We
see all this through Scripture where over and over that, especially,
the nation of Israel had no faith, as a nation. Only a few
individuals were account as righteous, that was the unfortunate
part. Because God required them all to come around as one. Also
in the nation of Israel, we find the Messiah came to presented
Himself to be their King, but in a most unlikely fashion. And
because they couldn’t believe a word that God said, through the Old
Testament prophets, what was their attitude? "Nothing good can
come out of the city of Nazareth." After His 3 and a half years
of performing miracles, signs and wonders, because of their unbelief
as a nation of fools, if you please, what did they do? They crucified
Him! So we see all through human history, that a person who
refuses to believe the Word of God in actuality becomes a fool in
God’s sight. He is a man who says, "No to God!" Now we
can carry this thought on to what is all around us in our time also.
Because any one who willfully disesteems God by doing the every
things He has put aside is also saying, No God! I will do it
my way and that is spiritual fornication and idolatry. Their idol of
worship is SELF in obdurate pride.
So
do not walk as someone who does not believe a thing that God says, we
are supposed to walk as people of trusting faith, knowing that the
Word is true. I am thinking of a fellow sitting in front of us, as we
were having coffee, that had a stencil on the back of his shirt that
said, "Eternity! Have you thought about it?" That
made such an impression on us, and I hope it did on the others that
were there. Think on that. How many people today even stop for 5
seconds, to consider eternity? It is quite a thought isn’t it?
Eternity is out there, and it is not just a figment of our
imagination, it is real, there is an eternity that is never ending.
We have two choices in this matter. It can either be in God’s
presence or it can be separation from God forever. So again, the fool
says, "No, God, there is no eternity to concern myself about.
I’m going to live it up here and now." But here in Ephesians
Paul says, "Don’t be the fool."
Ephesians
5:15
"See
then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise*."
*people
of trusting faith, spiritually awake as wise. We are Wise because we
are the righteousness of God when we are become spiritual.
When we have become spiritually awake, it is then that it can be said, that we are redeeming the time.
Ephesians
5:16
"Redeeming
the time, because the days are evil."
Paul
wrote that in, approximately 60 something AD. The world was just as evil
then as it is now. The only difference was that there were fewer
people on the earth at that time. But in the realm of the Roman
Empire, we were just reading again the other night a series of
biographies of something like 15 or 20 Romans emperors, that of
course was Rome on the decline. These were just very short
biographies of a paragraph or two long. Do you know that out of those
20 or so biographies, there were only two of those fellows that lived
out a normal life span, that were buried in a normal old age? All the
rest of them were murdered while they were in office. Emperor after
Emperor was either poisoned, or killed one way or another, and died
by a violent act except two.
Those
that watched the documentary that traced the steps of the Apostle
Paul, saw the evidence of the horror of immorality that was
rampant everywhere the Apostle Paul went. So don’t think that
this is anything new. Remember back in the 1970’s when we came out of
the hippie movement of the 60’s and they were talking about the new
morality? Well way back then we said that it’s not a new morality,
it’s the same old immorality that has plagued the human race from
day one, nothing has changed. So what Paul says here in verse 16.
Ephesians
5:16
"Redeeming
the time, because the days are evil."
Paul
wasn’t looking ahead 2000 years and seeing our day per say. It was
evil in his day. It was rotten and that is why the Roman Empire
fell. It was rotten to the core. Political corruption, economically
corruption, morally corruption, and consequently the empire fell. We are
seeing basically the same thing here in western civilization. Do not
think for a moment that America is alone in their immorality and spiritual idolatry. It is
just the fact that the days are evil. So we are to redeem the time,
buy it up, use it to the fullest extent, study God and His word, become spiritually discerning.
Ephesians
5:17
"Wherefore
be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
And
there is only one way that you will find the will of the Lord, and
that is to get into the Bible! When we get into the Bible, with an attitude of a child, then
things began to happen. As you know we are not a prosperity
preacher. We do not tell people, if you do this and do that,
you’ll become a millionaire. In fact anything but. We had a
gentlemen tell us one morning, that he had been doing just that,
and now he was bankrupt. We told him, he deserved it, tough love,
huh? But I told him, I did not feel a bit sorry for him, because
there’s nothing in this Bible that substantiates that kind of
behavior. You are to be prudent, you are to be wise, you are to
use things according to the Scriptures. And not according to these
ole buddies that are out there giving you all this old hoopla that
you can become rich giving to them. You will never find that in Paul or in his
teaching to us in this Age of Grace, to do anything like that.
You are not going to tweak God’s nose, He is not a Santa Claus.
So we are not to be unwise. Only those as stated above where I said, "I will do it
my way and that is spiritual fornication and idolatry. Their idol of
worship is SELF in obdurate pride", will propagate that kind of gospel.
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