In the sermon 'Getting Specific About Putting Off and Putting On,' Jason Dohm explores Ephesians 4:25-29, emphasizing the transformation from the 'old man' to the 'new man' in Christ. He discusses the necessity of putting away deceit and embracing truthfulness as a reflection of Jesus. Dohm highlights the importance of managing anger righteously and warns against letting anger linger, as it can provide opportunities for the devil. The sermon stresses the value of honest labor over theft, encouraging believers to work hard to support themselves and help those in need. Moreover, Dohm underscores the power of words, urging Christians to avoid corrupt speech and instead use their words to edify and impart grace to others. The essence of the message is about growing in Christlikeness, which involves turning away from self-centered behaviors and adopting virtues that reflect the teachings of Jesus.

Our sermon text, or should I say our toe-stomping, standard-lifting, offensive-to-my-pride-and-selfishness sermon text this morning is Ephesians 4, 25-29. For context, I will begin in verse 17. Paul writes, 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. 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, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, let each 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. Let's pray.

Oh Father, you raise up a standard we cannot possibly reach in our own strength. And so this impossible standard only serves to drive us to the cross and the empty tomb to receive the bounty of mercy and forgiveness for our own weakness, sin, selfishness, and pride as evident in our speech and our attitudes. And also to receive the grace, the unmerited favor, the gift that is the blessing through the work of Jesus who is Christ, to have a right standing before a holy God and be welcomed, welcomed to the wedding feast as family, as a part of the bride, entering into heaven as our home where we belong. Oh Lord, words fail to express how wonderful that is. Now speak to us through your servant Jason.

Make it clear to our prepared and spirit-filled hearts what you would have for us today. We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus who is Christ. Amen. You may be seated. The title of the sermon this morning is getting specific about putting off and putting on.

Coming out of the text where Paul's exhortation is that we put off the old man whose family head was Adam who plunged us into sin and rebellion and to put on the new man whose family head is the Lord Jesus Christ who saved us out of that mess and to become like Christ and grow in Christlikeness. Paul is leaving the generalities. They are wonderful generalities but they are somewhat easy to dodge. He is leaving behind the wiggle room and pulling us out of a place where it's easy to dodge. He's naming names, so to speak.

I heard my name in the text some this week. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, Jason, but what is good for necessary edification, Jason? I don't know if you heard your name in the text at all this week, but I think that's going to continue to happen to us as Paul begins to unfold in very specific terms, particular terms, what it means to walk worthy of the calling. So where are we? Chapter 4 verse 1, Paul exhorts us to walk worthy of the calling.

He spent three chapters trying, working to convince us that it's a high calling, a glorious calling, a calling that comes out of being given inestimable riches. And now he says walk worthy of that calling in chapter 4 verse 12. He says that gifted ones have been given to the church to equip the saints to grow into the stature of Christ. So that next section is about learning, both in knowledge and experientially, what it means to become more like Christ, to attain to the stature of Christ, if that could ever be. And then he says developing that thought to put off the old man to put on the new man and now he's getting very specific So that's really where we are in the text.

Let's ask God to help us God I thank you for where you've brought us. I have been convinced by working slowly and carefully through chapters one through three that it is such a high calling that I am the recipients of incalculable riches. And having been taken from such extreme poverty to such extreme riches, I do want to live to the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you now that we can sit at the feet of the Apostle Paul to be told how to do that. God, I pray that you would continue to take us so far beyond bare moralism.

That as we're given things to do and given things not to do, that all of this would be in the framework of walking with Jesus, Growing in the likeness of Jesus. So that as we don't do the things we are being withheld from, and we do the things that are set before our eyes, that we don't repel those who are unbelievers, but that they find it strangely attractive. Because it isn't bare moralism. Please help us God, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Well let's subdivide, beginning just with verse 25. So hopefully you still have your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter 4. Follow along as I reread verse 25. Paul writes, Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Here in verse 25, Paul gives us a reflection of the Savior.

