God is Concerned About Our Walk - Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Ephesians Series)

Ephesians four seventeen. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ.

Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Pray with me. Father, we thank you. And just by the reading of your word, are we left undone. But, Lord, we just pray now that by the spirit, you would help us expound on these truths.

And that, lord, in this house this morning, there would be turning points in the lives of those who may not know you and in the lives that do know you, but need greater sanctification. Lord, we know that we are all under construction. And we call upon you this morning to help us be more like Christ. And so, Lord, in this time, would you give us a mind that is focused, a heart that is open, and, Lord, hands that are willing to work, whatever it needs, Lord, for us to bring you glory, we are here to say, here I am. Here I am.

Send me. Here I am. Do as you please in me. Here I am. My life is yours.

And so, Lord, this morning, would you fill this place with the sense of your presence, and may we leave here with your word branded on our hearts. May no opinion of man be uttered, but may it simply be the pure refined word that is declared. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

As we continue to journey in the book of Ephesians through the thoughts of the the apostle Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit, we find ourselves in Ephesians four seventeen. And if you've been with us, the scriptures that were just read, especially the first verses, might ring a bell to what we have covered before together concerning this book, especially this chapter. Notice verse 17. Now this I say in testifying the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. That sounds familiar, does it not?

All you have to do is scroll back a few verses in the beginning of the chapter, in verse one of chapter four. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Why is he repeating himself? Why why is he giving the same thought but with different wording? Well, one conclusion we can make for certain is that this shows us the importance and the urgency concerning how we ought to respond to gospel truths.

That it has to be repeated again. That it has to be reemphasized and reinforced to the readers of the Ephesian church. Yes. And the church today. First John two six is a powerful verse.

You don't have to turn there, but it says, whoever claims to abide in him Whoever says that he abides in him, meaning, whoever says that he walks with Jesus, that is in relationship with Christ, ought to walk in the same manner in which he walked. That's your standard, believer. That if you and I claim to walk with Christ, Christ is the one that we exemplify and reflect. But I believe there's another principle here that is vital for us. I believe that this being repeated shows that believers need to be reminded.

Do we not? Do we not need to be reminded of certain truths, if not all truths? Do we not come to a place where it takes a day alone? It can take a few hours alone. It could take minutes after a service, where certain truths and certain challenges that have been presented to us no longer grip us.

We are in need of reminders. Even through short intervals of time, we are in need of reminders. Because the same way you and I can get so motivated through just a few sentences, or after a service, or after a sermon jam, whatever you want to call it, the same way that we can be so elevated to a place of ambition and motivation, by the same token, we can lose that motivation just as quick. And so, the solution is reminders, because reminders reignite our sense of responsibility. Reminders come in like a sword and cut through the clutter of carelessness.

Reminders come in and realign our wandering minds to the truth. Listen to what Peter says in his second letter. Just hear it. You don't have to turn there. Just hear it.

Second Peter one twelve. Therefore, therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities. Look at this. Though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. You know these truths already.

You've heard these truths already, but I find it necessary to remind you why. I think it is right, verse 13, as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder. See, we all in here have understanding of certain truths, and these truths might be familiar to you this morning. But here's the problem with truth in the heart of man, it can become stale and stagnant. It it no longer has that grip on our hearts, it no longer has that sense of urgency in our lives.

And so what happens? Another voice comes in, reminds you of those truths, and what happens is those stale stagnant realities are now something that we're motivated by again. Something that is stirred up. There's a fragrance to it again. And this is what the apostle Paul is doing, in a sense.

How many of us have said to ourselves or to another person, I was in need of that reminder. Thank you for reminding me that. It just falls in the background somehow. And I think one way that we lose our understanding of certain truths is that we hear so many voices throughout our day. And here are at least two voices in our lives, if you're a believer especially.

Galatians five seventeen says this, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. These two are opposed to each other to keep you from doing what you ought to do, and what you want to do, he says, what you want to do. So here's the reality of the new life in Christ. Yes, we have victory over sin. Yes, we have the power to come over sin.

But there's this constant war. There's voices, and there's two voices that are continually playing in our minds and our hearts. The voice of the flesh and the voice of the spirit, and they're arguing at all times. And so one voice says, live how you want, live for your pleasures, live like the world, live in compromise. And the other one says, no, live like Christ.

You're a believer. You're filled with the spirit. You have a standard. You have holiness to attain. You have something to pursue.

And we need to be reminded, and Paul is doing that right here, right now. Listen to that spirit. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Listen to the word of God. Don't listen to the flesh.

Don't walk like the Gentiles. And so here's the purpose this morning. By God's grace, we would all be stirred to a certain reality of the Christian walk. And what is that reality that Paul, more importantly, the Holy Spirit wants to stir us into? Well, let's read on.

Now, this I say in testifying the Lord that you must no longer walk as the gentiles do. When we go back to the to the verses in early of chapter four where he says the same things, he says, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord. A prisoner. I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord. Why did he say that?

