Please remain standing and turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. And we will be reading verses 17 through 21. Ephesians 4 beginning in verse 17. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness and greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus." Father, we do thank you again for this opportunity to look into your word. to understand more and more of how these wonderful truths ought to affect us in a very practical sense, Lord, in the imperatives of this glorious epistle. And we pray, Father, that you would motivate our hearts this morning, that we would leave here, Lord, not unaffected, but more zealous to walk in a way that brings you glory. Help us to see the seriousness of the situation. Fill us with your spirit. Fill us with the love of Christ. And bless us now, Lord, as we study your word. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Having laid out the will of God for the church, having described how Christ means to accomplish growth in His church through the exercising of spiritual gifts on the part of every individual member of the body, and the cultivating of a life of truth speaking unto the growth of the whole body, The Apostle then moves on to address the essential matter of personal, individual holiness. You will notice that he begins verse 17 with these words, This I say therefore, and once again, The clear implication here is that the Apostle is about to say something that ought to logically spring out of all that he has just said in the previous section. In other words, he is saying, in light of the fact that Christ has gifted and equipped us in such a way that we would contribute to the overall growth of the whole body toward Christlikeness, In light of the fact that we are all called to speak the truth to one another in love, so that we might move in the direction of attaining to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, in light of this great and glorious purpose and goal of our Head and Savior, we ought to walk in a particular way. We ought to exercise care in how we live the Christian life as individuals, seeking to ensure that we are living in a way that complements this overall united mission of growth that Christ has ordained for the church. There is a way in which we ought not to walk, and there is a way in which we ought to walk. And so the Apostle begins this section by giving us a general description of the way in which we ought not to walk before moving into some specific ways in which we ought to and ought not to walk, before we get specific with some of the put-offs and put-ons that follow in verses 22 and following. Well, this morning then, brethren, we will consider the general description of the way in which we ought not to walk, this general description that He gives us, in light of all that we have already gone over in chapter 4. And to this end, we'll consider the following three things. First, we will consider the way in which we ought not to walk. Secondly, we will consider the reason why the unconverted continue to walk in that way. And then lastly, thirdly, we will consider the reason why Christians should no longer walk in that way. The reason. First then, the way in which we ought not to walk. If you look with me at verses 17 and the first part of verse 18, the Apostle says this, This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. Here the apostle begins by prefacing his charge, brethren, you'll notice with these words. He says, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord. You always want to look at those little phrases that he throws in because there's a purpose for that. You see, once again, we see the Apostle is using written language. Remember, he's not speaking to them directly face to face. He cannot convey tone to them by way of his voice. And so he's using written language as a means of conveying a severity of tone. Lest his Gentile readers would breeze past his words of caution here with little or no regard. He wants his audience to stop here and to recognize that what he is saying is absolutely essential and must be believed and embraced by his readers with the whole heart. It were as if he were saying, know before God. that what I am going to say and to call you toward here must command your full attention because you will have to give an account to God one day for your actions concerning these matters." That's what he's saying when he says, I testify to you in the Lord. You see, brethren, the Apostle recognizes that these particular instructions require sober listening and the type of obedience that is going to take much hard work. because inward and outward opposition will continually blow upon his readers, seeking to draw them back into the wicked lifestyle that formerly owned them. He doesn't want them to go back. And he knows the tendency of the flesh. He knows the danger. And he's saying, listen here, pay attention. And then he moves on to describe the way in which his readers ought not to walk. Notice what he says. He says, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. This I say, that you should no longer walk in the way that every unbeliever, the majority of your fellow countrymen there in Ephesus, in that pagan city that you live in, no longer to walk as they are walking. You should no longer live as they live. You should no longer have the same desires, the same goals, the same motives, the same ideals and lifestyle. You ought to be walking in the light of this glorious plan of salvation that I've just written about in these previous chapters, to which the rest of the Gentiles, the bulk of the people who surround you, the people you've lived with your entire life, are presently blind. There ought to be a significant difference, he's