The title of this message is Children of Light, Not Children of the Night. So I want to go through this with you here. I think it's very, it's a very good lesson here that the Lord had showed me through this with scripture and everything like that. Let's turn to John chapter 12 verse number 35. Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While you have light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. Another verse here, Ephesians chapter five, verse number six, let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things come at the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Children of the light, children of light, children of the night, difference, see that? They're in darkness. Now turn to First Thessalonians chapter five and verse number five. He says again, look at this, ye are all the children of light. and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helm with the hope of salvation. Let's pray. Father, Lord, help us, dear Jesus. Please help us with this. Help us understand what it means to be children of light and not children of the night. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God's people are children of light. They are not in darkness, neither should they ever walk in darkness. While they do, they are not walking as their master walked, and they are not walking as Christ. That's why we're to walk in Christ. So I want you to understand this first. First of all, the first point we should understand is Christ is the light. Christ is the light of the world and we are to walk in that light. John chapter one, verse number one, turn there. Got a lot of scripture for you here today, a ton of it here. Man, I don't know how many, maybe 50 verses here today or more. So lots of scripture for you to go through here, but really a good understanding of the difference of children of light and children of the night. John chapter 1 verse number 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." How many times do we see that the darkness cannot comprehend that light? You try to explain that people don't understand children of light. They cannot fathom it. They cannot understand it. Why? Because they cannot comprehend it. Because they walk in darkness. They grope in darkness. Yep. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. And it still today does not know him. It still today does not know him. Children of light know him, but children of darkness do not. Darkness is Satan's kingdom, which we'll get to. Revelation chapter 21, verse number 23 says this about that light. And the city had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Jesus the Lamb is the light, right? He's the light that cometh in the world. He's the light that lighteth every man that cometh in the world, and He is that light. He is that Lamb of God. He is that light. thereof that will be the light of heaven. And we are children of light. Christ is the light of the world, and we are to be light as well. But we are the lower light, and he is the great light, that true light, as opposed to the false Gnosticism of the times and the phony light of Satan. We become children of light through faith in Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter 3 verse number 26 says, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Colossians chapter 1 verse number 12, if you turn there, talks about the light again. Look at this, as opposed to darkness. Colossians chapter 1 verse number 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers, what is it? Of the inheritance of the saints in light. Look at this, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. What happened? You were in the kingdom of darkness. Who is the prince of darkness? Satan is the prince of darkness. I think I've met some of his cousins before, or at least his children, right? He has children, yeah. But that kingdom of darkness, and then you were translated. Right? Translated into the kingdom of his dear son, which is what? The kingdom of light. The true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And glory to the lamb that was slain who brought us into the kingdom of light. Delivered us from darkness, from the chains of darkness. now then the bible says there's a certain behavior that is expected from children of light as opposed to children of the night this is really the key here what we have to understand there's always a proper behavior for the people of god and that behavior it gets You are challenged more and more because what is acceptable in this world is not acceptable to God. What is acceptable behavior, even in society, is not acceptable to God. What is acceptable among most people today, and even most churches today, is not what is acceptable unto God. What is accepted on Facebook, on YouTube, and on everywhere else, on this YouTube Christianity and all this other stuff, what's accepted there is not accepted by God as proper behavior for children of light. So we're gonna look at that. Proper behavior for children of light. The kingdom we are a part of has rules that are attached to it. We're not allowed to do what we want. We are not allowed to walk as children of the night, being children of light. John 12, 36 again says, while you have light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. We are to walk in Christ because He is the light. We are told to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, to make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. So then walking in Christ or in the light as children of light means that we make no provision for the flesh. As children of light, you are not allowed to make provision for sin. You're not allowed to make a way for sin. You're not allowed to make sin's path straight in your life. Make no provision, give no opportunity. for yourself to sin. No place to the devil. You're not allowed. Children of light are not allowed to do that. We're not allowed to live our lives according to the rules of the kingdom of darkness, which rules the world. The God of this world, he rules the world. His kingdom rules the world. We are strangers and sojourners here. This is not our home. We are children of light, not children of the night. Luke chapter 16, verse number eight says this, and the Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. There's that term again, children of light. You see, they're wiser, these worldly wise men, right? Sometimes they see things that we don't see though. Why? Because they're just as wicked as the people that they're looking at, that's why. And they think with a depraved mind. But Christ makes the comparison of the wisdom of this world that they are wiser than the children of light. Walk in Christ. Our behavior is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to walk in that light. We cannot sit in a room and chant and believe that God's going to do all the work for us. I'm so tired of hearing people say, well, I'm having faith and I'm waiting on God. Well, yet waiting on God is not sitting and doing nothing. That's not waiting on God. That's right, it's like a waiter, you're serving. That's what it means to wait on God, it means you're serving. Okay, I'm not saying, well, I'm waiting on God. Well, I think God's waiting on you, I don't think you're waiting on God. All right, I think God's waiting on you. Now he's complete and whole and has need of nothing, so he doesn't need you. But the point is, is that God's waiting for your obedience, for you to follow him, not for him to, you're not waiting on him. Not in that sense. That's right. They follow him. They hear his voice and they follow him. Philippians chapter 1 verse number 27, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Your walk, your behavior. As children of light is to be the conversation of the gospel. Your life is to be the gospel. Your life is to be a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. Your life every day is to picture that. What does that mean? That means I walk in confidence in the Lord. I walk with a positive attitude, a positive spirit, trusting the Lord because the outcome is great and the sun is always shining for the saint of God. Because his eyes I think it was Jonathan Edwards or David Brainerd, one of them said that God would stamp eternity on his eyeballs. And that's what he would look for. And that's what he would look for. And that's why we, I've never, listen, there's nothing more of a contradiction than a depressed Christian that walks around depressed all the time. And we've all been there. All right, we've all been discouraged. We've all been down. We've all had that time. We're just not allowed to stay there. Do you understand that? We're not allowed to stay there. We are not allowed to stay there. Why? Because we start mimicking the children of darkness. That's what happens. We start mimicking them. We start becoming them. Not literally, but in our appearance. It's a distortion of the gospel. We're not allowed to walk as that. We're supposed to walk as dear children. of the Lord. And let our conversations become with the gospel of Christ. Our conversation is to be the gospel. Our life, our way of living is to be the gospel. Next, what does it mean to walk as children of light? Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 1, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. Amen. Be therefore followers of God as dear children. Right? So you're to be followers of God. And walk in love. What does that mean to walk in love? He's going to explain it. Actually, some people divorce this verse from the rest of it. Like, well, walk in love. That means I love everybody. I have warm, fuzzy feelings for everybody. Well, I mean, you should have some warm feelings for people, but that's not entirely what he's speaking of here. What he is speaking of is your conversation, your way of life, because he explains it to you. He's going to give a contrast here. He says, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saver. How do I walk in love? Number one, I give myself to others, right? I give myself for others. First the Lord and then for others. I'm a servant to others. That's how I walk in love. I'm a servant to others. I might give my time, my resources, my prayers, right? Whatever my talents, my gifts, and I give them for others, right? Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Right? That doesn't always mean dying. Okay? It means dying to self, and I put myself in, and I do things that maybe I'm not comfortable with, or maybe I don't like doing, or maybe I'm not, I don't enjoy doing, but I do it to give myself to walk in love and to be a child of light. That's what the children of light do. We do things we don't like to do. We don't always feel comfortable doing. Right? I mean, Brother Dave, there's some days that it's cold outside and you don't feel like crawling under somebody's car and fixing something. Right? Honestly, you just don't really feel like doing that. But you do it because you walk in love. Right? There's some times that you don't... really want to spend hours dealing with something or going through something or trying to, you know, you're not feeling very lovable sometimes. And you've got to show love to people. You don't really feel like it. Because there's times you just want to go crawl in a hole somewhere. I've been there. I understand what that's like. But the Bible says to walk in love as Christ also has loved us. It means we give ourselves, whatever that is, financially, whatever it is. Sometimes you're a friend. You're there for people when they need you. Amen? No matter if it's comfortable or not. No matter if you feel like it or not. Whether you feel like it or not doesn't really matter. There are times in your life that you are not going to feel like doing things, but we do it because we are children of light. And we love and we deny our flesh and we take up our cross and we follow Him. And we love other people and we sacrifice for them. That's what it means to walk as Christ did and gave Himself a sacrifice. He made Himself uncomfortable. Right? For you and I. And we get so selfish sometimes that we can't see, we don't want to come out of that box and give ourselves to other people. But that's not walking in love. And that's not walking as a child of light. Amen. The test of that Christianity, listen to me, the test of that Christianity is not when the sun is shining and everything is going great. The test of it is when everything is falling apart, and you still give yourself for others, and you still force yourself to love others, and you still give yourself for them. Even if they hate you. Paul said, the more I love you, the less I am loved. Because the reaction to somebody that, when you show people love and they hurt you, is to be like, I don't want anything to do with anybody. I don't want, but Paul said, no, the more I love you, the less I'm loved. Because that's how Christ was, the more he loved. Remember the week, Hosanna in the highest. Glory to God, Hosanna in the highest. Crucify him, crucify him, two days later. or the next day, whatever it was. It wasn't very long. Same people. Now, I'm not Jesus Christ, but I am his follower. And I will tell you one thing, I know sort of what that feels like. One day people can be saying, hey, praise the Lord for your ministry. Praise the Lord. Thank you for everything. You know, it's been a blessing. You've helped me. I got saved. Listen to that. The Lord used that preaching. Everything else, to the next day, kill them all. Let them all die. Let them starve to death. Let them go. Those servants didn't help anybody anyway. And the reaction to that, what you want to do, let them all go to hell. I'm just being real with you. That's the fleshly response. Let them all go to hell. See you later. I'm done. Close the door, lock it up, and leave. Be done with it. Right, Jonah. Exactly. Take off to Nineveh. Or take off to Tarshish. Is it Tarshish? Is that what it was? Yeah. Take off. Take the boat and get out of here. But you can't do that. That's the fleshly desire to do. But we can't walk in that. That's walking in darkness. It's not walking in the light. He says, and walk in love. So he says, you know what? The more I love you, the less I'm loved by you. But Paul never stopped loving him. And neither did Jesus. Neither does Jesus. That's a hard lesson. Because you have to repent of that, wanting to give up and walk away. Say, Lord, keep me strong. He says here, he says, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us in offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But, so he's contrasting here. He's saying, you know, walk in love, but, what is he doing here? He's showing you what it means when you're not loving. This is walking in hate and walking in darkness. What's the opposite of walking in love? Right, and walking in darkness. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience, children of light, children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. He's saying, listen, you're of the kingdom of light. Don't you dare be a partaker with them. It doesn't mean you are in the kingdom of darkness. It means why are you being a partaker with them of that? You're not to be. Listen, I'm going to tell you something that might shock you. There are Christians that sin. I mean, we sin sometimes. That's not an excuse. I've preached on it. There's no excuse for sin. Go back and listen to it. I'm not sin, but there are Christians that do sin. And we have to repent daily. And all these guys that believe in sinless perfection, if you could take a snapshot of their mind, you could put a big banner across that liar. Because they're sinning here. They might not be sinning outwardly so everybody can see it, but they're sinning here. Because every man battles his mind. Every man battles his mind. So for a man to tell you that, oh, I'm sinlessly perfect. No, you're a liar. And you're in for a mighty big fall if you are saved. I've met too many men that are saved that actually believe that. It says, be not ye therefore partakers of... Don't play around in the dark. Don't play in the dark. Right? For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Look at what he says here. Now are ye light in the Lord. You are light in the Lord now. Walk as children of light. What does that mean? He's going to explain it to you. He explains it all right here. Listen up, Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 9. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Okay, so you and I are to walk in love. And to love means to separate from sin and wickedness and walk as children of light. So what do we walk in? The fruit of the Spirit. Right? So turn to Galatians chapter 5, verse number 22. We'll see what that is. That's how children of light walk. That is the contrast between children of light and children of the night. Galatians chapter 5 verse number 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Boy, that gets tough, doesn't it? You get on that list there and you start looking at it and you start examining yourself. I don't honestly know any saved man that examines that list and feels good about himself. Right? I don't look at this list and be like, yeah, I got that one knocked, man. I got that one down, man. I mean, perfection! You kidding me? The first one, just stop there, love. Oh, man. Well, I do not always love. Is that a shock to anybody? That you don't always love? Because then you could stop right there and then, well, we've done it. Remember? We did three lessons on charity and love and charity. Three or four. And what did we come up to? The greatest of these is charity, right? So we looked at love and we looked at what love is and what charity is. It's like, whoa. And that's not even getting out of the first one. You see that? That's just the fruit of the Spirit. That's the first little piece of that cluster. See, it's not fruits of the Spirit. It's fruit. It's one cluster. You receive one cluster of it. You get it all. It's one cluster, and then it's there. It's like, uh-oh. And you have each one of those. And then the first one, yep, uh-oh. And the first one is love. Then I start seeing what love really is, and then I see where I don't love people like I should. And I need to grow. God helped me to love like you did. And you know what? He will. But he's gonna take you through some things, and teach you, and break you down, and have your heart broken, and have it reset, and have it broken, and have it reset again, and have it broken and reset again, and you'll learn to love people. And then the next one's joy. Man, I don't always have joy. Even though Jesus said, in your joy, no man taketh from you. But we take it from ourself. We rob our own joy. Nobody can rob it from you. You take it. You rob yourself from it. And then there's peace, right? Yes, right. And then there's peace. I don't always have peace. Not with my fellow man, not always peace with myself. I mean, I have the peace of God through the atonement of Jesus Christ, but I don't always live in that peace. I don't always walk in that peace. I get shaken sometimes. I get shaken to the core and I don't have peace sometimes like I should. Ever feel like that? No, not you, right? You're always walking in peace, right? Never shaken by anything. We'd be lying if we said that, wouldn't we? Is this too practical this morning? Is it? Is it too practical? It's very, very practical. And then we come to the next one, long-suffering. Ooh. Well, I don't have that because I'm more like the sons of thunder. Lord, just kill them all. Bring down that lightning from heaven and strike them in front of me, Lord, and it all. They're wicked blasphemers of God. Just kill them all. That's right. That's what I say, too. I say the same thing. Just let it go. Let them have it, God. I'll step back and just kill them all. I don't want to be like Moses. I don't want to stand in the gap. I want to stand out of the gap and watch them all fry. Right? Sounds about right, doesn't it? It's true, isn't it? I know, there's some super spiritual Pharisees out there that'll be like, no, that's not me, I never feel that way. I always feel good and always want love and teddy bears for everybody. Right? Puppy dogs and rainbows like Joel Osteen for everybody. Love is love, pizza is pizza, everything else, so that's the way it goes. Right? I always feel that way. And then the next one, gentleness. Oh, man. How about that one? Gentleness. Are you always gentle? Man. Jacob said, no, he's not always gentle. He's ready to admit that. But David said, thy gentleness has made me great. Right? Gentleness. Goodness. Faith. Oh, man. I don't always walk in faith. Do you? Do you always walk in faith all the time? No. But we are to walk as children of light, not children of the night. We're to have faith. Meekness. Oh, there's one. Oh, that one's rough. That is that strength under pressure, spiritual strength under pressure. not to react to other people's wickedness on you, not to be reactionary and want to retaliate against them, but to walk in meekness and love. Who had that? Stephen had that. Moses had that. Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do. Christ had that. God, I pray it not be laid to their charge. Instead of the sons of thunder, fry them, God. You want me to fry them? You want me to call down fire from heaven right now and fry them all? They rejected you, God. They deserve to all die. I mean, by the way, that should be the mantra for dominionism. Because that is what they believe. They are more like the sons of thunder. That they do. They live in there. And then the last one, temperance. Against such there is no law. We could go on and on. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Look at that. What do children of light do? They crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts. What I want, the affections, what I want in life, my, what I lust after, what your soul lusts, that everything, they are, they crucify those things. Doesn't matter what I want, Lord, it matters what's right in your word. Doesn't matter what I want, Lord, it matters what's right. It's that crucified life. Notice what he says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm crucified. He says here, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Then he goes on to explain what it means more to walk as children of light. In Galatians 5, verse number 26, he says, let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Yep. Ephesians 5, 10, go back there. He says here, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. We just read the fruit of the Spirit there. And then he says, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord in verse number 10. And then he says, walking in that love. Remember, the reference is going back to the beginning of Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 5. And what was the reference? Walk as children of God, right? Walk as children of light. What does that mean to walk? He's going to explain it to you. Go back to that, because this all pertains to that. He's explaining what it means to walk that way. He says, proving what is acceptable unto God. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. No fellowship, but also reprove them. But all things, he says, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. By the way, do you know what that says here? That's also corresponding to a lot of other things, that it's a shame of them to even speak of those things which are done of them in secret. In this internet age we live in, everybody wants you to blab everybody's business. But it's shameful to do that. That's not walking in love. That's not walking in love. To spread everybody's business around and tell everybody all their faults and all their mistakes and all their problems and everything else. I mean, I could have a rap sheet full of those things against people who have falsely accused me. But that's not walking in love. The difference is that I really do love them and I wasn't fake. I wasn't playing a game. And I have no desire to hurt them. Right. And we have to try to come, and it's a battle, but you have to come to a place of pity for them. That one's tough. When you see the destruction, you've been hurt, and you see loved ones that have been hurt, and family members that have been hurt, and people that they tried to purposely hurt, that's very hard to deal with. But you gotta love people anyway. You can't let the devil take that compassion from your heart and steal that love. You can't let the devil do that. You can't be ate up with it. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. Look at that. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. We're not hiding in darkness. We don't walk around in darkness. We walk in the light. Not hiding anything from anybody. Who we are is who we are. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. It says, wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Amen. What does he go on to say here? Pay attention. This is all dealing with walking. He says, see then that you walk circumspectly. You're to live your Christian life, you're to walk circumspectly, because you're walking in the light. paying attention to your steps, being careful, being cautious, being sober, and seeing straight ahead and knowing what's going on, knowing what the challenges are. Not as fools, it says. See, then you walk circumspectly, not as fools walk. How do fools walk? Blindly. Fools walk Fools walk basically according to their own emotions. Right, that's how they walk. They walk whatever reaction, they don't walk prudent. They're not prudent. I'm gonna give you the exact definition. It means cautiously. It means to walk cautiously, vigilantly, heedfully, with watchfulness to guard against danger. So you are walking in this, we are walking as children of light. We are careful to avoid danger as to be ready for that danger that's to come. That's what he means by what he says, to be sober and to watch. Look for danger, be prudent and look for danger. Because you have an enemy. And right now, it's the heat in this room. It's like 950 degrees in here, it feels like. I know you're not hot yet, but I think it's heating up in here. What is it, like 75 in here? Is it hot? Do you