Full Sermon Manuscript Sermon Outline I. Introduction: The Moving Day Illustration * Personal story of unloading the moving truck in hot, muggy weather * Getting drenched in sweat, exhausted, and gross * The relief of showering and putting on clean clothes * Key Point: Once clean, you never want to put the dirty clothes back on II. Paul's Lists of "Dirty Clothes" (vv. 5, 8-9) A. The Sins We've Taken Off: * Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness * Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, lying B. The Lack of Fruit from Sin: * Each sin promises pleasure but delivers destruction * Looking back at past sins reveals their emptiness * Reference to Romans 6:21: "What fruit were you getting...?" III. The Heart Issue: Covetousness as Idolatry (v. 5) A. Paul's Key Insight: * "Covetousness, which is idolatry" * Connects the 1st and 10th commandments B. Supporting Scripture - James 4:1-2: * All conflict stems from coveting * Murder, adultery, false worship - all rooted in distorted desires C. Definition of Covetousness: * More than wanting what we don't have * "Consuming ambition" and "greed gone amuck" * Never satisfied, always wanting more IV. Remembering Our Former Life (v. 7) A. "In these you too once walked" * We used to live wearing these "stinky clothes" * Importance of remembering our past lifestyle B. The Seriousness of Sin (v. 6): * "On account of these the wrath of God is coming" * Sin doesn't just hurt us - it angers God * The cross demonstrates sin's seriousness V. The Decisive Change in Christ (vv. 9-10) A. What Has Already Happened: * "You have put off the old self" * "You have put on the new self" * We are "dead to" our former lifestyle (v. 5, NASB) B. Connection to Last Week's Message: * Since we're seated with Christ in heaven * We seek heavenly things and are dead to earthly things VI. The Ongoing Renewal Process (v. 10) A. The Tension: * Decisive change has occurred * But renewal "is being renewed" - ongoing process B. The Monastery Illustration: * Monks with old and new robes hanging side by side * Daily choice to put on the new robe, not the old C. Daily Battle: * "But now you must put them all away" (v. 8) * Continual need to "kill" the old patterns * John Owen's quote: "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you" VII. The Ultimate Goal: Renewed in God's Image (v. 10) A. Back to Genesis 1:26-27: * Originally created in God's image * Image distorted by sin, but not destroyed B. Restoration Through Christ: * Jesus IS the image of God * We're being renewed to look like Jesus * Living the life we were created to live VIII. The Conclusion: Christ is All (v. 11) A. Earthly Distinctions Don't Matter: * Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free * We could add many more divisions to this list B. Central Truth: * "Christ is all, and in all" * He must be central to everything we do IX. Application and Challenge * Don't get caught up in earthly realities and ways of thinking * Remember: you're dead to those things, alive in Christ * Continually focus on killing what dishonors God * Throw off the old, put on the new life in Christ * Keep being renewed into His image Get full access to Jason Ruis at www.jasonruis.com/subscribe
