 Okay, we'll just pray and start. Father God, we just want to thank you for this day, Lord. Even as we come to your presence, Lord, we are humbled by your Lord's awesome power and wisdom and beauty and holiness, Lord. Father God, as we come, we realize, Lord, Lord, our own frailty, but Lord, we stand in awe of your infinite Lord power and wisdom. And Lord, we thank you for making us who we are. Lord, we thank you for drawing us and to yourself with your amazing love. And we thank you for making a way for us to come to your presence, Lord, without any hindrances, Lord. And so, God, we just want to thank you. We thank you that there's no limitation, there's no hindrance to come to you, Father God. And we thank you that you called us to come with boldness and confidence and courage, and because of your grace and mercy. And in order to receive grace and mercy every day, we can do that, Lord. Thank you for this awesome privilege. Yes, Lord, we stand in awe of you. And this morning, God, we just commit this entire day into your mighty hands, God, entire day of learning and receiving. And, sort of, God, we pray that you would breathe life, Father God, over every area of our lives, Master. The things that seem God, like weaknesses, I pray that your strength will overshadow it, overwhelm it. Lord, things that seem to be very stubborn, Lord, I pray that your power, your unanimous power will, Lord, just unearth that, Lord, take that away, Father God, and weed it away, Lord. I just pray that you would transform us. And, like, even as you said, Lord, that you would prune us, Lord, so that we would be even more fruitful, Father God. We trust you, Lord, and so we yield ourselves into your mighty hands, God. We thank you. In Jesus' matchless name, we pray. Amen. Okay, so let's start from where we left off last class. We finished just one second. So, yeah, we were looking at chapter four, right? Chapter four, and then we went all the way to chapter four and verse 16, right? Verse 16. Okay, so, yeah, I just want to know if there's any questions, anything, you know, feel free to ask, feel free to post on the chat. So, if there's any doubt at all, let's, you know, clarify it and then move forward, right? Okay. Okay. So, today we'll continue with, just to review, you know, like Paul's chapter four, verse one, on words Paul says, he refers to himself as a prisoner of the Lord, and he's, you know, very strongly urging the church, the efficient church, the believers there, to walk worthy of the Lord, to walk in a manner that's appropriate of the calling, you know, like, so he's saying, you know, walk in an appropriate way, like how we would, you know, for a certain occasion, like we would dress up in a certain way, in the appropriate manner, right? If it's a, let's say if it's a wedding, we won't go very casually dressed, we won't warehouse what you would normally wear, clothes that you would wear to, you know, to sleep at home. We would not wear that clothes, right? So, it will, we will be attired or dressed up suitably, appropriately. So that is what he says, you know, walk worthy, walk in an appropriate manner of the calling with which he called you, right? Because, and then he goes on to explain how we can walk in that appropriate manner. So this is the, so he's explaining that, you know, lowliness, gentleness, long suffering or patience, and bearing with one another. Now, this is the appropriate manner or this is the worthy a way, a walk in which we can walk worthy of the calling. This is what he's asked, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So, to be at peace with one another, that supernatural peace which God has given us, to be able to put it on display, to be able to extend it to one another, and endeavoring, meaning you make every attempt, make every attempt, make an effort. It requires effort in order to maintain that oneness and unity. And then he goes on to talk about what is common. There's one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, father of all. So these are all, you know, these are all common things. In the sense, see, you see, whatever is eternal, right, whatever is, you know, of eternal value, this is it. These are things that, you know, that's these are eternal. It's established for eternity, that there is one body and one spirit and so on. So he's saying, okay, this is what the truth is. This is what is of eternal value. So, you know, go by that, right? So this is something that is common. There's one God, one father, one father, and he's above all, he's through all and in you all. So, you know, no matter what other differences might be, like in terms of nationality, language, background, education, whatever it is, these are things that are common. So let that not divide you, let this actually unite you. So you make every attempt knowing that, you know, same God, you worship the same Lord, the other one, other person, other believer also worships. Make every attempt to keep that a bond of unity, in the bond of peace, right? And then from seven onwards, we saw that how we have been graced with spiritual gifts, and the Lord Jesus, he ascended in order to give us these gifts, ascended into heaven, the gifts of the Spirit, because he said that he needs to go to the Father, when he goes to the Father, he will send the Spirit, send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came and dwelt in us, and all these gifts are the manifestation of the Spirit or the display of the Spirit, right? So, and then he goes on to say, you know, the one who ascended also descended, like he went to Hades, and then he talks about how he descended, and then he went above, that he might fill all things, and he gave some, okay, now verse seven, now this is something which is important, that we need to understand and grasp. In verse seven, we see to each one grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. So, he's talking about something that is common to all, or to all of us, we have these gifts