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Thing 312.
312.
Read on all my heroes.
We are the dead, glory and grind.
On by the state of life.
With time.
Deployed to be.
And we can do around 4:00. I could no more.
I don't know.
If you have a surgery close, I don't know what I'm going to do.
And we also claim number of 288, two 88.
Umm, the primary style and, and and what's the high? Everybody. And it's very strange things home.
Three and 700155 falls straight to Travis Place is where it's been by travelling cold.
To those and frowned hair.
Your heart is low. Breath in your hand and dig in. And my heart is showing you. However it's a bolus.
Dial.
100 and thousand. 5003 thousand.
And thousand.
Lower interest. I was trying to hold on to everything.
Our God and Father, we.
Thank Dee for this beautiful day, Lord's Day. We thank you for the precious time that we, thy people, got to spend here together.
00:05:12
And as we consider the.
The time beginning to rundown.
And many starting to leave Lord.
We consider.
What we have had together.
Lord, we pray that Thou will continue to lead on.
Lord, we pray that our hearts would be readied, our ears open. He that hath an ear, let him hear.
Thy words that we might learn to be more like thee while we are here.
That we might consider the examples that we've been shown in First Peter 2.
The walk in the footsteps of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, Lord, we pray that thou guide us with Thy word today.
And we do consider those that have left and are on their way, Lord, we pray for a safe journey for them. And we do thank you for the brethren here and for the hard work and effort that they have put forth. And so we just pray for this and thank you. And I know alone, worthy and precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Or perhaps we could, uh, look at the last part of this chapter, even in chapter 4, and perhaps read from verse 17 down to the end. I don't think we can cover the whole thing, but the.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 17.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, That ye have not so learned Christ, if so be.
That ye have heard Him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor.
An evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice, and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So this section of the teaching of this epistle.
Really addresses, uh, walking worthy really of Our Calling and as those that are subject to the lordship of Christ. And so he mentions the lordship of Christ here in verse 17. I say therefore and testify in the Lord.
That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. And then he outlines the depth of the depravity of the, umm, corrupt old man, the characteristic features of the old man, characteristic features of the flesh. That's true. But the old man really is a term that the apostle used, uh, in his writings to convey the thought of everything that is bad and corrupt of the.
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Uh, first creation of man. And so the second man, the last atom, the new race, the new creation race of men didn't exist, didn't uh, exist in this world until the Lord Jesus came into this world.
Died and rose again, and now he's arisen in a glorified man. And so we're part of that new creation race. We don't have, our bodies are not yet, uh, glorified, but we're part of a new race of men and we're not to be characterized by the lifestyle of those that are a part of the first race of men.
It ought to be different. So this is the instruction that the apostle gives beginning in.
Verse 17 of the difference in how because we acknowledge the Lordship of Christ.
We will live in a different way.
See that the, uh, renewing of our lives.
Clearly Speaking of the responsibility that we have to walk as those that acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. And so our minds are renewed in remembering the instructions that are given and walking in communion with the Lord, reading the Word of God. But here this responsibility is in connection. Perhaps we could read verse five of our chapter. It's really connected. 1 Lord.
One faith, one baptism. So when you were baptized, you might not have known it, but you were making a statement before this world, before God, that you were disassociating yourself with your past life, their past lifestyle. And you are now, as our brother Steve mentioned yesterday, a little picture of going down into death. And then.
Raising up on the other side of death and having a newness of life, the term that's used in Romans chapter 6, you now profess Christ publicly and in Galatians chapter 3 there's another aspect of it. In chapter 3 verse 27 says, For as many of you as have been baptized should say unto Christ, have put on Christ.
And so you have publicly stated by being baptized that umm, you've put on the name of Christ. You're characterized by his name. That means his authority. Why is it the Spirit of God uses the term there were two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. We're gathered because of his authority.
And everything that has to do with the person of Christ and his authority is bound up in the thought of his name. And so here we have, we've been baptized. There's one Lord, 1 faith, one baptism. We've made our profession. And now he says, now walk that way. He says you walked like Gentiles. He's just in case there's any doubt as to how you were, how you walked before, He's very definitive. He says you walked as Gentiles.
Dark having the understanding, darken being alienated from the life of God through ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ.
And so you and I are not to have fellowship with those works of unrighteousness, and we're not to be characterized by any of those things.
