Ephesians chapter 5, and I want
to read in verses 8 through verse 13. This is where we've come
to in our study of this wonderful epistle of the Apostle Paul to
this early church. In verse 8, For you were sometimes
darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is
in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Prove it, verify what
is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak
of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things
that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever
doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he says, Arise thou
that sleepeth, awake thou that sleepeth, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light." A couple of Sundays ago,
I guess it was, we began a study on a portion of this chapter
beginning in verse 3, and Brother Larry asked me about the title.
And I thought a good title probably for this whole section would
be, A Christian Living in a Sinful World. That's what this is about. He really starts all the way
back over here in the fourth chapter in verse 17 where he
says there, I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of
your minds." He begins there to teach us as Christians how
we are to walk, how we are to live in this world. And then
he changes somewhat there in verses 22 and verse 24. He begins to teach us how we're to look at ourselves.
Our attitude concerning ourselves and our sin. And he begins like
this there in verse 22 of putting off the former conversation,
the old man which is corrupt, and put on the new man. Verse
24. He's teaching each one of us.
what our responsibility is as Christians living in this world.
And then he goes and begins in verses 25 through chapter 5 in
verse 2, and he speaks to each individual Christian. In other words, he's teaching
you and me how to walk ourselves as it concerns ourselves. And
then in chapter 5 and verse 3, he takes up the subject again,
how we're to live in this world that's sinful. How do we live
around the unsaved? How do we deal with sin, not
only in our own selves, but in this world? And he begins there
in verse 3, and he goes all the way down through to where I just
read to you in this part of the text. A Christian living in a
sinful world. That's amazing in itself, isn't
it? A Christian, a child of God, living with sinful people. That's what these verses are
teaching us about. And I want to give you, before
I get into my text here, I want to give you three principles
that I think this chapter teaches. It's taught me, and I see these
principles here, and you can probably find more. But the first
principle is this, that it's not the Lord's will, it's not
Christ's desire to save a man and take him immediately to heaven. He could do that very easily,
just like he did the thief. But it's not his will to do that.
He didn't pray to that end. When he prayed his high priestly
prayer, he said, Father, I'm not praying. I'm not asking you
to take them out of the world. I want them here. I have a purpose
to keep them here. My desire is, my will is that
you keep them from the evil. You remember that gadareum that
the Lord cast those legions of devils out of? And he said, Lord,
let me go with you. I want to be with you. Well,
I can understand that, can't you? But the Lord did an amazing
thing with that man. We all know about it. We've read
it. And he says, no, you can't go with me. What did he tell
that man to do? He told him to go right back
where he came from. Go back over there with your
family. Go back over there in your community where the devils
first came into you at and tormented you. Don't you think he was just
a little bit scared when the Lord told him to do that? Don't
you think he had some apprehension? He was just a young believer.
What if these devils come back? I couldn't stop them before.
What's going to stop them now? You know what stopped them now,
don't you? It's different now. I've sent those rascals out of
you. They'll never enter you again. I put within you a new
heart and a new spirit. I'll keep you. So you go back
and tell them what great things God has done for you. You know
what? It would be wonderful, what a demonstration
of power and grace on Christ's part, if He saved us and took
us to heaven. which shout His praises for all
eternity. But you know, as marvelous as that would be, it wouldn't
show near as much the power of His might and His grace to save
us and leave us in this sinful world, and to keep us. That's where His power comes
in. That's where His grace comes in. Not just to initially save
us, but to keep us in this world. of sin and devils. John said, greater is he that
is in you than he that is in the world. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ? This
is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith. He's going to leave us here.
