Living in the Light B

And beloved, he says, Look, if you are walking as children of light, there is to be the fruit of light toward others, toward God, even within your own self.

You ought to be able to examine your own life to see if you're really in the light. What has been the most important event in your life? Getting married?

Having a baby? Taking a new job? Now, while those things can be monumental, there is only one event with the power to turn you into a radically new person, both inside and out, to transform your decision-making, your behavior, your relationships. I'm talking about coming to faith in Christ. Specifically, though, what will your new life look like when you become a Christian? How will it differ from your old life?

What new desires, ambitions, and goals should you pursue? Consider that today on Grace to You as John MacArthur continues a study he calls The Portrait of a New Life. And now here's John with a lesson.

Ephesians 5 verses 8 through 14. Now Paul's going to tell us five things we need to know if we're to walk as children of light. Five things we need to know.

Very practical. Number one. The contrast. The contrast of children of light.

It's very simple. Beautiful contrast. Verse 8. For ye were once darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. You were, now you are, so live what you are. That in fact could be stated as the thesis of the epistles of the New Testament.

You were, now you are, live what you are. That's all he's saying. Now let me show you something, comparing these two and giving you the contrast. Four characteristics of people who are darkness can be observed. Are you ready?

I'm going to come by it real quick. They do the deeds of darkness under the dominion of the prince of darkness. It results in coming under God's judgment on darkness, which is an eternal hell, which is outer darkness. But look at verse 8. Now we're light. Now this is the point. He's making this tremendous contrast. And by the way, this is germane to his whole thought here. He is trying to show you the absolute contrast. That's why he picks light and darkness.

They are the absolute opposites. He goes a step further, point number 2. He's given the contrast of the children of light. Now he gives the characteristics. You say, alright, Paul, I'm with you. Boy, if I'm not in that kingdom, I shouldn't mess with it. But what are the characteristics of children of light? Oh, that's easy, he says in verse 9. For the fruit of light, best manuscripts say light, not the spirit. For the fruit of light, that's what he's talking about, is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

That's pretty simple, isn't it? You don't need some great Bible teacher to unscramble that mystery. Goodness, righteousness, truth. Those are the marks of those who walk in light. You say, well, I'm a Christian, what should characterize my life? Goodness, righteousness, truth.

Hmm, that's terrific. You know, there were a lot of people, and still are, who claim to be in the light. Oh yes, we're in the light. We made a decision for Christ.

We've been born again. Oh yeah, we've gone to church for years. Oh, I'm very religious. Very religious. I've given a lot of money to the church. I've been in a certain denomination since I was baptized, christened, confirmed, or who knows what. Oh yes, I remember when I received an award for learning Bible.

You know, people have got all that stuff. I'm a church member. But you know what the real test is? You see, the children of light are made manifest by the fruit of light. The children of light are made manifest by the fruit of light. There needs to be some fruit. That's what he's saying here. And he says the fruit is this, look at it. Goodness, first of all.

You know what I think? I think this is just a beautiful picture of how you relate to other people. There's a word in the Greek, kalos, which means good. It's translated good. It means free from defects and beautiful. Like that's a good painting or, well that's a good jar you made. That's a good tapestry.

It's free from defects. Good. Then there's the word krestos, which means useful. That's good for digging a hole. Hey, that's good for holding that thing together. It's useful. But then there's agathos.

Agathos. You know what it means? It means overall moral excellence. And one lexicon says, especially active in behalf of others. It isn't just free from defects. It isn't just useful for certain things.

It's just good. And it touches everybody in that same way with a very positive, moral, excellent effect. And that's the word he uses here. This is what Paul meant in 1 Thessalonians 5.15 when he said, just do good to everybody. And I think this is the first element of the fruit of light. And that is that it touches other people with goodness.

Look at yourself. If you're a child of light and you're going to walk in light and you're going to walk as a child of light, then the first thing should be goodness in terms of others. The second thing I think points more toward God. Righteousness. That has to do with your relationship to God.

