In his sermon titled 'The Futility of Life Without Christ,' Carl Provost discusses the importance of living a life centered on Christ, contrasting it with a life characterized by futility and sin as portrayed in Ephesians 4. He emphasizes the need for believers to 'put off the old man' and embrace the 'new man' created in righteousness and true holiness. Provost addresses contemporary cultural issues, such as the acceptance of homosexuality and the controversy surrounding the Nashville Statement, highlighting the church's struggle to maintain biblical standards in a changing society. He argues that secular philosophies and religions offer no hope or purpose, leading to a life of vanity and destruction. The sermon calls Christians to renew their minds and walk according to the Spirit, urging them to reject the pressures of a culture that celebrates sin. Ultimately, Provost asserts that true hope and salvation are found only in Jesus Christ, and believers must strive to live according to His teachings.

Please take your copy of God's Word and open to Ephesians chapter 4. I'm going to read the first verse and then verses 17 through 24 for today's text. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. This I Say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as the other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all in cleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus.

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Heavenly Father, we come before you as those who have the new man, Father. We come before You praying that as we see this contrast between the futility of what the world has to offer and what You have given us in Christ Jesus, that we would glory in this opportunity to be able to renew our minds in You. I'm praying Your Son Christ Jesus' name, Amen. If you've been following the media any at all, you'll probably remember that, if my memory serves me correctly, probably a few months ago, there was a little bit of controversy about Eugene Peterson making a statement that he would be able to support same-sex marriage.

In fact, he even said that he would be open to performing a ceremony. Of course, there was an outcry within the evangelical community, and He took back that one statement about performing a ceremony, basically saying the people aren't ready for this yet. Implying that there's been some type of progression or evolution in our understanding of sexuality and what God's Word teaches on sexuality. And in fact, if you look at most of the liberal denominations, that at one time, most being conservative at one time, are struggling with this issue. What to do with this current situation that we're dealing with, with the lesbian and gay and those who desire to be in relationships that God's Word clearly says are abominable.

But yet they want to be in the church as well. And they want to claim to be Christian as well. And what to do with those? Many of the churches are trying to determine whether they should allow those from this lifestyle to be leaders in the church, no longer calling sin, sin. Well if you're paying attention this last week, there was another ruckus within the media, especially among the left, with something that's called the Nashville Statement.

And now I don't know if you're familiar with the Council of Biblical Manhood and womanhood. They've kind of made statements before that have gotten the left upset. In fact, they put out a statement a number of years ago that got things riled up. But you haven't heard much from them recently, but they publish some very good books. They publish books from what I consider a very biblical counseling perspective on what would be considered the complementarian view of husbands and wives.

And in fact, they've taken a strong stand on this, on what God's Word teaches about husbands and wives. But now they felt it necessary to come out and make a statement to do with this what shouldn't be confusing at all but what seems to be a confusion in our culture today and what Christians should do with this lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender group, LBGT, And those who actually profess to be Christians. They actually call themselves LBGT Christians. And this is what was controversial. I don't think I'm going to read all 14 of these statements of the Nashville Statement.

You can look it up yourself and read it, but I'm going to read a couple of them. The first one being, We affirm that God has designed marriage to be a covenant, sexual, procreative, life-long union of one man and one woman as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and His bride, the Church." And then they've got a we-deny statement behind each of those. I'm not going to read those. Article 2 says, "...We affirm that God's revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage. Article 3, we affirm that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in His own image, equal before God as persons and distinct as male and female.

We affirm that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God's original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing. Article 5, we affirm that the difference between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God's design for self-conception as male and female. So you can see they're addressing this whole transgender mess that we find ourselves in in this nation right now. Jumping down to article 10, this is one of them they really took exception to. We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism, and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from the Christian faithfulness and witness.

Article 11 says, We affirm our duty to speak the truth in love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another as male and female. We affirm the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." We affirm the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender self-conceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one's biological sex and one's self-conception as male and female. And the fourteenth statement says, we affirm that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners and that through Christ's death and resurrection, forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trust in Christ alone as Savior, Lord, and supreme treasure." And so none of those statements are really that controversial if you read God's Word. I mean It's pretty clear they're defining what has already been clearly defined in God's Word. But yet there was an outcry.

