Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'm going to be preaching from the book of Ephesians chapter
4. I'll begin in verse 17 of this chapter and the title of
the message today is a Christian education. You know, many people
today think about the school systems and public education
in America, very critical of it. And they might say something
like, well, what we need is a good Christian education. Well, I
want to show you a Christian education, the best Christian
education, to be found in the Scriptures. You'll find it in
this passage, Ephesians chapter 4, where the Apostle Paul has
been talking about salvation itself by grace, not of works. It is based upon the person and
work of Christ. Salvation is. He's been speaking
of the church. The church is made up of God's
elect those whom God gave to Christ before the foundation
of the world, those who are brought into this world but who are born
in sin, dead in trespasses and sin. He mentioned that back in
Ephesians chapter 2. But God sent his Son into the
world to redeem his people from their sins, his church. The Bible
says that Christ purchased the church with his own precious
blood. and that they are redeemed by
the blood of Christ, justified before God, based upon the righteousness
of Christ, freely imputed and received by God-given faith.
The church is also made up of individuals who are born again
by the Spirit of God, literally spiritually raised from the dead,
and they've been given spiritual life. They've been brought under
the preaching of the gospel of God's grace, wherein Christ is
revealed as the one Redeemer, the one Savior, and they've been
given faith to believe in Him. They've come to repentance, and
then they are preserved. And God has set each and every
individual within the body of His Church for His purpose. He
has set over the Church pastors and teachers for the unifying
of the body, the perfecting of the saints, And then this church
is the pillar of truth. It's the church of the living
God and the pillar and ground of truth. It's a light in this
lost world. And so the apostle now begins
to tell the believers in Ephesus how they are to walk and how
they are to live in such a hostile, unbelieving world. And he makes
this statement in verse 17. He says, This I say therefore,
and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth, or from this point
forward, 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 or the hardness of their heart, who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
that is, an unbridled fulfillment of unlawful desires, And he says,
to work all uncleanness with greediness. And then in verse
20, now this is where I'm getting the title of today's message.
Verse 20, he says, but you, that is you who are of God, you who
are redeemed by the blood, you who are regenerated by the Spirit,
you have not so learned Christ. Now this refers to salvation
and the Christian walk. It involves learning Christ.
He says in verse 21, if so be that you have heard him and have
been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. So this is what
salvation and the walk of salvation is. It has to do with learning
Christ. We learn Christ and then we continually
learn him. This is what Christian education
is all about. It's learning from Christ, by
Christ, and of Christ. And this is how God teaches His
people, teaches us through the Gospel, through the Word of God.
The Bible teaches that those who know Christ and who follow
Him and who trust in Him, rest in Him and His finished work
as the sole ground of salvation. Those who are disciples of Christ
are those who have learned Christ and those who are learners of
Christ. In fact, to be a disciple. is
to be a learner. When Christ, in Matthew chapter
11, he said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. And he spoke of his yoke. He
said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. He says, take my yoke
upon you. He said, learn of me. A disciple
is a follower. A disciple is a follower of Christ. And this, when we learn Christ
in salvation, It involves the Holy Spirit coming, and by the
Word of God, through a preacher and a teacher, revealing who
Christ is. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
and man in one person. He is the God-man. He's the second
person of the Trinity, who has no beginning and no end, God
the Son. He's called the Living Word of
God, which was from the beginning, which was in the beginning. He
is very God of very God and every attribute of deity with the Father
and the Spirit equal. And then He is the One who was
appointed of the Father in the everlasting covenant of grace
to be the Savior, the Redeemer, and the surety of His people.
