maturity. Definitely worth a purchase and reading that through. There's a classic here by Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance. I found this years ago, read it a couple of times. It's a great read. Then you have, if you want complete, utter conviction, you'll get tested in your faith. You probably doubt your salvation for a little bit, but Jesus will get you through. But it's Jonathan Edwards' charity and its fruits. And he really goes in depth on, if you say you're a Christian, what does love look like? How does that function in a person's life? That's very challenging, but I highly recommend those. And one book, it escaped my bag. I've already read it, highly recommend it. It's a brand new book, and I'm not doing this just because he's my friend, but Dr. Patrick Slyman went to seminary with us, and he just finished writing a book that's been published called Undistracted. It's probably, I don't know, I think it's like 90 pages. But it's a great book on being focused on the gospel, focusing your living, focusing your time for Jesus. And it's just that simple title, undistracted by, I think, one of the greatest names a pastor could ever have, Dr. Slyman. It's just always made me laugh. But he's a solid Christian. He's right up here. And nearby, he's in Washington state. Been there for, I think, just over 10 years now. But with that, you know the topic of our discussion today is gonna be out of Ephesians chapter five, so you can open your Bibles there to Ephesians five. I'm gonna be in a couple of different areas, but primarily in Ephesians five, and we're gonna be talking about here living worthy of the gospel, specifically by being obeying men. And we've already read The verse in chapter four, verse one, as Paul implores us to live a life worthy of the gospel. I'm gonna read another passage as you have your Bibles open in Ephesians five. This is out of First Thessalonians chapter two, verse 10. Again, a solid church, a God-fearing church, a responsive church to the gospel and faithful obedience. Paul writes this. First Thessalonians 2.10, you are witnesses and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. Just as you know, how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father with his own children. Verse 12, so that, what was the imploring? So that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. And if you want to enter into that kingdom, if you want to enter into glory, yes, you need to be walking in a man worthy of God who calls you. What does that look like? I dare say some of this is going to be simplistic. I'm trusting again that you know this, but when you think through deeply, what is said with regard to obedience? What does obedience matter? You can't hear it enough. You can't be encouraged too much to obey. Why? Because we sin every single day. And if you think, that's not me, I don't do that. Hold on, put in reverse, go back to the Scriptures, look at James, look at 1 John, look at any New Testament book, because sin is a part of our lives, that we're fighting it, we're fleeing from it, we're doing everything we can to kill it, right? As Jonathan Edwards said, be killing sin or what? It will be killing you. It's a guarantee. Be sure your sin will find you out. So we want to be on the utmost as far as making sure we're obeying the Lord and the importance. Obedience, again, can't be stretched enough. And I want to just, again, just for time's sake, but I just want to read a couple of verses. There's two passages, one out of John 14 and one out of 1 John 2. I just want you to be reminded how important is obedience. How important is it? I mean, we can go through all the texts of Scripture, all the indicatives, all the imperatives, this is what you must do, this is how you must behave. But just thinking in generalities, this is what Jesus said, John 14, 15. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. That doesn't mean you're gonna store them in a book and just walk around town with it. You're not gonna just store it in your house. No, you're gonna keep it with your life. You're gonna keep it with obedience. You'll keep his commandments. Which one? All of them. all of them, even the ones that are difficult, even the ones that make you feel daunted, you're not sure, but he expects that we would keep all of them, again, if we love him. Verse 21, John 14, 21. He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and would disclose myself to him. You see the connection of obedience and love, that relationship we have with the Father and with the Son. It's not that it's earned through obedience, but our faith results in obedience. Our faith in the Son results in obedience. Our love for the Son results in obedience. John 14, 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. What does that signify? The Holy Spirit's strengthening power that enables obedience. It enables obedience as we keep his word. John 14, 24, the very next verse. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. That should cause us a little trembling. He who does not love me does not keep my words. We heard the opposite, if you love me, you'll keep his commandments. If you don't love him, you won't. And what you all have here, this is... I don't know, are we in high desert? Are we out in the wilderness? It's like a gold nugget here in the Northern California region. Foothills, we're in the foothills, right? Gold country. That's what you are, by God's grace. You're a gold nugget. There are few churches that actually teach the Word of God, let alone obey the Word of God. And I want to challenge you to continue to obey, to excel still more. Find those areas, those sin cavities in your life and drill them out and replace them with the truth of God's Word and be faithful to keep His Word. Guard it with your life in obedience. How important is it? Well, John goes on to write later on in his little epistle, 1 John 2-3. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. You want assurance of your salvation? Keep his commandments. You want to be bold in truth? Keep his commandments. The opposite is true. As I said earlier, if you don't keep his commandments, you will struggle with assurance. You will experience doubt in your life. John obviously doesn't want that for us. God doesn't want that for us. First John 2.4, the next verse, the one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a what? I like saying that word because it's hard for me to say. He's a liar. But that's what God's word says. If you don't do it, you're a liar. It doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter how much you declare devotion to Jesus and how you say you love him. If you don't keep his word, you're a liar. And it says here, the one who says, I've come to know and does not keep his word is a liar and the truth is not in him. He's devoid of truth. He is empty. It doesn't have its abode in him. And then again, 1 John 2.5, but whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. And that idea of perfected is maturity. If you keep his word, in him the love of God has truly been matured. You'll see maturity, maturation. You'll have confidence, boldness, assurance in your life. And for clarity's sake, because we did emphasize a lot in the last couple of sessions that we're not saved by works, we're not saved through obedience, except the obedience of one, that's Jesus. We're saved by trusting in him. The only thing you and I contribute to our salvation is our sin. It's the only thing we contribute. And Jesus took that certificate of debt that we owe God, and he nailed it to the cross, paying that spiritual I-O-U in full. It's done away with. It's paid for. Yet, at the same time, we know we need to obey. But I don't want you to be confused, or any of you to be confused, between obedience, the need for obedience, and the need for faith. We're saved by faith. It results in good works. And if you're not sure, let me a couple of verses that are just extremely important. Succinct verses, Galatians 2, 16. Paul says, nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Very simple. And then he concludes, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. And I can't tell you how many times I've talked to people, why are you going to heaven? And their knee-jerk reaction is, because I'm a good person. I've done good things. You're not good. There's none righteous. No, not one. Again, elementary ideas and elementary teaching from scripture, Romans 3.23, but we forget it and our society doesn't know it. They don't know it. They still think that God has some sort of celestial scale up in heaven and he's going to take good works and bad works and outweigh them both. And as long as your good works are a little bit higher than the bad, you're in. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. Couldn't be further from the truth. And here, as Paul notes, it's by the works of the law. by God's commandments in the Old Testament. That doesn't get you in. If anything, that just shows us we're in need of a savior, because it's a tutor to lead us to Christ. It proves that we're sinners. We're all liars. We're all thieves. We're all adulterers. We're all idolaters. That's who we were before we came to faith in Christ. So with that, we're back to the present epistle of the book of Ephesians that urges with imperative commands to live biblically. So let me reinforce the context. It's going to be rather large. We'll go through it quickly. And hopefully you'll have enough. My friends always joke with me because I'll fill an hour easy. I'll fill 75 minutes if I can. But I like the sheep to go out waddling. I don't want you wanting more, I want you waddling out of here. And then you have stuff to mull on, stuff you can regurgitate, chew on it and think about it and meditate. So we're gonna look at a large section here, almost half the chapter, but if you would follow along, I'm gonna read it so you can kind of set the text in mind and we'll work our way, pace our way through it. Ephesians five verse one. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Why? For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them. For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything has become visible is light. For this reason it says, awake sleeper and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, through God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. That is God's holy, inerrant, infallible, and authoritative word to us. to us. And what we're going to see here, I hope to show as we work through here, Paul provides here for the church, universal, transcendent, seven motivating reasons to obey God. Seven motivating reasons to obey God so you can be assured of your salvation. Seven motivating reasons. And I'm going to take the approach primarily of looking at the reason stated, all the purpose clauses that you could insert the word because, and we'll work our way through. But we're going to look at that from the text perspective. So it's going to, dare I say, come across pretty negative. hopefully to provide a positive result. But here, most positively, reason number one we find here in verses one and two. If you're taking notes here, reason number one is obedience demonstrates your salvation, plain and simple. Why should you be motivated to obey God's word? Simply because obedience demonstrates your salvation. And again, opening up similar to chapter four, verse one, chapter five, verse one, therefore, Paul says, be imitators of God as beloved children. And again, what should you ask when you see the word therefore? Why is it therefore? Right, remember that. Think through how to study the scripture when you read the scripture. Therefore, what is he pointing to? He's pointing to basically all of four, chapter four, but primarily 432. 