of the Spirit, and it's there in a measure, right? So it's there in a measure, and we can grow in it, we can grow in this grace, we can grow in this gifting, we can grow in this empowering, as long as we, you know, exercise it, put it to good use, minister faithfully, steward it well. Now, in verse 11, he says, and he himself gave some, okay, now this is not each one, but he gave some, so it is something that he desires, or he has already decided, and he wills that some will be apostles, some will be prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, so he himself gave some to be, you know, and then this is what we call as a five-fold ministry, you know, because there are five distinct ministerial gifts, right? And so, evangelists and pastors and teachers and prophets and apostles, now verse 12 talks about why the purpose, right, the purpose for these, for which he has actually called some to be this, which is for the equipping of the saints, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, so the saints to be equipped to minister, every believer to be equipped for the minister, so equipped to minister, so which goes without saying that the apostle will equip the saint to be in the apostolic, the prophet will equip the saint in the prophetic. The evangelists will equip the saints in evangelism and the pastor and the teaching and so on. So whatever the grace that has been given and the ministers, those who are called and appointed, will equip the body of Christ, will equip the saints in that. Now what does this happen? This equipping, what does this result in? It's resulting in ministry, right? So there are some who are equipped in the apostolic and they are going around and they are exercising the apostolic gift, the calling, and they're pioneering doing some pioneering work, opening up territories, extending the kingdom of God in areas and places where it has never been. So they're doing that. So those who are in the prophetic, again, they have been trained to hear the voice of God, to discern the voice of God, and to obey the voice of God. So, you know, so all this is happening. They are doing their work of ministry, whether it's reaching out, whether it's building up those who are already reached. So all this is resulting in the edifying, in the building up of the body of Christ. So the church is being built up. It's built up stronger. It's built up bigger because more and more are being added because of the work of ministry of the saints. So the other, or some of the other aspects of why the apostolic, why this five-fold ministry is that they will continue to equip the body of Christ till the body of Christ is edified. And all believers come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the, that's verse 13, to a perfect man, to maturity, to the measure of the stature of Christ. He's the standard. He's the role model. So that Christ's maturity, Christ's level of maturity, Christ's standard of maturity is the role model. Like that's the level. So till we all come to that, this equipping happens. So and why maturity, why maturity, why should everyone grow in the knowledge of Christ? Well, the reason is very simple because we should not be childish, right? We should not be childish because being childish, continuing to be childish, it's dangerous. Continuing to be childish is dangerous because we'll be, you know, swayed this way and that way by every wind of doctrine, by every teaching, which might not be necessarily biblical. Okay, so that's the danger. So when people are mature, then they'll be, they are able to discern. They are able to discern what is right, what is wrong with the help of the Holy Spirit. So that we should no longer be children with every carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craptiness of deceitful plotting, which means that there are people who are manipulating, who are, you know, who are doing things, not for the, not with good intentions, not with sincere intentions for that will benefit the body of Christ that will benefit the believer, but they're doing it for the sake of their own advantage and benefit so that they might get some benefit out of it, right? So they are plotting, which means they are craftily planning something. How can I get something out of this person? Deceitful plotting, which means it's not all this planning and everything is deceitful. It's full of deceit. It's full of lies. And that is what they are doing. So that is verse 14. And then, sorry, one second. Yeah. And then, so we should no longer be in that manner. So we need to come to place of maturity. But we need to speak the truth in love and we speak in speaking the truth in love, which means in continuing to speak the truth of God in love that we all grow up in all things into him. So in all aspects, in all areas of our lives that we grow up and that we become mature. Okay. So that's the objective. So it all flows from, why did the Lord Jesus establish this in the church? It has all these effects, one after the other, one after the other. It's people are being equipped. They are ministering. The body of Christ is being edified. Everybody's coming to the unity of the faith. They're coming to the knowledge of the Son of God and they're being mature to be a perfect man. And there's no human role model but Christ Himself, Christ Himself is a standard. And when they come to that place of maturity, then there is no going to and fro with every wind of doctrine. They've reached a place of maturity, so that they don't have to be swayed by the plotting, by the cunningness of man, by the deceitfulness of man who are of so-called ministers who are actually, who are actually doing things for their own benefits. So what this does is that the whole body of Christ is edified. It's growing and it's being strengthened where every part does it share. That's another thing that every part, which means everybody who is a believer is a part of the body. Every believer is part of the spiritual body