It's not a comprehensive list. It's just a sample list. And the list that was read in First Corinthians chapter 5 earlier is a sample list. It's not an all inclusive list. And so the Spirit of God gives us this list and says this is what characterized man in the flesh in his opposition to God is ignorance and darkness. But you don't live like this anymore.
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We're talking outside a little bit a little while ago. Considering the example that brother ordered mentioned in First Peter chapter 2 is left an example that we should follow in his steps.
It was mentioned that.
In the past, we've often heard one say that, well, we'll never be perfect. We're we're not perfect. We still make mistakes. And it seems as though we've fallen back to using those things as a crutch or, or an excuse. And when so that example that's given to us in first Peter chapter 2 is not so that we have an excuse. It's that we we strive to attain.
That block that we see like that and I know, Mr. Hayhoe said yesterday.
I often hear Mr. Kent say he gathered to the name of the Lord. We're Christian. We're believers 24/7. It reminded me of the verses that in Exodus chapter 12.
Exodus chapter 12.
Maybe verse 19 seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses? For whosoever eateth that which is leaven, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel. Whether he be a stranger born in the land, he shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitations. Shall you eat unleavened bread in chapter 13?
Verse THREE. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day in which he came out from Egypt out of the House of ******* For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. There shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came me out in the month of Abid. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and hit ice, and the Amorites, and the Hiveites, and the Jebusites, which he swear unto thy fathers, to give thee land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.
Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seven days shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days and there shall no leaven bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leavened seen with thee in all thy quarters. And to me it speaks of the responsibility we have to walk like the Lord Jesus, to try to be like the Lord Jesus, the responsibility we have to shine His light for Him.
Not being defiled by the uncleanness. I think it's Leviticus 10 tells us that we can.
Divide that there is a difference between wholly and unholy and clean and unclean, and then we should know that and that's how we should walk. And things that are clean, which we have in 2nd Corinthians 6 pointed out, and so that should be the walk that we have.
As believers here in verse 17.
Of our entire lives, eleven is always a type of sin and so having sin in our homes is not an option for a believer. And with the God that we judge those things and that we didn't have that which was characterized by sin, rebellious character and independence of God. So seven days, all the seven days of our lives.
Ought to be characterized by eating unleavened bread.
Feeding upon Christ.
And no doubt a rough bunch.
And when the Lord, uh, earned his vote and then paid them back, sending them out into the deep, told them to let down the net, they drew in that great.
Uh, number of fish.
And all the activity that took place, they just picked into gear. You might say they were businessmen, they were fishermen. And uh, the Lord watching. Finally Peter turns and he sees the Lord realized, realizes more deeply who is there. And he says, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man.
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Have often felt.
Just like men are in business and in the activity, there's a language that is, uh, is compiled.
And, uh, no doubt Peter and those fishermen have a lifestyle like men in the world, you know?
But he was converted, and he is brought to the Lord.
And there was a change with Peter.
But you know when he slipped away from the Lord.
Just before the cross.
And got in confidence in his own strength of the Lord of our office, and he was cornered there at Caiaphas Hall, as he began to curse and he began to swear.
He went back to old habits and you know, we were called out of a gentile world and we had old habits too.
And it's easy to slip back into old half.
And so with the Ephesians, the apostles exhortation is from henceforth. Don't walk after the wave that you used to walk when you were in that Gentile world of old. Habits come back so easily, don't they?
To the front, but we put on the Newman.
And uh, so he reminds him of that. There's kind of an order of things and verse 17 and 18, you get to walk in verse 17.
It's a vain walk. You get the understanding and uh, or verse 17 to walk the vein walk verse 18 understanding, but it's dark.
And then the end of the verse, the heart of his blind.
You know, our walk really flows from our perception of things in this world. How we see things and how we see things in this world flows from where our heart is, where our affections are.
And so this world is.
In the vanity of its walk is governed by how it sees what's around it. And that comes from where it's hard it's at. And where should our hearts be?
What should be the occupation of our hearts? You know that walk is gonna flow from that point too.
Where our hearts are and what our hearts are occupied with is gonna govern how we understand and see everything around us. And that's going to then order our walk through this world. It starts with a heart here in the order of things that comes all the way back to the heart. And that's really where it starts, doesn't it? It's with the heart.
Seattle important thing and that is the alienation of the life from God and then King James, it says here alienated from the life of God through ignorance that is in them. So it's not only the walk defiled, it's, uh, the understanding darkened and in actual fact, the life alienated from God and in need of reconciliation with God and.
Then blindness of the heart. Those four things really characterize the Gentile life.
