Well, if you have a copy of the Scriptures, let me invite you to turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians in the fourth chapter, as we're continuing this ongoing exposition through Paul's epistle to the church at Ephesus. And today we're going to be looking at Ephesians 4. verses 25 through 32. Ephesians 4, verses 25 through 32. Let me invite you again, as you're able, let's stand in honor of the reading and hearing of God's Word. Again, I'm reading from Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 25. We're in the Apostle Paul writes, Wherefore, putting away lying, Speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed under the day of redemption. 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 Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. May God bless today, once more, the reading and the hearing of his word. And let us join in prayer. Let us pray. Lord, as we stand again before the open Bible, before Thy Word, we ask that You would give light to our minds and consciences, that we would be able to see the truth for what it is and embrace it. So open our eyes, unstop our ears, loosen our hearts and minds. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. So as I noted, we're continuing this ongoing exposition through Ephesians. And we're at the end of chapter 4 now. And you may recall, if you've been with us in this series, that chapter 4 had started with a clear exhortation. Look back at verse 1 of Ephesians 4, where Paul says that he beseeches them, the Ephesians, that ye walk worthy of the vocation, the calling, wherewith ye are called. And so that's the theme really of this whole chapter. It's going to continue even into the next chapter. That if you are a Christian, if you have received the effectual and efficient call of God, then you should walk or conduct yourself in a way that is consistent with one who confesses faith in Christ. And so Paul is essentially saying, live according to your calling. Live like a Christian. Have integrity. Avoid hypocrisy. Don't say that you are a Christian and then willfully fail to live as a Christian. Of course, in this life, there are remaining corruptions within us. We will not live a holy, glorified life in this world. That happens at our death, when we're absent from the body, present with the Lord, and especially then at the coming of Christ in glory at the end of the ages. Then we enter into the state of glory. In this age, we have remaining corruptions. We're going through progressive sanctification. But to the degree that we are able and we are mindful of such things, spiritually minded, we are to strive to walk, conduct ourselves according to the vocation or the calling that we have received to come to faith in Christ. And so that's been the theme of all of Ephesians 4. We'll continue into chapter 5, God willing, as we'll look at that next Lord's Day. And you might remember the place we sort of stopped last time looking at verses 22 through 24. Paul had introduced there the analogy of putting off the old man and putting on the new man. So in verse 22, remember, he said that you put off concerning the former conversation or conduct the old man. And then in verse 24, he said, and that you put on the new man. And so I said this analogy from clothing. You take off the dirty garment and you put on the new. And he said, that's what it's like to be a Christian. You put off the old life, the way you used to conduct yourself when you were in your unregenerate state, and you put on the new life. You're living now as a believer, as a Christian. Some of you might remember the analogy that I made reference to a couple of weeks ago. from a preacher who said if a man comes to you and he claims that just a few minutes or an hour earlier he had been hit by a semi-truck going full speed down the highway, but he shows no effects of this on his body, then you will doubt the veracity of his report. If he says, I was just hit by a truck, but he's walking around and talking to you, You're like, wait a second, something doesn't match up here. If you got hit by a truck, there's going to be some effect of this on you. And similarly, if you say you're a believer, and you say you've encountered the Lord Jesus Christ, a life-changing force, and there's no evidence that it's had no impact or effect upon you, then we have reason to question. the validity of what you're confessing, what you're witnessing. And we think that's consistent with what Paul says here. I beseech ye that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Put off the old man, put on the new man. And so that theme continues within our passage today. I gave a title for this part of Ephesians. And I called it evidence of a changed life. What are the evidences that we are believers? What are the evidences that God is working in us through Christ? And that's the question we want to ask. And it's the kind of question that we need to ask ourselves, right? You're on the airplane, and the flight attendant tells you, if we have turbulence, the oxygen masks are going to drop. And what do they always tell you? Put it on yourself first, and then help others. And so Paul doesn't give this list of things so that we might say, aha! I want to evaluate my spouse. She says she's a Christian, but what about these things? He says he's a Christian, but what about these things? We don't want to sit and try to evaluate one another in that sort of manner within