Last Friday, I had the opportunity to drive round
-trip to Des Moines, Iowa for the third time
in the last three weeks. There's something about
that drive that reminds me of western Kansas,
part of the state where I was raised. I'm sure
there's something beautiful about it. I haven't
found it yet. I suppose if you lived there, you
know. There's something beautiful about it. In
fact, there was something beautiful on Friday.
I was driving just about sunset, and you can
see the sun go down. I live in Shoreview. We
live down in the little valley, and the sun goes
down a half an hour before it goes down. Down
there, when it goes down, it's down. It drops
off the end of the world in the West. And it
was a clear day, but just a few clouds in the
evening, and just enough to make it interesting
in the West and to give us some color. I watched
as the sun went down, admiring the beauty of
God's creation, and then saw the light reflected
for the next hour and a half. There was still
light in the West at six o 'clock. But as that
sun began to chase the darkness around the world,
it disappeared from here, other lights came on.
Of course, the car lights. There was a ribbon
of light that cut the night on Interstate 35
as I was driving south and others were driving
north. And then the yard lights and farms began
to light up and the house lights and soon little
towns along the highway were lit. So that even
though the darkness grew, there were pinpoints
of light that pierced the darkness all the way
there. I want to tell you something, light always
pierces the darkness. The darkness cannot put
out the light, whether it be God's Son, S -U
-N, or if it be lights that man has created.
The light will always dispel the darkness. That's
its very nature. Now we are talking about God's
son S .O .N. as the light of the world. That
he came into the darkness. That's our theme this
Christmas season. I'd like for you to turn in
your Bible with me to John chapter 12. Last week
we saw that Jesus Christ is the light of God's
revelation. Today we're going to see that he
is the light of salvation. In this chapter there
are some people who came looking for Jesus. They
were Gentiles. Jesus didn't really respond to
that invitation to see them, but he went on to
say some other things. The hour has come, he
says in verse 23, the hour has come for the Son
of Man to be glorified. Jesus, before this, has
said, my hour has not yet come, my hour has not
yet come. Now He says, the hour has come for
the Son of Man to be glorified. He explains that
He's laying down His life. Verse 27, now my soul
has become troubled and what shall I say, Father,
save me from this hour? But for this purpose
I came to this hour father glorify thy name and
God spoke from heaven and Jesus went on to say
in verse 31 now judgment is upon this world Now
the ruler of this world shall be cast out Satan
had usurped the right to rule the world And through
the long centuries, until now, he had been the
king of the world. But Jesus says, now the ruler
of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I
be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
to myself. He was saying this to indicate the
kind of death by which he was to die. therefore
answered him, We have heard out of the law that
the Christ is to remain forever. And yet you
say, the Son of Man must be lifted up. Who is
this Son of Man? Jesus therefore said to them,
For a little while longer the light is among
you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness
may not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness
does not know where he is going while you have
the light believe in the light In order that
you may become sons of light He furthermore says
in verse 44 he who believes in me does not believe
in me but in him who sent me and He who beholds
me beholds the one who sent me. I have come as
light into the world that everyone who believes
in me may not remain in darkness." Jesus Christ
brought the light of salvation to sin -darkened
humanity. To refuse that light, says Jesus, is
to continue on in darkness. To receive that light
is to be transformed into a child of light. Now
as we think about the light of salvation, I think
we need to start with some kind of a definition
for this. What are we talking about? I want to
make it clear that I am not talking about some
inner light which one needs to discover and then
follow in order to discover the deity in himself.
That sort of a new age concept is not light at
all. That is darkness. That is a lie. It comes
in a lot of different packages these days. Always
man is in the center of it. I am not talking
about that kind of salvation or light because
it's neither. I am not talking about the light
of self -enlightenment. But I am talking about
the light of salvation in the sense of God's
intervention on behalf of man. The word save
means to rescue from danger or to deliver from
bondage. It is used in the New Testament in a
number of different contexts, but most frequently
in a spiritual rescue. Let me give you a definition
for the light of salvation. It's made up of several
phrases that connect and I think embrace pretty
well the whole idea of the light of salvation.
