Avoiding Change

[Christsfreeservant]

“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” (Ephesians 4:17-19 NASB1995)​

The picture the Lord Jesus is giving me of this today is that of people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, some of whom are pastors, elders, and teachers of the Scriptures. Some of them are active in their local church gatherings in ministry, who put on a show of righteousness, but who are more like the Pharisees who try to look good on the outside, but inside are full of all kinds of wickedness and rebellion against God and against his moral laws. They are good at giving lip service, but not at putting faith into daily practice.

These are people who, by nature, are morally unclean, malicious, deceptive, manipulators, opportunists, who are opposite of good, who are liars, not trustworthy, egocentric, full of pride, workers of evil, blasphemers of truth, and adulterers who fake their Christianity, and who are multiplying rapidly. Although they know the truth of the gospel, they find ways around it, and so they avoid genuine biblical repentance and genuine walks of obedience to the Lord and to his commands, while they continue to pursue their sins.

So, although they give lip service to the Lord, they are unfaithful to what they profess with their lips. So, they bypass integrity, and righteousness, and the judgments of God in favor of their own twisted version of the gospel message which suits their chosen lifestyles. And they live below (morally beneath) God’s righteous requirements of those who profess his name. Rather than being willing to see their own character, as God sees, they avoid self-examination and they run away from having to face who they are.

They are like the man who looked at his face (character) in a mirror (self-reflection) and who then walked away and immediately and deliberately forgot what he looked like. They looked! They saw! But then they avoided any further examinations, which make them uncomfortable, and which require genuine repentance, confession, and change. They just want to escape reality and continue to live in their fantasy world. They continue to profess Jesus as Lord while they continue to be their own lord and master.

“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (Ephesians 4:20-24 NASB1995)​

I hope you get what this is saying, for not too many people are teaching this today. Many are avoiding such teachings, or they find ways around them, or they twist the Scriptures to their advantage to make them say what they do not say if taught in the appropriate context. The majority today appear to all be teaching a false (half-truth) altered gospel message which makes no requirements of the sinner to “lay aside the old self” (die to sin) and to “put on the new self” in righteousness and holiness and in obedience to God.

So many “gospel messages” I hear spoken or read on the internet or in person totally refute Ephesians 4:20-24, for they tell people that all they have to do is make a verbal confession of Christ as Lord and now they are guaranteed salvation from all sin and heaven as their eternal destiny. Much of that kind of teaching comes from Scriptures taken out of context and taught separate from their biblical context, and made to say what they do not say if taught in their appropriate biblical context, and this is deliberate.

But the way in which we all should have been taught Christ and his gospel message is that Jesus Christ, God, the Son of God, died on a cross, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world, so that by God-persuaded faith in him we will now die with Christ to sin and be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, in holy living, with lives surrendered to God to obey him and his commands – all by God’s grace, in His power within us.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

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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Avoiding Change
An Original Work / August 14, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love