Walk in Holiness Pt 2

Good morning. Would y'all stand with us? We want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel. It's a beautiful morning the Lord has given us. We want to welcome all of you who are joining us online. Father, we ask for your blessing on our service this morning. Father, may it be a time of worship. Looking to you, may you be first, Lord. As the little song says,

J-O-Y, this is what it means. Jesus first, yourself last, and others in between. Give us a heart, Lord, to love you. You're worthy of our praise, Father God. Where would we be without you?

We'll sing, worship you. If it puts me in the spring's transformation, I'll be crucified.

Oh Lord, that's our prayer. You may be seated. That's our prayer this morning, Lord, that you'd be magnified as we live our lives. May they see that we spend time with you. Whatever the attitude they have when they say that, may they say that they can tell that we have spent time with Jesus. We love you, Lord. We were so weak. strong, Lord. You loved us so much that before

the foundations of the earth, you determined to redeem us, your Son, Jesus Christ. You determined to seal us by the Holy Spirit. We thank you, Lord Jesus. This is the air I breathe. This is the air I breathe. You breathed. When sin happened, Lord, we became spiritually dead. We received you as Savior.

We are just being ruled by that soul, mind, emotion, and will. We're never satisfied. But, oh, your Holy Spirit speaking to us and leading us in our hearts, Lord. We thank you so much, Lord. We give you praise. We make a miracle work. Light in the darkness. That is who you are. Light in the darkness. You never stop. You never stop working. You never stop. You never stop

working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Working. You never stop. You never stop working. You never stop. You never stop working. You never stop. You never stop working. Oh, yes. That is who you are, Lord. Every day. Every second. Every minute. Every hour. You are the way, the truth, and the life. And we can trust you in every area of our life. Thank you.

Would you all stand? We laid him down.

We'll praise the King.

The blazing sun shall pierce the night. And the saints found us faith. The Lord is coming. And we're looking forward to that. So, Father, now as we continue our service, as we have some fellowship, and as Ryan comes up, Pastor Ryan comes up and teaches your word, Lord, keep us in the heart of worship. Looking to you, the author and finisher of our faith. Speak to us

by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's have some fellowship, y'all.

Good. Good morning. If you could begin the process of locating your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over the announcements.

Really, the only thing to take note of is the things that are going on on the left-hand side of your bulletin. Lots of places to get plugged into throughout the week. So, look for one of those spots to get plugged in. Other than that, a little bit of a lull over this next week or so, before we pick back up into some fall activities. So, if you would, make sure that your mobile device

is silenced. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 17. Psalm 17. We'll be looking at the New America Standard for this part just so we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 17, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word,

I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 17, a prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord. Give heed to my cry. Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips. Let my judgment come forth from your presence. Let your eyes look with equity. You have tried my heart. You have visited me by night.

You have tested me, and you find nothing. I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. As for the deeds of men, by the words of your lips, I have kept from the paths of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped. I have called upon you, for you will answer me, O God. Incline your ear to me. Hear my speech. Wondrously show

your loving kindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand, from those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. From the wicked who despoil me, my deadly enemies who surround me. They have closed their unfeeling heart. With their mouth they speak proudly. They have now surrounded us in our steps. They

have set their eyes to cast us down to the ground. He is like a lion that is eager to tear, and a young lion lurking in the hiding places. Arise, O Lord. Confront him. Bring him low. Deliver my soul from the wicked with your sword. From men with your hand, O Lord. From men of the world whose portion is in this life, and whose belly you fill with your treasures. They are satisfied

with children, and leave their abundance to their babes. And read verse 15 with me. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. I will be satisfied with your likeness when I awake. And Father, we do look forward to that day when we can awaken your likeness, Lord, because we will be with you. Lord, in the meantime, would you keep us close to you? Would you help us to be the men and women

that you've called for us to be? And Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning, that your Holy Spirit would minister to our hearts. Father, that we would become who you have created for us to be. Lord, that we would respond to what you've done with wholehearted obedience. Father, we thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians. Chapter 4. This morning we'll be looking at verses 25 through 32.

Ephesians chapter 4. Last week we started into a two-part series of the second way that we are to walk. A few weeks ago we started into this portion of Ephesians. We said that the first thing that we were to walk in is that we were to walk worthy. Walking worthy meant a heart of unity and a goal of maturity. But last week we started into this section on walking in holiness. And as we talked

about walking in holiness, we said that there were two things. There was first of all the principle. Second of all the practice. Just to bring us up to speed on what we talked about with the principle, we said there were three things that we were supposed to do. Number one, we were supposed to change the way that we walk. We were to walk no longer as the rest of the Gentiles.

No longer as the rest of the heathen world because the rest of the unbelieving world is following after things that ultimately are empty and lead to death. Second of all, we are to remember what we've learned. That we have learned Christ. That he was our teacher. That he is the subject and his truth is the very essence of now who we are and what we've learned.

