Now if you turn to Ephesians, please, we'll continue our studies today. And I wrestled for a little bit. I was feeling like it wasn't divided with the chapters and I wasn't doing a chapter each week. And then I realized that that was okay. I was kind of divided up by the themes that I'd noticed as I went through. And there's nothing unique about the way I divided it. A number of other men have done something similar. and you'll see that. Now, I will warn you, next week, we are gonna finish up the study in Ephesians, but in a little bit different way than you might expect, in that at the 10 o'clock service, I'm gonna finish the end of chapter five and all of chapter six, but I'm gonna skip the whole section on the armor of God. and that's gonna be in the afternoon service next week. I felt that it's always lent itself to be a separate sermon or even a separate series, and it worked out with the way we were dividing the services up that that would work out. So just let you know that as we go through this and see these lessons this morning. So I'll just remind you in a broad way that Ephesians is very much about Gentiles being brought into the church of God. and that the exclusive domain, if you will, that was the Jewish nation has been left behind, and the Jews who believe are also members of the Church of Christ, but they are now brothers and sisters with the Gentiles who believe. And no longer do the Gentiles have to become Jewish proselytes and adopt the nation, the nationality, and the customs of the Jews, but instead they are in fact coming into their own. And we see this tension back and forth. We see it in Romans a lot as far as there's this time where the Jews are thrown out of Rome and the church changes drastically because all of a sudden the church that had Jews and Gentiles in it, the Jews are purged by the Caesar. And so there's a time where the church is just Gentiles. And then when the Jews come back, there's some tension. Because the Jews come back and they're like, wait, this isn't the church that we left. You've moved on. Yes, they're becoming the New Testament church that includes all true believers. So that's the foundation of these things. And then in recent weeks, we talked about the mystery of these things, and then the results of these things, and the fact that Because of this mystery, we are now one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. We're all together in Christ, in these things. And so then last... Yeah, sorry, no. Yeah, here we go. So those were the results of this. And then today, we come on to what I'm going to call, you know, in a broad way, the admonitions that flow from these things. And you'll see this today. Today, it's more admonitions to the people of God in a general sort of way. Next week, we'll begin with admonitions within marriage, admonitions to children and how they're to behave, and admonitions to us who work and are employed. And therefore, pretty much any of us that are engaged in any kind of commerce with the world, which is all of us, none of us have the, I don't know if it'd be a benefit, but none of us have the ability to not engage with the world on a regular basis. And so we have interactions with the world. And Paul makes the point that all of these things flow out of what we believe. And so again, I just want to emphasize that as we look at these things, you may, as we go through different things, you may say, well, I'm not sure I agree with that. That's fine as far as the implication, but then go back and look at scripture and study the scripture and say, is that what the scripture is implying? Is that what the scripture is commanding us to do? And don't just say, well, I just don't, I think that's just not something I want to do. Everything we do as the children of God should be in subjection to the scriptures. All the doctrine that we believe, all the things that we hold dear should be in conformity to the word of God. We don't just believe things because that's what we feel like doing. If we did, yeah, you knew I wouldn't, how long? Nine minutes, minus Breyer's time, so. If we just wanted to do what we do, we'd have a big banner out that says, welcome back to school. And we'd have a bouncy slide. And the kids would be more excited than they are, right? If you came in that way. If you came in the other way, you're confused right now. But the church on the corner is having a back to school day. What's biblical about that? And you say, well, there's nothing wrong with it. No, there's not for Kmart or Walmart. Kmart's gone. Walmart or the schools or the Elks or the Moose or whoever. But that's not the purpose of the Church of God. The purpose of the Church of God is the teaching and preaching of the sinfulness of man and the necessity of being reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. And I'm not sure that that's going to be the message that you get with an event like that. Now, like I said, you can disagree with me about that. We can talk. But the point is, everything that we say and do should be subject to the Word of God, and to the way that we are to walk in the Word of God. So, beginning this morning, we have these admonitions. I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter four, and we're beginning at verse 25 today. And this is a little bit longer section, but I'm still gonna read it and then go through and make some comments on it. So Ephesians four, verse 25 to 32, therefore, So the therefore always says, based on what I just said, okay? Based on the mystery of these things. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." Now, as we work through these verses this morning, I want to point out to you, because I felt this as I was working through the lessons and preparing these things, there are a number of examples, and I'm not going to call them all out necessarily, but there are a number of examples just in some of the verses we're going to look at today where you can and men have taken a verse and twisted it so radically that they end up way out in left field. And instead, what you'll see is that a few verses down, there's a verse that helps to make sense and to balance those things. So always be careful as you look at scripture that you're comparing scripture with scripture. Scripture is not to be taken in isolation, and you find the verse that teaches what you want, which is usually the pattern, and then you run with that. And entire false religions have been built on that kind of a principle, and it's wrong. And so as we look through these things, you're gonna see a few things where you're gonna say, okay, how do we reconcile that? Well, you'll see what Paul later, like several verses later, gives another aspect to it. And we put those things together. Not always can we... rationally understand it. It doesn't matter. They're revealed. We believe it. That's what faith is about, believing things that we don't understand yet. If you have to understand everything that there is, especially about God, as someone I just saw this week said, well, then I'd be God. Because he said, somebody was asking me to explain God to him. And he's like, I can't explain God. I can tell you about God. I can tell you what God has revealed. But if I could explain God, I'd be God. And it's a very valid point. that we keep in mind where we are, who we are, and what our knowledge and why God's revelation is necessary. So, the admonitions here. First of all, being brothers and sisters in the family of God has implications you can't ignore. We need to stop and think about that, I think. We need to kind of wrap our heads around that, that there is, there are implications to being in the family of God. It's more even than the implications of being in a family family. And there are implications to that too. And sometimes it's good implications, sometimes it's bad implications. But the family of God and being a brother and a sister in the family of God has implications you can't ignore. And if you do, you do it to your own detriment as well as to the family of God. And it also has benefits that are beyond belief. So oftentimes in a family, you'll find that there's some differences. They always talk about the crazy uncle. That was always my goal in life, was to be the crazy uncle. Now it's the crazy grandpa, so it's OK. But you always have people that are a little trouble in the family. They cause a little issues, and you don't always want to invite them to stuff. But the point is, you still do. They're family. You put up with them. You kind of work around them. But there are also benefits to that effort. Well, how much more in the family of God are there the implications that we can't ignore in being brothers and sisters in Christ? And so we're gonna look at a number of those as we work through this lesson today of implications of being brothers and sisters in Christ. Again, it's the idea that we don't just come here to listen to a performance and leave. There are implications in being in the family of God. We have to have interactions like a family, just like a proper God-ordered biblical family should. Those are the implications. But the benefits are beyond belief. How many times have we who have been in the Christian faith for any number of years, how many times have we found that the benefits of gathering together just are unbelievable. When we needed something, maybe just an encouraging word or just a encouragement to do this or to do that or to stop and think or maybe to talk something through with someone, there are benefits beyond belief to being in the family of God and engaging in the family of God. And I think there's a real sense in which you get much more out than you've ever put in. and that's the nature of God and mercy. We aren't getting these things because we're good and therefore we're looking out to be good to one another. We're getting these things because it's the blessing of God on us in creating a family of God made up of both Jews and Gentiles. Now, interesting that the first thing Paul says here in this context is lying. We should put away lying. Lying is usually done to cover sin and it violates our conscience. Romans 9.1 tells us, I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. And so Paul calls on the idea of his conscience bearing witness also with the Holy Spirit that he's not lying to them. And it's kind of the positive to prove the negative impact here of when we lie, we violate our conscience. And so, lying is something that Paul says should be put away from us. And I would encourage you, if you didn't hear Pastor Andy's sermon that addressed