Sunday Sermon: Fruitless Works of Darkness (Ephesians 5:4-14)

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament, and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series, presently going through the book of Ephesians. Here's Pastor Gabe.

Ephesians chapter five, starting in verse one, and we'll read through verse 15. The apostle

Paul writing to the church in Ephesus, 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 a 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.

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 of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Therefore do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light.

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. Verse 11, 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.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to your word this morning, I pray that you illuminate this to us, that we understand the importance of the instructions here, and that we do not feel so burdened by this.

It's something that is beyond our comprehension or our ability to achieve.

But if we have the Holy Spirit of God within us, then we have divine power, as Paul explains in 2

Corinthians 10, to break down strongholds. And so those things that seek to ensnare us, that even encapsulate the mind, that are not honoring to God, but rather entertain the passions of our flesh, may we crucify those things and put them to death and pursue the holiness of God.

And may we as a church do this together, that we hold one another accountable so that we all would grow in righteousness and in unity in the faith into the head who is

Christ Jesus. We are not alone as we struggle with these things. May we devote ourselves fully unto

Christ who gives us strength. We pray this in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen.

Thank you. You may be seated. There was a story of a harsh rain that had affected an area and it caused a lot of streams to rise and flooding to overtake this particular region.

And so in the midst of a lot of the rain and a lot of the flooding, many of the roads began to be closed off.

In fact, so many roads were being closed off that it was even difficult to find detours to send people down so that they would have an alternate route to get around some of the roadways that have been washed out from the flooding.

And with no other detours, there were some days that had to be devoted to repairing bridges or even inspecting those bridges to make sure that they would not wash out because of the rising water.

One particular day, there was a businessman who was driving down the road and he came to a single solitary construction worker who was standing there with a sign that said, stop.

There were not any other signs. There were not any other crew that were present. It was just one guy standing there in his orange vest and his hat and he stood there with the sign, stop.

You know, the sign says stop and the other side says slow. So he's standing there stopping traffic. This businessman is the first one in this line.

There are no other cars behind him. But as the minutes dragged on and minutes even turned into an hour and then more than an hour, there began to be a large line of cars that were behind this businessman and the businessman wondered if they would ever get to go anywhere.

So he kind of crept the car a little bit further slowly enough to that he could roll down the window and talk to the construction worker that's standing there with the sign that says stop on it.

The businessman says to the construction worker, how long is this going to take? And the construction worker said, well,

I'm not going to lie to you, sir. It might be a while. We might be sitting here for quite a while. And the businessman says, is it just you?

Are there other people? Are there somebody working? And he said, yes, sir. I assure you there are people working on this. I got my radio right here.

As soon as they tell me the way is clear, then I'll send you on. And the businessman said, what is there to stop me from just ignoring your sign and to just press on and take my chances and go the way that I will?

And the construction worker said, well, nothing, sir. You are certainly welcome to go if you want. The businessman said, well, fine, then that's all

I needed to hear. And the construction worker said, but I'm telling you, if you go, you will probably plummet to a watery grave for the road is washed out in front of you.

The businessman sighed and said, carry on. So we come back to this section of scripture again, where we're once again talking about sexual immorality.

We talked about this last week. We got three verses into this. The section that I attempted to cover was 10 verses long, and we see that in the context it even goes beyond that, warning us against sin, but instead walking in light.

Do not carouse in darkness with those who are in darkness, but as children of light. We are to walk in light, and we are to bear fruit as children of light.

So as we talk about these things today, it would be easy to say, why? Why are we talking about this again?

Did you not cover enough of this last week? We get it. The scripture says, have nothing to do with sexual immorality, but lest I let you perish onto a watery grave.

We come back to this again and understand the seriousness of what is being said here, what we're being called to, a life of holiness, and what this means, not just a purity in body, but even a purity in mind.

The scriptures devote quite a bit of attention, especially in the New Testament, warning believers against sexual immorality.

