Bibles to Ephesians, the fifth
chapter. I'd like to read verses 14 through
21 of Ephesians chapter five. Wherefore, he saith, Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light. See then that you walk circumspectly,
carefully, 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 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. I've entitled this message, A
Message to Those Who are Asleep. A message to those who are asleep. In verse 14 it says, Wherefore
He said, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee light. When I read the first part of
that parable of the ten virgins, you'll notice one thing they
all had in common, the wise and the foolish. They all slumbered
and slept. Now, when Paul says, Awake thou
that sleepest, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light, Who is he speaking to? Believers? Yes. Unbelievers? Yes. He's speaking to those who
are asleep. An unbeliever is in the sleep
of death. And a believer can fall into
a state of spiritual sleep. And, you know, sleeping can look
a lot like death, can't it? Have you ever seen somebody sleep
and thought they were dead? Sure you have. And you've also
seen somebody who was asleep who appeared to be alive. You've
heard people talk in their sleep. Perhaps you've talked in your
sleep. People even walk in their sleep. And they can look alive. But when you sleep, you don't
see things as they really are. And you don't perceive things
as they really are. Why? at the dreams you have when
you're asleep. They don't make sense. Now what
causes this thing of sleep? He says, and he's speaking to
believers primarily, he says, Awake thou that sleepest, rise
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. What causes
this spiritual sleepiness where we can't really perceive things
as they are? Well, first something called
the flesh. Do you remember when the Lord
said to the disciples when they were asleep? He came to them
and he said, what could you not watch one hour with me? The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak, and this flesh can drag us down so much. What causes spiritual sleep?
Well, false doctrine. can cause spiritual sleep, a
lack of understanding that causes us to lose our watchfulness from
some lack of understanding of what the scripture teaches. Pride
will cause spiritual sleep. I guarantee you, preceding that
spiritual sleep, somebody has fallen into. They've been proud
and arrogant. And the Lord, in a measure, has
withdrawn himself because of that. And we turn into a spiritual
sleep now. When people are sleeping spiritually,
first of all, he says in verse 15, see that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise. When people are sleeping spiritually,
they're not walking carefully. And that's what that word means
when he says walk circumspectly, very carefully. When people are
sleeping spiritually, they're not walking carefully. He says
in verse 16, redeeming the time. Because the days are evil. Now
that word, redeeming the time, literally means making the most
of every opportunity. Living in the present. Not living
in the past. Not living off the past experiences.
Oh, I must be saved because of something that happened five
years ago or fifteen minutes ago. No, if you look for assurance
from something in the past, it's a false assurance. Are you looking
to Christ right now is the issue. Or, When you're spiritually sleepy,
you're looking to the future, something you're going to do,
some kind of work you're going to perform, which is nothing
but salvation by work. You're not thinking right now.
Wake up and redeem the time, make the most of every opportunity
because the days are evil. And then he says in verse 17,
wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will
of the Lord is when I'm spiritually sleepy, I don't understand the
will of the Lord. Verse 18, he says, and be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. One thing's for sure, when I'm
spiritually asleep, I'm not being filled with the Spirit of God.
And we're going to consider what that means in just a moment.
And then he says in verse 19, speaking to yourselves in songs
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord. That's not going on when we're
spiritually asleep. That joy that he's speaking of,
singing and making melody in our hearts unto the Lord. He
says in verse 20, giving thanks always for all things unto God
and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when
I'm spiritually asleep, I'm not giving thanks for everything.
I'm just not doing it. Verse 21, submitting yourselves
one to another in the fear of God. We don't have the right
attitude toward other believers when we're spiritually asleep. Now, he says awake. Awake now
that sleep has been rise from the dead and Christ will give
delight. A little story about this awake.
I was at a funeral once. I wasn't preaching it. Henry
Mayhem was preaching it. And all of a sudden he screamed
out, Awake! Thou that sleepest. And somebody fell asleep. That's
the way he was waking them up. You know, and I thought that
tickled me, but that's. I mean, he could yell it out,
too. I mean, you woke up if you were if you were kind of. But
awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead. And in waking
up, and only the Lord can wake us up, you know, this thing,
the way it says awake, that asleep has been rise from the dead.
