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We're dead in our sins, we're dead in our trespasses and sins as it's said in Ephesians 2 in the parallel passage, but that we've been resurrected together with Christ or that we are risen with Christ. Now go back if you would to Romans chapter number 8, and let me show you this in Romans. This is something that the Bible talks a lot about in the New Testament. The fact that when we got saved, our spirit was regenerated or our spirit was quickened or brought to life. Basically we have the body, the soul, and the spirit. And before we are saved, our spirit is dead in trespasses and sins. The moment that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, our spirit is quickened, our spirit is resurrected, but our body is not changed at that time. For example, when you get saved, there's no physical change that undergoes your body. Your body, your flesh, is not any different, but your spirit is different. Your spirit has been regenerated, has been resurrected, not the body. Look at Romans chapter 8. The Bible says in verse 10, and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. So what is he saying there in verse 10? The body's dead, but the spirit's life. But we believe by faith that one day the body will also be resurrected. The body will also be quickened or regenerated in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let me explain it to you this way. When you got saved, your spirit is saved. Your spirit is quickened, but your body is not yet saved. Your body is not changed whatsoever. That change will take place at what the Bible calls the first resurrection, or what we often refer to as the rapture, when Christ comes in the clouds and in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed. Now the Bible says we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, meaning that there will be some people who do not die physically before the rapture. Some people will be alive and they will remain unto the coming of the Lord. They will be changed in a moment, a twinkling of an eye. But just before that, the dead in Christ will rise first. They will also be changed. The Bible says that he will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Look later in chapter 8 there, it says in verse 23, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. So the redemption of our body has not yet taken place. We're waiting for that. We're waiting for that spirit of adoption where our body is redeemed. So has our spirit been redeemed? Has the body been redeemed? That's going to happen at the rapture or the first resurrection, isn't that right? Okay. Has our body been saved? No. The spirit has been saved, okay. Has our body been quickened or resurrected or regenerated? No. The spirit has been. The body has not, okay. That's why we have this struggle within us between the flesh and the spirit. The flesh is also known as the old man. Just flip back one page to chapter 6 in Romans. The flesh is the old man, and to help you understand who the old man is, it's the person that you were before you got saved. You know, unsaved people are a certain way. When you get saved, there's a change that takes place because the Bible says, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. So something changes when we get saved. What is it that changes? Is it our flesh that changes? No. Only our spirit changes. We have the first fruits of the spirit. Now will our body eventually be changed? Yes. That's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment of twinkling of an eye. That's known in Romans 8 as the redemption of our body. That happens later. So at this time, we have still the old man. When you got saved, God did not change the old man. He did not change the flesh. The person that you were before you got saved, the carnal man, the fleshly man, the old man, the unsaved person that you were, he did not change that person. What he did was he created a brand new creature. That is different. He did not change the old creature, he created a new creature, okay? Our spirit is a new creature. The flesh is still the old man, still the old creature, still the same as before you were saved. But now there's this new nature, there's the new man that's also there. That's why we have a choice as believers whether we are going to walk in the old man and be the same as we were before we were saved, or whether we're going to walk in the new man and be completely different than we were before we got saved. Now a lot of people will say, well, you know, if I look at somebody's life and I don't see a change, that means that person's not really saved. But wait a minute, that could just mean that they're walking in the flesh, because the old man does not change. So if I look at somebody who has supposedly gotten saved, they've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they've said that they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they have that testimony and they can clearly articulate that they believe on Christ, but I look at their lifestyle and I say, well, their life hasn't changed. That does not mean that that person is not saved. It could mean that they're just walking in the flesh, because let me just emphasize this. If you walk in the flesh, you will be identical to the way you were before you were saved. It's the old man. He does not change. He cannot change. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and the Bible says that the carnal mind cannot be brought into subjection to the laws of God. I'm kind of misquoting that, but the Bible says to that effect that the carnal mind is not going to be brought into subjection to the laws of God. In order to obey the laws of God, in order to please God, we must walk in the Spirit. We must put on the new man. They that are in the flesh, the Bible says, cannot please God. It's that simple. Now I could give you the examples of many people, and many people in this room would be perfect examples of a person who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, but did not have a lot of change in their life right away. It doesn't mean they weren't saved. What it means is that they were walking in the flesh. They had not put on the new man. They had not put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now just think about this for a moment. If a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, calls upon the name of the Lord as their Savior, and then doesn't go to church, doesn't read their Bible, and doesn't sing the hymns, why are we surprised if that person is just like they were before they were