Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: Ephes. 4:31
First, what is clamour???
“Clamor” (kraugeô): arguing, fussing, quarrelling, brawling. It means insulting, boistrous behavior, and loud talking.
A couple of navy stories may help illustrate the sad result of internal strife and the positive result of unity. Two battleships met in the night and began to attack each other. In the conflict, a number of crewmen were severely wounded, and both vessels were damaged. As daylight broke, the sailors on the ships discovered to their amazement that both vessels flew the English flag. Many years earlier, just before the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the British naval hero Lord Nelson learned that an admiral and a captain in his fleet were not on good terms. Sending for the two men, he placed the hands of the admiral and the captain together. Then, looking them both in the face, he said, "Look--yonder is the enemy!" Unknown.
For us Satan and his ploys are our enemy…let us remember this.
We are called as saints to put away the following:
Boastfulness:
For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. Psalm 10:3
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: Psalm 49:6-7
How might we be boastful?
In our talk, arrogance, knowledge, looks, wealth, salvation to the exclusion of others.
People will be boasters: braggarts, pretenders, vaunters, swaggerts.
It is a person who...
·boasts in what he has.
·pretends to have what he does not have or to do what he has not done.
Bragging is anything meant to impress others.
The world is full of boasters and braggarts:
teachers who pretend to be wise.
politicians who pretend to have the utopian state.
business people who pretend to have the product that brings health, beauty, and happiness.
religionists who pretend to have the revelation and gifts and to be more spiritual than others.
“But there was a certain man, called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one” (Acts 8:9).
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness....backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents” (Romans 1:28-29, 30).
“But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil” (James 4:16).
People will be proud: self-exaltation, conceit, arrogance; being haughty; putting oneself above others and looking down upon others; scorn, and contempt.
We should be prayerful and careful for “Pride” can be hidden in the heart as well as openly displayed.
The proud person feels that he is better than others, it is a feeling within the heart.
God resists the proud.
“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
“Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits” (Romans 12:16).
“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3).
“The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined” (Psalm 10:2).
“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).
“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).
People will be blasphemers : the word means to slander, insult, rail, revile, reproach, curse. Blasphemy is usually thought to be against God, but is also against men.
Think of the cursing and insults thrown against God and men today. They curse and revile: mothers, fathers, children, teachers, professionals, actors, comedians, politicians, even some professing religionists feel the need to occasionally curse in order to be acceptable.
“But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne” (Matthew 5:34).
“[Men] whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” (Romans 3:14).
“But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God” (James 3:8-9).
“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12).
“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).
“And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:12).
“[The wicked person] His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity” (Psalm 10:7).
People will be heady: headstrong and reckless, rash and hasty—all without giving thought to the consequences.
A heady person is one who thinks they know best and can live and act recklessly, without paying any attention to the consequences.
The reckless person thinks little about what they do; they just enjoy the feeling and pleasure.
They seek the enjoyment the stimulation and excitement; the consequences matter little in the midst of the pleasure and excitement.
Think how much hurt and damage is done when a person lives for the pleasure of the moment.
Think of the hurt and damage done because of the pleasure of...
·reckless driving and boating
·reckless work and recreation
·reckless passion and lust
·reckless eating and drinking
Being heady—thinking that one knows best and can live and act recklessly without consequence—has led to more hurt, accidents, damaged bodies, and death than could ever be imagined.
“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19).
“There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” (James 4:12).
“Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth” (Proverbs 19:2).
“The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want” (Proverbs 21:5).
“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).
“Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him” (Proverbs 29:20).
“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few” (Eccles. 5:2).
People will be highminded: puffed up and conceited; having feelings of self-importance.
It is a person who feels so educated, scientific, advanced, high in position and authority, ability, and gifts that they feel completely self-sufficient.
They have no need for God or anyone. They feel they are above God and above most people.
“Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits” (Romans 12:16).
“And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Cor. 8:2).
“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3).
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).
“The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined” (Psalm 10:2).
“Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment” (Psalm 73:6).
“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:7).
“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).
So let’s remember in our walk to put away those things in our life of no benefit to the Kingdom of God and to people accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
