Our text is the Gospel of John, beginning in chapter one, verse one. John one, chapter one, verse one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God and to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Let's pray. Father God, we thank You for this, Your Word, and we pray that You would apply it to our minds, apply it to our hearts, change us, have us to see the truth in these words and to recognize the primacy of Jesus in our world. We thank you for this word in Christ's name. And for the sake of his kingdom, we pray. Amen. I was tempted to read that not in Greek, but in the order that it is in the Greek, because the important words tend to get put at the beginning of the sentences and the thoughts. And it is, I think, very striking to read it like that, but it is also a little confusing, and so I chose not to. John's gospel is the last of the four gospels, and it is utterly unique. The other three, collectively, are referred to as the synoptic gospels. And synoptic is a phrase that means to see together. And so in other words, when you're reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they're from similar perspectives. They're shared in a similar way. Yet John is very different, fundamentally different from the other three. And so a few things that makes John unique are these. There is no account of Jesus' birth in the Gospel of John, nor of his baptism, nor of his prayers in Gethsemane, where he comes back, finds the disciples asleep, returns to pray, or of his ascension. And so these would seem odd to not have these in the text, but really, there is one other thing that's much, much more odd, and that is that the Gospel of John contains no parables. So none of the parables of Jesus appear in the gospel of John. Now, you have to realize that that's odd, that that's different, that we have to understand why that is. And so we can simply understand it by having to think about why do parables exist? What did Jesus say about parables? Well, we have that answer in scripture. The disciples asked him, why do you speak to us in parables? And he said, that he speaks to them in parables in these public settings because he does not want all the hangers-on out there to know what he's saying. He is incredibly hiding the gospel in plain sight. That was his choice, that was what he wanted to do. And yet here we have in John, without the parables then, this clear portrayal of who Jesus was. It is simply written, yet it's very profound. One writer described John as a pool in which a child may wade and an elephant may swim. Another writer said that its stories are so simple that even a child will love them, but its statements are so profound that even philosophers cannot fathom them. John is different because while all the gospels share some of what Jesus did in substantiating who he was and why he had come to the earth, John is primarily dedicated to declaring who Jesus was. Many of you have probably become familiar with the way the Gospels are portrayed. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Matthew presents Christ as a king, it said, Mark as a servant, Luke as a man, and John as God. Now we know that that isn't equally applied across all the books and all the texts, but yet as a general sense of each book, you can see the truth in that statement. King, servant, man, and John, God, it makes sense then that John is fundamentally different from the other three because God is fundamentally different from the other three. The purpose of the book is given to us. In John chapter 20, The last two verses of that chapter, verses 30 and 31, read, And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. So this is why John wrote this book. such that the reader can believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah and come to faith, come to belief. There is another thing that makes the Gospel of John unique. In it, he shares, Jesus shares, seven famous I am statements. Jesus declares himself, I am, and then he has these seven things, and let's review them. I am the bread of life, Jesus said. And we know that bread is essential to life. That is why he declared himself to be the bread of life. He is required to live. That was in chapter six. In chapter eight, he declares himself, I am the light of the world. And so you need light to see. If it were total blackness, you would not see anything. We can see in dim light. We are maybe jealous of cats that can see in far dimmer light than we can. And yet in total blackness, nobody can see anything. Eyes avail us nothing. Jesus is the light of the world. He gives us that light, that understanding. Chapter 10, there are two things here Jesus is declaring himself, I am the good shepherd and I am the door of the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I am the door of the sheep. So now these are slightly different. I am the good shepherd. What is a good shepherd? A good shepherd is one who lays down his life for the sheep. He protects them from harm. He protects them from death. I am the doer of the sheep. So not only must sheep be protected from predators, they must be protected from the elements at times. They need to be brought in. So Jesus says, I am the doer of the sheep. When they need to come in for safety, Jesus is that access to safety. Chapter 11, I am the resurrection and the life. So Jesus promises us that he will allow us to escape death. Death is what all people on earth rightly fear. And yet he says, I am the resurrection and the life. I will not only raise you, I will give you new life. Chapter 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus alone can promise this. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Chapter 15, I am the true vine. Jesus alone allows us to be productive in this world. Unbelievers may consider themselves productive, but it is all for nothing. It will avail them nothing in the end. We must be connected to Christ to have value. Our focus today will be on the light of the world, but first I have some other stuff to cover. The first thing you notice when you read the Gospel of John that is so striking that you really can't miss it, and that's exactly what John intended, were the first three words, in the beginning. So we know that Genesis starts out in the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And so John says, in the beginning, and then he has what I would offer to you is this little parenthetical statement. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. So you could see how verses one and two of John really do map to Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Fairly straightforward. But John is expanding upon that simple statement. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. And so you see God introduced, and then the creator introduced, and in Genesis 1.1, it would seem that it's all the same thing, and yet John is telling us, no, there's some subtle differences here. When I read you the I am statements a couple minutes ago, I read all of them with what's called the definite article prefacing them. I am the bread of life, Jesus said. Now, we can focus on bread of life, the things that make each of these statements unique, but we really ought to not look past those first three words. I am the. First, by Jesus making these statements, I am, he was echoing what was said in the Old Testament in speaking with Moses, I am, I exist, I am the preexistent one. John 1 declares this, that the word Christ was with God in the beginning. He is coexistent with God the Father. The Jehovah's Witnesses, Alter this first verse in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was a God they say When their new world translation came out in 1949 1950 People were appalled at this word getting injected in here It ought not be done according to the rules of Greek grammar. I And yet they did so because they felt obliged to do so because they don't believe Jesus is co-equal with God the Father. And so they make him less. They make him less than God the Father. And yet these definite articles are important. I am the bread of life. So what Jesus is saying is I alone am bread of life. I alone am light of the world. He is declaring himself to be the unique one, the only one that can fulfill these seven statements. I am the only true vine. This prologue, what I read, verses one through 18, in a sense summarizes all of John. John is 21 chapters, and so you see John portray in these 18 verses what he's going to expand upon in the rest of the book. This was not uncommon in ancient times. You conveyed this, and yet it is conveyed so beautifully. What would Job be without Job chapters one and two? We would be lost. It anchors us to everything that's going to happen. And so John one, verses one through 18 also anchor us, give us this huge view into who God is, who Jesus is, and what was about to be unfolded for us. In these 18 verses, I want to share with you 10 words that convey these concepts. The first word is word. Word. The Greek word is logos. And so, in Greek culture of that day, this was a word popular amongst philosophers. Logos was known to be and have this incredible meaning in philosophy. And people now can criticize John and say, why would John use that word when it already had a definite meaning, which is obviously not the same as what John would use it for? Well, I believe John was taking ownership of that term. He's saying, you Greeks, you use this term, but you're using it inadequately. The only way you can use that term sufficiently is when you speak of Christ. Word, it surpasses and subsumes the existing definition in the culture of that day. The next words I'll lump together are life, light, and darkness. We know light is often synonymous with life, not only in scripture, but in culture as well. We do have these annotations on these words, light and dark, of good and evil. The next two words, witness and belief. John the Baptist came as a witness and he became a witness. And then he says, we beheld, we incorporate. John is now incorporating himself as a witness. We also get incorporated as witnesses. We all become witnesses of Jesus. The fact that he came in the flesh, the fact that he saves humanity. Belief rises from that testimony of that witness. John came such that people would believe him. The next word is glory. The glory which I had with you before the world was, John writes of what Jesus said in the high priestly prayer. Do you remember that? In John 17 five, Jesus said, restore to me the glory which I had with you before the world was. This is glory, this is Jesus in all of his pre-incarnate glory, and he veiled that glory in the flesh to deal with we sinful humans, and yet he has had that glory restored when he returned to his father in heaven. The next three words, I'll say