saved? Because they're clearly going to be in the flesh. If they're not reading their Bible, not going to church, not hearing the preaching, not doing any praying, and not singing any hymns, why would they be filled with the Spirit? Why are you even expecting them to have put on the new man or put on the Lord Jesus Christ? Of course they're walking in the flesh, so of course they're going to be the same way that they were before they were saved, and that's why there are many people that you'll meet who for maybe two years or four years or 10 years or 15 years after they got saved did not grow at all, did not have a change in their life at all. They had a change in their spirit, they had a change in their belief, but their life is the same. It's because they're walking in the flesh, and let me tell you something, any one of us, if we became backslidden, and we stopped sowing to the Spirit, and we stopped reading our Bible, stopped praying, stopped singing the hymns, stopped attending church, we will backslide to the exact person we were before we were saved. It's not going to be any different. Well it'll be a reformed version, no it won't. You cannot reform the old man. The old man's the old man. God can't do anything with him, that's why he created a new creature. So now we have the choice, walk in the old man, or walk as the new man. Walk in the flesh, walk in the Spirit. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible says that if we walk in the Spirit, we will not obey the lust of the flesh. But if we walk in the flesh, we will obey the lust of the flesh. So look at Romans 6, in verse 6, the Bible says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Jump down to verse 11, likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now this is kind of a deep passage, but the same thing is being taught in chapter 6 and chapter 8 of Romans. Go back to Colossians and we'll see it there in Colossians chapter 3. What's being taught here is that before we were saved, our spirit is dead. Our flesh is very much alive. We are completely ruled by the flesh. We live in the flesh, that's all there is. But when we get saved, now we have the new man, the spiritual man, the new creature in Christ. And now we have a choice. Are we going to walk in the flesh, the old man, or are we going to walk in the Spirit and the new man? Well here's the thing, what the Bible teaches is that because we have this conflict between the flesh and the spirit, the Bible says the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. What we have to do each day is we basically have to die to the old man or die to self or mortify the old man. Now when we hear the word mortify, we think of what, a mortuary or a mortician, right? When the Bible says to mortify the old man, it's saying basically he has to be put to death every day so that we can walk in the new man, so that we can walk in newness of life. For example, the Apostle Paul said, I die daily. Jesus Christ said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Look down at Colossians chapter 3, it says, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Watch this, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which ye also walked sometime when ye lived in them. But now also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. So the new man is in the image of Jesus Christ. We need to put off the old man and put on the new man. And this is something that needs to happen again and again. It's not something that just happens one time. You got saved and it's done wrong. This is daily. And that's why he's saying here, you're dead in verse 3. He uses a lot of past tense as if they've already mortified the flesh. Because he says in verse 3, ye are dead, and then he also says in verse 7, in the which time ye also walked past tense sometime when ye lived in them. And now ye also put off all these things. Those are all past tense, like you've already put off all these. You're already dead. But then, he's also using a future tense, mortify. Do this going forward. So it's not enough that you've done it in the past, you also have to do it going forward. It's a daily thing. Deny self daily, take up the cross and follow him. Paul said, I die daily. We put off the old man daily. We mortify the members of our uncleanness daily. We put on the Lord Jesus Christ that we make not provision for the flesh daily. Not a one time thing, and definitely not automatic because you're saved. If this were automatic, if it were just, well everybody who's saved is just automatically going to walk in the new man, automatically put off all these things, then why is he commanding us to put them off? Why is he over and over again saying, for example in Romans 13, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust there. And just before that he said, put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Look, this is something that we need to make a conscious effort to do. It's not automatic. So to sit there and say, well if a person's saved, they're just automatically going to have all this dramatic change in their life, and if they didn't have that dramatic change then they're not saved. No, it just means that they're not obeying this passage and all the other passages that tell you to walk in the spirit and not walk in the flesh. Now are there people who say they're saved and really aren't? Of course there are. Are there people who we think are saved and later turn out not to be? Of course. But to teach that there must be a dramatic life change is to insinuate works of salvation. Because then it starts leaning toward this philosophy that says, well if you're not doing the works, you're not really saved. You know, people have always tried to use logic and rationale to teach works of salvation when the Bible clearly says that salvation is not of works. The city man should boast. You know, we were talking to a Jehovah's Witness today, and she said, well, you know, if you believe in Christ, aren't you going to obey him? Aren't you going to do the commandments? You know, these type of logical arguments, they're just not biblical. Because biblically speaking, no, you might believe in Christ and continue to live in the flesh. There are many people who are examples of that, both in Scripture and outside of Scripture in our day-to-day lives. But anyway, let's back up now. So we understand the gist of verses 1-10. Let's back up and look at some of the individual sins that he lists here when he's talking about the things that we need to mortify, the things that we need to get rid of, the things that need to die in our