We Lived in the Lusts of Our Flesh

Introduction: The Command to Reflect on Our Past

0:02 Will you turn, please, to the second chapter of Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 2, and will you follow, please, as I read the first paragraph in this chapter. There are but two paragraphs, and the first one is bounded by verses 1 and 10. And you did he make alive when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according to the course or the age of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind or of the reasonings, and were by nature children of wrath? Even as the rest.

1:03 But God, being rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace have ye been saved, and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his glory. His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, for by grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God aforeprepared that we should walk in them. In Isaiah 51, in verse 1, God says to his people, hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock when she were hewn, and to the hole of the pit when she were digged. Here is a command of God to his true people, the true Israel of God, whether they be found

2:31 within the Old Testament. In the New Testament Israel or in the New Testament manifestation of the true Israel, God commands us to look unto the rock from whence we were hewn, to look unto the hole of the pit whence we were digged. In other words, thoughtful reflection upon what we once were is a commanded discipline for every true Christian. In other words, thoughtful reflection upon what we once were is a commanded discipline for every true Christian.

Ephesians 2: A Contrast of Past and Present

3:03 to help us in this discipline that the Apostle has given us, Ephesians chapter 2. For in this chapter, I would remind you, we have two great contrasts. Verses 1 to 10 are a description of what the Ephesians and all men are before the grace of God quickens them to life, and what they now are as quickened sinners individually. Ye were, but God, and ye now are.

3:39 That's a distillation of the first paragraph. Then the second paragraph, verses 11 through 22, are a description of what the Ephesians and all Gentiles were before conversion, and what they now are as spiritually, spiritually quickened members of the true people of God. Ye were aliens. Ye were cut off.

4:07 Ye were without God, but ye now are part of that true temple, the true and the one church of Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul is concerned to give these contrasts, concerned that the people of God should have fuel to obey the contrasts, and that they should have the power to do what God has commanded them to do. And the Apostle Paul is concerned to give these contrasts, and that the people of God should have the power to do what God has commanded them to do. And the Apostle Paul is concerned to give these contrasts, for the simple reason that he understood the principle enunciated by our Lord when he said, To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much.

4:43 If love to Jesus Christ, and faith in Jesus Christ, faith working by love, love exercised in a context of faith, if the graces of faith and love, are the mainspring of the Christian's activity, then no pain must be spared to maintain the freshness of that love and to secure its increase. And our Lord said that in direct proportion to our understanding of what has been forgiven us will be our love to Him. To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much. To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And in this first paragraph, the Apostle lays out what we once were in verses 1 to 3, that seeing with new dimensions what we once were, we might appreciate in a new and a fresh way what we now are and therefore love the Savior more because of all that we have done. Because of all that we have done. Because of all that we have done.

The Condition and Activity of Spiritually Dead People

5:58 Because of all that He has become to us. Thus far in our studies of this first paragraph, we have reminded you that verses 1 to 3 give us basically three units of thought. In verse 1 we have a statement of the true spiritual condition of the Ephesians and all men before the application of God's grace. And you, when you were dead through your trespasses and sins, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the verb, make alive is not in the original.

6:32 Paul is bypassing what God has done. He is putting the spotlight on what they were. And when he wants to draw forth appreciation for the grace of God, he uses not the concept of sinnerhood as being spiritual sickness, which it is, spiritual blindness, which it is, but he takes that most vivid, that most comprehensive, that most extensive, word to describe our true state, you being dead, to underscore the hopelessness, the helplessness of all sinners apart from the grace of God. Having then made this assertion concerning their true spiritual condition, in verses 2 and 3, up until the last phrase, he gives us a description of the activity of spiritually dead people. Though they are spiritually dead, they are very active. And that activity is described for us in verses 2 and 3. And then the last phrase of verse 3 is a

7:43 description of the position before God of all who are spiritually dead and who are engaged in the activities described. So you have the true condition, dead. A description. Description of that condition, five lines of description, we've studied four of them, we've come to the fifth this morning, and then in the third place, their true position before God, they are by nature children of wrath.

8:14 That is, they are exposed to and liable to the righteous indignation of a holy God. Having studied together what it means to be spiritually dead, verse 1, the cause of that death, trespasses and sins, we are now concerned with understanding these pregnant words of the apostle which give us a description of the activity of spiritually dead people. The first thing we notice was the reality of that activity. He uses the verbs, ye walked, verse 2, verse 3, ye once lived.

