Light & Dark
Priscilla Van Sutphin
May 19th, 2004
Gen 1:3-5 NKJV Then God said, "Let there be light"; & there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good (suitable, pleasant) & He approved it; & God separated the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, & the darkness He called Night. And there was evening & there was morning, one day.
Gen 1:7 NKJV Thus God made the firmament, & divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
Gen 1:17-18 NKJV God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
The passages above are also PIVOTAL to the whole issue with homosexuality & other sins, as well, in God dividing light from the darkness inside of us. I was watching Rod Parsley speak on this & God began to speak to me. Rod was talking on how we have to understand that we cannot compromise.
Zeph 3:5 NKJV The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.
God separates us from darkness in our soul in His sanctification of us. He told us to separate ourselves from all that is unholy. To have nothing to do with the unfruitful deeds of darkness. Anyone who permits, approves of sin has part in it the bible says. And I thought to my phone conversation with the SBC employee today & when he brought up an issue with his homosexual friend, [he knew I was a Christian because of a few things said between us just before] he told me that that friend couldn't stay in New Zealand as he didn't feel the freedom he had in LA for his "lifestyle", & I said "sad."
I thought, why did I say that as he could have interpreted that as sympathy for the situation ? And we shouldn't be tolerant of it. That would be unsanctified mercy. I don't agree with that sin. I just don't think we should treat them like they are not human, as they are made in the image & likeness of God. An example of TRUE LOVE is always a good WITNESS to those who've never received it. I've always been taught to love the person, but not the sin. In my heart I thought, praise the Lord he was uncomfortable there. Would it that they were all more uncomfortable here in the states! As we have so compromised that even the church is becoming "politically correct".
Yet I know that homosexuality is no greater sin than the sin of PRIDE & judgmental attitudes I've seen in the church, as if " we would never do that! " We have to have BALANCE in our thinking. Yet another thought came to me that an even better witness would be if he received so much love & truth where he was at that he came OUT of his homosexual lifestyle. I heard tonight of pastors teaching from the pulpit that oral sex is alright, & that Oprah had half of a show, exposing that many junior high age youth are doing oral sex. Perversion is not only about sex. That word has to do with twisting truth. Someone who judges another may be just as guilty.
Christians as if they were invulnerable to the same things, in PRIDE & arrogance, & lack of compassion for what has made them that way, is just as evil & hateful as the person who is walking in darkness. We have this tendency in our flesh to think somehow we've arrived when we are ALL falling short of the glory of God. Jesus I noticed was more severe with the Pharisees than any other group of people. He said to them, "HE who is without sin, cast the first stone." So before you go throwing stones at someone in your heart, it is good to take a look and see if there is ANYTHING in your own heart. Jesus said to remove the plank out of your OWN EYE, before correcting & judging others.
Main Entry: sod·omy Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French sodomie, from Late Latin Sodoma Sodom; from the homosexual proclivities of the men of the city in Gen 19:1-11 1 : copulation with a member of the same sex or with an animal
2 : noncoital & especially anal or oral copulation with a member of the opposite sex
We are so prone to deal with others in our flesh, rather than to deal with our own sin. To hate someone for example is the same as murder Jesus said.
And He also said, If you even look at a woman to lust after her, you are guilty of adultery. How many men or women in the church have lost their consciousness of nudity in the movies or TV ? How many have seen the rise of the approval of MURDER in movies & rationalizing it for "justified " reasons. Yet then condemn homosexuals. We need to get our light & darkness separated in our OWN HEARTS. Then, & only then will we be able to rightly "judge" with a PURE HEART. How many of us have been apathetic or insensitive or complacent to the things going on with others.
Did you know that apathy is aligned with murder sometimes in our hearts? Think about it.Think about it. If someone is in pain and sick, and you don't care enough to help them, or pray for them, it is like not caring if they live or die !
Doesn't it smack of the same problem the priest & levite had in the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10? If the man had died on the road, wouldn't they have been guilty of murder? If you see someone abusing their child next door over & over & don't report it, & then one day you come home to find out the ambulance & police were just there, & the child was killed from a beating, wouldn't it be the same as murder? YES it would! APATHY kills! It is protecting SELF. It is worshipping at the altar of self.
Did you know that sodomy includes oral sex? Yet they are teaching it to junior high students in England as safe sex alternative! And the STD's they get they don't seem concerned for. Now tonight Glywn sent an article in the paper how some guy wants to remove from the law in New Zealand, the law against incest!!!!! IF WE DON"T DO SOMETHING, it will be the same here! It is TIME to stop pretending as if nothing will happen. It is time to SPEAK OUT in TRUTH & LOVE.
This whole thing of God dividing light from darkness is what happens when GLORY COMES ! He divides, he separates the holy from the profane. The light of the Lord should so shine in us that it PROVOKES the darkness !
Paul said LOVE is the greatest ! Indeed it says in Ecclesiastes that LOVE is as strong as death. That is why it is the greatest. EVEN DEATH has to bow to LOVE & compassion of GOD through us. LOVE leads to REPENTANCE.
Yet we cannot align ourselves with darkness. We must keep our own temples MOST HOLY UNTO GOD. Every compromise opens us up to mixture in our thinking. God is separating us from the profane & vile things of the enemy right now. He is wanting a HOLY BRIDE on fire with LOVE for HIM. As we are filled with HIS HOLINESS & LOVE, then that love will invade all around us. He is shining His glory & it is highlighting all that is UNHOLY in our lives.
Luke 11:34-36 NKJV The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light."
Jer 15:19-21 AMP Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [& give up this mistaken tone of distrust & despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet & safety, & you will be My minister; & if you separate the precious from the vile [ cleansing your own heart from unworthy & unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness ], you shall be My mouthpiece. [ But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you--not you to [ the people ].
20 And I will make you to this people a fortified, bronze wall; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save & deliver you, says the Lord.
21 And I will deliver you out of the hands of the wicked, & I will redeem you out of the palms of the terrible & ruthless tyrants.
2 Sam 23:3-4 NKJV The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: 'He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, Like the tender grass springing out of the earth, By clear shining after rain.'
Neh 9:19 NKJV Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on the road; Nor the pillar of fire by night, To show them light, And the way they should go.
Job 12:22-24 NKJV He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light. 23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. 24 He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.
Job 12:25 NKJV They grope in the dark without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
Job 17:12-15 NKJV They change the night into day; 'The light is near,' they say, in the face of darkness. 13 If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness, 14 If I say to corruption, 'You are my father, 'And to the worm, 'You are my mother and my sister,' 15 Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?
Job 18:5-8 NKJV "The light of the wicked indeed goes out, And the flame of his fire does not shine. 6 The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp beside him is put out. 7 The steps of his strength are shortened, And his own counsel casts him down. 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks into a snare.
Job 22:27-29 NKJV You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, And you will pay your vows. 28 You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. 29 When they cast you down, and you say, 'Exaltation will come!' Then He will save the humble person. 30 He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands."
Job 37:23-24 NKJV As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, in judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress. 24 Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart."
Ps 18:28 NKJV For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
Ps 27:1 NKJV An Exuberant Declaration of Faith 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?
Ps 36:9 NKJV For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
Ps 37:6-7 NKJV He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday. 7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Ps 74:18 NKJV Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O LORD,
And that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.
Ps 89:15 NKJV Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.
Luke 1:78-79 NKJV Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace."
John 1:4-5 NKJV In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 3:19-21 NKJV And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
Matt 5:16 NKJV Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matt 10:27-28 NKJV Jesus Teaches the Fear of God (Luke 12:3-7)
"Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