So how wonderful to have a new life, the very life of Christ, and to be characterized by what he says. Uh, the new man and the new man is a term, an abstract term that the apostle uses in connection with everything that is characteristic of the new life that we have that's in Christ and nothing of sin attached to it whatsoever, because it's the very life of Christ. And so the old man is everything that's characteristic of the corruption of the first race of men.
In this term.
The Newman the Apostle uses it in an abstract term, so to speak, to characterize everything that would be consistent with the character of Christ and those that belong to Him.
Teacher exactly right on this. And I don't know if we know the exact dates, but it seems to me that the apostle Paul was in Ephesus, the work of God went on in Ephesus around AD 5253, that area. And uh, and again, I'm, I'm not sure of the dates and I don't know what's really that important, but, uh, you know how it says in, uh, the 20th of Acts that he spent three years there.
00:25:02
And I believe that the.
A pistol here was written about AD 60.
So you've got a period since the Apostle Paul was there of maybe four or five years, that is, uh.
Uh, or near right to his epistle or his prison epistle.
And what, uh, these people have been saved out of the idolatrous world with all the lifestyle that goes along with it.
And they were introduced, if I can put it that way, to a new website.
And you know, umm, uh, in, in acts.
Umm when the apostle Paul where sorry when Saul is going to looking for Christians, he looked for any that were in that way.
In that lifestyle.
There's a lifestyle that belongs to the believer.
And, uh, and it's for all believers.
And so here the apostle Paul is bringing before them there are things that are not to be associated with the lifestyle of a believer.
And so he says in that verse where we started with is Steve already alluded to, used the word henceforth.
Read the 6th, 7th, 8th verse. This I say therefore intensify in the Lord, that ye henceforth not await, not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds.
Remember, Mr. Lundin had a saying. It's our companions and our habits that ruin us.
And get into habits and, uh, we get into friendships and they can influence and they can, umm, uh, we need to be careful of both. And so again, it's the, uh, the, the Christian lifestyle and we're brought into a fellowship with those that belong to the Lord. And then we have our, our own private lives as well.
And that's kind of alluded to here because it speaks of putting off the old man and to put on the Newman.
And, uh, I've noticed two or three times in the scripture that it says to put off before it says to put on.
And we have to have something.
And we can't live in a vacuum.
And faith is involved in putting off that which we would be associated with that would not be becoming to us as a belief. God has a substitute for it. And so, umm, to me it's, it's uh, umm, it's beautiful to see that there's a, there's a fellowship, we've been brought in, there's a lifestyle, there is a, there is a food for the Newman, but all these things.
Uh, that, uh, the apostle Paul addressing these believers that have been associated with the idolatrous world, that they wanted them to continue and to be separate from that which dishonored the Lord.
To make it clear in the, umm, new translation, uh, verse 22, we might read it in the new translation.
It says, namely, you're having put off according to the former conversation or manner of life, the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lust. And so it's uh, written, I think Mr. Garbine is umm, notes here says it's in the heiress tents. It's something that was done once and for all that you have.
Putting you have put him off verse 22, you have put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. It's one thing that you've done in the past. When did you do it?
You did it when you were baptized, You professed, umm, perhaps you didn't do it, uh, essentially you did it publicly when you were baptized outwardly, but you did it when you professed Christ as Savior or when you really were. When you were baptized, you put off those things and it was done once. It should have been done in a conscious way, perhaps, but we don't think now I have to put off the old man.
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I have to put off the old man today. No, you did it once and I think, uh, brother, uh, you can and, and umm, Clem used to say in connection with passages like this, uh, be what you are.
As a result of what you have done, be what you are.
And so this apostle is teaching this. You've already done this. Don't go back. Don't go back.
They're wonderful to be able to understand that God doesn't see us in that position of being in the old corrupt lifestyle and characterized by that corruption. He sees us in Christ. And here in verse 20 it says you have not so learned. It should say the Christ. And so we're in relationship with the head in glory. We're members of the body of Christ and we're in relationship with the head, the glorified head, the Christ.
The head and the body unified.
I think that strikes the diverse as 22 to 24 dealers are.
And starting on birthday.
Annoying what our standing is.
It brings dignity to the position that were brought into, giving us the desire to take and walk into standing, brought into.
Effects are stated that way. It should have respect.
I'd say that connects to with verse 20 and 21, Christ, and then Jesus Christ would bring before us that one.
