand way.

You're so different from the rest of the world. That's what the scripture is talking about. And so one of the passages I want to take you to is Romans chapter eight, such a powerful, powerful, powerful passage talking about how you're so different, right? Remember that in Romans chapter eight, verses one, he's like, "There's now no condemnation for you." Why?

Because you've been set free, right? You've been set free from the law of sin, but now you have the newness of the law of the spirit and he's completely set you free, right? That's the beginning portions of Romans chapter eight. But here he says, "For those who are according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." Take a moment to stop right there.

The mind, like he's pointing also to the mind of the pre-converted state that the mind is constantly set on that which is flesh, material, and earthly, because that's what it's limited to by nature of its being, not so for you. "And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

However, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit." And then look at this, "If indeed," right? So check it. "If Christ then is in you, the spirit of God dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

So then, brethren, we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the spirit you're put into death, the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God." Is it appropriate for believers to examine themselves based upon this idea, "Has God given me the spirit that I might be able to even at least, bare minimum, you should be able to see that guy right there in my life?

I need to change that." Difficult as it may, but I trust the Lord he's going to change that, right? Does God expect immediate, immediate perfection right now that every single thing you see, you're just like, "Boom, done, sanctified." No, God said, "I will glorify you." But God has given us that incredible, incredible illumination of the eyes to be able to tell the difference, be convicted of sin and righteousness.

That's the spirit's work in us. And then to be able to say, "Those are the things that needs to change." And so the next part of it, scripture says, "We need to learn to put off and put on." So I'm going to read this portion. It says, "That," okay, describing all of that, right?

Like, "If indeed the spirit is in you, like the truth that is in Jesus is in you. If that truth, the powerful truth is in you, then that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit.

And that you renew to be renewed in the mind, sorry, renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which in likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth." So let's take a moment to think about this a little bit. And I would like to make some initial general remarks, which is if you think about this idea, it's kind of like, I just, for the sake of analogy, imagine you came to me and you said, "Pastor Mark, man, I really want to grow.

And, you know, it's been hard." Let's say you have a bout with your temper and anger. "I've just been an angry man for days and days and days. When I say days, I mean years and years and years. It's always been like this. And I want to grow so bad because it hurts so many people and, right?" And then I tell you, you know what you got to do is you got to put that off.

You got to put on kindness. Okay? Right? Like, doesn't it sound kind of patronizing? Doesn't it sound like overly simplistic? Okay. When I took a moment to just meditate and reflect on this, it does. It almost feels silly that the scriptures has to tell you, you have the spirit of God in you and you have the power.

Now put off and put on. And essentially what I get is this picture. Like, I feel like I am my son, you know, the seven-year-old, nine-year-old son. And my parents are telling me like, "Change your dirty shirt." Right? And that's fine. I was meditating and I was like, "Huh, that sounds kind of patronizing." Right?

But I'm over it. I'm like, "You know what though? I am a child. And you know what though? Although it's sad state of affairs, I have to be reminded how to take off my shirt and put it on." Now, for those of you guys who have children, you know, as embarrassing as it may be, just simply the aspect of trying to get your son to like change his shirt, trying to get your child to change your shirt, it could be like the greatest drama in history.

Right? I mean, think about all the different excuses. You tell your son like, "Hey, you gotta change your shirt because man, like there's like mud over it. You like spilled your milk and it smells like sour something." Right? And then your children all of a sudden come up with the most like masterful excuses.

Like, "I don't have any shirts." Like, "What? I just bought your shirt the other day." Right? "I even put it on the floor for you." It's like, "Oh, but this is my favorite shirt. I always wear this shirt. It's dirty and smells like rancid milk." Right? It's like, "Do I have to do it right now?

Do I have to go right now?" Right? "How am I going to just do it later?" Right? And then what's more like you send your child to the room and you're just like, "Change your shirt." And your kid's sitting there like, "I'm just going to look stupid." Right? "I'm just going to look silly." Like that's one of the favorite ones.

