Ephesians 4:25-27
~30 min read
SERMON OUTLINE
TRANSCRIPT
Our text this morning is taken once again from Ephesians 4. You will turn with me to Ephesians 4: 25-27, ““Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil.” Amen.
Just a few verses for us to consider, but it's important for us again to put these verses in context and to understand them in light of what we have seen already. Remember that the Apostle Paul has laid out in the opening chapters of this epistle the doctrine of the church, God's purpose for the church, that the Lord Jesus has come that we might be forgiven and cleansed from our sins, from all unrighteousness, that we might be reconciled to God, and that we all who have trusted in the Lord might be brought together in one body. There will be one household of God. And we are part of this one body of Christ.
And now, as we have seen from chapter 4, the Apostle Paul is exhorting us to walk worthy of this calling, to live in light of God's purpose, in light of his glorious plan and design. And again, we see this this theme that we find again and again throughout the scriptures, that God has worked mightily, powerfully, sovereignly, graciously, and we are called now to our work in light of God's work. There is work for us to do.
This, of course, must be rightly understood. This is not a work that we do in order to earn salvation. But this is a work that we do in light of the gracious salvation that we have received. God has given us the gift of life. This is a gift. We did not earn it. We did not merit it. We did not deserve it. God gives it graciously. Life is given to us as a gift. But we are called now to live this life that has been given graciously. We are called to live now according to God's design and plan, to do the things that God wants us to do. Again, not because by doing so we may earn his blessing or His or His bounty or His reward, but because we are grateful and thankful for what He has done. He has given us life, and now we want to live this life for Him, not for ourselves.
It's in that light that we come to this passage which we want to consider, especially this morning. Here we are seeing how the apostle Paul has exhorted us to put off and put on, put off the old man, put on the new. Again, in a sense, these are things that we cannot do on our own. In fact, this is God's work. It's God who renews. It's God who creates the new man, but we are called to our responsibility. We are called to put off and put on in light of what God has done.
And as we mentioned last time, as we come now to verse 25, we are seeing the Apostle Paul give specific examples of this putting off and putting on, what this looks like, concrete examples. And we notice that in each case, usually explicitly mentioned, there are two parts. There is a putting off, and there is a putting on. There are the things that we are no longer to do, the things we are now to avoid, and there are the things we are to put on. The things we are to exercise ourselves in. This is the picture of the Christian life. Putting off the old, putting on the new. And two things we want to consider in these verses that we read just now. The first two examples given by the apostle Paul.
The first has to do with the truth, to tell the truth, to be speakers of the truth. And this is first, I think, as others have pointed out, because there is a link with verse 24, “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” The idea of truth is there already. And so very naturally that's the first thing that comes out in verse 25. If we are to put on the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness, then we ought to be about the truth. We ought to be speakers of the truth. That means putting away lying and putting on truthtelling. That's the first thing we want to consider. And the second thing later on has to do with temperance, self-control, putting off sinful anger and not allowing such anger to overwhelm us, to control us, to be truthful and to be temperate. hese are the two things we want to consider these this morning. These aspects of the Christian life of walking worthy of our calling.
I. The Truth
So first of all, truthfulness, speaking the truth is part of God's unchanging moral requirement for man. It's a reflection of His character. It's a reflection of who He is. He is the God of truth, and therefore He commands His people to speak the truth. This is what God commanded Israel. If you look, for example, at Zechariah 8: 16-17, “These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.”
Truthfulness. We see how this is linked also to malice, anger. We'll come to that link a bit later on. But we see here very clearly that Israel as God's people, Israel is commanded to speak the truth. Speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Our tendency is just the opposite. Not to speak the truth, but to bend, to twist the truth, to speak falsehood. We lie. We have no care for the truth. That's our tendency. And we know this, don't we? We have to admit this and acknowledge this. We don't always tell the truth.
Very often, when it's convenient for us, when it's beneficial for us, we are quite willing to bend the truth, to twist the truth. Clearly there is something something wrong, something even self-contradictory here, because we all acknowledge the importance of the truth. No one is willing to say truth doesn't matter. We want others to tell us the truth. Right?
Even the people who speak as if truth is relative. They can't keep that up. They want to be told the truth. They want to know the truth. We feel wronged and cheated when others lie to us. Right? You've done something wrong. You've withheld the truth from me. You have deceived me. We understand that truth is important. And yet we lie. We feel cheated when others lie to us, but we lie when it's convenient for us. Not just to save ourselves from trouble, but for personal gain, out of personal animosity. We're willing to bend the truth.
