REDEEMING THE TIME (Ephesians 5:15-17)

TWELVE 5 CHURCH

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Can y 'all hear me? Good morning, good morning. All right, we're gonna start our service. We just wanna welcome you to 12 .5

00:06

and for the members at 12 .5, I just wanna say that you are loved. Thank you so much for being faithful to gathering together with the saints.

00:14

We're just simply being obedient to what the writer of Hebrews calls us to do, not to neglect the gathering together of the saints, but we do so to encourage one another as we see the day drawing near.

00:27

So we just wanna thank you for your service, bringing your gifts to the table as a covenant member to 12 .5

00:34

Church. If you are a guest or a regular attender, you are also loved and we thank you so much for being here.

00:41

We'd love for you to fill out one of our Connect cards just so we can pray for you. We'd love to get to know you more and more.

00:49

So if you would, find one of our Connect cards so we can reach out to you. And so my prayer this morning is that we would unify in spirit and in truth.

00:59

And so we're going to do this as we revere our holy triune God. And before we kick off our service, the first thing that we do is we wanna pray for a local church.

01:11

This is a way for us to unify with other evangelical churches proclaiming the right gospel of grace.

01:18

So this morning, I would like for us to pray for Grace Covenant. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just wanna thank you so much for allowing us to gather this morning.

01:28

God, to lift your name on high. You are the creator of the universe and oftentimes we just get to soak in your creation that testifies to your sovereignty and your holiness and your might.

01:40

God, I just wanna lift up another sister church, Grace Covenant. Lord, I just pray for the leadership over there that you would bless them.

01:47

That this morning, the truths of the gospel would be proclaimed. And God, I just pray that by your

01:53

Holy Spirit that you would bring great unity, that there would be much love in the midst of that body of believers.

02:00

Lord, we love you. Pray those same things for us this morning as well. Pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. All right, if you would please stand for our call to worship this morning that comes from Psalm 119 with the opening eight verses.

02:15

And so this is a time for us to engage back and forth. We don't want this to be dead. We want this to be a time where we all get to engage and proclaim the word of God together.

02:26

So Psalm 119, we begin by reading, blessed are those whose ways is blameless.

02:35

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies. Seek him with their whole heart.

02:42

Who also do no wrong. You have commanded your precepts.

02:51

Diligently. Oh, that my ways may be steadfast. Keeping your statutes.

02:59

Then I shall not be put to shame. Eyes fixed on all your commandments.

03:05

I will praise you with an upright heart. When I learn from your righteous rules.

03:12

I will keep your statutes. Do not utterly forsake me. Amen. Let's continue with a prayer of adoration.

03:22

This is a time where I want us to try to remove all distractions, not so we look better towards one another, but that we can keep our gaze fixed on King Jesus.

03:32

Amen. Let's pray. Holy Father, we do pray for this time to look to you that distractions would flow away from our mind,

03:40

God, that we would be fixed on the gospel truth, that we are declared right in you, Jesus.

03:46

You are the one that forgives our sin. God, your work is perfect. Jesus, you paid all of, you accomplished all that is necessary for redemption.

03:56

And so God, I pray that that would incite worship in our hearts this morning, that we would sing praise and we wouldn't matter what we look like doing it.

04:04

God, some of us make a joyful noise and it may be a little bit on the quieter side, but God, it's about singing praise directly to you.

04:12

And so God, I just pray that we would just exuberate high praise with all that we have. We love you,

04:17

Jesus. Pray this in your name. Amen. ♪ And in days of red, sure for your word is true ♪ ♪

04:59

That all life is dark outside my view ♪ ♪

05:21

Still all I'll wait, I know it's true ♪ Sing, oh, in peace.