Who's the only one that can raise somebody from the dead? The Lord
himself. And you know, in this thing of
becoming spiritually asleep, spiritually losing your perception,
it takes the same power that it took to raise Christ from
the dead to wake us up out of this spiritual sleep. And so
the first thing that I think about is, Lord, wake me up. Lord,
raise me from the dead. Awake, thou that sleepest, and
rise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Now, here's
what you do when you wake up. See that you walk carefully. Not as fools, but as wise. See that you walk perfectly. Walk by faith and not by sight
and be careful in your walk. And I'll tell you what, when
I'm awake, I want my walk to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't I? When I'm awake, that's what's
important to me. I want to be careful in all things. Be careful
in your walk. And then he says in verse 16,
redeeming the time because the days are evil, which means making
the most of every opportunity. All we have is right now. You know how you messed up yesterday? That can't be recalled and there's
no point in grieving over it. Forget it. Forget it. All we have is now the past is
over. You can't change it. History can't be changed. And
we're not promised tomorrow or even the next minute. All we
have is right now. Now, I want to say a couple of
things about this thing of redeeming the time for the days are evil.
There's a false refuge that men try to rest in. And you know
what it's called? Yesterday. Yesterday, I believed. Yesterday, I had an experience. Yesterday, I felt something.
Yesterday, I did something. And if I look for assurance of
my salvation, Because of something that took place yesterday, I'm
looking in the wrong place. There's only one place to find
assurance of salvation, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Looking to Him. Don't look to yesterday. Forget
yesterday. Don't look to tomorrow, because
you might not have tomorrow for one thing, and for another thing,
it's presumptuous to look to tomorrow. You don't know what
you'll do tomorrow. I think of what Scott Richardson
said, listen to me today, I might be robbing a bank tomorrow. Listen
to me today. You don't know what's going to
happen to tomorrow. Oh, may God preserve us from that. But here's
the point. If you're looking to something
you're going to do tomorrow, all that is, is another form
of salvation by works. That's all it is. Salvation by
works. Look to Christ right now. When is the time to believe?
Right now. Is there a God to be reverenced?
worshiped and adored? Let me do it right now. Is there a Redeemer to be trusted? Let me trust Him right now. Is there a gospel to be listened
to and to believe? Let me listen. Let me believe
right now. Is there something I feel led
to do or to give? Then let me do it now. Don't wait till tomorrow. You'll
kill the impression. Are there insignificant personal
differences with someone I need to put aside? Let me put them
aside. Now. Are there words of kindness
and appreciation I need to speak? Let me speak them now. Is there
someone I intend to visit? Let me visit them now. Is there forgiveness I need to
show? Let me forgive now. Once time is lost, it'll never
be found. Redeem the time. Make the most
of every opportunity. All we got is right now. Now
is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Forget yesterday. Just forget
it. Paul said, forgetting those things that are behind and reaching
forth into those things which are before. I press toward the
mark of the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, if I wake up, here's one
thing I do. I live in the present, redeeming
the time because the days are evil. Now, here's something else
you do when you wake up. Look in verse 17. He says, wherefore,
being not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is,
does that possible? To actually have some understanding,
some true spiritual understanding regarding what the will of the
Lord is. Yes. You know, when the Lord first appeared
to Paul, Ananias was sent to him and Ananias said, Paul, the
God of our fathers has chosen me. First thing he heard was
election. The God of our fathers has chosen
me that thou should know his will. Now, when he said that
you should know his will, he's not talking about his will of
command at that time. He's not talking about the Ten Commandments.
You know, it's his will for you to not steal and kill and all
that kind of stuff. He's talking about his will of redemption.
This is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. That's God's will. It's God's
will for all the elect to be saved. It's God's will for everybody
that Christ died for to be saved. It's God's will for everybody
who comes to Christ to be saved. We know God's eternal will. We have some understanding of
that. His eternal will. Do you have some understanding
of that? Well, there's some rest there. You know, He works all
things after the counsel of His own will. I love it that way,
don't you? God's got a will and His will
will be done. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. But we also have some
understanding of God's will for right now. It's called providence. Everything that happens right
now is God's will. Everything. God's providence. God's providence is God bringing
to pass in time what He purposed in eternity. And there's nothing
that happens by chance or luck or happenstance. God is working
all things together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. Everything is God's
providence. Everything. You know, when we
use that word providence, we say, well, that was providential
when something good happens. That was providential. Oh, wasn't
the other thing providential? Of course it is. It's all providential.
It's God's purpose. He works all things out to the
counsel of His own will. And we understand that whatever's
happening, God's in control of it. Now, I can't explain why
God does what He does. I don't know. But He knows. He
knows. And I rest in that. Everything
that happens ultimately is God's will and God's purpose. It's
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I think of that
scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5, 16, and this will explain
that. He said, In everything, give thanks. What about when I'm in pain?