So he can bring more weight and more grip to things that he was gonna actually ask him to do. I'm living this life. Live it like me. But now he comes and even adds more weight. He doesn't say a prisoner for the Lord.

He says, now now I say this, what? And I testify in the Lord. What is he trying to say by saying that statement? This is not my idea. I did not come up with this.

This isn't the Apostle Paul's idea. I'm telling you that this is God's will. This is God's call. This is God's desire for you. I testify in the Lord.

If you disagree, you're disagreeing with the testimony of the Lord. You're disagreeing with what Christ wants from you. And so let me make this bold statement. The next few verses is not Paul. It's Christ.

This is the testimony of the Lord. And I testify this, that you would no longer walk as Gentiles. Now don't get confused because we talked about how Gentiles and Jews become one. He's not talking about ethnic Gentiles. He's not talking about those who were not Jews.

He's talking about the reality because Gentiles are also referenced in a way, depending on the context, as a person who's a pagan. A person who's a non believer in the true and living God. And he's what he's what he's saying here is, I don't want you to live like a non believer. Don't live like one who doesn't have Christ as Lord of their lives. No longer live as a Gentile.

Look at Jesus. I'm just gonna read these verses. And I just want you to meditate on what Christ is saying here in light of this. Jesus uses the same terminology of gentile concerning a person who is not a follower of the true and living God. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five forty six to 48.

Just gonna read these. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? What reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?

Do not even the gentiles do the same? So we read that in the sermon on the mount and we realize something here. That as believers, we're called to love those who don't deserve it. As believers, we're called to be kind to those who are even not kind to us. I know this is simple truth, but be stirred up by way of reminder.

I'm called to love those. Why? Because if you love those who love you, you're no different than a person who's not in a relationship with Christ. You're no different than a person that lives by different standards and morals. But what makes us different is we love the unlovable.

We're kind to those who don't deserve it. Those who who mock us and those who make fun of us, we still greet them at work. We still greet them at school. He goes on, Matthew six verse seven. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Now, I thought Gentiles were non believers. Yeah. In the true living God. So he's also categorizing them as those who have a false religion, and those who have what? A heartless ritualistic understanding of relationship with God.

That's how a gentile thinks. That's how a gentile relates to God. You just go through the motions. You just go and you say your prayers for the sake of sin. There's nothing felt there.

You say long prayers in the public prayer meetings so that people can hear you and they can be impressed by you. Don't pray like a gentile. Don't live your faith and your relation with God with a sense of just going through the routine. No. I don't want that from you.

And he goes on, Matthew six thirty one thirty two. We know these scriptures. Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear?

For the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. So as a person who does not walk as a gentile, I am not to be a materialistic person. I'm not to live my life to seek things and to live for those pleasures that come from those things, or even the comforts that come from those things. No. I seek first the kingdom.

What's the point being said here? When you believe in Jesus Christ, when you respond appropriately to the gospel, it changes every fabric of your living. From your social interactions, from your thought processes, to your priorities, every part of you is changed. This is profound and very important because we're coming to a a climactic verse in Ephesians four and it's found in 20, so bear with me here. Let's put it this way.

If you believe in Jesus Christ, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and your life has not changed, and you are living no different than you did before you said that you claimed to believe in Jesus Christ in a consistent way. There are only two conclusions that we can make. Number one, you are walking in willful disobedience and you're in a backslidden state. K? So perhaps that is a true confession, you were truly changed, but you're just in a place that you know you're not supposed to be in.

And you're walking in disobedience. And you are walking like a gentile walks. And you are thinking like a gentile thinks. And you are prioritizing your life the way a gentile does. Or number two, you're a false convert and you've bought into a gospel that says that you can believe in Jesus and not be changed by that.

This idea of walking, He uses the same word here, walking. It means to live a certain way. That truth gushes out of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The reality of walking in a certain way due to your relationship to God is saturated in the scriptures. So much so that it's even woven into the miracles of Christ.

So much so that's even expressed in the physical healings of people. You're saying, what do you what do you mean? I mean that when Jesus heals certain people, there is a spiritual implication being made, even in the physical healings. There's something even deeper than Christ has the power and the compassion to make somebody physically whole. And And so we're going to journey just for a moment here.

We're going to journey into the lives of three people who walked differently in the physical sense after meeting Christ, and we're going to see how there are spiritual parallels that come from those miracles. And this is the main truth with every single one of these men. Three men. We're gonna talk about three men that walked and shocked. And we're gonna realize that after they were physically healed, they walked in a different way in certain spheres of life.

And it's a reflection how we, when we come into contact with Christ, do the same, or we ought to at least. Number one, this person is a layman found in Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five. We're familiar with this story. Are we not?

