From Darkness to Light

Sorry my dinner meeting went late. How much do you love me? Well? Not counting yesterday? What about this morning? All right, has it three days ago? Oh, I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10 at 8. Well, there's always room for improvement. Just for that, I shouldn't even tell you. Tell me what. We're going to Cancun. Who is? I am. You are. When? How? It's our annual conference and has the district manager, spouses, expenses, or covered also. I didn't want to tell you to tell a new for sure. So, you know, I got the tickets though and they're non-transferable, non-refundable. Can you believe it? Wow. So, where is it? The first week in March. Well, we'll go to the conference for a few days and then after that we'll hit the beach. Wow. Wow. Is that all you can say? Don't you think a major hug and kiss is in order here? Thank you. I'm overwhelmed by your emotions. I'm sorry, it just surprised me, that's all. You're still mad for me yesterday? No. No. This morning? Look, I said I was sorry. No, that isn't it. What is it then? This is one of those perks we've been waiting for. I know and I'm really happy for you. For me? Yeah. I'm just not sure that I should go. Why the heck not? Well, for one thing, you said spouses, expenses, or covered? Yeah, so? Well, it's just a technicality. Did you ask them? It's the same thing. Living together and assuming another's name are not the same thing. Look honey, they're not going to rest us. If that's what you worry about, it's no big deal. I just don't think it's right. Would you feel better if I brought a note home from my boss saying it's okay? Mark, this is not funny. Okay, okay. So, what do you want to do to get married between now and March? No. Well, then what then? I mean, should we just forget the trip out together and not even go? No. Well, maybe if we could get separate rooms or something. What? Karen, this is not a church choir. It's business people, sales people. Well, I don't want to be like them. So we're going to leave these double lives, you know, together at home, separate away? No. Well, what then? Mark, I don't want to spoil your excitement. It's just, I didn't know how to tell you or when to tell you or... What? What? Honey, I love you, but I just don't think we should live together anymore. Karen, I know I said some things last night and that shouldn't have. No, this has nothing to do with our fight. Then what does it have to do with? This has to do with you and me living together. We should live apart. I just think it would be better if one of us lived here and one of us lived somewhere else. Look, if it means that much to you, I think about us getting married, how's that? No. I just want us to be right and pure in our relationship. Sure, was that the topic this week? No. Sounds like it to me. Well, it wasn't. You know, when you come up with this idea, if you want to go to the church, I never try to stop you. And I never came home and beat you over the head with it. What do you call this? Mark, they're saying some things. They're beginning to make sense to me. Well of course they are. That's what they get paid to do to make sense of nothing. It's not nothing. It's the truth. I'm just starting to understand some things for the first time in my life. And so your life up to this point has been alive? No, you're not listening to me. Oh yes, Emma, here you loud and clear. We're willing to give up three years of our life down the drain over something like this. Mark, please don't go. I thought you wanted me to. I don't want to raise you. I love you, Karen. I love you too. Come on, let's just go to bed and we'll just talk about this tomorrow, okay? Well we can talk about tomorrow, but I think I'm just going to sleep out here. Some of our dramatic illustrations are intended to be very humorous. Some of them are intended to be very serious. That had a little bit of humor in it, but the point it was making is very serious. And that is that our lifestyle, if we claimed to know Jesus Christ as our Savior, should be radically different from the lifestyle of the culture around us. No matter what the culture tells us about what's okay or the right way to live, the Bible makes it clear how we as light bearers of Jesus Christ should be different from the darkness around us. When our family first moved here, we shortly after we moved here went to the exhibition coal mine in Beckley. I figured it would be kind of tough for me to get into a real coal mine, but I wanted to experience at least something or see a little bit of something about what so many of you have spent your lives working at, and that is the mining industry. So I figured it was probably the best I could do. We went in and one thing I will never forget about being in that exhibition coal mine. We got to a certain point and they cut out all the lights and had everybody turn off their headlamps and it was dark. You know, usually in darkness you're groping to find any ray of light anywhere. There was none. Usually when you're in a dark room or in a dark setting, if you just wait a few minutes, your eyes adjust and no matter what level of light there may be that's filtering into the room, your eyes will eventually adjust and you can see a little bit. Not there. I have never felt such darkness. It really was feeling. It wasn't seeing anything. It was a feeling of darkness just enveloping you. And I kept waiting for some light to come on. Almost afraid it wouldn't come on. It was such a stark contrast to anything I had seen before. When Paul, in the last three chapters of Ephesians, describes the difference our lives should be when we know Jesus Christ as our Savior. And he's describing the difference that things should be when we claim to know Christ, the