As God will enable me, as God
will enable me, I want to talk to you as plainly as I possibly
can, I hope as inspiringly as I possibly can, about living
for Christ. Living for Christ. That's my
title. We're admonished in the scriptures
to do all things for the glory of God. And we want to do so. It is our joy as believers to
seek the honor and glory of God our savior in all things. We
who are gods want to know his will. We seek to obey his word. We want in all things to do the
will of God and to live for the glory of God. We want to glorify
our God, to be led of his spirit, to honor the Lord Jesus, to adorn
the doctrine of God our Savior, living soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present evil world. Some of you here are yet
without Christ, and you can't live for him until you know him. I urge you even now to come to
the Savior and devote your life to Him, the consecration of your
life to Him, believing Him. Faith in Christ is no more and
no less than giving yourself up to Jesus Christ the Lord,
trusting Him for all things. Giving up the rule of your life
to King Jesus. Trusting Him for all your salvation. Trusting Him to order the affairs
of your life. Trusting Him as your Lord and
your Savior. Come to Him and oh, God give
you grace to live for Him. But the first thing is faith.
Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. For he that cometh
to God must believe that he is and that he's the rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. If you trust the Lord Jesus,
if you know him, if God has saved you by his grace, washed you
in the precious blood of his darling son, if you're born of
God, if God the Holy Ghost has given you faith in Christ, I'm
sure of this, I'm sure of this. Nothing is more important to
you than living for the Son of God. I'm sure nothing is more
important to you than honoring God while you live in this world. You know that you're not your
own. You've been bought with a price, the price of Christ's
precious blood, and you want to live for it. Is that right? Do you desire to live in this
world for the glory of God, to live for him who loved you and
gave himself for you? If you do, I have a message from
God for you, and you'll find it in Ephesians chapter four,
verses 17 through 32. Living for Christ, that's my
subject. Ephesians four, verses 17 through 32. When the Apostle Paul wrote to
his son in the faith Timothy, he was very anxious that the
young preacher Timothy know how to conduct himself as Christ's
servant. He said, these things write I
unto thee, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of truth. Paul's concern for Timothy was
very much the same as the concern he expresses here in Ephesians
4 to the saints at Ephesus and to you and me. Remember Paul's
purpose in this chapter. He is endeavoring to secure the
unity of God's saints while we live in this world. the unity
of God's church. He urges us to walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith we are called. In the first part of
the chapter, he carefully showed us that all true believers are
indeed one in Christ. one with Christ and one in Christ. Because we are one with Christ
and one with Christ, he urges us to live for the glory of our
exalted head in the blessed unity of the Spirit and in the bond
of peace, keeping this unity, holding things together and working
together for the glory of God. This is our Savior's prayer,
that they may be made perfect in one. And this is Paul's desire. Now that's the foundation. Because
we are one in Christ and one with Christ, let us endeavor
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Then in
verses 17 through 32, Paul continues with the same exhortation. He's
urging us to walk worthy of this vocation wherewith we're called,
to build upon this foundation of our union with Christ and
in Christ. Now let's look at verses 17 through
32 and see what God here teaches us about how we should endeavor
to keep this unity of the Spirit. in the bond of peace, how we
are to live for Christ in this world. First, if you would live
for Christ, if we would keep the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace, we simply must not live like other men. We simply must not live like
other people live. We must not be governed the way
they're governed. We must not be motivated by the
things that motivate them. We must not seek the things they
seek. If we would live for Christ,
we must not live like the natural man. Look at verse 17. This I
say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk. How do they live? How do they
live? How does everybody you know who
doesn't know God live? How do they live? In the vanity
of their mind. No matter how poor or wealthy
they are, no matter how strong or weak they may be, no matter
how healthy or sickly they may be, no matter what part of the
world they live in. Those who live without faith
in Christ live for vanity, for nothing, for nothing. 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. who
being past feeling have given themselves over under lasciviousness
to work all uncleanness with greediness. Throughout this world,
there is a prevalence of strife, division, conflict, and chaos
among men. It seems impossible for two human
beings to get together for very long without a division. This was God's judgment at Babel. He sent confusion to our fallen
race, and it continues to this day. The reason for the terrible
confusion of men, the reason for the conflict, the division,
and the strife is always man's wicked pride. Always, always. We have a just cause. If you
can call your pride a just cause. It's always man's wicked pride. It continues the way it is because we are proud creatures. If we'd
been born again, If we would honor God in our lives, if we
would be useful to one another, useful to the souls of men, we
cannot live like the people described in these three verses of scripture.
