No Longer Perishing in Futility - Tim Conway
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0:00 - 0:04Brethren, we're going to resume our study in Ephesians 4,
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0:04 - 0:08so if you would open your Bibles.
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0:08 - 0:18Ephesians 4:17, which actually opens up a fresh division.
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0:19 - 0:34I'd like to start out by reading verses 17 through 24.
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0:34 - 0:39"Now this I say and testify in the Lord,
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0:39 - 0:48that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do,
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0:48 - 0:51in the futility of their minds.
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0:51 - 0:54They are darkened in their understanding,
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0:54 - 0:58alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them, -
0:58 - 1:01due to their hardness of heart.
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1:01 - 1:06They have become callous and have
given themselves up to sensuality, -
1:06 - 1:10greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
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1:10 - 1:14But that is not the way you learned Christ -
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1:14 - 1:20assuming that you have heard about Him
and were taught in Him, -
1:20 - 1:27as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old man - old self -
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1:27 - 1:30which belongs to your former manner of life
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1:30 - 1:33and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
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1:33 - 1:36and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
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1:36 - 1:39and to put on the new man - the new self -
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1:39 - 1:47created after the likeness of God
in true righteousness and holiness." (P) -
1:47 - 1:51Father, I pray for help. Open your Word to us.
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1:51 - 1:53May it be powerful. Speak to us, Father.
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1:53 - 1:55Speak, O Lord.
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1:55 - 2:00I pray in Christ's name. Amen.
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2:00 - 2:07So, okay, just take in the whole big picture.
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2:07 - 2:11Let's see the forest for a second.
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2:11 - 2:21The apostle has laid down the great doctrine
of the first three chapters. -
2:21 - 2:26Then having done that, he makes this great appeal to us
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2:26 - 2:29in the first half of chapter 4.
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2:29 - 2:33It's this Unity of the Spirit appeal.
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2:33 - 2:39It's life in the church, how we are to function together in the church
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2:39 - 2:43in the unity of the Spirit, growing up in every way into Christ,
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2:43 - 2:45into the Head.
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2:45 - 2:51The body building itself up in love
when every part is working properly. -
2:51 - 2:53So it's life in the church.
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2:53 - 2:55We've got apostles and prophets and evangelists
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2:55 - 3:00and pastors and teachers that equip the people in the church
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3:00 - 3:04for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.
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3:04 - 3:09There's this dynamic going on in the church, and we looked at that.
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3:09 - 3:15Now, what Paul is doing is,
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3:15 - 3:24I can't help but think that the whole rest of the letter,
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3:24 - 3:31from 4:17 until the closing salutations in chapter 6,
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3:31 - 3:38I can't help to think that what this is,
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3:38 - 3:42is that which he set forth in 4:16 -
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3:42 - 3:46when each part is working properly. (P)
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3:46 - 3:50You want to know what a proper working part is,
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3:50 - 3:54what a properly working Christian looks like?
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3:54 - 4:02Just look at 4:17 right up until the closing salutations in chapter 6,
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4:02 - 4:03and you've got it.
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4:03 - 4:10I mean, this is really a treasure.
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4:10 - 4:12I counted them up.
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4:12 - 4:21From 4:17 all the way to 6:20 is sixty-nine verses.
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4:21 - 4:22Sixty-nine.
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4:22 - 4:26What a treasure!
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4:26 - 4:29I mean, if you really think about what this is,
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4:29 - 4:34we have a concise 69 verse -
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4:34 - 4:40God-inspired, God-given, God-spoken -
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4:40 - 4:46body of instruction concerning the primary points of godliness.
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4:46 - 4:50Listen, when every part is working properly.
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4:50 - 4:52If you want to be a properly working Christian,
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4:52 - 4:56give yourself to these 69 verses.
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4:56 - 4:57I mean, you talk about ethics,
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4:57 - 5:04you talk about morality, godliness, here it is.
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5:04 - 5:08What does godliness look like?
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5:08 - 5:12Apply yourself to living out these 69 and you've got it.
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5:12 - 5:14I mean, we've got such a concise,
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5:14 - 5:19beautiful body of the primary points of godliness.
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5:19 - 5:20This is inspired.
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5:20 - 5:23It's like the Spirit says, "Paul, tell them.
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5:23 - 5:26Tell them what it looks like to live a godly life."
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5:26 - 5:29And, I mean, you've got things in here about how to be a child,
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5:29 - 5:31how to be a husband, how to be a wife.
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5:31 - 5:37You've got things in here that cover all aspects of the Christian life.
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5:37 - 5:40The Spirit of God says, "Paul, tell them.
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5:40 - 5:43Tell them, in very concise fashion, in 69 verses,
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5:43 - 5:46what it means to live the Christian life,
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5:46 - 5:49what the new life, right, the new man -
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5:49 - 5:50didn't we just see that? -
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5:50 - 5:54what the new life in Christ looks like.
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5:54 - 5:58Give them a synopsis as to what that life looks like
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5:58 - 6:01that's pleasing to the Lord." (P)
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6:01 - 6:04But I'll tell you this, make no mistake about this.
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6:04 - 6:11No one can live this life by just deciding to do it.
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6:13 - 6:15You see what it says in verse 20?
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6:15 - 6:21"That is not the way you learned Christ."
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6:21 - 6:24Oh, you know how you live this life?
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6:24 - 6:30By coming face-to-face with Christ
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6:30 - 6:34and by learning of Him and embracing Him.
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6:34 - 6:41Or you look at 21, "Being taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus."
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6:41 - 6:43Brethren, I'll tell you what, to live this life,
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6:43 - 6:47we need the new-man power
created after the likeness of God. -
6:47 - 6:49You see that in verse 24?
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6:49 - 6:52"Put on the new man created after -- Created.
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6:52 - 6:55Who does the creating? This is God.
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6:55 - 6:57God is the Creator. We're not the Creator.
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6:57 - 6:59We don't create this in ourselves.
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6:59 - 7:06We need God's creation of new-man power
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7:06 - 7:08flowing through ourselves.
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7:08 - 7:10And then you go down to verse 30.
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7:10 - 7:14Look what he says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God."
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7:14 - 7:16Well, in another place, he says, "Don't quench."
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7:16 - 7:18Brethren, the reality is this,
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7:18 - 7:21we need the Spirit's power to live this life
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7:21 - 7:23and you don't want to grieve Him.
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7:23 - 7:24You don't want to quench Him.
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7:24 - 7:27It's an impossible life.
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7:27 - 7:29But I'll tell you this,
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7:29 - 7:35if you indeed are a Christian, it is an unavoidable life.
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7:35 - 7:37You say, what do you mean by that?
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7:37 - 7:42I mean, no one can live this life without
the new man power of God upon them. -
7:42 - 7:47But for everybody that is a genuine Christian, this is precisely the case.
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7:47 - 7:52Paul is speaking to those who are entirely new creatures in Christ. (P)
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7:52 - 7:53Brethren, do you realize,
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7:53 - 7:56regeneration is one of the most profound changes in the world.
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7:56 - 8:03This is not some abstract theory or myth or pie in the sky that is--
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8:03 - 8:05Do you read Paul's words here?
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8:05 - 8:07I mean, all you have to do is look.
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8:07 - 8:11For instance, Ephesians 5:3. This is a big problem today.
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8:11 - 8:14Sexual immorality and all impurity.
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8:14 - 8:16Just ask yourself this,
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8:16 - 8:19does Paul seem like he's suggesting that this
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8:19 - 8:23might possibly be one way that a Christian can live?
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8:23 - 8:24Does it sound like he's saying,
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8:24 - 8:28"Well, in theory, this is the target, but nobody actually achieves this"?
