Seeing the Light - Luke 11:33-36

So, have you guys ever been looking for something that was right in front of you the whole time?

I think we do this often with keys, right?

We're looking around for our keys and we look in the living room, then we go to the bedroom, we come out of the bedroom, and we ask everybody in the house, has anyone seen my keys?

And then maybe someone will come up with the keys and they'll say, Here they were.

They were right in front of you the whole time.

I think we've all kind of experienced that.

And the problem wasn't what that the keys were necessarily hidden from us.

The problem was that for whatever reason, we just couldn't see what was right in front of us.

And sometimes that's exactly how people respond to Christ, to Jesus.

They say, or you'll hear people say, if God would just show me something, then I would believe, or if he would just give me a sign, uh, if he would make things a little more clear, if I could just see some evidence, then I would follow him.

But what if the problem isn't that God hasn't given us enough evidence or enough light, but it's that we refuse to come to the light.

As we saw last week, after Jesus healed this demon-possessed man who was mute, he begins to give several lessons to the crowd, including calling them evil for desiring to see a sign for them to believe.

Well, in our passage this morning, he expands on that lesson with an illustration of the purpose of lighting a lamp.

So I titled this sermon, Seeing the Light, because as we will note, although the lamp is giving light, there are some times where people don't see the light.

As we go over the passage, I want to point out to you the following things about seeing light.

And there are these.

Number one, the light has been revealed.

Number two, make sure to see the light.

And number three, walk in the light that you have received.

The light has been revealed.

Make sure to see the light, and walk in the light that you have received.

Let's look again at verse 33 of our passage this morning.

Christ says, No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

Now at first read, it seems like Jesus is pivoting from his previous lesson here and exhortation.

Remember, he was exhorting the crowd for not believing.

And then he begins to give this illustration of a lamp and light and its purpose.

However, as we look a little closer, it will reveal to us that he is actually continuing that thought that he had and he's expanding his teaching on a life that follows what you believe.

As he says, no one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket.

In other words, the light or the lamp is meant to fulfill its purpose.

It's meant to illuminate the room and it's meant to allow people to see what's around them.

That is the purpose of light.

So why would you light a lamp and then immediately hide it?

Everyone knows that when a lamp is lit, it is to be put on a stand.

You put it in its proper place.

You want it to do what it's intended to do, to light up the room.

This was an illustration that Jesus was giving here that the people in the audience would have understood quite well.

Lamps were a precious commodity in the Near East during this time.

And remember, they didn't have any electricity.

They needed people to light lamps for them in the dark so they can see.

They would use these lamps to move around in the dark, and they were especially helpful in lighting up rooms at night.

You know, sometimes my wife is asleep and I need to find something in the room, but I don't want to turn on the room light to wake her up.

So what I'll do is I'll turn on a bathroom light or I'll turn on the closet light to look for what I'm looking for.

But what usually ends up happening is I wake her up anyway, because I can't, it takes me so long to find what I'm looking for that I'm making so much noise.

And she just kind of like gives me the little, you know, uh, and that's just like I'm waking her up.

I'm disrupting her sleep.

When if I would have just turned on the main light, I would have found what I needed immediately.

If I had just turned on the light in the room, I would have found what I needed much quicker.

The point is, we all know that light has a purpose, it fulfills a purpose, it allows us to see what we need to see, to see what's around us.

And here's what Jesus is getting at.

He's saying to the crowd, my message and my work are not being hidden.

Look, I've been doing these miracles right in front of you.

You just witnessed this man who had a demon that made him mute, healed.

You just saw me free this man.

I've been doing my teaching in public.

Again, you saw a miracle right before your eyes.

God the Father has lit the lamp and he has sent me into the world as the light.

And here's the thing: you have no excuse to still be in the dark.

This is an indictment on those who wanted to see more to believe.

Remember back in verse 29, he said that this generation was evil because they sought for a sign.

They wanted to see more to believe.

But Christ is saying, what you're looking for has been on the stand the whole time.

No one is hiding it from you.

The fact that you couldn't see it or can't see it has to do more with your own vision than the light.

The lamp has been lit and it has been put on a stand, and it is fulfilling its purpose.

