Part 4 | Before and After
Ephesians 4:17-24 | October 19, 2025
Juan Carlos Heredia, Pastor - Spanish Ministry – SCBC
•We all know the ache of wanting to move from a before to an after.
•Sometimes we leave who we are in Christ to live as who we were before Christ.
•We don’t have a behavioral problem – we have an identity crisis.
Ephesians 4:17 – Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do…
•Living in our new life in Christ isn’t about trying harder; it’s about remembering better who we are.
•Before Christ:
I. We were lost in the darkness of our rebellion.
Ephesians 4:17-18…17 You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.
II. We were corrupted by our evil desires.
Ephesians 4:19 – They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
•Stop settling for less when Jesus is more.
•After Christ, we don’t just know about God; we now know Him personally.
Ephesians 4:20-21…20 But that is not how you came to know Christ 21 assuming you heard about Him and were taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus…
•Three things we need to live in our after.
I. We take off our old selves.
Ephesians 4:22 – to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires…
II. We allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds.
Ephesians 4:23… to be renewed in the spirit of your minds…
III. We put on our new selves.
•Ephesians 4:24…and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
•Because Jesus rescued us from who we were, let’s remember to live as who we are.