Now if you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians 4 and 23 is my text. He says, and be ye renewed in
the spirit, small s, the spirit of your mind. Whenever he's talking
about the mind of the believer, and he uses that word spirit
like he does in John chapter four, be careful of these spirits
that come teaching you. He's talking about your spiritual
understanding. There is no understanding apart
from the Holy Ghost. But when you see that word spirit,
and it's not capitalized, it can be talking about the work
of the spirit, but he's not talking about the Holy Spirit firsthand. He's talking about understanding,
the understanding. So be renewed in the understanding
of your mind, spiritual understanding. Ephesians 4 begins with a calling
out and vocation of the believer. Paul's writing to Gentiles. He's
writing to people who know nothing of the things of God. And so
he lays a very easy to at least understand in your head of the
doctrines of grace all through chapter one. Chapter two, he
talks about how God has quickened us in Christ and then when In
the fullness of time, he sent the gospel and gave us an understanding
of it. For by grace, or you say, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. And then he reminds these people
of who they are. They're Gentiles. They're Gentiles. And so he's telling them all
of these things. And there is but one vocation
for the saints of God, and that is the ministry of the gospel.
There's just one vocation. We're all involved in it if we're
saved, and that's the ministry of the gospel. That's the only
reason we're still on this earth. God's not going to leave us here
one second longer than what's absolutely necessary, but it's
necessary according to his purpose for us to be fellow laborers
with God and assist in the calling out of his elect. It's more a
privilege than it is a job. It's a great privilege that we're
fellow laborers with God. We're not all preachers, but
we all have a part in this ministry. And then he gives us the attitude
of those he calls out. Those who have this vocation,
those he's called into this vocation, he gives us their attitude. It's
the same. I don't care who you are. I don't
care what you are. You may just work a job and support
the church. You may be a deacon. You may
be a preacher. Whatever you are, I don't know
what you are, but I can tell you what your attitude is. I
can tell you exactly what it is. lowliness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love. All God's people have these traits. They all have this spirit. And
this we do I'm kind of coming down through
chapter 4. I'm starting with verse 1 and
kind of working my way down. This we do in endeavoring to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is
a unity within this ministry. There's
a unity. And that unity is the Spirit
of God. Everything in the kingdom of
God is described as one. Now watch this, he's talking
about the unity of the spirit, and we're striving for that,
we're endeavoring for that, and we're doing it with the right
attitude. Lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another in love. Now watch what he says, one body. That's the church, his body,
the church, they're just one body. One spirit. Well this one says, I have the
spirit, and they say this and do that, and this one over here
says, well, we have the spirit, and we do this and we do that.
He said they're just one spirit. If there's more than one spirit,
there never could be any unity, could there? But there's just
one spirit. One body, one spirit, called
in one hope of your calling. Everybody's called to that same
hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
There's just one hope. There's one Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's just one faith, the faith
of God's elect, It's the free gift of God's grace. They're
just one faith. They're just one baptism. I don't
care how many people talk about it, describe it this way, that
way, or what they practice. They're just one baptism. That's
what he said. There's one God and Father of
all who's above all, through all, and in you all. That's why
there can be unity in this body. Because of all the oneness. The oneness. The revealer of
these things is the Spirit of God. And He reveals these things
to all who believe. So that there is a unity of the
Spirit in a common bond of peace. What do we got to fight over?
Huh? What do we got to fight over? We don't have anything to fight
over. Everything we have is a gift of God. I am what I am by the
grace of God. And then Paul tells us something
of the ascension gifts of Christ. Now he's talked about the body,
he's talked about the vocation of the body. It's the ministry
of Christ. And in this ministry, we're all
striving, striving for a unity of the spirit. I want everybody
on the same page. That's what Paul's talking about.
Everybody get on the same page. We're studying through the book
of Luke. I want everybody to get on that page and focus on
that. And he gives, to accomplish these
things, when Christ ascended back up into glory, he gave gifts. And he tells us what some of
these gifts are. They're apostles, prophets. What's he talking about? Well,
the Old Testament are the prophets of God. The New Testament are
written by the apostles of Christ. He gave us prophets. He gave
us apostles, and he gives us evangelists and pastor teachers. It's by way of these four offices
that God's ordained means, which is the preaching of the gospel,
is manifested to chosen sinners. Well, God spoke to me in a closet. Somebody did, but God didn't.