He's the One who is able and who is willing to save His people
from their sins. That's who He is. And he's identified
in the Scriptures in so many ways in all of the glory of his
person, who is none other than God himself, in the glory of
all of his offices as mediator. He's our prophet. If you want
to know anything about God, you must come through Christ. He
is the revelation of God. He is our priest, our Great High
Priest. If you want access unto the Father,
you must come by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest,
and based upon the blood that He shed on Calvary. And then
He is our King. He rules and reigns and disposes
over all things, to work all things after the counsel of His
own will, and to bring His people unto Himself. He is the one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And this person
who is none other than God, he is also man, for he is one person
with two distinct natures, God and man in one person. He's the
God-man. The scripture says that his name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. But then also, according to the
book of Isaiah, and as quoted in the book of Matthew chapter
1, his name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us. God in human flesh, the scripture
says. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but the nature of Abraham, because his children,
the ones whom he represented, the ones for whom he died, the
ones for whom he was buried and rose again the third day, the
ones whom God chose and justified by the righteousness of Christ,
These were children of flesh and blood, so He took part of
the same, Hebrews chapter 2 tells us. So that He was like us in
every way physically in His humanity, except in one way, He was sinless
in Himself. He had no sin, He knew no sin,
He never contracted any sin, He was never made a sinner, ever. He went to the cross of Calvary
in obedience to the law of God and the justice of God. for the
sins of His people that were legally accounted and charged
to Him, imputed to Him. So that when He died on that
cross, He drank damnation dry, not for His own sins that He
committed or was made, but for the sins of His sheep that became
His by imputation. You see, He was bruised for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. He is the substitute. That's
who Jesus Christ is. Learn who He is. The Gospel message
speaks of the person of Christ. We come to a person for salvation. And again, He's none other than
God and man in one person. It took both God and man in one
person to save God's people from their sins. And because He is
God and man in one person, He is able to save them to the uttermost
that come unto the Father by Him. You see, in order to be
saved, we had to have an everlasting, infinite righteousness, which
no mere man could produce. But God alone, in human flesh,
could and did produce it. And that's the righteousness
of God revealed in the Gospel. When we learn of Christ, now
this is Christian education. It's not just morality or philosophy. It's not just learning how to
share your marvels. It is learning the person and
work of Christ. Secondly, we learn what He accomplished
on Calvary. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplish when He went to the cross and died for the sins of
His people? Well, I'll tell you exactly what
He accomplished. The book of Daniel says it in Daniel chapter
9 and verse 24. It says, He made an end of sin. Sin was laid upon Him. He was
made sin, Christ who knew no sin. He was made sin. And sin
was laid upon Him. And when it was laid upon Him,
He suffered the full penalty and punishment that God's justice
demanded for the sins of His people. And He finished it. The
Bible says He finished the transgression in Daniel chapter 9 and verse
24. And in making an end of sin and
finishing transgression, He brought in everlasting righteousness
and sealed up the prophecy. He did it all. Christ, in His
obedience unto death, redeemed His people. He paid the full
price of redemption. He paid their debt to law and
justice. There's no more debt for His
people because He paid it all. And then He redeemed them. He
saved them from their sins. He didn't try to save anybody.
He did not make salvation possible for me or you if we would just
do our part. That would damn all of us. But
He saved His people from their sin. All for whom Christ died
shall be saved. The Scripture says that. He said
He laid down His life for His sheep. Then He said His sheep
will hear His voice and come unto Him. They'll follow Him.
He said in John 6 and verse 37, All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out." What do you say? Well, what do I do,
preacher? You come to Him and rest in Him. You beg for mercy
at the mercy seat who is Christ and Him crucified. You see, He
fulfilled all righteousness. All the righteousness that God
requires of me I find in complete fulfillment in Christ. For in
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you
are complete in Him. He made a way of access into
the very holiest of all by His body and His blood. He consecrated
it, Hebrews chapter 10 says. That is, He's the one who made
it, not you. You don't make your peace with
God. Christ made peace with God. You enter into Him. You don't
establish and work out your own righteousness before God. Christ
did that. You lay hold of Him. You don't
make yourself savable because you're not savable. I'm not savable. Christ, Jesus, came into the
world to save sinners, the scripture says. And then he accomplished
the justice of God in complete compliance with his grace. You see, this comes to another
question in learning Christ in this Christian education. Not
only who he is and what he accomplished, but why he did it. Now let me
tell you why he did what he did. He did it because we could not
save ourselves. The Bible says, for by deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified, made right, declared righteous
in God's sight. My friend, do you realize that
it is impossible for a sinner to be saved if salvation at any
stage, to any degree, or in any way, or at any time is conditioned
on that sinner? This religious world today that
comes in the name of Christianity is all about conditions being
laid upon the sinner. And the reason you have so many
denominations is because there are a lot of different conditions
that people want to put upon people. Some say, well, salvation
is by the grace of God, but you must be baptized. Some say salvation
is by the grace of God, but you must walk the aisle or do this
or do that. Some say that the conditions
are faith, repentance, and or perseverance. But let me tell
you something now. The gospel of God's free grace reveals and
preaches and teaches that all of salvation was conditioned
on the Lord Jesus Christ and that he fulfilled those conditions.
