Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. I want to begin here because
I want us to review the context of the letter before we get to
our text today. So let's look at Ephesians 2.
Now here was our case. This was the case of you and
I who believe. This is the case of all men as
they're born in Adam. And this was our case. It says
Ephesians 2.1, And you hath God quickened who were dead, dead
in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. among whom also we all had. We had our conversation, our
conduct, in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, but God, who
is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us. That great love that He spoke
about in chapter 1 when He said He chose us in Christ and predestinated
us to this appointment to be quickened and made alive, wherein
He loved us even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with Christ by grace are you saved. Look down at verse
8. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. And then
go to Ephesians chapter 4. Paul spoke more of that in chapter
2 and then he spoke about his imprisonment in chapter 3 and
then now he comes to chapter 4 and he picks back up with this
thought and he says, I therefore I therefore, now the mercies
of God is our motive. This is what he is referring
back to, those mercies God gave. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called, that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We who believe have been
richly blessed by God. We've been made one in Christ. He goes on there saying there's
one body, one faith, one baptism, and one hope, one Lord. And then
the Lord now, from His throne in glory, He has put us under
a faithful ministry. He's put us under the sound of
the gospel. And He's done it for this reason,
verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro. Verse 15, But speaking the truth
in love, that we may grow up into Him in all things, which
is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body is fitly
joined together and compacted, cemented by that which every
joint supplies. In our physical body, the thing
that makes one member receive nourishment from another member
is that it's united to the body. It's one with the body. It's
knit together with the other members. Now, if it's severed
from the body, it's going to die. And when it's severed from
the body, it's going to affect the whole body. Well, that's
the case with Christ's body, the church. This body right here,
this local body right here. Same with this local body right
here. Christ has fit us together and he cemented us together by
the bond of faith and love. And Christ is supplying what
each other needs using each other. That's what he said there. He's
using every joint, every member to supply what every other member
needs. Just like your body supplies
what every other member needs through the members. Now this
is our motive. This makes us see how we need
each other because we need Christ most of all. So this is the motive
Paul is building here for when we get to our text. And he says
there in verse 16, this is accomplished in each member according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part. Christ is working. He's giving grace to each member.
And it says, "...by which Christ maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love." When he says edifying of itself
here, Christ is working in each member so that by His grace working
in each member, we edify ourselves in love. And what he's saying
by that is, When God gives me grace, it's not only for my own
personal edification, it's for me to use to edify you. And the same goes for you to
your fellow brother and to your fellow sister. It's for us to
edify one another. Edifying itself in love. Now that's a great privilege.
A great privilege. But that's a great responsibility
too. A great responsibility. So we come to our text now. And
here, Paul begins to tell us how we are to edify one another. The rest of the book, this is
what he's going to be dealing with. The things you and I can do to
edify one another. Now this is all through Christ.
This is through the working of His grace in the hearts, effectually.
by His grace. Now look, he says, This I say
therefore, there's another therefore, this I say therefore, and testify
in the Lord. This I say as in the presence
of the Lord, speaking to you on behalf of the Lord, bearing
witness of what the Lord has told me to tell you. I'm testifying
to you what the Lord's told me. He says that you henceforth,
from here forward, walk not as other Gentiles walk. They were
Gentiles. And He said, don't walk as other
Gentiles walk. Don't walk as unbelievers walk.
It'd be like me saying, you see what all God's done for you now?
You see how He's put you in this body? He's quickened you who
were dead. He's done all this for you. Now don't walk as other
folks in New Jersey walk. Don't walk as other Gentiles
walk. Don't walk as unbelievers walk. How do they walk? Here's
the first thing. This is how we once walked and
this is why they still walk. this way. Verse 17. In the vanity
of their mind. In the vanity of their mind.
What's the vanity of the mind? I'll put it as simply as I know
how to put it. The vanity of the mind is they go about every
day having turned their back on God and trying to find peace
and security in perishing things. That's the vanity of the mind.