432, in light of God in Christ forgiving you, therefore, subordinate to that, as a result of that, be imitators of God. The word imitator means it comes from the Greek word mimitas, which in English we get the word mimic. Obviously that has a negative connotation. Don't mimic me. My kids are always saying that to one another, right? But positively, we're supposed to be imitators of God. We're supposed to use him as a template and follow his example. Why? Well, he tells us. We're beloved children. I can't tell you what... that, how do I say, encourages me, excites me, then when I see not only my son act like me, talk like me, but when I see my oldest daughter, who looks very much like me, but without the beard. She's very pretty, she's very pretty. But she has a very similar disposition as I do. And my wife jokes about it all the time. She's like, man, she's your shadow. She is just like you. And why? Because she loves me. I try to be a good influence. And I'm hoping that, All my good positive traits will rub off on her and the negative ones she'll leave behind. But here, this is what Paul uses as a motivation, as beloved children, as those who have been saved. Demonstrate your salvation by mimicking your Father. God is our Heavenly Father and we are His beloved children. And when you look at the fact that we are his beloved children, you can't really skip by verse 32. What does he say at the end of chapter four? Be kind to one another, tend to harden, forgiving each other just as God in Christ has also forgiven you. They're living in a state of forgiveness. It's already been done. So therefore, based upon that glorious truth, As God has been kind to us, we should be kind one to another. As God has been compassionate towards us, we must be compassionate towards one another. As God has been forgiving of us, we need to be forgiving of others. God is loving, God is holy, God is righteous. Therefore, we should be imitators of Him. Imitating God. We'll glance over at chapter 3, verse 16, right in our book here. What does Paul say? that he, God, would grant you, according to his riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. This is how you become an imitator of God. You're strengthened by his spirit in the inner man. He changes you, how? From the inside out. From your affections out, from your thinking out. Look at verse 19, 319. And to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. filled with all the fullness of God. That is to say, His Spirit fills us completely. We're filled with His Word. We're completely influenced by Him, our Heavenly Father, and we imitate Him. Verse 2 of our text here, 5-2. He says, here, walk in love. And obviously, that's a metaphor to live. Live in the sphere of love. And this is possible supernaturally. We are able to express and imitate all the communicable attributes of God. And if you feel that that's a weighty thought, it is weighty, but again, through the Spirit's work, through Christ's redemption, through the instruction of the scriptures, we can do this. This is possible, that we can obey God, demonstrating our salvation. And Paul reiterates all the grace and mercy we receive through Christ at the end of verse two. What does he say? And walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, and offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. This is the how. This is how you trace your life after the pattern of God. You do so sacrificially, as Christ sacrificially and willingly gave his life up for us. That's what we do. We sacrifice for one another. We lay aside our rights and our privileges and our opinions so that we can encourage one another, showing interest in one another. Jesus did it as an offering to God. And it's amazing when you think about what Jesus did and said as far as going to the cross. He said very specifically, no one takes my life from me. I freely lay it down. I love the way that King James renders it when Jesus dies on the cross and John says he gave up the ghost. That's how Jesus died. He willingly went to the cross and he willingly allowed himself to expire on the cross. That's how devoted he was to God. He was an offering. He was a love gift to God for our salvation, and he was a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. That is to say that what Jesus did in his substitutional sacrifice for our sin was well-pleasing in the nostrils of God. Well-pleasing, entirely. And that's gonna motivate us. That's gonna motivate us to obedience, which demonstrates our salvation. Second, I want you to see, going through verses three and following, three through five particularly, here's the negative bent. Here are the negative reasons why you must obey. Number two, heathens are hell-bound. Heathens are hell bound. My friend, if you're not a brother and you are a heathen and you live like a