Our names were written down in
the Book of Life before the world began, isn't that correct? Isn't
that what God's Word says? Well, that means that everything
that is created, everything that has come to pass, all the ticking
of time, because of His long-suffering has been for you, and for I,
and for all of God's children. Isn't His love wonderful? I'd like to ask you to turn your
Bibles to the fourth chapter of Ephesians, if you would, please. On the ESORT program I have on
my computer, it's the newer program, it's
not like the old one where it just has God's Word. Every so
often they put a little statement to describe what you're about
to read in scriptures, and what we're about to read is something
called New Life, according to that headline, that heading of
the scripture. And I thought, well that's a
good title. New Life. You ever heard somebody say,
Man, I just want the world to see Christ in me. I want them to see. I want to
be able to portray. I want to walk through this world
and I want people to see how the love of God is in me. I want them to see Christ in me. Our Lord Jesus Christ walked
this earth and people didn't see Him for who He was then. Why would anybody expect that
people of the world would see Christ in them? To me it sounds like somebody
who would go out in the middle of a marketplace got their Sunday
clothes on, or robes, their priestly robes, or whatever it might be,
and then they get down on their knees and they pray in the middle
of the marketplace so that everybody can see how godly they are. That's
kind of with that statement, I want to see Christ in me. That's
what it comes across to me anyway. I don't know how the Lord may
give it to you, but that's what I see. We looked at these verses
in our Friday night study. just this last one, but this
morning I would like to expound from them a little deeper than
we had time to on Friday night. The question was kind of looked
at, brought up, how should I walk before men? I mean, what is this walk that
we're looking about here, these words of instructions on how
to walk? What do they mean? Don Fortner
had brought out in his study on how there are those who go out and
do that very thing, pray in the marketplace so that people will
see them. So people will say, oh, look
and see what kind of person this person is. And we thought about,
well, do we really do that? But we may not go to the marketplace,
but folks, we all want those in our lives at some point or
another or somewhere or another to see us, to see what's in us. So we do act in a way for people
to see us, for people to observe from us. I want my wife to think
better of me, so I try to act better. I want my children to
think better of me. So I try to act better for their
sakes. I don't care what Joe Blow down
the street says. I don't care about him. I'm going
to do what I think is right. I'm not going to act in a certain
way for him. But I am going to act in a certain
way for my children, for my mom, for my loved ones. How should I walk before men? The world does not see Christ
in any of God's people. Listen to the words, and these
are familiar words. We refer to them often. No doubt that you could probably
just about quote these words exactly. But in John 10.23, our
Lord is very clear about something. 23-27 of chapter 10. He says, "...And Jesus walked
in the temple of Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
Him and said unto Him..." Now listen to this. They said unto
Him. They spoke to God Almighty in the flesh. The very One that
some people want to portray to be in their life. They said,
how long do you make us to doubt? He stood right before them. They
couldn't see Him. And our Lord answered and He said to them,
I told you. And He did too. He came right out and told them. My Father and I are one. There's
only one God. Three distinct persons, absolutely. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, but of one mind. You cannot worship God the Father
unless you worship God the Son, God the Spirit. You cannot worship
one and not the other two. I told you and you believed not,
he says. The works that I do, he went
on to say, in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. Nobody
else could heal like the Lord Jesus Christ was healing. Nobody
else could commit the miracles that the Lord Jesus was committing. They even came to the Lord Jesus
and said, we know that you're a man of God because no man could
do what you do. But they did not see Him as God
Almighty. And then our Lord said this to
those unbelieving Pharisees. He says, but ye believe not because
ye are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Is there
a difference? Is there a difference in our
walk before men? Absolutely. When the Lord of everything that
is, and as we saw in Bible study this morning, He is Lord of all.
Not just this little piece, not just that little piece over there.
He didn't just set the world out there and say, okay, let's
see what happens. Our God rules over everything. Absolutely everything. And when the Lord of all it is
takes up residency in the heart of one of His loved ones, He
makes them to differ. Before God worked in your heart,
Was there ever a thought of chance? Maybe if I'm lucky. Maybe if
I'm lucky I'll win the lottery. Maybe if I'm lucky I won't get
ran over by a horse today. Maybe if I'm lucky. The world is no longer a place
of chance to a born again Christian. to one who has been enlightened
of the truths of who God is. It's no longer a place of maybes
or a place of luck. Now, I know we struggle with
things of the flesh. I, too, occasionally will be
caught saying, boy, that was lucky. Did you see that? That
ball went right down the middle. I know it wasn't me because I
don't hit that well. Or any other thing that you can come up with
that you might say is luck. A true child of God with the
Holy Spirit dwelling in them sees the world much differently.
