Two Contrasting Lifestyles

Well, let's begin our worship today. We're singing in Psalm 103, Psalm 103 in the Sing

Psalms version, and that's on page 135. The tune is Herongate. We're singing verses 1

to 11, one of the great Psalms of praise, where God is praised by the Psalmist as he

actually looks into his own soul and calls upon his very inner being to praise the Lord.

With all his heart. Praise God, my soul, with all my heart. Let me exalt his holy name.

Forget not all his benefits. His praise, my soul, in song proclaim. Verses 1 to 11 to God's

praise. And we'll stand. If you're able to stand, please stand to sing.

Praise God, my soul, with all my heart.

Let me exalt his holy name. Forget not all his benefits. His praise, my soul, in song proclaim.

The Lord forgives you all your sins. And heals your sickness and distress. Your life he rescues

from the grave. And crowns you in his tenderness. He satisfies your deep desires. From his

name and grace, my soul, with all my heart. He satisfies your deep desires. He satisfies your

heart. And he satisfies your deep desires. From his unending stores of good. So he

He satisfies your deep desires

From His unending stores of good

So that just like the eagle's strength

Your youthful vigor is renewed

The Lord is known for righteous acts

And justice too, downtrodden ones

To Moses He made known His ways

His mighty deeds to Israel's sons

The Lord is merciful and kind

To anger slow and full of grace

He will not constantly reprove

For in His anger hide His face

He does not punish our misdeeds

Or give our sins their just reward

Our greatest love as I attend

Towards all those who fear the Lord

Let's now join together in prayer briefly

O Lord, our God, as we give thanks once again

Like the psalmist for all the good things

That you give to us day by day

We come before you now to worship you

And we pray for your help as we do so

That our hearts too may be stirred up

Like David's was

So that we may come to call upon the Lord

In praise and thanksgiving

We pray especially now for our children

We thank you, Lord, for those who are here today

For the creche, for the Sunday school, for tweenies

We thank you for all the children who belong to us

As a congregation

And for the special place they have in our hearts

We pray for them, O Lord, at this time

And we pray for them

That as they continue to grow up in years

That they will grow in the knowledge of the Lord

And we pray for them today, Lord

As they receive teaching from your word

That you would truly bless them

And bless that to them

We pray for your protective care of them

In every way, morally and physically and spiritually

We ask, Lord, that you would shield them about

With your own power

As they go from day to day in this world

As they attend school

As they come to other activities as well

We pray for them

As they do these things

That they will know the blessing of the Lord

Remember today also those who teach them

Those in our Sunday school classes

We thank you for them

And for the Bible class too

And we pray

That in all of these areas, Lord

That you would bless our young people

And go before them

And teach them your ways

Hear us now, we pray

And pardon our sin

For Jesus' sake

Amen

Amen

Okay, children

It's good to see you all out today

And I'm going to say something

Is that at the end of the service?

Buddy

End of the service?

