This sermon was preached via Zoom at our Sunday morning service on September 12, 2021, when our church was unable to gather due to covid restrictions in place at the time. The passage studied is Ephesians 4:17-5:2. This message was preached as part of a series working through the Book of Ephesians. The following is a brief introduction to the sermon.
When you are saved by faith in Jesus, you are given new clothes. You are clothed in Christ and His righteousness. Your sins, your old rags, have been taken away from you and you are a new creation in Christ. And so now, as born-again children of God, we are not to go and put back on our old dirty clothes – the sinful behaviours that characterized us before we were saved. We are to put on our new self – and live in a way that matches our position in Christ – as men and women, boys and girls who are clothed in His shining holiness. This metaphor, of putting on Christ like a glorious new garment, is one often used in the Bible. For example, Paul says to the Galatians: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment” (Gal 3:27).