Shabbat Shalom everyone. Please open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 5. We are going to look at the first 17 verses. Apostle Paul is writing to the brothers and sisters in the local assembly at Ephesus, and he continued to encourage them to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. As you remember, we mentioned that Ephesians 4, 5, and 6 deal with the practical walk of those that belong to Yeshua the Messiah. So he continues in his encouragement by writing and saying this from verse 1 of Ephesians chapter 5. Be therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saviour.

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be one's name among you, as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know that no whore monger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light; for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore, he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." And I'll stop here just for today's message, because this is where we have the break, and it will be very suitable for us to move on, Lord willing, and continue in the next portion of this chapter.

Again, it helps me, as well as I'm sure you who hear the word, to understand the context. The context of Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 to 17 deal with the practical walk of the believer. We became believers because we have been chosen in the Messiah before the foundation of the world. We were brought in to be part of the family of God, both Jewish people and non-Jewish people who have accepted Yeshua the Messiah. The Apostle Paul, after giving the doctrine in chapter 1, 2 and 3, he is giving now the practical necessity for walking here in this world. It's not an easy path to take, because we are facing opposition. We have enemies right around us, beginning with the old nature, the flesh, the world that is influencing us, Satan who attacks the people of God.

Every believer is facing those challenges. So, the Apostle Paul is encouraging again and again the Ephesians to look to the Lord for grace and to seek to follow him here in this world. But now, when we get to chapter 5, it is very interesting, this fifth chapter, because in those 17 verses, the Apostle Paul reminds the brothers and sisters at Ephesus that they really belong to God, to Yeshua. They are children of God. Notice how he began. Actually, I want to suggest that verses 2 to 17 flow out from verse 1. In fact, if we grasp what verse 1 means, it helps us to understand the remaining verses which I have read, verses 2 to 17.

And you notice what he says in verse 1: "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children." Now, the word for followers here, in verse 1, comes from the Greek word to mimic God. The word in Greek is mimetes, M-I-M-E-T-E-S. And mimetes, in English, it will mean imitators. You know, the zoo, you have seen a monkey who watch you from the inside of the cage. And if you will do something, he will mimic you. He will seek to copy what you are doing. You know, monkey see, monkey do, right? That's what we learn about the monkeys. We too, are to learn from what God is doing and the ways of God.

And we are to mimic him. We are to follow that which God gives us an instruction. So, he says, "Be ye therefore imitators." Really, instead of the word followers, we can use the word imitators. "Be ye therefore imitators of God as dear children." Now, you will notice the division of these verses that I read. Notice three times the word "walk" is mentioned here in those verses. In verses 2 to 7, the Apostle Paul encouraged the believers at Ephesus to walk in love. In verses 8 to 14, the Apostle encouraged the believers at Ephesus to walk in light. And then in verses 15 to 17, the Apostle Paul encourages the believers at Ephesus to walk carefully.

To walk in wisdom. And so, here if we can read verse 1 and then immediately verses 2 to 7. Verse 1 and immediately verses 8 to 14. Verse 1 and immediately verses 15 to 17. So, why does he expect from the believers at Ephesus to walk in love, in light, and in carefulness? Because he tells them in verse 1, and I am repeating this. Brethren, he says, "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children." You see, he is saying to the brothers and sisters at Ephesus, "Look, you became children of God. When you have accepted Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, you became sons and daughters of the Father." John 1 verse 12 tells us, "As many has received him, any one of us who have received Yeshua the Messiah, to them he gave the authority to become children of God." We have entered into the family of God.

And because we are children of God, we would seek to imitate the God who is our Father. And you notice that John said elsewhere in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1. He says those words, he says, "Behold, what manner of love the Father had bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God." And then he says, "Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not." "Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." So we are children of God.

We have a new nature. We are sons and daughters of our Abba, the Heavenly Father, the Abba who is in Heaven. And because we are the children of God, we are to walk in love, we are to walk in light, and we are to work carefully. And that's why he is saying these words, "Be ye therefore followers or imitators of God." You see, all of us at some point of time have been little children that grew up under our parents' responsibility. Now, not all of us perhaps have children, but all of us are children. We were children the moment we were born here into this world by our parents.

