Yuk! You're Not Going To Wear That Are You? (by Assoc. Pastor Linda Pugsley)

​Your “robe of righteousness” was custom made for YOU…a gift of God. Don’t throw it off and put on the garments of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Isaiah 61:10: “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation; He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.”

• You may get out of trouble by lying
• You may get more money back on your income tax by cheating
• You may feel more loved in an adulterous relationship
• You may feel vindicated and relieved in anger
• You may feel victorious in revenge

But you’re still nowhere! Sort of like “the one who dies with the most toys…is still DEAD!

You may have all those things, but you’re still dead in unrighteousness.

What can you do? Break free and change clothes! Get on your face before God and ask for that “new life” and “new creature” existence with a “new robe of righteousness” that God tells us about.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21: “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Change means…
• NEW command
• NEW Covenant
• NEW and living way
• NEW heart
• NEW way of thinking, feeling and wanting

But what does that kind of change mean? Well, just a physical change – behavior modification, so to speak, is not what God is talking about. It is not about rules and religion – it’s about relationship with God. THAT is the change so many need to make.

Many people have grown up dutifully performing and participating in the religious ceremonies, celebrations and traditions of a “denomination” rather than as a “disciple” of the Lord. A church, a belief system or religious leaders often have had more of a direct influence on people than God Himself!

Romans, Chapters 6-8 – make sure you read those chapters sometime soon. They are RICH in telling us of: 
• The deliverance from sin
• Leading a balanced life
• The victory we have in the Spirit of God

But I will emphasize Romans 6:6 and 11-14: “…knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin…Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”

In Ephesians 4:22-24, we read, “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

And the “new man” must be put on, like a new set of clothes. 

Now, that takes a SPIRITUAL DECISIVENESS ON YOUR PART!

In finishing, this message of the new nature is not a dark and dire message…it is a message of supreme hope! The Spirit of God can accomplish a life-changing transformation for anyone who comes to Jesus and remains bound to Him.

Ephesians 1:13-14: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

Don’t go out with the old robe of unrighteousness with which you were born…but put on the robe of righteousness that God made for you and stand tall in His beauty. God bless!

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NOW GO LIVE IT!

[Live recording of sermon.]