Thank you, Mark, for leading us again this morning. Good morning to everyone. Beautiful, beautiful day out there this morning on the farm. And all my friends are happy on the farm this morning. 

So we're transitioning from sand flies to mosquitoes now, I think. So hopefully not too much overlap. 

Well, we're continuing our study of Ephesians chapter 4 this morning. And last week, we looked at a vital section of scripture that gave us the truth basis for our holy living, the truth that is in Jesus, as Paul put it, that we have put off the old man and that we have put on the new man. 

And we saw that the key to the Christian life, to winning the battle of the Christian life, is that we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind. This morning, we're going to get intensely practical. And this is really where the rubber meets the road. Paul says, therefore, therefore, based on the truths that we've been studying, that he's been laying down as a foundation for our holy living, the truths that we must know, that we must choose to believe, that we must reckon to be so, therefore, therefore, this is how we must live. 

And this is where it gets really practical, really personal, and really, in some ways, problematic. You see, in the church, we often go one of two ways. Either we are somewhat superficial, just picking out a verse or two and sermonizing on it, trying to encourage all about application and making everyone feel good, but never really plumbing the depths of the truth and the reality of who we are and what we have in Christ and what that means for our lives. 

Or we tend to camp on the doctrine, the academic side of the Scriptures, always studying and philosophizing and never getting to the real application of the truth. We need to see the doctrine as linked to the living. We need to study carefully, thoroughly the truth, the doctrine, so that we may know and understand it and believe it, but we must never lose sight of the whole point of the teaching, and that is to bring application in our lives to change how we live. 

The truth, the doctrine, is meant to be a basis, a sweet reasonableness, for a new life, for practical application. But my friends, this is where it gets hard. This is where it gets real. And when we come down to specifics, to real practical application of the truth in Jesus in our lives, it can get really personal and convicting. 

When I study, when I spend time in the word of God to prepare for preaching and teaching these messages, I first have to study the word for myself. I have to dig in and grapple with the words in order to come to a full understanding of what God is saying, and then I have to seek to articulate and teach it in a way that brings understanding to give the sense of it and apply it to our lives. But first, I find application for myself. 

And the doctrine is wonderful, beautiful. I love it. I love the linear nature, the logic, and system of Paul's writing, such as what we've been studying in Ephesians. It's a joy and encouragement to study these truths and ponder on them and rejoice over them. But the point of all this, again, is application and to have the truth impact our thinking, our minds, and therefore our living. 

And when I come to a text like the one before us this morning and really begin to study it and contemplate what it's saying for myself, for my life, it becomes somewhat problematic because I realize how far short I fall of the Christ's life, of God's plan and purpose for me, of God's best for me. And it is convicting, my brothers and sisters in Christ. It's easier to sort of gloss over these things, to not think about them too much or preach too acutely on them. 

But this is the whole point. Our studies for the last several months in Ephesians and Romans, et cetera, are really meant to bring us to this point, to have us not only know and appreciate and study the truth of what it means to be in Christ, but to apply those truths in our lives so that we might change, that we might grow and come to maturity, to holiness, to a life that impacts our families, our workplace, our witness in this world. 

So this passage, if we really consider it, if we look intently at it and seek to make application of it to our lives, will convict us, will make us a little bit uncomfortable. But by God's grace and power, if we take it for ourselves and truly ponder it, roll it over in our minds and apply it continually day by day, based on the truths of who I am in Christ and what we have in Him, these words will renew our minds and help us to change our lives as well for His glory. 

Let's look at our text, Ephesians 4:25. Paul writes, therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give him who has need. 

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you. 

I've given you five points on your outline. First, therefore. Second, members of one another. Third, transformation. Fourth, truth and grace. And fifth, kind and tenderhearted. 

Well, first in our text, we see therefore. And this is the all-important word. It calls us back to all the truths we've been studying, and in particular to the text that we studied last week, and the contrast between the man in Adam and the man in Christ. 