He's going to leave us here. And he's going to keep us. I
tell you, we may be fearful, and that Gadarene may be fearful,
but Christ is not fearful for us. He's not fearful for us. But there's another principle,
I think, that we can find in this chapter here that's taught,
and it's this, that living in this world of sin, living in
this world where sin seems to reign and abound, what does that
make us do? It makes us realize our need
one for another, doesn't it? I need you, and you need me. I tell you that the older I get,
brothers and sisters, the more I realize that I'm a pilgrim
and stranger in this world. I'm just passing through, and
so are you. Our treasures are laid up somewhere
beyond the blue. And what does that make us want
to do? with other like-minded people. The old poet said this,
Here is this body pent, it's shut up. Absent from him I roam,
yet nightly pitch my moving tent, a day's march near home. And I want to be with people
that think just like that. I'm here temporarily, and I need
the people of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together, and so much the more as you see the
day approaching." It's getting bad out there. Isn't it wonderful
together here? This is an always design. It's
always. Paul said, I have a desire to
depart and to be with Christ. That's far better. Nevertheless,
to abide in this flesh is needful for you. They needed Him and
He needed them. I need you and you need me, don't
we? The Lord's got a purpose for keeping us here, and he makes
us fill our need one for another. But the last principle here that's
taught, and I think this is just as important as any of them,
Brad made mention of this in his prayer. Just because we're
Christians, and I mean real Christians, believers in Christ, doesn't
mean we know how to live like Christians in this world. You
may be a Christian, but that's no sign you know how to live
a Christian life in this world. I tell you, I've come to this
conclusion over and over again. And it seems like every time
I come to this conclusion, I'm surprised by it. I don't know
how to live a Christian life in this world. Have you ever
reached that conclusion? I don't know what to do. I don't
know how to handle this situation I'm in. I've been on the way
thirty-something years, and I still profess my ignorance. And when
I know what to do, I don't have the strength to do it. But that's a good conclusion
to come to. Did you know it? It keeps us from assuming that
we know. The Lord tells us we don't know.
He says, I'll bring the blind by way that they know not. Blind,
a blind man can't see one step in front of another. That's the
way we are. But when we realize this, we're
utterly dependent upon the Lord to lead us. I'll bring the blind. I'll lead them in paths that
they know not. This will I do, and never forsake
them, saith the Lord. I tell you, when we realize how
ignorant we are and how weak we are, is when we're apt to
trust in Him. and be scared to death to think,
if you don't lead me, I'm going to be lost. I'm going to err.
David said, what time I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord. And
I'm afraid, brothers and sisters, I'm too ignorant to figure out
the way myself. And I'm just afraid I'm too weak
to walk in it if I knew which way to go. Oh, I need the grace
of Christ, don't you? The longer we live, the more
we realize how How awful we need this Bible. I want to know where
it comes from. I want to know how they compiled
it. This is God's Word. And I tell you, the longer I
lived in this world, the more I feel my need of its directions
and its promises. And the longer I walk this way,
the more I feel a need of a throne of grace to go to, to find grace
and mercy to help me in the time of need. Somebody said, well,
I don't know. I just don't know. I hope as
we study this epistle, as we study these instructions for
Christians, you know what I hope you say in your heart. I never
heard of that before. I had no idea that that's the
way I was supposed to walk. I hope you say that. Or I hope
you say in your heart, you know, I knew that, but I forgot it.
Thank you for reminding me. Thank you. I needed that. I hope
you say in your heart, what I never realized before, the grace I
need, the strength I need to live a Christian life. Now, verse 11 is my text this
morning. I have three simple things, and
it won't keep you very long. Verse 11, have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them. Three things. First of all, have
no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Secondly,
look how barren the life of a lost person is. Unfruitful works of
darkness. Then, lastly, but rather rebuke
them or expose these works, reprove them. First of all, he says here
to the Christian, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness. Now, back up here in verse 7,
I read it to you. Well, I didn't read it to you.
I should have, but look in verse 7. He tells us already that we
should not be partakers with open and profane sinners. Don't
be partakers with those who serve and live in their sins. Don't
be partakers with them. But verse 11, he's not repeating
himself. It's just a little bit different.
You may notice that. In verse 7, he says, don't be
partakers with them. Don't go with a man who is attempting
to lead you into sin. Don't go with a multitude to
do evil. If somebody or a people is tempting
you to lie or to cheat or to get drunk or to go off in sin,
don't be partakers with those people. Don't do that. But here
you'll notice in verse 11, he's just a little bit different.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. So first of all, he tells us
in verse 7, he's speaking of the sinner himself. Be careful
about taking lost people as your bosom buddies. Don't be unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. But in verse 11, he's speaking
here not having fellowship with sin itself. No communion with
sin itself. Now, both of these are important,
but they're different. They're different. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 14
were told not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now, that's so important. That's
so important. And I want to stress this before
we go to verse 11. I was reading a story about a
fellow. He's a young teenage man. His
name was Charlie. And he made a profession of the
Lord, and he joined the military. And he got to noticing very quickly
that he didn't fit in. All they did in their spare time
was sit in play cards, drink beer, he said, and cuss and tell
dirty jokes. But after a while, Charlie thought,
well, I need to be a light to these people. I need to go among
them and be a witness to them. But after a while, after a while,
Charlie was drinking with them. After a while, Charlie was laughing
at their jokes. And after a while, Charlie was
telling them himself. So I want to stress, be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. But in verse 11, he gets much
closer, doesn't he? Boy, he gets closer to our hearts. This is speaking about sin itself. Have no fellowship with the works
of darkness. And here's the difference, brothers
and sisters. It's easy to avoid bad company. It's easy not to be enticed by
sinners. You can avoid them. You don't
have to go with them. But it's more difficult to avoid
fellowship with sin, isn't it? That's something that gets closer
to the heart. Don't be partakers with sinners.
