New Life Beyond Imagination

Think about this: BAPTISM… is a real life illustration... written by Jesus himself… to proclaim the truths that we are about to study in our sermon today as we continue our series in Ephesians.

In BAPTISM, a person is DECLARING that JESUS died, was buried, and rose again to new life… and that when we put our faith in him, WE DIED, were buried, and rose again to new life with him!

That’s the Spirit-inspired illustration that the Lord gave us and commanded for us to observe.

But let me stretch that illustration a step further for you… this is the NON-SPIRIT-INSPIRED… but I think still accurate… extension of that illustration.

A person who gets into the baptismal waters is wearing one set of clothes that is appropriate for going under water...

But once they come out, they have to change...

The clothes that they quote/unquote “died and were buried in” are no longer suitable to wear for the rest of the day.

And that’s how it is with the Christian life...

We die to our old self and rise to our new self in our initial conversion...

And then we must continually put off the clothes of the old self and put on the clothes of the new self as we live the rest of our life “in Christ.”

That’s the reality that we are going to see today as we continue our study through Ephesians 4...

Big Idea: Put off your old life in the world, and put on your new life in the body of Christ.

As a church, we have been studying Ephesians verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph… and we are currently in the second half of the Paul’s letter to the Ephesians...

This is the part where Paul is APPLYING all the deep theology that he laid out in the first half of the book.

He showed us this BIG COSMIC vision that God has for his church… and now he’s saying, “here’s how you live it out.”

He said in 4:1… “Live in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called...”

In other words, “Live consistently with your spiritual reality.”

That’s what’s driving Paul’s instruction to Put off your old life in the world, and put on your new life in the body of Christ.

Let’s see this in the text: Read Eph. 4:17-32.

Today from these verses we are going to look at...

Three Essential Elements of Putting off and Putting on...

1) Renounce your Old Self. (4:17-19)

Look at verse 17 - “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do...”

Now we’ve already established that this book was written to a church that had a lot of people who were ETHNICALLY/ CULTURALLY Gentiles...

Remember, a Gentile is someone who is not Ethnically Jewish…

Sometimes the Bible calls the Gentiles, “the nations”...

It’s an ethnic concept… but it’s also a religious concept… because the Gentiles were those who worshipped anyone BUT the one true God.

They were those who were given over by the Lord to worship and be ruled by false gods.

And that USED to be the people in these churches reading this letter… but God rescued them from all that.

That’s what Paul described in chapter 2:1-10… that they were DEAD in their trespasses and sins… following the course of this world… following the Prince of the Power of the Air… BUT GOD made them ALIVE with Christ by GRACE through FAITH.

They are NO LONGER GENTILES according to the flesh…

If you’ve been here for this study with us, you might also remember from chapter 2 that God has brought Gentiles INTO a NEW people of God along with the Jews…

In place of Jew and Gentile, he made ONE NEW MAN… a whole new people group who are simply described as… “IN CHRIST.”… we call that “the church....” the assembly of Christ.

And in chapter 3 Paul called this inclusion of the Gentiles a mystery that was hidden for ages past, but that God had now sent him to reveal:

Remember also, from chapter 3, that this is the thing that forces the demons to look at the church and acknowledge, “That’s the wisdom of God on display.”

The church is God’s trophy case of his victory against the demons because the DEMONS are the rulers and authorities of the nations... the gods of the nations in the heavenly realms…

And so if God has made the nations part of his people, then what has he done? He has defeated RULERS and AUTHORITIES in the heavenly places that USED to control them and that they USED to worship.

He has taken Gentiles OUT of the Nations and made them CITIZENS together with the Saints.

This is the spiritual reality for every believer: that we are no longer primarily citizens of our wordly society… we are citizens of God’s kingdom.

Paul wrote in chapter 2: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God... (Ephesians 2:19–20, ESV)

So as we talk about “putting off and putting on,” don’t miss the context in which that spiritual growth happens: it happens as PART OF the local church.

We are taken OUT of one identity group: “the Gentiles” or “the world”… and made part of another identity group: “Christ’s church.”

