Ephesians
5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the
Lord. NKJV
The National Geographic Channel had a show of a
group of researchers studying the wildlife of big cats in the jungles (Jaguars)
and they had to set up infrared cameras high up in the trees because the cats
hunted mostly during the cover of darkness. They showed how it was so dark in
the jungle they could not even see their own hands held out in front of them.
Just as no human being can see in the natural in pitch darkness, so can no
natural man without regeneration see out of the darkness that is sin. Therefore,
it is likewise not natural for the children of light and the children of
darkness to live this earthly life in the same manner. Purity and impurity are
opposites just like positive and negative.
The picture Paul paints for us here is very clear
and shows us the stark contrast in us from our past life in ignorance due to
the dark tunnel we traveled through when our lives were mastered by sin. He
reminds us our Lord Jesus being the Light of the World and that in Him we are
made to be light by Him. Paul (speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit) even
commands us to not partake in the darkness of those who are still the children
of disobedience. It is by the unbelievable grace of God that we have light in
us now and we must yield ourselves to the control of God the Holy Spirit that
we may continually live in His light. When we remember our helplessness before
our union with the Lord, then we will make our prayers be about bringing Glory
to Christ Name. It is in the Word of God where we find out what our Lord
requires of us to bring Glory to His name and live according to that which
would Glorify Him.
2
Corinthians 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness,
who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. NKJV
This quote from Barclay is so deep that it should
cut every heart that reads it, "The gravest disservice that any man can do
to a fellow man is to make him think lightly of sin." Only a soul that is
still walking in darkness would desire to see others look at sin lightly. Light
and darkness are never able to co-exist, because when a light is turned on in
any dark room the darkness is immediately eliminated. Paul reminds us that we
were once darkness (in past tense) but we have stop running from the Light
(Christ) and now we run to Him that our spiritual eyes may be washed daily from
all of our sin matter, so that we can see ourselves just as we are now called
to walk in this great newness of life in Him.
John
3:19-20 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed. NKJV The way of man without the life of God abiding in him is to try to be good by doing humanly good things. However, the Lord Jesus Christ freely gives His life first and then through the Holy Spirit teaches how to walk in His light. Christ is the truth and His called out ones are the pillar of truth. The lifestyle that produces death all the followers of Christ have been redeemed from it. It is the devil who is a liar and the father of all lies and wants to convince men and women to exchange the truth for his lie.
Acts
26:18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith
in Me. NKJV
Here our Lord draws the line of demarcation very
clearly between light and darkness through the words He spoke to the Apostle
Paul. This is the very reason for the virgin birth, the incarnation, and Christ
death on the cross and His Resurrection was to bring the damaged soul out of
darkness into His marvelous light. When we go our own way and remove our hearts
from intimacy with our Precious Lord Jesus, then we live in such a way as to
bring confusion to the dying and lost world around us and we become stumbling
blocks to them receiving forgiveness. If we desire to justify a lifestyle
controlled by immorality and paint it under grace, then we prove ourselves to
be disconnected from Christ’s life. Salvation in Jesus Christ is not merely
making a decision for Him, but on the contrary it is truly opening up your
heart to the Lord and turning from sin and receiving His life and His life
automatically changes our desires to be equal to His desires. Being delivered
from sin into salvation is like walking out of a pitch black pit right into the
middle of the sun.
Listen to this quote from Charles Spurgeon
(1834-1892) from one of his sermons dated December 3, 1865, “As soon as God the
Holy Spirit begins to work upon the soul of man to illuminate him, he perceives
at once his own sinfulness. He abhors that sinfulness, he labors to escape from
it, he cries out for a remedy—he finds it in Christ—therefore he no longer
loves sin, he is not guided any longer by the darkness of policy and selfishness
and error, but he walks after the light of the Truth of God, of righteousness,
of holiness, of true knowledge. God has brought him into light—he sees now what
he never saw before! He knows, feels, believes, recognizes what he never had
known anything of before—he is in the light.”
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you
Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus
Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women
in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book will be available soon… 