saying, between you and them. Because everything I have gone over with you is life-shaping and life-controlling in accordance with God's design, which you have now adopted in Christ. And notice, brethren, that He tells them that they should no longer walk in the way of the Gentiles, in the way of the unconverted. He doesn't simply say, don't walk like the Gentiles. He says, you should no longer walk in the way of the rest of the Gentiles, which assumes that that was the way in which they themselves had formerly walked prior to their conversion. They're familiar with that lifestyle, aren't they? And this gives them, his readers, by the Apostle wording it this way, it gives them a very at home living illustration, doesn't it? He doesn't have to give an illustration here. Because they themselves are the illustration. What they've done, how they lived, that is the illustration. All they have to do here is ponder for a short time what their life was like before they came to Christ. And they have a real-life description of what the Apostle is speaking about here before he begins to even specifically define that lifestyle in dramatic terms. If they stop there and listen to that one portion of a sentence, they have everything they need for the illustration. And what this does, brethren, is it serves well to carry your thoughts as you read these words back to your own life without Christ. It brings you back to specific memories of specific events that have been recorded on the video recorder of your own brain. It brings you back to that time when you lived apart from Christ when you experience life for a good portion of your life apart from God. And it serves well to illustrate the commentary description which the apostle will ultimately follow up with. Well, brethren, before we follow up with that, I want you to think about these words yourself. I want you to go back in your own life for a few moments and to open up your closet full of skeletons, as it were. Dig them out. Be it the wicked thoughts that you've had, the words that you've spoken, the motives or the actions from your past. Dig them out, not to condemn you. That's not the purpose here. Praise be unto God that all of those things are washed in the blood of Christ. They are no longer held to your accounts. But bring them out in your own mind for a moment very quickly to remind you of the life out of which God has called you in Christ. To remind you of the difference. Remember your former identity with the world. Some of you, were party animals and drunkards. You enjoyed your times, if you were like me, of getting high or getting drunk. And you wasted precious time and life giggling with your friends, spewing out sewage from your mouth, having no concern for God your Creator and His Christ. Some of you were promiscuous trampling upon God's design for sexual relations. And you committed all manner of perverted and twisted acts outside of the bonds of marriage. Your bed was defiled. Some of you were glued to perverted videotapes and magazines where you found pleasure in all manner of lusts that cater to the fallen nature. Some of you were liars. Compulsive liars. Some of you were thieves. Some of you stole in very evident ways. And others of you stole in very subtle ways where you just took some extra time at work or took certain things in areas that seemed to be minimal, but in the sight of God were stealing. Some of you were self-righteous. Thought you had it all together. Looked down upon others. Judged others. Thought you were the religious one. Some of you were lovers of money and pleasure. That was your life. It revolved around making money, and making the next buck, and serving your own pleasures. Some of you had no thought of God, of the God who created you, who sustains you, who gives you daily breath and bread. No thought. No thanks. We're unthankful to God. All of us were idolaters of some form or another right from out of the womb. Worshipping created things rather than the Creator Himself Who is forever blessed. And brethren, the list can go on and on. Some of you are saying, well, He didn't say this. Well, include it. You have your own life. You can look at it. You can recall, brethren, your own life and how distant you were from God. That's what makes the word conversion so amazing, doesn't it? Because literally, there's such a difference between what you were and what you've become. If nothing else, even for those of you who were raised in the church, even your thought life, if nothing else. And now, that you have your own pre-Christian biographical movie, that real, as it were, rolling through your mind, Consider the Apostle's descriptive commentary of what you see in your own life and the way you used to walk. Listen to his commentary. He says this, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life without God. Notice, brethren, these three descriptive comments that the Apostle uses to accurately define life without Christ. To define whatever it is that you saw in your minds about your past, and there's so much there that you didn't even get to this morning, but whatever it is you went to, how he defines that. First, walking in the futility of their mind. What profound words he uses here. Here we come to understand, brethren, this small statement. Why the Scriptures label everyone in their natural state in Adam, everyone in their unregenerate, unconverted state, as dead in sin. In this one statement, we have that assumption. You see, everyone outside of Christ lives a life that is futile. And that word futile is to give you the idea of vanity. It's empty of all true life. It's wasted life. Wasted mind. Because we lived a life that has nothing to do with the will and purpose of our Creator who made us for His