05:29

♪ To you,

05:45

I lay my truth,

05:54

I pretend it will be ♪

06:03

Sing. ♪ My hands and feet, sing, oh, in peace ♪ ♪

06:16

And all to you,

06:30

I lay my truth, I pretend it will be ♪ ♪ So I may see that you have made these ways for me ♪ ♪

06:48

Open up my eyes so I may see that you, my

06:55

God, will walk with me ♪ One more time. ♪ Open up my eyes so I may see that you have made these ways for me ♪ ♪

07:08

Open up my eyes so I may see that you, my

07:14

God, will walk with me ♪

07:34

Sing. ♪ Alleluia, then I know to you, sing, alleluia, then

08:24

I'll sing to you ♪ ♪ The silence, the blazing in the heavens, there is only one who hears us ♪ ♪

08:32

Up and tearing down, the silencing, his riots ♪ ♪

08:45

There is only one who hears us ♪ ♪ You alone are whole, matchless in Your glory, holy in Your glory ♪

09:16

Come to save us, come to save us

09:28

When we turned away His love He conquered us with kindness

09:33

There was only one, He is our God Is that this one,

09:40

He is our God? Oh, He is our God There's no hopeless in Your glory

10:01

No one is like You To the

10:33

King on the throne Who was and is to come And to the

10:39

Lamb who was slain Be glory Now to the

10:44

King on the throne Who was and is to come And to the

10:50

Lamb who was slain Be glory Now to the

10:56

King on the throne Who was and is to come And to the

11:01

Lamb who was slain Be glory Is it holy?

11:09

You alone are whole There's no hopeless in Your glory

11:20

No one is like You God, oftentimes we are broken people

12:36

We go through hurts and pains God, we sin, we sin daily God, we are broken people

12:45

Living in a broken and fallen world And yet there is hope Jesus, we look to You in Your finished work

12:53

God, we can face tomorrow Your mercies are new every day And we find forgiveness in You, Jesus We find forgiveness in the midst of the saints

13:04

So many times we lack discernment We get ourselves into trouble

13:09

And we need that loving rebuke From fellow brothers and sisters in Christ And that is a way that You bring unity

13:16

That You restore And God, we thank You We love

13:21

You And I just pray this morning That we would give it all to You And when we recognize that we are sinners

13:29

God, this is corporately None of us are better than one another Our only boast is in You, Christ And so Lord, I pray that You would forgive

13:37

That You would restore And You would allow us to just worship You In spirit and truth

13:43

We love You, Jesus We pray this in Your holy name Amen Sing this with me

13:54

The splendor of the King Holds Her majesty

14:06

Let all the earth rejoice All the earth rejoice

14:13

He wraps Himself in light

14:21

Time is dressed in light And trembles at His voice

14:29

And trembles at His voice And praise our

14:38

God Sing with me How great is our

14:45

God And all will see How great, how great is our

14:55

God Age to age to stay

15:07

Time to stay And days to come

15:16

And years to come And God will free them all

15:27

And all will see I never,

15:34

I never, I never, I never, I never, I never,

15:40

I never, I never, I never,

15:57

I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never,

16:02

I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never,

16:08

I never, I never,

16:14

I never, I never,

16:28

I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, You're the name above all names,

16:36

You are worthy of all praise,

16:43

My heart will sing Your praise,

16:49

Inside now, everybody knows it's the music of my soul The music of my soul

16:58

My Savior God How great

17:08

Thou art How great

17:14

Thou art Inside now, everybody knows it's the music of my soul

17:22

My Savior God How great

17:32

Thou art How great

17:38

Thou art Then sings my soul

17:47

My Savior God How great

17:58

Thou art How great

18:04

Thou art Then sings my soul

18:13

My Savior God How great

18:24

Thou art How great

18:31

Thou art How great

18:52

Thou art

19:21

How great

19:30

Thou art

20:30

How great

20:40

Thou art

20:59

How great Thou art How great Thou art Light on the unfruitful works of darkness Do not allow them to remain ambiguous within the darkness

21:08

And for the purpose of that the elect That those that God has set

21:14

His love upon That they may, as Paul declared that early church hymn

21:21

Near the end of verse 16 When he said, Awake, O sleeper And arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you

21:32

And now, since you've been raised from the dead Paul says in verse 15

21:38

Look carefully, then, how you walk Not as unwise, but as wise

21:45

Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil Therefore, do not be foolish

21:54

But understand what the will of the Lord is This is the reading of God's holy, perfect word

22:02

Let's stop for a moment again And let's pray that God would help us to be true to this word

22:08

And to understand it, and to not be just doers of it Or not just be hearers of it, but doers of that word also

22:14

Let's pray Dear Heavenly Father, God, I pray that You are honored in our worship today

22:22

God, we ask right now that you would help us We see your word, we love your word

22:28

We know that it's clear We know that it's true, we know that it's good And it's right, and we have such a propensity

22:39

Towards reading ourselves into it Or distorting it, or not understanding it the way we ought

22:45

Oh God, give us wisdom Help us to see the truth For those that are in this room this morning,

22:52

God That do not yet know you Maybe some of the children, or even somebody that has come in today

22:57

That does not know you at the moment I pray that your word would cut through And awaken them, that the light would be shed on them

23:05

That they would awake from that death And Christ would shine upon them

23:12

Lord, give us clarity, in Christ's name, amen Well, during the Great Depression There was an oil tycoon by the name of J.

