Wednesday, May 10, 2023 PM

Light, New Birth, and Life in Christ

I hope you're nourished in body and spirit. I'd like to share with you tonight about light. Let's open with a word of prayer. Father, what a blessing it is to come together in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus.

This is what brings us together tonight. This is what we all have in common. We are in Christ. What a blessing. And it brings us together in fellowship to experience the joy of one another's company in Christ.

And to share a meal. To feast. And now, Father, feed us from your word. Help us to see more of your Son, the Lord Jesus. And how much you love us.

Amen.

What happens when the life of God moves into the soul of a believer? What happens when a person is born again? What happens when we become partakers of the divine spirit? The Gospel of John, I know you're very familiar with the beginning of the Gospel of John.

In the beginning was the Word. 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 was not anything made that was made. And here's the key verse for tonight.

In Him was life. And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. And so when the life of God, through Jesus Christ, moves into the soul of a believer, He brings light.

Light is in the life of Christ. And if you don't have the life of Christ within you, as Romans 8 says, if you don't have the Spirit of God, if you don't have the Spirit of Christ, you don't belong to Him.

You're not one of His. But if Christ is in you, if the life of God in Christ is in you, then you are enlightened. And what are the results? What are the consequences of this light? When the Bible speaks of this light, it's not like these lights.

It's spiritual awareness, spiritual discernment, revelation, revelation of God Himself. As a matter of fact, if you go down to John 1, verse 18, it reads like this. No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known.

You see, when we are born again, Christ opens our eyes to see God. And so we have discernment, spiritual discernment. And we come to know and understand.

That's what happens.

The Light That Brings Direction and Repentance

When the light comes on, you can see what's going on around you. All of a sudden, you're aware of people. You're aware of your surroundings. And when the life of God moves into a believer, the light comes on.

And all of a sudden, he knows God. And he knows the gospel, that he falls short of the glory of God. And that he comes to know that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. And the fear that he has is a condemning fear, okay?

Because he knows he's unrighteous before God. But the gospel comes. You know, it starts out with bad news. We fall short. But the gospel goes on and brings good news, okay? Opens our eyes to see the love of God and what he's done for us in Christ.

And brings us to this new birth, okay? So now we know and understand who God is. And we know and understand what he's done for us in Christ, okay, through the gospel. And we now know and can understand the word of God, okay?

The word of God. You see, nobody can understand the word of God without the light of God. And the light only comes with the life of Christ. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. It goes on to say, and the true light that enlightens every man who's coming into the world.

The true light that enlightens every man who's coming into the world. And this brings us discernment of who God is. How to read his word. How to understand it. And it tells us who we are, where we came from, and where we're going.

You know, we didn't come out of the slime. We're created in the image of God. It's a fallen image. But the light that he brings, okay, shows us, enlightens us as to what he's doing to restore this image, okay?

And as we are brought to this new life, as we are born of God, as he says right in the middle of this section, we come to realize, to physical birth, he brought us to spirit. We are children of God. We're not just citizens of this world, participants in society and neighbors and members of political parties.

But we are children of God. Children of God. And as a result of being children, okay, because we are born of God, okay, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Think about that. And all of a sudden, you know, a 50-year lifespan, 75 maybe, 100 rarely, okay, now becomes everlasting.

Wow, I'm enlightened. You know, I thought I had 100 years at most. But God says no. God says no. If you're born of God, you're going to live as long as God eternally. And so this light opens our eyes to see the plan that God has for us, who he is, how to understand his word, and who we are in relation to him.

That's the discernment. That's the understanding that this light brings. The next thing it brings is direction. Direction. You know, how can you tell which way to go if you don't have any light? How can you tell which way to turn if you don't have a sign, if you can't see a new direction?

Psalm 119, 105. I'm sure some of you can quote it, okay? I'll start you out on it. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. That's right. Now, with the light of God, spiritual awareness of who God is, how to understand his word, and who I am, I now can see which direction to go.

Because I have the light of God's word to light my path, to light my way, to see which direction to go. And he gives me new direction. You see, when I received this light, I changed direction. I repented.

I realized I was going the wrong way. So now, you know, I'm going the right way because I've got the light. It comes from the word of God. It doesn't come from the world. It comes from the word of God, this light.

I can now see which way to go. John gives us a little further insight in this in his letter, 1 John 2. I'll start at verse 7. Beloved, I'm writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that is the word that you have heard.

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing over the light. You see, if we are enlightened and know which direction to go, we are one in the light and one in the darkness.

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no question of the sea of the way. And also, notice, you cannot…. You see, if the life of God moves into the life of a believer, into the soul of a believer, then three things enter in.

Love, life, and light.

Darkness.

And walks in the darkness and does not know where he's going because of the darkness. So the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it, and we can see where we're going. We can see where we are going.

It gives us the ability to take a direction, to add a goal. Opens our eyes to see what we couldn't see before, and now things look a little different. What before I used to think was attractive and beautiful and had a desire for it, that's no longer the case.

Something else has taken its place. I can now see beauty in things that I could not see beauty in before. Things that were not an attraction to me before now attract me. I have new desires. That's this number three, you see.

