I didn't have many days in college
that I would recommend to anyone or much instruction that I would
recommend to anyone. The Bible colleges I attended,
everybody hated God and hated the gospel of God's grace. But
every now and then they just couldn't help saying something
that was beneficial. One of the best classes I ever
had was a New Testament survey class and the professor required
us to memorize large portions of the New Testament and to commit
to memory a summary of every chapter. so that you could easily
recall what was in a chapter, and it's stuck with me all these
years. I highly recommend to you to
try to remember just a little of what's in every chapter as
you read it, and it'll help you to understand where things are,
to remember where things are in the scriptures when you wanna
find them. In the book of Ephesians, in chapters one and two, the
apostle Paul was inspired by God, the Holy Ghost, to tell
us what God has done for us and what God has done in us by His
grace. In chapter one, it talks about
principally what God's done for us. And then in chapter two,
tells us what God has done in us by His grace. The Lord God
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ before the
world began. He chose us He adopted us, He
predestinated us to everlasting glory, and He accepted us in
Christ the beloved before the world began. He redeemed us with
the precious blood of His darling Son and granted to us in His
Son who obtained for us the free forgiveness of all sin by His
blood. And He revealed Himself to us
by the gospel. He came in time. and caused us
to hear the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Sadly,
we, I can't say for you, I, I, I don't have near the appreciation
for that at all to have any time, but I seldom really appreciate
the fact God caused me to hear the Word of the truth, the Gospel
of my salvation by the preaching of the Gospel until I think about
folks to whom God's never given that privilege. Multitudes around you, multitudes
around you, have never heard the gospel of God's grace. God
hasn't sent a preacher to them. And many who have heard side
by side with you have never been called by God the Holy Spirit
to hear the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation
accomplished for you in, by, and with the Lord Jesus Christ. Having called us by his grace,
From death to life, He gave us faith in Jesus Christ, sealed
us by His Spirit, and caused us to be brought into a living
union of faith with the Son of God and all His people, so that
we are brought to be one with Christ in the experience of grace,
and one with His people in Jesus Christ our Lord. And then in
the third chapter, The apostle describes the honor bestowed
upon, the work and labor of, and the prayer and ambition and
desire of every man called and sent of God to preach the gospel.
I want you to know the greatness and glory of God in Jesus Christ
the Lord. I want you to know him. As I
preach to you, I pray that God will cause you to just be overwhelmed
by the sense of God's greatness, the wonder of his love, the majesty
of his grace, the glory of his person, overwhelmed with the
knowledge of our Redeemer. And then in chapters four, five,
and six, the apostle writes to us by divine inspiration and
tells us how to live for God. The whole of these last three
chapters is taken up with us being taught by God how to live
for God in this world. He tells us in chapter four to
addict ourselves to one another, to addict ourselves to the ministry
of the gospel, to addict ourselves to Christ, to put on Christ,
If you would live in this world for the glory of God, put off
the old man and put on the new. Put off Adam and put on Christ. Say no to the flesh and say yes
to grace. That's the responsibility of
every believer as he lives in this world every day, every hour
of every day. Now, I recognize fully, and you
know that I recognize fully, you can't do it, but you must. and God the Holy Spirit lays
the responsibility squarely on your shoulders and on mine. Each of us responsible to God
to put off the flesh and put on the spirit, to put off the
old man and put on the new, to say no to ungodliness and yes
to godliness as we live in this world. And it tells us if we
would do so, We must addict ourselves to the worship of God, the ministry
of the gospel, and one another's good, addicting ourselves to
Christ Jesus himself. In chapter five, we're admonished
to behave in all things as the children of God in this world.
Paul gives us the example of God and of Christ. He tells us,
follow the example of God. That's a pretty good example
to follow. Follow the example of Christ. That's a good example
to follow. In love, in grace, in mercy,
in forgiveness. In those things, Lindsay, with
which we are most familiar. Isn't that something? I'll tell
you what I'm more familiar with from God and about God than anything. Love and mercy and grace and
forgiveness. I'd know more about that than
I'd do anything else. Those things that come from God flow into
my soul constantly. He says now, you just follow
his example. Walk in love towards your brethren,
in love toward God, being kind and gracious and forgiving. Walk
as children of light. But the spirit of God knows us
as we are taught by his word to know ourselves. And he knows
that each of us who are his are inclined all the time to lethargy
and indifference. We're inclined to quickly forget. His greatness, His goodness,
His mercy, His love. We experience the wonders of
His grace and it seems like, oh, I just, I'll never forget
this. And you walk out the door and
it's gone. And so he says, awake thou the sleepest, arise from
the dead and Christ shall give you light. So he calls on us
again to awake, to arise from the dead. But brother Don, we
can't. That's not within the realm of
possibility. It's our responsibility. And we must never find excuse
for deadness and lethargy and indifference, but rather call
on God to awaken us. Turn us and we shall be turned. Draw me and we will run after
thee. That's the language of scripture.
