Address—Jim Hyland
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Turn with me, please, to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians, chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2 and we're going to read the 1St 3 verses of this chapter to begin with.
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse one. And you have to be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air.
The Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past.
In the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and whereby nature the children of wrath.
Even as others, I'd like to go through this book and I would like to notice, with the Lord's help, some very, very practical exhortations.
In connection with our walk of faith through this world, you know so often when we take up the Book of Ephesians, we think of it perhaps more in connection with its doctrinal aspect. And certainly that is very true. Ephesians brings before us the precious truth of the fact that we are seen positionally in Christ, that we are there already, seated positionally in heavenly places in Christ.
And this precious truth is expounded by the apostle Paul by divine inspiration.
To the Ephesian elders who at this point in their history collectively as those gathered to the Lord's name.
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We're able to take in this high, this deep truth, but there is an aspect of Ephesians that perhaps sometimes we miss.
And that is a very practical side to Ephesians, because there are two things that we need to consider in connection.
With our Christian pathway, first of all we need sound doctrine.
That's vital. That's important because we're built on the foundation and that foundation.
The Church's foundation is the apostles and prophets, those New Testament writers that laid those doctrinal truths for us.
By divine inspiration. But as has often been said, sound doctrine is to lead to sound behavior.
Because Christianity is a very practical thing. We're not home yet.
We're on our way there positionally. We're seen as a heavenly people seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
We are looked at 2:00 as Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's Colossians.
We're on our way to glory. We're on our way to the Father's house, and we've had some expressions as to that.
In the hymns that we have sung already this afternoon, but you know, we're still here in a wilderness world, And as has often been brought before us, young and old, God has set before us each a path of faith and service.
And were exhorted time and time again to walk in that path that he has for each one of us.
And we've been so often reminded that the joy, the fruit and the testimony in our Christian pathway come.
When we walk in the path of obedience, and we're going to notice in the book of Ephesians.
7 Exhortations in connection with our walk. They're all in connection with something a little different, a little different context, a little different aspect of things, but tied together. They exhort us to go on and with sound doctrine as the basis, go on in the path of faith and obedience that has been set before each one of us. But he begins here, in the second chapter.
With a reminder of how we once walked. Now, before we pass on, perhaps I would just say this too. If there's someone here and you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, the things that we're going to speak of this afternoon really have no relevance to you. You're still characterized by that which we have in the opening of this chapter. You're still following the course of this world. You're still going on in your sins. And if that is true?
You are on the Broad Rd. That leads to destruction. A course on that road if continued.
In the end it's going to lead to the lake of fire an eternal separation from God, and how solemn that is. And so this afternoon the way of blessing is open for you. You can change from treading, from walking on the broad road, to transferring to the narrow way it says of that way it leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. But the way of blessing is open today.
And so we find here that the Apostle Paul writing of this very precious truth that he has already expounded in the first chapter and the heavenly spiritual blessings of the believer. Then he pauses for a moment to remind them of what they once were. Now if we were to follow this out in the book of Ephesians, we would find that so often he uses the word we and ye, we and you.
Because he sometimes referring to the Jews. Paul was a Jew by birth and sometimes he's referring to the Gentiles to whom he was writing. Paul had been saved as a Jew on the Damascus Rd. These Ephesians Saints, I suppose for the most part at least, had been saved from a Gentile background. And so he speaks in this way, but without going into it, what is brought out in this chapter is.
That, whether Jew or Gentile, the all is concluded.
As to us being dead in trespasses and sins. And so we find here he brings this out at the at the at the very beginning we find in the book of Romans that we are under the sentence of death. But here it's even more than that. In the book of Ephesians we are dead. Now when he speaks of dead here, of course it's not physical death. Death is taken up in different ways in the word of God, as we well know.
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That's why we stress that context is so important. And here it's dead. Not physically, but dead toward God. We're dead in trespasses and sin. It's true we still have a walk here, so it can't be physical death. And so he's Speaking of walking, but it's the natural man walks in the lusts of his flesh. The natural man walks in the East in ways of evil and that are not according to the holiness in the mind of God.
