Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: The study of Ephesians chapter four, and it is sad when we enter into a habit of lying. We are always in a danger of it, and he's telling them, here is practical Messiah following. You want to be practical? Stop this lying one to another and speak the truth. He is adding at the end, because we are members one of another. I still want to read that verse in John 8, verse 44. He said, "For he is a liar and the father of it." Satan is the father of it. In other words, when we lie all the time, we are doing the job that Satan wants us to do.

When we speak the truth, we do the job or the ministry or the service that Yeshua wanted us to do. That is the beautiful thing when we are submitting ourselves to the will of God. Back in Ephesians chapter four and verse 15, he says, "Speaking the truth in love." When we speak with each other and with people around us, we are to speak the truth and to do so in love. Here is what you call practical Messiah following or practical Christianity: speaking the truth and stopping to lie.

Secondly, notice verse 26 and verse 27. The second thing that he is exhorting or charging the Ephesians to do is to be angry without sin. How is that possible? Because we oftentimes are getting angry because we didn't get our own way and we end up sinning. Anger, though, in itself is not wrong if it is a right type of anger. The Bible does tell us that God is angry with the wicked every day. We read it in the book of Psalms. Turn to Psalm 7, verse 11. It says, "God judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day."

Now, there is one kind of anger and there is another kind of anger. Righteous indignation is the anger of God. We oftentimes are angry and are not having what you call righteous indignation. We are angry because we didn't get our own way. We are angry because somebody bothered me. We are angry because we wanted to do something and it didn't happen. That is not righteous indignation. This is anger that God is not desired to see in the life of the people of God.

That's why he said, and I'm back in Ephesians chapter four and verse 26, "Be ye angry, and sin not: and let not the sun go down upon your wrath." You see Paul, a Hebrew man, quoting the Old Testament scripture, Psalm 4 and verse 4, that which we read today. Be angry and sin not. How can we be angry without sin? Well, the only way to do so is to have what is called righteous indignation or righteous anger. Things that are going on in this world that are dishonoring God. It's a right thing to be angry about those things and yet we are not sinning because we see the things are being done wrong.

People are being wronged. The way people are being treated. The way things are going on in this world and that is what you call righteous indignation when we are upset at what's going on and yet we do not sin by doing so. But to have other than that, which unfortunately we often get angry because we do not get our own way, that is being angry and sinning at the same time. He continued in the same portion, verse 26 and verse 27, and he says, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath."

I remember years ago when my wife, Irene, and I have been with other couples in a counseling meeting with some brother who used to speak to us about marriage and how important we are to treat each other as a husband and wife. I remember very clearly where he says, "If you have a conflict with your spouse, with your wife, and you go to sleep, make sure that before you sleep, that you deal with this issue and you correct it and confess it and say, 'I'm wrong, honey. I apologize,' if you were the wrong one. If not, appeal to your spouse to correct it so you will not let the sun go down remaining in an anger condition."

It's so beautiful to see when we have a problem with each other. If I have wronged you or you wronged me, that we can make that phone call and say, "Brother so-and-so, I want to apologize. I want to say that I was wrong. I want to have this corrected because I can't sleep." Can you imagine in relationships, as friends, as husbands and wife, or parents and children, imagine what happens when you go at night to sleep angry? The next day it becomes easier to be angry and to go to sleep.

Later on, that's how there is so much wedges between friends and family is that we allow the sun to come down upon our wrath instead of saying, "No, I want to correct it. I apologize." Confess it, forsake it, and then you can go to sleep. You can let the sun go down and instead upon your wrath, you have the sun go down upon the shalom that the Lord gives you after you corrected the matter. So he's saying to the brothers and sisters at the city of Ephesus, "Listen, if you are angry, let your anger be expressed but don't sin. Be angry over things that are dishonoring to God so God can be receiving His glory."

Then do not allow the sun go down upon your anger, your wrath, because it's not healthy. It doesn't help you spiritually at all. So he says in verse 27, "Neither give place to the devil." Don't give room for the devil to come in and break a relationship. Oh, how we messed up with this so many times. How many times we have allowed Satan. We gave him room to bring a wedge between us so our relationship will be broken. Don't give room, he says. Don't give place unto Satan, to the devil.

Why? Because he will seize an opportunity to destroy relationships, to destroy marriages, to destroy friendships, to destroy congregations and assemblies and local churches. That is his ministry. That's his work, a work of destruction among the people of God. Neither give place to the devil. Don't allow him to come and to do those things in your life. Second Corinthians 2 and verse 10 says this, "To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ, of the Messiah; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."

I must say, many times we are ignorant of his devices. We allow Satan to destroy friendships, relationship, marriage, and all those things. We know that if we will carry on in this pathway, we're going to end up breaking a relationship. We ought not to allow him to do so, not to give an advantage to him to destroy, lest Satan should get an advantage of us. He surely does, beloved brothers and sisters. The blame is on us because we are not submissive to the word of God.

