Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Ephesians chapter 5 and reading
from our text, verses 13 and 14. Ephesians chapter 5, verses
13 and 14. But all things that are reproved
are made manifest by the light, For whatsoever doth make manifest
is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light. Ephesians chapter 5 and verses
13 and 14. Paul is writing here to a church,
to the Ephesian church, a people that once were in darkness. We have in verse eight, for ye
were sometimes darkness, but now a light in the Lord. They were a church that is described
in verse two, Or chapter 2, verse 1, And you hath he quickened,
who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. But God had worked in their hearts,
he'd made a change, made a difference, and saved them and blessed them. When our sins are pardoned and
forgiven, when we have an interest in Christ, then it will make
a profound difference in our lives. And the things that we
once walked in, and the ways that were sinful ways and ways
that were not of God but of this world, those very sins that Christ
came to suffer for and to put away, those sins we will seek
to depart from and to turn away from and to walk in the ways
of holiness. And a church that has a good
assurance and interest in Christ will show that in their life
and in their conduct. This Ephesian church was the
first one that was mentioned in the letters in the Revelation
chapter 2 that John sent to the churches, the seven churches. And the first one was to Ephesus
and to the angel of the church of Ephesus' rite. This is Revelation
and chapter 2. These things saith he that holdeth
the seven stars in his right hand, that's the ministers of
the gospel, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,
which are the churches, I know thy works, and thy labour, and
thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil,
and hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not,
and hast found them liars. and hast borne, and hast patience
for thy name's sake, hast laboured, and hast not fainted. He commends
the church fast. But then he tells them of what
he has against them. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. The first
love of the Ephesian church and the first love of every church
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to be first. And it is
that love to Christ that first was used to draw them and quicken
them and to cause them to run in his ways. But when a church
leaves that, and as it has been said concerning the end times,
because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And we must expect that in the
church of God, that where the sins and iniquities and evils
abound, where a church is not careful and watchful over these,
then the love of many towards the Lord and towards his people
and towards his word will wax very cold." And the Ephesian
church were in danger of this, and so it is in this way that
they are being exhorted. We have a beautiful time at the
end of this chapter of Christ and his church. It is a type
of a husband and his wife, and the husband caring for the wife,
and the wife submitting and reverencing her husband. And the Apostle
speaks it as of a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ
and the Church. And in verse 26, he speaks of
Christ loving the Church, giving himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of the Word, that
he may present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without
blemish. And yet this church then has
been brought out of sins and a way of life that It was abhorrent
to God, and yet they were still, you might say, surrounded by
Him. We are in the world, still in
the world. And our Lord prayed in John 17,
Father, I pray not that thou wouldst take them out of the
world, but that thou wouldst keep them from the evil. So it's not surprising that the
Lord's message to His church is concerning the evil that surrounds
them and how they are to walk and what is to be their position
in the world. The Lord has said that as many
as he doth love, he doth correct and rebuke and correct and chasten. And it is a people then that
he writes to here that are called by His grace, who have been blessed,
who have been favoured in their souls, and are being exhorted
in the first verse of this chapter, Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us. and hath given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for sweet-smelling savour. And that exultation is then followed
by warnings of not returning to walking in darkness, but to
wakefulness and watchfulness and to live in that way that
gives honour and glory to God. Well, if we are like the Ephesian
church, if we are like those that are spoken of in the letter
to them, in the revelation, that we have left our first love,
or if we are those to be exhorted to maintain and to keep that
love, then this word is for us. It's also a word that is to those
that as yet do not know the Lord. as yet do not know the blessing
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that are walking in this world not
realising that those things that they do and walk in are described
in the Word of God as darkness, they are works of darkness, works
of Satan, works of sin. that shall be dealt with at that
Last Judgment Day and is the reason for all of the death,
the suffering and the evil that is in the world, because sin
entered into the world and death by sin. And the Lord has come
to redeem us and to save us from our sins, to give us a hope beyond
the grave and to give us a hope in himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this church then, this Ephesian
church, is an illustration of a people that once were ignorant
of God, strangers to him. And the Lord had given them spiritual
life and separated them from evil ways and brought them to
be his spiritual bride, the church. And he has brought them to know
