Well let's turn to Ephesians chapter one this evening. Ephesians chapter one. We welcome you in the Savior's name. Thank you for making that effort. I'm sure you have been busy. Today I've been busy and yet we're here to just leave ourselves again with the Lord and his work before him in prayer. But we're coming around the word first of all. Ephesians chapter one. Tremendous portion of God's word. Often turn here. Just to encourage my own soul to think of what God has done even in my own life. And I trust that as we read the verses that God will speak to your soul. So Ephesians 1 and the verse number 1, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated us onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the blood in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusteth in Christ. We'll end at the verse number 12, our public reading of God's precious and holy word. Be perfect, be ye ready, be merciful, be ye transformed, Be ye steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Be ye separate and be ye kind one to another. These are the bees that we have already considered as we have looked into this hive of bees contained in the scriptures of truth. What these bees are simply showing us is how to live as Christian what God expects of us as his own redeemed children you know we're not to formulate ourselves how we think that we should live the Christian life there are many Christians and that's what they're doing they live their lives as they please without any reference to what the Bible tells them to do as a Christian. And so you'll have professing Christians and they'll drink alcohol even though the scriptures tell us that we're not even to look on the wine, the redness of the wine when it's in the cup, never mind even partaking of it. You'll find other Christians, and they work the Christian Sabbath in employment, not in works of necessity or mercy, when the Scriptures tell us that we are to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Or you'll have Christians absconding from the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and baptism whenever God clearly commands in His Word that we are to be baptized and we are to remember the Savior's death in his own appointed way. What we do as Christians is not left for us to decide. What we are to do as Christians is set forth for us in the word of God, and we are simply to follow those directions, directives, commandments, and statutes. You may think, well, that's very restrictive. But you need to remember that you stepped on to the narrow way. Whenever you became a Christian, you stepped on to the narrow way. And you said that you were going to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then you're going to have to follow his teachings. You're going to have to do what he has told you to do. Why? Because that's where you'll find your highest satisfaction. That's where you'll find your highest fulfillment and purpose as a Christian. Whenever you find yourself following the Lord Jesus Christ and following the teaching that he has given to us in his own and his precious word. Now as I've said previously, What I've already talked about and what we've already considered together, these are high ideals. To be perfect, to be merciful, to be kind, to be separate, to be transformed. These are high ideals that we are to strive after. And yet, just because they are high ideals is no reason why we are not then to pursue them in our lives. Tonight we come to look in then to this hive of bees again. Hopefully we'll not get stung. Maybe we should get stung. But we'll consider a few more of the bees that we find in the scriptures. Last time we ended in the book of Ephesians and we're turning back to this book and we'll revisit the book tonight. So turn there you are in Ephesians chapter one. Let's read the verse number three and four together and we'll come to this first bee. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. The command is that we should be holy. Here's the next thing, be holy. and be without blame before him in love. Now this isn't the first time that we read such a command in scripture and it's certainly not the last. In Leviticus chapter 11 verse 45 we read for I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God And ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. And then in 1 Peter 1, verse 15 and 16, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Now notice in Ephesians 1, verse 4, that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We didn't choose Him. But He chose us, and He chose us before the foundation of the world. These are the words of the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit through the penmanship of the Apostle Paul. Why He chose me and not someone else, I'll never know, but this is what God's Word tells us. Knowing what I know about myself, I'm convinced, fully convinced, that if God hadn't have chosen me, I most certainly would never have chosen him. If he had not chosen me, I certainly would not have chosen him. You see, the carnal mind is at enmity with God. The sinner does not seek after God. These are scriptural statements. He doesn't seek after God. He's turned astray. Some people say, well, are there not people seeking after God in this world? Are they not seeking after peace? Are they not seeking after fulfillment? Is that not them seeking after