If God ever speaks to you, he's gonna speak to you through a
preacher. Now you write it down. I can show it to you all through
the scriptures. How shall you hear? This is what
the Holy Spirit asks you. How shall you hear without a
preacher? You can't. The only way you're
ever gonna hear is for God to intervene and enable you to hear,
and if God's gonna do the work, he's gonna do it according to
his good pleasure. and it pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. Now you can
run off and hide in all of these things that you've either read
or thought or conceived in your own heart all you want to, but
the only information that you have on God is his word, and
that's what I'm quoting to you, the word of God. It's by way
of these four offices that God's ordained means, the preaching
of the gospel, is manifested to chosen sinners. And his means
are given to the church, he says, now watch this, for the perfecting
of the saints. What on earth is he talking about?
Is he talking about you evolving into a perfect person in this
world? No, no. What in the world is he talking
about? To be saved, are you listening? To be saved, you must be seen
of God as absolutely perfect. If you have one flaw, one blemish,
it must be perfect to be accepted of God. And you can't be perfect
except in Christ. Are you with me? The means are given to the church
for the perfecting of the saints. I preach the gospel to you and
show you through the person of Christ how that he hath made
you perfect. He said in Hebrews chapter 10,
I come not to do my own will, but the will, he said, in the
volume of the book it's written of me, I come to do thy will,
O God. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And then he tells us in verse
14, that through that same offering, all those that were sanctified
are perfected forever. Isn't that what it says? That's
exactly what it says. These means that he's given,
And now he's talking primarily about evangelists and pastor-teachers
because the prophets and apostles were used to write the word of
God. It's for the perfecting of the
saints and it's for the edifying of the body of Christ. We forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together. We assemble and we're
taught. We're taught. Who are we taught
by? Pastor-teachers. Yeah, but I live out over on
a foreign island somewhere, evangelist. If God got an elect somewhere,
he's gonna send an evangelist. Moose Parks, out there in the
islands, preaching, been over there for years. Walter Gruber
down in Mexico. These men are also called for
the work of the ministry. calling out of his saints, the
maturing of his saints, the maintaining of their faith. Faith cometh. It didn't say faith came. Faith
cometh by hearing. It continues to come by hearing. Your faith is not going to grow.
You go home and sit on your hands, your faith ain't going to grow
at all. Faith cometh. It continues to
come. By hearing, hearing by the word
of God. He calls out his saints, he matures
his saints, he maintains their faith. And it's for the edifying
of the body of Christ. It's for communicating such things
to them that are necessary for them to know. You see, here's
where we start. We have no understanding. There's
none that understand it. That's what the scripture says.
Now if you have some inkling that I understand, no you don't.
This is where you start. There's none that understandeth.
And there's none that seeketh after God. If they understood,
they'd seek after God. And there's none righteous. None
good. My soul. And here we sit before God. God has to intervene. He has
to do something for you, because you can't do anything for yourself. And so Christ descends back into
glory victorious, having redeemed His people. And He takes His
place at the right hand of God and He gives gifts to the church.
And He gives these things to communicate to them, such things
that are necessary for them to know. And He says, until we all
come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
of God under the fullness, under a perfect man, the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ. And he says in verse 14, Ephesians
4, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of
men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. They're a bunch of windbags.
That's what I get out of it. You can't be blown about unless
there's some wind. Where's the wind come from? It
comes from the windbags. That's what they are. Proud, the scripture says, but
knowing nothing. Desiring to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
perverse disputings of men with corrupt minds, destitute of truth, doting about questions and strifes
of words. And these winds of doctrine bring
with them damnable heresies. And listening to these things,
many follow their pernicious ways by reason of which the truth
is evil spoken of. They're merchandisers, the scripture
says, of men's souls. Evangelist and pastor teachers
take the writings of the apostles and prophets and they preach
Christ to those enabled of God to hear. That's what they do. If they're doing something else,
they're not doing the will of God. His pastors are sent to
that end, period. And his people are established
in the truth and are safe from the lying wonders and ministers
of Satan. That's what scripture calls them. And having established these
things, now Paul begins to talk to us about our everyday life.
