What Happens When The Lights Goes Out? John 1:3-10 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In this sermon we are going to be looking at some instances in the word of God where the lights went out. This will be called power failure. Many times in a saved born again child of God’s life there will be times when they do not have the power of God upon them, even though they may not be in a life of sin they could just simply be doing whatever ever service they are for God in their own power and for any who have done this it is easy to see it is not the same as having the power of God on your life.
One of the first things that you do when the power goes out at your house is you report it and hope that someone investigates the problem and gets it fixed. To fix a power outage you must first find the reason for the power failure and then correct the problem. This is also true in a spiritual power failure.
In this message we are going to connect light with power. In the modern day world that we live in our power providers give us the power to have lights in our homes and places of business. Therefore it should be easy for us to make this comparison.
1 John 1:3-10 (The True Light)
In the passage above we see that Jesus Christ is said to be the true light. (verse 9). If there is a true light then there must also be a false light, and that false light is Satan. In 2 Corinthians 11:14 the word of God says that Satan can be transformed into an angel of light. This makes sense because before Satan fell through sin his name was Lucifer which means light bearer. He was also called son of the morning along with Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12.
As the false light Satan loves to get lost people confused between the artificial light he offers and the true light of the gospel and therefore many people think they are walking in light when they are actually walking in Darkness. Satan also likes to get saved people operating in his power or at least by their own and having them think it is the power of the Holy Spirit. Many today do not even realize that they are having a power failure.
Places in the Word of God where the Lights went out :
1) Genesis 1:1 -1:2 (Satan’s Fall)
- When you study the word of God there is obviously something that happened between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. God did not create the earth without form and void. In Isaiah 45:18 with subject being creation, God is said to form the earth and he did not create it in vain, but to be inhabited.
- So what could have happened to that would cause it to be without form and void. It must have to do with the fall of Satan. In Isaiah 14:12-15 we see Satan giving his five I wills that led to his fall note that one of them is he would exalt is throne above the stars of God. Where was Satan’s throne it must have been below the throne of God and the stars of God. Satan was most likely over the original earth but when he sinned he fell and God destroyed that earth and darkness was upon the face of the deep, hence the lights went out.
- So the problem here was sin. Sin in the life of the saved person can definitely cause power failure whether it be little sins as we like to but it.
Solution:
- Note that even though darkness was upon the face of the deep the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
- Even though we may sin as saved person the Holy Spirit still dwells within us. So when sin causes power failure we must get back to the place where the spirit of God moves in our lives. This will usually be connected with church and the word of God.
- When you are struggling with sin you need to get to where you can hear the word of God preached and taught as much as possible and let God move in your heart.
2) Matthew 27:45-50 (God judging sin)
- When Jesus was on the cross it became dark from the 6th hour until the 9th
- Now God was judging sin here. Remember that Jesus Christ became sin for us when he was on the cross. Therefore God had to turn away from his son because of the sin. That is why Jesus cried My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me.
- Satan was also judged at this time (John 16:11)
- The cause of the power failure here was the judgment of sin.
- Now if God is judging sin in your life then there will be a shortage of the power of God in your life.
Solution :
- Even though we must endure our judgment we can still cry out to God just as Jesus did.
- God is a merciful God and it is better to be in his hands than it is to be anywhere else. Example note David’s choice of punishment (2 Samuel 24:10-14).
3) 1 Samuel 3:1-3 (The lamp went out in the Tabernacle)
- The only source of light in the tabernacle except for God when he showed up was Golden Candlestick.
- In the previous chapter God had already told Eli what he was going to do because of the wickedness of his sons, and now Eli was old and couldn’t see very well and the lamp went out.
- The lamp was to be always burning according to the instruction under the law. But through negligence it went out.
- This is a huge reason for power failure in the lives of saved people, negligence.
- The interesting thing is that the lamp in the Old Testament Tabernacle gave light on two other objects in the tabernacle. One was the table of showbread and the other was the altar of incense.
- The table of show bread is a type of the word of God and the altar of incense is a type of prayer.
- Negligence in these two things the word of God and prayer are the start of all power failures.
Solution :
- Get back to the basics, that is the word of God and prayer on a daily basis.
- Notes also (Ephesians 5:13-17)
4) Exodus 10:21-23 (Darkness over the land of Egypt)
- This is the ninth plague that God sends on Egypt. There is darkness over all the land for 3 days.
- The reason here is that God is showing a difference. If you noticed in the passage the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
- Sometimes God allows the world to lose power around us, in other words sometimes we get into pretty dark situations. This is so that the world around us can see the light within us which is the true light.
Solution :
- Sit still and wait on the Salvation of God and let your light shine while you wait. (Psalm 112:4)
- Note that this is the next to the last plague on Egypt God delivers them after the next plague, it is always darkest right before dawn.
Therefore when you start experiencing power failure in your life the first thing to do is find the cause then you must be diligent in applying the proper solution.