Which means that there are some old ways of living that are NATURAL to our old way of living that don’t belong in our new citizenship.

Did you know that in order to become a citizen in the United States, you must renounce your former country as having sovereignty over you?

If you want to become a citizen of the United States of America, you have to take an oath where you say,

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen;

Now most AMERICANS would not understand even the grammar of that sentence… but you are basically saying, “All former rulers over me don’t have control anymore. I don’t answer to them… I answer to the laws of the United States of America.”

So if you come from a country where it is OK to kill someone if they stole your chicken, and you try to do that in the US, you can’t say, “But I was always allowed to kill people for stealing my chickens in my OLD COUNTRY! I like THEIR laws better!”

You will get sent to JAIL!

The US doesn’t allow divided loyalties among its citizens.

And the same is true with Christ… when we come to faith in Christ and recognize that he is the victorious Savior King, we are called to RENOUNCE the ways of the nations in which we once walked...

“You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do...” because you are no longer identified primarily as a Gentile!

We are part of a new culture… a new identity... that is “in Christ.”

And we are called to walk CONSISTENT with our new citizenship in his Kingdom.

So that should cause us to ask, first of all, “What ways did the Gentiles walk that we must renounce?”

Paul says, “that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do… in the futility of their minds.

That’s important, and you’ll see why in a minute.

Paul is saying that the world has a mindset. There is a WAY… a PATTERN of thinking…

and that mindset is FUTILE.

It’s “meaningless.”

Why is it futile? Because they are “missing the big picture” or “missing the key point” of life itself.

Paul explains this futile thinking further by saying...

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

To say it in a word, they are Godless.

It’s not that they didn’t have ANY gods… it’s that they are missing the ONE TRUE GOD…

They only did what seemed right in their own eyes… and that sense of right and wrong was ignorant of the true SOURCE of right and wrong… God himself...

But they were not just ignorant… they were HARDENED.

In our sin, NONE OF US actually WANT God… we sometimes want a VERSION of God that we create in our own minds… but we don’t want GOD.

The nature of sin is to try to be like God without God. It’s to try to create a concept of God that we can manipulate and control.

And that nature defines the nations.

Apart from God, the nations have become callous… they don’t feel a sense of holy reverent fear toward their Creator...

They don’t have a heart to please him or deny their natural impulses in favor of what he says is good and right.

They don’t have a heart that feels conviction of sin in light of the holiness of God.

They ONLY want what feels good to their senses… what gratifies their flesh… and they are willing to do ANYTHING to that end.

And that is ALL OF US apart from Christ.

In Ephesians 2, Paul says that we ALL once walked in this way… and in Ephesians 4, Paul says that we must NO LONGER walk this way.

Apply: So let me ask you... in as simple a way I possibly can: Have you renounced your old self?

Have you said, “I don’t want ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT anymore!”?

Have you come to that place of complete surrender that says, “I KNOW I can’t live for you on my own, Jesus, but I sure don’t want to live my own way!”?

Are you able to say, with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ. Therefore it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh I live by FAITH in the Son of God who loves me and gave himself for me.”

That’s the heart of the matter. THAT’S what it means to be a Christian.

It’s not, “Were you on a membership roster at a church for most of your life?”

It’s not, “Have you started trying to be a better person?”

It’s not, “Have you been a model US Citizen and stood up for God, Family and Country?”

No, the question is, “Has your old self DIED? Have you RENOUNCED your former allegiances and former way of life... and have you gone all-in with Christ?

There is no salvation… no life in Christ... without RENOUNCING our former way of life.

And if you have never done that, you need to do it today.

And I love that Paul is able to write to these churches and say, “That WAS you… but it’s not anymore.”

He is able to have reasonable confidence that MOST PEOPLE in these churches were taught well and understood that there is a difference between the people of God and the rest of the world.

Why? Because he knew how they were taught.

Look at verse 20: “But that is not the way you learned Christ!—

Paul is like a parent saying to their older child, “I know that’s not the way I raised you!”

Remember, Paul spent 2 years planting the church in Ephesus...