We allow this to happen in our lives and even among us as believers, unfortunately. Every time the church is divided is a proof where Satan have been allowed to sow the seed of discord and to break a relationship between believers. In other words, we have allowed him. We have gave him a place to do his own tricky way and to divide the people of God. Unfortunately, it's not only in a large groups but even in a very small relationship between marriages.

How many broken homes are today existing because we have allowed Satan to have his very own way instead of saying, "No, I'm going to be broken before the Lord. I'm going to do the right thing. I'm going to repent and turn back to the Lord because I want to hold on to that relationship. I want to be blessed by the Lord." It is unfortunate when we are not careful in this matter. So, verse 25, stop lying. Verse 26 and 27, be angry and sin not. Now, here's verse 28. He says stop stealing.

Notice verse 28, "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 or to him that needeth." Now here he's saying to them, "Look, before you became a believer, that's the way you used to live. Now that you became a believer, stop with this. Now work and labor so you will be able to assist the people of God." So he says at the end of verse 28, "Labor with your hand the things which are good, that he may have to give him that is in need."

In other words, look at the opposite. Don't steal anymore but now use the labor that you do for the benefit of the people of God, for people who have a need as it's mentioned here in verse 28. Again, talking about Satan, Yeshua said in John 10:10, "The thief cometh but to steal." That's what Satan does. He comes and he steal our hearts' affection from the Lord. He just causing all sort of friction among the people of God.

Paul saying, not only stop lying, not only be angry and sin not, but also stop stealing and work in order that you will be able to assist those that have a need. Look at the standard that the apostle presents before the brothers and sisters of the Ephesians. Here's the fourth thing. In verse 29, he's now asking the believers of the Ephesians to stop to use their mouth for corrupt communication. It is amazing sometimes how we can say, "God, I praise You," and then we turn around and curse this man that was made in an image and a likeness of God. In the same stanza, we are able to do so.

So he's saying here, notice verse 29, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Now that tells us a lot. How do we use our mouth, our tongue? Do we use it to gossip? Do we use it to cut down people all the time? Do we use it to curse people? What come out of our mouth? How do we use it? Do we use it to bring, as it says here, to minister grace unto the hearers?

Well, you see, he doesn't need to say it to the Ephesians if there was not that problem existing in their midst. He doesn't need to say it to us if it's not our problem as well. "Let not corrupt communication come out of our mouth," as he's saying it in verse 29. Why? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speak. As a man think, so he is. If our thought pattern will be in a right way, we will say things that are pleasant and edifying to the people of God.

Let me read you a verse in James chapter three, verse five. Look at this, very interesting verses here. James says in verse five, "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth it on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." Verse seven, "For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."

Then he says in verse nine, "Therewith, with the tongue, we bless God, even the Father; and therewith, with the tongue, we curse men, which are made after the similitude of God." Can you imagine what we can do and say and come out of our mouth? Now, if we are believers in Yeshua, it's got to be different. Therefore, it ought to be different. We are no longer to speak in the way that we used to speak before we became believers. You remember that. Before we became believers, we used to curse. We used to speak all sort of words out of our mouth.

When we became believers, we have to start to put a guard to watch what we say. To be careful. Why? Because it is pleasing to the Lord. It's an evidence of the new man in our life, the new life that we have in our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. Yeshua said in Matthew 12 and verse 34, "Out of the abundant of the heart the mouth speaks." If your heart is abundantly filled with the Messiah and with the love of God, it will speak well.

It will speak words that are being pleasant to the heart of God and to the hearers. That's why in the last portion of verse 29, it says here, "but speak well," in other words, speak words that are edifying, "that it will minister grace unto the hearers." So brothers and sisters, what a challenge it is for us. We have to use our mouth for building up the people of God. Also to make sure that when we talk with each other, instead of cutting each other down, let's build each other up.

We don't do God a service. We don't do ourselves a service. We need to be builders who speak of the Lord and encouraging the people of God. All of us are in the same boat. No one person or another. We are all in the danger of using our tongue in a way that it is not pleasing to the Lord. It's very easy to go to a church meeting or to a congregation meeting to hear the word of God, to hear the beauty of Yeshua, the Messiah, and go back to the world and start to speak just like everybody else.

If a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah, is not different in his language, he is definitely not pleasing to the Lord. So when someone hear us, he has to have the sense this person is different by the very way that he speaks. Now quickly, verse 30, now here's the fifth thing. This is also very, very, very important. Look at this, it says, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Now, why does Paul say don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God?

You see the Spirit of God is not merely a wind. He is a person. He is God, Ruach HaKodesh, God the Holy Spirit. A divine person is indwelling every one of us, every one of the Ephesians believers. He is like a friend that is indwelling the believer. When the believer is living in a way that is not pleasing to God, we grieve Him. We hurt Him. We're not pleasing to Him and He is hurt. He cannot use us. First Thessalonians 5:19 says, "Quench not the Spirit of God."

