(Includes Testimony by Nick Souther)
Joyce and I had a movie outing with some of our family so that some of our grandkids could watch the Lion King. Once we got in the theater, it was very crowded and dark making it difficult to see any area that all of us could sit together. We walked to an area that looked like there were a few seats that were close together and as we approached it, a small group of people moved over to allow us room to sit together.
Once we got in the seats, I bent over to thank the gentleman at the end, just to realize that it was a friend of mine named Gerald Mathis. I thanked him and asked how he was doing. It was at that point that he realized who I was and made a comment about how he didn’t recognize me in the darkness. I didn’t recognize him to start with, but after my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could tell who he was. When the movie was over and we were back in the light, everyone was clearly recognizable.
Life is kind of like the movie theater experience. If you begin to live in the darkness of sin, you can’t see too good to start with, then you adjust to the darkness and think you are seeing just fine. Then when the light is shining on your life you realize how deceived you have been in the darkness.
Let’s look at John 3:16-21 and see what God’s word has to say about God’s desire to bring us out of the darkness.
Here’s what we can learn about the dangers of living in darkness:
- It leads to a double life.
When you live in the darkness of sin it causes you to live or act one way when you are at church or around other church people, but live and act another way when you are in secret or around others that live in the darkness of sin. It’s a double life that may fool some people, but it doesn’t fool God.1 John 1:5–7 (NKJV): This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. - It leads to disappointing God, yourself and others.
When you live in the darkness of sin, whether it’s just a small part of your life or on a larger scale, you are disappointing God. The truth is, you not only disappoint God, but you end up disappointing yourself and others that care about you the most. God has much better plans for you than you realize.Romans 13:11–14 (NKJV): And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. - It leads to death and destruction.
When you live in the darkness of sin, the initial feelings may seem good, but the end result is always death and destruction. Sometimes it’s the death and destruction of your marriage, your family or your career and sometimes it’s the destruction and death of your physical body.Ephesians 5:8–14 (NKJV): 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. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says:“Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”
God is shining His light on you today to reveal the darkness you have been in and to give you the opportunity to step out of the darkness and into His glorious light.
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