Word, Life, Light, and Witness

We'll read the whole prologue. We'll cover, Lord willing, the first eight or nine verses today. John chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. And the Word became flesh, and he dwelt among us.

And we have seen his glory. Glory is the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me. for from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through moses grace and truth came through jesus christ no one has ever seen god the only god who is at the father's side he has made him known let us pray to our god oh lord what a what a lovely text we have before us filled with such truth and Lord filled with terms with rich in meaning.

I pray God that we would spend the next few minutes unpacking those terms and the lines of the scriptures there and that we would understand it clearly and Lord through understanding it we would not just be satisfied with knowing it but we would live it out that we would be people that not only hear the word and understand the word by the aid of your spirit but also by the aid of your spirit have the word impact our lives to grow the muscle the ability to see how should i change my life in light of this truth today so i pray that's what we would all do i pray for those who are mature in christ that they would continue to move forward and mature more for those who are new believers in Christ that they would be encouraged of their Savior and see the beauties of sanctification. And for those who are outside of Christ that are before me now, oh Lord, would you even compel them to come into the vineyard for the fruit that Christ provides is sweet and good. Oh Lord, would you help us all, everyone in this room, would you aid us in this time that we have together to look at your word.

We praise you and thank you in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the word, the one who has taken on flesh and dwelt among us to give us grace upon grace. It's in his name we pray. Amen. One of the common things I do in counseling when someone comes in with a problem that they have, an issue that they're facing in their life, one of the common things that I do is I'll bring up very foundational Christian truths, foundational Christian terms, and I'll ask a lot of questions as to whether or not the person who I'm counseling can answer the basic truths.

One of the things that we as Christians fall into is we can have these Christian terms that we hear almost every week, and it can just be something that we think we know, but then when we're asked, what does that mean, our minds will think, well, it's a simple thing I know, but I just cannot answer it. And it's usually the reason why it cannot be answered that's leading to certain issues in the practice of that Christian. And what I'll often say is that not only do I want you to know these foundational truths, but I want you to sing it out in worship in your knowledge and understanding of it.

And it's typically through that transition of knowing and worship that these problems tend to be fixed. And so here we have in John, this Gospel of John, we have very foundational terms that if we're not careful, that can happen to us. Terms like believe. We hear that all the time, don't we? Believe. Terms like things like Jesus, Son of God, Christ, and eternal life.

These are words we hear all the time. And you need to ask yourself, define it. What is it? How does it refer to your life? What does it look like in your life today? How is it showing itself in worship today in your soul?

And this is what John, And remember, his main aim of this book is to underline that he wants you to believe upon Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of God, and through belief, have life. Those three we talked about two weeks ago, main elements of this gospel, believe Jesus and life is his thrust of the whole gospel. And we're going to see it start playing out here in the prologue.

And so it's something that we need to, as Christians, grab hold of and understand, and not just assume that we know. And he's going to use other words to explain it like darkness, light. What do those things mean within Christianity? And so we need to grab hold of this so we can understand what these foundational truths of belief Jesus and life truly means And we see him begin to play this out in the beginning of his gospel We call it the prologue the prologue of his gospel verses 1 through 18 Now every gospel starts with some sort of introduction.

Every gospel doesn't just start right into the narrative. Every gospel has some sort of introduction. Matthew has a genealogy of Jesus. Mark has a prophecy, a little one, and then he gets right into the narrative. He gets quickly into it. Luke starts with a note to Theophilus, and here in John we have what we call a prologue.

A prologue is like a summary of the entire gospel in a poetic nutshell, if I can say that. That's what the prologue is. It's a summary of the entire gospel, the entire book, just 18 verses in poetic form. And so with the main point at the end of the gospel for you to believe Jesus' life, we're going to see that teased out in those first 18 verses of this prologue.

We're going to see what life is. What is life? What does it mean? We're going to see who Jesus is in relation to that life, and we're going to see what it means to truly believe. And we're going to see this play out in three categories. the first few verses of the prologue, we're going to see it played out in the word as life, the word as light, and finally we'll see it as the word as witness, and it's going to inform our understanding of his main point there.

