If you don't have a Bible with
you, you're welcome to one of the few Bibles. That's why we
keep them. If there's one not near you, raise your hand up
and somebody will get you one. Ephesians chapter 5, and we've
come here to verses 8, 9, and 10. I join with Brother Glenn
in wishing you dear mothers a happy Mother's Day. I've got just a
little bit more to say about mothers. this afternoon. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
8, for you were sometimes darkness. My, my. But now you are light
in the Lord. Therefore, walk as children of
light. For the fruit of the Spirit is
in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proven what is acceptable
unto the Lord." Now, there are two or three things I want to
remind you of as we begin looking at this passage this morning.
And the first thing is this. I've reminded us of this before,
and remember this. that these epistles are written
to believers. These epistles are written to
the saints. Paul makes it clear as we begin
this book unto the saints at Ephesus. In other places, it
is to the saints at Rome and those who are called believers. those who have heard and believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when I say that, I'm not
saying that there's nothing in these epistles for unbelievers.
There is. But let me say it like this. When Paul speaks to the believer,
he reminds the believer where he was, and yet where he is now. See, he speaks to the church
and he says, you were darkness. You lived without a knowledge
of Christ. You lived in your ignorance.
You didn't know God's way of reconciliation. You didn't know
how to come to God. You were in darkness. But now,
look at you now. What's your position now? Now
you're alive. You've been quickened from the
dead. God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son in your heart. Now you're light. You're light
in the Lord. But what can a lost person learn
from that? Well, when he hears it, he has
to say this about himself. I'm still in darkness. I haven't been called. When he
writes to the believers in chapter 2 of this book, he says, You
have be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And we
read that and it lifts us up in heavenly places. We are so
encouraged. He has quickened us. We have
life. But what does that tell the lost?
I am yet dead. I am yet dead. He writes to the believer and
he says, you were in time past far off. You lived without hope,
without God and without Christ in the world. But now, in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. But what does that tell the lost?
I'm yet far off. I'm yet far off. There is something
here for lost people. Yes, there is. But what is it? Well, it does two things. It
must do two things. First of all, it must remind
him that he is indeed outside. That he has no fellowship with
the church. That the church are those who
are in Christ. That he's not a Christian. That
he is indeed unsaved. He's without hope. But it reminds
him of more than that, doesn't it? If he stops there, he'll
just be in despair. So what else does it remind him?
I should seek the Lord. I should listen. I should say,
Lord, open my heart. Do for me what you've done for
these other people. You give them life, give me life. You wash them in that fountain,
wash me. Wash me. The second thing we should remember
about these epistles as they're written to believers is this,
and I think this is where we as children of God are sometimes
so guilty as we read and listen to these epistles taught and
preached. We think, what an awful burden, what an awful burden. We somewhat lack the first portion
of these epistles, don't we? Because it tells us about electing
love and it tells us about redeeming grace. But we come here to the
last part of these epistles and it tells us how to live. It tells
us what our attitude should be in life as we live our Christian
life. And what do we think? Oh my,
this is going to be awful. This is going to be awful. This
is going to be a terrible burden. Don't we think that way sometimes?
One woman even went as far as to say, and I never will forget
this, don't tell me how to live my life. Why? Well, maybe she'd had somebody
burdening her down with the law and everything. I don't know.
But it seems like when we teach these
epistles, when we read them, it either has the effect of just
burdening us down and thinking, I can't live that way, or it
makes us self-righteous and legalistic. Brothers and sisters, these epistles
are written for our instructions. How do we know how to live the
Christian life? One of the most dangerous things
in the world is for a Christian just to assume that he knows
how to live the Christian life. We don't do it. We're babies
when we're born into this kingdom, and we need instructions. I don't
know how to live the Christian life. I need help. I need instruction. I need grace. That's what these epistles are
written for. And don't you thank God for them. And lastly, we need to remember
this as we read and study these epistles, that they're written
not just to instruct us, but they're written to comfort
us. They are written to produce joy and peace in our hearts. I don't hesitate to say it one
minute. I found this out from experience
and I found this out from Scripture. This is true. I found it true
in my life. I found it true in your life.
