Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's Holy Word. And now, the message. Now today I'm going to be preaching
from the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. The title of the message is,
Obedience for Christ's Sake. Now, I took that title from the
last verse of this chapter, verse 32, where the Apostle Paul is
instructing the church, the believers at Ephesus, to be kind to one
another, to be tender-hearted, to be forgiving, and he says,
even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Now, that
phrase, for Christ's sake, is a big phrase, not in the number
of letters, obviously, but in its meaning. It's a full phrase
that underscores the whole life of a child of God, a sinner saved
by the grace of God. And what the Apostle is doing
here is he's inspired by the Holy Spirit. He's encouraging
and instructing the believers at Ephesus in the ways of obedience,
following Christ, being his disciple, Now, let me begin this way. Let's
talk about the issue of sin and obedience in the believer. The
Bible teaches that in Christ, a believer is dead to sin. The book of Romans chapter 6
is a good chapter to study that subject. You can go to other
chapters. Hebrews chapter 10 is another one. But in Romans
chapter 6, he says we are dead to sin. In one place there, in
verse 7, it talks about being freed from sin, and the word
freed there means justified. If you're justified from sin,
freed from sin, or dead to sin, what that means literally is
that sin cannot be charged to you. Sin cannot be laid to your
account. Sin cannot condemn you. So that
when we speak of a believer being dead to sin, we're only speaking
of that believer standing in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ,
my sins are completely forgiven. In Christ, by His work on the
cross of Calvary, shedding His blood as the complete payment
for all my sins, and bringing forth righteousness to lay to
my account, to my charge, God is just to justify me. And God does not charge me with
sin. My sins were charged to Christ. The debt that I owe to God's
justice for my sins was laid to Christ's charge, and He paid
the debt in full. We sing a hymn in our services,
Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe, or all the
debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. That is the message of the Gospel,
that sins can be put away and forgiven only by the blood of
Christ. What does it take to put away
sin? My friend, it takes the blood of the Son of God to put
away sin. Your obedience cannot put away
sin. My obedience cannot do it. Our
tears of remorse and repentance will not wash away sin. The waters
of baptism will not wash away sin. It takes the crimson stream
or the crimson tide of the blood of Jesus Christ, God in human
flesh, to put away sin. And there's nothing else that'll
do it. The book of 1 John chapter 1 tells us the blood of Christ
cleanses us from all sin. Nothing else. Don't add anything
to it or take anything away from it. And that's why we command
and invite sinners to look to Christ, to believe in Him, believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. What does
that mean? It means who he is. He's the God-man, the mediator
between God and sinners. He's the one who died on Calvary
to put away sin. John the Baptist pointed to Christ
and he said, Behold the Lamb of God which beareth away the
sins of the world. That is his people all over the
world. God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
So we can look upon a believer, a child of God, as one who is
completely and totally dead to sin. Sin cannot be laid to his
charge. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? Sin can no longer condemn us.
It is Christ that died. Now many people hear that and
they'll raise an objection that sounds something like this, well
if that's the case then it doesn't matter how much I sin. Now hold
on. Now the grace of God in the putting away of sin is a reality
in which every believing sinner must rest in Christ. But grace
is more than just a standing before God. Grace is more than
just something we say. Grace is a dynamic. It's a powerful
principle. It's a powerful life and knowledge
within that works its way out in fruit and results of obedience. So that when we say we're dead
to sin, we don't have to worry about sin as far as condemnation.
However, Paul goes on in Romans chapter 7 to speak about the
reality of the presence of sin within. We're not dead to the
presence of sin. It's still with us. It still
plagues everything we are and do. Our thoughts, our motives,
our best intentions are all plagued and contaminated with remaining
sin within. So even though we're dead to
the power of sin to condemn us, we're not dead to the power of
sin to influence and contaminate us. Now he said that in Romans
chapter 7, and he represents it there as a struggle. Now here's
the point I want to draw us to in Ephesians chapter 4. Every
child of God must engage in a warfare against sin. It's called in Galatians
chapter 5, the warfare of the flesh That's fallen sinful human
flesh and the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. When the Holy
Spirit gives us life in the new birth, he puts within us the
spiritual life that we need to fight sin in a godly way. And that's what Paul's talking
about here in Ephesians chapter 4. Back up in verse 26, he was
talking about fighting against the sins of the flesh. And it
is a struggle of every believer. Those who see grace as excusing
sin or promoting sin do not know anything about grace. They're
not followers of Christ. They're what some of the old
theologians called antinomians. That means against the law. But
here he represents the believer as one who's in a struggle, a
warfare. And when he says in verse 26,
be ye angry and sin not, Now, a lot of people, as I mentioned
last week, they say, well, that means that you're not supposed,
it goes on to say, let not the sun go down on your wrath. And
a lot of people say, well, that means you're not supposed to
go to bed angry. Well, certainly you should not
go to bed angry. You won't have a peaceful sleep
in that situation. But that's not what Paul's saying
here. When he says, be ye angry and sin not, he's talking about
the believer's struggle in the warfare of the Spirit against
the flesh. You're to be at war with sin.
