The New Life In Practice

Transcript

GR 154
The New Life In Practice
Ephesians 4:25-32
10/19/1975
Gil Rugh

Ephesians in your Bibles again, here in the fourth Chapter Ephesians Chapter 4, complete this Chapter this morning, although the subject that Paul is considering will continue on into the fifth Chapter as we noted last week. Paul has been talking about the new life that we have in Christ and the practical manifestation in our conduct and character of the work that God has done in our life. We have been made new persons; new creations and new man conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And this position that we have in Christ is now to manifest itself in every area of our lives as his children. Sections this morning flow directly out of what Paul was talking about in the preceding verses.

Verse 22, in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self. Verse 23, be renewed in the spirit and but your mind. Verse 24, put on the new self for the new mind and new man. We noted that in Paul’s writing to the Colossians, he writes as though this has already happened. You have put off the old man; you have put on the new man. Here he writes as though something they are to do. The balance being that in our positioning Christ, we have been made a new person a new man. The old man has been put off; the new man has been put on. But in our practice and conduct that has to be occurring on a daily basis; that we are to be conformed to the position that we have in Jesus Christ.

Verses 25 to 32 really revolve around verse 30, do not grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, conduct that is not in conformity with the new man, conduct which is conformed to the old man brings grief to the Holy Spirit of God. This lay something of the seriousness of the issue before us that the Holy Spirit literally is caused pain or grief. By a Christian who conducts his life in accord with what he was before Jesus Christ transformed his life.

Verse 25 begins with the word, therefore and it connects to what he has been talking about the old man and the new man, literally it would be on which account. In light of the fact that the old man is to being put off you are being renewed in the spirit of your mind you are to be putting on the new man on account of this. Then he gives some specific commands do’s and don’ts for the believer in the area of his conduct, his character, his conversation. He begins with talking about the area of falsehood and the speaking of truth. Therefore laying aside falsehood; and the idea here conveyed in the laying aside, called an aorist participle is the idea of laying aside completely and finally. In terms therefore having laid aside, then continue to speak truth is laying aside is viewed as something that are to be done and completed and finally over with.

I put aside falsehood once for all forever. The word falsehood, is a good translation of the Greek word pseudo, we carried over into English and put it on the usually the front of a word something is a pseudo, it is a false is imitation, it is counterfeit, and that’s the word here; anything that would not be real or genuine, anything false. And falsehood generally is to be put off for the believer. That laying aside, same word we pick in verse 22, laying aside the old man.

Now when you lay aside the old man his characteristics you lay aside falsehood, because falsehood is one of the characteristics of the old man. And this is in all areas, where to be honest transparent people as Paul talked about. We are transparent sincere you can see through us. There is that genuineness that characterizes, that’s not having laid aside falsehood be speaking the truth as the continual characteristic of your life. Each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. So this laying aside once for all finally and continue to be speaking the truth. Again we are writing to believers and we are writing primarily to believers relationships with other believers. When he says with his neighbor, your neighbor is the other believer, not neighbor in the broad context sometimes used.

And that’s clear by the end of the verse, for we are members of one another. And Paul has developed that in Chapters 2 and 3, you are a member of the body of Christ by faith in Jesus Christ, because of this oneness we have in the body they are to be on an honesty and truthfulness in our relationships with one another. If there is not, then we are manifesting the old man. Truth characterizes the new man and just to characterize me. The quote here is from Zechariah Chapter 8 verse 16 the context there, of believers and there Jewish believers the nation Israel, in a context one another being truthful with each one. Well here this is to characterize us. I mean it goes without saying, we assume without going into detail that my body will be honest with itself.

That one part of my body is not trying to deceive the other part. It functions as it should when it functions in harmony, and that’s the way it is with the body of Christ, one part are not to be deceptive with the other part. So falsehoods are to be put off and we are to speak the truth honestly and clearly with one another. The reason being we are members of one another.

So the relationship of a believer outside the body is another issue. Paul start to write here closes to home, if you are honest and truthful in those close personal relationships then that will grow out and characterize your life as a whole. And we saw that in verse 15 of Chapter 4 where Paul literally writes, truthing in love. And the idea of truth characterizing itself all of our life, truthing in love, here the area of truth in our speech, in particular.

