Bible Commentaries
Ephesians 5

Now we come to chapter five and we have the third exhortation on a Christian’s walk

before God. We are to walk in love. Now let’s connect these two chapters together, chapter 4 and chapter 5. He has just spoken in the last verse of chapter 4,

Ephesians 4:32. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 5:1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.

And if we are followers of God, then we will forgive others for Christ’s sake and because of His love for us. You see, we are to be followers of God Himself.

You remember in the epistle of John 4:8; John 4:16, we read that God is love. In the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 the Apostle Paul says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of an­gels, and have not love, it profits me nothing.” And then in 1 Corinthians 4:1, we are told to follow after love, to chase after love.

In 1 John 3:1 we read, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

We are God’s beloved children. Hence we are to express His character, and that character is to be expressed and evidenced by love. It’s a love that sacrifices. It’s a love that loves the unlovely. It’s a love that loves even those who reprove us. This is a supernatural thing. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5).

Verses 1-2

Ephesians 5:1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Ephesians 5:2. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.

A lack of love among God’s people reveals the fact that we’re not real disciples of the Lord Je­sus. You remember in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” God is love. And if I claim that He is my Father and that I am His child, then there ought to be evidence in my life and in your life of His love, His divine love even for the un­lovely. Walk in love.

You know, some years ago at a Bible conference at Winona Lake, I met a gentleman who for some years was the superintendent of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. He told me this incident which had actually transformed his life.

He was at the mission when one night a compa­ny of young people from the Moody Bible Institute came to conduct a meeting. During the course of the meeting the Lord moved upon some of these men, many of them derelicts from the street. The young man who was in charge of this service made an ap­peal for these men to accept Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior. And one after the other, men came forward to go to the prayer room. And as each one came forward someone on the gospel team from the Institute would go right along with him into the prayer room to counsel him, encourage him, show him the way of salvation and to pray for him.

And then a man stood up with long hair and a beard. He looked to be an elderly man, dirty, filthy; and it was very noticeable that, as he sat in the mission on the bench, there was nobody sitting near him. They would get up and move away from him because of his filth, his smell and the vermin that was upon him. They left him alone. But this man got up and went forward and instead of going to the prayer room, he dropped on his knees right at the platform. And this dear superin­tendent looked around to see if somebody would go and kneel alongside the old man. And, behold, there was no one left on the platform.

So the superintendent asked the Lord. He said, “Lord, give me love. In some way undertake for me as I kneel with this man.”

And he said, “As I went to kneel alongside of him, the love of God just overshadowed me. He just overwhelmed me. And I put my arm around him and as my arm was around him and I was talking to him about the Savior, the vermin was running up my sleeve from off his clothes.

And then he took the old man and said, “I want you to come home with me tonight.” Something he had never done before.

And he took the old man to his home and he said to his wife, “Dear, can you find a suit of my clothes so I can give them to this gentleman?” And he gave him his razor and so on and put him in the bathroom and said, “Now, when you get through with your bath, just put your clothes outside, just slip the door open and slip your clothes outside and have your bath and I have some fresh clothes for you.”

And he said, “I went and got the tongs from the fireplace and picked up his clothes, and car­ried them and put them into the furnace. Then I gave him a new set of clothes and so forth and so on. Then I went downstairs to be with my wife, waiting for him to come down. And when he came down I was amazed at the transformation. And I found that this man had been a very brilliant doc­tor. And because of drink and what have you, he had lost his family, lost his business, his profes­sion, and he was down in the very dregs. He couldn’t go any farther down in the dregs of sin and drink in Chicago. But he was a man absolute­ly transformed.

And this fellow told me, he said, “Mr. Mitchell, I have never in my life had such an experience where the love of God has overwhelmed me as I put my arm around that old man. I found out that he wasn’t as old as I thought he was. Afterwards he was recon­ciled to his family, went back into his practice and became a wonderful Christian man with a testimony for the Savior and His wonderful deliverance from sin.”

Now this is the love of God. I don’t care how far down a man may be, I want to tell you, my friends, that God’s love can reach him. You see, in the epistle of John, God is revealed first of all as One who is holy. He is light. Then, secondly, at the end of chapter two and the beginning of three, God is righteous. And then in chapter four, God is love.

When I say God is light, I mean that God is ab­solute in holiness. When I say that God is righteous, I mean that God is right in everything He does. And when I say that God is love, I’m talking about the very energy of His nature toward man. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us” and “sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:10; 1 John 4:9). And then he adds—that he might “be the propitiation for our sins.”

He came to put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. As I’ve oftentimes said, what righ­teousness could not do, love has done in making the provision to satisfy the righteous character of God and in making it possible for God to pick up men and women like you and me and transform us into the children of God. No wonder, no won­der the writer says, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.”

God grant that, today, the love of God will so work in your heart that there will be a revelation of the character of God to you.

Ephesians 5:1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Ephesians 5:2. And walk in love.

Walk in love today. It’s a supernatural thing. I recognize that. But remember, the love of God has been shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto you.

We know so little, so little, of the marvelous revelation of God to His people. I wish in some way I could put into words just the way I feel about this. When I meet with Christians from all over the country—and I have this blessed privi­lege of doing so in Bible conference work and preaching the Gospel—I would like to present to them the Lord Jesus Christ in such a way that they will all fall in love with Him.

Oh, to fall in love with Him so that His heart and your heart and my heart will be so knitted together that there will be a revelation of the living God in you and in me. And this is what is the desire of the Apostle Paul in his book of Ephesians, chapter five.

We were speaking earlier on the fact that God is love and he who dwells in love, dwells in God and God in him. The very energy of the nature of God toward man is love. His very righteous and His holy character have been satisfied through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary’s cross and guaranteed in His resurrection. Now this God who is holy and righteous is free, free to pour upon us men and women His wonderful, wonderful love, His divine love—something which you and I have a hard time understanding.

As we were saying at the end of Ephesians 4:1-32, we are to be tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us. That divine love is not only able to forgive us, but also to forget the very sins that we have committed. This is beyond me, beyond you. This is divine. This is divine. And yet, in some way I believe the Spirit of God would love to make real to us this relationship with Him­self. Now look at chapter five, the first two verses again.

Ephesians 5:1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Ephesians 5:2. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.

Be ye therefore, may I change a word? Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love.

Now, you say to me, “Mr. Mitchell, how can I imitate God? How can I be a real follower of God? He’s divine. He’s God.”

Yes, but you are His child, having become a par­taker, as 2 Peter 1:4 says, Having become “partakers of the divine nature.” We belong to a new race of people. And it is possible for you and for me to walk in a love that sacrifices, a love that loves the unlove­ly, a love that expresses the very character of God.

As a Jewish lawyer once said, “What we Jews want to see are real disciples of Jesus who walk in love.”

See, the world outside knows nothing about this. The world outside loves only those who love them. But we’re supposed to be different. We’re Chris­tians. We’re the children of One who is God, a new race of people, born of God. We are to love those who persecute us. We are to love those who are or­nery. We are to love those who repel us.

“Now you’re asking the impossible,” you say.

Why, of course. That’s a supernatural thing. That’s true. That’s true. I’m not denying that. But, my friend, Romans 5:5 says, talking about us who love the Savior, the very “love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” The Spirit of God in the believer not only seals us, but He indwells us. It’s what Jesus said in the book of John chapter 14, you remember. The Spirit of God is with you and shall be in you. (John 14:17) What for? For the purpose of revealing the very cha­racter of God.

And I would suggest as you think of this, that you yield yourself to the Spirit of God and walk in love even as Christ also hath loved us. So when we come to the second verse of this passage of Ephesians 5:1-33, we have the pattern as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us an offering, a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

Paul sees Christ in the burnt offering which is wholly for God. You remember there are five offerings in the first seven chapters of Leviticus; and one of them is called the burnt offering, that sweet sacri­fice which satisfied God Himself. It is wholly for God.

Now how was our Savior’s love manifested? He has given Himself for us as an offering and a sacri­fice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Do you know how the Lord Jesus Christ became a sweet-smelling savor to His Father? His love perfectly satisfied God because He was always obedient to His Father, and His blood satisfied God’s demand that without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins, that blood must be shed for the atonement of souls.

