EXPOSE THE UNFRUITFUL WORKS OF DARKNESS (Eph 5:11-14)

TWELVE 5 CHURCH

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What wonders, what wonders, what love is this That Christ would die for me

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His goodness, His merit, His righteousness The sinner's only plea

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O foolish pride, be crucified The work is finished

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All my blessed is in Jesus All my hope is

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His love And I will glory forever

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In what the cross has done I'm fully forgiven, my life is filled

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With graces undeserved O mercy that flowed down,

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I say to you That grace has now returned Rise up, my soul, bless the

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Lord Who else is worthy All my blessed is in Jesus All my hope is

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His love And I will glory forever

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In what the cross has done O praise the one for rest

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Him alone I adore

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And I will boast in nothing less

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Than the love of Christ my Lord Sing that one more time,

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O praise the one O praise the one

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O praise the one

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O praise the one

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O praise the one O praise the one

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O praise the one O praise the one

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O praise the one I still live as Christ In plenty or in want

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May see His power within me

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All my boast is in Jesus All my hope is

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His love And I will not turn

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Now I stand in His freedom And so clean in His sight

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O I will not be ashamed For my boast is

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Jesus Christ My boast is Jesus Christ My boast is

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Jesus Christ Amen That's why we gathered this morning, isn't it?

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Our boast is in Jesus Christ And in Christ alone That we've come together today

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We're so grateful that you're here Welcome to the Lord's Day Gathering I want to say a special thank you

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And welcome to all of our Covenant members We are so grateful that That God has uniquely gifted each one of you

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And how you bring your gifts To the betterment of this body As I remind you every week

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And I want to continue to remind you Don't let it become white noise You are loved You are loved

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By God the Father Who chose you before the foundations of the world You are loved by God the

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Son Who purchased you And bought you by blood ransom And you are loved by the

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Holy Spirit God the Holy Spirit Who now Seals you for the day of glory

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And works in you Sanctification molding you more Into the image of Christ Our Savior So you are loved

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And because of that You are loved by the saints Here at Twelve Five And I also want to say welcome to all of our guests

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Here this morning Thank you for joining us today I want you to know that you are loved You are greatly loved by the people here

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We long to get to know you We hope that you grow in the fear And in the knowledge of the

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Lord If you are with us today We would ask If you would fill out one of these connect cards

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Maybe if you are a first time guest You got one of the gift bags It has it in there If you don't have one we can get one to you

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This is just an opportunity for us to get to know you On the bottom down here Is an area where you can write out prayer requests

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We all need prayer don't we I need prayer And so if you have something That you want us to pray for We can guarantee that will be prayed for And so if you want to put that down There's areas that you can check

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If you want to know more about baptism About membership, discipleship, children's ministry Whatever that may be

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But if you could do that and drop that in the offering plate When it comes by here in just a moment We would be so grateful

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And we would love the opportunity to get to know you there The next thing before we start our service

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Is I would like to encourage All of our families Most of you already know

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We are a family integrated church So our members understand this This simply means that we do not offer

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Nursery or child care On the Lord's Day gathering We think it's vital for the families

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To be together and worship Even the small children But yet we know children don't we

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We know that babies And young ones They get fussy, they get upset about things

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And you can't control it And all parents understand this very well And so because of that We do offer a nursing room

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Back this direction And you can ask anybody with one of the name tags And they'll guide you over there

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There's a space where the service should be on the TV Where you can hear what's going on But it's a chance to be able to Gather with your child

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For them to be able to Get their composure Because the last thing we want is to be a distraction to others

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Everyone in here that has children understands But we don't want to be a distraction From the gospel

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And so that is an opportunity We would pray that you would Take advantage of that opportunity

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But before we move on What do we usually do Church members you know what we do now

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Before we go to a call to worship What do we do We pray for another local church

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A church of brothers and sisters That we love, that we long to see God work in Because we are not the only ones

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Gathered today And today we want to pray for Community Fellowship Church We have some

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Dear friends that go over to that church If you're not familiar with it I believe it's on Red Wolf Over near Chick -fil -A

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And we just want to lift them up in prayer This morning that God will work in their midst

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So if you wouldn't mind bow with me Let's go to the Lord Dear Heavenly Father we come to you this morning

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And we thank you for bringing us together Oh God but we also Thank you that you're bringing other

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Saints, other children of yours Other siblings of ours Together to worship you All over this community and all over this world today

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I pray that That the worship Of your people

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Would come up before you as a sweet Smelling aroma And Lord we specifically want to pray for The Saints at Community Fellowship Church God we pray

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That you would work in their midst This morning that you would work in their hearts God we know that your word never returns void