We saw in verses 17 to 24, Paul characterized the man in Adam. Look at verse 17. He said, this I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. In the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. 

This is truth concerning the man in Adam, the man of our world who does not know Christ. This is a perfect assessment of that man, and we see this all around us in those who do not believe. In verse 20, we see a great contrast. He says, but you, but you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, here's the truth that we learned at our conversion that you have put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. 

You are being renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you have put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. The truth that we learned at the point of our conversion, our new birth through faith in Jesus alone, was regeneration, that we at that point in time, we once for all put off the old man and once for all put on the new man. 

And we are now in this Christian life, in this process of sanctification, being continually renewed in the spirit of our minds to this vital truth. So now we are in Christ, in true righteousness and holiness. We have been totally transformed in the inner man. We died with Christ. Our old man was crucified with him, buried with him, and we were raised to a holy new life, a new creation in Christ. 

And God has come to make his home in us. We have been given the divine nature and he has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We lack nothing. And as we live this life, we look to Jesus. We trust in him and his life and power in us, the very power that raised Jesus from the dead, works in us to accomplish God's will and purpose. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And we live this life by grace through faith, having begun in the spirit, we now walk by the spirit through faith. 

And it is by abiding in Jesus, remaining in him, looking to him, letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, walking in the spirit that we now see the fruit of holiness produced out through us for his glory and as a witness to the world. So these are the truths. These are the foundational principles for our new life, the new life we have in Jesus. 

This is the basis for the therefore in verse 25. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another. And this verse is very instructive for the context in which Paul gives these practical exhortations. It's within the context of the body, the church. He draws us back to the unity that he talked about previously in chapter two, the body principle in the church and the need for unity in thought and spirit in action. 

Just as the human body has many members, and these members all work together in a symbiotic unity for the good of the body, so we as members of the church body must act in unity, working for the benefit of one another, for the good of the body and its function and purpose. So we're talking about relationships of people here and specifically members of the body, the local church. 

Therefore, he says, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another. We are members of one another. And this is the body principle that Paul laid out back in the first part of this chapter. 

Let's look at Ephesians four at verse 11. This speaking of how Christ gave grace gifts. He gave gifts to the church. Verse 11, he himself gave some to the apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastor teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. 

But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together, look at this, by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. We are to speak the truth in love. That's the same thing Paul is saying in our text. 

The words putting away, put away lying, are in the Aorist tense and are again tied to a once for all putting away at the point of our conversion, no longer being a part of our speech or actions. Wiest comments putting away lying is in the Greek text an Aorist participle and an article and noun in the accusative case. The translation reads having put off once for all the lie, and putting off once for all the old man, they put off the habit of lying which was part of that old man. 

In view of the fact that they have done that, they are exhorted to speak truth, each one to his neighbor. Lying was a habitual habit of the old man. And this truth is evident in our world. Men lie continually. I just saw a fact check on our president from an interview he did last week and he told a lie a minute in that interview. And it's not just politicians, although they have perfected the art, it's little children, it's men and women alike. 

The man in Adam is a liar consistently and continually, but that is not true of the believer, the one who has put off the old man in his lying ways. And now the truth is of utmost importance to us. We tell the truth because it's the truth that will set men free. 

I remember a story my mom told me about my oldest brother, Mike, when he was young. He went to school one day and one of the children there told him that there was no man in a red suit up north. And this upset my brother and he came home and he asked my mom about it. And of course there was confirmation of this fact. I'm trying to use some big words here just in case. 

And so my brother asked, what about the tooth fairy? Same answer. The Easter bunny, he said. Again, my mother answered. And then my brother said this to my mother. I suppose there is no Jesus either. It matters that we speak the truth in all things, particularly with our brothers and sisters in the body. And this, Paul says, is indicative of who we are and important to our witness and the unity of the body. 

Speak the truth in all things. Speak the truth in love. 

