Being Careful to Walk Pleasing to God

Transcript

GR 2330
11/07/2021
Being Careful to Walk Pleasing to God
Ephesians 5:15-20
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Ephesians chapter 5 in your bibles. Ephesians and the 5th chapter. And we are ready to break into the middle of this chapter at verse 15. You’ll note, it begins with, therefore be careful how you walk. And this is the fifth and last time Paul uses that expression in the second half of this letter. First half of the letter, chapters 1, 2 and 3 were primarily the doctrinal foundation. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 the application of the doctrine. You cannot separate the two. There’s certain churches, that they emphasize on just talking about how you ought to live. There are other churches that may have focused more on what you should believe. But the two are inseparably joined together. You don’t really understand and having put your faith in a saving way in the God of the scriptures, Jesus Christ, if you haven’t believed the doctrine. And you haven’t really believed the doctrine if you haven’t put it into practice. And the two are inseparably joined together.

Beginning in Chapter 4, Paul used the expression repeatedly through this closing section up to where we are today, therefore walk. Therefore walk, he began in 4:1 with the first word in your New American Standard Bible, therefore. Then in the middle of the verse, walk in a manner worthy. Therefore walk. Down in verse 17, we don’t have it in the New American Standard, but that word translated ‘so’, is the same word translated ‘therefore’, and that’s the way it’s usually translated, ‘therefore’. So, verse 17, therefore, and then the middle of the verse, walk no longer according to the way you used to walk. Then you come over to chapter 5:1, it begins, therefore, and verse 2, walk. Therefore, walk, “be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you.” Then down in verses 7 and 8, verse 7, “Therefore,” verse 8, the end of the verse, “walk as children of light.” Therefore walk, therefore walk, continually building on what he said in the first three chapters and then progressively adding to what he has said with the way that we live in light of what God has done for us in Christ. Then in verse 15 of chapter 5, “Therefore be careful how you walk.” Therefore walk. Watchfully, carefully walk. So that repeated emphasis in the last three chapters, and that last statement that we looked at in chapter 5:15, “Therefore be careful how you walk,” will continue all the way down through verse 9 of chapter 6. We’ll notice how that builds to that climax shortly.

There are three contrasts that we’re going to look at in verses 15 to 21 of chapter 5. There are three contrasts come out in verse 15, verse 17 and verse 18. “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but at wise.” And we’ll have three times that expression in these three verses, verse 15, verse 17 and verse 18. Not, but, not, but, not as unwise, but as wise. Verse 17, “do not be foolish, but understand.” Not, but. Verse 18, “do not get drunk with wine… but be filled.” Not drunk, but filled. So that, not but, not but, not but, really is the controlling three areas of this section we’re going to look at together this morning. Verse 18, 19, 20, 21 they’re going to be all one sentence. And really carries down through chapter 6:9, what we’re talking about. Be careful how you walk, in verse 15. And another way to say that is, “be filled with the Spirit.” So, when you’re walking as God would have you walk, you’re walking under the control and direction of the Spirit of God, who now indwells every believer. We’ll say more about that as we get a little further along as well.

We pick up with verse 15, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise.” So, watch, look carefully at your walk. You are to walk not as the unwise, but as the wise. Very simple expression because it really encompasses the scripture from the Old Testament through the New Testament. Those who have placed their faith in Christ, been made new by Him, as we saw back in 4:22, “you lay aside the old self,” verse 24, you “put on the new self.” Those two verses we just read are aorist tense, they are a past tense. And then verse 23 in the middle, “be renewed,” be constantly being renewed, a present tense, “in the spirit of your mind.” So, he’s continuing that theme when he says, “be careful how you walk.” Watch out about your conduct yourself. The behavior now is different than it was before we placed our faith in Christ. Back in 2:1, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived.” So, again that expression, you walk, you live, the life you now live is different than the life you lived before you were saved. We all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God and His intervention, the provision of Christ, His death on the cross, our faith in Him alone and His death as payment for our sin, has transformed us and made us new on the inside. So, now we don’t live as we formerly lived. We live a new life. We conduct ourself in a new way. And that walk is a way of expressing that. Down in verse 10 of chapter 2, “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” So, we’re going to walk, conduct ourselves in a new way, in a new life. That’s been the subject of chapters 4, 5 and will be through 6:9. The new life we’re living, the walk we’re walking. It’s motivated from within. It’s driven by the Spirit controlling us now. We were in control before, as chapter 2 put it, under the ultimate control of the Devil, because we were his child, now we’re God’s child. So, be careful, watch closely how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise.

