When God’s Son is magnified; Choice Number 2:
God’s People are Consecrated: When Paul originally began spreading the gospel in Ephesus, he was not talking to commendable, God-honoring saints. They “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.” Paul says, “We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
These were Diana-worshipping, sex-addicted, materialism-controlled, occult-practicing sinners we’re talking about here. This is who God saved. But He doesn’t just leave them there. Paul began to teach about what pleases God and what doesn’t please God, and all of a sudden, these recently-dead, made-alive-in-Christ saints heard God’s rebuke. This is where chastening comes in. Their eyes were opened, and they saw everything in their lives that didn’t glorify God. They started cleaning the house.
Acts 19:18-19 says, “And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.”
This is what consecrated living looks like. They had been living in the lusts of their flesh, so when they felt the rebuke of the Lord, they went through their homes and found everything that promoted sensuality, that promoted the lusts of the flesh, and they cleaned it out. They used to walk according to the course of the world, according to the worldly pursuits so big in Ephesus, so they cleaned out everything that promoted materialism. If it made them want to indulge in the desires of the mind, in their own pride, they got rid of it. They were saved from this, and they chose not to live in it anymore.
Everything God’s enemies, the evil one and his angels, were promoting in Ephesus; the saints at Ephesus decided they wouldn’t be ruled by those things anymore.
From WOLFL-2024-04 – Keep Focused On Jesus Always As First (240417AM) –
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