Ephesians 4:25-32

You have your Bibles, please turn with me to

Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 25.

We're back after learning from the Apostle

Paul who we are in Christ in the first three

chapters of this epistle as I've been telling

you. Starting in chapter 4 and on to the very

end of this epistle he teaches us now how we

are to live and we've made it to verse 25

here today and never should tire of reminding

you and you should never retire, get tired

of hearing it that when we're in these verses

about sanctification, how we're to live as

Christians. This is Paul giving us, this is

what a Christian looks like, this is how a

Christian lives. You must separate

justification from sanctification. You must

understand that

nothing that I'm going to give you today in

these verses, if you do them, that's what

makes you right with God. No, it's completely

the opposite. It's because you have been made

right with God through the person and work of

Jesus Christ alone that you do these things.

These things are the natural outworking of a

person who has totally trusted in the perfect

righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to them

by the means of faith alone. That's

justification.

Now we're going to get into, so how does a

person who has experienced justification,

how do they live? This is the outworking. What

is a life that is pleasing to God after

you have gone through the miracle of

regeneration and faith alone? It's this. So I

just want

to do that as a heading. I don't have my

glasses. Oh, there they are. Sorry about that.

So look in Ephesians starting in verse 25 of

chapter 4 and let me tell you, you don't

even really need me today because we could

just read this text and then I could go home

and you could go home because you're going to

be convicted by what it says. But so let's

go on and read it and get convicted and you'll

see what I mean. Therefore, laying aside all

falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with

his neighbor, for we are members of one

another.

Be angry and yet do not sin. Do not let the

sun go down on your anger and do not give

the devil an opportunity. He who steals must

steal no longer, but rather he must labor

performing with his own hands what is good so

that you will have something to share with

one who has need. Let no unwholesome word

proceed from your mouth but only such a word

as is

good for edification according to the need of

the moment so that it will give grace to

those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

of God by whom you were sealed for the day

of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath

and anger and clamor and slander be put away

from you along with all malice. Be kind to one

another, tenderhearted, forgiving each

other just as God in Christ also has forgiven

you. See what I mean there. Alright, now we've

been learning. When you go through the process

of regeneration and you exercise repentance,

faith in Christ, everything about you changes.

Your whole nature changes as we've been

learning

through a totally new nature. You can back

some of these others and talk about that

extensively

how we have one nature and not two different

natures of totally new nature. But when you

have a new nature that is supplied to you from

God himself, from the moment that that

happens and progressively and more and more

through the rest of your life, you think

differently.

You talk differently. You act differently. You

have different motives. And as a result,

there should be, especially the older that you

are when you come to faith in Christ,

there should be a great distinction between

the way that you lived your life before you

came to Christ and the way that you live now

that you are in Christ through saving faith.

And that's because the things that you now

desire, the things that are most important

to you have totally changed to being the

things of God. As I said before, I never could

say

this clearly enough. I don't think that I have

enough years left on earth to get over

how absolutely fascinated I am at how God

works all of this out and all of us,

especially

me. One of the advantages of being a bivoc

ational pastor is that I get to see this being

played

out in real time on a regular basis. And let

me tell you what I mean by that. In the 40

hours per week that I work in the secular

world, I am around constantly a lot of very

hardworking blue collar men. Okay, there's no

low T where I'm at. I'm around farmers

and welders and machine shop workers and and

heart warehouse workers and on down that line.

And what's amazing to observe is that the

things that are most important to them which

comes out in their conversation on a regular

basis are very extremely different from the

things that are most important to the men that

I hang out with here at our men's meeting

especially with my pastor friends that I hang

out with. It's really remarkable to me because

the men that we have that come here, my pastor

friends and the men that I work with, both

groups are all working class men. You could

classify all of them and myself that way.