Now why did he do that? Because if any conditions were
put upon us, we'd be lost forever. We're sinners. You see, that's
why the scripture says, there's none righteous, no not one. There's
none that doeth good, no not one. If we could do anything
to save ourselves, Christ would not have come. So why did he
do it? Because of our sinfulness, because
of our sickness, because of our spiritual deadness. He had to
do what his people could not do for themselves. Why did he
do it? He did it in order that God must
be just and the justifier of the ungodly. Now what do I mean
by that? Well, back in the book of Job,
the question is asked two times. How can a man be just with God? Now the question has to do with
this. How can a sinner one who has
nothing to recommend himself unto God, one who has done nothing
to earn salvation. In fact, all he deserves and
earned is damnation. How can such a one as that be
declared righteous, made right and accepted with a holy God? You see, God must punish sin.
The soul that sinneth must surely die. God is the great judge. and he judges according to truth,
and his law must pronounce condemnation and damnation where it finds
the least sin, even in the best of sinners. The Bible teaches
that our best is nothing but vanity. So God must punish sin. So the question arises, how can
God, who is holy and righteous and just, save a sinner like
me in mercy and grace and love and still be just? You see, God
cannot save you or me at the expense of His justice. God cannot
save you or me at the expense of His truth and His righteousness.
If God is going to save any sinner, if He's going to have mercy,
if He's going to express love or grace, He must do it in a
way that His holiness, His justice, and His truth are not diminished
or contaminated. He must be a just God as well
as a Savior. Now, how is that possible? Well,
the Gospel tells us exactly how it is possible. Not only how
it's possible, but how it was done on Calvary's cross when
the Lord Jesus Christ died under the penalty of God's holy law
and justice for his people. It was God's love that put him
on that cross to establish justice in his own death. It was God's
mercy that nailed him to that tree in order that he might be
righteous when he declares a sinner righteous. It was God's truth
that sent him into the world to obey the law completely because
God's law must be obeyed. The only way God can be both
a righteous judge as well as a loving, merciful, and gracious
Father is through the person and finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ who is the Mercy Seat. You see, if you want to
honor God, you must look to Christ and Him crucified. That's why
He did it. And then why did He do it? He
did it for the glory of God. Now, the glory of God is seen
in all of the beautiful display of His attributes in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to see, you know,
back in the Old Testament, the glory of God entered into the
tabernacle, in the temple. The old writers used to call
that the Shekinah Glory. And what that was, basically,
it was the greatest manifestation of the attributes of God, the
character of God, the nature of God, that was to be found
on earth at that time. Well, every bit of that is fulfilled
in its fullness in Christ on the cross of Calvary, finishing
the work that the Father gave him to do. making an end of sin,
finishing the transgression, and bringing in everlasting righteousness. Every bit of it. If you want
to see the fullness of the glory and the nature and the character
of God, look to the Lord Jesus Christ finishing the work of
salvation and redemption on the cross. He died, he was buried,
he arose again the third day, he ascended unto the Father,
and he's now seated there ever living to make intercession for
his people. That's the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. And if you ever learn that glory,
if you ever get that Christian education that you can only get
by the power of the Holy Spirit who brings you to look to see
your sins and your inabilities, your impotence, and brings you
to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, you can
truly say you've got a Christian education. Now here's the next
thing. Where is He now? So we've spoken
of who He is. He's God-man. What he accomplished?
He accomplished redemption whereby God is enabled to be just and
justified. He did it for the glory of God.
