“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:5)

 ‘Light’ represents ‘truth’ or the ‘word’ (which is truth), and of course, Jesus Himself. 

 “He was in the world...and the world did not know Him.” (John 1:10) Him = Jesus. 

 “He came to His own people, and His own people did not receive Him.” (John 1:11) I wonder why? 

 “But... as many who did receive Him...to them He gave the right (or power/authority) to ... become children of God, to those who believe in His name...” (John 1:12) 

 I don’t know who needs to hear this, but one does not become a child of God simply because they ‘say’ they believe Jesus is the Son of God. The demons believe that and they tremble. (James 2:19) 

 If we are going to use the bible as our one and only source of truth, then we can quickly conclude who the children of God are: they are the ones who are led by His Spirit. (Rom. 8:14) 

 Sometimes we can become confused if not overwhelmed trying to sort through all the religious confusion and deception that is prevalent today when it comes to separating fact from fiction, or truth from lies. Jesus did hint that there would be much of it in the last days. (Matt. 24:4-25) Yet, He also seems to suggest it’s not that confusing at all, for Him at least, to identify the ones who belong to Him. He said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”. (John 10:27) He also had things to say about 'fruit'.

 John would later write in his first epistle that it is quite easy to distinguish who the ‘children of God’ are and who the ‘children of the devil’ are. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10). In fact, he wrote in the preceding chapter: “by this we know that we know Him, IF...we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him.” (2:3-4) 

 I bet there are more than a few folks who probably wish secretly that John’s letter here had been omitted from being included in the bible. What he writes seems to mess with much of our convenient theology. 

 I mean, take for example his next statement there saying “He who says he abides in Him...ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (6). Those are not my words, they are his. 

 But it’s that phrase there that gives me pause: “He who says...”. 

 We say a lot of things, do we not? Jesus had a few things to point out regarding this as well. “Not everyone who ‘says’...Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven...” (Matt. 7:21) 

 In another place, He asked those in His midst: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46) 

 Another statement made by Jesus is found in John 14: “IF...you love Me, you’ll do what I say...you’ll keep my commandments.” (15) 

 The problem that exist for so many today....is we tend to not really believe what He says. I mean...we might be quick to say we ‘agree’...that He said these things, but do we honestly believe it? I would think if we did, there might be more genuine fruit being produced that would bear witness to the fact, yes? And the only way genuine ‘fruit’ can be produced is if we abide in Him. (John 15:5-4-6) 

 Which takes us back to John’s epistle that says if we are abiding in Him, we ‘ought to walk just as He walked’. (2:6). And...(are you ready for it...again?) “Whoever abides in Him does not sin.” (3:6)...Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” 

 “Little children, let no one deceive you. (Does this mean it is possible that children of God could be deceived?) – “He who sins is of the devil.” (8) 

 So...based on those scriptures, when we believers (and preachers) continuously say...”We all sin, we will always sin...everybody sins”, then are we not saying that we – all – everybody- is ‘of the devil’? 

 Did Jesus not say: “Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin and a slave does not abide in the house forever.” (John 8:34). That is in your bible, is it not? 

 Why do I keep coming back to this? (well, for starters, it is what I am being compelled to repeat over and over...do you think I could come up with all this on my own?) 

 We have bought in to the lie that these things don’t really mean what they say...this idea that we can ‘go and sin no more’. We get offended and irate and discouraged and then condemned. Then we run to folks who we think are smarter than us who pull out thick commentaries that explain why what God said...does not really mean what it says. Kind of like what we read back in Genesis...God said one thing (2:17) and the serpent popped up questioning by asking...”Did God really say that?” (3:1) Then he countered with...”No, that is not what God means...you surely shall not die.” (3:4). Before you know it...we are buying in to “other gospels”. (2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6-9) 

 Did Jesus not say we were to ‘be perfect/complete’? (Matt. 5:48). Did Paul not exhort us to ‘move on to perfection’? (Heb.6:1). Did James not explain that these trials/tests we encounter are designed so that we will be ‘perfect and complete’? (1:4) Does Eph. 4:12 not offer insight to the purpose of the five-fold ministry being given for the ‘perfecting of the saints’? Does John not mention that if God abides in us, His love has been perfected in us? (1 Jn. 4:12,17) 

 Why are we so reluctant to embrace God’s truth that we can actually be conformed to His image and made a new creation? (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 5:17). Why is our ‘default setting’ to start beating ourselves up, coddling one another (enabling) as we affirm to one another we are still sinners and God loves us just the way we are and just tell Him you are sorry and try to do better next time? 

 Why do we refuse to believe that God is incapable of delivering us from the power of sin? Who told you that? (Gen. 3:11) 

 I mean, He is God, after all; is He not? You do realize, that an entire generation of Israelites were refused entrance into the Promise Land because they did not believe that God was capable of empowering them to overcome all the enemy that was on the land. So they had to wander for 40 years as they died off in the wilderness and their bodies were scattered. (Num. 13-14; 1 Cor. 10:4-11; Heb. 3:16-19) And the NT writers point to them as a warning and example to us that we not commit the same mistakes as they did. 

 I’ll be honest with you here....You don’t have to believe any of this. But I still want you to know what your bible has to say...regardless of what you may have been taught to believe. May God be true and every man a liar. (Rom. 3:4). And trust me, I am fully aware how more difficult it can be to have to ‘unlearn a lie’ before we can truly embrace a truth. 

 You know...we read in multiple places in the gospels how Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were sick and oppressed by the devil. (Matt. 9:35; Acts 10:38). But...we also read there were places where He did very few, if any, miracles or mighty works...and it was for one reason alone: unbelief. (Matt. 13:58) 

 This may be a silly illustration to wrap up here today but here goes anyway. I continue to be amazed at all the things my ‘smart phone’ is capable of doing. The countless number of apps and such...never cease to amaze me. I use the phone to play music, control my drone, get me from one location to another. I do banking transactions with it...I can watch videos on it or text people around the world. Why...I can even call and talk to people on my ...smart ‘phone’ and do so while watching them at the same time. Anywhere you go these days...we constantly see people with their faces ‘glued to their mobile devices’. 

 Imagine, if you would, trying to do all those things on your phone with a battery that was void of power. I mean, you could ‘act’ like you were doing those things...much like a toddler might do when they find their parents phone that is turned off. They probably would not even know the difference...they can still go through the motions and play like it does all those things. Sort of like having a ‘form of godliness but devoid of power’. (2 Tim. 3:1-5). 

 Would care to guess when and how we receive that ‘power’ to do all these things we read about in our bibles? We have to first come to Him and demonstrate He has our whole heart. Jesus had to do that Himself. You can read about it in Luke 4:1-14. It wasn’t until after He passed His ‘test’ that He returned ‘in the power of the Spirit’. 

 Folks...I believe we have been living in a time of great spiritual darkness. And need I remind you how we often find ourselves in ‘darkness’? Usually when there is a ....’loss of power’ or a ‘power outage’.