We're going to be looking at Ephesians chapter 5. Actually, I probably shouldn't have told you to be seated, so I'll give you a second to sit. Enough. Let's stand together. Ephesians chapter 5, just a short passage this morning, beginning in verse 15. Hear the words of the living God. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." May the Lord add His blessing to this, the reading of His Word. You may be seated. And those who are going, now is the time. The law, which we read primarily in the Old Testament, tells us how to live, but because of sin, human beings are incapable of obeying the law, at least not perfectly, so the law, in the end, only condemns us. Because we're sinful, the law just points out our inability, points out our sinfulness, and condemns us. The law condemns, but the law itself can never save. Now, when we get to the New Testament, the gospel, which is revealed more fully in the New Testament, and I say that because the gospel's throughout the Old Testament, true, but it's in shadows and in types, and it's not as easy to see, except when the New Testament begins, The gospel reveals that Jesus came to save His people from their sins. Is that a good place to say amen or what? He came to save His people from their sins. That is, from the condemnation of the law and from our enslavement or bondage to our sin. The gospel, I hope you're listening carefully, the gospel frees us from the condemnation of the law, but as the New Testament tells us, the Apostle Paul makes it very clear, the law is still holy. The law is still righteous, the law is still good, and we are not free, as those who are Christians, we are not free from the obligation to seek to live according to the law, not in order to be saved, because it could never save, and it has never saved anyone, but now that we are saved, this deliverance that we have, not only from sin's penalty, but from sin's power, enables us to now, we can begin to live Not according to the letter of all especially all of the old ceremonial law, etc But to the spiritual concepts and to the moral truths that are found in God's law of stuff I think about it folks if I can just interrupt myself to say this so many of us we make this mistake We think oh, we're saved from the condemnation of the law We're saved from the penalty of sin and now it doesn't matter how we live not so If sin is against God and if sin is what has destroyed us, salvation means we want to turn from sin. That's why the New Testament calls us not only to believe, but to repent, to turn from sin. We are not free from any obligation to the truths found in God's law. Rather, we are free from our inability to obey God's law. The New Testament, not just the Old, but the New Testament is filled with instruction about how to live, not to be saved, but because we have been saved by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ saves us, first, by His sinless life for us, and second, by His death on the cross for us. The gospel is revealed by God's grace alone. It is received by faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. And as I said, one of the biggest mistakes Christians make is to think that since salvation is by God's grace, how we live is irrelevant. How we live as Christians is irrelevant. No, no. It's very relevant. Nothing could be further from the truth that the idea that obedience doesn't matter. Well, we are not saved by our works. If you remember back in Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9, we're not saved by our good works. No, no, no. Not at all. But the next verse, the one that we tend to forget sometimes, Ephesians 2, verse 10, says we are saved for good works. Good works that God has ordained beforehand that we should walk in them. We are saved, not by good works, but for good works. God proactively, He works on our behalf. He proactively saves us by His grace. And then, once we're saved, we live responsively. We're responding. His grace initiates, but our lives are lived in grateful obedience as a response. We respond to His love by what? Loving Him. We respond to Christ's giving of His life for us by us living our lives for Him. It's a response. It's a response to grace. Well, we get to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1 through 7 instructs us that because of grace we are to walk. And remember, we've discussed the idea that when Paul uses, in fact, elsewhere in the New Testament as well, but the word walk means live. It's how we live. He instructs us in verse 1 through 7 to walk or to live in love, imitating Christ. And then in verses 8 through 14, he instructs us to walk or to live in the light. And then in verses 15 through 17, which we're looking at now this morning, it continues by instructing us that we are to walk or to live in wisdom. in love, in light, and in wisdom. Now, before getting into the specifics of the text this morning, which I promise we will do, let me share some important biblical truths regarding wisdom. This is a subject that is very important, and it's one that's often, I think, neglected, is the importance of wisdom. So, if you're looking at your notes, it's finally time to start writing. Some of you have been kind of trembling with your hand there, wondering how to write something, how to write something. What is wisdom and how do we, the blank is, get it? How do we get it? How do we acquire this wisdom? Well, the book of Proverbs, if you want to turn to the book of Proverbs, turn to Proverbs chapter 1 if you'd like to follow along. I'm going to be referencing a few verses here. In the book of Proverbs, the book of Proverbs is primarily about wisdom. Proverbs 1 verses 1 through 6 gives us instruction about wisdom, gives us an introduction to what wisdom is all about. Now, I'm not going to read these six verses for you, but if you look at them, you'll be able to follow along with what I'm going to say. Proverbs 