Don't fellowship with sin. Sin is close too, I say. Well,
it can deceive us. Our heart can go out after it
and us not even know it. You remember that son who stayed
home in Luke chapter 15, the prodigal, he went off and wasted
his substance with riotous living. And he came back home finally,
and the father received him, and it made the younger son mad.
And he began to tell his father what the older son had done.
He's wasted his substance on riotous living. He's been out
there partying. and wasted all of his money.
And then he made this statement. He said, you never killed a calf
for me that I could party with my friends. It was easy for him
not to be influenced by his older brother and go after him. But
lo and behold, in his heart, that's what he wanted to do.
He wanted to party himself. The Pharisees separated themselves
from the publicans. And they looked upon those publicans
and said, you guys are a bunch of thieves. You're cheating people
out of their money. And the Lord Jesus looked at
them one time and said, I see your heart. And you know what's
in your heart? Covetousness. Oh, you won't go
with the publicans to cheat people, but you'll go to the widows'
houses and you'll secretly steal money from them. Sin. Sin. It may be easy not to delight
in sinners, but it's much more difficult not to delight in sins. I'm not going after sinners to
be enticed with them. I'm going to be careful not to
do that. But brothers and sisters, when it comes to sin, it's much
more difficult not to fellowship with it, ain't it? Have you ever
read a newspaper? You ever read a newspaper and
some local celebrity or politician or somebody has fallen into this
sex scandal, and you read it in the paper and they begin to
go into detail about the sex scandal, and you found yourself
being interested in it? You ever do that? And the more
detail they go into, the more interest you become. And after
a while, you're engulfed in this Why would you be interested? Is it a good thing? Let me ask this question. Here's
a good question to ask. When we're alone, I mean just
me and my TV, what am I watching? When I'm
alone with just me and some magazine that I'm picked up, what am I
reading? See what I'm saying? It's easy to say, boy, those
people are sinners, and they're mixed up in some bad sins, and
I'm not going to be influenced by that. But when I'm just alone
with myself, what's really going on in my heart? How do I feel
about sin? Do I have fellowship with it? What about my thoughts? What
do I think about? Look in 2 Corinthians. Paul deals
with this here. He deals with it in a much better
way than I can. Look in 2 Corinthians chapter
6. Look in 2 Corinthians chapter
6. Here's a question I think that we have to ask ourselves
before God. In my heart, in your heart of
hearts, How do we really feel about the works of darkness?
How do we really feel about sin? Do we hate sin in all its principle,
in the very thought of it? Do we love righteousness in our
heart of hearts? Do we hate sin because of what
it has done to us, that it has separated us from God? Do we
hate sin because it is so black and offensive to God? Do we hate
sin? Or is there something in our
heart that is willing, where nobody can see it and nobody
can know it but me, to have some communion with it? There is that
certain aspect of sin that my heart goes out after. Look here
at what Paul said, and he deals with both of these. He deals
with not going after sinners. and sin, but he deals also with
this sin that's in our hearts, not to fellowship with it. Look
what he says in verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. He says, Be not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers. Don't be enticed with them. Be
careful not to go with them. Don't be influenced. And then
he goes on to state the whole principle behind it. For what
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion
hath light with darkness? And what agreement hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel, an unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For you are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and be a father to you, and you
shall be my sons and my daughters. Sayeth the Lord God Almighty,
and look in Book Chapter 7, having therefore these promises, dearly
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh,
but look at this, and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear
of the Lord. Outward separation. Outward separation. That's essential. Come out from
among them and be as separate. But if that's all it is, it's
just outward separation, we're no different and we're no better
than the Pharisees who said, don't come near me because I'm
holier than thou. Paul not only says, be not unequally
yoked with unbelievers, but boy, he gets close to our hearts.
