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Intro:
Ephesians 4:17 (KJV 1900)
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
In the first phrase of verse 17, there is a word that beckons to focus our attention backward.
It is the word “therefore.”
Anytime you see “therefore” in the Bible, you should stop and see what it is “there for.”
This word calls our minds back to what Paul has been teaching us about our high calling in Christ Jesus.
Because we have been given all the benefits mentioned in verses 1–16, we are not to be like the lost, pagan Gentiles who live around us.
What benefits is Paul talking about?
Our calling to “salvation by grace” through faith, vv.
1–3.
Our unity in the body of Christ, vv.
3–6.
Our unique gifting by the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord and His church for His glory, vv.
7–10.
Our building up through the ministries of gifted individuals in the church, vv.
11–16.
Because we have been given all these advantages, and made the partaker of such gifts from God, we are to walk in a manner that is different from the world around us.
In the verses that are before us today, we are called to A New Walk For A New LIfe.
Paul issues some very specific challenges for all those who are saved.
These challenges teach us how we are to walk, and how we are to be different from those who have not been saved.
Let’s take some time to talk about these challenges as we think about A New Walk For A New LIfe.
Picture of DIFFERENCES:
We who have been saved, are no longer like we were.
We are “new creatures” in Jesus Christ, 2 Cor.
5:17.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV 1900)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
As a result of the “new birth,” we are not what we used to be.
And we can no longer live like we used to live.
We have been changed.
Thus, we are different from the world around us.
Paul’s challenge here is to Draw a Picture of the DIFFERENCES between the children of God and the children of the devil.
We are to mark those distinctions between the saved and the lost, and we are to be different.
Here, Paul note three specific problems that plague the lost.
Different in Mind
Ephesians 4:17 (KJV 1900)
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
There Is A Problem With LOST peoples Heads—Paul says the lost “walk in the vanity of their minds.”
The word “vanity” means “futility, emptiness, that which is wasted on nothing.”
Lost people live empty lives because their minds are corrupted by the inborn sin that dwells within them.
Thus, every thought is corrupted by evil.
The lost people’s mind invents ways to serve the flesh, or the selfish desires of the mind.
The lost mind invents false gods, false religions, and foolish philosophies that are designed to showcase man’s brilliance.
Yet, the inventions of the lost mind are empty of anything helpful, and they ultimately damning to the soul of man.
Proverbs 16:25 (KJV 1900)
25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.
In another passage,
Rom.
1:28, Paul tells us that the lost possess a “reprobate mind.”
Romans 1:28 (KJV 1900)
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
This refers to a “depraved mind.”
This word us was used to describe metals that were tested and rejected by refiners because they were too impure.
The word came to mean “useless and worthless.”
So, the unbeliever has a problem in his mind.
His mind is “depraved” and it is capable of producing nothing but thoughts that are “useless and worthless.”
Because we are saved, we are to be different!
Different in Heart
Not only is there a mind problem, but there is a heart problem.
Ephesians 4:18 (KJV 1900)
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Paul says “their understanding is darkened,” and they are “alienated from the life of God,” “through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”
The word “blindness” refers to “stubbornness.”
It speaks of a heart confronted with truth, but which refuses to embrace that truth.
It is what Paul refers to in Romans 1:18, when he mentions those
Romans 1:18 (KJV 1900)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
“who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”
The word “hold” in that verse means to “oppress.”
It speaks of those hear the truth, and know the truth, but who refuse to acknowledge and embrace the truth.
Because of the stubbornness of their hearts, they are separated from the life that could be their’s in Jesus Christ, and they remain trapped in the darkness and depravity of their condition.
Whether we like it or not, the lost are “dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph.
2:1.
Ephesians 2:1 (KJV 1900)
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
The human race did not merely get sick when Adam sinned, it died, Rom.
5:12.
Romans 5:12 (KJV 1900)
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
In that dead and depraved state, the lost live for nothing but to gratify the lusts of the flesh and the mind, Eph.
2:2–3.
Ephesians 2:2–3 (KJV 1900)
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
In this state, their “understanding is darkened.”
The phrase is a “perfect participle.”
This means that the lost live in “a continuing state of spiritual darkness and ignorance” toward the things of God.
Thus, since they are dead, they are unresponsive to the things of God.
They are like a cold, immobile corpse, which can neither see, hear, feel, or think.
They are dead because they are “alienated from the life of God.”
They are unmoved by the truth.
They are unfazed by matters of right and wrong.
They love the dark, and they pursue the works of darkness.
Because we are saved, we are to be different!
Because we are saved, the very life of God defines us and empowers us.
We are not dead to truth, but we love the truth, and long to live it out daily.
We are not in darkness as is the world, but we
1 John 1:7 (KJV 1900)
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
We are not like them, so we must not be like them!
Different in Hands
Not only a PROBLEM with their MINDS, their HEARTS, but also their HANDS.
WHY?
Because the lost are “dead,” they are said to “be past feeling.”
Ephesians 4:19 (KJV 1900)
19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
That phrase means that they “have lost their sense of pain.”
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