Children of the Light (Ephesians 5:3-14)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.639 If you're able to remain standing now, please do as we turn our attention 2 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:10.070 to God's word. I'm going to read before Ephesians five a few verses from 3 00:00:10.109 --> 00:00:15.949 Isaiah, so you can turn there if you like. Isaiah a chapter sixty 4 00:00:17.589 --> 00:00:24.579 in our passage. Paul is likely quoting from this section, Isaiah, sixty 5 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:31.019 two through five. For behold, darkness shall cover the Earth and thick darkness 6 00:00:31.179 --> 00:00:36.810 the People's but the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen 7 00:00:36.850 --> 00:00:43.969 upon you, and nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness 8 00:00:44.009 --> 00:00:49.810 of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see they all gather 9 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:54.280 together. They come to you. Your sons shall come from afar and your 10 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:59.000 daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant. 11 00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:03.549 Your heart shall thrill and exalt because of the abundance of the sea shall 12 00:01:03.590 --> 00:01:07.269 be turned to you. The wealth of the nation's shall come to you. 13 00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:15.349 And now from Paul's letter to the Ephesians. In the New Testament, effusions 14 00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:25.900 five, verses three through fourteen. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness 15 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:30.260 must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let 16 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:36.450 there be no filthiness or foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out 17 00:01:36.450 --> 00:01:41.409 of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving, for you may be sure 18 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:45.569 of this that everyone who is sexually im moral or impure or is covetous, 19 00:01:45.969 --> 00:01:49.400 that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and 20 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:53.799 God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these 21 00:01:53.879 --> 00:02:00.879 things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do 22 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.030 not be partners with them, for at one time you were darkness, but 23 00:02:06.189 --> 00:02:10.430 now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light, 24 00:02:12.069 --> 00:02:14.990 for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and 25 00:02:15.110 --> 00:02:19.659 true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no 26 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:24.659 part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it 27 00:02:24.740 --> 00:02:29.580 is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But 28 00:02:29.659 --> 00:02:32.650 when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that 29 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:38.530 becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says a Waco sleeper, and arise 30 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:43.250 from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. May God bless his 31 00:02:43.330 --> 00:02:47.039 word. You may be seated when our passage tonight a Paul tells us. 32 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.680 He tells us that we are to discern the will of the Lord. I 33 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.919 remember a time, think it was in junior high or something, going into 34 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.430 a Christian bookstore, a trying to answer this question. How do you discern 35 00:03:01.509 --> 00:03:05.909 the will of the Lord? I remember going and they're all of these books, 36 00:03:06.110 --> 00:03:08.550 work books and handbooks, all kinds of things about how one might go 37 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:14.659 about discerning the will of the Lord. So many books on it. Because 38 00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:17.460 it's at least maybe one reason. Is it? Because it's an important topic? 39 00:03:19.259 --> 00:03:22.939 It's something we're called to do. Is something we are supposed to do 40 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:30.250 to know what God wants of us to live lives as he's called us to 41 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:38.370 live. I'm not sure, though, that it warrants a large number of 42 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:42.840 books in order to discern the will of the Lord. To be sure, 43 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:46.199 the will of the Lord is complicated in some situations, sometimes it's difficult to 44 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:52.479 know the right thing to do. But let me just ask it to you 45 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:57.990 this way. How do you discern the will of anyone? We listen to 46 00:03:58.069 --> 00:04:00.870 what they say. You pay attention to