Well, everybody’s staring at me, so I guess we’re ready.
Now that we’re doing the video, I was thinking about talking with Jack that maybe, for some of us, we might need a makeup room where we can be prepared before we stand up here.
Kenny says some of us—it wouldn’t help. And that would probably put me into that camp too.
But, you know, when I thought of that, I was reminded of a cartoon that I watched when I was a kid. Now, a lot of you are too young to remember this, and some of you probably didn’t watch cartoons, but there was a cartoon called The Jetsons.
It was a cartoon about a family that took place in the future. I do not know what the year was; it was something like a Star Trek time frame. But anyway, one of the devices they had, which I thought was pretty unique, was telephones with monitors. So when you got a telephone call, not only did you talk to the person, but you saw the person.
What the housewives commonly did—Mrs. Jetson did—was have a mask prepared. It was a mask of their face, with their hair in perfect proportion, no blemishes, no anything. When the phone rang, they would go over, pick up the phone, and put the mask on so the other person would see them not in their rollers or in their nightgown, or anything like that. They would always appear to be in a good place.
I can see already some of you are shocked that I started with a joke. That is probably because I think some of you view me as a spiritual terminator.
I stand up here and fire the Word and try to blast the flesh right off of you. Now, that is the last job I want to have. I would rather try to blast to the center of the earth and take on that task, because that is something only the Holy Spirit can do.
But anyway, Scripture will lie where it may lie, so let us leave it at that. Let us commit this time into the Lord’s hands.
Lord, we do want to commit this time into Your hands. We do confess that apart from You, we can do nothing. So we look to Thee, Lord, now to equip us, not only in the speaking but in the hearing of Your Word.
Lord, this is Your Word. We entrust it unto You to do with it what You will. We ask this in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Recently, we looked at two occurrences in the Scriptures where we find this principle of putting off and putting on. We mentioned how, firstly, it is necessary that we put off—or, as some versions say, lay aside—all that is negative or contrary to spiritual growth. Then we put on that which is positive or befitting to spiritual growth.
Before replacing the oil in your car, you first take the old oil out, and then you put the new oil in. So we find in the spiritual life that there is an emptying process of the old, and this must take place first. Thereafter comes the process of being filled with the new.
Why is this necessary? It is because all that proceeds out of the old man—the old self, that which we inherited from Adam—is incapable of producing anything of spiritual value to God. Only that which is of the new man, that which we receive by grace, can produce true spiritual fruit unto God.
Having said that, we find there is a necessary ingredient to this principle: seeing that the old is truly corrupt and incapable of producing anything of true spiritual value.
If we have not seen this principle, we will not proceed with the first half of the principle. We will be deluded, and we will not put off or lay aside the old. We are going to hold to the thought that somehow we can repair this old man.
But, you know, God goes to great ends to reveal to us otherwise. If you have not found out, in time you surely will come to know that the Holy Spirit is an expert at arranging circumstances to bring about this much-needed illumination regarding our old self.
He will use this thing that we call need to literally bring us to our knees, where we will slowly but surely acknowledge with Paul, who said in Romans 7:24:
Wretched man that I am!
Now, we naturally do not like to be needy people. We associate it with being weak. But Paul had learned that important lesson: in and through his spiritual bankruptcy, to lean on Him alone who was strong, to cling to Him—even Christ.
If the Holy Spirit were not to bring us into circumstances that would reveal our need, we would go blindly about attempting in our own strength to pursue Christian maturity, thinking we are on the right path when, in reality, we are not.
So we must be brought to this place where we see and agree with the need of putting off the old, to be prepared to put on the new, which is the end goal of this principle.
Formerly, we looked at this principle in Hebrews 12:1 and then in Colossians 3:9-10. Today, we would like to look at it in the book of Ephesians. Coincidence—we happen to be going there.
We find this principle mentioned in Ephesians 4:22-24, but we need to read it in context. So we are going to back up to verse 17.
I have a good co-pilot with me there, so we are going to read all the way through—just to prepare you—we are going to read all the way through Ephesians 5:5. So hang on.
This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that ye walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity 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 ye did not so learn Christ,
if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus:
that ye lay aside, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, which waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Now, I want to stop right there for a moment, because I want to read these verses, Ephesians 4:22-24, out of three other translations. Then we will pick up again in verse 25. You will have to listen, because we do not have these versions on the overhead.