The Sphere, Standard, and Spiritual Power of Sinful Activity

8:53 And fulfilling or doing, accomplishing the desires. Walking, living, accomplishing are very real words of real activity by real men in real life. And so the activity of spiritually dead people is very real. Then he gives us the sphere of that activity.

9:17 Having said you were dead through your trespasses and sins or on account of them. He says, wherein ye once walked, the very things that produced your spiritual death became your habitat. The sphere of your total lifestyle was nothing less than that of trespasses and sins. In your more virtuous moments, in your more elevated expressions of your humanity, when you are thinking lofty thoughts, as well as when you're thinking base thoughts.

9:51 When you're being outwardly. When you're being outwardly religious, when you're being outwardly profane and irreligious, he says, you never break out of this boundary, trespasses and sins. And all of the virtues of dead sinners are nothing but glorified sins. Wherein ye once walked, you walked only in that sphere of trespasses and sins.

10:14 Having underscored the reality of the activity, the sphere of it, then the apostle tells us the standard by which the activity is conducted. According to. You walked in that sphere, in a lifestyle that was in accordance with a certain standard. And he describes that standard as the age of this world.

10:38 In other words, the epoch of the world as it now is in a state of sin. This brief period of time in which there is this probationary trial for all. In which the devil is given reign to seduce and sinners are given reign to carry out the foul designs of their hearts. He says you were walking according to the standard set by this world system.

11:09 This brief limited epoch in which God has not yet brought to final fruition his purposes of redemption. And then we closed our study. Several weeks ago, by the consideration of what lies behind that standard. The spiritual power by which the activity is carried out.

11:33 And the apostle says it was in accordance with or according to the prince of the powers of the air. The spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. And he says there is a personal devil. And all dead sinners.

11:52 Are living as the serfs, the dupes, the slaves of this personal devil. Their lifestyle accords with the present activity of the devil. And the word worketh in the sons of disobedience is a powerful word. It is the same verb in precisely the same form as we have in Philippians 2.

12:17 God is actively working in believers. To will and to do of his good pleasure. Satan is actively at work in the sons of disobedience. Moving them, seducing them, prompting them, cajoling them, enticing them.

12:35 Into a course of action that is in exact opposition to the revealed will of the living God. And behind all the so-called smug and pseudo and intellectual opposition to the gospel. Behind the sneer of men who laugh at the thought of hell and of the blood of Christ. And the regenerating work of the spirit is the blinding power of the devil.

13:04 Behind men's bondage to lust and to covetousness and to pride and to ambition. Is this spirit actively working? You ask me, Pastor Martin, how does one spirit operate upon another spirit? How does this foul fiend operate?

13:21 How does this foul fiend operate upon another spirit? How does this foul fiend operate upon the human spirit? I don't know any more than I know how the Holy Spirit operates upon the human spirit. Giving a new heart and a new disposition.

13:31 I don't know how, but that it is so we know. Because the scripture declares it and human experience confirms it. And therefore the apostle in this very graphic description of the activity of all dead sinners. Underscores the reality of the activity of the sphere.

13:52 The standard, the spiritual power. And now we come to the fifth element of his description this morning. And it's given to us in these words. Verse three.

The Real Motivation: Lusts of the Flesh and Mind

14:02 Among whom we all also once lived in the lusts of our flesh. Doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind. What is this fifth aspect of the description?

14:24 Well I've called it after laboring long and changing frequently. And even crossing out what I thought was what I wanted at the bottom. And reworking it very early this morning. It is a description of the real motivation which produces the activity of the spiritually dead.

14:45 That they are active we have seen. The sphere of that activity trespasses in sins. Granted. In the midst of that activity.

14:54 They are in accord with the standard of the world. Being moved and powerfully influenced by the devil. But when you as it were peel off the external veneer of what seems to be. And you get down and put the spiritual stethoscope upon the heartbeat of dead sinners.

15:15 And you find out what really drives them in their activity. Paul says. The real motivation that produces all of their activity. Is this.

15:26 The lust of their flesh. Doing the desires of the flesh. And of the mind. In other words.

15:35 While strangers to the power of grace. Men are consciously motivated by nothing higher. Than the gratification of natural lust. And as we try to think our way through the apostles description of this motivation.

16:00 We shall do so by considering first of all the scope of this description. Among whom we also all once lived. The essence of this description. What does it mean in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind.

The Broad Scope of This Motivation: 'We All Once Lived'

16:16 And thirdly the vital lessons of this description. What does it all say to us. First of all then. Notice how Paul is careful to broaden the scope.

16:29 Of his description. Up until now. He has used these words. And you.

16:37 When you were dead. Verse one. Where in ye once walked. Verse two.

