Ron Dunn Podcast - The Sufficiency of Christ - Part 3

Episode Date: May 12, 2014

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. I want you to take your Bibles tonight, if you would please, and open them to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Paul's letters have an easily spotted division in them. He always starts off with doctrine, truth, but

there comes a point in each letter when he turns from the purely doctrinal and then begins to make practical application of it. It's not to say that in the rest of the letter there is no doctrine, but the emphasis is upon the putting into effect of that doctrine. And all of Paul's letters have that structure. First of all, he states the truth, and then he relates the truth. First of all, he lays a foundation of knowledge, and then upon that foundation of knowledge, he builds practice, which I believe is the biblical way to do it. If you try to have the

practice without doctrine, then all you have is just humanistic efforts. If you have the doctrine without any practice, then you have nothing but dead orthodoxy. You have to have both of them. And the practice needs to grow out of what you know. Profound knowledge makes a profound effect on a person's life. And so first of all, God always, Paul always lays down the theological, the doctrinal foundation. And then there comes a point in that letter when he turns to the practical application of those things that he's just said. And I said that usually that division is easily recognizable because it usually begins with a phrase like this, therefore or wherefore or so then.

For instance, in the book of Romans chapter 12 verse 1, I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God. And that is up until chapter 12. He's been making all doctrinal statements. Now in chapter 12, he begins to make practical application. And so you can usually recognize this by that kind of statement, therefore and wherefore, something like that. And in Colossians, the change takes place in the third chapter in verse 5, where Paul says, put to death therefore whatever is in you is earthly. And so what you

have in this section tonight is Paul turning to the practical application of the truth that he's already established. So I want us to begin reading with verse 1 in chapter 3 and we'll read through verse 14. Philippians, excuse me, yes, Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 14. So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also

will be revealed with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly, fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed when you lived that kind of life. But now you must put off all such things, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Stop lying to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal, there is no longer Greek and Jew,

circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all. As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves, put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, just as the Lord has forgiven you. So you also must forgive. Above all, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony well i wonder if

you'd like to take a little trip with me tonight some of you look like you could use get out of town for a while i want us to take a little trip we'll be back uh by the end of the sermon i promise you i want us to take a little trip to a little town by the name of Bethany. And if we had gone to this little village of Bethany about 2,000 years ago, I think when we arrived at that town, we would have noticed something unusual. We would have noticed that there was an unusual commotion in that little village. Everybody seemed to be stirred up, and they all seemed to be excited about something. Well, I think I would go over to one of the local citizens and tap on the shoulder and say, look, I've just gotten to town and I sense that something unusual is happening.

What's going on? And probably they would have answered something like this. Well, you being from out of town, you don't know, of course, but a few days ago, Lazarus, who is the brother of Mary and Martha, died. And he's been buried now for four days. And this new prophet from Nazareth has just arrived. And talk is, he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead. We're all going out there to see this. Not much happens in Bethany. This is the biggest thing we've seen in a long time. We're all going out there to see what happens. Well, again,

I think that if I were there, curiosity would captivate me. And I think I'd fall in behind and say, well, I'll go see this thing too. So after a while, we arrive at that tomb where Lazarus has been buried for four days, and the crowd gathers around that tomb, and then that prophet from Nazareth, Jesus, steps forth, lifts his face towards heaven, and prays a very unusual prayer. He prays something like this. He said, Father, I thank you that you hear me and that you always hear me and you've already heard me. And the only reason I'm praying out loud now is so that these people around will know

that you and I have already got this thing settled. Strange prayer. And then after he prays, he looks in the direction of that tomb and he speaks these words, Lazarus, come forth. And of course, every eye is fastened on the open mouth of that tomb, waiting to see if something is going to happen. And then all of a sudden you hear a movement inside. And then before you know it,

there in the opening of that tomb, there stands Lazarus or somebody dressed up like a mummy, because that's how they bear them, wrapped them up with grave clothes. And this Lazarus or somebody dressed up like a mummy because that's how they buried them, wrapped them up with grave clothes. And this Lazarus comes out of that tomb. Now, to be honest with you, I've always wondered how he got out of there. I mean, he couldn't walk out because he was wrapped up like a mummy.

I figure he either floated out or he hopped out like a bunny rabbit and hopping out like a rabbit doesn't seem too reverent to me. So I like to think of him just sort of floating out, you know. But there he is, and everybody's amazed. They can't believe. Here, well, how do you know that's really Lazarus? I mean, that may be somebody else. This may be a put-up job. And so Jesus says to the crowd, loose him and let him go. And they go over there, and they begin unwrapping those grave clothes until his face is revealed, and sure enough, it is

Lazarus. They just cannot believe it has anything like this ever happened on the face of the earth everybody just goes crazy and goes wild and Mary and Martha of course are beside themselves with joy Lazarus dead for four days has been raised again and he there he is alive well after a while the celebration begins to die down and the people filter back to their homes And Mary and Martha invite Jesus to come to their home for supper. We want to have kind of a victory party tonight, a victory celebration, all of us sitting around enjoying Lazarus' return and praising the Lord for what He's done. And so Mary and Martha and Jesus make their way down the road towards the house where they live.

