“EMBRACING DARKNESS OR FOLLOWING “THE LIGHT”?”
BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 10-12, 2018
It is absolutely amazing to me that in our world, even as in the day of Adam and Eve, that men and women, just like them, embrace the “darkness” and cannot, in their minds, consider or give credit to Holy God for, not only the reality of “day-light or darkness”, but that there is an eternal difference in all of our spiritual worlds, and for some, like them, yes, hold onto the selfish indifference to God’s “Light”, choosing to “embrace one’s spiritual darkness, and hold onto it, when God graciously, mercifully, and lovingly, grants freely “The Light of the world” whose name is Christ Jesus the Lord!
It’s also amazing to me that, worldwide, men will CHOOSE to “embrace the darkness”, while Holy God extends the spiritual eyesight to see “the Light” or continue to embrace the darkness! God forces no man to ‘walk in the ‘Light’ if his mind, heart, and will wants to “walk in the darkness” and chooses to ignore God’s Light’!
It was Joshua who once said: “Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”! And the eternal choice a man makes about his earthly life and his eternal residence is determined by his/her response from the mind and heart to the eternal will, plan, and provision of merciful God “in Christ” or a continual commitment to the deception of the world, his open fallen flesh, or bondage to the powers of darkness instructed by Satan himself!
The heritage eternally of the unredeemed who ‘rest’ their lives in ‘fleshly’ commitment, ‘spiritual’ blindness, and demonic domination, is Satan’s ‘prison cell’ in place of God’s Paradise! One’s ‘life journey’ is either a ‘fairy tale’ of ‘best effort’ or the Sovereign history of the yielded, believing, trusting surrendered life to the Lordship of Christ made real by the Holy Spirit unveiling the “Lamb’s Blood, His Resurrected Presence, and His Spirit-Anointing Power and His Resurrection Presence” as a testimony around those and for those who are not “new-born”!
Alonzo B. Bragdon, in his writing, “When the Day is Done”, wrote: “From fibers of pain and hope and trouble And toil and happiness – one by one, – Twisted together, or single or double, The varying thread of our life is spun.
Hope shall cheer though the chain be galling; Light shall come though the gloom be falling; Faith will list for the Master calling Our hearts to His rest, – when the day is done.”
But in Hebrews 3:7-15 the anointed author wrote Hebrews 3:7-15, says, Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: (I have to ask! “Do YOU listen to the Holy Spirit guiding you and enlightening you to the Lord’s precious Word?”): “Today, IF YOU WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” HOW SAD THAT SOME HAVE ‘SHARED IN CHRIST’S “REST”, AND THEN CHOSEN TO WALK AWAY, YES, DECEIVED AGAIN BY THE WORLD, THE OLD-SIN NATURE, AND SATAN HIMSELF!! Right now, WHERE AND IN “WHO” DO YOU STAND?
Have you seen the TV Ad where a professor is on a tall ladder in his classroom finishing up a huge blackboard of his ‘present inspired’ writing for his class – all original, unfolding in his mind moment by moment, but then becoming aware of a school janitor back at the beginning of the class blackboard erasing his classical, highly informative statement that would have made him an international star in higher education, but the initial foundational statements were washed away, and he KNEW he couldn’t remember what he wrote?
The lost world citizens, your own condition, at times, find yieldedness to the ‘old man’ as alluring influences, AND the deceiving influences of Satan himself, CAN & WILL, at times, seek to impact your memory to WHO and to WHAT you committed yourself to!! Don’t ever “FORGET” Jesus and His “daily Bread” for continuing sustenance ,not sudden suffocating of His purpose THROUGH YOU!!
Highly interesting and convicting passage in Luke 12:35-40! Christ Jesus said: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you, that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
BUT know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
NOTICE!! VERSE 41!! Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?” Oh, don’t overlook, by-pass, or willfully ignore Verses 42-46!! And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.
But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”
Do you take accept the Truth of Old Testament words as important to a New Testament disciple’s walk with the Lord, the Savior, the Author of both Old Testament and New Testament? What was the Apostle Paul talking about when he wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17? “ALL SCRIPTURE (BOTH OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS!!!) is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (Of course, there are some things ‘set aside’ because of the New Covenant – but there are some Old Testament truths that never are set aside because of, now, the New Covenant. As in the Old Testament some were “set aside”, so in the New Testament, Peter talks about a ‘servant’ betraying his calling, and “being cut into and appointed his portion with the unbelievers.”) And the unbelievers are assigned an eternal place of bars as well as the ‘believers’ who can’t decide between the Savior and their fleshly desires? In Hell itself – a God-appointed place for the devil and his angels along with the betraying sinners and careless, shameless disciples who “thought they could eat the ‘cake’ of their own desires”, and still have a chair at the Lord’s Table in eternity, ‘servants of the Lord’ living carelessly, selfishly, more in tune with the world and their old sinful selves but assuring themselves, apart from Divine Truth, that Heaven will still be their eternal home because they’re ‘in church’ a lot of Sundays but compromising lifestyles during the week?
“FOLLOWING THE LIGHT”; Jesus said: “I AM the LIGHT OF THE WORLD” – and some know He Is the True Light, but they willfully choose to “Profess the Light” for their ‘flesh’, but “embracing darkness” that they can’t seem to let go of, and, at the same time, it’s as if there is the path of “darkness” they have one foot in, and, at the same time, step over to “follow the Light”! Paul was very clear when in Ephesians 5:8-15 he wrote: “For you once were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. There He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from (or out of) the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (Sadly, there are precious people in the Lord, who, yes, for a short time, will camouflage who they are “in Christ”, pretending to be their former selves, momentarily putting on a worldly ‘coat’ of flesh-indulgence! Then the convicting Holy Spirit comes to correct the dark path they chose temporarily, and put them back on the Highway of Holiness and the Street of the Holy Spirit-led journey!
