back to indexEphesians Bible Study Lesson 15
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Hello everyone, welcome to another session of our Bible study. This is week 15 of our 00:00:14.960 |
Ephesians study. Just want to make mention of the fact that next week is week 16, which 00:00:21.360 |
is the end of chapter 4, and then afterwards we're going to be taking a one-week break, 00:00:27.840 |
and then we're going to be jumping right back into the book of Ephesians to finish the second 00:00:32.160 |
half as a condensed special summer session of Ephesians. And we'll go week to week studying 00:00:38.240 |
the passage. So as just a quick heads up to the schedule, please know that next week is 00:00:44.120 |
another session finishing off chapter 4, and then again we'll take a quick breather and 00:00:48.440 |
start back up again. Let's take a moment to pray as we jump into our study for tonight. 00:00:54.280 |
Lord, we want to thank you, God. Lord, it is our prayer that God we would be more like 00:01:01.320 |
you. God, it is our desire, our growing desire, that the more we learn about you, we recognize 00:01:08.800 |
how glorious, how holy, righteous, all the descriptions, Father God, of who you are, 00:01:15.640 |
are all of the more attractive and more beautiful in our sight. And it is our prayer that we, 00:01:21.840 |
as those who have been adopted as your children, sons and daughters, God, that we would reflect 00:01:26.180 |
our heavenly Father. And to this end, God, I pray that we would hear your exhortation, 00:01:31.880 |
we would hear your word, and all the more have the spiritual conviction, God, that we 00:01:36.920 |
must change, that we must change as individuals who are being formed to the image of Christ. 00:01:43.920 |
And God, that we are following after you. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. 00:01:49.240 |
Okay, I'd like to begin off with a review just to draw the thoughts up until this portion. 00:01:57.080 |
We've been learning a lot. And one of the things that we have been learning is that 00:02:01.760 |
by the ramification of what Christ has done for us individually, we together are one. 00:02:08.600 |
Remember that scripture talked about we are becoming one body, right? What's more, at 00:02:15.200 |
the beginning of this chapter, there was such a description of, listen, we have one faith, 00:02:20.080 |
one baptism, one spirit, one Lord, right? And so it emphasized such a oneness for every 00:02:25.920 |
believer that is in Christ. At the same time, the scriptures emphasize our individuality. 00:02:32.400 |
And the passage of the scriptures right before or earlier in this chapter talked about how 00:02:37.360 |
to each of us, Christ has given gifts. And what's more, within that same context, says 00:02:44.240 |
Christ has given gifts to the church to minister the scriptures. So we learned about how Christ 00:02:50.440 |
says he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, 00:02:56.400 |
right? And he talked about how he did all this with the desire and a vision so that 00:03:00.520 |
we would grow to the stature of Christ. He's talking about our own maturity. That when 00:03:06.560 |
you think about the growth of the church, we have to be thinking on the spiritual level. 00:03:10.880 |
We have to be growing in unity. We have to be growing in like-mindedness according to 00:03:15.120 |
the word of God and so forth. But what's more, the vision of God for the church would be 00:03:20.120 |
that every single one of us be equipped, be matured in such a way that we are involved 00:03:26.720 |
in ministry, okay? That we are the ones taking hold of serving all this for the purpose of 00:03:33.000 |
the building up of the body, that the church would build itself up in love. Okay? That's 00:03:37.640 |
where we left off in the previous section. And then so it's not so separate, but that 00:03:44.440 |
moves on that all of these thoughts then contribute to these next verses that we were going to 00:03:49.720 |
be studying tonight. So reminding us that the vision of God that he has for the church 00:03:56.680 |
is comprised of these kinds of things that we're responsible for. We have this passage. 00:04:01.760 |
It says, "So this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer as the 00:04:06.840 |
Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, 00:04:12.600 |
excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the 00:04:16.680 |
hardness of their heart, that they, having become callous, have given themselves over 00:04:22.000 |
to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not 00:04:28.080 |
learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just 00:04:33.680 |
as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside 00:04:38.600 |
the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that 00:04:44.080 |
you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which is in the likeness 00:04:50.080 |
of God, which sorry, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and 00:04:55.920 |
holiness of the truth." Okay. What I'd like to do is just take a moment to look at this 00:05:01.440 |
passage and because it's a little bit long, truthfully, it'd have been nice, I think if 00:05:05.680 |
I was planning it more closely and thought about this passage to break this up because 00:05:11.680 |
there's a lot in here. But what I'd like to do then, since it's a little bit of a longer 00:05:15.440 |
passage, I'd like to outline it for you. And so therefore we're going to read it again. 00:05:21.240 |
And so when we read it again, we recognize distinct portions of this passage that have 00:05:26.640 |
to be emphasized. And typically it's the command. So verse 17 says, "So this I say and affirm 00:05:33.200 |
together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk." We should 00:05:39.080 |
be underlying and underscoring that command that you are to walk no longer as the Gentiles. 00:05:44.400 |
Okay. And if you notice all of the other portions of this passage here in this first section 00:05:51.520 |
up until the end of verse 19, it is all descriptions of a walk of the Gentiles. Okay. How are the 00:05:58.400 |
Gentiles like? And so it says that these Gentiles, they walk in the futility of their mind, being 00:06:04.440 |
darkened in understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that 00:06:08.120 |
is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have 00:06:13.480 |
given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 00:06:19.160 |