The first one I want to read is out of Wuest:
That ye have put off once for all, with reference to your former manner of life, the old self, who is being corrupted according to the passionate desires of deceit;
moreover, that ye are being constantly renewed with reference to the spirit of your mind;
and that ye have put on once for all the new self, which after God was created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Note, Wuest translates this putting off and putting on in the past tense. Greek scholars tell us it is hard to interpret whether this is in the past or present tense, but we are going to address this a little later on.
Then Young’s Literal Translation:
To put away, in regard to your former mode of life, your original evil nature, which is doomed to perish, as befits its misleading impulses;
and to get yourselves renewed in the temper of your minds;
and clothe yourselves with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.
Lastly, I am going to read out of the Amplified. Some of you may have this version:
Strip yourselves of your former nature—put off and discard your old unrenewed self—which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lust and desires that spring from delusion;
and be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude;
and put on the new nature, the regenerate self, created in God’s image, Godlike, in true righteousness and holiness.
I am going to pick up again in verse 25. This is in the NASB version, to read the rest of our text.
Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and do not give the devil an opportunity.
He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
For this ye know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, hath an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Notice Paul begins this section by exhorting the believers at Ephesus that they should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk. Paul states that the Gentiles walk as they do because of the futility of their minds. They are devoid of the truth. They are blinded in their minds because they have not allowed the gospel to penetrate their hearts.
The truth of the gospel is but an irritation to them, and through time they have built up a callus toward it. Remember, Paul pointed out earlier in the epistle that the Ephesian believers formerly walked in this way when they were dead in sins and transgressions. My brother opened with that.
But, you know, many believers today, due to ignorance, still find themselves walking according to the former manner of life. Paul wanted these believers in Ephesus to know that they need not, and they should not, walk in this way.
So look again in verse 20. Paul says, “You did not learn Christ in this way.” You did not learn Christ in this way.
Normally, when we talk about learning, it is in reference to some sort of subject, such as a language, science, or technology, but not about learning a person. Other religions speak of learning teachings of certain individuals, but we find in Christianity that not only do we learn the lessons of Christ, but more importantly, we are able to learn the Teacher Himself.
Because He is the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from the dead, all believers have His life inside them to live by. His life inside us will direct us by that still, small voice.
In fact, it is the privilege—and may I even say the right—of every believer to hear Christ speak to them. In John 10:27, the Lord said:
My sheep hear My voice.
Look at verse 21. It says we have been taught in Him. Notice it does not say taught about Him. It says taught in Him. Why? It is because, as it says in the rest of the verse, truth is in Jesus.
So, when we boil it down, truth is not, per se, some principles. It is not some doctrine. Truth is a Person, even the Lord Jesus Christ.
In particular, the believer finds in Christ the truth regarding the way in which they should walk. In Christianity, we often do set forth principles of the truth, and that is for the sake of the understanding of the mind. But it is never with the intention that the truth would reside in our minds only, but that it would penetrate our hearts and become life in us.
That was the problem we found in Colossae with the Gnostics, was it not? They were content with head knowledge only, and thus they were merely what we would call brain Christians.
In this matter of being taught in Him, we know that when Christ was on the earth, He taught this principle of putting off and putting on. He said:
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
We are to put off; we are to deny ourselves by means of the cross, and put on, or follow, Christ. We may even dare say imitate Christ—not in the sense that we do so in our own strength, trying to act or do as He would do, but allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to live His life through us.
Now, in our main text here, beginning in verse 22, Paul refers to this truth regarding walking in a manner befitting the believer. He says, “You are to lay aside,” or we can say, “put off,” “the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.”
To begin with, let me say that all nonbelievers have no choice but to walk according to their lusts, according to the self-induced lusts or passions of their hearts. We find here that these lusts are deceitful in nature. They promise fulfillment; they promise satisfaction; but they do not satisfy. As the wise old man Solomon said, “Vanity of vanities.”
Verse 22 says the old self is being corrupted, is continuing to produce corruption, and that is because corruption can only produce corruption. The old self is tainted by sin, and it is excluded from the life of God. As such, it is only capable of producing corruption.