Let’s go back to the Old Testament, and look at a number of passages, and that will sort of set the framework for the rest of what we’re going to look at in our study this morning.

Proverbs 1, and I basically picked out two separate sections in Old Testament books, Proverbs and Jeremiah, and then one in the New Testament. Proverbs 1 and look at verse 7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” So, the follow up of that is verse 10, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” Verse 15, “My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path.” So, you see this idea that comes up in Ephesians is not new information. But now it is focused in on the salvation God provided in Christ, the new life that is found in Him and the new walk that is to characterize us. The new conduct, walk, takes in the life we now live. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” You have that contrast going on, the wise and the unwise. We are to walk, Ephesians 5:15 says, not as the unwise, but as the wise. The fools despise wisdom and instruction, we take in the truth of God.

Look in chapter 2 of Proverbs, verse 6, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” So, that’s where you get true wisdom, true knowledge, for living your life in a real way, according to factual knowledge.

Look in chapter 3 of Proverbs, verse 5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” That sovereign control of God now that we belong to Him. It all goes back to that relationship that was established when you placed your faith in Him and Him alone. Now, I’m going to live a new life, a new way. Some things won’t change, I still eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack in between, just life. But the moral of my life, the morality or lack of it is totally different. I’m now living under the control of God. I trust Him. Verse 6 of Proverbs 3 says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight,” He will guide you in the way you should go.
One more verse in Proverbs 8:10, “Take my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than the choicest gold. For wisdom is better than jewels’ and all desirable things cannot compare with her.” The wisdom that comes from God, the knowledge they have of Him now. I start out the moment I was born again into His family. I became a new person, a new man, a new creation. And now, I’m going to live out, and that is a growing thing. I still haven’t arrived at perfection. That will come when we’re called into His presence. But every day is a growing day. And it all comes from getting my wisdom from Him, from His word which is His instruction for me.

Come over to Jeremiah. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial. After you get through the large book of Psalms, then you’ll hit Isaiah, basically just doing the large, large books, then Jeremiah after Isaiah. If you get to Ezekial, you’re too far. Jeremiah 8, and just look at the last two lines of verse 9, “Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what kind of wisdom do they have?” They can be very smart, very intelligent, by not have the wisdom. How you put that all together and live a life that is pleasing, honoring to God, and fulfilling for yourself. It’s where we have to careful, the world has a certain wisdom or knowledge or insight, but putting that together in such a way that enables them to live in obedience to God escapes them. So, “what kind of true wisdom do they have?” They may have knowledge about certain factual things. But then putting that together with the way how I live in obedience to the God who sovereignly brought it about.

Jeremiah 9:23, “Thus says the Lord.” This is the sovereign God who created us, who created all things, He says, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me.” That’s foundational to everything. No matter how much you know, how much information you can process, if you don’t know the true and living God, you really don’t have the ability to live a life that is fulfilling, that is satisfying, that is realizing the purpose God created you for. Verse 24, “ ‘let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the Lord.” Now, it’s not the world in which we live, but it’s the world in which we are to live pleasing to God. So, there’s the world in which we are placed, but that’s not the world that controls our thinking, that controls the way we live. It’s the new life that we have by faith in Jesus Christ and His death of the cross.

Come to the New Testament, to 1 Corinthians 1, we’re going to look at verse 18. Verse 18, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” That’s the foundational issue, how are you saved. Have you been saved? “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” And he quotes here from the book of Isaiah 29, “it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believed.” It’s God’s wisdom, and until we have that… You can attend this church… I’m going to add biblical knowledge to my worldly knowledge… and then I’ll be what? A fool, as the bible says. Because until you really placed your faith in what God has provided for your salvation, verse 18 of chapter 1, “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” That’s the beginning point, that is the foundational issue, understanding here’s what God says is necessary to bring me into right relationship with Him and thus ultimately, right relationship with His creation. He is the creator. Chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians verse 14, a natural man, a soulish man, a man who does not have the Spirit of God now residing in him. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised,” discerned, examined. “But he who is spiritual appraises all things.” So, you see the distinction and the contrast which brings a conflict between the true believer and the child who just maybe knows a lot about the bible, but has never placed his faith in the Savior that the bible presents, that God has provided in His death on the cross. That changes everything. And until you have that change you are a fool. Oh, yes, but look at all the smart people, look at all the people who really, really grasp this stuff. Yes, look at them. The bible says that the man without the Spirit of God, the natural man, verse 14 of chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians, “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.” That’s the foundational issue. Are you just a natural person, or are you a person who now has the life of God in you, the person of the Spirit of God?