this, and it's in another sermon, you'll never find it, and I'm not sure I can find it again, but he dealt with lying, and did a really excellent job of it, as to lying and the whole concept of lying, and if you could ever, as a Christian, lie. Just keep in mind that as we're looking at this here, we're talking in general about lying that violates the commandment that does harm to others. That's contrary to being in the family of God and looking out for one another and blessing one another. And so he goes on from that, and it's interesting, the contrast here, put away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor. That's the contrast. If you're not lying, you're speaking truth. And so loving your neighbor involves speaking truth. Luke 20 and verse 21 says, and this is again, it's an example by showing the negative. Then they, it was the Pharisees or the Sadducees, I don't remember which, then they asked Jesus saying, teacher, We know that you say and teach rightly, and you do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth." And then they go on to ask him a question, trying to trap him into something. But do you see the premise they start with? Do you see the acknowledgment that they make of Christ in the ministry that he's had? They basically say to him, we know you don't care what people think. You speak the truth. We know that you speak to men rightly, and you don't show personal favoritism. Just because your friend's doing something that maybe they shouldn't be doing, you don't ignore that and move over here to this other topic over here. You can go to church for years and thank God that this is not one of those churches. You can go to church for years and sit there and go, amen, yeah, that's right, preach it, preacher, and never be touched by the word of God. Why? Because he's preaching about the sins of people out there. And you're not doing those things. Because, in general, we live a certain kind of life. Well, that's not applying the Word of God to us. We need to come to churches where there are days we walk out going, I need to get home and get into my closet and pray and ask forgiveness for these things that I hadn't even thought about before. And so loving your neighbor involves speaking truth to them. Now, we've come through this with a number of things recently that have been very popular, very in the news, but it is the contrast of people that go around with banners and bumper stickers, love your neighbor, and they mean, and let your neighbor do any wickedness and any vileness that they want to do. And that's very clear that that's their idea of love. That's not biblical love. And we as Christians need to understand from the scripture what loving our neighbor is. It's not letting them do whatever they want to do. It is speaking truth to them. Same with children, just in case you don't make that jump, and you do, I'm sure. But loving your children is not letting them do whatever they want. It's teaching them what's right. It's speaking truth to them. And so, speak the truth and make sure that that is how your love is guided. And it's not... Sorry, I'm just gonna give in here, make it bigger. It's not to harm or sin against your neighbor. In speaking truth, it's not to harm them. It's not to hurt them. And we'll see this as we talk about righteous anger. You need to be careful that you're not speaking truth in a hateful, nasty way that reflects poorly on what you're trying to say as a Christian. There's a way to speak truth that still shows love to those that are with you. It's not to harm them. It's not to make them feel bad. It's to speak truth because the truth is necessary. And so it's not to sin against them. But also keep in mind that as we speak truth, we are in fact showing mercy to those who have no claim on that mercy. They don't want our mercy. They'll tell you that to their face a lot of times when you start trying to speak truth in love to someone who's doing some sinful, wicked thing. And they're like, you stay out of my life and leave me alone. And then they'll fall back on, I'll do my thing, you do your thing. Everybody's fine. Yeah, it would be fine if there was no God and there was no judgment to come. But because there is, you need to hear these things, and you need to understand the sin that you're committing. And it's interesting, because I think the example of this is Luke 10, 36, one that you'll immediately recognize. And so Jesus says, after the Samaritan, the incident with the Samaritan, who stops and helps the man who's been beaten up, he says, so which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? And everybody knew the answer. There was no doubt as to who was the neighbor to that man. Why? Because he'd done what was right. He'd acted. He hadn't just gone by and said, oh, that's sad. That's too bad. He should know there's robbers on this road. He shouldn't have traveled by himself. He should know that he should have been armed. If he'd been armed, he'd have been better off. It was the man who stopped and without any question helped him, bandaged him, took him to help, and said, if there's any more cost, I'll pay it. That's the man who was truly the neighbor to the man. You see, that's the love of God, not love, just do whatever you want, sin however you want. That's not love