Living in the Light
May 4, 2008

YOU are not in darkness brothers. That is, you are not in darkness if you have fixed your hope upon Jesus.


There is an entire world out there that is lost; without hope. They have turned to their own ways. They do not believe the Bible... because they do not believe anything.

They say that they believe in certain things, yet it seems that what the truly believe is that there is not truth at all. Everything is open to interpretation. These do not even believe themselves. They are constantly moving on and on and on an on and on and on and on; never stopping. They are like the shark; which must be constantly moving or it will die. They are always moving from one idea to the next; from one thought to the next; never lingering too long, never being too still. Never stopping too long to think sober thoughts of reality and life; lest they become conscious. Lest they realize with sober reality THAT THEY ARE DOOMED! Heaven forbid that this be their end, but without Jesus they are doomed and without hope.

Just look around; the truth of this rings true everywhere you turn. We are constantly distracted. There are talk shows, sports shows, gossip shows, reality shows, talent shows, game shows, comic shows, horror shows and fantasy shows, just to name a few. There are TVs in almost every restaurant, every Wal-mart and every doctor’s office that you enter. They are everywhere. You simply cannot get away from them even if you try. In the few places where there is no TV there is radio, usually blaring so loud that you cannot even carry on a conversation with the person you are with or read a book if you so desired. You cannot get away from the constant flood of information, gossip and filth that is pouring over the networks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

This constant flood of noise, talk music and information keeps people distracted, busy and “engaged” at all times.

What does God have to say about this? What are His thoughts? Psalm 46:10 reads:
and also

Why then must there be so many distractions in this world? Why then must there be so much noise, so much busyness? It seems that if a person has too much time that is quiet they cannot stand it. But why? Why do people hate silence? Why are people’s spirits in a constant state of distraction? What happens to us when we are quiet?

Reality sinks in.

As a believer that reality IS Jesus Christ. As believers stillness and silence brings us to a place where we can hear that still small voice of the Lord. But what about the un-believer? What happens to them when quietness settles in?

Reality still sinks in.

Is Jesus absent from their reality. No. Again, I believe that Jesus IS reality. So, what is it that is absent from their reality as the silence settles in? Peace. With out Jesus there is no peace.

I believe that all of us, ultimately, come to a deep unsettling reality that one day we will die. I also believe that all of the noise and distraction in this modern world is the enemy’s way of keeping people from consciously acknowledging that they are alive, breathing and on their way to the grave.

That’s a sobering thought isn’t it? If you are sitting hear listening to me right now you are alive. At some point in your past God breathed life into your being and your life began. That fact alone is all the evidence that is needed to prove a second sobering fact. That is, one day you will die. There’s nothing you can do about it. That train has already left the station and like it or not; you are on it.

That reality came into my life one soft summer night in the late ’70’s. As I lay quietly on the bed at my grandparents house in Arkansas, I could hear the dull hum of the attic fan as it drew a cool, humid breeze through the window next to my bed. I laid on my stomach and looked out the second story window at the cars that passed by on highway 64.

As I lay there I wondered where they had come from and where they were going to. I wondered what they had done that day and what they would do when they reached their destination. I thought of all kinds of things as I lay there in that bed. I thought about my day and I thought about tomorrow. One thought led to another and then, for the first time in my life I a thought came to me that I had never thought before. It occurred to me as I lay pondering so many innocent things that one day, eventually, I will die.

A sudden and immediate panic penetrated my entire being. If you’ve had a panic attack you know what I’m talking about; if you haven’t I’m not sure I can even describe it. The closest I could say would be complete and utter despair, a feeling that you cannot breath and the doom is upon you, not just bad things, but utter horrific, life-ending, no hope, no way out DOOM and there is nothing you can do, no where you can go and no way to change anything. THAT is what happened to me that quiet peaceful night in the upstairs bedroom of my grandparents house… and I screamed. I screamed for my mother, in utter despair and I’m sure it was a blood curdling scream that must have shaken her right out of her bed.

She came immediately and tried her best to comfort me, but I couldn’t even talk. I was bawling. I couldn’t even catch my breath and much less stop and talk, so she brought me to the top of the stairs where she began trying to pry out of me what was wrong. Over a long period of time I was able to try to explain to her that I had realized that one day I was going to die and I didn’t know what to do about it.

She hugged me. She held me tight. She told me everything she could tell me, but she was not able to bring me any peace at all. Fortunately, I eventually got so tired that I was ready to just fall asleep.