In fact, one of the headlines was, the Nashville statement is an attack on LBGT Christians by the New York Times. In fact, Mayor Megan Barry immediately came out and said that this statement does not represent the inclusive values of the city and people of Nashville. Immediately trying to distance themselves. A lot of conservative evangelicals signed this statement And those who have formerly been a part of this lifestyle, Rosalie Butterfield signed it. But there was just an outcry of the liberal left and the liberal church as this being divisive, poor timing.

That the gospel and that God's Word celebrates the diversity of our culture today. That all these different sexualities and transgender choices are just a representation of God's creative work. These are the types of statements that they make according to God's Word. As we come to today's text, we'll see that the church in Ephesus was not a culture that was much different than what we find ourselves in today. In fact, the worship of Diana was known that in order to worship in the temples there, there were at one time as many as a thousand temple priestesses in Corinth and Ephesians.

I'm not sure how many were there, but this was just a part of that worship and that culture was acts that were considered abominable, rampant homosexuality at this time in Ephesus. In fact, the impact of The church was controversial in Ephesus because the silversmiths that made the little silver idols of Diana, their market changed as people became Christians and they no longer purchased these idols. And there was an outcry because it impacted the economy. And that shows you what an ingrained part of the culture, that the vileness of this sexuality and homosexuality and this false and pagan worship was a part of Ephesus. You know, when we look at our own culture, hedonism, that basically a pursuit of pleasure and sensual self-indulgence that engulfs our entire culture is a multi-billion dollar economy in this nation.

People spend large portions of their money to serve their own sensual pleasures. And so what we see here is the futility of the human condition, the futility of life without Christ. And what we're going to see in today's text as we examine this, this text which I've titled, The Futility of Life Without Christ, is we're going to see a contrast of two lives, two walks. One being the futility of the human condition, and the other being the hope of the new man. And as we look at today's text, We're going to first contrast this first verse with verse 17 of chapter 4.

It says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation where which ye are called." And then verse 17, it says, "'This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk, not as the other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds.'" And so as we've already talked about here, the term walk is being used as the way you live out your life, the decisions you make each and every day, that that's your walk. And he's been contrasting throughout this God's Word as He laid out the foundation, the theological foundation for this, and now He's turned over into a more practical part of the letter from chapters 4 and on, where He's going to deal with sin directly. And He talked about them being a part of the body of Christ and living as the body, encouraging one another, rebuking one another, loving one another. And now he's going directly at this walk and what their walk should look like. And just as though there are those in our day that are having a hard time walking, according to God's Word, because they feel the pressures of our culture telling them that they're being divisive, they're being judgmental by taking a stand against the rampant homosexuality and debauchery that's in our nation.

And that they should just be tolerant and loving and allow love to overcome and to accept these other lifestyles. But in this text what we see is He saying that there is a call, a walk that's been placed on your life, a vocation by which you are to walk, and it's not like the Gentiles. And then he's going to lay out what this Gentile walk looks like. He says, This I say therefore, and testify unto the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles. So he's separating them.

You're Gentile believers now. You walk according to the Spirit. You walk because Christ Jesus indwells you. And yes, you live in a culture where all of the sin is going on around you, and there is a pressure to fit in. But these other Gentiles walk according to a different master, a different set of standards, and that you can no longer be influenced by that.

You have to be solely focused upon Christ Jesus and walk according to a walk that's worthy of your calling. Now in speaking to this, and this futility of this human condition, the word here, when he's talking about this Gentile walk that's used in the King James here's vanity. It can also be translated futility. I think that's what the New King James Version has. Basically this is a condition of the heart without Christ and can be described as an emptiness, worthless, or without purpose.

That's what the Greek word means. Emptiness, worthless, or without purpose. It's a walk that has no purpose in it. It's worthless. It leads to destruction.

In fact, we see this clearly in the many secular philosophies and Eastern religions and paganism that's even in our own culture and the cults that try to address This lack of a hope, but yet have an alternative to Christianity. And as we've studied in worldviews and as we've looked at the different worldviews in our afternoon course, you clearly see that the other philosophies of this world, the other worldviews, have no hope. In fact, in the secular philosophies, we're basically taught ultimately that we're a cosmic accident and that truth is relative. And so therefore, what is true to you is true. But it might not be true for the next person.