heathen, understand this. You're going to hell. And I understand that's a difficult doctrine and I understand it's not very popular to be preached in the 21st century church, but it needs to be said. Your eternal destiny is at stake. This is nothing to bark at. This is nothing to scoff at. This is nothing to say, I'll deal with it later. No, you must deal with it now. You must deal with it now. I've had enough death in my family to know death comes unexpectedly. It happens when you least expect it. And everyone thinks, well, I got till tomorrow. I got till next week. And before you know it, you might not be diagnosed and have, oh, here's my plane ticket to heaven. I got three months, six months. No, it might happen when you least expect it. But heathens are hell bound. Look at the text, look at verse three. He says here, but in contrast to being imitators of God, but immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper to the saints. Now we live in a world of immorality, I mean it's, It's to the point, I don't have TV, I'm not a TV Nazi, I'm not against television, I just don't have cable. So everything I watch is DVD, or it's something that we're selecting, you know, whatever, Amazon Prime, I don't know, my wife takes care of that. But we got filters, there's no profanity coming through, you know, the video. I love it, because, you know, those movies I grew up, and I like the movie, but I don't like some of the content. We're able to edit that out. In the world, you can't do that. I went through the airport, between the way women dress, what's on the television, what I'm hearing through music. I go through the airport, I feel like I need a shower. I mean, it's gross. Well, here, the text is saying that immorality, that impurity, that greed shouldn't even be a part of, shouldn't even be named among you. So what does he mean? Immorality. You know the word, porneia. That's where we get pornographic. He's talking about pornographic behavior, particularly even sexual prostitution. That shouldn't be named among us. And he gives a broader, more general term, any impurity. Here's a catch-all for any sexually deviant behavior. You know, and today, I mean, I know I forget who said it, but it was a term that we used a lot on Cape Cod. People would come to the church, you get to know them, man and a woman, knee-jerk reaction, everyone assumes they're married, and then you find out, oh, they're shacking up. They live together, they're not married, it's not pure in the eyes of the Lord. And I've seen one guy who was brought to his attention, he confessed Christ, and you know what he did? He literally moved out, demonstrated his repentance. Financially, it was a burden to him, it cost him lots of money to have to rent his own place, but he did the right thing, proved his repentance, they ended up getting married and actually joined the church. But if that's not what you're willing to do, Understand this, you're a heathen. You're not going to heaven, you're going to hell. And the text says he culminates the idea here with that third term in verse three, greed. Greed, the idea of being covetous. It's self-centered lust. It's sexual greed only for selfish sexual gratification. And obviously you know this, Hebrews 17 tells us, the marriage bread, hallelujah, is undefiled. Yeah. Love your wife, physically, imminently. Yeah, right, don't deny one another. We can go through, that's another sermon, right? But that's good in the marriage bed, in the home, in the covenant of marriage, but outside, no, it's nothing but an expression of greed. And I've said this to young men, I've said this to my own daughters. If he says to you, I love you, and tries to do something sexual to you, know right away, he don't love you. He's got one thing in mind and it's not your spiritual well-being. Man, think about that. You try to do something with someone, remember too, that's somebody's daughter, somebody's brother. You don't want someone coming after you, you're looking in the rear view mirror going, oh no. I'll digress. I have three daughters, I'm very protective. I was a heathen, I know how people live, I know how men can be. But the Bible says here, It must not even be named among you as proper among saints. Remember, saints, you're saints. Catholicism has perverted that, right? The statue of Mary, she's not a saint. The statue's not a saint. She is believer in heaven, worshiping Jesus, not being worshiped, but worshiping Jesus. We're saints, you're saints in the Lord. And he says it ought not be even named among you. And he's not restricting the idea of identifying sexual sin in and of itself, like don't say those things. But he's talking about not identifying sexual sin in a positive manner, not giving leniency to sexual sin. Sexual sins, he's saying, ought not become the object of saintly conversations. Keep your mouth pure. And look at verse four. He goes on with the issue of speech, and there must be no filthiness in silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving thanks. And he kind of overlaps here the idea, so we can go through it quickly. What is filthiness? To have no filthiness is to say, have no obscenities. There should be nothing obscene coming out of your mouth. Shouldn't be anything indecent that's coming out of your mouth. You shouldn't be speaking about those things in a positive manner. Identify them in a certain way, and we'll get to that in a minute. But he next says silly talk in verse four. What's silly talk? Is it goofing around, just joking around? No, he's not talking about