We talked about how these practical
exhortations by Paul at the end of this chapter are simply part
of God's salvation of us. God has done a work for us in
eternity, and he's done and is doing a work in us in time. And all of it is for the glory
of God. He gets all of the glory and all of it. But now here,
let's look at the things themselves that we are exhorted to do and
be. Verse 25, wherefore, putting
away lying. Speak every man truth with his
neighbor. For we are members one of another. There's nothing unclear about
that. Even lost people know the difference
between a lie and the truth. It doesn't mean they tell the
truth, but they know the difference. It doesn't mean we do. But we
have no excuse. And this exhortation is simply
this. Tell the truth. Don't lie. Well, Chris, are we just preaching
the law now? Is that what this is? We're just
preaching law? Doesn't the law say, thou shalt not bear false
witness? And that's the law, isn't it? It is. But we're not
preaching the law, we're preaching grace. Well, what's the difference? It sounds a lot like preaching
the law, doesn't it? Don't lie. Don't bear false witness. Be
truthful. Well, here's the difference,
big difference. Two, really. First of all, motive. Under law, the motive is fear. This do and live, don't do it
and die. Under grace, the motive is love. And understand the importance
of that. for your motive in obeying the
law to be righteousness before God. If that's your motive in
obeying God's law. As the Jews, Paul said of the
Jews, they're going about to establish their own righteousness.
They've forsaken the righteousness of God, which Christ is and provides
and is for the sinner. And they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. In other words, their motive
for keeping God's law is to be righteous before God by the means
of them keeping the law. If that's true, then Paul said
you're ignorant of God's righteousness and you need to be saved. You're
lost. To do that is to deny who God
is, first of all. You're saying, well, you know,
God is God, but I can meet his holy standard. You know what
that's doing? That's bringing God down. You
don't understand how high and holy God is if you pretend to
go about it to establish your own righteousness. You're denying
the holiness of God. You're destroying the very character
of God. Not literally, but with your
foolishness. It's to deny who God is. It's
to deny the truth of God concerning yourself. Because you're saying,
It's not true that the flesh is all sin and only sin, that
no good thing dwelleth in my flesh. If I can keep God's standard,
if I can establish a righteousness of my own, then what God said
about me is not true. It's to deny what the truth of
God states concerning sinners. And it's to deny Christ and what
he did on Calvary. To say I can establish a righteousness
of my own is to deny Christ our righteousness. It's to deny the
very reason he came. If there had been a law whereby
we could have been saved, Paul said that salvation would have
been by the law. But no, it's a faith that it
might be by grace. Christ had to come and do what
we couldn't do, what the law could not do, and that it was
weak through my flesh. God sent his son to do it. So
it's to deny Christ and his sin-atoning work on Calvary. That's how big
motive is. To obey, though, the same law
as a believer in Christ, having submitted to his righteousness,
having acknowledged that I have no righteousness of my own, whether
I outwardly keep the law or don't outwardly keep the law. Circumcision
or uncircumcision, neither one availeth anything but Christ. Faith in Christ. as a believer to obey is not
to deny who God is and who I am as a sinner and who Christ is
and what he did, but it's to say thank you for them. It's
to honor him for them. Paul said we don't make void
the law, we establish it. We don't say there's no need
for the law, we acknowledge that only Christ could keep it. And
by his grace, we love it. We love the law of God after
the inward man. I know that it's right, even
when we're wrong. Thank you, God, for showing me
what I am. Thank you for showing me who
you are. And thank you for doing what
you did to save me. That's what obeying the law as
a believer is. That's the motive. Thank you. What's the difference? The second
thing, the result. The result is greatly different. Under the law, the result of
you trying to keep God's law is failure. It's rebellion against
God's righteous claims. Under grace, the result is fruit
unto God. Herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. What's the fruit of the Spirit?
Peace, love, joy, faith, meekness, all of these things. These acts
of love, that's the Holy Spirit bearing fruit in us and by us. The law says, do not lie because
God demands truth. Grace says, the gospel says,
do not lie because God deserves the truth. You see the difference? Under the law, sinners try to
keep the law in order for God to save them. Under grace, sinners
try to obey God's law because God has saved them. And we just
flat want to do what He says now. He's changed us. Salvation
is not God changing His character to accommodate your inability.
And let's face it, we're still unable to keep God's standard,
to keep His law. Perfectly as he demands But it's
not him changing his character to accommodate your inability
salvation is God changing your character So that you might follow
him and honor him not perfectly But we do follow him my sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. You know what that means
We imitate him We pursue him We want to be like him And yes,
our character, our actions, our good works, as the scripture
calls them, and everything we think, say, and do is all still
full of sin. But we are accepted in Christ.
