Now let's turn to Ephesians chapter
four. Everything that we say concerning
the person and work of Christ is that which is taught in the
word of God. It does involve his immaculate
conception. It does involve his birth, his
life, his death, his burial. He went into the grave. His resurrection
on the third day. Glory, hallelujah, Christ raised
from the dead. Why? Because He had accomplished
what He came to do. He saved His people from their
sins. He didn't come to try to save anybody if they would let
Him. He came to save His people. He put away the sins. God cannot
charge His people with sin because Christ died for those sins. They
were charged to Him. And this is something to praise
God for. Christ's righteousness is given
to us, imputed to us. And these are all things taught
in the glory of His person, God manifest in the flesh, and that's
the amazing thing about His birth. Who is He? He's Jesus, He's Emmanuel,
God with us. And that's the amazing thing
about all of his life and death and burial and resurrection.
And that's what we've learned from the Word of God by the power
of the Holy Spirit. There's a verse here in Ephesians
4, verse 20, from where I get the title of this message. I
call it the school of Jesus Christ. We're going to school. We've
been going to school. And the Apostle Paul talks to
the Ephesians. He continues to exhort them,
encourage them, as believers, sinners saved by grace, already
redeemed from all their sins, already forgiven, already righteous
by virtue of God's grace in Christ, to walk according to their calling. And their calling was the calling
of pure, sovereign grace in Christ. Think about that. Our whole existence
as sinners saved by grace, as justified. What does that mean? That means I'm forgiven of all
my sins. On what ground? The blood of
Christ. That means I'm declared righteous in God's sight. On
what ground? The imputed righteousness of
Christ. Justified and sanctified, set apart, in divine electing
grace set apart, in justifying grace set apart, in redeeming
grace set apart, in regenerating and converting grace. All our
whole lives as sinners saved by grace is owing to God's mercy
and grace founded upon the merits of Christ, obedience and death. Listen, we can't take credit
for any of it, can we? We can't look to ourselves and
say, well, now that part I did. All conditioned on Christ who
fulfilled those conditions. And once again, we see that every
exhortation, now an exhortation is an encouragement to obedience.
You know, people talk about grace giving people a license to sin. That is so foolish. What that
tells you is they don't know the reality of what grace really
is. Do you know that? They don't know grace. They claim
to, but the moment they say that the way we preach grace gives
people a license to sin and disobey, they don't know grace. Don't
know it at all. But every exhortation, every
encouragement, every commandment, if you will, unto obedience and
good works and a godly walk is given to believers already saved
now. Not to be saved. And it's all
motivated by the certainty of final glory based upon the righteousness
of Christ freely imputed and received by faith. And that grace
does not lead or motivate people to a life of open sin and unconcern
and immorality, no. People may do that, but it's
not grace that leads them there, that's the old flesh. That's
old selfishness. The grace of God in Christ does
not lead or motivate anybody that way. And it does not lead
or motivate to any obedience in a legal way or a mercenary
way. Now you know what legalism is?
That's like you straighten up and fly right and obey or I'm
gonna get you, I'm gonna whip you, I'm gonna kill you, I'm
gonna take away a reward. That's legalism. Now we have
to deal with people on earth like that. in our relationships,
even you moms and dads. Sometimes you have to threaten
your children with almost death. You know, who was the guy in
the community? He said, I brought you into this
world, I can take you out. Well, he's not, he couldn't.
But sometimes, you know, you have to be, give out some punishment
to get the right behavior. But now that's not the way that
God deals with his children. Because God deals with his children
by giving us a new heart. But legalism is obedience based
upon the law, with fear of punishment, fear of hell, fear of loss of
reward. Now a mercenary is one who does what he does, or does
what she does, in order to gain reward. So it's like dangling
the carrot out there. You know, if you do this, it's
like when you tell your children, if you clean your room, I'll
give you $10. You just created a mercenary.
If they do it. But you see, that's not the way
God works. Now that's what he says here
in verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ. That's not
the way that we who are saved by grace learned Christ. That's
the way we naturally think. Right there. We all think, well,
We do to either avoid punishment or we do in order to gain reward.
