Ephesians chapter four. Now if that sounds familiar, it should sound familiar if you've been coming. I hope it does because we have been in Ephesians four for I think this is our third week and we've got one or two yet to go in Ephesians chapter four. So off and on Christians. Off and on Christians.

Now, at first that sounds like, you know, hot and cold Christians. But in this passage, that's not what this is about. It's about Christians who put off the old and put on the what? Put on the new. Put off the old ways of the flesh and the world and put on the new ways of Jesus Christ our savior.

We can do that because if we put our faith in Christ, we have been born again and we are new creatures in Jesus Christ. We have a verse here that says that. Ephesians second Corinthians five seventeen, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. And in Ephesians chapter four and verse 17, Actually, I think I'm gonna start down in verse 21 verse 21. If so be that you have heard him, that is you have heard Christ and have been taught by him as it the truth is in Jesus.

In other words, if you have been saved, if you know Christ through faith in him, you have learned of him and you've come to know him and are being taught by him. If that is the case, if you are saved, if you are a child of God, 22, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old ways, the old man, the sin nature, which is corrupt and according to the deceitful lust. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the the new man, the new person, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. If you have been born again and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, you are empowered by the spirit to put off the old ways and to put on the new ways. To follow who?

Follow Christ. That's what the word Christian means. It's a follower of Christ. And if you are a believer in Christ, you have become a follower of Christ. And now we need to follow.

Not just in our faith, but our faith should lead to what? Should lead to actions, putting off the old ways and putting on the new. Last week, we looked at verse 25, wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another. This morning, we're gonna look at verse twenty six and twenty seven. Be angry and sin not.

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for this day, this opportunity to share your word. Lord, as we look into it this morning, may the Holy Spirit take it and use it in our life and heart to reveal to us areas where we need your help that we must change to be more like Jesus. We pray if there's someone here that is yet to receive Christ as the Lord and savior of your their life, that they may make that decision even today that they might become your child, be forgiven of their sins, and receive your Holy Spirit.

We pray, that you'd be with John Brown who was I was reminded is having surgery this Wednesday. We pray, Lord, that you would be with the doctors and we pray that everything would go super well and that, you might restore him, to good health, dear heavenly father. We pray that, you would work in our service today, that you would be magnified and glorified, and draw all men unto yourself. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.

We started this series with this important declaration. You need to understand who you are in Christ. You are a new new person. You are a new creation. If Christ is your savior and Lord, and if you have therefore become a child of God, you're a different person than you were before you met Christ.

Now, that different person may not be quite as evident as he or she should be. If we are not putting off the old and putting on the what? And putting on the new. If we are not actively growing in our faith, in our trust in the Lord Jesus, and learning truly to be followers in every aspect of our life. But you are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians two ten says this, for we are his workmanship. Another word for that is masterpiece. For we are his workmanship, his masterpiece created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We're not saved by works, we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross of Calvary, but we are saved by grace that we might do good works to the glory of who? To the glory of our father in our heaven in heaven, our savior who died on the cross to take away our sins.

We are a new creation in Christ Jesus and God desires as God empowers us to change, to be more like him. Good works, that is good works which reflect the nature of the God you serve as exhibited by his son Jesus Christ. Romans eight twenty nine, it says, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. God is in the process of making us more like who? More like Jesus.

And God will do that and he'll do it quicker if we'll get out of the way and we'll let him. If we will learn to trust him. And when he reveals what needs to be put off to put it off, and when he reveals what needs to be put on to put it on in our life, to be conformed, to changed into the image of Jesus Christ. Before you knew Christ, you lived according to the dictates of the world and the flesh. But now in Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit having been born again and anew, God expects better things of you.

Things, works, deeds befitting repentance or salvation. Acts twenty six twenty, but showed first under them of Damascus, this is Paul speaking in his testimony, but showed first under them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance. In other words, you first have to be saved through faith in Christ And you can only be saved by grace through faith in Christ. You can't earn it. But after you are saved and become a child of God, God expects his children to learn to live in such a way that is befitting their salvation, their new position in Christ as the children of God.

You must therefore learn to put learn to put off the unfruitful works of darkness, the old and corrupt person you were before, to cast off those things and to put on Christ. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Who is the writer of Hebrews writing? Professing Christians who claim to know Jesus Christ as savior and he said, need to set aside the weights, the distractions, the things that are holding you back in service to Christ and you need to cast off the sins which so easily grab a hold of us if we're not paying attention, if we're not dealing with things. We collect them and they beset us.