These four men, these four friends come and take a paralyzed friend and bring him to Jesus. That's what a true friend does, bring somebody to Jesus. They see somebody in their condition and their brokenness and they know exactly where to take them, to the one who can make you whole. And Jesus says something profound in Luke chapter five as he encounters these men, especially these paralytic men. In verse 24, he says, I say to you, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

And those three statements really happen to a believer when they come into contact with Christ. Rise. In other words, receive the power in order to walk in a way that you could not walk on your own strength. Life to where there's death. You are paralyzed, and now you can course through life in a way that you could not before, even if you tried.

But receive the divine energy. Receive the animation of the Holy Spirit. Receive the willingness to wanna walk according to the commands of Christ. Rise. And in the same manner, you and I before Christ were paralyzed by our sin.

We could not walk in a certain way. We were on the ground, so to speak. We were defeated. But Christ comes in and he says, you can, if you come into contact with me, receive what is necessary to be empowered to walk in a certain way. Rise.

But he doesn't just say rise. He says, pick up your mat. I find that fascinating. These little details in the scripture. Jesus, why would you ask him to pick up the mat?

Why would he want to pick up the very thing that he was so dependent on his whole life? Why would he want to pick up something that symbolized his defeated state? That symbolized his past life? I thought you said we let go of our past. Why are we bringing our past with us now, Jesus?

You are not supposed to live in your past, but he does want you to do something with your past. To take it, to bring it with you, and to show people where you came from. Hey, everybody. I wanna tell you where I was at before I met Christ. I was paralyzed.

I was lying on this mat. I was lying in my sin. I couldn't move. I had no reason to live. I had no reason to wake up in the morning, but Christ came in.

Christ came in and touched me. He gave me the power to come up. He gave me forgiveness of sin. Now I have a reason to walk. I have the ability to live.

When you get saved, you ought to carry your testimony and you ought to have this heart desire to share with people what Christ has done for you. That's just the reality. You can't help it. You can't help it and Christ asked you to do it. Now go share with people what I've done with you.

Don't stay in this house only. It's good to stay in the house and to hear what I have to say, but listen, take up your mat and go show people what I've done for you, what I've done in you. He doesn't just say that though. Rise, pick up your bed, go home. Go home.

Out of all the places, he says go home. And there's no reason given why he says go home. But what's important is this man obeys him. The point is obedience. That he is walking now, not just in the physical sense, he is walking in a new way of life.

His heart is taking a new course in life. That he walks to the commands of Jesus now. Can you imagine what it was like when he was picked up from home by his friends, concerning his family there, seeing him in that state? And who knows what they were thinking about what was gonna happen to this man, their father or husband. And now he comes with the mat on his back, walking into the home, and I'm telling you, I I really believe they did not just see a man who walked differently physically, they saw a man who walked differently in his heart.

Why? Because he he says in the next verse that he went home, he did exactly what Christ said. It says, immediately, he picked up his mat and went home praising God. He went home praising God. And I could I could tell you this, that they noticed, not just a physical difference, but a spiritual difference.

And here's my first thing. Here's my first question to you today, every person sitting here, when you got saved, when you got touched, when you received the power to live this life, did people notice it in your home? If there's anybody that's gonna notice that you change, it's in the home. If there's anybody that's gonna realize that you walk differently, it's your parents, It's your siblings. Now you might not receive a great response to that change, but at least they noticed the change.

I know of a young man after he got saved in his college years, radically saved. Came home for a break, and was sitting at the dinner table, and just out of curiosity, asked this simple question, wanting to know if really his conversion was true. And he looked at his mother and says, mom, am I different? Am I different? And without hesitation, his own mother, the same mother that carried him in her womb for nine months, the same mother that raised him, the same mother that saw all his faults, all his weaknesses, all his tears, all his states of rebellion, looked at him and says, I can't even recognize you.

I can't even recognize you. When you got saved and you walked back home, what happened at your home? Has your relationship with your siblings changed? Has your relationship with your parents changed? Are you still bickering?

Are you still throwing out fits of wrath? Are you still disobedient? That same individual that had that confirmation from his mother was the same individual where his sibling came into his room one day and said, you're so different. Why is your joy contagious? Why are you why are you always happy?

It affected the atmosphere of the home. When Christ commands you to walk a certain way and you respond to that walk, the home will be affected. If anybody's gonna know that you changed, it's your mom. And again, it might not be a good response, but at least it's a response. The second layman is found in Acts chapter three.

Three men that walked in shocked. Man number two, in Acts three, we know this story. There's a paralyzed man at the beautiful gate outside the temple and Peter and John come up and he's asking for money, but they gave him something better, a touch from God. And look at the reaction in verse eight of Acts chapter three. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms. The first man went home. The first man went home. He walked and he went home, and I'm sure they saw a change, not just physically. The second man here, this layman, when he was touched, when God gave him the power to walk, notice where he walked to, into the temple.