And the law is no longer just on tables of stone. It's written
on our hearts. That's the promise of his covenant.
He said, I'll write my law on your heart. You know what the
result of that is? Paul said, I love the law of
God, how I want to honor Him. I would do the things that I
can't do. I want to. That's the law on the heart.
The law on tables of stone will produce nothing but self-righteousness
if we try to keep them in order to please God, in order to establish
our righteousness before God. But if the law by God's grace
is our schoolmaster, what will it do? It'll bring us to Christ. who kept the law perfectly, as
my representative did it for me in my stead, as my Adam, my
last Adam. The fact that God has written
the law in our hearts doesn't mean we're able to perfectly
keep God's law, but bless God, In that same covenant of grace
wherein he promised to write the law in our heart He also
promised your sins and your iniquities while I remember no more So it goes together Both the
desire to honor him and keep his law And the redemptive blood
of Jesus Christ that washes away all of our sins. It goes together
in the same covenant The same covenant causes me to
want to serve him. And that same covenant, when
I fail, renders me holy under the precious
blood of Christ. The sins and iniquities, when
he says your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more, that's
the sins and iniquities that we committed before he wrote
the law in our hearts. and the sins and iniquities that
we commit after he writes the law on our hearts. Remembered
no more because Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our
Redeemer. So now we desire to obey God
in these specific things. We desire to. And we long to. And in some sense, outwardly,
relatively speaking, we're able to. You're worshipping God this
morning as opposed to not worshipping God. But are you worshipping
God perfectly? Is it meritorious in the sight
of God? Of course not. But relative to
mowing your lawn this morning and taking care of your business,
you're worshipping God. You see what I'm saying? We desire
to obey God in these things, and in some sense we do. And
He's saying here, tell the truth. Tell the truth. Satan is called
the father of lies, and we, by nature, are his children. Children
of wrath, even as others. But as children of God, we tell
the truth. We're exhorted to tell the truth.
And by his grace, we do. It was said of John, all things
that he spake concerning this man, that is Christ, were right,
were truthful. And I want to do that. And this
is a good exhortation. for us to do that. Tell the truth
always in every sense. The truth regarding the truth
primarily, you see there's truthful things and then there's the truth.
The difference is the truth is in this book right here. Everything else may be truthful,
but if it's not according to this book, it's not the truth.
You see, preachers can say some right things, They can tell truthful
facts, but if they're not preaching Christ, they're not preaching
the truth. And a sinner's not going to know how to be saved.
Not even in his head. So the truth, first of all, regarding
the truth, as witnesses of Christ, we tell sinners the truth. Though
it is distinctly unpopular to do so in this world. Always has
been. But even in everyday things,
we tend to tell a version that makes us look good. We tend to
tell a version of every story that either makes us look good
or hurts those that we want to hurt. But as believers, it's
not about us anymore. It can't be about us anymore.
It's not about what makes me look good or what accomplishes
what I want. It's about the truth as Christ. It's about honoring the one who
said, I am the truth. That's what we want to do. That's
what it's about, you see. Whether we're talking about his
work for us or his work in us, it's about Christ. It's all to
his glory and honor. If my master, my savior, my God
is the truth, then I will hate lies. Whoever tells them. Verse 26, be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. Now, this is an interesting verse.
Be angry, but be the kind of angry that's not sinful. The anger that was driven by
jealousy for God's glory that our master displayed when he
drove the money changers from the temple. Be that kind of angry.
Be angry out of jealousy for the glory of God. Let's be that jealous for his
glory. Our Lord, when someone blasphemes
our Lord, may it anger us to see him blaspheme. If somebody
talks bad about one of my children or my family, it makes me mad. Much less how it ought to anger
us. To hear our Lord misrepresented
or blasphemed. Be angry at yourself. You ever
get mad at yourself? If we're angry at sin, then we
gotta start right here. In our own hearts. Was there any
anger in Paul's cry in Romans 7, 24? Listen to it again. I've
heard desperation in this cry. I've heard dependence. I've heard Some anguish. I think I hear some anger in
it, too. Listen to it. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Oh, wretched man that I am. You
ever get mad at yourself? Job said, I abhor myself. I can't
stand myself. You ever get sick of your own
selfishness, your own evil, your own just flat foolishness, your
own penchant to make little of that which should be made much
of and vice versa in this world? Well, don't let the sun go down
on it though. Don't let the sun go down. Anger
of any kind should be soon let go of. I learned something here,
I hope, I believe I did. Anger of any kind should be soon
let go. We should think far less of sin,
even in a good way, and far more of the Savior. Even when I'm
mad at myself, don't stay that way too long, because remember,
your Savior has taken your sin away. Don't concentrate so much
on you and your evil. Some good can come of that. Yes,
the Lord shows us what we are, reminds us what we are, to cause
us to lean more on him. But don't look so much at yourself
as you do him in that transaction. Don't let it just be constant. Don't let the sun, it's fine
for a little while. You see what he's saying here?
