Ephesians 5 – Walking in Christ

0:00Thank you for joining us for another lesson from God's Word. The West Huntsville Church of Christ at Providence is located at 1519 Oldman Rovey Road, Northwest, Huntsville, Alabama, 35806. Any time you're in the Huntsville area, we hope you'll stop in and be part of our worship. Sunday morning worship is at 9 o'clock, with Bible class immediately following. Sunday evening worship is at 5, midweek Bible study is held Wednesdays at 7. Let's talk about Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 through 14 tonight Ephesians 5 verses 1 through 14 is where we're going to be. This is a little bit of a challenging section for me because the structure breaks down just a little bit. It doesn't divide quite as neatly as the other parts of the book that we've looked at. So I've got it outlined as you can see before you walk in love and then walk in light.

1:05But let me just show you a couple of things about how all this interconnects and fits with the rest of the text before we go work through it, okay? So if you notice in chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, what's the first word of chapter 5 verse 1? It's the word therefore, right? And what do you do when you see the word therefore? You got to see what it's therefore, right? Boom. All right. So when you see that word, basically what it is is it's drawing a conclusion, right? Based on whatever has just been said previously, here's the conclusion that follows or the exhortation or whatever. So really, chapter 5 verse 1 and 2, they really go with the previous section. It's really a carryover from chapter 4 and verse 32. We'll talk about that more in just a minute, all right? So that's the first thing. The second thing is this next section, in verses 3 through 14, so the main idea of this

2:11actually doesn't show up until the end of verse 8. For you once were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light. So that's the command for the section, walking as children of light. And so essentially what happens then, beginning in verse 3 and then is that Paul will go through a number of different kind of behaviors and say, hey, because you are now children of light, you can't be doing these kind of things, you can't participate in them. And then on the other side of it, in verses 9 and following, he'll say, well, because your children of light, those behaviors that I just told you that you can't have anything to do with, also you need to expose them. So the command is in the middle, and the obligations are on either side of it, all right? And so in a very general way, that's kind of how this context sets up, all right?

3:15So let's talk about the first one, walking in love, chapter 5, verse 1 and 2, I want to go back up and read beginning in chapter 4, verse 31, and read down through chapter 5, verse 2. Paul says, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted for giving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you, therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and given himself for us, and offering in a sacrifice to God for a sweet, smelling aroma. Okay, so the first part of this, we talked about at the end of our class, last week, verse 31 and 32, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you. And we talked about how there's really a progression of thought here. So you have bitterness, which is the kind of internal seething sort of anger, the resentment

4:17that we can allow to build up within ourselves, like it's, you know, percolating in a crock pot or something over time. And then as that continues to percolate and boil, well, then it gives way to things like wrath and anger. One of those is like rage, just an intense outburst of rage. The other one is more of a seething kind of anger. Then there's clamor and evil speaking. One of them has to do with yelling, like screaming at people out of anger. The other one has to do with foul language and profanity and using words out of anger to attack another person, right? So there's, again, a progression. It starts in the mind of the heart and it boils and it seeds and then it explodes in different ways. And Paul says, let that all be put away from you. And then he says, be kind to one another and tenderhearted and forgive one another.

5:21Even as God and Christ forgave you. So you can say that kindness and tenderheartedness and a willingness to forgive one another is just the opposite of everything in verse 31. So instead of having this seething anger that is allowed to just go on without any kind of in, there's kindness. And kindness, you ever tried to define kindness, by the way. This is one of those things. It's kind of hard to put a dictionary definition to it, but you know it when you see it. You know what I'm talking about? Kindness is something that is really revealed more in action. I'll tell you something. The next time you're mad at somebody and I mean really mad at them, just force yourself to go do something kind to them or say a kind word to them or act in kindness in some way. And what do you suppose will happen to the anger? It will immediately begin to go away, right?