23:21

Paul Getty And this man was one of the few Who was shrewd enough to come out of On the other side of this financial catastrophe

23:31

With even more wealth than he had when it started And you see,

23:38

Mr. Getty did so By conducting business through a simple formula This was his motto, essentially

23:45

For doing business He says, buy when everyone else is selling And hold on until everyone else is buying

23:53

You see, most people did not attest Or live by this conventional wisdom

24:00

That Mr. Getty himself did As a matter of fact, they usually did the opposite of that They were merely reactionary

24:09

To circumstances that were happening around them They would follow the masses

24:16

And they would buy when everyone else was buying And they would panic and sell When everyone else was selling

24:23

Unlike Mr. Getty, most people did not have A strategic game plan

24:29

You see, they simply lived in the moment Day after day, day by day, moment by moment

24:36

And responded, usually out of fear To the onslaught of those ever -changing times

24:43

They would respond to whatever they felt Or what seemed right in that moment

24:50

Something that they were able to get away with During prosperous, good times

24:56

Things seemed to work themselves out Yet during these tumultuous times of this

25:01

Great Depression This foolish approach cost them dearly And you may be wondering,

25:08

Pastor You just read God's Word And then you tell us a story of the Great Depression I did so for a purpose, for a reason

25:15

Because I share this with us Because I believe that many of us, if not all At different times and at different seasons of our lives

25:23

Live out the Christian life in this way We live it out more like the masses

25:28

And less like Mr. Getty And I believe that this is what

25:33

Paul is warning us against Here in this particular text today As he tells us not to walk as unwise

25:42

But as wise So there are five things that I want us to see in this text

25:48

That I want us to focus on today That I believe will help us to better understand What Paul is saying here

25:54

And the first one of these five is That God is calling me to be purposeful with my time

26:05

God is calling me to be purposeful with my time Look at verse 15 with me

26:10

He says, look carefully then how you walk

26:16

Not as unwise, but as wise You see, this phrase here, look carefully

26:22

Is a translation of a compound of two Greek words The first one, look, blepo in the

26:28

Greek It just means to see To look, to see And carefully in the

26:34

Greek, akrabas It means accuracy, you can hear the word We get our word accuracy from that Akrabas It just means to see, to look

26:43

With accuracy, with exactness With precision And with purpose

26:50

I remember as a young boy roaming through the woods With my papa, out at his farm

26:55

And feeling the exhilaration of total freedom Some of you young boys probably remember that Or men, as you remember that being a young boy

27:04

Total freedom, given absolutely no thought To where I'm stepping as I run and as I play

27:10

To then hear the voice of my papa and his wisdom Telling me to watch very carefully where I stepped in the woods

27:19

In my childish foolishness, I had no reference point for danger And no reference point for what could be lurking under the leaves

27:28

And out in the brush Not knowing that stepping in the wrong place Could result in stepping on a copperhead snake

27:36

But he knew And he told me to watch carefully To step exactly

27:42

To look where I'm going And be intentional with everything But you see

27:48

We are often like children Forgetting about the potential dangers Not knowing of the pitfalls

27:54

Of not being careful Of not being purposeful With our steps through this life

28:00

It is a fool who doesn't look And plan his steps with purpose And a goal And by the time you step on that copperhead

28:09

You're forced to react And by that time it's usually too late, isn't it?