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It always accomplishes that which it sets out to do And so we pray that That whoever's proclaiming the word

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This morning from the pulpit That you would give them boldness and clarity To speak truth from your word Present it to the people

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And Lord we pray for the songs that will be sung We pray for the prayers that will be prayed The scripture readings and all that goes into Corporate worship

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Lord We pray for them We lift them up to you we pray that you bring about Awakening in the hearts of those

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Who do not yet know you in their midst this morning God we pray for The Saints there to grow

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In sanctification Lord You began a good work in them

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And you will see it to completion The day of Christ Jesus and we trust that work In their hearts We thank you for them we pray that they would

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Know that we have Great love for them and care for them In Christ's name amen

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Amen Let's start our service this morning In a call to worship Our call to worship this morning

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Is the 148th psalm And if you're new here You can follow along You can see it on the screen

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We break down the psalms in a read And a response But this is not anything extra biblical

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This is just scripture And we do it because we want to start our service Off very intentionally

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And very purposely letting everyone Who is involved know That this is not a passive Engagement This is not something to come in and just Consume this is a

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A corporate Participation in corporate Worship and that's why we do this

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But the psalmist says To praise the name of the Lord Praise the lord

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From the heaven Praise him

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All his angels I'll praise him

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Sun and moon Praise him you highest heavens

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Let them praise the name of The lord And he established

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Them forever and ever And it shall not pass away

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The psalmist says praise the lord from The earth you great sea Creatures and all depths fire

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And hail snow and Mist stormy wind Fulfilling his word

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Mountains and all hills Fruit trees and all cedars Beasts and all livestock creeping

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Things and flying birds kings Of the earth and all People's princess and All rulers of the earth

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Young men and maidens together Old men and children Let them praise the name of The lord for his name alone

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Is exalted He has raised up a horn for his people

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Praise for all His saints for the people Of israel who are near to him

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Praise the lord and all god's people said Amen let's go To our great god in a prayer of Adoration this morning

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Dear heavenly father we bow before you Once again And we acknowledge our great need

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For you lord we We know

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That it is your name and your Name alone that is to be exalted Now father i know that each

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One of us at times Seeks to Exalt other things

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Created things ourself Or whatever it May be God but we know that it is you

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And you alone to be exalted So father we Come before you this morning and ask that You would work in our midst

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That you would show us Your glory that we Would in such a small

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And seemingly Insignificant way Point to your great name

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For we are We are finite Lord and your name is infinite

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You You lord are worthy of all praise And so we pray

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That as we sing God i pray that these songs Would drive our hearts

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And our minds to you God i pray as we Read your word that our heart

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Just leaps within us Because we know that these are the very Words of the

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Of the creator god Who stands above all And is exalted above all

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Be honored In our worship this morning In christ name

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Amen I bless

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Your name oh god Each day that I Awake From dawn to setting

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Sun Greatness I'll proclaim Your glory

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Far exceeds All human Thought So with each breath

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I'll bless your name Oh god Your name

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Will be revealed And children get to Come As generations

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Sing of wonders You have done Your strong And mighty deeds

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Are always Near Oh god most high

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Your name will be Revealed How great

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Is the lord And great He is How great

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Is the lord Our god How great

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Is the lord And great He is Gracious And almighty

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Your mercy

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Reveals to far The help you send When we call out

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To you You hear our cries And all

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I need your Gracious hand Provides How great

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Is the lord And great He to be praised

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How great Is the lord Our god

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How great Is the lord

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And great He to be praised Revelation Will rejoice

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When works Of wicked men You finally

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Destroy Your power Will proclaim

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Till Christ Descends And you will reign

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Forever Without end How great

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Is the lord And great He to be praised

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How great Is the lord Our god

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How great Is the lord

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And great He to be praised This we know

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We will see The enemy run This we know

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We will see The victory come We hold on To every

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Promise you ever Made Jesus you are unfailing

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You say you are

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You'll do What you say you'll do You and me

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We've always been Two of us Jesus Our hope is in you lord

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Is in you lord Our strength

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In your light In the darkest

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Day Jesus This we know

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We will see The enemy run This we know

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We will see The victory come We hold on To every

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Promise you ever Made Jesus you are unfailing

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Sing our God We are joy

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We are joy We are happiness We are happiness You are our way

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When it seems There is no way Jesus Yes, we know we will see the end of the earth

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Yes, we know we will see the victory come

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We hold on to every promise you ever made

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Jesus, you are unfailing We trust you, we trust you

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Your ways are higher than our own

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We trust you, we trust you

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Your ways are higher than our own

