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Fourth Sunday of Lent -March 02, 2008 (Preached at by Pastor Dennis R. King) "Pulled From the Darkness!" (John 9:1-41) The Grace and Mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you today and
always. Amen! We stop and think about the Gospel lesson for this morning and we are
amazed at the grace that we see. This grace is the grace that God shares with
each of us in Jesus Christ this day. We are thankful for that grace. We would
pray that He would continue to shower that grace upon us that each of us
might be pulled out of our blindness or out of the darkness into His light
and His presence in our lives. You can look to philosophers. Philosophers will tell you that there is
something about light that affects us a great deal. We discover that in the
darkness sin abounds, but in the light sin begins to break apart. It begins
to deteriorate. We can look at examples around us. For instance, where there
are high areas of crime, we discover that if we put up light poles the amount
of crime in that area goes down considerably. We also discover that in the
political arena some dishonesty can go on, unless there is some light put on
that dishonesty, and it is revealed. Then we discover that the light seems to
cast out that dishonesty. We also discover that we can struggle in our own darkness with our own
doubts and fears. However, if someone comes along and enlightens us, we are
pulled from the darkness. No wonder, the Bible talks so much about light and
Jesus being the light of the world. God sheds His light upon the world that
the darkness might be broken up. We are literally pulled from the darkness
that we might be transformed like the blind man. The blind man in our text
was pulled from a world of darkness into a world of light. Christ pulls us
out of the darkness into the light. If you stop and really think about the people that Jesus has contact
with in the Scripture and for which He takes a lot of criticism, you discover
that Jesus has contact with people who are living in the darkness or have
some kind of darkness in their lives. Remember aged Simeon when Jesus was
brought to the temple to be dedicated. He had lived a long life, but it was
unfulfilled. There was some darkness there and Simeon was even pulled out of
the darkness and into the light as this Christ child was brought to the
temple. Or look at Martha whose life was synonymous with busyness, but it
lacked meaning. Jesus came into her life to pull her into a life that had
meaning. Or what about the thief on the cross who was dying the death he
deserved in this world in which he lived. Christ Jesus pulled him out of the
darkness even into Our lives are dramatically changed because of His presence, His light
in our midst. His life really calls us to live a different kind of life. His
life calls us to live in the light. His life helps us to overpower the
darkness. How often do we spin our wheels trying to live just right? But God
sends Jesus Christ to us that we might live in His light and according to His
Will. God does not want us to go barking up the wrong tree. He has sent Jesus
as our light and guide that we might live in His Commandments, and follow in
His Son's footsteps. Christ Jesus asks us to share His light so that the
darkness of others might be exposed as well. He makes our whole world a
brighter place in which to live. The earthly life of Jesus brought the world
out of its darkness into a new light. So we have the opportunity to be pulled
from the darkness into the light. The Apostle Paul reminds us that the cross was necessary and it was
through the cross that we were made aware of our spiritual darkness. There is
a big contrast between our spiritual darkness and the light of Christ. The
light of Christ shines brilliantly upon the cross for you and for me. Truly
the cross calls us to remember our sins and to bring our sins into the very
light of God's presence. There they can be broken apart and literally torn
from us. Jesus pulls you and me from the darkness. People do not like to hear about sins. An article written not so very
long ago commented that the word "sin" is not used very much from
the pulpit anymore. I think personally that is tragic. We need to remember
our sins and we need to remember that it is Christ Jesus who pulls us away
from those sins. There is in the mountains a stream that flows. From time to time that
stream gets some viruses in it that contaminates it. Scientists have used all
kinds of chemicals, and means to filter that water and to purify it. However,
they have discovered that the chemicals put in that water will not kill that
particular virus. The filters that they have tried to use will not filter out
that particular virus. However the sun, when it shines bright will destroy
the virus and purify the water. Literally as Jesus Christ shines brightly in
our lives, He destroys the sin even within us pulling us from the darkness
into His light and presence. Jesus does something that nothing or no one else
can do. He literally can yank us out of the darkness into the very light of
His presence. We are by nature born into a dark world. But Christ pulls us out of
that world so that we might praise God. He pulls us out of the darkness so
that we might be baptized, washed, sanctified, justified through His blood. He
pulls us from the darkness of our own blindness so that we might see the
Truth, the Life, the Grace, the Mercy, and the Forgiveness that God offers to
us. May His light shine in and through us! The waters of a thousand God in His righteousness has sent Jesus Christ to change us from
darkness into His light. He has come to awaken us from sleep that we might
arise from death and live. Jesus wants us to see the purpose, the intent, and
the meaning that God has for us. The power of darkness wants to govern our lives and in the darkness we have
difficulty finding our way. Anyone who looks to the stars for navigational
purposes knows exactly what I mean. If the night is overcast or foggy the
darkness seems even darker and it is so easy to get lost in that darkness.
But when the night is clear and the stars are bright, one can find his way
very easily. So it is that Jesus would pull us out of the darkness into His
marvelous light. He purifies us, forgives us and makes us whole. We are often as Christian people deceived. In fact we are deceived by
the world in which we live. There are those who would lie to us. There are
those who would mislead us. There are those that would say there is another
way in which we should live our lives. There are even those who would try to
convince us that we need to be something that we are not to make profits off
of us. The world would just as soon take advantage of us, and even we may
find ourselves at times struggling with our sin as we have taken advantage of
others. We would ask that Christ Jesus would pull us from that darkness into
the light. We would ask that He help us to share that light with others that
our world might be a little brighter. So that where that brightness is the
darkness is falling apart. Let no one deceive you with
empty words for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are
disobedient. It is that very darkness that Jesus has come to pull us out of.
Just like the blind man, who was blind from birth, who lived in darkness,
Jesus healed him that he might be brought into the light that he might see.
And not only see with his eyes but see with his heart. It is important for
one to see this one who is the Christ, the light of the world. It is
important to be in that light. So that when one is questioned he can say,
like the blind man, by faith. "All that I know is that I was blind and
now, I see." Once we were people who lived in darkness. Christ Jesus has pulled us
from that darkness. Now may we say, "Once we lived in darkness, but now
we live in the light, the light of Christ." May His mercy! His
forgiveness! His presence! His love! His Kingdom! His light! --- so shine through us that others are pulled from the
darkness. Amen! |