So it's clear to see that all of those descriptions have its pointer and an indicator of the walk 00:06:28.520 |
of the Gentiles. And a second half of it clearly contrasts, but you, okay, you as an individual 00:06:35.240 |
who is set apart from the Gentiles, you did not learn Christ in this way. If indeed you 00:06:40.200 |
have heard of him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus. Notice how 00:06:45.800 |
I indented that a little bit further because he takes a moment to do a check. He says, 00:06:52.360 |
this is not true of you that you are just like the Gentiles. Rather, you didn't learn 00:06:56.040 |
Christ in this fashion, right? That's not you. If of course, indeed. And so he does 00:07:01.520 |
that cross check and then he describes, he describes what it means to not walk like the 00:07:07.320 |
Gentiles, but rather, okay, the way that we have learned Christ is that we should be able 00:07:12.560 |
to lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted and the accorded in accordance with 00:07:17.160 |
the lust of the seat and that you being renewed in the spirit of your mind, put on the new 00:07:22.280 |
self, which in the likeness of God has been created in Christ in righteousness and holiness 00:07:27.880 |
of the truth. Okay. So that's a brief outline, how you can separate that passage into two 00:07:33.720 |
sections. Let's begin by observing that first command. Essentially, he is calling us to 00:07:41.040 |
cease and desist to stop from walking like the Gentiles. The old life needs to go, right? 00:07:47.960 |
We know that scripture has described this command in so many different ways. Set yourselves 00:07:52.320 |
apart. Okay. Do not love the world or the things in the world, right? You're separated 00:07:57.480 |
from this world. You need a book of Romans chapter six, you need to stop presenting yourself 00:08:02.440 |
to unrighteousness, but present yourself in holiness and righteousness towards God. So 00:08:07.960 |
in so many different ways, the scripture has challenged us. Stop looking like the world. 00:08:13.640 |
Okay. And recall that at the beginning of chapter four, apostle Paul said, therefore, 00:08:20.480 |
I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with 00:08:24.440 |
which you have been called with all humility, gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance 00:08:30.100 |
for one another and love being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond 00:08:36.160 |
of peace. So apostle Paul, in describing all of the beauties of the gospel and the blessings 00:08:42.180 |
in Christ, chapter four, he made this strong command that we need to be walking in accordance, 00:08:47.920 |
right? In appropriate accordance with all that the gospel says. And he describes it 00:08:52.880 |
this way, the negative form of that is stop walking like them anymore. Stop living like 00:08:57.840 |
you still are the exact same. Okay. And so that means that this command expects us to 00:09:05.160 |
change. It expects us to have that element of transformation that the scriptures talks 00:09:11.840 |
about in so many different times. That the scriptures expects us to walk with a newness 00:09:17.200 |
of life. And this should be a regular checkpoint for us. We're the ones who have the responsibility 00:09:24.040 |
to assess ourselves, to examine, am I actually changing? Am I open to change? And I want 00:09:32.300 |
to talk about this because there are sometimes at different moments in our lives where we 00:09:37.560 |
are filled with a kind of rebelliousness. We are like children. And sometimes our parents 00:09:42.960 |
will tell us do this. And we're so resistant, right? Whether it be the outright rebellion 00:09:48.760 |
of like, Oh, what, what are you going to do about it? Just watch me. Right. And you just 00:09:53.560 |
so defiant or we turn the tables and like, you can't just tell me to do that. Why? You 00:09:59.160 |
explain to me why I need to do this. Okay. Why is it so bad that I run with those individuals? 00:10:04.280 |
Why is it so bad that I retain this aspect of my life? Okay. What's more, I think most 00:10:12.120 |
of us have experienced in some shape or another, the classic blame shifting that existed from 00:10:18.920 |
Adam and Eve, right? Adam and Eve, their natural recourse to being caught was she made me do 00:10:27.160 |
it, right? The snake made me do it. And everything happened to have a pointing finger. It's like, 00:10:31.280 |
you know what, the way that I was raised, you know what my disposition, you could just 00:10:35.120 |
blame the universe, you know, the way the universe is, my circumstance, the way you 00:10:38.800 |
made me God, right? Like that's, that's all part of the blame shifting. But I want to 00:10:44.800 |
take this moment to just focus our attention and just accept the truth that the scriptures 00:10:53.280 |
expect and command us to change. And the thing about it is, it's very simple, obviously very 00:11:01.200 |
difficult. And we have contrived of every which way to try to dodge it. Now, if I'm 00:11:07.440 |
speaking to our congregation, just about, you know, I'm very much encouraged that so 00:11:13.400 |
many people want to grow. And when they say, I want to grow is they're not satisfied with 00:11:18.480 |
what they see as a matter of fact, through the scriptures, they're in line to the fact 00:11:23.160 |
that there are many things that need to change. But perhaps some of you are discouraged that 00:11:28.680 |
change is impossible. That sometimes you look up from trying to live your life as a Christian 00:11:34.200 |
and you realize I'm still struggling and failing at the very same thing. I want to take a moment 00:11:39.760 |
to just challenge and encourage you that the scriptures desire. When I say scriptures, 00:11:46.480 |
God desires us to grow. God wants us to experience greater newness in life. I mean, he's been 00:11:55.160 |
describing to us new motives, new patterns, new resource, new blessings. I mean, everything 00:12:01.020 |
he's been describing to us, he's been describing all the foundations for change. And I want 00:12:05.920 |
to encourage you, right? The big portion of hitting a passage like this, where it says 00:12:11.600 |
put off and put on, right? Put aside the old self is just that acceptance of the reality. 00:12:18.680 |
I have to change. Okay. Moving forward then we ask this question. It may be difficult. 00:12:25.480 |
It may be hard, but what does he actually want us to change? Right? What is the description 00:12:30.780 |
