Please take up your copies of the written word of God and turn with me to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter five. Now as you're turning there, if I say 500 years ago, then many of you will draw to mind details about the Protestant Reformation. namely that those who were seeking to reform the church were protesting against the errors of Rome. And as such, the consequences which they faced included being exiled, being imprisoned, and being put to death. Perhaps you've read about the Tower of London where Protestants were being locked up to await their being put to death.
And what was going on, what they were doing, which incurred such hostility, was their unwillingness to waver or to compromise on the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ, which was an act of God's free grace. It was a time of much darkness, darkness of heresy and darkness of immorality. And the motto of the Reformation, or the rally cry of the Reformation, was Post Tenebris Lux, which means after darkness, light. In the book of Ephesians, it could be summarized in two sections, the first section being the first half, chapters one to three, which would be on orthodoxy, or right knowledge, what you ought to believe.
In the second half, namely chapters four to six, orthopraxy, right practice, what you ought to do. And as the Apostle Paul transitions from what you ought to believe to what you ought to do, he begins in chapter 4 by saying, walk worthy. And this theme of walking, this walk worthy, is later picked up in chapter 5. In chapter 5 from verses 1 to 7, it's on walk in love.
And then verses 8 to 14 are walk in light. And then verses 15 to 21 are walk in wisdom. Now that middle section on verses 8 to 14, walk in light, the last two verses of that section speak about how light prevails over darkness. And that will be our text this morning. specifically verses 13 and 14, but we'll read starting in verse 1.
So, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us. an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness Let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
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. 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. 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.
Opening Prayer
Our great God, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for this day that You have given us life and breath, that You have given us this Lord's Day set apart to commune with You, to worship You, and for the means of grace. And we pray that indeed, Lord, by Your Spirit, You would illuminate Your Word, make it effectual to the hearers, for the edification of the saints, the advancement of Your kingdom, and the glory of Your name. I pray, Lord, that the hearers of Your Word would would see you high and lifted up, and it would indeed see your majesty, your glory, and your worthiness, and I pray that you would bring us under your word in a posture of worship and a response of worship to you. I pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Introduction
Now as I said, our text is verses 13 to 14, and what's going on in this passage, what's going on in our text, is that the light of Christ exposes darkness and calls sinners to life in Christ. So as such, we'll examine the contrast, namely the contextual contrast of spiritual darkness. We'll examine the components, the components of light prevailing over darkness. And we'll examine the call.
So
The Contrast: Spiritual Darkness
first of all, the contrast. The light of Christ exposing darkness is set in the contextual contrast of spiritual darkness. Now, we like to look at before and after pictures of a renovation project or a restoration that takes place. If you renovate your house or restore an antique piece of furniture, when the finished product looks good, It's nice to look at the finished product and see how good it looks, but when you compare it next with a picture, next to the condition or the state that was in before it was restored, then it makes the finished product look that much more stunning in comparison to the contrast of its condition prior.
And that's what's going on in the context of our text here. The condition of Christians is described by way of contrast. Now you see back in chapter 2 in verse 1 it says, And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin, walking according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air. And it goes on in description in 5 verse 8 saying, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
And then in 5 verse 11 it says, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. So a contrast is being made here, a contextual contrast between light and darkness. So what is this darkness? What is the darkness which it is speaking about?
Nature of Spiritual Darkness
Darkness is being spiritually blind, dead, and undiscerning. Now, we all know what it's like to be in darkness. Let's say you're in your house. The power goes out in the middle of the night.
For whatever reason, you have to get up and cross your house, but there's no power. There's no nightlights, there's not even that illumination of the little digital clocks that give you a bit of a light. It's overcast outside, so there's absolutely no light in the house. How are you going to navigate your house?
Are you going to sprint across your house? Well, not if you don't want to stub your toe, at least not again. So you're going to walk very, very carefully. Why do you walk carefully?
Well, because you can't see. Why can't you see? Because you don't have sight. Spiritual darkness is being blinded by ignorance and error.