We indulge in gossip, things we know very well might not be true, and yet we are very eager to hear them, very willing to spread them. We are willing to believe even the worst things about others, without evidence or with very flimsy evidence. We discard the truth whenever it is convenient for us. And this is the characteristic of man since the fall. As Paul says in Romans 1, we change the truth of God into a lie. We worship according to lies and falsehood, not according to the truth. We have changed the truth of God into a lie because that is more convenient for us. It promotes our own interests, our pride, our envy, our malice. The old man embraces lying because in a way it feels like freedom.
When you lie, you are not bound. Truth is bound, isn't it? Truth is bound to a standard. Truth is bound to reality. Truth cannot be anything. Truth must be truth. It must be one thing and one thing only. Truth is bound to correspond to reality, to correspond to God, what He has actually said, what He has actually done.
But the lie can be anything. If you think about it, that's that's a unique feature of language. Really quite a terrifying feature of language. There is nothing in language itself that requires correspondence to reality. You can string words together and say anything. It doesn't have to be real. It doesn't have to be true. It doesn't have to make sense. You can say it. You can say something nonsensical. You can say something completely false. There is no restriction built into language that requires truth. That restriction must come from you, the one who is speaking. You must be restrained. You must be controlled. You must be confined by truthtelling. Then what you speak will be true.
But as sinful and fallen creatures, we don't like this confinement. It feels like a restriction. We want that freedom. I can say whatever I want. I don't have to be bound to the truth. If I don't like it, I can change it. If it's not convenient for me, if it doesn't suit me, I can bend it. I can twist it. I can represent things however I want. It feels like freedom.
But in fact, it's a kind of bondage because as we give ourselves to lying, as we abandon the truth, as we deceive others, we ourselves are deceived. Paul says in Second Timothy that evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Because once we abandon the truth, really we have left the safe harbor and we are now a drift on an endless ocean without ground, without prospect. We are in that bondage.
The abandonment of the truth is destructive. It is destructive to ourselves. It is destructive to others. We find this again and again in Proverbs 19. I'm sure many of these will be familiar to you. Proverbs 19:5, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.”
Proverbs 19:9, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.” Its repetition is significant to drive it home. There is a consequence to lying, to false witness.
Proverbs 21: 6. “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.” That's what we try to do by lies, to get treasure, to get gain. But this is vanity. This is futile and destructive. Those who do this seek death.
Proverbs 25: 18, “A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.” These are instruments of destruction causing harm and damage. Lying is bad for ourselves, bad for others.
Proverbs 6: 19. “A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” This is in the list of things that God hates. False witness, lying, deception. The lie is really spoken against another. To lie is to hurt and damage others.
That's why the ninth commandment significantly is phrased in this way: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16) Which is not to say that other kinds of lying, as long as it's not directly false witness against someone, other things are okay. But it's to say that all lies have that tendency. Just like the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” (Exodus 20:13) is not to say that as long as we don't go that far, we're okay. But it's to say that all the things that tend in that direction are prohibited. As the Lord Jesus explains in Matthew 5, if you harbor anger in your heart, again, we'll come to anger a bit later on, but if you're angry with your brother without a cause, you are guilty.
“Thou shalt not kill” involves and includes a prohibition against such anger and malice in the heart because it tends to kill him. So also the lie tends to be against the neighbor. False witness that damages others. That's the extreme to which lies lead. Even even so-called white lies or little lies deprive others of the truth, give false impressions, can injure and harm.
It's a dangerous thing. It's not for nothing. We are told that the devil himself is characterised by these things. He is a liar and a murderer. He abode not in the truth. The truth is not in him. And really this putting off and putting on is whether we want to be like the devil or like or like God. Do we want to be like the devil or like the Lord Jesus? He is a murderer. He is a liar. The truth is not in him. But what about us? What about you? What about me? Is the truth in us? Are we people of the truth? Are we given to the truth? Are we committed to the truth? Remember again Zechariah 8, the judgment of truth and peace. These are the things that go together. Truth, justice, peace.
Once the lie comes in, all of that is destroyed. Injustice, no peace, but discord. Lies have a way of spreading and multiplying. One lie leads to another. Just because we cannot see the harm doesn't mean there isn't any harm. This is not a world made by us. This is the world that God made. We can be assured that if we lie, there will be consequences. We may not be able to see. We cannot look into the future.