First of all, let's understand that it is God's
gracious work. Salvation is of the Lord. It does
not originate with man. It is God's work. God's
gracious work of rescuing an undeserving sinner
from judgment. Now there's the danger, you see,
for the sinner, judgment. And so the light of
salvation is God rescuing that sinner who doesn't
deserve it. What he deserves is judgment, but
God rescues him anyway. It is God's gracious
work of rescuing an undeserving sinner from judgment
by His gracious choice. It begins with God. And
through the sinner's repentant faith, that's
man's part. Faith involves repentance, which
means to change the mind, the way that one has
thought about himself and about God. It means
to turn from everything you've trusted in, everything
you've been in the past, and turn to God and
trust alone in Him and the desire to become the
person that He wants you to become. So salvation
is God's gracious work of rescuing an undeserving
sinner from judgment by His gracious choice,
God's gracious choice, and through the sinner's
repentant faith. Repentant faith in the crucified
and resurrected Christ. It's not enough to have
faith. It has to be placed in Christ. The devil
has faith. He believes there's a God, and he
trembles, but his doom is the lake of fire. It's
not enough to have faith. That faith must be
in, placed in, the crucified and resurrected
Christ. And the final phrase is, unto a transformed
life of good works. You see, that's the end of
it. God doesn't save us just to keep us from
judgment in eternity God saves us to transform
our lives now To make us a people of good works
The great job that we have today in our culture
at least is to convince people that they need
to be rescued Because somehow most people think
that they're pretty good They're going to make
it with God They don't need to be saved. They
can take care of themselves. Before God can rescue
the sinner, the sinner has to acknowledge his
need. He has to acknowledge his danger. In a
sense, we have to get people lost today before
we can get them saved. They've got to understand
the danger they're in before they'll come to
God to rescue them. That's what the light of
salvation is about. Now, if that's a definition
of it, then let's talk about a demonstration
of it. And I want to point to a man who's now
standing example, and that is the Apostle Paul.
I'd like you to turn with me in your Bible to
Acts chapter 26, where we see the light of salvation
demonstrated in Paul's conversion. The book of
Acts, the 26th chapter, contains the third time
that Luke recounts the conversion of Paul. Here
Paul is telling us about it himself. Luke is
quoting him. Now he says in verse 9 of Acts 26,
So then I thought to myself that I had to do
many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
You see, that's the direction he was heading
in. He was hostile toward him. And this is just
what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock
up many of the saints in prison, having received
authority from the chief priests, but also when
they were being put to death, I cast my vote
against them. You see, he shared in the murder
of Christians. I punished them often in synagogues,
tried to force them to blaspheme. Being furiously
enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to
the foreign cities. While thus engaged, as I
was journeying to Damascus with the authority
and commission of the chief priests at midday,
O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven
brighter than the sun shining all around me and
those who were journeying with me. And when we
had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice
saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you
to kick against the goads. And I said, who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting. And so we have the account
of Paul's dramatic conversion. The light pierced
the darkness of this man. Remember that Paul
was a very religious person. He recounts his
righteousness in Philippians, and he says externally,
I was without blame. He was a very self -righteous
man. He was zealous. He was on his way to Damascus
to continue his religious persecution of the
followers of Jesus. And it was then that the
light of salvation was demonstrated in Paul's
conversion. This light appeared out of heaven
shown all around him. It was God's work. Paul
wasn't looking for the light. He was shocked
and stunned. It was God's gracious work of rescuing
this undeserving sinner. There was nothing in
Paul to commend him to God. He tells us that
himself. God was graciously rescuing this undeserving
sinner from the judgment he did deserve. And
he did it through his gracious choice. Paul points
to God's acting on his behalf. But here we see
Paul also repenting. He says, Lord, who are you?