In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 8, it says, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Blindness, ignorance, and darkness. So spiritual darkness is heresy and immorality. Darkness is a state of sin, ignorance, and unbelief.
The spiritual blindness is being deprived of the light of Christ, and it is a state of misery, blinded by sin, and unperceptive of divine judgment like one who is asleep. The state of darkness is spiritual death and misery. The course of this world is darkness. Fallen mankind lives in dark thoughts, dark deeds, and dark speech.
And subsequently, the works of darkness, which our previous context lists fornication, impurity, and covetousness. The works of darkness are indulging in the passions of the flesh. Now, this is something we don't typically use as language in our regular conversations, the passions of the flesh. What does that mean? passions are the motion of the soul.
It is movement to or from what is perceived to be good or evil. So an illustration for the kids. Let's say you're about to go on a large hike with your family. It's going to be all day.
It's going to be a difficult hike. It's a hot day. The sun is out and you know that you're going to become dehydrated at some point, so you need to bring a nice refreshing beverage. So you open the fridge and you see there nice cold milk.
So you grab the milk, you throw it in your backpack. You go on the hike. It's a hot day. It's a grueling hike.
The sun's beating down. You're sweating. You've been sweating so much that your skin is now sticky. You've got dry mouth.
Your legs are getting sore. Your lungs are heaving. And you're parched. And you think, I need to drink.
You feel like if I don't have anything to drink, I'm going to die. And then you realize that you came prepared for this very moment. So you reach into your backpack, which the sun has been beaming down all day long, and you pull out the milk. Now, without going into too much detail, There is a movement which occurs in what you once perceived to be good to what you no longer perceive to be good, namely the current state of the milk after it's been out in the sun all day and you're parched and dehydrated and in need of hydration.
So a movement has occurred, and the passions of the flesh, the passions are a movement of the soul, movement to or from what is perceived to be good or evil. And the works that are done according to the passions of the flesh are the responses of a darkened, corrupt will choosing evil because it is perceived to be good. It is deemed to be good. The will is deceived.
Now, in Dryden, we have a lot of lakes, and in those lakes are a lot of fish, and it's quite common that we go fishing. And when you go fishing, Well, you simply just take a hook, you tie it to a string, you throw that in the lake, you pull it out, and there's a fish on it. It doesn't quite work that way, does it? You have to put a bait on the hook.
You have to convince the fish that the hook is good for it. You have to convince the fish that it wants to take it, it wants to eat it. And when it comes to sin, or the unfruitful works of darkness, Satan presents the bait and hides the hook. The bait looks good, while the evil is hidden. and man's fallen will chooses evil because it is perceived to be good.
The forces of darkness deceives and attracts the soul to sin. Man doesn't see the hook. We don't see the evil because, well, because of darkness, because of blindness. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4 says, whose minds the God of this age has blinded. Furthermore, the world, which loves darkness, makes what is righteous appear odd, and what is wicked appear right.
That old treble hook is just a modern accessory, and you're criticized if you don't wear it, let alone swallow it, just like everybody else. Matthew Henry wrote that sinful works are works of darkness. They come from the darkness of ignorance. They seek the darkness of concealment. and they lead to the darkness of hell.
Hell is the place of merciless darkness, outer darkness, blackness of darkness forever, separation from God and a deprivation of light. Now the contrast that's occurring here is between darkness and light. So before we change our focus to light,
Light of Nature vs. Light of Faith
a quick distinction to be made between the light of nature and the light of faith. Now keep your finger here in Ephesians 5, it's the text we're working out of and we're going to return to it, but if you'll quickly turn to Romans chapter 1, specifically verse 18. Romans 1 verse 18, we see here the light of nature, or the light of reason. And we'll notice that by nature, truth about God is revealed.
Some truth about God is revealed, is understood, and is known, and as a result is suppressed. Pay attention. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. Suppress the truth in unrighteousness because what may be known of God is manifest to them.