He said, what about fellowship and communion with sin in your
own heart? That's where he aims at. Sin
in the heart. Avoid it. Is sin a burden to
you? Is it a true burden to you? Does
it make you groan? It does, doesn't it? It makes
you groan. And I tell you, when your heart
goes out when you're reading that newspaper and you detect
it, you think, oh, wretched man that I am. What have I got to
do with stuff like this? Why is my heart even warning
to enter into this? And, oh, you run to the blood
of Christ, don't you? Lord, cleanse me from this. Paul
says, don't fellowship with this sin. Oh, it's so deceitful. It comes to us and deceives us,
and we don't even know it appears so innocent. But after a while,
we realize, oh, my soul. I'm communion with sin. And it's
all around us, isn't it? In our day, it's all around us.
We can't go to the grocery store. We can't watch the news. We can't
read the paper anymore. It's all around us. Paul said,
be on your guard. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of righteousness. We could get together, write
up a bunch of rules, But that ain't going to help us, is it?
That ain't going to help us. It comes down to our hearts.
It comes down to our hearts. Keep thy heart with all diligence.
But notice, secondly, in verse 11, is something else. First,
he tells us, have no fellowship. Don't commune with sin. You've
got nothing in common with it anymore. Watch your heart. Be on guard. But here in verse
11, the second lead tells us something else about these works
of darkness, and he says here in verse 11, have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness. That word means to
be barren. Barren. I was reading this week
a little article about the Sahara Desert. I had no idea that place was
as big as it is. The Sahara Desert. It's almost,
just a few acres, a few square miles, being as large as the
United States. Three and a half million square
acres. Can you believe that? I had no
idea it was that big. They said it was the most unproductive
region in all the world. Some characteristics of it, they
said, was you can't find water. Absolutely no water. No matter
if you dig or you drill, you won't find water. Can you imagine
that? No vegetation there, nothing
will grow there. There's no water there. Barren. There is nothing but
blowing shift in sand and extreme heat. No production. No fruit. And as I was reading
that, I thought, there is the unregenerate heart. It is just
like the Sahara Desert. Barren. No water. No fruit. But it is even worse.
There's a few spots, very small places in the Sahara Desert that's
got some oases, just a little bit of moisture, a well, where
they can grow a little bit of food. But in the unregenerate
heart, there's not even that. Unfruitful works. Isn't that
sad? Isn't it sad for a man or a woman
to live in this life to live in their sins and die in their
sins and come to realize that it's a life wasted? Not one thing
they've ever did, not one thing they've ever desired, not one
thing they've ever said is accepted of heaven. That will last. Unfruitful works of darkness. The Lord Jesus said, My Father
is glorified that you bring forth much fruit. That's the way God
is glorified. He plants us, His children, and
He calls us the garden of the Lord. And the Lord Jesus, He's
the gardener. And He digs about us and fertilizes
us and waters us with His grace, and we bring forth fruit. And
He's glorified. And he gets the glory for it,
as we saw last week. But he also spoke of the tree
that brought forth no fruit. And he said, the tree is known
by its fruits. And he went to this fig tree
to look for fruit, and he had no fruit. And he cursed it. And
it dried up. It just dried up. And John the
Baptist says, the axe is laid right there in the root of the
tree. Laid there already. And every tree that brings not
forth good fruit is hewn down. It's hewn down. And it's cast
into the fire. It's fit for nothing. It's just
like the Sahara desert. No vegetation will grow there. Nothing. Nothing. Barrenness. Fruitlessness. Ain't that sad? That is sad, isn't it? That's
so sad. Wasted, barren, fruitless life. Thirdly and lastly, look at this.
And look how he says it in verse 11. Have no fellowship, no communion
with these unfruitful works of darkness, but rather do this. But rather do this. See, the
Scriptures won't let us stop at the negative. It's not enough
just not to fellowship, not to go with a multitude to do evil.
It's not even enough to guard against it in our own hearts.
But now, he says, there's something more to do. Reprove them. Reprove them. And this word,
reprove, simply means to convict. And here, really, it means to
expose. And how do we expose it? Well,
by shining the light on it. Look in verse 13. But all things
that are reproved, exposed, are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest
is light." If you're in a dark room, you can't see anything.