of the Gentiles? What am I not supposed to do? We should be asking those questions whenever 00:12:35.200 |
we hit this kind of command, right? No longer walk, no longer just as the Gentiles. Well, 00:12:41.400 |
there's a big section, several verses on the description of the Gentiles. Here, if you 00:12:46.320 |
outline it like this, it's kind of like a laundry list. There's many points that which 00:12:50.560 |
we're not supposed to do, but I saw a certain pattern. And I noticed that there was two 00:12:56.880 |
main categories of descriptions. And what I mean is if you take a look here in the middle 00:13:02.260 |
of verse 17, it says in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, 00:13:08.000 |
excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. And what you 00:13:12.000 |
notice is that there is a repetition of the foolishness of mind that those who are of 00:13:19.520 |
the world, this may be really offensive. If this, let's say a non-Christian was listening 00:13:23.480 |
to this, but there is a futility of the way they think, meaning it's empty. It's vanity, 00:13:30.760 |
right? There's almost a pointlessness. There is a darkened nature to their understanding 00:13:37.960 |
and they're excluded from the life of God because there is ignorance, right? Again, 00:13:42.520 |
you see what I'm saying? Like if we dwell on this, like, wow, we, if a non-Christian 00:13:48.160 |
was to hear this, they would find this quite, quite offensive. But we Christians actually, 00:13:53.320 |
when we think about our previous life, we are actually saying that was us. As a matter 00:13:58.600 |
of fact, many times in scriptures, when a godly individual comes to the temple of God 00:14:03.840 |
and sees God, they recognize, oh my goodness, I was just a beast. I was a mindless beast. 00:14:13.960 |
And that's what Asaph says in Psalm chapter 73. You think about, uh, you know, King David 00:14:19.440 |
when he, when he speaks in Psalm 51, when he's repentant, it's like, I just spoke not 00:14:23.760 |
knowing anything, right? So take a moment to think about this. But when we are thinking 00:14:32.800 |
outside of God, there is an absolute futility because the perception is small and there 00:14:38.200 |
is no understanding. An example is if you imagine a family, a father who is so concerned 00:14:44.640 |
because their finances are looking like, like they're going to be completely bankrupt and 00:14:51.760 |
so concerned because there is no solution. He gathers a family and says, family meeting. 00:14:56.720 |
I gotta, I gotta let you guys know we can't, I don't think we have the money to pay for 00:15:00.520 |
your school. I don't think we have the money even to pay for this house, the mortgage. 00:15:04.120 |
I don't have the money to sustain the business. We are, we're lost, right? And can you imagine 00:15:10.120 |
if let's say a young boy, five years old, sitting there like, don't worry dad, I'll 00:15:14.640 |
break my piggy bank for you. I got like 10 quarters and like $4, right? Like it's almost 00:15:19.720 |
laughable, but in his world, breaking the piggy bank was probably like the greatest 00:15:25.200 |
sacrifice he would ever make, right? But without God in the picture, it would literally be 00:15:32.120 |
a juvenile thinking that in his world, he can solve everything, right? I mean, so many 00:15:37.560 |
times through scriptures, I mean, you think about old Testament, new Testament. If, if 00:15:41.520 |
a prophet says, your sins have removed you far from God and he will not face you anymore. 00:15:50.120 |
And you're like, well, wait a minute, you know, maybe I have an idea. Maybe if we sing 00:15:53.120 |
some songs, right? Like someone, someone can think like that. But again, many times in 00:15:59.240 |
scripture, God is actually going the length to try to teach us, no, the distance is such 00:16:04.840 |
so much bigger than, you know, right? The depth of your sin is so much greater than 00:16:09.160 |
you know. And that's essentially what we're saying when we become Christians, like, oh 00:16:12.840 |
my goodness, I was blind as a bat. I didn't know what I was talking about. All I was pretty 00:16:18.600 |
much doing was running circles in my room. But when God comes into our lives, we have 00:16:23.320 |
our eyes open. But what's more, sometimes it's not just a matter of just not knowing, 00:16:29.080 |
right? I mean, I wish it was just that we would, you know, it's just juvenile thinking. 00:16:33.400 |
All we need to do is educate them. All we need to do is have them learn. No, that's 00:16:37.680 |
not the case, is it? Because it's not just naivety. A lot of times it's actually darkness. 00:16:44.200 |
It's a darkness that is over us that causes us to not see even if we wanted to, right? 00:16:51.320 |
And this exclusion of God in the picture, it is the biggest thing in the picture, right? 00:16:58.120 |
It's like trying to guess this 1 million piece jigsaw puzzle with one piece. What is this? 00:17:05.640 |
It's just dark, right? Like that's how it's like. And so for us, we have to recognize we 00:17:11.880 |
can't be thinking in the world's wisdom, the world's value, the world's understanding, because 00:17:19.000 |
why? Huge piece missing. Here's a passage I want to highlight for you in 1 Thessalonians 4 3-5. 00:17:28.440 |
This is the will of God, your sanctification. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality, 00:17:34.920 |
that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor, 00:17:38.840 |
not in lustful passions like the Gentiles who do not know God. Here's an interesting thing I want 00:17:45.880 |
to say to you. Why do we sometimes act like we just don't know God, right? And I would just 00:17:54.680 |
challenge you. The next time you're making a huge decision, I would, this is sometimes what I do 00:18:00.600 |
for myself is I take a piece of paper and I do start writing pros/cons, but I always leave this 00:18:06.600 |
massive space there. Where is God in this decision? Where was he? Where is the thought of him? Where 00:18:14.360 |
is the consideration of him? Where is his input? Like where is his good pleasure? Where is his 00:18:19.400 |
displeasure? Where is he on this decision piece of paper? And that has to come. Otherwise, we will 00:18:26.200 |
be acting like those who are Gentiles who do not know God. Did you guys know that May 6th was 00:18:34.680 |
Sigmund Freud's birthday? And so a lot of psychiatry sites and stuff paid homage to him, 00:18:40.840 |
