back to our text in Ephesians
chapter 5. See that you walk carefully. That's what circumspectly means.
See that you walk with great care, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. making the best use of time because
the days are evil. Now, when I'm preaching through
a passage of scripture, I always look to see if I can find sermons
and usually I don't get past the titles, but looking through
this fifth chapter of Ephesians, for instance, verse 11, where
he says, I have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them. And I remember looking
at one message entitled, Eight Reasons Christians Should Not
Watch TV. And you know what that does to
me? Makes me want to watch TV. That's the first thing that happens.
You tell me Christians should not watch TV. And I can see people using this
verse like that, redeeming the time because the days are evil. And I've entitled this message,
Redeeming the Time. Instead of watching TV, you should
be using that time for prayer and Bible study. Who denied that? That'd be a better, easier time,
wouldn't it? Instead of watching sports, you should be visiting people
in the hospital and going to nursing homes and trying to do
useful things. That would be time better spent,
no doubt. But if that's what I get out
of this, I've missed it. I've missed it. I do not have a clue. Now Paul says in verse 15, see
that you walk circumspectly, carefully, not as fools. but as wise. Now you'd find it
an interesting study to look up the word foolish in the book
of Proverbs. It's found 49 times and there's
many things we can learn from that. But what I think of when
I think of walking not as foolish as wise, I think about the foolish
man who built his house on the sand and the wise man who built
his house upon the rock. Now, there is true wisdom. There's
true foolishness. The one built his house on the
sand. And when the rains came and the floods descended and
the winds blew, it crashed because it was not built upon the rock.
Christ Jesus, anything you have, anything I have that's not built
on the rock, Christ Jesus, my only foundation, my only ground
of acceptance before God is going to be washed away. It's not even
real. But the wise man. built his house
upon the immovable rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my standing
before God. He is my foundation. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 12. This was such a blessing to me. Verse 26. whose voice then shook the earth.
But now he hath promised saying yet once more, I shake not the
earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signify
the removing of those things that are shaken or may be shaken. As the things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Now, anything created, if your
hope is in anything created, that means in anything you do,
it can be shaken, it can be exposed, kind of like you take a rotten
stick and shake it, it's gonna fall apart, isn't it? It's not
going to abide the test. Anything that's made can be shaken. It's only those things which
are not made that are eternal, that cannot be shaken. I love in the book of Hebrews,
we read of eternal salvation. It didn't have a beginning in
time. It can't be shaken. We read of eternal redemption,
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. We read of eternal
judgment, a judgment that's always been in Christ. We read of an
eternal inheritance. Now, this is the wise man's foundation,
that which he has no hand in, that which is eternal, that which
God has done. And there's a very famous line,
only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will
last. problems with that? I would change it to this. Only
one life will soon be passed and it will. Only what is done
by Christ shall last. The wise man looks to Christ
only, always. The foolish man builds his house
upon the sand of human works. You can remember the wise and
foolish virgins. There's another contrast the
Lord gives us when he talks about walking in wisdom and walking
in foolishness. Now a foolish preacher will have
it. Well here's the way you need to have your time. You need to
get up so early. You need to spend so much time in prayer
and Bible study and all. Listen I'm not saying anything
against prayer and Bible study. You know that. But as soon as
you start making Some kind of work out of it like this. It's
it's just not good. I want everybody here to read
the Bible I want everybody here to pray if you're a believer
you will do those things But to make some kind of work out
of it. Here's what here's what you need
to do to make things better. No No, we look to what Christ
has done Not what we do. The foolish and wise virgins.
What was the difference? They both slumbered and slept.
As far as the outward difference, you couldn't see any difference
between them. They were both asleep. And both shouldn't have
been asleep. But what was the difference?
The difference was in something you couldn't see. The oil inside
the lamp. The grace of God. Grace in the heart. I think of
what Paul said to the Galatians. Oh foolish Galatians, here's
foolishness. Oh foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose
eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucified among you? You're looking somewhere other
than Christ crucified. How foolish. He said in Galatians chapter
3 verse 3, to the same people, are you so foolish having begun
in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? God birthed you. You've begun in the spirit through
the work of God in you. He did it all. Are you now made
perfect and complete by the things that you do in the flesh? I think of what Paul said in
first Timothy chapter six, verse nine, they that will be rich.