And I bet you have too. One of the reasons that you and
I as Christians Do not experience more of the heartfelt joy and
peace and contentment in our souls. It's because we as Christians
have not studied and read these epistles and believed them and
walked in the light as we're instructed to. Now, ain't that
so? That's so. Here in chapter 5, Paul begins here, and I will
illustrate this to you in chapter 5, he begins even here in verse
1 and tells us to be followers of God and to walk in love. And then he goes on to tell us
to abstain from these awful sins that he begins to mention there
in verses 3 and 4. And he says these sins are so
awful, don't even name them among you. And don't fellowship, don't
have communion with those who live in these sins. Don't take
them as your Buddhism buddies. Refrain from these things. And
he goes on telling us, giving us these instructions. Some of
them are negative and some of them are positive. But I want
you to notice how he ends all these instructions here in verse
18. And look at this. And be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
Look at this. Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord. What is happening here? A concert
is being performed. There is a concert going on.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is being entertained. And where
is the concert taking place? In the heart. And it is a joyful,
melodious sound. Singing and making melody. Is that a happy person? Is that
a joyful person? Of course it is. I mean, we may
go around singing with our lips and our hearts be sad and heavy,
but I'm telling you, if this concert is taking place in the
heart, there's some joy there. But where do we find this? After
all these instructions, don't we? Walk as children of light. Receive these instructions. Take
heed to them. Believe them. Obey them. And
what's the end of that? Oh, this melody in the heart. And he goes on in verse 20, he
says this, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Giving thanks always for everything How many times are we reduced
to giving thanks sometime for a few things? And what's our
problem? I'll tell you exactly our problem,
and none of us can deny it. We're not walking as children
of light. Isn't that not so? The Lord Jesus
began in John 13, and the next four chapters, He gave His apostles
all these instructions. What was going to happen to them,
what their attitude should be, and how they should react to
it. And here is how He closed that whole message that He preached
to them. He said, I have spoken these things unto you, that in
me you may have peace. I've not spoken these things
to burden you and to gall you. I've spoken these things that
your joy may be full, that you may have peace. In the world,
you're going to have tribulations. But take heed to what I've spoken
to you. Believe it. Take it to your heart.
Walk in the light of it. And you'll have peace. And you'll
have joy. That's why these epistles were
written to us. We sang, That old hymn by John
Simas, Trust and Obey. And the third stanza goes like
this, But we never can prove the delights of His love until
all on the altar we lay. See what he says? Give it all
up to Him, trusting Him, obeying Him, walking in His light. will never prove the delights
of his love until all on the altar we lay. Now listen, for
the favor he shows, it's not just his favor, but it's the
favor he shows. And the joy he bestows are for
those who will trust and obey. Trust and obey. There's no other
way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. That's why these epistles are
written to us. And as we learn from them, we
learn how to live as Christians. We learn how to walk in the light.
And I'm telling you, as we do that, there's going to be a degree
of joy and peace that you and I have never experienced as Christians. Now, I want us to look at these
three verses quickly this morning. I want us to look in verse 9
and verse 10, really in the light of verse 8. Look in verse 8 with
me again. You were sometimes darkness,
but now are your light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Now, I want to skip verse 9 because
that's in parenthesis. Right now I want to skip it.
