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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