Like, "It doesn't match my shorts," one said. Okay? And then you walk into the room to make sure they're doing their job and they're sitting there with their shirts, not really putting it, they fake like they're going to put it off, but instead they pull it up to their eyes and start playing ninja with it.

It's like, "Oh, look at me. I'm a ninja." Right? You're like, "What in the world? Just change your shirt." Okay? And then you grab the shirt and then you pull it out and you say, "Right here. Change your shirt right now." Okay? Now, if your child is an infant, you have to put the shirt on for them because they can't do it themselves.

But if your child is of a certain age, you may be tempted to grab the shirt and forcefully just shove it over their head. But I think God treats us like his children and recognizes, not recognizes, but he knows. We need to learn how to change our shirts ourselves.

He shouldn't be doing that stuff for us. Right? I thought about that because, man, sometimes I hear people talk like, "You know, I've got this desire right here. It's all sinful and stuff." Or sometimes it's not sinful. But they started saying, "I just want God to take it away." I'm kind of like, "You know, I think God wants you to take that off.

If you think it's bad for you, you should take it off." Right? Why does God have to change our shirt for us? If we're growing and we're mature enough to be recognized like, "Shirt's dirty," should change it. Right? That's the way it should be. I asked one of the questions is, "Whose responsibility is it to change?" Right?

And I think it's been a disservice if we think that we're just simply waiting for God to do it. Now, think about this though. Even within that scenario, God is going to be the one who purchased a shirt. God is the one going to be the one who gives a direction which shirt to put on.

God's going to be the one to show us, "Hey, your shirt is sour." God's going to be the one who says, "You know what? You can change that shirt right here because you're in the safety of my home." God is in absolute control. Okay? God is in absolute control.

But as our Heavenly Father, He expects us to be able to tell your shirt is filthy. Go change. That's my point. Why do I say this? Because the biggest problem and resistance of all of these excuses as why we're not changing certain things is not because God didn't give us stuff.

It's not because God didn't give us the resources. There is deep within us something that says, "But I love this shirt. It's my favorite. But in all the other shirts, I look stupid. But in this one, I look so cool." Right? Those are the rationales that needs to change.

And that's why scripture says, "You need to be renewed in the spirit of your mind." You have to be convinced when God says, "Change your shirt. Your shirt's dirty." You have to agree with God and says, "You know what? My old self is corrupt." Okay? So funny. Again, using different analogies, some people who struggle like crazy with anger, crazy with temperamentalism.

It's just like, "You know what though? This is my tough love." Okay? You can just redefine everything then to excuse it. Okay? Not everybody in the world needs your tough love. "You know what though? This is who I am." It's like, "What? Who you was was corrupt." It's absolutely corrupt.

And as a matter of fact, it's continuing to be corrupted with its deceits, let's say. And even with lust, while it's not always talking about sexuality, sometimes we lust for control and we use our anger for control. Sometimes we lust for attention and we use our anger for attention.

We lust for a lot of different things. Typically, when we are angry like that, we use our anger to get what we want. So, unless we are in agreement with God that your old shirt is super dirty, we're not going to be actually putting it off. And therefore, you need to be renewing the spirit of your mind.

Right? So, we have to be able to look at our former manner of life and ask ourselves the question, "What are the lies that were there?" If you do have a struggle, some people struggle with this, constantly doing white lies. Why? And what we need to put on is truth, reality.

Maybe we need to put on humility because typically when you lie, it's because you just don't want to look even a small bit worse than you are now. Right? You just don't even want to look a little bit less. So, we lie, small white lies to save our face.

Why? Why were you angry? Why did you want that so bad? Did you believe it was your highest good? Did you believe that it was your end all? Why in the world did you do that? We need to be the ones regularly looking at this stuff. That we look at the greed, like we're basically kind of like inspectors.

We go into the house, like everything looks pretty good, but let me go periodically and look. It's like, "Man, some things are super off." Right? And what we want to do is replace, replace and renew those things that are corrupt. Why? Because truthfully, scripture tells us that when sin is allowed to reside, it will kill.

