Walk As Children Of Light

To me, it's a joy each year to take part in the blessing of the little children. And there's something about children that never ceases to amaze me. And that is, as you watch a child go from very small and as they grow up, you begin to see the attributes and the characteristics of their parents that they develop along the way. You've probably all heard expressions like, you know what?

He's his father's son. Or you know, she's her father's daughter. Or she's her mother's daughter. Or maybe a husband has said to a wife or vice versa, that's your kid. That's your child. A time or two, my wife said that to me over the years. It's usually been when one of our children had gotten to a little bit of trouble or were pulling a prank or a practical joke or something in that regard.

It was, that's your child. The fact is, as children grow up, they really do take on the learned characteristics, many of the attributes of their parents, and you can look and you can see. Last night I was listening to a sermon that Mike Eimes gave at the feast, and he talked about a photograph that was taken years ago where he's standing in a certain way in a pose in this photograph.

And Sean, his son, is next to him and kind of standing in that same pose. And he said, nobody taught him to do that, but oftentimes you go well like father, like son. And so those attributes seem to develop over time, and I would guess that genetics play a part in the dispositions as well that develop with children as they are that direct descendant of their parents. Today for the sermon I'd like to continue to talk about children. Not children in the sense of young boys and girls, but children in the sense of children of God.

Because that is who and what we are, those who have come into covenant relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are the children of God. We have attributes we're developing. We have characteristics that we're growing in, and as God's children there are certain attributes and characteristics of our Heavenly Father that should be reflected in us as we come to maturity, and as we come to know Him better and better, as our relationship with Him grows. Can we look at our lives and say, I'm my father's son? Can we look at others and say, you know, that's their father's son, that's their father's daughter?

Are those characteristic attributes becoming displayed in us as God's people? The Apostle Paul addresses one of the attributes of God's nature that I would like to look at today that should be reflected in all of us. And there's many attributes of God, but I would like to just focus on one today. The title for the message is, Walk as Children of Light. Walk as Children of Light. And as we do so, we'll display a very critical aspect of the nature of God.

In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5, let's start there today, the Apostle Paul points out this attribute of God, this attribute that we are to be taking on as the children of God. We'll begin in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5. Paul says, For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. And so what we see right off the bat is that there are actually characteristics in this world that are not of God.

Things that people are doing, how they're living their life, and you can't point and say that is their father's child. There's actually characteristics that are so apart from God that they could keep you out of the kingdom of God, if not repented of. Verse 6, Paul says, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.

Verse 8, For you were once darkness, but now you are light, you are light in the Lord. And he says, Walk as children of light. Paul says, Walk as children of light. Brethren, when you're a child of something, it means that you are being brought up in its ways.

It means that that's the character you're developing. You're emulating what it is that you're growing up into. And what it means to be a child. And you'll notice that Paul says here, We're to become children of light. It's what you and I are to be.

What you'll also notice about this passage is that he begins by saying, You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. He doesn't start out by saying, You once walked in darkness, and now you walk in light. Which by the way is true. There's other passages that reveal that. But he says, No, what you were by your nature, by your character, was darkness.

That's what you were immersed in. He says, But now you are light. Not just that you walk in the light, but light is literally who and what you are. There came a time by God's grace and mercy when he intervened in our lives, when we were once darkness. And he called us out of the darkness and into the light. And again, Paul says, We are children of light. We are light in the Lord. So we came under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We had our sins forgiven that brought us out of the darkness, reconciled us to our Father in heaven.

And now he says, You are to walk as children of light. You were once darkness, now you are light. Now that is our nature. It is how we're to conduct ourselves. And it is an attribute of our Father that we're to emulate. Again verse 8, For 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.

Paul saying, Shine the light on them. Shine the light on the works of darkness, and when you do, they'll be exposed. You will see them for what they are. And the purpose is now then distance yourself. Put those things away from you. You are children of light. Verse 12, 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. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. So as Paul states, again, we are to walk as children of light. It's to be our behavior, our conduct, day in and day out. And yet it's not a reflection of who we once were. It is a reflection of who we are reconciled to, our Father in heaven.

