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Before we begin today's episode of Renewing your Mind, we invite you to stay with us through the end of the program to hear how you can request a featured hardcover book from Ligonier Ministries.
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Truth is in Jesus what separates Jesus from evil is truth. People tell me that theology is not important, and I want to say to them, what's wrong with you people? See what happens when you're ignorant of the things of God. You don't care about truth. What you're saying to me is you don't care how you live because how you understand the truth and what is true and what is good and what is righteous and what is holy determines how you live. Truth is no abstract enterprise.
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Many people think of the truth as a theological theoretical concept, like mathematical equations or principles of logic. And yet Scripture tells us that truth is not just something we know, but as you heard R.C. sproul say, it determines how we live. You're listening to the Sunday edition of Renewing youg Mind, and I'm glad you're with us today. We continue Dr. Sproul's sermon series from the book of Ephesians, and today we'll consider the Apostle Paul's call for every Christian to put on the new man and pattern our lives after the one who is the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's Dr. Sproul.
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We're going to start in Ephesians, chapter four, beginning at verse 17. I'll read through verse 24. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you may put on the new man which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness. Paul is giving a testimony here. It's as if he were called into a courtroom and speaking under oath, is called upon to testify to something, and he introduces this exhortation and admonition with this language that underlines the seriousness of what he's about to unfold for our understanding. He doesn't just say, oh, by the way, in passing I want to mention this or that. But he's saying this with the full weight of testimony under the authority of God. And so we need to hear his words in the light of that very sober introduction. This I say and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. Now, obviously, when he uses the term walk, he's speaking in a metaphorical way about behavior. If you behave in a certain way, that's the way you walk. He's saying here that it's one thing to talk, to talk, it's another thing to talk, to walk the walk. And so he's saying there is a walk that we are called to walk, and that that walk is radically different from the behavioral patterns that are manifest among the pagans and among the Gentiles. So that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. Now, again, let's run back for just a second to Ephesians 2 before I expound that further. Remember, Ephesians 2 began with these words, and you he made alive or he quickened, who were dead in trespass, in sins, in that which you once walked. That is, you were born of the Spirit of God while you were still in a state of spiritual death. And while you were in a state where you walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the Air, you were a servant of the devil. That was your walk. You walked with him and you talked with him, and he called you his own. He's the Prince of the year, whose spirit now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once conducted ourselves. This is what we were. This is what we were saved from. We conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. And now he's saying, be what you are. You've been quickened, you've been made alive in Christ. You've been rescued from that former conditions. So for heaven's sakes, don't think that you can continue to walk like that and to live like that. That's the old man. That's the old life. It's not the pattern of behavior for those who have been born of the Spirit of God. Now, let me just pause here for a second. I would say if somebody asked me, what do you think is the biggest weakness in the Church today? Well, that's a hard question, because there are lots of weaknesses from which we can choose to select the biggest weakness, but I would say the biggest weakness in the church today is the church looks like the world and lives like the world, so that you can hardly distinguish the Christian from the pagan. This is one of the first things that the first century Christian understood, that there was a difference between the morality of the pagan community in which the Christians live and the behavior that was expected from the Christian. That the Christian was to walk to a different drummer, sing a different tune, and never to be confused with the pagan in their behavior. But again, in our culture, we're like sheep or lemmings that take our cue of behavior from what's accepted in the culture around us. And it's specifically and precisely to that inclination that Paul is speaking here. You can't walk like the pagans. If you're going to be a Christian, you've got to act and behave in a way that's different from the prevailing morality around you. You used to be a part of that. You were rescued out of it. Now stay out of it. Don't go back to it. You can't compromise the new man with the old man. That's the point that he's making here. And so he begins to explain to us how then we ought not live by saying, you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. And how do they walk? Number one, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened. The Latin here is the vanity of their minds, the emptiness of their minds, the hopelessness of their minds. That what characterizes the lifestyle of the unconverted person is a lifestyle of futility, a lifestyle of vanity. Is there anything new here from what was taught in the word of God in the Old Testament? Vanity of vanity, all is vanity. We're not speaking of vanity in a sense of being egotistical or narcissistic, standing in front of a mirror at the vanity and enjoying your own reflection, but rather the word vanity. There is the word for futility. And the lifestyle of the unconverted person is a lifestyle of futility. That's the curse of our fallen condition. That's why it's been said that all men live lives of quiet desperation. Because in their heart of hearts, deep below their lips, in spite of what they say, they have this nagging sense of the futility of their living. You remember in First Corinthians 15, after Paul gives his stunning defense of the resurrection of Christ, come to that conclusion signaled by the Word. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding. In the work of the Lord. For inasmuch as you know that your labor in him is not in vain, I can't imagine anything worse than living a life of vanity. Living a life suffering, pain, pouring out sweat and labor for nothing, for meaninglessness. There was a direct link in the Jewish mind and antiquity between idolatry and futility. Futile imaginations. Imaginations have to do with images and the substitute that human beings make for the living God is some kind of an idol. And as the prophets would mock the idol makers, we're saying, what a foolish thing. And a man would take a block of wood and begin to shave away at it and turn it into an image of a bird or of a cow or something like that. Clean up the shavings. After he carved this image and lacquered it and smoothed it and sanded and put his tools away, start talking to this thing and asking this thing to help him with his life. Can you imagine anything more futile than to worship or adore something that you made in your basement or in your garage? Talk about mindlessness. This is what Paul is talking about here, that this futility of the mind is empty mindedness. And into that empty minded vacuum always comes an idol. Futility. Again, he's specific. The futility is not simply of their lives. The futility is of their minds. Futile living begins with and is rooted in futile thinking. Futile thinking does not come out of
