John 3:19-21 ESV
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
The Light
Jesus Christ, God the Son, is the Light who came into the
world. He came bearing the light of the gospel, of truth and of righteousness.
And he was crucified on a cross in order to put our sins to death with him so
that we would die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.
For, by his stripes we are healed (1 Pet 2:24; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).
By God-given faith in Jesus Christ, which leaves our lives
of sin behind us, which submits to Christ as Lord, and which follows him in obedience
to his ways, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin in order that we
might be delivered from the control of sin over our lives and in order that
Jesus might free us from our bondage to sin, so we’d be slaves of his
righteousness.
Now, by the Spirit, we no longer walk (in conduct, in
practice) according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit and in
righteousness and holiness. Sin is no longer our master, but Jesus is our only
Lord. It doesn’t mean we suddenly became completely sinless, but that we are no
longer making sin our practice, but righteousness is what we practice.
But this dying with Christ to sin and living to him and to
his righteousness in obedience to our Lord is not a one-time experience in our
lives. This is something that is to be lived out in our lives every day of the
week in the power and strength and wisdom of God’s Spirit who now lives within
us.
For, the Scriptures teach that if we walk (conduct our
lives) according to the flesh that we will die in our sins. And they teach that
if we make sin our practice that we will not inherit eternal life. And they
teach that if we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap
destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap
eternal life.
[Rom 8:1-17; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10;
Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8; Lu 9:23-26; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 6:1-23; 1 Jn
3:4-10]
The Darkness
The darkness is the opposite of the Light, and it is the
absence of light, i.e., it is opposite of and is absent of Jesus Christ and of
his gospel, and of dying with Christ to sin and of living to Christ and to his
righteousness in the power of God. For, it is all about self and sin and living
in sin and carrying on in wickedness and in sexual immorality and lies and
cheating, etc.
And those who are still of the flesh, and not of the Spirit,
hate the light, and they prefer the darkness. And this includes many professers
of faith in Jesus Christ, too, who have bought into a cheap grace gospel which
is telling them that they can believe in Jesus, have heaven guaranteed them,
but that they don’t have to forsake their sins or submit to Christ as Lord and
obey him.
And many people are following after this false light, this
false gospel, which is of the darkness but is being disguised as the light, because
they want to continue in their sin while they also want the assurance that they
won’t be judged for their sin and that they won’t go to hell when they die. But
what they are believing is a lie, and if they continue it, they will go to
hell.
For the light says we must die with Christ to sin daily,
deny self, and follow Jesus in obedience and in surrender to his Lordship. But
the darkness says we can ignore what that says and that there is a “better
light” out there that we might like better, for it does not make us leave the
darkness, but it provides an alternative light for us to find our way around in
the darkness.
Thus, those who want the best of both worlds are following
after this false light, which is really darkness, for they want to continue to
practice their evil deeds, only now without guilt or fear of punishment. And many
of them are addicted to some type of sexual deviant behavior which includes
addiction to pornography but is not limited to just that.
So, they don’t want to come into the light, into the truth
of righteousness and holiness, for the light will expose their evil deeds for
what they are, and the light will tell them the truth about their sin and what
will happen to them if they choose to continue living in that sin and if they
refuse to repent and to follow Jesus in obedience. And they don’t want to hear
that.
They like being delusional and believing the lie because the
lie makes them feel good and the truth makes them feel bad. And they don’t want
to feel bad, so they don’t want to hear the truth. So they will call the truth “meanness.”
And they will attack those who are trying to tell them the truth, because they
don’t want to hear anything that reminds them of their sins.
Whoever Does
But whoever does what is true comes into the light. Those
who are walking in the truth of the gospel, who are walking no longer according
to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, they want to hear the truth. They
love God’s word, even if it sometimes confronts them about things in their
lives that need to be changed, because they want to live holy lives pleasing to
God.
We love our Lord and so we walk in his truth because we love
him and because we are so grateful to him for setting us free from our bondage
to sin so that we can now walk in the fulness of his light and truth. We want
to know when we are doing wrong so we can make it right. We want to keep
changing and growing in the Lord and in his righteousness.
We are sensitized to the voice of the Holy Spirit because we
want to hear God speaking to our hearts, and we want to follow in his ways and
in his truth. Yes, repentance, submission, and obedience to our Lord are part
of God-given (divinely persuaded) faith in Jesus Christ, so they are required
for salvation and for eternal life with God.
But when we love our Lord we want to obey him because we
love him. And we want to do the works which he prepared in advance that we
should walk in them, as his workmanship. So, we don’t fear the light. We love
the light. And because we love the light, we fear for those who have refused to
come into the light, that they are headed to hell if they do not repent.
Donnie
McClurkin
Draw
me close to You
Never
let me go
I
lay it all down again
To
hear You say that I'm Your friend
You
are my desire
And
no one else will do
'Cause
nothing else can take Your place
To
feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help
me find a way
Bring
me back to You
You're
all I want
You're
all I've ever needed
You're
all I want
Help
me know You are near
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnwBixzuNo
Caution: This link may contain ads
No comments:
Post a Comment