I want to connect verse 8 with verse 9. walk in children of
light, walk as children of light, proving, that is, testing, discerning
by experience what is acceptable and well-pleasing to the Lord. As we walk in the light, as we
walk as children of light, We prove what is acceptable to the
Lord. How many of us go on day after
day, week after week sometimes, or maybe longer, and we don't
really know if what we're believing, if what we're thinking, if what
we're doing is acceptable and well-pleasing to the Lord. And yet, as you read the Bible,
these great men were concerned about this very thing. I want
not only to be acceptable of the Lord, and all I do to be
acceptable, I want to know it. I want to discern it in my heart
that everything I am and all I'm doing is accepted of the
Lord. Here's what David said. He said,
Lord, let the words of my mouth and let the meditations of my
heart be accepted in thy sight. Not just the words he spoke. But he said, what I'm thinking,
my meditation, let it be acceptable in your sight. Well, how can
we know that? There's only one way to know
that, brothers and sisters. There's only one way that we
can discern that and test it. And that's as we're walking as
children of light. Paul said this, the great apostle,
he said this, He was writing about being absent from the body
and being present with the Lord. And he said he had a desire to
do that. He said, I'm stuck in this body and there's a need
for it. But he says, I'm burdened. I
want to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
And then he made this statement. Wherefore, we labor. We labor
in faith. that whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of the Lord." Wouldn't it be a source of great
joy this morning for you and I to live our daily lives knowing
that what we were doing and what we are is accepted of the Lord? Wouldn't that be a wonderful
thing? Instead of going around confused about it and living
in doubt about it, Well, Paul says here, walk as children of
light. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Thy word is a light unto my pathway. And he says, by this you can
prove it. By this you can discern it and
experience what is acceptable to the Lord. You will know it
for yourself in your own heart. The wise men said this, the lips
of the righteous know what is acceptable to the Lord. How do they know it? They've
tried it. They've proved it. They're walking
in this light so they know by experience. Let me tell you this
on myself. And I've told you so much on
myself. If anybody's keeping notes, There are some things
I've told you I could probably put in jail over. But this is
the way your pastor thinks sometimes. I was thinking just the other
day, I was thinking about some money. And I'm self-employed,
so I have to pay my own taxes, you know. So I got to thinking
now, nobody knows it anyway. I've got some money over here,
some money over there coming in, nobody knows it but me, what
I'll do, I'll just not pay taxes on that and give it to the church. You ever think that way? You
know the verse of scripture that came to me immediately. Has the
Lord a greater delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as obeying
the voice of the Lord? It's better to obey than it is
to sacrifice. Now, ain't that silly to think
that way? But why did I see immediately, that's not acceptable to the
Lord. I'm walking, God help me and
give me grace in just a measure of light. So you see that, don't
you? You see that. Solomon said this,
do justice and judgment because that is more acceptable to the
Lord than sacrifices. Truth and justice. Look at a
couple of scriptures with me. Holy Ephesians chapter 5 and
look over to your left in Romans chapter 12. We are talking about proving. trying
and testing in an experimental way what is acceptable to the
Lord. And I'm telling you, this is
such a source of great joy and confidence. And when I come to
this pulpit on Sunday morning, I tell you, you'll never know
what a source of great joy it is to me to know that I'm here
by God's will. There has been so much doubt
about that in my own heart. And to settle that, to settle
that, what a joy it is. And I tell you what a joy it
is for you to live where you live because you believe that's
acceptable to the Lord. You have the job you have because
you know that's acceptable to Him. How wonderful to have that
knowledge. But I tell you, we can only get
that as we walk as children of light, all on the altar we lay. And Paul speaks of this very
thing here in Romans chapter 12, and look at this. I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. And don't be conformed to this
world. Don't go out after it. Don't
think like it. But be transformed. And he simply
said there, walk in the light. Be followers of God. Walk in
love as Christ loved us. By the renewing of your mind.
Why? That you may test. That you may
prove. That you may discern for yourself
what is that good an acceptable and perfect will of God. That's something each one of
us will have to do for ourselves. But what a joy it is to know
God's will, to know what's acceptable. And I tell you, I've often did
things, I've often said things, I've often thought things, I've
sometimes believed things. that I come to the knowledge
of later, that was not acceptable to the Lord. You talk about humiliation. You talk about your conscience
smiting you when that happens. Walk as children of light that
you may prove. One more passage, all the way
back over in 1 John. 1 John chapter 1, and look in
verse 4. Look in verse 4. 1 John 1, verse 4. These things
have I written unto you because I really want to burden you down.
