Latest / Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons / Light Changes Everything

Transcript

Light Changes Everything · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

0:00
8.
0:03
Ephesians 5, verse 8,
0:04
For at one time you were darkness,
0:07
but now you are light in the Lord.
0:10
Walk as children of light.
0:16
Paul often, as he wrote,
0:20
he did so by way of contrasts.
0:24
Very often he would say,
0:26
reminding Christians,
0:27
this is what you once were,
0:29
but this is now what you are.
0:31
You find that, in fact,
0:33
as you go through in Ephesians,
0:34
it went back to chapter 2,
0:36
we find that you were dead
0:38
in trespasses and sins.
0:41
You once walked according
0:42
to the course of the world.
0:44
You were children of wrath,
0:46
even us others.
0:47
But now, that's what he says in verse 4,
0:50
but God being rich in mercy,
0:53
where God comes into your life
0:55
and changes and transforms it.
0:57
Again, in verse 13 of chapter 2,
1:01
we have the same idea.
1:03
He says,
1:04
But now in Christ Jesus,
1:06
you who once were far off
1:09
have been brought near
1:10
by the blood of Christ.
1:13
So Paul often works
1:15
by these sort of contrasting pictures
1:18
of what once we were
1:20
and what now we have become.
1:24
And it's important for us
1:25
to remember that we,
1:28
just as it tells us
1:30
in this particular verse,
1:31
you were,
1:32
that's what he says,
1:34
for at one time
1:36
you were darkness,
1:38
but now are light in the Lord.
1:40
Not just you were in darkness.
1:42
We were in darkness.
1:43
But it's deeper than that.
1:45
We actually were darkness.
1:48
And when you think about it,
1:49
that's an awful picture.
1:52
And that's how everybody is
1:53
without Christ.
1:55
That's how we once were.
1:57
Darkness.
1:58
Not just in darkness,
1:59
but darkness.
2:00
Darkness.
2:01
So before we come to look
2:03
at positively,
2:05
let us look at first
2:06
what we were.
2:07
We were in darkness.
2:08
And this is, of course,
2:08
the darkness of sin.
2:11
That's what happened
2:12
whenever sin entered into this world.
2:16
And it's our,
2:16
what we use the expression,
2:18
a default position.
2:19
It's what we are.
2:22
And sadly,
2:23
it's what by nature we love.
2:25
Because we're told in scripture
2:26
that men love darkness
2:28
rather than light.
2:31
And whether we accepted it or not,
2:34
that was our preferred position.
2:37
Before we became Christians,
2:39
we preferred the darkness.
2:41
Yes, there might have been
2:42
leanings towards the light.
2:43
There might have been
2:44
drawings towards the light.
2:46
But the bottom line was
2:48
darkness was what ruled us
2:50
because we were darkness.
2:53
And it's not until we come to the light
2:55
that we realized just
2:57
how dark we actually were.
3:00
And this darkness is an awful thing.
3:03
Because in that darkness,
3:04
there is also
3:05
a sense of despondency
3:07
and a sense of despair.
3:10
People aren't aware of it.
3:12
But that's exactly how it is.
3:14
And I've seen,
3:19
I can still remember,
3:21
a couple of occasions
3:22
where this was brought
3:24
so forcibly home to me.
3:26
Where I was visiting people.
3:30
And there are two in particular
3:32
that come to my mind.
3:35
In the last week of their life,
3:37
it was not at the same time.
3:39
And I was trying to
3:41
say a little about Jesus
3:44
and didn't want to hear anything.
3:47
And I asked,
3:48
can I pray with you?
3:50
No, don't want prayer.
3:53
And what I found so extraordinary is
3:56
that there seemed to be just,
3:59
there was almost a darkness
4:00
you could feel.
4:02
And a sense of despair
4:03
and despondency.
4:05
That didn't want the light
4:07
in any shape or form.
