Now we're back in Ephesians,
and we're in chapter five, Ephesians chapter five, and the text this
morning is around verse 18, but let me read verse 17 down to
verse 20, sorry, verse 21. 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. Now, we've already underlined
this clearly, that the epistles explicitly establish true doctrine. Very, very clearly. You know,
the truth of the gospel is implicit throughout the Bible, but in
the epistles, above all else, the epistles explicitly establish
true doctrine. They establish the doctrine of
salvation from sin, of the forgiveness of sins. Isn't that what the
gospel is about, ultimately? It's about the forgiveness of
sins. It's about your sins being forgiven when you stand before
God. And it gives you a solid hope of eternity in the kingdom
of God. What did Jesus teach his disciples
to pray? Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom
come. This is it. Thy kingdom come.
What has he come and done? The offended law, because our
sin offends the law of God. Our sin offends the justice of
God. The justice of God demands satisfaction
for our sin. And what's the satisfaction it
demands? It's death. The soul that sins, it shall
die. But Christ has satisfied the
law. He satisfied the justice of God
on the behalf of the people that God gave him before the beginning
of time. And we know from what the scriptures
teach and what the epistles explicitly underline is that it's entirely
of grace, the grace of God. It's entirely without works from
the sinner of any sort. It's the complete eternal removal
of sin by Christ, so that there is no charge. Who shall bring
any charge before God's elect when we stand before that judgment
seat of Christ at the end of all things? And so As I say,
the epistles establish the true doctrine of the gospel. And then
it produces the question, how should we then live? How should
we then live? And the answer is by gospel precepts. Because half of the epistles
are the doctrine of the gospel, and approximately the other half
are how to live in consequence of that doctrine. Now, I hear
dear brethren from time to time, and one I saw something he wrote
this week, and he said, I wish that preachers would stop telling
people how to live and what to do and start telling them what
Christ has done. Let me say that again. I wish
that preachers would stop telling people what to do and tell them
what Christ has done. And yes, I can see that. I agree with that. There is such
a focus on legal preaching, and I know what he means. But do
you know something? you know something I have a little bit
of an issue with it because the New Testament epistles having
told us what Christ has done, tell them what Christ has done,
the New Testament epistles having told us what Christ has done
they then spend an awful lot of time telling us the pattern
of life that is consistent for believers with what Christ has
done this is what he's done therefore If you believe it, and you live
in the good of it, live like this. You can't avoid it, can
you? If language means anything, the words that we've been looking
at in the last couple of weeks are very, very clear. It talks
about putting off the old nature, the old man, the man that you
were born with, that nature of sin in the flesh, and put on
the new man. the new man that is born of the
Spirit of God. That new man that is recreated
in the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Holy Spirit. We're told,
as we were last week in chapter 4, 22-24, suppress the old man
and promote the new man. Now this isn't legal. This isn't
a legal bondage thing. This isn't the sheepdog snapping
at the heels of the sheep. This is a willing service of
Christ. This is following the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, in the Old Testament,
the slaves, on the year of Jubilee, there was the freedom for the
slaves. And some slaves said, I don't want to go free. I enjoy
working for my master. I love my master. I want to stay
here. I don't want to go out there
in the big wide world. And he pierced his ear. You know,
with the awl on the doorpost of the house. He pierced his
ear to show that he was a willing bond servant. And that's what
Paul keeps using as the picture of the believer. It's a willing
bond service. Whenever God said, for the building
of the tabernacle, when they came out of Egypt and they were
in Sinai and they were gathering the things together, for the
tabernacle worship of God. And God said this, let them bring
all of these things, you know, the purple and the silk and the
badger skins and the gold and the silver, let them bring it
all. But how were they to bring it? Willingly. Not force. Not having their arms twisted
up their backs. Not told that they'd be letting the side down.