I just want to gall your neck in telling you what you should
do and how sorry you are and how you haven't been doing it.
That's why I'm writing this. They say, no, that's not it.
I write these things unto you, that your joy may be full." Do
we want joy? Then walk in the light. Share these instructions. This
then is the message we have heard of him in declaring to you that
God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we
have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. Now, in verse 7, it is the same
thing Paul said. If we walk in the light, walk
as children of light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now, here is the last
verse. But Mr. Summers sung, then in
fellowship sweet, we will sit at his feet, or we'll walk by
his side in the way. Isn't that wonderful? What he
says, we'll do. Why? Because we're walking close
to him. We're in the line. Where he sends
us, we'll go. Never fear, never fear. Simply trust and obey. Do we know anything about this,
brothers and sisters? What do we know about it? As Christians, what do we know
about walking in this life? What do we know about laying
aside this old man with his miserable deeds and putting on a new man?
What do we know about speaking the truth every man to his neighbor?
What do we know about not having fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness? And what do we know about walking
in this life and this fellowship with God and proving what His
will is? Proving what He accepts and what's
well-pleasing in His sight? What do we know about that in
our hearts? That's why we have these passages. That's why we
have them. Not to beat us up, but to instruct
us that our joy may be full. I tell you, we can be a Christian
We can be a true Christian, and we can live a miserable life.
We can live depressed, anxious, almost with no joy, almost with
no peace at all. And it's because we're not listening
to what we're told in these epistles. Walk as children of light. Now, back to my text, and quickly
in verse 9, I've got to let us out. quicker
today because they tell me that the men are serving the dinner.
And that's going to take a while, believe me. Look in verse 9 of
Ephesians 5. Paul gives some fruits of this
light. He tells us to walk as children
of light. And notice he says in verse 9,
For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness
and truth. Now, instead of giving you a
definition, so much of what goodness and righteousness and truth is,
Paul gives us this word goodness in opposition to a word that
he has already used in chapter 4, which is badness. He tells
us this, "...lay apart all bitterness and wrath and anger, and evil
speaking, and all malice." That word is badness. Lay aside all
badness. So what is goodness? It's right
the opposite of badness. And he goes ahead to say this,
replace this with being kind and tender-hearted and forgiving
one another. What is goodness? It's being
kind one to another. It's doing deeds of good and
kindness one to another. It's forgiving one to another.
David said, Lord, my goodness don't extend to you. You don't
need it. You're nothing. My goodness extends
to your people, your kindness, your love, your tenderness. That's
what goodness is. Just being good one to another.
And then this righteousness as opposed to all these sins that
he's been talking about. My goodness, look at the sins,
the filthiness, the fornication, the adultery, the evil speaking,
the lies. Righteousness. Followers of God
as dear children, that's righteousness, ain't it? Just obey God as a
dear child, submit to Him as a child, walking in love, that's
righteousness. You ain't going to get any more
righteous than that in your daily life. And what about this truth? Well,
the Apostle Paul had been talking in 425 about putting away lying. Speak every man truth with his
neighbor. Just don't lie. Whatever you
say, let it be the truth. That will keep us busy, won't
it? These three things will keep us good and busy. If we'll just
seek to be good one to another. If we'll seek to obey the Lord
and follow Him, and if we'll seek to walk in the truth and
not lie, I tell you, that'll be enough right there. That'll
be enough. But you notice what Paul says about this goodness
and righteousness and truth? He says here, look at this, the
fruit of the Spirit. Ain't that wonderful? He says
here, a child of God walking in the light, is the fruit of
the Spirit. Putting on the new man, speaking
the truth, working with your hands that you may give to those
that need, speaking to edify one another,
being kind and tenderhearted one for another, you know what
these are. They are the fruits of the Spirit. Bruce, don't a child of God do
these things? Well, of course he does. Of course
he does. Isn't he good? Well, yes. Doesn't
he follow the Lord? Yes. But he says here, first
and foremost, we find out why he does it, and we find out how
he does it. The fruit of the Spirit. None of these things originates
with a believer. Goodness doesn't originate with
you. Righteousness and truth. Taking off the old man and putting
on the new. None of these things that we've
been talking about originates with the believer. He doesn't
produce them from his own heart. Where do they come from then?