Number two, when you walk the way Christ wants you to walk and gives you the power to do it, you will find yourself in God's house. You will find yourself in God's house. See before you could have been outside of God's house. You you were kind of familiar. You know, you showed up but you came after the service because you didn't wanna sit under the word.

You just wanted to socialize. Right? Or you would hang out in a different room because, you know, the word of God is not interesting to you anymore. That was you before you came for the interaction. You came because, oh, we're the same culture.

Yeah. Okay. Awesome. This feels like home. No.

No. No. No. When you get touched, you go in. And when you go in, you wanna praise God.

You receive something from Christ. You receive a touch from Christ. And when that happens, there is this new found interest to not just be in God's house, but notice it says, he went into the temple with them. You want to be with God's people. He went in with Peter and John.

And that speaks of a new relationship that you have now, that you have a new standard of friendship. It's to be with God's people in God's house. Some of you can testify to that three years ago after conference. And when you got saved, you tried to come to every single meeting. You wanted to be in a meeting.

You wanted to create meetings. You wanted to pray. You wanted to seek God. You wanted to study God's word. That is the reality of a man who has gotten up by the power of the gospel.

Which I find amazing because I meet a lot of people that claim to have been touched by Christ, but they have no interest in the church. They they they claim to have been touched by Christ and maybe so. So you're probably just in a backslidden slate state. But there are some who who claim to have been touched by God, but they're not walking in. They're walking out of the church.

And more and more they're drifting away from the church. More and more they're going back to just the gate and they just want to hang out on the fringes. How is that so? This man shows us that when he touches you, you want to be in. You want to be with God's people.

How are you hang? Do you find more joy hanging out with worldly people than God's people? Do you find yourself having more in common with the world than with Christians? That's a dangerous thing, unless the people that you know are not truly Christians. Psalm 16, the psalmist says, I delight in the righteous.

Like he talks about not just delighting in the presence of God. He says, I delight in the company of the righteous. You have this new desire to be with God's people. You have a new desire to be in God's house. And I fear for some, even in this house, they're walking the other way.

They're walking outside. They're not in anymore. And when they come, they're not here to praise God. They're not here to praise God. It's obvious.

The third man is in Acts chapter nine. Acts chapter nine. Verse 34. And Peter said to him, Anais, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise, there it is again, and make your bed.

And immediately he rose. Who notices? And all the residents of Lida and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord. The first man saw change and people noticed a change in his home. The second man came into the temple and guess what?

It's amazing. Back to that temple idea, it says that the outsiders who recognized him as the one who begged, now saw him in the temple. You know, people in your life should should look at your life and say, why are you so interested in church? Why are you finding yourself in God's house? Why do you do that on the weekends?

They should notice that you are at one place, but now your interest is in the temple of God. It's in the house of God. And here now, here's the third man, it's not the temple, it's not the home, it's everybody outside of those two realities. This man, as he got up, the residents of his neighborhood, the people at his workplace, the people at his school noticed, you are walking now. And the verse earlier says that he had been paralyzed for eight years.

People who have known you for years after you encounter Christ should look at you and say, you're different. You're different. I don't know what it is, but I can tell. You talk different. You don't joke the same.

You don't find your interest in the same things. What happened to you? And as a result of this man walking, many turned to the Lord. How powerful is that? So here we see three people that affect every area of their life, and that's true of you and me when we walk the way Christ wants us to walk.

And so ask yourself, has my home notice a difference. Do I find myself in the house of God more than I ever thought I could be? Do I find delight in the people of God? Do I want to praise God? Do you notice that a lot of the times when these paralyzed men walk, the result was they praised God.

You can't tell me that you've received a touch from him and you don't want to worship him. You can't tell me that. The miracle of spiritual rebirth should have the same result as one who would be healed physically. Imagine a man who is physically healed and how he would respond according to the scriptures. You see them praising God.

You see them obviously responding. How is it that when people are spiritually crippled, spiritually healed, don't have that response? It baffles me. How does it not lead you to certain places? How does it not bring change in about the spheres of your life?

So what happens? These men walk differently and they show us that we ought to too. Now Paul comes back here in Ephesians four. Ephesians four verse 18. And he begins to describe these people who are not believers and the contrast that believers have with non believers.

At the end of 17, he says that they are in the futility of their minds. Futility meaning there's a purposelessness. There's a uselessness. There's a pointlessness in their thinking. Their minds don't hold any significance, any weight, any room for God and his glory.

The thinking of a non believer is wired for self. It's about me. It's about my desires. They might be kind. They they might be nice.

But their ambition is about me, myself, and I. It's about my dreams, about my desires, about my life. That's how a gentile thinks. That's how a non believer thinks. There's no goal in their life, nor is there any pleasure that they meditate on that has any link to relation to God.

In Psalms ten four, it talks about the wicked and it says that the wicked in in their thinking, there is no room for God in their thoughts. There is no room for God in their thoughts. Not so with somebody who's been touched by the gospel. You know, think it's just outward change? No no no.

