Well, church, gathered here online and in one of our other venues, let me start with these words. Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said with all their heart, Amen.

So I want to start here and I'm going to need some, I'm going to need some engagement from you this morning. I'm going to give you a couple of phrases. I want you to complete the phrase for me, both here and in one of the other menus. All right, so complete this phrase. Ready, aim. Fire. Ready or not, here I. Come. Ready, set. Go.

Here's the question. Are you ready? Are you ready for what's to come? Are you ready for the world that is emerging around us, this new world that's emerging around us, this world where truth, even truth couched in immense love, is increasingly becoming no longer tolerated. It's increasingly labeled as hate speech. Are you ready for this world? Because today as we close up this series, we've been looking at this hate speech. When truth and love is no longer tolerated? How are Christians meant to shine the light in a world where truth, love and grace is rejected and hated?

Now let me just say, you've probably heard this already through this series, but let me just say this, this is not anything new. It may feel new to us, but this is the way it's always been across the globe. The Christian message has always been hated. Do you think they crucified Jesus Christ because they liked what he had to say? Christians for the last two thousand years we've lived in a world where it's been hostile to our message. We've just enjoyed a few generations where we haven't really felt an intense persecution for that because we've swam in waters where the moral compass was just lined up enough to where we could blend in. But that's no longer the case.

Dear church, the world is increasingly becoming intolerant of truth, even truth in love. And how are we to live? How are we to respond? What are our lives supposed to be like in a world like this? Well, let's just go back to those first Christians and see what they were told to do. See how the Bible instructs them to live as counter-cultural exiles in their world. And here's what I'd ask you, Church, do you see yourself as that? Do you see yourself as a counter-cultural exile in this world? Because that is very close to who we should be in this world.

And so here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Would you please turn to Ephesians chapter 4 in your Bibles. Now we've been walking through Ephesians chapter 4 throughout this sermon series. We're gonna close it up today looking at the last section. And if you've been with us, you've heard this. But if you're just joining us, welcome to the last of this series. In this section, we are reminded again that Paul is writing from prison. The apostle Paul is writing from prison to a church. It's a church in a town called Ephesus. And the people who live there are called Ephesians. So Paul is writing to this to the Ephesian Christians in Ephesus and he's telling them how to live faithful lives in an unfaithful world. And I'm sure, very quickly, you're going to see as we read this passage how relevant this is, not for people 2,000 years ago, but for us even today. And my prayer is that you are, yes, deeply encouraged today. And I also pray that you feel the right amount of challenge today. And so with that, would you hear the Word of God.Hear God's word. Paul writes and he says,

Ephesians 4:17-32

7 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. 18 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. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

This is God's Word. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray. Father God, as we close up this series Father we pray that it's not only glorifying to you Not only is it truthful to your word, but we pray by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that would help us prepare To be ready to live faithful lives in a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated And it's in Jesus name that we pray these things And we all said Amen,

So, we're closing up this message series today, and let me remind you, in this series, we've been looking at how do we live in a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated. The first week, we looked at how, when this is the case, that we are to live holy lives. We are called to be holy, we're meant to live holy lives. The second week, we looked at how the church must absolutely be unified. With so much attack upon Christians and the church, the church must stand unified. Then last week, we looked at how we all must be equipped, how we must be equipped and ready for the battle that's before us. And today, well, we're going to summarize it all with this. Here's our main point for today.

Are you ready? Are you actively getting ready? Or are you just meandering through life, hoping that it'll all work out for you as a Christian. As we examine this passage, I wanna look at two main points today as we walk through this text together, and it's this. We'll know that we're ready when we have a clear contrast to our lives, and then we're second gonna look at, we'll know that we're ready when we have a true transformation in our lives. So Christians in the house, I'm pleading with you. What the world does not need is more people calling themselves Christians who are not going to live like Christians. The world does not need more of that. We have a high calling that we are to live into and we are meant to live into that, zealously, passionately, kindly, but we are meant to live into this. It's been very easy, church, for the last couple of generations to say you're a Christian and just to blend into our culture, but that's coming to a close if it was even ever really the case. And the thing we need to know is that we better be ready. And so we'll know we're ready, ready for a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated when we have a clear contrast to our lives. Please have your Bibles open in front of you.

