John
{3:18} He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
{3:19} And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
{3:20} For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
{3:21} But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
What do sinners and roaches have in common? They both hate the light. No, that isn't some weird joke that misses the mark on the humor scale, it's the truth.
Loving darkness.
What other things love darkness?
Not all nocturnal creatures are bad, not even roaches are bad, they don't have the choice between being good and evil to classify them as being bad. We don't like roaches because they're breeders of filth and creepy, and disgusting, but they're not evil.
Only men and angels can be evil, beings of higher intelligence, beings that can actually choice to do either right or wrong, good or evil.
We associate the light with good things don't we? It's daytime, we can see everything around us clearly nothing is readily hidden from our sight. Most people work during the day. Before electricity nearly all people worked during the day and the night was for sleeping.
Just like we associate the colors of day and night with good and evil, light and dark, white and black. How many brides are married in a black wedding gown? White is the symbol of purity to many. This isn't to say we exclusively believe this. Many people like to buck the system for shock value and many customs come about in different ways.
What doesn't change is the Bible and the Bible says this...
John
{3:18} He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
{3:19} And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
{3:20} For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
{3:21} But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Those who don't believe in Jesus as the Son of God are condemned. The condemnation is light came to the world and men loved darkness.
Why did they love darkness?
Because their deeds were evil.
Everyone that does evil hates light, they don't come out into the light because they're fearful of their evil ways being seen.
It's safe to say that darkness is a concealer.
You shine light on anything its no longer concealed.
You take away the darkness and replace it with light you can see clearly into even the corners of a room. If I shine a flashlight under my bed all those little dark loving dust bunnies will be seen. If a man comes to fix my stove he's going to pull it out from it's normal position and light is going to shine on everything that has been in darkness beneath it. If I open a closet I can hunt about for an article of clothing and the chances of pulling out the wrong thing are great if I don't have light in there.
We need light to see things. We need light if we're to take away the darkness. We need Jesus who is the light to take away the darkness of sin in us. We can't hide anything from Jesus. We can choose not to follow Him and remain in darkness that's always our option, but if you choose to follow Jesus, Son of God, your life is open to Him and all your deeds are readily seen, you can't hide anything and hope that Jesus won't see it, He sees all, He is the light that shines on our lives, on our hearts, He wants our lives to be illuminated brilliantly in His glow and any sins we have to be confessed and forsaken.
Those who want to keep sin in their lives live in darkness, not light and you know what? I think some of them, no, I think a lot of people think they are living in the light of Jesus' love when in truth they're on a night and day pattern with Him. For part of the time they seemingly live in the daylight and yet they have night in their lives that falls down around them where they hide their sins. They're deceived into thinking they're truly following Christ when the truth is, even the light they have in the daytime is artificial and not the true Light that Lighteth the World.
I think it'd be very wise of us all to examine the light source we are basking under.
'But he that doeth truth....'
Doeth truth!
Does truth!
Doing the truth!
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
If we're doing the truth we want to come to the light. We want our lives to be an open book. We want all to know and see that our lives are being lived in God with nothing to hide.
If you're not doing the truth you are doing evil.
Jesus is the truth, His life is the truth, there wasn't any darkness in Jesus at all, none, He had nothing to hide.
Jesus full of grace and truth came to us so we may obtain grace and live in truth.
If we obtain grace and accept the truth of Jesus and yet we don't live in that truth, our lives aren't manifesting the truth, we are hiding the truth we've received and if we're hiding the truth we're concealing it, and if we're concealing the truth it is in darkness not the light, and if it is in darkness it is evil and... if it is evil, it is condemned.
We need to walk in truth.
Live in truth.
What sort of light to you live under? The true light of Jesus? The artificial light of Satan? We all live under one or the other. Satan deceives, that's his job so to speak. He wants people to believe they are in the light of Jesus but really being under his light, which in truth is darkness. Satan's light doesn't go into the dark recesses, the hidden corners, it doesn't shine under the bed or into the back of the closet, it only goes so far and makes people feel secure enough that they don't think about those dark places because they're scary and evil lurks in them, who wants to go into the dark scary places? No one really, not these places where it's impossible to take Jesus because wherever Jesus goes He bring light. You can't have Jesus in the dark places and remain hidden. He's the Light. If you have Jesus wherever you are will be light, will be truth. If you find yourself in any dark places caught up in something you'd rather Jesus not see, remember, He's not with you as you dwell in that darkness of sin. If you let Him into your life that sin will be revealed to Him, by Him and it's amazing because He helps us recognize the sin in our lives and gives us His Holy Spirit to help us resist the sin so we can live in the light of Him.
Remember this--
Luke
{18:10} Two men went up into the temple to pray; the onea Pharisee, and the other a publican.
{18:11} The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are,] extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
{18:12} I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
{18:13} And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
{18:14} I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
One man was filled with sin and couldn't even see it in himself. Another admitted he was a sinner and asked for mercy.
We have to recognize the sin, admit the sin, ask for forgiveness, receive the Grace of God, and then walk in the truth, walk in the light.
Go and sin no more... how often should we forgive...forever.
Yes, we are humans and we are prone to sin, but there is One we believe in who never sinned, One who promises us His Holy Spirit, One who give us His mercy and grace, bringing truth to us, bringing light to our lives so we don't have to live in darkness. Let's live in the Light, live in Truth, which is living in Jesus.
Amen.
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