glory. If you can imagine for a moment, a boat. that is always carried about on a trailer. Beautiful boats, wonderfully designed and put together, always on the trailer from day one. You would say that that boat, if it stays on that trailer for year upon year upon year, is operating in a futile, a vain, or a useless way. It's a waste. You see, a boat is meant to be on water. And when it is put into the water, it soars and it fulfills the very purpose for which it was designed. Well, brethren, likewise, to live life bound to the sin nature with which we are born, to be carried about life in an entire world system that serves nothing profitable to the purpose of our Creator, to plunge into a system of worldliness and life that is defined by vain, empty pursuit of air in the ultimate sense, well, Kids just play with their toys and watch cartoons. Teens compete for popularity and their dating experiences. That defines life. Young men drive their cars and work toward getting their careers in order. maturing into men with homes and families that pursue a life of success, climbing up the ladder, working toward retirement so that they can settle down and enjoy a life of temporal happiness, winding up in nursing homes, playing cards and bingo and golf, and then you die. And this pattern, fill in with a lot more data, repeats itself generation from generation to generation to generation, laced with all manner of filthy lust, with God nowhere to be seen in the picture. Or at best, He is a deceptive side dish for some. He is a religious afterthought for most, for some false assurance of security in the afterlife. And all of it is godless. It's futile. It's vain. It's empty. We're all on the conveyor belt from day one. And we fill that conveyor belt with all manner of distraction and nonsense. And we're comfortable there. Our hearts are there. The world is there. And we're heading straight for death and hell. And the Apostle calls it, interestingly enough, futility of the mind, he says. And the reason why he does this is because that which is most essential to the makeup of the human being, that which is at the very core of our being, our mind, the very seed of our thoughts, our understanding, our values, our ideals, what defines you as a thinking, living being, is used for empty, vain, and futile purposes that utterly make this precious and awesome gift of God, the mind, the life, nothing more than an instrument of worthlessness. That's why he says, futility of the mind. It's using a great precious resource for futility, for nonsense. And then secondly, notice how he describes that life of the unbeliever, the Gentiles, those on the outside, where we once walked. He describes them this way as well. They walk in the futility of their mind. And secondly, he says, having their understanding darkened. You see, the unbeliever, who walks in the futility of his mind has his understanding darkened. That is to say that because of his fallen and corrupt nature, he cannot see and appreciate his life of futility. He doesn't stop and see and ponder this whole thing and say, wait a minute, something's missing here. And if he does that, he fills it with other idols, he comes to other conclusions. He's just like a machine. He's running after all manner of temporal things, seeing all along the way that these things do not satisfy. People see this. They know it. But never learning. Never understanding the real problem. And so, He just keeps running after them like a dog running after its tail. And that's how we were, weren't we? You see, the dog chases his tail. And occasionally, if you watch the dog and you laugh at him, you watch, he grips it with his teeth sometimes, he gets that tail, doesn't he? And then he yowls, because he's hurt himself. He screams when he bites into his tail, doesn't he? And he releases it because of the pain. But what does he do after that? Has he learned? He just gets up and chases his tail again and again and again. And he'll bite it again. And he'll yell and scream and let go. And he'll never be able to connect the dots and understand that, wait a second here, this belongs to me and I'm hurting myself. His understanding is flawed. And brethren, that is the case for the unbeliever. That describes the unbeliever. The reality of the temporal nature of everything is ever-present. We know that nothing in this world will last forever. Fact. We all know that. Anyone would say that. Death is ever before us. We know we're going to die. Early on in life you learn that. You see it in the papers. You're told that. You go to funerals. You know that your great-great-great-grandfather is no longer alive and grandmother for some reason or another. You know that we all die. Death is ever before us. But what happens? We still want sin, don't we? We still want our sin. We're still convinced that our lusts are worth it. They failed to live up to their boast right up to the present. They failed all along, but it doesn't matter. You see, our understanding is naturally darkened. We cannot compute and benefit from simple logic. We're irrational and even insane in that sense. And so we continue to mock the whole idea of religion in Christ. Well, that's nonsense. Man, that religious stuff, that crutch is a bunch of nonsense. Because we're in darkness. Because sin has deceived and corrupted us. Rather than looking and saying, well, let me look at the bag of nonsense that I have in front of me. He describes them as having their understanding darkened. What we were in our former life apart from Christ. And then thirdly, brethren, he uses another description here. Explains it all in a lot of ways. The apostle moves on to state this, and you begin to say, aha, being alienated from the life of God. Being alienated from