"God's People" Loving the Darkness

John 3:16,19-21 ESV

 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

 

“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.”

 

Many people read John 3:16 and they stop there, but we need to keep reading. For belief in Jesus Christ is not just a verbal confession of him as Lord nor is it some emotional one time in your life decision to believe in Jesus just so you have your sins forgiven and so you can go to heaven when you die. For the Scriptures teach that it is those who do the will of God, and who practice righteousness, and who do not walk in sin, but who walk in obedience to the Lord who will never perish but have eternal life with God.

 

So, don’t stop at John 3:16 and think you know what God’s gift of salvation from sin is all about. For true salvation from sin involves denial of self, dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and walking in daily obedience to our Lord, in practice, and not in sin. True salvation from sin results in changed hearts and minds and attitudes and behaviors. Not saying we will be instantly perfect in every way, but sin should no longer be what we practice, but righteousness and godliness should now be our practice.

 

And when John 3:16 says, “whoever believes,” the literal translation should say “whoever believing,” for our belief in Jesus Christ is not a one-time decision we make in our lives and now we are in for good regardless of how we live. Our faith in Christ must be continuous until the end, and it must be lived out in our daily lives, in practice, and not just in profession. And our salvation is continuous, as well, and it won’t be complete until Jesus returns for his bride and he takes his faithful ones to be with him for eternity.

 

And this brings us into today’s passage. For the light that has come into the world is Jesus Christ, and it is truth and righteousness, and it is the gospel of our salvation that Jesus and his NT apostles taught, and not this watered down and altered gospel which is permeating the American church today. For it teaches that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer living as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness.

 

But the problem that exists here in America is that so many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ are loving the darkness (their sin) rather than Jesus and the truth of his gospel, and rather than living holy, godly, morally pure, righteous, honest, and faithful lives to God and to the truth of his word. And why are they doing this? Because their deeds are evil and they want to hold on to their sin. Even if they profess Jesus as Lord, they are still their own lord living their lives according to the flesh, and not by the Spirit.

 

And then notice the verbiage here, which literally says, “For everyone who is doing (practicing, actively and habitually doing) wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” So, the wicked are not just those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but they are all those who are actively participating in what is sinful (evil, against God), regardless of what faith they profess with their lips. And the wicked will not inherit eternal life with God. It is what the Scriptures teach.

 

But the problem that exists in a large part of the American church today (or in what is being called “church”) is that a large number of those who are in positions of rule and authority and leadership within the church are also those who are still practicing what is evil, especially in the area of sexual sin, though not limited to just that. And so they are diluting the message of the gospel to make it more socially acceptable to the ungodly and to those who are still walking in sin so that they will not feel guilty about their sin.

 

And who are those who are in charge? Well, God gave that assignment to men, not to women, not that I am saying women are not guilty of the same, but that God made it the responsibility of men to be the ones in leadership in the home and in the church, and to lead those under their care by example, and in word, in the ways of holiness, godliness, moral purity, uprightness, honesty, and faithfulness. But so many of these men are not spiritually leading their families or their congregations because they are still trapped in sin themselves, which is why the church is on a moral decline.

 

So, the church here in America, and “Christian” households need for the men who say they are of God to rise up and be the men of God that God has called them to be, for the American church, overall (not including everyone), is in a massive spiritual and moral decline, and that is why our nations are in such a mess, too, because so many of our men are spiritually MIA (missing in action) and they are spiritually AWOL (absent without leave), but with the full intention to desert, not accidentally.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Rise Up, O Men of God  

 

By William P. Merrill / William H. Walter

 

Rise up, O men of God!

Have done with lesser things.

Give heart and mind and soul and strength

To serve the King of kings.

 

Rise up, O men of God!

The kingdom tarries long.

Bring in the day of brotherhood

And end the night of wrong.

 

Rise up, O men of God!

The church for you doth wait,

Her strength unequal to her task;

Rise up and make her great!

 

Lift high the cross of Christ!

Tread where his feet have trod.

As brothers of the Son of Man,

Rise up, O men of God!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4jJJh-giZ0

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