again, group them, law, grace, and truth. Jesus declares himself and scripture declares him to be greater than John the Baptist. John the Baptist himself said, no, I am unworthy to lose his sandal. There is someone coming greater than me. And what's interesting is see, in the beginning, John the Baptist was very popular with everybody. He was not nearly as despised in the early days as Jesus became fairly quickly. Yet his welcome wore out when we know that he criticized the king for having married his brother's wife and he was beheaded. Jesus is greater than John the Baptist, and yet Jesus is also greater than Moses. That's the last part of what I read to you. Because with Moses came the law, but with Jesus came grace and truth. And those are then declared to be, in the context of fallen humanity, superior to the law, in that grace and truth saved us, saved us from the consequences of our sin. What you might look past in this prologue, in verses one through 18, is that John is keeping us waiting. We have most likely read it enough to read Jesus into every verse, but he does not declare Jesus to be the person whom he's writing about until verse 17. He waits and waits and waits, and then he says, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. That's the first time we have Jesus equated with the word, which he introduced in verse one as co-equal with God, co-existent. So now we see the incarnation is not introduced until verse 14, and the word became flesh. dwelt among us." So first John walks through this incredible curriculum vitae of the Word, and then he says, who I'm describing to you was a man. He walked the earth, but we killed him. The prologue begins in verse one in eternity past with God the Father and the Word. It ends in verse 18 with again the Word and God, but now we introduce the terms son and father as well. And so we see that this relationship between God and Word is intimate, intimate as a father and a son. John's prologue is beautiful, and it was read in the Roman Catholic Church for 800 years at the conclusion of Mass. It was so popular. They called it the final gospel. In other words, every Mass would end with a reading of John 1, verses 1 through 18, because it presents the gospel very clearly. This is what you must do to be saved. Believe in the word. Many Christian services today even will have a Christmas service such as ours right now that does invoke this text, at least read it, if not preach upon it. They convey the essence of the gospel in beauty, in clarity, and yet still in mystery in these beautiful words. And these words cannot plumb the depths of God's eternity, but yet they can convey to us the the magnificence of it. The first five verses I want to go into a little bit more deeply. Verses one and two, J.I. Packer wrote in Concise Theology that Jesus was a man who convinced those closest to him that he was also God. That is not an easy task. Look at what happened in the Old Testament. Look at the miracles that Elijah and Elisha performed. And so people could easily misunderstand and think that these people are superhuman. They are God-like, if not God. Yet Jesus did deflect from that quite a bit, especially early on in his ministry. But it's in John where he clearly answers the question, are you God? Yes, I am. Are you a king? Yes, I am. So his deity is declared openly. He had these two natures, human and divine, that utterly puzzle us. And as Pastor Kaiser alluded to earlier, so many cults have formed. It's like you have to reach, your belief has to reach from here, to Jesus being divine, to here, to Jesus being human. And many of those early theologies, those early believers, it was like a bed cover that was too short. It could not cover the full expanse of what was required of them. And so you only had this much. So you'd cover maybe him being God, or others would cover just him being man. Move it to the middle, he's kind of like God, he's kind of like man. That's where they all went wrong. They just refused to expand belief to cover both of those extremes. And that's why we're so thankful for the creeds that worked that through, and now we adhere to them. We proclaim adherence to them. And even people nowadays, though, ah, I don't need any creeds. Well, they're very helpful, and so we ought not throw them out as useless. History is God's story, and so we benefit from history. We benefit from what God has allowed people generations before us to mine out of his word and share with us. We're fools to throw away such treasure. In verse three, Jesus, the word, is described as the creator of everything. And yet, apart from it, because the word was preexistent with God the Father, In verse four, Jesus is declared to be life itself. In him was life and the life was the light of men. In him was life. He's not just the creator of life, the giver of life. He is the root and the ground of life. All life sources from Jesus. And in verse five, he introduces the dilemma that is faced. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. This word comprehend makes it seem like understand, but it's more than that. It's apprehended. In other words, you're wanting to more escape it than to accept it. You're fighting against it. Darkness did not comprehend it. I want to look again at the seven I am statements. I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. Those three explicitly include the word life in them, if you notice. I am the bread of life, the resurrection and the life, the way, truth and the life. So three of the seven have life in them. Two more, I am the true vine and I am the light of the world, I believe can easily, you could see life in them. Because the true vine, Jesus, when he expands on that later, talks extensively about life. In other words, I am the true vine. I am the living vine. You only have life and fruit through me. Then I am the light of the world. And as I said earlier, light is life. We have accepted that in our culture. It's not even in just Christian culture. It's in world culture. Light is good, light is life, death is evil, death is bad, dark. The only two that remain are having to do with the shepherd in chapter 10. I am the good shepherd and I am the door of the sheep. And yet both of the roles that are defined here pertain to life, protecting life. So every one of Christ's seven I am statements refer to life. And we should not be surprised at that. Let me read to you from John chapter 10. This is John chapter 10, I'll read verses nine and 11, nine through 11. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. We're all familiar with that term. Jesus has come that we could have life and have a more abundant life. We should want an abundant life. Verse four. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. Verse three, the one before that says, all things were made through him and without him, nothing was made that was made. All that lives in the world owes its existence and its ongoing sustenance to Jesus. That's not just animals, that's not just plants. That's all of the energy that God has put into kinetic form throughout our universe. That's life, that's a reflection of life. Everything in life is intimately connected to Jesus and critically dependent upon Jesus. Intimately connected. Everything only has meaning because of Jesus. He's the creator. He creates with purpose. And so your purpose is only found through Christ. He gave you a purpose. He gave all things a purpose. And we abuse that purpose to our detriment. Intimately connected. also critically dependent, because apart from Jesus, nothing can or would exist. Jesus sustains life. He not only created it and set it on its course. He sustains it second by second. We exist because He exists. If He did not exist, we would not exist. We are dependent on Him. Our entire universe is dependent every second on its creator to sustain it. So, With that in mind, then, the importance of Jesus, not only to us as being saved, but really to our world and the purpose for why we exist, that is captured in the New Testament. Paul wrote to Timothy, his last letter was 2 Timothy, and he writes this to Timothy, and in verse 12 of chapter two, he said, if we deny him, he also will deny us. I was reminded of this at a dinner recently when my wife brought it up. I had this printed on pens. I was a new believer still living in my barracks room, and I ordered, I think, a hundred of these. They looked kind of like pencils, but they had an ink eraser on the end of them, and yet they had the hexagonal shape so they would sit and not roll away. And it's really hard to use a hundred pens. And what do you do? How do you give them away? How do you use them in sharing the gospel? It's pretty much an in-your-face gospel message. I had an asterisk, Jesus Christ, and then you rotate it one. If you deny him, I made it personal, if you deny him, click, he also will deny you. So it was a rather aggressive form of evangelism. And I don't remember handing out a lot. I was such a scaredy cat back then. I would speak with people, but to just go and start talking to people on the street, I just didn't have the courage. Now what's interesting about this is that atheists, we know atheists deny the existence of God. That's fine, we understand that. It doesn't mean God doesn't exist, it just means they refuse to believe. What is interesting though, and so thus obviously if an atheist is saying they don't believe in God, then they're obviously saying they don't believe Jesus is God. What's interesting to me though, and what's much more sad, is that many professing Christians deny that Christ is essential to salvation. And you may have read various Christian authors that hint at the fact that there is salvation through another means. As long as it's sincere, you can be saved. But I read to you the purpose of the Gospel of John in verse 31 of chapter 20. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. So obviously what's implied there is that you must believe to have life. And elsewhere, it's made even much more clear, isn't it? I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. Scripture is very, very clear that faith in Christ is essential to salvation. And yet we live at a time in which many people who profess to believe the Bible deny these simple statements. And yet, in light of what I've talked about relative to who Jesus is as the creator and as the sustainer of life itself, Those beliefs are absurd. Now it's easy for us to say an atheist is acting absurd. It's consistent with their faith, their chosen faith. But a Christian who supposedly has chosen a faith based on this word, it makes no sense. It's illogical. It's inconsistent. In Proverbs 8, there is the personification of wisdom. I love this personification of wisdom. Many debate as to whether