Chapter 3:18, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, ‘He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness’; and again, ‘the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.’ So then let no one boast in men.” That doesn’t mean that there isn’t benefit in knowing and learning. But until you have settled the basic issue of your relationship with the God who is the creator of all things, you’re just out here grabbing at straws, supposingly putting your world together. But in reality, it is just disintegrating all around you. We have more knowledge now than we’ve ever had. And we can split the atom and do all kind of wonderful, marvelous things. But if you don’t know the God of the bible, haven’t placed your faith in the Savior He has provided, you really know nothing. And you just have a short-lived understanding of basic things that God has created. But you don’t understand why. You don’t understand what the problem is. You don’t understand what the solution is.

With that as an introduction, come back to verse 15, we’re to be careful, watch, look how you walk. Walk carefully. And these words here, to watch, to look, and then be careful and then walk. So, you are paying attention, not as unwise, but as wise. So, we went back and see the Old Testament and the New Testament are the same. It begins with the knowledge of God. If you don’t know God, it doesn’t matter what your intellect is, how much you have in smarts. If you don’t know God, you’re not wise. So, we want to be careful how we walk. This is talking about the behavior of believers. Are we walking as the wise or the unwise?

Then verse 16, “making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” And as you have in the margin of your bible, if you’re using New American Standard, by verse 16, you have a number 1 in front of the word ‘making’, literally ‘redeeming the time’. And I wish they translated it that way, because it is the word ‘redemption’, to purchase out of your state. Redeeming the time. We’re now to walk as those who have understood that Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. I place my faith in Him. Now, the Spirit of God takes you, and according to 4:21, if you’ve been taught in Him and have been, just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, you’re renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you put on the new man, the new self. That’s the picture that we have in chapter 5, we’ve now been redeemed. The price has been paid. So, we want to make the most of the time. We want to redeem the time. We think of redemption… oh it’s just God washes away my sin, I’m cleansed before Him, I’m accepted in Him, I’m His child, now I get on with my life. Not the old life, I get on with the new life. And I am redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Now, we live in days which we lived in before, but we live in those old days as a new person. So, we are to be redeeming the time. Buying up the time. Using it now as God would have it used. Redeeming the time because the days are evil.

Look over in chapter 6 of Ephesians (we’ll get here, if the Lord doesn’t come) verse 13, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore.” I mean, you’re a new person in Christ. You’re to live a new life. You are new on the inside. Now you process things differently. We have different minds. Some people have a mind for this kind of information, some people have a mind for that. That’s fine, but now I see everything through the light of what God is doing and has done. Man, no matter how smart he is, and there are many smart people in the world, many have made huge fortunes, they have great impact on how people think, but they’re not wise. They don’t know the God of the bible. They don’t put things together from the basis of God is sovereignly at work. He has worked in my life, and that’s the beginning. He has worked in my life, to make me new. I’m now a new man, a new person, a new creature. The old things are gone, the new things have come. So, I have to watch, walk carefully, not as unwise men, but as wise. Well, the world says they are wise. Yes, but they don’t understand. We’re back again to that distinction.

Come back to Galatians, just before Ephesians is the book of Galatians, chapter 1, and we’re going to look at verse 4. Verse 3 gives the context, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins,” that’s Christ who gave Himself for our sins, “so that He might rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore.” You see, this is where it starts. He gave Himself to rescue us from this present evil age. And this present evil age, this period of time, is filled with evil days. As we’re talking about in Ephesians. And every day is an evil day. And it’s influenced by evil people who are under the control of the evil forces, spirit forces, between them. But Christ gave Himself for us, that He might rescue us from this present evil age. And all that goes on day by day in it.

