It seems that many church members in our time act as if God does not remember their sins from day to day; but God keeps books. (Psalms 69:28; Revelation 5:1-10; 20:12-15; 21:27). The question that needs to be asked right here is, ?what about your name?, is it written down in the Lamb?s book of life? Think about that and if you feel the need to seek God, please don?t hesitate.
Our scripture for this lesson comes from the book of Ephesians chapter five and verse eleven, which says in the King James Version of the Bible, ?And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them?. The New King James version says?..?And have not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them?. The New Living translation says this, ?Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke, and expose them?. Three translations that all give the same direction to those who are truly saved, and that is that we are to live in such a way as to always live above sin, plus we are not to ignore sin, we are to expose it, bring it to light to warn others that they should beware.
I know that there will be many of the nervous nellies out there who will notice their hearts begin to race and their ears may even begin to burn, because I said that we are to live above sin. That is not my idea, it is God?s idea! We always want to argue from the point of sinners; because that is what many are; but God has changed those that He has truly saved and they are no longer sinners but saints. The problem is that we have all kinds of bumper-stickers that encourage us to be different but we somehow do not believe that God can accomplish that in our salvation. I believe that a proper bumper-sticker for those who require bumper-stickers, would be ?Dare to be Different?. Personally I don?t like bumper-stickers; because I see so many on cars that are speeding and being driven recklessly. I see too many, fish, on cars where drivers are giving people the bird and things like that which indicates to me that these are not real Christians. It is one thing to have bumper-sticker religion, but quite another to be born again and truly saved.
We as Christians must adhere to God?s plan for our lives and His plan is one of self-denial and holiness. We are not only to walk in holiness we are to expose and rebuke and warn against the darkness of worldliness and sin. We are to be God?s flashing yellow lights that stand between others and sin. We expose the darkness by being light, and as Jesus Christ preached in His Sermon on the Mount, ?For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.?(John 3:16-21).
Let?s examine those scriptures in light of our scripture reference for this lesson (Ephesians 5:11). In our scripture for this lesson we are told that we should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. The darkness that we are to have no fellowship with is the unfruitful works of darkness ??. Which is anything that leads to sin. Jesus Christ said that the Father gave His Son so that those who truly believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That means that those who believe unto righteousness, believe to the point that Jesus Christ becomes their life and they obey all that He has commanded (John 14:21-24). The Father did not send the Son Jesus Christ into the world to condemn the world; because the Father had already judged and condemned the world, the Son came to provide the only way that God offers out of condemnation.
Yes, light has come into the world in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ, but the majority of people today run away from the light because they know themselves and they know that they are sinners and they need the cover of darkness. Our job according to Ephesians 5:11 is to expose that darkness, shine the light of Christ and the light of the Bible into that darkness as we carefully avoid the darkness of sin. Are you and I walking in the light? We know if we are or not, and we cannot deny that since we know our position and our state that we are responsible before God for the way we live. If we know that we are people of the light, those who are not afraid of the light but rather come to the light so that our deeds may be made manifest (clearly known) that they are wrought in God.
Perhaps our problem is that we are prone to operate in the flesh and not in the Holy Spirit. You see my friends, the Christian life is not of the flesh but of the Spirit. Christians live super-natural lives, lives that are wrought in God. For the true Christian, God works both to make us want to do right and then enables us by the power of the Holy Spirit to do right. (See Philippians 2:13). Now, that statement will set lots of fields on fire; because over the last few decades, the institutional church has begun to deny the power of the Omnipotent God. They now preach, (and I suppose they are saying that they are Christians), they say, ?we are all sinners and we all sin all the time?; and they have even invented this heresy that says the closer we get to God the more sinful we become. That is unbiblical because we are to be conforming to the image of Jesus Christ every day (See 2nd Corinthians 3:18). True born again Christians, children of the Living God, live spiritual lives; and if we are not doing that, we do not belong to Christ. (See Romans 8:4-14).
How have we arrived at any Biblical understanding that would preach that born again, blood bought, Spirit filled Christians must not attempt to be perfect. The New Testament standard is NOT imperfection! I am not saying that a Christian may never sin, what I am saying is that if and when they do, they are in a lot of trouble with God, until they repent and turn back from sin to God. Some have accused me of preaching sinless perfection; however, that is not true. What is true is that I preach a lot closer to it than most church members are comfortable with. We have not been obedient to the scriptures that we are using for today, we are not staying away from the unprofitable fruits of darkness, and we are sure not exposing them.
