R372 Rags or Robes, PT.1

Today we begin a brand new two-part series called Rags or Ropes from Dr. Don Wilson. Here on The Encouraging Word. As we head to the book of Ephesians, once you join us on our website at www.tewonline.org, you can study along, listen to today's broadcast and catch up on some old broadcasts as well.

It's online at www.tewonline.org. And now, Dr. Don Wilson. Rags or robes, which one is it going to be? Do you wear rags today or are you clothed in the robes of God's righteousness? One of the most remarkable truths of God's Word. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. Therefore, if any man, any woman, any boy, any girl is in the Lord Jesus Christ, he or she becomes a new creature. All things are passed away.

Behold, all things have become brand new. And here in Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul tells us that when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, we become dressed in the robes of God's righteousness. I want to ask you a question today. It's a rhetorical question.

That means you don't have to respond in the service. I want you to respond in your own heart today. If those people that work with you from Monday through to Friday, if those people that go to school with you, if those people that are at college with you were to come and stand here where I'm standing this morning, how would they describe your attire during the week? What would they say that you are dressed in?

How do you look to them? You see, Paul is not talking about physical clothes. He's not talking about the color of our clothes.

Not talking about the expense of our uniforms. He's talking about the fact that when we come to know Jesus Christ, the Bible says that we discard in Christ Jesus, we literally put to death our old man, the person that we once were. And then we put on the robes of God's righteousness.

And in fact, it's a very interesting metaphor that Paul uses here under the inspiration of the Lord Jesus Christ. He literally uses the symbolical reference to one stripping off one's garment, like you would hurry home to get changed out of your athletic uniform in order to go out on a date and you want to look your best and you would rush in and you've only got a little bit of time and you take off one set of attire and you put on another set. I know all of you did that this morning. You took off your pajamas.

I don't see anyone in pajamas here. You took off your pajamas and you dressed to come to church. Well, here's what the Bible says. The Bible says that when you give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, God in His grace and because of His grace enables you to be stripped or to take off the garment of the old man and to put on the robes of God's righteousness. And you and I, within the context and the fabric of our lives, in the development of our character, we actually become walking demonstrations of people who are robed and clothed in God's righteousness. Now in the first couple of chapters of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, as we've already discovered, Paul deals with our standing in Christ Jesus.

Here in the middle section in chapter 4 and 5, he talks about our walk. What do we look like? What is our character? As Christian people. Now you might have heard someone say this before, but we could ask it in a different way.

Here it is. How do you know that you know that you know that you know that you're saved? How can you tell if someone has had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is it because they go to church or because they read a Bible or because they give their money to the poor? What does the Bible say is the mark or the clothing or the attire of someone who is walking in Christ? Let's read together Ephesians chapter 4, and I want to begin reading at verse 20. Verse 20. Listen to what the Bible says. You, however, did not come to know or to learn about Christ that way. Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life.

Here it is. To put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Let me just pause there for a moment. Here we're talking about a present continuous tense. Bible says that if you have not met Jesus Christ, you are continually in the process of being corrupted. You are perishing. But when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved once and for all. But you are continually being saved unto the day of salvation.

So look at this. Verse 22 again. You were taught with regard to the former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. To be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger, do not sin. By the way, the King James Version there is perhaps a lot more accurate.

It's a command. Be angry, but do not sin. Can you imagine that? Did you know that the Bible commands Christian people to get angry?

Can you imagine that? What in the world could that mean? Be angry, but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. And do not give the devil a foothold.

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Spirit of God.

Why? Because he's the one with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. What a marvellous passage of Scripture.

Our subject today, rags or robes. It seems to me that the more the world infiltrates the church, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish the Christian person from the world. All around us we see more and more the world is infiltrating the church. The church is beginning to look more and more like the world, and the more that that happens, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish the born again believer from someone who has referred to Jesus Christ. Paul tells us that you can distinguish the born again believer because the born again believer is robed or clothed in the robes of God's righteousness.

And here he presents a clear contrast between the old self, the way you used to be, and the way you used to be. The new walk is a Christ-centred, purposeful walk. The old walk is a self-centred and futile walk. The new walk knows and understands the truth about God, but the old walk is ignorant and rejects truth. The new walk is sensitive to sin, but spiritually calloused towards sin. Remember, in the preceding verses, your hearts are hardened. The new walk is renewed in thinking.

The old walk is depraved in thinking. And so Paul here says, wait a minute, dear friends, when rags are changed for robes, there are some distinguishing features. Let's look at them very briefly. Something happens.

Let's understand what it is that happens. There are nine of them, and I want you to hear all of them this morning. Number one, there is a hearing and receiving of truth.

There is a hearing and receiving of truth. Look at verse 20 and 21. You, however, did not come to learn about or to know or to appropriate or become part of the Lord Jesus Christ that way.