It's amazing whenever we come across a celebrity at some point that will say, sex, sex, sex.

Why is it that Christians in the church are always talking about sex? And our response to that is quite simple.

It's because you guys are talking about it all the time. This is what the world is throwing at us constantly.

Every single day, you hear something about this. And so it is very, very important, as the scriptures instruct us, to be able to control our bodies and the way that we control our bodies is we control our minds.

Our minds be governed and under the authority of God and His word.

As we started last week in Ephesians 5, verse 1, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.

That's the exhortation. But then what does that look like? What does it look like to be imitators of God as beloved children?

What does it look like to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave

Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God? Jesus gave

Himself as a sacrifice, dying on the cross for our sins. We are called to be living sacrifices.

That was a verse I read to you last week out of Romans 12, 1. Therefore, in view of God's mercies, in view of the fact that He has given

His Son to die for our sins, and all who believe in Him are forgiven their sins, and we have escaped the wrath and the judgment of God.

In light of that, since Christ has given His life on our account, we must give our lives, but not as though we die in the body, for Jesus has died in His body that we won't have to.

But instead, we give ourselves as living sacrifices. Therefore, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies unto the

Lord as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, this is your spiritual act of worship.

So as we have what we are to do, there are therefore things that Paul lays out that we are not to do.

If you are to give your body as a living sacrifice, then what do we not give our bodies to?

We give our body unto God, do not give the flesh unto the temptations of the world.

And the first one, oftentimes, whenever we see a list of sins given in the New Testament, the first one that is on that list is sexual immorality.

And that's what we have here in Ephesians 5, 3. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints.

That's as far as we got last week, all the way through verse 3. But note the nature of those things that Paul says must not be named among us.

Sexual immorality, that most definitely has to do with a temptation of our flesh or a temptation in the body.

But notice that he adds to that impurity, which would be even an association with it.

Maybe you're not doing it, but don't even put yourself in a close proximity to it, lest it stain you and draw you in.

Or covetousness. And as I mentioned to you last week, this has to do with the mind itself.

You don't covet with the body, you covet with your mind. Very specifically,

Paul is talking here about lust. Should not even be in our minds. There are some people that can say, well, you can have the desire as long as you don't entertain it, then that's fine.

No, take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10 5.

We should not even have the thought. You should not even have the desire. Do not desire the things that God does not desire for you.

Even covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints.

A couple of years ago, I had done a what video on sexual immorality and temptation and the very thought of lust itself.

And specifically, I confronted men with this video and said, you should have nothing to do with porn.

Stop looking at it now. Have nothing to do with it. Get it out of your life. Get it out of your home.

And I got a lot of emails after that with even some men saying to me, you have burdened me with something that I cannot even do.

I cannot even achieve this. There must be weeks, months, years that have to be tacked onto this before I can overcome this thing that you're telling me

I must have nothing to do with now. I acknowledge that there must be a reprogramming of the mind.

And that can take some time. I acknowledge that. But you have the choice right now not to click that mouse again on things that you should not be looking at.

And that has nothing to do with reprogramming your mind. Yeah, there's a lot of things that are probably burned in there that you need to get rid of.

And that will take a great deal of sanctification and applying yourself to the word of God.

And there are going to be days you will weep over it because you cannot seem to get it out of your mind. I've been there.

I get that. I understand that. But you have enough control over yourself right now not to look at the thing you know you should not be looking at.

You have enough control over that. That is not too great a burden for you.

And this request that the Lord has of us, a command, is not too great a burden for us either, this call to holiness.

Because we don't pursue holiness in the strength of our flesh. We pursue holiness in the strength of the

Spirit that dwells within us. If you know that the

Spirit of God dwells in you, the Spirit of God, which Paul says in Romans 8, is the same Spirit that brought

Jesus Christ back from the dead. If you know that power is in you, then you have the power to not do the things that you should not do.

