New Life in Christ

The message from Pastor Jason Booth at Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio is about the new life in Christ. The first three chapters of Ephesians focus on doctrine, explaining the mechanics of the gospel and how God saves. The next three chapters discuss how believers should live in light of God's grace. It emphasizes that our behavior doesn't earn us salvation, but rather, our actions should be a response to God's love and grace. The passage encourages believers to put off their old selves, be renewed in their minds, and put on the new self in Christ. It emphasizes the importance of speaking truth, controlling anger, being honest, using good language, and showing kindness, forgiveness, and love towards one another. The pastor emphasizes that our works are motivated by love and relationship with God, not by fear or trying to earn salvation. The passage also highlights the contrast between the mindset and actions of unbelievers and believers who have been transformed by God's grace. The following message is brought to you by the people of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. For more information, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org. And now, here's Pastor Jason Booth with the message. And we're going to begin reading in verse 17. Verse 17. And the message is simply titled, The New Life in Christ. The New Life in Christ. And we'll read a few verses together, and then we will go back over and drill down and see exactly what the Lord would have us glean from this passage. The Word of the Living God, found in Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verse 17. 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. 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 and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But this is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires. And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry, but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. And give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. The word of the living God, and may his name be forever praised. Amen. Amen. The epistle to decision is understood by theologians and Bible study leaders and pastors, and anyone who's really given it a read, to be divided into two key sections. The first three chapters of this epistle deal primarily with doctrine. And we've gone through these chapters, one verse at a time, many times here in our fellowship. The first chapters tell us about the gospel, and gives us insights into the mechanics of the gospel. How God saves, and for what means God saves. We learn in Ephesians, that it is by grace ye are saved through faith. And this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which the Father hath prepared beforehand, that we should walk therein. Now the same book that goes so richly and so deeply into the mechanics and doctrine of our faith, changes gears in the fourth chapter. Fourth, fifth, and sixth chapter of Ephesians, talks about how we are to live in light of the sovereign grace of God. Now where do people go wrong, dealing with the last three chapters of Ephesians? Well beloved, anytime Paul admonishes a church for its behavior, he's doing so because he is encouraging them to be shining lights and examples of the grace brought in them by the Holy Spirit through the gospel. But never does Paul or any other writer of any other epistle, point to our behavior as the righteousness which merits eternal life. Understand, we will never preach from this podium, or from this church, that there is any righteousness to be gained by doing this and not doing that, or by eating this kind of food and abstaining from this other kind of food, or by choosing not to say these words and saying rather these other words. There is no righteousness to be garnered through the doings or not doings of this mortal frame. Righteousness is Jesus Christ alone and his finished work. Now, what does this mean, however, to our daily lives? And this is where discipleship and growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord comes into play. This pastor isn't here to scare you, to tell you that if you don't meet all of my expectations that your soul is going to be damned. I'm not going to give you a checklist of things that you ought to be doing in order to maintain your salvation. But instead, I'm going to tell you that the grace that came to save you has freed you in Christ's love to love each other. It is for freedom that Christ has made us free. And beloved, let us now, in light of that freedom, love one another. Everything I'm about ready to tell you is coming from the love of God in Christ that's owed to us. And it should be our motivation to be pleasing to him because he loves us, because he has saved us. We do not work, we do not seek to do good things as God sanctifies them. We do not seek to do any of these admonitions because we're trying to somehow make ourselves saved or that we fear that we will lose our salvation. How do I know that from this very passage, these works are not salvific, but rather a labor of love in response to the finished work of Christ? How do we know these things? Because the Bible tells us in verse 30, reminding us not to grieve the Spirit of God by acting contrary to the way Christian folks ought to act. And why should we not grieve the Holy Spirit of God? Because it is through him, the Bible says, you were sealed for the day of redemption, verse 30. And so I do not intend to scare you with a list of morals or moralisms or duties that you must perform in order to be a Christian. I am telling you that if you are a Christian, the Spirit of God will empower you to do these things in liberty and in love. You'll never do any of these things perfectly. Why do you think the Scripture gives us so many admonitions and so many reminders? It's because we do these things one day and the next day we fall short in another area. And the beautiful thing about the life we live in Christ is that it is a life of constant confession. He is our Savior. He never changes. How can we believe that? The Bible says, I am the Lord thy God. I changes not. You and I, we cannot say that. And so what is this preacher saying? People accuse sovereign grace preachers all the time of basically pastoring over churches with pure and utter licentiousness. And that means we let you do whatever you want to do as long as you come to church and hear about Jesus. And people will accuse us. They'll say, you preach too much grace. Let me tell you, I'll wear that badge to my death. I will wear that badge to my grave proudly. If the only thing people can say about me is he preached too much about the grace of God in Christ, then hallelujah forevermore. What an appellation. What a moniker. I would wear that with pride. But at the same time, beloved, this grace that has come to save us has also freed us unto good works. What are these good works? They're the things the Father has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The greatest of good works was the work of Christ on the cross. The finished work. And yet the same God who saves us by grace alone, through faith alone, tells us don't be jerks to one another. This isn't rocket science. And I don't want you to think that, okay, so now I won't be a jerk and that will be my righteousness before God. Well, you've missed the point. He's freed us. He's freed us. And the works we do now, we do out of love. We're not saved by keeping our mouths shut and not gossiping. We don't gossip because we're saved. And when we do catch ourselves doing it, we realize, hey, that's not cool. I shouldn't have really done that. And the Spirit of God checks us. And we realize that we're in the wrong here. You see how this whole thing is motivated by love and by relationship, not by fear? Follow me now. Don't lose me. This is just as vital to your everyday life as anything else in the Scripture. How do I know that? Because it's in the Scripture. You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. Well, if you know the Lord and saved in mercy, those days are over. You're not going to walk like they do. How do they walk? The Bible says they walk in the futility of their minds. Beloved, your minds have been renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Gospel. There are people who never give a thought to the life they live because they're blinded spiritually because they don't know the Lord. You all have relatives. I have relatives and friends who will live their entire life unchecked and unchallenged by any of the decisions they make, at least on a spiritual level. John Gills tells us and reminds us in his commentaries that God isn't here saying through the apostle that men are without reason or without intellectual faculties. Obviously, they're able to think, they're able to calculate, do math. Many of you have your taxes performed by people that are not Christian and you trust their math. Why? Because they have a working brain and they're able to move in matters civil and carnal. But what we're talking about here is spiritual death, spiritual blindness. Those who are out in the world, they have no desire to be pleasing to God because they've yet to encounter the grace of God in Christ. This is why the Bible says that they live in the futility of their minds. Verse 18, they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God. Now, if the unsaved are alienated from the life of God, then those of us who are saved, it must be said of us that we have been reacquainted with the life of God. And who is the way, the truth, and the life? Jesus Christ. And no one comes to the Father except through Him. But we have the life of God because we have Jesus. We are not like the old dead sinners in the world. So there is a dichotomy here between the dead sinner in the world who lives their life any old way they choose and those of us who have been bought with a price. Those of us who belong to the Lord in Jesus Christ. Those of us who have the life of God. Verse 19, speaking of these hard-hearted or dead-hearted people, let's back up just a second. Let's go back to 18. Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Again, they do not understand the gospel because the eyes of their understanding have not been opened due to their hardness of heart. Why is it that men can't just hear the gospel and believe it? It is because we are a fallen people and our hearts are stoned. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. This you can learn from this very epistle. He has made us alive, those of us who know and believe the gospel. We have a knowledge of God that is supernatural because spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Hear me now. Those who do not know God are set up in Scripture to be spiritually dead. So when you share the gospel, understand. If not so many went out over the years in the 50s and 60s. They bought school buses and they went out and they passed out one, two, three, Lord save me, easy peasy tracks. They loaded up those buses and they brought all these kids to church and they just thought if we follow these Sunday school principles that all of these children will make a decision for Jesus. You saw the Baptist church especially. It was rampant, this idea of having these massive Sunday school campaigns. And you had church groups that would follow these clear instructions. Say this, say this, say this. Teach the kids to mock and mimic the prayer back to you and they're all going to be Christians. And they would add them to their roles and the kids would leave and they would never come back. This isn't something that you can reach somebody with just with the mere words of man. When you're sharing the gospel, understand you are waging spiritual warfare. If the Lord is pleased to accompany what you have to say by the power and presence of His Holy Spirit then He will do a work of regeneration in the heart of the person or persons to whom you speak. When you share the gospel, as