“Step into the Light”
I remember when I was very young, probably three or four years old. I had a re-occurring problem, and this problem always surfaced at night... It happened like this; we kids would all be down in the den watching television and mama would be somewhere in the back part of the house doing something else. Now one of mama’s pet peeves was
keeping the lights off in a room when no one was in it, even the kitchen. It never failed that sometime during the middle of a movie, I had to go to the bathroom . Problem was, I was at one end of the house and the bathroom was at the other. But the worst part about it was....that I had to go through the dreaded dark kitchen to get to it! I can remember standing
there at the doorway, peering into the darkness wondering what kind of evil monster was lurking there, just waiting for me to make a run for it so he could pounce on me. But I would always eventually get my courage up and run as quickly as I could through the kitchen until I reached the safety of the light coming from the dining room. And what a relief it was to
finally be back in the light! Darkness, how I hated it--- in fact I feared it and wanted nothing to do with it.
What is it about darkness that scares us so much? Why do we--even when we’re all grown up hold on to this enmity towards the dark? Webster’s Dictionary defines darkness as “a low concentration of or the total absence of light.” And where there is little or no light, obviously we have a very hard time seeing what is around us........we might
miss things that would be very pleasant to behold and at the same time we are not be able to see things around us that might harm or even destroy us if they continued to go undetected. So basically, we dislike the darkness because it limits our ability to assertain --- much less protect ourselves from the world around us.
Today, I want to talk about another form of darkness that doesn’t really seem to bother a whole lot of people-- in fact, most people choose to abide in this darkness....unaware that this particular form of darkness is much more serious and potentially deadly. This lethal form of darkness that we will attempt to shed some light on this
morning is called spiritual darkness.
The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4; “The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.....”
Now, what did we say was the definition of literal darkness? It is a low concentration or the total absence of “light.” So, spiritual darkness must be a low concentration of or the total absence of Jesus who is, of course the Light of the World.
So these people, who have not allowed Jesus into their lives...these people walking and living in this darkness are at a terrible disadvantage because that’s all they know-- they can’t see the Light of the World......why? because over time, they have allowed Satan to fit them with some extremely effective “Son” glasses that prevent the Son of
God from illuminating their lives. But listen to what Jesus tells the Apostle Paul at his conversion; In Acts 26:18 He commissions Paul to: “...to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”
Jesus is working even now to remove those things that Satan employs to impair our spiritual vision.
In the Gospel of John 12:46 Jesus says; “ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.” Let me ask you; do you think that it is possible to believe in Jesus yet still abide in darkness? Not only is it possible, but it is actually very common. But the people don’t realize that they are in the dark.
You see, there is some confusion among Christians today between the True Light and a widely accepted counterfeit or artificial light, which is actually not light at all but rather darkness in disguise.
In fact in 2 Corinthians 11:14 Paul informs us that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Allow me illustrate what I mean; let’s compare the tanning bed with the sun. People pay good money to go to this “giant microwave” of sorts to get a quick tan so it will appear that they have spent a considerable amount of time in the sun.
And, if you didn’t know any better you couldn’t tell just by looking at them that they hadn’t actually been in the sun but rather in a man-made cancer causing contraption.
Just as some people want a sun tan on their terms and in their hurried time frame, some people want their relationship with the Light of the world the same way. They want the benefits of being in the Son without actually “being in the Son.”
After all, life is so hectic these days--who has time to go to church, read the bible as much as we should, pray more than a few hurried minutes a day, or any of those things a “good Christian” should do? Let’s face it, we are just too busy to spend much of our precious time doing these kinds of things. After all, the rest of the world doesn’t take the
time to do them-- God will understand......right??
And this is where the devil has his opportunity to try to sell us something that most people really want; ‘heaven without the hassle’. That’s right friends, he’ll try his best to convince you that all you have to do is believe in Jesus, get your name on a church membership role somewhere, be a basically “good person” .....and you are heaven bound! He gives you the sensation that you are walking in the Light when you are in fact still stumbling around in the darkness.
Isaiah 5:20 says; “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.....”
Now let me clear something up for you; these people who are walking around in this darkness....... are they bad, evil people?--- are we just talking about the murderers, rapist, child abusers and other people of the same caliber? Absolutely not. While it’s true that those kinds of people are clearly children of the dark, don’t fool yourself into thinking
that they are the only ones. In fact, I don’t think that I would be too far off to say that the majority of professed Christians today are, while proffessing to be children of the Light, are themselves choosing to abide in the dark. That is to say that even though they think that they are saved, they are lost. Though they think they are walking in the Light, they are only
hypnotized by Satan who is masquerading as an angel of light. Again, The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4; “The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers somthat they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ....”
It doesn’t seem fair though does it? that God has allowed Satan to blind the minds of the people so they can’t see the true light. Is God unfair---is He that indifferent?
Brothers and sisters, Satan can only blind you if you allow him to. In His mercy, God is trying in every way possible to reach all people for it says in 2Peter 3:9 that He “..wishes none to perish but for all to come to repentance and receive eternal life.” Believe me friends, God knows the pulls of the darkness of this world in which we live, that’s why He doesn’t leave us to stumble around aimlessly but has given us Someone to guide us though it....His Son. But obviously, none of us were around two thousand years ago to personally meet and get to know Jesus when He was in the flesh....nor were we there when He was instructing Abraham, talking to Job or leading the Israelites out of Egypt to the
promised land. That’s why He provided and preserved for us His word.
The inspired writer of the 119 Psalm says; “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Have you turned on the light lately? You see, Jesus is the Light of the world and He shines on us every time we open this book! I’m just going to have to put it bluntly; if you don’t seek to maintain your relationship with Jesus through the reading of the scriptures; for it says; “seek and ye shall find”.... if you think that the Holy Word of God is not worthy of your time.....then you are in the dark. It’s that simple.
