Beloved congregation, please turn in the scriptures to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, as it was mentioned in the letter, we are asking that everyone bring their own Bibles at this time, so the page number is kind of irrelevant. But Ephesians chapter five, we'll be reading verses 15 through 21 of Ephesians chapter five. It seemed a most fitting text, considering that today is Pentecost Sunday. God willing, when we meet again next week, we'll resume our series through 1 Samuel. Ephesians 5, starting at verse 15. Hear the word of the Lord. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Thus far the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Let us pray and ask God's help. Our God and our Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning and we thank you so much for the Scriptures. We thank you so much for your Spirit who is our counselor, our comforter, our paraclete. And we pray that he would indeed guide us, that we would indeed be filled with the Spirit, that we might understand and learn the meaning of this text, apply it to our lives, that you might be glorified and that we, your people, your children, would be edified. We thank you so much for calling us here together in love and we pray that we would indeed enjoy the fruits of your love through the Lord Jesus Christ and through his sending of the Spirit. It's in the name of Christ we pray all these things along with the pardon of every sin. Amen. Beloved of Christ, as I have already mentioned, today is the day of Pentecost. The day of Pentecost. Again, remember, this is the day that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, descends upon the Apostles, as we read it in Acts 2. It's the day when the disciples, the Apostles, began to preach the Gospel of Christ to the nations. Where the Church, as we understand it, was born. Not to say that there wasn't a church in the Old Testament, but the New Testament church really began on Pentecost. And this is indeed worth celebrating. It is worth celebrating that the Holy Spirit is sent, that he's given to us, because he is absolutely central to the Christian life. We are Christians and we look to Christ as our master, as our teacher, as our king. We have faith in Christ. We believe that it is by his blood that we are cleansed from every stain, from every sin, that we are forgiven of sins. But at the same time, we must not forget the Holy Spirit because it is the Holy Spirit who counsels us, who teaches us, who gives us faith, who convicts us, who helps us to know and to apply the teachings of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the one that changes our hearts from being a heart of stone heart of flesh. It is the Holy Spirit that works in our hearts so that our hearts are not focused so much on self but more and more focused on Christ. And so you see the Holy Spirit is absolutely indispensable and there is a great beauty to the day of Pentecost. It is worthy of our time. The Holy Spirit, He is worthy of our time. It is worth giving attention to this day, and that's why I picked this text here this morning. This text shows us the three main points of the sermon. It shows us the need of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit, and the achievements of the Holy Spirit. Need, work, achievements. First, we see the need. of the Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit is absolutely needed in our day-to-day lives. We see this in the command or the call. That's the first sub-point that the Apostle Paul gives to us. You notice this in verses 15 and 16. It says, Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Here's a command that is given to us. Be precise. It says be careful. It could be translated as be precise, be exact in how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise. And how do you do that? By making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Paul is Christians, is calling Christians to live precisely, to live carefully, to live exactly. To be careful in how we walk, to make the use of our time in the most wise way possible. The King James has it literally, redeem the time, I believe, because that's what the Greek actually does say, redeem the time. Now, what does this mean, to redeem the time or to make the most of the time? What exactly does that mean? Often we think it means, well, don't waste time. You know, put in eight hours of work for eight hours of pay. This is kind of what Paul is saying, but it goes deeper than that. There's more to it than that. In Greek, there's more than one word for time. And the words emphasize slightly different things. When we 21st century Americans think of time, we often think of the chronology of time, the passing of time, the ticking of the clock, going from one second to the next, the present becoming the past, and as we approach now the future. That's how we look at time oftentimes. And the word in Greek for that is chronos. It's where we get the word chronology. There's another important word, a significant word in Greek for time, and that's kairos. And that's actually the word that's used here. This word does not look necessarily at the passing of time going from one second to the next like chronology does. No, this is different. The word kairos gives the idea of a decisive point, an