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8:28 - 8:32Is this the "O wretched man" kind of thing where,
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8:32 - 8:35"Well, nobody can actually do this"?
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8:35 - 8:40Or do you actually hear in Paul's voice something of an expectation
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8:40 - 8:45that if you're a new man, this indeed is going to be a reality.
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8:45 - 8:48Listen to him.
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8:48 - 8:51Sexual immorality or impurity or covetousness
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8:51 - 8:54must not even be named among you.
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8:54 - 8:56It must not.
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8:56 - 9:02He's not talking theory here.
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9:02 - 9:05It must not be named among you.
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9:05 - 9:10There's a proper way to live as a new man, Saint.
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9:10 - 9:16Let there be no filthiness, no foolish talk, no crude joking.
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9:16 - 9:17And you know what, when you get to verse 5,
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9:17 - 9:18"You may be sure of this:
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9:18 - 9:23everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or is covetous,
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9:23 - 9:26they have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." (P)
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9:26 - 9:31Brethren, what I want you to do with these 69 verses
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9:31 - 9:34is embrace them by faith.
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9:34 - 9:36This is a life you're called to live.
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9:36 - 9:42And this is a life that, as a new creature in Christ,
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9:42 - 9:46you not only can live, you must live.
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9:46 - 9:47You must!
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9:47 - 9:49I mean, do you get that must?
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9:49 - 9:54"Must not even be named."
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9:54 - 9:56What makes a man or a woman a Christian
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9:56 - 9:58is that they've been born again.
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9:58 - 9:59They have a new nature.
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9:59 - 10:01The life of God is in him.
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10:01 - 10:03He's all together different than what he was before.
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10:03 - 10:07This is precisely what Paul is emphasizing here.
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10:07 - 10:11Now look with me, because I just want to deal with verse 17 today.
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10:11 - 10:17Notice how verse 17 begins.
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10:17 - 10:21"Now this I say."
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10:21 - 10:22Just think about that.
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10:22 - 10:27Think about the words "This I say".
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10:27 - 10:31Somebody stands up before you: "This I say."
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10:31 - 10:34I mean, that's coming across pretty strong.
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10:34 - 10:37Okay, this person has something to say to me.
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10:37 - 10:39But he doesn't just leave it on that level.
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10:39 - 10:45Notice where he goes next: "And testify in the Lord."
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10:45 - 10:49Or that could be, "I testified by the Lord, or with the Lord."
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10:49 - 10:55Paul speaks in various places with this kind of terminology.
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10:55 - 10:56And I'll tell you, every place he does it,
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10:56 - 10:59he desires to especially capture our attention.
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10:59 - 11:02This is the kind of thing you say
before you're going to say something -
11:02 - 11:04that you really want to get people's attention.
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11:04 - 11:06You want to grab hold of them.
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11:06 - 11:09"This I say and testify in the Lord." (P)
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11:09 - 11:11Listen to Paul to the Ephesian elders,
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11:11 - 11:14"Therefore, I testify to you this day
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11:14 - 11:15that I'm innocent of the blood of all."
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11:15 - 11:19To testify is what? It's to bear witness.
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11:19 - 11:21Somebody testifies in a court of law,
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11:21 - 11:22well, that's what they're doing.
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11:22 - 11:23They're bearing witness.
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11:23 - 11:26To Festus and Agrippa, Paul says,
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11:26 - 11:29"To this day, I have had the help that comes from God.
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11:29 - 11:33And so I stand here testifying both to small and great,
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11:33 - 11:37saying nothing but what the prophets
and Moses said would come to pass." -
11:37 - 11:41It's to make an emphatic affirmation,
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11:41 - 11:45an emphatic demand even.
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11:46 - 11:50Listen to this. 1st Thessalonians 2:12,
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11:50 - 11:55"We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you."
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11:55 - 11:59There's our word right there. Charge. Testify.
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11:59 - 12:01It can be translated charge.
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12:01 - 12:06"I charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God."
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12:06 - 12:09You know what, Ephesians 4:17--
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12:09 - 12:12We basically could read it this way,
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12:12 - 12:17"Now this I say and I charge you in the name of the Lord."
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12:17 - 12:20This is strong. This is apostolic.
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12:20 - 12:24And if we have ears to hear it, it is God's voice.
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12:24 - 12:31God is saying, "Listen. You need to grab this."
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12:31 - 12:36Christian, brother and sister, listen to this.
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12:36 - 12:40This isn't me. This is apostolic authority.
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12:40 - 12:51This is God-inspired. There's a solemn charge here. (P)
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12:51 - 12:54So what is it that God is so concerned to get our attention about?
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12:54 - 12:55Look at the text,
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12:55 - 13:02"That you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.
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13:02 - 13:05This I say and testify in the Lord,
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13:05 - 13:08that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do."
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13:08 - 13:10KJV says other Gentiles.
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13:10 - 13:14But the reality is this,
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13:14 - 13:19you are called to no longer walk like you used to walk,
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13:19 - 13:23like the rest of the world walks.
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13:23 - 13:26The Gentile-ish conduct.
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13:26 - 13:32No longer. This is an interesting sentence.
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13:32 - 13:36In the original, it literally reads this way,
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13:36 - 13:42"No longer you to walk."
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13:42 - 13:43It's an infinitive.
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13:43 - 13:47Infinitives, you put the word 'to' before it.
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13:47 - 13:54To walk, to build, to go. That's an infinitive.
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13:54 - 13:55And it's odd.
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13:55 - 14:01It's really extremely awkward in the English,
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14:01 - 14:07but no longer you to walk as also the Gentiles walk.
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14:07 - 14:11The translations just basically make an imperative out of this,
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14:11 - 14:13so that it reads this way.
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14:13 - 14:18The KJV says, "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,
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14:18 - 14:22that ye henceforth - from now on -
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14:22 - 14:25walk not as other Gentiles walk."
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14:25 - 14:32The NJKV, "You should no longer
walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk." -
14:32 - 14:39The ESV, "You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do."
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14:39 - 14:41But you hear what's being said.
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14:41 - 14:47Christian, no longer.
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14:50 - 14:55You should not any longer walk as the Gentiles walk.
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14:55 - 15:00You must not walk any longer.
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15:00 - 15:02Why?
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15:02 - 15:08Verse 20 and 21, this is not the way you learned Christ,
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15:08 - 15:11assuming that you have heard about Him
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15:11 - 15:13and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. (P)
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15:13 - 15:16We're going to look at more of that in the weeks ahead.
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15:16 - 15:22But brethren, do you see the implication in this "no longer"?
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15:22 - 15:26What does that imply?
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15:26 - 15:30We once did.
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15:30 - 15:33No longer.
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15:33 - 15:37But what? Something's happened.
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15:37 - 15:41We heard Paul. He's pointing out pictures.
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15:41 - 15:46"This guy was like this, but something happened."
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15:46 - 15:52Now he's saying he's not exactly sure where these guys are at.
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15:52 - 15:54But this is the picture here.
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15:54 - 15:56When you say 'no longer', something happens.
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15:56 - 15:59That's the Christianity of Scripture.
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15:59 - 16:03Something happens.
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16:03 - 16:06'No longer' means that you and I had a past.
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16:06 - 16:08You remember how Peter speaks of it?
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16:08 - 16:12"The passions of your former ignorance."
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16:12 - 16:17The passions of your former -- former. Before.
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16:17 - 16:18Or Paul says it.
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16:18 - 16:23If you go down here to Ephesians 5:8,
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16:23 - 16:27look at 5:8, "For at one time."
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16:27 - 16:30At one time. Not any longer.
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16:30 - 16:36But at one time in the past, sometime in the past, you were darkness.
