Remember those bracelets years ago that you are. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. But now he tells them something that they need to be doing, not something they shouldn't be doing.
So he turns positively. What are we to do? Expose them. Expose them. Who or what is the them?
The them refers to the unfruitful works, not to the unfruitful workers. Some of us are perfectly happy to get an exhortation like, Go out and expose all these people. Every so often I see some thing here on local TV, there's some fellow comes on and says, At seven o'clock tonight, we will expose, you know, whatever it is. You know, it's like, Okay, fine. And it never really gets me that excited. I don't know.
Nobody cares whether it does or it doesn't. But you know, that sort of idea of, You know what we're gonna do? The big expose.
Some Christians, they've got that in them. If you've got it in you, you need to get it out of you. That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to expose them. Well, how does the exposing take place here? How do you expose unfruitful works of darkness? You see, there is a prurient tendency in some of us that sometimes you hear ministers talking about things, pastors talking about things in such a way that you wonder whether they're actually getting their jollies out of describing these dreadful things. You know what I mean? There's a kind of voyeuristic element in it.
I think that's probably why he goes on to say what he says. It's shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret. So in other words, don't waste your time talking about all this stuff.
You don't need to give illustrations. People know. Everybody knows.
You don't need to hold the poison up and put pictures on the screens. It's actually shameful, he says. So then, how in the world does the exposing take place?
Well, I think it's pretty straightforward. And it is this. What he is seeing is that the essential difference in the believer's life—the shining light that is present in the life of the believer, however strong or dim it may be at any point along the way—but the light in the believer shows up the dark stuff for what it is.
It shows up the dark stuff for what it is. When Peter writes in his first letter again—and I looked for this yesterday. I had a word in mind from the King James Version, and I kept looking for it, and I couldn't find it, because it's not there. It's a great word. It's the word profligacy, but it's not in the ESV.
But it took me ages, and then I finally found it. It's 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 3, where he's writing to the believers, and he says, For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. It's long past time for that stuff, he says. What do the Gentiles or the pagans want to do? He says, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. He says, Here is where the light is going to shine. It's going to actually shine, because it's passive, if you like.
This process is silent. And in many ways, this process should be surprising. The surprise is the surprise that comes when the people say, You know, she has always come to these things.
What happened to her? Or, You know, Bill was… Bill was… He was always at this. You see, it's not that he's down there with a big Thompson Chain reference Bible, trying to give his friends a little gospel. It is the absence of his presence. It is the silence of his voice.
It is the thankfulness of his heart for things that other people regard as trivial and sensual and base, which actually then exposes the darkness, shows it up. The people say, Well, you know, he used to cuss like a sailor. And I don't know why he stopped that. Well, I'll tell you why he stopped it. Because he'd been made a new person. He didn't stop it to try and become a new person. He has been made a new person in Jesus, and Jesus is changing him. Sometimes he slips. Sometimes he falls. Sometimes her light isn't as strong as it might be.
But there is no question. What's happening? The darkness is being exposed. Exposed. Also, walk as children of light. Walk as children of light.
That's the exhortation that accompanies what we looked at last time. You were darkness, now you're light and Lord. Walk as children of light. In other words, live like men and women who are at home in daylight. Live like men and women who are at home in daylight. If you've got little secret things in your life, if I have secret things in my life, I've got to go away and find a place to hide from all of you to engage in that, you can be sure I'm not walking in the light. If I can't give you access to my checkbook, access to my diary, access to my iPad, then I'm in trouble.
And so are you. You see, the real practicality of this is really practical. Expose them, walk as someone who can walk in the light. Just live in such a way that you assume everybody knows everything. Everyone knows everything. Then find know everything. Because I've got nothing to hide from you.
That's what you want to be able to say. We're not talking about enjoying privacy in certain areas of life. We're talking about that there is no incongruity, you see. We don't have to go away and hide in the darkness.
Because they were still living in the pagan culture of Ephesus, but rather than being part of it, they were to be distinct from it. The works of darkness are unfruitful. The works of the fruit of light is wonderful. Light is necessary for fruitfulness, isn't it?
This orchid here comes and goes, or she comes and goes, or it comes and goes, depending on how it's doing. But I know for sure that it needs light. And for it to be in the darkness all during the week is not good for it. It needs the light. In fact, one day I came in, and they had two artificial lights just shining on this thing, for that very reason.
The picture is perfectly clear. What is the light? What is the fruit of the light? We could do an entire address on it—we won't—but it's there in verse 9. Incidentally, verse 9 is parenthetical, isn't it?
If you take the end of verse 8 and go immediately to the beginning of verse 10, you can see it as one straightforward statement. Walk as children of light and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Parenthetically, he then says, incidentally, the fruit of light—if you want to know what it is—it's good, it's right, it's true.