You remember in John 4:34, He could say, “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me;” in John 5:30, I came not to do mine own will, “but the will of the Father which hath sent me;” and in John 8:29, “I do always the things that please Him.” In Hebrews 10:5-10, it is written in the volume of the book, “I come to do thy will, O God.” And in Matthew chapter three and chapter 17, God said concerning Jesus, “This is my be­loved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” What did He mean? Not only does love sacrifice, but if I love God, I’ll manifest my love by obedience.

Listen to it. I’m reading verse 31 of the 14^th chapter of John. John 14:31 “But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.” That the world may know that I love the Father, I obey His Word. Obedience is the measure of our love for God.

And sacrifice is the measure of our love for each other. May I repeat that? The measure of my love for God is my obedience to His Word. And the measure of my love for the people of God or for one another is sacrifice.

My friend, listen, love is always evidenced by sacrifice, sacrifice for the one who is the object of our love. I get greatly disturbed sometimes with men and sometimes with women who talk about their love, but there’s no sacrifice. It’s a selfish thing when it ought to be a sacrificial thing. Real genuine love is evidenced by sacrifice. And I’m to walk in love, even as Jesus Christ loved me and gave Him­self as a sacrifice for me.

You have this in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25, where Christ loved the church and gave Him­self for it. In Romans 5:8, “God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

In 1 John 3:16, you have the same thing. He ma­nifests His love by sacrifice. And if I say that I love somebody and I’m not willing to sacrifice for him, my friend, I don’t love. Those are just empty words. If there is genuine love, it always means sacrifice. And it’s a joy to sacrifice. Our Lord could say in He­brews 12:2, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Who for the joy that was set before Him was willing to sacrifice Himself. What was the joy? Of bringing you and me to Himself, of redeeming us from sin and making us a child of the One who is God, of granting to us eternal life, of guaranteeing eternal glory. And He went through it just because He loved us. He saw beyond the cross.

And we read in Isaiah, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). The great example for us is Jesus Christ Himself. He loved us and He gave Himself for us.

May I repeat it, my friend. A love that is not willing to sacrifice for the object of that love is not genuine love. Oh, what a need, what a need even among God’s people, even in Christian families, for genuineness in our love the one for the other that is willing to sacrifice that God might be magnified in our lives.

My friend, I ask you the question, how much do you love Him? I’m not surprised that, when you come to the ^21st chapter of John, the Lord said to Peter, “Simon, son of Jona, do you love Me more than these? That’s all I ask you, Do you re­ally love Me? Am I really the object of your love and, if I am, then I’ll give you a job to shepherd My sheep, to feed My lambs.” You see, this is the thing that delights the heart of God.

What was wrong with the Ephesian church? They left their first love, that fervency of love for the Savior. I’m sorry to say that most of us have lost that fervency of love for Christ, that freshness of love. God grant to you and to me the joy today of experiencing something of the love of God in Christ Jesus.

And now, back again to the third exhortation with which we started this chapter. In the first seven verses of chapter five, we are to walk in love. Permit me again to read these first two verses:

Ephesians 5:1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Ephesians 5:2. And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.

These are amazing truths, amazing facts. “Be ye therefore followers of God.” As the children of God, we are to follow Him and God is love, as we found in 1 John 4:8-16.

Now we’re following a pattern in verse 2. Chr­ist Jesus is given to us as the pattern of our love for each other. We are to walk in love as Christ, even as Christ also hath loved us. I know when we come to the question—and I’ll be coming to this pretty soon when we get down to the end of the chapter—of the relationship between husbands and wives and then parents and children and ser­vants and masters, I want to spend some time on this because my heart is very heavy as I realize the lack of love in so many Christian families. It just seems today that we’re living a life of self-will and selfishness. And, my friend, genuine love is willing to sacrifice. I needn’t say any more here, except verse 2.

So may I bring it down to us today then? The measure of my love for God is my obedience to His Word. But the trouble is, people don’t read the Word. “If a man love me,” Jesus said, “he will keep my words.” That’s John 14:23. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that lo­veth me” (John 14:21). But when it comes to each other, our love for each other is manifested by sacri­fice. I want to get that truth into your heart.

First of all, concerning our Savior, “that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do” (John 14:31). The world knows the love of Christ for the Father by His obedience to the Word of His Father. I delight to do thy will, oh my God, for Thy Word is in my heart (Psalms 40:8). And He manifested His love for us by sacrifice.

I ask you the question, my friend, how much do you love God? How much do you, how much do I, love God?

You know, we talk quite glibly about the fact that we love God. How is this love evidenced? By obedience to the Word of God. That calls for some diligence in reading the Word of God, otherwise how can I know what He wants me to do? And one of the sad lacks among most of us Christians is the fact that we do not take the time to read the Word of God. And hence, we’re not obedient children. We live in rebellion and lawlessness. We run hither and yon, perfectly willing to accept the word of men but not the Word of God.

How can you know the Word of God, how can you be obedient to that Word if you don’t read it?

How can I know the purpose of God? How can I know the character of God? How can I know the depths of the love of God? I must go to His Word. It must be as Psalms 1:2 says concerning our Sa­vior. “And in his word doth he meditate day and night.” This is the sad lack among most Chris­tians. This is why people go off on tangents, the reason why so many professing Christians fall for the false doctrines of the day, the false movements of the day. They do not know the Word of God. And if I say I love Christ, I love God, then it will be evident by my obedience to His Word. How can I know what He wants me to do if I do not read His Word?

And then secondly, I manifest my love for each other, my love for Christians, my love for my family. By what? By sacrifice. And it says here to do it as Christ loved us and has given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Oh, I wish I could put into words this one thing. And I’m staying here because I feel it’s one of the greatest needs of the day for Chris­tians to be obedient to God and to love their brothers.

Do you know one of the reasons why there are so many broken homes? Do you know why there are so many lives that are empty, crushed, bruised, even in some Christian homes? Because of a lack of ge­nuine love the one for the other. And if I say nothing else and if you get nothing else, I hope you get this. Our love for God is revealed by our obedience to His

Word. And our love for God’s people and for our family and for men and women everywhere is evi­denced by sacrifice. Am I willing to sacrifice for the ones who are the objects of my love?

The Word of God is a complete revelation of God to His people. And if I want to know what He wants me to do, if I want to know His character, if I want to know the desire of His heart, I must stay in the Word of God. And by the way, when you stay in the Word of God, then your life is cleansed and not only so, but you enter into a vista of truth, into a vista of liv­ing that you never thought was possible. Your life will feel cleansed as you read the Word of God and then obey it. And when you do that, it will be easy to love your brothers. It will be easier to love those that are un­lovely. Love makes it simple, makes it easy.

Now, today, you revel in the love of God by obedience and then manifest your love for others by sacrifice. There will be great joy in this. In­stead of being on the receiving end, you’re on the giving end. My, what a thing it would be if all Christian families, where the father and mother profess to be the children of God, would manifest this genuine love one for the other by sacrifice, by not living in self-will and selfishness. A selfish life always is an unhappy life. Selfish people are not happy people at all. In fact, selfishness leads to death.

Let us pour out our lives for others because we love them. Let us be willing to give up our personal desires in order that others might come to know Christ. Let us live life for others so that even in sacri­fice, they may know something of that wonderful love of Christ, that divine love which has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us.

So we have in chapter 5, we are to walk in love. And allow me again to read those two first verses and then pass along.

Ephesians 5:1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.

Ephesians 5:2. And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God

for a sweet-smelling savour.

Verses 3-7

In verses 3 down to verse 7, Paul gives us a warning. And notice how he keeps contrasting the unsaved with the saved. We had this in chapter two, you remember. In times past you did certain things. Now that you are children of God, you are no longer children of wrath. When you were a child of wrath, you were afar off and you lived in the lusts of the mind and of the flesh. Now that you’re a child of God, living in the heavenlies in Christ, your life ought to be different.

We had it in chapter four from verses 25 to the end. We had the marks of the unregenerate, of the old man. And then we had the marks of the saved man. Well, we have it again in chapter five from verse three down through verse 6. Here is the habi­tual life of the children of disobedience.

Ephesians 5:3. But fornication, and all uncleanness, all covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

Ephesians 5:4. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient but rather the giving of thanks.

