Welcome to Mill Creek Church in Belleville, Texas, where our worship service is in progress. Today, Pastor Monty Byrd continues with his sermon series on the book of Ephesians. And now, Pastor Byrd. Join me in prayer, please. Father, we do come to you knowing that your name is worthy and worthy to be praised. I just pray as we open up your word this morning that you would speak to us through your eternal truth. In Jesus name. Amen. Have you ever heard somebody say regarding a lost family member or a friend, if only God would perform a miracle, they would accept Christ. And that declaration is not correct. In fact, we have biblical evidence that people have observed miracles and have not accepted Christ. In the Old Testament, we have Pharaoh and the Egyptians rejecting God. In the New Testament, we have the miracles of Christ, yet we have examples of people not believing. Specifically, if you would turn your Bibles to Mark chapter three, we see that a miracle performed by Christ did not win converts. If you look at Mark three, starting in one, verse one, it says, Jesus entered the synagogue again and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. He told the man with the shriveled hand, stand before us. Then he said to them, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil to save life or to kill? But they were silent. After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, stretch out your hand. So he stretched it out. and his hand was restored. Immediately, the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him. Not only the Pharisees did not believe, they wanted to take the life of Christ. The Pharisees' hearts were so hard that a miracle would not move them. Why is that? Well, the answer can be found in our focal passage this morning, which is in Ephesians chapter four, starting in verse 17, we'll read 17 and 18. It reads, therefore I say this and testify in the Lord, you should no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding. excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. So just as you see in Mark's example that the Pharisees had a hard heart, here we see in Ephesians 4 that the lost world is known by the hardness of their hearts. And as Hohner points out in his commentary, the understanding of verses 17 and 18 is best viewed working backwards, because 17 and 18 are based on cause and effects. So we're gonna start at verse 18, at the end of verse 18, and we're gonna work backwards. And if you look at verse 17 and 18 again, It says, therefore I say this and testify in the Lord, you should no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their hearts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from their life of God because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. It is impossible for the natural man in his natural mind to choose God because of their heart. And in fact, if you look at John chapter 1, starting in verse 10, it reads, he was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him, but to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be the children of God to those who believe in his name. Now, let me make a comment right here before we get to verse 13. Some people will pat themselves on the back and say, I chose. But if you look at verse 13, it tells you how you came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ with your hard heart. It says that we were born not of natural descent, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, but of God. Our faith is a gift from God. The human man cannot choose God on their own because the natural man's heart is hardened. Why is the natural man's heart hard? Working backwards, If you look at our focal passage, it says, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their heart. Hardness, the hardness of man's heart produces ignorance, produces ignorance. Now, some may take this and say, aha, well, I can't be held responsible because I am ignorant. I'm ignorant, so I'm off the hook. I'm off the hook to God's judgments. But I would argue that it is a willful ignorance. It is a willful ignorance. And in fact, in our legal system in this country, that is a legal term, willful ignorance. And willful ignorance is a concept that was developed from a 1976 court case, the US versus Jewel. And Jewel was sitting in a bar in Mexico. And a fella came up to approach him at the bar and offered to sell him some marijuana. And Jewel declined. And then the fella looks at Jewel and says, I will pay you $100. Of course, if you think 1976, $100 is a lot of money. I will pay you $100 to drive my car across the border into the United States. Jewell agreed. When he got in the car, he noticed that there was a compartment in the car, but he did not inspect it. He got to the border, and the border guard opened up the compartment, and there was 110 pounds of marijuana in the car. And there was a court case that came out of this that said that Jewel could be convicted because he was willfully ignorant. He knew that there was something in the car, but he didn't want to know what it was. He was willfully ignorant. That's in the US court system. We send people to jail all the time based upon willful ignorance. but turn with me to the book of Romans, Romans chapter one. And I will show you where willful ignorance is in the Bible. Romans chapter one, join me in verse 18. It reads, for God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. willful ignorance. Let's read that verse again. For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is his eternal power in divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. In other words, they are willfully ignorant. In verse 21 it reads, For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. claiming to be wise, they became false and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. Therefore, God delivered them over in their desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the creator who is praised forever. Amen. The natural man, the man who doesn't know Christ, is living in willful ignorance. The truth is all around them. They are surrounded by the truth, but they suppress it so that they can continue in their sin. 1 John 1, verse 8 reads, if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. This willful ignorance, first we have the hardness of heart, then we have willful ignorance. And the willful ignorance leads us to a life without God. Look at 18 again. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. A life without God. A lost person might argue, well, I have a wonderful life. I have plenty of money in the bank. I get to do whatever I want. I can pursue materialism, I can pursue pleasure, there's nothing wrong with my life. But turn with me to Romans 8, Romans 8 starting at verse 5. And as you look at this in your Bibles, I want you to think in your mind the contrast. Paul goes through this section of Scripture and he contrasts the difference between the natural man and the man saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 8, 5, the first half of it says, for those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh. That's the natural man. The natural man is pursuing the pursuits of this world. But look at the second half of Romans 8, 5. But those who live according to spirit have their mind set on the things of the spirit. That's the saved person. The lost person has their mind set on the things of the world. The saved person has their mind set on the things of God. In verse six, First part, now the mindset of the flesh is death. The pursuit of the world get the natural man, it gets them death. But look at the second half of verse six, but the mindset of the spirit is life and peace. Where does the pursuit of God get the saved person? Life and peace. Verses seven through nine deal with the unsaved person. The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Look at verse nine with the believer. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God lives in you. And then he goes back to the unsaved person. If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. In verse 10 through 11, you see the believer. Now, if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his spirit who lives in you. He brings your mortal body to life. In other words, you were declared alive in Christ Jesus and in your mortal body right now, you are able to pursue righteousness. The natural man pursues death. The saved person pursues life and peace and righteousness. The natural man has a life without God. The saved man has a life with God and they have life in peace. So a hardened heart leads to willful ignorance, which leads to life without God, which leads to a lack of reasoning. Let's go back to 18. They are darkened in their understanding. That's what I mean by a lack of reasoning. They are darkened in their understanding. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. For the sake of time, we're going to go to verse 14. When you get back home, I'd encourage you to read the whole chapter. But if you go to verse 14, it reads that the person without the spirit does not receive what comes from God's spirit because it is foolishness to him. He is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. In other words, they have a lack of reasoning. You've heard this when people give their testimony. People that make a statement, you may have heard something similar to this. I used to read the Bible, it didn't make any sense to me. I read the Bible, I looked at it, I didn't understand it at all. Then God called me, I gave my life to Christ and all of a sudden my eyes were opened and the Bible makes perfect sense. Why is that? because the natural man cannot reason, but the spiritual man has been given the ability to understand. And in fact, in verse 15, it reads, the spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone for who has known the Lord's mind that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. The natural person is in darkness. and they live a life of continual futility. We all are familiar with that quote regarding the definition of insanity. It's attributed to Albert Einstein, but he really didn't say it. But he said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Isn't this what the lost person does? Because it says in verse 17 of our focal passage in Ephesians 4, you should no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thoughts. In other words, Paul is warning the church at Ephesus, don't behave like lost people because it gets you nowhere. See, that's the remarkable difference between the lost and the saved. It's not that we've had an epiphany on our own. And I think that's the danger sometimes of people patting themselves on the back and saying, oh, I chose the right way. And look at me. But no, that's just a gift. That's the gift of grace to where our hearts are enlightened to where we want to choose God because our faith is a gift. It tells us that in Ephesians, we've already studied that. But if you go back to Ephesians chapter one, looking at verse seven, it says, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. And then look at verse eight. that He richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, that He purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him. He poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. Taking this book and putting it in your hands and opening it up and having God speak to you is a gift beyond measure. It's a gift beyond measure. to sit down with a fellow brother and sister in Christ and discuss spiritual things according to the truth of God is a gift beyond measure. To be able to come together and pray, not according to our will, but according to the will of the Father is a gift beyond measure. We should always humbly realize that the mind that we now have after Christ isn't because of our works, our righteousness, our logic. It's only because of God. It's because of Him. And so when we come together and we worship him, we don't worship him out of our own strength, our own intellect, our epiphany. We worship him because he has opened up our eyes. The veil has been removed. We understand and we, just as Paul says, we can say we have the mind of Christ. Join me in prayer, please. Father, we just thank you that in spite of us, in spite of our sin, in spite of our selfishness, in spite of our love of the things of darkness, you called us into the light. You called us out. You brought us into your family. You cleansed us. You took the veil from our eyes and gave us the ability to understand your truth. And I pray, Lord, that we'd always be thankful. I pray that we'd take this truth and we'd proclaim it to a world who lives in darkness in the futility of their thoughts. And I pray that we'd be ambassadors of your wonderful gospel. I pray if there's someone listening who's never given their life to you, that they'd turn their life over, ask for forgiveness of sins, and that they would understand and come to an understanding of the truth of the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for joining us as Pastor Bird continues this sermon series. If you wish to hear more, you may find him at millcreekchurch.org or go to sermonaudio.com slash millcreekchurch. Prayer requests may also be left at millcreekchurch.org. Our church services are as follows. Sunday morning Bible study is at 9 a.m. followed by our worship service at 10 a.m. We have Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study and they are at 630 p.m. For more information and our mission statement please visit our website millcreekchurch.org