The Light Reveals Us – Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When light comes, the darkness scatters. We may think darkness covers our sins, but in the light of God, nothing can be hidden. That's why many hate the Christ of Christmas, today coming clean before God and allowing Him to reign supreme.

Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, today we turn to part two in your series on The Light Has Come, in which the light reveals us. Yet many think they can somehow hide their sins from a holy God. You know Dave, when you were speaking, what came to mind is Psalm 139, where the psalmist is asking this question, how can I get away from God? He says, if I take the wings of the morning, that means if I travel at the speed of light, you are there. And he goes on and gives various ways that people have tried to hide from God.

But then he says this, if I say the darkness shall cover me, meaning this, we may hide things in darkness, but God sees it with utmost clarity. We here at Running to Win are deeply committed to getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible. Perhaps you've heard me say this before, but we are in 50 different countries in seven different languages. Why? Because of people just like you. Many of you have been blessed as a result of this ministry, but you've never connected with us.

You've never made an investment. Well, if you're blessed, it's because others have made an investment in this ministry. Would you pray about helping us? Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. By the way, when you're there, you can also click on the endurance partner button, which explains what an endurance partner is. It's someone who stands with us with their prayers and their gifts regularly. Or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Of course, when we think of Christmas, we think of giving, and we want to thank you in advance for helping us share the gift of Jesus Christ with the world. Do you remember back in 2012 when on the news there was that story about a TSA agent who stole a computer? And the news media, in order to catch him, set up a sting.

It was a trap. They took various computers and put it through at the airport screening. And on those computers there was a tracking device, and there also was a buzzer. So they tracked it to this man who was 30 miles from the Orlando airport.

And they entered his house and they said, you know, we're looking for a computer that was taken from the airport. Did you take it? Oh, no, no. You're sure you don't have it?

Oh, no, no. Never say anything. And they said, well, why don't you check your house again? We're going to set off a buzzer so you can find it very easily.

So the thing buzzes. He shows up at the door, gives them the iPad, and they said, well, you said that you didn't take this from the airport. He said, my wife, he said she took it from somewhere. I don't know where she got it, but she said that she did it.

Genesis 3 all over again. First of all, you deny it as long as you possibly can. And when you can deny it no longer, you blame someone else.

And in context, what you do is you begin to minimize it and say, well, it wasn't really that big a deal. Human nature. We think, for example, of the police video.

The police said one thing in their reports and then when the video was seen, it was quite different, actually. Have you ever thought of the number of lies, of thefts, of deceits, of mates who are unfaithful to one another, all of which is done that nobody ever knows about? It is never reported. It is never referred to.

It just lies in darkness. You may be wondering what the thesis of my message is today. I'll give it to you upfront.

Truth hurts, but lies hurt even more. Would you join me today in the third chapter of the book of John, John chapter three, and that's the book of John, which has 21 chapters. The passage I'm going to be looking at is actually on page 888. I think that that corresponds to the Bible that might be before you or open your iPad.

Hope that it's yours or your telephone and follow along with me. A man by the name of Nicodemus comes to Jesus and he comes at night, very significant, and he comes at night because he doesn't want to be shamed and he does not want to know that the Jews know that he is coming because Jesus was despised and so he was filled with fear. Fear and shame made him come in the dark. Jesus didn't chide him for that. Jesus didn't say, hey, come to me at broad daylight when everybody sees you. It's all right to investigate Jesus in the dark. Now, eventually he is going to come to the light, by the way, but that'll take a little while and so Jesus dialogues with him, just like some of you may be investigating Christianity and you are perhaps even anonymous. You don't want to know anybody or anybody to know the fact that you're investigating the possibility of what Jesus is all about and that's fine, but what Jesus tells them is some incredible truth. It is an unbelievable discourse in John's Gospel.

For example, it leads us to John 3 16, the passage of scripture that most assuredly is known to all of us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That was said to Nicodemus that night.

I'm sure glad that Nicodemus did come to Jesus. And by the way, speaking about the love of God, we must understand something and that is that it has nothing to do with our ability to deserve it, to earn it. It is simply God's sovereign choice to love independently of our performance or our worthiness. God says, why did I choose Israel?

Is it because you were bigger than all the other tribes and all the other countries? Now, he said, is it because you are more loving? No, you're a stiff neck people, but I simply chose to love you, period. And that's the love that God has for us. And once we get past John 3 16, you'll notice that it is not Jesus who came into the world to condemn the world. Now, eventually he is going to judge the world, but for the time being, he is not coming in order to condemn the world at that particular point.