different we should live between our lives and the world and the culture. He uses a series of bold contrasts. For instance, he contrasts the old self with the new self. He contrasts deception with truth. He contrasts barrenness with fruitfulness and contrast being dead with being alive. But probably the sharpest contrast of all is the contrast between darkness and light. That contrast is described for us in the passage we're going to look at today in verses three through 14 of chapter five. And the contrast is mentioned in verse eight. If you have your Bible open to Ephesians chapter five, look at verse eight where Paul says for you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. And that verse really is kind of a hinge verse. It kind of swings between the two sections of the passage. All the verses before verse eight talk about what it's like to live in darkness. All the verses after verse eight talk about what it's like to live in light. So I want us to look this morning at this sharp contrast as we're seeing how Paul wants us to live out the salvation that we have in Christ. Today he's talking about living in light. Living in light. Now in order to see what that means, we have to first of all experience the darkness. Or at least we have to see what he's talking about by way of the darkness. When he describes the darkness in verses three through seven, that will enable us to really understand what the light is supposed to be like. What our lives are supposed to be like in the latter part of the passage. So let's begin in verse three with a description of the darkness. Paul talks about living in darkness and he first of all describes it. And he describes it in two ways in verses three and four. First of all in verse three, he describes it as immorality. Notice what he says in verse three about this lifestyle of darkness. Even among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity or of greed because these are improper for God's holy people. Now Paul is very plain here and I'm going to be very plain this morning. Paul is very direct and I'm going to be very direct. Paul is very bold and I'm going to be very bold. I do not want to water down at all what Paul says about the lifestyle of a believer and how to differ from the lifestyle of the culture around us. In describing this immorality, Paul uses three expressions. The first one is quite simply sexual immorality. The Greek word is the word porn a-ah. We get our word pornography from it. The word porn a-ah simply means in the Bible any kind of sexual sin, any kind of loss of self-control in the sexual realm of life. It is used specifically in the New Testament of sex before marriage. It is used specifically in the New Testament of sex outside of marriage. It is used in the New Testament of sex with a prostitute in 1 Corinthians 6. It is used in the New Testament of incest in 1 Corinthians 5. Quite simply the word can refer to any kind of sexual immorality. The second term he uses is the term impurity. He says there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity. The word that is translated impurity in our English versions is simply the word shameful or unclean or filthy. But in the context and really the way it's used in the New Testament, 10 of the 11 times it's used in the New Testament, including this use, it refers to sexual filthiness, sexual uncleanness. It is literally dealing with our thoughts. It talks about impure thoughts, impure passions or ideas or fantasies. So while the first word has to do more with action, this word has to do more with thoughts. And Paul says, don't let any hint of immoral behavior or thought be present in your life as a Christian. The third word he uses is the word greed. That's included as well. And while greed can have kind of a general idea in the New Testament in this context, almost everybody that writes on the Boga B. Fesion says, in this context it is talking, it has a sexual overtone here. The greed here is not just greed in general for money or possessions or things like that. This is an insatiable desire for gratification that is out of control and will be willing to go beyond the proper biblical bounds for sexual expression. This is a greed that wants to satisfy itself. This is the opposite of the love he's just talked about because genuine love always wants what is best for the other person. Lust always wants what will satisfy you. It's greedy by its very nature. So Paul is saying there should not be any kind of immorality, any kind of impurity of thought or any kind of self-gratification or sexual gratification that is selfish in nature, greedy in nature, it shouldn't have any place in a believer's life. And I want to emphasize this this morning because we quite clearly live in this kind of culture of darkness. Now the writers or the readers of Paul's letter also did. Ephesus was a very immoral place. Even the temple of Diana or Artemis of the Ephesians which is mentioned in the book of Acts was a godless place. A worship center of a false religion that actually used religious prostitutes to carry out all kinds of degrading sexual things that were that were termed religious worship. I mean Ephesus was a bad place to live if you were concerned about purity. So these people knew what Paul was getting at. We also need to understand what Paul was getting at because we live in a culture today that is a cesspool of iniquity and immorality on television today. Every year there are 10,000 sexual scenes or situations on television. 93% of them are sexual situations between people who are unmarried or are outside of marriage. 