own blood. Now, back to our study,
Ephesians. The fourth chapter of Ephesians. I want to bring you a study this
evening from verse 25 down to verse 32, the last verse in this
fourth chapter. But let me go back and just review
for a moment. Some of you weren't here before
in the Lessons preceding back to verse 21. If so be you've
heard Him. And this is a description of
believers in Christ. We have heard Him. How do we hear Him? Through the means that God has
ordained, through the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God
through the preaching of the gospel. By sinners saved by God's
grace sent to preach the gospel. We have heard Him. through His
ambassadors, through His preachers of the gospel. And we've been
taught by Him, we've heard Him, and we've been taught by Him.
All those who have heard and learned of the Father, they come
to the Lord Jesus Christ and know for sure the truth is in
Him. The truth is in Him. We've heard
Him. We've heard about Him, who He
is, what He's done, where He is now, why He came, why He died,
that He might be just and the justifier. Now, we've been taught
by Him. He is both teacher and lesson.
And the truth is in Him. The truth is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The truth of salvation. The truth of mercy to sinners.
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing that is so of believers. We've heard Him. We've been taught
by Him. We know the truth of salvation
is in Him. We know that. We've been taught
that. We can say with the Apostle, I know whom I have believed.
Seeing that is so, then put off, put off concerning the former
conduct, that old man, that old self-righteous nature that would
go about to establish a righteousness of its own. Put it away. Be done
with self-righteousness. Now, that's something we have
to work on. We still have that old deceitful nature that would
tell us that, well, you know, we're not as bad as that guy
over there. That's self-righteousness. Put that old nature, that old... Put him down. Put him down. Put
him off. Don't feed him. Don't give in
to him. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. This is
the new birth. This is regeneration. Seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ as all our righteousness, all of our
justifying righteousness before God. That's the renewed mind. Seeing Christ being the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. That's
the renewed mind in Christ Jesus. And that you put on that new
man. Now this is the work of God. This is not something we
do. This is the work of God. God
who hath begun a good work in you. He will perform it, He will
perfect it, He will complete it in the day of His glorious
power. Put on that new man which after
God is created. Created in us, Christ in you,
the hope of glory. And it's created in righteousness. God saves sinners in a righteous,
just manner. He doesn't shove His holiness
aside. He doesn't shove His law aside. He honors His law, honors
His justice in saving us to enable Him to be a both just God and
Savior in Christ Jesus. In righteousness He saves us
and in true holiness He saves us. He makes us new creatures
in Christ. That's what Paul said there in
2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man be in Christ. Now that's the
key. That's salvation, to be in Christ.
No wonder Paul said, I count all things but loss, that I might
win Christ and be found in Him. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Old things are passed away and
behold, all things have become new. New. Newly made. Newly created. New creatures
in Christ. All that being so, verse 25. Wherefore, and it's just the
same as saying therefore. Therefore, looks back to what
has been said. Wherefore, because you've been
made new in Christ Jesus, putting away lying. Speak every man truth
with his neighbor. Tell your neighbor the truth.
For we are truly, we're members one of another. members of one
another. Therefore, verse 25, I desire
as being new creatures in Christ, created in righteousness, created
in true holiness, our desire is to put away lying and speaking
the truth in love. You remember back in chapter
4, same chapter, verse 15? Look back at verse 15. But speaking
the truth in love. In love, speaking what? Speaking
the truth. and do it in love, not with anger,
may grow up into him in all things which is ahead, even Christ."
Speak the truth. Tell your neighbor the truth.
Now, this is not only important in our daily walk among men,
when we consider natural things and civil things. Being a truthful
and honest person at work, on the job, in your family, be honest. Tell the truth. But this is especially
in regards to preaching and telling the true gospel. Do not lie on God. Tell every
man the truth. Now there's a lot of lying going
on today in religion. They say things like God loves
everybody. And the Lord Jesus Christ died
for everybody. And God's trying to save everybody.
He said, put away lying. Those are three lies. God doesn't
love everybody. The love of God then Christ Jesus.
