Ghouls, Grace, and the Gospel: Living as Children of Light

Well, today we are looking at ghouls, grace, and the gospel.

But let's dive in prayer.

Lord, we just thank you that through Jesus today, the light has already overcome the darkness.

Help us to walk fearlessly, Lord. Help us to shine brightly.

Help us to live, as scripture said, as children of light.

Lord, reflecting your grace and your truth to a world in need of hope, Lord.

Help us to do that today. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.

Amen. We all picture this. It's late October.

And if you drive through almost any neighborhood, you'll see it, right?

The cobwebs that, you know, stretched across the bushes, skeletons perched on

porches, glowing jack-o'-lanterns, right? Lighting up the sidewalk.

Some houses even have 12 foot tall. You've probably seen them, right?

Inflatables, inflatable ghouls towering down over the yard or maybe coming up

out of the ground, it looks like.

And Halloween is everywhere this time of year. And for many,

like I said, it's just harmless fun, candy, costumes, community.

And kids laugh as they run door-to-door, bags filled with chocolate bars,

you know, the happiness bars.

Parents maybe stand at the end of the driveway, possibly even sipping coffee.

Swapping stories, enjoying the night, the cool night air in fall.

But beneath the costumes and the candy, there's something deeper going on in

our culture. and something our culture often avoids talking about,

even if it decorates for it, okay? What is that?

Well, as a culture, our fascination with darkness, with fear,

even death, and if we're honest, this season actually raises attention for some Christians.

We live in a culture that at times celebrates darkness. We can't avoid it.

It's everywhere. The question is,

How do we faithfully live in a world fascinated by fear without being consumed by it?

How do we navigate seasons of life or whatever you want to call it without falling into compromise?

That's what today's message is all about. And if we're going to do it,

we have to do it, I think, by looking at three things.

And you see them on the title slide, but we're going to go to this next slide and break it down.

First point ghouls acknowledging the reality of evil evil is real church if

you remember in our spiritual warfare series we don't wrestle against flesh

and blood do we what do we wrestle against.

You got it. You got it. Spiritual forces of darkness, right?

And then also today, grace resting in the victory of Jesus.

And then the gospel. Y'all know the gospel is going to be in here, right?

Living as children of light, living as children of light.

Because at the end of the day, this isn't just going to be a sermon,

maybe a little bit about Halloween and other things too. it's a message about fear and faith.

It's about darkness and light, church. It's about death and resurrection.

And it's about how in Jesus, don't miss this, light wins every single time. Amen?

Well, here's our first point for today.

Goals, acknowledging the reality of darkness.

You know, Ephesians 6, 12 actually says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers against the authorities against

the powers of this dark world and against

the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms

how many times do you look around our culture today and

you see people fighting against people people fighting against things that they

shouldn't be fighting against especially christians our battle is not with somebody

our battle is against the spiritual forces of darkness in this dark world and

if there's one thing i think that Halloween does well, it's normalized the darkness.

It markets it. It decorates it. It turns ghouls, ghosts, and skeletons into what?

Into lawn ornaments and sells fear as entertainment.

But while those plastic skeletons and inflatable zombies, you know,

maybe on your neighbor's lawn aren't real, we know that, or in your lawn.

This next slide here tells us spiritual darkness is real, church.

And first of all, if we see in the scripture refuses to let us ignore it,

the first point here is there is an enemy who opposes God's work in the world. Did you know that?

There is temptation, the second one here, that pulls our hearts and minds.

And then lastly, there is brokenness, fear, and death that surrounds us everywhere.

You know, theologian C.S. Lewis once wrote in the Screwtape Letters,

he said this, He said, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our

race can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve in their existence.

The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

That's where many people get stuck, Eastwood. They either deny evil completely

or obsess over it entirely.

Scripture calls us here to neither extreme.

Instead, it calls us to be alert and aware, but not afraid.

