I am always trying to find the
mind of the Lord with regard to what needs to be preached
at a given time. And I suppose there has not been
more than one or two days in the last several weeks that I
haven't been inclined for one reason or another to read the
fourth chapter of Ephesians. And tonight, I want you to open
your Bibles to Ephesians 4. I want to bring a message to
you from this chapter. We'll look at the chapter verse
by verse, line by line, as it is given here. So you just hold
your Bibles open. The apostle Paul, in the first
chapter of Ephesians, declares for us what God has done for
us in his sovereign purpose of grace and by his mighty operations
of grace. He speaks of God's election and
predestination and our being adopted into the family of God
by God's free grace. He tells us of the wondrous mystery
of redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord the sealing
of all covenant blessings to our hearts, that is assuring
us that we are the sons of Abraham, the children of God, when the
Holy Spirit comes and gives us life and faith in Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 2, he explains
to us what the new birth is all about. Tells us that though we
were dead in trespasses and sins, God has quickened us to gather
with Christ. For by grace we are saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And he concludes the second chapter
of Ephesians by describing how the Jew and Gentile, believers
from every walk in life, from every realm of society, from
every corner of the globe, had been made one in Jesus Christ,
and we are built together upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, that foundation being Jesus Christ himself. And we're fitly joined together,
like the stones that were used to build the temple. They were,
I'm told, were not cut to fit, but rather were cut almost to
fit, and then the workmen would rub them together. until the
stone drop in place. What a beautiful illustration
of how God's family is fit together. The Lord Jesus builds his church. People sometimes wonder why I
make no effort at trying to get men and women to come join the
church. It's because when I do it, I mess up. When God does
it, he does it right. If God has fit us together, Bobby,
all hell can't bring us apart. And if God hasn't knit us together
and caused us to fit together in his kingdom, all hell can't
keep us together. It won't happen. It will not
happen. Then in chapter three, the apostle goes on and speaks
of the wondrous mystery of God's grace, speaks of his great joy
as the messenger of God's grace, declaring the gospel to men and
women throughout the world. And he says, I pray God. Because
we are one family, named after Christ in heaven, with one God,
one Father, one inheritance, one blessed, blessed, blessed
family in Christ, is I pray that God calls you to know the love
of God that's in Christ. Make you to know the love of
Christ that passes knowledge. make you to know that which no
man can know except by experience and by divine revelation. And
the reason for all this, look at verse 19 or verse 20 rather
of chapter 3. The reason for all this, pray
that you be filled with all the fullness of God, that you know
the love of Christ, is that Christ get the glory. Now unto him that
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
God can do a whole lot more than we ever imagined he can. With
God all things are possible. According to the power that works
in us. Paul's talking now about God's
grace working in us as believers. Unto him Be glory right here
in this building amongst these people. He's not talking about
this physical building, you know that. He's talking about you
and I gathered here in the church of God. Unto him be glory in
the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Oh God make it so. Now this is
the purpose for our existence. This is why God has gathered
us. This ought to be the motive and ambition that we have in
all things. The glory of God in Jesus Christ
right here. In every relationship, in every
word, in every action, in every song that's sung when we gather
for worship and every message preached, the glory of God. The
glory of God. Now then, look down in verse
30 of chapter 4 and I'll give you the title of my message tonight. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God. What a word. What a word. My neighbors may vex me, my neighbors
may anger me, my neighbors may trouble me, but only folks loved
by me, only folks in a loving relationship to me can grieve
me. God uses a special word here.