93% of every situation on television is immoral. Is it any reason? Is it any wonder that even in the church today we are struggling with immorality because we allow ourselves to be washed in the cesspool of immorality that is all around us. And that doesn't even include the Internet. The greatest danger to sexual purity today is the Internet and not just for men. Yes, pornography for men but chat rooms for women. There was a study done in Los Angeles by the Sexual Recovery Institute which deals with helping people recover from sexual addictions. And they disclosed some research that revealed sex is the number one topic searched on the Internet. They also in this research found out that 60% of all websites are sexual in nature. And they estimate there are 25 million Americans that could be considered addicted to Internet pornography. That means they watch it compulsively from one to ten hours a week. Now, my friend, we're facing a very serious danger in our culture today that is impacting the church. All you have to do is be in ministry and do counseling for about two weeks. And you realize we're facing serious problems with immorality even among God's people. All you have to do is read the headlines and you understand that. Among God's people there are great problems with this. I want to emphasize what Paul says. He says again in verse three, but among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, impurity or this kind of grief. Not even a hint. The word translated a hint is literally a word which means to be named or discussed. What he's saying is these kinds of immoralities should not be named or discussed among believers. And I know what you're thinking. Then why are you preaching on this? Why are you discussing it? Why are you naming it? Explain to you what Paul's saying. If that's what Paul meant, he wouldn't have mentioned it himself. Paul was very clear. The words he used were very clear for his audience as to what he meant. He was very direct. He was very bold. There's a difference in what I'm doing this morning in declaring what the Word of God clearly teaches and what Paul was talking about. And Paul says it should not be named or discussed. The ideas of those words are to delightfully discuss something, to have an extended conversation about something that takes pleasure in talking about it. And while you yourself may not be involved deeply in these kinds of sins, if you enjoy talking about them to others and get some kind of voyeuristic satisfaction out of that, you're violating this verse. The old English poet Alexander Pope was right when he wrote this. Vice is a monster of such frightful mean that to be hated needs but to be seen. It seemed too often familiar with his face. We first endure then pity, then embrace. Be careful. What you allow into your conversation, into your mind, through your eyes, be careful. I am convinced that what Paul means by letting no hint, no mention discussion in a satisfying delightful kind of way, none of that being named among believers. I'm convinced that he were here today. This is what he would say. Stay away from soap operas because you are delighting in the sexual escapades and immoralities of other people. You're doing exactly what Paul says not to do. Shouldn't even be discussed or mentioned. Shouldn't be allowed into your home through the television. I think if Paul were here today, he would say, stop reading the romance novels that cause you to be sensationalized and engrossed in someone else's immorality. Quit reading that stuff. I think if Paul were here today, he would say, leave those tabloids alone that you see in the department store, the supermarket. Leave them alone because all they do is try to gratify the lowest interest. In the sexual sins of people in Hollywood. Stay away from that. Don't let there even be a hint of that among you. I think if Paul were here today, he would say, stop watching the talk shows that focus on the sex lives of the rich and famous or sexual immorality and culture as a whole. To continue to talk about that feed yourself, that kind of stuff is a violation of this verse. I think if Paul were here today, he would say, stay away from chat rooms on the internet that provide you anonymous flirtations. You're feeding your mind. You've got more than a hint in your life of something the Bible says to stay away from. I think if Paul were here today, he would say, stop renting and watching movies that fill your mind full of the immorality of other people. And Paul says, don't let any hint of this kind of immorality impure thinking or insatiable greed for self gratification be a part of a Christian's life. He means don't look at it. Don't read it. Stay away from it. Now, I know that may sound legalistic, but it is not. Purity and true holiness is never legalistic. It's a matter of the heart that does not want to contaminate the life with the darkness around us. And so whatever it takes, by way of specific action for us to stay away and not let any hint of immorality be seen or heard among us, we need to do that. And notice why Paul says we need to do that in the verse three because these are improper for God's holy people. Remember who we are. Remember how we are to live. It is improper for us to allow these things to be discussed and viewed and talked about and listened to with clear delight as though in our minds we are living out the sins of other people, Paul says, stay away from that. Immorality is a measure of the darkness around us. He describes the darkness not only in terms of immorality, but in terms of improper speech. And once again, I am going to be just as bold and clear as what the Bible says. I will not water this down whatsoever. You can take it or leave it, but it is straight from the Word of God. This is what Paul says our speech ought not to be like. In verse four, he says, nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place. But rather