In Ephesians 5 verse 15, let's
read a passage here. God is teaching us how to walk. You ever thought of it like that? We need to be taught how to walk,
don't we? Verse 15. See then that you
walk circumspectly. Not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming
the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Do you see that? What does it mean, be wise? What
does he mean by be wise? Be smart, have a high IQ? No,
find out what God's will is. And then, it doesn't matter how
smart you are, you'll be wise. Does that make sense? Understanding what the will of
the Lord is. You don't need to be smart, thank
goodness, to understand what His will is. And don't be drunk
with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
Speak unto yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Just
beautiful language, isn't it? Giving thanks always for all
things unto God in the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
God how to walk That's what we're thinking about this morning how
to walk just as any parent teaches their child how to walk God's
doing that here There's a lot to it It's more than just the
mechanics of putting one foot in front of the other. It starts
with that, I suppose. Maybe we, you know, we put their
little feet on top of ours, you know, so they'll kind of know
what the motion is supposed to be like. Take little steps, you
know, so that their legs don't get stretched too far. And then
we hold their hands. hold both of their hands, you
know, above them, basically just holding them with their feet
just touching the ground. And, you know, kind of swing
them this way so they'll move one foot and then swing them
the other way, you know. We've all done this if you're
parents. And soon we're just able to just hold one hand and
just to steady them a little bit, you know. And they're doing
pretty good with just that little bit of support. And then before
you know it, it's Katie bar on the door. Literally, somebody
bar the door. Anybody. But that's really just
the beginning. That's just the beginning, isn't
it? Because part of the walking process, as part of teaching
them to walk, once they're able to do that mechanical motion,
we start immediately to limit where they walk. Don't we? Got to. Got to. We begin to watch over them and
teach them that there are places you go and places you don't go.
There's a limit to how far away from mama and daddy is safe.
I don't want to embarrass anybody, but I think we were in Kingsport.
We mentioned Kingsport this morning already at a dinner at somebody's
house. They had that huge backyard. Those of you that were there,
you remember we had those tables with all the food on it. I was
watching Cole run out there. And he wasn't the only one running.
Mama and Daddy were doing a little running too. It was just constant.
It never stopped, did it? And I was remembering, I was
remembering what that was like. You can never for one second
take your eye off of them at that age. And I was thinking,
I was thinking too that that's why Childbearing years end before
you get old. Aren't you glad? That's for the
young. But as believers, we also have
to learn to walk. We're newborn. We're born again
of God, and we grow very slowly as believers. And the world is
a dangerous place for believers. The picture is very beautiful
and very instructive. It's a dangerous world. We send
our children one day out into the world, and we try to warn
them, don't we? We try to warn them about some things, and I
know that people say, well, they just have to experience things
for themselves. That's true to an extent, but what horrible
person wouldn't at least try to warn them a little bit about
something? Surely, our Father sends us into the
world as spiritual children. And you know what he said? Beware
of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Watch
out for wolves in sheep clothing. Be careful. They don't care about
you. Remember what he said about the wolves and sheep or the thief
that enters in another way into the sheepfold? He doesn't care
about your soul. He doesn't care about you. He just cares about
himself. Be aware of people like that.
And remember again, who's telling us these things? He loves us
like nobody loves us. That's his motivation. And he's omniscient. He knows
the end from the beginning. He knows everything. He can do
everything. Bless his name. He's omnipotent as well as omniscient
and merciful because we're going to mess up. We're going to get
in trouble. And when we do, he doesn't just
want to fix it. He can fix it. But we're talk. We're taught
how to walk. And we're warned about dangers,
and that's how this passage starts. Walk circumspectly. Walk with
an awareness of what and who is around you. Circumspectly
means to be aware of your surroundings. My wife will probably remember
this. Brother Jack, he would we would happen upon this passage.