what they want, what they're telling 47 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:05.150 you to do. How do we discern the will of the Lord? Well, 48 00:04:05.509 --> 00:04:11.740 perhaps unsurprisingly, that command is embedded in a chapter that is all about 49 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:15.220 the will of the Lord. It's about how we are supposed to live. 50 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:19.660 How am I supposed to live? What am I supposed to do in life? 51 00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:26.970 Well, sexual morality and all impurity or covetousness, but it's not even 52 00:04:27.009 --> 00:04:30.050 be named among you. We could start with that and we could go on 53 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:34.129 from there throughout all these other commands that are given here, throughout other parts 54 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:43.160 of Ephesians and the rest of the Bible. It is not a surprising thing, 55 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:46.680 though, that people struggle, or sometimes, I think, pretend to 56 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:53.910 struggle, to know the will of the Lord. Wolfgang Muscalus, one of 57 00:04:53.949 --> 00:04:57.990 the reformers, had a situation in his own day that I think may sound 58 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:01.470 familiar to you, and I'll quote from him. A Christian asks how he 59 00:05:01.589 --> 00:05:05.470 can tell what is pleasing to the Lord. The mouth of the Lord has 60 00:05:05.509 --> 00:05:11.019 spoken directly as well, through the Po Apostles and prophets, and clearly stated 61 00:05:11.100 --> 00:05:14.819 what he wants us to believe and do. Moreover, he has recorded the 62 00:05:14.939 --> 00:05:18.180 teaching about life and the will of God in the books given by the Apostles 63 00:05:18.259 --> 00:05:24.170 and evangelists. These books have been translated into almost every language. They are 64 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:28.009 read over all the world and indeed the wisdom of God shouts in the town 65 00:05:28.089 --> 00:05:32.009 squares. Yet today there is a huge number of Christians who despise the mouth 66 00:05:32.009 --> 00:05:36.800 of the Lord and hang on every word of their teachers. Partly they do 67 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:43.199 not know the scriptures and partly they do not want to know them, and 68 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:46.560 we see this today. To write, Christians everywhere, totally ignorant of what 69 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:51.230 God says right here in the Bible, and yet going to teach your after 70 00:05:51.310 --> 00:05:54.990 teach, your book after book after book, saying, how can I know 71 00:05:55.110 --> 00:05:58.550 the will of the Lord divine for me, of the things that I ought 72 00:05:58.589 --> 00:06:00.790 to do, the things that I ought to say, how I ought to 73 00:06:00.990 --> 00:06:05.699 live my life. Now, to be sure, God's word doesn't give us 74 00:06:08.579 --> 00:06:14.019 the exact action in every possible situation in which we encounter in life. I 75 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:19.889 can't even begin to imagine how many books that would take to prescribe a directly 76 00:06:20.490 --> 00:06:25.610 the correct action in every situation for every single person that has ever lived. 77 00:06:27.649 --> 00:06:31.209 Besides that, God doesn't call us to simply memorize a bunch of facts, 78 00:06:31.250 --> 00:06:36.120 a bunch of commandments, though that's part of it, but he calls us 79 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:42.000 to discern and learn to live within the patterns in the order that he has 80 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:46.829 set. He calls us to pursue wisdom, to pursue the discerning of his 81 00:06:46.990 --> 00:06:53.910 will. That's a part of the Christian life, to learning and growing in 82 00:06:54.110 --> 00:07:00.310 him, and so we come to our passage with that spirit, I hope, 83 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:03.740 wanting to know the will of the Lord. How is it that we 84 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:10.259 are supposed to walk? And that's what much of this passage deals with. 85 00:07:10.420 --> 00:07:15.170 It instructs us. Remember last week we began in chapter five and verses one 86 00:07:15.250 --> 00:07:20.730 and two with these instructions. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved 87 00:07:20.850 --> 00:07:26.689 children, and Walk In love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up 88 00:07:26.730 --> 00:07:32.120 for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. What are God's 89 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:36.319 actions like? That tells us something about his will. What are the ways 90 00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:40.920 in which he speaks? What are the ways in which he talks and and 91 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:46.310 what are the what are the things that he does? Are they good? 92 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:50.550 Are they true, or they holy? They are, and as those who 93 00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:55.629 