If you will open your Bibles
tonight with me to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter
5. We left off last Wednesday evening
with verse 17. And so tonight, we will look
at verses 18 through 21. Only looking at four verses,
because if I go past verse 21, we come to the passage where
the Apostle Paul deals with the marriage relationship, and that
goes on to the end of the chapter. And that would take longer this
evening than the time that I have. We're still looking at verses
that deal with the child of God's walk or his conduct in this world. As believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are to adorn the gospel of Christ. In our Lord's prayer
in John chapter 17, we refer to this as his high priestly
prayer because we know that he is our great high priest and
he is interceding for us continuously in heaven. And we have a glimpse
of his intercession in this prayer that is recorded. And one of
the petitions in his prayer is, I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. And some are persuaded that That
word evil, by that word evil is meant not only sin, that thou
wouldest keep them from evil, from sin, surely, but also the
evil one. That thou wouldest keep them
from the evil one. That is Satan. And Satan is a
real being. And he is the enemy of God's
people. And he would like nothing more
than to run your testimony as a child of God, or to run the
testimony of a local church. Satan would like nothing more,
and he's very subtle, and he's had many years of experience. And therefore, the apostle Peter,
when he said that he walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom
he may devour, therefore be vigilant, be sober, always be watchful,
and be on guard." The walk of the child of God. We are to watch
and pray. And so in these four verses tonight,
there's one negative, we begin with a negative, and then we
have four positives. And I pray the Lord will bless
his word. First, the negative, be not drunk
with wine. Some might object that such an
exhortation is this, be not drunk with wine. Surely, surely that's
not necessary saying that you are writing to believers in Christ. How would I answer that if someone
were to make that objection? Surely that exhortation, be not
drunk with wine, is not necessary for believers, for God's children. How would I answer that? Well,
I would answer like this. Evidently, the Apostle Paul,
inspired by God the Holy Spirit, knew that this exhortation is
needed. And we know that because of One
of the New Testament churches, one of the churches to which
the Apostle Paul took the gospel and the Lord told him that he
had much people in that city. In other words, he had many of
his elect who were still not called. And he, he told Paul
not to be afraid, but to remain there preaching the gospel. And
the city of course was Corinth. And you know, when you read about
Corinth, you read that it was a very wicked city. But the truth
of the matter is every one of the cities where there was a
New Testament church was a very wicked city. Corinth was especially
wicked. It was so wicked they had a phrase
to Corinthize. In other words, to make a person
like those of Corinth. It was located, the city was
located on an isthmus and it was a prosperous city because
they would unload a ship on one side and take the cargo across
through carts. load it back on another ship.
It's kind of like a canal, you might say, like the Panama Canal,
how it saved time for ship traffic. Corinth was a place like that,
but it was a wicked city, but God had many people there. And
we know, in fact, we looked at that passage last Wednesday night
when Paul said, and such were some of you, and those things
that are listed there, those evil practices and wickedness. But God called out a people there,
God raised up a church there, and yet we find Paul found it
necessary to write to them and warn them about a practice that
was allowing them and causing them to be drunk. To be drunk. Be not drunk with wine. Look with me, if you will, at
that passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse
20. Now it appears from what I've
read that these churches had, these early churches had what
they called love feasts, agape love, agape feast. And the church at Corinth certainly
was one of them. And they would come together
and they would have food and they would have wine to drink. This was a large church, and
there was several things, several evils that came out of that.
Now listen, to have a fellowship dinner, that's a good thing,
isn't it? When God's people get together
and break bread together, eat and drink together and fellowship
together, that's a good thing. But as I said just a moment ago,
we have an enemy, and that enemy is Satan. And he's very subtle. And he can take something that
is good and yet distort it in such a way that it becomes evil. And that's what happened here
at Corinth. There were two things I think
of that especially happened at Corinth by having these love
feasts. And that was because many of
the people in the church were wealthy and many of the people
were poor. And naturally, the wealthy people, they had more
to eat, more to drink, and they were neglecting the poor people. When we have dinner on the ground
or fellowship dinner here, and I've said this before, you know
what I'm going to say, but I'm going to say it again. We all
bring food, we all put it out there on the table, and everybody
goes through and they help themselves. But evidently, they were not
doing that. The wealthy people brought more,
so they ate more. They had more for themselves
and disregarded the poor people. But they not only ate more, but
many of them drank more. They drank more wine. Notice
here in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 20, Paul says, when you
come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat
the Lord's supper. Now what does he mean by that?