No, willingly. because what does God do? What
does God the Spirit do? He makes His people willing in
the day of His power. Psalm 110, verse 3. Not just
willing to believe, yes, He makes us willing to believe. He gives
the eye of faith to see the things that the flesh cannot see. Not
just willing to believe, but willing to serve. willing to
serve willing wanting to put off the works of the flesh and
wanting to bear fruit of the spirit not measuring it the true
children of god don't measure it jesus said when it comes to
that day of judgment and you're welcomed into heaven he said
come you you you've served me you've borne fruit and they'll
say when have we done this we don't remember doing this ah
he says when you whenever you did it to the least of one of
my servants works of the flesh versus fruit of the spirit. Now
then, in the passage that we get to, there's one particular
work to be suppressed and avoided. And it's the work, the work of
the flesh, of drunkenness. Be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess. That's our first point. Be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess. It's a particular weakness of
flesh It is. That's a particular weakness
of the flesh, for it to be overcome by mind-changing intoxicants. Now, he says here, be not drunk
with wine, but he doesn't just mean wine, he means wine, any
alcoholic drink, any drugs of any sort. You know, there's so
much usage of drugs these days. Do you know, I would say, I would
go so far as to say, even some forms of entertainment can become
as drugs, as drugs. Now, what do drugs do? They cause
us to lose rationality. They cause us to lose our reason
and our control. They blur our senses. They make
us incapable of functioning as a reliable person who has responsibility. That's what they do, these things. That's a particular weakness
of the flesh. Paul writes to the Thessalonians
in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 4, he says, that every one of you
should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and
honor. This is what he calls on believers
to know how to possess, have control of, his vessel, his body,
his flesh, in sanctification, in holiness. This isn't holier-than-thou
piety, but this is just the flavor of the things of Christ in what
we think and what we speak and what we do, in sanctification
and honor. to remain in complete sane control
of our flesh, of our body. This is it, this is what he calls
for. Do you remember the account in the Gospels of Jesus going
to the land of the Gadarenes on the other side of the Sea
of Galilee and he found that man that was possessed of demons
and Nobody could do anything with him. He was wild. He was
violent. He lived amongst the tombs. He was naked. They couldn't clothe
him. They couldn't tame him. However much they tried to chain
him up, he would break the chains. They just left him to his own
devices because he was such a scary, terrible creature without his
sanity, without control of himself. And when Jesus came to him and
cast out the demons, we find him sometime later, the people
come out to see, because they hear what's happened this man
has been, he's had the demons cast out of him and in Luke chapter
8 verse 38 it says that the people found the man out of whom the
devils were departed sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed,
and in his right mind. You see? He's possessing. The
vessel that he had no control over, due to insanity, due to
demon possession, he now has control over it. He's clothed! You know, he looks respectable.
He's sitting at Jesus' feet, learning. He's in his right mind. He's possessing his vessel in
sanctification and honor. That's how he is. The flesh tends
so readily to the use of, or submission to, those things that
numb reality, that numb the senses. In a way, it's one stage back
from suicide. You know, sad people that commit
suicide, why do they do it? Because the whole life experience
has become intolerable, and they can't stand it, and everything
that they sense makes them hate themselves and just want to be
out. using these substances, whatever it might be, alcohol,
drugs, or anything like that, to numb the senses, to lose control,
it's one stage back from suicide. That numbing of senses, numbing
of realities of life, numbing of the responsibilities, numbing
of the commitments. You hear about the alcoholics'
cycle of abuse, you know, the excessive drinking binge, and
then the remorse over it, and then the recovery from it, but
it's soon back into that cycle. And modern society and modern
psychology says it's an illness. Well, it's not that I'm unsympathetic
from those that suffer. No, I'm not at all. But quite
frankly, like so many other things, I don't believe it's an illness.
I believe it's sin. It's a sin of excess. There's
so much of it about, in so many ways. certain people have a tendency
towards other sins, but this is a sin, it's a sin of excess,
it's a sin of lack of control, it's a sin of going beyond that
which is reasonable. So how, as believers, should
we handle these things? You could say, and a lot do,
that we should totally abstain from any of these things. Well,
if you want to do that, it's your right and your choice, and
you're perfectly at liberty to do that. But I tell you what,
above all, what are we to do? What are we not to do? Don't
judge one another. Don't judge one another in anything.
We really mustn't. We're to have discernment, but
don't judge one another. Don't go looking for specks in
the eyes of others when there may well be a large plank of
some other fault in your own eye that you can't see. Let's
have a look at some of the principles of this. In Romans chapter 14
and verse 14, we read this. Paul writes this, Romans 14 and
verse 14. Paul says, I know, you see he's
been talking about not putting a stumbling block, not doing
anything that causes another believer to trip up and fall.
