Let there be Light!
by Chris Cumming

This sermon is about the power of God and specifically the power of His Word.

The purpose of this sermon is to show you the power of God and His Word and how you are to manifest that power.

However, the Word of God has little power if the firstfruit is not hearing it and/or doing something about it.

When it comes to the Word of God, firstfruits have three primary intakes of that Word.

1] personal Bible study.
2] church Bible studies
3] sermons.

I am going to take sermons to make a point.

None of us is going to live forever, so the number of sermons is a finite number.

If one is baptized at age 20 and lives to age 80, that is 61 years. He or she will hear and have 3,782 sermons which includes all Holy Days and the Feast.
Baptized at 25 and going to age 80 [56 years]: 3,472 sermons.
Baptized at 30 and going to age 80 [51 years]: 3,162 sermons.
Baptized at 35 and going to age 80 [46 years]: 2,852 sermons.
Baptized at 40 and going to age 80 [41 years]: 2,542 sermons.

Let us look at this a different way:

Baptized 25 years: 1,550 sermons
Baptized 20 years: 1,240 sermons.
Baptized 15 years: 930 sermons.
Baptized 10 years: 620 sermons.
Baptized 5 years: 310 sermons.

Understand that spiritual and character maturity is a Work of God and not a number of sermons. At the same time, it can give us a base for self-examination. In that light of self-examination, let me ask some questions about the number of sermons you feel you have heard. Know that these questions I am about to ask you are not about generating shame or bringing accusation. Indeed, the answers you give for these will only be uttered from you before the throne of God. These questions are being asked to bring you into the light and possibly give you an epiphany and encourage you on to Fervency, Diligence and Zeal. When I say that your answers will bring you into the light, I am talking about you ascertaining any weak points and doing something about them to insure that you will be in the Kingdom of God.

Okay, based on those number of sermons I gave you, there is an approximate number in your mind as to how many sermons you have heard and/or have in in your possession. Here are the questions:

1] How many did you miss due to sickness?
2] How many did you miss because you were doing something else?
3] In how many did you take notes?
4] How many of these did you just hear?
5] How many of these did you review or listen to again?
6] How many of these were used in meditation and/or drove you to prayer?
7] How many of these resulted in you having a physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual epiphany? [An epiphany is an experience of sudden and striking realization. It is also the manifestation of God everywhere in our lives]
8] From how many of these did you come up with a spiritual plan?
9] How many of these resulted in you taking spiritual action in your salvation process?
10] How many of these resulted in what you would deem a step forward in the salvation process?

What scripture is at the basis of all these self-examination questions? Further, if you have found or later find yourself lacking in some area, how are you going to gloriously overcome the weak point and go with boldness into the Kingdom of God?

Turn to James 1:17

James 1:17-25 ...as you turn here, will we learn anything about the light of God?
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Note: In many sermons, I have spoken to Matthew 4 and specifically Matthew 4:4. I speak to the fact that Jesus gave us the foundation of His entire ministry before even beginning that ministry.

Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Did God do the exact same thing? I believe He did and He did it very graphically. Again we see linkage to Romans 1:20

Romans 1:20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

God has a plan and He is working that plan. That plan is all about bringing 100 Billion humans out of the darkness and into the light and then into the Kingdom of God where light is eternal. Notice Him giving you a Romans 1:20 seen thing to verify this invisible, spiritual plan.

Turn to the front of your Bibles and Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1-4
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Note: If you read the commentary on these verses you find that the bringing of the light was not about creating the sun that first day. It was about taking away the darkness that was upon the face of the deep [verse 2]. In verse 4, God says the light was good and divided the light from the darkness.

If these verses about the living, physical metaphor are pointing to the foundational basis of His spiritual plan for us, where is the verse that establishes this fact.

Go to 1st Thessalonians 5. I will begin in verse 1.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Note: What do you mean that the "day" of the Lord is coming as a thief in the "night?" He is talking about the knowledge of it will be in darkness but He is coming in the day.

3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Note: As you can see, forward-moving firstfruits will not lack this knowledge. Why? See verse 5.

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Note: James 1:17 says that God is the Father of lights. Verse 5 says we are, "children of light" and are NOT in darkness

6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

Note: Sleeping where? Drunken where? ...in darkness.

8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

You tell me, isn't 1 Thessalonians 5 the spiritual manifestation of the physical metaphor given to us in Genesis 1:1-4?

Need more convincing? Follow along.

If God IS taking us out of darkness, where is He taking us?

Colossians 1:13
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Psalm 27:1
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

If I am on a path of righteousness and holiness, am I likened by God to be in light? If so, to what end?

