The Light of God - Part 1: Introduction, Paul's Testimony - Pastor Dave Jones

god bless you all we're gonna look at god's word now can we go to the gospel of john please the gospel of john chapter 1 and i'll start reading at verse 4. gospel of john chapter 1 verse 4. in him was life and that life was the light of all mankind in his life but that life was the light of all mankind we might put that the other way around in him is light and his light is the life of all mankind which is also true jesus is life and light but hearing john's gospel it puts it a certain way what i want us to look at over the next couple of months is i want us to look at the light of god what is the light of god right it's life it's so many things but when you look at the bible you'll notice that this thing called light is essential to everything god does in fact this light let's let me just give you the conclusion of this study we're going to do for a couple of months this light is god jesus is the light of the world god is light he's the father of lights in him there is no darkness no any shadow of turning there's nothing he's just light there's nothing there's nothing dark in god god cannot produce darkness do you know why light cannot produce darkness you know sometimes we have a funny view of light don't we we think when the sun comes out it produces shadows it doesn't the shadow was already there i can tell some of you are not physicists when the sun comes out because it's so bright it shines everywhere except where it's blocked and where it's blocked there's a shadow the shadow was already there before the sun came out it's just you couldn't see it because everything was in shadow and you see sometimes we blame light for things when actually it's not the light that's caused it it's the shadow and the darkness that's caused it the light just made it more visible sometimes people when sin comes up and sins exposed they say you're pointing to my sin no your sin was already there the light didn't cause your sin the light just shun and it it won't it won't accept sin so sin becomes visible but it was already there the light didn't cause it god didn't cause that god can't cause darkness god did you know god can't cause sickness because he's not sick sickness is the result of fallen humanity and when the goodness of god comes sickness seems even worse but it's not caused by god is caused by the absence of god and because we have fallen bodies our bodies decay and get sick but god's actually going to renew it all and so this thing called light what is this light now exactly one year ago um this month exactly one year ago when i was praying and fasting in 2020 god gave me um i always seek god for what he wants um me to talk about in his word because there's so much to talk about my problem is not talking about god's word my my problem is knowing which bit of god's word to talk about and he told me this was a year ago or he revealed to me through his word at that time he actually the word i got was just just abide in my light and as i did that through prayer and fasting just sitting in god's light i realized that god wanted me to share this as a teaching but i also had the vision of everyone being shut in their homes watching tvs and as we turned out last year was a bit of a weird year yeah just move your hand if you think it was a bit weird a little bit weird it was it was mega weird wasn't it and we still in that weirdness of it all god's showing us really what the world's really like and i hope we can see that and so now i want to bring that a year later i want us to look at light what is light let's just read down another five verses in him was life that life was the light of all mankind the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it can also be translated cannot understand it you'll notice whenever there's light comes there's no battle between light and darkness darkness just goes it can't fight back can it you know if you turn the light on where does that where does the dark go well it it it just isn't the minute light comes darkness isn't you know when jesus returns and you read in revelation all evil just dies it says he just speaks do you know why because when jesus speaks light comes light what is life we take it for granted in our sophisticated technological society are advanced industrial societies but you know light was the thing that the the ancients longed for they hated darkness we can flick on a switch they couldn't do that the light shines in the darkness the darkness has not overcome it jesus cannot be overcome no matter how bad this world gets it cannot negate the goodness of god it's not a fight it's not an arm wrestle between the devil and jesus you know there is no contest jesus is light he's the prince of darkness as soon as jesus appears he has to go he has to go remember satan didn't crucify jesus jesus gave himself there is no way they could have killed him unless he chose to die when the roman soldiers came to get jesus when jesus stood up you remember he walked out of the darkness in gethsemane all the soldiers fell on the floor they had no capacity to overcome who he was he voluntarily offered himself up to save you and me wasn't a battle there was a battle obviously in his carnality jesus is humanity sorry not carnality but he offered himself the darkness cannot overcome it there was a man sent from god whose name was john god sends people to testify he came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him all might believe he himself this is john john was not the light i am not giving you light not that light i'm testifying to that light i'm i'm i'm bringing his light now all believers should have that light in them but it's not from us i can't stress this enough whether you whether you think i'm a good teacher or a bad teacher a good pastor or a bad pastor john the baptist was the greatest prophet born