But this is God's world. He is the God of truth. If we depart from His way, things will not turn out well. You cannot get a good result by departing from God's way. Lies are contrary to God's character and cause damage. This is something that God hates. In fact, this is something that leads us to the gospel, isn't it? The law of God comes in to show us that we have departed from the truth, that we have brought ourselves into condemnation.
It's one of the things that confronts us, I think, most directly about the law. In fact, this is something we often experience when we bring this up to others. One of the things that we say often in order to show the sinfulness of man is to ask this question, isn't it, ‘Have you told lies?’ Because that's something that stops us in our tracks. Who among us can say, ‘I've never told a lie.’ We all know it's wrong.
And yet, this is what we do. We tell lies. This is where the law of God confronts us and leads us to the gospel. We need the Lord Jesus to save us because we have done these things that God hates. Our lives have been characterised by something that is hateful to God, lying and falsehood. And so we cling to the cross. We cling to the gospel in the Lord Jesus by faith. Through the gospel, we are delivered from the condemnation that we deserve for our lives. And therefore, now we have this exhaltation. “Wherefore putting away lying,” now as believers, this is how we are to live. Now that we have life, now that our penalty has been paid, now that we have forgiveness, shall we go back to lying? Shall we go back to living lives of falsehood and deception? Shall we go back to not caring about the truth? How can we any longer be attracted to lying and falsehood? How can we how can we fail to prize and treasure the truth?
We are God's children in Christ and he is the God of truth. This must be something very real to us, very serious for us. The things we say, we must be careful and cautious. Putting away lying, “speak every man truth with his neighbour.” We must put away flattery because it is not the truth. We must put away exaggeration because this is not the truth. We must put away gossip because this is not the truth. This is not who we are to be as Christians. This is not something to take lightly. Lying is something that God hates. Words that are untrue are hateful to God. We must put away such things.
Even by the way, if you accuse someone else of lying without acknowledging that it might have been an honest mistake, it might have been a misunderstanding, then you are not speaking the truth in accusing someone else of lying. There must be an entire commitment to speak what is true, not what is convenient, not what is selfserving, but what is true. We are now bound not with an ownorous and evil bondage, but we are bound in something that is good. We are bound to the truth. And there must be this wholehearted commitment to say what is true.
Especially because as Paul brings out here, “we are members one of another.” Especially in the church, especially in light of the doctrine that Paul has been expounding. We all in the body of Christ are members one of another. Therefore, we owe each other the truth.
This is God's design for his church. He sent His son that we might be reconciled to Him, that we might be brought together in one body. How can there anymore be among Christians within the church falsehood and lying, deception, gossip, exaggeration? This is all the more important because we recognise the special attempt of the devil to bring falsehood into the church.
That's His endeavor. We are told explicitly in scripture. The spirit speaketh expressly in the latter days some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. False doctrines contrary to the truth will be brought in. And not just false doctrines but also other forms of lying which the devil will seek to work in the hearts of those within the communion of the church.
That's what he did with Ananas and Sapphira when Peter confronted Ananas. That's what Peter said, isn't it? “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” (Acts 5:3) Satan filled the heart of Ananas to lie to bring this falsehood within the church. And what kind of falsehood was it? The kind that we might say is no big deal. What did Ananas do? He sold his land. He pretended to give the whole amount to the church. Actually, he kept back part for himself and he didn't tell anyone. Who is harmed by that? We might say. No big deal. He still gives. But this was a lie. This was a lie in the church. This was a lie to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes the church the dwelling place of God (Ephesians 2) This was what the devil tried to do to bring that lie into the church.
So we must be on our guard against such things. We must speak the truth. The gospel is the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The scriptures are the word of truth. The spirit is the spirit of truth. Christians must be people of truth, “Putting away lying. Speak every man truth with his neighbour”
This is why again the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 5: 37, “Let your conversation be yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” - for whatsoever is more than this.” In other words, if there is anything beyond a sincere motive to tell the truth, it comes of evil. “Yea, yea” - When you say yes, you mean yes. When you say no, you mean no. Anything else, any other motive, any other calculation comes of evil. There must be this sincere, wholehearted, unadulterated desire and commitment to tell the truth. Nothing else going on, no other calculation, no other thinking, but simply the truth. I want to speak the truth. That's what we must put on. And again, this involves effort. This is not something automatic.
