Returning to Ephesians chapter 5, the book of Ephesians in the chapter number 5. Pastoral ministry requires a minister not just to preach topical sermons, but a pastoral ministry requires a man to preach line upon line, precept upon precept. And that's what I desire to do as the minister, to lay a foundation and then to build upon that foundation. It is not simply to preach hobby horse topics, many and some do that. And that's for them to give an account for in the day of judgment. God has called me to be a pastor. And so it is what I must do is I must preach line upon line, precept upon precept, in order to give you a balanced understanding of what it is to be a Christian. And that's what we need. We need a balanced understanding to be a Christian. And that is why we are going through this particular series of messages on our walk as a Christian. It is to help us practically in how to live the Christian life even in this world. So we're coming back to this subject matter again. And we'll spend some more time in it. So Ephesians chapter 5, we'll read together the first 14 verses of the chapter. The Word of God says, Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becoming saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of things. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. that no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be ye not therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things are reproved or made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we come with the Word of God having now been read. We come now to the preaching of the Word. We pray that our hearts will be open, receptive to Thy Word, a good seedbed, prepared of God as we have prepared our hearts before coming to Thy house. We pray now that we would receive with meekness the engrafted Word of God. Give the help of thy spirit to preach. Fill me, I cry to thee. Lord, bless thy people. May we mature in our Christian lives and may we mature in a balanced manner. Lord, help us, we pray. May we live biblical lives. That is well pleasing to our God. So answer prayer and help us now. around the book. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, today, as I've said, we return to Paul's epistle to the church in Ephesus in which the apostle has already had much to say about a believer's walk as a Christian, and understandably so. Here were a group of Christians, believing people living in a pagan city. And Paul, he's trying to get across to them that their walk was to be markably different than those who had not yet come to faith in Jesus Christ. That there was to be a dramatic and radical difference between how they walked, how they conducted their lives with regard to those who had yet not come to faith in Jesus Christ. We've already learned from this epistle that we're not to walk as we once walked in our unconverted days. Speaking of their former unsaved days, Paul writes in Ephesians chapter number two in the verse number two, wherein in time past, Ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. That's how you once walked. That's how you once lived your life. He writes again about this not walking as we once walked in Ephesians 4 and the verse number 17. In other words, like your neighbors, your unsaved neighbors who live around you, in the vanity of their mind. In Ephesians 4 and the verse 1, Paul encourages us to walk worthy, to walk worthily. to walk worthily in a manner that becometh or is befitting the gospel of Jesus Christ. I therefore, he says, as the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. And then the last time when we were in this particular epistle, we considered those words in the verse number two of Ephesians chapter five, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. Next week in the will of God, we'll be thinking about walking circumspectly. It is a message or it is something that Paul addresses in the words of the verse 15 of this particular chapter. With all this good and godly counsel given to the church fellowship in Ephesus, You would have thought that a more favorable report would have been given to them and given concerning that particular church in the book of the Revelation, but that is simply not the case. Because in the Revelation chapter 2, while God commends the church in Ephesus for their works and their labor and their patience, He does reprove them for leaving their first love. In the verse number four, he says, Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. In light of their dwindling love for the Lord, they are then commanded by God himself to repent. Remember from whence thou art fallen, he says, and repent and do the first works. There is a lesson, I believe, for us to learn, and it is this. We can sit under the most theologically sound preaching, and we can listen to the most biblically accurate counsel, and we can give an intellectual nod of approval to the matters being presented to us by godly preachers. But if we don't put into practice what we hear, it's all to no avail. We actually have to walk differently. We actually have to walk worthily. We actually have to walk lovingly and circumspectly if we want to avoid the same spiritual declension that the church members in Ephesus experienced in their lives. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. And so I encourage you to take the word of God into your heart and then live it out in your life. Don't leave the truth of God's word in the pew or in the porch of this church today, but rather what you hear today, take it home in your heart and seek God's help to live it out in your life. You see, these Ephesian believers, they heard all of the council. They said under all of the most accurate biblical preaching that is imaginable, but unfortunately they didn't live it out in their lives. And that's why we find them in such a pathetic spiritual state. When we come to the book of the revelation, they hadn't lived out the truth that they had been taught. Brethren and sisters, we are to live out the truth of God as we hear it week by week. asking God for his help in the application of it in our daily living. Without it, we will find ourselves in a continual state of spiritual infancy and never brought to a place of spiritual maturity. And so I trust that God is helping you and helping me to walk worthily and to walk differently and to walk in love. and to walk, as we're going to think about today, as children of light. My intention, therefore, is to continue to build upon what we have already been preaching upon, line upon line, precept upon precept. Going to focus our remarks on the words of the verse number eight. For ye were sometimes darkness, Paul writes, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Today we simply want to think about walking as children of light. Walking as children of light. Now, you'll notice there that the verse number eight naturally divides into three simple components. The first part, for ye were sometimes darkness. That statement speaks about the Christians' former state before they ever met Jesus Christ in the gospel. And then the second part or the second component is that, but now are ye light in the Lord. And that statement, it refers to the Christians' now present state, having met Christ in the gospel. And then the third part, walk as children of light, having dealt with the doctrine Remember we said this is what Paul does. He lays down the foundation, the doctrine, and then he brings the practical out, working off that doctrine. Component number three, he then says, this is the injunction, this is the directive, this is the command, in light of that, walk as children of light. And really that statement, it speaks to me about the practical outworking of this new state that we find ourselves in. The walk that is expected of us as those who have met Christ in the gospel. And so we want to consider each of these statements in the time that remains to us of this particular service. Consider then, first of all, that statement at the head of the verse number 8, for ye wear sometimes darkness, because it is a statement, a statement that causes us to think about our former state, what we wear. before we met Christ in the gospel. Now I want you to notice with me that the Apostle Paul, he doesn't write, for ye were sometimes a non-church attender, but now you're one who attends church on a more regular basis. He doesn't write here, for you were sometimes a person who was unversed with the contents of Holy Scripture, but now you are a little bit more acquainted with biblical truth. He doesn't write, for you were sometimes careless about spiritual things, but now you're more sympathetic to spiritual matters. Paul doesn't even write, you were sometimes in the darkness, He doesn't write, for ye were sometimes at one who lived in the darkness, but Paul writes, for ye were sometimes darkness. They were not merely in the dark, but rather they were possessed with darkness itself. They were darkness. Not in darkness, but they were darkness. That was their state. They wear darkness. Now, already in the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul has expressed the contrast between the Christian's former state and their present state using other stark terms that are very similar to the stark terms that he's using here in the verse number 8. In chapter 2, he speaks of the Christian who was once dead. You were dead in your trespasses and in sins. And you hath he quickened who were dead in their trespasses and sins. And so we have the statement dead. And in contrast to that state, there is that quickened state, that enlivened state. And so there is a stark contrast between a state of death and a state of life, between a state of darkness and a state of light. He speaks about them as being children of disobedience in the verse number two. And yet now through the grace of God, They have become obedient children. And so what we are learning from these particular statements and these stark terms that Paul uses is that our former state and our present state ought to be remarkably different from each other. They ought to be remarkably different from each other. Now there's a little phrase in the verse number eight that would maybe cause a little bit of confusion. It says, Therefore ye wear sometimes darkness. Brethren and sisters, that statement sometimes, it doesn't mean that these people flip-flopped if we could use it this way term use that term that they flipped from a state of darkness to a state of light and that was how it was within their lives one day they were in darkness the other day they were light the next day they were maybe light the next day they were maybe in darkness sometimes they were darkness just sometimes that's how we would often think of that they were just sometimes darkness But you need to understand what that little word sometimes means. The word sometimes in the original means once, or it