Never deviating from his pure path of holiness. And the third term is truth. And as I checked out lexicons on that, I find an interesting thing. One said it means integrity. One said it means honesty. One said it means reliability.

One said it means trustworthiness. And that has to do with my own self. First, goodness in relating to others. Secondly, righteousness in relating to God. And thirdly, integrity as I view myself. As I am what I say. Honesty.

Reliability. In contrast to the sham and the falseness and the hypocrisy of the old life. This is God's desire for us. And beloved, he says, look, if you are walking as children of light, there is to be the fruit of light toward others, toward God, even within your own self. You ought to be able to examine your own life to see if you're really in the light.

Now, there are people, as I said, who claim to be in the light, but there's one good way to tell. In Matthew chapter 7 and verse 15, Jesus said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them, watch this one, by their what? Fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? In other words, if there are a thorn and a thistle, nothing will grow on them. Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit. Listen to me, people. All Christians bear fruit.

Did you get that? There's no such thing as a no fruit Christian. There's a lot of little fruits.

Got nothing but a few shriveled raisins hanging on. But there's no such thing as a no fruit Christian. If there's life, there will be product. Every good tree brings forth good fruit. A corrupt tree brings forth bad fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is cut down, cast into the fire, wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. The point is this, if you are a child of light, there will be the fruit of light, you see? So when somebody comes along and says, well, we did this and we did that, and finally, you know, in the next text in Matthew 7, he says, you can say, Lord, Lord, all you want.

You can say, you cast out demons, you did this, you did this, you did this, but I never knew you. No fruit, no life. And so some claim to be walking as children of light, but there's no fruit and they lie. Now from time to time, you know, we were Christian sin. And when we sin, our product drops. And maybe you've got to look a long time in your life to find some fruit, because your life isn't what it ought to be. The expression of your life at this point is sinful in some ways. The Christian who walks as a child of light will produce fruit. And as you sin, even as a Christian, fruit diminishes. But what he's saying here is this, if you're really walking as a child of light, there's going to be some fruit there. There'll be goodness, righteousness, and truth.

And this will verify your life. Look at verse 10, really great. Proving or verifying what is acceptable to the Lord.

What is he saying here? You shouldn't just teach what is acceptable to God. You ought to live it. You ought to verify it in your life. This is the joy of the Christian, to be a living example of God's truth.

To be living verification of what is pleasing to God. People say, well, how do I know I'm a Christian? Or how do I know this person's a Christian? It's verified in the fruit.

It's verified in the fruit. If you have to sit down with yourself and say, well, I don't know if I'm a Christian. Let's see, well, yeah, I guess I am. I mean, I'm religious and gone to church a long time.

And I remember when I made a decision. If you've got to speculate and philosophize, you're not doing it the way the Bible says. You can prove what is acceptable to the Lord. You should be able to verify it by looking at your life. It ought to be there. If you do the deeds of the light, the light is in you.

A child of God will bear some resemblance to his father. You know, in the east, I was in Damascus one time, and they have these little tiny streets, and the streets are dark because, not because the sun doesn't shine, but because over every little shop there's no windows or anything, just an open shop. They hang all this material so you can't see anything. It's dark in there.

And they do it in little narrow streets, so there's a little tiny strip of light going down the middle of the street in between all these things. And when you go in there, I remember we went into a place to buy some linen for my wife, and in order to tell whether the stuff's any good, you've got to take it outside and find a little bit of light and hold it up and see if there's any flaws in it. And I guess maybe that's the idea. You know, I would only purchase something that passed the test of light. And I guess maybe that's the only way to really evaluate our lives. We can't determine that we're a Christian because of some past thing.

The only way to do it is to show it up to the light and see if it stands the test. To expose every action, to expose every decision, to expose every motive to the light of Christ and see whether it's genuine. So he says, look, the contrast is clear. You're not that anymore. You are light. Now live it.