To turn their back on God and try to find peace and security
in perishing things. Now, that's scriptural. That's
scriptural. Jeremiah 2 and verse 13 says
this. Jeremiah 2, 13. The Lord said,
My people have committed two evils. Number one, they've forsaken
Me, the fountain of living waters. And number two, they've hewed
them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. You get
that picture. You think about that picture.
You're in a dry desert land, a dry and a thirsty land where
no water is. And here you have a fountain,
never-ending fountain. Not only that, it's a fountain
of living water. That's who our God is. And yet,
how smart is this? You turn your back on that fountain.
with nothing but a dry desert land out on the landscape, and
you strike out on your own, and all the while working your fingers
to the bone to try to make you a cistern, but you're just making
a broken cistern that can hold no water. That's the vanity of
the mind. This is what we should pray. This is what the psalmist prayed
in Psalm 39. Look there with me, Psalm 39. Look at verse 4. Lord, make me
to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that
I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days
as a handbreadth. That's a handbreadth. That's
a handbreadth. Compared to time and eternity,
that's not very big, is it? A handbreadth. That's what my
life is. In mine age is as nothing before
thee. Verily every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Think hard on that. See life.
Think hard on that. Surely every man walketh in a
vain show. Just a vain show. Surely they
are disquieted. They're in a great commotion,
running about feverishly every day in vain. Why? He heapeth up riches and knows
not who shall gather them. Now believer, God says, this
is how we walked in times past. And He says, henceforth, going
forward, walk not as other unbelievers walk in the vanity of their mind.
Now back in our text, secondly, here's why we walked that way
and here's why unbelievers still do. Verse 18, having the understanding
darkened. Having the understanding darkened.
The natural mind is smart in natural things, smart in able
to figure out things naturally speaking. But when it comes to
God and it comes to understanding how God saves, the understanding
is darkened. Isaiah, the Lord said in Isaiah,
He said, He feedeth on ashes. He feedeth on ashes. A deceived
heart hath turned him aside, that he can't deliver his soul,
nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? That's a sad state,
isn't it? That's the state of all men by
nature. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them that believe not. He's blinded their minds. The
understandings darken. Lest the light of the gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, shall shine unto them. You
see how it goes to the mind, goes to the understanding, to
the heart. This is what affects the outward
walk. It's the inward, the inward.
God puts a new man and thus changes the outward walk. This is where
the outward walk begins, in the understanding, in the mind. God's
the one who made you to differ. He's the one who made me to differ.
And only one, we didn't do it. This was our case. We couldn't
have done it. God, God, God hath shined the light into our hearts
to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. God did this. And so he says
to us, look down at Ephesians 5 and verse 7. He says, Be not
ye therefore partakers with them, for ye were sometimes darkness. But now are you light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light. Now
this is how we will edify one another, brethren. This is how
we will edify one another. This is what he is talking about
here. How we are going to edify one another in love. Now here
is the third thing. Here's why we walk that way and
here's why they still do. Verse 18. He says, being alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them
because of the blindness of their heart. Alienated means to be
estranged from the life of God. To be a non-participant in the
life of God. To be shut out from the life
of God. The spirit of life is Christ. The Spirit of Christ is life.
Romans 8 says, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. And he says, but
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his.
He's estranged. He's cut off. He's alienated.
Now you that are born of God, now You have life and you have
faith and you have love and you have holiness in your inner man.
This is what God has created by his grace freely through the
blood and righteousness of Christ. Christ paid your debt to the
law. He justified you and God brought
the gospel to you and through the Holy Spirit he's given you
this new man. He's given you this faith and
love and hope and holiness and and a desire to please Him in
your inward man. But the carnal man, the unregenerate,
unconverted man, doesn't have it. He's just alienated from
God. He's totally alienated from God.
He's without Christ, without hope, and without God in the
world. He has no guide whatsoever to direct him to a holy life
whatsoever. He doesn't understand it. He
doesn't understand what holiness is. He thinks, the natural man
thinks holiness is looking at the Ten Commandments and I'll
just do these. I'll look at the precepts Christ
gave and I'll do these. That's holiness. That's not holiness. And the natural man thinks that
is holiness. But it's not. It's not holiness. And not only
do they not have this, they don't want it. They don't want such
a life. They don't approve of it and
they're totally against it. Verse 18 says, it's through the
ignorance that is in them because the blindness of their heart.
