Text: 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Main Idea: Our journey from darkness to light is a God-directed wonder.
Darkness
Darkness represents separation from God and all the accompanying characteristics of that condition. It is used to depict the power of Satan (Acts 26:18), the presence of sin (John 3:19) and the predicament of death (Luke 1:79)
Ephesians 5:8 We were not only in the darkness; we were darkness.
John 3:19 we loved the darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. That wasn’t some people, that was all people.
Proverbs 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
• We were so ignorant that we neither knew wickedness as wickedness, nor did we apprehend the destruction which it involves.
Ephesians 4:17-19 we were darkened in our understanding and separated from the life of God, given over to sensuality, with a continual lust for more.
• Not only did we love the darkness, but we also wanted more of it.
Luke 22:53 – Jesus was arrested at night – in the darkness. He recognized the symbolism when his enemies showed up that night in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour–when darkness reigns.” He called it the time when darkness reigns.
• We lived under the reign of darkness.
Jesus called us out of that into His marvelous light. What’s so marvelous about where we are?
Light
Light represents oneness with God and all the accompanying characteristics of that condition.
Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Psalms 19:8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
Psalms 119:105 When we are children of the light, our hearts say, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
Instead of lamenting the fact that you aren’t where you want to be spiritually, thank the Lord for the desire to be better.”
Ephesians 5:8 – We are children of the light.
• Because God is merciful, He causes the sun to shine on all people. Everyone on earth is a beneficiary of the kingdom of light, but we are children of the kingdom.
Action
1. Rejoice. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20
2. Pray! “Father forgive them.”
3. Receive. John 12:35-36 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.”
Jesus describes a place away from the presence of the Lord. A place of outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12)
Christianity is a relationship with Christ. If we don’t want Christ, we don’t want the things that come along with Christ. And absent from His presence there is only darkness because He Himself is the light.
So, if this isn’t an offer that seems like good tidings of great joy to all people – including you. There is a biblical explanation.
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
• 2 Corinthians 11:14 Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Stuff that sounds spiritual but it’s not the truth. Jesus is the truth.
• John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
From Darkness to Light. The journey is a wondrous one available to all. All that remains is for us to believe it and to receive it.
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