1, verses 2 and 3 tells us, and you can jot down notes for those of you who want to write, wisdom is not merely knowing, but understanding. Wisdom is not merely knowing, but understanding. It is the ability, I like to use other words sometimes as synonyms to help us get some focus on the meaning of the word, it's the ability to discern. It is the ability to make sound judgments. Wisdom is discretion. I love that word discretion. What is discretion? Discretion means knowing what's appropriate. Wisdom teaches that. Now, I'm sure all of us have known people, maybe some of us have even been these people, hopefully none of us are that today, who have all kinds of knowledge about a lot of things, but they ain't got a lick of wisdom. They know all kinds of stuff, but they don't seem to know how to put it together about how to live. So wisdom, he begins in verses 2 and 3, wisdom is not merely knowing but understanding. In verse 4, wisdom can be had, of course, by God's grace, by those who in the world's eyes are simple Even those who are young and lack experience. This is encouragement for young people. Don't think that wisdom is something that you can only get when you're old. Trust me, there's no fool like an old fool, and there's plenty of people who got plenty of frost on the roof and still don't have a lick of wisdom. Age doesn't guarantee wisdom. It should help, but it doesn't always guarantee it. The good news, young people, is that if you will seek God's wisdom, you can have God's wisdom as a youth. In Psalm 119, there's a verse that talks about, because of your word, I have more wisdom even than the ancients, even than the older people. Verse 5, the person with wisdom is constantly and continually learning. There's no end. Once you have wisdom, you want more. You want more. Those who are satisfied with where they are lack wisdom. In verse 6, wisdom enables a person to understand what others think is mysterious. What others say, well, no one could ever know that. You know, I'll just give you an example. And I don't mean to put anybody down, but there's a lot of people who pridefully say, well, I'm an agnostic. Of course, if we know what that word means, we shouldn't be so proud about it. It means ignoramus. It means I don't have any knowledge. I'm an agnostic. I don't know. Listen, God is a mystery to those who don't know him. And they even think, well, since I don't know him, since I don't know him, nobody can know him. No, wisdom reveals the truth and the reality of what the rest of the world might think is impossible to know. It was impossible to know. Things that are puzzling to the world, things that are difficult to, or maybe even impossible to understand, things that are enigmas get unwrapped and we can understand things when we have God's wisdom, particularly in spiritual matters, but not exclusively. And then that's followed by verse 7. The first six verses tell us what wisdom is. Verse seven gives us the first step, the most important step in how to get wisdom. So if you're jotting down notes, the first step in getting wisdom, according to verse seven, let me read the verse, it'll be helpful. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. That verse tells us the first step in getting it. So if you're jotting down notes, the first step in getting wisdom is the fear of God. The fear of God. The Bible repeatedly contrasts two kinds of wisdom. Can you guess which two they are? It's the world's wisdom and God's wisdom. Worldly wisdom and godly wisdom. Listen, trust me, the Bible makes this very clear. The wisest person in the world who does not know God, according to the Bible, is a fool. Now we don't want to think of ourselves as being something special because we know God. Why do we know God? Because God's been pleased to reveal himself to us. So we can't take the credit for it and say, oh I'm wise and you're an idiot and that must mean something more about me. No, that just means God has been that much more gracious to you. We only know the truth because God revealed it. And many of us remember when we didn't know the truth. And we were just as happy, as dumb as we could be. Foolish as we could be about spiritual things, but God, God is gracious to reveal these things. To know God, listen to me, to know God as He truly is, listen, is to fear Him. Those who say, I know God and they have no fear of God, they don't know Him very well. Does that make sense? When you know God, you know that He is not one to be trifled with. When you know God, even though you know Him as Savior and as Father and all these other positive things, as one who loves us, we have We have maybe an uneasy at times, an uneasy awe, an admiration of Him, a fear of Him that is holy and good. So, as we talk about wisdom this morning, I want you to be very clear, we're talking about two different kinds of wisdom. When Paul tells us to walk in wisdom, He's talking about godly wisdom, not worldly wisdom. Now that pretty much should be a given, but I just want to establish that before we go on. And we might add that another step, the first step in getting wisdom, is to fear God. If you don't fear God, you'll never be wise, no matter how smart you are, right? But there's a second step, and I'm not going to ask you to turn to it. I think I put it in your outline there for you. Another step to get godly wisdom is found in James 1, verses 5-6. Let me just read it to you. If any of you lacks wisdom, think about that. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. That's a wonderful promise. But, he says, let him ask in faith with no doubting, For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. I want you to just take note of just a few truths in this passage about godly wisdom and where to get it. First of all, I want you to notice in that passage, it is addressed to those who lack wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, that's who he's talking to. The reality is, naturally, everyone lacks godly wisdom. We're born in sin, and so we lack godly wisdom directly from the factory, as it were. The problem is most people don't realize that. Most people don't realize that we lack wisdom, especially godly wisdom. So here the first step in acquiring godly wisdom is to realize that you don't naturally have it and that you desperately need it. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask. Second, we need to ask. He says ask. What is asking? Asking is the humble response of one who knows he does not have what he needs. That's also the definition of prayerlessness, by the way. Prayerlessness is a silent declaration to God, I got it. Don't need any help on this. Listen, if you think there's anything in your life you don't need some help with, you're in trouble. You need help to breathe, and you need help for your heart to keep beating, and praise God, God does that. Now, He does those things even if we don't ask, but there are things that He says, ask, and so we pray. We pray and we come to God saying, I can't, you can, please do. Give me what I don't have. Give me what I desperately need. And what we have in view in this particular message is wisdom. But I want you to notice, he doesn't just say, ask. He says, ask of God. Now, why would I want to emphasize that? Well, not just because we're a church, but because Any supposed wisdom, and I mean that word supposed with importance there, any supposed wisdom that does not emanate from God is not wisdom but foolishness. Saints, when will we, the people of God, stop going to the world for worldly wisdom? Constantly going to people who aren't even Christians, much less people who are not counseling from scripture. Trying to get counsel from people who don't know God and don't counsel from His Word. What in the world are we thinking? He says, if you don't have wisdom, ask of God, not the world. Oh, my dear people, we need to get, we need to wise up in this area, if I could say it that way. Not merely wisdom about spiritual matters, but wisdom about spiritual. Listen to me. What area of life could you or could I possibly need wisdom in? What area of life, not just the Bible, not just things that look obviously spiritually, but what area in our lives could we possibly need wisdom in that God doesn't have? Go to God. Don't ask the world. Don't ask the world, go to God. So, let us stop asking the world and let us ask God for wisdom. Third, I want you to notice in this passage in James that God gives His godly wisdom, He gives it liberally. Now that word has been hijacked and it's a mess and it means different things because we think politically a lot of times. Don't think of liberal in the political sense. It means freely. God gives it liberally, He gives it freely, He gives it generously, He gives it abundantly to all who ask Him. And you know another thing I like. You know, a lot of times you say, oh, this may be a dumb question. Somebody says, oh, no, there's no dumb questions. And then you ask the question, and someone says, that was a dumb question. That happened to me in front of a big group of people one time. I was at a conference, and there was a guy who everybody in the conference there knew. And he went by two letters and his last name. I'm not going to say the name. He's in heaven now. And he says, are there any questions? And nobody asked him. He says, there's no dumb questions. So I raised my hand. He goes, yes, real nice, yes. I go, what are those? And I said the two letters. What do those stand for? He goes, that's a stupid question. Any others? Listen, you want good news? If you ask God something that you don't know and don't understand and you need help with, He will not put you down for not knowing. He will abundantly and generously give you wisdom. You've got to ask Him. You've got to realize you don't have it. You've got to realize you desperately need it. And then you've got to ask, and you've got to ask Him. And it's good news. He doesn't put us down for asking for wisdom. Instead, He lifts us up by giving us His wisdom. Fourth, we need to ask in faith. You notice it's right there, verse 6, but let him ask in faith. Now there's a lot of things that could be said about what it means to ask in faith, but let me just say one thing for this morning. Asking God for wisdom in faith, are you listening? It means believing that his wisdom is right and that it is to be followed. Pause. No matter who or how many people in the world or even in the church insist that God's wisdom is not to be followed. Do you follow that? So you ask God for wisdom, you get wisdom from his word, and there are going to be a whole bunch of people that say, no, don't do that. Well, that's crazy. If you follow that, that's not wise. Let me tell you what's wisdom, and then I'll tell you some Hollywood celebrity, because of course they have all wisdom, that's why they're actors. You know what actors are, they're people who look good and can pretend. Why would we go to them? Why would we care what they think? They look good and they pretend. Go to God. and know that he will give you his wisdom. He will give you his wisdom, but if you're going to ask in faith, you're saying, God, tell me your wisdom because I'm going to believe it and I'm going to do it. But if you go to God and say, give me your wisdom and I'll throw it in the hat and decide which one I decide to follow, then you're not going to receive anything. That's what he's saying. One footnote on this, God's wisdom is never out of sync with God's word. You've always got to remember this. Don't make the mistake that so many make, insisting, God told me to do this, God told me to do that, and it's totally at odds with the scripture. And even Christians, and you try to explain to them, you know, that's not what the Bible says. Well, you know, all I prayed and God told me. That's not