1 Peter 5.8 says, Be alert and of sober mind. your enemy, the devil,

prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Notice what Peter doesn't say. He doesn't say panic, Brother Ronnie.

He doesn't say run for your life, run for the hills, right? But he says, be alert.

Why? Because evil is real, but its power is limited, church.

You know, Pastor Tim Keller, as we see in this next slide, He put it this way,

Satan's primary goal is not to make you wicked, but to make you forget the gospel.

Y'all, I just have to stop here for a moment. How many of us do things and get

involved in things that have nothing to do with the gospel?

You see, it's not to make you wicked. Just forget the gospel.

Just forget the solution to all the world's problems, right?

And by the way, I've told you all this before.

I'm of the party of the Lamb of God. The party of the Lamb of God,

that's where I stand, on the word of God.

And I'll tell you what, I don't really care about Democrats versus Republican Party.

Yes, I'm going to vote the way that I see God's word points to,

the one that's doing the most righteous things, even though they're not perfect.

But I want you to know this today, that as I stand on God's word,

and as I stand at his strength, I realize that Satan's goal is not to make me

wicked, just make me forget the gospel, make me turn away from God's word.

As y'all remember in our series on spiritual warfare not long ago called Stand,

we talked about where is our source for truth and righteousness? Is it God's word?

Or is it man's opinions?

Is it man's opinions? Guys, girls, women, children, all of you here,

we don't have the solutions.

Jesus is the solution. He is the one.

None of us have the answers, but Jesus has them all, all of them, all of them.

That's why Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6, church, to stand firm,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

not to hide, don't tremble, but to remember who we are in Christ and to walk

in his strength, not our own.

By the way, let me just say this today.

I want you all to be very careful. We sang a song today. Soon and very soon,

we're going to see who? The king.

Now, I know that there's a movement today, and I'm not trying to step on anybody's

toes. Whatever you support, you support.

There's a movement in our world today called No Kings.

First of all, I want you to know it's kind of a dumb argument to start with

because obviously President Trump is not a king or you wouldn't be allowed to

protest and you'd be dead right now your head off.

Secondly, I think the real movement behind it is not against President Trump.

I think the real movement behind it is that our world and our culture,

and my brother Ken Ham shared this best, is saying we don't want you,

Jesus, as our king because we don't want you to call the shots.

And what you say in your word about there's only two genders.

We don't want you to condemn our transgenderism, our lesbianism, our homosexuality.

No king. I want you to know something today as a Christian. You better say no king, but the true king.

Because if you're not serving the true king, you're going to end up in hell forever.

And you know, I see these signs out there, y'all. And I know maybe they're sitting

everywhere, but it's in a lot of places.

Love your neighbor. We hate Trump.

Hypocrite. Come on, y'all. We know better than this. We know better than this.

Imagine the difference here. If you're talking about walking in God's strength

and not your own, imagine the difference between being at a zoo and being on safari.

How many of you have ever been to a zoo? How many of you have ever been on safari?

All right, not many people here. I don't think I saw any hands,

but think about this for a moment.

At the zoo, you might stand just a few feet away from a lion.

Powerful, terrifying, majestic lion.

But guess what? There is no fear because of why. There's a barrier.

At the safari, however, if a lion walks up to your Jeep, every muscle in your

body is going to tense, right?

And as believers, I want y'all to get this today. We live in a world where the

lines are real, but they are caged by the victory in Jesus.

Evil exists, yes, but it's been defeated at the cross, church.

It's been defeated at the cross.

And let me just share with y'all today, and we're going to see this throughout this message today.

Y'all, as a church, as believers, let's have wise discernment.

Let's live as children of light.

We don't walk in the darkness anymore, do we, Sharon? We don't walk in the darkness.

We walk in the light. We're children of light.

Number two, grace standing secure in Christ's victory.

Colossians 2.15, having disarmed the powers and authorities,

what did Jesus do according to this passage?

It says he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Y'all, this is one of the most hope-filled verses in the entire Bible.