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16:36 - 16:37But not now.
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16:37 - 16:40Now you're something else.
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16:40 - 16:42Brethren, this is key.
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16:42 - 16:45'No longer' implies there's a way we once were.
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16:45 - 16:49There's an unregenerate life, which is radically different
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16:49 - 16:51than the life of being born again.
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16:51 - 16:54No longer. Something has happened.
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16:54 - 16:56I just say this to all of you. (P)
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16:56 - 17:01When the elders sit down and we interview people,
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17:01 - 17:05now I recognize I might come across somebody like Timothy,
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17:05 - 17:08who they had a mother and a grandmother
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17:08 - 17:10and they were exposed to the Scriptures
from the time they were a child -
17:10 - 17:15and, perhaps, they don't really recognize.
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17:15 - 17:17They can say, "I've always been saved."
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17:17 - 17:18Well, we don't like to hear that
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17:18 - 17:22because we believe people get saved at a certain point in time.
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17:22 - 17:26But we can recognize that if somebody
has been exposed to as a little child, -
17:26 - 17:31it may have happened and they don't really know when it happened.
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17:31 - 17:34But for most of us, that's not the case.
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17:34 - 17:37And when I'm listening to people's testimonies,
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17:37 - 17:38that's what I'm looking for.
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17:38 - 17:41I'm looking for this reality that there is a way they once were,
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17:41 - 17:43then something happened.
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17:43 - 17:45What happened? They learned something of Christ.
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17:45 - 17:47They were exposed to Christ.
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17:47 - 17:49They were exposed to the gospel of Christ.
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17:49 - 17:51They were exposed to the beauty of Christ,
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17:51 - 17:52the preciousness of Christ.
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17:52 - 17:55And something happened.
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17:55 - 17:58What happened? They're no longer the way they were.
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17:58 - 18:00And so when people's testimonies don't line up there,
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18:00 - 18:02with that they don't line up with Scripture.
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18:02 - 18:04There needs to be a 'no longer'.
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18:04 - 18:06That's what Paul's assuming about these Ephesians. (P)
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18:06 - 18:08Now, what he knows about these people
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18:08 - 18:09is he knows that these people,
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18:09 - 18:13there weren't any that were children
and were exposed to the gospel -
18:13 - 18:16and now they're Christians and they don't
really know when they were saved. -
18:16 - 18:24Why? Because the gospel came along,
just recently, into a dark Roman world, -
18:24 - 18:28and people are just being saved for the first time.
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18:28 - 18:31They'd only been saved - who knows when this was written?
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18:31 - 18:32The gospel had gone in there,
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18:32 - 18:35and people are being plucked out of the darkness.
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18:35 - 18:37And he knows that, literally,
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18:37 - 18:40for everybody making up the church in Ephesus,
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18:40 - 18:42they are first-generation Christians.
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18:42 - 18:45They've been snatched out just now,
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18:45 - 18:48or at least in the last however long.
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18:48 - 18:51Whether it was written long enough for there to be some children who were--
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18:51 - 18:52I don't know that.
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18:52 - 18:57But the likelihood is this is mainly a first-generation [church].
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18:57 - 19:03They have been plucked out of this Greek, Roman darkness.
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19:03 - 19:04But that's what we're looking for.
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19:04 - 19:06Does your testimony reflect this?
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19:06 - 19:11Paul confronts us with a radical change that regeneration produces.
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19:11 - 19:14The Christian man is a new man.
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19:14 - 19:18Old things have passed away. Behold, all is new.
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19:18 - 19:20That's what Scripture says. (P)
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19:20 - 19:31Now, brethren, aren't you thankful that we have a gospel like this?
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19:31 - 19:39Paul can go in-- Trevor said some of these guys have eaten human flesh.
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19:39 - 19:45You come across guys like that? Cannibals.
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19:45 - 19:46And you look at their life,
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19:46 - 19:49they came in and they cause all sorts of trouble.
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19:49 - 19:52It's the same as reading Stan Dale
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19:52 - 19:54or some of those guys from the '60s.
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19:54 - 19:56They say they encountered the same kind of darkness,
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19:56 - 19:58the same kind of interruptions,
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19:58 - 20:01the same kind of guys that were constant trouble.
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20:01 - 20:09Some of those guys actually filled Stan Dale and his cohort full of arrows.
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20:09 - 20:18Brethren, we can thank the Living God for a
gospel that enables us to speak like this -
20:18 - 20:24and say, "No longer. I once was blind, but now I see."
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20:24 - 20:27This is the gospel that we have to take to the world.
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20:27 - 20:29No longer. No longer.
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20:29 - 20:33I once was lost, but I'm not lost anymore.
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20:33 - 20:35I've been found.
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20:35 - 20:36No longer.
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20:36 - 20:39God has made me new.
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20:39 - 20:40I'm no longer what I once was.
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20:40 - 20:42I'm no longer the old man.
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20:42 - 20:45I'm no longer. (P)
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20:45 - 20:48When I was up in Michigan, I've told this before.
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20:48 - 20:50When I met with my high school buddies,
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20:50 - 20:53I told them, "You guys know what I once was.
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20:53 - 20:56Nobody down in Texas does, but you guys do.
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20:56 - 20:58You knew what I was."
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20:58 - 21:01I was telling them that when I was preaching the gospel to them,
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21:01 - 21:03when I was telling them about this very truth,
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21:03 - 21:06about regeneration and what it looks like.
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21:06 - 21:07You guys don't know that guy.
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21:07 - 21:10But that's what the gospel does.
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21:10 - 21:13This is the kind of gospel that we have.
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21:13 - 21:17There's a new life, a new start, a new power.
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21:17 - 21:20Praise the Lord for this.
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21:20 - 21:23Brethren, we don't want dead religion, do we?
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21:23 - 21:25We don't want the kind that people coming off the streets,
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21:25 - 21:27come out of San Antonio,
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21:27 - 21:29come from wherever they come from, come in the church
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21:29 - 21:33and they just clean themselves up a little bit on the outside.
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21:33 - 21:37And inside, they're still the same wretched people they were?
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21:37 - 21:39We don't want that.
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21:39 - 21:41We want people well-saved.
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21:41 - 21:45We want the power of the new man demonstrated here.
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21:45 - 21:47That's the power of God.
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21:47 - 21:49That's what we need. That's what we want.
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21:49 - 21:51That's what turns people's lives upside down,
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21:51 - 21:54and not just so that they come into the meetings
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21:54 - 21:56and they don't lay down on the front row
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21:56 - 21:58and do circles around the preacher.
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21:58 - 22:03This is so that they love their wives like Christ loved the church.
-
22:03 - 22:08So that they put off the sexual immorality and they put on purity.
-
22:08 - 22:10There's purity in their life,
-
22:10 - 22:13and they're walking worthy of the Lord,
-
22:13 - 22:16and they're now children of light.
-
22:16 - 22:18And instead of getting drunk,
-
22:18 - 22:21they're living in the life of the Spirit now.
-
22:21 - 22:24They're putting on the armor of God.
-
22:24 - 22:26They're going to battle. (P)
-
22:26 - 22:33Brethren, we want the gospel that says, "No longer."
-
22:33 - 22:35God help us.
-
22:35 - 22:41Last thing we want is bad religion,
bad Christianity, dead Christianity, -
22:41 - 22:46where people come in and they take the Name,
but nothing changes. -
22:46 - 22:48They can't say "no longer"
-
22:48 - 22:50because they're just the same as they've always been,
-
22:50 - 22:53only they've cleaned themselves up a little bit
-
22:53 - 22:55and they come to church on Sunday.