are called to discern he is will, we would be right to observe his 94 00:07:55.790 --> 00:08:01.699 character, observe his actions, particularly those that we see in Christ, Jesus 95 00:08:03.139 --> 00:08:07.779 the record of his life here on earth. And so, when you think 96 00:08:07.819 --> 00:08:13.730 about this, be imitators of God, and then verse three. But sexual 97 00:08:13.810 --> 00:08:18.250 immorality and impurity and conciousness must not even be a named among you. You 98 00:08:18.209 --> 00:08:22.569 ought to say, well, yeah, of course those things have nothing to 99 00:08:22.610 --> 00:08:26.920 do with God, they have nothing to do with imitating God and walking in 100 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:31.399 his way. And Paul repeats that by adding this phrase, as is proper 101 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:39.559 among saints. You know what saints are? I hope holy ones, people 102 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:45.269 who have been set apart by God. Saints here refers not to some people 103 00:08:45.590 --> 00:08:50.750 that have done some extraordinary things or have lived a long time ago. Saints 104 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:56.580 here refers to all of the Ephesians, to all of you, people who 105 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:03.179 have been chosen by God, set apart by him and his Holy Spirit for 106 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:09.529 holy reasons and a holy life. There is something that is fitting, proper, 107 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:16.889 appropriate, a way of life, a way of living as saints. 108 00:09:18.610 --> 00:09:24.210 If you go and you read the Non Christian writers throughout contemporaneous with this time, 109 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:31.080 or you go read writers today about how one ought to live as an 110 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:35.399 employee of such and such company, as a member of such and such a 111 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.750 kingdom, as someone who belongs to this family or this house. We often 112 00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:43.870 speak in this way. What are you doing? We don't do that here, 113 00:09:43.950 --> 00:09:46.950 we don't act in this way. It's not fitting, it's not proper, 114 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:52.100 and that's what Paul saying to to say that, in other words, 115 00:09:52.379 --> 00:09:56.860 assume something about who you are, and that means if you want to discern 116 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:00.700 the will of God, if you want to follow in his ways, you 117 00:10:00.820 --> 00:10:05.340 have to start by assuming something about who you are. They won't make sense 118 00:10:05.460 --> 00:10:09.730 to think about your life as a saint if you don't think about yourself as 119 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:13.009 a saint, if you don't think about yourself as a holy one. And 120 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:18.610 that's where were you ought to begin, instead of letting course and lewd thoughts 121 00:10:18.649 --> 00:10:24.159 fill our minds and our hearts. The Work of God, in Christ, 122 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:30.320 that saves US unto himself, that calls US holy, these are the reasons 123 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:37.830 that we ought to consider and and and live our lives out of. The 124 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:41.350 first part of this passage begins with instructions about how we ought to live, 125 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:46.629 and then the last part continues to emphasize the why of that. I want 126 00:10:46.669 --> 00:10:50.419 to give just a little bit of attention to both. In verse three, 127 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:56.500 we have an overview of our kinds of are the kind of lives that we 128 00:10:56.539 --> 00:11:01.500 are supposed to live. As I mentioned already a few times, sexual immorality, 129 00:11:01.620 --> 00:11:05.730 impurity and covetousness must not even be named among you. These are all 130 00:11:05.809 --> 00:11:11.769 very broad terms that include a whole host of different things. Under sexual morality 131 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:18.009 you could include an adultery, prostitution, fortication and all kinds of other things. 132 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:24.799 Impurity is even a broader term, impurity not only in sexuality but also 133 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:31.480 in all kinds of things and all kinds of ways. Covetousness is also mentioned. 