28:16

It's the same way in the Christian life It is true that God directs our steps

28:22

But notice that man is to plan his way We are to be watchful, be careful

28:29

Be exact with our steps When we're not being purposeful in our walk

28:34

You see, we leave ourselves vulnerable, don't we? We leave ourselves susceptible to what

28:42

James said In James chapter 1, remember? He says, but each person is tempted

28:47

When he is drawn away by his own desires We're drawn away by our own desires

28:54

When you and I are in a neutral state Simply, let's say, watching TV Or just mindlessly scrolling through social media

29:04

Not being purposeful with our time Not being purposeful with our life And the moments that God is giving us

29:10

And then that commercial pops up out of nowhere You're drawn away by your own desires Or that thing comes across your feed

29:18

That you didn't expect And you're drawn away by your own desires That moment that you are lured away, drawn away

29:27

Because we're not being purposeful with our time We're not looking carefully

29:34

We're not looking exactly where we are to step You see, the unwise are left to be reactive

29:42

They're left to have to respond When that thing comes at them But the wise, they are proactive

29:48

And purposeful with their time Let me ask you this

29:55

If you were to take a screenshot of your average day Would it be focused on kingdom purpose?

30:04

Would it be intentional to guard yourself From being drawn away by your own desires and enticed?

30:11

Are you watching where you step? This leads us to the second thing

30:18

I think we see in this text And these two are correlated together Very closely together

30:24

And that is that God is calling me To be persistent with my time God is calling me to be persistent with my time

30:32

There in verse 15 again He tells us, hey look carefully See exactly, focus in And look where you're stepping

30:40

Look carefully then how you walk We've seen this analogy of walking a few times

30:48

Over the past couple of chapters through this study And we've seen this refers to Essentially to a lifestyle, doesn't it?

30:56

Where are you going? What direction is your life headed? Your day to day direction of travel

31:01

Is what Paul is getting at When he uses this word walk You see many people have purposeful plans

31:08

I'm sure there were many during the Great Depression That had planned on investing

31:14

Just like Mr. Getty had planned on investing But did not have the persistent habits

31:19

Necessary to weather the storm They did not have the persistence Because they were not walking

31:25

In that direction Many people started out the new year This year with great purpose

31:32

Yet lacked the persistence And now their gym membership is worthless Right?

31:38

Some of us may feel that a little harder than others And it's because the daily habits of our lives

31:45

Are not congruent with a lifestyle Of healthy living or wise investment It's not persistent

31:52

Proverbs 15 .21 says Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense But a man of understanding

32:00

Walks straight ahead We must have purpose in our walk

32:08

But a wise man also has the persistence in his walk He is continually walking straight ahead

32:16

Now praise the Lord that the walk Is not contingent on our own persistence

32:23

Don't hear me wrong I'm not in here telling you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps And do better so that God might love you more

32:31

By no means This walk is not contingent on you and I On our own persistence

32:38

Or even our own purposefulness For Christ is the wise man pictured in Proverbs And you are the fool, right?

32:45

It is Christ Because Christ has redeemed us And set us on this narrow path

32:51

He is working persistence in us The Holy Spirit is working that out in us

32:57

Prompting us to persist But you see there's a difference

33:03

Between that and I think what Paul is talking about here What we're talking about is this call

33:11

This call that Paul puts on all Christians To walk through diligence, faith, and day -to -day consistency

33:18

You see your salvation did not depend on you You didn't take the first step and then God took the rest

33:23

God took all the steps He sought you He purchased you

33:28

He redeemed you You were neutral in the whole of it But now there's this thing called sanctification

33:36

He's made you a new creation And now he's set us on a trajectory And on a life

33:41

And on a walk that narrow way That we are to actively participate in Because we've been given a new life

33:49

We've come from death to life, right? A dead person can't do anything, right? But now we're alive

33:54

We can And we can walk with persistence We can have purpose We can have persistence in our walk

34:02

Are you even walking the Christian life? That's the question I had to ask myself this week As I delve into this text

34:09

Are we truly committed to his word? Are you persistent in prayer?

34:16

Are you fellowshipping with the saints? Are you an active participant within the life of his bride, the church?