credited him for a lot of contributions to psychology and psychiatry. Now, the thing about 00:18:47.880 |
it is for the thought of trying to assess a human being, he did have some really just as considering 00:18:53.400 |
like one of the foundation laying individuals for psychology. He tried to assess what is the 00:18:59.320 |
basic driving motive for an individual, for a human being. And he essentially started talking 00:19:05.080 |
about we're doing exactly what gives us pleasure. From the age of an infant, a baby, we have erotic 00:19:11.080 |
desires. Basically, sex drive. The sex drive to a human being is the greatest motivator. What's 00:19:18.040 |
very interesting is that he wrote that the sex drive for whether male or female is going to be 00:19:24.680 |
the greatest weakness in the person's life because this is also the prime objective. 00:19:29.960 |
Interesting. This is also the prime motivator and he described it as the prime common denominator 00:19:36.520 |
amongst us all. Okay. See, when you don't have God in the picture, that is actually a pretty 00:19:41.800 |
good description. Even the apostle Paul would say, "You know what? If God doesn't exist, tomorrow we 00:19:45.640 |
die. Let's live it up." That's pretty much what King Solomon is saying in Ecclesiastes. "You know 00:19:50.200 |
what? If God doesn't exist under the sun, then what I'm going to do is I'm just going to not 00:19:55.800 |
limit myself in terms of pleasure. So let's go at it." There's a rationale and reason when God's not 00:20:03.240 |
in the picture. And it all kind of makes sense. Why would you deprive yourself? Tomorrow we die, 00:20:09.000 |
let's do it. But scripture says we know God. God, the one Lord, one God, one Father. He is our common 00:20:18.120 |
denominator, greatest source, greatest motivator. We know something better. Now, because we need to 00:20:25.400 |
move on, let's do the second part of who the Gentiles are. And it says, "Because of the 00:20:28.360 |
hardness of their heart, and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality 00:20:34.520 |
for the practice of every kind of impurity and greediness." And what you realize is not only is 00:20:40.600 |
he describing the mind of the Gentile, he's talking about the heart of the Gentile. And remember, 00:20:45.320 |
when he's talking about Gentiles, he's not specifically pointing to the Gentile sitting 00:20:49.240 |
in the Ephesians church. It's like that one guy, right? Gentiles, ethnic, that's just like everybody. 00:20:54.840 |
Okay? It's anybody who's not a chosen person. It's anybody who's not part of the chosen nation 00:21:01.320 |
of God. So essentially, don't ever use the excuse like, "But everybody else does it." Because that's 00:21:08.280 |
the point, right? Stop thinking and wanting what everybody else wants. You're different. That's the 00:21:13.960 |
point. Now, in taking a look at this and making observations, notice the descriptions that there 00:21:20.840 |
is, I highlighted in red, there is hardness, there is callousness, there is sensuality, impurity, and 00:21:28.200 |
greed. Okay? And when you think about that, when you think about the first two terms, hardness and 00:21:33.400 |
callousness, we are describing and seeing somebody who is willfully resistant. Okay? So it's not 00:21:41.400 |
always an issue of just not knowing. There is willful resistance. I have decided not to care. 00:21:47.080 |
I'm going to be honest with you guys. That song, "Let It Go, Let It Go." I think I've mentioned this 00:21:51.400 |
in a previous sermon before. "Let it go, let it go." A song that we just play over and over again 00:21:58.120 |
mindlessly. If you think about what she's saying, she's just not going to care what anybody else 00:22:03.560 |
thinks. Now, yes, it's kind of like, "I get it." You know, people are judgy. People are, you know, 00:22:10.520 |
critical. They make you feel like something's wrong with you and stuff like that. But if you 00:22:16.280 |
buy into that, that's pretty dangerous. As a matter of fact, it'll make you so isolated. 00:22:21.880 |
Some kind of ice cold castle. Okay. Now, moving forward, think about callousness. How repeated 00:22:28.920 |
friction basically makes you desensitized. You know, what's really funny is I took the time to 00:22:35.480 |
look up callousness, how to prevent it in WebMD. And it says, "Well, because callousness comes from 00:22:41.960 |
repeated injury and friction, please stop your activity." I think that's pretty funny. Okay. 00:22:47.640 |
The thing about it is, brothers and sisters, beware. If you have this self-defensive mechanism 00:22:54.920 |
where someone tries to talk to you and it's just like, "Wah," you know, "How dare you point the 00:22:58.760 |
finger at me?" It's difficult to talk to you because your pride comes out and you're not 00:23:04.120 |
willing to listen and hear. Right? You don't like the way they said it. You're just not hearing them 00:23:09.000 |
out because X, Y, and Z. Okay. That callousness is a real thing, meaning that that kind of 00:23:15.880 |
self-defense mechanism, that rejection of truth or anybody's input, it doesn't just stay there. 00:23:21.320 |
It crusts and it hardens. Like the more you decide, "I'm not going to care," it doesn't just 00:23:27.320 |
stay there. It gets worse. Right? That's kind of like what the picture is describing there. 00:23:31.960 |
What's more, it says, "They've given themselves over to sensuality." Meaning that's like a 00:23:36.600 |
conscious decision. That's like a willful, conscious decision that's saying, "I'm just 00:23:41.080 |
going to do this." Right? And I feel like that little phrase, like, "You know what? I'm just 00:23:46.280 |
going to do it." Beware. Right? No, no. You make your decisions based on careful consideration 00:23:52.600 |
of what glorifies God. Okay? If your, "I'm just going to do this," means, "I'm just going to do 00:23:58.200 |
this at the cost of my own preferences, at the cost of my own convenience and my comfort. I'm 00:24:02.920 |
just going to do it because it glorifies God. Good for you." But if you're sitting there thinking, 00:24:07.240 |
"Oh, I don't know if I should do it because I don't know if God's going to be pleased. I don't 00:24:09.880 |
know if I should do it because, and then people are going to be hurt. And then, you know what? 00:24:13.480 |
I just want to care about everybody else. I'm just going to care about myself." If you do that, 00:24:16.840 |
beware. Because that kind of decision-making is absolute absurdity and it opens you to 00:24:26.440 |