So he speaks of how we once walked here. We were physically alive.
But we once walked according to our own desires and appetites, the desires and appetites of the old man. But thank God there's been a work in our souls. If we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we find that there's been a work to give us life. And he takes that up a few verses down. But here he reminds us that whether Jew or Gentile, we were dead in trespasses and sins, and that we once walked according to the course of this world.
And he brings in the enemy here, the Prince of the power of the air.
Because the enemy, Satan is opposed to everything that is of God and Christ.
And before we pass on to some further scriptures, I would say this too, that if you're seeking by the grace of God to walk according to the word of God.
And for God's glory in this world, there's going to be opposition.
There we once followed the course of this world. We once were under the authority and power of Satan, the God and Prince of this world.
But he's still a very real enemy to the people of God. Because maybe I hear someone say, well, Jim, I know I'm saved.
I know that there's been a work, a quickening work in my life and by the spirit of God.
I've been given divine life. I've been saved and brought into the knowledge of sins forgiven.
But boy, it sure is hard to live for the Lord. You talk about a walk of faith, but.
There's opposition. Oh, yes, there's real opposition. You know, I look into the faces of those who are a lot younger than me here, and maybe you're just starting out in the walk of faith. Oh, I'm not going to promise you that. It's all going to be well, I'm not gonna promise you it's gonna be easy. But I am gonna promise you. And as we go on to these further verses, I'm going to promise you that it is a path where every resource is supplied.
Through the work of Christ and the work of God, so that you and I can walk for His glory in this world.
And remember this too. It's a walk of faith. It's not just a step or two here and there.
It's not just something that's intermittent. No, it's a walk. You know, we go out for a hike and what do we do? Well, we might stop for a little rest once in a while, but we've got a destination in view and you keep going. And often, perhaps someone who's maybe not as physically fit or someone a little younger is not used to the terrain. What do you do? You encourage them. We've got to keep going. We've got to get there by nightfall or we're almost back to camp or whatever it may be.
And isn't that the way it is in the path of faith? And so we need these encouragements to keep going.
Because I say, it's not just a step or two here and there. It is step by step. But we have to keep going. It's a walk, not not just an occasional step. And so he speaks of this, reminds us of what we once were, where we once walked. But now I want to go on and notice the 2nd exhortation. It's in this very same chapter, just dropped down to the 10th verse of Ephesians chapter 2.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
Which God before ordained that we should walk in them.
Well, what a contrast we have now once we follow the course of this world. Once we did the works of the devil, but now is that the way it is to be in our Christian pathway? No. He set before us this path and he set before us these good works. And not only good works, but we are actually his workmanship. Because we want to stress that if there are any steps taken for God's glory in our Christian pathway.
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If we have, by the grace of God, continued on in the path of faith.
To any degree, it's nothing of ourselves. I know. I look into the faces of some here who have been walking in the path of faith a lot longer than I have.
And I'm sure if we were to sit down with them after this meeting, we would find that they would have to confess that it is only the grace of God that has brought them through. I say that because, you know, I was once a boy and a young person sitting in meetings like this, and I heard my older brother and exhort us as to our walk of faith and trusting the Lord and going on day after day and year after year. And I used to wonder, can it really be possible? How am I going to do it?
How am I going to get through? Well, I'll be the first to confess. There's been lots of twists and turns.
In my Christian pathway, there's been times when I haven't walked according to the path that God has set out for me. There's been digressions, there's been discouragements. There's been stops and starts. I will have, I will confess. But in the end, as I look back over 50 years of life with the Lord, it's all His grace. He works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure and if we are willing to realize this and to.
Reveal ourselves of the resources that he has.
Then we can press on. But remember this too, that in a future day when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ.
And our walk is reviewed. We're going to have nothing to boast in in that day. We're going to realize that it was all his grace, that step after step, lap after lap in the Christian pathway he brought us through. As I say, he worked in US and he created those good works because you know, Christianity is characterized by good works, not good works to get saved. If we had read the verses in between here.
He's made that very clear and it's not by works of righteousness that we have done.
But according to his mercy, he saved us. As is brought out in these verses, it's the grace of God that has saved anyone of us.