thanksgiving. Once again, he describes in three different ways the improper speech that we are to stay away from. The first word is obscenity. The word is literally shameful or disgraceful. It has to do with dirty language, profanity, cursing. We have gotten comfortable with that. Paul says, don't let that be a part of your vocabulary, part of your conversation. And even at times, if we don't use the worst of words, we have found that maybe more minor ways to use obscenity. Few years ago, Ron Howard put out the movie Apollo 13, which was a tremendous recapturing of that ill-fated Apollo mission, which was to be the third moon landing that our country had made. You may remember either the event itself or the movie, which was, for most part, pretty true to the story. Jim Lovell and Fred Hayes and Jack Swigert were the three astronauts who were sent to land on the moon, but somewhere between Earth and the moon, they heard what sounded like an explosion and come to find out that one of the, I think it was an oxygen canister had exploded and damaged the aircraft to where it became clear they would not be able to land on the moon. The greatest concern of NASA at that point was to get those three men back safely. There was a high probability that they would not be able to get back. The only way, because they had lost some of their thrust power, the only way they could do it was, if you recall, they had to go around the backside of the moon and catch the gravitational sling of the moon and sling them back toward Earth. There was a period of time where there was no contact with those men. I remember well how we sat on pins and needles wondering, are they going to be thrust out to space and lost forever? Or will they make it back? Those of you who remember that event or saw the movie will remember what a glorious celebration it was when they actually did get back and splash down. Even the incredible stress and life-threatening challenges those men faced, the profanity that Ron Howard included in the movie was understandable. But in an interview with one of the astronauts, Fred Hayes, Fred said, you know, I went through all of the taped recordings of everything that was said between Houston and the spacecraft. Never one time did we utter a curse word. He went on to say, it's not that we were so pure that we wouldn't have or couldn't have, we just didn't. So the movie did not do justice to reality in that sense. I would say this, if those men could go through that kind of life-threatening stress without using profanity or obscenity, so can we. And we certainly should. As children of light, not of darkness, we should not be characterized by obscenity. The second word Paul uses in verse 4 is foolish talk. It's the word that we get our word moronic from or moron. It's literally foolish, foolish talk, but the idea of the word is gutter language. The idea is trying to shock someone by being brash in your talk about sexual things, which happens all the time in our culture, which happens all the time on the sitcoms that many of you watch, trying to have shock value by being brash about sexual things. The Bible says, don't let that be a part of your conversation. Don't let that enter into your life. There should be no foolish talk. The third term he uses is course joking. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or course joking, which are out of place. Now Paul is not condemning joking. He's not saying that every Christian is to wear a long face and look like he's been baptized in ill-pickled Jews. He's not saying that. Humor is good for us. The Bible says that a Mary heart does good like a medicine. And Ecclesiastes 3, 4 says there is a time to laugh. There's a place for humor and humor is like a medicine to the soul. He's not condemning joking here. We all love a good joke. He's condemning course joking. And what that is is course joking turns whatever is said or done, no matter how innocent it may be, it turns it into something suggestive or obscene. Again, in the context here, he's talking about sexual themes, sexual immorality, and course joking is the clever talk show host who is never at a loss for a sexual innuendo. He can turn anything that's said or anything that's done into a sexual joke, or a joke or humor that's loaded with sexual overtones. What Paul is talking about here is the person who has a dirty, sleazy take on everything he sees or she sees or everything that happens. They can turn it, interpret it, and make something dirty out of it. That's what Paul's talking about. No course joking should ever exist in the life of a believer. The reason why that's so dangerous is because one person shares kind of an innuendo or overtone the other person picks up on it and it goes a little further. And then the next phrase goes a little further and then it goes a little further and before along your mind and your heart are in the cesspool of immorality because of your speech. That's why Paul says there should be no course joking among believers. So if we're not to be characterized by obscenity and we're not to be characterized by foolish talk or course joking, notice what Paul says we should be characterized by the end of verse four, he says these are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. Now that's an interesting contrast. Thanksgiving you might think you would say pure speech or kind speech or something like that but no he says thanksgiving. When you think about it, thanksgiving is really the atmosphere in which a Christian ought to live because thanksgiving causes our mind to be focused on God and what he has done, he has given, it focuses on his grace, it causes us to focus on how good and how generous he has been to us and on what he desires for us. And when you're thinking