The Gospel of Luke: Jesus is for everyone – Darkness or light – Will you reject or respond to Jesus
Luke 11:14-16 & 29-36
- Do you know the difference between light and darkness? – The Jews thought they had got it all right. Jesus did not fit in, He was different. He sounded like a heretic. He did not add up. The crowds had decided that Jesus must be bad, that He must be of darkness. They wanted Jesus to prove that He wasn’t of darkness.
- Only repentance and faith can save you from condemnation – The people of Ninevah were not Jews, but when Jonah came to them they repented of their sins and were saved from God’s judgement. This crowd were rejecting Jesus. Jesus is saying that heritage means nothing. Our response to Jesus is what matters. Will you reject or respond to Jesus? Our eternal destiny depends on whether we accept Jesus.
- Do you prefer darkness or light? – The crowd were convinced they were living in God’s light. Jesus told them that they were living in darkness. Light exposes and dispels darkness. We struggle to give up sin because we like it. Darkness hides our sin. We prefer the darkness because we don’t want to lose our sin and what it gives us. We prefer darkness to light. God sees everything and puts His finger on the things in our lives that need to be exposed to the light and dealt with. Jesus is not truly Lord of our lives until He is Lord of ALL of our life.
- Let your light shine – Light only shines if it is uncovered. If Jesus has shone His light into our lives then we need to allow it to shine show that others may come into the light.