Paul says we are to lay aside the old self. Notice in the NASB that this is in a different tense than we found when we went through Colossians 3:9, where it says, “Since you laid aside the old self.” In Colossians, it is in the past tense, and here in Ephesians it is in the present tense.
The Greek word translated “laid aside” in Colossians 3:9 is also found in Colossians 2:15, where it says that Christ had disarmed the rulers and authorities. Christ is not now presently disarming rulers and authorities; He has already disarmed them.
But here in Ephesians 4:22 it says to lay aside the old self, in present tense, just as we find in Hebrews 12:1, where it says to lay aside every encumbrance, or later on in our text where, in Ephesians 4:25, it says, “laying aside falsehood.”
So why the difference? We believe it is because in Colossians it is speaking of the positional truth. In Ephesians, it is speaking of the experiential, or practical, truth in this matter of walking in a manner worthy.
There was an old commercial that used to say, “You cannot have one without the other.” You remember that tune? I cannot tell you what the product was, but I still have that tune in my head: “Can’t have one without the other.” Now you know I cannot sing too.
The positional and experiential truths are to go hand in hand. We need to see by revelation the positional truth of our union with Christ and all that that means. Out of that, by the channel of faith, the experiential truth can be manifested in our lives.
This gets back to verse 21, where it says the truth is in Jesus. Remember, the Lord said in John 14:20—you young people ought to be familiar with this—“You in Me, and I in you.”
The “you in Me” speaks of the positional truth. The “I in you” speaks of the experiential truth. Regarding the positional truth, we find that because we have been placed in Christ by God the Father, we have shared in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Thus, based on this fact, the old self has been laid aside. The old self was crucified when He was crucified. As we appropriate this truth by faith, we are able, in present tense, to lay aside the old self in our experience, and that is by the power of the Holy Spirit.
As an example, consider the matter of righteousness. There is a positional and an experiential, or practical, side to righteousness. Positionally, we have been declared righteous in Christ before the Father because of Christ’s death and resurrection. This is the act of God. It is finished; it is completed; it cannot be altered or undone.
We accept this truth by faith, and we are justified. In experiential, or practical, righteousness, we are to submit to and cooperate with the Lord and allow Him to live through us. The fruit of that will be practical righteousness.
The positional righteousness is a once-for-all act completed by God alone. Experiential righteousness is a process worked into and out of our lives as we submit to the lordship of Christ, or we could put that another way: as we trust and obey the Lord.
So we find likewise in this matter of having laid aside, or laying aside, the old self: the laying aside, past tense, of the old self is the act of God. It is finished; it is completed; it cannot be altered or undone. Our old self was laid aside when Christ was crucified.
We see it by revelation, and this is very important: we will only see this by revelation. When we do, we can receive it by faith.
The laying aside, present tense, is based on the already having been laid aside. You get that? We, in faith, are able to lay aside the old self based on already having been laid aside in Christ—that old self, that old man.
When we agree and consent with the Word that the old self is laid aside, then the Holy Spirit is able to make real in our lives this truth by putting to death the deeds of the body. The laying aside is an accomplished fact. To lay aside is a once-for-all decision followed by a daily choice which we must make.
To illustrate the laying aside, think of it in the matter of attaining a certain profession. You need first to have a once-for-all commitment toward that profession, and then thereafter a daily commitment to the training and to the learning to gain that profession.
Again, our laying aside of the old self is based on the fact of our old self having been laid aside in Christ.
A question might pop up in your mind, and you may say, “Why do we have to lay aside what has already been laid aside, if it is already completed?” We believe it is because verse 21 tells us that truth is in Jesus. Truth is in Jesus. It is not found in us apart from Him.
It is not found in us apart from Him. We need, by faith, to appropriate this truth of our old self being laid aside to make it real in our lives.
Let me give this illustration, maybe to help if there is some confusion. Most of you know who Abraham Lincoln is, I trust.
When he freed the slaves, they were officially free from their many years of servitude. But some of them went on living as if they were still slaves. The president’s proclamation gave them legal standing as free citizens. It was a done deal.
They were no longer slaves, but out of habit and way of thinking, many of these poor people still lived like slaves. So they needed to live in accordance with the new facts. When they were tempted to think like a slave, they needed to say, “No, the truth is, I am now a free man.” They needed to appropriate that truth into their daily experience.