You see, light doesn't just come of its own. We didn't just come out of the darkness into the light on our own, but we became the reflection of someone who called us out of the darkness into his marvelous light. And we're to be walking according to the being who is the source of that light. God is the source of all light. Let's take a few moments and see what the Bible has to say regarding the relationship between God and light.

First John chapter 1 and verse 5. First John chapter 1 and verse 5. Again, we're acknowledging what the source is of that light that is within us. What is the source of the light that we are emulating? Whose light is it? First John chapter 1 and beginning in verse 5, John says, This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. No darkness. First Timothy chapter 6 verse 16 states that God dwells in unapproachable light.

So the point being here is that God is light. Completely, through and through. Pure light, true light. He's the source of light. Not merely by appearance only, brethren, light is his character, it is his nature. It is what extends out from God into all aspects of truth in the universe. Again, John says there is no darkness at all in God. Who and what he is is light. That's the attributes of our Father in heaven.

If you were to study cover to cover in the Bible, and we won't do that today, but you can start in Genesis chapter 1, let there be light, and you can go to the end of the book of Revelation, where you have God and the Lamb are the light, and you have the thread of light that runs through Scripture from beginning to end. And again, the point is our Father is the source. So as you go through all those Scriptures, if you do a study on them, I've done so a couple of times, light signifies truth. You'll see that it signifies righteousness. Light signifies goodness and glory. All the elements of God's nature and character that he wants us to take on as his very own children of light are reflected throughout those Scriptures. Additionally, light signifies life and salvation as an eternal life, as in the nature of God, not just the character being developed in us, but when our change comes, we shall see him as he is, because we will be as he is. Again, that light which will emanate from us and salvation. These are all attributes of light contained throughout the Scripture. On the flip side of that, there's darkness. And darkness is often portrayed in Scripture in a very different manner. Darkness is evil. Darkness is oppression. It's sin. It's corruption. It's deception. It's death. It's ignorance. It's spiritual blindness. You can do that whole thread again. Genesis through Revelation, except in the end, the darkness is defeated until all that remains is the light. But there is this competition that really isn't a competition. The Father is in charge, but the point is this. Light and darkness, that thread runs side by side through Scripture, got us called us out of one and to the other, that we might shine forth his light. Now, all those elements of darkness are inherently tied to their source, which is Satan the devil, the god of this age. But the source of all light is God. Continuing on here in 1 John chapter 1, again verse 5, this is the message which we heard from him and declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. You and I can't claim to be in a reconciled relationship with God. We can't say, I'm a child of God, and yet walk in darkness. Live in a completely different way than the light that God has called us to, because the two don't agree. They're like oil and water, they don't mix. And John says, there's going to be no fellowship with God who is light if you walk in darkness and just merely claim that you're light.

Similarly, the Apostle Paul asked the question, you can find this in 2 Corinthians 6.14, he asked two questions. He says, What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness? As in, what agreement do they have? Again, they're like oil and water, they don't mix. You can't take the darkness and add it to the light and have a mixture of the two, and frankly, light overpowers the darkness. We have lights in this room. When we came in the room, the room was dark. The lights came on, and the darkness was vanquished. Darkness cannot stand in the presence of light. All right? And Paul says, as well as John, the two cannot have fellowship together. Verse 7 says, But if we, you and I, brethren, walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. And so, as God's people, again, as Paul admonished, we must be walking in the light. We must be reflecting the light. We must be, if you're going to reflect it, you've got to absorb it. We don't generate our own light. We're more like the moon. We reflect the light of the sun, and you and I reflect the light of God.

But we must be walking as children of light if we're going to experience true fellowship and agreement with our Father in heaven. In addition to that, there will also be fellowship in unity among us in the body. Because if you're walking in the light and you're in fellowship with God, and I'm walking in the light and I'm in fellowship with God, then why in the world would we not be in fellowship with one another? Indeed, the scripture shows that unity is actually a byproduct of walking in the light. Unity with God, unity among the children of light.