And that again by the wonderful blessing of God. It is, praise God, not relied upon us in the strength of our flesh to accomplish these things.

We can't do it anyway. Isaiah 64 6 says, even your best deeds are as a filthy rag before a holy

God. But it is the power of God that is upon us by His grace and His mercy that calls us to holiness and then gives us the ability to pursue it.

As I've said to you many times, we were in Galatians and now even here in Ephesians. The thing that God demands of us,

He gives to us. He demands holiness of us. He gives us holiness. He demands of us the self -control not to give in to those passions of our flesh.

He gives to us the self -control that we not give into the passions of our flesh. How devoted to you are you to God over the desires of your own body?

I've said before that if you want to know if a man is selfish or not, look at whether or not he's able to control his own body.

Sexual immorality in particular is that sin that kind of exemplifies the desires and the passions of the flesh.

And it's not just limited to men. I'm going to pick on men in particular, but women as well must learn to control their own bodies and not give into these kinds of temptations.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 through 8, we read the following, for this is the will of God for your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality.

I'm often asked as a pastor, Gabe, what is God's will for my life?

And oftentimes when somebody asks me that question, they want to know, where am I supposed to move? What kind of job am

I supposed to have? What's my spouse supposed to look like? You know, something like that. But we have in Scripture, in particular 1

Thessalonians, there's a couple of places in there where Paul says exactly what God's will is for you. And in 1 Thessalonians 4, 3, he says, for this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality.

That's usually not the kind of answer that we want to hear. Because when we're asking, what is

God's will for my life? Sometimes that question comes from our flesh. When is

God going to give me the desires of my heart? Rather than pursuing the desires of God's heart.

But God's will for you is that you stay away from this, just as we have it said in Ephesians chapter 5, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the pagans who do not know

God. That no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the

Lord is an avenger in all these things. As we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us to impurity, but in holiness.

I mean, you're literally playing with fire here, and a fire even worse than a fire in your fireplace. But the holy fire of God that would rain down on a person in judgment because they would go after the passions of their flesh instead of devoting even their bodies unto the

Lord as a spiritual act of worship. Even here in Ephesians chapter 5, it says, no one has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God if they've given themselves over to the lusts of their flesh.

Here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where Paul says that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter.

Understand something in this, that no one sins as an island. Our sins absolutely have an effect and repercussion on others who are around us.

Do not be fooled into thinking, well, this is my own private sin. This is this thing that I do and it's not going to affect anybody else.

Not only is it affecting you in this moment, but it is affecting other people and this sin will turn you over into other sins as well.

It's not just one single isolated solitary case. Some of you have probably seen

Kanye West's name in the news lately. This past week, he released a brand new album.

Anybody know what the name of this album is? Jesus is King. The number one best -selling album in the world right now is called

Jesus is King. How cool is that? Now, Kanye West says that he's a new believer.

This is a man who has in the past claimed that he was

Christ. He's called himself Jesus. And you've probably seen a picture of him on the cover of Rolling Stone about a decade ago where he was depicted as Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head.

This man has blasphemed God in his career and now he is coming out and he has said, that man is a sinner who is dead and I've been made alive now in Christ.

How about that? And he releases this new gospel album called

Jesus is King. And in all of the interviews that he's conducted for the promotion of this album, he shares the gospel.

In an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Kanye talks about the very thing that had given him over to all of the sins and abominations that you've probably known

Kanye West for in the past 10 plus years. Kanye said, playboy was my gateway into a full -blown pornography addiction.

My dad had a playboy left out at age five and it's affected almost every choice that I made for the rest of my life from age five to now having to kick the habit.

And it just presents itself in the open. It's like, okay. And I stand up and say, you know, it's not okay.

And Kanye realizes now his sin and the forgiveness that is given in Christ.

One of the most infamous events that is connected with Kanye West goes back to an MTV Video Music Awards back in 2009, when

Taylor Swift was presented with an award and Kanye jumped on the stage and took the mic from her.