In whom we are in in Christ, the exalted, glorified man at God's right hand, and all the blessings and privileges and glory that are attached to that position.
Remember what you've been brought into. Remember you're in Christ.
But you learn the truth in Jesus. You'll hear it in that lowly man that walked through this world. He was the the word made flesh. He was the perfect manifestation of God.
There's a man down here below. He displayed all that there was in the heart of God, in his perfect walk for God's glory through this world. We learn the truth of that walk as it is in Jesus. So the position and the walk, Christ and Jesus.
Those two terms in verse 24 created in righteousness and true holiness.
Gives the, the, the list of those four things that we were talking about in, uh, verse 18. But here it's righteousness and true holiness. So we not only have what is characterized, he says, having put on the Newman in verse 24.
And he's a part. We're part of a new creation race of men.
That didn't exist before. But we have a higher standing in creation than even the angels do. Even now. We don't have the power that we're going to have in the future. We don't have the, umm, glorified. Our bodies are not glorified, but we have a higher place before God right now than the angels do. The angels are servants forever, but you and I have the dignity of those that are a part of the new creation race. So we, we're part of a new race. We have a new state.
Our brother was bringing before us and we have a new standing before him.
Verse 19 at the end. Even so, now you'll remember servants to righteousness.
124.
They go together.
Righteousness.
As the thought of uh.
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Our duties before God, we walk in the right way, and before men too.
And our relationship with one another and with those in this world. To walk in a righteous.
Way and God would have us to walk righteously.
The holiness goes deeper, holiness goes higher. Holiness is the rejection in, in, uh, my heart and my thoughts and then all my ways of anything that is contrary to God.
The rejection of anything.
That is contrary to what He is in holiness and righteousness too. So righteousness I think really kind of more takes the walk and the holiness goes deeper and then it really involves the infection.
God was holy before sin ever came into this scene.
And holiness is a delight in that which is good of God. Why does it include the rejection of sin? Because when sin came in, it spoiled what was good and thought hated it.
And so holiness involves a rejection of all that would come in and spoil. That was just good. And it's a it's a deeper thing, but they go hand in hand. I think of one more in connection with The Walking and my responsibility before God and before men in this world, I should conduct myself in a righteous way at work and my business and whatever other feelings I have in this world. Napoleon is just that, of course.
And and.
Uh, it's, it's very closely connected with the nature of God.
I think that he is connected with the nature of God, righteousness and true holiness. Mr. Darby has a little note in his translation that's helpful on that righteousness and holiness of the truth.
See verse 21 And so it's what?
Is characteristic of Christ. It's characteristic of what we would say we're a new creation race and what, umm, the Newman having put on the Newman, what characterizes the Newman?
Is true truth, but it's righteousness acting in the right way before God, according to the truth of the Word of God, and in holiness.
And so even the thought of sin, the thoughts of the unrighteous, is sin before God, He's.
Sinning against God in every aspect of his life. He's not. It's not possible for him to bear fruit before God because his every act is sin.
But you and I are seen as being in Christ and having the same moral features and characteristics as Christ, and he is developing those characteristics in us. We do have responsibility, but.
Really having put on the Newman which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So that's what we would come back to verse 21. That would be what the truth of Jesus.
So then in the last part of the chapter he gives practical examples of the differences between the life that we used to live as Gentiles and the life that we live now. And how we lived in Gen. as Gentiles was filled with corruption and self will and rebellion against God. But in Christianity we're not only saved by the grace of God, but in righteousness we go way beyond.
What the Jew ever had under law and we display the righteousness of God in a public way in this world. And so he gives this instruction that we might just very plainly know these things. You have to remember too. And I think brother, uh, Dave mentioned it's like 8055 or 56 that the Apostle Paul was there in Ephesus. And then approximately 5 years later he writes this. He was, uh, during his, uh, house arrest in the book of the Acts, Acts chapter 28.
And he wrote, uh, the epistle to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon. And so he writes this. And so five years after, and we need to remember that they were saved out of wickedness, a wicked lifestyle. They had occult books, uh, a vast quantity of occult books. They didn't know how to live like Christians. And Paul taught not only the truth of salvation, but he taught practical Christianity. And so you might say that this is partly what he's doing here. I'll just.
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If you bear with me, in Acts chapter 20 he goes over that.
There's three parts to the work that the Apostle Paul did among the Gentiles.
In uh, the last part of verse 24, Acts chapter 20, verse 24, the last part, the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God that was to all men.