You're to be angry at sin. You're to be so angry that you
engage and determine in your mind that you're not going to
sin. Now, you will never reach that goal in this life. That's
so. We will never be sinlessly perfect
within ourselves in this life. We who know Christ, we who believe
in Him, we right now are sinlessly perfect in Him, not in ourselves. One day I will be sinlessly perfect
within when I go to be with Him. John spoke of that in 1 John
chapter 3 in verse 2 when he said, Beloved, it doth not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know we'll be like Him, we'll
see Him as He is. Sinless perfection within. is a goal that the believer should
attain, not by making himself holy by his works, but by looking
to Christ. And so he says, be ye angry and
sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. That means don't
quit fighting sin. That's what that means. The sun
going down means the end of things. Don't stop this warfare as long
as you're in this world. Fight sin. Fight it with every
fiber of your being. Don't give in to it. He says
that in verse 27, neither give place to the devil. Don't give
in to the devil and his temptations, but fight sin. Fight the devil. You're in a warfare. He goes
on in verse 28. He says, let him that stole,
steal no more. Now he's talking about stealing.
But here, and it's wrong to steal in any context, in any way. Being a thief or a robber is
wrong and a believer should never engage in such activity. But
I want you to notice, now keep things in their context. In verse
28, when he says, let him that stole steal no more, what is
he talking about? Read on. He says, but rather
let him labor, let him go to work, working with his hands
the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that
needeth. What he's talking about is lazy
people who want work but want to depend on charity from others. And he says they're thieves,
they're stealing. My friend, if you're able to work, if you
have the physical wherewithal and the mental wherewithal to
go to work to make your living, it's wrong for you to sit back
and not work and be lazy and draw welfare checks. You're stealing. That's what that is. And that's
what he's talking about here. He's talking about members of
the church who profess to believe in Christ who wouldn't work.
Paul had to deal with that in the church at Thessalonica too.
Many of them were quitting their jobs because they thought the
Lord was coming back in their lifetime. They quit their jobs
and go off and live somewhere else, and then when the Lord
didn't come back, they didn't have any way to make money to
buy food, so they wanted the church to support them. And you
know what Paul said to the church at Thessalonica in that situation?
He said, if they don't work, they don't eat. Now this country,
we all complain about this, this country has created a social
welfare system. that promotes people not working
who are able to work. Well, they're stealing. Now,
anyone who is a believer should not buy into that system. You're
to be a follower of Christ. You're to work with your hands
in that thing which is good, that thing which is honoring
to God. You're to have a noble profession, whatever that profession
is, that's lawful and honoring to God, so that you may be able
to have that which helps the needy. Now, there are people
who are needy. There are people who cannot physically
work, who are not mentally capable of working, and they need the
help of the church here. That's brethren he's talking
about. Those who are indeed such as widows, orphans, people who
are physically hurt or handicapped in some way. The church is obligated
to take care of them. They're not stealing when they
receive help from the church. But that man or woman who's able
to work, But who will not, just because they're lazy? What he
says, let him that stole steal no more. You're stealing? Stop
it. He goes on in verse 29. He says, let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Now when
you think of corrupt communication, people have all kinds of ideas.
They think about cursing. They think about filthy jokes.