And how many times have we tried to copy what our parents were doing? I remember my oldest son, Shalom, many, many years ago. He was standing on a chair, and his Bible in his hand, he said, "Tarararararara!" He was kind of talking to nobody, he was talking to the wall. Now, what had come to his mind to hold the Bible and to speak like he is a preacher? Well, he must have seen me at one point of time standing and sharing the Word of God. Now, it is amazing how children are mimicking or imitating their fathers or their mothers, sometimes in a good way. And when we are not doing the right things, they are very careful to observe us, to learn from us the wrong things that we do as well.

Of course, they have to make choices, and sometimes they don't make good choices, unfortunately. But nevertheless, we are to imitate God. Since we are children of God, we are to imitate God. And so, Paul is giving us those three ways in which the believer is to imitate God. First of all, by walking in love. Secondly, by walking in light. And thirdly, by walking carefully. And let's go over those verses, and let's see what he teaches us, the Apostle Paul. Now, first of all, you notice, in verse 2, he presents Yeshua before the brothers and sisters of the Ephesians. You know, what attracts us so much to walk in a loving way is because of Yeshua, Jesus, our Lord and our Messiah.

And that's why he says, "Walk in love." How should we walk in love? And he gives us the standard. As Christ, as Messiah also, has loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice unto God for a sweet-smelling Savior. Now imagine, he began by presenting before the brothers and sisters at Ephesus the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. Well, brothers and sisters, he's saying at Ephesians, I want you to walk in love, in a love relationship between each other and in this world in which we live. How even as the Messiah, Christ, Yeshua himself, also walked in love, as it says here.

And he had given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. You see, Paul was a Hebrew believer in Yeshua. The only expression that he knew, he brought from the Tanakh, from the Old Testament. And that expression, as a sweet-smelling Savior, comes from the word Reach Nichoach, unto Jehovah, unto God. Well, he probably went back to the book of Leviticus and he read about those five sacrifices where God commanded our people Israel to bring. The burnt offering, the burnt offering, the peace offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering. Those five sacrifices. Out of those five sacrifices, three of them were sweet-smelling Savior unto the Lord.

Those three sacrifices really speaks of the Messiah and his life and his death. How he brought glory to God in his life and in his death. And that's why the burnt offering, the first sacrifice, speaks of the sweet-smelling sacrifice. When God had smelled the aroma of the sacrifice that was given over in the tabernacle, it spoke to him about his beloved son, the Messiah himself. And so, God is saying to us, you want to bring a sweet aroma to God's heart and God's nostrils? You learn from this person of Yeshua, the Messiah. Because when he lived here upon this face of this world, he lived a life that brought pleasure to the Father.

And that's what attracted us, right, brothers and sisters? The reason that we are here studying the Bible and coming to meetings and pray and read the scriptures and go to church meetings or congregational meetings is because we fell in love with Jesus. We fell in love with Yeshua because the way that he exhibited himself in his life and in his death attracted our hearts. And made us so much attracted to him because his life brought a sweet-smelling savor unto God. This smell that brought such an aroma to the presence of God. And it gives delight to the heart of those that follow him. He gave himself in his life as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

So, when we think about Yeshua as a burnt offering, sweet-smelling savor. As a peace offering, sweet-smelling savor. As a meal offering, the mincha, as a sweet-smelling savor. God has found so much pleasure with the Messiah. No wonder we read in Matthew 3 and in Matthew 17. "This is my beloved Son in whom I found all my delight." Heavens was opened. And God the Father spoke concerning his Son, Yeshua the Messiah. And he said, "This is the one that I found pleasure. This is my beloved Son." So, Paul is saying, "Look, brothers and sisters of the Ephesians. If I'm challenging you to walk in love, here is the example.

Look at Yeshua the Messiah who gave himself, as it says here, for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." And remember, brothers and sisters, every one of us that is forgiven here today, you would never be able to be forgiven except Jesus, Yeshua came to this world. The very fact that you and I can rejoice and sing of him and have forgiveness of sins is because Yeshua laid down his life for us. If he didn't lay down his life and he didn't die for us on the tree and was resurrected for our justification, we would have a mere religion.

We would never have this relationship with the Father as children, as sons and daughters of the Father. So, walk in love among yourselves, as the Messiah also has loved us and he has given himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saviour. I made some notes about the person of the Messiah. How did he walk in love? He says in John 4:34, "My food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work." John 4:34. John 6:38. He said, "I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of him that sent me." That's why I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him that sent me.

