[Sermon Archive] - [Weekly Devotional Guide]

This Week's Sermon THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT 22 March 2009 "Saved by the Light of the World" John 3:18-21 LSB Series B Vicar Gerald D. Heinecke Soli Deo Gloria!

For God so loved the World that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Lutherans love this passage for in it we see the completeness of the love that God has for us. It is a love that we know as agape, a selfless love that cares only for others. It is the only way that God loves us. He shows that love through the sacrifice of his son, not just for the elect, but for all people. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world, might be saved through him. What more could I say? What a gracious God we have.

Yet our text does not end with these verse. We have this beautiful light and darkness dichotomy that must be explored. Within it we learn while Jesus came into this world in order that we might be saved through him, not all people will be saved. We see the sadness that God has for his creation as they reject his free gift. But through this Gospel lesson, we learn how simple it is to be saved.

For many people the darkness is attractive thing. It covers over the embarrassment that sin creates. A great example is homosexuality. Maybe you have you heard the statement, "so and so came out of the closet." Why the closet? It is dark. There you are hidden from the world and it does not know of your sinful desire. Also we often see affairs occur at night because it is easier to sneak around in the dark.

Darkness covers the greed and manifest desire of sin. It allows one to keep secret the hate that sin creates. The dark allows people to continue to love their sin and pretend to be oblivious to the actual danger of their sinful acts. Why? It is just as Jesus told Nicodemus, people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. People who desire the homosexual lifestyle, people who do not want to give up living together outside of marriage, and those who have affairs don't often want to be told that what they are doing is wrong. They do not want to hear that the Word of God speaks against their sin because they do not want to be exposed by the light.

Another place where you are often left in the dark is the internet. Here individuals can come and go. You have no clue who each other is because the internet has created this dark space. It is up to you whether you want to reveal who you are. That anonymous nature is often sought out by criminals. Last month I read a story that over 90,000 sex offenders were removed from Myspace. Why are there so many of Myspace? Because here their deeds are in the dark, often unexposed as they find new ways to practice their sinful behavior.

The Bible almost always associates darkness with evil. Darkness is rarely seen in a positive light. 1 John 1 says, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Our gospel text echos this. It says, people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. What it means to walk in and love the darkness is to live in unrepentance.

The darkness quickly became the realm of Satan. This is evidenced in the creation. Day one, God said let there be light and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Nowhere does he say that the darkness was good. On day four we see him give a lesser light, that is the stars and moon, to provide some light to that darkness. God in his wisdom provides this lesser light to distill the darkness.

Darkness is certainly not good. It is the way of the unbeliever. It is the way of the unrepentant. It is where those who reject the light of Christ hide. They hide in desperation that their sins may not be revealed, but on judgment day the light of the world will illumine all humanity. He will expose the unrepentant for all their wickedness and He will bring to glory all who previously walked in the light. On the last day the Light will shine in all places. In that day those who refused to believe in the Light will endure utter darkness in the depths of hell.

What of the Christian? We often stroll into the darkness of sin. The devil constantly besieges us with sin. Fortunately, darkness is temporary. That is evidenced for us even now as we see this earth turn. The sun rose this morning and it will set but with the knowledge it will rise again. So while we stroll into the darkness, we emerge from it into the light. Our sinful nature keeps us from always being in the light. You will fail to live by the light of Christ and you may even retreat from his light in the shame of your sin.

Thanks be to God, he who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light does not reject you when you fail in your sin. He does not leave you in the dead of night where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. No, the Holy Spirit will continually call you to repent. Whenever you enter the darkness of sin he calls to you to come back into the light. He will point to your need for repentance in order that you may receive the forgiveness of sins. In order that you may come back into the light. He calls you in your baptism washing away your sins, giving you a rebirth a type of resurrection, a new life.

He points you to your need to repent and to confess your sins. This confession allows the Holy Spirit to do his great work to proceed from the Father and the Son and give forgiveness allowing you to walk in the newness of light. It allows you to bask in the light of salvation and be brought to the freedom of Christ's grace.

There is comfort for all people, even those who currently walk in darkness. It is a comfort that is continually proclaimed in evening prayer which we will use this upcoming Wednesday. We start out singing, "Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome." Darkness cannot overcome Jesus. It reminds me of a candle. What happens when you are in a dark room with no light and a candle is lit? The room starts to lose its darkness. Just one candle eliminates the dark. Author Robert Alden says, "There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle." How true that is. If darkness cannot overcome a simple candle, think about Jesus! I am the light of the world, Jesus says in John 8.

Jesus is no simple candle, but rather he is brighter than the sun. In Revelation we are given the picture of no longer needing the sun, because of the light that radiates from him. Jesus' message of being the light recalls Isaiah 42 and 49 where we learn that Jesus will be a light to the nations. He will stand before all people, lighting the way of truth for all Christians to see. His light calls people to him. The light certainly does call to you. When you see that it is the gospel you huddle around the light. You are drawn to it. It reminds me of the movie, "It's a Bug's Life." In one of the opening scenes we see a bug being drawn to a bug zapper. The light beckons the bug; it is drawn irresistibly to it. Yet, our light, instead of killing us, gives us life.

The light calls to us. It reaches forever. It is impossible to run from the light of Christ. We talk of the desire to travel at the speed of light. Why? Because a light travels more than 5.8 trillion miles in a year or 186,000 miles in a second. Since Jesus is described as the Light of the World, how many people do you think are going to outrun him? Yet, Jesus' desire isn't that we run from him, but that we see him as the light of truth. He wants us to be drawn to him through the Word that beckons to us like a lighthouse.

The beauty of this light is that it guides us, showing us what we are to do and not to do. Look to our text. Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God. We come to the Light not of our own volition but because God gave us the Light. It is in this Light that you walk. And when you walk in the Light you live by it. You do good works, not to be able to walk in the Light, but because you already walk in it. This recalls what Jesus told his disciples numerous times such as in John 9, We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. You are to constantly do the work of God, it sits in front of you face to face. From simple good works of helping your neighbor with chores around the house to helping with disaster relief as occurred even here in Terre Haute last year. You can help those who are unable to provide for their families by donating to a food pantry, just as Immanuel has been doing this Lenten season.

The Christian hates the darkness. He hates his sin. This is just like when you were a little child when you wanted your night light. Why? You hated the darkness, and that little ray of light brought comfort. It dispelled all the fear that darkness caused. It is for that reason that you are here today. You desire the Light; you desire what the Light offers. It offers safety. That is, when you repent of the darkness of sin it offers forgiveness. From the Light flows beams of forgiveness found in the means of Word and Sacrament. We bask in these beams because in them the Lord sees, and all see, that the works we do are not for our benefit but are all done to the glory of God.

Jesus is pointing Nicodemus to the light! It is in the Light of the gospel that he and you will be able to feel safe and secure. You can be secure in the knowledge that while the devil may draw you away, the beam of Light calls to you. Christ calls to you. The cross calls to you. Your sins are forgiven. The Devil cannot take that from you. Rest secure in the all-encompassing light.

You can look forward to the end when you are constantly in the Light. You can look forward to a time when there is no darkness, no fear. You know that the time is coming because of that simple Bible passage I quoted at the beginning of this sermon. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. The darkness of the devil cannot overcome Christ. Jesus is the Light and Light always beats darkness.