6:21So kindness, tenderheartedness, we might think of compassion and compassion or tenderheartedness is another word that really it may be a little easier to define if you want to put a textbook definition to it than kindness, but it's another thing that is more, really you know it when you see it. One of my favorite passages is Matthew 9, the first couple, two three verses, no I'm sorry, the end of it, where the Bible talks about how Jesus was going about through the cities and villages and he was preaching the kingdom of God and he was healing the sicknesses and so on and so forth. Then it says that he looked out among the people and they were scattered abroad as sheep without a shepherd. And so he was, this is the new King James language, he was moved with compassion toward them. What does it mean to be moved with compassion? Well I would argue that it involves emotion.

7:23We usually, we use the word heartbreak, you know we see somebody in tragic circumstances and we say that breaks my heart, you know I'm talking about, it broke Jesus's heart. But then what does the very next verse say at the beginning of chapter 10, that's where we begin to read the limited commission, right? So what happens is at the end of Matthew chapter 9, Jesus looks out at all the people, he sees that they have these great needs, it breaks his heart, it moves into compassion and he does something about it. He sends people out on the limited commission in order to go out to those people who are of the sheep of the lost house of Israel and who needed compassion. Anyway, forgiving one another and why should we forgive one another and how should we forgive one another? Will he says as God in Christ or even as God in Christ forgave you? All right, so on the one hand there is anger and wrath and explosions and loss of self-control

8:23and harming people with our words and actions. On the other hand, there is kindness and compassion and a willingness to forgive and all of those things, kindness, compassion and a willingness to forgive are seen in God and our Father. All right, well therefore, because we have this obligation to be kind and tenderhearted and forgive one another, will therefore be imitators of God. Well imitators of God, what does that connect back to, grammatically right back to the last part of chapter two, even as God in Christ forgave you, imitate God in what? Well, in forgiving, but what was it that motivated God's forgiveness? Look at the next line, the imitators of God as dear children and do what and walk in love. So I would suggest to you that walking in love is explaining what Paul means by being an imitator of God in this particular context.

9:25It doesn't exhaust the idea, of course, but that's the subject at hand. What does it mean to be an imitator of someone or something? Yeah, you try to do what they do. You talk like they talk or you walk like they walk or you dress like they dress or whatever, right? We're mimicking them. That is imitating or mimicking, if you will, God is something that the Bible stresses in a number of different ways. Like in Matthew 548, we're told to be merciful, even as your father in heaven is merciful. So we're to strive to imitate God in mercy. We're told in 1 Peter 1 quoting from Leviticus chapter 11, be holy or I am holy. So we are to imitate God's holiness. We want to be holy as God is holy. So the idea is to try to become like God as much as possible in every way in our lives.

10:26And we do that because we are His children. And I like this point here, if you want to write this down in Ephesians 1, 5, we are told that God, remember, if you can remember this, that God from eternity, His plan was who adopt us as His children through His Son, right? So we're the children of God in Ephesians 1, 5, and in Ephesians 5, 1, we've got to bear the family resemblance. If you're going to be a part of the family of God, then you've got to act like you're a part of the family of God, right? If you're going to be called a child of God, then you've got to act like you are a child of God. And we would have the same kind of, and we do have the same kind of expectations for our children at home. Do we not? We're living in my, I heard this once or twice, as long as you're living in my house under my roof and you're eating my food, you're going to follow my rules, anybody ever hear something like that? Yeah. Well, that's the idea, right? But spiritually speaking, you're a child of God, you're a member of His kingdom, you're

11:28going to bear the family resemblance, all right? Well, the specific thing that He has in mind is walking in love. So walking, of course, is an imperative. It's a command, but it is also something that is ongoing. And I failed to mention this, so let me go back. It's all connected together. I want you to notice He uses the word B, therefore, B imitators. And He said it in verse 32, also, B kind to one another. There's a subtle, subtle point here in the Greek text that's kind of interesting to me. This is the word that the New Testament uses to describe a state of being. So in other words, He's not saying, this is what you need to do. He's saying, this is who you need to be. This is who we are, all right? It's our nature, if you will. It's a quality that defines us.