at all. And so loving your neighbor involves speaking the truth and acting for their benefit and for their good. Now, the next thought, and I do think these things flow out of each other here, although you may not feel that, and if that's the case, that's my fault, not Paul's. But Paul goes on then to talk about, after saying, speak truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another, okay? So again, there's an emphasis there on speaking truth to one another in particular, okay? Neighbors within the body of Christ. We are members of one another. We're not talking about the world. Now, I still think you speak truth to them, too. That's implied. But first lesson here is speak truth with one another. And then once you go right on to say, be angry and do not sin. Why? Because a lot of times when people speak truth to you, you don't like it. I don't like it, especially if it contradicts something that I think I should be doing or I should be left alone to do. And so Paul goes on and says, be careful not to sin in your anger. Rarely do we have righteous anger. Mark 3, 5 gives a good example of righteous anger. It says, and when Jesus had looked around at them with anger, so there is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, expressing anger. We absolutely can be angry at times and not sin. But why was he angry? being grieved by the hardness of their hearts. That's the kind of thing that should cause us to anger. That's the kind of thing that perhaps makes me a little excited about the guys up the road here having a clown show on Sunday. because they are hard of heart. They think that's religion. They think that's a good thing. Instead, they have totally missed what the church and what the Lord's Day is for and what it's about. And so Jesus sets that example, and he says, I am grieved at the hardness of the heart. So when we are stirred to anger, we very quickly need to ask, why am I angry? In most cases, okay, in most cases with me personally, this is my experience, it may or may not be yours, in most cases when I'm angry it's because I'm not getting my way, okay? And I think that's common with most of us. And sometimes it's something silly like, you know, working around the house and something doesn't go right. And I get angry. I always laugh later about, why'd you get angry at the hammer or the place you stubbed your toe? That's dumb. It's an inanimate object. Yeah, but it's man's nature to blame something else, even when it's something stupid. like the stump of the forsythia bush that I still have a black and blue toe from from weeks ago but I'm the one that stumbled into it I'm the one that hit it in a bear with my bare foot but I was mad at the stump for a little while even though I'd cut and made the stump I mean you see how silly that is and yet We've all been there. I think we've all done that. Well, that's the anger that we have to be very careful to see as sin and not see as righteous anger. Righteous anger is looking at those around us as we gather on the Lord's Day and seeing how many people aren't in church because they're busy seeking their own thing. They're doing this, they're doing that, they're having this party, they're doing that thing. Those are the things that should grieve us and therefore give us a holy anger based on jealousy for God. But instead, we often sin by our unchecked emotions. And so Paul says to this, he says, be angry and do not sin. And then interestingly, I believe he goes right on to recognize like James does, where he says, don't sin. But when you sin, you have an advocate with God the Father. And Paul says the same thing here. He says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Well, you said be angry and do not sin. Yeah, but I know you're going to sin. I know you're going to be angry and sin. And therefore, here's how you're to deal with it. So when we are angry, when we sin, what's the remedy in Scripture very clearly? Don't let the sun go down on it. Confess it to God. Confess it to the person if you need to, if you've been angry with a person. But don't let sin go undealt with. Don't think that by having just time go by, things will be fine. We need to confess our sins. We need to come before God and say like the psalmist, before you and you alone have I sinned and done these things. And so we need to be in control, in particular in this matter, with regard to anger and not sin by our unchecked emotions. And Colossians 3 and verse 8 says, but now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. It's not just anger. It's all of these sins that come from, and I'm convinced of this from scripture, that come from us seeking to please ourselves. We're angry at others because they've done something to harm us, whether it's real or imagined. They've done something to harm us, and therefore we're angry because they have offended us. And Paul says, don't do that. Put these things off, like clothes, right? Take them off. If I took my coat off and put it over there, that would be putting it off. And I'm not wearing it anymore. The same way we're to deal with anger and these other things that he mentions here. We are to put them off. And why? Because 1 Peter 5, 8 tells us, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Now that's an easy verse to remember. It's an easy