So we're to change the way that we walk, remember what we've learned, and then we said that means out with the old and in with the new. We said that we are to take off the old man. We're to cast off the old man, this old nature like an old set of clothes. And we are to put on the new man that has been renewed. In the spirit. That was the principle of what it means to

walk in holiness. But now there is a practice. And I love this about the word of God. Is that he will never the word of God never tells us anything to do without also giving us the practical way to do it. And so that's exactly what he does. He puts some shoes on what he has just told us and shows us what we need to do. So picking up in verse 25, it says this.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. And do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer. Rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something

to share with the one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice and be kind to one another.

Tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you. Now, as we look at those set of verses, I have taken note of six things, six areas where he gives us what it is to practice a walk of holiness. Where we can practically put into play in our lives what it looks like to put off the old and put on the new. The first one that we'll cover is falsehood.

Falsehood. I want you to notice what it says in verse 25. Therefore, laying aside all falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor for we are members of one another. He tells us to put away falsehood. Well, there's a couple of different phrases we should identify in there. The first one is the phrase falsehood. What does that mean? I don't know about you, but I've never looked at something and gone,

well, that's falsehood. No, what do I call it? I call it a lie, right? And that's what it is. I want to read this to you out of the Amplified Bible. Put away all falsehood. Actually, in the least, it literally defines it as the lie, which I found kind of interesting that it uses the direct article there. The lie. It is defrauding. It is half-truths. It is the spreading of

rumors. Ooh. Man, there goes the news, right? This is falsehood. This is lying. Now, we've talked about this before on the aspect of truth. The truth is a little bit hard to come across in our world today, but it's because we are not naturally a people of truth. We are naturally a people that want to hide what is true of ourselves. Do you know when that started?

Do you know when that aspect of, of deceiving, being deceptive, and hiding our true selves began? It began the day that sin entered the world. Because do you remember the two things that Adam and Eve did? Number one, they made coverings for themselves. Why? So that they could cover up what they had just realized about themselves, and that was their nakedness.

But the second thing that they did is they hid from God. They hid from God so that God wouldn't see them. So that God hopefully would not see the reality of what had just taken place. They hid their sin from Him. And then when confronted with their sin, they began to say it was everybody else's fault except their own. It's almost like all of the things that we see in the world today

all started with the fall of man. It's because they did. And so that falsehood now is a part of us. In our natural bent, our natural default is to give in to falsehood. To not really be honest with who we are. To not really be honest about what really goes on on the inside of us. To not really be honest about who we are and our character and our nature. It is our natural

tendency to want to put the best face forward so that people don't really know what goes on inside of me. And so he says put away falsehood, the lie, defrauding, half-truths, spreading of rumors. And what does he tell us to do with that? He tells us to put it away. What does the phrase put away mean? Well it means to cast off. It's the exact same word in the Greek that's used

when it says that we are to put off the old man. Put off the old nature. In other words, falsehood is what we have clothed ourselves in. We are to put that off. And isn't it kind of interesting because what was the first thing that Adam and Eve did after they sinned? They clothed themselves with falsehood. And so now the thing that we have to do as believers in Jesus Christ

having been set free, having been redeemed by the blood of Jesus is we are to put off falsehood. We are to cast that off of ourselves. Instead, what are we to do? We can't just lay aside falsehood. Instead, we are to speak truth with your neighbor. I tried to look up the word truth to see if it meant anything. It means truth. It means that which is real. It means that which is genuine. That's the

idea of speaking truth. Listen, we're to be honest with each other. Notice it says speak the truth with your neighbor. Now, I believe that this has an all-encompassing meaning and it has a specific meaning. And the all-encompassing meaning, I think it means that everybody is our neighbor. We are to be truthful with the world around us. Now, we have to be careful

how much we're truthful with the world around us. And I want to put a little caveat on this. You can't just go around and tell everybody everything that's on your mind all the time, right? That would become obnoxious. Nobody wants to know what's on your mind all the time. But you are to be the genuine article. You should be a person that what you see is what you

get. You should leave people not asking themselves, do you think they really meant that? Do you think that's really who they are? I don't know if you've been around people like this. I've been around people like this where when you left, you were like, I don't think I really saw the real them. All of the things that they said seemed fake to me. Everything about them seemed fake

to me. We are to speak truth. Now, the second caveat that I'll put, not only is it you have to be careful how much you share with people because you don't want to just share everything about yourself with everybody in the world. But when we speak the truth, we are already given a caveat earlier in Ephesians. We are to speak the truth. Do you remember? In love.