Another passage linking this characteristic of light to our heavenly Father is James chapter 1, verse 17. Let's go there next. James chapter 1 and verse 17. Because if we are children of light, again, we need to understand the source of that light. James chapter 1 and verse 17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or a shadow of turning. And so we have this phrase here, the Father of lights. And so in both of these passages here in James, as well as over in John, God's essence and personality are equated with everything that is light. As in, if there is light, and it is true light, and I say true light because Satan and his demons like to masquerade themselves as ministers and angels of light, but that which is true in pure light, it is of God.

I used to look at this passage and kind of consider this term the Father of lights, only applying to God as like the creator of the heavenly bodies. You know, the sun, the moon, and stars, he's the Father of lights. And that is true. In fact, some Bible translations do use the term here heavenly lights. As in, he's the Father of heavenly lights. But if you go to the Greek, actually that term heavenly is not there. All right? It only says lights. Again, leaving us open to a certain level of interpretation. The point is God the Father is the Father of lights, and it conveys the idea that he's the author of all that is not darkness. He representative and exemplifies everything that is light. The sun, the moon, the stars, yes, but brethren, also he is the Father of you and I, the children of light.

God is the Father of all light, physical and spiritual. Again, including us. Verse of Thelonians chapter 5.

Again, zeroing back in on you and I as the children of light.

Verse Thessalonians chapter 5. If we're going to be walking as children of light, it means we're going to be doing something. We're going to be expressing something in the way that we're conducting ourselves, and it's going to be according to the light. Verse Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 1. Paul writing, and he says, But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. For those, brethren, who are walking in darkness, they're not going to recognize what it is that God is doing when the time comes. They haven't had their eyes open. They haven't been enlightened. Verse 4, Paul says, But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. So there's actually an accountability that's placed on those who are enlightened, that their conduct, that their actions would reflect the God that they serve, it would reflect an understanding of who He is and what He is doing, what is the timing of what He is doing, and ultimately what is His purpose for them. If you're in the light, you're going to walk with an awareness. You're going to watch. You're going to be sober. You're going to respond accordingly. Verse 7, For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. These are all elements of light. Again, study that concept through scripture. Faith, love, hope, salvation, these are all elements of light.

Verse 9, For God did not appoint us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. He says, Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. Paul says, lift one another up. Encourage each other. Strengthen one another in this common calling that we share in. Because, you know, when one is down, it's so much nicer to have someone else who could come alongside and lift them up. Again, help them with that light. And brethren, God has called us together to lean on one another, to support each other, to encourage one another as as we're admonished. Encourage each other to walk in the light. Additionally, we live in a world that the Bible describes primarily as darkness. Because it's under the sway of the God of this age. It's a dark world. The spiritual blinders are on, and apart from those who have been called out by God, this world is in darkness. And this darkness, to the degree that it can, will seek to beat up on the light. Will seek to extinguish the light. And it can be a challenge for you and I to exist as as the light in this world. Jesus Christ experienced that. He experienced what it was like to live on this earth and walk as light, but in a dark world. He experienced what the consequences could be, what the opposition could be, but he set the example for us. Let's go to John chapter 1.

John chapter 1. Pick it up in verse 1.

It's interesting, the Bible calls Jesus Christ the true light. So you have the Father of lights, you have the true light, and God sent Christ to pave the way before us to walk his lights, to set the example, to show how light will function in this dark world. John chapter 1 and verse 1. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. And so even the physical light that we see created, the sun, the moon, and stars, was created by God through the Word who became Jesus Christ. Verse 4. In him, in Jesus Christ, was life. And the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Or as it could actually be translated, the darkness did not overcome it. The light would not be extinguished. Verse 6. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He, John, was not that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light, Jesus Christ. Verse 9. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God. Again, you notice the reference to being children. In this respect, we become children of God when we walk in the light. He gave them the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. Verse 13. Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, or we could say perhaps his light, as the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

So through the life of Jesus Christ, God sent light into the world, that it might shine forth in the darkness, that those who would come to God would see the example and understand what light looked like, how it was to live in this world, how how those of light were to conduct themselves as the children of God.