He spent TIME establishing them in the teaching...

And he gave them the pattern of teaching to establish others...

But it’s been about 8-10 years since he’s been there…

Some people may have come to faith and been discipled by others SINCE he was there that he doesn’t know...

Even more, this letter was probably circulated BEYOND Ephesus to the churches in the surrounding region of the Lycus Valley…

And so Paul doesn’t want to make any assumptions…

He clarifies how they SHOULD have learned Christ...

assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Three Essential Elements of Putting off and Putting on...

1) Renounce your Old Self. (4:17-19)

2) Renew your Mindset. (4:20-24)

Explain: Paul is recognizing that there is a way that Christ is taught that is TRUE… and there is a way that Christ is taught that is FALSE.

There is a way to SOUND like you are proclaiming Jesus, but really you are proclaiming something else...

In the early church, this could have been the circumcision party who were all about external conformity to a set of rules with a little Jesus mixed in...

They also clearly had false teachers who told people what they wanted to hear… Paul wrote to Timothy that there were false teachers who “tickled people’s ears” for selfish gain...

They basically taught people to seek after their sensual desires USING the grace of Jesus as an excuse.

And the same is true today...

On the one hand, you have religious groups who claim Jesus, but really they are concerned with external conformity to their set of rules.

On the other hand, you have preachers who refuse to use the word sin because it will offend people, which might keep them from giving to their ministry.

So Paul WANTS to assume that they have been taught Jesus properly… but he realizes he CAN’T assume that...

I think that’s instructive for us… we need to believe the best about people who claim to be believers, but we also seek to clarify the gospel with them...

Don’t take it for granted that they were taught thoroughly or received that teaching thoroughly.

And here is how Paul clarified the truth of the gospel:

To believe the truth about Jesus is to PUT OFF your old self…

Your old sin nature… who you are apart from Christ...

All of the motivations and desires that do not align with Christ.

All of the thought patterns that do not conform to him.

All of the activities and actions that are clearly sinful...

You put them OFF… like changing out of your wet baptismal clothes...

And you PUT ON the New Self.

Notice how Paul describes the new self: it is created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Does that make you think about any particular part of the Bible? Maybe the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis?

God created Adam and Even in the Garden and he said, “In the image of God he created them.”

And then when they sinned, they MARRED that image.

It was still there, but it was tainted… true righteousness and holiness were lost… they were no longer able to reflect God as they ought.

And the NEW SELF is the restoration of the image of God in his people...

It’s the NEW HUMANITY that God is creating IN CHRIST.

Christ is the SECOND ADAM… and in him we get to return to the righteousness and holiness of Adam before the Fall.

That’s what Jesus wants to do in your life… and in his church.

He’s taking us back to the Garden.

That’s part of the motivation for spiritual growth: All that was lost from the garden because of our sin is being restored in us through Jesus Christ.

Now some of you are thinking, “Yeah, that sounds AWESOME Pastor Ben… I WOULD LOVE to go back to the garden and not have to deal with my sin anymore… but that’s not the real world where I live.

I TRY to do things the right way… but I mess it up ALL. THE. TIME.

The old self doesn’t feel so “old”… it doesn’t feel like distant history… it feels pretty close and present.

So how can I gain some traction here?

Notice how Paul says this happens: we must be renewed in the spirit of our minds.

It’s a process of renewal of the MIND. It all comes back to how we THINK.

Remember verse 17 - You must NO LONGER walk in the FUTILITY of your minds (implying that they once walked that way)...

So the old self was marked by a FUTILITY of mind… the spirit of the mind was FUTILE… MISSING the key.

And the NEW SELF has a NEW SPIRIT of the mind.

And we must BE RENEWED in that spirit.

We must allow the TRUTH that we have been given a new nature to DRIVE US to a new way of thinking and living.

We must CONSTANTLY set our MINDS on Christ and what he has done… so that we can live in a way that is CONSISTENT with our spiritual reality IN CHRIST.

I’ve heard it said this way before: “Nothing is different until you THINK DIFFERENTLY.”

