I'm grateful for the opportunity to join once again in worship with you. It's my prayer that we may be blessed as we turn together to the Word of God. We're turning this morning to the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. We begin reading at verse 17, Ephesians 4, verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. but you have not so learned Christ if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. That you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. That's as far as we read today. May God add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. Beloved children of our Lord Jesus Christ, recently we received at our house the June issue of the FACTS newsletter. The editor of that newsletter, who is a member of a neighboring United Reformed church, has an editorial entitled, Where Are the Fathers? In the article, which appears in the June issue, the editor writes as follows, The missing father in so many homes is having a tragic effect in our nation. So many of our problems find their root cause in the lack of a father's care and discipline in the home. As principal for 16 years in a public school, I saw many children who were hurting because a father was not present in their lives. On this Father's Day, as you and I join with millions of fellow Americans in honoring fathers, husbands, fathers, grandfathers, men of the congregation, I want you to think with me about the words of Ephesians 4 verse 22. Words which are directed not only to fathers, but to mothers as well. Which are directed to single people as well as married people. Which are directed to the young as well as to the older. We are commanded to put off the old man. And so I want you to think with me this morning about putting off the old man. We're going to notice, first of all, the command that is given, then secondly, the motivation which is provided, and then thirdly, the method which is prescribed. Boys and girls, I hope that you can remember three words. The words command, the word motivation, and the word method. We think then, first of all, about the command that is given to us. We read in the opening words of Ephesians 4, verse 22, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man. We have to think together about the words the old man. I'm sure that the boys and girls in church this morning as well as young people and adults know from the Bible that God created man good and in his own image. But you know, don't you children, as well as young people and adults, that something happened. Adam disobeyed God. Adam fell into sin and that nature with which he had been created, which was good and in God's own image, was corrupted. Every part of it was affected by sin. And now this nature affected, corrupted by sin, unredeemed by Jesus Christ and his shed blood is called in scripture the old man. The old man as it is presented to us in the Bible is described for us. I want you to notice different passages of scripture with me as we seek to understand what is meant by putting off the old man. We turn first of all to the book of Romans, chapter 13. Romans 13, verse 12. The Apostle Paul, as he writes to the young church at Rome, a church living in a pagan environment, says to them, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. The works of darkness stand in sharp contrast to the works of light. Those works of darkness are further described for us in the chapter from which we have just read, Ephesians chapter 4. Look at verse 25. The old man, the works of the old man are characterized by lying. Paul says to the Christians at Ephesus, therefore putting away lying. He goes on in verse 26 and he says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Verse 28, let him who stole steal no longer. Verse 29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. Verse 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Verse 31, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. You begin to get the picture, don't you? The old man is the man of sin. The man whose life is characterized by disobedience to God. The person whose works are marked by lying, by anger, by bitterness, by malice. and so on. The Apostle has something to say about that as he writes to the church at Colossae. In chapter 3 verse 8 he says, But now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds." And let me direct your attention to one more passage of Scripture, the book of James, chapter 1. James chapter 1 verse 21. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. So you and I get a clear picture in the scriptures of the old man and the works which mark the life of the old man. And now you and I, as the children of God, as the people of God who are gathered here in this house for worship this morning, are admonished to put off that old man. Now that old man is put off at the time of conversion. At the time of conversion we come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and we come to know a new way of life. But You and I must continue to struggle against sin. There is a need for a daily conversion, that daily you and I put off that old way of life, that old man. those sins which continue to crop up, those temptations which come into our lives, the temptation to lie, the temptation to be angry, the temptation to exercise malice and bitterness. Daily we must fight against these, because you notice, don't you? It says, put off, put off. There's something which you and I must do. God has created us in his own image. He has made us to be responsible creatures. And even though we can't live the Christian life, we can't exercise godliness in our own strength, We must utilize the strength that is given to us and we must put it into practice. It's not enough, it's not enough just to camouflage. to put a covering over that old way of life. You notice the scripture says, put off. It uses the language of laying aside a piece of clothing, of taking off a coat and putting it to the side. And now it says you and I are to do that with the old man. To make it very practical, it means this congregation. You and I cannot be one person on Sunday when we come to church and another person on Monday when we go to the work site or to the campground or to the golf course or wherever it is. Our text means that you can't forget the training received from godly parents when you go away on vacation, or when you go away to college, or when you enter the military service. It means that you and I on this Father's Day can show disrespect to parents using the excuse that our parents are not worthy of respect and honor. The scripture says we must lay aside, we must put aside the old way of life. That's the command that comes to us. And as we look together at the scriptures, dear people of God, we are given the motivation. Have you kept your Bible open? Then look with me again at verse 22 of Ephesians chapter 4. that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust." Oh, the old man, the old way of life leads to corruption. It deceives. It deceives. In other words, it does not deliver what it promises. The Apostle Paul has something to say about that in Romans chapter 11. Chapter 7, verse 11. Romans chapter 7, verse 11. This is what the apostle says in that particular chapter. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Sin corrupts and it deceives. Think with me for a moment about an example from the Bible. I'm sure boys and girls as well as young people and adults remember the story of King David. King David was a man who was richly blessed by God. One day he looked out of his window and he saw a beautiful young woman. Satan deceived him into thinking that life would be very pleasant for him if he could spend all the time with that beautiful young woman. And so you remember that King David entered into a life of sin. He exercised one deception after another as he made arrangements for Bathsheba to become his wife. It looked so good when he had accomplished what he wanted to do. And then the prophet came to him, and you remember, don't you? The prophet pointed a finger at him and said, you are the man. The sword will not depart from your house. Sin looked good to David, but it deceived and it resulted in misery. Or think about an example from the New Testament. You remember, don't you, boys and girls, that Judas agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Oh, when Judas received those 30 pieces of silver, they must have gleaned in his hand. But they led to misery, didn't they? And Judas went out and hanged himself, for sin had deceived him. And that's the way it is in our daily life. Oh, greed comes to us, and greed looks so good to us, doesn't it? We think if we only had more and more and more, then we could be happy. But greed leaves an emptiness, and greed is never satisfied. And so instead of leading to happiness, greed leads to discontentment. Vengeance seems so sweet to us at times, doesn't it? Someone hurts us, says something mean about us, or does something to us that results in our unhappiness. And we think, I'm going to get even with that person. I'm going to settle the score with that person. But instead of giving us satisfaction, it leads to bitterness of heart, doesn't it? Boys and girls, you've experienced that, haven't you? Your brother or your sister hurt you, and you thought, I'm going to get even, and you hurt your brother or your sister. and you think now we're even but your mother hears your brother or sister crying and asks what's going on and it ends up you get sent to your room or you are grounded or some other form of discipline is administered to you and you find out that getting even with your brother or sister wasn't so good after all. Just a week or two ago in a church where I preached, one of the men came up to me and told me that pornography is a growing problem among the people with whom he deals. Pornography offers so much, or at least it seems to, doesn't it? but it leaves the person with a defiled mind and a defiled heart. You get the point? Our text says, put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. There's the motivation. You and I must seek God's grace daily to put off the old man, the old way of life, because it deceives, it corrupts, it leads to eternal condemnation. Well, what's the method that is prescribed? Well, did you notice the context of our text? It talks about, in verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. The method of putting off the old man, of resisting the devil day by day and the temptations and the sins with which he confronts us, is to live in union with Jesus Christ. To acknowledge him as Savior of your life. to acknowledge him as the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And so I ask at this time if there is anyone here this morning who does not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Perhaps you are here because your family insists that you be here. Perhaps you're here because habit has been established of going to church on Sunday morning, but you have no real relationship with Jesus Christ. Then the gospel comes to you once again this morning and calls for you to repent and to believe. the news has been sobering in this past week, hasn't it? You hardly dare to turn on the daily news report or to pick up the daily newspaper because of the traffic accidents that have happened in this past week. Traffic accidents involving teenagers. young people. Let no one here this morning say, I am young. I have plenty of time to get right with God. I have plenty of time to put my faith in Jesus Christ. You and I are not guaranteed another day. In fact, we're not guaranteed another hour or even another minute. Now is the time of salvation. If you haven't believed, now is the time to believe, to look away from self and to put your trust wholly and completely in Jesus Christ. and trusting in him as your savior then you are also called to follow him as lord and to look to him daily look to him daily for strength to put off that old man to leave behind lying and anger and clamor and bitterness and malice and hatred and so on You know what Jesus said when he preached to the multitude, don't you? You have not because you ask not. You have not because you ask not. There are perhaps those here this morning who remember that I used to say in catechism that if we would spend more time in the morning asking for God's help throughout the day, we would have fewer sins to confess at the end of the day. And that's true, congregation. You and I are admonished to put off the old man, to live in obedience to Jesus Christ. And you see, I want to emphasize that. I want to emphasize that on this Father's Day. but not only on this Father's Day, but also as you and I think about our role as Christian citizens living in the midst of a pagan, of a perishing society. Our children Fathers and mothers need so much the example that you and I are able to give them of putting off the old man. The young people of the congregation need so much the example which we as adults can give them of putting off the old man. The world round about us, the people with whom we rub shoulders and knock elbows at work or on the golf course or at the campgrounds need the example. I read this story in the last week or two. Whether or not it's true, I don't know. But it illustrates so well the truth of our text. The story is told of a woman who was driving down the highway. Suddenly she was cut off by another driver. She responded by giving the offending driver an obscene hand gesture and she uttered some angry words which could be heard outside of her car. The next thing she knew she looked in her rearview mirror and she saw flashing red lights in back of her and she heard sirens blowing. She pulled over to the side of the highway. The officer who stopped her asked for her driver's license and for her registration. She provided them and then she said to the arresting officer, how come you have stopped me? Why are you asking for my driver's license and my registration? He said, I saw your response to the driver who cut you off. And then I looked at your back bumper and I saw a pro-life sticker and a following Jesus sticker. And I thought that surely you must be driving a stolen car. You see, that lady forgot for a moment or two that she was to put off the old man, that her life as a follower of Jesus Christ, as a defendant of the sacredness of life, was to reflect in every area her relationship to Jesus Christ. And so the command comes to you and to me this morning to put off the old man, to live the life of obedience unto Jesus Christ. And tonight, the Lord willing, as we turn again to Ephesians 4, we're going to go on and we're going to think more about putting on the new man. But may God grant to each of us, young and older alike, the grace to live such a life that others who are living in a perishing world will see the Lord Jesus Christ living in us and will turn to him. When I stand behind your pulpit, I see on the brass plaque, Sir, we would see Jesus. May others see Jesus living in us as we seek to serve him each day of our lives. Let us pray together. O Lord our God, we give thee thanks for Jesus Christ and for the salvation which he has wrought for us. We give thee thanks for the Holy Spirit who calls us out of darkness into the marvelous light of salvation. And we pray now that in the power of the Spirit we may put off the old man, live in obedience unto thee. Our lives that have been so richly blessed may be a blessing unto others. Forgive us for those times that we fail and grant us greater grace that when we are called to appear before thee, we may hear thee say to us, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. Go with us throughout this day and bring us together again in this evening hour, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen.