I invite you to go to your Bibles or to use your bulletins for our passage this afternoon, which is from Ephesians chapter 5, verses 15 through 21. Ephesians 5, 15 through 21, as we continue walking through the book of Ephesians. Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that One day you, before the foundation of the world, choose us to be your people, to be here today. You appointed us to receive the Holy Spirit and be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And through that, having understanding of your will, having understanding of your word. So we thank you that We have this great privilege that our eyes are open. The eyes of our hearts were opened by you to read your word. And we take this opportunity also to pray for the eyes of those that we know that still don't know you, that they might be open as well, that you might send the Holy Spirit to them. Even at this very moment, if they hear this word from your Bible, your holy scriptures. Help us, Lord, not just to hear with our reasoning, but also with our hearts. Help us, Lord, to be ministered by your word, to be encouraged and empowered, and to leave this place or to close our computers with a renewed understanding of the gospel. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Back in Colombia, I used to serve in my father's church as an intern while I was in seminary. And there were two streams that I encounter over there often as I interacted with people from other churches or friends or denominations. One stream is what I would call the gospel of works, which I don't think is a right word to describe it because if it's a gospel, and is of works, and the gospel means good news, I don't think that it's good news that you have to be saved by works. That's actually the worst news that you could ever hear, that your salvation depend on you. And the other one is a distorted version of grace. There was a distorted version of grace. That gospel of works I encountered when I met with friends from some charismatic churches who will say, I believe that salvation is by grace because they read it in the Bible and it's clear, salvation is by grace. And I believe that salvation is not by works because the Bible also said, very clear, but when it comes to talk about losing or winning your salvation, they will say, if I don't remain faithful, if I don't do this or that, I might lose my salvation, especially if Jesus Christ comes on a day when I just sing. And then I might lose my salvation. So in fact, though they said that they do not believe in a gospel of works, but of grace, they in practice were believing in a gospel of works. And the problem, or I would say, rather than using the word gospel as salvation by works, And I will say that that end affecting how they experience their relationship with God. There is no joy of being safe because there is no certainty about salvation. A similar experience I have had when I talk with an imam in a mosque where he was teaching some Muslims that there was no certainty about salvation, that you need to wait until the end to see if Allah give you the path into his heaven or not. Now, the other stream was a distorted version of grace, and I heard this from some churches that I would call them rather than churches, cults, or yeah, cults, and you might find some of them actually right now here in South Philly, where they have taken the gospel and they have taken the teaching of Paul on grace as if it's a license for sinning. Meaning that God gave you salvation that is by grace alone, which is true. But that means that because of that, you are actually in a sense encouraged to go on and live as you please and give freedom to your sinful desires. And these two streams are far away from what the message of the gospel is. But they actually have something in common. The thing that they have in common is actually what Paul emphasizes through his letters. And it's that they miss the reality that when you are saved by the grace of God and when salvation comes to you, it not only affects your destiny, It doesn't only affect the day when you will appear before God at the final judgment that you will be justified because of what Christ did on the cross and how that was counted as your righteousness, but it also affects your life here on earth. Because regeneration, which is the work of the Holy Spirit that comes to you and gives you faith and understanding of the gospel and the ability to trust in Jesus for salvation, also gives you a new life. You are empowered by the power of the Holy Spirit, by God, to live a new life. You don't have to wait until the end. Right now, if you are a Christian, God has empowered you to live a new life, to walk a new walk. And this is why I think that it is important that We talk about the doctrine of total depravity, which is that humans are totally depraved before God. There is nothing in them that is good before God. And the fact that Christians continue to struggle with what we call our sinful natures. We also need to talk about the fact that we have a new life, that we have been empowered to walk a new walk. that there is a new, that we are new creatures in Christ, and that we are hoping and looking forward and walking towards glorification, that wonderful day when Christ will come and we will be transformed and sin will be no more. But in the meantime, God has empowered you, Christian, and me to walk as new creatures. as God wants us to walk. And this is why this topic of walking is very relevant and important in Paul's letters. For example, when we have been going through Ephesians, Paul started to introduce it again in Ephesians in chapter four, when he starts in verse one, when he says, I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. And then he goes back in chapter 4 verse 12 to say, now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. And again in chapter 5, as he opens this chapter, he says this, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." So that shows us that this topic and this theme of walking before the Lord is really important. Paul is really concerned that we get it, that we understand that. And as I have mentioned before in previous Sundays, you see there is the transition between Paul teaching us the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ and then he transfers or he move towards teaching us how we are called to live. Be what you are is what Paul is telling you through walking in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And then here in the test that we are reading today, Paul starts in the same way. He starts saying, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. And I think that one thing that you right away could realize and see that is important is that Paul is telling you, look carefully. One thing is for me to tell you, hey, please do this, or simply say, do this before I come back, whatever that is. And another thing is that I will tell you, look carefully to do this before I come back. Because that is actually highlighting that thing that he is calling us to do. I think that when Paul says, look carefully, you could see this as Paul is calling us to a intentional walk before the Lord. And what I mean by an intentional walk before the Lord is that as Christian you can wake up, go out of your house, and go about your business, whatever that is, in your job or school or whatever you are doing, without being intentional about walking before the Lord the way he want us to walk. So basically what Paul is saying here is look carefully, is test Your thoughts, your actions, make sure that they are in line with what God wants us to do. And at this moment, you can wonder, or you might ask this question to yourself, do I look carefully how I walk? Did I look carefully how I walk before the Lord this past week? Is that something that I actually do? Do I pay attention and consider and ponder and compare my walk before the Lord with what the Word of God teach me about my walk before the Lord? And then Paul move to say two things here, which is not as unwise, but as wise. And what is the definition of wisdom? Of course, if you go to the world, the world, or you Google it, or you find it anywhere, you will find all kinds of definitions. But as Christians, when Paul is telling us to walk in a wise way, he is telling us to walk in a wise way according to what God defined as wisdom. Proverbs 9, 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is inside. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Walking in fear before the Lord is the wisest thing that anybody else, anybody in the world can do. Think about that. God, creator of everything, the one who sustains everything, the one who holds our present and our future, the one to whom we owe everything, of course we need to walk in fear before the Lord. And fear here is not referring just to be afraid, but in respect, in worship, in adoration, in recognition of who He is. That is wisdom, walking before the Lord in fear. And one of the examples or practical things that Paul says here regarding our walk before the Lord in fear is that we make the best use of the time. We make the best use of the time. And again, if you go out to the world, people will have different definitions for making the best use of the time. For people in businesses in the world, people who do not know God as their God and Jesus as their Savior, the best use of their time is making sure that they work hard and make a lot of money. For people that are pursuing careers and their names to be written in some papers or things like that, they make sure that they work hard studying and doing the best that they can to succeed in their careers because for them, that is the best use of their time. But the question again is for us, what is the best use of our times as believers, as Christians? I think that is connected with what we see in verse 17, where Paul says, therefore do not be foolish, but understand the will of the Lord, what the will of the Lord is. And when Paul here says the will of the Lord, you can right away think about two aspects of the will of the Lord. The will of the Lord is revealed in His word, the will of commandments. Somebody said if you want to hear God's voice, just read the word allow. So you will hear him speaking to you. The will of the Lord is written here for us. But also it's true that in our daily lives and decisions that we make, we are called to prayerfully discern what the will of the Lord is. Because there are things that are, in a sense, neutral, that are not describe here that both probably decisions that you have in front of you are good decisions, but you want to know what God wants you to do. And I don't want to tell you right now that I have the key for that because everybody has to experience that their own way, but I think that one important thing is that you have to pray, that you have to pray that God show you what is His will and also that you are willing to follow His will. I love hearing one sister the other day when we were talking and she was sharing her plans with another friend of mine and she was saying all the things that she wanted to do and these were things that were very exciting for her. But at the end of her conversation, she was acknowledging that if this wasn't God's will, That she will be okay with that. That if things will not go the way she wanted, that she will be okay with that. And I think that that's very important and sometimes very difficult for us because it's difficult to remove our desires and things that we want to do from our prayers. But if we don't do that, if we don't go to God praying maybe your will at the end, you might be discontent with what God is giving to you and try to do something that is not what God is calling you to do. So in other words, before we go and pray about God's will, we are called to come and submit ourselves to God's will, understanding that God's will is always perfect. But here in the context of what Paul is saying, We look carefully how we walk, right? As Christians, we are called to look carefully how we walk, and looking carefully how we walk is making the best use of our time. And what is the best use of our time? We discern that through understanding God's will in our lives. And this is something, brothers and sisters, that each one of us individually need to apply to our own lives. as we consider these verses. And my hope is that as you go this way, you start to look carefully how you use your time in a manner that honors God in everything that you do. The second thing that Paul tell us about this careful walk before the Lord is that we are exhorted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here Paul tells in verse 18, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. I don't think that Paul's main point here is about drinking or not drinking, though he is giving clear wisdom from God about not getting drunk, which is not honoring God. But Paul's main point here, I think, is that he's making a contrast and a comparison between these two things. One is to see somebody who is drunk, and the other person is a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit. Basically, the comparison could be that a person who is under the influence of alcohol is led by alcohol. Alcohol is his leader. He's the one who is moving him. This is why we say he's under the influence of alcohol. While a person who is filled by the Spirit is led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the one who is moving the person to make X or Y decisions and act in certain way. That's the comparison, but the contrast also is that while a person who is drunk lost control of himself, the Bible teaches us that when a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, exercise self-control. exercise self-control. Therefore, as we look carefully in the way we walk before God, one of the things that we have to do is pursue or seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, what does that mean? You may wonder at this point. Because don't we say that when a person is Christian is he filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes, it is. Nobody comes to faith in Christ unless that person has been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. So Paul here is not talking about a second work of grace as some people have used these verses to say that you add more of the Spirit in order to get something special. And in some charismatic movements, we saw, especially I saw in Colombia, that a sign for that being filled with the Holy Spirit was that the person would speak in tongues. But this is not what Paul is talking about here. It's true that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit since the day the Holy Spirit comes to them. It's true that that doesn't come because they ask for that, because faith comes from God, it's a gift from God. We are dead. And the Holy Spirit takes over control of our lives. But also we see Paul asking in other parts, asked to pray or he praying that God sends the Holy Spirit to believers. And that is a prayer that we all as Christians should pursue, which is that the Holy Spirit will be leading our lives. That we will be filled with the Holy Spirit. that as drunkards, those people who get drunk, are under the influence of alcohol in their decisions, we will be under the influence of the Spirit as we walk, as we make best of use of our time, as we discern the will of God. And what Paul does in the following verse is that he gives you five markers, or four markers, sorry, of what is a life, or what a life, feel of the Holy Spirit looks like. The first one, he says, is addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. John Stott and James Boyce will agree that when we read this, Paul might be referring to Christian fellowship. Because he's talking about addressing one another, members of the body of Christ, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. I will go to say that he's actually telling you the way we believers talk to each other as we have fellowship with one another. We talk to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It's not that after we finish this service, everybody's going to be singing to each other here in the service, though that would be a beautiful thing to see. But it's more that we are instructed by the Word of God in the way we treat one another. But a person who is filled by the Holy Spirit is a person who pursue this fellowship. This is why Christians are always looking forward to moments when we can gather together for worship, for sharing with one another God's Word, for being built with one another with God's Word, and just to break bread together and enjoy Christian fellowship. The other market of a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit is that a person filled by the Holy Spirit is somebody who is seeking for worship. Says as continues in verse 19, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. And that's what we do when we gather together for worship. And I think that something that is important for us as Christians is that as we have our bulletins and as we follow these hymns and we sing to the Lord, that we reflect if this is coming from our hearts. If this is just not simply us just following along and just singing, but this is coming from our hearts. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, move us to worship, to worship God. The third is A life filled with the Holy Spirit is a life that is thankful, that is moved to thanksgiving. Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw last week how important thanksgiving Especially if you remember that covetousness is actually at the heart or the root of many of our sins, which is idolatry, desiring something that does not belong to us. And the solution that Paul was providing for that sin, which is idolatry, is thanksgiving. But instead, he said in previous verses, be thankful. A life filled by the Holy Spirit is a life that is thankful for what God has done in us. We come together, we hear the Gospel preached to us, we are reminded of the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ, we are reminded of the future eternity that we have in Christ, we are reminded of all these wonderful things. On top of all the other blessings that each one of us as Christians receive throughout the week, we are moved to thank God for that. The Holy Spirit move our hearts to see this goodness, Christ's goodness, God's goodness, and to thank God. And the other marker is that a life filled with the Holy Spirit submit to one another. Look what he says in verse 21. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. That is also a very prominent topic of Paul throughout his letters. Think about all the instance in which he surrendered his rights for the sake of gaining some. Like when he was at Corinth and he worked with his hands so his ministry would not be a burden for those believers. Also, as he exhorts us, when we read 1 Corinthians 8, not to judge those who are weak because of their former association with sin. And then he goes to say that if it's for the sake of them, he will never eat meat if that will remove a burden for them. But also, when Paul here talks about submitting to one another in reverence of Christ, for Christ, is that covenant that as Christians we do when we become members of the church. that we are submitting to our elders, but also we are submitting to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Because when you become a member, you are signing up for Matthew 18, right? You are signing up for saying, I'm willing to hear my brother coming to me and telling me that I am doing wrong. Sometimes those contracts are like those contracts that has more letters that you don't read it and you just sign papers and you don't realize until the moment when you have, oh, there you go. I didn't know that. But that's the truth. As Christians, within the body of Christ, being filled by the Holy Spirit, we are called to submit to one another. Why? Because this is gonna help us with our careful walk before the Lord. Now brothers and sisters, you're gonna go out from here today, and there is a big chance that you might forget a lot of what I said. But I actually encourage you to think about just the first line of verse 15. Look careful, brother and sister, how you walk. No out of fear, but in thankfulness for what Christ have done for us. No out of fear or because it's a gospel of works, but because you have a new life in Christ. Because you have been empowered to live this new life. Because many times what we have to tell ourself is we can do better. Not because we are doing it on our own, but because we are doing it through the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work in us. That's why Paul, again, after reminding us of what we are in Christ, sought us to be what we are, because we need to remember that The good news are not just that at the end of our days, when we will appear before God, we will be justified, but today you are a new creature. God has given you new life. You have a new spirit renewed by the power of Christ. So brothers and sisters, let us look careful how we walk. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you that You are not calling us to do things that we are unable to do because you are the one who has empowered us through the renewal of our minds, through changing our hearts, through giving us a heart of flesh. Today, we thank you for that grace, that wonderful grace that has made us new people. Help us, Lord, to start this week being intentional about our walk. Help us, Lord, not to go through the motions in the things that we do at work, school, or wherever we are, but to consider if our decisions and what we are doing is for your glory and honor. We thank you all these things in Jesus' name, amen.