Everybody seen this before, seen it parodied to some degree, right? Kanye takes the mic from her and says,

I'm gonna let you finish, but I got something to say. And then he exalted Beyonce and said, she deserved this award more than Taylor Swift.

Even President Obama at that time said, what an idiot. What's he doing up there? Kanye West.

Kanye even explains that event this way. Now in Christ, as a proclaimed

Christian following Jesus and trying to put off his sinfulness and walk in righteousness, he says that playboy that I found when

I was five years old was written all over that moment at the MTV Music Awards.

You might say that had nothing to do with porn, but it was just one sin that led to more sin that led to this ego that Kanye just had to feed.

He said, my mom had died a year before that Video Music Awards.

And I had said, some people drown themselves in drugs. I drowned myself in a porn addiction. Sex, that's what fed the ego too.

Money, clothes, cars, accolades, social media, paparazzi photos, going to Paris fashion week.

All of that came from his sexual immorality. And he said, with God, I've been able to beat the things that previously had a hold on me.

And I pray for Kanye and I pray for his family. And I pray that this thing that is going on right now is genuine and it is going to lead many, many others to the

Lord as well. I don't think we understand just how rare this is. How many

A -list celebrities have you seen renounce a former lifestyle of the flesh and devote themselves to the holiness of God?

So I pray this is not a style, another style of Kanye's, a flash in the pan, but it is something that is genuine.

I've not yet listened to Jesus is King, but many of my friends have, and they said it is a thoroughly godly album.

May the fruit that he continues to bear demonstrate that Christ has truly changed this man's life.

We are meant not only to abstain in our bodies, but even our thoughts must be completely devoted to God.

For it is the thought that Satan gets a hold of first, and then we follow that thought in the passion of our flesh to the dishonoring of our bodies.

Jesus has said that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. And it's from that concept that Paul even says this in Ephesians 5, 4, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Paul had laid out in Romans 1 that one of the reasons that people are given over to sin, especially the sin of sexual immorality, which he confronts quite a bit in Romans 1, the reason people are given so over to the temptations of their flesh is because they are unthankful.

They are not thankful to God. Paul says the following in Romans 1, verse 21, for although they knew

God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Back in verse 18, he said, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

They're not thankful to God for what he has given to them. So out of a spirit of ungratefulness, they pursue their sins and the passions of their flesh instead.

Every sin that we commit is an expression unto God that I am not thankful for what you have given me.

It's not enough. And so I have to have this other thing in order to be satisfied.

And Paul says that if the expression of a heart that has been changed in Christ Jesus is going to be reflected in our speech, then let there be thanksgiving in what you say.

And I understand that I'm saying that in the midst of a culture that just has a license to complain, and they'll give you a license to complain as long as you let them complain.

Everybody can complain. Complain, complain, gripe, groan, wah, whine.

You complain about your circumstance, I'll complain about my circumstance. I believe that I should have more than what

I am. I deserve this. I am owed this. You're even seeing that from athletes now. Whenever they work hard and win what it is that they win, they'll even say,

I deserve this. I deserve this reward. We don't deserve anything. But instead, let the talk that comes from our mouths be thanksgiving, understanding we don't deserve anything.

And yet God has given us grace and mercy. And as we have sung in our hymns this morning, I will reign with Him on high.

We don't deserve the kingdom of God, but God has given it to us. And His Son, Jesus Christ.

And so let there be thanksgiving that pours forth in our speech as a reflection of a heart that has been changed in Christ, a person who is now seated with Christ in God in glory.

So let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which reflect a mind and a body that might be given over to sexually depraved passions.

All of this are out of place. Instead, let us be filled with thanksgiving. Paul says in Philippians chapter four, that when you bring your request to God, let it be in a spirit of thanksgiving.

It's okay to express to God, Lord, I'm struggling right now. I don't see you right now. Things are hard for me right now.

