Out with the Old, In with the New!

Lord bless you and keep you this morning. Please turn to your Bibles in Ephesians chapter 4

We're gonna be in verses 17 to 24 Again at the reading this morning is from Ephesians chapter 4

Starting in verse 17 when you have that please do stand for the reading of God's Word Hear ye this morning the word of the

Lord Now this I say and testify in the Lord That you must no longer walk as the

Gentiles do in the futility of their minds 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 been given them and have been given themselves up to sensuality greedy to every

Greedy to practice every kind of impurity But that is not the way you learn

Christ Assuming that you've 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

You may be seated Benevolent father we do come before you

Asking that you remove every hindrance From our heart and from our mind and give us the capacity even this morning to Comprehend the length of breath and the heights of Your love for us the truth that is in your word to edify us and encourage us

But Lord, may you also help us to receive truths that are difficult to understand and maybe truths are difficult to accept

That we would do so bringing every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ and Lord that you would help us to see the glory that is

The new self created after the image of Christ in his holiness May we see and behold with eyes of faith this morning the beauty and splendor of Jesus Christ In his name we do pray.

Amen Today's focus is going to be on the

Beauty and the power of the new creation The Bible teaches us that we as human beings born as sons and daughters of Adam are under a curse and The curse is the curse of sin

And the Bible teaches that God in the fullness of time sent forth his son born of the Virgin To live a holy perfect blameless life

Died a death a cruel death next to two criminals was buried in a tomb

And on the third day he was raised again to glory he's now ascended and is seated at the right hand of God the

Father interceding for us even now and The good news is that through faith in him the one whom

God has provided as a ransom for our sins The second Adam there is a means by which we can escape the due penalty of our sin

The penalty of the curse of Adam and have eternal life This is the good news and the gospel much of what we have learned about so far in Ephesians chapter 2 centers on the multifaceted beauty and power of God's gospel his good news for you and for me and In chapter 2

Ephesians, we learned that it is by grace. We've been saved and is by faith

It's not owing to us and it's not a work that we can achieve or can earn or can we can bring to God and say

God look at all the wonderful things that I've done all the Wonderful works I can present to you. Therefore now it is due to me.

It is now owed to me that you saved me That indeed is not the gospel that we find in blessed

Holy Scripture but instead what we find is that in Ephesians 2 1 you were

Dead and trespasses and sins in the way that you used to walk according to the Prince of the power of the air, but God Being rich in mercy has made us alive in Christ and he has raised us with Christ and heavenly places

This is good news God saved you not by any merit not by any work that you can do

But by his mercy and his great love and affection towards us but there is however a way in which we are to walk as new creatures as Being born again members of the new household and family of God Again, much of Paul's attention in chapter 2 of Ephesians is focused on God's plan of salvation

Focus and centered on Jesus Christ that is again by grace through faith that we are saved not by any work but the new life however is

Accompanied by a forsaking of the corruption that we've been delivered from Know this dear brother and sister

That in Christ you and I have been delivered From such a great fall the fall of Adam and the fall of our own personal and total depravity and yet From that deliverance

God expects desires and also empowers us to live differently

You see when you look at the Christian and you look at the one who is not a Christian There ought to be a difference in the way the

Christian lives For God has called us out of the paganism of the world The paganism of the of the culture and of the religions of this of the nations and he has delivered us into his kingdom

The kingdom of his beloved Son It is said in Colossians chapter 1 that God delivered us

He transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son in Whom we have redemption

But brothers and sisters look really patient chapter 4 verse 17 says and the Apostle Paul says and testifies this in the

Lord He says that you must no longer Walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds

If you're following along in today's teaching and the insert Paul testifies that we must no longer walk in the futility of our darkened minds

I Love this imagery that scripture conjures up time and time again last week we were in Psalm 23 taking a detour from our teaching in Ephesians 4 and We learned how we are to walk

With our God who is our Shepherd who leads us besides still waters?

who leads us in the paths of righteousness for his own namesake and There's now another imagery of walking but no longer in the futility of our minds, but rather walking according to the power and principles of the gospel

This is the power of the new life is to walk differently To be different to be different in the inner working of your mind and of your heart that you have been delivered as new creations of Christ Jesus Therefore it says

Paul testifies. He's putting a double emphasis. I say and Testify in the Lord.

He wants you to get this point clear though You've been saved by grace through faith though You are a new creation in Christ not merited by any work that you have done yet There is a new standard by which you are to live and walk

It is similar to to saying to someone who is Now a married man or a married woman.