And I was around here, we're not in the

billionaire class. We're not in the elite

class of what

the world classes as elite. But men who are

living their lives with the with the primary

undergirded motive to bring glory to God with

their lives are so very different from the

men who are not. And you come to one of our

men's meetings, you'll find that the men here

don't know about other places or other

churches. The men here are men. Okay. We're

not talking

about weak, soft, effeminate men. That's why

we're having this men's meeting to make sure

that in the church, one of the reasons to make

sure that in the church that the men who lead

the church are strong men. And so between the

men who are living their lives with the

primary

motive of the glory of God, it's so

fascinating. Their desires and motives and the

things that

they talk about, like when we break into our

little groups after our thing is over and

there's different little groups of men in here

. You could go in any of those little groups

of men and mostly what you're going to hear

them talking about is what we just heard or

something to do with the things of God or

theology. And so in that way, all of the men

who are living for the glory of God are all so

similar. We've just been doing this since

last year. But those guys who have been

regularly coming to our men's meeting, I feel

like I'm

known them all my life. It's remarkable

because not only are our motives the same for

living

life, we have the same Holy Spirit in dwelling

. And so in going back and forth every week

between the two groups, it's just so clear to

me that there is no way that what this

Bible says about the change that occurs in a

person as a result of saving faith is not

true. It has to be true because the

distinction between the two groups is too

consistently

stark and the similarities between the

Christian men are consistently way too much

the same.

There's no way that this could be made up all

at the same time by these men. And after

that, and the point that I made last time we

were here in Ephesians, the motives and

the desires and the things that the men in the

Christian group now have, including me

are not natural. I made this point a little

bit last week. Men get in here. Man, we eat

like kings. You should see the food that we

put down in this men's meeting. You would

be amazed. But after we eat, we want more than

anything as we gather as men to stand

right here and loudly sing hymns. That is not

natural. We want more than anything to

sit under verse by verse expositional

preaching that convicts us, meaning it makes

us feel

bad. That is not natural because we know it's

good for us to feel bad to get ourselves

straight. And on down the list, I could go and

what this demonstrates folks in a very

real way and technicolor right in front of

your face is that the change that happens

when you come to faith in Christ is real.

Doesn't produce perfection in anybody's life,

not by any stretch of the imagination. Y'all

say this all the time. This is from MacArthur,

but it does produce a massive change of

direction in a person's life. And what Paul is

getting

at in this particular section of Ephesians, as

he does in the other epistles, is since

you are a new creation now, since new

creations are different, here's how you are to

be different.

This is what I'm giving you, Paul is saying.

Here's how you are to be distinct. This is

what it looks like. Here's how your life is to

be set apart from the other lives that

you encounter that aren't. And think about it,

the church better be different. Or do

we really have anything to say to the world if

we're not? Now, up to this point in chapter

four, Paul has been speaking in a very general

way on how Christians are to be different.

Think back from the beginning, don't walk as

the pagan Gentiles walk. Remember, put

off the old man, put on the new man, very

general, put on this new lifestyle, put on

this new pattern of living. But now, starting

in verse 25, he's going to give some examples

that are very specific from here to the end of

the book. This is where he wants us to

start to activate our will as new Christians

in Christ Jesus. And in this section that

we're fixing to dig into, he's going to give

us five categories in which the change takes

place. And that's how we're going to do our

outline for the day. The first one is this,

Christian, you exchange lying for speaking the

truth. Look at verse 25. It starts with

the therefore. So, in other words, the

therefore is therefore from the previous

verses, since

it's generally true that the old is gone and

the new has come, therefore, laying aside

all falsehood, other translations, lying just

straight up, speak truth, each one of you

with his neighbor, for we are members of one

another. Now, do you remember this verse,

Revelation 21 verse 8? But for the, notice

what's first on the list, please, cowardly,

see that? And unbelieving and abominable and

murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers

and idolaters and look at this and all liars,

their part will be in the lake that burns

with fire and brimstone, which is the second

death. Now, I'm, you know, I report you decide

that that gives you problems. I can't help you

. That's what the word says. I'm just the

messenger. Okay. Now, for sure, that is not an

exhaustive list, right? But for those

particular

traits to be here, it should tell us that

those traits are high up on this list. And

so you don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to

deduce the fact that liars go to hell. That's

what it says. Lying is not a characteristic of

a believer. Now, did I say believers never

lie? Did I say that? Nope. Didn't say that.

Did I? There are times when we sin and we

fail, but in general, there is no way that you

can look at your life and see a constant

flow, a constant pattern of lies and have any

biblical basis for believing that you are

a Christian. No way. Why? Because the word

says hell is for liars. Jesus told the Jewish

leaders, you are of your father, the devil,

and the devil is the father of what? Lies.