Of course, nature abhors a vacuum. So the reason we are to lay aside the old self is to make room for the new self. Verses 23 and 24 say:
That ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Notice in these verses, first of all, that the characteristics of this new self are righteousness and holiness. Righteousness is simply doing what is right. Holiness speaks of being given to God for His service.
Our Lord Jesus manifested these characteristics in His life. He always did what was right. He was totally given to the Father’s will. This is the goal of our putting on the new man.
Also, notice it says to put on the new man. We do not in any way create this new man, but merely put it on as we would put on a piece of clothing.
I trust you would never go out in public with old, ragged work clothes. You would take those off before you go out. But I would also hope you would not go out into public naked, but that you would first put on some new clothes.
So we are to put on the new self, and we are to put on the new self by faith. By faith, we appropriate the new self via the truth as it is in Jesus.
The Lord said in John 17:17:
Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.
The truth is that we not only share His death to the old self, but we also share His life through His resurrection. Because of this, we are able to walk. We are able to walk in newness of life and no longer walk as the Gentiles do.
The question is, do we believe this? Do we believe this? If I may put it this way, all the power of His resurrection is at our fingertips. But we are to abide in Him by faith, even moment by moment, to experience His life in and through us.
This is the putting on of the new self. This implies our willing surrender to Him.
We need to back up for a moment to consider a verse which we passed by, verse 23, which again reads:
That ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
This being renewed in the spirit of your mind must be preceded by the laying aside of the old self, but it is an important part of the putting on of the new man.
This being renewed in the spirit of your mind is critical, because the unrenewed mind is hostile to God. Before we were saved, our minds had been trained in thinking thoughts that were lies about ourselves, other people, and even God. Our minds need to be saved, or renewed, even as our spirits do. Our minds were set on the things of the flesh.
For an example, consider Peter when the Lord told him He was going to be killed in Matthew 16. Peter responded that this should never happen to Him. But how did the Lord respond? He said:
Get thee behind Me, Satan;
thou art a stumbling block unto Me:
for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
Peter had his mind set on man’s interests—that is to say, his own interests. His thinking had to be corrected. His thinking had to be renewed.
The way for this to occur was firstly through the laying aside of the old man. That is why, after this incident with Peter, the Lord told him and all the disciples that if anyone was going to follow Him, they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. That is in Matthew 16:24.
The laying aside of the old self opens the way for the renewing of the mind. Notice this renewing of the mind is in the present tense. It is an ongoing process, and it is the Lord’s job to renew the mind.
The renewing of the mind is necessary for us to enter into God’s thought regarding all matters. The Holy Spirit is essential in this matter of renewing the mind. He alone can discern the thoughts of God. He alone can expose the thoughts of the enemy. He alone can expose those thoughts that come from the flesh.
The Scripture says to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. This does not mean we go through some sort of mental gymnastics to examine every thought as to its origin and motive, but that we inquire of the Lord, in the light of His Word, regarding any questionable thoughts.
Through the renewing of the mind, we are able to think correctly as to who Christ really is and who we really are in Christ. It opens the gate for the transforming process to occur in our lives, and it is brought about through the illumination of the Word concerning Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Verse 25 begins by saying, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood.” Now remember, when we see this word therefore, what do we need to do? We need to go back and see what it is there for.
Back in verse 21, we saw that the truth is in Jesus. An aspect of the truth in Jesus is that when He was crucified, our old self was crucified with Him; when He was buried, our old self was buried with Him; and when He was raised, we were raised from the dead in Him, and we now share in His newness of life.
Based on this, we are to lay aside the old self and put on the new self. This is the truth concerning us in Christ. As such, we are to lay aside falsehood. We are to live out of the reality of who we really are in Christ.
If we continue to walk as the Gentiles walk, we are not walking in the reality of who we really are in Christ. We would be living a false life, living a lie.
If a millionaire lives like a beggar, that person is out of character with who they really are, and they are living a false life. They are living a lie.
Thus Paul says, because of who you are in Christ, do not live a false life. Do not continue in the way of the Gentiles. Do not lie to one another, steal from one another, or become angry because your so-called rights have been violated against.