of women jesus said but he's not the light he came only as a witness to the light verse 9 and we'll stop here because we could go on forever the true light that gives light to everyone what's coming into the world the true light the light of lights the light that gives you life the light that is life because no life can exist without light you talk to any physicist who studies the big bang and the cosmos unless there was an explosion of light even naturally and scientifically nothing can live there has to be light there can't be life on earth without light but we're not talking about natural light we're talking about the true light the true light that gives light to verse nine everyone was coming into the world so jesus comes to bring life to everyone so the problem with talking about light first problem it's such a massive thing in the bible you've really got to talk about the whole bible because as i'm sure you know the bible begins with light the first thing god says is light it it ends with light everything about this is uh god's word is light in fact god's word is is is often described as light the entrance of god's word is what brings light the entrance of thy words giveth light so everything that god is and does is light so why light because of what light is now if you talk to intelligent scientists and we've got a few in this room especially like um you know particle physicists and people of that nature they'll if they're honest they'll confess that science has a bit of a problem with light because it's sort of it it defies the imagination of how it actually works when you think about it the speed of light do you know how fast light is i mean not in like it's 183 miles per second we've got some physicists here so i'll i'm not trying to be too precise but the weird thing about light is i mean there's lots of weird things about it but i find the weirdest thing about light is that at the speed of light time stops think about that and and if you actually go faster than the speed of light which is theoretically possible but practically impossible you actually go backwards in time think about that time is tied to light so if you went at the speed of light somewhere and then came back at the speed of light you've not it's not taking any time or very small if you've seen that film is it called interstellar where this guy goes into space is it matthew mcconaughey he was into space look at y'all i'm i'm down with the kids me i know where all these films are you are looking at me i know what you're talking about yeah i've been fasting all month so i've got skinny jeans on i can only wear them in january every year and and he and he goes to sort this problem out in space don't know where it is through a wormhole and he's only gone like a few days but when he comes back 130 years has gone on earth so there's two totally diff right which time is right they're both right it's just that he's going that fast that when he comes back his daughter's over 100 years old and he's the same age and they think oh that's a bit weird no that's that's really how it works that's really how it works a photon leaving the sun right i i don't know i think it takes about eight minutes something like that for when we look at the sun we're looking at the sun as it was eight minutes ago yeah but a photon leaving the sun because it's traveling so fast it actually hits earth the same time it's set off but it's taken eight minutes no it hasn't for the photon because light doesn't really follow time in the way we think time works it follows time in the way time actually works anyway i can see i'm boring you i i like to study these things i think they're amazing because they all fit in with god's word jesus is light so when jesus says i'm coming soon if he went to if he went to heaven at the speed of light comes back at the speed of light it might only have been gone a few hours but to us it's 2000 years and we think you've been gone ages is like what you're on about i left yesterday it's just you lot are stuck on earth on your time i'm going at the speed of light so no i've actually been gone two days two thousand years as a day with the lord is a thousand years oh that's nice poetry what if it's real what if he has actually only been gone two days it's just that we don't understand time anyway i'll try to get back to something we can understand right what is it right genesis 1 verse 3 genesis chapter 1 verse 3 god begins everything every creation everything he does he begins it by giving light we've just read it there in john the true light that gives life to every man is coming into the world how does god save you by light he gives you light do you know what that light is have you experienced it do you know it does it shine do you sense it understand it feel it in your spirit your soul your mind your body do you know i know the difference between being in the light and not being in the light i know the difference you remember the blind man when jesus healed him and they were trying to get him to give a theological explanation and scientific explanation to why he could see he says one thing i know i was blind and now i see do you know how you see light no light you can't see it doesn't matter how good you are total darkness you can see nothing because you only apprehend things because light is given to you what that man was saying is i now have light you know why he had light he'd met jesus and jesus would give him light and god said let there be light and there was light god saw the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness again we'll not read it at all we'll just stick with that god said actually in the hebrew it's it's it's a lot clearer and more emphatic in hebrew he just says light be and in english we don't you know it's not a proper sentence so we say let there be light but in hebrew it's light be god just speaks light and suddenly