Alright developing the idea in these injunctions, Paul brings together not necessarily in an orderly fashion, but the next one he wants to talk about is anger. And a verse that seems to be contradictory, which is the angry and do not sin do not let the sun go down on your anger. Then you note in verse 31 he says, that all bitterness, wrath and anger are to be put away from you. He gives a command to be angry and then he turns around and says don’t let the sun go down on your anger and put all anger away from you. It seems like he has commanded one thing then turned around and said, that you are not to do it. All the commands here are imperatives in verse 26, there is there of them. The angry that’s one command or imperative, sin not that’s the second, and don’t let the sun go down on your angry is the third.

Three specific commands, I think that they could not contradict one another that could not be the meaning. Paul wouldn’t write it in that one sense. And we have some background for it; we will look at in a moment. The, be angry, and do not sin, I think the type of angry he is getting at is the anger that are to characterize the believer in the positive sense. So we read life of Christ in the Gospels and so on, we read the Book of Acts, the conduct to Paul and others, we find out there is a certain anger that is not sin, a righteous indignations sometimes we like to term it. Although, usually what we term that is not righteous nor it's just indignation, not righteous, be anger that passion. In other words a Christian is not to be a docile vegetable type of person.

He has to have emotion and feeling. And anger is one of the things that’s to characterize him; anger at sin, anger at unholiness, anger at dishonesty and so on. We see Christ manifesting this in his cleaning out of the temple, driving the money changers out with his courage and so on, manifesting anger. Now it wasn’t sin, because Christ wouldn’t have done it. So there is a righteous anger, a holy anger. Now, in our anger we are not to sin and this is where the problem comes. It's easy for my anger to slide over and become sin. Well how do I know, well one check for me will be is when my anger centers on myself. I don’t mean being angry of myself, but I mean when I get angry over what has happened to me over what someone has done to me, then that is an improper type of anger.

That is an anger that grows out of the selfish perspective and that is sin, the proper type of anger, anger at sin, anger at unrighteousness, anger at those things which are contrary to God. Some Christians have the idea you are not to get angry at false doctrine or false teachers. You are to just be docile and accepted and, be # lambs and so on. One of the contradictions of the book of revelation is we see the wrath of the lamb manifested, again sin and you and I are to have a wrath and an anger against unrighteousness and unholiness. But we are not to be carried to sin in our anger. And that becomes a very fine line what we slide over to easily, because angers arouse then it can become a personal issue and lead me to sin, because as my anger has aroused I love my emotions to take control, as I love my emotions they could take control, then I begin to function in an unbiblical way.

The last part of the verse which is, do not let the sun go down on your anger, uses the different a word for anger. The idea of that word is provocation, and that when you have been provoked. Don’t let the sun go down on what is provoked you. So you see here even when you have been angry, and our anger can drift to the situation where I see myself as being provoked over a situation that has to be resolved within that day. So I take it then when I go to bed at night and I have been provoked to something my wife has done, someone’s not that it ever happens but if it did. I didn’t qualify that in the first service, but she wasn’t there in the first service. If I am provoked and with something someone has done to me, can I go to bed and esteem about it as I lie down in pillow. Finally I go to sleep, I get up the next day and settle there a little longer and I am still irritated. And I am still provoked about it. I have been in conflict with what God has said characterizes the new man.

I have been functioning as the old man, who is provoked and who does carry his anger over from day to day. And we will see in a moment as we down to these verses, it settles into bitterness when you do that. And this happens in the personal relationships between believers as well as within even the husband and wife relationship were a little things that are done or allow to be provoking, and they are allowed to settle down within instead of being resolved, while we allow them to it's still there, and then the days turn into weeks and pretty soon they become a settled part of lives. Within the church we have people who don’t speak to themselves, wow, to others week after week and month after month why, because of something that happened sometime and they have harbored it year after year, it happens in relationships of husband and wife. Where husband and wife grow further and further apart why, because of little things they allow to build in their life and not resolve them.

