Dakota Community Church
Ephesians 50, Grace at Work 20
April 28, 2013
Purity 3
Ephesians 4:17-19
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
Five characteristics of fallen man that are not to be true of those who are in Christ:
Note: the fingerprints of these characteristics remain on us as sanctification occurs over time and I want you to see how acknowledgement of that truth is helpful while denying it is not.
1. Hardness of heart
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous...
2. Love of darkness
They are darkened in their understanding...
John 3:16-21
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Men love darkness rather than light because their works are evil.
I find in me a deep darkness which at times the Holy Spirit brings into the light to drive me to my need of Christ.
Do not just flippantly dismiss this thought with a, “Not me Pastor Dan, I love the Lord.”
To love the Lord is not the same as to love pizza or your favorite old sweat shirt.
Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength! - Impossible!
Why is it good to think in this way about oneself rather than going the positive thinking, high self esteem route?
A. We are called to humility, to serve one another, to prefer one another above ourselves; constantly thinking and confessing our greatness and our worth are not conducive to this call.
“Why am I being treated this way? Nobody appreciates my gifts, I’m not going to take it anymore because by golly - I’m a Kings Kid!”
B. Besides that - this way of thinking is true - it actually lines up with reality and keeps us aware of our dependence upon Christ.
Psalm 32:1-2
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Quote:
We dare not ask for justice - we would be crushed. But how can we hide from the God who sees everything? This is self-delusion. There is only one way forward that does not destroy us; we must be forgiven. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven. And what is bound up with such forgiveness? For a start, such a person will not pretend there are no sins to forgive: blessed is the man in whose spirit is no deceit.
D.A. Carson For the Love of God Volume One (April 21)
“Why should I clean the church toilets? (I’m the pastor)”
Why not me?
Luke 17:7-10
“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
If you find this leaving a bitter taste in your mouth, I am with you there; I too have itching ears that long to be scratched with lies about my own greatness.
Did I mention that I find in me a deep darkness?
3. Blind ignorance
...alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
The result of this darkness is blind ignorance.
I mentioned last week that Christians need the law to show us what a good work is. In his fallen state man is capable of all manner of horrific evil done in the name of pleasing God.
This teaching springs from a correct understanding of the gospel.
Once we realize that the law is fulfilled in Christ for us the natural question is, “Does the law still have a purpose for those of us who are in Christ?” ANSWER - An Emphatic YES!
Three uses of the law
1. The law reveals the perfect righteousness of God and our own coming short of it.
2. Civil Use: The law restrains evil through punishment.
3. Moral Use: The moral standards of the law provide guidance for believers as they seek to live in humble gratitude for the grace God has shown us.
Calvin considered the moral guidance of the law its principal use in the sense that the other uses occur only because of sin's presence in the world; whereas its moral use derives directly from God's character.
An example of the three uses of the law: "You shall not steal".
The first use of this commandment reveals that stealing is a sin condemned by God and that we are inclined to steal. If we steal we need pardon. Since forgiveness is only in Christ, the law leads us to Christ in repentance and faith.
In the civil use of the law, society is directed concerning the responsibility of the state to protect property, etc. Laws and their respective punishments consistent with this commandment should exist to inhibit theft.
In the moral use of the law, we see that this law remains for the Christian as a necessary guide for his path of holiness. By this law we know what God expects and the high goal of holiness to which we should aim. We are reminded to avoid stealing and to cultivate honest relations with one another.
Richard Pratt, General Editor. Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, Zondervan, 2003.
The example may seem like an obvious one but how easy is it to convince yourself that it isn’t stealing if you run up credit card debt and then declare bankruptcy - after all those criminals at Visa deserve it right? How many of us have pirated software, or music we did not pay for on our laptops and phones right this minute?
There is a blind ignorance that calls evil good in each of us and this works against us in our desire to obey God and live lives of gratitude that reflect His holiness for what He has done for us in Christ.
4. Greedy for wickedness
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
The hardness of heart, the preference for darkness over light, and the blind ignorance combine to lead fallen man to give himself over to sensuality - to actually become greedy for impurity.
When I am ignorant of the truth I will make something other than God my passion. I need something for my life to be built around.
It may be sex or drugs or food, it may be wealth or fame or power or perhaps the pride of intellectual achievement and cultural pursuit; but something will take the place of preeminence in my life and become my functional God.
I will be passionate about that idol.
The scriptures are loaded with historical examples of our ability to pursue wickedness. The days of Noah, the trials of Lot in Sodom, the wicked cities of Nineveh, Ephesus, and Corinth to name a few. Paul talks of the godless ways handed down to us by our forefathers and of our desire to exchange the glory of God for shadows and images instead. I think the best example though is the one found in Ezekiel 16. If you cannot see yourself in this revelation of the heart of God toward mankind - I wonder if you really understand the gospel.
Ezekiel 16:1-34
Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.
6 “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. 17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.
23 “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), 24 you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29 You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.
30 “How sick is your heart, declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.
Finally the result of all of these things is that we are born completely:
5. Alienated from the life of God
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them...
Hardness and darkness and ignorance and greed for wickedness cut me off from the one thing that could save me—the "life of God," and leave me dead.
Is there any hope?
Can I ever escape from this life lost in futility?
The Solution
Paul demonstrates the futility of the situation with details of the pagan life - he offers as the solution the reality of the Christian life.
Ephesians 4:20-24
But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
There is no man or woman or secret or keys or books or tapes or seminar that can save me from the disease and futility of my own deep depravity, but - God can.
What is the escape from futility this morning?
It is hearing the voice of Jesus and being taught by him.
We are no longer alienated from the life of God. Jesus has spoken in the truth of his Word.
He has diagnosed our disease, and he gives himself as the cure.
"The truth is in Jesus." And Jesus said, "The truth will make you free."
Free from hardness, darkness, ignorance, wickedness, and alienation from the life in God.
The truth shall set you free from futility. And the truth is in Jesus.
The old man is put off and the new man is put on by hearing, and learning the truth in Christ.
Where is that true righteousness and holiness found?
How do you put that on?
Not by denying reality or turning faith into a magic trick, rather by keeping our eyes fixed on Him.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
Follow Dan on twitter: @DanCormie
