SPEAKER_00: It's been two weeks, so we may be a little rusty.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just remind us quickly of the big picture of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: We were reminded in the beginning, but let me just go a little deeper.
SPEAKER_00: In the first three chapters, Paul describes the formation of Jews and Gentiles together, coming together into one body in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have all of these things technically called indicatives.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: He's indicating Paul what God has already accomplished in the life, the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And it's huge, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Jews and Gentiles united.
SPEAKER_00: That's like cats and dogs being together in coexisting and doing well.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think of my own dogs, Jock and Leo.
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna happen, friends.
SPEAKER_00: But such is the power of our God in his Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the remainder of the letter, chapters four through six, Paul moves from description to encouragement, to exhortation, imperatives, commands.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see some of those today.
SPEAKER_00: How should you Jews and Gentiles live together, united?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is simply this by being the church.
SPEAKER_00: By being the church, by living like it.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, it is vital.
SPEAKER_00: I don't just say this as an interesting way to introduce today.
SPEAKER_00: I say it because it's vital to see the logic of Paul's ethical commands for us.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, we're in danger of missing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to be in a gospel church and miss the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The only good news that saves.
SPEAKER_00: Salvation is entirely God's free gift from start to finish, and it's this entirely free gift that calls us to then live and believe as God and behave as God wants.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have these amazing words that we read a couple weeks back in chapter four.
SPEAKER_00: Walk no longer or walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called, no longer walking as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds, dark minds.
SPEAKER_00: And this means being deliberate, intentional.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, did any of you change clothes to be here this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Hope you did.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're intentional about doing that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul is intentional, putting off the old selfish way of life, shedding for Mohammads, and then putting on, letting the new life change our thinking, remolding our behavior.
SPEAKER_00: All enabled again by grace, by the power of Holy Spirit Himself.
SPEAKER_00: As we've already seen and will see again today, Paul doesn't just speak in vague generalities.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just say, change, change, be nice.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's specific in his do's and don'ts.
SPEAKER_00: This life calls, this new life calls for truth, calls for honesty, it calls for no harbored grudges against people.
SPEAKER_00: It calls for no spite, no bitterness that so easily arises.
SPEAKER_00: It calls rather for kindness, for a new readiness to forgive.
SPEAKER_00: Simply copying God's own character.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it is.
SPEAKER_00: Living lives of sacrificial love.
SPEAKER_00: And so opening the chapter that we're in today, chapter five, you hear these words be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, only this kind of living will bear the searching light of God.
SPEAKER_00: Once we belonged to the dark, now we are children of light.
SPEAKER_00: Again, thank you for the Bible reading this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see it says 21 there.
SPEAKER_00: I think I was meant to go to 21 at some point, but I switched to the 12, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: The whole section is the same theme.
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to cover it all today.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry.
SPEAKER_00: My title for us, based on that reading, is Walking as Children of Light.
SPEAKER_00: Walking as Children of Light.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for us before we dive in.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we are your children by trusting in your unique Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And Him alone.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you so much for the privilege of being called children of God, those who belong to the kingdom of light.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, we we live in a dark world, one controlled by the Prince of Darkness.
SPEAKER_00: We desperately need, God the Holy Spirit, to live like children of light in this present evil, very dark age.
SPEAKER_00: Please open our eyes, open our ears, open our hearts to what you would have each of us this day to trust and to obey.
SPEAKER_00: For your glory, for our good, and for our neighbor's best.
SPEAKER_00: We ask these things in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Light is an amazing thing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, unless a person is blind from birth, they have seen and experienced the world by means of this physical phenomenon we call light.
SPEAKER_00: I believe the common Zulu word for the noun light is ukukanya.
SPEAKER_00: Hope I'm saying that correctly, ukukanya.
SPEAKER_00: And we're all you know familiar with ukukanya, but if you were asked to explain it to someone, they said, Come, you know, explain to me what it is, you you actually might have a hard time.
