The Effect of the Light - John 3:19-21

Providence Baptist Church

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Well, good evening. Once again,

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I'm so honored to be able to preach. I'm so thankful for the opportunity that Brother Quattro and the church has given me to preach.

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I hope to never take for granted any time that I am allowed to preach or get the opportunity to preach.

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It is always an honor. It's very humbling. And so, thank you very much.

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Turn in your Bibles this evening to John 3. John 3 .19.

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John 3 .19. We're going to read three verses. If you found

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John 3 .19, if you would stand, as we reverence the reading of God's holy word.

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John 3 .19 And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

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But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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Let's go, Lord, in prayer. Father God, as we gather here tonight,

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I pray, Lord, that You would be glorified, that no man would be uplifted, Father God.

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I'm very fearful to stand behind this pulpit and preach

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Your Word unless it is done, Lord, with the leadership of Your Holy Spirit and with Your power and with Your blessing.

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Father God, I pray, Father, that I would be nothing more than an instrument for Your use.

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I pray, Father God, that Your Word would pierce hearts. I pray, Father, that we would take

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Your Word and that we would apply it to our lives. Lord God, You are due all glory.

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And that is what we pray, Father God. We love You and we praise You in Christ's name.

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Amen. This evening, so in our text, we have, and I haven't counted this before, but we have mentioned,

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I think it is six times. One, two, three, four, five,

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I think six times in these three verses, and you can correct me later if it was five. Five or six times here in just three verses that John mentions the light.

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And so this evening, I want to discuss and preach upon the light that is mentioned here in John.

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But before we get started, I think there are a couple of questions that need to be answered.

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The first one is, what is this light? What is this light that is being discussed here that John is discussing here in verses 19 -21?

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What is the light John is referring to here in chapter 3? While our focus tonight will be mainly on the light and the effect of the light that is mentioned, to completely understand what

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John is referring to, we need to back up. "...so

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loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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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.

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Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only

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Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

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But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

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So from this text, we see that the question is not, what is the light?

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But rather, who is the light? The text shows us that the light that is being referenced here in John is none other than Christ.

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The light is the Son that God has sent because He loved the world. The light is the one that belief in Him will result in eternal life.

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The light is the one sent by God to save. Jesus speaks even more plainly that He is the light in John 8.

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John 8 beginning in verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.

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Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the

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Pharisees said to Him, You are bearing witness about Yourself. Your testimony is not true.

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Jesus answered and said, even if I do bear witness about Myself, My testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you know not where I come from or where I am going.

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You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge,

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My judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge, but I and the

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Father who sent Me. In Your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about Myself, and the

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Father who sent Me bears witness about Me. So from this text in John 8, it's not just Christ who is proclaiming that He is the light, but the

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Father and Son both testify that Jesus is the light of the world.

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That whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

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Not that more than His word or proclamation was needed. He said even if I do bear witness about Myself, My testimony is true.

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But not that more than that was needed. But He goes on and says, I do have the testimony of two.

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The Father and the Son that according to the law makes the testimony true. So whenever they said, in Your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.

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That's referring to Numbers 35 .30. If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses.

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But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. You had to have at least two witnesses to make a testimony true.

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So both we have that here. Christ is saying even if I said it, that would be enough, but I have the testimony of two.

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Both I and the Father. Both the Father and the Son agree that the Son is the light of the world.

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We can definitely know that this is true based on that testimony. All the rulers and all the people of the world could proclaim that He is not the light, but it doesn't matter.

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The Pope could proclaim that there is another light and that Christ is not the true light, and we would proclaim

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Him to be a fool. Because we know that Christ is the light and He and the

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Father both proclaim that He is the light. There is no greater testimony than that of a holy and a sovereign

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God. So knowing that this light that is being referred to is

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Christ, let's go back to our text. And this is the judgment.

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The light is coming to the world. And the people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.

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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

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But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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The responses to this light. We're going to talk briefly about three different responses, two different effects, and three different responses to this light.

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And so the response to this light, this light that is Christ is different for those chosen in Christ and those of the world.

