President Calvin Coolidge at one point invited people to dinner at the White House. These were people from his hometown, and they really didn't know how to act going into high society that Coolidge was now part of. And so they figured, well, the way that we'll do it is we'll just, well, do whatever the president does, right? Whatever Cal does, we'll do. And so they sat down to dinner, and then coffee was served. And President Coolidge took the coffee and he poured it in his saucer. So they all did. And then he put a little sugar in his saucer and stirred it around. And then he put a little milk in his saucer and stirred it around. And they all did the same thing. And they expected him to pick the saucer up and begin to drink out of it when he put it on the floor and called his cat. We don't always imitate things that people do, even when you don't know what you're doing. It's probably not always best simply to imitate what someone else does. The Word of God gives us instructions for imitation, imitating a model that shows us how we ought to live, what we ought to do in every situation, how we are to respond. There is one pattern of behavior that we should always strive to imitate. And that's even when it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to us. It's the pattern of Christ's sacrifice. It's the pattern of Christ's offering. I want to look at Ephesians chapter five this morning and I'll read verses 1 through 14. I know that's a chunk and we're going to be kind of racing through it because there's a principle here involved that I want us to see as we go through the Gospel of Luke. There will be plenty of opportunities in Luke to learn about the way in which we should walk, the way in which we should respond. But let's not forget, before we get up to that point, that we are to imitate God in all we do. Let's read Ephesians chapter 5, 1 through 14. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you. As is proper among saints, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. Because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, therefore do not associate with them. For one time you were in darkness, but now you are the light of the world. Walk as children of light, 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. Take no part in the unfruitful work of darkness but instead expose them for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead for Christ, and Christ will shine on you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that as we look at this passage you would help us to concentrate and gather our thoughts. In Jesus' name, Amen. Ephesians, you probably have heard, is a book that's kind of divided into two sections. There's the first three chapters that are heavily weighted with doctrine. We're talking about, right, we look to Ephesians 1 quite often to talk about doctrines like election and predestination, now calling. we've been called by God. And then the last three chapters quite practical. What does that look like practically speaking? What do we do as a result of what we've heard? And there's some truth to that. There is plenty of application in the first three chapters and there's plenty of doctrine in the last six. But there certainly is a transition that takes place in the book of Ephesians and you find it in chapter four where it says, I therefore, Paul writes, as a prisoner of the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. So you've been called, you learned that, and now I urge you to walk in a manner worthy. And so when we get to chapter 5, chapter 4 begins with a therefore based upon the doctrine that you've learned in these first three chapters. And we get to chapter 5, we see another therefore. And that's to imply that we are to look to what chapter 4 says. And we're going to look at chapter 5 and basically in two points, sincerity and decency in the first five verses, and then the seduction of darkness in verses 6 through 14. As we look at sincerity and decency, the way that Paul wants us to walk, He has three ideas here. First, he speaks to us of a work, of a walk of imitation. Second, he gives us a word of instruction. And then third, he gives a warning to the impure. Let's look at the walk of imitation that we're supposed to have first as Paul begins the chapter in this way in verses one through two, or one and two. Therefore, the imitators of God as his beloved children. Again, whenever you see that word therefore, Bible study tip here, when you see the word therefore, it means that you find out what it's there for. And you look at the stuff that went on before the word therefore. And that helps you to see that what you're about to read is a conclusion based upon a previous premise. And so it calls us to review, for just a moment, chapter 4. Chapter 4, verses 17 through 20, Paul speaks of it. You can go ahead and look there, and you can kind of peruse those quickly as I walk through them. Paul talks about the condition of your life before the new life. You used to be separated from God. You were alienated from Him. You walked in ignorance of Him. You had no life in you. 20, however, Paul says, but you now are different. You have not so learned Christ. Some of you may say, well, I don't remember a time when I didn't know Christ. I've always known him since I was a child. I knew him. I've always trusted in him as far as I know. And Paul is