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Complete Sermon Notes
When Darkness Reigns
THE SCENE: The Messiah is here – our Hope, our Savior and our conquering King has arrived.
…For the last few years, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised.
…Families are restored, people are saved, and tremendous healings take place.
But it appears that all is lost – the conquering King, has been subdued and defeated.
Matt. 26:47 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords & clubs, came from the chief priests & elders of the people.
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore that Judas being a discipline made him one.
48 Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.” 49 Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. 50 But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. 51 And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 52 But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” 55 In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. 56 But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.
LUKE 22:53 NIV – “Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour – when darkness reigns.”
“I sat daily with you” – Other religions start by people having a private dream or revelation – but Jesus did everything in PUBLIC.
Throughout life there will be seasons when darkness reigns – The call from the doctor, the blood test results, the divorce papers, the loss of a job, financial failure – the dark night of the soul.
1. DISCOURAGEMENT CAN KNOCK US OFF TRACK OR STRENGTHEN FAITH: Jeremiah 20:14-17 “Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! Let the man be cursed Who brought news to my father, saying, “A male child has been born to you!” Making him very glad. And let that man be like the cities Which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent; Let him hear the cry in the morning And the shouting at noon, Because he did not kill me from the womb, That my mother might have been my grave…”
DISCOURAGE – “To lose confidence and enthusiasm” – the cure is ENCOURAGE
2. WE MUST PERSEVERE TO FULFILL GOD’S WILL – Delay can lead us astray: Exodus 32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
Delay is not deny – Joseph waited 13 years, Abraham 25, Jesus 30, Moses 40 –
Delay builds and strengthens faith
Delay reveals our motives
Delay tries to replace God- “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out…”
3. OBEDIENCE OFTEN BRINGS LIGHT INTO THE SITUATION: Jeremiah 21:3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them in the midst of this city. 5 I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. 6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. 7 And afterward,” says the Lord, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.”’8 “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
OBEY AND HOLD ON TO THE PROMISES – Romans 8:28 NKJV “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
4. DON’T FEAR THE FINAL HOUR WHEN DARKNESS REIGNS – Death
I’ll give you an hour of darkness for eternity with God.
I’ll give you an hour because although “weeping may endure for a night”.
I’ll give you an hour because what you intend for evil God will make right.
The grave is the doorway…choose wisely.
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