Would you turn back to Ephesians
chapter five? Verse eight, for you were sometimes,
and that doesn't mean some of the time, it means before time. For you were before time darkness, but now are you light. in the Lord. Walk as children
of light. Now, I've entitled this message
Children of Light. Children of Light. Now, notice it does not say you
were sometime or before time in darkness. but it says you
were darkness. You were darkness. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night
and fond of darkness more than light, madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. You were darkness, but
now, this is one of those buts of the scripture that are so
glorious, but God, you were dead in sin, but God. Noah, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But you are now light in
the Lord. Darkness, what does darkness
represent? Well, if we turn off the lights
in this room and we didn't have any windows and it was pitch
black in here, what could you see? Absolutely nothing. Whatever is in here, you would
know it was here because you would be completely in the dark. Darkness represents ignorance. Darkness represents ignorance. But if the light is turned on,
all of a sudden you see. You see what's in here. Light
represents knowledge. I love that passage of scripture
in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, but God who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge. of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now, when we think of the first
creation, would you turn with me there to Genesis chapter one? In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth And the earth was without form and
void. And darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. First thing in creation that's
spoken of is light. Now, I think it's so interesting
that in the fourth day, the sun and the moon
and the stars were created. This is not talking about that
kind of light. This is talking about the uncreated
light. We have the gospel in these very
opening verses. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. God. And then we read of the
fall. He didn't create the earth without
form and void. I don't know what took place
for this to take place, but we can only speculate and we can't
even do that really. But God didn't create the earth
without form and void, but somehow the earth became without form
and void. That's the fall. And the Spirit of God moved on
the waters. God the Spirit moved upon this
dead soul, this dead thing without light, filled with darkness,
without form and without void. The Spirit of God moved on these
waters of darkness and what took place? Light. This is the uncreated
light of the Lord Jesus Christ. The creation begins with light. Now, what's the first thing that
takes place in a new creation? Light. Light. You see now what you could not
see before. You had no understanding or even
desire to know anything about the character of God, but the
light has been turned on and now you know who he is. You know
something about his character. You know something about His
power, and His holiness, and His justice, and His sovereignty.
You used to didn't know that, but you do now. Why? Because
the light's been turned on. And you now have an understanding
of yourself you formerly did not have. You didn't see yourself
as nothing but sin. You knew you did wrong things,
and you even felt guilty about the wrong things you did. But
you didn't see yourself as completely evil, totally depraved. I tell
you, I've said this so many times. You can believe in the doctrine
of depravity, but it's another thing when you believe you're
totally depraved. And you have light concerning
how God saves sinners by Christ. You just didn't have a clue.
But now you do because God has enlightened you. Children of
light. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter
one. Verse 15, this is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit, for this cause
I obtain mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth
all longsuffering for a pattern to them. That's talking about
me and you. Which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now Paul says, I'm the pattern.
If God saves you, he's going to use this pattern he used in
saving me. You're gonna be saved the same
way I'm saved. You're gonna believe the same things I believe. You're
gonna experience the same things I've experienced. It's all the
same. My only hope is that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners because I'm a sinner. And my
only hope that he came to save me is because I fit that description.
But Paul says, I'm the pattern. I'm the pattern. Now, he's talking
about his conversion experience. What happened when Paul was saved?
What was the first thing that took place when Paul was saved?
He was on the road to Damascus to kill believers. And what took
place? A great light shone round about
from heaven. A great light. And what did Paul
do? He fell to the ground. His salvation, as far as his
experience goes, began with light. Light as to who God is. Light
as to who he was. And if we're saved, we're going
to be saved the same way Paul was saved. We're going to have
the same experience Paul experienced. It begins with light. Turn to
John 1. John 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. He was a distinct person. The
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was, now that's talking
about his eternal isness. When you read that passage of
scripture, don't say the same was in the beginning, say the
same was, eternally was in the beginning with God. When we John,
whoso confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
not of God, but whosoever confesses that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh, he's of God. Well, to confess that Jesus Christ
came in the flesh is to confess that he was eternally before
he came. Verse three, all things were
made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. He's the creator. All things
were created by him and for him. And he is before all things. By him, all things consist. Verse four, in him was life and
the life, the life. Remember what the Lord said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. The only life that
I can enter heaven by is his life. My history better be his
history. That's the only way I can enter
heaven. This life, the life. We're really living. Oh, really?
