WWUTT 317 Marvelous Light?

Walking as Children of Light in Ephesians 5

If we've been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ, then we can no longer go back to that darkness. In fact, we're not even to partner with the darkness. Instead, we need to expose it when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Find all our videos online at www .wutt .com as well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We continue our study of 1 Peter today. Chapter 2, verses 9 -12. The apostle writes,. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. I want to go back to the left a little bit, to Ephesians 5, right at the beginning of the chapter where the apostle writes this.

The apostle Paul says, and this is a section that I read on Friday in response to a question that I read here on the broadcast, but I want to go on from where I ended. Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 1,.

Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints.

Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. And that's as far as I read on Friday. I'm going to keep going from there.

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

And this term, sons of disobedience, this is a term that Paul used earlier in the letter in Ephesians 2, where he says, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

That's who we once were before Christ. That's who we were. We were among the sons of disobedience. We were the objects of God's wrath, like all those who were following the prince of the power of the air.

But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. So before this salvation that was given to us by the grace of Christ, we were dead in our sins and our trespasses, and were sons of disobedience like the rest of the world.

So Paul is saying here that we should not partner with anyone who is deceptive with empty words, because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, with whom we were once a part, but we're not anymore.

Keeping that in mind, okay? Therefore, verse 7, do not become partners with them. You're not of them anymore. You're not among that rabble that you were once a part of before God in his grace rescued you out of it.

Therefore, do not be partners with them anymore. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.

For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Beautiful. Let me read you what Jesus said here in John 3. This is in his conversation with Nicodemus, and it's the section that begins with the oh-so-famous verse, that declaration of the gospel in John 3 .16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, and whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Now notice that. The light is a judgment. This is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. They didn't want their works exposed by the light.

Verse 20. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

Very same thing that Peter is saying here in this section. That if we are in the light, then our good conduct would be seen by those evildoers, and they will glorify God on the day of visitation. They might repent of their sin because of the good things that we have done that are being carried out in God, so we come to the light so that our good deeds would be exposed, so that they are seen by others, and they would glorify God on the day of visitation.

In other words, glorify God on the day of his return, not shrink back and cower away like those who know that they are in judgment. They stand in judgment before God because of their sin. Instead, they glorify God because they are not afraid of the light to be seen that their works have been carried out in righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.

So this is we who are in Christ. We are to walk in the light as he is in the light. In 1 John 1, 5, it says, this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

So we should not do the things that we did when we were in the darkness. We should not partner with those who walk in darkness. Instead, we need to be in the light as he is in the light. And by the way, this is what it means to be a separatist, if you have ever heard that word before.

A separatist means to be separate from those who still walk in darkness. This is why the Protestant Church can have no partnership, absolutely no partnership with the Roman Catholic Church. It is not a good ambitious thing for the Protestant Church to be partnering with the Roman Catholic Church in doing deeds in the community and whatever else.

We have no partnership with them because they're in darkness. They follow false doctrine, a false gospel. They are chasing after a salvation by works. They believe that the Pope is infallible in his declarations and that the things that he says even supersede the authority of the Bible.

The Roman Catholic Church itself, by the way, in their doctrines, believe that they are a higher authority than the Bible itself because according to the Roman Catholics, the Church determined the Bible.

So therefore, they have authority over the Bible. The Church is the highest authority on earth. And therefore, the Pope is infallible in all of his decrees, even adding to what is said in the scriptures.

Though we are told in Deuteronomy 4 never to add to the commands of God. And Paul said to the Corinthians that we should not go beyond what is written. And that is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church does.

We cannot partner with them because they are in darkness. They see their authority as the Roman Catholic Church being even greater than the Word of God. That's dark. That's heresy. And we can't have any partnership with them.

So we should also not partner with Mormon efforts or with the efforts of the Jehovah's Witnesses. They are in darkness. And we do not walk with them, with the sons of disobedience, for because of their deceptive empty words.

Once again, Ephesians 5, 6. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. When it comes to ministry, we have no partnership with them.

In fact, we need to understand that those who are Roman Catholic, who are Mormon, who are Jehovah's Witnesses, who proclaim any kind of false Christ apart from the Jesus Christ of the Scriptures, they are lost and still dead in their sins and still desperately in need of hearing the true gospel, the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ as given to us in the Scriptures.

That's what we need to understand. So we have no partnership with them. We are to walk as children of light and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. According to what? According to His Word. Taking no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Now, I've singled out some of the churches that will claim to be the Church of God and really are not. Roman Catholicism also included in this would be like the Orthodox Church, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, but there are even secular endeavors, which the church will partner with as though we have some sort of shared ministry effort, and we do not.

There are even secular efforts that are going on that the church should not be partners with. When it comes to ministry, we cannot be partners with them, for they do not believe in Jesus Christ and they are not proclaiming Him as the Son of God.

When the church partners in such efforts like this, what ends up happening is we affirm those who are in their sin as being justified by their works. We're recognizing the work that they're doing is something great, and so then the church will partner with them, and the message that they receive is, Oh, if the church is going to buddy-buddy with me on this effort, then I must be doing something right.