SPEAKER_00: You may say something like, Well, light is the thing by which we see everything else.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00: But what is it?
SPEAKER_00: What is it?
SPEAKER_00: Uh if you're honest, you'll say, I have no idea, but you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Google AI says it much better than I do.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, quote, light is a form of electromagnetic radiation that acts as both a wave and a particle, known as wave particle duality, just in case you're in the dark.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in a narrow sense, light refers to the visible spectrum perceived by the human eye.
SPEAKER_00: But in physics, it encompasses a much broader range of electromagnetic energy, including infrared and ultraviolet.
SPEAKER_00: Did you get all that?
SPEAKER_00: Like, say what?
SPEAKER_00: You know, unless you're speaking to a physicist, you're gonna have to use even more words to explain what you just said.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you get my point though this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Light in itself is actually very difficult to explain.
SPEAKER_00: Very difficult.
SPEAKER_00: It's inexplicable, it's mysterious.
SPEAKER_00: I think this is part of the reason we use the word light as a metaphor for so many things.
SPEAKER_00: Light is hope, light is a friend, light is a guide, light is knowledge, light is goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, this usage of light as a metaphor for something else is well used by the book of books, the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: For example, in describing the preciousness of Yahweh, the covenant keeping, Lord's steadfast love in Psalm 36, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words.
SPEAKER_00: This is David exclaiming, For with you is the fountain of life.
SPEAKER_00: In your light do we see light.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that astounding?
SPEAKER_00: Like a telescopic lens pointed at the moon brings out the details of its surface with remarkable clarity.
SPEAKER_00: So the living and loving God is the lens by which we begin to see all of reality, all of life with remarkable clarity.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, while I was considering the nature of light, I was reminded of a pretty well-known quote by uh C.
SPEAKER_00: S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone heard his name before?
SPEAKER_00: Chronicles of Narnia, mere Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Died in 1963.
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe it's so long, but he was a giant apologist in the 20th century.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he said regarding God and Christianity in general.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm quoting here I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen.
SPEAKER_00: Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
SPEAKER_00: You see, just as daylight allows you and me to see the world around us, a faith-in-god-based worldview provides understanding and context for the rest of life, for history, for science, for morality, for all of human experience.
SPEAKER_00: This is the kind of moral discerning light that I believe the Apostle Paul wants his hearers, wants his readers to walk in by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And as we were reminded, as we confessed our sins today, friends, this is doesn't mean that this does not mean that it could be this.
unknown: Ah, okay.
SPEAKER_00: This does not mean a perfect walk, friends.
SPEAKER_00: This does not mean a perfect walk.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: See, not only is light important, so is sound.
SPEAKER_00: There we are, sound.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: That's the ultimate goal, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Walking without sin before God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the ultimate goal.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, it's not fully attainable in this present fallen age.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it clearly this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The world, the flesh, and the devil are formidable enemies.
SPEAKER_00: They're formidable enemies.
SPEAKER_00: That said, there is a trajectory of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: There is a pathway of obedience, of fruitfulness, of greater Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_00: And in our passage today, this involves three areas.
SPEAKER_00: Three areas of public allegiance.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm using that word public uh intentionally.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith, friends, may be personal, but it's not private.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith may be personal, but it is not private.
SPEAKER_00: It will impact our spheres of influence.
SPEAKER_00: Either for better.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Testing.
SPEAKER_00: One, two.
SPEAKER_00: All good.
SPEAKER_00: Three areas.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: And so, firstly, area number one.
SPEAKER_00: Paul teaches that walking as children of ukukanya means number one, rejecting deception.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be in verses six and seven now, rejecting deception.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read it again.
SPEAKER_00: Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, do not become partners with them.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, this uh let no one deceive you is emphatic.
SPEAKER_00: If you like grammar, it's present active indicative.
SPEAKER_00: It's got a negative particle on the front.