means formally, or it means aforetime, or at sometime. In other words, we could read the text like this, for ye were once darkness, or ye were formerly darkness. That was your state. It wasn't that you, as it were, gravitated into darkness and light now and again. No, rather, there was this time in your experience that you were darkness. It really refers to the state in which they were found, a state of darkness. What does that mean? Well, this darkness that is spoken of here, it's not speaking about not seeing the light or sitting in some dark room. Rather, this darkness, it speaks about Ignorance. An ignorance with regard to spiritual truth. This is how we come to consider this term darkness when we read it throughout the holy scriptures. We come to understand that this darkness isn't some physical darkness, but it is a spiritual darkness in which we are fine. Metaphorically speaking, it is ignorance with regard to biblical spiritual truth. Paul has already spoken about this darkness already in this epistle. Look there at Ephesians 4 in the verse number 18. Word of God says, in Ephesians 4 verse 18, And so there is a darkened state. It is the natural state of every person who comes into this world. There are other passages of Scripture. that highlight the state of darkness in which we are found naturally in. I'm thinking of verses over there in the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1 and the verses 12 and 13. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and have translated us into the kingdom of God's dear son. And how has he done that? Through the redemption that is in his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, as it goes on to say in the verse number 14. But that was our state. We were held, we were delivered from the power of darkness. 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 5, verses 4 and 5 is another verse. Let me read it to you. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. And what we seem to, or what Paul is implying here, that there was a stage that they were night. And there was a time in their lives when they were darkness. As I've already stated, the natural state of all who enter this world is one of darkness. That's why whenever you preach the gospel, that's why whenever you try to speak to someone in your workplace or in your home, in your school, or on the street, The person, after you haven't explained the gospel of Jesus Christ, that person will turn around and say to you something like this, I just can't see it. I just can't understand it. I just don't get it. And the reason is because they are in darkness, pitch darkness. Metaphorically, spiritually speaking, they're completely in the dark about these things. Darkness reigns within. It isn't that they're in darkness, but it actually is that they are darkness. That is that which composes them. They're composed of darkness. They're in darkness with regard to their heart. There's a darkness in the soul. There's a darkness within the mind. The state of sin, in the most simplest of terms, is a state of darkness. John Calvin, the reformer, he wrote, darkness is the name here given to the whole nature of man before regeneration. For where the brightness of God does not shine, there is nothing but fearful darkness. You see, the only thing that will bring a sinner out of their darkened state is the supernatural work of God the Holy Spirit who comes to illuminate the soul and illuminate the mind. Only by Him and by the Spirit of God carrying truth into the darkened cell of the human soul can any person come to a realization that they're a sinner and in need of Christ. Let me pause there and ask you the question, are you in darkness today? Are you darkness? darkness personified. Are you darkness? Are you willfully or maybe unconsciously ignorant of spiritual truth? Do you love darkness rather than light because your deeds are evil? Do you gravitate towards darkness because you yourself are darkness? Ye are darkness, it says. Ye are darkness. I trust that today you're able to say, as we find here in this particular portion, that you're able to say, I was darkness. I was darkness. If you're in darkness today, if you are darkness, come to him who is the light of the world. Come to gospel light. Let gospel light flood your dark soul, and may you be brought into that experience of what it is to be regenerated by the Spirit of God. And so, my former state, our former state is, ye wear sometimes or once darkness. But let's think about that second statement, but ye are light in the Lord. It really speaks about our present state. If we know Christ, if we are Regenerate, if we know the Savior, if we've been born again, our present state is described here as ye are light in the Lord. In Paul's dramatic presentation of the truth here, he makes a dramatic contrast between the two states that every human being finds himself or themselves in one of. You're either today darkness or you're either light. So dramatic is the contrast that God's servant makes here that there can be no mistaking between the two. The apostle writes about those in darkness, or those who are darkness, and those who are light. And by using those opposite terms, those divergent terms, the apostle Paul implies that there's no halfway house here. There's no intermediate state. There's no in-between condition. The person is either darkness or they are light. And it's as black and as white as that. It is a matter in