saying, this is not then you. You have not so learned Christ. But yet some of you are not walking in Christ. So Paul says in verses 21 to 24, here's the characteristics of the new life. This is what it looks like. You're changing clothes, as it were. You're putting off the clothes of the old man and you're putting on the clothes of the new. And then verses 25 through 31, this is what that ought to look like then. If you're walking the new walk, if you're carrying this new man about, this is what that's characterized by. And a number of practical instructions that he gives us in chapter 4 regarding living out of righteousness, unity, loyalty, charity, purity, integrity. These are the things that characterize our lives. And he ends the chapter by saying this, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, these aren't you anymore, along with all malice, and instead be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. And so when we start chapter five and we see, therefore, it has all of that in mind, when Paul begins this chapter, particularly the walk of the new life, the imitation of God in Christ. He ends chapter four by saying, as God in Christ forgave, so also you forgive. So therefore then be imitators. as God has forgiven you, so also you be an imitator. We think of the word be as elementary grammar school stuff, right? The word be is a helping verb. It doesn't really do anything. It just helps the main verb most of the time, right? But that's not the case here. So be means to become. Here it's the main verb. This is who you are. The verb to be in the Bible is often used to speak of life itself. Remember, before Abraham was, I am. There's the being verb. We exist in imitation of God. It is our being. It's our way of life. It's our way of living. Our being now is that we are united to Jesus Christ. Our being is not what it was. We exist as imitators of God. We're imitators. And the word that Paul uses here is one that translates pretty well into English, and we all know the word. It's the word mimic. We mimic him. Perhaps when your children were younger, maybe even when they're older. They like to mimic you. You say something, they say the same word in the same way and use the same motions. And they do it, and they keep doing it, and they teach him, and finally he says, stop it, stop it. And then they'll say, stop it, stop it. And he says, I'm serious, I'm serious. And eventually it gets a little crazy. That's the idea of the work that we do. All that God does, we follow after him. We repeat his motions. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, imitate me. Wait a minute, why do we imitate Paul? Paul says, imitate me because I imitate Christ. What did Christ do? Imitate God. What did God do? Particularly in the context of what we see here in Ephesians chapter five, what did God do that we're supposed to imitate? John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And Paul takes off in this and says, imitate God and walk in love. That's our imitation of him. our walk in love. And of course he uses the word here that we're familiar with, that biblical word we like to hear about, agape, right? That selfless, self-sacrificial. A lot of nuances to the word agape to the bottom line is it's a self-sacrificial love, giving, expecting, nothing in return. It's a love that is practiced employing all of the principles that Paul has discussed in chapter four and he's discussing here in chapter five because ultimately in talking about love we are describing Christ. And that's what Paul's focusing in on now. Love isn't the worm fuzzies. And Paul's not going to give us a list of 25 ways that husbands can love their wives better. Instead, Paul says, walk in love because this is Christ. Do you want to know how to love? Then know Christ better. Do you want to practice love? than know Christ better. And that's exactly what Paul says. Walk in love, verse two, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. Christ's love had two directions, Paul is saying, toward us and toward God. First, Paul says he gave himself up for us. And this is an interesting way of putting this, that he gave himself up. It means to betray yourself. It means to deliver yourself over. And that's interesting because Christ was delivered over. He was a victim, right? Judas betrayed him. Pilate turned him over. The people mobbed him. They demanded his crucifixion. The Roman soldiers nailed him to the cross. But we should never forget that no one took Christ's life from him. No one forced him. The nails are not what held him to the cross. It was his love. He gave up his life. We shouldn't see Christ as a helpless victim forced against his will to die a horrible death. A view of Christ who is haplessly submissive to a mob may make you feel sorry for Jesus, but it doesn't give you a picture of the power of Jesus, the power of his love, the authority of his work on the cross. Jesus says in John 10, I'd lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down. of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down and I have the authority to take it up again. John chapter 15 then we are told that Jesus in exercising this authority demonstrates his love for us. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. One of those friends for whom Jesus laid down his life was none other than Paul, murderous Saul, whom God changed. Paul previously murdered Christians for a living. If Paul had had the opportunity, he would have been one of the hands that had nailed Christ to the cross. He would have been born one of the hammers that pounded his flesh on the tree. And in fact, Paul did persecute Christ. Remember on the road to Damascus, the voice from heaven that said, Paul, why are you persecuting me? And this same Paul is overwhelmed by the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ who would give up his life for the one persecuting him. Paul changes his pronouns in the middle of the verse. He says, you walk in love as Christ has loved us. as Christ gave himself up for us. The second direction of Christ's love is not only manward, or we could say horizontal, but it's vertical, it's Godward. He was a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Offering and sacrifice aren't synonyms, they don't mean the same thing here. An offering means a willing sacrifice. Like the offerings of the Old Testament. Like the offering that you gave when we took the offering. The elders don't come to your door and forcibly confiscate your W-2 and do a calculation and demand the numbers to your bank. We don't do it that way, obviously. You willingly give. Christ willingly offered himself up to God. And when offering and sacrifice are both used together, the intention here is to show that Christ fulfilled every type and sacrifice of the Old Testament law. All of them pointing toward him and he fulfills all of them in every part. He leaves nothing undone for our salvation. There's no further sacrifice to be offered and then we add the words fragrant offering and we have not only a picture of every offering and every sacrifice being fulfilled in Christ, perfect sacrifices. We also see how in the Old Testament many of the sacrifices would be consumed by fire. They would ascend into smoke, which is described as a sweet-smelling savor to God. In Christ's sacrifice, he is consumed by the anger of God, an anger which should have fallen upon us, and his sacrifice ascends to heaven as a sweet-smelling savor. Christ became sin for us, and only Christ can become sin for us in that way. And then we read this in 1 John chapter 3, but by this we know love then. How do we know love? Because he laid down his life for us. That's how we know what love is, we look to Christ. But then notice what John says, and we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren. We too then are to imitate God. We are to lay down our lives, we are to give up our perceived rights for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Now how is this applied? What does this look like then? If we are to imitate God and we see God's love, we see the work of Christ's sacrifice and we've been united to Jesus Christ, well then what does that look like? And there here Paul gives us a word of instruction in verses three and four, but here's how he applies it. Sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. No filthiness, no foolish talk, no crude joking which are out of place. Instead let there be thanksgiving. We might be a little surprised at the way in which Paul applies the fact that we are to love God, that we are to imitate the love that God has demonstrated for us in Christ's sacrifice on the cross by telling us, giving us this set of commands. But in a sense what Paul's doing is he's returning back to the old man, new man contrast. And these are terms that are fairly clear to us. They're works of the flesh, not works of the spirit. These are things that are characteristic of the flesh. The one who does not love, the one who is selfish, not selfless. We are named with Christ. We bear his name as Christians, as image bearers. And so we look like him, and not like this. And Paul gives us two sets of three. He gives us six things set in two settings that shouldn't be found named among us. Sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness. He puts the three of those things together. Why? Because he's not just talking about adultery. He's talking about all kinds of things that are morally impure. Pornography. mental fantasies, allowing yourself to gaze at images and advertisements that feed the flesh, coveting something, coveting someone who isn't yours. Coveting doesn't just mean I want. I want a Toyota FJ Cruiser. You've probably heard me say that at some point or another. I want one. But it doesn't mean that that's not covetousness. Covetousness is wanting it when I shouldn't have it. Covetousness means taking or wanting something that you have no right to. It often means something like this. I want a man who will love me the way my husband doesn't love me or I want a woman who looks like that. And that's why the Ten Commandments begins that way. You shall not covet what? You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. There's a whole host of sins in the flesh included. Paul's not narrowing this down. And then the next triad, still related to sexual sin, but not so much now our actions as our attitudes, filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking. These three are all words that appear only here in the New Testament. But the idea in the broader world in which Paul is using this, because these are characteristic of the world, is where he's getting these terms. It's basically obscene speech, locker room talk, we might say, today. Filthy