So in verse 26 tells you, how you deal with it, you don’t let it carryover to the next day. That doesn’t mean you call somebody at 3 o’clock in the morning and say, hey we got to get this resolved, because then I will be provoked and that wouldn’t be right. But it does mean you settle between you and the Lord, which is where the real problem is. And Psalm Chapter 4 verse 4, you can chart it down we won’t turn it that’s where this verse is quoted from. And there it's be tremble and do not sin. And it set to which in the Greek translation the Old Testament translate that word tremble, as anger. And we are coming to tremble with fear or anger. Yeah do not sin, the last part of verse says and commune with yourself upon your bed, and the same perspective there of resolving this at night in your own bed between you and the Lord, not allowing it to go any further.

Alright, the angry do not sin let the sun not go down on your anger. So keep that balance. Passion and anger at unrighteousness, false teaching, and false teachers and so on is not wrong, not sin. But there is an anger that is sin, and we are not allowed that to characterize our life or carryover in our lives from day today. Verse 27, very simply states it, and do not give the devil opportunity, neither give the devil a place literally, an opportunity to function. And you see the seriousness of it now, I love myself to be provoked, so I am going to sleep on it stew over it, what I have really done as given the devil a place to work in my life. I have given him an opportunity why, because I have to begin to function in the realm of the old man. When I function in the realm of the old man I have function in the realm that that devil operates. Thus I give him a door of opportunity to work in my life and to influence my character and thus the old man begins to manifest themselves.

So you know what it is, we say well you know the devil is so strong and he made me do it, Amen, no for wrong, no Amen. He didn’t make you do it, who made you do it, who gave the devil the opportunity, I did, whose fault is it, mine, why who give, who open the door for him, oh yeah but everybody gets mad, I am sorry that’s not an excuse. You know we find ourselves in such a turmoil and think we are really doing battle with the devil and we always got such a hold on his, all I got to do is close the door, shut off his place. But I like the function in the old man, because there is, you know I go to bed at night and I want to stew a little bit over what happened to me, holy treated me that wretch me, I mean of all things. And I want to roll that over you know there is a certain inter pleasure I get from stewing about these kinds of things. And what happens, as soon as I begin to do that the old man begins the function, as soon as I let the old man function the devil steps in here I am to encourage the old man and thus I give him opportunity.

Well as soon as the devil given an opportunity there is no limit to the extent that he wants to drive me, and I find the old man manifesting himself more and more. So the way you do with don’t as a believer very simple just don’t function in the realm of the old man. The devil has not opportunity to function in the realm of the new man, so he is taking care of. So very simple yet important verse, don’t give the devil a place, don’t give him an opportunity. If you give him an opportunity then don’t be griping about what he did, just deal with him in light new men that you are. Verse 28 comes on a rather maybe strange, let him who steal, steal no longer. It deals with it in the present tense, let him who was stealing continue to steal no more.

Well we are writing to believers, what do you mean believers who are stealing? Well we see that the problem that Paul is writing to is that when a person becomes a new man in Christ, a new creation in Christ the old man is still there. Now he has lost his position of authority, but he is still there. The danger is that the characteristics of this old man continue on in my life as a Christian. And so a person who was a thief continues to be a thief, and his life hasn’t changed in that sense. Now again we did not think of just grows thievery that weaken them, but stealing is stealing. However you do it, the way you do your income taxes as I know you are different now that you are, that you are Christian than it was before you were Christian.

I mean it's easy to say well everybody claims $50 for Community Chest or whatever on their income tax. You know I gave $50 to church last year, but you know you write down 100 who is going to bicker over that. I take it that’s just an example of stealing. We are trying to take something that doesn’t belong to us. He say, well wait a minute government rouse me all the time, we are just kidding even, no sorry, like those things. Like all those pencils I got and pens from places I work. It's a property of so and so. Well they are earned, you know they never did pay me enough. So I just pick these things up as have us moving around, sorry. You know what that is, yep that’s what it is. Everybody does it, right. But not everybody is functioning in the realm of the new man that makes me different.