Our BEING (in Christ) must drive our THINKING... because our THINKING drives our DOING.

So as long as you THINK like a Gentile, you will LIVE like a Gentile...

But when you THINK like someone who is IN CHRIST, you will LIVE like someone who is IN CHRIST.

That’s why reading the word and setting our mind on the truth is so important… because we are learning to THINK in a different way.

We are learning to THINK about the truth that is in Christ.

We are learning to THINK like God thinks… seeing things from God’s perspective.

Nothing is different until you think differently.

That’s the essence of true repentance… repentance is a change of MIND.

Follow the chain of events here: the change in our BEING (that we have DIED and are raised IN CHRIST) must lead to a change in our THINKING (that we think according to the truth that is IN CHRIST) which must lead to a change in our DOING (that we do the actions that Christ would do).

The change in our BEING must lead to a change in our THINKING which must lead to a change in our DOING.

It ALWAYS follows that process.

So what drives your thinking?

On a day to day basis, what drives your thinking?

What thoughts do you dwell on throughout the day?

What thoughts does your mind return to when you are at rest?

Is it the glorious truths of God, or the depraved things that please your flesh?

When you are faced with a big life choice, what factors influence that decision?

Is it what feels the best?

What benefits you the most?

What appeases others expectations of you?

Or is it what is most in accordance with God’s word?

This HAS to come back to reading and knowing God’s word… but not just reading it… letting it SHAPE you… letting it change the way you think.

And then making it your constant desperate prayer...

God, I SEE YOU here in your word… I SEE what you want in my life… produce this in me as I walk by your Spirit.

The change in our being must lead to a change in our thinking which must lead to a change in our doing.

Nothing is different until you think differently.

But what effect will that have, practically speaking?

That’s where Paul takes us next:

Three Essential Elements of Putting off and Putting on...

1) Renounce your Old Self. (4:17-19)

2) Renew your Mindset. (4:20-24)

3) Replace your Actions. (4:25-32)

Notice Paul STARTS with this issue of TRUTH… verse 25 - Eph 4:25 “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

If you JUST agree in theory with God’s word, you have not renewed your mind… and you have not applied the glorious truth of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Out of the renewal of your mind, you must replace your actions:

Replace falsehood with speaking truth.

If change comes through renewing our minds, then replacing FALSEHOOD with TRUTH is of primary importance.

We have to be HONEST about what is going on in our hearts…

We can’t cover it up and put on our Sunday best and pretend like there’s never any sin going on.

We also have to be HONEST with others about the truth that is in Christ Jesus...

We talked about this last week… that the primary way the body grows is when every member speaks the truth in love...

I wrote a two-part blog post on that topic this week for you...

The TRUTH of Jesus acknowledges all of the contours of the gospel…

the HOLINESS of our Creator God…

the FALLEN NATURE of man in our sin...

the REDEMPTION that is in Christ...

and the HOPE that is found in our future restoration…

And that truth must be shared in LOVE as it is defined in the Bible… think 1 Cor. 13...

Truth must be shared in patience and kindness and without envy or boasting or arrogance...

And it should be clear by now, but don’t overlook this: TRUTH is encountered in COMMUNITY.

We are to SPEAK THE TRUTH with our neighbor… specifically with those who are in close proximity to us IN THE CHURCH.

How am I going to break out of the way that I always think? How am I going to change by the renewing of my mind?

When others in the church speak the truth of Christ to me.

When they show me my blind spots and how my thinking isn’t lining up with Christ’s word.

We are to be involved in one anothers’ lives to the degree that we are helping one another APPLY the truth of God’s word to real life situations.

Again, it is IMPOSSIBLE to apply these verses as a lone-ranger Christian.

We are, as believers, members one of another.

Your spiritual growth affects me and my spiritual growth affects you.

And so we speak the TRUTH with one another in love...

Next we...

Replace sinful anger with righteous anger.

Look at v. 26 - “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26–27, ESV)

Now, that might seem weird to us… why is Paul telling us to “be angry”???

But he’s quoting Psalm 4:4 where David is charging his enemies: “be angry and do not sin, ponder in your own hears on your beds and be silent.”