1. We will know we're ready when we have a clear contrast to our lives.

Look at verse 17. Yes, this is God's holy word, but don't forget, this is also a man writing a letter to a church. Don't forget the human element here. Listen to the strain in Paul's voice as he's trying to make this first point. Verse 17 says, "'Now I say and testify in the Lord "'that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. To clarify, who are the Gentiles? Well Gentiles, that word just meant the nations, it meant everyone else, it meant the culture around you, it meant society at large. So don't walk like them, don't live like them, you're not them, stop being like them. Paul is saying there must be a notable distinction, a clear contrast between you and the culture around you. You are not meant to blend in. Because the reality is, is if you blend into society, then the truth is, is you're not living according to the Christian life as God has outlined. And if your excuse, if your excuse is, well everyone does it, let me just say to you, Christians don't say that. Christians don't say, well everyone else does it, so don't judge me. That's what the world says. That's what the world is saying. That's the world's excuse to continue into their folly and sin. Christians don't ever say, well, everyone else does it. That's not what God calls us. That's not what Christians are to do. We're not meant to blend in and be like everyone else.

Now listen to me. I'm not saying that this means we should have an Amish dress code. But having a teenage daughter, I just got to say, like. I'm open to the idea. Truth is, we're meant to have a clear contrast to our lives, this is not the Bible is not primarily concerned about the external. It's concerned about the internal.

Look at verse 18. It says, They, meaning the world around us, the culture around us, the society at large, they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart.

Let's look at this for a moment. The first thing Paul says here is that they are darkened in their understanding, meaning their minds are clouded. They don't adhere to the wisdom of God. They follow the folly of the world. They go wherever the changing tides of culture bring them. They're darkened in their understanding understanding and they say things like well if everyone else does it then don't judge me when I do it and This mentality look what it look what it happens. It says that they are alienated from the life of God Meaning and this is where it gets so sad Meaning they will only experience a shadow of the life that we can have And you know why the world is so desperate for color and rainbows and flashy colors. Whether or not they realize it, it's because there's a darkness they're trying to cover up. And we know that the kingdom of God is full of color and light and it's beautiful. But in our world, in our darkened sin, we try to mask it with rainbow stickers. And this just shows that it's because we have minds clouded by ignorance, cut off from God, hardened by sin. This talks about a people who have given themselves up to the backwards thinking of the world rather than the eternal things of God.

So, I said I'm going to need some engagement this morning, so answer these simple equations for me, okay? Let's hear. 2 plus 2 equals? 3 times 3 equals? These are simple equations. These are simple equations and what we see here is a simple equation, people. When our minds and our hearts are darkened by sin, this makes us distant from God and here's the results. Here's the answer to these simple equations.

Verse 19 says, They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Whoa, is Paul talking about the first century Roman world or is he talking about 21st century American culture? Both. But it just seems like, man, for 2,000 years of human enlightenment, you think we'd kind of grow beyond this. Absolutely not. This is what the world does in sin. Now listen here, the world here, the word The word here for sensuality in the original language, it meant conduct shocking to public decency. It means men with barely any clothes on wearing just strips of leather walking down a pride parade in front of children. Now, church, this isn't just about the vulgarness that you see at some of the pride parades. Christians, we do this. We do this when we give ourselves to sex before marriage. When we have our boyfriend or our girlfriend spend the night. When we find ourselves in solitude and we so casually give ourselves to pornography. Are we any different?

It says, the passage says that they are greedy to practice every kind of impurity. This is a culture with no moral compass, no foundation. That's our culture. We say we're progressive, but we have no path. We have no idea where this leads. We just go with whatever the next popular thing is. It says people are greedy for this. They're greedy for this, meaning it's become the center of their identity and their desires. I know that we look at, listen, I know, I know that we look at the insanity of the world and we think to ourselves, how has it come to this? Church, it's always been like this. What do you mean, how has it come to this? It's always been like this. The world that Paul is describing, I know it sounds like our culture, but it's his culture. From 2,000 years ago, before English was a language and it was half a world away, nothing changes without Jesus. Christians, we were always meant to stick out. That doesn't mean we'll be glorified and welcomed for it.