Paul says, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that
you walk not as other Gentiles walk. Yes, we are by nature Gentiles,
but now we've been made the Israel of God, princes with God. We've
been made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Let us live
like men and women who are princes with God. Paul speaks here as
God's messenger with the authority of the Lord. His testimony is
in the interest of Christ and his cause. We're no longer like
other Gentiles. Therefore, we ought not live
like them. Though Gentiles physically, we're
God's saints, children of God. So lay aside your former manner
of life. Don't imitate the unregenerate
in anything. There's a good reason for all
this. The men and women of this world live as if there were no
God. They live as practical atheists.
All men since the fall do. They're alienated from God, naturally
inclined to every evil. Every time we're reminded of
the wickedness of this world, let us be reminded that God,
our Father, has snatched us from this world as brands from the
burning. That ought to be enough to keep
me from ever desiring anything the world has to offer me. The
very thoughts of the ungodly are vanity. Their ambitions are
vain. Their religion is vain. Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity, saith the preacher. The understanding
of man is dark, so darkened that he is without the knowledge of
God and his righteousness. Man has a God consciousness. I'm aware of that. But they have
no saving acquaintance with God. They're ignorant of their sin
and its consequences. Fallen man is ignorant of God's
holiness, his righteousness, his justice, and his truth. Ignorant
of the substitutionary atoning work of the Lord Jesus. Ignorance
because of the sin of our father Adam, which is inherited by all
men by nature so that we are all born in iniquity, transgression
and sin. And this ignorance is increased
by continual transgression. Sometimes men's hearts and minds
are darkened and given over to ignorance of superstition and
idolatry by the judgment of God. The God of this world blinds
the minds of them which believe not. Because of this spiritual
ignorance, all men are alienated from God, separated from the
life of God, spiritually dead, enemies of God, strangers to
Christ, the fountain of life, utterly unacquainted with the
pleasures and sweetness of life with God in Christ. Their hearts
the very center of moral as well as physical life, have become
hard and callous. There is a hardness about men
by nature, just a hardness that grows, and the more acquainted
they become with various things, the harder their hearts are in
regard to those things. There is also a voluntary hardness
of heart when men and women voluntarily harden their hearts against the
very goodness of God and refuse to hear the Word of God and refuse
to recognize the hand of God. And there is a judicial hardness,
a hardness that God sends upon people who will not believe on
His Son. It's called reprobation, judicial
reprobation. a judgment hardness so that they
are shut out before ever they leave this world. They're in
hell before ever they experience hell because they've been shut
out by the hand of God. Now, when you think of that,
you who believe, oh my soul, how we ought to rejoice and give
thanks to God for His grace to us. Because you see, Mark, we
shut Him out, and we hardened our hearts against Him, and we
deserve that He should send blindness and hardness to us. But instead,
He gave us a new heart, and melted our souls in repentance to Him
by His free grace. past feeling, the Apostle says. The conscience is seared as with
a red-hot iron. They have no conscience to prick
their hearts. Their consciences are so seared
that they know nothing about the horrid evil of their nature
and there's no bounds to their evil, their iniquity and their
sin. They're entirely given over to
ungodliness and that ungodliness is the lust of their hearts. Oh sinner, hear me, harden not
your heart. Come to Christ, believe on Christ
right now, right where you sit, bow to the Son of God, God help
you to do so. Children of God, I repeat, give
praise to him for his goodness in causing you to believe. Now
look at verses 20 through 24. We must not live as other men
live, after the lust of our flesh, seeking to gratify our flesh,
seeking to gratify our carnal nature. And if we would live
for Christ, we must always remember who we are and whose we are. You're not your own. You're not
your own. You've been bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body and in your spirits, which are God's.
That's exactly what he's telling us here in verses 20 through
24. But ye have not so learned Christ. You didn't learn to live
like that from Christ. You didn't learn to live after
your lascivious lust from Christ. If so be that ye have heard him
and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. Now let
me read that to you another way. I'll paraphrase it. It's not
a translation, but paraphrase. This is what he's saying. You
have not so learned Christ since you've heard of him and have
been taught by him as the truth in Christ. Oh no, not if you've
been taught of God. That's not the way you've learned
to live. That you put off concerning the former conversation. That
is, you have put off concerning the former conversation, the
old man. You put off the old man, which
is corrupt, according to the deceitful lust. And be renewed
in the spirit of your mind. You are continually being renewed
in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. We should
not live like others do because we're not the same as others.
We've been taught of God. We've been taught of God. You've
not so learned Christ. That which makes the believer
different from other men is that he's been taught by Christ himself. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me, the Savior
said. We've heard his voice speaking
to us by the gospel. We've learned who he is. He is
God in the flesh. He's God our Savior. God over
all, blessed forever. We've learned what he accomplished
as our Redeemer. We've learned his truth, the
gospel of his grace. And since God has so graciously
revealed himself to us in Christ, while others are left hardened
in their sins, we should live as new men. Look at verses 22,
23, and 24. We should live as new men. because we are new man. We should
live as new creatures because we are new creatures. The old
man in us is unchanged. He is as evil as ever. But having
put off that old man, we must continually put him off. Put off concerning the old man.