of Christ and every believer has their role and function. And as they faithfully fulfill that role and function, as they do their part, which causes, you know, they are causing growth of the body and edification of the body according to the effective working by which every part does its share. So this is God's plan, this is God's will and this is God's design in the body of Christ. So we will do well as ministers of the gospel, as pastors, as spiritual leaders to get this into our own, in our spirit, to receive this in our spirit and say, okay, this is why we are doing church. This is why I'm there as a pastor or this is why I'm there as a teacher or this is why I'm there as an apostle or evangelist as a minister of God. I'm there to, yes, I'm there to share and preach and all that, but the big picture, the objective of it is that the believer is equipped and edified in sharing Christ, in sharing the truth, in sharing all these messages, you know, Sunday after Sunday, that's the objective that we are taking this believer, you know, from where they are to a place of maturity. Okay, right. Let's look at verse 17, verse 17 onwards, I'll just share the notes as well. Okay, so verse 17, right, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness, but you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Okay, so here's some instructions. So you're saying this I say therefore. Okay, so this is what Christ has done, the verses before that, this is what Christ has done, this is what he has established in the body for the body to be edified, equipped and so on. Therefore, I say to you and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk or your walk, your life should not be the same as how it was, or it should not be the same as the rest of the Gentiles, people who do not know God, how there should be a difference. Okay, now, so he goes on to explain that the rest of how the rest of the Gentiles walk, okay, people who do not have a living relationship with Jesus, how is their life, how is their walk, says in verse 17, they walk in the futility of their mind. Okay, so which means he's saying in the emptiness or their life is futile, in the, in other word, for that is vanity. Okay, so it's a immoral depravity, you know, it's, it does not have truth in it, it does not have, it's not appropriate, right, it does not have truth, it's morally, morally corrupt. Okay, so saying you can't walk like that, you can't walk in or live in the same way, right, in the futility of their mind. Now, why is there, why is, when he says futility of the mind, verse 18 talks about, you know, why is it futile or why is it wasteful, right, why it does not have any, any, any, any kind of benefit, right, spiritually or even otherwise. So it means that having their, so verse 18 he says having their understanding darkened. Okay, so which means their faculty of their mind imagination, the ability to think, process, decision making, everything is darkened. Okay, so it's saying it has come to a place of not in the light, but it's darkened. Okay, so it's, does not have the light of the truth. Okay, so the whole thought process, imaginations, decisions, intellect, because they've not come to the truth of the gospel, it is darkened. Now it might be, people might be highly intellectual, people might be highly intelligent, very imaginative, very creative. Okay, but it's the, the thought process and everything is darkened. And it's, it's empty in the, in a sense, you know, it's, it's a futility of the mind, they're living according to their mind, according to their thought process is everything. But that is not come to the light of truth. So therefore in that sense it is darkened. Verse 18, second part also says that being alienated from the life of God. So what does alienated mean? Alienated means separated, okay, distanced, separated, shut out, okay, having no connection. So being alienated from what distance or disconnected from what, from the life of God. Okay, so this is the reality of an unbeliever. Now the thing is, you know, a person might be, you know, might be wonderful, you know, might be a good person, might be a very, you know, person of very high values, you know, morally even, you know, to some, to a large extent, you know, maybe even better than some believers, doing the right thing, saying the right thing and trying to live a good life. But even for such people, what happened? The reality is that they are alienated, cut away, distance, disconnected from the life of God. Okay, so the word used there is zoe, life, zoe, which means God kind of life, or the life that God has. It's not biological life, but it's spiritual life, zoe of God. They're alienated from the zoe of God, from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Okay, this ignorance and blindness ignorance, we know what that word ignorant means, ignorance means that, you know, there's no knowledge or they're not, they've not come, they don't know, there's lack of knowledge, there's a lack of understanding. So that is ignorance. So because of the ignorance that is in them, they are not understood things, or willfully, or even otherwise. And it says because of the blindness, okay, blindness we know is something that we associate with sight, right, being able to see, and not being able to see, right, is blindness. But here it says because of the blindness of their heart, okay, blindness of the heart, the word you say is cardiac, which means their spirit is dulled, their spirit is calloused. So the spirit is not able to receive, because it's disconnected from the life of God. Okay, so we see this important spiritual truth that yes, people could be highly skillful, they could be very intelligent, but there is, they are in a way, they are disconnected, they are cut away from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, and because of the blindness of their heart, the spirit is cut away from the life of God, and therefore not able to perceive who God is, not able to