Manifesting Grace in the New Life

Transcript

GR2327
10/17/2021
Manifesting Grace in the New Life
Ephesians 4: 25-32
Gil Rugh

These are exciting days for our church. We are looking for the coming of the Lord. But we are also looking for what He has for us for the future should He not come in the ensuing weeks and months and years ahead. So, trust you’ll be in prayer for the ministry and excited about what the Lord has for us for the future.
But for today, He has Ephesian 4 for us. So, if you want to turn in your bibles to Ephesians 4. We’ve noted, and we’ll probably remind you again that the book of Ephesians breaks down as a number of Paul’s letters do, to the doctrinal section and then the application of that doctrine. And that’s true in Ephesians. The first three chapters are primarily doctrinal. And then with chapters 4, 5 and 6 you move to the application of that doctrine. Comes with an emphasis on the word “walk”. Now he mentioned walking back in chapter 2:2, which you formerly walked when you were dead in your trespasses and sins. But now, as a result of us being His workmanship, verse 10 of chapter 2, “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” But he was laying the doctrinal foundation for that walk in those first three chapters.
Then with chapter 4:1, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” So, he reminds them of the work of God in their redemption. That they were called to God in salvation. Now walk in a manner worthy of that calling. Walk in a manner, conduct your life, consistently with which you are, what you are now, as one who has been called in Christ, made new, and now are to walk in good works. The good works “which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them,” as Ephesians 2:10 said. So, now “walk in a manner worthy of the calling.”
And that’s a progressive thing, we’re never done. We’ve never arrived at that perfection that He has for us in Christ. But we are growing, and we continue to grow. And that’s what we study the word for. It’s a nourishment for out new life in Christ. And we progressively become more conformed to Him.
Down in verse 17, he talked about what it meant, and he really summarized the doctrine in verses 1-16 of chapter 4, reminding us how we are enabled to walk by God’s grace. He has made us new and He has gifted us. Each individual believer is gifted. He mentioned some of those gifts in verse 11, which were foundational for the rest of the other gifts, to function as God intends. “For the equipping of the saints,” verse 12, “for the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ.” What will the body of Christ look like now? In verse 17, “this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer” like you used to walk. The Ephesian church is primarily a Gentile church, as our church is. As the church today generally is. Doesn’t mean there are not believing Jews, but he’s primarily working in the Gentile world and building His church today. There are Jews that are saved, but they are a minority in number. Just as in the Old Testament, God was working with the nation Israel. But there were Jews that were saved, and we’ve talked about that.
Verse 17, we “walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk,” because they walk in the emptiness, “the futility of their mind.” They don’t have the capacity, they don’t have the ability. They’re not thinking straight. So, progressively, they just drift further and further away. They are “darkened in their understanding,” verse 18 said, they are “excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them.”
That’s why we don’t become actively involved in any real and serious way in political issues. They really don’t have the foundation of a relationship with God. That doesn’t mean we don’t agree more with a certain political position than another position, but basically, they are all coming from the same place of ignorance. When you get down to the bottom line, they’re not driven by their relationship with God and what He has said, and how they’re to live as people now conformed to the image of His Son, who is our Savior.
So, verse 22, we were “in reference to our former manner of life, you lay aside the old life (self).” Because verse 20, “you did not learn Christ in this way,” you lived your life driven by your own desires. And they fluctuate, they vary. We get frustrated with our own country as we see it drift more and more to what we would call liberalism. But, basically we’re just seeing more open display of what has been the condition of the heart from the beginning. Because you have to start at the beginning. I need to be made new within by Christ and then live without. Now again, we’re living in a fallen world. And we vote and so on, according to general principles. But we don’t want to loose our perspective and get so caught up. Boy, if we could just change the political dimension here, we would change the whole court. No, we wouldn’t. We as the church are here to bring a special message, a message of life. So, “you did not learn Christ in this way,” verse 20, “if indeed if you have heard Him,” and you have, “and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.” So, the truth is related to Christ and His work on the cross for us. That’s foundational to everything. “In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self.” Literally the ‘old man’. We have the old self, that gives you the idea, the old man. What you were until Christ made you new. So, that’s everyone. The most conservative politically is still an old man. Unless he has been made new in his heart by Christ.
So, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.” What we are to do as God’s people. Now we’ve placed our faith in Christ we are no longer what we were. We’ve been made new within. That’s the key, within. We’ve been made a new man, a new person. We’re not what we were, so we should not continue to practice those things. That’s what he’s talking about, when he talks about our walk in verse 17, “that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk.” They walk in the emptiness of their mind. They don’t have an understanding. That’s what we were. We have reference, we understand that cause we had the former manner of life.
Perhaps you were saved when you were young, by God’s grace. You haven’t had that much of the old life. But you still recognize the distinction and the difference that is there, and are to live in light of that difference. It’s being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit. We see our country, perhaps it started more biblically, but over time, it becomes more unbiblical, more openly unbiblical. The commitment to biblical principles was rather superficial. Give it time, and it reveals itself.
So, it’s “being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. So, that’s what we were.” Now, we are to be being renewed. We noted, you go from the aorist tense, that notes the past generally, what we were, to a present tense, you being renewed. And then we’ll go back to the past, because you’ve put on the new self. Going back to the aorist tense in verse 24, you “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Righteousness, holiness and truth. But that’s only when you’re made new in Christ.
So, I want to stress that, because we as believers, if we’re not careful, we get so entangled in the political dimension of things. That was true in Paul’s day, there was more that were consistent with the bible, that were inconsistent. We have the right to vote. So, we vote with that which is more consistent. I’m not saying we don’t do that. But we don’t become entangled. We think if we do that, we’ll begin to change the country. We won’t. God is sovereign, and we know where all things are moving because we read the book and studied it together, the book of Revelation. And all things are going to collapse in of themselves, when the church is removed and God finally brings about the destruction of this world and the establishing of God’s kingdom.
So, you “put on the new self,” the new man, “which in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”You would get the distinction here, you’ve been created new, in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Righteousness, holiness and truth are to be characteristic of those who are truly made new in Christ. Otherwise, you’re the old person. And that’s fine, that’s the reality we live in. And because we have a right to vote and have our influence there felt. We want to be careful, sometimes I look at Christians and think, boy, we’ve become so part of the world system, it’s like Christianity won’t survive if we don’t change this world. But, you have to be made new. That’s a personal individual change. Going to church doesn’t bring it about. Going to church where the truth is proclaimed, gives you an opportunity, hear the truth and believe it and be changed within. But you can attend church and live and die, having attended a bible-believing church and go to eternal hell, because it’s a personal relationship established by personal faith in Christ.
So, having laid aside the old self, being made new in the spirit of our mind. Having put on the new man. It’s being created in God. The difference is night and day. I mean, how do you say it? We were the old man, now we’re the new man. That’s the difference we want to bring to the world. Political issues… We’re blessed to be in a country where we still have the freedom to meet and so on. I appreciate that, but I don’t want to begin to equate things that are not consistent with each other.
So, verse 25, “Therefore,” as those who have laid aside the old person you were, then made, created, new in Christ, and so are being made new in the spirit of your mind. Verse 25, “Therefore,” in light of these truths, “laying aside falsehood.” ‘Laying aside,’ that’s the same word we had in verse 22, “lay aside the old self,” same word we have in English, the same word in Greek. You lay aside the old man. You lay aside falsehood. You’ve been made new in Christ.
