Ephesians 4:20-30 Niv

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 4:25-32

There is a price to pay for our desire to grab at easy answers and that price is "trivialisation". Trivialisation is the acceptance of explanations that ignore the difficult questions of life in order to experience relief from confusion. I have no hesitation in saying that this is a curse of the modern Church. One...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 4:17-32

We must spend another day considering whether or not it is a condition of our salvation that we first forgive those who have sinned against us. We said yesterday that to believe this contradicts the teaching that we are saved by grace, through faith. What, then, is Scripture getting at when it seems to encourage us...

We are absolutely dependent upon the Holy Spirit for life, light, teaching and sanctification. Without His presence, power, and operations, we are dead, dark, ignorant, and carnal. We should therefore be very careful not to grieve or dishonour Him.

We do so when we neglect, slight, or make any improper use of, God's holy word; when we indulge in hard thoughts of God, or low thoughts of the Lord Jesus; when we mind the things of the flesh, in preference to spiritual things; when we...

All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit. Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it lies dormant except he worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Do you desire to speak for Jesus-how...

A revolutionary insight! The gifts in Ephesians 4:1-32 are given to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry. As soon as the saints can carry on, the gift can move on.

This means that success in Christian work is working one's self out of a job in the shortest possible time, then looking for new worlds to conquer.

This is what Paul did. He went to Thessalonica, for instance, preached to the Jews for three Sabbaths, and left...

In all of God's dealings with mankind, there is a curious merging of the divine and the human.

Take the Bible, for example. There is the divine Author, and there are human authors, who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

As far as salvation is concerned, it is of the Lord from start to finish. There is nothing a man can do to earn or deserve it. And yet he must receive it by faith. God clearly elects individuals to salvation, but they must enter in at the strait gate....

The wrath of God is His fierce anger and retributive punishment directed against unrepentant sinners in time and in eternity. A. W. Pink has pointed out that it is as much a divine perfection as is His faithfulness, power and mercy. We need make no apology for it.

In pondering the wrath of God, there are a few facts we should keep in mind.

There is no conflict between God's love and His wrath. True love punishes sin, rebellion and disobedience.

If men refuse God's love,...

Just as it is possible for us to quench the Spirit in the meetings of the church, so it is possible for us to grieve Him in our private lives.

There is a certain tenderness about the word "grieve". We can only grieve someone who loves us. The neighborhood brats don't grieve us, but our own naughty children do.

We hold a special place of nearness and dearness to the Holy Spirit. He loves us. He has sealed us until the day of redemption. He can be grieved by us.

But what...

Contrary to the attitude of some, work is not a curse; it is a blessing. Before sin ever entered into the world, God assigned Adam to tend the Garden of Eden. It was after man had sinned that God cursed the ground - but not work itself. He decreed that, in trying to make a living from the ground, man would encounter sorrow, frustration and sweat (Genesis 3:17-19).

One old worthy said, "Blest work! if thou dost bear God's curse, what must...

I will suppose that you have traveled in a strange country with a congenial companion. You were careful to do and say nothing that would mar the pleasure of your intercourse. There were many pleasant objects to look at, but your experience taught you that any unpleasantness between your companion and yourself would quite do away with the attractions of the things around you. So you were careful not to grieve him.

The Spirit of God is your companion. Most exalted of all beings, he...