And then in verses 15 through 21, that's my text tonight. Ephesians
5, 15 through 21. He says, see to it. See to it. I haven't heard those words in
a long time. See to it. When I was growing up, I used
to hear them a good bit. But my mother or dad would say
to me, you need to take care of something. And I'd kind of
mutter something, you know, like, well, I'll get around to it. And they'd
say, you take care of that. You see to it. See to it now. That's my subject tonight. See
to it. See to it. See to what, Brother
Don? Verse 15. See then that you walk
circumspectly, not as fools. Those are the only two alternatives. See that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools. If you walk as a fool, you don't
walk circumspectly. If you walk circumspectly, that
means build with constant discipline, then you don't walk as a fool.
But as wise, redeeming the time, buying up the opportunity because
the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk
with wine wherein is excess, but 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. giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God. Not only must we awaken to the
light, we must conscientiously walk in the light. Have you ever
stopped to look how often in the New Testament we are admonished
to do just that? over and over and over and over
again were admonished to walk in the light. To live in this
world as children of the light. To walk with God in the newness
of life. The way to overcome the power
of darkness is to walk in the light. Again, I repeat, that
is our responsibility and God lays it squarely on our shoulders. Now let's look at these together
tonight, let me call your attention to three things. First, Paul
tells us that we must walk in wisdom. If we would live for
God, we must be wise. 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. Our Savior taught
us to be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. Light seems
to imply wisdom and understanding. So Paul here shows us that those
who walk in the light are wise, not wise in a worldless sense,
not wise in a carnal sense. That may or may not be true.
We're prohibited from being wise in our own conceits, but spiritually,
we should be wise. And Paul speaks of three specific
areas in which we should be wise. First, he says, if we would be
wise, we must set our hearts upon the highest goals and walk
straight toward them, circumspectly, circumspectly. Wise men had their
hearts set upon God, upon eternity, upon heaven, upon Christ, not
upon the earth. Little children playing with trucks and tractors
in a sandbox get all upset if that new shiny plastic toy gets
broke. And you expect that from little
children. They're just little children. But you and I shouldn't
get too upset when our shiny new plastic toys in this world
get broke. They're just plastic toys. You
shouldn't get too upset if you have, what do they call those
things you used to get when you were a little baby, you had little
kids, babies, you'd get them little totters and blow bubbles
and just make bubbles and the baby'd cry because the bubble
burst. Don't cry too much when the bubbles burst. They're just
bubbles. They're just bubbles. Walk as
wise, not as fool. Make it your business to live
by faith, trust in Christ, with your heart fixed on Him, His
finished work, His blood, His righteousness, and His grace.
Make God's Word the order and rule of your life. I don't mean by that that you You'd all been out of shape and
straight-laced foolishness that men do if they're Amish or if
they're Quakers or they're separatist folks and they dress funny and
talk funny and look funny. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about you make this book the rule by which you live in
this world. Not the philosophies of men,
not the opinions of men, Not what's acceptable to men, what
you know is right in this book. I tell you what I've observed
about myself, Mark. I rarely ever don't know what
I ought to do. That's a rare thing. I about
always know what I ought to do, but doing it's another story. Doing's another story. I don't
have many folks who are foolish enough to come to me for counseling,
because I don't like to counsel folks. I do it from the pulpit.
But sometimes people get the crazy idea that if they'll see
you in the office, you'll tell them something different than
you will publicly. And somebody will come to me and say, well,
Brother Donald, what do you think I ought to do? I said, well, you want me to
tell you what I know you ought to do or what I think you're going
to do? What do you mean? Well, I know what you ought to
do. Not any question about that. Not any question about that.
But I'll tell you what I think you're going to do. You're going to
do what you want to. You just came here to get my
approval. That's all. That's all. You seek approval
from somebody to do what you know is wrong. Heed what you
know God says in the Word, in doctrine and in behavior, and
you won't go far wrong in anything. Follow the Savior's example in
your life. Make His life the pattern of
your life. Make his life the pattern of
your life so that you seek to live as he did. How's that? Serving men, caring
for men, helping men. Stooping to be the least that
you may be servant to men who need the most. In all things,
seek to adorn the doctrine of God following the Lord Jesus and
walking wisdom toward men as much as possible. Live peaceably
with all men without offense. Just, just put up with stuff.
Just put up with stuff. I, uh, I hope God's teaching me this.
