Episode Transcript
[00:00:13] Speaker A: Welcome to Roots of Faith, the podcast where we dig deep into the truth of God's word and grow in our understanding of his calling for us as believers. Today, we are exploring a profound and challenging message from Ephesians Chapter five, a Call to Live as children of Light in a world full of deception have you ever found yourself chasing what seems real, only to discover it was just an illusion? In this episode, we'll unpack the Apostle Paul's warnings about the dangers of deception, the importance of living in truth, and what it means to wake up and shine Christ's light in a dark world. Together, we'll reflect on how to guard against the false promises of culture, deepen our relationship with God, and walk faithfully as his sanctified people.
Whether you're a new believer or seasoned in your faith, this episode is designed to encourage you and equip you to stand firm in the faith. So grab your Bible, find a quiet place to listen, and let's dive into the life changing message of Scripture.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: In Ephesians chapter 5. And I want to pick up with verse 6 where it says, let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Or as the King James says, the sons of disobedience, therefore do not be partners with them, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
But everything exposed by the light becomes visible.
Everything is illuminated because of light.
This is why it said, wake up sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.
I was thinking about times when you're driving, especially in the heat of summer. Do you ever drive when it's a sweltering hot day and you're driving down the road and you see what it almost looks like a puddle in front of you, but when you get there, it's not a puddle. It was just a mirage. It was just the heat of the day, the humidity, and it looked like it was there. It's a common illusion, but it reminds us how easily we get deceived by appearances.
And life actually is full of a lot of mirages, things that seem promising. Our culture offers countless illusions, from distorted ideas and identities to false hopes. And the problem is that even Christians get deceived. It's not just being fooled, actually being misled.
And we begin to exchange God's truth for some fleeting impression that is wrong because it looks right.
In verses that we read in Ephesians 5, Paul actually warns us against the danger of looking at mirages, of being deceived.
And there's three contrasts that run throughout that passage. The first contrast is the contrast between deception versus the truth that is in the light. The second contrast is actually between the people, the sons of disobedience or the children of light. The third contrast is the most important because that third contrast, it draws us the the contrast between the destruction that comes upon the sons of disobedience versus our need to be vigilant.
Or as the last verse says, that we read, be awake.
So deception, disobedience, destruction. Or do we look at walking in the light as native born children of the light, being awake, vigilant. What should we choose? How should we choose it? Why should we choose it? Well, I want to go back.
There were a number of things when I was preparing this that excited me with this verse and these verses. First of all, because I found a pattern and there were two prohibitions and then a direct command.
Then there was a whole section of what we should do, and then there was two more prohibitions. They are actually commands to do not, followed by two more direct commands for the believer. That's the pattern in these verses. Why delve into that? Why? Why does that become important?
Well, because it starts with deception. It says, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are the sons of disobedience.
So what's deception? When you think about being deceived, Deception comes in many different ways.
And empty words, or you could say empty reasoning. Because of the empty reasoning, people are led astray.
And that can happen to a believer just as easily as it can happen to someone who does not believe. And so there is this warning that the writer Paul puts by the spirit of God for the church. Remember, we're in the practical side of Paul's letter to the church. And what he's saying is that one of the first ways that we become deceived is self deception. We deceive ourselves.
I deceive myself.
Well, self deception happens quite easily.
When we're confronted with an uncomfortable truth, what we have the tendency to do is say, well, that's not really what it means. And so we construct some alternate view. We look to say, well, look, I can excuse this because my life or that's really not what it says. And what happens when there's a conflict between what we think and what is God's truth?
We don't like that tension. And so we say, well, I want to make myself a little bit more comfortable.
And then that leads into the second idea of deception. Because self deception also has the idea of what's called confirmation bias. There's a big $10 phrase for you. Take it to your psychologist sometime and ask him. Because what it actually means is we figure we know what's right, and so we're going to look for everything that supports our idea and anything else that doesn't support our idea that's contrary can't be right.
So if you're looking for Sasquatch in the woods, two guys that just died because they were searching for Sasquatch, you know, you're looking for everything that confirms it, but anything contrary to it, you ignore. And it's so easy to be deceived. That's why Paul had to put this right here for the church and saying, do not be deceived, do not be misled by empty thinking.