Paul actually said in Ephesians 5:15-21, “See then that you walk circumspectly (If “off the chosen path”, “if carelessly indiscreet, or momentarily deceived”, WAKE UP, EVALUATE, “turn back” if necessary, because indiscreet spiritual behavior can lead to “cast from the kingdom-rule if the sin-nature becomes more important to you than the gifted divine nature of Christ in us our only hope of glory” – back to Paul, “walking circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation (Could that ‘drunk with wine’ even be “Drunk on the wine of self-indulgence in the old fallen sin nature? Just asking!); BUT BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT,( not flesh spirits or over-indulging in real wine!), speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” NO FEAR OF GOD, THEN ONE IS OPEN, YES, TO A CONTINUAL “Flesh Indulgence” as a believer that does lead to tragedy!!!
To Holy God, to your Loving Savior, to the convicting Holy Spirit, though ‘fallen away’, to return, yes, to the blazing Light of His glory, no longer to live with traces of shame, sadness, and dissatisfaction with one’s fleshly acts that do bring shame on the name of Christ one professes he/she is following! Most disciples, at some point in their journeys, have sinned while one with Christ in their hearts and minds, but temporarily led astray by Satan, the world, or one’s own weak flesh they thought to be strong, not aware in their “disciple’s understanding”, that old man was carried to the Cross by Christ, and there your ‘old man’ died, but Satan knows how to fool you and release your crucified self to a darkened spirit, darkened attitude, and the darkened world around you!
THERE MUST BE A RETURN TO THE “ADMISSION” THAT, YES, CHRIST JESUS BOUGHT YOU, OWNS YOU, AND MEANS TO RULE OVER YOU, but the world, the flesh, and Satan, put up a major warfare with Truth, surely informing you, “It’s OK. Jesus understands”, when He has no desire to see any child of faith who IS His straying from Him – His heart is broken, but He comes to pick up His shamed child of faith who temporarily fell into a moment of self-indulgence. Jesus knows it could become fatal if not confronted, fatal if not confessed, and fatal if the “fall” led one further and further and further away from Him!! If there’s presently unconfessed sin in YOU, you better run to the Lord’s Throne and be washed in the blood of the Lamb!
THERE MUST BE A RENEWING OF ATTITUDE AND ACTION IN ONE’S WALK OF OBEDIENCE AS HIS DISCIPLE! In 1 Peter 2:21-25 Peter wrote, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep (not goats!) going astray, but HAVE NOW RETURNED TO THE SHEPHERD AND OVERSEER OF YOUR SOULS!” [Are you presently “embracing darkness” or RETURNING TO “THE EVERLASTING LIGHT OF CHRIST” FOR YOUR SOUL?]
THERE MUST BE A CONSTANT, NEVER-CHANGING, CROWNING OF THE TRUTH WITHIN YOU OF THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST JESUS, YES, “JESUS ONLY” AS THE EXPLANATION OF A VICTORIOUS LIFE AND WALK!
In Colossians 1:9-18 we read, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father WHO HAS QUALIFIED US TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN THE LIGHT.
He has DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS and conveyed us into the kingdom of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (or are “held together” – be assured, if it’s falling apart around you, it’s man in charge, not King Jesus!!). And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from that the dead, THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PREEMINENCE.”
THERE MUST BE HONEST HEARTS, MINDS, AND WILLS, FULLY SURRENDERED TO CHRIST’S LORDSHIP!
1) IT CANNOT BE, MUST NOT BE, INCLINATION WITHOUT APPROPIATION! 2) IT CANNOT BE THOUGHTS ABOUT A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD AND SAVIOR IN THE MIND APART FROM DIVINE TRANSFORMATION IN BOTH HEART AND MIND FULLY SURRENDERED IN ONE’S WILL!
3)IT CANNOT BE VERBAL ARGUMENTATION WITHOUT WILLFUL ACCEPTANCE IN HEART, MIND, AND BODY OF CHRIST WITHIN YOU AND YOUR BODY AS HIS EARTHLY TABERNACLE AND ETERNAL, HOLY TEMPLE!
4) IT CANNOT BE A UNIVERSITY -PROFESSOR’S THEORY, OR A SCHOOL TEACHER’S RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS, OR EVEN A PARENT’S IDEAS ABOUGHT RELIGIOUS THOUGHT! IT MUST BE THE AUTHOR OF TRUTH, JESUS HIMSELF, GUIDING, UNVEILING, REVEALING, BLESSING HIS TRUTH IN YOU!
5) IT IS NOT ‘THIRST’ FOR RELIGIOUS IDEAS BUT THE HUNGER AND THIRST FOR THE “LIVING WATER”, FOR CHRIST’S ABIDING PRESENCE WITHIN, FOR “THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST” AS TAUGHT AND GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!
From an old Greek Melody Whitfield wrote these words: “I saw the cross of Jesus, When burdened with my sin; I sought the cross of Jesus, To give me peace within; I brought my soul to Jesus, He cleansed it in His blood; And in the cross of Jesus I found my peace with God.” Because you “tried” or because you “trusted” in Christ’s death, resurrection, and reigning throne Presence over sin and death?