There is talking collectively. When the people of God fighting and hurting each other, it squeezes Him. It quenches Him and He has no liberty among the people of God. So Paul says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God. It's like two friends. When we hurt each other, we grieve each other. We make ourselves sad. God is sad when His people are grieving Him by the way they behave. He said the Holy Spirit of God have no liberty in our life when we do not stop the things that God expecting from us to stop, to live differently as believers.

We grieve Him. It's like a son will grieve his father when he disobey him. It's like a husband will grieve his wife when he hurt her and he speak wrongly to her. We can go on and on and on. Being grieved the Holy Spirit of God is a divine person. He has feeling. We can grieve Him by the way we behave. Grieve not the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. In other words, the very same Ruach HaKodesh, Holy Spirit of God, have already marked us as belonging to God.

Sealed us. Put a mark of sealing. This is a person that belong to God. He is a child of God. Look how he behave. I am grieved. Remember what we read in scripture in Genesis, that God was grieved in His heart when He saw what's going on in His creation, Genesis chapter six. So God was grieved in His heart that He had made man. It grieved the heart of God because of the way people have lived. Can you imagine the creator observing His creatures and seeing how they behave?

It hurt His heart. It grieved Him. Imagine how the Holy Spirit of God feel when we are consistently violate Him, His word, consistently live in disobedience and not repenting, continuing on. "I'll get my way. I'll do my own thing. Oh yes, I'm sealed. I'm going to heaven, but I'll do my thing. I'm not going to submit to the will of God." It gives Him pain. It grieves Him. He says, don't grieve Him. You have been sealed by Him. Have a change in your walk with the Lord.

Don't have it only theory in your head but move it down to your heart and ultimately to your feet. Have a changed life because you belong to the Lord. He concluded, brothers and sisters, in the last verse 31 and 32. He conclude this chapter. He says, "Let all bitterness," stop to be bitter but be kind. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Messiah's sake hath forgiven you."

He's really summing it up, you might say, in verse 31 and 32. He says let all these things: bitterness. Can you imagine what we do when we are bitter? Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 15 says, "Lest a root of bitterness will spring out of your heart and many are going to be defiled." You know when a believer is bitter and he or she and we don't judge ourselves before the Lord and we carry on with bitterness all our lives, you know what happen? It's like a seed that spreading and others are getting defiled by that.

That's why he says, listen, put anger, put wrath, put bitterness, put evil speaking away with all malice. Put it away. Stop it. Seek to live for the Lord. Make a change in your life as an evidence that you have put off the old man and put on the new man. There got to be a change in your life. Be kind one to another. Oh, the kindness that we need so much. Not harshness all the time. We need kindness. The Bible say to us in the scripture we read in the book of Titus, the kindness of God towards us.

You know God have been so kind to us where He gave His Son to die on the cross, the Mashiah Himself. He've been so gentle and kind with you and with me. Titus says, "after the kindness of God towards us have appeared." What a kind God we have. That's why he's saying to us, listen, don't be harsh. Be kind one to another, brothers and sisters. He's not even talking about the world. Yes, we ought to be kind to the world, but kind one towards another. That is spiritual maturity.

God does not care how many verses we memorize and how much truth we know in our head. It is important, but that's not make us spiritual minded people. It's the practical walk with the Lord. Kindness one to another, tenderhearted, not hardhearted. Forgiving one another. Can you imagine to hold on a grudge? We are so good in this. "I remember what you did to me some 20 years ago and I'm not going to forget this for a moment. I'm spiritual minded, you see. I know all the verses in the Bible."

God says, "Listen, if you're not forgiving, you will never enjoy in your heart the sense of forgiveness practically." You will never enjoy it unless you show this to others in your own life. Be forgiving one another even as God for Messiah's sake have forgiven you. Think of the amount of sins that we have committed in our lives: past, present, and those that we will commit tomorrow. All this have been forgiven to us because Yeshua paid the price for us on the tree.

His blood was shed. He forgave us. We are cleansed. We are washed by the blood of the Lamb. If we will hold on a grudge against somebody and harbor it and harbor it and not judge us, we will end up to be the losers. We're not going to lose our salvation, but we're not going to enjoy the sense of God's forgiveness for us if we are holding grudges against our brothers and sisters. When we do, we know it comes up in our hearts, don't we?

Many times we say, "I'm not going to forgive that person for what they have done to me." We hold on this in our hearts and our hearts are hardened. The Lord remind us, he says, "Listen, I forgave you for your sins. I want you to realize that you should forgive that particular person for what he have done to you." When we forgive, there is a sense of peace. There is a sense of shalom that the Lord give us so we are able to continue on and minister and serve God in this world.

We are only here for a little while. We're going to go to heaven very soon. There we no longer need to do those things because in heaven there will never be any sin anymore. Until then, beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord challenging us and saying you ought to change your behavior if you are to please the Lord here and now. May the Lord help us in this. Give us the grace that we need to be different because we belong to Yeshua, the Messiah.