WEBVTT 00:00.730 --> 00:05.566 Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our 00:05.588 --> 00:07.290 Lord and Savior, Jesus. 00:07.450 --> 00:08.458 Amen. 00:08.634 --> 00:09.870 Please be seated. 00:13.650 --> 00:20.046 An old legend claims that the Cynic philosopher Diogenes walked the 00:20.068 --> 00:24.966 streets of Athens all day long with a lighted lamp, shining it into 00:25.028 --> 00:26.326 the faces of everyone 00:26.428 --> 00:32.360 he went met, claiming that he was looking for one honest man. 00:33.210 --> 00:38.154 Alexander the Great was supposedly so impressed by Diogenes that when 00:38.192 --> 00:43.322 the two of them finally met, Alexander offered him anything 00:43.456 --> 00:45.980 absolutely any favor he wanted. 00:46.830 --> 00:51.518 To which Diogenes replied could you move a little to the right, 00:51.604 --> 00:53.280 you're blocking my sun. 00:54.930 --> 01:01.054 Diogenes's search for truth represents mankind's belief that light is 01:01.092 --> 01:03.440 the solution to all of our problems. 01:04.470 --> 01:08.498 If you want to reduce crime, if you want to protect your home, install 01:08.584 --> 01:10.450 better security lighting. 01:11.030 --> 01:15.286 If you want to put an end to corruption in business or politics, you 01:15.308 --> 01:19.110 hold leadership up to the light of public scrutiny. 01:19.930 --> 01:26.454 If you want to curb evil and lies and all of the immorality, you 01:26.492 --> 01:28.650 expose it to the light of truth. 01:29.950 --> 01:34.490 So Scripture often uses the images of light and darkness. 01:35.390 --> 01:39.050 The very first chapter of Scripture, we're told that there was 01:39.120 --> 01:42.714 darkness upon the face of the deep when God spoke 01:42.762 --> 01:46.960 the first creating words, let there be light. 01:47.330 --> 01:48.800 And there was light. 01:49.970 --> 01:54.610 Throughout Scripture, foolishness and ignorance are seen as darkness. 01:55.270 --> 01:57.140 But wisdom is light. 01:58.470 --> 02:03.182 Gloom, despair, agony, captivity. 02:03.326 --> 02:07.334 Hell is described as utter darkness, where there is weeping and 02:07.372 --> 02:08.710 gnashing of teeth. 02:09.449 --> 02:12.920 But life life is light. 02:14.490 --> 02:16.930 Satan is the prince of darkness. 02:17.090 --> 02:19.894 But the Lord is my light and my salvation. 02:20.022 --> 02:23.610 And in today's Epistle, from Ephesians five, St. 02:23.680 --> 02:32.782 Paul used darkness to show us our sin, to reveal our immorality, our 02:32.836 --> 02:36.640 unbelief, the evil that's within us. 02:38.690 --> 02:42.218 A sin may not always seem so dark. 02:42.394 --> 02:47.466 It can be bright and dazzling, like a flashing neon sign that calls 02:47.498 --> 02:49.550 and holds on to our attention. 02:50.770 --> 02:57.814 It lures us with promises of power and wealth and pleasure, but it 02:57.852 --> 02:59.170 always leaves us poor. 03:00.170 --> 03:04.430 In shame and disgrace and in the darkness of death. 03:05.570 --> 03:11.054 Like bugs swarming around a porchlight on a warm summer evening, being 03:11.092 --> 03:17.454 attracted to its death, sin draws us in. 03:17.652 --> 03:20.110 It attracts and holds our attention. 03:22.290 --> 03:25.750 Have you ever experienced total darkness? 03:26.730 --> 03:30.614 There are caves a few miles southwest of here where guides will lead 03:30.652 --> 03:35.254 you into the deepest, darkest recesses of the earth and allow you to 03:35.292 --> 03:37.010 experience total darkness. 03:37.090 --> 03:41.402 For just a few moments, they turn off all the lights, and in those 03:41.456 --> 03:45.740 moments, you can't see a thing. 03:46.430 --> 03:49.466 You can't see your hands in front of your face. 03:49.567 --> 03:51.870 You can't see anyone around you. 03:51.940 --> 03:55.130 You lose your bearings and your sense of balance. 03:55.290 --> 03:59.226 And instinctively you reach out to grab ahold of anything that's 03:59.258 --> 04:06.082 stable, and your mind begins to race and panic sets in. 04:06.216 --> 04:09.138 What if they can't turn the lights back on again? 04:09.224 --> 04:13.220 There is absolutely no way we'll ever find our way out of here. 04:15.370 --> 04:20.582 But then, with a flick of the switch, the lights come back on and 04:20.635 --> 04:27.480 everyone breathes this collective sigh of relief and the tour goes on. 04:29.630 --> 04:35.909 Surely you recognize from your own personal experience that breaking 04:35.990 --> 04:39.130 God's law leads to darkness. 