lives. He lists off some things here in verse 5, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication. Now if there's one sin that the New Testament rails on, it's fornication. I mean, how many times does the New Testament tell us to abstain from fornication? I mean, this comes up whenever you see lists, you know, there are a lot of lists of sins in the Bible, you know, Romans 1 has a list, you know, Jesus had some lists, and Paul has a lot of lists here. You know, one of the things that is just a recurring theme in these lists is like, it's going to say fornication pretty much. I mean, this is a sin that the New Testament has a lot to say about. Yet today, if you go amongst worldly people, like for example, you know, I have the opportunity to preach in the secular community college every semester, I get to preach to a few different classes, and you know, I start preaching against fornication and these unsaved, heathen young people or even liberal Christian young people, you know, they look at you like you have two heads when you start speaking against fornication, which is basically, you know, when we say fornication, we're referring to people that are engaging in the physical relationship, you know, before they're married. They're basically going to bed together before they're married. That's what the Bible means by fornication. And I could prove that from the Bible, because in 1 Corinthians, if you look at 1 Corinthians 7, he talks about the fact, it's good for a man not to touch a woman, nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, let every woman have her own husband. So it's clear that, and obviously when it says touch there, it's not talking about, you know, a handshake. Because we see in the scriptures that, you know, for example, a woman washed Jesus' feet or something like that. You know, there's physical contact that can take place, but obviously when the Bible talks about touching, it's talking about something more intimate, it's talking about something that is for married people alone, okay? Something that takes place within the bedroom. And so we need to understand that fornication is a major, major sin. Don't downplay it. And it's easy for our society to downplay sin today because they show us some really bad sins that are way worse. So then fornication doesn't seem so bad. You need to get calibrated to the Bible's scale of how bad things are. God killed 23,000 people in one day because of the sin of fornication. That's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He killed 23,000 people in one day because of fornication in the Old Testament. And he said that's an example for us on whom the ends of the world has come. So basically we need to be careful that we realize that fornication is a wicked sin. And so mainly I'm talking to the young single, the children today, the teenagers. And you say, well I'm too young, I don't want to think about that. But hold on a second, just get it in your head right now that fornication is a wicked sin. Because you know what? I did not commit fornication for one reason and that's because I was scared to death. I mean it's that simple. When I was growing up I heard this kind of preaching and I saw the examples in the Bible. And there were many times as a teenager when the temptation to commit fornication was there and it was Bible preaching and the wrath of God in the Bible that kept me from committing fornication and allowed me to be a virgin when I got married. But let me tell you something. That kind of preaching needs to be alive and well today in 2013 so that we can raise up a generation of godly young people who keep themselves to their spouse only when they get married. Now many have already made that mistake, many that have already blown it, but I'm sure you agree with me that it is not God's will and that it's a wicked sin and that the young generation here needs to grow up and do it right. And I thank God. I thank God for the preaching that I heard as a kid that saved me from a lot of punishment. And let me say this. You know unsaved people are committing fornication constantly and they don't even think about it. And let me say this. It's a sin and they're going to be judged for it, but let me tell you something. You're going to be judged much more harshly than the unsaved if you commit fornication. Why? Because it says unto him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin and the Bible says unto whom much is given of him shall much be required. And the Bible says the servant that did not know his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with few stripes, but the servant which knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes, the Bible says. And look, God tells us that he will punish you more harshly if you know what's right and do wrong anyway. So if you're a Christian, you're growing up in a Christian home, you're growing up in a Baptist church, you're hearing preaching like this against fornication, and you go out and commit fornication, you will be punished by God much more severely in this life than the person who grew up worldly, grew up unsaved, grew up in a lame church. Look, you are going to be held accountable for what you're hearing right now. Nobody's going to be judged when they commit sins like fornication. You will be judged more harshly because of the preaching that you've heard. Take heed unto it. It's not worth it. And you say, oh, I just can't resist temptation. Look, it's pleasure for a moment and pain for a lifetime. And let me tell you something, you've got your whole life ahead of you, young people. You've got your whole life to enjoy what God has created, the relationship between a man and a woman. Don't blow it now. Just wait. Be patient. You can enjoy that relationship for decades, for the rest of your life, but now as a young person, as a teenager, before you're married is not the time to indulge it. You must be patient. You must wait until marriage. And then you will marry one person and be with that person until death. And that is the way that the Bible teaches it. So I just wanted to say that about fornication. You say, well, you spent a lot of time on that one point. That's because it's one of the principle sins that the New Testament is constantly railing against. Okay, the next thing that's listed here is uncleanness. Now this isn't necessarily talking about you didn't take a shower. You know what I mean? Well, cleanliness is next to godliness. This isn't necessarily saying, hey, you didn't wash your hands. When the Bible says uncleanness here, he's talking about uncleanness in