That is how the Gentiles walk, who are alienated from the life of God. But you are in Christ, and Christ is in you. Thus, walk in accordance with who you are in Him.
Notice in verse 30, the apostle points out a major stumbling block to this laying aside and putting on process. He says:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.
Before we look at what grieving the Holy Spirit is, we need to address what the work of the Holy Spirit is in the life of the believer. Simply put, the Scripture teaches us that the work of the Holy Spirit is to conform the believer into the image of Christ.
He will use various means to do this as the believer’s Teacher, Guide, Helper, and Comforter. He is singular in His goal, and He will never compromise from the way it is to be accomplished.
He partners, if you will, with the cross in putting away the old, putting to death the deeds of the body, and also by releasing the life of Christ through the believer as they appropriate the resurrected life of Christ by faith. He is the communicator of truth to the believer, even testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This putting off and putting on experientially is impossible without the Holy Spirit. This process rests upon the believer cooperating with the Holy Spirit for it to be accomplished.
But what if the believer chooses not to cooperate with the Holy Spirit? What will occur? Verse 30 says that in such a case we can grieve the Holy Spirit.
In Scripture, we find there are four negative reactions that can occur against the Holy Spirit, one of which we believe only unbelievers can commit: blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. But there are three others mentioned that can be committed by believers: resisting, quenching, and grieving, as our text here mentions.
I ordered them this way because we believe this is the way in which they occur: first resisting, which leads to quenching, which leads to grieving. If one resists the Holy Spirit, His work becomes quenched in one’s life, and this, in turn, grieves the Holy Spirit.
In defining the difference between quenching and grieving, I like what one brother has said:
Quenching is what you do to the Spirit.
Grieving is how He responds to what you did.
Grieving speaks of the personal anguish of the Holy Spirit when a believer quenches His working in their lives. You do not quench the Holy Spirit without grieving the Holy Spirit, and you will not grieve the Holy Spirit unless you quench the Holy Spirit.
These are simply two sides of the same problem. One describes what you do; the other describes what He does. You quench; He grieves. He grieves because you quench.
So we need to be careful, because no progress can be made in our lives spiritually if we have grieved the Holy Spirit.
We have pointed out the warning side of verse 30, but I believe there is also a strong motivator within this verse. Let me ask you a question: Have you ever grieved someone who really loves you? Have you ever grieved someone who really loves you?
How did that make you feel? Did you feel good about it? If you knew that person really loves you, you probably did not feel good about what you did to grieve that person.
May we be ones who are tender-hearted toward the Holy Spirit of God, allowing Him to complete His work in and through us.
Paul ends chapter 4 with an exhortation of how the new self will be expressed toward other members in the body of Christ, additionally giving the motivation behind this exhortation. He says in verse 32:
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also hath forgiven you.
The question is, how has Christ forgiven us? Has He not forgiven us freely and completely? Does He hide any resentment toward us or anger? Is He harboring any ill will toward us? Does He desire for us to be repaid evil for evil?
We imagine or speak like a fool if we consider any of these to be true of Christ, because He has forgiven us completely and He desires only the best for us. Can we not, by His grace, do the same for one another, and thus delight and please Him and the Holy Spirit who has sealed us for the day of redemption?
Now, you may think, “Wow, this equates to walking on water.” But look at Ephesians 5:1, where Paul makes the incredible statement:
Therefore be ye imitators of God, as beloved children.
Wow. Think of that: imitators of God. Imitators of God. In verse 2, Paul says to walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us—to walk in love just as Christ loved.
How can Paul say we are to be imitators of God, and in particular in this area of loving as God loves? It is very simple, brothers and sisters. It all comes back to this principle of putting off and putting on.
No, you cannot imitate God in your own strength. Only the life of God is able to do so. Paul found the secret in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live—that is putting off, or laying aside—
but Christ liveth in me;
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God—that is putting on—
who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Yes, we have to say it is attainable to be imitators of God, but we must be careful how we walk. Do not be deceived by other paths or other shortcuts. Do not despise or run from the things that come in your life to assist you on the path of this principle.
Make the most of them, allowing the Holy Spirit to do that work, understanding that His will is to bring you into sonship, to bring you into spiritual maturity.
This can only be done through this principle of putting off the old self and putting on the new self. May the Lord have mercy on us.