Singing with Confidence—and the Difference Faith Makes

We sang some really cool songs, some glorious songs, and we sang them with confidence that some of you might not have, right? A confidence that we’ve been saved—a confidence in what God has done for you. And a number of you here, rightly, aren’t sure. My hope is that by the end of camp, every one of you will be able to say, “Yeah, I trust the Lord, and I know what that looks like. I know what walking by faith will be, and I’m committed to do it.” Or, “I’m not there yet.”

If you’re a Christian, no one here is too young to be saved. I want you to know, when you sing those words, that they’re yours. Many of you know that the Bible is true, right? Many of you believe that there’s one God. Many of you know that Jesus died on the cross. And many people going to hell also know all of those things to be true. In fact, the demons—for whom hell was made—know all of those things to be true.

Knowing the truth—as in, you know those things are true in your mind, you can say them, maybe even explain them—does not make you saved. Do you know what the difference is between Christians and non-Christians, between saved and not saved? Faith. It’s faith. It’s knowing those things and having a life that is changed in line with that knowledge, right? You can say, “I know a bridge is strong.” You know in your mind that if you walk across one of those bridges that swings, it’s going to be strong enough to hold you to the end if you did it. But if you don’t trust it deep down in your heart, you’re not going to step out onto that bridge.

From Darkness to Light: The Reality of Salvation

Christians have been saved from darkness to walk in light. That’s what the Bible says. He says all of us start in something called the domain of darkness, or living in darkness—dead in our sins. And when God saves somebody, He transfers them from darkness to light, death to life. He does that by grace, through faith.

The lives of every single person who’s gone from darkness to light, death to life—everyone who’s made that transfer—their lives are going to look different. Are they saved because of their different life? No. Their life is different because they’ve been saved. That’s critical.

We’re going to look at this camp’s key verse, this camp’s theme, to help you guys know what walking by faith looks like. So open up your Bible to Ephesians 5:15.

Watch Your Walk: Understanding Paul’s Command

Ephesians 5:15. The context here—Paul is saying, “Because Christians have been saved from darkness to walk in light,” he gives some critical commands. The first command, and if you open up your notebook on that first page, you’ll see a blank. The blank is: watch your walk. That’s the first of the three commands Paul gives us. He says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.” We’re going to have to unpack what that means.

His first command is, look how you walk. What does that mean? You first have to know what it means to walk. What does Paul mean when he says “walk”? The word literally means to walk—to put one foot in front of the next. How did you get here today from the cafeteria? You walked, right? You put one foot in front of the next, down a path that led in this direction.

What if you saw somebody walking up the hill, and you say, “Where are you going?” They say, “Oh, I’m going to the main session, I’m going to the gym so I can listen to the message.” But they’re walking the other way. Their steps, their walk, is going in the wrong direction. They might think they’re going one way, but they’re going the wrong way.

The Bible talks about the way that we live—our actions, our thoughts, actually everything, every single thing that you do—as a walk. The New Testament, especially Paul, loves this phrase, but most of the New Testament authors use it. Imagine your life as a path headed in a direction. Your life will look a certain way, and when you die, or right before you die, you’ll look back and say, “How did I live my life?” It was the sum total of all the different steps that you took, the different decisions you made, the motives that underlay them. Over time, those steps create a pattern.

The biblical understanding is that we are all walking. Every single person in the world is walking. Paul says, “Take note. Look how you walk. Take note of it and be purposeful in it.” Everybody’s walking. How are you walking? Don’t do it aimlessly. Look carefully how you’re walking.

Two Paths: The Direction of Your Life

Let’s think about this walk a little bit more. The Bible doesn’t just say everybody’s walking, but it says everybody’s walking in one of two ways. There’s only two ultimate directions of your life, right? You’re either heading towards God and eternal life, or away from Him with the rest of the world. That’s what Jesus says in Matthew 7:13: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. But the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

The way is the culmination of your steps, your walk. You’re walking on one of two paths. All of us are born onto the path that—if you look at Ephesians 2:1, Paul uses this term “walk” five or six times in Ephesians. Let’s look there. Just go back a page—Ephesians 2:1. All of us started our lives walking in a certain way. He says, “You were dead.” He’s talking to Christians who are now alive. Some of you here are still dead. You might not know it. Some of you are dead and you do know it.