the life of your Creator. He walks in the futility of the mind, His understanding is darkened, He is empty of all spiritual graces, and He is alienated from the life of God. Everything concerning God, His design, His will, His plan, and His purpose, His person, is shut out from the unbeliever. He's alienated from these realities. True and living fellowship with God. Dearly sweet communion and fellowship with Christ. Living in the conscious, ever-present reality of God's presence is wholly foreign to the unbeliever. Foreign. Now, they might shoot up some prayers, but it's all lifeless. It's not real. There's no real relationship there. The unbeliever may talk about God sometimes, might even agree with the concept, but in reality, he is alienated from God. He knows not God. He knows not what it means to experience the living God. What a horrible reality that this teaches us here about the life of those outside of Christ. But brethren, we are not unfamiliar with this, are we? We remember those times. We remember what it was like before we were converted and the drastic change that took place when we were born again, when we were born anew in Christ. The words describe it so well, don't they? Born again. I can't think of a better way to describe. What happens? Everything changed. We were awakened out of a deep sleep and carried to God by Christ. The things that meant nothing to us, everything concerning God and His Christ, have become our everything. And the things that meant everything to us, the world and everything in it, have come to mean nothing. Or at least that's the way it should be. Our minds have awakened unto a good and glorious purpose. We've been carried into the realm of truth. We've been given sight. And we have discovered the incomprehensible joy of what it means to know, to love, and to serve Christ. We actually enjoy serving our Creator. Our understanding has been enlightened by grace. The wires have been reconnected. And now it all makes sense. Because we've been reconciled to God in Christ. We are His forever adopted children. And we continually know what it is like to have the love of our Almighty God showered upon us. And we won't trade that for the world. But brethren, The apostle is making an assumption here, isn't he? He's making an assumption here. He's assuming by the way that he words this, that we still have an ongoing war with remaining sin in our flesh, isn't he? He's assuming that while we are regenerate, we're still prone to being swept aside by old patterns, old patterns of sinfulness and lust. And so he charges us here. He charges us as believers. He testifies in the Lord. And He solemnly calls us to no longer walk in the futile ways in which we have once walked. And it sounds so ridiculous to say, how could you possibly go back to that if you've come out of that? Well, brethren, we don't understand the reality of sin. Even remaining sin, if we have to ask that kind of question. And so He cautions us against being swept back into the tide of the world. He appeals to our regenerate minds on the basis of all that He has taught us about Christ and His plan for the church. The very central purpose in all of history. He's given us that in Ephesians 4. He's given us the excitement of our own conversion, how we're included in His plan in Ephesians 1-3. All of this stuff is meant to excite us. And it's meant to lead into that, therefore, in light of these things, don't walk that way anymore. See, the Apostle recognizes that even in our regenerate state, we are still prone to wander, brethren. The drawer of the world is not wholly ineffective and dead to us. And we must ever be cautious about drifting away from Christ and His purpose and falling back into a life of vanity. Subtly, that's what happens, isn't it? You subtly can drift away. And so we're called to walk not in our former ways and the unbelievers' present ways, which are constantly appealing to our flesh, calling us back to a state of hardness and blindness, And then the apostle moves on to define the very reason why the unregenerate Gentiles continue to walk in such a godless, lifeless way. Why do they do this? He goes on to describe that in verses 18 and 19. Secondly, brethren, why the unconverted walk in this way? They walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God. And what does he go on to say? Because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over, surrendered themselves over, delivered themselves over to lewdness to work. All uncleanness with greediness. Here we see, brethren, that the unconverted, that those outside of Christ, walk in this way because they're ignorant of the truth. There's ignorance here because their hearts are blinded. They cannot comprehend the truth of God because the things of God, we are told, are spiritually discerned. They're not taught by the Holy Spirit. They're unregenerate. They're lifeless in the spiritual sense. They are past failing. Wow! They're wholly numb to the truth, though it is obvious and ever before them. It is beyond obvious. They're numb to it. This whole plan of God for His people, this whole glorious plan of redemption involving Christ, the head, and His body, the church, this purpose for our existence. Everything wrapped up in the doctrines of election, and regeneration, and adoption, and sanctification, and glorification, etc. All of these things to the glory of God are presently hidden from them, even though you speak it to them, because they're numb. They have no desire for these things, brethren, because they cannot even understand them. Not because they're less smart or intelligent than us, but because they're dead in sin. You know, they say that, and I'm sure some of you have seen this on TV and watching a documentary