 But beginning in chapter 4, verse 17, reading to verse 19, Ephesians chapter 4, Paul says, This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness, with greediness. I mentioned to you as we began our study, and those of you who are with us as we began the study of the book of Ephesians, that the book is divided into three basic parts. And you can use one word to describe each one of those parts, its walk, its sit, its walk, and its stand. And I mentioned to you that when we opened up our study in chapter one, all the way to chapter three, that you were being given by Paul a theological teaching related to your being seated in Jesus Christ. And so the first three chapters deal with that. When we enter into the fourth chapter, he begins what is called the walk of the believer. Remember in verse one, he had said, Therefore I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. So the first three chapters deals with where you are in Christ, your position in Christ. And after you know who you are in Christ, and Paul begins to share how you're to walk. And so we get into chapter six, he's finally going to be sharing with us how we stand, stand as victors in Christ and stand in spiritual warfare. We'll be seeing that as we continue and eventually conclude our study here in the book of Ephesians. And so Paul is speaking here concerning our walk, the walk of the believer. And so as I was beginning this particular study, I began in this way, I'll begin by saying this, salvation isn't the result of self improvement. And salvation is not us fixing our own broken selves. Salvation is a complete and total transformation from one thing to something else. The way the New Testament portrays this transformation is by speaking of things becoming new. Now I want to say that because I was reading something just this week. And I wanted to use it as an illustration because recently a well known TV media preacher made a comment that has gotten an awful lot of response. The comment he made was, unfortunately, it was incorrect. Now it was made October 24th, 2021. And it was made by a young man named Stephen Furtick of Elevation Church, many of you know of that fellowship and know of him. Elevation is a well known church. It's in North Carolina, it has various campuses, it has 26,000 weekly attendance, it has 65,000 virtual spectators a week, that's a large work. But this is what he said, and I'm going to develop this as an introduction. He said, and this is a quote, the process of discipleship is not God changing you into something else. It's him revealing who you've been all along. Well that post got 18,000 likes and 2,500 shares in a few hours. And the reason I bring that up is it reveals that many are not reading their Bibles and many are not developing spiritual discernment. You see the Bible speaks concerning salvation as a complete transformation. In 2nd Corinthians 3 18, Paul said, we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. In 2nd Corinthians he went on to say in chapter 5 verse 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And so salvation is a complete transformation. And it's a result of God giving us a new heart. It's God giving to us a new spirit. In Ezekiel 36 26, God said it like this, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone, give you a heart of flesh. You see our old sinful nature has been crucified with Jesus. We now have a new nature. In Galatians 2 20, Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith and the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So my old nature has been crucified. I now have a completely new nature. My old nature has been put to death. But by faith I am now walking in a new nature. I still have sinful desires, but I identify as a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And so at one time I may have had a drug problem, which I did, but I don't identify as a drug abuser. At one time I had an alcohol problem, but I don't refer to myself as a reforming alcoholic. I'm a new creation, Christ Jesus, because all things have passed away and behold, all things are become new. So you identify as the new creation and that is being made into the image of Jesus Christ. Sin still dominates. It seeks to. But by faith we live for Jesus Christ. In Galatians 5 in verse 24, Paul said, those who are Christs have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires. In chapter 5 verse 16 of Galatians he had said, So I say, walk by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And so by walking in the Spirit, being crucified in Christ, I have a new creation. I have a new nature. And that's what that's what Paul is speaking about here in chapter 4, because he is telling us to walk worthy. Now I mentioned in verse 1, he had said in chapter 4, Walk worthy of the calling with which you are called. But here Paul continues by contrast in the way a non-Christian lives with the walk of a Spirit-filled believer. So he says in verse 17 of chapter 4, this I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind. So we've seen that that Paul has already spoken that God has gifted the church with spiritual gifts as well as spiritual leaders. And these gifts are for the benefit of the body of Christ. They're intended to mend the broken and to edify believers. And I was mentioning to you that the teaching of the Word of God keeps the church safe. Verse 13 of chapter 4 says that the teaching produces spiritual unity. Verse 14 speaks about teaching, bringing spiritual maturity in the body. You're no longer a child. He says it brings stability because you're no longer being tossed about. And it also will give to you discernment because you'll be aware of trickery, craftiness, and deceitful plans. So the teaching and living of God's Word are to be done with God's love for people. Again in Galatians 4.16 Paul said it like this, have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. I