Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 1 Study # 5
September 25, 2022
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: In spite of "appearances", "the darkness" is a defeated adversary.
Introduction: As we have considered John's particular approach to his record of Jesus in His identity and works, we have seen that "The Word" is both "Message" and "Messenger" and He is fixed upon one goal for those who "believe" Him: Eternal Life.
"Eternal Life" is both a presently "hinted at" objective, and a future, "finally experienced" reality, in terms beyond our current abilities to "grasp".
This morning we are going to look into one of the most critical "perspective" issues that men ever face in their day-to-day experiences: the actual defeat of "the darkness". We are living in a "constructed" and "deluding" set of "appearances" in our present condition because of two realities that stand behind the deluding, carefully crafted, "appearances".
- I. The Two Realities Of Our Experiences.
- A. The Continuing Reality of "The Light of Life".
- 1. John, having revealed the reality that "The Word" is "Elohim, The Creator", goes on to tell us that "Life" is "in" this Creator and the experience of it is tied to "What" He has said against a backdrop of the "creation's" need for greater insight than it has because of its essential identity as "creation".
- 2. Men, in the arrogance of their ignorance, invariably assume that they know more than they do.
- 3. But, God, in the greatness of His "Grace", has chosen to bring men to "Life" in spite of their "arrogance of ignorance".
- 4. And God's "method" of bringing men into "Life" is to incrementally address their ignorance by being "The Word" and expressing that being in words.
- 5. And, in the text before us today is John's triumphant declaration that "the Light of His 'Life-through-words" is still shining into the "apparently massive darkness".
- B. The Continuing Reality of "the darkness of Death".
- 1. John's chosen backdrop for his triumphant declaration that "The Light Is Shining" is the yet present, and seemingly overwhelming, "darkness".
- 2. John does not deny that great darkness exists (The Light is shining in the darkness") as an apparently more predominant force than "Light".
- 3. John does not deny that "the darkness" is an extremely dangerous reality because of the presence of extremely injurious presences hidden in that "darkness".
- 4. But, John does deny that "the darkness" has the power of "final determination": he wrote, "the darkness absolutely failed in its ultimate agenda" and he wrote that "the darkness" failed a very long time ago (from our perspective).
- II. The Reason For The Competing Realities.
- A. Man, as a creature, is almost infinitely ignorant.
- 1. At his worst, he is as like a "brute beast" without reasoning abilities (2 Peter 2:12 and Jude 10).
- 2. And, at his best, he is like a "new born baby" whose reasoning abilities only exist in a very small "seed" form (Luke 10:21; 1 Peter 2:2 and 1 Corinthians 3:1).
- B. Man, as a creature, has been saddled with the delusions of an adversary greater than himself (2 Peter 2:11).
- C. Man, as God's chosen "heirs of Life", has an enormous need for "Truth" and God's method is a revelation in "words" from "The Word".
- III. The Declared Realities.
- A. The Light is shining, albeit more like a focused spotlight than an all-incompassing, all-revealing sun ("Thy word is a light to my path").
- B. The darkness has failed to squelch it.
- 1. This "failure" is both real and abject (John 12:31).
- 2. This "failure" makes "The Light" the ultimately triumphant factor (Colossians 1:13).