Well, next we see in our text, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Well, there are three words for anger in the Greek New Testament. The first is thumos. It speaks of that kind of blowing up, boiling over wrath, an outburst of wrath. And this kind of anger is strictly forbidden for the believer. It's translated wrath down in verse 31 of our text. The second word is paragusmos, translated wrath in verse 26. And it's also forbidden. It refers to anger that is accompanied by irritation, exasperation, and embitterment, to be bitter, to be angry. 

The third word is orge, which is an abiding and settled habit of the mind that is aroused under certain conditions, kind of a steady anger. And this is the word translated in our verse here, be angry and do not sin. It's very important that we understand what Paul's saying here about anger and what the Bible says in general. Very often we become angry, whether it be a boiling over kind of anger or an outward display of wrath or even an inner bitterness, and it's because of something that has wronged us or gotten in the way of something that we want. 

This is not an acceptable form of anger. The Bible sometimes is here, commands us to be angry, but it says do not sin. So what kind of anger is it talking about? Well, it's a righteous anger against that which is unrighteous or offends a holy God. This is the type of anger that hates sin, that hates unrighteousness, and that which blasphemes God. 

So the anger that is biblical is not anger because of me, something doesn't go my way or someone gets in my way in the way of something I want, but rather righteous anger is against something that offends God, that is unholy, that is unrighteous. And again, this is in relation to people within the body or even the broader context of our world. 

I was thinking that it thankfully does not mention anything about anger toward cows or pigs when you're moving them. Okay, just kidding. The point is that we should be angry about that which offends the holiness of God or is against his name or his character. 

I'm working on this, my neighbor the other day, I feel bad for my neighbor sometimes, but the cows were really, they got out and they're running in circles and we're chasing them and she came over later and she said, I was gonna come and get my milk earlier, but I heard you yelling and I thought I'd stop, wait until you stopped yelling. 

The point is that we should be angry about that which offends the holiness of God or is against his name or his character. And this is what we see when Jesus cleansed the temple, making a whip of cords. What was the essence of his anger? Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. The corruption, the extortion that was going on with the money changers and the religious leaders and in the house of the Lord, this is what offended Jesus. 

So this was righteous anger. Be angry, but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Wrath here is a different word, that word that implies bitterness or irritation and it's forbidden. And if you find yourself in this place of sin, say maybe with your spouse, then take care of that before the sun goes down. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give place or opportunity to the devil. 

This command is to stop doing something that you're allowing. Don't give place, opportunity to the devil by becoming bitter in your anger, leading to sin. Well, next we see in verse 28, a full transformation. Verse 28, let him who stole, steal no longer. But rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 

This verse challenges our motive concerning work and money, material possessions. Let me ask you this, why do we work? Why do you work? Is it to pile up money in the stock market, to have lots of things to go and do? None of these things are evil and in of themselves and necessary to some degree and good. 

But the transformation we see in this verse is from who we were in Adam, a thief, to who we now are in Christ, a giver. We are anxious to extend grace as God has with us in Christ, to give as Jesus gives particularly to the one who has a need. I don't know about you, but it's interesting in our culture, in our communities, there's very little real need. 

So sometimes you have to look for a real need to give. We have needs for our church and that we're giving all over the world to missionaries and places where there is true need. And of course, there's a need for us and of course, the going forth of the gospel. But the idea here is that you have a heart to minister to others. So you're working with your hands. Paul says in Thessalonians, minding your own business, working with your hands, earning enough to take care of your own and then to have something to give him who has need. 

So Paul says here, you were a thief. Now in Christ, you should work with your hands. You should labor doing what is good and right. And with your earnings, your greatest desire should be to meet the needs of others, to give. And Jesus said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And because of our love for God and for others, it's our heart's desire to give. 