Okay

Okay

Okay

Minister always needs directions from church officers

So

I'm going to speak to you today

A bit about Bluetooth

Hands up

Don't have to say anything

But hands up

Those who know what Bluetooth is

Or where you'd find Bluetooth

Some of the older ones probably know

Maybe some of the younger ones as well

Hands up those who know what Bluetooth is

Hands up those of the adults

Who know what Bluetooth is

Okay

There's quite a decent percentage of you

Well Bluetooth

Is a wireless system

By which you can join together

Mobile phones

Or your mobile phone with a speaker

Or your mobile phone with headphones

So that you don't need wires

It's very handy

You just connect them together wirelessly

And actually

I just discovered

Looking at this

That it takes its name

Bluetooth

From a Danish king

Way back in the 900s

And he united

Denmark together

And he united

Norway under his

His rule as well

And when the person who invented

Bluetooth in the 1990s

I think it was

Was looking for a name

For this wireless system

He came across this name

Harold Bluetooth

The name of this king

Who united these people

Of

Of

Denmark

And took Norway in as well

And he said

That would be a great name

For my wireless system

Because it unites

Various

Um

Various phones

Or other

Other

Electronic devices

Together

So what happens

In Bluetooth

You can actually set

Your phone

Let's just keep it to the phone

For a moment

You can set your phone

With the Bluetooth

On it

Live

You have to have

The Bluetooth

Active on it

You can shut it off

But if you want to

Use it

You need to put it on

And the thing is

If you want to

Communicate

Your phone

With another phone

Or with another device

They also must have

Their Bluetooth on

Because that way

They communicate

To each other

And

Bluetooth

As you need

To have that on

Makes your phone

Discoverable

Other phones

That have Bluetooth

Can then discover

Your phone

As long as it's

No more than

About 10 meters away

It doesn't work

Any further away

Than that

But through Bluetooth

You can actually

Then transfer

Photos

Music

Files

Whether they're

Typed up files

Or photos

Whatever

You can transfer

That very quickly

Through Bluetooth

And it reminded me

Of how God

Has made himself

Known to us

In Jesus Christ

That's how we come

To know God

And we wouldn't

Be able to know God

Unless God

Had made himself

Discoverable to us

And just like

Bluetooth on your phone

The Bible is

God's word

Where he has

Made himself

Known to us

Where we can

Find out about him

And more importantly

Where we can

Communicate with him

Now just like

If you're going to

Use Bluetooth

You must have it

On on your phone

So to communicate

With God

You must have

Your mind

And your soul

Switched on

I'm going to

Speak in the

Sermon today

About people

Who don't have

That

Who don't want

God

Who don't want

To communicate

With God

But for all of us

Here

For all you

Young folks as well

I'm quite sure

You want to

Communicate with God

You want to

Speak to God

You want to

Hear God's voice

Speaking to you

And that's what

You do

When you come

To pray to God

You're communicating

With God

So it's important

That our souls

If you like

Are switched on

That we have

The desire

In our hearts

To communicate

With God

To meet with God

To get to know God

To tell God

About our concerns

To ask him

To forgive our sins

To ask him

To guide us

Through the things

Of life

And in every other way

In which we can

Communicate with God

We hear God's voices

Also speaking to us

Through his word

So Bluetooth

It's important

You have it switched on

And it's important

Our souls

Are switched on today

Not just to young folks

But ourselves

As older ones too

That we are switched on

If you like

To hear God's voice

To be able

To communicate with him

And to hear him

Communicating with us

That's why

Jesus came into the world

So that we would come

To know God

Through him

And in knowing God

Through him

Come to enjoy

Eternal

Life

Well you can

Google Bluetooth

And you'll find out

A lot more about it

Than I've said today

And it's very interesting

Especially

That it goes back

To such a long time

And we're back

In the 900s

Okay now

We're going to say

The Lord's Prayer together

So let's just say

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father

Our Father

Which art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done

On earth

As it is in heaven

Give us this day

Our daily bread

And forgive us

Our debts

As we forgive

Our debtors

And lead us not

Into temptation

But deliver us

From evil

For thine is the kingdom

The power

And the glory

Forever

Amen

Now the children

Leave through

The side door

As well

Please

To go to your classes

Today

Because the front door

Is very windy

Or it's very windy

At the front door

I should say

We're going to praise God

Now from Psalm 31

Psalm 31

On page 243

The tune is

Spore

And we're singing

From verse

19 to 24

How great's the goodness

Thou for them

That fear thee

Keep'st in store

And wrought's for them

That trust in thee

The sons of men before

In secret of thy presence

Thou shalt hide them

From man's pride

From strife of tongues

Thou closely shalt

As in a tent

Them hide

Verses 19

To 24

To God's praise

Amen

There's the goodness

Thou for them

That fear thee

Keep'st in store

And rose for them

That trust in thee

The sons of men before

In secret of thy presence

Thou shalt hide

Shall hide them

From man's pride

From strife of tongues

Thou closely shalt

As in a tent

Them hide

All praise and thanks

Be to the Lord

For he hath magnified

His wondrous love

His wondrous love

To be within

A city fortified

For from thy night

For from thy night

God of I am

I hear in my ears

Christ has said

My voice

It hurts

The wind

To thee

With Christ

My moon

My moon

My way

My way

O love

The Lord

All ye

His names

Because the Lord

God

God

The faithful

Lamb

He blen

Justly

Thou

Ears

Thou

Reward

Lord

그래

doth on the Lord depend.