I'm sharing the gospel in this pulpit or in the streets or talking with a friend it's not the meager words of us that make the difference. But it is the power of God who must come in on the scene and take out that heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. That means He's got to bring them back to life spiritually. No one can hear these words with spiritual ears until the eyes of their understanding have been opened. Until their heart that is dead has been made alive again. Listen, you can go to a graveyard and beg everybody to get up out of those graves as much as you want but unless life is given and restored there will be no resurrection. The same is true in gospel preaching. Beloved, those who don't know the gospel apart from the Lord cannot even hear the gospel much less respond to it. So understand we are dealing with folks who are altogether most pitiable. They have no hope in the world. And how do I know all these things for sure? Because I used to be one of those people! And you did too! But the Lord did the work, did He not? Won't we stand and say that together? That the Lord saved our souls that He alone is worthy that Christ's blood avails for us and how have we come to know these things? Because He has given us a new heart. But the callous old heart of fallen man is ignorant of the things of God. Verse 19, they have become callous and because they are utterly and totally ignorant of the things of God the Bible says they've given themselves up to sensuality greedy to practice every kind of impurity Isn't it interesting that apart from the checks and balances of the Holy Spirit in our hearts men will do anything. They'll go to all sorts of extremes. Think of the battles of sin that you fight in your own life. Now imagine if you had nothing in your soul to check you at any time that every thought of your mind could just wander and go to the deepest darkest places in the old time and no one ever say a word. That's the life of the unbeliever. But the Bible says in verse 20 but this is not the way you learned Christ assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus and what is this truth? To put off your old self which belongs to the former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness Here we're speaking about our manner of living and our conduct We're not saying that you're saved by these things but the scripture is absolutely saying that God's people are free from the utter despondency and despair of greed and sensuality and impurities those things that would lead us down the wrong path the spirit of God checks us and challenges us and says no, no, no I love you, don't go that way Now there'll be seasons in your life where you might say no, I'm going to do my own thing Well a loving Father will pursue you and He'll come get you He'll come get you and He'll straighten you out and put you back on the way He wants you to be going That's the way this works He's a Father, He's not just a buddy He's our Heavenly Father and He will come get you and whom the Lord loves, He's chasing us And so we can be renewed in the spirit of our minds How is this possible? This is the work of God He promised to give us a new perspective How could you not have a new perspective after believing that you're saved by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ and now you look at the old world that you were part of and you're like, you know some of that still tempts me but God loves me and God's got something else for me and by His grace and through His power I'm going to seek after those things Verse 23 Be renewed in the spirit of your minds How are we renewed? The Word of God Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Verse 25 Therefore having put away falsehood let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor Now brass tacks don't lie to each other for we're members of one another To lie to a brother is to lie to yourself It just ought not be Be angry and do not sin The Bible doesn't say you're going to be a robot It doesn't say you're going to be completely devoid of emotion but it does say don't let your anger don't let your anger explode into sin Be angry but sin not Now that's a great adage to keep in your mind that you can't be frustrated but how do you respond to your frustration? Are you going to sin? Are you going to lash out at your neighbor because you're confused or aggravated? Are you going to be mean? Or are you going to say alright hold on I'm frustrated but I'm not going to take it out on my brothers because the Lord loves me and He loves my brothers and I ought to love them too Verse 28 Verse 28 Let the thief no longer steal Look I know I'm a great preacher but I'm going to go on record I don't think Christian people should be thieves and if that's controversial there's something wrong with the way you're reading the Bible Now is a thief going to heaven because he quit stealing? No That's not the righteousness but the righteousness will inspire not stealing anymore I think of the woman at the well she went and told everybody about Jesus come and see a man who said everything about me Do you think she started dating even more men after she talked to Jesus? Do you think she went off and found her some more men to live with? No she didn't There's no way and that's why the scripture can say here let the thief no longer steal If you've got a problem putting packs of gum in your pocket book at the Walmart through the checkout line and that's a real problem and the Lord has seen fit to save you yeah stop that right and if it's a real problem talk about it with your brothers and sisters we'll get to the bottom of it we'll help you whatever the issue might be that's why we have to do but don't do that no it's not the righteousness before God that you're not stealing stuff anymore but Christian people don't do that sort of thing stop it it's amazing how controversial this message is going to be all you'll have some on one side that will accuse us of being a legalistic church because we