feel it back there? No, you're not hot? Maybe I'm just yelling. Maybe that's why I'm hot. I don't know. Maybe I need some water. What is it? All right, well, I don't know why I feel hot up here. Maybe I better drink some water here. All right. See them that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. We're to redeem the time. Don't waste your time, but take it and use it for the Lord. Capture those days before they're gone. Don't waste life. This is the only time that you have to prove yourself to the Lord. This is it. You can never sacrifice enough. You will never get to hit a restart. There is no redo. There is no start over. There is no reset. It's not a video game. Once you're done, you're done. Once life is over, you're done. You have no other chance to prove to your Lord your love for Him. Your gratefulness. You have no other time, this is it. The things that we hold dear and count dear, it's very sad because those things are not gonna be that important in eternity. They're not. So we will walk in love, in the light, in the love, and that is abstaining from sin and evil, and so not to cause our brother to stumble and to fall. And that is real love. That's what it means to walk in love. Next, we're not allowed to be drunken in the night like others are. 1 Thessalonians 5, 5. You're all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. Look what he's saying here. You're not to be intoxicated with the affairs of this life. You're not to be drunk with the affairs of this life, taken by this life, taken by the attractions of this life. You and I are not to walk, as children of light, we don't walk in darkness. Those people that have their minds and their hearts completely distracted from the Lord, and they walk in this world, they are part of the kingdom of darkness. You and I are not to be partakers with them. We're not to be sucked away by that. Our conversation is to be the gospel. Our life is to be spent for the Lord. That means raising our children. That means everything that we do. We do it under the glory of God. Getting married, whatever we do, we do it under the glory of God. It is for the glory of God. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. What does that mean? Man, you can't be taken away with this life. There are people that, man, they gotta have season tickets to ball games. They gotta go run around. They gotta do all this. And what are they? They're distracted. You can get yourself so distracted from the cause of Christ that you're barely doing anything for God. And your life isn't bringing any honor to God, it's so distracted by this world and the entertainment of this life. And it takes you, and it captivates you, and it takes you over. And it will take you over. And Satan doesn't have to bother with those people because he already has them. They're already distracted with everything else in this life, and he already has them. And that's why God warns us to walk soberly. What does that mean? To be awake, to be sober, to be on it. They that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. Boy, we could do a whole study on that, but I'll tell you what, that's why a lot of people, when they're out running around, they're doing their evil at night. Up watching pornography all night. Not doing what they're supposed to be doing, but up watching pornography all night long. Married men. Should be in bed. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunk in the night. They have to do their evil at night, and they go around, they walk, and they creep around at night, because they are children of the night. And sometimes they pose as children of light. And they get the power to be transformed by devils. And they walk among you and act as if they are among you, and they are not. They are really children of the night. We are to be watchful and sober, not lulled to sleep by entertainment or anything else, but to be alert and on our guard for the devil is a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. And he is devouring many because they are not watching and they are not sober. And the lion comes into the camp and destroys them. They're not setting a watch. Amen. They're not setting a watch and being careful and cautious. Next, children of light are to react differently to adversity than children of the night. This is tough. This is hard. This is where your Christianity is really challenged. This is where your spiritual walk will be challenged. It is not challenged when everything is going well. It is challenged under pressure. Do you understand that? Your spiritual walk is challenged under pressure. When you're a mother, it's challenged in your home when your children are driving you crazy. Or your husband is. Or both. And the dog. Or the cat. Right. That is when you are challenged, okay? When it's a father, you're challenged at work when you go to work and there's some jerk there that wants to fight you. Right? That's when you're challenged. You're challenged when evil comes around you, when people trash talk, when they talk dirty around you. Do you laugh at their jokes? Do you go about what their right is living? Or do you say, no, I'm sorry, I'm a Christian, I don't talk like that. I'm not gonna be a jerk to you or anything like that, I don't think I'm better than you, but I'm not gonna talk like that, I don't do that. That's when your Christianity is challenged. Or when somebody is blatantly aggressive with you and mean to you, it's challenged. When people that you love hurt you, it's challenged. So how do children of light deal with that adversity? How do they deal with that affliction? How do they deal with that persecution? Because the Bible says, yea, all that will love God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So how do you deal with it? How do I deal with that persecution as a children of light? A child of the light. How do I deal with that? Turn to Romans chapter 13, verse number 8. I'll tell you, number one, it's not easy. Because you have to deny your flesh. You know, it's interesting. I was watching a video. on self-defense, and it was a jiu-jitsu video, and he was talking about basically how a lot of times most fights get started, most fights get started by verbally, you know, something verbal happens, and then your ego gets challenged, and then you start to puff up, and then pretty soon that fight's gonna be on. unless you deescalate, unless you back off of it, unless you find a way out of it and try to downplay the situation to get the aggressor to calm down or you calm down so they don't think you're challenging them, then you'll be okay. But once you challenge their ego, if your ego is challenged and you allow it to be challenged, then you're gonna get into a fight. And the thing you have to understand about that is, is that as a Christian, we're not to do that, but also as a man, you have to understand that you don't just, you can win by not fighting. You really do win by not fighting. Yeah, it does. Because, because see what happens is, is that if you're confident in who you are anyway, when it comes to that, then you don't need to fight him. No, you don't have to prove yourself to anybody, but that person wants you to. So you're letting that person dictate who you are and take away from you. You're letting that person challenge your ego. You're getting your pride up there, and you're letting them challenge you when all you really have to do is just be like, oh, OK, whatever. Right. So what he was saying was basically the key to stopping most of those fights, the key to stopping most of them is by shutting up and not taking the bait. Somebody says something to you, somebody cuts you off in traffic, somebody does this, just go, whatever. Or sometimes it's just a look. You know, somebody's mean mugging you and you get mad. You start to get mad about it because they're looking at you. And you get, you feel that little like, ooh. Right? And just, yeah, smile away, hey. Better than getting angry. Because you're being challenged, that's your ego that's being challenged. They can't hurt you. They looked at you. They got mad at you and they cut you off. Big deal. Drive down the road and ignore them. They can't hurt you. What they're doing is hurting your pride and you need to lose it. Right? So I just lose it and forget about it. I don't have any of it anymore. I'm probably a lot worse than what that guy thinks I am, so I'll just keep going. Guess what that does? Done. No problem. Problem's over. Keep going. Right. That's right. Only by pride comes attention. So, you know, we lose that. So, it's just interesting that how that, and I remember that because jujitsu is very good with that because it's not, it's very defensive instead of offensive. It's not on the attack