Ephesians 5:8-21 — Peter Brandon

Walking as Children of Light

We'll start reading from verse 8. For ye were once darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things thou reproved are made manifest by the light.

Awakening from Spiritual Sleep

For whatever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing a making melody in your heart unto 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 God will bless to us the reading of this word. When people are truly consecrated to the Lord they are genuinely filled with the Spirit. Consecration would be more negative than what we're going to discuss tonight or this morning and that is the filling of the Spirit.

But before we get to the actual exhortation of the Apostle let's look at verse 14 right down to verse 18 and see these little couplets that help us to understand what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

First of all he quotes from Isaiah chapter 60. Awake thou that sleepest. Now I think it's true to say there are two kinds of sleepers. There's a sleeper that's totally unconscious and there's a sleeper who only sleeps in a way that is very spasmodic.

The word here awake thou that sleepest is someone that's in a dead sleep. E. W. Roger tells a story that he was once with a man and he came down every morning to have breakfast with Mr Rogers and his complaint was I haven't had a wink and this went on for four days.

Mr Rogers was in his bedroom and his friend had left the tap dripping so he got up and knocked on the door but there was no response. Then he opened the door and said brother your tap is dripping no response.

So he went in the bedroom turned the tap off and then went back to his own bed and slept. He turned to his friend and he said how did you get on last night? He said I haven't had a wink. He says brother you're asleep and you don't know it.

Now can you see the point? Awake thou that sleepest. Now Satan is giving many of us a gigantic sleeping tablet. It's a sleeping tablet called materialism and it causes a Laodicean disease and we need today to hear this word awake thou that sleepest.

Arise from the dead. The word literally means the dead ones. What does that mean? When we go to sleep we look like the people who are spiritually dead. There's hardly any difference between someone that's dead and someone that's in a dead sleep.

They're both unconscious and so we go back to the dead one. Now he says awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead ones. In our family there were eight of us one died. There were four boys in one bedroom so you can imagine what happened there.

One of my brothers had to get up at half past five in the morning to help dad open his grocer shop in the east end of London. Well dad would call him about five o 'clock and he would say I'm up dad but he would take his shoes and patter them on the floor as though he was walking about.

You see he was awake but not up and he tantalized us. Every time he says come on Stan awake I'm up dad and he would tap his shoes on the floor as though he was walking. But you see he was awake but he wasn't up and out.

Now here's a lovely lesson it's not only to be awakened but to get out of that state of sleep so that God can use us and then he makes this great promise and Christ shall give thee light. All the expressions that I read to you from the previous verses speak of light as the light of exposure but not this word.

It's the light of radiancy. You know when you're in a deep sleep and you look at yourself with your teeth out in the first of the morning you don't look very bright do you? But you see when you're up and out then he says the Lord will lighten you.

What does that mean? It means that he will flash you with his own glory. Do you remember when Moses came down from the mount and he had been with the Lord for many days it doesn't say that his face shone his skin shone and you know what that means?

He had spiritual suntan. The radiancy of the Lord was reflected from him. Now can you see the brilliance of this? Wake up, get up and then light up. Become radiant with the glory of the Lord. Then go on.

Walking Wisely and Redeeming the Time

See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise. Now what does that mean? Be careful how you walk. The devil is setting traps for us all. Even when you're old there are traps that he sets for us and we must be very careful.

When you go through the Psalms especially the early Psalms of David you will find over and over again he talks about the snares, the traps that Saul was setting for him. And the devil is setting traps for the Lord's people.

Now we must be careful how we walk so that we walk circumspectly as sons of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Then he moves on redeeming the time because the days are evil. That's buy up. Now can you see the whole thing is beginning to develop?

Wake up, get up, light up, walk up. Now he says buy up. Now why? When we are filled with the Holy Spirit God can use us and all our movements are used by God. And God engineers circumstances so that we come into contact with the unsaved.

It's marvelous really when we think of it. And then when the opportunity comes buy it up. Don't let it slip. I remember one morning I got up late and I didn't have my quiet time. And I rushed for the train, the tube train and I got it.

And I got to Paddington and I got into a train just in time. And I opened my Bible to have a quiet time and the Lord said to me very emphatically speak to that young man he came from the Royal Air Force.

But I didn't feel like it. I hadn't had my quiet time. And three times that came to me and then he got up out of a state of one of the stations and he went out and I never saw him again. I lost an opportunity.

I wasn't redeeming the time. Can you see that? Wherefore be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Now I wish we could amplify this is tremendous. All of us in this materialistic world in which we live find the will of God difficult.

Over and over again people have said to me Peter how can you be sure of the will of God? And we all find it difficult. Do you know why? We are being blinded by the material age in which we live. But now he says wake up, get up, light up, walk up, die up and then think up.

What does that mean? Understand God's will for your life. What a message for us. Then moving on he says be not drunk with wine where in is excess. Now that's interesting. No Christian should ever be drunk with wine.

That's an awful sin. One act of drunkenness doesn't make you a drunkard. But it's a terrible disgrace to the law. That's why I never touch alcohol. Because we can be tempted. And as a preacher I want to be examples or an example to the Lord's people.

But you see he says do not be drunk with wine. Now there are two illustrations in that one illustration. When a man is under the influence of drink he has another power. I remember when I was doing my pub work going round three pubs every Friday night with two elders.

There was a man in Scotland and he was quoting Raffy Burns with great eloquence. And someone nudged me and said when he's sober he can't quote a line. But you see what the drink was doing to him. But then a person that can be drunk can be disorderly.

In fact it looked awful. And so there's two illustrations on it. Now what is he saying? Don't be drunk with wine but be filled with the spirit. Now we must get to the depth of that. First of all it's in the Aorist tense.

You say well what does that mean? It's a command. It means be filled with the spirit. It's a definite command for the Lord. Now when I first understood this it shook me. Because we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

And if we're not filled with the spirit we are breaking a command of the Lord. We should all be filled with the spirit. But then the particular verb filled there has other meanings. And it means all of you as a company be filled.

So it's not just one in one local church being filled. It's every member in the local church being filled. And then if you look at the word carefully you will see in the Greek at least that it's in the continuous tense.

It's being being filled. Constantly being filled. If you say well I was filled three years ago you have become historical. It's constantly being filled with the spirit. Filled on Sunday, filled more on Monday, filled more on Tuesday and so it goes on.

So you can see it's not just one occasion. It's constantly being filled with the spirit. Now what does the word filled really mean? We fill a glass with water and we drink it. Is that what it means? Certainly not.

You see being filled with the spirit is explained beautifully in the Ephesians. And we're going to look at it and it's going to be exciting. And we're going to see what it means now to be filled with the spirit.

Turn to the first chapter of Ephesians. Read from verse 21. The Lord Jesus is far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to his church. In other words he is the sovereign head over all things but especially the church the ecclesia of God. Then he goes on.

Which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now what does that mean? He's going to fill everything with his glory. So when a person is filled with the spirit, now this is vital, he comes under the sovereignty of the Lord.

And that means the Lord completely controls his life. And to use the language that we had last night, it means that we're all consecrated fully to the Lord. And when we know his sovereignty, we're filled.

Then he uses again the word in the third chapter, let's look at it. Verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your heart by faith that he being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that she might be filled with all the fullness of God now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly about all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.

So when we are filled with the Holy Spirit it means we're filled with love and that love that fills us is the very power and the authority of God. Now the word power there is not the word that I've already told you, authority.

It's the power, the dynamite of God. And when we're filled, we're filled with the mighty power of God. Now power can be frightening. Where I live, the Americans come with their new fighters because there's just wasteland miles of it at the back of my house and they come there trying out their new fighters and it's frightening.

You might be digging in the garden and you might be singing a little hymn to yourself and suddenly one of these planes roars over only about a hundred feet from the ground and the whole place shakes and you fall on your knees.

You wonder what it is. It's a frightening power. God's power is not like that. It's the power of love. Isn't that beautiful? And love is the greatest power of all. So when we are filled with the Spirit, we're filled with the love and when we're filled with love, people will begin to see the wonder of that love.

Fullness as Spiritual Maturity

Now go to the fourth chapter and then I'll have to stop. Verse 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Now in chapter 1, being filled is subject to sovereignty. Chapter 3 is authority and chapter 4 it's maturity. Now that's the main meaning. I was once staying in Canada with two boys and of course with the family.

And one boy was about 19 to 20. He weighed 18 stone and you may not believe this, there wasn't an inch of fat on him. He was a weightlifter. His brother was 12 and may I say this kindly and lovingly, but he was a weed.

He was thin and delicate. And I used to go down in the gym and watch this big fella lifting the weights. And quite frankly it was frightening. He would lift these weights up and you would see his muscles ripping.