We had the Lord's Supper here last Sunday night and we come
together in one place, right? We don't take the Lord's Supper
from house to house to house to house like that. It's not a sacrament. The bread
and the wine are not sacraments. We come together in one place. But what Paul is saying here
is when you have these meals and come together, that's not
the time to have the Lord's Supper. You've got two different things.
You've got a feast, a love feast, and you've got the Lord's Supper.
And they're separate. So when you come together into
one place, don't try to combine these two things. Have a big
feast first and then at the end tack on the Lord's Supper. You
know, the Lord's Supper is an ordinance that the Lord has given
his people. to do in remembrance of Him.
And I've always felt that even, it's an ordinance that shouldn't
be just tacked on to the end of a service. It's a message that we see. We listen to messages, but in
the Lord's Supper, we see a message. We see the bread broken, which
represents his broken body. We see the wine, which represents
his blood, which was shed for many for the remission of sins.
It's a very important ordinance. When you come together, Paul
said, this is not to eat the Lord's supper, if you're coming
together to have one of those love feasts. For in eating, every
one taketh before other his own supper, One is hungry and another
is drunken. What? What? Don't you have houses to eat
and drink in? To feast in? Have you not homes
to eat and to drink in? Or despise you the church of
God and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? No,
I praise you not. Both are good. One is commanded. Both are good, but they're not
to be observed at the same time. Now, so the exhortation, be not
drunk with wine, we see that in the church itself at Corinth
that some were abusing wine. Now it's not limited, when Paul
says, be not drunk with wine, it's not limited to wine only,
it means any and all intoxicating drinks. Any and all intoxicating
drinks, be not drunk. I want you to look back to two
passages in the book of Proverbs. When we read about wine, be not
drunk with wine, Proverbs, there's one verse in
chapter 20. I want us to see Proverbs chapter
20. In verse 1. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. And whosoever,
notice that word whosoever, we love that word, don't we? Whosoever
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And whosoever, lost or
saved, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Wine is a mocker. And men may
be deceived by wine in a number of ways. Some are deceived by
thinking they can drink more than they should. And so they're
drunken. And then think about this. Some
people believe you can't have a good time unless you have wine
or alcoholic beverages. You can't just get together and
enjoy each other, fellowship. Some people believe this, that
if you don't have Strong drink there, you're not going to have
fun. You're not going to have a good
time. They're deceived by wine. And especially God's people,
we don't need those things. He's not prohibiting, and I'll
get to this in just a moment, He's not prohibiting the use
of wine, but He is teaching us that wine is a mocker and men
may be deceived by wine. And look at another place in
chapter 23, Proverbs chapter 23, in verse 29. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath
babbling? who hath wounds without cause,
who hath redness of eyes, they that tarry long at the wine,
they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when
it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth
itself aright. At the last, it biteth like a
serpent, stinger like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange
women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou
shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as
he that lieth upon the top of a mass. They have stricken me,
thou shalt say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and
I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek
it yet again. Many lives have been ruined by
wine. Many families have been ruined
by wine. A number of years ago, when my
office was still in this building, I remember it almost like it
was yesterday. One Saturday afternoon, the phone
rang, and it was a young lady. on the line. I didn't know her. She didn't know me. But she was
going down the phone book, looking, trying to call a church and talk
to a preacher. And her story was she professed
to be a believer, a child of God. And the night before, at
a party, drinking, she had lost her virginity. And she was so
ashamed and so, how can I put it, so sorrowful
in talking to her. And I spoke to her out of the
scripture. But my point is, many, many lives
have been ruined by the misuse of wine. When I was a young boy,
one of my best friends, his father, when he got off on Friday, got
his paycheck, walked home, I believe. If his wife didn't get down there
to the factory and pick up his check before he left work, he
would stop on the way home And he would stay there drinking
until, you know, he just stumbled home. And the family suffered,
suffered greatly because of the misuse of wine. And you know,
everyone here, I'm sure you have stories and experiences that
you could tell tonight. It is not the moderate Drinking
of wine that Paul warns against here, but it is in temperance
drinking to excess drinking to to be drunk as I said, it's not
the the temperate use of wine our Lord he his first recorded
miracle he turned water into wine and They served it at that
wedding feast there in Canaan so That's the first, that's the
negative. Now we've got some positives
here. But I feel like there's times we need these negatives,
don't we? God's people do. If it's in the word of God, we
need it. Be not drunk with wine. All right,
number two, here's a positive. Be filled with the Spirit. And notice how this is said in
opposition. Be not drunk with wine, wherein