Well, isn't that by Adam? Yes, that's by Adam. But the
natural man does not want that to change. The natural man does
not want that state of blindness to change. You turn over to 2
Peter 3. Let me show you something. Folks
are always talking about the will. The will of man. The will
of man. Let me show you something in
2 Peter 3. The Lord said here, this is because
of the ignorance that's in them. And what about this ignorance?
Look here, 2 Peter 3, 3, "...knowing this first, that there shall
come in the last days scoffers walking..." After what? Their
own lusts. "...and saying, Where is the
promise of his coming?" Where is the promise of Christ's coming?
"...for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning of the creation." And he says,
no they don't. He said, they haven't continued.
That's what he goes on to say. But now look what he says about
that. He says, for this they willingly are ignorant of. They're
willingly ignorant of this. Christ said, you will not come
unto me that you might be saved. John 3, it said, this is the
condemnation. Light is coming to the world.
But men loved darkness rather than light. because their deeds
were evil. Neither would they come to the
light lest their deeds should be reproved. The 2 Thessalonians
2.10 says they received not the love of the truth that they might
be saved. I want to say this in the right spirit. I want to
say it speaking the truth in love. But this is true. It's
true of every congregation everywhere. We don't have the market cornered
on this, but this is true of every place. There are some of
you sitting here who have your mind made up that you will not
hear this Gospel. Isn't that sad? You hear, but
you tune out the Gospel. You hear, but you won't look
up the Scriptures. You won't listen to the message
again at home. You won't study the Word of God.
You're alienated from the life of God because you alienate yourself. That's right. The Scripture says,
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom,
seeing he hath no heart to it? Wherefore is there a price in
the hand of a fool? Why does a fool, why is he spending
to get wisdom, seeing he doesn't want wisdom? You don't see that,
do you? You don't see a man spending
to get wisdom when he doesn't want wisdom. If you want wisdom,
you have to spend and be spent to get wisdom. In other words,
you've got to put forth some effort to get wisdom. Now, some
of you are in college. You're spending big money to
get that wisdom. And you're putting forth some
effort to get it. A man doesn't put forth that
effort if he don't want it. What I'm saying is, I'm not trying
to be mean. I'm being honest. A man is not
seeking God, he's not trying to, he won't even listen. He
won't even pick the Bible up, won't even turn to the Scripture.
He's alienating himself from God. You and I were exactly the
same way, brethren, exactly the same way. So, God tells us now,
seeing as what he's done for us freely, henceforth don't walk
as other Gentiles walk. Here's the fourth thing. Here's
what I pray is not the case with anybody here. Look at verse 19.