everything in creation the scientists call this the big bang what worries the big bang it's an explosion of light no contradiction in the bible at all despite what some scientists will tell you the bible is perfectly authentic and true and reliable it just gets there before science and so when god's doing something the first thing he'll do is he will speak light into the darkness do you know how god saves you he spoke light to you you know how god brings life he speaks light you know how god brings creation he speaks light when he wanted to save the world he sent the light of the world jesus said i am the light of the world and so god begins things by speaking light when he sees it it happens yeah now our problem is because god's outside of time similar to the way the light is as well god says things before we experience it and so therefore we don't believe it because as much as we think we are faith and we're rational and logical we actually generally live by experience so in other words if we don't feel like it we don't think it's real how many people say i don't believe in god because i don't believe i don't feel he's real to me well that's because you've not believed what he said no one's real to you if you don't believe what they say if you don't believe someone exists no one's real to you because you'll not talk to them because you don't believe they're there and so god speaks something and then it happens god said so the word comes now we just read there in john's gospel jesus is the light but what did verse one of god's god's god's gospel of god's gospel it's greek for john's gospel what does verse 1 say in the beginning was the word you see god's word is light when god speaks to you if you believe it you'll start to see you'll start to understand it'll start to make sense you'll start to have life because once it's spoken then it happens and when it happens the darkness disappears and the light comes god separates the light from the darkness what does it say in john's gospel the darkness cannot overcome it how many christians think that the darks gonna get you the darkness of this world is going to conquer the church i think you'll find the church is the candlestick of light jesus says he stands amongst the candlesticks we are jesus when he said he was the light of the world he said you're the light of the world well the darkness might get us darkness cannot get light it runs away it doesn't even run it just vanishes the darkness cannot overcome light light cannot be put out not the light of the world they tried it once it didn't work he just appeared again and so god is bringing this light now god gives us lots of illustrations all the way through the bible and we have natural illustrations the sun the sun is the best illustration i suppose we've got of what god's light is like but remember this we're not talking about natural light it's not the sun god's light is not the sun it's not the light we're seeing around us their subatomic particles bouncing off things they're tangible material things no no no no have you noticed whenever they saw jesus ascended as he is they used a phrase the apostles and people who saw him do you know what they said he says his face shone brighter than the sun on the road to damascus paul says it was noon it was the it was the brightest point of the day but when jesus appeared he said he was brighter than the sun it wasn't the sun something infinitely brighter than that look at that in a moment no it's the light of god it's something supernatural supernatural does not mean mystical and not real it means something more real it means something infinitely greater than the tangible or the materialistic is something that transcends everything of nature it's super nature super natural it's not magic it's it's not something that a magician or um you know a mysticist conjures up no we're talking about something so real so amazing so beyond anything that this light is is just beyond anything we can comprehend go to hebrews 10 and verse 32 hebrews 10 and verse 32. so how do we look at this light well i'm going to spend the next two months looking at it so i'm really just giving as an introduction to make us thirsty to experience this light in a greater way you'll notice in the bible and we still use this phrase today remember those earlier days after you had received the light when you endured a great conflict full of suffering the people in the bible we when someone becomes a christian what do we say has happened to them we might say they've got saved or they've been converted or they've become a believer or lots of different phrases they've come to faith and all these things but the bible and we and people still use it uh today they've received the light that's the phrase they write to the hebrews users remember when you receive the light now he wasn't copying someone else's phrase there we sometimes use christian jargon without thinking what it means no he knew exactly everyone understood what that meant oh yeah i remember when that light came i remember when i could actually see what was going on i remember when god's word came and god's spirit came and i remember what happened what happened were you saved hopefully yes were you converted to become a christian hopefully yes did you put your faith in jesus hopefully yes were you baptized in the spirit hopefully yes but you received light light came to you where did it come from there's a phrase in the bible it says where god's challenging he says do you know the source of light scientists are still battling over that one where did he come from comes from god it's the light that gives life to every man it's the it's the light of god himself have you seen the light that's not a cliche that's a very real understanding of everyone in the bible they saw light you look at anyone who saw god in the bible there's one thing they'll say it was a light