If you'll remain standing with me this morning, it's a great privilege and joy to be bringing God's Word to you this morning. Please join me in Ephesians chapter 5. We're going to be looking at Ephesians chapter 5, verses 8 through 14 this morning. But for context, I'm going to read verses 1 through 14. If you have a Pew Bible, that's page 978. So Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse one says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not be named among you as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. walk as children of the light. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful to even speak of the things they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. May God bless the reading of his word. You may be seated this morning. Let's remember that the context of the book of Ephesians, Paul is really trying to accomplish two things in writing to them. At the end of the book, he says he wants to let them know how he's doing in prison, and he also wants to encourage them or comfort them in these truths. And as we get further and further in Ephesians, you'll notice that things are starting to be repeated a lot, are they not? And that is for a reason. He's going somewhere, but we also need to remember that we are forgetful people. And we needed to be reminded of these truths over and over. That's why a large part of what a pastor or elder does is devoted to reminding people of the basics of the Christian life. Are you staying in the Word? Are you spending time in prayer? Are you leading your family spiritually? Men, are you pointing people to Christ in your life? Are you sharing the good news? And so we need to be reminded of the same things over and over. As Christians, our heart's desire should increase, increase over time that we would want to live a life pleasing to God. God did not leave us in the dark about how to do this. He gave us his word, and in his word, he gave us an example in the life of his son, Jesus Christ. Earlier this week as I was studying and preparing, I read some of Thomas Akimpas' book, The Imitations of Christ. He was a monk in the 15th century. But he says this about the difference between having a knowledge of Christ and having a knowledge of Christ that so affects the way we live. He says, of what use is it to discourse learnedly about the Trinity if you lack humility and therefore you displease the Trinity? Lofty words do not make a man holy or just, but a good life makes a man dear to God. I would far rather feel contrition than be able to define it. If you knew the whole Bible by heart and all its teachings and philosophies, how would this help you without the grace and the love of God? And the answer is, it wouldn't. It would just give us a head knowledge of God. So we pray that we might know this love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. And so, not to recap all of last week what Casey talked about, but the command last week was to become imitators of God, based on all this foundation that he's been building. And we need to understand that this was God's plan from the beginning. When you look at Genesis chapter one, you see that God made everything. He made everything good. And when he created man, he created man in his image to image God, to be like God, to look like God as his creation. Then we go over to Genesis chapter three, and we recall, what is it exactly that Satan promised to Eve? He said, if you eat of this fruit, you will what? You will become like God. So if you disobey God, you can be like God. That makes no sense, does it? So what Satan had promised in the garden of Eden, God actually fulfilled through his son, Jesus Christ. And he made a way through the gospel for you and I to imitate God, to be like God. And so in Ephesians 5, verses three through seven, he goes through this list of things and specifically tells us things that we are not to take part in, that the church as God's holy people are not to be a part of. if we participate in these things, it should bother us. And in verse four, he gives us a remedy for these things. He says, all of these things which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. Let there be thanksgiving. And so the question becomes, as we come to verse eight this morning, is what does it mean to walk as children of the light? And how are we to do this? So first of all, I'll go ahead and give you these. What Paul does here is he outlines five things that we are to do to be able to walk as children of the light. I'll give them to you and then we'll go through them. The first thing he says is we need to remember who we were as children of Satan. We were darkness. We need to remind ourselves of now whose we are in Christ. And so because of this, we have the ability to have a life that is marked by everything that is good and true and right. So we're able also to strive to discern what is pleasing to God. And the last thing he gives is he says, don't take part in these works of darkness, but instead expose them both in our own lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters as well. And so in verse eight, he says, at one time you were darkness. We need to remember who we were. He's been beating this drum all throughout the letter. In chapter two, verse two, he says that you were dead in your sins. And so we need to remember that we were children of Satan. We were children of Satan carrying out his will. The word were here informs us of a couple of things. It informs us that it's past tense, so it's not currently