do believe, by the way, that's one of the scriptures I memorized a long time ago when I first began to teach the Word of God. Are you willing to be regarded by people as unloving and hateful? Paul was, he was regarded in that way. That's why he said to the Galatians, he says, have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. See, by telling you the truth Paul would be saying I'm actually loving you. He had said in Ephesians 4.15 that we're to speak the truth in love. But do I become your enemy by telling you the truth? I think that today in our cancel culture that we, the church exists in, that many pastors really fear to tell the congregation the truth. So they tickle their ears. But in doing so, they're not helping them to develop as believers. They're not encouraging them to become mature in Jesus Christ. So no, if somebody loves you, they tell you the truth. And that's what Paul would say. So the teaching of the Word is going to produce believers who use their gifts and their talents. It causes the body to work together. Everyone, every member doing their share. And it produces a spiritual maturity and not only that, but it actually adds new members to the body of Christ. And with all of that, that's why he moves on into verse 17. And he says, we should therefore no longer walk as the Gentiles do. Now remember, I've told you that humanity in the Old Testament is divided as Jew and Gentile. In the New Testament is Jew, Gentile and the church. So when Paul speaks to this Ephesian church, the Ephesians were not Jewish, they were Gentile. And that's why he says in verse 17, not to walk as the rest of the Gentiles. He's speaking of the fact that these by their nature and all that they are actually regarded as Gentiles, but no longer are they to be living as that because they're now members of the body of Christ. And therefore, they're brand new in Jesus Christ. But don't live as if you don't know God. That's the point he's making. Do not live any longer as someone who does not know God. Now, as I mentioned in the first three chapters, Paul emphasized our position in Christ. He introduced this chapter by exhorting us to walk worthy of the calling. But here he begins to reveal what a walk that is worthy of the gospel truly is. And so what he does is he contrasts the lifestyle of a non-Christian with that of a Christian. And this is to exhort believers to live like believers and not like non-believers. And so the question is how do non-Christians live? Well, verses 17 through 19 reveal four characteristics of an unbeliever. One, they live in an imaginary world. Two, they are ignorant of God's truth. Three, they are spiritually and morally callous. And four, they have voluntarily embraced a life without moral restraint. Now, I'm going to go through that with you slowly. Sometimes people are taking notes in the same slow down. No, I won't. So Paul exhorts the church verse 17, not to walk as Gentiles. In other words, don't live like someone who doesn't know God. Don't live. This is an old word people don't use anymore. Don't live like a heathen. In 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse five, that verse speaks of the Gentiles who do not know God. And so that's the point that he's making. Do not live as if you don't know God. Their philosophy and their manner of life reveals they have no relationship with the Lord. Instead of worshiping the God who created all things, those who do not know God actually have created idols that they worship. Galatians four, eight, once again, a letter to a Gentile church. Paul said, when you did not know God, you serve those which by nature are not gods. When you did not know God, you were an idolater. You see, the Bible makes it clear that without Jesus Christ as our savior, we really don't know God. In 2 Corinthians four, verse four, Paul said, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who's the image of God. And so these are people who are spiritually blind. Don't live as if you don't know God. And how do they live? Well, he describes how someone who does not know God lives. One, verse 17, he speaks of the futility of their mind, the futility of their mind. The word futility is defined as that which is devoid of truth and that which is appropriate. Futility can speak of depravity. It also speaks of frailty. It can even speak of perverseness. And that's a way of thinking that has led to idolatry. In 1 Peter 4, 3 and 4, Peter said it like this. He said, you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles living in debauchery, lost drunkenness, orgies, crowzing and detestable idolatry. Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion and they heap abuse on you. That's another way of saying before you were saved, you partied with everybody else, perhaps some of you didn't, but many of you did. You crowzed, you know, that's just wild parties, wild drinking parties and drunken orgies. That was not always, that wasn't every day. Some of you would have liked it to have been every day, but that was not necessarily every day. It was at least a weekly thing for many of us. Friday came, Saturday came, Sunday came, eventually any day was just fine with me to do these kinds of things. That's how you lived. Before you knew God, he's saying, many of you were this way, you partied, you were crazy, you did stupid things. And that's the kind of thing that causes God to not be in your life. It reveals God is not in your life and it reveals that you don't have a relationship with him. And again, that paganism of the past that is mentioned here by the apostle continues with us this day and that's revealed clearly in what has been called recently and for the last few years, has been called the culture war. Now I'm going to share some things with you because these are these are things that are taking place right now. I thought might