CARDIO-TRANSFORMED HEARTS, RENEWED MINDS, ALIGNED LIVES Ephesians 4:17-24 April 6, Text Message: April 1, :23 AM:

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1 CARDIO-TRANSFORMED HEARTS, RENEWED MINDS, ALIGNED LIVES Ephesians 4:17-24 April 6, 2014 INTRODUCTION: Text Message: April 1, :23 AM: Hey Pastor Johnny, Praying for you this AM! What Pastor would say most clearly understands spiritual warfare? I got some questions. Thanks, Alex Reply: Alex, there is a battle in the heavens against the advancement of God s Kingdom. Since we belong to the King the enemy is relentless in seeking to render us useless. The battle can only be won by King Jesus. I have been in constant war with my flesh in particular in recent days. It does not get easier as I get older and even as I continue to grow. I periodically fast and pray for greater abandonment to Christ. Our people undoubtedly are really warring also. I feel I know warfare exponentially and I m praising Jesus that He helps me when I submit to Him, and resist the devil in the faith! Love you, Alex! In Ephesians 4:1 Paul reminds believers of their calling. He s referring to the call at salvation. We are challenged to walk worthy of our calling (Philippians 3:14). The idea of living to match 1

2 one s position in Christ. Be everything the Lord desires and empowers you to be. Now, here in Ephesians 4:17 Paul reminds us of a contrast. Our walk (daily conduct) is to be different than the unbelievers. He urges them not to fall back into their old self-indulgent habits. The Christian is to walk differently, in outward manifestation of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This passage serves as a warning to any form of the old pagan mode of life. Ephesians 2:1-2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, Ephesians 1-3 deals with doctrine; now Ephesians 4-6 deals with duty. The transition moves one from principle to practice; position to patterns of life. 1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. abides is a word for John s relationship with Christ, speaks of salvation. Jesus life of obedience is the Christian s pattern. Those who claim to be Christians ought to live as He did since they possess His Spirits presence and power. 2

3 I. EXHORTATION FOR US TO HEED 17 Paul is calling for a forsaking of the characteristics of the unbelievers lifestyle. We have Christ in us, the body of Christ and the edifying they bring to us. A. The Appeal no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk 1 Thessalonians 4:5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; B. Their Aimlessness in futility of their mind - Paul is using language that will form a theme concerning the mind. Christians think differently from unsaved people. mind - v17 understanding - v18 ignorance v18 learned Christ - v20 Salvation begins with repentance which is a change of mind. The whole outlook of a 3

4 person changes when he trusts Christ, including his values, goals and interpretation of life. Paul speaks of the mind with the word futility, vanity; it leads to no substantial purpose. Refers to that which fails to produce the desired result, that which never succeeds. Empty because it amounts to nothing. Now as a result, the unbeliever consumes himself in the pursuit of goals that are purely selfish, in the accumulation of that which is temporary, and in looking for satisfaction in that which is intrinsically deceptive and disappointing. The unsaved person plans and resolves everything on the basis of his own thinking. He becomes his own ultimate authority and he follows his own thinking to its ultimate outcome of futility, aimlessness and meaninglessness. John MacArthur After a life of experiencing every worldly advantage and pleasure, the wisest, wealthiest and most favored men of the ancient world concluded that the worldly life is vanity and stirring after wind. 4

5 Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. II. EXPLANATION THAT WILL HELP US A. Internal Effects 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of the heart. Summary: The unsaved person thinks he is enlightened because he rejects the Bible and believes the latest philosophies, when in reality he is in the dark. Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools. (Romans 1:22). Satan has blinded the minds of the unsaved 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not 5

6 believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It is not simply that their eyes are blinded so they cannot see, but that their minds are darkened so that they cannot think straight about spiritual matters. The unsaved person is dead because of spiritual ignorance. The truth and the life go together. If you believe God s truth, then you receive God s life. The blindness of their hearts speaks of the hardness that enslaves them. Unbelievers are darkened in their understanding. The unsaved have a built in inability to know and comprehend the things of God. 6

7 Romans 1:21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. As a result, alienated from the life of God Good News: John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The cause of their darkness, ignorance and separation from God is the blindness of their heart. Speaks of a willful determination to remain in sin. Romans 1:24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, Remember in 2 Corinthians 4:4: whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should shine on them. 7

8 It is God who allows such blindness. In Romans 1:24 God also gave them up Indirectly by removing His restraint and allowing their sin to run its inevitable course. Directly by specific acts of divine judgment. Because of the blindness of their heart the unsaved are unresponsive to truth. Prosis (hardens) carries the idea of being rock-hard. Used of physicians to describe the calcification that forms around broken bones and becomes harder than the bone itself. Sin has a petrifying effect causing one to be insensitive to the things of God. B. External Effect 19 Ephesians 4:19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 1. Calloused being past feeling - to be morally insensitive. It is a word picture of a conscience that has become scarred with tissue that is not sensitive to wrong. 8

9 1 Timothy 4:2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, seared all the nerves that made them feel had been destroyed and turned into scar tissue. In a good conscience we see God creating man with a self-judging faculty. Because God has written His law on man s heart (Romans 2:15), man knows the basic standard of right and wrong. When he violates that standard, his conscience produces guilt, which acts as the mind s security system that produces fear, guilt, shame and doubt as warning of threats to the soul s wellbeing. Titus 1:15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. If the mind is defiled, it cannot accurately inform the conscience, so conscience cannot warn the person. Our unsaved, unbelieving, society is so determined not to be discovered for what it is that it stands unflinching as its very life and vitality is ripped apart by the sins and corruption it holds so dear. It has become 9

10 callus both to the reality and to the consequences of sin, and will endure any agony rather than admit that its way of living is the way of death. John MacArthur 2. Corrupt given themselves over to lewdness - abandoned to wallow in gross sensuality. Speaks of a complete surrender of self; unbridled lust. Anything goes mentality; shameless. Proverbs 30:20 This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, " I have done no wickedness. " This passage is illustrated in Proverbs 30:18b-19 Yes, four which I do not understand: The way of an eagle in the air, The way of a serpent on a rock, The way of a ship in the midst of the sea, And the way of a man with a virgin. 10

11 1. Eagle leaves no trail in the air. 2. Snake leaves no trail on the rock. 3. Ship leaves no trail on the sea. 4. They illustrate the hypocrisy of the adulterous woman who hides the evidence of her shame while professing innocence. Unbridled self-indulgence and undisciplined obscenity. One said this term relates to a disposition of the soul incapable of bearing the pain of discipline. What We Need To Know: All people initially recognize at least some standard of right and wrong and have a certain sense of shame when they act against that standard. Consequently, they usually try to hide their wrongdoing. They may continually fall back into it but still recognize it as wrong, as something they should not be doing; and conscience will not let them remain comfortable. But as they continue to overrule conscience and train themselves to do evil and to ignore guilt, they eventually reject those 11

12 standards and determine to live solely by their own desires, thereby revealing an already seared conscience. Having rejected all divine guidelines and protections, they become depraved in mind and give themselves over to sensuality. Such a person cares nothing about what other people think, not to mention about what God thinks, but only what gratifies the cravings of his own warped mind. 12