that. He's talking about sexually charged, stupid speech. Don't have dirty speech coming out of your mouth. Don't have raunchy discussions. Don't do that. Or coarse jesting. That's the sexually charged jokes. Those sexual innuendos, lighthearted, dirty jokes. If it made you laugh when you were a heathen, then show yourself to be a saint. Don't find those things funny. Don't find that which Christ died for funny or comedic. But rather, what's proper of saints? Look at the end of verse four. Giving of thanks, giving of thanks. That's obviously giving thanks to God for all things. Every good and perfect gift that God gives you. Don't have to wait till the third Thursday in November. You do it all the time, every meal. And I would encourage you to do it every single meal. Get in the habit of showing your wife, showing your kids, no, wait a minute, before you put the food in your mouth, you acknowledge God is the one that opened up his godly, his heavenly hand and he gave us more food. I don't know about you, but I'm not a prepper, maybe borderline, I don't know, but I'm prepared. I have a lot of water in the house, I have a lot of canned goods in the house, and I have three freezes, and Lord willing, next week I'm killing tons of dia. We got three licenses in my house, six each, if I got 18, that would be super good. But we're to give God thanks in everything, because we're only what, how many meals away? I don't know about you, but when I went into Walmart in 2020 and I saw just totally empty shelves, I actually had a loaf of bread smacked out of my hands because they wouldn't let me buy two. And I said, wait, I got six people in my family. I need two loaves of bread. And she said, no, wouldn't let me buy it. You see how close we are? And God is so gracious. We've been so abundantly fed. I haven't had a hungry feeling the whole time we were here. Right? My stomach hasn't growled once. Praise the Lord. And we should be giving him thanks for this. What's the reason? Look at verse five. Here we go. For this you know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of God or of Christ. Why? Because heathens are hell bound. They're not going to heaven. They have no place, no inheritance. They are not beneficiaries of what God promised to his own, to the saints. They get none of that. And those three words, immoral, impure, and covetous man, again, they reiterate what we just saw in the previous text. Now, as far as not being characterized by habitual sin. I'll just read one, if you want to turn with me, to 1 John 3. Look at 1 John 3. I love 1 John. I had a privilege to preach through 1 John years ago, and 1 John 3, or the entire book, I should say, is so black and white. It's just so black and white. You're either in, you're out. You're child of God, child of the devil. You're either child of the light, child of the darkness. Very clear, there's no muddy waters. Look at what he says in 1 John 3.9. No one who is born of God practices sin because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." Do you see why we have to be so intense about love? And you need to be, I don't want to say radical, but you need to be purposeful about obedience. And when he says here that anyone or no one who is born of God practices sin, it's the idea of habitual sin. idea of careless sin. I could care less if I actually sin or not. It's not that we never sin again. You can go to the beginning of 1 John, anyone who says he has no sin, he's a liar. We have sin. Presently, we're able to sin, but we don't habitually walk in it. As believers, as heaven dwellers, Lord willing, one day, that's the promise, We seek to repent, we seek to run away, and that's not the habitual practice of our lives. Again, just to consider some cross-references, look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter six, and I'd encourage you, if you need my blessing, here it is, there you go. Write in your Bibles. Make sure you bracket this. Have this ready when you evangelize. 1 Corinthians chapter six, looking at verse nine and 10. I always hear gasp when I read this in a church setting. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. It's not for them. Then listen, homosexuality running rampant in our culture. What do we need to do? Love them with the gospel. Don't hate on them. They're lost. If you see that they're lost, you see a man who's obviously a man dressed like a woman. Hey, how you doing? Try not to be offensive right away, but try to engage. Open a conversation with one goal in mind. You're the Christian, save him. Teach him, instruct him, open that conversation. We don't wanna be mean-spirited to the lost. Remember, we were once lost. We know that they're hell-bound. He's trying to suppress that. He doesn't wanna acknowledge that, or she doesn't wanna acknowledge that. Young or old, if anyone should be looking to rescue people from hell, listen, if you're not gonna rescue them, who's going to, right? You're the, What do you call those? The guy that saves you when you're drowning in the water. Lifeguard. Thank you. Lifeguard. You're the lifeguard, so to speak. You don't want to be the spectator just standing on the ocean going, oh, that poor guy's going to go. He's going under. I hope someone comes. I don't know who's going to go out there. No, be the one that gets them, because you know that they're heathens, hellbound. Number three, reason number three, why do we have to be doing this? Why do we need to be focused on obedience with such fervency? Heretics are objects of God's anger. Heretics are objects of God's anger. Look at verse six. Let no one deceive you. I'm sorry, Ephesians 5, 6. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For of these things, or because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. They don't believe, and according to John 3.36, everyone loves John 3.16, very few people read John 3.36. Those that don't obey the Son, the wrath of God abides on them still. They're standing in the bullseye of God's anger, his wrath. And here, Paul's writing to warn Christians, let no one deceive you, let no one fool you. Don't be misled by their mental gymnastics trying to justify their sinful behavior. They're heretics, understand that. Don't be led away with their fanciful, erroneous teachings devoid of truth. It's because of what they're doing and what they're teaching, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Sons of disobedience, why? Who are they like? They're exactly like the unbelievers of John 8, 44, when Jesus said to the Pharisees, you're of your father the devil. He was a liar and a murderer from the beginning, and that's who you are. That's who they are, heathens today, unbelievers today, heretics today. They're sons of disobedience. They're the offspring of error, is what they are. And heretics are objects of God's anger. And listen, if you listen to heretics, you will fall as an object of God's anger. Because if you listen to them, I don't mean just hearing the words, I mean listening, ingesting their falsehoods, it will lead you astray. Be very, very careful of who you listen to. Reason number four here, beginning in verse seven. The hidden in sin are ignorant of God's will. The hidden in sin are ignorant of God's will. Look at verses seven through nine here. Therefore, In light of what you just heard, in light of those warnings, do not be partakers with them. For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Parenthetical thought, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and fruit. Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And here we'll see, there's always in scripture a contrast between light and dark. Darkness, obviously representing those that are following the devil's schemes. They're lost, they're groping around in the dark, they don't know where they're going, what they're doing, what their goals should be in life, versus those who are in the light. And light has a connotation of both holiness and intellectual stability. Holiness of living and thinking. And Paul says here, do not be partakers with them. That is, don't do what they do. Don't go where they go. Refrain from those things. For what reason? Here's the reason. For you were formerly darkness. That's how you once were. That's how you did live. Paul recognizes that. No one comes out of the womb a Christian, I think you could safely say, except John the Baptist, right? He leapt in his mother's womb. He came out. I know. The Lord knows. I know. I didn't come out of the womb with a Bible under my arm. But now we're of the light. Now you are light in the Lord. You live in the sphere of His morality, His holy pureness, His righteousness. So therefore walk as children of light. For the fruit of light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. How do you know if you're in the light? Are you living a morally good life? Are you living a righteous life? Are you living according to God's truth? And then he says this statement at the end, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Trying to know what is pleasing to the Lord. How do you know what's pleasing to the Lord? Just do whatever you feel like doing? Brainstorm, see what seems good, feels good, works for you, what opportunities you have. No, you study God's word. Let it be a light under your path, a lamp to your feet. Let it guide you and instruct you. And I mean that in every sense of your life. Every sense of your life. Young men, when you're trying to figure out who you're gonna marry, do what I did, study Proverbs. Study Proverbs and be reminded a contentious wife is like a continuous drip on the head. That gets frustrating after a little while. Make sure you're clear on who you marry. And I'll tell you this, marry a woman that loves Jesus more than she loves you and you'll find that Proverbs 31 woman. Because when you get older, and we're all getting older, young men, ailments come quickly. Your body starts to fade away, I'm 51 and man, I'm groaning when I get out of bed, I get aches and pains, I'm taking so many supplements, it's crazy. It looks like I'm taking a handful of candy, I'm just trying to stay alive. But I'm so glad I have a godly woman that takes care of me. I have a godly wife who can take care of my children while I'm away. And I know she loves me more than she loves Jesus. What did I just say? No, she loves Jesus more than she loves me. See, I could tell that was wrong right away. Bells were going off. But you gotta learn what's pleasing to the Lord and follow his word. Number five. Number five. Understand this, hellish works are horrible to even mention. Hellish works are horrible to even mention. This is a motivation. This is a warning. Verse 11, do not participate in the unfulfilled deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. This is hard. This is where the rubber's gonna meet the road. This is where you're gonna find yourself as an object of persecution. Paul says here, don't be silent. Don't be a pacifist. Don't just let it pass before your eyes. Expose them in every way possible. Expose them at the polls. Expose them in conversation. Expose