Not only the Gentiles, but the Jews. And then in verse 25. Now behold, I know that all ye among that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more. So now he preached to those that were the gathered Saints of the day, and he taught practical Christianity. They didn't know how to live like practical Christians. But he didn't just leave them saved. He spent time there and.
Is it 2 years, maybe three years that he spent?
In Ephesus, what was he doing? He was teaching them how to live like a Christian. You find the same thing in connection with the work that went on in Antioch. They spent a whole year.
Barnabas and Saul, they taught them how to live practically as believers. And then he went beyond that in verse 26.
Umm, or verse 27, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Once they knew how to live like a Christian, then he taught them of the mysteries, the Christ and the Church, the great mystery, and he taught them of umm, the uh.
Truth of the Church, how the church should function, all those aspects of the mysteries, different mysteries, different revelations that he was given of God. He taught them those things. And so here isn't it nice. In the Epistle to the Hippies we have an example of what he taught them, how to live practically as believers.
That's the first that tells us, Let him that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed lest he fall and.
So we've been considering some of these beautiful truths as to the fact that there is one body and how we're to conduct ourselves in accordance with that. And it may, uh, in reflecting on some of these things, we may, uh, may think we've arrived at a certain spiritual plateau and we're no longer going to have issues with certain things. And out, out of nowhere, it almost seems like we have these Ephesians being instructed put away lying.
Don't steal, no.
No corrupt communications, no bitterness, anger, all these things. And just to realize as we walk with the Lord day by day, there there should be growth in our soul. We should be becoming more like Christ. But who we are by nature never improves.
And if if we look for that to improve or we put ourselves in situations where we think, OK, I'm strong enough, I can handle this. We're gonna fall and fall every time we we have no strength in ourselves. And so just that reminder, let him that think if you stand to take heed lest he fall. We need to pay attention to these instructions and and not just to brush them off and say, well, we don't need to worry about lying. We don't need to worry about stealing. We can move on to the rest of the chapter here. These are for us as well.
Uh, also hear that it says members one of another and.
We have Noah said in first of 25 wherefore putting away lying speak every man truthful neighbor. We are members one of another. We notice in the next chapter, it tells us that in the 30th 1St we are members of his body, of his flesh, of his home, So it it brings before us.
In a double the a double aspect. It seems to me that.
We are members of His body and that He is the head, but we are to remember also that we are members one of another. In other words, what I do effects with you.
00:45:13
What you.
You and your life and and vice versa.
And uh, so, uh, I just like that double aspect. We remember that this body, but we're all and, and we are also members one of another.
So all of these expectations is different than the law. It's not just a negative, but there's a positive because we have put on the new hand and we do have a life that wants to please the Lord. So we need the warnings for every one of them ends with a positive. It rises above the law. The law could forbid the flesh not to do, but this is an encouragement to do in each one of these.
And there's something positive in the in connection with them.
Why is uh?
Is something that, uh, is.
Getting larger and larger in, in, uh, Christian lands, it is part of daily life continually and every aspect of conversation and business and on and on. And, uh, countries where the light of Christianity has not been, umm, it's just the way it is. Everyone lies all the time. And as the light of Christianity fades in North America, it's becoming the way of life here too.
It's so easy, just a quick lie get you off the hook even in something that.
It doesn't really matter, but it deflects maybe a little bit of an uncomfortable question or a road I don't wanna go down within this conversation or whatever. So just a quick, quick lie.
If, umm, you know.
That can come in among the Saints of God.
This is one of those gentile habits that can we can slip back into so easily.
And sometimes it does take an effort just to stop and say wait.
Maybe, I said. I'd rather not answer that.
It's easier to log.
Then stop and say.
What would we lie to ourselves?
Would we injure ourselves or members one of another?
And uh, so that's, it's interesting. That's the very kind of the first thing he mentioned. It's one of the things that's so easy.
I have come into our lives.
It was very instructive. That is the first thing that's on this list. And one of the things that ought to characterize us as believers is being characterized by truth in what we do.
And Brother Darby and his translation and note, he says that it's not just the act of telling a lie, but it's the act of falsehood, taking a false position or being in a false association, whatever it might be. You know, Moses, he was.
Called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
It wasn't true and he came to a point in his life where he said it's not true. Now it's going to cost me something to publicly say it's not true. But he publicly made the profession with his act of departing Egypt. He said I am not the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What was he? He was a Prince with God.