all the time. You're looking just to defend and you keep a passive spirit when it comes to that or not an aggressive spirit. But you're assertive, but you're not aggressive, you know, when you have to be. And I think that's important. I think there's a lot of stuff out there that people just want to bash people's brains in. And that's what they want to do. They just want to fight. And that's really not the right spirit to have. You find that in this mixed martial art, American gladiator type battle, but you didn't find that in traditional oriental or Asian, that wasn't, they didn't do that. You know, they didn't have that type of street fighting mentality to want to do that. But anyway, I know martial arts have mysticism and all that kind of stuff, but the point is that, you know, You don't have to do that. You don't have to puff your ego up. And that's really what a lot of the problem is with us. When we deal with adversity, our pride gets in there. And then we get challenged. And we have to base ourselves. We have to deny our flesh. So he says here in Romans chapter 13, verse number eight, Oh no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. That's the law of God, to love one another, right? Jesus said a new commandment I give unto you, right? That you love one another. You know, we think about, like, we're in this room right now, we have no problem. Well, yeah, we love one another in here. Yeah, I know, but wait till we make each other mad. Then you have to test, wait till your wife does something that upsets you, or your husband does something that upsets you, or your child does something that upsets you, or somebody else persecutes you. Well, that's what he's talking about. Are you listening? He's talking about when you get persecuted, not when everything's going good. That's when love is tested. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, or thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So he's saying, you won't do any of these things if you love. You're not gonna commit adultery, you're not gonna covet, You're not going to steal. Second table of law, right? You're not going to bear false witness, right? You're not going to do any of those things. And thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. Well, I don't want anybody stealing from me, right? I don't want anybody to kill me, right? I don't want anybody committing adultery, right? I don't want anybody coveting what I have. Right? What does it say here? Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. If I love somebody, I don't want to work any ill towards them. I don't want anything bad to happen to them. Man, that's hard because sometimes people hurt you and persecute you and you do want bad stuff to happen to them. Right? Man, I'm being real, ain't I? You don't like that. Go back and pick on those sodomites, man. Stop preaching this stuff, all right? Right? Because you and I, we sometimes, we do want something bad to happen to them. We start thinking about it. We got to ask God to forgive us. Oh, I better stop that right now, because I really do want something bad to happen. Right? No, you wouldn't like it when it happened. But in your flesh, you think about it. You're like, man, I really do want something bad to happen to them, though. That's when you fight that. I've been there before. You're having a, I know, you're having a war. You're like fighting inside. There's this internal battle going on. You're trying to pray for them. You're like, yeah, but I really wouldn't mind if a Mack truck ran them over right now or anything. But I mean, just, right? Especially people that have done you great evil and great harm. It's like, well, I mean, if they, if the earth was flat and they fell off of it, that'd be cool. No harm, no foul. They just walked right off of it, right? Or at least ran into the ice wall going like 1,000 miles an hour. Right? I mean, that'd be cool. Or got stuck in that big ice wall somewhere. I don't know, something. Or tried to climb it and fell off of it or something. I don't know. But seriously, but that's what we think. But the Bible says, love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Ouch. mm-hmm that's tough ain't it I'm it's gonna get tougher here in a minute okay so hang on and that knowing the time that now it is high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed the night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light what's the armor light everything he just talked about Sorry to break it to you. Everything he just said. And more, hang on. But everything he just said is the armor of light. Because love worketh no ill. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day. Walking honestly. That means, you know what? There's people that can lie to their customers, but you're not allowed to. You understand that? You in sales, you in banking, whatever you're in, whatever business you're in, you're not allowed to lie to your customers. Right? Because you're to walk honestly. You live by a different set of rules. You're children of light, not children of the night. You don't get to walk like they do in darkness. But what if they get the deal? Let them have it. Let them have it. What if they get the business? Let them have it. You got to answer to God. Can't lie. Got to walk honestly in this life. Honestly. That's what it means to walk in the light. As in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Can't walk in strife. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Can't do it. Gotta put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision, make no way, make no path for it to fulfill the lusts thereof. But you know what? It's about to get a little bit harder. Because I want you to turn to Matthew chapter five. I've heard people say this is kingdom living. Well, it is kingdom living, I agree with that, but you know what it also is? It's also the Apostle Paul living, because he said the same exact thing that Jesus said. How's that? The same exact thing that Jesus said. So Matthew chapter five. So get hard, are you ready? Remember the children of light, remember that? Verse number 14, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Listen, remember what the astrologers and everybody and Daniel's time and all those, what did he say? Nebuchadnezzar said, man, these children are 10 times better, didn't he? That's how you're to walk, 10 times better. Your light is to shine, 10 times better than anything else out there. Best worker, best bill payer, right? Best testimony. Best example. Best behavior. Best attitude. Best spirit. Ten times better. You don't get to walk according to the course of this world. That's who you used to be. You don't get to walk in the night. You're children of light. You don't walk in the night. You don't get to walk by those rules. You don't get to walk around looking like somebody stole your best friend all the time. Or your favorite teddy bear. Or stole your sucker or something. You don't get to walk like that. Right? Yeah, I know we can be sad. We can have trials. I hear you. I've been there. Every day is a struggle. But you know what? We're children of light, not children of the night. We don't get to walk that way. Let your light so shine before men they may see you. Man, people ought to want to see you and they ought to want to be saved because of your life. People that are around you, that know you, that do business with you, that conduct, they ought to want to be saved because they see your godly testimony example. They ought to want to know, why is that guy different? Why is that lady different? Why are they so different? Why do they act different? Why do they walk different? Why do they talk different? Why won't they go to the movies? Why won't they drink this beer? Why won't they hit this pot? Why won't they do any of these things? Why? Because your light so shines before men, they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Yeah, why won't they become a Mason? Exactly. Yeah, why don't they want to be in those clubs? Why don't they need Lucifer's light, the light of the lodge? Right. Right. When they look at the light that shines through you, the gospel, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost of God, they see how you deal with adversity and you don't like curse them. You don't punch him in the face. Knock him into a wall. Knock over a pallet of Coca-Cola on top of him. Throw them off the flat earth. Right? But they see your good works and they glorify your Father which is in heaven. Not they don't glorify you, they glorify your Father. You know a lot of times people are never going to praise you, but they're going to be thinking about why you do what you do. They're gonna look at you and they're gonna be