The title of the message is Children of Light. Children of Light. And as I read through these verses, you know, the Apostle Paul is continuing here, giving exhortations to the people of God, motivated by God's grace, which is found in the personal work of Christ. Now, an exhortation is an encouragement to obedience. it's an encouragement to continue on, to persevere in the faith. And one of the main issues of our walking in the light, and that's what he says here, walk as children of light in verse eight, is to make sure that we maintain, by the grace of God, our separation from the world. Now when you hear that, And this, you know, most people don't understand this idea of separation. Because I'll never forget, I heard a preacher preaching one time, and he'd gone somewhere in Colorado. And he was preaching at a gospel church there, and on his way to the church, he came upon another religious building, and on the outside they had a sign that said, the most separated church in the world. And I wonder, what in the world would that mean? I would never put that out on our sign or anything like that. Most people, when they think about separation, they're thinking about, well, what you wear, what you eat, what you drink. It's kind of like a taste not, touch not, handle not situation there. That's not our separation. You know what our separation is? Understand, it's the gospel. The gospel we believe. And in that gospel, we must maintain that separation. You know, I think it's Hebrews 12, 14 says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man will see the Lord. What is that holiness? Holiness means to be separate. In other words, our message is distinct because we preach salvation totally by the free sovereign grace of God. based upon the blood, the righteousness, the glorious person, the finished work of Christ alone, salvation conditioned on him alone, not conditioned on man. And if we preached anything else, we'd blend in with the world. And I'll show you that in just a minute. But he says, don't have fellowship, in verse seven, with the children of disobedience, those who don't believe this gospel. Now that doesn't mean that we're to be mean or self-righteous. When we talk about our separateness, we're not talking about, as Isaiah said, the self-righteous people who say, don't come near me, I'm holier than thou, I'm better than you. No, that's not it at all. We're just nothing but sinners saved by grace. And we want to see others saved. And so we preach the gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, which is the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which forms the ground of our whole salvation and nothing else. Salvation, as I said, conditioned on Christ alone. But he says, be not ye therefore partakers with them in any form or fashion. If their lifestyle is one of law-breaking, if their lifestyle is one of disobedience, if their lifestyle is one of immorality, don't participate in that with them. But also, don't participate with them in their religious life if their religion is not the religion of God, if it's not the religion of the gospel, if it's not the religion of grace. And he says, don't be a partaker with them. And look at verse eight. Remember what we were? We were sometime darkness. Now what is that darkness? Well, darkness is the ignorance and deception of false religion. That's what it is. We were children of darkness, just like, and that's another thing. When we think about unbelievers, children of disobedience, realize that what we are now as children of light, it's by the grace of God, folks. It's not because we were better than them, because we weren't and are not. It's not because we did something and they didn't do it. It's totally by the sovereign grace of God. Paul said that. He said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. It's nothing that I've done to make myself acceptable to God. My acceptance before God is Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead. It's not any righteousness which I have achieved by my works. It's His righteousness, which He accomplished by His work in His obedience unto death to save me from my sins. I'm one who doesn't deserve what I have. I'm one who hasn't earned what I have in Christ. It was totally a free gift. Freely given. And so he says, you were in that darkness. The same darkness that the children of disobedience is in now. But God has made you light. Look at it. Now you are you light in the Lord. What is that light? Well, that light can be expressed in many different ways, but Christ himself is the light. He said, I'm the light of the world. And then the gospel is the light, the good news. That's what we see it because God has revealed it to us. And in our new birth, the Holy Spirit has shown us in that light, he's shown us our sinfulness, our depravity, but he's also shown us the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We see things now that we did not see before. And that's because God has revealed them to us in the gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. That's knowledge revealed to knowledge received and believed. And that's the work of God as it is written, the justified shall live by faith. We've seen that the forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of all my sins, is totally, completely, eternally by the blood of Jesus Christ. God has not forgiven me of even one sin based upon anything that I do or anything that I quit doing. He's shown me the light. That light has shown me that I am in need of a righteousness that I cannot produce. I cannot work it. Even with my best efforts, I fall short. But he's also shown me that I have a righteousness in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's his righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to me. Freely, unconditionally, I'm a recipient of God's grace. That's the light. And then he calls his children, he calls us his light. We'll look at this in just a moment, but he says over in Matthew five, he says, you're the light of the, well, let's look at it now. Turn to Matthew chapter five. And I wanna show you some of the misconceptions that people have because of the darkness that they're in. Look at Matthew five and look at verse 14. He says, you are the light of the world. Now he's talking about the people of God there. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, you can't hide it. Verse 15, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it giveth life unto all that are in the house. Now look at verse 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works. and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Now how many times in false religion did you go to that verse 16 and surmise or conclude that that's talking about, the light there is talking about my godly living or my works. That's not what it's talking about at all. My life, my living, My walking, now he says over in Ephesians 5, our text, he says, walk as children of light, and we're to do that. But my walk, my conduct is not the light. The light is the gospel light of Christ, crucified, risen from the dead, his blood, his righteousness that shines on my life. and reveals it to be what it is. And that's the good works that God works in his people that is accepted by God, again, through the blood of Christ. Now here's the point. By nature, we don't even know what good works are. We just conclude, well, it's the religious works, the religious efforts, the religious morality that people do, but we don't know that. All we know is that we need to get busy doing good in order to be accepted with God, and that's a lie. Now, should people be moral and try to be good and try to be, yes, but that's not gonna save us. You understand what I'm saying? Salvation's by grace. Look over at Philippians chapter two. Show you another verse here. In Philippians two, verse 12. He says in verse 12, he says, wherefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Well now, does that sound to you like he's telling us to work to be saved? That's not what he's saying at all. Look at the next verse, verse 13. For it is God which worketh in you. both to will and to do of his good pleasure, so do all things without murmurings and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." And how do you shine as lights in the world? Well, look at verse 16. Holding forth the word of life. That's how we shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, preaching, witnessing the gospel light of how God saves sinners by his sovereign grace through the blood and righteousness of Christ. And he says that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. That's what it's all about. Go back to Ephesians 5 now. Look at verses nine, he says, walk as children of life. Live by the gospel. Witness and preach the gospel. I want people to know, as they look at my life, and people do, we look at each other's lives, that no matter what state I'm in in any given moment, I'm still only a sinner saved by grace. That's at my best and at my worst. I'm here preaching the gospel. And I thank God for it. I thank God that I know it. I thank God that I have some ability to communicate it. But I want you to know, the best sermon that I've ever preached, the most sincere sermon that I've ever preached, is not enough to make me righteous before God. That's the light. You see what I'm saying? That's what shines forth in the life of a true child of God. That's how we walk as children of light. That's what I want you to know. If you see me give money to charity, if you see me do a good work for somebody else to help, here's what I want you to know. That's okay. And we ought to do those things. That's part of walking as children of light. But that doesn't save me. That doesn't make me righteous. That doesn't bring about a forgiveness of my sins. That does not make me accepted before God. It's all in and by Christ. That's the light. Look at verse nine. He says, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Well, my friend, where are you gonna find goodness and righteousness and truth? Goodness. Think about the, you remember over in Matthew 19, the rich young man who came to Christ, and he did not believe that Christ was the Messiah. He did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Savior, the one sent, prophesied in the Old Testament. the one who would be God manifest in the flesh. He didn't believe that. But he did believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a good teacher, a prophet sent of God. He did believe that. And so when he approached the master, here's what he said. He said, good master, what good thing must I do to have eternal life? And Christ, Jesus Christ, recognizing that the man did not believe him to be God, manifest in the flesh, you know how he responded? He said, well, why do you call me good? There's none good but God. In other words, if you really believe that I'm a good person according to their scriptures, you must believe that I am God manifest in the flesh. But he didn't believe that. So Christ was teaching him the standard of goodness. How good, you ever had somebody ask you this? How good must I be to go to heaven? You ever heard that? Well, how good must you be? You must be as good as God. As righteous as God. I was having lunch with an individual, a man, who asked me that question. How good must I be? And I told him that. I said, you must be as good as