He says to you who are his sons and daughters, to me, his child,
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed until
the day of redemption. That is, until the resurrection
of these bodies, when redemption, deliverance, salvation is finally
complete. All right, now with that in mind,
let's go back to verse one. I, therefore, so that Christ
will be glorified, so that Christ will be honored in the church,
so that God who is worthy of praise shall be praised. I, therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord. Oh, God teach me to think about
all my circumstances just that way. Paul's in prison, but he
doesn't talk about himself as being a prisoner of Rome. He
doesn't talk about himself being a prisoner of the Jews. He doesn't
talk about himself being the prisoner of men. Though they
are the ones who inflicted the imprisonment, it came to pass
by God's hand, according to God's will, for his good. So he says,
I'm the prisoner of the Lord. I beseech you, I urge you, I
urge you, children of God. Will you hear me now? My brothers
and sisters in Christ, I urge you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you're called. We have been called by the gospel
of God's grace, Larry, into the blessed fellowship of Christ.
We have been called the sons of God. We have been called children
of God, the kingdom of God, the church of God. Now live like
it. Behave according to the name
you wear. I've often said to you, as I
said to my daughter when she was growing up and she'd start
to go out, I don't guess she ever went out of the house. I
don't guess she ever went out. But what I said to her, don't
forget who you are and whose you are. Because everything you
do has a reflection on me and your mother, the gospel I preach,
the God I serve, and this church. Don't ever forget who you are
and whose you are. So boy, that's a horrible monkey
to put on somebody's back. Might be, but that's the way
it is. And I say to you, children of God, don't ever forget who
you are and whose you are. Everything we say and do reflects
upon the God we worship or profess to worship, the gospel we preach,
the church of Jesus Christ, and the name of our God. So walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called. Well, Paul, how
do you do that? He doesn't sit down and prescribe
rules about dress and eating and drinking. Doesn't sit down
and prescribe rules about what to do with your time. No, no.
He gives rather general principles of godliness. And here they are.
With all lowliness and meekness. Lowliness and meekness before
God will cause men and women to walk with lowliness and meekness
with one another. Only proud, haughty, self-willed
men and women insist on speaking their minds and having their
ways regardless of what it does to other people. In a family
you don't do that. You wouldn't have a family very
long if you did. Men and women get along in life because they
learn to submit to one another. They learn to bow to one another's
will and one another's pleasure. They learn to protect one another's
name and one another's reputation and one another's character.
That's how we live in the church of God, Linda. That's the only
way we'll live in the church of God. That's the only way what
Paul's talking about here can be accomplished. Read on now.
With all loneliness and meekness, with long suffering, Now you don't have to get a dictionary
to look that up. Just put it the other way around.
Suffering long. Just put up with a lot. Just
put up with a lot. Put up with it kindly. Put up
with it patiently. Put up with a lot in one another. Put up with one another's weaknesses.
One another's faults and failures. Even one another's sins. Long-suffering
with one another. Be long-suffering. Read what
it says now. Forbearing one another. Well,
I just can't abide that. If you love each other, you can. What does love do? Love covers. We saw this Sunday. Ham uncovered
his father's nakedness. That's what pride and self-righteousness
always does with other people. It exposes their weaknesses,
their faults, their failures, their sins to somebody else.
That's the essence of what Ham did was murder. You see, it's
just as great a crime before God to murder a man's name as
it is his body. Just as great a crime to speak
evil of a human being as it is to take out your .357 and shoot
him between the eyes. Just as great a crime, it's called
murder. It's called murder. Our responsibility is not just
not to hurt folks, but to care for them. Not just not to take
life, but to take care of life. And it says, forbearing one another
in love. with all loneliness and meekness,
with long-suffering forbearing one another in love, how come,
how come, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace? God's people truly are united
in Christ. God's people truly are one in
Christ. just as a family being joined
together in love, being joined together in providence, are one
in Christ. And yet the oneness, the unity
of that family must be carefully maintained by everybody in the
family. One little member can put the whole family on a joint.
One, I don't care if you've got a dozen children, you have one
son that's a rebel, one son that gives no care to the family,
one son that just totally disregards everybody else in the family,
the whole family hurts because of it. And in the kingdom of
God, we must, each of us, pastor and people, old and young, take
care to keep the unity of the Spirit. I love the way the Holy
Spirit says this now, in the bond of peace. Not the bondage
of peace, the bond of peace. Peace knits us together. You take several, those corn
stalks out there are soon going to be withered up, drying, and
you can't lean on one of them. You can't do anything with it.