them on your social media. Expose them where you can. Why? Look at verse 12. For or because it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. Well, what are they doing? What are they doing with their lives? I just had the joy of doing a doctoral project on the conscience and man, you dive into chapter one of Romans and chapter two of Romans and you see what the Bible says unbelievers do with truth. It's as if they're in a lake, and truth is in their hand, and they're trying to drown it, and they suppress the truth in their works of unrighteousness. They have a conscience. It might be seared. They're trying to deny it. What do we do? We come in. With lights blazing, we're here to expose. We're going to have the conversation to say, no, if you're a man, you need to act like a man. You need to look like a man. You need to talk like a man. You need to dress like a man. And if you're a woman, embrace your femininity. Don't try to feminize the man. You be the feminine one. And dress accordingly. You know, let it be the hidden quiet person of the heart that's pleasing to the Lord. Encourage that. But we need to expose it when we see everything being perverted and upside down. Again, if you don't shine the light, if you don't expose it, our culture is embracing it. And I don't know what the Lord's gonna do, but it's like Pandora's box has been opened. I don't know how you're gonna get the salt back into that box once it's been thrown in the ocean. I don't see it happening, but we still need to try to expose it for the good purpose. Look at verse 13. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, awake sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Here, this is hard, when it comes to interpreting the Bible, and you're looking at text, and, okay, what's going on here? Because all of a sudden I feel like we took a detour, and I'm down in a cul-de-sac, and I found out it's a dead end. And I'm like, oh boy, I've got to turn around here, what happened? It seems as though, at least in verse 13, going into verse 14, well not so much in 13, but more in 14, where when he's talking about, you know, things that are exposed by the light and everything becomes visible, is light, that is, it's subject to God's truth and holiness and righteousness, he quotes here, it looks like he's quoting Isaiah 60 verse 1. For this reason, it says, and be encouraged if you can't remember Bible verses. Apparently, Paul didn't know this verse in particular, but we have cross-references and I found it. Isaiah 60, verse one. It seems as though he's calling any unbelievers who might be present in the congregation to come to faith and repentance in Jesus. Because he tells, he says, imperative command, awake! Wake up! Sleeper, you're one that's just dozing off to God's commands, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Wake up out of your slumber. Let Christ shine on you. That is, come to Him by faith. Come to Him by faith and be rescued from this wicked and perverse generation who's involved in hellish works, which are horrible to even mention. Then he gives us number six here. Wow, I think I might actually end on time now. Here we go. Reason number six, heathen days are influenced by evil. Verses 15 and 16, heathen days are influenced by evil. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time. Here's the reason, because the days are evil. You say, why are the days so evil? It's because the children of the devil are influenced by demons. And the wisdom from the world is sensual, earthly, and demonic. That's what James tells us, James chapter 1. The wisdom from this world, sensual, and it's demonic. It's earthly. It's base. And the demons are real. The devil is real. and how he influences the wayward, the lost, the man or woman lost in darkness, how he influences them, a plethora of ways we could surmise. I don't think he necessarily gets inside of every single one, but he influences their thinking and their actions. And they do things like legislate perverse laws. It's legislated now, where if I shoot a deer without a tag, I would be in so much trouble, but the guy down the street can murder a child in the womb and make a living from it? How crazy is that? That we almost had a president voted into office who she wanted to legislate Abortion for anyone, anytime, anywhere. And even if the baby comes out of the womb, this is maddening. This is madness. But that's what they do. The days are evil. The evil days are all around us. Heathen days are influenced by evil. In the evil world system, it's gotta be avoided. And as we saw in the previous text, it needs to be exposed. It needs to be exposed. How is that gonna happen? By you living obediently. And I don't mean to put too much pressure on you, but I want the pressure to be felt by you. You must live obediently in this evil and dark perverted world. And you know what you'll do? You'll shine so bright. You'll be the Christmas lights, shining in the dark. People are walking by, driving by your life. They see you, they hear you, they know how you act. They start to wonder, why do you do this? How come you don't run like us? Why don't you get drunk? Hey, we're selling pot now. You don't even have to grow it. You can just go buy it down the street. Why don't you go get some? I'll get a bong and I'll share it with you. And you say, no, no, no. I'm living soberly. I'm living in sound mind. I don't do those things because God forbids those things. And lastly, number seven, this is the largest chunk here. The haughty demonstrate being