4:08
And this is part almost
4:10
of the mystery of iniquity
4:11
where this darkness
4:13
wants to go deeper and deeper.
4:16
Doesn't want the light
4:17
in any shape or form.
4:19
And even when you're holding out light,
4:22
don't want it.
4:24
And it's,
4:24
it had a,
4:25
it had a real impact upon me,
4:28
this sense of
4:29
the hopelessness
4:30
and the despair
4:32
that is in that darkness.
4:34
But that's exactly,
4:36
these were sort of
4:38
where the,
4:38
where it was being displayed
4:40
in a very clear way.
4:42
And what I was thinking was,
4:44
just as a Christian
4:45
gets little glimpses
4:47
of glory along the way,
4:48
we get little,
4:48
little tears,
4:50
we,
4:50
we,
4:50
we snippets,
4:52
as it were,
4:52
little touches.
4:53
and as we get closer to glory,
4:57
our hearts seem to be going there
4:59
more and more
4:59
to reverse us through
5:01
for those out of Christ.
5:04
That darkness is beginning
5:06
to envelop them
5:07
more and more.
5:09
The,
5:09
the lostness,
5:11
the despondency,
5:13
the darkness,
5:14
because that's what hell
5:15
ultimately is,
5:16
is outer darkness.
5:18
darkness.
5:18
And it's an incredibly
5:20
solemn thought,
5:21
but that,
5:21
that is the nature,
5:22
that's how we were
5:23
before the light.
5:26
And it's also a darkness
5:27
of ignorance,
5:29
because light,
5:30
light speaks to us
5:31
of knowledge,
5:32
of understanding.
5:34
And chapter four,
5:35
verse 18 tells us,
5:37
they are darkened
5:38
in their understanding,
5:40
alienated from the life
5:41
of God,
5:42
because of the ignorance
5:44
that is in them
5:45
due to the hardness
5:46
of their heart.
5:49
And you know,
5:49
it's an awful thing
5:50
to have our understanding
5:51
darkened by sin.
5:55
This ignorance
5:56
that is spoken of here
5:57
is not the ignorance
5:58
of intellect,
5:59
because there are many
6:00
intellectual giants
6:03
in this world
6:04
who,
6:05
as far as spiritual
6:06
understanding is concerned,
6:09
have none.
6:10
They are in darkness.
6:12
In fact,
6:13
I'm sure it's the same
6:14
with you.
6:15
I've had very clever people
6:16
tell me when I became
6:18
a Christian
6:18
to get rid of that nonsense.
6:20
That's what,
6:21
that was the actual word used.
6:23
Clever people,
6:24
far smarter
6:25
than I ever would be.
6:27
But that's because
6:28
of this word ignorance,
6:32
which is a spiritual blindness
6:34
that envelops the mind.
6:38
And they actually think,
6:39
genuinely think,
6:41
that the whole Christian,
6:42
that it's foolishness.
6:45
But the Bible tells us
6:47
that that's exactly
6:48
what they think.
6:50
Remember how Paul writing elsewhere,
6:52
he talks about
6:53
the preaching of the gospel,
6:55
that for some,
6:56
it's a stumbling block,
6:57
for others,
6:58
it's foolishness.
7:01
There are people tonight
7:02
who actually would look at you
7:04
coming to the prayer meeting
7:05
and think,
7:05
how foolish is that?
7:08
And the reason is
7:09
because of the ignorance,
7:12
the spiritual ignorance
7:13
that is brought about
7:14
by the darkness
7:15
that has enveloped
7:17
their heart
7:18
and their mind.
7:19
And you know,
7:20
it's an incredibly
7:21
solemn thing.
7:24
And then there's also
7:25
the darkness
7:25
of the curse.
7:26
You see,
7:27
there's the curse and sin.
7:28
And you remember
7:30
how God's judgment
7:31
came on Israel.
7:32
Remember how the plagues,
7:33
and one of the plagues
7:34
was darkness.
