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

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