34:25

All of these common means of grace that God says Hey, I've already given you all the tools so that you can do this

34:32

You're just not using the tools Are we doing this? Because if your purposeful game, plan in life

34:41

If you have intention Doesn't include this persistence Within those things of that common means of grace that God has placed in our lives

34:50

Then your purposeful plan isn't even the walk that Paul is referring to You might not even be on the path

34:58

Because when he sets us on the path We do have a desire and opportunity to do those things

35:09

But if it is If you are being purposeful with your time

35:14

And persistent with your time Through those things The reading of scripture, the prayer, the gathering of the saints

35:22

All of those Then you are primed for the third thing that we see here And that is

35:28

God is calling me to be Or not to be, to purchase the time

35:34

God is calling me to purchase the time Look at verse 16 with me

35:43

It says, making the best use of the time You see, the word that Paul uses here

35:51

That we have translated making Is the same word that he uses over in Galatians chapter 3

35:58

Over in Galatians 3 .13 he says For Christ redeemed us

36:04

There is that word From the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us What did Christ do?

36:10

Christ redeemed us This word means ransom It means purchased

36:16

This is what Christ has done for us, right? Saint, is that what Christ has done for us?

36:23

Amen, that's right He has purchased us We were slaves to sin And he came and bought us by blood ransom

36:29

Purchasing us for the Father That's what that passage in Galatians is referring to And Paul uses this same word here in our text

36:37

He's telling us to, like a good merchant Like a good investor To make a purchase

36:43

A purchase of what? The best use of the time Purchasing The best use of the time

36:54

There are two words for time in the Greek And we translate them different ways One is speaking of opportunity

37:03

Such as in Galatians 6 Where he says So then, as we have And here's that word Opportunity is how we have it translated

37:10

But it's the same Greek word The other speaks of time as a moment Like we would understand the word time

37:17

Like back in verse 8 of chapter 5 of Ephesians Where he says For at one time you were darkness

37:24

In this case, here in verse 16 in our text It's the former You see,

37:30

Paul is speaking of purchasing opportunity He told us not to walk as unwise

37:37

But as wise Now be wise by looking for opportunity to purchase

37:43

Being active in this This is precisely how Mr. Getty thrived during the

37:49

Great Depression, isn't it? He had a plan He was purposeful He was persistent in his plan

37:55

And he looked for opportunities to purchase He was wise enough to be looking for those

38:02

If we are being purposeful with our time And persistent with our time It will show by the fact that we will be purchasing opportunities

38:14

The groundwork is laid The plan is clear And the fruit of that will show

38:21

In what we invest in It will show

38:28

In the investment of your life What opportunities are you purchasing?

38:35

Are they reactionary, temporal purchases? Or is this a long -term investment?

38:44

Or is this a selfish, fearful investment? Panicking in the moment due to circumstances in your life

38:55

Now, of course, I'm not talking about money here Everyone says, oh, well, the pastor's talking about money all of a sudden

39:01

He's wanting us to just invest all our money here and not buy things I'm not even talking about that I'm talking about what are you investing in your time, your energy, your actions

39:11

What are those investing in? What opportunities? Are you merely waiting for your neighbor to ask you about Jesus?

39:19

Are you passively just sitting there going Well, hopefully they'll see that I go to church on Sunday morning

39:24

And they'll ask me about it That'll give me opportunity Are you biding your time wondering if your co -worker will want to come to church with you?

39:36

That's easy, isn't it? Or are you actively seeking to purchase opportunities

39:42

To tell them of this glorious Savior that has redeemed you The one that has purchased you

39:50

I'm gonna get a little personal here, guys With all of you I might step on some toes But these are things that resonated with me

39:57

As I was thinking through this idea of purchasing time Purchasing opportunity First, I want to speak to the husbands

40:06

The husbands in the room Are you passively allowing your wife to take the lead in your home? I'm just too tired

40:16

Long day at work I really just want to watch the news

40:23

Or watch the game and shut down While she carries a burden she was never designed to carry

40:32

Are you leaving that on her shoulders? Are you leading spiritually?

40:42

Are you teaching your children the word? Are you bathing your wife in the word? Or are you just letting her have her own quiet time

40:49

And go on with your day? Or are you actively looking for opportunities to purchase?

41:00

Carrying that spiritual and physical burden of God -given leadership in your home

41:05

Are you being active? Are you being intentional and purposeful With persistence

41:11

To purchase that opportunity? Mothers?

41:18

You're not getting off the hook, right? Mothers, are you passively going through the motions?

41:26

Are you derogating your duty of raising up your children In the fear and knowledge of the Lord And caring for your home?