I am afraid that we have settled down to the standard that we find in the church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22). We are neither hot nor cold; but lukewarm, and God says that he may spew us out of His mouth. Listen to me now, God would rather we be on the wrong side of the fence than on the fence. He said to this high minded church at Laodicea, ?you say that you are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; but you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked?. Apparently the church at Laodicea had thought that once they had a place to meet and a budget that was fat and people that agreed with one another even about sin, that they had it made; but God was just about to rebuke and chasten them and He called them to repent. Notice that God is not here in this church dealing with a particular individual, instead He is dealing with this cold, dead church and He says that ?if just one man will hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him? that means that there was not one single saved person in this rich and influential church! God ends His letter to this church as He did with the others, an offer of reconciliation if they will repent. These people were like many of the institutional churches of our day, they were neither hot nor cold, but luke-warm. Have you ever been thirsty and picked up a glass of water that had been sitting in the sun for a period of time? It makes you want to vomit and that?s what God said he was about to do to this church.
How about your church, if you have a church, and you should have one if at all possible; and if you can?t find one prepare yourself to start a place where people of true faith can come together and worship the one true God. If you already have a church can you see that it is either hot or cold? Make sure that you do not get that virus that the church of Laodicea had?.. That luke-warm virus.
Never become a member of a church, that is made up of a bunch who are just as good, as trying not to be bad, can make them. Always look for the fire of Christ in those who claim membership in your church. We have forgotten or at least we act as if we have forgotten that Jesus Christ was an either/or God. He said in Matthew 12:30, that ?He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathered not with me scattered abroad.?
True salvation is a work of Almighty God, it is not found at Wal-Mart or the drug store or anywhere else except in the Sovereign Act of God, as He brings life back to one dead in trespass and sin (Ephesians 2:1). To be saved means something. It means that the person who is truly saved has been under the hand of God and has been recreated ?In Christ? and that daily they become more and more in the image of Christ, not in the power of the flesh, but in the power of God.
Let me remind you that a true Christian is not a sinner with his brains kicked out. He is now a saint with the power of God in his flesh, and the mind of Christ. True Christians are given a vocation by God and that vocation is to live as salt and light in a world that is dark with sin. We are not saved to be blind leading the blind. We show the way out of sin and toward the Christ of the Cross who died to redeem those who would obey (Hebrews 5:8-9).
What is the major problem that I see with the visible church? I see it as an unfortunate tool that could be used mightily of God, if it had kept itself as a place of purity and holiness. This has not been caused by a great move of Satan to destroy the church from without, it was caused by Satan as he had his minions join the visible churches and began to destroy them from within. Some old preacher, I think it was Vance Havner, said that ?the danger for the institutional church is not from the woodpeckers from without; but from the termites from within?.
We must begin to insist upon anyone who preaches, teaches or witnesses to us must be courageous enough to tell the truth on Jesus Christ. We do not need to hear that Jesus loves everyone regardless of whether they are obeying Him or not, we need to hear that Jesus predicates His love and the Father?s love for us on our obeying Him (John 14:21-24). We must be willing to hear preaching that tells the truth about why Jesus came to this earth, and it wasn?t to bring peace but a sword (Matthew 10:34). We must hear the truth about how we are to walk and that is that we are to walk worthy of God?s calling (Ephesians 4:1). Our society would improve if we began to hear preaching that tells the truth about how God feels about those who will not work to provide for their families; and the truth is that God inspired the Apostle Paul to write that ? if any would not work, neither should he eat? (2nd Thessalonians 3:10). We need to hear that Hell is hot and that is going to be for all who have not really obeyed God. We need to hear that we are not saved because we chose to be saved; but because God saves us ?according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began? (2nd Timothy 1:9).
The visible church of our day has a problem; but the fault lies with those who are members of the individual churches. Too many have taken it on themselves to deny the truth of the Word of God and the power of God in those who are saved. We can change that anytime we are ready to confess our sin and repent and turn again to God in accordance with His Word.
Until next lesson, this is brobob. 