this blessing and would have them retain that blessing in
the midst of this world. So the Epistle to the Ephesians
is a great encouragement to those that seek for life, that seek
for salvation, that seek to be delivered from sin. It's a great
ray of hope of the quickening work of God to save from sin. and to deliver from all from
which condemnation comes. So I want to look at this word
that shall be a help to those that know the Lord, the Church
of God, but also those that would seek the ways of the Lord as
well. There are three points to be
brought from the words of our text. The first is that we are
to take heed, and these are three things really that we must do. The first is take heed to the
light that reproves. In verse 13 we have, but all
things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for
whatsoever doth make manifest is light. So we are to take heed
to the light that reproves. Secondly, we are to take heed
to our own condition. We have in verse 14, wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead. There's
two conditions that are spoken of here, a sleepiness and are
really a being amongst the dead, almost appearing to be like them. Then we have lastly, to have
regard to the promise, Christ shall give thee light. It's a beautiful word at the
end of verse 14. Christ shall give thee light. So firstly we have an exhortation
to take heed to the light that reproves. Our Lord in the beginning
of his ministry, the well-known chapter in the Gospel according
to John chapter 3, speaks of this light and the reaction of
men to it. He says in verse 19, and this
is the condemnation, that light is 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, lest his deeds
should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we had something just as a
way of illustration that was not very nice, it was very unpleasant
and it was surrounded in darkness and we didn't want to really
know what was there. Then we would be very frightened
of actually getting a light and shining on that so as to actually
see what it was really like. But if we took a light and we
saw it, then we'd actually see the truth of it. If we have a
room in our house that is all untidy and all dirty and all
unkept, if we kept it all in darkness, then we could perhaps
deceive ourselves and think, well, it didn't need cleaning,
it didn't need work, it wasn't too bad, it could be just left.
We'll just ignore it, just leave it But if we went and turned
on the light and we actually saw the real condition of it,
it would really come home what a condition that that room was
in. Many years ago, over in Tasmania,
we were, when we were younger, myself with my brothers, and
we went for a walk up into the mountains on the east coast or
north coast and we saw a tunnel going into the mountain and we
walked in that tunnel. You could walk upright in it
and it's very dark in that tunnel so we just felt our way along
and we came at last to where there was some bars and there
was gaps through the bars we could walk through. But it was
so dark, so pitch dark, we didn't. We thought we need to come back
with a light to see what is past those bars, why there are bars
put there, before we just go on in darkness. So we came back
with a light. And as we shone that torch in
that area, we saw that those bars were blocking off a straight
drop, a pit, down the other side. If we'd have just gone through
those bars, we'd have fallen straight down that pit. But the
light showed exactly what was there. It showed us the danger
that we couldn't see in darkness. The light that makes manifest
in this sense here is the light of the word of God. It is the
light that our Lord Jesus Christ shines upon our lives and upon
our path. The light also is that which
the law of God shines, because the law of God is that which
makes known what sin is. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. And there's a curse upon everyone
that turneth away from hearing the words of the law. all of
us as fallen sons of Adam, we recoil from that which will find
us out as sinners. We don't lie to the truth, especially if we've
been deceiving ourselves and telling ourselves that there
is no problem, everything is all right, we've been doing everything
all right, We don't like to actually come face to the face with the
truth that actually we are wrong. In our land, it is the law of
our land in the various aspects of it that shows what is right
and what is wrong. We might have been doing something
for many years. We might have been carrying on
a certain practice or a certain way, not realising that actually
it was wrong. And someone draws our attention
to a particular law and we realise that actually we have been breaking
that law and we are guilty of that law. But we don't really
want to hear. We might be crossed with that
person and say, well, I would rather have been in ignorance.
I would rather still carry on doing what I have been doing.
Now that you've told me, now I'm going to feel guilty. doing
what I've been doing for a long while, quite blissfully and innocently,
I'd rather not even hear about it, know about it. And this is
what our Lord was referring to by man in nature. Because our
deeds are evil, because they are sinful, even the possibility
and thought that they will be reproved, we'd rather turn away
from it. And many, many, will reject the
Word of God, they don't want to read the Word of God because
of the thought that it is going to show them that there's something
wrong in their lives. They'd rather have that hope
that, well, they'll get to heaven at the end without being shown
very clearly that actually with the way that they are living,
they will never get to heaven. And the way that they're living
is contrary and opposite to God and his ways. And if they continue
in that way, then they will certainly go to hell and not to heaven. And they'd rather not know that.