One that, you know, here and there, like we do, and he used
the illustration of a cat walking through broken glass. That's
circumspectly. There may not be a hole that
big without some glass in it, but that cat'll put his foot
right there. And then he'll look for another spot and he'll put
his foot right there. He won't touch that glass. That's a good picture,
walking circumspectly. Walk with care, walk with awareness. Turn to Titus chapter 2. This regards our walk. Titus 2, verse 11, for the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. You see, that throws a little
light on this walk. Walk with him in mind. Looking to Him who is our hope
with the idea of honoring Him, glorifying Him, worshiping Him,
serving Him. Walk, as we see, circumspectly
means to walk knowing where to step and when to step and being
aware, being, recognizing a good place to step from a bad place
to step. And with that in mind, though,
what is a good place and what's a bad place? It all has to do
with Christ, doesn't it? It doesn't have to do with our,
what's our goal, where are we headed? Where are we going? Why
is it important that we get there? That has a lot to do with our
walk, doesn't it? Looking under that blessed hope. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, who gave himself. It's not just that we're getting
to him, but we're walking in him too, if that makes any sense. I'm trying to be clear. And for
children to do that, for children to walk and to not get in trouble
when they do, they have to be taught. They have to be taught. You're not just going to naturally
do that. But I want to make something clear at the outset here this
morning. The Bible is not, the Bible itself is not just a guidebook. It's not just about how do I
walk? Let's find out how to walk. Be careful about that. Not in
the sense that people say it is. This is our rule of life. This is our guidebook through
life. We learn from the Bible what to do and what not to do.
That's not what the Bible is. God did not give us the Bible
to teach us how to live. God gave us the Bible, clearly,
He declares Himself that He gave us His Word that we might believe
on His Son. And His Son is our guide. You
see the difference? I don't just look at you and
say, well, what do I need to do and what not to do? I look in here to find
out who Christ is and what He did. To learn of Him. Take my
yoke upon you and learn of me. And if I know Him, I know how
to walk. You see what I'm saying? Christ
is our guide. He's more than just our guide.
Christ does teach us by his word. But you can be guided by the
word and miss Christ. And that's what I want to warn
us against. Because if you miss him, you've missed everything.
Christ is our guide, our teacher. He's our motivator and our motivation. He's our inspiration. He's our example. You think about
all these words. I'm not just throwing words out
here that all mean the same thing. You think about that. Our teacher,
our motivator, our motivation. He's our inspiration, our example,
our wisdom, and everything else that I forgot to mention. In
all of these things, we could spend time elaborating on each
one of those things. And let me give you an example.
He's our motivation in that we want to honor him. We want to
be like him. We want to honor him. We want
to serve him as his children. I believe it was Don that gave
the illustration just at our last conference here, that when
you are raising your children, you can make them do things and
make them not do things, but that's not really the point.
I forget exactly how he worded it, and it's a hard thing for
me to know how to word, but you'll understand what I'm saying. The
idea is, the trick is, if you will, although it's not a trick,
it's the grace of God. But the idea is to get them to
want to obey you. You remember when Don talked
about that? They have to love you. If they don't love you,
they're not even really your child in a sense, are they? But
they will, they do love you if you honor the Lord in raising
them. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's
older, work from it. And teach your children, don't
provoke them under wrath, teach them in the love of God. And
they'll want to do what you want them to do. And you make them
understand why that's important. It's not just about making them
do things and making them not do things. You do that in love
and you teach them. And children, they want to be
loved enough to be disciplined. So he's our motivation in that
sense. We just flat won't please him. But he's our inspiration,
too, and our motivation in another sense, in the sense that it just
flat ain't worth getting out of bed in the morning without
him, is it? It just ain't. And what's the point to life? What's the point to any of it
if we don't have him? You see what I mean? He's our
motivation in every sense. He's our inspiration in this
life. What's the point to the world at all if Christ is not
ours? If he's not on the throne? If
he doesn't love me, what difference does anything else make? So we
walk through this world with the right priorities and knowing him, not knowing
the do's and don'ts of scripture, but knowing him. is going to
cause us to have the right priorities. Having the right priorities just
means you don't make much of little things and make little
of important great things. You prioritize properly. What's
important to us? What is important to us in this
world? The Lord said where your treasure is, that's where your
heart will be. That's what you'll think about and what you'll strive
for and what you'll be passionate about, what's valuable to you. We walk through this world also
judging righteous judgment. You remember what he said to
the Pharisees in John 7, 24? He said to the Jews, all the Jews,
I believe, he said, don't judge according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment. See, that's walking circumspectly. Judge things the right way. There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. Don't judge the way it seems,
the way it appears to the flesh. Judge righteous judgment according
to the word of God, according to Christ and what he did and
what he's doing, what business he's in. We walk with the right
perspective on things. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.14
that because Christ died for us, we reckon things differently
than this world does. And your reckoning of things
will determine your walk. And then he said this, redeeming
the time. Redeeming the time. Walk understanding that time
is precious. Time is precious, knowing what
to spend our time on. Why did our Lord pray in John
17? I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of this world, but that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil. Our Savior could take us now. He could have
taken us already. We'd all be happier. We'd be
with him. We'd have no troubles like Maurice
now. But he said, Don't take him yet. Leave him here for now. Wow, have you ever thought about
that? There's a purpose in that. Why do you think he's done that?