There's deep inward change. In fact, the inward change produces that outward change. When you come to Christ, guess who moves into your thinking? Jesus. Guess who moves into your meditations?

Jesus. Guess who moves into your planning? Jesus. Guess who moves in? When you want to plan your future and think about how it's gonna unfold, you think about the glory of God, you think about how this is gonna affect his name, you're gonna think about how this is gonna line up with his will for your life.

That's what happens when you come to Christ. He moves into your thought pattern. The Psalmist talks about this idea of meditating upon the Lord even in his bed. There's delight. There's joy.

There's this sense of God being present in somebody's thought life. Is that true of you? You know before you were saved that God was not even a thought. And if he was a thought, it was maybe in a moment of deep deep trouble or conviction where you say, you know, God, if I if you just help me in this situation, I'll never do it again. No.

With a believer, he moves into your thinking and he becomes the theme of your thinking. Not just that. An unbeliever is darkened in their understanding. Understanding of what, math? Understanding of what, Social skills?

Business ideas? Understanding of this, of who they really are and who God really is. They're darkened in their understanding. They really don't know how depraved they are. They really don't know how unholy they are, and they really don't know how holy God is.

Do you notice that a lot of non believers understand how loving Christ is? Isn't that true that you talk to a non believer? What verse comes up the most? Judge not lest you be judged. Right?

The go to verse to justify my sin. Read the context. Oh, they understand the compassion. You you take him through the law and they and you ask him, will you go to heaven based on the fact that you just confessed yourself that you will not have eternal life because you're a liar and you're a thief? And they'll say, yeah, but God is forgiving.

How many times have you had that conversation with somebody? Oh, it's the love idea. Okay. Yeah. It's a perverted love.

But they failed to see the holiness of God. And what brings clarity both to the understanding of who we are and who God is? The gospel. The gospel. The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

In second Corinthians four six, look what the apostle says. He says, the same God I'm paraphrasing. The same God who said, let there be light shown in our hearts that we may receive the light of the glory of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So the same God that spoken to the chaotic world that was void and dark and empty and said, let there be light. That same power, that same revelation, that same illumination is the same thing that happens when the gospel comes forth and is received.

There is light that burst forth. And what you realize in that moment is how unholy I am and how holy he is. But non believers don't have that understanding. And you and I grow in that understanding. Read Paul's life and if you see the dates of his letters, if you study that, you'll realize in his later letters, he just realized how sinful he is more and more.

And how glorious the gospel is. And how the grace of God is overwhelming. Chief of sinners. The least of these. The least of the apostles.

They're darkened in their understanding. Not only that, they're alienated from the life of God. Now it doesn't say alienated from life. It says alienated from the life of God. There is a whole category of life that can be experienced and it's called a God centered life.

A God empowered life. A holy life. And he's saying they're alienated from that kind of a life. Oh, they're living, but they're walking dead men. Oh, they're living, but they're living a life that they could not even imagine.

Could come close to the joy, and the peace, and the sense of purpose that comes when you live the life of God. Not too long ago, I was having a conversation with somebody. They were talking about how scared they were about coming into relationship with Jesus. They were terrified of the idea. And very gently said, hold on.

So this God, he wants to forgive you of all your sin and give you eternal life. He wants to fill you with his holy spirit to give you that peace that surpasses understanding, to give you a joy unspeakable, and to give you a sense of fulfillment that you'll never have to run to anything other than him. He wants to give you and unveil to you his purpose for your life so that you can advance his kingdom. And on top of that, he wants to reward you. He wants to reward you with eternal rewards, with the same power, and with the power that he's giving you to actually perform the task.

So you hear all that. What's scary about that? What's scary about that? But see, they're alienated from the life of God. Why?

Because of the ignorance that is in them. There's ignorance. And that ignorance is due to what? The hardness of heart. The hearts are hardened.

And that hardness will not submit to the truth and that truth produces an ignorance, so they have a faulty view of God. They have a faulty view of the purposes of God, a faulty view of the gospel. And that hardness can be caused by many things, but it has the same result, rejection of God Almighty and the gospel of Jesus Christ. So what does he say here? He says that that kind of person, that non believer, though they've rejected the life of God, they have given themselves over to a different type of living.

What is that different type of living? It's It's found in the next verse. They've become callous and have given themselves. They have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. When you reject this life of God and choose to live for self, whether you know it or not, you've given yourself to a different master.

Jesus said it. If you practice sin, you're a slave to sin. Romans six tells us you are no longer a slave to sin, but you are a slave to righteousness. There's only two categories. There's only two possibilities.

You're either a slave to righteousness, you're a slave to God, or you're a slave to sin and to the flesh and even the devil himself. Which one are you? And he's saying here, because of the rejection, they've given themselves up to the passions, the the sensuality of the flesh. See, the flesh is stronger because you've rejected the power that can give you the power to overcome it. And so now, the flesh wins the arguments between the voices.