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And so our three areas of focus, the effect of the light to the believer.

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That's one effect. The response of the believer. The effect of the light to the unbeliever.

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The response of the unbeliever. And the response of the church to these truths and the light.

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The first one that we'll start off with this evening is the effect of the light to the believer.

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So we're going to start in v. 21 and we're going to work backwards. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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So the first thing that we want to notice, the first thing that I want you to notice here in v.

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21 is that this is an exposing light. This is an exposing light.

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It says, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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This is an exposing light. What is it exposing of? What is it exposing? Well, alert, it's exposing of sin.

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Luke 12 .2 says nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.

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So in this context, when you put He is the light, if you think of Christ as the light, but when you put something so marvelous as this light that is

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Christ next to something ordinary, you begin to see how ordinary that it really is.

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And that's what happens when the light exposes the sin to someone who has been chosen in Christ.

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When you put something so marvelous, so wonderful, so beautiful next to something ordinary, you begin to see how ordinary it is.

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But when you put something so beautiful and so marvelous next to something so wicked and so depraved, you begin to see not only just how wicked and depraved you might be, but how marvelous and how wonderful the light is.

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There is never a time when a man can see how unholy he is and feel the weight of sin more than in the presence of God Almighty.

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Than when faced with the perfect Lamb that is Christ. The bright light exposes sin and the need for a

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Savior from the wrath and the judgment that awaits that sin. As we'll note in a minute, this exposure from the light happens to both those who are given the ability by the

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Holy Spirit to love the light and those who hate the light. The reaction is different.

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Those chosen in Christ will feel the weight of their sin and the need for a Savior. But not only will they see that, not only will the exposure of sin make them see that they are indeed a great sinner and He is a great

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Savior and He is a marvelous light, but they will be drawn to the light. They will be drawn.

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It draws them unto repentance. 1 Peter 2 .9 tells us, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

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The believer once surrounded and filled with darkness within, made to see the light.

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Made to see the light that is Christ, a light more beautiful than any other. A light that is beyond compare and they are drawn to the light.

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Drawn to its beauty. For there is nothing in life that is as beautiful as what they have seen in this life.

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As what they have seen in Christ. The believer, those that put their faith and their trust in Christ, they are made to see their sin.

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They're made to feel the weight of their sin and see that they need a Savior. And they are drawn to the light.

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That is the effect of the light to those who believe and trust in Christ.

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But there's also an effect of the light to the world. To those who hate the light and hate

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Christ. See, to a believer is an exposing light. It is also an exposing light to an unbeliever.

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John 3, 19 -20 that we read in our text and this is the judgment.

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

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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works be exposed.

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From our text we gather that there is a response from those in the world to this light.

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What is the response? It says people love their darkness rather than light because their works were evil.

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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

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The unbeliever hates this light. Quick note, this is everyone not in Christ.

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And all of those who are in Christ before they were graciously made to be in Christ.

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John 7, 7 says the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

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Why? Why does the believer hate the light? Four quick reasons. The first one being because it is their nature to hate the light.

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John 15, 18 through 21, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

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If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

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Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

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If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know

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Him who sent me. It is their nature. It is the nature of man.

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We are born into sin. We'll talk about that a little bit more later. But it is that we are born as haters of God.

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We are not born as innocent children who just need to be pointed in the right direction.

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We are born as haters of the light. We hate this light because it is our nature.

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It is their nature to hate the light. Number two, because their deeds are evil.

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John 7, 7 said the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

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They hate Christ and the Gospel because they have wicked deeds.

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The reason they reject Christ and don't come to Him when they hear the Gospel proclaimed is not because they are already good on their own and they simply don't need the

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Gospel. They reject Christ and they don't come to Him when they hear the Gospel because they want to hide their wicked deeds.

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Because it is their nature. Their deeds are evil. Thirdly, they love themselves.

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2 Timothy 3, 1 -5, but understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

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For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

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Avoid such people. And they hate the light because it is in their nature to hate the light.

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Because their deeds are evil. And because they love themselves. And lastly, they love their sin.