And that is corrupt communication. And a believer should never be
engaged in such stuff. But what he's talking about here
again is something specific. He's talking about anything that
would tear down the fellowship of believers. That's corrupt
communication. I don't care what it is. A person
may come along and raise an issue, just an issue that is not gospel
related, not vital to the gospel, and use it to divide brethren
instead of edifying brethren, building them up. You see, that's
what he says. But that which is good to the use of edifying,
Edifying, as edification, means to build up the church. It means
to grow the church. In other words, anything that
comes out of my mouth to a believer or to the church as a whole that
does not build up and minister grace to the church, that is,
lift up Christ and Him crucified and inspire worship and service
to the Lord God of grace in Christ, anything that does not do that
is corrupt communication. and it's to be stopped. Then
he goes on in verse 30, he says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Now
grieving the Holy Spirit, a lot of people are confused about
that issue. But the Bible many times, you
know, when it comes to understanding the eternal, infinite mind of
God, we have to accept that we are just totally inadequate to
do that. God is so high above us His ways,
his thoughts, are not our ways and thoughts. And in order to
communicate with us, even in his word, many times God must
come down to our level and use language that only we can understand. Such as, grieve not the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person. Now the Holy Spirit resides within
the hearts of every true child of God. And he's given as our
comforter. Now how does he comfort a believer?
He comforts a believer by convicting us of our sinfulness and driving
us to Christ and His blood and righteousness as our only hope
of salvation. He comforts our hearts, our minds,
our consciences by the applications, daily applications, through the
Word of God, of God's grace in Christ. He continually reminds
us that we are in Christ by the grace of God and mercy has been
bestowed upon us through the blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He continually leads us to the
Word of God to find our comfort, to find our way, to guide us,
instruct us, to admonish us, correct us, chastise us, and
to comfort us with the peace that passes all understanding.
That's what the Holy Spirit does. Now, whenever we act in the flesh,
in our own selfish ways, whenever we go against the Word of God,
it is described in the Bible here as grieving the Holy Spirit,
bringing grief to the person of the Holy Spirit. Now, I cannot
explain that to you perfectly, but I know this, it's simply
saying that the Spirit of God is given to inspire us not to
sin, but to obedience. Let me tell you two things the
Holy Spirit will never, never do. He will never lead sinners
anywhere but to Christ and Him crucified for all of salvation.
Let me tell you something, friend. If you have a sorrow or a conviction
or a guilty conscience over your sin, If the Holy Spirit is guiding
you and convicting you, the only place He's going to take you
for relief is to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
not going to find relief anywhere else. You won't find relief in
your experience. You won't find relief in your
tears. You won't find relief in baptism. You will find relief
in no one but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then secondly,
the Holy Spirit will never inspire you to sin. If you sin, and you
do, and we all do, I say if, when we sin, it is not the Holy
Spirit who's inspiring us, it's the flesh. And the Holy Spirit
will never inspire us to sin, but the Holy Spirit also will
never inspire us to obedience in a legal way. Now what do I
mean by that? Well, the Holy Spirit will always
inspire us to obedience by grace. and gratitude for Christ's sake. This is obedience for Christ's
sake. In other words, if you're inspired to obey the Word of
God, to seek to do good in order to be saved, that's legalism. If you're trying to earn your
way into God's favor, earn God's blessing, or earn your rewards,
that's legalism. But the Holy Spirit does not
inspire such. He inspires God's people, the
children of God. those who are saved by the blood
of Christ, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness,
to obey, not to be saved, but because they already are saved.
And to obey out of love and grace and gratitude. And he says you're
sealed into the day of redemption. You're sealed by the Holy Spirit.
He keeps you looking to Christ until Christ will come again
and redeem his people in that way. He redeemed us on the cross,
paid the full redemption price. But there's another redemption
to come, and that's the redemption of glory, the final glory of
his people. And we're sealed unto that day.
He says in verse 31 here, he says, let all bitterness, bitterness
is a bitter attitude. It's a bad attitude and bad spirit.
And wrath, I believe wrath there refers to vengeance. We're not
to seek personal vengeance on those who do us wrong. Vengeance
is mine, saith the Lord. He says, and anger, that is a
spirit of anger. And clamor, clamor is trouble. It's turbulent things. Keeping
things stirred up. Keeping things on edge. And then
he says, and evil speaking. Any speaking that's evil. Any
speaking that's opposed to God's gospel and to God's truth. And
then he says, let all that be put away from you. You're to
fight that. Go to war against it. And then he says, with all
malice, put that away too, all hatred. He says, put away from
you with all malice. Malice sometimes is a term, a
general term for all evil. Sometimes it just means hatred.