who we are, but not only that, it means that before Christ, you and I just weren't in darkness. We, in fact, were darkness. It's not that we were darkness and there was some light around us, it's that we were completely in darkness. We were darkness. So what does it mean that we were in darkness? Flip back over to chapter four in verse 17, and Paul tells us what that means. We were darkened in our thinking the way we thought was darkness, and our morality as well was dark. chapter 4 verse 17 Ephesians Paul says now this I say to you and testify in the Lord that no one must longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds their minds were darkened they're darkened he says in verse 18 and their understanding alienated from the life of God due to the ignorance that was in them because of the hardness of their heart So the result of this was they became callous and gave themselves up to sensuality and greedy to practice every kind of impurity. So we were darkened in our thinking, we were darkened morally. Sure, we lost people have the ability to do good things or to do kind things, but in and of ourselves, we were spiritually dead. And one of the most incredible things, you've probably heard me say this before, one of the most incredible things to me about the gospel is the fact that God can change human hearts. You think about it, before you came to know Christ, you had a different set of desires. You thought differently, the way you made decisions was different, the way you made friends was different. No matter if you were saved when you were young or when you were older, you are different. Your desires become different after we come to know Christ. And so this thing right here is called that the fact that God can make us a new person is regeneration. Titus 3 through 5 says that for we ourselves were foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasure, passing the day in malice, envy, hated by others and hating others. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. So we're to remember who we were. Going back to the text in Ephesians five, he goes on to say in verse eight, he says, we need to remind ourselves of whose we are, who we belong to. We're God's beloved adopted children. Do you realize that was God's motive in adopting us? Was his love for us? Ephesians 1.5 informs us that in love, he adopted you and me to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. And so he says, you are in the light of the Lord. And I think it's very good reason that Paul uses this analogy of light and dark because he knew his Hebrew Bible really well. All throughout the whole Old Testament, you have this picture that God is the light and salvation of his people. The very first words we have recorded that God spoke in Genesis 1-3 was what? Let there be light. Let there be light. Why? It doesn't tell us exactly, but I would guess it's because that his creation was dark. Even though he was ruling and reigning over it, it says that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep. And so he creates the light, and what did he do? He separated the light in the darkness. He separated the light in the darkness. And the more you get to thinking about this picture there, The more you really see that this is what the gospel is. This is what Christ has done for us. In 2 Corinthians 4, 6, it says, for God, who said, let the light shine out of darkness, also shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So here's what happened. God created us. We were born. He caused us to be born again. He separates us from darkness to light, sets us apart for good works, And even the word saints, it means the holy ones, the called out ones, the church. We're called out of darkness into his marvelous light. In John 8, 12, Jesus says that I am the light of the world. So here's the deal. If you and I have Jesus, we not only have the light, we have access to the light, but it says that we are light. In Matthew 5, Jesus says that you are the light of the world. City set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people put a lamp under, put a light, a lamp, they light a lamp and put it under their basket, but on a stand and it gives light to the house. In the same way, our light is to shine before others so that they may see our good deeds and give glory to our Father in heaven. The best illustration I can think of to understand this, and you may have heard this before, but I think it fits very well, is this weekend I was at the farm with my dad and my granddad, and my granddad and I were sitting out talking on the porch at night, and we look out and it's just lit up, and we walked out off the porch, and you can see the moon, it was huge. You ladies who were at the retreat, y'all probably saw it too, it was a big moon, and it was lighting up the darkness of night. Now, we all know where the light from the moon comes from, right? It's not in and of itself, it's from the sun. And so that's the picture that we have here of us as Christians is we are not the source of light, but we are to reflect the glory of the light, of the sun shining in the darkness, in this dark world. So being the light means a few things. It means that, as we've said, Christ has shone in our heart. His word becomes a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And so if we are in Christ, we begin to look like Him, we begin to imitate Him, we begin to talk like Him. In Mark 1 17, He says, if you follow Me, you will become fishers of men. His priorities become our priorities as we walk in Him in the light. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 34. After Israel comes out of under the hand of Pharaoh, going into the promised land, before they get there, Exodus chapter 34 verse 29. Moses goes up and he gets the Ten Commandments. He comes back down and you remember what happened. They made an idol. But in Exodus chapter 34 verse 29, it says, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets, the testimony in his hand, as he had come down from the mountain, Moses did not know that his skin, the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses and behold, the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him. Why? Because he was reflecting so much of the glory of God. And afterward, all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken to him at Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with all of them, he put a veil over his face, because they couldn't stand the glory of God shining through him. So whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak to him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what was commanded him, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, and the skin of Moses' face was shining. Moses would put a veil over his face again until he went back in to speak with him. And one day, you and I, as his children, the Bible says we're going to see him with unveiled face, meaning we're going to get to see him as he is. But this light comes from God, and as you and I, even today, spend time with God, we begin to reflect Him more and more. And so back in our text, in chapter 5, in verse 9, He says, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good, right, and true. So at one time you were darkness, now you're light in the Lord. So walk as children of the light. That's the theme of this whole passage right here. He's telling us how to walk as children of the light. So the fruit of light is found. What's gonna happen if you're in the light, if you're abiding in the light, if you're continuing in the light, if Christ's light is shining on you, the fruit of it is gonna be found in everything that is good and right and true. Practically, this is our way of life. Several times throughout this letter, Paul uses the word walk to refer to our way of life. And so these are the practical characteristics that we begin to imitate as we are growing in the knowledge and the application of who God is. And so goodness, or honorable, it's beautiful. Our culture and our world is distorted and is perverted, which is the opposite of these things. And so God is, through Christ, restoring us back again to what he originally intended in the Garden of Eden, everything that is good. We see this in the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation. Righteousness or right, this is our integrity. Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us by God the Father through the work of Christ on the cross and through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And so 1 John 1 29 says that if you know that he is righteous, you may be sure of this, that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. And finally, truth, the thing that every Christian should be consumed with, the truth. The way we live, what we do behind closed doors, it matters. And so even the secret sins that we have, whether we know it or not, they affect the body of Christ because we are members of one another. So goodness, righteousness, truth, the litmus test for everything that we do and think and say as Christians. So Philippians 4, 8, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is lovely, commendable, if there's anything praiseworthy, do what? Think about these things. So and let us let us remember to That God's method for advancing his kingdom is through you and I He has chosen in his infinite wisdom, I don't understand it It doesn't make any sense to me if God just wanted to save who? Whoever and do it. However, he wanted he could have done it But for some reason he chose to do it through the church. He chose to do it through people people reach people and God's purpose for the church could be summed up in one word, growth. Both internal spiritual maturity and external, meaning numerical growth. So if we are children of the light, these things will be in us and they will increase over time. But while we are growing, we need to remember not only to have patience with ourselves as we fail and stumble, but we also need to have patience with one another as they sin against us. One of the reasons I'm convinced the New Testament talks so much about forgiving one another, loving one another, being patient with one another, is the fact that we were meant to be in community. The fact that we were meant to live life together. And when humans live, if you're married, you understand, if humans live together long enough, we're just gonna make each other mad and upset. We're gonna hurt each other. And so he says, be patient with one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven you as we continue to grow in these qualities. So in verse 10, he says also, not only are we to be increasing in these fruits, in these qualities, we also should try to discern what is pleasing to God. And you understand that when it comes to pleasing someone, there's only one of three people we could possibly please, right? It's ourselves, we can try to please others, or we can try to please God. And Ephesians, and the rest of the Bible, has quite frankly a lot to say about what it is that is pleasing