In other words, “Deal with your anger in a righteous way. Don’t come after God’s anointed. Don’t attack the godly.”

It’s also possible in Psalm 4 that the better translation is, “Tremble and do not sin.”

In other words FEAR GOD.

And there is a righteous trembling that FEARS GOD and longs for his righteousness...

And there’s a sinful anger that is willing to do unrighteous things to appease the flesh.

Now, my problem is that too often I like to THINK that my unrighteous anger is actually RIGHTEOUS. [anyone else share my problem???]

I like to think that I’m angry because I’m right and the other person was wrong… even in God’s eyes.

But then I’m willing to act out in my anger in ways that don’t honor God… and PROVE that my anger wasn’t really righteous after all.

So how do I replace sinful anger with righteous anger?

I need to deal with it quickly.

I can’t let it fester.

“Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.”

Psalm 4 says, “Ponder in your own hearts, on your beds... and be silent.” (that’s good… be silent until you really sort out if your anger is righteous or sinful)

We need to bring our anger to the Lord and either let it go and let him deal with it… or seek his way that he wants us to deal with it… a righteous expression of that anger.

Why? Because sinful anger is an opportunity for the devil.

And if we keep the context of the whole book in mind, it’s not just an opportunity for the devil in your own heart… it’s an opportunity for the devil in Christ’s church.

It’s a chance for him to undermine the unity of the church that displays the wisdom and victory of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

How many local churches or church relationships have been wrecked because someone allowed sinful anger to UNLEASH…

or maybe they went the passive aggressive way and let their anger turn into bitterness which turns into malice and gossip and slander and grows like a cancer among the people of God?

The enemy… the deceiver… REJOICES when that kind of thing happens…

But we are IN CHRIST and our anger does not need to control us.

Replace falsehood… replace anger… now this...

Replace stealing with generous work.

Look at verse 28 - “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”

Now maybe you think, “Whew… good… I might struggle with honesty and anger, but I’ve never stolen anything.”

But notice the opposite of stealing: honest work with his own hands.

Anything that is not honest work is stealing.

That could be stealing from the government: tax evasion.

That could be stealing from your employer: not actually working when you say you are.

I read a post on the Quarryville Message Board this week about someone who hired a local handyman...

And he said he would work for $200/day... but those days got shorter and shorter and shorter… and his work got shoddier and shoddier and shoddier… until he just abandoned the job altogether.

That’s stealing.

And again: notice the RESULT of the honest work: that he may have something to SHARE with anyone in need.

It’s about the CHURCH again.

The money you make at work is not so that you can hoard it all and live out the American Dream just like the Gentiles do.

Your money is so that you can share with anyone in need.

Stealing is about selfishness… God’s call to work is about generosity.

Your money that you make through your job is to be invested in the Kingdom purposes of God… because that’s where your citizenship is found.

But that requires renouncing the old self, renewing your mind, and then replacing your actions.

Replace falsehood, sinful anger, stealing… now this...

Replace corrupting talk with encouragement.

Verse 29 - “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

This word for corrupting is like a disease or a bug that would rot an apple. Or bacteria that would rot a piece of fish if it sat out too long.

How often are the words that come out of our mouths corrupting to those who hear?

How often do they lead people to dwell on things that are unhelpful and unhopeful?

How often do they corrupt peoples’ thinking about someone else?

How often do they corrupt our hearts and set our minds on earthly things rather than godly things?

Kids, how often do your words with your siblings… or at school… help others see the grace of Jesus?

Every time we are tempted to say something that would corrupt those who hear, we should think, “How can I replace this with a gracious word instead?”

How can I build up the body rather than tear it down?

Again, notice… our corrupt talk isn’t just about us… it has effects on the whole body of Christ.

You CANNOT apply these passages of scripture as a lone ranger Christian in isolation from the local church.

And so Paul has made this idea of putting off and putting on very practical with a few examples… and he summarizes with a list… we’ll come back to verses 30 in a moment… look at verse 31 -

“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, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

We must...

Replace animosity with grace.