every impurity. Now, one of the questions I asked in the Bible study was, "When you behave like a 00:24:31.640 |
Gentile, what are the consequences?" That's what I'm talking about. It's not explicit in the passage, 00:24:36.920 |
but when you look at this passage, there are descriptors here. There are descriptions of what 00:24:42.280 |
happens as you give yourselves over. There's a callousness that happens, but also it opens you 00:24:47.880 |
up to every kind of impurity because that kind of rationale, when someone says, "You know what? I 00:24:52.920 |
know this is grossly wrong, but I almost feel like it's better to just do it at least once. So, I 00:24:57.720 |
know what it feels like and I can get over with it. And then I won't want it anymore." Lies. 00:25:03.560 |
Absolute lies. Your selfish heart, once it gets a little bit of thing, will want more. 00:25:08.840 |
And what's more than that, it's going to open you up to every other kind of impurity because 00:25:14.600 |
that's what that rationale does. Stop it. Stop it. Scripture says there is sensuality, impurity, 00:25:21.720 |
and greediness in us that is growing and we have to kill it. We have to put it to death. 00:25:27.720 |
We're the ones responsible for doing that. So, there is a foolishness of heart. I think I was 00:25:34.200 |
supposed to give that to you earlier. I apologize. So, absolute foolishness of heart, which I am 00:25:38.760 |
describing as a will, desire. There is a willingness to want this kind of stuff. 00:25:47.560 |
Now, there is a passage I want to point out for you guys because, oh sorry, there is a, 00:25:56.040 |
the reason why I want to mention that a little bit is because by observation, can we just want 00:26:01.480 |
to observe and observe and observe, but because one of the things that it says here is that 00:26:07.000 |
because of the hardness of heart, that's why the previous stuff was going on. So, if you think 00:26:13.000 |
about it, okay, all these descriptions of the mind, it's all futile and darkened and excluded. 00:26:19.160 |
Notice how it says because, because of the hardness of the heart right at the beginning. 00:26:24.360 |
So, when you think about that, you got to ask the question, what's the relationship between the mind 00:26:27.880 |
and the heart here? Now, what I would like to just simply say because I'm taking a lot of time on 00:26:32.280 |
this is that sometimes the greatest cause of our irrationality, the greatest cause of our 00:26:39.080 |
frustration in our minds, it's not because I don't have enough brain cells to work out my problems, 00:26:44.360 |
it's because I have a stubborn will. That's why sometimes it's so difficult. 00:26:49.800 |
We don't want need to sometimes overcomplicate why we do certain things. It's not always because I 00:26:55.880 |
don't know enough and I don't have the wisdom to make decisions. It's because the rationale 00:27:00.200 |
comes from the want. And that's why scripture says, "He who is able to control his heart 00:27:08.280 |
is mightier than those who control cities and reign over kingdoms." Because it's that hard 00:27:13.960 |
sometimes. And so, I kind of think, take a moment to think about myself a little bit sometimes. And 00:27:19.080 |
I realize now that I'm, you know, I'm not old, but I'm not like super young either, right? 37, 00:27:25.640 |
just like right there in the middle of prime, I would like to say. Now, as I think about that, 00:27:32.680 |
sorry if anybody is watching this older than me, I hope you're not offended by what I just said. 00:27:37.720 |
Okay. Well, anyway, what I'm trying to say is sometimes I wish like the sins that I commit 00:27:45.720 |
were like juvenile mistakes, but they're not. At this point, I've been a Christian since like 1998 00:27:53.000 |
and walking with the Lord. And it's not like I haven't read the scriptures, you know, like I just 00:27:59.640 |
didn't never knew that part of scripture, right? Like a lot of the sins that I'm committing now, 00:28:04.680 |
I'm actually creating the rationale to excuse it, right? Majority of the sins that I commit now 00:28:11.400 |
are not going to be knee-jerk reactions because I happen to be the youthful guy who's never 00:28:15.880 |
experienced that temptation before. A lot of the sins that are coming up now are like temptations 00:28:21.000 |
I've had. And so, I just want to highlight that because this call for us to not walk like the 00:28:28.520 |
Gentiles, if you were thinking like, I'm not perusing out there like, you know, out of Vegas 00:28:36.200 |
every night, like living in abject like licentiousness and just completely disrespecting 00:28:42.200 |
God. But at the same time, there are elements and patterns that are very similar. And so, 00:28:48.040 |
that's what I'm getting at here. We have to be careful about those things. Okay. 00:28:54.120 |
For the sake of time, I'm going to pass this, but just cross-reference 1 Peter 4, 3-5 00:28:59.560 |
as another challenge to us, a prescription for us, instructional to let go of that which is Gentile, 00:29:06.520 |
meaning our previous selves. And so, he turns the page and he says, "But instead, 00:29:10.760 |
you did not learn Christ this way, if indeed you heard of him and have been taught of him, 00:29:17.800 |
just as Jesus, sorry, Christ Jesus, well, just as truth is in Jesus." Okay. So, after believing 00:29:27.400 |
upon Christ and receiving all the blessings, Apostle Paul is saying, "So, you're different. 00:29:32.280 |
You didn't learn like them. You didn't think like them, right? You didn't receive like them." 00:29:38.360 |
And what's more, he gives this kind of check again, which is, "If indeed you have heard 00:29:43.000 |
and been taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus Christ." And so, this is a huge challenge 00:29:49.320 |
for us when we think about this. And I just want to take a brief moment to ask this, when he does 00:29:53.800 |
the contrast and says, "But you, if indeed you," right? You need to take a good look at yourself. 00:29:59.720 |
If you're walking with some kind of weird notion and you're like surprised, like, "What? Jesus 00:30:07.160 |
expects me to change? Why do I have to change?" How in the world did you get introduced to Christ 00:30:15.000 |
and what did you learn about him that gives you this worldview and framework of mind that you 00:30:20.440 |
could just simply be the same guy that you were 20 years ago and not grow? Jesus is Lord and King, 00:30:28.200 |