So you can see on the handout in each one of these four subsections, I'm saying each of this is a reflection of the Savior. This is all about growing in Christ-likeness. So I am trying to drag us out of bare moralism to say this is simply walking with Jesus, following Jesus, growing in Christ-likeness. So Paul in 25 gives us a reflection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking truth. If you're taking notes by filling in the blanks, truth fills in the blank.

Speaking truth. He begins by saying, Therefore, meaning because of what has just gone before, because I just told you to put off the old man, because I just told you to put on the new man, because of that, put away lying. The put away here is the same Greek word that we found in verse 22 which was translated put off. Put on the old man, put away lying, the same terms in Greek are being drawn upon. He's just developing a theme here.

Now the structure for this week and most of next week is this. We have a series of categories. We'll have four of those today. And in each one of them, Paul gives a negative command, a don't do, a put off of this element of the old man. And then two, he gives a positive command, a make sure you do, a putting on of this element of the new man and then three he gives the basis or the reason or the foundation for it he gives you the why so don't do this do that instead and here's why So we have a series of four of those today and I'll just use that structure.

It was suggested by Harold Hoener in his commentary but it's really actually very obvious once he said that I thought is that right? I went back and looked through it. It really is the structure that Paul is using. So here in verse 25 speaking the truth, the one, the negative command is to put away lying. He tells you what not to do.

Don't do this. Don't lie. Lying is consistent with the old man. Lying is natural to the old man. But if you are in Christ by faith, you're the new man.

So you grow in the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The NASB and the ESV and the NIV, instead of rendering it lying, renders it falsehood. Both are fine translations. But what I like about the rendering falsehood is that it's broad, including all deception and hypocrisy. And hypocrisy.

The broader translation of it keeps you from allowing yourself to wiggle out of it by saying, well, I wasn't lying. I might have deceived. I might be acting like a hypocrite, but I didn't tell a bold-faced lie. Tell a bold face lie. No, all lying, deception, hypocrisy, cheating, all of that is rolled up into this.

We really should think of it broadly. Jesus in John chapter 8 says this to unbelieving Jews. He actually looks at these Jews in the eyes and says, You're not sons of Abraham. Is he saying they're not Jews? No, they're genealogically Jews.

He's saying you don't have the saving faith of our father Abraham. You are not the sons of Abraham. Here's what he says in John 8 verse 44. You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for He is a liar and the father of it. This tells us about the old man. The old man has a father, like the new man has a father. The devil is The father of liars, of unbelievers, and of lies. He doesn't stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

The devil is the father of lies and he is the father of the old man, the unbelieving man. The truth, however, is in Jesus. Paul just said that in Ephesians 4 verse 21. The truth is in Jesus. Second, the positive command.

Speak truth with your neighbor. Don't lie, do speak truth. That's the positive command, with your neighbor. He's quoting, you'll see in the text, he's quoting, what is he quoting? He's quoting Zechariah 8 verse 16.

In Zechariah 8 verse 16, Zechariah is prophesying to the people of God who have come under judgment. In chapter 8, it shifts to God comforting the people that He is bringing them out of a time of judgment into a time of my favor give attention to this and and he says this Let everyone speak truth to his neighbor is the first thing on the list. Well, it's the first thing on Paul's list too. It's really fitting. It is written to a people who are being brought out of judgment into a time of God's favor.

Christians can say, That's me. And so we're given a list of things that we should give attention to now that we're being brought out of captivity and enjoying the favor of God. And here it is, Speak the Truth to Your Neighbor. Paul has already opened up this theme in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 when he says, Speaking the truth in love. Speak the truth to your neighbor, not as a club.

The truth can be a club, of course. You can use it like a club saying things. Perfectly true, but not speaking the truth in love, using it to bludgeon. That's not what is in view here. The new man, or the new woman, the new person.

By the way, here when we're told to put off the new man and to put on the new man, that Greek word, anthropos, is not gender, It's gender neutral. You could say human. Put on the new human. Put off the old human. The new man or woman, the new person, is to be a persistent truth teller.