So we can get more stuff? So we'll have time to get more
stuff? That's what this world is about. The fashion of this
world is passing away. Never miss an opportunity to
honor him. That's what redeeming the time
is about. Don't ever miss an opportunity to honor him in this
world. We're not going to have that many opportunities in this
world to honor him. Never let this world see you
choose anything over him. He's prepared a table for us
in the presence of our enemies. May we honor him in the presence
of his enemies. Never let your children, your
family, your loved ones ever doubt for one second that you're
sold out to Christ. That's what this is talking about.
Redeem the time. It talks about toward them that
are without. Walk the right way toward them who are without.
Redeeming the time. Because the days are evil, suggests
two things at least. First of all, we're exhorted
to make our time count because in evil days, there's so much
to cause us to waste it. We're especially exhorted to
redeem the time during these evil days because that's so much
more difficult to do considering the pace of this world, the manner
of this world, the ways of this world right now. So many distractions,
so many allurements, so many time-stealing hindrances in this
world. And also, Since the time is evil,
it's all the more important to honor him. Now is the time to
do it, because light shines most brilliantly in the darkest of
places. I'll read you an article again.
I think I've read it to you before, but it's probably in the top
five of my favorite articles I've ever read by anybody. It's
called A Word About Trials. It's from 1 Peter 4, 12 through
13. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial, which is to trial you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice. Be glad that a trial
has come. And listen to what old Scott
Richardson said about this. If God has given you the privilege
and opportunity to go through difficult and heavy trials, then
you ought to make the most of that privilege and opportunity
to glorify him. What are we talking about? Redeeming
the time. Make the time count for something.
And how do you do that? When the days are evil. You know
that word evil often is, what's the word when they mean the same
thing? It's synonymous with trouble. with bad, what we call bad things
that happen. Listen to it. Don't waste an
opportunity. You ought to make the most of
that privilege and opportunity to glorify him by being in subjection
to him in it. Because it might only happen
once in a lifetime. Some of us have pretty trouble-free
lives. I'm one of them. And it may just happen once or
twice in a lifetime to have a real severe trial. Don't let that
opportunity slip away, he said. We don't desire to have severe
trials, nor do we pray that they will come. I don't know what
I would do should a severe trial come my way, but I know what
I ought to do. I ought to bless and thank and
worship God because it came from God, and I ought to conduct myself
in such a way under this difficulty that the people of God who love
me and who I love would say, this thing called grace really
works. In my experience, he wrote, I
have seen so many people that have the opportunity and privilege
afforded them by the hand of God to react during trial in
such a manner that would display what they say they have experienced,
yet they miss that opportunity. It's one thing to talk of Calvinism.
It's one thing to talk of how sovereign God is, but it's another
thing to actually submit ourselves to the Lord of sovereignty. That's
one of my favorite articles. I want to remember that always,
that the Lord sends these things to us. And as we've read a while
ago in Titus, when we're going, when we're walking, when we're
walking with awareness, when we're walking with an awareness
of the time and how valuable it is, we're looking to Him.
It's with an eye to Him. It's with the eye of faith in
Him, the purpose of glorifying Him in everything that we do. And then verse 17, he said, wherefore,
be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
He elaborates on what wisdom is. What is a wise way to conduct
yourself? Well, I tell you this, you're
not gonna conduct yourself wisely if you don't know what God's
will is. Religion talks about serving the Lord. Do you know
what God's doing? Do you know what His purpose
in this world is? It's not to try to get sinners
to do things for Him. That's not what it is. So if
that's what you're doing, you're not serving Him. You're not serving
His cause. What business is God in? And
we've already answered this in our Bible class, haven't we?
God's in the business of glorifying His Son. That's what this walk
has to do with. He's teaching us to do these
things to glorify His Son. So the Bible is not about doing
things. It's about glorifying his son. And in that, we do some things. The difference is life and death. Let's understand what God's will
is. I'll tell you what, you know
what a big clue is as to what God's will is? What he's told
us to do in this world as we walk. with awareness and with
the redemption of time, making our time count and to walk wisely. He's told us to go and preach,
spread the gospel. Why do you think we're supposed
to do that? You think it may have something
to do with the fact that the gospel honors and glorifies his son?
That's it, that's everything. That's what the gospel does.