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They love their sin. They don't want to be parted from their sin. They don't want conviction.

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They don't hate the light because they're sorry for their sins. They don't hate the light because they feel great shame in regards to their depravity.

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They love their sin. To the believer, they are made to see the beauty of the light, and they are drawn to its beauty.

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The world hates this beauty. The world hates this beauty. Who is this light?

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Who is this Christ? Who is this light to show me my ugliness? Who is this light to show me my ungodliness?

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I must get away from this light. I must destroy this light. I cannot be in the presence of this light.

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There will not be one person in hell that hated their sin and loved

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God, but God just decided to turn them away. We must understand this.

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I know this is kind of doom and gloom. We'll get there. We'll get through this.

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But we must understand that there will not be one person in hell that loved

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God. They say, I loved You. You just wouldn't let me in. I knocked and I knocked and You wouldn't open the door.

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No. Everyone who is in hell will be there because they loved their sin and they hated a holy and a righteous

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God. Hell will be full of God -haters that love themselves more than Christ and His Word.

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And whereas, with the believer, those chosen in Christ, the light is a drawing light.

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They are drawn to that light. To the world, this light is a hardening light.

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To the believer, it's a drawing light. To the world, this is a hardening light.

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Romans 1, verses 16 -32. I'm going to read it. It's a big passage. I tried to cut it down this afternoon, but there's just so much in it.

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I'm going to read through it pretty slowly because we don't have time to go through every bit of it. But Romans 1, verses 16 -32.

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Pay close attention. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

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Jew first and also the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

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For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely

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His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse.

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For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

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Therefore, God gave them up to the lust of their hearts, to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and they worshiped and served creature rather than Creator who is blessed forever.

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Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

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And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

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And they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

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They were gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

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Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die.

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They not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. I read all of that to say, to go to the point that there will not be people who are hardened by the

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Gospel and who end up in hell, that they loved God. No, this explains very clearly how they felt about God.

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They loved themselves. They loved their sin. If we remember from Mark this morning, the

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Word, the Gospel is always effective. It's either effective in saving or effective in hardening.

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One shows God's grace and mercy, the other His divine judgment. Those who truly hear, it has been granted them by God.

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To the believer, it is a drawing light. To the world, it is a hardening light.

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But also, praise God, to the believer, it is a saving light. John Gill writes notes that he is the author and giver of the light of grace by which men see themselves to be what they are, lost and undone sinners.

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And see Him to be not only able, willing, suitable, to be the only able, willing, suitable, sufficient and complete

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Savior. And He it is that now gives the saints the glimpse of glory they have and will be the light of the new

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Jerusalem and the everlasting light of His people hereafter. Psalm 27 1

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The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life.

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Of whom shall I be afraid? Let me ask you this. What did this light, what did

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Christ save us from? What did He save us from? The condemnation of God Almighty.

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Look at v. 18 in John 3. Back to our text.

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John 18 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

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Son of God. What did the light, what did Christ save us from?

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The condemnation of God Almighty. Romans 8 1 -4 Now there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the

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Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

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For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending His own

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Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk it not according to the flesh, but according to the

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Spirit. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. All those who were born from Adam stood condemned having been born into sin.

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If you were born in Adam, which the last time I checked is everybody that was born in Adam, you stood condemned having been born into sin.

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And God gave the law. And all the people broke the law.

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They took the law and they broke it. And they faced the judgment and condemnation of God Almighty.

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Their sentence was that of death eternally. They were cursed.

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And they were condemned by the law. But Christ came as a virgin and lived the perfect life they could not live.

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The perfect life we could not live. Our sentence and judgment was poured out upon Christ.

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The judgment of God Almighty poured out on the perfect and innocent Lamb. And those that are in Christ have passed from death to life.

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From condemned to justified. All those who believe in Him.

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Have you trusted in Him? Have you trusted in this life or do you still stand under the condemnation and the wrath of a holy

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God? It is a saving light for the believer. It is also a justifying light.

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1 Corinthians 6, 9 -11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

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Be not deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, thieves, greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

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And as such, some of you were. There were some of you. But you were washed.

