Beauty is the Light and Darkness is the Beast!
Question: How far can I go in darkness and still go to Heaven?
Question: How close to God can I walk?
What Paul is really talking about is the darkness of secret sins.
Beauty= Light and Beast= Darkness
1. The Beast of darkness is living with secret sins.
Question: What are these secret sins?
Vs. 3 “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.”
Paul gives us three: Sexual Immorality, Impurity and Greed.
Ephesians 4:19 “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” (NIV)
Vs. 4 “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”
Psalm 32:3-4 “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” (NIV)
Question: So what do we do with our secret sins?
2. The beauty of light is living in forgiveness and freedom.
Vs. 8-9 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).” (NIV)
The path to Forgiveness and Freedom is:
Step One: Understand that our sins are not a secret.
Hebrews 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (NIV)
Step Two: Identify your sins by the Light.
Vs. 10 “find out what pleases the Lord.” But the only way you can find out what pleases the Lord is by being in the light and not darkness. Vs.13-14 “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.” (NIV)
Jesus explains it like this:
John 3:19-20 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (NIV)
The truth will always come out.
Step Three: Confess your Sins.
James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other…” (NIV)
1 John 1:8-9 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (NIV)
