Deliverance from the Power of Darkness

Next Part Deliverance from the Power of Darkness 2

"Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. For he has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Col. 1:12, 13

True religion must be everything or nothing with us. In religion, indifference is ruin; neglect is destruction. Of all losses the loss of the soul is the only one that is utterly irreparable and irremediable. You may lose property, but you may recover the whole or a portion of it; you may lose health, but you may be restored to a larger measure of bodily strength than before your illness; you may lose friends, but you may obtain new ones, and those more sincere and valuable than any whom you have lost; you may lose reputation, but, like the sun behind a cloud, your character may shine with brighter luster than ever; you may lose life itself, as the blessed martyrs lost it in the flames of Smithfield, and yet find it, as the Lord himself declares– "He that finds his life shall lose it– and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it." (Matt. 10:39.) But if you lose your soul, what is to make up for that loss? What does the Lord himself say? "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26.)

Do you ever feel what a tremendous stake heaven or hell is? Have you ever felt that to gain heaven is to gain everything that can make the soul eternally happy, and to lose heaven is not only to lose eternal bliss, but to sink down into unfathomable, everlasting, unutterable woe? It is this believing sight and pressing sense of eternal things; it is this weighty, at times overpowering, feeling that they carry in their bosom an immortal soul which creates and keeps alive the exercises of the children of God, often makes them view the things of time and sense as mere toys and baubles, trifles lighter than vanity and pursuits empty as air, and gives them to feel that the things of eternity are the only solid, enduring realities.

The Apostle in the text, filled with a sense of these eternal realities, lifts up his heart in holy adoration, and calls upon the saints to join with him in thankfulness to the God of all their mercies, for what he has done for those who fear his great and glorious name, whom, by an act of sovereign, distinguishing grace, he has plucked as brands from the burning, and given a title to, and fitness for eternal bliss– "Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. For he has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."

Who are these whom the Apostle thus calls upon to give thanks unto the Father? Who are these whom he addresses as made fit to be partakers of this glorious inheritance? As delivered from the power of darkness and translated by a divine act into the kingdom of God's dear Son? It is "the saints and faithful brethren in Christ" to whom the epistle is addressed, of whose "faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints" he had heard, to whom the word of the truth of the gospel had come, and in whom it was bringing forth its blessed fruit."

In opening up the words before us, I shall, with God's help and blessing–

I. First, show what is the power of darkness, and how God delivers us from it.

II. Secondly, what the kingdom of God's dear Son is, and how the Lord translates us into it.

III. Thirdly, what is the inheritance of the saints in light, and how God makes us fit to be partakers of it.

IV. And lastly, how an experimental enjoyment of these divine blessings makes us give thanks unto the Father who has wrought these wonders for us and these marks of his grace in us.

May the Lord enable me so to speak that his own power and unction may accompany the word with a divine blessing to your hearts.

I. What is the power of darkness, and how God delivers us from it. The Apostle speaks of "the power of darkness." I shall, therefore, with God's blessing, explain first what "darkness" is, and then enter into the meaning of the expression "the power of darkness."

A. By "DARKNESS" we may understand several things, according to the testimony of the inspired record and the various meanings which it bears therein.

1. First, "darkness" is often used in the scriptures to signify ignorance, and especially that ignorance of God and godliness into which all men have been cast, by the transgression of our first parent. Used in that sense, it denotes that absolute, complete ignorance of everything spiritual, heavenly, and divine, that black and gloomy cloud of worse than midnight, deeper than Egyptian darkness, which broods so thickly and settles so densely over the minds of men. Thus the prophet speaks– "Darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the people." (Isaiah 60:2.) And again– "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light– those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined." (Isaiah 9:2.) So also– "And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:5.) In all these passages– and there are many more such in scripture– the word "darkness" is used to signify that dense ignorance which broods over the minds of men, so that they cannot see or know, understand or feel anything of the power of God's truth. Well has David described their state, "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness." (Psalm 82:5.)

This is the state described by the prophet as quoted by John, "Therefore they could not believe, because Elijah said again, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they could not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." (John 12:39, 40.) In this state all men are by nature, and in this state thousands live and die, ignorant of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, and therefore destitute of eternal life.

2. But "darkness" has in scripture another meaning– that of sin. Thus the Apostle speaks– "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Eph. 5:11.) We know that darkness favors sin; that when the sun goes down and night covers the earth, that is the time for the sinner to creep abroad to practice his deeds of wickedness. Just as the owl, when the sun declines and the shades of night fall, comes out of her ivy tower in quest of her prey, so does the ungodly sinner come forth in the evening gloom or the midnight hour to commit, under the veil of night, those deeds that shun the light of day.

There is in man a natural conscience. There is in people generally an approval of what is morally right and a disapproval of what is morally wrong; and there are laws founded upon these innate principles of right and wrong which punish, and that most wisely and justly, evil doers. To avoid, therefore, these heavy strokes of human justice, for they fear nothing else, the thief, the murderer, the midnight prowler issue forth to do their deeds of darkness.

