 We'll be looking today at Ephesians chapter 5 verses 8 through 14 and so let me begin reading at verse 8. I'll read to verse 14 and as is the way I normally do things I'm going to be giving you some reminders just for those who haven't been with us you're going to be up to speed when I complete that and the rest of us will just move on in to verse 8 and pick up where we left off last time. So I'll begin reading here in Ephesians chapter 5 at verse 8 I'll read to verse 14 and we'll get into our introduction and our study. So Paul writes Ephesians 5 verse 8 for you you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light therefore he says awake you who sleep arise from the dead and Christ will give you light that sounds like one of my Sunday morning messages to the church awake you who sleep but anyway let's let's do a little bit of a background we'll remind ourselves of a few things and get into our study in chapter 5 verse 1 we saw how that that Paul had exhorted Christians and he had exhorted us as believers to be imitators of God I was pointing out that being an imitator of God means to follow him he's our model we are to emulate him we're actually to copy him so as Christians we imitate his speech we imitate his actions and we even imitate his motivations we hear his speech as we read the Bible we see his actions and what we read that he does and as for his heart he clearly reveals his heart for us in so many places in scripture one passage Deuteronomy 529 says it well here there the Lord says if only they had such a heart in them to fear me and keep all my commandments always so that it would go well with them and with their sons forever what is his heart that it might go well with us and with our children now we speak into the nation of Israel but we can apply that to ourselves in that we are his children also in Isaiah 54 verse 10 the mountains may depart at the hills be removed but God says but my steadfast love shall not depart from you and my covenant of peace shall not be removed says the Lord who has compassion on you so it's this kind of knowledge that provokes us as believers to seek to please him it's the knowledge that God loves us and we know the scriptures many of them that speak concerning his love for us the most famous obviously being in in the New Testament in John chapter 3 verse 16 we all know that scripture God so loved the world and it's demonstrated according to Romans 5 verse 8 in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and so God has revealed his love to us in what he has done to save us and it's that kind of knowledge that propels us to please him as well as propels us to share the gospel with those who are lost you see John 3 36 says whoever believes in the sun has eternal life but whoever rejects the sun will not see life for God's wrath abides God's wrath remains on him God's wrath abides on them and therefore we give them the word of God to set them free as they take it and and apply to their them their own lives by faith so Christians cultivate a life that is intentionally directed towards being pleasing to the Lord I read to you last time 1st Thessalonians 4 verse 1 where Paul said finally then brethren we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more just as you receive from us how you want to walk to please and to please God so the desire for the Lord is to motivate us as believers to spend a lifetime not just a week not just a month just a day but an everyday lifetime until he takes us to be with him it's what motivates us to pursue him Psalm 42 verse 1 says as the deer longs for streams of water so I long for you oh God so in our desire to be with him our lives begin to become structured disciplined we begin to pursue the things that please him and we begin to habitually reject those things that don't in 2nd Timothy 2 verse 22 Paul said flee also youthful us but pursue righteousness faith love peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart so that's why we read his word that's why we pray that's why we fellowship and that's why we share our faith these are the basic things that we do because we love him and because we're pursuing him so we noted that Paul taught us to reject the inclinations of our flesh our sinful desires and he pointed out that our flesh is inclined to various sins he didn't give a whole list of them but he gave enough for us to understand what he's speaking of he said that we're to we're to reject fornication and sexual uncleanness sexual parasitism filthy speech empty headed talking sexual language that is filled with double meanings because that would exhibit a walk that is called worthy of the calling by which we have been called we've already looked at this but again our flesh wars against our spirit because we've had a lifetime of being molded by the thoughts intense and by the example of the world that has rejected God and so because of this we intentionally reject the desires that we wore against so he said we are to consciously reject fornication and that sexual uncleanness and all those other things and this way of life must never be associated with Christian living in Ephesians 5 3 he said let it not even be named among you as befits or as is fitting for saints so that kind of lifestyle that he said we're not to pursue and be part of it runs counter to what the Lord has taught us and it runs counter to how God is molding us into his own image now remember in verse 6 Paul had warned us that that people would try to deceive us with empty words in other words people will try to convince us that God allows Christians to live that kind of life it's okay they'll say to continue because God is gracious and and God is loving and he certainly will not condemn or judge you well according to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 7 God didn't call us to uncleanness God call us in holiness and so he doesn't intend us to continue living unclean lives he didn't call us in that fashion but called us to live for him not only can others convince you that it's permissible to continue in sin but you can also deceive yourself you can convince yourself that what you're doing isn't wrong and even when your friends and family are warning you you just call them hypocrites and you say they're wrong they don't understand you they don't know your heart right well Proverbs 12 15 says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes but he who heeds counsel is wise so why do we find ourselves defending sin in our lives it's often rooted in the lack of fear of God and it's also often rooted in a misunderstanding of God's grace you see when we don't fear God anything and everything can become permissible the bible tells us in Proverbs 16 verse 6 it's by the fear of the lord that one departs from evil in Proverbs 14 it says verse 16 it says a wise man fears and departs from evil but a fool rages and is self-confident so paul is speaking of that again in verses 6 and 7 and he concluded because of these things the wrath of God comes these are the things he's judging humanity for so paul would question us and say so how can the church continue in them therefore verse 7 do not be partakers with them do not join the world in its evil instead of imitating the world imitate God and so now we pick up at verse 8 where he says for you were once darkness but now you are light in the lord walk as children of light you were once darkness darkness before we were saved we were by nature walking in spiritual darkness we had no spiritual light within us and and it was our lifestyle and our habit to walk in the dark in Romans 121 it speaks of humanity and it says when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations their foolish heart was darkened you see before Jesus saved us we lived in darkness our lifestyles reflected that we saw in chapter 2 verse 3 of Ephesians that we we conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh we fulfilled the desire of the flesh and mind and he said and we were by nature children of wrath in the book of Titus in chapter 3 verse 3 he said we ourselves were also once foolish disobedient deceived serving various lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another so obviously it's always important to remember what we were without Jesus because when we remember what we were like we can we can have humility but we can also have sensitivity towards other people one of the things that we have to ask Christians be very careful about is getting to the point where we don't understand how people can do the things that they do one of the things I've heard Christians say in the past that I think is an unwise thing is when they ask somebody how could you do that I don't know about you but I know me and I know that I was able to do that very easily and without any regret without any remorse without any sense of shame I was able to do those things because I liked it and so when somebody says how could you do those things you ought to remember how because you used to do those things yourself it was your lifestyle too see but what happens is we start drawing closer to the Lord and as we draw closer to the Lord we leave those things behind to the degree sometimes that we forget what we were a long time ago I made a decision in my own life to never forget what I was to never forget that and it's helped me in my walk with the Lord it's not that I ever want to go back to that who wants to go back to the past who wants to be the dog who returns to the vomit or the pig that returns to the mud who wants to be that I don't have I done that yes was it pleasant no as a matter of fact it was sometimes when I in my early days when I started moving back to to the past is it's what awoke me sometimes to the reality of the fact that this is what I escaped why am I returning to it why am I going back to the things that I had forsaken because those things gave me pleasure for the moment but guilt for a long time why would I return to those things and so sometimes people have this tendency of saying oh I don't know how you couldn't do that how did you go back you need to always remember yourself my mom said to me you can point your finger one finger at other people but remember three fingers are pointing back at you and then that's true now again that's not that's not permission for somebody to go out and continue since nobody judges them who are you to judge me I mean some people say who you to judge me bro you know well come on shut up you know it's it's it's it that's not what is happening sometimes you're simply convicted but if we have a heart to see people say we'll be very careful that we don't come on as if we're condemning them that's very important to be aware of in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 beautiful scripture who makes you differ from another what do you have that you did not receive now if you did receive it why do you boast as if you had not received it who makes you to differ from another and what do you have that you haven't received what makes me different you know it nothing makes me different other than the fact that I'm a safe center washed by the blood of Christ moving in a new direction but aware of what I've been to the degree that I don't want to condemn somebody for what they're doing because they're blind they don't know the Lord they need to be set free does this mean that we don't speak that evil is evil no of course we will speak about those things yes we have to because that's how people can know because we're identifying the things that they're doing and saying God is not pleased with that that's what the word of God's intended to do but it isn't intended for me to become the judge of that person God is their almighty judge but what I do is I give him the truth and perfectly they'll hear it but I never want to get to the point where I don't understand how they did that or why they did that because you know without Christ we can do so many things and many of you remember that very well so it's with humility that we reach out to others the way that others reached out to us we share the gospel when given opportunity we do so with grace and love even as Jesus did so walking in darkness well walking in darkness was our former way of life but it is not the way we are now those things are no longer true for us because we've been rescued in Colossians 1 13 it says he has delivered us from the power of darkness translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love delivered and translated take it out and place somewhere else delivered from the power of darkness so he says it in verse 8 you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord walk his children of light once you were spiritually darkened but now you have a new spiritual condition Jesus is the true light and Jesus provides spiritual light in a sin darkened world he said in John 8 12 Jesus said I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life so we who are born again are actual partakers or sharers of the divine nature the nature of Jesus and we share in his light you say that sounds heretical pastor wait a minute you know I was with you up to that point but you say that we share the nature that Jesus has I didn't make that up 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 says it like this his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue by which by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers which means partner companion or sharer partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through us that's what it means to be born again you have a new nature you have been brought into the family of god and this new nature is part of the reality of the born again experience so no when you got saved you were given the power of god dwell within you giving you the ability to serve him because you have been now transformed you've been taken out of this evil world and you have been translated into the kingdom of his son and you are now a son of god or a daughter of god through the born again experience and as a born again person we live as children of light and actually become a light to those in darkness in Matthew 5 14 Jesus said you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden so he goes on and begins to speak now of what our life is to be notice in verse nine he says for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth so a walk in the light is revealed by spiritual truth this fruit is the natural product of abiding in Jesus Christ the result is that we live noticeably different lives in the world Philippians 2 15 that you may become blameless and harmless children of god without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world now people aren't always impressed by this sometimes their desire may be to put out that light and because we're now in the Lord he provides the impulse to pursue him before if God said this is right you would say no this is wrong if God said this is sweet by nature I would have said no it's sour if God would have said this is high I just said no it's low I would do the opposite whatever he would say and it's part of my nature it's part of all of our nature and we still retain a battle against those things and you see this every day you just may not realize it what happens when you come to a stop sign and there's nobody around I'll wait but you don't a lot of even the small things this point I'm making even the small things like stopping at a stop sign you know in the in the last several years I have I have become much more aware that that stop to many people is a suggestion and it's not it's not a lot to do that I also I'm aware of those things when I come to a to a traffic light because sometimes someone's going to blow through a red light I'm aware of those things when I'm driving on the freeway when it says 65 once again it's a suggestion it's actually the start of the Indianapolis 500 when you get on that on the freeway and those kinds of things and you see that nice see that these are the small things these are really the small things these are not the hard things these are not the difficult things these are stopping at a stop sign watching the your speed limit showing courtesy to other people and yet it's something like they say no you're you're traveling my rights man I have the right who are you to tell me what to do and that's kind of the attitude that people have today there was a time when the Christian church was known for its its willingness to abide by the by laws and and we are the most law-abiding people yes there are times because I have to say this because of myself there are times when you need to resist those laws because the law doesn't make it right and there are things that we sometimes as believers will resist yes we do and of course we do and we should do but under normal circumstances we ought to be the most law-abiding citizens in in the planet we ought to be why because we live by a higher law and we understand what right is we understand what wrong is and all of that well at one time we were we were really to be blamed we weren't blameless we weren't harmless and sometimes when people see the way that we live they don't like that well what we do is we abide in Christ in John 15 verse 4 Jesus said it like this he said abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me the fruit of the spirit is something that is a natural production of being rooted and grounded in Christ you know I have fruit trees in the backyard some have survived my my ground thumb I don't have a green thumb I kill things very easily but I have some fruit trees in my backyard that have miraculously survived they have and and I have a lemon tree I have a orange tree tangerine tree I got some trees in the backyard and I like these trees they're cool and they produce fruit and that's cool too but I have never gone into the backyard ever when it's time to produce fruit I've never gone in the backyard and seen a tree struggling to produce an orange I just have never seen have you have you ever seen tree just I'm going to produce a big storm you've ever seen have you ever no why not because they don't struggle to produce because fruit is the natural result of a healthy tree that is is is rooted and grounded in healthy soil that's why so if you water it take care of it fertilize it you know if you prune it if you do those things that