So let's start in verse one, the word as life, the word as life. In verse one he says, in the beginning was the word. Now again, when I ask you, If you're thinking of the word life, what does it mean? What does eternal life mean? How would you describe that? What does that mean to have life?

If someone comes to me and they say, or if you're thinking to yourself, this just isn't fair in creation, something has happened in your life that you just say, doesn't God just want me to be happy? You might not use those words because you know too much Christianity. But in your spirit, you're thinking that. That's why we murmur and complain. And the issue is we do not have a proper definition or understanding what life is.

And so here, this is what John is doing. He is giving us a definition. He's giving us an understanding. What is life? And he begins in verse 1 by saying, In the beginning was the Word. And so this first sentence would have been explosive with life to the original hearers.

You had two main categories of original hearers. You have the Jews and you have the Gentiles. And when the Jews heard in the beginning, they would think of life. Why? They would think of Genesis 1, wouldn't they? They would think in the beginning was God, and then the whole week of creation, the whole week of physical life being formed.

And so this is purposely used by John to start explaining what life is to us. And he starts in a way in which the Jew would hear this and think life, and then the Gentile would hear was the word and think life as well. In the beginning, Jews would think life was the, he doesn't say God, the word. And the Gentile philosopher would think life as well. Now why is that?

That word, word there in chapter 1, verse 1, that's the word logos. And that logos word is a very rich Gentile philosophical term. Now don't go to sleep. Hang on a second. It's a very rich Gentile philosophical term. You see, we take it for granted, but everything in creation tends to just promote reason and life.

Have you ever noticed that? I've talked about that before. It's that we take it for granted, right? That everything is promoting reason. There's always a reason for something in creation, and it's always promoting life. We take it for granted, but that's what's happening.

I mean, think about it. Take a walk in the park in the springtime, and think of all the diversity of everything around you. The birds, the flower, the sun, the clouds, the rain, the everything. and it's all purposeful, and it's all promoting life. We take it for granted. But the Greek philosophers are really good at making things really complicated. They ask, why is that the case?

Why is there life and not non-life? Why is there reason and not non-reason? And here, John is purposefully, because he's teaching us what life is, he's using this hot-button word, this rich Gentile philosophical term, by saying in the beginning, before there was creation, but on the eve of it, there was the word, the logos, the reason, the life. He's saying, yes, the explanation, oh Gentile philosopher, that you gave to why there's life and not non-life, there has to be some kind of word that makes things possible.

He's saying, yes, I know who that is, what that is. That is the word. That is the word who became flesh. That is Jesus. so this first verse here is explosive with this life in the beginning was the reason was the life was the one who took on flesh and he's going to um explain who this word is and in explaining who this word is we're going to get a further understanding of what life is when he says, and the word was with God in verse one and going into two, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. I see the problem there, right? Think critically there for a second. Don't be critical of the Bible, but think deeply about that. Think about what John is saying there, and he's not blushing about it. I guarantee you when he wrote that he didn't blush once he's saying the word was with God the word was God the word was with God he's repeating that just so you get the the difference there is that he was with God he is God with God and that is teaching us what life is because the word the one who took on flesh Jesus the son of God the Christ he is God himself He is the essence of who God is But at the same time he also with God and fellowship with God And so what we have here is the teaching of the triune God, of one God who exists in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

And so this word that he's identifying here in the beginning of his gospel is the one who was in the beginning, before creation, as life. He was God, yet at the same time was with God. The word has the essence of God, yet is distinct and person with the Father and so shares fellowship with God at the same time. It is okay for your brain to hurt to consider that.

That's okay. That is the nature of who God is. He's far beyond us. We cannot articulate or understand him truly. We can just kind of get taste of him. We can truly understand him, but we can't understand him of his full essence.

And so this is who he's identifying is the word. And we see this kind of oneness of God yet in distinct three persons in the creation account in Genesis 1. if you look in genesis 1 you remember uh the account says in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth but then in verse 2 we have the earth was out form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of god was hovering over the face of the water so there we have a distinction of that one god with the spirit of god and then we see in genesis 1 26 then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So we see the distinction of that one Godhead in different persons.