That means I can function like they do. You say, that yeah but, yeah but nothing. I can't do it. Then him was stealing, steal no more. So, perfect honesty characterizes me as a believer. Now, you know the Bible in the New Testament particularly is not content just to set down. Now this is what you don’t do period. We haven’t carry it– beyond that now, let him who is stealing steal no longer, but rater let him labor. And that is the word that means to work hard, to toil, to strive, to struggle. There is a person who is putting everything he has in the working. He is laboring and toiling. So if you are stealing, because you don’t have enough or you are stealing just because you want to add what you have is in irrelevant issue, neither one is justified. The way you acquire is that you work and toil performing with his own hands what is good. Now what you just work at what is proper, doing the good thing instead of the bad thing, the evil thing is will be characterized.

Now you know it goes beyond just working enough then when I satisfy my needs. That he may have something to share with him who has need. Now, be careful, you want to pick up in the last part of this verse, because right away we pick up the end of verse of 28 and say, well when anybody shared with me and my need, that’s not the issue in the verses is it. It's not a question of when somebody shared with me, it's a question what when I shared with somebody else. I am the one to be toiling and struggling, so that God enough not only to be my needs but to share it abundantly with other believers. Again be careful because the natural bend of the old man is who want to turn it around and resentment develop, sure when did anybody help me, I have been struggling along for months and nobody has offered to help me.

Again Paul says, that’s not the issue. The issue is am I helping someone else. So I am not just working, you know for the 12 working. So that I can have more, so I can work more, so that I can have more. I work more so I can meet my needs and the needs of others. So a different perspective again it’s going to be hard one to get a hold of, because the worlds work so that it can have more for itself, so that it can have more for itself, so that acquire more for itself. Paul says, we work to have everything we need, so that we can then go beyond and meet the needs of others. Now, again he say well maybe they don’t deserve it. That’s not the issue, is it. The issue is am I meeting their need. Now if they are negligent before God that’s a problem they have to resolve before God. I just want to be sure that I am being what I ought to be before God.

Again, maybe a little different perspective on our earnings, we think we worked hard. We have earned it for ourselves, and maybe God has his working hard, maybe he is provided to force, so that he can meet the need to someone else using it. That’s hard to do, especially when you consider the word labor here, it's toil and struggle. When you’ve really sweated out and then you give it away to someone else, but within the family that’s not problem. You know within our body we share. I don’t mind if my left hand take some of the food that my right hand uses. I mean I forgive the body is all benefited. Well that’s the same within the body of Christ that mutual benefit and sharing with the one who has need. Again we are talking about within the believer context. What the bible says about sharing with the unbeliever is a different issue. Here Paul is talking about, sharing with the needs of other believers it in that context.

Alright verse 29, in order to go back to our words again. So he’s talked about speaking in verse 25 and anger in verse 26, then something about stealing. Now I goes back to what we talk about in verse 29, because it's all intermingle. What I do, what I say, what I am there are inseparable.

So he says in verse 29, let no and wholesome word proceed from your mouth. No unwholesome word, you have in the margin literally rotten. It's a word that means decayed or rotten, used in the Gospels of rotten figs or of rotten fish. And it gives you some idea of the type of word you think of rotten fish and the type of things then that you speak about.

The word comes over to me and then I figured as something of this unwholesome or evil bad, the type of speech that is inappropriate. And unwholesome I think is a word that gets at the idea, words that are not to come from our mouth, those that are unwholesome whatever they are and the scope is so broad. Paul will get down into some of these areas in Chapter 5, but just broadly speaking nothing unwholesome, have to come out of the mouth of a believer.

Now you note that means there is going to be a change in the way I talk now that I am a Christian. I think I have been too negligent in my own life in this as I have I worked with new Christians. We sometimes tolerate the type of language and the type of conversation that characterizes the old man. And it's carried over into conversation even though we are now a new man. I not to talk the same way I used to talk. I am not to use the same kind of words I used to use. I am not to talk in the same pain about the same kind of color things and so on, that I once did why, because I am a new men. The new men has different characteristics.

And you know the Jesus said it's out of the heart that the mouth speaks. And so what’s coming out of my mouth is to be an indication of what I am. That’s why a man is justified or condemned by his words. His words are an expression of what he is, am I still talking like I did before I came a believer that’s not an indication of what I am now. So, no one wholesome word coming out of my mouth. You know there will be a change. The old man is used to talking like this, I find myself saying as, ouch, I have not to say that right and developing new habit patterns in my speech. But only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment that it may get grace to those that here, rather than speaking on wholesome words, I speak that which is proper for building up in accord with the need that exists.