There's furniture there. There's a rug there. The walls
have the paintings on them and so on. But you can't see a thing
until you flip that switch. And when the light comes on,
everything's made manifest. You see everything clearly, don't
you? That's what light does. Whatever exposes sin is light. But notice this, and this is
very important here in this place. What do we reprove? That's so
important. Now listen. Is it the person?
Is it the person? Not here. And I thank God that
he wrote this. It's not the person, but it's
sin. Did you notice that? The unfruitful
works of darkness reprove them. Some love to talk. And bless
their hearts, I feel sorry for them after a while. They're hung
up. They're so stuck up. Me and Larry
have a friend. Two or three friends. They're
so stuck up on this divine hatred. And it's nothing for them to
go around telling people, God hates you. God hates you. My
brothers and sisters, I don't know who all God hates, and I'm
not saying He don't, but let's don't stop there. I don't want
to be like those Westboro Baptist folks, do you? Going around saying
God hates you, and God hates you, and God hates America, and
God hates this one, and God hates that one. Tell them why God hates. Tell them what God hates. What
does God hate? Clerks, if God hates you, there
must be a reason for it. And there must be a good reason
for it. And why would God hate? Sin. Ain't that it? It's sin that's separated between
you and your God. Your iniquities is what's in
His face. Sin. That's what we need to shine
the light on. Sin. What did the Lord Jesus
come to this world to do? To save His people from what?
Sins. Behold the Lamb of God that does
what? Takes away what? The sin. The sin. He loved us and washed
us from what? Sin. That's our problem, ain't
it? There's no sense in me saying
God hates you. He may. He may do it. That's
His business. He's just if He does. But I tell
you what He's angry with. And that's your sin. If you can
get rid of your sins, I assure you of this, he won't be angry
with you anymore. That's the issue, Adam. That's the issue. How, then, are we to reprove
sin? How are we to expose it? Well,
we're to shine this light on it. How do we do that? We turn
the light on where it can be seen for what it really is. How
do we do that? Well, one of the ways we do it
is just like the Apostle Paul has been doing it here in this
chapter. See what he's been doing? He begins there in verse 3, and
he talks about it. He doesn't talk about it. He
just mentions the word. Fornication. Uncleanness. Covetousness. Idolatry. What he does is simply
mention them. He mentions these sins. I went
into somewhat detail and explained what this was and that was. He
didn't do that. He just mentioned the name and
said, listen now, listen. Dear soul, listen to me, he said.
The wrath of God will come upon you because of these things. That's the way we do it, ain't
it? We get a sinner apart if we get an opportunity. We don't
get down on him. We don't get mean on her. But
when we have an opportunity, what do we do? We mention that
sin and the judgment that's upon it. That's what John the Baptist
did to King Herod. He went to Herod. And it wasn't
so much he was down on Herod, but he said, Herod, it's not
lawful. It's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.
That's adultery. That's not lawful. The second
way we do it is this, by living contrary to sin. Your very life,
dear child of God, will shine a light upon that which is wrong. The Lord Jesus said you are the
light of the world. And that exposes sin. The church
exposes sin. That's why the Lord left it to
you. It shines a light. Whatsoever makes manifest is
light. And when your lost neighbors,
when your lost co-workers, when your lost friends see you, it
shines light upon their sins. But the very fact that you don't
go along with it, that you avoid these things, they see that.
It's a light. The Lord Jesus said men don't
light a candle and put it under a bushel, but they put it on
a candlestick. Why? That it may give light.
The church is the light in this world. And notice what He said
up there in verse 8. You were darkness, but now are
you light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. As you walk as children of light.
You reflect. You shine the light upon that
which is evil. But he noticed. He said here
this, and I love this. He said, Now are you light in
the Lord. He's the real light, isn't He? He's the true light that lighteth
every man. Our light is because we're in
Him. And He's shining through us. Light. Light. Light. Aren't you thankful for
light? I remember when I was dating
Jo, I was probably 15, 16 years old, 14 something. We started dating, my goodness.
We started dating a long time ago, didn't we? But she lived
about 10 miles or so from me, and the only transportation I
had was a horse. So I used to ride my horse to
see Joe. And one evening she kept me too late. And I had to
ride my horse through what we called the big woods. And it
was big, several thousand acres. And it got dark as I was going
through those big woods. I couldn't see anything. So I
just dropped the reins on my old horse and away she went with
me. And I thought to myself, girl,
if you stop, we're in trouble. That means you're lost and that's
two of us. But she kept going mile after mile until finally
I saw a light. I saw a light of a house that
I recognized. She had brought me out of there
and there was a light. You talk about happy. You talk about happy
to see that light. That's what I'm talking about.
