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.

The study of Ephesians chapter 5. 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 remain. 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's 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 have been like that and have lived like that and have repented will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

What he's saying that no one who live 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 be restored 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 are really not belong to the Lord. We need to really realize this.

Notice the other verse in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murderers, drunkenness, reviling and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.

See what he's really saying? Those who live in this lifestyle without repentance and turning back to the Lord. And he's always gracious. Praise God for his goodness and graciousness because we were in that condition before we became believers.

And at time 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 are dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 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 have offered them and continue in this type of lifestyle.

And how ought we be grateful to the Lord because we are not different. We are sinners by nature. We are able to fall into all kind of condition. 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 preserve us from any such lifestyle. It is totally the grace of God. And so in verses 1 and verses 2-7, Paul encourages the Ephesian believers to walk in love.

If we will walk in love, it will make a different in our lives because we will learn for Yeshua Hamashiach who walked in love and gave himself as a sweet savior unto the Lord. Well now from verse 8. Here's the second thing that our apostle pointing out.

Walking in love, verse 2-7, now walk in light, verses 8-14. And so he's 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's not ashamed to tell the brethren who they were before they became a believer. And he's not ashamed to speak about himself. He says, I know I'm the chief of sinners. Paul is saying, speaking about himself, I was myself, I would not know sin except knowing that God says you shall not covet.

Paul was honest enough about his own self. He knew, he says, O 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.

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 distinguish 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 defense. You know what the four gospels teach us? Matthew say, you either wise or you foolish.

Mark says, you either in or you out. Luke says, you either a believer or you're an unbeliever. And John says, you're either going to heaven or you're going to hell. There's no in between. There's nobody sitting on the fence.

And that's why he's really saying that now you are the children of light and 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 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14. He said, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And then he asked a question. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness?

What concord has the Messiah with Belial? What part hath 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 separate, saith 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 become children of the Father. So, therefore, he's saying in our chapter in verse 8, you were darkness in the 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.

We can share about Yeshua the Messiah, who said, I'm 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, that is fruit for God. And that fruit is acceptable. You know, it's like bringing an offering to the Lord and he's accepting it. 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 accepted Abel and his offering. But Cain brought the fruit of the flesh, you might say, what he has done.

Even though he had worked very hard, and he brought his own flesh, his own activity, you might say, his own produce. God did not accept him. It was not acceptable with God. And only what comes from Christ, from the Messiah, 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.

And 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 know that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God.

In other words, with a believer when we became believers, we are 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. And so he's now saying in verse 14, wherefore awake, thou that sleepeth, 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 sleepeth and arise from the dead, and the Messiah will give you light.

So the necessity to be awakened. Sometimes, you know, we are like a believers that are sleeping. We are not unsaved, 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 is saying to the brothers and sisters at 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, at 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 8-14 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 4-9. 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 says, 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 says, 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 a helmet, the hope of salvation.

So he writes to the Ephesians, wake up. He writes to the Thessalonian, 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, it's 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 are 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 time Yeshua used the word, you're either wise or you're foolish. You'll find it many times found in the gospel of Matthew.

It was the wise men who came to seek the Messiah. It was the wise men who built his house upon the rock. The foolish man build 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 either wise or you foolish. The wise believer making better decision. When he act foolishly or she act 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 blame because we did not walk carefully.

And so Paul is saying to them, 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 worshipping him for what he have 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. Meaning 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 have 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 unto his own sense, he says, 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 clothed him, and he killed the fatters came and he says, this my son was lost and now he returned back.

This son was away from the Lord. But when he came unto 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.

And 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 a 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 continue there in the end 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's 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 failed the Lord in one way or another. We 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.

Gideon Levytam: You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's Word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0. Or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com.

You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.