There is a need and I speak to that issue with a word that will develop and build up, and give grace to those that are here. The building up process not you note here, this is every believers responsibility as you not call the sun is called teacher, you call the preacher, and you call the elder deacon to give a wholesome word. They are always to be ready to do that. But you are to be ready to do that, all of us is believers to speak the word that is necessary and that of time of need to build up that believer on that occasion. That will necessitate you being saturated and soaked in the word of God, unless the word of God has become a part of your life. Now, that you have saturated yourself with the word, what if you got to say that we will build them up. We saw on Chapter 4 earlier that the gifts of speaking the word forgiven for edification of the body. But every believer has to function in this realm.

Now if you are not immersed in the word, it's not part of your life what you are going to say, they don’t want to hear about ball game. They don’t want to hear about this other mundane thing. They need something to what build them up a too often, we are less speechless. We have nothing to say, nothing to offer why, we have not been in the word enough to know anything to tell them. So we look around somebody come and help me, what do I say. Well that’s alright to go to mature Christians for help. But you are to be maturing yourself by being in the word. And you know it's not so difficult, most of you can talk about your jobs, you’re men or ladies who work, and you have immersed yourself in that. You can talk about it endlessly, but that’s the same thing with the word get into the word, get as excited about the word as you are about your job.

If you didn’t spend anymore give any more attention to do your job, then you do to the word you probably wouldn’t be able to talk about your job either, I can talk nothing about nuclear physics why, one thing I am too dump. The other reason is I never spend any time in it. So how would I get to say, so I take it a believer who cannot talk about the things of the Lord would characterize your conversation when you get together with other believers.

And when get together and all we talk about is mundane superficial things. When the most exciting thing that could be as the revelation God has given to themselves; but we are not into enough, I don’t want to just keep telling your John 3:16 every time we meet. So we will talk about the ball game, Cincinnati is playing Boston how do you think they did, we can tell you about each man batted, who got the best hits alright that that’s fine, that’s not necessarily wrong, unless you are doing that instead of being in the word.

And he is well versed in the book of Ephesians, the book of First John as you are and the batting order of the Cincinnati Reds or whatever, well you know I need to relax or relax in the word, and that will become part of your life. And then you have something to say that is beneficial to the edifying of the body. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God; and that connection word and, puts it right in the context.

You do this, so that you don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. You do not grieve the spirit. The spirit is present in every believer as a result of faith in Christ. The moment you believe in Christ, the spirit of God came and took up resonance in your life. Now since your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, as Paul talks about in First Corinthians Chapter 6, your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore glorify God in your body.

Now what I do with this body can cause the spirit of God grief and pain, in looking at it anthropomorphically. But nonetheless the spirit is a person. This is one of those verses that point out that he is a person, not just in influence. He is greed, you know how that is when someone very close to you intimately related to you does something that really hurts, I dint hurt you physically, but it hurts on the inside just as though they had stabbed you can feel that hurt and pain and you often used the expression, ‘well I was really hurt by that’.

Well that’s what we are saying about spirit. Certain things I do is my body, certain things I say with my mouth, cause the spirit of God pain and grief, because he resides in this body. And he is there to see my sins and the manifestation of the old man, which is grief to him. Now important thing to see in this verse, does not say that spirit of God is driven away. And that’s one reason he has caused grief. He does not leave when I sin.

And Paul brings this out in First Corinthians 6, when he says when a man has relations with a prostitute, he is simply taken. The members of God made them the members of holly, because we are one spirit with God. And I cannot ask God to leave because I want to sin for a while, then I will pray and you come back. At sometimes think we take comfort in the idea that, you know we lose our salvation, because at least God wasn’t there when I was sinning.

There the whole time, there right there within in my body as I used it to reflect the character of the old man, and it brings causes him grief and pain, where grief or pain translation of the word here. Now by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, spirit is there, because he came as to seal, and he came to seal us to the day of redemption.