is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. This is set in opposition
to being drunk with wine. We hear on the news sometimes
that they've stopped someone, he's been charged with DUI. We all know what that means,
don't we? Driving under the influence, DUI. So the contrast here is, rather than being under the influence
of wine in opposition to being drunk and being under the influence
of wine, then be filled with the Holy Spirit and be under
the influence of the Holy Spirit. You see on the news that they
pull someone over and the police believe that he's been drinking
and what do they do? They ask him to walk a straight
line. You see that the wine influences
the man's thinking. Now he thinks he can deceive
the policeman. He thinks he can. His speech
is under the influence of the wine. His walking, he can't walk
a straight line under the influence of the wine. So his thinking,
his speaking, and his walking is under the influence of the
wine. Now, in opposition to that, be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit should influence
our thinking, with the Word of God, our speech from the Word
of God, and our walk in this world. Be being filled with the
Holy Spirit. Live under His influence, not
under the influence of wine. And then another suggestion here,
by placing being filled with the Spirit in opposition to being
drunk with wine. In Romans chapter five and verse
five, Paul said, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us. A comparison between
the love of God and wine. The best wine, is old wine, isn't
it? That's what they say. Old wine,
it has to set up or whatever, cure, for so long. The longer the better. Compare
that with the love of God. His love is from everlasting.
It's eternal love. The best wine is pure. Wine on
the leaves. We read in the scripture, and
that simply means the imperfections, impurities, rather, have been
drank pulled off or drained off of the wine. The best wine is pure. Compare
that to the love of God. God's love is pure love. It's
holy love. And not only old wine, pure wine,
but wine refreshes. In fact, there's a proverb which
tells us to give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish. And many times when a person
is faint, especially in those days when wine was the main medicine,
they used it for medicinal purposes. And so wine would refresh a person,
but nothing refreshes us, God's children, like his love. Tell me about His love. Talk
to me about His love. His eternal love. His effectual
love. His never-ending love. His love for sinners like me. Now the third, and here's the
second positive, speaking and singing. Here we go in verse
19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord. The Lord has given us a hymn
book. Now we've got a number of these
hymn books scattered out, but the Lord has given us a hymn
book which is an inspired hymn book. We love the hymns we sing,
hymns in these books, but sometimes you'll run across something we'd
rather not sing that verse, rather not sing those words. But we've
got a hymn book, a psalm book in the scriptures, and that is
the book of psalms, speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs. A psalm, now think about this,
a psalm is a psalm. You see that in Psalm 18, it
begins like this. A psalm of David, the servant
of the Lord who spoke unto the Lord the words of this psalm. A psalm of David that spoke unto
the Lord the words of this psalm in the day that the Lord delivered
him from the hand of all his enemies. Now these hymns were
written in Hebrew. Most hymns is poetry. The hymns that we sing are poems
for the most part. To translate from one language,
poetry in one language, to a different language is not an easy thing
to do and make it to be poetry, make it to have that same characteristic
as a poem. Psalms, I've visited a church
one time years ago, and they sang psalms. They sang out of
this book of psalms. But I want to tell you something,
that was some of the worst church singing I've ever heard. It really was. Nothing wrong
with the words. Kevin sang something just recently,
Psalm 121 for us. Beautiful, right? Beautiful.
You have to do a little bit with that song. Repeat some of the
lines and put it to music. Beautiful, yes. But I'm thankful
that we sing. We've got a hymn book and we're
to speak to ourselves. We're to sing, speaking to ourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody.
in our heart to the Lord, and it is to be songs about Him. About Him, about Christ. We love
to sing about His love. We love to sing about God's faithfulness,
don't we? We love to sing like those two
hymns we sang just a few minutes ago. Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ, he that believeth
Yes, we love to sing these hymns that speak of His love, His grace,
His blood. Don't we love to sing that hymn?
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and sinners plunge beneath that flow, lose all their guilty stains. We love to sing these hymns. Beacon to yourself in Psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs. Let me show you, look back at
the second Kings just a moment. Let me show you an example of
music. This is recorded concerning the
prophet Elisha. Music is a very important part
of our worship service. We read These things in the New
Testament churches, they did. They prayed. They sang. They
preached. They had fellowship one with
another. That's what we do. That's what we try to do here,
isn't it? But here in 2 Kings chapter 3, these three kings
got themselves in a pickle. And one of these kings was a
wicked king. But there was a good king of
Judah, I think it was Jehoshaphat, was with him. And Jehoshaphat,
let's read here in 2 Kings chapter 3, beginning with verse 9. So
the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king
of Edom. And they fetched a compass of
seven days' journey, and there was no water for the host and
for the cattle that followed them. I mean, they're in a bind.
