DOUBLE EXPOSURE
Eph. 5:8-16
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Squeaky clean
1. One young woman decided to try clean her purse by throwing it into the washing machine—with the rest of the laundry. Her younger brother was startled, and asked, “Why are you washing your purse?”
2. Their father, who overheard them talking, shouted from the next room, “She’s money laundering!” [Shinae Hartley]
B. IDEA
1. How many of you like to take pictures with your phone? How many of you would say photography is a hobby of yours?
2. Tonight we’re going to see how our lives are like film in a camera. I’m wondering what kind of image are you putting on your film? We’re going to see that it’s best if we bring our private life into the Light of God’s examination.
3. The title of tonight’s message is “Double Exposure.”
I. THE MYSTERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
A. IMAGES – FROZEN IN TIME?
1. The photographic process itself was -- and still is -- mysterious. A piece of film is exposed to the light, and images are left -- Images where the light has reflected off people... buildings... things. Anything that reflects light leaves an image on the film.
2. Photographs have often captured things in the background that were unintended:
a. Australian field hockey player Jayde Taylor took a selfie of herself and a friend and they spotted, in the background, Queen Elizabeth, who had joined the picture!
b. The Myers family took a photo together outside the Capital building in Madison, Wisconsin, but when they looked at the picture, they discovered their picture had captured a thief, breaking into the building! It’s amazing what has been caught in pictures.
B. PHOTOS ARE NOW REGULARLY ALTERED
1. Photographic technology has advanced greatly in recent years. We can now digitally enhance photos – that is, scan a picture into a computer and then make changes to it digitally.
2. I remember the story of the photographer who took a family portrait. Afterward, one of the ladies in the picture came to his office and asked if he could “slim-down” her waist. He said, “Sure. I can do that.” The woman then pointed to a skinny woman in the picture, and asked, “Can you add weight to her figure?”
3. I’ve heard of a family who REMOVED a person from family pictures after a difficult divorce. All of the pictures were 'digitally enhanced;' no trace of the woman remained in the family pictures.
4. I heard of another family that ADDED a person into the family portraits. He was in the military and couldn't be there when some of the portraits were taken. So they simply added him into the pictures of the family.
C. THE DANGERS OF PHOTOS BEING ALTERED
1. That’s why “deepfakes” are such a worrisome issue today. Deepfakes are images or recordings that have been convincingly altered to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that they never did or said.
2. Star Wars CGI (computer generated imagery) can take photos of old or deceased actors (when they were younger) and make them walk & talk, do things & say things, they never did, in movies.
3. It used to be that a photograph was a snapshot in time. It revealed what was actually in front of the camera at a particular place and a particular time. That’s all become a little sketchy now.
4. Then, there’s DOUBLE EXPOSURE. Many times in history, people have accidentally taken two pictures with the same frame of film, resulting in a 'double exposure.' I BELIEVE ALL OF US WILL EXPERIENCE DOUBLE EXPOSURE – EITHER NOW, OF OUR OWN FREE WILL, OR AT THE JUDGMENT!
II. WHAT KIND OF FILM ARE YOU DEVELOPING?
A. OUR LIVES ARE LIKE PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM
1. Our lives are like that photographic film. We want the world, and God, to see what we put on that film, but God’s penetrating vision exposes what others do not see.
2. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)...11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them....13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible....15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Eph. 5:8-9,11,13,15-16 NIV
B. ARE WE LIVING 2 KINDS OF LIVES?
1. There are two kinds of lives being lived: those in the Light & those in the Dark. Both will be exposed by the Lord.
2. DEFINITION OF A HYPOCRITE is one who assumes a false appearance; one who engages in the same behavior or activity which they criticizes in others, or they claim to have moral standards or beliefs not borne out by their behavior.
3. URBAN DICTIONARY gives an example of a hypocrite: “A 300-pound man who has a bumper-sticker reading, ‘NO FAT CHICKS’ on the back of his 1987 Honda Civic Hatch Back.”
4. But God is not fooled by what’s on the surface.
C. KEEPING SECRETS FROM GOD IS IMPOSSIBLE
1. The word “secret” means “keeping one's thoughts and activities unknown to others; concealed.”
2. Isaiah 29:15, “Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”
3. Jeremiah 23:24, “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.”
4. Luke 8:17, “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.”
5. Keeping anything from God is impossible since God is omnipresent. HE ALREADY KNOWS EVERY DETAIL OF OUR LIVES, HIDDEN OR NOT. The only wise course is to ‘come-clean’ with God.
III. SOLUTION? COME INTO THE LIGHT, 2nd EXPOSURE
A. IT TAKES COURAGE TO FACE GOD
1. John 3:19, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
2. The hacking of Adultery website “Ashley Madison” a few years ago publicly exposed many high-ranking people, BUT NONE OF THEIR BEHAVIOR WAS EVER HIDDEN FROM GOD!
3. WE SHOULDN’T BE AFRAID TO BE HONEST WITH GOD ABOUT OUR SIN! THE LORD’S MERCY IS GREAT! (2 Sam. 24:14)
B. GOD WILL TRANSFORM YOU, MAKE YOU CLEAN!
1. The power of the Gospel has been tried on the petrified hearts of alcoholics, hard-hearted criminals, and fiendish gang members, and it not only penetrated them, but melted them, and changed them into hearts of fire for God.
2. Since God can see through our subterfuge, it’s only smart to confess our sins NOW. Paul said, “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going on to judgment; and in some men they follow after” 1 Tim. 5:24. If we deal with our sins now, then at the Judgment, there won’t be anything to expose. It will only be joy!
3. Think about how the light of Christ shines through us, as similar to a rainbow. We need the Sun to have a rainbow, but we also need rain (trials). God shines His Sunlight through the bad of the rain to make a beautiful and wonderful treasure.
4. Likewise, the light of God shines through the faults of our lives and still produces a wonderful image – a beautiful rainbow! God’s ways are such a mystery!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: The Executioner
1. One time many years ago, the king of Hungary found himself depressed and unhappy. He sent for his brother, a good-natured but rather indifferent prince.
2. The king said to him, “I am a great sinner; I fear to meet God.” But the prince only laughed at him. This didn’t help the king’s disposition any. Though he was a believer, the king had gotten a glimpse of his guilt, for the way he’d been living lately, and he seriously wanted help.
3. In those days it was customary, if the executioner sounded a trumpet before a man’s door at any hour, it was a signal that he was to be led to his execution.
4. The king sent the executioner in the dead of night to sound the fateful blast at his brother’s door. The prince realized, with horror, what was happening.
5. Quickly dressing, he stepped to the door and was seized by the executioner, and dragged pale and trembling into the king’s presence. In an agony of terror, he fell on his knees before his brother and begged to know how he had offended him.
6. “My brother,” answered the king, “if the sight of a human executioner is so terrible to you, shall not I, having grievously offended God, fear to be brought before the judgment seat of Christ?” [Walk Through Rewards]
B. THE CALL
1. This story is good for reflection. Are we ready to face God at the Judgment Seat? Are all our sins under the blood?
2. Some of you may be going through trials. Remember, it takes sunshine and rain to make a rainbow. Let’s pray for God’s grace for you to face your trials – knowing the beauty that God will make out of them.
3. PRAYER.
[This is a rewrite of Randy Quinn’s article of the same name.]