See, I'm just as good as those people over there who are going to church. Therefore, I must be justified by the works that I am doing. I know that for the most part this sounds very vague, so let me give you a more specific example.

I'm very troubled by the number of churches that I see partner with the Relay for Life in their community. Do you understand what the Relay for Life is? No, it's not standing up for the unborn. The Relay for Life is the cancer walk, oftentimes held in a city park.

I've also seen this done on a high school football field, where they'll do this around the track. For the Relay for Life, you'll give money to buy a luminary. It's a little paper bag with a candle inside, and these luminaries will line a walkway or a track.

Each luminary will represent either a person who has died from cancer or a cancer survivor. Then you do the walk, and you observe all the candles that are lit representing people who have had cancer. All the money that is raised for this goes to the Relay for Life or the American Cancer Society.

Sometimes churches will show up at these events. You'll have different people who will set up tents or booths or something like that at the Relay for Life, and churches will do this as well to advertise their church or whatnot.

The problem is that the community, those who are unbelievers, will see the church present at the Relay for Life, and what they see is the church is giving a blessing to this effort. See, this is something we can all partner in doing together.

We're fighting cancer together. It's all for a good cause. But what the church is not doing is looking into where that money is going because the American Cancer Society gives a portion of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood, the nation's number one abortion provider.

So some of that money goes to contribute to the death of the unborn. Furthermore, there are links between abortion and breast cancer. So it's completely contradictory to be out fighting against cancer and yet giving money to a cause that gives a portion of those proceeds to an organization which kills the unborn and will actually contribute to a higher risk of cancer, cervical cancer and breast cancer.

So this is yet an example of how a ministry can partner with a secular organization thinking that they're doing something good. We're all partnering together to do something good together, and what ends up happening is they are participating in the unfruitful works of darkness.

These are the kinds of things that need to be exposed, not partnered with and given a blessing to. And so this is why we as the church need to be very careful with who we partner with, who we do ministry with, because there are those out there who have no interest in Jesus Christ.

They walk as enemies of the cross of Christ, as Paul talks about in Philippians 3. We need to have nothing to do with the fruitless works of darkness. Instead, we need to expose them. So we've been called out of darkness.

No longer are we to partner with the darkness. We are to walk in the light as he is in the light. We have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so may the work that we do not be the kind of work the world does.

May it not be the kind of work a false teaching church or false teacher does. We should not partner with them in any way, but rather we are holy. Remember, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

We're set apart. A people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And once again, that goes back to Ephesians 2, 4. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved. So here we get to verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles. So this comes back to the introduction that Peter made at the start of his letter. To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling with his blood.

That's us. And so since that's us, since that's who we are, having purified your souls by obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, we need to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul and instead keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

We'll come back to that here. So I urge you as sojourners and exiles, abstain from the passions of the flesh which war against your soul. This is very similar to something that Paul says in Galatians 5, where we talk about the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit.

Paul says, Galatians 5, 16, I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do.

Compare that with the statement that Peter makes here, the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Verse 18 of Galatians 5, I know I'm jumping around here, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. There we have that statement made again. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. So once again Peter says, abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles. Another way to translate that is pagans. The word for pagan and Gentile is the same. It's interchangeable. So keep your conduct among the pagans honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds.

In other words, when they try to malign you, when they try to speak evil against you, their accusations will not stick because you have kept your conduct honorable. If people can look and see your reputation, they can see that those who try to slander you, you know what, I don't see that.

Those who slander you may not see it, but there are others who are kind of standing on the outside, the third person party, right, who's seeing this exchange take place. If you keep your conduct honorable in the face of those who malign you, who speak evil against you, then those who witness this kind of thing going on, they're going to go, you know what, I just don't see that.

I see this person and their conduct is honorable. And there is something that is definitely different about that person. They are set apart. And so by your very conduct, they may see the gospel lived out in your life, their heart would be receptive to hear the gospel proclaimed, and by your good deeds and this witness that has been given to them, they will glorify God on the day of visitation.

This is all underlining what Peter is talking about here, that in our good conduct, we verify the gospel that we believe in. We practice what we preach, in other words. And so in such a way, our light shines before men.

Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 14, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor did people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. Kind of makes you realize that Peter got what he's saying from somebody else, didn't he?

The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Our great God, we thank you so much for calling us out of darkness and into your light. And may we shine your light before men. May our good deeds verify the Christ that we follow so that other people will see we're set apart.

We're holy. We're not like the rest of the world. We've been called out of that world. We're now strangers in this world compared to the way that the rest of the world does things. And so our light will shine before men.

They will hear the gospel that we proclaim and they will repent of their sins and glorify God on the day of his return. Keep us steadfast in the faith and keep the gospel ever before us. In the name of Christ we pray.

Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of a church family committed to gospel teaching. And we thank you for including us in your Bible learning.

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