Sermon Title:
The Spirit and the New Man
Key Passage:
Ephesians 4:22–24
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 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.” (Ephesians 4:22–24)
Series:
The Ministry of the Holy Ghost
Topic:
The Holy Spirit, the Renewed Mind, and Walking as the New Man
Book:
Ephesians
Speaker:
Paul Tackett
Suggested Sermon Text:
Ephesians 4:17–32; Romans 6:1–14; Romans 8:1–14; Romans 12:1–2; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:16–25; Ephesians 2:10, 15; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 4:30; Colossians 3:1–14; Titus 3:5–7
Short Sermon Description:
Ephesians 4:22–24 confronts the believer with the practical difference between the life he once lived in Adam and the life he is now called to live in Christ. Paul commands the Christian to “put off” the old man, “be renewed in the spirit of your mind,” and “put on the new man,” which is “created in righteousness and true holiness.” This sermon distinguishes the believer’s settled position in Christ from his daily walk, explains the relationship between the renewed mind, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the written word of God, and shows that grace does not merely forgive the old life while leaving it untouched. The Spirit of God works in the saved believer to produce a walk consistent with the new identity God has already given him in Christ. The outline follows the VerseQuest standard of KJV-only, rightly divided, detailed, sermon-ready exposition.
THE SPIRIT AND THE NEW MAN
Introduction
There is a difference between being saved and living like a saved man. That statement does not weaken eternal security; it establishes the very reason the New Testament repeatedly exhorts believers concerning their walk. Paul is writing in Ephesians 4 to people who have already been blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3), sealed “with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13), saved “by grace…through faith” (Ephesians 2:8), and made members of the body of Christ. Yet those same believers are told to put off the old man, renew their minds, put on the new man, speak truth, control anger, stop stealing, guard their speech, forgive one another, and “grieve not the holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30). Salvation is settled, but the walk still matters.
Ephesians 4:22–24 contains three movements: put off, be renewed, put on. The old man represents the former manner of life associated with the flesh and the corruption inherited through Adam. The new man reflects what God has created in connection with Christ—a life characterized by “righteousness and true holiness.” Between those two commands stands the battleground: “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” The Christian life is not maintained by trying to polish the old nature until it becomes spiritual. God did not send the Holy Ghost to rehabilitate Adam. The believer must reckon with what God says about the old man and walk according to what God has made him in Christ.
That is where much modern Christian teaching becomes confused. Some teach as though salvation removes every struggle immediately. Others teach as though grace makes practical holiness optional. Still others turn Christian growth into psychological self-improvement, positive thinking, behavior modification, or endless introspection. Paul offers something far more doctrinal. The old man is corrupt. The mind must be renewed. The new man is created after God. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer, the word supplies truth, and the Christian is commanded to walk in accordance with his new identity. God does not tell the believer to become a new creature by good behavior. He tells the believer who is already in Christ to live like what God has made him.
I. THE OLD MAN BELONGS TO THE FORMER CONVERSATION
Key Text: Ephesians 4:22
Supporting Texts: Romans 6:6; Colossians 3:5–9; Ephesians 2:1–3; Romans 7:18
Paul says, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man.” In the King James Bible, “conversation” frequently refers to conduct or manner of life, not merely speech. Paul is pointing backward to the believer’s former walk. Earlier he described the Gentiles as walking “in the vanity of their mind,” having their understanding darkened and being alienated from the life of God (Ephesians 4:17–18). Salvation changes the believer’s relationship to that former life. It may still tempt him, but it no longer defines who he is in Christ.
The old man is not a harmless collection of bad habits. Paul says it “is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” Corruption is built into the flesh. Romans 7:18 says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” That does not mean a lost man cannot perform socially admirable acts. It means the flesh cannot produce the righteousness God requires or become the spiritual source of Christian living. The flesh may become religious, educated, polished, disciplined, and respectable, but it remains flesh.
Romans 6:6 adds an important positional truth: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him.” God’s answer to the old man is not improvement but crucifixion. Christ’s death has broken sin’s right to reign over the believer. The Christian therefore does not need to negotiate with the old man as though it were still his master. He is commanded to put off the conduct associated with the man he used to be.
Main Truth: The old man belongs to the believer’s former life and must not be allowed to govern the walk of one who now belongs to Jesus Christ.
II. THE OLD MAN IS CORRUPT BECAUSE LUSTS ARE DECEITFUL
Key Text: Ephesians 4:22
Supporting Texts: James 1:14–16; Romans 7:11; Titus 3:3; Hebrews 3:13
Paul does not merely call the old man corrupt; he tells us how that corruption works: “according to the deceitful lusts.” Sin advertises one thing and delivers another. Lust promises satisfaction and produces bondage. Pride promises elevation and produces humiliation. Bitterness promises justice and produces poison. Covetousness promises abundance and produces discontent. Immorality promises pleasure and leaves corruption behind. Sin has always been a salesman whose product never matches the advertisement.
