ONCE DARKNESS NOW YOU ARE LIGHT PART 2
Eph
5:5-14
Light has no business taking part in anything that is
darkness, in reference to what we talked about last week. The
Apostle Paul says “Take no part” or “Have
nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness” (v11) What does he mean by this? The child of God should not become involved in
evil even by association. John MacArthur said
“We cannot witness to the world if we do not go out into the world; and we
cannot go far into the world before coming in contact with all sorts of
wickedness. But we are never to identify with that wickedness, or give it
opportunity to take hold in our own life. To compromise God’s standards is to
weaken our witness as well as our character.”
Over
and over again we
hear the cries
of Paul and the apostles to what? “Abstain from every form of
evil.” 1
Thess 5:22. We
are to live a life under His grace free
from all forms of evil, because we are now children of Light. The
evidence and our witness to such a great salvation through Christ alone. The
evil system of this world is destructive and all they does is tear down and
destroy. Do
Christians fall into these types of sins? Of
course! But
true Christians will not persist in them because the gospel reminds you of
God’s goodness when He pulling your dead corpse up from the ground into His
glorious light of salvation. Paul said this to the Church at Corinth “And such were some of you.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor 6:11
The
warning that Paul is giving is the foolishness of earthy pursuits and acceptance
from an eternal perspective.
Remember what Jesus said
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his life.” Mark
8:36. We
are not to be “deceived by empty words”
(v6)
it’s full of error and devoid of truth. Its
darkness/person telling you that sin is tolerable and that God will not exclude
unrepentant sinners into the Kingdom. We
live in a world that believes this that all (everyone) will be in heaven
whether you believe or not in Christ alone. This
is a dangerous heresy and it’s blasphemous to speak such foul words that are
being polluted from pulpits across the globe to suit a world of darkness. It’s a slap in the face of Jesus when he said “I am the way, and the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
When Peter said
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the
people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done
to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to
all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is
standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the
builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved." Acts 4:8-12
When Stephen said
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist
the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your
fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the
coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who
received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." Now when they heard these things they were
enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy
Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the
glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And
he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at
the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped
their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and
stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young
man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit." And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud
voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin
against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts
7:51-60
How about what the Apostle Paul said “And being found in human
form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2:8-11
See
a child of the King, have a God more satisfying than sexual sin, greed or
covetousness and idolatry. This
is why God is worthy of endless praise and thanksgiving. (v4) A
God who has taken these dry dead bones, filled with complete darkness and through
gospel, He poured into our lives, new life, and the light of His only begotten
Son of God. He
has given us the Kingdom which is life eternal and it’s because of that the
true believer worships the triune God for His glory. We only
lose focus of this truth when we take our
gaze off the Light and listen to darkness and becoming partakers with them. Paul
is reminding us that we were once dead and lost but know we are saved by grace
so walk as children of Light (v7-v10). We
do this by NOT JOINING those in darkness, but
living as children of Light and doing what is pleasing to Him. (v10). Last week
we looked at what is good, right and true as expositional listeners and
students of His word.
Because this…. Cultivates
a hunger and thirst for His Word “How sweet are Your Words to my taste, sweeter
than honey to my mouth…” Psalm 119:103. Walking
as children of Light helps us to focus on God’s will for our lives. Walking
as children of Light helps us to protect the gospel from corruption and
heresies. Walking
as children of Light helps us to grow in reverence God. “Therefore let us be
grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer
to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming
fire.” Heb 12:28-28
We always and sometimes daily need to ask the question! What will please the LORD? In
this moment, in my relationships, my conversation, actions. In
my singleness, my marriage, my decision making, my response to positive and
negative comments or remarks. How
you respond to these things on a daily basis will give evidence to whether you
are a Light or darkness. You
will know them by their fruits.
We are not to actively participate in darkness but we are to
do something about it. Answer
is found in (v11b)
“expose them” But
in order to do this properly and
biblically! We need
wisdom, discernment, gentleness and
courage to know how to confront and expose the works of darkness. Paul
says light illuminates darkness, just as a flashlight can guide you in the dark
so that you do not trip and fall over things unseen. We know this to be true!
“…Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever
follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 8:12. We are surrounded by sinful practices from all sides; we are not immune to the
dangers around us, and Paul knows this to be true. Paul says
“take no part in unfruitful the works of
darkness.” (v11) Why?
