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to Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 through 24.

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And shame he hath called you as holy, so be you holy,

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is the word of God.

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The great catastrophe in the western church

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is the loss of the distinction

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that God's people are to have from the surrounding culture.

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Surveys that have been done by Gallup or by Barna or others

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for investigating the attitudes and lifestyles

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of those who are, quote, born again, quote, quote.

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Those surveys reveal very little difference

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in attitudes and lifestyles from the population in general.

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There is not the disparity there that one would expect to see

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between those who are born again

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and those who make no claim to know God at all.

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And I would say to you today that it isn't the world that has changed for the better.

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Let's wait for Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verse 17.

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This I say therefore, and I say together with the Lord,

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that you walk no longer, just as the Gentiles also walk.

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In the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding,

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excluded from the light of God because of the ignorance that is in them,

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because of the hardness of their hearts.

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And they having become callous have given themselves over to sensuality

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for the practice of every kind of impurity, with greediness.

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But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him

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and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus,

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that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self,

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which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of the chief.

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And if you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self,

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which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

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Holiness.

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That's a word that is hard for most of us to get into focus.

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Holiness seems obscure, severe, and often slovenly.

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We know that God is holy, this word tells us that,

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and we know that we in return are to be a holy people.

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We have been called to holiness.

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What does that mean?

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Does it mean that we have been called to be sinless people?

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Does it mean that we have been called to be entirely perfect in our lifestyle?

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This morning I want to talk to us about this matter of holiness in the community of the saints.

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This lesson of holiness is a condition or a state of being

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built to separation from that which is ordinary and common.

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The concept is familiar in the Old Testament where the people of Israel are called by God to be a holy nation in Exodus 19.

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Surprising that they were to observe the Sabbath day and honor it.

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They were to keep it holy.

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Furthermore, the utensils, the vestments, the sacrifices, and the priesthood were all said to be holy.

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What that means is that these things, this day, this people, with their life,

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were separated from all of the rest for a sacred purpose.

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The word holy comes from an ancient word that means to cut or to separate.

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It came to mean to cut above something and if we were to put it into our contemporary language,

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we would say that this is holy, is a cut above all of the rest in its excellence.

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In an infinite sense, God is holy.

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That is one of the attributes of misdeeds.

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In the state of God's holiness, there are two emphases that we need to keep in mind.

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One is the impetus that God is transcendent.

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That means that he is separate from all of the rest that exists.

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God is holy. He is entirely different in a special way.

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God is an infinite distance in separation from everything else that's created.

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Aren't we supposed to see as an infinite cut above everything else?

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Nothing approaches God in its likeness.

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God is different in the way we are. He is holy. He is transcendent.

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But there's an ethical impetus in the word also.

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In this sense, holiness is that which is separate from moral evil or sin.

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That is, God is morally pure and cannot condone evil, nor can he have any relationship to it.

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Dr. Paul Ends is used to think at Northwestern College, writes in the New Handbook of Theology,

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in his holiness, God is the moral and ethical standard. He is the law. He is the standard.

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So holiness has a transcendent impetus as well as an ethical impetus.

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But the idea is that there is separation from the ordinary and the common.

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Applying this word to the community of saints, we're really stating the obvious,

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because the word saint comes from the word holy.

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It is important to understand that nothing is made holy by itself.

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It is made holy by something greater than it is.

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In our case, it is God who declares and who makes us holy.

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He himself is the essence of holiness as the eternal God.

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Therefore, he declares something to be separate, and it is true.

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The community of saints, the church, the local church is holy,

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therefore distinct from the rest of society.

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We are called to be a holy people, to live out who we are by God's declaration.

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We are called to be a holy people right now in this world, not someday in heaven.

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We are to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, says Paul to Titus.

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You see, the Christian is not ruined by living in the world, but by the world living in him.

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Our text tells us something about the distinction of the saints in three important respects.

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You may want to pull out your outline to take a look at it, because we're going to move through it rather quickly.

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The distinction of the saints is what holiness is all about, and we're going to see a distinction in three respects as we look at our text.

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Number one, saints are distinct from sinners in their position.

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Now, position has to do with relationship, relationship to God.

