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 turn in your Bibles to Ephesians today. We are studying in the book of Ephesians, and we are finding ourselves in Ephesians chapter 5. And the passage that we are going to read is from verse 18 to verse 21. So, please follow with me in your Bibles, Ephesians chapter 5, beginning from verse 18.

Paul, of course, is writing to the brothers and sisters at the city of Ephesus, and he says, "And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourself one to another in the fear of God."

This is the end of the reading for this portion of the study today, brothers and sisters. And please allow me to go a little bit back to the previous verses, so we can have the connection in order that we will understand what we are studying here in this ministry today.

Now, I would like to remind you, and I am doing so every time, that Shaul Paul wrote to the brothers and sisters in the local assembly in the city of Ephesus. And he was dealing with one of the most glorious truths that we have in the Bible, the truth of election, in the first few verses of the book of Ephesians. He says, "You have been chosen in Christ, in the Messiah, before the foundation of the world." Ephesians chapter 1.

Then he continued on and he said to the brothers and sisters of the Ephesians that they were far, they were dead in trespasses and sins. And now they have been brought nearer because of the work of the Messiah, the work of Christ. The wall of partition between our own nation Israel and the Gentile world of the believing world now had been broken down. And now God unite together both Jewish and Gentile individuals in Christ, in the Messiah, and we part of the very same body.

That's the positional teaching that he had in the previous chapters, 1, 2, and 3. We are studying of course, the second half of the letter to the Ephesians, from chapter 4, 5, and 6. Now he is very, very practical.

And in those chapter 4, many time and 5 and 6, we find the Apostle Paul using the word walk. And what he is really saying, that now because we are chosen in the Messiah, because we belong to Him, now as believers, we are to walk a godly walk here in this world.

And so he began, if you remember, in chapter 4, and he says, "Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye were called." In chapter 5, if you remember, he again said, "Walk in love" in verse 2, "Walk in light" in verse 8, and "Walk carefully" in verse 15. In other words, the believer in Yeshua the Messiah is to live down here in this world, seeking to walk in a proper way.

So, from verse 18 to verse 33, he shows us how it is important for us to be guided or controlled by the Holy Spirit, by Ruach Hakodesh. Do you know, brothers and sisters, there's nothing we can do here for the Lord unless the spirit of God guide us and control us. Without the Holy Spirit of God working in our hearts and controlling us, we are not able to walk in a right way.

We are always seem to desire to walk in the flesh, to have our own way, to have our own thoughts, to have our own desires. And that's why, notice verse 18 is a very important verse as we move along now to this section, the need to be filled with the Ruach Hakodesh, with the Holy Spirit.

He says in verse 18, "Be not drunk with wine." Notice this, "But wherein there is excess, but be ye filled with the spirit." Let me kinda change the wording a little bit of this passage, "Don't be intoxicated with wine, which will ultimately control you, but be intoxicated," you might say, "or control by the Holy Spirit of God." Very important.

Now, why does he make this comparison between wine and the spirit of God? It is interesting because when one is being under the control of alcohol or wine, you might say, ultimately that person is no longer think logically and act logically and straightforward.

When we are controlled by alcoholic beverage, I'm not saying that one cannot drink a glass of wine. What I'm saying to not allow one to be control, being guided and govern by alcohol, by wine. He says, "Be not drunk with wine wherein there is excess." Don't allow yourself to be drunk with wine or controlled by wine, because it only leads you to not act in a right way.

On the other hand, be controlled by the Ruach Hakodesh, by the spirit of God, because when the spirit of God control the people of God, Ruach Hakodesh, the Holy Spirit of God is enabling us to please the Lord in this world.

Do you know, I want to say that the first time that man was under responsibility, which we have the age of the responsibility when the Ark have landed on Mount Ararat and Noah came out with his family to begin the new world. And this is what he called the dispensation of responsibility or government. The first man that will find himself drunk, and found himself not being controlling himself was Noah, the man that was just the previous days before, we read about him, Noah was a just man. He walked with God.

But once he allowed himself to be controlled by wine, we find himself being naked before his family, and his two sons, you remember, had to take this blanket and not to look back in order to cover him. He exposed himself and he was in such a condition that was so sad, the very same man, just before the flood came down, was called in Hebrew, Tzadik. He was a righteous man. He was a man that lived for God. And yet you find him under the control of wine. You read it in Genesis chapter 9, and what a desperate situation it was.

So here we see a godly man controlled by wine. Looks such a condition we find in this particular person because of the time that he was not controlled by the spirit of God, but was controlled by wine. And so, the Apostle Paul is saying to the brothers and sisters in the city of Ephesus in verse 18, it says, "Be not drunk with wine. Don't be drunk with wine wherein there is excess. Don't allow wine to control you, but be controlled by Ruach Hakodesh, by the Holy Spirit of God."