those kind of thoughts out of a thankful heart, there won't be any room for obscenity, foolish talk or course joking. Thanksgiving is what is proper. The young mother had made some chocolate chip cookies and had put them in a little cookie jar in the kitchen and she had warned her son about not getting into those cookies they were supposed to be for after dinner or dessert and so she warned him not to get into those cookies. In fact, she even joked with him a little bit about resisting temptation and how he needed to learn to say no to what was there so that he might delay it till later and all that really kind of a heart-heart talk about resisting temptation even in that. And she was in another room next to the kitchen doing something and she heard the jar lid of that cookie jar move. She said son, what are you doing? There was a pause. And then a meek, timid voice came out of the kitchen saying, mama, my hand is in the cookie jar resisting temptation. Some of us have our hand in the cookie jar and you can't resist temptation if your hands in the cookie jar. And there are cookie jars all around us on television and the movies we rent, the books we read, the things we are exposed to on the internet, there are cookie jars all around us. And then you can't resist your hand in the cookie jar, you can't resist temptation. The only way to resist temptation and to do what Paul says is stay away from the cookie jar. Just stay away from it. Now that's not legalism, that's just purity, that's just holiness, that's just not being foolish about putting yourself in the place where you're going to be tempted. Just stay away from the cookie jar. So Paul describes this darkness in terms of immorality, in terms of improper speech and he says stay away. Stay away from it. Now if that were not powerful enough, what he says next is shocking, but I will not water this down. In verse 5 he describes for us the destiny of this lifestyle of darkness. Verse 5 he says, for of this you can be sure. No immoral, impure or greedy person such a man is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Now that's very forceful. It's startling, but Paul saying quite clearly, one who's in the context, who's sexual sin, who lives this kind of immoral lifestyle, impure lifestyle, self gratifying lifestyle, who has become an idolater because he or she has put that kind of lifestyle above God and his or her life, that kind of person has no part in God's kingdom. Now what he is saying is this, is he saying that no Christian can fall into that sin? No, no of course not. Is he saying that you've got a perfect in order to be in heaven someday? No. What he is saying is this, in the context and the way the words go quite clear about this. He's saying for the person who lives a lifestyle of this, without remorse, without conviction and with no desire to live any differently, that person is not saved. They are not going to heaven, they will not be in heaven. Unless there comes genuine repentance and faith in Christ which leads to a new life. It doesn't mean you won't be tempted by sin, even sexual sin, doesn't mean you may not fall into sin. What it does mean is that if you are a true believer, any involvement in these kinds of immoral lifestyles will lead to a crushing guilt and a desire to do differently, to live better and a genuine remorse. If that's not there, if you delight in that kind of lifestyle and live it consistently, you are an unbeliever, you will be in hell someday unless you repent and trust Jesus as your Savior and your life has changed. That's as clear as I know how to put it. Now we will not water it down because that's exactly what Paul is saying and he doesn't only say it here. He says it in other places as well. He says it for instance in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, look at these verses. He says, do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers. I heard Chuck Swindall preach on that passage one time and say, be very careful how you pronounce that last word. Nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. It's clear my friend, you live this lifestyle without remorse, with delight in it, with no desire to live a holy life, you have no partner kingdom of God. Paul also says it in Galatians 5, look at these verses. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. I'm not going to take the time to read 1 John 3 verses 7 through 10, read it sometime on your own where Paul or John says basically the same thing. He basically says if a person continually lives that kind of lifestyle, again the implication is no conviction, no remorse, a delight in that, there's no wanting to turn from that. The person lives that kind of lifestyle, he is not a child of God, he is a child of the devil, John says. Now my friend, that may be shocking and startling to you but it's true, the destiny of darkness is not the kingdom of God. You will not be saved and live that way. Now in order to reinforce that, Paul goes on to describe for us the deception of darkness in verse 6 and this just reinforces what he's already said. Verse 6, he says, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. You see what he's saying there? He's saying, I know what some of you are thinking after here in verse 5. Some of you are thinking and some of you will be told and these Paul calls empty words, things like this. Don't get so bent out of shape about this. Don't get all worked up about this. After all, isn't God a God of love? Isn't he tolerant? Doesn't he forgive our sin? Certainly he'll let us in no matter how we lived. Certainly he loves us, doesn't he? And after all, don't you remember you went forward in church one day many years ago? My friend of your lifestyle does not bear any fruit or evidence