3. But the Holy Spirit uses the word as indicative of a still further meaning. We read of "the rulers of the darknessof this world." (Eph. 6:12.) And the Lord said to those who came to apprehend him– "This is your hour and the power of darkness." (Luke 22:53.) Satan is emphatically "the prince of darkness." For as "God is light" (1 John 1:5.) and "dwells in the light which no man can approach unto," so the enemy of God and man is the ruler of darkness, and when cast out of his present usurped dominion as the prince of the power of the air, will be shut up in the blackness of darkness forever.

The darkness of ignorance and sin in which men walk favors his deep designs. The blindness of man allows him to set his snares unperceived, and the mad love of sin hurries the poor blinded wretch into them. Satan was once an angel of light, a pure and bright seraph shining in the courts of heaven as the morning star in the Eastern sky, resplendent in beauty and glory; but pride and disobedience hurled him down and turned him into a foul fiend, and now holds him in chains and darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Isaiah. 14:12; Jude 6.)

4. But there is still another meaning of the word "darkness"– namely, eternal misery; as Jude speaks, "To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." In darkness itself there is something naturally miserable. If you were walking across a common on a dark night, when no stars twinkled in the sky and no moon gave its friendly light, and you wished to get home, but stumbled every step you took and had utterly missed your way, were there no other causes of anxiety and fear, such as inclement weather, fatigue, or hunger, the very feeling of darkness would be sufficient misery of itself. As light contains in its bosom the seeds of joy and happiness, so darkness enfolds in its breast the very elements of wretchedness and misery. To be shut up in a railway tunnel for an hour is very disagreeable; to be there all night would be misery.

But to be shut up in the blackness of darkness forever and ever, O, what heart can conceive or tongue express the weight of that woe? The unfathomable misery of being cast into outer darkness, where no beams of mercy and grace ever shine, but the lightning flashes and devouring thunderbolts of God's eternal and unappeasable wrath forever beat upon the sinner's head; to be forever shut out of heaven with all its bliss, and crushed into hell with all its horror and all its despair– language fails to give utterance to so fearful a doom.

B. But the Apostle speaks of the "POWER of darkness." It is not only from darkness such as I have described, but from the power of darkness that we are delivered. To bring this more clearly before you, I shall take up those four meanings which I have thus far opened up, and explain individually the power of darkness in them all.

1. Ignorance– what power there is in ignorance! That "knowledge is power," has passed into a proverbial maxim; but it has been overlooked that ignorance is power also. What can you do with an ignorant man? You need a difficult and delicate piece of work to be done, and you get hold of an ignorant workman– what can you do with him? His ignorance will beat your skill, clever as you are. If he cannot comprehend what is to be done or how to do it, what a power there is in that ignorance! Is it not stronger than all your knowledge? Or take another case– that of a man completely ignorant of business– how unpleasant, how all but impossible it is to transact business with him! His ignorance is a barrier which you can neither push down nor get through. There is, then, the power of ignorance as well as the power of knowledge.

Men speak sometimes of "the pride of knowledge." Doubtless there is a pride of knowledge; but is there not a pride of ignorance? Are not some men as proud of their ignorance as others are of their knowledge? Some think that the poor cannot be proud; but I have known them every whit as proud as the rich; no, I have seen ignorant men more proud of their ignorance than learned men of their learning.

Now the power of ignorance as regards the things of God is amazing. You can do something with a man who is willing to be taught; you can instruct one who is desirous to learn; you can communicate knowledge to one of a childlike, teachable spirit. But a man who is filled with the strongest self-conceit and self-complacency, in ignorance, and will not listen, has a barrier in his ignorance thoroughly ammunition-proof to the reception of all knowledge. I have sometimes both sighed and smiled at the contented ignorance of people into whose company I have been thrown– sighed at their folly and smiled at their conceit.

And how the power of ignorance in the mind of man especially shows itself as regards religion, and what strength and influence it possesses! What prejudice, what enmity, what obstinacy, what unbelief, what self-righteousness, what desperate determination never to give way to any conviction or lend an ear to any instruction it manifests! I have been in this town more than twenty years preaching the gospel and showing the way of salvation from the unerring word of God; my sermons and writings have been spread far and wide in this country, and yet how few, speaking comparatively, in this town have received the love of the truth so as to be saved thereby! In fact, so great is the power of darkness over the minds of men, that nothing but the power of God can deliver them from it. No man ever delivered himself; no man ever delivered another. God alone, by his mighty power, as the Apostle declares in the text, delivers from it the children of the kingdom.