What about when I'm sick? What about when I'm mistreated?
What about when I'm confused? What about when I feel abandoned?
What about when I don't know what to do? In everything, give
thanks for this. This thing that you're having
a hard time thanking God for. This that you're having a hard
time understanding why he's doing it. This is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. And it's all good. Have some
understanding that everything is God's will, and has some understanding
of God's will in this sense. This is the will of God, 1 Thessalonians
4, 3, even your sanctification. It's God's will for you to do
what's right. Isn't it? It's God's will for
you to do what he tells you to do. That's God's will. It's God's
will for you to obey him. Have some understanding what
God's will is. And when we wake up, we have
some understanding and we have some rejoicing in the will of
God. Aren't you thankful for the will
of God that he controls everything? And then he says in verse 18.
And be not drunk, intoxicated with wine, alcoholic beverage,
wherein is excess. The word is where we get the
word really. riot from. It's called riotous
living. It's the whole desolate, partying
type of lifestyle, drunkenness. And don't be drunk with wine,
wherein is excess and debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit
of God. And this is what made me look
at this passage of Scripture. I was asking myself, what does
it mean to be filled with the Spirit of God? It's very similar,
just in an analogy. And I want to say this cautiously,
but this is what Paul is saying. There's an analogy between being
filled with the Spirit and being drunk in this sense. When you're
drunk, everything is controlled by alcohol. The way you think,
the way you move, it's all controlled by alcohol. Well, when you're
filled with the Spirit, everything is controlled by the Spirit of
God. And he says to be filled with
The spirit. Now, how do you go about being
filled with the spirit? I want to be filled with the
spirit. How do you go about it? How does one become filled with
God, the Holy Spirit? I look this up. This word be
filled with the spirit actually is in the passive. It's not something
you can just conjure up. It's not something you can do
to make it happen. It's got to be the Lord doing
it to you, filling you with His Spirit. And so the only way I
know to be filled with the Spirit is ask the Lord, Lord, fill me
with Your Spirit. I don't want the Holy Spirit
to influence me. I want Him to fill me. I want
Him to draw itself out. I want Him to control me. I want
to be a robot. You know, people, when they hear
about what we believe. Sovereign grace, how God's grace
is invincible and irresistible. And he saves people and makes
them will say, well, you make people robots. Is that a bad
thing? Really, is that a bad thing? Would you like to be God's
robot? I would. I surely would. Filled
with the spirit of God, be ye filled with the spirit of God.
And, you know, we're taught to pray. Luke 11, let me show you, Luke
11. Verse five. And he saith unto
them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him
at midnight and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves.
For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing
to set before him. And he from within shall answer
and say, Trouble me not. The door is now shut, and my
children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.
I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because
he is a friend, yet because of his importunity, his shameless
persistence in continuing to knock, he will rise and give
him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask. And
it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, finds. And
him that knocketh, it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread
of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? No. If he asketh a fish, will he
for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? If you then. And he's talking
to his children here. He says, if you then. What's
it say next? being evil, would that be you? If you then, being evil, that's
us, if the shoe fits, wear it, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give,
what? The Holy Spirit to them that
ask him, Lord, give me your Spirit. Cause me to be filled with your
Spirit so I'll look nowhere but Christ. Give me your Spirit so
I'll repent and I'll look to Him only and I'll walk with Him
and I'll look nowhere but Him. Give me your Spirit so I'll redeem
the time. Give me your Spirit so that I'll
understand what the will of God is. Give me your Spirit in all
these things. We're totally dependent on the
Holy Spirit. All we experience of the Lord
Jesus Christ is by His Spirit. Do you look to Christ? That's
the Spirit of God in you, causing you to do it. Do you love the
Lord Jesus Christ? That's the Spirit of God. Do
you believe grace? That's the Spirit of God. And
we are taught to pray For the Spirit be not drunk with wine
wherein is his excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit. Now, back to our text. Here's
what happens when someone is filled with the Spirit of God. He says in verse 19, speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Now, Psalms are the language
of the heart. You read the Psalms, the Psalms
of David is what he's talking about. You know, when I read
the Psalms of David, that expresses what's in my heart better than
I can ever express it. And the closest I ever come to
praying is reading the Psalms. Speaking to yourselves in Psalms
and hymns Those are songs of praise, praise to our God. And spiritual songs, that's spiritual
as opposed to every other kind of song. Spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your hearts, rejoicing in your hearts, grace
in the heart is what Paul said to the Colossians in chapter
4, 6, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Now, grace
in the tongue is good, but grace in the heart is better, isn't
it? Grace in the heart that causes me in my heart. To rejoice in the Lord, what
this is talking about is rejoicing. I tell you what. I rejoice in
the salvations of the Lord. I rejoice that the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only righteousness there is.