7:36
An incredible darkness
7:37
enveloped the land,
7:39
the whole land of Egypt
7:40
with an exception,
7:42
the land of Goshen.
7:43
The part of Egypt,
7:45
Goshen,
7:46
was in light.
7:47
That's where God's people were.
7:49
The rest of Egypt
7:51
was plunged
7:52
into the most
7:54
extraordinary darkness.
7:55
darkness.
7:57
And so,
7:58
that's where we once were,
8:00
under the curse,
8:02
because of sin,
8:03
ignorant
8:04
to the things of God.
8:06
But thankfully,
8:08
that has changed
8:09
because we're told here,
8:11
for at one time
8:12
you were darkness,
8:14
but now
8:15
you are light
8:16
in the Lord.
8:19
And that light
8:20
in the Lord,
8:20
it brings various things.
8:22
The first thing it does,
8:23
it brings reconciliation.
8:25
When the light
8:27
comes into your experience,
8:30
and as we know
8:31
that the dawning
8:32
of the light
8:33
can be so different
8:34
for different people,
8:36
not everybody
8:36
is a Saul of Tarshish,
8:38
not everybody
8:39
has a clear moment
8:41
when they know
8:42
they've passed
8:43
from death to life.
8:44
Many people,
8:45
as we've often said,
8:46
it's like the dawn
8:47
of the day.
8:49
And if you've ever
8:49
been out through the night
8:51
and experienced
8:52
coming in
8:53
from the darkness
8:53
and see just that
8:55
I've done so
8:57
on two or three occasions,
8:58
you've been out
8:59
through the night
9:01
and you just,
9:03
you can't say
9:04
at any particular moment
9:06
now it's light.
9:07
There is a particular time
9:09
when everything
9:10
is dark and black
9:11
and then gradually
9:12
it moves into
9:13
a world of shadows
9:14
and then growing shapes
9:16
and things,
9:17
there's a growing clarity
9:18
and eventually
9:19
everything becomes clear.
9:21
And that's how it is
9:22
sometimes
9:23
in the spiritual journey
9:25
for people.
9:26
They can't put
9:26
a particular day
9:27
or time,
9:28
but they do know
9:29
that they're on
9:30
a spiritual journey
9:31
where they were darkness
9:33
and now they are light.
9:36
And so there is,
9:37
this is a great thing
9:38
is there is reconciliation
9:39
because now
9:41
we are at one
9:42
with the Lord
9:43
and we feel at home
9:46
with the Lord.
9:46
that's why in Romans
9:48
we're saying
9:49
now we call him
9:50
Abba, Father.
9:52
We can go straight
9:53
maybe as children
9:54
we recited the Lord's Prayer
9:56
our Father
9:57
which art in heaven
9:58
repeated it
9:58
knew it of by heart.
10:01
But when you become
10:02
a Christian
10:02
you can say
10:03
our Father,
10:04
my Father.
10:06
Because
10:06
you feel this acceptance.
10:09
How?
10:10
Have you made that
10:11
in yourself?
10:12
No.
10:12
It is the ministry
10:14
of the Spirit
10:14
assuring us
10:16
the Spirit
10:18
ministered
10:19
to our spirit
10:20
that we are
10:21
children of God.
10:23
And it's one of the
10:24
most liberating
10:25
experiences
10:27
that we have
10:27
where we've come
10:28
from the darkness
10:29
and now we have
10:30
this sense of belonging.
10:32
We know who we are.
10:33
We're family.
10:34
We belong to one another.
10:36
You remember that
10:37
when you became
10:37
a Christian?
10:39
All of a sudden
10:40
there was
10:40
you felt one
10:41
with your brothers
10:43
and sisters.
10:44
People you used to see
10:44
over there
10:45
you didn't really
10:46
know them
10:46
but all of a sudden
10:47
there's this bond
10:49
this link
10:50
and this is all
10:52
through the Spirit
10:53
ministering within us
10:55
that we are all
10:56
children
10:56
all family.