Let's turn to read God's word now as we find that in John's gospel,

gospel of John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

We're reading from the beginning, down as far as verse 21.

John 3, from the beginning of the chapter.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him,

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God,

for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless one is born of water and the Spirit,

he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh,

and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you,

You must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes,

and you hear its sound,

but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel,

and yet you do not understand these things?

Truly, truly, I say to you,

we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen,

but you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you earthly things,

and you do not believe,

how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven

except he who descended from heaven,

the Son of Man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish,

but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world

to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned,

but whoever does not believe is condemned already,

because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world,

and people loved the darkness rather than the light,

because their deeds were evil.

But everyone who does wicked things hates the light,

and does not come to the light,

lest his deeds should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light,

so that it may be clearly seen

that his deeds have been carried out in God.

Amen.

May God follow with his blessing our reading of his word today.

Let's again call upon him in prayer.

Our gracious God and our Father in heaven,

we thank you for the light that your word brings to us,

for the way that you, yourself in it,

are the light of the world.

We thank you today, O Lord,

as we give thanks for the privilege of being here to worship you.

We thank you for the way in which your word of truth guides our thoughts.

We pray today, Lord, for a receptive heart.

We pray that you would give to us by your Holy Spirit

the ability that is not of ourselves

to receive the things of God gladly,

to hide them in our hearts so that we might live by them,

that they may be shown forth in the life we live.

Lord, we thank you today for the many privileges

that are ours in your providence.

We know that there are so many things that disturb us

and cause us disquiet in the world

and in the generation that we live in.

And yet we know that we have so many benefits,

so many advantages as your people,

as your church in the world,

so much freedom to enjoy,

so much, Lord, of a knowledge of your own truth

in the midst of the darkness that surrounds us so much.

Lord, help us, we pray today,

to be honest with you,

to be honest with ourselves.

Help us to be honest with your written word.

Help us to handle it aright in speaking and in hearing.

And give us, we pray,

to have our minds shaped by it as the truth of God.

We ask today that your blessing will be here with us as a people.

We give thanks, O Lord,

for all who come to worship you here week by week,

for all who join us online,

especially those, Lord,

who are unable themselves physically to be here.

We give thanks that they are able to participate

in the worship services

through the live stream

that we are privileged to have.

We pray today for each and every family,

each and every home

belonging to us as a congregation.

We thank you again for our children and young people.

Lord, we give thanks for the number of them

that we've seen going through to Bible class

and to the tweenies

and to Sunday school today.

We pray, gracious one, for them once again

and ask that you would bless them

as they develop in their years.

We pray, too,

that you'd grant your blessing

to all our activities as a congregation,

in addition to our services of worship, O Lord.

Remember all that we anticipate

in this week ahead, God willing.

And we pray that you would bless every venture

that seeks to make you known

and make the gospel known

amongst ourselves and in our community.

And we ask today, O Lord,

that your blessing will accompany

all of these efforts,

that they may be used to further your kingdom,

to advance your glory in the world.

And we pray, O Lord,

that we may take such an interest in that

as we ourselves, if we don't attend yet.

O Lord, we pray that you would bless

each and all of these activities.

And we pray for the Hope Explored sessions

that are about to start.

We pray for them and for those who lead.

We pray that many will come, Lord,

to hear of the death and the resurrection,

the exaltation of our Lord.