as well. Here we go. All right. Elon Musk purchased Twitter and you're able to see how the world responds. Musk isn't even a believer. I don't even know him to be a real quote unquote conservative. I haven't heard what his quote unquote politics are. You know, he was a hero for a lot of people for a long time. Why? Because he has Tesla and we have people telling us you've got to drive these electric vehicles and this and that. He was quite the hero for a long time, but he did something wrong. He took over Twitter. And so what has happened is the double standard that we are familiar with so much so that we've I think gotten used to the double standard that many of us have kind of made peace with realizing what are we going to do? How's this going to change? We know it's there, but it's been denied for so long. And when when a lot of groups gather together and all agree on the same lie, that lie becomes common belief. And eventually you become conspiracy theorist and you're a dangerous person. See, so as long as Musk was part of the social network, everybody thought was was fine. He was okay. But now that he's bought Twitter, I find this interesting, the double standard is on full display. Now I'm going to give you some things to think about. There was a man by the name of Trump, the orange man. Anyway, did you receive him as savior anyway? Trump Trump was banned from Twitter. You remember that for what? For hate speech, right? From Twitter for hate speech. But Iran's Ayatollah hasn't been. So I saw that a long time ago, all of us did. There's a there's a satire page called the Babylon B. Many of you know of that. Well, the Babylon B was locked out of their account because they didn't like what they were saying. But the Taliban continues being able to tweet. News on news concerning Hunter Biden's laptop was banned before the election, which led to a lot of votes going towards his father. BLM activist Sean King said that Musk buying Twitter was about white power and the desire for white speech to have a platform. And now many are calling for content moderation of Twitter. When in fact that has already been taking place when you're conservative, they've already been content moderating you. But now they're upset. This is interesting to me. Elizabeth Warren, my Native American sister. I don't know if you know this. I'll say it because there's a sense of I'm blessed by it. I'm 42% Native American. She's not. Anyway, Elizabeth Warren said that this was a deal dangerous to democracy and that billionaires like Musk played by a different set of rules, accumulating power for their own gain as if she doesn't have any. She said this as if Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post is without bias. It's as if Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook hasn't allowed censorship of content or Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, or George Soros don't control the news that you read. This is a double standard. Those who don't know God live in an imaginary world. I'm trying to illustrate that. We have a Supreme Court justice who can't define the word woman. We have politicians call calling parents domestic terrorists because they go to school board meetings. We have bills being proposed that legalize infanticide. We have passport control and demands for vaccines. My wife and I, John, we just got back Dave, just got back from Israel. We couldn't get into the United States without our passport. But those who are entering in without a passport are getting free transfer transportation, medical care, and they don't have to be inoculated. This is called double standard. And a lot of us see it. It's an imaginary world that people who don't know the Lord live in. You see, those who don't know God live in this imaginary world, the world that they live in allows them to live in whatever way that they want to live, but they don't want you to live in the same way. You see, the fruit of living in an imaginary world is a lack of true purpose, it's a lack of direction, and it's certainly a lack of hope. And what happens is when you don't live in the world that God has created, you don't live in the power of the Holy Spirit, you don't believe in the word of God that gives you insight into life and the answers for your problems. When you don't live in that world, you live in desperation. Ecclesiastes 319 says it like this. Man's fate is like that of the animals. The same fate awaits them both. As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. And so you have a woman in England so she doesn't get kicked out of her apartment marrying her cat. That just happened. She was being interviewed today. Yeah, yeah. I don't even like cats, let alone marry them. You see, those who do not know God live in an imaginary world. They create a world that suits their purposes. That's what Paul is saying. They create idols and the idols are normally created in their own image. And the things that they worship give them permission to remain exactly as they are. And that's what happens. So one is they live in an imaginary world. Verse 18 says their understanding is darkened and they're alienated from the life of God. So second, they're ignorant of God's truth and their enemies of God in their minds. I read that about, listen to this one. I read that about four million college students graduated in 2021. That included 983,000 AA degrees, 1,998,000 bachelor degrees, and 833,000 master's degrees. And on top of that, in 2019, 92,459 PhDs were granted. That's an awful lot of educated people in our nation. And yet the most intelligent philosopher could never bring them the knowledge of a holy God. You see, without revealed truth, man is unable to know God and remains spiritually darkened. In Romans 8, 7, it simply says the sinful mind is hostile to God. It doesn't submit to God's law, nor can it do so. So as educated as I can