like, you know, I don't know why this guy does this, but there's something about him that's different. I don't know why this lady does this. Or they see these ladies that homeschool their children. They went, man, how do you do this? By the grace of God, that's how I do it. Right? When they see you and you go to the park and they watch you and they see you, how your children interacted. And when they see you, like, a lot of times when we're on the road and we go to a restaurant or something like that, people say, wow, your children are very well behaved. Because you seem, at church, they're horrible. You should see them at home. They're bears to deal with. No, I'm just kidding. But they're huffled. Man, they're putting on a good show today. Right? But you go and they see they're sitting down, they're eating, they're listening to instructions, or you tell them something. They're wondering, why are you like that? Why? Because you let your light so shine before men, they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. And they ask that mom, why do they do that? Well, we're Christians, and we teach our children to follow the Bible. We teach children to obey. That's why. Because of God. It gives the glory to God. Now turn to verse number 38. This is when it's going to get harder, Brother Finney. It starts to get a little more difficult. She's pinching that baby. That's what's causing that. No, I think you better listen to this one. Matthew chapter 5, verse number 38. You have heard that it's been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Yeah, I heard that part. Let's stop right there. Right? Just stop right there. An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. I want to poke that guy's eye out. Right? Poke that guy's eye out and punch his front teeth out. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Thank you, Jesus. That's all I need to hear. Rip that out of context. Leave it right there. That's where it is. I think we can run with that. Nope, verse number 39. But I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Now he's not saying let people just beat you down to death, okay? The point is this, you're not to be the aggressor and you're not to look for revenge. You and I are not to be vengeful, okay? We are not to be the people that are seeking revenge for harm that is done to us. For when we are persecuted, we seek revenge. We're not to do that. We're to leave it in God's hands. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. What's he saying there? I'm not to get rich off the state when they wrong me? That's probably what he's saying there. Right, Brother Fittie? I'm probably not to get rich off the state and try to sue them for damages and all these other things that aren't real. mental suffering and turmoil, and you take your mental suffering to Jesus. All right? Amen. We're not in it to get rich off the state. Right? But that's what he's saying there. He said, well, that's kingdom living. That's how they get out of that. That's kingdom living. No, I think that's pretty much all living. Jesus is telling how the children of light are to act. Amen? And Paul calls them the same children of light. Nothing's changed. They're still children of light. Amen? If any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. Be compassionate, be giving, be charitable. And here's where it gets hard, okay? Here's where you're gonna be challenged. You have heard that it's been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Now that one's tough right there. Especially when you got a lot of them. That one's tough right there. Love your enemies. Can we go back to that Old Testament law again? No, I know the Pharisees twisted the law anyway. God never wanted you to hate people and do all these other things anyway, but the Pharisees, they like to twist everything. But I say to you, love your enemies. Oh, that's tough, isn't it? Yeah, but you are to love them. Look at this. Bless them that curse you. That's tough. Because you've done all kinds of good to them and they curse you. But he says, bless them that curse you. Look at this. Do good to them that hate you. Can I give you an example of doing good to people that hate you? When people lie and spread false reports against you all over the place and you know the truth and you have all kinds of evidence to prove that none of that is true, But that same evidence, if it was used, would violate your office as a pastor, violate your sacred trust that people have in you, and it would exploit people's information, their private life. and it could ruin others around them and also ruin the trust that people have for a pastor who people bring things to and want just to talk to him and not to have everybody else know all their information, right? So then you would what? You would not give that information. You would do good to them that hate you. See that? Oh, but no, you're just covering for yourself, right? Yeah, that's it. No, that's not it. It's called doing good to them that hate you. And pray for them which despitefully use you. The Bible says to pray for them, which is fine. Now, Brother Finney, can we throw that in a different dispensation or something? Can we just like, can we just like, I'm gonna go a little Darby on you here, and I'm just gonna be like, no, that was like not even a church then, that was like back in here, and we can just split that up here and just go there and just chop that up into like three or four different dispensations. I could conveniently put that somewhere else so I don't have to live by that principle. No, that is called a principle of living right there. And I don't care when you were, you have to obey that. Amen. Doesn't matter when that was written, when that was or anything else, you have to obey that. You and I have to follow that no matter when. That is a principle of life right there for the child of light. You don't get to hate those which despitefully use you. You pray for them which despitefully use you. I've heard people say, yeah, I hate them with a perfect hatred. Oh, baloney, you've got a bunch of bitterness in your heart. You better get it right with God. You just plain hate. You can't have perfect hatred. You're not God. And I've heard people say, David said, I hate them with a perfect hatred. But David hated, what did David hate though? If you examine what David hated, David hated that they are blaspheming his God. Not what they did to him. You understand that? David didn't hate them for what they did to him. David hated them for how they blasphemed God. And how they mocked him. The enemies of God. And, Anyway, a lot could be said for that, but you don't have perfect hatred. Anyway, but he says here, pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Love your enemies. What a hard thing to hear, isn't it? But you have to come to a place as children of light that you love your enemies. I don't love what they do or how they do it, but I have to love them. I need to speak the truth to them, I need to warn them, I need to treat them with respect and proper behavior. To love them means I do not seek revenge on them, but I leave it to the Lord to avenge as the judge of all the earth that will do right. One man said it this way, love your enemies. There are two kinds of love. I want you to listen to this, because this is very good and it explains a lot. There are two kinds of love involving the same general feeling or springing from the same fountain of goodwill to all mankind, but differing so far as to admit of separation in idea. The one is that feeling by which we approve of the conduct of another, commonly called the love of complacency. The other, that by which we wish well to the person of another, though we cannot approve his conduct. This is the love of benevolence and this love we are to bear toward our enemies. It is impossible to love the conduct of a person who curses and reviles us, who injures our person or property, or who violates all the laws of God, but though we may hate his conduct and suffer keenly when we are affected by it, yet we may still wish well to the person. We may pity his madness and folly, We may speak kindly of him and to him. We may return good for evil. We may aid him in the time of trial. We may seek to do him good here and to promote his eternal welfare hereafter. This seems to be what is meant by loving our enemies. And this is a special law of Christianity and the highest possible test of piety and probably the most difficult of all duties to be performed. Tough. Yep. Not easy to do, is it? Turn to Romans chapter 12. I'm almost done here. I hope this is helping you today though. I know it helped me going through it because it's a challenge. Romans chapter 12 verse number 17. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thy enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. That's tough, but it's right. Amen. and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. What Christ here commands and advises to, he himself did. Now listen, for as he hung upon the cross, he prayed for his crucifiers, who were then using him in the most despiteful as well as cruel manner, saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This is an example of this love. Listen, it continues on. And in this, he has left us an example that we should tread in his steps. And here, and he was quickly followed by his holy martyr, Stephan. who whilst he was being stoned, prayed for his persecutors and murderers, saying, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. This breathes out the true spirit of Christianity and is peculiar to it. The whole of this directly opposite to the tenets of the Jews, particularly the scribes and the Pharisees, who will out of revenge and keeping anger against any person that had done them any injury, and has been observed, and which were also sentiments of others. Another sect among whom them who kept to the letters of the scripture and rejected the tradition of the elders, which the Pharisees held, but in this they agreed with them. Love your enemies. and pray for them that persecute you. To love an enemy has appeared to many persons impossible, because they understand the word love is here expressing the same feeling in all respects, which are entertained toward a friend or a near kinsman." That's the problem. We think, well, you know, I love, you know, I'm gonna love somebody like I love my children. No, not quite. The love is a little bit different, okay? It's a little bit different when somebody persecutes you. I like how this man explains it, he says, but it's not the same as respects entertained toward a friend or a near kinsman, somebody that you are in complete fellowship with. But love has many shades and degrees. The exact phrase of it is herein joined to best understood in the light of examples. Like this, the parable of the good Samaritan is given by Jesus for the express purpose of exemplifying it. His own example of praying on the cross for those who crucified him serves the same purpose, as does also the prayer of Stephan made an imitation of it. The feeling which enables us to deal with an enemy after the manner of the Samaritan, or Jesus or Stephan, is the love for our enemies, which is herein joined. Right? It is by no means as impossible feeling. Prayer too can always express it. For as Hooker says, prayer is that which we always have in our power to bestow, and they never in theirs to refuse. I can love them by praying for them, and they can never refuse that. That love is like, if you've seen that man that harmed your family or harmed you and hurt you, if you've seen him on the side of the road and like three guys were beating him up, would you stop and help him? Or would you be like, I'll pray for him, I'm gonna go. What would you do? Do you stop and help him? Would you see him on the side of the road? Do you let him hit him like five times first? I'm sorry. I just said what I know you were thinking, so. Right, Brother Dave? Well, let me take my time getting out of my car. I'll get up there in a minute. No, honestly, but if you've seen him on the side of the road and that was happening, you would help him, right? Duty would demand it, wouldn't it? Love for God would demand that you would help. Amen. What is that? That's the love like Christ had. That's the love that Stephan had. That's the love that we have for those that have harmed us. Doesn't mean I'm gonna take him into my confidence. Doesn't mean I'm gonna bring him into my home. Doesn't mean I'm gonna spend a lot of time with him. Doesn't mean I'm gonna trust him. But it means that as God allows the sun to shine on the wicked and the just, I could not withhold being able to help them if it was in my hand to do. If that person that hurt you that badly and betrayed you that badly would be hungry and starving, would you feed them? Or would you ignore them? And be like, well, you're getting what you deserve. Right? But what did Jesus say when Judas betrayed him? He said, friend, Betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? I'm telling you, I know what it's like to help people and have them stab you in the back. I've entered into some of that fellowship of suffering with the Lord when it comes to that. I've seen that. I know what that's like and how hard it is. And in your mind, you say, well, you know what? If you get into trouble, don't call me. I'm not going to help you. When I know full well I would. I would. I would have to. I know I would. And it'll probably happen. Someone down the road, it'll probably happen. But I say, and you love your enemies, a hard task, I must need say, but hard or not hard, it must be done. but it never so contrary to our foul nature and former practice. We're almost done here. The spirit that is in us lusteth after envy, but the scripture teaches better things. And what are those? To go no further than the present text, love your enemies. For the inside be tenderly affected toward them as heartily wishing their good every way, being glad of their welfare and grieved when it happens otherwise. Thus David was a sorrowful man when his enemies were in affliction and put on sackcloth. Everybody thought David was gonna rejoice when Saul and David were brought, or Saul and Jonathan were brought to him dead, because here, here's the crown, David! Here's the crown, David! Your enemies are done! David killed that man that did that. Even though he didn't do it, but he lied and said he did it. But David put him to death for it. He said, you weren't afraid to touch God's anointed? I didn't even do that. But David didn't rejoice in that. He said, weep. Weep, he said. He told the people to weep over them who clothed you in riches and took care of you. Saul, who did all this, David didn't rejoice in his enemies falling. Seal up our love to them by all good expressions which are here referred to in these three heads. Bless them, that is, speak kindly to them and of them. Let them have your good word. Do good, that is, be ready to help them and relieve them at all essays. Pray for them that God would pardon their sin and turn their hearts. That is our Savior's precept and this was his practice. He melted over Jerusalem, the slaughterhouse of his saints and himself. And he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts. How about this? Next, for words, he called Judas friend, not devil, and prayed, Father, forgive them. And for deeds, he not only not called for fire from heaven or legions of angels against them, but did them all good for bodies and souls, for he healed Malchus's ear. Peter chopped his ear off. What did he do? He picked it up off the ground and put it back on his head. That was his enemy. They were coming to take him away. And he had a sword, and Peter was like, whew, and whacked his ear off. I mean, any of us, we would have done the same thing. Right? Oh, Peter. That guy's ear off. Yeah. And then he, Jesus popped that ear back on. Knock that off, Peter. They that live by the sword shall die by the sword. What's that? Yeah, he put it back on. For he healed Malchus' ear, washed Judas' feet like that good Samaritan he was at pains and costs with them, instructing them with patience and proving if at any time he might pull them out of the snare of the devil by whom they were taken alive at his pleasure. Which also he did for he converted the thief on the cross who at first had reviled him and graciously received those 3,000 souls that had imbrued their villainous hands in his innocent blood in Acts chapter 2. They were there. But he forgave them in Acts chapter 2 and saved them. Thus our Savior, full of grace and truth, and of His fullness, of redundance, of His over-measure, we have all received in grace for grace. As the child receiveth from the Father, limb for limb, part for part, He is the Father of eternity, and all His children in all ages of His churches have resembled Him somewhat in His sweet property. In Isaiah 9, 6, Abraham rescued his nephew Lot, that had dealt so discourteously with him. Isaac expostulates the wrong done with Abimelech and his servants and forgiveth and feasteth with them. Alexander a flight is to kill them and they're at but good Isaac doth it to show there was no grudger purpose of revenge Jacob was faithful the Laban who changed his wages ten times and ever for the worst Joseph entertained his malicious brethren his house and whereas their guilty hearts misgave them that he rolled himself upon them thereby he feasted them on purpose to be reconciled