It's like mold. If you walk through the kitchen and there's mold behind your cupboard because it's been raining, you leave it there, those mold spores are going to get to your lungs. Another better way to put it as another example is the way Jesus said that a little bit of sin, a little bit of leaven, ruins the whole batch.

Do not allow things that you see, like, "You know what? That needs to be fixed." Now, sometimes, yes, like the analogy of the homes, we see things in our house like, "Man, I really got to get to the lawn because the sprinklers are broken," but you just don't get to it.

Now, when it comes to our own souls, though, we have to make sure that we have this impetus, that we are regularly taking those things and renewing it in Christ. If we take a look at this passage, though, it says, "This renewing of the spirit and of the mind," it says, "put on the new self, and this new self is in the likeness of God," which in, it's like, basically, which is in God, which is of God, "has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." And what I like to say is, notice that it's both the aspect of that your mind is being renewed, you're changed in your thinking, and you believe what God is believing, or what God has been teaching, and that you're putting on the new self, which is mimicking after God.

And by way of conclusion, I'd like to have us think about this by saying, and so, today I've been giving a lot of examples about children. There is this question I want to ask you. How do you make a child not spoil? Okay, how do you make a child not spoil?

Well, one way you can do it is, you know what? When I was a kid, I didn't have all these toys. I didn't have, like, a wall full of Legos. I didn't have, you know, my parents didn't even hug me. So, you could deprive your child to teach him to not take things for granted, right?

So, you're just like, "You know, I'm not going to hug you either," right? You could do that as a means to say, "I want to teach you to appreciate the little I give you." Now, I'm not sure that's the best way to do it, okay? Because to be spoiled means not so much that you received a lot of love.

Why? Because in every single one of us, we've been spoiled rotten, right? That's the book of Ephesians for us. We have been, like, lavished, poured on with love by God to an extent where, like, our cup, the picture we should have is, like, overflowing, cups overflowing with grace and mercy and love.

And the embrace of God is so sweet, right? So, then, every single one of us would be spoiled rotten. You see, spoiled rotten is to have an attitude where you receive that, but you never mimic it. You don't know how to give it, okay? And so, the reason why I want to do this is because to say, if we are being renewed, we are then going to be mimicking God as our Father who has loved us so deeply, and that we are mimicking Him in all of His righteousness and holiness and of truth.

That we are trying to follow in His footsteps. Essentially, we're trying to look like Him. We're trying to be like Him, think like Him, feel like Him. That, to us, is both our greatest endeavor and our greatest reward. There's going to be nothing more glorious than to be able to reflect God's character, His truthfulness, His love.

And what's more for us than what I'm trying to say is we're not just changing for the sake of style. We're not just changing for the sake of change itself. Our goal is very, very specific. I want to make sure that as I change, I change into the image of my God.

Let's take a moment to pray. Our God, we thank You so much for Your grace. What a challenge it is, Lord. What a challenge it is for us to lay aside all of our previous way of thinking, where we thought, "Oh, we were so good," and how we thought we were going to win this world's game, and how we thought we were maneuvering everything, and that we were going to come out on top.

I pray, Father God, that we would recognize the game of the world, Lord, is futile. It's absolute vanity. And I pray, God, that we would all the more, through faith in Your truth, recognize the calling You have given us. And what's more, Lord, the privilege You have granted us, God, that we not live like this world, lost in its purposes, lost in its motivation, so fleshly.

But I pray, God, that we would be renewed. And Father, that we would be walking with an incredible hope of what You have in store for us, and who You are desiring for us to be like. I also pray, Father God, that we recognize sometimes it is so difficult to overcome these strongholds of our thought, the beliefs that we have that are wrong.

I pray, Lord, by Your Spirit, You would challenge those things. I pray, Lord, by the truth of Your Word, You would break them down. And God, that You would replace them with the truths of Christ, with the reality of Your Holy Spirit. And God, through that, God, You'd cause us to grow in every way.

We thank You for Your precious Word. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen.