Learning Christ — Tim Conway

I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 4. I just want to read verses 17 -21. My last notes from Ephesians were in February. So it's been six, seven months since we were last here. Verse 17 forms somewhat of a natural division.

It's a new section. Verse 17, the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. It's literally an infinitive verb.

You are no longer to walk in the futility of their minds. They're 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. Some translations say being past feeling. There's no more feeling. That's what a callous is. And they've given themselves up to sensuality. Again, some translations might say unbridled lust.

Greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Now, Romans 1, Ephesians 2, Ephesians 4 give us some of the best, most thorough, most graphic description of the lost man. Now notice verse 20. But, that is not the way you learned Christ.

Learning Christ Instead of Walking Like the Gentiles

And that's the title of my message. Learning Christ. That is not the way you learned Christ. Assuming that you have heard... if you have the ESV, you're going to see the word about. That word is not in the original.

There is a difference between hearing Him and hearing about Him. Now when He speaks, He may tell you about Himself. But this isn't just hearing about Christ. This is hearing Christ. Not about. I think the ESV did wrong.

You just don't throw words like that indiscriminately around. Assuming that you have heard Him or if indeed you have heard Him and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. Now, I want to talk to you just for a second about morality.

What is morality? A person that's moral. Well, the idea that we have, if you basically look at a dictionary definition of the word morality, it's basically conformity to a set of rules. Whose rules? Well, whoever's.

Different people have different standards of what morality looks like. What's supposed to be right conduct. Morality is a system of morals. It's a system of rules that a person is supposed to keep and it's expected that if you keep them, then you're moral.

Now, the thing about Christianity, is there a standard of righteousness? Yes, indeed, there is in Christianity. But, here's the thing, Scripture doesn't just give you the moral code. Scripture goes beyond that.

It always presses us to realize why certain things are right or certain things are wrong. Have you ever noticed all the words? Have you ever noticed, especially, we've been going through Paul. Have you ever noticed words like so, but, and, wherefore, for, wherefore?

Those words come in because Paul is arguing. Paul is logically developing a case for things. Paul doesn't just say do this or don't do that. I mean, he does say do this, don't do that. But he gives us reasons.

He develops why. Morality is more or less a set of blind rules. You're told to do something for the mere reason that it's one of the rules. Just do it. I think this is very erroneous when you get preachers who will just simply tell you what to do or what not to do, but they don't reason from Scripture as to why.

They don't appeal to the mind. They don't make a case. They don't show you. Because Scripture doesn't just come in and say hey, just don't do this or just do this. Scripture comes in and there's some rationale.

And the truth is we can reduce Scripture to where it's no more than morality. Because we just say... It's kind of like what you see here. I mean, look at this. You go down to v. 28. "...Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor.".

Well, see, somebody could preach that and just say that. We ought not to steal. But that's to miss what Paul's doing here. I mean, you have to go back up to v. 25. What happens in v. 25? You get a therefore.

What are therefores there for? They connect our doctrine to our practice. They give you reasons. They appeal to your mind. Live a certain way. Don't live a certain way because certain things are real.

Certain things are true. You can get preachers who just stand up and they say, do this. They can make Scripture into nothing more than rules. We don't want to do that. We want to hear the rationale here.

For a preacher to do that, to reduce principles in Scripture to just mere and sheer morality, it's to miss something. Christianity always causes us to think. The truth is Christianity is a religion of the mind.

So often people look at Christians and they say they think we're mindless. They think we're simple. They think to believe those things, you've got to be naive. You've got to be backwards. That's just the opposite.

Scripture everywhere appeals to our reason, to our thinking, to our understanding. Isn't that what God says? Come, let us reason together. He doesn't just say do this, do that. It's reason. I mean, look at v. 25.

Therefore. What does that flow out of? That flows out of the reality of v. 22 that we're to put off the old man, be renewed in the spirits of our mind, put on the new man, therefore, you see what it flows out of?

You're a new creation. Therefore, you don't steal. Therefore, you don't use your mouth the way you used to. There's an argument being set forth here. Paul wants to engage our mind and think. It's not just do this or not do this.

We're supposed to be a people that are thinking. There needs to be rationale behind our actions. Why we do something, why we don't do something. The so's. If we fail to realize the so's and the because's and the therefore's of Paul's writings, we don't really understand them at all.

We walk by faith and our faith is not mindless. Our faith grabs hold of truth. We believe things in our minds and we act out the reality of those facts. This is precisely what we're confronted with in v. 17 -24.

I've been dealing with v. 25 and following, but if you go back to these first, I want you to see this. Here the word that takes us beyond morality is this little three-letter word. It's the word, but, in v. 20.

Ephesians 4 .20, but. But, that is not the way you learned Christ. Can we tell a Christian to just simply stop acting like a lost person? Stop being Gentile-ish. Can we just tell a person that? Well, of course we can.

But if we stop there, we do what Paul does not do. Paul doesn't stop at that. Don't walk like Gentiles walk. Why? Why? Why shouldn't we? And I think this is a very interesting thing that he appeals to.

I mean, it's a tremendous reality. That is not the way you learn Christ. What a picture of Christianity. Not just you're not going to hell. That's not the way you learn Christ. And you know what? As I put this together, my fear is this.

I wonder if we feel this. If we even feel the rationale. You know, if you say to somebody, like you know Jesus comes along and He says, you really should cut that hand off or gouge out that eye, because it's better to go into life maimed than to have your whole body cast into hell.

That's a rationale that grips us. Ooh, there's fear. We feel that. We feel the weight of that argument. Do that and you perish. Don't be deceived. The unrighteous don't inherit the fornicators, the adulterers.

We feel that. But do you feel this? That's not the way you learn Christ. I mean, do you feel like I feel the force of that? I suspect we don't quite honestly. So let's just think about it a bit. I want us to feel this.

Hearing Christ and Being Taught by Him

Now think with me here. Notice what he says. That is not the way you learned Christ. Now he's actually going to say this three different ways. You'll notice the next verse. He's using synonyms here. Synonymous phrases.

Notice, the way you learn Christ, assuming that you have heard, again, toss that about. If you've got an ESV, just scratch it right out of your Bible. It shouldn't be there. You see, you learn Christ.

You hear Christ. Not just about Him. You hear Him. And then notice what it says next. And we're taught in Him. Get that. We're taught from the inside. Not from the outside looking in. We're taught from the inside.

We're taught in Jesus. Here's the thing, people can sit and listen to the Gospel their entire lives and never hear it. Being taught by Christ. Do you see what he's saying? He's saying to these Ephesians, look, this isn't the way you learn Christ.

Oh, assuming you've heard Him. What he's doing here is he's making the assumption you might not have heard Him. Well, wait a second, you're sitting in the church. You're hearing the preaching. But see, somebody can sit and listen to the Gospel and never actually hear it.

Our Lord said things like this, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here.'". Now, listen to Jesus. There's an hour coming and it's now here. That was 2 ,000 years ago. So it's still here.

There's an hour coming when what? The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. You see, there's a voice. The voice of the Son of God. Those who hear will live, but not all hear because not all live.

Or you have something like this, a similar truth. Jesus said this, "'It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God.'". Who? All the ones who are real. Not everybody. All the ones who are truly born of God.

Listen to what He says. "'Everyone who has heard and learned.'". There's two of our words right there. "'Everyone who has heard and learned.'". Now here, it's not so much heard and learned of Christ, but heard and learned of the Father comes to Me.

So if the Father speaks and you hear, you know how you can tell somebody hears? They truly come to Christ. No playing games. It doesn't say they come to church. It doesn't say they make some decision.

The reality is they come to Christ. Why? Because they've heard, but not all hear. Do you remember? Sometimes you probably just read across this. It's uncomfortable language, so we just get by it as soon as we can and what does that mean?

And we scratch our heads and then we move on. This is what John says, "'You have been anointed by the Holy One and you all have knowledge.'". Again, who's all? Not everybody indiscriminately. It's all who have been anointed.

"'You've been anointed by the Holy One and when you get this anointing, you have knowledge.'". That's 1 John 2 v. 20. But listen to what he says in v. 27. "'The anointing...'. The anointing. That's an uncomfortable word.

And yet, it's a reality. John says this, "'The anointing that you received from Him abides in you.'". And this is what the anointing does to us. "'You have no need that anyone should teach you, but as His anointing teaches you about everything.'".

You like that? God's anointing teaches you about everything. It doesn't mean it teaches you about calculus. It doesn't mean it teaches you about weather patterns. What it means is this, it teaches you everything that you need to know to have eternal life.

It teaches you the important things. "'His anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you.'". It has taught you. The anointing has taught you. What happens?

You get taught. Why? Because you hear. You hear what other people don't hear. This is the reality. It's the same distinction we make between seeing and perceiving. Diego and I were just down in Ecuador.

We went to go see whales. By the way, we saw whales. We saw 50-ton, 50-feet long humpback whales coming sometimes fully out of the water. But you know when we first got there, it was almost like the Lord brought them in to us so that we could see them.

But when we first got there, there was nothing. I mean, we got there and Carlos Cañar, who's leading the work down there, we climbed up on top of this mountain and he'd point, look there! And from the vantage point on top of the mountain, you could literally see, I don't know, 20 miles, 30 miles, 50 miles out there.

And he's pointing at something. At first I looked and I saw ocean, but I didn't perceive what I should perceive. But then there it was. Whoa! You know how they blow the spray when they breathe? It's like, I see it!

There they are! But this is the same way. We can look and not perceive. I looked at first and I saw ocean, but I couldn't perceive the whales. But it's like hearing. A person can sit and they can hear the preaching and not really hear the preaching.

The Voice of Christ and True Conversion

What this is all implying is this, there is a voice. There is a voice. When people are proclaiming truth, when somebody stands in a pulpit and proclaims the truth, there is their voice, but then there is the voice.

And they issue in all of this. You see, the whole rationale here is you don't live like Gentiles because you heard a voice and it said something to you. That's the reality. It's like you can see and not see.

And there are some who do see. It's kind of like looking at those whales or looking at a sunset or looking at the mountains or looking at a flower. Some will say, wow! I see the glory of God and they'll worship.

And some will say, huh? It's just a flower. You see, some see. And some just see. That's the issue. To hear Christ and be taught of Him and learn Christ, it doesn't just mean that you've listened to sermons.

It doesn't just mean that you have a Bible. It doesn't even mean that you found the sermon interesting or cried. That kind of thing happens all the time. Or felt your emotions stirred. Or you felt some kind of conviction.

You can be moved upon by a sermon and yet not hear the voice. You can't even know what was said. People are able to dissect sermons or dissect theology from an intellectual standpoint, but they never hear the voice.

Listen, this is a reality. And this is all that is behind Paul's argument here. He's assuming this. He's assuming you Ephesians and you San Antonians, he's assuming this. There's a reason why you can't walk like Gentiles because of the voice.

And it is said something to you if you're real. You know why some people can just go along and they can attend church, they can own a Bible, and they can continue to be like Gentiles? Because they haven't been taught in a way that is very personal and very real, comes home to the heart, to the conscience, to the mind, to the understanding.

To accept the truth with the intellect alone. It's not the same as learning Christ. The Christian is anointed. What a truth that is. What does this look like? What happens is you don't just hear the truth.

You don't just hear the Gospel. You do hear it. But it takes your whole being. It draws you in. You realize the significance of the Gospel in a way that you never realized it before. You realize the significance of Christ.

You realize the significance of all of this for you. It becomes very personal. This is for me. He died for me. He thought about me on that cross. He laid down His life for His sheep. I'm one of the sheep.

This is real. Christianity is real. You hear that voice? I was blown away. There was a voice and I heard it. A voice came through. I had read Scripture before. I had read things that I got from this nursing home where my grandmother was, but I never really heard.

I had heard people try to explain the Gospel to me, but it didn't come home until that one day I was reading there in one of those chapters of the Gospel according to Jesus and the voice came in. I wasn't hearing John MacArthur anymore.

I was hearing another voice. And that voice taught me. That voice teaches us things. A man learns Christ. And a man who learns Christ is a man who says this is the most important thing in the world. This is everything.

There's nothing else beyond this. There's nothing more important in all the world than this. And we can know many other things. We can know calculus. And we can know other things that are important, but what we become gripped with is this is the most important thing to know.

And even though I should forget everything else or not know everything else, I've got to know this. This is it. This is the pinnacle. This is the truth. This is learning Christ. It's to be swept away by the overwhelming reality.

I mean, it's almost like you get this kind of thing from the Apostle John. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. It's like here's a man that's gripped.

He's gripped by that voice. He's gripped by this reality. This isn't some dry, musty truth. This is something that grips his whole life. He's never seen or heard anything like this. The voice. And I would just say this, what do you say to this?

What do you say to this? Have you heard this? I'm talking about the Word of God coming into power to your soul where God says He speaks to you. Thou art the man. That's how God spoke to David. You are the sinner.

You are the one. It's like we looked at in the book of Genesis. Suddenly, Adam is exposed. It's very personal. God is speaking to you. Put your name in the Adam. Where are you? God says that to you. Where are you?

You suddenly realize where you are. You see things in a way that you never saw things before. There's this voice. You've learned something that you'll never forget. Suddenly, you look up and it's like I know why Christ has come.

I know why Christ died. I know what this is all about. I've learned something. I know what He's done. I see the significance on all of it. My life depends on it. I know that the Gospel of Christ is true.

One of the things I was gripped with in the very beginning is this is true! This is true! I mean, all I knew about Christianity was nominal Catholicism. And suddenly, I'm hearing God speak. Suddenly, my eyes are opened.

Suddenly, I can see the whales! I mean, I see it! And that's what He's talking about. You cannot continue to walk like Gentiles if suddenly this learning of Christ becomes a reality and His voice comes to you.

And put your name in there. David, John, Paul. Follow Me and come away from her. What fellowship does light have with darkness? Come out of her. We just recognize this is supreme. This is all. And the question is this, have you experienced this?

Yes, but not all. I mean, notice, that is not the way you learn Christ. Assuming. What a word. Assuming. Or if. Assuming that you have heard Him and were taught in Him. Isn't that interesting? That's not the way you learn Christ.

Assuming that you actually did. Now see, He's being gracious. You talk like that when you're assuming the best, but it also does present the possibility that some may not actually have learned Christ.

You know one of the main reasons that people continue to act like Gentiles is because they haven't learned. They may be in the church. They may listen to the preaching. But they've never heard that voice.

They can hear the preaching. They can hear the preacher's voice. But Christ's voice, it's not there. And the thing is, they won't admit it. You know why? Well, look at what the characteristics of the Gentile is.

I mean, if you look at v. 17, 18, 19, this shows us what these people are like. I mean, the reality is this, the very fact that they're still Gentile means that they're darkened in their understanding.

They're ignorant, they're hard, and they're callous. You know what? Callous, again, without feeling. You see, we have some Gentiles in the church right now, but they won't admit it because they don't feel it.

Because their voice doesn't resonate with them. They're very callous. Callous is that thick, fibrous, I can't feel anymore. A working man gets those on his hands. He can't feel. He can touch something hot or he can get poked.

But if you've got thick callouses, you don't feel it. It brings somebody beyond feeling. And so this is what happens. You get people, they profess to be Christians. They're still Gentile. They're in the church.

And you can talk to them about learning Christ. They're in dark. They can't even see it. They can't even understand. They can't feel spiritual realities. I was just recently reading... I don't know what some of your thoughts are.

I recognize we've gone through a season here and maybe this is startling to some people. I don't know, nine or ten people we've disciplined over the last 10 or 11 months. I was just recently reading, Spurgeon was saying they had a season of revival and he said he knew that a number of the people that had come in during that revival weren't genuine.

He knew they were fake. He had never heard the voice. The same problem back then. This isn't new to us. He recognized he had these people in the church back then. You know, when we first came to the east side, many of you know the story.

We had 10 people. We had 12 when we started over at the Garza's on the south side. We had 10 when we came over here to Hackberry. And you know what happened? I mean, during those years we were over at the restaurant, God brought us tremendous growth.

A lot of young people being converted. And you know what we're dealing with now? We're dealing with the tares. Now, we can hope that they're not all tares. We can hope that some may be put out to Satan and they will prove true and they will learn not to blaspheme or learn not to fornicate or learn not to lie.

And that by the destruction of the flesh, they'll be saved in the day of the Lord. We can hope that. But the reality is, brethren, a lot of these people that we put out, we put out because they're still Gentiles.

They came in. They've never really heard the voice. They've never really been taught. You see, because Paul's making this assumption. If you've heard that voice, it's taught you something. That's what he's wanting them to remember.

Remember what that voice of Christ taught you. Remember. The truth is we have some people in the church that can't remember. Why? Because they're hard, they're callous. Some are given to unbridled lust.

Some are Gentiles still. So here's the thing. Paul is saying, I know what Christ teaches. And I know this, it doesn't line up with acting like a Gentile. If you've heard that voice, you too ought to know what Paul knows.

That Jesus teaches us something different. The point is this, he whose life differs not at all from that of the unbeliever, what have they learned from Christ? Apparently, they haven't. And so what I want to do is I just want to simply end this message by doing this.

I want to look at each of the v. 17, 18, 19 Gentile-ish qualities and I want to look at them in light of learning Christ. Let's just think about that for a few minutes. The first one is futility. Now this I say and I testify in the Lord that you must not be like the Gentiles.

The Futility of the Unbelieving Mind

What is the first thing that he brings out about the Gentiles? Now if you were listening to our brother Lucas as he read this morning from Romans 1, you will have heard the same reality. Futility. This is what Paul sees as a trademark of being Gentile.

Futile. The futility of their minds. It's not just that they're futile anywhere and everywhere in their whole lives. Yes, but their lives are guided by their brains. It's their thoughts. This is what we must not allow into our lives.

It has to do with the mind. The futility of the mind. I know months ago back in February, I actually dealt with this, but I just want to very quickly in passing bring it up again and think about futility.

Or maybe your Bible says vanity. But it's the idea of this. It's the idea of having a mind. It's not about being vain in having an ability to build a house. It's not that man's mind is vain in its capacity to figure out mathematical problems.

That's not the issue. What God is saying here is when it comes to things that really matter, man is futile. Man never arrives at the goal he intends to arrive at. The truth is, nobody, nobody really intends to go to hell.

They don't. They have a plan. Oh, I know you can find somebody that's going to think that it's a party and ha-ha. Yeah, but you have them face death and see whether they're laughing and talking so merry.

People like that say that when they're in health. Futility. You ask people out there, do you intend to go to hell? You know, Diego and I just sat down with young people down in Ecuador and I asked that question.

Do you believe it's likely you're going to be in hell when you die? You know, everybody has a plan how they're not going to do it. And yet, the reality is that Jesus says few there be that find life. And so most people miss heaven.

They never intended. A lot of people go into church. They didn't intend. And yet, that's precisely where they wind up. Why? Because all their thoughts were futile. They were empty. They didn't lead to the end.

Their purposes are frustrated. There's a nothingness. There's a purposelessness in it. All the thinking that people do. You know, you have people running around. They're trying to find some purpose in life.

Some people get into sports, and some people get into gardening, and some people get into cars, and some people get into aerobics, and some people... People are always trying to find purpose in life. But the reality is that what God is saying here is that when you basically look at the Gentile in everything...

I mean, you remember what Romans 3 says. Man is worthless. You take it all. It's just worthless. It's purposeless. It never arrives at any end. This is God's assessment of all the activity that goes on in the minds of unbelievers.

Unbelievers, what are they thinking about? What are they planning? You've got people in colleges and people in government and people that are driving trucks and people that are just out walking the streets with their can of beer in hand.

I mean, where are they all going? What's all happening? It's just futile. What a tremendous, what an overwhelming assessment of where man is when it comes to true significance, when it comes to anything of true spiritual value.

Take all of the Gentiles, all of the lost populations, add it all up, and it's utterly, utterly empty, devoid. It doesn't ever bring anybody to any goal of any worth. It's a life... All the people out here and some in here, you're living a life that the truth is it leads nowhere but to hell.

And that's it. You know, the world at large thinks very few people go to hell. They do. Hitler goes to hell. But most people are good. That's basically the mindset of the world. That is such vain thinking.

It just adds up to nothing. And they build their little gods and they create their little religions and where does it all go? All their desires, all their plans, all their schemes, all their searching for truth, all their planning on where to eat.

You ever hear people of the world, what they think about, what they talk about, where all their thinking is... I mean, what are they obsessed with? They get obsessed with stuff in this world that in the end of it, it's kind of like John Piper.

I know this is an old picture, but Piper came across that story about these people in their retirement picking up shells. And it's like, put your own spin on it. We see it all around us. I see it in my lost family.

The things they talk about, the things they plan. It's like I get with some of my family and it's like, where are we going to eat? That's what they talk about. Where are we eating next? That's all they talk about.

And then you eat at the next place and they're already talking about the next place you're going to eat. I mean, that's how it is. And you've got people, they're searching for meaning in something. They're searching for meaning in life.

They're looking for an explanation that's going to make somehow life worth living. I mean, somehow I'm going to freeze my brain and they'll be able to bring me back in 2 ,000 years when we have the technology or whatever.

