Let Everything You Say Be Good & Helpful
Flee From Sin, Especially Sexual Immorality
EPHESIANS 4:28-32
“Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:28-32 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/eph.4.28-32.nkjv
Here, Paul tell us to work hard for our living, that we may not only earn provision for ourselves, but also be able to help the needy.
He warns us against sinful behaviour, including laziness which is in itself sin, as is inappropriate speech that we allow to come out from our mouths.
He warns us of unwholesome language-do not let no corrupt word leave your mouth, whether bad jokes, or vulgar language, or any Kind of gossip, but rather speak of that what is good, things that are true, things that lift up, encourage, and edify others.
My beloved, “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.”
James 3:10-12 NKJV
What we say has a profound effect on ourselves and others; every negative word whether about one’s self or others brings curses, but positive words bring blessings, encouragement, and edification.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV
He tells us to forgive all others and remove all malice from our hearts, ““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV
My beloved, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth; “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
I Corinthians 6:18-20 NKJV
Surely my beloved, we cannot continue in sin, Jesus gave up His life, suffering the horrific pain of the cross to free you from its power, not to continue in it. “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
Hebrews 10:26-27 NKJV
We have to make the effort to live right, cooperating with God in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
It most certainly isn’t easy, particularly because the devil is always cloe by with his evil schemes with a heart to devour (1 PETER 5:8), and at times we may fall into his traps and temptations, but if we make our hearts are right and we do our best, God will do the rest.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 8:1-2 NKJV
But my beloved, we all have free will and must choose our own path and accept the eternal consequences of our choice.
Without Christ, our flesh is king over our soul and spirit, yet slave to sin and death, and will take us on a path of destruction simply to satisfy its lust.
Even our hearts are of the flesh, and “”is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV
But in Christ, we must make our spirit king, subject to the KING of kings and LORD of lords in us.
Our souls, which is our mind will and emotions, must become servant to the king, and our flesh slave, putting its lust and passions to death.
The flesh will not be happy with our decision as it craves to satisfy its lust, encouraged by tempting whispers of sinful lust from the devil, especially sexual sin.
Therefore, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
I Corinthians 6:18-20 NKJV
We must all make our choice, to live my way to satisfy our lust, or Jesus way by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:16-26 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