Here's a challenge for us. Are you distinct? Let me put it like this. Let's just take a step back here a minute. Who here likes themselves some cake? Put your hands up, you bunch of liars. We all do. Come on. Clearly I do. Now, I like myself some sheet cake. I'm not going to be all high and mighty about it, but I will say this. Cake is meant to have layers. Can I get an amen? I mean, in our divided world, no matter where you stand, can we at least all agree cake is meant to have layers? Come on. Yeah, absolutely. Cakes and what? And custard? Now that's debatable, my friend. Cake is meant to have layers. Now look at these next verses, because Paul adds some layers that we have to digest.

Look at verses 20 to 24. Says but this the way he's talking about this this world at large. He says that's not the way you learned Christ Assuming that you have heard about him and we're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus Oh stop right there friends underline that if you do that in your Bibles because there it is right there There's the distinguishing marker. The big question for our culture is what is truth? The answer is Jesus you say that you will be laughed at. Welcome to being a Christian. Welcome to being a Christian. If you're not getting laughed at for your faith, are you even sharing it? We say that the truth is Jesus. What is truth in this world? It's the one who said he was, who walked out of the grave. It's Jesus Christ, that's the truth, clinging on to Him above all else. He is our rock when everything falls apart. He's our rock when everything changes. The truth is in Jesus.

Look here, verse 22, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. See, I love these layers that Paul begins to add to this contrast of our life. Check it out. Firstly, he talks about this contrast that we're meant to have with the world around us. That's the first contrast. We're not like the world around us. Now, the second layer is this contrast we're meant to have is with our former way of life. Now he's starting to add layers. First contrast, we're not like the world. Second contrast, we're not like our former way of life either.

And like a delicious multi-layered cake without custard, the question I ask is, do you have these multiple layers in your lives? And can people see it? Do you have those multiple layers in your lives and can people see it? It's like what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter two. He says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God. Check this out. Peter says they speak of us as evil doers. If you know how that plays out in today's world, they accuse us of hate speech. But, but when they accuse us of hate speech, they should at least see the good lives we live and how that points to God. But this can only happen when we have a clear contrast to our lives.

So yes, Christians, you need to be asking yourself, do you have those multiple layers of contrast? Let me ask you a few other questions that would expose this. Do you use your money differently? Do you treat others better than they treat you? Do you follow God in a godless world? Do you speak truth in love to a world that has rejected truth and redefined love? I know, believe me, I've got layers and levels of cultural conditioning too. I know how this sounds. I know this sounds judgmental, but you need to stop using the excuse, you can't judge me, as an excuse to keep yourself from true self-examination. Fine, judge yourself. Look in the mirror. Look at your own two eyes in the mirror and can you honestly say there's a contrast between you and the world and you and your former way of life? Does your life show a true and clear contrast? Or are you using the excuse, everyone does it so that you can keep on sinning? We are to have contrast from the world and contrast to our lives before Christ. This will help us to show if we are ready or not for the world that's emerging, which leads us to look at this next thing,

2. We will know we're ready when we have a clear contrast with our former life before Jesus.

That we'll know we're ready when we have a true transformation in our lives. Let me just cut to the point. That happens through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit calling you to live in conformity with the Word of God as you reflect the Son of God in this world. So here's the reality. It's more than just about being different. It's about being something new. Are you new? Are you showing the world something new? Church, we cannot just be the opposite of what is wrong. We have to be living demonstrations of what is right. We have to show true transformation. Scripture shows this in one of the most famous Bible verses there is and if you've ever been to youth group Then I guarantee your youth pastor at some point read to you Romans chapter 12 verse 2. Let me read it for you.