God's wisdom. God's wisdom is never out of step with God's word. He will never, ever, ever ask anyone to do anything that is not in sync with his word. Well, my situation is different. Well, gee, poor God. He didn't know about you. He didn't know about your situation. You know, you came along and it stumped the chump time and God's like, how did I not know that? No, it's God's wisdom, and God's wisdom is always in sync with God's Word. That means when we ask God for godly wisdom, we had better be looking to His Word for wisdom, not depending on our subjective feelings or on what well-meaning friends or relatives, even Christians, will often give as counsel that is not biblical. Got to know the Word. Well, it's time to write more in your outline. How important is wisdom? How important is wisdom? Proverbs chapter 4 verse 7 says, Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. Let me say that again. Wisdom is the principal thing, get wisdom. And then it goes on, and in all you're getting, get understanding. The word understanding there being a synonym for wisdom. Let me point out just a couple of things about this passage. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom, and in all you're getting, get understanding. The first thing I would want you to understand is that according to God's Word, and you could jot this down, wisdom is the principal thing. Now how did I come to that? It's the words in the Bible. As they say, it's there in black and white, read the black part, it's right there. Wisdom is the principal thing. Godly wisdom is the first thing. Godly wisdom is the thing of greatest importance. Godly wisdom is most to be desired and most ardently sought for. It's that important. Notice, God's Word says, get wisdom. Why? Because, as we've already pointed out, we don't naturally have wisdom, and because we desperately need God. Why would God say, make sure you get this, if we already have it? Why would God say, this is the most important thing to get, but it wasn't really that important? No, He tells us it's the principal thing, because it is the most important, the thing we don't have, and the thing that we most desperately need. Thirdly, God's Word says, I like this one, In all you're getting, get understanding. In all you're getting. Anybody here notice that life is largely, not solely, but life in this world is largely about getting stuff. You know, other than kangaroos who have a pouch, most animals don't carry a lot of stuff around with them. But you know, and I mean, no disrespect for this, I've just given an illustration, even people who are homeless, they'll get a cart somewhere, a shopping cart or something to just, you gotta have stuff. We're funny people, we just keep wanting to collect stuff. Still, there are people in this world who are savers and there's people who are throwers. Let's hear it for the throwers. Anyway, we just want to accumulate and accumulate and accumulate. Life is about getting stuff. Whether we're children and we want more toys, whether we're adults and we want more money or whatever it is, life is about getting stuff. Just think about that. Life is about getting. So God tells us that as we go through this life, getting this, getting that, getting the other, constantly looking for more of whatever it is we have, as all that's going on, we had better not neglect getting wisdom. And all you're getting, make sure you get wisdom. Why? Well, once again, because we do not have it and because we desperately need it. Why? Because godly wisdom is what? It's the principal thing. It's the principal thing. Now, I don't know about you, but as I connect those dots, here's what I come up with at the end. It sounds to me like getting wisdom is pretty important. It's pretty important. Another passage that underscores the importance of godly wisdom, and if you still have your Bible open to Proverbs, it's right there in chapter 1 of Proverbs. Let me just read to you several verses from Proverbs chapter 1, beginning in verse 28. Listen to this. This is God speaking to those who shun His wisdom. He talks about how difficulty will come in their lives, and then he picks up in verse 8, Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. Then they will seek me, oh, diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge, because they did not choose the fear of the Lord. Why the fear of the Lord? It's the first step in getting wisdom. Because they did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel, and despised my every rebuke. Therefore, They shall eat the fruit of their own way. You want the world's wisdom? Then have at it. That's all you'll have in the end. They shall eat the fruit of their own way and will be filled to the full of their own fancies for the turning away of the simple will slay them and the complacency of fools will destroy them. Now here's the good news at the end. There's a little tweak at the end. But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety and will be secure without the fear of evil. You don't think God's wisdom is important? Listen, you can jot this down, a lack of godly wisdom spells disaster. A lack of wisdom, of godly wisdom, spells disaster. Maybe in this life, maybe in the next, for sure in the next. But a lack of godly wisdom spells disaster. The good news in verse 33 is that, and again, if you jot down notes, those who get godly wisdom will enjoy safety and security. And not only in this life, but for sure in the life to come. As we will be safe in the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternity. Well, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, the next thing on your outline is Jesus and wisdom. You know, Jesus made it clear, the whole scriptures are about him, all of it. If you have a Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians. Let me tell you the most important thing that you can know about the connection between Jesus and wisdom. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 24. and particularly the last part of that verse, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Christ, Jesus Christ, is the power of God, Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. Godly wisdom. About the world's supposed wisdom? You don't have to turn to it, but Romans chapter 1 verse 22 says, professing themselves to be wise, themselves meaning people in the world, professing themselves to be wise, thinking that they're so smart and thinking that they've got it all figured out because they've got technology in our day, right? We think we're smart because we have technology. Technology allows we who are not so smart to get along better than we used to, but it doesn't make us any more wise, that's for sure. He says, professing to be wise, they became fools. The more we are on the trajectory of the world's wisdom, the more we are on the downward trajectory away from God's wisdom, away from true wisdom into foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 20, if you've got your Bible still open to that spot, it says that the wisdom of God reveals the wisdom of the world is foolishness. God's wisdom, when you stack it up against the wisdom of the world, once you have it and understand it, then you see... I mean, did anybody else come... have you come to certain points in your life after you were born again and think, what in the world was I thinking? Why was I living like that? Why did I believe those things? It's because you only have the wisdom of the world. But once you're born again, and you now have an appetite and a potential to understand God's wisdom, and as you ask for it, and as you seek it in God's Word, you are going to realize that that which you thought was so wise when you were in the world was a bunch of nonsense. and it would only lead to disaster. 1 Corinthians 1.21 says, the world through its wisdom did not know God. You know what that means? In other words, I like to picture it like this. In other words, if we gathered all the world's wisdom, all of it, all of it, if we could think of it in a sort of material way, it's not. But if we could think of it as a material thing, if we could gather all of the world's wisdom and pile it up in one enormous heap at the very top, at the very pinnacle of the world's wisdom, what would it be? There is no God. which is the absolute most foolish thing in the world. It's the absolute most foolish thing in the world. Jesus Christ, listen to me saints, Jesus Christ is the personification of the wisdom of God. So again, if you jot down notes, we might draw, I want to paint another little word picture here for you, we might draw a parallel between coming to Christ and getting the wisdom of God. Now follow me here, I hope I won't muddle this up too much, but I know you're smart and you can keep up with me even if I'm not the clearest. Just as the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, you listening? Just as the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and just as crying out to God for what we desperately need that we do not have, aren't those two things? The fear of the Lord and crying out to God for what we need and don't have, isn't that the same thing as coming to faith in Christ? Getting God's wisdom, the first steps of getting, are the same first steps of coming to Christ. When we're aware of our sin, we fear God, do we not? When we're aware of Christ's soul sufficiency to meet our greatest need, we cry out to God through Jesus Christ. We cry out to God for Jesus Christ. That's the definition of salvation. It's also the definition of coming to wisdom. Gee, do you suppose Jesus really is the personification of the wisdom of God? I think so. Just as nothing is more important than to get wisdom, nothing is more important than receiving Christ for forgiveness of sins. As Jesus said, what is the profit of man if he gains the whole world? And what? Loses his soul. Listen, without God's wisdom, what do we get from the end of chapter 1 of Proverbs? Without God's wisdom, disaster. And in the same way, without Christ, ultimate disaster. not only in this life, but in that which is to come. A disaster from which there is no escape. A disaster, even as those who are in trouble, who say, oh, help me, God. He goes, I gave you all the help, but you didn't want it, so you're on your own, enjoy it. How many people in those last, I don't know, I don't know, I'm just asking. How many people are gonna say, I should have listened to God, but it will be too late. It's disaster from which there is no mistake. But the good news is, with wisdom is safety and security, and with Christ is eternal safety and eternal security. Are you following this? As we draw what scripture says is a parallel between Christ and wisdom. Just as Jesus fulfilled every point of the law, we know that's basic kind of basic Christianity. Jesus kept the law for we who can't and don't and will not. That's part of what salvation is all about. But you know, in addition to the fact that Jesus fulfilled every point of the law for his people, and he's the only one who's ever done it, have you ever stopped to think about, and you can jot this down, Jesus lived every detail of God's wisdom in the Proverbs. He kept every point of the law, and he kept every detail, he lived every detail of God's wisdom in the Proverbs. Now, some of you are familiar with the Proverbs. You've read it enough times, you're going to know what I'm saying to be true. And those of you who are not very familiar with Proverbs, trust me, it is, and then read it and you'll find that I am telling you the truth. Proverbs is presented as a father's counsel to his son regarding wisdom. It's sort of a foundation of the way the Proverbs, and repeatedly we see that refrain coming back. That it's a father's counsel to his son regarding wisdom. The