Sharing the happiness of God; Part 2; Darkness vs. Light; John 15:11Title: Sharing the happiness of God, part 2; John 15:11.
We are reminded again and again in the scripture that we must see the frontier between the plan of God and the kosmic system and choose God’s plan while we witness to the world.
1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life —
1 John 1:2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —
1 John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
From here on out the verbs are subjunctive – the success of your new creature depends on volition; maybe you will maybe you will not.
1 John 1:4 And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
1 John 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
“darkness” – skoti,a[skotia] = darkness experienced as an enveloping sphere that has significance for existence, e.g., by hampering movement or foresight, or causing anxiety or danger.
Darkness is used figuratively as a false perception of reality that is not based on God’s core truth of any matter, and therefore it is a shadow.
Eph 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light
Eph 5:9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness [production of divine good] and righteousness [experiential = execution of the plan of God for your life] and truth [what is true light and not false]),
“truth” – avlh,qeia[aletheia] = truth as in the reality lying at the basis of an appearance, veritable essence of a matter, a thing as it really is and not what is might appear to be.
Therefore, darkness can project into the present life and bring on a great blindness. The blindness is transferred to the senses arising in subjectivity, secrecy, deception, obscurity of the truth, and lack of knowledge or insight into any problem solving.
1 John 1:4 And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
1 John 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
“God is light” – o` qeo.s fws evstin[ho theos phos estin] = the God keeps on being light or illumination. What is illumed is the truth of any matter.
And the light has come into the world and illumed everyone.
John 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
However, there were those, and still are, who desire to remain in darkness because they believe the lie that somewhere in their own darkness they will find fulfillment.
John 1:4-5 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
To remain in darkness when something is attempting to illuminate your environment one must put up an opaque object to block the light.
The opaque objects that block the light of Christ are the lies and deceptions in this world that oppose Christ.
Let’s look at an example:
Matt 12:22 Then there was brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.
Matt 12:23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and began to say, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?"
Matt 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."
Within their own darkness the Pharisees have wealth and power and approbation, which they are unwilling to forfeit in exchange for the light. This is a terrible decision which they will regret.
Matt 12:25 And knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand.
Matt 12:26 "And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?
Christ brings the truth to the matter. On the surface someone might believe what the Pharisees say is true, but when the truth brings this accusation to the light it is seen to be impossible.
There is a truth to every thought, word, person, object, and circumstance, which the light of the word of God will illume. This is where God wants His sons to live.
Matt 12:27 "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.
Matt 12:28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Light dispels darkness and reveals all sin, lies, and evil. It is the source of freedom, deliverance, and hope.
Therefore, we must know fully what that darkness is so as to avoid its schemes, which are many and very deceitful. Satan cannot create anything on his own therefore he must take from God and attempt a reproduction. The value of any reproduction is in its closeness to the original as well as its perceived value.
[illusions]
[starry night]
Someone may buy what they thought was an original Van Gogh and hang it in their house and they may adore it. However, if it is a fake they will still enjoy it and brag about it until they find out it’s a fake, and you feel like cutting your ear off. The value of anything is in how it is perceived. If I perceive the truth of the plan of God for the Church I will value it more than anything and so I will guard it as precious.
1 John 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Cosmic one: the arrogance complex Room #1: mental attitude arrogance. It includes pride, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, guilt feelings, operation over-think because all mental attitude sins are subjective and preoccupation with self.
Therefore it is this area which is the greatest area of hallucination in the time in which John wrote and in the time in which we live. Believers do not give much thought to mental attitude sins, and the fact that they are jealous or bitter or hateful or have a guilt complex, these things they do not relate to sin. They often justify them as their right because they have been maltreated, they have been unjustifiably been pushed around in some way, and therefore they wipe this out as sin. They say it really isn’t sin.
Each one of these rooms interlock to create a palace of darkness; your own haunted house if you will.
Room #2: Negative volition arrogance. Rejection of Bible doctrine by rejection of authority and the idea that you’re smart enough in your darkness.
The mental attitude sins of room #1 open a door to rejection of the truth and the assignment of your right PT. This produces slavery to circumstances. Here one is self-righteous in prosperity and full of self-pity in adversity and therefore he is very unstable and fighting with himself.
Room #3: Impulsive arrogance which is abuse of authority that one has in marriage, as a parent, pastor, policeman, politician, or in any legitimate authority in life.
Room #4: Institutional arrogance. Rejection of the legitimate authority over someone, which is first expressed through children.
All institutions have three factors: authority, policy, and a purpose or objective. There is no such thing as a legitimate authority in life that does not have these three factors. Institutional arrogance rejects the authority or the purpose or the policy, or all three, in an organization. Instead of functioning under the authority of the organization, accepting its policy and functioning in compatibility with its purpose, arrogance attacks the authority, the purpose, the policy of the organization. Room #5: Blind arrogance. This is the arrogance of self-righteousness in legalism in which there is a partial divorcement from reality in contrast to psychopathic arrogance in Room #9 which is a total divorcement from reality.
Blind arrogance is the allegation of the believer who claims unique experience in the field of emotion, self-righteousness, self-sacrifice, or as in 1 John the believer who alleges to have fellowship with God when he is involved in the cosmic system. It is divorcement from reality through self-righteoueness and therefore becomes a system of spirituality by works, maturity by works; it is a legalistic system which is related to one’s individual arrogance.
Room #6: Conspiracy arrogance. After institutional arrogance of Room #4, this is the result in conspiracy to overthrow the authority, the policy or the purpose of a given organization. |