a light that i couldn't grasp brighter than the sun think about that because the sun's the brightest thing you'll ever look at unless you've looked at an atomic bomb going off but i hope no one has ever seen that look at acts chapter nine verse five look at some examples as i say we're just giving an introduction to light this morning acts chapter 9 and verse 3. so here's a man who's in so much darkness he think god wants him to kill people i mean jesus said a time will come where people will persecute you and kill you thinking they're serving god i mean how what can a religion be if it's twisted enough to think that to do god's will you have to kill people in god's image jesus rebuked even his own disciples forever thinking of harming people he says i've come to save not kill jesus comes to save people this is the uh saul who becomes the apostle paul but at this moment he's a he's a raving fanatic trying to destroy the church as he neared damascus on his journey suddenly a light from heaven that's where light comes from flashed around him he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him saul saul why do you persecute me who are you lord saul asked i am jesus whom you are persecuting he replied so who's the light jesus how do we know it says so it says so everywhere you've just said it see in john he's the light coming into the world so who does saul see he sees jesus no he doesn't he sees a light a light from heaven a light that's so bright it knocks you to the ground now light cannot knock you to the ground however bright it is it'll just go through you if it became a laser so it was so focused light of an intense beam it would just it the particles would actually go through you no it knocked him to the ground this is a this is a light that has the physical ability to put you on the floor actually this um this description is is mentioned three times in acts three times the apostle paul as he becomes tells this story on three separate occasions so that's pretty important look at the next one acts 22 verse six acts 22 verse 6. so here's the apostle paul so the one we've just read is the description of the event this is now paul testifying years later of what happened to him paul never forgot how he met jesus he didn't embellish it he just told it like it was simple truth about noon so in this is saying it was midday so it's it's a very bright day if you've been into the middle east at noon it's i mean you don't even want to be outside it's so hot and bright at noon i came near damascus suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me it's it's everywhere this light hits him suddenly i fell to the ground and i heard a voice say to me saul saul why do you persecute me who are you lord i asked i am jesus of nazareth whom you are persecuting he replied let's go down to verse 11. my comfort look at this my companions saw the light they all saw this light but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me they saw it but they didn't understand it the light is coming into the world but the darkness doesn't understand it you see some people think we've they've got an excuse for not believing in jesus no you haven't if you don't understand it it's because you're not believing and listening because the light's real your darkness isn't don't you put trust in darkness when people say they don't believe in god ask them what they do believe in and you usually find they believe in themselves that's about as stupid as you could ever get on earth because there's one thing i've realized in life and i'm not that clever but i can't trust myself i certainly can't trust my own thoughts and if there's no god thoughts don't exist anyway they're just particles bouncing off each one and each other that make no sense so you can't just logic they didn't understand it what shall i do lord he asked i asked get up the lord said go to damascus there you'll be told what you have been assigned to look at verse 11 my companions led me by the hand into damascus because the brilliance of the light had blinded him it didn't blind his companions why they didn't really look at it they just recognized something was happening when god comes to you if you really open yourself up to god the brilliance of his light will blind you i remember the first time i heard the gospel i was just sat there stunned i was like blinded when i suddenly realized who jesus was and who i was and that i was actually in rebellion against him it was like i was stunned i was shocked you know as a teenager i remember just thinking wow if that's real what am i going to do about it and everyone else around me was what's your problem you know they'd heard the gospel being preached just like me but they'd not really looked at the light you know you look at the sun you'll suddenly suddenly realize you can't see anything else burn your retina out and that's what jesus does when he comes he totally confounds all your humanistic logic he totally destroys all your all your false arguments about rebellion against god and the light comes into a person's life so what did he see they saw the light then what did paul do we heard the words remember the word and the light come together he sees the light first and then the word comes and the companions see but they don't understand it my companions saw the light but they didn't understand it darkness doesn't understand light if you find the gospel boring and you don't understand it that's because within you is darkness it's not because it's not light it's because you don't grasp it it's because you're listening to the darkness of this world it's not that god's not shining the light he is it's that we're rebelling against it the best thing that can happen when the light comes is that it has such an effect on you paul fell to the ground and was blind and for three days he didn't eat or drink because he thought what is going on is this