God? No, no, no, they're seeking after what God gives them, what God could give them, but they're not seeking God because they don't realize that there's a cross. They want the peace and they want the forgiveness, but they don't want the cross. They don't want the narrow way, so they're not seeking after God. They're actually running from God, just like our first parents. They have the same nature, the sinful nature that runs away from God. But what is God's intention for those whom he has chosen? What's the statement? He has chosen us. What is God's intention for those whom he has chosen? to popular opinion. The father didn't elect me and the son didn't redeem me and the spirit didn't convince me and draw me to make me happy. That wasn't his intention. God's intention was to make me holy and to make you holy. Now he will make us happy. There will be joy in the Lord. I'm not saying that we go around miserable and sour, like sour grapes. But His intention, here it is, in Holy Scripture, He chose me in Christ. Why did He choose me in Christ, in Him before the foundation of the world? That we should be holy. God saved me to make me holy. What God has done for me in choosing us in Christ and what he has done for us should motivate us to be holy. You know I'm not to strive after holiness because that's what the minister expects. And that's what the spiritual oversight of the church expects. Or maybe that's what my parents desire for me, that I would be a holy individual. No. am to be holy and light of what God and Christ has done for me it is his redemption of me that motivates me to live a holy and a godly life learn the lesson The end for which the Lord chose you by His grace was to make you holy. And therefore the person who consistently and continually lives in sin and yet they claim to be one of Christ's children and chosen on to holiness, there is a contradiction in such a claim. Pursuing after holiness, being holy is the mark of every child of God. You can't live as you please. You can't do as you want to do, dress like you want, behave as you think. God's people are to be a holy people. One preacher made this remark, if holiness is the purpose of our election, then ultimately the only evidence of election is our holiness. In other words, the only evidence that you're a Christian is your holiness, that you're living a holy life. You may claim to be one of God's children, God says, show me your holiness to back up the claim. I'm not saying that you'll get everything right. I'm not saying that you'll not feel and falter and at times sin as a Christian. But what God is saying is that you will desire and you will pursue after holiness. And holy lies, they make a deep impression upon unholy people. But so does an unholy life. J.C. Riles said, I believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we are aware of. Some men are among Satan's best allies. They pull down by their lies what ministers build up with their lips. They cause the chariot wheels of the gospel to drive heavily. They supply the children of the world with a never-ending excuse for remaining as they are. Let's not give the ungodly ammunition when they seek to discredit the gospel by our unholy living. Brethren and sisters, there is no better and there is no more compelling argument to the reality of God's salvation and our salvation than personal holiness. We're to be holy. It's God's command. And we are to strive after holiness. And we are therefore to reject all that would hinder us with regard to holiness. We must seek after holiness. Be ye holy. Be ye holy. Now we'll turn to another one in the book of Ephesians. This time the chapter number four. And we'll read from the verse number 22. So Ephesians chapter four, and the verse number 22, it says here that, ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. As followers of Jesus Christ, verse 23, we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. You know, most of the battles that we face in our Christian lives, they all, most of them, they begin in the mind. The mind is a tremendous battleground. we need to be very careful what we put into our minds what we think upon and what we listen to and the things that we watch God gave in the Christian armor a helmet called the helmet of salvation in order to protect the mind we must be careful with regard to the eye gate and with regard to the ear gate what goes in where it influences how we think and then how we conduct our lives. And many of the battles that we face in our lives, they originate in our minds. The battle against our lusts, the sins of envy and jealousy and bitterness and blasphemy all take place in our minds because that's where sin and that's where often the devil comes to try and attack us. And so we need to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. And that obviously begins at conversion. You'll know that the scriptures tell us that before we're converted that our minds are darkened. We think of those words in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, in whom the God of the world hath blinded the minds of them. Blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on to them. And so whenever God intervenes, when grace triumphs in our lives, there is then the enlightening of the mind. There is the beginning of this, the renewing of the mind. But this initial renewing of the mind, it continually needs to take