Paul is reminding us, don't miss this, that on the cross, Jesus didn't just forgive our sins.

He disarmed the powers of darkness.

He stripped them of their authority, Brother James. He took away their weapons.

Yes, church, evil is real. There is an enemy. But if you belong to Jesus,

you're standing on the victory side of the battlefield.

Theologian John Stott actually said it this way. He said, the cross is the blazing

fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough

for the sparks of it to fall on us, right?

You see, I mentioned earlier about how our culture as a whole sometimes defies.

They want to shake their fist in the face of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

God, I call the shots in my life. God, I call him.

My body, my choice. Scripture says just the opposite. His body, his choice.

You're not your own, Scripture said. You've been brought with a price.

I mean, it's plain as day.

Are you going to believe God's word, Eastwood, or are you going to believe the

world in man's word? What are you going to believe?

Are you shaking your fist in the King of kings and Lord of Lord's face,

saying, Lord, you won't tell me what to do with my body.

Lord, you won't tell me what to do with anything in my life whatsoever.

I call the shots all the way, Lord. You don't know I look better than you do,

God. Is that our attitude?

In other words, if you're far from the cross, let me tell you something, don't miss this.

If you're far from the cross, fear will always feel closer.

Come on. If you're far from the cross, fear will always feel closer.

Why is our world wrapped up in so much fear? Oh, I'm so afraid.

You know, I'm so afraid the stock market's going to crash tomorrow.

Well, you don't know the one who I know. You don't know the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

You don't know the one who takes care of, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

He's going to supply all our needs.

I don't have to worry about that. I trust in Jesus. You see,

but when you live near the cross, the reality of Christ's victory changes everything

about how you see the world even.

You know why? As you see in this next slide, grace changes everything.

Grace changes everything.

Evil wants you to believe you should live in fear. How much fear do you see in our culture today?

I mean, crazy, crazy amounts of fear.

Grace reminds us that you can live in freedom because of Jesus.

First of all, this first point here, sin has no hold on you as a Christian.

You know what? Sin has no hold on you.

Death has lost its sting, church.

And then number three, fear no longer defines your story.

Romans 8, 15, come on. The spirit

you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again.

Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

Wow. You're no longer a slave to fear. I'm no longer a slave to fear.

You're a son or a daughter of God.

And as his child, you stand under, guess what? His protection,

his authority, and his victory.

Grace is greater, Eastwood. Grace is greater.

Pastor Charles Spurgeon actually once said this. He said, the power of Christ

is greater than the power of Satan.

And his grace is stronger than your greatest fear.

As we see in this next slide, don't forget this one.

That's the foundation of the gospel. You're not fighting for victory.

You are living from victory, Eastwood.

Imagine, just for a moment, being in a pitch black room. Anybody ever been in

a really dark or in a cavern pitch black?

It's so dark, you can't even see your hand in front of your face.

That kind of darkness, as you know, those who haven't experienced it, can feel suffocating.

Overwhelming, and even frightening.

But then if you pull out even the tiniest little flashlight,

just a small beam of light, what happens to the darkness?

It flees instantly. No matter how dark the room is, light always wins.

It doesn't have to struggle, in other words. It doesn't have to fight. It simply what?

Shines. It simply shines. And guess what? The darkness is overcome.

That's exactly what grace does, Eastwood. The darkness around you may seem heavy,

but it cannot overcome even the smallest spark of God's light living within you as believers.

So this next slide, we'll come up to it. This is the bottom line,

y'all. Grace is not just God's pardon for your past.

It's his power for your present right here today. You are free.

You are secure. You are victorious in Christ, not because of who you are,

not because of who I am, but because of what?

Because of what Christ has done, his finished work on the cross.

He has brought you into his kingdom of marvelous light.

Number three, the gospel, living as children of light.

Ephesians 5, 8 through 11 that Sharon read earlier, for you were once darkness,

but now you are light in the Lord.

