to Ephesians Paul's letter to the Ephesians page 869 if you're using the pew Bible Ephesians chapter 4 we turn to verse 17 so I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more." And we looked at that passage last time. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with his own hands that he may have something to share with those in need. And that's where we're going to stop tonight as we look at this passage of scripture. How many of you children know what TKs are? How many of you know what DKs are? How many of you know what JKs are? Well, you're going to have to listen tonight because you're going to find out about those. How many of you know what PKs are? Nobody, surely somebody knows what a PK is. A PK is a preacher's kid. And how many of you would like to be PKs? How many of you would like to be preacher's kids? Well, I'm sure that everybody would. But you know what PKs hate most of all? PKs hate what people expect of them. People hate it that they think that PKs have all the answers from the Bible in school. and that they ought to be models of obedience. Now, I don't know if people expect that of PKs, but that's what PKs think they expect of them. And so one of the first things that a PK has to do when he comes into a new community is to prove that they are just as human. as all the rest of the kids, just as human, which means that they are just as dumb about the Bible, and just as sinful as all the rest of the kids in school. And sometimes they go through some great effort to prove that. Now as long as my children are not here tonight, let me just say this, that you have a right to expect that of them. You have a right to expect that they would set an example. After all, they come from a home in which if they have any spiritual questions, certainly their father ought to be able to at least give them some good advice. And they live in a home in which the things of God and the things of God's kingdom and the things of God's church are just part and parcel of that life. They live and they breathe the things of God's kingdom. And therefore, they ought to reflect that environment. Now don't tell them that I told you that. But isn't that true? But then isn't that true of your children too? Because if we are seated with Christ, as we've talked about, If we are adopted as God's children, if we are blessed with every spiritual blessing, if we are called to be holy, if we have the down payment of the Holy Spirit, then certainly those things ought to be part and parcel of our lives if your reward is in heaven, which it is, just like mine. If your reward is in heaven and if you can say to the winner of the lottery, look, if you are without Christ, you don't have anything compared to what I have, then isn't that what your talk ought to revolve around too? And then shouldn't your children reflect that same kind of environment and that same kind of example and that same kind of obedience and the same kind of living that a P.K.' 's kid would have. And then to put it one step further, isn't that also what your life as adults ought to reflect? Because you are God's children. And therefore ought not your life to reflect that same kind of example setting that we would expect of a pastor or of a pastor's children. And that's what Paul is talking about here. That's where he begins in chapter four. He talks about walking or living a life worthy of our calling. Chapter four, verse one. I urge you to live a life worthy of your calling, to walk worthily of your calling. In verse 17, he says, I insist on it. I insist that you must no longer walk as the other Gentiles do. In verse 22, he says, and he's talking to all of us as adult Christians, he says, put off the old self. And in verse 24, he says, put on the new self. And the last time we talked about that, we said, that wasn't just putting on a tie, but that was a whole change from underwear to earrings, everything. In short, God is calling his people to live holy lives. That's the answer to the question, to the theme of this evening's service. The question that I list in the bulletin of the theme is, what does God expect of us? And in brief, in general, God expects holiness of his people. And I say that for two reasons. First of all, I say that because that's what Jesus taught us. And secondly, I say that because that's made possible by the Holy Spirit. But let's look at those two things for a few moments. It's not very popular to suggest today that we ought to live righteous and holy lives. In fact, we like to say to people, look, you know, you don't have to think that just because you're a Christian, you have to be radical. You can keep living just the way you're doing. A Christian can enjoy the very same things that you're enjoying. You don't have to be a nut to be a Christian. of attitude is that? What kind of nonsense is that? I was perusing in Matthew chapters 5 through 7 and that isn't what Jesus teaches us. In these chapters he says, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. He says, you have heard of old time. You have heard it was said to the people long ago, do not murder. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother is in danger of the judgment. You have heard it was said, do not commit adultery. But I say unto you that anyone who looks on a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. You have heard that it was said long ago, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemy. and pray for them. Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers. Now what were you saying about keeping up that old lifestyle and adding a little bit of Jesus to it? What were you saying about that? Jesus calls for holiness and he calls for righteousness. That's what the Apostle Paul is getting at here in verse 21 when he says, you however You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard him and were taught him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You see, that's how Jesus lived, and that's what Jesus taught, and that's what Jesus expects, righteousness and holiness from his people. And it is not just that God commands that. It's not just that God sets that as a goal that somehow we must strive to reach, but God enables us to live that righteous and holy life because he has given us his spirit. He endows us with a spirit. Verse 24, when he says, put on the new self, created to be like God in righteousness and holiness. Isn't that something? Isn't that something? To be created like God in righteousness and holiness? to be changed from the image of Adam, with all of his corruption and depravity, and to be changed into the image of God? That, children, is a change that's greater than a change of a caterpillar to a butterfly. That's a wonderful change, isn't it? You think about that creepy crawly caterpillar and all of a sudden he goes into a cocoon and later on he becomes a beautiful butterfly. But when someone is converted, born again, he is created to be like God. Now that's scary, isn't it? It's scary because We don't see that kind of holiness and righteousness in our life. It's scary because it almost seems like the perfectionists are right. And in seminary, I was told they weren't right. That just because we are born again doesn't mean that we never sin, but it talks here about being created like God. And I would like to say to you tonight that we mustn't take this too seriously, we mustn't take it too literally, that after all, to err is human, but to forgive is divine. I would love to say that to you tonight. And I would love to convince myself of that. But that isn't what it says here, is it? Again and again, the Bible tells us that when we believe and when we receive the Holy Spirit, that something radical happens. Once you are darkness, but now you are light. If any man is in Jesus Christ, he is a new creature. That's what the Bible says. We have the very life of God, that is what it is talking about here, being recreated in in the image of God. Now that thought needs reinforcement, doesn't it? We've got to set that up as the goal, as the standard. Our problem is, of course, is that we listen to people. More than we listen to God, we listen to people who like to rub off the sharp edges of the word to make us feel comfortable and then we do what they did in the Old Testament, at least what some people did in the Old Testament, we buy us a prophet so that that prophet can tell us what we want to hear. And because he's on our payroll, we can expect him to tell things that we like to hear. And when he has a sermon that makes us feel all nice and cozy warm and snuggling up to God, we put our arm around his shoulders, we say, we like those positive messages. Keep it up. And the church grows. We like that kind of message because you see, then we can enjoy sin today and we can have heaven tomorrow. But that isn't what God says. God says be holy because I am holy. God says if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. God says, put on the new self, which is created to be like God in righteousness and holiness. That's what God expects of his children. Not just of PKs, but of all his children. He expects that of deacon's children, DK's, he expects that of teacher's children, TK's, but he expects that of all JK's, Jesus' kids. If you are a child of the Lord, God expects a holy walk. Now it's obvious that that that holiness, that that kind of a godly, righteous, and holy war is not something that comes automatically. If it came automatically, then we wouldn't have to have all of these epistles calling us and warning us and reminding us of the things that we are to do. These are things that we have to learn. I believe that's what Paul has in mind when he talks in that 23rd verse to be made new in the attitude of our mind. We have to get these things straight. We have to get rid of our old thinking and we have to begin to think about what God is doing for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are things that we've got to understand. These are things that we've got to pray over. These are things we've got to encourage one another with. These are battles that we fight day by day and inch by inch we push the devil out of our life until finally he doesn't own a square inch anymore. in God's territory and we are God's territory and that's why that's why Paul encourages us to say put on put on the new man put off that old man renew your mind think about these things that God is doing in Jesus Christ Furthermore, you know it's not natural because Paul specifies what that godly walk is. He doesn't just say to you, well, walk in the spirit, brother, but he tells you exactly what that spirit walk is. Because we are so dim-witted spiritually that if he said walk in the spirit, we wouldn't know what he meant. Well, we would know what he meant, but we wouldn't know the content of that walk. But now he tells us precisely what that walk is. And he begins with truthfulness. I had someone ask me a question the other day about not, you know, having these different feelings about what God intended for that person to do in his life. And he was getting different messages. And I said to him, well, where in God's Word is the Spirit contradicting you? or contradicting himself. And he said, well, it's not so much that I have a text, but I just have a feeling this way and then I have a feeling that way. But you see, get to know what God says. And then you don't have contradicting messages. The spirit doesn't speak with a forked tongue. He tells it straight. And so, What God expects is not just in general holiness and righteousness, but now we want to talk about the particulars. And you notice on your bulletin outline, I have, in particular, God expects three things. That's just from these passages that I read, obviously. He expects truthfulness, and he expects righteous anger only, and he expects hard