Light is so necessary. And what's wonderful is this.
when we come to the place where we want to see the light. We
realize our need of it. The Bible was talking about the
Lord Jesus, and it said those who sat in darkness saw a great
light. Don't you think they were happy?
They had been sitting in darkness. They were lost. And suddenly
they saw this light. And they said, now I see the
way. Now I'm not lost anymore. Oh,
they rejoiced to see the light. That's what I'm talking about.
And that's why I said the church is not here to beat sinners up. We're not here to run sinners
off. Here's what I want to see and here's what you want to see.
We want to reach a point where sinners, where the lost, become
attracted to Christ. They don't want to go on without
Him anymore. Did you ever notice, as He began
to teach, that those publicans and sinners began to be attracted
to Him? Did you ever notice that? What
was it in Him that they began to flock and set at His feet?
There was something in Christ that drew them. You know what
it was? It was this light. And it began
to expose their sins that they said, I don't care. That's all
right. He has the words of life. And
they began to come and set at his feet and listen to him. That's what I'm talking about,
brothers and sisters. It's shining a light upon the
works of darkness. Not so much upon the sinner himself,
but his works. These sins that will bring the
wrath of God upon him. And he begins to think in his
heart. He truly begins to think this. I want to be saved. I want to be saved. It's not
that we're driving him or dragging him, but he finds it in his heart. I want Christ. I'm tired of this
sinful life. There's nothing but barrenness
to it. I don't want to live in sin anymore.
I want the Lord Jesus to save me. That's what I'm talking about. We do it in such a way that they're
even attracted to holiness. I want to be clean. But down deep in your heart,
you really want the Lord Jesus to save you. I don't know why else some people
keep coming here. I want Christ to save me. I'm sick of sin. Do you feel that way? I went that way for quite some
time and didn't know what to do about it. I didn't know how to come to
the Lord. Nobody ever told me. I want to be saved. I'm sick
of this burden of sin. I'm sick of sin itself. I want
to be washed. I want to be saved. Well, look
here what he says in this verse that I read to you. If that's
your thought this morning, look at it here in verse 14. See if
by God's grace you can do this. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou
that sleepest, Arise from the dead, and Christ will shine His
light on you. In other words, if you're sick
of the darkness, if you've had enough of it, then come out of
it to Christ. And then, probably to your utter
surprise, He'll shine His light on you, and you'll say, Oh my
soul, now see. Oh, now see. And I'll tell you
what you'll see. Not only your sins, but you'll
see your sins is gone. You're lost no longer. Can you
do that? That's His instructions to you.
And that's His instructions to us as a church. The songwriter
said this, I will arise and go to Jesus. That's what He's saying
here in this verse. He will embrace me in His arms. in the arms of my dear Savior,
oh, there are ten thousand charms. Out of my bondage, sorrow, out
of my night, Jesus, I come to You. Into Your freedom, gladness,
and light, Jesus, I come to You. Out of my sickness, into Your
health. Out of my want, into Your wealth. Out of my sin, Into yourself. Jesus, I come to you. The church is not only light,
but it's salt. It's salt. We tell the lost people, we tell
lost people how great our Savior is. How merciful He is. How forgiven He is. How accepting
He is. How accessible He is. How beautiful
He is. And you know one of the reasons
we tell them that? We want them to begin to say,
I'd love to know Him. I'd love to know Him. Would you
love to know the Lord Jesus Christ? Then come out of your darkness.
Turn from your sin, turn from yourself. Give yourself up to
Him. Are you tired of darkness? Are
you tired of the uncertainty? Are you tired of the burden of
it? Then come to Him. Come to Christ. Right where you
are, come to Christ. Why do you delay? Why when you begin to think of
this, does your thoughts go elsewhere? Put it in action. Don't move
your body, but move your heart. Arise and come to Christ. And He'll shine His light upon
you. May God help you to do it. May
God help you to do it. If I've said anything to some
lost person that has repulsed Him, then forgive me. If I've not
made Christ attractive to you, then forgive me. I tell you it's
my fault and not His. He's beautiful. He's glorious. He's wonderful. I want you to
come to Him. Come to Him. Arise and come to
Christ right where you sat. And He'll shine His light upon
you. May God bless you today. Let's pray.