And then right after he says that, in verse 29 and 31, he says, God said, behold, I have given you to the human every plant yielding seed and dot, dot, dot. So in other words, God can go from us to I without blushing either. Because as true of a statement it is that God is one, one in essence. It's just as true of a statement to say that he's three in person.

And this is what we're getting at here in the gospel. This is the teaching on life that John is getting at, is that this word that was before time began, he was one essence with God, yet distinct with God, thus has perfect fellowship with him. Now I keep on saying that because it's vital to understand what life is. The essence of God with fellowship with God.

And we're going to talk about why that's more important in a bit. The Second London Baptist Confession says it like this, God has all life, glory, goodness, and blessedness in and of himself. He alone is all sufficient in himself. Now when we think of life, we can't help but think of creation. That's just, we're in creation but god is life outside of creation he is the essence of life and creation just simply points to the fact that he is life and so this is what john is trying to put on our minds and hearts is that in the beginning the word was pure essence of god pure life was there in fellowship also with god and from this god came all of creation in which we see in verse three all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made all things have the mark of purpose and life because it was made by the word the son of god who has life in himself the perfect essence of god this is why you under why the understanding of what true life must start with god to understand what life is it has to start with god because he's the perfect essence of life.

And it does not even include, if it does not include God in it, it's going to be a false understanding of life. But God's physical creation through, it's beautiful and awesome, it is not the whole definition of what life is. So there we have the God who is, the word, the essence of God, and fellowship with God he creates. And so if we're thinking what is life, to simply just think that's what it is, it's just the creation that's before him that he's created, and that's all life is, that's what John has in mind when he uses the word life, is to miss half the point.

Now, it's enough for animals to be in creation and enjoy life, and that's enough for them. But we are created in God's image. So if we're going to say that we have life, it's more than just simply being alive in God's creation. It is more than that. And to get that understanding, we've got to go from the word as life to the word as light. When he says in verse 4, in him was life and the life was the light of men see we're talking about what is life what does it mean to have eternal life well part of it is to understand that creation came forth from life but if we just stop there then we miss the whole point of what it means to actually have the full totality of life it isn't just simply having our being in creation it's more than that and what is that more it is to have light as well and that's what he says in him was life the word but he's also the light of men.

This word who made all things as true God and true fellowship with God is all of life and also the light of men. So we got to ask ourselves, what does it mean that he's light? What does light mean there? Light is understanding directed by God's word or the word. Light is understanding directed by God's word. Now I want you to remember, who is God?

He's the perfect essence of life itself, but also the word enjoys fellowship with God. So if we're going to talk about what does it mean to have life, it means to enjoy God's creation that came forth from him, but it means to enjoy it through light or understanding or fellowship with him. We cannot have eternal life We cannot have life itself if we not in God creation with understanding or with light if that makes sense If we going about creation without light or understanding that is not life indeed that is actually called death or darkness And so here John moves as he's trying to explain what eternal life is to us.

He says all creation came forth from him, all life came forth from him, but he also has given us, he is light to men or understanding to men so we can enjoy this creation with understanding through him. Light, again, is understanding directed by God's word or the word. And we cannot have life if we are not directed by understanding of who God is and what he has for us in his creation.

John 8, 12, Jesus says, Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the definition of life is not simply to try to enjoy God's creation like an animal, but being in God's image, the definition of life is enjoying God's creation by walking in his light or his word. if we're not walking in his light or his word with understanding we are not truly enjoying life as john is defining it we got it this is the way all scripture points to god puts humans in his creation and gives him his word his light to understand and to enjoy his creation with he did that in the garden didn't he?

He created a beautiful garden, full of life, right? You read that account, beautiful garden, full of life. Adam and Eve is put in there, but he doesn't stop there because they're not just animals. They're made in his image. So therefore he gives them what? Light, understanding.

You may not eat of this fruit. This is light. This is understanding. To enjoy this creation, you must have understanding, light, and here it is. Do not eat of that fruit. Or you think of the Israelites, When they are given the promised land, beautiful promised land filled with all of God's creative power.

