If you'd like to find your place in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 and we're going to start reading in verse 21. The title of the message is being who God wants me to be. That ought to be our desire for 2025 is to be who God wants us to be. And that's something you don't have to worry about or wonder about what God expects of us. He puts it right here in his word. He gives us a guide. He's given us His Word, and you can trust God's Word. And I tell you, if you'll do God's Word, you'll have a good day at the judgment seat of Christ. If you'll do everything that God says to do, if you'll fear God and keep His commandments, you'll have a great day. at the judgment seat of Christ. I tell you that's what we all should desire. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 21 it says, and if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another. tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." Hey, right here in verse 21 it says, "...if so be that ye have heard him." and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus." Hey, the first thing that you were taught about Jesus is the truth of salvation. Oh my, you were taught the fact that you were a sinner. You were taught the fact that you sinned against a holy and a righteous God. You were taught the fact that you've transgressed the law of God. And because you've transgressed the law of God, the Bible says, for the wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. You were taught the fact that because I'm a sinner, because I've sinned against a holy and a righteous God, then the wages of my sin is death. You were taught that you were on a broad way that leadeth to destruction. You were taught the fact that you were under the condemnation of God and that his wrath abides upon you. But thank God that's not all that you heard. Thank God that you also heard that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Hey, you heard that there was a Savior. You heard that there was somebody that could save you from the condemnation of your sin. You heard there was somebody that became condemned for you. A somebody that took your place. A somebody that died in your stead. A somebody that paid the price for your sin. A somebody that made a way for you to be righteous. It made a way for you to be holy. It made a way for you to be presentable unto God. That's what you heard about Jesus. That's the truth that you were taught about salvation. And you understood that there's a big difference between Jesus and you. There was a big Jesus, but there's a big difference between a holy God and someone that's unholy. Oh, the first thing that you heard, the first truth that you were taught was the truth of salvation. But then, once you're saved, once you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, there's something that God expects of you. There's something that God expects of each person. And in verse 22, We start to look at a list of verses that tells us the truth of sanctification. What does it mean to be sanctified? In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22, it says, now look, you're already saved. You've trusted Jesus as your Savior, so what's the next step? that she put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. We understand that after salvation, God expects sanctification. That means we're going to have to put off some things. There's some things that I used to do, I'm not going to do them anymore. Not because my flesh don't want to do them, but because God, who is holy, said, Be ye holy, for I am holy. I got to start acting the way God wants me to act. I'm going to have to put off some things. But then it says in verse 23, it says, And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Renewed. We're going to have to put off some things and we're going to have to renew some things, our mind. Why is that? Because now we're no longer part of the same family. I used to be part of the family of the devil, but now I'm born again into the family of God. Now all of a sudden there's a new set of rules I've got to operate under. And I've got to renew that. and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. That word renewed means made new again. That means repaired, reestablished, repeated, revived, renovated, Regenerated. Sanctification is a threefold process. God says we're going to have to put off some things. The Bible says we're going to have to be renewed and then it says that we're going to have to put on some things. Look at verse 24. and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. You see, when a person gets saved, there's some things that God requires us to put off. He expects us to be renewed. And that's the desire to be who God wants us to be. And then he expects us to put on some things. God wants us to act, talk, and look like a Christian. You know what a Christian is? That's a follower of Christ. Not a follower of Britney Spears or I forget that other one, that popular singer now, but you know what I'm talking about. He didn't say look like them. He didn't say look like the world. We're to look like Jesus. were to act like Jesus. So what are some things that we're gonna have to put off? Ephesians 4.25, it says, wherefore putting away lying? Speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. You know, we hear about people being addicted to drugs. We hear about people being addicted to alcohol and pornography and cigarettes and music. I mean, music is an addiction. And there are a lot of people who are addicted to lying. They'll say whatever they think people want to hear. No, I'm not just talking about a politician. Or a used car salesman, by the way. But you know, I rarely hear people say, preacher, I'm a liar. I need help." But yet, everybody has lied. God said, you're going to have to put off lying. If you're saved, then you're part of the family of God and God does not tell lies. Therefore, neither should we. In verse 26, it says, be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. You know that you find that word anger in the Bible 228 times, most of it in the Old Testament. Most of the time it's saying that God is angry against those that he loves because they don't want to obey him and they don't want to follow his commandments. The Bible will talk about the anger of the Lord was kindled. You know what that means? That means something is about to happen. How many of you have said something or did something that when you were angry, you said something, you did something, you were angry. But had you not been angry, you would have never said that. You would have never done that. Because you got angry, you called somebody a name. Because you got angry, maybe you hit someone, or you broke something, or maybe you disobeyed somebody because you were angry. If my children do something to disappoint me, it's going to make me angry, but I don't act on that anger. It just causes me to deal with whatever it is they did wrong. In verse 26 