The Walk of the True Christian, Part 1 (Ephesians 4:25–32)

Focus Keywords: Christian assurance, overcoming repeated sin, spiritual transformation, righteous conduct, Ephesians 4, Holy Spirit grief, forgiveness, John MacArthur

This rewrite summarizes key themes from John MacArthur’s message on Ephesians 4:25–32, focusing on the connection between spiritual assurance and righteous obedience. The core argument is that while salvation is eternally secure, the experience of peace, joy, and hope—known as assurance—is fortified by a dramatic lifestyle change, actively exchanging the patterns of the “old self” for the conduct of the “new self.”

The Battle for Assurance: Why We Struggle

A common question among believers is: “How can I be sure I’m really a Christian?”. Though salvation is forever, experiencing and holding onto assurance can be difficult, leading to insecurity. This struggle is often caused by several factors:

1. Convicting Preaching: When exposed to powerful preaching from the Word of God, which is “sharper than any two-edged sword,” the standard of holiness is revealed as so high that it can lead to doubt and conviction.
2. Guilt over Sin: Vivid realities of past sinfulness, such as 30 years of dissolute living, can make a believer struggle with assurance, especially when confronted with the high standard of holiness.
3. Misunderstanding the Gospel: The struggle arises when people think the gospel saves by grace but is “kept by works,” believing they must keep themselves saved, which inevitably leads to a lack of assurance. Similarly, some misunderstand forgiveness, believing God forgives past sins but “not the present and the future,” which is incompatible with maintaining righteousness.
4. No Memory of Salvation: Many struggle because they cannot recall the exact moment of their true salvation; the “divine miracle of regeneration is God’s work on his schedule,” not ours.
5. Strong Impulses of the Flesh: Believers often “keep going back to the same sins” because those sins are ingrained. The nature of the sinful flesh includes preferred sins that are recycled due to past carnal fulfillment. This can lead a believer to question, “Maybe I’m not really saved”.
6. Failure to See God’s Goodness in Trials: Disappointments like cancer, heart surgery, career setbacks, or a child denying the faith lead to the question, “Why is God doing this to me?”. This “failure to go below the trial to the providence that’s unfolding” forfeits assurance, despite the promise in Romans 8:28 that God orders all things for good to those who are called.
7. Sin and Disobedience: The dominant reality that forfeits assurance is a routine appearance of sin and disobedience. The Holy Spirit will withdraw assurance if a believer is walking in disobedience. Since the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace, if a person is not walking in the Spirit, they will not experience these things.

Security and Sanctification: The Reality of the New Self

The true believer’s salvation is secure and eternal. God designed, planned, and initiated salvation. Believers are raised and seated with Christ in “heavenly places,” possessing an inheritance that is waiting there. Salvation is entirely “by grace… through faith” and is “not as a result of works”.

However, this justification is intrinsically linked to sanctification.

• God’s Workmanship: Believers are God’s “workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”.
• Total Transformation: God “predetermined your sanctification” just as He predetermined justification. God does not just cover the believer with Christ’s righteousness; He “transforms us” dramatically.

The former life of the unconverted Gentile—characterized by a “futility of their mind,” “darkened in their understanding,” and living in “every kind of impurity with greediness”—is no longer the norm. While a true believer may fall into sin, these acts are “the exceptions to your righteousness,” and they do not pursue wicked things with “intense greed”.