become, education doesn't bring spiritual enlightenment. So without God, they remain alienated from him and spiritually blind. Their understanding is darkened. They are continually in spiritual darkness and excluded, the scripture says from the life of God. They live in spiritual ignorance and immorality, because that's how their darkened hearts prefer it. In John 319, Jesus said, this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. And so because of the ignorance that is in them and the blindness of their heart, they become spiritually and morally calloused. It's so easy to sin. And because it's so easy to sin, they practice it and eventually normalize it. And then they begin to defend it. Callousness to shame develops over time, and it just doesn't bother them to do these kinds of things anymore. Again, we live in a society that it's easy to look out and to see this. Now, some of you are young and you don't have this experience. Some of us who have lived longer, we do. We can remember in America that is different than the America you live in right now. We can remember that America. I can remember my mom, who went home to be with the Lord several years ago now, but before she went to heaven, my mom said to me, you know, David, I'm tired and I'm ready to go to heaven. I can't take this world anymore. My mom said to me, she said, I've seen so many changes, so many things that are different. She said, it's hard to live in this world. And for some of us, we can kind of understand that. As a matter of fact, we do because there's so many things that are being accepted as normal today. You know, a man saying he's a woman so he can run on a woman's track team or swim in a woman's swim team. And people are arguing about those kinds of things. I mean, you know, every 13-year-old little boy, almost everyone would know the difference between a boy and a girl, but some people don't seem to. They are being told, I saw this, where somebody said that the doctors, when a child is born, sometimes makes a mistake in calling them a boy, when in fact they're really a girl. And that's the kind of thing that children are trying to teach children now in different school districts. And that's why these domestic terrorist parents are saying, no, you're not going to do that. Our responsibility is to raise our children, not yours. You know, we appreciate it if you teach them how to read, of course. And how to do mathematics, that's wonderful. And things that relate to those skills. But let me raise my child in the morals that I hold in this family. That's what a parent is supposed to do. And as much as I appreciate and I thank God for Christian teachers, and I do appreciate and thank God for Christian teachers, many are not Christians. And because they're not, they just go with whatever curricula they're handed and they teach those things to our children. And what happened is, and we've seen it, is sin has become normalized. It's easy to sin. It's easy for people to get drunk. It's easy for them to lie. It's easy to fornicate. It's easy to steal. It's all easy. And people can do this and you'll always be able to find an intellectual somewhere to defend the sin and legitimize it. Heart and hearts result in the loss of a sensitive conscience. What happens is we become insensitive towards what is right and what is wrong. And we even lose the ability to blush. There are people who have lost their ability to be embarrassed. We were at a restaurant just the other day. Marie and I and some of our friends went to a restaurant. And this particular restaurant, it's one of my favorite restaurants that I go to. It's a French restaurant. It's called Jackely books. No, it's right next door to the German one. Der Wiener Schnitzel. But we were in a restaurant just this last week grabbing a meal. And it's a pickup place. And I was sitting in such a way that I could see the women coming in and out. And I was actually going, oh, oh, I'm very fine. You don't want to see what I just saw. I said, I just found out what the Brazilian thing is. And these are women walking in so they can pick up on some wealthy guys. And you see it. You see it taking place with no shame, no embarrassment. And everybody in the restaurant knows what's going on. And that's what's taking place now, guys. You know what? And I know it. And this is not some grumpy old man. This is what the word of God says is going to happen when you don't have God. This is what it is. This is what we see. And what happens is when that becomes the norm, it calluses the heart. So there's no shame. There's no embarrassment. There's no regret. There's no remorse. There's no repentance. And eventually what happens is we begin to attack anything that restricts our freedoms. Paul prophesied that that would happen in 2 Timothy chapter three versus one through four. He said this. Paul said, Mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. That sounds like my staff. And they're terrible. That's the fruit. That's the fruit of moral callousness. And that's what we see today. When's the last? I have seen young kids, not babies, but young kids tell their mother to shut up or say something to their father. And if I had done that as a kid, when I woke up, I'd say, I'm sorry, dad. But now the horrible thing that you do is you give them time out so they can think about what they did. Now, because the sinfulness isn't dealt with early in life, it becomes a habit and a character of a later life. Paul makes it clear that in verse 19 again, he said, being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness, he said, with greediness. They embrace a life that's devoid of moral restraint. It's a life given over to licentiousness. The word speaks concerning sexual promiscuity by giving into a life of sin. In other words, there's a callousness and again, the loss of ability to feel any shame. There's no understanding