That's what it means. A child of God, an Israelite was a Prince with God. Oh, how much far better. He wasn't a Prince of Egypt. He was a Prince with God. And so we sometimes take up a false position and if we could use the term, we live a lie instead of telling a lie. Ananias and Sapphira lived a lie, but it cost them their lives and the Lord dealt with them. But uh, here, as you say, it's a positive thing.
Because we're members one of another and so we speak the truth. Then he goes on with anger. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your wrath. So we might have righteous indignation when someone uses the name of the Lord in vain. Doesn't it just make you feel upset? It should if you live and work in a place and they use the name of the Lord.
00:50:14
In vain and it doesn't bother you.
We need to judge ourselves. We need to walk in closer communion with the Lord. Or there's a man I did business with, George Pavlovich, who was a sales Rep, and I, we're in the car going to Detroit.
And, uh, he used the name of the Lord in vain. I said to him, George, what?
You know what God says about what you just did. He said what, what did I just do? I said you need you use the name of the Lord Jesus in vain. He says I did, what did I say? I told him what he said. He didn't even remember what he said. He just it was a habit of life. I said God says that he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
And I had a Bible in my glove box and he took it out and I showed him where it was. And we had other discussions, but.
Be angry and sin not.
Let's not sin because it says the wrath of man worketh, not the righteousness of God.
Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wroth. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And so when we get angry because we want our own way and we're not getting our own way, and that's an unrighteous anger, but it is possible to be angry inside, so to speak, righteously defending the glory and the honor of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus.
With, uh, Israel encounters Amalek.
And, uh, God told Moses to, uh, let's say were to fight Amalek and Joshua went down to leave that battle. Moses interceded to his uplifted hands on the hill. And, uh.
Oh no, I'm sorry, I'm going the wrong direction.
Thinking of the battle of uh, when Joshua prayed.
That the sun wouldn't go down until they had completely routed the enemy and.
The sun stood still at his request and prayer until they had, uh, completed that, uh, that battle and routed the enemy.
And I think perhaps that is where this is drawn from and, and, uh, verse 26 and 27 were never to become complacent about sin.
And so we're not to let the sun go down upon our, uh, raft in connection with our cost about sin. We're always to have God's thoughts, not to become complacent, not to give room to the devil becoming complacent about sin. Mr. Darby has an interesting thought too, that it's been helpful to me, He said we may become.
An in.
Should feel when sin comes in.
As Paul said, who is offended and I burn not.
We should feel it, but he said if our anger.
If we let it continue, it is going to become anger against persons.
And not the sin, and then it becomes sin itself.
And that's what happens with us. We may at first steal the indignancy of something that's done that's unrighteous.
And what that sin is and what it is done to the Saints, and what it is before gone. But we need to be careful that it doesn't go on and become anger against persons, because then it's sin and.
And the devil's going to get an advantage of that. So there's two thoughts there, and I've enjoyed both never to become complacent about it. But let's not let our anger become anger towards persons.
Because then we're going to fall into sin ourselves.
Till that happens.
Where something can come up in the assembly or in relationships between brethren, where there's been a trespass, where there's been sin.
00:55:08
Years later.
The sin is long.
The effect, so to speak, of whatever took place are long and.
There's still anger on the part of one brother, sister against another. Over what?
And we can slip into that. And that has caused tremendous damage, isn't it? The devil is found. His father's father, you know, I heard that.
The ministry years ago, brother Irwin Clawson and his young man and there was a situation in his life his mother was concerned about and she said to him, Irvin.
There's always room for the devil.
You know, he just wants a little place, just give me a little corner, he says. I don't need much, just a little bit of thought, just a little hard feelings, just a little offense. Just give me a little corner, little room, and I can do my work. There's always a spot for the devil. They'll tell you don't make room for the devil, the apostle says. That's the new translation.
Make no room for the devil, don't make a room for him.
He'll use it and he'll take it as far as he can.
No, I can honestly say it. I don't know why this is but.
Brethren have a different opinion about a certain difficulty. It seems like the emotion it stirred up more at that time, almost at any other time.
And it's hard to talk to him.
Umm. And uh.
Uh, anger and bitterness and talk about extending the Lord.
You get angry, Sir, brethren, you know.
And I and I have to confess that the difficulty with me.
Umm umm.
May the Lord help us to.
Russian that's given a progression given in Colossians might turn to it in verse 8.
Chapter 3 of Colossians, verse 8.
Now he also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy.
So what happens with the anger? It might not be visible.
I might be angry with you, but I it's not really visible to you. It's uh.