But he doesn't just say, here, enjoy it, run around and go crazy. But he says, you've got to obey these rules. Or here's the light for you, here's the law, here's the light for you to walk in this promised land and enjoy life truly. And so this is what life is. It's to be in God's creation that came forth from him as life. life, but doing so by his light or understanding or his word, doing it through that prism.

That is what life is. The book of Proverbs is all about this as well. Proverbs 4, 18, but the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, right? There's all sorts of paths in God's creation, but the path of righteousness or lawfulness or God's word is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day or proverbs 6 23 for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching the word is a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life or psalm 119 105 your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path what is life life is living in god's creation by his understanding, by his word, by his light.

That is what life is. If you want to have life indeed, it does not depend on circumstances. It does not depend on how much or how little you have of his creation. The one who has death will face a difficult circumstance and moan and complain. The one who has darkness will face a difficult circumstances and moan and complain. The one who has life will face the same difficult circumstances and find it all joy to see what it means to live by understanding or light in that circumstance that's what life is that's what eternal life is understanding never you know having light having understanding never just stays in the head but it always is practiced in the world for life now there's a problem okay so we have in the word in the beginning was the word who's the essence of life itself he creates and then he makes man in his image and he says here's understanding here's light this is how you enjoy life truly in my creation but there's a problem isn't there adam did not walk in light he denied the command or israel did not walk in the light in the promised land, they denied it.

And this is what John gets to in the next verse. The problem is there's something called darkness. In verse 5, the light of John chapter 1 verse 5, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. So there's a thing called darkness. There's a thing called darkness in which instead of living in accordance with God's word and his light and his understanding and creation, we instead live according to a different standard or a different purpose, and the scriptures calls it our fleshly desires.

And so we should look through creation, say God has given us all these beautiful things to enjoy, and I do it through understanding of understanding who he is, and instead we say, no, I can do it this way instead. I can do it my own way or my own word instead, and John calls this darkness. But notice what his point here is. Notice John says the darkness has not overcome the light.

He says the darkness has not overcome the light. The light shines in the darkness. Understanding truth shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome the light. The truth always has a way of coming out and shining bright. The darkness cannot get rid of it. This is a side thing.

But that's why I like the nonsense in our culture, right? all the nonsense of the liberalism and gender confusion and all that kind of stuff, that's going to go away. That doesn't last. It's complete and utter nonsense and darkness and non-truth. It cannot continue. that way. But what does continue is light. You can try to cover it for a bit, but it has a way of just shining bright.

And here, John is referring to that same principle, saying the light, the understanding, the truth that Christ provides, the word provides, the darkness cannot overcome it. It cannot overtake it. But here's the issue. The darkness can stop you from receiving and enjoying light. So you see, darkness cannot overcome light, cannot overcome the truth, cannot overcome the understanding, but it can overcome you so that you do not receive the light, you do not receive the understanding, so you do not receive the life that comes from living in understanding and creation.

It can overcome you to make your desires go forth to death instead of light. So again, darkness cannot overcome light, but it can overcome you. Look at John. Go to John. We're in John right now. Go to chapter 12, 35 to see that point.

Go to John chapter 12, verse 35. I wish I could do a thing where I made everyone use paper Bibles. And it's for this reason. So I can hear when everyone's done doing this. I always say it, but I always think it. I wish I could make a decree of law.

You cannot use digital Bibles. You must use paper Bibles so I can hear when you have stopped flipping. All right, 1235. So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer. He's referring to himself as the word is light. While, walk while you have the light, less darkness, look at that word right there, overtake, not me, not the light, less darkness overtake you.

The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. That word overtake there, you see that word overtake? It's the same word that we just read in verse 5 of chapter 1. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The same Greek word. So the point is that the darkness cannot overcome the light.

It will not ever. But it can overcome you so that you do not receive the light, So you do not walk with understanding in creation or in the life that God has before you. So, going back to chapter 1, verse 1 through 9, here's the situation. Here's where we're at. I know there's a lot of things there. We're talking about the Trinity.

Anytime you start talking about the Trinity, it can get kind of abstract and confusing. So I want to make sure we're on the same page. The word as life, the word, Jesus Christ, Son of God, the word as life created all things, and therefore everywhere we look we see purpose in life, don't we? That's why. That's the answer. That's why we see reason in life, because it was created by the word who is life.

