Eph 4.22-24: Corruption; Lusts; Deceits

Preaching and Preachers by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Ephesians 4:22-24

That, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (NASB)

SERMON DESCRIPTION

There are many who say that people are born good, or at least indifferent to evil. They believe people come into the world innocent and able to freely do good. However, as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones argues in this sermon on Ephesians 4:22–24 titled “Corruption, Lusts, Deceits,” according to God’s word, this is incorrect. The Bible presents people as born guilty and wholly corrupted by sin and all its deceit. Humanity is born into a world that is under the rule of the evil one who is the great deceiver and father of lies. They are born into this miserable state and unable to do anything to save themselves. This life of the unbeliever is one given up to sin, but the life of the redeemed is another story. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains, those who have been saved out of this world by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and adopted into God’s family are declared righteous before His eyes. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit gives all believers the ability to resist the deceit of sin and the devil. Yet it is because of Christ’s work on the cross in humanity’s place that they are declared righteous. This is the great division between people—there are those that know God and trust in his Son, and there are those that are outside the family of God and under the dominion of sin.

SERMON BREAKDOWN

1. The old man is corrupt and decaying, advancing rapidly in the direction of corruption.
2. The old man is becoming more and more polluted and disintegrating.
3. The old man is tending towards destruction.
4. The old man inherits a corrupted nature. We are born in sin and shaped in iniquity.
5. The old man gets worse and worse without God. The world and individuals decay without God.
6. The influences imploring and urging the old man to destruction are lusts.
7. Lust means a strong or mastering desire. Lust has come to mean an evil desire.
8. The lusts that are within us are corrupting and destroying us.
9. The lusts of deceit manipulate the old man and drive him to destruction.
10. Deceit is the real controlling power manipulating the lusts which manipulate the old man.
11. The devil, the ultimate power, is deceitful. His whole nature is deceit.
12. The devil's agents are deceitful. They promise liberty but are servants of corruption.
13. Judas is the epitome of deceitfulness. Sin always involves betrayal.
14. Sin is deceitful. It hardens people through its deceitfulness.
15. Sin takes occasion by the commandment to deceive. It makes the law, which is good, stimulate sin.