And they're looking into outer space and we're going to find some life out there somewhere. It's all going to bring meaning. And what happens? You know what happens? You go into the nursing home. Go to the nursing home.

You've never been there, go there. Look at people when they get old. Cynical, just, it's horrible. And you know what these people, they had prime, they had youth, they had all their thoughts one day and they were going somewhere.

They had their theories. They had their religion. But you know what? Life without Christ is empty. This is not the way we learn Christ. Jesus taught. Now you think about what Jesus taught. See, Jesus looked at man and He said, we're not talking emptiness, boys.

We're going to talk about what's most valuable. What's a profit of man if he gains the whole world and he loses his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? You know when that rich young ruler came?

He knew. Jesus knew. He had all those riches. But He also knew this, you can spend your life pursuing riches. You die, you go to hell and you're nothing but a fool. And He looks at that rich young ruler.

The way Jesus taught, it was not about vanity. It was not about futility. It was not about emptiness and purposelessness. You know what He said to him? You, young man, you take all those riches and you go sell them all and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.

See, that's not emptiness. That's forever. And then the man went away sorrowful and you know what he said? How difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. You see what he's talking to this man about?

Treasure in heaven. Entering heaven. See, that's altogether valuable. What will it profit a man? You know what Jesus taught? He taught us the way to come to the end of your life and hear, well done, good and faithful servant.

You talk about joy. You want to enter into the joy of your Lord. He taught us how in the end to hear I was naked and You clothed Me. See, these aren't empty things. He taught us how to have treasure. True treasure.

Eternal life. How to inherit the kingdom. He doesn't teach us to be vain, to be foolish. This day you'll be with Me in paradise. You think that sounds like vanity? But a lot of people are trying to make paradise here, but that is vanity.

Because even if it halfway resembles paradise, it's always got its blemishes and it runs out and eventually you get old. And you can't keep it. You can't hold on to anything here. It's all going to be taken away.

Vanity. And what this makes me think of, we had a fellowship down there in Ecuador. Jonathan and I were talking to a young man. He's a veterinarian. So he's got customers throughout the day, but he has gaps between customers.

I'm going to get back to that reality. But he said this, he said, you know, I used to be very prayerful. Really had a burden to pray. He said, I used to be very evangelistic. Loved to share the Gospel.

I used to fast often. He said, now, I don't have any desire for that. So he's asking me to diagnose him. And I said this to him, one of two things are true. Either one, you received it all gladly before, but it wasn't real, and so you haven't endured.

I said, or, you're a Christian, but you're sick. And if you're sick, it means sin has come in somewhere. Well, he really tried to defend himself. He was really trying to dodge my words. And he'd make arguments about what was true in his life, but I kept coming back to this.

If you are a Christian, you've allowed sin in. But you know we kept pressing this, pressing this, pressing this, and you know what he finally admitted? He admitted that between clients, between patients, which was a lot of his time, he basically admitted, I spend the entire day on Facebook.

And he said that's it right there. Let me ask you this, does Jesus teach us to use our time and waste it, and not redeem it, and just get sucked into endless videos, or endless Facebook arguments, and disputations that amount to nothing?

They're vain. They're foolish. Is that what Jesus taught us to do? How did you learn, Jesus? Not to run around being futile, but to redeem your time well. He said follow Me. He said we need to work while it's day.

Use your time wisely. That's what He taught us. Your time's running out. It's going to come dark. It's going to come night. You only have a little segment, and it's what you do in there that's going to get a well done or a not so well done.

How did He teach us? Did He teach us to be futile? If there's anybody in the world that ought to be using their lives well, it's the people who read such promises that their works follow them. The things you do here are going to follow you right out into eternity.

Go sell all that you have and you'll have treasure in heaven. But do you know in Luke 12 He tells each one of us the same thing? Pretty foolish that we don't go do more when so much eternal profit is there to be had.

Darkened Understanding and Spiritual Folly

Now here's the next thing. Darkened. Ephesians 4 .18. They're darkened in their understanding. Now again, I would just say this. First thing, futility of mind. Darkened in understanding. Again, it comes back to the thoughts, the brain, the mind, the thinking.

I mean, the fall. The fall. Adam, what have you done? This brought the most disastrous and devastating consequences on the minds of men. We don't typically think this. Why? Because we see people out here and some of these people and we like them and they're nice and we work with lost people.