Courage To Believe & Declare The Light

John 3:16-20....

But men loved darkness instead of light: they preferred to live without such knowledge of God, without such brilliant purity. The reason was fundamentally moral: their deeds were evil. They were not willing to live by the truth; they valued their pride more than their integrity, their prejudice more than contrite faith. Worse, anyone in this camp hates the light and refuses to come to it for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Let me explain this in something that I read which really stirred my spirit.....

Now, the world went haywire at the fall. There’s no question about that. It flipped off its spiritual axis when Adam sinned. And it was a two-fold problem. Adam not only fell and became cursed, but the globe went with him so that the Earth itself is cursed. There’s a cursed Earth, and in that cursed Earth lives a cursed man. And consequently, it’s very interesting that man is rather comfortable in his sinning, isn’t he? And the reason for that is simply this: you put a cursed man in a cursed system, and he’s going to get along with his system pretty well.

It’s when you apply righteousness to that cursed system that you make waves. And that’s why the truth of God, throughout all history has tended to flip man’s world. The duality of this problem, I think, is indicated in John chapter 3, where it says that men love darkness. In other words, they love their system; they get along with their system because their deeds are – what? – are evil.

It would be like taking a mathematical system and premising it all on the fact that one and one equals three and on that basis developing an entire mathematical system. And everything is great until some guy comes along and says, “No, one and one is two,” which would absolutely destroy the entire system.

When I read this, it stuck with me that we are truly not living in a world that is suited for righteousness and to believe and then deliver this message puts you on the level of outcast.

Even some preachers and churches have given in to the battle of flipping man’s world by compromising righteousness.

Really it is not compromising, it is rejecting what is truth for an easier way or more popular way.

We must understand what the preacher said in the quote: cursed people live in a cursed earth and if you apply righteousness to that then you have chaos in the world.

Like the mathematical scenario!

The world is suited for darkness, because man chose darkness! They love this darkness and will do anything to keep themselves in this darkness.

Manipulating the Truth........I think of a couple twistings of Scripture that manipulates the truth to be able to continue their agenda, which is prideful and man-centered.

This brings me to those that have stood for the Truth of Jesus Christ, even when their own church or churches in the area was pressing them to be quiet or even imprisoning them or worse putting them to death.

Their faith in the Truth and their courage is simply supernatural!

Courage equals confidence in God. That’s courage. That’s simply the definition of courage biblically!

2 Peter 3:3 “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,”

I can see this alive in our day and age.......walking after their own lusts......this is darkness, this is exactly what cursed man in a cursed world will do and this essentially is the single evil that leads to all other evils......

Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way; And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Thankfully, God has laid that iniquity on Jesus Christ, if we believe in that truth and not monkey around with that.

In a world where there are so many means of social media, podcasts, and many other means of getting views out there, it is a wonder that the Bible isn’t set aside somewhere.

I have told this before, we had someone tell us one time, that they get there Jesus from WOW 90.9.

That is not so, it might be a good place, but God’s Word ALONE is the source!

The way I view this to stand against those that create their own theory of Jesus or follow a corrupted teaching of Jesus requires courage (confidence in God)

This brings to mind an preacher from the 1600’s John Bunyan....

John Bunyan bucked the religious establishment. And John Bunyan was in England, and the religious establishment was the Church of England. And he wasn’t real happy with the Church of England.

So, he decided, “I’ll operate outside the Church of England, and I’ll just preach Jesus Christ and teach Christ.” And so, he started preaching all over everywhere.

And they said, “You better shut up, or we’ll put you in jail. You can’t preach outside the organized church.”

And John Bunyan said, in effect, “Just watch me.” And he continued to preach. So, you know what they did? They packed him up and threw him in a cell, and they left him there for 12 years.

You say, “Oh, John, now see what you did by being impetuous?”

You know what he did for 12 years in there? Bunyan’s first prison book was Profitable Meditations, followed by Christian Behavior, The Holy City, and Grace Abounding To the Chief of Sinners. From 1667 to 1672, he probably spent most of his time writing The Pilgrim’s Progress. This book, published in 1678, was for generations the work, next to the Bible, most deeply cherished in devout English-speaking homes. When the great missionary surge began, Protestants translated into various dialects first the Bible, then The Pilgrim’s Progress.

The Pilgrim’s Progress is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of the narrative aspect of Christian media.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It has been translated into more than 200 languages and never been out of print.[7][8] It appeared in Dutch in 1681, in German in 1703 and in Swedish in 1727. The first North American edition was issued in 1681.[9] It has also been cited as the first novel written in English.[10] According to literary editor Robert McCrum, "there's no book in English, apart from the Bible, to equal Bunyan's masterpiece for the range of its readership.

There are some that say that if John Bunyan would not of stood up to the church of England, his writings about the truth of the Gospel would of never been written.

It is scary sometimes when you go against those that pervert the truth. Most of the time it is the “true worshippers” going down the path God has laid out for them, that they run upon this opposition.

Take the Berean church in Acts 17:10-15.........Paul and Silas were claiming that there was another king than Caesar—Jesus. This was virtually the same charge leveled at Jesus (cf. Luke 23:2–4; John 19:12, 15). Jesus claimed a kingdom not of this world, and Paul and Silas spoke of the same. But to a Roman, the charge sounded very much like a breach of the oath of loyalty that every person in the empire was required to render to Caesar. The magistrates had to take note of this charge.