And something we have to earnestly strive to do to put away lying. That continues to be a temptation. It continues to be a tendency. We must put away lying and speak the truth. Every man with his neighbour. As we look around us in the world, we find we find the world burdened by falsehood and lies. Because this is the nature of man. Truth has always been a rare commodity.
At times of upheaval, this is especially the case. And I think now in this present age, this age of information. But what is this information? Because of the nature of man, it's more false than true, isn't it? And now we are told we are living in a post-truth world. It's no longer a question of truth, but of what appeals to the emotions. Emotional and irrational appeals rule. The truth is relegated to relative unimportance.
But especially because we have known the truth, we have been set free. We have entered the kingdom of God. We cannot take such issues lightly. We are called to be a witness in this world. Part of being the salt of the earth, the light of the world is to speak the truth. Of course, this doesn't mean there is no place for tactfulness.
It doesn't mean there is no place for discretion. It doesn't mean there's no place for keeping silent. It doesn't mean there are no difficult situations when we are just not sure what to say, how to speak the truth in such a situation. We also want to to be concerned for others, for the feelings of others. We don't just dismiss all these things and trample on all these things. But in all these considerations, we cannot abandon the truth.
And I think the vast majority of the situations we find ourselves in are not obscure but clear. We know what it means to lie. And we are commanded here - put away lying, speak the truth. Mind what you say. Make sure it is true. That's how we we are to walk worthy of this calling. That's the Christian life.
Again, not automatic, not something that just happens while we sleep, something we must earnestly endeavour to do. We are accountable to the Lord for this. So that's the first thing, putting away lying. Speak every man truth with his neighbour.
II. Temperance
The second example given by the Apostle Paul here has to do with anger, managing our anger, temperance, “be ye angry”. Of course, that's not an encouragement to anger in and of itself. He's not saying that all of us should be angry all the time. Of course, we understand that. But this is a recognition that anger does have its place. Be angry.
Anger in and of itself is not wrong in the right situation, with the right motive, to the right extent. Anger is not wrong. In fact, anger is right in that right context. We ought to be angry at sin. God is angry at sin. God is angry with the wicked. We are told in the Psalms. To fail to be angry at sin is itself a sin. It betrays a lightness, a frivolous attitude towards what is heinous. The right godly response to sin is anger.
The Lord Jesus was angry in Mark 3 in the synagogue when he saw the hardness of of their hearts. He was angered. It was the right response, the godly response. Be angry, but sin not. Because all too often there is much of self and much of the flesh in our anger. Our anger is not a godly anger, but a sinful anger.
The motive is not the glory of God, but our own pride, our own conceit, our own convenience, our own perceived insults. The standard is not God's law about our own preferences, our own likes and dislikes. We are angry when when our convenience or our preference is violated. We are not angry when God's law is violated.
This is our problem. We are angry when we ought not to be angry and indifferent when we ought to be angry. Anger is at times appropriate but not always. And therefore anger must be controlled and restrained and shaped by an overriding and overruling discipline. And that's what we are called to here. Be ye angry and sin not. Anger must be channelled in the right way.
It must stay within those right bounds and must not be allowed to overflow. We must be angry when it is appropriate to be angry to the extent that we ought to be angry, not more. And all of this is to be guided by the truth, by the word of God. This is putting off and putting on.
Be angry when it is appropriate, but sin not. Have temperance. Have self-control so that anger does not overflow its bounds and lead to sin. Again, this is our tendency. Our anger is not appropriate. Even when we are angry at sins that have been committed, it's not a pure anger. It's not an anger purely motivated by love for God and desire for God's glory. It's mixed in with self, selfish anger, sinful anger.
And we can see this because we are very angry at sins that others commit, especially when they are committed against us. We get very angry, right? ‘You have sinned against me’. But our sins, we're not angry. That shows the selfishness of our anger, isn't it? If our concern was God and His law and His glory, our sins would cause us to be angry. We would be angry at ourselves, but we are not. We are only angry at others. Only when we are the recipients of some wrongdoing then we get angry.
We lose no sleep over our own iniquities or we toss and turn and see and rage at the things that others have done against us. We're not angry because God is not getting His due. We're angry because we are not getting what we think is our due.. We're not angry when God's name is sullied, when God's law is broken. We are angry when when our plans are thwarted and frustrated. When our name is dragged to the through the mud, when we are inconvenienced.
