The Might Of The Light
Foundation Statement: Light is your protection
from deception; Knowledge of the truth will keep you from being deceived
I.
Proverbs 1:1-4-These
proverbs were written to give people light so they can discern between the
truth and lies
A. Discernment-The power or faculty of the mind by which it
distinguishes one thing from another, as truth from falsehood; the power of
perceiving differences
1.
2-Know-To
see, perceive, discern; 2-Perceive-Insight, Discern, See into; 2-Understanding-Discernment;
3-Wisdom-Prudence (discernment), circumspect; 4-Subtitly-Prudence
(discernment); 4-Knowledge-Perception, discernment; 4-Discretion-discernment
B. The Word of God is light
and gives light and light enables you to
see and discern between truth and lies, good and evil
1.
Psalm 119:130-The
entrance of they words gives light AMP-Their unfolding gives understanding
(discernment and comprehension) to the simple
2.
Psalm 119:105-Thy word is
a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path
C. 2 Corinthians 4:4
(KJ&)-Satan doesn’t want you to discern the truth and wants to prevent
you from seeing; If you can discern, then you see what is
truth and what is a lie
1.
Do
these people who don’t believe, believe the truth? No. So they believe lies?
Yes. Do they know they’re believing lies? No. Why
don’t they know? They don’t have light so that can’t discern the lies from the
truth, they don’t see and they think they believe the truth, but they don’t
2.
The biggest issue in any
man’s life is his eternal salvation and with the biggest issue in a man’s life,
it talks about him blinding their minds from the truth, from the light by
getting them to believe a lie to be true (Not very spectacular, no smoke, fire,
manifested demons)
a. Hath blinded-Darken the mind, to blunt the mental
discernment, make blind; they don’t see, they don’t discern
b. They believe something,
but they don’t believe right, but they think they are believing right; They
aren’t discerning the truth from lies
c. Satan doesn’t want the
light to shine unto them because if it shines unto them they’ll see they’re
believing wrong
3.
These people are lost
(destruction), but the destruction came through deception
a. How would people in this
state overcome him and this destruction? They would do it through the might of
the light
b. John 1:4-5-The might of
the light; darkness has never overpowered it
II.
Proverbs 1:5-9-A wise
person knows how the enemy works and therefore values and esteems the light
A. 5-A wise person will
continue to grow in light; A fool thinks he’s knows it all (or this message
would be so good for someone who’s not here)
1.
Increase-Add to, exceed, continue
2.
Learning-Insight
3.
A
wise person will continue to add light to the light he has and his sight will
continue to increase
4.
No
matter how much light you have you can always add to it
B. 7-Reverence for God is where
knowledge, light, truth begins; If you want light and knowledge and truth it
begins with you respecting God by valuing His things
1.
Who’s
going to get light and truth? Somebody the Lord’s not important to? Somebody
who the Lord’s things don’t mean much to? No. It’s the person who respects God
and values His things that’s going to get the light and the truth
2.
A
fool does not esteem the light (wisdom and instruction) he won’t have it
because of it-Mark 4:24
a. Light is one of the most
precious things God can give and He’s not going to give to somebody who doesn’t
value it
C. 8-9-This light and
knowledge is going to lead to your victory and success so you should value it
1.
How
are you going to overcome? You’re going to do it with the light
III.
Proverbs 1:10-18-We
should not yield to the deception and lies of the enemy, but if we don’t have
light we will yield to a lie and not know it’s a lie
A. You can resist these lies
and deception and not yield to it and not be deceived; if sinners entice you,
consent thou not
1.
You
don’t have to be deceived, you can resist it
2.
This
tells us what to do with the lies of the enemy; resist it, don’t yield to it,
stand against it-Ephesians 6:10-12
3.
These
sinners are working for the devil and we get insight into how the enemy works:
They came to deceive and their weapon is their words
a. When the enemy comes to
deceive he comes with words (These sinners are sent by the deceiver himself and
are speaking his lies) and this gives us insight into the main method of his
operation
B. 11-15-Why would you yield
to something like this and walk down this path? You don’t see that this is
not a good thing for you and you believe that it is good for you
1.
The
only way that you won’t walk down that path with them is if you see
it for what it is – DECEPTION
2.
If
you are deceived and in the dark and don’t have light you might just go down
that path thinking this is a good thing for me
C. How are you going to
overcome this in verse 10, this deception, this
attack?
1.
With
light you could see it for what it is, and it’s a lie and this path will end in
your destruction
a. This is the enemy, this
is how he attacks and how are you going overcome this? With light, with truth
2.