image to remember. But we ought to think about it. That ought to make us sober and vigilant. Vigilant means to keep an eye out. We follow a couple who they sail most of the time. But for different reasons, they've sold their sailboat and they're doing some traveling. And they were in Uganda recently. And for the best of reasons, they were visiting a coffee and a banana farm. And so they were there, they were visiting the coffee farm. And one day they went out and did a safari. And part of the safari was all the animals they wanted to see. And I couldn't help it. As they looked at all these different animals, the lions, They're just, they're amazing to watch. They really are. And this one was a female lion who was stalking something. I don't even care what it was, but she was stalking it and it got away. And then she went right back to stalking the next thing. And it just, it immediately jumped into my mind. That's what the devil's like. He's walking about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Think about that. We have an adversary. We don't just get to live our Christian lives in peace, and if I leave everybody alone, they'll leave me alone. Satan is seeking to devour us, so we should be sober, with our thoughts, and we should be vigilant. We should keep an eye out. We should always be looking for trouble so that we can avoid it, so that we can flee temptation long before it becomes something that we can't resist. And we are to do these things all in this vein of not being angry and not failing to confess our sins. And so we are to labor in this world and do our duty and not be a burden. It's interesting how Paul gives this example, because again, a lot of times when people are the love your neighbor type of, you know, love your neighbor, have food banks, give free food to everybody, and Paul comes right back and he says, we're to labor in this world and do our duty and not be a burden to others. Paul gives the command in 2 Thessalonians 3.10, I'm sorry. Yeah, Paul gives the command 310, for even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Now that's something that's right there in Scripture, black and white. But we need to be careful at times that that's not all we focus on. Because Paul gave that command after setting the example back in verse 8 of 2 Thessalonians 3. He says, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. Paul's saying, I'm commanding you that because when I came to town, I labored, I worked. Paul was a tent maker by trade. He's an interesting man if you read about the things that he did. He also studied at the school of Gamaliel. So here's a guy who's making tents and who's also a scholar. And he was apparently very well spoken. And he was very popular in the sense of as he went about trying to put Christians to death, he was received in all the places he went. And then after he became an apostle by the grace of God, then he had a ministry that reached even further and still is a large part of the New Testament is the teachings of Paul and his examples in these things. But he says, do your duty, labor, and do those things and don't be a burden to others. So how do we help one another in the church? by laboring, by going to work every day. That's no fun. I don't enjoy it. Some days maybe I do, but not most days anyway. And I'm sorry, the idea that if you love your job, it'll never be work, that's a worldly nonsense, okay? If you love your job, you're probably not getting paid. Because most jobs, you don't get paid. Now, if you have a job you love, you can tell me later. That's fine. That's good. Good for you, OK? But a lot of people don't have that benefit. A lot of people don't have that opportunity. And rarely do you get to have a job that you just love going every day. I worked for a guy once like that. Every Monday, he would annoy all of us in the place. He'd come in and say, I love Mondays. And we'd all go, yeah, sure, because you own the business. And you stand around and watch us work. Of course you love Mondays. But it's rare. But the point is, why do we labor? Why do we go to work? Why do we put that effort in? Well, because we have a duty to not be a burden to others. Men, especially once you have a wife and child, you have to provide for them. You have to take care of them. You have to provide for them. Brothers and sisters, you have to provide for other brothers and sisters. There are times that people in the church fall on hard times. And we don't say to them, well, that's really too bad. You know, that's tough. We say, what can we do to help you out? Sometimes it's financial. Other times it's just watching the kids or something. But we labor and do our duty not to be a burden. Just like Paul said, I didn't come and just eat free of charge. And if anybody could, do you think the apostle Paul couldn't have rolled into town and said, hey, I'm here. What's for dinner? and he didn't, but he worked and labored so he would not be a burden to anyone. So we are then finally in this area, in this section, we are to treat one another, sorry, we are to treat one another in Christ with kindness and forgiveness. Romans 12.10 says, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor, giving preference to one another. How are we gonna do that? We don't all get along. We're not all similar personalities. We all do things that maybe irritate one another or cause some friction between us or have different thoughts in different areas and we're like, that's not what I think, that's not a good thing to do. But what are we to do? How are we to be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love? How are we to give preference to one another? Because we're reflecting brotherly love by reflecting our Father in heaven. 