I rejoice in that. I rejoice in the freeness of
His grace. I rejoice in the excellency and
the glory of my Lord Jesus Christ. I rejoice. We sing and make melody
in our hearts to the Lord. And then he says in verse 20, here's what happens when we're
filled with the Spirit of God, giving thanks, always For all things. Somebody once said. If I had
omniscient or if I had omnipotence, if I had all power. I would change
things and I would sometimes I think I'd like to be just have
all power to do what I wanted and to change. But I'd get I'd
get everything straightened out. I would. You all know better
than that. I like to think that anyway.
If I had all power, I'd get things straightened out. Somebody once
said, if I had omnipotence, I'd change things. But if I had omniscience,
all wisdom, I would leave things exactly as they are. always for all things. Remember, this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you. What God brings your way
and what God brings my way is exactly what I need. And if I didn't have it, I'd
leave Christ. It's a blessing. It's a blessing. Giving thanks always for all
things and notice what he says next in verse 20. Giving thanks
always unto all things unto God and the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this I know. This I know
when I'm filled with the Spirit. I have an acute understanding. That the only way. Even my thanks
can be accepted is through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I realize that His name is everything
in my salvation. I really believe that. His name
is the only reason my thanks can be accepted or my person
can be accepted. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. His name. Oh, how precious is
His name. This is the name wherewith he
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. This is the name
wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. How precious is His name. And when I'm filled with the
Spirit of God, when I'm not asleep, I have some understanding that
the only reason God has anything to do with me is for Christ's
name's sake. However, because of Christ's
name, I'm embraced by the Father. I don't have the bare bones minimum.
I have the maximum in His name. I've got everything I need in
His name. I'm accepted in the beloved. And then he says in verse 21. Here's what happens when we're
filled by the Spirit of God, we submit ourselves. We submit ourselves. To one another. The word submit is a military
term. It means to rank under. If I submit to you, that means
that I esteem you as above me, as better than myself, and I
give up my supposed rights and submit to your wishes." Now that's
what submission is. He goes on to say, Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Now, the only
way you can submit to your husband is if you want to do it. Nobody
can make you submit. You can't make me submit to you.
I can't make you submit to me. The only way I can do it is if
I want to. Now, when, by the grace of God,
I'm filled with the Spirit of God, I want to submit to you. I want to submit to you, and
I do submit to you, if I'm filled with the Spirit of God. You know,
Peter put it this way, Yea, let all of you be subject one to
another, and be clothed with humility. For God resists the
proud, and He gives grace to the humble. Submitting yourselves
one to another, how? In the fear of God. The fear of God is what makes
me so afraid of myself. The fear of God is what makes
me afraid of sin. The fear of God is what makes
me afraid to look anywhere but Christ only. That's what the
fear of God produces. A fear to look anywhere but Christ
only. Lord, if I have fallen asleep so that
I can't perceive things as they are, that's what happens when
you're asleep. You can't perceive. Lord, wake
me up. Raise me from the dead so that
I'll walk circumspectly. Not as a fool, but as wise. Wake me up so that I redeem the
time, because the days are evil. Wake me up that I might not be
unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and
rejoice in it, and say from the depth of my heart, Thy will be
done. That's what I want. Thy will
to be done. I want to be like that little
lady that was dying. And a preacher came up to her and he said, Do
you want to live or do you want to die? And she said, well, whatever
the will of the Lord is. And he said, well, I know that you
get the right answer, but if you got what you wanted, what
would you ask for? I'd say, well, I'd ask the Lord
what his will is and that's what I'd want. That's the attitude of believers
to have the will of the Lord be done. Be not drunk with wine,
but be filled with the Spirit. Oh, Lord, Fill me with your Spirit,
speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. I want
to do that. I want to have joy. Now, if I start looking for joy,
I won't have it. If I make this, I'm going to start being a joyous
Christian. You know, you won't. You're going to end up getting
miserable and depressed. I know that. If you try, you look to
Christ, though, and you'll have joy. You rest in Him, you'll
have joy. You'll sing and make melody in
your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things
unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God. May the Lord
fill us. Like I said, I don't just want
to I don't want to be influenced. That won't work. Me being influenced? No. I want to be filled with
the spirit of God. so that self is pushed out. May the Lord do this for us and
in us. Let's pray.