The fruit of the Spirit. When we talk about sins, we're
talking about the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these." And he lists all those awful sins. That's
the work. That's what we do. That's what
we produce. But when it comes to love, when
it comes to peace, when it comes to goodness, when it comes to
patience and gentleness and forgiving one another, those aren't works
at all. Those are fruits. Now, brothers and sisters, that's
amazing. I find that very comforting. Will you find badness, you'll
find the works of the flesh. But will you find goodness, that's
the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And that's where this comes from. The Lord Jesus says the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. And no
more can you, except you abide in Me. If you abide in Me, My
Word abides in you, what happens? You bring forth much fruit, and
My Father is glorified. But if you don't abide in Me,
you can't bring forth fruit. Why? Because your fruit is from
Me. You sever a vine from a branch,
and what happens to it? It withers up, doesn't it? And
men just gather them up and cast them into the fire. The only
way we can bring forth fruit is for it to come from another
source. And that is God working in us
to will and to do of his good pleasure. This is why there's
no sense of taking these Christian principles and teaching to lost
people. It's useless. It's useless. Why? Well, we see from this, don't
we? This is why we stress the new birth. You must be born of
the Spirit from above. This is a spiritual kingdom.
If you live in the Spirit, if you are alive in the Spirit,
then walk in the Spirit. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. Why? The flesh works evil. The only way to please God and
walk with Him is to have the Spirit of Christ dwell in Him.
Because everything we do is acceptable to God, it's a work of the Spirit.
It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. I want to read to you one passage,
if you'll turn there with me, in Hosea chapter 14. Hosea chapter
14, in verse 8. If you can't find it, Go in the
front of your Bibles and find out where Hosea is. If you found
Ezekiel, the next book to your right will be Daniel. Then the
next book will be Hosea. Look at this. Look in Hosea chapter 14. And look in verse 8. Ephraim shall say," Ephraim was
an idolater, but the Lord spoke to him, convicted him, brought
him to himself, and now Ephraim shall say, What have I to do
any more with idols? I have heard him and observed
I am like a green fir tree, and here's what the Lord says to
him. The Lord says, you know, I know exactly why you turned
from your idol. I know why you heard me. I know now why you
obey me. From me is thy fruit found. All you're turning, all you're
hearing, all you're observing, I'm working it in your heart.
Isn't that wonderful, brothers and sisters? See, I've come here
and I've told you this morning to walk as children of light.
And I've told you the results of that. It just naturally brings
this peace and joy and harmony in your heart. But now, where
does this walk come from? Who produces it? Why, it's the
Holy Spirit working in you. Isn't that wonderful? You can't
glory in it. You've got no reason to be lifted
up in your self-righteousness about it, or look down your nose
at other people. No, you're doing it because He's
working in you to will and to do. Spurgeon liked this little
point, every virtue we possess, and every victory won, and every
thought of holiness is His, and His alone. Here the great God
is, and He's so condescending. He condescends to our hearts. And He works there. He works
so secretly, we just can't hardly detect Him. But there He's working.
He's working in our hearts for us to all on the orderly. He comes to us and says, Son,
give me your heart. Trust Me. Give yourself up to
Me. And just obey Me. And that's what we do. Then we
have this peace and joy and love and goodness and righteousness.
And He turns right around. And you know what He says to
us? Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Isn't He a
condescending, isn't He a tender covenant God? To do all this
within us and then turn around and give us credit for it. You've
been faithful over a few things. Come, my faithful servant. Lord,
I've done nothing but what you've worked in me. The fruit of the
Spirit. You can't live a Christian life
until God makes you one. We can't live a Christian life
successfully but as we walk in the Spirit of Christ. May God in heaven help us to
do it. for our great joy and confidence. Let's pray.