under them as the Romans had their to which were invited none but kinsfolk to continue love and to seek reconciliation But to speak forward, Moses stands up in the gap for them that had so soon forgotten him. Joshua marches all night and fighteth all day for the Gibeonites after they deceived him. Samuel prayeth and God forbid he should do otherwise for an ungrateful people that had rejected him. David put on sackcloth, he wept and fasted when his enemies were afflicted. He spared Saul's life and afterwards shimmy eyes when Abishai's fingers even itched to be taking off their heads. Elijah set bread and water before the Syrians that came to surprise him and provide a table for them that had provided a grave for him. See that? Feeling guilty yet? The disciples were solicitous of the salvation of the Pharisees that had been accused of them at the same time to our Savior. Stephen prays heartily for his persecutors and prevailed. And being reviled, saith he, we bless. Being defamed, we pray. You know, I don't know if Saul would have been saved, really. The impact of Saul. Remember, Saul stood at the feet of Stephen, right? He held the clothes when they killed him. And he heard Stephen say, Father, forgive them. You know, I pray it not be laid to their charge. That had an effect on Saul. He never forgot that. And many of the martyrs can testify to the same thing. There were others. Obadiah Holmes. Others were converted by Obadiah Holmes being beaten. And what he said, you have beat me as with roses. And he didn't revile them. And it impacted them. We'll finish up with these verses here. Wow, how much did I write here? My goodness. It just keeps going. It's like an ever-never-ending outline. Lee's getting hungry, but that's okay. You showed up late, so I'm going overtime. Romans chapter 12, verse number 14. Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. recompense to no man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men we read the other ones so we'll not read those again you see our behavior those to be different we do good to them that hate us right but what does he say I'll finish with this here in Matthew chapter 5 verse number 45 that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. So God is good to evil men. Your Father in heaven could destroy the wicked right away, but He gives them sunshine. He does good for them. What did Jesus say? For if you love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? Now listen, here's the principle that children of light versus children of night. Pay attention. I know you're sleeping, you're hungry, but you're going to do jumping jacks a minute if you don't look up here. Listen closely to me. The difference is this. What big deal is it if you love people that love you? Everybody can do that. Everybody can love people who love you. What makes the difference and causes that light to shine for others to be saved is the fact that children of the light actually love people that hate them. That's the difference. That we love people that hate us. That we love people that persecute us. Like when the Duke of Savoy came through the Waldensians, they were grievously persecuted by the Duke of Savoy. But you know what? He came to visit one day and there was a parade, a parade for him. All of these people that he had killed, their relatives, they were parading in the streets and rejoicing and welcoming him. as he came. And he was like, what are all these people doing here? He said, they're here for you. They're here for you. They're here to honor you as, you know, as head of their government. And he just couldn't believe that these subjects would be so loyal after he had done that. That's what they wrote over and over again. We are loyal subjects. We don't hurt anybody. We're not trying to hurt you. We just want you to leave us alone and not persecute us. That was love. He says, for if you love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do you not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? He said, wait a minute, you're children of light. So you're telling me that you, I mean, the publicans say hi to all their friends and they're friendly with every, uh, the people that they know. And that's, that's great. But you're children of light. You're supposed to be better. You're supposed to have real love in your heart, the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart, so you're to be different. You're to love them that persecute you. Amen. Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. What does that mean? Well, he's speaking in contextually here, okay? So what do I mean by that? He's not saying, you know, be sinless because that's where you're going to be. We're to try to be sinless, and we're definitely to try to sin less, amen? But that's not what he's saying here. What he's saying here is be perfect in your love for those that treat you this way. Be complete, be complete, be whole. This perfection is to be restrained to the subject of Christ is upon love to men, and not to be referred to any other thing. Be merciful as your father also is merciful, and regards not a perfection of degree in that, but objects in quality. That is to say that not that men may or can or ought to be as perfect in love as to the degree of it, as God is, that is impossible. The as here is not a note of equality, but of likeness. You are to be like your father. Be perfect like your father in that love. Follow his footsteps. As He loves, you love. As children of light, you follow that light. Right? Such as who profess God. to be their father ought to imitate him, particularly in their love to men, which ought to be extended to the same objects as the divine goodnesses, that as he shows regard in a providential way to all men, good and bad, just and unjust, and his tender mercies are over all his works, so ought they to love all men with a natural affection and hate no man. No, not their enemies. For he that loves only his friends, and not his enemies, loves imperfectly. He does not take in the whole compass of objects his love is to extend unto. And as God loves sincerely and without dissimilation, so should they. To be perfect is to be sincere and upright, in the sense of the word is often used, which signifies the same, which is the passage Christ seems referred to here, and in the sense is be sincere and upright in your love to all men, as your heavenly Father is hearty and sincere in his affections to them. The word implies full development, growth into maturity of godliness, not sinless perfection. What is he saying? He's saying you mature in godliness. And what is that? If I add to my faith that godliness, then what it means is I love like God loves. That means I can love somebody that completely hates me and has persecuted me and has done me wrong. And I can still be kind to them and I can still love them. That's what he means by be ye perfect. As your father in heaven is perfect. That's what he's saying. And that's what he means. And that's hard to do. It's very hard to do. But this is the example that we have and this is what children of light do. You mean that person that wronged me so grievously, stole, robbed me, treated me poorly, took advantage of me, lied about me, stole from me, degraded me, stabbed me in the back, betrayed me, physically assaulted me, harmed me, emotionally hurt me. Yep. It all falls under persecution. Blew the leaves on us. Yeah, you got to love them. Be perfect, he said. Children of light, not children of the night. Big difference, especially in our behavior and our dealing with adversity and our dealing with persecution. We are not to deal with persecution as others do. We have too much of that American spirit in us. You know, that where, you know, we want to rise up and, you know, yeah, make America great again. Right. And that's the difference. That Christians have always suffered persecution. But they grew through it. And churches grew through it. And Christianity and the power of Christianity and the power of the gospel was magnified. And the word of God was magnified through persecution. But it was because God's people handled it biblically. They loved as Christ loved. And what a lesson we all need. Father, Lord, thank you. Help us to walk as children of light and not children of the night. It's a lot to live up to, Lord. Help us by the power of the Holy Ghost to do that, by being in your Word and studying to know what is approved unto God. A workman that is not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, understanding what you expect from us, Lord, and then obeying you. Lord, we pray you bless this food to our bodies and bless the time we have together. Thank you so much for it, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.