Rescued from Darkness

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 17th of July, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.]

Darkness has always caused a certain amount of fear and trepidation, and not just for humans.  Some predators hunt only at night, hoping to catch their prey unawares, maybe asleep, easy pickings.  Of course, that concept works for human predators as well as those in the animal kingdom.  Most of us sleep at night, and want the house to be as dark as possible.  Many activities highly visible in the daylight slow down or cease in the dark of night.

But those who would do wrong or cause harm, those with evil intent, those looking for a more vulnerable victim seek the darkness to cover their acts.  These who hunt their prey under the cover of night fear the light most of all.  The light not only reveals their acts, but also their identities.

And the simple fact is that when something happens at night, we are less able to react to it if we can’t see what is going on.  Think of a tornado or a bad storm that strikes in the dark of night, and the power goes out with it.  We grope for a flashlight or light a candle – something, anything to provide even a little bit of illumination.  The light allows us to see, to recognize, to better prepare and respond.

Our Bible often speaks of darkness and light.  Even Jesus, in a few of His parables, mentioned how some things occur in the dark of night.  His own return, He said, would be unexpected, like a thief coming in the night.

The Apostle Paul also contrasted darkness and light, while instructing us on the importance of carrying out the mission our Lord Jesus gave us.  Please listen and follow along to the words Paul wrote in the 1st chapter of his letter to the Colossians, verses 13 through 29, and I’ll be reading this from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

13 For God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son Jesus, 14 who purchased our freedom with His blood and forgave our sins.

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

He existed before anything was created and He is the firstborn of all creation,

16 for through Him God created everything

in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see

and the things we can’t see — 

such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.

Everything was created through Him and for Him.

17 He existed before anything else,

and He holds all creation together.

18 Christ is also the head of the church,

which is His body.

He is the beginning,

the firstborn from the dead.

So He is first in everything.

19 For God in all His fullness

was pleased to live in Christ,

20 and through Him God reconciled

everything to Himself.

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth

by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for His body, the church. 25 God has given me the responsibility of serving His church by proclaiming His entire message to you. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing His glory.

28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

--Colossians 1:13-29 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for sending Your Son into the world, for shining Your light to dispel the darkness.  Just as our sun rises to light the earth and start a new day, Your Son rose from the dead to bring new life to all believers.  Thank You for Your Truth, Your Light, Your Son.  Forgive us, please Father, when we shun or ignore those truths we just don’t like to hear.  Forgive us when we won’t shine a light on our own failings.  Please help us find the truth in all things.  Help us reveal what is wrong around us so that it can be corrected or prevented.  Remind us that we are to show others the Light that is Jesus.  May He light their path and ours.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his bidding, trying to divide us one from another.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  You have rescued us from the grasp of darkness and given us to Your Son.  May we bring glory and honor to Your names.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Sometimes great things are said by people who are no longer known to us.  Like this:

Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences.  Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl.  "Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a-courtin', I never carried one of them things.  I always went in the dark."  "Yes," the hired man said wryly, "and look what you got!"

Truly there indeed are times when we need to shed a little light on the subject at hand, lest we end up with “a pig in a poke”.

Another unknown wit once noted that, “Some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.”  One of my favorite activities as a Gideon before being ordained was our jail ministry.  We would go into our county jail and read a little scripture and tell anyone who would listen how important it is to have a solid relationship with Jesus.

Now these were always male inmates, and many of them that would listen to us were there because of stupid things they did while intoxicated, either on alcohol or drugs.  Some, when we could talk one on one, would seem truly contrite and repentant for what they did.  They would pray the sinners prayer and ask for forgiveness, but I often wondered if they had truly seen the light, or were just feeling a little heat.

I can’t remember the characters or the circumstances, but there was a criminal on trial once and he spoke of how sorry he was for his crime.  The judge looked at him and pointedly asked, “Are you sorry for what you did, or sorry that you were caught?”  

Whether from seeing the light or feeling the heat, we are changed when we accept Jesus as Lord.