This is consistent with who we are. The man in verse 28 is a changed, transformed man from being in Adam to being in Christ, from being a thief who steals to gratify himself to wanting to work, to earn, to give. On verse 29, we see another need that we might meet for our brothers and sisters in the body, the need for words of edification. And this is perhaps the most practical verse I can think of in the Bible. 

If we could just apply, if I could just apply this one verse, it would radically change my life. It would change our church. It would change our fruitfulness. Listen to what it says. It commands. And think about how this would change every relationship we have. This is a very convicting verse, at least for me. 

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. Let no, none, not one, corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. And here we come to speech. James talks much about the tongue, an unruly evil which cannot be tamed, he says. 

Here is a struggle, my brothers and sisters. And Paul sets a contrast between that which is rotten and useless, damaging even, to that which edifies and builds up and encourages. And we all can do this simply with our mouth, what we say. What we say. 

I have known and do know Christians who are so good at this. No corrupt, rotten, useless words, whether this be cursing or innuendo or gossip or whatever's unholy and unpure of the world that passes by our lips. No corrupt words. I fail at this, complaining, grumbling, speaking evil of those in authority. So many ways. 

I sometimes allow rotten, useless words to pass by my lips. And this is not a good witness. This is not edifying. And so often it tears down. I love the contrast here because he says, but words that are good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. I so much want to be a believer who constantly speaks words of edification, to impart grace to the hearers, to build them up, to encourage them, to glorify Jesus. 

I know people like this. I love to be around them. I want to be like them. And these practical applications, based on the truth of who we are, is the place to start. It is the desire that God has put in me. It's also what I most want. And it has an intensely practical impact in my life and on those around me. 

We should be constantly speaking about Jesus, blessing God, speaking well of him, and the greatness of who he is and what he has done. And I should not be so concerned about worldly things and things that disappoint me, but I should be concerned about my fellow believers and what they need and encouraging them and speaking good words necessary for edification. 

This is a choice on my part. And I implore you to each think about how you speak, to seek to apply these words in your homes, in the church, in the world, and be an encourager, one who builds up by the words that you say. 

Verse 30 says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Notice the word and, this is tied directly back to verse 29. When we speak corrupt words as the world, rotten, useless words, it so grieves the Holy Spirit. And he's shown here as one who feels. It saddens him. It disappoints him. It grieves the Spirit of God. 

When I was growing up, the thing I feared most was disappointing my father. He wasn't one who was apt to discipline through corporal punishment very often. But he could give you a look that would make you wish he would hit you. The reason I hated to disappoint him was because I respected him so much and I wanted to please him. 

And I didn't want to see that look on his face because of something stupid that I had done. But my dad was far from perfect. How much more should I want to avoid disappointing my heavenly father and grieving the Holy Spirit, the one who saved me by his grace, who transformed me and empowers and indwells me, who loves me perfectly and always does what is best for me, who gives me a guarantee of eternal life? 

Jesus died for me so that I might live for him. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of my redemption. He has sealed me for the day of redemption and glorification. The last thing I want to do by my words, by my life, is grieve him. Rather, I want to speak truth in love and impart grace to those who hear me. Truth and grace, good words necessary for edification. 

Now look at verse 31 with me, please. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Here again, we see a contrast. The old man was full of bitterness. 

This speaks of resentfulness, harshness, and again, relates to me looking to myself, wanting what I want, hating those who stand in my way. Wrath is thumos, a violent outbreak of anger, anger boiling up, soon subsiding again, like we talked about before. Anger is that word orge commanded in verse 26, a righteous anger towards sin and unholiness, but here, what is commanded in verse 26 is forbidden because it's simply talking about human passion and my desires, anger because I'm not getting what I want. 

Clamor is the outcry of passion. It's an outward manifestation of anger. It's yelling, fighting, brawling. Evil speaking is blasphemia, slanderous and injurious speech. These are the things that are typical of the man in Adam, the outworking of the controlling power of sin through his physical body, the fruit of the flesh. 