A verse from Leviticus chapter 10, in verse 8, 9, and 10. Leviticus 10, the law was given to our people Israel. God spoke to Aaron, and look what he says. Verse 8, "The Lord spoke unto Aaron, and he said to Aaron, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generation, and that ye may put a different between the holy and the unholy, and between the unclean and the clean."

There was a warning that was given to Aaron. You're going to do the service of the Lord in the Tabernacle? Well, if you are going to do the service of the Lord, don't be under the control of wine. Don't even drink it because you are not going to be able to discern between what is clean and what is unclean. And that is a warning that had been given to the Ephesians as well.

Now again, I want to emphasize, the problem is not with wine. The problem is the one who allowing wine to take control over him. And therefore it's far better not to allow this to control us in our lives as believers.

Another verse that I want to read in the book of Proverbs. There are many verses that we can find in the book of Proverbs, but just a verse or two. Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 1. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Chapter 23 of Proverbs in verse 29. It says, "Who hath a woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who has redness of the eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek a mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red."

They'd always a warning, it seemed to be in scripture concerning abusive way in which one is being allowing himself to be control under wine. You notice the word woe and sorrow. That's the two Hebrew words, oy va'avoy. We oftentimes in Israel, when something happen, we say, "Oh boy, oy va'avoy." That's two Hebrew words, woe and sorrow. In Israel when some trouble happen, we says, "Oy va'avoy." That's those two Hebrew words in verse 29 of Proverbs chapter 23.

So, let's leave that for a moment and let's look at the other side of this verse. He says, "But be filled with the Holy Spirit of God." Now, what does that mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God? You see, the spirit of God is a person. He is God the Holy Spirit. When we have accepted Yeshua, we have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. And he's now residing in every believer, never to leave us anymore.

But as we go on in our walk with the Lord, and we live here in this world with many challenges and many difficulties that we have here in this world, well, the believer is exhorted now to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. In other words, to allow the spirit of God to control the believer.

What's going to happen when the believer is controlled by the spirit of God? There will be a change in their lives. There will be an attitude that will be pleasing to the Lord because the spirit control us. The spirit guide us. And many times we find in scripture, specifically in the book of Acts, when Peter was filled with the spirit, he preached boldness the message of the Lord.

When Paul was filled with the spirit, Acts chapter 13 and verse 9, he preached the word in boldness. When Stephen was filled with the spirit in Acts chapter 7, he preached the word in boldness. The spirit of God filling the believer lead us to the person of the Messiah and enable us to preach the word boldly, but also to change the manner of our behavior as we walk here in this world. And that's why he says, "Do not be drunk with wine, but be control or be filled by the Holy Spirit of God." And that will help us.

Brothers and sisters, you show me a believer that he is filled by the spirit of God, and I'm going to show you a person that is occupied with Jesus. You show me a brother or sister that are really, truly, not only saved, but filled with the Holy Spirit of God, I'm going to show you a person that present before us something of the Messiah, something of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

Yeshua said in John 16:14, that the spirit of God will not speak of himself. He will take of mine and he will show this unto you. So, being filled with the spirit of God is simply learning from the features of the life in which Yeshua lived here in this world. We learn from Him, and we become a little bit more every time, somewhat like Him.

So, in the next verses, that's why the next verses are very important. Verses 19 to 30, we find three results of the ones that truly are being filled with the spirit of God. And here the three results. The first one is is found in verse 19. The first result of a person that is really filled with the Holy Spirit of God, this person have a joyful heart.

He or she are not a miserable people that constantly are arguing and fighting and so on. A person that is really filled with the spirit of God will have joy in his or her heart. Look at this. It says in verse 19, "Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Here is a person that had been really filled by the Holy Spirit of God.

Infilling, constantly, constantly are filling himself by the person of the Holy Spirit of God, there is a change in their life. There is joy in their hearts. And notice what it says, "Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord."

A believer that is filled by the Holy Spirit of God is a person that have joy. The joy of the Lord, Nehemiah said to our forefathers Israel many years ago in chapter 8. He says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." There's joy coming to our hearts. Yes, there are problems, there are difficulties, there are many opposition here in this world, but there is joy in the heart of the believer if he or she have been filled by the spirit of God.

They will sing to the Lord. Even in trial. You remember Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16, they were in jail. They were in bonds. And at midnight, the darkest time of the day, guess who is singing? Paul and Silas. They're singing praises unto the Lord. Everybody heals them. Heals the people that are redeemed and saved, and not only redeemed and saved, but they are filled by the spirit of God, which made it possible for them to sing in the midst of trials.

You know, when we cannot sing and praise the Lord, something is wrong. That means that we are occupied with our problems instead of the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And we do so at time, don't we? We know that in our own self, in our life at a time, we are so engaged with the problem that we have that we don't think of the Lord and his love and what he have done for us. So we can't sing.

The spirit is quenched. The spirit is grieved. And we can't sing. And what about when we behave in a wrong way? We don't walk in love. We don't walk in light. We don't walk in wisdom, carefully. And therefore the Holy Spirit of God is grieved because of this. And because he is grieved, we cannot be filled with him, occupying with Yeshua, and therefore, we can't sing.