The word as light is our understanding to walk this life properly, to enjoy life truly. that is who the word is light is word is life the word is light but we have darkness that is the enticement to walk according to our own word instead thankfully the darkness does not overtake the light but it can and has overtaken humanity people the light is there and i like proverbs 1 20 through 21 i think it reveals this point wisdom cries out in the street in the market She raises her voice at the head of the noisy street. She cries out at the entrance of the city gates. She speaks It's it's like wisdom cries out truth cries out light cries out Here I am But in our darkness we have a deaf ear to it and we walk our own way instead Therefore what is needed for us What is needed Wouldn it be so nice if there was no such thing as darkness and we just always walked in the light of the word of God?

But then Christ wouldn't be as glorified. And so this is why he's done what he's done. What do we need because of darkness? Because it can overtake us. It can overtake us in our daily walk. We can be murmuring, complaining.

In fact, there's always an occasion in which it's wanting to overtake us. What do we need? We need a witness that proclaims the light so that the light can be believed. And this is what the word is, witnesses. John 1, 6 through 8, look at what the text says. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

That's John the Baptist. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through his witnessing. But he was not the light but came to bear witness about the light. So what do we need? What does the world need? The world needs a witness.

It needs people pointed to the light, to understanding, to the word of God, to say that, yes, all around you is life indeed, but to truly enjoy it as life, you need to believe, you need to see, you need to walk in this light. We need that witness. Now, John the Baptist is identified by John, the writer, as the witness to light, so that all would believe.

And this is just a prologue. So he's introducing John. we're going to get a lot more expansion on who John the Baptist is in the rest of this chapter and in the couple after. But suffice it to say now, in the prologue, John stands as a witness to the light of Jesus for the sake of your belief in Jesus. He does not point to himself. He points to the light.

He points to Jesus. He points to something beyond himself. He points to the light, to the word. So if life is to live in creation with God's light, then we need to have a witness and believe the witness of what that light is. That's how darkness doesn't overcome us, is when we believe upon the witness to what and who the light is and believe and follow.

So what was John's witness? What was his message? When we read John the Baptist, he's in every single gospel. What was his witnessing all about? Well, look at what he says in your Bibles. Look at what he says in John 1, 23.

This is like the pinnacle of his... Well, I'm not going to say the pinnacle. You'll see why in a second. But this is like a main point of his witnessing of his teaching. In chapter 1, verse 23, he said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. He's in the wilderness, which represents darkness.

That's one of the reasons why he picked the wilderness. He's representing, this is a dark world, and I'm crying out as a witness, you need to turn away from sin. You need to walk the path of righteousness, of light, of understanding instead. In fact, he says in Matthew 3.11, you don't need to flip there, Matthew 3.11, or Matthew 3.1 and 2, in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand this was John's message he was one looking to the light and says you need to walk according to understanding you need to walk according to his word you need to walk according to him not according to your own flesh this message this witness makes sense since we are called to live in accordance to light in this world therefore we need to repent and turn away from darkness but that's not all John the Baptist preached is it because if that's all it was if it was just simply me up here John the Baptist because by the way John the Baptist is right before Jesus right he's the fulfillment of all the prophets right before Jesus Jesus comes and then you have the church after him that proclaims the same witness And that all we did is say hey shape up fool You want to know why you depressed and sad and whatever all the time It's because you're not living according to light, moron.

And then I just go. That's it. That's not the message, is it, though? That's not the completed message. It certainly is involved in it. You want to know why your life is miserable or whatever?

It's because you're not living according to light. So therefore you have no eternal life. But that's not the end of his message. What's the fulfillment of his message? Look what he says in John 1, verse 29. John the Baptist says, the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and he said what?

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So not only does Jesus stand as the word is light to say this is what walking in understanding is, this is what truth is, this is what the laws, this is what my commands are, but he is the light by saying, and I'm going to take on your darkness, your sin, and enable you to walk according to light. This is the gospel.