There is now a different expectation of life for you No longer are you single?

No longer can you do the things that you once did in singlehood but now you've been called to covenant relationship with one person for all of life and There is a difference between the life of a single person and the life of one who is married and dedicated in their marriage

So is true for the Christian. There is a difference between he who is in Christ and he who is not in Christ There's a difference between he who has made a covenant with God and his relationship with God and those who are not but are alienated

There is a difference in the way that we walk and do life Therefore again the double emphasis from the

Apostle Paul he says and testifies in the Lord This is authoritative from God himself that you must no longer walk as the

Gentiles do What an interesting? Phrase Paul uses by saying no longer as the

Gentiles do because he is speaking to the church in Ephesus made up of mostly Gentile believers

And he's telling the Gentile believers in Ephesus not to walk as they once walked

Not to do life the way they once did life not to walk in the futility of their darkened hearts and minds

Therefore Paul makes clear that grace is not the absence but the power of a walk of a new way of life

The Christian must completely abandon his old way of living and how we walk as Christians how we do life

It matters it has huge implications for our witness for our testimony and For the glory that awaits us in heaven

For by grace, you've been saved. We're not saying that you're you can earn Your way to heaven, but instead that as children of God, we all have the same destination

Which is upward heavenward call in Christ Jesus yet the way that we live matters

Because there's a crown that awaits for us on the other side of glory and that crown much of it is determined by the works and by the

Life that you lead as a Christian Not on to salvation but on to glory But the

Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 that there is a in chapter 3 there is a judgment that is for the believer and that believer will be judged according to his works and the quality of crown glory that you receive is

Determined upon what you do in this life for the glory and the cause of God's kingdom in Christ Therefore again

Paul makes clear that grace is what empowers us to walk in the newness of life

We must abandon completely the old way of living the old way of behaving the

Gentile way how we walk Matters and it speaks of the condition of the heart in the light or darkness of the mind

You see mankind again is in a state of rebellion It walks in the futility the word futility in the

Greek means depravity which means to be devoid of truth or appropriateness and the

Bible says that in verse 17 that you must no longer walk as Gentiles doing the futility the depravity of their minds

Again Speaking mostly to Gentile Christians. He tells them not to walk as Gentiles do for they are now members of the

Israel of God No longer a alienated or foreigners, but now they are now sons of promise sons of faith sons of Abraham Isaac and Jacob not by blood but by a promise by the

Inheritance that comes through faith in Jesus. You see the believer is truly a new creation

Though you may come from a Gentile family Those who put their faith in Jesus have indeed by faith the blood of Emmanuel flowing through their veins

You have been purchased you have been made into a new holy Race of people of all tribes nation and tongues

What a beautiful magnificent promise we get to walk in that. We're no longer alienate We're no longer foreigners, but we have now come to the

Israel of God and that's our promise For you and for me, this is why Paul tells the church not to walk as Gentiles though.

They are Gentiles, but truly they are not They are the Israel of God verse 18

Paul says the following they are darkened referring to the Gentiles and to those who are

Gentiles in spirit as well. They are darkened in their understanding Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of heart

Due to the hardness of heart And it goes on to say in verse 19.

They have become Callous and have given themselves up to sensuality greedy to practice every kind of impurity

If you're following along in a teaching mankind is alienated from God due to their ignorance

In Adam, there is an ignorance. That is yours Ignorance to the things that are of God the ignorance of the things that are true righteous and holy and beautiful Isn't it true that before Christ you took pleasure in things?

That really when you look back at it now you wonder what was the appeal? What was the what was the loveliness of that?

You may have before Christ you may have found things to be lovely you find them no longer to be so You may have found things to be right in your own eyes prior to Christ But now you know that is not so in Christ there's a shift between What you once thought was lovely and beautiful and that which

Christ has ordained as lovely and beautiful There's an ignorance to the human to the human experience

Who is alienated from God and it's also because of the hardness once you write that in there as well ignorance and hardness

Which originates in their heart? It originates in the heart. I want you if you can't turn to you

Matthew chapter 15 And listen to the words of the

Lord Jesus Christ as Christ brings attention

To the heart of the problem, which is the problem of the heart He says in verse 18 of Matthew 15 verse 18 says but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart in This the files a person for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual morality theft false witness slander

These are what the follow person But to eat with unwashed hands is not the foul anyone

The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart You and I brothers and sisters have been delivered from the old heart into the new one

God has changed your state from being a son of Adam to a son of God it is through faith in Jesus Christ that this is accomplished and yet still as fallen humans as still sons and daughters of Adam we contend with this old heart and We wonder why as Christians Why do we still fall prey to sin to sexual immorality to adultery to all types of wickedness?