Note Chapter 1, if you would in Ephesians. Chapter 1 verse 13 and 14, in him you also after listening to the message of truth, the Gospel of your salvation having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. The spirit of God is coming and taking up resonance in my life was God sealed, a seal being in evidence of security. Documents and so on we are sealed to guarantee their security.

The tomb of Christ was sealed as a mark of security. I am sealed by the spirit that’s an evidence of my security. I am marked as Gods possession. You will note, who has given as pledge of guarantee of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of gods own possession to the praise of his glory. This seal is given until God’s possession is redeemed.

Romans Chapter 8, says this is talking about the redemption of the body that will occur when I am glorified in his presence. Now the spirit was given as the seal to guarantee my redemption, the glorification of this body. Now you note then what security depends upon, people think you lose your salvation when you sin, because your salvation and your security depend upon what you do. The Bible indicates if you’d ever lose your salvation after having believed in Christ it's an indication that the seal of the spirit did not last, that’s reflection on the spirit of God.

The reason I won’t lose my salvation is not because I live such a good life now that I am believer. The reason that I won’t lose my salvation is very simply, because the spirit of God does the seal and he has seal me to the day of redemption, and nothing but, nothing but, nothing can break that seal that God has put on my life. The reason I don’t know sin is not because I am afraid I will lose my salvation, it’s because it's brings grief to the holy spirit of God who is the seal, who has sealed until that day, the day of redemption, the ultimate redemption of the body glorification in God’s presence.

If you see your sin in light of this, every time the old man is manifested as a matter of bringing grief to the Holy Spirit, it's not just well everybody loses their temper, everybody get shot once in a while, it's more serious than that. It's a matter of bringing grief upon the spirit of God and I want that he would manifest the character of God to new man in my life.

Look at verse 31, as Paul brings a list of five things here to our attention, bitterness, wrath anger, clamor and slander all are to put away from you along with all mallets. Like Paul want to bring in all these things that are not to characterize us, so that you get the idea when Paul talks about putting of the old man, putting on the new man that are to be manifest in our life, my position is to be manifest in my practice. And it's a distortion of the position that we have in Christ to live in conflict with what I am.

Bitterness, and word that means animosity, harshness, and bitterness gets at the idea. And this can't come out of the idea of being provoked at the end of verse 26, when the sun goes down on your anger you are being provoked, you know what happens you harbor that what happens, as you harbor that bitterness develops. And again we see that within the close relationships we have, believer with believer.

And again in the family relationships husbands with wives and they tolerate and harbor that bitterness in their life that cause them to grow further and further apart. And thus causes all kind of other problem s in the relationship as well. Bitterness, easy to get grew it in my life, because it start small. They get more and more of a hold on me.

Wrath and anger, two words that often go together in the New Testament, used in a number of passages together where they differ; the first word wrath, would have to do with that sudden outburst of fury, we call losing our temper, flying of the handle that kind of explosive anger, were I have manifest a certain fury. I just reached the boiling point and fly off after we just say sorry to mean to fly off as thought that was the only issue.

The issue probably is there was bitterness, there was settling down inside. I just harbor it to the point I couldn’t harbor it any longer and I dump it all out. Afterwards I feel bad I dumped it out why, because I really revealed the people what I was like on the inside and that hurts; although, it should have hurt just as much when I harboring it in there. Then all of a sudden it just explodes out.

Now keep in mind the old man will be characterized by these things. We sometimes excuse ourselves by saying up always had a bad temper. I mean just always have, well I believe that, the old man has a terrible temper. But we are talking about what you are now in Christ. I agree that you lose your temper everyday as long as you function in the old man. But the new man doesn’t have a temper, sorry about that.

So when you say, I am sorry I lost temper that’s another way of saying sorry, the old man was operating again. And if you lose your temper everyday it's an indication you function every day in the old man, and what you are doing that for bringing grief to the spirit who indwells you indwells you for the purpose of producing the character of the new man and conforming to the son of God in your life, you know why, because we like to lose our temper, like to be over to be fly off.