real is jesus real i was just mocking it and fighting against it now i know it's real the light of god is so bright brighter than the sun you can't look directly at it god often said to people you can't look into my face it'll kill you you remember the seraphim in isaiah's vision he saw the seraphim that the holy beings the creatures that live in the presence of god it says they cover their faces with their wings they can't look at god and their job is to be holy they sing holy holy holy is the lord god almighty and even they can't look at god face to face john says when he saw jesus his eyes were like blazing fire they were just bright you couldn't look at him in the eyes the light that emanates from the presence of god look at the last time paul talks about this acts 26 verse 13. so this is the third testimony about this event and he says the same things about noon in other words the brightest point of the day so this is not like some eclipse that suddenly moves and the sun shines or it's very dark and the sun comes out the clouds this is not a natural phenomenon he knows it's noon he knows the sun shining he's talking to king gripper as i was on the road i saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun blazing around me and my companions we all fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me in aramaic saul saul why do you persecute me so for the third time there paul talks about this light just jump to verse 18. when paul sees the light what's his job the voice tells him to open the eyes their eyes this is the people paul's going to go preach to the gentiles turn them from darkness to light from the power of satan to god so they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place amongst those who are sanctified by faith in me once paul had seen the light what was his mission his ministry to show others the light to turn people from darkness to light that's what the preaching of this word is we're going to look at this for a couple of months but if there's anything you're going to get from this understand this god wants you out of darkness into light god wants you out of the darkness of this world out of the power of satan he wants you to receive forgiveness of sins so that you can come into god's glorious light and you can be full of light that's his plan that was his planet in genesis that is his plan at the end of time in revelation look at revelation 22 and verse 5. in heaven there's one thing we we sort of can't grasp about heaven well there's actually lots of things we can't grasp about heaven but this one thing that we have difficulty in heaven there will be no more night they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun for the lord god will give them light and they will reign for ever and ever in heaven there is no natural source of light it just comes from god and god's everywhere so light just sort of comes from everywhere so there's no shadows because everything's got light on it it's not like the sun it's not like a lamp it's not like electricity [Music] everything sin has been removed there's no spot stain wrinkle or blemish because light fills everything and god wants that light in you now that's why paul said there to turn people from sin get your sins confessed as fast as you can because when the light comes it'll reveal it remember those adverts for washing powders and they'd hold it up to the light can you remember them it's a special bluey white who wants a bluey white i want a white white not a bluey white i want blue i wear blue and they try to you wash is whiter than before so you're saying it were monkey before then so you're saying don't buy it you don't trust us in the past it weren't clean now it's cleaner than clean and they try and exaggerate the whiteness in heaven everything will be filled with light we can't grasp that but it's necessarily true god is that light now let me let me tell you something and i i don't like doing this in some ways because today people try to build their theology on um experience and emotionalism and feelings and and often pentecostals and charismatics we're the worst at that you know people will always come to say i just feel something and i don't know what to do with that it's like okay but we need to base thing on god's word okay the holy spirit can give us feelings as a testimony but you've got to base everything on god's word but i just want to share something with you about me okay and i felt to do this because paul did it three times gave his testimony um and so i'm going to give you a testimony about something that happened to me and i have shared this before years ago um in 1992 it was september the 24th 19 september 24 1992 and uh i was actually getting married that was just four or five weeks before i got married and everything in my life was great i was getting married we just bought his new house i got a good job with great promotion prospects i was loving church serving church everything was great but i just felt that there was something missing i knew what god's calling was on my life it had been confirmed i've been a christian a few years serving the lord and i just felt i just lord there's something missing i'm not i'm not as i just i don't i couldn't describe it everything was fine naturally but i just felt that inner power wasn't there that i'd read in the bible and and so i i set a season of prayer and fasting on on the 24th of september 1992 we bought our new house but we weren't living in it because we weren't married yet i was still at my mum's carolina woodstock and so i spent the day praying and fasting in that house but this has been going on for weeks me seeking god just saying god i need more i was so thirsty and hungry for god i'll try not to get emotional and so i remember it was about seven or eight o'clock at night um and i was in our old house at spring lane i was in the bedroom it was no carpet