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We trust you, we trust you

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Your ways are higher than our own We trust you, we trust you

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Your ways are higher than our own

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Yes, we know we will see the end of the earth

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Yes, we know we will see the victory come

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We hold on to every promise you ever made

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Jesus, you are unfailing Jesus, you are unfailing

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Jesus, you are unfailing

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Jesus, you are unfailing Jesus, you are unfailing In Christ alone, my hope is found

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He is my light, my strength, my song

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This cornerstone, this solid ground

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Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

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When heights of love are depths of peace

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When fears are still and striving cease

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My comforter, my all in all

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Here in the love of Christ I stand Christ alone, who took on flesh

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Forgiveness of God in helpless pain

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His gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones he came to save Till all that rose as Jesus died

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Was satisfied Every sin on earth was laid

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Here in the death of Christ His blood, my darkness, my pain

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Forgiveness of God in helpless pain

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Love from the grave he rose again And as he stands in victory

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His curse has lost its grip on me

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I am his precious blood

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This is the power of Christ in me

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Jesus concludes my destiny No power of hell, no scheme of man

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Can ever put his hands on me

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Here in the power of Christ I stand This war calls me home

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Here in the power of Christ I stand

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Gift of grace is

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Jesus my Redeemer There is no more for heaven now to give

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He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom

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My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace

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To this I look, my hope is only

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Jesus For my life is wholly bound to his

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Oh how strange and divine I can see

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All is mine yet through Christ In death is death but I am not forsaken

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For by my side the Savior he will stand

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In weakness and in joy his power is displayed

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To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me

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Through the deepest valley he will win

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And I shall overcome if not

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I Through Christ I dread,

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I know my future's sure

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The price it has been paid For Jesus bled and suffered for my pride

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And he was raised to overflow the grave

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To this I hold, my sin has been defeated

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Jesus now and ever is my plea

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The chains are released, I can sing

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I am free if not I But through Christ I long to follow

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Jesus For he has said that he will bring me home

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And day by day I miss him

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Until I stand with joy before the Lord To this

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I hold, my hope is only Jesus All the glory evermore to Him And the race is complete

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Still my lips shall repeat Yet not I but through Christ The race is complete

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Still my lips shall repeat Yet not

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I but through Christ No power of hell, no scheme of man

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Can ever pluck me from His hand

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Till He returns or calls me home

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Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

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That's more than enough. Well, you may be seated. As a church, we've been walking through the

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Apostle Paul's great letter to the church in Ephesus. Thank you. I appreciate that.

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In Ephesus for just, actually over a year now. We actually started this study, I look back, at the end of January last year.

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And today we've made it to the 11th verse of chapter 5. But actually,

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I would like to ask all of you first to look with me at a portion of Jesus' High Priestly Prayer.

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Which I think is going to be helpful for understanding our text today. So go ahead and open up your copy of God's word to John chapter 17.

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John chapter 17, if you're a guest with us today, I'm sorry, we're not one of those churches that puts the verses up on the screen.

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There's nothing wrong with it, we just intentionally don't do it because we want all of our people to bring their copy of God's word and have it in hand so that they're used to flipping through, they're used to looking at it.

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And you keep me and Pastor Jeremiah and Keith and whoever preaches accountable because we can't get anything by you because you're seeing the words there.

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But John chapter 17, we're going to start reading in verse 14 but just to kind of set the groundwork for this, the

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Last Supper had just taken place. Jesus had washed the disciples' feet. He has promised them of the coming

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Holy Spirit. He then goes on and he's foretelling of what is to come in the last of his earthly ministry.

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And by the time we make it here to chapter 17, Jesus begins to pray. And this is what's known as the

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High Priestly Prayer. And again, I want to start in verse 14. Jesus prays,

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I have given them your word. Now who's he speaking of? He's speaking of the disciples, the followers, the people that had followed him thus far.

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He says, I've given them your word, Father. And the world has hated them because they're not of the world just as I am not of the world.

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I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil.

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They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth.

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Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

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And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth.

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I do not ask for these only but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they may all be one just as you,

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Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

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The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one,

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I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me.

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Why is Jesus praying for his followers in this way?

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Why does Jesus end this evening per se of telling them what's to come and all of this, why is he praying for them?

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Because here's the thing, look at what the world did to him. Right, he's been preparing for and he's even been alluding to before he goes into this prayer, what did the world do to him?

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They ridiculed him, they mocked him and they ultimately crucified him. They hated him.

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And now he's getting ready to leave them in that world.

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He's getting ready to leave them there, a world that he says hates them and a world that hates them because they're not of the world, they're a new creation, there's something different than the world.

