Unlimited Grace

Guest (Male): All around us, sometimes even Christians are saying, "This won't really hurt. This isn't really bad for you. This won't really matter." And even a church, even a nation, can get caught in a mass hallucination. And what we have to say is, what God is promising us is there is something better, a renewed life in the spirit.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares the second half of a lesson from Ephesians chapter four. Dr. Chapell highlights the challenging call to turn from our sinful ways and desires and be renewed by God.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Pastor Bryan's commentary on the book of Ephesians, which he wrote for the Reformed Expository Commentary series. Dr. Chapell reveals how when we lift our eyes beyond ourselves to share Paul's expansive vision, then we too will join his doxology for God's amazing grace that transforms the world. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the second half of the lesson, Life of Lizards and Stallions.

Bryan Chapell: For our scripture this morning, let me ask that you would look in your Bibles at Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter four, as we will be looking at verses 17 through 24. In your Grace Bibles, that's page 978. Let's stand and we'll honor God's word, reading Ephesians four, verses 17 through 24.

Paul, speaking to those whom he wants to live under the power and goodness of the gospel, says this: "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 given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity."

"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."

Let's pray together. Father, what a good calling you put into our lives, not to chase after futility, but to recognize you're actually calling us to be our dearest and most desired selves, that which is made in the likeness of you, that you, by the work of your son, have given us righteousness and holiness and called us now to walk in a path where there is not futility, but faith and freedom and fuel for a life with Christ. Teach us what it means. Give us the hope and the power of the gospel we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

In his book, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis describes a young man who is troubled by a red lizard that always sits on his shoulder. The red lizard is an analogy for a besetting sin, things that he and we sometimes just cannot be rid of. At the same moment, the red lizard attracts us and tells us what good things are available in the things of the world, and at the same moment mocks us by saying, "When you get it, it really didn't satisfy, did it?"

One day an angel comes to the young man and promises he can get rid of the red lizard. And the young man is thrilled. He can be rid of this mocking temptation in his life. How? He begins to discern it as the angel begins to glow red-hot. And suddenly the young man recognizes what the angel intends to do is to kill the red lizard. And now he gets a little afraid. What would life be like without this particular thing in his life? And so he says to the angel, "Well, maybe another day. I mean, you don't really have to kill it, do you?"

And the angel said, "This is the moment of all moments. You must decide." At that moment, the red lizard himself recognizes the danger that he is in and begins to plead with the young man. "That angel can do as he says. He can kill me. One fatal word from you and he will, and then you'll be without me forever and ever. It's not natural. How could you live without me? You'll only be a sort of a ghost, not a real man as you are now."

"That angel doesn't understand. He's only a cold, bloodless thing. It may be natural for him to be holy, but not us. I know there's no real pleasures for you now. I know you only dream about the things that are good, but dreams are better than nothing, aren't they? And I promise you, I'll be so good in the future. I admit sometimes I've gone too far in the past, but I promise I won't do it again. I'll give you nothing but nice dreams. They will be sweet and fresh and almost innocent."

And so the red lizard pleads for his life. It's the internal conscience desiring the things that we know are not of God. Now, I must tell you that when I hear sermons myself, like the one I'm just now preaching to you, about the dangers and the futility of being driven by money and sex and power, I recognize the easiest thing for me to do is to be glad that this message does not apply to me.

To be happy that I'm not living a lizard life. And then I recognize that sometimes God must remind me that I'm easily tempted to the very things I preach against. I can always logically understand the hedonistic paradox: that if you get everything you want, you actually want more; that you become callous to the very thing that you were pursuing. I understand that. I've had psychology classes. I know the logic of all of that. What surprises me is how subtle is the world's embrace that is actually hardening my heart when I don't even recognize it's happening.

And so, sometimes what actually happens is God brings loss into my life so that I will feel again. Do you know what I mean? Those of you who have watched your retirement accounts kind of do this in recent years and recognize, now I know some of us, that makes us grasp all the tighter. But there are others of us who recognize what I gave myself to do, to build the account, and I begin to sense the futility of it.

I begin to recognize God may have another purpose for my funds. I mean, I recognize if I've already lost thousands and thousands, that when my own child needs some help with a down payment, it doesn't hurt me so much to give it anymore. It's just kind of going to go anyway. I have no ultimate control. I find myself getting generous again by not becoming grasping of the things of the world.