God. And he looked at me and he said, well, nobody can do that. I said, that's right. That's why salvation is by grace through the righteousness and goodness of Christ and not by works. There's the light. Now walk in it, is what he's saying. He says in verse 10, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. Whatever I say about goodness, righteousness, and truth, whatever I do in my life, I must be a walking, living testimony that that which is accepted of God can only be found in the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. I want you to know, you want other people to know, that as good as you try to be, Christ is your righteousness. Understand? That's what it means to let your light shine before men. Let the gospel shine. Let the glory of God in Christ shine. And when it shines on you, what will it reveal? It'll reveal that you're a sinner saved by grace, that you're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, but unto good works, which God hath before ordained that you should walk in them. It'll reveal, as old Philippians chapter two and verse 13 said, that it is God that worketh in you to do his will. Persevering. That's what the light reveals. And it's a proof of what God will accept in order to save sinners like me and sinners like you. What will he accept? Well, I almost sang it in the first hour. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. We speak of baptism. What is baptism in the pool back here? It's a confession of the light. Which says, this water back here does not wash away my sins. It's the blood of Christ. That's my confession. That when He died, I died with Him. When He arose again, I arose again too. He is my salvation. He is my cleanliness. In verse 11, he says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Now turn over to John chapter three. It's the nature of the light, not only to reveal some things, which it does, but also to expose some things. It's a revelation. It's an exposure. that if men and women stay in this light, they can't get away from this being exposed. Look at John chapter three. Look at verse 19. He says, well, let's read verse 18, John 3, 18. He that believeth on him, that's Christ, is not condemned. Now I want you to notice, it doesn't say here, he that does his best is not condemned. He that what? Believeth on Christ is not condemned. If I believe on Christ, that's an evidence that I'm not condemned. Because there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. But he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. It doesn't matter how he appears. He may be trying to keep the law. He may be a philanthropist trying to give all of his money away. He may be a moral person in the eyes of men and women. But if he doesn't believe on Christ, he's condemned already. Outside of Christ, there's no salvation. Outside of Christ, there's no justification, no sanctification, no acceptance with God. He says, because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. You see, Christ is our only hope, that's the light. But look at verse 19. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. I want you to notice something. The deeds there, it's not talking about robbing a bank. It's not talking about selling drugs. Those things are evil now. Don't get me wrong. But even the natural unbelieving person can see that's evil. What deeds is he talking about? It's deeds that we don't see as evil by nature because they're hidden under the cloak of self-righteousness and false religion. That's man's efforts to save himself by his works, his deeds. Those are evil. Well, preacher, why is that so evil? I'll tell you why. Number one, it doesn't give all glory to God. You see, God is to be glorified and honored in this thing of salvation. Not me, not you. God's glory is revealed in the fact that he saves sinners by his grace based upon the righteousness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when sinners come to God thinking that he saves them based on their works, they're trying to rob God of his glory. That's evil. Secondly, because it denies Jesus Christ in the glory of His person and the power of His finished work. What did Christ come here to do? He came here to put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. Now, if we think we can put them away by our efforts, our good works, we're denying His sacrifice. He came here to establish the only righteousness upon which God could justify a sinner like me. Now for me to think that I can work that righteousness is to deny his. Paul said it this way, he said, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If I can be righteous by my works of the law, then what I'm saying is he died for nothing. That's evil. Another reason it's evil, because it exalts the sinner, it gives him room to boast. Salvation is based on something that I did or I decided, not totally by the grace of God. That's why Paul said in Galatians 6, 14, God forbid that I should glory, boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What do you boast in? What do you think makes the difference in your life between being saved and being lost? If it's something you did or something you decided, then you have room to boast. But it's not. It's Christ alone. That's why it's evil. Look at verse 20 of John 3. He says, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Unbelievers hate the preaching of this gospel because it exposes their deeds of which they're so proud as being evil. Neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved, exposed. You see that? But look at verse 21. But that he that doeth truth, what is it to do truth? It's to believe in Christ. Cometh to the light. Oh, let that light shine. Don't you