understand, not able to understand God's ways. Okay, so you say, you know, don't walk like them, you know, don't try to copy them, don't try to compare yourself with them, and don't try to walk with them, you know, you walk worthy of the calling, now don't try to copy, don't try to live like them, because this is the reality, this is how they live, this is the reality, this is spiritual reality, they are cut away. Now the Lord Jesus says in John chapter 15, we see that, he says that, I am the wine, you are the branches, so what does he mean by that? He means that the life that is flowing in him is flowing in the believer, so he says, abide in me, and you will, you know, you will be, and let my words abide in you, and you will ask what you desire, and so on, and then he also says, you know, you are the branches, I am the wine, and as long as the branch abides in the wine, or stays in the wine, it will bear fruit, so which means we see that, well, life of Jesus, the Zoe God kind of life flows from the wine to the branch, it's disconnected, does not have life, so a person who is not yet a branch, not yet made that decision to be connected to the life of Christ is alienated from the life of God, okay? So verse 19, again, who being past feeling have given themselves over, okay? Now because of this, because they are alienated, now they have given themselves over, you know, to live in a certain way, and what is it? They have given themselves over to eludeness, they have given themselves over to work all uncleanness, with greediness or greed and uncleanness, and everything that is morally, that is immoral, is found, right? Now it might be in some degree, it might be in a, for some people it might be in a small degree, but then for some it might be a greater degree, but the fact is this, you know, this is the reality, right? Because they do not have the life of God in them. And then verse 20, okay, but you have not so learned Christ. Now that is not your reality, right? This is not how the condition is, this is not your condition now, this is not how you have learned Christ, okay? Your condition is different, your spiritual condition is different. You are, in other words, you know, you are, you have the life of God. So everything that is opposite of what he described for the Gentile is what is true for, you know, the one who is a believer. So, which means that, well, the believer has the life of God. The believer is not distanced from the life of God. The believer is connected to the life of God. And there's no blindness of the heart because the eyes of his understanding are being opened, have been opened, right? And now he's a, he or she is a slave of righteousness and not a slave to sin, right? So, so this is the difference. So he's saying you have not so learned Christ, okay? If indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, okay? So saying this is, you have heard, you have been taught by Christ, you have been taught by the Spirit, you have been, you have heard the Spirit. So we know that he spent, Paul spent, you know, this two and a half plus years in Ephesus, teaching them each and every day, training them. And then they were all greatly benefited, you know, they heard, their lives were changed, they went, they impacted the lives of others in the entire, you know, neighboring regions and so on. So, so this is what it is that you have, you have heard him and you have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. And now this is, this is true for us as believers, right? We have the privilege of hearing him. We have the privilege of being taught, being taught by Jesus, right? So because of this verse 20, he says that you put off, okay? Now this is your spiritual reality, you are connected to the life of Christ, you know, you have been taught by him, you have been, you have heard his voice, you have been taught by him. So now you need to make some decisions, you need to live in a certain way. You cannot go on living the old life. Right? So what should you do with regard to how, you know, you need to live? You put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Okay, so, so he's putting the, again, you know, like what we've seen in Galatians, he's asking the believer to be responsible, to take the responsibility of putting off, putting off the former conduct. So to make some decisions, to put off, to make some choices about how they live. Okay, so that word put off, that means to put aside, to literally push, or to push away, right, to cast off. They're saying, this is what you need to do. You literally need to push away your old conduct, you know, cast off the old conduct. You can't continue to hold on or, you know, think, oh, should I live like this? You know, should I consider these options, sinful options? No, you push away, you put it aside, have nothing to do with it. Right? Concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to deceitful lust, sorry, deceitful lust, which means that the old man, it's actually growing corrupt, the old nature. So it's decaying, right? It's not producing life, it's not life producing, it's decaying. So why do you want it? Right? According to deceitful lusts. So according to certain, you know, these strong desires, which are, in fact, deceitful, meaning it is something that is not of the truth and it's something that is deceiving, right? And it's a strong desire, lust, craving, but it's deceiving. It's a strong craving, it's a strong longing, it's something that is forbidden, sinful, and it's deceitful, probably leading you into more and more into sin, leading you more and more into it is something that is unedifying, something that's trapping you like a prisoner. So put away, cast away, push it away, right? And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Be renewed, be renovated, be changed. Okay? So that's the, that's the thing, that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. So the whole responsibility, you know, for this is upon the