We see it as purposed. The ticking of time as purposed
by our God who is long-suffering. Thank you, brother. Once again, this is what, the
third time today we see where our Lord has done something in
our lives that none of us knew the other person was going to
talk about. Bill came in this morning talking about how the
Lord called people, you know, what does it mean that He is
the Lord over heavens and earth and under the earth. And we talked
about that for a little bit, and then we looked at that in
the Bible study. And here Mike sings this song about ticking
and how it is purposed for him. It goes right along with the
message. How often do we see our Lord do those wonderful things
in our lives, shine Himself in our lives? It's all purposed
by Him. How else could we read Romans
8.28? All things are for the good to
them who love God, who are loved of God, who are called. How could
you read that and believe that if you don't believe that God
rules over everything? How could those words mean anything
to somebody who thinks that there's still a chance? Or that there's
still something left in my ability for me to decide on? Everything that has come to pass
was purposed by our Creator. Nothing just happens. God didn't
create the world and say, OK, let's see what's going to happen
next. And to prove that very point, to prove that point to
those who may still doubt, does not our Lord know every
hair on our head? Think of that detail. Why would
God put that? Who cares if God knows every
hair on my head? I'll tell you who cares. I do
because it shows me that he cares about every little detail in
time for John Reeves. It tells me he knows every little
detail in time for every one of his children. It tells me
he knows every little detail in time for everything. It proves
to me that His purpose shall stand. Nothing can get in the
way of my Lord, my God. That's peace. That's eternal
peace. Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The God of all glory is a God of detail. Every last one who
can turn His hand. He is the potter, as we read
in our Bible study. Everything else is but clay.
And when this truth is revealed to a poor sinner, one who knows,
who has been brought to know what we deserve, one who has
been brought to know what our weaknesses are, then we cannot
walk in the ways of the past. For we have been made a new man,
a new creature. That's what it says in 2 Corinthians
5.17. It says this, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. As a born again child of God
of the Most High, we clearly see His rule in everything. I was sharing a story about two
co-workers. They were getting ready to go
home from work. And I could share many other stories, but this
one is freshest in my mind right now because it was just recently
shared with me. They were on their way home from
work, and one is a stressful person who needs to vent. And the other one saw his need
to vent. He'd had a rough day. So he stopped
and took five minutes, five minutes of his time, to hear this man
vent. And then as he went home on his
way all the way out to Roseville, he got off the freeway. And five
minutes before he got there, there had been a three-car pileup.
Now, I can tell you a whole lot of stories just like that, because
I can tell you stories about myself in the same way. But I
thought that was a pretty good one. He gave God the glory that
because God had delayed his time, because of the red light Because
of all the red lights that built up. The guy sitting in the driver's
seat's going, well, I've got something going for me there.
Even though the guy next to him, me, is screaming, we're hitting
every single red light. Can't we hurry up a little bit? Folks, the ticking of that clock
back there. is governed by God Almighty. And the face of God Almighty
can be seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. His only begotten
Son. We give our God glory for everything. including our trials and our
troubles, our weaknesses, for those very things are what bring
us to the point where we have no place to go but to our Savior. One of the wisest things my mom
ever told me, and I love this woman, she, well, that's a story
for another time, but she came to me and I was troubled and
she said, John, you take that trouble in your hands and lay
it at the feet of the one who can do something about it because
he's the only one. These are the words that I hear
from my brother Don Jukic who is facing the trial that he's
about to go through. My troubles, I need to lay at
my Savior's feet. Blessed is He who blessed me
with this wife. Blessed is He who blessed me
with this world that I've lived in. Blessed is He who has taken
care of me all these years. Blessed is He that will take
me home. We give our Lord glory for everything. For in our weaknesses He is made
strong." Is that not what Scriptures tell us? Oh, how I desire! Oh, how I desire to walk righteously before my
Lord, to walk pleasingly, just to please Him. Not for any
reason that's going to save me, but so that I can please my Lord. You see, I happen to love Him
because He first loved me. And I want to do what pleases
my Lord. I desire to walk with a righteous
walk. Oh, how I wish to go forth and
to sin no more. Can you relate to this part though?