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So why, why would King Jesus do this to them? Why would our

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Savior tell them of all of this difficulty and then do this to them?

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He's obviously praying for them because they're going to be left in a world that hates them as it hated him. He does this so that the world may believe that you have sent me, is what he says.

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He leaves them here so that the world may believe in him. After all,

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Jesus is longing to bring them to himself, isn't he? Jesus longs to bring them where he is.

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He's not necessarily longing to leave them into this world that hates them like it hates him.

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As a matter of fact, look down at verse 24 of that prayer. We see the heart of Jesus.

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He says, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am.

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And ultimately that prayer is most certainly coming true because they will be. But you can see where Christ is longing for them to come be with him.

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But the difference is, look back at verse 20 of what we just read. I do not ask for these only.

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I do not ask for these only, these followers right now, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, is what he says.

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See, he must leave them here in a world that hates them in order to find those others that he is speaking of, the ones who have not yet been awakened by the light.

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That's the purpose, right? That's the purpose of leaving his saints here in this world that hates them.

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If this is the case, if that is why he truly has left us here, if this is essentially our mission, right?

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This is our mission, the Great Commission summed up in this prayer. As Christians, as followers of Christ, as foreigners, as outcasts in a foreign land, a world that we're not of and that hates us desperately, then how are we to conduct ourselves in a way that accomplishes that mission?

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I think that's the question that we must ask. And I believe that the Apostle Paul addresses that very question here in our text today in Ephesians.

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So flip over there with me to Ephesians in our study, chapter 5. And we're going to start reading in verse 11.

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And I think we're going to try and make our way through 14 today, but y 'all know how that goes. I will desperately try.

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You just have to listen faster. Okay? Ephesians chapter 5, starting in verse 11, the

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Apostle Paul says, take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

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But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light.

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

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This is the reading of God's holy inspired word. Let us stop for a moment. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts and minds to this great truth.

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Bow with me. Lord, we come to you, once again, acknowledging our frailty, acknowledging our propensity to misunderstand, to distort your clear, precise truth.

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And O Lord, we ask now that you would guard us from doing so. Holy Spirit, we ask that you would work in each of our minds as our minds are being renewed by your word, that we would see it with clarity.

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Lord, guard my lips from error. Guard their ears from hearing untruth. Help us to see when an untruth is here and to rectify and look to your truth for that is the ultimate final authority.

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In Christ's name, amen. Well, there's no doubt amongst Christians, really, that Jesus has left us here to play a part of that great commission as he just prayed for, the making disciples.

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However, there's really not much uniformity as to how this is to be accomplished.

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Just like with anything, there's a propensity to fall in one stream or another, right?

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That's just human nature. We like extremes for some reason. The first one is that we often can be proudly proclaiming,

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I am in the world, but I am certainly not of the world, which is a true statement, of course, but we tend to take it as if to what we believe to be its logical conclusion, which oftentimes looks an awful lot like isolationism.

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This is an extreme propensity, meaning they insulate their lives from anything, from everything, and everyone non -Christian.

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We consume our lives with only church folk. You know what I mean?

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Of course, we see an exaggerated form of that with the Amish, but there are lesser forms of this in all of our lives at times when we become legalistic.

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An avoidance of unbelieving neighbors. You know, that one neighbor that's living in sin and they don't go to church on Sundays and you're like,

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I'll wave at them, but I'm gonna close my garage door before I get out of the car. I don't really have them over for a meal.

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I don't really engage with them. You've seen people like this, right? You may have experienced this in your own life.

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Maybe an awkward, judgmental loner in the workplace. Somebody that actually drives wedges with everyone around them because they don't want to be a part of the world at all.

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They want to make sure and isolate themselves. Little to no meaningful interaction with unbelievers.

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You've seen people like this, haven't you? And extreme examples that I've seen, and let's be honest, it usually produces children that are even weirder than them.

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You know what I'm talking about. We have some really socialized homeschoolers in this group.

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I'm not talking about us, but you've seen the homeschoolers that isolate for isolation's sake, right? They stay away from anything that's non -Christian.

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And here's the problem. Yes, we are to be a peculiar people. That's what God's Word tells us.

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Unfortunately, this version of Christianity is often peculiar for all the wrong reasons. Not for holiness and righteousness, but just isolation.

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Yet, here's the thing. I think many of them truly believe that they are doing what's best to fulfill the

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Great Commission, to make disciples of all the nations. Because they think that my life of piety and holiness and separation will scream to the world that they should want this righteousness and holiness.