The life we live, how we walk, how we talk, what we do, how
we think. Verse 17. He said, this I say therefore
and testify in the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. Now before you look
at the Gentiles as though they were some foreign entity, you
need to know this, you and I are Gentiles. We're Gentiles. What's that mean? Heathens. That's
what it means. Rank. heathens. Nobody from the
time Israel was established in Abraham, nobody held out one
ounce of hope for the Gentiles. Nobody. Here's Israel, and they
have the prophets, they have the writings, they have the Old
Testament scriptures, the scrolls, and they're reading these things,
and they have the law, and they're attempting to keep the law, and
they're They're struggling and doing all these things and attempting
to walk with God and follow God and they look over here at these
Gentiles and they're over there bowing down to wooden statues,
worshiping frogs and snakes and totem poles and all of these
kind of things. You think they held any hope
for them people? No. They were heathens. They were heathens. Godless heathens. And Paul reminds this church
at Ephesus that when God called them, they were Gentiles. What's
that mean, Ephesians 2.12? At that time, you were without
Christ. Oh, you knew the word Jesus.
Use that all the time when you pray. You prayed our father,
but you had no idea what the father is, where he is, what
he is, what he's done. You just knew the word father.
You knew the word Jesus. What do you know about Jesus?
You didn't know anything. He's just Jesus. That's why they
called him that. The apostles, when they learned
who he was, they quit calling him Jesus. They called him Jesus
Christ, the Lord. And most of the time, they referred
to him as master. And he said, you call me master
and you do well, for so I am. You are without Christ. What's
the big deal about Christ being without him? He's the only hope
there is. In him is life. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. He's the creator of all things.
He's God. Did you know that Jesus Christ
is God? False prophets preach, the scripture
says, another Jesus by another spirit, which is another gospel. And just because you grew up
hearing some religious imposter talking about Jesus doesn't mean
you know him or had any interest in the true Christ. Then he goes on and he said,
not only that, but you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
You had no hope of ever being God's elect. You're a Gentile. All God promises is to Israel. You were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. What are you doing here? That's
the first thing they'd tell you if you walked in that temple.
What are you doing here? What right you got to be here? The scripture said if you're
Christ, you belong to him. Then are you Abraham's seed,
heirs according to the promise. He said we were strangers from
the covenants of promise. What do we know about God's eternal
covenant of grace? I never heard it mentioned. I
grew up in Nazarene churches and Baptist church. I never heard
that word everlasting covenant ever ordered, talked about from
the pulpit, never. Not even in common conversation.
Nobody ever brought that up. I didn't know there was such
a thing. Or the establishing of that everlasting
covenant in the hearts of his elect. He established his covenant
with Abraham. You can go back and read it,
he did. What covenant? His covenant of grace. Just one
covenant. Did you know the sweet psalmist
of Israel, that man that God said is after my own heart, you
know what his last words were? Although it be not so with my
house, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation and all my
desire, though he make it not to grow. I'm going to save all
my children, but he's going to save everyone mentioned in that
covenant. We were strangers from the covenants
of promise, and we had no hope, no real lasting hope. We had
a hope, a hope, a hope, but we didn't have a hope. We didn't have an eternal hope,
an immutable hope, No basis for hope at all but lies and deceptions
of men. And perhaps the worst of all
is this, without God in the world. The world don't know God. If
you were of the world, you'd listen to the world. But he said,
you ain't of the world. You are without God, without
any understanding of who God is, and you're in the world,
a world full of fallen men that Satan has came upon in power
and lying wonders and taught them a false gospel, and here
you are down here and you have none of these things and no understanding,
and the only impressions that you have at all in your head
are those put there by false prophets. You're in the world
and without God. Paul said, you remember that
because that's where God found you. You're a Gentile. Gentile gods were no more than
just carvings and wood overlaid with gold and statues of stones
with eloquent writings at the base. Gentile gods were gods
of their own imagination. Scripture said they'd become
vain in their imaginations. And they changed, professing
themselves to be fools, to be wise, they'd become fools. And
changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like a
man, a four-footed beast, and birds, and creeping things. And
just as these ancient civilizations lived out their days worshiping
the gods of their imagination, so every natural man lives out
his day today in the vanity of his mind, thinking he knows something
that he don't know. Now watch this, verse 18, Ephesians
chapter 4. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God, through the ignorance that's in them, because of the
blindness of his heart. Believers are not left to their
vain imaginations, but he said, be you renewed in the spirit
of your mind. I wanna give you four or five
things about this renewing of the mind. purposely took my time
to try to show you your history as a sinner and his grace in
calling you out. And now he's gonna give to you
some exhortations. First of all, eternal life is
to know the true and living God. Eternal life is not how long
it lasts. When he's going to describe how
long it lasts, he uses the term everlasting life. But when he's
talking about that life and its character, he's talking about
eternal life, and that life is to know God. We think about eternal life,
we think, well, I'm going to die and then I'm going to inherit
eternal life. No, eternal life takes place
right now. Right now. Eternal life is not
talking about how long it lasts, it's talking about what it is.