I trip. I stumble. I err. I don't trust as much as I wished
I did. I don't believe as strong as I'd love to believe. I think more of myself than I
should. I do things that I shouldn't,
and I don't do things that I should. Are you with me in Ephesians
chapter 4? Look at verse 17 with me if you
would. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17. This I say, writes Paul, therefore,
and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind." John Gill wrote this. And I can't put it any better,
so I'd like to read for you what he wrote. Every natural man walks
in a vain show. The mind of the unregenerate
man is vanity. The word vain means emptiness
of mind. Emptiness of mind. Or made up
in imagination. You see, that's what man is,
thinking of themselves higher than what they are. It's an imaginary
thing. In reality, we are but worms
to God. Created for His purpose. It's made up in imagination.
In this case, goes on John Gill, it's being naturally destitute
of God. Not knowing who God is at all.
Therefore, coming up with a knowledge of your own out of fear. Not
knowing the fear of God or the grace of God. and of Jesus Christ
being empty of knowledge of Him, faith in Him, and love to Him,
and of the spirit of His graces. It also points to this instability
and the changeableness of the human mind, in which sense, at
his best estate, was altogether vanity. Isn't that what Scripture
says? John goes on to write, "...is
also the folly, or the falsehood, or the wickedness of it in his
fallen state. And the mind discovers its vanity
in its thoughts and its imagination, which are vain and foolish."
End of quote. Now look at verse 18. We just
read how Paul is saying, therefore, I testify in the Lord that ye
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles, and walk in vanity
of their mind, having," now he's describing that, walking as other
Gentiles, walking in vanity, having the understanding darkened
by being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Now
remember, we're talking about a new walk. We're talking about A new life. We no longer walk in that old
life of blindness. The unregenerate man cannot know
the things of God, for we come into this world, into this life
in darkness. One who is spiritually dead cannot
know spiritual truths, can they? We don't just decide that all
of a sudden, you know, I'm going to be smarter today. I'm going
to go to church and I'm going to start doing things like this.
I'm just going to be smarter about things. I've been dumb
for all those years. For 40 years I've been ignorant.
Foolish. Our Lord says in Romans 8 verse
7, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. A wise woman once said to me
this, she said, you can't expect those who don't know the Lord
to act like they know Him. And I would add this, I know
the Lord and oh how weak I am at acting like it. Look at verse 19. who being past feeling have given
themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with
greediness." Pretty simple statement, huh? We who once walked in the
darkness of our natural state had once given our very selves
over to our own lusts. Was that not the case with you?
Were you not driven in your life to follow your desires? I know
when we use the word lust, people want to tend to think that that
can be something pornographic, but that's not what it's talking
about. Lust are desires of the heart. Oh, how I desire to be
thought of better by men in the world. That's why the guy got
down and kneeled and prayed in the marketplace, so that people
would see how much better he was. He wanted to be, as John
wanted to be, better seen of those in the world. Once we walked in darkness and
of our natural state and once given our very selves over to
our very own lusts. We know this, why? Because God
hath in his love healed us of our blindness. We now see the
color blue, the truth of our wickedness, the truth of our
depravity. Hold your place here in Ephesians
4. We'll come back to it in a minute. Turn over to the left to chapter
2, if you would, for just a minute. Again, very familiar words. But do we not see how this was
part of our lives at one time? Chapter 2, verse 1. And I'm going
to take the italics out because I think it is read better for
this purpose here. who were dead in trespasses and
sin, where in times past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversations in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the child of wrath, even as others. A child
of the true and living God is one that has been brought from
death unto life by the grace of God, by the grace of the Almighty. Go back to your text there in
Ephesians chapter 4. It is by His grace that we see
the truth of who Christ is. Do you see Christ Jesus as God
Almighty in the flesh? It's because of His grace. That's
not something that comes to the natural man at all. We have to
be brought to that point to see Him for who He is. It's by His grace that we see
the truth of what He's done. Have you seen the grace of God
in walking perfectly in your stead? Establishing a righteousness
for each and every one of us? Folks, there's no other way to
be with God for eternity unless we're perfectly righteous. And there's only one way to be
perfectly righteous, that's to be in Christ. And those who are in Christ were
in Christ before the world began, and all time has been tick-tocked
along just for them. Just for our brother Mike, just
for me, just for you. If God before you, how can anything
be against you? That includes time. It's by our Lord's grace that we see the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. I think I've still got it marked
here. I do. Listen to these words in Revelations.