And that's what we see being played out here with this whole idea of transgenderism, where you basically say, you know, I feel like I'm a different gender than what I was born. And therefore, that's true to me. And so therefore, that's right. And so there is no standard to live by. And if we're all just some kind of cosmic accident, what difference does it make anyway?

And what we see in how this plays out is the people who actually live according to this mindset are very destructive to other people because they only serve their own flesh and sinful desires. In Eastern mysticism, most of those lead to some form of hope that only presents this idea of reincarnation. Where basically we're in this sinful world and the only hope that we have is maybe we'll be reincarnated again as Some, depending on how we live this life, whether a lower or higher animal or possibly another human, but yet we're still in this broken world. There is no hope in those religions. And they base their life on karma.

And so sometimes they do what looks like good things for other people. But it's still self-serving. It's how they serve themselves. And then we see the cults come in and they take God's Word and they twist it and they make it say something different for their own self-serving needs. The hope that might be there is that depending on which one of the cults you choose, maybe they'll teach you that you can eventually become your own God yourself and have your own planet.

Or if you're in Scientology, you just pretty much self-worship. But it's all about serving the self. And sometimes they do things that look like good works to us. But it's not the works of Christ. And what we clearly see is they all have no hope.

They all lead to destruction. There is no salvation from self. There is no salvation from this old self with sinful desires. There is no new man, there is no hope in these other philosophies and religions. So why do so many hold to this futility and even preach and teach it?

Willing to die for it. Why would somebody hold to something where there is no hope? It's the condition of the heart. In verse 18, we're said, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts. What we see here is that they suppress the truth.

See, having their understanding darken, this is those who suppress the truth and are kept in darkness. Speaking in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul says, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servant for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so here we see this concept of light and darkness.

And you see this throughout God's word. Jesus came as the light. In a very dark time. A time when there was about 400 years with no profit. A time when Christ comes on the scene and there's demon-possessed people running around, clearly possessed by Satan.

We see the power of Satan exercising those and blinding those. And we even see those because of their unwillingness to accept God, blinded by God Himself. Those who were looking for the Messiah, but yet were blinded and could not see when Christ came that He was the fulfillment of the Word, because they had long since departed from God's Word and started living according to a man-made religion. We see in John 3.20, it says, For every one that doeth evil hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." See, that clearly tells us why they hate the light.

It's because they love their sin, they love what they are doing. And they don't go to the light because the light will show their sin for what it is and that their deeds should be reproved. We also see that these who live a life of futility are alienated from the life of God. They are alienated from the only hope of escaping the world of sin and death. It doesn't matter what kind of philosophies they develop, what type of religions they develop.

There is no life in it. Because life is only from the light. Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We see that this alienation and this lack of understanding is because of an ignorance that is in them. What we see is in the world's philosophies, they suppress the truth, the truth of God's Word, and then they develop their own systems of wisdom, their own systems of thought apart from God's Word.

But what we see is that it brings about nothing but ignorance. This is the reason that all of the alternate worldviews opposed to Christianity are basically a vanity of vanities. They're all futility because they leave the one source of truth that we have and develop systems apart from God's Word, apart from Christ Jesus. And there is no hope in them. In fact, we learn from God's Word that it is impossible to know anything apart from the light of Christ.

Everything in this creation exists for the sake of Christ. And we completely misunderstand everything in this creation without the knowledge of Him. True science, we can observe things. But true science is observed through the lens of Christ Jesus, the Creator of this world, recognizing that things were created for a purpose, and that what we can see is clearly a display of God's glory. But when we separate that from God, we separate that from Christ, we come to different conclusions.

The evidence gives us different results. Because we come to it with a different idea of the result that we desire. It's a desire to raise ourselves up and to suppress the truth that God is righteous and holy. And He desires us to be righteous and holy. We also see that it's because of the blindness of the heart.

Now this term for blindness could also be translated as hardness of the heart or the callousness of the heart. But we see this concept of blindness used throughout God's Word. This idea that there are those who can see, but they're blind. They're blind to see the truth. And those that were waiting for their Messiah but yet missed it because of their blindness.

And their blindness was because of a hardness and a callousness of their hearts. They were no longer able to be sensitive to the Spirit and the movement of the Spirit because of the callousness of their hearts, because of suppressing the truth and living in sin, and no longer seeking a life of holiness and righteousness. This hardness of the heart produces a lack of understanding. This hardness of the heart brings about the ignorance and the alienation from the life of God. Some would say, well, if God and Satan brings about this darkness, And we're blinded and we can't see the truth.