Come over to Colossians 4. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, three of the four prison epistles of Paul. Letters that Paul wrote while he was in prison in Rome. At the end of the book of Acts he will be released and then short time later rearrested and executed. But Colossians 4:5, “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders.” Literally ‘walk’, as you have in the margin of your bible. If you’re using the New American Standard you have a little number 1 in front of ‘conduct’, you go over and look at number 4 in the margin and it’s ‘walk’. “Walk yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders,” and then you literally have the same expression you have in Ephesians, ‘redeeming the time’. So, that walk is not like outsiders, but it’s a walk with wisdom toward the outsiders. That doesn’t mean I don’t learn, yes, I eat food and it’s prepared by mainly unbelievers. And we do all kind of things, but we want to be careful that that doesn’t begin to shape our thinking in ways that would cause us to be unbiblical. I’m impressed again as I work in Ephesians and read some of the writings, and I say, are these written by unbelievers? They end up twisting the scripture to make it say what will fit with the wisdom of the day, instead of the wisdom of God that is in conflict with the wisdom of the day. So, conduct yourselves, walk with wisdom toward outsiders, redeeming the time. Again, that distinction is clearly made.

Philippians is between Ephesians and Colossians, go to Philippians 1. Paul is in prison when he writes this letter to the Ephesians. He’s really smart. Look where he’s ended up. He was a rising star in Judaism. He was going places in the world, now he’s in prison. But verse 12 of chapter 1 of Philippians, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Wait a minute, you’ve gone from being somebody in this world with recognition, with influence, to being a prisoner in Rome. And you’re saying that it’s turned out for the greater progress of the gospel? “So that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” So Paul, humanly speaking, with human wisdom went down. But he says, boy, I couldn’t be in any better place. I’m now a prisoner in Rome, no freedom to come and go. But, you know, it has had an impact, God is using it. You see your situation differently than you did before you were a believer. And I say, well, I trusted Christ and now my world has come apart. Well, that’s good. What do you mean that’s good, it’s not good. Well, is God in charge? Well, yes. Well, then He must have a purpose in Paul being in prison. So, Paul is looking at it from that standpoint. Now, verse 15, “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the later do it out of love, knowing that I’m appointed… the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition.” All I’m concerned about right now is that Christ gets proclaimed. It’s not all about me. You see the change in his focus and how he looks at the world around him, the days in which he is living out his life, has changed. Obviously, he’s gone from being somebody in the world, that was important. And in his world, he had the recognition and esteem, now he’s in prison. But “my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.”

Two thousand years since Paul has died, does it matter whether he died a Roman prisoner or he died of old age? But it matters whether he served God faithfully. That’s the truth of it. So, now my thinking and the focus of my thinking changes. My life may seem to be going downhill, but God, You’re in control here. Now, be careful, sometimes our life goes downhill even as believers, because we do what we shouldn’t do. We’re talking about doing what God says we should do. And living our life walking, being controlled by the Spirit. So, Paul could say, I’m a prisoner, so I’ve gone from being somebody in Judaism to now being a prisoner locked up in Rome. But boy, it’s just given an opportunity for presenting the gospel where I wouldn’t have had opportunity before. Oh, and this has impacted people, but I realize again, people divide into two camps. And some people jump on the bandwagon, because they see this in an opportunity to promote themselves. I don’t care, as long as Christ is getting presented, I’ll let God handle that.

Come back to Ephesians 5, “making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” The days haven’t changed, two thousand years have passed and we see our country going a way we wish it wouldn’t go. We look at the world around us and we say, well boy. It’s going exactly as God said. We’re going toward the book of Revelation, remember. I want to be careful, I don’t want to get so caught up and think, well, oh boy, I don’t know, I tried my best and I did everything. Be like Paul. So, then I have to look at this from God’s perspective. This is His plan. This is working out great. People are more committed, and they are presenting the truth of the gospel. Now, some are doing it because they want to make my life more difficult. Who cares? As long as Christ is being presented. That kind of change of perspective means everything.