2. But darkness, I have just hinted, signifies also sin. The power of darkness is then the power of sin as well as of ignorance; and this is a power unfathomable and indescribable. The great strength of sin consists in this– that it is a subtle and secret influence pervading and permeating every thread and fiber of the human mind, and acting in a way that must be felt to be known. It is like a river, deep and rapid, such as the Danube, but flowing along so quietly and noiselessly that, looking down upon it, you could scarcely believe there was any strength in the stream. Try it; get into it. As long as you let yourself float with it you will not perceive its force; but turn and swim or row against it; then you will soon find what strength there is in the stream that seemed to glide so quietly along.

So it is with the power of sin. As long as a man floats down the stream of sin, he is unconscious of the power that it is exercising over him. He gives way to it, and is therefore ignorant of its strength, though it is sweeping him along into an abyss of eternal woe. Let him oppose it. Or let a dam be made across the river that seemed to flow along so placidly. See how the stream begins to rise! See how it begins to rage and roar! And see how soon its violence will sweep over or carry away the barrier that was thrown across it! So with the strength of sin. Serve sin– obey it– it seems to have no strength. Resist it– then you find its secret power, so that but for the strength of God, you would be utterly carried away by it.

3. But I intimated that darkness signified Satan, because he is the Prince of Darkness. And thus the "power of darkness" is the power that Satan exercises over the human mind. Satan has access to every avenue of the human heart. He is a spirit of amazing wisdom and knowledge; and in addition to all the power of angelic intellect, which he retains, though fallen, having had the experience of nearly six thousand years, he has become thoroughly acquainted with all the propensities of our mind, and with what I may perhaps call the weak side of man. He knows exactly where to lay siege– where to place his traps and snares. He knows how to darken the mind, to stir up its lusts and passions, to strengthen the innate force of sin, and so to work upon the pride, prejudice, enmity, infidelity, unbelief, and self-righteousness so deeply imbedded in the human heart, as to give them all a power that they would not have but for his secret operation and influence. He therefore is said to be "the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience."

4. And then there is the power of hell, the visitations of despondency and despair, the gloomy doubts and fears that sink many awakened souls into an apprehension of wrath to come; under a feeling sense of guilt upon the conscience. Now these four things combined make up "the power of darkness." Who can deliver us from this power? Nothing short of an Almighty hand! nothing but the invincible grace of God!

C. How does the Lord deliver us from the power of darkness? I will show you. He delivers us by a work of grace upon our heart. And he may be said in a sense to deliver the very moment that this grace commences its divine and blessed operations. There is, if I may use the expression, an initial deliverance– deliverance in its beginning; not carried on, not completed, but commenced. I will illustrate this by taking the figure of Joseph in the prison. Joseph was in prison, and there the iron entered into his soul. Was there any hope of Joseph's coming forth except to experience the death that the King's baker met with– to be hung upon a gallows– for a crime imputed to, but not committed by him? But when God put the chief butler and the chief baker into the same prison, he began to work a plan for Joseph's deliverance; and especially when he put it into the heart of Pharaoh to dream a dream which none of the wise men could interpret. Joseph was still in prison; but when the messenger came from Pharaoh to summon him into the royal presence to interpret the dream, that was the manifested commencement of his deliverance. But Joseph had not shaved himself. The Egyptians did not wear their beards like the children of Israel. Joseph could not therefore go into the King's presence with his beard upon his face. Besides, he was in his ragged prison clothes, his hair was matted with filth, and his clothes were soiled with the dirt of the jail. He could not go forth until he had washed himself, had his beard shaved off, and suitable clothes put upon him. But even when he was taken out of prison he was not fully delivered, because he might have to go back. But when he had told the King his dream, and Pharaoh took off his ring and put it upon his hand, arrayed him in fine linen, laid a gold chain upon his neck, made him ride in the second chariot, and set him as ruler over all the land of Egypt, then Joseph's deliverance was accomplished.

You will, therefore, see that in Joseph's case there was initial deliverance before accomplished deliverance. So it is in grace. The first ray of light, life, and divine teaching that enters the soul out of the fullness of the Son of God, is an initial deliverance. It is delivered thereby from the power of darkness. The darkness of ignorance no longer holds it down. Light has broken in to destroy that power.

Take it in nature. The earth is immersed in darkness. How is that darkness to be done away? Suppose there were a council of wise men called to devise means whereby it might be dispersed. They might propose various plans to illuminate the darkness, such as gas lamps, the electric light, an imitation sun to be suspended in the sky by poles and ropes; but all their plans would end in disappointment. The power of darkness would beat them. They might illuminate a room, a street, or a town; but all their candles and wax lights and illuminations would never enlighten the face of the whole earth. But when, in the midst of all their plans and lamps, tubes and pipes, the sun began to cast his first dawning beams across the morning sky, and those beams were refracted by the atmosphere over our globe, then the power of darkness would begin to be destroyed; the strength of the night which had held the earth down in obscurity would be broken; and long before the sun himself rose the shadows of gloom would have fled, as if frightened and dismayed by the approach of their mighty and glorious and irresistible conqueror.

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