Before we begin today's episode of Renewing Your Mind, we invite you to stay with us through the end of the program to hear how you can request a featured hardcover book from Ligadier Ministries. The only way you're converted is by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit. And whoever is regenerated By God the Holy Spirit is a changed person. And that person will begin immediately. to manifest fruit.
If there's no fruit. That means no regeneration? If there's no regeneration, there's no faith. If there's no faith, there's no justification. Hello, and welcome to Renewing Your Mind.
Today, Dr. R. C. Sproll brings us to a major turning point in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians. After laying out the riches of God's grace in the first half of the letter, Paul now turns to the Christian life.
and what it means to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. Here's Doctor Sproll in Ephesians chapter 4. It's been said, of course, that the book of Romans is Paul's magnum opus. his systematic theology, as it were. And that the epistle to the Ephesians is considered A mini.
Romans. Because so many of the same doctrines that Paul expounds in the book of Romans. He reiterates as well here. In Ephesians. And if I can just direct your attention for a brief moment.
Back to Romans. to the twelfth chapter. We see here in Romans 12. A point of transition. From doctrine to duty.
From Saving Grace to living faith. And that's what Paul does then throughout chapter 12 and forward. And he does the same thing now in chapter. Yeah. of Ephesians.
And he begins chapter 4. with these words. I therefore The prisoner of the Lord. It's fascinating here that he's writing. From captivity.
And an imprisonment. And yet he considers himself Not so much a prisoner of his captives, presumably Romans. But Ultimately. He is held not by pagans in this world, But he's been captured. By the Lord Himself.
And he defines himself here. As a prisoner of the Lord.
Now of course That's a blessed Captivity to be a prisoner of Christ. There's to be in the ultimate state. of felicity. There is no better prison in which to be held Than that which is in Christ. But again, just as he said to the Romans.
He's reduced now to pleading. Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord. Beseech you To walk worthy of the calling with which you We're called. In that one sentence Paul gives the summary. of his entire teaching.
of the doctrine of sanctification. We understand the difference. Between justification and sanctification. The moment, the very second. That we put our faith in Christ and in Christ alone.
We are justified. by God's declaration based upon The imputation of the merits of Christ to our account. And so we are reconciled. and no longer alienated or estranged from God. But the moment we are justified The process of sanctification.
begins Luther at the time of the Reformation gave his famous axiom. Simo yusis et paccatur, that is, that the believer is at the same time. Just And sinner. He's just By the imputation of somebody else's righteousness, namely Christ's righteousness. and in himself is not yet righteous.
And he, at the same time, as he's declared righteous on the basis of Christ's righteousness. He remains a sinner. And that sin is not completely vanquished. Until we go to heaven? and enter into the state of glorification.
Where at that point we are fully. Brought into conformity with the righteousness of Christ. Luther used this analogy. He said, the moment you believe and are justified, You are not cured of the disease of sin. But the medicine that affects that cure is given to you along with your justification.
So that the person who is justified Immediately And necessarily begins that process by which. He grows into maturity and is brought into conformity. with Christ.
Now I labor that point For this reason. In our day. Even within evangelical circles. We've had this doctrine. that has become pervasive.
that a person can be justified And never. Grow in sanctification. Or at least There may be a time gap. Between the time a person is saved or justified and the time when he begins. The process of sanctification.
And we are told that there are those who are truly saved. who are in a state of justification. but have not yet begun any change. in the inward man who are called quote Carnhole. Christians.
Now if we mean by carnal Christian A person who has vestigial remnants Of the fallen corruption of our humanity, even after we're saved, then in that sense, we're all cornel Christians. But if we mean by carnal Christian, a person who is still altogether in the flesh. Although he's already been born again. There is no such thing. I think that doctrine was invented.
to answer the question of why people go to evangelistic meetings and raise their hand or come to the altar and make a profession of faith and then afterwards show absolutely no evidence of having been converted. The evangelist takes some comfort in saying, oh, they're converted. They just haven't yet started their sanctification.