Why? Because the world was condemned already. That's what the text says. And this is the fact that whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he did not believe in the name of the only son of God. So Jesus came to a world of condemnation. We were already condemned because of our sin. So it certainly wasn't because we were lovable that he loved us.

No. And we must keep that in mind as we think about the love of God. Now, having said that, what I want us to do is to look what Jesus Christ has to say about light, because after all, this is a series of messages entitled The Light Has Come. You'll notice in verse 19, and this is the judgment. This is the verdict that light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come into the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But 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. Let's look at this passage now very particularly.

First of all, we see it there in verse 19. Light has come into the world. Let's count the number of words. Light has come into the world.

Six words. And that's a summary of what Christmas is all about. Light has come. That means, of course, truth has come into the world.

Jesus is the truth. It means that purity has come into the world. It means that there's a way out of the darkness because he's the way, the truth, and the life. A young artist was painting a picture and it was very dark. And perhaps you've seen this back in the days when people would do chalk talks or chalk paintings. They would paint very, very dark clouds. And then suddenly with a stroke, they paint light and a road.

One artist said to a young man, never paint a dark picture unless there's a road leading out. Jesus is the way to hope and to help. So the light has come. We no longer have to work in darkness and light tests us because the text says that it is both loved and hated. Let's talk for a moment about the fact that it says that people love the darkness and that's you and me. Today as I speak, I'm not pointing my finger at anyone particularly because we're all part of the folks who love darkness rather than light. And you'll notice it says those who do wicked things, and now it becomes a little stronger, they actually hate the light. Now you may argue with me. You may say, I don't hate the light.

I don't know Christ as savior. I don't receive him, but I love the light. I'd rather have peace than violence. I'd rather have justice than injustice. I'd rather have love than hate.

I get that. But what Jesus does is his light shines farther all the way to the Gentiles, by the way, it says in the Old Testament that he is also a light to the Gentiles. It shines farther, it shines brighter, and it shines deeper into our souls. Jesus asks the question, why is there any injustice? Why is there this lack of peace?

Why is there hate instead of love? And so he begins to probe the human heart and what he finds is not encouraging, though eventually in this message there's going to be massive amounts of grace. But for now, let's look into the human heart. You think, for example, of Jesus as he stands there and gives the sermon on the mount. And what he says is that you think that you have to go out and kill somebody to be a murderer, but if you hate your brother, you're already a murderer. And you think that you have to go out and commit an act of adultery.

Listen, if you lust for a woman within your heart, you've already committed adultery. And if you give your gift in church in such a way that you want to be seen and admired, you're actually a hypocrite because all that you're doing is managing your image. And so what Jesus did is he probed into the human heart in such a way and we don't like that kind of light, do we? Now, if you talk about people who actually walk in darkness and we oftentimes, all of us have retreated into the darkness because darkness can be a safe place. It can be a place sometimes where we get out of a jam like the boys sit in Sunday school. A lie is an abomination onto the Lord, but a very present help in time of trouble. Darkness sometimes is comforting to us. But if you persist in your darkness, what will happen is you will not even recognize it as darkness anymore.

You'll think that you're walking in the light. You know, Rebecca and I have a friend who works in Bloomingdale's who sends us beautiful perfume and oftentimes sends me some cologne with fancy names that I can't pronounce. I was looking at one this morning.

It seemed to be Dulles Cabana, probably flown in from Paris. Now I'm a farm boy. That's at least where I grew up. And some of you who were brought up in the city, you never really smelled a skunk in your life.

I'm serious. You, you've driven along the road and you know, it smelled and you said, oh, that's a skunk, but you know, you're beyond it. Listen, I know what it's like to be close to a skunk that considers me to be an enemy.

Now it is so debilitating. You almost choke. Now, do you think that the skunk is having a problem with what he's emitting? I don't think so.

He says, I'm just opening my bottle of Dulles Cabana. Have you met people like that? You see, what happens is we do not notice our own darkness, but we notice the darkness of others with clarity and with deep conviction. How can you tell if someone's walking in darkness? First of all, they have a very critical spirit because the reason for that you see is if they can cut other people down, if they can show other people's faults, what they're really saying is this person is more at fault than I am.

I would never do that. It's covering their darkness and making up for their own emptiness. And then they become very defensive. You know, they're the kind of people, boy, you'd better think through how you're going to approach them because they will dig in their heels.