Romans 12:2

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Okay, did you catch this part of the proof of our transformation is that you will know what the will of God is, that you will test what's happening and you will know what God's will is. Meaning, if you do things against God's will, you're gonna have a hard time showing that you are a truly transformed person, that you've been transformed by the renewal of your mind. So let me translate and go back. This comes from the work of the Holy Spirit's Calling us into his righteousness once we placed our faith in Jesus Not talking about perfect people we're not talking about people who trip up that's gonna happen We're talking about people who willfully continually find excuses to continue in their sin.

So pop quiz if I call myself an Olympic athlete who has won a gold medal Does that mean I'm an Olympic athlete who's won a gold medal? No, I'd need to prove it to you by well, maybe by showing you the gold medal so if I call myself a Transformed Christian does that mean I'm going to have to show you the proof. Just like I needed to show you the gold medal to prove to you I'm an Olympic athlete who won a gold medal,

What's the proof that we're looking for? Well, let me tell you, it's not just being a nice and generous person. There are plenty of non-Christians who are kind and generous people. That's just called being a decent person. Thankfully, we don't have to decide or figure out on our own what the proof is. The Bible clearly tells us for this, tells us this. So we're gonna do this in a little bit of a rapid fire, but that's why you need to have your Bibles open.

Go to verse 25. It says, here it is, here's what a transformed life looks like, Church. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. First marker, we don't live in lies.

1. We speak the truth, we live in truth, we give ourselves to truth as we speak truthfully with one another, because we are all connected.

Verse 26 says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. So second thing we see is that it's okay to be angry.

2. It's not okay to let your anger lead you to sin.

It's not okay to let your anger linger. If you find yourself angry, first thing, don't sin. Second thing, find a way to take care of it. But being angry in and of itself is not sinful.

Verse 27, and give no opportunity to the devil. So devil in Jesus' name be gone. We need to recognize he's a real player. He's a real force. We need to recognize he's real. But we recognize that in Jesus' name we don't mess around with him. We don't venture into his territory, deal with his folly.

3. We give no opportunity to the devil.

So let me just ask you, what are you watching online in your house? Don't just mean your phone, I mean your TV too. What opportunity are you giving the devil to find his way into your family? Give no opportunity to the devil.

Verse 28, I love this verse. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Okay, let's look at this for a second. We all agree that the thief should no longer steal, right? But why does the Bible say that the thief should no longer steal? So that he can do his own work, get his own stuff, but that's not the end of the story. So that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Okay, follow me on this, church. This is an indication of what should be true for all of us, that

4. We are selfless, and we take care of one another, that we don't live in plenty when others live in need.

And I'm not talking about the distribution of wealth. I'm against that. I'm talking about Christians with a transformed heart, caring for one another, taking care of one another. I'm talking about the people of the church having compassionate and generous hearts for those around us. That we make sure that they have what they need. Which is shown, yes, in how we act, but also in how we talk and how we talk to them.

Look at verse 29. And as I read verse 29, here's what I want you to do. Goes in for the other venues too. As I read this verse, I want you to listen. What is the most important word that sticks out to you in this verse? Okay, I'm going to have you shout it out in a second, so I want you to listen. Verse 29. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Alright, what was the word that you heard that sounded most important to you? Say it out, yell it out, come on. Grace. That's pretty uniform. All right. I would say the same thing, actually.

I don't know if there is one most important verse or most important word in that verse, but I will tell you the thing that stuck out to me, and it sounds like many of you too, was grace. I think we need more grace. I think we need to hear more grace. In a bitter world Internet trolls, sarcasm, division. I think we all need to hear more words of grace spoken to one another.

5. Understanding, patience, words of grace in what we speak and what we hear.

This doesn't mean that people don't need to be called out for their sin or that you don't need to be called out for your sin. But you need to hear that instead of living in sin, that there's an option. The world needs to know that instead of being called sinners, they have an option of something better, that we can live in God's grace. And this happens when we turn to Jesus and we live in that grace, which is the power of the Holy Spirit, which leads to this next verse.