They've not gone very far until suddenly Martha stops, turns around, looks back the road from which they've come, and then says to Mary, well, where is Lazarus? And Mary looks around back down the road. She doesn't see any sign of him. She says, well, I don't know. He was here a little bit ago. And Martha said, well, we're having supper in a moment, and we need Lazarus.

Mary, you go. He's probably back there at seminary handing out autographs or something and giving testimony. I want you to go back down there and tell Lazarus that the Lord is at supper and we don't want to be late. And Martha doesn't like to have the food on the table without anybody there. You go back and tell Lazarus to come home. Well, Mary does.

And she walks back down to that cemetery and she looks around and I'm tempted to say she doesn't see a living soul, but she doesn't. She looks around, she doesn't see anybody there. Everybody's gone, and she cannot imagine what in the world has happened to Lazarus. Well, she suddenly finds herself standing in front of that tomb where Lazarus was buried, and as she stands there, she hears a kind of a rustling noise going on inside. And so she walks over and she, Lazarus, are you in there? And from inside that tomb comes her brother's voice. I'm here, Mary. Well, she cannot imagine what in the world he's

doing in that tomb. Surely he didn't leave anything down there that he wanted to pick up. And so she steps down a couple of rock steps into that tomb, stands there for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, and then she cannot believe what those eyes see. Sitting over there on the slab is Lazarus, her brother, with those old grave clothes, rewrapping those grave clothes around his body, rewrapping those grave clothes around his body, rewrapping those

grave clothes around his body. And Mary cannot believe what she's seeing. She said, Lazarus, Martha sent me. The Lord is at supper. And Lazarus, what in the world are you doing here? What's going on? And there is Lazarus just rewrapping those grave clothes around himself. He says, well, Mary, I guess this does look a little bit strange and maybe you need an

explanation, deserve one. You know how it is, Mary. I stayed here for four days. I was here for four days. And do you know how it is? You get used to a place, you know, you kind of settle in, get comfortable. You may not like it at first, but after a while, you get used to it, and you sort of, you know, you feel comfortable there. And, well, I spent four days here, and I don't know, just sort of got accustomed to it. And you know how there are some clothes that you wear that after a while you just sort of break them in and you just feel kind of extra comfortable in them. And to tell you the truth, I got to feeling so comfortable in these grave clothes.

I know they don't look too good, don't smell too good for that matter. But what I thought I would do, Mary, is I thought I would stay here for a while and maybe you could bring my supper to me. And Mary looks at her brother and says, Lazarus, have you lost your mind? Don't you know that Jesus has raised you to a new life in him? And don't you know that you no longer belong

in the cemetery and those grave clothes? Don't you know that what you're doing is inconsistent with the new life Jesus has given you? Now, if you know your Bible very well at all, you'll know there's a point in that story when I departed from the truth. Notice a fellow back there looking in his Bible and says, Boy, I don't see that anywhere. Where is that? Well, it's not in there. That's not even in the living Bible, folks.

He said, Preacher, that's the dumbest story I've ever heard in my life. I agree with you and I made it up. It may be dumb, but it is mighty true because there are a lot of us who are living lives inconsistent with the new life Jesus has given us. One of Paul's favorite and most graphic ways

of describing what salvation is, is using the picture of death, burial, and resurrection. We saw last night in the second chapter, beginning around verse 20, Paul said, you have died to the world. You have died to the world. You no longer belong in the world. And so if you have died to the world,

why are you still following the world's rules? Do not touch world and so if you have died to the world why are you still following the world's rules do not touch do not taste do not handle so he comes down in chapter 3 verse 1 as we looked at last night he says if you then be risen with christ you have a new life in christ your life is hidden with god you have died to the old life you have died to sin and you have been raised to a new life and you are a new person and you have new life in Christ Jesus. So he comes to verse five and he makes the powerful application. He says, if truly now you have died with Christ to the world, then act like it, live like it. Put to death the things in your life that belong to the cemetery. Put to death

the things in your life that belong to the cemetery. Put to death the things in your life that belong to the former existence, for you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. Paul is saying to these believers, if you have died, you ought to live like it. You ought to act like it. Paul says in Galatians chapter 6, verse 14, he said, God forbid that I should glory, save in anything anything but the cross by which the world is crucified unto me,

and I am crucified unto the world. What Paul means by that is, as far as the world is concerned, Paul is dead and gone. And as far as Paul is concerned, the world is dead and gone. It is a graphic picture that I have done, I have finished with the old life, and there has been given to me a new life in Christ Jesus. If that is so, then I ought to express that in my life. I don't need those gold grave clothes anymore. I ought not to be walking around in those grave clothes. I have no business living in the cemetery anymore, doing those things that belong to the former life, doing those things that belong to the former life,