Romans 6, gives the fullest development of this. Just turn to Romans 6 for a moment, if you would. Romans 6, and it talks about the old man that we were and the new man that we are. Chapter 6 opens up, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still,” be able to continue to, “live in it?” There’s something wrong in your thinking if you think, well I’ve placed my faith in Christ, now I get on with my life. No, I start to live a new life. And if you’re not living a new life, you’ve never been made new. “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” It’s a question that there’s only one answer, it’s impossible. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ,” he’s talking about their spirit baptism. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” Our water baptism is to be a public testimony that we have been made new in Christ. But water baptism, in and of itself does nothing. Spirit baptism, the transformation of the person from the old person you were to the new person you are, this all took place, verse 4, the end of the verse, so that we “might walk in newness of life.” There’s our word ‘walk’, that we’re talking about in Ephesians. So, that now we’ve been changed by being identified with Jesus Christ, through faith in Him. His death on our behalf, His burial, His resurrection to a new life. When I placed my faith in Christ, I am identified with Him spiritually. I am made new. I’m not the old person. There are things I still do. I may live in the same house, drive the same car, wear the same clothes, but me as a person, I am new. So, God did this, made us new so we would walk in a different way. So, now I get on with my life and just live like I lived. Well, I may still go to work, do the same job, wash the same dishes, clean the same house. But I am doing it with a different motivation. I am a new person. That we “might walk in newness of life.” Verse 5, “if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”
That just divides it out. It’s not whether you attend Indian Hills Community Church or not. You can attend here and live like the devil. It’s when you’re made new, now you live a new life. You don’t live and conduct yourself in the old way. “We have become united with Him in the likeness of His death,” we’ll “be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Spiritually, I have become identified with Christ. When He died, I died. I’m a new person by faith in Christ. And he who has died, our old man, verse 6, that we’re talking about in Ephesians, “knowing this, our old self,” our old man, “was crucified with Him, in order that our sin might be done away with.” Our body is controlled by sin, motivated by sin, by the selfishness of sin, it’s all about me. There’s a transformation that takes place. “So that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” It’s crucial to understanding Ephesians, it’s crucial to understanding the bible, that we understand this truth. If you’ve been made new in Christ, you are a new person. Well, I’m living like the old, but I know I’ve trusted Christ. The bible doesn’t allow for that. And with a good reason. Not, well, we want to be the judge of everyone. No, but we want to be realistic. If your life has not changed you have not been made new.
Verse 8, “if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” The bible is clear, there is a transformation that takes place. You are made new when you place your faith in Christ. You are not the old person. Now, there’s growth, but the desire has changed. The motivation of your thinking, your heart, it’s different now than it was. If we’re not clear on that, then we come to church to try to be a good person, you do good things, we’re good people, we’re doing fine. We don’t want to miss the foundational truths.
Christ died, death is no longer master over Him, verse 9. Verse 10, “the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin.” That doesn’t mean I never sin. But the desire is to live a life that’s pleasing to God. When I do sin, there’s something there, I can’t live here. I don’t live here any longer. I’m not the old me, I’m a new person. “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin,” verse 11, but alive to God… Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.” “Present yourselves to God,” verse 13. Now I want to live for Him. I want to please Him. I want to serve Him. Verse 22, “having been freed from sin and enslaved to God.” There’s only two kinds of people present on earth. Those who are enslaved to sin, those who are enslaved to God. Well, I tried to live… that’s irrelevant. Now again I don’t want to push and say, well, then boy, I’m not perfect. I know, well then let’s work on it. And that’s true for our entire life, no matter how long. I’ve been a believer for over fifty years, but I’m still not perfect. I understand that. But the desire is there that wasn’t there before. The desire to know the word, to be in the word, to have the word impact my heart, to convict me, to change me. That I be new. Having been enslaved, verse 22, freed from sin, enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, the outcome eternal life. The wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Stop just before the book of Ephesians, stop at Galatians. We will get back to Ephesians. Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ.” What does this mean? That spiritual identification has taken place. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” And it’s all by grace. “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” It’s not just, well, I’m going to clean up my life. I’m going to do better, I’m going to… Stop. You say, first, I’m going to settle this relationship with God. Place my faith in Him and in Christ and His death to pay it all for me. And then I’m going to be a new person, I’m going to be in the word, I’m going to allow the Spirit to begin to conform me to the word in my walk.
