17 through 32. I'm glad you could be with us today. Let's get right into it.
Paul says, so with the wisdom given to me from the Lord I say you should not live
like the unbelievers around you who walk in their empty delusions. So Paul right
away he just gets right to it. Look, your culture that you live in is amoral.
Nothing right or wrong about it. The character that we're called to is Christ
like character. There's no such thing as a Christ like culture. There's just
Christ like character that is displayed by you and I in the specific cultural
contexts that we find ourselves in. Regardless of where you live, whatever
space, whatever place you find yourself in, whatever race of people we are, we're
called to Christ like character and attributes. That's what sets us apart. He
says, their corrupted logic has been clouded because their hearts are so far
from God. Their blind understanding and deep-seated moral darkness keeps them
from the true knowledge of God. So sometimes people are just far from God
because they choose to be and they want to be and that's the life that they find
themselves in. And so the Bible refers to this as being in the dark. He's using a
metaphor of light and dark. People choosing to live in the darkness, choosing
to live totally separated from God, totally devoid of any relationship with
God in their life. And of course, God loves us enough that he lets us suffer
the consequences of our own decisions, actions, and choices. That's the
definition of love is that you give people the choice as to what life they
want to live. Now he says in verse 19, because of spiritual apathy they
surrender their lives to lewdness, impurity, and sexual obsession. So when
people lose their desire to follow God, to follow the Lord, they will give in to
money, to power, to women, to lewdness, sexual immorality, because something is
going to dominate the energy in our life. And when you follow Jesus, he redirects
all of your energy towards the goal of being unselfish, the goal of being a
servant. The closer we get to Christ, the more unselfish we are, the more we want
to serve others, meet their needs, and help them. So without Jesus to channel
our energy, most people boomerang into debauchery, which is what he's talking
about here. He says, but this is not the way of life that Christ has enfolded
within you. If you have really experienced the Anointed One and heard
his truth, it will be seen in your life, for we know the ultimate reality is
embodied in Jesus. So if you really have Jesus living in your life, it will become
evident based on how you live and how you act and how you treat people. It's
really that simple. Now, can sincere people have a bad day? Of course,
absolutely. Can sincere people make terrible choices and make stupid
decisions? Of course, of course. It all has to do with your heart and the
direction that you want to go towards. The really humble person
will always quickly say sorry and get right back on to what God has
for them. Now he says in verse 22, he's taught you to let go of the lifestyle of
your old life, the old self, which was corrupted by sinful and deceitful
desires that spring from delusions. Now, what's he talking about here? Sinful
desires that spring from delusions. Delusions are the things that we make up
in our head that we think are gonna make us happy. And more money won't make you
more happy. More money will just make you more of who you already are. More houses
won't make you more happy. They'll just make you more of who you already are. All
of the material things that you have in your life they don't give you more
happiness and more peace. They just make you more of what you already
are. If you give an unselfish person a lot of money, they'll be unselfish with
it. If you give an unselfish person a lot of homes, they'll
be unselfish with it. If you give a generous person a bunch of stuff,
they'll be generous with it. Your money and your material things just magnify
and multiply who you already are, which is why we so desperately need God to
transform us in our life every single day. So he says in verse 23, now it's time
to be made new by every revelation that's been given to you. So when God
shows us things in His Word and by the Holy Spirit,
changes the way that we think, changes the way that we behave. And he says, and to be
transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ within your new life and live in
union with Him, for God has recreated you all over again in His perfect
righteousness and you now belong to Him in the true realm of holiness. So it's
not Jesus that makes us right with God. I mean it's not us that makes us right
with God, it's Jesus that makes us right with God. Jesus is the one who gives us
our righteousness, our right standing with God. So he says, so discard every
form of dishonesty and lying so that you will be known as one who always speaks
the truth for we all belong to one another. Verse 26, but don't let the
passion of your emotions lead you to sin. Don't let anger control you or be fuel
for revenge, not even for a day. So our passions in life, in another version it
says, you know, be angry and do not sin. So it's okay to have passion about things
that you perceive to be injustices, but through the filter and through the eyes
of Jesus, God takes our any righteous passion that we have and He redirects it
in a godly way. He says, don't give the slanderous accuser, the devil, an
opportunity to manipulate you. If any of you has stolen from someone else, never
do it again. Instead be industrious, earning an honest living, and then you
will have enough to bless those in need. Wow. You know, God wants us to work hard.
It is amazing to me how many people give advice to others and they don't even
have a full-time job. Unbelievable, man. And we live in a world of fakes and
phonies and God calls us to be industrious, to work hard, and out of that
many wonderful things can happen. He says, and never let ugly or hateful words come
from your mouth. Boy, that's a that's a mouthful. You know, I learned a long time
ago Billy Graham said it best, when you wrestle with a pig, both of you get dirty
but only one of you likes it. What's what's he saying there? Listen, you don't
have to go one day in your life without getting tempted to say something that
you shouldn't. Do I have people say mean things and rude things to me? Every
single day. Every single day, including this morning. What did I say? Nothing.
Nothing. God watches every time the devil throws you a pitch in the dirt, God is
watching to see if you swing at it. Every time the devil throws a pitch to you in
the dirt, God is watching to see if you swing at it. Every day is filled with
opportunity, pitches that come your way that you say, no no no I'm not swinging
at that pitch. That's in the dirt. I only swing at strikes. And so God will give
you the wisdom when to talk, when to be quiet and pray. Nearly 90% of my day now
is God telling me be quiet and pray. Don't say anything. And so as we talked
about yesterday, when you get disciplined in that, then what happens is when you do
speak, then your words carry an anointing and they carry force because you're
speaking when God wants you to speak. But instead let your words become beautiful
gifts that encourage others. Do this by speaking words of grace to help them. So
God wants all of our words to be care packages for people. To love them and
bless them and help them in their life. Now verse 30, the Holy Spirit has sealed
you in Jesus Christ until you experience your full salvation. So once we're
Jesus's, no one can take us away from Jesus. Once we have Jesus in our heart
and we've said, Lord I give my life to you even through the ups and the downs,
we are a member of God's family. Jesus owns us. We belong to Jesus. You don't
have to worry about that. He says lay aside, verse 31, bitter words, temper
tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. Again, all of this has to do with
attitudes and words. Lay aside bitter words means let them go. Temper tantrums.
It's the last time you had a temper tantrum. God was watching. Revenge, revenge,
profanity, and insults. So God's watching to see how we use our words and how we
operate from our attitude. And then lastly in verse 32 it says, instead
be kind and affectionate toward one another. God has graciously, hasn't God
graciously forgiven you. Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of
Christ's love. So Jesus forgives us so we're supposed to forgive others. It's
really that simple. And aren't you glad that every single day you can come to
this book, God can speak to us, he can encourage us, he can lift us up. And
that's one of the reasons why I read my Bible every day and I love to teach it
to you as much as possible. Thanks very much for watching today. Until next time,
have a beautiful day.