41:34

Are you seeking opportunities to work outside of the home So others can raise your children While your home is in total disorder?

41:41

Or are you actively seeking to purchase opportunities

41:50

To bless your children through self -sacrifice? To bless your husband by turning his house

41:57

Into a haven of order and cleanliness? To bless your neighbors and your friends

42:03

With investing into a home of hospitality So that they can see the beauty of the gospel

42:12

Through your day -to -day actions Of being intentional And seeking to purchase every opportunity

42:20

That comes along to grab hold of and by Young men, are you passively doing as little as possible?

42:37

Not pursuing education or opportunity to their fullest? And they say, well

42:44

I take a class here and there Or I've got my job here and it's not really going anywhere

42:51

Are your evenings consumed with video games and pornography? The statistics are staggering guys

43:06

Wasting every single moment that you could be purchasing

43:14

And investing in for that future kingdom purpose Or are you actively purchasing that opportunity

43:21

To better serve King Jesus? Are you looking for great opportunity to do so? Are you seeking out after other godly older men to disciple you?

43:31

Are you desiring to be a man that can provide for a woman And her children without having to pick up the slack?

43:41

It's so easy for you young men today To where you just simply go about going

43:47

Well, we can live on a two -income household She shouldn't have to Your responsibility

43:55

Figure out how to make it happen Purchase the opportunity

44:01

Because that's what's gone on You may say, well you're just adding legalism here pastor No, I'm just looking at principles from God himself, right?

44:08

And saying, this is kingdom purpose This is what God has called us to do and to be

44:16

Young women Are you passively spending your days in futility?

44:25

Knowing that someone else will pick up the mess in the house Someone else will cook the meals

44:32

Someone else will do the dishes Remaining a child

44:41

Or are you seeking to take the place of a man? I gotta focus on my career, pastor

44:52

I have to be a professional I mean, after all, the reality is that all those other men out there

44:59

They're not capable of providing for me They're lazy They're too busy playing video games and barely scraping by I must be a breadwinner

45:09

Or are you trusting God? Actively seeking to purchase the opportunities for that Titus 2 relationship

45:17

An older woman pouring into your life Hopefully your mother, right? Teaching you to honor your husband and to care for your home

45:26

Are you growing in a love for homemaking and motherhood? As God has designed you

45:32

Are you spending time in the word so that you may teach it to your children? I can't tell you how important it is going to be

45:41

For you to be able to teach your children the word If you can teach your children how to cook And how to clean the house

45:47

And how to do math And how to read And how to everything else But you don't teach them diligently the word of God You are derogating your duty

45:57

You must be able to raise them up in the word Are you preparing for that?

46:02

And you must be purchasing the opportunities to prepare yourself for that now Or are you just wasting investment time?

46:12

Or kingdom purpose? All of these things are vital for us to be actively pursuing

46:18

Making the best use of the time that we have And why is that? Why must we be so diligent in pursuing, purchasing opportunities?

46:31

Well look at the fourth point that we have here That I think we see in the text Is because God is calling me to perceive the times

46:38

Look at verse 16 again Making the best use of the time

46:47

Because Why is it so easy to default to passivity?

46:54

Because the days are evil Because the days are evil

47:01

Turn with me just the next chapter over in Ephesians chapter 6 I want us to look at verses 12 through 14 real quick In Ephesians chapter 6

47:18

In verse 12 Paul says For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood

47:24

But against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers Of this present darkness

47:31

Okay? This is a spiritual battle, right? That's what Paul's saying We're not battling each other

47:37

We're not battling the liberals We're not battling the other nations We're battling spiritual battles

47:44

That's what the church is for, right? And because it's cosmic powers

47:49

That are over, that are reigning over this present age That we are currently in He goes on, he says

47:56

Against the spiritual forces of evil In the heavenly places Verse 13 Therefore, take up the whole armor of God That you may be able to withstand

48:06

In the evil day This evil day The days are evil, right?

48:12

And having done all to stand firm Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth

48:22

This gives us a picture of what we're dealing with here That we must be purposeful

48:29

We must be persistent We must purchase the time Because we must perceive the times that we are in We must know, we must be aware

48:37

Of the circumstances in which we are in In this day This day is evil because we are in this present darkness

48:44

Over in 2 Corinthians 4 Paul called Satan the god of this world, didn't he?