love that light? If you don't, ask yourself why. that his deeds may be made manifest, be made known, that they are wrought in God." Now what does that mean? That means they're the work of God. If I do anything good, it's the work of God, friend. I'm not the source of it. I'm not the power of it. God is. Again, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. unto good works, not because of, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now go back to our text, Ephesians 5. He says, verse 12, it's a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. What does it mean in secret? Things that you don't openly know. Things that are hidden. And what hides these things? False religion. self-righteousness, that's what hides them, the deception and ignorance of false gospels, Satan disguising himself as an angel of light, claims to be preaching good things and sounds good to the natural man. Think about that. Verse 14, wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life. Don't go to sleep on the job, that's what he's saying. Don't take these things for granted. Don't be lax, or as those in Hebrews chapter five who were dull of hearing, be astute, be awake, be ready. Be critical. Now listen, I always tell people, listen critically. Now when I say that, I'm not saying listen to try to find something wrong. I don't want that kind of a critic. But listen to make sure what you're hearing is consistent with the word of God. That's what it is. Isaiah made this statement in Isaiah 820. He said, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them. If I hear a preacher preach, and he's preaching the word of God as it is, I rejoice, don't you? But if he's preaching things that are not in the word of God, his opinion, stories, emotionalism, I don't rejoice. Don't go to sleep on this. Don't be dull of hearing verse 15. See that you walk circumspectly. That means carefully. Diligently, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Redeeming the time, what does that mean? That means use your time wisely. That means take every opportunity that God gives us to spread this light. And why is it so important? Because the days are evil. Do we really see the evil of our days? Now I know we can watch the newscast, And we can see terrible things. And it's evil. These days are evil. But do you really see the reality of what is really evil? Really, really, really? Well, my friend, there's nothing more evil than false religion. False Christianity. And it's out there. And we need to wake up and we need to be astute and we need to recognize it through the word of God. I'm not just talking about being mean to people or anything like that. I'm just talking about recognizing that these days are evil. And he says in verse 17, wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. How am I going to be wise in the will of the Lord? Read his word. This is it. the will of the Lord. Now there are things about God in His providence that we don't understand and we don't see. God is sovereign. He's governor over this world. He does things in my life that just knock me for a loop. We don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring, what's coming. And that's His secret will. Deuteronomy 29, 29 says, the secret things belong to God. But now, what has God revealed? That's in his word. Somebody said, well, you preach election, why don't you just go preach to the elect? Well, I don't know who they are. God's kept that secret. But here's what God has revealed. All of his elect are going to come and believe this gospel light. And if you're one of God's elect, you'll believe it sometime in your life before you die. You may die young, you may die old, but at some point in time, God's gonna reveal himself in his light to you if you're one of his chosen people. That's what the Bible says. In verse 18, he says, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Drunkenness is a sin. No doubt about it. No argument there. A person can be drunk physically on wine. It inhibits your movements, your thoughts, and everything. But I want to tell you something else. There's nothing more evil than the drunkenness of false doctrine. A person can be drunk on that. But be filled with the Spirit. That means be filled with the Spirit. Be controlled by the Spirit. be guided by the Spirit, be motivated by the Spirit. And how does the Spirit do that? Through the Word of God, establishing our hearts with grace, motivated to walk as children of light, not by legal threats of punishment or mercenary promises of earned reward, but by grace, love, and gratitude. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation, so rich and so free. That's what he's talking about. And here's the issues. He says, verse 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. That's rejoicing in the Lord and worshiping him. Worship God. Don't worship men. Don't worship self. Worship God. Verse 20, giving thanks for all things unto God, the Father, and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. A life of thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord. And then verse 21. All of these are hard because of the flesh. But he says here in verse 20, 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. What is that? That's mutual submission to one another in the fear of the Lord, not the fear of men. This is not in the way of compromising the truth or compromising our principles, but it's not insisting upon and asserting our own personal opinions and desires over others, but seeking to honor God. And the goal here is the glory of God, the exaltation of Christ, and the edification of brethren in the faith. Walk as children of light. Let your light so shine. Amen. All right.