Listen to this. They that will be rich. That's
their desire. That's their purpose. That's
their agenda. That's what they want. Fall into temptation and
a snare and many foolish, hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. The wise walk is the walk of
faith. Amen. We walk by faith. And not by sight. Let us run
with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Now that is wisdom. Look to Christ. Rest in Him. Trust Him. Paul said, as you receive Christ
Jesus the Lord, how did you receive Him? Now I know something about
how I received him. When I received the Lord Jesus
Christ, I can't tell you what the time was, I don't have a
date, but I know this, I didn't have anything to trust with him.
I didn't have any experience, I didn't have any works, I had
nothing. As you received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him. That is wisdom. Walk worthy. of the vocation where if you
are called with all loneliness, all loneliness, humility, and
meekness for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Walk in love as
Christ loved us. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk, not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Now that doesn't mean that sometimes
you're on this plane of spiritual walking and sometimes you're
just walking in a fleshly way. Walking in the spirit is looking
to Christ. Walking in the flesh is looking to your flesh, looking
to your works in some way. Walk as children of light. I
love the passage of scripture. God's light in him is no darkness
at all. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, the darkness of salvation by
works. That's what that's a reference
to. We lie and do not the truth. We're not being upright. But if we walk in the light,
the light of how God saves sinners by Christ. As He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. Walk carefully. You have a reason to walk carefully,
don't you? How tempted are you to look somewhere other than
Christ? Walk carefully, not as fools,
but as wise, redeeming, making the most, making the best use
of time because the days are evil. Now, question. Is there anybody in this room
that doesn't feel like quite often you make a foolish use
of time? I do every day, every ballgame
I watch. You know, I could be using this
time more profitably. And all of us waste time, but
that's really not the point of this passage of scripture. What
I would, I'd like to use my time more profitably, but if that's
all we're talking about is how you use your time, you've missed
it all together. Now turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter three. Here's this great chapter on
time. Ecclesiastes chapter three. Verse one, to everything there's
a season and a time, to every purpose under the heaven. Now here, the inspired writer
talks about time. Now I think it's interesting,
this particular passage of scripture, Pete Seeger wrote music to it. A group called the Birds in 1965
sang this song and it became very popular. I'm sure you all
heard of it. To everything there's a season,
turn, turn. I can't remember how old it was,
but a time to live, a time to die, all those things. But they
looked at it as a philosophy of life. And this is not to be
looked upon simply as a philosophy of life. Let's look at it together. To everything, there is a season,
there's a purpose, and a time, To every purpose under the heaven,
to everything there's a season, He is in control of everything. I love thinking about that. He
is in control of everything. To everything there is His season,
there's His purpose, there's His will being done. Now this
is something that I try to think about But God controls everything
and everybody all the time. You believe that? God controls
the thoughts going through your mind right now. Now you do what
you want to do. You can't blame God for your
sin. You can't say, well, if I sinned,
it was God's purpose. It was his will. He allowed it
to happen. He purposed it to happen, and
that's why it happened. You can't do that. You can't do that. If you do, it's evil. That being
said, God is in control of everything you and I do. And here's the
thing about the Lord. He brings good out of evil. Everything
we do, we might have meant it for evil, just like Joseph's
brethren. But what did Joseph say? But God meant it for good. And the greatest example of that
is the cross. And we can take everything from
that. What's the most evil event to
ever take place? The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What is the most glorious thing to ever take place? The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The good the Lord brought out
of that. He controls everything. I think
of the Lord saying concerning his father, not a sparrow falls
to the ground. The father, he didn't say without
your heavenly father, knowing it, he said without your heavenly
father, something as insignificant as a sparrow on the other side
of the world falling to the ground in death is all a part of God's
eternal purpose. Everything is whatever's happened
to you. It's God's will for you. Let me repeat that. Whatever
has happened to you, it's God's will for you. It's for your good
and his glory to every thing. There is a season and a time
to every purpose under the heaven. Let me show you a passage of
scripture in Isaiah 46. Isaiah chapter 46. You see, God is God. Anything
less than this is not God. This is who God is. He controls
everything because he's God. It's not hard for him to do it.
He's God. He doesn't have limitations like
you and I do. He's not bound by space and time
the way we are. He's God. Look at Isaiah chapter
46, beginning in verse nine. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there's none else. I am God and there's
none like me. You know, anything you try to
compare God to is just bringing him down. That's it. There's
no one or nothing to compare him to. There's none like him.