10:59
We all belong
11:00
to the Lord.
11:01
And so
11:02
this is a wonderful
11:04
time
11:04
where we're
11:05
brought into the light.
11:08
You know
11:08
you could be out
11:10
on a really cold
11:11
windy night.
11:12
It's really dark.
11:13
the wind is howling.
11:14
You're going to visit
11:15
someone.
11:16
It's a good friend
11:16
and you're struggling
11:18
with the wind.
11:19
It's pouring rain.
11:20
Everything is dark.
11:21
Everything is black.
11:22
You reach the door.
11:23
The door's locked.
11:24
You ring the bell
11:25
and knock the door
11:25
and they come to the door
11:27
and they,
11:27
oh, come on in.
11:30
And if that's happened
11:30
to you
11:31
you remember
11:31
the warmth,
11:32
the light,
11:34
the friendship.
11:35
And it's so good
11:36
to get out
11:36
of the pouring rain
11:38
and the wind.
11:40
And in a sense
11:41
that's how it was
11:42
in our journey
11:43
in salvation.
11:45
This sense
11:46
of the warmth,
11:49
the love,
11:50
the friendship.
11:52
Just the,
11:53
I'm home.
11:54
This is where I belong.
11:56
Can you remember it?
11:57
The sense of belonging,
11:59
the sense of realization.
12:01
This is me.
12:02
I'm now at home.
12:03
And also
12:05
it's a state of knowledge
12:06
because light
12:08
brings knowledge.
12:11
Light opens
12:12
our understanding.
12:14
We have now
12:14
come to see
12:15
while we were dark,
12:18
when we were in darkness
12:20
and dark,
12:21
yes,
12:22
we may have
12:22
grasped certain things
12:24
and understood
12:25
certain things,
12:26
but our understanding
12:28
was so limited.
12:29
But now,
12:31
and I'm sure
12:31
like me,
12:32
you lament
12:33
and say,
12:33
I wish I knew more.
12:35
Well,
12:36
be encouraged.
12:37
You know a lot more
12:38
than you used to know.
12:41
Because when you become
12:42
a Christian,
12:43
you grow
12:43
in grace
12:44
and in the knowledge
12:46
of the Lord Jesus.
12:47
Both these things
12:49
take part.
12:51
Grace and knowledge
12:52
are working together
12:53
and we need to seek
12:54
to grow more and more
12:55
in grace
12:56
and in knowledge.
12:58
And as we grow
12:59
in knowledge,
13:00
we do so with the word
13:01
and we do so
13:03
married to the experiences
13:05
that we go through.
13:06
You know,
13:06
as a Christian,
13:08
the experiences
13:09
that you go through
13:09
today,
13:11
you're able to
13:12
understand them
13:13
far more.
13:14
Yes,
13:15
because you've been
13:15
on the journey
13:16
longer,
13:16
but your knowledge
13:17
of the word
13:18
is greater.
13:19
And the word
13:20
tied and married
13:22
to the experiences
13:24
you go through
13:25
help your knowledge
13:26
to grow
13:27
so that you have
13:28
a greater understanding
13:29
of God's ways,
13:30
God's purposes,
13:32
of who God is.
13:34
And so there's
13:35
this great sense
13:36
of knowledge.
13:37
You know who you
13:38
belong to.
13:39
You know why you're here.
13:40
You know where you're going.
13:42
You have an understanding
13:43
of God's love to you.
13:45
You have a knowledge
13:46
of God's peace
13:48
in your heart.
13:49
There's an understanding
13:50
of the cross.
13:51
There's an understanding
13:52
of the resurrection.
13:54
All these things,
13:55
darkness,
13:57
is gone.
13:59
It's now light.
14:00
Now I know
14:01
there'll always be days
14:03
when we're not so conscious
14:04
of the light.