Good, right, true. What do you want to see instilled in your children? That which is good, right, true.
Straightforward. Where is goodness to be found? Where is righteousness to be found? Where is truth to be found?
All in the Lord Jesus Christ. As I was studying it during the week, it brought to mind, as I just came upon that trilogy, an event in London in 1971. I was nineteen at the time, and they convened a thing called the Festival of Light.
And the Festival of Light, we gathered in Trafalgar Square, about a hundred thousand of us, and then we processed through the streets of London to Hyde Park, and then in Hyde Park we had more music and a festival and singing and speakers and everything else. As we stood there in Hyde Park, I realized at one point that I was standing next to an Afghan hound. The Afghan hound was at the other end of a leash, and at the other end of the leash was Eric Idle. And Eric Idle, I-D-L-E, was something of an I-D-O-L to me because of his role in Monty Python's Flying Circus.
And I realized that I'm standing next to the Afghan and to him. And I didn't have the courage to do anything other than just be impressed that he was there, but I realized that I was in the section that was throwing raw eggs at the platform and letting off stink bombs in the crowd. Indeed, the Gay Liberation Front, which was infuriated by the prospect of this Festival of Light, had determined it would do everything it possibly could to disrupt it. I went yesterday to see what Rolling Stone Magazine did with this, and I found it. On November 11, I think it is, of 71, they covered the Festival of Light in the most scornful terms you could imagine, casting scorn on the ideas of truth and purity and light and taking their stand very clearly with the shouts of profanity and darkness that were represented in the response to a commitment to the light, to the good, to the true. That was forty-six years ago. Ephesus is over two thousand years ago.
Anybody that wants to tell us that the Bible somehow or another does not speak to the issues of the day either is oblivious to the issues of the day or never reads the Bible. Or both. Now, we need to wrap this up. Negatively, he says, this is what you need to do positively. You need to expose them. You need to walk as children of light. And you will notice in verse 10, you need to try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Every so often I come against a well-meaning Christian who tells me that she doesn't try in her Christian life. The Christian life is not about trying. Look out for her.
She'll be a problem to herself and everybody else. The Christian life is about trying. Oh, no, it's about trusting.
Yeah. But when you trust, you try. If you don't trust and try, you're in trouble. Otherwise, why would Paul actually say, Try to discern what the will of God is? In other words, this is not something that comes upon us unexpectedly.
This is not a feeling that rises up somewhere in our solar plexus. This is an exercise in bringing the Word of God to bear upon our thinking. It is, if you like, in Paul's terminology, Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of spiritual worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Then you will be able to test and approve—docimazzo, the same word as here—test and approve what the will of God is. It's the same word that he uses in 2 Timothy 2, where he says to Timothy, Study to show yourself approved unto God.
And so that is the kind of thing where your windshield or your windscreen has one of those little things on it that says, This has gone through the process and has been approved in order that you may drive in relative safety. So, that's the picture that is given here. You're not taking part in unfruitful works of darkness. You're exposing them.
You've got better things to talk about than that stuff, and so here's what you need to do. Discern what God wants you to be and do. What does that mean? Well, it means that our Bibles are very important, doesn't it? It means that we need to be focused on the Bible, it means that we need to be directed by the Bible, and it means that our minds have to be filled with the Bible. It is a happy thing if your children or your grandchildren are learning the Bible. Because if they're not learning the Bible, they'll be learning something else. If they're not being saturated by the truth of Scripture, they'll be saturated by some other kind of truth. What is the will of God? Our sanctification.
How will we discover that? As I was thinking about that, my mind went to a song that I remembered again from my childhood. I could only remember one line of it.
It took me ages to finally track it down, and I eventually did. And I was intrigued to realize that it was pretty well grounded in Romans 12, 1, and 2. And it begins like this, living for Jesus, a life that is true, striving to please him in all that I do, yielding allegiance, gladhearted and free.
This is the pathway of blessing for me. You say, It doesn't sound that good. I don't care if you like it or not.
I'm just telling you it. And the chorus goes, O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to thee. For thou and thy atonement didst give thyself for me.
I own no other master. My heart shall be thy throne. My life I give. Henceforth to live, O Christ, for thee alone. Written by a guy who was born in Franklin, Kentucky, in 1886, died in 1960, was a schoolteacher at the age of sixteen in a one-room schoolroom thing, and wrote eight hundred poems, and some were sent to music, and this was one of them.
How it got from Kentucky to Glasgow, Scotland, I don't know. But I'm very glad to bring it back to you. And I want to say particularly to young people who are here, to teenagers, to students, to guys, boys, seven, eight, nine girls who are trying to figure the whole world out. Put God to the test.
