Is Given the Light
My parents once relied heavily on my brothers and me for manual labor. One night after dark, Dad sent Aaron to the car to carry in some Coke. Aaron reached into the car, in the dark, to get a case of Coke. And he came out with a snake. Somehow, a snake managed to get in the car, but Aaron couldn’t see it in the darkness.
You ever get in danger because of the dark? Ever step in a hole and twist your ankle? Ever get lost on a trail? Ever hit your shins on furniture? The batteries ever go dead in the flashlight?
Light illuminates the snake in the car or the hole in the yard or the furniture at shin level. Yet, Scripture provides a far more important light: “God’s word is light.”
Body
God had different authors refer to the word as light:
- “The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Ps 19:8).
- “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105).
- “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (Ps 119:130).
- “We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Pet 1:19).
What does the word as light imply?
One: Gloom
Scripture provides light because of all the Gloom in this world. Scripture reminds us that sin runs rampant in the world. “There is no one who does not sin” (1 Ki 8:46). “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin’?” (Prov 20:9).
Everyone has sinned; therefore you have sinned. And sin exacts a heavy price. “Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished” (Prov 11:21). “The gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever” for the wicked” (Jude 13).
Two: Guidance
Your life also needs Guidance. You only know the right way to take because of the illumination of Scripture. “I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer 10:23). Scripture warns what happens when you fail to obey; Paul wrote about the plague which befell the Israelites because of their sins, and he said, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor 10:11).
Without Scripture, man would have no Guidance in this dark world. Jesus said that the vast majority of people follow that wide path which leads to eternal death (Matt 7:13); following the majority won’t work. Jeremiah said following your own path won’t work (Jer 10:32). Only God’s word offers proper Guidance.
Three: God
God’s Word is light, for God himself is light. “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn 1:5). God, the light, inspired his word: “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Tim 3:16). Because God is light, the word he breathed out is infused with light.
Application
“God’s word is light.” What application should we make?
One: Gloom
Because the word of God enlightens the Gloom of sin, shine that light on your sin. “The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9). If you are unrighteous, you shall not be saved; if you want to be saved, you had better use Scripture to root out your own Gloom.
Jeremiah surveyed a Jerusalem destroyed by the people’s sins and wrote, “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!” (Lam 3:40). “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor 13:5). Lay Scripture open and lay your life open. How well does your life conform to Scripture?
Two: Guidance
You need the Guidance of Scripture to test yourself. Scripture deters sin. “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Ps 119:11). When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, the Lord consistently responded by saying, “It is written” (Matt 4:1-11). Speaking of the Old Testament, Paul wrote, “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin” (Rom 7:7).
Study Scripture regularly to understand sin. Get in the light of Scripture to know the consequences of sin. Attend Bible study consistently so that you know how to avoid sin. If you fail to study the word to know sin and how to avoid sin, you will go to hell. And there is no reason for that to happen when you have the Bible right in front of you.
Three: God
You must know God, the light. Don’t know about God; know God. If you can quote Scripture and tell a million facts about God but do not know him intimately, you have terribly missed the mark.
Just as you need to get in the Book to know sin, get in the Book to know God. Also, spend spend time alone with God—get on your knees and commune with him. Let him reveal his character to you through his word, and reveal your heart to him in prayer. How much time do you genuinely spend studying the word? How much time do you genuinely spend in prayer?
Do you need our prayers this morning as we stand and sing?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.