48:51

He said he is the god of this world The one that has blinded the minds of the unbelievers This is a present darkness

48:59

We are in a dark time In a dark age in the moment But turn with me to 2

49:04

Thessalonians chapter 2 I want you to see a couple of verses here In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 7

49:12

Paul had been speaking of the man of lawlessness And that he is to be revealed The son of destruction

49:19

Who is he speaking of, right? Satan He's speaking of the evil one The god of this age

49:26

And there in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7 He says For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work

49:34

This means he's actively right now at work, doesn't it? This isn't something in the past This is right now

49:42

Only he who now restrains it Will do so until he is out of the way Meaning God is restraining him

49:49

But he is still active Right? There was a darkness that we can't comprehend today

49:55

Before Christ came There was only one people One nation that had the light of the truth

50:01

And the law of God And all of the nations were in total darkness Well now we're still in a dark age

50:07

But they are not blinded completely and thoroughly God has restraint on the evil one

50:15

Who is still the god of this age Look at verse 8 though And then the lawless one will be revealed

50:21

Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth And bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming

50:30

What does that mean? It means that the evil one The god of this age

50:36

Is going to remain at work In this world Until Christ returns again

50:44

Right? Satan is still active We are still in a present age of darkness

50:51

Over in Ephesians 1 Paul said not only in this age But also in the one to come

50:58

I love that Paul is always reminding us of this current age And I think he does so Because he wants us to be awake and alert

51:06

I think he wants us to be purposeful and persistent Actively purchasing opportunities Redeeming the time

51:12

Bringing everything into submission to King Jesus I mean after all

51:17

That's who we are Aren't we representatives of that kingdom? And how are we to do this?

51:24

If we perceive that the times are evil In this evil age How are we to do this?

51:31

This is our fifth and last point It's that God is calling me to ponder on his wisdom with my time

51:39

You see all of these principles that we've laid out here These aren't our principles

51:45

These aren't things that we've just come up with These are truths from God's word These are his word

51:52

In verse 17 we see a definition of what is meant In the second half of verse 15

51:58

Because remember he said not as unwise but as wise And now in verse 17 he says Therefore because the days are evil

52:05

Do not be foolish Do not be unwise

52:12

Right? The psalmist says the fool says in his heart there is no God You see we know that everyone knows that there's a

52:21

God Why would the psalmist say that? Everyone knows through creation Everyone is without excuse that there is a creator

52:28

God Why would the psalmist say that? I think it's because the fool

52:35

Knowing there's a God Lives as if he doesn't exist The fool says in his heart there is no

52:43

God I'm going to live my life as if that God does not exist I'm going to live as though I'm God So when

52:52

Paul says do not be foolish I think what he's saying is Don't live your life in such a way

52:57

That you give no or little thought of God As if he doesn't exist

53:04

You see if God does exist Then you must honor him

53:09

You must obey every word If he doesn't exist Live however you want You be

53:16

God in your own life That's the fool That's why

53:21

Paul gives us this contrast Of that type of living Look at 17 again Therefore do not be foolish

53:28

Do not live as though there is no God But Understand what the will of the

53:34

Lord is This is walking in wisdom

53:41

This is the only wisdom You and I have done We are as I said the quintessential fool of Proverbs You know that right?

53:53

You and I Are the Israelites quaking in their boots

53:58

While King David roams out to take care of Goliath Jesus is that David right?

54:08

We're not David We're the fools We're the ones that don't trust We're the ones that don't believe

54:14

We're the ones that don't see it We're the ones shaking in our boots Because we are the fool

54:20

But he is the only wisdom there is And we are to look to his wisdom

54:26

To seek to live according to that wisdom He gets to set the rules He gets to set the standard

54:32

The psalmist in Psalm 119 verse 97 He says oh how I love your law

54:38

It is my meditation all the day Why?

54:44

Because he longs to ponder on the wisdom of the Lord With his time all his day

54:52

To think on the things of the Lord To look into the things of the Lord To seek after that glorious wisdom of the

55:00

Almighty Do you want to know what the will of the Lord is?