And verse 6,

Ephesians 5:6. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

The habitual life of the unsaved is filled with these things. A believer may be weak and some­times do these things, but his life is not characte­rized by them. In other words, sin characterizes the children of disobedience, whereas the pattern of love should characterize the children of God. And Paul makes a contrast between the two.

Notice these are corrupt things. The wrath of God will come upon the children of disobedience. You see, the measure of wrath is determined by sin­fulness. The destination of a person is determined by his disobedience to the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 1:8 says that God is going to come in flaming fire taking vengeance upon them that know not God, who obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. And they manifest their unbelief by habitually practicing these various things. This is the pattern of their life. The sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mire and the dog back to his vomit (2 Peter 2:22).

May I suggest to you that God never calls His people dogs or pigs. A lamb or a sheep may get his feet dirty in some part of a field, but he always heads for the high spot again. That’s the character of the sheep. But a hog on the high part of the hill gets on down to that mud and wallows in it and lies in it and stays in it. That’s the difference between a sheep and a hog.

When we became the children of God, we be­came members of the sheepfold. We belong to the fold of God, the flock of God.

So if you take these words in chapter five, verses 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, you’ll notice that these are the unclean, corrupt things of the human heart. The measure of wrath is determined by sinfulness; the destination of any soul is determined by obedience or disobedience to the gospel.

And now as the saints of God, let none of these things even be mentioned in our lives. May our speech always be seasoned with salt and be glorify­ing to God.

Now, it may be that you’re in frailty and you feel unable to get out of the mud. You turn to the Lord. He’ll deliver you from these things. If you love the Savior, He has deliverance for you. Even should these things be in your life, you today can walk in the love of Christ by obedience to Him and by a sacrificial love for His people. And may God grant to you today the joy of revealing in your life something of the character of our Savior.

What a delight, what a joy it is to know that we belong to the Lord. What a real joy to know that God in His wonderful grace and love has made the provi­sion whereby men and women can be transformed into children of God.

And as we’ve had in these first seven verses, we are to walk in love even as God loved us and even as Christ loved us and gave Himself as a sacrifice for us.

May I just suggest that there are certain sins in the Bible in the life of men that seem to merit more than any other sin the wrath of God. The measure of the wrath of God upon the unregene­rate is determined by their sinfulness—and espe­cially these sins of moral corruption.

I wonder if we Christians realize the awfulness of moral corruption in the sight of God. You start at the book of Genesis and read through your whole Bible. It just seems as if these sins are particularly obnoxious to God. You see, God made man and woman not only for the propagation of the race but also for manifesting the relationship, the wonderful relationship, that there can be between people of the opposite sex, revealing this union that is between Christ and His people.

Verse 7

And then we come to verse 7, the call for Chris­tians to come into separation, separation from these things. Indeed, I would suggest to you that the very first step in a walk with God is separation.

You go back into the book of Genesis and follow through the life of this man Abram. First, he received a call to leave his country, his kindred, his father’s house. Then he was asked to leave Lot. Then he was asked to give up Ishmael. Then eventually, he was asked to give up Isaac. The very first step in a walk with God is separation. And how can we who are the beloved children of God live as the children of disobedience? We are not to be partakers with the law­less sinners in their deeds. But rather let us be imita­tors of God and walk in love.

Now we come to the fourth exhortation for the walk of the Christian. In chapter four we are to walk in unity, in the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, the first 16 verses. Then we are to walk in the new creation. “If any man be in Chr­ist, he is a new creature;” old things are passed away, all are become new. And then Paul picks up the things we shouldn’t do and the things we should do.

Separation is not a very nice thing to talk about. Nobody loves separation. But I tell you, my friend, if you’re going to be pleasing to God in your life, then you must separate yourself from that which is very offensive to God. And these sins which he mentions from verse 3 down to verse 6 are offensive to God—for which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobe­dience. Be ye not partakers with them.

Verses 8-14

Shall we go on? From verses 8 to 14, we are to walk in the light. Allow me to read. As a child of God I walk in love. Now as a child of God I’m to walk in light.

Ephesians 5:8. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

Ephesians 5:9. (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Ephesians 5:10. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Ephesians 5:11. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Ephesians 5:12. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

Ephesians 5:13. But all things that are reproved are made manif­est by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Ephesians 5:14. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Now let us look at this for a few moments. As children of God who is love, we are to walk in love. And now, as children of light, we are asked to walk in light. We once were in darkness (verse 8). This is a position that we have, just as we have in verse one. We are children of God in verse one and children of light in verse 8. Not only are we in the light, but we are to walk in the light.

Do you ever stop to think that this is a revelation of the character of God? In 1 John chapter one, verses 5-7, This is the message that we “declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” If we say that we are in the light and walk in darkness, we are liars. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son clean­seth us from all sin.”

You remember in John chapter 13:30 after Je­sus had given the sop to Judas Iscariot, we read that Judas went out from the presence of Jesus and it was night. It was night. Judas went out into the darkness having turned his back on the Son of God who was light. There was nothing left but darkness.

You know, I’ve oftentimes wondered if for the unsaved their eternal destination is eternal darkness. You remember in Psalms 49:19 b we read, “They shall never see light.” God is light as well as love. There are those who believe that God is love and know nothing of the fact that God is light, that is, that God is absolute in holiness and righteousness. How can a person unredeemed and a child of wrath, a child of the night having spurned the one who is light, how could he stand the presence of an eternal God who is light? Heaven would not be heaven to him.

You see, he’d be glad to get away from the presence of God. They shall go out and they shall never see light. It’s an astounding thing. It’s a terrible thing. It concerns a great many friends of yours and mine who have never accepted the Sa­vior. They laugh and spurn Jesus Christ and His wonderful love for them. They ridicule what He did on the cross. They spurn the gospel, unbeliev­ing—unbelieving and yet in darkness. And they shall never see light.

I wish in some way I could put upon your heart and may I add upon my own heart the terribleness of a man or a woman going out into eternity without Christ. They shall never see light! It’s what we have here. But to be in union with Him means life. That’s why when you come to 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natu­ral man, the unsaved man knows nothing of the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness unto him. He cannot know them because they are spiri­tually discerned.

But for those of us who have accepted the Sa­vior, a new element has come into our lives—not only love, genuine love, but light. And if Christ is the light of the world, if He Himself is light as God is light, then this new element has come into our lives. We’re no longer in the dark. We’re no longer in the place where there is no light. But we’ve been joined to Him. Hence, our walk should be in harmony with our transformation. We’ve been transformed, translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Colossians 1:13).

Verses 9-12

Now in Ephesians 5:9-12 we have the evidence of walking in the light. “The fruit of the Spirit” or if I could change the words, “the fruit of the light” is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. You re­member it says in Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gen­tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. And we prove what we are by walking in the light, even as He is in the light. We prove what we are in what we do. We prove “what is acceptable unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10).

You remember in Romans 12:1-2 where Paul says, “I beseech you there­fore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed (transfigured) by the renewing of your mind that

ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

You see, we prove what we are not by society, but by the light. We’re tested by the light. And what pleases Christ is the Christian’s highest du­ty. You remember 2 Corinthians 5:9, if I can give you the revised text there, where Paul says, “Being ambitious to be found pleasing to Him.” And, if I am a child of light, I will prove that I am a child of light not by what pleases me, but what pleases God. And he goes on to say,

Ephesians 5:11. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them,

Ephesians 5:12. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

I’m to have nothing to do with the works of darkness. These are unfruitful. They’re passing and they can never stand the light. And by all means, let us reprove those things that are done in secret. In other words, as you and I walk in the light, our lives become a reproach. We rebuke and reprove the works of darkness by walking in the light.

You don’t have to shout from the housetops. When you and I walk in the light of His Word, my friend, the man of the world will walk away from you. I know whereof I speak. When we first accepted the Savior, we were in love with Him and we wanted eve­rybody else to love Him. Our very actions and our very words revealed the fact we did not belong to the world.

The man of the world is rebuked and reproved not so much by our preaching, but by the way we live. And if I’m a child of God who is love and if I’m a child of God who is light, then I ought to walk in the light and I ought to walk in love. I will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. These are passing things. It’s even a shame to speak of these things which they do in secret.

