Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4, please. Ephesians chapter 4. I've titled the message this morning, Redeeming the Time.

Now let me say, in way of introduction, that when I endeavor to preach the gospel to you, my desire is always to, by the Spirit and the grace of God, to bring to light our need of Christ and salvation. Salvation is reconciliation with God for eternity. And it's found only in, and by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that our sin has alienated us from God. We've read the passage many times in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2, where Isaiah the prophet claimed, but your iniquities, that's sin, transgressions, have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. Salvation is God bringing us back into a relationship with Him. And He's the only one that can do it. It's not something that we ourselves do. It's something that He does for us. And it's for eternity. It's forever. He does so by removing and putting away our sin. That sin that David said in Psalm 51 is against Him and Him only. Did you know that? All your sin is against God and Him only. You know, we say things like, well, so-and-so transgressed against me. Well, I'll give you that. Maybe it was something that hurt you or that was against you, but ultimately it was against God. And all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're all guilty of this. And because of that, we've been separated from God.

So how are we going to get back into fellowship with God? Well, it's not gonna be by anything that we ourselves do. And you say, well, brother, I've got to believe, I've got to bow, yes, and you will not do that unless God give you the grace and enable you to do so.

So with that said, I also understand that when someone hears the gospel, It was the same with me. They desire to know the practical application of gospel preaching. All scripture is practical. Trust me, it is. It's unpractical not to believe God. Folks are essentially asking, though, how does what you're preaching and teaching affect my everyday life? People are seeking help in their personal life. How should the gospel affect how I handle anger and stress and temptation? Folks are seeking help in their relationships. How should the gospel shape the way I love my spouse and my children and neighbors and coworkers? Men and women are seeking help in their decision making. How do I choose what to do and what not to do based on godly principles? We call those practical applications. In other words, if I believe the gospel that you're preaching, how's it gonna help me in these specific areas in life? How will I benefit from it? Will I benefit from it?

Well, the short answer is yes, you will. But ultimately, only God can help you. The long answer is He only eternally helps those who are seeking to know Him. and have a need of Him, and you can only seek and know God through true gospel preaching. That's why we give it preeminence here. It's not something we just do after we've done our singing and our giving testimonies or whatever it is that churches do today. Preaching gets the preeminence because it's by what the world calls foolishness, that being preaching, that God saves those who believe. We ought to give it the preeminence. We ought to make it the most important thing. It's the only way we're ever going to get the help that we need. There's no message that can give you help in the practical areas of your life than knowing who it is that controls those areas in your life. So if God has sent you trouble, and He's the one who does, I have great confidence that He sent you this trouble to show you your need of Him.

This religious world has made God out to be the little old man upstairs that loves everybody. I was told that all my life, to the point where I thought, who cares what He thinks? He's just a little old man. He loves everybody. He wants to save everybody. And he just wants somebody to love him back. But that's not the God of the Bible. That's just not so.

They believe and teach that God would never do anything that would cause pain and suffering. That's not so. That's not so. Men and women need to read the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. God speaks through this Word. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not, out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good. Lamentations 3, 37, 38.

And this verse simply means who can say anything will happen if God hadn't decreed it. Nothing occurs outside of God's will or permission. Now, here's our problem with that. We don't understand why God does certain things. Why did God do that? He doesn't have to account to us. God does what He wills in the army of heaven, among the heavens and the earth, and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou?

But I will tell you this, whatever God does, If you're one of His, if you're believing and trusting in Him, it's for your good. Somehow, someway, it's gonna be to your good. What a God. God is ultimate authority over every good and evil. The mouth of the Most High is just a way of saying God's word and God's will. God is in control of all circumstances, even suffering. Our security lies in trusting Him rather than in our own understanding. That's what the wise man Solomon said. He said, lean not on your own understanding. You know, every time I do, it just brings me heartache and heartbreak.

Our security lies in trusting Him, not ourselves. He's in full charge of everything that comes into our lives, both the good and the painful. He said so himself. God said, I kill and make alive, I wound and I heal. Do you mean what he said? The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. Nahum 1.3.

Well, doesn't the devil send tornadoes and hurricanes? Or does God? Well, God said right there, he did. It is God that executed judgment, putting down one and setting up another. God does that. So I said all that to say this, we're at the beginning of the new year. And I know this is the time of year where we all make pledges and oaths and New Year's resolutions to ourselves and we forget them pretty quick. Mine for years was I'm gonna lose weight. Somebody asked me one time, said, how much weight have you lost? I said, about 1400 pounds. But I didn't say anything about the 1500 I gained.

