LESSON 6-Ephesians
Walking in Love, Light, Wisdom, and Worship
Ephesians Chapter 5:1-20
Eph.5: 9 for the fruit of the [a]Spirit (Light) is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth,
5:9 The harvest of light is evident in all that is excellent, innocent and of impeccable integrity. Mirror Translation
Other translations say: Fruit of Light
Related Scripture:
Galatians 5:19-22 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Eph.5:10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
5:10 This certainly pleases God. Mirror Translation
Eph. 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
5:11 Do not tolerate anything in your life that associates you with darkness, there is no profit in it for you. Rather expose it for what it really is. Mirror Translation
Paul calls the works of darkness unfruitful
1) while sin holds forth the promise of life and pleasure.
2) in fact, darkness is sterile and produces death.
3) truly, the wages of sin is death.
4) like sterile fruit flies; they mate, but they produce sterile offspring which cannot reproduce.
5) they will enjoy one harvest of fruit and a wild time with another fruit fly, but then they will die!
6) so it is with sin.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is more than physical or spiritual death but death in a relationship, death in your finances, death in physical body, diseases, etc.
Rather than partaking of sin, Paul says we should expose it:
1) the word expose is best understood as bringing something to light and correcting it.
2) we shouldn’t merely be critics (in the passage them is in italics meaning the word is not there) who point out the flaws of others, but provide help and answers. (always done in love)
The Holy Spirit, Spirit of Christ, is the Light who will convict/convince people of their sin. He will also convict/convince people of their righteousness.
John 16:8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 16:8 And when He comes, He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God) and about judgment/justice: AMP
Convict- Greek-1651 elegchó: — convince, tell a fault or a truth, reprove, admonish- to caution, advise, or counsel against something. to reprove or scold, especially in a mild and good-willed manner:
The difference between convict and convince is that convict is to find guilty while convince is to make someone believe, or feel sure about something,
Most people have been led to believe that self-doubt, self-condemnation, feelings of unworthiness, and conviction for individual sins are the work of the Holy Spirit. But it’s just not true!
The truth is, it’s your heart or, more specifically, your conscience that is condemning you, not God. That is not the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is never the source of any of your guilt or condemnation. He is not the One that makes you feel bad when you sin.
Your conscience is the part of you that condemns you. And if you are feeling unworthy it’s almost impossible to receive from God.
Jesus said, “ Neither do I condemn you go and sin no more.” John 8:11
1st John 3:19-21 says,
“And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God.”
This verse makes it very clear: Your heart can condemn you even though God is not. What a radical truth, which comes as a complete shock to most Christians. We’ve just assumed that it is always the Holy Spirit who is condemning us.
As John 3 says in verse 21,
“Beloved if our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God.”
If you can reach the point where your conscience is not condemning you, judging you, and causing you to feel unworthy to receive, then you will have confidence toward God, which has great recompense of reward (Heb. 10:35).
In Hebrews 10:22, the Bible says,
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.”
Also in Hebrews 4:16, we read,
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
The ministry of Holy Spirit is just the opposite of what many Christians think. In John 14:16 read how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.”
Notice that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Comforter/Helper,” not the afflicter. It also says that He will send “another” Comforter. “Another” means one of the same caliber, the same kind. Jesus was and still is a comforter; He didn’t condemn people during His earthly ministry. except, of course the religious Pharisees who put burden on people.
Case in point: The woman caught in adultery, John 8:1-11
John 8:11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go [k]and sin no more.”
John 3:17-19 reads, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deed were evil.”
John 14:26 says,
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name…”
In John 15:26, Jesus said,
“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father…”
The Holy Spirit doesn’t convict us of lying, stealing, adultery, murder, etc. He convicts/convinces us that we aren’t trusting in Jesus. That’s the root of every sin. (doubt, unbelief)
Examples:
If I steal, I really don’t believe The Lord is my Provider.
If I lie, I really don’t believe The Lord is the Truth.
If I cheat, I really don’t believe The Lord is True Justice.
Most Christians have not truly understood this positive ministry of the Holy Spirit. We have made Him the source of our feelings of guilt, condemnation, and unworthiness. Because of that, we haven’t really let Him do His job, and we are missing the benefits and power of a relationship with Him.
The Holy Spirit, Spirit of Christ, should be your best friend. He was sent here to encourage you and constantly assure you of God’s love. He is here to convince you of your righteousness. To help you to become more righteous conscience than sin conscience.
We will continue with Lesson 6 next week.
The blessings of the Lord are upon you whether by blood, adoption/sonship or assignment. The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Prov. 10:22
David & Mary Sue