After darkness....comes Light! x Through a short biography of John Calvin in Geneva, John Piper exhorts pastors not to forget the primacy of preaching in every age. Filmed on location in Geneva, Switzerland The Light -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gen 1:3 (NIV) And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Gen 3:8 (NIV) Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Dallas Willard states: "Almost all evil deeds and intents are begun with the thought that they can be hidden by deceit." The kingdom of evil is built on lies, secrets, and darkness. It requires the absence of light to survive. Thus, for all it's fearsome appearance, the kingdom of evil is structurally very weak. Turn on the light, and the cockroaches scramble to go under the refrigerator. An example of this is the Catholic pedophilia scandal. All the evil committed could have only occurred by the collusion of dozens of participants "keeping the secret". One crack in the system brought the whole thing into the light. Pull one string, and the whole unravels. Sin Grows In The Dark Job 24:13,15,17 (NIV) "There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths... The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, 'No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face concealed... For all of them, deep darkness is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness." Isa 29:15-16 (NIV) Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!... Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing?" Isa 28:15 (NIV) You boast, "... for we have made a lie our refuge, and falsehood our hiding place." Ps 139:7,11-12 (NIV) Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me..." the night will shine like day.... Jer 23:24 (NIV) "Can anyone hide in the secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the Lord. "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" declares the Lord. Jer 16:17 (NIV) "My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes." Light As Judgment The same light that makes plants grow hardens clay. The light is the same, but the response is completely different. John 3:19-21 (Phi) "This is the judgment: that light has entered the world, and men have preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. Everybody who does wrong hates the light and keeps away from it, for fear his deeds may be exposed. But everybody who is living by the truth will come to the light to make it plain that all he has done has been done through God." Secrets Are Temporary, You Can Count On The Light Mat 10:26-27 (NIV) "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops." Mark 4:22 (Jer) "For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light." The First Work Of The Holy Spirit John 16:7b-9,12-13a (Phi) "For if I did not go away, the divine Helper would not come to you. But if I go, then I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convince the world of the meaning of sin, of true goodness, and of judgment. He will expose their sin because they do not believe in me."... "I have much more to tell you but you cannot bear it now. Yet, when that one I have spoken of comes--the Spirit of truth--he will guide you into everything that is true." Ps 69:5 (NIV) You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you. James 5:16 (Phi) You should get in the habit of admitting your sins to each other and praying for each other, so that you may be healed.... The temptation is rather to reject the pain of conscience, the pain of the realization of our own sinfulness and imperfection. It seems better to just endure the pain of sin and avoid the light, the light of goodness that shows us up, the light of scrutiny that exposes us, the light of truth that penetrates our deception. So, we confess our sins to God in secret and ask for His forgiveness. And He will forgive us, but we will likely go out and do the same again in the vicious cycle of sin. For, in fact, we need more than forgiveness; we need healing. God's word is very clear as to what is needed if we wish to really break free. James 5:16 (NAS) Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. James 5:16b (Wey) ... so that you may be cured.

• published: 28 Sep 2013
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