But don't discredit good works in our Christian life. In fact, I'll encourage you to go over and read the Epistle of Good Works sometime.
You know what? A pistol that is The epistle of Titus. And I believe five times there he takes up the subject of good works again, making it clear that it's not good works that save the soul, but it's good works because the soul is saved. And so God desires those good works in your life and mine. And as we look back, you know, some of us were here last year. I didn't have the privilege of being here last year, but I know some of you were.
Let's think back over the last year since we were in this building. What good works have been produced in our lives by the grace of God?
Has there been something for his glory? But let me just go back to what I said earlier and that is.
When you and I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and our lives are reviewed.
And those things are brought out that were good works for His glory and the blessing of others.
We're going to realize that it was all of himself. I'm going to repeat a little illustration that I've sometimes used in this regard.
But you know the Lord Jesus said that if you give a cup of water in his name.
It will have its reward and so you give that cup of water and then in a future day it's brought out that you gave that cup.
Here's what's going to be brought out. First of all, it's going to be brought out that he provided the cup of water.
Secondly, he put the desire in your heart to give the cup, and thirdly.
He provided the opportunity to give that cup. Well, brethren, we're just going to realize it with all his grace. We're gonna realize that it was nothing of ourselves. And like it's figuratively brought out in the Book of Revelation, when the redeemed are there giving praise, what do they do? They cast their crowns back at his feet. Those rewards that were given for faithfulness. Why, They realize, as we are going to in a coming day, they realize that.
If there was any reward, it was all because of his work, and so he's ordained.
That we should walk in them because we are a new creation in Christ, as I say. And as a result, now you and I have the capacity as well as the responsibility, because there always is responsibility, the responsibility to do good works, to show good works. You know, in the book of the Acts we find there were those who were brought out brothers and sisters who did good works. Why, when Dorcas passed away when she died?
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The ladies, the sisters wept, because there were the fruit of her good works, those garments that she had made, and they remembered the good works that she had done. And they, the Lord was gracious and raised her up again. But let me just ask our hearts this question. If one of us in this room was to pass away before these meetings concluded this weekend, would the brethren be able to say, you know, I remember the good works that that brother did. I remember what that sister did and how she was a real help to me.
And that brother they were, he always seemed to be there at the right time and locally in the assembly, always there with a cheerful spirit and a helping hand. Wouldn't you like to be remembered like that? And more than that, wouldn't you like to have the Lord's approval in a coming day? The Apostle Paul said, We labor that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. He wanted to do those things that would be acceptable to the Lord, and that the Lord would have the joy of commending.
In the coming day. So he's ordained that we should walk in them.
And now let's go on to the 4th chapter for a further exhortation.
Chapter 4 and verse one.
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Well, here we have an exhortation to walk worthy of our vocation. Now the word vocation is simply a word that means calling. I'm sure the young people understand this.
You know, if you perhaps are not so scholastically minded as some, you may opt for a vocation.
And I don't know how it is in the States, but where I come from, in Canada, they have what we call vocational schools. And there you can go and learn a trade. Perhaps you're good working with your hands with a hammer and a saw and a screwdriver. Maybe you will opt to take up a vocation in carpentry. And so you go and you study and you apprentice and you get your papers as a Carpenter. Maybe it's plumbing, electrical. And we're thankful for those who have those skills and ability and develop them.
Because if you were to come to my house, you'd find that I'm not very good at those kinds of things and I'm thankful that I can call someone.
Who is trained in those various vocations? So our vocation is simply Our Calling.
And again, what the apostle has been bringing out in these previous chapters.
Particularly chapters 1-2 and three is our vocation, our heavenly calling, that you and I are a heavenly people connected with a risen, glorified Christ who's seated at the right hand of God. And now, as this 4th chapter opens, he exhorts us to walk worthy of that calling. We don't have time to develop it, and we've often noticed the verses in this regard.
But in several of Paul's epistles he exhorts us to walk worthy.
In the context of the epistle, I'll just very briefly mention them and you can look them up sometime yourself.