Now we have that, remember, in Romans 13:11-14: “It is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off (throw off) the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness (outbroken sins of society), not in chambering and wantonness (secret sins of society), not in strife and envying (these are sins of the heart). But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

Those things belong to the darkness. I’m a child of light. I’m a child of God who is love. I don’t belong to the night. Now this is the standing of God’s people. If you’ve accepted the Savior, that’s where you are. You’re a child of God who is love. You’re a child of God who is light and should have nothing to do with the works of darkness. But rather reprove them. How do I do that? By living pleasing to Him, by separating myself from the unfruitful works of darkness.

Now I know it’s difficult sometimes to live and walk in the light and to have this life of separation from the sins of society. And yet, my friend, if I’m a child of God, this is where I must walk. If I’m a child of light, I must walk in the light. And when you and I fall in love with the Savior, love makes it easy. The Spirit of God indwells you, and the Word of God which you have in your hand will be used by God to cleanse your life from these things. Live pleasing to Him. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. And he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.” And may this be a day when you’ll just rejoice in the fact that you belong to Him.

Verses 13-14

Now the purpose of light, we find in verses 13 and 14.

Ephesians 5:13. But all things that are reproved are made manif­est by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Ephesians 5:14. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

The purpose of light is to dispel darkness. Darkness is never dispelled by argument, but by light shining. You can argue with the unsaved all you want to, but it never, never dispels their darkness. The scriptures say, “The entrance of thy words giveth light” (Psalms 119:130).

My friend, don’t judge the unsaved. They don’t know any better. And all the argument that you can give them is not going to change them. Having been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God through His Son, can’t we be so in fellowship with God who is love, so in fellowship with God who is light that we shall reveal something of the wonderful character of God to the unsaved? Just as the Savior walked among men as the light of the world and as the bread of life, so we too are to shine as lights and hold forth the word of life.

We have been left down here so that these who are in the darkness might be delivered from their darkness and be brought into the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ.

It is a wonderful thing, is it not, to start the day with the Word of God and to know something of the glorious relationship there is between the believer in Christ and God Himself. This marvelous union is be­tween you and Him. God is love and we are to fol­low Him and “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us” (Ephesians 5:2) and gave himself a sacrifice for us. And as we’ve been saying, we repeat it again— we manifest our love for God by our obedience to His Word, and we manifest our love for each other by sacrifice just as Christ did. And then we are to walk in light, starting in at verse 8 of chapter 5 of Ephesians Ephesians 5:8.

Verses 15-17

Now, the third evidence of a wise Christian you read in verse 17. Maybe we better read from verse 15.

Ephesians 5:15. See then that ye walk circumspectly (carefully), not as fools, but as wise,

Ephesians 5:16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:17. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Do not be unwise. Do not be foolish but be wise, understanding the will of the Lord. So many Chris­tians are ignorant of the will of God. We are to un­derstand the will of the Lord. Do you know what the will of the Lord for your life is? Do you know what the will of God for the church is? Do you know what the will of God is for the nation Israel? Do you know what God’s will is for the nations of the earth? What do you know about His will? Let’s be wise Chris­tians. Let us not be ignorant.

You remember in 1 Corinthians 5:2-3, Paul asks, “Don’t you know that the saints shall judge the world? Don’t you know that we shall judge angels?” Don’t you know that certain things, certain people can’t inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t you know that your body is a member of Christ? (1Co 5:6:15). Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit which ye have of God and you are not your own. Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1Co 5:6:19-20). “Wherefore be not unwise, but un­derstanding what the will of the Lord is.”

Now that doesn’t mean that you pull things out of the air. It doesn’t mean just going to church and listening to somebody preach or teach once a week. It means we must give time to the Word of God. It means work. May I say that quite a few people pat themselves on the back. They go to church once a week, and they feel they’ve done their duty. But they don’t know a thing about walking with God. They don’t know a thing about knowing the will of God or the work of God. Some don’t even open their Bibles from one week to the next. They go to church to hear somebody else read it.

I wish in some way we meant business with God. How in the world can we know the will of God, how will God be able to show it to us if we do not get into His Book? Remember Jesus said in John 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine (of the teaching), whether it be of God or not.”

The whole thing is, do I mean business with God? Do you mean business with God? Let us not be ignorant Christians. Let’s be wise Christians. To walk in the will of God is to walk wisely. But I again raise the issue. How can I know the will of God? How can I know what He wants me to do if I do not mean business and if I do not get into the Word of God?

Verses 15-21

Now we come the fifth exhortation of the apos­tle Paul for Christians. We are now to walk in wisdom. And this portion runs from verse 15 down through verse 21. We are to walk in wis­dom. Allow me to please repeat again that we walk in unity of spirit, we walk in a new creation, we walk in love, we walk in light, and now we are to walk in wisdom. We are to be wise Christians, not foolish. As Paul wrote to Titus 2:10, We are to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” Now on down through these verses we have four aspects or four evi­dences of a wise Christian.

The first one is in verse 15.

Ephesians 5:15. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Ephesians 5:16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:17. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

Now here we have the evidences of a wise Christian. Let’s take them up one by one. In verse 15, may I change the word? “See to it then, that you walk correctly.” The world is full of pitfalls and quick sands and what have you. It’s so easy to fall in. It is so easy to get caught in the mud and quagmire of this world. Don’t let your life be soiled with the filth of the world. Be wise Chris­tians! Walk correctly. Walk straight! Walk care­fully!

You know I find Christians who are very care­less about their walk. They’re very careless about what they say, very careless what they do, very care­less where they go. And the result is that they bring reproach upon the name of Christ; and, furthermore, they walk as foolish ones.

You say, “Mr. Mitchell, that means I’ve got to walk the narrow life.”

Oh no! Oh no! Not necessarily. The life with Christ is not a narrow one.

“Well, if I walk the straight and narrow path, I’ve got to give this up and that up.”

Listen, my friend, your Christian life is not one of subtraction. It’s one of addition. It’s not a life of joy killing. It’s a life of joy. It’s a full life. It’s not a restricted life. It’s a life living on earth as a child of one who is God. And He wants us to be wise. He doesn’t want us to be foolish. I repeat it, the world is full of pitfalls. We’re surrounded by sinful things. We’re surrounded by corruption, and the god of this world, the god of this age, is leading people astray.

My friend, I say this very frankly. We are living in days when we’re surrounded by false teachers. We’ve been talking in chapter five here about the children of darkness and what characterizes them— the moral corruption and the filth.

And remember that in 2 Timothy 3:1-17, for example in the 2 Timothy 3:1-5 first 5 verses, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents . . . heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

These are evil days. And as Peter writes in 2 Peter 2:1, “There were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.” We find the same thing in the book of Romans 13:11-14 and Judges 1:4; Judges 1:11 where he talks about the doctrines and the life of the ecclesiastical leaders of the last days. So we are to walk in wisdom. Let us not be foolish Christians, but wise Christians walking carefully, walking correctly and buying up the opportuni­ties.

In 2 Timothy 3:13 Paul says, “Evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” He also warns us that in the last days there shall be an apostasy. Men shall give them­selves over to the doctrines of demons. In other words, their minds are controlled by demonic influ­ences and powers.

Do you realize that most of the leaders of the world today are evil men, corrupt men?

Will you please, Christian friends, will you re­deem the time and pray that our country might be de­livered from evil men, evil leaders? And pray that there shall be given to us men of character, and I sin­cerely hope some men who really know the Lord. Will you pray for those legislators in Congress who are Christians who meet for prayer? Won’t you help them by prayer? That God may give to us in this land, men of character, men who really know God.

Am I a foolish person because I live a straight life, pleasing to God? Or because I want to please the One who is love, the One who is light and the One who has given His life for me? Certainly not! Be wise. Walk carefully.

Now, that’s the first evidence.

The second evidence of the wise Christian is in verse 16. “Redeeming the time because the days are evil.” Make the most of every opportunity be­cause time goes by fast and you can’t recall it. Redeem the time. Buy up every opportunity of growing up in Christ, of knowing Him, of witness­ing for Him, of walking with Him. Why? Because the days are evil. We’re living in very, very evil days.