A reliable truth teller. Meaning, sometimes it doesn't cost you a thing to tell the truth, and sometimes it costs you a lot. The new man is supposed to be a persistent truth teller, willing to pay the cost to tell the truth when it's costly. And sometimes you know that it is. A persistent truth teller.

So here's the question for you. We'll have to apply all the way because our text is really an application text so we can't save it till the end because Paul is applying. So here's the question for you. To what extent do you play fast and loose with the truth? It wasn't exactly a lie.

Oh, but you withheld truth that really you had an obligation to tell. You didn't look them in the eye and tell a bold-faced lie, you just withheld truth that they needed to know. Yeah, that's deceptive. That's exactly. That's not speaking the truth with your neighbor.

That is playing fast and loose with the truth. The question, are you careful to tell the truth? You're careful to tell the truth. It's the exact opposite of playing fast and loose with the truth. And then, a third, the basis or the reason, Paul gives that to us, Why?

Why speak the truth to your neighbor? We are members of one another. So the negative command, put away lying. The positive command, speak truth with your neighbor. But the basis for this reason, Why?

Why does it matter? Why is it important? What is the foundation that God through the Apostle Paul is building on? We're members of one another. We find that This is both very broad.

When you say, speak the truth to your neighbor, Jesus has answered forever the question, who is my neighbor? Is that narrow or broad? That's broad. The parable of the good Samaritan tells you who your neighbor is. You've got a lot of neighbors.

And a lot of your neighbors aren't Christians. So this doesn't mean that the fact that he says we are members of one another isn't to restrict truth telling just to Christians. No. Okay, It is broad. You tell the truth to your neighbor, and your neighbor can be an unbeliever.

But it is also narrower. It includes everyone. This admonition to tell the truth includes everyone. But it includes the family of God in a particular way. How so?

There are additional dynamics within the family of God in truth telling, the requirement to tell truth telling that don't exist outside of the family of God. Let me give you two of those. One, the destruction of unity that comes in from falsehood. We're supposed to, we're to endeavor to pursue the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Nothing destroys that like falsehood, deception, hypocrisy.

It is particularly devastating within the family of God. Because it is exactly the opposite of the community that we are supposed to be building together after the likeness. The body of Christ. Yeah, we tell lies to each other. Think of how devastating that is.

Think of how that erodes the foundation of what we are to become together and how that kills the mission. We do have a mission. This erodes the foundation for our mission to worship God and to spread His worship to the ends of the earth. One additional dynamic within the people of God, we are members of one another, is the destruction of unity that comes in from falsehood too. The need for candor and openness because of our position as members of one another, as members together of the body of Christ.

There may be times where it is unwise to speak with candor or to have this measure of openness with unbelievers. That's not lying to not expose yourself to people who belong to an enemy kingdom. But there is an openness and a candor of giving each other a window into each other's souls that is completely appropriate and necessary if we're going to be members of one another. That's part of truth telling. It's part of truth telling within the body of Christ.

There is an incremental additional level of candor. Saying what's on your mind. Sharing from your heart with one another because we are members of one another in the body of Christ. I have a completely different level of obligation to talk to you about what I'm observing in your life, especially if these are harmful things that I do to a scoffer, an unbelieving scoffer. In fact, Proverbs would tell me, leave the unbelieving scoffer alone here or you're taking a dog by the ears.

But to one another, we do have an obligation to speak the truth in love to one another. The principle is universal. We tell the truth to everybody. There are religions where it's a virtue to lie to the infidel. That is not Christianity.

We are not at liberty to lie to the infidel. We tell the truth to everyone and yet there are dynamics that are above and beyond because we are members of one another. Alright, moving on to verses 26 and 27. Ephesians 4, 26 and 27. Paul writes, Paul quotes, he's quoting Psalm 4, 4 here.

Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Here in 26 and 27 Paul gives us a reflection of the Savior righteous anger. Oh, isn't that a reflection of the Savior? You do see him be mad sometimes in the gospel, but it isn't out of control anger.