The Lord Jesus Christ didn't die for everybody. He died for
His sheep, His people, His elect. And certainly the Lord's not
trying to save everybody or He'd do it. He's God. He cannot fail. He is saving His people by His
grace. Wherefore put away this lying.
Speak every man The truth, the truth of who God is, the truth
of who we are, the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, God
manifest in the flesh, the truth of salvation by the grace of
God. You see what he's saying? It goes more and it's deeper
than just being honest in natural and civil things. It goes much
deeper than that. It's rooted much deeper than
that. It involves the gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus. Let's stop lying about God. Let's
be honest and tell the truth. Men need to hear the true gospel. Not a lie. Not this phony gospel. Not this plastic gospel. They
need to hear the truth. Speak every man the truth. Tell your neighbor the truth.
Or say, well, he might get mad. That's okay. He needs to hear
the truth regardless. Tell your family the truth. We
are his body. We are of His body. We are of
His body. The body is meant to serve the
head. And the Lord Jesus Christ is our head. As we've studied
throughout this epistle, it talks about the Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ being the head of the body. So we serve Him by being
truthful, being truthful. Salvation is of the Lord, of
the Lord. I love to declare that truth.
Now watch verse 26. Be ye angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. Now there is an anger, there
is an anger that is not sinful, which arises in the heart of
the believer for the zeal of the truth. There is a righteous
indignation and a righteous anger against that which is fault and
not honoring to the gospel. That angers a believer. That
idolatry. that is so rapid in our day that
angers the believer. That every, every, all those
false gospels and the false doctrine that's declared today, that angers
the believer. We have a right to be angry,
have a right to be upset with these things. For it is a very
attribute of God. Do you understand that? In Psalm
711 it says that God is angry. God is angry with the wicked
every day. It says in Psalm 5, 5, that God
hateth the workers of iniquity. Someone described the anger of
God in this light. It may have been Arthur Pink.
I'm not sure. I read this somewhere years ago. God is love, right? No doubt about that. But God
is holy. How do you describe the anger
and wrath of God in the light that God is holy? That God is
love, rather. His anger and His wrath is His
holiness stirred, agitated in the activity against sin. That's His anger. It's His holiness stirred up. And I tell you, the believer
gets stirred up about this false religion that goes on in our
day. I know that God has controlled in control of all things, but
it's still that the believer has that zeal for God's glory,
God's truth, and we get upset when we see these false, phony
people conning and deceiving men. We get upset about it. I
do. And I think any believer that
knows the truth and is rooted and grounded in truth has the
same indignation that rises up against those false ways. This Psalm here, Psalm 119, 104
says this, ìThrough thy precepts I get understanding, thereforeÖî
You know the rest of it? ìThrough thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore Iím tolerant with every other way.î Thatís not what it
says. ìThrough thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every fault way.î It says that twice in Psalm
119. ìI hate every fault way.î that
does not honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ." Not indifferent
to it. I hate it. I despise it. I despise it with
a passion. Psalm 139, verse 21, David also
declares this, "...Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee?
And am I not grieved with those that rise up against Thee? I
am." So there is an anger that is
not sinful. Be you angry? Well, sin not,
and sin not. But there is that anger that
is sinful when it is without a good cause, when it's not for
the glory of God, when it is not directed to a good cause
or righteous end. Remember what the Scriptures
teach us, that the wrath of man does not work the righteousness
of God. Don't let this anger consume
you and get the best of you. Let this anger go. This needless
anger. I'm not talking about that righteous
indignation. I'm not talking about letting
that go. But I'm talking about this other anger. This anger
that rises up in us because of that old rotten nature that still
dwells in us. Let this anger go. Let it go. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. When the heat of the day is over, let this anger
go. Don't take it to bed with you. Now, I know that's easy
to say. It's easy for me to stand up
here and say that, but it's a horse of another color, as my pastor
used to say. It's a horse of another color
to actually do it. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go, because notice, don't
let the sun go down upon your wrath. There's not a period there.