place. And that is why this verb renewed, verse 23, it's what is known as in the continuous present tense. In other words, it's just continually being renewed. It's not something that happened in the past and that's it now all done. You think that with regard to conversion. It's now all done. And with regard to our standing before God, of course it's all done and our sins are forgiven. But this thing, this renewing of the mind, this isn't something that just happened at the moment of conversion, but rather this is to continue throughout our lives. There is to be a daily renewing of the mind. the renewing of the spirit of your mind. This is the spirit. This is that which governs our mind, controls the mind, empowers the mind, and it is to be renewed continually. Now, how does that happen? Well, it happens by us being sanctified by the Spirit of God and by the Word of God. The Spirit of God renews our mind, and the Word of God, it's the renewing of our minds. He refreshes us and He renews us. The Word of God read and heard and obeyed and memorized and meditated upon is then the means, the tool by which the Holy Spirit uses to renew the mind. And what is His purpose? His purpose is to have the mind of Christ formed in our minds. In Philippians it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. world has its mindset as believers we have our own minds you often hear someone saying they've got their own mind but we need to have the mind of Christ the mind of Christ about everything where we are to worship where we are to place our influence and how we are to rear our children and to nurture them in the things of God and how we are to react to the society around us as it crumbles around us and the morality seems to be going deeper and deeper into the cesspool. But our minds need to be renewed by the Spirit of God and by the Word of God so then that the mind of Christ is formed in us. And thereby, we then take on the image of Christ. The result of a renewed mind is then that we think differently. And when we think differently, then we're going to act differently. Dr. Lloyd-Jones, he made this comment on the words, be renewed in the spirit of the mind. He said, is not calling only for an outward change of actions and of habits. What he is really calling for is this inward change in mind because he knows if a man's inward mind is changed it will soon deal with the outward actions. You see we think differently and we behave differently and we speak differently whenever God renews the spirit of our minds. It's not about It's not about doing some things and not doing all things, but rather it's the whole spirit of the mind is changed. This renewal of the mind, it really causes us to put off the old man, as it says in verse number 22, and then to put on the new man. It's this renewal of the mind Christ's mind being formed in me and thereby this old man, my old life, it's put away now and now I take up the new life because I've now got a new mindset. The mind of Christ has now been formed and is being formed in me. And this is a work, this is an ongoing work. This is a daily work, brethren and sisters. There'll be things that you think about whenever You were a young Christian, and you wouldn't even think of doing those things now. Why? Because the whole mindset has changed. And how has your mindset been changed? It hasn't been, as it were, indoctrinated by the preacher. No, it's been exposed to light, truth, the truth of God's word, and that's now imbibed in the mind, and then you begin to live it out in your life. And so don't be hard. in the young Christian. Be hard on him. Understand that there were things that you did that you would blush now, but God is working. God should be working in your mind. I wonder if you ever said to your child, you know, you need to change your attitude. Maybe you don't say that, but maybe you do. You need to change your attitude. Because you know that such a change in attitude will make that activity more pleasing to the individual. And so it is, whenever God renews the mind, the whole attitude is changed to the things of God. You know, we want to please the Lord. Well, brethren and sisters, we need this change of attitude, a renewal of the spirit of minds that makes God's commandments pleasing and not grievous to us. Well, let's pray. Pray every day, Lord, renew my mind. Renew the spirit of my mind. Not just the mind itself, but the very spirit that motivates and governs and directs the mind. Lord, renew that, because I'm in the world and they've got their mind on certain issues, but I want your mind on the matter. And so let's shield ourselves to the spirit of God and to the word of God, and let's not resist that renewal. Let's pray that God will renew our spirit of our minds, giving us a new attitude regarding our obedience to all that he requires of us. And so there's another be, be, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. We'll go to one more, and it's in the same chapter. You'll not have to turn, only a few verses down there. In the verse number 20, well, we'll read verse 25, therefore put away lying, Speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. You know, sinful anger is condemned in Scripture. To simply lash out in anger, it is forbidden in Scripture. And yet, there is such a thing as righteous anger, or as the Puritans would have talked, and men of previous