So then, verse 17, and verse 17 is the second, we had the first ‘not but’ in verse 15, not as unwise, but as wise. Now, verse 17, “do not be foolish, but understand.” Not foolish, but understanding. “Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” ‘Do not be foolish’ is really the translation of the word ‘to become’, ‘genesta’. If you were using a Greek translation it’s not the word ‘to be’, it’s the word ‘to become’. So, he says, “do not become foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” We want to be careful here. So, that’s why we spend some time looking at these other scriptures, we don’t want to become foolish. And the pressure of the world is there and it is relentless. It is ongoing. Because every day that you get up, you turn on the news, you go through your activities, it’s just like it’s constantly trying to press you into its mold. But you’re constantly going a different direction. You have a different perspective. Your life is controlled by a different person, not the person of the Devil and his emissaries, but the very person of God, the Holy Spirit who indwells you. So, naturally things are going to be different. Don’t be foolish, don’t become foolish. So, a word of warning here. Don’t become foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

We want to know and understand God’s will, God’s purpose. What is God doing? That’s why we study His word. That’s why we started in Ephesians 1, and went through, because the first three chapters laid the doctrinal foundation which is essential for us to know how we are to live. Some people try to live their lives in general conformity. They may be committed Protestants, committed Roman Catholics. No wait, we have to start at the beginning. Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture. He was raised from the dead, He is seated at His right hand. Now, I place my faith in Him and His finished work on the cross. And the testimony that He is alive. Because that work is sufficient and adequate to cleanse me, or not. Well, I just want to live a good life. Well, that won’t get you to heaven. It won’t even get you started. That’s where the Jews were. Well, we’re just going to live our lives according to the Law of Moses. And that makes us better than everyone else. And that’s where we end up, with Protestants, Catholics. So, don’t become foolish. Understand what the will of the Lord is.

Then he goes on to explain this, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” He brings these two conflicting motivations before us. Those who get drunk with wine are controlled by the wine. But those who are walking by the Spirit are filled with the Spirit. So, verse 15, “be careful how you walk,” and verse 18, the last statement, “be filled with the Spirit,” are saying the same thing. The walk of the believer is to be a walk under the control of the Spirit of God. Verses 18 to 21, as I mentioned, are one long sentence. You have the command here, “be filled with the Spirit” at the end of verse 18. And then you have five participles. In English, our participles are ‘ing’ words usually, they end in ‘ing’. So, for example,” be filled with the Spirit,” that is a command, present tense command, present comparative, that’s a command. Then you have the participles. Speaking, that’s one of the evidences. “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” So, speaking is the first participle. Singing is one of the evidences that you’re filled with the Spirit. Making is a third of those participles. In verse 20, giving is the forth participle. And then for some reason in verse 21, our New American Standard Bible quit making them parallel. But it’s literally subjecting yourselves. So, we have ‘be subject’, but as you have in the margin, verse 21, “being subject to one another.”

Those five participles explain what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Which is another way of talking about verse 15, being careful how you walk, watching that you walk carefully. Your walk, your day by day pattern of living, is under the control of the Spirit of God. You’re filled with the Spirit. And there are two commands in that verse 18, “do not get drunk with wine.” And that was a common beverage of the time. Perhaps more common than today. But believers came out of that background. The bible doesn’t say that you can’t drink wine. It does say you can’t be drunk with wine. If you want to find the argument on the other side, you can read MacArthur. He has a whole sermon he gave on just do not get drunk with wine. You can find the other side, but basically you could say that about any sin, that we are not to indulge it. And indulging is a problem, it’s the same with food generally, we ought not to be living our life for what we will eat next. So, do not get drunk with wine, that is dissipation. Then you come under the control of the wine.

Come back to Proverbs 23, I’m just taking verses from Proverbs. And in Proverbs 23:29, “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like the one who lies in the middle of the sea, or like the one who lies on the top of the mast. They struck me, but I did not become ill, they beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.” That’s the person who is controlled by his drink. Whether you have a glass of wine periodically or not, it’s up for you to decide. If you decide that you think the Lord doesn’t want you to have it, don’t have it. But the point here is, being drunk with wine is the contrast to being filled with the Spirit. You’re under the control, it motivates you, it moves you. Do not get drunk with wine. Didn’t say don’t drink any, don’t have a little bit of wine with your meal. Now, I’m not promoting it either. I personally don’t, but somebody else does, that’s fine. I don’t see it one way or the other.