And if you're really living it, here are the characteristics. Goodness and righteousness and truth, and these will become the verification to you and everybody around you that you are walking as a child of light. But beyond that, there's a command too. Look at that in verse 11. There's a command.

The contrast and the characteristics lead to a command, just in case you need something negative. He says in verse 11, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. And you can stop right there. Just in case it isn't clear to you yet what I'm saying. Based on the contrast, you see, you're so different.

You're so far removed. You're over here trying to verify the life of God in you. You're over here involved with goodness, righteousness and truth.

You were that. Now the point is have absolutely no fellowship with that. And he uses the word sun koinoneo. Koinoneo means fellowship.

You add a preposition to the front of it, it intensifies it. Have no really intimate fellowship. In other words, don't you get involved at all in sin, the unfruitful activity of darkness. Don't get involved in the ignorance of the world toward God. Don't get involved in the immorality of the world.

We've been saying this so many ways, people. There's no place for that. There is no place. We have no part. You say, well, does that mean you don't ever go near anybody? No, because we've got to touch the people of the world. We just got to leave their sin alone. People say, well, if we're going to witness, don't we have to get a little involved?

No. The only way to witness is to not get involved. You'll destroy your testimony. You know, it says in 1 Corinthians 5 that we're not to fellowship with fornicators and coveters and idolaters and all that. And then it says those in the church, not those in the world.

Those in the world need us. Just don't do what they do. Reach out and love them, but don't do what they do. We're to be non-participants in the world's fair.

Well, I don't know how you relate that to your life, but that's pretty practical stuff. Do not fellowship together with the unfruitful works of darkness. The system is sterile. See? It bears nothing. You have no part in it. It's a fruitless, dark system. Don't waste your time. You say, well, you know, I just sort of crawl in my little hole and don't ever peek. No, you don't participate.

You've got to peek because the next thing is the commission. Look at this. The contrast leads to the characteristics which lead to Paul's command.

And since we're to have absolutely no fellowship, we might all bail out. And so he adds this, but rather reprove them. And the word reprove is expose. Listen. Don't do what they do. Expose what they do. We are the spiritual CIA, folks. And our job is not to be involved, but to expose the crimes of darkness. Every one of us is called by God to do that. And the agent or the tool that does that is the Bible.

The word of God, every word is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof. We need to reprove. That means to expose the evil. You know, you can't just say, well, I don't like to say anything about what they're doing. You better say something.

That's your commission by your life and your words. You know, sometimes just the way you live can expose people. Have you ever walked into a conversation that was really filthy and they know you're a Christian and all of a sudden it just gets real nice and clean? How's church going? I know you go to church a lot. How's church?

Yeah. I mean, I've remembered playing golf with people and about the fifth hole they find out I'm a minister and it changes their whole game. They can't cuss, they can't hit, you know.

It's amazing. You know, I know certain people who have lived a life of godliness in an ungodly environment and there's such a rebuke to the system that it cannot tolerate them and they'll be fired. But there's more.

It's not just what you live, it's what you say. You've got to be honest. You are commissioned by holy god to expose the evil of the world, to diagnose it, to confront it, and to offer the solution. That's what he says. Reprove it. Expose it.

Crack it open. It's a cancer to be removed. You aren't helping anybody by hiding it. We can't go waltzing around the world with all this lovey-dovey stuff, never ever acknowledging sin. You can't, you know, some people say, well, we just want to love everybody all the time. Well, that's not evangelism. I've told you before, you've got to make people feel rotten first, then make them feel good.

They've got to feel bad and then they know they need to feel good. We're not only not to fellowship, we're to expose it. Now listen, people. You know what's wrong with us in most cases? As Christians, you know, we're not, we're not, we don't see this contrast as dramatically as God sees it, just light and darkness.

We're just out of that system altogether. But here we are, we're piddling around, playing around with the deeds of darkness, miles from being a spiritual CIA, from really going after and uncovering evil. You know, we should be so mature and so far along that we can expose evil, that we can search it out and expose it and offer the diagnosis and the cure. But instead, most Christians are barely hanging on to the edge for their own life, let alone trying to deal with somebody else. They say, well, I certainly can't help anybody else get out of this thing until I get over some of my own problems.