This is the life, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is
the life of every believer, the righteousness of every believer.
The life was the light of men. In him was life. He is the independent
being. He has life in himself and is
the source of all life. And the life is the light of
men. You know what that means? That
means if you have any light from God, you know the only life you
have is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's your life
before God. That's how precious this is to
you. Look in John chapter three. Well,
let's go to verse five. Verse five, let me read that
to you. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness
comprehended it not. Now, I've read everything I could
about what that verse of scripture means, and there's basically,
people give two views, and I think they're both true. They're both
true. When the light's turned on, where's
the darkness go? Ever thought about that? I'd say the word
comprehended could be that you're in a totally dark room. You come
in, turn on the light, and the darkness disappears. It's gone. Where'd it go? I don't know,
but it's gone. It's not there anymore. And it can also mean
this, someone in darkness cannot comprehend the light because
they don't have a seeing eye. You see, it takes more than light
to see, doesn't it? You have to have a seeing eye
given to you in the new birth by the grace of God and you can't,
it might be light all around you. You might be hearing nothing
but light and truth and it's meaningless if you don't have
a heart to believe and a heart to receive, a heart to see. Turn to John chapter three. Verse 18, he that believeth on him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already because he has not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation
that light come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil, hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light.
They don't want to be in the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved or exposed. He wants to stay away from the
light. He doesn't like what the light shows, but he that doeth
truth. This is such an important phrase.
It doesn't say he that believed truth. It says he that doeth
truth. Truth is something you do. He that doeth truth cometh to
the light that his deeds might be made manifest that they are
wrought in God. And that can just as easily be
translated, and I think it should have been translated this, his
deeds were wrought by God. Now, I am not ashamed to bring
what he did to the light. I don't wanna bring what I've
done to the light. I can see why they wanna stay
away from the light. But I'm not ashamed to bring what He
did to the light. His life, His righteousness.
Oh, I'll bring that. The faith that He's given. The
repentance He's given. It's His work. It's God that
works in you. Both the will and to do is good pleasure. I'll
bring that to the light. I'm not afraid to bring what
he has done to the light. I love what he said to John the
Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, I'm not ashamed. I'm not
afraid to bring what he has done to the light as my only way into
his presence. John chapter eight, verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. Now, the then is very
important. After this event, then spake
Jesus unto them, I am the light of the world. Now this first
11 verses of John, the Pharisees I planted somebody, I don't have
any doubt about it. They caught this woman taking
an adultery in the very act, and I have no doubt they planted
somebody to see that this really did take place. And one wonders,
why didn't they bring the man? He should have been stoned too,
but somehow they saw him too, but he wasn't brought, but they
bring this woman. And they said, master, let's look in chapter
eight, verse one. And early in the morning, he
came again into the temple and all the people came into him
and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, they said unto him, master, this woman was taken in adultery
in the very act. This is not gossip, this is not
innuendo. We have eyewitnesses that prove
that she did this. Now Moses, in the law, commanded
us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? This they
said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. We've
got him in a no-win situation. If he says stoner, Where's your
mercy? Where's the forgiveness you speak
of? I thought you were the friend of publicans and sinners. It's
all talk. If he says, let her go free. Well, you don't have any respect
for the law. The law says stoner and you're
saying bypass that. You don't have any respect for
the law. It's wrong. They thought they had him in a place where
he could not get away. They thought, and that... Thinking you can stump divine
omniscience? I don't think so. So when they
continued asking him, no, verse six, this they said, tempting
him that they might have to accuse him, but Jesus stooped down and
with his finger, wrote on the ground, as though he heard them
not. We're given almost his body language
while this was taking place. Are you listening to us? No.