This is the good news that we can see. Yes, that makes sense why I'm miserable. That makes sense why I face so much hardship in this world. It's because I walk according to darkness, my own fleshly desires. But that's not where it ends. The light ends, the word is light ends, and I will take on flesh and take on your sin and take on your darkness.

So that's why when John sees Jesus, he gets so excited. He says, behold, here he is. The one who takes our darkness away. Right here. In Matthew 3.11, he says, John the Baptist says, I baptize you with water for repentance. I call on you to repent.

Turn away from lawlessness. Turn away from darkness. but he who is coming after me is mightier than I whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry he will baptize you with whom? The Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ comes, takes on our darkness dies for our sins, the dominion of sin is dealt with in his death and resurrection and he gives us the Spirit instead and the Spirit animates us to walk according to light in this world so that we enjoy life truly.

This is the good news of the gospel. This is the good news of Jesus. He, as the light, does not just scream at you from a mountaintop his law and tell you to obey it, but he comes down from the mountaintop and gives you the ability to receive and obey the light. The Word, the Son of God, the Christ, took on flesh and dwelt among us and died for his people's sins.

So that instead of sin, we would have the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to walk in according to his life, light, and enjoy life truly. Jesus is the lawgiver. He demands the things that make for life. And in our darkness, he takes that upon himself and he gives you the light of grace, forgiveness, of strength to walk this life in light. I love the hymn, And Can It Be.

Absolutely love it. I love the third verse, I think it is. Long my imprisoned spirit lay. Long my imprisoned spirit lay. Fast bound in sin and nature's what? Night, darkness. desires of the flesh, wickedness.

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. Amazing love How can it be that thou my God should die for me Not simply just say you need to correct yourself fool It is a I will correct you O sinner I love the chains, falls off. He's enabled to get up and follow and be with the light.

Behold, true belief. What is belief? I write these things so you would believe. Who Jesus is, the Son of God, the Christ. What is true belief? Who is Jesus?

What is true eternal life? Belief in Jesus enables the dominion of sin to be taken away from you to where you are enabled by following him each day to live according to his light. This is to enjoy eternal life today as you anticipate the full reality in the future. This is true belief. This is the true Jesus. the strong Jesus, the true God who created all things, who is true life, who is true light, who died for you to believe and receive that light, that eternal life.

This is what Christ provides, and this is what John is highlighting here in this prologue. Behold the life becoming the light, becoming the grace needed for us to walk in this life by light and receive perfect unity, fellowship with God. We talked about, I want to make sure I highlight this before I end this morning, we talked about who God is. He is perfectly life.

That's who he is. His essence is life and everything that he's made is a fingerprint of that. That's why everything around us is life. But that's not all. That is all. But he's also fellowship with God too.

What is life? God is life. And fellowship with God was there in the beginning too. And so if we're going to enjoy this life, we need to enjoy it in fellowship with him. We need to enjoy it in light and understanding and following him. And Jesus Christ, our Lord, sees our weakness, sees our darkness, sees our misery, and he says, I will help you, O sinner, by dying and rising again and giving us light in his spirit.

Let us praise our God for this truth. Let us look to be solidified in what it means to believe this truth and what that means for our life to be walking in eternal life. Let us pray. Oh, Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord. There are many circumstances in life, God, that causes us to be afraid, that causes us to, Lord, if we're not walking according to light, it causes us to murmur and complain. we can pursue things in this creation, this good creation of our own self.

Oh God, what a gift it is to see that the light that you call us to is enabled by Jesus Christ, by his grace. That we can walk this life today, right now, with a desire above everything to have sweet fellowship with Christ in light by his grace and mercy. And so Lord, let us look at our circumstances that we have our being in this creation. Let us see it through the prism of fellowship with you.

That if you are ordained, certain circumstances that are difficult, help us to see with the greatest desire, oh, let me use this to be closer to God through Jesus Christ the Lord who has made it possible. May we not be murmurers or complainers. May we not lose focus of what it means to truly believe upon this Jesus for eternal life. But let us see our life found in following him, the light, by his mercies and grace.

So that it transforms our desires, transforms our lives, transforms our actions, transforms our days. Oh Lord, give us this true belief and this true Jesus so we can receive this true life even today. We praise you and thank you in his name. Amen.