saving you, right? Saving you from the pits of darkness, adopting you into his kingdom. 00:30:35.160 |
Any single particular description of the gospel absolutely necessitates newness of life. 00:30:41.880 |
So, if you did the, "Jesus will accept you as you are forever and evers and he'll never make you 00:30:48.680 |
change," right? You didn't learn Christ that way. And if you thought that some people who believe 00:30:56.040 |
that, you know, you need to accept Christ because he's going to then hear all your requests and he's 00:31:00.600 |
going to fulfill the desires of your heart and we get to bargain with God in some way or another, 00:31:04.920 |
by giving him our worship and he's going to give us everything we will ever long for, 00:31:08.760 |
you did not learn Christ that way. You did not receive Christ in this fashion. 00:31:13.560 |
Now, the major point I'm trying to hit at is this, because Ephesians was talking so much about the 00:31:21.080 |
blessings you received in Christ, that you by nature of being in Christ, you have been made 00:31:26.680 |
complete in him. You're different. You're different, like, in such a vastly, majestically, 00:31:34.040 |
and grand way. You're so different from the rest of the world. That's what the scripture is talking 00:31:38.520 |
about. And so one of the passages I want to take you to is Romans chapter eight, such a powerful, 00:31:45.160 |
powerful, powerful passage talking about how you're so different, right? Remember that in 00:31:50.120 |
Romans chapter eight, verses one, he's like, "There's now no condemnation for you." Why? 00:31:55.640 |
Because you've been set free, right? You've been set free from the law of sin, but now you have 00:32:01.720 |
the newness of the law of the spirit and he's completely set you free, right? That's the 00:32:06.600 |
beginning portions of Romans chapter eight. But here he says, "For those who are according to 00:32:11.000 |
the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, 00:32:15.640 |
the things of the spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is 00:32:20.600 |
life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject 00:32:26.280 |
itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." Take a moment to stop right there. 00:32:31.720 |
The mind, like he's pointing also to the mind of the pre-converted state that the mind is constantly 00:32:37.800 |
set on that which is flesh, material, and earthly, because that's what it's limited to by nature of 00:32:45.000 |
its being, not so for you. "And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not 00:32:51.720 |
in the flesh, but in the spirit." And then look at this, "If indeed," right? So check it. "If Christ 00:32:58.360 |
then is in you, the spirit of God dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, 00:33:04.200 |
he does not belong to him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the 00:33:09.240 |
spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead 00:33:14.600 |
dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies 00:33:20.440 |
through his spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation not to the flesh 00:33:26.360 |
to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. 00:33:31.000 |
But if by the spirit you're put into death, the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are 00:33:36.840 |
being led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God." Is it appropriate for believers 00:33:44.520 |
to examine themselves based upon this idea, "Has God given me the spirit that I might be able to 00:33:52.760 |
even at least, bare minimum, you should be able to see that guy right there in my life? I need to 00:33:58.680 |
change that." Difficult as it may, but I trust the Lord he's going to change that, right? Does 00:34:06.600 |
God expect immediate, immediate perfection right now that every single thing you see, you're just 00:34:13.000 |
like, "Boom, done, sanctified." No, God said, "I will glorify you." But God has given us that 00:34:20.520 |
incredible, incredible illumination of the eyes to be able to tell the difference, be convicted of 00:34:25.320 |
sin and righteousness. That's the spirit's work in us. And then to be able to say, "Those are the 00:34:29.800 |
things that needs to change." And so the next part of it, scripture says, "We need to learn to put 00:34:35.640 |
off and put on." So I'm going to read this portion. It says, "That," okay, describing all of that, 00:34:42.840 |
right? Like, "If indeed the spirit is in you, like the truth that is in Jesus is in you. If that 00:34:47.080 |
truth, the powerful truth is in you, then that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay 00:34:53.000 |
aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit. And that you 00:34:59.960 |
renew to be renewed in the mind, sorry, renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, 00:35:05.720 |
which in likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth." So let's 00:35:13.080 |
take a moment to think about this a little bit. And I would like to make some initial general 00:35:17.400 |
remarks, which is if you think about this idea, it's kind of like, I just, for the sake of 00:35:26.280 |
analogy, imagine you came to me and you said, "Pastor Mark, man, I really want to grow. And, 00:35:32.360 |
you know, it's been hard." Let's say you have a bout with your temper and anger. "I've just been 00:35:39.640 |
an angry man for days and days and days. When I say days, I mean years and years and years. 00:35:44.920 |
It's always been like this. And I want to grow so bad because it hurts so many people and, 00:35:49.000 |
right?" And then I tell you, you know what you got to do is you got to put that off. 00:35:54.920 |
You got to put on kindness. Okay? Right? Like, doesn't it sound kind of patronizing? Doesn't 00:36:01.400 |
it sound like overly simplistic? Okay. When I took a moment to just meditate and reflect on this, 00:36:07.880 |
it does. It almost feels silly that the scriptures has to tell you, you have the spirit of God in you 00:36:14.920 |
and you have the power. Now put off and put on. And essentially what I get is this picture. Like, 00:36:22.760 |
I feel like I am my son, you know, the seven-year-old, nine-year-old son. And my parents 00:36:28.440 |
are telling me like, "Change your dirty shirt." Right? And that's fine. I was meditating and I 00:36:35.960 |
was like, "Huh, that sounds kind of patronizing." Right? But I'm over it. I'm like, "You know what 00:36:41.080 |