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness
to work all uncleanness with greediness. The sinner whose
past feeling has passed the point of no return. He's passed the
point of no return. The Scriptures describe him as
as this conscience being seared with a hot iron. Now I want you
to hear this. Please hear this. Especially
young people, please hear this. The longer a sinner goes in rebellion
against God, the longer a sinner goes in rebellion against God,
the less feeling you will have within. That's just true. That's just true. The little
child's heart is sinful. He's depraved. But his heart's
not nearly as hard as the old, hard, obstinate sinner who's
been long years in rebellion. The heart becomes more hardened
the more sin and the more heartache that you experience. You become
used to it. And then the man begins to harden
his heart against the truth and against the gospel and just won't
hear it. Just won't hear it. And eventually God hardens it
so that he can't hear. Look at Romans chapter 1. Romans
chapter 1. I'm just talking about he can't
even hear naturally. He can't even bring himself to
to come to a worship service, or open the Bible, or even, I'm
just talking about, he just hardened even what natural faculties he
had. God just hardens him. Look here,
Romans 121. He says, because that when they
knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. This is not knowing Him spiritually,
not knowing Him by the grace of God. This is just knowing
Him by the light of creation, by the light of just that you
have the natural light of having the Scriptures and having the
Gospel preached to you. When they knew God, they glorified
Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in
their imaginations. And their foolish heart... You
see, their heart was already foolish. Their foolish heart
was darkened. It was darkened. Look at verse
28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which
are not convenient. When that happens, this is what
happens. Look back at our text, Ephesians
4.19. When God turns a man over and hardens his heart, because
the man has hardened his heart, he's hardened it, he's rejected
God, so God hardens his heart, what happens? Verse 19. They
give themselves over. They give themselves over. They
give themselves fully over. To what? Number one, unto lasciviousness. That's sensuality. That's the
pleasing of the senses. They give themselves over to
it. If it feels good, do it. If it tastes good, eat it. If
you like it, don't listen to what anybody else says that tells
you it's bad for you, just do it. And that's what's happening. You can go back and read Romans
1 and it sounds like they're describing our nation. That's
what it sounds like they're describing. And you see it in the movies,
you see it on the news, you see it on the internet. You're bombarded
with it. It's sensuality. And then here's
number two. They give themselves over to
work all uncleanness. All uncleanness. That is every
kind of lust imaginable. Homosexuality, fornication, adultery,
evil against parents. Just name it. You go back, read
Romans 1 when you have time. It'll have a whole list of it
there for you. A person, a family, a nation doesn't come to this
all at once. It takes time. Over time it gets
to this point. But once they get to this point,
then they call it liberty. We're free now. We're finally
free. It won't be long. I guarantee
you. You mark my word. I thought I heard this the other
day, but I might be mistaken. It won't be long. You're going
to hear men singing songs on the radio, singing love songs
to other men. You already see it in movies
and on television. You can't have a popular TV show
now without having a token sodomite in it. You've got to have that
for it to be popular. You become desensitized to sin. It becomes nothing to you. It
won't be long and right now it sickens me to say it. Sooner
or later, I was talking to Emma this week, and I said, you know,
Emma, we was talking about dressing modestly, and I said, you know,
three or four hundred years ago, I said, normally, the way that
ladies dress now, I said, you know, that would have been a
harlot. That would have been how the harlot was dressing. And
Emma had a good point. She said, I was talking about
a dress up here, you know, and she said, no, probably a dress
down here below the knees. I said, you're probably right.
And the point is, we're not going closer to God, we're going further
from God. We're going further and further away from God in
everything. And there was a sense of sin,
there was a sense of guilt, but now they've lost it all. Now
they commit sin with pleasure. Now they boast of it. Now they
openly declare it and defend it and glory in it and pass laws
and say, it's my right to live like this. because now they have
no fear of future judgment from God. That's being given over,
given over. And look at, here's the third
thing, and they give themselves over with greediness, with greediness. That's craving and hungering
after more and more daring sins against God. Have you noticed
that this is not necessarily, well it is sinful to a degree
because the Lord says you not to tempt the Lord, but have you
noticed, when I was a boy growing up, the baddest, most daring
person there was, was Evel Knievel. You know, jumping cars and buses
on a motorcycle and watching them crash. That was the most
daring thing. Now you got folks jumping off
the peaks of mountains in those little birdman suits. And then
that wasn't enough. Now they're trying to see if
they can fly between a little gap in two mountains and see
if they can navigate it. That's just an example. More
daring. More daring. And it's the same
way with just out and out sin. Just how much more daring can
we get? How much more lewd can we get? With greediness. And this includes
covetousness too. The love of money is the root
of all evil. The love of money. Every sin,
every corruption, every injustice you see in politics and wherever
it's at, business, you just follow it, just follow the money. And
it goes back to a person. And if you follow it, if you
could follow it deeper, it goes to their heart. They coveting
money, money, money, greediness. Verse 20 says, But you've not
so learned Christ. If so, be that you've heard Him
and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus. Now this
is the fifth thing. God has taught us who believe
to walk differently. Verse 21 says, You have not so
learned Christ. He didn't say you've not so learned
about Christ. He says there, you've not so
learned Christ. Notice verse 21, you've not so
learned Christ, if so be you've heard Christ, if you've been
taught by Christ, as the truth is in Jesus Christ. See that? It's not merely learning the
doctrine of Christ. It's not merely learning Christ's
precepts. These are Christ's precepts we're
looking at here now. It's not merely learning these
things. It's not merely learning about Christ. Have we learned
Christ? Have we learned Christ? When
you learn somebody, you know their person. You know their
character. You know what works they've done. You know what accomplishments
they've accomplished. You know their likes and their
dislikes. You know what they expect of
you. I don't have to be told what that woman expects of me.