This is a summary… Paul is amplifying what he said earlier about sinful anger and sinful words… and malice (which is an action of hatred against a person, like stealing)…

and he says, “PUT ALL THAT STUFF AWAY.”

There is nothing that will extinguish the flame of the Holy Spirit’s work in a church like bitterness and anger and animosity.

And put on GRACE…

Kindness in place of wrath...

Tenderheartedness instead of the callous heart of the Gentiles...

Open your heart up to Christ and open up to his people...

That’s going to require forgiving one another...

We are all in a growth PROCESS of putting off and putting on… and we are in it TOGETHER… and so there is going to be sin that we commit against each other.

And so we are going to have to FORGIVE.

But remember… that God in Christ forgave YOU.

There is nothing that ANYONE has done to you that is worse than the offense of your sin against a holy God.

And he FORGAVE you… so you must also forgive.

Renounce the Old Self… renew your mind… replace your actions...

Listen… this is a REALLY GOOD THING...

We just cleaned out our basement recently… and at the same time I had cleaned up our back yard… AND… on top of all that I forgot to take the trash out one week...

so we had about 5 or 6 HUGE trash bags full of stuff sitting in our back yard… in addition to the normal trash we create in a house of 5 people...

Let’s just say that it’s taken me THREE WEEKS to work through it all… a few trash bags at a time…

But there is nothing like the feeling of seeing the Garbage truck come and get rid of all your waste and filth… and to know that it is GONE!

And this week… I will have the last of it out of my back yard and I can’t WAIT!

Katy and I might have a celebration dance of some sort...

And that’s what is being offered to you when Paul says, “Put it all away.”

Get rid of all of the waste and all of the junk and all of the stuff that doesn’t work anymore and all of the filth...

Get RID OF IT!

But maybe your like, “I’ve TRIED! I’ve TRIED to renounce my old self and renew my mind and replace my actions. And I’ve seen some growth… but there’s still a lot of trash bags left and I’m SICK OF IT! I’m SICK OF MY SIN! I’m GRIEVED by it! What can I do?!?!”

I want you to know that if you are grieved by your sin, then you are in good company… the best company... because the Holy Spirit grieves your sin too.

Look back at v. 30 -“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

If we are going to put off our old life in the world, and put on our new life in the body of Christ… we are going to have to...

4) Relate to the Spirit. (4:30)

Explain: Notice how Paul says that the Holy Spirit responds to sin: he GRIEVES.

This is the same word used of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when it says he was SORROWFUL about facing the cross.

The Spirit GRIEVES our sin.

He’s not wrathful over our sin...

He’s not writing us off in our sin...

He’s GRIEVING our sin… he’s SORROWFUL.

He’s mourning the loss of intimacy and fellowship and relationship that sin brings between God and his people.

I recently heard Pastor Robby Symons illustrate it this way:

The Bible describes our bodies… and the whole church as a TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit…

Ephesians especially emphasizes the CHURCH as the temple...

And so the Holy Spirit is supposed to be in the center of that temple...

He’s supposed to be filling it with all the fullness of God...

But when we invite sin in, it’s like we push the Holy Spirit over to the side… we QUENCH him...

And he doesn’t leave…

And he’s not throwing a fit...

But he’s saying, “What’s that doing in here? That doesn’t BELONG HERE. Don’t you know this is a DWELLING PLACE for the Holy God???”

What’s that falsehood… that sinful anger… that selfish stealing… doing here?

What’s that corrupt speech in God’s temple for?

What’s that

And he’s not condemning… but he IS GRIEVING… and in his grieving, he convicts...

And the way back to right relationship is to GRIEVE your sin WITH HIM...

To once again RENOUNCE your old self...

To RENEW YOUR MIND afresh… “Holy Spirit, you are RIGHT… that is not consistent with my new identity in Christ...”

And then it’s to replace your actions.

Listen: that only happens when we relate to the Spirit.

When we see that we are his temple… and he is GRIEVED by our sin… and GRACIOUS to seal us for the day of redemption.

And so I want us to relate to the Holy Spirit right now in prayer...