Proverbs 4:18
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Note: Perfect what? Ah, the perfect "day."

Is there joy being in the light? What if one is in the light but becomes wicked?

Proverbs 13:9
The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

Notice the John Gill on the "light of the righteous."

The light of joy and gladness, which is sown for them, and arises to them; the light of spiritual knowledge and experience they have; the light of sound doctrine; the light of good works, and a Gospel conversation; all this, as it is delightful to themselves and others, so it is increasing more and more to the perfect day, and it continues [Proverbs 4:18 which I just gave you.]. ~John Gill

Notice what the John Gill says about the lamp of the wicked:

But the lamp of the wicked shall be put out; the light of the righteous is like that of the sun, bright and pleasant; but the light of the wicked is like that of a lamp, lesser and not so agreeable, nor will it last. ~John Gill

Having said this, if a firstfruit is currently backsliding within the salvation process, can he or she repent and get back into the light?

Ephesians 5:14
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

If God is taking us from darkness and into the light and ultimately the Kingdom of God, what is the Word of God?

There is power in the Word of God and this power can be released, harnessed and manifested. The more this power is manifested and used, the greater spiritual maturity we have; the closer we are to ultimate salvation. Notice:

Psalm 119:130
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Note: If we abide in the Word of God, are we not abiding in the light God took us to?

1 John 2:10
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

Note: What are the commandments? What is the law?

Proverbs 6:23
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

Need more? How about a verse where we find God speaking about spiritual light and explaining it by going back to the physical metaphor of Genesis 1?

2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Interestingly, God says something about those who fall from the process about this light of the Word:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

I want to go back to James 1:17 and the phrase, "Father of Lights."

The Father of lights
Among the good things, the best is light, the physical light which makes the things of the outer world visible, the intellectual light which enables any man to see truths and their relations, the spiritual light which enables a man to walk as seeing Him that is invisible and the invisible world by which He is surrounded. God is the “Father of lights,” the source of all conceivable modes of illumination. He is the Source of all the light of knowledge, all the light of wisdom, all the light of faith, all the light of hope, all the light of love, all the light of joy. If any man arise in his generation to shine as a star in the hemisphere of human society, God kindled the splendor of his intellect and the benign radiance of his high spiritual character, if any woman arise to brighten a home, or send the kindly light of her sweetness over any cheerless portion of our race, it was God who dwelt in her heart, and smiled through her life. If on the coast of our humanity we, mariners on life’s uncertain sea, behold lighthouses so placed along the shore as to enable us to take bearings or shape courses that bring us to our havens of safety, it is God who has erected each such lighthouse and kindled each such pharos [beacon]. ~Biblical Illustrator

The Father of lights
God, as the Author of all our spiritual light, receives a faint illustration from the sun, as the source of natural light. The rays from the sun are of three kinds, differing from one another probably only as to the lengths of the waves of which they are composed.
1. Light rays. Nearly all the light we receive comes from the sun. Even the moonlight is but reflected sunlight. Even when we are in the shade, or in the house where we cannot see the sun, the light we receive is sunlight, dispersed from the particles in the air, reflected from all things around us; even the light of our lamps and gas-burners is but sunlight which has been stored up in the earth. So it is that all our spiritual light, from whatever sources it seems to come, is really from God. Our white sunlight is really composed of thousands of colors, shades, and tints, which fill the world with beauty. Such variety is in the pure light from God, reflected from our manifold natures, needs, and circumstances.

2. Heat rays. Nearly all the heat in the world comes directly or indirectly from the sun. The fires that warm us and that are the source of power are from the wood or coal in which the heat of the sun has been stored. Such is God’s love to us.

3. Chemical rays, which act upon plants and cause the movements of life. These rays are in a sense the source of life, the instrumentality of life. So God is the Source of our spiritual life. Light, love, and life all come from the Father of lights. ~Biblical Illustrator

The Father of lights
The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy. The lonely pine on the mountain-top waves its somber boughs and cries, “Thou art my sun”; and the little meadow violet lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed breath, “Thou art my sun.” And the grain in a thousand fields rustles in the wind and makes answer, “Thou art my sun.” So God sits, effulgent [ih-fuhl-juh nt] [shining forth brilliantly] in heaven, not for a favoured few, but for the universe of life; and there is no creature so poor or so low that he may not look up with childlike confidence and say, “My Father, Thou art mine.” ~Biblical Illustrator

Let's end with a set of four scriptures:

1 John 1:5
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1 Peter 1:16
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Anyone having an epiphany or two today?
Ephesians 1:18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

1 Peter 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Stay in His marvellous light.

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