12:31As an interesting point of contrast, you might refresh your memory and go back at some point to chapter 2, verses 1 to 3. And then later on, do you remember in about verse 14, remember He talked about how you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of the world and according to the, I've just lost it, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, and you were by nature the children of wrath. And you remember we talked about that idea by nature. He's not talking about, it's not Calvinism, all right? It's just simply talking about the fact that this is how they behave, so that's just who they were. That was their personality. That was their heart. The children of wrath basically means you are destined for wrath. People that just are sinful and wicked, not because they're pre-programmed to be that

13:33way, but because that's how they, that's just what they've become. That's how they've acted. That's how they've behaved. Well, there's only one end result for that. Well, that's all been changed now, right? Chapter 4 verse 17 through 24, don't walk in the way the Gentiles walk and the futility of their mind, because you've not so learned Christ, he said, if indeed you have heard and continue to hear, do you remember this? And he talked about how the gospel teaches us to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. So we've changed the way that we think, we've changed our nature. We've changed who we are. So this is a state of being. We are to just generally be the kind of people who are kind and tenderhearted and willing to forgive. And we are to be the kind of people who are seeking to imitate God in everything, but especially in His love. Now, what kind of love are we talking about? Well, look at the next phrase, as Christ has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering

14:35and sacrifice to God, or a sweet smelling aroma. A great commentary passage on this would be John Chapter 15 verses 12 through 14. This is where Jesus says, greater love has no man than this than that what, you finish it. That a man should lay down his life for his friends. So this is a self-giving love. It is a sacrificial love. And I would argue that a God-pay love, that's the most common used word for love in the New Testament. And that's what's here. That kind of love, by definition, always has the best interest of its object in mind. Always. Genuine love always has the best interest of its object in mind. And so involved or kind of bound up within that definition is a willingness to be sacrificial.

15:36If my sacrifice of something in my life will help you in some way, then love pushes me to do it or compels me to do it. And how did God demonstrate that through the sending of His Son? Romans Chapter 5 talks about that. God demonstrated His love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And at the end of this, He uses language that points us back to the Old Testament, Old Testament imagery, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. You remember, you study through the laws of sacrifice and the book of Leviticus and the worshipper is told, you've got to bring the best of your flock and it's got to be of your own voluntary will and it's got to be in accordance with the laws that have been laid

16:36out. And at the very end of that, if the worshipper comes and worships in the way that God wants him to, what is the result? Well the book of Leviticus teaches that that sacrifice would rise up before God as what? As a sweet smelling savor or a sweet smelling aroma. It would please God. It would be pleasing to God. So the sacrifice of Jesus is pleasing to God. It's a sweet smelling aroma and I think you can make the application that is we seek to walk in love and imitate God and love one another in a self giving sacrificial way. It's pleasing to God. It comes up before Him as a sweet smelling aroma. Okay. So that's the first part. Walk in love. But remember, it's tied to the end of chapter four. Okay. All right. Next one, verses three through 14. I'm just going to read this and then we'll go back and work through it.

17:39But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be named, let it not even, I should say, be named among you as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse-gesting which are not fitting, but rather giving a thanks. For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolator has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them, notice the bee again. For you were once darkness, but now you were lied in the Lord. So walk as children of light. So the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful to even speak of those things which are done by them in secret, but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest

18:43is light. Therefore, he says, awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. All right. Let's look at this in sections. First of all, let's look at verses three through seven. All right. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints. What do those words mean? What is fornication? How would you define it, biblically? Okay, it's sexual sin, it's sex outside of marriage, that is right. This is the Bible's general word for all sexual sin, all right, of whatever kind. Uncleanness. I didn't look up the ESV today, but I think the ESV may use a different word here.

19:47It really has to do with moral impurity. And so this word can be used, it is used in different New Testament context to refer to a number of different kinds or manifestations of immorality, but included among them is sexual immorality. And then you have covetousness. Now this is an interesting word, especially right here in this list. What is covetousness? All right, I want what I don't have. If I were to put a dictionary definition by it, I would say it is an insatiable desire for more. I just always want more and more and more and more and more. Now, to what can that apply? I mean almost anything. I suppose. But it strikes me as interesting that the first two words in this list, both one absolutely

20:49has to do with sexual immorality. The other one at least includes it. And so I can't help but wonder if Paul is not talking about covetousness as it relates to sexual immorality, desiring sexually that which is not yours, which you have no right to. Now, let me step back away from this for a moment. Let me ask you a question. Do you remember, so Paul is writing this to Ephesus, do you remember what, which of the seven wonders of the ancient world happened to reside in the city of Ephesus? The temple of Diana, does anybody know what kind of goddess Diana happened to be? She was the goddess of fertility. So you don't have to say this out loud, but what do you suppose the worship services look like in the temple of the pagan goddess of fertility?