16:43 Then he generalizes. These sons of disobedience. And there's a sense in which it is proper to assume. That Paul is thinking primarily though not exclusively.

16:54 Of the heathen Gentiles. That's the focus of his concern. Of course. In verse eleven.

17:02 Wherefore remember that once ye the Gentiles in the flesh. But lest anyone should think that Paul is describing the Gentiles as some super advanced race of sinners. Thereby excluding himself and all his fellow Jews explicitly. And by inference excluding anyone who has the benefits of revealed religion.

17:30 The oracles of God. And some measure of external religiosity. And morality. Lest anyone should think that the scope of this description.

17:40 Is any less broad than all of humanity. He says in his opening words in verse three. Among whom we also. And he includes himself.

17:57 And all his fellow Jews. Who had the great benefits mentioned in Romans chapter nine. The great privilege of that external covenant relationship to God. The oracles of God that were given unto them and all of these blessings.

18:15 But he says. As I now describe. What is the conscious motivation of a dead sinner. I want you to know that be he dead Gentile sinner.

18:28 Be he dead Jew sinner. Every dead sinner. Is consciously motivated by these things. And these things alone.

18:39 Now you see. It has tremendous significance. In our appreciation of the grace of God. If we understand this.

18:52 He's described the characteristic sins of the Gentiles or he will describe them in chapter five verses three to five. Those base sins of lust and idolatry what we would say are the gross sins of heathenism. But when Paul says of himself. The Paul who could say as touching the law I was blameless a Pharisee of the Pharisees a religious man to the hilt externally moral.

19:22 I also was motivated by nothing higher than the lust of my flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. You see. In our understanding of the phrase the lust of the flesh must do it also must expand to include the Apostle Paul.

19:39 Living an outwardly moral and ethical life. Living a very religious life. Living a religious life according to the present body of revealed truth in the Old Testament. And so as we come to this passage I trust that God will jar us loose.

19:55 From a very narrow and unscriptural concept of what the phrase the lust of the flesh really means. What it really means to fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind. No no Paul says the scope is this. Among whom that is among the sons of disobedience we all once lived.

20:20 As all humanity is described as sons of disobedience. That is people characterized as the offspring of this disposition of resolute refusal to do the will of God. He says we too were part of that whole mass of humanity. Among whom that is sons of disobedience we also once lived.

20:46 So you see dear listeners. The things that separate men and seem to make them differ one from another are all in reality very very insignificant and superficial. The things that really matter find us identified. Sin, grace, forgiveness, divine quickening, union with Christ.

21:15 The things that really matter are the things in which we stand together. We all once lived. Now having looked at the scope of the description let us address ourselves to the essence of this description. The description of the motivation which gives birth to the activity of spiritually dead sinners.

The Essence of the Motivation: 'Lust' and 'Flesh' Defined

21:38 And how does Paul give it to us? Well he gives it to us first of all in a general statement. In the lust of our flesh and then he gives a more specific and definitive description. Fulfilling the desires or better translated.

21:55 Fulfilling, accomplishing, doing the things willed of the flesh and of the reasonings. Now. look at the general statement. We all had our manner of living. That is, we turned about. It's a graphic word to speak of habitual, continual, conscious activity. We all turned about in the lust of our flesh. Now, here you encounter two of the most fundamental words in the New Testament, lust and flesh. They're found dozens of times in the New Testament. Every intelligent Christian ought to understand how they are used. And all I can attempt to do in about three minutes is give you a very brief overview of what they mean. Now, the word lust, what does it mean? Well, the word itself simply means, as you isolate it from any connection with any other thing, the word in itself simply means, but always means, strong desire. To lust after something is to have a strong desire for it. In the scriptures,

23:04 that desire takes two basic directions, legitimate, honorable, virtuous desire, and illegitimate, sinful, or base desire. When the Lord Jesus spoke to his own prior to his crucifixion, as recorded in Luke 22, 15, he said, With lust. With lust have I lusted to keep this supper with you. That's the word. With desire have I desired to keep this Passover with you. Speaking of a legitimate desire, the strong longing he had to share in this social meal prior to his departure. Paul uses it in Philippians 1, 23. He says, I have a lusting to depart and to be with Christ. I have a strong desire to vacate things down here

23:55 and to go up higher. Now, that's the same word. It just means strong desire. But the predominant use in the New Testament is that of referring to strong desire that is set upon illegitimate objects, or even strong desire that is sinful in itself. Sometimes it is exclusively used of illicit or desire for illicit sexual experience. 1 Thessalonians 4. 5, where Paul says, not in the lust of concupiscence, there the lust in itself is evil desire. But most frequently it speaks under this second category, illegitimate or sinful desire, of the various forms of unregulated passion and desire. It can be set upon one thing or

24:51 another, but it is that unregulated desire, Paul uses it in chapter 4 and verse 22, that he put off the old man that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit. He says they are those inordinate longings that are full of the deceitfulness of sin. They promise me what they cannot give me, and they give me what they never promise. It's used also in 2 Peter 1 and verse 4.