No. He stooped down and wrote on
the ground. And you've heard me say this
before. There's only two times in the
Bible, in the Old Testament, where the finger of God we use
to write. What's the first time? the writing
of the law. Thou shalt not commit adultery. What's the second time? The writing
on the wall in Daniel chapter five, thou art weighed in the
balances and found wanting. Now, I don't have any doubt that
When he said this next statement, it's because all of these men
were guilty of this sin. Not some other sin, but this
sin. So look what he says. So when
they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto
them, he that is without sin among you, Let him cast the first
stone at her. Go for it. And he stooped down and wrote
on the ground. There's a second stoop. These
two stoops represent his two stoops. He stooped when he became
a man. What a stoop when the eternal
God became confined to the flesh to never be anything but that
again, a man. And what a stoop when this man
was made sin and bore all the horror and the vileness and the
wickedness of sin. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. Two stoops. Verse nine. And they which heard
it being convicted of their own conscience, they weren't convicted
by the Holy Spirit, because if they were convicted by the Holy
Spirit, you know what they'd be doing? They wouldn't be leaving Christ, would
they? They'd be coming to him for mercy, and they would have
been received. But no, they're convicted of their own conscience. It went out one by one, beginning
at the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone,
and the woman standing. in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman, this is after these two stoops. And this represents him standing
on resurrection ground. He became a man, he became sin,
and now he's raised from the dead. And he's speaking to this
woman on resurrection ground. And this is how he can do this.
He said, woman, where are those nine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? Is there nothing to bring to
your charge? And she said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto
her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Then spake
Jesus again unto them, I am the light. of the world. I am the
light as to how I can take this woman that is guilty and say,
there's nothing to condemn her for. He's speaking on resurrection
ground. Her sin has all been put away
and she stands before God without guilt. Now, you were before being
illuminated Darkness itself. You were completely ignorant
of the character of God. You were completely ignorant
of your own personal sinfulness and depravity. And you were completely
ignorant as to how he saved sinners by Christ. You had a little God,
you had a big you. And you had a view of salvation
where you got some of the credit. And now you don't want anything
like that. You, because you know that if
you get any of the credit, that means salvation in some way dependent
upon you. And you're just, you just, you're, you're repulsed
by that. You want to just simply be found
in Christ. Now you're light in the Lord. And I love the way he doesn't
say now you're light, you were darkness, now you're light, but
now you're light in the Lord. You see it's in the Lord that
I have acceptance. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly blesses in Christ. According as he has
chosen us in him. before the foundation of the
world that we should behold him without blame before him in love,
having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted, how? In the beloved. In whom we have
redemption through his blood. Now this is the light we have.
All of God's salvation is in Christ. And our only desire is
to be found in him. Now, in our text, you are darkness,
but now are you light. Walk as children of light. Well, how you go about doing
that? walk as children of light. We're actually gonna be looking
at this for the next several weeks as we go on into Ephesians chapter
five. But the key is found in these
first two verses of Ephesians chapter five. Be ye therefore imitators of
God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved
us. and has given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Walk in light. Walk in love. Same thing. Same thing. In 1 John 4, 7, John said, Beloved,
let us love one another for love is of God. Everyone that loveth
is born of God. and knoweth God. Now he's not
talking about natural love. He's not talking about the love
between men and women. He's not talking about the love between parents
and children. He's talking about this supernatural love that is
the result of being born of God. Let us love one another for love
is of God. He that loveth is born of God
and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. For God is love. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
five. Matthew chapter five, verse 14. You are the light of the world. Now he said in the other scripture,
I'm the light of the world, but here he says, you are the light
of the world. You know, the only way the folks
around you are going to have that light that you have is if
you give it to them. It's not talking about this little
light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. It's not talking about
that at all. This is talking about this supernatural light
as to how God saves sinners by Christ. You are the light of
the world. The city that's set on a hill
cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under
a candlestick, but on a, under a bushel, but on a candlestick.
And it 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 you and say what a great Christian you are and
how you're so much like Christ. You know, if that's what people
come up with, when you shine your light, Your light was darkness. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your father,
which is in heaven. If men aren't glorifying your
father, which is in heaven, you didn't shine any light. Turn
with me to 1 John 1. John tells us what this thing
of walking in the light is. This is so important. 1 John
1. walk as children of the light. Let's read verses six and seven
first. If we say we have fellowship with him. A lot of people make
that claim. I fellowship with God. I pray
to God. He hears me. I speak to him. He speaks to me. I have fellowship
with God. I have communion. I know God.