They will defend themselves until the facts are so strong that they may have to give in. But meanwhile, they protect their darkness. You know, why is it that we do that? Yesterday at the church here, we had a marvelous lecture by a man by the name of Jerry Root, who's an expert in CS Lewis and his topic was humility. Well, you know, I sometimes jokingly say I have a great message on humility.

Problem is I haven't found a crowd big enough to preach it to. But what he said is this, that at root, the reason that we like our darkness and want to defend it is because we do not believe that we are radically loved and radically known at the same time. He said, if we really believe that he who knows us fully loves us completely, then it wouldn't really matter. You know, we wouldn't be threatened when our darkness is exposed because we'd say, here I am.

If I'm loved by God and you think of John 17, where Jesus is speaking about the elect and he says regarding them, thou has loved them as thou has loved me and thou lovest me from before the foundation of the world. If that could actually sink into our souls, then we would not be threatened when our darkness is exposed. And so Jesus said, people love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

And he goes on to say that those who do wicked things actually hate the light. You parents who sent a kid to college, you sent that child to university and the child writes back and says, mom and dad, I'm no longer going to church, no longer going to Bible studies because I'm an atheist now. I don't believe in God.

Well, isn't that interesting? And then the child will probably go on to give you reasons why I can't believe in the miracles. The Bible has contradictions. It is an ancient book that has all of its roots in culture that doesn't apply today and on and on it goes. Isn't it interesting that Jesus gives an entirely different explanation for why they have left the light and that is because their deeds are evil. It is a moral explanation. I don't at all discount the intellectual problems that some people have with Christianity because there are problems and working through that is something that we as a church are committed to help you to do.

But at the same time at root, oftentimes it is a moral issue. We hate the light. That's why Huxley made the statement.

The reason that we accepted Darwinism with practically no proof is, and I'm quoting now, we did not want a God to interfere with our sexual mores. So Jesus said that's the reason that people love darkness rather than light. Now let's go on for a moment and notice that the positive aspect is this. There are people who really are the light lovers. Verse 21, but 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.

Please don't read this and think, well, this is where all the goody saints are. They are always under the light because all of their deeds are so wonderful. You see the way in which you get into verse 21 is what you do is you have to leave the darkness and you have to come into the light. And when you come into the light, there's cleansing, there's forgiveness, there's the acknowledgement of darkness. There's the recognition that within us there may be certain closets that we have closed. And sometimes that darkness is not because of what we have done, but because of what others have done to us. Either way, Jesus is saying, become a light lover. And if you do be exposed in my presence for all that you are, and I will give you light. What a gift that God has given to us at Christmas time. Now, how do we nail all of this down for us?

First of all, could I say is a couple of bottom lines here. First of all, we have to understand that Jesus experienced darkness so that we could walk in light. He experienced darkness.

You know, the Bible says that when Jesus was crucified and when he cried out and said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? It says that darkness came across the whole earth. And there are several reasons for that darkness. God says in effect what is happening here.

No man can understand. No man can see as our sin was placed on Jesus and he paid our debt. But Jesus is saying, because I experienced darkness and fellowship with the Father was even broken, not ontologically, but in terms of the fellowship with the Father, you now can be exposed to the light. You don't have to walk in darkness. And I am willing to go into your life in the various closets of your existence, the things that you have been hiding, the cisterns that have been closed and walled off.

Just know that when you walk in there, I come with you. And in the process, your darkness will disappear. My friend, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, if you have never come to the light, would you do that right now? Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He came to give light.

He came to forgive us so that we can walk in light. I'm holding in my hands a letter from a listener in East Africa. You say, well, why East Africa? It's because running to win has a ministry there. This person says, every day I look forward to my daily dosage of God's word. Running to win has greatly inspired and bless me. He says, my understanding of the word of God and my spiritual walk has never been the same since I started following your teaching. Now, the reason that running to win is around the world in so many different countries is because of people just like you.

Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. Of course, the amount that you give is entirely your decision. But you need more info. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy. As I give you this contact info, you can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. And when you're there, you click on the endurance partner button, or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Now, this is so critical. I'm going to be giving you that contact info again, but I want to thank you in advance for helping us. Christmas is a time when we think of the greatest gift given to us, and it's also a time for us to give. From my heart to yours, thank you so much for helping us financially. Thank you for your prayers.

Because of people just like you, we're making a difference around the world. Go to rtwoffer.com, click on the endurance partner button, or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago to help you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. Next time, we learn more about how the light reveals us, teaching taken from John Chapter 3. Plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.