Our old life in Adam reviewed
Ephesians 4:17-19 · Roger Henderson · Aug 12, 2018
Ephesians (2018-19), No. 30
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926191127252

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Today we're going to cover verses in chapter 4 verses 17 through 19. We're going to go back a little bit and look at verses 1 and 3. Because actually what we're going to see here is that Paul starts an idea in verses 1 and 3 and then he kind of digresses. Then he comes back to the idea in verses 17 and 19.

So we're going to see that shortly. And then next week we're going to see kind of the the really cool part about our new life in Christ. But we have to look at Adam first. Or look at, as Paul calls it, the Gentiles. Which you might scratch your head and say, why is he calling what I was before I knew Christ the Gentiles? Well, he was the apostle to the Gentiles. And so he's talking about believing Gentiles and he refers to their Gentile life before they were believers. So we'll see that. Actually before we start, can I get someone to read and turn to chapter 4 in Ephesians verses 1-3 and then jump down to 17-19. So Ephesians 4 verses 1-3 and then 17-19.

And you know you all get extra points if you read. from the Lord, not from me. Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another and love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walked, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greenness.

OK, great. OK. So quite a contrast between what's called the worthy walk and this walk that he warns them of what they were before they were believers. And so it was for those people at that time, the Gentile believers at that time, and it's for us Gentiles now, I don't think there's any Jewish folks here that become believers, but for us Gentiles now, what our former life was in Christ. So I've taken Macaulay's outline and I've massaged some of the words a little bit. So he talks about the old life reviewed, 17-19, breaks it down into Gentile life forbidden, Gentile life described, in terms of the mental state.

And this is, we're going to see that, and we kind of know this, how we think determines what we do. I mean, this is not rocket science. I mean, you know, that's what you try with your kids. You try to tell them You know, think about what you're doing. Anyway, so their conduct follows, and their moral conduct as a result of their mental state.

And then next week is this wonderful part, the new life reviewed. What happened to our old life? What are the attributes of the new life? So that's going to be the cool part. But we've got to review the old part first, the dirty laundry first, unfortunately.

Okay, so that's from Macaulay. So we've read that. Okay, we'll just pass. Okay. So this I say and affirm together with the Lord. That's the first phrase. So this is Paul speaking, you know, and as you might say, he's writing, this is in the present tense, so he's saying, so it could be translated, therefore, I am saying, so he's not just saying this once, he's continually saying this to these Gentile converts. Macaulay points out what I just pointed out before, is that this exhortation was started back in verse 1, And he talked about the positive aspects in verse one.

Now he's going to talk about things you should not do. And then if you look, we don't have to turn to it, but Paul uses this phrase, I say, in another context. And I think the context there in Colossians is the idea that, actually, let's look at it. Could someone read Colossians 2, Colossians 2 and verse 4?

It's about a different topic, but he's telling them, he's warning them about a different topic or a similar topic. I forgot exactly. Now I say, unless anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. That was 2-4. Is that it? Okay, good. Okay, so this is a typical thing that Paul does.

I say, and then he's going to talk about He's just not saying it, but he's going to say, I affirm it together with the Lord. And actually, you know, after looking at that, and actually I have something I want to correct. I think it's actually better if you look at the original, and this is, we're kind of nitpicking here, the word with, it's actually the Greek word en, which is actually translated in English in, So in the Lord or in him, remember at the very beginning of the class we went through and we kind of tabulated how many times in Ephesians he uses in him or in Christ or in the Lord. So I think you could add that to the list, but it kind of gets hidden here when you say with the Lord. And I've noticed that actually I have a translation I use at the bottom, and I probably should, I should, we need to delete that. The better translation is where it says, I affirm together, I solemnly am declaring in the Lord, is what the idea is. So Paul is saying, I say and I tell you this in the Lord, because he's in me. And this affirm together is the idea to summon as a witness.

So there's a couple of places there where it's used to bear witness. So one of those is an axe. Acts chapter 20 and verse 26 so someone could read that please. Okay so this is one of and we've been going through this and Vern's been going through this you know he's talking to the actually this is in Ephesus and he's talking if you go back in the context And he's basically saying, I faithfully presented the gospel. So you can't charge him with the fact that if men have chosen not to accept the Lord, their blood is not on me.

It's kind of a sobering thing. And then the Galatians passage. Could someone read that? Galatians 5.3. Another idea of testifying. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to you the whole law. Right.