I find at times when I have lost position or prestige, that my family somehow becomes more dear to me. And I recognize I was willing to sacrifice what's more important for position or fame or pride or whatever it is, and recognize that the world can just kind of so subtly come in and begin to squeeze our hearts into hardness.

And God, knowing that, is warning us here, but also telling us there is an alternative. Telling us so much about the futility of living in the material world alone, he says in verse 20, "But that is not the way you learned Christ." There is something else. There's another path. It's the better path. The reason we don't just persist in futility is because it's not God's plan. He's got something better in mind.

C.S. Lewis expresses it in that account in The Great Divorce by saying, at some point, the young man actually gives the angel entry. And the angel glowing fire destroys the red lizard and it falls to the ground, only to rise again as a mighty stallion on which the young man can ride. It's really a wonderfully insightful analogy as what C.S. Lewis is reminding us is the very things that are controlling us by the world.

If we begin to operate with the priorities and the motivations of Scripture, what God does is he takes the things that put us in bondage and actually makes us master of them. When our priorities change, God takes the very things which we have skill in and control in and power in and talent in, and instead of letting them control us by the expectations and the obsessions of the world, we begin to be free to be our true selves.

Now think what that means. That means for some people who are engineers, God, when he saves your heart and turns your life around, is probably not going to make you a poet. What is God probably going to do? He's going to let you use your talents and your abilities with freedom, saying, "How can God best use this? How can I best demonstrate the grace and the good is before God?"

And suddenly you become your best self, living for God against the intimidations and the obsessions of boss or peer or neighbor or even your own desires. Free to live for him. It's unlikely that God is going to take a CPA and say, "Now I'm going to make you a painter," or a teacher a trucker. What is God most likely to do? He's probably not going to so much change your talents as sanctify them.

Not so much change who you are as give you the direction that's ultimate fulfillment. And say, "I've given you this mind, this heart, these talents, these abilities. And now, instead of having this oppression of expectation and the futility of just going after one more thing, one more thing, one more thing, you actually begin to live in the freedom of the gospel." And that means you pursue the things you most desire and actually do it with the greatest joy that God intends.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians to declare God's plan that the gospel of Jesus Christ would reach the world through weak and sinful people like you and me. He writes that God has redeemed us to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

When we lift our eyes beyond ourselves to share Paul's expansive vision, then we too will join his doxology for God's amazing grace that saves individuals, empowers the church, and transforms the world. Yes, such grace really is possible, and Pastor Bryan's commentary on the book of Ephesians clearly teaches the details of this amazing truth.

As a thank you for your support of our ministry here at Unlimited Grace, we would like to send you a copy of Dr. Chapell's commentary, which he wrote for the Reformed Expository Commentary series. You can request your copy of the commentary on Ephesians when you donate online at unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: What's a life not lived among the lizards, but lived on heaven's horsepower? It's first the life that hears the Savior. Paul says it in really kind of wonderfully matched ways: "assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him." What have you heard about this Jesus? Well, Paul has said several things.

If you just look at chapter two and verse four: "God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive with Christ, by grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places." What have you heard about Jesus? That he's the expression of the kindness of God toward you.

That he intends the best for you. God is not intending for you to pursue a life of futility, but a life of resonance with the reality of the gifts that God has given you. And in doing so, you trust that and you believe that because God has told you about Jesus. And so you begin to hear with reality. That's true.

And the reason is because you have been, the language of the apostle, not only heard about Jesus but taught in him. Now, I've done a lot of talking as we've gone through the book of Ephesians about that language of being united to Christ. And maybe here's another time to mention it. You know, if you ever stay up watching late-night commercials, you learn that on-the-job training is a big deal, right? That you learn the most when you're actually doing the thing, when you're actually experiencing what you're supposed to be learning.

And so the apostle says you not only heard about Jesus, but you've been taught in him, as though united to him, knowing your sin is forgiven, knowing God is for you now. You're actually able to pursue the greatest things that God calls you to because you're actually hearing the truth of the gospel in him, united to him. He's helping. He desires to help.

One of the really funny and scary moments on our trip in Israel was where we were at the Dead Sea. And of course, people want to float in the Dead Sea. It has the same water density of a watermelon, right? So you can just kind of float in a watermelon. You know, you got to do it once in life. And so we'd been floating for about an hour. And then, coming down the hill, is Kathy's ancient third cousin, Aldrit, that we only discovered on ancestry.com about three years ago.

