Message topic: Are you walking in light or darkness?
Scripture text: John 8: 6-12
How did you answer the question, are you walking in darkness or light which is the topic for our shearing today?
Our scripture text for today is John 8: 6-12: in which we hear Jesus says: I am the light of the world, he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Does he have the power to
Keep mankind walking in the light instead of darkness always?
Listen to what David is saying about the one who is able to keep us in the light instead of walking in darkness which is found in Psalm 8.
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and suckling’s has thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,
That thou mightiest still the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful
of him? and the son of man, that thou vasitest him? for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honor.
Thou made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea,
And all beast of the field; the foul of the air, and the fish of the sea,
And what soever passed through the path of the sea. O Lord, our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth.
What does the bible have to say about darkness and light? The
Darkness has nothing to do with the light or vice versa. They do
Not mix. What happens when a room is totally dark and you add light?
The darkness disappears. Darkness cannot stand before light,
Deception cannot stand before the truth! If we have God’s words, and we shine them on falsehood, the error become glaring.
This is how Paul explains it in Romans (13:11-14) and that knowing
the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed: the night is far spent, the
day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let
us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness,
Nor in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Most of the worlds people today are living in darkness which is
brought on by sin. Darkness gratifies the sinful nature, lulls, a person
to sleep spiritually, and provides a cover for evil, but this is so thick: man cannot find his way around it, through it, or out of it. The solution to this dilemma will come at daybreak, in the morning, when the day dawns: nothing can prevent the coming of dawn, neither can anything prevent the coming of Christ
Jesus is the true light that lighted every man that cometh into the
World, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and
The world knew Him not. (John 1: 9-10)
The birth of the Christ child fulfilled Isaiah’s ancient prophesy: the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: upon
those who dwell in the land of gloom, a light has shone Isa: 9:1.
The newborn Son of God shines like the sun: He is the son of
Justice” who brings healing rays” Malachi 3: 20.
Spiritual darkness is a symptom of spiritual death. The unregenerate
are spiritually dead and live in spiritual darkness: all human are born spiritually dead due to the original sin of Adam.
The regenerate are made alive spiritually, they live in spiritual light. Only people who are spiritually alive can truly understand God’s word in its truth and richness: for the unregenerate, this is impossible, their
mind and heart are darkened, and they are following a path of
darkness, although they may not perceive it.
They are enemies of God; He is not within them, a heart of darkness boils within them: What would life be without light?
There are two types of light in the world, we can perceive one, both
or neither! When we are born into this world, we perceive physical light, and by it we learn of our creator’s handiwork in the things we
see, however, although that light is good, there is another light, a light so important that the son of God had to come in order to both declare and impart to men (John 8:12`records.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
The metaphor used by the Lord in this verse speaks of the light of His truth, the light of his world, the light of eternal life. Those who perceive the true light will never walk in spiritual darkness.
We take a candle into a room to dispel the darkness, likewise, the light of Jesus has to be taken into the darkness of sin that engulfs the hearts
and lives of those who are not following Him: that’s the condition behind having this light- that we follow Him.
If we do not follow Him, we will not have this light, this truth, or
this eternal life.
Physical light is necessary for physical life, the earth would change very rapidly if there were no longer any sunlight. A forest full of trees very thick canopies of foliage high above has very little plant life on
the ground except for moss or lichen, which needs little sunlight.
Plants will never move away from the light, they are said to be positively phototropic, drawn to the light; in the same way spiritual light is necessary for spiritual life, and this can be a good test of our standing in Christ.
The believer will always tend toward spiritual things: he will always tend toward fellowshipping, prayer, the word of God, and so on; the unbeliever always does the opposite; because light exposes his evil,
he hates the light: indeed, no man can come to the true spiritual light
of Jesus Christ, unless he is enabled (John 6: 37)
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out.
Following Jesus is the condition of two promises in John 8: 12. First, His followers will never walk in darkness which is a reference to the assurance to salvation we enjoy.
As true followers of the light, we will never follow the ways of sin, never live in a state of continually sinning (1st, John 1:5-7) rather we repent of our sin in order to stay close to the light of the word.
The second promise is that we will reflect the light of life, just as he came as the light of the world, He commands us to be lights too.
In Matthew (5:14-16) we see believers depicted as light of the world, just as the moon has no light of its own, reflecting the light of the sun, so are believers to reflect the light of Christ so that all can see it in us.