“You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” Who were they following? Because walking is putting one decision in front of the next. Who were they following? The prince of the power of the air—that’s Satan—the spirit that’s now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom (look at your Bible in verse 3) we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind. That’s a lot of words.

What drives—what motivates—the old way of walking? Do you see it there? It’s the carrying out the desires. What’s a desire? Who can define desire? Something you want. Yep, that’s exactly right. The way the world walks, the way all of us walk when we’re born and the whole world walks, is that your mind and your body say, “This is what I want to do,” and then you do that thing. The next decision is driven by a desire—a desire to do what? Carry out the desires of my body and mind. Basically, “I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to do what makes me happy.” And who are you ultimately following? Not God, but Satan.

If you look forward just two chapters—4:17—Paul commands the Ephesians, “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.” The word Gentile here is just somebody who doesn’t believe in God. Don’t walk like people who don’t know God, in the futility of their minds. Christians must not walk the way nonbelievers do. Why? The next verse says it. People who don’t believe in God, when they follow—they basically follow the heart. Have you heard that expression? The world loves it: “Just follow your heart.” If you dream it, you can accomplish it.

Here’s the way your heart will lead you if you’re following it, if that heart hasn’t been changed. Look at Ephesians 4:18. First, their mind is darkened—alienated from the life of God. Their mind, their walking, is a certain way because their mind is darkened. Their mind is still in the dark, not the light. Light is God; darkness is sin. Because of the ignorance—lack of knowledge. It might not be that they don’t know the truth, like we said at the beginning; they might know that God is real. They might even know that Jesus died on the cross. They might even know that the only way to heaven is belief in Jesus. But there’s an ignorance, something in their mind that doesn’t let them believe it. And it’s a hardness of heart.

The Bible says, “Don’t follow your heart.” When you’re stringing together the steps of your life, you don’t follow your heart—at least not the dead one. You don’t follow Satan. You don’t follow the world. That’s the way the world goes. They go one way, but Christians are going another way. There’s no middle path. There’s no, like, “Hey, this is heaven, that’s hell, there’s the wide gate, that’s the narrow gate, I’m going to head that way and see what happens.” There’s no in-between. God doesn’t save you to meander. He saves you—you were going this way, and, have you heard the word repentance? Repentance means what? To turn around and go the other way.

God’s Purpose in Saving You: Walking in Good Works

This is where Paul says, and he uses the word “walk.” We’re going to go fast here so you can see it. I’m going to read Ephesians 2:10. Why does God save people? You probably have Ephesians 2:8–9 memorized. If you don’t, you should. God says that you are saved by grace through faith, not of works so that no man can boast. Then what does he say? “For we are his workmanship.” If you’ve been saved, God saved you not because you did good works, but He saved you. You are His workmanship. He’s made you new.

And why did He do that? If you have your Bibles, look down at 2:10—Ephesians 2:10. Look what it says. He saved you for a reason. What’s the reason? He didn’t save you because you did something; He saved you apart from anything you did. But He saved you for doing something. Who sees it? For good works. And do you see what He says? So that you will walk in them.

God says, “You were going one way, completely away from Him, and I’m going to change you, turn you around.” And do you know what? This path forward has a lot of good works that, before the world even started—think about that, eternity past—God says, “I’m going to save that person, I’m going to give them good works so that they walk in them.” You think you’re going to walk in them if you do what your own heart wants to do? No. You’re going to walk in them if your mind is no longer darkened but enlightened. The good thing is, Ephesians 1 says that’s what God does when He saves you and when He changes your heart.

Commands for the Christian Walk

He commands in Ephesians 4:1: “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you’ve been called.” Do you see how different that is from the old walk? Don’t walk in the futility of your mind. Don’t walk following Satan. Walk in good works. Walk worthy of the gospel. Walk in love—Ephesians 5:2. And then Ephesians 5:8 says, “At one time, Christian, you were darkness, but now you are light. Your entire person changed. You were dark; now you’re light. Walk as children of light.” And now we get to the command: “Look carefully how you walk.”