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But then when we swing the pendulum, we see the other extreme. Those who declare the

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Apostle Paul's words, I have become all things to all people so that I might win some, and misunderstand what

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Paul actually meant. They believe that Paul, saying becoming all things to all people is to look, smell, act, and speak in every way like the world.

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They take it to a licentiousness. It's the other extreme from legalism.

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Even though Paul, time and time again, denounces that type of lifestyle, they still find that it is the best means to accomplish the goal of discipleship and making disciples.

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Some examples would be, you've seen them, the Christians that take on foul language like the world.

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They speak like the world. Now they may restrain themselves from telling a dirty joke, but they're okay with laughing at it in the group.

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They're engaged in the things of the world. Their closest friends are unbelievers. They partake in excess, in extremes of things that God has given as good gifts, but taking them too far, just like the world does.

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Meeting people where they're at is the excuse, being relational. Never making things uncomfortable by pointing things like sin out in their lives.

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After all, that would just drive a wedge. We must be all things to all people. Thinking that somehow they're being salt and light.

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Thinking that they are carrying out the Great Commission. And yes, I know these are extreme examples, but you got to admit, they're more common than not, aren't they?

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Look around at the landscape of the church today and you will see both of them everywhere, particularly in variation of either of those two.

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So the question is, what the question should always be. What does scripture say we should do?

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That's where the balance is. What does scripture say we should do? Let's see how

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Paul addresses this. Look at our verse there. Right here in verse 11, he automatically crushes both of those extremes with a negative and a positive command, right out the gate.

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Verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

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The first thing that we see here is that statement that I made earlier, that I said is a true statement, but is misunderstood.

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But that followers of Christ are not of this world. Followers of Christ are not of this world.

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Paul points this out with this negative command of, hey, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.

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Take no part in it. He had already told us this back in verse eight, didn't he? Look back at verse eight.

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What did he say? He says, for a one time, Saint, you were darkness. You yourself were darkness, but now you are light in the

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Lord. Walk as children of light. In the verse before that, verse seven, he told us not to become partners with those who are, as he had previously said, sexually immoral, impure, or covetous, idolatrous.

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The word that Paul uses here in verse 11 that we have translated take no part.

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As a matter of fact, some of your translations probably say do not share in, essentially the same thing.

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But this word that Paul uses in the Greek is similar to the one that he used back in verse seven when he said partners, which we talked about that when we were there.

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It's where he's telling us not to accept, not to fellowship with, not to be partners with those who claim

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Christ, yet deny him with their lives. And they do so through, again, sexual morality, impurity, covetousness.

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However, this word here in verse 11, it's different. It's slightly different.

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It's the same root, but it's speaking of not partaking of those very sins yourself.

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Before he says don't fall prey, don't be partners with those who partake in those sins.

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Don't be tied together in fellowship with them. And here he's saying you, yourself, don't partake.

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Don't be involved. We see that in what he says next.

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He says take no part in what? The unfruitful works of darkness.

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This is referring to those sins that we have been listing, the sins that he has previously listed there in chapter five.

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In verse six of chapter five, he says, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

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These are unfruitful. These unfruitful works bring about the wrath of God, don't they?

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Take no part in this. Have no part in this. Have no partnership in it. Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness.

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We were once children of wrath, as he said. We were once darkness. Now we are light in the

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Lord. Over in Romans chapter six, Paul says in verse 20 and 21, he says, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

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Remember, you were enslaved to sin. You were once one of them in darkness. But what fruit?

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There's that fruit, right? The unfruitful. Here's the fruit. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?

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What fruit are you getting? What fruit does this produce? The things that you were once ashamed of.

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For the end of those things is death. The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, right?

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Later on in chapter seven of Romans in verse five, he says, for while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

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That is the fruit of unrighteousness, sin. After all, the wages of sin are what?

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The wages of sin, death. This is why he says that they are unfruitful.

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They do not produce the fruit of righteousness. Does that mean, Christian, does that mean that you and I don't fall prey to those things?

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To sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, and idolatry? Does that mean we don't fall prey to them?

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Of course not. We know better than that. You know yourself better than that. We all fall prey to these things.

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That's why Paul is reminding us, hey, take no part in it. Don't participate in this.

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Don't be with them in this. This is unfruitful for you. Because here's the thing, if we are in Christ, he's already paid the wages of it with his own death.

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Death was the wages, right? And he paid it for you. Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound?

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Absolutely not. Certainly not. That would be unfruitful of us.

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And he's left us here to be fruitful, hasn't he? That's the purpose in leaving us here.

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Jesus says, I want them to be where I am. I want to bring them into glory, right?

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Oh, but we've got more, and they're going to play a part in gathering those more. I must leave them here. So he prays that we would be protected from the evil one because he knows that in this world, we're going to have a propensity to be unfruitful.