134 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:35.389 We might think of these categories as being somewhat parallel to those categories of 135 00:11:35.830 --> 00:11:39.389 thought. Word, indeed, the way is in which we live. Our 136 00:11:39.429 --> 00:11:45.029 lives are called to reflect every part of ourselves, the ways we act, 137 00:11:45.110 --> 00:11:48.740 the ways that we think, the ways that we we speak. All of 138 00:11:48.860 --> 00:11:54.220 these are to be done is emit people, imitating God, and not just 139 00:11:54.419 --> 00:11:58.820 imitating him and as a as a mockery, or imitating him as a as 140 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:05.129 a kind of bare exercise, but imitating him as he says, as beloved 141 00:12:05.129 --> 00:12:13.009 children, children or, at least in the most ideal of situations, good 142 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:18.440 children imitate good parents. Right. It doesn't, as you know, always 143 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:22.480 work that way. Sometimes children imitate us when we are not being very good 144 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:24.799 job as parents, and sometimes we're doing a great job, our children don't 145 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:31.110 imitate us and we get frustrated. But in the best of situations, when 146 00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:35.509 a parent is acting rightly inappropriately and the child is to what happens, they 147 00:12:35.710 --> 00:12:39.750 look up to mom and dad. They watch them, they pay attention to 148 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:45.220 them, they observe the things that they do, the patterns that they follow, 149 00:12:45.299 --> 00:12:50.899 the ways that they think and act. We are to do the same 150 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:58.730 with God. The second thing that he goes on to mention is that in 151 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:01.769 the way that we speak, he says, let there be no filthiness or 152 00:13:01.889 --> 00:13:07.970 foolish talk or crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let 153 00:13:07.049 --> 00:13:13.919 there be thanksgiving. This language of out of place a parallels the same language 154 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:18.879 of fittingness or proper it doesn't make sense. These things aren't appropriate for this 155 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:24.720 kind of life. There are as you read the commentators on this section, 156 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.870 they all rightfully remind us that even the details matter. And then a lot 157 00:13:28.909 --> 00:13:33.470 of times the the offhanded things, the things that we think that are not 158 00:13:33.669 --> 00:13:39.590 that big of a deal a lead us into bigger sins and bigger problems. 159 00:13:39.629 --> 00:13:45.899 A lot of times we like to excuse, excuse, even small sins that 160 00:13:45.980 --> 00:13:48.899 we might think of as well. It was just a joke, I was 161 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:56.370 just playing around, you know, we're just we're just joking. But these 162 00:13:56.409 --> 00:14:01.049 things, Paul says, are out of place and instead there should be thanksgiving. 163 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:07.009 Now, sometimes this gets interpreted to say that there should be no joy 164 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:13.200 or happiness in the Christian life. And and we know that isn't true. 165 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.679 Even in verse eighteen, if we as we will get to next time, 166 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.000 Paul says, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, 167 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:26.470 but be filled with the spirit. Here the commentators will remind us that, 168 00:14:26.590 --> 00:14:30.429 though we are not to get drunk with wine, the scriptures also say 169 00:14:30.470 --> 00:14:33.070 that it gladdens the heart, it makes us happy, it lightens the mood. 170 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:37.309 It's a it's a nice thing and the blessed thing when used appropriately. 171 00:14:39.179 --> 00:14:43.940 Throughout the scriptures you will find examples of people enjoying, celebrating, rejoicing, 172 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:50.340 praising, even in very extravagant ways. Sometimes, the Christian life is not 173 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:56.889 one of all seriousness and Moroseness and being a deathly afraid of stepping on any 174 00:14:56.970 --> 00:15:03.129 toes. But even as we say that we ought not to say those things 175 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:09.120 as an excuse for things that are simply not proper, are simply not right. 176 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.360 Sometimes, when we just to make a quick parallel, sometimes when you 177 00:15:22.629 --> 00:15:28.309 perhaps have interviewed for a job or a competition or something like that, perhaps 178 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:31.149 you've sense that in the questions that are being asked, they want to a 179 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:37.899 sense not only that you are competent in your work but that you will carry 180 00:15:37.940 --> 00:15:43.019 yourself in such a way that is a good fit for the company or the 181 00:15:43.059 --> 00:15:48.379 Organization or whatever it is you're you're trying to achieve. That they are they 182 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:52.529 have a sense and and know that you are going to be representing them in 183 00:15:52.730 --> 00:15:56.370 some way and that, though you may know all kinds of good things, 184 00:15:56.409 --> 00:16:00.370 though you may