Only thing it's good for is cut it up and make fertilizer out
of it. It's the only thing on this earth it's good for. Maybe fodder for some
cattle. Other than that, you can't do anything with it. But
if you take 25 of them and bind them together. I mean bind them
together tight, firm, so that they appear to be as one. You can lean on them. You can
walk with them. You can rest on them. You can
depend on them. If you need to, you can take
them and fight off the enemy with them. Because when they're
bound together as strength. And our unity, David, is our
strength in Christ. That's the strength of God's
church and kingdom. Brother Todd Nybert and I were
talking this morning. This is where the unity of the fellowship
of the gospel is so very important. Let us walk together in the unity
of the spirit, in the bond of peace. Now, here's the motive
for it all. For there is one body, one body. Now this is not talking about
just this local church. If that were the case, they'd
have to say there are many bodies. It's talking about all of God's
elect considered as one. All true believers are one in
Christ. All of them, all of them. Folks
in Ashland, in Lexington, over in Crossville, folks who are
united in Christ are one. They're one, one body, one body. You take great care how you deal
with the Lord's body. Take great care. One body, one
spirit. One spirit. All believers are
born again by God the Holy Spirit and they walk after the same
spirit and are taught by the same spirit. Even as you're called
in one hope of your calling. What's your hope? Christ. What's
your hope? My only hope, my only plea is
that Christ died and he died for me. That's it. One hope. Every child of God has the same
hope. And if that's not your hope,
you have no hope before God. Called in one hope of your calling,
one Lord, just one. We have one master. all of us. And the master is not this man
or another. The master is not found here
and is not found in Rome. The master sits upon the throne
of glory. He's Jesus Christ the Lord. One
faith. Every child of God has the same
God-given faith, and this is what that means. We have one
object of faith. Jesus Christ is it. Every believer
looks to Christ for everything. We have the same doctrine of
faith. All of God's children believe the same gospel, eh?
All of them do. Folks talk all they want to about
folks being saved and not believing the gospel, being saved and not
believing this thing or that thing about Christ. All God's
people believe the same gospel. They're number one. And if you
have another gospel, it's not another. Read on. One baptism. In this right here, in this pool,
many women are buried with Christ in baptism. And by that one baptism, we all
confess our faith in Jesus Christ. Death, burial, and resurrection
is our substitute. We confess our blessed confidence
that he has come to us by the power of his resurrection and
raised us up from the dead. And we confess our allegiance
to him, to walk with him in the newness of life. One baptism.
This is not talking about spirit baptism, some kind of a mysterious
thing. It's talking about being buried with Christ in baptism.
Read on. One God. One God. The sovereign, holy Lord God
who says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I
will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Just one God. One God. Father
of us all. Children don't seem to get this
until they get to be grandfathers. They don't seem to get it. That
which binds earthly families together is father. We got one father. We got one
father. That's what binds us together.
There are many other things, but that's the essential thing.
Your kids got your blood flowing in them, and when they get to
be your age, they're gonna find something special about that.
Something special about that. It binds them together. Regardless
of how far they're scattered here in Yon, regardless of what
the different circumstances in life are, one father. One father. Good or bad, we just got one.
One. Here, he's talking about God,
our father. Rex Bartlett, we're the sons
of God Almighty, you and me. You and me. And I'm gonna tell
you something. If God is our father, yours and
mine, we'll find out a way to get along. Just that simple. I often have folks, not often,
I don't often have it anymore. I used to, before folks found
out, I'd tell them the truth. They'd come talk to me about husband
and wife, fixin' to leave another, and they can't get along, and
I don't love them anymore. I'm gonna tell you something.
