WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.680 Ephesians 4 verses 17 through 24 is their text for this morning. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.040 Let me read it. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:05.839 No. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:08.400 Paul says this. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:15.919 Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:23.920 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:33.039 They've become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity, but that is not the way you learned Christ. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:56.159 Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:58.240 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:11.599 When I was fresh out of high school, 18 years old, a freshman in college, I was hired as the soccer coach at the high school that I had just graduated from. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:19.359 And uh the AD took me aside, the athletic director took me aside when they hired me and gave me a firm talking to. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:23.120 I was no longer to act like I was a student. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.480 I uh there's some practical implications for this. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:31.439 I could no longer park in the student parking lot, which was unfortunate because it was right next to the soccer field. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:39.120 I had to park in the staff parking lot, which is like on the other side of the earth from the soccer field, but that's where I had to park. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:42.640 I was no longer allowed to hang out with the kids in the hallway. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:44.640 I was an authority figure. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:48.799 If I saw a kid in violation of dress code, I was supposed to enforce that. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:57.519 I was no longer allowed to use the, this is an obvious thing to say, but the student locker room, which I had used for four years as a soccer coach. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:02.719 Now I was banished to the staff locker room with old people and everything. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:10.000 I was no longer to act like a student. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.840 Now, I had a motivation for this. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:18.960 If I failed to comply, I would be the shortest-lived coach in school history. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:23.919 This is the kind of language that Paul is using in Ephesians chapter 4. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:29.599 He's making an appeal to you to no longer walk like the Gentiles do. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:32.879 Now, Gentiles in Ephesians chapter 4 is just a broad term. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:40.560 And for our purposes this morning, it means those people who are outside of Christ no longer live like non-believers. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:46.639 Now, of course, the word Gentiles used in verse 17, it's not every nonbeliever. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:55.919 There are Jewish non-believers as well, and the Gentiles were very different than the Jews were, even the Jews in Israel, although they were immoral in 10,000 ways. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:58.800 The Gentiles of the world are immoral differently. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:09.039 And we don't really need to spend a lot of time describing that except to say that the immorality of the Gentiles was largely seen in the area of sexual immorality, in the area of greed, in the area of idolatry. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:10.800 And that's certainly what Paul has in mind. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:18.159 He used languages, the language he uses in this passage is words that are usually used in the Bible about sexual immorality. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:25.520 And he's making an appeal to you to no longer live in the sexually immoral way that the people in the world live. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:33.439 Christians are supposed to live differently than the worlds, which is hard to do. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:40.000 There's an expression, win in Rome, act like a I mean, that's the way the world thinks. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:50.879 There's even that kind of pressure inside of churches to what people call contextualize the message, to make the church fit better in the culture that is around it. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.759 But this is uh contrary to the appeal of the Bible. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:59.439 The Bible appeals to you to no longer walk like the Gentiles, to stand out from the world. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.560 When in Rome, don't live like a Roman. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:11.840 When he was with the Gentiles, he acted like the Gentiles for the sake of winning them. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:18.000 When you are familiar with 1 Corinthians 9 and even Paul's example in the book of Acts, you understand what he means by that. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.600 He was seeking to guard unnecessary offenses. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:28.000 But he was not participating in the ungodly actions associated with those cultures. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:31.680 This is so imperative for Christians to understand today. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:41.199 The Bible, and specifically in this passage right here, makes a very clear appeal to you to not walk, not live, not act like the world. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.079 Christians are supposed to live differently than the world. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.720 He's not talking about culture wars here. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:50.160 He's not talking about politics. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:52.480 He's talking very specifically. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:05:00.240 You, as an individual, are supposed to live differently than the world around you. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:02.560 And the word walk here is a generic word. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:04.079 It's an idiom in the Bible. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:07.360 It just means the way you conduct yourselves, the paths you make. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:12.160 You have a path that you wear out in the grass, and it's obviously a metaphor. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.399 You live your life in certain patterns. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:16.079 The world follows certain patterns. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:23.600 They walk in certain ways, they conduct themselves in certain ways, and you as a believer should walk and act differently. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:34.240 Again, this is not talking about the politics of the thing, although I understand the goal of politics is to create a better world for you and for your family. 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:37.120 That's outside of what Paul's talking about here in Ephesians 4. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:43.680 He's talking about the goal of the Christian life being that of personal change that makes you stand out from the world. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.319 You are a light, you're supposed to be on a hill. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:52.720 You don't darken your light, you don't hide your illumination for fear of frightening people that are walking in the dark. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:54.480 You let your light shine. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:00.879 You want to act like salt, which runs contrary to the substance that it's on. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:02.560 You want to be distinct, different. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:04.959 You want to stand out from the world. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:07.360 This is the call of the Christian life. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:09.199 And we've been talking about this the last few weeks. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:10.720 We'll talk about this next week as well. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:14.079 There's basically two tasks given to Christians in the Christian life. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.000 One is external, one is internal. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:18.399 Externally, Christians are given the Great Commission. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:21.040 They're supposed to go into all the world making disciples. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:25.519 You're supposed to evangelize, you're supposed to support missions. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:28.000 I mean, that's the global task of every Christian. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:32.240 You have an externally facing task, namely go into all the world and make disciples. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:34.879 That's not the only task Christians are given to do. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:42.720 The other thing we're called to do is internally focused, where we are transformed, where we become more and more like Jesus Christ. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:56.480 And the function of the church is to raise up missionaries and raise up evangelists for the externally facing mission and to help you in your sanctification for the internally facing mission, that you are transformed more and more into the image of Christ. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.879 And it's that second calling that is so prominent in Ephesians chapter 4. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:06.319 That God gifts the church body so that we can encourage one another in godliness. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:10.399 The goal of the Christian life, as I said last week, is change. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.399 You are supposed to change to be less like you are now and more like Jesus. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:20.079 So hold on to yourself less, hold on to Christ more, grow more and more into the image of Christ. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:21.759 That's the calling here. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:31.600 And in this paragraph, I love this paragraph, Ephesians 4, 17 through 24, it basically gives you two practical, basic steps for sanctification: put off, put on. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.079 And that's language we'll look at more in depth next week. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:40.000 Next week, when we come back to it, we'll have very practical examples of what it means to put off and put on. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:45.279 But here in this first paragraph where Paul introduces this language, it's not immediately practical. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.199 It's very broad and general. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:49.279 Put off, put on. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:52.160 Put off the old self, put on the new self. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:55.120 These are your two basic steps for sanctification. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:57.040 I'll even give you that as an outline this morning. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:07:58.959 Two basic steps in sanctification. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.120 And of course, they're put off and put on. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:07.199 But as you look at the words Paul uses here in putting off and putting on, something should jump out at you. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:14.800 What he is predominantly concerned about in this initial put off put on is not, you know, all the actions that he'll get into next week. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.600 We'll see, you know, if you're stealing, put that off and put on giving. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:20.959 If you're angry, put that off and put on kindness. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.439 If you are drunk, put that off and put on being filled with the Spirit comes up in Ephesians 5. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:27.759 If you're rebellious, put that off and put on submission. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:30.000 There's all these very practical put-off and put-ons. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:34.080 But in this first introduction, what Paul is concerned about is mental. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:35.279 It's all in the mind. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:45.440 It's not even the external conduct, it's how you think about sin, how you think about God, how you think about the world, how you think about your culture, how you think about yourself. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:50.399 The put off and put-on that Paul introduces this whole concept to is mental. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:52.159 This is a head game. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:55.200 It's very interesting to think about it in that term. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:58.639 That your sanctification starts in your head. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:03.039 Now, obviously, the ground zero of your sanctification is your heart, what you love. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:04.799 You are what you love. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:06.960 You choose according to your desires. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:09.360 We'll even see desire language in this passage as well. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:10.320 The heart is here. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:11.600 Last week we looked at love. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:13.360 Last week's passage was all about love. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.320 And I talked about before we get to the mind, we talked about what we love. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:20.080 But you understand that the mind feeds your heart. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.600 The mind shapes how you feel. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:27.840 The mind is feeding food for the affections to your heart. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:34.559 And so when Paul talks about putting off and putting on, coming more into the image of Christ, he goes right to the mind. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:36.879 Right to the mind. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:39.840 And he's talking about growing in holiness. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.039 So the first step here is you put off ignorance. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:44.480 You put off ignorance. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:46.639 A few weeks ago I misspelled knowledge on the slide. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:55.600 I kind of wanted to misspell ignorance this week, just so it had a symmetrical irony to it, but I think it's spelled correctly. 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:00.320 You put off ignorance, Paul calls you to do. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:01.679 Put it away. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:08.879 And ignorance is the word that I chose, is a word Paul uses in verse 18 because of the ignorance that is in them. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:11.840 But it's a very generic and broad word. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:22.320 I struggled with whether or not that's the best word to use because ignorance can almost imply a lack of culpability or an innocence to it, and that's not the way Paul's using it here. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.559 Paul's using it here in terms of an intentional ignorance. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:32.000 You're not naively ignorant, you are intentionally and belligerently ignorant. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:43.200 You're the kid that runs away from his parents when they are instructing him, runs away out of the room so you don't get to finish hearing your tasks, so you can plead ignorance later. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:44.320 Dad comes home. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:45.840 Did you hear what your mom told you to do? 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:49.200 No, I didn't because I ran away when she started talking to me. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.240 So I'm ignorant of what I was called to do. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:56.080 That's not an excuse that should work in your household. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:58.799 That's this kind of ignorance right here. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:02.720 These people, namely the Gentiles, are darkened in their understanding. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:10.000 Now, as I mentioned, the Romans, the Gentiles, those in Ephesus, lived very differently than the Jews did. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:12.080 And that's why Paul uses the word Gentiles. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:17.759 The Ephesian church is largely Gentile converts, although there's certainly Jewish converts there as well. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:20.399 The Romans lived differently than Jews. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:22.399 They dressed differently than the Jews. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:28.720 They wore different kinds of togas versus the Jewish robes that they and tunics that the Jews wore. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:30.320 They ate different food, of course. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:32.399 Obviously, they followed a different calendar. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:35.360 They had different whole weeks operated differently. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:39.519 They didn't have Saturday as a Sabbath day, which is what the Jewish world revolved around. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:42.240 They didn't have the feast days the Jews did. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:44.960 They had instead in Ephesus the temple of Artemis. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:53.600 If you remember, before we started the book of Ephesians, we spent, uh Pastor Ryan and I spent maybe three or four weeks in the book of Acts looking at what Ephesus was like. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:12:03.919 I don't expect you to remember that because it was so long ago, but if you the main part of Ephesus was the temple of Artemis or the temple of Diana, and these people worshiped in sexual immorality. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:07.600 They uh would throw themselves into that lifestyle. 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:18.799 Homosexuality was rampant, uh, child abuse was rampant, adultery, they didn't even have a concept for adultery because it was pagan prostitution in the temple. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:21.279 That's how they worshiped at the temple. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:28.080 I don't have stats on what percentage of the Ephesian population worshipped in sexually immoral ways at the temple. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:33.039 I don't know, you know, if it was everybody or half of the population or 10% of the population. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:38.399 No real way of finding out, but it is certainly what Ephesus was known for. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.360 It is what defined their culture. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:43.679 It's what defined their culture. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:47.759 They acted differently in sexual immorality. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.840 Homosexuality, as I mentioned, was a very common practice. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.639 And for the Greeks, homosexuality is different than it is in our even our American culture. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:04.639 For the Greeks, it wasn't like an exclusive thing, like you're either homosexual or you're not, like it tends to in the American culture. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:11.759 For the Greeks, it was just one of your options in sexual practice, particularly in temple worship. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.879 And so they're very sexually immoral people. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:17.679 And that's what their culture was known by. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.960 It would be, you would say, the norm in their culture. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:27.519 And so Paul is reminding them of that to the Ephesians, that you're not to walk like that. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:32.559 You're not to walk like the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:40.320 And he's going to go through, talking about ignorance here, he's going to use different words to describe the way the mind is that is given over to sexual sin. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:45.679 And I'm telling you, there are so many similarities between the Greek culture and the American culture. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:48.960 I mentioned that you don't know what percentage of the population it is. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:53.759 My wife and I were walking through Georgetown, shopping in Georgetown, uh last week. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:14:02.960 And I mean, without exaggeration, every single store has a sign on it about pride or born this way, or I mean, just it was over the top. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:08.480 I went to buy a uh a running shirt in this running store in Georgetown, uh, if you can believe it. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:14.720 And there was not a single shirt for sale that didn't have a rainbow on it in some place. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:17.919 Uh and this is just a normal, you know, a normal store. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.000 Uh uh they had a cool rabbit logo. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:21.440 I wanted a rabbit on a running shirt. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:22.240 I thought that would be cool. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:25.440 No, all the rabbits were colored like rainbows. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.120 If you know anything about rabbits, it's particularly moronic. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:34.320 But that was the status there. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:40.480 You know, and what percentage of our population would buy into that lifestyle. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:41.519 It doesn't even matter. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:42.559 That's not the point. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:47.519 The point is that it marks our culture, it marks the American culture. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:15:02.639 You know, there's a big debate in the Southern Baptist world right now about whether or not, you know, God is angrier at the idolatry of, you know, Hindus and Indians in India than he is at the homosexuality of Americans, and it's just a weird debate to have. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:13.120 I think any reader of the Bible should be able to take a step back and say, listen, God is angry at the homosexuality of the American culture and he's angry at the idolatry of the Indian culture. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:15.279 Both are evil and sinful. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.279 And God condemns both. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.519 You don't need to pit them against each other. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:21.679 We're different cultures. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:28.879 Our culture, of course, is not just defined by homosexuality, but homosexuality and all forms of sexual immorality. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:29.840 That's the point. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:35.360 Pornography being so rampant in our culture, immoral things on the phone and the computer. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:42.399 And it's so easy to excuse that in your own mind and say, yeah, but you know, I'm not a practicing homosexual. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.080 That's the real sin in this world. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:51.279 No, when you're participating in that kind of sin, you're participating in the sexual immorality of our own culture. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:52.799 That's the problem. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:58.320 And so Paul appeals to you, do not walk like the Gentiles do. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:16.799 And I'm just laying that all out there for you so that when you see, when Paul's talking about the Ephesian culture in their temple worship, it has so many overlaps with the American culture that participates in immoral things online and adultery and divorce, immoral divorces, and all the things that are celebrated in our culture. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:21.120 And now, just in light of that, this is how Paul is describing the American culture. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:22.480 Look at the words he uses. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:24.879 First, the futility of their minds. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:29.200 That word futility is a great word, it means spinning the wheels. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:34.639 And to really bring out what that word means, you can look at the way it's used elsewhere in the Bible. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:40.879 It's the Greek word that's used to translate in the Old Testament all through the book of Ecclesiastes, the word for vanity. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:42.559 It's the soap bubble word. 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:45.440 You know, have you ever heard a sermon on the book of Ecclesiastes? 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:47.519 You've always heard that, you know, that word means soap bubbles. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:48.720 It's something ephemeral. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:50.720 It's there for a second and then it's gone. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:53.600 And that's the meaning of life in Ecclesiastes. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:59.919 That you pursue the value of life in pleasure, in money, in, you know, Solomon built a zoo in nature. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:02.320 You pursue the value of life in all those things. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:03.279 It is meaningless. 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:05.279 It's like chasing a soap bubble. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:08.000 It has no value to it. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.440 That's this word here in the New Testament. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:16.240 The mind that is given over to sexual immorality is meaningless. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:19.920 It's not capable of substantial thought. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:21.039 That's the point. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:23.920 Futility is a great word for that. 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:30.960 When the mind tries to engage in serious thought, when it's given over to sexual immorality, it can't do so. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:35.680 The transmission in my minivan went out a couple weeks ago. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:44.000 We were on vacation down in uh South Carolina, and I was at a stop sign and I pulled forward and you could hear it give out. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:48.559 I've never been in a car where this happened before, but that is exactly what it was like thunk, thunk. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:52.799 And there were people outside, we were kind of in a parking lot. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:55.839 There were people outside, and they all turn around and go, whoa, like in one voice. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:57.119 That didn't sound good. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:58.799 I'm like, okay. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:04.240 It's bad when these like dudes in monster pickup trucks and everything are looking at you, going, man, you're in trouble. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:07.359 Me and my little minivan. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:08.079 Yikes. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:17.039 And so I could rev it, I could, you know, turn it on and run it, and I could rev it, and the RPM would go up and everything, but it is not moving a muscle. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:18.720 Thing is not going anywhere. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:23.599 It doesn't matter how much gas I give it or whatever, its transmission is broke, it's done. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.200 That's the word futility. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:30.319 Push the gas all you want, it's not going anywhere. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:34.240 That is the mind that is given over to sexual immorality. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:39.200 It can think all it wants, its thoughts don't mean anything. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:41.839 It's spinning its wheels. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:45.920 This is would not be a politically correct thing to say today, would it? 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:51.359 The person who's given over to sexual immorality, you're not capable of rational thought. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:54.640 That leads to a hopeless life. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:59.200 You know, and spinning your wheels, it's a hopeless scenario. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:01.759 You can't make progress. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:08.960 I remember sharing the gospel uh maybe a couple months ago with somebody at the in the neighborhood at the bus stop right here. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:13.359 He was sitting on the curb and had his head in his hands, and I stopped to talk to him. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:17.680 And you know, this is the kid was 18 years old. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:27.599 And he tells me how hopeless his life is because he moved in with his girlfriend, he was in an immoral relationship with his girlfriend, and then he caught his girlfriend with some other guy at the gym or something like that. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:38.720 And here's this kid who's 18 years old, and he's describing the hopeless situation of his life because his girlfriend that he's living with is cheating on him. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:43.920 I mean, what a picture of the hopelessness of the sexually immoral lifestyle. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:45.680 There's no hope there. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:46.960 There's no joy there. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:54.000 There's no, I mean, what would a functioning, healthy relationship with two unmarried 18-year-olds living together even look like? 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:04.559 I mean, God designed marriage for a purpose to bring you the kind of intimacy and joy and relationship that He wants four people to have. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:10.880 But when you're living in immorality, when you're living with your girlfriend, you're robbed of that whole purpose. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:14.559 So, I mean, on its best day, it's a hopeless scenario. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.240 And that's the word that Paul uses here. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:22.799 It's just their mind has been given over to immorality. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.279 Which is not the way God designed the mind to work. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:34.240 The futility of their minds, God gave you a mind so that you could think about his word, so you could think about his glory, so you could rightly perceive the world you're in. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:36.720 That's how God designed your mind to work. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:39.279 He made it so you can understand him. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:46.640 But the person who gives himself over to the immorality of the world has futility in their minds. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:48.160 And the words keep going on. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:50.640 Futility was the nice one. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:53.519 We get to worse words in a second. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.319 They're darkened in their understanding. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:06.000 So listen, if this is if this is you, if you're living a sexually immoral life, if you're walking like the Gentiles do, Paul's not calling you dumb. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:14.720 When he says, people get confused about that in the Bible, like, oh, the b as if the Bible is saying I have a low IQ because I'm leading an immoral life. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:16.400 It's not about it's not about IQ. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.319 He's not saying intellectually you're dumb. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.559 He's saying your mind is not capable of working because of your sin. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:30.240 Anymore than if I were to put you in a room and remove all the lights, like in a, you know, a constructed room where no light gets in, and I turn out the lights and you're stuck in there. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:35.599 There's no cracks or crevices anywhere, I could refer to you as blind. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:40.319 I'm not saying your eyes don't work, like you're actually biologically blind. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.759 I'm saying you're in a room that is darkened and you can't see. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.720 That's the image that Ephesians 4 is using here. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:52.480 That their mind is stuck in futility and they're because it's darkened in their understanding. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:53.519 They can't see. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:55.519 There's no light where they are. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:57.599 They are darkened. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.279 And it's a weird passive. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.599 Tense there, they are darkened. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:03.200 Darkened by who? 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:07.359 Well, it's darkened in one sense by their sin, in another sense by the Lord. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:10.880 The Lord has handed them over to these desires. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:16.400 When your mind is turned over to immorality, it's at cross-purposes with what God designed it to do. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:21.759 It's not capable of the kind it's not capable of thinking like God wanted it to think, which is to glorify him. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:27.680 When you're given over to sexually immoral thoughts, it's like trying to fly a car. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.160 Your car wasn't made for the air. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.160 It doesn't work like that. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:37.039 This word that he uses, and we're going to get back to a parallel word if we if we do get there this morning. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:39.279 I see time just running out of here. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:43.440 But it's a word that means sphere. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:49.440 You're in this sphere, this room, this circle of darkness is where you are when you're trying to think. 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:53.599 Because of that, you're alienated from the life of God. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:54.799 You're outside. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:23:00.079 This sphere of darkness is separated from the eternal life of God. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:01.839 And they're not even next-door neighbors. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:03.279 There's a gulf fixed between them. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:11.839 You're an alien from the world of there's a sphere of eternal life over here, the mind that is given over to sexually immoral practices is over here. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.400 And you can't shift between the two. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:21.920 There's life and separation, and then the darkness where the immoral mind is trapped. 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:25.200 That's the sphere of darkness. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:31.279 Not enough light to see, not enough conviction of sin to repent. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:34.480 You're alienated from the life of God. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:39.759 This is what Romans 1 means, where they exchange the truth about God for a lie. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.440 The truth about God, which Paul says in Romans 1, is available to all. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:45.759 There's common grace in the world. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.200 Nature proclaims the way that God made people. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:54.480 Your conscience convicts you about sexual immorality, about lying, about stealing, about idolatry. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:24:00.160 You suppress that, you reject what your conscience says, your mind becomes darkened. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:02.799 It becomes darkened. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:06.720 This is the language Paul used in Ephesians chapter 2. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:15.200 That before Christ, you were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, aliens to the promises of God. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:16.960 That's from the theological perspective. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:20.799 The first half of Ephesians, remember, 1 through 3, is the theological perspective. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:26.400 Theologically, before Christ, you were an alien to the promises of God because that wasn't your citizenship. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.480 The citizenship came through Abraham, down through Christ, you're alienated. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:33.519 Now, of course, in Christ, you're adopted into the promises. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:44.960 Well, in Ephesians 4 through 6, we're not talking about it from that theological perspective, but more from the practical experiential perspective, where now it's your sin that has separated you from it. 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:46.880 So you see, that's a one-to punch. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:51.519 Outside of Christ, you don't have access to the eternal life of God because it's not for you. 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:55.599 Also, your mind has darkened you. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:58.799 This is why John writes this, 1 John 1, verse 6. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:03.759 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and don't practice the truth. 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:09.359 If you say you have eternal life while you're walking in darkness, you are a liar. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:16.319 In Paul's language, that was John's language, Paul's language in verse 18, you're alienated from the life of God. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.119 Now, what alienates you in verse 18? 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:21.039 The ignorance that is in them. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:22.000 They don't know. 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:24.240 And remember, this is a moral term. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:36.000 This is the kid, maybe this was me in college, I make an appeal to a professor, a sociology professor at the end of my like sophomore year in college, who said, Can I not take the final this week? 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:38.640 Because I missed the last few weeks of class. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:41.519 Why did you miss the last few weeks of class? 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:43.519 Skiing. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:52.079 So I'm not ready for the final because I went, you know, it sounds worse when you say it like that. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:58.720 So I'm ignorant about what's going to be in the exam, but that's not an excuse to avoid the exam, I was informed. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:02.799 This is what the word ignorance means here. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:05.519 The person is ignorant about what God requires of them. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:10.240 It's not a statement of their innocence, it's a statement that they have ditched class. 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:15.119 That leads to a hardness of heart, is the next phrase there. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:16.720 Their heart is hardened. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:19.440 Again, it's this weird middle, passive kind of voice. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.559 They harden it themselves, it's God that's hardening it also. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:32.960 The same phrase is used in John chapter 12, verse 40, where Jesus says that God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so they would not see with their eyes and they would not understand with their heart. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:35.039 Otherwise, they'd repent and God would have saved them. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:37.279 This is John chapter 12, verse 40. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:42.720 And remember, Jesus is answering the question how come there can be so many people that see your miracles and don't believe? 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:44.319 That was the question in Jesus. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:47.519 All the bread and the walking in water and all that. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:49.200 Why doesn't everybody believe? 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:53.920 And Jesus says, because God has darkened their eyes and hardened their heart. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:57.279 That's a big boy verse right there. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:03.519 I mean, you have to have a big God and kind of robust theology to have that verse in your Bible. 00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:06.400 And it should remind you of Pharaoh. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.160 Back in Exodus. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:10.559 Pharaoh's heart was hardened. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:12.079 That's Exodus 7, verse 13. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.599 It's the first use of that phrase. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:15.039 Pharaoh's heart was hardened. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:27.920 Now you keep reading through Exodus 7, Pharaoh hardens his own heart, God hardens Pharaoh's heart ultimately, but the first introduction of the phrase, 7 verse 13 of Exodus, is that Pharaoh's heart passive was hardened. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:30.880 That's what sin does to you. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:36.559 You can reverse engineer this chain here in verse 18 back to verse 17. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:41.200 You have a hardness of heart that flows out of ignorance, that flows out of being alienated from God. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:42.240 That makes sense, right? 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:47.119 If you run from God, it's because you're separated from him, you're alienated from him. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:49.920 Because you're away from him now, your mind is darkened. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:52.079 Because it's darkened, it's spinning its wheels. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:53.759 There's the futility of the mind. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:57.920 The list keeps going, by the way, verse 19, they've become callous. 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:01.759 That's a Greek word that means to have loss of feeling. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:03.680 You're no longer able to feel pain. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:06.400 This is what it means in Romans 1, to sear your conscience. 00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:10.160 Your conscience no longer afflicts you. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:14.640 You know, the first few times you sin in those wicked ways, your conscience condemns you. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:15.680 You feel guilty about it. 00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:20.960 You sit on the street on Braddock with your head in your hands and you're hopeless and you feel guilty about the whole thing. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:22.799 That's originally. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:27.279 But you keep on in that life of sin, and that pain will go away. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:30.559 And it doesn't mean it's gone away because you now have hope and joy in life. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:31.200 Of course not. 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:35.119 It just means you've deadened yourself to you no longer feel the pain. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:37.359 It's calloused. 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:40.000 That's his word. 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:44.319 Verse 19, they've given themselves up to sensuality. 00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:45.599 Why don't they feel pain? 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:47.599 Because they've thrown themselves into it. 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:49.680 They've given themselves up to sensuality. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:52.319