THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IS JESUS
January 16,2009
-Meaning of darkness and light
Gen 1:1-2 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Even in the beginning, we see darkness as a void of the true Light. The earth had no form, no purpose until God gave it light. The first recorded words of God Almighty are "let there be light" and then we see the authority of God "and there was light" God's authority and power are revealed in such simple words, yet show the absolute power of God as Creator.
-Plague of darkness on creation
Exodus 10:23 talks about the terrible plague of darkness that was cast upon Egypt when Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go with Moses. "they did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings." This was a curse, a terrible judgement from God. Imagine not just your average day without much sun, but the complete absence of light. It was as if God shut off the sun for those days. It must have been a frightening experience and caused turmoil and fear. It is the same when we look at our lives while living in sin, hiding from the Light that God gives. When we hide from Him, we cannot experience the warmth and growth that only comes from that life giving light.
Here we see God has the ability to suspend His own creation, allowing no light to come upon those He chose to keep it from. We will see later how God reveals Himself to us in love, offering us life and love through the Light of His Son, Jesus.
-THE Light of the world
John 1: 1-12 is a great picture of Jesus Christ coming into the world to save us, bringing the Light of His life, leaving us with His Spirit that will guide us into all truth. We also see that He was rejected. The Light(Jesus) is offensive to those in the dark. For one thing, offering this light implies that others are in darkness. Nobody wants to think of themselves that way, but each of us who have placed our faith in God for salvation have at one point had to realize the error of our ways, that we walked in darkness, choosing to give in to sinful desires rather than lay our lives at the foot of the cross and walk into the light of Jesus perfections, His sinless life and His offering to cleanse us from the sin that offers as its wages death and hell for eternity.
-The Lord is the Light
Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light"
Psalm 119:105 "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path"
Prov 4:18-19 "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness, they do not know over what they stumble"
We have seen that God has used light to reveal himself. Truly, if you walk up to a table in dim light and then brush off the surface, you cannot see the dust. But when the light of sun shines down upon it, the dust is evident. It is the same with our sin. If we try to live in dim light, allowing God's Word to only have a small part in our lives, we have not examined it fully. It is only when we let the light of the Bible shine on our lives, holding ourselves up to God's standard that we see the true picture, the effect of sin, and the degree to which we have been polluted by it.
-What is the purpose of the light of God's Word?
James 1:21-25 talks about the mirror of God's Word applied to our lives. It shows us what is wrong, and when we see the clearer picture, we must not just walk away doing nothing to fix the blemishes. We must apply the "perfect law of liberty" and cleanse ourselves from sin. But what can be done. Shutting off the light will not make the sin go away, but rather just hide it. Something had to be done much greater than just hiding sin, it had to be taken away.
-A light to the world
Matthew 5:13-16 Refers to Christians as being salt of the earth and tells us that if we lose our saltiness, we are worthless. We are the light of the world. We are to bring the light of Jesus into every place we walk. We have to make sure that our lives are free of sin, as a hypocrite has no testimony to the unsaved. If we think we can walk in sin, telling ourselves that we are better than "those sinners" then we have fooled ourselves. We can not just sit back as Pharisees and judge others, but bring ourselves under the same standard, the divine standard of the Light of God in His Word. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" Our lives are to be examples of righteousness, unadulterated by sin and the pleasures of the world.
-Light/heat/growth
I was up at 3am the other night thinking about the cold, the heater, how long the propane would last. Then I got to thinking more about how life must be for those walking constantly in the darkness. The kind of cold we have had lately is the kind that brings pain and death to those who are not sheltered from it. Just think if we didn't have the sun. Imagine the coldness of space, the temperatures on the outermost planets from the sun. Then imagine the heat of hell that burns with fire and brimstone. Hell is not just the absence of the Light of God, but the final judgment on those who refuse the light. Not only is Hell the absence of God, but also the eternal wrath of a Holy God that righteously judges His creation. We don't like to think about it, but while God is love, He is also Holy and must judge sin.
God the Father sent His only begotten Son to the world to offer salvation from this wrath. Salvation is a nice little word that Christians tend to use, but I like to refer to it as rescue. We are headed for impending doom, and out of love for us, God gave of Himself, rescuing us from certain death and also offering us eternal life through His son. We can be with God for eternity, worshipping Him and thanking Him for the love that He offered us. We have a choice to make and it will count for all eternity. Today is the day to make the decision if you have not already.
-The call to a Holy life walking in the Light and shunning the darkness
Now, for those who have received the free offering of salvation, we see the call to take this seriously. We read in 1 John 1:5-10 that (6)"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
This is the call to believers to keep ourselves in the Light. Darkness is death and light is life. Why would anyone who claims to have dedicated their lives to God want to be associated with darkness? James 4:4-8 reminds us that friendship with the world is enmity with God. There is no half way point according to this passage. "Choose you this day whom you will serve" is not a multi-option plan, but a demand by the God who created us to walk in His Light, following His ways and not our own. We must not sit on the fence, God does not need any secret agents. We must dedicate our lives, our all to Him and trust Him to take care of the rest.
-Do you think God wants you toeing the line?
You may use the excuses I have heard so many times. I talked with a trucker yesterday who was explaining away his blatant breaking of the law and said "if I do the speed limit, I am a hazard" and "God knows what is going on and I just have to ask forgiveness." The problem is that this argument is flawed. Romans 6 "Are we to continue to sin so that grace may increase? GOD FORBID!" How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" The following verses go on to talk about how ridiculous it is for us to say that we are born again, with a new nature, wholly dedicated to God, and then throw out the parts of the Bible that tell us to obey the authorities that God put over us.
This gentleman told me that it is the only way he can make a living in the trucking industry. I say that if that is so (which it isn't) then he should find a new job. Also, if he really believes this, he should examine himself to see if he is in the faith. We tread under foot the blood of Jesus Christ when we continue in sin, saying that living in sin is the only way to survive. We think God can not handle our little situations and needs our sin laden help. When we do this, we are defying Him and choosing to live in our sin. Heb 10:26-31 tells us that willfully "sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries"
If we can trust Him with our lives, we can trust Him with everything. 2 Tim 4:13 reminds us that "He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. The very nature of God is faithfulness, and we are promised that all things work together for good for those that love God, for those who are called according to His purposes. This is not about our purposes, human reasoning, or our desires, but about obedience to the God that made us and reconciled us to Himself through Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, we must use the light of Scripture to examine ourselves, to light the path that we must walk in. We also must be light to a lost and dying world that is headed for the darkness and punishment of a very real and literal hell that is promised for those who choose not to allow the light of God's Word to change their lives. We have the offer and all we must do is respond accordingly.
We also have to remember that as believers, we have the Light that shines in the darkness. We need to tell those who have not yet given their lives to Him that it is time to choose. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, and we must be out there sharing the good news of forgiveness of sin and heaven with those we see on the road, at work, on the street. Our families and friends and everyone we meet should see the light shining in our lives. Let's go and spread the light to someone today.