1 Corinthians 13, 4 says, love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. If you read that whole section there, the love chapter, if you will, what you will see is it's a reflection of God. If you have difficulty loving a brother or sister in Christ, you might want to stop and think about God's love for you. Because if God loved us when we were awful, wicked, hateful, rebellious sinners, can we not maybe work a little harder to love one another and to walk together? So that leads us into chapter five, and I intended to start chapter five but not finish it all, so don't worry. I may still be stretched to push this in here, but we need to do it. But it leads us into chapter five, which I titled The Walk of God's Children. If these things are true, if these principles of love and loving our neighbor, loving our brother, acting on that love, if these things are true, then how are the children of God to walk? Ephesians five and verse one starts with this. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Do you see the connection? Do you see how it went right from the one into the other? How are we to love? Because we imitate God. Kids as they're growing up imitate people, usually their parents and maybe their friends or sometimes their bad uncle or whatever. But they learn by imitation, so we should be good examples for them to imitate. But for the Christian, the imitation that we are to have, the person we are to imitate is God himself. And we are to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us. We'll see that when we get to marriage and children and our worldly interactions. Why are we to take those things and seriously? Why are we to act on those things? Because God loves us and Jesus Christ loves the church. And just as Christ loves the church, men are to love their wives. And we are to live together in that spirit of service and love to one another. So, be imitators of God. Walk in love. God in his word is both the example and the standard. If you're unsure how to act, open your Bible and look through it, looking for God and how he acts. And you will see the example and the standard. And it's not a standard we can obviously live up to in perfection. We know that. We're sinful. We fall short. But that doesn't mean we're not to use the standard. Just because we can't measure up all the time doesn't mean we throw the ruler out and say, ah, that's OK. I'll just kind of do whatever I want. Oh, that felt good. And that's how we end up with a society like we've got with no standards, with no rules, because we just aren't going to measure up. So we are to walk constantly and regularly in love. But that love is actions, not feelings. Right? Walking in love is doing something. It's walking in love. It doesn't say thinking in love, wishing in love. It says walk in love. It's actions. And Christ above all is our sacrificial example. Look at what Christ did. in love for the people of God. He came and sacrificed himself on the cross of Calvary. Think for just a moment about where he came from. He came from all eternity with God the Father and left all that behind to come and walk on the earth and to be insulted and ridiculed and dishonored by the very creation that he had created. And so Christ is our sacrificial example in walking in love and being imitators of God. And then verses three to seven deal especially with the matter of evilness, of the world and evil. Verse three says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, Do not be partakers with them. The children of God are not to be like that anymore. We were once, but we have been saved by God in Jesus Christ. So we must be different than the world. That's how we have a testimony. not by doing silly things and attracting crowds and people. We have a testimony by the fact that we are different from the world. And then that leads into verse eight. It says, for you were once darkness. But now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore he says, awake you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light." So we are citizens of heaven. and pilgrims on earth. And if we keep that in mind, if we keep that perspective, I think we will live and walk differently than if we think of ourselves as citizens of the earth. Because we're born on the earth, our whole life revolves around the earth. Everything that we do, we see, it's physical, we see it, we touch it, we hear it, we taste it, all those things. But we are citizens of heaven if we live in God and pilgrims on earth. And then finally, and by the way, I knew I would be going through this quickly. It's not rushing. It's some of these things as I study them myself, I realize I'm like, I just need to sit and work through this myself. and I'll give you the general flow of it, and you need to sit and work through this yourself too. You might wanna go back and read through