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But he left us here to be fruitful. That's the whole purpose. Take no part in it.

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Look at verse 12. It says, for it is shameful, even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

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There's shame in this. This is shameful. And those are the things that we were once ashamed of.

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Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth. That's what he said, isn't it? The things that are shameful, like the world, because they are unfruitful.

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And it's because followers of Christ were not of this world. But here's the thing.

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Followers of Christ are to be in this world. Remember, we've got to hold this truth in balance.

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We can't fall to one extreme or another. We might not be of this world, but we are most certainly to be in this world.

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Notice I didn't say we are in this world. We are to be in this world. We're just not to be of this world.

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Look at verse 11 again. It says, take no part in unfruitful works of darkness. There's the negative command, and he gives us a positive command.

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But instead, instead of taking part in unfruitful works of darkness, he's now given us a command.

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Expose them. Don't take part in them, but expose them.

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The word that Paul uses here in the Greek that we have translated expose, in scripture, it is never one time used in regard to exposing something good.

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Never one time used when exposing something good. It's always in reference to exposing something sinful, something evil, something bad.

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As a matter of fact, Paul used this same word over in 1 Timothy 5. In 1 Timothy 5, in verse 20,

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Paul tells Timothy, as for those who persist in sin, for those that go on sinning, for those that refuse to repent and continue down this path of sin, he uses this same word, but it's translated here rebuke.

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For those who go on sinning, rebuke, expose them in the presence of all.

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Ooh, that's hard. I don't know if I'd want to be in the early church, do you? How often have you seen churches expose unrepentant sin before all?

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God's word tells us to do it. Better do it. But the point is, is he uses this word, rebuke.

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Rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. Ooh, that's heavy.

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Meaning to expose their sin, to shed light on it so that they might see that sin, so that sin may be brought forward to the whole, so that everyone can see and expose what is wicked, what is wrong and unrighteous.

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Turn back with me to John. This time I want us to look at John chapter 3. I want us to look at a couple verses starting in verse 19 of John chapter 3.

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This is Jesus speaking to Nicodemus about being born again. Nicodemus has come to him.

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Essentially, Nicodemus is asking, why do I see who you are and no one else does?

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And Jesus is like, you got to be born again. No one can see unless they've been born again. But by the time we get down to verse 19 there of John chapter 3,

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Jesus says, and this is the judgment. The light has come into the world.

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And people loved the darkness rather than the light. He answers them because their works were evil.

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They hate the light. They prefer the darkness because their works were evil.

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Look at verse 20. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light. They're not indifferent to the light.

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They're not like, oh, well, that's inconvenient. I don't like the light shining in here. No, Jesus, these are Jesus' words right here.

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This is the word of God. They hate the light and does not come to the light.

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Kind of reminds me of what Paul said in Romans, right? That no one comes to the father. No one. No one seeks after God, right?

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No one. And Jesus himself says this. Hey, they hate the light for everyone who does wicked things. And who does wicked things?

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Some people? The really bad people? All, right? No one does good.

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No, not one. We've all done wickedness. And those that are still left in their wickedness hate the light and they do not come to the light lest...

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Why? Why do they not want to come to the light? Lest their works should be... And here's that same word again. And it's translated exposed here.

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Lest their works should be exposed. Here's good news.

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I'm going to read verse 21 to leave you on a good note there. 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.

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That they may be brought to the light. They may be present where people can see it's no longer darkness, but light.

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You see, we may be in this world but we are no longer darkness. And Paul says that we are now light, right?

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That's what Paul's been telling us. You're no longer darkness. You are light in the Lord but evil works are done in the darkness.

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And the world hates the light and loves the darkness.

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But remember, we're left here for a reason, right? What's that reason? And what

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Jesus said, everyone who does wicked things, they hate the light. And they don't come to the light. Lest it should be exposed. That means if we are to expose the unfruitful works of darkness we have to isolate ourselves.

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I'm testing you guys. Y 'all failed. We're listening. If darkness runs from the light, hates the light, wants nothing to do with the light, okay?

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And we're called to shed light. We're called to expose the unfruitful works of darkness.

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What does that mean? That we have to go to the darkness.

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We have to go to them. Just as the light of the world came into the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.

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Jesus came to us. Our example in Christ condescended, came down from his rightful throne in heaven to become like the creature to shed light into the darkness.

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You can't imagine the darkness before Christ. There were only one people group who had the law and understood anything about God and everything else in this world was pure darkness.

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They were blinded completely from God by the evil one before Christ and he came to the darkness to overcome it.