are are good to do or if you're like me you don't do anything they still produce fruit and and it's not a strain listen here's the thing that's a key and this has been a key in my life and I want to share it with you because this is basically what we're looking at in this passage speaking about producing fruit abide in me and I will abide in you Jesus said put your roots deeply into him be rooted and grounded in his love and enjoy him and I've discovered that you know the times that I have said I want to be loving I want to be patient I want to be kind are the times that I'm none of those things because I'm trying to force myself to produce fruit and sometimes I've produced counterfeit fruit it looks like it oh pastor David you're the most patient person in the world it looks like it but in fact no I'm not no I'm not I've shared this before I don't know why it comes to mind some of you have heard this more than once but you know it takes a living tree to produce a living fruit you could pretend all you want but when tested it's it's shown to be a counterfeit you can go to some of these shops and you can you can look at these this plastic fruit and and it looks so real you've seen it I've seen it when I've been dragged into shops to look at this stuff and I was pretending to have patience when in fact I was but you can go in there and you can take one of these counterfeits and you can put it in the midst of the real and when you look at the bowl of fruit it looks like it's real but all you need to do is pick it up and you know this is phony in the trying in the testing it's revealed for what it really is that's the way it works and some plastic looks real we had moved into a house and and the the owners before us had left behind a an IV and and you know I said well you know this is a housewarming present I don't know where they took off too so this is now mine and so I would go out truth a lot of you've heard me say this but it's true I would go out and water it I watered it every week and you know just wiring that plant man you know I'm gonna you're gonna survive I'm gonna I'm gonna take care of you little plant and it was so good sometimes I would even pat the leaf and I'd say you're such a good little plant and I still remember true that's true that I I remember one day I forgot I have not watered this plant for a month and I had forgotten oh my goodness so I went outside and I turned on the hose and I walked up to the plant and I was looking at it and I thought wow you're still green you're so green and I reached down you're such a good look it was plastic all this all this it's true it's true it was the only green thing I had and it was fake you know I learned a long time ago and it's true I can I can do all that's inside I can try so hard to be loving but I'm not I can try so hard to be patient but I lose my patience so I learned and I'm learning that it isn't me trying to produce fruit because I'll only produce artificial fruit but when I am abiding in Christ when I'm having fellowship with him when I'm looking at his word when I'm in prayer when I'm caring for people that's when the fruit is shown that's when the fruit is real it's because you're abiding that's why Jesus said abide in me and I'll abide in you don't try and produce something you don't have the reason you got saved is because you didn't have those things and now you're trying to run around like you know Joe Christian you know the best oh look at he's got a 200 pound Bible he carries and you know look at the size of that cross he carries on his back you know and and he's got 15 different stickers on his window that is a real Christian you know you you discover your real Christianity when you're pressed and so what we are as Christians is we abide in the Lord and the power of his Holy Spirit will produce the fruit and and it's not something you strain at it's just something that God naturally produces and so Paul is sharing this with us and he's telling us what this fruit is notice he begins to tell us in verse nine that the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth the fruit of the Spirit is in goodness righteousness and truth so that is what's produced by abiding in Jesus the true vine it's not produced through our own efforts it's produced as we rest in him and so the walk in the light is revealed by goodness that word goodness speaks of something that is morally excellent goodness is moral excellence it speaks of an uprightness of of a heart and life and that goodness is walking in love in other words it's demonstrated as we seek the best for others he speaks of righteousness the word righteousness is that which is morally right or just and that is often shown by opposition to injustice it is also revealed by a desire to be blameless now when he speaks of truth that speaks of being reliable being honest being filled with integrity being trustworthy it's not something that you only speak but it's how you live in Psalm 15 verses 1 through 3 the question is asked Lord who may dwell in your sanctuary who may live on your holy hill the answer is supplied he whose walk is blameless and who does who does what is righteous who speaks the truth from his heart has no slander on his tongue who who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man who may dwell in your holy hill the man who walks up rightly the one who is filled with truth and integrity it's like when Jesus and Matthew 537 simply said let your yes be yes and your no let it be no let us as believers in other words be so trustworthy that you don't have to sign documents proving that you will pay that you will pay that bill may it be so much in your heart that you can be trusted there was a time when we didn't have 15 different ways to show that we were able to pay a bill our word was our bond those days are pretty much gone now but there there that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be true to our word that doesn't mean that we should say yes when in fact we meant no and so what we have to have and what we should have is a reliability we need to have an honesty we need to have integrity and