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It is a standing that we have before God.

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It is a connection with God or the lack of that connection with God.

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Now, in our text, sinners are said to be excluded from the life of God.

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That is the position of the sinner.

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He is cut off from God because God is holy and he cannot condone sin.

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Therefore, the sinner is excluded from the life of God, according to verse 18.

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What's the cause of this?

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Well, it's the fact that there is ignorance in the sinner.

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And ignorance has nothing to do with one's degree or one's education.

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It has to do with one's comprehension of spiritual truth.

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The sinner is ignorant.

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He does not understand the truth about God himself or the world in which he lives.

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This ignorance is a spiritual condition in the soul of the sinner,

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and it's there because of the hardness of the heart.

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It's not that the sinner cannot know.

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It is that the sinner chooses not to know these things.

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The real problem is in the innermost part of the person, in the heart, in the will.

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The sinner refuses to know what he can know.

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His heart is hardened. It is petrified by sin.

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That's the cause of this exclusion from the life of God.

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And the consequences are that the sinner is darkened in his understanding.

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He has mental confusion.

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He's unable to make enlightened value judgments.

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The sinner has no moral perception by which to guide his life.

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His condition is one of moral depravity.

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And not only does he inherit that by his birth,

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but that darkness is also cast upon him supernaturally by Satan.

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It's a double darkness.

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It is a darkness that arises from within his own ignorance, his willful ignorance of God,

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but it is a darkness that is cast across his eyes, according to 2 Corinthians 4, by the devil,

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so that he cannot see the truth that is in Jesus Christ.

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The consequence of this exclusion from the life of God is futility in the mind.

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The reasoning of the sinner disburs in circles.

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It's aimless. It comes to no advance and to no progress.

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Man fills himself with the concept of evolution,

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that his society is getting better and better, or that society is evolving into something that's better.

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It is not.

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Indeed, we see the result of this darkness and this exclusion from the life of God

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taking a toll upon this society that turns its back on God.

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The mind, the reasoning process of the sinner,

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says the New English Bible, is good for nothing.

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It's futile.

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Now in contrast to the sinner and his position, being excluded from God is the saint.

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Let's remind ourselves that the saint is not someone who lives an exemplary life.

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The saint is a sinner who has acknowledged his sin,

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and by his faith in Jesus Christ has been forgiven of his sin.

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Now the saint, in contrast to the sinner, is said to be created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

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He is no longer excluded from God. He is created newly.

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He is a new person.

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The cause of this is that he has learned Christ.

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He has come to acknowledge the truth that is in Christ.

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The spirit of his mind, which was futile before and which came to nothing,

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has been removed by God. It's been given new life.

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The consequence of this is that the saint is a new self.

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He is a new person in Christ. He has a new identity.

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Whereas before his heart was darkened and his will was hardened against God,

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now the one who has trusted Christ, the saint,

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because in his new creation, his righteousness and his holiness, he is related to God.

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So the saint and the sinner are distinct in their position.

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They are as different as night and day.

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The sinner and the saint are as different as light and darkness, as life and death.

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They are both humans.

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But one is dead in past tussles and sins. The other has been made alive in Jesus Christ.

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The second distinction I want to talk about is the distinction in practice.

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Saints and sinners are distinct in their practice.

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The lifestyle of a person flows from his life source.

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Lifestyle flows from life source.

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What is your life source? The life source of the saint is Jesus Christ.

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The life source of the sinner is sin within himself.

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The lifestyle or the practice of the sinner is said to be given to sensuality in verse 19.

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Given to sensuality because he is callous.

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He has lost all sensitivity to right and wrong.

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The sinner has delivered himself over to unrestrained, lowed living.

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Living without any personal or social standards.

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In order to practice impurity,

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answers Paul to perform every conceivable, every imaginable perversion.

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And to do that with greediness. In other words, he can't get enough of it.

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He wants more and more of that kind of life. It does not satisfy.

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That kind of living creates an insatiable craving for more.

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The sinner is determined to gratify himself at any cost, regardless of the rights of others.

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He is given to sensuality. Given to fulfill what pleases him.