If we say that. If we say that we have fellowship
with God and walk in darkness. We lie and do not the truth. And most folks, when they think
of that verse of scripture, they think, well, if you make a profession
to know Christ, if you talk the talk, but you don't walk the
walk, if you practice secret sin in the dark that nobody else
knows about, You can talk all you want about knowing God, but
you don't know him. You're nothing but a hypocrite. Somebody that makes that statement
about that passage of scripture is very much a hypocrite. That's
a phony show. That's all it is. There's no
truth to it. What he's talking about is walking in the darkness
of salvation by works. walking in the darkness of salvation
by works. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Verse seven, but if we walk in
the light as he is in the light, that's the light of the gospel,
isn't it? The light of how God saves sinners by Christ. If we
walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us. Continual cleansing, always cleansing. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now, what do we have fellowship
for? Can you have fellowship for that one who says, if you're
sinning in private, don't think God's gonna have anything to
do with you. Can you have fellowship with that person? No. You think they're lying jerks.
You don't have fellowship with that. You don't have anything
to do with them. You don't like them. But someone who looks to
the blood of Christ only as everything in their salvation. You have
fellowship with that person, don't you? There is communion. Look up in verse one. What led
him to make this statement? That which was from the beginning
the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal one, which we have heard, which
we have seen, notice the order, hearing and seeing. You can't see what you've never
heard. You've heard and you've seen. We've seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the
word of life for the life was manifested. And we've seen and bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you, and here's our purpose, that you also may
have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is
the message which we've heard of Him, in declaring to you,
that God is light. Now children of the light know
something about this. God is light and in him is no darkness
at all. He's called by James, the father
of lights with whom is no bearableness, neither shadow of turning. He's utterly immutable. He does
not change. He cannot change. He will not
change. He's the only immutable, and
he's not a creature, he's a being. Everything else is creatures.
But he's the only immutable being in the universe. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed, Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Not even a shadow with him. He's
pure Godhead. There's no darkness at all. He's
holy. He's sovereign. He controls everybody
and everything. He controls the very thoughts
going through your mind right now. He's absolutely just. There's
nothing unjust about him. He's independent. He has no needs. He's all powerful. Whatever he
desires, he has the power to perform. He's omnipresent. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. He's gracious. He's merciful. He's good. God is light. He's the light. He's like, he's
not like anything, but sunlight, sunlight. Sunlight can touch
you and come to you and embrace you without contracting any defilement
from you. That's the way the Lord is. He
can come and touch you without detracting any defilement being
altogether holy and glorious. There's no darkness at all in
him. Aren't you thankful for that?
God is light. In him is no darkness at all.
Now, if we say, verse six, if we say we have fellowship with
him and walk in darkness, the darkness of salvation by works. Here's one of the really dark
things about it. Tell me exactly what it is you gotta do. What
else? What else? Keep going. There's never an answer. There's
never an answer. There's vague thoughts, but there's
never an answer. Nothing like believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. There's always something
you need to do. Now, if we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
The light of how Christ could say to that woman, where are
those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? No
man, Lord, neither do I condemn thee. If we walk in the light
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now look at verses eight
and nine. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now there,
the word sin is a noun. It's not talking about an action.
You know, if all you see is sins, you don't have any understanding
of sin. Sin is a noun and he's talking about a sinful nature. If we say we have no sin, What do we do? We deceive ourselves. You've
lied to yourself. You've told yourself a lie and
you've taken the bait. We deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. In
verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, there the word is a verb. and it's regarding any action.