generation, they would talk of a holy anger. And such an anger is not sinful. You'll know that the Savior himself displayed anger in his life. and a number of occasions during his earthly ministry, and yet he was without sin. For example, in Mark chapter three, the Savior, he healed a man with a weathered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Now that angered and infuriated the religious establishment of the day, and the Lord Jesus Christ knew that, and he read their hearts. And in Mark chapter three, verse five, it tells us, and when he, speaking of Jesus, when he had looked around about them, with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he said unto the man, stretch forth thy hand, and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other. It says that he, the Savior, looked round about them with anger. In John chapter 2, the Son of God went into the temple and said of it being, and finding it as a house of prayer, he found it that it had been made into a den of thieves. His response to that is given in the verse number two of John, or verse 15 of John chapter two. It says, and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables. Righteous anger, holy anger. Not only is it concerning Jesus Christ, but what does it say about God himself? God, Psalm 7 verse 11, God is angry with the wicked every day. And so there's such a thing as holy anger, righteous anger. God is angry with the wicked all the time. He's angry with the injustices in the world. He's angry with the immorality. He's angry with the ungodliness. He's angry with blasphemy and irreverence and scorn and mockery concerning him and the gospel. But the anger of the Lord is always righteous. It's righteous anger. In the face of blatant evil, We should be indignant, not tolerant, angry, not apathetic to it. Since God hates sin, then his people should hate sin too. If evil rouses his anger, it should rouse our anger too. anger kindled by god the holy spirit at some site of injustice some depravity or some monstrous iniquity is just anger or holy anger if you saw someone butchering someone to death you wouldn't stand and applaud it you'd be angry justly so righteous anger is that anger that is then primarily concerned with offenses against God and others. Matthew Henry said, if we would be angry and not sin, we must be angry at nothing but sin. And we should be more jealous for the glory of God than for any interest or reputation of our own. I find a line, however, there is between sinful and righteous anger. As John Trapp put it, it is not a sin to be angry, but hard not to sin when we are angry. And how often we find that to be so. Dr. Gell made this comment about be angry and sin not. He says, a man may be said to be angry and not sin. When his anger rises from a true zeal for God and religion, when it is kindled not against persons but sins, when a man is displeased with his own sins and with the sins of others, with vice and immorality of every kind, with idolatry and idolatrous worship and with all false doctrine, and also when it is carried on to answer good ends as the good of those with whom we are angry, the glory of God and the promoting of the interest of Christ. How could you not be righteously angry when you see the abounding sin in our nation, along with the coldness that seems to exist among many professing Christians? How could you not be angry? Righteously? Angry. I sat in a meeting today with regard to conversion therapy and with regard to RSE. It was astounding. Astounding. All of these sins. Just had to shake my head repeatedly. Great sin in our nation. What should that anger do? Well, it should drive us to prayer. Not at the prayer meeting. Not at the prayer meeting. It should stir us up to see the gospel go forth with all of the energy and with all of the passion we can put into it because really ultimately the gospel is ultimately the answer for all sin and for all injustices in the world and it should inspire us to do what we can to see such wickedness end. And yet sin not. Bring it to God in prayer. Seek him for his mercy. Pray for revival. Pray for the stirring up of hearts. Pray for the coming down of God. The putting out of evil. Oh may God help us to be righteously angry. A holy anger that will seek only his glory. And thankfully it will then be for our good as he works in answer to prayer. And so that's where we'll conclude tonight. And so let's look to the Lord for him to help us to be holy. We pray tonight, Lord, make me holy. Help me to be holy. And then renew the spirit of my mind. Give me your mind on the matter and yes, Help me to be righteously angry. As I look out at sin and see what sin does to a community. God willing, we'll pick up the subject matter again as we look at a number of more Bs in this hive of Bs. It's littered, the scriptures are littered with these statements, B or Bd. This is what God expects of us. May God help us to follow him. as we are his disciples. May the Lord bless his word to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow in prayer together. Maybe, Andrew, would you turn off and then I'll bring some announcements off air. We encourage you to go and pray now if you're at home. You seek the Lord together. Let's bow in prayer. Our loving Father, we come to thee in our Savior's name. Lord, we pray for help and holiness. We pray, Lord, that you'll renew this.