Anytime anger is centred on self rather than on God, it is sinful. It is not being controlled. And we are called to put off that kind of anger. Put away sinful anger. That should be our goal. Let there be no more and no less than righteous anger against sin, even if it is my sin.
And therefore also we have this wise advice, “Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26) That is an exhortation to deal with anger. Not just by controlling our own feelings, but also by seeking peace with our neighbours. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath”. That's an exhortation to deal with anger, to deal with wrath, and to do so urgently.
“Let not the sun go down upon your wrath”. Make it a priority. Let it be settled today. Don't let it Don't let it seethe and bubble away until tomorrow and the day after and next week and next month. Deal with it. The sun is going down. We should feel that urgency. Something is unresolved. Something is not dealt with. There is anger that needs to be dealt with.
And again, this involves peace ableness. If there is anger, we ought to try and resolve that. We ought to seek peace. If we are followers of the prince of peace, we ought to be peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the children of God. Remember what James reminds us in James 3, how wisdom is linked with this meekness and peace.
James 3:13, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath - Don't let anger and bitterness and resentment be harboured in your heart. Forgive and seek forgiveness. Sleep with a clear conscience. Don't allow anger to settle into resentment and hostility. Don't brood over your anger through the night, but deal with it and put it away. Sinful anger, put it away.
And I think if I may say this, families, husbands and wives have much to do with this. Don't feed the anger and resentment of your spouse. Husbands, if your wives are angry, help them to deal with it. Wives, if your husbands are angry, help them to deal with it. Don't feed it. Don't fan the flames of resentment and hostility, but speak calmness, peaceable words.
As you lie in bed, give wholesome and godly counsel to one another. This is what Abigail did for David. Of course, before he took her as his wife, but she gave this godly counsel to calm the sinful anger of David. Remember in in 1st Samuel, there are few things for us to to consider here from what Abigail Abigail said to David. You remember the context 1 Samuel 24, David had just displayed great wisdom and peaceleness in dealing with Saul.
Saul persecuting David, hounding him, hunting him like a fugitive. And when David had the opportunity to take Saul's life, when Saul came into the cave alone and David was there with his men, David very wisely did not allow anger over Saul's treatment of him to to overcome him. He did not take Saul's life. He restrained himself and his men and he allowed Saul to go. Said, "I will not touch the Lord's anointed." This was wise on David's part, godly. He was not overwhelmed by feelings, by anger, by resentment, even though what Saul had done was wrong.
But then in the next chapter, 1 Samuel 25, we find David now getting angry. I think this is something already for us to learn. David was so wise, so temperate in his treatment of Saul. But when it come when it came to Nabal, how easily his anger was stirred up as if he was caught off guard. That's something that can happen to us.
When there is when there is some hostility against us and we are aware of it, we can prepare ourselves. We can pray and then we can meet that wisely, calmly. But then something catches us off guard. A small thing, but we weren't prepared for it. A small insult and somehow that gets through our defences because we weren't on our guard and the anger comes. I think that's what happened to David. He was he was in the wilderness and there was this man Nabal and David's men had helped Nabal, helped Nabal's men, protected them. And so David sent his men to see whether Nabal would would be able to offer any help in return, give some provisions. Nabal was very rude to David and his men.
David was very angry. He said to his men, ‘Good on your swords.’ And David said, ‘We're going to kill all of Nabal's men. We're going to punish him for this insult.’ That was sinful anger on David's part. Yes, Nabal was wrong. But David's anger was not commensurate with the sin. It was selfish. It was the insult to him. He wanted to kill. This was murderous rage.
But we see how Abigail was able to restrain this anger with wise counsel. What did she say? 1 Samuel 25: 25. The first thing she puts Nabal's insult in its proper light. This is something insignificant. Don't regard this man of Bile Nabal. Who is he? This is nothing. This is something insignificant. He is nobody. Why should you be bothered by what he has said, what he has done? He's a foolish man.
Don't let his folly get under your skin. That's something we also can say to one another. This is a small thing. Yes, the person who did this is wrong, but why let that get to you? Why be so stirred up, so riled up? Then again, she puts David himself in proper light, “The Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house; because my Lord fighteh the battles of the Lord.” Verse 29, “the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies them shall he sling out”. Verse 30, ‘you are going to be ruler over Israel. Don't let this be a grief to you,’ verse 31, ‘or an offence that you have shed blood causeless.’