It's in the present tense. If I would say regarding this
sermon, well, I've not sinned in preaching this sermon, I'd
be telling a lie, wouldn't I? It'd be wrong. If I give my best
gift and I say, well, I didn't sin in that. Yeah, I did. With
regard to everything and anything you and I do, it's sin. You believe that? If I did it,
it's in. If you did it, it's in. I love what Charles Spurgeon
said, when I take my good works and my bad works and I compare
them to each other, I can't tell the difference. And the best
thing for me to do is to throw them all overboard and come into
the kingdom of heaven on the plank of free grace. if we confess our sins. Now, this thing of the confession
of sin is not naming them audibly to the Lord. Now, if you know
what they are, it's a good thing. Lord, I confess I did that. Please
forgive me. That's a good thing. But that's really not what the
confession of sin is all about. The word confess means literally,
it's made of two words which means speak the same thing. If you confess your sin before
God, you speak the same thing God says with regard to your
sin. You're in complete agreement
with what God says with regard to your sin. Guilty as charged! You agree with God. If it means
confess all your sins, you've heard me say this, there's not
enough time in the day and most of the sins you've committed,
you don't even know you've committed them. You're just ignorant of them. So it
doesn't mean to verbally confess each sin. Man, you're in trouble,
that's what it means. But it means to agree with God,
to speak the same thing God says. Now this is one of the most amazing
verses of scripture. If we confess our sins, it says
he's faithful and just. We would think he's merciful
and gracious. That's what we would use. Oh,
he's so gracious. He's so merciful. He's so forgiving.
But that's not what the scripture uses. If we confess our sins,
he's faithful and just. Faithful, in what way? Well,
the reason you're confessing your sins is because before time
began, he decreed that you would do that. And it is his will coming
to pass in time. It's him being faithful to himself. The only reason you have confessed
your sins is because he decreed it before time began. It's all
a part of his decree. Not only is he faithful, to forgive
us of our sins. Scripture says he's just. The
very justice of God demands the salvation of every believer.
It's a just salvation. It's a righteous salvation. The
justice of God says bring him in. That's exactly what he deserves. He's kept my law perfectly. He's
never sinned. He has a perfect righteousness
before me. He's faithful and just to forgive
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That cleansing
is continual. And you know, this is a glorious
thing to think about. When I'm brought into heaven,
I will not remember what it is to be a sinner. I will not be
conscious of having ever sinned. I won't even know what sin is. I'll be perfectly holy, perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. But you know what? I'm going
to look on my Redeemer, and although I'm not going to remember what
it is like, I'm not going to remember anything that took place
here. I'm not going to remember it. But I'm going to look at
my Redeemer, and I'm going to see the scars on His hand and
His feet, and I'm going to know the only reason I'm there. is
because of what he did. I won't be thinking, well, I
must've been a good person. No, I'll know better than that. I'll
know the only reason I'm there is because of him. David said, the Lord is my light
and my salvation. Now walk as children of light,
the light of the gospel, the light of loving his people, the
light of being an imitator of God. How do you go about imitating
God? Well, obviously there's some
things you can't imitate him in. He's got attributes that
are non-communicable and you'll never be sovereign. You'll never
be all powerful. You'll never be omniscient. There's
a lot of things you and I'll never be. But I can imitate God
in this. He knows. His son is everything
in salvation. Me too. He knows his son is altogether
lovely. Me too. I'm a date him in that. He is completely satisfied with
the work of his son. I am too. I'm not thirsting for
anything else. I'm not looking for anything
else. I'm completely satisfied. It's always, not amusing is not
the right word, but I just know they've never heard one. Somebody
says, there's got to be something else. You just ain't ever seen.
That's why. That's the only reason you say
something like that. Who trusted Christ only for the salvation
of his people? God did. I trust Christ only. for my salvation. Be ye were
darkness, but now are you light. Walk as children of light. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you and praise
you for the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you and praise you
for the revelation of Him. How we thank you and praise you
for the salvation that's in Him. How we thank you and praise you
that you're faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that you would give us the grace to truly before you confess
our sin and agree with what you say concerning our sin and look
to Christ only as everything in our salvation. As we face this coming week,
we ask that we might be enabled to walk as children of light.
We ask that we might be the light of the world. that our lights
and shows shine before men, that they would see our good works
and glorify Thee, not us, but Thee. We ask that you would enable
us to preach your gospel for the glory of your name. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.