It is righteous anger. So that is a reflection of the Savior righteous anger. One, the positive command, be angry without sinning. Be angry and do not sin. He's quoting David in Psalm chapter 4 verse 4 where David is contemplating the wicked man and he says this on the heels of talking about the wicked man, be angry and do not sin.

And then he tells himself, trust in the Lord. Sort of the antidote to angry or sinful anger is trusting in the Lord. Anger is not inherently sinful. It is not by definition sinful. Of course it can be sinful.

It often is sinful, but it doesn't have to be sinful. Psalm 7 verse 11. God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. Did you know that? Did you know that God is angry with the wicked every day?

Not a day passes when God isn't angry at the wicked. That's a terrifying thought. Why is He angry at the wicked? Because He's a just judge. Because righteousness matters to him and righteousness should matter to the people of God.

We should not be indifferent when wickedness is perpetrated on the innocent, when wickedness is perpetrated against the vulnerable, the righteous. That does make us angry, that should make us angry. God is angry with the wicked every day, but also consider James 1.20. James 1.20 gives us the other side of the anger coin. James says, For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

The wrath or the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. So there is righteous anger. God has it. God can only be righteous. There is also this other kind of anger called the wrath of man.

There is a self-centered, self-prioritizing anger which is sinful. And friends, that is our ordinary anger. Don't doubt me. I have a lot of experience with anger, and that is the ordinary anger, I think, unless you may be way more sanctified than me. But my guess is, your ordinary anger, your experience with it is like mine.

It's pretty self-centered, it's often self-centered, it's often self-prioritizing, it has nothing to do with righteousness and wickedness, except for where it tramples on me and my rights and my desires. That's often where the roots of our anger lies. So in verse 31 in next week's text, Paul is going to say, let all wrath and anger be put away from you. He's not forgetting what he just said. He's making a distinction between righteous anger which doesn't bring you into sin and the unrighteous anger, all of which ought to be left behind.

This self-centered, self-prioritizing anger that needs to be put off. So The positive command is be angry without sinning. Be angry about the right things for the right reasons. Two, the negative command, don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Put off that.

That is part of the old man is to let anger linger and build. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. Though anger in itself is not sinful, yet there is the utmost danger of its becoming so if it is not carefully watched and speedily suppressed. So does it have to be sinful? No.

Is it dangerous? Yes. Must it be carefully watched and speedily suppressed? Even righteous anger, Matthew Henry says yes, I think he's dead right about that. Carefully watched and speedily suppressed.

Calvin says this, John Calvin says, Paul therefore suggests that we shall quickly suppress our anger and not suffer it to gather strength by continuance. Whoa, don't you know that about anger? That it gathers strength by continuance. That if you let it linger, it gains momentum. Anybody ever had that experience?

Or are you liars? I know you have. Because you allowed it to linger, it gained momentum. Have you ever heard this phrase? Stewing in your juices.

That is all about just letting anger continue and build momentum. It started little, but the more you think about it, the more I think about it. And the more I let myself think about it, The more it gains momentum. We are not to be a people stewing in our juices. We are to get free of that.

We are not to let the sun go down on our wrath. Three, the basis, the reason, why. This is so clear. Sinful anger creates an opportunity for the devil. It's what it does.

Sinful anger, stewing in your juices, anger gaining momentum creates an opportunity for the devil. Nor give place to the devil. Peter teaches us we have an ever active enemy. 1 Peter 5 verse 8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Satan has been studying mankind for six thousand years.

He knows just how to exploit every vulnerability. And anger not dealt with, anger allowed to continue and build momentum is a perfect opportunity. It's a crack through which he inserts the crowbar to pry open into a big gap to exploit and harm. Every little offense and annoyance and perceived slight, every microaggression is a risk. Every real sin against you or people that you love is a real risk.