That's natural religion. That's works religion. That's
legalistic mercenary religion. It's not grace. Not grace at
all. Because the Lord, by the Spirit,
through his word, motivates his people to obey him and to walk
worthy of our calling, motivated by grace. Think about what all
God has given us in salvation. But think about what God has
given us even in this life. And how many times have I told
you, take the next breath? That's a gift from God. And so how do we respond to that?
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. God has given us an inheritance
that we cannot even imagine. And we didn't earn it and we
don't deserve it. Never earn it. It's motivated
by love, love to God, love to his word, love to one another.
It's motivated by gratitude. So look at what he says here.
Look back at verse 17 of Ephesians four. He says, this I say therefore
and testify in the Lord that you henceforth from this time
forward walk not as other Gentiles walk, Now the Gentiles here,
he's talking to Gentile believers. But all this applies to every
believer, even Jewish believers. The truths here apply to everyone
who believes the gospel. But he's addressing the Gentile
believers because of the way they were in that day, and they're
this way today, but it's in a different realm. It comes forth in a different
way. But the way the Gentiles walk,
and look how he describes it. He says, walk not as other Gentiles
walk, in the vanity of their mind. Now you're gonna see the
mind is involved here. You've heard that old saying,
the mind is a terrible thing to waste. Well, God doesn't waste
our minds. In fact, when you see the word
heart, and he says that in verse 18, look at verse 18. having
the understanding darkened. There's gotta be an understanding
that comes through the mind. And he says, the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God, being excluded
from the life of God. That's spiritual life. That's
salvation. Through the ignorance that is
in them, there's something they don't know. There's something
they haven't been taught. And he says, because of the blindness
of their hearts. and the word might be hardness
of their heart. The heart in the scripture is
not just the emotions. People say today, follow your
heart. Well, the problem with that is,
is that if you're not regenerate, the heart is deceptive, deceitful
above all things, desperately wicked, who can know it? In salvation,
God gives us a new heart, a new heart. And people think of the
heart as just being emotional. They'll say things like, don't
follow up on this path with your mind, follow your heart. But I got news for you, the Bible's
not a Hallmark card. It's not just a love letter in
that sense. The heart in scripture is the
mind. It's the affections, what you hate and what you love, because
of what you know. I know this to be true. It's
like I've always used, especially around this time of year, if
you have a package brought to your house and it's got a beautiful
wrapping on it and a beautiful ribbon, the first thing you're
gonna do is open that package, aren't you? I wanna know what's
in that. I wanna know who sent it. Well,
what if it's got a rattlesnake in it? Now your mind, you say, well
I know that guy who sent that to me, he don't like me. You
know something. Or somebody informs you, there's
a snake in that box, you better not open it. Then your affection
toward that box is gonna change. You understand what I'm saying?
Because now you know something you didn't know before. And it's
the same way in salvation. The reason that people by nature
do not want the salvation that God provides through His Son
is because they want it their own way. They don't know any
better. Their understanding is darkened.
That's why in salvation, in 1 John 5, 20, it says, the Son of God
hath come and given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true. He teaches us through His Word, by the power of the Spirit,
and sometimes, and most of the time, through a preacher like
me, or a witness like you, in some way. The heart includes
the mind, the affections. The heart includes the will.
What you desire and do not desire. People talk about, well, God
sent His Son here, trying to save everybody, and if you will
just accept Him, and you'll be saved. Well, that's a lie. You don't know any better if
that's what you believe. Your understanding's darkened.
You're alienated. That's separated from the life
that God gives. Spiritual life. Because the Bible
teaches us that if we were left to our own desires, we would
not accept Him or believe in Him or come to Him. Isn't that
right? The will is part of the depraved
heart, and that heart's got to be changed. We've got to be made
willing in the day of His power, and how does He do that? He sends
His Spirit through the Word preached to convince us of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment. Think about this. Any person
who comes to God seeking salvation based upon their works or their
decision They do that because they don't
know better. Because that's a lie. God never promised to save you
based upon your works or your decision. What does God do? Christ comes by His Spirit, by
His Word, and He teaches us in His school of grace that by nature
we're such a sinful, depraved, spiritually dead people that
we are totally dependent upon His will. and His will alone
to save us, to keep us, to bring us to glory. It's not of Him
that runneth, Paul wrote in Romans 9. That means works. It's not
of Him that willeth, but it's of God that showeth mercy. And
God says He'll have mercy upon whom He will. He says, I'll be
gracious to whom I will. You can't get past that in the
scripture, in the school of Jesus Christ. You can't get past that. Somebody says, well that's not
fair. Paul writes, by the power of the Spirit, in the book of
Romans chapter nine, you better watch what you say about God.