‘Don't let this be a black mark against you. God has a plan and purpose for you. You have a calling from the Lord. You're going to serve the Lord. If you give into this anger, this will be a black mark against you.’ That was another piece of wise advice.
We also can give such counsel to one another. If you give in to your anger, if you act out of sinful anger, you can't take back those actions, you can't take back those words that you speak in sinful anger. So control yourself, restrain yourself, be temperate. This was wise and good advice.
And we need such counsel and help from one another. We should be willing to confront such sinful anger in ourselves and in others and to speak wisely to give the godly council of peace. Again, we are members one of another. There is an obligation. There is a mutual help. We ought not to stir the flames of anger and hostility and resentment. We ought to seek peace.
And there's another special consideration that the apostle Paul gives here going back to Ephesians 4: 27, now, “neither give place to the devil”. This is linked with what came before, “Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil”. These are two special considerations to help us in putting off sinful anger, in controlling and restraining anger, in being temperant. Don't give place to the devil.
To harbor such anger, to let the sun go down upon your wrath is to go to bed with the door open for the devil to come in as it were. Who would do this? When you go to bed, what do you do? You check the doors and the windows, right? At least someone in the house will do that, right? You make sure the door is locked. Make sure the windows are closed because you don't want people getting in. You go to bed with wrath, with anger, still in your heart. You haven't closed the door.
You've left an opening for the devil to work. And that's a real thing. That's not something we as Christians should laugh off and dismiss. The devil is real. We know that we have an enemy like a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. He is seeking to bring down to destroy. Just as he seeks to bring falsehood into the church. Ananas allowed the devil to fill his heart to lie to the Holy Ghost. So he seeks to bring anger and hostility and rage into the church. Why give place to the devil by harboring such anger?
It gives him an opening. It gives him a foothold to manipulate for his purpose. Sinful anger does not serve God. It serves the enemy. Again, James tells us this, “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God .. let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath (James 1:19–20)
How often the devil has used such resentment and hostility to divide churches, to destroy ministries, to undermine godly work. Paul is going to speak of this more in Ephesians 6. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil .. we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers” (Ephesians 6:11–12)
As you lie in your beds, you're on the battlefield. You are wrestling against all these sinful tendencies, against the old man stirred up by the devil. Let not the sun go down upon your eyes. Guard your thoughts just as you guard your words to speak the truth. Guard your thoughts, the way you think about others. Don't be filled with resentment. Don't be filled with hostility and malice and bitterness. Have the mind of Christ.
This is our warfare, is it not? As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, be ye angry and sin not. And in fact, there's a link of sorts between the two. He mentioned this a bit earlier on. When we are intemperate, we tend to speak falsely. Anger leads to falsehood. When we are angry, when we are bitter, resentful, we twist the truth. We make false accusations. We exaggerate. We blame others when really we should be blaming ourselves.
Anger leads to falsehood. But anger also feeds on falsehood. It works the other way as well. These falsehoods, these exaggerations, blaming others rather than ourselves that can feed our anger. We find a way to put everything on others so that we can be angry at them instead of being angry at ourselves and our own sins.
These two things go together. And as we live in a world that has departed from the truth, so we live in a world that is filled with anger. We see this now very clearly. You look around you, look online, the world is filled with anger, violence, statements that are calm and measured will get very little attention.
But angry rantings and ravings, these are the things that go viral and everyone watches them and everyone is stirred up by them. This whole system is incentivizing this kind of emotional manipulation. I think there is something devilish about this. But for us, for Christians, this is what we are commanded to do. Put off and put on. Put on sinful anger. Put on temperance and self-control.
Again, it doesn't happen automatically. Something that we are called to do. Walk worthy of this calling, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Guard your hearts against falsehood. Guard your hearts against sinful anger. Do this because of the gospel. Because we have been made new, because we have been made new creatures in Christ, because we have life now which we did not have before.
Because of that, put off the old and put on the new. Walk worthy of this calling, this high calling in Christ, this gracious calling. Be truthful, be temperate, and then also we can bear witness for the Lord. We are a testament not to our own greatness, but to the power of God to work in us, ‘I used to be a liar. I used to be angry. But God has made me new. Now I walk in newness of life. That's his power that has worked in me.’ That's the power that can work in you if you will put your trust in the Lord Jesus. You will have life now. There is only death, but you can have life by faith in Him. May the Lord help us to do this, to walk worthy, to put off and put on. Let's close with a word of prayer.