It's fine to see that. But then look away from you completely. And look away from others who
anger you. Look away from this wicked world. It's okay to say,
how long, Lord, are you gonna put up with them? When are you
gonna send your fire and sterilize this earth? But don't be saying that all
the time. Look away from the evil and look to him who is pure. Be sick of yourself, but then
forget about yourself. Is that what he's saying here?
I believe that's it. Commune with the Redeemer. These exhortations
are so good, so profitable. Neither give place to the devil,
Don't give the devil an opportunity. That's what it's saying. We know
what that means. Our old man, which is in our
context here, we're told to put off, put off the old man. He still likes to hear what the
devil has to say. When the devil distorts the truth,
when he lies about God, when he pretends to have our best
interests at heart, we're still susceptible to his subtlety.
That's why we're warned. That's why we're exhorted. Second Corinthians 11 to I'm
jealous over you with godly jealousy for I've espoused you to one
husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear less by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. From the all inclusiveness
that is in Christ. You get to thinking that there's
more to it than Christ. Satan is still in that business,
and we are still sinners. Never misunderstand that. In
Christ, before God, we are sinless and pure, but in this body of
death, we are prone to wonder. Never forget that. Don't ignore
the warnings. How, practically speaking, Do
we not give opportunity to the devil? What's the positive side
of that? We know what we're not to do.
What do we do to not do that? Well, the scripture says be sober.
It's not just talking about don't drink. It's talking about think
clearly, think righteous thoughts, judge righteous judgment, as
the Lord said to the Jews. Be sober, be vigilant. Be on
watch. Be on guard. Understand your
weaknesses. Understand what you are. Never
forget who your hope is. It's not Christ and you doing
a little better. It's not Christ and, well, my
good's going to outweigh my bad. Your hope is Christ. Never forget
that. It's Him alone. That's what to
be sober and vigilant is. Learn from the gospel to recognize
the tactics and means of the devil. Don't give place to him.
Don't give an opportunity to him. We know how he operates.
The world doesn't. The world thinks the devil wants
you to start smoking and drinking and cussing. Going to bad movies. No. He wants to take your mind
and eyes and heart off of Christ. That's all he's interested in.
He doesn't care whether you smoke or not. Do you understand that?
The devil doesn't care. He doesn't care about that. The devil is all about perverting
the truth of God and Christ. The devil is all about making
you think, well yeah, Christ is the savior of sinners, but
you gotta, there's the devil right there. You hear somebody
stand in a pulpit and say, you need to do something to be saved,
you're looking at the devil. Don't listen to a conversation
that promotes discord. That's one of the things that
God hates. And Satan is in that. Don't give an opportunity. If
you sit there and listen to it, don't indulge in anything that's
unseemly in your life. Don't yoke yourself with unbelievers.
2 Corinthians 6.14, don't be unequally
yoked with unbelievers. Light and darkness have no fellowship
with one another. Understand that. That's what this is talking about.
Verse 28, let him that stole steal no more. You see how Satan
is all in this, isn't he? He's the father of lies. Don't
give him an opportunity. Let him that stole, what is he
about? Robbing the God of his glory. Don't steal, but rather let him
labor, working with his hands the thing which is good that
he may have to give to him that needeth. Now there are a lot
of different kinds of stealing. We talk about robbing God of
his glory. That's got to be the worst, surely.