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And you were sanctified. And you were justified in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. One author defines justification as the act of God's free grace wherein

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He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

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Romans 3, 21 -26 Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law of the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is for all who believe.

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There is no distinction for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

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God put forward as a propitiation. Caleb usually tells us, reminds us, the wrath -satisfying sacrifice by His blood to be received by faith.

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This was to show God's righteousness because of His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.

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It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might both be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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It is a justifying light. It is a saving light. It is an exposing light.

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It is a drawing light. It is a hardening light to those in the world.

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It is a saving light and it is a justifying light. But it is also a light of justice to the world.

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Proverbs 21 .15 When justice is done, listen to this, when justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but terror to evildoers.

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John 3 .18 back to our text says that they remain condemned.

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Why? Why did they remain condemned? Because they had not believed.

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Because of their unbelief. They are condemned by the law and they stand condemned.

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Not only do they hate the light, but they don't believe the light. They don't believe that the light is the truth.

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They don't believe the light to be the truth. And we know from Scripture that the light is the truth.

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Because in John 14 .6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the

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Father except through Me. They hate the truth. The world hates the truth.

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Whereas those in Christ are sanctified by the truth, those in the world are hardened by the truth.

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Why was Christ crucified? Why was Jesus crucified? Yes, it was prophesied.

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And there had to be a perfect sacrifice, but what led them to do it? What led the people to do it?

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Because they loved Him? Because they loved what He spoke? What led the

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Pharisees for years to chase after Christ and want to put

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Him to death? What led them to this? Because they hated Him. Because He spoke the truth.

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He exposed them with His truth. The world hated the prophets.

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The world hated Amos. In Amos it says, they hated Him who reproves in the gate and they arbor

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Him who speaks the truth. John Gill says, not only hate Christ, but arbor Him.

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They cannot bear the sight of Him or to hear His name mentioned that speaks out His mind freely and honestly and tells them of their sins and advises them to repent of them and leave them.

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They hate the light. They hate the truth. They hate the light because they don't want the truth.

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Because the truth exposes their sins. The truth exposes their wickedness.

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And whereas the world hates this truth, those that put their trust in Christ are sanctified by this truth.

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Whereas the world hates this truth, those that put their trust in Christ are sanctified by this truth.

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John 17, 17 Sanctify them in Your truth. Your Word is truth.

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So not only is it a justifying light and a light of justice to the unbeliever, but it is also a sanctifying light.

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

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Those who have been chosen, those who have been born again, those who have repented and put their faith and their trust in Christ, they do not remain in darkness.

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The light changes the believer. If you are in Christ, you have been changed. If you have not been changed, then you are not in Christ.

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I was going to read the section on sanctification in the 1689 2nd

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London Baptist Confession of Faith, but for time's sake, I will not tonight. But I encourage you to study that.

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It's such a wonderful, wonderful... I know we say it's not

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Scripture, but it really highlights sanctification so well. So I encourage you to read that.

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And we know this. We know that when you are in Christ, that you will be changed because of verses like in Ephesians 5, 8 -17,

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For at one time you were darkness, but now you are the light. You are light in the

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Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

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And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

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And when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light.

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Therefore it says, listen to this, Awake, O sleeper! Arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.

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Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil.

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Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. It is a sanctifying light.

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You know, Paul Washers used this illustration. Several people have used this illustration.

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I'm not gonna go through the whole thing. But very quickly, if I was to be, if I was late today, you'll probably know this illustration, but if I was to be late today,

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I showed up at 6 .45, and I walk in the door, everybody's just sitting here, waiting, looking.

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Quattro, brother Quattro meets me at the door and says, where have you been? And I say, well, you know what?

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I was on my way here. I was on Highway 10, had a flat, went to change that flat.

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Log nut comes off, goes in the middle of the road. I go out there and I chase it. Boom, I got hit by a log truck.

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And I come up and I tell that, y 'all are gonna think one of two things, either he is crazy or he is a liar.

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If you have been born again and you have not been changed, but you're claiming, I've been born again, one of two things, you are either crazy or you are a liar.

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If a log truck, when it hits you, it's gonna rearrange some things.

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You're gonna be changed by it. When you are changed by the Almighty God of the universe, when

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He changes you, there will be evidence and fruit of that change. It is a sanctifying light to the believer.

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This is an indwelling light. It's not only a saving light, but praise

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God, it is an indwelling light. You're the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

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And we're gonna talk about how this applies to the church in just a minute. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house.

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In the same way, let your light shine before others so they may see your good works and give glory to your

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Father who is in heaven. Ephesians 5, 6 -9, let no one deceive you with empty words because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

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

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Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

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We'll just hit it in Philippians as well. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.

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The light that shines in from the believer to the world is not something special about themselves.

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He's not saying you're a light because you're just really special and you're just really good.

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So I want you to go let your light, the light of you, the light of you as a man or a woman to go shine.

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No, this light that shines in from the believer to the world is not something special about themselves, but rather a reflection of who dwells within the believer.

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Matthew Henry writes, Christ has lighted these candles and they shall not be put under a bushel, not confined always as they are now to the cities of Galilee or the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

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They shall be sent into all the world. The churches are the candlesticks, the golden candlesticks in which these lights are placed so that the light may be diffused.

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And the Gospel is so strong a light and it carries with it so much of its own evidence that like a city on a hill, it cannot be hid.

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It cannot but appear to be from God to all those who not willfully shut their eyes against it.

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It is a indwelling light, but thankfully is also a guiding light.

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Psalms 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path.

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Calvin writes, it is also to be observed that David could not have been guided by God's word unless he had first renounced the wisdom of the flesh.

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It is only when we are brought to do this that we begin to be of a teachable disposition.

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And the metaphor which he uses implies something more, namely, that unless the word of God enlightened men's paths, the whole of their life is enveloped in darkness and obscurity.

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It is a guiding light. Through His word, we are guided throughout how we live our life.

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We are guided through the doctrine, through how we learn about God, about Christ, about how we as believers respond to the gospel and to the word.

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And then where we will end the response of the church, the response of the church to the light.

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Number one, the first response of the church to the light is to live in obedience to the light.

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In the second chapter of 1 John, we find throughout the entire chapter from verses one through 29, we find instructions of how to live in obedience to Christ.

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I'm gonna read verses 28 and 29. And now, little children, abide in Him so that when

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He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame that is coming. If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.

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You know, he also says that, you know, he talks about He's the propitiation for our sins.

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Not ours only, but the sins of the whole world. And by this, we know that we have come to know

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Him. How? If we keep His commandments. Response of the church to the light is to live in obedience to that light, to live in obedience to His word, to shape everything that you do as a church, not around what is popular to man or what's gonna get more people in.

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There's a lot of things that we could probably do as a church that would draw a bigger crowd. We'd have

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Brother Quatro up here juggling chainsaws. People would come see that. Throw in some torches.

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People would come see that. You know, we could offer all kinds of worldly pleasures just to get people to come into the door.

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That is not the response of the church to the light. The response of the church to the light is to live in obedience to the light, even if it's not popular.

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Even if everybody says, well, I'm not gonna go to Perryville Second Baptist Church because they just wanna follow the

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Bible. They wanna follow the Bible. They don't wanna entertain.

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I get bored. I go in there and I get bored. All they do is sing and preach and read the

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Bible. I want entertainment. We don't change to the world in response of the church to the light is we don't shape to the world.

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We mold ourselves according to Scripture. Everything that we do in our services, and we're gonna talk about our evangelism in just a minute, but everything we do in our services, everything that we do as individuals who make up this local body of believers, we do in accordance to Scripture.

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We bear with one another according to Scripture. We are a body of believers who we hold each other accountable according to Scripture.

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That's not popular today. We discipline according to Scripture. That's sure, that's not even popular among most conservative churches today.

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But why do we do it? Because we love the light and we love

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Christ. And we want, in a very dark, in a dying world, we don't dim the lights a little bit so the world feels more comfortable.

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We let the light of Christ shine bright that it may convict, that it may show

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His glory. We live in obedience. And the response of the church to the light, live in obedience to the light.

