The Blessing of the
Renewed Mind
Book of Ephesians
4:14-24
Last week we learned
that God's plan is that all the Church join in "Unity"
according to the Word of God and the "Gospel" of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is not only God’s plan but God's commandment.
So, let's all
denominations lay aside the petty differences that have nothing to do
with salvation and cling to a literal translation of the Word of God
and go to war against evil in these last days!
If we have been
"Born Again" into the family of God, we all have this in
common.
Let's lay
foolishness aside and become mature Christians.
After all we all a
renewed mind that we are not using!
*****Eph 4:14 That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15 But
speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which
is the head, even Christ:
When we are babes in
Christ, we can be easily swayed by those who teach a false doctrine,
but we must not remain babes. We must begin a growth into mature
Christians!
The Word of God must
be our compass in this life, for only the Word of God will lead us in
the direction God has chosen for us!
There so many places
of so-called worship today who deliberately will lead those astray
who sit before them, by compromising the Word of God.
The means to defend
ourselves from this is to study the Scriptures ourselves and we can
defend ourselves against false doctrine.
1) It's sad but
there is still such a thing as "sleight of men". These are
deceivers, cheaters in the faith, men and women who will cheat us out
of the truth of God.
2) There are still
those who use cunning craftiness. These are also deceivers who act
cleverly and have great sounding new ideas that are treated as the
truth, but these things are only deceptions of the truth of God.
Mat 7:15 Beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves.
We must obtain
ourselves a sound doctrinal knowledge of the truth as it is in the
Lord Jesus Christ!
We must be
established in the truth!
We must see that our
hearts are conformed to the truth!
We must walk in the
truth!
It is Jesus Christ
that is the head of the Church, which means that He is the only Head
of true "believers"!
As we observe this
world we see great evidence of those who deny the Lord Jesus and His
truth!
2Pe 2:1 But there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction.
If you have kicked
Jesus Christ out the doors of the church by ignoring what He has
said, then you are no longer a church and cannot be part of the "Body
of Christ"!
We must follow the
Lord by "faith" in His promises, not the promises of some
deceiver that teaches a false doctrine!
There are even those
who say that the Messiah has not yet come. Yes, such fools still
exist!
2Jn 1:7 For many
deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
There is more
evidence of the first coming of the Messiah than you own birth!
We can see that we
have been warned and we see these things today just as the Scriptures
say.
We must grow up in
the Lord.
Our Pastors must
proclaim the truth.
Our Teachers must
proclaim the truth.
We as believers must
proclaim the truth and reject all those who compromise the Word of
God!
Joh 15:3 Now ye are
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
We can only be
sanctified by the truth!
Joh 17:17 Sanctify
them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Our souls cannot be
purified without the truth.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye
have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a
pure heart fervently:
The church cannot be
in unity, until we know and claim the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is our God!
If Jesus Christ is
not your God, then you serve a false god!
We already know that
God deals with us individually so as individuals it is our job to
press for unity in the church.
There is only one
Church!
There is only one
Word of God!
There can only be
one "Faith"!
We must speak the
truth of God with love because it is the love of God that came to us
in the form of Jesus Christ, the true Messiah.
And make a note, The
Lord Jesus Christ is coming back, and it may not be very long.
We should never
forget this truth!
Joh 3:16 For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that (insert
your own name) whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the
world through him might be saved.
The promise of His
return:
Joh 14:3 And if I
go and prepare a place for you (insert your own name), I will come
again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be
also.
Joh 14:4 And
whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Jesus Christ is the
Head of the Church and this can never be changed!
*****Eph 4:16 From
whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying
of itself in love.
We must understand
the Church as a united body and if your place of worship is not, then
this must be the first goal of your place of worship.
An actual body of
Christ.
The church is not to
be some material or tangible body, but the actual Body of Christ,
with Jesus Christ the Head!
The Holy Ghost,
Christ filled Church is a Spiritual power upon this earth that will
soon return to Heaven, it's home.
The Church is alive
with the Head, Jesus Christ supplying, the nourishment to each and
every part of its body.
Col_2:19 And not
holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the
increase of God.
The Church is best
described as the "Body of Christ"!
1Co_12:27 Now ye
are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
As we learned from
other lessons, each member of the Body of Christ is to be
specifically placed by the Lord.
Each member must
have the proper work assigned to him or her.
Each member is to
perform that work according to the measure of faith that God has
supplied to them.
Each member is to be
coupled together so that everyone plays their own part without
causing harm to the whole unit.
Each member is to be
governed by one Will and one Intelligence which is from Heaven and is
the Lord!
Each member is
indebted to the Head and the Head lives for the body!
The Church is to
work in harmony as the voice of God by using the Words that He has
already given to us.
God's Word will
never change, and neither should anyone try to change it!
Isa_55:11 So shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
The best example of
the church is the human body that cannot function properly without
each part doing what is was intended to do.
1Th 2:12 That ye
would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and
glory.
1Th 2:13 For this
cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received
the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word
of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe.
If we know all these
things, then we also know that we are not to walk like we are part of
this world!
This is where we
fail the most today!
*****Eph 4:17 This
I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not
as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart:
When we were lost we
walked in this world searching for anything and everything that would
satisfy our desires. Some may disagree, but this is the truth.
You can ask those
you meet today who do not know the Lord, especially our young people
and you will find that the majority will say this today.
They are all
searching for things that satisfies their own desires. Much of this
is immoral. Much of this is depraved. All of it is foolish!
When we walk like
those out in the world we are walking against the Word of God!
We will lose contact
with our Father in Heaven if we walk like the world walks!
2Co 6:17 Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty.
A new creature of
God the Father, will not be out in the world!
When we push God out
of our minds, our mind become empty and void of the truth and be
easily filled again with the evils of this world.