04:40.450 --> 04:49.502 Your idolatry, your abuse of God's name, your despising of God's word, 04:49.635 --> 04:54.702 your disrespecting of authorities, your anger and hatred, your sexual 04:54.766 --> 05:03.390 immorality, your lust, your gossip, your slander, your selfishness, 05:03.470 --> 05:08.086 your greed have led you into some of the deepest, darkest moments of 05:08.108 --> 05:08.919 your lives. 05:09.289 --> 05:15.586 And in those times you lost your bearings, you went into panic mode. 05:15.618 --> 05:19.802 As you realize that there is absolutely no way out 05:19.856 --> 05:27.322 for a sinner like you. Paul's diagnosis of our condition really 05:27.376 --> 05:29.289 shouldn't come as any surprise. 05:30.450 --> 05:36.430 He said once at one time, you were darkness. 05:38.130 --> 05:41.390 Notice he didn't say you lived in darkness. 05:42.530 --> 05:48.110 He didn't say you were surrounded by a corrupt and godless culture. 05:48.690 --> 05:54.590 What he said was, once you were darkness, you were sin. 05:55.530 --> 05:58.870 You were spiritually blind from birth. 06:00.330 --> 06:00.682 You were dead. 06:00.746 --> 06:02.830 You were an enemy of God. 06:02.980 --> 06:05.070 That is deep darkness. 06:07.570 --> 06:13.086 And somehow, somehow we've convinced ourselves that there's safety in 06:13.108 --> 06:14.110 this darkness. 06:15.730 --> 06:20.510 Like criminals who do their work under the cover of night so people 06:20.580 --> 06:22.800 can't really see what they're up to. 06:24.290 --> 06:28.230 Sinners like us fear exposure. 06:29.690 --> 06:32.440 Someone might see what we're doing. 06:33.690 --> 06:36.840 Someone might catch us in the act. 06:37.630 --> 06:40.566 Someone may uncover all of our secrets. 06:40.678 --> 06:44.874 And so we hide in the darkness and think that we're safe, that no one 06:44.912 --> 06:46.540 really knows what we're doing. 06:49.470 --> 06:56.666 King David thought that way too until he was confronted with the sin 06:56.698 --> 07:00.622 with Bathsheba and all the cover up, all the darkness that went along 07:00.676 --> 07:01.520 with it. 07:02.790 --> 07:04.450 Then he had to confess. 07:05.909 --> 07:11.346 Years later, he wrote if I say surely the darkness will cover me and 07:11.368 --> 07:13.250 the light about me be night. 07:13.400 --> 07:16.440 Even the darkness is not dark to you. 07:17.210 --> 07:21.446 The night is bright as day, for darkness is as light to you. 07:21.628 --> 07:24.770 In other words, God sees into our darkness. 07:24.850 --> 07:32.650 God knows our sin and God shown the true light into our darkness. 07:34.670 --> 07:37.500 Jesus is the light of the world. 07:38.909 --> 07:42.606 He entered the world through the darkness of a silent night in 07:42.628 --> 07:43.630 Bethlehem. 07:44.370 --> 07:48.446 And all throughout his life in ministry, he was confronted by the 07:48.468 --> 07:49.194 darkness. 07:49.322 --> 07:54.254 Darkness in Nicodemus, who feared even being seen with Jesus 07:54.302 --> 07:56.180 and so came to him by night. 07:56.550 --> 08:00.706 The darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas betrayed him with 08:00.728 --> 08:01.570 a kiss. 08:02.150 --> 08:06.710 The darkness of jealousy and lies and hatred of the Jewish authorities. 08:07.210 --> 08:12.246 The darkness of injustice and Roman brutality as he was crucified in 08:12.268 --> 08:16.534 the eerie darkness that covered the whole world that afternoon as he 08:16.572 --> 08:18.169 died on a cross. 08:19.310 --> 08:28.730 Forsaken by his Father in heaven that's deep darkness, that's total 08:28.800 --> 08:36.190 darkness Jesus endured all of that darkness. 08:37.010 --> 08:42.794 He took all of your darkness and my darkness into the stone cold 08:42.842 --> 08:44.169 darkness of a tomb. 08:44.250 --> 08:46.160 And that's where He left it. 08:47.410 --> 08:53.854 As He arose again in the brightness and splendor of Easter morning. The 08:53.892 --> 08:59.860 darkness could not overcome Him for in Him was life and the 09:00.090 --> 09:02.000 life was the light of men. 09:04.450 --> 09:11.166 Jesus also said, Everyone who does evil hates the light will not come 09:11.188 --> 09:14.378 into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 09:14.554 --> 09:21.902 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be 09:21.956 --> 09:22.842 seen plainly 09:22.906 --> 09:25.560 what he has done has been done through God. 09:26.890 --> 09:29.110 The light fills the darkness. 09:30.250 --> 09:38.854 The light exposes all that we've done and said and thought, and that 09:38.892 --> 09:44.170 is humiliating, that's shameful. 09:45.390 --> 09:50.954 It weighs heavy on us until we come out into the open, until we come 09:50.992 --> 09:55.262 into the light, until we confess and believe all that Jesus has done 09:55.316 --> 09:56.030 for us. 09:56.180 --> 10:01.694 And then what a relief to realize that we are forgiven of all of our 10:01.732 --> 10:05.810 sin, that we don't have to hide in the darkness anymore. 