For God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, having understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So there is truth about God that is revealed by way of nature, and this is the light of nature. But God has given us these created things, to point to God.
Truth is revealed by God through nature. It is to point us to God in order to love God. God has given us created things as signs, signs which signify, which point to God, the creator, to love God. the purpose of using them to enjoy God, but instead we use God to enjoy the created thing. Our idle manufacturing hearts make a created thing as the highest good or as the chief end.
So the light of nature is insufficient to overcome darkness. So the light of faith. Now in that text, if you'll just look back a little bit Before that, in verses 16 to 17, we see here the distinction of the light of faith. Notice in 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The will of God for our salvation is made known not by natural light but by supernatural light. So back to our text, Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 13 says that the effect of this light is that it exposes and makes manifest, showing the error evil and danger of sin, shows the deception of the bait and the reality of the hook, to awake by the light of Christ, repent of sin and darkness, and embrace the gospel. So in other words, showing that the bait is deceptive, exposing the hook, and unveiling the rescue.
Our text in 13, it says, all things are exposed when revealed by light, or it might say, all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. for whatever makes manifest is light. Now you can get curtains for your windows. Some of them are light filtering and some of them are light blocking. For those who work shift work and need to sleep during the day, you can get light blocking curtains for your windows so that obviously it blocks the light and no light comes in.
So I want you to do an experiment with you. If you have these light blocking curtains, go home, shut the curtains, shut the door, turn off the lights in the middle of the day so that there's no light in the room. You could say that the space of that room has been overwhelmed by darkness. Now, here's the test that I want you to do.
Go up to those curtains and throw the curtains wide open, and here's the test. Check to see if darkness holds its ground and prevents the light from coming in, or does light prevail and overcome darkness and darkness flees? We can do this test 10 times and find out out of 10 times how many times darkness prevails, how many times light prevails. We don't have to go home and do the test.
I'm sure you can tell me right now that 10 out of 10 times light prevails and darkness flees. When light is absent, there is darkness. And when light is present, there is no competition. Darkness flees.
Darkness is merely the absence of light. John Owen wrote, Let the sun arise in the firmament, and there is no need of witness to prove and confirm unto a seeing man that it is day. Scripture, the word of God, or supernatural revelation, is light, and it shines with the majesty of its author. God addresses the church through scripture as the instrumental means of slaying and making alive.
So that brings us to our next point then, which is the light of Christ shines in darkness by his word and spirit.
The Components of Light Over Darkness
So secondly, we have the components, the components of light that prevails over darkness. I'll draw your attention to verse 14, and verse 14 starts by saying, therefore he says, Now, when Paul says, therefore he says, he's not directly quoting, but he's summarizing Old Testament texts that point to the light of Christ. Take, for example, in Isaiah chapter nine, verse two, it says, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.
This promised light is fulfilled in Christ, who is the light of the world. The light of the world came into the world. And the almighty power of God, in the beginning, by the word of God, shone forth light out of darkness so that his subsequent works may be clearly seen. And a greater light was promised.
A light calling to life out of death and darkness into marvelous light. I referenced 2 Corinthians 4, 6, that whole verse says, For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So in our text, in verse 14, it continues to say, Arise, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. Now, in this text, there is something implicit that is very important that we don't want to miss, and that is the presence of Christ.
The presence of Christ executing the office of prophet. You might be thinking, well, didn't Christ, after his death, burial, and resurrection, did he not ascend on high where he is seated at the right hand of the Father until he returns to judge? the living and the dead. And without going on a rabbit trail into too much detail about the hypostatic union and the word beyond the flesh, let it suffice to say that God is present in the presence of the spiritual presence of Christ, exercising dominion through his word. Christ is not dead, but living.