now we've not fully decorated everything and i was sat there just praying to god and i've been praying for hours and i got to a point where i just thought oh you know what i'm what am i doing am i just going mad you know should i just like stop being so zealous and and so i remember just thinking i'll just sit here and and lord i'll i'll stop asking you for things and praying out that i'll just sit here and look at you and i did that for i don't know 10 15 minutes and then what happened um a light came into the room not just a little light like i like a little a little mold but it was very bright it came and it seemed i'm not making this up this is what really happened and it like stopped above my head and i remember sitting there looking at this light and forgive me the lord forgive me i thought this was my actual response it's like so what it's like how's that going to help me you know what what am i what am i supposed to do about that i need power i need this you know i need what i've read about in the bible and as i watched the light got closer and then it came and it sort of like it was if it was like on the top of my head so i couldn't see it anymore and then it like it sort of like came into my head but and this is the weird thing about it and this is why i'm i'm a bit apprehensive about talking about this but it it wasn't like spiritual or mystical it hurt it felt as though a red-hot poker had been shoved into my head and i started to cry i started to go and shake like that hurt and then it carried on coming like through my head down into me i thought it was gonna die and i literally screamed at the top of my voice and started like shaking as though i'd like got burning here and then it got to about here come down to and then it stopped there and it was like ah and i was really i don't know what the neighbors thought we've got some right loonies moving in next door um and i literally then laid on the floor like kicking my legs going ah and then after like a few minutes it was still there but it stopped hurting but it was like a light and suddenly i just felt that my whole body was full of light but i just thought what what do i do about that do i even tell anybody what is this but since that day whenever i come into whenever i pray whenever i come into god's presence i do the same thing i kneel down in god's presence and i just look at him and i might pray and i might worship and i do those things but i just look and the light starts to shine never goes never leaves me and especially when i read god's word it shines more now i'm apprehensive about sharing this because this is not a template god works with people in different ways we've we've just read there what he did with saul you you're reading the bible everyone has different experiences of god more just so his glory that the you know the the disciples went up on a mountain and saw jesus face shining brighter than the sun that doesn't mean if you go climb ben nevis you'll see god right if you try and copy my spiritual experiences that does not mean you will have the same experience god wants to speak to us all in different ways but it will always come through his word with light always you might encounter it different it might be appropriated differently but have you seen the light because paul adam every time he was asked he says i saw that light it wasn't the sun it was brighter than that it changed my life it blinded me but then three days later it says the scales fell from saul's eyes and he could see and he became the most powerful apostle in the world why he'd seen the light have you seen the light no well you're in darkness then because it's only in darkness you can't see the light it's no good listening to other people saying they've see they've seen the light you've got to see the light the light is in his face even in the temple god said you put a lamp stand there there were no windows in the temple it should have been pitch black but there was a menorah a lamp stand that gave light to all the priests even when they prayed what did they pray they said the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine upon you the lord lift up the light of his countenance and bless you with peace you can't have peace unless god shines on you because the only peace you'll receive in this world is knowing god's with you that god's blessing you that god's looking at you he's the light of the world he's the light of life he's the light that gives life to every man we've got to get the light the world is getting darker everything in this world is getting darker truth is being obliterated everything god says is right the will says is wrong and is implementing its own satanic system of counterfeit of god and we have to just shine the light jesus says don't hide your light under a bed put it on a stand so the whole world can see it all you have to do is let the light shine it's not about our intellects and our theology it's about shining our light ephesians 5 verse 11 ephesians 5 and verse 11 have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them light always exposes darkness don't hide it it's shameful to even mention what the disobedient do in secret you know when people want to i know when someone's not close to god do you know why they try and stay out the light it's not hard to observe i know there's reasons people can't come to church we understand that there's lots of reasons i also know some people just want to be in the darkness they don't like the light they don't like the word they might say oh the preaching of god's word is boring it is to those in darkness not to those in lights they like it they're thirsty they want more light verse 13 but everything exposed by the light what light god's light god himself becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes a light when jesus speaks his light into you you become a light you're not him but