In John chapter 8, Yeshua continued. He said to the people of Israel when he came down and he was challenging them. Yeshua as well said in John 8, "I am the light of the world" in verse 12. But then notice in verse 38, he said, "I speak that which I have seen of my Father." In other words, I do everything that my Father has told me to do. In chapter 10, of course, of John in verse 17, he says, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again." The Father found joy in the Son. Ha'abba found joy in the Ben, in the Son, because he always did the will of the Father in his life.

So, walk in love. Brothers and sisters of the Ephesians, walk in love. Dear brothers and sisters, he's saying to us, "As the Messiah loved us, gave himself for us as a sweet-smelling savor unto God." And if you and I are going to do so in some small measure, we are going to give pleasure to the Father and blessing to ourselves. So, in the next verses, verses 3 and 4, he's telling the brothers and sisters there that they are to separate from immorality, from covetousness, and from foolish talking. To separate. That's it. There's got to be a cut, because we now belong to Yeshua the Messiah. So, in verses 3 and 4, he says, "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be one's name among you, as becometh saints.

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor justing, which are not convenient, but rather giving of things." You see, the Ephesians, there was so much immorality at the city of Ephesus. They were worshipping idols. There were immorality existing abundantly in that city of Ephesus. So, he is now telling the brothers and sisters, "Listen, you have to separate from that. That's the way you used to live. That's the way it was your past. You are to separate from immorality, to separate from covetousness, and to separate from also the way you speak, the manner in which we speak." Now, why? Because again, we are children of the Father. And if we are children of the Father, we are now to walk in love, and therefore to separate from fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, foolish talking, filthiness, justing, and on and on.

The sins of immorality, and even in the way that we speak. And those three are very interesting. Specifically, you notice that he linked together, verse 3, fornication and uncleanness, with the word covetousness. And if you will notice, covetousness comes from Exodus chapter 20 and verse 17. It is the last commandment of the ten that God had given our forefathers, the people of Israel, in Sinai, in Mount Sinai. Now, covetousness is something that is really coming out of the heart. It's not so much something that we do, or we ultimately do it, but it comes out of the heart. And that's why he's saying, if we will not covet, we will also not do certain things that comes out of covetousness.

You know, most of the time when we sin, we sin because out of the heart. We have certain desires in our hearts, which come down into certain failure and sins in our own life. So he links that together. He says, fornication, sexual immorality, uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be one named among you as become saints. And use the word saints. Kedoshim in Hebrew, set apart, because we are children of the Father, we are saints. And saints are to be separated to the Lord. Now, a saint may fall and may stumble and need to be repenting and be restored. But he says, listen, don't let this be practiced part of your life.

Be separated from this. But not only from physical and sexual immorality, but also look at this in verse 4. Therefore, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor justing, which are not convenient. The word for not convenient, it's not fitting, but rather giving of the thanks. Even the way we speak, the word for justing is that bad humor. You know, sometimes we make jokes. We make all sorts of dirty jokes and we listen to them or we make them and we say them. And God is saying, even dirty jokes, even they're only jokes. Don't speak like this anymore. Foolish talking. It's not fitting. It's not convenient. It's not suitable for the people of God.

They got to be a change even with the way that we speak with each other. You heard about these stories that we hear of unbelievers. They used to curse and swear and talk all sort of dirty talk. But things have changed because of the manner in which that particular person was communicating. They stopped the swearing. They stopped the dirty jokes. There was a stop to it because he was an impact upon those with whom he was communicating. And therefore, the apostle Paul is saying, separate yourself from immorality. Separate yourself from covetousness, which is coming out of the heart and separate yourself from foolish talking. And when something like this has happened for a believer, he or she are to repent before the Lord and to confess it to the Lord and to be restored so he or she will continue to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

So it is important for us to see what Paul is saying. To walk in love and therefore we are to follow the Messiah, to separate from immorality and to separate from covetousness, to separate from foolish talking. And then verses 5, 6 and 7. Know that no person who deliberately live in this type of sin will ever enter into the kingdom of God. Look at this. Verse 5. For this you know, that no whoremonger, no unclean person, no covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedient.

Be not ye therefore partakers with them. In other words, what he is really saying here in verses 5, 6 and 7, that because we now have been redeemed and have been brought into a relationship with the Father as sons and daughters, we have to realize that this kind of ongoing lifestyle proves that the person is really not part of the kingdom of God. Notice that I am repeating. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, no unclean person, no covetous who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedient.