So that's the word testify, to bear witness. And then actually, then I actually have on your handout, I've taken it out here, I have the amplified translation, but it actually kind of gave the wrong idea. I think the best translation is from the Weiss basically, This therefore I am saying, and solemnly declaring in the Lord. So I think that's the best rendering of that first phrase. OK. Any thoughts or questions? I'll just continue on. Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. I'm sorry. It seems like to someone as a witness is different than affirming together. It's not like those are two different things. OK.

Well, it seems to me here that he's saying that Paul's an apostle. He says, I'm testifying. in the Lord, the Lord is in me, so his testimony is I say it, and this is also the Lord's testimony of what he's going to say in the rest of the verse. Now the other cases here, this is affirming together, he was testifying more of himself, he was testifying about the fact that he had preached the gospel, this is the meaning of affirmed together, that Greek word, to summon as a witness, so he's, when I say he's saying, I'm summoning as a witness in the Lord. The Lord is my witness, you could say. The together part seems like it's more than one, which is with Christ. Just to summon as a witness seems like that's a single thing.

OK, OK, well, OK, here's one thing we got. We have one. We have two English words translating one Greek word. And I know this is this is the age. Oh, this is where it gets tough. So we're saying, OK, I got one Greek word that translates. So I think a firm together is the best translation of that word.

We have another translator, which I kind of like because he tries it on the original. He translates that. solemnly declaring. Well the thing that makes it two is the Lord part. If he just said, I'm declaring, but if it says affirmed together or to someone as a witness in the Lord, then it does two tie together. That's okay. That's a good point. That's a good point. Excellent.

And actually, that's why I had that verse. didn't pick up on the fact that with, and I was kind of surprised, you know, you wonder why translators make certain decisions, but of course they have the whole body of scripture, and here we are, zoomed in on this one little part, and we have the advantage of zooming in and out of here today. So I think in the Lord is the best rendering. Solemnly declaring in the Lord. Okay, great, good question.

Okay, so now, so now we're going to talk, he's going to talk, tell him something not to do. that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk. So what's interesting is, he's an apostle to the Gentiles, he's in Ephesus, which is largely Gentiles, he says, I don't want you to walk the way as a Gentile you used to walk. And we would say, don't walk like you did before you were a believer. Walk no longer. Now walk is this word, see I didn't count it, 163 times in scripture it's used.

But it's used in a varying way. So context, as they say, just like with real estate, location, location, location. In Bible study, context, context, context. So what's the context here? That you walk no longer as the Gentiles walk. So in the definition of walk, it's peripateo. It figuratively is signifying the whole. Our walk is how we live our lives. And I think that could extend, obviously people might use outside of scripture, but I certainly didn't use walk in the way until I became a believer and started studying scripture. My idea of walk kind of changed a lot.

So here, we'll see there are two classes at least, roughly, we have in this context here in Ephesians, we have the unregenerates walk and we have the believers walk. So let's just kind of look at those briefly. So if you go back to chapter 2, could someone read verse 2 and chapter 2 of Ephesians?

Here in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Great. Okay, so the walk here is in accordance with the course of this world. You walked, you conducted your life like the world conducted your life. I mean, that's totally understandable. We say, don't do that. Don't go out and be like the world. we've been separated from the world. So that's a Unregenerate's walk.

And then there's 417, the one we were just studying. Then the Believer's walk, if you just go down in chapter 2 here to verse 10, it says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we should conduct our lives We are His workmanship, the good works, we are to conduct our lives in the good works that He has prepared for us. So the believer's walk is totally different than the unregenerate's walk. So once again, we look at the context, so He is warning them not to walk as the Gentiles walk, or not to walk as the world walks, if you like.

So what does no longer imply? Doesn't that imply that they are currently walking? Okay, okay. Okay, that's... Is there another... What if they weren't? What if they weren't? How would you... If someone says, no longer walk as you were before, you're an unbeliever.

He shakes his finger at you. No longer walk as you were as an unbeliever. And you say, well, I'm not... Brother, I'm not doing that. I'm, you know... God is my witness. I'm not, you know... You're honest. I'm... I don't know. Is there another. Is there another aspect. I want to add the chart layer that answers this.

I'm just trying to get you to think about it before we get there. Tom, it's possible that you could be just switched over to the new. ways of doing things that is according to the Lord, but it's just really more like on a try-out basis and see how it goes and then you just kind of think, yeah, I'm starting to do this. It's tough to get used to it, but I'm starting to do it. But it's still just a starting to do it. Okay. I think that's kind of where maybe another point is going.