17:8–9 The magistrates showed a great deal of discretion in handling the charges. They evidently did not take the charge of sedition too seriously, but they were quite aware of the commotion and were responsible for maintaining order. They evidently decided, much like the Philippian magistrates, to preserve law and order by banning the troublemakers from the city. ........... That meant the absence of Paul and Silas. Paul may have been referring to this ban in 1 Thess 2:18 when he spoke of “Satan’s hindrance” to his returning to the city.

They left Thessalonica by night and traveled to Berea, by foot, a 3 day journey.

As much as Paul’s custom was he taught in the synagogue, being a Jew he was able to do that, more than likely winning them over with his great knowledge of the law and the prophets.

These Bereans were different, they were serious in their desire to know the truth........they wasn’t locked into their own way, the took the Word of God seriously.

They did not accept his word uncritically but did their own examination of the Scriptures to see if they really did point to the death and resurrection of the Messiah as Paul claimed (cf. 17:3). This was no cursory investigation either, no weekly Sabbath service, as at Thessalonica. They met daily to search the Scriptures. No wonder so many contemporary Bible study groups name themselves “Bereans.” The Berean Jews were a “noble” example. And many of them found out for themselves that Paul’s claims were true and so believed.

They did their own study of Scripture, to search out the truth......the importance of that is we must not approach the Word of God, with our own preconceived notions or just following someones teaching because it easy, we must search out the Scriptures and let God reveal this truth!

God will reveal His truth to those of a sincere heart!

I like Isaiah 66:2 “For all those things hath mine hand made, And all those things have been, saith the Lord: But to this man will I look, Even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, And trembleth at my word.”

This says that God will only look to someone that is denied himself and is looking for God!

Much like Jeremiah 29:13 “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

The more in life I go and the more I listen, I hear a lot of teaching that uses Jesus’ Name a lot but is far off from His Truth!

Call indoctrination, call it foolishness, call it what you want, it is a false Gospel

Paul said in Galatians 1:8-9 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

This ideal situation did not last forever. It was soon broken by Jews from Thessalonica who heard of Paul’s successes in Berea. They stirred up “the crowds” in the city against Paul, evidently not the Jews of the city but the general Gentile populace, just as they had done at Thessalonica

The Bereans had to help get Paul out of there to Athens.

This happens all of the time, it has been happening since Jesus ascended into Heaven and it takes courage (confidence in God) to maintain the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when that truth hits a cursed people that live in a cursed earth they oppose it greatly!

This is so important, that we just don’t go along to get by, we don’t just takes someone’s word for it, we search the truth of Jesus Christ out daily, we must! We must have that confidence in God’s Word and search this truth with a sincere heart, not an already made up mind!

I used to look at Scripture to prove what I already believed, instead of allowing Scripture to teach me!

Do you believe God’s Word is alive and powerful? Do you believe that if you search Him out to know Him, the Holy Spirit will reveal His truth to you through His Word?

Philippians 3:1-14.....I will close with what Paul taught about himself.....

If there was anybody that could take confidence in earthly achievements, it would of been him.......he lived the life of a Pharisee, law-follower.

He could of road the coattails of all that taught him this way, but one day he met the true Messiah, Jesus on the road to Damascus on his way to persecute Christians and once he met the true Christ, he counted everything of himself as loss, so that he may win Christ!

He met the opposition to this world system.....Righteousness! He believed and everything else he counted as loss

For the sake of Christ

In view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, he counted all things as loss

Matter of fact, because of his knowledge and faith of the True Christ, Paul had lost all things.

He counted them as rubbish that he might gain Christ!

The value of the knowledge of Christ was worth more to him that the praise of man, more than money, more than the sparing of his life!

He put no confidence in the flesh!

He wanted to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, even the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings all the way to death, in order that he might obtain the resurrection of the dead!

What was of value in Paul’s life, nothing about his own.......Jesus was his life now......he lived according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, searched it out with a poor spirit and broken heart, he counted every good thing he ever done, every teaching he ever heard or read as loss, everything in life of value was considered a trash heap for the knowledge of Jesus Christ!

One other thing, he never lived like he didn’t need to grow in Christ, but he continued to press (sprint, strive)......one writer wrote that the race toward Christ-likeness begins with a sense of honesty and dissatisfaction.......

Paul aggressively pursued to win the prize, to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ!

I said all that to say this........it takes all of what Paul declared in Philippians 3, to come to this knowledge.....what I have found is not having confidence in the flesh is the most important and that seems to be the most rejected. The flesh likes this world and desires this world and every good of this world and when righteousness comes in it upsets that apple cart, always has and always will.

The decision for us is do we like our lives or do we desire God’s! This is the truth of the matter! We will never see the truth of Jesus while holding onto some earthly hopes and dreams! Truth is God is totally separate from the world and the flesh!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ separates us from the darkness, it is the true light............the flesh will try and pervert that truth.....The Bereans were honest in their search, with honest hearts, until opposition came.......this happens

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”