To speak the truth in love means that my goal is always restoration. My goal is always reconciliation. My goal is always the best relationship with you that I can have. Because when it comes right down to it, all of life is made up of relationships. The relationship that you have with your creator in which truth has to be at the heart of it, and the relationships that we have with our

fellow man, at which truth has to be at the heart of it. And so we are to speak truth with our neighbor. Not only all of men, but even more specifically than that, brothers and sisters in Christ. Listen, if there's anybody that we should be able to be ourselves with, it's the body of Christ. And again, I will just continue to push this exact same point. If we cannot be

ourselves with the body of Christ, then we should start asking ourselves, why can't I be myself with the body of Christ? Because hopefully, prayerfully, if we are a people who has been saved by grace, then we are a people who will show grace, no matter how honest people are with us about who they really are. We are to be, we are to speak truth with our neighbor. Why? Because we are each

members of one another. This all goes back to what Paul talked about earlier in Ephesians, that we are one body. Can you imagine if my hand hurt, but it refused to tell my mind about it? Like, oh, this hurts so bad, but I don't want to tell anything else. I don't want to tell the whole rest of the body that this hurts, because it might make them feel bad for

me. So I'm just going to keep it to myself. Listen, there's an actual physical issue that goes along with that. Tony Dungy has talked about the fact that his son has had this problem, that he doesn't feel pain. So when he feels, so when something hurts him, it does not alert the rest of his body to the fact that it hurts. And so it causes deeper issues within his entire

body, because when it hurts, his hand, whatever part of his body is hurting, is deceiving the rest of his body by not saying, hey, I'm in pain right now. And it causes deeper infections and issues. And that's the way that we are to be with each other, is if we are not honest with each other, then we can't come around each other to help out. If we are not genuine with each other, then we can't come around each other to be genuine and love on each other.

Deceiving the body is the worst thing that we can do to the body. We are to lay aside falsehood and speak the truth. And I believe Jesus put it best when he said, let your yes be yes and your no be no. Be genuine, be sincere, lay aside falsehood, and speak the truth with your neighbor. The second thing that he deals with is he deals with anger. Anger. I want you to

notice what it says in verse 26. He says, be angry, and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. Under this subheading of anger, there's three things that he's going to tell us. Number one, he says, be angry and don't sin. Now wait a second. How do those two things go together? You should ask yourself that question.

And this is a quote from Scripture. He quotes the Old Testament here, to be angry and not sin. So I was thinking about this and praying about it. Again, I looked at the Amplified Bible, and I thought the Amplified Bible brought me to this. It brought it out really well. To be angry and not sin means to be angry at sin. To be angry at immorality, injustice, and ungodly behavior.

See, the problem is, we have a hard time separating the person from their behavior. We should be angry at the evil things that we see in the world today. We should be angry at the injustice that we see in the world today. We should be angry at what sin is doing to, to kids. We should be angry at what sin is doing to people. You should watch that movie that now I can't think of right now,

where the guy goes out and rescues the kids. You should watch that movie and be angry about that. Because that is evil that is taking place in our world. With the distinct understanding that God still desires all to be saved. We are to be angry and not sin. Because you see, the moment that that anger overtakes us and we lose control, we've now moved in to a place of sin.

He says, be angry and do not sin. The second thing that he tells us is, do not let the sun go down on your anger. Don't allow the sun to go down on your anger. Again, I want to read you this out of the Weast translation. It says, don't allow your anger to last until the sun goes down. Now, I have a little different philosophy on this verse than some people do.

You can agree. You can disagree. It's okay. It's your right to be wrong. I have a little different view on this verse than some other people do. Most people say, I will not go to bed if I'm angry. Because it says, don't let the sun go down. Therefore, if my wife and I are mad, I don't care if we have to stay up all night long. We are not going to bed angry.

Listen, if I stay up all night long, I will have not gone to bed. I'll still be angry. Okay? Sometimes you have to choose the proper time. Part of conflict resolution is to choose a proper time. And sometimes 3 a.m., not the proper time. Right? Because sometimes the best thing you can do when you're angry is lay down, get a good night's sleep, take it again in the

morning. The important philosophy, the important principle is that you not let your anger continue to last. In other words, you have to set the time, and then you have to keep the time. You know what? Both of us just need to go to bed right now because it's the best thing that we can do. First thing in the morning, the first thing that we're doing, is we're talking about this.

And then that's exactly what you do. You set your time and you keep it. Because here's the problem. If you keep procrastinating your anger, anger is like a muscle. It just continues to build. It just continues to build and get stronger and stronger and stronger. Because if you let anger last, it will become the thing that overtakes your life. Which is why he gives

us the third anger. He says do not give the devil an opportunity. Do not give the devil an opportunity. Again, let me read this to you. It says, don't give the devil an opportunity to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, by nurturing anger, by harboring resentment, and by cultivating bitterness. See, that's what happens to us. If we don't set a proper time and then eventually deal with that

issue, then what happens is we give the devil a foothold. He's looking for any opportunity that he can. He doesn't care how he can take the opportunity. He's just looking for the opportunity. And once he has the opportunity, he will lead you into sin. How will he do it? By holding a grudge, by nurturing anger, by harboring resentment, and by cultivating bitterness.