Live as children of light. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather what?

Expose them. Turn on the light. Let the light shine.

And as we see in this next slide here, the gospel

doesn't just pull us out of darkness

it makes us light in

the lord amen jesus saves us from sin and for a new way of life one that's recognizably

different in a world that's fascinated with fear and death in other words y'all

your reaction to the world events should not be the same as your unsaved neighbor.

C.S. Lewis wrote, I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun, the S-U-N,

as I believe the sun has risen, he said, not only because I see it,

but because by it, I see everything else.

Let me say that again. C.S. Lewis wrote this. He said, I believe in Christianity

as I believe in the sun has risen, not because I see the sun,

but because by it, I see everything else.

You see, as we see in this next point, when the gospel opens our eyes,

we don't merely see the light.

We see by the light. Do you know the difference? We see by the light.

Our relationships, Eastwood, our words, our choices, even our Halloween or whatever

you want to put there, it can be anything.

Because this leads us to this last point up here. Everything gets reframed by Jesus. Everything.

Everything gets reframed by Jesus. Well, what does living as light look like?

You know, because of the gospel, guess what, church? We walk differently.

Does that mean like the way my gate? No, that means the way I live my life, right?

My walk, my way of life is different than those who don't know Christ.

You know how I walk? Let me give you some ways my life does this and your life

does it as a child of God. Not in fear.

First John 1, 5 says, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Not in compromise. Romans 12, 2 says, do not be conformed to this world,

but what? Be transformed.

And then, but as witnesses, 1 Peter 2, 9 says, that you may, what?

That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness

and into his marvelous light. We are not retreatists.

We are ambassadors.

2 Corinthians 5.20 says, we don't dim the light to be acceptable.

We raise the light to be helpful.

I think a lot of us in our culture today, as Christians or professing Christians,

whatever, we kind of dim our light to be acceptable instead of raising the light.

Dallas Willard actually liked to say this. He said, discipleship is learning

to live your life as Jesus would live it if he were you.

On your street, with your neighbors, in your October or whatever season of life.

You see, Corrie Ten Boone, actually, her quiet courage reminds us,

she said this, she said, there is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still. Wow.

So we carry, church, that love into places where fear usually sets the tone.

That means we need to all have wise discernment. Wise discernment.

Now, yeah, I said this was somewhat about Halloween, but I'm not,

hey, look, this is with anything.

Just have wise discernment. Let me help you today do this according to God's

word and the principles, because walking as light is not about paranoia.

It's about discernment. Here you go. First of all, ask, ask,

does this practice I'm about to do, no matter what it is, celebrate fear or showcase hope.

Does it celebrate fear or showcase hope? Number two, aim.

Can I do this in a way that honors Christ and blesses others?

Wow. And then our last one, go ahead and put that next one up on the aim there. Yep.

Can I do this in a way that honors Christ and blesses others?

And then our last one on the next slide, we also need to act.

But will my involvement in whatever create space for kindness,

prayer, or gospel conversation?

Y'all, it just comes down. Are we going to live as children of light or are

we going to walk in darkness?

You know, Philippians chapter 2 verse 15 pictures us shining like the stars,

Philippians 2:15

by the way, in a dark sky in this world.

Let me kind of read it to you here. Let me read it. That you may be blameless

and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted

generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Stars don't compete with darkness. They simply shine.

On Halloween night, just think for a moment, some homes go dark to avoid the chaos.

Others turn on the porch light. Imagine your home as a beacon though this year.

Think about it. Warm lights, friendly faces.

Who likes hot cocoa? I mean, come on, who does?

I mean, Miss Martha makes some of the meanest hot cocoa I've ever had in my

mouth. You know what I'm saying? I mean, people love that, but think about all that.

Maybe a candy for kids and people who maybe have other challenges.

I don't know, allergy-free candy. Is there such a thing? I think there is.

A simple, how can we be praying for you this week?