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Given to fulfill his sensual lust and desires.

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That's the sinner in his lifestyle.

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What about the saint?

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The saint, Paul, should behave no longer as a sinner.

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He speaks of the saint's former manner of life.

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In verse 22.

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In verse 17 he says that you walk no longer like the Gentiles, that is those who are outside of God.

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He says don't walk like, don't conduct yourself like that anymore. Don't be given to sensuality.

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Behave no longer as a sinner. Why? Because you have learned Christ.

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You have come to know him. And when you came to know Christ, he did not teach you that kind of a lifestyle.

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The saint is to live distinctively in the world. The practice of life is to be different than the society around him which is given to sensuality.

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The saint is to be noted, as he goes on to say in chapter four and into chapter five, the saint is to be noted for being honest in relationships.

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That includes being honest in his speech in verse 25.

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He says laying aside falsehoods, speak truth, be honest with your tongue.

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You are a member of others, so speak the truth to one another, don't lie to others.

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So to be honest in our anger.

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There is a place for anger, where he says be angry but do not sin in your anger.

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Don't allow that anger to remain in you and to dominate you and to infect you.

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Be angry but be honest about it, deal with it in a righteous way.

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We are to be honest in our work. He says let him who fails stop it.

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Rather let him labor, performing with his hands.

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There is honor in hard work.

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So we are to be honest in our relationships, we are to be disciplined with our tongues, verse 29.

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Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.

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The word unwholesome means rotten.

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It means something that is unfit for human consumption.

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It's like food that is left out in the hot sun and begins to corrupt and to spoil.

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He says don't allow that kind of language to come out of your mouth.

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Be disciplined with your tongue.

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Let your language rather minister grace to those who fear you.

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He says that the saint is to be responsive to the Spirit of God, verse 30.

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Don't grave the Holy Spirit, he says.

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Don't cause the Holy Spirit to be saddened by the way that you live as a saint.

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He says the saints are to be emancipated in attitudes, verse 31.

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We are to be rid of with the flesh out of our lives bitterness and wrath,

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anger, clamor, and slander.

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He says that all of these things are put away along with malice.

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What are these words?

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Well bitterness refers to a sharp singing disposition.

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The word in the original is pitria.

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You get the idea of somebody who's picky, who's stingy, and who is sharp in tongue.

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Let all bitterness be put away and wrath.

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Talking there about the hot, passionate response to circumstances and anger,

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which is a subtle indignation that looks for revenge.

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Slander doesn't need any definition, does it? It's gossip.

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And malice? Malice refers to picking on people.

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It refers to being vicious, to doing injury to them, and delighting in the injury.

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One of these things, he says, ought to be a part of a saint.

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A saint is emancipated from these things.

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He says the saints ought to be kind in relationships,

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be kind ones to know that tender heart is forgiving and so on.

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Imitate God, he says, and forgive just as God has forgiven you and Christ.

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Saints ought to be pure in speech and action, chapter five, verses three and four.

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Not a girl.

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The point is this, that saints are distinct from sinners in their practice.

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Now that being accepted, that being true, if the Word of God says that,

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how then do we explain the contemporary aberrations in the saints,

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or those who profess to be saints?

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Well, you have extremes.

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Today we have someone one side to say, well, all these people truly are saved,

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but they are carnal Christians.

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On the other hand, you have the extreme that says,

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well, these people are never saved in the first place.

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And their lifestyle shows that though they may profess Christ, they're not saved at all.

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The truth is somewhere in between those two.

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I do share the fear that I've heard some other Bible teachers express

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that there are many people today who are in the community of the saints who are not saved.

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They go to churches and churches like ours, evangelical churches,

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but they don't know Jesus Christ.

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They know the language, they can sing the choruses, they're able to know and pray,

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they can go through all of the outward things, but their heart isn't right with God.

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They have never learned Christ.

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And what gives them away is their practice.

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There is no distinction between them and sinners because they are sinners.

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They're not saints at all.

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On the other hand, I do believe that a saint can live less than an exemplary life.

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We who are saints can practice a lifestyle that does not honor God.

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In fact, Paul implies that there were those in Ephesus this very way.