What's my empty thinking? After all, I had good ideas, I had good reasons for doing this.
But compared to the light, there's a problem. In both cases, we deceive ourselves, prioritizing our comfort over what is truth. And what that does is when we prioritize something above the truth of God's word, we become vulnerable to any deception that's there.
And I can tell you right now that the Church universal has been greatly deceived in many areas because it's more comfortable to go the other way.
In First John 1:8 it says, and this points out a deception. First John 1:8 says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
The second form of deception that's so easy to fall into is found in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2. And you're familiar with the King James version. It says, and do not be conformed to this world. I want to give you the gimme Revised Literal Translation here because it excited me for no other reason.
It says, do not fashion yourself to this current age.
The Church universal has been quickly running to fashion itself according to this current age. And when you do that, you become subject to being deceived.
When you depart from what is the truth of God's word, you run quickly and headlong into deception.
It's nice to keep it all on that high level and Say, well, it's the church universal. The problem is that the church universal is made up of church individuals.
Now, when you see this, what happens is modern culture loves to push off on us the idea that, well, truth is only relative, but it's not.
But if we begin to sit there and slip into the idea that, well, truth, you know, it depends on how you translate that. When I do translation, I do it so that I understand what is the truth. I don't sit there and take the truth and make it look like something I want it to be. That's deception. I've been asked, why do you sit there and spend so many hours translating? It's because I want to know what the word of God is saying so that I can be convicted by the word of God and molded to the truth of God's word.
The psalmist, in Psalm 34, 33:4 said, for the word of the Lord is right and all his work is done in truth. And did you know that even in the Old Testament, one of the prophets, by the inspiration of the Lord, actually brought a court case against Israel? Because in the book of Hosea, in chapter four and verse one, Hosea warned Israel. He says, hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel.
For the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. Because now notice this, he says, because there is no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land.
Israel had forgotten God.
Ignorance of God's word leaves individuals so vulnerable to deception. Without spiritual discernment, we can't distinguish truth from lies.
So we have to be centered on God's word. We have to be centered in Christ.
Jesus actually provided an answer when he was praying In John, chapter 17, the upper room, when he was praying for his disciples in John 17, verse 17, he said, sanctify. He's praying to God. He says, sanctify them by the truth.
Your word is truth. Please be very careful here when we're talking about this because we tend to say, okay, here's the truth, and I'm going to take that and I'm going to read my Bible. I'm going to have devotions every day and I'll pray maybe twice. Once at breakfast and once a dinner.
No, God's Word is His word that is revealed in what is written so that we might know him.
But it's getting to know a living God in us.
There is also another danger of deception. And in second Peter, chapter two, verses one to three, Peter wrote, but there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false prophets among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into dispute.
In their greed, those teachers now notice that what it says. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping.
You cannot turn on the TV and listen just to anybody because you have to be able to discern what is the truth.
You have that responsibility before the Lord.
Peter further explains their methods in verses 18 to 20.
He says, for their mouth.
For they mouth empty, boastful words.
And by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in earth. They promised them freedom. Well, they themselves are slaves to depravity. For people are slaves to whatever has mastered them. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and again are entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
That is the deception that can come.
And Paul was warning very strongly about this.
He says, do not be deceived by empty thinking, empty logic, empty words.
False teachers exploit others with enticing words, distorted truths.
And that started all the way back in the Garden of Eden. Do you realize that many lies have an element of truth in them? There was actually an element of truth in what Satan said to Eve.
He said that the fruit was good.
Look at it, it's good. And then he twisted it.
You shall not surely die. Oops, wrong decision.
Another source of deception that very quickly fills is that of go with the flow.
Just. Yeah, go ahead.
And it's seen in Ephesians 5, 7, in verse 7, it's a very short phrase. It says, therefore, do not be partakers or partners with them. The idea is to be close companions.
When we look at the world and the way the world is going, it's easier to go with the flow. Did you ever get into a crowded room and everybody seems to be going in the opposite direction?
You have to almost strong arm. You have to be like, you know, frontline, defensive man. You know, you're pushing through because everybody's gone the opposite direction.