SPEAKER_00: Irrelevant, but it's emphatic.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: And it means to stop something already in process, to stop something already in process.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Paul is likely dealing here with what's presently happening, a deceptive message and lifestyle of false teachers somewhere in their midst, probably around or in the fringes of the churches around him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not exactly clear who these false teachers are, but from Paul's warnings, we can deduce some things.
SPEAKER_00: We can deduce that they're probably a mixture of what has been called liberty Gnostics and Jewish legalists, which actually seems like this is a contradiction.
SPEAKER_00: This is the opposite end of the spectrum.
SPEAKER_00: They don't fit together, but you see, in terms of the result, they do.
SPEAKER_00: Because both groups end up trivializing and justifying illicit behavior, ungodly behavior, and so they distort the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you separate the gospel from its fruit, you distort the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they do.
SPEAKER_00: They want to deceive believers into thinking that the lifestyle that Paul lays out in verses 3 through 5, just prior to the passage read this morning, no consequences.
SPEAKER_00: No consequences.
SPEAKER_00: So, liberty Gnostics, it doesn't matter what you do with your body, as long as you have spiritual salvation through our secret knowledge, you're fine.
SPEAKER_00: Jewish legalists, if you just keep these traditions and rules that we lay out, God will ultimately accept you.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, these are empty.
SPEAKER_00: These are vain words.
SPEAKER_00: A puff of wind, you know, like a car salesman trying to sell you a car based on its exterior, all the while ignoring the faulty engine inside.
SPEAKER_00: Such deceivers underestimate sin's seriousness.
SPEAKER_00: But not Paul.
SPEAKER_00: He has seen even Christians make light of sin and condoning immoral behavior in places like the city of Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And so what he does is he just turns up the heat.
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: By lovingly insisting that the saints close their ears, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Close your ears.
SPEAKER_00: This is deadly error.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, again, we're given the reason.
SPEAKER_00: For because of these things, the wrath of God comes.
SPEAKER_00: What motivation Paul provides.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that to condone, to excuse sin, to live in a state of sin will put such people in a frightening position.
SPEAKER_00: The position of being under the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, that's why the proverbs in the Psalms say, you know, truly the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We're to fear him out of reverence for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, let me be clear, wrath is not God having some kind of temper tantrum.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, God doesn't have temper tantrums, he's not moody, he's not subject to our impetuous, easily offended ways.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, you and I, let's be honest this morning.
SPEAKER_00: No, the wrath of God is his settled judgment against cosmic rebellion, his hatred of it, the shaking fist of the creature declaring, I will live just as I please, and there will be no consequences.
SPEAKER_00: There will be no penalty.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, that is scary.
SPEAKER_00: That is scary.
SPEAKER_00: You see, one of the things that verses six and seven suggest is that it's possible for a person to think that they are safely in the kingdom of God because they've been given false assurance.
SPEAKER_00: False assurance, a false assurance by those with slick tongues, smooth talking promises.
SPEAKER_00: And so, just as in the early church, a destructive doctrine in the church even today involves various forms.
SPEAKER_00: Here's our million rand word for the day of antinomianism.
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard that word before?
SPEAKER_00: Antinomianism.
SPEAKER_00: Forget about it if you don't want it.
SPEAKER_00: It just means against law.
SPEAKER_00: Against law.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, there's no abiding moral law for followers of Jesus to keep.
SPEAKER_00: We're grace people.
SPEAKER_00: Sounds convincing, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Half-truths often do sound convincing because you know what?
SPEAKER_00: We are grace people.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: We are grace people.
SPEAKER_00: But what this means is that we're people who've been so utterly saved by God's free gift that we naturally produce the grateful fruits of our adopted Father.
SPEAKER_00: We believe Jesus is both Lord and Savior, never separating the two.
SPEAKER_00: To take away from or to add to God's moral law, friends, ends up in the same fatal place: lawlessness.
SPEAKER_00: Lawlessness before our holy God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, instead, united to Jesus Christ, you and I can cry out with the psalmist.
SPEAKER_00: Hear these words, Psalm 119, verses 67 through 70.