So if part of the makeup of your character is

to lie, if your life is a constant pattern

of lying, I don't care what you claim. It

doesn't matter how religious you get. I don't

care where you go to church. You are not going

to be a part of the kingdom of God because

liars don't go to heaven. Now, Paul reminds us

here in verse 25, "Laying aside falsehood,

lying, speak truth, each one of you with his

neighbor." And that's a quote from Zechariah

chapter 8 and verse 16 as a side here. Paul

quotes the Old Testament because this is

consistently the way that he demonstrates for

the church for all time that the Bible,

Old and New Testament, is one divinely

inspired revelation from God that all flows

together.

Just to remind you of that. And I don't have

to tell you because you already know that

one of the chief characteristics of human

lifestyle today is lying. We have a whole

world system that is based on lying. Can you

imagine what would happen if one day, just

for one day, everybody in the world, every

single human being told the truth? I can tell

you, World War III is what would happen

because if the real truth ever came out about

a whole

lot of stuff, our world system would

completely collapse, implode, because there

has been

a whole lot of lying that has been keeping

this system together. Just for a moment, just

what doge has exposed in just the first six

weeks of the Trump presidency, and you know

as well as I do? That's just the very tippy, t

ippy top of the iceberg when it comes to

lying and corruption, okay, in our government.

Lying is ingrained in our world system. Law

yers

lie. Doctors lie. Teachers lie. We have preach

ers that lie. For sure, politicians lie. Sales

men

lie. Bosses lie. Secretaries lie. Governments

lie. Everybody lies. That's what keeps the

system going because nobody has to tell the

truth. Lying is expedient and people do what

is expedient. People buy about little things

and people lie about big things. It's a way

of life. It's the outworking of a depraved

nature. I started life out as a top shelf

liar. When I was five years old and in

kindergarten, I convinced my mom that I played

on the junior

high basketball team at St. Anthony. All the

way to the point that she asked my teacher,

when's the game start? I was five. Lying comes

natural to us. We have to teach our kids how

not to lie, right? That's why Paul is telling

us here in verse 25, lay it aside, Christian.

The father of lies has developed a whole world

system of lies. Think about this. I tell you

this all the time. Every single solitary

religion in the world and there are hundreds

and thousands,

every single one of them apart from biblical

Christianity is a lie. Think about that.

Working

through men, Satan lies about life. He lies

about death. He lies about God. He lies about

Jesus. He lies about the Bible. He lies about

the Holy Spirit. He lies about heaven. He

lies about hell. He lies about good and bad.

Everything in his system, this system that

we're living in is based on lie. It's really

clever when a little truth is sprinkled into

a false religion. As we talked about at the

very start of our service, it's like a clock

that doesn't work. It's right, twice a day and

that's it. Government lies to us regularly

and government uses the media to lie to us.

Get over it. This is just the way it is in

our world. I mean, thus far I haven't been

convinced of post-millennialism. I think it's

just going to be this way until Jesus comes

back. At this point, that's where I am, just

being honest. But all of a sudden you're going

through life and God invades your life, draws

you, regenerates you, grants you the gifts of

repentance and faith. The Bible says that

God is true and every man is a lie. You come

to understand who Jesus is and he says I am

the way, the truth and the lie. And you come

to understand the indwelling Holy Spirit and

he is called in Scripture the spirit of truth.

We learn for believers, we are to be about

Ephesians 4.15 speaking the truth, yes, in

love. That means for us, lying has got to

go. And there's all kind of lying. There's the

big one just telling what ain't so. That's

just plain old kind of lie. There's exagger

ation, adding to the story things that aren't

true.

Cheating in your business, cheating on your

taxes, cheating on your time card, betrayal

of a confidence. Now you turn around and tell

everybody. The list is long. When you think

about it, Paul says there's no place for this

in the Christian life. God's law, Exodus

20, don't bear false witness. Tell the truth.

God's whole economy is based on truth. It's

got to be, look again at verse 25. Therefore,

laying aside all falsehood, lying, we speak

the truth, each one of you with his neighbor.

Why? For we are members of one another.

Remember,

he's writing to the church at Ephesus and he's

talking here about the unity of the

church. And if we don't tell the truth to each

other in the church, we're really going

to cause some problems in our fellowship, aren

't we? What would happen if your brain

started to lie to you? What if your brain just

switched the signals on hot and cold

in your mind? Just a little lie. What would

happen the next time you took a shower? You

come out here looking like a lobster, right?