How is man responsible? Paul clearly addresses this I think in Romans chapter 1. And what's considered a parallel passage to this text. In verse 18, It says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them.

For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even the eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse." That's saying that even from the created order, from creation itself, you can see the glory of God. And you are without excuse. It says, because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made by the corruptible man and to birds and the four-footed beast and creeping things." There we clearly see this suppression of the truth, unwilling to recognize God for who He is, and instead taking and making idols out of their own hands to worship.

And we have religions here today with idols, but most in Western society no longer need a little figure carved out to idol. For they are their own gods. They worship themselves with this Western hedonism that we see around us. Serving their flesh and passions. So what does this hardened heart lead to?

We are told that those who have suppressed the truth and are blindness of the heart, says in verse 19, it said, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto a shiviousness to work all in cleanness with greediness. Who being past feeling, their hearts seek after unrighteousness. Now this term, past feeling, basically means a seared conscience. What this is saying is there's no more shame. There's no shame.

See, Adam and Eve in the garden, After the fall, they were hiding from God. And we were told that they were naked and they were ashamed. They were ashamed of their sin. But yet there's a searing of the conscience. Even in our own nation we see this predominately coming out of probably the rebellion of the 60s, but this establishment of nudist colonies.

A statement that there's nothing wrong with the nude body. There is no shame in it. And of course at that time, nobody wanted naked bodies everywhere, so they had to put up these big fences. And they would develop these colonies where you could go and walk around naked and unashamed. Just blatant rebellion, fist in your face of God, saying, you refuse to accept the fall.

But they're no longer behind the walls in these colonies anymore. It's out in our culture. It's in our faces every day. A shameless culture. We see the progression of immodesty for those who are familiar with Jeff Pollard's The Public Undressing of America.

He does a good job of talking about the history of immodesty in our own culture and the history of the bathing suit to where eventually it becomes to the point to where people Wear bathing suits that are less material in them than what we would classify as underwear publicly on the beach This acceptance that there is no shame and nakedness And then we have all types of lewd acts carried out in public. And now we have gay parades. And people parade themselves on the streets of our cities. Not displaying any shame. Says they're also given over to, unto a shiviousness.

That's an old word. I think New King James uses a different word for that. But basically the word means extreme indulgence in sensual pleasures, absent of restraint. Extreme indulgence in sensual pleasures, absent of restraint. That's what we see in our culture today.

There is no longer restraint. They no longer do these things in the closet, hidden. There's no longer a fear of the judgment of God. They do them out in public for everyone to see. And not only do they do things in public, they parade them and they celebrate them.

They celebrate this lifestyle. See, When a person is absent from the true meaning of things, they will make it a goal in life to serve their own passions. If you tell somebody there's no purpose in life and there is no true truth, that truth is whatever you want it to be, they will eventually come to the point that they celebrate their own wicked passions. The gratification of the body may be sex or drink or drugs, But it's not just there, it's also the gratification of the ego. Those who want to assert their power over others, that leads to murder and oppression of others.

We see it take hold of entire nations as they oppress people for power. We also see this what's displayed in this, in the frutility of this human condition of fallenness, is the work of all uncleanness with greediness. Now you could also translate that, greedy to the practice, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness. Just flip it around a bit. Think about this.

This is somebody who's greedy for something. They just desire it. They want all of it. They want it for themselves. And there's a greed here to practice uncleanness.

They're not satisfied with where they've taken the standard to, where they've pushed the envelope. They always want to go further. And the reason why they're so offended by this Nashville statement is they see it a challenge to the progression they've already made. For they see themselves as winning the battle, as they see the liberal churches accepting them, and tolerating them, and to the point where it is no longer toleration, but celebrating these so-called Christians living this way. One of the signers of the Nashville Statement also had an article that was released, I think, yesterday in the Washington Post, Al Mohler.

And he said the signing of this statement was actually an act of love towards these people, not an act of hate. And what he was showing is to leave somebody who professes to be a Christian in this lifestyle is not loving. The loving thing to do is to point them to the truth and to see them repent and turn from these weaknesses in their flesh and to walk according to a new man. That's the loving thing that we can do. Basically, This covetedness of these deviants is what drives them to pursue and practice what in God's eyes is impure.