the church, although we are meant to spur one another on towards loving good deeds. But it's about looking in the mirror and asking myself, where do I stack up as I read through these things? So if we look at our passage, looking at verses 25 through 32, I want to suggest that Paul is probing here into various areas of our living where there ought to be evidences of the fact that we are Christians. And I think we could divide up these areas that he's probing into here into five areas. First of all, in verse 25, he probes into the area of truth telling. Is there evidence that we are believers in our truth-telling? Secondly, then, in verses 26 and 27, is there evidence that we are believers in that we show a desire to avoid ungodly anger? Thirdly, verse 28, is there evidence that we are believers in the sphere of generosity, generosity of spirit? Fourth, verses 29-30, is there evidence that we are believers in edifying speech that comes from our mouths? And then lastly, verses 31-32, 5th, is there evidence that we are believers that shows itself in a charitable spirit, and especially in the ability to extend forgiveness? to those who have wronged us. And so, let's walk through, if we can, our passage, and I'm going to try to point to these five areas, evidences that we're attempting to probe. Let's start off with verse 25. Paul says, Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. So he begins, wherefore, putting away lying. Now, the Greek word behind the English translation, putting away here, is the same word that is used in verse 22 when it talks about putting off the old man. And so this is a continuation of that thought. If you were a believer, maybe when you were in your unregenerate state, You played fast and loose with the truth. But now that you're a Christian, you put that off. You put that away. You're not into lying anymore. And of course, one of the things that Paul is touching on here is what we call the moral law of God that is summed up in the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament in Exodus 20. And the ninth commandment is that we are not to bear false witness. The Christian is not saved by law-keeping. He's saved by the law-keeping of Christ, not by his own law-keeping. But once he is saved, he wants to obey the moral law of God. He wants to avoid bearing false witness. Again, as an unregenerate man, perhaps he was prone to bear false witness, especially if he could twist the truth a little bit and it resulted in some pragmatic benefit for him. Then he might he might do that. We live in a culture, don't we, where there has been a push in the last few decades to push towards what is called relativism and to say that there is no fixed truth in any area of life. There's not any single truth. There's there's simply what's true for you and what's true for me. And we'll hear someone making inane statements like, I'm just speaking my truth. Well, your truth isn't personally subjective. It's true or it's not. 2 plus 2 is always going to be 4. 2 plus 2 isn't 5. That's not true. And so the Christian is someone who cares about the truth. And he cares about speaking the truth. You might recall if we look back previously at verse 15 of chapter 4, Paul had said, but speaking the truth in love, the believer may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. But there he had stressed previously that Christians are to speak the truth in love. And we're not to err on either side. We're not to speak the truth in an uncharitable, mean-spirited way. But we're not also to be so concerned with being loving that we never speak honestly what is truthful. And here is Paul stressing that very thing again. Speak every man truth with his neighbor. Evaluate for yourself. What is your tendency? Is your tendency to play fast and loose with the truth? To hedge it a little bit? To give you some pragmatic benefit? Or is it to speak honestly, straightforwardly and truthfully? It's interesting that he says here, verse 25, speak every man truth with his neighbor. And when we hear that, what came to my mind was what we call the great commandment, one of Christ's greatest teachings. When he was asked, which is the greatest commandment? Remember, he said, You are to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, quoting from Deuteronomy 6. And then he said, and love your neighbor as yourself, quoting from Leviticus 19.18. He summed up all the Ten Commandments in two commandments. Love God. The first table of the law is about our duties towards God. No gods before God. No graven images. No taking God's name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then he talked about our duties toward our fellow man. Love your neighbor as yourself. Honor your father and mother. Don't murder. Don't commit adultery. Don't steal. Don't bear false witness. Don't covet. And when Paul says here that we are to speak every man truth with his neighbor, We might say he's talking about a general way Christians should interact with people in the world, including people who are not Christians. But he adds something at the end of verse 25 that leads me to think he's especially addressing to the Ephesians the way they are to treat one another as fellow believers within the church and with believers in other contexts. As he adds in verse 25, For we are members one of another." And here, I think he's not simply saying that we are members of the human race or something like that. This