What about when you're trying to get your

coffee hot enough for you and it would be

reversed in your mind? I mean, you'd be in

the hospital after you drank that coffee,

right? Think of what God has done in creating

our bodies. We have a built-in pain system

that's honest enough to tell us we have a

problem. God has given us a whole area of

symptoms so that we know when we have a

problem

physically that needs to be dealt with. That's

the honesty of the body that allows it to

function.

And guess what? That's how the body of Christ

should function in the church. We can't be

shading the truth with one another or we won't

ever function properly as the body of Christ.

Be honest. Speak the truth. It should be a way

of life for us. Now secondly, you exchange

unrighteous anger for righteous anger. What do

I mean by that? We'll look next at verse

26. Be angry and yet do not sin. Now there are

three different Greek words for anger.

I was really overjoyed when I heard Wesley H

uff say really and truly and honestly, none

of us exactly knows exactly how they pronounce

some of these Greek words and when they

originally

spoke them so I don't feel as bad when I mispr

onounce I know because I don't know Greek. It's

like

Dave Hunt said. It's all Greek to me, right?

But there's three words. Thumos, Paragismos,

and the third one is spelled O-R-G which I can

only pronounce. Org. Like we, you know,

dot org. Thumos. What is that in the Greek? It

has to do with a boiling fury. It's where

you totally blow a gasket. It literally comes

from like to go up in smoke. It's just when

you totally and completely lose it in anger.

That's what that word means. And then Paragism

os,

what is that? It's that inside seething, f

uming, resentment that comes from anger,

jealousy,

envy, and it makes you into a generally ugly,

moody person that walks around with a root

of bitterness all the time. You ever met

somebody like that? And then Org. And listen,

of course

there's overlap in these terms but there are

different shades of meaning here. Org has

to do with this settled conviction kind of

anger. Like we have certain principles and

priorities in our lives that we are committed

to, for example with our children. Somebody

comes along, hurts one of your children. You

're going to have a hatred for anybody that

would

do that and Org. It's that settled kind of

commitment. Now listen carefully. These words

can be good or they can be bad. Listen

carefully. You can be angry and sin. Or you

can be angry

and not sin. And let me tell you what I mean

by that. The issue is all about your motive

with your anger. Now, Thummas is really

something that never should happen with a

Christian because

it's used to speak of an unregenerate man

acting in anger in a sinful way. It's used

to speak of Satan in Revelation 12 and watch

this. It's even used to speak of God in Romans

2-8 as God goes off to the extreme in final

judgment. It's used to speak of God's ultimate

wrath in judgment. Now understand this. Only

God can go to the ultimate end of anger Thum

mas

and still be righteous. Only he can because

God is always perfectly under control even

in his righteous wrath. You and I can't do

that. We can't handle Thummas. Why? We get

out of control with this kind of anger. But

sometimes, Paragismas, that inner resentment

and sometimes that settled conviction kind of

anger is tolerable when it is anger for

other than selfish reasons. Now let me develop

that for you. We can be angry with these types

of anger with the things that grieve God. We

can be angry over that which hinders him

and hurts his cause and hurts him. Like I saw

the lady that just was at the Academy

Awards is fixing to be in the movie or the

play Jesus Christ Superstar remade where

Christ

will be blasphemed. You can be righteously

angry about that happen. Okay? Jesus got right

eously

angry when he cleaned that temple out.

Remember we covered that. He cleaned the whole

temple

out. Everybody, thousands of people, okay? And

he didn't ask nicely for the people to

leave, did he? He flipped the tables over,

right? He had a strong conviction that the

holiness of God the Father was at stake and

that it was being seriously offended in that

temple and he moved seriously against it with

righteous anger. Let me give you an example.

When Jesus wept at the grave of his friend

Lazarus, he was weeping for his friend, he

lost his friend, but let me tell you in a much

deeper way, that was Paragismos. He was

weeping most of all for his inner hatred

against the consequences of sin for mankind.