There is a danger if we stay or surround ourselves with people who practice
this behavior on a 24 hour time frame. This
danger can cause the child of God to become desensitized and makes us accept what we should abhor, tolerate, tempts or
actually desire what is displeasing to God.
Look what Paul says in (v12) “For it
shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” The
darkness is strong around us and we need to be a strong light exposing the
darkness around us. For
the purpose that we too don’t become dim lights or desensitized by the culture
and following the talking heads of this generation. Turn on the lights in a basement what happens when you see
the floor start to move? Insects and critters in our basements hate the Light. Just
as our present world systems hates the things of God, but we are never to
entertain this in our homes, churches and society, but we must gently expose
the darkness for what is. Because
it’s not pleasing to
God in our
homes and churches. But
this isn’t going to be easy for the child of Light. Why?
Jesus said these words
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world,
and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were
evil. For everyone who does wicked things
hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be
exposed. But whoever does what is true
comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been
carried out in God." John 3:16-21
Sometimes
such exposure and reproof will be direct and at other times it will be
indirect. But
none the less it is to be done for the restoration of a soul. And
it’s our responsibility to hold everything to the Light of scripture, without
exception even your sinful behavior at times. “Your
word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm
119:105. “For
the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of
discipline are the way of life,” Prov 6:23. “All
Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim 3:16-17. Matthew Henry said
“We must witness against the sins of
others, and endeavor to convince them of their sinfulness in our words; but
especially by the holiness of our lives.” Our holy living has consequences not
only for our own sanctification but also for the eternal good of others. As we
seek to please God, humbly admitting how we fall short of His standards, we
provide a beacon of hope to those trapped in the darkness of sin.”
A true child of light takes no part in darkness, but with
humility expose the deeds of darkness for what it is (v11- v15) Being
a child of Light reveals the heart and guides our footsteps but it also exposes
something the world doesn’t want to see. Light
exposes darkness and in contrast to what Paul has been saying here in this
chapter. See! Light
produces fruit that is pleasing to God….. but darkness is a denial of the sun
and is fruitless and yielding nonproducing deeds/fruits. It’s
like putting a tarp
over a patch of grass…leave
down for a period of time and what do you see when you lift it up? Dead grass. But
when the light is exposed to the grass it does something
unimaginable! It slowly can be brought back to life. By
exposing the darkness for what it is……it will in turn through God’s grace
restore a person who is darkness into His glorious light. Our
commission as children of Light is to hold everything up to the light of
scripture, to expose and seek to remedy whatever is evil. Many
Christians do not expose or rebuke evil because they do keep their own
spiritual and moral house under the submission of God word because they are
less discerned about their own life. Everything
we do must be held to scripture even if it means we have repentance in our
lives and homes first. This
is what it means to live as children of Light.
The gospel saves!
Let me encourage you with the words of Jesus “let your light shine before
men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven”. Matt. 5:16. Our
lives are to glorify Him…it’s never been or about us at all. The
gospel is one part the other is displaying to others in darkness the glory of
God who saves sinners like them. Our
mandate and call in this life is to glorify our glorious God by imitating Him
to lost and broken people who do not realize they are lost, broken and waiting
final judgement by a sovereign and holy God. The
chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. So
let’s get out there and do this as children of Light for His glory and His
gospel.
Why?.......
(v14)
says it all! “Awake,
O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (v14) The
sinner who is asleep in the darkness of sin is unaware of his or her lost
condition and tragic destiny. Arise
from the dead is a summons to repentance and faith in Christ alone. And
an appeal to turn away from the dead ways of sin and destruction. Christ
will shine on you is the good news!
What is the good news?
(use your hand/ fingers to demonstrate) Jesus died for our sins and
was raise on the third day. As one puritan preacher said “I heard the
voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s Light; Look unto to Me, thy morn
shall rise, And all thy day be bright.” I looked to Jesus, and I
found In Him my star, my sun; And in that light of Life I’ll walk, till
travelling days are done.” Prov 4:18 says
“The path of the righteous is like a light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” This
is our duty to expose the darkness with gentleness and humility until we leave
this earth into eternal glory. With
the invitation of the gospel to those who are darkness, to come into His
glorious light and live for the glory of His Name.
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