And here she is. She's hardly able to walk anymore and she's coming down this steep slope to float in the Dead Sea. Well, when I see that, I got out of the water and I started walking up the hill to intersect Aldrit and say, "You can't come," only to have Dick Fredericks, the emergency room physician of this congregation, kind of get in front of me, cut me off at the pass, and say, "Aldrit, if you're willing to try, I'll get you in."

And here's the Apostle Paul saying, don't you remember? I'm assuming that you have heard about Jesus and you have been taught in him, so that you can now pursue the life that is glory in him. How do you do that? You, verse 22, "put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and you're renewed in the spirit of your minds by putting on the new self, created after the likeness of God."

Now listen, when you're on these long trips, you know, what was it, 14 hours coming back, you know, you got to do something. So you watch every movie you can possibly tolerate, right? You listen to every song. But what actually makes it a little more tolerable for people is the noise-canceling headphones, right? So you can actually hear what's going on.

And what do those headphones do? Well, they exclude some things and they amplify other things so that you can actually know what's going on in the movie or the song or whatever it is. And what Paul is saying here is if you're really going to hear Christ saying, "I'm for you, I will help you fulfill what God intends for you, so that you could be in true righteousness and holiness living in this world, fulfilling the purposes of God for your life," you're going to have to exclude some things.

Don't just listen to the voices of the world, their expectations, their obsessions, their threats. It's not just keeping up with the Joneses. It's not just doing what the boss says. It's not just doing what your peers say makes you happy. It's actually excluding the things that you know are futility, that even if you did what they say, even if you got what they say, you would just want more.

It's a life different than chasing flies. Turn that off and instead amplify what God is saying: to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, to actually hear Christ saying to you, "I am for you now. I intend the best for you. Don't let the things of the world control you. Instead, take the horsepower of heaven and ride on the path that God gives you to ride, which is going to be the most fulfilling thing that you can do in this life."

And you believe that because you've turned off the voice of the world and you've listened to the voice of the Spirit, who is saying ultimately, what does God intend for you? I don't want you to miss it. The end of verse 24: "to live your new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." We were made in the image of God from the very beginning.

And now what God intends for his people is that we would be our truest self. That we would live without the encumbrances of sin, we would live without the encumbrances of the world's expectations, that we would rise above the dirt and actually live in the likeness of God, called to the holiness and righteousness, a life in this world that's not just captured by the slavery to the sin that's all about us.

And the promise that God is making is when we do that, we will live in the best that he intends for our lives. And so he says, listen, turn off the world's voice, listen to the voice of Christ, and you will hear what will allow you to do what God most wants you to do and what your heart's dearest desires long to do as well. That's the promise: that walking with him will allow his power to work in your heart and life even when other things would seem for a moment to satisfy more.

Many of you will know the account: July 30th, 1945, the heavy cruiser, the USS Indianapolis, returning from its mission to deliver enriched uranium, which would help end World War Two, was returning to the United States. Did not make it because of a Japanese torpedo. Within minutes, 900 men in the water, many wounded, in the water without water and surrounded by sharks.

In the four days that it took to be found and rescued, the 900 men had become 300. And the chief medical officer wrote the account, which has become famous, of how hard it was to survive when there was water that seemed to be saving all around you. Captain Lewis Haynes wrote, "There was nothing I could do but give advice: bury the dead at sea, but save their life jackets, and try to keep the men from drinking the salt water."

"When the hot sun came out and we were in this crystal clear water, you were so thirsty you couldn't believe that it wasn't good enough to drink. I had a hard time convincing the men they should not drink. The young ones, you take away their hope, you take away their water and the food, and they would drink the salt water and go fast."

"I can remember striking men who were drinking the salt water to try to stop them. They would get dehydrated and become maniacal. And there were mass hallucinations. I was amazed how everyone would see the same thing. One man would see something, then everyone else would see it. Even I had to fight off the hallucinations and not drink the salt water."

All around us, sometimes even Christians are saying, "This won't really hurt. This isn't really bad for you. This won't really matter." And even a church, even a nation, can get caught in a mass hallucination. And what we have to say is what God is promising us is there is something better, a renewed life in the spirit, and telling us the path to walk is the one which is actually going to be blessed so that we actually fulfill the image of God in us. And it doesn't come by walking the way of the rest of the world. If there's no difference in our path, there is something radically wrong. That is futility. But it is not what he intends for us.

In the beauty of the spirit is the horsepower of heaven. That he intends your good and has given you the path, follow it, and God will lift you above this world to the most fulfilling life you can live on this earth till he comes and heaven is even more real, the heaven you've already begun to live now.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace.

Guest (Male): This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.