I'm gonna tell you something. If Bobby and Judy Estes can't
get along, one of them doesn't know God. That's just as plain
as it can be. That's just the way it is. Maybe
both, but one of them for sure. Men and women who know God find
a way to get along with each other. Men and women who are
the children of God find a way to get along. They do so by loneliness
and meekness and forbearance and long-suffering. They just
do. Read on. You and I, members of one family,
with one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God who is our Father,
who's above all and through all and in you all. He who is above all, He who reigns
over all, is in you all. In you, by His Spirit, by His
grace. Read on, verse 7. But unto every
one of us is given grace. Grace, every one of us. According
to the measure of the gift of Christ. Now, this certainly has
at least two applications. Every one of us is given the
grace of God in Christ. And that grace given us in Christ
is described not only as God's saving grace, but it's described
as the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, faith, meekness, gentleness,
goodness, and so on. Those things called the fruit
of the Spirit are what? The grace of God. And every child
of God has the fruit of the Spirit in him. Out last spring, we planted
a little corn out there. You know, we didn't even think
about going out and getting a five foot stalk of corn and stick
it in the ground. Didn't worry about it. Just got
little kernels. Just little kernels. Put them
in the ground. But what you see out there, we
fixed it to eat on it just a few weeks. All of it was in that
kernel. Every bit of it. Now, when a
child is born of God, you don't expect him to be full grown.
Usually he thinks he is. Somebody said preachers and Christians
are only two things like a red wasp. They're just as big as
they ever get when they're first born. That's when they're the biggest.
Well, the child is, you know, like the Lord of Grace saying,
I'm a big girl. Well, we kind of flatter her and let her think
she's a big girl, but she still needs a little help. And we expect
things from her because she's just a little girl. But in that
one little kernel is all of Christ. Not grown yet, not bearing fruit
yet, but all of it. All his character, all his holy
nature, right there in that little kernel. All right, look at it
now. This grace is given to us according
to the measure of the gift of Christ. Not only is it given
God's saving grace put in us, but now he's talking about graces
by which we serve one another. And I know this too is in the
text because it's what it says in verse eight. Wherefore he
saith, when he ascended up on high, and laid captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men. If you wanna read Psalm 68 at
your leisure, verses 18, 19, and 20, I think it is, he adds
this word. He gave gifts unto men that the
Lord God, or received gifts for men that the Lord God might dwell
among them. Yea, for the rebellious also. Thank God when he had finished
his work of redemption, ascended up in glory as the head of his
church and people, he received gifts for men. He who is our
Savior, by the merit of his sacrifice, received gifts to give to his
church. And here they are. Now he that ascended, what is
it that he first descended? He also descended first into
the lower parts of the earth. He who has now ascended up into
heaven, he's the one who came down here from heaven. He that
descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things. That one who lived down here,
who died for us, was buried in the earth, rose again, now he's
ascended. There he is, back in glory again.
Now in verse 11, and he gave some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists. The word evangelist, I'm convinced,
and there's a little room for question here I'm sure, but I'm
convinced the word evangelist here refers to what we commonly
call missionaries. Brother Walter Groover and his
son Cody down in Mexico don't pastor churches. They establish
churches and preach to them and serve as pastor for a while,
but then they have this church established and God raises up
a preacher, a pastor in the midst. He becomes pastor and they go
somewhere else. Start another work. Start another work. Start
another work. That's what an evangelist does. He is a man
specially gifted of God to establish the gospel in places and the
worship of God. But this word apostle and prophet
is talking about a gift that existed only up until the time
the last of the apostles died, until John died. There are no
apostles today, no prophets today, no need. We've got the full revelation
of God. And yet in a sense, every man
who is called of God to preach the gospel is God's messenger,
his apostle. He has a message from God, a
mandate from God, and he's God's prophet. He has this mandate
from God which he tells out with divine authority. Now then, look
what it says. Some apostles, some prophets,
and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Pastor,
teacher. Pastor, teacher. Once in a while
I'll have somebody call me up and they'll be upset with the
preacher. He's doing something they don't
like. conducting something in the church they don't care for.
And this is my response. You're not responsible for it,
he is. Is he preaching the gospel of God's grace? Is he declaring
the truth of God to your soul? then you're not responsible for
the teaching of the congregation. He is. You're responsible for
what you hear. You're responsible to see to
it that the message being preached is a message of God's free grace.