your lifestyle. And uncleanness is often found hand in hand with fornication because of the fact that fornication is an unsanitary activity. And the Bible teaches in Revelation 17 the filthiness of her fornication. So uncleanness also has to do with the type of sins that associate with fornication. It can just, anything that's impure, anything that's not clean, that's not right. He says uncleanness, inordinate affection. Now look, do we see a pattern here? Like fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection. I mean, look, could God get any clearer that He wants us to keep ourselves pure and clean from these type of physical sins and that we should keep this within marriage? I mean, because all of these apply to that. Look, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence. What's evil concupiscence? Basically evil lust. It's basically, you know, it could be looking on a woman to lust after her and committing adultery with her already in your heart. I mean, look, on this list, it's almost as if he's saying, you know what, stay pure until you're married, you know, and stay pure after you're married, you know, don't commit adultery. It's almost like, okay, let me list four sins. Not being pure, not being pure, not being pure, not being pure, and not being pure. Any questions? Okay, so do you think God thinks that fornication is a big deal or do you think it's okay as long as you're dating and you love each other to just be physical and just go to bed with no. I mean, look, get it through your head, folks. God has a high standard of purity. That's why he says in First Thessalonians 4, he says, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. A few verses later, he says, for God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. So these things always go hand in hand. So he tells us, you know, we don't need fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection. Inordinate affection is having the wrong affection, you know, affection for the wrong person. I mean, you know, we think of affection being affectionate with your spouse, that's great, but we don't want to have inordinate affection. Evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry. So basically he warns us a lot about these sins of the flesh. Fornication, uncleanness, concupiscence, and so forth. By the way, the word concupiscence, you ever hear of a guy named Cupid? Just to help you understand the word concupiscence, that it's talking along the same lines as the other sins. He says evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry. What is covetousness? Covetousness is when we desire something that is not rightfully ours. It doesn't belong to us. For example, I do not have a car. Now my wife has a van, my car broke down. And so I just signed it over to the mechanic because the engine blew up and it had 355,000 miles on it. So I just signed it over to him and just said, you know, just junk it, because it was in a distant town. So I don't have a car, but here's the thing. I'm perfectly happy not having a car. I don't want a car because my wife's van, you know, if I really need to use a vehicle, I'll just use my wife's van, okay? If I need to do church stuff, I've got the church van to use. Or honestly, I've just been riding my bike a lot, you know, and if I need to go somewhere. And there are a lot of people in our church who ride bikes, they don't have cars, they just ride a bike. And there are several people like that in our church. Now here's the thing. If I sat there and just said, oh man, I just wish I had a car, and I don't have one, and I wish I had one, wouldn't that be covetousness? If I said like, well I don't have a car and I wish I had one, that's covetousness, right? Now if I said, I want a car, and then I went out and bought a car, that's not covetousness, right? Like let's say I had the money, and I want a really nice car, and I have the money to buy a really nice car, and I just said, you know what, I want to get that really nice car, I desire that car. And then I go out and buy that car, you know what, that's not covetousness. But what if I didn't have the money to get a car, and I just said, oh man, it just stinks that I don't have the money to get a car, I just really wish I had a car. And you say, well come on Pastor Anderson, that's pretty normal to want to have a car. I mean this is 2013 America, but wait a minute, the Bible says in having food and raiment, let us be there with content. And the opposite of covetousness is contentment. Now I'm not saying I can't afford a car, I could afford a car if I wanted one, I just like riding my bike and I'm just, that's just what I'm doing, I don't need a car. I'm not traveling anymore for business, so there's really no reason for me to have my own car. But here's the thing, when we want things, okay let's say my house for example. I don't live in a big house, I live in a very small house. But here's the thing, what if I sat there and said, man I wish I had a bigger house. You say, well that's reasonable because you have a big family. No. Look, I don't have a big house, I don't have the money to buy a big house, so what am I supposed to do according to the Bible? Be happy with the house that God has given me. I don't even have to say it, even if I just think in my heart, I wish that I lived in a bigger house. I wish that my house were a little nicer. I wish that my car were a little nicer. Good night. So and so has all the nice dresses and clothes ladies might think. I just wish that I could afford dresses like that. That is sin. Now when I was a child I was taught a false definition of covetousness. When I was a child, this is what they taught me. They said, well it's only covetousness if you want to take something away from someone else, is what they taught. Like you want to have something instead of that person having it. You want to have it and them not have it. You know what, that's a watered down definition of covetousness because what it does, it justifies a lot of lust and desire and covetousness that's wrong. Because honestly it has nothing to do with taking it away from someone else. It's just when you want things that aren't yours, that's covetousness. For example, one of the big things that the Bible brings up with covetousness is it says thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife. So basically if I say, oh I wish I was married to so and so, covetousness. Not content with your wife but looking at someone else's wife. And by the way, the grass can sometimes be greener on the other side of the fence and you know what, oftentimes you