And what's he do? He says he declares the end.
What's going to take place? He declares the end from the
beginning. Everything that's happened, he has already determined
will take place. You know, when you get up and
probably not many of you have newspapers anymore. I guess I
got one. But when you get up and read
the newspapers, remember, this is what God has done. This is
what God has done. Declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, The man that executes my counsel from a far country,
yea, I've spoken it, I will bring it to pass. I have purposed it,
I will also do it. And that's true concerning everything.
He purposes it. You know, if you're sick, I hope
the Lord heals you. I hope you don't stay sick. But
there's one reason you're sick. The Lord purposed it. Whatever
it is. Whatever affliction you have,
whatever good thing happening to you, it doesn't matter what
it is, He is in control of it. I sure am thankful. Verse 2. There's a time to be born. And there's a time to die. There
are no untimely deaths. Somebody says it's such a shame
he died so young. Well, he died exactly when the
Lord determined for him to die. There's a time to plant. And
there's a time to pluck up that which is planted. There's a time
to kill when it's the appropriate thing
to do. And there's a time to heal. There's a time to break
down, break down walls, break down defenses. There's a time
to build up. There's a time to weep. What's the shortest verse
in scripture? Jesus wept. There's a time to
weep, and it's the appropriate thing to do. And there's a time
to laugh. Laughter is the gift of God.
There's a time to mourn. And there's a time to dance in
joy. There's a time to cast away stones, to remove impediments.
And there's a time to gather stones, build something. There's a time to embrace. And
there is a time to refrain from embracing when it would not be
appropriate. There's a time to get or to seek. And there's a time to lose, to
forget, treat it as if it never took place. A time to keep and
cherish, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, tear, and a time
to sow. There's a time to keep silent.
It's a time when it's just not appropriate to say anything.
There's also a time to speak. There's a time to love. and a
time to hate. There's a time of war and there's
a time of peace. He's talking about the great
circle of life. What profit hath he that worketh
and not wherein he labors? I've seen the travail which God
has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath
made everything beautiful in his time. Everything. Everything. He brings good out of evil. He's
made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the
world, and that word can also be translated eternity, in their
heart so that no man can find out the work which God maketh
from the beginning to the end. You know, he set eternity in
our heart so we don't get it. You get it? I don't. I don't
know what the Lord's doing. But He does. And that's where
we find confidence. He does. I know that there's no good in
them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, and
also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of his all labor. It's the gift of God. I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. It's eternal. Nothing can be
put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that
men should fear before Him. That which hath been is now,
and that which hath been already been, and God requireth that
which is past. Now, that is looked upon as a
philosophy of life by many people. As a matter of fact, the book
of Ecclesiastes is looked upon as a pessimistic philosophy. Everything's vanity. Everything's
vanity. Whatever you're doing, it's vanity.
And it's a very interesting book. But let's look at this passage
of scripture in light of the gospel. That's how it ought to
be looked at, not just as a philosophy of life, the good side and the
bad side. You've got to bear with both
of them. I mean, you can look at it that way, but that's all
you see. You've not seen the gospel. Now, verse. One. To everything. There is a season, God's season,
a time to every purpose under the heaven. God has purposed
it and it's going to come to pass at his timing. We're living
in God's world. This is my father's world. I
rest me in the thought. We're living in God's world and
everything he does is perfect. I might not see it, but he does.
And I'm so fine with that. There's a time to be born when He gives you life. It's
not just talking about the physical birth, but being born from above,
being born of the Spirit. There's a time to be born when
He wills it, when He says live. You know when someone's born
again? When He gives them birth, when He births them into the
kingdom of heaven, when He says live and they live. and there
is a time to die. When the commandment came, sin
revived. When I was made to see what the
commandment has to say regarding me, sin revived and I died. Died to all hopes of self-salvation. Have you ever died? And see,
there's no way you can do anything to save yourself, and you're
just as dependent as a dead man is, because that's what you are
by nature. There is a time to die, and what a blessed time
that is. There is a time to plant. The tree planted by the rivers
of the living water. the blessed man in Psalm 1, planted
by God, planted by his grace. And there's a time to pluck up
that which is planted. Remember when the Lord said every
plant, the disciples came up to the Lord and they said, Lord,
don't you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you said?