I want you to understand that where this leads to is that second phrase that Paul used in Ephesians chapter 5, where he says that they were the sons of disobedience.
Well, when you talk about the sons of disobedience, Actually, the word disobedience there carries with it the full extent of people who would not even be persuaded. So if it's deception and then disobedience, that is the end result that comes here.
And so the sons of disobedience are the ones who refuse to accept or believe what is the truth.
Isn't that exactly what happened with Israel? Every time that God would lead his people into a place and then they would sit there and say, well, you know, let's just go with the flow. Everybody else around us, and they would pervert and leave God.
Well, you can almost see it where, you know, I want to keep my foot over here and I want to keep my foot over here. How long can you straddle the line before you go into deception?
I can't begin to tell you how much there is in the way we live in the current world and how much easier it is to just go about my business. And, you know, I can ignore that. You know, I. It's just what everybody else is doing.
I am not being mean here. I'm only quoting what Paul wrote to Timothy. So, ladies, don't shoot me.
Because in First Timothy 2:14, it says, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression.
What did Adam do? Adam went with the flow.
Here, taste it. It's good.
Mikey likes it.
You see, that's the deception. When we fail to discern the truth and we're led astray from God's will, from God's truth.
So there is that second step, the pattern from deception to disobedience, and then from disobedience to destruction.
The natural result of deception is the refusal to obey God.
And believers are called the sons of God. We are called the children of light in this passage. They are called the sons of disobedience.
When you think about this, when it says being disobedient, Psalm 14, verses 1 to 3 says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.
They are corrupt. Their deeds are vile. There is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there is any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away. All have become corrupt, and there is no one who does good. Not even one.
You know what? That is actually at the very foundation of what's called apostasy.
And there's a very strong warning in the book of Hebrews, because rejection of God at the heart level is the foundation of apostasy. Hebrews chapter 3 and verses 12 and 13, it gives a very sober warning to professing Christians. It says, see to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
So it leaves the possibility there. But encourage one another daily, as long as it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness, it's easy for the Christian to fall into deception. The result then is the third thing that comes from this, and that is destruction. In our passage, the word says, for because of these things, emphasizes these very things of being deceived. Because of these very things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. The passage literally is saying, because of these very things, the wrath of God comes.
It may be delayed because of God's mercy, but it will come.
And understand very clearly that that is a destruction that is not just, well, you know, I'm going to spank you once. I'm going to put you in the corner for a little bit.
Nowhere in Scripture is there a notion that if you spend a little time in hell, your punishment's done with and you can come up to heaven. As a matter of fact, that was the exact problem that Luther was facing at the beginning of the Reformation.
Luther, when he nailed his 95 thesis on the door of the church at Rutenberg, was facing another man who was a papal emissary, who was going around selling what they called indulgences. I know it must have sounded a lot better in German, but he had a sales pitch, and the sales pitch was this. Another coin in the coffer rings. Another soul from Purgatory springs. First of all, I can't find any evidence of Purgatory in Scripture. And definitely there is no amount of money that can buy someone's soul out of Hell. The reason it was there is because the de Medici popes wanted more money. They had to pay for the Sistine Chapel.
When you look at this in Second Peter, chapter two, in those intervening verses from four to nine, it very vividly illustrates God's judgment and rescue. It reminds us that God didn't even spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell.
It reminds us that when God destroyed the ancient world by a flood, he spared one man and his family.
When God looked down on Sodom and Gomorrah, he spared one man, Lot, and his family.
But destruction came.
That's how sure God's word is.
So we know for sure two things. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. And he knows how to hold unrighteousness for punishment in the day of judgment.
Those are two sure things.
When I was reading, I came across a part and it was in the Amplified New Testament.
And when he was writing in the Amplified New Testament, he referenced a verse from Leviticus and it caught my attention.
Leviticus 18, verses 24 to 25 said to Israel, do not defile yourselves in these ways, because this is how the nations that I'm going to drive out before you became defiled.