You might be saying, you know, I've been there, I've been there, done that, but I don't want to go back and do that. I know that's not, I know that's not what the Lord would have me do it. I don't want to go back there. I don't want to return. I might have been doing that in the past, I probably was, but I don't want to go back there.

That's not a productive life in Christ. That's a non-productive life in Christ. That's only going to bring dishonor to Him and pain for me and all kinds of stuff like that. So I think there's two parts, and actually McCulloch tries to answer that. He has a little paragraph where he answers that.

So you're saying it's more like don't return to it, not that you Well, I'm trying to make the case that it could be both. You could say, if you have a child, if you're child training a child, you say, don't go out in that street again. You could lose your life. Don't go out in the street again. Or if he comes in and says, Mom, I was out in the street, you say, don't ever return to that street again.

One is, you know, anyway, so there's at least two aspects. Maybe there's more. I don't know. Hopefully I'm not making a blabbering too much here. OK, so there's a couple other. In Ephesians, this word walk. He's only used, let me see, this is not what I want to do here. Am I saying the wrong thing at the wrong chart? Let's see. So is that one word, the walk no longer? Oh, let me see. Carapateo is walk.

No longer is the second word. Is the second word, right? There's a different word for no longer. OK. So there's a couple of places where he uses the idea of no longer do something. So here's a couple of verses for that. We are no longer to be children tossed here and there. Paul likes that no longer phrase. Another one is, he who steals must steal no longer. I think you can take the same kind of idea. If you are doing it, stop it immediately. If you have done it, don't return to it.

That's kind of the two parts to it. We're going to carry on to the McCauley's part here. What did that say? Actually, this one says, Peter talks about lust and things like that. So we don't have to turn to that right now. OK, so let's go on. So here's Macaulay's little paragraph. The words no longer imply two things.

First, if the reader is living as he once did, this is a practice should be brought to a halt. Second, if you're not presently living as you once did, never return to that kind of life again. So I kind of like that. I mean, I actually had looked at that, and I thought, oh, no longer, just stop what you're doing. Well, there's more than one. You don't want to go back there.

And we all kind of go down that path all the time. OK. So now we're going to move into the Just as the Gentiles Also Walk. OK, Gentiles. I mentioned this is a word, did I say that wrong? Gentiles is used a lot in scripture too. About 150 times. And it denotes a heathen, a multitude of a company, people of the same nature or genus, is that right? A nation of people or a nation of people.

So actually in Ephesians, it's used five times. I didn't want to go much beyond Ephesians. I just wanted to see how did Paul use it in Ephesians, just for right now, not to get too much beyond the scope of that. So let's just look at a couple of verses. I think we can come to a conclusion. How did Paul use it? He uses it here in a more unique way. He's going to talk about other places. He's going to talk about how the Gentiles included in salvation. It's not only the Jew, it's also the Gentile.

So Ephesians 2.1, can someone read that? I'm sorry, 2.11? Therefore remember that you being in times past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcised by that which is called circumcision in the flesh and by hands. Okay.

So here he's talking about, you know, you formerly were Gentiles in the flesh. They were uncircumcised. You know, Jews consider a person uncircumcised as not very high on the letter of humanity. If you weren't circumcised, you were about the lowest. You were a dog down there. You were pretty low.

3.1 says, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles. So he was the apostle to the Gentiles. And then in 3.6, To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promises in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So there, the Gentiles are excluded, the message of salvation as we are seeing in Acts is being preached, not only to the Jew, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. And then finally in 8 it says, to me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach, here it is, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. So we saw through Ephesians here, so here he's using it to talk about their former life. Other places he's talking about to say they're included in the message of salvation.

Okay, so now we're going to get to the thing about, so this I say and affirm together in the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, and this phrase, in the futility of their mind. Gentile life is now given in specific terms how we describe Gentile life and what are its elements. The focus is on mental activity.

So what does futility of their minds mean? Do you have any thoughts before we jump into it? What's the futility of their mind about? What's futility of someone's mind? There's a phrase out there that I think a lot of us have heard already. Futility is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Okay, I've heard that before.

Well, it seems like if you are ignorant of God, your life is futile and you're not going to make it. So you die and you're not saved. Well, and I think too, if you're a student of God, you don't even know. You think you're wise and you know what you're doing and you have all the answers, and you don't.