Maybe a card on the table no speeches no pressure just hospitality that porch

becomes a small parable of the gospel think about it light.

Welcome and grace, meeting people where they are.

As Teresa of Avila was often quoted saying, she said, Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Your smile, in other words, your welcome, your words, these become the candle that changes the room.

See, the gospel doesn't call us to hide from the darkness, but to outshine it.

We live in the world without being of it.

Resisting compromise, rejecting fear, and reflecting Jesus so that in a season

that is obsessed with shadows, and that could be any season of life,

people encounter the warm, steady light of Christ.

You see, because we're living fearlessly in a world full of fear.

You know, I said earlier, Halloween thrives on fear, just entertainment, right?

The world barkets it, celebrates it, even laughs at it.

But for followers of Jesus, we have to know there is a real fear,

but fear is no longer the final word.

1 John 4, 4 declares, as you read earlier, greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

That means no matter how real the darkness is or feels, Jesus is greater.

Evil exists, church, but it's defeated. Death still tries to whisper, though.

But guess what? According to 1 Corinthians 15, 55, it has lost its sting.

Wow. This season of life, whatever it is for you, you and I have a choice.

You can walk afraid of the shadows or you can walk in the light.

You can walk in darkness or you can walk as children of light in the midst of

a crooked and perverse generation.

This world needs believers in Christ who are going to stand on the gospel and his word.

That's where real hope comes from. Again, I told y'all earlier,

I'm in the party of the Lamb. But I want to tell you something.

Our government, our leaders, no matter who they are, not the answer.

The answer to this world's problems is not coming from a party.

It's coming from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You can live like

darkness wins, or you can live like victory is already secured.

You can be shaped by fear, any of us, or you can shine with hope.

Here's the truth we carry. Evil is real, but it's defeated. Colossians 2.15.

Darkness exists, but light always wins. John 1.5.

And fear speaks loudly, but grace speaks louder. Romans 8.15.

So here's the call to action today. Are you ready?

As we look on this final slide, we want to live differently. First of all, be alert.

Just like Peter told us, be alert. Know that there's a battle,

Eastwood, but don't live in panic.

Be wise.

Discern where God is leading you and how you can reflect him. Be hopeful.

Stand secure in Christ's victory. And then finally, be a light.

Let your home, let your words, your actions, and your life shine so brightly

that others can't help but notice the difference.

Jesus, if you remember, said in Matthew 5, 14, he said, you are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

That's your calling, Eastwood, to outshine the darkness, not by yelling louder

than the world, but by loving better than the world.

The final word of hope, man, when fear knocks, let grace answer.

When darkness rises, let the gospel remind you and me, the light is already one.

Look at it. Next slide, Ephesians 5, 8. Let's look at it together.

For you were once darkness, but now you're what? Light in the Lord.

So walk fearlessly, live boldly, shine brightly, because in Christ,

you are already victorious.

You're already victorious. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you for everyone here today.

Father, I pray today, I know this is a wake-up call for me, Lord,

but every one of us, Lord, to realize that we need to walk as children of light.

Lord, help us to live in the light.

Lord, help us to shine the light of the gospel.

Help us to give hope to a lost and dying world in need of you, Lord.

Lord, even though none of us in our own strength and our own nature would say,

yes, Lord, you're my king.

Help us to do that, Lord, as we surrender before you, Lord, knowing you are

truly the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

And you've already laid out for us in your word so much to everything we need to know.

And God, it's just a matter of whether we believe it or not,

whether we're going to choose to believe it, whether we're going to continue

to stand in darkness or whether we're going to stand in the light and walk as

children of light. It's up to us.

What are we going to choose, Lord. Help us to choose wisely.

Help us to choose wisely in what you have shown in your word, Lord.

Help us not rely on the crumbling systems of man, but to stand firm and be part

of your kingdom that is an eternal kingdom that will never fade,

that will never fail, that will never fall.

Help us to do that today, Lord.