So, you come back to Ephesians 4, same thing as 2 Corinthians 5:17 where if a man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, new things have come. It’s just repeated throughout scripture. This is important, it’s foundational.
So, verse 25, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood.” And that same word, basically ‘lay aside’ as we had up in verse 22, “lay aside the old self,” the old man. And that means everything that’s associated with that old man. So, verse 25, you’re “laying aside falsehood.” That’s what we’re talking about. We’re not just going, well, I’m going to concentrate more on telling the truth. Well, there may be an element of that, but basically I’m new. Truth is to characterize me. Verse 21, I’m about truth because the end of the verse says, “truth is in Jesus.” The kind of truth we’re talking about is found in Christ. So, I have to make sure above all, that that relationship has been established. So, then I can talk about laying aside falsehood. Because verse 22 says, I’ve laid aside the old self. So, here, yes, lay aside falsehood. Because everything connected with the old man, the rebellion, the resistance against God, the resistance against the truth of God and what He has made known. So, now I lay aside falsehood. Falsehood is the things that characterize this world, that characterize the god, ‘small g’, of this world, who is the devil.
Come back to John 8. This is an important section because Jesus deals with the religious people of His day in John 8. John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil.” He’s talking to Jews and Jewish leaders, and he’s saying in verse 44, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.” So, when you become new in Christ, you lay aside falsehood. Falsehood, a word for falsehood is the opposite of truth. It’s like we have, if it’s something false, it’s not true. If it’s true, it’s not false. Well, its sort of a mixture. No, it’s not. So, we lay aside falsehood. There’s no truth in the Devil. And when the Devil is your father, your spiritual father, then there is no truth in him. No truth in him, whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature. For he is a liar and the father of lies.
The issue then, verse 47, “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God.” It’s that simple. We don’t want to hear what God has to say anymore. We’ve enjoyed your church, we’re on to other things. Not that everybody goes… some people have gone to another bible-believing church for whatever reason. But some people are going to sit here and you hear them say, you know, this isn’t for me. Because the truth isn’t for them. Now, maybe they are being moved by God to another place where the truth will be presented. And that’s fine, but we want to be careful, you are of your father the Devil.
Come over to 1 John, all the way toward the back of your New Testament. Almost to the book of Revelation, just one little book, Peter and then you’re in the epistles of John. We want 1 John, not the gospel of John. 1 John 2:21, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” So, there we have the standard, God’s word is truth. Your word is truth, Jesus said in John 17 in His high priestly prayer.
So, if it’s not according to this word, it’s not truth. Doesn’t matter that a church teaches it. Is it biblical? The church ought to be teaching truth. Again, we’re not perfect, but we’re growing. And we want to examine the word and determine, well, if this is true and we’re not in conformity with it, we need to make a change. We need to make an adjustment.
Verse 27, while you’re in 1 John 2, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him.” Because that’s the position you have. So that when He comes, you won’t be put away from Him in shame.
Verse 29, “If you know that He righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” So, we’re back to Ephesians 4, the practice of righteousness in contrast to that which is false. We think, well at least they go to church, at least they’re religious. No. Do they have a true, living, vital relationship with God? And a part of that is, do they care about the truth? Verse 25, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor. That’s a quote from Isaiah 8:16. You have it set aside in capitols, if you’re using New American Standard, “speak truth each one of you with his neighbor.” We won’t turn there for now, for time, but Zachariah 8:16 is the passage that is in view here, verse 16, Zachariah 8:16. This has been true for God’s people. Israel made the transition, well, we’re going to keep the law, that will do it. No, keeping the law was to be a result of having been changed in their heart. Made new by faith in the God who gave the word. They thought, well, I’ll just try to be a good person, live the word, keep the law and I’ll be good to go. No.