In John 1.8, we read, He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him, but all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

So John, the author here, is saying that John the Baptist was not the light, but that he came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which is Christ, was coming into the world, and as he says, the light gives light to everyone.

Just like the lamp, it illuminates everything around it.

So Christ illuminates the world.

But the light, Christ was not received by everyone.

As we read in the text, the world did not know him.

His people did not receive him.

But the ones who did, he gave them the power to become children of God.

When Jesus came into the world, he came to be the light.

The world was in the dark, but he came to bring those who were walking in darkness into the light.

This is why he must be lifted up.

As Scripture says, so that he would draw all men unto himself.

As people are in the dark and they are looking to escape the darkness, as we lift up the light of Christ, men and women can enter and draw themselves into the light of Christ.

Matthew 4 tells us this, Matthew 4, verse 12.

Matthew 4:12

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee, and having that and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebelon and Nephtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

Verse 15 the land of Zebalem and the land of Nephtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.

And for those dwelling in the region in shadow of death, on them a light is dawned.

From that time on, Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The reason I read this text is because it's connected to what is actually going on in our text.

This is the same region that Jesus is doing his ministry in.

And as he's doing his ministry, as he's teaching and healing and casting out demons, he is fulfilling this prophecy that the light has dawned.

Those dwelling in the region, in that region where he was, those dwelling in the shadow of death, to them the light has dawned, the light of Christ.

And from that time he began preaching.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Isaiah prophesied that the people living in these regions would one day see this great light.

And it's being fulfilled here in the scriptures.

Before seeing the light they were dwelling in the shadow of death.

But when Jesus came to that region, the light had dawned upon them.

And look what the light is connected to.

As I read in Matthew, in verse 17, it says that from that time on again Jesus began preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

This is the gospel.

This is the gospel call to believe in Jesus Christ.

Repent and believe the gospel.

The call for people to turn from their sins and believe in Him.

In other words, the light is proclaimed.

How do we proclaim the light?

How do we let the light put the light on a stand and let others see it?

By proclaiming the message of the light, which is the gospel.

So, in a sense, we can say that the message of the gospel is the light.

What is the gospel but the message of Jesus Christ?

The good news is embodied in the person and the work of Jesus Christ, which means that when we proclaim the gospel, we are showing forth the light.

So here's the question for us: how are we doing with that?

Do we let the light of Christ shine forth like it's supposed to?

Or are we content to having the light for ourselves?

Are we doing what scripture, what Jesus said, is not meant for it to do?

Putting in a cellar?

Are we content to just keeping the light without ever exposing it to others?

Do we expose the light to our friends and our family?

Do we expose it to our co-workers?

Do we look for opportunities when we're out and about to let others see the light?

Not that, and here's the thing, not that they're they're gonna be excused if we don't, but that is our call.

We are called to share the light and let the light shine forth.

But people are also called to come into the light.

And here's the thing whether you show them the light or not, according to Christ, the light has been revealed.

And people are gonna see it.

The light has already come into the world, it is shining forth so all can see.

Look, no one will be judged for not seeing the light.

They will be judged for seeing the light and not turning to the light.

No one will be able to say, I was never exposed to the light.

No one ever showed it to me.

I couldn't see the light.

So, God, may I be excused.

John 3.19 says, and this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world, and people love darkness rather than light because their works were evil.

So the light has come into the world, but people didn't want the light because they loved the darkness.

And it's the same today.

People love the darkness.

This is why they don't come into the light.

And, you know, we can we can say, sure, that some are exposed to the light more than others.

I mean, in a practical sense, a person who's grown up their whole life in a Christian home or has grown up their whole life in the church is going to be exposed to the light more than someone who grew up in a godless home or or even a person living in the U.S., right?

Think about our country and how much exposure we have to Christianity.

I mean, someone living in this country is going to have more exposure to the gospel than someone living in a country where Christianity is forbidden.

But that doesn't mean some get to escape judgment.

Everyone will be judged on the basis of rejecting the light, regardless of how much exposure they had to it.

However, and this is where we need to be careful, Scripture does seem to indicate that judgment will be harsher for those who had more exposure to the light and rejected it.