14:06
And sometimes we say,
14:08
I am in darkness.
14:11
But you won't be left there.
14:13
Micah said,
14:13
Micah says,
14:14
when I sit in darkness,
14:16
the Lord shall be a light
14:17
to me.
14:18
And you know the Lord will.
14:20
Even if there are times
14:21
we're struggling,
14:22
the Lord will reveal
14:24
himself again to us.
14:25
And so the fault
14:26
is never with the Lord.
14:28
It's never that his light
14:29
has ever dimmed.
14:31
But so often,
14:33
the clouds of our own sin
14:34
and all the other things
14:36
come in and block the way.
14:38
And just finally,
14:39
it tells us there
14:41
that we are to walk
14:43
as children of light.
14:45
And it tells us very simply
14:47
of three things there.
14:49
For the fruit of light
14:50
is found in all that is good
14:52
and right and true.
14:53
That idea of good
14:56
is goodness.
14:58
That should be our life
15:01
where we are seeking
15:02
the good of other people.
15:04
If God's goodness
15:05
is part of our lives,
15:08
if the Lord's light
15:10
is within us,
15:12
then it is only natural
15:14
that we are seeking
15:15
the well-being,
15:17
seeking the good.
15:18
So we're wanting
15:19
to encourage
15:20
and to edify
15:21
and to strengthen
15:21
and to build up
15:22
and to do good
15:24
at whatever opportunity
15:25
we have.
15:28
Right or righteousness.
15:30
In other words,
15:31
we are to be right
15:33
before God
15:34
and before one another.
15:36
A right man.
15:37
We talk,
15:38
we talk of a right,
15:40
well,
15:41
that's what the Christian
15:42
should be,
15:43
a right person
15:44
and a true person.
15:47
No deceit,
15:48
no dishonesty,
15:49
no deception,
15:51
but seeking to deal honestly
15:54
and to deal well
15:55
with everybody.
15:57
There shouldn't be
15:58
any hidden things.
15:59
Our lives
16:00
shouldn't have any hidden things.
16:02
Not that we can hide from God,
16:03
but our lives
16:05
should be open.
16:06
Paul so often
16:08
throughout says
16:08
that we are to live
16:10
in this sincerity,
16:12
which is meaning,
16:13
there's various meanings
16:14
that he gives,
16:15
but one of them
16:16
is we're searched
16:17
like under the spotlight,
16:18
under the sunlight.
16:21
And if our lives
16:23
are lived in a right way,
16:25
then we can live
16:26
comfortably
16:27
with one another.
16:29
You know if you're
16:29
at the airport
16:30
and you're going away
16:31
and you're
16:31
you know your baggage
16:35
goes through a scanner.
16:36
If you had something
16:38
that's in the
16:39
forbidden category
16:41
in your case,
16:43
you'd be kind of sweating
16:44
a wee bit
16:45
saying,
16:45
I wonder if they'll find that.
16:48
But if everything's all right,
16:50
then you're okay,
16:52
you're not worried at all.
16:53
Well that's the kind of idea
16:54
we should be,
16:55
that our lives
16:56
are going through
16:57
this scanner
16:58
so that
16:58
before God
17:00
and before one another.
17:02
Now of course
17:02
that convicts us
17:03
because so often
17:04
as we look at our lives
17:05
we say,
17:06
oh,
17:07
because we all sin.
17:09
We all,
17:10
as we face up
17:11
to what it is saying here,
17:12
we all do wrong.
17:15
But we should walk
17:16
as a light.
17:17
Our lives should be
17:18
a living testimony.
17:20
Jesus said,
17:20
you are the lights
17:21
of the world.
17:23
The light of the Lord
17:25
should shine through us.
17:26
I read of a diamond
17:27
somewhere,
17:28
you probably read of that,
17:29
that if it's exposed
17:30
to the sunlight
17:31
for a while
17:32
and then you put it
17:33
into a darkened room,
17:35
it continues to shine.