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That's why he says to them, stop lying one to another.

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Stop stealing.

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Implying that there were some who were doing this who were in the community of the saints in Ephesus.

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Dear people, God calls us to holiness.

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That means that there's a distinction between us and the rest of the world in our position.

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And it means that there must be a distinction also in our practice.

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Finally, it means that there is a distinction in our prospects.

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Saints are distinct from sinners in their prospects.

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What do sinners anticipate?

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Well, whether they realize it or not, it is the wrath of God.

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In chapter 5, verse 6, that no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things,

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the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

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So back in reference to Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3, you find out that the sons of disobedience are those who are still in sin.

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They're sinners who are dead and trespassers and sinners.

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They have no relationship with God in their life service.

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And he says that all that they have to anticipate is the wrath of God.

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And John tells us that that wrath is already coming upon them

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and that someday it will fully engulf them and carry them away

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to be separated from God for all of eternity in the lake of fire.

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The sinner has only one prospect and that is the wrath of God.

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But the saint in distinction has a different prospect.

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The saint anticipates the day of redemption.

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Chapter 4, verse 30.

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Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

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Repentance with chapter 1, verse 14.

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Where it says that those who are God's people, those who are his chosen ones,

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are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.

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Until the redemption of our bodies, talking about that time when we will be changed

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and caught up to be with Christ.

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The saint of God has only one prospect and that is the day of redemption

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that will come when we are with Jesus.

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Saints and sinners are distinct.

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They are not the same way. They are not the same creatures.

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They are different in their position. They are different in their practice.

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They are different in their prospect.

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And the obvious question to ask is, which are you?

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Saint or sinner?

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The community of the saints is a holy community

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and therefore distinct from the rest of society.

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It is true that the church has always had its greatest impact on the world

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when it lived least like the world.

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God has not saved us by grace so that we may live in disgrace.

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He has saved us by grace so that we may live distinctively different in this world.

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Which are you? Saint or sinner?

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What distinctions would prove your claim?

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Jesus Christ does not take us out of the world

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He could do that. He does not take us out of the world. He leaves us here.

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He is in the process of taking the world out of us.

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Saints are growing in Christlikeness

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but that growing in Christlikeness requires our cooperation.

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It requires our surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

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Turning our backs on what we have been in the past.

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And giving ourselves independence to him for the Holy Spirit's enabling.

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So that we can live pleasing to him.

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I'm glad that there is mercy and forgiveness with God.

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For sinners who need to be saved and for saints who are living in sin.

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There is mercy with God.

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Both can claim that mercy today.

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In coming to Jesus Christ and bowing to me.

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Saint or sinner?

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The saint of God determined by his grace to live distinctively.

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Knowing that you are different and therefore you should be different.

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There will be a price to pay.

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That will not come easily.

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There is a certain struggle for holiness.

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We are the perfect holiness in the fear of God.

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This was the caterpillar,

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their food, the process of metamorphosis

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and then the struggle to be released to enjoy his experience as a butterfly.

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There is a certain struggle for holiness that my friends,

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that is a struggle that God gives us grace for.

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And that God has assured us he is with us in.

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Maybe in the middle of the struggle that you have fallen down and you're discouraged

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and taken as fish from your ears.

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See, you're good for nothing.

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You can never please God. You are worthless.

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He loves to condemn.

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But don't listen to him.

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Reject his lie.

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Understand today that if God has called you and you're one of his children,

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if you're a saint of God,

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if he is willing to receive you back even if you've fallen,

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he is willing to pick you up in his arms and to love you,

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to wash you, and to help you to walk on with him.

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Determined by his grace if you're a saint to live like it.

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Father, you have called us to be a community of holiness as the saints of God.

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I pray that you will cause that holiness to be evidenced in our lives.

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Understanding who we are as new people in Jesus Christ through faith in him,

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may we live out that new life and put away the old self

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and put on the new self, the new creation.

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And wherein some of us have fallen,

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wherein some of us have gotten discouraged in the pilgrimage of the saints,

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renew us today, renew us in our vision of who we are,

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renew us in our hope of what our destiny is,

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renew within us the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to become

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who you've called us to be.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.