He saw a dead Lazarus as a direct illustration

and symbol of the power of sin over man. And

I'm sure they probably brought to mind the

horror of what he knew he was soon to endure

on the cross for the sinfulness of man who

believed. But for the Christian, Mark 26,

there is this injunction. Don't be angry in a

way that it comes to be sin. Don't be

angry. Watch this for your own cause. Don't

get angry when people offend you personally

directly. Oh, that's one of the biggest

problems in our day. How easily do people in

our day

get personally offended by every little thing.

Don't take my word for it. You go back there

and ask Christy. I do not care at all when

people say all manner of things about me.

And in 24 years in ministry, I've had lots

said about me, breaking news. Not everybody

loves me like y'all did. Okay? Just ask her.

But I don't care. Say it. It doesn't offend

me. Now, if somebody says something about me

that is true, then I better have the humility

to acknowledge that, right? But it's not true.

Say it. People say things about the Christian

faith. I want to get righteously angry, but at

the same time, hey, man, okay, that's your

problem. You don't believe the Christian faith

. And by the same token, if you want to breathe

some wackiness, that's on you. I'm telling you

this is the truth. And I don't get offended

with your wackiness. But when you take

personal offense, your anger, let me tell you

what

it'll do. It will degenerate into a personal

resentment and bitterness that'll build in

you. And let me tell you something. That will

eat you alive if you walk around with that.

That's no way for a Christian to live. The

only justifiable righteous anger that we can

have is one designed to defend the holy,

glorious nature of God and things that God

righteously

hates. And there are a lot of things in the

world that he does. But the wrong kind of

anger, according to Matthew five, is actually

the first step towards murder, actual murder.

That's wrong. The right kind of anger is

demonstrated by David in Psalm 69, nine, where

he says this,

zeal for your house has consumed me and the

reproaches of those who reproach you have

fallen

on me. That's the idea. The anger that is

selfish and undisciplined and uncontrolled

is sinful and causes all manner of chaos and

dysfunction in families, in the workplace,

in the church. So go back to verse 26. Be

angry and yet do not sin. So that tells you

that you can have a righteous anger. And then

he says this, do not let the sun go down on

your wrath. In other words, deal with it. Don

't sleep on it. And I think the last part

here is obviously dealing with the wrong kind

of anger for a Christian. If you've got anger

that is sin today, deal with it now. Don't go

to sleep with it. Still on you. Do what

you have to do, repent, confess, forgive,

whatever it is, handle it before you lay your

head down at night and get rid of it. When you

have sinful anger, you deal with it. Look

at 2 Corinthians 2, 11. You deal with sinful

anger. You get rid of it. Look at it so that

no advantage would be taken of us by Satan for

we are not ignorant of his schemes because

he will take advantage of you if you don't get

rid of that anger. You know why you get

angry? You know why I get angry? Because

people say and do things that we don't like.

That's

very general, right? And the reality is, this

is a heavy load. The world doesn't understand

this. You and I don't deserve anything except

the wrath of God. That's all we deserve. What

do you deserve? Don't listen to psychobabble.

You deserve to be happy and all of that. You

deserve nothing except wrath from God for your

sin. That's like, whoa, you're a nuts preacher

.

Read the Bible. According to God's standard,

you're not even able to see much less enter

the kingdom of God unless you are totally

broken in your spirit, unless you become

totally

spiritually bankrupt, understanding that you

deserve the wrath of God and that's all that

you deserve out of life. And if you get that,

if you get that, if you get that down in your

bloodstream, when somebody acts a fool with

you, you can deal with it in the right way.

I promise you. But if you let yourself get

angry in the wrong way, look what verse 27

says next will happen. Verse 27, "And do not

give the devil an opportunity." Because

if you do, let me tell you, he will have one.

And he will, as Jesus told Peter, sift you

like wheat. You will be a very unhappy person

in your life. You will act in unrighteous

anger way outside of the way God wants you to

act. Now Paul moves next to number three

in verse 28, "When you become a Christian, you

are to exchange stealing for sharing."

That's pretty good exchange, right? Look at

verse 28. "He who steals," excuse me, must

steal no longer. The old man steals. The new

man doesn't steal. BC, before Christ in my

life, I broke into many cars and I even broke

into houses and I stole many things that did

not belong to me, but no longer. Because

Christ changed my nature and I steal no longer

. What's

the exchange? Look next in verse 28, "But

rather than stealing, he must labor, work,

performing

with his own hands what is good, so that he

will have something to share with one who

has need." Pretty simple. "Instead of stealing

, work so that you can give to other people."