10:06.710 --> 10:13.634 Paul said, at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the 10:13.672 --> 10:14.290 Lord. 10:16.810 --> 10:17.174 St. 10:17.212 --> 10:23.634 Peter said, God has called you out of darkness into his wonderful 10:23.682 --> 10:24.280 light. 10:26.010 --> 10:28.620 Now you've been bathed in light. 10:29.470 --> 10:31.126 Now you are baptized. 10:31.238 --> 10:32.710 Now you are enlightened. 10:32.790 --> 10:34.170 Now you are light. 10:34.319 --> 10:37.050 Jesus said, you are the light of the world. 10:37.200 --> 10:39.690 Let your light so shine. 10:42.130 --> 10:50.186 Paul said, Walk, live as baptized children of the light, for the fruit 10:50.218 --> 10:54.382 of the light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try 10:54.436 --> 10:57.069 to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 10:59.090 --> 11:01.440 The light burns within you. 11:03.090 --> 11:09.414 The light empowers you to do what you know is pleasing to the Lord, to 11:09.452 --> 11:13.010 live a life that gives glory to your Father in heaven. 11:13.170 --> 11:16.760 The light that produces a Christlike life. 11:19.550 --> 11:25.590 Paul continued, take no part, have nothing to do with the unfruitful 11:25.670 --> 11:27.210 works of darkness. 11:27.870 --> 11:30.220 Instead, expose them. 11:30.610 --> 11:34.750 For it's shameful to even speak of the things that they do in secret. 11:36.610 --> 11:41.434 In the marketplaces of the Near East, the shops were just little rooms 11:41.482 --> 11:42.670 with no windows. 11:43.490 --> 11:47.742 And so before a person would spend a large amount of money on any 11:47.796 --> 11:51.374 merchandise, he would first of all take it out into the street and 11:51.412 --> 11:56.406 expose it to the sunlight, that the light might reveal any flaws or 11:56.428 --> 11:57.090 imperfections. 12:00.090 --> 12:05.966 Paul encourages you and me to do the same, to expose the deeds of 12:05.988 --> 12:14.078 darkness, to hold our every action, every word, every decision, every 12:14.164 --> 12:22.058 motive to the light of Christ, to reveal its true character, to reveal 12:22.154 --> 12:24.914 what is truly pleasing to our Lord. 12:25.002 --> 12:35.090 Martin Luther wrote of a man named Bernard who lived in 12th 12:35.170 --> 12:36.550 century France. 12:37.630 --> 12:42.534 As a young man, Bernard was kidnapped by a band of outlaws and held 12:42.582 --> 12:48.490 captive in a province known as Wormwood in a valley of darkness. 12:50.190 --> 12:53.678 His captors demanded that he entertain them. 12:53.844 --> 12:59.434 But instead of singing silly songs or telling funny jokes, Bernard 12:59.482 --> 13:04.450 gave a testimony his witness to his Lord and savior, Jesus. 13:05.430 --> 13:09.060 His captors were so impressed, they set him free. 13:09.750 --> 13:15.006 And in time, Bernard became a priest, and he made it his mission to 13:15.048 --> 13:23.734 establish hostels along dark and dreary ways so that visitors could 13:23.772 --> 13:25.830 find shelter and safety. 13:27.210 --> 13:32.026 Of course, the first one that Bernard built was in that province of 13:32.128 --> 13:35.334 Wormwood, in that valley of darkness. 13:35.462 --> 13:40.334 And some of the men who had once held him captive helped him to build 13:40.372 --> 13:40.960 it. 13:42.530 --> 13:46.430 They called this hostel Clairvaux. 13:46.930 --> 13:48.800 The Valley of Light. 13:49.569 --> 13:52.910 And the man who built it, the priest they called St. 13:52.980 --> 14:00.642 Bernard of Clairvaux, he was the light that shone into the darkness and 14:00.696 --> 14:01.940 overcame it. 14:03.590 --> 14:09.526 Today, in this season of Lent, the word of the Lord encourages us to 14:09.548 --> 14:10.280 the same. 14:11.370 --> 14:20.106 It reminds us, once you we were darkness, but now now you are light in 14:20.127 --> 14:20.758 the Lord. 14:20.854 --> 14:22.922 Live as children of the light. 14:23.056 --> 14:27.562 Produce the fruits of life, everything that is good and right and 14:27.616 --> 14:28.220 true. 14:29.230 --> 14:33.534 Seek to rid your valley, wherever that valley might be. 14:33.652 --> 14:42.558 Rid your valley of darkness, and let the light of Christ shine. In the 14:42.564 --> 14:43.710 name of Jesus. 14:44.290 --> 14:45.310 Amen. 14:46.050 --> 14:50.526 And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your 14:50.548 --> 14:53.386 hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 14:53.578 --> 14:54.090 Amen.