Why do we fall prey to these things that are not of God and the answer is simple

We must remember as Christians to continue to put off the old self the old practices

To remember that you're no longer a Gentile alienated from God, but you have now been brought near through faith in Jesus Christ You have been made an heir of promise by faith

It's often when we forget who we truly are in Christ that we fall Prey to who we once were in the world

We must continue to admonish ourselves preach these truths to ourselves to remember that we are not who we used to be

We are not who we used to be God has changed as he's given us a new heart a heart that can desire him a heart that can go after him a heart

That wants to be aligned to him but still Out of that vestige of the old heart still comes all

Types of sins trials tribulations even temptations

Which is why again we must realize the truth of our condition that we are still in total utter need of Christ daily

You see when we become a Christian, we don't just confess Jesus one time a long time ago

But we have to continue to walk in him being established rooted in him We don't make the decision just one time to follow

Jesus every morning that you wake with breath in your lungs May you say

I choose to follow? Jesus I choose to follow him and I choose to follow him because he has chosen

Me as his child as his inheritance as his promise Remember what

God has delivered you from If you can't please turn to Romans chapter 1 as we see a lot of similarities between what

Paul wrote in Ephesians Chapter 4 and what he also writes in Romans the first chapter many of you are familiar with this text of scripture

But there are some things I'd like to bring your attention to in the context of today's teaching starting in verse 20 and 21 notice what it says for his that's

God's Invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature

Had been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so they are without what?

excuse Without excuse brethren the world

Though darkened under ignorance darkened in their heart truly are without Excuse why because verse 20 tells us his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived

Just as you look into the world and you see buildings and houses You can rightly deduce that there was a builder but the

Bible says that he who built all things is God there is one who made all things from whom you have received your name in your lineage and Because of this truth of creation that there's a creation.

Therefore. There's a creator Men are without excuse verse 21 says for although they knew

God There's a general revelation of God that all men women and children can come to it says

They did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became Futile there's that word again

Futile in their thinking and in their foolish hearts were darkened

You see when man looks at the general revelation of God in creation and Says to himself as it says in the psalm in psalm 13.

There is no God The Bible says that person is a fool

Just this week. We saw these glorious pictures from this new telescope out in space of these vast far regions of space and how beautiful Creation is

Now if it was ever any wonder to you beloved the chasm between creation and Creator is bigger than you and I could ever imagine

That chasm between us and God is so vast That even the most brilliant pictures taken by that telescope fails to do justice

At the grandeur of who God is and how can one look into the vastness of space

And see the galaxies in their orbit the Sun the moon the stars and say there is no

God It is the fool who would make such claim in affirmation yet we see that and we

Acknowledge as the psalmist did in Psalm 8 when he says when I behold the heavens and the works of your hands

What is man that you should be mindful of him and the Son of Man that you should care for him?

we should look at the vastness and the beauty of creation and Consider how small we are and how big and glorious Yahweh truly is

Yet even with all these things humanity continues to Walk in the futility of their thinking and because of the foolishness of their hearts which are dark

We've seen in Romans chapter 1 as well verses 28 It says and since they did not see fit to acknowledge

God referred to the Gentiles who who do not receive the revelation of God God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done this is the condition of One who rejects

God's general revelation and even more specifically the revelation of God in Christ through his word

Verse 29 says and they were filled of all manner of unrighteousness evil covetous malice

They're full of envy murder strife deceit maliciousness their gossip slanderers haters of God insolent haughty boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents foolish faithless heartless ruthless

Though they know God's righteous decree That those who practice such things deserve to die not they not only do them

But give approval to those who practice them. Is that not the day and time that we're living in?

more now than ever before Where we're seeing things such as the sins that are listed here not only practice

But approved of by the world and by its institutions We can't even define what a woman is anymore

We can't even define truth anymore the world has gone mad and It is what scripture tells us is true of the condition of humanity

That they have been given over to a debased mind That they do not practice what ought to be done, but the practice will ought not to be done

That they are full of all types of slander evil. They're haters of God Just look at the culture and if you have a preacher of righteousness standing outside of the abortion clinic as We tend to do here at our church.