What it is. In John 17 three, listen to this. I don't know of a clearer verse
anywhere in scripture. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou sent. And having warned us about continuing
on in the vanity of our minds, he tells us in verse 20, but
you have not so learned Christ. Is that what separates us from
them? That's exactly what separates us from them. You have not so learned Christ,
verse 21, Ephesians chapter four, if so be you have heard him. What did you hear? What did that
man preach to you? You made that false proficiency.
What did he preach to you? He wasn't preaching Christ. He's
preaching come on down the aisle. He's preaching join the church.
He's preaching dedication, here sign this, a pledge card, now
you have to pay 10%. That's not preaching Christ. If so be you have heard him and
have been taught by him as the truth is in him. The scripture said that false
prophets are destitute of truth. They're destitute of truth. Grace
and truth come by Jesus Christ. And secondly, the only way I
can know the true and living God is by way of his son. Lots of people go through the
scriptures and they say, it says here that God is this, God is
that, God is this, God is that. So now I know God. No, no you
don't. No, you don't. The only way you
can know who God is, is in His Son, Jesus Christ. No man has
seen God at any time. No man, save the Son. He's the brightness, the Son
is the brightness of the Father's glory, that is His whole being,
and the express image of His person. In Matthew 11, verse
27, our Lord said, all things are delivered unto me of my father,
and no man knoweth the son save the father, neither knoweth any
man the father save the son, and he to whomsoever the son
will reveal him. You remember over in John 14, they said, Show us the Father
and we'll be satisfied. Show us Him. He said, have you
been so long time with me? Have you not known the Father? He said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. Now I've already showed you what
that life is. It's to know God. And he's telling you here, he's
the life. You want to know what that life is? No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. You're not going to come to him
in prayer because you don't know it. You're not going to come
to him in any kind of understanding because he's revealed himself.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And thirdly, this
knowledge is conveyed to believers through gospel preaching in conjunction
with a powerful working of the Holy Spirit of God. It's not
just that Jesus of Nazareth appeared on the earth where he was seen
of all men and then everybody seeing him said, we know God.
No, that's not it. Thousands saw him. and continued
on in their sins. Judas was numbered with the 12,
he was chosen of Christ himself, and he saw him every day of his
life, yet he died in his sins. What the believer sees is by
way of the preaching of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Who
is this man? Why did he come? Why did Jesus
Christ have to come into this world? Why did God have to take
to himself the body of a man? Why did he come? What did he
do when he got here? I grew up in religion and none
of them could tell me what he did. What did he do? Did he do anything? Did he just come and was a shining
example and went back into heaven? What did he do? He said he come
to do the Father's will. Did he do it? Said he did. And where is he now? The gospel
shows us in the word of God, this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
accomplishing the redemptive will of God. That's how we become
acquainted with a true and living God. He said, in the volume of the
book, it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O God, by the
which will you're sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. He said, I've not come to do
my will, but the will of him that sent me, and this is the
Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he has
given me, I should lose nothing. Our Lord reveals God to us by
his person and works. What works? Let me give you two. First of
all, his miracles. Turn with me quickly over to
Acts chapter two. Let me show you something. I
want you to read this out of the word of God. Talking about
these works that he did. His person and works. Peter's preaching the first message
after the resurrection of Christ. And listen to what he says in
Acts 2 verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God. What's that mean? Confirmed of
God. Ratified by God. Approved of
God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did
by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know. You
were standing there when he called Lazarus out of the tomb. You were in the midst. when he
took that handful of fishes and loaves and fed 5,000 people and
all the children and the wives. He was right there on that mountainside.