dared read the scripture and say don't steal don't lie don't bear false witness don't be deceitful oh no and then you'll have the other side saying we're not going far enough because surely you've got to do those things if you think you're going to make heaven your home I'm telling you these aren't the righteousness the righteousness is Jesus Christ alone but if he has begun a good work in you he'll be faithful to complete it and in love he's calling his people to do what they ought to do let's finish up let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth but only such as is good for building up now this is important I don't want you thinking that there's a bunch of words you're not allowed to say and if you say those words that's what they're talking about so people can cross it off their list and say I don't say those seven words I'm not allowed to say on television so I'm okay here you can tear people down with perfect grammar and totally acceptable words and you could still be tearing people down to nothing with the way you talk about them here the scripture says Christian people if you've got something to say about somebody let it be something that builds them up don't seek as your heart's desire to tear down your brother or to tear down an unsaved neighbor even your heart shouldn't be that way now look there are people that every word out of their mouth is something negative and spiteful and they just seem to hate everybody here the scripture's calling us to build people up if you've got something nice to say then say it the words you say should be purposeful and this is a struggle for a lot of us we live in a very crass time look at the humor remember the humor of say I love Lucy or the three stooges it was all very much on the nose it was all physical comedy you know someone taking a pie to the face or everybody would just howl and laugh and everyone would enjoy and look how crass and how mean spirited our comedy has become over the decades we live in a time of vicious vitriolic rhetoric we live in a time where comedy is always at the total expense of a victim you know in the old days people might have been laughing with you but I guarantee you nowadays comedy is all about laughing at you maybe even secretly wishing you were dead it gets that bad right and so we live in a day and age where words are sharp very pointed the social media mob can attack at a moment's notice and since they're safely hiding behind their phone screens thousands of miles away they can attack with impunity and you cannot really hurt them right but here the scripture says to Christians your words should give grace to those who hear let this be a convicting thought for most of us our words should give grace to those who hear them can we say that God help us God help us and the scripture says then not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption how do we go about not grieving God how do we go about not countermanding what God has intended for us to do how do we not grieve the Holy Spirit we don't hate our brothers we don't hurt people we don't fib we don't steal let him who stole steal no longer liars quit lying back biters quit biting backs this is how we ought to live the gospel imperative was fulfilled by Jesus Christ this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent the work is done what we're talking about now is the reply of faith how are you going to reply to the work that the Lord has done for you there's an old gospel song that says look what the Lord has done look what the Lord has done he heals my body he touched my mind he saved me just in time now flip side what do we do in response to all that the old gospel song says this I'm going to praise his name each day he's just the same come on and praise him look what the Lord has done isn't that an evangelistic cry that we ought to espouse how do we praise the Lord we tell the truth to our brothers and sisters how do we praise the Lord we don't steal from the store how do we praise the Lord we don't tear people down with our words and our action do you understand these things that the scripture calls us to do will better your life guaranteed but also will serve as high praise to the Lord God who bought us with his own precious blood now do you see the balance we're striking these things don't save you but if you're saved aren't you thrilled to know that you can praise the Lord in everything you do and this is how the scripture commands us that whatsoever we do do all to the glory of God amen be kind to one another tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you why can I do these things because look what the Lord has done for me look what the Lord has done He healed my body He touched my mind, He saved me just in time I'm going to praise His name how am I going to do it? well I'm going to praise His name in church I'm going to sing His praises, I'm going to pray I'm going to say amen to the truth as I hear it preached I'm going to share Christ's love with my family and my friends I'm going to tell them about Jesus who did this mighty work for me I am the woman at the well I am the soul caught in the act of adultery I am the centurion on Golgotha's hill I am the thief on the cross who said Lord remember me when you go into your kingdom I am the sinner for whom Christ came to save and I can testify that He saved me to the uttermost and in light of His salvific work God let my words bring grace to the hearer let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh my God do you see how all this works together? He saves us He loves us we love Him He empowers us to love the brothers and as you love the brothers, how do you do it? you don't fib, you don't steal you take care of folks Amen? Lord we pray you to have blessings to your word today for our good and for your glory Lord, we thank you and we praise you help us to live lives that please you that point to the grace that saves the grace alone in Jesus Christ we thank you Lord we praise you in Jesus name Amen