important moment in time. It's a moment in time that almost goes beyond chronology. That you don't really have an awareness of the past or an awareness of the future. You're just there present in that moment. And I think we all understand this to some degree. There are moments in our lives where it seems that time just stands still because of how beautiful and how significant it is. For example, the day of your wedding. It's a significant day. where you stand before your fiancé, soon-to-be spouse, before the presence of God and all the witnesses there asking that God would make you to become one flesh. It's a day where it seems as though time is just standing still because of what it is that God is doing. It's a special, sacred moment and you're there present in the present. The birth of your children, perhaps, is another example of this, where you're just present there and you're drinking in every moment and you have no awareness of the past or the future. You're just there and you're present. You're focusing on what's happening right then and there. The also example perhaps of partaking of the sacraments. You witness the baptism of a child, maybe your child, or you participate in the Lord's Supper and your attention, your focus is right then and there on this very special and sacred moment witnessing and enjoying and experiencing what it is that God is doing in your midst. And at that point, chronology it seems has no meaning. Paul says we should seek to live in the now, in the present, to redeem the time in that way, to redeem Kairos, not Kronos. Because the days are evil, because it seeks to distract us, it seeks to draw us away from the Lord Jesus Christ. This is something that is illustrated in so many different stories. There are so many stories out there that speak of characters that look away into the future thinking of how great he or she will become, never having his or her mind on the present, on what he or she is doing right then and there, and time wastes away. And they become, as it were, nothing. The same thing happens to men and women. Sometimes we look to the future, we think to ourselves, well, I'll believe in Christ tomorrow. I'll grow in Christ tomorrow. I'll repent of this sin and turn to Christ tomorrow. Always the mind on the future, but not on the present, not present in the present. And as a result, life slips through the fingers. This is why we must redeem the time, make the most of the time for the days are evil and they threaten to waste away and become as nothing. Live in the present, says Paul. For this is indeed God's nature, too. You know, we talk about God as being eternal. That he was, is, and ever shall be. And that's true. But in a sense, God is outside of time. And so, for God, there is no past or future. He is just the ever-present. And this is how God would have us live as well. He would have us walk precisely, be present in the present, walk wisely, walk carefully. And that's the call. How great a call this is. A call to great care, great precision. A call to be aware of the time, aware of the usage of the time. A call to be always present in the present. Now this is indeed a joyous call, a good thing, because when we are present in the present, we find that moments are filled with delight and joy. We don't worry about things that we don't need to worry about. This is a good thing that God has called us to. But at the same time, we must confess, second sub-point here, our inability. We often do not redeem the time. Isn't that true? Instead, we often are redeemed by time. Rather than us redeeming the time, it redeems us. We are owned by time, it seems. We are driven by time. We let feelings and circumstances drive us. And in so doing, we are being driven by the things that exist in our lives. And as a result, it pushes God oftentimes out of our lives, out of our thoughts. And this again shows us the need of the Spirit. We've been shown the call, we've shown the need of the Spirit, now see the work of the Holy Spirit in verses 17 and 18. We read, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. The word for foolish is literally, don't be diaphragm-less. Now what does that mean? Maybe you think that's strange, but in truth, we often associate body parts with a number of different things. We, for instance, look at the heart and we see it as the seed of the emotions. If we say someone is heartless, are we saying that they literally have no heart? Are we saying that there's nothing in there beating blood through their body? No, that's not what we're saying. When we say that someone is heartless, we're saying that they are cold. that they are emotionless. And a similar thing is happening here when we talk about someone being diaphragm-less. You see, in Paul's mind, in that ancient culture's mind, the diaphragm was the seat of the relationship with the spirit. Why? Because the diaphragm was what pushes air in and out. And interestingly, the word for spirit is the same word for wind or air in Greek. And so you see kind of the connection that they made. This is what allows us to interact with the Spirit. So to be diaphragm-less is to be unable or refusing to interact with the Spirit. For us as Christians, that means refusing to interact with the Holy Spirit. And so that's why it's translated as foolish or