And though he doesn't say it in this context,
in another one he tells us a second question
he asked. What do you want me to do? You see
there's a dramatic change. There's repentance
and faith. in this one who is appearing to him.
And what is the result of it? It is that his
life was transformed into a life of good works,
no longer hostile toward the name of Christ and
a bitter enemy of Christians. He is radically
changed by this encounter with Christ. And so
we see the light of salvation demonstrated in
Paul. But not only in his conversion and we see
it also demonstrated in his commission Jesus
goes on to talk to Paul here He says arise and
stand on your feet For this purpose I have appeared
to you to appoint you a minister and a witness
Not only to the things which you have seen but
also to the things in which I will appear to
you delivering you from the Jewish people and
from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to
open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness
to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God."
That's why God was sending Paul, that the eyes
of those who had not believed might be opened,
that they might then turn in response from darkness
to light from Satan to God in order that they
may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who have been sanctified by faith
in me says Jesus. So you see the commission of
Paul involved a further demonstration of the
light of salvation. Jesus says Paul I'm sending
you and through your proclamation of me I'm going
to open the eyes of people so that they will
turn from darkness to light, and from Satan to
God. And so, there came a time when Paul began
his work as an apostle. And as you know, he took
several missionary journeys as part of that.
We're going to turn back a few pages to the 20th
chapter, excuse me, the 19th chapter of Acts.
And see Paul carrying out this commission in
the city of Ephesus. See again the light of salvation
demonstrated. Now this is not Paul's first time
in Ephesus. He'd been there briefly on his second
journey. Now he comes back. He's going to stay
a while, three years as a matter of fact. I turned
to Ephesus because it was a city something like
today, cities of our day. It's also the church
about which we know the most from the New Testament
record. When Paul arrives there in the city,
he first encounters a group of people whom he
calls disciples. He's asking them a diagnostic
question. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when
you believed? He expected that had they believed
in Christ, they should have received the Holy
Spirit. Well, they responded and said, no, we've
not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.
Well, that gives Paul a little insight. So he
says, well, into what then were you baptized?
And they said into John's baptism. So here are
some disciples, some people, some followers who
had been baptized, but they don't know about
the Holy Spirit. They don't even know about Jesus.
They have some knowledge of the Old Testament
and even some things that have happened in their
day in the ministry of John. But it's incomplete
knowledge. They don't know about Jesus. And so
Paul then preaches Jesus to them. They believe
they're filled with the Holy Spirit and are baptized
in the name of Jesus. And so the light of salvation
is demonstrated here to people who are religious.
but did not have the knowledge of Jesus. I want
to tell you something. There is no darkness any
darker than religious darkness. Religious darkness
embraces rituals and traditions and notions and
ideas. It has an external form of godliness,
but it has no power to it. Because it does not
embrace a personal relationship with God through
Jesus Christ There are people many many people
in our world and in our city Who are in religious
darkness today? They are quote good people. They
are quote sincere people But they do not have
the knowledge of Jesus And it's our job as it
was Paul's to bring the light of salvation to
them. Maybe there's someone here this morning,
you've come out of a religious background, you've
been raised in church, but you don't have that
relationship with God that salvation is all about.
You can have it today. The light of salvation
can be demonstrated in your life today, too.
goes on to the Jewish synagogue as his custom
was, and again he finds a similar group of people
who have knowledge of religion, even of the Old
Testament. They believed in God. So he preaches
Christ to them. It finally gets him into trouble.
He moves his preaching to the school of Tyranus.
We don't know anything about this man, except
that his name means tyrant. So does that remind
you of any teachers you've ever had in your life?
Here was a tough teacher. And apparently he had
some open time in this building and so he rented
this building out to Paul so that he could teach
his disciples. But Paul goes beyond that. The
news gets out to another group of people in Ephesus.