to ourselves and pleasing to others. And so if we are going to please God, we know that it's very difficult at times because we're selfish people, but we are capable of doing it. And the reason it's hard a lot of times is because we do have corrupted motives and desires within us. And so God's will, or what pleases God, has to be discerned. We're incapable of just doing it automatically, even though we have the Spirit of God and the Word of God. So to discern here is to test, it's to examine, it's to find out. This past week, my dad went to the mountains. He's been having a really hard time in his job, and he's been going through a lot through that, and the Lord's been testing him. And so he just got away to the mountains for four or five days to just seek the Lord. No TV, no phone. He just took his Bible and a journal, and he went fishing and just spent time in nature with Christ. And it helped when he'd come back. And you know what? It would do us a lot of good too, sometimes. I know Casey talks about this, but that if we just unplugged, put your phone on airplane mode, and get alone and spend time with your heavenly Father. This is Christ's example as well to us, to discern and to find out what's pleasing to God. Leon Morris said that the light of God is given, but it does not free you and I from the responsibility of thought and choice. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. So this may sound like a strange introspective question, but I want you to think about this. Do you really think about God in relationship to the circumstances in your life? When you think about problems, when you think about things going on, trials, maybe it's a sin. Maybe you want to see someone at work saved. Do you come to it with a humble, teachable attitude to the Lord and get in His word and ask Him what He's trying to tell you? Or do you try to face life circumstances on your own? I mean, wouldn't it make sense to come to the one who cares about you more than anyone else? More than your spouse, more than your parents, more than anyone else. Come to the Lord, cast all your cares upon him for he cares for you. So do we acknowledge Him in all of our ways? And if I'm honest with myself, I mean, a lot of times He's not first, second, or third, you know, He's last. Because we just want a quick fix, we want a quick answer. We don't want to sit and wait on the Lord. And so, how do we discern what is pleasing to God? Well, first and foremost, God has given us His Word, has He not? He's given us everything we need for life and for godliness, isn't it? And so it's not that it just answers all of our life's questions specifically, but most of the time, the thing that God wants to teach us through circumstances, through trials, through physical pain, through all these things, is not so much that He wants us to do something or to do something for Him, but that He wants us to trust in Him. that he wants us to rely on him more and more instead of our own strength and our own abilities or giftings. You know, so much today in the Christian realm is focused on audibly hearing from God or God telling us what to do specifically, and many times he does. But it burdens me, and it's seen in a situation that happened with a friend of mine a few years back. He was at a Bible study, and in the charismatic realm, they have a prayer language. And this person at the Bible study was upset that they had only gotten three words in their prayer language. And they just wanted to be able to hear from God like their pastor did and be able to speak to God in this unknown language like their pastor did. And my friend held up his Bible and he said, look, don't you know God has given you all of these words? This is for you. This is for you. This is for me. Someone jokingly once said, if you want to hear the voice of God audibly, read the Bible out loud. And that's true. We also have His Spirit, His Spirit dwelling within us, who Christ promised that He would guide us into what? Into all truth. He would comfort us. And we have to be teachable. We have to be humble to be able to do this. God has also given us a conscience to lead and to guide us. As He convicts us of sin, righteousness, and of judgment, we begin, our road gets more narrow as we walk with Christ. He's also given us other godly men and women in the church. Do you take that opportunity when you're going through something, when you're trying to discern what's pleasing to God? And understand when we talk about pleasing God, what Paul or anyone in the Bible is ever saying in the New Testament is, look, if you do these things, you can have favor with God. You can please God. That's not what he's saying at all. He's saying, look, you do and act this way or these things because God has found favor in his son. And he's so intertwined, the Son and us, that we are united to him, that when he looks at you, when he looks at me, he sees the righteousness of Christ. And so from a position of who we are, we're able to look up and say, God guide me, God lead me, I know your Spirit's in me, help me in this matter. And so most of the time, you know, people fall into one of two camps in this. They'll either say, they'll either say, you know, that I have to work to earn God's merit or His pleasure, or they'll say, since Christ has already forgiven me, I can live like I want. So one is Jesus plus being good enough equals the pleasure of God, the favor of God. And the other one says that since God's already pleased with me, I can live and do however I please and