don't even know. Like for example, somebody might think to themselves, oh my husband is such a loser but you know, I wish I were married to a guy like so and so. But here's the thing, you might not know what that guy's really like. Because the way people look at church isn't necessarily how they look at home. Or how they look at, you know, people put on a show and it could go the same way. You might be a husband and think to yourself, you know, man I just wish that I were married to a woman that was more like so and so. You know, and you start to covet your neighbor's wife. Instead of being happy with your wife, you're looking at someone else's wife thinking that they have a better wife. But here's the thing, you don't really know whether that wife is better or not because you know, perhaps the cooking is awful. You know, and that's pretty important my friend. You know, perhaps the cooking is, how do you know that at home she's not nagging him and mouthing off to him and being rid of, you know, and then at church she's just so sweet and so nice and so submissive and everything like that. You don't really know always, and honestly everybody has faults that you don't know about. I don't want to know about all your faults. You don't want to know about all my faults. But the honest truth is that instead of just looking at the other side of the fence to see how grass the green is, or green the grass is, you should basically just be content with what you have, with what God's given you, okay? And not be always looking at someone else thinking well they have it better. A lot of times they don't have it better. Okay, but let's say their wife is better, right? Because let's face it, you know, I have an awesome wife. But let me say this, you know, you might say well, you know, well no, no, you don't understand. My wife is this, that, and the other. But you know what? You're insane. You're covetous. Because you know what? You ought to be thankful for what you have. The wife you have, the husband you have. And look, you might look at your husband and say well he's not that good of a provider. You know, the other husbands are making all this money and they have all these nice things. My husband's not provided. But you know what? You ought to thank God every day that you have a husband, you know, that goes to church. That takes you to church like this. You know, and look, everybody has things that are good about their husband, bad about their husband. Good about their wife, bad about their wife. But you know what? God just expects us to be happy with what we have. The house we have, the car we have or don't have, the wife we have, the husband we have, the children we have, the parents we have, the clothes we have. Look, just be happy with what you have. And God equates the sin of covetousness with idolatry and He says it in the same breath as fornication. So I mean we're talking about big sins and covetousness is a big sin. It violates the tenth of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet. And it's not just coveting your neighbor's wife. He says don't covet your neighbor's ox. Don't covet your neighbor's ass. Don't covet anything that is thy neighbor's. That means don't covet their video game set. Don't covet their bicycle. Don't covet their skateboard. Don't covet their toys, kids, okay? Just do not look at the neighbors and see the kids, oh they have all these nice... That is a wicked thought. You know, does everybody have food? Everybody wearing clothes? Then be content with that. You don't need anything else. That is what you need. Do other people have blessings that go beyond that? Probably everybody in this room has a lot of blessings that go beyond that. We all have a place to live. God didn't even promise that. He promised food and clothing. And so therefore we need to practice a lifestyle of contentment, a mindset of contentment and not be looking for something different, you know, and trying to figure out, you know, what we're missing in life. And be thankful for the things that we do have and count our blessings. You say, well I don't even have a wife, I don't even have a husband. But you know what? You have a lot of nice things though that other people don't have. There are people who are in prison, there are people who are, you know, suffering of hunger and disease and, you know, if God's given you your health, praise God for that. You know, we all have things to be thankful for. So we need to put off that fleshly attitude of covetousness. And you know this time of year when we get into the holiday season and get into Christmas time, isn't it just a time where covetousness is pushed by our world? I mean just everything, you know, and we even have to be careful sometimes because, you know, there are catalogs that will come in the mail. And sometimes, and I remember kids, I did the same thing when I was your age, kids. Just sitting for hours looking through catalogs. Just thinking about all the stuff that you want that you don't have. And just thinking, man, I wish I had the money to buy this. Man, I wish I could get this. And you know around Christmas time this really ramps up. And you know what? I believe that you should go into Christmas desiring nothing. Desire nothing when you go into Christmas. That is the right attitude. This attitude that says everybody owes me a present and I expect, you know, presents from my mom and dad and from my siblings and from my friends and this thing of, well, they're going to spend this much so I better make sure not to spend more than that, you know. And I mean literally, and no offense to my family members, I love all my extended family and I don't mean this in offense to them, but sometimes I've had extended family members call me up and tell me, like, okay, here's the arrangement this year for Christmas. You know, like, we're only going to get stuff for your kids, not for you guys, so just make sure that you only get stuff for our kids and not for us, you know. Like, we have to agree upon this or we're not going to exchange gifts this year so don't get us anything because we're not getting you anything. Like it's just this business agreement. And honestly, I always tell people when people say that to me the same thing, I always just say the same thing. I didn't expect anything, neither for me nor for my children because honestly, if I get a lump of coal on Christmas morning, you know, I'm going to throw it in the barbecue and, you know, make some, make some, get some, get some cooking. You know, I don't care. Like, I honestly, I don't expect anything. On my birthday, I