Somebody Loves You
Walking In The Newness Of Life Pt.3
I think that's one of the hardest things that really blows people away, especially those that have been witness to, those that have been trying to come to Christ. And you see their stickers on their cars, and you see them going out of their homes or bibles, but yet you know that they are total hypocrites. You know that they drink, you know that they party but on Sunday morning they become very pious and holy. Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Reese in Diamond Bar, California. Today's message continues our series, exploring how to walk more closely with God. Raul will show us that while our hearts may be committed to the Lord, our actions can sometimes dishonor Him with disobedience. Keep listening for a challenge to acknowledge and repent of any sinful habits that are keeping you from the abundant, fruitful life that God desires for you. Here's Raul Reese with part 3 of the lesson, Walking and the Nuness of Life. If you have your bibles, turn once again to the Book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 4. I have been so blessed by the Book of Ephesians as Paul the Apostle writes to teach us what a new man should be like after regeneration, by the power of the holy Spirit of God in our lives. And it's so tremendous because Paul has given us so much to think about over the last three or four weeks what God has done in you and through me. Listen to Dr. Billy Graham what he says about the new man. He says there is only one way to make human love instead of hate. And that is through the regeneration that comes as the Spirit of God transforms the heart that comes to the cross asking for forgiveness and cleansing. Think about that. There are so many people that have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit yet. And the only way that this can happen is by coming to Christ and asking Christ into your heart. And as you ask Christ into your heart then the Holy Spirit begins to do his work in the life of the believer that comes to Christ but at the same time he begins to mold and to shape and to build character and begins to not only mold and shape but he begins to give to you, begins to give to me, gives and talents that he wants to use within each one of our lives. And now Paul the Apostle here in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 in the next eight verses which are closely related to Paul's description of the new life in Christ. He's going to be dealing with some of the things that hinder or literally grieve the Holy Spirit of God in our lives when we have become a new man in Jesus Christ. If you notice beginning with the chapter 4 he says this I say therefore, testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the heathens walk in the emptiness of their mind, the description of those that are apart from Christ, those in the world. Having their understanding darken, being separated, notice from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of their blindness, of their heart, who be in past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all on cleanness with greediness. And then he now touches on the Christian, but you, real personal, but you have not so learned Jesus Christ. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct or manner of life, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust of the flesh, and here it is, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and in true holiness. And now in verse 25 we pick up tonight, he begins with the word therefore, now in connection to therefore, he's actually saying this, now, now that you are a new man, live your new life in keeping with the following instructions, or literally what he's doing when he uses the word therefore, he's taking you back already what we already have studied. To verse 17, this is already what I've told you, now this is now what you should do in Christ. Paul is saying now that you have put away the old life and now have put on the new life, your behavior should be a different behavior in the way you act and in the way you live in this present evil world. We're not to live like the rest of the world, and yet there are people that live like the rest of the world. I think that's one of the hardest things that really blows people away, especially those that have been witness to, those that have been trying to come to Christ when they're working with somebody or going to school with somebody or they're your neighbor, and you see their stickers on their cars and you see them going out of the homes or bibles, but yet you know that they are total hypocrites, total hypocrites. You know that they drink, you know that they party, but on Sunday morning they become very pious and holy. In Paul says we shouldn't be like that. We should always be the same. We shouldn't be up and down in our Christian walk. We shouldn't be pretending something they were not like Jesus said, like the Pharisees to be a hypocrite, which means a man of many faces. He was an actor. The Romans used to have this theater where the guy would get on stage and he would have like 50-20 or whatever 20 or 50 mass that he could put on a happy face or a sad face or a crying face or an angry face or whatever, and it would be the face of the hypocrite it was called. And I feel that many times the reason that we are not receiving the peace and the joy that God has for us is because we're not being sincere in truth with God. We don't talk to God like we really mean it. You see, and if you start praying and talking to God, as if you're talking to your friend and you're spilling your guts with your friend in truth, then God is pleased and God will hear you and God will forgive you, but if you play the hypocrite, God cannot forgive you because you're not true. You're not being truthful to what you're confessing. You have to be upfront with God and recognize that you and I have seen against God. The new life has and must have a specific lifestyle. He gives us five sins and the opposite virtues to those sins. He tells you that these five sins will hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. These are the sins that actually hinder the Holy Spirit. The first thing that he deals with is the sin of lying, lying, not speaking the truth. Listen to what he says, verse 25. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Don't lie, but speak the truth, Paul says. Listen, what does it mean by a lie? A lie is a statement that is contrary to fact spoken with the intent to deceive a person. That's heavy. Did you know that the first sin in the Bible that God judged in the New Testament in the early church was the sin of lying to the Holy Spirit? That's right. And in nice and so far they were killed by the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 5, you can read on your way home. First sin to be judged in the New Testament was the act of lying. We can't get away with lying. It doesn't work. Listen to Paul what he says in Colossians 3, 9, and 10. He says, "Do not lie one to another, since you have put off the old man and his deeds, and have put on now the new man who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of Jesus Christ who created him." We can't lie. And then in Proverbs, I went through the Proverbs just a little bit. And this is what I picked up on lying. Proverbs 6, 16 says, "Six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, are heart that devises wicked plants, feet that are swift to running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows this court among the brethren." Those six things God hates, and most of them they had to do with the mouth. Lying. And in Proverbs 13, 5 says, "A righteous man hates lying, but a wicked man is always lying and comes to shame." Proverbs 14, 5, "A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness will utter lies, lawyers lie, doctors lie, policemen lie, we lie, Christians lie. How we need to come to that place where we speak the truth and nothing but the truth so it helped me God? Where I don't have to put my hand on the Bible, but I'm going to speak the truth, no matter what the cost may be. We must speak the truth always without lying. This is Somebody Loves Your Radio with Roll Race. We are here to spur you on in your walk with the Lord. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-based resources to strengthen you in your faith. You can also download our free app to conveniently connect to Scripture 24/7. Now back to more with Roll Race. And then you notice at Paul there, in chapter 4, verse 25 says, "Therefore put in a way lying." And then he says, "This is like the positive. Let each one of you now speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of the one another." How? Because we're our new creation, new believers. We're Christians now. We're not like the old time, but now we're speaking the truth one with another. Second sin that really rips up the body of Christ. And this is this, the sin, not outstanding. First of all, the sin of anger. Wow, sin of anger. Hey, I'm an expert on that one. Because you know what anger does to you, destroys you. How many people in a moment of rage have killed another person, and then they were sorry they didn't. Think about it. Cain killed his brother Abel in a moment of rage, and buried him in the sand. Moses took one of Pharaoh's soldiers, and he looked this way. He looked that way, and he killed the soldier and buried him in the sand, and he thought, "Nobody knows now." And the next day, the two Hebrews came up to him and said, "Moses, we saw what you did yesterday. How you smote that servant of Pharaoh, you covered him with sin, and you buried him. We know what you did." And Moses panicked, because he looked this way that way, but he forgot that God was looking, he didn't look up. And one thing we need to realize is that there is a godly anger, and there's an anger that will destroy you. When Jesus went into the temple and began to clean house in the temple, that was a righteous anger when he took the cord and began to get people out of there and turn over the tables. That was godly anger. But godly anger is when it destroys people. It damages their character, or physically you heard them, or verbally. Anger that is uncontrollable. Anything you have in your hand, you'll throw, or you'll slam the doors, or you'll kick something, or you'll push, or you'll do whatever. We as believers cannot continue to live a life of anger. I'm learning, I mean, after 25 years, I continue to learn. And I found out that when I really get so angry that I got to take a walk, you know what, as I take a walk, I get an opportunity for God to speak to me and to cool off. Otherwise, you're going to do stupid things that are going to cost you. Think before you act. Bring yourself to your knees in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that's got to help you with your anger. He says, "Be angry and don't sin." You see? And then he says, "Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, and don't give place to the devil." What does he mean by that? He says, "When you're angry, when you hurt somebody, that very day you need to apologize." You need to apologize and ask for forgiveness, because before the sun goes down, why? If not, you're going to get saved in an opportunity to beat you up, to beat you up spiritually. And it's so hard to do that. Literally, when he says about anger, he says this, "Don't lose your temper, but rather be sure that your anger is a righteous anger." Anger is an emotional arousal caused by something that displeases us, and it could be anything. You could be on the freeway. I mean, you don't know that. We're experts on that. I mean, people shoot people. They run them off the road. But I mean, this is what Jesus is talking about. Listen to the Probers, what it says. I only went to the Probers. Probers 15, 18 says, "A wrathful man stirs upstrive, but he who is slow to anger, notice allays contention." Prober 1632 says, "He who is slow to anger is better than a mighty." He says, "He who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." Wow. Prober's 1911, the discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression, to forgive. Prober 22 says, "The wrath of the king is like a roaring of a lion, whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life." And then Prober 2119 says, "Better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious or angry woman." Thirdly, how about the sin of stealing? But did you know that one of the, that 70 percent, they did a survey on stealing, 30 percent were damaged materials. They were lost, and 70 percent things they were stolen were by employees. Think about that. Out of their own company, they stole themselves. But then I think of Christians. Okay, you're working on a job, and if you're stealing from those that are putting bread and butter in your home, I mean, what kind of a person are we? We're not really righteous. And then if we think it's really a sin to steal from our employee or employers or from anybody else, think how God must feel when we rob them from offering and tidings and all kinds of things. Think about that. Everything that he belongs to God we steal from him, when we should be given to him. Don't steal from any more or anyone. But rather, he says, work with your hands so that you can give to people that it is more blessed to give them to receive. Watch what he says. "Sealing is taking something that