doing those things that belong to the past life. And that's what Paul is getting at in our text tonight. He lays that foundation in the first four verses, talking about the fact that we have died with Christ to the world, we've died to our sins, and now we've been raised to live a new kind of life. So if that is true of us, he says in verse 5, now you ought to work it out in

your daily life. The script has been written. The script is verses 1 through 4. That's what we are. That's how God has described us. Now, beginning in verse 5, that's acting it out on the stage of your daily living. You have been raised to a new life. You have died to the old life. Now you bring that out. You put that into effect. You practice it by the way that you live. And he gives here in this chapter two lists of old grave clothes that some of these Colossians have hanging in their closet. That's what he's getting at. He's saying some of you Colossians got some old grave clothes hanging in your closet.

Every once in a while you like to get them out and put them on. But he said you have no business having those things. You need to get rid of all of them. And we're going to look tonight at these two things. First of all, there are some things that Paul says we ought to put off, the old clothes, and there are some new clothes we ought to put on. If you'll notice, beginning in about verse 8, he uses the picture of putting off clothes and putting on clothes. He says, but now you must put off all such things. And the Greek word there literally is a word that means to discard old or dirty clothes.

And he comes back, he says again in verse 10, verse 9, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and you have put on the new man, you see. You have put off the old man, then you put off the old clothes. Now you have put on the new man, which is Christ. And then in verse 12, he says, if that is so, then you need to put on these new clothes, compassion, kindness, and humility. So here's the figure that Paul is using.

Now that you have risen with Christ, those old clothes, you don't need anymore. You need to put them off. And then you need to put on the new clothes of Christ's likeness. Now it's important that we understand the chronology here, the sequence of events. He says, put off and then put on. You had to put off the old before you can ever put on the new. You have to discard the vices of the old life before you can ever dress yourself in the virtues of the new life. I'm convinced that one reason a lot of believers have trouble living a Christ-like life is they're trying to wear two suits of clothes. They're trying to put the new clothes over the old clothes without ever having removed the old clothes.

Several years ago, not several years ago, a hundred years ago now it seems like, one night, late at night, I needed something at the store. And we had a little 7-Eleven up the street, you know, that stayed open 24 hours a day. And it just so happened that I was already ready for bed and I had some pajamas on. They were silk pajamas that my mother-in-law had given me.

And they were about six inches too long. You know, you could sleep in them. You couldn't really walk in them. And so I thought, well, I'm going to run up here and pick up a few things. And there's no use getting out of my pajamas, putting on clothes and everything. I'll just pull on some slacks over these pajamas. So I took those pajama legs and I pulled them up to about my knees, you know, and then I put my slacks on over them.

And so it was about 12 or 12.30 when I got down there to that store. And I don't know how it is here, but a lot of times the people in these all-night convenient markets, they get a little bit spooky because there's so many, you know, robberies and things, and they kind of watch you carefully when you come in late at night. And so I was in there, and I was looking around, and I noticed that the clerk, who was a woman, was kind of eyeing me very suspiciously. And I couldn't understand why she was looking at me so intently as she was. And then I nearly tripped, and I looked down,

and I found that those silk pajama legs had come undone, and they were hanging out my pants leg and over my shoes. I guess I did look suspicious, you know. Well, I want to tell you something. A lot of times you can say, well, I'm going to put on these Christlike things. I'm not going to take off these old clothes. I'm going to put these new clothes over them. And for a while, it works all right.

But sooner or later, those pants legs will come undone, and people will know you haven't put off the old clothes yet. I tell you, it's mighty uncomfortable wearing two pairs of slacks. It really is. And it's mighty uncomfortable trying to act like a Christian when you haven't got rid of the old clothes.

Paul says, first of all, you have to put off these things, discard them, get rid of them. Then you put on the new. So first of all, what are the things that we're to put off? What are some of these old grave clothes? There are two lists that Paul gives us here. One list is found in verse five. The other is found in verse eight. The list in verse five,

we will call sins of desire. The list in verse eight, we will call sins of the disposition. Verse five are sins of the appetite. Verse eight are sins of the attitude. So let's look at verse 5 first of all. Paul says, put to death therefore whatever in you is earthly. Then he lists five things, fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. That second list will have five things in it too. And all through this passage, Paul uses groups of fives. He says, now, these are the things that you need to put to death in your life. You need to treat these things as dead. And by the way, Paul uses the tense of a verb here that means to do it once and for all.

In other words, the Bible never recommends tapering off. The Bible recommends you deal with it all at once, decisively, fully, and finally. That's the only way you can deal with it. You can't just taper off. Deal with it in this way. And he lists those five things. And within those five things, you'll find actually two more lists. One has to do with sins of immorality, and the other has to do with the sin of idolatry, which is greed, or greed, which which is idolatry now let's look at that first list he says put to death everything therefore in you that smacks of the old life in fornication impurity passion evil desire and greed now here he starts with the act itself fornication traces it back to where it begins, which is greed, the desire to possess.