Let's look at Galatians 5, where Paul lays that out. Galatians 5 at verse 19, comparing the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And against such, there is no law. And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. We see the same contrast in our text. In verse 32, he says, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. 

So rather than being self-focused, being angry and bitter and malicious like the man in Adam, let those of us in Christ in the body relate to one another in this way. Be kind. I talked to my brother last night. He's got a little place down in Southern Indiana on a lake and been there for years and years and years. But the man who originally sold all that property to him kept a piece of property in between and he won't let him run a waterline to his place. 

But my other brother has a place down the road on the same lake and he has an existing waterline. And this last couple of weeks, the water started leaking somewhere. So the city water department came out. They're gonna replace that line. It's been there for 50 years. 

So this man who had owned the land came out and started yelling, what are you doing? Cussing and everything. And the guy said, we're gonna fix it. He said, no, you're not. You'll hear from my lawyer in the morning. My brother said when he drove out, he had a sign. This man had a sign in his yard that says, be kind. 

Be kind, right? Well, it's easy to say. It's easy to purport for the lost man and Adam for the world. But for us, as believers, especially in the body, with our brothers and sisters, be kind to one another, he says. The first word, be, is really interesting here. It literally means to become. Expositor says the idea is that they had to abandon one mental condition. 

Think about that in Adam, who you were before Christ. What was your mental condition? How did you think? You thought continually about what was best for you, what people could do for you. You had to go from one mental condition, he says, and make their way, beginning there and then, into its opposite, to be kind. 

The word kind means benevolent, gracious. We are to be gracious to one another. And I don't know about you, my brother and my sister in Christ, but I need a lot of grace. A lot of grace from God, a lot of grace from each one of you. Be gracious. Be kind to one another. Tenderhearted speaks of being compassionate, wanting what is best for one another, always thinking of others and their needs and their suffering. 

The word translated forgiving is not the normal word for forgiveness of sins or offenses. This is really interesting, but speaks of graciousness toward our brothers and sisters, literally meaning to do a favor to, to do something agreeable or pleasant to one, to show oneself gracious, benevolent, to forgive in the sense of treating the offending party graciously. 

Paul uses the same word here speaking of God forgiving us in Christ. It was in Christ that God exercised His grace toward us, that He favored us, that He gave us what we did not deserve, grace. And so we are to treat one another, not just forgiving trespasses against us, but acting graciously toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

And Jesus is the standard. Forgive one another just as, even as God in Christ forgave you. So you see then, we do not have an excuse to hate or be bitter or be angry toward anyone due to offenses against us, but rather we are to love and speak truth and act graciously toward our brothers even in the case of an offense, just as God did with us in Christ. 

When we were His enemies, when we were against Him, when we were offending Him, Christ died for us. And so we see some intensely practical, really challenging words here in our text for us to ponder and apply in our daily lives, in our homes, in our church, in our world. 

Who are you, my brother, my sister in Christ? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you most want? Then how shall you live? What should you expect from your life each day? And how is it that you should walk? Not as the rest of the Gentiles, not like who you were. How should you think? What matters most? Not worldly ideas and motives and goals, not carnal things and self-empowerment and aggrandizement. No, it is Jesus that matters. 

What God thinks is what matters. What His will is for my life is what matters, and it's my brothers and sisters in Christ that matter. Their needs, the words necessary for edification, truth spoken with the motive of love, and this for a witness to the world and for the glory of God. You see, this is who I am, and these are the things that I most want for my life, and by God's grace and power, by Jesus' life in me and the power of the Holy Spirit, by grace through faith abiding one day at a time, this can be a reality of my life. 

And what a privilege, what a joy it is to live for Him, to live for Him. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for Your Word, for clear instruction, for truth, for application, for power to carry it out. Thank You for Your grace. Thank You that You're so good to us, that You're our Father and You always do what's best for us. Thank You for Jesus, in His name we pray. Amen.