Put off concerning the old man. Say no to the old man. Say no
to the lust of your flesh. Paul uses the illustration of
one changing clothes. He takes off his dirty clothes
and puts on clean clothes and despises the dirty. The old man
is our old sinful nature, and he is with us while we live in
this world. He's not dead, but he's dying.
He's not buried, but he's crucified. The old nature is never sanctified,
never made better. He only gets more wicked with
age. We must always beware of His presence, but always refuse
to give way to the dominion of the flesh. The lust of this old
man, those lusts within us, are still corrupt and deceitful. All the lusts of our flesh, corrupt
and deceitful. By lust, Don't just understand
sensual ungodliness. No, no, no, no. All the things
that your flesh longs for, seeks, and desires by nature are deceitful. The children of Israel murmured
against God, not because they wanted to go back and do all
kinds of sensual ungodly things in Egypt, though that may have
been part of it as well. But they murmured against God
because they lusted after the leeks and garlics. That's all,
just leeks and garlics. Esau is in hell because he preferred
the lust of his flesh, just a bowl of beans, to Jesus Christ the
Redeemer. You understand this? All that
is carnal in us is deceitful. The way to avoid the deceitful
lust of the old man is to have your mind constantly renewed
in Christ. Be renewed in the spirit of your
mind and that you put on the new man. That new man is Christ. That new man is Christ. But this
is that new man in you, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. Well, how can you put him on?
How can you put him on? If there's any renewing going
on, it's God's work. If there's any putting off of
the old man and putting on the new, it's God's work. We're here
commanded to do it, but it's God's work or it won't be done.
We are created new in Jesus Christ. And we are given a renewed spirit
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's given us a new heart,
a new nature, a new will. Christ is formed in us in the
new birth. That's the hope of glory. And
that hope of glory, Christ in you, is the work of God, the
Holy Ghost in regeneration. He comes in us and gives us life. And the life he gives us is his
own life so that we are made partakers of the divine nature. Who but God the Holy Ghost who
formed Christ in Mary's virgin womb could create him in us. A new man which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness. I like what John
Gill said concerning this. He only who renews the face of
the earth year by year. can renew us daily in the spirit
of our minds. This is a revival, a continued
revival of spiritual light and knowledge, of life and strength,
of joy and comfort in Christ, such as David prayed for when
he confessed his sin and said, create in me a clean heart, oh
God, and renew a right spirit within me. What Paul's talking
about here is the life of faith, the life of faith. If you would
have Christ, if you would have Christ, you must take Him. You must take Him. You must believe
Him. You must trust Him. But you can't. You can't. But you will if you're
His. Because God will cause you to
take Him. He came unto His own, we're told
in John 1. and his own received him not.
But to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God. I don't know a better illustration
of what I'm talking about than this. This glass received the
water that's in it. The glass didn't do anything.
It was totally passive. Somebody put water in the glass
or there wouldn't be any in there. In the scriptures, there are
two words translated receive. One means to receive like that
glass received water. Somebody's got to put it in you.
You must receive Christ in that way, by the work of God the Holy
Ghost in you. He comes and puts life in you. And if he puts life in you, you
will receive Christ this way. You take Him, delightfully so,
believing Him. You receive Him. You reach out
the hand and take Him, the hand of faith. This is what it is
to live for Christ in this world. It is to continually take Christ,
look to Christ, believe on Christ, turn from your ungodliness, turn
from your sin, Turn from your depravity, turn from yourself
and look away to Christ. The very reason, one of the very
reasons why God has left us in this world, in this state, while
flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh,
is that we may continually look away from self to Jesus Christ
the Lord, reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God
through Jesus Christ. Thereby we present our bodies,
a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is just our reasonable
service. The Lord Jesus truly is our righteousness. He truly is our holiness. He wrought out righteousness
for us. and he living in us gives us
a holy nature without which no man shall see the Lord. What
a great motive. Our divine comforter, God the
Holy Spirit, here gives us to live for Christ. Now look at
the next word, verse 25. Wherefore. Now what he's about
to say to us is all based upon what he's just told us. We have
been made new creatures in Christ. We walk by faith in Christ. We believe on the Son of God.