You better trust in the Lord and lean not to your own understanding.
God does that which is right. And he never makes a mistake.
His judgments are always according to truth. And what he does, he
does so because it glorifies him and exalts his son. Well, the heart is the will,
the heart is the understanding. The Bible says in Romans 3, verses
10 and 12, that by nature there's none that understand. In other
words, if we have that understanding, it's gonna have to be given to
us in the school of Jesus Christ, in the school of His grace, being
taught by the word of God. Listen, look at Romans chapter
10. And he says it's because of the ignorance. Well, what
are we ignorant of? Well, listen to these words from
the Word of God, from the school of Jesus Christ, the school of
God's grace, Romans chapter 10. Look at verse one. He says, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. Now, what's Paul saying here?
He's talking about the majority of people who were his brethren
in the flesh because Paul was a Jew. He wasn't Israelite. And he says, my heart's desire
and prayer for them is that they might be saved. Do you all have
family members who are lost? And it's your heart's desire
and prayer for them that they might be saved. Well, why would
you say that they're lost, Paul? Well, look at verse two. It's
like this, let me say this. Why would you say they're lost,
Paul? Are they not religious? Don't they go to church? Don't
they read their Bibles? Look at verse two, he says, for
I bear them record, they have a zeal of God. No, they're religious. Think about the religious Jews.
Back up there in Romans nine, he said, they sought after righteousness.
They worked hard to attain the righteousness by which God would
accept them. But they didn't find it. Why,
Paul? Because they sought it not by
faith, and to seek righteousness by faith is to seek it in Christ. That's the school of Jesus Christ.
So he says, verse two, for I bear them record that they have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Do you believe
the gospel? If you do, you've been to this
school. But they Not according, they're
lacking some knowledge because they haven't been to this school,
the school of grace. They don't have a degree from
the University of God's sovereign grace. Well, what are they ignorant
of? I mean, I know guys who, men
and women today who are so smart, don't you? So moral in the eyes
of men, so kind, so humble in the eyes of men, don't you? I know guys who are a lot smarter
than me in a lot of areas. But in this one area, they're
ignorant. What is it? Look at verse three. For they
being ignorant of God's righteousness. The school of Jesus Christ is
a school of righteousness. How do you know they're ignorant
of God's righteousness, God's way of righteousness, God's justice? Here's how you know. and going
about to establish their own righteousness. They're trying
to work their way into righteousness. You can't do that. Even in the exhortations of Ephesians
4, where he tells us to be good people, to be obedient people,
we still cannot work our way to righteousness. That's what
I've learned in the school of Jesus Christ. How about you? He says, they've not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God. Well, what is this righteousness
of God? You know, the Bible said over
in Romans 1, 16, 17, that the gospel reveals the righteousness
of God, and they're ignorant of it. They've not submitted
themselves to it. Well, here it is, look at verse four. For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Now that's why he came into the
world. That's why he was born. That's why he lived and died
and was buried and rose again. To establish the only perfection
of the law in his righteousness by which God justifies ungodly
people like us. As our sins were imputed, charged,
accounted to him, his righteousness was imputed, charged, accounted
to his people. That's the school of his grace.
Look back at Ephesians four. Now if you're ignorant of that,
he calls it blindness of their heart. The blindness of their
heart, hardness of their heart. Hardness of heart would come
through with a person hearing this gospel from the word of
God saying, I don't believe that for a second. Walking away out
that door unaffected. That's blindness of heart. That's
hardness of heart. That shows you haven't been to
this school that God brings all of his children through. Well,
look at verse 19. He said, who being past feeling.
Now that word past feeling means they're insensitive, they're
calloused. no awareness of their sin. What am I? I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story. To God be the glory. And I'm
sensitive to that. There may be times that I might
lose sight of it, but not for very long. Oh, it don't take
long, especially as you get older, for God to remind us what we
are. And the facts. That if God were to judge us
based upon our best right now, we'd be damned forever. No shame, that's what that means.