But he says, I know and I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there
is nothing unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth anything
to be unclean, to him it is unclean. There's nothing unclean of itself,
nothing. Not even wine. Nothing unclean
of itself. Even wine is God's providential
gift. Psalm 104 and verse 15. A gift of God. The psalmist is
talking about the things in providence that God gives. A gift of God
is wine that maketh glad the heart of man. The Apostle Paul
advised Timothy to use a bit of wine in 1st Timothy 5.23,
drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's
sake and thine oft infirmities. There's nothing wrong with it
in and of itself, nothing at all. In fact, the Lord Jesus
Christ, what was the first miracle that he performed at the wedding
at Cana of Galilee? He turned the water into wine,
the finest wine that there was. The head of the feast said, what
are you doing? Normally you bring out the best
wine first, but you save the best till last. The water that
Jesus turned into wine, he turned into the best of wine. It's foolish
talk to say that, as some do, I've heard people say, ah, it
wasn't wine like it is today. It was so weak it was hardly
alcoholic at all. Well, why does it say in this
verse, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess? If it was
that weak, how much would you have to drink to become drunk?
It would be physically indigestible to drink so much. That's foolish
talk. No, it was real wine that Jesus made out of the water at
the wedding of Cana of Galilee. I enjoy wine. I know some of
you do. But be careful, though. Be careful. It's a gift from God. It's there,
like all things. Nothing wrong with it in itself,
to be enjoyed, to make the heart glad, but be careful, because
Proverbs 20 gives us a warning. Proverbs 20, verse 1. Wine is
a mocker. Wine will make a fool of you.
Wine will show you up to be irrational and out of control. Strong drink
is raging. And whosoever is deceived thereby
is not wise. The other night we heard some
shouting outside about eight o'clock in the evening, and we
live on a junction. and outside on the wide pavement
outside was a man I guess he was somewhere between about 25
and 30 and he was staggering and he was shouting so loud that
indoors we could hear I bet everybody else in the area could hear him
he was shouting and hollering at people going by and he was
swaying and staggering and then he was singing raucously doing
all that kind of thing Look what Romans 13 says, Romans 13, 13
and 14. Let us walk honestly, as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. That's what we're called to do
as believers, is not to lose control, not to lose control
in that sort of a way. What does Paul mean then? in
Ephesians 5.18, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess,
but be filled with the Spirit. He doesn't mean, and even John
Gill, you know the old commentator from several hundred years ago,
says he doesn't mean accidental slips. Everybody, if you have
a taste of wine, there'll be times when you accidentally slip,
you don't realize the strength of a drink. What he's talking
about is habitual, regular state of intoxication. He's talking
about having a reputation for often drunkenness, and it's clearly
I barely need to say it, do I? It's incompatible with a profession
of faith. It's significant. It signifies
the old man being in charge, and the new man being suppressed
and not being in charge. So be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess. How should we then live? Be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess, but what else? Be filled with
the Spirit. be filled with the Spirit, the
Spirit of God. Instead of having your senses
in submission to intoxicating substances, have them in submission
to the intoxication of the Holy Spirit of God. You say that's
an odd concept. Intoxication by the Holy Spirit
of God. Do you know coveting is bad,
isn't it? You know, flee covetousness,
which is idolatry. But do you know there's a good
coveting? coveting the presence of God. Coveting the things of
God is good. There's a bad intoxication, which
is with these mind-numbing substances, but there's a good intoxication
with the spirit of God, the influence of the spirit of God. This is
the reality of the living God dwelling in his people. And the
new man is evidence of the spirits in dwelling. In Romans chapter
8 and verse 16, We read about that indwelling of the Spirit
of God. It says the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit. If he's living in you, he's bearing
witness with your spirit that we are the children of God. He
assures us inside that we are the children of God. You know,
the Word of God is the objective standard, but be in no doubt,
the Spirit of God comes and lives in the heart of a believer. He
does. If any man says, Paul in Romans
8 verse 9, that same chapter but a few verses earlier, he
says, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell. in you. The Spirit of God dwells,
you are the temple of the living God. The Spirit of God dwells
in you. You are a habitation, individually
and together as a church, a habitation of God in the Spirit. If so be
that God, the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, he says, if any
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. There is,
in the charismatic movement, error, There is this teaching
which is completely false that you become a Christian and then
sometime later you have the baptism of the Holy Spirit and you acquire
all sorts of extra gifts. So you can be a Christian according
to them and not have the Spirit of God and then sometime later
you have the baptism of the Spirit. Read what the Word of God says.
to the law and testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light, no truth in them. What does the
word of God say? It says, if any man have not
the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He isn't a Christian,
he isn't a believer. At conversion, Revelation bears
this out, at conversion you have the seal of the spirit of God. That's what it says, chapter
7, the seal of the Spirit of God, as opposed to the mark of
the beast. God's people have the seal of
the Spirit of God. So then, we're told, don't be
drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
But how do we get filled with the Spirit? How do we get filled
with that Spirit of God? How do we get intoxicated, led
by, under the influence of, the Spirit of God? What is the bottle
that we must drink from to be filled? That's the question.