as senseless in some translations. Paul's saying, don't ignore the Holy Spirit. Don't refuse to interact with him. Don't refuse to come to him and listen to him as counselor. It's worth noting that Christians really can do this. This is possible. Christians can grieve the Spirit. They can sear the conscience. It's important that we be receptive to the Holy Spirit, whether it is him teaching us as we read sacred scripture, as he approaches us and illumines our hearts as we partake of the sacraments, as he's with us in the midst of corporate worship, in prayer, in convicting our conscience. It is important that we not be senseless or foolish or diaphragm-less. It's important to do this because the work of the Spirit is to give understanding. That's the first sub-point. He gives understanding. You see, if we are not senseless or diaphragm-less, that means that we will interact with the Spirit, that we will submit to Him, that we will follow Him. We will follow after him, even when we're confronted with wanting to do something that we want that we know that we shouldn't do, instead we submit and follow after the conviction and the leading and the counseling of the Holy Spirit. And in so doing, we will understand the will of God. Now this word for understand, it's not just a theoretical knowledge, like I know what the will of God is. It's a very interesting word. It means literally to bring two things together. It's an experiential knowledge. You'll understand in that you'll be one with the will of God. You'll agree with the will of God. You'll be living the will of God out. And my question to you would be, do you wish to know the will of God, not just in a theoretical way, because I think we all know that, but do you wish to truly know, experientially know, to be brought together, to be one with the will of God? It's not something you or I can do. That's why Christ sends his Holy Spirit on Pentecost. That's why he's indispensable. Because he's teaching us, he's guiding us, he's convicting us. Be not senseless and foolish and ignore him. No, rather listen to him. Follow him. Follow him that Christ sent to you. And in doing so, you'll truly know, you'll have this understanding of the will of the Lord. Not only does the Holy Spirit give understanding, but second sub-point, he also gives fullness. This is a very beautiful and very helpful text. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Do not be drunk with wine, that's dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Now to be clear, to be absolutely abundantly clear here, drunkenness is contrary to the Word of God. We can't say that that's true of alcohol, period, but drunkenness is surely contrary to the word and will of God, because that's dissipation. And you probably read that this morning, what's dissipation? What is Paul saying when he says, don't be drunk with wine, that's dissipation? It means to act or to live wild and carefree and undisciplined. To live in that way that you just sow your wild oats, live however you want, that you're driven by your emotions, driven by your feelings. And this leads to emptiness. It leads to dissipation. Paul is picturing here the cult of Bacchus or Dionysus. You know, they would get together in the temple of Bacchus or Dionysus and they would just drink wine and drink wine and drink wine. They'd get drunk and they'd have all these enthusiastic rituals and they said it would lead to great happiness and it would lead even to visions. And frankly, even though we don't have the cult of Bacchus, our culture is not much different. We often think to ourselves that, well, if I'm just driven by my feelings, I'll be happy. That's what our culture thinks. If I'm driven by my feelings, whatever it may be, whether it's drugs or alcohol or sex, having whatever it is that I want, that will lead to happiness. That will lead to fullness. But Paul says, no. That's not the Christian way. This leads to dissipation. It leads to emptiness. I can't help but, as I was reading this text and thinking on this text, remembering a certain testimony of a woman that lived very freely, undisciplined, however she wanted, whatever it is that she wanted, she went for it and grabbed it, especially in college. She grew up in a Christian home, left the faith, became a Buddhist, and just thought to herself, well, I'll just live however I want. And there was one night of partying that she woke up the following morning not even knowing what she had done the night before. And she felt so drained. So empty. She said that she felt used up. And those two words, used up, summarizes what Paul is saying when he says, this leads to dissipation. It doesn't lead to fullness. It doesn't lead to joy. It doesn't lead to happiness. This sort of lifestyle leads to dissipation. It leads to you feeling used up, exhausted. I had that. I was happy for a second. Where's the joy? Where's the fullness? I feel so hollow. I feel so sad. And it led to Great Depression. It led to a lot of hardships that the lady had to struggle with and iron out as the years went on. Don't be drunk with wine. Don't be filled with wine. Don't be controlled by that drive because that leads to dissipation. It leads to feeling used up. What is it instead that fills the Christian? Do not be drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. You