Here in Ephesians chapter five, Paul, God's appointed spokesman, doesn't ask us how we feel about things. He's asking us, how are we going to walk? How are we gonna walk? How are we gonna walk henceforth from now on? How are we gonna walk from this day forward? How are we gonna conduct ourselves in the future? The past is just that, it's past. Another year's been spent, another portion of our life is gone forever. Nothing we can do about it. We may have regrets over some of the things that transpired in the past year, the past years, but nothing we can do about it. It's just that, it's the past. The question is, what are we gonna do now?

Now, a new year doesn't give us more time. It reveals to us that we've got less time. We're closer to life's end. We're nearer to our departure than we once were. Hebrews 9, verse 27 tells us, and it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Just this past year, I lost seven or eight. men that I went to school with that I knew didn't make it to age 70. Death is certain. It's appointed by God. Knowing and believing this should give us some urgency and some purpose as to how we're going to walk. Time's limited. Life is short. You hear that all the time. And to those of you that have lived for a while now, you know that's so.

Paul urges us in our text to redeem the time, to make the most of every opportunity. Now here in Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 15, we read, now follow along with me, it says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.

Paul here is talking to believers. I tell you all the time, you know it so, that these epistles, these short letters written in the New Testament were written to believers, not to the world. He speaks to these who can walk wisely. Let me add, dead men can't walk. This is talking about those whom he's given spiritual life. These verses are not telling sinners how to get saved. Listen, we don't get saved. What do you mean we don't get saved? Well, that implies that we do something in our salvation. Paul is telling saved sinners how to walk because they are saved, because God has already given them life. Only one that has life can walk. The gospel's already made them alive.

Wisdom flows from redemption, not effort. In the scriptures, fools are those who live apart from God. Isn't that what the psalmist said? He said the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. There's your fool. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 19.

So what is it to walk circumspectly? Well, that word means diligently. To walk carefully, being intentional in your walk. It means to walk thoughtfully and deliberately. It means to consider the consequences of your walk. It means to walk with awareness. to walk accurately, to pay attention to spiritual, eternal things. God's grace teaches us how to walk. It doesn't excuse carelessness. Grace produces discernment and restraint and purpose and wisdom displays God's transforming power. The gospel not only forgives sins, friends, it gives life. How you walk doesn't save you, it gives evidence that you are saved. Are you following what I say?

Redeeming the time, verse 16, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Boy, aren't they? They sure are. The word redeeming here means to buy up. It means to ransom. It means to rescue from loss. It means to gain or regain possession of something. What are we to have possession of? What are we to gain or regain the possession of? Time. Time. And that's not talking about the clock hours of the day. The Greek word, Kairos refers to opportune God-given moments. Those moments that we can and that we should act and walk wisely according to God's will. We're not to drift through life without awareness. We're not to drift through time without purpose. I did that for years. It was wasted time. I don't want you to do that anymore. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want you to. I want to be wise, not foolish. I've spent most of my life being foolish. I want to walk righteously before God. I really do. I want to witness God's grace. I want to obey and please God. Don't you? Sure you do.

Now listen. I want to be a better person, but I know that I'll never be good enough because God requires perfection. So I want to walk as a man that's trusting God, who in Christ makes me perfect and acceptable. I'm not doing this to be saved. I'm doing this because God, by His grace, has saved me. I want to be appreciative to the one who loved me and gave Himself for me. I want to be honoring to Him. I don't want to displease Him. I don't want to bring shame to Him. That's why I want to be better.

And yet, I don't feel like I'm much better than I was years and years ago. If any, maybe worse. Because I'm more aware. by God's grace of my sin. I want to witness God's grace. I want to please Him. I want to invest my time in matters of eternity. I want to give attention to things that really matter. I want to live according to the will of God.

Why? Because Paul says the days are evil. We live in a fallen world filled with sin. A world that's filled with distractions. unworthy distractions that waste our time. And the gospel reminds us that without Christ, we're powerless against sin and worldly influence. But in him, we have been empowered by God to act wisely. So let's do it. Each moment in this life is an opportunity to honor God, to resist evil and to give God the glory. Not unto us, the scripture says, not unto us, but unto God. That's who we give all the glory.

Each moment in this life is an opportunity. Redeeming the time is a practical outworking of the gospel, living in the light of what Christ has done for us. Evil isn't just ethical wrongdoing. It's opposition against God. And we must walk circumspectly, diligently redeeming the time. Why? Because this world is morally and spiritually corrupt. And it's out to do us harm and lead us away from God. And the gospel sets us apart from the world. Through Christ's death and resurrection, believers are no longer enslaved to sin.

