Programs of man have laws, steps, and rules. The gospel of grace has love, power, and fullness! The outcomes of both are very different.
Thinking about "nature abhors a vacuum," what if the “house” in Jesus’ parable, instead of being "clean but empty," was lived in by the owner who could protect his home?
Jesus Christ, Himself, fills our heart-homes with love and light, power and fullness! Demons cannot live where Jesus is; darkness hates the light. So, a house filled with Christ and His love and light is no longer a demon-magnet because it is no longer empty but instead is occupied and filled.
This is precisely what the gospel does in the life of all who come to believe it. Think of it: Jesus took your sins off of you, removed them “as far as the East is from the West” (Psalm 103:12). God metaphorically threw your sins behind His back (Isaiah 38:17) and drowned them in the “sea of forgetfulness” (Micah 7:18-19).
But He didn’t stop there; He didn’t leave you empty. No, when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the Father, He gave the gift of His Holy Spirit to inhabit you. At Pentecost, the Spirit came, and now lives with and in all believers, forever. This is grace upon grace!
John 14:23 ESV Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:17) and could say about his own life, “…It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV)
As I began to understand this truth, I realized that not only was I to war against the flesh; but that I was also to fill my life with Christ, that I would genuinely experience love and power and fullness!
To close our time today, please notice how the Scripture always tells us both to stop doing something but does not leave us empty, it then tells us to start doing something. Give your thoughts on the following passages:
Ephesians 5:17-18 ESV Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (18) And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
Question 5. According to Ephesians 5:17-18, what are we not to do, and what are we to do instead?
Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; (23) to be made new in the attitude of your minds; (24) and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Question 6. According to Ephesians 4:22-24 what are we instructed to do here?
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Question 7. As a summary of this lesson, what was the warning you saw today?
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Question 8. How are you doing? Are you gaining victory through the power of the cross changing your heart? Are you still struggling/falling? Please share how you are doing, as your mentor will want to pray for you and offer you counsel from God’s Word.
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