And you are now compelled by the desires of the flesh. And those desires will lead you to walk and to be with people and to be in locations and to be at events that you never thought you would be at, but you can't you can't help it. You are lured by this. Some of you even, now in Christ, look back at your life and you realize, how did I do those things? How did I hang out with those kind of people?

How did I find myself in those locations and those events? Because you were the master, you were under the mastership of sin. The lordship of the flesh. And this is the climactic verse here of of Paul's scriptures and argument. This is what he's saying here that's so vital concerning the new life in Christ.

Verse 20, But that is not the way you learned Christ. Pay attention here. That is not the way you learn Christ. What is he saying here? You did not learn a Christ and you did not understand the gospel that does not have an impact on the way you live as a response to this gospel.

That's not the Christ that you learned about. And this verse right here shatters any debate or argument around how the gospel affects somebody's behavior and lifestyle and habits as a response to it. Bear with me here. You did not learn a Christ that when he comes into your life doesn't change you. You did not learn a Christ who says that you can believe in him and still live like a gentile.

You did not learn a Christ that says you can accept me into your heart, but still live in the indulgent of your sensualities. You did not learn a Christ that when he comes in does not infuse you with a holy desire for his word and his presence. You did not learn a Christ that says, just accept my name. Just believe in me and whatever happens, happens. Go as you please.

You're good. You learned the Christ that when you said yes to the gospel of grace, you are now empowered to live holy. You did learn a Christ that when you accepted him as Lord of your life, he now gives you a new path to walk on. You did learn a Christ that when you said yes to him, you have a hatred for sin, a desire for purity, and you want to walk this life with the main ambition to represent his son. That's the Christ that you learned.

In other words, let's summarize it to this people of God. If Christ didn't change you, Christ didn't save you. Why is that important? Because more and more in my sphere of life, am I realizing that there is actually a spread of this of this doctrine, that because we are saved by grace, because it's by faith alone and it is, based on your belief in that truth, it doesn't matter how you live because we're not saved by works. Isn't that doesn't that sound very good?

There's so much truth in that, but just a little bit untruth that can do great damage. In fact, eternally. So you receive Christ, you believe on him, and you can live as an adulterer. You're You're saying, people really believe this. People preach this.

You can live like the world. You can live in your sin. There's no victory over sin. There's no change. There's no fruit.

There's no desire. You're not people in your home don't see a difference. You don't find yourself in the temple of God. You don't find yourself and and people around you at your workplace seeing that there's some change in the way you react to situation and respond to circumstances. No.

No. No. That's fine man. It's by it's by grace. It's through faith and that's what your bank is.

It's not by your works, so don't look at your works. Hey. Paul is preaching a different Christ here. You did not learn Christ that way. That's not the Christ that I'm preaching.

That's not the Christ that you read about in the scriptures. Again, just for the sake of clarity and I know we know this, but please, so you don't hear me wrong, we're not saved by works. But works is the result of your salvation. You can't receive this life in you where you are paralyzed and crippled in your sin and not walk differently. I know it's simple but there are people that are teaching a different Christ.

You did not learn Christ that way because when Christ saves you, Christ changes you and sets you on a new course. And we talked about those three men, but Paul has his own idea and it's completely in harmony with what we just said earlier. What happens when somebody learns the true Christ? What happens to somebody when they receive Christ by faith because of grace? Verse 21.

He goes, assuming that you heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, create after likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. The first thing that happens. One of the realities of a person that learns the true Christ, the true gospel of Jesus Christ, is that they put off the old self. They put off the old self. I want to ask you a question, a very sobering question, a very probably helpful even practice mentally.

If I were to give you a blank piece of paper this morning after the service, I was to give you a pen, and I would say, just in the next fifteen, twenty minutes, I want you to write down all the things that you gave up as a result of following Jesus. What would you be able to write? Just pause and think about that for a moment. What things are coming to your mind right now? Now, what does he have in mind with talking about putting off the old self?

He's talking about desires. He's talking about habits. He's talking about the way you respond, attitude, sinful things that you indulge yourself in. What did you lay aside when Christ said get up and walk? Think.

Were you a liar? Did you habituate lie? Was your future your god? Was your boyfriend your god? What changed in your thinking?

What what altered when you said yes? What did you put aside? Because the idea here is taking off, almost taking off dirty clothes, leaving it aside, and walking with new garments. So what did you say bye bye to when you said yes to Jesus? Meditate on that.

Think about that. He says, you put off the old self. I can't think of a greater picture of this in John chapter four with the woman at the well. In light of this woman realizing who she was, Jesus so gently exposed the fact that she was a woman that was living with different men and different times, and she was just in relationships over and over again. She realized who she was in light of his prophetic insight, and she also realized who he was when she said, you know, the Messiah is going to come and make this all clear.