I used to get upset with folks that do stuff in business and
do things that just annoy you, make you mad. I'd fuss at them,
I'd give them peace of my mind. Best thing to do is just leave
it alone, it didn't cost much. It didn't cost much. Gonna ruin
your day if you get after it. Why let somebody ruin your day
because they put a hole in your tire? That's just it. That's
idiocy. That's idiocy. You hurt yourself
and hurt others. Rather learn to live peaceably
with men. God teach me that. Live as strangers
in the world. strangers. I visit other countries and they
have customs and ways that I, some of them I don't like, some
of them I'm just not comfortable with because I'm not accustomed
to them, but I'm only going to be there a short time. You know,
I have never thought about suggesting that folks in Mexico do things
different than the way they do them? Now, I never even thought
about suggesting it. Never thought about suggesting
folks in Ireland or England or Scotland or Canada do things
different than the way they do it. I'm just passing through
there. I'm just passing through there. Oh, God teach me to live
like a stranger in this world. Bobby, we're just passing through.
And we just got a few more steps and we'll be done. It'll be over.
Live in such a way that you try to promote the will of God and
the glory of God and the people of God in all things. To walk
circumspectly is to walk accurately, exactly, precisely, in the right
way, being taught of God with wisdom from above. See to it,
see to it. Wise men are also men who make
careful and diligent use of their time, redeeming the time, buying
up the opportunity. Alan was singing a minute ago
at the end of that hymn, I'll seize heaven's prize. Seize it. Oh yeah, yeah. Through the merit
of Christ's blood and righteousness. Let us in the same way seize
the opportunity before us. Grab hold of it. Buy up the opportunity
to do good while you can. For the glory of God and the
good of his people. For your own soul and for the
good of others. A great part of wisdom simply
redeeming the time, pressing what we can into the time we
have, because the days are evil. Now, if we would be wise, we
must discern what the will of the Lord is, discerning or understanding what
the will of the Lord is. What's he talking about? going
to spend just a minute on that tonight because I want to come
back to it in a week or two. But there is a secret will of
God, His eternal purpose. No man knows until it's accomplished. You don't know God's eternal
purpose until it's brought to pass in time. You can't know
your election in eternity until you believe on Christ in time.
You can't know what God purposed for tomorrow. You can only know
what God purposed for today because today's done. Tomorrow, you'll
find out what God purposed from eternity for tomorrow. But our
text is obviously talking about that which is knowable. He's
talking about the revealed will of God. God's will. revealed in this book. Revealed to us by His Spirit
in our hearts, revealed by His providence in the things we experience
so that the believer, the man, the woman who's taught of God
walks at liberty in Christ Jesus seeking to do that which is in
alignment with God's Word and For the glory of God, following
the direction of God's Spirit. And I urge every one of you,
do that. No matter what it costs. No matter
who understands or misunderstands. But don't ever pretend you're
seeking to do God's will, when you're seeking to gratify your
flesh. You'll run into pain, trouble, and heartache. I know. I know. God's will is that which God
has purposed for his own. And God's will is that which
we are responsible to perform in the light of his word and
in the light of the teaching of his spirit in our hearts.
And I can't determine that for anybody. I won't try. I won't try. Brother Don, do
you think I ought to go here? Do you think I ought to go there?
Do you think I ought to take this church? Do you think I ought
to take that? I won't even make a suggestion. Won't even make
a suggestion, because I don't know. But you do. You do. And you know whether you're Going
here or staying here. Going there or staying here.
You know whether you do it for your satisfaction, for the gratifying
of your flesh, or for the glory of God. And you're the only one
who knows, and we leave it at that. We leave it at that. These
three things we should always seek. The honor of God's name,
our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. the good
of His kingdom, thy kingdom come, and the fulfillment of His will,
thy will be done. And if those things we truly
seek, Alan, if truly we seek God's glory, the building of
God's kingdom, the performance of God's will, we don't ever
have anything to complain about. Because God's going to glorify
His name. God is building his kingdom, and God is performing
his will. Second, if we would walk in the
light, we must walk under the influence of God, the Holy Spirit. And be not drunk with wine, wherein
is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. First Paul says,
be wise. Here he says, be filled. Both
are gifts of God. Both are matters of personal
responsibility. See to it. But Brother Don, you
know you can't fill yourself with the Holy Ghost. I'm fully
aware of that, but this is a command given. It's a command given. He says, be filled with the Spirit. We're commanded of God to be
filled with the Spirit. What's he talking about? He's
talking not about some kind of ecstatic, charismatic experience
where you wallow around on the floor and slobber and throw your
hands up and act like a fool in church. That's not what he's
talking about. What happens to a man who's drunk
with wine? All his sensibilities, all his
power, all his thoughts, all his emotions, all his feelings,
are under the dominion of the influence of wine. He's drunk. He's fallen down drunk. That
means he does stuff he wouldn't normally do because he's not
thinking about it. That means he does injury he
wouldn't normally do because he doesn't think about the consequences.