his light is in you his spirit is in you and so you become a light that's why jesus said he is the light of the world and then he would turn and say you're the light of the world because my words in you and my word brings light and my spirits in you and my spirit brings light because when the holy spirit hovered above darkness at the creation and god said let there be light the holy spirit brings it and light happens and the darkness disappears because the light comes into us now more than ever in this world with people have got to start turning from darkness because god's shining and everybody's sins are being seen and people are trying to cover up their sins you can't there is no shadows when the light shines a shadow is just you trying to block where god's light is coming it'll shine right into your heart and right into your spirit you confess your sins to him he takes them away but not if you run back into the darkness to hide them we have to repent so he's his darkness can shine jesus put it the best way john chapter 3 verse 19. john chapter 3 verse 19. now to be honest just the gospel of john mentions light more than 25 times there's only 22 chapters it's all about light this is jesus speaking this is he's just said john 3 16 he he's just give the you know the most famous verse in the bible and this is what he says next this is the verdict right this is god's verdict doesn't matter what anybody else's verdict is this is what god's gonna say light has come into the world but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil i don't like coming into god's light yeah because you love darkness and you like doing evil things that's why no i disagree well it's god's verdict you can take it up with him everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed listen hopefully that's not us we're here because we've come into the light we're here today because we want to hear god's word because we want to receive the holy spirit because we want jesus hopefully that's true of everyone here we're thirsty for god verse 21 but whoever lives by the truth comes into the light not comes to church coming to church doesn't mean you've come into the light you might be sat in that chair hiding from god you might be watching this video hiding from god well i watched the video i listened to god's word that's not what god is saying god is saying will you let my light come into your life or would you rather stay in darkness whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that they may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of god god sees everything that's so obvious we know that but yet people still try and do things in secret and hide things from god this past year i've dealt with more issues of people people trying to cover up their sin if they just bring their sin into the light god will remove it covering it up just makes it worse for everybody especially for the perpetrators in 2021 god is bringing everything in the light i think that's why he's shutting us all in our houses so we can confess our sins to god and he can get it out the way so that when we come back out we're different people he's filled us with light he's poured his light into us we've got to get the light now john chapter 11 verse 9 let's just look at a couple from john they will wrap this introduction section up look at more next time jesus answered are there not 12 hours of daylight anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble for they see by this world's light it is when a person walks at night that they stumble for they have no light if you remember a few weeks ago we looked at when jesus says something he's always speaking on two levels right walking in the day sees by this world's light now he's not talking about this world's light it's when a person walks at night that they stumble for they have no light jesus says night is coming on this world a time is coming upon this world jesus said that will be the darkest period in human history often referred to as the great tribulation where the spirit of antichrist will take over the world often referred to as a one-world government where people will be forced to obey ungodly laws they'll have to hide but jesus is saying now is the time get the light now so that when darkness comes it won't affect you it won't be able to harm you because you'll be full of light and darkness cannot overcome the light but that time is coming darkness is coming terrible things on this world are going to come things worse than ever and when you know human history you know how bad that's been well jesus says things will be so bad at the end if he doesn't return no one will be saved no one will survive if that doesn't shock us into coming into the light i don't know what will we better get the light now look at the next chapter john 12 verse 35 john's always talking about jesus bringing the light then jesus told them you're going to have the light just a little while longer walk while you have the light before the darkness overtakes you whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going believe in the light while you have the light so that you may become children of light look at the next sentence when he had finished speaking jesus hid he left and hid himself that was their last chance a day is coming where if you refuse to come into the light you will hear god's warning one last time then then that's it darkness comes and if you haven't got the light you won't know what to do you won't be a child of light and if you think your theology will save you you're deluded your knowledge will never save you it didn't save adam and eve in the garden it got them cast out of the garden it didn't save judas iscariot and he knew all about the light but when he took the bread in john's gospel what does it say he went out and it was night why does it say that because judas now had rejected the light and walked