of some sort or a news bulletin about these kinds of things. There are some babies who are born with dysfunctional nerves, and their nerves don't work properly. And they wind up, because their nerves aren't working properly, their pain receptors don't work, they wind up as infants, as children, once they start getting their teeth, what do they do? They start biting pieces of their fingers off, or their body off. They start biting parts of their body off. Portions of their lip, they'll chew off. or they step on things and they obtain these gashes. Even some adults have this problem. If they have an area of their body where the nerves aren't working, they won't even know they're stepping on glass. And it embeds inside of them and they bleed without any concern. You see, the reality is, brethren, they are numb, aren't they, of these realities, because their nerves, their pain receptors do not properly function. And so they do horrendous things, especially young children. because their nerves don't function. And they wind up marring their bodies. What they do a lot of times is they take out the teeth of these young children to protect them from themselves. Well, brethren, the unbeliever is likewise numb to the glorious reality and life of God. Numb like that. There's no warning receptors there. There's no ability to comprehend the reality of what God says in His Word about His person, about His will, about Christ. They willfully sin against God and walk in futility because they're ignorant of the truth and their hearts, we're told, are darkened. They're darkened. Notice these words. He says they're numb. They're past feeling. Beyond feeling. And so they have given themselves over, he says, because they're beyond feeling, because their hearts are darkened. They've done what? They've given themselves wholly over. They've surrendered themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. They're spiritually dead. They're like wild beasts that wholly cast themselves into the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. They're consumed with material things. Things that break. Things that don't last. They're consumed with possessions. They're consumed with money. They're consumed with power. They're consumed with vulgar things, obscene things. And they're consumed with fulfilling all of their inner lusts. Different degrees. But whatever those lusts are, what are they doing the whole time? They're hungering and thirsting for a God replacement. in anything and everything else in the created order. They're hungering and thirsting for what only God could give in all of these things that break and don't last. In other words, brethren, those who are unconverted are dead in their sins. They are trapped in the world of their lusts and their boundaries cannot extend any further because their futile minds Their darkened understanding and their blind hearts are incapable of processing and believing God's truth apart from a miraculous work of God in the soul. God must do that work. Apart from the glorious conversion that we have been freely given in Christ, brethren. We were there. We were numb and past feeling. Our hearts were darkened. We had the futile minds. We had all the accessories that come with a life that is dead in sin, brethren. And according to this text, we surrendered ourselves to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. We were without hope, without God in the world. We had no chance. But God stepped in. in our cases. And the Apostle wants us to appreciate that. He showed us His plan for us. He stepped in. He's redeemed us. And He's put us into this living organism called the church. And we're to function by serving one another, by edifying each other, by growing this body to the glory of the One who saved us out of a dead trash heap. And so he says, don't walk like that anymore. In other words, we ought to know better. We ought to be on guard. You see, those who are on the outside, those who are outside of Christ, who still remain, who are unconverted, for them, the glorious message of Ephesians that we read and lights up our hearts, for them, it's nothing more than paper and ink to them. Christ in all of His glory is at best on par with Jack and the Beanstalk, the Three Little Pigs, and Little Red Riding Hood, and every other interesting fable out there. He may as well be. None of this moves their hearts one iota, any more than a colorful firework display moves the heart of a blind man. There are several of you in this room right now who aren't touched by any of this. None of this affects you, and yet it describes you. Take note of the words here again, brethren. Listen to these words, these descriptive words. Futile, darkened, alienated from God, blind, and past feeling. This is the reality of the unconverted, brethren. This is the reality for several even here in this room right now. None of this genuinely interests you. You really have better things to do than be here. But everyone needs a little religion in their life for security. Or your parents have forced you to come here, children. Some of you. Would it be that God would be pleased to open the eyes of your heart, to lead you to His grace in Christ, to show you the reality of your own blindness, so that you might plead with God to save your soul in Christ? And brethren, this was once our reality. And that is why we walked as we once walked, sold out to our sin and without God in the world. But that ought not to be the case for us anymore. Which brings us to our final point for this morning, brethren. Why Christians should no longer walk in this way. Why we should no longer walk in this way. We know why the non-Christian does. We know why we once walked like that. But why Christians should no longer walk