this is Jesus speaking. I believe it's Jesus speaking. Proverbs 8, verse 36 says, all those who hate me love death. All those who hate me love death. And I believe Jesus is speaking of himself, the eternal wisdom of God. Ecclesiastes 7.12 says, wisdom gives life to those who have it. Proclaiming wisdom as essential to life. So let's go on to verse seven. This is concerning John the Baptist. There was a man sent from God, his name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world. What does a witness do? What is a witness's job? We have all watched the TV shows, right? If you're going to be sworn in as a witness in a court case, you put up your right hand and you swear to God that you are about to tell the truth. You are only going to tell the truth. You're not going to lie. So see, that's the job of a witness, and that's what John the Baptist did. And that's what all of us do when we come to faith in Christ. We become witnesses. We've raised our right hand to God and sworn that we will tell people the truth about Him. We might not do that courageously, we might not be very proactive at that, but that's what we have sworn to do, to tell the truth, to tell the world about God. Witness gives testimony all of us give testimony that all through him might believe it was said of John the Baptist that all through him might believe and Jesus said of John later in John 535 he was the burning and shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice For a time to rejoice in his light. He's rebuking the Jewish leaders because He's telling them, you were willing to listen to John the Baptist until he started stepping on your toes, and then you stopped listening. You no longer wanted to rejoice and bask in his light. Now John's witness was primarily to the people of Israel. And yet, Galilee, way up north, is a part of Israel. It was historically a part of Israel. Yet, listen to Isaiah 9, verses 1 and 2. The very last portion of verse 1, Isaiah 9, 1, reads, In Galilee of the Gentiles, in Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has dawned. So in verse 10 we read, he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. And yet we read also that John the Baptist is going to give light not only to these but to all. He's going to give light to all. Gives light to every man coming into the world. And so we go beyond just the Jewish nation And yet Galilee in Isaiah 9 is referred to as in Galilee of the Gentiles. Why? Why would Galilee that was in Israel be referred to as Galilee of the Gentiles? Well, when Solomon had his home and the temple built, he gave Hiram a whole lot of cities and they were all up in Galilee. And we know that Hiram didn't much care for those cities. He complained to Solomon, saying that these are not very nice cities that you gave me. But yet they're in Israel, and yet Solomon didn't value them, I guess, as much as any property that might have been around Jerusalem closer, and so he gave them to Hiram. Now it makes sense, Hiram is up north, and yet Solomon is giving away territory within Israel. But see, Galilee is then where God chose to have his initial disciples. Isn't it interesting that he chose this place that has been corrupted by over a thousand years of Gentile confusion? But he did that because his heart is to the Gentiles. Isaiah contains key references to Christ being a light to the Gentiles. This is one of them, Isaiah 9, verses one and two. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has dawned. And let me also read to you from Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, verse 6. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory. I will not give it to another. So God is proclaiming through Isaiah that he is going to reach out to these Gentile peoples. And then that was Isaiah 42, verse six. And then if you move forward seven chapters to Isaiah 49, verse six, we again see something very similar. I'll start at verse five. And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel is gathered to him, for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength. Indeed, he says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. These texts from Isaiah 9, Isaiah 42, and Isaiah 49 are quoted in several places in the New Testament. For one, it's quoted in, let me find my mark here. It's quoted in Matthew 4, verses 15 and 16. Let me read that. Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he departed to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region in shadow of death, light has dawned. So Jesus fulfills this. and that is referencing Isaiah 9 almost completely. Luke 2 verses 29 to 32. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. This is the prayer that Simeon has when he's holding the baby infant Jesus up in the air in the temple. A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. Now, Paul also quotes this twice in the book of Acts. Let me read to you first from chapter 13, starting at verse 42. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. He had just preached this fabulous sermon. Chapter 13 of Acts has this fabulous sermon by Peter. Now, when the congregation had broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes, oh, I'm sorry, Paul. Now, when the congregation had broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes, followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God, on the next Sabbath, so it's a week later, that first Sabbath, it was both the Jews and the Gentiles that were pleased with all that they'd said. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. And contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul out of jealousy. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us. I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Notice what Paul did here. In verse 47 he says, for so the Lord has commanded us. Paul and Barnabas are there as ambassadors of Christ. They are fulfilling what God has destined Christ to fulfill, reaching out His light to the Gentiles. And again, that was based on Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 49, and He applies this to Himself, just as we need to apply this to ourselves. We are that light that continues to reach out to those in the world that are lost, that are in the darkness. I've already mentioned a couple times that we know in our culture, in the Bible, light, good, dark, evil. 1 John 1 verse 5 says, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now, Satan is referred to as the prince of darkness, but you won't find that in scripture. But in the third century, there was a book written about Pilate in which that phrase was used to describe Satan, that he was the Prince of Darkness. It was again used by Martin Luther in A Mighty Fortress, and about a century later by John Milton in writing Paradise Lost. And so this is something that has entered our culture, the whole world's culture, that we recognize Satan as the Prince of Darkness. Except Scott Adams of Dilbert fame, he calls Satan Phil the Prince of Insufficient Light. I don't know if you knew that, but I imagine Phil might have known that, I don't know. But I guess he didn't want to use Satan, that was too dark for him to use in a comic strip, and so he just made up this character called Phil the Prince of Insufficient Light, that was his Satan. Now, Ephesians 5.8, this is Paul writing to Ephesus. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So he's referring to these specific individual believers in Ephesus. You were once darkness. So not only are they in the dark, not only do they not believe, they are darkness, they epitomize evil. And yet he says, now you are light in the Lord. So it's only in the Lord that we can be light, be good. John chapter three, I wanna read a little bit beyond the famous reference for God so loved the world, but starting at verse 19. Jesus said, 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. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. We as believers have this odd reality where we can perform good deeds and yet we can still perform evil deeds. We can still behave, although we are light in Christ, we can still behave as if we are in the dark still. And that is what sin is to us. For we that believe, for we that know the Lord, for we that have been saved, sin is this darkness wooing us into it, back into it, away from Christ, away from the light. And yet, God sees all deeds, the good deeds, the bad deeds, and they will all be judged. In Luke 8, 17, nothing is secret. Nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. So we as Christians know this intellectually. We know that we cannot run from God. There is no value in running from God. And yet our message to the unbelievers amongst us has to be don't run. You have forgiveness in God. You have forgiveness through Christ. You can't escape the darkness. But the guilt of sin and our desire to reject it, reject our role in it, are having a part in it is so strong. that we just refuse to come to the light. And yet what's sad is that we can relate to this. We can relate to why unbelievers choose that. But as believers, it makes absolutely no sense. You only can fulfill your purpose in Christ, in the light. And there is no lasting value for anything that we as believers do in the dark. There's no lasting value for anybody that does their deeds in the dark. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. And though we still have darkness in us at times, we are given the promise that our sins and our lawless deeds, God will remember no more. We must Go towards the light of God. Recognize the darkness will still attempt to woo us away from God. And yet our job is to fight that within ourselves such that we can be lights in God's world, reaching out to the lost with the message of forgiveness. And if we ourselves are not rejoicing and reveling in the forgiveness that we have through Christ, how can we expect to impress that upon unbelievers? And so I encourage you to be more diligent in rejoicing in your salvation, in remaining in the light, walking in the spirit, and recognizing that the shadows are no places to be for us. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the fact that we rest in the light, that we rest in Christ, that Christ is the light of the world, the only light of the world. We dare not offer people hope through anything else, through any other earthly religion, through any other philosophy of man. They are all empty. They all are in the dark. So we thank you, Father, for this word that points us to the truth, and we pray that we would be guided by it and that we would be guides and witnesses to those that we come into contact with, pointing them to Christ. We thank you now for this, your word in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.