So he starts with the act. He says, put off then fornication, immorality, impurity. Now, that is a little puzzling because Paul is writing to Christians. He's not writing to lost people. He's writing to Christians. As a matter of to lost people. He's writing to Christians. As a matter of fact, he's writing to pretty good Christians. In that chapter 1, Paul says, listen, I thank God for you. Man, I've heard about your faith.

I've heard about your love. I've heard about your hope. And I've heard how the gospel is bearing fruit in you as it does throughout the world. And I'm just praying more and more for you. These are not just Christians. They're pretty good Christians. And yet Paul is writing to them and he's saying, now you folks who are pretty good Christians out there, well, you are pretty good Christians, but listen, you've got to stop committing acts of fornication. Now, doesn't that strike you as a little bit strange? You would think that wouldn't have to be spoken to at all among believers. As a matter of fact, it happens every once in a while. I was impressed when I discovered

some time ago how often Paul writes to believers telling them to stop committing acts of impurity and immorality. For instance, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3, and now these Thessalonians were great Christians too. In the first chapter, Paul says about these Thessalonians, he says, everywhere I go throughout the whole world, people tell me what God has done in your town. So much so that I don't have to tell anybody about what God is doing in Thessalonica. He said, everywhere I go, people is talking about the tremendous conversion experience

you folks have had. But look what he says to them. Listen to what he says to them. Chapter four, verse three. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication, that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.

Now, that's strange. He brags on these Thessalonians, and then he tells them, you folks got to stop committing all that fornication over there. Ephesians chapter 5. And the Ephesians were a pretty good bunch too. Listen to what he says, verses 3 through 5. Chapter 5 of Ephesians, chapter 5. But fornication and impurity of any kind or greed

must not even be mentioned among you as is proper among saints. Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk, but instead let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person or one who is greedy, that is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Now that'll be enough. You get the point. It's amazing. Paul writing to these believers who are believers indeed and good believers, and yet he's having to tell them

to stop committing adultery and immorality. Now, why is that? Well, these believers were Gentile believers. They were pagans. They were heathen. These were not Gentile Christians, I mean Jewish Christians. These are Gentile Christians. Those folks at Colossae and Laodicea and Ephesus and Thessalonica, they're Greeks. They're Gentiles. Some Jews among them, of course, but predominantly

Gentiles. Paul's ministry was to the Gentiles, you understand. Peter went to the Jews. Paul went to the Gentiles. And so most of Paul's letters are addressed to the Gentiles, you understand. Peter went to the Jews, Paul went to the Gentiles. And so most of Paul's letters are addressed to the Gentile congregations. Now, these Gentiles had not been brought up in the Hebrew religion, which is a very highly moral and ethical religion. They were brought up in paganism, in heathenism, in paganism.

Now, if you know much about history, especially about the history of Rome and the Greek and the Hellenist, if you know much about history, especially about the history of Rome and the Greek and the Hellenists, you'll know this one thing, that the characteristic mark, the characteristic mark of a pagan society was the exaltation of immorality. That was the characteristic mark of a pagan society, the exaltation and the normalization of immorality. As a matter of fact, Christ brought a whole new virtue to that world when He came. It was the virtue of chastity.

Be, he, be. To them, to those Greeks, to those pagans committing acts of impurity was just as normal as taking a drink of water. Nobody frowned upon it. Well, that's not sinful. That's the way it is. As a matter of fact, half of their temples had temple prostitutes in them, a way of water, nobody frowned upon it. Well, that's not sinful. That's the way it is. As a matter of fact, half of their temples

had temple prostitutes in them. A way of their worshiping was through immorality, you see. Now, here are these people brought up in this culture, brought up in this atmosphere, brought up in this kind of society where it's never frowned upon. I mean, not frowned upon at all. Well, people look at you crazy if you said you ought not to do those things. No, that's the frowned upon. I mean, not frowned upon at all. Well, people look at you crazy

if you said you ought not to do those things. No, that's the way it is. Now they have been born again into the kingdom of God. They've been saved. But you know, they've still got that old culture and that old society and those old morals in them. And here's what is happening. They're having to be reeducated now.

And what he's saying to these people is this. Listen, I understand, I know that in the life that you've always lived, the way you were brought up, that these things were all right. But you understand that now you have died to those old values. You have died to that old life. And you've got to understand, folks, that stuff doesn't have any business in the believer's life. That's what he's saying, you see.

These were pagans. And a person who's saved is saved immediately, but his mind and his values are not immediately changed. He has to be educated. It's what we call edification. He has to be taught. He has to be grown. I was in South Africa. Kay and I were in South Africa back in March,

and I was scheduled to speak one morning at a Bible school, a Bible college there in South Africa, Kay and I were in South Africa back in March. And I was scheduled to speak one morning at a Bible school, a Bible college there in South Africa. And the man who was in charge of that school came to me. I preached this sermon on a Monday night. And the man in charge of that school came to me that night. He said, when you come out there and preach in the morning, I want you to preach that sermon. I said, well, I don't know.