It is fine to say that. David says it in the Psalms. But you must also follow

David's example in the Psalms when he says, but I will trust in your steadfast love for you have dealt bountifully with me.

Express your hurts and your griefs, but know that God is good. And he is still with you and will not leave you nor forsake you.

My friends, when we read, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place. We're not just talking about what you say to somebody else.

We're also talking about what you text to somebody else, what you email, what you say on Facebook or Twitter.

You know, when Jesus said that we're going to have to give an account for every careless word that we have spoken,

I don't think that that saying should echo as much with any generation as it echoes with this generation right now.

There is literally a network of all the stuff that you have said online. As much as you've wanted to delete those

Facebook posts or those Twitter feeds, I've watched enough true crime dramas to know there's still a place they can go and find it.

None of the words that you've said are even hidden from man. So how much more the words you've said are known by God?

And he will judge the sexually immoral and the idolatrous. As we are told in Scripture, Colossians 3, 5, and 6, put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. You know, it's by the grace of God that we are warned that the wrath of God is coming, that there is a construction worker out there standing with a stop sign that's telling us, stop, death up ahead.

So that the Scripture even warns us the judgment of God will come upon those who continue in this sin and do not repent and put their faith in Christ, who transforms us to no longer walk in darkness, but instead walk in light.

As we go on in verse 5, 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 of God.

Here in Ephesians 5 and in the passage I just read to you from Colossians 3, in both of these places,

Paul equates coveting with idolatry. Wanting something in your mind that God does not desire for you to have is the same as worshiping an idol.

We often think of idolatry as a man fashioning or carving some sort of a statue and bowing down to it.

That's what we think of as idolatry. We don't see a lot of that in our culture, but it is there.

There was a dollar store that I was in recently, a dollar store, and they had little

Buddha statues. And Ganesh, which is one of the Hindu gods, had little statues in a dollar store.

So there are idols out there and people buy those things as fun little trinkets. They think of them as good luck charms.

Probably put them in their house thinking, hey, my house is blessed now because I have this little Buddha statue sitting in my house.

So that idolatry does exist in our culture, even though there are people out there that want you to think that such kind of idolatry is something that primitive tribes over in Africa do, right?

Or down in South America or somewhere. Those people who are uncultured and uncivilized and they're still carrying around spears and wearing grass skirts, they're the ones who are the idolaters, but we're way too sophisticated for that.

No, it exists even in our own culture. I mean, there's a box that's sitting in your living room that many people bow down to called a television set.

It's not even much of a set anymore. It doesn't have the tubes in it, but you know where the name comes from.

There are all kinds of material things that people bow down to. There's all kinds of idol worship that exists in our culture.

And there's probably none that is greater and has captivated our culture more than sexual immorality. Even the thought in your mind, according to what

Paul says here in Ephesians 5 and in Colossians 3, even the thought is idolatrous. For it is desiring something above God.

It is, again, to say to God, you're just not enough. You're not good enough.

I need this other thing. And whatever you have exalted to the place of God, you are now worshiping as an idol.

Whatever you think you have to have in order to be happy is your idol. Remember when we were going through Galatians, I said that whatever you have in that blank,

Christ plus blank equals salvation. Whatever is in the blank has your worship.

Christ can have 99 % of your attention, and this other thing just has 1 % of your attention.

But the 1 % is the thing that you need to feel complete. And so, therefore, it has all your attention, not

Christ. And that has become an idol. The thing that you have thought in your mind, that you have exalted to the place of God is your worship.

And so we must not even be coveting those things. We must be completely thankful in all that God has given to us.

And I could want nothing more than this blessing that God has bestowed upon me.

Yes, my friends, that does mean you have to be thankful for your job. I don't care if you're flipping burgers at McDonald's.

Be thankful for it. Thank God for this. I've got something to do with my hands that keeps my mind and my person occupied.

I can apply myself to something that I get paid for so I have a paycheck and I'm able to have my needs met or help my ailing mother or put something in the offering at church.

