Let's start there by acknowledging we were all in darkness at some point in our lives. Once darkness, but now, because of Christ, you are light. In the Lord, then he says, Live as children of light. In light of our salvation in Christ, how shall we then live? Answers come your way next on today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, what does it look like to live as children of light? That's the question we'll be exploring over the next few days. As you follow along, always keep in mind that the only reason it's even possible to live as children of light is because of Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Remember, you can always listen to today's program or any recent Destined for Victory at our website. The address is pastorpaul.net.
That's pastorpaul.net. Or subscribe to the podcast at Spotify, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: Living as Children of Light. Let me give this disclaimer. Every now and then, parents have. I don't know if we have any minors with us. I think most of them are in children's church or with the youth.
If you have a minor with you, this is the first point is a rated R.
So I don't want somebody mad at me. You should've said something.
So I'm telling you now, so if you need to walk them out. uh walk them on out. 'Cause these are days where Life isn't PG. Life is isn't even PG-13. Life is RX.
In our day, old people, it used to be X. Do they still have that designation? They don't have that, but it's Something.
So the first point just goes there. I need you to know that, all right? All right, let's get ready to study God's Word together. And in our last message, We looked at verses one and two of Ephesians five, if you were with us. Then And I talked about loving others the way God loves us.
Got a lot of feedback on that message. It really. hit home as people began to think soberly about the fact that God calls us through the Apostle Paul here in Ephesians 5, 1 and 2, and in places throughout the Word of God to love people, not just nice people, not just people we like. It's not that hard to love people you like. But we're not called to love our buddies, our friends.
We're called to love people. For God so loved the world that's made up of ridiculous people, obnoxious people. People if it wasn't for Jesus, you would hate their guts. And that's who you're called to love. And so we went through that.
A lot of people gave us a lot of powerful impact on how that message resonated. And so we're praying that God will help us to be. his representatives in this world. And so we covered that.
Now, as we continue to study. Ephesians, I want to call your attention to three verses, not at verse three, where we will spend some time, but first I want to take you more toward the middle of the chapter to give you what I think are the three verses that are key verses because they help us unpack what is said before and what is said after. In fact, they'll help us in a lot of ways to properly exegete what is said. what Paul tells us in the rest of chapter five and in Ephesians chapter six. Those three verses are Ephesians five, verses eight through ten.
So go there with me and then we'll back up. and began to unpack This chapter. Ephesians five, verses eight through ten. Here's what. The Apostle said in the New International Version.
For you were once darkness. But now our light in the Lord. Live as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. and find out what pleases the Lord.
Okay, those three verses are key verses in this entire passage because if you lock in on what he says there, then it'll help you understand what he says before and after. He says, You were once darkness. Let's start there by acknowledging we were all in darkness at some point in our lives. Once darkness, but now, because of Christ, you are light. In the Lord.
Then he says, Live as children of light. Here's what I want you to see. The reason why Christians have no business being judgmental. It's cause we all started out darkness. If you think you have the right to judge somebody.
Somebody told you wrong. We started darkness. You showed up you were in darkness Bible says in sin your mother conceived you. Not just the act, but I mean they had me out of wedlock. That's not what it means.
It means the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb, you were a child of darkness. But because of Christ we're light. Not because of how we behave yet. Because of who he made us. We are light.
You got to understand that being saved is about your position first, and then you move into possessional righteousness. But first, I have positional righteousness. First, I have righteous standing, and then God calls me to live in righteousness. That's going to be important because if you don't get that, then you end up thinking your salvation is all about your works, what you do. And that's not the case at all.
You were darkness, now because of Jesus, you're light. Then he says, live. The way you are. Live. As children of light.
And what does that consist of? He says, all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And find out, which means you don't necessarily know. That's why you need the word. That's why you need a pastor.
What pleases the Lord?
So, if I say some things that hit you, that's because the word is there to say, here's who you are, now act like who you are. You get it? You are light, now act like you're a child of light. With that having been said, we then can look at the rest of the passage beginning in verse 3 of Ephesians 5 to answer the question, what does it mean to live as children of light? And let's answer that question by understanding that Paul is writing to people from different backgrounds.
The church of Ephesus wasn't a church of all the same ethnic people, the all socioeconomic or any of that. It was diverse, and all of the kingdom of God is diverse.
So when Paul wrote, when the Spirit Gave him the inspiration to give us letters like the book of Ephesians. He is talking to some people who are saved out of Judaism. They're Jewish, they've always been Jewish, but now they've come to follow what was called in the first century the way.
So they're followers of the way, which means they they departed from traditional Judaism and are now followers of Christ. He's talking to some of them.
Now they know more or less the moral law because they learned that in the Torah. But he's also talking to folks who were saved straight out of the world. No religious affiliation, no religious background. More and more, we in 21st century America are ministering to people who have no religious affiliation, no religious background. I would love for my colleagues to quit saying this is a Christian nation.
It is not.