SPEAKER_00: The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts.
SPEAKER_00: Their heart is unfeeling like fat.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, but I delight in your law.
SPEAKER_00: So we must be encouraged and be warned this morning.
SPEAKER_00: True believers will not face God's wrath.
SPEAKER_00: Hear that loud and clear.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it back in chapter 1, verses 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_00: We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We have a sure inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, God's wrath is reserved for the sons, literally, the children.
SPEAKER_00: So sorry, ladies, can't excuse you there.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're in that package.
SPEAKER_00: The children of disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, those who are unredeemed, though perhaps part of the covenant community.
SPEAKER_00: They show by their ungoing unrepentant practice that they are in fact wolves among sheep.
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: These are the kinds of people verse 7 says we're not to become partners with.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you and I have normal social relations with unbelievers, but we do not participate in their lifestyle, in their sinful lifestyle.
SPEAKER_00: As the apostle Paul says elsewhere, what partnership has righteousness with unrighteousness or with lawlessness.
SPEAKER_00: What fellowship has, light with darkness.
SPEAKER_00: So what are some implications of verse 6 and 7 for us today?
SPEAKER_00: Well, at least a couple of things.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first you are to utterly reject such deception.
SPEAKER_00: Utterly reject it.
SPEAKER_00: Run away from it, just as Joseph ran away from part of his wife.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't hang around and say, let's see how this turns out.
SPEAKER_00: He ran out of there.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be conned.
SPEAKER_00: Living your truth, taking on moral relativism as your own will not turn out as you think.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm just relative.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay, doing what I want, being genuine to myself, regardless of the apparent gains that you may have in the short term.
SPEAKER_00: This means refusing any teaching that makes holiness optional.
SPEAKER_00: Optional.
SPEAKER_00: It's false, friends.
SPEAKER_00: It's a cheap imitation of the genuine article.
SPEAKER_00: We're to utterly reject it.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, test every voice around you by scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Test every voice around you by scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Not by popularity, by personality, by cultural acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a helpful question you can ask yourself about anything that you hear, any any any uh media or any message that comes to you.
SPEAKER_00: Does this counsel make sin feel safer or make Jesus seem more beautiful?
SPEAKER_00: That's a good question to ask yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the words of our Lord Jesus, the beautiful words of our Lord Jesus, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul now moves to a second aspect of what walking as children of light looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does it mean rejecting deception, it means refusing to participate in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, refusing to participate in darkness, verses eight through ten.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read them again.
SPEAKER_00: For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Walk as children of light.
SPEAKER_00: For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask, has anyone heard of the 2014 documentary film Children of the Light?
SPEAKER_00: Children of the Light, anyone heard of that?
SPEAKER_00: No one heard of it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, good, you've now heard of it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'd actually heard of it a while back, but only recently got to watch it with my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and basically through a series of archival footage, uh interviews, the movie basically aims to illustrate the story of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and particularly his own part in the battle against apartheid.
SPEAKER_00: Now, from my perspective, it's only one and a half hours long, so relatively short, covering a long period of time.
SPEAKER_00: It actually does a pretty good job.
SPEAKER_00: And so, why do I bring this up?
SPEAKER_00: Apart from saying if you can go watch it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm sure it's on some platforms.
SPEAKER_00: We saw it, I think, on Prime Video, something like that.
SPEAKER_00: But why I bring it up, it's largely because of the title.
SPEAKER_00: The title, Children of the Light.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm sure the name, it's a great name and reflects Tutu's role as a signal of hope, as a signal of faith, of moral guidance during the years of apartheid, and to inspire a new generation of South Africans to preserve the rainbow democracy that we have today.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to notice it in connection with verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Notice verse 8, it doesn't say, for at one time you were in the darkness, but now you are in the light.
SPEAKER_00: What does it in fact say?
SPEAKER_00: For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm someone who likes to give a little bit of homework.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, church, guys, Sunday's the feast day of the soul.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just feast on the Lord in the morning, a little bit into the afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's all day, so I give a little bit of homework.