God sent him in the world to show that there was another way, apart from the darkness, that the ways of darkness are not the answers to life. Light, indeed, is the answer.

John chapter 8 and verse 12.

Hear the words of Jesus Christ directly.

John 8 and verse 12, then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Says, if you emulate me, if you're my disciple and I'm your rabbi, and as I walk in the light, you walk in the light, if you imitate these things, it says you will not walk in darkness, but you shall have the light of life.

The good news that Jesus Christ brought was a gospel of light and truth. The judgments that he judged were done in the righteousness of God. The miracles that he performed, the people that he healed, was to show forth the light, to shine out of the darkness, to show there was another way that there was the Father of lights in heaven who desired to be reconciled to his people, and that you and I today can walk as children of light.

Very encouraging example to consider. John chapter 12 verse 35. John 12 verse 35. Then Jesus said to them, a little while longer and the light will be with you, walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you, he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

Again, he said, believe in the light, walk in the light, embrace the light, and you will be children of light. And what you say and what you do and how you shine forth in this dark world, that light was to be a guide for their life. And again, it's not that we walk in light and that is it, no, the point that Paul made in the book of Ephesians was you were once darkness but now you are light in Jesus Christ. We do walk in the light but we are light because of the light of God which is in us.

Continuing on, verse 46, still in John 12, Christ says, I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. It says, come out of the darkness, walk in the light. Verse 47, if anyone hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him for I did not come in the world to judge but to save the world. Point being, though, Christ said, I came that you would not abide in darkness.

I jumped a little farther ahead in my scriptures than I intended if you back up to verse 44. Again, we say Christ here, he says, he who believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. In verse 45, he says, he who sees me sees him who sent me. And so Christ himself says, you know what, when you see me and you see this light that I have brought, what are you seeing? You're seeing him who sent me, the father of lights, the god of who is of no variation or shadow of turning. Christ says, if you've seen me, you've seen the one who sent me. I've come as a light into the world that whoever believes in me should not walk in darkness. So Jesus came to reveal the light of God and to demonstrate what it looks like in action day by day through interactions with mankind, through the words that he spoke, how he conducted himself. This is the the expression of the light. And we see the light as we read through the gospel accounts and we see the interactions that Jesus Christ had with those as he walked through his ministry.

The light of Christ is not a different light than the light of God. Again, it's the same light. It's not like Christ is a different type of light and God the Father is a different type of light. They are both light. They are both pure. They are both true. There's no darkness in either. There's no variation or shadow of turning in either one of them. And you know what, brethren? That is what God has called us to today as well. To be light in which there is no darkness, no variance, no shadow of turning.

As I was in the car on the way down here today, I was thinking about myself. Because every sermon I give is to me. And I'm thinking, am I there yet? No darkness, no variation, no shadow of turning. And you know what? On my own, I can honestly say, no, I am not. And there's things that I see in my life that I seek to overcome and that I say, you know, that is darkness. That is not light. You need to, again, make those works manifested by shining the light.

But the blessing of God's mercy and His love is, as Paul said, again in Ephesians 5, you are light in the Lord. As in, when we come under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God imputes His righteousness to us. And the light that we express, if we're given over fully to God, can be with no variation or shadow of turning. But God's mercy and God's blessing in the light of His that we reflect. Again, come out of the darkness and into the light. On our own, you and I don't have the ability to generate light. Spiritual light is not a characteristic of the carnal nature, and that is why we're fully dependent upon our Father and coming under the sacrifice of our elder brother to understand what light is and how it even can be existing in us. But the carnal nature has to be pushed away, and we identify those things by shining the light of truth. We shine it on down. Those works become manifest. Apart from the presence of God in our lives, we would be just like the rest of the world, stumbling around, blind, groping in the darkness, really no clue where we're going.