He said, let them alone. They'd be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall
in the ditch. Every plant that my heavenly
Father hath not planted shall be rooted up, plucked up. Verse three, there is a time
to kill. There was a time for Christ to
be killed as the sinner's substitute. He came in the fullness of time
and he was put to death as the sinner's substitute. My sin became
his sin and it was time for him to die. The justice of God demanded
it. But there's a time to heal. what
healing there is in his death by his stripes. Now think about
this. What is it that heals me? The only thing that heals me
is his stripes. That's what makes me clean before God. That's what
makes me acceptable before God by what he accomplished on Calvary's
tree. Yes, there's a time to kill,
but there's a time to heal. Verse three, the latter part,
a time to break down and a time to build up. The time to break
down walls which we have built that are contrary to the gospel
and build up walls against salvation by works. And there is a time
to break down walls, build people up. Verse four, there's a time
to weep. There's a time that's gonna bring
on weeping. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in
the morning. But there's a time to weep. There's so many times
to weep. And you wouldn't be human if
that were not the case. There's a time to weep. And there's
a time to laugh. Laughing in joy over the gospel.
Have you ever just thought about the Lord's mercy toward you and
his grace toward you and it makes you chuckle? Hey, it seems too
good to be true. There's a time to laugh. Laughing
is the gift of God. There's a time to mourn. And
when do you mourn? When do you mourn? You mourn
when somebody's dead and there is no hope of them returning. You mourn over sin when you see
there's nothing you can do about your sin. Like there's nothing
you can do about somebody that dies, there's nothing you can
do about your sin. You can't make it better. There's a time to
mourn. Blessed are they that mourn. they shall be comforted. And there's a time to dance in
joy with the gospel. There's a time, verse five, to
cast away stones, to remove all the impediments that keep men
from hearing the gospel. You've got to be preachers or
religion gives where you need this work and this work and this
work Cast all that away. Get it out of the road. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's it. What must we do that we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Get rid of all the stuff
that hinder people. You know, preachers love to say
this. I heard a preacher say this the other day, and it just
went through me. He said, turn from your sins
and trust the Savior. Now, all that's doing is putting
an impediment in the way of trusting the Savior. You need to turn
from your sins first, then you can trust the Savior. Remove
that. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
right now, and thou shalt be saved. There's a time to cast
away stones and there's a time to gather stones together. A time to gather stones up, bring
people together, promote the unity of the spirit and the bond
of peace. There's a time to embrace, verse
five, and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to embrace
and fellowship and a time to refrain from embracing when we're
not agreed in the gospel. I think of where Amos said, how
can two walk together except they be agreed? They can't. They
can't. I'm not going to embrace someone
in fellowship who's not in agreement with my Lord and how he saved
sinners by his grace. There's a time to embrace and
there's a time to refrain from embracing. Verse six, there's a time to get and a time to lose. That word
get can mean seek. There's a time to seek, seek
the Lord's presence. Isn't it always time to seek the Lord?
At all times, it's time to seek the Lord, to seek his presence,
to seek his blessing. And there is a time to cast away. You know, I wanna keep Those words our Lord gave us,
it is finished. And rest in that. And I want
to cast away misunderstandings, offenses, hurt feelings. They're not worth holding on
to. Lynn always sings that Disney song to me, let it go. Let it
go. Let it go. Let it go. It's not worth keeping. Verse 7, the time to rend. You know, there was a time when
the Lord said, it is finished. That veil was rent in twain from
the top to the bottom. That was the time for that to
be rent, wasn't it? Now there's perfect access into the Father's
presence by what Christ has done. Nothing I need to do. That veil
has been rent. There's a time to rend, and there's
a time So, and to mend, mend relationships, mend or don't
let old friendships go sour and nurture new relationships, mend.
Verse seven, a time to keep silence when the Lord's speaking. You
know, when the Lord's speaking, if you're speaking, you can't
hear what he's saying. when he speaks from his word, when he
speaks of the preaching of the gospel, let every man be swift
to hear, slow to speak, slow to pop off in disagreement or
anger. There's a time to keep silence.