-
22:55 - 22:57God spare us from that. (P)
-
22:57 - 23:01Now, Brethren, I just feel like I need to emphasize something
-
23:01 - 23:03because I feel like it needs to be emphasized
-
23:03 - 23:09because I get this-- It's amazing.
-
23:11 - 23:12You can never please anybody,
-
23:12 - 23:15and with James throwing everything out on the internet,
-
23:15 - 23:18we get attacked from both sides.
-
23:18 - 23:29We get people that say that we don't deal with sin and we're Antinomian.
-
23:29 - 23:32But then we get charges that we're legalists.
-
23:32 - 23:36And, Brethren, I want to tell you this:
-
23:36 - 23:42Using negatives is not legalism.
-
23:42 - 23:49Paul repeatedly tells these Christians
throughout these verses not to do things. -
23:49 - 23:54Notice 4:26, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger."
-
23:54 - 23:5727, "Give no opportunity to the devil."
-
23:57 - 24:0028, "Let the thief no longer steal."
-
24:00 - 24:01You know what it's saying?
-
24:01 - 24:04Stop letting the sun go down on your anger.
-
24:04 - 24:07Stop with unrighteous anger.
-
24:07 - 24:09Stop giving opportunity to the devil.
-
24:09 - 24:12Stop stealing.
-
24:12 - 24:1529, "Stop with the corrupting talk."
-
24:15 - 24:1830, "Stop grieving the Spirit."
-
24:18 - 24:245:3, "Stop looking at pornography.
Stop with the sexual immorality." -
24:24 - 24:275:4, "Stop with the filthiness.
-
24:27 - 24:30Stop with foolish talk. Stop with crude joking."
-
24:30 - 24:355:7, "Stop being partners with people that are sexually immoral
-
24:35 - 24:38and impure and covetous."
-
24:38 - 24:425:11, "Stop taking part in the unfruitful works of darkness."
-
24:42 - 24:455:15, "Stop being unwise."
-
24:45 - 24:495:17, "Stop being foolish."
-
24:49 - 24:535:18, "Stop getting drunk." (P)
-
24:53 - 24:58I mean, Brethren, there's a place to say to Christians, "STOP IT!
-
24:58 - 24:59STOP!
-
24:59 - 25:02Stop that life."
-
25:02 - 25:04That's what he's saying to these people.
-
25:04 - 25:06You say, "Wow, that's all pretty negative."
-
25:06 - 25:09Yeah, there's a lot of positives in there and I'm only emphasizing--
-
25:09 - 25:10But what I'm saying is this:
-
25:10 - 25:13When you tell people, "You need to stop doing that,"
-
25:13 - 25:18and you tell people these kind of things, that's not legalism.
-
25:18 - 25:20That is encouraging the same kind of Godliness
-
25:20 - 25:23that the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit,
-
25:23 - 25:25is encouraging us with.
-
25:25 - 25:31Brethren, when you no longer live the way you used to live,
-
25:31 - 25:35you're going to stop doing a whole bunch of stuff that you used to do.
-
25:35 - 25:37That's just the reality.
-
25:37 - 25:39We need to stop.
-
25:39 - 25:44We need to say to Christians, "No longer. No longer. Quit it."
-
25:44 - 25:47Brethren, there's a place for Christians to say to themselves,
-
25:47 - 25:54speak to yourself, "That's it! I'm done with that."
-
25:54 - 25:56Stop it.
-
25:56 - 25:59Where are the Christians, like I talked about years ago
-
25:59 - 26:02in a message that I preached from Psalm 119,
-
26:02 - 26:04but where are the Christians who, like David,
-
26:04 - 26:09are going to say, "I promise to keep Your words.
-
26:09 - 26:13I promise, God, I'm stopping with that, and I'm going to do--"
-
26:13 - 26:15Or you remember what David said,
-
26:15 - 26:20"I have sworn an oath and confirmed it to keep Your righteous rules.
-
26:20 - 26:24I have sworn I am going to keep Your commandments.
-
26:24 - 26:26I'm going to keep Your rules."
-
26:26 - 26:28This isn't legalism.
-
26:28 - 26:34Impressive Christianity is what it is.
-
26:34 - 26:38And true Christianity ought to be impressive.
-
26:38 - 26:41It's not legalism. (P)
-
26:41 - 26:45So here's the question of the hour, Brethren.
-
26:45 - 26:48What then are we no longer to do?
-
26:48 - 26:57What is it that's Gentile-ish that we are no longer to walk in?
-
26:57 - 26:59What is the apostle calling us to refrain from?
-
26:59 - 27:11Look at the text. "You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do
-
27:11 - 27:17in the futility of their minds.
-
27:17 - 27:21I looked at that verse on Friday.
-
27:21 - 27:25It's like I was overawed by it.
-
27:25 - 27:27I was staggered by it.
-
27:27 - 27:36It's like it broke loose on me in a way that
I don't think that verse ever has before. -
27:36 - 27:39I felt overawed.
-
27:39 - 27:41You know what this verse does?
-
27:41 - 27:48It so perfectly defines everything.
-
27:48 - 27:55It's so revealing. It defines all that we see around us.
-
27:55 - 27:58It defines the world. It defines mankind.
-
27:58 - 28:02It defines the stock from which Christians come from.
-
28:02 - 28:04It defines the mere man.
-
28:04 - 28:07It reveals what Christianity does to a man.
-
28:07 - 28:13It reveals how much the mind has to do with everything.
-
28:13 - 28:20The very first Gentile-ish quality we must not allow in our lives
-
28:20 - 28:22has to do with your thought life.
-
28:22 - 28:26It has to do with your mind.
-
28:26 - 28:29Brethren, futility of the mind.
-
28:29 - 28:33What a terrible and tremendous description
-
28:33 - 28:37of the lost pagan world all around out there.
-
28:37 - 28:42There's hardly a more profound description of lost humanity than this.
-
28:42 - 28:50And you can think of the places, Romans 1, Ephesians 2.
-
28:50 - 29:01Ephesians 4 is one of the lesser-known descriptions of lost mankind. (P)
-
29:01 - 29:07But just these first three words.
-
29:07 - 29:12These three words capture lost humanity almost like nothing else does.
-
29:12 - 29:16Futility of mind.
-
29:16 - 29:19We hardly not need to define the mind.
-
29:19 - 29:26It's that place in each of us where we exercise our faculty for thinking.
-
29:26 - 29:31It's where we exercise our way of thinking.
-
29:32 - 29:38The mind is where we exercise our faculties for understanding,
-
29:38 - 29:40reasoning, deciding, knowing.
-
29:40 - 29:42It's the center of our thought life.
-
29:42 - 29:45But this other word - futility.
-
29:45 - 29:51Brethren, give me some synonyms for futility.
-
29:51 - 30:01Vanity. Emptiness. Useless.
-
30:01 - 30:06Yeah, just take those.
-
30:06 - 30:07Emptiness.
-
30:07 - 30:14It can be frustration, nothingness, purposelessness.
-
30:14 - 30:23The idea is a failure to attain to any true purpose.
-
30:23 - 30:27I mean, this is staggering.
-
30:27 - 30:35What's psychology? The study of the mind.
-
30:37 - 30:41You want Psychology 101 from God's perspective?
-
30:41 - 30:44You've got it right here.
-
30:45 - 30:49Think about it. Think about the reality of this.
-
30:49 - 30:56You take an individual, take all their thoughts,
-
30:56 - 31:01everything they think in 80 years,
-
31:01 - 31:04every desire that they've had,
-
31:04 - 31:06all the understanding they've attained to,
-
31:06 - 31:12all the reasoning, all the logical, all the deducing, everything,
-
31:12 - 31:15all the workings of the conscience,
-
31:15 - 31:23all the workings of their brain power, their musings, all of it,
-
31:23 - 31:28all their feelings, their decisions, their purposes;
-
31:28 - 31:31put them all together.
