I Thessalonians 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
In the context of the book of Thessalonians, the “ye” here is in reference to those who are saved. Not all people are children of light. Paul has already made that clear in verse 4. There are those who are in darkness. He reminds us of that here in verse 5 as well.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
The children of darkness are those who are lost. We are all born in darkness. We are all born lost. Jesus Christ is the Light of the world and we must come to Him by faith and trust in Him for salvation.
II Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
Light and darkness cannot commune together. There is no common ground there. Light will expose the darkness. Darkness will flee from the light. It is God Who draws men to the Light. Those who are saved have been drawn to the Light of the world and have received the Light. We are thus children of the day. This light is not a physical, material light. It is the realization that we are lost and that God alone is the way of salvation.
In verse 6 we are exhorted not to sleep as others do. When a person is asleep, they do not know what is going on around them. That is what we see today. There are many people who can see that things are not right, but they have no understanding of why things are not right.
Those who are saved need to be in the Word of God faithfully and consistently in order to understand what is going on.
We have mentioned here several times what is going on over the past 2 years. We are not given the exact time of the end of this age. However, we are told what the character of the antichrist will be. We are told of the way the world will gather around this person and will gladly accept his rule even though he is called “the man of sin”. We have seen over the past number of years, how even professing Christians ignore the anti-God policies of politicians and yet they have gone to the polls and voted for these individuals. We have not had a law in this country to protect the unborn. We still do not have such a law. Murder is still considered a crime in Canada and yet there are thousands of babies murdered in this country and no politician is willing to say, “I will not be silent about this crime”. How can those who have been saved and are called the children of light, vote for people who will be silent on such an important matter.
What about the marching in the sodomite parades that are held in major cities across this country. In the last Conservative party leadership race, it seemed it was important for those running to declare whether they would march in these parades. How can those who are children of light agree with individuals who want to lead us and will lead children and others to accept sodomy as a normal part of life, when God hates it?
Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
God directed the apostle Paul to remind the saints that they have been changed by God. We are not of the night nor of the darkness.
In verse 6 we are told that because we are children of light, we should not sleep as others do. We are called to watch and be sober. We need to examine everything we hear and see in the light of God’s Word. We have the capacity to examine everything and we can make wise decisions. We know our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. We are to treat our bodies with care. Accepting the shots violates that fact. Early on, people did not know that much about the shots. According to the Nuremberg code, it is illegal to try to press a person to be used as a medical guinea pig without informed consent. No one was able to give informed consent when these shots were rolled out. To this day the officials are still trying to hide the facts.
When those who are children of light, fall for the ungodly plans of the wicked, how can they then give wise counsel on any other issue? We can all make mistakes. We do need to recognize when we have made a mistake and correct it so that others do not make the same mistake.
Being sober has to do with looking at all sides. It has to do with examining what is being said carefully and being sure we have the facts.
In verse 7 we are reminded further that those that sleep, sleep in the night. As we have already seen in verse 5, those who are saved are children of the day. Spiritually we cannot sleep. We do not need to sleep. We need to be awake and we need to be aware of what is truth and we need to warn against the many lies being spread, regarding the false ways of salvation, the false baptisms, the lack of Biblical separation, assuming that as long as a person names the name of Jesus, they must be on the right side. That is absurd thinking. Jesus certainly did not set the bar that low.
Paul also stated that those that are drunk are drunk in the night. Those who consume alcoholic drink lose their capacity to think clearly. They have a distorted view of reality and they cannot make wise decisions. Christians cannot be in that camp.
In verse 8 we are again challenged to be sober and to put on the breastplate of faith and love. The breast is an important part of the body. Vital organs are housed in the area of the breast. Spiritually, we need to increase our faith in the true God and we need to put our confidence fully in the true God, and not be deceived by the lies of the devil. James stated:
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
God is true. We can trust Him fully and if we are children of the day we must trust Him fully. We cannot help others if we are waffling. Love is that Godly love that cares enough about others to seek to warn them about the dangers of rejecting the truth and of the blessings of following the truth.
The helmet of the hope of salvation is also very important. The true child of God knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are saved and have eternal life now which will lead to a home in heaven. We need to protect our minds from the false teachers and the nay sayers who want to try to get us to doubt the truth.
There should always be an enthusiasm about our salvation. It should never get old and become mundane. It is special and it is a blessing. We need that helmet of the hope of salvation on at all times.
God provides us with His blessings. Those who are saved have so much even now. There is more to come in heaven, but we have so much now that we have been given. When we walk in the light of what we have, we can be a help to others.
Pastor Bartel