So it doesn't have to just be perceived slights or things that can be real grievous sin against you. You have to identify that as a risk, as an opportunity that the devil would love to exploit as you give it an opportunity to gain momentum. The real risk here is feeling justified in your anger. You might be right, 100% right in your analysis. Don't think that frees you from the exhortations of the Apostle Paul here.

Being 100% right does not exempt you from what Paul is teaching us here. It doesn't make your anger any better, any more legitimate. Oh, it's righteous anger on day 30? On year 12? Are you sure?

Friends, deal with anger speedily. That's what Paul is telling us to do. Deal with it speedily. Resolve it speedily if you can. But not everything that you're anger about, even righteously angry about, is resolvable speedily.

What do you do then? Paul tells us that in Romans 12-19 when he quotes Deuteronomy 32 and says, Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord. What does that mean? That means it's not your job to right every wrong. It's not your job to be mad about every wrong.

God says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So, if we can't resolve it speedily, at least we can relinquish it into God, to God whose business it is to right every wrong. And He will right every wrong. Just so you don't get to pick the timing. And we don't appreciate that.

Verse 28. So that was 26 and 27. A reflection of the Savior. Righteous anger, the positive command. Be angry without sinning.

The negative command. Don't let the sun go down in your anger. The basis or the reason. Sinful anger creates an opportunity for the devil. Alright, 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." In this verse we have a reflection of the Savior, something Christ-likeness. Giving out of fruitfulness. If you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, giving fills in the blank. Giving out of fruitfulness or productivity. One, the negative command, don't steal.

That's pretty straightforward. That could belong in the Ten Commandments. Oh, it does belong in the Ten Commandments. You shall not steal. Because taking the easy way to acquire things with no regard for your neighbor is so consistent with the old man there is an assumption that there will be some who stole in Ephesus.

Let him who stole steal no longer." This is repentance turning from and turning towards the two parts of repentance. It's an about face. Because getting things with great ease at the expense of my neighbor is So natural to the unbeliever, there's going to be people in your midst who stole. Don't steal anymore. Turn away from theft.

Turn towards giving. You have both of these parts of repentance laid out here for us. What does the old man say? The old man says, you get through the sweat of your brow, I've got a sweatless way. You obtain through the sweat of your brow, I found a shortcut.

An old man thinks like that, and we might have thought like that, and we might be tempted to continue in that or to return to that. And so Paul confronts it. The positive command. Engage in honest labor. This is the antidote for theft, engaging in honest labor.

But rather, Let him labor, working with his hands, what is good." The Greek words translated labor here means to grow weary, tired, exhausted with toil. To labor with wearisome effort. So, weariness is built into the Greek word that's being translated here. Exhaustive toil is built into the word being translated. So the point of working with his hands isn't that all Christians are required to engage in manual labor, although manual labor is very often honest work for honest pay.

So I think it is commending manual labor. It's not requiring every Christian to engage in manual labor. The point is this, if the choice is between stealing or working my fingers to the bone, I'm a Christian, I work my fingers to the bone. That's the point being made here. I have known men who are looking for the topless way of making a living.

They want to find that way where they make money when they're sleeping. And so it's one scheme followed by another scheme, followed by another scheme, followed by another scheme, because They don't want to work hard. This is a call to work hard. Paul is saying we should be willing to work hard to acquire what we need and to have an abundance out of which to give others. Three, the basis or the reason.

So that you can help the needy. Why not steal? Why engage in hard labor? So that your needs are provided for and that you can help the needy, that he may have something to give him who has need. Talk about repentance.

Talk about a complete about face. Rather than stealing, I'm a new man and I'm now cultivating a life that is productive and fruitful to the point that I'm not only not harming you by stealing, I actually am gaining resources out of which I'm willing to help you. That isn't about faith. It's just the kind of transformation that's worthy of the Gospel. What is the second greatest commandment?

Jesus tells us in Matthew 22, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. He's quoting Leviticus 19. Love your neighbor as yourself. Why can't I steal? Because that's not loving my neighbor.

