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Pastor Mark Mikels – April 26, 2009

“DELIVERED FROM DARKNESS”

(More To Me Series – Part Two)

Intro … This morning we continue in a little series of messages we began last week – a series called “More To Me” as in “There’s more to me than meets
the eye” …

I introduced this series last week with the showing of a video … a video that perfectly captures and illustrates the concept behind this series. It’s a video of a British talent show performance that caught the imagination of the world and made a middle-aged Scottish women – Susan Boyle – a household name. Let’s watch it once again … (Video of Susan Boyle singing “I Have A Dream”).

Susan Boyle truly has become the poster girl for the phrase …
“More to me than meets the eye”

Now our point in this current series is that every follower of Jesus Christ is a Susan Boyle … Every follower of Jesus possesses a life that goes far beyond what can be initially seen … The Apostle Paul put it this way in his letter to the Colossian Church – Colossians 3:3 …

“Your life (your new life – your most real and complete life)
is hidden with Christ in God.”

And if it’s “hidden” then it might be easily missed – it might even be hidden at times from us … we might forget ourselves just what we have and who we are in Jesus Christ. And if we forget, then the world around will never know and our witness for Christ will be far less than it ought to be.

Every day can be for us a “Susan Boyle Moment” – a moment when we reveal something of the life we possess and the Savior who has provided it for us.

And so we come to our

“Series Key Confession” …

“There’s more to me than meets the eye.”
“My real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
“You can’t really know me without knowing something of Him.”

So what are the “somethings (the key facts) about Jesus” that someone must know in order for truly know us and to understand the life we live?

More To Me Series Key Fact #1 …

“He is the Bread of Life come down from Heaven …
I am Nourished by Him.”

Oh, what a wonderful truth – what a wonderful reality … We are nourished, fortified, sustained, provided with all the necessary nutrients for daily living by Jesus Christ Himself – nourished through times of communion and times of reflection! Each morning we pray “Lord, nourish me – provide for me my
daily bread.”

Today I would have you consider …

More To Me Series Key Fact #2 …

“He is the LIGHT of the WORLD,
I no longer WALK in DARKNESS.”

That great encouraging “fact” arises directly from …

Today’s Key Text … John 8:12

“I am the Light of the World. Whoever FOLLOWS me will
NEVER walk in darkness, but will have the LIGHT of LIFE.”

DARKNESS – the absence of Spiritual PERSPECTIVE.

Four Key Observations On The Subject …

And it is my intention this morning to allow these observations to just naturally arise as we work our way through a series of Scriptures.
See if you don’t find yourself agreeing whole-heartedly with them as God’s Word itself sheds its light on the subject …

#1. DARKNESS IS FALLEN MAN’S NATURAL CONDITION –HE WALKS IN DARKNESS THOUGH HE MIGHT NOT KNOW IT.

(Isaiah 60:1-3; Romans 1:21; Ephesians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4)

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

What a chilling description and yet thrilling prediction is found in that passage!

The peoples of the world – the peoples who are living their lives apart from the “light” of Christ are living in “thick darkness” … they understand nothing of God’s great glory and goodness.

But God intends his people to not only experience the light but to “reveal it”.

The Apostle Paul was inspired by God to express in more detail the results of that “thick darkness” that has descended upon fallen man.

Sometimes the darkness is expressed “Religiously” …

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Rom. 1:21-23)

Sometimes the darkness is expressed “Morally” …

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” (Ephesians 4:17-19)

Sometimes the darkness is expressed “Theologically” …

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

#2. THOSE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS ARE:

AIMLESS …

“Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make
him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in
the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness
has blinded him.” (1 John 2:10-11)

FRUITLESS …

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.” (Ephesians 5:11-14)

CLUELESS …

“But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.” (Proverbs 4:19)

POWERLESS …

“In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness,
but the darkness has not understood it (overcome it).” (John 1:4-5)

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

So that’s the position of God’s Word on the subject …

Natural man (unsaved, unchanged man) walks in spiritual darkness (whether he recognizes it or not) and as a result his life (from God’s perspective) is Aimless, Fruitless, Clueless and Powerless.

Now in total contrast to “natural man” is “redeemed man” … “Redeemed man/ born-again man” has a remarkable story to tell and confession to make.

Time for Key Observation #3 …

#3. THOSE WHO FOLLOW JESUS NO LONGER WALK IN DARKNESS.

(Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 1:13; 2 Samuel 22:29)

The Apostle Paul was also chosen by the Spirit of God to reveal something of this great transformational reality.

He wrote to the Ephesians …

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”
(Ephesians 5:8)

And to the Colossians …

“(Give) thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves …” (Colossians 1:12-14)

Even in Old Testament days was this phenomenon experienced …

“You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light.”
(2 Samuel 22:29 – a psalm of David)

The wonderful Scriptural Truth is …
“Those who follow Jesus no longer walk in Darkness!”

And now consider the incredible impact the “light of Jesus” has upon His Followers …

#4. THOSE WHO FOLLOW JESUS WALK:

PURPOSEFULLY …

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

There’s a sense of purpose in the life of one who follows Christ that goes beyond the normal earthly list of “meaningful and motivational things” …

Followers of Jesus who have been rescued from the “dominion of darkness” are commissioned to “declare the goodness and greatness of God” as the most significant part of their life’s work.

Their song (as we sang this morning) is “To God be the Glory great things he has done.”

My daughter Jodi was impressed that that was the immediate response of a young college athlete from Baylor University selected in the first round of yesterday’s Pro Football draft.

“To God be the Glory – that’s what is all about”, he said when asked for his initial reaction.

I would say to the football team that selected him – “There’s more to him than meets the eye” … more, much more than just a 300 plus pound offensive lineman.

Those who follow Jesus walk …

FRUITFULLY

Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) … (Ephesians 5:8-9)

Just as the color of your skin changes when you sit under the sun in the sky so the quality of your life changes when you bask in the radiance of the Son of God seated in the Heavens. His light produces a distinctive kind of life – a productive and beneficial life.

Those who follow Jesus walk …

INTELLIGENTLY

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts
to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
(2 Corinthians 4:6)

The “light has come on” for those who follow Jesus – it’s the knowledge of the glory of God that’s found in the face of Jesus – it’s the understanding that Jesus is the true “light of life”.

We need seek no other explanation for the how and why of things!

Those who follow Jesus walk …

POWERFULLY …

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. (Hebrews 10:32)

The writer of this letter to the Hebrews (the early Jewish Christians) was aware of some great pressures that had come against them in the early days of their Christian Walk. They had taken a stand for Christ and had not been deterred. Having received the light, they refused to return to darkness ever again.
They stood powerfully for Christ.

“Jesus Is The Light Of The World (and) I No Longer Walk In Darkness.”
What a tremendous truth with which to enter our world this week!

FINAL THOT …
Darkness VANISHES in the presence of LIGHT .
Let Jesus SHINE!