That means he's responsible. No question about that. He's
the one who did it, but just because he's drunk and he pulls
out on the highway and runs over half a dozen people, that don't
mean he's not responsible for it. He's responsible, but you
just don't expect much better, he's drunk. That's the reason
they don't let folks who are drunks drive. That's the reason
they don't do it. Drunk with wine, everything is
out of whack. Everything's out of control.
Everything is messed up. No matter the reason. No matter
the reason. Therefore we have strong warnings
against the abuse of wine or any other alcoholic beverage.
Paul does not say don't drink any wine. It's perfectly all
right, and I was talking to Shelby about this the other day. I say
it often, I say it publicly, because we live in this stupid
age where men think that evil is in a bottle and it's not.
If you wanna have a glass of wine or a shot of bourbon, if
you wanna make your own corn liquor and drink that at supper,
I don't care, that's just fine. But moderation's the secret.
Moderation's the secret. The scriptures teach temperance,
moderation, not abstinence. When Paul says be not drunk with
wine, he's simply saying don't allow yourself to be controlled
by the influence of that evil thing that you buy at the store
in a bottle. Pastures. must not be folks who
linger by the bottle. Deacons must not be addicted
to much wine. Aged women must, in their conduct,
not be enslaved to much wine, but rather be reverent and discreet. Wine and strong drink is a mocker,
but here is a positive good thing. Be filled with the Spirit. constantly controlled by the
sweet influence of God the Holy Ghost in His Word as He's revealed
in Christ giving you faith in Christ walking with God by the
Spirit under the rule of the Spirit. What's that talking about? To be filled with the Spirit
is to be filled with the grace of the Spirit and the graces
He gives. People filled with the Spirit
are men and women in whom the love of God is shed abroad in
their hearts and they're filled with that good wine, that best
of wines, to be filled with the Spirit. is to be filled with
joy and peace, overwhelmed with the love of God, overwhelmed
with the goodness of God, overwhelmed with God's grace, sealed by his
spirit, redeemed by his blood, chosen in his love, the object
of his mercy. I'm utterly overwhelmed, overwhelmed. And when I am sensible of the
fact Oh God, make me sensible every
moment of every day. When I'm sensible of the fact
that I'm God's, I'm simply filled with joy and peace. With joy and peace. These things
are things by which our God makes every bitter thing sweet. This is what Paul's teaching
is. Getting drunk on wine leads to nothing but debauchery. Being
intoxicated by God the Holy Ghost is wisdom and peace and joy. Oh, I would to God we were every
one of us totally out of control by ourselves. under the control
all the time of the influence of God's spirit who gives faith
in Christ. Third, if we would walk in the
light, we must walk in a way that honors God and benefits
our brethren. He says, be wise. Then he said,
be filled. And now he says, be thankful.
Look at verse 19. Speaking to yourselves, You each
speak to yourself and speak to one another in psalms. That's a book of psalms, most
of them written by David. And hymns, that's hymns like
Moses' song, and Hannah's song, and Deborah's song, recorded
in scripture. And spiritual songs, spiritual
songs are, The kind of songs you got right there. Songs that men write for the
worship of God. Psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs. And the secret is this, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Making melody in
your heart to the Lord. making praise in your heart to
the Lord. Being in harmony with God in
your heart. Being in harmony with God in
your heart. Oh, now that's grace. That's
being filled with the Spirit. That's being wise. giving thanks
always for all things unto God, the triune Jehovah, and the Father,
our blessed heavenly Father, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the thing we have
more trouble with than anything else. This is the thing we have
more trouble with than anything else. Now here I can speak both
personally and for you, because I know it's so. This is where
you have more trouble than you do with anything else. And this
is where Don Fortner has more trouble than you do with anything
else. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Submitting yourselves one to
another because honoring God is more important than you being
right. Honoring God is more important
than me having my way. Honoring God is more important
than me showing myself or you showing yourself. Submitting
yourselves one to another. What's that talking about? You
submit your wants to somebody else's wants. I don't mean pretend
to, I mean do it. You submit your desires to somebody
else's desires. You submit your will to the will
of God's people. You submit your preferences to
other folks' preferences. The fact is, that's how you get
along at home. That's right. If you don't do
it at home, you fuss and fight all the time. And if you do it
at home, you don't fuss and fight at home. It's just that simple.
The only time, the only time, and I'm sure Mark and Regina
never have a cross word. Of course, she made him sign
the paper, my fault. But I'm sure they never cross,
but if you do, I'll tell you why. It's either because you
insist on having your way or he insists on having his. That's
the only time. That's the only time. That's
the only time. The cause of all strife and division
among brethren. The cause of all strife and division
among people who love each other is stupid, senseless, selfish,
shameful pride. Nothing else. Nothing else. Would you honor God? Would you
help his people? 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. And be not drunk
with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
God. Be wise. Be filled. Be thankful. See to it. See to it. God, give me grace
to see to it and give you grace to see to it. Amen.