Why should I give? Because that is loving my neighbor. All these things that Paul is setting before us are just laws of love Love is the fulfillment of the law She really just telling us how to love our neighbor how not to hate our neighbor and how to love our neighbor As a passing comment, this is a fatal blow to choosing subsistence living. Sometimes you have to engage in subsistence living. What even is subsistence living?

It's having just enough for the basics. Subsistence living is having just enough to have food and clothing and shelter. Now, choosing subsistence living is saying, because that's enough to get by, I'll labor till I hit that amount of provision and then not one more minute or hour. And Young men often engage in subsistence living because they're so low overhead. I mean they can live on almost nothing.

Couchsurfing is a category. Couchsurfing is a thing. What is that? Moving from couch to couch to couch to couch. Now all I've got to do is worry about food.

So a few dollars here and there on odd jobs and that's all the work that I have to do. Ski bums are a real thing. Surf bums are a real thing. It's choosing subsistence living just enough for the basics so that I can waste the rest of my time on things that aren't good. Paul is waging war against that mindset.

He actually wants you to work at different things or to work harder to acquire more provisions so that you have an abundance out of which to help other people above your own basic needs. All of this is a reflection of the Lord Jesus. Listen to 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

My point from quoting this isn't that the calling of every Christian is to impoverish himself to give to others. It's that our example is the polar opposite of theft. Theft is taking from someone else in order to ease yourself. Jesus actually did the polar opposite of that. He impoverished himself taking on the likeness of human flesh, and laying down his life to make us rich.

To follow him, You acquire more provision than you need in order to bless and help. That's the basis of the reason so that you can help the needy. Finally, verse 29. Follow along as I reread Ephesians 4 verse 29. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." Here in verse 29, Paul gives us a reflection of the Savior, helpful Grace-filled words.

If you're taking notes on the handout, helpful and grace fill in the two blanks. Helpful, grace-filled words. One, the negative command. Don't speak corrupt things. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth.

The Greek word translated corrupt here, the primary meaning is rotten, putrified. That's what we're talking about here. The secondary meaning means corrupted, no longer fit for use. It helps to know in the range of meaning is rotten, putrefied. Just think of something that has been kept in the back of the refrigerator longer than you can remember.

You don't even remember when that thing went in and you forgot all about it and now you pull it out. There are things that could be said which reflect rottenness in the heart. Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12, 34, whenever we speak a corrupt word, It actually is a display of at least remaining corruptions, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And which corrupt, they can easily exert a corrupting influence on those who hear.

There are things that you could say which tell some things about what's going on in your heart, but also exert a corrupting influence on the people who listen to you. We're not to do that. That's not part of the new man. That's something that's part of the old man that must be put off. Brothers and sisters, verbalizing our remaining corruptions has a corrupting influence.

It makes others more liable to thinking wrongly when you've verbalized your remaining corruptions. It changes their thinking potentially in ways that are not good. It changes the freedom with which they feel they can say the same. The summary is guard your tongue. Guard it.

Every Christian should have a healthy filter installed between brain and mouth. Install filter between brain and mouth. It's filtering out these things that are part of our remaining corruptions. And could have a corrupting influence on the people around us. Two, the positive command.

Speak things which are needed to build up. But what is good for necessary edification? Things which are needed to build up. That's what edification means, build up. There are two elements here.

One, things that are good for building up, things that are good for edifying, but also two, timing. The New King James renders this necessary, good for necessary edification. The NASB renders it a little different. Instead of necessary, NASB renders that according to the need of the moment, timing, the ESV follows or renders it similarly as fits the occasion. So it's the right thing, a good thing, a building up thing at the right time.

Saying the right thing at the right time. A word in season. The new man or the new woman is sensitive to opportunities to build up with words. Are you? Are you sensitive to opportunities to build up to do good with words?

Would you even recognize it? Would you know the opportunity if it was upon you? Because you have a sensitivity to, oh, this is my time to build up with the things that I say. The new man or the new woman is growing and acting like Jesus. One of the ways in which we grow in acting like Jesus is to seize opportunities to build up with words.