You search the scriptures and try those things spoken by this
man. But the man responsible for the leading of the congregation
is that man who's called of God to be your pastor teacher. We
have many men in this congregation gifted to teach and preach. But
no man's responsible for what's taught here except this one right
here. And I'm responsible for everything taught here. Everything.
Before God and before your souls. Responsible. Alright, now look
what it says. How come he did it that way?
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, building up God's
kingdom, building up God's church. The word edify simply means to
build up, and it doesn't mean building up in numbers. It's
talking about the building up of our hearts and souls in the
faith of the gospel. Till we all come in unity of
the faith. and of the knowledge of the Son
of God unto a perfect man, until at last we're brought into the
perfection of everlasting glory. unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. Now that makes it very clear
what it's talking about. The work of the ministry is the
edifying of God's saints until at last this time of our sojourn
on this earth and our weakness and our faults and our failures
is over and we've been brought finally to the perfect stature
of Jesus Christ in everlasting glory. He goes on and says in
verse 14, This is the reason the ministry is given, that we
henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about
with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men with cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. The whole religious world is
waiting to deceive you. That's what Babylon does, is
waiting. God has given the ministry of
the word, the preaching of the gospel, so that you not be tossed
to and fro with every wind of doctrine, every slight of men,
cunning, craftiness. How can we avoid this pitfall
and that pitfall? Hear the word. Hear the word,
feed on the word, feast upon the gospel. If you want to avoid
being sickly, catching everything comes down the road, you eat
good, get a little rest, exercise some, and you take some measure
to take care of your physical health. If you want to be able
to avoid every wind of doctrine that comes down the pike, feast
upon the word. Read on now. Speaking the truth in love. That's the key to everything
in the family. Truth and love. Not enough to
speak the truth, speak truth in love. Not enough to love,
love in speaking the truth. Speak the truth. He's talking
now about gospel truth. He's talking about the word of
truth. He'll deal with a matter of honesty in a little bit, but
here he's talking about speaking out the gospel in love for the
edifying of the body of Christ. may grow up into him in all things. Oh my. Be patient, men and women. Be patient with our little brothers
and sisters. Pastor, be patient while they
grow up. While they grow up. The biggest,
smartest fellows who know most You can bank on it, you can bank
on it. The biggest, smartest folks who know most, those folks
who've got an opinion about everything, those folks who know something
about everything, those folks who started reading this thing
yesterday. Oh, I've got that. The ones who
know everything don't know anything, but you who don't know anything,
you know a little something, so be patient with them till
they grow up. But don't pay any attention to them. You know,
just don't pay any attention to them. When a child pops off
and, you know, if Audrey Grace were to come to you and repeat
something she heard me say and think she knew what I was talking
about, and I was talking about the way the sun shines, don't
go investing in her becoming a nuclear physicist for you.
Just don't presume that's going to happen. She's just a child.
And when you hear children in the kingdom of God, when you
hear children who are 30, 40, 50, 60 years old, or children
who are 15, 20 years old in the kingdom of God, don't pay any
attention to them. Just wait for them to grow up.
Read on, read on. Grow up in Him, in all things,
in all grace, in all wisdom, in all knowledge, which is the
head, even Christ. And if they're His, they will
grow up in Him. from whom the whole body fitly joined together,
and compacted by that which every joint supplieth as according
to the effectual working in us, or in the measure of every part. maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love. That is what he says. This is
why God gave the ministry. This is why Christ ascended and
gave these gifts to men. This is my desire that the church
of God be built up, edified together in the faith for the glory of
Christ. God's gonna see to it God's gonna see to it through
the means he's ordained through the effectual working of his
power by his spirit in us He will build his church and kingdom
All right. Now look at verse 17 this I say
therefore and testify in the Lord That ye henceforth walk
not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind Don't Allow yourself to be ruled
by your greed and your lust and your lasciviousness. And if you
read the context here, He's not talking just about sensual lust. He's not talking just about carnal
physical lust. He's not talking just about lust
of the body. He's talking, Larry, about the
greed and lasciviousness and the lust of our minds, our spirits,
our souls, by which we are turned aside to every wind of doctrine.