feel and want. Neither are biblical. So we need to remember that ultimately what is pleasing for God, ultimately too, we need to remember that the fact that we are to seek what is pleasing to God is preparing us for Christ's return. Philippians 1 9 through 11 illustrates that it says that Paul in this prayer says it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge with Discernment so that what you may be able to approve. What is excellent? Well, okay for what reason so you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ to the praise and glory of God and The reason you and I should be concerned with what's pleasing to God is because Christ is returning. And he wants us to be holy and blameless before him. And so we must prepare today. Verse 11 in our text says that we are to also take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. The phrase here, don't take part in, is very similar to what Paul says earlier. He says, don't become partners with them. Don't become involved, don't be associated with those who are in darkness because that's not who you are. I know I can't drive this point home enough, is that, you know, I don't like basketball, but this is the best I could come up with. So, if you're watching the Lakers and the Mavericks play, and all of a sudden you see someone from the Lakers score a point for the Mavericks, I mean, what would you think? What are you doing? That's not your team. And it's the same for you and I, when we sin, when we walk in darkness, when we delight ourselves in things that are darkness, we're scoring a point for the opposing team. And we have the other jersey on. It doesn't make any sense. We're adding to the problem, we're not helping for the solution. So how you and I, and also how you and I ever be able to tell the good news and about its effects if you and I look like the rest of the world. I learned this the hard way in the Marine Corps. In church, you learn how to smile and put on your nice face and, hey, how's it going? And just kind of go through the motions like that. But in the military, your whole life's on display. 24-7. There's no break. Everyone knows everything, the good, bad, and the ugly. And so when Christ got a hold of me in the Marine Corps, there were times that, you know, I did good, and I bared fruit for God. But then there were times that I didn't, and I lived like them, and it was evident. But the amazing thing is that God works through that. He takes our faithfulness. He takes our obedience. And He's the one who bears the fruit. And so we don't have to worry. We don't have to fret. Am I good enough? Am I saying the right thing when I share the gospel with someone? That's not the issue. The issue is that you're obedient and you will be blessed for it. I promise you, because God promises it. Again, so we are the called out ones, we are the holy ones. This means that we are different from the world. So we don't take part in these unfruitful works of darkness. And if you want to look back, you can see all these things that Paul talks about from chapter 4, verse 17, and he goes on to chapter 5, verse 21, all these things he lists. He says, don't take part in these things. And like Casey said last week, brothers and sisters, it's not enough that we're just known for what we don't do, for the things we don't take part in. That's why he says, take no part in these unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, expose them. And I would add this as a matter of fact, if you and I are living a pretty good Christian moral life, and we're not all about the great commission and the great commandment, to go and to tell people the good news and to love God and to love others, then our sin of choice is not any of these other things, but it's just apathy. We're apathetic. And God said in Revelation 3.16 about the church in Laodicea, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of creation, I know your works, you're neither hot nor cold. Would that you be either hot or cold. So because you're lukewarm, neither hot or cold, I'll spit you out of my mouth. I don't know what that means, but that does not sound good. I don't want God to spit me, him to spit me out of his mouth. So verse 11 assumes a couple of things back in Ephesians 5. It assumes that you and I have work to do, that we have sins that need to be brought to light. No matter if you've been walking with Jesus for eight months or for 80 years, He's not called us home, and so we have sanctification. Even as Paul said, not that I've already obtained it, but I continue on towards the goal. So the remedy is most of us already know, I would say, the things that we need to get rid of in our lives. Most of us probably, if we're walking with Christ, really could sit down and we know the things that we need to be sanctified of. And if you don't, ask God and I promise he'll show it to you. So we confess our sins to God and we confess our sins to one another. It also says that our brothers and sisters have sins that they need to be lovingly rebuked of as well. The way we live, whether we like to think it or not, affects the way other people make choices. When you're around them long enough, you're just going to start rubbing off on one another. And so Mark Devers says this about discipleship. He says that it's worth noting that Jesus didn't command his disciples to teach people. He told them to teach people to obey. The goal of discipling is to see lives transformed, which means it involves more than reading a book or even the Bible with another