The Bible says a Christian is a changed person. A Christian is someone who puts in work on his character after the Holy Spirit has entered into their lives. God designed the Christian to be someone with a contrasting before and after story. Like HGTV and the fixer-upper homes, a Christian is to have a “before and after” in their story. Our “after” is supposed to be really different than our “before.”
First, there’s such a tendency in our therapized culture to think of ourselves almost completely as victims. The Bible forbids this kind of thinking – we are not victims. Second, the Bible teaches that there are supernatural obstacles you cannot see, but they are very real. To be a better person, you have to know you are under a supernatural power of some kind.
You either have the DNA of Jesus in you or the DNA of the devil (John 8:4). How’s that for an opening? You either have the divine nature in your heart (2 Peter 1:3), or you have dishonesty, pride, and resentment. The Bible calls the Devil the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, and a roaring lion. In the moments to come, I want to tell you how to develop better character. To develop strong character, you have some real obstacles in front of you – one inside of you and one outside of you.
1. No Foothold Allowed
There’s an incredible word picture in verse 27: “and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). Give the devil no place to work in your life. In a moment, Paul will put his focus on lying, deceit, and falsehood. But it’s important to understand the Bible doesn’t just simply call upon you, to tell the truth. You’re facing a formidable opponent that you cannot see and many of you are have a resource that you do not realize. Paul focuses our minds on the devil.
1.1 Jesus Believed in Satan
I wonder about you, “Do you believe in a being called Satan?” If I caught you alone, away from all the church’s beliefs, and I asked you straight up, “Do you believe in the devil.” I believe in the devil because Jesus believed in the devil. Jesus talked to the devil, felt his presence, and even He commanded him to “get out of here!” Jesus even said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18b). Again, I believe in Satan because Jesus believed in Satan. If you want to be successful morally and spiritually, you need to realize Satan is real. And he’s coming after you. The Bible says you are to not give the adversary a foothold in your life.
1.2 A Foothold
A foothold is often associated with rock climbing. And a foothold is where you identify a rock ledge that holds your weight and is large enough for your foot to push on it for leverage. Satan is looking for a moral foothold in your life. Say this with me: Satan is looking for a foothold in my life. Satan is looking for even the smallest area in your life to wedge his foot into for leverage.
The Bible fingers prolonged anger as an excellent foothold for the devil: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27).
The Bible identifies three of Satan’s favorite weapons: lying, anger, and stinginess.
Don’t lie.
Don’t steal.
Tell the truth.
Work hard and give to the poor.
It’s really appropriate to focus on the devil here because Ephesians has more to say about spiritual warfare than just about any other book in your Bibles.
1.3 Two Wars
Keep in mind that before your conversion, you were fighting against God – this is your first fight. After your conversion, God is fighting against the evil in you and around you – this is your second fight. The first fight (before your conversion) you have to lose. You were fighting God. The DNA in the heart of the Devil is, “Don’t tell me what to do.” The DNA in the heart of Jesus Christ is, “Not my will but Thine be done.” Which one is your heart?
The moment this first war is finished, and you say “yes” to Christ, a second fight begins. Let me say that again: the very moment you become a follower of Christ, a second battle begins. The second fight is God fighting on your behalf against the forces of evil.
One of Two Wars
So you’re either caught in one of two conflicts. Which fight are you in right now: are you fighting against God, or are you fighting beside God? Now the moment you say “yes” to Christ, great joy enters into your life. The Bible becomes clearer, and prayer is sweeter.
1.4 Mortally Wounded
But on the day that the Holy Spirit comes into your life, you have mortally wounded your anger, your fear, your self-centeredness, your pride, and all those things that have made your life a misery. Yes, you have these old habits of anger, cheating, lying, and stealing that are still present with you. They are all you’ve known for years. Now the Holy Spirit rushes in to deliver a death blow to your old habits.
1.4.1 The Old Self Inside Me
This is a time to be extremely careful because a mortally wounded animal is a terribly dangerous animal. The Bible says you have an “old self,” often called the flesh. This is the inside force that makes it so hard for you to have a sterling character. Your “old self” is mortally wounded – your flesh is mortally wounded. And a mortally wounded animal can give you a tremendous fight.