that you are a child of God. If there is no desire for holiness but you enjoy this kind of lifestyle, live it constantly without remorse or guilt or conviction, then I would say, I don't care how many times you've come forward in a church, you're not saved. You need to get saved. You need to get right with God. Now, that's clearly what Paul is saying in these verses. God's grace is all around us. Paul gives one final warning before he leaves darkness and starts telling about light. And that final warning in verse 7 is, therefore, do not be partakers or partners with them. In other words, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, don't participate in this lifestyle of darkness. It's all around you. Don't participate in it. Now biblical separation is not isolation from unsaved people. It's not, oh, I don't want to be contaminated by this. So I'm going to go off and live in a cave somewhere where I'll never have to be around unsaved people. Oh, it's not that. Biblical separation is a refusal to adopt the lifestyle. And that's exactly what partners with them means. Means partners in the lifestyle, what he's just described. It's a refusal to live the lifestyle. Jesus mingled with unsaved people so that he could reach out to them all the time, so did the others who followed him. But one who wants to follow Christ will steadfastly refuse the influence of the darkness all around him or her. The description of darkness, the destiny of darkness, the deception of darkness. Don't be partakers in that kind of lifestyle. So what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to live? Paul next describes the lifestyle of light. Let's see if we can summarize that. In verse 8, he introduces the light to us and talks about how the light is introduced to us. The introduction of light in verse 8 is this, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. What a strong statement of conversion. What a sharp contrast. Notice you were darkness. That's the past. You were. That's what your life was like. And it was characterized by this darkness he's talked about. Blindness spiritually. Despair, sinfulness, hopelessness. Rebellion against God. Disobedience. That's what our lives were characterized by. But that's in the past. You were darkness, but he says now there's been a change you see. Now something's different. Now you are light. Light. The opposite of darkness. And you are, he says light in the Lord. The only way we can be light is to be in Christ. The no Jesus as our Savior. To have that born again relationship with Jesus Christ where we're now living a new life. That's only because we're in the Lord. Not because you turn over a new leaf or decide to do better or just try to get rid of your sin because you come to no Christ. You are light in the Lord. Now that's the introduction of light. I want you to see what he says about the integrity of light. What this lifestyle of light looks like. He says in the middle of verse 8, live as children of light. In other words, live as those who are characterized by a lifestyle of light rather than darkness. He says, okay, what kind of lifestyle is that? I'm glad you ask because he gives us some indication in verse 9. He describes some of this lifestyle of light. Lots of things he could have said, but he says these three or four things. Verse 9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness. The word for goodness is a word which means moral excellence. There are three Greek words for goodness that are used in the New Testament. This one specifies moral excellence. It's talking about a purity of heart and mind and life that does not involve itself in the immorality and impurity that we've just talked about. Rather, it focuses on Christ. It focuses on walking with God and living a lifestyle of holiness. That's the goodness he's talking about. Second word he uses is righteousness. That characterizes a lifestyle of light too. And righteousness is the kind of lifestyle that is wholly living in relationship to God. In other words, it says, I want to be like God. I want to live like He does. And then it expresses itself in godly living toward other people. In living like Christ would live. That's what righteousness is. Right living, patterning ourselves after the holiness of God and living that out in a godly fashion among other people. And then the third word he uses is truth. This lifestyle of light is characterized by truth. That means there's no deception. Nothing to cover up, nothing to hide. There's no falsehood in your life. You're honest, you're trustworthy in your lifestyle. And he caps it all off in verse 10 by saying it's also characterized by finding out what pleases the Lord. In other word, find out is a little bit of a weak translation. The word actually means to test or approve. Docuimodo is the Greek word to test or approve something to be right. So in other words, you examine it. You prove that this is the right way to live. You're looking for the right way to live in life. And the way you're looking for is whatever pleases the Lord. So you test it out. You prove it to be true. You live it out with an earnest determination, a passionate desire to find out what pleases God and then live it. That's a lifestyle of integrity characterized by goodness and righteousness and truth and a passion to please the Lord. That's what light looks like. Pretty sharp contrast to the darkness we just saw. Some of you will remember the book or the movie, The Hiding Place. Which is the story of Cory Ten Boom. For those of you who have never read it, read the book or seen the movie, you're really ought to sometime. Cory Ten Boom was a woman who grew up in a Dutch home, Holland in the time just before enduring World War II. Her father was a watchmaker and a