Walk Carefully: The Need for Purpose and Intentionality

So as we look at how we walk, what do we do? We do it with intentionality. So much of what you guys do—listen to me here—kids are marked by lack of carefulness, lack of thought, lack of direction. It’s so easy to go through life and just do the next thing because it’s the next thing in front of you, or it’s the thing all your friends are doing, or maybe because it’s the thing your heart really wants to do, without thinking: Where is that thing going to lead me?

Paul says, “Look carefully.” That word could be “look accurately” how you walk. It’s so critical that we walk carefully, because eternity is at stake here. Have you ever—who here likes to hike? I love hiking, and for some reason, I like hiking on really steep things with big cliffs, where if I fall off, I’ll probably die. The way I walk when I’m on that cliff edge—have any of you ever done that? You’re like, “Oh shoot, if I step just a few inches or if this rock doesn’t hold, this isn’t going to go well.” I don’t necessarily commend it to you, but it is sort of fun. But when you do that, every step is placed very carefully, right? You’re not walking and texting when you’re on the edge of a cliff. You’re not walking and looking up at the sky when your next step might take you over the edge.

The way you walk in this life proves the kind of person you are. If you hear this command, “Look carefully how you walk,” and you say, “I don’t want to,” that tells me you don’t have faith. You’re living for yourself. God says, “Do it,” and you say, “I don’t want to.” Or maybe you say, “Sure, I want to,” but you don’t do it. That reveals something about your heart. Guys, eternity is at stake. This is a bigger deal than falling off that cliff.

A Life on the Balance Beam: The Stakes of Careless Walking

I want you to imagine something. Imagine you’re on a long balance beam. If you can get all the way to the end of it, there’s a really big treasure—the biggest treasure you could imagine. The balance beam’s a little bit thin, and there’s not many people on the balance beam with you. In fact, they’re telling you there’s not really treasure at the end. They say it’s too hard to walk that balance. They jump off because it looks easier down below.

Jesus says, “Walk that narrow path. Follow me. There will be pleasures forevermore at my Father’s right hand.” In Ephesians 2, He promises that at the end of salvation, when this life is over, do you know what God says is there? Ages and ages and ages to come, and God’s purpose in those ages is to actually lavish the gifts of grace on you. His purpose in saving you is to give you the glorious riches that He has prepared for you. The greatest gift is Himself. We get to be with God forever, free from sin. He is going to show us the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness for us.

There is, on the end of this narrow way, amazing treasure. Whether you believe it or not, it’s there. And there’s destruction if you don’t go that direction. So it’s not just theoretical—watch your steps, make sure your steps are on this balance beam aiming at God. The whole world—you’re going to look weird if you do this, because the whole world is going the other way. The whole world isn’t doing this. There are only two walks.

Walk carefully, purposefully, accurately, with each step. You don’t walk just in a silly, dumb way or in a careless way on a balance beam; you put each foot right where it needs to go.

Walking in the Light: Proverbs and the Importance of Each Step

That’s what Proverbs 4:25 says. I want you to turn there. While you do, imagine walking on that balance beam. Would it be easier to walk on the balance beam in the dark or the light? Obviously, in the light. If it was pitch dark, you might not even know there’s a balance beam there. You couldn’t see the dangers on either side, and you couldn’t see the treasure at the end.

Jesus says in John 12:35, “The one who walks in darkness”—same word—“doesn’t know where he’s going.” “You were in darkness; now you’re light. Walk as children of light.” And Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.”

One of the ways you walk carefully is to walk with wisdom. The book of Proverbs is designed, in part, to show you what a wise walk is, and it’s rooted in a fear of the Lord. Solomon says, “Here’s a good way to think about your steps in life: Let your eyes look directly forward, your gaze be straight in front of you.” Proverbs 4:25–26: “Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Don’t step carelessly.”

Let each step be saying, “I fear the Lord, not man. I want to please the Lord, not man.” Remember what each step is in life: it’s the next decision you do, the why you do it, and the what you do. Your eyes are looking straight ahead—Hebrews 12 says at Jesus. Don’t swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. You know where not to go if there’s evil, if there’s sin.