The flesh is also called your sinful nature. So you have a sinful nature inside of you that gravitates toward sin. Have you ever had a car that pulled in one direction when you took your hands off the wheel? You take your hands off the wheel, and the whole car drifts right or drifts left. You almost have to turn the steering wheel a little in the opposite direction to keep your car going straight. The Bible says that your sinful nature, your flesh, or your “old self” will gravitate toward sin. Now, this isn’t an outside evil influence. This is an inward evil influence.
You are fighting against both an inner evil nature and an outside supernatural evil influence to do right. You’re thinking, “No wonder it’s so hard to do right!” It’s this old nature that is mortally wounded when the Spirit enters your life.
1.4.2 Outside Evil Influence & Game Film
So again, the Bible says to not give the devil an opportunity, a door, or a foothold into your life. The devil is the outside force that makes it so hard for you to have sterling character. Oftentimes, your old habits become worse for a period of time when the Spirit of God enters your life. Most of us are aware that athletes and coaches watch game film of an upcoming opponent. One area high school coach said they spend between 10 and 20 hours a week watching films of their opponents on average. If a coach and a player average between 10 and 20 hours a week in film study for a silly game, how much film study do you think Satan studies on you? In this spiritual war, our opponent, the devil — along with his team of demons — has had thousands of years watching humanity’s film.
Satan isn’t God. But he’s an expert on exploiting your personality weaknesses, your traumas, your racial and gender divisions, and on your flesh and its desires. He’s an expert on exploiting your “old self.” Satan and his team of demons have been watching your own game film on you and me since our conception. They know what leads you to sinful patterns. They know how to get you down on yourself. They are intimately aware of what frustrates you and wears you down. They have Ph.D.’s in exploiting your weaknesses. Now, these two forces interlock with one another – your sinful nature and Satanic forces. They interlock with one another, and the collective strength of both makes it so hard to do good in life. Think of it as spiritual and moral inertia that you have to fight. The good news is you have a secret weapon that we’ll discuss in detail in the coming weeks.
1.5 Satanic Strongholds
You have strongholds in your lives – Satanic strongholds. There are many people in this congregation right now, who have in their heart, and in their mind, and in their life, a satanic stronghold. The Bible says a Christian is a changed person. God designed the Christian to be someone with a contrasting before and after story. Again, a Christian is someone who puts in work on his character. And these strongholds harm you and wreck your spiritual life. But they are also contaminating the life of your family and the life of your church. The devil has found an unclean place in you. The devil has made a campground —a foul nest, a beachhead, a citadel, a stronghold — there. And he uses that stronghold to war against God and against the work of God.
1. No Foothold Allowed
2. The Foothold of Falsehood
“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25). Now, when Paul begins detailing out what a Christian looks like, he begins with honesty.
2.1 Richard Nixon
Richard M. Nixon served as the 37th president of the United States. He was a polarizing figure who won the presidential office by a landslide and then later resigned in disgrace just 21 months later. His disgrace culminated with the Democratic party getting their man, Jimmy Carter, into the White House. The victory of the Democrats came about because they learned of attempts where their conversations were to be “bugged.” Watergate occurred on June 17, 1972, when five men attempted to break into the Democratic national headquarters in Washington’s Watergate complex. The men were arrested after police were notified by an alert security guard, as they were in possession of cameras and electronic surveillance equipment. They were suspected of attempting to tap the telephones there in order to gain the upper hand on the Democratic campaign. When the Democrats realized that President Nixon, among others, was attempting to “bug” their conversations, that is, they were listening in on their conversations in an attempt to win the election. We need to learn a lesson from Watergate: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).
2.2 Put Away Falsehood
“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25).
Alexander Pope said an honest man is the greatest work of God. What Pope means is it’s a miracle to find an honest man. Why a miracle? Because honesty is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
The essence of evil is deceit: “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…” (Ephesians 4:22). Deceit means hiding from reality, being out of touch with reality.
One new husband said to his wife, “Why did God make you so beautiful and yet so dumb?” She said, “He made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me. He made me dumb, so I would be attracted to you.”
Lying gives leverage to Satan. Lying gives space for the devil to work in your life. Deceit gives the devil a foothold in your life. Jesus said of Satan: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Dishonesty in your life is the devil’s campground. The Bible continually says that Satan’s main way of operating in your life is through lies. The word Satan means prosecutor, prosecution, accuser. Satan is the Father of Darkness. That means he keeps us, through ignorance of the truth, in darkness. That’s how he controls us. He controls us by keeping us ignorant of the truth.