These are pagan people. These are people who
worship the goddess Diana. The temple of Diana
was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
that was located in the city of Ephesus. And
you understand that Ephesus had been a very famous
city, a very wealthy commercial center. But it's
beginning to slide now. Its economy is dying
because they had forested all the hills and there
was silt coming down the rivers and filling in
the harbor. Now today, if you go to Asia Minor,
to the city of Ephesus, you will find the harbor
of that day, seven miles inland, because of the
erosion of soil and the building up of silt.
It was a problem in Paul's day. They had special
projects from the emperor to try to get this
harbor opened up again. None of them were ever
successful. So the economy is going downhill.
The one thing the city had going for it was religious
pilgrimages. people who would come to this temple
and worship, and they would buy their idols.
And that's why Paul got in trouble with Demetrius,
this unionized silversmith, and the union. Because
now he was attacking the one piece of the economy
that was still strong in the city. And so they
caused an uproar about that. The result of this
was that God did amazing things, things that
were extraordinary even for an apostle's ministry.
Paul in his trade as a tent maker had a sweat
cloth, a handkerchief, and as he would wipe his
brow and lay it down, people would pick that
up, touching it would bring healing to them.
He had an apron that he wore, people touching
that apron. would be healed. But these are extraordinary
things. Luke says that. This is unusual even
for Paul's ministry. God did amazing things.
Now why? Because this was a pagan city. Wherever
you find idols, you find demons who are receiving
the worship given to those idols. And here amazing
things happen in this city and people are healed
and there are people who are delivered of demons.
And a certain thing occurs around that. You can
read about it. Some people tried to use the name
Jesus, not being believers. They were into magic,
you see. And they thought the name Jesus had
magic to it. They found out that it's not anything
to do with magic. It's all relationship. And
it says that in verse 9, I'm in the wrong chapter.
There we go. Verse 18. Many also of those who
had believed kept coming confessing and disclosing
their practices what practices the magic arts
They were into witchcraft They were into sorcery
And it says many of those who practice magic
brought their books together and began burning
them all Burning them in the sight of all good
thing the ACLU wasn't around in those days This
would have been censorship as they define it
What were these people doing burning these books?
They were valuable worth 50 ,000 pieces of silver
These were not little golden books. I mean these
were Volumes that were ancient these were volumes
that told of magic say oh, it's all just superstition
no no These are the arts that deal with the occult
with Satan There is power there. It's evil. It's
dark. There is power there. And so they burned
the books. Now why? Because they wanted some
sort of public demonstration that they were no
longer a part of that pagan past. They burned
their bridges, so to speak. They publicly proclaimed
they believed in Jesus Christ and they burned
everything relating to their past. They were
canceling all of their contacts, all of their
contracts. with the dark side. So we see salvation
not only demonstrated to religious people but
the light of salvation demonstrated to those
who are in pagan demonic darkness practicing
magic. Light liberates those who are in bondage
to darkness. Jesus Christ is the liberator and
he delivers all of those. who are enslaved in
darkness and who will come to Him. What He did
here in Ephesus, in the ancient city of Ephesus,
He is doing in the contemporary city of Minneapolis,
St. Paul. And this morning there is someone who
is going to share her testimony with you briefly
regarding this. She has come out of a life of
darkness. having trusted Jesus Christ and Today
in sharing her testimony with you is as it were
burning the books and Proclaiming that she confesses
Jesus Christ as her Savior and as her Lord This
is round two for her she did this in the first
service. It's not easy But my wife is going to
stand with her Let me introduce you to Kim. Kim,
share with us the words that you've written for
your testimony this morning. I was born into
a family that was controlled by darkness. The
terror and abuse I experienced was constant.
and at a depth that most people could not grasp.
I lived my life feeling alone and trapped with
no one to turn to, screaming inside for help
but finding no comfort. As an adult I tried to
run but found that I could not hide from the
darkness. I was alone in my hell without hope
of escape and dying from the control the darkness
had on me. In my darkness and terror, God reached
down to me and placed within my life a network
of Christians who began to teach me God's truth.