I just don't judge that evil thought, that anger and umm, it just burns. But then it progresses a little bit and it turns to Roth. Perhaps there's, uh, it becomes a little more visible indignation and uh, I, I get a little bit more, there's a physical expression of my discomfort with you. And then it goes beyond malice and Mal in French and uh, the other, uh, Portuguese and so on is, uh.
To hurt. And so I want I now have malicious thoughts. That's what it means to have hurtful thoughts. And if it's not judged, then there's blasphemy. I speak in piously of holy things. And so we need to be careful to judge a thing in the root of it. And when it's a a small thing, we might say. And so he says, be angry, sin not and judge those things when they're small.
Then he comes in and he says he gives instruction in connection with stealing. And in societies that, uh, are not characterized by Christianity, stealing is just the normal.
You don't have to go too far in, umm, it's remarkable. You go to Mexico or to Brazil and, and they want to see a picture of your house. So you show a picture of your house and say marvel that there's not a concrete block wall eight or nine feet high all the way around your house and there's no barbed wire on top. And that's not a motorized gate so that you can park your side at your car inside of the compound. They marvel. Doesn't anybody steal your garbage can? If you put it, you know, they can't believe it that you don't have a concrete wall all around.
01:00:16
But the blessings of Christianity and the profession of Christianity has brought tremendous peace and blessing to the Western Christian world. And our land has been blessed as a result of the profession of Christianity in the publication of the Word of God freely, in the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God freely. We don't have concrete walls around our homes. And so here he speaks of this.
To the tendency of the man in the flesh is to steal, and he says, let him him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor.
Working with his hands the things which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth.
So we not only doesn't steal.
But he laborers with his hands to provide for himself and for others. He goes way beyond what they had under the law. Isn't that wonderful to be able to have an abundance? That's because we know the Lord Jesus and we, I think it was brother AC Brown, used to have the little expression. Christianity is to be characterized by the open palm, not the closed fist, and so many of those religions.
False religions in the world, they're characterized by a closed palm and, but Christianity and the lands that profess Christianity are characterized by an open palm. I don't want to make a political statement or anything, but, uh, when there's, uh, a disaster somewhere in the world, what country is it that sends aid?
It's the United States of America.
What's on the the currency says in God we trust. They freely open up the palm and they send funds, they send resources, they send trucks, they send aircraft, they send food.
They don't have to characterize our lives in the assembly as those that are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus and as believers.
To open up and to provide beyond what our own needs are.
Lord Jesus did that, didn't you?
Spoke to that example earlier but I think when he fed the 5000.
Cypress said, oh, let's go. We're not going to deal with these people. You know, they're in need. So he said the 5000, he was holy.
We know he couldn't stand. He couldn't lie.
Tells us in first Peter two, he has called you as holy. Be holy, for I am holy.
Consider the verse in.
James chapter 4 verse 17 for him that knoweth to do good and do with it not.
Send send.
And I think it's, uh, Romans 1423, maybe whatsoever without faith, sin.
These things really we're talking about are as a Newman and new life. A new way being holy would be by faith.
No one gave more than the words.
Neutral need more than the Lord.
He filled that need. He gave all that he had.
Sold all that he had.
Game and Paul the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 he quotes the Lord Jesus. I don't know where he heard it, but he might have heard it.
From the Lord himself, he says it is more blessed to give than to receive.
But we don't have that recorded in the Gospels anywhere. But Paul quotes that he says it is more blessed to give than to receive from the greatest giver that ever lived.
OK.
So for Jesus was, Monica said. He left without doing good.
He went about doing good and healing that we can heal in a measure but not like he did but.
We can go about doing good and this stealing is the opposite of that. It's saying I'm going to take from you instead of I will give to you.
01:05:00
So we have that example again in the Lord Jesus, you went about doing good. May that be our exercise as well.
Well, our conversation really reveals what's, uh, in the heart, doesn't it? So he says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use of edifying means building up that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
So what you have in the news media and what you have in the public places of this world is corrupt communications. And you and I are not to be characterized by speaking in the same way of dignities or speaking and being characterized by corrupt communications. It says in the Epistle of Jude that they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Oh, we should be afraid to speak against those that God has set up in a place of authority.
And we ought to submit to that authority. One of the characteristics of Christianity is submission to authority. And here not being characterized by corrupt communications, but rather by gracious speaks speech. So they said to the about the Lord. Never a man spake like this man.