of modesty. There's no sense of right. There's no sense of wrong. So without the word of God, they define a code for themselves and they eventually redefine sin. And we've seen that. I'll say this briefly. Today abortion is simply looked at as a free choice. Alcoholism is regarded as a disease. It's an interesting disease because it is age restricted. It's sold and it's taxed by the government. But it's a disease. Atheism is freedom from religion. One complaint can remove major scenes from city squares. Fornication is making love. And it's interesting because people wonder how we can stop unwanted pregnancies and the spread of venereal diseases. Today, gender is really your choice. Pornography, freedom of the press. And profanity is free speech. Unless you use Jesus' name with reverence and then that's banned. So with no true basis for moral judgment, you end up banning Jesus from prayer. There have been times when I have been told, and others in my staff and friends of mine, that you can come and you can share, but you can't, you can pray, but you cannot use the name of Jesus when you close your prayer. There was a high school that many years ago invited me, a long time ago, many years ago, invited me to come and speak at a baccalaureate. Baccalaureate is a traditional service. It's really something that speaks concerning religious faith and things of that nature. So you speak at a baccalaureate, you're expecting to speak about Christ, that you're given, that's what a baccalaureate is supposed to be. So I went, I prepared a message and I went and I was standing and waiting to go and share with the graduating students of this high school. And then one of the ladies came up to me, I don't know what her role was, teacher or something, I don't know. And she said to me, pastor, you realize, of course, that you can't speak about Jesus and you can't talk about the Bible here. I said, really? She says, no, you can't. I said, oh, so I went up and I said, you know, I said, you young ones are getting your high school diplomas. I said, and you've gone through four years of high school, not to mention your junior high, we used to call it junior high, not to mention your elementary. You've gone through many years of education and you've made it through and you're graduating and I have to tell you that's a beautiful thing to know that you have made it through and you've gained all of this knowledge. But let me share with you something. The greatest knowledge you can ever have is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And I said, the question has been asked, who is Jesus? Let me answer that for you. And so they didn't ask me back and that's okay because I wanted them to know because today they're restricting you from your speech, a freedom of speech that we have. I served in the military to tell me I can't speak freely after I spent years of my life to defend that freedom. It doesn't fly with me. And so we have the responsibility, but what happens is they have no formal sense of what is right or wrong. And so Paul is stating these are the things that identify those who don't know God, but it goes on in verse 20 to say this, he said, but you have not so learned Christ. You didn't come to know Jesus in this way. You're not part of any of such things. You weren't saved to remain in that kind of life because the ways of God and the ways of the world are not compatible. He says in verse 21, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. Now how did they hear Jesus? How were they taught by him? Well, they received the message from the apostles. They recognize it as being from God. And what is it that God says? If he's saying that we are no longer walk as Gentiles do, then how am I supposed to walk? Well, he says in verse 22, put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful us, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt. We've been saved to serve God and not ourselves. We've been saved to serve God and not the system that crucified Jesus Christ. So what we're to do is put off. What we're to do is be renewed. What we're to do is put on. Because we've been called by a holy calling, we live a holy life. This old man, this old way of life follows the path of corruption, increasingly growing evil. So we need to know that we have been crucified with Christ, and now we live a life that glorifies him. Notice he says, in verse 22, we put off our former conduct. We're saved. Our motivation is to put off our former way of life, to not live like we used to. We put on new clothes. And because we're saved, we have a new way of life. And that salvation will be evidenced by our transformation. I was in the Philippines. I was standing on a bridge. I was looking off to my right. I still remember. There was a pipe, and the pipe was a sewage pipe. And it was dropping sewage into this small, it was a small river. This bridge spanned this small river. And this sewage was being poured into this river. And the river was taking the sewage out to the ocean. And I happened to be standing in a place there in Manila where I could see this. And as I was looking at it, I thought, wow, that's, it's interesting how they're polluting this. But beyond that, I saw a man. And the pipe was tall. It was tall enough for this man to be standing, standing up in the pipe. And he was shoving the refuse into this river. And as I looked at him, I thought, man, that guy's filthy. He was. He, all this, all this gunk that was there in that pipe that he's pushing out with a shovel. Now, I started thinking, I thought, man, I wonder if he's going to go home and take a bath. I wonder if he's single, if he would go to the girl he's dating, if he'd go to her house to pick her up on a date without taking a bath. I started to think about it like that. Yes, I'm crazy. I realize it. But I started thinking about that because I thought, you know what, God