You saw it. Talk about wonders. A raging sea about to break the
boat in half is filled with water. They were going down for the
last time. Christ said, be still. And there
was a perfect calm. He cast devils out of legion. He healed a woman with the issue
of blood by touch. She touched Him. God confirmed this to be His
Son, the Christ, by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by Him in their midst. But there's another work that
he did, and it's the greater work, and that's the work of
redemption and reconciliation. Paul said he came into this world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. That's why he came. Again, the Apostle Paul writes
to Timothy about that salvation given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began, and he says this. It's now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, now listen, who
hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. It's not just his appearing,
it's not just seeing his picture hanging on a wall or a statue
of him nailed to the cross. It's hearing who this man is
as he's accomplishing the redemptive will of God. That's where you
learn the love of God. Isn't it? He died for us while we was yet
sinners. God commended his love to you
that way. From the day of his birth to
the day of his death, our Lord was working to provide his people
with a spotless righteousness and a perfect atonement for their
sin. Philippians 2.8, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. And the preaching of the apostles
was not a bunch of moral fables and motivational talks. They
preached Christ and Him crucified. And to those who were perishing,
to the unbelievers who hardened their hearts, to those who were
perishing, that gospel of Christ crucified was foolishness, utter
foolishness. But unto them that are being
saved and called by that same gospel, it was the wisdom of
God and the power of God. You cannot walk by faith and
walk with God apart from a renewed mind, and that renewed mind comes
through the preaching of the gospel. And the gospel shows
us Christ crucified. It shows us God in the accomplishing
of God's will. And everything required to walk
this walk comes from knowing God as he's revealed in the person
and work of Jesus Christ. One fella said, I just think
we need a little law preaching. No, you don't. What do you need that for? That's
why you was in trouble when he found you. You don't need that. When God
saves a sinner, he shines his gospel light into his heart,
the same as he shined that gospel light before he ever created
anything, in the beginning. God created the heavens and the
earth, and God said, let there be light. Not the sun, that didn't
happen until the fourth or fifth day. What light's he talking
about? He's talking about gospel light,
the light of redemption. and let it be shown in everything
that's made, and it is. He shines that gospel light into
his heart, and that sinner sees the very glory of God, and he
sees it in the face of Jesus Christ. And then fourthly, it's
being enabled to see those things which constitutes what the scripture
calls the mind of Christ, or a renewed mind, or the mind of
the Spirit. They're all talking about the
same thing. You heard Christ, you were taught
by him as the truth is in him. And the old mind, the carnal
mind, that mind with which you lived your whole life is not subject to the law of
God. This old mind is filled with vanity. Man at his best
states altogether vanity. What's he talking about? Well,
I'll tell you. Here's just a few things. A vain thought. A vain
thought is to be indifferent to the things of the Spirit of
God. That's vanity. That's absolute vanity. It's a vain thought to disregard
the Word of God. It's a vain thought to think
lightly about sin. That's vanity. Well, I just told a little lie. Ain't no little lie. Ephesians 4.22, the truth as
it is in Christ teaches us, he said, to put off Concerning the
former behavior, the old man put off his thoughts, his principles,
his motives, his understanding, his imaginations. Why? Because they're corrupt according
to deceitful lust. He doesn't desire the glory of
God. And you cannot have a renewed
mind and go on living like you used to. If God renews your mind,
your life's gonna change. Verse 24. And that you put on
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Where does that take place? In
the mind. In the mind and in the heart. Believers walk in this world,
and here's the fifth thing, the final thing, they walk in this
world fully dependent on Christ. Fully dependent. I've been on
this way now for a while, and I still haven't done one good
thing, not one. All my hope's in Christ. It's
all in Christ. Without me, listen to this, here's
what he told his disciples. Without me, you can do nothing. What can you do? Nothing. Wow,
I can do this. No, you can't. No, you can't. But with the renewed mind, the
mind of Christ, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
Now we got the proper motive. His grace is just, oh my soul,
how He magnifies His grace when He saves a sinner. All grace. All grace. The grace of God is
seen and known in every aspect of your salvation. His kindness
and love is seen and known by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. And so we're talking about His
walk. He doesn't walk in a vanity of his mind, he walks with a
renewed mind. Now listen to what John says
in our cloak. He said, if we walk in the light,
what light? The light of Christ. The light
of his accomplished redemption, the light of the glory of God
revealed in him. If we walk in the light, as he
is the light, We have fellowship one with another. Huh? Saved me the same way he saved
you. We have fellowship one with another. We both go to the same
source for righteousness. We both go to the same source
for forgiveness for sin. We have fellowship one with another. Yeah, but we're still sinners. I know, and the blood of Jesus
Christ his son cleanseth us from all sins. Oh, our great heavenly father,
I pray you enable us to do what you so graciously instructed
us to do. Assemble ourselves together and
hear and hearing to have a renewed mind. And that mind reigned by
grace through righteousness our whole lives. Amen.