These will seek
worldly pleasures, worldly possessions, worldly religion, and worldly
gods.
Psa 10:4 The
wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after
God: God is not in all his thoughts.
As Christians we
must never be afraid of being singular in this world!
We must understand
that where there is ignorance of the truth, there will be no life,
their understanding will be darkened.
To understand this
is to begin to grasp hold of the truth.
A darkened mind is
blind and unable to see God!
The darkened mind
will give itself over to the world!
As Christians we are
only better than those who are lost by the "Grace" of God.
As Christians we
must still live our lives above those out in the world.
This is not thinking
we are better than but just avoiding those pitfalls of sin that we
have left behind for the Lord.
The unbeliever is
spiritual dead and then doomed to eternal death, cut off eternally
from God.
The unbeliever will
always have hostile feelings toward the believer, no matter who they
are!
It is not God that
causes this, it is their own ignorance of the truth!
Remember what Jesus
said just before He gave up His life:
Luk_23:34 Then said
Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they
parted his raiment, and cast lots.
They have chosen to
be ignorant of the things of God.
They have chosen to
harden their heart against the truth.
They will be
responsible for their own eternal death!
God has provided,
through His Son and the power of the Holy Spirit, the only means of
eternal life!
Those that depart
from the truth of God will only grow worse.
Mat 12:43 When the
unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places,
seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he
saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when
he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then
goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked
than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state
of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto
this wicked generation.
*****Eph 4:19 Who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to
work all uncleanness with greediness.
Without God the more
callous they will become!
They will no longer
live by God's standards of morality.
Lasciviousness is
shameless conduct of any kind, wantonness, in most cases being
completely vulgar, as far from "Grace" as possible.
In another place
Paul wrote:
Rom 13:13 Let us
walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put
ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to
fulfil the lusts thereof.
They no longer feel
the pain of their sin and consider it just another acceptable way of
life. What a travesty.
We see this all over
America today.
We know that sin is
contagious, but it also multiplies. The more we walk in sin, even
more will we walk in sin!
Lasciviousness also
brings "greed".
A craving, a
desiring to have more and more, hoarding all they can get and still
craving more.
I believe this is
what rules our world today.
But they are in fact
in bondage to the things of this world, this has become their god!
2Pe 2:12 But these,
as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil
of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in
their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13 And shall
receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure
to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting
themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14 Having
eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling
unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices;
cursed children:
Enough of the
unbeliever, we know a lot about them because we were once a part of
them.
*****Eph 4:20 But
ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21 If so be
that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, "as the
truth is in Jesus":
What do we do as
Christians after we have accepted Christ?
1) We repent; we
renounce our previous lifestyle. This not partial but complete. We
cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in Christ.
This is to be a
complete moral revolution that can only happen by the Holy Spirit and
our "Faith".
To be honest, we
need to daily examine ourselves to see if we are complying with the
Word of God and the Commandments of Jesus Christ.
From time to time,
we need to look in the mirror and see what we look like.
2) Self-discipline.
To be a Christian is not always easy, it takes a personal effort but
more important we must rely on the "Grace" of God.
Eph 2:8 For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of
works, lest any man should boast.
We must realize that
we are renewed every day by the Holy Spirit and it is by the Holy
Spirit that our mind is restored, and our vision cleared to see our
Savior for who He is! The Greatest gift God could send to us!
3) We must wear the
robe of righteousness of our Lord! It is very important that we know
all we can about Jesus Christ, but it is even more important that we
learn all we can from Him!
We must strive for
that personal relationship with our Savior. He wants this
relationship much more than we do so, our part is very easy.
The Lord Jesus is
truly waiting with open arms to receive us!
We are to literally
walk in Christ and not as men walk!
We must have a
living spiritual union with the Lord Jesus Christ!
1Co 2:14 But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they
are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he
that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no
man.
1Co 2:16 For who
hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we
have the mind of Christ.
We are to put off
the old man and put on the new man!
*****Eph 4:22 That
ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that
ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
That old man is that
person we were before we accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our
Savior.
In this sense, our
old man has already been put to death and we are made alive by Christ
Jesus.
Rom 6:6 Knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
You see to put on
Christ means that our Father in Heaven counts us buried with Jesus
Christ and united with Him in the likeness of His death.
This is the true
meaning behind baptism!
The deeds of the old
man are put off.
Col 3:9 Lie not one
to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
The power that evil
had over our body of flesh is gone and we are no longer in bondage.
And notice it is our
job to put off the old man, we are to exercise our own will because
we have realized the truth.
God says the old man
is dead, so we must also count our old man as being dead.
Rom_8:13 For if ye
live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
It is now our job to
reject temptation just as the Lord did when He walked upon this earth
to become the perfect new man!
Even our mind will
be made new and we will no longer have a reprobate mind.
We live in a world
full of reprobate minds.
We are governed by
many who have reprobate minds.
Rom 1:28 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;
It is only by the
presence of Jesus Christ that our mind can be renewed. There is no
other way!
When we receive the
Lord Jesus Christ into our life, we receive His mind also. We truly
have the power to reject temptation!
We truly have the
power to focus on God and His Word.
We truly have the
power to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us to make us a new
creation of God!
2Co 10:3 For though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ;
The new man has been
regenerated, renewed, "Born Again" when we become
Spiritually minded!
We will be in
fellowship with God through His Son.
We will be obedient
to God's will because we will realize the safest place for us to be
is in the will of God.
We will be devoted
to God's service and work within the calling we will receive from
God!
None of these things
can happen without the power of God in our lives by the Lord Jesus
Christ.
As the children of
God, we can stand before God in the righteousness and the holiness of
His Dear Son, Jesus Christ.
To put things as
plain as we can, we can say we are now alive to God when we were once
dead to God!
Amen
