Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. for Sunday January 12, 2014
Text: Ezekiel 36:24-27 “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. (vs25) Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. (vs26) A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (vs27) And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
Romans 12:1-2 “I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (vs2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Ephesians 4:21-24 “If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: (vs22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (vs23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (vs24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
PREMISE
The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.20, Pages 157-158 , a Comment on Ephesians 4:20-24 “Ye have not so learned Christ, if so be ye heard him,” ect. (ver.20) The whole tenor Of Christ’s teaching and influence is against these things. Only make sure that you have come under it. What they are. (1) “Put off the old man,” ect. Comprehensiveness of the word “man;” his tendency is to rottenness or corruption; the lusts of deceit which are connected with him are that which will cause great harm or damage and ruinous. (2) “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Renewal begins within by the Holy Spirit rousing in you a desire for it, urging you to use the means towards it. Accept and improve these movements of the Spirit within you. (3) In this way, “put on the new man,” and especially encourage and seek to have developed these two features of creation--- righteousness and holiness. Righteousness, including integrity, honest, true, fair, open dealing; doing justly out and out, in every place and in every relation--- in the house, the market, the shop, among neighbors, among strangers, everywhere and at all times. Holiness of truth, including high reverence for God and all that is Divine, sympathy and congeniality of heart with God, cleanness of nature, purity, of soul, conformity to the image of Christ, who is the Image of the invisible God. No professing Christian can be exempted from this rule of life. Nor should any assume too readily that he is thoroughly conforming to it. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”(1 Cor.10:12). Christianity in its practical relations is very searching and thorough. It demands a high standard of life and patience. But no wonder, if Christ be the Head, the Source of all vital power, and if there be a complete provision by which the needed power may be communicated to all members. Never let it be said to Christians, What do ye more than others?”
The Purpose Of Our Change Is To Accomplish God’s Collective Goal In The Earth with Respect To His People.
1.The Reason For The Necessity Of Our Change Is Based On Our Past State---Ephesians 2:2-3&11-13 “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (vs3) Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (vs11) Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; (vs12) That at that time ye were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (vs13)But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
2. The Certainty Of The Accomplishment Of Our Change Is Empowered By The Fact That The Plan Of It Existed Before The Creation Of The World.---Ephesians 1:4-6 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (vs5)Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (vs6) To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
3. The Purpose Of Our Change Is To Accomplish God’s Collective Goal In The Earth with Respect To His People.--- Ephesians 2:19-22 “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (vs20) And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (vs21) In whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (vs22) In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
4. The End Result Of Our Change Drives The Purpose, Intent And Process Of Our Change.--- 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 “Behold I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed, (vs52) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (vs53) For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,(Isa.25:8) Death is swallowed up in victory.(vs55)O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
5. Therefore Do Not Fight The Feelings Of Change As You Transitionally Transform:
A. Your Relationship From The World To Relationship With God--- 2 Cor. 6:17-18 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.(vs18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 1 John 2:15-17 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.(vs16)For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (vs17)And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
B. As You Move From Immaturity To Maturity In Christ--- 1 Cor. 13:11 “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
C. As You Move From Non-Contentment To Contentment in Relation to Life's Circumstances--- Phi.4: 11-13 “Not as I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. (vs12) I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (vs13) I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
D. As You Move From Doubts and Fears To A Full Persuasion Of Faith Of The Love Of God Toward Yourself --- Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things, nor things to come, (vs39)Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
E. As You Move From a Selfish Individual Mindset To True Unity With Your Brothers And Sisters In The Unity Of The Body Of Christ.--- 1 Cor. 1:10 “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
F. As You Move From Your Earthly Ambitions To The Spiritual And Heavenly Ambitions In Christ Jesus--- Phi.3:13-15 “Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (vs14) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (vs15)Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”
G. As You Move From The Identity Of Being Of The People Of The World To Being Of The People Of God--- 1 Peter 2:9-10 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: (vs10) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”