I thought I'd preach on something about Christian service and stuff like that. He said, no. He said, we really need that. Why don't you preach on it? So I went out there. And one of the things I mentioned was this, of course. And I was saying, what's happening in our society today, we're reverting back to the old days. I mean, folks, if the characteristic mark of a pagan society is the exaltation of immorality, I have news for you. We are living in a pagan society, no doubt about it. You do understand that we're living in the post-Christian era, don't you? This nation, in reality, is no longer a Christian nation.

That we've been taken over by paganism, more in the last generation than ever before. There was a time in our country when the Christian ethic dictated to what everybody did. Even Hollywood would follow the Christian ethic in making of the movies. That's all down the tube now. We are living in a pagan society, and if we don't wake up to that, we're going to be suckered into it. We are living in a post-Christian era, and we're going to have to start all over again. Listen, our kids, the new generation, has been brought up just like these pagans were. Thanks to movies and television and books and everything, nobody considers these things impure or immoral at all. And I mentioned to this bunch in South Africa that I'd been in a church in Florida a few weeks before,

and their pastor had told me that one of the great problems they had was dealing with couples who wanted to come and be saved, but who were not married, and yet they didn't see why they had to get married. They thought, well, why, you know, they didn't see anything wrong with it. And he said, it's very frustrating because these people have been brought up in this kind of society and they see nothing wrong about that.

Now, you wouldn't think that a bunch of Christians in a Bible college would be offended at that, would you? But they were. They were greatly offended. I was informed that they were greatly offended at what I had to say about morality and immorality. That's in a Bible school. But you see, they've been brought up in a culture like that.

That is our culture today. That's what we're taught. That's what we're inundated with. Now, what is happening, of course, is this. That we are being shaped, shaped, shaped by the present pagan culture until we no longer see the difference between right and wrong. No longer see the difference between right and wrong. It's become a gray area.

It's become a gray area it's become muddled characteristic mark of a pagan society maybe when you were in school you studied Plato's great works and his that poem of love that he wrote I'll bet you your teacher didn't tell you that Plato was talking about homosexual love when he wrote that. You see, the Greeks, the Romans, they wallowed in homosexuality. That was their lifestyle.

And the more pagan we become, the more that is a problem in our country. So what Paul is saying to these believers is this. Listen, I don't care how it is in the world. I don't care what the world does out there. You've got to understand one thing, friend. Those things do not belong in the believer's life. They are not a part of Christianity.

And you need to treat those things as though they were dead and gone and buried, you see. And we need to preach this message again today because this younger generation is growing up without the standards and the morals that you and I grew up with, the older generation. And so we wonder why things are happening like they are. That's exactly what's happening. And we need to go back and do exactly what Paul did

to those pagan Christians, those Gentile Christians, educate them into what is right and wrong again. So I said Paul starts out with the act, fornication itself, and then he traces it back to its beginning, which is greed, a possessive spirit, covetousness, wanting to possess something I have no right to possess. And that leads into impure thoughts and to lust ideas, and to passions, which eventually will work itself out in the very act of fornication itself. And Paul is warning us that a person doesn't just step one day from morality into immorality, but it starts with the lurking desire in his heart that goes unchecked. It is carried on by the thoughts of the mind

the pictures of the mind unchecked and if those things are unchecked and not put away it will eventually come and express itself in the act of immorality I don't know if the world is worse today than it used to be or if just news coverage is better I don't know I know the news coverage is a lot better

but I've been preaching for 40 years and I have never, never, never in my life, in my ministry, seen anything like the broken homes that are happening in Christian lives and in pastor's lives and in staff members' lives. You can put it down,

the devil is mounting an all-out attack on the home and on those kind of moral values and on God's servants. He is mounting a great attack on those things. And sadly, folks, he is winning the battle. Paul says those things have no business being in the life of the believer. All right, now let's move on and go to the next list. Oh, it's kind of like getting rid of that. That's not very pleasant to talk about, but actually it gets worse before it gets better.

Come now to verse 8. But now you must put off, get rid of all such things, and in Ames 5, anger, wrath, malice, slander. And the abusive language from your mouth is a result of those five things. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth is a result of those five things. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language. Starts off with anger. Now, it's different here.

Here he starts with the beginning of it and carries it out to the end of it, which is abusive language. But he says, first of all, you need to put off, put away all anger. That's a grave close, he said. You have no business wearing anger. Now, what does he mean by anger here? This word translated anger is a very interesting word in that it indicates that which is hidden or subtle. He's not talking about the explosion of temper here.