2.2 Speak the Truth to One Another
In a therapized culture where we like to think of ourselves almost completely as victims, the Bible calls on us to be honest with ourselves and one another. “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25).
If someone were to approach you today with honesty about you, could you take the medicine? What if somebody comes to you and says, “You know, one thing that really bothers a lot of people about you is, with all your other good qualities, you really complain so much. I have noticed that you almost never have a good word to say about anybody.” Or maybe somebody might say to you, “You are so well-meaning. You are always saying, ‘yes,’ but people know how disorganized you really are. The problem is that you never follow through. Nobody wants to trust you with anything.” Again, if someone came up to you and said either of these, could you take the truth? The Bible calls on us to say truthful words to one another.
The Bible says a Christian is a changed person. God designed the Christian to be someone with a contrasting before and after story. Like HGTV and the fixer-upper homes, a Christian is to have a “before and after” in their story. Our “after” is supposed to be really different than our “before.” And your words should be different. Your level of truthfulness should be different. And our “after” is supposed to be characterized by telling the truth.
2.4 Encourage One Another
The Bible calls on us to encourage one another: “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” (Ephesians 4:29).
Did you hear about the old couple we had some years ago? The wife had good eyes, but she could hardly hear. The husband had good ears, but he could hardly see. So between the two of them, they manage to get around. She’d drive the car, and he’d do the talking. They were going from Fort Worth to Odessa, and they stopped in Abilene to get some gas. They pulled into the service station. The attendant came out and said, “Fill her up?” The man said, “Yes.” She said, “What did he say?” The husband replied, “He said, ‘Fill her up.’ I said, ‘Yes.’” After a while, he said, “That’s a nice car. What kind is it?” He said, “It’s a Chrysler.” She said, “What did he say?” “He said he wanted to know what kind of car it was. I told him it was a Chrysler.” He said, “Are you going far?” He said, “Yeah, we’re going to Odessa.” She said, “What did he say?” He said, “They want to know where we’re going. I said, ‘We’re going to Odessa.’” He said, “Where are you from?” “Fort Worth,” the old man replied. “What did he say?” “He wanted to know where we’re from. I told him we’re from Fort Worth.” He said, “Fort Worth? I used to know a woman in Fort Worth. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, that was the meanest, hardest, bitterest, coldest woman I’ve ever known in all my life.” She said, “What did he say?” “He said he thinks he knows your sister.”
The Bible calls on us to encourage one another. Don’t allow Satan a foothold in your life by being a deceitful person. Don’t allow Satan a foothold in your life by being a bitter person.
1. No Foothold Allowed
2. The Foothold of Falsehood
Don’t allow Satan a foothold in your life by being a deceitful person.
2.5 Repentance
“to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…” (Ephesians 4:22). If you’re going to prevent any points of leverage Satan is looking for in your life, then you are going to have to repent. The Bible says, “to put off your old self.”
What is repentance? When you repent, you remind yourself of the great truth of the gospel: “I’m far more wicked than I ever dared to believe, but I’m also far more valued and accepted than I ever dared to dream.” You have to confess your sin, forsake your sin, and deal with your sin in light of this tremendous truth. The is the great truth of the cross: “I’m far more wicked than I ever dared to believe, but I’m also far more valued and accepted than I ever dared to dream.” There’s only one thing to do with sin, and that is to repent.
Conclusion
There are two kinds of confusion here. The first confusion thinks all this is really simple. They believe it’s as simple as this: If you want to be a better person, then simply choose to be a better person. No need to bother with religion and a bloody cross. This group believes: If you want to be a better person, then you simply choose to be a better person. The 2nd group here thinks something like this: now that I am a Christian, it doesn’t matter if I am good. Now that I have experienced the new birth, God’s grace will cover my sins – case closed. So many Christians become lazy, and they quit trying.
A Third Way
But there’s a third way… … once you experience life-changing conversion, you can then put in the work to be a better person. Jesus died to make you honest. With the Spirit of God inside, it’s time to put the work in on making you a better person. Jesus called His followers to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). It’s time to let your light shine in your neighborhood, family, and place of business.