May we as Christians redeem the time, buy up every opportunity of walking with God. Buy up every opportunity of knowing Him. Time goes by very fast. Oh, how quickly it goes by. And you can’t reclaim it. You can’t bring it back. And the hours and the days and months go by.

How much time do you and I waste? God’s given us this time to be used for His glory. How much time of that do we waste? How much of the Bible do you know? How much of Christ do you know? How much of the purpose of God do you know? How much of the will of God do you know? How often do you witness for Him? How many of your friends know the Savior? Oh, how we’ve wasted God’s time.

And may I suggest, time spent out of the Word of God is wasted time. Every minute spent out of the will of God is wasted time.

You remember Abraham was thirteen years out of fellowship with God between chapters 16 and 17 of the book of Genesis. Abraham was playing with Ishmael and for thirteen years you’ve got a silence. No revelation. Nothing at all, just silence. Wasted years. And then God in sovereign grace and love ap­pealed to him and said, “Abraham, I’m El Shadai; walk before me and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1). You see, it was a rebuke because he had gone so long without being in fellowship with God.

How many years, how many months, how many days have you and I walked out of fellowship with God? Wasted time. Just wasted time. May the Lord grant to you and to me to be wise Christians to re­deem the time, to see to it that we make the most out of every opportunity of knowing Christ, of growing up in Him, of witnessing for Him, and of having a blessed daily relationship with Him.

Let us not be foolish. Whatever the past may have been, however much time you have wasted in the past, will you start today to redeem the time? Will you not be a wise Christian today? Get to know the work of Christ. Get to know the person of Christ. Walk in fellowship with Christ. Witness for Christ. Live for Christ. Be pleasing to Christ. May He be the center, not only of your love and devotion, but the center of all that you are. Oh, to live as a wise Chris­tian, walking carefully, redeeming the time because these are evil days. And may the Lord wonderfully bless you now and may He be glorified in your life.

Verses 18-21

Now we come to the fourth evidence, the fourth evidence is verses 18-20 of chapter 5.

Ephesians 5:18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

Keep on being filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Ephesians 5:20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Ephesians 5:21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the feat of God.

Now I say, my friend, this is a command of God. And if we are wise Christians, we will be Spirit-filled Christians. This is imperative. A Spi­rit-filled life very simply is a continual enjoyment of divine life. Normal Christianity is to be habi­tually filled. Keep on being filled with the Spirit of God. Paul says here, “Do not be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.” May I just stop here for a few moments. You par­don my doing this, but I’d like to make it very, very clear to you.

There is so much uncertainty and division among God’s people with respect to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I’ve often wondered why preachers and Bible teachers don’t study every verse in the Bi­ble on the Holy Spirit. Why don’t they take every verse, for example, on the filling of the Spirit, every verse on the baptism of the Spirit, on the sealing of the Spirit and being born of the Spirit. And there are not too many of them, really. It wouldn’t take you long to do this either. Actually the ministry of the Spirit of God to the believer is very simple.

The moment you and I accepted the Savior, as we were seeing in the first and fourth chapters, we were sealed. Remember, Paul said, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption.” We have just three verses on the sealing (Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30, and 2 Corinthians 1:22), and they speak of preservation.

And then there’s the question of the baptism of the Spirit. This is an act of God. It is not an expe­rience. It’s an act of God, taking believers and join­ing them together in the body of Christ. It speaks of union with Christ and with each other.

To be born of the Spirit speaks of relationship as you have in John 1:12-13, and chapter 3 of John 3:1-36.

And then you have the question of the indwel­ling Spirit for the purpose of revealing the character of God.

Now these four things are true of all believers. But the sad thing is that all believers are not Spi­rit-filled. A Spirit filled life is a life lived in fellow­ship with God.

Now, that’s a very simple statement and you say, “Mr. Mitchell, it means more than that.”

No, my friend, it doesn’t mean more than that. You’re going to tell me that, if I were Spirit-filled, I’d have certain experiences. That’s not true. I may have experiences that you don’t have. And you may have experiences that I don’t have. When people are filled with the Spirit of God, they’re walking in fel­lowship with God in His will. And it is only when you’re walking in fellowship with God in His will that you are Spirit-filled. Don’t tell me that when you’re Spirit-filled you’re going to do this or do that and do the other thing. I challenge you on that. I’ll let you bring the Word of God and prove to me what you say is true.

You see, I took the time to take up every verse in the Bible on being Spirit-filled. And, when I got through, I was simply amazed. Do you know ex­cept for this verse in Ephesians chapter 5 there’s only one man in the whole New Testament who talks about being Spirit-filled. Luke in his gospel talks about being Spirit-filled. Ten times in the book of Acts he talks about being Spirit-filled. And, if you read them through, you’ll find that there’s a connection between them.

I’ve had people tell me—I’ve even had preach­ers tell me—that if I were Spirit-filled I would have a certain experience. If I were baptized with the Spi­rit, I’d have a certain experience. If I were sealed with the Spirit, I’d have a certain experience. If I were born of the Spirit, I’d have a certain experience. You don’t find that in the scriptures. God does four wonderful things the moment we accept the Savior.

Every Christian is indwelt by the Spirit oth­erwise he wouldn’t be a Christian. “If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:29) And in John 7:1-53, Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)” (John 7:38-39). The indwelling Spirit became the experience, the portion of every Christian after Pentecost.

Now regarding the filling of the Spirit of God, may I put it this way. The filling of the Spirit of God is the right of every Christian. Even babes in Christ can be Spirit-filled just as men and women in Christ can be Spirit-filled. The very babe in Christ, the one who has just been saved, can experience being filled with the Spirit. In fact, sometimes I wonder if some of these new-born babes in Christ know more about being Spirit-filled than some of these folk who have been saved for 50 or 60 years. It’s been years since they’ve walked in fellowship with God. And their minds have become dull of hearing as Paul could say to the Hebrew Christians in Hebrews 5:11.

What does it mean to be Spirit-filled? And why does Paul bring it in here? This is the only time he ever mentions it in his epistles. There’s a reason for it. The highest experience of any believer is to walk in fellow­ship with Christ in His will. And if that believer is not Spirit-filled as He walks in fellowship with Christ, will you please tell me, when he will be filled? It is imposs­ible to be filled with the Spirit of God with a heart that is out of fellowship with Christ.

It is imperative that you and I be filled. The command is just as clear, just as simple, just as real as the commandment in the preceding chapter which told us not to lie or to steal. A normal Christian is one whose life, the pattern of his life, is to be habi­tually filled with the Spirit of God. In fact, I want to make the statement, my Christian friends, that, if you are not Spirit-filled, you’re not living a normal Christian life. That’s pretty strong language, isn’t it?

You see, we have so much distortion given to us on this matter of the ministry of the Spirit in our lives. Let me just again very simply say this that as long as a believer in Jesus Christ walks in fellowship with God in His will, that believer is Spirit-filled. The moment that something comes into your life to break your fellowship, and I do not care how won­derful your experiences may be, if you are not in fel­lowship with Christ, you are not Spirit-filled. That’s a strong statement.

Let’s be honest; let’s be real. It’s possible for a woman taking care of her family, washing the dishes, taking care of the husband and the home to live a consistent Christian Spirit-filled life. A Spirit-filled life is an enjoyment of divine life. And the wonder of it is that you and I can have that. This is why He saved us. This is why He joined us to Himself.

You remember in John chapter 3 we read that the Spirit of God was upon Jesus without measure (John 3:34). In Luke 4:18 Jesus could say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor” and so on. And it’s within the right of every Christian to be Spirit-filled.

Now I made this statement earlier that Luke is the only one who speaks of the experience of being Spirit-filled, except for this one passage here in Ephesians 5:18. This is the only time Paul mentions it,

Ephesians 5:18. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Ephesians 5:19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Ephesians 5:20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Ephesians 5:21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

This, by the way, is the evidence of the Spirit-filled life! Now, turn to Colossians chapter 3. I’m reading verses 16 and 17. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giv­ing thanks to God and the Father by him.”

You’ll notice the similarities of the evidence of being Spirit-filled and having the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, only with this difference. If you notice in Ephesians chapter 5 nothing is said about teaching the word of God; whereas in Colossians 3:1-25 we read, “In all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another.”