all of this he says in verse 10 is proving what is acceptable to the Lord well when he says proving that word proving means to test or to try it's discovering through effort what is pleasing to God so you're going to be continually seeking what is pleasing to him because you love him and as you continue to seek God your knowledge of God in his will will deepen over time anybody here who's married will understand this illustration you get married I feel sorry for you but you get married and the mask comes off I don't want to go too deeply in this I'll do that when we when we get into our marriage and family segment but the mask comes off who you really are is exposed over time if you had a proper dating relationship and all of that and you did the right things that you ought to be doing you know you're normally normally you're normally on your best behavior you normally I mean what guy wants the girl to think he's a jerk that comes after marriage so naturally you you you show up on time you open the door for her so she can get in car and all her her wish is your command you know whatever you want baby I'll do it for you I want you to know how much I love you I'll show you I'll show you I'll show you and you do you go home mad she's demanding but when you're with her you smile a lot you actually pay the bill for her meal for some reason she always thinks that lobster is a good thing but you'll do that you're polite you're respectful you winner and then you're married I've said this before but I say it now I'll say it quickly um what you were before you got married is the way you ought to be after you're married you ought to even be improving what she saw was a foretaste of what she was going to have for a lifetime so I wanted to be a better man see Marie when she met me and I began to ask her out it's so casual and so friendly we just enjoyed each other to this day that's really been the cement in our relationship is we actually like each other we actually into you some some people don't when you're gonna go back to work now I'm retired oh no lots of projects around the house baby I get you a little tool belt out and all of that when you're gonna go back you're driving me crazy but it for me it it took probably three or four years for me to realize that I needed to be a better man than I was I needed to improve my behavior for her sake because at a certain point I came to realize that she fell in love with a certain man but I needed to be even better than when she was dating me see one of the things with Marie and me and I really you know this is not in my notes and I'm just feel like talking about it I would I never I wasn't a dator you know I didn't go out with a lot of people I was nobody would go out with me so I I didn't I didn't have a lot of dates and for some reason she liked me and for some reason she'd actually go out when I asked her so what I chose to do is I chose to be the real person I wasn't going to be that person who said what is it you want to do I wasn't that person what do you I wasn't the one who said where do you want to go to eat you know I didn't pretend that I liked the food she liked I didn't pretend that I like the music she liked I didn't do any of that see a lot of guys do that to con the girl you know you like this kind of music so do I you like this kind of food so do I you like to do these guys so do I you know you wear Daisy Duke so do I I mean it's it's like I'm getting the look but you know what I mean and then when she finally puts that ring on you get married it's the I do and now the real you comes out I hate those things I never want to go there again I never I only you know what I chose to do Marine knows this and is I chose to be me and when I was me she actually liked the real one I never had to go back to pretending because I was real all along and I really think it's important for us to understand that in our relationships in our walk with the Lord we don't want to put something on as if we are a certain way we want God to produce a genuine fruit in us a real fruit of goodness a real fruit of righteousness a real fruit of truth we want the real deal we don't want to pretend we have those things when in fact we don't what we really want is we want to be real with God and that's where honest integrity comes from that's where it comes from it's the I want to please you Lord so what is it that pleases you and it's getting into his word he says I I approve of this okay I want to do that he says I don't like this okay then then I won't do that and that's what happened to me as a believer is I started to read and as I was reading and I started to study as I started to study I tried to share over the years I began to see things and I began to say Lord I want to please you Lord I want to seek you Lord it's because I love you it's like what it says in Psalm 27 verse 8 when you said seek my face my heart said to you your face Lord I will seek so that's evidence that you're born again it's this growing desire to please him so he says that we're not to have in verse 11 have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness he says but rather expose them when he says so when you're walking in this integrity this goodness righteousness this truth when and these are the fruit that is being produced in your life then you're not going to have fellowship that word fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness the word fellowship speaks of partaking or sharing in it speaks of part participation when goodness and righteousness and truth exist in your life then sin is actually revealed for what it is so we are not called to simply tolerate sin by our lives we expose it for what it is we are actually producing the contrast in the society that we live in a society that promotes and and favors and actually says this is good by the life that you live you're actually exposing that these things are not good and that's what the the Christian life is intended to do what happens though is when we compromise the standards of the Lord we will undermine our own witnesses we're going to quench the power of God's word to change