Read the context. Always interpret scripture in
context. Don't walk like these folks, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their heart. You're
not ignorant, you're not blind. You're not dead in sins, but
made alive in Christ. These folks are past feeling.
They've given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all
uncleanness with all greediness, moral, spiritual, doctrinal uncleanness. But you have not so learned Christ. But look at the next word. If
so be. If so be. If you've been taught
of God, you haven't learned that from Christ. David Burge didn't
and Don Fortner didn't. They don't. If so be that you've
heard of him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus,
but rather that you put off concerning the former conversation. The
word is manner of life. The old man which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in your mind by
the spirit of your mind and that you put off, put off, put off,
put off. He's talking about something
for us to do, isn't he Bob? You got up this morning, pulled your
pajamas off and put your clothes off. This is exactly what he's
saying. He's saying you put off the old man of darkness. You
put it off by constantly saying no to the flesh, denying ungodliness,
and put on the new by continually surrendering yourself in all
things to Christ and His will. Put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. In other words,
don't yield to the flesh, yield to the Spirit. Don't yield to
your carnal lust, yield to the things of God, that which is
taught by the Spirit of God within you. Godliness, righteousness,
uprightness. Read on. Wherefore putting away
lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Don't deceive. Don't deceive. Don't lie to folks. Be honest. Speak truth to your
neighbor. For we are members one of another.
He's talking now about these neighbors. These neighbors right
here. Don't be a deceiver, a liar,
a backbiter, a slanderer. Don't do that. Speak the truth.
Speak truth with your neighbor. And if you see the context now,
he's not just talking about, well, old Ham, he said, boy,
I hate to say this about my daddy, but let me tell you about that
old drunk. He's been faking it all the time.
I know him. I know him, boys. I know him.
Oh no. Sham and Ham spoke the truth
in love. They said, let's don't look at
his nakedness, don't let anybody else see it. Because this ain't
daddy. This ain't daddy. You see Lindsey Campbell out
of sorts. And I don't guess I've ever seen Lindsey out of sorts.
Maybe Diane might have a time or two. But you see him out of
sorts? The reason you've been married to him all these years?
Because that's not him. That's just not him. That's not him.
So you keep it to yourself. And that's speaking the truth
in love. Is that right? It's exactly what
it's talking about. Read on now. Be angry and sin not. There's anger in God. Nothing
wrong with anger when anger's right. But don't let your anger
become that which dominates you. Don't let your anger govern you. Be angry and sin not. Let not
the sun go down on your wrath. Don't breed over it. Don't harbor
it. Just, all right, this is wrong. Wrong. I got a little angry this morning,
but I don't plan to go to bed with it. Wasn't it any of you? I just got a little angry this
morning. Don't plan to go to bed. Don't let the sun go down
on your wrath. Read on. Neither give place to
the devil. When you do, Oscar, you give
him place for Satan to rule you. But you don't. Let him that stole
steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands,
the thing that is right, and here's the reason, that he may
have to give to him that needeth. How unlike the world that is.
Boy, I'm gonna... I gotta work, I gotta work two
jobs, gotta work nights and weekends, cause I need to pay for this
car and this house and cottage down there and this place over
there. No, I'll work so I'll have enough
to take care of my family and get the folks who need it. What
is that? Have to give, we don't. Let no
corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Now, please understand, when
I say this is not talking about using bad language, I'm not encouraging
that you start. Some fella up here had an accident
yesterday as I went out and I started to help him a little bit. So
foul-mouthed, just a teenage boy, just sounded like somebody
opened up a sewer, just gushing out. That's not what he's talking
about here, though. Now, don't do that. Don't do
that. Don't talk like that. It's unbecoming. Anybody's got good sense. Don't
talk like that. But this is not what he's talking
about. This is talking about slander and gossip and backbiting. This is talking about exposing
evil in one another. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. Well, how do you know that's
what it's talking about? But that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. Speak good
of one another. Somebody said one time, Lindsay,
great people talk about ideas. Most people talk about things.