It was tremendous. And then I would look at his brother and I would say in my mind, how did they come from the same stock? It was difficult. One day I was watching this boy doing the weightlifting. And his mother came down and she read what I was thinking.

And this is what she said scolding me. I know what you're thinking Peter. What's that? How did they come from the same stock? Well I was thinking that. She said when he matures and he fills out, he'll be as big as him.

And under my breath I said some hopes. Well about four or five years after that, probably a little longer, six years, I got a letter. And I opened the letter and inside was a photograph. Both of these boys had been to a wedding.

Can I tell you this? That little boy had filled out and he was nearly as big as his brother. And underneath were the words, I told you so. Can you see it? I told you so. He had filled out. Now would you mind a bit of vulgarity?

Beloved brethren and sisters, there are many weeds among us. And they've never filled out. Why? Because they've never been filled with the Spirit. And when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we're filled out with the loveliness and the beauty of the Lord Jesus.

Indwelling, Sealing, and Awareness of the Spirit

So can you see now what the word means? But we must go deeper. Is every Christian indwelt with the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes. How do I know? Through the scriptures. In Romans 8 we have the great doctrine and the classic on the Holy Spirit.

Now keep reading that because that's vital. It would be wonderful if I could come and we could have four or five days of ministry just on Romans chapter 8. It's a tremendous chapter. Now in that chapter the Apostle makes it perfectly clear.

If we have not the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ, we are none of his. That means we've never been born again. Again when he is writing to the Ephesians in the first chapter, and you'll all remember this.

He says, After he believed, he was sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. That means the moment we believe, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, and there's no power in the universe that can break that seal.

And that seal is the earnest of the Spirit. Now when we come to Galatians, this is the argument of the Apostle, and he throws this at them and he says, How did you receive the Holy Spirit? By the works of the law?

No. By the works of faith? Yes. And what does that mean? The moment you trusted Christ as your Saviour and Lord, you received the Holy Spirit, you were born again and he is within you. So every Christian who's born of God has the Holy Spirit.

Now I trust that's clear. Is every Christian aware of the Holy Spirit? And the answer to that is no. Now where do you find this? Would you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 6. We read from verse 16. What know ye not that he who is joined to a harlot is one body, and two therapies shall be one flesh.

Purity, Sexual Sin, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit

Now this needs an explanation. In the great pagan temple that was at Corinth, there were priestesses and a certain part of the service, there would be literally a biological union with one of the members of the congregation to a priestess.

Now some of these Christians had slipped out and gone back to their old habits. And he tells them that's dreadfully wrong because when you had a union with one of those priestesses, you were one flesh.

What a shock! And that cannot be broken. Then he goes on. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Now the word in the Greek, so the scholars inform me, is the word pornea.

Now this is vital. And it means every form of sexual perversion. The word here not only refers to premarital sex, but every form of spiritual perversion. Every sin that a man doeth is outside the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.

You say what does that mean? If I lose my temper and shout and roar, it's against my soul, not my body. If I tell you a deliberate lie, and that's an awful thing, it's against my soul. It was against my soul, my personality.

So most of the sins that we commit are against the soul. But when you commit fornication, it's a sin against your body. Now how? Supposing now there is a young man. He falls in love with a girl. And then they go too far.

And there's a biological union. He has lost his virginity. And he's lost it forever. Now could I say this to my younger brothers and sisters? Never lose your virginity. Wait until marriage comes, and God will find you his partner.

And it's a lovely thing to stand before two people who are absolutely pure, and join them in marriage. Keep your body pure until the occasion. And then the biological union will be fully satisfied. It is really an act that shows our oneness with the Lord.

And that's why marriage is a Christ Church relationship. A beautiful thing. Go on. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is outside the body. But he that commits fornication sins against his own body.

He has lost his personal virginity. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? Now this needs an explanation. The word temple is the inner temple. And the inner temple was the holiest of all.

Even the priests couldn't go in. On two occasions, two of the priests, probably under the influence of drink, went into the holiest of all. And they were smitten with death. Now immediately you become a Christian.

Now note this. God forgives your sins. The Holy Spirit comes into your life. And your body becomes the holiest of all. Think of it. Now when you go home at a certain time, go into the bathroom and look at your body.

And say my body is thrice holy. It's the dwelling place of God. Can you see that? Now what Paul is saying is this. Don't you understand that your body is the inner temple of God? What a shock that would be if they had lost their purity.

