Jesus Warned Us - The Light Is Leaving Soon | Mysteries in the Gospel of John

You don't have till next week, you don't have till next year. You don't know if you're going to die tonight. How long will it be, beloved, until we make a decision to truly repent? Have you ever felt like you were alone or trapped by darkness? Maybe it's loneliness, maybe it's thoughts of anxiety or depression. But all of us understand that we are in a war in this world. And although there's beauty and light all around us, and we see it in creation like you're seeing here behind me in the woods, these beautiful trees, yet in the midst of God's glory around us, we're also in a spiritual war with darkness. We're going to be talking today about how to get out of that darkness. And we're going to the Gospel of John. Jesus is about to go to the cross. His hour had come. These are close to his final words before going to the cross. So Jesus said to them, for a little while longer, the light is among you. Walk while you have the light so the darkness will not overtake you. He walks in the darkness, does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you might become sons of light. John talks a lot in his gospel about light and darkness. For example, in the first chapter, verses one through five, John talks about Jesus being the light and life of the world. And he speaks about the light or the life shines in the darkness, John said, and the darkness cannot overpower it or cannot comprehend it. John understood that we are living in a spiritual atmosphere. And although we can't see spirit, it's real. How do you explain, for example, not only the glory of God in the earth, like when you look at a beautiful flower, like purple flowers, orange flowers, yellow flowers, all the different species of flowers, so precious and so beautiful. How do we explain the glory and beauty of God in creation, the innocence of God? When you look at the eyes or the face of a giraffe or the power of God,

when you look at a lion or a hippopotamus or a tiger, all the attributes of God are seen in his creation. That's why Paul tells us in the book of Romans that God's invisible attributes and eternal power are clearly seen in the things that he's made. So we're surrounded by the glory of God. When John saw the Lord in the book of Revelation, he saw the angels crying out in Revelation chapter four, and the angels were saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah saw the same thing when he saw the Lord in a vision in Isaiah chapter six. God's glory is all around us in the earth, the beauty of it all. And at times we see the glory of God in humanity, the kindness that is sometimes shared with one human being to another human being. So God's light is here, but the darkness, beloved, is also here. So we see atrocities taking place in wars and crisises and tragedies over the earth. We see people starving to death. We see people being wiped out in pandemics and mass spreading of diseases. All these horrendous things, the atrocities that are done from one man to another man, whether it's in prison or whether it's in parts of the world where brutal gangs are reigning. This just tells us, beloved, that we're in a war, that we have the spirit of light and life that's evidenced in what we see in creation. But we also see the reality of spiritual darkness through the types of things that I've just talked about. And so Jesus comes into the world and he's the expression of the visible God. And he says, I am the light of the world. And he that believes in me and follows me will be delivered out of the darkness. So if you're in a situation in your life right now and you just feel overwhelmed by darkness, maybe you're just feeling mass confusion. You're having a hard time thinking straight and you're terrified. Maybe you're living in an atmosphere of chaos and you're feeling overwhelmed by it. Maybe you're facing some other type of enormous problem that is just causing you such anxiety or stress.

Maybe you're dealing with what you feel are satanic or demonic attacks on your mind. or are happening to in your sleep. All this, beloved, is coming from the darkness that Jesus has come to deliver us from. So let's listen again to what Jesus says shortly before going to the cross, rather. "'For a little while longer, the light is among you.'" Now, of course, Jesus is speaking to the fact that he was gonna be crucified soon, but the truth is, just a little while longer, beloved, and the opportunity to choose light is given to you and I, because our life is short. Our life is like a vapor on the earth, and we can keep on putting off, making a decision to fully bow down to follow Jesus, to pick up our cross, and by the will of our soul, saying, Jesus Christ is Lord, and I'm gonna deny myself, and I'm gonna obey him. So for a little while, we have the light. We have a short opportunity on this earth to pick up our cross and truly decide to follow Jesus. Jesus just got done covering this earlier in the Gospel of John, when he said, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. And he was speaking about we need to die to our own will to follow him if we're gonna have life and be fruitful. So we just have a short opportunity to do the things that the Spirit's calling us to do, and pick up our cross and obey the Lord