This expression, the kingdom of the Messiah and the kingdom of God, had been borrowed, you might say, from the Hebrew Tanakh. Because God promised a kingdom. Because God promised a kingdom. God promised to our people of all Israel, there is a day coming in which the Messiah will establish a kingdom here in this world. But the Messiah was rejected. And when the Messiah, Yeshua was rejected, then the kingdom took a mystery form. What does that mean, a mystery form? Every believer who is part of the family of God today, we have a king. But the king is absent. He is in heaven. Yeshua is in heaven.

So we are a part of what you call a mystery kingdom in which only believers are part of this kingdom. And to enter into this kingdom, or to have inheritance in this kingdom, one has to be born again. And if a person is not born again, he does not have an inheritance in this kingdom that belongs to the Messiah. Let me show you this for a moment. If you turn back to John chapter 3, verse 3, we read there where Yeshua talked to Nicodemus, Nakdimon. He answered to Nicodemus and he said to him, I say unto you, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Verse 5, Yeshua answered and he says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of a spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. In verse 3, he cannot see. In verse 5, he cannot enter. In other words, there is a need of new birth, of new life, in order for a person to be entering and enjoying to be part of the kingdom of God. And so in our verses in which we read in verses 5, 6 and 7, he's telling the believers that no people, no one who is habitually, continually live in this lifestyle willfully, he cannot enter. He cannot enter, he cannot inherit, he cannot enjoy that kingdom of God, as it says here in verse 5.

No whomonger, no unclean person, no covetous who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and the kingdom of God. And then he tells them, if you're part of the kingdom of God, and you're a believer, you cannot live this kind of lifestyle on an ongoing basis. You've got to confess it when you fall into sin, repent, turn back to the Lord, and live a life that is honoring and that is pleasing to the Lord. And then you notice that, brothers and sisters, why do you think judgment came upon this world? Verse 6 says, let no man deceive you with vain words, because for these things, the wrath of God came upon the children of disobedience.

You know, that's why such a judgment fell upon this world in which we live in. Diseases, all sorts of things that are going on, it will bring the judgment of God just the same like it was brought in the past. Look at the condition of Sodom and Gomorrah, in Hebrew, Sodom and Amorah. The book of Genesis, chapter 19, where God have come down to see what's going on in Sodom and Gomorrah. And then he judged the whole city. Why did he judge the whole city? Didn't he love mankind? He surely does love mankind. But when man is persisting and continually going in their own way, God will bring judgment.

And that's why he says the wrath of God had fallen upon the children of disobedience. In the context here, the children of disobedience are the unregenerated individuals. The wrath of God. You know, it is a fearful thing to fall unto the hand of God when God is going to come in judgment upon this world. Think about not only Sodom and Gomorrah. Go back a few years earlier. Think about the flood in the time of Noah. Where we read in Genesis, chapter 6 and verse 5. When God saw the wickedness of man was great in this earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually.

Kol hayom, continually, all the day long. Well, God brought the judgment of the flood. And when God came in judgment upon this world, then the world had to learn righteousness. Because God judged the world with the flood. Only eight souls remained. The rest, even if they wanted, opened the door. And they wanted probably that Noah will open the door. But it was too late. The judgment of God came upon the face of this world. So he is saying that's why the wrath of God came upon the children of men. God's righteous indignation against sin fell upon this world because the children of disobedience did not subject themselves to the will of God.

And so here we can learn that no one who is living this kind of lifestyle without repentance and turning to the Lord and turning around and seeking to live a life that is pleasing to him, no one will enter into the kingdom of God. Let me read another verse in 1 Corinthians, chapter 6 and verses 9 and 10. Listen, Paul writes to the brothers and sisters in Corinth, and he said, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God," here he uses the same expression. "Be not deceived, neither the fornicators, nor the idolaters, nor the adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor the abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." He doesn't say that a person who has been like that, and has lived like that, and has repented will not inherit the kingdom of God.

What he is saying is that no one who lives this kind of lifestyle persistently, willfully, without repentance, no one will enter into the kingdom of God. A believer may fall into one of those sins, one or more, but repentance is demanded in order to restore fellowship with the Lord. But a believer ought not to live like that on an ongoing basis, that will be an evidence that he or she really not belong to the Lord. We need to really realize this. Notice the other verse in Galatians 5:19, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murderers, drunkenness, reviling, and such lying, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, the day which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." See what he is really saying?