Now, the only way you're converted is by the regenerating power of God, the Holy Spirit. And whoever is regenerated. By God the Holy Spirit. is a changed person. And that person will begin immediately.
to manifest fruit, albeit tiny. and almost imperceptible. but will begin to manifest fruit of that conversion again If there's no fruit. That means no regeneration. If there's no regeneration, there's no faith.
If there's no face. There's no justification.
So the total absence of fruit. would signal the total absence. of justification. I hope I'm not going too fast on that. But anyway.
Paul now pleads. that people would walk. That's the verb he uses, to walk. It comes from the form of the verb peripate o. We think back to ancient Greece with the philosophical school of Aristotle.
who was Plato's most famous student. Plato, you remember, had the Academy on the outskirts of Athens. and his most brilliant student, who was Somewhat uh Missed when he wasn't appointed to be Plato's successor, started his own school. Aristotle, which was called the Lyceum, but Aristotle was known as a peripatetic philosopher. meaning that he would teach his courses outside, not in a classroom with a chalkboard, but he would walk around.
And as he walked around, his students would follow after him, giving attention to the lectures that the philosopher was given.
Now there was even a more famous Peripatetic teacher in the ancient world, then Aristotle. And his name was Jesus. And Jesus gathered disciples who followed him. And that following was a literal following. Wherever he walked, they walked.
They followed after him.
Now, he didn't just walk around peripatetically in circles in an aimless direction. He walked in a definite direction, but while he was walking. around so to speak He was teaching. and teaching to his disciples. And so Paul now goes back.
to this verb to walk around or walk along. In this plea for those who are receiving this epistle. I therefore The Prisoner of the Lord Beseech you. To walk. worthy of the calling with which you were called.
Again, this is not the first time in this epistle that the apostle had talked about people. Walking. The walking that he is urging in chapter four. stands in stark contrast to the walking that he describes. In chapter 2.
Let me refresh your memory. about that walking. Where we read in the beginning of chapter 2 And you he made alive. Who were dead in trespasses and sins. in which you once Walk.
Here he's describing something of a zombie jamboree. He's describing people walking Who are dead. They're not biologically dead. Their legs still function. They're able to walk around.
But while they were walking They were walking in a state of spiritual death. And they walked on a particular route. They had a particular direction. that they were going. They had a map that they were following.
Where Paul described it as this. that they walked according to the course. of this world. Remember when we looked at this? that the world Sets a course, a path.
A road. A way to go. That we in our fallen nature Follow. But when Christ saves a person, He puts them on a new path. On a new road.
on a new course. Going in a new direction, Following a new way. We remember that Christians were first called Christians at Antioch. And that the original description for the followers of Jesus were that they were called. The people of the way.
Jesus says, I am the way. And that way. Is that way that Paul is calling people now in Ephesians to follow, again, in direct contrast. to the way that we normally followed in our fallen condition. which was according to the course of this world According To the Prince.
of the power of the air. The Spirit Who Now Works. In the Sons of Disobedience. among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature The children of wrath Just as the others. Again, Our previous walk.
Our former walk was in spiritual deaths. Following the course of this world, Following the manor of Satan And fulfilling The lusts of our flesh. Just like Everybody else. Being children of wrath. Nobody, beloved, is born a child of God.
By nature We are children of wrath. Walking the walk. of this world. Now having taught that in chapter two Now Paul calls the Ephesian believers to walk A different road Again. I beseech you.
to walk Worthy Of the calling with which you were called. What does it mean? To walk worthy. of the calling.
Now none of us ever Walks. worthy of our redemption. in the fullest sense. But what Paul is saying here in the English translation of the word Worthy comes from the Greek word from which we get the English word axiom. Or axiomatic that has to do with value and has to do with a self-evident.
result or self-evident balance in the weight of various scales. What Paul is saying is. There's a way to live That is a self-evident Reflection of the balance Between our calling and our behavior. In other words, Paul is saying. Walk.
In a way, That is self-evidently A manifestation of what God has has wrought For you. And in you. Walk According to the calling with which you were called.
Now What's Paul talking about? He's not talking about your vocation. Your career. Your path that you entered into and employment. Nor is he talking about the external Pre-chain.
of the gospel. that you've probably heard many times. before you acquiesce to it. and embraced it in faith. Rather, he's talking about a particular kind of calling.