That's what Paul wrote in Romans 6. He said, knowing this, that our old man, that old man, that old us, before God saved us by his grace, is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead to the old man crucified with Christ is freed from sin. That's good news, isn't it? We're freed from sin. Sin no longer has dominion over us. It doesn't mean we're not gonna sin. I'm gonna have thoughts while I'm preaching right now, in this allotted time, that would send me to hell a hundred times over. All of us. It goes for all of us. We're gonna sin, but we're free from the dominion of sin, no longer has power over us. Because Christ has made us free from the law, the sin and the law of condemnation. Our sin no longer has authority over us. It doesn't mean that we'll never sin. It just means that sin doesn't rule us anymore.

So that we can walk circumspectly. Now, since Christ has removed our sin, we can walk carefully and we can walk diligently and intentionally for the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Look at verse 17. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. The gospel creates a new kind of person. That's what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, 17. He said, therefore, if any man be in Christ, that applies to women too, if anybody be in Christ, he or she is a new creature. Old things are passed away. God is not keeping a list of things that we did wrong. Old things are passed away. God throws them behind his back. He throws them into the sea of forgiveness. He remembers them no more. Old things passed away. Behold, all things are come become new.

How are we going to walk? How are we going to walk then? To be wise is to understand what the will of the Lord is. Those redeemed in Christ are no longer characterized by foolishness, but by Spirit-giving understanding. God is teaching us and we're growing in the grace and in the knowledge of Him. Romans 12 verse 2 says, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. How? How? By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

How are we gonna walk from this day forth? Now, if you belong to Christ, if Christ is your Lord and Savior, continuing in spiritual ignorance is not acceptable. Unwise equals living apart from God's revealed will. Spiritual wisdom is not IQ or education. I don't care how smart you are or how high your IQ is. Godly wisdom is submission to God's will. To be unwise is to live as though Christ is optional. A believer can't Just take Christ or leave Him. That's the way this religious world seems. Well, you take Christ or leave Him. He's not only Savior to the believer, He's Lord to them. Where else would they go? Where else are we going to get the words of eternal life but from Him and through the preaching of His gospel? If He's Lord, then His will matters, right? The will of the Lord is revealed to believers. It's hidden to the lost, but not to the saved.

Hold your place here in Ephesians 5, and turn over to, or turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter four. Not gonna keep you long. 2 Corinthians chapter four, I want you to see this. Look at verse three. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3, it tells us just what I'm endeavoring to say. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest, unless or except, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, whose the image of God should shine upon them. There you have it. Unless or except the glorious gospel of God's grace shine on us, we'll never believe. We'll never believe.

That's why Paul added there in verse five, for we preach Christ, not ourselves. but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, servants, for Christ's sake. Now, if I stand up here week after week and tell you how to live, you need to do this and you need to do that, when I myself can't do it, well, that's preaching myself. That's preaching us. It'll be to no profit to your souls. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We tell sinners what God has done for wretched sinners like us. God requires perfection. It's got to be perfect to be accepted. We cannot provide what God requires. Christ did it for us. That's what makes this good news. That's what makes this gospel truth. You and I can rejoice that there's not anything for us to do in order to be saved. Christ has already done it. All we do is trust, believe, depend 100% upon Him.

How are we going to walk? How are we going to walk? You see, the problem is not the Gospel. The Gospel is not unclear. It's not weak. It's not defective. We're the problem. Our whole nature is the problem. That's why we can't preach ourselves. And hidden means spiritually veiled. Hidden doesn't mean absent. It doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. The truth is present, it's preached, and it's heard, but it's not perceived unless God makes it effectual to you. That's how two people can sit and hear the same message, the same gospel preached, and one leave and say, well, that was a good message, and the other one leaves and say, what a wonderful Savior. That's the difference, the difference that God makes.

For who makes you to differ from another? What do you have that you didn't receive? And if you received it, how is it that you glory in it? You can't. God gave it to you. He gets all the glory. This is not a hard message. We were talking about that in the time that the men had between services. This gospel is not hard to understand. Men just hate it. Men by nature don't like it.

Well, what must I do to be saved? I have to do something to be saved, don't I? Yep, you got bow. You got to submit. You've got to rest, you've got to trust, you've got to believe in the One who did all things for you. Now, I'm telling you the truth. May God enable you to believe this truth.