And in his church, he is both living and spiritually present as the stream of life in the historic Christian community, which is the church. Just as much as the spiritual presence of Christ is in the church today, so it was a year ago, so it was 100 years ago, so it was 300 years ago, 500 years ago, or 1,000 years ago, the spiritual presence of Christ has been in the church up to today, and will, and to the end. Christ is not absent from the Church. Consider the Great Commission, where Christ promises to his apostles, I am with you always to the end of the age, but yet the apostles don't live to the end of the age.
So how is Christ with you? How is Christ present to the end of the age? Well, it's through the teaching ministry of the Church. the doctrine, the teaching of the apostles. And then in Revelation 1, we see imagery, the image of Christ walking, sorry, Christ in the midst of the church, of the churches.
Christ is spiritually present with the church through his word and spirit, communicating, speaking. And historic orthodoxy is the product of Christ's presence in the church through the ages. So what causes this light to shine? What causes sight by the light of faith?
Christ as our Redeemer executes the office of a prophet in revealing to us by his word and spirit the will of God for our salvation. So two components that we're going to examine. Two components are involved in order to see something. There's the visible object, the visible material object, which is the thing itself, and then there's the corresponding power of sight.
So take this pulpit, for example. Here before me is a visible material object that's made of wood, but yet you can see it. So in your mind, there is this pulpit. The pulpit is up here in front of me, but the pulpit is also in your mind.
There's obviously not a material wooden pulpit in your mind, but should the lights go out and there be darkness, you would know that there's a pulpit up here because in your mind you can see that there is a pulpit. There's the material object itself, and there's the corresponding power of sight. Power of sight is the manner in which the thing itself is apprehended in the mind. In the case of the pulpit, of course, is light imprinting the object on your mind.
But the components from our text that we're looking at,
The Material Component: The Word
the first component, the material component, is the thing itself that is to believed, like the physical material wooden pulpit. The material component is what God reveals to mankind, needing to believe. God himself, and all that pertains to God, as he comes to us in Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. This material component is scripture, or supernatural revelation, or the word of truth.
Namely, the gospel promise of Christ, the mediator. The word of truth, unlike this pulpit, the word of truth, is not something that is seen by the eye. Its object is invisible. An apprehension of it requires a supra-sensible sight.
It requires a spiritual power of sight. So the second component,
The Formal Component: The Spirit
the second component of this light which prevails over darkness, is the power of sight, or we could call it the formal component. Now as light is the formal component of seeing this pulpit, it's what brings it about to the mind, the spirit of truth confronts and informs our minds or illuminates what needs to be believed of God and all that pertains to God. The light of faith is supernatural sight by the gift of faith. By faith we come to know and possess God through Christ.
With knowledge, assent and trust, or confidence in God's trustworthiness, embracing what is revealed in God's word, receiving it with confidence and making it one's own. By the light of faith, taking hold of and embracing Christ, his merits and mediation as revealed in the word. awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." Which brings us to our next point, that the light of Christ overcomes darkness and effectually calls sinners to life in Christ.
The Call: Awake and Arise
So thirdly, the call. The call or the duty within our text is awake, arise, The gospel calls men to arise from darkness and death of sin by faith and repentance. This is a call to repentance and faith. What does that mean?
What is repentance and faith? What is it faith of? Well, man being fallen and lost in sin is under the condemnation of God and unable to be reconciled to God on our own works, on our own merit. The word of God Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, took to himself a body, assumed our nature, was born under the law, perfected obedience, accomplished a positive righteousness, suffered and died in our place, shed his blood and poured out his life in our place to pay the ransom price of the elect, that we might have forgiveness of sins.
He was buried on the third day. He rose from the dead. He ascended on high, exalted, seated at the right hand of the Father, where he is seated with all power, all authority, and will return to judge the living and the dead. But now is the time to repent and to turn to Christ, to look to Christ, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
Faith comes from hearing, and this call by the external means of the Word and the internal means of the Spirit is an effectual call, and included in our text, included in that call, is a promise. Christ shall give you light. Now in Hebrews 1.3 it says,
Christ's Effectual Illumination
Christ is the brightness of God's glory. Christ giving you light means being savingly enlightened by the word and spirit. Christ the spirit convinces us of our sin and misery and enlightens our minds in the knowledge of Christ, renews our will and persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. So if you're an unbeliever, if you have not yet turned to Christ, you might be thinking, okay, so the light of Christ shines in darkness.
