After Darkness, Light

Light of the World: Advent 2022  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Christ's death and the brightness of the resurrection

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Isaiah 9:2–7 ESV
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Psalm 80:14–19 ESV
Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face! But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name! Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
1 John 1:5–10 ESV
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. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Luke 1:76–79 ESV
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Malachi 4:1–6 ESV
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
1 John 2:7–11 ESV
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Thessalonians 5:5–11 ESV
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Colossians 1:9–14 ESV
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 5:7–14 ESV
Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Acts 26:15–18 ESV
And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
John 12:44–47 ESV
And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
John 8:10–12 ESV
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Commentary

THERE are two parts of the spiritual life—things to be done, and things to be avoided; in both the children of light must show their fidelity to God, in doing good and avoiding evil.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

The work of the night goes on horribly, there is no pause to it; therefore, let us who are of the day work, too.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

The text speaks of the works of darkness, and it calls them, “unfruitful.” So they are; for sin is sterile. It produces its like, and multiplies itself; but as for any fruit that is good, any fruit that can elevate and benefit men, any fruit which God can accept, and which you and I ought to desire, sin is barren as the desert sand. Nothing good can come of it. Every now and then, we hear it said, “Well, you know, on this occasion, we must set aside the higher laws of equity, because just now it is imperatively necessary that such and such a policy should be pursued.”

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

And first, dear friends, we have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness by personally committing the sins so described.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

Sometimes, men get to be partakers of others’ sins by provoking them

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

I feel very jealous of myself when I have to give advice; and that experience often falls to my lot. A person will plead, “Well, if I do right in such a case as this, I shall remain in poverty, or I shall lose my situation. If I follow out my conscientious convictions to the full, who is to provide for me?” And, you know, the temptation is to feel, “Well, now, really we must not be too severe in our judgment upon this poor soul; can we not agree with the evident wish of the person asking the advice, moderate the law of God, or in some way make a loophole, and say, ‘Well, it will not be right; but still, you see, under the circumstances, ——.’ ” Now, I never dare do that, because, if wrong be done, and I have counselled it, I shall be a partaker in the wrong.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

Our Lord commands us to clear ourselves of all conniving at sin,—not with harshness, not with denunciation, and in an unkind spirit,—but with a mild, gentle, but still powerful, honest rebuke. We must say, especially if we are parents, or masters, or persons having much influence with others, “Oh, do not this abominable thing! I cannot have any share in this evil, even by silently tolerating it. How I wish that you would give it up! I entreat you, come out of this Sodom; escape for your lives!

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

We must endeavour to bring back the strictness of the Puritan times, and somewhat more. Everybody is so liberal and takes such latitude, nowadays, that in some quarters it is impossible to tell which is the church and which is the world. I have even heard some ministers propose that there should be no church distinct from the congregation, but that everybody should be a church-member, without the slightest examination, or even a profession of conversion. It is supposed that people are now so generally good that we may take them indiscriminately, and that they will make a church quite good enough for the Lord Jesus Christ! Ah, me! that is not according to Christ’s mind, and that is not Christ’s teaching. God’s call to this age, as to all that went before, is, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLI The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness (No. 2,401)

But we are also to try to let the sinners themselves see the sinfulness of their sin, to let the light in upon the sin, and, by God’s grace, so to reprove them as to convict them of sin, to make them feel, from the testimony of God’s people, that sin is an evil and a bitter thing, and that their course of conduct is that evil thing. The light has come into the world on purpose that the darkness may know that it is darkness, and that God’s light may overcome and disperse it. We are not to quench our light, and mingle with others who are in the dark; but to unveil our lamps, and let the light that is in them so shine that the darkness shall thereby be reproved.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXXVI Immanuel—The Light of Life (Nos. 2,163–4)

If the Lord had meant to destroy us, he would not have assumed our nature. If he had not been moved with mighty love to a guilty race, he would never have taken upon himself their flesh and blood. It is a miracle of miracles that the Infinite should become an infant; that he who is pure spirit, and filleth all things, should be wrapped in swaddling bands, and cradled in a manger.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXXVI Immanuel—The Light of Life (Nos. 2,163–4)

The Father gave you to Jesus, and Jesus himself bought you with his blood; and, though you knew it not, he had the title-deeds of you, and would not lose his inheritance. Herein lay your hope when all other hope was gone. Herein is your hope now. If you belong to Jesus, he will have you. If he bought you with his blood, he will not shed that blood in vain. If on the cross he bore your sin, he will not suffer you to bear it, and so to make void his sacrifice. If you belong to him he will deliver you, even as David snatched the lamb of his flock from the jaw of the lion and the paw of the bear. O sinner, this is the great hope we have for you: if you were given of old to Jesus he will rescue you from the hand of the enemy.

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