I have new desires. Now, these desires are different than the ones that I had before. They are different than the ones I had before. I now see the beauty of God himself. I now see the beauty of his word, and I have a desire to please him.

And this comes from this light. I want to read a section of Psalm 119. Now, Psalm 119, you know it's an alphabetical psalm. There's a section for each Hebrew letter, and it also deals basically with one subject, that is the law of God.

And it uses a number of words for the law. I'm going to start with Beth. That's the second letter, which is verse 9. Psalm 119, verse 9. How can a young man keep his way pure by guarding it according to your word?

The first word is word. With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. That's the second word. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord.

Teach me your statutes. That's the third word. With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. That's the next word. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. Testimonies.

Now, think about all those words. Now, all of those words relate to the law of God that was given to the Jewish nation in the covenant. And the psalmist says that he delights in this law, that he stores it up in his heart.

With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. You know, he has a desire to know the word of God, to know the revealed commandments of God. Now, you see, this is Old Testament, okay?

And it points to the new. This is the old covenant that's passed away. The new has come into play now. The new is in force. And the law, let's see, it's described as a schoolmaster to lead us where? To Christ.

Now, the law is the written word, but now Christ is the living word. You see, God revealed himself in the Old Testament by the written word, his law, okay? But take this law and take all of these words, commandments, statutes, rules, and focus them into Christ.

Because that's where they're headed. Because that's what they are. You see, look at this. I will meditate on your precepts. This is verse 15 and verse 16. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word.

Now, this person has a desire to know the commandments of God. Now, let me make an illustration here. During World War II, a number of American soldiers went to Europe and fought. And some of them were over there for a number of years.

And there were certain things that became very precious to them while they were over there. Think of yourself as a soldier over there, and you haven't heard from home in a while. And you get a letter.

Now, think about this letter, okay? This is from home. Your wife, let's say. And you can't wait to open it and to read it. And as you read it, the words become precious. The paper, the letter itself. Hey, this is a word from home, a message from home.

This is a love letter from my precious wife. And he has feelings like this for these words in this letter. But now, let me make this very clear. The words in this letter are very precious for one reason and one reason only.

Because they're written by his wife, the one he loves. Do you see the point here? Now, I mean, if he got a letter from another person's wife, okay, what would he think of it? It would mean nothing really.

He'll find who it belongs to, okay? But if it's a letter written by his beloved, these words are precious. But again, these words are precious only because they come from the one he loves. Likewise, right here in Psalm 119, this fellow loves the word of God.

And as we move into the new covenant, okay, we, okay, because we are enlightened, okay, by the life of Christ himself, have a new desire, and that desire is to fall in love, to set our affections on Christ through his word, okay, because it all points to him.

I hope you see that, okay? And so, let me read this again. How can a young man keep his way pure? Why would I want to do that? Because I desire to please Jesus, my Savior, by guarding it according to your word.

I want to live according to your word, according to your will, according to the light that you give me, okay? With my whole heart, I seek you. Let me wander not from your commandments. Let me not wander from you.

Wherever I go, I want to be, you know, I want you to be with me, you know, just as you promised. I'll never forsake you, you know. Behold, I'm with you always. I will store up your word in my heart because I want to know you in a deeper way that I might not sin against you.

Blessed are you, O Lord. Teach me your statutes. Teach me your ways. Teach me your very self. I want to come into a deeper love for you. With my lips, I declare all the rules of your mouth, all of your words.

In the way of your testimonies, I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on you and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your word. I will not forget your word. New desires. New desires.

Spiritual Wisdom, Bearing Fruit, and Walking in the Kingdom of Light

One more passage. It's a prayer of Paul in Colossians. Paul had never been to this church. Epaphroditus told him about it. And he was delighted to hear about it. And he wrote him a letter to encourage them.

And in verse 9, in chapter 1 of Colossians, he says this. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding. You see, that's this discernment.

My desire for you is that you might know God in a deeper way. That you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

That is, walk in the light that he gives you. Fully pleasing to him. You know, I want to walk in a way that would please him. I want to walk in the light. In his light. Bearing fruit in every good work.

And increasing in the knowledge of God. You see, all this requires light. You can't work in the dark. And then in verse 13, it says, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.

That's another way to say that we are in the light. It's a kingdom, okay? Transferred us to the kingdom of light. Transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. So, I encourage you. Walk in the light.

And again, just a reminder. The light of spiritual awareness comes from the life of Christ within. The life of Christ in the believer opens the eyes of the believer to give him discernment of spiritual life.

Direction in spiritual life. And his desire to please God in every way. So, I'll close with that. Let's pray. Father, I thank you and I praise you again for your son, the Lord Jesus. Our Savior. Who came to give his life that we might have life.

And that as we partake of the life of Christ, that the light that he brings might open our eyes to see how much you love us. How much you care for us. How much you watch over us. And the plans that you have for us.

I thank you that we can understand your word. May we treasure your word. Meditate on your word. That we might come to know you in a deeper way. Help us to be better witnesses for your son, the Lord Jesus.

In his name I pray.

Amen.