So I recognize the opportunity and I seize the opportunity. I never let it pass. When I know that the opportunity is upon me, I seize it. I can do good here with speaking good. Three, The basis or the reason.

Edifying words are a helpful gift to the hearer. Edifying words are a helpful gift to the hearer, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Those words are an edifying gift. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, I read it in the call to worship. Paul speaks of the riches of his grace.

The riches of God's grace. Now I think we're being told here in chapter 4 that we can enter into that. That we can be a part of that, that we can participate in being the riches of God's grace towards my sister by the way I speak, by seizing the opportunity to build up with my words. Are there riches of God's grace? Of course there are.

Is there just a single channel for that? No way! There's a hundred channels for His goodness flowing to us. And we are channels for that to one another. Does God do it all indirectly?

Of course not. Some of it is direct, just sweet fellowship with Him, and a direct impartation of goods to us from God. But some of the channels are indirect. And we are meant to be that for each other. We're called to be that for each other.

We're privileged with the opportunity to be that to each other. Do you have a sense of that? What a privilege it is to be part of the riches of God's grace for my sister, for my brother. The privilege of entering into this storehouse of good that God is giving through different channels to His people, through His people sometimes. I want to be part of that.

We are intended to be an ongoing source of grace, an ongoing source of encouragement, an ongoing source of help for one another. Listen to Proverbs 10 verse 11. The mouth of the righteous is a well of life. The mouth of the righteous is a well of life. That is exactly what Paul is talking about.

Planet Earth is corrosive. Planet Earth is hard. It is full of challenges, unending challenges, and griefs, and sorrows, and discouragements. And we can be an ongoing source of grace. An ongoing source of grace.

And you need grace, and I need grace to counteract these challenges and the corruption in this world, the discouragements in the world, the mouth of the righteous is a well of life. Let's listen to what Paul says in Colossians 4 verse 6. Colossians 4 verse 6. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Let your speech always be with grace.

Dr. MacArthur says this in the notes in his study Bible, Because believers have been saved by grace and kept by grace, they should live and speak with grace. Amen. Thank you Dr. MacArthur.

I'll read that again. Because believers have been saved by grace and kept by grace, they should live and speak with grace. Anything else is inappropriate. What did Jesus say? Freely you have received, freely give.

This is more of that. If you've received freely, you're on the hook to give freely. Has Jesus given to you sparingly? Perish the thought! Perish the thought.

Death to that thought. Jesus has given to me sparingly. Your turn, believer, as you grow in Christ-likeness. Applications, I'll just give you one. Because all these are about the same thing.

Are you growing in repentance? There is repentance unto life, Praise God. You go from death to life, from darkness to light in a nanosecond as you lay hold of Christ by faith. If you ever thought you were done repenting, that's the first of ten thousand times you'll repent. You need to repent and believe on day one million as much as on day one.

This is about repentance. This is about turning from the world, self-sufficiency, self-love, turning towards the good things that we see in Jesus' life. This is about putting off the old man whose family head was Adam and putting on the new man whose family head is the Lord Jesus. Let me close with Colossians 3. This is actually somewhat of a long reading so you can if you want go there.

Colossians 3. So many of the same things from Ephesians are found in Colossians. But he says it in just a little bit of a different way that I thought was helpful to just read. It reinforces all that he says in Ephesians and then some. Colossians 3 verses 8 through 14.

In closing. Paul writes, But now you yourselves are to put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarians, Scythians, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another.

Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. God, I thank you for the wisdom that we're encountering. I do thank you for the general teaching that builds a framework in our minds for the putting off and the putting on. And I thank you for addressing specific categories that brings it home to day to day thoughts and activities in our lives like truth telling and working hard.

Truth telling and working hard and the things that we say. I pray that you would help us to grow more and more into the likeness of this beautiful image that we see, free from every vice, perfect in every virtue, Jesus. Make us like Him, We pray in Jesus name, Amen.