21:52And what kind of sexual behavior do you suppose that the first century pagan world viewed as being acceptable in the city of Ephesus if you are a worshiper of the goddess of fertility? So suffice it to say that sexual immorality, both in thought and action, was quite a problem in the first century world, not much different than it is today. In fact, I suppose it's not any different at all. So these Christians, to whom Paul is writing, these are predominantly Gentile Christians. And that means that many, if not all of them, have some of this in their past. And so they have to overcome it. And as we keep going through this context, like for example, later on when he says, no man deceived you with empty words, apparently somebody was trying to say, well, you can still do this kind of stuff.

22:53And Paul's telling them, well, no, you can't. They're lying to you. Don't believe that. All right. So fornication, all kinds of sexual immorality, uncleanness or moral impurity, different kinds, but it includes sexual immorality. Unconsciousness. He could be using it in a general way, but I wonder if he's not using it specifically in regard to sexual immorality. Well, here's what he says, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints. The last part of that, as is fitting for saints, that just means as it's appropriate for saints, right? These kinds of things are like oil and water as it pertains to Christianity. They don't match. They don't go together. It's not appropriate. What does it mean when he says, don't even let this be named among you? What does that mean? Don't even talk about it. Don't think about it. Don't let it be something that you casually engage in.

23:55Don't even let it be. It shouldn't even be on the radar. All right, we'll keep going. In verse 3, you have what we might say are actions or at least two actions and then desire. In verse 4, you have the words that go along with it. Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse-gesting which are not fitting. The word filthiness literally means obscenity or obscene, and it is used in different contexts in your New Testament like some of these other words. It can either refer to obscene behavior, like shameful dishonorable behavior, or it can refer to obscene speech, all right, obscenity and speech, nor foolish talking. That is empty or speculative talking, nor coarse-gesting.

24:55What do you suppose that is? What's coarse-gesting? It's dirty jokes. That's exactly right. So look at this together, verse 3, verse 4, I really would suggest to you that Paul is covering the entire gambit of sexual sin in these two passages. He uses a general term to refer to all of it. He uses a term to talk about the desire that goes along with it. He uses a term that describes talking about it in inappropriate ways and even joking about it in inappropriate ways. And then what does he say? He says, these are not fitting. Don't even let these things be named among you because it's not fitting. It's not appropriate. But then look at the next part. What's the contrast to fornication and uncleanness and coarse-gesting and so on?

25:57What's the contrast to it in the text? Being thankful. Now that's curious, isn't it? How does thanksgiving connect to this list that we've just seen in the previous verse and a half? What's the connection here? Say again. Okay, you're in God's family. All right. You'll elaborate a little bit. All right. So you're thankful that you're thankful that you're out of the world. You're away from sin and you have the promise that you get to go be with God one day. Yep. Absolutely. Anybody else want to add something? Okay. Contentment. I'm not, I don't know that I'm just going to throw this out here. Okay. It could be that what Paul is saying, when he says thanksgiving, you're right, has to do

27:01with contentment. Like you should not be covetousness. You should not be covetous sexually for that which does not belong to you but be thankful for what you do have, right? That might be it. I'm not sure though, I think maybe it's a little bit more general. Thanksgiving throughout the New Testament is often used as a motivating force for fulfilling ethical commands. You will often find thanksgiving in a list like what we've just read here where the Bible will say, here are all these things that you need to avoid and instead of doing those, let's be thankful. So why is thanksgiving a motivating force? Let me suggest a couple of things for you, one of them from the text and the other one just in general. Let's do the in general first. Thanksgiving is an implication of dependence.