When we think it's an excuse to be able to say, well that’s just the way I am, my dad had a bad temper and I have a bad temper, sorry dad, he does I do, where did I get it, old man, where did you get it, old man. And once you function the old man there is not depth to the sin that you are capable of you. Did you ever lose your temper and say some things, he get away and you say, oh my god I really have done that.

You just disgusted to know end with yourself, once you begin to function the old man, he give the devil opportunity. You know that’s like one of these big slides, you just keeping going faster, you need to get off. The old man has no business functioning, wrath, anger. Anger is more of a settled state as these words would be distinguished and that settled state of anger that sometimes characterizes people that characterizes the old man, not to the new man. So you note that anger of verse 26, is a specific kind and limited to a certain context of a righteous anger, not the type of anger we like to excuse ourselves with, as soon as to degenerates to that you know you are off the track.

Clamor, and the word clamor literally means shouting of excited persons, shouting of excited person and that’s what happens. You love bitterness to reside, you lose your temper, you are an angry person pretty soon, and you are shouting a person. And we you know how it is some households that are characterized by people hovering it one another, some churches are characterized by that as well.

The last word is slander, and that’s the word blast them literally. We usually think of blast me in connection with God, but it doesn’t have to be; here is the word blast me. And speaking against someone, you can slander God you can slander other believers. Paul is concerned here about the slander of other believers speaking against other believers, slandering them.

Again we find all kind of reason to do this. Sometimes the talk to Christians you think that the real enemies were other Christians. I mean we are so worked up and down on them and God such harsh things to say about them, we lose sight of who's the real enemy is not another believer. So we need to be careful by what we say about others and we excuse it but there is no excuse for it. Slander be put away from you with all malice.

Now what Paul is saying everything that would be wicked, God word for wickedness here malice is not just go down the list and say, well those are things that’s all there is. All kind of wickedness and evilness these things are just characteristic of it and have no place in the life of a believer, because that wouldn’t be a manifestation of what I am in Christ.

The positive side of that, again we see the negative side verse 31, now the positive side, is not enough just not to do some things. You are not a vegetable, vegetable doesn’t get a shower every morning, but that’s fine. But there is a positive side to it as well, vegetable doesn’t read as Bible in the morning either the evening or whenever. Verse 32, be kind to one another tender hearted forgiving each other just as God in Christ, also has forgiven you.

Note the difference in character the believer, the new man and the old man. The old man in verse 31 the new man in verse 32, be kind word that used to God couple of times in the New Testaments, several times. Romans Chapter 2 verse 4, where the riches of his kindness and are the riches of his kindness we have been recipients and that kindness is to manifest through us.

So the character of God again be manifest through us. What is his character, kindness is manifest or kindness to one another, kind, loving, benevolent, is a word that used for it. That characteristic rather than the anger and the harshness, the softness, the kindness, tender hearted and that word means to be compassionate, you know somehow we adopt in the church again the world standards and the old man’s attitudes.

We like that hardness and firmness of character. And again there’s to be a firmness of character, there is to be a force in the life of a Christian, but in relationships with other believers it is to be tenderness and compassionate. We get that all wrong idea, you know the Jonathan Edwards sinners in the hands of an angry God or # John Kelvin which I think is probably a distortion of John Kelvin. But we all want to be the, power house dynamo.

And we think that the tenderness and compassion is a weakness and just go laid on you know this is the way it is, take it or leave it, that’s not the attitude of verse 32, it's one of kindness and love a real genuine compassion and concern for another believer. And thus in light of that I end to be forgiving with other believers. Forgiving each other, forgiving each other and that hardly needs to be further elaborated, means you forgive each other.

Now in case you wonder what the standard is, you know Peter had the question, how often shall I forgive, well up to 490 times and unless you get a notebook and keep track. Note the standard the end of verse 32, just as God in Christ has forgiven you, now how was God in Christ forgiven you, what has been the extent of that forgiveness, has there been any limit to it, did he forgive you all your sins, no matter how wretched.

Now you know forgiveness here is in Christ. God forgave you in Christ. There is no forgiveness even by God outside of Christ. You were forgiven in Christ when you believed in Christ. That moment you were totally forgiven. Now just as God forgave me, I am to forgive another believer.

