Renewed Man

Opening Illustration: Story of Pastor David Wilkerson reached out to the gangs of New York in the hood, even risking his own life for bringing gang leaders like Nicky Cruz to Jesus Christ. He never lost heart.

Introduction: This morning as we delve into Ephesians 4 by flagging the all-important point where the rubber meets the road. We’ll see the necessity for this inside out change. We’ve examined what we are being changed into. Today, we want to talk about how to plug into that power, how to put everything we’ve seen so far into motion so that we experience more victories than defeats, becoming more like our Savior than the world. How can we really be renewed?

How can you be RENEWED?

1. BE DIFFERENT (vs. 17-19)

We who have been saved, are no longer like we were. We are “new creatures” in Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17. As a result of the “new birth,” we are not what we used to be. And we can no longer live like we used to live. We have been changed. Thus, we are different from the world around us. Paul’s challenge here is to mark the differences between the children of God and the children of the devil. We are to mark those distinctions between the saved and the lost, and we are to be different. Here, Paul note three specific problems that plague the lost.

(a) v. 17c There Is A Problem With Their Heads - Paul says the lost “walk in the vanity of their minds.” The word “vanity” means “futility, emptiness, that which is wasted on nothing.” The lost live empty lives because their minds are corrupted by the inborn sin that dwells within them. Thus, every thought is corrupted by evil.

The lost mind invents ways to serve the flesh, or the selfish desires of the mind. The lost mind invents false gods, false religions, and foolish philosophies that are designed to showcase man’s brilliance. Yet, the inventions of the lost mind are empty of anything helpful, and they ultimately damning to the soul of man. “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death,” Proverbs 16:25.

In another passage, Romans 1:28, Paul tells us that the lost possess a “reprobate mind.” This refers to a “depraved mind.” This word us was used to describe metals that were tested and rejected by refiners because they were too impure. The word came to mean “useless and worthless.”

So, the unbeliever has a problem in his mind. His mind is “depraved” and it is capable of producing nothing but thoughts that are “useless and worthless.” Because we are saved, we are to be different!

(b) v. 18 There Is A Problem With Their Hearts - Paul says “their understanding is darkened,” and they are “alienated from the life of God,” “through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” The word “blindness” refers to “stubbornness.” It speaks of a heart confronted with truth, but which refuses to embrace that truth. It is what Paul refers to in Romans 1:18, when he mentions those “who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” The word “hold” in that verse means to “oppress.” It speaks of those hear the truth, and know the truth, but who refuse to acknowledge and embrace the truth.

Because of the stubbornness of their hearts, they are separated from the life that could be their’ s in Jesus Christ, and they remain trapped in the darkness and depravity of their condition. Whether we like it or not, the lost are “dead in trespasses and sins,” Ephesians 2:1. The human race did not merely get sick when Adam sinned, it died, Romans 5:12. In that dead a depraved state, the lost live for nothing but to gratify the lusts of the flesh and the mind, Ephesians 2:2-3.

In this state, their “understanding is darkened.” The phrase is a “perfect participle.” This means that the lost live in “a continuing state of spiritual darkness and ignorance” toward the things of God. Thus, since they are dead, they are unresponsive to the things of God. They are like a cold, immobile corpse, which can neither see, hear, feel, or think. They are dead because they are “alienated from the life of God.” They are unmoved by the truth. They are unfazed by matters of right and wrong. They love the dark, and they pursue the works of darkness.

Because we are saved, we are to be different! Because we are saved, the very life of God defines us and empowers us. We are not dead to truth, but we love the truth, and long to live it out daily. We are not in darkness as is the world, but we “walk in the light, as He is in the light,” 1 John 1:7. We are not like them, so we must not be like them!