I couldn't help but thinking about Romans 3, 19. We know that
whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, put to silence. If you find in yourself an objection
to God and His way of saving sinners, keep silent. Keep silent. Stand guilty before God. And there's a time to speak when
people need to hear the gospel. There's a time to speak. There's
a time to love. Love the Lord. Love His people. Love your enemies. That's all
the time. There's a time to love, and there's
a time to hate. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. I like what Job said, wherefore
I hate myself. You see the Lord, you will. I
hate myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. And a time of peace, the joy
and peace of belief. Now we see how time is to be
used in light of the gospel. Verse nine, what profit hath
he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I've seen the travail
which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in. And
boy, this life is a travail, isn't it? I mean, one problem
comes as soon as it leaves, another comes. And it's travail. God said it would be. It's not
gonna be anything but that. Man that's born of woman, his
days are full of trouble as the sparks fly upward. That's the
way it is. If you're not sick now, you're
going to get sick. If you're not burning hurt now, you're
going to be hurt. I mean, that's life and we don't
get it, but the Lord does. Verse 11, he has made everything
beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in
their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God make
it from the beginning to the end. Now, in other words, we're
just going to have to walk by faith because we don't always
do it. but he does and we don't get
it, but we know he does. And we rest in that. I'm so happy
to be able to do that. I wish I could bottle this up
and just realize everything's for the Lord. I don't, anytime
I worry, I'll obviously, I'm not believing it at that time.
I say I do, but I'm not, but we're not going to get it. We're
to trust him. I know that there's no good in
them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, and
also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all his labor. It's the gift of God. This is a great verse of scripture.
Verse 14, I know, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. who and what I'm relying on,
what God do. It was God who elected the people
before time began, that was totally His work. It was God who redeemed
them. It was Christ who redeemed them
and accomplished their salvation. It was God who justified them. Every believer stands justified
before God. You see, we're trusting what
God does and it's forever. It was God who gave me life.
I didn't give myself life. I didn't ask Him for life. He
birthed me into the kingdom. It's the Lord God. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ who preserves me. I don't preserve myself. The
only reason I persevere in the faith is because He causes me
to. And I'll tell you what, when we stand in glory, we're going
to know it's all what He did. When I stand before thy throne
dressed in beauty not mine, When I see thee as thou art, love
thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not
till then, how much I owe. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing
can be added to it. Would you want to add your work
to his work? Why, that would defile it. It
kills me when people start talking about rewards in heaven, like
believers are going to earn higher rewards in heaven. So, something
you've done here on earth, is it going to make it better for
you in heaven? You're deceived if you believe something like
that. That's like taking something vile and filthy and making you
say, I'm going to put something vile and filthy and make it better.
No, no, not at all. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. It can't be taken from, and God
doeth it that men should fear before him." Now, you know what
the fear of God is? It's to look to what he has done
only. And if you look anywhere else,
it's because you don't really fear him. You don't really know
who he is. Those who know him will look only to what he has
done as everything in their salvation. That which hath been, verse 15,
that which hath been, whatever happened in the past, It's now. There's nothing new under the
sun, the wise man said. There's nothing new. And that
which is to be hath already been, and God requireth that which is past. Does that mean that God is going
to require me to give an account for the sins that I've committed
in the past? Well, if it does, there is no
gospel. God has given every believer
a new history, a new past. Somebody says history can't be
changed. Well, God can change it. He can change it. And he does change it for the
believer. And my past is perfect righteousness. And that's what
God is going to require. And he's going to require of
me and he's going to reward me for having never sinned and always
done that which is pleasing in his sight. And that's true of
every believer. It's what the Bible calls justification. One final scripture, turn to
Revelation 22. And this verse is passing through
death. And what happens on the other
side of death? He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. As you die, that's how you will
spend eternity. He which is filthy, let him be
filthy still. And he that is righteous, that's
every believer, let him be righteous still. He's righteous eternally. And he that is holy, every believer
is holy. They got a holy nature. Christ
is their holiness. Let him be holy still. Now let's walk carefully, looking
to Christ only, redeeming the time, knowing there's a purpose
for everything under heaven. Because the days are evil, but
think of this, they'll soon be over. Let's pray. Lord. How we thank you. The time is in the palm of your
hand. How we thank you that everything
is according to your sovereign will. How we thank you that we
can rely upon what you have done as everything in our salvation.
And we're not to look to anything we have done or intend on doing,
but we look to what thy son has done to make us perfect in your
sight. How we thank you for the gospel.
Our Lord bless this message for your glory and for our good.
As we face this coming week, we ask that you would enable
us to walk by faith and not by sight, looking to thy son. Accept our thanksgiving through
him. In his name we pray. Amen. Dwayne, come listen.