So, “speak truth each one of you with his neighbor.” And that’s true. A neighbor here is a fellow believer. Doesn’t mean we have the right to be untruthful with the world. But he’s concerned about we start, speak the truth with a neighbor, because you are members of one another. We are members of one another, we’re part of the body of Christ.
Chapter 2 of Ephesians talked about the gifts that were given and we are His workmanship in Christ Jesus. Chapter 4:11, “He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastor and teachers.” And 1 Corinthians 12 elaborates on the gifts. And there are more than just these, but these are foundational gifts. So, yes, that’s where we are. We’re members of one another. So, there’s the individual responsibility, there is the corporate responsibility. They are not distinct, they are the same as being members of your physical body. Well, yes, the hand is the hand, and the fingers they serve a part that is different than the eyes. But yet, they are not separate and distinct. Because they work together, they work in harmony, they are one body, together. And that’s what enables us to work in unity and harmony as a fellowship of believers.
So, we speak the truth to one another in love. We’re members of one another, we’re part… So, yes, we have our individual responsibility, but that’s a corporate responsibility as well that I must function, we’re members of one another. You can not distinguish. So, we lay aside falsehood, because falsehood would not only be detrimental to me, it would be detrimental for you.
Be angry and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, verse 26. Remember, we mentioned there are forty-one commands given in the Greek text of Ephesians. One of those commands is given in the first three chapters. Forty of those commands are given in the last three chapters. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 have forty of the forty-one. Because he’s talking about how you implement this. How this ought to be lived out in your life. The first three chapters, he talked about the basics, that what has happened to us in Christ. But now, how do we live? Here’s what you must do. And in verses 26 to 32, there are ten of these commandments given in this section alone. So, that’s more than the average of one a verse. It breaks down, it’s about seven verses and about ten commandments. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the son go down on your wrath (anger). There’s a place for anger. We’re not just to be passive, indifferent. But the expectation is with other believers. We want to be angry about sin, yet we don’t want to sin. And part of that is, we don’t let the sun go down on our wrath. You’ll note, that if you have a New American Standard Bible, be angry and do not sin, comes from Psalm 4:4. Paul weaves that in, because that is consistent with what the Old Testament says. Even though the bulk of his audience came out of a background where they didn’t know the Old Testament. But they had to learn the Old Testament. Because that is the word of God. And it is consistent, even though there is a change now, that he’s not dealing with the nation Israel, he’s dealing with the church, there is still application that comes from the truths of the Old Testament.
So, be angry, we’re angry about sin. We’re angry about sin in other believers. We’re angry about falsehood. But be careful that doesn’t lead us to sin. That’s self-righteous. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’s day that we read about, for example in John 8, they would not… oh yes, sex outside of marriage, that is wrong, homosexuality, that is contrary to God’s will, and all these things. But they were themselves not in right relationship with God. They were not saved by grace through faith. And that’s true, sadly of the bulk of what are called churches today. They are just basically, use the bible, but it’s not that which really transforms the heart and the life.
“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” So, I have to, that’s right, be angry with sin, but don’t sin. Don’t let that fester. Go to sleep, I’m having a hard time sleeping, and I finally get to sleep, but the next day, that’s alright, I haven’t forgotten, I remember, wait a minute, now I’m in sin. And the days go on, pretty soon that becomes a fixed way of my thinking. And then, it’s hard to tell whether we’re dealing with a believer any longer or an unbeliever. It says, don’t let the sun go down on your anger. You’re angry about sin, but I have first to be concerned about my own sin. I have to be careful that my view of what someone else is doing doesn’t become an excuse for my sin. So, be angry, do not sin. Yes, there may be falsehood, we have to deal with that. We have church discipline and the steps laid out in Matthew and so on.