But it came as a correction. Then he goes on. What know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you, whom you have of God, and you are not your own. Why? You are bought with a price.

Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord opened our eyes this morning for all of us to see that our bodies are thrice holy. We're the Lord's.

We're not our own. We're bought with a price. We belong to him. And we're going to belong to him forever. Even in the eternal state. But is awareness fullness? No. What is fullness? Turn to Acts 4 and we see a perfect expression of fullness.

Surrender to God's Sovereignty

You won't be able to read all these verses. It's too long. But look at verse 23. And being let go they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said Sovereign Lord thou art God.

Now that's the word. Sovereign Lord thou art God. Who has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in the midst. Now what does that word Sovereign Lord mean? If you were a slave that would mean in the time of the apostle you were bought from 30 to 8 pieces of silver.

You will always address your master as Sovereign Lord. Every part of your body belong to him. But it was an enforced slavery. Here it's not an enforced slavery. It's the slavery of love. And these early Christians looked up and they called the Lord God Sovereign Absolute Lord.

Now when we can honestly say that then we are filled with the Spirit. You say how do you know? Look carefully now with me at first. We'll come to it in a moment. Verse 31. And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke the word of God with boldness. Now this to me is very interesting. They never prayed to be filled with the Spirit. They prayed that they might heal in the name of that Holy Child Jesus.

And they prayed that they might speak in boldness the word of the Lord. And yet when they prayed they were all filled. Why? Their relationship with the Lord. Sovereign Lord God. We are thy slaves to serve thee to the grave.

Blessed be his name. It's not an enforced slavery. It's a voluntary slavery. The slavery of love. And when we are there we are filled with the Holy Spirit. But now comes the big question. Oh just five minutes.

Hunger for Spiritual Fullness

Some young people in Canada came to me. And they had seen a terrible revolution in their local church. A hundred people actually walked out without an argument. And they wanted to start the community church.

And they wanted to have bands. And they wanted to have opera. And they wanted to have all the evangelical gimmick. And so they started on their own. Only two of the young people went with them. And that was the amazing thing.

And they came to me and they said this. Mr Brandon we're carnal. I said are you? Are you sure about that? Yes. But we want to be spiritual. How do we get from a state of being carnal to spiritual? That's wonderful.

When people are honest like that God will meet with them. You know brothers and sisters. When we get older we can become really very dishonest. We can imagine and pretend. These young people were absolutely sincere.

They said that we were carnal. That we want to be spiritual. So I said right if you mean business so do I. I've got an off day on Saturday. And if you'll all come to the hall I'll provide all the meals for you.

And we'll start at nine and we'll finish at three o 'clock. All right. And 45 turned up on what meetings we had. And I took them through these steps. You will never be filled with the spirit until there's a hunger.

As the heart pants after the water brooks so pants my soul after thee. Said the psalmist in that 42nd Psalm. Longing for that torment. The Lord Jesus said blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.

For they shall be filled hunger. Again in John 7 he said if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. And out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Even the apostle when he was showing to us his inward ambitions.

Made it clear he hadn't arrived. But he had one longing that I might know him and the power of his resurrection. The fellowship with him in his suffering being made conformable unto his death. You see hunger and longing.

Now since I've been with you I've discovered that longing and hunger. I discovered it yesterday morning at the breakfast. Young people were telling me there that they were carnal and wanted to be spiritual.

Grieving the Holy Spirit and Seeking Cleansing

Now that's reality. And there comes a moment when you become completely dissatisfied with your own Christian life. And you long for something deeper. Then there must be exposure. Turn to Ephesians 4 so that we see the word.

And then I'll have to close. Verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. By whom he is sealed unto the day of redemption. Now that word grieve. I've only come to understand the depth of that word.

Since my beloved Gwen was taken. I went into deep bereavement. Thank God I was able to continue with the work. But I was deeply broken. Why? Death had come. She was with the Lord. I miss her. Now that's the meaning of the word.

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of life. When sin comes into our life that brings death. Doesn't mean eternal death. But death. He is the spirit of life. We've allowed sin to come in. And his greed. It's deep bereavement.

And we must get alone and say with the Psalmist. Search me O God and know my heart. Show me what's grieving the spirit. And if we are sincere before God. He'll show us all those things that grieve him.

And then there's forgiveness. And there's cleansing. And then we yield ourselves fully to the Lord. We yield up all our members. And then he fills us with the Holy Spirit.