Ephesians Lesson 31 of 39 part 2

Ephesians 4:24

"And that ye put on the new man*, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

*that new creation that happens the moment we are redeemed or when we really believe and receive Him into ourselves. This is the secret of the Passover or Marriage Feast of the Lamb and our eating of His flesh and sharing of His blood, the water of life as symbolized in the juice of the grape or wine, it has the similitude to flowing blood. 

And since we now are believers we have to allow the Spirit of Truth to develop that new nature, what is the next word? "Wherefore..." That means we are going to be different than the world around us. Like we have said, not an oddball but different, not peculiar, where the world says, "Oh I would not want to be like them, they are a bunch of kooks." That is not what God wants. But Paul’s converts, even in the midst of those idolatrous cities, were not something that made fools of themselves, but rather they were the kind of people that made such an impact on their pagan friends and relatives. This is the reason they turned the Roman Empire upside down. As Jesus Himself said, "be as conning as serpents and season everything with salt". Because in this way they will become thirsty and hungry for more of Christ. Now you know that would have never happened if those new believers would have acted so kooky and queer. But you see those believers knew what they believed, and what God had done for them, in them and of course that is where we are to be even today. To prove it we asked those of our friends on Face book a simple question and it was asked not as a put down but rather as a means, one to get them to think and two, too answer the question. The question being, “what is it that you believe and why do you believe it?”

Verse 25. Because of what God has done in our lives we are to do the following.

Ephesians 4:25

"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."

Have you ever had a bell ring in your head when you actually saw something?  I mean it just stood out and screamed at you. We had a bell rung when we read this verse, and said to ourselves, we have seen this before. As you know we spend quite a bit of time also in the Old Testament, and sure enough there is a verse in the Old Testament under the Law that almost says the same thing. So even though we are not under Law, yet many of the attributes of the Law are still applicable. Turn back with me to the book of Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 16. And remember Zechariah is almost entirely prophecy, and yet as Zechariah wrote to the Jewish people, he says almost the same thing that Paul says to us.

Zechariah 8:16

"These are the thins that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour;..."

Is not that something? This is under the Law granted, but now flip back to where we were in Ephesians and what does Paul say? Almost the same thing, and we are not under Law, but Grace, but the same God. That is what we are trying to stress, when we say, we are not under Law but Grace. Yes, all the things that God hated in the lives of Israel, He still hates today. God has not changed His mind about those things, but we are under a different set of circumstances and ordinances. As we have stressed we are in a parenthetical period or dispensation where God is dealing with all of His creation, humanity and NOT just a single people, we are all on level ground. For since John the Baptist the hills have been made lower, the crucked made straight and the ruff road and places are made smooth. (See Isaiah 40:3-5 and Luke 3:4-6) Now Paul the Apostle of Grace can tell us the same thing, but it is not under the heavy hand of the Law, but rather it is under the freedom of Grace, and Grace is not license to do as we please. For Grace is much more than mans favor with God, we are to be in the middle of Living Grace and He is to be in the middle of us. The kingdom of our great High Priest and Master, LORD Christ.

Ephesians 4:25

"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another."

And now then in everyday experiences especially in the household of faith we are constantly to be truthful with one another because after all we are all in this together, we are all in the same Body, and becoming the Building. Verse 26.