led by senselessness. The haughty demonstrate being led by senselessness. Listen, that needs to be your motivation to disassociate with senselessness. They're the haughty, they're the proud. Verse 17, so then do not be foolish. Foolish, that is to be cavalier, arrogant, unwise. Don't be stupid. It's okay to say that when you're dealing with the word foolish. Don't be stupid, but understand what the will of the Lord is. That is to say you need to discern God's will, learn God's will, search God's will out, attain knowledge about God's will in everything in life. Verse 18, be influenced by God's will and do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation. Don't be drunk with wine. Drunkenness is a clear sin. It's a clear sin. Now, I don't know what everyone's personal preference is on drinking alcohol, but whatever it is, if you choose to have sin, God bless you. If you choose to enjoy, be wise, be very wise, be cautious. Drunkenness is the issue. Drunkenness is forbidden, we've already saw that. And the Bible says for that's dissipation. When you get drunk and you become under the influence of alcohol and you're not thinking straight, you're not acting right, you're just wasting your life. You're living in a position of senselessness, recklessness, wastefulness. And again, I know everyone tends to have different opinions on alcohol, but for clarity's sake, it's drunkenness that's being noted here as unwise, it's sinful. It demonstrates you're being led astray in senselessness, influenced by some other object or subject than God. Because what's the contrast? If drunkenness is dissipation, being filled with the Spirit, that's what's wise, that's what's helpful, that's what's profitable. So be filled with the Spirit. And that's to say be filled with or controlled by, be influenced by the Holy Spirit through God's word. If the opposite is to be influenced or controlled by a substance that's dangerous, alcohol, then be controlled, be influenced by the Holy Spirit. How do we demonstrate this? And I can't wait to be with you tomorrow. I wanna hear it, I've been enjoying hearing it when we're together during the sessions, but hear verse 19. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. That is to say, to be so consumed with your love for God, your zeal for love, your purpose for obedience, it comes out in joyous expression through your vocal cords. And remember, you're speaking to one another. In a public sense, this is counseling taking place corporately. Counsel me when you sing. Think about not just you, not just the Lord, but your brother standing next to you, behind you, in front of you. and control your voice. If you can't sing, just control it. Make a noise, make a joyful noise, but control it. You don't have to be as loud as possible. I have to watch. I can be very loud. I can't always sing so good. But I want you to be encouraged if you hear me sing, just like I'm encouraged when I hear you sing. Whatever we're singing, Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, but what we're doing, we're singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. Again, in verse 20, and always giving thanks. We give thanks to the Lord in music. This is his gift to the church that we get to sing. And we give thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, through God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. What does that mean to be subject to one another? It's the idea of being more concerned about the interests of others than your own. It's I want to submit my hopes, my joys, my conversation, my topics, my boasting and what I've been doing in my life to hear you. to minister to you, to talk to you. And when you start having difficulty conversing because you're like, oh, no, you go first. No, you go first. That's a good problem to have. It's a good problem to have. But if you're going to boast, who do you boast in? Boast in the Lord. And if you're going to boast in the Lord, make sure you're boasting in the Lord in what He did with your job, or with your family, or with your kids, or with the men's retreat. Boast in the Lord and praise Him. And share that with the other men in the church. Share that with the women in the church. Why? Because this is how we demonstrate our love, our obedience, our devotion to God. So reason number one, obedience demonstrates your salvation. Number two, heathens are hell bound. Obey, why? Because heretics are objects of God's anger. Number four, the hidden in sin are ignorant of God's will. You're not. Hellish works are horrible to even mention. Heathen days are influenced by evil and the haughty demonstrate being led by senselessness. But that's not you. That's not you. If you know Jesus, you're not led away by senselessness. You're led away by his word. And as a good shepherd, he will lead you all the way into his kingdom. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you again. for your truth. Thank you for the time together. Thank you for blessing us with great weather and food and accommodations. Thank you that we could be here fellowshipping, talking to one another, getting to know one another, deepening relationships. But we pray that the fruit from this conference, this time together, would be long lasting. That Gold Country Bible Church would experience that quantum leap of spiritual maturity in the church, repentance would be continuous, love would be overwhelming, Lord, and that you would be pleased with the obedient behavior of your people for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.