Lord, we ask, Lord,

that you would give us especially

to have an interest in that above all else,

for this is how you have come

to provide salvation for us.

We pray, Lord, today that you would bless

all in the congregation

and of our friends and neighbors

who are unwell at this time.

We pray that you bless those

who are recovering from illness,

those recovering from treatment,

those anticipating treatment or surgery

in days to come.

We pray your blessing for them.

We pray for all, O Lord,

who have other trials in life

to contend with,

those especially, Lord,

who have difficulties in their families

and tensions.

We pray for those who have

various aspects of addiction

to contend with.

We ask that you would bless those

who seek to help them from week to week.

We pray for Road to Recovery.

We pray for our street pastors.

We pray that you'd bless them

as they interact with people

from week to week.

Lord, bless them, we pray,

and protect themselves

as they go about their work.

We pray for all in our health service,

hospital, care homes, Bethesda.

We ask, Lord,

that you would continue to bless us

through these means.

Grant to us, O Lord,

we pray that as we give thanks

for these facilities

so that you would bless them

with further resources

and enable them to use their resources

well and wisely

in the benefit of others.

We pray that your blessing

will be with all our medical practices

and doctors and practitioners.

We pray your blessing for them,

for all who attend to care

in our hospital as nurses, consultants.

We pray for them, Lord, as well.

We pray that you will bless those

who are in charge over us

in government.

And Lord, while we do lament

the failures in many ways

of those who lead us

and different ways

in which that failure

is shown to us

in their lives

and in their day-to-day

carrying out of their duties

and their confessions,

we lament especially, Lord,

the fact that so few of them

seem to look to your ways

and so many of them

seem to have rejected

the light of your truth.

Lord, we pray that you would

turn us into your ways.

We pray that you would forgive

our many sins as a people.

We pray that throughout our land,

throughout our communities,

the light of the gospel

may powerfully shine.

We ask, Lord, for ourselves

that we may give more place

to prayer and to supplication

for your blessing to come,

for your power to be shown

turning people to yourself

and empowering us as your people

to be living witnesses

for you in the world.

We ask now that you would

continue, Lord, to bless us here

as we turn to your word.

We pray that you would help us

in our understanding

and application of it

and all with the forgiveness

of our sin.

For Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Well, before we turn

to that passage in God's word,

let's sing once again.

We're going to sing in Psalm 26.

Psalm 26, page 30.

We'll sing verses 1 to 6,

not verses 1 to 9.

We'll just sing the four stanzas,

verses 1 to 6.

The tune is Balerma.

Declare me innocent, O Lord,

I've walked in blameless ways,

and I have trusted in the Lord,

not wavering all my days.

Test me, O Lord,

and try my heart.

My inmost thoughts survey.

Your love surrounds me.

From your truth my feet

will never stray.

Verses 1 to 6 of Psalm 26.

Declare me innocent, O Lord,

I've walked in blameless ways,

and I have trusted in the Lord,

not wavering all my days.

Test me, O Lord,

and try my heart.

My inmost thoughts survey.

Your love surrounds me from your truth.

My feet will never stray.

I do not sit with worthless woe.

I shun the hypocrite.

I hate the wind.

His gatherings.

With them I will not sit.

I wash my hands.

I wash my hands.

In illicit.

And when blessed is my heart,

I go apart.

Your altar, Lord,

the place you set upon.

Let's turn now to John chapter 3

John 3 · chapter mention

and reading at verse 19.

And this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world,

and people love the darkness

rather than the light

because their deeds were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things

hates the light

and does not come to the light,

lest his deeds should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true

comes to the light

so that it may be clearly seen

that his deeds have been carried out

in God.

When I was in secondary school,

there was a time when activities

were available

for the last two sessions

on a Friday each week.

Various kinds of activities,

sporting activities,

other kinds of craft activities.

At one time,

I and a few friends

decided to take up oil painting

for these activities.

And I remember the first time

we went into the class

with the art teacher.