But I ought to be careful that that doesn’t carry over, and carry over. It’s sin for me, to wake up in the morning, yes, I’m still really upset about that. Wait a minute, I have to get right with the Lord. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give the Devil an opportunity, a place. If you fail to deal with sin, you allow the Devil to get a hold. And now, he can let that fester. This doesn’t have anything to do with anything here. I don’t have to do anything, I’m just thinking about. But, well, you know how that goes. And pretty soon, over the week, then it becomes a settled part.
Come over to Ephesians 6, we’ll get here, but the Lord may come. So, chapter 6:10, “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God.” “Stand firm,” verse14. “Take the helmet of salvation,” verse 17. I have to be careful because the Devil just sort of, well, you know, that’s not right and I don’t think they’ve treated you right. And I don’t think the elders are handling it right, or I don’t think this believer is handling it right. And pretty soon, this is festering and it’s become my own sin. And I’ve got to block there, because I’ve got my sin, and it is supposedly caused by your sin. But I can’t deal with your sin, because now I’ve got my own sin.
So, really the instruction is, “don’t give the devil,” verse 27, “an opportunity,” ‘a place’ literally. Don’t give him a place, don’t give him a little room, that then he can begin to work. I realize it’s sin, maybe another person is doing wrong. They’ve brought up falsehood, they’re supposed to speak the truth, we are members of one another, but I have to be careful that I don’t let that… I can’t change that person. I just have to be careful, number one, about me. If I do talk to them, I do think it’s scriptural that I do that, I talk to them with the right attitude. I talk to them with the right goal, otherwise I’m entangled. I want to tell you about something, and you’re doing this wrong. Wait a minute, that’s not even consistent with the steps that we have of dealing with a professing believer in Matthew 18. I want to come and say, you know, I can understand your struggle here. I want to be a help. So, don’t give the Devil a place.
Simple thing for us as believers. One thing we want to learn when we’re now walking as new people in Christ. I don’t want to give the Devil a place, a little room in my heart to cause that to fester, and it will grow. And pretty soon I’m so upset about your sin, I don’t realize, wait a minute, it’s become an occasion for me to get into sin. Which is not excuse before God. Because He already told me, don’t be angry overnight. Yes, but you don’t know what they did. No, I just know what God said. And that’s what you do. And that’s what we are all working on.
“He who steals,” comes now to some practical application. Stealing, well, wait a minute, of course, stealing is bad. We were talking before about anger over sin. Yes, but it’s all part of the flesh. I’ve been made new in Christ. So, it’s not different. He who steals, must steal no longer. What’s the solution? I need it. Work, he must labor, toil to exhaustion. Performing with his own hands what is good. And to do that so that he has something to share with someone who has need. So, maybe that person stole from me, and I say, wait a minute, that’s wrong. But I understand you’re under pressure, you’re under need. I’ve been working, I have some here, let me share with you. Stealing is never an answer. And for us as believers, we want to help believers not be in a position where they feel they don’t have any choice. And stealing is a broad concept here. We can steal by cheating on our income tax. But if I don’t cheat a lot, I just fudge it a little. There are other ways, it all comes into that umbrella. I was audited on my taxes many years ago. And I was glad, and I was glad that when they did, they said they owed me money. And I thought, that was good, after I gave everything and all the stuff, and all they said, we owe, you didn’t claim as much. If I’m going to have any question, I’d rather have it that way. It doesn’t mean sometimes there’s misunderstandings. But this includes all kind of dishonesty. He who steals, must steal no longer, he must labor. Well, I have to work with my hands. I have to work harder, I may have to work longer. That’s part of what the result of the fall is, remember. By the sweat of our brow.