SPEAKER_00: Not much, I won't test you next week on it or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: But after you've had lunch, after you've had a little nap, read these verses that talk about us, yes, being regenerated.
SPEAKER_00: We're in the light.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so John 8.12, check that out and around, John 8.12, Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter 2.9 and 1 John 1, 5 through 7, and same book, 1 John 2, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Same, John 8.12, 1 Peter 2.9, 1 John 1, 5 through 7 to 9.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, read that later.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, what Paul writes down here is more striking than being in the light.
SPEAKER_00: Christians themselves are now actually light.
SPEAKER_00: You see that?
SPEAKER_00: They were themselves dark by nature.
SPEAKER_00: That's Ephesians 2, dead in sin, separated from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But now they are themselves by nature light.
SPEAKER_00: They are enabled to radiate light.
SPEAKER_00: Not merely reflect it.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, this is the difference between the sun and the moon.
SPEAKER_00: Is there a difference?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: If those Artemis guys had gone around the sun, things would have turned out very different.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is the moon a lot closer, it reflects light.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't radiate it.
SPEAKER_00: This is enormous.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, Sean, how can this be?
SPEAKER_00: How can this be?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm glad you asked.
SPEAKER_00: It's that little phrase in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Did you see it?
SPEAKER_00: In the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the believers' union with Christ is what makes the decisive difference.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God now dwells in them.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Romans 8 9, the Spirit of Christ now dwells in them.
SPEAKER_00: And they are, 2 Corinthians 6 16, now the temple of the living God, of the Holy Spirit indeed.
SPEAKER_00: You can say, wow, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, amen.
SPEAKER_00: So the point, what I'm getting at is that this passage is not so much saying that believers can light the way of others, though that is true, we are the light of the world, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, here the believer lights their own way to live a holy life.
SPEAKER_00: That's the emphasis here.
SPEAKER_00: From being trapped in a life of continuous, unrepentant unbelief and therefore sin to being freed for a life.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see?
SPEAKER_00: Saved from, saved for a life of continuous repentant belief and obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And so, brothers and sisters, the imperative that we see walk as children of the light just naturally follows from this reality.
SPEAKER_00: Since you are light, you must keep on living as children of light.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God is like nailing this point home through Paul.
SPEAKER_00: It's become what you are.
SPEAKER_00: Become what you are, behave in such a way that conforms to your new nature in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, and yet, and yet, even though we now have the ability to obey God from the heart, we all know if you've been in Christ even for a short time, this process is not automatic, is it?
SPEAKER_00: You don't just like change gear, great, everything in automatic.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Each of us must engage our wills.
SPEAKER_00: We must engage our new wills.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9 and 10 shows us what this will mean in practice.
SPEAKER_00: So, firstly, did you notice what is good and right and true are the marks, those are the fruit of being children of light.
SPEAKER_00: We might call them family traits.
SPEAKER_00: Family traits that emerge from walking in the light.
SPEAKER_00: And so good basically means generous.
SPEAKER_00: It means kind to others.
SPEAKER_00: Good.
SPEAKER_00: Right means avoiding the evils laid out in the previous verses, verses three through five, particularly, and showing justice towards others.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we're talking about again the fruit.
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about our righteousness in Christ that we're given the moment we believe.
SPEAKER_00: We're fully righteous before God.
SPEAKER_00: We're now talking about the walking, the sanctification walk.
SPEAKER_00: That's what right means here.
SPEAKER_00: True speaks to being sincere, to being dependable, to being genuine.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, in short, a life that generates a positive impact for the people of God on others.
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, for the kingdom of God on others, a positive impact for the kingdom of God on others.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to ask you today, Christian, do you bear the family traits as a pattern in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself honestly that question: Do I bear the family traits as a pattern in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Goodness, righteousness, and truth as opposed to insular stinginess, to unthankful impurity, to faithless hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_00: God will not abide two faces.