And it seems like this is part of the message that Jesus is getting at here to the people in the passage.

They've seen the light, they've seen his work, they've seen the miracles, they were witnesses to it all.

They've seen it, but they rejected it.

Their rejection of the light is only condemning them.

Back in Luke chapter 10, we read how the disciples were rejected.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Remember when he sends the 72 out and they were rejected by various towns and villages?

And Jesus begins to pronounce these woes on those cities who rejected them.

And let me go back and read it in Luke chapter 10, verse 13.

Luke 10:13

He says, Woe to you, Cherozin, woe to you, Beth Seda.

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyree and Sedan, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyree and Sedan than for you.

Notice there's levels of judgment.

Not that they both wouldn't be judged, but there is a harsher judgment coming for Cherazin and Beth Seda.

Why?

Because these mighty works were done, but they re rejected them.

Jesus is not saying that Tyre and Sidan wouldn't be judged.

They will be judged, but their judgment will be more bearable than those cities who saw the mighty work of Christ and rejected him.

This is why it's dangerous to sit underneath gospel preaching for any length of time without responding to it.

People who expose themselves to the light of the gospel without ever coming into the light are only increasing their judgment.

Isaiah 55 says that God's word goes out and it doesn't come back void.

So whenever we preach or share the gospel, it is never in vain.

It always accomplishes something.

It's either softening someone's heart or it's hardening someone's heart.

Either way, God's work is being accomplished.

Because God works in salvation as well as in judgment.

And he will get glory in both.

The light is on the stand, and the through the free offer of the gospel, all are called to come and see the light.

The question for us is do we see it?

And that leads to my next point.

Make sure you see it.

Make sure you see the light.

Verse 34.

Your eye is the lamp of your body.

When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light.

But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

Therefore, be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

When you walk into a dark room, what is the first thing that you see?

Nothing, right?

You can't see anything.

It's dark.

You're not supposed to see anything.

You see nothing when you walk into a dark room until you turn on the light.

And when you turn on the light, you start to see things.

And your eye is the organ of your body that receives the light once it's turned on.

And this is what Jesus is getting at here.

Your eye is the lamp of the body.

Your eye is what receives the light.

And when you have a healthy eye, receiving the light clearly, then it's going to benefit the whole body.

How so?

Well, let me give you an illustration.

Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom or to go to the kitchen to get something to eat and stumbled on something?

I think we've all been there, right?

It's dark, you go to the restroom, or you're hungry, you want to go to the kitchen, and you try to be brave, and you just get out of bed, and sure enough, you stumble into something.

You might trip or you might bang your foot on something, and that's not too pleasant.

We all know that walking into a dark room or walking in the dark in general can be dangerous to your body because we never know what we're gonna run into.

It was even more the case in the first century with no electricity.

This is why Jesus can say that when your eye is healthy, when it's receiving the light clearly, then your whole body is gonna benefit because you can see where you're going.

But if it's bad, if your eye is bad, and the then your body, your body is gonna still remain in the dark.

You can't see where you're going.

Therefore, be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

Again, the light is the light, it is there, whether we see it or not.

But if your eye isn't healthy, it isn't receiving it well, and then you'd be in danger of stumbling.

We all know the feeling of turning on the light after being in a dark room for a long time, right?

Your eyes take a while to adjust.

They don't adjust immediately to the light.

It's not that the light isn't on, the light is on instantly.

You flip that switch, the light comes on.

But it takes a while for our eyes to receive that light.

Well, imagine if it never adjusted.

Imagine if we never adjusted to the light.

Though the eye is receiving the light, what's going on?

It's not receiving it rightly or clearly.

Therefore, your body is still in the dark, which is not going to be beneficial.

You're still gonna be tripping on things and stepping on things that you shouldn't, because you're not receiving the light clearly.

But the light is meant for your benefit, it's meant to help you see clearly, it's meant to help you move around and see what's in front of you.

It's meant to keep you from stumbling over something and hurting yourself.

And notice here, notice something here that Jesus says, He says, when your eye is healthy, your eye singular.

He doesn't say when your eyes are healthy, he says, when your eye is healthy.

What's going on here?

Well, there seems to be a singular focus going on here.

Have you ever shot a rifle?