Right. Excellent. That's good. That's good. What we're going to find as we go through here, the person outside of Christ to use a popular phrase, is in a world of hurt. I mean, they really are messed with. Go ahead, Randy. Well, one of the things that I thought was cool this last couple of weeks is there was an article that a new fossilized discovery was found that moved when they thought animal life started in the history of evolutionary timelines, but they mock Christians for ignoring the facts. You've ignored the facts, you've missed scientific facts, but the futility of their mind is that they look at all the data they have as all the data there is, and confidently speak forward there in arrogance rather than recognizing their cognitive biases. And so we as believers go, okay, if you operate from the starting point with this futility, You get a bunch of false conclusions. Sorry, that may have stolen your lesson.

No, no, no, no, no. That's good. That's all good. That's all good. I like it. I like it. No, we're fine. We're fine. OK. So the focus is on the Gentiles and on our before Christ. And actually, this is, so you might say, why in the world is Paul taking the time to tell believers this again? We kind of know this, right?

We know we're not supposed to go back. I mean, if nobody even told you, You became a believer. You inherently almost know, I shouldn't go back the way I was. That was a futile life. Especially if you came to Christ as an adult. Now as a child it's a little bit different. As an adult, you see, I was over here and now I'm over here. In this country, Historically, I mean, we know right and wrong in a sense.

And if you brought up a Christian home, you do too. But if you lived a life where it was cheating and lying and that was thought of as good, then it might be hard to really make that. I was just thinking it might be more difficult to change. Yeah. Well, I think we've read some missionary stories about that, where they...

Was it Brusco? The highest thing was deceit. This guy named Brusco who wrote a book about his missionary activities. He went to this one tribe and the highest thing was deceit. Deceiving someone, that was kind of the pinnacle of things. If you could deceive somebody, you were a cool dude. I deceived him.

You get a pat on the back for that. It's pretty sad. There's a list here. It starts in verse 17 and it's going to continue into 18. You tell it no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk. The first thing is they walk in the futility of their mind. Futility is vanity, sometimes it's translated worthlessness, emptiness as the result. So a couple of verses. The one in Romans talks about creation was subjected to futility, which is a different topic. The 2 Peter one is better.

Could someone read 2 Peter 2.18? For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error.

So we're going to see all these set of words floating around. Actually, in this passage, in 17, 18, 19, we'll see the same kind of words show up, especially in 2 Peter and other parts of Peter. They show up as activities which a believer should not be involved in, or which the world is involved in, or which people Maybe in the last days, it talks about. Of course, today, we are in the last days, in a sense.

Anyway, so futility is this emptiness, vanity. OK, so that's the first one. Mind is N-O-U-S, not merely the intellectual faculty of understanding, but also the faculty to recognize moral good and spiritual truth. In the Colossians passage, it talks about the fleshly mind.

In the Romans passage, you can cross out 1 Peter and put in Romans 1.28.

Let's read that, Romans 1.28. The first part of Romans there is a pretty sad picture of mankind. is kind of indicative of that. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Good. Okay. So I actually have reprobate mind. I have depraved mind. Yeah, that's the same idea. Okay. I would even add to that Romans 118. Okay.

God is revealed from heaven against all ungodly suppress the truth. Isn't that, if you had to take one verse and nail it over our society, that is it. And we've got to suppress the truth. Don't confuse me with the facts. We've got to suppress that truth.

So, anyway. Okay, so, futility of the mind. Actually, I like, A.T. Robertson has in emptiness of their intellect. I kind of like that. Emptiness of their intellect. You have empty intellect. That's the first one. The second one is being darkened in their understanding. So the first one was this futility of their mind. The second one is being darkened in their understanding. being darkened in their understanding. So this is one of these cool words.

Being is not the biggie, but it's a me. The state in which someone or something continuously exists. So what we're going to see here, that this darkened state is just not pulling down the shades a little bit. This is 24-7 in the dark. I mean, they just So you say, how can anybody be saved?

And it's in the perfect tense, which, to make it easy, is something that happened in the past and it continues on up into the present. And it's a permanent state of being. The perfect tense speaks of completed action and pastime with abiding results.

And they were, you know, they didn't do it themselves. That's just the way they are because they're an unbeliever. And Romans 121 says, For even though they knew God, they did not honor him or give thanks to him, but became futile in their speculation, and their foolish heart was darkened." So basically, Weiss brings it across really well, because this is a permanent condition, being those who have been permanently blinded with respect to their mind. And so, this is my thought.