Little people talk about other people. That's just about right. No communication, no corrupt
communication per se out of your mouth, but what's good? In other
words, if what you've got to say about Bobby Estes is not
going to edify God's people, not going to do him any good,
not going to do anyone else any good, keep your mouth shut. Just
keep your mouth shut. Brother Jack Shank said one time
when he was preaching in a Bible conference, he said, don't ever
miss a chance to shut up. Don't ever miss a chance to just
shut up. Oh, Lord, set a watch over my mouth. Keep the door
of my lips that I sin not against you. Read on now. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God. because that's what it does.
You want to be useful to God's glory? You want this family to
serve God well? Don't grieve the Holy Spirit
by your corrupt talk, by your gossiping and backbiting and
slander. Don't do it. Whereby you're sealed,
sealed, preserved, kept by the power of His grace under the
resurrection day. Let all bitterness, bitterness. That doesn't need any explanation,
does it? All bitterness, that stuff you lay on at night and
toss and turn on your bed, all bitterness and wrath. I'm gonna do something. Wrath and anger. Just harboring ill will like
a pressure cooker ready to have the lid blow off. Clamor and
evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Just get rid of it. You see,
Bob, these things are the way the Gentiles walk. That's the
way you expect your neighbor to live. That's the way you expect
your sons and daughters out of God to live. That's the way you
expect your mom and dad outside class to live, but not folks
who know God. Not folks who know God. Read
on now. And be ye kind one to another. These next few verses, Rex, I
believe are the most neglected and some of the most important
in all of Scripture. Don't ever miss a chance to be kind. Kind. Kind. Well, I don't feel very
kind. I just got to be honest. In that
case, keep your honesty to yourself. Be kind. Be kind. I want to get this thing off
my chest. Keep it on your chest. I don't
need it. I don't need it. I had a friend of mine years
ago, he's with the Lord now, a deacon at West Virginia. He
won't mind me telling you this, he's with the Lord. He said,
well, I lose my temper pretty quick, but I get over it right
now. You know, it was Elmer. And I said to him, Elmer, if
Lou Elle goes in there and gets that boiling pot of water off
the stove and throws it on you, you might get, she might get
over it real quick, but you're gonna bear the scars. Learn not to
let it spew out. Keep your mouth closed when it
comes to hurting people. Speaking ill of people. Don't
do it. Be kind. Tender hearted. Compassionate. Sympathizing. Caring. Tender
hearted. Forgiving one another. Not just
forgiving offenses done against you. Forgiving one another. How come? Because Paul, Christ,
God for Christ's sake has forgiven you and me. Forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Well, I can't take that. Then
I pity you. Oh, I pity you. Be you therefore
followers of God. Imitators of God is the word.
Imitators. Just imitate him. Do the best you can. Imitate
him. I recall years ago, I was just a boy walking through the
mountains of North Carolina. We got snowbound at the foot
of Grandfather Mountain one year. Oh, I guess it was two and a
half feet of snow on the ground. We headed up to Spruce Pipe. And
I was just a kid, and my dad, six foot two, is out walking. I was trying to walk in his steps. He put my feet where he put his.
But I couldn't move him that far. And I'd look behind me,
and it's just a mess. When he was walking, you could
see footprints. When I was walking, all you could see is just a mess.
I messed everything up. But he was tickled to death,
because I was trying to walk like he walked. be imitators of God, imitators
of God. As dear children and walk in
love, as Christ hath loved us and given himself an offering
and a sacrifice to God for sweet smelling savor. Oh, smell that sacrifice and pray God will make you a
sweet impression on your soul. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God. Amen. All right, Lindsay, you
can lead us in a hymn if you will.