Colon, neither give place to the devil. Now, he's looking
for a place to reside here. Don't give place. Don't give
him any room in that needless anger. Don't give him any room. Don't let Satan, who is our adversary,
he's an accuser of the brethren, he's our adversary, he's the
enemy of the gospel. Don't let him take advantage
over you. Don't let him take a foothold
on you or use you in any way. Give him no place, no room, and
no hearing. especially in regards to this.
I want you to find 2 Corinthians 11. It goes back again to that
gospel that's not the gospel, that false anti-Christ gospel
that is so prevalent in our day. 2 Corinthians 11, look at verse
13, false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the servants of Christ, the apostles
of Christ, those sent of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds."
Give in to Satan and his ministers who talk about righteousness
at your hand. Righteousness by what you do.
Don't give in. Don't budge. Don't give an inch. Don't compromise. We compromise
no truth. Don't give place to the devil. And that works salvation. Don't give him a place. Don't
give him any room. Take a stand. Don't budge. Contend for the gospel of God's
grace in Christ Jesus. Now, we don't need to be contentious,
but we need to contend. We need to stand firm for the
gospel of God in Christ Jesus. Turn just one page to Philippians
chapter 1. I'm thinking of this verse here. Philippians 1, verse
27, "...only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel
of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit,
one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and
in nothing terrified by your adversary." Don't give Satan
an inch. You need to give place to him,
which is to them an evident token of their condemnation, but to
you of salvation. For unto you it is given in behalf
of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for
his sake." So, don't give place to the devil. Look at verse 28
back in our text. Let him that stole, steal no
more. Now this again has a two-fold
application. Let him that stole steal no more,
but rather let him labor, working with his hand the thing which
is good, that he may give to him that needeth. Let him labor. Make an honest
living. working, laboring in that which
is good, hard work is commendable, providing for your family, supporting
the gospel, sharing with others what the Lord has blessed you
with. Be a hard worker. That's commendable unto the Lord.
Not that it merits any blessing, not that it merits any favor
with God, but rather it magnifies Him for what He does in us. He
gives us strength. He gives us wisdom to labor and
to carry on in a way that's magnifying and honoring unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, providing for your family,
supporting the gospel, sharing with others what the Lord has
blessed you with. Now, remember the story Pastor
Mahan told us some time back? Maybe some of you don't remember.
But you remember the story of the two little boys who were
sitting, two little brothers that were sitting on the street
in a busy, busy city. And a man drove up in a nice,
new, shiny car. You remember the story? Maybe
some of you do, maybe not. But the man drove up in that
nice, shiny, new car. And those two brothers sitting
there on those steps, when that man got out, they said to the
man, man, where did you get that car? Oh, I'd like to have a car
like that. And the man said to the two little
brothers sitting on the steps, said, my brother gave it to me. Oh, your brother gave you that
car? And one little boy said to the other boy, boy, he said,
I'd like to be a brother just like that. It's not that, boy,
I wish I had a brother like that, but boy, I'd like to be a brother
like that. Wouldn't you? To be able to give
and That's a blessing to be able to give. Now recently, I said
all that to say this. Recently, most of you know that
we went through a devastating and severe flood. Damaged much
of our property. We lost most of our belongings
in the first floor. Some of you carried that stuff
out. We threw away about everything. Few things we were able to save,
but we carried the most of it out. Had to hook a log chain
on my Lincoln and drag it out of the garage, covered with mud,
clear over the top of the car. Same with my little truck, clear,
devastated, flooded, ruined, ruined. You know what? Someone gave me a new truck,
a new truck. Some of you have seen it, a nice
truck. Well, it's sitting right out there. My brother gave that
to me, my brother in Christ. Well, recently, I took that truck
down the road, down to the repair shop and got the front end lined
up, make those tires work just right. And I pulled in there
and all those people know me, that community. They know I'm
the preacher down the street and they know that my vehicles
were flooded and they know the devastation and all. And they
asked me, said, preacher, where did you get that truck? I said, a friend of mine gave
that truck to me. And that man's eyes got that
wide and he said, your friend gave you that truck? I said,
oh yeah, oh yeah. And I told him, I said, he said,
boy, I wish I had a friend like that. I turned it around on him
just like that little boy did. I turned it around on him and
he said, no, I said, I'd like to be a friend like that. And
he looked at me like, what were you talking about? I said, no,
I'd like to be a friend like that, to be blessed of the Lord
to be able to give with an open hand and an open heart and a
willingness like the Lord gave to us. You remember that scripture
over in 2 Corinthians 8, 9, For you know the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he