Be thankful. Be thankful for your friends, your family, your church.

Be thankful for the opportunities that God has given you in this time and place and be thankful for opportunities that you don't yet know.

But you will still have the place even there to give glory to God in whatever things come your way.

Be thankful. My soul has been saved by Christ.

What can man do to me? What can man take away that God has given to me?

Fear not any way of man, but be thankful for all things that have been given to us by God.

Further in Colossians 3, Paul says, be thankful unto the Lord and work for Him for you work first for God before you work for man.

So we devote ourselves in all things unto the Lord Almighty who has given His Son to save us.

Verse 6 says, let no one deceive you with empty words. So see, a thankfulness that we have in God will also be a protection against false teachers that come to us with empty words, that try to lead us astray from the holiness and righteousness that we've been called to in Christ.

If we're thankful to God, then when a false teacher comes along promising us something in this world or in our flesh, we're going to look at that and go, whatever you're offering ain't going to cut it.

Ain't going to meet my needs anyway because all my needs are met in Christ. So let no one deceive you with empty words.

Jude refers to these false teachers' words as clouds without water. It's like you're standing below and you're looking up and you see a cloud overhead and you would stand there with your mouth open, hoping to get a drink, hoping to get water, and nothing comes from it.

That's exactly what false teachers are like. They promise things that will quench your thirst, but they don't.

They just make you more thirsty and lead you into an even more barren wasteland than you were in before.

Jude warns about these things, those that lead you into sexual temptations and passions of your flesh. Peter warns about them in 2

Peter 2. They are clouds without water. They are waterless springs. They deceive you with empty words.

For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

And remember, we previously read in Ephesians 2 that we were once dead in the trespasses and sins in which we 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.

That's who we were. We can't be that person anymore. No longer walking with the sons of disobedience, but instead we're walking with the saints, the ones who are being made holy in Christ.

Verse 7, Therefore do not become partners with them, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the

Lord. So walk as children of light. This month...

Was it this month or was it last month? When was the women's conference? September, end of September. So our women's conference that we had here at the church, something that we hope to make an annual thing.

So next year will be the second annual women's conference. But the theme for this year was 1

Peter 2 9 -10. And it's there that Peter says that we are no longer in darkness, but we are light.

Once you were darkness, but God has rescued you out of darkness. He has called you out of darkness and into his light.

And so we must not walk with those who are in darkness, but instead we must walk as children of light.

As it says in 1 John, we must be in the light as he is in the light.

A song that my son has taken a liking to, which came out when I was a kid, is

In the Light by DC Talk. And so he'll talk to our Amazon Alexa and say,

Alexa, play In the Light by DC Talk. I hear it in the next room, touches my heart every time.

And I hope those words are being written on my son's heart, that he understands what it means to walk in the light as he is in the light.

In John 1, verse 9, we read, the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.

For from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. For the law given through Moses, the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father's side. He has made him known.

Further talking about our ladies group here at church, just a couple of weeks ago, they were looking at John 3.

We're in John 3, 16, starting in verse 16, we read, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that 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 already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God.

And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

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.

Jesus said, let your works shine before men. Let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your

God who is in heaven on the day of visitation. So we must be in light.

We must not cower in darkness. We must not ever think that the sins that we do can be hidden in secret for God knows and discerns all of the thoughts in the minds and the hearts of men and women.

So let no one deceive you with empty words because of the things that they tell you to do in darkness.

The wrath of God is coming against the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them.

As we read in 2 Corinthians, do not be yoked together with unbelievers. As we read in Proverbs, that bad company corrupts good character.

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. That's verse 10, Ephesians 5, 10.

Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Now we're gonna have a little bit of overlap today. I didn't get through the full section last week that I wanted to get through.

We're finishing up that section today. And then I'm also getting into a little bit of the section that I had planned for today, but we're gonna pick up next week.

And that's gonna be verses 10 through 21. And then we'll talk about husbands and wives a week after that, starting in verse 22.