Those who live in this lifestyle without repentance and turning back to the Lord. And he is always gracious. Praise God for his goodness and graciousness because we were in that condition before we became believers. And at times we fall as believers into this condition when we are not careful and God says you repent, you turn back to me and I will restore you and I will bless you. And you will enjoy the kingdom of God which you are part of if you are a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. Now let me read you one more verse at the end of the book of the Revelation in the eternal order.

Look at this. Revelation chapter 22 and verse 15. Who is going to be without? Who is not going to enter into the eternal order? Verse 15. "Without dogs, sorcerers, whomongers, murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh alive." In other words, those that will not enter into this wonderful eternal order are those that really haven't been born again and have persistently on a willful way continued to reject the offer of salvation that Yeshua has offered them and continue in this type of lifestyle. How ought we be grateful to be grateful to the Lord? Because we are not different. We are sinners by nature. We are able to fall into all kinds of conditions.

If we have fallen and repented, God forgave us. And if we haven't fallen, we are capable because of our sin nature. We are just the same as any other person. And it is the grace of God that we have to be thankful for. And every day that He preserves us from any such lifestyle. It is totally the grace of God. And so in verses 1 and verses 2 to 7, Paul encourages the Ephesian believers to walk in love. If we will walk in love, it will make a difference in our lives because we will learn for Yeshua, our Mashiach, who walked in love and gave Himself as a sweet Savior unto the Lord.

Well, now from verse 8, here is the second thing that the Apostle is pointing out. Walking in love, verse 2 to 7, now walk in light, verses 8 to 14. And so he is saying now in verse 8, "Walk as the children of light, because you were darkness in the past." See? You know, this is so nice from the Apostle Paul. He says he is not ashamed to tell the brethren who they were before they became a believer. And he is not ashamed to speak about himself. He says, "I know I am the chief of sinners," Paul is saying, speaking about himself. "I was myself. I would no sin except knowing that God says you shall not covet." Paul was honest enough about his own self.

He knew. He says, "Oh, wretched man that I am." Romans chapter 7, "Who shall deliver me from this body of humiliation?" He was not priding himself at all, but he was telling it as it is. And so in verse 8, he says, "You were sometime darkness, but now you are light." "In the Lord, walk as children of light." Now you notice, he didn't say, "You used to walk in darkness." No. He says, "You were darkness." You were darkness. Not only that you walked in darkness, but you yourself, brothers and sisters of the Ephesians, you were darkness. You came from where? You were sinners of the nations of the world.

You were without God. You had no hope in this world. You were darkness yourself. Never mind what you did, but that's where you yourself were, blinded to the truth of God. Sinners, without any hope, you were darkness. But look what happened now. But now you are light. Therefore, walk as children of light. You know the difference between darkness and light? The difference between day and night is completely different. God distinguished for us in scripture. And there was evening and there was morning the first day. Evening and morning. God distinguished the light from the darkness. And really, there is a change happened to us when we became believers.

We now receive the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Yeshua the Messiah. And therefore, the Ephesians are no more darkness. They are light. And therefore, they are now to walk as children of light. You notice, by the way, that he distinguished the word children of disobedience in verse 6. And children of light in verse 8. See, in this world, there is no one who is on the fence. You know what the four Gospels teach us. Matthew say, you're either wise or you're foolish. Mark says, you're either in or you're out. Luke says, you're either a believer or you're an unbeliever.

And John says, you're either going to heaven or you're going to hell. There is no in between. There is nobody sitting on the fence. And that's why he's really saying that now you are the children of light. Therefore, you are to walk as the children of light. Now, there is much to be said about this verse. And I want to elaborate because this is important to focus on. Look at the 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14. He said, be ye not unequal yoke together with unbelievers. And then he asked a question. What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion has light with darkness? What concord has the Messiah with Blyal?

What part is he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God had said, I will dwell in them and I will walk in them and I will be their God. And they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord. See, there is no light and darkness simply doesn't fit. And that's why he says, listen, what has light to do with darkness? What have unrighteousness to do with righteousness? There's got to be a change in the life of the believer when he or she becomes children of the Father.

So, therefore, he's saying in our chapter in verse 8, You were darkness in a time past, but now you are light in the Lord, in Yeshua. And therefore, walk as the children of light. And what a beautiful thing is to walk as children of light. You know, when we are representing the Lord, how beautiful it is to be light in this world that is in darkness. We can share the gospel with a world that is blinded by Satan. Who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father, but by me. We are to be a light here in this dark, dark world that is heading to a day of judgment.