Our father in heaven, again we thank you for your word and for this reminder. Your law, Your holy standard cuts us down. We have nowhere to hide. For in ourselves, we are completely guilty. We have not spoken the truth but lies. We have been angry not at sin but in a sinful way. Every day we fall short and yet we are reminded of the glorious message of the gospel. We are drawn all the more to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hearts are filled with joy and praise that despite our sins and our iniquities, there is salvation and forgiveness full and free available to all who will believe in the Lord.
We pray once again you will help us in grateful devotion with a sincere commitment to walk worthy of this high calling to put off the old man and put on the new. Help us to put away lying and to speak every man the truth with his neighbour. Help us to put off sinful anger and to be temperate, self-controlled, angry only at sin and not angry in a sinful way. We pray You would help us that the devil may not have a foothold to come in and cause his trouble but protect and preserve us individually, corporately as a church. Watch over us and guide us day by day that we may walk in newness of life. Once again we pray if any are still outside Your kingdom that they will see the beauty of the Lord Jesus. They will see the truth of the gospel. They will see the truth of their own sin and guilt. And they cannot stand before you on the on their own. They must they can only stand in the Lord Jesus. Help them to see that we all may be saved walking in truth and peace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
THE BOOK OF EPHESIANSAll Spiritual BlessingsAll Spiritual BlessingsEphesians 1:1-7
The Exceeding Greatness of His PowerThe Exceeding Greatness of His PowerEphesians 1:20-23
God’s WorkmanshipGod’s WorkmanshipEphesians 2:1-10
Message 1: Hindrances to a Personal Relationship with God (Part 1)Message 1: Hindrances to a Personal Relationship with God (Part 1)Ephesians 2:1-10
Message 1: The Nature of FaithMessage 1: The Nature of FaithEphesians 2:8, Hebrews 11:1
Message 2: Hindrances to a Personal Relationship with God (Part 2)Message 2: Hindrances to a Personal Relationship with God (Part 2)Ephesians 2:11-18
Reconciliation with GodReconciliation with GodEphesians 2:11-18
One Body, One Spirit, One BuildingOne Body, One Spirit, One BuildingEphesians 2:11-22
Unity Of The Church — Members Of The Household Of GodUnity Of The Church — Members Of The Household Of GodEphesians 2:18-19
The Amazing Prospect And Awesome Responsibility Of Being A ChristianThe Amazing Prospect And Awesome Responsibility Of Being A ChristianEphesians 2:19-22
God Is AbleGod Is AbleEphesians 3:20-21
The Glory Of God In His ChurchThe Glory Of God In His ChurchEphesians 3:21
Walking Worthy — In UnityWalking Worthy — In UnityEphesians 4:1-6
Walking Worthy — In Diversity & ActivityWalking Worthy — In Diversity & ActivityEphesians 4:7-16
The Old Man And The NewThe Old Man And The NewEphesians 4:17-24
Walk Not as the GentilesWalk Not as the GentilesEphesians 4:17-24
A Walk to RememberA Walk to RememberEphesians 4:17-32
Truth And TemperanceTruth And TemperanceEphesians 4:25-27
Contribution And CommunicationContribution And CommunicationEphesians 4:28-29
Be Ye Followers Of GodBe Ye Followers Of GodEphesians 5:1-2
Be Careful How You LiveBe Careful How You LiveEphesians 5:15-17
Message 2: Redeeming The TimeMessage 2: Redeeming The TimeEphesians 5:16
God’s Instructions For The Family: The Christian WifeGod’s Instructions For The Family: The Christian WifeColossians 3:17-18; Ephesians 5:22-24
Message 6: What is a healthy and strong marriage? One that obeys God’s model!Message 6: What is a healthy and strong marriage? One that obeys God’s model!Genesis 2:24, Ephesians 5:22-33
God’s Instructions For The Family: The Christian HusbandGod’s Instructions For The Family: The Christian HusbandColossians 3:19; Ephesians 5:25-33
Honour and Obey Thy ParentsHonour and Obey Thy ParentsDeuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:1-3
Message 7: What are children for? Heritage of godly seed for Christ!Message 7: What are children for? Heritage of godly seed for Christ!Psalm 127:3, Malachi 2:15, Ephesians 6:4
Be PrayerfulBe PrayerfulEphesians 6:18