-
31:31 - 31:40And God looks at it, it's empty.
-
31:40 - 31:46Nothing. Total futility. (P)
-
31:46 - 31:49But the thing is this.
-
31:49 - 31:52I mean, I think we hardly believe this.
-
31:52 - 31:56The world doesn't believe this.
-
31:56 - 31:59We're the people who know about this.
-
31:59 - 32:04We're the people who really know psychology.
-
32:04 - 32:05The world doesn't think we do.
-
32:05 - 32:06The world thinks we're a bunch of idiots.
-
32:06 - 32:09But you see what's going on? That's their thinking.
-
32:09 - 32:10That's their mind.
-
32:10 - 32:17And it's fruitless, it's ignorant, it's hard, it's dark,
-
32:17 - 32:23and it's empty, and it arrives at no purpose.
-
32:23 - 32:28That's all around us. Total futility.
-
32:28 - 32:31And we might think, well, if we could even find one individual
-
32:31 - 32:34who had a mind that totally added up to nothing,
-
32:34 - 32:36we should have found some kind of anomaly
-
32:36 - 32:42or something that's very, very, very rare, highly unusual.
-
32:42 - 32:46But Paul doesn't say, "Well, there might be one or two people
-
32:46 - 32:48way out in Papua New Guinea that you could find
-
32:48 - 32:53if you added it all up, it comes to nothing."
-
32:53 - 32:57Do you know what it means to be a Gentile?
-
32:57 - 33:01Do you remember what Jesus said
-
33:01 - 33:09even about physical Jews in the book of Revelation 2 and 3?
-
33:09 - 33:14He said, "They claim to be Jews but they are not. They're liars."
-
33:14 - 33:16He called them a synagogue of Satan.
-
33:16 - 33:17What does that mean?
-
33:17 - 33:19What does it mean when Jesus looks at some people
-
33:19 - 33:25and says, "They say they're Jews, but they're not"?
-
33:25 - 33:28What does that mean?
-
33:28 - 33:36That means that physically, yes, they come from the lineage of Abraham,
-
33:36 - 33:38but they're not true Jews.
-
33:38 - 33:43In the spiritual sense, they're Gentiles.
-
33:43 - 33:47We are the true circumcision, brethren. (P)
-
33:47 - 33:50But you know what's staggering about this?
-
33:50 - 33:53Jesus himself, you know this from Matthew 7,
-
33:53 - 33:57He said, "Few there be that find it."
-
33:57 - 34:01What's the it? Life.
-
34:01 - 34:08If few there be, in all the billions of this world, who find life,
-
34:08 - 34:11you know what we infer from that?
-
34:11 - 34:14Most are Gentiles.
-
34:14 - 34:16There's only a few Christians.
-
34:16 - 34:20Do you know what that says about the world all around us?
-
34:20 - 34:28You take the cumulative thoughts and brain activity, the decisions,
-
34:28 - 34:33and God looks at it and says, "It's totally empty."
-
34:33 - 34:37You recognize that when you walk around in this world as a Christian,
-
34:37 - 34:47you are walking by people who the whole sum
of their thought life is absolute futility. -
34:47 - 34:54What a totally devastating prognosis for mankind!
-
34:56 - 35:02Brethren, most people in the world fit the description of Ephesians 4:17.
-
35:02 - 35:06Literally, billions of people.
-
35:06 - 35:10And it doesn't matter if they're scientists or they're politicians
-
35:10 - 35:13or they're doctors or they're farmers or bankers
-
35:13 - 35:19or musicians or bus drivers or policemen, bartenders, housewives.
-
35:19 - 35:22God's assessment of the activity that goes on in the minds of unbelievers
-
35:22 - 35:25is the exercise of their minds is utterly empty.
-
35:25 - 35:28It is void when it comes to this.
-
35:28 - 35:31It's not void of thoughts.
-
35:31 - 35:42It's void when it comes to having any true
significance or any true spiritual value. -
35:42 - 35:44Let men do what they will.
-
35:44 - 35:46Let them try as they will, search as they will,
-
35:46 - 35:50be religious as they will, get educated as they will.
-
35:50 - 35:51So many pursuits.
-
35:51 - 35:56Men, women, children, wanting, wanting, desire. (P)
-
35:56 - 35:58I just thought about this.
-
35:58 - 36:04Just stand by the side of the Interstate Highway
and watch the people going by enmasse. -
36:04 - 36:07I mean, go out at rush hour. Watch them.
-
36:07 - 36:09Jesus says, "Few there be that find it."
-
36:09 - 36:13How many Christians do you think are in there? Not many.
-
36:13 - 36:16And you watch these people, where are they going?
-
36:16 - 36:17Where are they going?
-
36:17 - 36:20With all that has gone on in their minds,
-
36:20 - 36:23they may have IQs that are 130, 140.
-
36:23 - 36:25Where are they going?
-
36:25 - 36:29You know where they're going? They're going to Hell.
-
36:29 - 36:33You know what's at the end of that road?
-
36:33 - 36:37You know just as well as I do what this thing looks like.
-
36:37 - 36:44People, broken, backward.
-
36:44 - 36:50Everyone in this world who's not a Christian fits this description.
-
36:52 - 36:56Where's everyone going? What does it all amount to?
-
36:56 - 36:59What are they after? What awaits them at the other end?
-
36:59 - 37:04You know what's out there? Futility. Futility.
-
37:04 - 37:06Because what do people want?
-
37:06 - 37:10They want to live forever. They want that.
-
37:10 - 37:13They want pleasure. They want gratification.
-
37:13 - 37:15They want happiness.
-
37:15 - 37:20You know what futility means? It never leads there.
-
37:20 - 37:27It leads to pain, and sorrow, and emptiness, and void.
-
37:27 - 37:31Futility. Futile. Futile. Futile. It's futile.
-
37:31 - 37:37It just screams emptiness, utter emptiness.
-
37:37 - 37:43We've read it, "No one understands. No one seeks for God."
-
37:43 - 37:46It's all aimless, pointless, lacking direction.
-
37:46 - 37:48What's the reference point?
-
37:48 - 37:53You see, futility. No one is seeking after God.
-
37:53 - 37:56We're talking about men in their own strength,
-
37:56 - 38:03men in their carnality, men in their Gentileness. (P)
-
38:03 - 38:04No one seeks God.
-
38:04 - 38:06Oh, that doesn't mean that they're not religious.
-
38:06 - 38:07They're very religious.
-
38:07 - 38:10They make their poles and they speak in other languages
-
38:10 - 38:15and they have their Sago festivals.
-
38:15 - 38:17And we do the same in this country.
-
38:17 - 38:21And it's just as backward and just as futile
-
38:21 - 38:29and just as easily leads men and women
to the futility that's at the end of this. -
38:29 - 38:31Absolute empty.
-
38:31 - 38:35It's the life that leads nowhere but to Hell.
-
38:35 - 38:41See, it never really gives any real satisfaction.
-
38:41 - 38:43You've got all these people, they're searching.
-
38:43 - 38:45What are they looking for?
-
38:45 - 38:48That's what goes on in people's minds.
-
38:48 - 38:50How can I make the next dollar?
-
38:50 - 38:52How can I get the prettier girlfriend?
-
38:52 - 38:55How can I get sexual gratification?
-
38:55 - 38:58How can I get what I want?
-
38:58 - 39:04How can I get that little white ball in that hole in fewer strokes?
-
39:04 - 39:07How can I improve my tennis game?
-
39:07 - 39:09How can I improve my lawn?
-
39:09 - 39:14How can I get that new scratch in the door of my car off there?