28:08If you give me something and I say thank you, what am I implying? Without you and your kindness in giving me this gift, whatever it is, I wouldn't have it. So to whatever degree I am dependent upon you because you gave this to me. Now maybe I could have gone and got it myself but I would have had to spend my own money to get it or I would have had to spend my own time to make it. I didn't have to do any of those things because you gave your time or you spent your money or whatever. You gave something to me and without that, without you and your effort, I would not have this thing in the way that I got it from you. So I am dependent upon you. Yes, sir. Okay, yeah, it's an expression of humility. That's exactly right. I think that's one of the reasons why God emphasizes thanksgiving so much. You remember in Romans 1, when Paul starts talking about the digression of the Gentile world, one of the things in the list is they stopped being thankful.

29:09They stopped thanking God. And what happens when you stop thanking God? Well, you are no longer in humility, cognizant of the fact that you are dependent upon God for the things that you have in life. So thanksgiving in and of itself, it implies dependence. All right, that's the general observation. Now look, let's look at the textual one fast forward just a little bit. He says, for this you know that no fornicator, notice the connection to verse 3, fornication, fornicator, uncleanness, unclean person, covetous man who is an idolater, all right? None of those folks have any inheritance in the kingdom of God and in Christ. There's a sort of an implication here and the implication of this. Now look, you know that those who participate in these kinds of things, they have no place

30:12in the kingdom of God, but you do. You do have a place in the kingdom of God because you're not those things. There's your connection, I think, to Thanksgiving. It's basically what you were saying to us. Thanksgiving for what God has done for us and for our relationship with God and the hope that we have in him is a motivation that will help to keep us away from these kinds of sinful activities. So we ought to dedicate time to thanking God. As the song says, right, count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. That will do more biblically than just give us some encouragement and help us to feel better about being down on our luck. It will also motivate us to avoid wickedness and pursue righteousness. And that's the point that Paul's making in the context. Okay, so he says, look, you have to avoid these kinds of sexually immoral ways of behaving.

31:15Don't do it, don't think about doing it, don't talk about doing it, don't make light of it, don't joke about doing it with anybody, don't even let it be on the radar, let it not be named among you because it is not appropriate. Then he says in verse six, don't let anybody convince you otherwise. Let no one deceive you, he says, with empty words for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. These things, that's the sins listed in verses three through five, because of covetousness and uncleanness and fornication and so on, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. So don't let anybody, don't let anybody deceive you or trick you or make you think the opposite. Reminds me of Colossians two in verse number eight where Paul will say, beware, lest anyone trick you through the vain philosophies and ideas of men.

32:20Beware, be on guard, be on the lookout because people are trying to trick or to deceive you. Interesting thing to contemplate perhaps, there were some in the New Testament world and probably they didn't show up on the scene in full force until sometime after the writing of this epistle. I wonder sometimes if maybe they're the foundation of them, I'm talking about the Gnostic, incidentally. I wonder if sometimes the beginnings of the Gnosticism wasn't just sprinkled around everywhere. And one of the tenets, one of the things that they argued is that the sin that you did with your body had no effect on your soul, like a duality. So you have the physical and then you have the spiritual and the physical doesn't affect the spiritual in any way whatsoever. What do you suppose the practical implication of thinking that would have been in the

33:23first century world? Yeah, free to do as you please. That's right. So basically it's the idea of being able to do whatever you want and that can go in many different directions. One of them, like Keith brought up, was think about worship. Somebody can say, well, my heart's in it, my mind's in it. So it doesn't really matter what the actions look like. I can figure that doesn't affect anything as long as my heart's right. The other direction that it could go is, you know, I can live however I want to live. If I want to engage in sexual immorality or alcoholism or gambling or whatever fell in the blank, I can do whatever I want to do because the physical and the spiritual have

34:23no connection. Now, let me ask you a question. Is there a modern day version of that kind of thinking and living? What is it? America? Yeah. I'm thinking, let me be more specific, in the religious world as a whole, does that still exist? The answer is yes. How about the doctrine of once saved, always saved? What's the practical implication of a doctrine like that? That's exactly right. Regardless of how I live, whatever my life looks like, when it gets to the very end of it, that I'm good because I believe in Jesus. There are, I don't guess I'm being hyperbolic when I say there are millions of people in