You can’t say as a Christian, “It’s okay, I’ll just play with sin. Jesus will forgive me.” It’s terrifying if you right now think, “I’ll just turn back to Jesus later. My heart—something’s calling to me right now, like I should repent, I know I’m heading this way towards sin, but something’s saying I should turn and believe. I’m having too much fun; I’ll do that later.” It’s a dangerous game you’re playing. Your heart will grow more hardened. There is no better time to turn around, ponder the steps of your life, and aim that life at pleasing the Lord.

Everybody is walking. Everybody in this room is walking. So look carefully how you walk.

The Danger of Distraction: Illustration

I’m going to show you a video of a person who didn’t look carefully how they walked, right? They were walking in a direction. They were walking, and they weren’t thinking about their feet. They were just doing the next step. Eyes weren’t up; they weren’t looking where they were going. This is a helpful illustration of what happens if you just do the next thing without your eyes looking at Jesus.

Heather, can you play that? Oh, can we see that? What is she doing? She’s walking. She’s texting. Little does she know there’s danger right ahead. She falls in the pit. That thing went down like six feet. The firefighters had to get her out. She was almost hurt. That looks silly.

Did she know that walking and texting on a busy street was a bad idea? Yes. Do you guys know that doing sin is a bad idea? Yes. Do you know that it’s actually better if you follow Jesus? Yes. And yet, if you know those things and you’re distracted with your life, with entertainment, with sin, you’re going to be like this lady. You’re not even going to see the danger right in front of you. God’s word says it’s a lamp to your feet, a light to your path. But if you don’t have your eyes on God’s word—if your eyes are somewhere else—there’s danger right in front of you. It would have warned you, “Don’t go there.” And you have your eyes somewhere else.

God gave you His word to know where to go, so you don’t fall in that hole, fall off a cliff, or go through the wide gate. Think about each step.

Making the Best Use of Time

What’s the next thing that Paul says? “Look carefully how you walk—not as unwise but as wise.” This isn’t the wisdom of the world; this is God’s wisdom. God defines His wisdom, so walk the way that God would want you to walk. This isn’t the first time Paul uses the word “wisdom” in the book. Back in Ephesians 1, he says when he saves Christians, He gives them a spirit of wisdom—it’s the Holy Spirit that makes you wise.

Walk by the Spirit, not by what you think is wise. You say, “Okay, I want to make a wise decision with my life: Should I go to college? Should I move away from home? Should I stay home? Should I get a job? Should I be friends with this person? Should I cheat on that test? Should I speak in this?” Whatever the example is, you say, “I’m going to do the wise thing.” Don’t let wisdom be defined by what your mind thinks, what your friends think, but by what God’s word says and what His Holy Spirit says.

And then it says, “Making the best use of time.” Do you see that in verse 16? Look down at your Bibles—verse 16 of Ephesians 5: “Look carefully how you walk, making the best use of time.” That translation is a little bit—they’re trying to help you understand it, because if they said “buying the opportunities,” that wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Literally, the word for “making the best use of” is like a word for purchase—the word in Galatians for “redeem,” to buy. The word “time” here isn’t like time on a clock, but it’s like opportunities.

Your Life Is Like an Hourglass: Numbering Your Days

Imagine your life—remember what we said, God saved you so you would walk in good works. Your life, if you’re a Christian—God says, “All right, look carefully how you walk, buying every opportunity, using your time, using your opportunities like a merchant on a trip looking for a good deal.” You’re like, “There it is—I’m going to buy it! There it is—I’m going to buy it!” These are good works—good works that God prepared for you. You’re walking, saying, “What would please the Lord? I’m looking for every opportunity I can to please the Lord, to honor the Lord with my life.” Can you use your time like money? “I’m going to use that time—not waste it—to honor the Lord.” When you go through life with your eyes open, living according to wisdom, you’re going to see an opportunity to do good. That’s what you’re looking for—looking to please the Lord with your opportunities.