In the Epistle to the Thessalonians, they are told to walk worthy of God. Why? Because the Thessalonians were new believers. They didn't understand deep truth like the Ephesians had just been given. No, they had turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven. And they were waiting for the Kingdom of God to come. And so he exhorts them to walk worthy of God.
There were many things they hadn't learned yet, but they did know that they didn't follow dumb idols anymore. They followed the true and living God.
And they were to walk worthy of that. If we were to go over to the Book of Colossians, we would find that the Brethren in Colossi were exhorted to walk worthy of the Lord.
Why are they exhorted to walk worthy of the Lord? And again, the context is vital. It's important.
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Because in Colossians, it's the lordship of Christ. It's the headship of Christ that is taken up.
There he's presented as the head of the body. We, the members on earth, connected to the head by the Spirit, and whether it's collectively or individually, we are to take our instructions from our head. And so they're exhorted to walk worthy of the Lord. In the book of Philippians they're told to walk worthy of the glad tidings of the Gospel, and you really have to go to Mr. Darby's translation to get it clarified. Why are they told to walk worthy of the gospel in the book of Philippians?
Because in Philippi there was a great freshness and testimony in the gospel.
There are two words that are unique to the epistle. To the Philippians, joy and rejoicing is one of them.
But the other is gospel, and there seemed to be a great testimony in the gospel.
The problem was the enemy was coming in to try to spoil that testimony and that work with contention between two sisters. We we who are brothers, shake our head and say two sisters, but never mind. It could have just as well been two brothers. It could have been a brother and a sister there. It happened to be two sisters. But I believe this brethren, that one of the great works of the enemy is to bring in contention amongst the people of God.
Because he knows perhaps there's nothing spoils a gospel work, Oregon a testimony in the gospel if he can get the Saints bickering and fighting amongst themselves. I've seen it over and over again in my life. An assembly, a group of Christians who are really vibrant in the gospel, and some contention comes in. Not only does it spoil their joy and the fellowship, the practical fellowship that is to be enjoyed amongst believers, but it hinders the work, sometimes even stops the work, and it certainly hinders the testimony that goes with the work of the gospel. Oh brethren, let's be careful.
You know, we're here not just to be. And I want to say this ever so careful, brethren, I this is not what I really had on my heart. But since seems to be pressed on my soul at this moment, I'm going to bring it out. Brethren, we are here for more than just being at all the assembly meetings and walking for the Lord individually. It's that's wonderful. It's and we'll speak of it in a moment. It's wonderful to be at the assembly meetings for ministry prayer certainly for the remembrance of the Lord.
And whatever occasion we are called together in the presence of the Lord, as those gathered to the Lord's name, that is marvelous.
It is wonderful to enjoy fellowship as the Saints of God, but you know, water running into a pool and never running out makes the pool stagnant.
You know the Dead Sea is the Dead Sea because it has an inlet but no outlet.
And I have found that believers who have an outlet in reaching out to souls in the gospel are believers who often have more of the real joy of the Lord in their souls. There's a vibrancy, there's a joy that comes from reaching out to others. And I'm not saying we're all called to be gospel preachers. I'm not saying we're all called to give up our secular employment and go to another land. Maybe we, maybe some are, But we can be a testimony right where we are.
Begins in our own households and with our own families and our extended families, our neighborhood, the community in which God has placed us at work, whatever opportunities it may be. And, brethren, there are no shortage of opportunities, and we need to be exercised to have that testimony. And then, as I say, to walk worthy of the glad tidings as the Philippian brethren were exhorted to do. Well, that's just a little parenthesis, just a little bit.
Aside but getting back to what we have here, we are to walk worthy of Our Calling, to walk worthy of our vocation. Now I'm going to repeat a little story or two that again I know, I've told many times, but you know, they say there are three Rs to learning review, review, review. And that's certainly true in connection with the scriptures. Peter said, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them and be established in the present truth.
But I do remember reading about the Crown Prince of France many years ago when there was a French royal family.
And this young Prince was a very unruly young man, and he had a tutor at the palace that tutored him in certain subjects. The problem was this tutor couldn't discipline or correct this Prince the way a normal teacher would with average students from regular backgrounds. I remember being well disciplined when I was a boy in school, but this tutor couldn't do it in the same way because of who her his young student was.