which there is no ambiguity, there is no confusion, there are no blurred lines, there are no gray areas. The contrast is so extreme to show the difference, the distinction, the opposite nature between the Christian and the non-Christian. Darkness, light, that's it. Darkness, light, that's it. It's in one of those states that you're found in today. Darkness, light. The renewed state is a state of light because God is light. God enters and dispels the darkness when it comes to the matter of salvation. Christ in you, the hope of glory. God coming to dwell in man in the new birth, and therefore God as He comes in, in the person of Christ and by His Spirit, He brings light. He floods the soul with light. There isn't some kind of dusk state or Twilight state, do you know what dusk and twilight is? It's that time of the day, round about four, half four at this time of the year. The sun is set, the night is fast approaching, but there's that kind of intermediate state between light and darkness, just enough to see, but not enough, as it were, to do a full day's work. And therefore, we're in twilight, we're in dusk. I tell you, there's no such thing as a twilight Christian or a dusk Christian. You're either darkness or light. You're either darkness or light. And so the renewed state is a state of light. The Christian is one who has been, what's the term that we use? A Christian is one who has been enlightened. There has been an enlightenment. We thought about that when we thought about the doctrine of the Spirit of God, God the Holy Spirit. His work is to enlighten the mind and to enlighten the understanding. He throws light into the darkened cell. And so there is an enlightenment. Our minds have been illuminated with the light of God's truth and the power of God's Spirit. Now don't miss this. There is a dual operation. that is required if a person is to become light. Let me explain what I mean. There must first be the presentation of light to man. And that light is found in the Word of God, the Bible. That's what we go forth to do. That's why we preach. It is to spread the light. And we sing about it. by spreading the light or sending the light, the light of God's word going out. and capturing hearts. And so there is this need for the going out and sowing light. We read about that, I believe, in the book of Proverbs, the sowing of light. And that's what we go forth to do as we preach the gospel. But alongside the sowing of light, there must also be the carrying of that light or that truth into the soul of man by the Spirit of God, who enlightens the sinner from their darkened condition and from their minds that has been darkened, and to bring them to saving faith in Jesus Christ. There is one thing that a preacher can do, and that is to bring light. Preach light. But there's something that the preacher cannot do, and that is to take that light into the darkened cell of the sinner's soul. That is something that the Spirit of God can only do, and that's why, brethren and sisters, We pray and gather for prayer before our services because the preacher understands that he can only go so far. But unless the Spirit of God comes and applies the truth to the soul, therefore that soul will remain in their dark state, their state of darkness. The Holy Ghost must come. And that's why we come to pray. The sinner will be left in their state of darkness. Now, there are various passages, once again, that the Scriptures use, and they take this darkness-light analogy to explain what happens in salvation. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6 is one such passage. You'll know it well. Let me read it to you. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2, verse 9, for ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Darkness and light. Those who savingly come to know Christ Those who have been saved from their sins by him are turned, or we are saved by one who is called the light of the world. Jesus Christ, he said, I am come a light into the world and whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And so there's darkness and there's light. I believe the contrast between these two states is is beautifully and aptly pictured for us in the life of the blind man that the Lord Jesus Christ healed in John chapter 9. There was a man who was once in darkness and now having encountered the sun of the living God was not able to see, questioned by the Pharisees as to the identity and as to the moral fitness of the one who had just healed him, the blind man, unable to answer their theological questions. He was only a babe in Christ. This is what he said to their request about this man, that he just healed the blind man. This is what he said, whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. I was once in darkness, but now I am in the light. I'm in the light. See, this man knew the difference from being in a state of darkness because of his blindness to now being in a state of light because of the touch of Christ in his life. The two states couldn't be confounded. He wasn't bamboozled. Am I in light? Am I in darkness? I don't really know. Never happened with regard to this man. He understood he was blind. Now you could see. It was beyond all doubt. There was no ambiguity. He understood it. This is what I was. This is what I now am. Now let me ask you, what are you today? What are you today? Are you darkness? Are you light? Are you a Christian? Are you not? You'll know it. You'll know it. God