language of we are members one of another is something Paul talks about frequently, especially in 1 Corinthians 12, when he says, as a Christian, you are a member of the body of Christ. You're a body part. And so I think he's saying, speak truth to one another, speak truth to your neighbor, but especially to your Christian neighbor. In Galatians 6.10, Paul said that we are to do good to all men as we have opportunity, but especially, he says, to those who are of the household of faith. And so there's a special duty we have to one another to speak truthfully, honestly, forthrightly to one another. It's interesting, if you've ever looked at Greek and Roman art. The Greeks and the Romans were fascinated with the human body and they loved to make these beautiful statues. You can see the David or something like that based on these classical models of art and they loved the body. It's interesting, Paul He's using something that would have been known by men in that day. This is the way the culture was looking at the body. I think about in our own times, there are a lot of people who are really into exercise and fitness. And this analogy makes sense for that type of person as well. If you want to be fit and you want to be in shape, you have to take concern for all the body, the whole body. And here Paul is saying, that one of the ways that you can help the body of Christ is to be truthful and honest, because if you're not, what ends up is disharmony is brought into the body. Illness, fatigue, sickness. And so speak the truth in love. Speak charitably, but speak truthfully to one another. Second of these five points where we're asked to probe ourselves as to where we stand in verses 26 and 27. As believers, one of the evidences that we are converted is that we avoid ungodly anger. We avoid ungodly anger. And I think, again, verse 25 sets the tone. Although this is true in our general interactions with all men, I think the primary setting for this teaching are instructions to believers, as these were instructions originally to the church at Ephesus. It may be applied in various areas in society within our families, especially if we have a Christian home. But the emphasis here on avoiding anger, I think, is especially in the Christian context. And again, once again, as with the first point, Paul is drawing here on the moral law of God, the Ten Commandments. The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill. But remember what Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ was asked in Matthew 5 and verse 21 about the law of God. And He responded, He said, Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill. and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. When we are filled with unjust anger, Christ said, it is the spiritual equivalent of violating the sixth commandment of committing murder. Have you ever murdered someone in your mind because you were so angry with them? Well, Christ said it's possible for that to happen. And Paul says here now in this teaching, drawing upon I think that, he says, be ye angry and sin not. There's an echo here of Psalm 4, verse 4, which reads, stand in awe and sin not, where the phrase stand in awe was interpreted sometimes as being angry. He says, be angry and sin not. When I was a college student years ago, Yeah, back when there were stage coaches that took people to classes and such. Just kidding. We had cars back then. But anyways, I remember one of the most heated debates, dorm room debates that I got into once was with a friend of mine, Christian friend, and he had a sort of a pacifistic bent to him. He was sort of like a, maybe like a Mennonite type of guy. He sort of had that, he was a pacifist. He didn't believe in violence and force and so forth. And we got into some impassioned debates together because he made the argument that any expression of anger was sinful. And he suggested that the Lord Jesus never became angry because If he had become angry, it would have been sinful. And my response to him was at least threefold. I remember I said to him, wait a second, there's a difference in the Bible between unrighteous anger and righteous anger. We sometimes call it righteous indignation. So of course, unrighteous anger is sinful, but there is a place, the Bible affirms times of righteous anger. Secondly, Jesus, the Lord Jesus Himself, at times demonstrated righteous anger. He was angry with sin, with death. He was grieved by it. And one of the most outstanding examples of this is recorded in John chapter 2 when he saw what had been done to the temple in Jerusalem. And it says he made a scourge or a whip of small cords and he drove out the money changers. He cleansed the temple. So there's a place and a time for righteous indignation, for righteous anger. And then the third place I would always go to is this passage with my friend. Be ye angry and sin not. There's a command here actually to become angry. But not with unjust causes. Not to be angry because somebody spilled the milk at the table or something like that. That's silly. But with sinful behaviors. Sin in one's own self. Sin and death in the world. To be filled with righteous anger. But even, I think, when there's a righteous cause to be angry, Paul is reminding us that what can begin as righteous indignation can also lead into sinful behaviors. And so he says, be ye angry and sin not. There are at least, he proceeds to say, I think, two ways in which Paul says