We live in a society where you should be able to get, not work for what you get. The more the government says, the more we say, well, yes. We want to be careful that that doesn’t begin to affect our thinking. And then we’ll begin to become adjusted and we begin to support. Paul in one sense, he’s living under Roman authority. In another sense, he’s not. He’s about his own business. Now, he’s living consistent, he gives instruction that we obey those who have the authority over us. But within that, I’m doing everything we got. When it finally comes, you can’t serve God and man, then I’ll pay the consequence. So, yes, I’m willing. Well, the government, I think they’re taking more than they deserve. Of course they are. Jesus dealt with that as well as some of the New Testament passages, the taxes are always more than they should be, from our perspective. But, that’s what it is. So, if that’s the law, I obey the law. So, there is the balance here, but “he who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” Not just to meet my needs, but maybe now the Lord’s given me… I don’t necessarily always move up. Maybe the Lord has given me extra so that I can give extra. So, I could be ready to help somebody else in need. Because really, what I have here isn’t that important. That doesn’t mean we all have to go down and live as, you know, the poorest of the poor. But we just want to be careful. And I do want to live below what I might be able to live, if I wasn’t giving. Enough said.
“Let no unwholesome word.” Now it seems like you go with falsehood and anger, and then you go with stealing, then in verse 29 you go back to your words. Because, Paul, you find this, we found it in our study of Romans, where he elaborates, these all get worked out together. They are interwoven. Sin is sin. Well, I may not be perfect here, but at least I don’t do this. That’s why the scripture just sort of puts all these things in a mixture and stirs them up. Because what I do with my… I know, but nobody is perfect. So, yes, I lose my temper, but I don’t steal. Well, wait a minute, it puts me in the same category, the same kind of person who’s living like the old man. Whether it’s with my lips, whether it’s stealing. Yes, we have more severe penalties for stealing than we do with lying. Yes, but God’s looking at us as we manifest His character.
“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.” It’s literally a Latin word, you have it in the margin, ‘rotten’. “Proceed from your mouth, but only such as is good for edification according to the need,” we have “of the moment” added here,” so that it will give grace to those who hear.” That’s what I want to do, I want to provide the kind of thing that will be an encouragement and a help to a believer. And that goes back to verse 25, I want to lay aside speaking falsehood. I want to remember that we’re members of one another. I don’t want the sun to go down on my anger. I don’t want to steal and take from people. I don’t want unwholesome words, I want words that are profitable, that are helpful, that are good for edification. And you’ll note here, it’s a singular, verse 29, “let no unwholesome word,” it doesn’t say ‘words’. I want to be careful with what I say. In particular, we’re talking about speech to other believers because it’s for their edification. I want to be careful, it’s easy to jump in. And I see something, I want to jump in and deal with it. Wait a minute, that’s where I don’t let the sun go down on my anger. Maybe I ought to wait until tomorrow to talk to that person about it.
First, I ought to be sure I’m not angry over, perhaps how it affected me, or how it’s affected someone close to me, or something like that. Their sin. I want to be careful here. A “word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment,” gives you the idea, “so that it will give grace to those who hear.” That’s the primary thing. God, I see that there is something that could be adjusted, corrected in this person’s life. But I want to handle it in a way that will bring honor to You. I don’t want to come across as judging them, as yes, I wouldn’t do that, therefore… No, maybe I’ll wait until tomorrow. And maybe I’ll concentrate on first, being sure that I’ve got myself together, and I’m where I ought to be and where I want to be. Otherwise, pretty soon you can’t tell the church from the unbeliever because we’re going after one another. Doesn’t mean we don’t have to address sin. But we want to be careful it doesn’t become our sin that compounds their sin. And now, it just snowballs. “It will give grace to those who hear.” That’s what we want.
Verse 30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” This is similar, we’ll go back to Isaiah 63. We’ve not been going back to these passages, but Isaiah 63. If you don’t want to go there, just listen. “But they rebelled,” 63:10, “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy. He fought against them.” We want to be careful here, they rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit. Now God becomes their enemy. So, want to be careful here in my action, that I’m not functioning as an unbeliever would function, or using my Christianity as an excuse. Because, yes, of course I’m better than them, I never did that. I just have to talk to them about that. Well, sleep on it, make sure when you wake up your attitude is right, that you’re right before the Lord. And what I really want to do is help them grow through this. Not put them down for what they are doing as much as help them grow.