person. Ultimately, discipleship involves living out the whole Christian life before others. It's a lot harder than reading a book or reading a book of the Bible together. It's sharing life together. And so we have to, first and foremost, before we do this, we have to get the log out of our own eye, make sure we're right with the Lord. And then we'll be able to see clearly to get the speck out of our brother or sister's eye. And lastly, about that, I would just say, you know, you and I are not gonna be concerned with the spiritual growth of others in the church if we're not even concerned about our own spiritual growth. So just think about that. Um, you know, like we just went through the first John and talking about, you know, spiritual young men, uh, or spiritual children, young men and adults and, um, spiritual adults are not okay with just themselves walking in the truth. They, they also want to see others walking in the truth as well. And so, um, that involves our sanctification. Uh, but then it also involves that we have a concern and a genuine love for our brothers and sisters as well. So verse 12 in our text says that it is, for it is shameful to even speak of the things they do in secret. There is a way to expose these deeds that doesn't involve us having to go into great detail about them with others. But the problem is that A lot of times today, these things become commonplace in our vocabulary because of things we see on TV or social media or just talk at work in general, these fruitless deeds of darkness. And so what happens is if we're not careful, they become common and we so make the name of God common among us as well. The way that these things, the way it says is shameful to speak of the things that they do in secret. The way that we do not allow these things to be on our lips is because we have a high regard for God and for his name. We can learn from the Israelites when they went into captivity. In Ezekiel 36, it said one of the reasons they went into captivity was because they profaned the name of God. They profaned his name, which means they made it common. The priests started going through the motions. They started doing things that were against the law. They stopped reading the law. And guess what? The people just followed. And so that's what happens when God's name becomes common in our own lives, when we just rush through devotional and say a quick prayer. And we come to church and we don't expect to hear from God. We don't expect to encourage our brothers and sisters. We don't expect to grow. We make his name common. And I admit that this is hard, especially in the planes of life when things are just going along, but it's something we have to fight for. We have to ask God to give us a sensitivity to the things of Him and to the things of the world, and we must test everything with God's Word. We need to abide in it, continue in it. So in verse 13, we see the effect of the light. What does the light do? It says that when anything is exposed by light, it becomes visible. When you drop something at night, you shine a flashlight and it lights up the whole ground until you're able to find it. The word of God exposes us like a knife, like a surgeon. It makes it transparent both before him, because he already knows, and before us, before our eyes. MacArthur points out that the light does not show things, the light shows things as they really are. The light shows things as they really are and are already there. I was out hunting one time and it was at night and I was going to the deer stand and I walked up and I saw a blurry image in front of me. And I shined my flashlight and it happened to be a pig. And it was standing about from here to that wheelchair. And I shot at it and missed, but the point was is that when I shined the light on it, it was already there. I just didn't see it until the light exposed it. And that's what the word of God does in our lives. It exposes things. So is my prayer and my hope that you and I would be about exposing ourselves literally to the light of Christ. Otherwise, the light will become darkness, will become dark. You can't shine darkness into something, but the light can grow dim. And so in verse 14 here, we see an invitation to the light. When our sins become visible, when we see that we have fallen short of the glory of God, we have a knowledge of our sin. Have you ever heard someone say, you know, I would like to shed light on this situation. What they're saying is I want to, I want to give you knowledge about this or give me knowledge about this. And this is a very merciful act of God for anything that becomes visible as light. The problem is, usually, it becomes one of two things. One, we don't really believe that God can forgive whatever sin we've committed. Translation, we have unbelief, and he's not really who he says he is. He's not really able or wanting to forgive us, and so he's a liar. The other option is that we really don't want to give up our sin because we're just rebellious if we're honest with ourselves. At its core, that too is unbelief. It's saying that God is not all satisfying. Maybe God's all I need, but he's not all I want right now. And so the light's job is both to shine and convict, to show us the way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I'm the light of the world. And so here Paul says, therefore awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. This is believed to be a hymn. If you look a little ahead, he says to speak to one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. This