says, off with the old and on with the new. And in a way, I was thinking of how the Lord says to me, put off the old man, the corruption and the filth and put on the new man. Don't, don't be dressed in, in, in those unrighteous rags, but put on the robes of righteousness that come through faith in Jesus Christ, those robes that, that, that demonstrate that you have the righteousness of God that has been imputed to you. And so when I got saved, it wasn't so I could continue in the way of life that I was living prior to making a prayer. It was so that I could be transformed from what I was to something entirely new. And when you get saved, that's a demonstration that you understand what salvation is. You don't add Jesus to the, to the, the, the bag of beliefs that you carry around everything that you had in that bag as it relates to salvation and God. And that's all dumped out. And now it's filled with the presence of Christ. And now you follow him and the word of God matters and the spirit of God empowers and, and fellowship with God matters and fellowship with God's children matters and serving the Lord matters. All of those things make for the new man. Salvation is evidenced by transformation. My father told me that my father said, you know why I came to faith in Christ. And I said, why? He said, well, because he said your sister Madeleine came to know Jesus and, and I knew that I was not as good as her. He says, and you came to know Jesus. He said, and I knew I was better than you. So he said, he said, I was somewhere in between. So if you needed Jesus and this good girl needed Jesus, he said, I needed him too. And, and my father watched the change in my life. And the rebellious kid, the, you know, my, my father knew I was an alcoholic. As a matter of fact, he knew very well. I was arrested three times for alcohol related crimes. And so my dad knew I was an alcohol alcoholic. My, my dad tried to help me. He, he, when I was 18, my dad said, you know what, instead of going out and, and buying your booze somewhere, just drink mine. My dad used to drink beer. So I would drink his beer and all. And by the time I was 18, I could out drink my father. I drank a lot. And my dad knew it. And then when I stopped, when all said, my life has changed, when I'm taking my sisters to Bible studies, when I'm telling my dad and my mom, I love you. When those things took place, I had taken off the old and I had put on the new. And that's what the church is to do, right? That's what we're to do. We're to live in such a way. And it's not so that we can be saved. It's because we are saved. Our lives change in such a way that people will look and regard it and say, something happened to you. What is it? It's, it's Jesus Christ. Jesus forgives sinners. He washed and cleansed me. He gave me his power. I, I just blow him. I've been transformed. He says in verse 23, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Since this old way of life has been abandoned, we now have a new way of thinking. And this new way of thinking is the result of salvation. It's the result of putting off that old life. How can a young man cleanse his way? The Psalmist says, by taking heed there to, according to that word, that word, have I hidden my heart that I might not sin against? How can I change? How can I purify my life? How can I be different? Take heed to my word. So the word of God is what informs us and our yielding to him helps us to be conformed into his image. You put on verse 24, the new man. You put on the new man created according to God in righteousness. You put on this new life. It's not talking about being reformed. It's not talking about being renovated. It's speaking of being an entirely new person. And we're being transformed and conformed into his image. In verse 24, he speaks of righteousness. He says he speaks of righteousness. He says you were created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Righteousness is how we live before people. Holiness speaks of our relationship to our God. And so we live before people in a righteous way and God has made us holy. He is holy, He said therefore you be holy also. And that is made possible only by the new birth, only by coming to faith in Jesus Christ. I don't know how many times you, before you came to faith in Christ or maybe even right now, how many times you have wanted to be different and you just couldn't be. Some of you understand what I mean when I say that. Just get sick of yourself. You get sick of what you are. You get sick of what you've done. You get sick of hurting people. You just get sick of who you are. And when just before I got saved, I started to pray. I hadn't prayed in a long time, but I started to pray and I still remember what I would say in my prayer. And I'll close with one last thought. I started to pray the same thing. I didn't know how to pray. So I just was honest to God and I said, I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. God, I don't like the way I hurt people. I don't like the way I cause so much pain. God, I don't like what I am and what I've become. God, you've got to help me. I started praying that, God, you've got to help me. God, you've got to help me. There's something wrong with me. It isn't my mom and it's not my dad. It's not my education. It's not my ethnicity. It's none of that. It's me at my core. There is something wrong with me. I don't know what it is, but there's something wrong. And then I heard the gospel and the gospel pointed out what was wrong, your sinner. You've offended God. You don't know what love is and you're lost. You need to repent. You need to come to faith in Christ. You need to say to God, I'm sorry. And I did that and God changed my life and God can change yours too. And for many of you, he has, hasn't he? He has changed your life. What a God. What a God. We serve Father, we bless you and we thank you.