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And so, almost coming to the end of himself one day, he decided on a very novel.
A way of perhaps bringing about some semblance of order in the classroom. And so the young Prince showed up for his classes one day and his tutor was ready for him, because this tutor had a purple rose in it in his hand. Purple was the color of the official color of the French royal family, and as this this young Prince came through the door, the Tudor leaned over and pinned this purple Rosetta on his lapel.
As he said to him, because you're the Crown Prince of France, I cannot discipline you.
When you are unruly during lessons, but every time you act in a way that isn't in keeping with your station, I'm going to point to that purple Rosetta on your on your lapel, and that is to remind you of who you are and that there is a conduct that is worthy of being heir to the French royal throne. They said the effect was amazing. One other little story too, that some of us have heard. I heard it when I was younger.
Was the when many years ago the Prince of Wales, whose heir to the British throne, was on a ship and they were crossing the equator. Now this happened many years ago when crossing the equator on a boat was quite an event. And the story goes that as the ship crossed the equator, many on the ship painted their faces and dressed up in costumes and they had quite a production.
To celebrate crossing the equator. Well, as the story goes, the heir to the British royal throne painted his face and put on a jester's costume and joined in the festivities. And it was the days before social media and so on. But someone was there with a camera and they took his picture and they sent that picture home to England. And that picture was splashed across the front pages of the British press.
And they say it caused a great hue and cry in Britain, and the general consensus of his subjects was.
That kind of conduct is OK for anybody else, but not someone who's heir to the to the throne, not someone who one day expects to be sovereign of the realm. And so maybe those little stories help us to understand what the spirit of God is bringing before us. Here There is a conduct, a walk that is in keeping with those who are citizens of heaven, And I read the two.
Subsequent verses versus two and three because I believe here it's particularly in connection.
With our walk together as the people of God, because there is a collective side of things as well.
And we are to go on together, and together we are to walk worthy of our vocation.
It's not just an individual walk. In fact, I've been struck by that in reading two Timothy.
You know, sometimes we say of Second Timothy that it's a very individual book, and it is because the last days are characterized by individual faithfulness.
But you know, it's interesting that before Timothy is exhorted, continue thou. That's individual.
In the third chapter, In the second chapter, he's told Go on with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
In other words, he says Timothy even till the end, even during the last days and perilous times.
Which are days very parallel to the days in which we find ourselves today.
He says there's a collective side of things. Go on with your brethren not to compromise the truth of God in any way.
But to go on with others who have a similar motive, a desire to walk, to please the Lord, to only authority and lordship of Christ, and to go on in the truth of God as it has been laid down.
By the New Testament writers, those foundation principles we referred to earlier, now we don't have time. We're gonna have to move on here. But I would just say this about these, this second and third verse of our chapter, and that is that as we go on together, there is a spirit and attitude that is important because, you know, our spirit and attitude in our interactions with one another really does affect us. It affects us perhaps more than we think.
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I'll just cite one example from the Old Testament again, it's one of my favorite Old Testament Bible characters.
It's Caleb. You know, when Caleb came back from spying out the good land?
He and Joshua alone stood firm and brought up a good and faithful report.
If I can put it for, uh, this way, for our purposes, this afternoon they they stood for the truth as they knew it in their day. But there's it's interesting what it says of Caleb. It says my servant Caleb because he had another spirit with him. You know, it's remarkable that Caleb is the only one that we read of that got a personal inheritance when they entered the land. Joshua and Caleb are the only two of that generation that we know of from scripture.
Who actually entered the land. But Caleb is the only one that got a personal inheritance. All the rest got an inheritance by tribe and family. But the Lord told Caleb he was going to bring him into the land and give him an inheritance. Why? Not just because he stood for the truth, but he did it in the proper spirit. He had the proper attitude. And so he brings this out. Loneliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Faithful, yes, but doing it in the proper spirit and attitude, The spirit and attitude of Christ.
Who was meek and lowly in heart? And if we do that, then we're going to be practically endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Again, I believe what divides the Saints of God more than anything else is not always doctrine.