They distract us. They get in our way. They mess up our fellowship and our service for the Lord. And we need to put those things on. We need to recognize them and confess and forsake them.

And then we need to put on the things in our life. Adopt new thoughts. Adopt new habits. Adopt new goals and a purpose in life that is in line with whose? Is in line with God's will for our lives.

But as he which has called you as holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation or conduct because it is written, be holy for I am holy. Be holy is not a statement that speaks only to the things you don't do, though it does, but also the things that you should be what? Doing. The Bible says to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So for instance, in Sunday school we're learning how to be better soul winners and witnesses for Jesus Christ.

Every child of God should be a witness to some degree for Jesus Christ to the world around us. If we're not doing that, if we're shirking that responsibility, that good that we should be doing, then to us that is a what? That is a sin. And we should be doing that. We should be putting that responsibility on.

We should be accepting that that call by our Lord to be witnesses for Jesus Christ in this world. And that is just one example. So put off and put what? And put on. Last week, we looked at verse 25 here in chapter four that says, wherefore putting away what?

Lying. Speak every man truth with his neighbor. So last week, looked at how vitally important it is that we do not adopt the ways of Satan and the ways of the world. Jesus says Satan is a liar. He is a liar.

He abode not in the truth. He is his very name means deceiver. He is a deceiver. That is how he robbed God of humanity so to speak, way back in the Garden of Eden. He came to Eve and he lied.

He said, have God said you you're gonna die if you eat of the fruit of the trees? And he basically said, yes. But but only this what? Only this one tree. That was the truth.

And Satan said, you won't surely die. God knows that if you eat of that tree, you're going to become a god yourself And he just doesn't want you to have any fun. What was that? That was a lie. Satan is a liar and the father of it.

When we lie, we are performing the works of who? Satan and not God. Christian, lying should not be part of your life. It is something we should seek to avoid with a passion. And instead, we need to put on honesty and tell the truth.

The world doesn't need more lies. The world needs the truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall what? Set you free. Put offline.

Put on honesty. Be the person of integrity and honest character in whom others can trust because people are certainly looking for that and they need that. They need to be pointed to Jesus who will never lie to them. The next verse tells us, verse 26, be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Be ye angry and sin not. Is it always a sin to be angry? No. It is not. Anger is an emotion.

It is what you do with that emotion of anger. It is the reason behind possibly that emotion of anger that makes it a sin or not a sin. Here, the Apostle Paul encourages the Ephesians, when you get angry, don't stay what? Don't stay angry. You can't live that way.

It will do you great what? Harm if you stay angry. Deal with your anger, what? Quickly. That's what it means when it says, let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Deal with it quickly. Do not let it linger. Do not let it fester like an infection. Do not let it boil over out of control. Deal with it quickly.

Deal with it righteously. Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. There are many sins which can beset us which we need to cast off or else they will control us and not who? The whole not let me read that again.

K. There are many sins which can beset us which we need to cast off or else they will control us, the sin will, rather than the person who is to be controlling us who is the Holy Spirit. Walk in the spirit, the Bible says, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Ephesians five eighteen, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the what? The spirit.

The word filled there means influenced and controlled. Don't be controlled by alcohol, be controlled and influenced by the spirit. We have to cast off certain things, desires and lusts of the flesh, habits that cling to us, and by God's grace we can. And then to walk according to the spirit and not according to those things. Put off and put on.

Those things must be confessed and they must be abandoned with the help of the Lord if we are to enjoy all the blessings of our salvation. One day, we will go to heaven to be with our savior and enjoy all the blessings that heaven has to offer. But you aren't in heaven yet. Where are you? You're on earth.

Does God want to bless you here? Yes. Does. Does God want to fill you with joy? Does God want to give you peace?

Does God want to fulfill your your your goals and your dreams and your purpose? Yes. He does. But you need to learn to walk in the spirit and you need to confess those sins which beset you and cast them off so that you can put on Christ. It is vitally important.

They will get you into all kinds of trouble if you don't cast them aside. They may leave lifelong scars, but they don't have to if you will confess and embrace and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the worst of those things that beset us is anger. When we talk about sins and things that trouble people, maybe anger is not at the top of your list, but anger should be. Unbridled, uncontrolled, undealt with anger is incredibly destructive.