Now I’ve changed the punctuation, by the way. The King James Version has punctuated that a little differently. It says here in the King James Version, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms...” Now you don’t teach and admonish in psalms and hymns. You sing in psalms and hymns. And you teach in all wisdom. So let me read it this way, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

A babe in Christ can do that, but a babe in Christ can’t teach. This only comes when the Word of Christ dwells in one richly in all wisdom. When does that happen? When he is a prayerful student of the Word and when he’s walking in fel­lowship with God in His will so that he enjoys normal Christianity. He enjoys divine life. There’s a love for the Book and there’s a joy there that comes from God Himself. There is something about Bible study that delights one’s heart.

And I just pray that today you may experience this. You see, the man of the world, the ideal man of the world is a self-sufficient man. But the ideal man of God is the yielded man. So as one yields himself to God, the Spirit of God takes over. We walk in fel­lowship with God and the Word becomes precious.

Or sometimes I’ve put it this way. The greatest experience you will ever have in heaven will be fellowship with Christ face to face. I know you are going to be changed and made like the Savior. I know you are going to live forever in the presence of the Lord, but the great purpose of it all is this intimacy of fellowship. And let me suggest that the more you know of Christ in this world, the deeper will be your fellowship with Him in hea­ven.

The more you stay in the Word of God, the more you obey Him. The more you stay in the Word of God, the more you know Him. Let us not be ignorant Christians, but wise Christians, understanding the will of the Lord. And as I yield myself to Him in fel­lowship with God, I’m Spirit-filled.

Now don’t say, “Well, if I’m Spirit-filled, I’ll have some great, tremendous experiences.”

I’m not concerned about experiences. It’s nice to have them. But the thing I’m concerned about is that we walk in the fellowship of God in His will. And I can only know the will of God as I stay in the Word of God. And you have a Teacher. The Spirit of God will lead you and guide you into all truth. All He wants you to do is to take the Word of God, ask Him to direct you, and then to meditate upon the scrip­tures, read and reread them so that you’ll know something about your Savior and the way He deals with men. Be a Spirit-filled Christian, one enjoying the divine life and living each day to show forth something of the praises of our God.

Now may the Lord bless you today and if your fellowship with God is broken, you confess your sins very simply and humbly before Him. He’s promised to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrigh­teousness. And this is what you should do.

Now let’s get back to this question of being Spirit-filled. This is a command. Keep on being filled. It’s not an act once for all. This is a conti­nual thing.

Again may I remind you to be born of the Spirit is an act once for all.

To be baptized by the Spirit is an act once for all.

To be sealed is an act once for all.

To be indwelt by the Spirit is an act that God does the moment you accept the Savior.

This is what God does. But the filling of the Spi­rit of God depends upon you and me. And a Chris­tian is not Spirit-filled unless that believer is walking in fellowship with God in His will. I know I’m going over this. I want it very clearly understood. I find hungry Christians, people who are hungry for spiri­tuality and they are looking for some shortcuts. So other people come along and offer them shortcuts, like a preacher said to me not too long ago here in my office. He said, “Mitchell, if you only had this, my, what a preacher you would be!”

Well, he was talking about an experience. I could have said to him, “Well, brother, if you’ve had this experience, what a Christian—you—would be.”

But why get occupied with experiences? Expe­riences are a dime a dozen. Now I like expe­riences. But let’s get down to business. The im­portant thing is not your experience. The impor­tant thing is obedience to the Word of God, to live in the Word of God. And the Spirit-filled Chris­tian is a person who is walking in fellowship with God. I have met people who talk about being Spi­rit-filled, but their lives are just the opposite.

The great yearning of the heart of God and of the early Church apostles was that every believer should be Spirit-filled. It’s within the province and right of every Christian to be Spirit-filled. It’s imperative that we be Spirit-filled, walking in fellowship with God.

I noticed in following this thing through that the Gospel of Luke is the only gospel that speaks about being filled with the Spirit. John speaks about the indwelling Spirit, but he is dealing with the fact that our bodies become the temples of God, that the Spirit of God comes in to abide for­ever, and so on.

But Luke is not dealing with that. Luke is deal­ing with the filling of the Spirit of God. You take chapters 1 and 2, for example, in the gospel of Luke. You have Zacharias, who was the father of John the Baptist, filled with the Spirit (Luke 1:67). And what did he do? He prophesied. You have John the Baptist filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). And Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit. What did she do? She prophesied (Luke 1:41). You take Mary. She’s filled with the Spirit, and she sang the “Magnificat” and prophesied. And when you come to chap­ter 2 you find Simeon, the old man in the temple. What’s he doing? He’s spirit-filled (Luke 2:25-27). And He’s Spirit-taught, and he’s Spirit-led. The Spi­rit was upon him. He was taught by the Spirit, and he was led by the Spirit.

When you come to chapter 4, Luke 4:1 the very first verse speaks of our Savior. Our Lord was filled with the Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilder­ness. Luke 4:14, He returned from the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. In Luke 4:18 He said, “And the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to do cer­tain things.” And it’s not mentioned again in the whole gospel through Luke on the filling of the Spirit.

In chapter 11, the Spirit of God is brought in with respect to the question of praying. And in the end of chapter 24, the last chapter of Luke, our Sa­vior told the disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. In the book of Acts 1:8, the last words of our Sa­vior were, “Ye shall receive power after that the Ho­ly Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me.”

And then ten times in the book of Acts we read of someone being Spirit-filled. And when they were Spirit-filled, with great boldness gave the apostles witness of the death and resurrection of our Savior.

You see, what I’m after here is this question of being Spirit-filled. I’m not dealing with the other aspects of it, just this one thing. And these are all the passages that have to do with being Spirit-filled.

Now when you come to Ephesians chapter 5, the wise Christian is the Spirit-filled Christian. He not only walks carefully, he not only buys up the oppor­tunity, he not only understands the will of the Lord, but he’s Spirit-filled. And may I say to you, if you love the Savior, you can be Spirit-filled right where you are today, right where you are in your office, in your car, in your kitchen. Don’t wait for some expe­rience. You come into deeper fellowship with Christ.

But I also suggest that the moment that your fellowship with Christ is broken, either through your self-occupation or through something you do, you’re no longer Spirit-filled. But the moment you are in fellowship with God in His will, there is no higher experience for a Christian. This is the place of blessing. This is the place of power. This is the place of joy. This is the place of peace.

Ah, to walk in fellowship with God in His will. He’s made provision for this. I’ve got a Savior in heaven praying for me. The Word of God has been given to me. The indwelling Spirit is there. All are cooperating in one thing—that you and I might enjoy the very life of God Himself, day by day, hour by hour. Oh, what a life this Christian life is. What a life, but the world outside sees so little of it because most of us Christians know so little of it.

You know, it would be a tremendous thing in the world if all of us Christians just lived a quiet, wonderful life of walking in fellowship with God, radiating something of the love and tenderness and compassion of Christ.

Oh, listen, friends, there are so many broken hearts, so many crushed lives, so many bruised souls all around us. How are we going to reach them? It’s those walking in fellowship with God that He finds usable to reach these hearts. We’re not to come at them and club them, but to come in with the tender­ness and love and compassion of the Spirit of God.

Friend, this is what the world needs, what the Church of Christ needs—Spirit-filled Christians, men and women who are walking in fellowship with God who is love and in fellowship with God who is light. Then Christ will be glorified through us. We won’t be doleful, sober-looking people. We will be happy, joy­ful, full of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord as we shall see in these next two or three verses.

You say, “Why, Mr. Mitchell, does that mean I’ve got to go around singing all the time?”

Well, he says here “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” May I tell you, when your heart sings, it isn’t very long before your mouth will be singing too. Isn’t that right?

You say, “Well, I can’t even carry a tune.”

Well, what of it? What of it! You know it’s an amazing thing that God listens to the joy and the praise and worship of the heart, not so much of what comes out of the mouth. Sometimes a person may have a wonderful voice, but God takes no notice of it. Yet there might be some dear old saint with a cracked voice, but a heart rejoicing in him. The Lord takes note of that.