lives as we're crunching the Holy Spirit because if we say oh yeah I'm a believer I follow Jesus Christ but you're out doing exactly what everybody else does why would they want the God that I say they need when he's obviously done nothing for me he hasn't changed you you're the same way I remember when I got out of the army I um I took a I had a girl I knew before I went in the army and I went out with her a couple times and and I you know and I was still a new Christian that's no excuse but the truth but I remember that one day she said to me um oh you haven't changed at all and that hit me so so deeply I never saw her again and I took that to the Lord and I said God what a horrible indictment on the way I'm living for somebody who's known me since I was 12 years old who is saying to me now that I'm 23 you haven't changed at all in all of these years I'll never forget that I'll never forget being in my room just laying there in the dark thinking God I don't want to be that guy I don't want somebody who knew me in the past to say I haven't changed I don't want to be living like that talking like that doing that I don't want that God help me God help me to be real God help me to be different God help me to know you God help me to to live for you in front of people so that they know the sincerity of my faith I don't want to produce this in myself I want you to produce it I want to walk closer to you and so I I read his word it was before I began teaching the Bible she had said this to me and so in September of 73 I actually began to teach the Bible I want to know what you're saying and I want to communicate that to people and that's how it works and so I don't want to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness I want my life to be of such nature that it actually exposes what it really is he goes on in verse 12 and he says it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret shameful that's a word that we don't use today anymore do we a lot of people have forgotten this word this word is blush and a lot of people have forgotten what that word actually means people don't blush there used to be a time when you would actually be embarrassed but a lot of people are not and no condemnation just a statement of fact they're not they actually take pride in the things that God condemns and so the Lord says no it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret it's shameful to speak about that some things are best left unsaid it's not necessary to give details of some secret sins because God who sees those things that are being done being done in secret while he judges those things openly Psalm 90 verse 8 says it like this you have said our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your countenance Jeremiah 23 24 can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him saith the Lord do I not fill heaven and earth saith the Lord Ecclesiastes 12 14 God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil and so there are things that people think that they're hiding well and nobody knows it's done in secret but God sees they think that they're getting away with it but God sees and so God who sees that which is done in secret will judge those things openly and finally he says this in verse 13 all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light therefore he says awake you who sleep arise from the dead and Christ will give you light the word of God and the lives of the people of God by contrast expose evil for what it is the difference between the one who loves Jesus and the one who doesn't should be obvious the sinful nature of the things exposed can be plainly seen and that's the work of the light and it's the light that reveals the works of darkness and the darkness is exposed when we share the gospel and the darkness is exposed when we live the gospel before men and so he finally says in verse 14 awake you who sleep arise from the dead Christ will give you light this is an invitation awake out of spiritual sleep wake up and Christ will give you the grace to live a new life in him it's an invitation to awaken from spiritual sleep it's an invitation to repent it's an invitation to come to Christ Psalm 1828 you will light my candle the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness Christ will give you light I'll close with a couple of thoughts one of the things that I've noticed in our day in our brand of Christianity in the 21st century is very simple let me share this with you many of you are too young to know this so I'll share it with you as somebody who's lived for a while and experienced the difference it's very simple in many ways the church of the 21st century has lost its way there are too many blogs that are written by immature Christians that are giving people permission to continue in sin so that grace may abound there are so many people some of you see this on social networking who present themselves as teachers of the word of God but they don't understand what they're saying and they don't communicate what the scripture actually means but they'll write long things and I've read them so many times I've seen so many of these things where I'm just scratching my head as I read it saying that's not scripturally sound that's not true and then they get all these likes from people saying yeah you said it well and I'm thinking no you didn't I don't want to get on and argue I could be doing that all day it wouldn't be hard because there's so many things that are being said that are wrong and so I've been asking the Lord what should we do I can't speak to the entire church throughout the world so I have the opportunity to share with you those who stumble through the door and give me opportunity to speak to you what do I want to see in our church I want to see God's love I want to see the love of God I want to see a heart that is willing to receive people who are a bit different than they are but can make the difference up by the love of God and the willingness to accept one another I want a church that hates sin but loves people I want to I want a church that loves God's word and hungers for Bible