He handed out these large books

with oil paintings in them.

They were actually paintings

mostly of Impressionist paintings,

by Impressionist painters.

So they weren't the kind of thing

that we were expecting.

We were expecting nice landscapes

or something like that.

And one of my pals,

not knowing the teacher

was standing behind him,

behind him said,

this is just rubbish.

And the teacher stood and said,

that's not rubbish, boys.

These are masterpieces.

And of course,

what the boy was showing

was his own ignorance.

He was really bringing judgment

upon himself for his ignorance

because he just didn't know

anything much about these paintings.

But he decided nevertheless

to give his opinion.

And his opinion, of course,

was not right.

Well, in a spiritual sense,

that's something of what you find here

in verse 19 onwards.

This is the judgment.

The light has come into the world

and people love the darkness

rather than the light

because their deeds were evil.

The light has come into the world.

God has revealed himself to us.

That's what we're trying to say

to the children

through the illustration of Bluetooth.

Light has come into the world,

but that doesn't mean

the light was accepted

or even welcomed

because people turned from the light

and still turn from the light

and they're really bringing judgment

upon themselves.

They're evaluating the light

and then they dismiss the light

and reject the light.

And what they're doing

is really saying,

that's not according to

my better understanding

of what human life should be.

And of course,

that's just bringing judgment

upon themselves

because speaking out of

our own natural ignorance

as sinners.

And it's rejecting God's masterpiece

of salvation that this is about.

Light has come into the world.

We'll see that that's especially so

in the person of Jesus

and in the work that Jesus has done

and accomplished

through his life,

through his death,

through his resurrection.

Light has come into the world,

but people loved darkness

rather than light

because their deeds were evil.

God is saying,

here is my masterpiece.

Here is what nobody else

could have provided

but myself.

And yet people say,

no, I don't want that.

I don't think that's attractive at all.

It doesn't fit with my expectations.

I can do better than that myself.

And you can see,

first of all,

in verse 19,

that John speaks about

the condemnation.

This is the condemnation.

That's really judgment

that's used here in the translation,

but it's more than just judgment.

The word used

actually means judgment

after examination of something.

It means condemnation

as a result of rejection.

This is the condemnation.

The light has come into the world.

People love the darkness

rather than the light.

So there's the condemnation

spoken of in verse 19.

And then verses 20 to 21

speaks of two contrasts

or a contrast between

two types of people.

Those who hate the light

and those who hate the light,

it says there,

are those who do wicked things.

They don't come to the light

and they do not come to the light

in case their deeds should be

or so that their deeds

would not be exposed.

But the contrast with that

is those who do the truth

or what is true.

They come to the light

so that their deeds

may be clearly seen

that they've been carried out

in God

or in relation to God

or to the honor of God.

That's basically the outline

of our study today.

And I want to do that

in relation to the kind of situation

we face in our society.

I mean, I need not tell you,

you can see it very clearly yourselves,

that our society

is steadily breaking up.

There are so many things

about our society

that really makes us say that.

When you consider, for example,

all the attacks

and the disintegration

that has happened

even in such things,

I'm just going to mention

a few examples.

You'll know about them yourselves.

Marriage,

gender confusion,

gender transition,

the life of the unborn,

family values,

what family should be about,

sex education materials,

violence in schools,

various addictions,

health service concerns,

and that's not saying anything

about the disintegration

of the Lord's Day itself.

You can see from that

and you could add to that list

many ways in which

our society

is breaking up around us.

And I want to try and

get from this,

see from this passage today,

how this rejection of the light,

how this hatred of the light

really stands as a basic factor

in that breakup.

There are many other factors, yes,

but this is one of the most basic factors

as to why this is happening

in our society,

amongst us as a people.

Why is all this taking place?

What's the underlying reason?

Well, here is a prominent

underlying reason

that light has come into the world

and people love the darkness

rather than the light.

See, the Bible

is always straight talking.