will make it clear to you what you are. Oh, that the spiritual ignorance would be gone today, and that you would know the touch of God. Whenever grace comes to the life, The days spring on high, he arises. The son of righteousness, the day breaks as the son of righteousness arises with healing in his wings. God, the Holy Spirit, brings us from under the tyranny of the prince of darkness. He opens the eyes of our understanding to divine truth, and we come into the light. Oh, that God today would visit your soul, bring you out of darkness into light. Whenever the miracle of the new birth takes place and you become light, a child of light. From that moment onwards, then you're to walk as a child of light. And that brings us to consider that third and final statement within the verse. For the apostle Paul goes on to say, you were sometimes darkness, but now you're light in the Lord. Now here's what you're to do. Here's the practical like working off it. Walk as children of light. We've mentioned this already, but Paul, In the previous chapters, he speaks about our identity in Christ. He does that in the opening number of chapters, my identity, who I am in Christ. But then he now moves to speak about our activity for Christ, what we are to be because of who we are. What we are to be because of who we are. It is our new life in Christ, which is the foundation of any new lifestyle and conduct. Our lifestyle, our conduct, our walk is to bear testimony to the fact that we were once darkness, but now we are children of light. You see, a change of state demands a change in our walk. Don't miss it. A change in my state demands, requires a change in my walk. If I am walking as I always walked, as an unsaved person, there has been no change in state. You're still darkness. You're still darkness. You need to be honest with yourself and get this matter sorted today, lest you die in your sin and where Christ is you'll never be. There must be a change in walk if there's a change of state. That's what Paul's saying. You were sometimes darkness, now you're light. Charles Hodge said, we should walk in a way that is consistent with our character as those illuminated and sanctified by our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to walk as children of light is a contradiction, to put it mildly, and hypocrisy, to put it frankly. Let me repeat that again. Not to walk as children of light is a contradiction, to put it mildly, and hypocrisy, to put it frankly. There are words similar akin to these words that John writes. Paul isn't the only one who expects this of God's people. John, another apostle, he writes in those great verses, we know them well, 1 John 1, verses 6 and 7, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. John pulls no punches, brethren and sisters. He states that those who continue to walk in darkness, having professed to have fellowship with God, are bare-faced liars. That's what he says. Ye lie. If you say that you fellowship with God, if you're walking with God, and you're walking not in the light, you are a bare-faced liar. And that's why I say he pulls no punches. He's very frank with the people to whom he's writing to. What does a walk, what does that walk of a child actually comprehend? What does such a walk, a walk in his children's life, what does that actually mean? What does it look like? Well, in the most basic of terms, it means that their walk and their conversation is regulated by the light of God's word. The psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And therefore, what it practically means is that whenever we come to read God's word, we come to sit under the preaching of God's word, we're to put into practice what we read and what we hear. When we obey the light that God imparts to us in his word, he will continue to give us more light and in that light we are to walk. That whenever you walk in light, you're going to find that you're going to walk at a distance from those who walk in darkness. What communion hath light with darkness? Is the question that Paul asks in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. And the answer to that question is, it cannot. Light cannot coexist with darkness. We go into a dark room, we turn on the switch, the light comes on, the darkness goes. They cannot coexist. It's like water and oil. They cannot mix. And so light and darkness cannot mix, they cannot coexist together. There is always going to be conflict when light comes into contact with darkness. And so as children of light, as we conduct our lives differently from the general populace around us, because we align ourselves to the light of God's word, we're going to find that we're going to come into conflict with a world of darkness. And so whenever it comes to the moral issues of the day, the Christian is going to be at odds with those who are in this world and remain in darkness. Take, for example, the moral issue of abortion. The Christian believes in God's moral law, thou shalt not kill. We believe that. And thus, as Christians, We cannot add our voice of agreement to the murder of the unborn child. We're walking in light. We're walking in light, not in darkness anymore. We're walking in the light of God's word. When it comes to this gender fluidity, the Christian believes the record of God's word that clearly states that God made two genders, two sexes, male and female, and thus, We cannot accept the multiplicity of genders that are supposedly out there