I know what she expects of me because I know her. I've learned
Melinda. Have we learned Christ? learn
Christ, so that we can think of on our sin, when we thinking
on sin, or when we commit sin, we can immediately think, this
is not what Christ would have me to do. This is not what He
would have me to do. Does Christ look break our heart? Remember Peter, the Apostle Peter?
Just a look broke his heart. Because he knew Christ. He learned
Christ. Have we heard Christ? I mean,
not just to hear a preacher preaching about Christ, and I don't mean
hearing an audible voice from Christ, but have we heard Christ
in the heart, speaking to us through the Spirit, speaking
effectually within us? I know my earthly Father's voice.
I could pick His voice out in a crowd of voices, because I've
heard His voice since I was a baby. That's when He quickens us, we're
babies, and we begin hearing His voice. and we hear His voice
all the days of our life of faith. We hear His voice inwardly both
in the gospel that's being preached. We know Christ has taught us
that God chose us in Christ before the world was made. He's taught
us what we are. He's taught us that we were dead
in sin so that God had to have chosen us. We don't have a problem
with that because we've been taught by Him. He's taught us
that He came and purged all our sin debt, that He put our sin
away and paid the debt in full so that God has no more, nothing
to say against us. He says your sins and iniquities
I'll remember no more. We've been taught that by Christ.
We've been taught that we didn't come to God. God drew us and
Christ drew us and He taught us and He quickened us and He
gave us life. We've been taught that. And have
we heard His voice, that still small voice, again, not an audible
voice, that still small voice, when you turn to the left hand
or to the right, it says, this is the way, walk ye in it. If
you're a child of God, you have that voice with you at all times,
and I do too. That's Christ speaking. Have
we been taught by Him? As Christ breathed into my heart,
so I feel something of the weight of sin that He bore on my behalf. Has He breathed life into me
and breathed into me so that I know something of the great
price that He paid, the preciousness of His blood that He paid to
put away my sin? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit with
your God. The truth is in Christ, he said. The truth of who God
is. You want to know the truth of
who God is? Learn Christ. Want to know the truth of salvation?
Learn Christ. Want to know the truth of how
God can be just and the justifier of a hell-deserving sinner? How
you can die and yet still live? How God's elect can die in fury
under the wrath of God and suffer eternal hell and yet go free
and live and God be just to do that? Learn Christ. Want to learn what the path of
life is as we go through this earth? Learn Christ. Study Christ. What I'm saying
is, have we learned Christ in our heart? Do we have communion
with Him in the heart? Is He our life? What's He taught
us? What's Christ taught us? Verse
22. And she put off concerning the
former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lust. You see the change here that
he's talking about is not changing our old man. That's not what
he's talking about. It's not changing the old man,
the old sin nature, the corrupt nature. It's not changing that
nature at all. He says here, our old flesh is
corrupt according to the deceitful lust and it will always be that
way. God's chosen to leave us in these
bodies for a purpose, for a reason. It's that way we ever depend
upon Him. that through the Spirit we might
mortify the deeds of this flag. But what he's saying here is
every day we must put off the old man. Every hour we must put
off the old man. We must constantly be putting
off the old man. We need to put off his government
over us by not giving in to him. by not giving into the lust of
the flesh and the principles by which our old man walks. You
know what I'm talking about too. You can know the right way and
you can know what God has said is right and then there's something
else in you that'll start justifying how you can try to squeak around
that and sin against God. That's a corrupt nature that's
still with us, brethren. It's sinful. Put that old man
away. Suppress that old man. Don't
give him what feeds him. Don't give him what he needs
for life. Look here at verse 23. The second
thing he says, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. This
is where every bit of our problem starts, is in our mind. We've
got two minds. We've got two natures. We've
got an old and a new, if you're a believer. And this is where
our problem starts, is in the mind, right here. All our problems
begin in our thoughts. Our walk is determined greatly
by what we fill our minds with. That's what determines our walk,
what we fill our minds with. Listen to this. Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any
virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Think
on these things. Don't fill your spirit, your
mind with ungodly things that don't edify. That's
what he's saying. Fill your mind with godly things.
