Ephesians 4:27, 30 neither give place to the devil. …… 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Sherry and I had a wonderful vacation with our grandchildren. We want to thank you all for allowing us to have that time – Jerry, Carlos, and all of you. As I’m getting older my arthritis won’t allow me to travel the whole way to Valdosta, Georgia without stopping. Sherry and I are accustomed to stopping -in Macon, Georgia, at what used to be a very nice Super 8 Motel. We’ve used this motel for 9 years now, and have always been happy with it. So when we reserved a room, we usually save money by making a non-refundable deposit on that room.

Bad idea.

When we got our assigned room this time, I noticed peeling paint, cracks in the ceiling, stains on the furniture … BAD stains. The bed was comfortable enough, so we decided to just put up with it. Before going to bed I decided to take a shower and, as I was showering, I smelt the distinct odor of sewage! On closer inspection I saw there was a crack in the floor of the shower, obviously near or in a sewage pipe.

I don’t believe that we’ll be going back to that place!

What does this have to do with today’s message? What used to be very nice was destroyed by poor maintenance and terrible visitors. Those in charge of the motel not only let the wrong people in, they refused to repair what the wrong people did. Just as that Super 8 Motel was trashed, many people trash their own “buildings” by letting the wrong visitors in. If you are a Christian, saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are encouraged to:

Ephesians 4:1 …. walk worthy of the vocation {κλῆσις klēsis, [pronounced klay’-sis], “calling”} wherewith ye are called …

If you are a Christian, you were “CALLED” to salvation by Jesus. You are “the called of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6), “called to be saints” (Romans 1:7). The Bible declares:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 … your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

If you are a Christian, you are a walking miracle. God saved you by His Grace. He called you to life with Him.

The day you called upon the name of Jesus you were …

1 Peter 1:23 … born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

“Born of His Spirit with life from above,
into God’s family divine,
Justified fully through Calvary’s love,
Oh what a standing is mine!

Adopted into the Family of God, the believer belongs to God. God owns everyone. God said, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine” (Ezekiel 18:4). Though all souls belong to God, the believer in Christ is particularly aware of this. God lives with you and is in you. He has promised to never leave nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). You are God’s Temple.

You are to be in relationship with your Lord.

Don’t Let The Devil In

The first command we look at is:

Ephesians 4:27 neither give place to the devil.

Word Study Please pay attention to how our God words this command. “Give place” is the Greek δίδωμι didōmi τόπος topos, which means “to grant access or allow space or a place”. You are not the property of the devil. You belong to Jesus Christ. You are inhabited by God. You do not need to allow the devil, that old dragon, one little toehold in your life.

Do you know how Adam fell into sin, and by falling, caused all humanity to fall into sin? How is it possible that:

Romans 5:12 … by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Adam allowed the Serpent, the devil, a foothold into his life. Adam was in a perfect place. He had a perfect job, and a perfect wife. Adam had a perfect right to protect humanity from the effects of sin. But he allowed the devil to whisper into his ear. He heard the devil’s lies, and believing them, led us all from Eden.

The Apostle says in

Ephesians 4:17-20 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But ye have not so learned Christ

We are not to listen to the devil and his lies. We are walk in the light of God’s truth and God’s love.

We are not to allow him who has fallen from God into the Temple of our bodies. We are to follow Christ, follow our calling, to learn of what the Scripture says. We are to heed God’s Word, not the Devil’s lies. For the Devil is a liar. Jesus said of him:

John 8:44 {the Devil} was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The devil pushes lies today. He tells us lies in television, on the radio, on the internet and in social media. The truth is in God and what God’s Word says. The devil knows nothing but lies. The Apostle tells us:

Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.

It matters what we say and do. It matters how we respond to lies. We are to love God with all our hearts. We are to remember the commandments that we MUST follow as believers, commandments that our Lord Jesus gave us.

Mark 12:29-31 ….. The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

We are to put away the devil’s lies, and speak the truth in love. We are to affirm what God has affirmed, and deny what God has denied.

We who are His are born again by faith in His Word. We must not depart from His Word. The devil today is doing his best to deny the Word of Christ in all things. He has crept into Churches and homes, quietly twisting truth, and turning from God. The world follows the devil, but we who are His must not. We must follow the Lord. We must affirm what our Jesus affirmed. The devil strikes at the family unit, doing his best to corrupt that which God has ordained. Our Lord Jesus affirmed:

Matthew 19:4-6 …. Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

We who love Jesus must love His Word. We must love the Bible that our Lord has given to us, and affirm His truth as our truth. Do not let the devil get his foot in the door. “Put away lying, speak every person truth WITH HIS NEIGHBOR”. The world will not like this, but we must speak the truth nonetheless. The Scripture says:

Romans 3:4 … let God be true, but every man a liar

Speak the truth in love.

When you speak God’s truth, the darkness will fight against you. Do not allow the darkness to enter in by drawing you into anger and wrath. The Bible says:

Ephesians 4:26 … Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Anger and violent harsh emotions allow the devil to come into your Temple.