We're renewed in our spirits by the hand of God. Let us beware
of the vices of the ungodly. If we would walk worthy of our
holy vocation, if we would promote the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace, if we would live for Christ, We must follow the
example of Christ. Verses 25 through 32, Paul is
talking about what I'd call godliness, godly behavior, godly conduct. And there's nothing in here about
meat and drinks. There's nothing in here about
eating pork or not eating pork. Nothing in here about going to
the movies or not going to the movies. And nothing in here about
any carnal thing. Nothing in here about keeping
Sabbath days or not keeping Sabbath days. Nothing in the list about
religious ceremonies. Nothing about those things. It's
all together. the most practical writing imaginable
about godliness. Following Christ's example. Following Christ's example. What's
he talking about? How do we honor the doctrine
of God our Savior? Look at what it says. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every
man the truth with his neighbor. for we're members one of another.
What's he telling us? He's saying if you would live
for Christ, live with each other the way the Savior lived among
you when he was here. You remember when he took a towel
and girded himself and washed his disciples' feet? He said,
I've given you an example. You go do what I've done. What
was that? What was it that he did? He did
what was needful for them because their feet were dirty. He did
for them what He could do for He had a basin of water and a
towel with which to wash them. He did for them what was refreshing
for them. It was just refreshing. Ever
had anybody wash your feet? It's just, man, if you're tired,
whether your feet are dirty or not, oh, how reviving and refreshing
and soothing and calming. Have somebody wash your feet.
He did for them that which expressed a self-abasing love that caused
him to want to make them happy. caused him to want to make them
comfortable. Verse 26. This is what it's talking
about throughout this thing. Be ye angry and sin not. Let
not the sun go down on your wrath. Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather labor. Let him labor,
working with his hands so he can give to other folks, doing
the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that
needeth. Verse 29. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. One last
thing. If we desire to promote the unity
of God's saints and walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we've
been called, if we would live for Christ, if we would live
for the glory of God in this world, must seek God's glory
in everything, especially in every relationship with one another.
Verse 30, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are
sealed unto the day of redemption. Grieve not. What a tender word. What a tender word. It's not
hard to make somebody angry. You can do that like that. If
somebody is grieved by something you do, it's because they care
and care deeply. Every parent is grieved when
he sees his children hurting one another, mistreating one
another, at odds with one another. He grieves the father, grieves
the mother, to see his children, her children, hurting one another,
mistreating one another, at odds with one another. God, our God,
the Spirit of God, our Comforter, is grieved by us when we're at
odds with each other, when we mistreat each other, when we Just don't get along with each
other. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, and clamor, and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Grieve not the Holy Spirit
who sealed you, and sealed you unto the day of redemption. In spite of all our ungodliness,
in spite of all the wickedness we think, in spite of all the
evil we speak, in spite of all the sin we practice, He seals
us unto the day of redemption. He never gives up on us. He keeps
us by the power of His grace until the resurrection day. O Spirit of God, give me grace
to avoid those things that grieve you, those things so natural
to my flesh, so contrary to you, so dishonoring to my God, by
which others are injured. Bitterness. That's the disposition of a person
with a razor-sharp tongue. Anger. That's a strong sense
of rage. You may hold it in, but I'm going
to get you. Wrath. That's settled indignation
against somebody. Clamour is the malice of a person
stirring up strife and discord. And those who stir up strife
and discord do so because of malice. There's no other reason.
There's no other reason. It's another word for brawling.
Evil speaking is slander, gossip, criticism. Malice is that spirit of hatred.
and revenge that delights to inflict pain on somebody else.
Would you live for Christ? Would you really? Would I? Would I really? Look at verse
32 and we'll find out. This is exactly how to live for
Him. and be ye kind one to another." Isn't that good? Tenderhearted. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one
another. Well, I'll forgive him if he
apologizes. I'll forgive him if he asks for
it. Aren't you glad God didn't wait for you to ask for it before
he forgives you? Forgiving one another. Forgiving
one another. It's another one of those things
that, I was talking to Brother Rex about a week or two ago,
I mentioned to you earlier, that's easier said than done. It is.
Everything about this thing called faith in Christ is easier said
than done. forgiving one another, forgiving one another. How can
you do that? Preacher, how can I be expected
to do that? You don't know what he's done
to me. Even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. For Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, for no other
reason, just for Christ's sake, for His glory, by the merit of
His blood and His righteousness, my God has forgiven me all my
sin, all my iniquity, All my trespasses, past, present, and
future, forgive us as we forgive them
which trespass against us. I think I finally found out how
that makes some sense. Have you ever tried to pray,
Lord, forgive me my sins like I forgive Bill Raleigh of his?
Lord, forgive me of my transgressions like I forgive that wretched
man over yonder who did me evil, his. You ever tried to pray like
that? How do you forgive? How do you forgive? For Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake, just for his
honor, that's all. Just for his glory, that's all.
Anything, anything. Oh God, thank you for free forgiveness. Thank you for your everlasting
love. Thank you for your immutable kindness and goodness. Thank
you for our Redeemer. Will you teach us by your grace
to live for our Redeemer, living for one another? Amen.