Darkened - Disobedience Series

21 States of Man without God

(Second in series)

In the continuation of our series about the 21 states of man without God we will look at the five Ds of our condition that cause us to live apart from God. These five Ds are: darkened, dead in sin, deceived, defiled or filthy, and disobedience. And as I mentioned at the start of this series when we look at these conditions that we find ourselves in, we will need to reflect very carefully upon what it is that we desire most in our lives: to live temporally in this world, which means we are spending more time working on the worldly things and little to no time on the spiritual things. Those spiritual things include reading the Bible, spending time in prayer with God, finding time to worship God, and spending time in service to God through a church and fellowship with other Christian believers. In so doing, we are led to understand and accept the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus, living an eternal life in heaven. While being worldly leads us away from God to live a life of eternity in the lake of fire. And in so looking at our condition we should realize that we do need to turn to the One True and Living God to save us from ourselves.

1. Darkened

a. This is the state where our spiritual vision becomes clouded and blurred so that light cannot come into the soul. And this concept we find in Matthew 6:22-23:

b. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

c. Here is where we get the saying “The eyes are the windows to the soul”. In this scripture Jesus is saying that if the eyes were in good condition, the body would receive plenty of good light which is used by the brain to form our thoughts and ideas of Christ as our Lord and Savior. And as Jesus so often does, He uses this parable to show how, due to our desire to not see God, our spiritual state is darkened.

d. A website called the "Experience Project" describes itself as the place to share "life experiences from people like you." (As of November 2016 the site has had over 36 million visitors. But the site is now gone) Visitors to the site are asked to share their thoughts about life experiences by answering questions like "What does loneliness feel like?" or "Who do you want to spend time with?" or "What is your favorite pastime?" In one post, readers were asked to respond to the following statement: "I prefer darkness over light." A young woman going by the screen name "Beyond Repair" offered a particularly honest—and insightful—response:

i. I prefer darkness over light. The darkness allows me to hide who I am and what I truly feel. In the light all things have a chance to be revealed …. Darkness makes it easier to hide. In the dark you cannot see what is coming next …. The darkness is a place where you can lose yourself. Lost in the dark is a great place to be because then you are free from what you were and can be what you want. The darkness is bliss.

e. In the darkness of our hearts we can hide from ourselves, never acknowledging the fact that we need to be saved. In that darkness we cannot see the truth, and therefore never having to acknowledge the need for a savior.

f. So, if your spiritual sight is healthy then so will your view of the One and True living God be, having a greater reverence toward Him, knowing that He sent His Son to save us from ourselves. And in having this healthy spiritual sight your personality will not be darkened.

g. So, let us do as Jesus says in this scripture “If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light”; now this is not a reference only one eye, but is a message that we have a fixed healthy vision or goal. And that goal being to serve God and God only.

2. Dead in sin

a. In this state we are spiritually dead and on our way to the lake of fire. But Jesus tells us that we can escape from this death trap:

b. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. ~John 5:24