believer now. Okay? So we as believers, we have to make certain decisions, certain choices. Now, what will help us make those decisions and make those choices is the life of God that is in us. And the Holy Spirit is in us. We are connected to Jesus. We have the life of Jesus in us, the God kind of life, Zoe, flowing in us. So that is there to empower us and strengthen us. But we need to, with our will, with our mind, we need to make a choice. Now, that making a choice and that renewing of the mind to think in a different way, it is our responsibility. Now, God will not do it for us. The Lord will not do it for us, because he's given us that free choice. He's given us the ability to design. So he says, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And again, verse 24, that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness that you put on. Now, the fact is, we are already new creations. We are new creations. There is change that has happened to our spirit. We are born again. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. Now, this putting on is to affirm that, to come in agreement with that each and every day. That you put on, what do you need to put on? Verse 22, he says, you put off. Now, it's like taking off something away from you, taking off. Maybe you're wrapped in some dirty clothes or something. You just take that off, push it aside. And then you put on some clean garments. You put on the new man. Now, this is a choice that you need to make every day. It's already been, you've already been made clean, but you're affirming, you're coming in agreement. Yes, put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. So this new man, the spiritual reality is according to God in his likeness. And in true righteousness, nothing deceitful, like true righteousness and holiness. Verse 25, some practical things. Okay, let's read that. Verse 25 onwards, therefore putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbour, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labour working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour and evil speaking would be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Okay, so saying therefore, all these things are yours, you come to this place, put away lying. Don't continue to have or speaking of lies or using lies to get ahead or to get an unfair advantage, put away lying, speak the truth, you speak the truth with your neighbour. Okay, for we are members of one another. So we are actually members, we are actually part of the same body, which means if you are actually, if you're speaking a lie in order to put down, pull down someone so that you can go higher, or if you're speaking a lie in order to in order to save a situation for yourself, to make you look good, to cover up something, you are actually, in other words, saying you are actually hurting yourself. You are hurting yourself. Why? Because you are members of each other. Okay, so at that moment, it might seem like, well, I'm glad I got out of that situation. But it's going to come back, you have actually put yourself, you have actually hurt yourself. So you're saying, you know, you put away lying, you speak truth with your neighbour, because actually you are members of one another. Okay, first 26, be angry and do not sin. Okay, interesting verse, because it says, be angry, do not sin or in your anger, do not sin. So we've, we see that, yes, anger is an emotion and well, anger can lead to, if not checked, if not corrected, or if we continue on in anger, continue to feel that anger, you know, it can lead to a lot of destructive behaviour for ourselves and for others. Physically, we might get violent, verbally, we might speak words, hurt someone. We might do all these things. But the thing is, yes, we might feel angry, because some, there is some injustice. Okay, when we, sometimes we read the newspapers, we feel angry. We feel an anger, oh, this is not right. It is, it is unjust. This person has been dealt with unfairly. Why is there so much injustice? It's because of sin. And so we feel that emotion of anger, but do not let it lead to sin. I do not let it become a sinful act, because it is very possible. It has the potential to cause you to sin, but rather let your response be in righteousness. Okay. So he says, you know, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your heart. You deal with it. Now you have to deal with it. No, don't, in a sense, even if in the day, if during the day you have felt this, you've become angry, don't wait, you know, till the next day. Right. So he says, don't let the sun go down on your heart. So before nighttime, so in other words, figuratively, it means that you deal with it quickly. Right. Don't continue, don't prolong it. You deal with it. And the important thing is this, don't let the sun go down on your heart, because if it, if you're going to extend that time, then you're going to, the next verse says, nor give place to the devil. What happens is that the longer you keep, you know, keep this anger as a, in your heart, you're going to give or give place. And the word they use there is a foothold. What means foothold. You're giving a topos, you know, a foothold for the devil, for the enemy. So it's like, when he gets a foothold, he's going to come in and create confusion and, you know, steal, kill, destroy. So don't do that. Don't give place to that devil. So this is the thing. So anger actually has to be dealt with. We can, we can feel the emotion of anger and not let it lead us to sin. But we can, you know, deal with it in the right way. It can be a righteous response to, you know, this righteous anger that we feel. It can be a righteous response to it, which will express, you know, the wrath of man will not result in the righteousness of God. But, you know, but if it's a righteous act that we respond to by the power of the spirit, then it'll be a, you know, it'll have God's approval on it. Okay, we'll stop here and we'll come back and continue.