though? I am a child. And you know what though? Although it's sad state of affairs, I have to be 00:36:45.640 |
reminded how to take off my shirt and put it on." Now, for those of you guys who have children, 00:36:51.400 |
you know, as embarrassing as it may be, just simply the aspect of trying to get your son to 00:36:57.720 |
like change his shirt, trying to get your child to change your shirt, it could be like the greatest 00:37:01.240 |
drama in history. Right? I mean, think about all the different excuses. You tell your son like, 00:37:06.840 |
"Hey, you gotta change your shirt because man, like there's like mud over it. You like spilled 00:37:12.680 |
your milk and it smells like sour something." Right? And then your children all of a sudden 00:37:17.400 |
come up with the most like masterful excuses. Like, "I don't have any shirts." Like, "What? 00:37:21.160 |
I just bought your shirt the other day." Right? "I even put it on the floor for you." It's like, 00:37:27.000 |
"Oh, but this is my favorite shirt. I always wear this shirt. It's dirty and smells like rancid 00:37:32.760 |
milk." Right? It's like, "Do I have to do it right now? Do I have to go right now?" Right? "How am 00:37:38.360 |
I going to just do it later?" Right? And then what's more like you send your child to the room 00:37:44.280 |
and you're just like, "Change your shirt." And your kid's sitting there like, "I'm just going to 00:37:47.400 |
look stupid." Right? "I'm just going to look silly." Like that's one of the favorite ones. 00:37:50.600 |
Like, "It doesn't match my shorts," one said. Okay? And then you walk into the room to make 00:37:55.480 |
sure they're doing their job and they're sitting there with their shirts, not really putting it, 00:37:58.360 |
they fake like they're going to put it off, but instead they pull it up to their eyes and start 00:38:01.960 |
playing ninja with it. It's like, "Oh, look at me. I'm a ninja." Right? You're like, "What in the 00:38:05.880 |
world? Just change your shirt." Okay? And then you grab the shirt and then you pull it out and 00:38:12.360 |
you say, "Right here. Change your shirt right now." Okay? Now, if your child is an infant, 00:38:18.280 |
you have to put the shirt on for them because they can't do it themselves. But if your child 00:38:22.920 |
is of a certain age, you may be tempted to grab the shirt and forcefully just shove it over their 00:38:28.360 |
head. But I think God treats us like his children and recognizes, not recognizes, but he knows. 00:38:35.080 |
We need to learn how to change our shirts ourselves. He shouldn't be doing that stuff for 00:38:40.520 |
us. Right? I thought about that because, man, sometimes I hear people talk like, "You know, 00:38:47.240 |
I've got this desire right here. It's all sinful and stuff." Or sometimes it's not sinful. But 00:38:52.200 |
they started saying, "I just want God to take it away." I'm kind of like, "You know, I think God 00:38:58.040 |
wants you to take that off. If you think it's bad for you, you should take it off." Right? 00:39:01.960 |
Why does God have to change our shirt for us? If we're growing and we're mature enough to be 00:39:08.520 |
recognized like, "Shirt's dirty," should change it. Right? That's the way it should be. I asked 00:39:14.200 |
one of the questions is, "Whose responsibility is it to change?" Right? And I think it's been 00:39:21.240 |
a disservice if we think that we're just simply waiting for God to do it. Now, think about this 00:39:27.480 |
though. Even within that scenario, God is going to be the one who purchased a shirt. God is the one 00:39:34.120 |
going to be the one who gives a direction which shirt to put on. God's going to be the one to 00:39:38.120 |
show us, "Hey, your shirt is sour." God's going to be the one who says, "You know what? You can 00:39:43.560 |
change that shirt right here because you're in the safety of my home." God is in absolute control. 00:39:48.920 |
Okay? God is in absolute control. But as our Heavenly Father, He expects us to be able to tell 00:39:57.480 |
your shirt is filthy. Go change. That's my point. Why do I say this? Because the biggest problem 00:40:06.040 |
and resistance of all of these excuses as why we're not changing certain things is not because 00:40:13.000 |
God didn't give us stuff. It's not because God didn't give us the resources. There is deep within 00:40:19.080 |
us something that says, "But I love this shirt. It's my favorite. But in all the other shirts, 00:40:25.720 |
I look stupid. But in this one, I look so cool." Right? Those are the rationales that needs to 00:40:31.160 |
change. And that's why scripture says, "You need to be renewed in the spirit of your mind." You 00:40:37.000 |
have to be convinced when God says, "Change your shirt. Your shirt's dirty." You have to agree with 00:40:42.040 |
God and says, "You know what? My old self is corrupt." Okay? So funny. Again, using different 00:40:50.840 |
analogies, some people who struggle like crazy with anger, crazy with temperamentalism. It's 00:40:56.440 |
just like, "You know what though? This is my tough love." Okay? You can just redefine everything then 00:41:02.280 |
to excuse it. Okay? Not everybody in the world needs your tough love. "You know what though? 00:41:08.200 |
This is who I am." It's like, "What? Who you was was corrupt." It's absolutely corrupt. And as a 00:41:16.200 |
matter of fact, it's continuing to be corrupted with its deceits, let's say. And even with lust, 00:41:23.400 |
while it's not always talking about sexuality, sometimes we lust for control and we use our 00:41:28.360 |
anger for control. Sometimes we lust for attention and we use our anger for attention. We lust for a 00:41:36.040 |
lot of different things. Typically, when we are angry like that, we use our anger to get what we 00:41:40.520 |
want. So, unless we are in agreement with God that your old shirt is super dirty, we're not going to 00:41:49.720 |
be actually putting it off. And therefore, you need to be renewing the spirit of your mind. Right? 00:41:57.400 |
So, we have to be able to look at our former manner of life and ask ourselves the question, 00:42:02.040 |
"What are the lies that were there?" If you do have a struggle, some people struggle with this, 00:42:06.920 |
constantly doing white lies. Why? And what we need to put on is truth, reality. Maybe we need to put 00:42:13.400 |
on humility because typically when you lie, it's because you just don't want to look even a small 00:42:18.600 |
bit worse than you are now. Right? You just don't even want to look a little bit less. So, we lie, 00:42:24.840 |