watch repairer owned a little shop in the Netherlands. Because their family was a family of believers, they knew Christ as their savior. They were very sympathetic to their Jewish friends and they hid some Jews in their shop before the Nazi soldiers caught on to what they were doing. Once they were discovered, the whole family was split apart and taken away in different concentration camps. They never saw their mother and father again. Betsy and Cory were taken to the same concentration camp. Cory made it through, Betsy died while she was there. And the story, The Hiding Place is the story of tremendous faith and courage and hope during World War II. Cory Ten Boom tells the story of one day working in the watchmaker's shop store with her father. She was in one part of the store and her father was at the counter and in came a wealthy man who came to the counter and said to Mr. Ten Boom, I would like to buy one of your expensive watches over here. And so Mr. Ten Boom got the watch and showed it to him. Just as the money was changing hands and Cory was so thankful to the Lord because she could tell the kind of money he's going to pay for that watch. We'll take care of some very pressing financial needs we have as a family right now. But just as Mr. Ten Boom took the money and was about to put it in the cash register. The man said the reason I'm buying this watch is because the young watchmaker down the street couldn't figure out how to fix mine and so I figured I'd just better buy a new one. Thought I'd come to you. Mr. Ten Boom said, let me see your watch. He took it, opened up the back of it, looked around a little bit, made a little bit of an adjustment. It worked fine. So he handed it back to the man and said, really it was kind of a simple adjustment. He said, I want to tell you something. He said, I really like the young watchmaker down the street. He's a good man and he's a good watchmaker. And he'll be just as good as his dad someday once he gets a little experience. You can trust his work. If you ever have any trouble with it, I'll be glad to help. You can trust his work. Now you don't need this new watch you were going to buy. I'll give you back your money and you give me back that watch. Corey said she watched with horror as her father handed back over the money they needed so desperately as a family. They were trying to buy food and provisions for the Jews they were hiding and so forth. She watched as her father walked that man to the door and opened the door for him and bowed low as the man walked out. She immediately went up to her father and said, Dad, what were you thinking? He could have used that watch. He still could have used it. We could certainly use the money. And Corey says it over his horn-rimmed glasses. He looked very sober right here. And he said, Corey, what will our young friend down the street think? If one of his patrons comes to us and we don't try to keep his business with him, what if he thinks we're trying to steal his business? Will that honor the name of Christ? And as for the money, Corey, don't worry about that. God owns the cattle on a thousand deals. He'll provide for us. And of that, my friend, is a lifestyle of goodness, righteousness, truth, and really seeking what pleases the Lord. That's integrity. All too far missing in many of our lives. A lifestyle of light is a lifestyle of integrity. But it's also a lifestyle of influence. And Paul describes the influence of that light, that lifestyle of light, in verses 11 through 14. Notice what he says. Verse 11, he says, have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Once again, he says, don't have anything to do with that kind of lifestyle. God, your influence should be one of exposing the darkness. Now the word expose literally means to prove, to confront, to correct. Exposure of darkness, this reproving and correcting of darkness, may be either direct or indirect. You know, sometimes we expose darkness just by living light. And just by a consistent, godly, righteous, good, truthful life, you know, what other people are doing just stands in such bold contrast. You haven't said a word, but your lifestyle just exposes their darkness and rebukes them and confronts them about it. Sometimes it's just in the way we live. It's more indirect. Sometimes this exposure of darkness is more direct and sometimes it needs to be more direct. Sometimes we need to confront sin and call it what it is. In a loving and Christlike way, not in a self-righteous, condescending way, but in a loving and Christlike way, be very honest about what sin is. Now that gets tough in the culture we live in today because our culture has only one moral absolute. This world tells us there's only one moral absolute today and that is tolerance. Everything goes. Be accepting. Be broad in your thinking. Be open-minded. There's really no right or wrong and you have no right to tell someone else that they are wrong or that sin. My friend, the Bible just does not allow for that. There are times when we must confront and rebuk sin. And must be clear about what the Bible says about sin. Adultery is sin. Pride is sin. Lying is sin. Homosexuality is sin. Covetousness is sin. Neglect of the poor is sin. Self-righteousness is sin. And on and on you could go with clear, clear teachings of the Word of God about what is sin. There are moral absolutes in this world. There is light and there is darkness. There is right and there is wrong. And the Bible in many cases makes that very, very clear. And where it does make it clear we should be just as clear. And not be influenced by the wishy, washy gray areas of our world in areas where the Bible is very clear. My friend, the Bible tells us that our influence should be one of rebuking sin either indirectly