Even a toy rifle as a kid, what do you do?

You kind of it usually has that scope, right?

Just for for one eye to look into.

Um, I think professionals will tell you, you're not supposed to shut the other eye, you're supposed to keep both of them open when you're shooting.

But we typically, out of just kind of a natural reaction, we close that one eye because we we we're sure that if we just have one eye open, we have greater focus.

We have we have singular focus.

We want to focus on the right thing, and that's the purpose of that scope to focus on the right thing instead of everything else.

Well, going back to the people in the crowd, remember, they were seeking a sign to believe.

They didn't necessarily reject a Messiah, they were just looking somewhere else.

They didn't have a singular focus.

They were looking for something else to believe in.

Not Jesus, but something else, his sign, what he was doing, a miracle, a healing, or whatever.

They were Jews, so they believed in the God of the Old Testament, and they trusted their scriptures, which told them of a coming Messiah.

So they believed in one to come, but they couldn't see that Jesus was the one because they were looking elsewhere.

The light was right in front of them, that they couldn't see him clearly.

And rather than having a singular focus, they were looking for signs and miracles and other things to believe in before they completely surrendered to him.

So even though the light was there, they remained in the dark, and their lives remain unhealthy.

When the purpose of the light was meant for their good, they just couldn't see it because their eye was unhealthy.

So here's the question for you this morning.

How is your spiritual eye?

Is it healthy?

How do you see?

Do you see clearly?

Do you see with focus?

Those questions will be answered when you examine your walk.

Are you walking in the light or are you walking in the dark?

And before you answer yes, I want you to think about that for a moment.

How is your walk?

You say, how can I tell?

How can I tell if I'm walking in the light?

Or how can I tell if I'm walking in darkness?

Well, let me give you a few ways you can tell you're walking in the light.

The first and obvious one is are you following the word of God?

Psalm 119, 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Clarity for the Christian comes from walking according to the word of God.

He or she allows God's word to light their way.

You know, sometimes you'll hear people talk about their worldview.

Maybe they'll ask you, what is your worldview?

And what they mean by that is what is the lens by which you see things through?

How do you judge the world?

How do you judge everything?

How do you judge things like morality?

Or purpose or meaning and things like that.

The secular worldview typically sees or judges things according to what makes you happiest, right?

Or what makes you feel the most safe.

That's most important.

In the secular worldview, they're going to judge everything by what makes you happy, what makes you safe, what makes you comfortable.

But the Christian or the biblical worldview sees everything through the lens of Scripture.

And we judge everything by God's word.

So we don't ask questions like what would make me comfortable or what would make me happy.

We ask questions like what would please God.

And the answer to that question is going to be found in the Word of God.

It will light our way.

And I don't mean just light our way by mere rules and regulations.

That's a common misconception that the Bible is just this big book of rules that we got to follow.

And if we follow it, then everything's going to be good.

But the rules and regulations, yes, there are scripture does teach what God requires of us.

It does teach us how we should live, but the rules and regulations aren't necessarily the light.

The law is not the light.

When Christ was confronting the Pharisees, he knew that they loved their scriptures.

They loved the Old Testament.

They loved to read through them.

And the reason they loved them, because in them they found all these rules that they liked.

And they liked these rules because they felt they can keep them.

And they felt that if they can keep them, they can be better than the next person.

And they can be closer to God in some way.

But look at what Jesus tells them in John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

John chapter 5, 39.

John 5 · chapter mention

He says, You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is they that bear witness about me.

Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

These Pharisees were reading the scriptures because they thought that if they can obey these rules and regulations, that they're gonna, it's gonna lead them to eternal life.

Jesus is saying, you got it all wrong.

When you read the scriptures, it's not the rules that are gonna lead you to life, it is me.

And when you read the scriptures, you should be looking for me.

The scriptures light the way because they bear witness to the true light, which is Jesus Christ.

This is why in John 1, Jesus is called the Lagos, the Word, because He is God's word or message to the world.

So when we search the scriptures, what are we searching for?

We're searching for Christ.

We're searching to find more of Christ.

As we get to know him more through his word, then our love for him will start to grow.

And that intimate knowledge of him begins to have an effect on our lives because we want to live for him.