and follow the light. Changing the way we treat people. How long will we be selfish? How long will we put off mastering anger? How long will we put off taking advantage of people? How long will we put off sowing into the kingdom of God through our time, treasures, and talents? How long will it be till we get serious about binding with our brothers and sisters in real relationships? How long will it be, beloved, until we make a decision to truly repent, to believe and follow Jesus? So Jesus is saying here, you just have the light with you for a little longer. That's our life, just a short time. You can't wait and put it off because you don't know if you're gonna die tonight. You may die today. It may be tomorrow. It may be next week. It may be next year. You can't put it off. If you wanna be delivered from the darkness, you have to make a decision to fully give your life to Jesus and make those changes in your life that the Holy Spirit is calling you to make and will give you the power to make. You have to make a decision to do that absolutely right now, because if you don't, you may die in your sin.

And that would be a tragedy beyond words. So Jesus is saying, for a little while longer, not a long time. You don't have till next week. You don't have till next year. You can't put it off for 10 years. You can't wait till you get a little older because you just have the opportunity for a little while. This is why the scripture says, if today we hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Today is the day of salvation. You can't choose when you respond to the Lord. You could only respond when the Holy Spirit brings you the faith and the conviction to do so. It's the goodness of God that leads to repentance. Jesus says, for a little while longer, you have the light. You know what happens to people that don't respond to the light when the Lord is knocking at their door? They're hard to respond. You know what happens to those people? The scripture tells us in the book of Thessalonians that the Lord sends a deluding influence upon those that refuse to yield to his spirit, that God will not strive with man forever. And so I just want you to hear today, if there's things in your life that you know you're putting off, serious things, serious things, particularly relational things, the way that you treat other people.

Maybe it's your spouse. Maybe it's how you're spending your finances. Maybe it's that you haven't been willing to be an outspoken witness for Jesus. I'm telling you, friends, you can't keep on putting it aside thinking one day because if you do, you may die having never repented. And so Father, I pray for all those that are listening right now. And Father, you're provoking their heart and they're hearing this word and they feel that they need to respond. Father, help them to yield and to open their heart and respond to you once and for all firmly right now in Jesus' name, in Yeshua's name, amen. Continuing on, for a little while longer, the light is among you. Walk while you have light so the darkness will not overtake you. He walks in the darkness, does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light. How do you get out of the darkness? That's how we began today. How do you get out of the darkness? How do you come out of depression? How do you come out of anxiety? How do you come out of loneliness? By believing in the light. And what is the light? God's word is light. God's word is a light into our path.

Jesus is the word. So we put our faith in the light. We put our faith in Messiah Yeshua. And then what we do, beloved, is we endeavor to seize and believe in his word. And it's oftentimes an act of the will. It's a retraining your heart. It's a retraining your mind. It's making a decision to agree with God's word. When thoughts of fear assail you, what do you do? You affirm God's word, Father, I will trust you. I will not be afraid. When you're feeling hatred towards somebody else, what do you do? You reject that spirit and you say, Father, I agree with your word. I will not allow hatred to germinate in my heart. Jesus, I want to be like you when you were on the cross. You said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And Father, I pray for the children of those that are watching right now. Father, I lift them up to you that you would teach them and train them how to walk in the light and you use the parents and grandparents that are walking right now. Hearing, Lord, your voice from my words, that they would help their children and grandchildren learn how to obey you and walk in the light. So Jesus says, while you have the light, believe in the light so that you might become sons of light. As you believe in the light, as you put your faith in the supernatural God, as you appropriate his word into you by eating his flesh, drinking his blood, and applying it, backing it up with action, this takes work. We work out our salvation in fear and troubling. If we're not digesting God's word, how could we expect to be sanctified by the light? Because Jesus is the light of the world and he's the word of God. So unless we're spending time in the word of God, how can we expect that things are