25:22 For having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, where Peter says all of the mountains, the seas of iniquity in the world, he said they are produced, they spill out of the womb of what? Of lust. Inordinate, unregulated desire. Now what about the word flesh? Well, this is a word that has great flexibility in its usage in the New Testament. Sometimes it simply means mankind. It says of our Lord, the word became flesh. He took upon himself a true humanity, not just a body, a true human body and soul. He assumed to himself true humanity. And we must

26:09 be careful in reading the scriptures not to say, oh boy, I learned what the word flesh means and now we're... No, no, no, no. The word is used with flexibility, but in the writings of the Apostle Paul, the predominant usage is this. It is the word used to describe human nature in its entirety, considered as apart from God and under the dominion of sin. What is a man in the entirety of his humanity, his mind, his affections, his will, his appetites, his drives, his capacities, his energies? God says if you take man in all the totality of his humanity, cut him off from God, put him under the dominion of sin, and he is flesh and nothing but flesh. That which is

27:00 born of the flesh is what? Flesh. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these. What is Paul telling us? He's using the word flesh as a succinct description of humanity in its entirety, separated from God and under the dominion of sin. Or as one man has, I think, accurately said, the flesh is the longing and impulses or is constituted of the longings and impulses of the self-centered

27:41 life. Or another, human nature as conditioned by the full. Now think for a minute. What is man? In that intricate interplay of body and mind, in the emotions and will and sensitivities, the ability to see, touch, feel, hear, laugh, weep. What is he? He's that amazing bundle of capacities and appetites and all these other factors. But listen! Wrench him loose from God and put him under sin's mastery and he can never rise higher than a bundle of fleshiness. manner than a bundle of fleshiness. Fleshiness is not only higher thanness. But you can imagine, is flesh as good as an emotion. That Tropical

28:27 everything that he is and does. That's why Paul says they that are in the flesh, they that are in the condition of being human beings, separated from God and under the dominion of sin, cannot please God. That's not only speaking of those who abandon themselves to the base or appetites of the flesh and become whoremongers and harlots and lectures, but it's speaking of proud, acceptable Pharisees, first century or twentieth century, who come to church, who carry Bibles, but who've never been transformed by the quickening power of Christ. They cannot please God.

29:11 The totality of humanity, separated from God under the dominion of sin, is flesh. Now, Paul says, this is the conscious motivation of all such people. They turn about, and he included himself, we all turned about in the lusts, the inordinate desires that sprang out of our flesh,

29:42 that sprang out of our condition as separated from God, sprang out of our condition as being enemies and aliens from God. Let me say in summarizing my effort to try to expound the phrase, as personal consciousness begins to dawn, every one of us is aware of desires. We want to enjoy things. That's why little kids throw temper tantrums when they can't have the lollipop that they've set their affections on.

30:19 That's why little children will squawk and holler and pout when they cannot have what they want. They're a bundle of desire. And from the dawning of consciousness, we're all aware that we had this desire to enjoy things, to have things, to express things, to receive things, to give things, not only substantial material things, but to give love, to receive love, to give affection, to receive the same. And the apostle says, conditioned by temperament, training associations, which will alter the channel that that bundle of lust will cut.

30:57 Every one of us cut his own channel. Consistent with our temperament, our background, our associations, and all those other factors, so that every channel we cut was a channel to do what? To float down that stream of fleshly.

31:17 Now for some it makes them proud Pharisees like Saul of Tarsus. His mind so conditioned from birth, the Jewish blood in his veins, that the lust of his flesh cut a channel called religious leader. But he says, I was simply living in the lust of my flesh. Others, they go down a channel, a channel of intellectual pursuits.

31:39 Some down a channel of sensuous pursuits. Some rise to the noble attainments of scientists and philanthropists. Some debase themselves to the shameful level of debauchery and criminality, and profligacy. But in each case, Paul says, we all moved about in the lust of our flesh.

Fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh and Mind

32:04 That's the general statement. Now he descends to a more definitive, and specific description in the next phrase. Look at it.