“And it says, ‘because the days are evil.’” If you’re a Christian, there will be so many days that will not be lived in an evil world set against God, but the days we live in now, we live in a world that hates God. If you don’t walk carefully, one step in front of the other, eyes on Jesus, you’re going to drift. You might want to be like the world. This is why you have to keep your eyes in God’s word, keep your eyes on God. We’ll talk about that in some breakout sessions.

Reading the Bible isn’t just so you have better ideas in your mind, so you can answer questions. It’s not just to please your parents, or because that’s what Christians do. It’s so that you can know God and what pleases Him, so you can put the steps of your life carefully in front of you.

Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days.” Each of you has a limited number of days in your life. “Teach us to number our days so that we can get a heart of wisdom.” Your life is like an hourglass. Have you ever seen an hourglass, maybe in games where you turn it over and the sand falls through and it’s a timer? Your life is like that. You don’t know how much time you have. Right before this verse in Psalms, the author says maybe you’ll get seventy years in life, maybe if you’re really strong, eighty, but your life is like an hourglass filled with sand, rapidly slipping through.

Tyler, can you show them our camp logo? I want you to think of this illustration. You’re going to have this on your back every time you read. That’s an hourglass, and it has the Greek word for wisdom. Teach us to number our days so that we can get wisdom.

Look carefully how you walk—not as unwise but wise. Use your time, your walk, wisely. Your life is like an hourglass filled with sand, and it’s constantly slipping through. Opportunities are passing. The temptation is to try to use your time selfishly, focusing on this tiny hourglass like this life is all there is. Wisdom means stepping back, counting your days in light of eternity—stepping back, seeing clearly that once your personal hourglass empties, all that sand falls through, and there’s an infinite beach filled with infinite grains of sand. Time won’t stop.

But it’s only this hourglass—this life in this world that hates God—where you have opportunities to please the Lord, the good works that He saved you for. You will have infinite opportunities for infinite ages to come to please Him, but you don’t get many grains in this life. It might not feel like that to you, but if you knew your hourglass was just a brief introduction to eternity, wouldn’t you want to make every grain count? Wouldn’t you urgently want each grain to please the Lord?

Counting Your Days: A Perspective on Life’s Shortness

Kids, don’t foolishly waste your sand, your opportunities, your days. Live wisely by investing—by grabbing every opportunity, spending your time on all those opportunities to please the Lord.

Think about it this way: If you’re 13, how many kids here are 13? If you’re 13, keep your hand up—about 4,700 days of your life have passed. That’s a lot. And if God gives you seventy years—not guaranteed—you’ve got 20,800 days left. That might sound like, “Okay, I’m good, I’ve got lots of opportunities.” In one sense, you do, but then you realize you’ve already used up a fifth of your hourglass.

Think of your school week—on Monday, doesn’t it feel like Friday’s so far away? If you’re 13, it’s already Tuesday. If you’re 13, it’s already Tuesday. Who’s 15 here? Tuesday afternoon, or Tuesday late morning. Who’s 18? If you’re 18, you’ve used 6,500 of your days. That’s Tuesday afternoon, and your week is moving faster. Who’s around—who’s in their 40s? Me too. Over 16,000 days. And if our life is a five-day week, it’s already Thursday morning. It’s almost Friday. It’s almost done. And that’s if we get seventy years—we’re not guaranteed that. God knows our days. He planned them and He gave those opportunities.

Look carefully how you walk, with your way illuminated by God’s word, saying, “How can I please Him?” Walk wisely. Don’t waste another day of your life. Redeem each moment wisely; spend them on knowing God, loving others, investing in eternity. When you read God’s word, say, “God, help me know you and know how to please you. I don’t want to miss these opportunities that you’ve given me. Let me walk by faith. Let me walk by the Spirit. Let me walk in a way worthy of what you’ve saved me to be.”

Don’t Be Foolish—God Has Saved You for Wisdom

Now we get to the second command. Finally, we’re in number two. What does he say? You see it? He says, “Therefore, don’t be foolish.” Don’t be foolish. God saved us from the evil days and their futility to know Him. Therefore, don’t be a fool. Think about that logic. It makes sense. You used to be ignorant—remember what it said? Your mind was darkened. You were ignorant because of unbelief.