So then what happens is our obedience doesn't come out of a mere desire to keep rules, but out of a desire to obey the one whom we love.

As he says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Which, where do we find his commandments?

We find them in his word.

So living by his word is a way to tell if you are walking with light.

Another way is by loving other Christians.

Do you have love for your brother and sister in Christ?

Or do you say things like, I like them, but I don't love them.

Or I even worse, I dislike them, or hate them.

First John 2, verse 9, whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

1 John 2:9

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light in him and in him, there is no cause for stumbling.

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

No one can say that they are walking in the light who doesn't have love for other Christians.

And here's one way that we show our love to others by being in covenant with them.

Which means by connecting yourself to other Christians somehow, some way.

And that's typically done through church membership, through being a part of a local church.

John here in 1 John is not specifically addressing church membership, but when we ask the broader New Testament question of what walking in the light looks like, John tells us that one of the biggest evidences is to love our brothers and sisters.

And not just by word only, but by deed, not just saying it, but also doing it, not just casually, but a true love, a committed love.

Where do we typically place our commitments?

We place them in covenants, right?

This is what we do when we get married.

When a couple is deeply in love with one another, they want to commit themselves to each other.

So what do they do?

They vow to each other.

They vow to love one another and to treasure one another and to honor one another and to support one another.

The Hebrew word for steadfast love in the Old Testament is the word Hesed, which can also be translated as covenant faithfulness.

In other words, the Bible, in the Bible, there is a deep connection between love and covenant.

Love and covenant.

You see this all throughout scripture.

You open up right in the very beginning, you're gonna see it.

A connection between love and covenant.

So one of the best ways to tell if you're walking in the light is to ask yourself, are you walking in a covenant with other believers?

No one walks in the light in isolation.

There's not one light for this Christian and another light for this Christian, and so forth.

The people of God, the children of God, walk in the light together.

And they express their life, their love together and commitment and devotion to one another as they walk in unity in the light.

I could point out many, but let me give you one more way to prove that you're walking in the light.

By living like a child of God.

And I don't mean just in obedience.

I think that's the first thing we think about.

How do I live like a child of God?

Well, I got to obey.

Yes, that's true.

A child obeys their father.

But I'm talking about by faith, living as a child of God by faith, by trusting and believing that no matter what happens, I'm a child of God.

Ephesians 5, verse 7.

Ephesians 5:7

Therefore, do not become partakers with them, for at one time you were in the darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of the light.

Only those in the Lord can consider themselves children of the light.

Because as the text says, before we were saved, we were children of the darkness.

You could not consider yourself a child of the light because you were not a child of God.

You were given that right to become a child of God when, as John 1 says, when you believe, when you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you were adopted into a new home.

You were adopted into the household of faith.

We were brought into this home by the spirit of adoption in which we cry, Abba Father.

So here's the question that you must ask yourself.

Are you living like a child of God?

And yes, obedience is a part of it.

As I said, children obey their father, but even more than that, are you coming to God like a child does a father?

Do you trust him as a father?

Do you love him as a father?

Do you speak to him?

And do you seek to please him and honor him?

And do you see, do you seek to have this intimate fellowship with him as a father?

If you're having a hard time answering yes to those questions, then you have to ask yourself, am I truly walking in the light?

Look, there are so many benefits to be had in the household of God that only those who see the light clearly can receive.

Which leads to my last point.

Walk in the light that you have received.

Verse 36.

If your whole body is full of light, having no part of dark, it will be wholly bright as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

So Christ here is encouraging to let your whole body be full of the light.

And again, that happens when you're receiving the light from the healthy eye.

Because when you receive the light clearly with that healthy eye, then you have no part in the darkness.

You can see what's around you.

You can walk around freely without stumbling or bumping anything.

And here's the thing that's what's truly freeing.

When there is light, you are free to do what you want to do.

You're free to walk around.

You're free to go places.

You're free to do what you have to do.

But it's not that way in the dark.

Notice that you don't hear a lot of lawnmowers running at night.

Have you ever been asleep and said, hey, somebody's cutting their grass?

That doesn't happen.

Why?

Because people know they can't cut in in the dark.