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the light
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with clarity. It is born in darkness, it is raised in darkness. And it stays in darkness and it stays there by choice. How many of you know what John 3:16 says? Everybody. What's John 3:17? You know, God so loved the world and all that God sent his Son in the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him should be saved. And this is the condemnation. What? That men loved the darkness rather than the light. Now why would anybody prefer darkness over light? Well, what does the next part say in John? Why did they love and prefer the darkness rather than light? Because their deeds were evil. And when you are living in evil, the last thing you want is to be exposed, to be dragged kicking and screaming into the light. But this vanity, this futility in the mind is always accompanying with an understanding that has been darkened. Next characteristic, being alienated from the life of God. An unbeliever, an unconverted person is in a state of estrangement, alienation from God, from other people and from themselves. What's an alien? To be an alien means to be a foreigner. And in this case we find that God in our natural instincts is foreign to us. He's foreign to our thinking. We don't want him in our thinking because we're alienated from God. Why? Why is the pagan alienated from the life of God? Paul answers his own question. He says because of the ignorance that is in them. An agnostic is somebody who's, ah, gnosis. The Greek word gnosis is the word for knowledge. Organosis means without knowledge. People who call themselves agnostics say I'm not a full fledged atheist. I'm not hostile to the things of God. I just am not convinced one way or the other. I don't think there's enough evidence to give a final determination here. I'm all ganosko agnostic, which on the judgment day will be a far worse offense against God than outright atheism because agnosticism is a sub form of atheism, but it blames God for its status. You haven't given us enough information. The Latin equivalent to agnosis is ignoramus. An agnostic is an ignoramus person who pleads ignorance. Well, he is ignorant. This is what Paul is saying. The reason for this alienation from the life of God is ignorance. But it is not a justifiable ignorance. It's not an invincible ignorance that couldn't been overcome. It's vincible and culpable. It's an ignorance that people choose to live in because they don't want God in their thinking. Ignorance that is in them, it's inside of them. It's a visceral thing. It's rooted in them, the ignorance of God because of the blindness of their heart. Usually we think of blindness as an affliction of the eyes or of the understanding. But here Paul says that blindness that yields ignorance comes from the heart and the very core, the deepest level of our being. Oh my, gets worse. Who being past feeling, past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. In Romans, Paul speaks of God giving up the pagan, giving him over to lewdness, giving them over to sexual perversions, to homosexual behavior and a host of other crimes that he lists there in Romans 1 and Romans 2. It's God that gives them over. Here Paul is saying you've given yourselves over to these things. Why? There's different ways of translating this first clause. Who are past feeling. It's as though fallen man dead in sin and trespasses. Not only has his conscience seared, but he's had a shot of novocaine in his conscience. So he's no longer capable of feeling guilt. Pretty soon the conscience has been so numbed that people are free to sin as boldly as they want, without fear of torment or self accusation. Because of these things, they have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all kinds of uncleanliness with greediness. Can't get enough of it, want even more. But the apostle says, you have not so learned Christ. This is not how you learn to live from Jesus, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, catechized by him as the truth is in Jesus. It's one of the most radical statements a Christian can make. Truth is in Jesus. What separates Jesus from evil is truth. People tell me that theology is not important and I want to say to them, what's wrong with you people? See what happens when you're ignorant of the things of God? You don't care about truth. What you're saying to me is you don't care how you live. Because how you understand the truth and what is true and what is good and what is righteous and what is holy determines how you live. Truth is no abstract enterprise, something pursued only by those who are curious intellectually. But it's life and death. So you live. Why you live. Truth is in Jesus. You haven't learned that kind of life from Christ if you've been taught by him. Because the truth is in Jesus. So that you put off your former conduct. Get rid of it. It's got to go. The old man grows corrupt according to deceitful lust. Get rid of it, but be renewed.
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Where?
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In the spirit of your mind. You can have it in your mind and not in your heart. But you can never have it in your heart if it's not first in the mind. If you want to live like a Christian and not like a pagan, you have to have a new mind and that you put on the new man that was created according to God in true righteousness and true holiness. We're justified by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone. All who are justified, all who are converted, are called to live according to the newness of life that has been wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of God.
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What a helpful and sober reminder that is. We can have truth in our mind and not in the heart. But we can't have truth in our heart without first having it in our mind. You're listening to the Sunday edition of Renewing youg Mind, and I'm glad you're with us today. May God help us to renew our minds by the truth of His Word. If you found today's sermon helpful, we'd like to send you the hardcover edition of Dr. Sproul's verse by Verse Commentary on Ephesians. Just give us a call today at 800-435-4343 with a donation. Or you can give online at renewingyourmind.org and I hope you'll join us again next Lord's Day as we begin a sermon series with RC from the Book of Acts here on Renewing youg Mind It.