35:28this world who believe exactly that, but that's not true and that's not what the Bible teaches. And so Paul would say, let no one deceive you with empty words. Don't let anybody tell you that your actions have no effect on your eternal destiny because that's not true. Therefore, do not be partakers with them. The word partakers is partners. Interesting cross-reference, he mentioned that, or used that word for the first time back in chapter 3 and verse 6, when he was talking about God's eternal purpose seems like ages since we've studied this, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel. So what was the idea of that? The Gentiles being fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ

36:29through the gospel. What the idea, of course, is that the Jews and the Gentiles, as a matter of who you are, any more in Christ Jesus, we are all what? We're all one and we all have this intimate connection, if you will, with one another and with God in the body of Christ. So same word, same idea now, but in a different context, do not be partakers, do not have this intimate attachment and connection with them, well who's the them? Well it's those who are practicing the things that he just said not to practice in the previous passages and the ones who are telling you that it's okay to do it. Completely separate yourselves from them, he said. Here's the second half of this, in verses 8 through 14. Notice verse 8 begins with the word 4 and often when you see the word 4, you're getting an explanation, it's like saying because, it's giving a reason.

37:33Here's the reason why you cannot be partakers with them, state of being, remember, quality who you are, your nature, because you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. You notice anything interesting about how he says that? Notice he doesn't say you were once in darkness, he says you were darkness. That's interesting. I would connect that back as we mentioned a moment ago to chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 and chapter 2 verse 12, remember we're talking about a state of being. So what is light and darkness generally in Scripture? Darkness has to do with what? With sin, wickedness, everything that is antithetical to God and who he is. So then what is light?

38:33It's completely the opposite. It's God. It's all that's good and right and holy and righteous. Light is light and in him is no darkness at all. That's what first John 1 verse 5 teaches us. So you were once darkness, in other words, your character, your personality, your life, who you were just as a person was darkness. But now who you are as a person is light. But notice it's light where? Light in the Lord, right? What did Jesus say about being the light? He said, I am the light of men. He said, whoever comes to me, I will give unto him the light of life, the light of life. Think about a passage like Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 and following where we're told that we are the light of the world, a city that's set on a hill, well, who's light

39:41are we reflecting? It is an hour, it's the Lord's, all right? It's the light of holiness. So what we're talking about again is a state of being two very different ways of living. And this isn't anything new. This goes back again to chapter 2 and also chapter 4 verses 17 and following. This is the same kind of thing. It's just being repeated again in a slightly different way. Well because you are now light in the Lord, you have a new identity, if you will, you must and here's the imperative you must walk as children of light. Walk like people who belong to the light is the idea or like people who are light. Like verse number 1, bear the family resemblance except this time it's bear the light resemblance but it's the same idea, it's the same thing. Now we're going to come back to verse 9 next time because you'll notice it's a parenthetical statement. The thought continues in verse 10. Walk as children of light, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, finding out literally

40:47by discerning is the idea. So walk by discerning. So when you put this together, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, the idea is something like this. You must live or you must walk in such a way as children of light that you are concerned only with figuring out what it is that God wants and with pleasing him. Not trying to please yourself and not trying to please the world, not allowing yourself to be deceived with the empty words of man, verse number 6. But I want to know in every instance what does God say and how does God want me to behave in this situation. Walk as children of light by finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. Incidentally, and then we'll stop here because I know we're about to run out of time. This implies, of course, that we can know what is acceptable to the Lord.

41:49That God's will is not only knowable, but it is also doable. God isn't going to demand of us something that we are incapable of doing. He isn't going to ask of us something that is impossible for us to accomplish. All right. We'll go ahead and stop there. We're at a good stopping point. Make sure attention and participation tonight and Lord willing will pick up here next Wednesday evening. We hope you have enjoyed this lesson from God's word. If you would like to continue your study of New Testament Christianity, please send your name and address to World Bible School, West Huntsville, Church of Christ, 1519, Oldman Rovia Road, Northwest, on Svalala, Alabama, 35806, or if you prefer, send your name and address by email to WBS at West Huntsville.org.