Our passage continues, verse 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

6. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

All right, Christians, for the church, this is the person of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. He both leads us personally, but he's also present with us as a church. He is the comforter. He's the advocate. And when we sin, it grieves him. And how do we grieve him exactly? What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? It's exactly what Paul clarifies in verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice. Simply put, we grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not live holy lives. When we live lives based on the whims of our emotions. When we live lives based on the desires of our flesh. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not live holy lives. When we live lives that reflect the sin and bitterness of this world. And so church, as we read this last verse, please take note of the utter simplicity of this. Do not overcomplicate this. This is one way that Christians can make the world a better place.

Verse 32, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. If you think that sounds weak, I dare you to try it. You see how hard it is to actually do that.

7. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you.

Church, if we're not ready to be like this, if we're not ready to live like this, then we're not ready for a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated. This is how we are to live. This is how we are to shine the light. This is how we are meant to be out there. But did you notice something here? Did you notice the gospel here? Because as with all things in the Christian faith, the gospel is our central motivating factor. Did you hear the gospel in this? I'll read it again. Tell me if you can pick up where the gospel is. Christians and I, you better get this one.

Verse 32, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. As God in Christ forgave you. I'm going to tell you something that is going to be among the most hard things I think you will ever hear and I guarantee I'm going to get some flack for this. Here's the thing that every Christian has to reconcile with. You cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. And I'm not here to demean the terrible, hurtful things that have happened to you in your life, but the reality is we cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. We are mortal beings sinning against an eternally holy and good God. Our sin against God is infinitely greater than our sins against one another.

And again, I am not trying to demean or undermine or say that there are absolutely atrocious things that happen amongst people. But if we don't have the right calibration to understand who God is and our sin and what an affront it is to God, I don't think we'll fully ever understand the power of the gospel. You cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. When we sin against an eternally holy God, the good and righteous response is eternal damnation. That's just logic. That's just how it works. That's called justice. When we sin against God and his eternal nature, that's worthy of eternal damnation. But yet through the power of the gospel, God has forgiven us when he did not have to. And there are Christians who have forgotten what that means. We only need to look at your lives to see it. You've forgotten the power of the forgiveness that God has forgiven us when He did not have to. When the right and worthy response for us is our eternal damnation.

God in love sent his son to die in our place, to take our punishments. We should be punished for what we do to God, but Jesus took that punishment for us so that we could get a pass. Jesus did it for us so that we could have life, life eternal, life with God. We could be welcomed as sons and daughters into his kingdom. Like this is the power of the gospel and you don't reflect that in your lives, probably because you haven't fully grasped the power of the gospel in your lives. Church, I'm here to tell you, the power of the gospel is the thing that unleashes our goodness and our kindness in the world.

If this doesn't move you, I don't know what will. If this doesn't cause you to sing, I don't know what will. This is the power of the gospel. And if God has forgiven us, how can we not forgive one another? I'm not saying it doesn't take time, I'm not saying it doesn't take prayer, but I'm saying when we truly understand what we've done to God, the sin against God and the fact that He's forgiven us, how can we not live in response to that?

Our salvation is not about what we've done, it's about what Jesus has done for us, and that's called grace.

And this is the gospel that we get to celebrate and get to be reminded of right now with having communion together. So let me remind you that the gospel is how we get ready. Receiving the gospel is how we get ready, and we're going to do that here and now physically. And so when the truth and love is no longer tolerated, remember, we must be ready. So let's get ready right now by remembering the gospel. Amen. Let's pray.

Father, we come before you now, we take a moment to prepare our hearts to be reminded again of the beauty and the power of the gospel, that Jesus died in our place. But Lord, what is amazing to be reminded of is that our Savior did not stay dead, that That we don't worship bones and dust in some grave. We worship the living King who sits on the throne here and now. So Father, I pray God that as we are nourished again by the gospel through communion, that it would give us the grace to do the things that your passage is calling us to do. That we live lives of clear distinction and contrast. So that we could show the world something better. So Father, I pray that by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, remind us of the power of the Gospel as we take communion together. We love you and thank you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.