Oh, I'm going along. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof? And then I'm going to jump down
to verse 6 where it says, And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne,
there were four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood
a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven
eyes. And he came, and he took the book out of the right hand
of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung
a new song. A new life was in them. And they sang a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof,
for Thou wast slain, and that redeemed us to God by Thy blood
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. and has
made us unto our God kings and priests. And then he says in
verse 11, I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and the beasts and the elders, and the number
of them was ten thousands times ten thousands and thousands of
thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessings. It's by His grace that we see
Him where He is today. making intercession for each
and every one of us. Yes, I got mad because the lights
were all turning red on me. No, I don't want to get mad for
stupid reasons like that, but I do. Thank God that my Lord
has done it perfectly for me. Now look with me back in our
text, verses 20-21 of Ephesians chapter 4. But ye have not so learned Christ, If so be that you have heard
him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that
ye put off concerning the former conversation, the former walk,
the former way of life, the old man which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your
mind. Did I go too far? I did. I said 2021, and I went too far. In John 6.45, it is written in
the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me. I ask you this morning, have
you been taught of God? If so, then you know that these
words of His, the Word of Truth, to be true, for they are true
in your heart. Listen to the words of John 14,
verse 6. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. And I tell you this, that if
God If you are taught of God, you
have been taught of His grace. You've been taught of His love
for His chosen people. Not a love for the whole of all
mankind as many wish in their vanity, but unto us. His love for us. His love for
His people which cannot be turned. Listen to Ephesians chapter 1
verse 9. Having made known unto us, not
to unto the whole world, but unto us. the mystery of His will
according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself.
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2, Hath in these last days, speaking
of God Almighty, spoken unto us. Did you know that in the days
of Israel, God's oracles weren't given to the world, they were
given to Israel. And you and I are Israel in the
Spirit. We may not be of the flesh, but
in the Spirit we are. Hath in the last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds. Hebrews 4.2 For unto us was the
gospel preached, as well unto them, but the word preached did
not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. Where does faith come from? It's
a gift of God, right? Know what His word says? 2 Peter 1 verse 4, whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through our lusts." Folks,
knowing these things, knowing these truths, should we not have
the greatest desire to walk as children of the light? Now look at verse 22-23 of Ephesians
4. "...that ye put off concerning..."
This is Paul admonishing, encouraging, encouraging the Ephesians that
ye put off concerning the former conversations, the former way
of life, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Have you thought
about this, the renewing of your mind? Folks, it's not something
that just happened one time. It's something that continually
goes along. Until the Lord takes us out of
this world, we will battle this flesh with the Spirit, and that's
all there is to it. Our mind must be renewed daily. It's an ongoing occurrence with
the child of God. God's grace is renewed minute
by minute, second by second, fresh as the dew every morning
after morning. As those who once walked in darkness,
we see His grace renewed over and over and over again. Praising
Him for His love for us and undeserving people. Praising Him for we who have
received His mercy. Now look at verse 24. And that
ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. What is your righteousness? What
is your holiness? This is the new mind in a child
of the Most High. Christ is my righteousness. Christ
is my holiness. We desire to walk in righteousness
and holiness, yet it is our substitute who has fulfilled all things
for us. Salvation is of the Lord. Philippians 3.13 and 14 we read
this, Brethren, I clout not myself to apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. Paul says, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. A new life. What is the new life in us? It's
Christ in us. It's looking to Him for everything. Depending upon Him for everything. Some of us, it will take a little
more time to get us there. Thank God for the tick-tocking,
huh, Mike? Thank God for His long-suffering for His people. Thank God for His long-suffering
for me. Look to Christ, folks. That's the best thing I can tell
you. Look to Him. Amen?