be competent and have all kinds of experience, I've seen situations 185 00:16:00.450 --> 00:16:03.559 where people have been turned away for work because of the way they carry themselves, 186 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.759 the way they act, the way they talk. They the employer, 187 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:11.279 potential employer, simply says, well, it's not a good fit right, 188 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.279 it's not fitting. The way that you are acting, the way that you 189 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.669 are walking is is not a good thing. Well, if that's true for 190 00:16:19.909 --> 00:16:26.230 just our regular human institutions of things, that we do in our everyday life. 191 00:16:26.190 --> 00:16:30.389 How much more true is that is for us who are called saints, 192 00:16:30.190 --> 00:16:36.940 who are being built into a temple fit for the Living God? filthiness, 193 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:44.539 foolish taught, crude joking, these are indeed out of place. As the 194 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:49.289 passage continues, in verse five, We then have a warning for those who 195 00:16:49.610 --> 00:16:56.690 are hardhearted against warnings, and plead with you to give your to open your 196 00:16:56.730 --> 00:17:00.960 ears and listen. Verse Five says, for you may be sure of this, 197 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.440 that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, 198 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:12.160 that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and 199 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:19.789 God. People like to pretend sometimes that they can live their lives in any 200 00:17:19.829 --> 00:17:26.069 way they please, and they'll use excuses, sometimes even theological excuses. Well, 201 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:30.619 God is patient. God's grace covers all things. I'll just go a 202 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:34.539 head and live how I want to live. But Paul reminds us this, 203 00:17:34.900 --> 00:17:41.180 Paul, who has spoken so strongly of grace, so strongly of the reward 204 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:45.529 and the sureness of the reward that we have in Christ even and inheritance, 205 00:17:45.609 --> 00:17:51.690 he says, is beloved, sons and daughters, that those who act in 206 00:17:51.809 --> 00:17:56.049 this way, who live this kind of life, who remain hardhearted against the 207 00:17:56.170 --> 00:18:02.960 Lord, but they are not sons and daughters. Certainly no one can lose 208 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.720 their salvation. No one who belongs to Jesus can be snatched out of his 209 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:12.309 hand, even by their own deeds. But that doesn't mean there aren't self 210 00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:18.670 deceived people, people who claim to belong to Christ, or think they belong 211 00:18:18.750 --> 00:18:23.029 to Christ, and yet don't. Do not be deceived, Paul Warns Us. 212 00:18:23.789 --> 00:18:26.819 If you live your life in a way that is full of sexual or 213 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:33.019 morality, covetousness, idolatry, know that you do not have an inheritance and 214 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:38.220 the Kingdom of God and his anointed one, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. 215 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:48.009 Deception happens, Paul says in verse six. Beyond Guard. Let no one 216 00:18:48.170 --> 00:18:55.049 deceive you with empty words. What are empty words? Empty words are like 217 00:18:55.250 --> 00:19:00.160 the Huckster who promises you the world but ultimately leaves you with nothing and steals 218 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:06.880 your money or, worse, maybe your soul. There are people who will 219 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.869 promise you that you can live your life in any way you want, that 220 00:19:11.029 --> 00:19:15.430 it doesn't matter, that God doesn't care. These are not people that discern 221 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:22.190 the will of the Lord. He clearly does care and he tells us that 222 00:19:22.309 --> 00:19:26.819 those who practice these things, who live this kind of life, will have 223 00:19:26.059 --> 00:19:30.980 no inheritance in the Kingdom of God. This is, of course, different 224 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:36.380 from Christians who struggle with these things, who fight against temptation, who, 225 00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:41.650 day after day, week after week, find themselves having to turn in repentance 226 00:19:41.769 --> 00:19:45.009 to their Lord and their savior. That's a whole different kind of thing. 