see, the Christian life is not about seeking our own self-interest, our own self-fulfillment. It's about acquiring a closer and closer and closer relationship with the Holy Spirit. Where we seek the Spirit, where we seek His counsel and His guidance more and more. where we follow him more and more. And in this, Paul says, in this, we will find joy. In this, we will find fullness. In this, we will find what the world can never give us. Being filled with the Spirit, we will be directed as to how it is that we may indeed redeem the time, be present in the present. When we're driven not by our emotions or our wants, but by Christ's Holy Spirit, empowered to redeem the time, to make the most of every moment, and to enjoy that intimate union that was purchased for us by the blood of Christ. When the Holy Spirit works in this way, he achieves certain things in us. That's what we see in verses 19 through 21. The achievements of the Spirit. In verses 19 through 21, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. There are a few things here, four things namely, that we see in this text that the Holy Spirit achieves and works in us. There are a number of things that he does. He gives us the understanding. He gives us the fullness. And when he does that, when he works in that way, we see that there are a number of things that are a result of what he does. The first thing that he works is unity. That's the first thing that Paul highlights here. Paul says that one of the results of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. It's interesting that it says speaking to one another, not singing. and it would be singing to God, but it's speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Why? Because Paul is picturing Christians quoting Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another. Songs and hymns and spiritual songs that the early church sang in the midst of their liturgy. You have to remember that as Paul is writing this letter to the people at Ephesus, there's very few people that have an Old Testament, if anyone does. The churches have only a small collection of the letters of the apostles. What's the primary means of their learning? It was through the liturgy. It was through the singing of the Psalms and the hymns and the spiritual songs. And I think we can understand this as well. These are easily memorized. When you sing something again and again and again, it's stuck in your head. It's more readily accessible. It's something that you're easily able to quote and share with someone that needs to hear that particular text perhaps, that particular phrase. It's something that enables the Christians there at Ephesus to quote it to one another, to minister to one another in their time of need. In application, we can say that when we are filled with the Spirit, when he gives us understanding, The result is that we speak to one another in love and with a godly and spiritual sort of set of words to counsel one another. And sometimes that means saying little or nothing, but just being there in love for them. The result is that we share a text of sacred scripture, that we share a verse from a very well-loved biblical hymn. And as a result of us ministering to one another, sharing these psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with one another, that causes love to build up and exist within the church. And in so doing, it creates unity, it creates harmony, it creates love for one another. Another thing that the Spirit works, the second sub-point here, He works worship. Singing and making melody in the heart, says Paul. The Holy Spirit will lead us to worshiping the one true God. You see, we cannot have a relationship with Christ and a relationship with the Holy Spirit and have absolutely zero desire to worship Christ or no desire to worship the Trinity. If someone never wishes to love or pray to or worship the Trinity, we must ask them, do they truly know Christ? Do they truly believe in Christ? Do they truly have the Holy Spirit? And I would ask you this morning, what is your attitude towards worshiping the Lord? I'm not asking about the particular circumstances that plague us. I understand you might have come this morning a little hesitant, a little scared. It's understandable. But Do you have this love, this desire, this drive to worship the one true God? And if not, if that has never been there, if going to church is a mere formality to you, I would ask you to examine your own heart. And maybe you have examined your heart. You have examined this, and you have realized this, and you wonder, perhaps I don't even know the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps I know about Him up here, but I don't truly believe in Him. I say to you, dear friend, dear friend, go to Christ. Go to Him humbly. Go to Him ready to confess your sins. Go to Him and pray for this Holy Spirit, that He would illumine the eyes of your heart, that He would cleanse you of every sin, grant you forgiveness, grant you the righteousness that you need, that He would grant you life, a cure from death. Don't feel as though that Christ is only hesitant to give life. No, He's happy to do this. He delights in doing this. He delights in saving sinners. Ask that He would indeed deliver you. Ask indeed that He would give unto you His Holy Spirit. That He would give you a love for others and a love for Him. A love to worship Him, to commune with Him, to have this loving, special, intimate relationship with Him. You'll be glad to do that. See, it is the Holy Spirit that kindles this holy fire to worship a holy God. And to worship Him, not only externally with the words of our mouths, but also with our very hearts. For it says, singing, making melody in the heart. You want this fire. Don't seek to kindle it on your own. Ask that Christ would send you His Holy Spirit and kindle it. For He works worship. Third, He also works thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. It says that we can give thanksgiving to God for all things, at all times. Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. Always. Always giving thanks for all things. When things are going good, we can give thanksgiving to God. That's the easy part. When things are hard, when things are difficult, like now, the Holy Spirit is able to work within us so that we have thanksgiving. We can give thanks to God for all things, not because all things are good, not because everything is going swell and there's no problems. I think an example of this would, again, be our circumstances, the coronavirus. We wouldn't naturally think of the virus as a good thing, but God can use these things to achieve good ends. He can use the virus to loosen our grip on the world, to not be so zealous for our earthly lives, but rather loosen our grip upon it. and rather look to Christ more longingly, seeing that the world doesn't love us, but Christ does. We look more and more to him and less and less to the world or to ourselves. That's something to thank God for. He's able to use the virus to show our own brokenness, to show mankind the need of Christ. Let us not suppose it's impossible that after this virus passes away that more and more people will see their brokenness in terms of the Lord. The Lord has done greater things in the past. He's able to achieve this. And that would be something to thank God for. You see, we are able to, by the Spirit, give thanks to God always for everything. And that's something that you or I cannot achieve on our own. That's an achievement. That's a work of the Holy Spirit. And fourthly and finally, the Holy Spirit works humility. Be subject to one another, says the Apostle. Subject to one another. Show preference to one another. Love one another. Give up selfish desires and rather serve others. This is also something that we can't take credit for, but only the Holy Spirit works and achieves. You see how good and indispensable the Spirit is. How good a thing that it is that Christ has sent his Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Let us indeed celebrate and thank God for this great gift of the Holy Spirit. Brothers, sisters, fellow Christians, praise God for his spirit. But, dear listener, I would say that this is something that only applies to you, again, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you rest on the work of Christ, if you rest upon his cross and seek life, not in yourselves, but from the empty tomb. Christ gave his Holy Spirit to those that believe on him. And so if you do not believe on him, if you do not trust in him, then everything that I have said does not apply to you. Plead therefore, go to Christ, and ask that he would cleanse you of your sin. That he would give you that great gift that is the Holy Spirit. that he would take you from the kingdom of darkness and death to the kingdom of life. And in so doing, you will not be filled with drunkenness or dissipation or any other thing that drives you, but you'll be filled with Christ's Spirit. And if that was to happen to you today on this Pentecost Sunday, wouldn't that be a reason for thanksgiving and praise to our God? Even in the midst of everything that's going on, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to thank and to praise your God for? the gift of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, what a great thing it is that we may celebrate in person, not just on any Sunday, but this Sunday. Let us thank God for his Holy Spirit. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us pray. Our God and our Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning and we thank you so much indeed for your Spirit. We thank you so much that Christ came, that he accomplished everything that you sent him to do, that through him we have life. And what is more, you also give unto us your Holy Spirit, something worth celebrating on this Pentecost Sunday. We thank you that we may indeed resume worshiping you, and we thank you that by your providence you made it this Sunday. We pray that you would Take the words that have been said today, take the scripture that has been read and meditated upon, that you would take it and press it upon our hearts, that we would look less upon ourselves and more to the Holy Spirit, that we would ask him for his counsel, that he would illumine the eyes of our hearts. We pray that you would help us to enjoy the remainder of this Lord's Day, that it would be a good day of rest, and that you would also prepare us to worship you again this evening. It's in the name of Christ we pray all these things along with the pardon of every sin. Amen.