What's the bottle? If we're not to drink the bottle
of wine, what's the bottle we're to drink from to be intoxicated
with the Spirit of God? Because this is what Paul is
calling for. Look at verse 17. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is. The will of the
Lord. Understanding what the will of
the Lord is. What's the will of the Lord? What's the will
of God? John 6, 39. They're talking,
the Jews and the Pharisees, and his disciples are there too,
are talking to Jesus in that incredible chapter. John chapter,
incredible's the wrong word, amazing chapter. In verse 39,
Jesus tells them this, he said, this is the Father's will. You
want to know what the will of God is? This is the Father's
will, which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. What is the will of the Father?
Salvation accomplished. The kingdom of God come. That's
the will of the Father. Salvation accomplished. The kingdom
of God come. Be not unwise, but understanding
the will of the Lord, salvation. Understanding salvation. This
is the bottle to drink from. This is the bottle to drink from. The bottle of salvation, which
is in the word of God, taught by the spirit of God. We read,
when we read about the spirit coming, Jesus said, oh, wouldn't
it be lovely to have Jesus with us here now? He said, no. No,
no, no, it's better for you that I go away. Because if I go not
away, I cannot send the Comforter to you. But if I go away, I will
send the Comforter to you. How be it, verse 13 of John 16,
how be it when He, the Spirit of truth is come, and He comes
to dwell inside the believer, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself
But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you. Taught by the Holy
Spirit. the things of the gospel of salvation
that Christ has accomplished. That's the bottle that we're
to drink of. That's it! Drink deeply from
the bottle of the gospel of Christ. That's what we're to drink deeply
of, and to be intoxicated with, and to be led by. The scriptures,
the message of the gospel, because they speak of Christ on every
page. They reveal the mystery of sovereign
grace, which he reveals to his friends. I call you my friends,
look back one chapter in John 15, I call you my friends, The
servant doesn't know what the master does, but the friends
do. He tells his friends. He reveals the mystery of sovereign
grace to his friends, his people. Confirm the effectual truth of
particular redemption. Understand that God's purposes
are all bringing his kingdom to a final glorious fruition. This is what it is to drink of
that bottle of Holy Spirit, intoxication, if I can use that word, and walk
in the light of that. It's elevating knowledge. It's
uplifting knowledge. Walk in the light of that. Be
intoxicated with that. You know the way in which I said
about the guy outside the other night who was clearly intoxicated
with drink, and he was raucously singing, loudly, loudly singing. Intoxicating substances lead
to raucous singing, but look what God's Spirit does. Verse
18, be filled with the Spirit. Verse 19, speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord. we're not going to scratch the
surface of what really is here but of course the Psalms contain
the gospel of God, the truth of God in the form of songs.
We have hymns, I know the hymns that we have in our Gadsby's
hymn book are written by men who are fallible and sinful but
let's do what the noble Bereans did and compare them with the
Word of God and see whether what they've written is in accord.
And you know, I don't think I've found one yet that isn't entirely
in accord with what the Word of God says. So we can sing those
hymns and those spiritual songs because they bring before us,
I've heard Marguerite say on occasion, they're like little
sermons in themselves. You read those hymns, they're
like little sermons in themselves, singing and making melody in
your hearts. Instead of the raucous singing
of drunkenness, The joyful singing of intoxication with the Holy
Spirit, drinking from the bottle of salvation. In the heart, with
thankfulness, verse 20, giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thankfulness for what God has done and revealed in you, in
you, in his people. This is what Paul says in Galatians,
he says, when it pleased God to reveal his son, not to me,
but in me. If he's revealed his son in you,
those things, drink them in, be intoxicated with them. Submit
to them. You know how how intoxicating
substances, drugs and alcohol and all sorts of other things,
they bring you into submission to their control. Yeah, they
really do. They bring you into submission.
