Walk in Light
Excerpt from Sermon:
Oh Heavenly Father, Creator of the Universe, Heaven, and Earth, let Your Name be Glorified, no Man’s name, but Your Name, prepare our hearts and finite minds, to give us the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of You, for us to truly Understand who You are…..
We are getting closer to the end of this amazing book God has given us in Ephesians. We have been commanded to walk in unity, walk in holiness, and to walk in love. Now Paul has commanded us to “Walk in Light.” Paul is continuing his exhortation of how a Christian is to walk in their Christian life and he is talking about sanctification. We are to walk in light as Children of Light, not walk or become involved with Evildoers, we are not to become involved in the evil practices or works of Evildoers, but we are to be Light, for Christ to shine His Light on us and awaken us from our spiritual deadness to light and life.
Paul back in Chapter 3 in verse 16, he prays to God that “he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” He is praying that God will strengthen them in their inner man and their faith so Christ will dwell in them and strengthen them. Then in Verse 1 in Chapter 4, Paul commands us “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Paul is describing sanctification here. He first petitions God to strengthen the Believers in their inner man and then he tells them and us, how to walk in our Christian life.
The Greek word for Sanctification means “holiness” or the idea of “being set apart for its use by its designer.” Bradford Mullen in his Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology says “In the theological sense, things are sanctified when they are used for the purpose God intends. A human being is sanctified, therefore, when he or she lives according to God’s design and purpose.” Question 35 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sanctification as “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”
Using these two sources as a means to better understand sanctification, we first see sanctification is an initial act of God setting us apart by making us Holy by Christ imputing or giving us His righteousness to make us justified in the eyes of God so that He can use us in His plan of redemption and we are sanctified day by day when we take an active part in our Christian walk being used by God according to His purposes. Our daily sanctification is to “walk in light.”
In verse 7, Paul uses his trusty ‘Therefore’, to link what he is about to say to the Believers at Ephesus with what he has already said in verses 3-6. Paul tells them to not become partners with them, with who, verse 6 says the Sons of Disobedience.
Let us first talk about who the Sons of Disobedience are. Why use the term Sons of Disobedience? Why not those “who walk-in disobedience”? Or those “who practice disobedience.” In Chapter 8 in the Gospel of John, Jesus is teaching the Jews and the Pharisees in the temple, and he explains who the Pharisees’ father is when Jesus says in Verse 42-44, “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here.” Verse 43, “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.” (Verse 44) “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” (Verse 47) “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Here Jesus is telling us who the Sons of Disobedience are. Additionally, Jesus gives us the reason why loved ones, friends, or people we talk to about the gospel, cannot and do not respond to the Gospel message to repent and believe. It is because they are Sons of Disobedience, Sons of the Devil. To put this in a theological division, supported by scripture from Jesus’s own words, the world is divided into two divisions, two camps, or two spiritual camps, either you are a Son of God because you love God, or you are Sons of the Devil! I know that may sound harsh, uncompromising, and you definitely do not hear this in Pulpits today much, or it is hard for you think in these terms, but this is the truth when you look through the Lens of Scripture.
Why does Paul say not to partner with them? In part, Paul is referencing back to verse 6 and says they can deceive them with empty words or in the KJV, “vain words”. When you call someone vain or empty, what are your saying? Paul is saying whatever they say is backed up with nothing. Their words or stories they tell you are profitable for nothing and is founded or linked to sin or other worldly thoughts, desires, and deeds.
The other part of the reason why to not become partners with the Sons of Disobedience is because, “For at one time you walked in darkness.” NO, he did not quite that say here. Paul said, “For at one time you were in darkness,” like you could just walk out of darkness, or remove yourself. NO, he did not quite say that either. Paul said, “YOU WERE DARKNESS!”
If you are reading the KJV, it states, “For ye were sometimes darkness.” The NKJV, NASB, and ESV all say, “YOU WERE DARKNESS,” which is the proper interpretation because you were not sometimes darkness, but you WERE DARKNESS.
The Greek word in verse 8 for “were” “eimi” means ‘to be’ or ‘to exist.’ You existed as darkness; you were actual darkness. And this is one of the most difficult aspects of sharing the gospel with someone that is a good, moral person such as someone that donates their time to worthy causes such as the Pro-Life movement or taking care of the homeless. In the eyes of society, they are good, law-abiding citizens, but in the eyes of God, without the covering of the Blood of the Lamb, without repentance and faith, you are but a stench in the nostrils of God.
We think only the Adolf Hitlers, the Jeffery Dahmers, the Kermit Gosnells for killing babies that lived through abortions, and other immorally depraved individuals are the ones that deserve Hell. We are separated into two peoples, the Children of God and the Children of Satan. That is it! If you are not a child of God, then as an Unbeliever, you do the work of Satan because you are under his control as in Luke 22:53 when Judas and the temple guards arrest Jesus by “the power of darkness,” which is another name for Satan.
Even though this was according to the predetermined plan of God, it was also done under the direction of Satan! As Martin Luther famously said and some balk at, “Even the Devil is God’s Devil!” Even Satan is used by God for His eternal purposes. Here is a perfect example of how Unbelievers foolishly think and reject the Gospel because they would lose their so-called free will, freedom and be forced into an unwanted obedience to God.
One of the most dangerous and destructive lies of Satan is for Unbelievers to think that somehow you are totally free apart from God, when in reality you are bound and imprisoned by Satan through sin, you cannot do anything but sin, and you cannot obey anyone BUT SATAN! It is as Paul tells us in verse 8, “you were darkness” and those that are not covered by the slain blood of the Lamb, then you right now as you sit are “darkness.” Think about that for a second. Let that settle somewhere between the grey matter and white matter of the brain lol.
John MacArthur makes a very SOBERING statement when he states, “Fallen man thinks he is free only because what he wants so closely agrees with what Satan wants.”