doesn't belong to you. It's not yours." He said, "I'm just going to borrow it for a year. I'll bring it back in a year." No, no stealing. But listen to what he says in Leviticus, 1911. He says, "You shall not steal nor deal falsely nor lie to any more." Jeremiah 7 and 9 says, "Will you steal and murder, commit adultery, swore falsely, burn incis to Baal, and walk after other God so that you don't know, and then come into the house of the Lord and say, Lord, we worship you?" No, you can't do that. Hosea 4-2 says, "By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint with bloodshed upon bloodshed." Speaking of his own people, God's people, Israel. And Matthew 19-18 says, he said unto him, "Which one, Jesus, speaking to the commandments?" He said, "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal, and you shall not bear false witnesses. You shall not steal." It's one of the commandments. Of the 10, "Thou shall not steal from God or from men." We have to be honest in business and everything we do. And like Paul said here, again, look in verse 28, "Let him who steal, steal no longer, but rather, let him work, working with his hands, what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need." I like that. It's such a good feeling to help somebody out when you have it, or even when you don't have it. It's a good feeling to give sacrificially to people. It's a blessed hope, man, that we have in him when we do that. And then the fourth one, this is a pretty incredible one too, "Corrupt speech, sin against the mouth, corrupt speech." Look what he says verse 29, "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good necessary only for building up, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Don't use your mouth for evil, but for good. So important. The mouth and the heart are connected, and we say things that are not building up a person, but constantly tearing them down, crushing their spirits by our words we can destroy and kill people." But also, think about this, corrupt speech when you sit around and you're actually telling dirty jokes, corrupt speech, something that is tearing down and not building up. Listen to what, again, the scriptures that took it from Psalms, Psalm 1914 says, "Let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength in my Redeemer, praying for his mouth." And the words that come out of his mouth, Psalm 391, "I said, I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue, I will restrain my mouth with a muscle, notice while the wicked are before me." Psalm 1413, "Sit a guard, O Lord, over my mouth." That's a good prayer. "Keep watch over the door of my lips." But now in Colossians 38, but now you yourselves are put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth, filthy language, no cussing, and saying things that when we're angry we say, we need to repent of those things. Why? Because if you don't stop these things, listen to the fifth and last. It will lead you to the sin of bitterness, the sin of bitterness, or the grieving of the Holy Spirit. Watch what he says. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. And here are the things that actually bring grieving to the Holy Spirit in bitterness to your life. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And here's what God desires. And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. And here's the key. Just as God in Christ forgave you and forgave me. Why do I have to do it? Because God forgave me through Christ. God wants us not to be unkind, but to be kind and loving to others. Bitterness here refers to a subtle hostility that poisons the whole inner man. Your whole body becomes sick when you become bitter and you don't forgive and forget. You see, the only way to heal the sin of bitterness is this or any sin is to the what? Through love. Real, real love in our lives. Matthew 22, 37 through 39 says this. Jesus, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And here's a second just like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. We have a right to love our neighbors ourselves. That's what God intends us. It's a commandment. John 13, 34 says, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also would love one another." And then, of course, 1 Corinthians 13, 4 through 8. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. And let's do this. I put your name in there. Raw suffers long and is kind. Raw does not envy. Raw does not parade himself and Raw's never puffed up. Stop right there, man. I mean, put your name there. I'm saying, I'm pretty heavy. Love suffers long and is kind, not raw. Love does not envy. Love does not make parade itself. Does not puffed up. Does not behave rudely. Does not seek its own. It's not provoked. Things no evil. Does not rejoice in sin, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Not is that, whether it be prophecies, they will fail, whether there are tongues, they will cease, whether there's knowledge. Everything will vanish away except for the love of God. That always, always will be there if we're open to the Holy Spirit. As you meditate on the powerful force of God's grace in your life, we hope you've been inspired to respond to him with a deeper commitment to obedience. You're listening to somebody loves your radio with roll a raise. Today's lesson, walking in the newness of life is being made available to you in its unedited form for a donation of five dollars or more. To get your copy, just call us at 800-634-9165. We'd also like to mention this entire 16-part series titled How to Walk with God. Available on either CD or thumb drive, this study points the way to a fully surrendered, richly rewarding relationship with the Lord. You'll see that when you take an honest look at your life and root out anything that's hindering your spiritual journey, God will guide you into paths of righteousness that bring honor and glory to his name. To purchase raw 16-part series titled How to Walk with God, visit somebodylivesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD set for $30 or the flash drive for $20. That's 800-634-9165. Or you can write us at Somebody Loves Your Radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. This is a listener supported ministry and your partnership is a great blessing to us. We're grateful for every tax-deductible gift that makes it possible for us to continue sharing the gospel. Join us next time as we continue this series with a look at how walking with God means walking in love, choosing to humbly and selflessly show the Lord's compassion in our interactions with others. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves Your Radio in Diamond Bar, California.
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