Only the Holy Spirit can break through this. There's no way. I mean, you can talk until you're blue. You can talk and you can plead. And we probably all have relatives, friends, whatever. In fact, sometimes if you do it too much, it's not a good thing. But, sometimes you can't. Only God can get through that. And you have to trust that He is doing that. The Holy Spirit is working.

That's number two. Number three, excluded from the life of God. We have the hardness of their heart being darkened, excluded from the life of God. Excluded is the idea to be alienated, to be estranged, used of those who have been estranged themselves of God.

Once again, it's another perfect tense. They were, they have been, I can't even say the word. Exchanged in the past, and they continue to be in that condition. I'll jump around the word there, I don't want to try to pronounce it again. Could someone read Colossians 121? And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds. Okay, so no, so formerly. Once again, Paul is saying, this is where you were. He is warning them, don't go back there. And if you have gone back there, maybe you have stumbled, maybe you have sinned. Don't go back there, don't go there.

Ephesians 1.12 talks about, basically remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.

So the life of God is the life that God has in himself and which he imparts to the believing sinner. Okay, this is cool. Macaulay had a little summary here, which I kind of liked. The unbeliever has, or you could say the Gentile life, the unbeliever has no purpose to guide him, futility of mind, No light to see, being darkened in their understanding. No life to inspire them. No life to inspire, excluded from the life of God. A little succinct summary there. Like I said, this is not the one that you go out and happy, happy, happy after you finish here, but it's there.

I think it's worth calling out that the Greek philosopher Plato had his analogy of the cave, where he basically treated God and truth as something that was outside of a cave, and we were chained inside of a cave, and all we could see were the shadows in the darkness. And so, when Paul uses this analogy, it's several hundred years later, and Ephesus would have been influenced by Athens. It was right across the Mediterranean from them. This idea of darkness probably had some cultural relevancy within the Gentile culture that maybe we don't always pick up on that today because, well, let's just face it, we don't study Plato very often. No, that's true. It's worth calling out that this analogy of the cave would have been comfortable to a lot of the Gentile believers. That's a good point. Excellent. All right. So now we have one verse left, and then I want to preview a little bit next week, just to get your spirits on the positive side. I said, I'm going to finish on verse 19. So now we're going to go to verse 19.

Two reasons are given for this exclusion from the life of God. The first one is, through the ignorance, actually we're still in 18, I'm sorry I didn't. So the last part of 18 is, so in 18 there's an explanation for being excluded from the life of God. First one is the ignorance that is in them. Ignorance is one of, well actually it's one of knowledge, perception, to be ignorant. And you'll see if you look at those passages about an ax there, What's cool here is, I think it was pointed out, God knows about our ignorance. In that passage in Acts, I'll just read part of it here.

He says, there were times when you didn't know what was going on. And He's not going to disadvantage them. And now brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. So he said, your rabbis, they led you down the path, they acted in ignorance. And it goes on to explain that. And they talk about the Gentiles. So we saw that the Jews are in focus first to be converted, and then the Gentiles.

And then he talks about, in Acts 17.30, about the Gentiles of God. And in the first Peter passage, Let's read that.

1 Peter 1.14.

Did someone read 1 Peter 1.14?

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to a former lust in your ignorance. Good. Okay. Former lust in your ignorance. Great. Okay. And then the B part of this. So the first part was ignorance. The second part is hardness of heart. Now you've kind of heard that. You go all the way back to the Old Testament. And about the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, we see that. That term is used a lot through scripture. To harden, to petrify, callousness is used, insensitivity.

There was that in Mark 3.5 of Christ to the Jews. That sounds kind of strange. Christ was grieved at the hardness of men's heart. He healed a man and there was a hardness of heart spoken about there.

And then Paul speaks about in Romans 11.25 about a partial hardening of Israel.

And that's another discussion. Now we're going to get to 19. So actually, let's just go back for a second. So they, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of two things, ignorance and hardness of heart, and they have become callous. You know, it just keeps going down this downward stair step. Now the results of ignorance and hardness of heart. First.

And they are who, having become Who have become callous? Literally, who are such a nature? Having become callous, that's one word with the tense in there. It's another perfect tense. A lot of these show up that it's a condition that happened in the past and it continues on into the present. It's just their way of life. They're locked into that. This is pretty sad. To cease to feel pain for, hence to be callous past feeling. In fact, it's translated past feeling sometimes.