And so the longer you put that off, the more those things build up. The more you're living in sin because you're not dealing with the anger and pretty soon, pretty soon it's blown up to a point where it's now going to take years for you to deal with this. Now I want to say something to everybody that's sitting in here this morning. Each of us at points in time are going to get angry.

We're going to get angry at someone because of something that they've done. Maybe they meant to do it. Maybe they didn't mean to do it. But we're going to get angry. I'm here to tell you right now, you've let the sun go down on your anger for entirely too long. You have let that anger last for entirely too long. And it's time for you to stop giving the devil an opportunity.

And the only way to rob him of that opportunity is to deal with the anger. To confront it. To confront the issue. Sometimes it means admitting that you're wrong. Sometimes it's being willing to forgive. We'll deal with that a little bit more when we get to the end of this section. But no matter what, we have to deal with the anger that comes up in our lives.

And oftentimes the best way that we can deal with it is to never let it begin. After all, we're told in Proverbs chapter 15 verse 1, a gentle answer turns away wrath. A gentle answer turns away wrath. I'm here to tell you right now, I've handled this the wrong way a lot of times. Where somebody has gotten upset with me and I have fired back. Both guns a blazing. And you know

what happens every time I do that? Their guns are blazing too. Right? And pretty soon, pretty soon it's just a shooting match. And that's all that it is. But when I will look at Scripture and I will obey Scripture and do what it says and simply give that gentle answer, it's amazing how it diffuses it. You ever notice that fire can't put out fire? Water can.

And a gentle answer is like pouring water on a flame. It immediately puts it out. So, he tells us to deal with our falsehood by speaking truth. He tells us to deal with our anger by addressing it and dealing with it and not giving the devil a foothold. The third thing that we deal with is theft. Notice what it says, verse 28. He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must

labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Now, as I got ready to study this, I thought, isn't it funny that in the middle of all of these incredibly practical things, he deals with theft? Who's stealing things? Who has this issue? You know what's fascinating? A lot of people have this issue. A lot of people have this issue

and nobody knows about it until they get caught. Matter of fact, you should do yourself a little favor and do a Google search. I did this the other day because I always think about the fact, I listen to the radio all the time. It's always on in my office, especially talk radio because I'm old and I'm boring now. So I'm always listening to talk radio. So all these things come on,

little half-hour news bits and stuff like that. Every now and then you hear about some rich dude who's like a Fortune 500 business owner and he gets caught shoplifting at like Walmart or Target or something like that. And so as I was looking at this, I thought, you know, I wonder if that's, I wonder if I've made that up in my mind or if that's really true. So I just went on, I Googled, rich man caught shoplifting. And Google

failed me. I mean, pages, celebrities that have been caught shoplifting at places like Target. You're going, dude, you have all the money in the world. Why are you shoplifting from Target, right? Like, why are you shoplifting from these places? Because I want to tell us something. Theft has nothing to do with your economy. It has everything to do with your heart.

And that's the biggest thing that we need to pay attention to about that. Is that people want what is not theirs. We want what's not theirs. You know, theft always begins with a thought. And that thought's usually envy. We envy what somebody else has and sometimes we take it. You know who one of the greatest examples of a rich man that stole from somebody else was? David.

What did David steal? He stole Bathsheba, right? He stole another man's woman and then killed her for it. Or killed him for it. Theft is an issue of the heart. Poor people steal. Rich people steal. Doesn't matter who you are. He says, let him who steals, steal no longer. That seems like about the most basic advice ever. Listen, if you're in here this morning

and you have an issue with shoplifting, I'm just going to tell you right now, just stop. That's all there is to it. You know what the problem is with just stopping? It's become a habit. So you have to fill that habit with something else. And that's what he tells us. Instead, you are to labor with your hands. You are to labor with your hands. That word labor is a great word. It means

to exert to the point of exhaustion. To exert to the point of exhaustion. To exert to the point of exhaustion. I've always been a big KU basketball fan, so I like to go back and listen to some of the old KU basketball players talk about their time while they were at KU. And I was a really big Roy Williams fan. I know that's not a good thing in Kansas anymore because he went to North

Carolina. I don't care. I still like the guy, okay? And I was listening to one of the guys who used to play for Roy Williams, and he said, that guy worked us so hard that none of us ever got in trouble because we were too worn out to get in trouble. He said, by the time we were done with all of our practices and everything for the day, none of us wanted to go out and get ourselves

in trouble because all we wanted to do was eat food, take a shower, and go to sleep. And I thought, that's a really good way to look at this. You see, if you labor with your hands, if you exert yourself to the point of exhaustion, you have filled the heart desire to go out and steal something from somebody else because now you're too busy laboring with your own hands. The current issue we're having in our culture right now is nobody wants to labor, especially to the point of exhaustion.