He's not talking about the outbreak expression of anger. He's talking about that hidden animosity, that hidden hostility that a person has in their heart towards somebody else. You see, what happens like this, you do something that offends me. I don't say anything about it. I don't get angry. I don't get mad. I don't come over and punch you in the nose. Matter of fact, I shake your hand and say, God bless you. Well, boy, I'm angry at you in my heart because you said something I didn't like. You did something that offended me. You may not have intended to. It may have been a mistake. It may have been unconscious habit. It could have been any number of things, but whatever it was, you offended me and I took offense at that and I

have anger in my heart. And every time I see you, that's what I think about. Oh, I'll never show it. Oh no, I'd never go to you and call you down about it. I'd never show it. I just go ahead and smile, act like a good Christian. But there in my heart all the time is that enmity, that hostility, that anger that I have against you. Now the sad thing about this is

that if you have this feeling about somebody, no matter what they do, you never like it. No matter what they do, it can never bless you. I can't imagine anybody ever being angry at Michael Catt, but we'll just use our imagination and say that somehow he said something or did something in a way that offended you. I mean, greatly offended. You got angry. Oh, you don't say anything to him about it.

You wouldn't show that at all. But you're angry. And every time you see him, the only thing you can think about is, you hurt me. And your pastor could stand up here on Sunday morning and preach the greatest message that's ever been preached in the world.

God could come down and a hundred people could be saved and you wouldn't get a thing out of it. You know why? Because all the time he's preaching the greatest sermon ever preached, all you can think about is you made me mad. You can't be blessed. You can't be ministered to.

Several years ago, in our tape ministry, we have a tape ministry, and it used to be a tape of the week, now it's a tape of the month. And I never keep track of that. My secretary does that. She makes all the tapes, does all the billing and everything. But occasionally, you know, we'll say, well, how are things going?

And she'll say, well, you know, you got this and you got this. And through the years, our customers have always been good customers. I mean, you know, they pay their bills. But there was one, it's a preacher. I'd been in his church in a meeting. She said, he still owes $60. And I said, well, how long? She said, well, it's been nearly two years.

I said, well, send him a bill. She said, I have. Well, send him a bill. She said, I send him one every month. Well, what does it say? She said, it doesn't say anything. Huh. Well, that kind of upset me.

Preacher owed me $60. And we sent him the bill every month. He could at least say, I'm sorry, I don't have the money. I'll pay as soon as I can. He hadn't said a word. I mean, I'll wipe out the debt if he says that he's, you know, in desperate straits. But he didn't say a word. I just kind of upset that guy.

Fitted. I see him at the convention once in a while. I see him, the only thing I think about is you owe me $60 Kansas City 1984 no 19

that was his first time in Kansas City long time ago 78 well went to the evangelism conference and the evangelists were preaching and

they I was at some meeting where this pastor had given his testimony they said he did a good job I wouldn't know because all I could think about is you owe me 60 bucks

you crook Kay would say hon if you have a problem with that, you ought to go to him. I'm not going to him. Well, we were sitting in the balcony, 1978 Kansas City Convention. And he was sitting about four rows in front of us. And Kay said, you need to settle this. I don't want to settle it.

Well, the meeting was over. We got up, and we started walking out, and he and I ran into each other just like this. He said, oh, man, Ron, I'm so glad to see you. I've got something for you. Reached in his pocket, pulled out a check. He said, man, please forgive me. He said, I've owed this for you. I don't know how long, but we've been having so many problems,

financial problems. I just didn't have the money. And here, I want you to have this. I've been hoping I'd see you this week. And he gave me that check for $60. Oh, I didn't want him to give me that check. I want to stay mad at him. And the Lord said, son, give him back that check.

And I did. I folded it up and I said, here, that's all right. Man, don't think a thing about it. It's okay. Consider that as a gift from me. Now, being angry at that guy cost me 60 bucks. I learned right away, you get things right or it's going gonna cost you money.

But that's what anger is, you see. That's what anger is. Anger is that it poisons your system so that when you see that person, no matter what good they do, all you can see is the bad that they've done to you and it blinds you to their goodness, you see. So the first thing is anger.

The second word he mentions there is wrath. Now, wrath is anger out of control. Now wrath is anger out of control. Wrath is anger out of control. This is the outburst of temper. This is the outburst of temper. And the fact of the matter is, if you don't deal with the anger that's in your heart, sooner or later,

that's going to erupt into wrath, the outburst of anger, losing your temper. And I suppose there is nothing that kills your testimony any quicker than losing your temper. Nothing. The most ignorant sinner in Albany knows that a Christian ought to be loving

and meek and self-controlled. They know that, and you and I know that. And there is nothing that hurts our testimony. They know that. And you and I know that. And there is nothing that hurts our testimony any more than that. I always heard when I started in the ministry, I found it to be true

that the hardest people in the world to witness to are members of your own family. And there's a reason for that. One of the reasons is they see you as you really are. They see you every time you lose your temper. Paul says that has no place in the life of the reasons is they see you as you really are. They see you every time you lose your temper. Paul says that has no place in the life of the believer. One of the marks of a believer is

self-control, temperance, self-control. Now, the next thing he mentions is malice. Now, I tell you folks, this is one of those words I have to kind of sit back and remind myself, is he talking to believers? Malice is a vicious disposition towards another person. Malice is that disposition that is so vicious that it takes delight in seeing the object of its anger fail or get hurt. Somebody has offended you and you're angry and you've nursed that anger. By the way, there is a shade of meaning to that word anger that I forgot to mention to bring out, that that word has the idea that anytime that anger starts to burn low, you throw more fuel on the fire because the fact of the matter is you and I get to the place where we enjoy our anger.