-
39:14 - 39:16How can I get a nicer car?
-
39:16 - 39:18How can I avoid getting old?
-
39:18 - 39:22How can I avoid getting to this nursing home?
-
39:22 - 39:25How can I get a nicer house?
-
39:25 - 39:27How, how, how?
-
39:27 - 39:30They're thinking, how can I have better relationships?
-
39:30 - 39:32How can I be more liked at work?
-
39:32 - 39:35How can I be more successful at work?
-
39:35 - 39:39And you know where it leads in the end?
-
39:39 - 39:45Weeping, Christless eternity.
-
39:45 - 39:50It's futile, futile, futile.
-
39:50 - 39:52It's a life that leads nowhere. (P)
-
39:52 - 39:58Everybody's looking for truth and for explanations
to why the universe works the way it does. -
39:58 - 40:00They're all searching for the meaning of life.
-
40:00 - 40:04Everybody looking, looking, looking, "What makes life worthwhile?"
-
40:04 - 40:07That's what it is, you know, "Give me my thing.
-
40:07 - 40:08I'm going to be a race car driver.
-
40:08 - 40:13I'm going to be successful at this.
-
40:13 - 40:16I'm a great gardener.
-
40:16 - 40:18I'm a-- fill in the blank.
-
40:18 - 40:19I've got beauty.
-
40:19 - 40:24I go to the gym and I've got big biceps."
-
40:24 - 40:26And where does it go? Look 100 years ahead,
-
40:26 - 40:30their soul is in Hell, their biceps are rotted in the grave.
-
40:30 - 40:35And God just says it's futile. It's futile.
-
40:35 - 40:40People trying to, "Let's put another Hubble
better than the Hubble telescope out there. -
40:40 - 40:41Why? We're going to look out in the deepest realms,
-
40:41 - 40:43and with all our scientists and all our knowledge,
-
40:43 - 40:46and we're going to try and see back to the Big Bang
-
40:46 - 40:48and we're going to make sense of it all."
-
40:48 - 40:52And then they're in Hell, and they die Christless,
-
40:52 - 40:57and it's all Hell and it's all empty. (P)
-
40:57 - 41:00All the theories, all the religions, all the gods,
-
41:00 - 41:02where does it lead to? Futility.
-
41:02 - 41:05I mean, think about it. Think about it.
-
41:05 - 41:06My dad was a farmer.
-
41:06 - 41:08He worked at GM, but he was a farmer.
-
41:08 - 41:09You think about this.
-
41:09 - 41:12You strategize, how to plant the field,
-
41:12 - 41:14when am I going to plant it?
-
41:14 - 41:15How am I going to plant it?
-
41:15 - 41:17I'm going to have a tractor ready.
-
41:17 - 41:20I'm going to go out and till that field.
-
41:20 - 41:23I'm going to haul in the fertilizer
-
41:23 - 41:27and I'm going to make sure that the irrigation is in place.
-
41:27 - 41:29And I'm going to harvest that crop.
-
41:29 - 41:31And I'm going to grind that wheat.
-
41:31 - 41:32I'm going to make the bread.
-
41:32 - 41:34I'm going to set it on the table.
-
41:34 - 41:38I'm going to set the family down and we're going to eat.
-
41:38 - 41:42And then we die and we go to hell.
-
41:42 - 41:51And you say, "Well, you're being awful graphic." (P)
-
41:53 - 41:59You think about Donald Trump. Unless he repents.
-
41:59 - 42:01You can fight to have all your billions and be successful
-
42:01 - 42:03and make it to the president,
-
42:03 - 42:05and you die and you go to Hell.
-
42:06 - 42:09You can be religious. "Oh, I decided I'm going to get religious.
-
42:09 - 42:13I'm going to start going to Grace Community Church."
-
42:13 - 42:18You can get impressed by the preaching,
-
42:18 - 42:20but you don't ever learn Christ.
-
42:20 - 42:22There's no reality.
-
42:22 - 42:27You play the hypocrite and then what happens? You die.
-
42:27 - 42:32And you know what? It's more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. -
42:32 - 42:35The whole thing was futile.
-
42:35 - 42:36You see, so many religious people,
-
42:36 - 42:41they're thinking that they're building up the credit,
-
42:41 - 42:43but in the end it's futile.
-
42:43 - 42:49Have you ever seen Catholics just pray their Hail Marys?
-
42:49 - 42:54It's just futile. It does no good for the soul.
-
42:54 - 42:56It leaves nothing for the soul.
-
42:56 - 43:00It's hollow, it's futile, it's aimless.
-
43:00 - 43:04It just leaves you in the end like a husk.
-
43:04 - 43:07Ruby and I saw it. We went on this cruise.
-
43:07 - 43:09Thank the Lord we had a balcony.
-
43:09 - 43:11We were able to spend lots of time in the room
-
43:11 - 43:13just being together for seven days.
-
43:13 - 43:19But we'd venture out of the room and we look at people.
-
43:19 - 43:23The last day of the cruise, you should have seen the look on the people's faces -
-
43:23 - 43:26empty, hollow.
-
43:26 - 43:28Why? That's their heaven.
-
43:28 - 43:31And in the end, all the anticipation,
-
43:31 - 43:32all the places they were going to visit,
-
43:32 - 43:35all the stuff, it just left them empty.
-
43:35 - 43:36That's what this world does.
-
43:36 - 43:38It just takes from you, takes from you, takes from you. (P)
-
43:38 - 43:40We saw a documentary on Mike Webster.
-
43:40 - 43:42You know who he was?
-
43:42 - 43:4418 years, professional football player.
-
43:44 - 43:47He was a center for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
-
43:47 - 43:51You remember him? He's the guy that got that--
-
43:51 - 43:57whatever the football players, they're finding in their brains now.
-
43:57 - 43:59The world just takes from you. It took from him.
-
43:59 - 44:01All the people in Pittsburgh loved him.
-
44:01 - 44:03And then what happened? He lost his brain.
-
44:03 - 44:06He lost his mind.
-
44:06 - 44:10All that impact with the brain, impact, impact, impact.
-
44:10 - 44:14It tears the cells apart and releases this protein.
-
44:14 - 44:19It basically clogs up their brains, "I can't think straight anymore."
-
44:19 - 44:21Yeah, he had Super Bowl rings,
-
44:21 - 44:25and he died and went to Hell. (P)
-
44:25 - 44:28You think about what all of it's worthwhile.
-
44:28 - 44:29You get the people sitting in--
-
44:29 - 44:32they're going to go to their classes tomorrow
and they're going to study. -
44:32 - 44:34Why? So they can get a good job.
-
44:34 - 44:36Then what? Another job.
-
44:36 - 44:38Typically, people change jobs every three years.
-
44:38 - 44:39Then what? Save up for retirement.
-
44:39 - 44:44Then what? Then one day you're going home on a wet road
-
44:44 - 44:49and you get in a head-on collision, and you die and you go to Hell.
-
44:49 - 44:52Brethren, that is what's happening all around us.
-
44:52 - 44:57Every single Christless life is futility.
-
44:57 - 45:02It ends in Hell. It ends empty.
-
45:02 - 45:07Those lives out there, you know why they look empty at the end of life
-
45:07 - 45:10when they had 18 successful years in the NFL?
-
45:10 - 45:14You know why they look empty after seven days
on a cruise and seeing some beautiful-- -
45:14 - 45:18We went diving.
-
45:18 - 45:23I was trying to talk underwater just praising the Lord.
-
45:23 - 45:29It was so beautiful.
-
45:29 - 45:32And you know what? The day after we got back,
-
45:32 - 45:36I was out at Breckenridge, walking along the side of the river,
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45:36 - 45:39praying and thinking on the Lord.
