Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light

SCRIPTURE: 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."

PROPOSITION: to use this text and others to show how much sinners love darkness, and also to show the great lengths that sinners are willing to go to in order to continue in sin, and also to show that Christ is the only way to be set free from sin.

1.) Why loving darkness is so heinous.

A.) Because it affects our good judgement. When a man is drunk with strong drink his judgements are skewed, and when a sinner is drunk with a love for sin and pride his mind lacks the ability to make good moral decisions. Romans 1:28 "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;"

B. Because a love for sin hardens the heart, calluses the conscience, and freezes the soul in impenatence. Romans 2:5 "But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;"

C. Because a love for sin shackles us and enslaves us. Romans 6:20 "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness."

D. Because a love for sin increases one's hatred for purity. John 3:20 "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."

E. Because a love for sin turns a mans mind into a sewage of sin causing a sinner to dwell upon that which is unwholesome, and to live out those sins he imagines in his heart. Genesis 6:5 "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

F. Because a love for sin conforms a man into the very image of "that old serpent the Devil."

Matthew 12:34 "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

G. Because a love for sin causes unregenerate men to suppress the truth in unrighteous. Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"

H. Because a love for sin causes natural men to "pervert the right ways of the Lord" Romans 1:26-27 "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."

J. Because a love for sin causes blind sinners to "change the truth of God into a lie" Isaiah 5:20 "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

K. Because a love for sin defiles a man from the inside out, until the whole body and being is corrupted. Romans 3:13-16 "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways:"

L. Because a love for sin dares a loving God who "takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked" to damn them eternally.

2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

2.) To what degree do unconverted men love darkness? This can only be measured by the depth of depravity that unconverted men sink into, and also what sinners are willing to give up instead of repenting of sin, and also the degree to which unconverted men are willing to go in order to justify sin.

A. Some sinners have sunk into such depths of depravity that they have done unspeakable evils, even riping up women with children with is a profound testimony to the depth of depravity that the human heart is capable off. 2 Kings 8:12 "And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child."