LIGHT LIFE & HOPE IN JESUS
Many years ago my wife and I visited some caves in Somerset (UK). We went down quite deep until no daylight coud reach that far down. Thankfully, there were electric lights to show off the beauty of the rock formations and the underground lake. Just to ilustrate the darkness of the caves to this party of visitors, after a warning, the guide switched off all the lights. Suddenly all vision was gone, I became totally disorientated, in total darkness I had feelings of isolation, loss, fear and hopelessness! Then a child shouted, "Turn the lights on". As soon as light returned there was relief - all of us felt safer and alive again as we continued on with rhe guided tour.
What a difference the light makes!
Let's read a passage that tells of real light and real life. 1 John ch.1
My text today is John 8v12 "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life".
Without light we struggle in darkness, gloom, shadows, and unclear vision.
We can't see what's ahead of us, we've no idea if our next step will be secure or lead us to fall down.
But when the lights come on - all is revealed to our senses.
In our spiritual sense, it's Jesus who will give us that new light which illumines our way forward and brings clear vision of the kingdom of God.
In spiritual considerations, for most people, the relevance of Jesus Christ to their lives seems unreal, appears as foolishness. They're unable to understand such things, they have no spiritual vision and no true illumination.
No surprise - the Bible tells us it's so: 1 Cor 2v14 "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Friends, we all need illumination. Natural light to see in the physical world; spiritual light to energise the spiritual part of our beings.
For half my life I had only the natural light to live by and had no idea about spiritual matters. Indeed, they were foolishness to my natural intellect. Then one day, by His Holy Spirit, God broke into my life and flooded me with spiritual illumination. As a result, I turned to Jesus. It was a spiritual dawn for me, a spiritual awakening. It changed my life forever!
I had a new light, a new life and a new hope; and I've still got it today; it can never be taken away from me.
Most people are still living in spiritual darkness; they've got no true light; no real life; no lasting hope.
Here's the good news 2 Cor 4v6: "For God who said: "Let light shine out of darkness", made his light shine in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Today the Holy Spirit is shining a new light into your heart. Just be open to let the light of Jesus penetrate into your innermost being and illumine your soul. In Jesus you will exxperience a whole new dimension to your life; you can have that new spiritual life right now!
Jesus Christ has something wonderful for you: John 10v10 tells you what it is:-
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Whatever life you've got in your physical body; Jesus is offering you a new abundant life through your spiritual being.
Jesus is the only source of real true spiritual life that wil last forever:
1 John 5v12-13: "He who has the Son has life; and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."
Receiving the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ into your innermost being, means that your mind and spirit are illuminated and energised from foolishness and darkness into Godly wisdom and spiritual understanding. All you have to do is open yourself to receive this new dimension into your life.
Then you can have new life, abundant spiritual life by believing in Jesus Christ as being God come to earth in a human form.
All you have to do is to agree with what the Bible says about Jesus and receive him as your Saviour and Lord:
John 3v16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
What a wonderful hope this is - not to perish for ever in death but to know you are going to be raised to life again to live with Christ in heavenly places forevermore.
Acts 24v14b-15: believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both the just and the unjust. (KJV)
It's a heavenly hope that affects us right now in daily living here on earth. Without hope you will quickly fall into despair, and fatalism. With true light in your inner being, an abundant new spiritual life; you have every reason to hope for wonderful changes in this life and a blessed future in heavenly places with the Lord.
Colossians 1v5: For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven; wereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. (KJV)
What is that gospel? It's simply the good news that God has made a way for you to be reconciled to Him. His Son Jesus dying on the cross at Calvary to pay the penalty for sin, your sin and my sin - past present and future; God has arranged that you can be pardoned without paying that terrible price yourself. What a gift! Then by the mighty power of the resurrection of Jesus from death and the grave, God has made a way for you to be born anew into newness of life, abundant and everlasting life.
He has given you a new hope, an eternal hope, a hope which can be your rock-solid security here on earth right now. It's a life changing hope, its a heavenly hope, its an everlasting hope.
How do you receive all this? Simply believe in Jesus, ask to come into your heart today and by His Holy Spirit renew your mind and spirit to receive Him as Saviour and Lord of your life from now on.
Don't stifle or extinguish His light, receive it with gladness.
Don't reject His offer of new life, believe that He will give it you.
Don't doubt the great hope He offers you, receive it in faith.
In the Amplified Bible we can read in Hebrews 6v19: Now we have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul; it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it; a hope that reaches into the very certainty of the Presence within the veil, Where Jesus has entered in for us in advance.....
If you want to know how to receive the light, life and hope of Jesus Christ come and speak to .... after the meeting ....
You can have a sure and steadfast anchor in your soul tonight.
Let's sing that great hymn and apply this message to your heart tonight: Will your anchor hold in the storms of life.
Alternatives: Just as I am without one plea; or And can it be that I should gain.