So that's a couple of weeks away. Next week, we're gonna talk about discerning what is pleasing to the

Lord. And then all the verses that follow this. How do we discern what is pleasing to the Lord? Well, we know the will of God.

We know what pleases God. We know what it means to walk as children of light. When we read the

Bible, it's in the scripture. But still talking about our ladies group here at church.

Becky has shared with me that some of the ladies yesterday were talking about, how do I read the Bible? That's a great question.

Don't ever feel embarrassed or ashamed to ask that question. The Bible's 750 ,000 words, yo.

It's a big book. How do you read it? How do you get through all those genealogies and some of those big things?

The Levitical law, my goodness, so much blood. What does this mean? How do you narrow down what it is you're supposed to read?

And how is it important? What's the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament? Which books, where do

I start? Should I start in Genesis, read straight through? Should I start in John? Should I start in Matthew? Where do I start?

These are great questions. So that's what we're gonna talk about next week is we want to understand discerning what is pleasing to the

Lord. How to read your Bible. I think sometimes we even take that for granted.

I tell you over and over again, don't take the gospel for granted. Don't just assume that people know it. Share the gospel.

We need to be reminded of it constantly because we're weak in our flesh. So I need to learn even as a pastor not to take it for granted that people know how to read the

Bible. So we're gonna take a Sunday to focus on that and in light of the instruction that Paul gives here in Ephesians 5, discern what is pleasing to the

Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Now that is particularly piercing for me as a pastor because one of my qualifications, one of my job responsibilities as laid out in Titus 1, verse 9,

Dave has this same responsibility. Dwight has this same responsibility. We must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.

Being able to give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it.

So we must not only teach what is right, according to the word of God, we must also rebuke those who are wrong.

And we as shepherds have a responsibility, a burden upon us to warn you about those teachers that are false so that you may direct it toward those things that are true and pleasing unto

God. There are those who are going to try to mislead you with empty chatter and empty talk, which is why

I can tell you, you can listen to Kanye West, Jesus is King album.

Don't listen to any of the other ones before that one. And if this change in his heart is true and genuine, he would tell you the same thing.

He'd say, don't invest your money in any of those other seven albums that I released.

Listen to the one called Jesus is King, because that's the statement that's important. Again, I'm just delighted that the statement

Jesus is King is being heard all over the world right now. Whatever happens, whatever happens through this saga, this episode that's going on right now,

I'm delighted to see that Jesus is King is trending worldwide. So 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.

Like it's shameful for us to joke about that, stand around and go, how appalling. How does it, as though we're like standing tabloid magazines, talking about the ridiculous things that people do in the world at large.

I think there's a certain awareness that we should have about those things so that we can avoid them, but not gossiping and making them the butt of our jokes and our senses of humor.

We shouldn't even have anything to do with that. It's shameful to even speak of the things that they do in secret.

I've talked to you before about, I need to be careful about even some of the news that I read because some of those stories can be so dark that it can, just reading that story can affect my entire day.

But when anything is exposed by the light, we read in verse 13, it becomes visible. Anything that becomes visible is light.

Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

I want to conclude with an article that was in the most recent edition of Table Talk.

This was written by Reverend Jeffrey Thomas, who's a pastor of Alfred Place Baptist Church in Wales.

He wrote an article in the latest edition of Table Talk called Take Sin Seriously. In preparation for this sermon this morning,

I tried to pull out quotes from this article, but the whole article is so good that I'm just going to read you the whole thing.

Here is what Reverend Thomas said. Take Christ seriously.

Yes, of course. For every look at your sin, take 10 looks at Christ.

But will you want to look at Christ if you have not seen your own need?

Will you see your need if you have not seen your sin? Why is the

Son of God taken for granted in the visible church today? Only because sin is taken lightly.

The rediscovery of the glory of Christ's salvation is our most pressing need.