That's, you know, that's way back, people. You've got to take care of that part and then we ought to be out there really exposing evil. I'll tell you something else. If you're busy exposing evil, it will have an impact on your own life, right?

Sure it will. We ought to speak to sinners. We ought to tell them it's evil.

Why? Look at verse 12. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. I mean, the stuff that they do is so rotten and so wretched and so vile, it isn't even to be spoken about, let alone done, that desperately needs to be reproved.

See, you can't just let it go on. It's evil. It's vile. The things they do are unspeakably evil and this is the heart of God talking here. And here we are in our world where we're drowning in a sea of media stuff that pumps into us that there's no such thing as evil.

And we say, well, it's not so bad. It's evil. It shouldn't even be talked about. It shouldn't even be entertained in a conversation. It's so wretched and it needs to be dealt with and exposed. And yet sometimes, you know, by just turning on your television in your home, you expose your child to a tolerance of the very thing that it shouldn't even talk about.

The thing that you should expose as evil. So he says the things that they do in secret are shameful to even talk about. It shouldn't even be talked about. You know, I read a book on the homosexual problem written by a Christian this week.

It talked about the problem of homosexuality in such lurid terms that it was like pornography. But that isn't right. You don't need to do that. You can give God solution without portraying every evil thing that could possibly go on in that relationship.

That's not necessary. These are wretched things that the world does. And they are to be reproved.

They are things too shameful to even speak of, let alone to tolerate. And so he says, look, you are commissioned in this world. You ought to be beyond struggling yourself.

Grow up so that you can not only get beyond that hang up, but that you can be a reprover of others. That you can be one who exposes evil. 4, verse 13, watch this. For all things that are reproved, now watch this, it's fabulous, are made manifest by the light. In other words, listen, if the light doesn't get on, they'll never be made manifest.

You see what he's saying? Anything that is manifest will be manifest by light. For whatever makes manifest is light. And if you're the light and you don't make it manifest, then it won't be made manifest. You see?

This is your commission, people. Get out there and reprove sin and expose sin because you're the light. And if you don't do it, it'll never be exposed because it is the light that manifests. Light is that which manifests. And whatever makes manifest is light. People, we've got to realize this.

We're back to the basics again. Nobody gets saved unless they come to God repenting of sin. Nobody knows what sin is unless somebody exposes it, right? It is not evangelism to tolerate people and to just love them and never talk about their evil.

It is evangelism to make them face the fact of sin. For whatever makes manifest is light. The only hope they have is that the light would shine and make manifest. And so we've got to do it, people. That's why we're the lights of the world. So he says the contrast is clear, darkness and light. The characteristics, if you're going to walk as a child of light, goodness, righteousness, truth, the command don't have anything to do with the things they do.

The commission, expose what they do because it's shameful stuff and you're the only light there is to expose it. And then finally, it closes. And it closes with an invitation. I guess the Apostle Paul felt there would be some people who would read Ephesians who didn't know Christ.

And he wanted to throw an invitation in. And so he says in verse 14, Wherefore he saith, and I believe that the he saith here is a reference to Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 1. Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 1, when dealt with from the Hebrew text, conveys the identical thought, although this particular verse gives its fulfillment. Isaiah 60 says, Arise and shine, for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Of course, that looked forward to the Messiah and this interpretation of it looks back to what Christ has done. And so he says, the prophet says, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. He puts Christ in Isaiah's words because Christ is the fulfillment.

May I add this? Most Bible commentators believe that this is a line from an Easter hymn sung by the early church. A line from an Easter hymn. It's an invitation.

So the invitation comes to you as it does throughout history. Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. And you have in that one little tiny verse a whole picture of the gospel, a whole little Bible. First the sinner is described as one who sleeps. And then the summons is offered to awake and arise. And the Savior is presented. Christ shall give thee light. It shows the dilemma of sinfulness.