And we don't like straight talking

when it's the truth

that's been spoken of.

But God does the straight talking

and we really should be listening.

We are listening.

I know in terms of our own

situation here,

but so many people in the world

don't want to receive

or to listen to that.

So what is this saying to us?

Well, first of all,

the condemnation.

The light has come into the world.

And you notice the definite article there.

It's the light.

This is the judgment.

This is the condemnation.

The light has come into the world.

And in the Gospel of John,

that is pretty obviously referring

to the light that has come

from God in Christ.

Jesus spoke himself.

And for example,

in chapter 8,

one of the I am's of John's Gospel

in chapter 8, verse 12,

where Jesus there spoke of himself.

Jesus spoke to them saying,

I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me

will not walk in darkness,

but will have the light of life.

And then you flick forward

to chapter 12 as well.

You find verse 46 there

near the end of the chapter

where you find Jesus again saying,

I have come into the world.

Very similar to the words

in chapter 3.

I have come into the world

as light,

so that whoever believes in me

may not remain in darkness.

If anyone hears my words,

does not keep them,

and so on.

It's all tied together,

isn't it,

with the light that has appeared

in Jesus.

God revealed himself

and is revealing himself

through the Gospel,

through Jesus Christ,

in the person of Christ.

That's the light

that has come into the world.

God has made himself known

as more than just being discoverable.

He's actually saying,

this is who I am.

This is what I am like.

And yet people loved the darkness

rather than the light.

And notice,

there's a definite article

with the darkness as well,

because it's telling us

that this is the polar opposite

of the light

that has come into the world.

The darkness that people love

is the exact opposite.

It is all that's opposite

to the light

that has come

in the person of Christ,

especially into the world.

And that means that

what is opposite to the light,

all the activity

of sinful behavior,

all the activity

of what he says here

are those who do wicked things

or evil things.

Those who do these things,

they're not living

in a kind of spiritual neutrality.

The darkness is not

a spiritual neutrality.

It's not as if it's just neutral

compared to the positive elements

of the light.

The darkness has its own

positive attributes.

And the positive attributes

in John's gospel,

when you read through John's gospel

and what he says

about the light

and about its opposite

in the darkness,

it's the positive activity

of sin and of evil.

And it's especially

in John's teaching,

the darkness

that is antagonistic

to God.

It's the darkness

of the world

and its sinfulness,

the world

and its lostness.

You see what he's saying here.

Light has come

into the world

and yet people

love the darkness

rather than the light

because their deeds

were evil.

People loved

the darkness

rather than the light.

Now what's that saying to us?

It's saying that this is

something that is done

knowingly.

Something that is done

deliberately.

Something that is done

using the process

of reason and thought.

You don't actually

love something

without thinking about it.

Without considering it.

And here he is saying

people loved

the darkness

rather than the light.

it's not something

they actually slipped

into accidentally.

When people reject

the gospel

in the world

in which we live.

When you see

the elements of darkness,

the activities of darkness,

the darkness of our age,

it's not something

that's just done

as it were.

it's not...

Okay, I'm not sure

what's going on there

but it's obviously

to do with

the electronics.

The darkness

of our world

is a deliberate darkness.

People

love the darkness.

It's not something

that they just

do

without thinking about it.

It's a deliberate

knowing choice.

Why is that?

Because their deeds

are evil.

Well, John

is a wonderful gospel.

John has so

many wonderful

images

to present to us.

Many of them

are comforting

but this one

is very uncomfortable.

What he's saying

to us is that

people

reject the light.

People hate

the light.

People don't want

the light.

Why?

Because their deeds

are evil.

Their workings

are evil.

It's very similar

in many ways

to the teaching

of Romans 1

Romans 1:18–32

verses 18

to 32

where to reject

that

people actually

choose to

live an alternate

lifestyle

to the one

that God

himself

actually says

is pleasing

to him

and that's not

something they do

unknowingly.