or directly. And you know what that influence may do? Look at verse 12. First of all, it will again help us to recognize the danger of becoming involved in this kind of sinfulness, darkness. Verse 12 says for it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do and secret. Again, the caution, the warning about getting involved even vicariously, even through reading about or watching or listening to the sinful lifestyles of others. Shameful. Shameful to do that, the Bible says. The lifestyle of darkness is something we should not entertain in our hearts and minds. But it will also lead possibly to the salvation of people who are in darkness. Wouldn't that be wonderful? The lifestyle of light truly lived out by believers would lead to the darkness being overcome in people's hearts. Verse 13, he says, but everything exposed by the light becomes visible. For it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said, wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. What that verse is saying is that if you live a lifestyle of light and if you're willing to stand up for righteousness when you're called upon to do so, then the first thing that we'll do is it will expose darkness. It will expose darkness. It's going to be brought out in the light. Second thing it will do is it will make it visible. The idea there is that the people themselves who are in darkness will become convicted. It will become visible to them that they are in darkness. And that conviction may well lead in verse 13 to them waking up and rising from the dead. I think he's talking about salvation. They're coming to new life in Christ. And when they do turn to Christ, Christ will shine on you. He will give you that lifestyle of light. And you'll be brought out of the darkness. You did a wonderful thought that just simply by living as God wants you to live, you could be the instrument through which other people see the darkness in their hearts. They're convicted by it and they may come to Christ. What a wonderful testimony that would be. That's what a lifestyle of light does. That's the influence of a lifestyle of light. So wherever we are, whatever we do, we need to put aside the darkness and not involve ourselves in the lifestyle of darkness at all. Do not participate in that lifestyle. But live a lifestyle of light, godliness, righteousness, truth, goodness, pleasing the Lord so that we can have that kind of testimony and have that kind of influence. A few years ago I was in Hungary and we met an unusual man in Hungary's name was Gaze Abaci. I'll never forget him. 74-year-old man. We had gone to the town of Kesch-Komet where I spoke in a school that was doing English classes for Hungarian young people and they were learning to speak English. There were about 100 of them there. We did a chapel service for them in a public school there in Hungary and then we went out to a place where they were building a church near that school and I met Gaze Abaci. I never forget the guy. He had an incredible story. Being 74 years old he had spent much of his ministry, he was a pastor. He had spent much of his ministry under communist rule. He told the story, the missionary had to prompt him. He had heard the story and he wanted me to hear it. He told the story of his ministry years before communism fell, 89-90, something like that. He said, you know, I would be living in a certain village with my family and we would be witnessing to people and a few people would get saved. We'd start gathering them in our home and before long there would be a church planted in that village. People would be coming to know Christ and the communists would find out about it and they would take away everything I had and relocate me to another part of Hungary with my family. Just dropped me out there with nothing. He said, you know, before long somebody would get saved and a couple more people would be meeting in my home and a couple of years it would be a little church gathering in that village. Communists would find out about it. They would take away everything I had again. My family put me in another village in Hungary. Before long someone would get saved. He went on and told this story and he said, you know, the communists helped me plant churches all over Hungary. He was light in the darkness. He was light for ever he was. Could the same be said for us? I want to ask you this morning, where are you this morning? Are you in the darkness still outside of Christ or are you in the light? Have you come to know Him as your Savior? And even if you are in the light, are you participating in the works of those who are living in darkness? You're still dabbling in that world, still trying to satisfy that part of your simple nature. Or as Paul so strongly challenges us, are you living light in the darkness? Are you letting your light shine for Christ? Let's pray together. So thank you for Paul's clear words. And as we've sought to understand them and apply them today, help us to see what they mean for us in our lifestyles. Help us as your people who claim to know you to really live a lifestyle of light and not to participate in the works of darkness around us. Lord I pray this morning for any who may be lost, who may be unsure that their sins are forgiven, that they've trusted Christ and are on their way to heaven. I pray that today they would make that decision to follow the Lord Jesus with all their heart, trust Him as their Savior, and move from darkness to light. And then Lord for those of us who know the light, or in Christ, help us Lord not to live in the shameful works of darkness and allow those to have a part of our thinking and value system. Help us to really live out the light you've given us in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.