Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith.

And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. Here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat shalom everyone. Please open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 5. We are going to look at the first 17 verses. The 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 ye 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 savor.

But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named 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 whoremonger, no unclean person, no 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 sleepeth, 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. 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've 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 come from the Greek word to mimic God. The word in Greek is `mimetes`, M-I-M-E-T-E-S.

And `mimetes` in the English, it will mean imitators. You know at 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 if 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'm repeating this, "Brethren," he says, "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children."

You see he's 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've entered into the family of God.

And because we are children of God, we will seek to imitate the God who is our Father. And you notice John said elsewhere in 1st 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 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 walk carefully.

That's why he's 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 we have 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, `tada, dada, dada`. He was kind of talking to nobody, he was talking to the wall.

Now, where did it come to his mind to hold a Bible and to speak like he's 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 thing, 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 present 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 savor." 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 the 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 savor."

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 savor," come from the word `reah 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 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 savor unto the Lord. `reah nichoach` `l'Adonai`. 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 has 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 the 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 meeting or congregational meeting 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 `minchah`, as a sweet-smelling savor, God had found so much pleasure with the Messiah.

No wonder we read in Matthew 3 and in Matthew chapter 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, everyone 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 have loved us and He has given Himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. I've made some notes about the person of the Messiah.

How did He walk in love? He says in John 4 verse 34, "My food is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work." John 4 verse 34. John chapter 6 and verse 38, he says, "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 have 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 gonna do so in some small measure, we are going to give pleasure to the Father and blessing to ourselves.

And now, 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. They gotta 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 once named among you as becometh saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks."

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's 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, jesting, 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 come from Exodus chapter 20 and verse 17. It is the last commandment of the 10 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, well, 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 linked that together.

He says, "Fornication, sexual immorality, uncleanness, or covetousness. Let it not be one named among you as becometh saints." And he used the word saints, `kadoshim` 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, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient," the word for not convenient, it's not fitting, "but rather giving of thanks."

Even the way we speak, the word for jesting 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 that 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 have 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 comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them."

In other words, what he's 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 and I'm repeating, "For this you 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 comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience."

This expression, the kingdom of the Messiah and the kingdom of God, he'd been borrowed, you might say, from the Hebrew Tanakh. Because God promised a kingdom. God promised to our people of Old Israel, there is a day coming in which the Messiah will establish a kingdom here in this world. But the Messiah was rejected.