Think about that. Think about those false professors
in Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Coming before the Lord of glory
and saying, now Lord, haven't we preached in your name? Haven't
we cast out devils? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Think of the lack of shame there. They ought to be ashamed
of what they're doing. Pleading their works, even though
they're saying they did it in the name of the Lord. Pleading
their works as their righteousness before God. They hadn't been
to the school of Jesus Christ. You know what I need to be saved?
I need the perfection of the law that can only be found in
Christ. And if I put anything else in there, I ought to be
ashamed. And that's what he means, past feeling. Now, you can apply
that to people today who just live like, as we say, devils,
who have no conscience. But if you relegate it to just
the immoral, perverted people of the day, you've missed the
boat of this school, you've missed the lesson. My friend, this applies
to the best, the worst, and everybody in between, the most religious. It's indicative of a betrayed,
of a depraved conscious, look back at verse 19, who've given
themselves over to lasciviousness. Lasciviousness is sensuality,
lust. Now that can apply to sexual
sins, physical, but it applies to any lust that is unlawful. It's unlawful for me to desire
salvation based upon my works. That's lasciviousness. And yes,
it applies to the immoral, the sexual immorality that pervades
our day. He said to work on cleanness
with all greediness. What is that greediness? It's
not just for money, that's included. but it's for power, it's for
glory. I wanna believe that I made the
difference between saved and lost, that it was my decision,
that Christ died for multitudes in vain who didn't make the decision
that I made. That's greediness. Yes, it would include those who
are greedy after filthy lucre. Those who are greedy after physical
power, political power. Yes, it includes all that, but
don't let it stop too low. Go to the school of Jesus Christ. But he says in verse 20, but
you have not so learned Christ. Are we sinners saved by grace? Are you a believer? a follower
of Christ, a disciple of Christ. You know what that word disciple
means. It means a learner. If you are, you've been to the
school and you've been schooled in his school by the word of
God as it is in him. The Bible says, if so be, look
at verse 21. If so be that you've heard him.
Well, how have I heard him? in his word by the power of the
Spirit. He's given you ears to hear. Blessed are your eyes for
they see, blessed are your ears for they hear. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. So he says, if so be that you
have heard him, and if so be you've been taught by him as
the truth. is in him. Now these next verses I'm going
to go in as you know we're not having service next week and
then brother Jim's going to be preaching and January 1st we'll
have one service January 1st it'll be at 11 o'clock we don't
have the 10 o'clock and then Debbie and I'll be back on the
8th and I'm gonna pick up here on this thing about the new man
and the old man when I get back but he says put on the new man
and put off the old man he says in verse 22 that you put off
concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind. Now I'll deal with that when I come back, but basically
here's what that is. The old man is what I was in
Adam before I was converted, before I went to this school,
and learned better. That's the old man, that's what
I was. That old man was crucified with Christ means that I can't
be condemned by what I was. Because Christ took that to the
cross. And even now he takes my sin, he took my sins to the
cross. The new man is what I am now in Christ. And we'll deal
with that when I come back. But let me show you one more
verse and I'll quit. John 6, turn to John 6. Here's a summation of going to
the school of Jesus Christ. And I'll talk more about this
too. Look at John 6, 44. Now he says in John 6, 44, no
man can come to me, that is, come to Christ, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the
last day. Well, he says in verse 44, now
this is how God draws his people. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God, taught by the Spirit
in the word through a preacher or a witness. Every man therefore
that hath heard. I used to teach middle school,
and I swear to you that in every class, I had some kids who just
didn't hear what I said. And you know why they didn't
hear it? They didn't want to hear it. But there were a few that did
hear. And they did. That's the way it is in the gospel. Man by nature doesn't want to
hear this. But God's people want to hear
it because God's given them ears to hear. So every man therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father." How God can be
both a righteous judge and a loving Father. If you know that, you
know what you'll do? He says, cometh unto me. You'll
come to Christ. You'll flee to Christ. You'll
flee to Christ and nobody will be able to stop you. You may
get a second opinion from a false preacher, but he won't even be
able to stop you. You'll come to Christ. Because
you've been to the school of grace, the school of Jesus Christ.
Okay.