There's no joy. Joylessness. That's what happen even with a believer that is not having the spirit of God feeling him on a ongoing basis. And you notice he doesn't say that the spirit of God will do so on our behalf. No. But he says, "You yourself be filled with the spirit." How? Well, walk in love. Walk in light. Walk carefully. Then you learn from Yeshua and that will fill your heart with joy because the spirit of God can now have his own way in your life. And therefore now you can sing.

And the word for Psalms come from the Hebrew word Mizmor or Mizmorim. How many time we'll find the Jewish people, our own nation Israel, even in a time of trial, they are singing to the Lord because they were right with the Lord. But when they were wrong with the Lord, they couldn't sing.

You know the first time we find song in the Bible is mentioned in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 1. "Then saying Israel this song unto the Lord." The first time in the Bible. Why they could sing? They could only sing after they were redeemed out of Egypt. After God opened the Red Sea and delivered them out of their enemies. And they were now in a state of rest. And they were in a state in which they could sing to the Lord. And that is the first time in the Bible that we find the word singing in the scripture, Exodus chapter 15. "Then saying Israel these song unto the Lord."

This is so beautiful, brothers and sisters. So, Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord. It's so beautiful when our hearts are so filled with singing about Yeshua, our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who loved us and gave himself for us. It is an evident that you have allowed the spirit of God to fill you. In other words, you have sought the spirit of God's guidance in your life and our life. That is an evident that we can see in the singing songs unto the Lord.

There are many other verses that I can make a reference. One of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians chapter 5 is joy. Galatians 5 and verse 22, it says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy." Well, if we have no joy, that means that the spirit of God and the fruit of the spirit of God is not in the life of the believer. And that is so important for us to be filled with the spirit because it will produce joy in our life. And the consequence of joy is singing, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord.

So, the first thing, brothers and sisters, that is the result of the control of the spirit in our life is joy. When we are not rejoicing in the Lord and have joy in our heart, we have to question our seven says, "Lord, I've deviated. I'm not focusing on the right thing. I'm not focusing on you. I'm focusing on myself, and my problems, and my desires, rather than to focus on the Lord." And yes, brothers and sisters, problems will not stop to come our way. But the problems are not to control us. The Lord Jesus the Messiah is the one that should lead us and control us in our life.

By the way, do you know that Yeshua was singing? Psalm 22 and verse 22, he was singing. He is the chief musician in the congregation of Israel. He is the one who lead the believers in the singing. It's not any one of us who standing here in the front. That is the voice of Yeshua the Messiah, who is the chief singer, the one who is leading the brothers and sisters in singing. We have a quotation of it in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 12.

Okay, so the first thing we learn as a result of being controlled by the Holy Spirit of God is a joyful heart. Here is a second thing. This time in verse 20, the Apostle Paul saying, "You know if you are really being controlled by the Holy Spirit of God, it will produce a thankful attitude." You know, it is terrible when a child of God is not thankful. And that's why he says in verse 20, "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah."

Giving thanks is another result of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. When one is unthankful, it's a terrible thing. And that's why he's saying, "Giving thanks always for all things." Now, how can you give thanks to God when you have problems in your life, right? You might say, and I might say. But the Bible teaches us, Romans 8 and verse 28. You remember what Paul said to the Romans, "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

So, when he says in verse 20, "Giving thanks always, and giving thanks always for all things," he means even sometimes for the things that are not so easy. Because all things work together for good. You know, sometimes there are trials in the life of the people of God, and how can we even enter in to some of the trials that some of our brothers and sisters are going through? Some people lost loved ones and they are now all alone. Some people lost family member, or sick and in hospital and on and on and on.

But you see, a believer that is filled with the spirit of God will also give thanks, even for things that are not necessarily good. And so, a good for us is the moment, but we know that all things ultimately work for our good because God has a plan for us. So, giving thanks all the time for all things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

This is interesting that thought of giving thanks. If you just turn in your page to the book of Colossians, look how many time Paul encouraged the Colossians to give thanks. Colossian chapter 1 and verse 3. "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, praying always for you."

Notice Colossian 1 verse 12. "Giving thanks unto the Father, which have made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." We give thanks to the Father, because he made us suitable. He made us meet to be meet to be partakers of the inheritance. What he had given for us through Yeshua the Messiah. Colossian 1 verse 12.

Colossian 2 and verse 7. He says, "Being rooted and built up in Him, and establish in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein." And then he says, "with thanksgiving." Don't forget to give thanks. Colossian chapter 2 and verse 7. Turn the page to Colossian 3 and look at this. Colossian 3 and verse 17, there he says, "And whatsoever ye do in word or in deed,"

Gideon Levytam: You've 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 AM and 7:00 PM, and Saturdays at 1:00 PM 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.