You say, well, no, it's for sinners to be saved. That's what honors
and glorifies his son, the saving of sinners. All of it has to
do with his glory and honor. Spread the gospel, he said. Everything
we do in this world has something to do with that. When you get
up in the morning to go to work, it has something to do with the
ministry of the gospel. If not, you're wasting your time.
On the authority of God's word, you're wasting your life. If
everything you do doesn't have something to do with going and
preaching, walking through this world, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, honoring him, serving him, rejoicing
in him, which is what we're gonna talk about in a minute, worshiping
him, declaring him in his glory, witnessing of him, When he talks about don't be
a fool and don't be unwise, this is what he's saying. You see
that in that verse. Don't be unwise. What do you
mean by that? Find out what God's will is and don't resist it and
don't miss it. Don't miss the point. Understand
his word, his ways, his will, and walk accordingly. As we've said already, God is
in the business of glorifying His Son, Jesus Christ. What are
you doing? What are you doing? What am I
doing? It's pretty clear from the Word of God what He's doing.
Are we in on it? Are we in on it by His grace?
What a privilege if we are. What a great blessing if we are.
And then verse 18, don't be drunk with wine. And that's all that
anybody sees in this whole passage sometimes. I've heard this whole
chapter preached on it. That's all they saw in it was
don't drink. He's not even saying that here.
I'm gonna show you that he's not. Be not drunk with wine where
it is excess, but be filled with the spirit. He's drawing a comparison
here. He's making an analogy, I believe
is the right word. He's not even really saying don't
get drunk. Although that's probably pretty
good advice. That's not really what he said. He's using that
as an example of what it is to be filled with the spirit. Here's
what he's saying. As opposed to getting your motivation, your inspiration,
your joy, fulfillment the way the world
does, be filled with the spirit of
God. Instead of being influenced by that which makes you happy,
be influenced by Him and what pleases Him.
You see the analogy there? Don't be full of alcohol, be
full of the spirit. Don't be drunk on wine. And the
word in another place, it talks about being intoxicated by the
spirit of God. And that's the analogy here,
it's not specifically just saying don't drink, it's saying as opposed
to that, do this, be this. People get caught up on that
first phrase, they miss the point of the lesson. The point is not
to get drunk. The point of this next whole
passage is joy. Listen to it. Be filled with
the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. It's
to walk through this world. It's not just about don't do
that and do that. If that's what it is with your
children, if all that life is about to them is making them
do what you want them to do and making them not do what you don't
want them to do, your children are gonna be some miserable children.
No, we want them to sing a little bit too while they're walking
through this world, don't we? It's not just about do's and
don'ts. Make some melody in your heart,
but don't do it like drunk people do. Do it like somebody that's
full of the spirit of God. That's, you see that? It's joy, it's about being joy
and being happy in this world. We don't just want our children
to obey us, we want them to be happy and he does too. And this passage, it starts out the
way it does, to teach that our joy is different from that of
this world. What gets this world all giddy
and happy and giggly is going to the bar, going to the club, The world's idea of a good time
is to get plastered and do some stupid things. But here's the message now. God's
people don't just walk through this life avoiding everything
and avoiding danger. The warnings are wonderful and
good, but that's not living. Just avoiding danger is not living.
The fruit of the Spirit is joy. He commands you to have a song
in your heart, but not the song of this world, not the song of
the drunkard, but the song of the redeemed, the song of the
child of God. Walk through this world singing
of Him, a song of worship, a song of praise to God. You know that's
what we're gonna be doing throughout all eternity? Let's take up a
verse now, shall we? If that's what we're gonna be
doing in glory when we're perfect, I'd say that's a pretty good
idea now. God's people find that true happiness
doesn't come from indulging the flesh, but in worshiping God. The fruit of the Spirit is joy
and peace and longsuffering, faith, gentleness, goodness.
Verse 20, giving thanks always for all things unto God. We're
thankful for some things, you see? I'm glad it's not, the bondage
of the law is rigorous, isn't it? Don't do, do, don't do, do. The gospel doesn't teach us to
be like that. Sing, dance, rejoice, give thanks. Always, for all things, whoa,
that's taking it a little far, isn't it? Always for all things We just talked about the will
of God Then we you know what first Thessalonians 5 18 says
and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you And there are two ways to take that verse.
I In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Okay. Giving thanks is God's
will. You see that give thanks because
it's God's will for you to do that. That's certainly there.