Alright, let’s get on here to filled with the Spirit. “Be filled with the Spirit,” be controlled with the Spirit. That’s where our control is. And that is the overriding control of everything in my life. I could have a bowl of cold cereal in the morning, like I did this morning. Fine, was that prepared and made by a believer or an unbeliever? I don’t know, probably unbelievers were involved making it. Just because laborers are smaller in number. But, that’s fine, but the controlling factor of wine is the illustration here. Be filled with the Spirit, be under His control. Walk as He directs you to walk. That’s the point that he wants to make here.

Come over to Galatians, just before Ephesians, the book of Galatians, 5:16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets the desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another.” But if you are led by the Spirit… so being led by the Spirit is the same thing as walking by the Spirit. It’s the same thing as being filled with the Spirit, the control. And he goes on, “the desires of the flesh are evident,” and the deeds of the fruit of the Spirit, what he produces in the life, are evident. Verse 24, ”Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.” So, these things all become intertwined. That’s why it’s important that we start at Ephesians 1:1 and work through the book. Because they are intertwined. The death of Christ on our behalf, that was back in Ephesians 2, He made us alive together with Christ, given us new life. And now we are to live differently. And you can’t say you belong to the Lord and you’re not living differently, that’s a lie. And you need to find out and better be sure. It doesn’t mean believers don’t stumble, believers don’t sin. They do. But believers don’t live in that realm, they don’t walk in that realm. That’s not where they conduct their lives. It’s different. Well, I try to live a good life, I try to be a moral person, I try… No, no, no. We have to go back to the beginning. You have to see yourself as God says you are. You cast yourself on His mercy, in faith trusting in Christ. And then you go on.

Come back to Romans, it’s just after Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Romans 8, and look at verse 4, this says we’re not under the law. So, the Jews thought, yes, I don’t live like the Gentiles live, I keep the law of God. I wouldn’t commit immorality, I wouldn’t… That’s missing the point. The average religious person today is missing the point. Verse 4, “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.” Verse 8, “those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you were not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn’t belong to Him.” You see how black and white it is. We want to continue to make this a grey area. If you think you’re in a grey area, you’re probably not saved. Oh, I know I’m saved, I trusted Christ years ago. I just haven’t been living for Him. The bible doesn’t know such a person. It warns us, and there are passages that deal with this. But primarily, it’s dealing with the black and white issue. And if you’re living in the flesh, and pursuing the flesh, what makes you think you belong to God? Oh, I trusted Him. Well, if you trusted Him, His Spirit dwells in you. If His Spirit dwells in you, His Spirit is fighting to control you. So, there may be a battle going on, and there will be times you may fall on your face, and disobey Him. But you can’t live there. You cannot live there. And we find that with our kids. We raise our kids, we like them to trust Christ and get on, but they may not. They may not. I can’t make them. And if they don’t, I continue to pray for them. I’ll continue to testify to them, but I can’t make them.

So, come back to Ephesians. Be filled with the Spirit. And now, the rest of the verses down to 6:9, here’s what it is to be controlled by the Spirit of God. First the general things, and then specifics. Wives, husbands, children, parents, slaves, masters, it gets down to where we live. And you’re either living according to the scripture or you’re not. And if you’re not, then you’re lying when you say I trust the Lord. I trust the Lord, I’m just not living for Him. Well, it would really bother you if you weren’t living for Him. So, be filled with the Spirit. Let me go through this, and then if we have time, which we won’t, so I’ll do it next time. Walk through the things that the Spirit does, the ribs R I B S. That happen the moment we’re saved. And then what doesn’t happen the moment we’re saved.

But speaking the truth, so “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” That’s one of the evidences. You know, people think, well, I come to church, but I don’t come in until the singing is over, because I don’t really enjoy the singing. Well, that’s the sign that we’re filled with the Spirit, because that’s one of the ways we minister to one another. We’re “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” That’s just not something we decide, well, I’ll do that because I like or I don’t like the singing. It’s presented to God, but it’s presented to one another and to God. So, we’re “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” And we won’t take the time to look at different, but the Psalms we know, and we sing the Psalms, but there are hymns, and there are spiritual songs. They had them in Paul’s day, we have them today. We sang them. Some may come from certain scripture, some are based on the scripture, it’s important that they all be presenting biblical truth. I appreciate that about our music here. You may say, well, I like this kind of music and that kind of music, but it all is number one, biblical in it’s content.