Surely, you did hear of Him. Do you know what Paul says here? Paul pulls a theological Grey Poupon on the crowds, and he comes to this point and he says, you, however, did not come to know Christ this way, but of course, if you are clothed in the robes of God's righteousness, of course, you know truth.

You have received Him. And it's interesting here, because Paul does this in such a remarkable way. In fact, when he says, you did not learn about Christ, accepting directly and deliberately, he uses an aorist, active, indicative tense, which means it happened decisively in time. There was a dramatic encounter. It was once and for all. You were confronted by the righteousness of a loving and a wonderful and a forgiving God.

And guess what happened? When you were confronted by Him and you became clothed in the robes of God's righteousness, and God took your sin and He cast it as far as the east is from the west, and He remembers it no more, guess what happens? You are a person in which and through which and about which the truth is made self-evident. Paul says, God's truth is all over you.

The truth of God is all over you. He says, if you want to know that you know that you know that you know that you're saved, if you want to know that you, by God's grace, have discarded the rags of your sinful life, just look at the demonstration of the robes of God's righteousness. And one of those characteristic marks are going to be that you are a walking public demonstration of a life that has been changed by the truth of God.

But then he takes it further. He said there's a second characteristic for one who is robed in God's righteousness. Number two, there is an understanding of what happened to the old self. There is an understanding of what happened to the old self. Verse 22 and 23 and 24, Paul uses three infinitives to get his point across.

What does he say? He says if you are clothed in the robes of God's righteousness, number one, you have laid aside the old man. Number two, you have been renewed in your mind.

And number three, you have put on the new man. And he says that the mark of the believer is the fact that the believer who has become a part of the truth of God has a deep and profound understanding of his or her old self. You know that you were a sinner and that you are one saved by the grace of God. You see friends, the born again believer doesn't like to dwell on the sordidness of his life without Christ. He doesn't like to elevate or to magnify what he was.

He merely uses his old self understandingly as a testimony to point people to how he met Jesus Christ and what he has become since Jesus Christ came into his heart and life. You have an understanding and wherever you go, people are literally saying that that person is a changed person. They once were, but now this is what they have become. So we're going to come back to our question again. If someone who works with you was able to stand here, would they stand up and say, you know, I can tell you one thing about Dan or Susan or Joe or whoever it might be. Man, they have changed.

They're different. They are walking public demonstrations of the truth of God and there is an understanding of what they once were. Perhaps what Paul is leading up to is he's saying, listen friend, if you know Jesus Christ, your heart is broken because you have a clear understanding of what it means to be lost in your own old self and how desperate it is that you need to go out and tell other people about the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus. Number three, there's a third characteristic about someone who wears the robe of God's righteousness. Number three, there is an end to acting. There is an end to acting. Look at verse 25, marvelous verse. Therefore, each of you, those of you that have come to know the truth of God in Christ Jesus, those of you that have come into a new understanding of what your old self was, number three, there will be an end to acting. He says, therefore, each one of you must put off falsehood. What does Paul say? Paul is saying that there's no more sham and pretense as far as a born again believer is concerned. Paul is just simply saying here, listen, when a person is robed in the clothes of God's righteousness, all pretense is gone. There's no more acting when you encounter Jesus Christ.

Please forgive the interruption, but oh, that's my story. Too many times playing the role of a Christian instead of loving Jesus and seeing him love me. I pray that you would understand God wants to pursue you in this love relationship and he wants to do it on a daily relationship. Spending time in God's word. Have you heard about the daily encouraging word? You know, I'd love to be a part of your daily devotional. Love to be able to send you the encouraging word daily devotional and be a part of what God says to each one of us through his word every day. You can become part of that and receive one yourself from me. Just go online to TEWonline.org. That's TEWonline.org and get your copy of the encouraging word Bible devotion today.

The number again is 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. There are no more facades. There are no more walls. There's no more hypocrisy.

There's no more trying to keep up with the next door neighbors. There's no more trying to pretend that you have a relationship with a God that you've never met. The Bible tells us, my friend, that a present life is the life that reflects Christ Jesus.

It is evidence. In other words, a believer will no longer lie about what he is and who he is. Paul is saying here, my friends, that new creatures will act like new creatures.

Well, that's a tough one, isn't it? Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he's a new creature. Paul is saying, wait a minute, if you're wearing the robes of God's righteousness and you're a new creature, you're going to act like a new creature.

Jesus put it like this. He said, let your light shine. He said, it's impossible to say that your life has been lighted by the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and yet for nobody to see that light shining. It's a contradiction.

And what Paul is saying here in verse 25, my friend, he's providing a contrast that is so clear. He says, you are going to move from lying to truth. There's no longer going to be any pretense or any hypocrisy. You're going to move from a life of hypocrisy to a life of reality.

Why? Because liars cannot inherit the kingdom of God. How do we know that? Look with me at Revelation. Revelation chapter 21.

Turn there very quickly. Revelation chapter 21 and verse 8. Listen to what the Bible says. The Bible says in Revelation 21 verse 8, But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars. Why does he use an all-encompassing word concerning liars? Because liars are living under the pretense of a truth that they don't know.