They'd rather just be willingly deceived and willingly carry
on blissfully deceiving themselves, hoping that all will be well. Bunyan in his Pilgrim's Progress,
you may have read it and be familiar with it, but he uses the analogies
and he gives a picture of one on the way to heaven or professing
to be on the way to heaven and he was called Ignorance. And
the characters that Bunyan had of Christian and hopeful came
upon him in the way. And they realized that he was
professing to be going to heaven, but he was ignorant of vital,
important truths of an interest in Christ and Christ's righteousness
and trust in his works and not in his own works. And they tried
to alert ignorance to what his danger was, but he wouldn't hear
them. He wouldn't listen. He wasn't
even interested in hearing anything that they said, any warnings
that they were given. And they could just helplessly
look on as he blissfully went on his way. And then we were
given the most solemn picture as he comes to the river of death
and over the river and ascends up and seeking to gain entrance
to heaven and he finds that he was not known there. He never
had an entrance there. And there was a byway to hell
right from the gate of heaven. You know, we may deceive ourselves. We may deceive ourselves in many
things, in natural ways. But the truth will come out. You know, we can get in our car
and we can say, well, we're going to this destination. And someone
will say, no, that road is not right. You'll never get there
by going that way. But by keeping on that way, and
you say, I'm certain, I know, it is right, it will get us there.
And off you go. But no amount of self-persuasion
will ever make a wrong way to be a right way. and you never
get to that right destination going the opposite way. We know
that in natural ways, but do we know it in spiritual ways? There is a way, saith the scripture,
a way that seemeth right unto a
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Have you ever,
have I ever trembled on that? A way that seems right to a man,
but the end of the ways of death. Well, what is set before us here
is that a church must give heed to that light that exposes and
shows the true state and true condition. Paul, when he writes
to the Corinthians, his second epistle to them in chapter four. He says concerning the ministry,
he says that we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness nor handing the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth commanding ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. In the ministry, he was
telling the truth, warning, and showing the true way of God. And he says, but if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of
God should shine unto them. He says of that which they had
been partakers of, for God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
to the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Peter, when he writes in his
epistles, He says of that which we should take heed to in his
second epistle and the first chapter in that, in verse 19,
he speaks of the time when they saw the Lord's glory on the Mount
of Transfiguration. But he says, we have also a more
short word of prophecy, and this is the word of God, where unto
ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place, until the day dawn and day star arise in your
hearts. The word of God is a lamp. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path. The light that the church is
pointed to here is a light that makes manifest and really shows
the truth of things. All things that are reproved
are made manifest by the light. Whatsoever doth make manifest
is light. And dear friends, we are exhorted
in this. Do not turn away from the light
of the word of God. don't turn away from the light
that is really exposing things. You know, in the wartime, the
use of the searchlights was to make known where the enemy was,
to actually see where it was, so that then they could be attacked
and dealt with. The lights is so much needed
and the light of the word, we do not have light in ourselves. We're not to trust in our own
light. We're not to walk in the sparks
of our own kindling. We're to rely upon what God shows
and what God exposes and what God tells us is true and what
God tells us is evil. What God tells us is sinful and
wrong. We're to believe and to trust
that, not ourselves. And if a church, if an individual
member of a church is to be kept and is to be blessed, this is
the first thing that she is to really take heed to, that she
loves the light that she's willing to have painful things told her,
to have things exposed. Someone might have symptoms of a disease or something
is wrong with their bodies, and they know that something is not
quite right. And people might say, look, you
go to the doctor, you need an x-ray, you need a scan, you need
to find out what is going wrong. and they'd rather not know. They'd rather just leave it and
imagine that there's nothing wrong. But if there is something
wrong, then eventually that will come out and it will kill and
it will be serious. We need that which is hidden
to actually be exposed and to find out what it is so that it
is dealt with while there is time and while there is hope
and while there is to be revealed the grace and mercy and blessing
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in the world and surrounded
by the world and these Ephesians, they were surrounded by those
that were still walking in darkness. They were surrounded by those
that they had been once themselves and here The Apostle writes to
them and he tells them this, these things that are done, they
shall be reproved and made to be seen what they really are