We do not want that person to get right with us because there is a perversion in our spirit that we enjoy having that anger towards that person. Now, if that is not dealt with, sooner or later, you're going to have malice in your heart. And malice means that I have a vicious disposition towards you, and I hope that things go bad for you, and I delight in it when they do. We'll use your pastor as an example again. Let's say that he offended you. You're angry at him. After a while, it grows into malice. It grows into malice. You begin being spiteful towards him. You even begin expressing this in gossip and saying things that hurt him. And on Sunday morning, he gets up here, and he has trouble preaching. Oh, everything goes wrong Sunday morning.

Oh, the choir is awful. The soloist sings off key. And then the pastor gets up, and he gets, well, he can't read his text, and he forgets where he is, and he forgets his sermon, and he puts words backwards and everything. And he is so humiliated, and you're sitting back there just enjoying it. I love it. I love it. Why? Because you have malice against this person. You enjoy seeing them fail. Now, I'll tell you something, people. There is a lot in us that takes pleasure in seeing other people fail. And a lot of

times it's in preachers too, who take a certain satisfaction in seeing somebody else fail. Malice, vicious disposition. That turns into slander. That's the next word, slander. I think the King James renders it blasphemy. Slander, what is slander? Slander is accusing someone. It is casting doubt upon someone's character or integrity. It is saying something that causes others to doubt this person's character.

That's slander. You say something that casts a doubt on a person's integrity or character. When I was a little boy, I was scared to death by a verse of Scripture. You know that verse over in Matthew where it says if you call somebody a fool, you're in danger of hellfire? Did that ever scare you?

Boy, it did me. I tell you, I'd read that verse of Scripture, hear the preacher, you know, if you call a person this and this and this, and if you call someone thou fool, you're in danger of hell fire. Well, what I thought that meant was, if you ever call somebody a fool, you're going to hell. Well, my best friend, John Paul Hundley, he was a little bit bigger than me and we always fought. That's what best friends do when they're little like it. We always fought. Every time we always fought, every time we got together. And he being the

biggest always got the best of me. I remember, you know, I saw this guy again after 30 years, for the first time 30 years. And I met his mother and dad again. And the first thing they mentioned to me was what I'm talking to you about tonight. After 30 years, that's the kind of impression it made on us. Anyway, we were in our house and we were in the kitchen as a matter of fact. And I don't remember what it was we got upset about, but we got angry at each other, and we started to fight. Fight right there in the kitchen. And in the process, Mom was had on the stove. She was out back hanging up clothes, I think,

and on the stove there was cooking a big pot of cabbage, good old greasy cabbage, open on the stove. And in the process of our fighting, we knocked that cabbage off the stove all over the floor. I knew that. I was a dead boy. I knew that. I was so mad.

I was so mad. I wanted to say to my friend the meanest thing I could say. You know what I did? I called him a fool. Boy, the minute I called him a fool, I knew I was hell bound. I knew, man, I could smell the smoke right now. Well, fortunately, I found out later that's not really what Jesus meant. The word fool there indicates a moral fool.

What Jesus is saying is if you cast doubt upon somebody's moral character, you've committed a hell-deserving sin. That's pretty strong stuff. Oh, you may not go to hell because you're a Christian, you've committed a hell-deserving sin. That's pretty strong stuff. Oh, you may not go to hell because you're a Christian, you've been saved, but that sin that you've just committed, that's worthy of hell. To say something, to do something,

or not to say something. You know, it's interesting how many ways you can devise to cast a shadow upon somebody's character and integrity. Isn't that right? All you have to do is just sort of, well, you're not saying anything. Just raise your eyebrow or shrug and you get the message.

There's a way to convey the message. And Jesus says that if you cause somebody's character, reputation, if you cast it out on somebody's reputation or character, you committed a hell-deserving sin. Now, this doesn't mean that we're not to accuse people

and confront people that have committed sins and made offenses, not sin at all. I'm talking about if I say something about you to somebody else, I have no basis for that. It's just the fact I don't like you, don't care much for you, and I love to gossip anyway, and I always like to do these things. It's a game that we play.