Now when I say well I forgive, but I don’t forget. You know what that saying, how is it like if God said, well Gil I forgave your sins, but I can't forget them, wouldn’t that be a great comfort, I had forgave but I don’t forget, doesn’t he says that he put the most faraway is east form the west they are gone, we say all I forgive you but I just don’t forget that’s another way of saying I don’t forgive, because when I really forgive it's over put it out of my mind I don’t think on it anymore. I don’t think of you in association with it, it's over, it’s forgiven.

I think the pattern of how we are forgiven in Christ follows through as well. I am forgiven even before I ask for forgiveness now as his child. I believed in Christ God forgives me the sins I commit today whether I ask him to or not. You know how you are to forgive me today, whether I ask you to or not, because it doesn’t say forgive just as you are asked to forgive. Let’s just say, forgive just as God as forgiven. So you are sitting around waiting for someone to ask your forgiveness, sorry.

Ephesians 432 says; you forgive as God forgave. So you at already forgiven someone comes up and say, hey I need to ask your forgiveness, about what, yeah well okay. They know it's a problem. I know usually we are saying by the time that wretch God here, good thing he is getting his life right with the Lord. Now we are to be concerned as a believer who is harboring a grudger or got a problem, I don’t want that develop. I want him to grow and mature that’s part of the tenderness, the love and the compassion.

But I am not to be looking with that selfish motive. And we hear people express it, even within families husband and wife come and sit downs I had forgiven if you’d only asked me. That’s not the standard, if you got people in this body of believers you’d forgive if they only ask you, you need to go home and pray about it, lay down before the Lord and say, Lord give me a greater appreciation of the forgiveness that I have in Christ. To say that I you know limit my forgiveness to those who have ask for it.

You know the real problem that is, we don’t really appreciate the forgiveness we have in Christ, which is the same we are probably not in the word or not open to the spirit to allow him to unveil how great our forgiveness has been. God to be so occupied with the tremendous forgiveness I have in Christ that I should on have any time. Well I thought of not forgiving anyone else and you are aware of the illustrations probably in gospels that would point to this kind of situation. So, thought to be no problem here no resentments.

If you had done something to me it's forgiven, I am not waiting for you to come and crawl that’s not part of forgiveness, and I hope you are not waiting for me. If we offend one another, we are to be sensitive to it, we are to be willing to make things right. But we are not to be going around waiting for so and so to come and apologize. God have forgiven them.

Now if they have got something between them and the Lord, then I want to leave them with them and the lord. But I don’t want to allow their problems to drive me to sin in my life, because there is no excuse, because you have done something to me are not to now develop an unforgiving bitter spirit in me. But you have done something you are not to that is offended me, that’s between you and the lord. But I don’t want that to become a problem between the Lord and as I well.

I don’t want to be guilty of grieving the spirit because you grieve the spirit and vice versa. Our desires are to be that the new man be manifest in our life. So what we are saying, we realized our position in Christ that’s foundational. But that’s not enough positional truth is fantastic, but positional truth is truth that fleshed in my life day by day. And I really don’t grasp it, until it is seen in my life.

I am exulted in the heavenliest in Jesus Christ. I am to live movement by movement, day by day in what I say and what I do, as the new man I am in Christ in the heavenliest and are to be evident in everything I say and everything I do in all the relationships that I have with other believers.

Let’s pray together. Father we thank you for the work that you have accomplished in us in Jesus Christ. For the privilege of believing in him and having complete thorough absolute forgiveness, lord to that you are not holding any sins over us. You have forgiven them all. Lord pray that the new man might be manifest in the life of every believer. Lord that we might rejoice in the position we have been given in Christ. Lord that we might be submissive to the sprit, in order that the new man might be manifesting his character in what we say and what we do.

And Lord for our relationships within this local body of believers. Father bitterness or grudges, resentments that maybe harbored; that even now would see them as manifestation to the old man. We are willing to put them off and live in light of the new man and submission to the spirit. Father we would pray for any who are here, who only have the old man, Lord who cannot manifest the new man, because they have not yet been made a new creature by faith in Christ, as that even right now that placed their faith in him, you know that you might begin your work, that we will continue through all the eternity in their lives. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.