Ephesians 4:17

 

Ephesians 4:17

Do Not Live as the Unsaved Live

 

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 

          ·       The Apostle Paul, Commands You in the Name of the Lord:

1.     This verse is firmly tied to the transition Paul made in the beginning of Chapter 4 when he commands the believer to walk worthy of their calling.

1.     Ephesians 4:1 

2.     Paul commands the believer as firmly as possible by declaring his Divine Authority to write scripture

1.     2 Peter 3:15   

          1.     That You Do Not Live as the Unsaved Do

a.      Paul has utterly laid waste to the false god of legalism in the previous three chapters, he now turns his divinely inspired cannon on the false god of antinomianism, which he destroys in a few short phrases.

                                               i.     The heresy of the Nicolaitans

1.     The Ephesian Church resisted it to their credit

a.      Revelation 2:6 

2.     Yet the Church at Smyrna was destroyed by it

a.      Revelation 2:14-16 

                                             ii.     Paul encourages you to dedicate your life wholly to Christ

1.     You are either all in or all out

a.      Galatians 2:20 

2.     You need to be the light of the world

a.      Matthew 5:14-16 

3.     You must not serve sin

a.      Romans 6:1-4 

4.     You must not love the world

a.      1 John 2:15-17 

           2.     That You Do Not Follow After Empty Thinking of the World

a.      The world rejects God

                                               i.     Romans 1:21-25 

b.     The world hates the light

                                               i.     John 3:19-21 

c.      The world is futile

                                               i.     Psalm 94:11 

d.     The world is easily summarized because of its emptiness

                                               i.     Ecclesiates1:14