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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/the-walk-of-the-believer/
I ask you to open your Bible, please, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. It's a privilege to be back at the Stout Conference. We enjoyed the ministry this morning and we trust the Lord will give the needed help now this afternoon.
Ephesians, chapter 4, we'll read in at verse 17, please. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 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, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, sensuality, perversion, to work all on cleanness with greediness.
But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. That ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore, putting away all lying, falsehood, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole, steal no more. But robber, let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Now the Lord will bless to us the reading from his word. In the book of Ephesians, we are presented with Christ as being the head, and the church is presented as his body. Amazingly, in chapter 1, Paul will show that the Lord Jesus Christ as the head would not be complete without his body, his people.
The fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now it's the sovereign working of God that we find that has brought about such blessedness, and brought us into such blessedness, as being united indissolubly with Christ.
His spirit has been put within us, and that forms the bond uniting us to him, and then uniting us to one another. And so we have this presented to us in the early part of the epistle. When we come to chapter 4, from which we've read, we find that we are called to walk worthy of this calling of God.
So as members of one body, which has its supply from Christ the risen head, verse 11 through 16 of our chapter, we find that gifts have been given to the body, so that spiritual supply and nourishment will be ministered to all that are forming a part of that body, which is fitly joined together.
And so God will supply the spiritual need of each one. We are compacted or united together by that which every joint supplieth, through every joint, through every liquiture of supply, each member doing his part for the good of the whole.
That's it. Now you and I as believers are in that body. Christianity is not supposed to be a spectator sport where you sit on the sidelines as a kind of observer and you observe others being actively involved in the things of God and in the work of God.
God's design is that each one of us will be doing our part. We should be intelligently proactive in love, living for the good of one another, for the benefit of the whole, and for the encouragement of each other.
So from chapter four right through to chapter six, we are called to live a life that's worthy of this calling. Paul will touch upon every department of our lives as he moves through. There will be that which will touch upon corporate gathering, congregational life, if you will.
There will be aspects of our personal life that needs to be dealt with, and he speaks about that. He'll touch upon family life. He'll touch upon social life. He'll touch upon secular life, masters, servants, and so on.
Because Christianity enters into every department of life, and there's a practical implication that needs to be worked out from the great blessings into which we have been brought. Now coming to the section that we've read, because time will fly quickly, I want to divide it in this way.
Verses 17 to 19, you'll notice is described for us the character of a worthless life. The character of a worthless life. From verse 20 on down, there's the consciousness of a worthy life, a life that should be lived for his glory.
So verse 17 then, he says, This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, the Lordship of Christ is emphasized right away, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk. And he will begin to describe for us how other Gentiles walk.
He'll present the features of a worthless life. Now by grace, we are no longer looked upon by God as Gentiles. All right? I know ethnically, most of us here are not linked with the Jewish race. But in Christ Jesus is how God looks upon us.
And so this change has been brought about because of conversion. And God now looks upon us in Christ, and our walk should be changed as a result. So how do the Gentiles walk? Well, he says, they walk in the vanity of their mind.
We were hearing about vanity already today. Now this is not pride. This is not looking in the mirror all the time and taking 500 selfies per day. This is emptiness of mind. The Gentiles, the unconverted, they walk with an empty mind towards God.
And of course, they're occupied with the things of the world. Mind you, there's an emptiness, an emptiness of mind about worldliness. I saw a thing on the computer the other day, maybe you saw it too, but it said profanity is the expression of a weak mind.
Certain truth to that. But actually, profanity is an expression of an empty mind. And so Paul is saying, don't be walking like the Gentiles with an empty mind. Verse 18, having the understanding darkened, the thinking processes have been darkened so that the light of eternal realities doesn't penetrate.
And anybody that has been involved in gospel work, you know what this is all about. The message can be set out so simple, so clear, so plain, and yet there's just a deadness of mind. Their understanding is darkened so that the light of eternal realities doesn't shine in.
They're alienated from the life of God. They're strangers to it. They don't have this life within. We are natural born aliens. To quote chapter two from the Commonwealth of Israel, dead in trespasses and in sins, in the dark, because of the blindness of their heart.
So Paul says, don't be walking like this. Verse 19, who being past feeling, that is to become insensitive, to become callous to the things of God, there's a deep-seated hardness in their heart. Their heart is blinded toward God, verse 18, and now the conscience, verse 19, is insensitive to the wrong of sin.
They've given themselves over, he says, unto lasciviousness. That's sensual lewdness, nudity, sensual sins. To walk, to work all uncleanness, that is they make uncleanness, impurity, they make it in every way their business.
With greediness, that's an insatiable desire, desire, excuse me, for more uncleanness. Now the media of the day is full of this, isn't it? Absolutely full of it. The internet for family use has been around, I suppose, for what, 25 years or thereabouts.
We started getting computers into our homes, and that internet has accelerated the descent of man into sensual lewdness. The pornography industry, I was looking it up, it's worth $12 billion in the U .S. alone per year, $12 billion.