Paul is saying

just like John here

it's a deliberate

choice.

it's a deliberate

rejection of the

light.

Now and again

it's not something

that happens

sporadically

or just once

in a while.

It's something

that characterizes

the life of

these people

constantly

in an ongoing

way.

It's a constant

with them.

Everyone who

does wicked

things.

But then you see

the question is

well what are

wicked things?

How do we know

what wicked

things are?

How do you

distinguish wicked

things from

good things?

People have

different opinions

about what is

wicked and what

is not.

And we've chosen

largely to

confine the

definition of

wicked to

gross crimes

or sins.

Things that are

really very

much to do

with open

corruption or

whatever.

But wickedness

in the Bible

takes in much

much more than

that.

In fact it's a

word that really

describes what

we are

without Christ.

What we are

without salvation.

We may not

see ourselves

as wicked.

People out

there today

would not

say that

they are

wicked.

But this is

God's definition

of how do

we know what

wicked things

are?

God has

defined them

for us in

the Bible.

God tells us

what is and

isn't acceptable

to him.

What is and

isn't wrong

with ourselves.

And that's

where he

describes for

us what

wicked things

are.

That's why

there is

such a

constant

attempt to

take the

Bible out

of human

life.

Because those

who love

the darkness,

those who

want to

promote the

darkness,

those who

think that

the darkness

is really

the light

that people

need,

whether it's

in the

teaching of

our children,

in medical

ethics,

wherever you

find it,

this is what

is really

of concern

to them,

that the

Bible really

shows up

that sort

of behavior

as wrong,

and the

word wrong

really is

not acceptable.

People who

actually love

the darkness

rather than

the light

because their

deeds are

evil,

they hate

the light

and they

don't come

to the

light.

It's a

constant

dismissal

of the

authority,

of the

teaching,

of the

words of

the

Bible.

You

think of

every

attempt

in your

own

lifetime

of having

this

Bible

removed

and

its

teaching

removed

from

various

areas

of our

society,

our

schools,

wherever

else you

think about

it,

universities,

schools,

places of

teaching,

places of

care,

where else

do you

find it?

I remember

quite a number

of years

back when

I was

part of

the

committee

of

Bethesda

hospice,

that a

certain

inspection

had come

up with

recommendations

and one

of the

recommendations

was that

the plaques

that had

been donated

to Bethesda

and were

actually shown

on the

walls

throughout

the building

that had

texts on

them should

actually be

removed

because these

texts would

be offensive

to certain

people and

Bethesda's

practice is that

there's no

prejudice,

there's no

discrimination as

to who can

get care

there,

whether they're

Christians or

not,

whether they're

believers or

not,

the hospice is

there for

them,

the facilities

are there

for them,

but this

inspection said

no you can't

have that

because that's

going to offend

people and

that's something

that people will

not agree with.

Well there you

see it's a

very small

example of

where you

find people

wanting to

remove the

influence of

the light,

the references

to the light

from human

life.

And you

see what it's

saying here?

Those who

hate the

light,

those who

do wicked

things as

God defines

them,

they hate

the light.

And you

couldn't put it

any stronger

than that because

that's really as

strong as John

could have put it.

Everyone who

does wicked

things hates

the light.

It's not a

matter of them

being unconcerned

about this thing

one way or

another.

It's not that

they couldn't

care less about

it.

It's that there's

a positive

hatred of it.

All you've

got to do

is really

stick your

head above

the parapet

on social

media today,

come out

with a

Christian

opinion

against

something

that you

know is

wickedness,

and you'll

soon find

the reaction

to that

is hatred.

They hate

the light.

They don't

want to see

the light.

They don't

want the

light to

shine upon

them at

all.

And that's

a characteristic

of our

society.

It's not

just confined

to Twitter.

This is

emblematic of

people's

thinking,

people's

reaction,

people's

insistence on

living their

way,

whatever else

people will

say,

whatever the

church says,

and especially

what the

church says.