Most people don't want to work anymore, and it's a it's an issue we're having in our society. It's an issue we're having in our economy. It's fascinating to talk to people that own businesses and have them tell you, I can't get anybody to come work for me. I can't get anybody to come do anything. I was talking to a guy the other day whose son just became a truck driver. He got a CDL so that

he could be a truck driver. He goes, do you know how much they're paying truck drivers right now? And I threw out what I thought was a ridiculous number because I knew what it was at one point in time. I said, I know what's really good. 80, 90k, something like that. He said, full benefits package for a FedEx driver, might have been UPS driver, one of those two.

Full benefits, pay and everything, 170k. You know why? Because they can't get anybody to work. Nobody to labor to the point of exhaustion anymore. And because of it, we're seeing theft. Our youth group just rented vans, right? To go up to this Royals game. It's great. There's so many of them we have to rent multiple vans. To go up there. So he tried to call

the place we usually go to. They didn't have them so we had to call the Enterprise. Now usually when you rent vans, I've done this for years. You come back, you drop the keys in a drop box and they check it out and make sure everything's good and everything like that. And you move on with life. So he says, hey, I can't drop the keys in a drop box. What do you mean you can't drop the keys in a drop box? I've been doing this

for 20 years. Every Enterprise, every place has a drop box. He said, well, I'll look into it and find out. So he calls me last night and he says, you know why? I can't drop the keys in a drop box because the drop box kept getting robbed. And then they'd steal the vans. And so they don't have a drop box anymore. You see, nobody's laboring with their hands. Instead, they're out stealing.

If the world would take this advice, labor to the point of exhaustion, you don't have time to go out and steal vans at that point in time. Joseph gives us a really perfect picture of this too in the Old Testament. Do you remember Joseph was living in Potiphar's house? He was in charge of the entire house and he was a hard-working dude. There was a chick living there, right? Potiphar's wife.

She was like, dang, he looked good. Right? And so she's always hitting on Joseph. And Joseph's like, girl, you ain't mine. Get away. And so he's fighting this battle the whole time. How did Joseph win the battle? Because he was always about his master's business. Because Joseph worked hard every day. That's why he could be in a house with a woman who propositioned him every

single day and still not give in. Because he was always laboring to the point of exhaustion. Idle hands are the devil's workhouse, right? Idle hands always leave room for the enemy to do his work. And so he says, let him who steals steal no longer. Instead, labor with your hands. But I want you to notice the third thing that he says, so that he will have something to share with the

one who has need. Ah, now we get to the real heart of how we deal with the heart of theft. You see, if when I was saved, I only wanted to take things from other people, how do I rob that? How do I take that feeling away and replace it with something else? Well, I become one who gives of myself to everybody else. You see, then the getting is simply to give. That's the

true heart transition that can take place inside of us. And so we've dealt with falsehood, we've dealt with anger, we've dealt with theft, now we deal with our speech. And we all hang our head. Verse 29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace

to those who hear. Now I don't know about y'all, but I study that, and it made me feel not great about myself. Because for the most part, God has dealt with my mouth. But I still think things are funny. And I think memes are funny. And I think reels are funny. And sometimes they're full of unwholesome words. And darn my sense of humor, because I read them and I'm like,

I can't ever let anybody know I think that's funny. Except my wife. Anyway, and then she tells me I shouldn't laugh at it, and then I feel bad. That's why God gives us those wonderful ladies in our lives that go, you know, Ryan. Well, I hope your wife doesn't call you Ryan. That'd be weird. You know, you shouldn't do that. That's actually not good. So he says,

let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth. Let me tell you what the word unwholesome literally defined means. It means rotten or unfit for use. Rotten or unfit for use. Okay, so we know that what should not come out of our mouth is anything that is rotten or unfit for use. But what does that mean in this particular context? Well, now's where I turn to the Amplified