Take him at his word. Take a song like this. Write it in the back of your Bible. Ask God to make it your own. Ask him to fulfill his purposes in you and through you. God is nobody's debtor. He does what he promises. And the future of the church in the United States of America lies largely in the hearts and minds of youngsters, schoolboys, schoolgirls that are finding that their hearts are constrained and framed by these things.
That's why it's so vital to be building in to the coming generations. You say, well, thank you for telling us about Thomas Chisholm. Well, you know Thomas Chisholm, because he wrote Greatest Thy Faithfulness.
You might not know that one, but you know that one. He proved the faithfulness of God. He proved the things he wrote about. So, the challenge, negatively, positively—and I want just to say a word and say evangelistically.
Evangelistically. This is how I'm trying to make sense of the close of this. When anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. I found it helpful to read this in light of John chapter 3, and I commend that to you.
See if it helps you. And this is the judgment, John 3.19. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, doesn't come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. This is the great transformation, you see. Previously, we were hiding. Previously, it was shameful. Previously, it was unfruitful. Previously, it was dark.
Previously, we went in those places. Well, it was very bright on the outside, but as soon as you got inside, you couldn't find out where you were. I was in a hotel this week in New York, myself and a friend, and he was on the fifth floor. I was on the second floor. After I'd gone to my room, dropped my bag, and came back down, he still hadn't found his room. He was on the fifth floor, wandering all around.
He finally got somebody to help him. Why? Because the place was pitch dark. It was pitch dark. It wasn't a bad place, but it was just dark. Why do you turn the lights on?
Well, who knows who you'll see? Men love darkness rather than light. You're not gonna come into the light.
And so look what he's saying. When everything is exposed by the light, how does it become exposed by the light? When the light shines. Where does the light shine from? Shines from Christ, shines from those who are in Christ. I am the light of the world, said Jesus. Then he said, You are the light of the world. Verse 14, for anything that becomes visible is light. It's not easy, this, is it?
When everything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. It makes me think of my grandmother. I used to go shopping with her in Glasgow, and I've got a vivid recollection of her, always asking of something. She said, Can I take this outside and look at it?
I'm like, What's up with you, Granny? I mean, what you can see it in here is a hat, for crying out loud. No, no, no, no. I need to see it in the daylight.
I need to see what it's really like. Fine. We go out. We come back in.
That's what he's saying here. When everything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. Therefore, here's the evangelistic call, Awake, O Sleeper, and Rise from the Dead. There's a word for some of you this morning—the first part, at least. I can see you. I can see you. It's all right. It's all right. Sometimes you need a good snooze. No better place, you know?
Comfortable seats, dimly lit. Awake, O Sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. In other words, the unbeliever is suffering from S-D-D, not A-D-D. Three metaphors. The unbeliever is asleep and needs to be wakened up. The unbeliever is dead and needs to be made alive. The unbeliever is dark and needs the light of Christ to shine in him or her. That is Alistair Begg reminding us that it takes a work of God's Spirit in us for us to be able to live godly lives that glorify Christ. You're listening to Truth for Life, and please keep listening.
Alistair will return in just a minute to close with prayer. As Alistair just said, we need to be focused on, directed by, and filled with the Bible. So to help you spend time in God's Word as a part of your daily pattern, we want to recommend to you a Bible reading calendar that will help keep you on track. The Bible reading program we have available to you from Truth for Life will guide you through all of Scripture during the course of a year. You can download the plan for free at truthforlife.org slash Bible reading plan, or you can purchase a printed copy for a dollar at truthforlife.org slash store. As followers of Jesus, our aim is to grow in holiness, and we pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to that end. To understand more about how spiritual growth takes place in our lives, we encourage you to request the classic book, Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life. This is an updated 30th anniversary edition. It's available for just a few more days.
When you make a donation to Truth for Life, you can give your gift and request the book online at truthforlife.org slash donate. Now here's Alistair with a closing prayer. Father, it only takes a spark to get a fire going.
We know that. Some of us are aware this morning of how difficult it is to navigate the tension that is conveyed in these verses, how we find ourselves with one foot going one way and one foot going the other, tempted to be drawn back again into the darkness from which you've set us free, tempted to go and just fiddle around again with some of those unfruitful works. And so we pray this morning that you will sow by the Holy Spirit, reveal the darkness to us, disclose it to us, disclose the dark bits in us, and then by the Holy Spirit dispel them, and then enable us to shine—not in a way that draws attention to ourselves but points away from ourselves. It causes us to be surprised when people say, You know, I noticed, Lord Grant, that we might then live as lights in a dark place. And thank you that the call of the Lord Jesus is an extensive call, so that whoever hears his call and comes to him, he will never turn them away. Awaken us, raise us, shine in us, and through us, we pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. I'm Bob Lapeen. Thanks for listening today. Did you know it's possible to be extremely intelligent and yet totally unwise? Be sure to join us tomorrow to find out how to wisely process knowledge. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