That night started a pattern in my life that lasted for many, many years. Generally speaking, it would come at night. When something particularly memorable or intense had happened that day. I was especially vulnerable after watching a movie. There is something about the way a movie gets my brain meditating of things that makes me extra sensitive to this kind of attack.

When it would happen I could feel it coming and I would try to stop thinking the thoughts that had triggered it, but there was nothing I could do, within seconds an uncontrollable panic would seize me and I would despair of any hope at all. The constant and unending reality that my mortal existence would cease gripped me with a fear that words cannot even describe.

One cool spring evening, many, many years later, I was laying on my bed pondering my day as the sun was in the final stages of setting out over our balcony. It had been a particularly good day and the sweet smell of springtime cause me to begin to reminisce. Amy was in the bathroom getting ready for bed and Madison was already asleep. As I lay there I considered life and my wonderful family. I thought of how special life is and wondered what it would be like as Madison grew older. Then, like the hundreds of time it had happened before, I felt despair creeping in on me. I tried to fight it by changing my thoughts, but it was too late.

“Madison will grow up and you’ll grow older. She will marry and you will be both happy and sad all at the same time. Then eventually she’ll have children and her children will have children and… by that time Madison will be… which means you will be… dead. You’re going to die.” “Oh no! I’m going to die! What will happen? What if there is a heaven? You’ll be there F•O•R•E•V•E•R. Do you know how long that is? You can’t even imagine that long, because it never, ever, ever, ever stops. Forever just goes on and on.” So, came the thoughts into my head and soon the panic and utter despair had me in it’s full grip.

What If I die and the lights go out and that is it? DESPAIR.

What if I live FOREVER, AND EVER AND EVER? DESPAIR.

There was no way out. There was no hope. I wished I had never been born, but there was nothing I could do about it. Here I am. Alive with one ultimate destination. Death; and there’s nothing absolutely nothing I can do about it!

I believe that this feeling that I am describing to you is a taste, just a tiny drop of what it means to be cast into the outer darkness. I believe in God’s loving grace He was allowing me to experience just the tiniest taste of what Hell is like. I believe in His ultimate goodness He was drawing me to Himself by allowing me to experience His absence.

I sprang to my feet from the bed and I ran across the bedroom and out the patio door of our small apartment, looked up into the sky and said in all sincerity “God please take this away from me!” Instantly, it was gone. Completely and utterly gone. Not even a fading recollection of what the panic had felt like. I knew in that instance that God had heard me, but what I didn’t know, believe it or not, was God Himself.

You see, God’s word says that before we knew Him He loved us.


So there I was, an enemy of God, not deserving anything short of His full wrath and He in His grace and mercy covered me with His own Son so that all of His wrath would fall upon Him and not me.

I had no knowledge at that time what had just happened other than God had heard me and come to my aid. From that moment on the fear never gripped me as strongly as it had done for over a decade before. I now knew who to call on for peace. Sometimes I would pray as soon as the fear began and sometimes I would wait, trying to deal with it in my own strength, but every time I called out to God, He heard me and took the fear away immediately and completely.

It was many years after that experience before I heard the gospel of salvation and many more years before I actually realized that Jesus Christ is focal point of all truth. However, in His grace and His mercy, He began to draw on my heart through this experience, expanding on a desire to know Him personally.

For some of us death is just around the corner. We don’t even know it, but we are breathing the last breaths we will ever breath at this moment. For others, there are decades of life still to come. Nonetheless, we will all eventually come to the end of this life. Then what?

I’d like to go back to the verse that I read at the very beginning today, but I want to read it in context:


They will NOT escape. All of those who go around mocking God; all of those who have rejected Christ; all of those who say tomorrow I will seek a closer walk with the Lord, tomorrow I will repent and turn from my sinful ways; they will be caught like a rabbit in a snare when destruction suddenly comes upon them and they will NOT escape!

For “then sudden destruction will come upon them… and they will NOT escape.”


We who know Jesus Christ are children of the light. When the day of the Lord’s appearing shall finally come we have not thing to fear, we will not run and hide, we will not wish for rocks to fall on us and crush us as we curse God.

Quite the contrary; we will see Him in all His glory and we will rejoice!

But how can we know? How can we tell whether we are in the truth? The scriptures say in II Corinthians that we are to examine ourselves to be sure we are in the truth.


Have you examined yourself? Are the things that you are doing evidence that you are walking closely with Christ? Are your actions the fruit that would pour out of the Holy Spirit’s body if He had one? How about your thoughts? What about your private life? What are you thinking? What secret indulgences do you allow yourself to have? Do you secretly meditate on Christ as you sit in a business meeting or clean the toilet? You know your thoughts. You know your own desires… and so does Christ.