Yeshua himself said in John 8, I am the light of this world. And he commanded the disciples and the Ephesians and you and I to walk in light in this world in which we live in. And then he says in verses 9 and 10, why we are to walk as children of light? Because only the fruit of the Spirit of God is acceptable with God. Anything that is not of the fruit of the Spirit of God is not acceptable with God. And that's why he says in verse 9, the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. You know, when the Spirit of God works in the life of the believer, then there is fruit for God.

And that fruit is acceptable. You know, it's like bringing an offering to the Lord and he's accepting. And he says, wow, I've accepted the fruit of the Spirit of God that he produced in your life. It is acceptable with God. But when it's not the fruit of the Spirit, when it is of the flesh and the works of the flesh, God is not accepting this not at all, not whatsoever. Remind me of Cain and Abel. Cain came to God and Abel came to God. Abel was accepted by God because he brought him the sacrifice of a blood sacrifice and he's accepted Abel and his offering.

But Cain brought the fruit of the flesh, you might say, what he has done. Even though he have worked very hard and he brought his own flesh, his own activity, you might say, his own produce. God did not accept him. He was not acceptable with God. And only what comes from Christ, from the Mashiach, from Yeshua is acceptable. God found pleasure in his beloved Son, the Messiah himself. Then notice what he says now in verse 11, 12, and 13, that the believer is to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Now, if we became believers, if we belong to Yeshua, the Messiah, how can we have fellowship with that which is of darkness, the works of darkness?

And so he says in verse 11, and I'm reading of chapter 5. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Don't have fellowship with unfruitful work of darkness. Reprove them. Don't participate in the unfruitful work of darkness. He says in verse 12, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. And verse 13, he says, all things are reproved and are being manifested by the light, for whatsoever does make manifest is light. So he says in those verses, listen, that God is going to reveal the darkness eventually. And he's going to reprove them. He's going to judge darkness.

And therefore he says, have nothing to do, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. You remember what we read in John chapter 3 and verses 20 and 21. We hear Yeshua saying, after he spoke to Nicodemus and so on, he says, He that does the truth cometh to the light. He that in all that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God. In other words, when we became believers, we had to go no longer in the lifestyle of darkness, but rather to live in a lifestyle that is away from the darkness. Because the world in which we live in and where we all came from, it was from darkness to light.

And therefore there ought to be that change in our life. So he's now saying in verse 14, wherefore awake thou that sleepest, rise from the dead and the Messiah shall give you light. Now imagine, he does not talk to unbelievers, he's talking to believers. And he's saying to the believers, wake up. You should not be living a life that is like sleeping and not alert and awaken spiritually. And he's saying, therefore, in chapter 5 and verse 14, wherefore, he says, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and the Messiah will give you light. So the necessity to be awakened. Sometime, you know, we are like believers that are sleeping.

We are not unsaid, we belong to the Lord, but we don't live a life that is alert and awaken. So we can be used by the Lord and live a life of testimony here for Yeshua the Messiah. So wake up, he's saying to the brothers and sisters in the city of Ephesus. Wake up, he says to them in verse 14, you that sleep, arise from the dead and the Messiah, the Messiah, Christ, will give you light. Unfortunately, a time we behave as those that are not alert and awaken to walk in this world for the Lord Jesus. So Paul appeals to the Ephesians in verses 8 to 14 to walk in light and not in darkness.

We are called here to be a light to this world in which we live in. How someone will hear the message of the gospel? How will somebody will turn his heart to Yeshua the Messiah? Unless you and I as believers are living testimony, sharing the gospel, waking up from being like saints that are sleeping, waking up in order that we will be a testimony for Yeshua the Messiah. Paul said this to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 4 to 9. I'm not going to read everything there in this chapter. But look what he says to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Ye are all the children of light.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 5. He said, And the children of the day, we are not of the night, we are not of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep. You see, he's speaking about himself. He said, Even including me, let us, Paul the writer, the Thessalonians, the readers. He said, Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night. And they that be drunken are drunken at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in helmet the hope of salvation. So he writes to the Ephesians, wake up.

He writes to the Thessalonians, wake up. Be alert as you walk here in this world. Now the third thing that I noticed that in verse 15, 16 and 17, he said to the believers at the Ephesian church to walk carefully. It says here in verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly. The word circumspectly is simply the English word to walk carefully. Not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. You know, the believer in Yeshua ought to be wise in his or her walk. And therefore, the believer ought to walk very carefully.