Bible. Let no foul or profane or worthless or vulgar speech come out of your mouth. I think I pretty well hit all of us there, right? I think I was across the board. Like, anything that we would maybe justify in any way as being okay, I pretty well dealt with it. I have people ask me all the time, where in the Bible does it say you shouldn't cuss? Let no unwholesome word proceed

out of your mouth. Rotten or unfit for use. Profane or vulgar. This is another thing where I've noticed that society has changed. So when I was a kid, you barely heard any bad word on a normal, like, evening TV show, right? It was like maybe after 10 o'clock on one of the, like, late night shows you might hear them use some bad words. But then as I started getting a little bit older,

a little bit more got inserted. Started going, okay, well, it seems like they're allowing a little bit a little bit more in there. And now, you know what I notice? It's on commercials. Have you noticed that? Like, there's a Toyota commercial. We're watching it and Nora goes, Dad, that was not good. Of course, they watch closed captioning with everything too, right? Praise Jesus that closed

captioning is on there. Because they read the word too. And she's like, Dad, they should not have said that. I'm like, no, and we should not have read that either. That is, I can't believe that. That's the state we are in our society right now. That's that downward spiral we talked about last week. You see, once you let one thing go, the next thing goes again, and then

a little bit more, and then a little bit more. That's why we have to retrain the way that we speak. He says, let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth. So my question for you to start with is this. What came out of your mouth this last week? Because you know where it started? It started in your head. And you know where that started? It started in your

heart. Because out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So what do we do? How do we change that? Because I'm here to tell you right now, if you want to ruin your witness as fast as possible, you'll start letting a whole lot of unwholesome words come out of your mouth. Because I guarantee that is the first thing that an unbelieving world will notice about you.

And you know what question they'll ask? I thought you were a Christian. I know, it's happened to me before. I thought you were a Christian. It really surprises me you would have said that. So what do we do? Well, we have to change the words that come out of our mouth. Instead, we are to speak only such a word as is good for edification. According to the need

of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear. To those who hear. So there's two governors we should put on our speech. Number one, does it edify? Number two, does it speak? Grace. Does it edify? And does it speak grace into the life of somebody else? Well, what does it mean to edify? Well, to edify means to build up. A word that is good for building each other up.

Well, what imparts grace? Well, grace, of course, is God's unmerited favor, so it's going to speak grace into the life of people. This tells us that not only should we not allow the profane things to come out of our mouth, but it means we shouldn't allow the critical things to come out of our mouth. Uh-oh. Well, that really nails a lot of us, right? Because how many of us can be really

critical of other people, especially our kids or our spouses? We're not always good at being critical of the people that we're the most angry with. We're often good at being critical with the people that we are closest to because they'll take it, right? And so we should put this governor on our speech. Is it good for building up and does it impart grace to the hearer?

It's kind of like with social media. I always think that there should be an R-U-sure button and you should have to hit it three times before you can post anything, right? Like, are you sure? Yes. Yes. Enter your three-digit code, right? Like, that's what it should be because it would save a lot of people a whole lot of problems, right? Donald Trump may still be president if there was

an R-U-sure button. But sometimes we need the R-U-sure button on our speech, right? I think one of the greatest things you can do is stop and think. The problem is I'm not good at either one of those, right? Like, I like to be just as surprised as everybody else sometimes at what comes out of my mouth. Like, I didn't see that coming either. Son of a gun! That's a bummer!

So, we need to put that kind of a governor on it. Well, if we speak the words, if we're to speak the words that are good and words that are imparting grace, what should we be filling our hearts and our minds with? The things that are good and the things that impart grace. That tells us that we should be careful little ears what we hear. Because the things that come in

are eventually the things that will go out. So, he deals with this on our speech. He says, Number five, if you were to look at this in most commentaries, it doesn't actually show up on a list, right? But I think it's kind of its own separate thing. Verse 30 says this, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Now, that's not really something

to cast off or put on, and yet I feel like it sort of stands alone. Some lump it together with some of the other things, but I want to make this phrase stand alone for just a minute because I think it's important for us to pay attention to. So, let's look at what it says. Number one, we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Well, what does the word grieve mean?

The word grieve means to make sorrowful or sad. So, the Holy Spirit, of course, is the one that indwells us. The day that we became born again, the day that we came to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit came and indwelt us. That's that part that it talks about in John where Jesus says, if you believe in me, then my Father and I will make our home in you. That's where

we get the idea of asking Jesus into your heart from. And in it's because he says that we'll come and make our home in you. Well, how does Jesus come and make his home inside of us? Well, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in you. So, he says we are not to grieve this Holy Spirit

that dwells in us. We are not to make him sorrowful or sad. Now, what would make the Holy Spirit sorrowful or sad? Well, falsehood would make him awfully sad. Living a life of anger and giving a foothold to the devil would make him sorrowful or sad. Theft would make him sorrowful or sad. Unwholesome words that proceed out of our mouths would make him sorrowful

or sad. In just a minute we'll get to bitterness. Bitterness would make him sorrowful or sad. This tells us that all of the things that we are to put off are the things that bring grief to the Holy Spirit. They cause him to be sad. So, we should pay attention to that because now it's not just my heart's desire to obey God because it's the right thing to do. It's now

my heart's desire to obey God because I know that the true, mature fear of God is grieving the Holy Spirit. It's hurting the heart of the Holy Spirit because ultimately that hurts my relationship with God. He says don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Now, interestingly enough, in the Greek construction of this sentence, that means to stop grieving the Holy Spirit. To stop

grieving the Holy Spirit. Which would indicate that it is our natural bent to grieve him with the things that we do. Why is it our natural bent to grieve him with the things that we do? Well, because those old clothes are what we wear and we're to take those off. And if we refuse to take off the old clothes and put on the new clothes, then it's a grief to the Holy Spirit.