Then two are put together, “singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” This comes out of the heart. It just grips you. Singing, making melody, singing and making go together. But they are two separate participles, so we’ve listed them separately, “singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” That’s where it begins. If it doesn’t come from the heart… There are many people singing out of a hymn book and singing a song, but it’s not coming from the heart that’s been changed. So, it is repulsive and rejected by God. Because He only accepts worship that’s done on His terms, not on our terms. So, coming and singing the songs, doesn’t make it: oh, there, I sing the songs. Its with your heart to the Lord.

And then verse 20, “always giving thanks for all things.” Always, for all things, we are giving thanks. That’s Paul, and we read that in Philippians 1. Same imprisonment he's in when he writes Ephesians. And he writes about always giving thanks for all things. Oh, pray for me, I just can’t take this imprisonment, and this confining, and not being able to go, and there are so many things I should be doing. No. I should be doing what God has appointed for me to do. And right now it’s to be a prisoner in Rome. So, I sifted through that. Now, when he’s free, and can be free, he’s free. But there are certain things that will work against us. And some of it because of our testimony. We’re “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” We’ve had the Spirit, the Son, the Father in this passage, they are all working together. In the worst of times, I can give thanks to God. It may be where I need to start. Lord, I thank You for bringing me to a place where there’s a hospital that can provide for me and make decisions that need to be made. I’m just thankful I’m in Your hands for this. That’s it. It’s always in all things. You ought to underline that, always, in all things. Always, for all things, giving thanks. It’s not, well, you know, there are some Christians, at least professing Christians, and they think they’re gift is complaining. Well, I just don’t think so. It says when you’re controlled by the Spirit, when you walk as God would have you walk, filled with the Spirit, under His control, you give thanks for all things in His name. Paul gave thanks for his imprisonment. And boy, I think I have opportunity here to present the gospel to people I wouldn’t have otherwise to present. And it’s encouraged others who aren’t in prison to be more bold with their witnessing. Its just all kind of good things going on. Or he could look at it he isn’t free to go about any longer. He’s writing a letter because he can’t go and visit these people anymore. And he can’t get away from the Roman guard and he’s not the most delightful person. “Always giving thanks for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” I recognize my God is sovereign.

Sometimes we as believers, if we’re not careful we deny what we are professing. Oh, yes, I believe God is sovereign, He works all things according to His purpose, His plan. And I just don’t understand why this happened, blah, blah, blah. Wait a minute, “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” I take it, we will bring them together here, a reminder when Christ went to the cross, that wasn’t the end of things. We’re thankful for it, we sing praises to Him for going to the cross. It was a terrible thing for the unbelievers to do, but it was a necessary thing for them to do.

And we’re “being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” And we’re going to stop there, because that transitions. ‘Being subject,’ and you’ll note verse 22, you don’t have a verb there, you have it inserted in your New American Standard Bible, but it’s “wives to your own husbands.” And then he’ll talk about in chapter 6:1, “Children, obey your parents.” Then slaves in verse 5 to be obedient. So, he’ll start out, then he’ll also bring in the others that you’re to be obedient to. But each stand on their own. And that’s important as we work through this. Each stand on their own. The wives are to be submissive to their husbands, period. The husbands are to love their wives, period. Children are to obey their parents, period. And then it goes on. So, we will pick up at that point. Good time to start, evaluate yourself, and Lord, first, do I know You? Or do I just put on this veneer and come to church. And I go to a church that teaches the bible cause that makes me even look better. Am I really living this out? Do I have a desire? Am I willing to change where I need to change, to make adjustments where, yes, the word is clear here. The Spirit is making clear to me, that I need to adjust in my life. That’s the attitude we bring, so that our walk is more and more conformed to the character of the One who loved us and died for us.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. Thank you, for its sufficiency, its adequacy. Thank you, Lord, that through simple faith in Jesus Christ, Your Son who loved us and died for us, we have new life and now we can live differently, controlled by Your Spirit, who indwells each and every believer. We cannot be what we were. We’ve been made new. And we give You praise. In Christ’s name. Amen.