It isn't even always practice, but it's the spirit and attitude.
In which things are taken up. Someone has said we can be clear as ice and justice as cold when it comes to the truth and what damage that often does Well, we don't have time to To develop this we're gonna have to press on. I wanna notice later on in the same 4th chapter another exhortation in connection with our with our walk before God. Let's drop down to the 17th verse.
This I this I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that she henceforth walk.
Not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkened.
Being alienate, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of the of their heart and so on. Well, this is more individual, isn't it? Again, it's interesting that the exhortation to go on collectively is first I I would have put reversed it. But again, what he's showing is that there's always the ability to go on collectively, no matter whether things are going well.
Or whether things are going in a in a difficult vein, whether the enemy has.
Given us a little respite, or whether the enemy is hard at work, there's always that ability to go on collectively. But then, as soon as he brings this out, there's always the individual exhortation. Because, brethren, we are no more collectively than we are individually. Why is it? And again, I want to be very, very careful. Because, brethren, if I have to point the finger this afternoon, I have to point it at my own heart.
And I have to leave it there. But you know, why is it so often we, especially perhaps in the local meeting where we come from, we feel so weak. We don't always feel the leading of the spirit of God. There isn't, perhaps, the testimony in the gospel that there ought to be. We don't see souls saved or come into further knowledge of the truth. Sometimes there's just not the attendance of the meetings that we'd like to see.
We can't be anymore collectively than we are individually, because it does start with the individual walk. And so he has to remind them here not to walk as they as they as as ye henceforth walked. In other words, don't go back to the way you lived before. I believe, brethren, if we can just bring this down very practically this afternoon.
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What he's saying, and the burden perhaps on my own heart, is don't.
Go back to what we once were. There needs to be progress and growth in our Christian life and our Christian walk. It's so easy sometimes to let things slip. Can you think of a time in your Christian life when your walk was more steady for the Lord? Can you think of a time when you had more of a purpose in your Christian pathway and perhaps more of a focus on Christ than you do today?
Well then, brethren, we need this exhortation. At least I do not to slip back. What God wants in our lives is not just a good beginning. He doesn't want just a flash in the pan, as the world would say. We see This, I believe very sadly exemplified in the life of Demas. Dimas is a young man in scripture that we're not told a great deal about. 3 little comments about him in three places.
In Paul's epistles. And yet those 3 mentions, I believe, speak volumes.
Because we find that at the beginning Dimas was following the Lord with a real desire to serve.
With the Apostle Paul he had a real heart for, shall I say, the mission field.
He had a real heart to visit his brethren and to walk to please the Lord.
But you know, at the end Paul had to say, Dimas hath forsaken me. Having loved this present age. Now I realized Dimas didn't forsake the Lord, and we're going to see Dimas another day, but that purpose that he once had was not there any longer. Something had come in, wasn't that he was following this present evil age like you get in the book of Galatians. No props was nothing evil he was going on with, and perhaps he was still to some degree enjoying and serving the Lord.
But it wasn't like before, so I say the purpose and the steadiness was not there.
And he wasn't following, along with the apostle Paul and others who were associated with Paul.
Like he once was. Well, brethren, I say, if I have to point the finger as to these exhortations, I have to point it at my own soul. But you know, perhaps what exercises my own soul will exercise yours. And if that is the truth, then so be it. I have to leave it with the Lord. But now let's go on to the fifth chapter, where we have three more exhortations. And these exhortations in the 5th chapter. These exhortations, I believe, follow along.
In a very important order, let's notice the first one by reading.
Ephesians chapter 5 and verse one and two. Be therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us. An offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor We're going to see in this chapter with the three exhortations. We are first of all to walk in love, then we are to walk in light.
And then we are to walk in wisdom, and I suggest that the order in which they are given is important.
It's first of all in love, brethren. I believe this is so necessary, so vital in our Christian life. And it's interesting in Ephesians, whether it is our individual walk, our collective walk, or whether it's in the family circle that is. Later on in this chapter he speaks of husbands and wives. The standard is Christ and that interesting, the standard for love in our Christian life.