Just like other emotions, anger is not a bad thing when it's controlled by the Holy Spirit. But when it takes control and when it is not dealt with in the spirit, it can create untold havoc, not only in our lives but in the lives of others. How many millions, and it's millions is probably the right number, How many millions in this world died a premature death because someone could not control their what? Their anger, their temper. How many have died prematurely because somebody took their life out of anger?

How many marriages destroyed? How many families torn apart? How many friendships severed because of uncontrolled anger? I continue on. How many young people grow up in homes abused and scared and angry themselves because of parents who can't control their what?

Their anger. The answer to that is probably another one in the millions. As a youth pastor, I dealt with many of them. When I was in Georgia, we ran several buses. We picked up somewhere between 50 and a 100 kids a week on buses for our Wednesday night program.

Nearly half of them were dealing with anger issues and other issues because they were in homes where parents would not could not control their anger. Most of those parents were unsaved. But if you're a child of God, God expects something better of who? Of you because you can. How many jails are filled with people, many of whom are there because of uncontrolled anger?

How many sleepless nights and heartaches people suffer because of uncontrolled anger? It destroys homes, it destroys nations, friendships, partnerships, destroys ministries. How many churches have been split because of anger? A lot. Doesn't have to be.

Shouldn't be. Not among God's people. Unbridled and undealt with anger is the devil's is the devil's playground and one of his means to destroy humanity. Look, if you would, in Ephesians four and verse 27. Let read verse 26 again.

Be angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. When you harbor anger, you're giving a home figuratively speaking in your heart to who? To the devil. You're giving him an opportunity. He is like a roaring lion roaming about seeking whom he may devour.

And when we harbor anger, we are giving him an opportunity to work terrible things in our life and in the lives of others. Christian, that should not be and it does not need to be. Hebrews twelve fifteen says this, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. What is bitterness? It is anger that is undealt with.

It is anger that is sitting there festering. How many of you have known people who were bitter? Are they happy? Do they make people around them happy? No.

They have no peace because they would not deal with their anger. And I have met Christians that way. Just because you're a child of God doesn't mean you're immune to any of these things. We have to look to the Lord. We have to recognize the sin in our life.

We have to confess it or else it will get a foothold in our life and it will do us untold damage. So again, looking diligently, being determined, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Be on the lookout because if you let anger simmer, it will turn into bitterness. Stirring up anger in the hearts of men is one of Satan's most powerful tools to control them and turn them away from peace and happiness and most importantly, the way of truth and salvation. To blind them with rage and anger and bitterness, to do those things which are destructive and to turn them from the hope that is Jesus Christ.

You ever watched you've been watching the news lately? Are there a lot of angry people in the world? Are there a lot of people trying to stir up angry people in the world? That's the work of who? That's the work of Satan.

Because if he can keep people angry, he can keep them blinded to the truth. He can keep them from Christ. He can keep them, even Christians, from enjoying the blessings and being the testimony they ought to be. And he is at work in our society here in The United States today, and you can see it festering and growing. It is a terrible tool of Satan.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, high places, the devil, sin. We who are in Christ, greater is he that's in us than he that is in the what? The world. We do not have to be overcome of anger. We can put it under the control and the will of our God and he will help us to deal with it quickly and properly.

If we don't, then some very quick examples this morning from scripture. We're not gonna turn there, but just to mention a few. Cain. Why did Cain kill Abel? Well, usually the the answer is he was jealous.

Maybe a little. Yeah. Jealous that God accepted his sacrifice and not Cain's. I can see that. But he was also what?

He was angry. His jealousy led to anger and his anger led to what? To murder. First generation after Adam and Eve, we already have murder and it was anger among other things that led to the first murder. Levi and Simeon, sons of Jacob.

So you have Abraham and then his son Isaac and then his son Jacob. So Jacob is Abraham's grandson. He is the seed of promise. He had 12 sons. Two of those sons were named Levi and Simeon.

They were settling in the land of Canaan near a town called Shechem. And the prince of Shechem raped their sister. What did they do? You know what they did? They killed every man, every male in the city of Shechem.

Every last one of them. Now, did they have the right to be angry at what was done to their sister? Yes, they did. Did they deal with it the right way? No, they didn't.

They allowed anger to go unbridled and unchecked and they slaughtered an entire town of men out of anger. Joseph's brothers, they decided to kill him. Then they decided to sell him. And then they decided to lie to their father about it. Why did they do that?

Well, you say jealousy. Yeah. But the jealousy led to what? Anger. They were angry.