Now just like lying, there's all kind of

stealing. Non-payment of debt, falsifying

expense accounts,

putting time on your time card that you didn't

work, cheating on your taxes. Look, I think

we are all way overtaxed. No question about

that, but that's the law. Here's another list.

Are you ready for this? Another list of the

characteristics of folks that will be going

to hell when they die. 1 Corinthians 6, 9

through 10. "Or do you not know that the un

righteous

will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be

deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters,

nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexual

s, nor thieves." There it is. "Nor the covetous

,

nor drunkers, nor revilers, nor swindlers will

inherit the kingdom of God." Does anybody

confuse about that list? Pretty clear. Back to

verse 28. "Rather, he must labor. Don't

steal, work." It's a great thing, let me tell

you, to go to work every morning and work

with all your strength, with the best of your

ability for one overarching purpose. I'm at

work today to bring glory to God because He

gave me the energy and the strength to do

this work and to make this money and provide

for my family." Let me tell you something.

That motive for work makes any negative

actions of your boss or your co-workers get

real small,

real fast, because you're not working for that

boss, you're working for that boss in

the big picture. "Don't work to pile up the

money either." I mean, you got to be wise

about your savings, retirement, no question,

but we work not just to pay the bills, we

work in order to give to others who have need.

We have people in our family that have needs.

We have people in our church that have needs.

We give to the church to advance the kingdom

of God in the world. And it's all His anyway,

right? We're just stewards. He uses our labor

to give us and He sets the standard of living

for every human being sovereignly. Now, fourth

,

probably most convicting, the new man will

also make another exchange. Verse 29, "Let

no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth

but only such a word as is good for ed

ification

according to the need of the moment so that it

will give grace to those who hear." No

unwholesome word. The word for unwholesome in

the Greek literally means rotten, something

that is worthless, something that is useless,

something that is diseased, and this is more

than just curse words. We're talking about

crude, obscene language, jokes, stories, say

ings.

You all need examples. You know what unwh

olesome words are every single solitary time

that

you hear them. No place, Paul says, in the

life of a Christian. And here's a verse to

help us with this, that we need help with this

. I need help with this. Psalm 141, 3, "Set

a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch

over the door of my lips." We all need help

with this in varying degrees and various ways,

right? And just like with the others, there

are many different kinds of examples of this.

Very convicting. Remember what Jesus said?

"For the abundance of the heart what the mouth

speaks." What's in there comes out. So instead

of speaking that way, Paul gives us an

exchange here for how the new man speaks with

three

examples in verse 29. Look at this, number one

, "But only," excuse me, "such a word

as is good for edification." What does that

mean? Building up. When you talk to people,

your words encourage, your words build people

up. They should be spiritually edifying. They

should be spiritually positive, strengthening

the total complete opposite from unwholesome

words. And just like with everything else in

the Christian life, you have to be diligent

about this. Discipline, intentional in keeping

this exchange over here on the new man's

side. And then second exchange of speech for

the new man. Look, verse 29, "According to

the need of the moment." That's a big one,

meaning only when necessary, as it fits the

need. My wife and children can tell you a

maxim that they have heard from me many times

down through the years to say, "Less is best."

Write that down. You don't always have to

say everything that could be said even when

you are 100% right and the others are 100%

wrong. You don't have to say everything that

comes into your mind the moment that you think

it and just dribble it out. Be wise. Be discer

ning. It's best to follow, to speak according

to

the need of the moment, only when necessary

and as it fits the need. And then thirdly,

so that you will give grace to those who hear

grace. What does that mean? Unmerited favor.