Is Christ, you know, in Colossians in connection with the husband and wife. The husband is to love his wife and be not bitter against her. But here in this epistle, he is to love his wife as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. You know, I've met a lot of Colossians husbands. I'm not sure I've met so many ephesian husbands, but that is the standard that God has set before us. And so that is the standard that he has set before us here in connection with our walk.
We are to walk in love, you know. It's remarkable and noteworthy that in the final words of the Lord Jesus as he addressed the disciples in the upper room before he went to the cross.
He said shut, And I'll purposely misquote this to make my point. He he said There By this show all men know that ye are my disciples if you keep my truth. Or did he say, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you walk in the path of faith I've set before you. Neither of those is what he said. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one for another.
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That practical love expressed in our walk is our greatest testimony to the world.
Because as young people, we used to sing that hymn. Your walk speaks so loud that the world can't hear what you say.
And you know, we again, we can have all the truth down. But you know the problem with the Ephesians Saints was.
That by the time John wrote to them later on the 2nd Epistle of Ephesians in the Book of Revelation chapter 2.
In that second epistle to the Ephesians, they still had the doctrine down pat. They were even able to detect the false apostles. But the problem was they left their first love and that is a a course of things that the church collectively has never returned to. But make no mistake about it, that doesn't mean a individual can't be in the enjoyment of first love or perhaps even the meeting where you come from. They we can be in the enjoyment of first love, the fervor of first love, and that's what he desires.
So he sets Christ before us as that perfect standard. The one who offered himself without spot to God, the love of Christ in dying on the cross was not just for you and for me.
The obedience of Christ and the love of Christ was first and foremost.
That motive of love and obedience to His Father's will. And that is the way you and I are to walk through this world.
To have that same love and desire that the Lord Jesus had to please his his God and to fulfill the will of of the one that sent sent him. And again in the upper room the Lord Jesus exhorted the disciples that they loved one another. But he didn't stop there. You know, the law said that we were there. A man was to love his neighbor as himself. We are to love one another in Christianity. But the Lord said.
That they were to We are to love one another as I have loved you. The same love that the Lord Jesus had in going to the cross for his Father, and the same love that he has for his own, are to be the standard of love for our walk through this, through this world, and so walk in love as Christ hath loved us, we think of that unconditional love that He had for us and that desire to offer himself without spot to God.
I say that ought to be the motivation, the springboard for that practical love expressed in our walk as we go through this world with our fellow believer. So first of all in this chapter were to walk in love, but now drop down to the eighth verse.
Chapter 8, Chapter 5 and verse 8. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord?
Walk as children, as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all good goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable to unto the Lord. Here we find that we are not not just in darkness, but we have a nature that an old nature that is darkness, that was darkness. And so here we're we're told to walk as children. You're in the light, You're light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light, we have been brought into a new position. Now, now in First John, that position is brought before us because we are in the Light in First John. And if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light, we have fellowship, one with another and so on. Being in the Light has brought us into fellowship with the Father, with his son, and as a result with one another. But are we walking as children of Light? Again? I want to make this exceedingly practical. Are we taking up with those things?
That have to do with darkness, the dark, the moral and spiritual darkness of this world.
Again, the enemy is right there to bring those things before us, you know?
When I was going to high school in Smiths Falls In Smiths Falls is just a small town of some 9000.
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I've often said that we had to go out and look for trouble, and some of us found plenty of it. Sad to say, but you know, when my girls went to the same schools that I went to, they didn't have to go and look for trouble. The darkness, the moral darkness, spiritual darkness has so deepened over the Western world that it's right there and it's so accessible. It's so easy. And you know what I'm talking about? You can go home tonight and push a button. You can look at a screen and there are the works of darkness.
Those things that defile. Those things that the world takes up with.
Immorality and all those things that I know you young people are bombarded with on every hand.
But he exhorts us here not to walk in darkness, not to walk. We I realize positionally we're brought into the light, but practically speaking, we can take up with those things that are connected with the darkness of this world. We are to walk as the children of light. Is that the way we are walking through this world now? I'll just say this. And again, it's a little parenthesis. I realize it's not really the context here.