The most mature man of God needs a fresh vision of Jesus Christ so that he cries out, hallelujah, what a savior.

This is the mark of a growing and a revived congregation. And that fullness of the

Spirit as he glorifies the Son comes in large part by means of a conviction of our sin and a realization of our need of this glorious deliverer from sin's dominion, perversity, and condemnation.

So, young Christian, take sin seriously.

See how sin smashes in pieces the law of God.

Two tables with safe, good, holy, just, spiritual, and profitable rules.

Sin dashes them down and destroys both tablets. Is that an insignificant action?

To disdain and destroy the holy law of God, the summary of God's nature and perfections?

God did not restrain one stroke of his rod of justice in displaying how worthy of condemnation sin is.

See how sin looks coldly at the character of our creator, the maker of all that is majestic, glorious, beautiful, and excellent.

It pours contempt on him. Look at the scariest creatures in the world and imagine that they are honing in on you.

Yet none of those creatures naturally hates God. Only sin, your sin and mine, despises and rejects

God. See how sin lies under the warnings of the living

God. God hates all that is a contradiction of his nature. All that is mean, sly, cruel, egotistical, idolatrous, greedy, and lustful is disdained by the thrice holy

Lord. Everything in heaven and in the heaven of heavens, the angels in seraphim, the spirits of just men made perfect, the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one in all their righteous anger and fury aimed at the head of sin.

And are we going to go on being indifferent to it? One day, by grace, we shall loathe sin as they do.

See the consequences of sin. Consider the rich man in Jesus' story and the great gulf fixed between him and the blessedness of those in heaven in Luke chapter 16 verses 19 through 31.

He longs for deliverance, but he cannot ever leave that place. One drop of water is all he asks for, but he can never have it.

What has brought him there? This wealthy man who had everything. This son of pride.

What has joined him to many more who for years resolutely walked the broad way and refused every offer of mercy and disdained

Christ the Redeemer? It was sin. That same sin that fills the graveyards with your dead and causes the smoke from their burning bodies to ascend from the chimneys of every crematorium.

The wages of sin is death, physical death in this world and the horrific second death in the world that is to come.

See the judgment of sin that fell on the Lord Jesus at Golgotha.

What do the Father, Son, and the

Holy Spirit think of sin? Consider the end of the

Son whom God the Father loves. There is no

Father more loving than the Father and no

Son more beloved than the Son. Yet the

Son bore our sins in His own body on the cross. The Son of God became the

Lamb of God. He who knew no sin was made sin for us.

But God the Father did not spare Him. There could not be a gram of compromise as far as sin was concerned.

God did not restrain one stroke of His rod of justice in displaying how worthy of condemnation sin is.

It pleased the Father to strike Christ dead.

The Father lifted up His rod and Christ took it on Himself in our place.

All this indicates the seriousness with which God views sin and how inexpressible is all that God endured in order for pathetic folk like us to be delivered from iniquity.

And you can shrug? You can nod and yet carry on sinning in deed and word and attitude and omission?

Unbeliever, Jesus Christ is everything sinners need.

He can satisfy all your desires and can snap those mighty chains that attach you to your sin.

Christian, young and old alike, put to death remaining sin.

Strangle it and give it not a breath. Starve it, refuse to feed it with a single tidbit.

Take sin seriously because you take the righteousness and blood of Christ seriously.

He was brought up in shame and scoffing through In my place condemned

He stood Sealed my garden with His blood

Hallelu -Yah He promised me

Stopless Lamb of God was He No atonement can it be

Hallelu -Yah What a Savior With a sea to die

In His finish was this cry

Now in heaven exalted high

Hallelu -Yah What a Savior Alms our glorious King All His ransomed home to bring

Then anew this song we'll sing

Hallelu -Yah What a Savior Thank you for listening to our weekly sermon presented by First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City, Kansas.

For more information about our church, visit fsbcjc .org.

On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again this week, Growing Together in Christ, when we understand the text.