But I think this refers primarily to just plain old garden variety
stealing. Don't you? Since the remedy for
it is work. Hard work. Honest, hard work. If you think about it, think
about this, because we all steal. But think about this when you
do, before you do. The one who decides who gets
what. The one who decides everything,
who gets what. Every dime, every morsel of bread
every good thing in this world he who decides who gets it and
how much says don't steal you see what I'm saying how foolish
is it to steal in order to get more
than you have when in doing that you're shaking your fist in the
face of him who decides who gets what they have He decides who's blessed and
who's cursed, who's gonna prosper, and whose labor will be in vain. There's no luck, there's no good
fortune, there's God on the throne. He said the silver is mine and
the gold is mine, and he gives it to who he pleases. I would do what he says instead
of thinking, well, if I know what's good for me, if I have
any sense at all, Instead of thinking I'm going
to gain something by dishonoring him, I'm going to honor him even
if it makes it look like the opposite is the result. Because
I know better. I know better. And as we just mentioned before,
look at the motive here in this verse. That he may have to give
to him that needeth. Isn't that interesting? Not so
you can buy a bigger TV. If you work hard and you want
something for yourself, there's nothing wrong with buying that
for yourself. The workman is worthy of his hire. But what
this reminds us here is that even more important is to think
of others. Even more important than providing
for ourselves is to think of others always as our Lord did. That's what this is about being
like him. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication come out of your
mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that
it may minister grace unto the hearers. Now, when we think of
corrupt communication, when this world thinks of that, they think
about, you know, don't say any curse words. Don't say any of
those bad words, you know. But that's not what this is talking
about. The Bible It talks about corrupt communication, about
the things that you say being evil. It talks about being a
busybody in other men's matters. When you say something that's
none of your business, that's corrupt, that's sinful. It speaks of beguiling words
of man's wisdom, deceptive words. That's corrupt communication,
according to the scripture. I don't see anywhere in here
a list of words not to say, although I tell you this, if you say them
and my wife is in the room, you're going to have to deal with me.
That's just right. It's just polite, right? But
let's find out what God's saying here. I don't see that anywhere
in the scripture, but I do see, don't be a busybody in other
men's matters. Shut up about it. I do see, tell the truth
about God. Don't be subtle in your language
and use the scriptures to say what you want to say. Let's find
out what God said. That's perverting the truth,
being subtle and crafty in our speech. Our verse says, and then this
is specific here now, you want to know what he's talking about
corrupt communication? He said, don't tear people down with what
you say, but build them up. You see that there? That which
is good to the use of edifying. Corrupt communication is not
saying, you know, the you know what word. It's saying things
that tear people down, according to this scripture. Don't do that. Say things that
build people up. Even if they don't deserve it. that it may minister grace unto
the hearers. Minister grace, graciousness,
that which, the word grace there, you know what it means? Joy,
pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness. Minister grace
to people that hear you. You know what every one of those
words describes? There's no joy, there's no delight,
there's no loveliness, speaking just flat truthfully, except
in Christ. I love to hang around with people,
and I know a few of them, even when they're not quoting scripture
or quoting scripture, they don't even know they're doing it. It's
the way they talk, by God's grace. Now, I'm not bragging on the
flesh, but by God's grace, I know a few people like that. I like
to, I love talking to them. I want to be there. There's no better way to obey
this verse than to speak of him who is altogether lovely, who
is the joy of our hearts, who is the delight of every believer,
who is sweetness itself. To let your speech be seasoned
with grace, the scripture says, Colossians 4, 3, with all praying
also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance.
To speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds,
that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom
toward them that are without redeeming the time. Let your
speech be always seasoned with grace. What do you mean, Paul?
Well, when he's talking about his own speech, he's talking
about the mystery of Christ making it manifest. And then he says,
let your speech be seasoned with the same grace. Season with salt that you may
know how you ought to answer every man You know how you know
how you ought to answer every man. I'm giving some answers
I wish I could have taken I could take back now You want to be
able to answer how you ought to answer and find out what God
said Verse 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. I whereby
you are sealed unto the day of redemption. This is not so much
a separate thing here in this list of things as it is an acknowledgment
of what all of these things are and what they're doing. You see
what I'm saying? If we lie, if we steal, if we're
dishonest, if we speak evil, if we're bitter and unkind later
on beyond this, Realize what you're doing. It's not just about
you and the consequences for you. We're concerned with him. Grieve not the Holy Spirit, the
Holy Spirit of God. He said to the Corinthians, you're
the temple of the Holy Ghost. And this is what is called an
anthropopathy. Anthropopathy. That's the word
of the day. It means to attribute human emotions
to God. God's not grieved. Everything
happens exactly the way he wants it to. But, so we can understand
the concept being conveyed here, he's not grieved in the same
way that we are, but this helps us to understand if it troubles
us and it hurts us in our hearts to have somebody lie about us, then that's the thought being
conveyed here. And why would you lie about God? It hurts us
when we find somebody lying about us. That cuts, doesn't it? Don't
grieve God. Don't grieve His Holy Spirit.
Don't lie on Christ. Somebody steals something from
us. Isn't that just devastating? Especially if it's somebody you
love, because it works the other way, too, doesn't it? If somebody
steals from you, worse than the loss itself is the fact that
they would do that. That's grieving, isn't it? Then
don't steal from God. Don't steal His glory. Don't
boast in the flesh. All sin is against Him. If I'm
unkind to one of His little ones, I'm sinning against Him. You
see that? That's what these things are.