“For edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” So, do not grieve. Verse 30 begins with the word ‘and’. “And do not grieve,” because it connects to what he has just said about not letting unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, “and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” And he talked about the sealing in chapter 1:13, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation and having believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” I don’t want to grieve the Spirit who dwells within me. That has to do with our relationship with one another he’s talking about. I don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to make Him unhappy with me, so to speak, as the scripture says. When I’m doing something that’s contrary to His word, I’m grieving Him. I’m causing Him pain, sorrow. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, this is the one by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. It’s what verses 13 and 14 of chapter 1, as we have this letter, talked about. What the Spirit has done for me.
Worthless words hurt a fellow believer, verse 29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.” So, I don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit. He sealed me, He guaranteed my redemption. I want to be careful and function accordingly. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander,” those five things. We could spend time on each one but you can do that. All those things which are contrary to me being a new creature in Christ. I’ve laid aside the old self, I’ve put on the new self, so I’m being made new, verses 22, 23 and 24. In the spirit of my mind, so “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” All malice, all kinds of words that hurt other believers and grieve the Holy Spirit. I don’t want anything to do with them. I want to be careful. So, you see an emphases on words here, because James talks about this, our words just get out. And we say things. I’ll feel better if I just get it off my mind. But then, how often after we get it off our mind, and we’ve thought about it for a day or two, we go back and say, you know, I want to apologize how I approached that. And it wasn’t necessarily that what you said was wrong, but why you said it, and how you said it wasn’t for their edification. It was just to show how harmful and hurtful and wrong they were. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander be put away from you. With all malice, all, all. You note the emphases on ‘all’ there.
All bitterness, wrath, anger. All malice, the end of the verse. And anything you could put there, and our speech. Verse 31, and then our actions that go with our speech. Let’s put them all away from us. We’re new in Christ. And he’s talking about our relationship with one another. It’s not that, well, then it’s ok to do this if the person is an unbeliever. No, it’s not. It’s not alright to steal from someone who’s not a believer. We just don’t steal from fellow believers. He’s starting where? At home with our family. “Be kind to one another,” verse 32, “tender-hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
Forgive as you’re forgiven. The word there is ‘grace’. Show grace as you’ve been shown grace. Forgiveness would be included, it’s included in the parallel passage in Colossians 3: 12, 13. He uses the word for ‘forgiven’. But here he uses the word for ‘grace’. I just want you to remember that. Be gracious to each other just has God in Christ has been gracious to you. Forgiveness is included but it’s broader than that. It’s more encompassing than that. Back up to Ephesians 2 as we close. Look at verse 4 in Ephesians 2. After talking about how we formerly walked, we were just like the sons of disobedience. The end of verse 2, that had the Devil directing them. We all lived formerly in the lust of the flesh. We were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. Verse 4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (y grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, seated us with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.” That’s it, it’s all by grace. So, we ought to be manifesting that grace in all that we do. And that includes with those who sin. Those who sin against us. I understand, it’s not that sin is acceptable, but God’s grace is greater than your sin. It’s greater than my sin. And so we appreciate the fact that we’re kind to one another, tender hearted, showing grace to each other. Because it’s just as God in Christ has shown grace to us. We show that same grace to others. And we are helping one another to grow in our new lives in Christ.
Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord, for the riches of Your grace. The riches of a grace that has been shown to each and every one of us individually and personally, as we have placed our faith in Christ. And a grace that continues throughout our life. Lord, may we show that grace to one another, regardless of what they might do or not do. The shortcomings of failures, the sins, Lord, may they not become personal issues with us. But may we first go back and consider what You have done for us, and then we be ready and willing to show that grace to those who are still growing. We ask this in Christ’s name, amen.