studies I want a church that has people who want to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and to see God move in wonderful ways listen when I first got saved there were so many odd weird God things that I experienced that it's kept me on the same track for all of these years because I saw things that I only read in the Bible and I was seeing these things in the flesh these things were happening people were I won't start telling these stories now but I can tell you it was just such remarkable things that were really weekly events in many ways and I came to realize that the God of this book is still alive and I also saw revival I see see people who are when I was saved I was 20 so people who are my age we all became evangelists all of us in Calvary Chapel the people who are solid were evangelists you hear of some of the guys who have gone on to legendary status in terms of what God has done for them you see the the raw Reese's who's done wonderful things the Greg Laurie's who've done great things and others like them Mike McIntosh so many but what was the heart what was it with these guys what was it about them what was it about those guys that made people like me say I want to be like that it was their hunger to see people saved it was a belief that God would move it was an awareness of his presence and it was a way we did we did not take God lightly we respected and reverenced him we felt church was a place not just to hang around church was a place we came to know God you were fed and you'd go out to tell other people we were very very evangelistic all the early Jesus people were evangelistic in one way or another we didn't know how to evangelize so we would bring him to church so that Pastor Chuck or Lonnie Frisbee those were my first guys that I have listened to they would they would tell him how to know God I was one of these who said you know like the woman at the well come in here a man who told me everything I've ever done can this be Messiah that's the best I could do come and hear a man I don't know how to tell you about it yet I'm gonna learn how and one day I will the best I can do is tell you this I was blind now I see but this person can explain how that happened and that's how it was see we weren't we weren't once a year Christians oh it's Easter let's go it's Christmas let's go but you know we have soccer every Sunday that's the way it works now and but my kids will know Jesus because I do devotions with them no they're gonna do what you do and Sunday is going to be a play day that's what it's going to be that's what it's going to be because they do what you do not what you say that's the truth and so what do I want I want our church to know Jesus Christ to walk in the light of God and to love one another the way the Christian faith is supposed to be expressed and I don't want you ever to come in here expecting me to be perfect and then getting mad if I'm not because I'm not and I don't care to be I want to be what God made me to be not what somebody expects me to be that's what I want to be and so I will do what I do and if I say something dumb and it offends you tough that's just I don't care I don't care it's not that I don't love you it's that I'm not going to be what you want me to be that's simple see that's how come God uses people like me it's true you know what I fear God but man's opinion doesn't matter that's a fact that's just a fact and and it's not that you don't love it's I think by now I've I've kind of proven to you that I do and I do care but at the bottom of the at its foundation and fundamental is all I want us to do is enjoy God and enjoy each other and I read the Bible and I see that they had fellowship I read the Bible and I see that they prayed I read the Bible I see that they shared their faith I read the Bible I see that they prayed with one another I read the Bible and I see that they were filled with praise I read the Bible and I see that they saw God moving in miraculous ways amongst them I read the Bible and I see people who are willing to lose their head for the faith of Jesus Christ that's what I see when I read my Bible and so all I want is to be one of those kinds of people and so I don't want to walk in darkness I walked in it long enough I want to walk in the light I want to abide in the vine I want to produce the fruit of goodness and righteousness and truth I want that in my life I want to be like Jesus Christ and I want us as a group to be that way as a family of God loving God together sharing his good news with others and having an evangelist heart a willingness to tell people where Jesus can be seen and met and where their lives can be changed you know you may not be able to to give all the things you'd like to give right now neither was I and I still am not where I'm supposed to be I want to be much more than I am but I tell you this when you just begin to put one foot before the other and keep walking with the Lord over time your life changes you begin to taste and see that the Lord is good you begin to see how he opens up divine appointments and that you share with somebody you didn't even know and they hear and they actually want to know more about Jesus Christ you discover one day you'll say to yourself I haven't had a drink in months I haven't smoked a cigarette for a long time I haven't desired dope for a long time and you wake up to that see I didn't sit down say one day sober two days sober I didn't do that I didn't get the little badges that say you know a 10 years fire whatever I didn't get that you know what I got I got born again and when I got born again it's a it's a lifetime of walking with Jesus Christ and being clean that's that's where the power came from and so yeah wake up you who sleep wake up you who sleep rise from the dead Christ will shine on you it's an invitation for the church and for others but the church let us awaken at a stupor let us be aware that the time is late Jesus is coming look around you and look at the signs of the times and get on fire for Jesus Christ so that people will know you're serious about Jesus amen amen father we ask that you would