Joseph was being treated better than them, so they thought. Joseph was the goody two shoes who tattled on them. Joseph was the one who who God gave these dreams that they would bow down to him one day. They were angry. And in their anger, they acted in a terrible way towards their brother, unthinkable.

And one day, unthinkably, unknowingly, they bowed before him and he could have killed them all. But Joseph was not an angry person. Joseph was a man filled with peace and so he forgave them. Moses Moses, the meekest man, one day he got angry at the people. And when he was supposed to speak to the rock for water to came out, instead he took his staff and he struck the rock.

Water still came out, but Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because he lost control of his what? He lost control of his anger and God said, you're not going in. Absalom. Absalom is a son of David. He is, I think, the eldest son of David.

He plotted and succeeded in killing his brother because similar to our previous example, his brother had forced himself on his sister. This happened in these homes where there were multiple wives which never worked out well, David's included. So Absalom's half brother forced himself on Absalom's sister and Absalom got angry. Did he have a right to be angry? Yes, he did.

How did he deal with it? Well, he plotted and he succeeded in getting vengeance on killing his brother. But you know something? That didn't that didn't fix his anger. He was still what?

Angry and bitter. And his anger and bitterness turned towards his father and he betrayed his father. And he gathered an army to take his father's throne and to kill him. When he got to the palace, his father had fled but he left several of his wives behind. Absalom abused them in public after his father left.

Anger and bitterness are terrible things and it led to Absalom's humiliating death hanging from a tree by his hair as David's general killed him. It led him to a terrible end and to do terrible unthinkable acts. The very act that made him angry in the first place, he did and more himself. Anger is a tool of the devil. God does not want this of us and he expects better of us And he tells us in Romans 12 what he expects.

So in closing, I want us to read this again. What does God expect of us, his children? Verse 17 of Romans 12, recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men if it'd be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves like Absalom, but rather give place under wrath.

Whose wrath? God's wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.

For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. The coals of fire on his head means defeat him or win him, overcome his evil by doing him what? Good. Good.

So, in closing, number one, God expects you to control your anger. If somebody curses you, do you have the right to curse them back? The answer is no. That is not the right way to deal with somebody who is mistreating you. Jesus said to turn the other what?

Turn the other cheek. That doesn't mean sit there and let them beat you to a pulp, but what it means is don't seek revenge. Do not seek revenge. Number two, God expects us to live at peace with others, even those neighbors that have been aggravating or that relative that or that whatever the case may be. God expects us to live at peace with others.

There's only so much we can do sometimes. That's what this as much as lieth in you. In other words, it does take two people to be at peace and sometimes you can't control what the other person does. But you can control what what you do. Number three, God expects you to trust his righteous judgment that he will take care of it all one day.

You do not have to take care of it. You do not have to teach everybody a lesson. You do not have to get back. Let God take care of that. Let God defend you.

He won't fail you and it'll turn out so much better. Getting revenge never gets rid of the anger in your heart as Absalom find out. Number four, God expects you to do good even to those who do you evil. Overcome them with love and grace and mercy and not hurt, revenge, and evil. And he expects us to recognize when we have failed, to trust in Christ to save us, and to trust in Christ to help us as we commit our way to him.

To do things whose way? God's way. To put off the uncontrolled anger. To deal with it quickly, to deal with it righteously, to forgive, to turn that hurt over to God, and to follow his lead and to listen to his advice. Trust in the Lord, his justice, his goodness, his mercy, his strength.

Trust in the one who gave his life for really good people or really bad people. Which is it? Really good people he gave his life for or really bad people he gave his life for? Really bad people because all of us are what? Sinners.

And it says in Romans five that when we were enemies, Christ died for us. To make his enemies his friends. Follow his lead. Be more like Jesus. Be angry and sin not.

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Do not give place to who? To Satan. If you're angry, talk to God about it. Ask for his help.

He will help you if you will ask. And he will save you if you will ask. Have you done that? You can today. Let's pray.

Dear God, thank you Lord for your word. Thank you that we serve a merciful and a patient God who is long suffering with us, who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And if there's one here today that is yet to receive Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, I pray they'd come this morning. We can show them how they might be saved and know it forever. And Lord, I pray if we're harboring anger and bitterness in our heart that we would see that for the terrible tool of the enemy that it is.

That we would see how destructive it is. That we'd see how it hurts our savior and how it destroys our testimony and our joy. And that we might be willing to confess that to you today so that you can help us to be free from that anger and to act righteously and compassionately with others. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.