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And now what has he done? He's prayed that we would be left here for that very same purpose. That's what he prayed in his high priestly prayer, right?

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That's the point in leaving us here. We are to go to them. They don't want those sins exposed and they're not going to make it easy on you.

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You know that. That's why we want to isolate, isn't it? It's not going to be easy on us. It's not going to be easy because here's the thing.

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Bad company corrupts good morals. So where's the balance? How do we go into the darkness and not be corrupted by the darkness?

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How do we do those things? That's difficult. So it scares us. And you know why they're not going to make it easy on us?

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Look back at our passage in Ephesians verse 13.

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Paul tells us, he says, but when anything is exposed, there's that word again, when anything is rebuked, when anything is called out by the light, when the light shines into the darkness and brings about vision, what does it do?

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It becomes visible. And what is that light?

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We talked about it last week, right? It's a metaphor for righteousness and holiness, right? Paul told us, as we saw last week in verse 9, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good, right, true.

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That's the fruit of the light. That's how we see it. We are to be in this world because we are the light of Christ shining into the darkness.

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And that is seen through every aspect of our lives, of goodness and rightness and truth.

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We are not to hide away in isolation. We are not to partner with the things of this world.

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We are to take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness and expose them.

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That's the positive and the negative command. Look at verse 14.

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Paul says, for anything, anything that becomes visible, another word your translation might say, anything that's manifested, but anything visible, anything that gets exposed is light.

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I'm going to be honest with you. This text perplexes me. This particular verse is a little bit difficult.

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There's much discussion about its meaning. However, I'm going to tell you what

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I believe it means within the context of what Paul is saying. I think what

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Paul is getting at here is that anything, evil attitudes, wicked deeds, wicked words, worldly practices, unfruitful works of darkness are made manifest by being exposed by the light.

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And they are then seen for what they truly are. You see, when

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Paul tells us there that anything that becomes visible is light, I don't think

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Paul is saying that everything that the light shines on becomes the light of Christ.

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I think it's a translation issue that we struggle with in English. I think what

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Paul is saying is that these people don't want to be exposed because that light will shine in on what they're trying to do in secret.

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Right? Being exposed by the light and seen for what it truly is, that's why the world wants to stay in darkness, is it not?

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They love the darkness because the law of God is written on their hearts. That's what

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Paul said, right? The law of God is written on their hearts. They know that they're wrong. Every man knows that his deeds are wicked.

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Now, he suppresses that truth and unrighteousness. Oh, but he knows it and he doesn't like being reminded of it.

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Because when the spotlight of the righteousness of Christ forces them through his truth, mind you, what is his truth?

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What did Jesus write? Your word is truth, right? His truth from his word, not your truth, not my truth, not what you feel, not what

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I feel. What he said, that is the light. That's what comes forth from us, right?

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We're all in agreement, okay? But the righteousness of Christ forces those that are in darkness and everyone around to see those deeds that they want to keep in secret for what they truly are.

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They hate it. And for many, that exposure will merely enrage them.

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That's why they crucified our Savior, isn't it? The light enraged them.

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They hated it. You may say, well, man, I'm a Christian and my unbelieving friends, they're nice, they don't have a problem with it.

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They're cool with it. They're totally fine with it. Yeah, maybe. Maybe you're suppressing the word of God in your life to them.

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Because there is no indifference to the truth. There is absolutely zero indifference to light.

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Despite what people may think, there is no indifference. Now, you just may not have hit the nerve yet.

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You may not have truly exposed those secret sins that they want to suppress and forget that there's going to be judgment coming upon for.

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But the moment you do, the moment you expose them, now,

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I don't mean exposing them like the weirdo, you know, being peculiar for all the wrong reasons type of exposure.

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I mean truly just in love taking them to the word of God and saying, hey, this is sin.

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Oh, but there's grace. That's why our Savior came. That light, they may hate it.

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That's what Jesus said. The darkness hates the light. Oh, but let me remind you, for the elect, for those whom the

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Father has foreloved, that light shining through will awaken them to the glorious truth of the resurrected

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Christ. They will see Him for who He is. They will bow their knee before Him in repentance and faith.

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They will trust in Him. They will run to Him like Lazarus out of the tomb. And it's not our job to pick which ones.

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That's God. Jesus left us here to shed the light, to expose the unfruitful works of darkness.

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That's why Paul ends this verse with verse 14, or this section with verse 14, which most believe to actually be a hymn of the early church.

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This isn't a quote from the Old Testament like most believe when they read it.

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It's an amalgamation of different texts from the Old Testament, but it's not. And so, most theologians believe this is actually an old hymn, which gives us a beautiful insight into the way that they would sing in the early church.