227 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:49.809 That's a life lived in faith. That's a life lived. It's striving to 228 00:19:51.009 --> 00:19:56.160 imitate God, failing, but striving, and striving not in their own power 229 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.559 and their own strength, but striving in the grace that God has given them, 230 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.279 recognizing not that they are earning their holiness, but that God has made 231 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:10.549 them holy. They strive as saints, in other words, not as people 232 00:20:10.670 --> 00:20:15.750 trying to become saints. They strive as people who are trusting, strive as 233 00:20:15.829 --> 00:20:21.940 people who are growing and, as he goes on to say, people who 234 00:20:21.940 --> 00:20:27.819 are also glowing. Let's look at the next few verses. He continues and 235 00:20:27.859 --> 00:20:32.019 says, therefore, do not become partners with them. You might think of 236 00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:37.450 that as and of intimate, close associates. He's not saying. Let me 237 00:20:37.529 --> 00:20:40.650 just add, as a sign. No, he's not saying here, never, 238 00:20:41.569 --> 00:20:45.130 never, associate with anyone who does these things, he because then you 239 00:20:45.170 --> 00:20:49.799 would have to actually sort of leave the world. This is exactly what he 240 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:55.559 says in First Corinthians Five, of verses nine and ten. So he's not 241 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:59.039 saying that, but he's saying we are not to become partners with them, 242 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:04.269 intimate associates, unequally yoked with them. There's to be a separation. Why? 243 00:21:04.470 --> 00:21:08.190 And here are the reasons, as we transition in verse eight, for 244 00:21:08.349 --> 00:21:14.950 at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 245 00:21:15.269 --> 00:21:18.779 You See, what God has done is he has changed us. He 246 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:22.859 doesn't say at one time you are walking in darkness and now you are becoming 247 00:21:23.019 --> 00:21:26.420 light in the Lord. He doesn't say at one time you are walking in 248 00:21:26.539 --> 00:21:30.940 darkness and one day, if you do enough good, you might become light. 249 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:36.450 He says one time you are at darkness, but now you are light. 250 00:21:37.450 --> 00:21:41.690 How is that possible when you and I both know we've still got sins 251 00:21:41.769 --> 00:21:45.970 in us, when you and I both know that we have darkness, deeds, 252 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.799 sins and things that we do, even the sins that are named here. 253 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:56.920 We Are not light because of our sins, but in spite of them, 254 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:03.829 because God has saved us while we were yet sinners. And we are 255 00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:08.309 light because the light of the world has put his spirit in us, who 256 00:22:08.390 --> 00:22:14.470 is putting to death those deeds of the body, who is working in US 257 00:22:14.630 --> 00:22:19.380 and through us to mortify that fleshly nature, to cause the old man of 258 00:22:19.460 --> 00:22:26.019 the old Adam to to die, to be put to death so that we 259 00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:30.769 might live in the newness of life in Christ. That's what he says. 260 00:22:32.930 --> 00:22:36.809 He says, don't walk in this way, because you are not like that. 261 00:22:37.849 --> 00:22:44.559 You are light in the Lord. So walk, he says, as 262 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:48.039 children of the light, for the fruit of light is found in all that 263 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:51.559 is grewed and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to 264 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:55.240 the Lord. He goes on to say. Take no part, then, 265 00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:59.950 in unfruitful works, don't participate in him, don't part partner with people, 266 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:10.829 but instead expose them. There's an active quality of light that always happens. 267 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:18.259 Every single time you turn all light, it exposes things. This is the 268 00:23:18.779 --> 00:23:25.220 purpose of light, right, is to shine, to reveal, to open. 269 00:23:26.660 --> 00:23:30.450 But it's important that as we think about how we function is light, 270 00:23:30.089 --> 00:23:33.210 how we live as light, that we understand what he goes on to say, 271 00:23:34.170 --> 00:23:40.930 because the way in which we expose the deeds of this darkness, expose 272 00:23:41.089 --> 00:23:45.160 the sins of the world, is not by riding around on our high horses 273 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.000 pointing at everyone, saying, look at all of these bad things you're doing. 274 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:56.150 What does he say? He says, for it is shameful even to 275 00:23:56.230 --> 00:24:00.150 speak of the things that they do in secret. But with anything is exposed 276 00:24:00.190 --> 00:24:03.430 by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. 277 00:24:04.309 --> 00:24:07.910 Therefore it says awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead, 278 00:24:08.069 --> 00:24:14.420 and Christ will shine on you. You could take that as a little sermon. 