Notice this. This is God saying to Israel, when I'm taking you in here, I want you to notice, be careful, don't join with them. And he says, even the land was defiled, so I punished it for its sin. And the NIV has a rather drastic interpretation of this or translation because it says, even the land was defiled, so I punished it for its sin and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
God was perfectly just in removing the nations that were there to put his people into the promised land.
Finally you come to verse 14 and it says, this is why it says, wake up sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Would you look at the exact opposite of these contrasts?
It says that we are to be the children of light. It says, you were once darkness, now you're light. It didn't say, once you were in darkness. Now I'm making you into somebody that's enlightened. It actually says an emphatic, you were once darkness, now you're light. In other words, because the person has become converted, has accepted Jesus Christ as personal savior, God's work in you has changed you from darkness into light and says, therefore walk or live your life means walking around.
Walk as children of light. Doesn't say of the light, it says, walk as children of light. One translation says, as native born children, we are indwelt by a living God through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in you. You are sanctified. So much so it is the same idea as how God sanctified the tabernacle.
Through the shed blood and the blood sprinkling. You are set apart. You're sanctified because the Holy Spirit lives in you. So what does this mean?
Well, when it comes to verse 14, that was where there was two commands.
The first command says, Wake up, be alert. Don't be sitting in complacency of saying, okay, I'm a Christian, I'm going to go on. This is nice.
No, it says, you'd better be awake so that you're not deceived. And Then it says, well, the translation says, and rise from the dead.
But very literally the word means stand up. That's exactly what the word translates as in a very literal sense. So you're not only to be awake, but you're to be standing up as children.
Light. Well, now, what does this mean for me?
I'm now going to have to enroll in a Bible class and I'm going to have to learn all of the Old Testament and the New Testament. No, actually everything in this passage is not directed to what you do.
What it actually is saying is what is in you and your relationship with the Lord. You have to become more intimately related with Christ in your life.
If you're going to be able to detect the deception, if you're going to be able to understand what is contrary, then I need to have a deeper relationship with the Lord. And how you get there is being in God's word, praying. But it is not me doing it. It's not me being pre programmed and following this course or that course.
They are helpers to get you there. But the purpose is to know the One who has brought you from darkness. And you are light. What does that mean for you?
What does that mean for me?
It means that I have to consciously look to my Lord and Savior to know Him. Because in that way I become the reflection of Jesus Christ so that I may know him and make him know.
Are you willing to commit to that today?
That is actually a commitment that you make. Anything else that you add on to that is only benefits for you.
But there has to be that conscious decision that says, I am committing myself to the Lord to know him, to be the children of light. The truth of God lived out in me. I'm challenging you right now to commit yourself now to earnestly seek the Lord, to know Him. We know him by the word of God. We know him by fellowship with Him.
You know, the hymn writer wasn't wrong when he wrote the song I come to the garden alone.
While the dew is still on the roses.
There is fellowship to be had. Do you know that? Fellowship?
Do you know the fellowship around God's word? It's not that I have to learn all the verses. I have to learn Greek or Hebrew. No, it's coming to know the Lord. Are you committed to knowing him as children of light? Because the other path is deception and disobedience and destruction. For the believer, it's being transformed from darkness to light, to fellowship with him and to know the truth and to live by him in the presence of the Lord. Right now, commit yourself to determine in your heart that you want to know him. And it begins with knowing him from His Word. Because then the Spirit of God can work in you to transform you by the renewing of your mind.
Christian, I can't tell you what to do.
I can only tell you what God wants me to do.
And as I share with you, I pray that it challenges you today to dig to know the Lord as Savior.
I close with this There is no other way than for you to get on your knees and throw yourself upon the Lord and say, lord, I want to know you more.
And then let him deal with your heart, your mind to be.
[00:38:54] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Roots of Faith, a ministry of Lawn Evangelical Congregational Church in Lawn, Pennsylvania. We hope today's message has uplifted you and deepened your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, whether you're new in the faith or have walked with him for years, God's Word is always fresh and powerful to transform form. If you were blessed by this episode, please share it with friends. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. We would love for you to join us on Sunday at 10:30am at 5566 Elizabethtown Road, Route 241 in Lawn, Pennsylvania. As always, stay rooted in the Word, stand firm in faith and keep growing in Christ.
