Ephesians 4:17-19 

Introduction: In this lesson we are going to see that the Believer is to walk differently from the gentiles, that is, as ungodly men (Ephesians 2:11-12/I Cor 10:32). Believers are not to walk as other men walk, because believers are new creatures in Christ Jesus, and the walk of other men does not please God. 

Other Gentiles Walk: 

1. In the Vanity of their Mind- Ephesians 4:17 When men choose to push out God out of their minds, their minds are void and empty of God and of His Truth. God is not in their thoughts. Their minds are ready to be filled with some other god or with the things of this world; worldly pleasures, possessions, power, religions, ideas, etc. These things are vanity- empty, senseless, aimless, worthless, the wrong desire. The mind of man walks after these things, neglecting, ignoring, and rejecting God. 

• Psalm 10:4 “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts”. These people don’t have or want the truth of God, they want to think and do what they want to do. 
• Psalm 94:11 “The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity”. Left to ourselves, our thoughts are vain. 

Solution: The believer must never allow his mind to become empty of God. Romans 8:5-6 “for to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”. Our mind must stay on spiritual things, things that please God. 

• Philippians 4:8 “whatsoever things are true…think on these things. These are the things we always want in our mind so that we are not walking in the vanity of our mind. 
• Things that are true are found in the Bible- John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” When we walk in the truth, we won’t be walking in the vanity of our mind. 

2. Having their understanding Darkened- Ephesians 4:18 These people walk with darkened understanding, they can’t understand, perceive, or comprehend God or His eternal plan for the world, through the Lord Jesus Christ. This person may understand this world, and give himself to the things of this world, but he doesn’t understand God. 

• John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil”. These people want to stay in darkness and walk in darkness. 
• Proverbs 4:19 “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble”. 
• Solution: The believer is not to allow his understanding to become darkened. He is not to return to the world of the spiritually blind, the world of those who walk with darkened understanding. We need to walk in the light and stay in the light. 
  • Stay away from people that will lead you in that direction- John 3:20 those people hate the light and will try to sway you also. 
  • Stay in the Bible- Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”. Proverbs 6:23 “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life”. 
  • When you come to the word, your understanding will not be darkened because you will learn the things the Holy Ghost is teaching you. 
  • John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghose, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things”. Get with God daily, reading this Bible, God will teach you, and your understanding won’t be darkened.  

3. Alienated from the Life of God- Ephesians 4:18 This person is estranged, separated, cut off from God. This is something that these people choose to do, they choose to remain ignorant and with a blind heart. They don’t want to come to the truth and be forced to change their ways. Colossians 1:21 “and you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”. They may find pleasures in this lifetime, by staying alienated (estranged) from God, however they are destined to eternal life, alienated from God. 

1. 1. Because they are ignorant- Ephesians 4:18 “through the ignorance that is in them”. They choose to be ignorant within their minds. People don’t want to know and they remain ignorant because they are too smart, too good, too perfect/no sin, don’t want to change their life, don’t need Him, 
   2. Because their heart is blind- Ephesians 4:18 “because of the blindness of their heart”. They choose to have a heart that is blind to God, whether saved or lost. The heart is sensitive to the things of God but they make it blind so it doesn’t see. 

• Solution: Stay in fellowship with God- I Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”. 
• Every person is responsible for their own life and death, and after death the judgment. God has already died and offers eternal life, right now, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Don’t choose to be alienated from the life of God now and for eternity. The life of God and His fellowship is better now and after death. 

IV.   Given over unto lasciviousness- Ephesians 4:19 Lasciviousness is looseness, irregular indulgence of animal desires, wantonness, lustfulness- unrestrained evil thoughts and behaviors. 

• • This person has sinned so much that he knows no restraint, and doesn’t care anymore what people think of him or her – Jude 4 & 7. 

1. • Because they are past feeling- Ephesians 4:19 This is after being past feeling. These people have been ignoring the leading of the Holy Spirit of God in their life, they no longer have feelings for God and His standard of morality. They have become callous, insensible, hardened. The more a person walks in sin and without God, the more callous his conscience becomes to righteousness. Sin longer bothers the person.

• As this person continues to sin, at some point, they are given over unto lasciviousness- it’s all gone, anything goes. 
• Solution- The believer is not to return to sin. He is not to walk as other men walk in sin, becoming callous and insensitive to God. We need to live in the fear of God- Hebrews 10:31 “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. 

V.   Working all uncleanness with greediness- Ephesians 4:19 This is a person that craves, grasps, and desires to have more and more uncleanness even though you’ve already had enough. These people go from one unclean thing to another coveting unclean things. 

• Solution- The believer is walk away, way before it gets to this point. 

Conclusion: Obviously, this is how other gentiles walk, this should not be the case for us. We shouldn’t be walking in any of these ways as we see here. If anyone is walking in these ways, you should stop, and if you’re on the fence about it, toying with any of these, take this as a warning, and don’t go down that path.