Oh that wonderful to have the possibility to be able to speak just like your Savior. You can speak before men just like your Savior spoke and your words can be words of grace that can minister to the hearts and the needs of those that are around us.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed under the day of redemption.
Brings before us, doesn't it, that we have a divine guest that is inside of us?
And, uh, he's aware of all of our actions.
And, umm, grieving.
Is, uh, is something that he does if we act in the flesh?
Umm, I, I think it's, I'd like to, uh, to connect this with the verse that we have. We won't turn to it. Our time is about gone. In First Thessalonians 5, where it says quench, not the spirit, here it says to grieve, not the spirit. The grieving is a connection with doing something wrong.
And the Spirit of God be grieved with what we're doing.
The the 1St and 1St Thessalonians 5 where it says quenched on the Spirit.
To me, that is when the work of God is such in the soul that the Spirit of God leads us to want to rise and take him to to confess Christ, to give thanks to the Lord, or whatever, if we don't do it while we are quenching the Spirit.
And quenching is to put out. You quench a fire by taking and pouring water on it, and the fire goes out. Well, don't quench a spirit. And one feels that on Lord's Day morning that we sometimes are quenching the spirit when the Lord is seeking to draw from our heart praise and giving thanks, and we don't give thanks.
Quenching the Spirit of God.
Two sides to that Divine guest inside of us seeks to work in us all the time, doesn't it?
We can, uh, we can irritate people, we can anger people, we can vex people.
But we can only grieve someone we love.
Grieving has to do with someone who cares for us.
You might you know, someone who doesn't care for you and grieved about what you do. It might be angry, might be irritated.
But grieving has to do with something, someone that loves you and has a care for you.
Deep effect in the Spirit in Isaiah 63 and 10. At the beginning of that verse they rebelled.
Results. That's the Spirit.
Read the Spirit What have we done?
01:10:00
Lights to use us he doesn't need to use us, but he delights to use us and we're priests before him and those that are brothers have the responsibility to exercise our priesthood and the Spirit of God will labor and work with us to exercise our priesthood in his presence. But it is possible for us to say to be in a bad state of soul and and the spirit of God is seeking to use you and and you can quench the spirit and say I don't want to give out that he I don't want to pray.
I don't want to read that Scripture and the will is in at work and we can quench the spirit. We'll read maybe just a comment on this one verse in verse 32. We spoke somewhat at verse 31 in connection with the comments in, uh, the Colossians. But in verse 32 it says be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So forgiveness has to do with our guilt before God. We were all guilty before God and God for Christ's sake. And the work that God Christ has done on the cross has forgiven us. And he doesn't see you and I as being guilty anymore. Imagine rebels.
Worms of the dust.
Insolent.
Rebels disobedient, he says. Not guilty.
You are no longer guilty before God. Now you may have a brother or sister that tests you and he says you forgive them. Don't count them guilty before you have a forgiving spirit and be tender hearted. This is one of the times, this is the only time I believe that this word is used in the New Testament, tender hearted. It's used once in the Old Testament, once in the New Testament, and it means the opposite of being.
Hard hearted. It means having a compassionate spirit. You know who had the most compassionate spirit was the Lord Jesus. It tender hearted. Can you imagine?
Him turning to that thief that had just been reviling him and saying, today shalt thou be with me in paradise?
Oh, he was forgiven and he was treated in a tender hearted way.
Can I ask a quick question on that verse?
I had to learn that when I was a kid. So every time we did something in the house that was against one another, we had to quote the verse, the kind one to another. But when it comes to forgiving one another, this has come up in relation to what was brought up in the open meeting as well in First Corinthians chapter 5, putting one away and so on. Or quarrel against one another.
In relation to Luke chapter 17 and verse three, it says take heed to yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him.
So your question is, do I forgive him if he doesn't repent and he doesn't confess?
Well, confession in my mind this could turn into a lot longer. Confession in my mind is not repentance. Umm, it's part of these.
I'll answer your question in a in a short way. We should have a forgiving spirit, and we should also have, uh, a reserve of forgiveness in our hearts so that when someone.
Comes and says, please forgive me. We can forgive right away. And So what he's Speaking of here is our responsibility to forgive. When someone comes and says I'm sorry, maybe he doesn't fall down and and come groveling and that sort of thing. But he says I'm sorry I stole your car. I'm sorry. You wish he had filled the gas tank up and then said he was sorry. But he said he's sorry. So you accept the apology.
Number one, I'm the opponent.