a lot of chapter five and say, am I living this way? Am I doing these things? Because in verse 15, he picks up, he continues this theme. See then that you walk circumspectly. I looked it up just to make sure it meant what I thought it meant. Heedful of circumstances and potential consequences, or prudent. So in other words, you recognize circumstances and potential consequences. For some reason this week I read several quotes, none of which I wrote down, by names of men that you would recognize. One of them, the author of Animal Farm, who basically said, you can deny reality, but you can't deny the effects of reality. And the other one was a similar, it might have been C.S. Lewis, but he basically said, you can deny truth, but that doesn't change truth. And so as we live in a world that denies reality, as we live in a world that denies truth, they can do that, but the standard's still the same. Truth is still the truth. Reality is still reality. And so Paul says, walk circumspectly, heedful of the circumstances and potential consequences. Not as fools, but as wise. Now what's the next thing he says? I love this. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always, for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. And so we've touched on some of this already, but walk carefully. Remember the roaring lion. Remember the lion that is seeking to devour you. Paul, and I'm going to skip the reference, but Paul back in Acts 21, the Jerusalem elders tell Paul, because he's coming to town and there's been all kinds of rumors about Paul, and they tell him, they said, take this vow. We've set these men aside. Take this vow and do these things. of which they were informed concerning you. They all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law." Because the charge was being that they're not keeping the law anymore. They've told the Jews, forget it, you don't need to do that. Right, you'll never be saved by the law, but that doesn't mean you stop keeping the law. And so be careful how you walk. Walk circumspectly. Use the wealth of time you've been granted. I emphasize this over and over, time is the one thing you can't buy more of. I don't care how rich you are, when your day comes to die, you're gonna die. And you don't know when that is. So use the time. You have a limited, finite amount of time. Use the wealth of time that you've been granted. Matthew 5, 6 says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness? We all know what it means to hunger a little bit when we've skipped a meal or we haven't gotten as much as we thought we should. But do we hunger and thirst for righteousness? For God promises you'll be filled if you do. And that's part of the time that you have is to hunger and thirst for the things of God, not the entertainment, not the activity of the world, but the things of God. And then know the will of God for his people. What is the will of God for his people? It's salvation in Christ and growth in holiness. That's the will of God. It's not, do you marry this person or that person? Do you get this job or that job? It is salvation in Christ and growth in holiness. Ephesians back in chapter one spoke about this. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, having made known to us the mystery of his will. What is the mystery of his will? I just said, I just told you what it was, Paul says, that we have redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. What an amazing, amazing revelation. And it's the will of God that we know that and walk in those things. And so then unity comes by walking in the spirit. 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 18 says, I urged Titus and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps? Why? How could he send Titus and know that we were all walking in the same steps because we walked in the same spirit? Unity comes by walking in the Spirit and obeying the things of God. And then I'll just end with this last thought. While we minister to one another, worshiping in our hearts and giving thanks, Let me try that again. Ministering to one another, worshiping in our hearts, and giving thanks are to be regular practices in the Christian life. And there's, I have some quotes, I'm gonna let them go for now, because I'm over time. But that's what we are to do in the Church of God. We're to minister to one another. We're to worship in our hearts as we gather today. And we're to give thanks as we gather and enjoy this time together in the Church of God. I hope you're blessed by these things, and we'll close with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, as we end this lesson and as we look to continue worshiping in the morning service, we pray that you would guide us in these truths, that you would help us to search through them and to sift through them and to dig through them and to make them our own, to know that we don't just come here to sit together in pews But we come together to walk in the spirit, to worship together, to encourage and serve one another, and to be a true family in Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, knit together through a love for Christ and by his spirit dwelling in us. We pray that these things might be true in this place and that your name might be honored and glorified in all of this. Amen.