Some of them, I think, are going to say it till Jesus comes. That's fine. You have the right to be wrong. It is not.
It is a church that was founded on some Judeo-Christian principles. It was never a Christ glorifying nation. Never. What about Jesus? Theism isn't about Jesus.
Okay, I'm I'm not going there.
So You need to know. We have more heathens around us than y'all want to think we have. People who don't know anything about Jesus, and if left to their own devices, don't want to know anything about him. Yet we are called, just like the first century church was called, go into the world. And tell people who Jesus is.
Destiny Christian Fellowship exists for nine words: introducing people to Jesus and helping them follow Him. That's who we are called to be.
So we got folk from religious backgrounds, and we got folk straight off the street. straight out of the world. And we have to tell them what the will of God is. You don't pass judgment on people, you inform them. And even if you form them and they reject it, you still love them.
Oh, I'm trying to help you before we even dig in here. Because you all are in a world where we have so many folks. I don't even like to call myself Christian. Let me just be honest. I am a follower of Christ.
That's what I say when people say, Oh, are you? I'm a follower of Christ. They see me in my Bible, I've been on planes and reading the Bible. Oh, are you a Christian? I'm a follower of Christ.
'Cause some of what is called Christian I want nothing to do with it. All right, so With those things said. Let's dig in. Children of light according to That verse 3 Look at this. But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality.
Or of any kind of impurity or of greed. because these are improper. for God's holy people. Don't go away, the rest of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Shepard is coming right up. In John chapter 8, Jesus said that if you abide in Him, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
That's why Destined for Victory is here, to teach timeless truth for a victorious life by pointing people to Jesus Christ. You can help. Stop by pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. That's pastorpaul.net or simply call 855-339-5500.
Well, the Apostle Paul told the Ephesians that if they want to walk in the light, there are a few things they have to forsake. You'll hear all about them next in the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: Living as Children of Light. Paul's talking to folks, some of whom know that because they came out of Judaism, others of whom came straight out the world. They know they met Jesus and loved Jesus, and now Jesus is going to use his apostle to inform them how to live as children of light. And here's the first thing he says in this context: verse 3: that you've got to forsake sexual sin.
Impurity and greed. That's the first thing he mentions in this context about being children of light. Put that on the screen for folks to jot down if they want to. Children of light must forsake sexual sin. Impurity And greed.
Now, first, understand, he didn't say you weren't saved. Before you get this together. You're saved because his light came into your life.
Now that you're saved, learn how to live. The way he wants you to live. Do you get the difference? If you start with your acts, then you could have saved yourself by doing all the right things. None of us can save ourselves by living right.
Quote unquote. The Pharisees lived right. And Jesus never had anything good to say about him. Or to them. One day he looked at him and he said, y'all remind me of a cemetery.
All these clean white stones and full of dead man's bones.
So, please understand, we are light first because Jesus made us that.
Now, we got to learn how to walk in the light. And the first thing he says in verse 3 is: forsake sexual sin, impurity, and greed. Let me give that to you.
Well, sexual immorality, well, what does that actually mean? Let me give it to you, New King James Version. Because I've had people say, Yeah, I saw your sexual, but how do I know that's what he meant? New King James, but fornication. You know what that is, don't you?
That's acting out sexually in a way that you should. But fornication and all uncleanness Or covetousness. Let it not be named among you. as is fitting You see that? fitting for saints.
I'm a saint already. When I'm doing wrong sexually, I'm a saint. But God says, now I made you a saint. Get into the light. Get out of the darkness.
Only three people are going to want this message. Yeah. I'll have him make three copies. Sexual sin. Includes adultery.
Sex outside of your marriage. Fornication. Generally, sex that God has not ordained, having sex with persons of the same gender. All in there. Don't get mad at me.
I'm just a mailman. I know y'all are making the, you know, the society, but it's legal. I can't speak to what's legal because I'm not a lawmaker. I'm not in Congress. I don't get to do that.
I get to tell you how to walk in light. That's my calling. Tell you how to walk in light. God's not going to hem me up because of what you did. He's going to hem me up if I don't tell you you should have done something different.
That's my job as a preacher of the Word of God. And so that's what I'm going to be faithful to. If I understand the word right, I'm going to have to give an account for what I said before God.
So I'm going through the gates. Even if you didn't heed what I said, I'm going through because I told you.
So fornication, uncleanness, covetous are the words used in New King James, and here in NIV, sexual immorality, impurity, or greed.
So God says, I've made you light.
Now stop living like you're still in darkness. All right.
Now, I need you to see that the word sexual sin In other words, it's just a carryover from your darkness.
Some of us have acted dark when we were saved. I'm the only one or anybody else willing to say All y'all was in the lab. The only one was. Saved and wrong. God says, I love you, and I saved you, and made you a child of life.
Now, get right. And the word comes to convict you. The word comes to tell you, this what you're doing is not my will. And you need to get it together. And don't you love serving a God?