Why did he do it? Because of our need and because
of the glory of God as both a just God and a Savior. And then where
is he now? That's number four. Where is
he now? Well, we don't serve a dead martyr. We're not looking
for his tomb. We're not looking for relics.
and spiritual icon, or religious rather, religious icons that
we can hold on to for good luck. He's not in a tomb, for he is
risen. We serve a living Savior. He arose from the dead and the
reason he did is because in his death, as I said before, he made
an end of sin. He finished the transgression.
He brought in everlasting righteousness. You see, this is what it is to
learn Christ. When He did, He brought in everlasting
righteousness. Now, sin demands death, but righteousness
demands life. If you want life, look to Christ.
He's the only righteousness there is. And where is He now? He arose. He ascended to the
Father. And he sat down at the right
hand of God where he ever lives to make intercession. You know,
back in the Old Testament, the priest of the tabernacle in the
temple, they never sat down while they were doing their duties
in that temple or that tabernacle. The reason they never sat down
is their work was only a picture. It was just a physical picture
of something far greater. And their work was never finished.
They pictured Christ, the high priest, the substitute, the sacrifice,
the altar. And when Christ came and did
His work, He did finish His work. He said in John 19 and verse
30, hanging on that cross, He said, it is finished. And you
might remember that it's recorded in the book of Matthew that the
veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. That
was a sign from God that the old covenant was over, the new
covenant had begun, the work was finished. And so he sat down
at the right hand of the Father. And he ever lives there to make
intercession for his people. All who trust him and rest in
him, who are washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness,
he lives as their advocate, continually pleading the merits of his finished
work for their eternal life. And he's coming again. That's
what that means. That's where he is now. He's
waiting for that appointed time when he will come back again
and gather his church and judge the earth. That's learning Christ. Now Paul here in Ephesians chapter
4, and I'm going to get to this next week, here now he's talking
about people who have learned Christ. He's talking to people
who have learned Christ. They've got a good Christian
education, you see. They know who Christ. They've
been taught of Him and by Him. That's what he said there. If
so be, verse 21, that you have heard Him They've heard the voice
of Christ because they've heard the voice in His Word by the
Spirit. That doesn't mean they've heard
an audible voice or they've seen visions. It means they've heard
His Word in the Gospel. They've heard His Word of truth
as Paul is inspired by the Spirit to write. They've heard it by
the power of the Holy Spirit. And they've heard, been taught
by Him. Being taught by Him, again, means
being taught by His Spirit and by His Word as the truth is in
Jesus. Now, they've learned who he is,
what he did, why he did it, where he is now. But they've also learned
something else. They've learned to follow him.
They are disciples of Christ, and they follow his example. Now, many preachers preach Christ
as nothing more than a moral example, and that's bad, that's
wrong, that's not the gospel. But you see, we do preach the
gospel of who He is, what He did, why He did it, where He
is now, the ground of salvation, what He accomplished at Calvary
on the cross, you see. That's the gospel. But we don't
stop there. We go on to preach Him as the
supreme example of righteousness and goodness and godliness of
which all who have learned Him and who have been taught by Him
and of Him All who have this Christian education should follow
and do in their walk and conversation. Now one thing about it though,
before we get into the details of that next week, I want you
to understand this, and that is this, our following Christ
as our example, His teachings, His actions, to love as He loved,
to obey as He obeyed, to be conformed to His image, None of that is
to be done by any believer in order to be saved. If you're
doing any of those things, if you're trying to be a good person,
if you're trying to be a moral person, which you should do now,
but if you're trying to do those things in order to be saved,
then you have not learned Christ. You don't have a very good Christian
education at all. You've learned works. You see,
the motivation for following Him as our example, as we have
learned Christ and continue to learn Him, the motivation is
grace and gratitude and love. To follow Him, to seek to be
like Him, to learn from Him because He's already given us all things
freely by His grace. He's already saved us. He keeps
us and preserves us by His grace. He's already rewarded us and
will reward us, not for our work, but by His grace. It's not in
order to be saved, but because we already are. Now that's the
beginning of a good Christian education. And I hope this has
been helpful to your understanding of the Scriptures. If you'd like
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give you the details. Again, the title of this message
is A Christian Education. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word.