became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. He gave all. Oh, I'd like to
be a brother like that. I'd like to be a friend like
that. I'd like to be a believer like that, to give generously
to those who are in need. That's what it says there, to
be able to give to those, to him that needeth. Oh, it's a
blessing to give. It's a blessing to give. More
blessed to give than it is to receive. Having said that, I
want to make an application, a spiritual application in regards
to the gospel. Let him that stole, steal no
more. False religion makes it their
business of stealing from the Lord. They steal His glory, they
steal His truth, they steal His salvation, saying that God has
done a part and the rest is up to you. That's stealing from
God. Let us steal no more. God is very jealous of His glory. God forbid the Apostle said that
we should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That leads us to verse 29. 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. And again, we can make a gospel
application here. Do not corrupt the gospel with
leavening lies. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. Don't corrupt the gospel with
your tradition, with your ceremony, with your works, but speak the
truth. Speak that which is good and
true. Let your language be seasoned with grace, speaking to others
that which is spiritually beneficial to them. What do they need to
hear? The truth. Now here's a scripture that will
give us a little help here. Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4, verse 5 and 6, walk in wisdom
toward them that are without. Colossians 4 verse 5, redeeming
the time. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, the salt of the word, the salt of
truth, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, speaking and preaching the gospel always
in the truth, not with corruptness of human merit. Now, here's some
references that'll help us here. Find II Corinthians 2, verse
17. II Corinthians 2, verse 17. The
apostle said, For we are not, we are not as many which corrupt
the word of God, or deal deceitfully with the Word of God, but as
of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we
of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now find II Corinthians chapter
4, II Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Therefore, seeing
we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint
not. but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking
in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but
by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves or our message
to every man's conscience in the sight of God." So let's speak
the truth and let's no corrupt communication proceed out of
your mouth. But that which is good, to the
use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers." God will
bless that witness that's true to Him according to the Scripture
and use the Word of God. Give them that would ask you
a reason of the hope that is within you and give them what
thus saith the Lord. Give them the Word of God, the
Word of truth. Now notice verse 30. Grieve not, and that word there
means to vex or offend. Or we could actually say, sin
not. Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby
you are sealed, in whom you are sealed unto the day of complete
and final glory. You're sealed unto that day of
complete and final glory. Speech and conduct dishonoring
to Christ does grieve, vex, and offend the Holy Spirit who dwells
in us. The Holy Spirit's chief office
and paramount business is to honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord said, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He'll take
the things of Christ and show them unto you. He shall glorify
Me, He shall not speak of Himself, but He shall take the things
of Christ and show them unto you. Now listen to me, even though
we do, even though we do grieve the
Holy Spirit by our sorry conduct, by our vain thoughts, by our
pitiful attitude, and by our speech. Now, let's just be honest.
As the old country boy said, let's just shuck right down to
the cob. That's the West Virginia saying. I'm sure of that. Greenbrier
County, I think it originated there. Let's shuck right down
to the cob. Even though we do grieve the
Holy Spirit by our sorry conduct and our vain thoughts, because
we still have that old nature, we still have that old Adam nature,
and our attitude sometimes is just sorry. And our speech sometimes
is not becoming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for we
do sin against God. Yet, we do not lose our salvation. Why? We're sealed. We're sealed. were sealed unto the day of final
glory and total, total glory. Now, you remember back in chapter
1, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, Ephesians chapter 1, where
it talks about in whom also you trusted after you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory. Now, you ladies will understand
what I'm saying here. If you ever, this time of year
especially, green beans are coming in, your garden's coming in,
you're getting ready to do some canning. Back years ago, that's
what your mama, your mama was a canner, your daddy was a gardener. I've been in his garden. But they, this time of year,
the old timers, this younger generation, they don't know anything
about canning and cooking and that stuff. But you do. Your
generation, they know something about that, don't they? But you
take those green beans and you cut them up and fix them so special
and put them in that quart jar. And then you put them in a pressure
cooker or a hot bath or do something and you boil them, right? Get
them hot. And then you take them out, then
you set them over here on the countertop, and then you wait.