You see, the Lord looks upon the heart. Man looks on the outward appearance. We love to hear somebody with a wonderful voice. But too often, that wonderful voice is not dedicated to the Lord. And along comes somebody with her eyes closed and her mouth open, singing God’s praise. Sometimes she doesn’t even keep in tune. But it’s real worship to the Lord. This is what the Lord loves.

When we are Spirit-filled in fellowship with God, our heart is full of praise and thanksgiving and worship. These are the things that are vital. These are the things that are real. There may not be any outward show, but there’s that worship, that satisfaction of being in the will of God. It causes your heart to bubble up with joy and thanksgiving to Him. Sometimes it comes out in a song from your lips. You might even hum a tune. I don’t know what it is; but there’s a joy, there’s a blessing there; and you’re full of thanksgiving to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“You mean thanking God for everything?”

Yes! Because sometimes the very test of life, the very afflictions of life, are the things that God uses to draw us close to Himself.

You know I’ve been in conference work all summer and I’ve met Christians from all different parts. I’ve met some who have been going through very deep waters. I think of one precious young woman who has four children. She has gone through very deep sadness. She said to me, “You know, Mr. Mitchell, it’s done one thing to me. It’s drawn me so close to the Lord that I’m willing to go through anything just so I can glori­fy Him. It’s changed my whole life. Instead of be­ing bitter, sour, you know, I have joy. It’s given me blessing. And I thank him for every test and every trial.”

One dear little woman in a sanitarium told me, “I’d go through this whole thing again. These last three weeks I’ve suffered a great deal. But I’d go through it again if I thought I would have the same experience with God that I had before.”

You see, the Lord permits trials, and He per­mits circumstances. Even though they’re hard, you can live above them and see the hand of God through them. And when you’re Spirit-filled, walking in fellowship with God, it is simply won­derful.

I remember the testimony of a dear Bible teacher who was very sick. And when his daughter came in to see him, she said, “Daddy, how are you?”

And he said, “You know, dear, my eyes are so that I can’t see. I can’t even read my Bible. And I’m so weak I can’t even pray.”

Was he bitter? Oh no!

He said, “You know what I’m doing? I’ve just laid my head on the Lord’s bosom and I’m just en­joying Him for Himself.”

Ah, this is the place to be! It’s a place of real joy irrespective of circumstances. This is the life of faith. This is the Spirit-filled life. Not a lot of hoopla, but joyous, joyous, blessing of coming in­to the presence of God and enjoying Christ for Himself. This is the place of real fellowship, thanksgiving, worship, praise. And this is what God has for you. This is the Spirit-filled life.

Now, let me again repeat briefly. We have here four evidences of a wise Christian. We are to walk carefully. We are to redeem the time, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. We are to understand the will of the Lord, and this comes through staying in the Word of God. He wants us to walk wisely in His will. And fourth, we are to be Spirit-filled. It would be a wonderful thing if eve­ryone who is reading this would come to that place of being in intimate fellowship with the Lord.

Isn’t it a marvelous thing that you and I can come into the presence of God and have fellow­ship with Him? I say, my friend, there is no life comparable to it. The world can have its baubles, have its gold and its silver. These are the things that are passing, just transient. And the blessing that you may have with them is a passing blessing. But whatever comes into your life, whatever the circumstances, whatever the afflictions, the joys, the sorrows, you live in the presence of the One who said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

Therefore we can boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6).

Now, we come to this last one, the sixth thing. We are to walk in submission, chapter 5:22 to 6:9. And this has to do with relationship one to the other—for example, the relationships of husbands and wives, relationships between parents and children, relationships between masters and ser­vants. Walking in submission is one of the pur­poses that the Spirit of God wants us to recognize. It’s true we may have different positions in the body of Christ, but nevertheless we are in Christ and we are here to walk in submission. Before I take it up, I think it might be well for me to sug­gest something here from verse 22 where it says:

Ephesians 5:22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own hus­bands, as unto the Lord,

Ephesians 5:23. For the husband is the head of the wife... .

Ephesians 5:25. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

In Ephesians, the Church is looked upon from a different angle with respect to its relationship to Chr­ist. For example, in chapter 1 the Church is looked upon as the body of Christ. And that speaks of life. In chapter 2, the Church is looked upon as a temple. And that speaks of worship. And then the Church is looked upon as a new man. And that speaks of a new life and a new race of people. And then the Church is looked upon as the bride of Christ. You find that in Corinthians and you find that here in the relationship between the husband and the wife in chapter 5.

Paul speaks of the bride. He’s talking about the relationship and the affections between Christ and His people. Will you keep that in mind now as we come to chapter 5 of Ephesians with respect to husbands and wives, reading from verse 22 through verse 33. He’s talking about the relation­ship between husbands and wives. I believe he’s talking here, of course, of Christians. You have a Christian husband and a Christian wife. If one or the other is not saved, then I wouldn’t come to Ephesians 5:1-33. I would go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. But here we have in verses 22 to the end of the passage in chapter 5 the case of a Christian hus­band and a Christian wife. What is to be their re­lationship, the one to the other?

I would like to ask you to turn to 1 Peter 3:1-9 and Colossians 3:18-19. And I want you to notice that each believer has a particular place in the body of Christ. Re­member this, will you? Each one has a particular place in the family, the husband and the wife. And may I suggest that when the husband takes his place and the wife takes her place, then you’ve got a time of real joy and real blessing.

And it’s a sad thing that I find Christian families where the husband takes a certain attitude and the wife takes an attitude and you’ve got trouble, trouble galore. And the poor kiddies are the ones who suffer. Now there’s no reason why, in Christian families, you can’t have a foretaste of heaven on earth. I know I’m living in a day when there’s an awful lot of looseness. And a lot of, shall I say, false ideas about this question of the relationship between a husband and a wife.

I had a lady in my home yesterday telling me that her whole life is ruined. The whole family is ruined because the husband is cruel. He claims to be a Christian. He’s supposed to be a Christian leader; and he’s not only bossy, but he’s cruel. And there’s no place for this in the Bible. No place for this in the Bible! God wants us to be happy, and He’s made provision for us to be hap­py. But both husband and wife have a responsibil­ity.

I want you to read this over and over together with 1 Peter chapter 3, the first nine verses. The hus­band has a particular place in the family, and nobody can take his place. And the wife has a particular place, and nobody can take her place. And then Peter goes on to speak of the relationship between parents, especially the father and the children. The father has the place of responsibility. This is what headship means. He’s not the boss. He’s not the pope. He’s not an autocrat. He’s the one who is responsible to God for his family. God does not hold the mother re­sponsible. God holds the father responsible.

Now I’m talking to Christian parents. And, my friend, if you take your place of responsibility before God concerning your family, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with any of them. And I’m sure that God will make it a wonderful place of joy, of blessing between the husband and the wife and the children, so that people will know here indeed is a Christian family. And if ever we needed Christian families, it’s today. Wherever we live, in your neighborhood, among your friends, we have a tremendous need for Christian families living in a place of peace and joy and of blessing. And as we take up these verses in Ephe­sians 5 I pray that the Lord will make it very, very precious to us.

I know some of you are not going to like it. I’m going to say some things I’m sure you won’t like. But let’s be real about it. Let’s be honest about it. What says the Scriptures? Never mind what I say. What does the Bible say? I know that Christ said He wants your joy filled full (John 15:11). And how can your joy be filled full when you’re fighting and spat­ting and not taking your place? I tell you, my Chris­tian friend, if ever there was a need for Christian families, for Christian homes, where the Lord is magnified and where love is manifested, it’s today! It’s today!

First of all, each one has a particular place in the family. The husband shouldn’t be the boss, and the wife shouldn’t be the boss. No bosses.

“Well, what do you mean by headship?”

Verses 22-25

Let’s read it. In verse 22 and 23.

Ephesians 5:22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own hus­bands, as unto the Lord.

" And you husbands remember that, will you? They submit themselves unto you as unto the Lord. And husbands: “

Ephesians 5:23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.

Ephesians 5:24. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Ephesians 5:25. Husbands, love your wives.

Now Christ is not the head of the family. Christ is the head of the church. The husband is the head of the family. And headship means responsibility. In other words, God holds the husband responsi­ble for the family. He is not to be a domestic ty­rant, but he is to reign in love.

I’ve had husbands say, “My wife should submit herself to me in everything.”