got a lot of cool gifts on my birthday and literally, when people gave me gifts on my birthday at church, I was surprised. I'm like, what? You got me a gift? Wow. And it's, you know, I was really happy though. It was a blessing. It was great to get some gifts. And you know what? Attitude, even the smallest gift makes you very happy because it's, because you're comparing it to zero all the time because you're not just expecting, but there are people who look at their gift and it's like, oh, is this it? You know, and if I give somebody a gift and that's their attitude, it makes me want to just take it right out of their hand and say, then I give you nothing. You know, you know, you cut a piece of cake and give it to your children. Oh, that's a small piece. I say, okay, well then have none, honestly, because you know what? It's a covetous attitude and God hates covetousness. God abhors covetousness. So we need to put off that. That's the world. That's the flesh. That's the old man. Get rid of that covetous, materialistic, my name's Jimmy, I'll take all you give me, take, take, take, take, get, get, get, get. You know, it's about serving God. Set your affection on things above, the Bible says in verse 2, not on things on the earth. Your affection should not be on things that are purchased with money. Your affection should be in heaven, on winning souls, on your family, on Jesus Christ. That's where our affection needs to be. That's putting on the new man. Let's jump down to the second list. The second list is a completely different list of things that we need to put off. It says put off all these anger, wrath, malice. Now you say, what's the difference between anger and wrath? Wrath is just a more intense anger. You've got anger, then you've got wrath. That's really intense anger. Now we know that anger is not always sinful. Of course there are times to be angry. The Bible commands us in Ephesians 4, be ye angry and sin not. And there are places in the Bible and times in the Bible where we're told to be angry, but let's face it, most of the time it's a sin to be angry. Most of the time. If we look up every verse on anger, there are a lot more verses telling us not to be angry than verses telling us to be angry. There are some telling us to be angry. We know Jesus was angry, but we need to realize that most of the time our anger is not. Not justified. Most of the time when we're angry, we're walking in the flesh. When we're mad and angry, the vast majority of the time, that's a work of the flesh. You're in the flesh. That's not a righteous indignation. When you're angry because people are changing the Bible, or you're angry about the fact that a false prophet is lying and telling people things that are going to send them to hell, that's a righteous anger. That's a righteous indignation. But when you're just angry and yelling because the milk has spilled, when you're just blowing up and angry because so and so didn't say hi to you at church or didn't shake your hand, when you're just angry and mad because someone accidentally rear-ends your car or something, that's not a justified anger. That's not biblical. And so there's a lot of sinful angry, and the Bible talks about people that are soon to angry, soon to get angry are going to get into a lot of sin because they can't control it. We need to stay under control, remain calm, and not get angry. He says anger, wrath, malice. Malice is when we wish ill upon other people and we have ill intent toward other people. He says anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy. What's blasphemy? Blasphemy is when we're disrespectful toward God or the things of God. Blasphemy is when you're first of all using Jesus' name as a cuss word, just flippantly saying oh my God and Jesus this and Jesus that, when you're not talking about God or to God, but you're just throwing his name around. Or being blasphemous like being irreverent toward God. Jesus is my homeboy type of thing. That's blasphemous. That's wrong. You know, dragging God down to a level where he doesn't belong instead of treating him with proper respect and reverence. That's blasphemy. Then he says we need to get filthy communication out of our mouth. When we think about the word filthy, okay, one thing that comes up, we already talked about it, fornication. You know, a lot of filthy communication is when we're basically talking about, for example, dirty jokes. And you know that if you work out in the world, in the break room, in the lunch room, wherever, there will be filthy communication going on. There will be dirty jokes. People will be, or people will just be talking about their bedroom. You know, or talking about sodomy, or talking about fornication, or talking about adultery, or talking about whatever, telling jokes that involve, you know, people's hearts that shouldn't be talked about. You know, I mean, this kind of filthy communication needs to come out of our mouth, okay? It needs to be, not that it comes out of our mouth like we're saying it, but it needs to be removed away from us. We need to put off all these things. The Bible says filthy communication out of your mouth. Get it away. Don't, don't do it. And by the way, filthy communication is not necessarily just doing the talking. Communication involves both giving and receiving, talking and listening. You know, so if you sit down in the lunch room and the dirty stories are being told, the dirty jokes are being told, and your audience unto them, well, isn't that filthy communication as well? So we need to abstain from that. That's the flesh. The flesh thrives on that stuff. The spirit, no. He says you've put on the new man, verse 10, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him whither is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. We're the elect of God because we've put on Jesus Christ, not because we're a Jew or a Greek. Isn't that pretty clear? Yet people will say, oh, the Jews are the elect. Wrong. You're the elect because you've put on Christ. You're not Jew or Gentile, you're just the elect because you're in Christ. What are the things we're supposed to put on? We know what we put off. We're supposed to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind. What do these things mean? Loving others, caring about other people, being nice to other people, being kind to them. He says humbleness of mind, basically not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, not being puffed up, but being humble and meek and nice. He says longsuffering means that we put up with a lot. Isn't that the opposite of becoming angry at the drop of a hat? Longsuffering is when we put up with things and we don't lose our temper. Look, are there things that my wife says that could make me upset? Of course. Are there things that I say that would make her angry or upset? Of course. But should we just be on a hair trigger all the time to just blow up? No. We should be longsuffering with one another, forbearing one another, kind to one another, and not lose our temper with one another. He says forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. He's saying, look, forgive people to the level that Christ forgave you. That's a pretty high standard of forgiveness. Every time you feel like not forgiving someone, remember that Christ forgave you. He says next, above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness and we talked about that in the last two chapters, how important that is. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful. So look, all the opposites are here, you know, instead of being angry, be longsuffering. Instead of coveting and wishing that you had things that you don't have, he says be thankful. Be thankful for what you do have instead of lusting for what you don't have. So do a self-check. Are you in the flesh right now or are you in the spirit right now? Well here's how you know. If right now your mind is dominated by thoughts of, man, I would love to get a better car, man, I would love to get a better house, oh man, I just wish that my wife were this or I wish that my husband were this, good night, I wish that we had better food in the house, I wish that I had better clothes, I wish that my kids could be more like so-and-so's kids. Look, these are all things that just prove you're a fleshly carnal person, you need to get in the spirit, you need to put off the old man. Or if you're feeling very thankful right now for all the blessings you do have, if you're feeling right now that, you know, that you're just privileged to even be a Christian and be in church and you're just thankful to have the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior that you're going to heaven and you're just looking around how you can help other people and be kind to people and you want, you know, look, are you angry and bitter toward people in this room right now because of something that they've done or said? Or do you have an attitude that says, man, I wish that there was a way I could help people in this room, you know, I wish I could be a blessing to my fellow believers tonight at church and maybe say something that would encourage them or do something to help them. He says in verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. So in this scripture here, he just finished a big long discussion from verses 1 all the way through verse 15 about walking in the flesh versus walking in the spirit, the old man versus the new man. Well what's interesting is that in the parallel passage in Ephesians 5, he says, be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making a melody in your heart to the Lord. So basically, if we compare Ephesians 5, 22 and Colossians 3, 16, they both talk about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, but in Ephesians 5, 22, he says, be filled with the spirit, and in Colossians chapter 3, he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. So we can see that there's a parallel between being filled with the spirit and having God's word dwell in you richly with all wisdom. That tells me you can't be filled with the spirit if you're not filled with the word of God. Because Jesus said the words that I say unto you, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So you can't be filled with the spirit without being filled with the word of God. So you say, well Pastor Anderson, how do I put on the new man? How do I get filled with the spirit? Read the Bible more. And memorize and meditate upon the word of God day and night and you will be filled with the spirit. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom. And another way to do that is by singing psalms, and psalms are what? God's word put to music. Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So a way to be filled with the spirit is to be filled with the word. Read the Bible. Another way to be filled with the spirit, memorize the Bible. Let it abide in your heart. Another way to be filled with the spirit, sing psalms. The Bible says, is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any married? Psalms. Okay? Another way to be filled with the spirit is to sing hymns and spiritual songs. So therefore, you find yourself having a covetous attitude. You find yourself lusting. Maybe you're an unmarried person and you're lusting after fornication. You find yourself coveting that which does not belong to you. You find yourself angry and malicious toward someone. How do you fix it? You start singing the hymns. It will change your spirit. You open your Bible and start to read it. You quote it. You sing it. These are things that the Bible is telling us we can do in order to be filled with the spirit. He says in verse 17, whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Verse 18, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. So again, an admonition here as in many places that wives are supposed to submit and obey their husbands. They're supposed to obey them. They're supposed to be in subjection unto them. And that husbands are supposed to love their wives and not be bitter against them. That means they're supposed to forgive them. That means they're supposed to look past any faults or shortcomings and love them for who they are. Not be bitter about past failings or past grievances. And you know what? Forgiveness is something that's not always easy to do, is it? Whether you're a wife or a husband. Sometimes it's hard to let things go, isn't it? You're angry. You're upset. But you know what? The Bible says that if we forgive others, then our Father in heaven will forgive us. And so if we want him to forgive us when we mess up, we better forgive others when they mess up. It says, Children, verse 20, obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged. So look, God's telling children to obey their parents, period. But then he says, fathers, don't provoke them to anger. Don't just make your kids angry. Don't just, you know, stick your finger in their eyeball just because you're the boss and just because you can. Be nice to them. Now whether you think your parents are nice or not children, you're commanded to obey your parents anyway. But we as parents should be nice and loving to our children and not provoke them to wrath