We are called to walk in the light as He is in the light. We are told that the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us of all sin. So how do you know, I’m not talking about hoping, I’m talking about knowing if you are walking in the light. How do you know you are walking in the light and not in the darkness of your own mind?


Do you have fellowship with the light or do you have fellowship with darkness? God’s word says in 1 John “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

Again, where do you spend your time? Where do you spend your money? What do you find pleasure in? Where do your thoughts fly at every quiet opportunity? You can justify them all you want. I have. I have found my thoughts quickly flying to my next big idea at every opportunity. I have found my thoughts centering on how I will deal with a certain problem in every quiet moment.

Where do the desires of your heart lie? I am not judging you. I do not know the desires of your heart. I am simply challenging you to this: Examine your self:


So, what does it mean to walk in darkness? How can we know if we have strayed from the Way of Christ?


Be renewed in the spirit of your minds! Be renewed!


According to Ephesians 4, why are we alienated from the life of God? Because of the ignorance that is within us. And why are we ignorant? Because of the hardness of our hearts.

DO NOT harden your heart towards God and become callous. He will not force you to abide with Him. When you are alone, do not allow your thoughts to wonder towards evil things. Take every thought captive. When you are with others, do not allow their evil talk to cause you to stumble; turn and walk away if you have to. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.

Are our hearts hard because God has tempted us? No. Is it because Satan has tempted us? No. Yes, Satan may have tempted you, but He tempted Christ also and you that are believers have the Spirit of Christ, that is the Holy Spirit, living within you. So, how is it that our hearts harden? What happens? It is because we have allowed our own hearts to turn from the worship of the Lord by following the temptations of our own desire. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:


And in James:


This world is NOT your friend. DO NOT be deceived!


Too many times we grow comfortable and content here. Too many times we observe others and believing that they are thriving in their relationship with Christ decide that we will be OK if we do what they do, only to find out that they are not actually as close to the Lord as we thought or that something that was of no temptation to them is a stumbling block for us.

Brothers and sisters you may not be able to do what others do. The Lord will tell you what is good and acceptable for you, but do not use the fact that someone else you respect is doing something to justify your self doing it; especially if you have felt the Holy Spirit tell you no. God knows what is good and acceptable for you. He will let you know in your spirit if what you are doing is wrong. LISTEN! Do not ignore that feeling that you have that you may be doing something wrong. Now I’m not telling you to grow paranoid  and paralyzed; not knowing whether you can do anything. God is not a God of confusion. However, I do not want you to become calloused in your spirit, unable to hear the Lord because you are constantly ignoring the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

There are things that are clearly unacceptable for anyone to do:


However, there are many things that may be fine for one; but sin for another. We must have faith. The Bible tells us that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” -- Romans 14:23 Therefore, be sure that you do all things in faith.

How can we know if we are being deceived or if we are walking in the Truth? With all the temptations, with all the distractions, with all the uncertainty it seems that a rule book would be helpful. It seems that if we could just have a set of dos and don’ts life would be easier. That is our natural desire; tell my flesh what it must do to be righteous. However, that is the point, you can never be righteous in your flesh.

So, how then can we guard ourselves against the deception of this present world? What can we do to insure we are staying in the faith?

Let’s read the previous verse from Galatians in full context. Galatians 5:16-24:


You know you are in Christ and walking in Holy Spirit if you have “crucified the flesh and its passions and desires.”


Do not be surprised brothers. Do not be surprised sisters. You are NOT walking in darkness, but you are walking in the light. Listen to your shepherd and know His voice.

If, however, you are here today and you are in despair and you do not know Jesus, I can offer you hope. I can offer you the hope of Eternal Life that is found hidden in Christ. Christ will bring you out of the darkness and cast light on all your despair, causing it to flee if you will truly repent and believe.

If however, you are here today and you have rejected Christ; if you have no room for the Saviour; if your schedule is too full or your just not willing to surrender ALL to Him; then my friend, I am sorry, but I cannot offer you any hope at all. For you, there is no hope. You have chosen an eternal separation from God. For you there awaits the eternal torment of despair and hopelessness that is found in the absence of our All Mighty Saviour. When He withdraws from you there will be no more peace. When you breath your last breath, then you will have eternal torment and despair; hopeless forever and ever and ever.


What can we do about a hard heart? Ask God for a new heart. He is the one that removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. Pray to Him. Call out to Him. Implore Him to replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh. He is good and faithful to do it.


Finally, we read in Thessalonians:


Amen.