into the darkness you don't ever want to walk in the darkness without the light or the darkness will get you because you won't know what to do you won't have the light put your your trust in the light so you may become a child of light it's not enough to just say i believe the light the light's going to be in you so you you know what god is saying the spirit in you knows what god's word is the spirit in you can guide you we've got to know what that is look at verse 45 same chapter just jump to verse 45. the one who looks at me seeing the one who sent me i have come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness jesus just says this over and over again what's he saying he's saying you don't have to be in darkness i've come to give you the light oh i could never retain that light all you have to do is receive it i think one of the reasons in once again using me my testimony is as an example i think i saw the light when i stopped trying to get it when i finally just sat down and said oh lord when i stopped praying and stopped trying to i went you know at that time i was memorizing the bible you think that's bonkers don't you i actually asked carolyn i made a tape of the bible i recorded myself reading the bible i thought i will memorize the bible no one else has done it in history but dave jones will do it i will fast more than anybody else i will pray i don't care how you know lukewarm everybody else is i will be the man i will be the apostle for the hour and i got to a point where i thought oh i'm not up to it and it's when i realized i wasn't up to it and i just sat and believed the light came i already believed i think i was already saved it's just i had a new revelation of god's light i have come so that no one should be in darkness jesus doesn't want anyone to be in darkness he wants everyone to come into the light and john doesn't just mention this in his epistles and we'll wrap this up this introduction of light he says it in all his writings look at first epistle of john chapter 2 and verse 9 first epistle of john chapter 2 and verse 9. anyone who claims to be in the light but has a brother us but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness and anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light and there is nothing in them to make them stumble one more verse but anyone who hates a brother or sister is in darkness and walks around in darkness they do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them it's saying the same thing over again but here it's giving us a test you see when the light comes love is released if you are still hating and full of bitterness and grumbling and and discord then it shows you're not in the light it's not difficult even if you have to deal with issues you can deal with it in love because light's in you you know and when you're in positions of authority you have to deal with sins you have to deal with issues you have to deal with bad things but you can do it with love because light is flowing you don't do it with hatred or condemnation you want people to be restored but we have we all have to go through repentance because we're walking in the light and that's what jesus told us to do to close then john chapter 8 verse 12 john chapter 8 and verse 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 jesus said this so many times even ones we've not looked at he's the light of the world whoever follows him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life listen the pharisees challenged him here you are appearing as your own witness your testimony is not valid that's the problem with giving testimonies a testament is only a testament to truth it might be true but you've to test everything to god's word that's why i'm apprehensive about giving my testimony because i don't want anyone copying me i want people to believe what god's word says and jesus said i am the light of the world the light that gives life to every man is coming into the world and if you believe in jesus you will have the light of life and you'll never walk in darkness so this is our introduction to what we're going to look at over the next couple of weeks are you in the light do you believe in jesus do you believe in god's word have you put your faith in jesus christ because we are saved by faith alone in jesus christ let's all bow our heads god's word brings light don't look at the shadows don't look at your problems don't look at your sins don't look at your defaults that the light always brings those up because when light shines shadows appear but that's fine don't look at those look at the light and he sends do you just confess them to the lord jesus takes away the darkness because the darkness cannot overcome his light it doesn't understand it it has no power against god's light and just keep your heads bowed the team are just gonna lead us in one song we're not gonna sing but just sit and let the light of god shine upon you just let that light shine and just reconfirm once again your faith in jesus as his light through his word and by his spirit shines in our lives as we put our faith in him the team are going to lead us let's worship the lord thank you team

Channel: Royston Bethel TV

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Keywords: End, Times, Pastor, Dave, Jones, Bethel, Community, Church, Royston, Barnsley, Revelation, Revelations, Biblical, Bible, Book, Study, Preach, Judgement, Fire, Wrath, God, Jesus, Christ, Devil, Satan, Anti, Antichrist, Second, Coming, Signs, Latter, Days, Trumpets, Angels, Apocalypse, Maranatha, World, Final days, Prophecy, Prediction, Wars, Repent, Israel, Scripture, Word, Heaven, Hell, Holy, Spirit, Father, Eschatology, Theology, Future, Tribulation, Christianity, Testament, Gospel, Prophetic, Literature, Royston Bethel TV

Id: kx5vqH2nef0

Length: 57min 49sec (3469 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 14 2021