work and generosity. And we're only going to talk about the first one tonight, about truthfulness. And maybe the next time we deal with this, I'll speak on the others, and maybe not. So maybe you want to think about those other things. But in particular, God is saying, I call you as my children to live in my likeness and to be truth tellers. Now that's mind boggling in a way. That really surprises me. When you begin to read this and Paul talks about being created in the likeness of God and to put on the new man, and the first thing he talks about is truthfulness. And when we talk about sin, we talk about drinking or smoking or sex. And if you've got to lead a young people's group, the first thing you talk about is drugs. And the next thing is sex. Paul talks about truthfulness as a description of the holiness and the righteousness that we have in Jesus Christ. Therefore, each one of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Imagine that, that which we don't think twice about, that which is so ingrained in us All by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit lists first. Why? Lying is something we do as children. Mother comes to us and says, did you eat that cookie? And you can be two years old and you say, no. We lie about eating cookies. We lie about what time we went to bed. When we become teenagers, we lie about where we went and who we went with. And when we become adults, we lie about why we didn't make the phone call or why we can't take the job. We lie about the money we spend and we lie about the money we make. And we lie about how busy we are. And what is so tragic that all of this lying is part and parcel of the devil's kingdom. What is so tragic is that which we don't think much about is the very foundation of evil. The Lord Jesus says about the devil, he is the father of lies. He is the liar from the beginning. And you think about that, and that's how the devil came into this world, by deceiving Adam and Eve. And God describes him as the father of lies and as the great deceiver. And finally, when the Antichrist comes, the very incarnation of the devil, the Antichrist comes with lying wonders. It's all part of the devil's kingdom. And it is what is so characteristic of the devil's kingdom is so uncharacteristic of God. Because in God, there is no shadow of turning. There is no lying. There is no changing. Jesus is called the way and the truth. God's word is truth. It is absolutely trustworthy. We think so little of that. And therefore, you see, when God's people begin to speak lies, they begin to attack the very heart, the very foundation of God and God's kingdom. And the very lies that we tell Put a question mark on our testimony. Put a question mark on everything that we believe. The lies that we tell unite us with the devil and estrange us from God and it makes the world think that we are part of them and that everything that we believe is just hypocrisy. You think about what happens with Jimmy Baker. It's not just that his character is smeared, but all of his testimony from all of his radio ministry is put, is being challenged because of the life of the lie that he lived. So everything else that he has done, regarding the Lord Jesus Christ is challenged by the lie. And that happens a thousand times a day by Christians in the home and in the workplace. And you think what happens in the house, our children see us, they see us lying about little things and they begin to wonder whether we are really serious about the big things. My friends, did the Apostle Paul put off the old man and put on the new, which is being created in the image of God? Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully with his neighbor, for we are all members of one body." And you see, once again, the Apostle still is keeping in that same motif of unity. He's been talking about unity through this whole chapter of being one in faith, and one in hope, and one in love, and one with God the Father who is all and in all. And now he says that truthfulness is essential to that unity. You think, yes it is. It is. The The lie undermines fellowship and undermines unity. If you don't think that's true, then you just think about your girlfriend or your boyfriend and you catch them in a lie. Or you think about your husband or your wife and you think about their lie to you. And you see how unity and intimacy and fellowship all of a sudden is destroyed by that lie because you can't trust anymore. And if you can't trust, you can't have fellowship. Oh, you can go to church with people who lie, but you cannot have fellowship. You cannot have intimacy. You cannot have unity. Now, truth-telling doesn't mean that we have to tell everything we know of people. As a matter of fact, if something is told to us in confidence and we blab it to our neighbor, we are guilty of lying because we have betrayed an implied trust and confidentiality with our friend. When our friend told us that, in effect, we were saying, look, I am your friend. Your secret is safe with me. And then we tell someone about it and we destroy fellowship and we destroy unity. Tonight is a time for us to reflect on the fact that God expects holiness and righteousness. Tonight is a time to reflect on the fact that something that we take very lightly, the lie, white lies and black lies, is something that God takes very seriously. and is something that destroys the fellowship of God's people and the fellowship of our families and the authenticity of our witness. It is something that we must each day confess to God and seek forgiveness from the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight is a night in which we must with new resolve listen to what God says to the churches. And we must commit ourselves more fully. We must commit ourselves completely to being truth tellers in the home, in school, and in the workplace. To the glory, to the glory of the God who is recreating us in His image. Amen.