Why Do People Prefer Darkness Over Light?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. up to where we are now, are available on six hours of video, or the six hour audio cassette, or the same six hours are put together in a little booklet. And we've got a list that shows a table of contents. So if you'd like any of those, you just call us on the 800 number or write to us, and we'll get that out to you. Well, last week, I think we had two people that bought the whole shooting match in one order, and that kind of floors me, because I can't imagine having that kind of money. But it's great when people do, so if you're interested in any of those things, you give us a call or anything like that. I guess I should let our television know that we've got two couples from Indiana with us today, and I've been forgetting to mention it, at least on television. We've got the Robkies from Indianapolis, and over here we have the Simpsons, and they didn't know each other before they got here, so hopefully they've made some new friends for down the road. And we've had folks from various other states in over the time, so we always appreciate people coming in for the taping. And if any of you out there in television are ever headed through Tulsa on the first Wednesday of the month, that is the first Wednesday after the first Sunday, isn't it? Then come in and join us for this afternoon of taping for programs. Okay, have I covered it all? Okay, back to Ephesians chapter 4. I've got to check with my headmaster over here, because she's the one that holds everything together. I told her the other day, I don't know what I'd do without her. Ephesians 4, verse 17. This I say therefore, and when Paul says therefore, he's referring back to what he just has covered, and testify in the Lord that you henceforth, in other words, once you come into the body of Christ, once you come in and become an intricate part of this unique group of people that are united with the Lord in glory through the salvation experience, and the work of the Holy Spirit, and all the rest of these Pauline doctrines, then hey, we're different. We're totally different. Now not that we're to be oddball. You know I'm always stressing this. Oh it gripes me when some Christians are just pure oddballs. That isn't what God wants. No, God doesn't want somebody that the world is just going to say, that's the last thing I want to be. The world should be able to look at us and say, I wish I had what they've got. I wish I had the joy, and the happiness, and everything, and the outlook on life that they've got. Instead of saying, man, if that's being a Christian, I'm sure glad I'm not one, and I'm afraid a lot of times that is the response. But on the other hand, we have to understand that just like we talked, I think, in our last month's taping, whenever you come into certain positions, the public or the world out there expects somebody to be worthy of that position. I mean that's just a given. Well it's the same way here. When we come into our position as a member of the body of Christ, it becomes a given that we are to be different. All right, now look what he says, that you henceforth from the time that you become a member of the body, that you henceforth walk not as the other Gentiles walk. Now that word walk is a unique again Pauline term, and just flip back a page to chapter 2, and he uses it time and time again, but I'll just look at the one. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 2, and it's almost the same kind of a description, but in a different setting. But here in verse 2 he says, were in times past you walked according to the course of this world. And what does he mean by that? Their ordinary everyday life's experience were in the world. All right, now as you come over then to this chapter 4 verse 17, our walk now is as a member of the body of Christ, and again the analogy is don't walk like those pagan Gentiles. Now again whenever I study Scripture, I try to remember the circumstances in which Paul lived and wrote, and I guess it was never so graphically brought home to us as a couple years ago when Iris and I visited Pompeii. Some of you've probably been there. When you saw the proof of that corrupt city, the ungodliness and the wickedness that was evident even in the ruins. So what must it have been like at its heyday? But see that was the kind of a city into which Paul walked over and over with nothing more than the gospel of Jesus Christ. No advancement, no advertising, no getting everything ready with a whole bunch of consulars and prayer warriors. He didn't have that, but he would come into these pagan cities pretty much alone once in a while with a companion such as Luke or Timothy, and with nothing more than proclaiming the gospel, he would bring these people out of that abject pagan immoral lifestyle. And so this is what he's saying now. There was always that draw of course to pull them back. We can understand that, and so that's why I told somebody the other day, you know, I feel so sorry for our young parents trying to raise kids in this culture of today where they're bombarded with these same kind of things as an enticement. See, but look what he says, don't walk as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. In other words, they had no comprehension of what God expects. They just lived according to the appetites of the flesh. These other Gentiles now that he's referring to having their understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Now immediately two verses just pop into my mind. Having their understanding darkened. Let's go back to John's gospel. John's gospel chapter 3 verse 19. John's gospel chapter 3 verse 19. Y'all got it? That's an easy one to find. Everybody can find John. John's gospel chapter 3 verse 19. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world. And of course the light is the reference to Jesus of Nazareth. And men loved what? Darkness. See, men loved darkness rather than light. And why? Because their deeds were evil. They lived in the gutter. Oh, they may have lived sumptuously. Now there again Pompeii showed that. When you went down those ancient streets of Pompeii, some of the beautiful ruins of those beautiful homes, they must have been mansions. And yet as you went down the street, there was evidence of the immorality and the corruption everywhere you went. And that was the pagan world. And so when we look at what's going on in America and the Western world today, hey don't think for a minute that this is the first time. It's always been this way. We're doing it in a grander scale I guess now. I remember telling my Sunday school class way back in the 60's when the favorite cliche at that time was the new morality. Remember that? Oh the new morality, the so called sexual license. And I used to tell my kids, hey wake up, there's nothing new about it. It's the same old immorality that has plagued the human race from day one. It's not a bit different. Alright now it's the same way here. Men loved darkness rather than stepping into the light, because their deeds were evil. And then look at the next verse. This goes right back to what we had on the board. People aren't sinners because they sin, they sin because they're sinners. Now look at it. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Neither do they come to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Now where did his lifestyle of evil deeds come from? Adam. All came from the fall, and it's been with us generation after generation. See? Alright now if you'll flip back to Ephesians, but we're going to come back on our next one to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, but come back to Ephesians a minute first, because this is Bible study. Hopefully I'm not preaching. I hope I'm teaching. And we're going to use Scripture and Scripture over and over. Alright come back to verse 17. We've already covered then, verse 18 rather, they had their understanding darkened, and they love walking in the dark, because their deeds are evil. Alright but now what's the next word? Alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, but what brings their ignorance? Blindness. Now 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Where do they get such stringent blindness that they can't even see through it and recognize the light? Where's it come from? Well of course it originated from Adam, but who picked up the dominion of everything when Adam dropped it? Satan did. Satan did. Now you don't think our churches aren't in trouble? One of my class people told me a while back that one of their pastors was holding a Bible study, and the individual said they didn't believe in Satan. Well no wonder we're in trouble. Boy if you can put Satan out of the picture, he's home free isn't he? Oh my, he's got free reign if you're not going to recognize him, but oh the Scripture does. See, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3 and 4. Verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and if they're lost they're in darkness. See, if they're in darkness they're blind, and it's just a vicious circle. Verse 4, in whom, that is in these that are lost, the God of this world. Now who in the world is the God of this world? Satan. See, and we're going to see Paul make reference to it I think sometime in this same chapter, or maybe it's a little later in Ephesians, but whatever. In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest, see why I took you to John first? Satan has blinded the eyes of these people, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in unto them. You see how one feeds on the other? If you can keep people blind, they can't see the light. If you can keep them from seeing the light, they're going to stay blind, and the end will never meet until the Lord moves in of course, and breaks this chain of blindness that is a blinder on the minds and the hearts of lost people. Let's read verse 4 once again before we go back to Ephesians. In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Now I'm going to read the next verse because I've never had it happen, but I've been waiting for it. Well someone says, well you make too much of the Apostle Paul. No I don't, because look at the next verse. Paul says, "...we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants, or your bond slaves for Jesus' sake." And so always remember that when I'm constantly emphasizing Paul's apostleship, it is only because Paul gives us the true view of the finished work of the cross. You don't get it anywhere else, and so this is why I spend as much time in the Pauline Epistles as I do, because this is where it's at. Now I'm going to have an all-day seminar this Saturday up in Minnesota again, and I know they would just love to have me spend the whole day in the book of Revelation and in prophecy, because that's what everybody's interested in, prophecy. But listen, by the time prophecy is being fulfilled, hopefully we're out of here if you're a believer. So why should I spend all that time in something that I'm not even going to be here to witness? But I'm going to stay in Paul, because this is where we need it in the here and now. This is what we have to know today. This is what we have to know to tell people how to get ready so that they won't be here for the book of Revelation. And I'll tell you what, I sure don't want to be here, and the world scoffs at the book of Revelation, because they can't imagine that these things are going to happen. Hey, they are. And as I've been teaching the book of Exodus in one of my classes in Oklahoma, and you go through all the plagues in Egypt, people don't scoff at that, because there's enough valid proof that they happened. But I say, hey, if you can believe the plagues in Egypt, you better believe the plagues in Revelation, because one is tied to the other. But whatever, we're just going to keep teaching what Paul teaches, because he is going to be constantly pointing us to the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord. Okay, back to chapter 4. Now verse 19, speaking of these people who are in darkness, speaking of these people who the God of this world is keeping blind, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with what? Greediness. Now I just read in some magazine the other night, where some young man out in Seattle has just become a multi, multi, multi -millionaire by putting a pornographic page up on the internet. And he's just reaping it in. Now what about a young man like that? Does God love him? Absolutely. Is the Gospel available to him? Absolutely. But do you think it's very likely he'll ever see it? No. I mean he is so blinded, no doubt, by the chains of Satan, and all he's got on his mind is more, more, more money, and the things that greed precipitates. See that's greed that drives this stuff. So they have gone beyond the feeling that would respond to the Gospel, because they are saturated with this immoral lifestyle, these immoral thoughts and what have you, and all they can think about is working that which is unclean for the sake of satisfying their what? Their greed. I'll never forget many years ago, now we first started our class here in Tulsa, and if the gentleman is watching the program he'll remember when he said it. He was just beginning in his study of the Scriptures with us, and one night after class as we were walking to the car in the parking lot he says, you know something struck me tonight that I've never thought of before. He said, the human race is motivated almost entirely by one word—greed. And it is—greed. Now I love the capitalistic system. I love its freedom and all that, but you take greed out of it, how long would it last? Oh it would die overnight, because it's that constant push for more and more that keeps it going. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about those that are so saturated with the things of this world, especially the lower element as we're seeing it take over our whole society tonight, and greed is the motivating power. Now verse 20, but Paul says, speaking back to us as members of the body, that's not what we've learned concerning Christ. We're not in the body of Christ to promote our greed. We're not a Christian just so that we can have health and wealth. My Bible doesn't teach that. My goodness, you look back over the years of Christian history, how many millions suffered and died for their faith. They didn't have health and wealth. Even today, all around the world, Christians are under tremendous persecution. We don't hear about it. There's an organization up here in Bartlesville that puts out a monthly magazine, and they report on it. It's unreal the amount of persecution that's going on against Christians right now, today, in Indonesia, in parts of Africa, places in China, still areas of Russia, South America, where they're dying by the thousands for their faith. Well they're not in it because of greed, for goodness sakes. They're in it because they love the Word of Truth. Now everybody knows that verse in John, don't you? Or He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Of course He is. And again, I've come back to my use of the synonyms. Truth, and Gospel, and Christ, they all mean basically the same thing. If you know Christ, you know the Gospel. If you know the Gospel, you know Truth. And it just, again, all fits together. And so what He's saying here is that if you know the Gospel, if you are a member of this body of Christ, then you have Truth. And we have Truth that the world knows nothing of. All right, now He comes into a review of what He taught more explicitly in the book of Romans, verse 22. Now He says that you put off concerning the former manner of living, or the word conversation in the King James, that you put off the former manner of living of the old man. Now the old man in Paul's language is old Adam. The old Adam who is responsible for this. It's the old Adam who makes us sinners. And since the old Adam is functioning in the lost person, He constantly satisfies that desire of the flesh in one way or another. All right, so put off that old man which is, and what's the word? Corrupt. The old Adam is corrupt. Now that's not a pretty word. And I want you to know it's not a pretty word. And if any of you have ever done any gardening whatsoever, and especially if you put out a patch of potatoes, and when you dig up those new potatoes in the fall and you're going through that nice fresh turd and dirt and picking up those new potatoes, invariably you're going to stick your fingers into something that just about turns your stomach inside out. And what is it? That old seed potato that is rotten. And what is it? Corrupt. Now that's what I think of when I speak of the word corrupt. Something that is repulsive, something that just turns your stomach, and it's just something that you want to just push out of your mind. Now listen, I think in the eyes of God I can safely say that this is what our old Adamic nature boils down to. It is corrupt in His eyes. It is something that just turns Him off, and He loves us, don't get me wrong. But the old Adam is corrupt. It's vile, see. And the word I think is so obvious. Many of you have been hearing us teach the old programs now back in Genesis, and go back there with me for a moment. Back to Genesis chapter 6, introducing the flood and what brought it on. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, and see God is still looking on that kind of a world. My land, when I consider and read some of these articles of the filth and the corruption that's permeating the whole world tonight, I have to wonder how long can God put up with it? Well it was the same way back here, and there came a day where He didn't put up with it, nor is He going to again. All right, chapter 6 verse 5, and God saw the wickedness of man, and that it was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Ring a bell? Hey, we're there. And it repented, or made the Lord sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, for it repenteth me that I have made them. Now you come on down to verse 11, same chapter, verse 11. The earth also was, what's the word, corrupt. See, the earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, and flesh had corrupted His way. Three times in two verses, what word have you got? Corrupt. And when I've taught over the months gone by, for many of us now years, whenever God repeats something two, three times in a short period, what is He doing? Emphasizing. It's emphasis, that the world leading up to the flood was rotten to the core. But, like I've been pointing out, I think the programs are still in Genesis, what happened to their technology? It just zoomed exponentially, and they had a tremendous technology leading up to the flood. The same way as Sodom and Gomorrah. Why do you think Lot chose Sodom rather than the highland of Israel? Oh, because it was thriving, it had an economy, it probably had a stock market above 11,000. And they had an abundance of food, the Scripture says, and they had an abundance of idleness, which gives you the whole picture now of our own society. This is where we are. And what did the Lord attach to it? As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Hey, we're getting close. I don't put dates on it, but I'll tell you what, the more you read and the more you hear with our exploding technology and the slide down morally, hey, we're getting so close it almost scares me. And so the world was corrupt before God's eyes. And then verse 13, in our closing seconds, God says, the earth is filled with what? Violence. And when you have corruption, you have violence. When you have violence, you have corruption. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated. Thank you and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.