going to change? How can we expect we're going to be delivered? Because Jesus' truth is his words. Jesus said this, listen, this is really important. Jesus said this, the words that I speak to you, the words that are recorded in the Bible, they are spirit and they are life. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. When Yeshua said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood means taking in and eating his word. We have to be in the word. We have to receive the word. We have to affirm the word. We have to repeat the word. We have to pray about the word. We have to ask the Lord to confirm the word in our heart and give us faith to believe it. This is how we come out of the darkness, beloved, taking one step at a time towards Jesus forward, obeying the light by moving forward in his word. Continuing on, these things Jesus spoke and he went away and hid himself from them. You know, we need time to break away from mankind. Some people to just be alone with the Lord. The Lord had to break away from people, being with people all the time. These things again, Jesus spoke and he went away and hid himself from them. And so it gives us a model here that we need time in our life just like Yeshua did to break away from human relationships, to just spend time alone with God. Some people, they can't bear being alone, even though they're not alone, they're alone with God. But some people, they can't do it because they're so tormented by their anxiety and by the thoughts that come into their mind. It makes them so uncomfortable to be alone that they never do it.

So they're always involved, talking to somebody, texting somebody, being in social gatherings. Beloved, you can't ever know God if you don't spend time alone with him. Just like Jesus did, oftentimes going to a lonely place to pray. Don't run from your thoughts, face your thoughts, sit before the Lord in your anxiety, sit before the Lord in your boredom. It will become a stepping stone for you into God's presence. And this is a discipline and it takes a lot, a long time to enter into his fullness. But nothing good comes easy. Everything that's worth something takes effort and takes time. So understand, beloved, that this is important, disciplining yourself by the grace of God to spend time alone with him, to hide yourself in him. just like Jesus did. So once again, Jesus went away and hid himself from them. Now listen to the next verse, verse 37. But though he had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in him. Now I wonder how many that are listening right now. God's done so many things in your life. He's proven himself to you so many times, yet you're still having a hard time believing him. I think that's true of all of us to some degree, including me. God's done so many things for me, but you know what? I find myself at times not having confidence that God's favor is always on me. So more and more, I'm pressing forward to ascertain that his love is constantly surrounding me, learning how to discern the difference between his voice and the enemy's voice. The enemy wants us to feel that we're separated from God.

He wants us to feel accused. But the Lord wants us to take a hold of the fact that he loves us, that he'll never leave us or forsake us. And so even as Yeshua had performed so many signs in Israel, and yet many were not believing, we could take a spiritual application from that and ask ourselves, how many times has the Lord proven himself to me, yet I'm still having a hard time trusting him? I'm still having a hard time obeying him. Maybe you just want to reach out to him right now and say, Lord, that's true about me. I'm doubting you times. You've done so many things for me. I've seen your hand in my life, yet I still find myself worrying, not trusting you, not believing you. I still find myself fearing and getting shaken off base because I'm not really believing you and trusting you, though you've done so many things for me. So Father, I repent right now and I ask you to forgive me. And I say, I'm sorry, Father, I want to take hold of you right now and believe you fully. Satan, I put up a wall against you. I'm going to stop distrusting God. I'm going to stop believing your lies. Father, I believe that I'm loved by you, that I'm your son, that I'm your daughter, that you're my daddy, that your goodness will be upon me all the days of my life,

that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Will you take a hold of that now, beloved one, with me? Let's not be like those ones in Israel, the Pharisees that saw all the signs but they didn't believe in them. Let's be like those that we've seen his glory in our life and we've taken a hold of him, we're affirming it. We're affirming it and believing in his love for us and going forward in confidence. Now, why were they not believing? John tells us in the next verse. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, which he spoke. Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason they could not believe. For Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them. This comes directly out of the book of Isaiah chapter six. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Notice that word us. Whom shall I send the Lord is speaking here and who will go for us? This is the same word that the Lord used in the book of Genesis chapter one,

that Lord said, let us, one and two, where the Lord said, let us make man in our image. We're seeing the multidimensional nature of the Godhead here, that there's relationship within God. Then Isaiah spoke. Then I said, here I am, send me. He said to Isaiah, go and tell this people, keep on listening, but do not perceive. Keep on looking, but do not understand. Run the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull and their eyes dim. Otherwise they may see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and return and be healed. This is a mystery here. God was blinding their eyes. Beloved, I want to encourage you, believe in the light while you have the light, lest you become blinded by the darkness. This is a warning, beloved. Today, the kingdom of God is at hand for you. In the book of Numbers chapter six, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive this blessing. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people,

the impartation of the Lord's blessings. I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive this blessing. Yissa Yahweh P'navei Lecha Ve'asem Lecha Shalom The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up by His countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.