it says, Be ye angry and sin not, and let not the sun go down upon your wrath. You know, a lot of marriages will come to an end because they don't follow this verse. They get angry and they develop bad thoughts about their spouse and then they let it fester instead of working things out. It's the same thing with friendships. You see, somebody's going to have to humble themselves. Somebody's going to have to go to the person and talk to them and maybe even ask for forgiveness. Because if you don't do this, you know what's going to happen? You're going to give place to the devil. Ephesians 4.27 says, neither give place to the devil. When we don't deal with our sin, then we give place to Satan. We give place to the devil. We open the door so that the devil can come in. But now that we're saved, we're to give place to the Holy Spirit. In verse 28 it says, "...let him that stole still no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." You know, before we got saved, we robbed God of our life. We robbed God of the purpose that he created us for. We robbed God of our service. We robbed God of our will. We robbed God of our bodies and of our time and our talents and our treasures. Hey, the only thing that you thought about was yourself and what made you feel good. Oh, but the day you got saved, God began that sanctification process. And look, once saved, always saved. You get saved the day that you put your trust in Jesus Christ. But after that, there's some work that still has to be done on this side of eternity, not to merit salvation. We already have salvation. We're saved in Christ Jesus, eternally secure, but we still have this old flesh we deal with. And that's why God calls us to sanctification. We're going to have to put off some things. Our minds are going to have to be renewed. We can't be conformed into the world. Why? Because we're part of somebody else's family now. And we don't want to give place to the devil. No more stealing, no more robbing others. Why? Because others need the Lord. Now, all of a sudden, when we used to only think about ourselves, now we can think about other people. And we can take the gospel to them because they need it so bad. Look at verse 29. It says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. You see, when we get saved, God does not want us talking like those who do not know the Lord. You go out and talk like a Christian. That means no more bad words. No more being ugly to somebody. No more cussing. No more lying. No more saying one thing and doing another. No more dirty jokes. No more listening to the music that dishonors God. No more learning rock songs and rap songs and country songs. All that type music leads to rebellion. It all leads to sin. We ought to be listening to God-honoring music. We should be telling the truth. We ought to be talking about Jesus everywhere we go and telling others how to be saved. In verse 30 it says, "...and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption." How do you grieve the Holy Spirit? Let me tell you how you grieve the Holy Spirit when you don't put some things off. when you're not being renewed, and when you don't put things on, when you're acting like you did before you got saved, when you're not being who God wants you to be, when you're cussing and lying and stealing and just living for yourself and not sharing the gospel with others, you know what that does? It grieves the Holy Spirit. And then in verse 31, it says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. God says all these things have got to go. You say, well, what's bitterness, preacher? Bitterness is getting angry about something and not giving it to God, and it becomes a sin in your life. Here's the word anger again in this verse. God said, that's got to go. Anger's got to go in your life. Proverbs 19, 11, it says, the discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. You know what it is? You can choose whether or not you get mad. It's your choice. Nobody forces you to get mad. That's something you do on your own. The Bible says it's your discretion whether you act on it or not. How do people get angry going down the road? Somebody cuts them off or turns in front of them or slams on brakes or does something in front of them and they don't like it, they get angry, then all of a sudden you hear of these incidents of road rage. Instead of just thanking God that they weren't in an accident and thanking God that nobody got hurt and thanking God for keeping them safe, they become angry. And then they act on that anger. How about when somebody says something to you? When someone says something that hurts you or something that you don't like? You see, it's your choice how you respond to that. But see, God says to put those things off. Don't allow bitterness in your life. Don't allow anger in your life. Why? Because God said to put it off. God said to renew your mind, renew your spirit in your mind. And he said, instead of getting angry, why don't you put this on instead? In Proverbs 27, 19, it says, as in water, face answers the face, so the heart of man to man. If you'd look in a mirror next time you get angry, if you'd go look in a mirror and look at yourself when you get mad, what will you see? You know, most people when they get their picture taken, they pose, they put on a big smile. You know, they try to look their very best, but what happens when you get angry? You don't care about that, do you? You don't care about the goodness there. You're responding in an angry way. And what does that do? Does that change the way you look? Absolutely. As in water, face, anthros to face, so the heart of man to man. Your countenance is going to change. That means you're going to look different. You're going to talk different. Matter of fact, you'll do some things different. And then you got this word malice here in this verse that says, you better put all this off with malice. You better be careful plotting to do something to someone else to get back at them. God said, you don't do that. Why? Because Jesus died for that sin. It's not up to us to take out judgment on it. Jesus already died for that sin. Jesus died for every sin that is committed against us and also every sin that we do. In verse 32, it tells us what God expects of us. In verse 32, it says, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Once you're saved, you are no longer part of the devil's family. You're part of the family of God. Since you belong to a new family, then guess what? That new family and your new father expects you to act different. Why? Because there's a new set of rules. There's a new set of rewards for you as well. Aren't you thankful for forgiveness? Maybe there's some things in your life that you've allowed to not be put off yet. Maybe right now would be a good time for you to ask God to help you put off some things, to be renewed, and then to put on some things. The Bible says in 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.