Light began to shine in my darkness and I started
to understand that God could and would save and
deliver me. The life that I have lived has been
in fear and terror and silence. I was exhorted
to never tell anyone. My struggles and pain have
been compounded by keeping the secrets locked
within myself, suffering alone. A step towards
freedom is knowing that in the family of God,
I am able to share my secrets and bring things
out into the light. No longer is it necessary
to remain a prisoner of the fear and the darkness.
In the time since I first started trusting God
to deliver me from the hands of darkness, I have
learned more about God and what it means to be
His chosen child, protected, loved, and forgiven.
I have renounced the darkness of my past. and
gladly confess my faith in Christ, and that I
am a child of God and the light. I confess no
other master than Jesus, my Lord. Amen. You praise
God for that. You just can't imagine the courage
that it took and God's grace in her life to bring
her to this point. A network of believers in
our church and beyond our church, in fact in
some of the other states, have been involved
in helping. I want to thank all of you who have
been willing to do that. She needs to be protected.
And I would like to know if you are willing as
a church family to wrap your arms around her,
so to speak, with your prayers and your love
and support and to give that protection in Christ.
Would you just lift your hand if you're willing?
Hundreds of hands, Kim. She's one of us. She's
no longer one of them. God has delivered her
from the domain of Satan. into the kingdom of
His beloved Son. She has become a child of the
light, and the darkness is gone. The past has
been forgiven by God. The break has been made,
and now she seeks to walk on as a disciple and
as a follower of Jesus Christ. I rejoice in this.
I rejoice in your testimony this morning. The
light of salvation can be demonstrated in your
life too. You may be someone who also has been
in deep darkness. Jesus said that if we follow
Him, we will no longer walk in darkness. And
today He extends to you in His grace the invitation
to come and to walk with Him. to come to the
light and leave behind your darkness. You may
be in the darkness of religion where you've had
some knowledge of God, but it's been like an
inoculation against the real thing. You can have
the real thing today. The light of salvation
can be demonstrated in your life if you will
come to Christ. Let's pray together. Father,
I thank you for the victory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I thank you for the power in Him who
is the light of the world, the power to penetrate
the deepest darkness. I thank you that embodied
in the babe of Bethlehem was the eternal light
of deity and that He came to reveal you and to
redeem us. And I pray, Father, that you will
surround Kim with your love and your protection,
that she may grow in her understanding of discipleship
and what it means to serve such a wonderful master
as you, a master of love. And I pray for some
who may be here today without that relationship,
that they may come out of their darkness to the
light. Amen. We're going to close by singing
a verse or two of the hymn that we closed with
last week because it says it so well. Out of
my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come into
thy freedom, gladness and light. I'm going to
ask that elders and staff who are here who feel
led to come and kneel in prayer. at the platform,
and if you are in darkness and bondage today
to sin and terror and Satan and fear, I want
to invite you to come as well. Come to the light.
Kneel with these men in prayer. Let us help you
spiritually so that you can begin your journey
with Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. Let's
stand together and sing number 336 I'll be waiting
here for you slip out and come as others come
to pray for you Last verse please. Thank you,
men, for coming to pray. I know some of you need
to slip out for a job to do, so that's fine.
I want to say to you that we want to embrace
Kim and welcome her into our family. Here's a
church. She belongs as one of us. Someone who
comes out of a severely abused background also
needs a little space. So as we welcome her, Let's,
as we should in all cases, respect the space
that she needs so that she feels safe. And if
you come to greet her, introduce yourself so
that she knows your name, knows you're okay,
you're part of the church. And that would be
the best way to do that. We don't want to smother
her. You understand what I'm saying there? Sometimes
we Christians can smother people who take a dramatic
step like this. And being warm and gracious and
welcoming, we don't want to smother her. Okay?
If you don't understand what I'm saying by that,
I'm not sure I do either, so don't worry about
it. Let's pray together. Father, we commend ourselves
to you as we go from here. We thank you that
in following Jesus Christ we have the light of
life and that we do not any longer walk in the
darkness, but we walk in the light. We are a
happy people. We rejoice that the light has come.
Amen.