The world is living like there’s no eternity. The world is living like there’s—God, that they’re going to gain the whole world. The most successful ones—Elon Musk, who’s the richest person in the world—he’s richer than most countries. So what? He’s going to die. His grains are done, and there’s infinitely many. For what was he living? “He’s no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Don’t be a fool.

God saved you from your foolish days. If you’re a Christian, if you’re not a Christian—if you haven’t put your faith in Christ, if you’re living for yourself—I’ll just say it, because the Bible does: You’re a fool. You are a fool. You are living for something that will be destroyed. You will stand before a Judge who says, “What did you do with the days I gave you?” And you say, “I lived for myself.” He says, “Depart from me into everlasting punishment prepared for the devil and his angels.” And if you walk carefully, pleasing the Lord, He’ll say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest.” Not because of what you did, but because of what He did through you.

There is nobody walking the wide path, nobody walking in darkness, who—apart from repentance and faith—ends up in heaven. And there’s nobody going to heaven who walks in that darkness.

Watch your walk. How are you living? This is crucial—more crucial than walking on the edge of a cliff. Look where your feet are going and ask, “Why am I going there? Why did I do that thing?” If it was for the wrong reasons, confess it and repent. If it was for the right reasons, give God the glory—He did that, He changed your heart.

Don’t be foolish. In the world, you’re going to be surrounded by fools. If you have non-Christian friends, if you have friends here who don’t believe God and they tell you to do something foolish—don’t follow them. Say, “What’s the next thing I need to do? Where is that headed?”

Understand the Lord’s Will

Finally, the last command: Understand the Lord’s will. How do you know where to step? Well, you have to know what the Lord wants. How do you know the Lord’s will? First, He opens the eyes of your heart to see and believe. That’s why it’s not merely enough to read God’s word and say, “Okay, I got the information, but I’m not going to believe it.” Because you can know the Lord’s will in a way that doesn’t do it. This is a different kind of know—this is a know the Lord’s will in a way that does what pleases Him.

But the Lord’s will isn’t hidden or mysterious. It’s not like, “Oh, I wonder if God wants me to go to school today or not, or I wonder if God wants me to put the blue shirt on or the black.” That’s not what He’s talking about. He’s saying, “Know what pleases the Lord and do it. Turn away from evil, turn towards godliness.” God’s word is the lamp to your feet, the light to your path. We know the Lord’s will in God’s word.

Psalm 119:130 says, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” If you’re going to understand what the Lord’s will is, you get that where? In God’s word. Every time you read God’s word, you should pray: God, help me pay attention. We have the saying, Lubot, over at Grace: “God, help me listen. Make me understand. Make me believe it. Make me obey it. Make me trust.” Let every step be placed right where it’s going to go, in a way that pleases You.

Conclusion: Look, Think, Step

So we’re going to go to discussion groups. I want you to be honest with your discussion leader. Talk through these things: Are you looking at the paths of your feet? Why do you do the things that you do? Where are you before God? Think, “How do I put this into practice? Where do I want to go?” I want to go towards godliness. I want to look, and I want to think, “What’s going to please God?” And then do that thing.

So we’re going to have a mantra: Look, think, step. Write that down. Say it together. That’s a good way to walk carefully. Look where you want to go. “I’m aiming at godliness. I’m keeping my eyes straight ahead.” Think: Is the thing I’m about to do going to take me that direction, or a different direction? And then do the thing. If you look and you think and you hold still, it doesn’t help you. If you look and you think, “All right, I need to go towards godliness,” and then you choose sin, that’s not going to help.

Look, think, step. Look carefully how you walk. Understand what the Lord’s will is, and then do what a wise person who’s been saved would do.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

God, I pray that you would—I just pray for every single person here. First, for the saved, for those who’ve been brought from death to life, from darkness to light, that you would help this teaching, help everything at camp, make them walk better in a way that pleases you. None of us will walk perfectly until we’re glorified, but God, I pray that we would be sanctified.

And for those who know that they are your enemies—or who are your enemies and don’t know it—I pray that you would break their hearts and save them. May today be the day of salvation where they begin walking in wisdom, by the Spirit, because you save them by grace through faith. We need a savior; we need you.

In Jesus’ name, amen.