279 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:19.140 Awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine 280 00:24:19.220 --> 00:24:26.690 on you. That message is the message of the Gospel. That's the message 281 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:30.450 of the passage we read earlier in Isaiah, were God promised that Israel, 282 00:24:30.730 --> 00:24:34.730 that he would put his spirit in his people and that they would be this 283 00:24:36.289 --> 00:24:40.480 shining city, that the world would see its light and would come to her. 284 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:48.599 That's how we are light, because Christ is in us, shininginess, 285 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:55.910 making himself known, and that light is the light of the Gospel, a 286 00:24:56.109 --> 00:25:02.269 Gospel that does indeed expose our sins, our depravity, our ways in which 287 00:25:02.309 --> 00:25:07.859 we walk and rebel against the Lord. But not just that. It's a 288 00:25:07.980 --> 00:25:11.539 gospel that shows us those saying of those things, so that we might turn 289 00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:17.099 from them to Jesus, so that we might not hide away trying to protect 290 00:25:17.180 --> 00:25:22.250 ourselves, but come into his light and say, Lord, save me. 291 00:25:23.130 --> 00:25:26.890 Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on 292 00:25:26.970 --> 00:25:33.130 you. That's the message that's shining from us as we live our lives in 293 00:25:33.250 --> 00:25:37.160 this way. If we live our lives in this way, if we live 294 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:41.480 as children of the light, were like lamp posts all throughout the world, 295 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:48.720 these shining lights everywhere, the people can see the Gospel, by the effects 296 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:53.349 of the Gospel, the fruit of the Gospel. Doesn't mean we don't preach, 297 00:25:53.509 --> 00:25:57.109 it doesn't mean we don't say the Gospel, that we don't speak the 298 00:25:57.190 --> 00:26:03.710 Gospel, but it is made evident in the way that we live. How 299 00:26:03.539 --> 00:26:08.900 because Christ is a work in you, because you are in light, because 300 00:26:10.140 --> 00:26:14.059 he is light, and that's what he's doing and has done with you. 301 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:22.809 So what do you do then, when you don't feel very shiny? What 302 00:26:22.930 --> 00:26:26.289 do you do when you don't feel like you're glowing very much? And I 303 00:26:26.329 --> 00:26:33.079 don't just mean being happy, I mean living righteously. What do you do 304 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.359 when you recognize that your sins in the past hour, day, week, 305 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:47.710 month, decades do not bring light, the light of God, to those 306 00:26:47.789 --> 00:26:53.430 around you, but do not show the fruit of the Gospel, but instead 307 00:26:53.430 --> 00:26:59.869 are may be embarrassing, not just because they're shameful, sinful things, but 308 00:27:00.710 --> 00:27:06.579 they're so unfitting for a Christian, so unfitting as a child of light. 309 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:12.019 What do you do? Well, you do the thing, the only thing 310 00:27:12.099 --> 00:27:17.329 that you can do, and that's, as a child, to go to 311 00:27:17.450 --> 00:27:23.849 the Lord and say, forgive me, help me, make me who you 312 00:27:25.089 --> 00:27:29.970 want me to be. I'm lost apart from you, I'm dying apart from 313 00:27:29.970 --> 00:27:33.880 you, I'm dark, I'm dirty and polluted, I'm disgusting. The things 314 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:38.480 that I should do and I should not even be mentioned. So help me, 315 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:45.470 put your spirit within me, make me grow, make me glow, 316 00:27:45.869 --> 00:27:53.950 make me shine for you. That's what you do. You trust in the 317 00:27:55.069 --> 00:28:00.900 promise and the grace of God. You live by faith in the things that 318 00:28:02.059 --> 00:28:10.859 he has said, because ultimately it's his work and he promises each and every 319 00:28:10.940 --> 00:28:17.170 child of his that, though we struggle in this world, one day and 320 00:28:17.289 --> 00:28:23.089 the Lord Jesus returns, our bodies, are physical bodies, will be transformed 321 00:28:25.369 --> 00:28:30.400 in such a way that they will shine with the glory of God, and 322 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:36.839 it will be so clear to all the world that we belong to him that 323 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:42.470 there will be hardly well, there will be no question that you belong to 324 00:28:42.549 --> 00:28:48.589 him, that you are his children. The glorification of our souls and of 325 00:28:48.710 --> 00:28:55.819 our bodies is coming. So do not lose heart, do not lose hope, 326 00:28:56.619 --> 00:29:02.579 hang on, trust in him, walk in his ways, walk by 327 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:06.500 his light and in the power of his light, with union and his light, 328 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:11.089 and he will make you shine. Let's pray