32:14 While our conscious motivation was that of walking in the light of the lust of our flesh, how did this work in a more precise way? And he uses this phrase, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, or better translated, as I've already suggested, continually doing the things willed by the flesh and the reality, reasonings. It's a plural in the original. Not the mind, but the minds.

32:47 And the word can rightly be translated reasoning. So the apostle is saying, while living in that general sphere, we were characterized by constantly doing what was willed by our flesh and by our minds or our reasonings. Now there's a problem of exegesis to know precisely, whether Paul is saying the desires of the flesh and of the mind were working together in every activity while we were in the lust of the flesh, or whether he's using the word flesh in a way it's sometimes used to describe the actings of our lower nature and the reasonings of our higher nature. And I'm not sure which is the proper exegesis. I lean to the latter, and so I'm going to preach assuming that it's right. All right? Now notice what he's saying.

33:40 We were constantly, constantly doing the things willed by our flesh. Here referring not to the totality of our humanity under sin's dominion, but that part rooted in unregulated carnal and fleshly desires. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7, 1, cleanse ourselves of all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit. All defilement rooted in our lower animal nature.

34:09 Now Paul says, while we were in that realm of the lust of the flesh, we were constantly doing what was willed by the commands of our animal appetites. They would speak and say, feed me. And our will bowed in willing compliance. They would say, gratify me.

34:32 And the will would tip its hat and follow in pursuit. But he says, we were also doing the things, the things willed by our mind or our reasonings, the higher part of our humanity, the intellectual, the thinking part. But remember, it has not escaped the taint of sin. It is a fleshly mind.

34:56 Chapter 4, 18, he says, the mind is darkened. Using the same word in Colossians 1, 21, he says, you were enemies in your mind. In your mind. In your mind.

35:11 In your mind. Enemies appear. And that's what really hung Paul up. How was he worshipping God?

35:20 Not according to the light of the Holy Ghost upon a dark and illuminated heart. No, no. He said, what I did, I did in ignorance. The ignorance of unbelief.

35:35 And my fleshy mind says, you want to find acceptance with God? Be the best Pharisee that ever lived and pile up a mountain of works righteousness and you can climb up that mountain and you can climb up that mountain and enter the very presence of God. He says, that was the reasonings of my fleshy mind. And when it said, soul of Tarsus, be more zealous, be more religious, be more fervent.

36:00 He said, I did the things willed by that mind. I did them. Now someone else, his mind concocts schemes of lechery and foul and debauched conduct and he hatches these thoughts and his will then gives birth to the fleshy mind. To his crimes, Paul says, I'm in the same boat as he is.

36:21 Not in the outward expression. He's fulfilling the things willed by his darkened mind. I did the things willed by my darkened mind. So as we move about in the realm of the flesh, we find ourselves performing what is dictated by the baser appetites, the flesh, and by the blind reasonings of a fleshy mind.

Vital Theological Lessons: Universality of Sin and Bondage of the Will

36:47 Now brothers and sisters, this has been hard thinking. You've had to hang in there. I know it. But that's the only way I know to open up the scriptures and give you the word of God.

36:57 But now what's all that say to us? And as I seek to bring this to a practical conclusion this morning, consider with me in the third place the vital lessons contained in this description. We've seen the scope of the description, we all, the essence of it, the general statement, the specific. Now what are the lessons to us?

37:17 Well, first of all, there are some lessons and there are some fundamental theological lessons in the text. You say, Pastor Martin, you can't be serious. It's the beginning of the summer, it's hot in here. No one knows it more than I.

37:30 We've come to worship God and get a blessing and you're going to talk about theology? Come off it! Listen, my friend, listen. Listen.

37:38 All true theology breaks out of a proper understanding of texts of scripture rightly expounded and all true texts rightly expounded expounded, which should contribute to our understanding of the whole of the teaching of the Word of God and that's all theology is.

37:58 It's perception of the whole teaching of the individual text of scripture. And there are some profound theological lessons in this text. And I want to give you but two of them. Number one, this text is an eloquent assertion of the universality of sin.

38:20 An eloquent assertion of the universality of sin. An eloquent assertion of the universality of sin. An eloquent assertion of the universality of sin. A universality in two directions.

38:28 Extensively and intensively.

38:32 Extensively. As we've already hinted, if anyone could say, oh, I never lived a life characterized solely by the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, it would have been the Apostle Paul. You read Philippians chapter 3 and Hebrew of the Hebrews touching the law of Pharisee. The external righteousness of the law.