wise son in Proverbs is said to please his father, while Proverbs at various places says that the foolish son is a shame and a grief to his father. It's right there in the Proverbs. So what does that have to do with you and me? Well, first of all, you can write this down. Every one of us has failed to walk in godly wisdom. At least perfectly, we certainly haven't, right? To one degree or another, every one of us has failed to walk in godly wisdom. So in that regard, continue writing, we have all been a source of grief to our Heavenly Father. Our lives of worldly wisdom, our lives of therefore foolishness, are a grief to our Father because they don't please Him. But Jesus, hallelujah, but Jesus, the only, the one and only wise Son, who has always and in every way exemplified God's wisdom. The result? What do we know is the result of that? There are seven verses in the New Testament that speak of Jesus the Son pleasing His Father. Five of them In one of those verses, Jesus said that He always does only what pleases the Father. In five of those verses that speak about the Son pleasing the Father, in five of them, five of them quote the Father Himself, God the Father, speaking out of heaven audibly into this planet, saying that Jesus is the Son who pleases the Father. We see them at either the baptism or at the transfiguration. What did we hear? The heavens opened up and the Father says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Why? Because Jesus is the personification of wisdom. And then in another passage, Jesus quotes Isaiah 42, verse 1, which speaks of God's soul delighting in his son. Isaiah prophesies it, and Jesus says, I'm here to fulfill it. Listen, though we were formerly, before we were born again, dear friends, listen, if you are born again, I hope you are. If you're not, you need to be. Quote Jesus, you must be born again, okay? But before we were born again, we were formerly unwise sons, unwise daughters. Our lives were a grief to our Father in heaven. a grief to our Father in heaven. But again, if you jot it down, no, it's the good news. The good news of the gospel is that once we're born again, once we're in Christ, look at this, the Father looks upon those who are in Christ as wise sons in whom He is, well, what? Pleased. Even as He is pleased with Christ. It's one of the other benefits of, listen, get this. The heavens aren't going to open up, and there's not going to be a voice from heaven, probably. But do you realize if you are in Christ, that same Heavenly Father who looked at His Son and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, He says the same thing about us. Not because of who we are, not because of what we've done, not because of any hidden potential, but because we are in Christ. And as the Father is pleased with His only begotten Son, He is equally pleased with every one of His adopted children. You don't think wisdom matters? I think it does. Therefore, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15, see that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Because we're in Christ. Why do we want to walk in wisdom? Because we're in Christ and He is wisdom. Therefore, if you're jotting down notes, walk in wisdom. And again, forgive me for being redundant, but because we always have a pull to go the wrong direction on this stuff, I want to say it again. We do not walk in wisdom to gain God's favor. We do not walk in wisdom to improve our standing with God. Why? Because by God's grace, when we are in Christ, listen, we already have God's ultimate favor. He cannot love you more today than He will ever love you if you are a child of His. in spite of our failures, in spite of our lack of perfect performance. Why? Because he doesn't judge his children based on our performance, he judges his children based on the perfect performance of Christ, not only to keep the law, but to live every detail of the wisdom of Proverbs. For those he came to save, and because our standing with the Father is exactly the same as Christ's standing with the Father. That's good news. Ephesians 5 gives us three definitions of what walking in godly wisdom looks like. If you want to turn back to Ephesians, if you're not there, we'll look at them. Verse 15, see then that you walk circumspectly or carefully, cautiously, wisely, not as fools, but as wise. So if you're jotting down notes, verse 15, walking in godly wisdom is the opposite of walking in foolishness. Now, that may be an obvious thing, but I want to give you another perspective, a little additional twist on that. Remember that godly wisdom is not merely the opposite of obvious foolishness. It is also the opposite of worldly wisdom. You see the difference? You say, well, I'm not just a dopey guy who steps off the curb in front of a bus. I got more wisdom than that. That's not necessarily godly wisdom. You know, even the little woodland creatures scurry off the road when they see a car coming. No, no. Walking in godly wisdom is not merely just having the obvious kind of wisdom. It is also the opposite of worldly wisdom. Godly wisdom is the opposite of worldly wisdom. Walking in godly wisdom, therefore, is not just being wise according to the conventional wisdom of the world. It means not being wise according to the wisdom of the world. It means we aren't falling for it. We're not buying it. We're not going after those lines that are only leading us into difficulty. So, walking in godly wisdom is the opposite of walking in foolishness, and now the rest of that line, which I didn't tell you, now I'll tell you, and in worldly wisdom. So let me put it all together. Walking in godly wisdom is the opposite of walking in foolishness and in worldly wisdom. Oh, saints, do you realize? Do you realize how at odds godly wisdom and the wisdom of the world is? Oh, the world thinks they're wise, but what does the Bible say? They become fools. So many ways that the