by the light of the Word of God. Well this then is the first thing,
take heed to the light that reproves. May we be Those that know the
law of God, that read the word of God, that are searched by
the word of God. Search me and try my heart. Search me and see if there be
any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. The second thing to take heed
to is our own selves. What is our own condition? We have in verse 14, wherefore
his death awake thou that sleepest. Remember the Lord told the parable
of the five wise and five foolish virgins, and they were waiting
for the bridegroom. And while they waited, they all
slumbered and slept. The church is not to be a church
that slumbers and sleeps. In that parable, there was five
that actually did have the grace of God. They were God's saved
people, and though they were woken up at the last, and they
were saved, they could go in, they were ready, they had grace,
they had oil in their vessels with their lamps, yet they were
still sleeping. and there were those that were
sleeping with them that did not have grace, that were not saved
at all. If we are to be certain, if we
are to know that we are saved and we are safe and we are ready
when the Lord comes, then instead of sleeping we are to be awake. Awake thou that sleepest. A sleeping church. She is not conscious of what is going on
round about her. She's careless, she's indifferent,
she's not prayerful, she's not watchful, she's not one that
is alive unto God, not giving glory to God, not showing forth
his praise in the earth, not living to his honour and glory. She's not in a position at all,
you think of those solemn cases, especially in the First World
War, where there were those sentries that were posted. If they slept
at their post, then they're likely to be shot for it. If it wasn't
the case that the enemy came and all their whole division
was wiped out by the enemy, how vital it was that those that
were charged with watching We're actually doing that. We in the
ministry are charged with that, to be watchmen and to warn and
to actually watch the things that are happening and things
that are going on. But individual Christians are
to be the same, to watch unto prayer and to, instead of just
be drifting through life, they are to be comparing what is happening
in the world with the Word of God. They are to be mindful of
what is going on in their own thoughts, their affections, their
own heart, and that they are in an awakened state, living
as those that were not asleep, but really awake. That their eyes that they saw,
their ears that they heard, their heart perceived, and that they're
interacting with those that were round about them. And so we have
as well, an arise from the dead. Well, no man can ever quicken
himself and arise himself from the dead. That is the work of
God. That is very clear from chapter
two and verse one. And you hath he quickened or
made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. It is God that quickens
into life. But where the Lord has given
life, then light is given to see where we are. The word of
the Lord is for his people. Come out from among them and
be ye separate. Touch not the unclean thing and
I will receive you. You shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. that we are not to return to
those same sins and company that the Lord has brought us out from. The children of Israel were not
to return to Egypt. They were not to return to Baal
and to the false worship and to their idols. They were to
serve the true and living God. And the Ephesians are told here,
of those things that are done, of those that walk in darkness,
and they are told to have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them. And this church
was in danger to actually have fellowship with them, to be walking
with them, to actually have them in the church or in their assemblies,
walking in ways of sin and of evil. So they were to be mindful
of what their condition was. Where are you actually living? Where is your company? Where
is those that you have fellowship with? Is it the people of God?
Is it the godly? Is it those that love the Lord?
Or is it those that love sin? What doest thou hear? Elijah
may be said to us many times. that when their disciples came
to seek the Lord, and they sought him where? Among the dead, because
that's where they saw him, laid in the tomb. And the word was,
why seek ye the living among the dead? If we really seek the
living family of God, if we seek the blessings of heaven, we don't
seek them amongst the ungodly and the wicked of this world
and those that are walking in sinful and wicked and evil ways. We will not find the Lord there,
we will not find peace there and blessing there. And really
there's the contrast, the carnal ways, the carnal heart, the heart
that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, that
desires ways of darkness and sin. we are to really think,
where are we? Are we with the company that
we want to be in eternity? Are we with the company of the
people of God? John says in his epistles, we
know that we have passed from death unto life because we love
the brethren. And those that believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ, they became followers of the Lord and of
us as the apostles. They joined to the people of
God. Moses says to the children of
Israel, who is on the Lord's side? Well, Joshua said the same. As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord. Let us go unto him without the
camp bearing his reproach. Tell you a second, The point
here is a really looking at our own condition and maybe each
ask and I include myself here to ask myself what kind of a
condition am I in? What is the condition of my soul?