small white lies to save our face. Why? Why were you angry? Why did you want that so bad? Did you 00:42:32.280 |
believe it was your highest good? Did you believe that it was your end all? Why in the world did 00:42:36.920 |
you do that? We need to be the ones regularly looking at this stuff. That we look at the greed, 00:42:41.240 |
like we're basically kind of like inspectors. We go into the house, like everything looks pretty 00:42:44.680 |
good, but let me go periodically and look. It's like, "Man, some things are super off." Right? 00:42:50.040 |
And what we want to do is replace, replace and renew those things that are corrupt. Why? 00:42:58.200 |
Because truthfully, scripture tells us that when sin is allowed to reside, it will kill. 00:43:04.680 |
It's like mold. If you walk through the kitchen and there's mold behind your cupboard because 00:43:10.440 |
it's been raining, you leave it there, those mold spores are going to get to your lungs. 00:43:15.320 |
Another better way to put it as another example is the way Jesus said that a little bit of sin, 00:43:20.760 |
a little bit of leaven, ruins the whole batch. Do not allow things that you see, like, "You know 00:43:26.200 |
what? That needs to be fixed." Now, sometimes, yes, like the analogy of the homes, we see things in 00:43:31.400 |
our house like, "Man, I really got to get to the lawn because the sprinklers are broken," but 00:43:35.240 |
you just don't get to it. Now, when it comes to our own souls, though, we have to make sure that 00:43:41.320 |
we have this impetus, that we are regularly taking those things and renewing it in Christ. 00:43:47.080 |
If we take a look at this passage, though, it says, "This renewing of the spirit and of the mind," 00:43:53.400 |
it says, "put on the new self, and this new self is in the likeness of God," which in, it's like, 00:43:59.880 |
basically, which is in God, which is of God, "has been created in righteousness and holiness of the 00:44:04.680 |
truth." And what I like to say is, notice that it's both the aspect of that your mind is being 00:44:10.120 |
renewed, you're changed in your thinking, and you believe what God is believing, or what God has 00:44:14.840 |
been teaching, and that you're putting on the new self, which is mimicking after God. And by way of 00:44:21.160 |
conclusion, I'd like to have us think about this by saying, and so, today I've been giving a lot of 00:44:27.240 |
examples about children. There is this question I want to ask you. How do you make a child not spoil? 00:44:33.720 |
Okay, how do you make a child not spoil? Well, one way you can do it is, you know what? When I was 00:44:39.320 |
a kid, I didn't have all these toys. I didn't have, like, a wall full of Legos. I didn't have, 00:44:44.280 |
you know, my parents didn't even hug me. So, you could deprive your child to teach him to not take 00:44:50.120 |
things for granted, right? So, you're just like, "You know, I'm not going to hug you either," 00:44:53.320 |
right? You could do that as a means to say, "I want to teach you to appreciate the little I give 00:44:57.960 |
you." Now, I'm not sure that's the best way to do it, okay? Because to be spoiled means not so much 00:45:05.080 |
that you received a lot of love. Why? Because in every single one of us, we've been spoiled rotten, 00:45:10.760 |
right? That's the book of Ephesians for us. We have been, like, lavished, poured on with love by 00:45:18.920 |
God to an extent where, like, our cup, the picture we should have is, like, overflowing, cups 00:45:24.600 |
overflowing with grace and mercy and love. And the embrace of God is so sweet, right? 00:45:32.040 |
So, then, every single one of us would be spoiled rotten. You see, spoiled rotten is to have an 00:45:38.920 |
attitude where you receive that, but you never mimic it. You don't know how to give it, okay? 00:45:44.040 |
And so, the reason why I want to do this is because to say, if we are being renewed, we are 00:45:50.040 |
then going to be mimicking God as our Father who has loved us so deeply, and that we are mimicking 00:45:56.040 |
Him in all of His righteousness and holiness and of truth. That we are trying to follow in His 00:46:02.280 |
footsteps. Essentially, we're trying to look like Him. We're trying to be like Him, think like Him, 00:46:07.320 |
feel like Him. That, to us, is both our greatest endeavor and our greatest reward. There's going 00:46:14.040 |
to be nothing more glorious than to be able to reflect God's character, His truthfulness, His 00:46:20.520 |
love. And what's more for us than what I'm trying to say is we're not just changing for the sake of 00:46:25.080 |
style. We're not just changing for the sake of change itself. Our goal is very, very specific. 00:46:32.120 |
I want to make sure that as I change, I change into the image of my God. Let's take a moment 00:46:37.800 |
to pray. Our God, we thank You so much for Your grace. What a challenge it is, Lord. What a 00:46:45.080 |
challenge it is for us to lay aside all of our previous way of thinking, where we thought, "Oh, 00:46:52.680 |
we were so good," and how we thought we were going to win this world's game, and how we thought we 00:46:59.240 |
were maneuvering everything, and that we were going to come out on top. I pray, Father God, 00:47:04.840 |
that we would recognize the game of the world, Lord, is futile. It's absolute vanity. And I pray, 00:47:14.040 |
God, that we would all the more, through faith in Your truth, recognize the calling You have given 00:47:19.720 |
us. And what's more, Lord, the privilege You have granted us, God, that we not live like this world, 00:47:26.440 |
lost in its purposes, lost in its motivation, so fleshly. But I pray, God, that we would be 00:47:33.240 |
renewed. And Father, that we would be walking with an incredible hope of what You have in store for 00:47:38.840 |
us, and who You are desiring for us to be like. I also pray, Father God, that we recognize 00:47:46.600 |
sometimes it is so difficult to overcome these strongholds of our thought, the beliefs that we 00:47:55.080 |
have that are wrong. I pray, Lord, by Your Spirit, You would challenge those things. I pray, Lord, 00:48:01.640 |
by the truth of Your Word, You would break them down. And God, that You would replace them with 00:48:07.560 |
the truths of Christ, with the reality of Your Holy Spirit. And God, through that, God, You'd 00:48:12.680 |
cause us to grow in every way. We thank You for Your precious Word. It's in Christ's name we pray.