You grant favor to somebody and they don't

even merit it. Everybody needs a lot of that

starting with me. Best of all, as your

preacher, your pastor, I need you to show me a

lot of

grace. So instead of unwholesome words when we

open our mouths, our words, Paul says,

should be edifying, fitting and gracious. That

's how Jesus spoke, read the Gospels out

of the abundance of a new heart, should come a

new speech. And what are the results of

all this? We're getting toward the end. Look

next, verse 30, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

of God by whom you were sealed for the day of

redemption." And the intent of that statement

is to say if the Spirit of God has been so

gracious to you, saving you, sealing you,

keeping you saved until the last day you live

on this earth, how in the world could you

willfully grieve the Holy Spirit? How could

you do that? And when is the Holy Spirit gr

ieved,

you put it simply, when we behave like the old

man, instead of like the new creations

that we are? And Paul says, don't do that. He

says, consider what the Holy Spirit has

done in changing your life, in sealing you and

thereby absolutely 100% guaranteeing you

eternal life forever in the Kingdom of Heaven.

And then Paul gives us a final contrast. We

are to exchange natural vices for supernatural

graces. And verse 31, he kind of sums it up.

Verse 31, "Let all bitterness and wrath and

anger and clamor and slander be put away from

you along with all malice." Bitterness was

that smoldering resentment that you have in

your heart. An unforgiving spirit and then

wrath and anger there in verse 31. Wild,

unchecked,

no restraint, blowing your top. Clamor. What

does that word mean? Literally it means a

violent outburst like yelling in public at

somebody, screaming at somebody. And let me

tell you, guaranteed if you got bitterness,

wrath, and anger on the inside, you're going

to have clamor. You're going to have outbursts

. You're going to be yelling at folks. Then

a big one, slander. Now, that can be public sl

ander. We see that all the time on the internet

,

right? But this is also running down somebody

behind their back. Oh boy. I had a friend

long ago whose house was a gathering place for

my group of friends. And let me tell you

something, slander was an art form in that

house. That's all that happened in that house.

And as soon as you left that house, you couldn

't help but immediately start thinking, what

are they saying about me now? I might need to

stay in here longer because that's all

that happened. All of these are about the

difference and having either a right

relationship

with other people or a wrong one. When you are

dealing with other people, you can't be

bitter or wrathful or angry or clamorous or sl

anderous along with what he ends at the

end. Look at that last phrase, all malice. He

just generalizes it. All evil, general

evil. Get rid of all this kind of behavior in

your life. What do we put in its place?

Verse 32. Be kind to one another. Is that so

hard? Tender hearted. Forgiving each other.

Brother Philip, you don't know what that

person did to me. I have a right to be angry.

No,

you don't. You don't have any rights. Not from

God's perspective. But they have never

changed and they still do it and I can't help

but be bitter about that. You ain't seeing

clamor until you see what I'm going to say to

them next time I see them. That right there

is why verse 32 ends the way that it does just

as God in Christ has also forgiven you.

Let that sit on you for just a minute. If you

're a Christian, the kindness of God, tender-

hearted

and forgiving, was extended to us and we have

never for one minute deserved it. And we

still don't. It is the nature and the

character of our God that says, I don't care

what you've

done to me. I forgive you and I'll be kind to

you and I'll love you. Just believe in

my son. Just believe in what he did for you.

And when you consider the gap between the

holiness of God and our sinfulness, I'm

telling you there's not a person on this earth

that

could ever offend us personally, anywhere

close to how much we have offended God. Not

anywhere close. Romans 5-8, "But God, big

comma, demonstrates his own love toward us and

that

while we were yet sinners, rebellious,

breaking his law, Christ died for us." So Paul

says,

"Just as God in Christ has treated you for

giving you," that's how you to treat other

people. Tall order, right? Woo! Got some squir

rely folk out there, right? Hard to deal with.

Only possible, only possible through the power

of the Holy Spirit who has sealed you for

the day of redemption, but we have to do our

part as well in conjunction with the power

of the Spirit. Paul says, "Lay all that aside

and walk like the new man." By the way, thank

you for this very conflicting section of Ephes

ians from Paul. I don't know what Bible preach

ers

read, Lord, that say the Christian life is

easy. They're not reading the one I'm looking

at. They're not reading the one I'm studying.

We don't know difficult until we become

Christians

and get convicted of sin, but oh how glorious

it is to live in the way that you want us

to and to desire to live that way, the way in

which we naturally would never want to

live and you've done that. So you get all the

glory for it. So Lord, I pray today that

you would take these verses and all the

meaning that we've unpacked behind them and

you would

plug them into our minds and our hearts and

our souls and that we would make application

of these things in our life. So we go out of

here renewed and refreshed to live in such

a way as to bring you glory more and more and

more. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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