SPEAKER_00: Read Matthew 23 and Jesus talking to the religious people of his day, you brood of vipers.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, that's the first.
SPEAKER_00: You may say to me, surely being active in pursuing holiness looks more like gloomy restraint.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I just want to have some fun as a Christian, but I can't.
SPEAKER_00: You may have heard that message before.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Christians should have the most fun hiking through life, as it were.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: The difference is that we participate in the day hike, not the night hike.
SPEAKER_00: Ever been on a night hike?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not good.
SPEAKER_00: That's what unbelievers are doing.
SPEAKER_00: They're on the night hike, friends.
SPEAKER_00: You see, by grace, you and I get to see the roots, the rocks, the ditches that are in our way because of our Heavenly Father and the light we now radiate.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to avoid trails.
SPEAKER_00: We can see them clearly, we can enjoy them to the full.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: There is no way of discerning more accurately and discerning more quickly what pleases our dad than studying his law.
SPEAKER_00: Studying his law.
SPEAKER_00: This is the joy of the psalmist in Psalm 119.
SPEAKER_00: I read a little piece of that a little earlier.
SPEAKER_00: God's law reveals to us what he takes delight in and what he hates.
SPEAKER_00: And this is precisely why our brothers and sisters of the past could joyfully answer this question from the Bible-saturated Westminster Larger Catechism.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've never heard of a catechism, a catechism is basically a series of questions and answers that cover key essentials of Bible teaching.
SPEAKER_00: And so in the Westminster Larger Catechism, let me read question 97.
SPEAKER_00: It says, What special use is there of the moral law to the regenerate?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, how can the Christian use God's moral law today?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it completely non-usable?
SPEAKER_00: Basically is the question.
SPEAKER_00: Well, listen carefully.
SPEAKER_00: I'll try to do this slowly, but I want you to listen to this to this dense but beautiful response given to this question.
SPEAKER_00: Although they that are regenerate and believe in Christ be delivered from the moral law as a covenant of works, another big word, you know, that that's Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Do this and live, don't do this and die.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he was created.
SPEAKER_00: So as thereby they are neither justified nor condemned.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are not justified or condemned by the law.
SPEAKER_00: We have another lawkeeper.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00: We're not justified or condemned.
SPEAKER_00: Yet, beside the general uses thereof common to them with all men, so all people benefit from God's law in some way.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we have to have legal systems, right?
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
SPEAKER_00: It is of special use to show them, the Christian, how much they are bound to Christ for his fulfilling it and enduring the curse thereof in their stead and for their good.
SPEAKER_00: That's Easter, friends.
SPEAKER_00: It is finished.
SPEAKER_00: Here we close, but here's the key.
SPEAKER_00: And thereby to provoke them greater care to conform themselves thereunto as the rule of their obedience.
SPEAKER_00: I know that's a mouthful.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, I share that because that it brings me to this question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you desire to show more and more thankfulness for what God has done for you in Christ Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you do, friends, look no further than his moral law.
SPEAKER_00: Summed up in love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, no, holiness is not gloomy restraint, it's living in the sun.
SPEAKER_00: S-O-N.
SPEAKER_00: Living in the sun to see the colors better.
SPEAKER_00: It's refusing to participate in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's asking of each decision you make this question does this reveal or does this hide the Lord Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Reveal or hide?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Sean, get on with it.
SPEAKER_00: Final observation, final observation from the passage.
SPEAKER_00: Walking as children of light means thirdly, exposing its works in a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: Exposing its works in a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, when I get excited, friends, the bodily fluid, it runs.
SPEAKER_00: But thank God for sweat.
SPEAKER_00: It's the sign of health, you know that, hey?
SPEAKER_00: Let's expose its works in a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read again verse 11 and 12.
SPEAKER_00: Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
SPEAKER_00: For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
SPEAKER_00: I believe Paul here is now telling us to put feet, to put feet to remembering both who we are, children of light, and whose we are.