You wait, and you're listening for something. Now, you younger
people have to figure out what this is. But eventually, that
lid will pop. It'll snap, won't it? And you know it's sealed. You
know the fruit that's in that jar will not rot because it's
sealed until the day you pop the lid and eat it. Believers
are sealed in Christ Jesus. They will not rot. They will
enjoy eternal. They will not spoil. They're
sealed. You see what I'm saying? They're sealed. They're made
new in Christ Jesus. They're washed with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're sealed until the day
of redemption and final glory. Even though we do sin, we do
not lose our salvation when we sin, for we're saved with an
everlasting salvation. He gives His sheep eternal life
and they shall never perish. Christ is our Advocate, Christ
is our Mediator. He says this, when you sin, and
we do, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
Righteous. We are sealed unto that glorious
day of final resurrection glory when we will sin no more. never even had the slightest,
remotest possibility to sin against God in that glorious day. For He says over here, don't
turn, let me just read it to you. For our conversation, our
citizenship is from heaven. For whence also we look for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned unto His glorious body according to
the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto
Himself. Sealed. Signed, sealed, and delivered
by God's marvelous grace in Christ Jesus. Now, verse 31. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger,
clamor, crying out is clamor, evil speaking be put away from
you with all malice. All malice put away. Let all
bitterness, As I told you earlier, snowballed into wrath, which
brings on anger, which fosters clamor, which genders to evil
speaking, which brings out malice or hatred. Put that down. Put it off. That old nature which
is corrupt and be renewed in the spirit of your mind as it
says in this same chapter, verses 22 and verse 23. In closing,
verse 32. And be ye kind one to another. Boy, that's the opposite. That's
the extreme opposite of bitterness, is it not? Be ye kind one to
another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Be kind, tender-hearted,
for we are members one of another, as he says in verse 25. Now,
has the Lord forgiven us? Three things. He's forgiven us
fully. Fully. Fully. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. He's forgiven us
fully. And we ought to fully forgive
those who have sinned against us. He's forgiven us freely. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? We should forgive freely. We've been justified freely by
His grace. He has loved us freely. We ought
to be loving and forgiving to others. And then thirdly, not
only fully, freely, how about this one? Forgetting. Forgetting. Forgetting. That's what the Lord has done
for us, for Christ's sake. He has forgotten. He has blotted
out as a thick cloud. He's cast our sin behind His
back, separated us as far as the east is from the west. He
separated our sin from us. So much so that He says in Hebrews
10, 17, He said, their sin and their iniquity will I remember
no more. No more. Even as God, even as
God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Now here's the thing. May
the Lord be pleased to give us grace. to work on these things. May the Lord be pleased to give
us grace to work on these things. Now, find Philippians chapter
2. Philippians chapter 2. May the Lord be pleased to give
us grace to work on these things. Philippians chapter 2. And this
is what he's talking about here in verse 12. Wherefore, my beloved,
as ye have always obeyed, not in my presence only, this is
Philippians 2 verse 12, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Now, don't do
what most people do. They see the words work and salvation
and they think they have to accomplish something. That's not what he's
talking about here. He's talking about employ yourself
in things that accompany salvation, that accompany your deliverance.
Work about those things that God has worked in you as you
would work about your garden. Work about those things. Weed
out those things that are contrary to truth, contrary to Christ.
Weed them out. Put off that old man with his...
deceitful deeds. For it is God which worketh in
you both the will and the do of His good pleasure. Do all
things without murmurings, disputings, that ye may be blameless, harmless
as sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom ye also shine as lights in the world."
How? Holding forth the Word of Life,
the Word of Truth, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain." Subduing,
may God be pleased to give us grace to subdue that old nature
within us and put on the new man created in Christ Jesus to
His glory and to His glorious grace.