But I'll just say this too, in connection with the resources that we have to walk as children of light, we have many things. But two things in this regard come to mind. One, we have a conscience. And the conscience is like the eye. And it says in Matthew and again in Luke, that if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But there's something else that must go with the conscience, and that is the light of God's word.
Because we might have 2020 vision, but if we walk in a dark room.
We're gonna stumble. We're gonna fall over things. You say what I've got 2020 vision. What's the difference? Well, you turn the light on, and now you see all the things that are there. And now you can walk according to the light. God has given us a conscience. That's like the eye. But the conscience must have light and direction. And where is it going to get that light and direction? Thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path. You need we need light for our pathway through this world so that we can walk as the children of light.
Then I want to notice the 7th and last exhortation still in this same 5th chapter.
Drop down to the 15th verse, seeing then the Ewoks circumspectly not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Well, here we're told to walk in wisdom, so we've had an exhortation to walk in love. We're to walk as the children of light, but now we're to walk in wisdom. We're to walk wisely through this world. We see that with many in scripture.
Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're commended because they were wise in their reactions and how they walked, even when they came to Babylon, which was a very different day than when they had been home in Judea. And so we are to walk circumspectly. I remember looking up the word circumspect in a Webster's dictionary, and this is what it said, circumspect, careful to consider all circumstances and consequences.
I thought that was very good. You know, every step we take in our Christian pathway has a consequence. Every step we take is going to have a consequence. It's going to have a consequence either for our good and blessing or it's going to have a consequence that we're going to have to reap to our sorrow. Sometimes it's something that we reap and then it's past. Sometimes it's something we may reap for the rest of our lives.
There were those in the Old Testament who had to reap for the rest of their lives and even for generations to come. Because they sold, they weren't careful to consider in the steps they took the circumstances and consequences. Again, it's often been pointed out, but Abraham when Abraham sinned, Ishmael and his descendants have become the constant enemies of the people of God and having just come back from the.
Middle East a few weeks ago. You can see very clearly how those consequences are still there today. Every man's sword is still against his brother, as God said it would be. We find with David when he sinned, he was happily, like Abraham, happily restored to the Lord because there is always restoration. But a sword never departed from his house forever. There were consequences not only for him, but for his family.
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And for generations to come, Oh, be careful. We're to walk circumspectly, not as fools. That is the person who doesn't know the Lord. They just live for the moment. They just live for, for for today. I've often said that the frequent flyer program for Air Canada is called Aeroplan, and its motto is live for the moment. Doesn't that sum up the spirit of the age? Today, people are just living for the moment.
I know that's just a slogan to get people to fly with Air Canada and a Star Alliance airline and get accumulate your miles and your status and get your rewards. But I say that is the spirit of the age, that's walking as fools, That's not circumspectly, that's not wisely. And then he says redeeming the time because the days are evil. I mentioned this earlier, but you know, to walk for the Lord and to live for him, whether it's in our testimony to the world.
Or our interactions with one another for good and blessing. There's no shortage of opportunities.
To redeem the time is really to buy up every opportunity. And I don't believe, brethren, we have to get up in the morning and ask the Lord for opportunities to live for him and to walk for him as much as we need to get up in the morning and pray that we will be walking in such a way and wisely with discernment to use the opportunities that are presented to us. They're there on every hand. And so I realize we've taken up these seven exhortations so very, very quickly this afternoon.
But I trust you'll go back over them. You know, ministry on an occasion like this is really to give an outline.
And hopefully to whet the appetite of each one of us that we would search these things out further.
These are very practical exhortations that we have in this wonderful book of Ephesians. But again, I say, as I said at the beginning, sound doctrine is to lead to sound behavior. And God has a path of faith. He has a walk for you and me. We're going to take that last step any moment. You know, we're not gonna walk by faith. We don't have a path of faith in the in the heaven. When we get to glory, it's something that's only given to us for this, this life.
If there's just a few more steps left, isn't it wonderful to be exercised, to walk according to his will, and according to his word that he might have the joy of saying, Well done, Thou, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.