And what do they say? They begin to misalign God his character his people they begin to slander the most holy name of Jesus and they trample on the

Holy One himself and They give approval to those who practice such wickedness and iniquity

Beloved Remember that the truth of our condition is that we are fragile that at any point

Humanity as a whole Can be and will be handed over to even more depths of wickedness and depravity and it is this futility that Paul warns us to walk away from To walk in a new way of living to walk and live differently to receive the upward call of Christ Jesus back in our main text in Ephesians chapter 4

We notice and we see how the Apostle Paul Brings attention to this truth of the new creation

By pointing us towards the person and work of Jesus Christ He says in verse 20

But this is not the way you learned Christ This is not the way you learn

Christ If you're following in today's teaching Please write in the following we learned a new way of life by the truth

Notice what it says in verse 21 as well Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus And so what

I want you to write in there is we learned a new way of life by the truth. That is in Jesus Again the world

We can't even define truth anymore. You know, I once housed a college student who was majoring in philosophy and And this was one of the most

Futile discussions I've ever had Was talking philosophy of a philosophy major where she contended that there was nothing there was no such thing as objective truth and That all things were subjective and Yet as I pressed her on this subject of truth, whether it's subjective or objective

I said so two plus two can be three then she said yeah, it can be it can be three

And I said, okay. Well, let's apply that logic to your line of work if you're older wage and your boss says

Well, I know I owe you a hundred bucks, but I'm gonna give you 50 and let's just call it a hundred

You probably wouldn't fly with that. Would you that wouldn't really be some type of subjective truth to you?

you would want your hundred dollars in your pocket and not be ripped off because truth has implications therefore truth matters and Friends, there's no greater truth than the truth that is in Christ.

Jesus Jesus said this of himself in John 14 6. I am the way the truth and the life

No one comes to the Father except by me Jesus makes an exclusive claim to truth that not only does he possess truth

Not only does he share truth then only does he say truth? No, not only does he preach truth, but he is the truth

He is the truth The truth is not simply Something philosophical in the mind but rather has become embodied in the person and work of Jesus Christ Jesus is the truth and Therefore Paul can say we have not learned this from Christ.

We have not learned this way from Christ Assuming that you've heard about him and we're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus all truth is

From Christ and in Christ All objective truth has a foundation a sure foundation and it is the person and work of the

Lord Jesus Christ to whom be glory and So we know and realize this to be true

That in Jesus we have learned a new way of living No longer walking according to the hardness of our hearts now

No longer clinging to the old nature of Adam but now we get to walk in the newness of life as children of the

Most High God and because of this we Acknowledge also what is written for us in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22

Notice what God's Word says? to put off your old Self notice the imperative here after we have learned this truth

To put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and it's corrupt through deceitful desires

See as Christians we still although we have been given a new nature. We've been given a new heart

We also still contend with the flesh and as long as we are in this body in this flesh on this side of eternity

We will still struggle with sin What I preach to you is not a legalism that Says you must be perfect in every way and God will approve of you and God will love you.

Here's the truth God does love you. God does approve of you in his beloved son

Jesus There's nothing that we can merit of our own of our own nature of our own works our own doing

God's love for us is truly Unconditional but that love ought to change us ought to motivate us ought to empower us

As I used the analogy earlier of a married couple The love that a man a woman

Encounter and live and enjoy ought to change that person So that you're no longer thinking like a single one like a single person

But now your priorities your way of living your desires have changed

They've changed Because that's what love does love changes you love motivates you it also begins to mold you into a new way and in this life that we live now

We are being molded by the Spirit of God to become more and more like Jesus Isn't that phenomenal that our hope is not to be like we were but that we are now becoming more and more like Jesus now

I get it if we were to map our lives on a chart On a graph there would be ups and there'd be downs

Not the whole life of sanctification of holiness and of righteousness is not one of just being shot straight up to the sky

But instead it is progressive We are progressively being changed being molded into the image of our

Creator into the image of Christ And it is a process Here's something that I do personally as introspection is every

September I got saved on this September 22nd in 2008 and I always

Kind of do around that time a spiritual inventory of myself

I'd like to reflect and think have I grown over the last 12 months Have I grown in holiness?

Have I sinned less? I've become more like Jesus. Am I loving people more authentically? Am I reading the scriptures am

I growing in him? Am I rooted in him? I ask myself these questions for the

Bible says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 Test yourself to see whether you're in the faith or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?

