Walking In The Darkness

Disclaimer:

Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Pastor James May

WALKING IN THE DARKNESS

Sunday, January 12, 2003 AM

Isaiah 59:8-9, "The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness."

As I knelt to pray for this morning’s service and to ask God for a fresh anointing and a message for those who would be attending, God began to speak to me concerning the fact that so many of his children continue to choose the path of darkness and obscurity. We all claim to desire to walk in the light of the gospel and to see and experience the brightness of the glory of God in our lives but we often choose those paths that are unsure and dark. We fail to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and we continue to walk in our own understanding.

Illustration:

If there is one thing that I do not enjoy very much, it is driving at night. As the years pass, I find that I am unable to see as clearly at night for the darkness seems to overpower my vision and many times it appears as though the headlights on the car just do not penetrate the darkness well enough.

While the years can make a difference in our ability to see things in the darkness, none of us can see very far down the highway on a street that is without street lamps and it is so very easy for an accident to occur.

Not only is it harder to see at night, but add in some inclement weather and the potential for an accident are increased exponentially because now you not only have the normal limitations but the slippery highway that makes it far more likely that we can lose control and find ourselves driving where no automobile was meant to travel.

A car was never meant to travel upside down in the middle of a ditch. The laws of physics, instituted by God at the time of Creation, tell us that it is impossible to two bodies of matter to occupy the same space at the same time. Yet how many times have we seen people who try to make two cars fit in the same space at the same time with terrible results?

It never ceases to amaze me that people who live in our area of the country, where it rains regularly, just seem to go around driving just as fast in the bad weather as they do in the good weather. It seems to me that common sense would tell us to go a little slower lest we find ourselves in a situation that we have no control over.

Running fast on wet highways, and in the darkness where we know not what is in the highway ahead, or where the turns are is asking for tragedy.

Yet, that is exactly the same condition that we live in when we do not seek counsel from

God nor follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

If you will examine your own life and the way that you live you will find that you often choose the path that leads to destruction. We are creatures that are filled with pride, self-reliance, and often, absolute disregard for God’s Word or His will.

Every person I talk to has their own opinion on how to make their life a success. We often talk about the people who are living in sin and the fact that they refuse to see that the end of their journey leads to everlasting fire and eternal pain. We look upon them to pity them and try to reach out to them. The plight of the lost is certainly something that we should ever be mindful of so that we can feel the urgency to witness to them about the saving power of Jesus Christ.