It causes him to be sorrowful or sad. And it hurts my relationship with the Lord. He says stop grieving the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it is by him that you have been sealed. It's by him that you have been sealed. Well, that takes us all the way back to Ephesians chapter 1 when he was telling us about all of the wonderful things that we have in Christ. If you remember, we were told that

we were given the Holy Spirit as a down payment. As a seal of our salvation. And since he has sealed us by making his home inside of us, then why would we want to bring anything into it that would hurt his heart? Why would we want to bring anything into it that would make him sad? Right? It's kind of like when you get married. There's certain things about you that maybe your

husband or wife doesn't like. And so you give those things up. Why? Because you know your husband or wife doesn't enjoy that. It hurts your relationship with them. And the most important thing to you is that relationship. And so you get rid of the things that you need to get rid of so that you don't grieve that relationship. He says stop grieving the Holy Spirit.

And that brings us to the last one. Bitterness. He says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. And be kind to one another and be kind to one another. Tender hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. It's interesting that we revisit a very similar subject to what we discussed

earlier. Anger. Only this time he shows us what anger looks like when it plays itself out. Because he uses a phrase to start it off. He uses a word to start it off and that word is bitterness. That word bitterness can mean harsh or angry feelings. It is, if you will, a settled feeling that has come about into someone's life because of a hurt. There's a bitterness. It's interesting

because the word literally means poison. That's its literal definition. But of course we know that that poison in this particular context speaks of a harsh feeling towards another. But isn't it also interesting that in Scripture throughout Scripture it's called a root of bitterness because it brings poison into our lives. And those of us that have drank deeply of bitterness

can very easily say that it was like poison in our lives. Because that bitterness leads to a couple of things. The first thing that that bitterness leads to is wrath. Now wrath and anger are two different words. Wrath speaks of an explosion. Right? Wrath is what happens when this boom, this thing happens and you blow up on everybody around you. That's wrath.

But that's what bitterness leads to. Bitterness leads to explosions of wrath. But it also leads to anger. Anger is more of a settled feeling. It's not an explosion. It's a constant boiling point that you've reached. You're just always there now. But that bitterness that leads to wrath and anger also leads to clamor. Now I've never used the word clamor before in my life

other than in the Bible. It could also be translated brawling. A physical fight. Isn't that kind of interesting? Bitterness that leads to an outburst of anger, a settled feeling of anger, can ultimately lead to physical violence. Isn't that kind of crazy? It's always interesting to see the people that end up getting into a fight and you're like, huh, didn't see that

coming with you. You seem pretty mature. But it happens. But not only does it lead to that, it also leads to slander. Oh man. This of course is putting someone down with your speech. You ever talk to somebody that has that root of bitterness inside of them towards either somebody else or a company or something and everything that they say always leads back to that one thing. Every

conversation you get into always takes you back to how angry they are with that one person. The bitterness they have towards that person. Or the bitterness that they have towards that situation. I think I've shared this before, but I used to work with a guy when I worked groundskeeping up in Kansas City and he had been in a job that had been really, really good.

Great benefits. He'd planned to retire there and then he got downsized. And he had been downsized five years before he came to work with us at Lakeview Village because he just kept getting another job and another job and another job. And I know why he kept having to get new jobs. Because every day he talked about that company and what they did to him. He talked about those

bosses and what they did to him. How he was set. Everything was great. And then they ruined his life. And he slandered them up one side and down the other. Every day. And you know what? I've been around other people that are that exact same way. That every conversation you have with them always leads back to how angry they are about that one thing. To how bitter they

are about that one thing. That's why bitterness is poison. Because it eventually infects every aspect of who we are. He says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander along with all malice be put away from you. Put away. Same word. Cast off. To take it off like an old set of clothing. And instead, what are we to put on? And I love Ephesians 4.32.

I'm debating in my mind whether I'm going to make us sing it or not. But we'll get there. It says, instead be kind to one another. Tenderhearted, forgiving each other. Just as God and Christ has forgiven you. Now, I find this kind of interesting because there's three words that he uses. First of all, he says to be kind. The word kind means to be good or gracious.

And it's interesting because, again in the Greek construction, it says be becoming kind to each other. Now, I like that it puts it that way because it reminds me that I've not yet arrived. That this is still a process that I'm in the midst of. That this is still something that we all are to learn and grow in. It's not like you get saved and you decide, hey, I'm just never going to be bitter anymore.

