WHERE’S THE LIGHT?
JOHN 3:16-21
{Start sermon with all lights out.}
Introduction:
1. We are living in a time when this is the results we are seeing:
a. Over 1 million abortions a year.
b. 100 million children are homeless.
c. 1 million victims- of whom are mainly women and children- are forced into international sex trafficking industry.
d. 48% of U.S. teens are sexually active.
e. Over 20,000 murders in the U.S. a year.
2. All of this is results of the spiritual darkness that plagues our world and nation.
3. As you sit in darkness, I want you to realize what not only physical darkness is, but more so what spiritual darkness is.
I. Darkness
A. Sin is black.
1. This blackness of sin causes people to be blinded, not knowing where they are going.
1 John 2:11: "But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."(NKJV)
2. The blackness of sin brings out the worst in people.
3. Man in his sin is compared to a snake for its venom, a donkey for its stubbornness, a bear for its cruelty, a dog for its uncleanness, a fox for its cunning, a leopard for its fierceness, a moth for its appetite, a sheep for its stupidity, a spider’s web for its flimsiness, a pig for its filthiness, and a wolf for its ferociousness.
B. Sin is upon all humanity.
1. This darkness began with Adam and Eve when they sinned against God.
2. Romans 3:23 tells us we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s standard.
3. We are as filthy rags before God.
Isaiah 64:6: "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away."(NKJV)
C. Sin’s punishment.
1. The price of sin is death.
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 3:10-20: "As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced 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;
And the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
2. There is no hope in darkness, but God loves us so much, that He has made a way for hope through salvation.
John 3:16-21: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
********************[Old Rugged Cross]*****************
{Put red spotlight on the cross.}
II. Light
A. Light reveals what is in the darkness.
1. What is revealed is how dirty we are.
a. Many scatter trying to hide as bugs would when the light is turned on.
2. The light is not understood by darkness.
3. The unsaved are in the darkness and God loves His creation so much that He provided the Light.
B. God’s Only Son, Jesus, is the Light.
John 1:1-5: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."
1. The hymn says:
["The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin, the light of the world is Jesus".]
*************[The Light of the World Is Jesus]************
{Sing Accapella}
[The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin, The Light of the world is Jesus;
Like sunshine at noon-day His glory shone in, The Light of the world is Jesus.
Come to the Light, ’tis shining for thee; Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see: The Light of the world is Jesus.]
2. Jesus, who never sinned, died on the cross and shed His blood for us that we might be able to live as children of the light.
1 John 1:5-7: "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
C. Romans 10:9-10 tells how to become a child of the Light, a child of God.
"For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with you mouth that you are saved."
1. Once we become a Christian, we inherit all of the riches God has to offer here on this earth and in Heaven for all eternity.
2. Eternal life with Jesus.
3. As Christians, we have a responsibility to reflect the Light of Jesus through the Holy Spirit which lives within us so that others might see and be saved from the darkness.
******************[Carry Your Candle]*****************
{Leave spotlight on red on the cross.}
III. Lighting Up The World
A. Power of the Word of God.
1. The Word lights our path as Christians.
(Psalm 119:105).
"Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path."(NKJV)
2. The Word corrects us, shows the sin within us.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17).
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work".
3. We are to live in the Word and it live in us.
(Psalm 119:11).
"Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You."
B. Power of prayer.
1. We as Christians can and are commanded to go to God our Father in prayer.
2. We are to pray for one another, but we also are to pray for the lost.
3. We too were in the dark before God saved us.
C. Send the Light.
1. We are to tell the lost.
2. Pray for the lost.
3. The darkness leads to an eternal hell, but the light leads to an eternal Heaven.
a. Why would we want to see anyone go to hell?
b. If you do not pray for the lost and tell the lost about Jesus, then you are in essence saying you don’t care what happens to them.
Conclusion:
1. The old hymn says:
["Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see."]
2. Have you experienced this amazing grace of God?
3. Are you living as a child of the darkness or a child of the light?
4. Christians, does your life reflect the Light of Jesus?
a. If it doesn’t, what do you need to do so that it will?
b. Whatever that is, you need to start now, don’t wait!
{When pastor moves down for invitation, move the spot down on him.}
