Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV
We who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives should no longer be living our lives in practice as though we are still among the ungodly of this world. For if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine God-given faith, then we should have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we should have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness.
We should not be those whose hearts are hardened against the Lord and against his word and who feel as though we have the freedom to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin against God without concern, conscience, compassion or genuine remorse. So we should also not be those who have become callous and who have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Yet, some professing Christians are there.
So, what is sensuality? Well, sensual is fleshly, erotic, and carnal. And sensuality is “outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency, wantonness, lewdness” and it is “violent spite which rejects restraint and indulges in lawless insolence” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). And lewdness is indecency or obscenity; vulgar sexual character or behavior. So, this is serious stuff this is talking about here.
And this reminds me of what it says in the book of Jude about those people who have crept in among the sheep of God’s pasture unnoticed for who they are and for what they do. They are ungodly people who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord (see Jude 1:4). But these were the shepherds of the sheep, so these are pastors today who also pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny Christ.
And how do they do this? By teaching the people that they can make a once-in-their-lifetime profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is guaranteed them when they die, and it can’t be taken away from them, but regardless of how they live. And so many people here in America are professing faith in Jesus Christ but they are still living in sin for the pleasures of the flesh and not for God.
Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV
But that perversion of God’s grace which is permeating the American church at large is not the way any of us should have learned Christ if we were taught the truth that is in Christ Jesus. For Jesus said if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, we have eternal life (see Luke 9:23-26).
And Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-23 that those of us who have died with Christ to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him had our old self crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its passions, for if sin is what we obey, it ends in death. But if obedience is what we obey, it leads to righteousness and sanctification and its end is eternal life with God.
And John wrote in 1 John 1,2&3 that if we claim to be in fellowship with God/Christ while we continue to walk in sin, we are liars. And he said that if we claim to know God but we do not obey our Lord’s commands (New Covenant), we are liars. And he said that it is those who practice righteousness who are righteous in the sight of God, and that those who continue to practice sin are not of God but they are of the devil. But how many pastors are teaching that?
And the point here is that Jesus and Paul and John and the other NT apostles did not teach perverted grace. In fact, Paul taught that the grace of God which is bringing us salvation trains us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await Jesus’ return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (see Titus 2:11-14).
So, please know that the truth that is in Christ Jesus does not give us permission to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin once we believe in Christ. The truth we should have learned teaches us to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
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“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.”
We who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives should no longer be living our lives in practice as though we are still among the ungodly of this world. For if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine God-given faith, then we should have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we should have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness.
We should not be those whose hearts are hardened against the Lord and against his word and who feel as though we have the freedom to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin against God without concern, conscience, compassion or genuine remorse. So we should also not be those who have become callous and who have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Yet, some professing Christians are there.
So, what is sensuality? Well, sensual is fleshly, erotic, and carnal. And sensuality is “outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency, wantonness, lewdness” and it is “violent spite which rejects restraint and indulges in lawless insolence” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). And lewdness is indecency or obscenity; vulgar sexual character or behavior. So, this is serious stuff this is talking about here.
And this reminds me of what it says in the book of Jude about those people who have crept in among the sheep of God’s pasture unnoticed for who they are and for what they do. They are ungodly people who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord (see Jude 1:4). But these were the shepherds of the sheep, so these are pastors today who also pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny Christ.
And how do they do this? By teaching the people that they can make a once-in-their-lifetime profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is guaranteed them when they die, and it can’t be taken away from them, but regardless of how they live. And so many people here in America are professing faith in Jesus Christ but they are still living in sin for the pleasures of the flesh and not for God.
Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV
“But that 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.”
But that perversion of God’s grace which is permeating the American church at large is not the way any of us should have learned Christ if we were taught the truth that is in Christ Jesus. For Jesus said if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, we have eternal life (see Luke 9:23-26).
And Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-23 that those of us who have died with Christ to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him had our old self crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its passions, for if sin is what we obey, it ends in death. But if obedience is what we obey, it leads to righteousness and sanctification and its end is eternal life with God.
And John wrote in 1 John 1,2&3 that if we claim to be in fellowship with God/Christ while we continue to walk in sin, we are liars. And he said that if we claim to know God but we do not obey our Lord’s commands (New Covenant), we are liars. And he said that it is those who practice righteousness who are righteous in the sight of God, and that those who continue to practice sin are not of God but they are of the devil. But how many pastors are teaching that?
And the point here is that Jesus and Paul and John and the other NT apostles did not teach perverted grace. In fact, Paul taught that the grace of God which is bringing us salvation trains us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await Jesus’ return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (see Titus 2:11-14).
So, please know that the truth that is in Christ Jesus does not give us permission to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin once we believe in Christ. The truth we should have learned teaches us to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