Back in Romans, following up the remainder of that chapter behind the suppression of the truth and turning to idols. It says verse 24 says, 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up to vow affections. For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one towards another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves the recompense of their error, which was meat.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do these things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, back-biters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affections, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." That's saying that they know the penalty for their sin, but yet There is no shame or fear in them. And they celebrate others that do the same. That's why we find ourself in this nation. But why?

It's because the church is not putting off the old man and walking in the new man. The church is accepting these things rather than preaching the truth and love. And so we see the contrast of this life is the hope. The only hope that we have to escape this futility. The only cure for this human condition of futility is the hope of the new man.

In verse 20 of Ephesians chapter 4, it says, But ye have not so learned Christ, If so be that ye have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus." See, we see that the futility of this falling condition can only be overcome by the gospel of Christ. He says, but ye have not so learned Christ. He's saying, not what we taught you from the beginning. He's saying, we came in preaching the gospel to you, and For some of you to be walking as Gentiles is not what we taught you from the beginning. See, the Gospel, there is no evolution of the Gospel.

There is no progression of the Gospel. It doesn't change with culture. It doesn't broaden its scope. And it doesn't label things that were once labeled sin as now being okay. The Gospel has not changed.

And the gospel cannot be changed and watered down, for the gospel is light unto darkness. The gospel is the truth of Jesus. He goes on to describe those. If so, be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus. Those that have heard His voice, those that have heard Him, He says elsewhere, He says, my sheep know my voice.

If you are the regenerate, then you hear the voice of Christ. You know His voice. In illustrating that, I once heard somebody explain what it's like when they would bring these sheep to a watering hole. And you would have these flocks intermingled lie down together. And when one shepherd would get ready to move on, he would call out his voice and his sheep would get up and follow him.

And when Christ calls upon His church, Those who are truly in Christ Jesus will hear His voice and they will respond. For His Word says that He was given those, a particular group, whom He died for, of those which He will lose none. We also see us those who have been taught by Him. It's those who have the inner working of Christ in them, teaching them, taking away the scales that blind us to the truth of God's Word, and the Holy Spirit leading us to understand God's Word. Wilberforce had a close friend who was not a believer, and there was a particular preacher that Wilberforce really enjoyed his sermons.

And he was constantly asking his friend to come to church with him and to hear this great gospel message. And his friend would never come. And finally one day he went to church with him And it was just an exceptionally good sermon. And Wilberforce was all excited. And he speaks to his friend and asks him what he thinks about it.

And his friend says, it really didn't make any sense to me. See, unless The Holy Spirit opens our hearts to the truth of the Gospel. It's foolishness. But yet, when He opens our eyes and our hearts to the Gospel, it is life. It is hope.

As the truth is in Jesus, all knowledge comes from Christ. We know that truth is not relative because we've been given the truth in God's Word. It is the standard of truth, It is the standard of righteousness. All things will be judged according to God's Word." These are the signs of a regenerate heart. In Romans 7, Paul clearly talks about this sort of conundrum of the Christian life.

That we are given this regenerate, and we're given this new man, but yet We're still called to lay off this old man, to separate from this old man. And he talks about that he knows what he has to do, but he doesn't do it. And he knows things he shouldn't do, and he finds himself doing those. And he talks about that struggle with the flesh. And see, the regenerate man still has to deal with the desires of the flesh.

For we have been given a new man, but until glorification we still struggle with those sinful desires. In fact in Romans 7 24 he says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." And for Paul when he's talking about the flesh, he's talking about those sinful desires. Those sinful desires that still hinder him, but he recognizes that he is a spiritual being. And in chapter 8 he says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Here we see those two walks again. The walk of the Gentiles is those that are walking according to the flesh. But the walk of those that have been given the new man as a walk in Spirit. And if you have Christ Jesus in you, there is no condemnation because He has received the penalty for your past, your present, and your future sins.

But that also means that there should be a sanctification taking place in your life. And that's that putting off of the old man. What we see here in verse 22 of Ephesians chapter 4. It says that ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Now I want you to notice there, the old man is corrupt according to deceitful lust.

We need to recognize that our passions can be deceitful. We can sometimes convince ourselves that our passions are good things. And our passions can be good things, but sinful passions can be good things. Because we're deceived by them. Because it's things we desire, things that we want.