Is it sleepy? Is it careless? Is it lively? Is it prayerful? Are we amongst
the dead in what we look at? on the internet, or what we listen
on the radio, or what people we meet with, and the company
that we keep with in all aspects of our life. What is the company? Are we amongst the company of
the people of God, or are we amongst the dead? Are we acting
as if we were still uncalled, unquickened, or are we giving
abundant evidence that we are new creatures in Christ? that
we are changed, like these Ephesians, they were changed. And the apostle
would have them to remain in that awakened and quickened state. That's our second point, take
heed to our own condition. The third is to have respect
to the promise that the Lord has given. Christ shall give
thee light. Really what is happening here
with the Ephesians, they brought from those things that their
flesh loved and liked, and they are to then venture to that which
is set before them of the blessings, the spiritual blessings and treasures
in Christ. When the apostle first begins
his epistle to them, He says in verse 3, When we get into
backslidden places, we often forget the blessings that we've
had that made us so forsake the world and its pleasures, cast
in our lot with the Lord's people, and love the Lord and love his
ways. Those spiritual blessings and
feeding upon the word of God and the blessed hope beyond the
grave, those in a backslidden state are far distant from us
and the pull to our old nature is far stronger than the drawing
of that blessings in Christ. But the path that is set before
us here Taking heed first to the light that reproves and then
to our own selves is then followed with this beautiful promise,
and Christ shall give thee light. We don't have light in ourselves. We don't, but in Christ there
is. In Christ there is the provision
of grace, the grace that he gave us first. My grace is sufficient
for thee. and to give light upon the inheritance
that he has given for us, the hope beyond the grave, to show
what the attainment is that his precious blood has put away our
sins upon Calvary's tree. to show what we have in the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the altogether lovely,
he is our high priest in heaven above, he is our hope, that it
is his righteousness that is our clothing to appear in the
presence of God, that those spiritual blessings and the world to come
are all bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we get far
off from the Lord, it is as if this great darkness is in cloud,
is over all of the blessings and the promises and the glory
and the loveliness of Christ and all that is in store for
us, as if those things were not there. But the promise here is
Christ shall give thee light in this light, There's not a
seeing all of the darkness and all of the sin, but opening up
to us all of the blessings of Christ, all of the provisions
of the gospel, all of what is laid up in store for us in heaven,
that eternal life that is given to His people of God, the preservation
and keeping are given to them eternal life. No man shall pluck
them out of my hand. Those eternal mansions I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I shall come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am there shall you be also." It is that counterattraction
and blessing. Perhaps you use a little scripture
illustration. We have the case of Ruth forsaking
her own people in Moab and cleaving to Naomi. And as she loves Naomi,
cleaves to her, she comes into the land of Bethlehem and there
God blesses her, blesses her with favour in Boaz's eyes and
at last to be united to Boaz. There was a need that she leave
her own gods and her own people, and cleaved to the people of
God. And the blessing wasn't shown
her in Moab, but it was in Bethlehem. And some will say, well, show
us the blessing first, and then we will leave our sins, and then
we will cleave to the people of God. The Lord says, no, you
go to the light. You see in the light first and
you take heed how you are yourself and then Christ will give you
light. This is the path of the blessing
of the Lord, the blessing of reviving for a church or maintaining
the life in the church of God and a clear separation from the
world and a separating unto Christ. The Lord is very clear, ye cannot
serve God and mammon. Whosoever will be a friend of
the world is an enemy of God. Our Lord was very clear on that,
that Christ has chosen us out of the world and he has chosen
us unto himself. This world is not your rest,
it is polluted. And we have that expectation
of the blessing of the Lord. for time and eternity. Well, may the Lord be pleased
to bless this word to us. May we have regard to these three
things, take heed to the light that reproves, take heed to our
own condition, and have regard to the promise that Christ shall
give thee light. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.