To go back to my childhood, it was probably, I would say, I was four, five, six years old. I don't remember exactly, but my dad was in the Navy as I was growing up, and we had two, three cross-country moves. He went from Florida to California, back to Florida, back to Washington, back to North Carolina, back to Washington, and other stopovers in between. But on one of those cross-country moves, we stopped at a cave, and it was kind of opened up as a tourist attraction. I believe it was in the southeast. And they took you on this tour down into this cave, deep underground. And if memory serves correctly, there was a lake as well at the bottom of this cave. But like they do, I suppose, on a lot of cave tours, they took us way down underground and they turned off the lights. And it was pitch black. You know, no reflection of anything. You could not see your hand directly in front of your face. It was that dark. And I remember being by my mom, just kind of grabbing, I think it was holding my mom's hand, and I remember my mom, after the lights were out, said, where's Jim? Jim's my brother. Well, Jim had a watch that had just this little digital face and a little glow. And it was like, where's Jim? You're looking around in this darkness, and there's this spot of light. There he is. But apart from the light, you would have no clue. You would be groping. You'd be fumbling around. You're blind. And that's the condition, brethren, of this world, apart from God, groping, stumbling around in the dark, and that was you and I. And if we're not careful, it could be you and I again, if we do not submit our lives to the Father of Lights. God, in His mercy, has illuminated our lives, and He's called us to be a reflection of the light which is His. A reflection to this world. Notice Matthew chapter 5. Again, the words of Jesus Christ.

Matthew chapter 5 and verse 14. Christ says, you, speaking to His disciples, but by extension it's you and I as well, He says, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

I make international trips over the Atlantic and back. I go to West Africa, right? Nigeria, Ghana, and all the international flights from those areas go out at night. So, you know, I've been in, sometimes or oftentimes, I'll fly out Saturday night. So I've been up all day. I've gone to church. I've given a sermon. You get to the airport, you know, 11, 1130 at night. You get on the flight, and then it's 22, 24 hours home.

But the first leg of that flight leaves out of West Africa, 1030, 11 o'clock at night, and across the Atlantic. And I can open that window. I can look out. I can look down. And it's just darkness. You can look at the seat back map in front of me where the plane is, and you go, well, that's a little disconcerting. It's five hours to land that way or that way.

You know, we're 38,000 feet, 580 miles an hour, minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. You know, it'd be a really bad place to have a problem. But you look out, and it's dark. Maybe on occasion there's a little reflection from the moon. You can pick up a little bit of light on the water, but primarily it's darkness for 10 hours in the air. And as you start to approach the United States, most of the time now I connect through JFK and New York. I'm coming through, and if you're watching for it, you begin to see on the horizon just kind of this glow.

New York's this massive city, and it's a collection, a community of lights clustered together. And, you know, from that distance you don't see an individual light, but you see a glow. And to me that's it's comforting, it's warming, it looks like a refuge. You know, I come into New York and I land in the United States, and it's, I'm home. You know, I still have a little bit of that leg to finish up, but the point is this, the light shines, as Jesus Christ said here in verse 14, a city set on the hill cannot be hidden, and that needs to be you and I.

Many lights shining together, creating this glow that can't be missed in the darkness, that stands out as a refuge for those who are seeking to come out of the darkness and into the light. And indeed, God has called us to live life. As said on the hill, cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Any light the God's people shine on this earth by virtue of our example is to be a positive reflection of the light of God so that He gets the glory. It shouldn't be, look at me, look what I can do, you know, look what I've done.

I set an example in front of people while people were watching, so I look good. That's not what it's about. It's about the glory goes to God. Again, you're that light, and He is the Father of lights. Brethren, God is light. His son is light. He sent Jesus Christ through the earth so that we might see the example of light, and God might have sons of light here on the earth as well.