And you'll find somebody justifying, divorcing his wife and marrying another because of his passions. Being led. And so we have to recognize that that's part of that old man that we struggle with, that there are deceitful passions. We are told in Hebrews that we are to keep our eyes fixed upon Christ Jesus, not looking to the right or to the left to the sins that so easily ensnare us. We have to recognize that the minute we turn from the truth of Christ Jesus, we are easily ensnared by our own passions.

The sins that tempt us. In Colossians 3, 8, 9 it says, But now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds." So we see there that part of the Christian life, part of sanctification, is putting off these things that are part of the old man. We see in verse 23 that we're also to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. What does it mean to be renewed in the spirit of your mind?

There's a lot of speculation on exactly what is meant here, but the spirit here, to me it's saying it's speaking to that spiritual man, that new man. Not the flesh, but being renewed and recognizing that there's a sense in which sanctification requires feeding ourselves with God's Word. The mind is renewed by the means of grace. Whether it's the preaching or worship and the sacraments, or as we'll be studying as we go to our next text that we'll be studying in the afternoon session when we look at the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life. Personal Bible study, where we feed upon God's Word.

Prayer, meditation, fasting. Outside ministries like evangelism and ministries of mercy, serving others. These are all ways that we feed that Spirit, that renewing. And we see that putting off of the old man and that replacing and putting on of the things of Christ Jesus. And what we see in this text is there's always the concept that when you put off, you have to put something on.

There's a talk of the one where a demon was cast out, but more demons came to take its place because there was nothing put in place there. And that's the way it is in our life. We can't put off without putting something on. And when you put sin out of your life, you have to replace it with the opposite of what bad you're putting off. In fact, we see this illustrated as we'll be looking in the weeks to come at several of these, but just look at verse 25.

It says, Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members one with another. So therefore you're putting away lying and with every man you're speaking truth. That's that putting off and putting on concept there. And that's the way our Christian life is.

That's what sanctification, That's how it takes place in our life. In verse 24, it says, In that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Colossians 312, it says, Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness and longsuffering. We know what the fruit of the Spirit looks like. We have several lists throughout God's Word.

And when we put off something, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications, put on the appropriate spiritual fruit to replace it. Exercise yourself in those things. It says, for the new man was created in righteousness and true holiness. What we see here is what I would call the already but not yet aspect of the new man. What Paul is talking about in Romans 7 when he talks about the struggle with the flesh but yet there is no condemnation.

Those sins have been atoned for. And we recognize that life in this world is a process of sanctification, leading to glorification. In fact, Romans 8.30 says, Moreover, whom He did predestinate, these He also called. And whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, them He also glorified.

That word glorified there is in the past tense. It's saying that even in the state that we're in now, our glorification is already settled in heaven. And sanctification is a process. And whether you are found still living when Christ returns, or you die and you go to meet your Maker, glorification will take place in an instant. So do you remember the parable of the marriage feast?

Matthew 22. Matthew 22. It says, And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by a parable, and said, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready, come unto the marriage. But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.

And the remnant took his servants, and entrusted them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways and as many as you shall find bid to the marriage. And so the servants went out into the highway and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests.

And so we see this marriage supper of the king. And those who were originally the guests didn't take heed and murdered the servants. And God or the king issued his wrath upon them. And he brings others in, good and bad. And the king came in to see the guest, and he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.

And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, "'Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.'" Have you put off the old man and put on the new man?

Do you find in yourself a desire for the things of God? Are you exercising in spiritual disciplines for the renewing of your mind? Will you be found covered in the garment of Christ at His coming? If you haven't experienced what it's like to have the new man, if you haven't been freed from the futility of the fallen condition, Repent of the hardness of your heart. Confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

Let's go into the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father we come before you and Father we thank you for the word that you've given us, that there is hope and life in it, and that Christ is the light that pushes back the darkness. That the scales of our eyes fall away, and that we clearly see Jesus for who He is, our Lord and Savior, whom you raised from the dead, the firstborn of many brethren, and whom we have been made joint heirs with Christ Jesus. And that our hope is in the truth of your word and the finished work of Christ who died for us. And Father, we come before you and we pray that we would be a people who walk according to the Spirit.

And we pray in your son, Christ Jesus' name, Amen.