Unless indeed you fail the test And so one should examine himself or herself under the light of Scripture Every year every day every month and consider am

I growing in holiness? and that's a wonderful opportunity to also not just to to Check all the boxes of righteousness and holiness and sanctification and our lives but it also helps us to reflect on where we are falling short and where we need to mature and Where we need to surrender and where we need to come to God's Word into God's people and to the pastors and say

I need Help in this area. I want to grow in holiness and righteousness in these areas not because I'm trying to gain

God's approval, but because I have it and Because I have his approval. I know

I ought to live differently and be different And so remember where Christ has saved you from You're no longer a

Gentile walking in the futility of your mind You have now been called to be sons and daughters of the Most High God That is our glorious inheritance in future

Therefore again why Paul says to put off the old self if you're following along in the teaching the second to last one in Christ We put off the old self which belongs to our former life and deceitful desires

You see in Romans 13 14 It gives us a very powerful tool in our fight against sin and a tool for our sanctification

Romans 13 14 says to put on The Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh

To put on Christ and make no provision that is to say that as a

Christian We ought to daily pick up our cross and follow him We ought to daily recognize that we have to put off the old self

It's old practices and to put on Christ so that we can become like him so we could become more like Jesus and And making no provision for the flesh which is also to say that Oftentimes as in our in our deceitful desires and our deceitful nature

We as humans We prepare ourselves for sin What do

I mean by that? What I mean by that is that we make provision to facilitate our sin whether it be pornography and Individuals who are not accountable and and and you know

They they close they're behind closed doors and and they have just the right provisions to facilitate that sin whether it's adultery and those who who facilitate

The the the eye and the heart of another and it facilitate that and it grows and becomes a gross immoral sin

Humans will make provision for that which they desire in their heart

May your desire be Christ That you desire

Christ More than you desire sin that you desire the pleasures of knowing him rather than the pleasures of this fleeting world

That Christ would be all sufficient for you Because he is all sufficient and that in the pursuit of Christ You make no provision for the acts and the works of the flesh

But that you put on Christ you put on the new creation and if we do sin

Brethren, there is still good news for us For while we are still in this world We will still contend with sin and if we sin there is the righteous one our advocate with the

Father Even the Lord Jesus Christ Who stands ready to forgive us our sins to empower us to give us the gift of the

Holy Spirit to cleanse us from all righteousness so that we can walk in the power and the units of life as promised in the gospel and So we put off the old self and it's deceitful desires

Paul closes this thought in verse 23 and 24 By saying this after he says to put off the old self 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

Look at the beauty that God is calling us to to abandon self to abandon the old way of living in its

Practices and its deceitfulness and to put on that which we have learned from Christ for the truth is in Christ and This that is to be renewed in the spirit of your mind

One of the things that the devil attacks is the mind He weakens us

By speaking lies to us as he did in the garden to Adam and Eve Notice the tactic of the serpent in the garden

When God told Adam and Eve He gave his decree in his law of what is good and what is not good

What is to be part enjoyed and what is not to be enjoyed and Satan comes into the picture

And he says did God really say that? He begins to question

God's Word Began to infiltrate the mind of Eve and she was taken astray by the cunningness

Deceitfulness of the enemy and was led astray from the simplicity of the gospel of Christ the simplicity of God's decree you see following God is not all that complicated.

He's given us a book And in this book, he tells us what is expected of us

He kind of gives us a list of do's and do nots you may have heard of them taught called the Ten Commandments This is what you ought to do.

This is what you ought not to do and Yet God's law God's decree to Adam and Eve was simple

Enjoy life Worship me go and subdue and multiply but do not partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Satan and his acceptiveness comes into the picture and begins to speak lies

Begins to cast doubt into the authenticity of God's Word by saying that God really say

And he begins to lead astray Even those of us today with the same tactics of attacking the mind

Which is why as Christians we are called to be renewed in the spirit of our minds to fortify it

To empower it to speak truth to our own heart and mind by the

Word of God You see God's Word is a protection for us. Notice when Satan tries to tempt the

Lord Jesus Christ And notice what Jesus does and rebuttal to the devil It is not to go along with his line of questioning, but it is to use

God's Word as a defense Because Satan comes into the picture and he begins to say to Jesus He says the

Word of God says that he will protect you to throw yourself off the ledge and he will send his angels to command over you and yet Christ seeing past the deception

Having been fortified in his own mind with the Word of God. He quotes scripture and He rebukes the devil friends may we learn to not only learn the scriptures

But to live it that it becomes such a protection for the mind That we can withstand all the fiery darts of the enemy

Stand tall and strong with the shield of faith and the armor of God the armor that God provides and standing firm for battle

Even with the spirit the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God May you be empowered to do so But you can only do so by living as the new man and the new woman that God created you to be

Verse 24 says and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and Holiness The last part of the teaching being renewed in our spirit.