And you and I have been called today to walk as children of light. To let our light shine. To be example of the God that we serve in the family that we are. We are the family of light, and God has called us to be such. Each of us should be evaluating ourselves on a regular basis and ask how we're doing. Is our flame burning brightly, or is it flickering? Are we encouraged? Are we strengthened in the Word of God, or are we discouraged?

Because, you know, as was mentioned in the Sermonet, we came back from the feast. Maybe there's struggles and trials, and maybe we're getting beat up a little bit out in the darkness so it would feel like. Again, by Christ's example, the darkness cannot overcome the light, but sometimes I think we can become discouraged. Maybe other times we put our light under a basket. Maybe we hide the fact of who and what we are to the people around us, to our to our neighbors, to our co-workers. Maybe we're shy. You know, hopefully we're not embarrassed. Jesus Christ said, those who deny me before man, I'll deny before my Father in heaven, but he who acknowledges me, I'll acknowledge before my Father.

So I hope we're not embarrassed about who and what we are in the light that we carry. We don't go knocking door to door to door, but people should not have a doubt who we are. If you're a light in the darkness, that's going to be seen. It's going to be recognized. Are we recognized for the God we serve?

Walking as children of light means that we'll be living our lives according to the Word of God, which is also light. Notice Psalm 119, verse 105. Familiar passage. Psalm of King David. Psalm 119, verse 105. David says, your word is a lamp to my feet, and it is a light to my path. So God's word is light, and we might say, well, why? Why? You know, this scripture. Why is this light? I mean, really, it's just ink on a page, right? You turn the light off, and this book is sitting there. It doesn't glow in the dark, and yet David says that it's light. Why is it light? Because it's the Word from the Father of lights. It's God's Word to us, its instructions on how we live our life, how we place our feet. It illuminates the path before us. And David said, your word is light.

Here in the United States, daylight savings time will end at 2 a.m. Sunday, November 3rd. And so likely tonight, you and I, before we go to bed, we're going to set our clocks back an hour. And the good news of that is, if you're like me and you like to stay up till 11, 1130 midnight, almost every night, this is going to give you an extra hour of sleep that you probably need, you know? So that's the good news. Bad news is the sunset in Spokane tomorrow evening will be 4.29 p.m. And it's still on the slide. It's getting earlier. I didn't look to see, but if memory serves, it gets down to like 3.56, 3.58 p.m. that we have sunset in Spokane at the earliest time in December. But we're on the slide. For me, the struggle comes at like 7.30 at night. It's been dark for three hours, and I feel like it's 10. And you're starting to drag, and you look at the clock, and you say, wow, it's only 7.30, 8 o'clock.

Many Americans struggle with depression during the cold, dark winter months with a condition known as SAD. S-A-D. It stands for Seasonal Effective Disorder. You understand what that is, right? It's sad. Brethren, do you ever get sad in the dark?

This time of year, I wish I could clip Mr. Im's sermonette and drop it right here in my sermon and make it one one big file. I appreciated what he had to say. Do you ever get sad in the dark? Do you ever get sad this time of year between the holy days? According to the Mayo Clinic, and their website is mayoclinic.org, under the heading of Seasonal Effective Disorder, they say, SAD is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons. SAD begins and ends about the same times every year. I wonder when that might be. Spring forward, fall back. All right. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall, continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. We'll just imagine if that was your last name.

The misery loves company.

Growing up, moody was something the other kids liked to poke fun at when I was a kid. I married a lady with the last name of Hendrickson, and there's not much you can do with Hendrickson, but she was 30 years old when we were married, and now her name became moody, and now she had adults. She said, I never had anybody make fun of my name before. My son stuck with it. My daughter is options, maybe. But they say, hey, you know, it continues through these months, sapping your energy, making you feel moody. Less often, SAD causes depression in the spring or early summer. According to the same website, one of the recommended treatments for SAD is light therapy.

Brethren, as was mentioned in the first message, we just came back from the Feast of Tabernacles, the eighth day, just a wonderful time of getting together and immersing ourselves in God's Word, in the light of the truth of what God has lying ahead for all of mankind. But that time is now behind us. We're home. We're back to work. We're back to school. We're back to difficulties and challenges that maybe we're facing. All right? Are you feeling sad?