There's no water to drink, not for the men nor for their animals. So the king of Israel went, and
the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, and they fetched a compass
of seven days' journey, and there was no water for the host and
for the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel
said, Alas, the Lord hath called these three kings, myself and
you two guys, together to deliver us into the hand of Moab. We're
going to be killed out here, or die of thirst, But Jehoshaphat,
he's the king of Judah, said, is there not here a prophet of
the Lord? Well, there was always a lot
of prophets. There was always a lot of prophets in Israel,
false prophets. But Jehoshaphat, isn't there
a prophet of the Lord around here? Isn't there one? Isn't there one prophet of the
Lord? And we may inquire of the Lord
by him. And one of the king of Israel's
servants answered and said, here is Elijah, a little old man by
the name of Elijah. He used to pour water on Elijah's
hands. You see how he made fun, ridiculed,
put down this prophet of God, the wickedness of this man. And Jehoshaphat said, the word
of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
and the king of Edom went down to him and Elisha said unto the
king of Israel, now he's speaking to this wicked king, what have
I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy
father, those false prophets you're so in love with that tell
you what you want to hear. Go ask one of them. And to the
prophets of thy mother, The king of Israel said unto him, no,
no, no, no. For the Lord hath called these
three kings together to deliver them unto the hand of Moab. And
Elisha said, as the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, surely
were it not that I regard the president of Jehoshaphat, the
king of Judah, I wouldn't even look at you. You wicked man. I wouldn't even look at you. if it wasn't for the fact that
here's Jehoshaphat with you, the King of Judah. And now, you want a word? Bring
me a minstrel. Bring me someone here who can
play on a harp, play on a vowel, or some instrument of music to
calm my spirit, and let's see what the Lord says. Bring now,
bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass when the
minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, thus saith the Lord. The music soothed his, music
is, good music is good, isn't it? It's good. Sing unto yourselves in Psalms
and hymns. The songs of this world cannot
cheer the heart of a child of God. They just can't do it. Heaven
is a place of singing. And in heaven we sing a new song
and it is a new song that never grows old. Now here's the fourth
thing. Giving thanks for all things
unto God in Christ's name. Once again, we are reminded beloved,
of the need of a mediator. We cannot even give thanks unto
God apart from Jesus Christ. We cannot pray unto God. We cannot
approach unto God. We cannot offer praises unto
God. We cannot worship God in any
other way. then through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Give Him thanks unto the Father. Give Him thanks for all things.
You know, if there's one mark of God's children, it is, and
it should be, God's people are thankful people. God's people are not whining,
complaining, murmuring people. At least we shouldn't be. God's
people are thankful people. We thank the Lord for material
things, for our being. Just for our being that God made
us. He didn't have to make us. We
don't add anything to Him. Thank Him for our being. Thank
Him for our clothes. Thank Him for our food. Thank
Him for our shelter. Thank Him for our job, our family.
And those are physical things, but they don't even begin to
compare with the spiritual things. God has blessed us with the gospel. God has blessed us with the message
of reconciliation. I read a story years ago. also
read it, but there was two cardinals. You know, cardinals are referred
to as the princes of the Roman Church. And two cardinals, this
is years, years ago, they were traveling somewhere in their
nice carriage, beautiful carriage, their horses pulling it, and
they heard an awful noise. It had to be pretty loud to hear
that over the horses, and they stopped the carriage and they
got out And they found this man on his knees over behind some
bushes, and he was weeping and praising God. And they said,
man, what's wrong with you? He said, you see this horny toad
frog here? I'm thanking the Lord he didn't
make me a horny toad frog. And one cardinal said to the
other, the poor will go into the kingdom of God before us. And that's so. That's what our
Lord said. Now the last thing, and I'll
close, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
God. And it is the fear of God, the
reverence of God that motivates us to take our places to take
our places. We live in a society and God
has put civil rulers over us. We are to submit unto them. We live in a family and there's
an order in God's family, the husband, the wife, the children.
You work on a job, there's an order there, the employer, the
employees, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
the Lord. May the Lord bless His word to
all of us here this evening. We'll sing.