Either way, put it away from you. And then he says in verse
32, now he goes to the positive. And he says, be ye kind one to
another. That's how believers are to treat
each other, with kindness. Gentleness, tenderhearted, that
means sympathetic. The Bible says we're to sorrow
when our brethren sorrow, we're to rejoice when they rejoice.
That's what tenderheartedness does. Forgiving one another. We're to forgive one another.
And he says, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. I was listening years and years
ago to a preacher on television. He was talking about the issue
of the forgiveness of sin. Now, people know that they're
sinners, and they know that God forgives sins. The Bible says
that. God is a God of forgiveness.
They also know that in order to be saved, sins must be forgiven. And this preacher was talking
about the forgiveness of sins, and here's what he said. He said,
the forgiveness of sin always comes at the cost of repentance. And I thought to myself when
I heard him say that, I said, oh no, oh no, the forgiveness
of sin costs way more than repentance. Now let me say this at the outset.
The forgiveness of sins realized will result in repentance. But the forgiveness of sin cannot
come at the cost of repentance. There's a higher price to be
paid for forgiveness. Now the Bible teaches that from
the beginning. You remember back in the fall,
as recorded in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam fell and brought
the whole human race into death and depravity and into sin, the
fall of man, fall ruined in Adam. When Adam fell, the first thing
that he and his wife Eve did is they took fig leaves, sewed
them together to cover their nakedness. Now, in that act,
we see that within the mind of Adam, the fallen man now, not
the perfect Adam before the fall, but after the fall, there was
a mindset, an idea that he could hide himself, cover himself from
his shame and nakedness from the wrath of God by his own works. When God came to Adam and Eve,
One of the first things he did was take away the fig leaf aprons. And the Bible in Genesis chapter
3 tells us that God took an animal, I believe it was a lamb, but
he took an animal and slew that animal. He killed that animal.
He shed blood. And then he made coats of skin
for Adam and Eve and covered their nakedness. In that great
act, God was showing in picture how sins, the only way sins can
be forgiven. It's by the shedding of the blood
of an innocent sacrifice. And that sacrificial system was
maintained throughout the Old Testament. Even the next example
of it you see in Genesis chapter 4, Abel coming to worship God,
Cain coming to worship God. Cain brought the works of his
hands. Abel brought the blood of a lamb. Now the Bible says
in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sin. That's pardon. There's no forgiveness,
no remission, no pardon without the shedding of blood. Sin demands
death. God's justice must be satisfied. Your repentance and your tears
of remorse will not pay that price. What did? The blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. That's what it took. And all
those animals that were slain under the old covenant, pictured,
typified, and pointed sinners to the promised Messiah who would
come and shed his blood as payment for those sins. Now what he's
saying here is that the obedience of a believer is to be done,
is to be strived for, fought for, in light of the forgiveness
that God has freely given His people in Christ. How did God
forgive His people? Unconditionally, through the
blood of Christ. In other words, I'm not to forgive
based upon anything the object of my forgiveness does. It's
to be freely given. Forgive one another for Christ's
sake. What is it for Christ's sake?
That is in light of what Christ has done for His people. Do you
believe in Him? Do you rest in Him for all the
salvation? Then obey God for Christ's sake,
not to be saved, not to even be kept saved, but because you're
already saved and preserved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Obey Him, not because of what
you can get out of Him, but because you love Him. You're thankful
to Him. Gratitude and grace and love. That's obedience for Christ's
sake. That's what Paul's saying here to the church at Ephesus.
Fight sin as hard as you can. Strive to obey God for Christ's
sake and for His sake alone. That's the only right motive
for obedience. That's the only acceptable sacrifice
unto God that is given by His grace. That Spirit is not in
us by nature. but it's given by the grace of
God in Christ. Would you believe in Him? Would
you rest in Him? Would you come to Him for all
of salvation? The free forgiveness justified
freely by His grace. I hope that message has been
helpful to your understanding of the Scriptures. If you'd like
to receive a copy of this message, listen to the announcer and he'll
give you the details. The title of the message is,
Obedience for Christ's Sake. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-432-6969
or visit our Reign of Grace website at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you
and may the Lord be with you.