If I'm bitter and malicious, toward one of his little ones,
I'm grieving the Holy Spirit. That's the most important thing
I'm doing. The most horrific thing I'm doing. By the way, the one who has sealed
me unto the day of redemption. He's everything to me. He's my
safety. He's my security in Christ. He has sealed me until the day
when I'm fully, in my very experience, redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ. And I'm grieving Him when I do these things. And let me say this about that.
We are sealed whether we grieve Him or not. Does that make you
want to grieve Him? Or make you want to honor Him?
You see what I'm saying? We're sealed by the Holy Spirit
until the day of redemption. My grieving of Him won't unseal
me. It won't mean that I'm lost,
but it's terribly wicked to grieve him. I didn't want to grieve
my father when I was young, when I was a young boy. Not because
I thought he would send me away. I knew he wouldn't do that. I
was his child. He wasn't going to change that. I just didn't
like him when he was unhappy with me. That's an earthly illustration,
and maybe a weak one. But the scriptures give that
illustration. He's our father and we're his son. He's not going
to disown us for grieving him, but do you want to grieve him?
What kind of son is that? That's the idea. Only we're talking
about God who is worthy, infinitely more worthy of our every consideration. So much more than any earthly
father could be. Verse 31, let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you. With all mouths, do you see the
similar language? Put off the old man. This is the old man. Put off these things. Put them
away. The old man is bitter. He's full of wrath. He's angry
in the wrong way. He's clamorous. He's a blowhard. Evil speaking. But put away from
you all these things. With all malice, don't be malicious. How these verses, they put a
finger on our sin, don't they? They show us what we are. I've
seen these things in you. And you've seen them in me. We
know that we are these things. I don't see like God does, but
I see, and you do too. Do we see them in ourselves,
though? Do we see them in ourselves?
And does it matter to us that our God is grieved by these things?
Does it matter? There was no guile found in our
Savior's mouth. And this is about wanting to
be like Him. Let there be no guile in mine. I know that there is and there
will be as long as I'm in this flesh, but I want to be like
him. I really do. And Lord, don't let this be a
legal thing to us. Let it be a matter of love. Our Lord gave himself. He gave himself. for bitter, wrathful, angry,
clamorous, evil-speaking, malicious sinners. Now what does that make you want
to do? Let's put it away. As He enables
us, as He gives us grace and strength, let's put it away. And be ye kind one to another. I saw this verse in a way I never
had before. You think about this with me.
Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Now you think about
this. Do you hear the love of our Savior
for His own in this verse? Of course, in the last phrase
you do, as God, for Christ's sake, he forgave you. I see God's
love in that. But look at the first part. He
doesn't say, be kind to me. God didn't have Paul write, be
kind to God. But he had Paul write, be kind
to my children. Be kind to my sheep. Be kind
to one another. Be kind to my church. And in
being kind to one another, we're kind to him. Be tender-hearted
toward my children. We understand that a little bit,
don't we? I understand that. My children aren't perfect. Your
children aren't perfect. Don't. Be kind toward them. Can you do that because they're
my children? I hope I can do that. If you have a problem with them,
think about me. Would you do that? Bring it to me. That's what he said. Be kind
to my children. Be kind to one another. We're
precious to him. And you remember what he said
to the disciples before he left this world? in his bodily form. He said, you love one another
now. And we know he wasn't talking
about just an emotion or something. He's talking about you love one
another indeed. This is what he said here. You
be kind to my children. Feed my sheep. Love my children. Be tenderhearted toward them.
Forgive them. Every little word and action
is big, isn't it, when you talk about somebody's children? If
we have a problem with one of God's children, we have to come
to Him about it. Do you know what He's going to
say? Do you know what He's going to say?
You've got a problem with one of His children, and you go to Him and
say, I've got a problem with someone. Do you know what He's
going to say? Forgive them! That's what He's fixing to say. That's what He did say. Forgive them! For my sake, forgive
them! But wait a minute, they, no,
don't forgive them for their sake, forgive them for my sake. But they did this, yes, but look
what I did. That's what he's saying here.
Look what I did. Don't look at what they did,
look at what I did. God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. That's what he did. Let's quit
looking at what one another's doing and look at what he did
and deal with one another on that basis. That's what God said. Forgive them because of what
I did, not on the basis of what they did. May God give us grace
to heed these exhortations for His
glory. Let's pray.