We put on the new self That is created that is created after the image and I'll fill that last part in a second here

But I want you to realize this truth that is so important to us this morning That you have been made new therefore live as a new person in other words out with the old in with the new live as new creations live as If God has purchased you from that former way of living in its former conducts and be empowered to live in a new way of life

Because you are being Created after the image of our

Creator if you can't turn to Colossians chapter 3 To see a parallel of what

Paul is saying and to the church in Colossi Any in Colossians chapter 3 verse 9?

The Apostle Paul tells this church a similar thing and he says do not lie to one another

Seeing that you have put off the old self With its practices and have put on the new self

Which is being renewed in the knowledge in knowledge after the image of its

Creator So God through the Apostle Paul tells the church to not lie to another to one another not to pursue deceitfulness not to pursue the impulse of the flesh to be a son of Satan the devil, but instead to be sons of God by Putting off the old self of its practices and putting on the new self

Which is being renewed as Paul says to the church and In Ephesus to be renewed in the spirit of your mind in this case.

He's saying being renewed in Knowledge after the image of its

Creator Last part I want you to write in there is Creator Being renewed in our spirit

We put on the new self that is created after the image of our Creator and how exactly does that happen?

How are we fashioned after the image of our Creator? Jesus made it plain in John chapter 3 in verse 3.

He tells Nicodemus You must be born again He says do not marvel

Did I tell you for that which is flesh is flesh the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 7 that in the flesh?

There is no way you can please God You are subject to the futility of your mind and your darkened heart in the flesh but That which is born of the

Spirit is spirit That's why Jesus says not marvel that I tell you you must be born again and and poor

Nicodemus puzzled and marveled at this Saying what do you suppose?

I do Jesus that I crawl back into my mother's room and come out again I don't understand what you're saying and yet the implication was clear

Just as assuredly if you have had a physical birth Mine happens to be

April 19 You also are commanded to have a spiritual birth to be born spiritually and this is what it means to be born again and Without it without entrance into this new birth.

The Bible says you cannot see the kingdom of God There is no other way of salvation other than this

To know and confess the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and King The Bible says in Acts chapter 4 verse 12, there is no name

Under heaven given among men by which we may be saved other than the name of Jesus It shall be said and done at the end of human history

That the Bible tells us in Philippians chapter 2 this scene will happen that every creature

Every person who's ever lived on earth heaven under the earth in the sea and all that is in them shall bow

Before the Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they shall confess Jesus Christ is

Lord even to the glory of God the Father. May you make it your aim today? To bow willingly before the

King of Kings and Lord of Lords that you may know him today While it is still called today and do not harden your hearts as in the days of rebellion but instead that you would come to the feet of the

Savior and know that he gives life and gives it abundantly to those who Profess him and those who decide to walk in him and to be new creatures and new creations

Beloved You must be born again And if you've not been born again The Bible says very clearly that if thou confess of thy mouth the

Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart That God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved

Confession with mouth and belief in the heart is what leads to salvation

So may you know him today? confessing your sins knowing that you're a sinner knowing that you are in need of a great

Savior and That this Savior not only delivers you from the wrath to come but he prepares you for the glory ahead and by doing so He gives you he gives you his spirit to live in you to empower you

To make you new So may it be out with the old and in with the new

For the words that shall come from the throne of God at the end of history We see in Revelation chapter 20 and 21 is behold.

I am making all things new May we do so even today in Jesus name.

Let's pray Father we thank you For the hope that you've given us for the treasure that lies within That we truly

Can be called sons and daughters of God Because you have given us the gift of new birth

You've empowered us by your spirit to walk differently no longer in the futility of our minds

No longer according to the darkened nature of our heart But instead Lord as was promised through the prophet

Ezekiel You have given us a heart of flesh No longer of stone

You have given us a new heart that desires you that shall eventually lead to the resurrection of our own bodies

We pray God that you would help us to see the glory and the majesty of the gospel of Jesus Even in the midst of our own trials, even in the midst of hardship that we would confess of great joy with great earnestness the power of God to save and to transform as the

Word of God says That if anyone be in Christ, he's a new creation We may receive this truth today.

May we walk in it be rooted in it established in it We bless you