Right at the very start of our scripture reading, Paul proclaims that, “God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son Jesus”.  It’s like Jesus saved us from default by paying for our freedom with His own precious blood.

While those two words may often be used interchangeably, to me "rescued" conveys so much more of a sense of urgency than just "saved".  We may have a few dollars set aside and saved for a rainy day, for an emergency, or to purchase something we’ve wanted for a long time.  But to be rescued implies we were in dire straits, about to die, or worse.  Think about being rescued from flood waters versus being saved from having to attend a boring meeting.

God rescued us from darkness.  Thanks to Him, we no longer have to risk stumbling around in the darkness of our sin.  In Jesus we have a light that always shines, that cannot be extinguished, that darkness can never dim.   He is the visible image of God, God in the flesh, fully Man and fully God.  He was, He is, and He always will be.  And through Him God reconciled everything in heaven and on earth to Himself, including us - reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus.

Much of this passage harkens back to the writings of the Apostle John in his account of the life of Jesus.  Listen to how John opened the 1st chapter of his Gospel account, in verses 1 through 4…

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

--John 1:1-4 (NKJV)

In Jesus was life, the life that is the light of men.  Jesus is the Light, the light that dispels all darkness.  The problem is, though, that not all men seek the light.  A little later on in his Gospel account, in chapter 3, verses 16 through 21, John recorded Jesus when He said…

16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

--John 3:16-21 (NKJV)

Jesus wasn’t sent to condemn the world, but rather to rescue those who would believe in Him as God’s Son and accept Him as Lord.  When He came into our world, He shown the light of God’s truth that all the world might see.

But like I said, not everyone seeks the light.  Some prefer the darkness, love the darkness, because it hides their evil deeds, or so they think.  The darkness may hide their actions from man’s eyes, but not from God’s.  They may get away with their wicked behavior now, but some day they will most definitely feel the heat.

Family, here’s the point I believe God and Paul are trying to impart in our scripture reading.  Yes, we have been rescued by God.  We have been saved by the blood of Jesus from eternal damnation.  But what about all the others out there?  What about all the non-believers?  As far as that goes, I’m not even sure that everyone who calls themselves a Christian is actually saved because they haven’t truly and fully accepted Jesus as Lord.

Our rescue was not an easy affair.  Christ suffered for us so that we could be redeemed.  How much are we willing to suffer that the church, the body of Christ, might continue?  Paul suffered a lot so that the word of God might be shared and spread.  How much are we willing to give and take so that others can hear the word and might also be rescued?

It seems that darkness threatens to overcome the world again.  Violence, bloodshed, warfare all around us…  Famine, flood, global diseases plaguing all life…

Perhaps Jesus is coming soon, to once more shed the light of God on the earth, but this time the light that will shine forever without ceasing.  Let us prepare for His return, not only for ourselves, but for our neighbors as well.  Like Paul, let us work and struggle getting the Gospel message out, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within us.

One of my favorite hymns tells us to rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave.  Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen – tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.  Rescue the perishing – duty demands it!  Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide.  Rescue the perishing, care for the dying; Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for shining Your light into our darkness.  When we were lost in the dark of our sin, You sent the Light of truth to show us the way.  Thank You for rescuing us.  Father, sometimes we still try to hide our failings from You and from others.  Sometimes we still shun the light, preferring the darkness.  Forgive us, Father, when we are not truthful, even with ourselves.  Forgive us when fail to live and act as our Lord commands us.  Please, loving Father, help us to be better servants.  Keep reminding us that we belong to Your Son, bought and paid for by His blood.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, our heavenly Father sent You to earth on the greatest rescue mission of all, and You did not fail Him.  You rescued us from the darkness we created of our own sin.  Thank You, Jesus, for saving us, for redeeming us.  We know that there are still far too many who love the darkness and hate the light.  Please, Lord, help us reach at least a few of these people.  Please strengthen us and steel our will to carry out Your commands.  Forgive us when we hesitate out of fear.  Nudge us when we become too complacent in our own salvation.  Remind us that there are yet many to be saved.  And Lord Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.