You know, you see... A rock concert, for example,
and you see the crowd has completely lost its self-control, being
carried along by the music, by what's going on. Just the same
as other drugs, alcohol and drugs in general. They submit to them. What Paul is saying is don't
submit to drink, submit to the Holy Spirit. And in submitting
to the Holy Spirit, work out that submission to the Holy Spirit
in submission to one another. This is a gospel precept. Submission
to one another. Verse 21. Submitting yourselves
one to another. You see, instead of submitting
to intoxicating substances, submit to the Spirit of God and work
that out in submission to one another. Don't submit to the
intoxication of alcohol. Rather, submit to inebriation. Another word that might seem
odd in this context, but I think it's right. inebriation of the
Holy Spirit, controlled, guided by the Holy Spirit of God, submitting
to the leading of God's Spirit. In all things, it's a principle.
Christ, when he came, was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. As a man, he didn't want to go to the cross, but
he said, not my will, but thine be done. Not mine. And so he
set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem, to that cross.
Submit to the leading of God's Spirit, not my will but thine. And in submitting, submit to
one another. This is what Paul tells the Philippians.
Philippians 2 verse 3, in lowliness, humility of mind, not pride of
mind, or pride of heart. Not in haughtiness of demeanour,
but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better
than themselves. Do you know, there's a lot in
that, isn't there? Naturally, when we come across
people, the tendency of the flesh is, who do they think they are?
look at them let's put them in their place and let it be known
that I am who I say I am no let each esteem other better than
themselves look at the examples that were given here in Ephesians
and we'll just cover them quickly wives submit to your husbands
oh that's not popular in these days is it of political correctness
Wives submit to your husbands. How? As unto the Lord. How can
you do that? How can you submit as a wife
unto your husband as unto the Lord? There's an implication
in there that the husbands are worthy of the wife's submission
and how can a husband be worthy of a wife's submission only in
as much as they, the husbands, submit to Christ in all things. Is it not easy You ladies, I'm
asking you, is it not easy? I know the husbands are failing
pieces of flesh, they're failing and corrupted with sin in the
flesh, but insomuch as any are the children of Christ, the people
of Christ, and they submit to Christ, does that not make the
submission easier? Submit to them, as unto Christ.
Children, children. Now here's one for you, children.
Submit to your parents. Why? Because God says so. Children, do what your parents
tell you. Do what your parents tell you.
There's a commandment. Honour your father and mother.
Honour them. Honour them. This is what God
says. The God of heaven and earth, he says, honour your father and
mother. But also, listen to this. This
is at the start of chapter six. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right. But then he immediately says,
verse four, fathers, fathers. In a way, submit to your children. Don't get me wrong, there's a
right role and there's a right order, and it's for parents to
tell children what to do, because you know best, and you've been
around longer, and you have more wisdom and experience, and you
have their best interests at heart, and they are to do what
you tell them to do. But nevertheless, fathers, provoke
not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord, There's a right role and an order of
authority, but each esteem other with tenderness and consideration,
is what it's saying. That's it. Esteem one another. In a way there's a, submit fathers,
you fathers who have been placed by God in authority over your
children, and mothers too, submit to your children in this respect,
that you submit to their tenderness, and their weakness, and their
frailty, and their vulnerability, and you treat them with consideration
as children. The next one, servants, verse
five of chapter six, to masters. Servants, submit to your masters. Well, they're always bossing
me around. Submit to them as unto Christ, as unto the Lord. Today, What will we say today? Employees, submit to your employers. As if it's Christ that's employing
you. But then, not just that, masters. If you read further
on, verse 9. Ye masters do the same things unto them, forbearing,
holding back, threatening, knowing that you have a master. If you're
a child of God, you masters, know that you have a master in
heaven. neither is there respect of persons with him so don't
get high and mighty remember that you are subject to your
heavenly master so what's this telling us rather than submitting
to the influence of intoxicating substances which is incompatible
with a walk led by the Spirit of God, submit to the Holy Spirit. Drink from the bottle of glorious
salvation truth and submit to the Holy Spirit, working that
out in submission to one another. This is all good. This is all
commended submission. but avoid submission to inebriation
of intoxicating substances. What discredit drunkenness brings
on a witness for Christ? Think about it. In this world,
a law court, think about a law court. If you turned up in a
law court, clearly worse beware for drink, the court wouldn't
accept your testimony. It wouldn't believe what you
said. It would say you're not in a fit condition to be a witness
because you haven't got control. Put off the old man, put on the
new. Demonstrate above all love and
submission, tender consideration to fellow believers. By this
shall all men know that you are my disciples.