Ephesians 4:17-5:14 - Outline

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*


 <http://www.2rbetter.org/>

*SEP 8 - EPHESIANS 4:17-5:14 - SANCTIFICATION: INEVITABLE COROLLARY*


 *1. 4:17 (4:17-19, NNT) OUR WALK: NOT LIKE THE NATIONS. “This I say
therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer should walk as the
nations also walk, in the vanity of their :mind.” *Your Kingdom Father, is
not apart from holiness. You appoint a *walk* for us that is according to
Your Word, Your Spirit and our profession. *Hallowed be your :name!*


 *2. 4:23-24 (4:20-24) OUR WALK: THROUGH THE NEW MAN. “And that you be
renewed in the spirit of your :mind, 24 and put on the new man, that after
God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” *In Jesus
we see and experience Your Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit, Father! We are a new creation in Christ! *Your :kingdom come!*


 *3. 4:26-27 (4:25-29) OUR WALK: REMOVED FROM NEGATIVE SINS. “Be angry, and
sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 neither give place to
the devil.” *Father, you equate anger here with Satan! We renounce Satan
and all his works. We make no provision to walk in his ways! *Your :will be
done, As in heaven, so on earth.*


 *4. 4:30. OUR WALK: NOT GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. “And grieve not the Holy
:Spirit of :God, in whom you were sealed unto a day of redemption.” *Father,
forgive us that so often we grieve the Holy Spirit by a sinful walk. O show
us Calvary love in Jesus, and lift us into grateful and thankful hearts.
Lead us to be compassionate and forgiving toward our fellow man! *Our
:daily :bread Give us this day.*


 *5. 5:1-2 (4:31-5:2) OUR WALK: ONE OF LOVE. “Be therefore imitators of
:God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, even as the Christ also
loved you, and gave himself up for you, an offering and sacrifice to God
for an odor of a sweet smell.” *Father, we see Jesus washing His disciples’
feet! We see Him propitiating You for our sins. We see Him redeeming us
from the hand of the enemy and *reconciling* us to You by His blood! *And
forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.”*


 *6. 5:5 (5:3-5) OUR WALK: APART FROM SINS OF THE BODY. “For this you know
and perceive that no fornicator, nor unclean, nor covetous man (which is an
idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and God.” *Write
these things upon our hearts, O Father! Teach us the fear of the Lord,
which is to depart from evil! Bring us into a close *walk* with You. *And
bring us not into temptation!*


 *7. 5:14 (5:6-14) OUR WALK: A REPROOF TO DARKNESS. “Wherefore it says,
Awake, you that sleep, And arise from the dead, And the Christ shall shine
upon you.” *Father, You shine forth through those who walk in
righteousness. You *love* those in a special way who *walk* in ways
pleasing to You! Put in our hearts the desire to please You in our *walk*! *But
deliver us from the evil one!*


 *NOTE**: 4:31-32 (4:31-5:2) OUR WALK: BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE. **“Let
all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away
from you, with all malice: 32 and be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving each other, even as :God also in Christ forgave you.” *This
strikes a responsive chord in our hearts, Father. We want our relationships
with one another to be the same as Christ’s to us. Yes, let it be so
Father, by the blessing of your Grace!


 *C.H. Spurgeon Quotes: “Every Christian’s Call” - *It has come to be a
dreadfully common belief in the Christian Church that the only man who has
a “call” is the man who devotes all his time to what is called “the
ministry,” whereas all Christian service is ministry, and every Christian
has a call to some kind of ministry or another.


 *Our Psalm for the Day: 68:5-6 (68, ESV) “Father of the fatherless and
protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. 6 God settles the
solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the
rebellious dwell in a parched land.” *O Your justice and compassion,
Father! How You balance them! Mercy and truth kiss each other! *Hallowed be
your :name!*


 It is a most soul-stirring hymn. The first verses were often the
battle-song of the Covenanters and Ironsides; and the whole Psalm fitly
pictures the way of the Lord Jesus among His saints and His ascent to
glory. The Psalm is at once surpassingly excellent and difficult. Its
darkness in some stanzas is utterly impenetrable. Well does a German critic
speak of it as a Titan very hard to master.


 68:1. *Let God arise.* The ark would have been a poor leader if the Lord
has not been present with the symbol. Before we move, we should always
desire to see the Lord lead the way. *Let His enemies be scattered. *Our
glorious Captain of the vanguard clears the way readily, however many may
seek to obstruct it; He has but to arise, and they flee. He has easily
overthrown His foes in days of yore, and will do so all through the ages to
come. Sin, death, and hell know the terror of His arm; their ranks are
broken at His approach. Our enemies are His enemies, and in this is our
confidence of victory. * Let them also that hate Him flee before Him. *To
hate the infinitely good God is infamous, and the worst punishment is not
too severe. He comes, He sees, He conquers. How fitting a prayer is this
for the commencement of a revival! How it suggests the true mode of
conducting one: the Lord leads the way, His people follow, the enemies flee.


 68:4. *Sing unto God, sing praises to His name. *Sing not for ostentation,
but devotion; not to be heard of men, but of the Lord Himself. *And rejoice
before Him. *We ought to avoid dullness in our worship. Our songs should be
weighty with solemnity, but not heavy with sadness. Angels are nearer the
throne than we, but their deepest awe is consonant with the purest bliss.


 68:11. *The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that
published it.* The ten thousand maids of Israel, like good handmaids of the
Lord, aroused the sleepers, called in the wanderers, and bade the valiant
men hasten to the fray. Oh, for the like zeal in the church of today, that
when the gospel is published, both men and women may eagerly spread the
glad tidings of great joy.


 68:18. *You have ascended on high. *The ark was conducted to the summit of
Zion. The antitype of the ark, the Lord Jesus, has ascended into the
heavens with signal marks of triumph. *You have led captivity captive. *As
great conquerors of old led whole nations into captivity, so Jesus leads
forth from the territory of His foe a vast company as the trophies of His
grace. The Lord Jesus destroys His foes with their own weapons; He puts
death to death, entombs the grave, and leads captivity captive.


 68:28. *Strengthen, O God, that which You have wrought for us. *We expect
God to bless His own work. He has never left any work unfinished yet, and
He never will. “When we were without strength, in due time Christ died for
the ungodly”; and now, being reconciled to God, we may look to Him to
perfect that which concerns us, since He never forsakes the work of His own
hands.


 68:32. *Sing unto God, you kingdoms of the earth. *Happy are men that God
is One Who is consistently the object of joyous worship, for not such are
the demons of the heathen. *O sing praises unto the Lord. *Again and again
is God to be magnified; we have too much sinning against God but cannot
have too much singing to God.


 68:34. *Ascribe you strength unto God. *Let us never by our doubts or our*
*daring defiances appear to deny power unto God; on the contrary, by
yielding to Him and trusting in Him, let our hearts acknowledge His might.
When we are reconciled to God, His omnipotence is an attribute of which we
sing with delight. *(From “The Treasury of David” by C.H. Spurgeon,
abridged by D.O. Fuller)*



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