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Because remember, later on here, I think in verse 19, he says, to greet each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

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So hymns must have been on his mind. But this is a hymn, and this hymn is a call to repentance and faith.

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That's why he wraps this whole thing up. Hey, take no pardon the unfruitful works of darkness, yet expose them.

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That's your job. Expose them. And then he declares this great hymn. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

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What a beautiful truth. What a glorious hope.

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Awake, O sleeper, though you've been in darkness, though you yourself were darkness.

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Arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you as he has shined on us. Have you ever seen the wretched position of your soul?

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Have you ever truly thought and stopped and compared what's inside of here with the very law of God?

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And seen your desperate need? Have you seen the glorious position of the risen

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Lord? The glorious one on his throne that's interceding on our behalf at the right hand of the

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Father? If you see that, then arise, O sleeper.

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Arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. For those of you in here that have not experienced this mercy and grace,

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I call you to arise. Call on the name of the

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Lord, and you shall be saved. If the light has exposed your desperate need, look to him.

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Trust in him. Oh, but for those of us in here that have experienced this wonderful mercy and grace, don't bemoan the fact that your

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Savior has left you here. I feel that, don't you?

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When I see the schemes of the evil one, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm just going to lay my cards out here.

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You know what I've been setting on all week? I slept maybe three hours last night, and my heart was heavy. I did not anticipate just how, just how devious the schemes of the evil one are in my own life and in the lives of the saints here.

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Me and Pastor Jeremiah meet with many of you. We see it. We see the evidence where you think he's going to come, where you think he's going to attack, where you think he's going to bring disunity, and your guard is up, and you're ready, and you're like, there it is.

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He's so much more cunning than that. He always comes from a different direction.

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And I'm reminded that, oh, man, I need the Savior. Oh, Jesus, you're the shepherd, not me.

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You're the good shepherd. You're the one guarding the sheep from the evil. You prayed for me that I would be guarded from the evil one, and that evil one may be planting seeds of doubt, seeds of dissension, seeds of disunity in this body, but he will not succeed because Jesus said,

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I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And so, as you feel the weight of this world,

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Saint, you begin to go, Jesus, why did you just, just return, please.

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Just return. You feel it? I feel it. I long for it more and more every day, but Christian, don't feel the weight of that in a way that detracts you from the mission.

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Look to him. We are not left alone. He has prepared good works for us to walk in, hasn't he?

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He's prepared us. So take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but expose them.

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Expose them. And do so with goodness, with righteousness, and with his truth.

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In your own heart and mind, as it starts here, the renewal of the mind, works its way into our heart, and comes out of it through our lives, and most importantly, with love.

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Don't take this sermon and walk out in the world and go, well, I'm supposed to walk around with this baseball bat and flashlight, and knock the doors down, and I'm gonna bust the light into every room, and we're gonna, they're gonna like it or leave it, you know?

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That's not the Christian life. That's an extreme. We're to do so with compassion, with love, remembering,

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Saint, that you yourself were once darkness. I'm gonna cut it there.

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In light of that, let's prepare, let's prepare to go to the Lord's table. The ordinance of the

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Lord's Supper, as we do each week. Members, you know the routine.

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It's the first week of the month, so we are gonna partake together. So when you come and get the elements, go back to your seat, but hold on, we are going to read from Scripture about the

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Lord's Supper, and we're gonna partake all together as a body. For guests, the way this works is you see these little tables up here on the side, on both sides.

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Pastor Jeremiah will be over here, I'll be over here. If anybody needs to pray with us, wanna talk to us, we're right up here.

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But the wine and the bread are on these tables. We'll come around the outsides, take the wine and the bread, and by the way, for conscience sake, on the backsides that's listed, there is some grape juice.

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So if conscience forbids you from partaking in the wine, there's grape juice available for you.

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But you take the elements, go back to your seats through this way, and then we will come back together for it.

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And I know we're a little lopsided in the building, okay, so I would ask that all these back pews, if you wouldn't mind to make your way this way into the line, that way we can make our way through here.

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But let's pray that God will be honored in our time of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you.

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Thank you for not leaving us to ourselves, hopeless. We thank you for working in all of our hearts through your word.

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Most of all, we thank you for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The sacrifice, the blood that was spilled for us, the body that was given for us, this blood ransom to purchase us.

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And as we come to this table, we pray that you would be honored. Lord Jesus, we know that you're with us at all times, but we also know that when we come to this table together as a community, that you express your presence with us in a unique way.

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And so we pray that we would honor you and worship you as you are worthy of praise, as we remember the great sacrifice.