38:56 I was blameless. But he says we all once lived. Oh, listen, dear friend, young or old here today, God says in His Holy Word, and it's one of the dominant notes of Pauline theology, which is nothing but biblical truth, the revelation of God. The universality of sin is an inescapable fact.

39:20 The effect of sin has extended to all. The effect of sin has extended to all. All ranks of men and women, fellows and girls. And here is an eloquent assertion of it.

39:31 The sons of disobedience, Paul said, we were in their ranks. We were part of them. We were involved with them. Therefore our Lord says, that which is born of the flesh, His flesh, and will always remain flesh.

39:48 Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. And to whom did he say it? Not a profligate man. He said it to one who was a little shadow of the Apostle Paul, Nicodemus.

40:01 The Pharisee in all of his attainments. Flesh you have been. Flesh you are. Flesh you shall be.

40:08 Unless God imparts life by the Holy Ghost. Here is an eloquent assertion of the universality of sin. Extensively, but more profoundly, it is an eloquent assertion of the universality of sin intensively. Intensively.

40:23 Paul says, not only were we all flesh, but everything about us was all flesh.

40:32 We never rose above the flesh. All we did was to gratify the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

40:43 Now when that truth begins to break in on you, it's one of the most humbling things in all the world.

40:50 Even the most hardened sinner can still blush at some sense. But the child of God, finds himself blushing at what others thought and he once thought were his virtues.

41:07 You got it? The Apostle Paul here is blushing. And I believe if we could have seen him that morning, he would have blushed or evening when he wrote this letter. As he thinks of his past life, having said of the Gentile Ephesians, you were dead in trespasses and sins.

41:29 You walked according to the course, according to the course of the world, according to the spirit of darkness, among whom we also lived in the lust of our flesh. And he saw that beneath the external veneer of all his religious attainments and aspirations and activities, there was nothing but the motivation to fulfill the desire of his flesh. That is his humanity separated from God and under the dominion of sin. And he said, it operated in my mind as well as we've already suggested.

42:08 My friend, have you ever embraced from the heart the testimony of scripture concerning the universality of sin? Not as a general theological proposition, but putting yourself right in the middle of it like Paul did. Sons of disobedience! Yes, among whom we once lived.

42:27 Can you put yourself there with holy shame, but with no reservation? Then the second great theological, lesson of this text is this, not only an eloquent assertion of the universality of sin, but an inescapable testimony to the bondage of the human will. An inescapable testimony to the bondage of the human will. A pivotal issue in the whole of one's understanding of the nature of salvation is this matter of what is the condition of my will by nature.

43:10 If you're not straight on what your will is, you won't be straight on where your salvation came from and how it came to you. The question of the function, the place, the precise place of the human will in salvation is not a matter of abstract theological debate. It's the heart of the gospel! And I'm not the first one to say that.

43:36 That funderer from Germany, Martin Luther, in writing his treatise on the bondage of the will, which was an answer to a theological treatise by Erasmus, the great moderating principle of the Reformation, Luther said concerning this issue that we're talking about this morning, the precise place of the human will in the scheme of salvation, Luther felt that this was the very heart of the gospel. He says to Erasmus, you alone have attacked the real thing. That is the essential issue. You've not worried me with those extraneous issues about the papacy, purgatory, indulgences and the like.

44:21 Trifles rather than issues. You know what he calls them? Well, he sure went after some of those trifles with a holy vengeance. But he said they're mere trifles.

44:33 In my understanding of what the real issue is, you and you alone have seen the hinge on which all turns. And you alone have aimed for the vital spot. For that I heartily thank you. For it's more gratifying to me to deal with this issue." End quote. And James Packer commenting on this goes on to say, free will was no academic question to Luther. The whole gospel of the grace of God he held was bound up with it and stood or fell according to the way one decided that issue. This is the explanation of what Warfield calls the amazing vigor of Luther's language.

45:16 The gospel of God is in jeopardy. The springs of Luther's religion are touched. The man is moved. The volcano erupts.

45:24 Argument pours out of him white hot. Nowhere does Luther come closer to the spirit of Saint Paul in the book of Galatians than he does in his treatise on the bondage of the will. Now you say, Pastor Mark, where do you get that from the text? Well, you look at it.

45:38 It's right there on the surface. What does it say? He says, While we were consciously motivated by that which sprang from desires rooted in the flesh, we fulfilled or literally translated we did or were doing it's a present verb continually doing the things willed by the flesh and the mind. Now notice, there was true and conscious and constant activity of the human will while they were in a state of sin.

46:15 He said we were continually doing the things willed. The will was willing. It was working. It wasn't in the state of limbo.