It gives the invitation to the sinner and shows who the Savior is. Like Rip Van Winkle, men are going to sleep through an age, only it won't be an age of history. It'll be an age of grace.

And they'll wake up and it'll be too late. And so he says, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. Light. No more moral darkness.

No more intellectual darkness. There is one ray of light and it's Jesus Christ who said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.

Horatio Bonar put it magnificently in these words. I heard the voice of Jesus say, I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall rise and all thy day be bright. I came to Jesus and I found in Him my star, my sun. And in that light of life I'll walk till traveling days are done.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the truth of Proverbs 4.18. The path of the righteous is as the dawning light that shines more and more unto the perfect day. Thank you, Father, that you're a God of light who sent the light into the world that we might become children of light, that our lights could so shine that we would light the darkness and men would come to the light. We're so grateful for your ministry in our hearts through this text in Christ's name. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for tuning in today. John is currently looking at how God changes you when He saves you. It's all part of his study from Ephesians, titled The Portrait of a New Life. John, you made a point today that is quite simple, but it bears repeating. The past, you said, is past. Which sounds like an obvious statement, but I think we forget about that sometimes. We forget that we're no longer in bondage to sin, and that with our salvation comes new life. Yeah, and you know, I think about that often, that new life and that newness is reinforced because of what the Bible says God does in cleansing your conscience. It's a wonderful thing to realize that when you come to Christ, all things have passed away and all things are new. And whereas you lived under the bondage of sin and under an accusing conscience at all times, at the salvation moment in your life, your conscience was cleansed. You were freed up from the things of the past.

All sin was forgiven, and you have newness of life. I just don't think Christians today, so-called professing Christians, have any idea about the reality of true transformation. And I think even people who have been transformed don't understand the essential realities of that transformation because they're not well taught. So much focuses on superficial things, how to have a happy life, how to be more successful, more superficially satisfied, do better in your job or do better psychologically or whatever.

So people never get to the deep things that change you from the inside. But that's what we need. That's where we need to see the sanctifying work of God's Spirit. So we're talking about that in the series, The Portrait of a New Life. We need to get into the Word of God and see what new life in Christ really is all about.

And that's what we've done in the series. I would just remind you that if your life is not transformed, you're not a Christian, because transformation is the essence of the work of God in making a new creation. It's been an important study for knowing what your life is to be, and you can pick it up in a six-CD album by contacting us and letting us know you'd like a six-CD album. We can get that to you for a reasonable price.

Or you can simply download the MP3s at gty.org, and you can get that in an audio or you can get it in a written transcript. And also remember the special offer if you're a new Christian. I'll send you a free copy of my book called Welcome to the Family.

You just have to ask for it. It's designed to help you see the big picture of what it means to be in the body of Christ. Contact us now if you've recently come to Christ. Our joy to send you one.

Yes, friend, it really is our joy to do that. We want you to know how to grow spiritually and honor the Lord in your trials and glorify Him in your daily life. Welcome to the Family covers those topics and more, and it's our gift to you if you're a new Christian.

Just request your free copy today. Call our toll-free number, 800-55-GRACE, or go to our website, gty.org. Welcome to the Family will show you how to avoid the pitfalls that derail many believers and send them into a weak or ineffective walk with Christ. As John said, this book is yours free if you are a fairly new Christian. To request your copy of Welcome to the Family, call 800-55-GRACE or visit gty.org. And to download all six messages from the study John concluded today, The Portrait of a New Life, go to gty.org. And in fact, you can download the messages from all of John's studies and hundreds more that we haven't put on the radio yet. All of John's sermons from 52 years of his pulpit ministry are yours free in audio or transcript format at gty.org.

That's gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here tomorrow when John will help you prepare for Thanksgiving by showing you how the gospel of grace leads to a life of gratitude. Tune in for a message titled In Everything Give Thanks. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Wednesday's Grace To You!