We see that objectively, but what about subjectively? How do I lay hold of this personally? If you remember the illustration to begin with about the Reformation, and their unwavering commitment to the doctrine of the justification by faith alone. This doctrine is crucial to our understanding.
Justification by Faith Alone
What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace where He pardons us, all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. And the Second London Confession of Faith in Chapter 11, Paragraph 2 says, Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of justification. So it's very important to get this right.
What place does faith have in our justification? What place does our faith have in our forgiveness of sins and Christ's righteousness accredited or imputed to our account? What is the place of faith? So as the Confession says, it is the alone instrument of justification.
Now, when my family and I drove to the airport to fly out here, and we still had our winter tires on because while there's still snow, hopefully by the time we fly back, that snow will be melted, at which point I will have to switch over to the summer tires. Not sure if you have that task out here. So let's just say you have a flat tire. You have to change your flat tire.
Then you take your tire iron or your torque wrench, and it is the instrument in which you use to apply the torque or the force to the wheel, to the lug nut. I guess I should point out that my purpose or my intent in using this illustration is not to call us a bunch of lug nuts. The purpose of the illustration is the instrument. The instrument itself.
The instrument by which the power is applied to the recipient. And our faith as an instrument. The faith is the means or instrument by which we receive and rest on Christ, his promises, his forgiveness, his righteousness, and eternal life. It is by which believers lay hold of Christ and apply individually or personally or to make them one's own.
And the source of power is God, as we see in Ephesians chapter 1. Redemption purposed by the Father, redemption accomplished by the Son, and redemption applied by the Spirit. The Leiden Synopsis of Pure Theology articulates very well says we are justified by the father as judge seated on a throne of grace and in christ who has made satisfaction and acts as our advocate and we are justified through the holy spirit who grants faith and seals grace in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel the preaching of the gospel being the first component of supernatural light the external and material component and the work of the Holy Spirit internally being the second component of supernatural light, the internal or formal component. The light of Christ is his revealing to us by his word and spirit the will of God for our salvation.
So we saw here use for the unbeliever.
Application to the Backslidden
Further is the use for the backslidden or the sleepy believer, those whom the indicative is true, those whom, as the text says, and you he made alive, those who have been renewed, restored and reoriented, but remaining corruption has drawn you away, walking in works of darkness. Awake, you who sleep. Arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Remember, you were once darkness, but now children of light.
So walk in light. Do not be partakers with the works of darkness. Remember, it is Christ who gives you light. It is not look deep within yourself.
It is not self-help protocols. It is Christ. Look to Christ.
Application to the Believer
Furthermore, use for the believer. I'm going to draw on three particular uses for the believer. The first one is walk as children in light. As the greater context of our passage says, walk as children of light in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
That is in thought, word, and speech. Sorry, thought, word, and deed. Now, what about the current context in our day? Is there a current context of darkness in our day?
Yes, there is. Indeed, there's even next month is a month which is set apart for the parading and for the celebrating and the approving of darkness, a whole month. We are in a current context of darkness and the light of the gospel for the salvation of lost souls is needed in our current context of darkness in our communities and our surrounding communities. Second use for the believer is to marvel in doxology.
Have you ever found yourself perhaps tired or distracted and you sat down to pray and nothing seems to immediately come to mind of what you can pray about? Well, here we have something to marvel in doxology and prayer about is that you were once darkness and you he made alive. Not only that, but We have communion with the Most High God. We have access to the throne of grace.
We live, as it were, Coram Deo in the presence of God. Furthermore, have you ever heard the argument where somebody says it's not about theology or it's not about doctrine, it's about your relationship with God? Well, how can you have a relationship with somebody that you don't know? How can you have a relationship with a God who is Trinity and unity and unity and Trinity if you do not know God?