Are you struggling spiritually? Months before the Passover, the spring holy days come. Daylights shorter, darkness. Darkness is raining in terms of the daylight hours of a 24-hour period. Brethren, are you feeling sad spiritually?

If so, I'd recommend—I almost said, get over it. That's not what I'm looking for—I'd recommend turning on the light.

Turn on the light. Turn on the light of God's Word. Immerse yourself in spiritual light therapy. Walk in the Word of God. Study it. Absorb it. Immerse yourself in it. Use these dark winter months productively. Get into God's Word.

The beginning of the year, January of 2019, I sent out a Bible reading schedule that you could read through the Bible in a year. And I've tried to stick to that. I'm pretty close. I think we're in the first part of Luke, somewhere in the first half of the book of Luke. And I'll admit, I don't fully read at all. I spend a lot of time on the road, and I have an audio Bible that I like very much. And there's times I can just take blocks when I'm on the road, and I play, and I listen to the Scripture. But one way that you can is get the Word of God in your head, whether you sit and read, whether you listen, whatever it is. Find what works for you, but immerse yourself. Sunbathe in the light. God's Word is light. God's Word is truth. And by walking in this truth, we will walk in the light. I won't turn there, but Proverbs 6.23 says, For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light.

We can never get too much spiritual light therapy. Take this time, immerse yourself in the Word of God.

There's a number of other things that we could do as children of light as we walk as children of light, as we conduct ourselves as as these children. And I leave that to you to study out. There's all kinds of things where you say, this is what a child of God walking in the light will do. So they'll conduct themselves. Here's what they'll be saying. Here's how they'll be acting. We'd like to leave you with one final thought regarding the activities of those walking in the light. As the children of God, brethren, you and I as well should be proclaiming a message of light to this world. As children of light walking in the light, we should be proclaiming a message of light to this world. Jesus Christ intended that after his departure, his disciples would continue to walk in the light and that they would teach others to do so as well, not only by their example but by the word they taught and the message that they proclaimed. Let's notice the connection the Bible makes between the gospel message and the light. Acts chapter 26.

Acts 26. This is the Apostle Paul as he's standing before King Agrippa, imprisoned, giving his defense. He's declaring the purpose here of why he's been saying what he's been saying as he's gone out among the Gentiles. Why has he preached these things? Acts chapter 26 and verse 13. Paul says, At midday, O King, along the road, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me. You recall Paul was on his way to Damascus going to persecute the church. Christ struck him down on the road, verse 14. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And so I said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. Verse 17, he says, I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, and notice why, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. And so the purpose of the apostles going out to preach the Word and the gospel message that they took out as they went was to acknowledge the light to others, to spread the light, to demonstrate the light, to hopefully by their words bring people into conversion as God called them, to take them from the darkness to the light. That was the purpose of the message. As we know, they were oftentimes persecuted for taking that message. They were oftentimes rejected, even killed, for the message that they brought, but it was what God had given them to do. Now, it might also surprise you to know that the concept of God's people preaching a gospel message through the world is not a New Testament concept only. It didn't start with Jesus Christ sending out the disciples that good news of what God was doing would be spread. Indeed, actually, that thread runs through Scripture as well, and I want to give you just one example of that.

Let's go to 1 Chronicles chapter 16.

Let's notice the psalm of David contained here.

Wherever God's people have been, in whatever form they were, whether the physical nation of Israel or the spiritual nation of Israel, now it's God's intent that they would proclaim these things to the world. 1 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 23.

David says, Sing to the Lord all the earth, proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day, declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.