That's that's scriptural in it. That's instructive, but also
in everything, give thanks because whatever that thing is that you're
in, It's God's will for you. You see that? Giving thanks itself is God's
will concerning you. You know that he would have us
be grateful for every blessing. And we don't always recognize
a blessing from a curse, do we? But also look at it this way,
in everything, in every situation you find yourself, give thanks,
because whatever it is, it is His will for you. We've been talking about God's
will, and what's God's will? Because we want in on it. Time
to find out what His will is, so we can do something about
it by His grace, by His power. But also, what's His will for
you? We know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Something bad happened. Give
thanks unto God. I believe that's what Pastor
Scott was trying to say, didn't you? Something bad happened. Give thanks to God. Bless his
holy name. You see Job, you remember Job? Blessed is the one who gave and
blessed be his name. He took it away He do with all things well That's
that one is the teaching of our text in it for all thing give
thanks for all things always in all things And there's nothing
wrong with thanking people Nothing wrong with that. I thank you
for so many things But give thanks to God for all things, because
whoever was used as means to bless you, every good and perfect
gift cometh down from the Father of lights, of
whom is no variable, neither shadow of eternity. Give thanks
unto Him, and do it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't
ever address God for any reason in any other way but in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't want to brag on anybody,
especially for the way that they pray, but I like, I like it when
somebody prays and says, Father, we come to you in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Just get that out of the way
right at the start. We're not coming in ourselves. I like that. Knowing that all, what is it
to pray in his name? Knowing that every blessing from
God flows to us through Jesus Christ our Lord. And pray for
his sake that he'd be honored and glorified in it, whatever
happens to us. Verse 21, submitting yourself.
This is, we're done, but I wanna, don't forget this one. We're
learning how to walk. You wanna know how to walk? Walk low. Walk down. Submitting yourselves. One to another in the fear of
God. Not submitting myself to you
or you to me because you fear me or I you, but because we both
fear God. As unto Him, There are many ways
and reasons that we submit to one another. You could think
about all of these. Any authority that God gives
any man is to be submitted to, right? Civil authorities, the
scripture says specifically concerning them, submit to them. Whenever
possible, of course, there are always exceptions with wicked
men. But generally speaking, whenever possible, submit to
God's authority in this world. Submit to the authority in the
home, in the church. Any authority that God gives
any man is to be submitted to, as unto the Lord that gave that
authority. But also, we are to submit to
one another in another sense. Not just to God-given authority,
but submit to one another in love. Preferring one another. Defer to one another. serving
one another in love. You see, washing one another's
feet, that's a submission too, isn't it? That's not submitting
to authority other than God's, but it's submitting to one another
in the sense that we love each other, we serve one another.
Are your feet dirty? Let me. He said that's what you
ought to do. That's a submission, I would
say, but it was one even our Lord was willing to do. Listen to Romans 15, 1, we then
that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and
not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good to edification, for even Christ pleased not himself. But as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproached thee fell on thee. Oh, he's teaching
us how to walk. And one of the most important
things that we're going to learn now in our walk for Him is that
it's not all about me. It's not all about you. It's
not all about us. Think not on thine own things
only, but on the things of others. And then in the fear of God,
this gives some real authority to this now. These are not just
suggestions. You know, people have all kinds
of opinions about how the home ought to be run, how you ought
to discipline your children, or not, or do this or that, or
how, why, what's the role of a wife or a husband? It's not
a matter of opinion. It's right here in the word of
God. And it's not up for debate. And do this in the fear of God. You children, you young people
who will not submit to your parents, do you fear God? That one thief was, you know,
mocking the Lord Jesus Christ. And the other one who, by God's
grace, knew who that was, all of a sudden said, don't you fear
God? Any child, any teenager, any, that's God's authority in your
home. You don't need to read a book
about it. You need to read this book about it. You wives who
will not submit will not submit to your husbands. And I know
a few of those. Don't you fear God? Do this in the fear of God
now. Submitting yourselves to one
another as you walk through this world. Don't have your nose in
the air. Don't be always talking about
my rights and my feelings and my way. It's God's way. And God's way
is service and submission and humility. You who will not help a brother
and submit in love to maybe meeting their need or just being their
friend because maybe you hold some kind of grudge against them
or perhaps you're just too flat selfish or proud. Don't you fear
God? And I'm talking to myself. God is teaching us how to walk.
Think about all these things now. Circumspectly, wisely, choosing
and prioritizing differently from this world. Making what
time we have count. Singing in your heart to God
as you go. Enjoy it. Life is good, is it not? Thank
God for our life and what he's doing in it. And being thankful,
always, in all things. And one final, very important
thing, submitting. Submitting. God's a pretty good
teacher, isn't he? How to walk. How I want to learn
how to walk. Let's pray.