And so I say or do something that casts some shadow on your integrity, upon your character. I've committed a hell-deserving sin slander has no place in the life of the believer and then the last one is abusive language uh king james says fill the communication out of your mouth abusive language and of course we all know what that is that is not just cussing, but that is speaking to another person in an abusive way, hurting them with your words, knocking them down with your words,

mistreating them with your words. That's abusive language. And you'll notice in verse 10, excuse me, in verse 9, he says, do not lie to one another. Actually, the tense is there translated like this. Stop lying to one another. Now, when you do these things,

what Paul is saying is that when there's anger, when there's wrath, when there's malice, when there's slander, when there's abusive language, actually what you're doing is you're lying to everybody because you're calling yourself a Christian and yet you're doing things that are not Christian at all. You're lying to each other. Stop doing that.

Stop lying by the life that you're living. So we have here, first of all, we've got the things that we must discard, the old clothes we need to put off, those things that have to do with the appetite, the desire like immorality, and those things that have to do with the attitude and the disposition like anger and wrath and malice. Now, I want us to go on very quickly. You'll notice in verse 12, he says, As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves, put on,

now come the new clothes. We've got the old clothes off. Now we're to put on the new clothes. What are they? Five things. We're to put on compassion, kindness, humility,

meekness, and patience. Clothe yourselves with compassion. Compassion means pity plus action. Sometimes we have pity on somebody, but we don't do anything about it. Compassion is seeing somebody in desperate need, and not only do you feel sorry for them,

not only do you hurt for them, but you do something about it. You give something to relieve their pain or to relieve them from their need. This is what James is saying in his epistle when he says, Listen, if you see somebody that is naked and hungry and poor, and you say, God bless you, brother, and do not give them to meet their needs, he said, you're a hypocrite. No, it's not just feeling sorry for some people, not just having pity on somebody,

but it is that kind of sorry for those people, that pity for those people, that does something about it, that moves them to action. That's why the Bible calls God a God of compassion, because not only did He feel sorry for us and take pity on us, He also did something about it, you see.

So first of all, compassion. Kindness. Kindness indicates just your general attitude, sort of a sunny disposition, treating everybody like you'd want them to treat you, basically what that is. Just being kind to one another. No big mystery about that word.

Humility. Humility is a person's attitude towards themselves. Best definition of humility you'll find is in Philippians chapter two, where Paul talks about, don't look upon your own interests only, but look upon the interests of others. Consider others higher than yourselves.

Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who had all of these riches, and yet for our sakes, he humbled himself and became our servant. That's humility. It's putting others before yourself, not thinking too highly of yourself. Humility.

And then he mentions meekness. Meekness is a beautiful word. Meekness, this word was used of domesticating horses in the ancient world. When you broke a horse, what you did to that horse was you made that horse where it would be obedient and you could control that horse with a bit and a bridle. You didn't destroy the spirit of that horse. You just simply controlled the will of that horse.

And that's the idea behind this word. It is self-controlled meekness. Instead of reacting in the wrong way, you act in the right way, meekness. And patience. Oh, there's patience again. Patience means, the word means to bear up under something. You're under a load.

It may be a load of a circumstance or a load of an obnoxious person or a broken relationship. What are you to do? You are to hold that load, not to give in to it. You are to bear up under it. And notice in the verse 13, he gives us what this patience really is. It is bearing with one another. And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, you see. Patience. What is patience? Patience is where I bear with

another person. I mean, they're obnoxious and it's hard to get along with them. As we talked about, I think it was Sunday night, but I bear with them. And if I have an honest complaint against them, I mean, really, this is not an imagined complaint. I have an honest quarrel with them. What am I to do? I'm to do what Jesus did for me. I'm to forgive that person, just as God in Christ has forgiven us. That's Christ-like life, you see. That's a Christ-like life. Forgive each other.

Now, what Paul is saying here is this. You and I are to put on Christ-like actions, Christ-like reactions. We're to love one another, have compassion, and the reaction is this, we need to forgive them. And the fact of the matter is, friend, the greatest test of your Christianity is not in how you act, it is in how you react.

You know, if you leave me alone, don't bug me too much, I can live a pretty good life. I really can. I can live a good life. That is, when you bug me, or when that woman pulls out in front of me on the highway, or when something goes wrong,

it's the reaction that reveals what I really am. It's how you react that reveals where you really are. Not just Christ-like actions, but Christ-like reactions. And then in verse 14, he said, when you got all these good clothes on you, bind them together with your belt, and that belt is love. It's a picture of that person and this is the believer's life who because he has died to the old life and been raised to a new life, he takes off the old clothes, discards them

and then he begins to put on the new clothes of Christ-like actions and Christ-like reactions and then when he's fully dressed, how do you keep all that stuff in place? I mean, maybe I'm patient today and impatient tomorrow. Maybe I'm humble today, but I'm proud tomorrow. How do you keep all that stuff in place?

Well, you put your belt on, girt that belt, tighten it. That's what holds everything together, is love. Holds all that stuff together. Now, let me ask you a question tonight. You got any old grave clothes in your closet at home?

You have some old clothes hanging in your closet out of style for a believer, out of date for a Christian. And Paul says you need to get rid of it. Put it to death. Treat it as though it were dead. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification,

not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.