SPEAKER_00: Since you are adopted children of light, called to refuse to participate in darkness, it follows that you're to take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And so it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway.
SPEAKER_00: This does not mean that we're to go and live in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: You know, let's set up the Mklengi rural monastery.
SPEAKER_00: Should we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Leave the city?
SPEAKER_00: No, we're not into that.
SPEAKER_00: The church has tried monasticism, had some benefits, but really not that many.
SPEAKER_00: Did fill the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: No, take no part means do not be co-fellowshippers with.
SPEAKER_00: In the city of Ephesus, this may have looked like don't have intimate social contact with, which I think translates to today.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid pagan worship settings, stay away from false teachers meetings.
SPEAKER_00: That could translate to today.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, situations and places like that which produce the unfruitful works of darkness, the very things that can lead you and I as believers astray.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, such deeds of darkness would certainly include anything that displeases God in our context, specifically sexual immorality, greed, filthy or vulgar language.
SPEAKER_00: The point simply being that as people of the light, we have taken part in a spiritual resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Which means our lives cannot be lived as men and women who look for the darkness to do those things that we would be ashamed to do in public.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we are to radiate our Lord's blessed command.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Sermon on the Mount, you know it.
SPEAKER_00: Let your light so shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And this jives with what I said earlier.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about areas of public allegiance to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is before others.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith is personal but not private.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in Nigeria, there's a group of people called the Igbo people.
SPEAKER_00: They have an interesting proverb that I came across.
SPEAKER_00: In English, it reads as follows.
SPEAKER_00: Nunu, the bird, was asked why it flies without perching.
SPEAKER_00: And it answered, Because the hunters have learned to shoot without missing.
SPEAKER_00: What do you think this proverb is trying to convey?
SPEAKER_00: Well, at least this.
SPEAKER_00: It's important to be wise to dangers around us and to find ways to avoid these dangers.
SPEAKER_00: As resurrection people of God, you and I are, so to speak, called to maintain flying.
SPEAKER_00: Maintain flying.
SPEAKER_00: But notice what Paul offers as a counterpoint to take no part in.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just give the negative, he gives the positive, but instead expose them.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word here is fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: It basically means to bring to light for the purpose of being corrected.
SPEAKER_00: That's what expose means, to bring to light for the purpose of being corrected.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, this is not about information mining.
SPEAKER_00: This is not getting gossip, you know, setting up a gossip chain about people.
SPEAKER_00: You know, did you hear what so and so has been doing?
SPEAKER_00: Where they've been hanging out.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: No, verse 12 provides the reason for exposing them, that is the deeds of darkness, rather than the persons.
SPEAKER_00: Love people, hate darkness, hate darkness of deeds.
SPEAKER_00: I think verse 13 actually makes what is being exposed even clearer.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.
SPEAKER_00: So basically, then verse 12 means that the details of secret sin are too shameful to even speak about.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, rather than indulging the flesh in sort of sordid particulars, the goal is to starve these deeds.
SPEAKER_00: Starve them, these deeds hidden in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, don't give them a voice.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, this is gospel living in action.
SPEAKER_00: And this is gospel that seeks to redeem people, not to push them away.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a work chat or some kind of email chain.
SPEAKER_00: You young people even use email anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, some kind of chat on some kind of platform that I know nothing about.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: If you're involved in that, let me ask are there cruel memes that are sometimes circulated?
SPEAKER_00: Ones that could hurt people made in the image of God like you?
SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, you can expose this even without preaching to people.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps by asking the following question: Should we normalize this?
SPEAKER_00: Should we normalize this?
SPEAKER_00: Then you pray and you leave the results to God.
SPEAKER_00: Leave the results to God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, as a surgeon's operating theater lights don't shine in order to embarrass, but to heal.
SPEAKER_00: So children of light seek to treat what the darkness conceals.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be a healer for Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to treat people as opposed to being someone who exposes for the point of embarrassing and hurting?