So actually, in 1st Timothy, turn to 1st Timothy 4 just for a second. Okay, it starts off. It says, 1st Timothy 4, finally brethren, verse 1, finally then brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus Yeah, notice here, I just picked up on here. Most of yours have in the Lord Jesus, in your Bibles, in verse 4-1.

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Okay, well, sorry Roger. If I look at the right, I'll be just fine. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm off here making all these great comments about the wrong verse. Okay, okay. Alright, rewind, time out. Let's start again here.

Verse 4-1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of of liars, of lies, seared in their own conscience as with branding irons.

Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in those who believe and know the truth. So I just wanted to kind of wind back here. I have basically the word where it says, by means of the hypocrisy of seared in their own conscience, that's as having become callous idea, another phraseology, a little more maybe severe if you will, but that having become callous is pretty serious. So Weiss renders this part, who being of such a nature as to have become callous. Having given themselves over to sensuality. Having given is to hand over, to betray. Sensuality is absence of restraint, indecency, wantonness, licentiousness.

If you go into Galatians you'll see the fruit of the spirit and the deeds of the flesh. This is one of the deeds of the flesh. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, and the list goes on. So this is one of the deeds of the flesh. This word here. I happened to find Darby here. Having given themselves over to sensuousness.

For the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness, this is what sensuality produces. For the practice or the performing, for every kind of impurity of uncleanness, Moral uncleanness, lewdness, with greediness in the sphere of greediness. So basically you could render this for the practice of every kind of impurity. The result of performing... I'm not sure I can do that. So what I found interesting was here that greediness comes into play. You know, we have sensuality is producing this, but it's like...

And I kind of think of that as what happens is when you have a certain amount, you always want more. That's what the world says. There's never enough that actually satisfies you. And we see that in so many areas. There's the newest shoe, the newest phone, the newest whatever.

It's always that next one. That next one will just satisfy you. But when you get to the next one, you're not satisfied. And then it's the next one after that. And that's, I think, where that idea of Greediness comes in there. It's sad. It's pretty sad. OK.

So could someone read, go back to Ephesians, just in preparation for next week. Could someone read Ephesians chapter 4, verses 20 to 24? Ephesians 4, 20 to 24. But you have not sold on 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, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Great, thank you.

So, just following verse 19, Paul says, but you did not learn Christ in this way. There's no way you can learn, you know, this has nothing to do with learning Christ. This is all about your former manner of life. And then he goes on, if indeed you have heard of him and been taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus. So the truth is in Christ. It's in God. It's not in anything that's in your former life here. And then he goes on to talk about their former manner of life. And he's going to go into this thing about laying aside or putting off the old self and putting on the new self. And so I have just something for you to think about during the week.

Do you think that, and maybe I'll give it away here. Sometimes when you ask a question, you give away the answer. Is there something for you to do here or believe, in verses 22. I don't think the translation is the best here, that's my opinion, and hopefully I'll be able to show you what I think.

But it seems like you've got some work to do here. You've got to go out there and put off the old self and put on the new self. And the idea is clothing, it has that analogy of clothing. So is that something were to get out there and get busy doing? Or is it to remember, thank you Lord, you've done that for me. I've been separated from the old man. I'm now in him. And I remember that. Is there something for me to do? Or something to remember? I gave the answer already. I believe it's the second one.

Over the years I've read through this and you read that and you think, wow, boy, I got something to do here. I think the Lord needs to show you step by step that you need to recognize that he is equipping you, recognizing that you are being re-equipped. And something has changed and is no longer of use to you. Something else has come in that is definitely profoundly useful to you of the Lord.

So think about that for next week. Next week is a cool lesson. Really cool. I didn't think it was right and I said how am I going to prove that? I don't know, I'm not sure I can do this. I can say it, but then Randy would lynch me when I get outside the room. That's all my authority. Not everyone who lynches has authority. Right, there you go. Okay, all right, well let's close then.

We thank you, Father. We thank you for our time today, Lord. Thank you for the blessings we have, Father. Thank you for your word, Lord, and thank you that sometimes it's Painful to go through and just to see what the the old man is like the old self the Gentile self as you call it in Ephesians there we pray that we would learn to learn from that Lord and learn the the wonderful part about our new life in Christ and what and What how that happened and what we're to believe and what we're to count upon We ask in his name Amen