17:38
In a sense,
17:38
that's how we should be
17:40
as we come from
17:41
the presence of the Lord.
17:42
Like Moses,
17:43
remember when he was
17:44
up on the mountain,
17:45
up with the Lord.
17:46
When he came back down,
17:47
his face so shone
17:49
that the Israelites
17:50
couldn't look at him.
17:51
He had to put a veil
17:52
over his face.
17:53
They said,
17:53
we can't look at you
17:54
as he came from
17:56
the presence of the Lord.
17:58
So our lives
18:00
ought to be a light
18:02
that shines.
18:05
And you sometimes
18:06
say to yourself,
18:06
why are people so,
18:08
why is the world
18:08
so opposed to Christianity?
18:10
For that very reason.
18:13
That the world
18:14
can't handle
18:15
the light of the Christian.
18:17
The world
18:18
would want
18:19
the Christian removed.
18:21
That's why they want
18:22
the Bible removed.
18:23
Because the Bible
18:24
is a light
18:25
that bothers them.
18:26
the Christian
18:27
is often a light
18:28
that bothers them.
18:30
But the other side
18:31
to it is
18:31
that the Christian
18:33
as a light
18:33
is a huge influence
18:35
for good.
18:37
And I'm sure
18:38
as you and I
18:38
look back
18:39
over our lives,
18:40
we can remember
18:41
Christians
18:42
who shone.
18:43
Christians
18:44
whose lives
18:45
influenced us.
18:48
Not just
18:48
by what they said,
18:50
but by what they were.
18:51
there.
18:53
So Paul
18:53
is saying here,
18:55
here's the acid test,
18:56
threefold acid test
18:57
for our life.
18:58
In order to live right,
19:00
ask yourself this,
19:01
is it good?
19:03
If it is,
19:03
it's right.
19:04
Is it good?
19:06
Is it right?
19:07
Is it true?
19:08
These are the three principles.
19:10
If it's good,
19:12
if it's right,
19:13
is it true?
19:14
May the Lord
19:15
help us then
19:16
to have this
19:17
governing our lives
19:19
in order that
19:20
we may walk
19:21
in the light,
19:23
displaying the light
19:24
as we have been
19:25
now delivered
19:26
from the darkness.
19:28
Let us pray.
19:29
Lord,
19:30
we give thanks
19:31
for our time together.
19:33
And as we
19:34
reflect on your word
19:35
and what it tells us,
19:37
so often we feel
19:39
we come so far short.
19:41
But we give thanks
19:42
for your patience
19:43
how you deal with us.
19:45
And we give thanks
19:46
for the desire
19:46
within our heart
19:47
to walk in the light
19:49
and to be reflectors
19:51
of your light
19:52
so that the image
19:54
of Christ
19:55
may shine in us
19:56
more and more.
19:57
We pray then
19:58
to bless us
19:59
as a congregation.
20:01
Bless every home
20:02
and every family.
20:04
Again,
20:04
we pray your blessing
20:05
upon our young people
20:06
and the holiday club
20:08
that's taking place.
20:09
And we give thanks
20:10
for the huge input
20:11
of Scott and Fiona.
20:13
And we pray for them,
20:15
for Scott and Fiona
20:16
and for Katie Bell
20:19
and Lily May
20:20
as they will be moving
20:21
down to North Harris.
20:23
We pray that
20:24
their time there
20:25
will be a time
20:26
of blessing
20:27
as it has been
20:28
with us here.
20:29
And watch over them,
20:30
we pray.
20:31
And we ask, Lord,
20:32
that you will watch
20:33
over all of us.
20:34
Do us good,
20:35
we pray.
20:36
Guide us
20:37
and keep us
20:37
and guard us
20:39
at every time.
20:40
Take away our sin
20:41
in Jesus' name.
20:42
Amen.