Sometimes we are so careless, dear brothers and sisters. When we are not careful, when we are careless in our walk here in this world, we end up kind of not being wise in decision making. How many foolish mistakes we have made because we didn't walk carefully as believers. We were not careful to make decisions that were right with the Lord. You know, the Gospel of Matthew, often times Yeshua used the word, you're either wise or you're foolish. You find it many times found in the Gospel of Matthew. It was the wise man who came to seek the Messiah. It was the wise man who built his house upon the rock.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand. And it was the five virgins who were wise who took oil in their lamps. While there were the other five who did not take the oil in their lamps. You see, the whole Gospel of Matthew tells us you're either wise or you're foolish. The wise believer making better decisions. When he acts foolishly or she acts foolishly, we make very foolish decisions in our life. And unfortunately, all of us as believers can say, Lord, how many times I walked carelessly. And that's why I fell into sin. And that's why I was not wise in my decision. And that's why the pain and the sorrow and the trials that coming among the people of God.

And we are not to blame God. We are to be blamed because we did not walk carefully. And so Paul is saying to them, see brethren, verse 15, that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise. Don't be foolish. Be wise, he's saying to them. And then verse 16, he says, redeeming the time. Because the days are evil. How do we spend our time? Do we spend our time in prayer? Our time in reading the scripture? Our time in having fellowship among the believers? Our time in appreciation and praising the Lord and worshiping him for what he has done for us? This time is well spent.

If we spend it for the Lord and for the Lord's things. But if we don't use our time wisely, we don't redeem the time. Buy it, it's going to cost us. To redeem the time, it's going to cost us. It will be energy to spend. A time to give for the Lord's things. Why? Because the days are evil. Soon enough, sooner or later, the Messiah is going to come. And we're going to look back and we're going to say, Boy, Lord, I could have spent more time for your glory and for your honor. And I wasted time. You know, you remember the prodigal son that had left his father's house and went down far away from his house.

He was a child of God, but he lived among the pigs. In the pig pen. But when he came into his own senses, he said, What am I doing here? I can go back to my father. And I can be there even as a servant there, not as a son. And when he came back, his father said, No, no, no, you are not a servant. You are my son. He gave him a ring on his finger. He gave him shoes on his feet. He gave him a garment and he closed him and he killed. The fetus came and he said, This my son was lost.

And now he returned back. This son was away from the Lord. But when he came into himself, he realized, I shouldn't have been where I am now. I need to go back to where I belong and to redeem the time, to use the time for the Lord well. So here he's exhorting to the brothers and sisters of the Ephesians. He says, Listen, don't work foolish. Be careful. Be wise in your decision making. Be wise because it's only going to bring a blessing to you. Redeem the time because we live in an evil days. If there were evil days then, can you imagine how evil they are today?

Because we live in the Laodicean age in which the Lord is coming soon. We live in the last days of the church age. So he says, and notice what he continues there and he ends there. He said, Wherefore, verse 17, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. What the Lord's will for you? What the Lord's will for me? What the Lord's will for every one of us? What is the Lord's will for us? He has a purpose in the believer's life. He has a purpose in the brothers and sisters in the local assembly at the city of Ephesus. He has a purpose for every believer.

Romans 12 says, Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then he says, In accordance with the will of God. God has a will. God has a purpose for every believer in Yeshua, the Messiah. And that's what Paul is emphasizing. At the end of verse 2 of Romans chapter 12. He said to them, Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Verse 17 of Ephesians 5 says, Understand what is the will of the Lord in our lives. And that's what the Apostle Paul is saying to the Ephesian brothers and sisters in that local assembly.

And he's really saying this to us. He is challenging us to walk in love, to walk in light, and to walk wisely, circumspectly, carefully, in order to please the Lord. Well, we all have to admit that we fail the Lord in one way or another. We're not always walking in love. Sometimes we don't treat each other in a way that we ought to treat each other. Sometimes we are not walking as light here in this world by the manner in which we conduct ourselves. And sometimes we do not walk wisely. If we would all walk always in love, always in light, and always in wisdom or carefully, Paul did not need these verses to be writing to the brothers and sisters of the Ephesians.

Well, apparently they needed it, and you and I need it, as we live here in this world.