James explains the process: “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14). Then lust conceives, sin follows, and sin ultimately brings forth death. Temptation often begins by convincing a man that God’s boundary is depriving him rather than protecting him. That was the serpent’s strategy in Genesis 3. Eve was persuaded that disobedience would give her something God had withheld. The deceit came before the transgression.
That is why Christian growth requires more than external rule keeping. A man can restrain an outward act while inwardly believing the lie that produced the desire. The word of God exposes the lie. The Spirit works through truth to renew the believer’s thinking so that he sees sin for what God says it is rather than what the flesh advertises it to be.
Main Truth: The old man operates through deceitful desires, so victory requires believing God’s truth instead of sin’s promises.
III. THE BATTLEGROUND IS THE SPIRIT OF THE MIND
Key Text: Ephesians 4:23
Supporting Texts: Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:10; Philippians 4:8; 2 Corinthians 10:4–5
Paul places one statement between putting off the old man and putting on the new: “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” The Christian walk is deeply connected with thinking. Romans 12:2 says, “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Transformation is not produced merely by rearranging external circumstances. God changes the believer’s walk by changing the thinking that directs the walk.
The phrase “spirit of your mind” should not simply be rewritten as though Paul had said “the Holy Spirit.” The verse speaks directly about the inward disposition or governing attitude of the mind. Yet the wider Pauline revelation makes clear that the saved believer possesses the Holy Spirit and that genuine spiritual transformation is not an independent human achievement. Ephesians 3:16 speaks of being “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man,” while Ephesians 4:30 warns believers not to grieve “the holy Spirit of God.” The believer’s inner renewal therefore takes place in the life of one indwelt by the Spirit and instructed by the truth God has revealed.
The mind must be renewed because it spent years learning the vocabulary of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Salvation can occur in a moment, but many patterns of thinking have been reinforced for decades. The word of God begins correcting those patterns. Instead of asking what culture thinks, what emotions demand, or what flesh desires, the renewed mind asks what God said. Spiritual growth occurs when biblical truth becomes the controlling reference point of thought.
Main Truth: Christian transformation requires continual renewal of the believer’s thinking so that the mind increasingly agrees with the truth of God.
IV. THE NEW MAN IS SOMETHING GOD CREATED
Key Text: Ephesians 4:24
Supporting Texts: 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:10; Galatians 6:15
Paul says, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created.” That wording destroys the idea that Christianity is primarily self-improvement. The new man is not the old man after religious renovation. God creates something new. Second Corinthians 5:17 states, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” Salvation is not Adam receiving a fresh coat of paint. It is the believing sinner being placed into Christ and receiving a new standing, new life, new relationship, and new identity.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Notice the order. Good works do not create the Christian. God creates the Christian in Christ Jesus unto good works. Grace saves first; works follow. That distinction preserves both salvation by grace and the necessity of a changed walk. Works cannot purchase salvation, but salvation was never intended to leave the believer contentedly living as though nothing happened.
There is also a doctrinal distinction worth preserving. Ephesians 2:15 speaks of Christ making Jew and Gentile “one new man,” referring corporately to the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:24 applies the “new man” terminology to the believer’s practical walk and renewed identity. The passages are related through union with Christ but should not be flattened carelessly into identical contexts. Right division notices both truths without confusing them.
Main Truth: The new man is God’s creation in connection with Christ, not the old nature improved by religious effort.
V. THE NEW MAN IS CREATED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUE HOLINESS
Key Text: Ephesians 4:24
Supporting Texts: Titus 2:11–14; Romans 6:11–13; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Colossians 3:12–14
Paul does not leave “new man” undefined. He says it is created “in righteousness and true holiness.” Grace and holiness are therefore not enemies. The same gospel that saves the sinner from the penalty of sin teaches the saved man to deny ungodliness. Titus 2 says, “the grace of God that bringeth salvation” teaches believers that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly” (Titus 2:11–12).
Notice Paul says true holiness. Religion manufactures counterfeit holiness constantly. A man can look holy because of clothing, vocabulary, rituals, denominational rules, public reputation, or outward separation while his heart remains full of pride, envy, bitterness, lust, and deceit. Biblical holiness is not religious theater. The new man reflects righteousness that agrees with God and holiness produced by walking according to truth.
Romans 6 therefore commands believers to yield themselves “unto God, as those that are alive from the dead” and their members “as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:13). That is practical Christianity. Your hands, eyes, tongue, feet, money, time, thoughts, and appetites are no longer to be treated as property of the old life. The Christian belongs to Christ.
Main Truth: God created the new man for a walk characterized by genuine righteousness and holiness rather than religious appearance.