one may be filled with righteous anger, but also avoid sinfulness. And the first thing that he suggests is that we should put a time limit on our anger. And so he says in verse 26, Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Even if you're filled with righteous indignation, put a time limit on it. Don't let the sun set on your anger. Don't let even your righteous anger devolve into a grudge which leads to bitterness. In Hebrews 12 and verse 15, Paul warned against what he called a root of bitterness. that may spring up in a person's heart and trouble him and even defile a man. And you'll notice in verse 31, later on in the passage, Paul says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you. Be angry, but sin not. And one way we can stop anger from continuing is to put a time limit on it. Don't let the sun set on our anger. So, other ways that we might achieve this, we might achieve this by, therefore, this time limit, by settling accounts quickly. How may we avoid bitterness? How may we become angry but send not? We may settle accounts quickly. That means if we're offended by something, maybe rightly so, we should seek to settle it as quickly as possible, especially with a Christian brother. Again, in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, verses 23 and following, Christ said, Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer Thy gift." We may also put a time limit on anger by the way we respond. We can respond with softness rather than hardness or harshness, even if our anger is just. Joel, I wonder if any children who are at Bible school remember this verse, Proverbs 15. A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Another way that we might cause even just anger not to get out of control and lead to bitterness is we might have the wherewithal not to make a mountain out of a molehill. And It says in another of the Proverbs, the discretion of a man deferred his anger. And it is it is his glory to pass over a transgression. So be angry, Paul says, but said not. And one of the one of the first things he says is put a time limit on it. And that may be achieved by settling matters quickly, by responding softly. and in some cases, overlooking a matter rather than stirring up more trouble about it. And then the second major counsel that he gives to not let even just anger lead to bitterness, he says, neither, verse 27, give place to the devil. So Paul is saying, do not let even the rising up of righteous indignation become an opportunity for Satan to be given a place whereby he might take advantage of our weaknesses and create divisions and schisms among the brethren. So two wise words of counsel. Send not, don't let the sun go down on your anger, nor let this be used as a standing place for Satan to work his mischief, particularly in the body of Christ. We move on to the third of these five areas. A third evidence of being an authentic Christian will be shown in generosity. Look at verse 28. Paul says, Let him that stole steal no more." Now that's a very intriguing note. Once again, notice Paul is dealing with the moral law of God, the Ten Commandments. He's already addressed witness-bearing, don't bear false witness. He's addressed the Sixth Commandment, do not murder, including unjust anger. And now he's addressing Stealing, really. Let him that stole, steal no more. And the eighth commandment is, of course, thou shalt not steal. This little note, the way it begins in verse 28, is also intriguing, because it tells us something about the church at Ephesus. Why did Paul have to say to them, let him that stole, steal no more? What does that indicate about the church? There were people in the church at Ephesus, who had become Christians, who formerly had been thieves. Men who were stealers, who had taken the possessions of others. But, when they came to Christ, Paul said, they had to give up thievery. Let him who stole, steal no more. Sometimes in liberal, mainline Protestant churches, they have this idea, oh, we just accept everyone, we love everyone. That's true, we do. But we also say to everyone, hey, if you become a Christian, you put off the old man and you put on the new man. And if you're doing something that's against God's moral law, by God's grace, you'd be forgiven of that, but put it off and then put on the new man. The one who stole, let him steal no more. We could apply that to all the moral law of God. The one who used to dishonor his parents, let him dishonor his parents no more. The one who used to murder, let him murder no more. The one who used to commit adultery, let him commit adultery no more. The one who stole, let him steal no more. The one who bore false witness, let him no longer bear false witness. The one who was eaten up with covetousness, let him covet no more. And so Paul is teaching and instructing. This passage here, verse 28, reminds me of a passage that's found in 1 Corinthians 6. We've turned to this passage more than once. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 and following, where Paul's writing to the church at Corinth. And he starts off speaking to them. This is 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, that's verse 10, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And I've said before, I imagine when this was read in the church at Corinth, in the meetings of the Church on the Lord's Day, there were probably people who were like, Amen, Paul! Yes! Let's stand for the moral majority! And all these things, it's absolutely right. But the stunning thing is what Paul continues to say in verse 11. And such were some of you. but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. That's the testimony of every Christian. I used to be a thief. I used to bear false witness. In my unregenerate state, I didn't know my right hand from my left. But now that I am in Christ, all things have become new and I have been I have been washed, I have been sanctified, I have been justified. And so there's a change of life that takes place. And so, look back at verse 28. Paul says to those former thieves, that rather than taking, he says, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good. It's interesting because Paul himself As an apostle, there were times when Paul traveled to places where he would have to, for a season, support himself. He was a tent maker. And he met once, as it's recorded in Acts chapter 20, verses 33 and 34, with the Ephesian elders, and he was exhorting them before he left, and he said, don't forget that when I was with you, I worked with my hands. I labored with my own hands. And he's saying to these former thieves of the church that they should learn the joy, the satisfaction that comes not in stealing, but in working, laboring with your own hands to provide for yourself and for your household. And then he turns it around and he says, what will also come from these men who used to be thieves is that they will learn the blessing not of taking from people, but of being generous and using what they have earned through their labors to give to others. And that's really the goal, isn't it? That former thieves, instead of being takers from others, would be transformed by the grace of God into Christ into generous and pious givers. What an amazing, transformative gospel do we find in the Christian faith. Fourth of these five evidences, verses 29 and 30, we show we are Christians by edifying speech. So Paul begins, verse 29, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Believers are not to allow corrupt communication to come out of our mouths. The word for corrupt here in Greek is sephros. It means something decayed or rotten. The same word is used in Matthew 7, verse 17, when Christ says that a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. Rather than having corrupt communication come out of the believer's mouth, instead he gives evidence that he is converted because his words are used to edify and build up others, especially his fellow believers. So we can do a self-evaluation, can't we? Do my words, the words I utter within my household, my workplace, Within the church, do my words generally, are they generally used to tear down believers? Or to build them up? We could look at James chapter 3, where James talked about how the tongue is like a fire and it can burn things down. And he says, as a Christian, how can there be brine, salt water, Corrupt communications come out of your mouth, and then you turn around and try to pray or sing hymns and praise to God. Walk worthy of your vocation, and don't have your words be a source of corrupt communication. Instead, let your words be used for edifying. Paul says there at the end of verse twenty nine that our speech ought to be used to minister grace unto the hearers. And here he could be talking about ministering, saving grace by giving a witness to the gospel. But I think he's just talking about giving to fellow believers gracious encouragement, that they would have persevering grace, that they would be built up in the faith and not torn down. And then he adds to that in verse 30. I think verse 30 is added to verse 29. And the idea is that if our mouth is filled with corrupt communications and we are claiming to be Christians, what we are doing is grieving the Holy Spirit of God. Verse 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. He's assuming that he's talking to believers. Ephesian Christians. And he's already earlier in Ephesians talked about the fact that when you become a Christian, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. If you look back at chapter 1 and verse 13, he says, in whom in Christ ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So he assumes these people are believers. But especially because the Holy Spirit is dwelling in them and the Spirit has sealed them, has covered them for the day of redemption, that they will persevere in the faith to the end, that when false communications, corrupt communications come out of our mouths, we are grieving the Holy Spirit of God. We are grieving God's Spirit because we're not living as we ought. Fifth, then, and finally, going back to our passage, Paul says that we give evidence that we are truly converted in our charity toward one another, and especially in our ability to offer forgiveness to one another. And we notice again the appearance of this idea of putting things off or putting things away. Look at verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you. So again, verse 22, it's put off the old man. In verse 25, putting away lying. And now here in verse 31, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, let it be put away from you with all malice. We were talking last week when we were meditating upon the image of putting off the old man and putting on the new man, that the Christian life, living as a Christian in this age, before Christ's second coming, We're being progressively