And 35 of all internet downloads is related to this scourge of pornography. Young people are being taken in with this and are being ensnared in their teens, in their teens to this abomination. So this too will be covered by walk, not as other Gentiles walk.
Because if you do, you too will become callous and hardened to all that is good and to all that is wholesome. And this is presented to us as how the Gentiles walk. So don't walk like that. That's the character of a worthless life.
But moving from the negative, we come to the positive in verse 20. What a lovely point it is to come to this, but ye have not so learned Christ. There is a balm in Gilead, isn't there? And so he's presenting to them now, to their minds, to their hearts, the very person of Christ.
You, emphatic, you Christians, have not so learned Christ, Christ in his perfections, Christ in his flawlessness, in the purity of his heart, in the absolute holiness of his walk, in the spotless purity that's found in him.
We've learned a little of his character. He didn't walk like the Gentiles, did he? No, no. But you and I are called to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. We have not been called, brothers and sisters, to gratify self with every pleasurable thing that you can get into.
But you have been called to be like Christ, to replicate something of his character. Verse 21, If so be that ye have heard him, that's not so much the thought of the doubt, if so be, but rather since.
It's the if of argument, if you will. So having heard him, you've been instructed about the person of the Lord Jesus. We have heard the gospel accounts. We have heard the messages of the apostles about the person and character of our Lord Jesus.
And he adds this, as the truth is in Jesus. Now, for the benefit particularly of the younger believers, when you come in the epistles to an expression like that in relation to the Lord Jesus, where it's just his human name, that is significant.
As the truth is in Jesus. Jesus gave up his life in death. He relinquished his life in death. And then he rose again in the power of an indissoluble life. As the truth is in Jesus sets the pattern for what follows in relation to the believer.
In verse 22, having put off the old man. Verse 24, having put on the new man. Verse 25, having put away all falsehood. Now the grace of God has brought that about at the moment of conversion in the experience of each one.
This is the result of a work of repentance. A repudiation of what we once were. And it is brought about as a result of redemption. A taking on of what we are now in Christ. So repentance, a repudiation of what we once were.
Redemption, a taking on of what we are now in Christ. Now he's going to develop that in these verses to follow. I take it that all of us here this afternoon would recognize that we adapt our dress for certain occasions.
We cut down a tree in the front yard earlier in the week. I guarantee you, I wasn't dressed in this suit. Alright? So we do dress according to occasions. And here Paul is going to use the thought of changing our wardrobe to suit the spiritual change that conversion has brought.
And so we have, now beginning in verse 22, the old man and his wardrobe. So he says in verse 22, having put off concerning the former manner of life of the old man. Or in other words, you have put off the behavior of the old man.
Now who is the old man? Well, very simply, that is all that we were in Adam. We had our standing before conversion in Adam. Ruined by the fall. Sinners of the Gentiles. That's what we were. Now, God, now we're learning that at conversion, we put off the old man with his behavior.
So that, that behavior, notice, he says it is corrupt. It is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Now there's one thing about corruption and that is it doesn't stand still. You take some meat out of the fridge and leave it sitting there on the counter for five days and come back a week later and it's even worse than it was after five days.
You see, corruption increases. There is a progress with corruption. And so he is saying the old man behavior, if you will, is a life which is increasingly corrupting itself by being deceived. By wrong desires.
And so a life that is being lived in sin is a life that is increasingly becoming corrupt. It doesn't stand still. Now this old wardrobe, he says, has to be taken off. And his point is this, that we've been made a brand new man in Christ.
So what once pertained to us before conversion no longer should apply to us now. And so the new wardrobe is required, verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. That idea of being renewed is the thought of go on becoming this new person in the spirit of your mind.
And that's in contrast with the vanity of mind further up the chapter, verse 17. Now what is it that would renew our minds from day to day in this spiritual sense? Well, in a word, it's the person of Christ.
Occupation with Christ. Being occupied with the word of God. That will renew our minds. That will change the pattern of our thinking. So that instead of our thinking being conformed to this world, being pressed into its mold with all its relativism and secularism and humanism and all the other isms, rather our minds will be renewed day by day by being occupied with the word of God and with the person of Christ.
Now that will bring about that renewal of mind. So we are a new man and this new wardrobe is required. Verse 24, that you put on the new man. We put on as a decisive act, that's conversion, the new man, which according to God, which according to God that is in harmony with God and with his will is created in righteousness.
Now God established us in the new creation on the principle of righteousness, the work of Christ on the cross, accomplished that on a righteous basis. But in keeping with that principle of righteousness, what God has created, this new man, our new standing in Christ should be marked by righteousness, which is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So the new man is to function in this new sphere of righteousness and holiness. Now that will have a very practical outworking in our lives. Let's just challenge our hearts. In my life, is it always marked by what is right?
What I do, is it always marked by holiness? Often I will touch even financial matters. Needs to be right, needs to be marked by holiness. These practical implications of putting off and putting on, he goes on to develop that now, verse 25, wherefore putting away all lying, that is put off like a dirty garment.