or provoke them to anger. Says in verse 22, because we don't want them to be discouraged. You know we want to discourage our children by just constantly being on their case and rebuking them where there's never anything positive coming out of our mouth. We're not spending any good quality time with them, it's always just negative. That's going to discourage them. That's going to make them angry. That's going to make them not like us. Says in verse 22, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, meaning don't just do your job when the boss is watching, do your job when nobody's watching. And it says, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not in a man. Anything that's worth doing is worth doing right the first time. He's saying look, anything you do, do it heartily, because you know what, if it's not worth doing heartily, it's probably just not worth doing. You know, we shouldn't be halfway about the things that we do. We should do things right, do things heartily. We shouldn't be at work like this, you know, dragging around, okay, sweep the floor. You know, I mean, if you're going to sweep that floor, you better sweep it like your life depends on it. You know, sweep it like you're a man on a mission. Sweep it like it's your main job, not like, well, you know, I'm a computer programmer, what am I doing sweeping the floor? You know, I'm a plumber, what am I doing sweeping the floor? I remember I used to hate it, because, you know, I did fire alarm systems for so many years and at my fire alarm job, I hated it when there was nothing to do out in the field and you're back at the shop and they wanted us to clean up the shop. Oh, I hated it. You know, you just want it so badly to go out and do some real work. You know, I want to do something real like that I'm supposed to be doing. It's just like, oh, we've got nothing for you to do. But they just like, stay busy. So you're like, okay, you know, you've got to stay busy, so you're grabbing a broom, you're sweeping, you're cleaning bathrooms, you're just, you know, you're just finding something to do. I remember this, they would have us clean steel, okay? There were all these pieces of steel, because we would build these big speaker clusters for high school auditoriums and theaters and it was all these steel parts and it was this steel, and we had to just take a rag and just be spraying this cleaner, just cleaning steel. Just wax on, wax off, you know, just clean, clean, clean, clean. And you're just sitting there for hours just cleaning steel and it was the most boring, monotonous, horrible job. We hated it. You'd have to clean steel, sweep the floors, it's this giant dirty warehouse and you're just sweeping, sweeping, sweeping, it just never ends. It was terrible. But you know what, though? When we're in a situation like that, God expects us to give it our best. Clean that steel till it shines, you know? Sweep up those floors, you know? Clean that toilet. Do whatever. And you know what, never, and by the way, you want to succeed at your job, never have this attitude, oh, that's not my job. That's not my job. I mean, I remember there were times when I was on a fire alarm job and they said, oh, you got a really tall ladder, can you change the light bulb while you're up there? Sure. You know, not have this attitude that says that's not my job. I've shown up on service calls and it was supposed to be a problem with the fire alarm. I get there, it's a problem with the sprinkler. You know, I get there, it's a problem with the nurse call system. I get there, it's a problem with the elevator. You know, I would always just say, well what, just tell me what the problem is, though. It's not what I do, but just tell me what the problem is. Because sometimes it was something that was so easy, just fix it. And then the customer's happy, you get paid, sometimes you even get a bonus. Sometimes they even give you a tip, you know, because you went above and beyond the call of duty. And you know what, you say, well I didn't get a tip. But God says that knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. So even if the boss doesn't give us a bonus, even if the customer doesn't give us a tip, you know what, when we go above and beyond and do something a little extra, God sees that and he says he'll reward us for going above and beyond, for going the extra mile. So don't get this attitude that says, that's not my job, I'm not a janitor, I'm a plumber. I'm not a janitor, I'm an electrician. I'm not a janitor, I'm a computer programmer. You know, just do what you're told and do it heartily, do a good job. And you know what, sometimes you'll end up, you know, getting extra blessings just from doing extra work, because in all labor there is profit. But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. He says here, whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. He's not saying if you're a pastor you serve the Lord Christ. He's saying if you're anything you serve the Lord Christ. Whenever you're doing a good job, you're serving Christ. Whether that's mowing a lawn, or whether that's sweeping a floor, whether that's answering a phone, if you're doing it heartily, if you're doing it as unto the Lord and not to men, you're serving God. You're serving Christ. We're all in full time Christian service. You know, whether we're getting a paycheck for serving God is not the issue. We might serve God pastoring or by being an electrician and doing it heartily and being a good testimony of Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. So God's saying look, do a good job at work, I'm going to bless you. Do a bad job at work, and you know what, I'm going to cause you to reap what you've sown. That's going to come around and bite you. You might lose your job. I might let you lose your job. You might get demoted. You might get passed up on the promotion because you're not doing a good job. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the Scriptures here. They give us such good advice about our marriage and our children and our jobs and so forth. But Lord, please just help us to walk in the new man. That's the main thing. To put off the works of the flesh. To put off anger, wrath, malice. To put off fornication, uncleanness, evil concupiscence. Help us to get these sinful, wicked things out of us and Lord, help us to do it through your word and through singing of hymns and so forth. And Lord, just please help us to be better Christians. Help us to walk in the Spirit. Help us to die daily to sin and the flesh. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.