Sounds a lot to me like, Go proclaim the truth of God to all nations. Go and preach the good news. Again, given here by inspiration through David to Israel. Verse 23, Sing to the Lord all the earth, proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day, declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples. Verse 25, For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised, he is also to be feared above all gods, for all gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens, honor and majesty are before him, strength and gladness are in his place. So clearly, apart from Yahweh who made the heavens and the earth, there is no other God apart from idols, apart from the working of man's hands, stone, wood, clay. But again, this is an instruction to the physical nation of Israel that was to be a model nation to the world to proclaim the good news of God's salvation from day to day, his glory among the nations. That instruction existed then. But who's the nation of Israel today?

Indeed, there's a message that the spiritual nation, the model nation that God has established, are to proclaim. First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. Again, the gospel is a message of light.

First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, speaking of you and I, it says, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who wants not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy. Brethren, as the people of God, we're called to something greater than ourselves. That includes being that collection of lights, being that model nation to the world, just as God intended Israel would be that model nation under the old covenant. And yet again, when his kingdom is established and that reign over this earth, Israel again will be regathered to be that model nation. In the interim time, the church is a spiritual, model nation to the world, called to proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We'll be the examples of that light. We'll be the ones to study that light, to walk in the light, to proclaim a message of light to this dark world in which we live, because again, God has called us to be children of light, and to not only take that by identity, but by action, walk as children of light.

There is an adversary to the light as well, and I only touched briefly on him here in this message. Saint the devil is a being of darkness, and it's his sole objective to keep the light out of this world, to keep this world in darkness, immersed in the darkness, to snuff out the message that the church would proclaim to the world.

I've asked myself a number of times, you know, who is it that would stand in opposition to the gospel message? Who is it that would love to see the proclaiming of the gospel cease? To shut down the light of the world, the word that is being proclaimed into the world. Who would love to see that take place? Who is opposed to the gospel? And I keep coming back to the same answer over and over and over.

Second Corinthians chapter 4 will wrap up here today.

Something for us, though, to consider. Second Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 1.

Paul says, therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the hidden things of shame. Again, those things that were in darkness, those things he says, you know, make manifest by shining the light on them for the purpose of removing them. He says we've renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully. But by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Verse 3, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Point is, brethren, the God of this age has blinded the world in an attempt to keep the light of the gospel from shining on them. He's kept them immersed in the darkness. He's kept the blinders on, because his desire is for an age of darkness that will continue in eternity. God's desire is the age of light which overcomes the darkness. And Satan does not want this world to be enlightened. Not only that, he's put his full efforts into trying to extinguish the church, the assembly, the lights, who would shine forth with a message of light to the world. And whether we really realize it or not or think about it, very often, brethren, the church of God has a target on its back.

Is God real to you?

Well, Satan the devil is just as real, and he has an agenda, and the church of God has a target on its back. And you know what? We're easy to find. You might say, well, we're just a small sprinkling of people on this globe of population. How could we be easy to find? Turn off the light.

Stand in the darkness and light a candle. The target is easy to find. We are the light that shines in the darkness. There's a target on us. Never doubt it. But again, God is there. He is real, and we serve him, and we walk in the light. We don't need to fear what Satan can do, but we just need to recognize that there is an adversary that is out there who is opposed to the light. Verse 5, for we do not preach ourselves, but notice what he says. We preach Christ Jesus the Lord in ourselves, your bondservants, for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light the shine out of darkness, as in God said, let there be light, and there was light. It came to be. It came into existence. It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the gospel message. That's what God is doing, not only in our lives today, but ultimately in the lives of all of mankind. That is the gospel of light and truth that God is fulfilling one day for the entire world. Paul says, verse 7, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. Doesn't matter the minister. Doesn't matter the church organization corporately. Doesn't matter who's the head honcho who might bring a message. The glory isn't the person or the organization. The glory goes to God.

That the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. He is the Father of lights. Brethren, God is light, and as His children, we too must be going about our spiritual lives displaying the same characteristics as our Father in heaven. So then when people look at us, they say, you know what? He's his father's son. She's her father's daughter.

Or somebody comes along and they might say, you know what? You look just like your dad. You act just like your dad. I can see your dad in you. Brethren, that's a blessing. Brethren, it is what God has called us to. We must walk, His children, of light.