I'm just always going to be kind. Look, I'm the kind guy now. It's all that I ever do. I'm kind. Hey, I love you and I love you. I like everybody. No, it means every day I have to learn a little bit more about it. Because I still deal with people. And you know what people make you not want to be sometimes? Kind. Right? Because sometimes you're like, but I don't want to be kind to you.

You're a jerk. Right? Real talk with Ryan. And so we have to be becoming kind. Good. And gracious to each other. He says instead, be kind to one another. And then the second word that he uses is tenderhearted. That word tenderhearted means compassionate and understanding. For some of us, compassion comes incredibly naturally because that's just how God made us. It's how we're hardwired.

My youngest daughter is one of them. She can't stand to see anybody hurt. She can't stand to see anybody in a difficult situation. We were in Winfield a couple of days ago and she saw somebody pulling a wagon. Clearly somebody that was homeless or they were from bluegrass. Hard to say. Anyway, sorry. Anyway, so she sees them and she goes, oh dad, I don't think they have anywhere to live.

And it just crushed her heart. Like you can tell. And I'm like, if I'm not careful, she's going to be bringing people home one of these days. Who is that, Nora? Dad, he didn't have anywhere to be like that scene in the Chuck Smith movie where she brings somebody home like, who's in the living room? And she's like, well dad, that's Danny. And Danny doesn't have anywhere to live.

I told him he could stay here tonight. Oh my gosh. Okay, we've got to set some parameters for this. But some of us are naturally that way. So we're to be compassionate, tenderhearted, have that compassion towards one another. But you know the other word I really like in there is under that definition of tenderhearted. It means, understanding. You know what we're lacking

right now in culture? We're lacking understanding. We don't like to take time to understand where somebody's coming from. Listen, even if it's people that you disagree with. I think the most important thing we can do as conservatives, I'm assuming most of us in here are that. If not, that's okay. I'm understanding of you too. We should be understanding of where

somebody's coming from with some things. Because sometimes the complaints that people have, there's a legitimate reason behind it. But all we want to do is sit back and go, you know, if there were just lower taxes and people read the Bible we'd be fine. No, no, let's take some time to understand what's really going on. Let's understand the heart behind why this person is struggling

right now. And we're to be understanding of each other, but it always starts with being tenderhearted. Too many of us as Christians have become hardhearted, which doesn't make sense to me. Because the very thing that we had to be to come to Jesus was broken. And that tells me that we've stopped being broken. We're to be tenderhearted. Be kind to one another. Be tenderhearted

to one another. And then the last word is that we are to be forgiving of one another. I found this interesting. This really did have an interesting meaning behind it because there's a couple of different Greek words that are used to forgive. One is what Jesus did for us. That he took our sin upon himself, became the substitute and he lifted our sin off. And forgave us

of our sin. That's not the word that's used here. The word that's used here means to treat the offending party graciously. To treat the offending party graciously. To simply show them grace. Do you know how you diffuse bitterness? By treating the offending party graciously. If they ask you to go one mile go with them two. If they ask you for your coat give them your cloak also.

Feed those that are hungry. Clothe those that are naked. Give a cup of water to those that are in need. Whether or not you agree with them. Whether or not they agree with you. Even if they throw it back in your face. Because that's what it means to be forgiving. To show that gracious nature to the offending party. After all when Jesus knelt down and washed the disciples feet, which disciple

was there with him? Judas. The one who would betray him hours later was the one that he showed tender hearted graciousness towards by washing his feet. And what is our example for this? Notice what it says at the end of verse 32. Just as God in Christ forgave you. Because you see the moment we say Lord, I can't show them kindness. I can't show them tenderness.

I can't show them forgiveness because you don't know what they've done. You know what he tells us? Just remember what I did for you. And let that be the guide to whether or not you can show them kindness and tenderness and forgiveness. Because if I can forgive you, if I can show graciousness to you and perhaps that same Holy Spirit that raised me from the dead will give you

what you need to show graciousness to the world around you. Brothers and sisters, we're to walk in holiness. And it's not just an idea. It's something that we have to put shoes on and walk out every day of our lives. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you. And Lord, thank you for the morning that you've given to us here at Calvary Chapel, the time that we've had in your word,

the time that we've had in worship. We ask that your word would sink deeply into our hearts, that you would marinate our souls. And Lord, may we come out smelling like you. Father, may your Holy Spirit do the work that only you can do through your word. Draw us near to you, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Praise you, Lord. Father, as we leave now and go about our daily lives, may we look to you, trust you, put our confidence in you, in whatever we're facing, whatever we are looking to deal with, whatever it may be, Lord. We thank you, Lord, that as we yield ourselves to you, we know, Lord, that you are working in us both to will and do of your good pleasure. And Lord, that you do supernatural things through natural activities of daily living as we move about, Lord.

And we thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen? Lord bless y'all. Have a good week.