SPEAKER_00: Don't be that.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are duty bound to expose the deeds of darkness by our conduct and words.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, just as the lost the lost prodigal son, so that those who have gone astray might be convicted perhaps and return to their senses.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a challenge this week.
SPEAKER_00: This week, as you're flying, not perching, okay, dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Pick an area of your life, whether at your work, whether you are on social media for blocks of time, whether at recreation, whatever, do a light inspection.
SPEAKER_00: Is there something that I have tolerated that needs to be gently and yet truly exposed?
SPEAKER_00: Is there something?
SPEAKER_00: Have I merely condemned sin in theory, but rather not lived in a way that exposes darkness by contrast?
SPEAKER_00: By contrast.
SPEAKER_00: You see, friends, holiness is a strong witness.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: Holiness is a strong witness.
SPEAKER_00: It makes sin look ugly without ever needing our personal outrage at children of the dark doing what children of the dark do.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get mad at people when they do what's accords with their nature.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: We expose it by contrast.
SPEAKER_00: Children of light can talk about sin in a way that is truthful, that is restrained, but that is redemptive.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we as we begin to wrap this up, you're like, when's this guy gonna wrap up?
SPEAKER_00: How much more has he got?
SPEAKER_00: What time is it?
SPEAKER_00: Go on a lot longer, friends.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, I don't want us to miss two good news connections this morning that our passage brings out.
SPEAKER_00: Firstly, the gospel connects to our present identity because it is the good news of our changed allegiance.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, children of Ukukanyo connects with a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it does.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the first, okay, connects with our present identity.
SPEAKER_00: But secondly, well, no, let me wrap this up, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Grace covers all the sin of the one who trusts in the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: If you're trusting in Jesus on the cross, friends, there is nothing you've done, thought, or done that I haven't done, thought, or done myself in my own heart and mind, and yet it is all redeemed by Jesus as I trust him this day.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so hear me.
SPEAKER_00: Grace covers all of that sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that gives you freedom for living.
SPEAKER_00: Freedom for living.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, identity connected with a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, the gospel connects to future judgment.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the passage, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Future judgment because it gives gracious warning for those who profess Jesus' Lord with their mouths, but deny him with their with their lives, with their works.
SPEAKER_00: None of us want to hear these words, Matthew 7.
SPEAKER_00: Depart from me.
SPEAKER_00: I never knew you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to hear those words.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to hear those words.
SPEAKER_00: God's wrath awaits no one united to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But an unrepentant life turned from God has no assurance of that union.
SPEAKER_00: And so today I implore you turn and live.
SPEAKER_00: Turn and live if that's you, if the shoe fits today, if that's you, turn and live.
SPEAKER_00: Because light indeed is a mysterious thing, it's hard to explain.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, being children of light, I think, is arguably just as mysterious.
SPEAKER_00: But I believe an unbeliever will know it when they see it.
SPEAKER_00: Let the Holy Spirit do his work.
SPEAKER_00: And so my encouragement for you today as we close is walk in such a way that rejects deception, that refuses to participate in darkness, and that exposes its works in a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: I leave that with you today by God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: Pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: Holy God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank you that there is now no condemnation for the person who is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you again that as those united to you, we get to participate in your light.
SPEAKER_00: What a privilege.
SPEAKER_00: A new nature now enabled to radiate your goodness, righteousness, and truth.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I ask this morning if there's anyone here today who does not know your light, who is walking in darkness, please draw them to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Draw them to yourself even this day.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I know that there are people ready and willing to talk and pray with them after this service here today, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Today is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: That's the now-ness, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When we hear the truth, help us to turn to it.
SPEAKER_00: Not relying on ourselves, not relying on our own way, our own thinking, our own intelligence, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: For until your spirit regenerates, Lord, we are walking in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Without faith to believe, without faith to trust, without ability to act in a way that pleases you, heavenly God.
SPEAKER_00: Hear our prayer today to reject such deception.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, to refuse to walk in darkness and to in love and in truth expose its works in a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: We ask all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.