He goes, yeah, I'm he. What did she do? It says here in verse 28, the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people. You know what she did? She left her water jar in response to those things and walked away from it.

What does that mean? It means that the very thing that was in her life, the very instrument that she was dependent upon to give her a source and a sense of satisfaction, when she met the fountain of living water, dropped that jar, and and was dependent upon him from that moment on? What did you leave behind when you came to Christ? Nothing. Nothing changed.

Nothing changed at that altar call. Nothing changed when you said yes. Nothing. You didn't leave anything behind. You didn't say, this was the source of my satisfaction, now Christ is the source.

Nothing? Are you believing in another Christ? Have you learned a different Christ? Because the Christ that Paul preached, the Christ that was presented here and is presented in the scriptures, this is the reality. When you come into the knowledge of him and you say yes to him in relation, you leave something behind.

Something changes. You leave that water jar and you drink of him from that moment on. Not just that. What happens? There's a renewing of the mind.

You put off the former manner of life, which is corrupt through your deceitful desires and you are renewed in the spirit of your minds. So now there's this new activity in your life. There's this new drive in your life and it's this, I want to change the way I think. And now that I've come into contact with this person, I actually want to know this person and I want to live like this person. And so I actively pursue a process and practice called renewing the attitude of my mind.

And that's the life that you take on. That's priority in your living. I love this picture, Mark chapter five, the man of the Garris scenes who is possessed by a legion of demons. And what happens? Christ comes in, and the very chains that people chained them could not sustain, could not retain him.

That's a picture of whatever it is, works, man made counseling, philosophies of men, could not keep this man down, could not subdue his nature. But when Christ came in, everything changed. And when Christ comes in and changes this man, this is the result of it. He is there sitting at his feet. The town comes in and they see this man sitting at the feet of Jesus, rightly clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Notice as a response to Jesus healing and delivering this man, he finds himself sitting at Jesus's feet. That's where he finds himself as a response. And not only that, it gets even more beautifully intense. When the crowd convinces Christ to leave the region, we want nothing to do with you because we are more concerned about our economy and our business than you delivering people. Move on, Jesus.

It says as he was getting into the boat, verse 18 of Mark five, it says and he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. What a picture that when Christ was leaving the scene, this man who had been touched by him runs to him and says, I want to stay with you. Don't leave without me. I beg you. I want to sit at your feet all the days of my life.

I want to hear the words that you have to say. I thank you for delivering me, but I want to know the one who delivered me. Was that a response to the gospel when you said yes? That it wasn't just thank you for saving my soul, but I wanna be with you. I wanna walk this life with you.

I wanna sit at your feet and hear your words like Mary of Bethany. I want my mind renewed. I don't want to just have this salvation and live for myself, but I want to live like the one who saved me. And I want him to be the theme of my thinking, and I want him to be the theme of my song. Christ, I want you.

I need you. I beg you. Take me wherever you go. For certain that you're with me. No matter how much I'm promoted, no matter where you take me, no matter what it is, Christ, I want to sit at your feet, renew my mind, renew my heart, transform.

Oh, how many people think and believe they're saved but have no desire to walk like Christ? First John two six contradicts that. If you claim to abide in him, you have to at least have the desire to walk as he walked. And so now there's this new purpose in your life to be like Jesus. Okay.

Fine. I'm a businessman, but my number one goal is to be like Jesus as a businessman. Fine. I'm called to be a mother. I'm gonna be a mother that reflects Jesus.

And the third and last thing is putting on the new self. So you put off the old self. You actively pursue this renewing of your mind. To do what? To put on the new self.

This is amazing. It's it's it's calling the people to action. You have to take off the old self. Like, you gotta make a choice and you got to renew your mind and you act you actually have to put on the new self. You gotta clothe yourself with Christ.

You gotta do that day by day. Put on the new self. What does this new self look like? What does this new garment look like? What does this new outfit look like?

It's created after the likeness of God. In true two things, righteousness and holiness. Righteousness and holiness. Do you have a desire for righteousness? Oh, yeah.

No. No. No. Do you have a desire for righteousness? And do you have a desire for holiness?

The same way you put on your pants, your socks, and everything else, you want every detail of your life covered with the garments of righteousness. You want every area of your life, the same way every part of your body is clothed, you want it to be holy. Do you know what that means? It's not just this general idea of being holy, it's I want my lips to be holy. I want my clothing to be holy.

I want my attitude to be holy. I want the things that I indulge in concerning entertainment and all I wanted to be holy. I wanted to be holy. I wanted to be righteous. I want to be like Jesus.

Created after the likeness of God. What does that mean? There's an important theological truth there. It means that when we, our first parents, sinned against God, they died that day. They ate of the fruit.

Right? But they were still alive. But what? As we learned, they were alienated from the life of God, separated from relationship to God. Their spiritual man died.