Look at Ephesians 5.19. He says, Speak to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord. That's what he's talking about.
And then thirdly, verse 24, he says, Put on the new man which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. This new man
is Christ. Christ is formed in you. That's
the new man within you. Put on Christ. Spurgeon had a
real good illustration. He said, if you want to learn
a trade, you're not going to learn it by going in and out
of a workshop and watching others and just looking to see how they
do it. You're going to have to go in
to the workshop and apply yourself and learn how that trade's done
and endeavor and strive to learn how to do that trade. Well, it's
the same with the gospel. You can't learn Christ by just
showing up at a church service and leaving the church service
and that's it. You have to hear Christ speak. You have to search the Scripture.
You have to study Christ. You have to look into His Word
and read His Word and see how did Christ walk. You want to
learn how Christ walked? Read the four Gospels. You'll
see how Christ walked. You'll see what He did. That's
where you're going to learn how Christ would have us to walk.
That's where we'll learn it. And we're going to come short
of this. We're going to fail. But Christ
is the mark. He's the one to press toward.
He's the one to be looking at all the time. all the time. Spurgeon said this, he who lies
down in a bed of spices will smell of their sweetness and
he who lives with Christ will soon catch the savor of Christ.
Now let me end with this and I want you to hear this. Now
you've heard me and you've heard other faithful men say, Justification
before God, our legal standing before God, it is not by our
works, not whatsoever. God sent His Son into this world
to fulfill the law, to establish the law and righteousness for
His people. And God, it's God that justifies. It's Christ that
died, that has rather risen again, who makes intercession for us.
Our justification is accomplished by our God, not by our works. But brethren, don't misunderstand
that. Don't misunderstand that for
saying that works don't matter. They do matter. Character and
conduct matter for a believer. Matter greatly for a believer.
This is Christ speaking, this word that we're reading here.
And He's telling us, put off the old man. That's something
you got to do. put him off. He's going to be
the one who makes you to put him off. And he's going to get
the glory for it. But you're going to have to put
the old man off. I'm going to have to put the
old man off. If I'm going to be renewed in the spirit of my
mind, I'm not going to be able to just walk around with my headphones
on listening to music all the time and expect that I'm going
to be renewed in the spirit of my mind. I'm going to have to
take the headphones off. and pick up a sermon or pick
up his word and fall down on his throne of grace and ask him,
Lord, please renew me in the spirit of your grace. It's going
to take some effort. And I can't put on the new man
without putting him on. Which one of you, who here today
got up this morning and just stood and looked at the closet
and said, well, if God wants me to be dressed, I'll be dressed.
Yeah, you put on your clothes. Well, put on Christ. Put on Christ. And look back up now and remember
the context. This is for the unity and edification
of Christ's body. The purpose of this is not as
the world promotes it and says, well, you want everybody seeing
Christ in you. That might have been a good saying
at one time. It's not now because the world's corrupted that. This
is so that the focus is on Christ, not on you. The focus is on Him,
not on me. This is so we don't draw away
everybody's attention by acting ugly and ignorant. but rather
we are edifying one another by instructing and exhorting and
reproving and bearing one another's burden and those sorts of things.
Look back now at the text up in Ephesians 4.1. He said, I
therefore the person of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
See that? That's why endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Amen.