Every kind of falsehood is the idea. Not just that which is spoken with the lips, that's included, but it will include shading the truth. It will include exaggeration, flattery of people when it suits us.
It would include, this falsehood would include cheating, failure to keep promises. Oh, and by the way, a Christian ought to keep appointments that he makes, unless it's absolutely essential. We should be people of our word.
And when we make an arrangement, stick to it. Marked by falsehood. The Lord Jesus was truth personified. And we ought to be marked by truthfulness and faithfulness in all that we do. Too often our words, like the weather, so changeable.
That should never be. Now he says, verse 26, be ye angry and sin not. Now, how can that be? How can you be angry and sin not? Well, to be angry with what God is angry with would be righteous. That would be righteous anger, but we ought to be careful not to sin in it.
For example, a defiant child needs to be disciplined, but the danger is a parent could do it in a fit of anger and go beyond what is appropriate in terms of punishment fitting the crime, going beyond what is required.
Someone has said, anybody can become angry, that's easy, but to be angry with the right person to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not easy. That is not easy.
And then he adds, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Now, it might be righteous anger when you say a little something, when your spouse doesn't put the laundry in the hamper, but don't carry that to bed with you.
You see, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Get the matter fixed up before that. Don't let things drag on, because verse 27, in doing so, you could give place to the devil. Harboring anger like that, even in something very small, would perhaps give Satan that operating room in our hearts.
And prolonged anger can quickly become bitterness. And that's an evil route to allow to exist in our hearts. That should never be. So neither give place to the devil. Now I'll touch upon the use of our hands here in verse 28.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands, that which is good. So the thief now, who has become converted, instead of continuing on as a thief, he's to become a giver.
Instead of taking, he's to become one who is productive in honest work and is able to supply the need of others. Because it is more blessed to give than to receive, said the Lord Jesus. The use of our hands.
Verse 29, it's the use of our mouth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. So the use of our mouth should not be used in a corrupt way, but rather that which is good for the use of edifying.
Our brother was touching on this already today. Anything that we say or use our mouths for should be for the benefit of others that there might be edified. That there might be encouraged. Say, what is it by the way, when we get together as Christians in our homes perhaps, or around the table at a restaurant, what is it that we talk about?
Oh, we can talk all day long about what happened at work. Perhaps even talk at length about what's happening in the sports world. And of course, the kids and their activities, that takes quite a chunk of the conversation.
How much time do we spend edifying one another in the things of the Lord? These things are very practical. Now, the use of our mouth. Then he says that we might minister grace unto the hearers. Let me touch on that corrupt communication.
I didn't say much on that. The idea is that which is rotten, that which is putrid like fruit that has gone off, bad talk, hurtful talk, things that are divisive, using our mouths in a way that wins people over to us and puts the other guy down.
Now, those things should not be said. So you and I as believers, we do have a choice. We can use the words of our mouth, number one, as instruments to corrupt and to bring others down or as an instrument of speaking graciously.
Of speaking graciously. Not just in what we say, but in how we say it. Remember the Lord Jesus. It said of him, Psalm 45, grace is poured into thy lips. And when the people came and they heard him, they marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.
It would be good to be known for that, wouldn't it? I am grieved not the Holy Spirit of God, verse 30, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Now, all sin and everything that is impure will certainly grieve, will vex, the Holy Spirit of God within us.
The Holy Spirit of God took up a residence within us upon believing, chapter one, verse 13. He is the down payment of God working in us, that work of redemption. Yes, we entered into the good of conversion, but it's an ongoing work in our souls.
We've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God with a view to that future work of redemption being brought to completion. When our very bodies will be changed, we'll be fashioned like unto the body of his glory.
That's our destiny. Marvelous, isn't it? Is it so, we shall be like thy son. Enjoy that hymn, Brother Don. That's the grace which God for us has won. And in the meantime, you and I are to act like members of his body.
That's the whole context of this section. As members of the body of Christ, live it, live it out, display to others to whom we belong, Christ. Verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.
That's just describing a bitterness of spirit we were thinking about, that kind of spirit that harbors grudges against those brethren or that sister. And I'll seek to undermine them. I'll seek revenge with wrath, with anger, with uncontrolled temper.
The word clamor, that's vociferous self-assertion, evil speaking, slanderous defamatory talk against any. And all malice, that's that bad feeling in which all of these things, all of these things come from.
Now, verse 32, but rather, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, so we should be gentle and gracious and helpful to each other, and compassionate, forgiving one another. Why?
Why should I forgive him? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. How many sins have we been forgiven? Well, if you knew what he did to me last week and he did it again this week, that's twice.
How many sins have you been forgiven? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. That's a high standard, isn't it? That's a high standard. So our very attitude of heart toward those that would wrong us would be forgiveness.
And as much as in us is we are to live peaceable with all men, and in so doing, reflect something of the character of the new man, something of the character of Christ himself. So let us not live lives then that are characterized by this worthlessness, but rather live lives that are conscious of what the worthy life is, a Christ-like life that will bring glory to his name.
The Lord bless his word.