46:25 It wasn't hanging up there somewhere on a sky hook just taking it easy. He says, no, no. While we were fulfilling or living in the realm of the lust of the flesh, we were constantly doing the things that were willed. The will was working.

46:41 Ah, but where did the will get its orders? Look at your text. Doing the things willed of the flesh and of the mind. Now who was boss?

46:57 Will over flesh and mind or flesh and mind over will? According to the text, who was the boss giving the orders and who was the servant boy carrying out the orders? What's your Bible say? Who was boss?

47:15 Flesh and mind. We did the things willed of the flesh and of the mind. Sure we were active. We were doing.

47:28 And our activity was the result of our will. Now follow closely. Some of you that are just beginning to understand this element of biblical truth. No one who knows his Bible and has half a head on his shoulders teaches that the will isn't active or that the will is somehow forced to act against its own nature.

47:44 The will is not coerced. We didn't do things against our will. Flip Wilson's devil made me do it notwithstanding. He didn't make you do it apart from your will.

47:54 The same Paul who said that spirit works in the sons of disobedience says yes, but he works in such a way that their will is active. We did the things willed. Sure the will is active. The will is not forced against itself.

48:08 Ah, but listen. The will is in bondage to the state of the nature. It did the things willed of the flesh and of the mind. The will didn't operate in an isolated, insulated, no man's land of neutrality.

48:30 No, no. When those appetites said as a little child, look, you want your sister's piece of candy? Then you wait until she's out of the room and you scheme and you make plans in the reasonings of your mind to gratify that lust of your flesh. And you did the things willed of the flesh and of the mind when you stole that piece of candy and then sneaked off to eat it and it felt so good going down, but then the conscience had a way of making it taste bitter in your tummy.

49:04 But you did it, chose to hatch that little plan, to take that piece of candy, to sneak off and eat it, and then to cover up and lie when your sister went to mama and said, who took my candy? Oh, I don't know. And when you got a little older, you sat in that class and you knew you weren't going to pass that exam unless you did a little surveying of somebody else's work. And you wanted that grave for whatever reason that was centered in yourself and you conceived in the reasonings of your mind a scheme to gratify some personal fleshly carnal desire and you chose to cheat and you chose to hand in your paper which was a lie and you chose to accept the grave and you chose to give yourself to the sin and you chose to hold it up, your will was active. Oh, it was doing what was being dictated by the lust of the flesh and the mind. And you carry that through the entirety of life. The will is in bondage to the flesh and to the mind.

50:16 And that is no obtuse theological proposition friends, for Paul, that's the heart of making the Ephesians appreciate salvation and say, I'm going Salvation by grace.

50:30 He says, when you with me see yourself as a slave of your own depraved nature, all of your doings, nothing but the expression of that depraved mind and carnal disposition to think that God would come with mighty power and boost you. Oh, he says, how you'll appreciate grace, free grace in all of its amazing. And various displays.

51:02 My friend, are you fighting the doctrine of the bondage of the will? Theologically, let me give you a suggestion.

51:10 Forget it as a theological proposition today. And before you come back tonight, you get on your knees somewhere with Ephesians 2. And say, God, it wasn't quite that bad with me.

51:22 You tell God that. Come on now, I challenge you. Go home and get on your knees and say, God, it wasn't quite that bad with me. Now, I chose some things I shouldn't.

51:31 But my will. My will was a little bit insulated from my flesh and from my darkened mind. Now, if you can go home and get on your knees and tell God that, my friend, you're no Christian.

51:46 Because a Christian on his knees with a passage like this says, oh God, it's true. It's true, it's true, it's true. I did nothing, but I did always the things willed of my flesh and of my carnal mind. So the text contains these two theological lines.

Searching Personal Application: 'Once Lived'

52:06 Blessings, the universality of sin, the bondage of the will. And then in the second place, it has a searching personal application for all of us. Notice Paul can do two things in the text. He can say, I and you Ephesians once were in that condition.

52:28 And then he can say, we really were in the condition. Notice the little phrase that I didn't expound because I wanted to save it till now. Among whom? Among whom we also all, what's the next word?

52:42 Once lived. Once lived.

52:47 It was once true. But bless God, it is no longer so.

52:54 Once upon a time, Paul said, my only conscious motivation as I now understand myself was to fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind. But now to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Amen. Amen.

53:11 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

53:11 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

53:12 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

53:12 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

53:12 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

53:13 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

53:13 Amen. He's a new creation. He's not old fleshy Paul patched up with a few new sets of ideas and a little new activity. No, no.