Wait a minute. Submission does not mean servi­tude. The wife is not a chattel. She’s the wife. And you’re the husband. And God holds you responsible for all your family.

And I repeat, there’s no place for either one to be a domestic tyrant. But you are to reign in love. Sub­mission does not mean servitude. I’m pressing that because I’ve had so many men, through these years of being a pastor, who have insisted that they’re the head of the house, that they’re the lord over the house, and that they can demand their wives to submit to them in everything. This is absolutely unscrip­tural. Headship means responsibility.

This is autocratic. This is not love. This is being a boss. And I maintain the Bible doesn’t each such a thing. The husband is to love his wife even as himself. And the wife, when her husband loves her as he loves himself, would be very glad indeed to submit herself to him. You see, it’s a combination. It’s team work. The husband has his place; the wife has her place. But you work together; you are one in Christ.

Now let’s come to the wife. The wife has the place of honor. You find that in 1 Peter 3:7. And may I say, it is very easy for the wife to submit herself to her husband as unto the Lord, if the husband obeys verse 25.

Ephesians 5:25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it.

And I’m going to insist on this. Let me inject this. Do you know why family prayers are not ans­wered? Do you know why family prayers are hin­dered? It’s because you do not submit the one to the other. You don’t take your place. You remember it says in Peter, turn to 1 Peter chapter 3, reading from verse 7.

“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them ac­cording to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. Fi­nally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but
contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto

called, that ye should inherit a blessing.”

And one of the reasons why people have the trouble in their families and why their prayers are not answered is because neither one or the other knows his or her rightful place in the fami­ly. You know this is very deep-seated thing. Paul had this problem in the early Church. We have it today.

Verses 22-33

Now, then, let’s come again to the woman.

Ephesians 5:22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own hus­bands, as unto the Lord.

Ephesians 5:23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.

Ephesians 5:24. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Go down to verse 33.

Ephesians 5:33. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular (you husbands) so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

And I repeat it, when you husbands take your place of loving your wife as yourself with a love that is willing to sacrifice for the love and joy and blessing of the wife, it will be very easy for the wife to take her place of submission of reverencing her husband.

Now the illustration given to us, as I say, is the relationship between Christ and the church. How much did Christ love the church? He loved the church so much that He was willing to lay down His life for the church. Husbands are to lay down their lives, if need be, for their wives because they love them. It was in love that the Lord Jesus gave Himself for us—

Ephesians 5:27. That He might present it (the church) to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

I tell you, my friend, it’s an amazing thing. This question of relationship is a tremendous thing. In fact, I again come back to what I said in the preceding lesson. The prayers of God’s people are oftentimes hindered because either one or the other does not take his/her place before God and before each other.

I’m emphasizing this fact because the great illu­stration given to us is with respect to Christ and His love for the church.

The love of Christ for the church was revealed in sacrifice. He has given everything, all that He had for the church, the church that He loves. His past work is mentioned in verse 25. He gave Himself for the church that He might remove the barriers that were between the church and God.

He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. And He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sins (Hebrews 9:26). Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This man by one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12). This is what He did in the past. His love was evidenced by sacrifice.

Now, our Lord’s present work,

Ephesians 5:26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it (the church) with the washing of water by the word.

This is His present ministry. He wants to keep us clean. And how does He do it? By His Word. As you have it in John 15:3 when He said, “Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you;” and in 1 John 1:1-10, verse 9, through chapter 2, verse 2, “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righ­teous;” and in Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost (perfectly) that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make inter­cession for them.” He cleanses the church by the wash­ing of water by the Word. That’s what you have in the 1 19^th Psalm, you remember, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy Word” (Psalms 119:9).

Verses 25-30

Now, let me repeat it. The husband has the place of responsibility, that’s the headship. That doesn’t mean servitude. That doesn’t mean he is the boss. Neither one is the boss. And the woman is not chat­tel. They’re one. And wife has been given the place of honor because she is the weaker vessel. May I re­peat it, it is very easy for the wife to submit to her husband if the husband obeys verse 25, which is,

Ephesians 5:25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it.

Ephesians 5:26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

Now the illustration given to us is in chapter 5 reading from Ephesians 5:25-30. The illustration of relationship. Christ’s love for the church is re­vealed in His sacrifice for her.

You remember in the preceding chapter I said that my love for God is revealed by obedience. And my love for other people is revealed by sacrifice. When we take this into the church, into the family of God, we say, “That’s right.” Now, let’s take it into the family between husband and wife.

Just as Jesus Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it that He might cleanse the church and sanctify the church and might present to Himself a glorious church. . . .

Ephesians 5:28. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Ephesians 5:29. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord loved the church:

Ephesians 5:30. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Ephesians 5:31. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Ephesians 5:32. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

You see, there is more said about the husband than there is about the wife. Listen, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church.” How did Christ manifest His love for the church? By giving his life for the church. So how is a husband to manif­est his love for his wife? By sacrifice, by giving his life for his wife.

Now, you’ve got no argument with me. This is what it says, for the purpose that Christ might bring the church to Himself, a holy church having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing (v. 27). So the husband loves the wife and you re­member that no man ever yet hates his own flesh.

A man doesn’t hate himself. And he’s to love his wife even as he loves himself. And his love for his wife is so keen, so real that he’s willing to leave his father and his mother and be joined to her. I’m talking about the husband. I sometimes think the husband needs instruction more than the wife because we’ve got sort of a distorted idea about this.

It says here that this is a great mystery (v. 32). It is! Here is a man who has been raised by a fa­ther and a mother who have spent all their love and sometimes all their money on that fellow and made him a real man. One day he sees a girl, falls in love with her, and he’s willing, perfectly will­ing, to leave his father and mother who raised him, who wept over him, nursed him and every­thing else, to leave them because of his love for his wife. You see, now, having gotten his wife, having been married to this girl, he must love her as him­self. And that love is going to be evidenced by sa­crifice for her.

Verse 27

And then you have His future work, His future joy in verse 27.

Ephesians 5:27. That he might present it (the church) to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Here is his future joy. He’s going to present the church to Himself a spotless church, a holy church. This is the future. In the book of Judges 1:24, you remember, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with ex­ceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and honor and majesty, dominion and pow­er, both now and forever.” In Colossians 1:22, God not only reconciles us, but He’s going to present us “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”

You see, you have the past work of Christ be­cause He loved us, He died for us and removed the barrier of sin. His present work, because of His love for us, is revealed in that He is our Representative, our Intercessor, our Advocate. And He keeps us clean by the Word of God. And if He did all this be­cause He loves us. How then should we love each other? How then should we love each other? We are to love each other even as Christ loved the church.

I come back again to this statement that I made at the beginning of chapter 5. We manifest our love for God by obedience to His Word, and we manifest our love for each other by sacrifice.

Mr. or Mrs. Whoever-You-Are, if you really love each other, if your love for each other is ge­nuine, you’ll be willing to sacrifice for the joy and the blessing of each other. There’s no joy in being a boss. There’s no joy in being an autocrat. There’s no joy in lording it over other people by saying “This is my position!” I’ve seen men and women driven from their mate over this!

Marriage is a combination. It is a union, a un­ion—the husband having his place, the wife having her place. And look at the joy for your children. In­stead of seeing father and mother at odds with each other and scrapping and not talking to each other, here they have blessed communion together, blessed joy and love. And it radiates through the children. The kids begin to love each other. I’m talking about a practical thing. The Word of God is practical. And again, may I say, God wants you to be happy. He wants you to be filled with joy and He has laid down instructions for how our families can be happy, joyous families.

Oh, my friends, may the Lord make these things very precious and very clear to you. And in these coming days in your house, in your family, may you husbands take your place and you wives take your place; and, my, what a combination of love this will bring. Remember we manifest our love for God by obedience to His Word. We ma­nifest our love for each other by sacrifice even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.

Now may the Lord wonderfully bless you. I just pray that God will make your family, your home, one of the sweetest homes in the neighborhood be­cause of the love you have not only for the Lord, but the love you have for each other.

Remember, love, genuine love, is always willing to sacrifice.

Now may the Lord make the Word very precious to your heart. Read it and reread it and reread it, and get your mind filled with the text.

And the Lord wonderfully bless you now for His name’s sake.