WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.040 You can open your Bibles now to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:09.439 As you're making your way to Ephesians 4, a quick word about tonight. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.000 Tonight we'll be back in Nehemiah 3. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.640 Nehemiah 3 is a survey of all of the gates in Jerusalem. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:18.800 Riveting stuff, I know. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.160 But this is what the book of Nehemiah is about. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.039 It's about Nehemiah actually rebuilding Jerusalem. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:29.760 There's a real place, real people, real problems, and God sends a real person there to address them. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:36.000 And I think there is encouragement for us in God's word from looking at Nehemiah and how he rebuilt Jerusalem. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:38.320 I encourage you to come back tonight at 5.15. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.920 This morning, though, Ephesians 4. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.799 Paul writes this just one verse this morning in our remaining time. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:01:00.000 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.799 I uh I don't understand hunting. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:14.480 I don't understand why men like to hunt, or why anybody likes to hunt. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:27.599 I have friends that are hunters, they stockpile guns and ridiculous-looking orange vests, and they go out late at night to go camp, and they'll sleep in a deer blind or whatever. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:31.280 And I have deer that walk through my yard every single day. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.319 And I don't need to hide in the woods to see them. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:45.599 But no, it's apparently the West Virginia deer taste better or something, and so they go out to these strange places with expensive weapons and the crossbow is, I guess, the real way to do it. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:54.959 But then, because then when you shoot the deer, you get to actually track it for a couple miles and carry it out piece by piece, which is just, I think, better for some reason. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:56.640 It's a mystery to me. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:58.799 And I am not a vegetarian. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:04.480 I'm not explaining that I don't like hunting because of some kind of like I don't have a problem shooting Bambi. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:09.199 Um like you've got to eat, you should eat food that tastes good. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:18.080 But my problem with hunting is that it's a considerable amount of work to get what you could go across the street, like there's a butcher across the street in giant. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:25.520 It's like his job, and it's cheap, and it tastes good, and it's just easier than going to West Virginia and having an orange vest on. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:32.319 Um but I get it that some people are into the hunting thing and may your tribe increase it. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.479 I'm not it's not a moral objection, you know. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:36.400 Rise, kill, eat. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:37.680 Those are the words of our Lord. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:40.960 And so I hope you get what I'm saying. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:43.039 It's not an ethical objection about hunting at all. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:46.159 It's just a it's kind of a silly thing, I think. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:50.479 And but you can do it to your heart's content. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:03:04.000 Now, I think that there may be some of you that have my perspective about hunting, you might have that perspective about holiness. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:18.240 I think there is a contingent of people that look at holiness as I mean, that's something that some people can pursue with their life, I guess. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:28.879 Sure, you can dedicate yourself to reading the Bible and praying and the spiritual disciplines and evangelism and separating yourself from the sins of the world. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.319 I mean, for some people that apparently works. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:39.199 And they could go to Chad, I guess, and be a missionary, or they could be a pastor, I guess, or they could be a grandfather or a grandmother. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:41.520 Those are good positions for holy people. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.120 But not for me. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:52.080 I mean, there's so many other easier things to do with my life than pursue holiness. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:56.000 Like I can do whatever I want to do, for example. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:07.680 I can fill my life with my own desires and my own pleasures, and I can read what I want to read and watch what I want to watch and think about what I want to think about it and be friends with who I want to be friends with, but holiness just isn't for me. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:13.919 I'm called personally to freedom and fun, but you can be called to holiness, I guess that works for you. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:17.680 Now, I don't think anyone would actually articulate it that way, don't get me wrong. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:22.399 I haven't had anyone come up to me and say, hey, holiness works for you, but I would never give it a shot. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:32.319 But I get the impression from conversations and personal interaction that there is a sentiment that is along those lines that is more common than perhaps we would realize. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:47.839 While it may remain unarticulated, there is a really a pandemic, not of a disease, but a pandemic of laziness towards holiness, a pandemic of people that think holiness would be something that is for a certain like the Puritans. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:49.600 Man, they were crazy. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:50.959 They were so concerned about holiness. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:53.199 Good thing I'm not one of them. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:03.519 Now, what happens to a life that is lazy towards holiness is a story that you have seen and that you are familiar with, I promise you. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:09.360 What happens to a life that is lazy towards holiness is that life gets swallowed whole by sin. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:11.279 I mean, that's how that story goes. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:23.600 The person may be carefree and fun and living their best life now, right now, but check in on them in five years or seven years or ten years or when they're trying to raise their kids. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:29.600 And it will not be all fun and giggles and jokes about how stoic the Puritans were. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:37.040 Often it's that kind of conviction isn't meant isn't meant with self-reflection about maybe I shouldn't have mocked the Puritans. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:39.680 Of course not, nothing that extreme. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:44.240 But I'm telling you, a life that is lazy towards holiness ends up getting swallowed by sin. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:50.879 And there may be some of you here this morning that sin has in its grips. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:56.079 If sin is a python, there may be some of you here this morning that are wrapped up by it. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:59.360 And it will devour you. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.199 It will devour you. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:04.000 You're about to be swallowed whole by sin. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:05.920 I don't want to see that happen to you. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:10.000 And the Bible gives weapons to you to fight off sin in your life. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:14.160 The Bible gives you the weapon to kill the python and throw it away from you. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:19.519 The Bible gives you verses like Ephesians 4, verse 1, that are meant to be arsenals. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:24.560 It's meant to be given to you as a weapon to go to war against sin in your life. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:31.519 Paul says, I'm a prisoner of the Lord, and I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.319 Paul is pleading with you. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.720 He's pleading with you to man up and fight sin. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:45.360 He's pleading with you to take sin seriously and take holiness as a mandate from the Lord. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.680 I hope this passage wakes any of you up who are slumbering in sin. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:59.439 I hope this passage wakes you up if you're going about your life, if you're living your life as you see fit, without a thought towards what the Lord demands of you. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:06.879 Some of you may have a passing fancy of, you know what, I should take my relationship with God more seriously today, or better yet, tomorrow. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:14.560 But there should be a sense of urgency to God's call on your life. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.319 I'm gonna give you an outline this morning. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:22.800 I want to title it Holiness Should, and I want to walk through a couple implications of holiness from this verse. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:29.120 Chapters four through six are really a, I'm gonna describe it this way, as a weaponized application of chapters one through three. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:39.199 If you're familiar with Ephesians, chapters one, two, and three are about God's sovereignty over your life, his trinitarian call in your life, that God has predestined you from before time for salvation. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:43.279 He has sent his son to be your redeemer, he has sent his spirit to save your heart. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:44.079 That's chapter one. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:50.000 Then chapter two, the father has seen that you're enslaved to sin and has appointed good works for you to walk in. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:53.759 He has sent Christ to be the redeemer and die for your sins. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:08:00.319 He sent the Holy Spirit to free you from the power of sin and to compel you to walk in the works that He's given you. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.879 Or in chapter three, the Father has the manifold wisdom of the gospel. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:06.480 It is this precious treasure. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.160 It is seen, its beauty is most seen clearly in Christ Jesus. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:17.120 The Holy Spirit then dwells in your heart through faith and drives you to grow bigger and stronger spiritually in your faith. 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.120 That's what the Spirit is doing in chapter three. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.720 He's making you grow into a big and strong Christian. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:32.480 So you move from predestination in chapter one to chapter two, the redemption of the sun, to chapter three, the spirit working in your heart to causing you to grow in maturity. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:35.279 That is all a very theological perspective of holiness. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:40.240 Or you could say the perspective of holiness from the top down, from God looking down on you. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:41.759 That's what holiness looks like. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:43.039 You're a slave to sin. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:46.240 God before time has predestined you for salvation. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:50.720 In time sends Christ Jesus, in time sends the Holy Spirit to save you. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:52.720 That's holiness from God's perspective. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:54.879 He wraps you up in Christ. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.799 But the book doesn't end with chapter 3, verse 21. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:08:59.759 The book keeps going. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:01.759 You get three more chapters. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:06.639 Four, five, and six, which are holiness from the ground up. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:09.840 Holiness from the boots in the ground perspective. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:14.240 What does holiness look like from the perspective of those who are living it out? 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:17.039 We have the theological background in one through three. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:23.440 Four through six is what God commands you to do with what you learned in one through three. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:30.000 I spent a lot of time in chapters one through three, as you're very well aware. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:31.519 A lot of time there. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:33.120 I wanted to belabor the point. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:34.480 This is God's perspective. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:40.960 I had some people tell me, you know, your sermons, these Ephesians so far aren't very practical. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:43.360 Very theological, not very practical. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:44.720 Oh, it's coming. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.960 And then a few months you're gonna check back in with me and say, hey, where did the theology go? 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:50.960 You keep telling me how I'm doing my marriage wrong. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:53.120 Yeah, you asked for it. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:56.000 That's the nature of Ephesians. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:01.200 You're built up through chapters one through and three, your theological view of the gospel. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:05.600 And chapters four through six is how you're supposed to live that out. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:18.000 And all of the imperial, I'm letting you know that from now through the summer or through Christmas or however long we'll be in Ephesians, everything we're hearing from here on out is grounded in the indicatives of one through three. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:19.919 It's imperatives grounded in indicatives. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:28.000 When Paul tells you to get your marriage in order, to get your family in order, to get your heart in order, to get your mouth in order, to get your sexual desires in order, all these things are coming. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:34.159 And when he tells you those things, he's telling them to you in light of what we've learned in these first three chapters. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:37.279 In some sense, you almost need the big view of Ephesians. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:38.639 You just need to read it. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:40.559 You know, read it every day for a month. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:42.960 Read chapters one through six, every day for a month. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:47.120 Get this book in your head and in your heart, and you'll see how it's all linked together. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:50.240 Now, that's not the perspective we're taking in in church, though. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:54.879 We're not going to read Ephesians one through six every Sunday for the next six months. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:09.440 We've preached slowly through one through three, and we'll preach slowly through four through six to help you connect the dots that what God has done for you in the first half of this book, He wants to work out of you in the next half of this book. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:11.519 Let me give you your outline here. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:13.360 First, holiness should draw you. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:14.879 Holiness should draw you. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:19.279 And what I mean by draw you is it should create an urge inside of you. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:24.240 God should be provoking you in your heart to pursue a life of holiness. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:31.039 He says in verse 1, I therefore a prisoner of the Lord, which is, he's said that a few times already. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.320 You could almost go so far as to call it manipulative language, but is that has a negative connotation. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:37.919 It's a rhetorical use here. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.440 Paul's reminding you that he is in custody for the gospel. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:46.480 The things he's preaching chapter 1 through 3 is not from an ivory academic tower or anything like that. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:54.159 Paul's actually bearing the consequences in his body, in his health, in his freedoms for what he said in the first half of this book. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.159 He's in jail for it. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:02.480 In light of that, listen to him when he tells you what to do with your not-in-jail body. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:04.639 You're not in jail, he is. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:10.159 So go ahead and take some advice to him about what you should be doing without whining about holiness depriving you of your freedom. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:12.080 You want to know what deprived of freedom looks like? 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:13.919 Look at Paul in jail. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:18.559 So he's speaking to you here as someone who has suffered for the gospel. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:23.919 And I think you could even take this phrase, a prisoner for the Lord, in even a more general sense. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:27.200 He is actually literally a prisoner of the Lord right now. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:35.679 But I think also you could take that phrase even differently, that he is his heart and his affections are in custody to Jesus Christ. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:44.399 What is going on on the outside of Paul's life, his body in incarceration, is a manifestation of what's going on in his heart. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:48.240 His affections and his heart are sold out to Christ. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:49.759 Christ has purchased him. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.720 He belongs to, even his use of the Lord here. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:54.480 A Lord is someone who owns slaves. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.240 Paul is declaring that he is a slave for the Lord. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:03.919 He may be in a Roman jail, but he is a real prisoner of the Lord. 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:08.720 In light of that, Paul says, I'm urging you. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:10.720 I'm urging you. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:13.279 I want you to walk in this way. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:14.399 He's pleading with you. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.320 This word urge is a it's an internal word. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.039 It's a word that is pulling strings on your heart. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:21.279 We have the English idiom of pull your heart strings. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:22.480 That's this word here. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:28.960 In fact, this word is, could be even rendered paraclete, which is how the Holy Spirit is often described in the New Testament. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:35.519 It's this concept of there's a spiritual appeal Paul is making to you based on the residence of the Holy Spirit in your heart. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:45.440 If you have faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within you, and Paul is appealing to you through the Holy Spirit to work on your heart and draw you to holiness. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:50.799 Do you understand, brothers and sisters, when you come to faith in Christ, it's the Holy Spirit who gives you faith. 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.600 And as he gives you faith, he resides in you. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:14:13.120 And what I mean by he resides in you, and we talked about this a few times the last few weeks, is the Holy Spirit takes the words of God, which are from the very mouth of God, as they are sitting in your mind, the Holy Spirit applies them to your heart, convicts you of sin, causes you to understand them, and start to build a worldview out of these phrases you hear through sermons and through the Word of God. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.120 That's what the Holy Spirit is doing inside of you. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.000 He convicts you of sin and builds you up in Christ. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:25.600 And so here, Paul is saying, as the Holy Spirit is doing that, I am appealing to you to lead a holy life. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:34.399 And this appeal will not be unrequited because he's saying it out loud, and you're hearing it, and the Holy Spirit is working on you through the very words of Paul. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:36.080 This is like a one-two punch here. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:45.600 It's the words of God that are appealing to you, it's the words of Paul that are appealing to you, and the Holy Spirit is bringing them both together and begging you to lead a life worthy. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:49.200 To lead a godly life. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:55.200 You've been to England and written rode the subway there, the tube. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:15:01.679 You've heard the proclamation at the stops, especially through central London, of mind the gap. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.039 Mind the gap. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:08.000 There is a separation there that between the train and the station. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:10.559 And you're supposed to mind the gap. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:26.720 And you know, I've heard that many times and heard it in movies and stuff, but it's another thing to actually be on the subway and hear the proclamation, the door open, and you go to step out, and whoa! Could fall right through to the river right there. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:27.840 Mind the gap. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:32.240 There's a separation between the solid ground and the tube that you were on. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:36.720 In a very real sense, this is what Paul is pleading for you to recognize right here. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:42.000 There is a separation between where you are and where God wants you to be. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:45.039 There's a big gap between chapters three and chapters four. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:55.120 You know, you just your eyes just roll over it when you're reading your Bible, and which when you read Ephesians 1 through 6 every day this week, as I know many of you will do, you'll just roll right through the end of chapter 3 into chapter 4. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.600 But listen, mind the gap. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:00.159 When you get to this chapter break, mind the gap. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.120 You can even jot down in your column right there if you believe in writing in your Bible. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:06.799 You can even jot down mind the gap between the end of three and the start of four. 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:08.320 Pay attention to this. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:14.080 And what minds, the gap means, is not a common English, uh American English idiom. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:22.480 When you mind something, you we might say never minds, but to actually actively mind something means to be cognizant of it, be aware of it. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:28.639 Recognize there is a great gulf between what God wants you to be like and where you are. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.120 I'm sure intellectually you understand that. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:39.440 But just think about that for a second. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:47.440 That God has a place he wants you to be in your personal life and you are not there yet. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:58.080 If God is sovereign over the world and he's the judge of the world and he will judge you, that should be a pretty sobering reality on you, shouldn't it? 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:01.279 That you're not where he wants you to be. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:09.119 You know, if you find out that you've disappointed your boss at work, that would keep you up at night. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:18.240 If you're a teacher and you have a parent who comes to you and says, actually, you you're not meeting my child's educational needs. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:20.960 You're not doing it right in the classroom. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:26.240 And you start thinking about it and you realize it's true. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:30.319 You're not just gonna schlough that off and go back to class the next day. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:32.720 You're gonna be concerned about it. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:35.359 This is the image here. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:37.839 Paul's letting you know, mind the gap. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:46.559 There is a difference between where you are in your personal holiness and where God wants you to be. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:50.720 And Paul's urging you to strive for this. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.359 And as I mentioned, this is huge. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:55.759 He's talking about in your heart. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:05.119 Holiness in the New Testament, in the Bible, is not about external conformity to standards. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:07.440 Holiness is an internal reality. 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:10.079 It's about your affections, it's about what you love. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:12.960 That's where the action is. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:17.200 He's talking about what's going on in your heart. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:19.440 Mind the gap in your heart. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:22.400 That's why the word uh paracleo here is so big. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:27.680 Paul's saying, I'm urging you, inside of you, in your spirit, pay attention to this. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:31.279 This holiness goes from the inside out. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:35.519 It's obviously going to affect the way that you live, but you can't reverse engineer this thing. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.799 You start with the heart and then you work it out. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:41.519 And you work it out. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.920 And I think sometimes people are afraid of talking about holiness or they don't. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:52.400 This kind of talk makes them uncomfortable because they say, listen, I know I'm a sinner and that's why Jesus saved me. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:19:00.319 So if I start focusing on where I'm still sinning or where I'm failing, that's not gonna motivate my love for Christ kind of thing. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:03.680 But it's not the way Ephesians is written. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.480 Ephesians is written so that it motivates your love for Christ. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:09.519 One through three should motivate your pursuit of Christ. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:15.359 God's sovereign predestination on your life doesn't remove the obligation for holy living, it inspires it. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:19.680 You read one through three and you're like, this should motivate, this should urge me, is the word. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:21.519 Ephesians 1, verse 4. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:25.119 God chose us in Christ that we would be, do you know the word? 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.319 Holy and blameless before Him. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:30.240 And this is the very beginning of the book. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:36.079 God says, I'm choosing you so that you would be holiness. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:39.519 Personal holiness should characterize the life of the believer. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:44.000 I'm telling you, the word holy is in the Bible, what, 700, 800 times? 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:47.440 That means something. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.759 It should create a burden on your heart. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:56.880 You don't study the Bible like you study art. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:01.680 Don't study the Bible like you critique a movie. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:08.400 This is not a book to be admired, but it's a book to be internalized and then obeyed. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:09.519 A.W. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:10.559 Tozer wrote. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:13.359 A great Tozer quote. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:22.160 The plain horse sense ought to tell us that anything that makes no change in a person who professes it makes no difference to God either. 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:30.319 And it's an easily observable fact that for countless numbers of persons, the change from no faith to faith makes no difference to either them or God. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:42.160 Plain horse sense, Tozer says, should let you know if you don't have a burden for holiness, there's something wrong with your faith. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:48.160 If your faith doesn't compel you to holiness, what difference is it making? 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.400 I mean, that's not supernatural saving faith. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:56.559 Supernatural saving faith saves a person and changes them and urges them, draws them. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:58.960 It's the same language Jesus uses in John 6. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:04.559 You draw water from the well, he's saying this is the idea that you should be drawn towards holiness, urging. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:08.400 You should be compelled towards it, drawn towards it. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:10.000 Well, first, holiness should draw you. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:12.240 Second, holiness should define you. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.319 Holiness should define you. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:17.839 He says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:20.400 And it's interesting that Paul uses the word walk here. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:23.440 Walk speaks of the normal pattern of your life. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:28.240 It's again an idiom, just a word that means something different than what it literally means. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:29.920 Walking is literally moving on your feet. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:37.839 Paul's saying here, I'm urging you to liter to walk, not literally, but idiomatically, just have a pattern of your life that is in God's word. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:42.559 As you're moving about your life, this should be your pattern. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:46.799 The Old Testament uses the Hebrew word derek, which just means path. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:54.000 You should have a, you know, in the Old Testament, your paths should show you where you live, what you think about, where you spend your money, and that's your normal function in life. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:55.279 And you guys have patterns. 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:56.400 You know you do. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:01.759 You do the same thing, you look at your phone at the same Times of the day. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:04.480 You have meals with the same people in your day. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:07.920 You listen to the same music or the same radio program in your cars. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:11.440 You have these normal patterns of your life. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:20.000 And so what Paul's saying is, I want you to walk, have those patterns, be godly patterns, not ungodly patterns. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.400 That's why you have to redeem the time. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:30.000 You don't cultivate triviality in your patterns, but you cultivate a disciplined desire for holiness in your patterns. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:34.799 Walking is a word he's already used in the book several times, back in chapter two. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:38.480 Used to walk in a way that was under the authority of the devil. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:42.160 Used to walk under the authority of the power of the prince of this world. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:52.000 But then later on, eight verses later, he says, God has saved you and he's called you to a life of good deeds, which he has appointed for you to walk in. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:53.119 Do you see the change? 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:55.599 Before Christ, you were walking in sin. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:59.200 Now in Christ, you're walking according to how God wants you to walk. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:03.839 That is just stated as an indicative, just like a statement of fact back in chapter two. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.880 Now in chapter four, it's becoming an imperative. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:08.000 You must walk. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:10.480 I'm urging you to walk in this way. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:17.200 And you may you might be think that's a contradiction. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:21.359 If you try explaining this to a middle school student, they would argue with you on this. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:26.640 If it's an indicative in chapter two, how can it be an imperative in chapter four? 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:28.799 Or they would say it differently. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:34.720 They might say, if God has already called you to walk, then why is he commanding you to do it? 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:39.920 If it's the reality, if you're a Christian, you're going to be walking in God's works, why is there a command to do it later? 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:43.119 It's like seeing it raining outside and saying, rain. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:44.160 See, look. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:51.359 But that separates cause from effect. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:55.519 You pointing at the rain and saying rain doesn't cause it to rain. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:04.720 But the indicative in chapter 2 that God has appointed for you to walk in godliness causes you to walk in godliness. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:08.000 That's the image here. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:16.000 You are supposed to walk, to lead the normal pattern of your life in light of all that God has done for you in Christ Jesus. 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:17.599 I'll say it a different way. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:22.000 By using the word walk here, Paul is saying that holiness is not a pastime. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:27.759 Holiness should not be a hobby, it should be a disciplined pattern in your life. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:31.200 Holiness is not seen as something you do sporadically or occasionally. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:35.200 Holiness is not seen in how you vote, but in how you live. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:49.440 Kevin Deoung writes in a book called Holiness, he writes, quote, It is easier to sign a petition protesting man's inhumanity or bad laws our government is passing than it is for that same man to love your neighbor as yourself. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:25:00.160 We often define holiness in political terms, or we define holiness in terms of what you abstain from, but holiness here is not abstention, it is action. 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:04.640 It is walking, it is getting into the world and pursuing Christ. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:11.359 Holiness in the Bible is a radical life of virtue marked by affections for Christ. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:16.400 It's having your life filled with love for Christ that changes your vices or virtues. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:18.480 Sold-out affections for the Lord. 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:19.599 That's what holiness is. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:25.279 And Paul says it this way, Hebrews 12, verse 14, pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:27.839 That's the command, pursue holiness. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:35.279 When I was in chat, I spent some time with a missionary family there who has a, you know, the one with five kids. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:36.480 They have a pretty cool compound. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:40.160 They have a land cruiser, which is like the, you know, gold. 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:54.160 And one night somebody hopped their fence and was messing around in their yard, and their dog, the one I said was trained to scout out the snakes and such, alerted to the guy breaking in the car and barks at him, and the guy scampers over the fence and runs away. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:57.759 And this is a village where there's no law enforcement, there's no police or anything. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:04.720 So what you do is you go to the village chief and you tell the village chief, hey, this is what happened, and he, you know, everybody knows and respects him, he'll take care of it. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:06.720 That's the way the world works. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:11.920 And you know, on one hand you can really rise to that, and the other hand, that would fix a lot of problems, wouldn't it? 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:16.720 Well, he goes to the village chief, and the village chief says, Well, who was it? 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:18.079 I don't know. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:19.119 I'm an American here. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:20.480 I don't know who it was. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.359 Like, well, where did his tracks go? 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:28.079 And the guy's like, I didn't even it didn't occur to me to follow his tracks. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:30.000 And it's like, well, yeah, that's what you do. 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:31.680 You follow his tracks and you'll find the guy. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:34.720 Tell me you see what kind of sandals he has, and you know who it was. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:36.240 Ah. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:39.599 He didn't go back and track him down, just left it. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:44.559 But as we as I hear the story, I left the house and I see my sandals on the way into the house. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:46.400 I'm like, oh, yikes. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:51.599 This is the image here in Ephesians 4, verse 1. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:53.200 Where do you walk? 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:56.000 What kind of person are you? 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.680 If you follow your sandals, are they marking the path of holiness? 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:02.160 Your life is evident to all. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:03.839 You recognize that, don't you? 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.720 Those around you know where your sandals go. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:08.960 Those around you know where your life is. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:11.279 Those around you know how you walk. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:13.440 The Lord does too. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:15.519 So, first, holiness should draw you. 00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:16.799 Second, holiness should define you. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:18.079 It should be the normal pattern of your life. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.240 Third, holiness should lift you. 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:21.359 It should lift you. 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:23.920 And this is seen in the word worthy here. 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:28.640 Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:33.279 This word worthy, it's the Greek word axios, and even this concept of axil. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:36.559 It's something that balances two things in tension. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:38.720 It's weighing out the other side of a scale. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:40.319 Picture a scale with balances on it. 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:44.319 One side is weighted down, you put something on the other side, and that lifts it up. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:45.839 That's what this word means. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:50.960 Paul's saying, live your life in such a way that brings balance to the first half of Ephesians. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:55.440 Think of all that God has done for you, and now balance it out with your life. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:57.680 I'll give you another example of this. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.920 I'm coaching high school soccer now, which is so fun. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:16.000 And I'll I might split the teams up at the end of practice and uh have an assistant coach who is better than the other players in the team, and so I'll have like one team of six players, but one of those is the assistant coach, and the other team with like ten players. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:19.519 And if you just look at the numbers, you're like, that's not fair. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:23.759 But then you're like, oh, that one guy is better than four of them. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:25.839 So it's exactly fair. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:28.640 That's balanced. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:32.400 Don't focus on the numbers, focus on the balance. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:41.119 So what Paul is saying here is you're supposed to live your life in a way that is worthy, is the word, but that's the that's the concept, is that counterbalance behind it? 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:46.799 Live your life in a way that balances what's happened in Ephesians 1 through 3. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:49.680 It brings an equalizing force to it. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:52.480 Now, how can you do that? 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:55.359 You look at Ephesians 1 through 3, and what do you find there? 00:28:55.519 --> 00:29:00.880 You find the unsearchable, immeasurable, manifold wisdom of God. 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:09.200 You find the treasures of godliness that are so vast that they cannot be described in terms of height or depth or width or time. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:13.920 I mean, they go up to heaven, they fill this world, and they last for eternity. 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:21.839 That's what you have in Ephesians 1, 2, 3, is that heavenly wisdom of predestination and election and redemption and regeneration. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:23.279 That's all given to you. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:26.160 And so, yeah, now you balance that out. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:27.440 Okay. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:30.559 I can't do that. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:32.480 I can't balance that out. 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:33.519 And that's the point. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:36.240 It's supposed to compel you up. 00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:43.759 You're stuck in the mud of sin, and now you drop like in Ephesians 3 on the scales, and it's gonna launch you out. 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:46.480 That's the idea. 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:51.519 Of course, you're not gonna balance it out, but it should be able to bounce you out of sin. 00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:53.920 Think of a car that is stuck in the in the mud. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:59.519 You know, you could just dig it out, but the other thing is you rock it back and forth, and then you finally can and bust it out. 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:02.880 And what Ephesians 1 through 3 here is doing is it's rocking your car. 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:05.839