the worldly wisdom that many of us take for granted and say yeah sure we heard it on talk radio Therefore that that that that that that that that that that but nothing if it's worldly wisdom. It's worldly wisdom Let me point out just a few areas in which godly wisdom differs from worldly wisdom. I'm just going to give you words. You can fill in your mind. How about finances? How about financial wisdom? You know the world's wisdom? Yeah, that's it. Listen to talk radio and do whatever they tell you. That'll be wise. Not. How about marriage and family relationships? How many people are out there telling people how to live their lives in marriage and family? If it's worldly wisdom, it's not God's wisdom. How about education? How about education? I'm sure that probably many of you here in this room, but for sure many people who are Christians, they just listen to the Pied Piper leading them and their children into the river to be drowned by following a worldly education, an education that is based on there is no God. How in the world could that education lead to any wisdom whatsoever? No answers? Because there aren't any. How about politics? Not allowed to talk about politics. Really? Listen, my dear friends. I don't care which side of the aisle you're on, politically. If you think that God's wisdom is synonymous with either the right or the left, you're wrong. Because both the right and the left, if they don't have God's wisdom, they don't have wisdom. Now, we might say, yeah, there's more over on one side, less on the other, or whatever. But the fact is, don't think that your political persuasion is synonymous with the wisdom of God. Because His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, God says, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. finances, marriage and family relationships, education, politics, not to mention our understanding of and relationship to God himself. How many Christians just mimic the wisdom of the world? Well, you know, God and I, you know, I've made my peace with God. You don't make peace with God. Nobody makes peace with God. That's worldly wisdom. God makes peace with sinners. How? He sends his Son, who lived and who died for those he came to save, and those he came to save are those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And yet we cling, we cling to the hope that our friends, our family, our relatives, whatever, who don't care a whit about Jesus Christ because they believe in God, that somehow they're... Really? Really? Virtually everybody on this, well, everybody on this planet knows there's a God. The Bible says so. Some suppress that truth and unrighteousness more effectively and efficiently than others. But the fact is, just because somebody believes in God, listen, that's good. It means they're not fools, but it doesn't mean that they know God. Because to know God is to know Jesus Christ. To know Christ. If you don't see the difference between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom in all of these areas and others, then please, Get godly wisdom. And in all you're getting, get understanding. Verse 16. Verse 16. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. So if you jot down notes, walking in godly wisdom means redeeming the time. So what does redeeming the time mean? I don't know if you think about this, but what we do with our time is a huge and often overlooked indication of whether we're walking in godly wisdom or not. We all have different amounts of money. Right? We all have different amounts of gifts. We all have different amounts of talents. But when it comes to time, every one of us gets 24 hours in every day. When it comes to how we deal with time, the playing field is level. What are we doing with our time? We all have 24 hours in every day. What are we doing with those hours? Godly wisdom redeems the time. The wise are not wasting time. The wise aren't even spending time. The wise are redeeming the time or investing the time. There's only two reasons. Listen carefully. There's only two reasons we don't have time to do what God calls us to. You know how so many people, they deflect everything that fails in their life by saying, well, I didn't have time. I didn't have time. I didn't have time. There's only two reasons to not have time to do what God calls us to do. The first is that we're inefficient. We're inefficient. We're time wasters. What should take an hour takes four. Look alive. Try to be a little bit more efficient. The solution? Plan our time and our efforts efficiently. I said there was two reasons why we don't have time to do what God's called us to do. First is that we're inefficient. The second is that we're misdirected. We're misdirected. What do we mean by that? We don't have time to do what God wants us to be doing because we're using our time on things that God hasn't called us to use our time. I haven't got time to read the Word because I'm in a really important series of binge-watching. Okay? I just use that as an example. It could be anything else. That's just one I think we can all chuckle at. In which case, we have some intentional prioritizing to do. We don't have time to do the things that God has called us to do because we're too busy wasting our time in stuff that God hasn't called us to do. And they don't even necessarily need to be bad things. They're not necessarily bad things, they're just not the things that God has called us to do. And so we don't have time to do what God has called us to do. What do we need to do? Well, first of all, the solution is we need to know God's will. More on that in a moment. And B, secondly, we need to train ourselves to say no. Are you listening? We need to train ourselves to say no to the things that God has not called us to do that are robbing our time and keeping us from doing the things that God has called us to do. Now, we don't want to be, you know, we need to be