in the world. We believe in male and female because that's what the light of God's Word teaches. When it comes to sodomy, the Christian believes that sodomy is an abomination because the Word of God calls it that. in Leviticus chapter 18 and the verse 22, and thus they cannot accept such practices in the same way that the Christian cannot accept other abominable practices, such as a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that are swift to shed blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, he that soweth discord among the brethren, practices that are also called abominations. In Proverbs chapter 6, I hasten to add I hasten to add that is not to say that we do not seek to share the gospel with all who are involved in such sinful practices. By sharing the gospel, by sharing the light, We hope and pray that it will turn them from their darkness to the light, that they'll turn from their sinful ways. It simply means that we just cannot accept such practices and many other sinful practices because God's word says we can't. We're now walking in light. But before us Christians jump onto some spiritual high horse and gallop off into the sunset, There are plenty of matters that God has shone light on in your life that you haven't put into practice yet. Many a thing and many an issue that has been dealt with by this preacher and preachers prior to me, and you're still rejecting light. You're still defying light. Let me ask you this question. Are we any better than such people? Are we any better than them? God gave you light. You haven't obeyed that light. I tell you, defiance is defiance whatever way you look at it and from whoever it is. Whether it be from the ungodly or whether it be from you as a Christian, defiance of God is defiance of God. We must obey the Lord. We must walk as children of light. There really ought to be no difficulty in making the distinction between the child of light and the child of darkness. The Christian and the non-Christian are to be as different as night is from day. Now, for some people, that's not the case. It's very difficult to decipher, are you darkness or light? Very hard to decipher. Now God is the one who knows all of his people. The Lord knoweth them that are his. But there ought to be a distinction between you and the non-believer, between me and the unsaved. They are darkness, I am light. It's a difference between night and day. You might ask, how can I tell preacher what state I'm in? Well, if it's not obvious to you, and it should be, but if it's not obvious to you, then look at the words that come fast on the heels of these words in verse number eight. For the fruit of the Spirit in all goodness and righteousness and truth, a child of light will bear to some degree the fruit of the Spirit within their lives. As children of light, we will be bearers of the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance will bear the fruit of the Spirit as children of light. If we have been enlightened, then let us walk as children of light in this dark and spiritually ignorant world. Beloved, don't forget what you wear. For ye were sometimes darkness. Don't forget what you are, but now are ye light in the Lord. But most importantly, don't forget how God expects you to walk because of who you are. Walk as children of light. May God help us to walk in the light, the light of God's word. as children of light in a darkening world. May we be known as being different children of light, for Christ's sake, amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our great God, we come before thee. We recognize that there are really only two kinds of people in this service today. There are those who are darkness and there are those who are light. There is no evolving state, no intermediate state. It is simply darkness, light, dead or alive. We pray that each person will, by the help of thy spirit, have heart-searching to understand what state they are found in presently. And if in darkness, may they come to the light, come to the light to shine for thee. Oh, may they come to that light, the light of the gospel, that will shine into their darkened soul and bring them to an understanding of their sin. and understanding that Christ is able to save from sin. And if we are in the light and if we are light, so let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father that is in heaven. May the light of God shine out of our lives. May we walk in the light of thy word. Grant, dear God, us to walk in the light, as God is in the light. Grand Lord, obedience on our part, when light is given, may we not rebel, may we not defy thee, but may we simply yield to the light. We'll answer prayer, and may we not leave the word of God behind us in the pew. Like we maybe leave a sweet or a sweetie paper for the caretaker to clean up. And we take the truth of thy word home with us. And may we live it out in our lives by the grace of God. May we cry to thee, Lord, help me to walk in the light and help me to be a child of light. And may my light shine. And may those who are in darkness, may they be like moths. May they be attracted to the light. May they themselves come out of their darkened state by the workings of the Spirit of God. And may they be brought to become light. Answer prayer. Deliver our nation from the darkness that it's in. May we as believers shine in the dark day. For we pray these our prayers in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen. Amen.