sanctified. And we've got remaining corruptions within us. And we're constantly striving to do two things. First of all, we are mortifying the flesh. We are putting to death the things that are ungodly. And we are engaged in vivifying, bringing to life the things that are right. Put off the old man. Mortify. Put to death. Starve the things that are ungodly. Put on the new man. Come to life. Vivify. Feed the things that are right. And in verse 31, Paul notes at least six things that we need to mortify. We need to mortify bitterness. We talked about that already. Wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice and ill intent. And then in verse 32, he correspondingly lists three things That we are to vivify. Three aspects of the new man that we are to put on. So he says in verse 32, and be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. And finally, forgiving one another. I guess our children this week, we sang the song about the fruit of the spirit from Galatians, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, kindness. There's a lot of unkindness out there in the world. And you can go shopping and hear people speak roughly to one another and say unkind things. And there could be unkindness even among those who profess to be believers, sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional. But as Christians, one of the evidences we're to strive for is that we are known for kindness to one another. We are tenderhearted toward one another. What is tenderheartedness? Well, You know, when your little toddler is walking on the sidewalk and falls down and skins the knee up, you know, you don't take the little toddler and give them an immediate lecture, do you? Typically on, you know, on the safety and how they were not thinking ahead and things like that. If it's your little toddler, You're going to be tender hearted. Oh, what happened? What happened to you? And we are to have that sort of spirit with one another. Kindness, tender heartedness, again, without. Without saying that we don't speak the truth and love, but we do so with with kindness, with tender heartedness, and then especially, he says that we are forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us. The reservoir from which the believer draws to offer forgiveness to others is the vast ocean of Christ's forgiveness extended towards us. None of us have ever been treated as shamefully as Christ was treated on the cross. And yet, what did He say even when He was being crucified? Luke 23 verse 34, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. You know what's really frightening? We often repeat the Lord's Prayer in our afternoon service before we come to the Lord's table. And we normally recite, rightly, Matthew 6, verses 9 through 13, which encompasses the model prayer that Christ gave us. But what's really frightening are the couple of verses that are after the Amen in Matthew 6, verse 13. And it's in Matthew 6, verses 14 and 15 where Christ said, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." And Paul is saying, repeating really the words of our Lord. Forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Well friends, we've worked through the passage today. And we're left to self-evaluation. Look in the mirror. Apply the mask to ourselves before we help others. And this is the part of the sermon where you get to come into the pulpit, as it were, with me. And let's do the application. Using these five points as a guide, ask yourself, do I speak the truth to my Christian neighbor, and do I do so with charity? Second, do I express godly anger without falling into the pitfalls of ungodly bitterness? Have I allowed some perhaps just anger to extend too long? And has the devil found a foothold in my life? Third, do I demonstrate a generous spirit? Or am I taking? Am I stingy with the things that I have? Or do I have a generous spirit? Fourth, is my speech edifying to the saints? Or are there corrupt communications that flow from my mouth? And last, do I demonstrate charity to others? Tenderheartedness? And do I extend forgiveness to my brethren? Remember when Christ taught about forgiveness, Peter said, how many times do I have to forgive? Seven times? That's a lot. Christ said 70 times, seven. And do I offer forgiveness knowing how much I have been forgiven? How silly it is when we've been forgiven so much when we are stingy in not forgiving people who send against us only a little. Sometimes it's to a man's honor even to overlook that and move on. Well friends, we have much to consider. And we're going to continue considering it because that's the theme of it'll continue even in the next chapter. And again, it's all going back to chapter four in verse one. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called. Let us consider. Let us examine ourselves and let us go to the Lord and do whatever spiritual business we need with him with him as he picks us up and helps us to continue to walk and to persevere in the faith. Amen. Let me invite you, as you're able, let's stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we give Thee thanks for Thy Word and for the Apostle Paul and how he was used through the Holy Spirit to help us examine our own hearts and our own lives and help us to receive Thy Word today. We know Your Word never returns to you void, but let it accomplish the purposes for which Thou hast sent it today. We ask this in Christ's name and for his sake, amen.