Friend, listen to me. In America today, it is becoming increasingly possible for Americans to live a lie. Because everywhere we turn, even though the courts are against the word of God, and even though this is happening against the word of God, we still contrary to public opinion are able to practice our faith. And because of the churches and because of the opportunities, and Paul here says, all lies, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. And we know according to God's word in Revelation 20 and verse 14, that born again believers who are clothed in God's robes of righteousness can never suffer the second death, can never suffer the second death.

Why? Because if you've given your heart to Jesus, you're born twice and you're only going to die once. You were born to your parents just like we all were. You were born again of the Spirit of God that Paul talks about in verse 20 and 21. And then you're only going to die once if Jesus tarries long enough, you're going to die physically. But the Bible says, if you haven't given your heart to Jesus, you are born only once like everybody is, but you're going to die twice. You're going to die physically and then you're going to die spiritually. And that second death, the spiritual death is the second death that the Bible talks about. And the wonderful thing about what Paul is saying here in Ephesians chapter four, he's saying, listen to me, my dear friends, watch me, just watch.

This is what he's saying. He said, listen, would you just pay attention a moment? I've got something to tell you. When you give your heart to Jesus Christ, God takes those rags and He just throws them away from your presence and He dresses you in the robes of His righteousness and He makes you a brand new person. He cast your sin as far as the east is from the west and He remembers it no more and He writes a new song upon your heart and He says, I tell you, wherever you go, there are going to be distinguishing features. You are going to be different. You are going to be a walking example of the truth of God. You are going to be someone who demonstrates practically and in every sense of the word an understanding of your life outside of Christ, your old self. But He says in the third place, your robes are going to be a practical demonstration that there's no more acting and no more pretense as far as you're concerned. I'll guarantee you, my dear friend, you can go up to any person who's met Jesus and say to them, would you like to meet the Lord Jesus Christ and they're never going to have any problem telling you that they've met Him.

Never. That's what Paul is talking about. But number four, there's a fourth characteristic here that's interesting. There is a change in reaction. These robes that we wear on a day-to-day basis, the robe of God's righteousness means that there is a change in our human reaction. Look at verse 26. Verse 26 says, be angry and do not sin. Now, in order to understand what Paul is saying here, we've got to understand the word anger.

The word anger here is an interesting word because in its root word, it doesn't mean a momentary, boiling, seething, out of control type of rage and anger. That's not what Paul is talking about. Paul here is talking about a deep-seated, rooted conviction directly related to the righteousness and the holiness of God. That's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, you must be angry, but do not sin.

Why did he say that? Well, Jesus repeatedly became angry with the Pharisees and they challenged Him with everything. Who were the Pharisees? They were people who were inside the church. They were people who wore their religion on their coat sleeves. They were the people who were so bound in their traditions.

This is what you have to do in order to be spiritual. Jesus rejected all of that. He said, I've come that you might have life and my grace is free and full and I want you to know that I inhabit the praise of my people. That's what Jesus was trying to teach them and He became angry with them because of their Pharisaical approach to their religiosity.

In other words, it didn't matter how well qualified they might have been. Jesus was saying to them, listen friend, you're lost. Jesus went into the temple and He saw the debauchery of God's house and He became angry and He made a whip of small cords and He drove them out of the temple and Paul here is saying, listen, this emotion called anger can represent good or bad but it is in direct response to your motive and your purpose. That's why He issues a command followed by a qualification. He says, be angry but do not sin.

Why does He say that? He says, listen, there is a difference between righteous anger and sinful anger and He says there is an obligation for every born again believer who is wearing the robes of God's righteousness to become angry about the antithesis of the holiness and the righteousness of God. He said it is impossible for a born again believer to say that you know Jesus Christ and yet to turn a blind eye to the immorality that the world demonstrates all around us and the open rejection of Almighty God. But Paul says, be careful Christian because I want you to know something that Satan knows that anger is a weak point and if Satan gets a footstool in your anger he's going to turn your righteous anger into sinful anger and when it turns into sinful anger it is going to displease God because it translates and changes from righteousness to sin and God will not tolerate that. You wear the clothes of God's righteousness.

You need to be angry about the immorality of the world but you need to be angry and sin not. What a challenge. What a challenge. What an extraordinary challenge.

It is a powerful challenge. You've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton and he's been preaching here on The Encouraging Word and now he's coming into the studio and I prayed you'd open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now?

Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God. Perhaps some of you moments ago prayed along with a pastor to give your life to Christ or rededicate your life to Jesus or perhaps you're in a situation where you have questions. Let us discover the answers together at 866-899-WORD. That's our phone number. We'd love to speak with you, pray with you, give you some free resources that Dr. Don wants you to have if you just gave your life to Christ or rededicated your life. Again, it's 866-899-9673. We're also connecting on our website at www.tewonline.org That's www.tewonline.org We would love to meet you there.