-
45:39 - 45:47And I'm thinking, "I get to come home to this? This is glorious." (P)
-
45:47 - 45:50I saw one woman at the end of that cruise.
-
45:50 - 45:55The look on her face was like total devastation.
-
45:55 - 45:57Why? Because that's the way this world is.
-
45:57 - 46:03It just leaves you an empty husk. That's all.
-
46:03 - 46:09It promises you everything - and the devil's behind that -
-
46:09 - 46:11and it just leaves you empty.
-
46:11 - 46:15Empty. Futile. Aimless.
-
46:15 - 46:24Nothing for the soul. Just futility.
-
46:28 - 46:31You look around. Look what people are going after.
-
46:31 - 46:35I think of a family member. I told him God hates divorce.
-
46:35 - 46:41He divorced his wife, married another one.
-
46:41 - 46:43What are we going after?
-
46:43 - 46:47Typically, when I pray alongside the river,
I'm walking by the golf course. -
46:47 - 46:49That's why I think about putting little balls in a hole.
-
46:49 - 46:50Can you imagine that?
-
46:50 - 46:52Can you imagine spending your whole life
-
46:52 - 46:57trying to get a ball in a hole in as few strokes as possible?
-
46:58 - 47:06And then God says, "Your soul is required of you, you fool."
-
47:06 - 47:17Or how much worse, yeah, you came to church sometimes.
-
47:17 - 47:18Yeah, you owned a Bible.
-
47:18 - 47:27You read it sometimes, but you never surrendered to Christ.
-
47:27 - 47:31Jesus said, "Unless you forsake all that you have, you can't be My disciple."
-
47:31 - 47:34You were not willing to surrender.
-
47:34 - 47:36You lived religious.
-
47:36 - 47:42You had your fingers crossed, hoping it's all going to be good in the end.
-
47:42 - 47:45And God meets you.
-
47:45 - 47:49You see, this was worse than futility.
-
47:49 - 47:53To whom much is given, much is required. (P)
-
47:55 - 48:00The Gentile way is so futile.
-
48:00 - 48:03You build homes up on stilts to escape the witches,
-
48:03 - 48:05and you die and go to Hell.
-
48:05 - 48:11But you can live right down the street here in San Antonio,
-
48:11 - 48:17and you can have your crucifix hanging on the wall to escape the evil,
-
48:17 - 48:20and you die and you go to Hell.
-
48:20 - 48:22And people are going to go off to work tomorrow,
-
48:22 - 48:26and they're working, guys, women, they're out there.
-
48:26 - 48:30They want more dollars. "Give me more. Give me more."
-
48:30 - 48:33Success. Fame. They're ever reaching.
-
48:33 - 48:36And what are they reaching for?
-
48:36 - 48:38You know what people want?
-
48:38 - 48:40Eternity is written on the heart.
-
48:40 - 48:42People want to be eternally happy.
-
48:42 - 48:47We know what everybody wants. We know.
-
48:47 - 48:49But what? What? What?
-
48:49 - 48:51I had a friend. I remember him in high school.
-
48:51 - 48:53He restored a car. But you know what?
-
48:53 - 48:58When he was 42 years old, he got cancer and he died.
-
48:58 - 49:07Where's that car? Where is it? Who cares? Does he care?
-
49:07 - 49:11You know what? There was a time when it was all important to him.
-
49:11 - 49:17"I got to restore this car. I got to find that fender somewhere."
-
49:17 - 49:22He's on the phone, he's searching. "Who's got it? Ah, I found it."
-
49:22 - 49:24There's victory.
-
49:26 - 49:29As far as I know, he died without Christ. (P)
-
49:29 - 49:32We can be refined, we can be sophisticated, we can be cultured, for what?
-
49:32 - 49:35You tell me. What's in it all?
-
49:35 - 49:37And see, "No longer."
-
49:37 - 49:40We came from that stock.
-
49:40 - 49:41And you know what it was like.
-
49:41 - 49:44We sat at dinner, Ruby and I,
-
49:44 - 49:47we got into a conversation with a couple next to us.
-
49:47 - 49:50We began pressing them with the gospel.
-
49:50 - 49:58And the girl said, "Yeah, it's empty. Empty."
-
49:58 - 50:00They were trying to tell us about Karma,
-
50:00 - 50:04trying to tell us about Buddhism.
-
50:04 - 50:08But the girl admitted, "It's empty."
-
50:08 - 50:12And I just hope she woke up the next morning all the more empty
-
50:12 - 50:18so that she might try to find something else to fill that emptiness.
-
50:18 - 50:20What if you're rich beyond measure?
-
50:20 - 50:24Life without Christ is just empty, empty, empty.
-
50:24 - 50:25And you know what has happened?
-
50:25 - 50:292,000 years have passed since Paul wrote this, and nothing has changed.
-
50:29 - 50:30And where are they?
-
50:30 - 50:33Think about all the people that have lived in these 2,000 years,
-
50:33 - 50:36and all the things they've got, all the conquest,
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50:36 - 50:40all the things that men have been striving for. (P)
-
50:40 - 50:43You can think about the poorest of the poor,
-
50:43 - 50:49like in a place like India, the lowest caste.
-
50:50 - 50:54What do they want? They're out there cracking stones.
-
50:54 - 50:57But they have some hope. Some hope of what?
-
50:57 - 50:59What are they hoping for?
-
50:59 - 51:02Just a little bit more more, put more food on the table.
-
51:02 - 51:05But then they die, whether they're rich, whether they're poor,
-
51:05 - 51:08whether they're cultured, whether they're uncultured.
-
51:08 - 51:10And it's all futile. It's just futile.
-
51:10 - 51:14"Oh, if I can just make enough to get my eldest son to go off to school,
-
51:14 - 51:18if there's just schooling, we might be able to elevate ourselves a little bit."
-
51:18 - 51:20So what?
-
51:20 - 51:27So what if you elevate yourself a little and then you die and no Christ?
-
51:27 - 51:29No Christ.
-
51:29 - 51:33The world just takes out of you and leaves you nothing in the end.
-
51:33 - 51:36That's what happened.
-
51:36 - 51:38Everybody wants to aspire.
-
51:38 - 51:42Beauty. Be the beauty queen. Go off into modeling.
-
51:42 - 51:44Go into TV. Go into the movies.
-
51:44 - 51:47Have you seen these people at the end?
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51:47 - 51:49Just a shell.
-
51:49 - 51:51And that's what the world does to everybody.
-
51:51 - 51:55It holds out all these promises.
-
51:55 - 52:00Who commits suicide mostly, rich or poor?
-
52:00 - 52:01You know the answer.
-
52:01 - 52:05Why? Because it holds out all these promises
-
52:05 - 52:07and it just leaves them empty.
-
52:07 - 52:12It's like, "I thought this was going to satisfy, and now it's just--"
-
52:12 - 52:15You see, the poor still have this expectation.
-
52:15 - 52:18But when you get everything and you're empty,
-
52:18 - 52:24it's like put a bullet in your brain, because it's all futile.
-
52:24 - 52:26It's just futile. (P)
-
52:26 - 52:29You see, people in that state,
-
52:30 - 52:32they've come to the place where they have nothing to hope for.
-
52:32 - 52:37There's no future. It just leaves you exhausted.
-
52:37 - 52:40It leaves you with nothing to lean on.
-
52:40 - 52:44It leaves you with no hope, no expectation,
-
52:44 - 52:50nothing to look forward to, just hopeless.
-
52:50 - 52:52It's futile.
-
52:52 - 52:57And people are running like rats in a race
-
52:57 - 53:03to just get to the fire that doesn't ever get extinguished,
-
53:03 - 53:06where there's gnashing of teeth.