And what happened as a result is that they being created in the image of God did not lose that image, but it became deformed. And it was marred. And the way we get it back, the way we are restored into the fullness of the image of God is in relationship to Jesus Christ in a sanctifying process. That as we walk with Christ, we are now what? That life is back again.

We have the life of God in us again. The breath of God comes into us the same way when Adam, that breath came in and breathed in. The Holy Spirit breathes into you when you say yes to Christ. And not only that, now you are actively in this process of being restored into the image of God. And what does it look like?

Righteousness and holiness. And you think that's very awesome, but what does that look like specifically? You're gonna have to come next week to find out. Because what Paul does now is from verse 25 down, begins to show us what it means to be created in the likeness of God and to put on these things. And you know what?

Really, it has to focus on more than anything, a lot of things. But there's great emphasis on the tongue. The tongue. That this putting on actually has to do a lot with how you and I talk, which is a manifestation of the heart. Paul here really thinks it's important that believers ought to walk as Christ walked and not as the Gentiles.

So much so that he seems to be almost repeating himself because how much do we need to be reminded? I wanna ask you sobering question. If you claim to follow Jesus, when you walked home after that moment, did your home notice it? Do you find yourself in the house of God because you have this desire to be amongst God's people in his presence under the preaching of his word. Do people around you, the residents of Lyda and Chicagoland, wherever it is, do they notice that you I've known you for eight years.

I've known you since kindergarten, but you walk differently. Is it true? Is it true? It's not just a New Testament principle, it's Old Testament. Jacob is being approached and wrestled by God.

And what happens? Very clearly, it says that God touched his hip. And very clearly, a few verses after, it says that he was limping in that new day because of his hip. He walked differently after God touched him. You can't claim to be touched by God and not have a limp.

You walk differently. And guess what? Jacob, I'm sure, could have shared that story a billion times. But what made it more available and more rather believable was that he walked differently. He walked differently.

Many times when these people in the New Testament were healed of their paralysis and walked, they didn't really need to say much. Their lifestyle said something. That's not saying we don't preach the gospel. We need to preach the gospel. But man, when you live what Christ called you to live as a response to the gospel in your life, people should at least be intrigued or curious based on the fact that you live differently.

So this is two part. This is one, an examining message for those in here that claim to have been touched, that heard the word rise, get up, and walk. Where did that lead you and how did it affect your environments? And number two, may you and I be stirred this morning to be reminded that there is so much more to learn and so much more to grow in and so many more people to affect and so much more holiness and righteousness, so much more work to be done in us so that we can reflect the image of God. Don't live like the Gentiles.

Don't think like the Gentiles. Don't act like the Gentiles. You are called for something greater. That is what happens when you respond to the gospel. Don't believe otherwise.

This is not how you learned Christ. A Christ that saved you but didn't change you is a Christ that's contrary to this book. Let's pray. Just in your own heart, you could be one of those two people this morning. You could be the one that, yes, you did receive a touch from the Lord.

Yes, you did receive Christ as savior, but you're in a backslidden state. Not where God wants you to be. This is the opportunity to say, Lord, bring me back on track. Or you could be somebody who has believed in a gospel that says that you can believe but not be changed by this truth. And that could all change in this moment where you can say, Lord, I wanna touch from you in such a way where I cannot help but leap up and praise you, whether I'm in the home, whether I'm in the house of God, whether I'm at work, whether the residents see me, my neighbors, they'll notice that I at least walk differently.

They may not want it. They may not want to receive Christ because of it, but at least they'll notice you're walking. You're walking. You're different. Make that call to the Lord.

Make that call to Lord this morning saying, Lord, may this moment may this moment be the turning point, and I'm gonna bring my mat up, and I'm gonna take it home praising you. And let me give this strong warning and encouragement. You can't pretend. It's not you leaving here saying, okay, I'm gonna just change my behavior. It's you really receiving Christ as Lord and Savior and allowing his Holy Spirit to live in you.

And as a result of that, everything else comes. And so as we sing in a moment, just in the simplicity of your heart, ask the lord change me. I want a testimony. Father, this morning, we thank you for your word that you call us to new life, and that you give us the power to walk when we're crippled. And you call us to walk in a certain direction in a certain way.

Here is not walking according to the word of God because of their ignorance, their hardness of heart, because of a false belief in a Christ, they learned a Christ that's not according to this book. Lord, today may be a turning point. And may they hear the words, rise, get up, take up your mat, and walk. Different direction, they're walking outside of the temple. They're not walking in.

They're walking with different people. They're not walking with those who've also been touched. God, not a life apart from God, that we are called to, Lord, make it known in the hearts of every person. Maybe even people that are not here as a result of the maybe because people right now are not here, Lord, and they're not hearing this. May you take this somehow, someway, and cut their hearts with it wherever they are to show them that they need to be where you call them to be.

Where Pray these things in Jesus' name.