55:07

How to wisely purchase opportunity How to walk in the way Then use the time you have to ponder on his wisdom

55:15

And how do we see God? No one's seen

55:20

God have they? Have you ever wondered why people can open up a

55:32

Bible The same Bible you have Read the same words you do And get nothing

55:39

Not track with it Not understand it Have nothing No bearing in their life

55:45

You ever wonder that? Because they haven't seen Jesus You can look at the law of God all you want

55:55

And it's only going to condemn And you're going to hate it Oh but when you see the law of God through the cross

56:06

Oh now you can declare like a psalmist Oh I loved your law

56:12

I meditate on it day and night I long to live in it

56:17

It's so good It's so just It's so perfect It's so right in every way

56:23

But you must It must be seen through Christ This is what

56:30

Paul is aiming at in our lives We must ponder on his wisdom Through that imputed righteousness of Christ You see you and I cannot and will not walk in perfect wisdom

56:46

Can we? Anybody in here had even a single afternoon

56:52

Where they go I think I walked in the law of God perfectly I think I fulfilled it

56:58

An hour A second I don't think I've done it for a second

57:05

Right? Even my most righteous prayer And bible reading was tainted in so much sin

57:10

It would condemn the whole of the human race Oh but Jesus Ah Jesus did

57:19

He walked in that wisdom perfectly And he did for you And he did for me

57:25

If we are in Christ If we are the elect of the holy almighty God Then he did so to purchase us and redeem us

57:33

And now we long to honor him with our lives That's what Paul's getting at Paul is not teaching self -righteousness

57:41

Paul's not teaching a works -based righteousness Paul's not teaching you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps

57:47

And do the right thing That's not what Paul's teaching us Paul's saying in light of the beauty of the gospel

57:55

The one that redeemed you Seek to honor him with your life Because I know

58:02

What you know Is that condemnation has never changed you

58:10

Condemnation has never changed me Giving me more rules and laws doesn't motivate me

58:18

It bears on my soul when I shut down But when you are met with the glorious grace

58:26

Of the good and merciful savior That did it for you That motivates you

58:35

That makes you want to be purposeful with your time, doesn't it? Makes you want to be persistent in your time

58:40

Makes you want to look for opportunities to purchase It makes you want to perceive the times

58:45

And never forget that we are in evil times and an evil day And I must walk in the way of wisdom

58:52

And in order to do that I must ponder on the wisdom of God Continually day after day

58:58

As I pursue to be like my savior Amen One of the ways that we do so here is remembering his great sacrifice

59:09

Of purchasing us by his blood Through the Lord's Supper I want to invite you if you are in Christ today

59:18

And you are in good standing with an evangelical church Then you are welcome to this table

59:24

And for all of you that are members here I would ask that you would spend a moment

59:31

As we prepare to lay any unrepentant sins at the cross

59:39

Again, it's not a time for penance It's not the time that you get right with God But it is an opportunity for you to remember your

59:50

Gracious savior And what he's done And it is a time for worship

59:56

The way it works here is we have tables on both sides Pastor Jeremiah will be over here,

01:00:02

I'll be over here If you need prayer, please come talk to us You are not distracting us But you can come and take of the wine and the bread

01:00:10

And then go back to your seats through the center And then you can pray as a group, individually

01:00:18

You can partake of those elements there where you are seated or stand And then we will come back together to sing in a moment

01:00:27

I would ask that maybe the back pews If you might want to come down this direction

01:00:32

Because we're a little lopsided I don't want that line being super long and this one being super short But let's pray that God will be honored in our time at the table

01:00:41

Oh dear heavenly father, we thank you for the great sacrifice of your son We pray that this would not become cold in our hearts

01:00:53

That you would continually draw us and mold us towards our calling

01:01:03

Of being one with the triune God Through the righteousness of Christ We pray that you are honored in our worship through the table

01:01:15

Lord Jesus, I know that you're with us You've been with us this whole time But you express your presence with us in a unique way

01:01:25

When we come to this table And we're so grateful and we long to be in your presence Lord, I pray that you would use this to sanctify us

01:01:38

To conform us to the image of our savior Use this to incite worship in our hearts,

01:01:46

God And if we have any unconfessed sin in our lives That we've not been able to lay down at the foot of the cross

01:01:53

Lord, I pray that we could do so even now Before we come and partake So that we can partake in joy