-
53:06 - 53:08They're running there.
-
53:08 - 53:10You know what Paul says?
-
53:10 - 53:20"Christian, stop it. Stop it. Be done with it.
-
53:20 - 53:28You're no longer controlled and influenced
by that outlook and by that mentality. -
53:28 - 53:33You've learned Christ. You've learned Christ.
-
53:33 - 53:39Embrace that Christ that you have learned. Live."
-
53:39 - 53:41He said, "Follow Me."
-
53:41 - 53:45Follow Him. Trust in Him. Follow Him.
-
53:45 - 53:49We're to walk as those who learned Christ.
-
53:49 - 53:51You've been born again, Christian.
-
53:51 - 53:52There's no looking back.
-
53:52 - 53:56Jesus said, you put your hand to the plow, don't look back.
-
53:56 - 53:58No looking back.
-
53:58 - 54:01Stop it. Stop with the futility.
-
54:01 - 54:03Now, life is about Christ.
-
54:03 - 54:05All out for Christ.
-
54:05 - 54:11All, all, all for Christ. That is not futility.
-
54:11 - 54:14That is a life well spent.
-
54:14 - 54:16Brethren, that's where we are. (P)
-
54:16 - 54:19And you know what the antonyms to futility are?
-
54:19 - 54:20What's the opposite?
-
54:20 - 54:22I just looked at them, let me give you: effective, fruitful,
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54:22 - 54:25helpful, productive, profitable, successful, useful,
-
54:25 - 54:29valuable, worthwhile, hopeful.
-
54:29 - 54:34Listen, success for your children is not becoming a doctor.
-
54:34 - 54:37Yes, if it's a Christian doctor.
-
54:37 - 54:40But we've got ideas about success in this world.
-
54:40 - 54:45I'll tell you what success is for your children: if they find Christ.
-
54:45 - 54:48And when they get to the end of this life,
-
54:48 - 54:51they've got something to lean on.
-
54:51 - 54:56They've got a hope because they've got a rock under their feet.
-
54:56 - 54:58There's substance.
-
54:58 - 55:02My life is built on nothing less. (P)
-
55:02 - 55:04Does the world appeal to you?
-
55:04 - 55:07I mean, is that your conception of living?
-
55:07 - 55:09Have you bought into those lies?
-
55:09 - 55:14Brethren, our minds need to be gripped afresh with the futility of it all.
-
55:14 - 55:18If you've had any temptations to look back what this--
-
55:18 - 55:21This world, we walk through Vanity Fair,
-
55:21 - 55:23and it's dangling that stuff out there.
-
55:23 - 55:30But you remember, this message today reminds you it's all futile.
-
55:30 - 55:33It's futile.
-
55:33 - 55:36You know what? We were able to go on a cruise.
-
55:36 - 55:39But yeah, I'm able to dive and praise the Lord.
-
55:39 - 55:44I'm able to stand out of that balcony
and look at a sunset and praise the Lord. -
55:44 - 55:48We were able to spend time in that room and have our Bibles open
-
55:48 - 55:51and be reading Scripture and the precious things of God,
-
55:51 - 55:53which my wife has been bringing to the women.
-
55:53 - 55:55And Ethics, by Grudem, is what I have there.
-
55:55 - 55:59And we were able to go to these different places and praise the Lord.
-
55:59 - 56:04And when we got to the last day, our faces weren't hollow and empty.
-
56:04 - 56:06Why? We go on with the Lord.
-
56:06 - 56:08Like I say, I get to come back,
-
56:08 - 56:13and the very next day I get to walk by the river, praying to the Lord.
-
56:13 - 56:14I mean, that's life in Christ.
-
56:14 - 56:16He's with me always.
-
56:16 - 56:22And even if I was going off that cruise into a prison somewhere,
-
56:22 - 56:23He's with me.
-
56:23 - 56:27And He's not going to leave me, and He's not going to forsake me. (P)
-
56:27 - 56:31Life in a prison with Christ is not futile.
-
56:31 - 56:34It's full.
-
56:34 - 56:36Life with Christ is full.
-
56:36 - 56:42Brethren, thank God we are not gripped by the futility of it all.
-
56:42 - 56:44Empty, aimless, pointless.
-
56:44 - 56:47God has opened our eyes to the reality.
-
56:47 - 56:50Thank God that in His infinite grace,
-
56:50 - 56:54He's caused those shining beams of the Spirit of God to shine in our eyes.
-
56:54 - 56:57And what does it say there in 2 Corinthians 4?
-
56:57 - 57:03I mean, we've beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
-
57:03 - 57:05There's no turning back.
-
57:05 - 57:06We've found the treasure.
-
57:06 - 57:12We were the person just stupidly walking through the field of this futility.
-
57:12 - 57:14That's the way it was with me.
-
57:14 - 57:19I found a treasure buried in the field, and it has changed my life.
-
57:19 - 57:21No longer.
-
57:21 - 57:25I can no longer be the same after I discovered that treasure.
-
57:25 - 57:30No going back. No going back.
-
57:30 - 57:33All for Christ.
-
57:33 - 57:39No longer walk like the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind.
-
57:39 - 57:41Brethren, we are people that walk with a purpose.
-
57:41 - 57:43And we're going somewhere.
-
57:43 - 57:49A few more rolling suns at most,
they're going to land us on Canaan's fair coast. -
57:49 - 57:52And I'll tell you this, your works follow you.
-
57:52 - 57:56So live for Christ. That is not a futile life.
-
57:56 - 57:59Live for Christ. Proclaim Christ.
-
57:59 - 58:00Love as Christ loved.
-
58:00 - 58:05Press on, Brethren, press on.
-
58:05 - 58:08Run from that futility.
-
58:08 - 58:13Learn of Christ. Embrace it all. (P)
-
58:15 - 58:22Thank God, brethren, that we have such a gospel
-
58:22 - 58:27that no longer leaves us like we were.
-
58:28 - 58:30I remember those days.
-
58:30 - 58:34Sunday morning, waking up, hangover.
-
58:34 - 58:37Started the night before with $150 in my pocket.
-
58:37 - 58:42I look and there's $6 and I don't even know where I spent it.
-
58:42 - 58:45I feel empty.
-
58:45 - 58:49Got to go back to work tomorrow.
-
58:49 - 58:54I got a pain in my head from the cocaine I did the night before.
-
58:54 - 58:57It's just empty, empty.
-
58:57 - 59:01And then Christ broke in upon the emptiness.
-
59:01 - 59:07And no longer, no longer am I what I once was.
-
59:07 - 59:09Brethren, that's our testimony as Christians
-
59:09 - 59:12and we can go out of here praising God.
-
59:12 - 59:17He has given us the grace to escape the futility of the masses.
-
59:17 - 59:20What a privilege to be a Christian! (P)
-
59:20 - 59:25Father, thank You. Thank You. Thank You.
-
59:25 - 59:29We thank You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
- Title:
- No Longer Perishing in Futility - Tim Conway
- Description:
-
As Christians, we're called to no longer walk the way we did when we were lost; to no longer walk as this dark world walks. And one of the prominent characteristics of lost humanity is that they have a mind full of vain thoughts. Christian, no longer let your mind be led astray into thoughts of futility like when you were lost.
�MP3: https://illbehonest.com/download/fullsermons/no-longer-perishing-in-futility-tim-conway.mp3
→ View on I'll Be Honest: https://illbehonest.com/no-longer-perishing-in-futility
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 59:30
Michael Okiei edited English subtitles for No Longer Perishing in Futility - Tim Conway | ||
Michael Okiei edited English subtitles for No Longer Perishing in Futility - Tim Conway |