Or how can you be in a reconciled relationship without knowing how to be reconciled to the Triune God? Fellowship with God is not blind fellowship in ignorance and darkness. In fact, to behold God is the foundation of blessedness. To see more clearly is to apprehend more fully.
Furthermore, the Church is a glimpse of glory, where God, in the spiritual presence of Christ, is in the midst of His people, feeding and nourishing His people who respond in worship to Him. Third use for the believer, the light of faith will give way to the light of glory. Our living hope of resurrection morning, and beholding the face of God by the light of glory. Revelation 21-23 says, The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it.
The Lamb is its light, and the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light. light of glory, faith will give way to sight, the beatific vision by the light of glory, to see God's glory spiritually and intellectually without being blinded by it. Glorified saints, in the fullness of joy, with perfected souls, perfected body, with the sight of the soul, seeing God, who is our portion, and enjoying Him from faith to fruition in a state of glory and indefectible blessedness.
Application
So, some concluding remarks. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator, our final and perfect Prophet, by the external means of the written Word of God and the internal means of His Spirit, illuminating the Word, opens the understanding of the hearer of the word. Now, one last illustration for the kids. Have you ever had it where your mom asks you to go to the freezer and to pull out, let's say, the prime rib roast for dinner?
And so you go to the freezer, you open it up, you survey its contents and you don't see a prime rib roast. You come back to your mom and you give a report and you say, there's no prime rib roast. So she says, no, it's there. Go back and look again.
So you go back, you open the freezer, you survey its contents. Nope, there's no roast in there. So you come back and you report back to your mom, there's no roast in the freezer. So she takes you by the hand, she leads you over to the freezer, opens it up.
What does she pull out? Prime rib roast. And you think, where were my eyes? Where was my sight that I didn't see it before?
And when the saving light of Christ shines by the Holy Spirit, it is a new sight, as though to say, where were my eyes, that I never saw before the beauty of the glory of Christ and the wretchedness of sin. Now here's the marrow of the matter, where the rubber meets the road. God created man with an innate sense of the divine and a capacity and a longing to know God as the highest good and the chief end of beholding the fullness of his glory. However, God dwells in inapproachable light, and fallen mankind cannot behold the fullness of the glory of God and live.
God effectually shines light in darkness so that the rational creature may know God, and in knowing God, glorify him, and in glorifying him, enjoy him as the highest good. The goal of God's shining light is communion with God by knowing and loving him with experiential knowledge and rightly ordered affections, living blessedly in this life and forever. Divine illumination is an internal intellectual understanding by the light of faith a knowing of divine truth and a believing of divine truth. Such a knowledge affects and moves the soul to know and love that which he is made for and longs for, now in part by the light of faith, but in glory it will culminate in unmediated, blessed intellectual vision of the soul beholding the glory of God, and in so knowing God, a consummated act of loving him, and in loving him, a consummation of blessed happiness and the fullness of joy.
Fullness of joy without end, unfading, undefiled, incorruptible, indefectible, eternal blessedness in the presence and glory of God. If you are still in darkness, know that there is no darkness where the light of Christ cannot prevail. Turn to Christ Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Our great God, Lord, we praise you that you who are eternal and infinite and almighty, that salvation belongs to you and that there is no darkness, there is no sin, there is no creation that can overcome you or overpower you. We thank you for the ways in which you draw our understanding to behold your majesty and your glory. through your Word and through your Spirit. I pray, Lord, that as we consider the things of your Word, you would attend it by your Spirit and cause us to reflect on your Word, and that you would illuminate your Word to our understanding. And Lord, that the hearers of your Word might behold your beauty, your majesty, your glory, and worship you, for you are worthy.
We pray, Lord, that through the preaching of your Word, the saints would be edified sinners would turn to Christ, your kingdom would be advanced, and your name would be lifted high and glorified. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.