And that's

really,

friends,

the main

factor behind

our society

falling apart.

The issues I've

mentioned already,

you can add to

them yourself,

as I've said.

But the reason

for that,

the underlying

reason,

one of the

main reasons,

if not the

main reason,

is because as

a people,

we've largely

turned away

from God,

turned away

from God's

way,

turned away

from the

things that

God says

is best for

us as a

people,

turned away

from the

light,

and instead

we've come

to love

the darkness.

Love the

darkness.

Not look at

it in a sort

of neutral

way or a

casual way.

We have come

as a people

to love it,

to love its

ways,

to love its

characteristics.

Of course

there are

exceptions.

You're

exceptions

yourselves.

There are

many exceptions

thankfully,

but by and

large what

you see

going on

in our

society

throughout

all the

levels of

our society

is hatred

of the

light and

a love

of darkness.

At the

end of our

study I'll

come to

apply this

to ourselves

and how we

should react

to that.

But you

see then

it says

those who

hate the

light,

they do

not come

to the

light.

They don't

want to

come near

the light.

That's why

the Bible

is so

distasteful

to them.

Why the

idea of

the gospel

and hearing

about sin

and the

salvation

from sin

is so

distasteful

because they

shun the

light.

They don't

like the

light.

They hate

the light.

They will

not come

to the

light.

It stands

to reason.

Nobody is

drawn to

what they

hate.

And if

you hate

the light

you're not

going to be

drawn to

the light

until God

changes your

heart.

There's an

aversion to

the light.

And I

want you

to see

how this

has been

a characteristic

of human

behavior and

human response

to God

ever since

man fell

as recorded

in Genesis

3.

And from

verse 3

to verse 10

of Genesis

3,

these are

important verses

in regard to

what we're

looking at

today as

well for

other reasons

too.

but you'll

find here

from verse

8 especially

where you

find they

heard,

that's Adam

and Eve,

they heard

the sound

of the

Lord God

walking in

the garden

in the

cool of

the day.

And the

man and

his wife

hid

themselves

from the

presence

of the

Lord God

among the

trees of

the garden.

What's

happening

there?

The light

has come.

God

has come

into the

garden.

Man has

now fallen.

Man has

become a

sinner.

Man has

turned his

back upon

God.

Man has

chosen his

own way.

So he

tries to

hide.

He doesn't

want the

light.

He doesn't

want to

come near

the light.

The light

is now

distasteful

to him.

The God

with whom

he wants

love to

have

fellowship

is now

the one

he wants

to be as

far away

from as

possible.

You see

what's

happened

in people's

hearts

and why

they love

the darkness

rather than

the light

that become

corrupt

inwardly.

And that

passage goes

on.

And God

said,

the Lord

God called

to the

man and

said,

where are

you?

And he

said,

I heard

the sound

of you

in the

garden

and I

was

afraid.

I was

afraid

and I

hid myself.

And you

see,

that's one

of the

reasons

that people

shun the

light.

They don't

want the

light.

They will

not come

to the

light because

they're afraid

of the

light.

They know

the light

exposes

sin.

They know

the light

puts us

to the

test.

They know

the light

contains

things

which

will

actually

call

upon

us

to

change

our

way

of

life.

And so

we shun

that.

We hide

from that.

It's not

to our

taste.

God

to our

people

do this

so that

their

deeds

should

not

be

exposed.

It's the

best

translation

I think.

It says

here,

lest their

deeds

should be

exposed,

but it's

more than

that,

so that

their

deeds

be not

exposed.

And the

word

exposed

means

much

more

than

just

brought

to

life

and

being

revealed.

It

actually

means

include

such

ideas

as

shame,

conviction,

condemnation,

the word

that's used

here in

verse 19.

That's

what the

light

does.

It

exposes

things

judgmentally.

You

can't

place

your life

under the

light of

God's

word,

of God's

truth,

and not

expect it

to bring

up things

which will

be distasteful

to you.

Which will

actually

initially