Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
A few months ago, my wife ran a mud run. She went over all these obstacles and she got near the end of the race. She ducked under this large balloon obstacle and she got completely muddy. You know, that's a lot of what our life is like in our past. Our Verse of the Day is all about putting off the old, dirty old man and putting on the new self.
It's Ephesians chapter 4, verse 24. "Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy."
Practicing Our Position
The book of Ephesians is really a tremendous book. It's all about practicing our position. In chapters 1 to 3, He talks about practicing our position with what Christ has done for us. In chapters 4 to 6, He talks about living out that position or practicing the things that we learned in chapters 1 to 3.
In our passage today, we very simply want to look at how to put off the old man and how to put on the new man.
Put Off the Old Man
Number one, put off the old man. Paul tells us right before the verses that we're looking at in verse 24, in verse 17, he tells us to put off the things that we used to do—the greedy, a callous heart, a stony heart, a bad conscience, lying. He says, "Put them all aside. That's the old man that doesn't do anything for you." Think about it. What is your old life? My old life? The things that we used to do. Whatever it might be. The list that Paul had there—lying, not speaking the truth, sensuality, whatever it might be. Slander, malice. What has that done for you and for me? Those things are old life. They produce shame. They produce guilt. Confusion. We lack purpose. Paul says, "Put off the old self."
Put On the New Self
Again, in our Verse of the Day he says, secondly, "Put on the new self which is created to be truly righteous and holy." Here's the deal. If you've been born again, Jesus Christ lived the life you can never live. He died the death you could never die. If you're truly born again, if you're saved, then because of that great position that we looked at in Ephesians chapters 1 to 3, now we're a new person.
I love what Romans chapter 7 says, "In my inner man I delight in the law of God." Did you notice the real you? If you're a Christian, the real you inside loves God and hates sin. Do you have a problem? So do I. You have what's called a sin hangover. Your old life still wants to control you. It wants to say, you're not really new. You're still the old person. But Paul says, no, you're really new. As a matter of fact, you're so new, you have a new nature.
He says, right after this verse in verse 25, "You're to put away falsehood, speak truth to your neighbor. Don't steal anymore, but give. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Forgive as Christ has forgiven you. Be like Christ." This is all the new nature. By the way, your conscience will reward you when you live this new life that we have before us.
Think about it. Let's get rid of shame, the past, the things that we know might be pleasurable for a season. But they bring shame and guilt and sadness, depression, discouragement. Let's put on the new man. When you put on the new nature, the new man, you'll look like Christ and you'll live like Jesus Christ.