You might run over something.

So even if you wanted to, you you couldn't do it.

And there's many other things we could point to.

Notice that whenever you see an event going on at night or a game, there's lights on, right?

And you can see that that stadium miles away, it's bright.

Why?

Because they need bright light to do what they have to do.

Because light gives you liberty to do what you want to do that you otherwise couldn't do in the dark.

Yet that's not how people often view walking in the light of Christ.

People often see it as the other way around.

As if coming to the light is going to constrain them from doing what they really want to do.

But what they don't realize is that until they come to Christ, they remain in the dark where there is no true freedom.

John 12, 35 says, So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.

The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of the light.

There's some people who have been in the darkness so long that it is overtaking them.

It is overtaking everything about them.

And their life is evidence of that.

You can look at their life and you can say, Man, that brother is in the dark.

That sister is in the dark.

You can just tell.

They have no aim in life, no direction in life.

They don't know where they're headed, they don't know where they're going because they only can see in the dark.

But that's not true of the Christian.

The Christian has the light, and the Christian believes in the light.

Now here's our charge.

Walk in the light that you have received.

If you're a believer, you have no business playing around in the dark.

That's not where you belong.

You have been shown the light.

Now walk in the light.

There's nothing good for you in the dark.

The only thing that will come from lingering in the dark is harm and danger.

Ephesians 5 11 says, Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.

Shameful things go on in the dark.

That's not where the Christian belongs.

Instead, as the text says, we should be exposing the darkness, not lingering around in it.

Follow the light.

Let the light be your guide and let it be your freedom.

As we close, I want to ask you once more, how well are you seeing?

How well do you see the light?

Because it is there.

The light is not hidden from you.

If you're a believer, you've already seen it and you've already left the dark to enter into the light.

But sometimes, as we continue in our Christian walk, this light that once shined bright in our lives begins to dim.

Again, that's not because the light changed.

The light doesn't change, but because our vision changed.

I don't know about you, but my vision is changing as I grow older.

And not for the better.

Me and my wife need to take our reading glasses now with us when we go to dinner just to read the menu.

But that's the natural cycle of our physical bodies.

As we grow older, our bodies stop working as well as they did when we were younger.

But our spiritual cycle is different.

It doesn't grow weaker with time.

It should be growing stronger with time.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4.16, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Some of us might remember a time in our lives when the light was shining so bright upon us that we just basked in it.

We basked in that light.

We soaked it all in.

We were eager to read our Bibles.

We looked forward to going to church.

We couldn't wait to go to church.

We spent a healthy time in prayer or we had a healthy prayer life.

Christ was always on our lips.

You remember that time?

But somewhere along the way, something changed.

The light stopped being as bright for you as it once did.

If you're seeing the light less clearly today than you did when you first got saved, or then when you did for a certain season in your life, a season of vibrancy, then you're going the wrong way.

Your spiritual eyes should be getting healthier, not weaker.

You should be seeing things more clearly than you did before.

And if that's not happening, then maybe you have lost some sight of the light.

And you need to be reminded of the light, the goodness of the light, where this light can take you.

You need to be reminded of the freedom that can be had in the light, and everything that is good in the light, the safety that comes from it, the goodness, the sweet fellowship that you had with the light.

Be reminded of all the good that has been done for you already through the light.

Remember all of the benefits that the light has brought you.

Remember what it has done for you, how it has taken you from the darkness that you once walked in and has rescued you and has transferred you from that kingdom into a kingdom of light.

Remember the dangers that were around you in the dark, namely your own sin, which causes everyone who remained in the dark to stumble ultimately into hell.

But you, you have been given the wonderful privilege of seeing the light.

You have beheld the glorious beauty of the light.

Why would you want to continue to fool around in the darkness?

Or why would you want to go back to it?

Why would you love darkness rather than light?

Why would you want to risk the dangers that come from stumbling in the dark?

Look to the light that has already shined upon your darkened hearts and walk in that freedom.

John 12, 46 says, I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

The light is Christ.

The message of the light is the gospel.

Friends, look upon the light, follow the light, and you will be kept from the snares and the traps and the dangers that come from walking in the darkness.

Amen.

Let us pray.