would be an example of one of those hymns. He says, awake, O sleeper, In God's Word, the Hebrew Bible is so ingrained into Paul's heart that he quotes these passages from Isaiah. Isaiah 27, 19 and Isaiah 61 says, Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy, for your due is the due of the light of the earth. and it will give birth to your dead. And the next one is, arise, shine for your light has come, the glory of God has risen upon you. FF Bruce says the themes of this hymn is awake from the sleep to rise from the dead and going from darkness to light. That sounds great, but as you and I both know, Israel was in a very dark place when this was written. They were temporarily rescued by pagan kings who brought them back to their land. But what hope did they have? And the same question is for us. What hope do we have when God shows us our sin and our depravity? Look with me at Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. in verse 13, or 52, excuse me, Isaiah 52 in verse 13. 52, 13, Behold, my servant shall act wisely. Who's he talking about? He's talking about Christ. He's prophesying about Christ. He shall be high and lifted up. He shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance shall be so marred beyond human resemblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind, so that he shall sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told to see them, and that which they have not heard, they will understand." God will open their eyes. God has opened and will open our eyes. Jesus said at the end of time, there's gonna be two groups, the sheeps and the goat. And if you're in here this morning, there's only two groups, those who know that Christ is yours and those who are unsure of that. And so I wanna speak to both groups this morning. This morning, if you are not sure if you know Christ, if you're not sure that you're right with God, that if you have peace with God, that if you pulled out of here today and something were to happen to you this afternoon, because at the end of the day, you and I don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what tomorrow holds. I want to encourage you in a couple of ways. First of all, I want to tell you that God already knows your heart. God knows everything. So I ask you this morning to pray to him. I ask you to cry out to him. He is able. And he did what you could never do and what you deserve, and that is bear the wrath of God. Through his son, Jesus Christ, he paid the penalty that you and I both know that you deserve. I beg of you to cry out to him, to ask him to forgive you of your sins, to reveal himself to you, reveal Jesus Christ to you. And the Bible says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And this is great, great news. You can know that you're a child of God. You can know today if you are repenting of your sins, if you're trusting in Christ, if you're abiding in him, that you have this blessed hope. And for those of you who do know him, I want to encourage you with this. Romans 13 11 says, besides this, you know, the time that the hour has come for you to awake from the sleep for salvation is near to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone and the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling or jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh. If Christ is shining in your heart and you know it, I know we use this analogy all the time, but what kind of fruit are you bearing? An apple tree produces apples. An orange tree produces orange. Whatever the fruit is connected to, whatever source it is connected to, that is what it is going to produce. I'm not talking about reading your Bible and doing what you're supposed to do, coming in and checking off the boxes. I'm talking about what are you loving? What are you treasuring? What do you desire in your heart more than anything else? Is it his kingdom? Is it his will? Is it his righteousness? Is it his goodness? Or is it your kingdom? Jesus said, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so how you and I choose to live the fruit we will bear ultimately proves whose father we are. So let's continue to encourage one another to walk as children of the light and bear fruit that is in the light of goodness, righteousness, and of truth. So right now I want everyone to close their eyes and I'm going to read Isaiah 55. And what I want you to do is I just want you to think on these words. It's 13 verses. I want you to think on these words. Close your eyes before the Lord if you're able to. Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. He who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good. Delight yourselves in rich food here that your soul may live. And I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast love, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, a nation that did not know you, shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. This is for us. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways. Let the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him. And to you, our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return, there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the water, so shall my word by that go out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose. and I shall succeed in the thing which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up by the cypress. Instead of the briar shall come up by the myrtle. It shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.