53:24 He said he's dead Paul, now living Paul with a whole new universe of spiritual existence. A new goal, God himself. A new rule, his law. A new motivation.

53:38 Love to the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen. And then he's not at all embarrassed to say, but that was my state. You see, it works two ways.

53:50 I once was, that's a change that's occurred, but that's precisely what I was. And he says, I do not have any reservation about including myself. We all once walked. I say that this text has a searching personal application, and it's this, and I want everyone to listen carefully.

54:09 Can you say, as Paul did, these words this morning? Indicating that you're no longer in that condition. Can you say, I once walked in the lust of my flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Whether that expression found itself worked out in an open life of irreligion and profligacy and immorality, or whether you were a nice, polite, but hopelessly lost religious person.

54:44 Can you say with Paul, Can you put that in the past?

54:53 And when you think of your past, can you say it's as bad as God says it is?

54:59 Without any reservation, no tongue in cheek?

55:03 Can you? Oh, my friend, if you can, you have good reason to believe that you are of all the peoples of the earth most blessed this morning. That God has been pleased in grace to quicken you to life. And then I close with the third great lesson of the text.

The Great Gospel Appeal: 'But God'

55:21 A great gospel appeal is bound up in this text. You say it is? Where do you see that? Oh, it's there. Look at it. Look at it.

55:30 Among whom we all so once lived, we were dead. Ye did walk.

55:43 What's made the change? What's made the change in Paul? From a religious but fleshy Pharisee to a tender, loving servant of Jesus Christ. The Paul who was blinded by his own religion to one who now beholds the glory of God in the face of Christ.

56:04 Well, Paul tells us right in this very paragraph what made the difference. Verse 4. But God. He said, if I or anyone else can ever say we were dead, we did walk, we were fulfilling, but we can put it in the past.

56:25 There's one explanation. But God has come and has graciously worked in our hearts and in our lives. But how did God come?

56:37 Did He come in some mysterious, indefinable, indescribable way? Now you look at chapter 1. This is how He came to those Ephesians. Look at it.

56:47 This verse was referred to in the previous hour. Verse 13 of chapter 1. In whom ye also having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. How did all this get put in the past tense?

57:11 The gospel of salvation came. That message that says that God in love has sent His Son to a race of rebel sinners. The Son has lived and died and been buried and raised and seated at the right hand, at the right hand of the Father. And all who believe, who rely upon, commit themselves to this person in the fullness of the glory of His person.

57:41 And in the sufficiency of His work, they shall be accepted, forgiven. And the same Christ who receives and forgives them will transform them and give them His Spirit to bear witness to their acceptance and to work in them all the gifts and grace, that they might please the new center of their lives, even the Christ who has rescued them. Oh, my friend, may I close with the gospel appeal that's bound up in this text. For it could be said of you, ye one time walked, ye were dead.

58:21 But my friend, your hope does not lie in yourself. It does not lie in this church. It does not lie in this preacher or any other. It does not lie in this human instrumentality.

58:32 It's by believing the word of the gospel of salvation. Now you say that's too simple. My friend, that's why the gospel is a stumbling block. Tell us to do something.

58:44 Give us a big chorus of spiritual self-help. And we could sell it by the carloads today. Because flesh responds to all self-help religion. It comes out of flesh and feeds flesh.

58:59 But the gospel slays. It says, All my hopes for time and eternity are hinged upon another. And upon what another is and did for me in a bloody, gruesome death.

59:15 Oh, that humbles your pride, doesn't it? Yes, God calculated that it should be so. That no flesh should glory in his presence. I submit to you, my dear people, this morning, that this is the fifth aspect of Paul's description of all spiritual life.

59:33 Of all spiritual life. Of all spiritual life. Of all spiritually dead sinners. The conscious motivation that marks all of their activity is fulfillment of the lust of the flesh.

59:44 That is, doing the things willed of the flesh and of the reasonings. And God willing, we shall see next Lord's Day what is their position before God while thus dead and thus conducting themselves in frightening words. They are by nature. Children of wrath.

60:07 Oh, may God be pleased to make his word effectual to some heart this morning that you may reach out and embrace the offered Savior. And dear child of God, may you love him more. Seeing that from which he delivered you. And my dear Christian friend who's got some hang-ups about the Bible doctrine and the bondage of the will.

60:31 Go home and get on your knees before God and tell him it was otherwise with you. And if you can't, then say, Lord, I bow. I do accept it. I was that bad.

60:42 And oh God, it's grace, grace. All of grace that I've been rescued. Let us pray.