Problem's not with the Gospel. If the Gospel be hid, it's hidden to them that perish, them that are lost. Lost is man's spiritual state apart from Jesus Christ. Rejection of the Gospel is the evidence of lostness. Only God can reveal His truth to you.

So my encouragement to you who believe is this, treat the time that God gives you as stewardship, not as a possession. Listen, time is not ours to waste. Time is a gift. It's God who gives it, and it's our responsibility to use it wisely. Time is a precious commodity. If I gain the whole world and lose my own soul, what good has it done me? So teach us, the psalmist said, to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Those words, so teach us, shows us that only God can train and teach this heart to live with eternal priorities. These are the words of one who does not claim to know everything. So teach us. Lord, help us. That's the prayer of someone who needs help. Lord, save me. That's the prayer of someone that needs God's divine intervention. It admits human blindness. We see through a glass darkly. That's why we know in part. In this flesh, we can't see clearly.

So what do we say? Teach us. Lord, teach us. Give us eyes to see. Open my eyes that I may see. One day when Christ returns, friends, every believer's gonna see Christ face to face. Then having no sin, They shall know even as they're known.

" Now I love thinking about that. Glorified into a fool, conforming to the image of Christ, free from sin, free from blindness. I'm going to see clearly. Brought into perfect harmony and fellowship with God. Understanding Him as He knows and understands me. Won't that be something? All the mysteries that we've that have been unclear to us and that we believe by faith. One day, when we leave this body of sin and flesh, we're gonna see them clearly and we're gonna go, wow, what a God, what a Savior, what a Lord.

But until then, we need the Lord to teach us. What do we need for Him to teach us? To number our days and to redeem the time. And that's applying our hearts unto wisdom. We learn that time's limited. We learn to choose obedience over convenience. We learn to act while opportunity is present. We learn that the days are evil. We learn that to delay in the things of God is deadly. We learn to speak truth when it needs to be spoken. We learn to live with our end in view. We ask ourselves, will this really matter when I stand before Christ? You know, we can alleviate a lot of problems if we'd ask ourselves that question and take heed to the answer we know to be true. Is this really important in the matter, the overall scheme of things concerning eternity? We save a lot of time. We could redeem a lot of time

Redeeming the time is not necessarily doing more, redeeming the time is about doing what matters right now. Opportunities come, but listen, they also go. We ask God to save our children, to save our loved ones, save our neighbors, our friends, but we never seem to take the time to tell them about our Savior who saved us. And if we don't, our time's not redeemed. God help us. God help us to redeem the time.

May God enable us to see the urgency of the gospel. The urgency shapes daily conduct. Men and women passionately involve themselves with things that really matter to them. I know that for a fact. What's the things that we give the most attention to? The things we love the most. With life being short and accountability certain, with judgment for the law's coming, Lord, help us to be about our Father's business.

Our Lord refused bread. He refused people applause. He refused worldly power. refused to escape from suffering because he was fixed on his father's purpose. What was that? To go to the cross and put away the sin of his people forever. How are we going to walk? With that in mind, how are we going to walk? The Lord said, my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work, John 4, 34.

Our Lord, who is the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And what's He doing there? Praying for me. Praying for you. How we gonna walk? A believer strives to redeem the time they're given, because where our treasure is, there will be our heart also. And it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Lord, help me to be faithful.

So, do we become monks? And do we live in solitude? Away from the world and sin? Well, if we did, there'd still be sin, because sin goes with us. Sins what we are. Redeeming the times, not ignoring our daily responsibilities. We learn to treat them as just tools and means to be used for the glory of God. And if you and I are believers that are only concerned with what ends at death, we've misunderstood life.

The Lord Jesus did not say, I've come that they might have a better earthly experience. He said, I am the resurrection and the life, and he that believeth in me, though he or she were dead, yet shall they live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Do you? How you gonna walk? May we, by God's grace, say with Martha, yea, Lord, I believe thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, which is coming to the world. Do you believe that? I do. Lord, help thou my unbelief.

Beloved, redeeming the time is not quitting your job, selling all your worldly possessions, and standing on the street corner day in and day out, handing out religious tracts and warning people of upending doom and judgment. Redeeming the time is seizing the opportunities that God sends your way. And He sends plenty our way. We just ain't looking. We're not paying attention. So may God be pleased to enable us to do just that. Pay attention.

My prayer for 2026 is, Lord, make me pay attention to what's really important, what really matters concerning eternity. And may He do so for our good, His glory, and for Christ's sake. Amen.