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Secondly, keep proclaiming the gospel in light of these truths.

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The world will hate you for it. Paul asks in Galatians 4 .16, have

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I then become your enemy by telling you what you want to hear?

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That's not what it says. Have I then become your enemy by what? By telling you the truth.

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Paul was beheaded. The disciples were killed in various gruesome ways.

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Why? All because they spoke and proclaimed the light that exposed the darkness of the world.

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And they were killed for it. When faced with adversity, when faced with trials, they kept proclaiming the word of God.

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The world will hate you. If you expose the darkness, you expose their deeds, you expose their wickedness, you're not going to be popular.

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The world may hate you, but Christ is worthy. Instead of repenting when

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Paul proclaimed the gospel, when the apostles and the disciples, they proclaim the gospels, instead of repenting and putting the people, instead of repenting and putting their faith in Christ, they sought to destroy the light so that their evil deeds might become hidden.

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This has not changed. The world has not changed. The world still hates the truth and will do whatever they can to silence those that speak it.

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Governments, for centuries, have desired to silence the truth, to water down the truth.

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This will be no different in our day. This is why you're beginning to see bills try to pop up that are trying to bridle the truth of the gospel and silence those who preach it.

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This is why you see we've seen orders to stay at home unless it's some worldly rally, unless it's something that the world is okay with.

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But if you come to church, you may get a policeman knocking at your door, giving you a ticket for being at church when they told you to stay home.

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These are real things. These are real things that real people have experienced. Why? Because they want to hide the light.

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They want to cover the light because the light exposes the darkness. We cannot be silent.

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We must continue to proclaim the truth of the gospel. Why must we continue to proclaim the truth of the light who has come?

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Because He is worthy. He's worthy. He is worthy.

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He is the only hope for the world. Those that are addicted to pornography, those that are caught up in drunkenness, those that are living an ungodly life mixed with homosexuality, those who, in their anger, commit murder, those who are filled with so much darkness as we once were, why must we continue to proclaim the truth of the light who has come?

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Because He is the only hope that these have. He is the only hope for the world.

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Piper notes there is one hope through the gospel because God promises in the

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New Covenant, which is the gospel promise in Ezekiel 11, 19, I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.

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That's our prayer. That's our cry for ourselves, our friends, our family, and whole cultures that God would take out the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.

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Why must we continue to proclaim the truth of the light who has come? Because He is worthy and He is the only hope.

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He's the only hope that we have. He's the only hope that they have. For those reasons, that is why we evangelize.

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That is why, though, we may get doors slammed in our face, we may have people cuss us, spit upon us, ridicule us, we go for those reasons.

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He is worthy. And He is their only hope. And there may be somebody in here, there may be somebody who's in here, there may be somebody who's listening online.

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Maybe you're still in darkness. Maybe you've hated the light.

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You've resisted the light, you've hated it. Maybe you're still in that state. My call to you would be repent.

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Repent. Repent of your darkness. Repent of your evil. Repent of your wickedness.

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And trust in Christ. Let us pray. Father God, we are so thankful that You sent

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Your Son who is the light. We're so thankful for Christ. Lord, we know that He is the true light.

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That You, the sovereign God of all creation, testifies that He is the light, and that He has come to save.

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Father God, in a godless culture that is filled with darkness, I pray that we, as Your church, would go out into that darkness and proclaim the light of Christ.

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Because God, You are worthy. You are the only hope that a lost and a dying, unbelieving,

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God -hating world has. Your Son, Christ, is the only hope.

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Help us, Father God, that in our weakness, in our fear, that Lord, through Your strength,

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You might strengthen us that we would go and still proclaim these truths. Pray, Father God, if there is any,

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Lord, that they haven't repented. Lord, they are still in darkness even now.

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I pray, Father, that they would see the light of Christ.

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They would see their wicked and their evil deeds because You have made them to see it. That they would loathe their wickedness.

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That the weight of sin would weigh heavy upon them. And they would cry out.

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They would repent of their sins. And they would put their trust and their faith in You. We pray this,