VI. THE HOLY SPIRIT MUST NOT BE GRIEVED BY THE OLD LIFE
Key Text: Ephesians 4:30
Supporting Texts: Ephesians 1:13–14; Ephesians 4:25–32; Galatians 5:16–25; 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Only a few verses after commanding believers to put on the new man, Paul says, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” That verse contains both security and responsibility. The believer is sealed unto the day of redemption. Yet the sealed believer can grieve the Holy Spirit. Eternal security therefore does not eliminate the seriousness of Christian conduct. It makes Christian conduct a family matter rather than a means of earning salvation.
Look at the immediate context. Lying grieves Him. Sinful anger gives place to the devil. Stealing contradicts the new life. Corrupt communication dishonors God. Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking, and malice belong to the old manner of life. Kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness belong to the walk God desires. The context is intensely practical because spirituality is not measured merely by what occurs inside a church service.
Galatians 5 gives the positive command: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). The believer still faces flesh, but he is no longer limited to flesh. He possesses the indwelling Spirit of God. Christian victory is therefore not produced by feeding the old nature and then begging God to suppress the consequences. The Christian must stop providing the flesh with ammunition and begin walking according to the Spirit and truth.
Main Truth: The sealed believer can grieve the Holy Spirit when he returns to the conduct of the old life, but he is called to walk in the Spirit as one who belongs to Christ.
VII. PUTTING ON THE NEW MAN MUST BECOME VISIBLE IN DAILY LIFE
Key Text: Ephesians 4:25–32
Supporting Texts: Colossians 3:8–17; James 1:22; Romans 12:9–21; Galatians 5:22–23
Paul immediately translates doctrine into behavior. “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour” (Ephesians 4:25). The liar becomes truthful. The thief becomes a worker and giver. Corrupt speech becomes edifying speech. Bitterness becomes kindness. Malice gives way to forgiveness. Paul does not allow “the new man” to remain an abstract theological phrase. If doctrine never reaches conduct, somebody has stopped listening before Paul finished the chapter.
The change is particularly striking in verse 28: “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour…that he may have to give to him that needeth.” Biblical transformation has three movements: stop stealing, start working, start giving. God does not merely subtract sinful behavior; He replaces it with righteous conduct. That same pattern appears throughout the passage. Stop lying—speak truth. Stop corrupt communication—speak what edifies. Put away bitterness—be kind and forgiving.
This is why Christian maturity cannot be measured only by Bible knowledge. A man may know dispensational charts, Greek terms, prophetic systems, manuscript arguments, doctrinal distinctions, and hundreds of verses yet treat his family miserably. Knowledge matters enormously, but truth is meant to be obeyed. The Spirit who teaches truth also produces fruit in the believer who walks with Him. The new man should eventually become recognizable in the home, workplace, church, speech, temper, habits, relationships, and private life.
Main Truth: Putting on the new man means allowing biblical truth to produce observable change in the believer’s ordinary conduct.
Conclusion
Ephesians 4:22–24 gives the Christian a clear pattern: put off the old man, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man. The old man belongs to the former conversation and operates through deceitful lusts. The mind must be renewed because thinking directs conduct. The new man is not manufactured through self-improvement but is connected with what God has created in Christ. The Christian life is therefore not a desperate attempt to make Adam behave better. It is a daily walk consistent with the life God has given the believer in Jesus Christ.
This also guards against two opposite errors. Legalism says that works help create or preserve our acceptance before God. Carnal grace says that because salvation is free, practical holiness hardly matters. Paul rejects both. The believer is saved by grace apart from works, sealed with the Holy Spirit, and secure in Christ; yet precisely because he has been saved, he is commanded to walk differently. Grace gives salvation freely and then teaches the saved man how to live.
The answer is not introspection without end. The answer is not another religious program. The answer is to believe the King James Bible about who you were, believe it about who you now are in Christ, and walk accordingly. Feed the new man with truth. Starve the old patterns of provision. Renew your mind with Scripture. Walk in the Spirit. Refuse to grieve Him. Put away what belongs to the grave and put on what belongs to the life God has given you. The believer should not spend his Christian life dragging the wardrobe of the old man into the house of the new.
Final Call
If you are lost, you cannot “put on the new man” merely by cleaning up your habits. Reformation is not regeneration. Becoming moral is not becoming saved. Joining a church, being baptized, turning over a new leaf, giving up addictions, or deciding to become religious cannot place you into Jesus Christ. The gospel is that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is by grace through faith, “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
If you are saved, stop dressing the new man in the old man’s clothes. You have been given something the flesh never possessed: life in Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the word of God, and access to the power necessary for a changed walk. Put off what belongs to the former conversation. Renew your thinking according to Scripture. Put on righteousness, holiness, truth, kindness, forgiveness, and conduct worthy of the calling wherewith you have been called. Do not merely tell the world you are a new creature. Walk so that the difference can be seen.
Closing Verse:
“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24)
Closing Statement:
The Christian life is not God teaching the old man to behave—it is the saved man learning to walk in the new life God already created in Christ.