Who gives you a chance? To get it together. Any of y'all rejoicing that we serve the God of another chance? Quit all that God of a second chance. You don't remember when your second chance was?
My second chance, I was two and a half. Yeah. Think about when your second chance was.
So, the bottom line, brothers and sisters, is God will be patient. He's a God of long suffering, but he is not mocked. That's right. It's not my favorite. and calls you out of darkness.
And that's what he's doing here.
So it includes adultery, it includes fornication, it includes having sex with persons of the same gender. But it's legal. Legal and righteous two different things.
So if you want to say, well, whatever's legal, that's what I'm going to do. But just know you're going to have to answer to God. That's my job to tell you, you got a judgment day coming, and you're going to stand before him, and none of y'all are going to get to say, Yeah, but Pastor Paul ain't saying nothing about it. You ain't gonna get to say that because I'm gonna preach the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. A charge to keep, I have, the hymn said, a God to glorify, never dying soul to save, fitted for the sky.
So I've got to do this. I don't get to just preach fun stuff. I don't get to just make you happy all the time. This isn't the, you know. Everybody feels wonderful, don't you?
Just wonderful. Because, no, sometimes you're going to leave church saying, mm. And I know most of y'all don't even come right now. I got a few faithful people here.
So a lot of y'all were coming more when we was masked off, and then once we went back to mask required, 'cause my health advisor told me, Let's go required for a while until we get through this variant and they get some more vaccines and stuff like that. I said, Fine, and we're back to required, and y'all got mad and went back home. Yeah. Or we're trying to just keep you safe and you and you mad home. But guess what?
You looking at me, I'm telling you the same thing I tell you if you were sitting right there. You need to get out of acting like you're still in darkness.
Now, notice he said not only the sexual sin, but he said impurities. You say, okay, now what's that? Impurities. You already said sexual sin. I think what Paul meant there is.
Just because you, especially those that came to Christ out of Judaism, so they were already familiar with certain thou shalt nots. And so adultery was strong. Thou shalt not But he says sometimes, you know, traditional adultery, you're in a single relationship with a single individual outside of your marriage. He says sometimes folk are wrong and they have gone atraditional with their wrong.
So he just said impurity. If it's not pure. If it's dirty, he said that it's included in there. You know what? We got folks now who are swinging as couples.
In today's world, they go to swinging events. They have swingers' vacations. Not all of them are people of darkness.
Some of them are people in the light. Save and swinging. Have you noticed how many folks say they love God? Living all kind of crazy. Oh, but I love God.
Yeah, well if you love him keep his commandments. And swinging isn't in the book. You pick the one you supposed to swing with. Do all your swinging right there. But they're going as couples to swinging events.
There are people participating in orgies. And we've just modernized it now. It was in the Bible, origins in the Bible. But now it's modern. They have whole parties of it, whole events of it.
They make it look good. They make sin look wonderful. They have parties where you meet others. who are orgy oriented.
So you get to know one another. Oh, okay, let's include them in our, and all of that. And I've got to tell you that the word of God isn't going to change for any of us. If it was wrong, Then first century AD is wrong 21st century AD. It's not like you could just, well, we outlawed certain things that are no longer wrong according to the law.
Got nothing to do with it. Just like these days, polygamy is not in the law right now in our society. There are other countries in the world you can marry more than one person. And in those countries, Christians have to say, yeah, it's legal here, but the word won't let me. Come on.
But Abraham and I know You missed the deadline. Oh, just I just I'm coming back next week when he preaches something else. Bye. You missed the deadline. Yes, there was a period of time when God allowed, never endorsed.
Polygamy. It's never endorsed. But he allowed it. Because of the hardness of people's hearts, Jesus told us when he arrived on the scene. He said, but from the beginning it was not so.
And currently, in Jesus' day, he said it is not so. He said, you are children of light. I came to make you children of light. And so no, get one spouse. and make it work.
Yeah. Times change, culture change, society morals change. But the Word of God, the Truth of God, and the Person of God never change. They are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Psalm thirty four seventeen says that when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
So if you need prayer today, our ministry team would be happy to join you. Use the contact feature at the top of our home page, pastorpaul. net, and share your prayer request with us. That's pastorpaul. net.
And here's something else for you a great new resource that will challenge you to persevere through life's hard times or through a past you can't quite forget. Introducing our booklet, Keep Moving Forward. Drawing from Israel's transition from Moses to Joshua, this booklet will help you understand that God will go before you as your leader and your protector even when you're facing new challenges. This is a great resource for anyone who wants to be more fully equipped to move confidently into the future God has prepared. Again, that's Keep Moving Forward, our thank you gift for your generous donation to Destined for Victory Today.
You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, post office box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. Look in your Bible.
You will not find endorsement for trying people on sexually to determine whether or not you want to be with them for a lifetime. It's not in your Bible. That's next time at our message, living as children of light. But until then, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
In Christ, you are destined for victory.