C.H. Spurgeon notes, “I believe that some Christians make half the opposition which they get from the world by their own ill tempers and stupidity. They challenge conflict. Their actions seem to say, “Who will fight me?” and then, of course, somebody takes up the challenge. Do not act foolishly! If your soul is among lions and they are inclined to be quiet, do not needlessly excite them.”

Do not let your anger or your emotions control you – YOU control IT. Very few times in Jesus’ ministry do we see Him angered at anyone. When Jesus went into the Temple of God:

John 2:14-17 … and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16 and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Word Study Some say that Jesus was “angry” when He chased the money changers out of the Temple. But the disciples said that He had ζῆλος zēlos, {pronounced dzay’-los} zeal, literally “indignation or jealousy over”. Jesus saw the money changers stealing the offerings of the children of Israel, offerings made to God, and putting that money in their pockets. Jesus was not overflowing with anger, uncontrollable, but controlled His emotions as He put things back the way they should be.

Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

What a horrid thing, that people would take that which belongs to God, and put it in their pockets! Jesus chased them out, but in no place do I see that He expressed “anger” or “wrath”.

The only time I can find Jesus angry in the
Gospels is in Mark 3:5.

Our Lord went into the Synagogue, and …

Mark 3:1-5 …. there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And {the Scribes and Pharisees} watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts…

Jesus was angry – and very sad – that these who should have been God’s people had become so hard hearted that they cared more for ritual than they did for a hurting child of God. Anger was an emotion that our Lord rarely used, and when He was angry it was tempered with grief. Jesus controlled His emotions – they did not control Him. Jesus did not allow His anger to mount into bitterness, nor did Jesus hold grudges. His anger was righteous anger.

Uncontrolled Anger And It’s Cousins Grieves God

We read:

Ephesians 4:30-32 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

It GRIEVES God when we allow anger to control us. It GRIEVES God when “bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking” are in His Temple, our bodies. These are all different expressions and degrees of anger. “Evil speaking” is βλασφημία blasphēmia, which is anger directed toward God. When anger in unrestrained it will grow until it not only offends those around you – it offends your Maker.

Illustrate An old married couple had their problems. The man lost his eyesight, but he could hear perfectly, and his wife was losing her hearing, but could see perfectly. When they traveled, she drove the car, and her husband helped her hear. They stopped at a rest area one day, and sat down near some friendly travelers. One man asked, “Where are you from?” The old lady turned to her husband and said, “What did he say?” The old man told her “He asked where we are from”, then told the stranger, “We’re from Columbia, Tennessee”. A woman asked, “Where are you headed?” The old lady asked her husband, “What did she say?” The old man told her “She asked where we are going”, then told the stranger, “We’re heading to Memphis, Tennessee”. Another man said, “I knew a woman in Memphis. She was the most bitter, cantankerous, evil woman I ever met.” The old lady asked her husband, “What did he say?” The old man replied, “He said he knew your sister!”

Do not let anger control you. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 37:8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

Do not give anger it’s head – or you will lose yours!

Another way you lease room to the Devil is through THEFT. We read:

Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Theft and laziness are terrible things. God tells us all to be busy, to work together for the glory of His Kingdom. “If any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) is God’s prescription for laziness. We are not to steal, a violation of God’s eighth commandment. We are to work at doing good, not just to fill our bank accounts, but to “have to give to him that needeth”. A thief is never a happy person, for selfishness never brings blessing.

The professing Christian who rarely does anything for God is a thief. You have been given the gift of life, and the gift of eternal life, as a stewardship from God. The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:14-21 … Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Be Filled With The Spirit. Let God Fill You, Not Evil.

Salvation is entirely a gift of grace. It is nothing that we can ever earn nor deserve. But once saved, as believers we are called to work for the Kingdom of God, to lovingly serve the God Who saved us. We are to go through this life “walk(ing) circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil”. We are called to be the:

Matthew 5:14-16 … the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

We as the people of God are to be busy, doing good, loving God and loving those around us. We are to be people of His Kingdom. We are to fill our lives with Him. The Apostle Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 15:10 … by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

And again,

2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

It is not by works that you are saved – but once saved, you will work for the Lord Who saved you. If you profess to be saved and never do anything for the Kingdom of Christ, then your salvation may only be a figment of your imagination. The stepbrother of Jesus wrote:

James 2:17-24 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Those Who Are Born Again Love God And Love Others

It grieves the Lord Who saved us when we allow the devil a foothold in our lives. If you have allowed the devil in, God calls you to REPENT. We read:

Ephesians 4:22-24 … put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Word Study The word translated “conversation” is the Greek ἀναστροφή anastrophḗ, {pronounced an-as-trof-ay’}, which means “manner of life, behavior, conduct”. That old YOU is dead and buried, if you are a child of God by faith in Christ. PUT OFF that old man, that “corrupt” way of living. Those who are in Christ “walk in the light as Jesus is in the Light” (John 8:14).

Our Christian calling is to live in the light with Him, following His Word, the Holy Bible. The Scripture tells us:

Ephesians 5:6-11 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8 For ye were {in past time} darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

God tells us that, as His sons, we are to walk with Him in the light, not in darkness. We are to reprove sin, to repent, and to daily be more like Jesus. If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, turn to Him and receive Him as He is. He will change your life forever!

May God touch your hearts with His Spirit and His Word.