Brothers and sisters, there are too many false teachings floating around out there for us not to have a knowledge of what’s in the Holy Scriptures. But there are many people that feel like they don’t have to spend all that time and effort studying the word of God because it’s not necessary. Even in churches today, the people are not taught that they need to STUDY the bible--that it is important that they know what’s in between the covers of this book...
Let me tell you a little story; a certain church had just hired a new pastor and he had barely been there two weeks when the Junior Sabbath School teacher became ill and asked the pastor if he would fill in for her. He gladly obliged and showed up to teach the class the following Sabbath. After getting to know the students’ names and all, the pastor decided he would see just how much these boys knew about the bible. So he asked them who knocked down the walls of Jerico? The boys looked at each other and
immediately one by one they all denied having anything to do with it....... Needless to say the new pastor was shocked by the biblical ignorance of these boys, so at the next Deacons meeting he told them what happened in class. Well, after a long pause, one of the deacons spoke up and said; well preacher, we can tell that this upsets you-- and rightfully so, but I
know these boys and if they said they didn’t do it......I believe them! Let’s just take the money out of the building fund, repair the walls and leave it at that.
This might be a funny story, but it’s sad when we realize just how little people know about the bible but yet Satan has convinced them that they “know the Lord.” Friends, if you love the Lord, if you want to be a child of the Light, if you really want to know Jesus Christ personally, then you need make it a priority to spend quality time every day in this
book!
For instance, if you wanted to know me personally--if you really wanted to know who I was and what I stood for, would you rather go around and asked a bunch of other people who claimed to know me, or would you want to read my autobiography that I poured my heart and soul into?
But brothers and sisters, this is much better than an autobiography. This book is a very intimately detailed letter to each one of us. You see friends, through the Holy Spirit and this book, Jesus is able to do things that only a close personal friend can
do; He will comfort you, strengthen you, give you faith, instruction, warning, and joy. And knowing Him personally is the only way that we will be able to make our escape out of the deceptive darkness and into the light of kingdom of God. Isaiah 9:2 says; “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the Shadow of Death a light has dawned.”
But here in lies another problem; many people want to love the Lord... and would like to live according to His word, but they have become accustomed to living in the darkness. It has in a way become their ally, their familiar friend and they don’t want to leave it.
When Tammy and I first came into the church, we heard some of the members telling a story that we will never forget....it happened at one of the Revelation Seminars that was being held at the old church on Tarboro Street. On this particular night the speaker was covering some very important truths of the bible concerning the Sabbath or something......and this man all of a sudden rose up from his seat in the sanctuary with his hands over his ears and ran outside. He was very upset and even told some of the
people there that he was sorry that he came because if he didn’t hear the truth, God wouldn’t hold him responsible for living it.
And I’m afraid that this is how a lot of people feel about the bible in general, they think that if they don’t read or study it then, on Judgment Day, their defense will be; “but Lord, I didn’t’ know....” and that God is going to say; “Oh, well....since you didn’t know.........” Do you think God is going to accept that excuse? The spirit of prophecy tells us that we will be held accountable for what we had the opportunity to know.
Let’s turn to Isaiah 30:9-13:
“9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message,
relied on oppression
and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.”
Now is this the attitude of only those in Isaiah’s time? No, in fact I believe that it is even more prevalent today. People don’t want to know the Truth because they don’t want to LIVE the truth....Listen to how the prophet John puts it:
John 3:19-21; “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his evil deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what
he does has been done through God.”
Have you ever went to bed and fell asleep for a while and then someone comes into your room and turns on the light? It hurts doesn’t it? You squint your eyes tightly and try to get that light off as quickly as possible don’t you? But you know, it only hurts because you have allowed your eyes to become adjusted to the darkness. And when that happens, darkness becomes your friend and the light becomes ........”irritating.”
When you make that decision to come out of the darkness and into the light, you need not think that it will be an easy transition. Because if you are serious about your relationship with the Lord and you want to give Him control of your life, then there will be changes because what you are basically doing is remodeling your entire being using the bible as the blueprint. It is impossible to be a Christian and not be different because of it. Paul says that; “If your are in Christ then you are a new creation, the old has
gone and the new has come.”
Brothers and sisters, Jesus prayed to the Father on our behalf and He asked God to sanctify us....do you know what it means to sanctify someone? It means to make them holy. And do you know what Jesus asked His Father to sanctify us through? That’s right; the Word of God.(John 17)
Hebrews 4:12 says that the word of God is living and active.... but it can only become living if it becomes a part of us and it can only become a part of us if we study and reverence it and put it into practice. And that doesn’t mean that we should flip through it and pick out the stuff we like... we have to search the bible for truth--not convenience.
You see, it’s no coincidence that Jesus refers to Himself as the Truth and is also refered to in the holy scriptures as the Word.
Read the gospel of John chapter one and you will realize that Jesus is the Word of God incarnate--in the flesh! And He tells us in John 14:23; “If anyone loves Me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love Him and we will come and make our home with him. He who does not love Me will not obey my teaching.”
Friends, we have all been graciously given free access to His teaching and the Lord is calling you this morning to make the most important decision of your life; to step out of the darkness and into His light. Now I hope no one thinks that this message is implying that one has to be a bible scholar to be saved....no, salvation comes at the moment you make the decision to take that step of faith and begin truly seeking the Lord’s will for your life. But you only remain a child of the Light as long as you remain in the Light.
The darkness will continue to call to you, try to seduce you into once again stepping into the shadows.......but the only way to drive a shadow away is to shine the Light on it! And, once your eyes get adjusted to the Light, you’ll be amazed at how much better your life is and you’ll wonder why you wasted so much of your time in the darkness.