Again, the same kind of calling. that he spells out in greater detail In his letter Two. The Romans. What we in reform circles refer to as the effectual calling. of God.
The effectual calling of God is very similar to what we describe with respect to reburse. or regeneration. If you are a Christian, that means you have been born of the Spirit. You're regenerate. You've been reborn.
Well, the question is How did that happen? How much did you contribute? To your rebirth. Was your regeneration by the Holy Spirit? A joint venture.
between you and the exercise of your will. And the influence of God, the Holy Spirit. My response would be no. Yeah. A thousand times no as Paul labors in chapter 2.
Your rebirth, your regeneration. Came not after you were dead in sin and trespasses, and while you were in a state of spiritual death, began to stir yourself. and come to faith. and make a decision for Jesus. Dead people Don't choose anything.
Let alone Jesus. What Paul is saying is that while you were dead God in his mercy and in his grace. Called you out of the tomb. Just as Christ Cold. The dead Lazarus.
Out of the grave. Just as God effectually called the universe into being. God didn't invite the light to shine. and wait for the light to decide. to obey the call.
God's Call his divine imperative. Let there be light. was utterly and completely In terms of nature. Irresistible.
So is it for those who are dead in trespasses whom God in his mercy and grace Calls out of darkness into light, out of death, and into Life. That's the effectual call, the call that works, the call that affects what God ordains. and sovereignly decrees will come to pass. And when we talk about your regeneration, your rebirth. We say that that action is monergistic.
Now if you're not familiar with that term Let me take a minute to define it. You all know what the prefix mono means. You know what a monoplane is? A monorail How many rails are there in a mono rail? Juan, thank you.
The prefix mono means one. and only one. And what is an erg, E. R. G.
A unit of what? Of work. We get the word energy. From that same root.
So monergism or something that is monergistic. is a work that is performed By a single Actor. It's not a cooperative Activity. Where two or more people are involved. It's not a joint venture.
It is something that is accomplished. Singularly. by one person.
Now when we talk about rebirths. or regeneration. There's only one actor. And that's God. That work of rebirth is affected.
By the power and the immediate power and the sovereign power of God the Holy Spirit. doing something that only God can do. It's not like God does part of the work. And you do the rest of the work. God does all of the work.
We see throughout the church and throughout evangelicalism If you want to be born again. First, you have to have faith. You believe in Christ. And as a result or consequence of your faith. You're reborn.
So faith comes before rebirth. The problem with that order is that it has dead people believing without the effectual call of God. What the New Testament teaches, I'm convinced. Yeah. that the first step is regeneration.
God the Holy Spirit. Monergistically, unilaterally, sovereignly. And effectually, changes your dead cold heart. and makes it alive. Unto faith.
Under salvation.
So that faith is a result. of the spirits Working of rebirth, not the cause of it. You see the difference? All right, if that's true. And Paul's talking about that call by which you were called.
That effectual call, that divine call. The Divine Initiative. that God acted upon you. and brought you out of death into life.
Now set you up. For what we would call a synergistic activity. Synergism means a co-working. If I say synchronize ear watches, We'll put our watches together. at the same place.
The Jews used to gather in solemn assembly at the Sinogoge. The place of gathering together.
So that prefix sin, S Y N or Sun in the Greek. means a width. And synergism means a cooperative joint venture by two or more parties.
Now elsewhere the Apostles tells us To work out our salvation. With fear and trembling. There's that erg word again. Working. And he says, you are called To go to work.
And how hard are you supposed to work? about working out your salvation. Casually? In a cavalier manner?
Now and again. giving attention to this task. No. When he says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. He's calling us.
to an intense Pursuit. of godliness. That was R. C. Sproll teaching from one of his favorite books in the Bible.
In Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul gives the exhortation to walk worthy of your calling. which means to live a life that corresponds to the grace you've received. Today, Dr. Sproll's hardcover expositional commentary on Ephesians is available when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind. While you wait for it to arrive, the e-book will be available in your learning library.
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Next Sunday, Dr. Sproll continues in Ephesians, showing how Christ builds and matures his church through the many gifts he gives his people. Join us again next week here. on Renewing Your Mind.