jokes, crude language, suggested wit, conversation that is an inappropriate sexual overtone to it, sinful behavior, and so on. We hear this stuff, even among Christians all the time. But that's not to be characteristic of us. Now, what's the inoculation to this? How is it that we don't practice these things? Paul gives us one inoculation to all of these sins. And it's kind of surprising, actually. It's simply this. Let there be thanksgiving. So that's kind of weird. He names all of these sins and then says, well, let there be thanksgiving. We'd expect Paul to say, well, do the opposite of these sins then. Instead, be pure, walk in self-control. So why let there be thanksgiving? Because when we are thankful, when we are content, when we express and have sincere gratitude for what God has given to us, we don't need the sins of the flesh because we walk in the spirit. Gentlemen, if you are thankful for your wife, you're not interested in the appeal of other women. All of your affections are toward her. And when we walk with God in a perpetual attitude of thanksgiving for his sacrificial work, for the fact that he paid the price for all of these sins, these sins of the flesh do not appeal to us in the same way. If we contemplate the cross, There's no toleration for the captivity of sin. We will not be enthralled by the offerings of the evil one if we live in an attitude of thanksgiving for the offering of the righteous one. So Paul says, there's a walk of imitation, walking after God, a word of instruction, and then a warning then to those who don't listen. For you may be sure of this, verse five, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetousness, that is an idolater, that's all that is, is idolatry. He has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. And Paul's saying Christian, or rather if you think you're a Christian, if these sins characterize your life, then you are not who you think you are. You can be sure of that, Paul says. You have no inheritance. The word inheritance here is a synonym for believer. Do a word study on inheritance sometime. You'll see that it's a theme that moves from the Old Testament concept to New Testament fulfillment. Speaking of the one who has inherited righteousness and a kingdom from Christ, it's a word that speaks of Christians. Hebrews chapter 9, Christ is a mediator of the new covenant so that those who are called may receive what? A promised inheritance. 1 Peter chapter 1, we read this a lot. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Same concept we're looking at in Ephesians chapter 5 here. To what? What are we being resurrected for? An inheritance. An inheritance that's imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. All reminded the church at Corinth, some of whom thought that they had fine palaces waiting for them in heaven, grand mansions at the end of streets paved with gold that surely they would inhabit. Paul said the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God. It's interesting here in Ephesians, though, Paul uses the present tense. He doesn't say you will not have an inheritance. He says you do not have an inheritance. Not even now. You have no part even now in the Kingdom of God. So who do we imitate then? The immoral, the impure, the filthy, the foolish, talkers, the crude, the complainers. What do we expose ourselves to? What do we eventually imitate? Do we imitate God? It's seen in the way that we walk, in the way that we talk to one another, in the way in which we work together, in the way that the peace and the purity and the unity of the church are first and foremost in our hearts and minds. What do we look like? What do your children look like? Is the image of God evident in us? Is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit seen in our walk of imitation? Is the fact that we are His children, His beloved children seen in the fact that we resemble Him? I'm afraid that's missing in many Christians. We wouldn't think of leaving the house without checking our tie in the mirror and making sure our hair is perfectly straight and everything looks wonderful and our shirts are tucked in. But do we go about in the world without giving any thought as to whether we are a picture of Christ that is indeed honoring and glorifying to him? That's why I love how Paul calls us children, because that's how we imitate Christ. There's a wonderful simplicity in that, isn't there? We can contemplate the attributes of God. We can meditate upon infinity. We can ponder questions about his transcendence. We can debate and discuss the logical order of the decrees of salvation. We can talk about predestination, election, and calling in Ephesians chapter one, but can we copy him? How can we copy him? How can we look like a God whom we cannot see? How can we model the image of a glory that we cannot bear to gaze upon? How do we do that? We copy his love. We imitate his selfless sacrifice. We take to heart his willingness to be despised by the world to do the will of his father. What God asks for is a childlike obedience, not a philosopher's insights into the reality of his nature, but it's a childlike trust and obedience that we need, not a professional theologian's percussatious comprehension of theological theory. Like children, we imitate God. But it's hard to do, isn't it? Because there is the seduction of darkness in verses 6 through 14. We'll run through this last section here. But Paul says there are deceivers, however. There are many voices which will tell you that what I have just said can't possibly be fulfilling or true. So Paul says in verse 6, there's a lot of empty talk. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience who do not be partners with them. Deceiving is an activity at which Satan is quite skilled. It's his hallmark. It's his calling card. Satan is very good at convincing us that what we've read in these first five verses simply can't be the case. Why? Verse 22 of chapter four tells us that we battle against deceitful lusts. Isn't that what Adam battled against? The lusts of the flesh are deceitful lusts. They promise. And in the end, they give death. We're told in Genesis that the serpent was more subtle. than any beast of the field. He was crafty, shrewd, and he's only gotten better with practice. He's no less proficient at peddling the lust of the flesh and of the eyes and of the pride of life. Let no one then deceive you, beguile you with empty words. The promises of sin are a game of smoke and mirrors the seduction of darkness. Sin is beautiful. But it's all fraud. It's an illusion. And it's not just the lures of the flesh that can devalue the unbeliever. It's the lure of false teaching. We're lured in by false doctrine, empty words and false words. And repeatedly God's people are warned against them, the false prophets that prophesy. And it's a hallmark of our age, Jesus tells us. The attractiveness of empty words as they're sourced in the principles of this world. Worldly wisdom, James calls it. Earthly, sensual, demonic. Paul says in Ephesians, rather than Colossians, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception. According to the empty traditions or the empty, or rather, empty deception according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than the word of Christ. John, I had a friend years ago who bought a house. And they went in, they looked at the house, it looked nice, so they moved in. And then after they moved in, they found out that all of the plumbing under the sinks had been removed. None of the faucets worked. They looked really good. Granite countertops, shiny chrome faucets, but they didn't hold water. And so the words of the world, They appear sound and wise, but they're empty and vain and useless. And Satan, in the wise of the world, would tell you that nothing is sinful. Like what the pastor's preaching really doesn't apply to you. Come on, get back to that doctrinal stuff in the Gospel of Luke. It's a lot better, isn't it? But don't talk about the way that I talk or the way that we walk or the way that we think and what we do. The world will tell you that true blessedness comes from satisfying the desires of the flesh. Give in to the desires of the flesh. But these are empty words. We remember that this is all in the context in Ephesians and talking about sexual purity. There are perhaps few areas where lives are left more devastated than the area of sexual purity. Just ask the surviving victim of an abortion. Ask somebody who's ruined a marriage covenant. Ask one who now suffers permanently from the repercussions of their sin. It's destructive in every way. Empty words, far from being without consequence, that bring against them the wrath of God, His holy anger against those who practice the sins of this world. God's warning for us, lest we should be also considered the sons of disobedience, is not to listen to the empty words of this world, but to the word of Christ through which we have life. Instead of the death and the dark walk of this world, We are to walk in enlightened walk. Paul reminds us in verse eight, at one time that was you, you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Paul tells us in Colossians, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness. He has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son. And Paul's talking about here is the tale of two kingdoms. One is the realm of darkness. darkness and understanding, darkness of spiritual life, living in bondage. Another is the realm of light, not light that comes from within, but the light of the Lord, the light of being in the Lord, united to Jesus Christ. As he begins the chapter, Christ said, I am the light of the world, and united to Christ, we belong to the light and become lights to the world, the world which remains in darkness. So Christ says, you are the light of the world. I am the light of the world. You are the light of the world. So Paul says at the last part of verse 8, then you walk as children of light. Are you a light bearer is the idea. Christ has caused that light to shine in on our hearts. Do we then bear that light to a world that is lost and dying? Are we enact what we are in fact? Are we light? Your practice indicates your position. Your manner of life is that of a different kingdom than the kingdom of darkness. It's a different path than the path that leads to death. It's a way of light. Light that is pure. Light that shows the way. Light that pierces the darkness. Light that is not afraid of the scrutiny because it is blameless. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. But your deeds are pure. So Paul says walk in the light. And then that light is seen by fruit in your life. Verse 9, the parenthesis. The fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. We bear fruit. We've seen that already in the Gospel of Luke. John calls people to bear fruits in keeping with repentance. Now how do we cultivate that fruit? Verse 10. We try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. What's Paul talking about here? Well, here he's going beyond the two triads that he mentioned. Things that are obviously destructive tendencies of the flesh and here now he's talking about matters of discernment. In all that we do. Whether therefore we eat, drink, whatever we do, we do all to the glory of God. Paul's going now beyond the letter of the law to a matter of discernment. Remember Paul says in Romans chapter 12 that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and discernment so that you may approve, the same word as discern what is excellent and be pure and blameless. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 1, we are filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Walking as children of God, then, doesn't mean simply that we avoid the lusts of the flesh, but that in all that we do, we exercise a godly discernment in the way that we live, in the decisions that we make, in our reactions, in our course of actions, in response to various circumstances in life. We make decisions based upon our ability to discern, The word means to examine the word of God and then put it into practice in our lives. The word of God becomes an integral part of our walk. And then the second, the fruit of our walk is cultivated then in that not only do we discern in every manner of living, but then we take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead we expose them, both negatively and positively. We take no part in unfruitful works of darkness. We don't grow hazardous waste on our tree of light, but instead we expose it. We bring it to light. That doesn't mean we become little righteous rats telling on everybody, but it does mean that we take the works of the world and we hold them up to the light, the light of the word of God. Your very fruit, your conduct, is a beam of light that will break through the thick darkness of this world and bring the hollow skeleton of sin's promises crashing down, exposing it for the death sentence that it is. The ball concludes then with a reward for those who hear these words. And it's this. There's a couple verses here, verses 13 and 14. We'll finish with these, of course. They're kind of hard to interpret. They seem to show a progression that as the light of the fruit of your works, as that light shines in the darkness, the works of darkness are then transformed into works of light. And perhaps what Paul's saying in these two verses I'll read in a second is a picture of conversion. God using your life to bring others to the light. Listen to this. 13, when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, and anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you. We used to be in darkness, but the light of the word shone forth in our hearts. God said, God who said, let the light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, reveals our sin. The light of God's word reveals our sin. It leads us to repentance. And now the Lord, in his grace, can use us to shine forth to others, leading them to repentance. What a savior we have. to take what once were children of darkness and transform us and then use us as lights to bring others to it. Use us as lights to shine on the love of God that the world can see his glory. Our light shining in darkness isn't just to expose sin, but to transform sin. Not just critique the world, but to convert the world. And then Paul finishes with this, this last line that is addressed to unbelievers or even to Christians who aren't living as children of light. To describe someone as sleeping, the idea behind basically means dead. Awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. This is an invitation. Paul concludes this section with an invitation to Christ. Here's the picture we saw when we read Isaiah chapter 60. Arise, shine, for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. The one caught in the sleep of death can be given new life. You can be given the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as the Israelites of old were called out of captivity to return to their land, so to Jerusalem today, so to God's people today, Paul is calling out to the people of God who are trapped in darkness to come to the light of God's word through Jesus Christ. And when you come to Christ, new life is given to you. You awake from the sleep of death into life. You see what Jesus does? Jesus transforms us. Jesus changes us. That's why Paul begins the chapter in this way. Imitate God who loved us. And then he tells us all about the sacrifice of Christ. And then he says this is what that sacrifice looks like in you. Christ transforms. He changes the heart and gives it light. He gives it life. No amount of positive thinking No amount of proactive effort will ever change your behavior. No effort you can make to change your nature will succeed outside of Jesus Christ. Coming to Him, and only the power of the blood of Christ, His atoning sacrifice on our behalf, for He took upon Himself our sins. Come to Christ. He takes you out of the darkness and he brings you into the light. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father we thank you for the work of Christ.