in this way, look at verses 20 and 21. It speaks about this description of the Gentiles and goes on and says, But you, Christian, you, former Gentile, have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus. What's the difference between the believer and the unbeliever? Why ought Christians not to walk in the same way as those who are still unconverted? But you have not so learned Christ, he says. You see, brethren, we who are united to Christ by faith have put on Christ. We have died with Him and we have risen again with Him in newness of life. We've experienced a crucifixion in Christ and a resurrection in Christ. Our understanding has been renewed. Our hearts are no longer blinded by sin because in Christ the blinders have been removed. We have been born again. And therefore, we, unlike Nicodemus originally, we can see the Kingdom of God. The message of Ephesians 1-3 speaks directly to our hearts. God's Kingdom design for the church is real to us. And it overshadows everything else. It eclipses all of the futile things in which everyone else is caught up in this life. At least, that's how it should be. You see, we have learned Christ. The Gospel is not just a grouping of nice words to us on paper. It's not just a message written on paper like any other message. It is divine truth written onto our hearts and souls by the Holy Spirit, by a God who says, I will take out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh and write my law in them. I will forgive their sins and remember them no more. I will be their God and they will be My people." You see, brethren, we have experienced and tasted the living Christ. The Savior is real to us. Though we have not seen Him, we yet love Him in truth as Peter tells us in his first epistle. We have real living union and fellowship with the living God in Christ. Something that we cannot fully and sufficiently explain, because this experience of the soul cannot be translated into mere words. But we know it to be true. How do you explain the Spirit of God testifying to a book that was once dead to us? and making it alive. You see, it carries with it the whole living idea of what it means to enjoy the benefits of Christ's Kingdom from within the heart. It's an alternate reality, if I can use those words, which has enraptured our souls. And the more we feed upon it, the more we treasure Christ, and the more we are repulsed by the world. How often I can tell you through the span of one day I can get so dull and then just come to read something in the Word of God and God shoots life into my soul. Christians ought not to walk as they formerly walked because they're new creatures in Christ. And they are truly acquainted not simply with the historical Christ and the information of the time of His birth and all this nice information, but we are acquainted with the living, breathing Christ who now presently sits at the right hand of the Majesty on High interceding on our behalf. We speak to Him. We commune with Him. Notice, brethren, the next two phrases. Listen carefully to how they're worded. Listen to what he says. "'But you have not so learned Christ,' listen here, "'if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.'" You ever just walk right past those words without consideration? Notice, brethren, the apostle does not say, He doesn't say, if indeed you have heard of Him and have been taught about Him. It's not what He says. But rather He says this, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth presently is in Jesus. Do you see the relational reality here, brethren? We don't walk as the Gentiles walk because we have not so learned Christ. That is, if we have indeed heard Him and have been taught by Him. You see, brethren, this is speaking here about the regenerative and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit on behalf of Christ. This is direct communication here. Jesus Himself stated, My sheep hear My voice. Now brethren, we don't hear an audible voice. So let me just cut that right out. But those called by Christ commune with Him and hear Him by the way in which He speaks to and influences the soul. We hear Him. And we love Him. And it's a real love that we have for a real person. It's not the same thing like when you read about George Washington or past presidents or famous people and you learn about their life. Yes, there can be an emotional experience with that. But this is something different. This is communion with the living God. Again, this is an experience that only true believers can ever understand and it's mysterious. But suddenly, the formerly lifeless Scriptures Suddenly, the lifeless Scriptures come alive. And for the first time, you are taught directly by God Himself. You are a disciple of Christ by means of the Holy Spirit. You hear the voice of the Shepherd. You know Him personally. You love Him personally. You desire to serve Him in truth personally as the truth is in Jesus. You see, what does this tell us? It tells us that the truth is not in a mere confession, doesn't it? It's not in a mere confession. It is not appreciated or believed unto salvation simply by memorizing the Scriptures or knowing theology. You can memorize. There are people in this room right now who know a lot more, to my shame, by heart, of the Scriptures, but don't know the God of these Scriptures. There are people who know theology. beyond what we could comprehend, but don't understand the truth, the reality, the living reality of the God who stands above and works through that theology. To be sure, the truth comes through the Scriptures. There's no question. And the proclamation of the Word of God and His Gospel. But the truth in a living sense, in a salvific sense, is in the living Christ alone. In other words, if Christ does not give you that truth in accompaniment with the Scriptures, you will not receive the truth. Unless you are taught of Christ, the truth is nothing more than lifeless words to you. Here's the truth. But what does it do apart from Christ? That's why the true Christian That's why the true Christian must and will bear fruit, because he is taught of Christ. He accesses the truth as it is spoken by Christ to the soul, as the written or preached Word is read or spoken to the intellect. So we read the Word, we hear the Word preached, but something happens in that process where Christ Himself speaks to the soul. And I can't explain that. But I know by experience and I know by what the Word of God says. And so Christians, we're called to no longer walk as the world walks because of this glorious reality. Christians have access to truth as it is found in the living Christ. Ephesians 1-3 and all of Scripture for that matter speaks not only to the intellect but also to the soul. And so the darkness is exposed to them and they will not walk in that darkness. They will walk in the light as Christ is in the light. They will battle against the remaining lusts of the flesh if we are truly taught of Christ. The question that then remains this morning is this. Are you truly taught of Christ? Are you truly taught of Christ? Is there truly a difference between you and the world? A lifestyle difference? A difference of purpose? A difference in ideas? A difference in overall focus? Do you stand out as one who has been truly gripped by the living God in a radical, life-changing way? Or are you simply a replica of the world with a side of religion? Or a side of Christ that goes no deeper than the intellect? Does your faith go beyond a cerebral faith this morning that simply says, all the right things, and goes to church on Sunday mornings? Are you on a mission for Christ? Seeking to glorify Him? Is that your desire? Seeking to know more of Him? Is that your desire? Do you have any passion for the Kingdom of God that we've been going over in the last several weeks, especially as it relates to the life and growth of Christ's body, the church? Any passion for that? Does your faith have a heartbeat? If your treasure is truly with this world, the Lord tells us, if your treasure is truly with this world, then that is exactly where your heart is, regardless of what your intellect affirms and your lips speak. Jesus gives us a test there, doesn't He? He says, well, where your treasure is, where your values are, where your ideals are, where what's most important to you is, He says, look for those things, identify them in your own heart. That's where your heart is. No matter what you say. No matter what you speak. Christianity, friends, is a religion of the heart. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. You see, confession is important. It must follow, but the heart is critical, isn't it? Belief with the heart. Belief at the core of one's being is a living belief that carries the desires, the will, and the affections unto a life of obedience to Christ. If you don't have a living faith this morning, then you're still in darkness according to Scripture. You may have religion. You may be a member of the church. You may go to a Christian school. You may be homeschooled. But you don't have the living Christ. Friends, if your connection to Christ is in word only, I plead with you this morning to get on your knees this day and to call upon Him with fervency. Cry out to Him as a beggar, as the blind man. Think of the blind man who's longing for his sight. He's acknowledged, he knows the reality that he's blind. And He knows that this Christ is the only One that can open His eyes. Come to Him this morning like that. Don't let your soul go to the side. Don't assume this is a small matter. Don't throw it aside. Seek Him with all your heart. Repent of your sins and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ in truth and be saved and be certain that He will hear the sincere plea. And I pray that God will give you such a fervent desire to obtain the great and glorious treasure of Christ so that you will live in the truest sense for the first time as God intended you to live for His glory. And that, my friends, is such a wonderful place to be. Let's pray. Father, we do thank You so much again for the truths of Your Word and all that it teaches us and what it exposes. And many of these things are sobering. We pray that You would help us, Lord, those who do know You, to take heart to this text and to be careful because we know, Lord, that we still have the fleshly tendencies. We can still subtly be drawn away and requiring some means of correction on Your part, Lord. And we pray that we would be faithful to You, Lord, that we would fight this good fight, that we would lay hold of eternal life, that we would keep our minds and hearts fixed above and live here, Lord, in the context of Your glorious Kingdom. and that we would love and serve you. And Father, we pray for those who don't know you in truth. We pray for those, Lord, who are darkened in their hearts, who are living a life that loves this world, who may even profess differently, Lord, but we pray that you would open their eyes to the truth, that you would lead them in the only way that you can to the rock that is much higher than us, Lord, and that you would lead them to Christ. And we praise you, Father, and love you, and thank you again for your word. We thank you, Lord, for the mysterious ways in which you speak to your people through your word. We thank you, Lord, that those who know you, that we who know you, have been taught by Christ. And we pray, Father, that we would live the whole of our lives for his glory. We pray in Christ's name, amen.