wise. We don't say no to everything. Some people say, that's it, I've said yes to everything, now they say no to everything. That's not wise either. You've got to say yes to some things. Wisdom is knowing what to say yes to and what to say no to. We need to learn to say no to the things that are not God's will for us. You say, well, that's really hard. Yeah, I know it is. Especially when people... See, God's invisible and He doesn't beat us up and doesn't nag us, but people do. Has anybody noticed that? You know? They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. How many squeaky wheels are in your life asking you and demanding of you to do things that aren't God's will for your life? And then you don't have time to do the things that God says. Listen, when we know God's will, and are committed to saying yes to Him, we will find it much easier to say no to the other things that are busying our lives and keep us from saying yes to Him. The wise with their time? No. They know this is a fact that no one finds time. When I find time, it's never going to happen. Let me tell you what I'm going to find time means. I'm not doing that. I'll do it when I get a round to it. Translation, I'm not doing it ever. The wise know that you don't find time. The wise know that in a busy world, you have to make time. make time to do what is right and truly important, especially in the areas that are so easily and so often neglected. Why must we redeem the time? I'll tell you why. Because our time is not our time. It's God's time. In the same way, the money we have, the gifts we have, the talents we have are God's gifts to us that we are to be stewards of, for which we will give an answer to Him. You don't think that's true with time? And as I said, everybody has a different amount of money, a different amount of talents, a different amount of gifts, but everybody's got 24 hours, and everybody's gonna answer to God, what did you do with your time? What did you do with your time? What did you do with your time? Because it's not our time, it's His time. So, how are you managing God's time? Are you wasting it? You say, well, I'm not wasting it, I'm spending it. Spending it? You know, when you spend, a lot of times you don't get anything back. No, don't waste and don't be satisfied to spend. Invest. Redeem. redeem the time. That brings us to verse 17. We're almost done. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand, oh this is so important, so simple, understand what the will of the Lord is. If you're jotting down notes, walking in worldly, excuse me, walking in godly wisdom means knowing the will of God and, what do you think? Doing it, exactly. How do we know God's will? We know God's will ultimately from God's Word. That's why we must feed our souls, we must feed our minds on God's Word. Listen, I got news for you. Those who are not in the Word have no chance. Are you listening? Those who are not in God's Word have no chance of knowing God's will. Sure, we receive bits and pieces of God's will from teachers, counsel from family and friends, but how do we know what we're getting? is really God's will. There's only one place, the Word of God. Sola Scriptura. The Word of God. We have to know the Word. We have to check everything. Everything we hear, including from this pulpit. Everything you hear from anybody, you need to run it through the sieve of God's Word and see what's really of Him and what's not. You've got to be careful people in this world who maybe they're even Christians and they really love you, but they want you to have an easy life. So they give you unbiblical counsel, ungodly counsel, because it'll make you happy. And sometimes that's at odds with God's Word. We need to check everything with the scriptures to see if what we think is what God thinks. Huh? And knowing God's will will serve no purpose if we fail to do it. I'm sure most of you, many of you at least, are familiar with Jesus' little parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount about the two men. One built his house on the rock and one built his house on the sand. And the storms came. By the way, notice in that parable the storms came to both guys. Building your house on the rock does not exempt you from storms. It's just going to determine whether or not you survive them. And we read that thing and many people, I've even heard it taught, by pastors, that the difference between these two is that one person didn't, one guy, the guy who built his house on the sand, he didn't listen to God's word, and the other one did. That's not what it says at all, that's not what Jesus said, because he says they both heard the word of God. The difference was is the one on the sand heard it but didn't do it, whereas the one on the rock heard it and did it. Heard it and did it. Godly wisdom. Last blanks. Because the Father sees those who are in Christ. Are you in Christ today? Is your faith in Him? Do you fear God because you know you're a sinner and you're standing in line for His judgment and you also know that Jesus is the only solution? You don't have Him and you desperately need Him. Cry out to Him. If you've done that, you're in Christ. If not, I encourage you to do it. Because the Father sees those who are in Christ as wise sons and daughters in whom he delights, therefore what? Let us walk, not in foolishness, but in wisdom. I have a sneaking suspicion there's more than three or four of us who have some things to think about as we consider this concept. Father in heaven, we thank you for this We pray, Lord, that we would be students of your word, those who love your word. We ask, God, that we would be those who walk in wisdom. We thank you so much, Father, that because of Christ, you see us as those who are in Christ and therefore are pleasing to you, even though we fail so often. But, Father, let us arrange our lives according to what you see. In Jesus' name.