Light
then becomes your protection from deception and in turn destruction; knowledge
of the truth will keep you from being deceived
D. 17-Sight is the key to
not being deceived and caught be the enemy’s trap and light gives you sight
1.
If
you see the truth, you’re not going to be snared by Satan’s lie; If you see
Satan setting up the trap you’re not going to walk into it
a. CEV-They are like a bird that sees the bait but ignores the
trap
b. ERV-You cannot trap birds with a net if they see you
spreading it out
c. NLT-If a bird sees a tap being set, it knows to stay away
d. GNT-It does no good to spread a net when the bird you want to
catch is watching
e. MSG-Oh friend don’t give them a second look; don’t listen to
them for a minute. They are
reaching to a very bad end, hurrying to ruin
everything they lay hands on.
Nobody robs a bank with everyone watching, yet that’s what these people
are doing – they are doing themselves in
2.
The
idea here is to set a trap that the bird can’t see so that they bird will fly
into it believing it’s safe when it’s really not; If the bird sees the trap
being set, then it sees the truth and won’t buy the lie that it is safe when
it’s really not
3.
How
is this bird going to overcome this attack? They’re going to overcome with
light, with sight
a. Satan’s weapon is not power, it’s deception – If his
weapon was power then we’d overcome him with power, but because his weapon is
lies and deception then we overcome him with light and light gives you sight
b. If you could just go get the bird at your will, there’d be no
need for a trap, but b/c there’s a trap it shows you that I can’t get the bird
at my will and trapping him is my only hope; the weapon is deception and power
won’t do anything for the bird, the bird needs light & sight
c. If Satan was as big and powerful as he’s cracked himself up
to be then he wouldn’t have to trick and deceive and try to trap
d. What do we need to overcome? We need light!!!
E. The danger is when you
don’t see and don’t have light; then you can’t see and you can’t overcome this
deception
1.
18-Do
they know this? Do they see this? Certainly not, because if they saw it they
wouldn’t be doing it, but they are deceived
2.
We
see them being destroyed, but they were deceived first
IV.
Light is the answer
A. Proverbs 1:20-Wisdom
cries out because it doesn’t want you in the dark, deceived doing something you
think is good, that will end up bad
1.
Because
these guys who set the trap for themselves didn’t have wisdom and were
destroyed because of it and wisdom doesn’t want that to happen to you so she
comes outside yelling; she’s stirred up about you not being destroyed
B. 21,24-Wisdom goes right
out there where everybody is; God will give light to anybody who wants it but
many don’t have it because they reject it, despise it, don’t value it-Hosea 4:6
1.
22-He
want’s to give the foolish and deceived light so that they won’t be deceived
C. 3 Things that will keep
you in deception: She’s crying out to people who don’t have light and there are
three groups
1.
Love
simplicity – Liking what you believe
a. Love-To like-Some people
don’t want out of their deception, they don’t want to see (they like what they
believe even if it isn’t right)
b. You can like what you
believe or you can love the truth
2.
Delighting
in scorning – Pride
a. Scorner-A despiser,
contemn; one who scoffs at religion, it’s ordinances and teachers; talk
arrogantly, to boast, to be inflated
b. They are in pride and
don’t value the light because they know it all and they couldn’t miss it
3.
Hating
knowledge – Not loving the truth
D. 23-The reproof is that
these people don’t esteem the light; They are deceived people who despise the
light-Prov1:7
1.
If they would begin to
value the light, they would get an abundance of it
E. 33-If you’ll esteem the
light and pay attention to the light it will be your protection from deception
1.
They
didn’t pay attention to it, they neglected it, they ignored it, they didn’t
want it and because they didn’t value and esteem the light
a. Should you and I value
this wisdom, this light? YES. Why? Because it will keep us from deception
2.
26-They
are being lightly esteemed because they did not honor him
3.
26-They
didn’t see calamity (distress, destruction) coming, they didn’t see desolation
(devastation, ruin) coming, they didn’t see distress (trouble, affliction,
tribulation) coming, they didn’t see anguish coming and they didn’t think these
things were going to happen to them and that they were just fine the way they
were and they were deceived
4.
22,27-They
got destruction because they loved their deception
5.
29-Because
they didn’t choose to respect and honor and esteem God and his things, they
lacked wisdom-Proverbs 1:7
6.
32-Being
deceived and turning away from the truth will get you slayed; They turned away
from the light
7.
33-If
you’ll just pay attention to him you can have confidence that you won’t end up
like them and be at peace with no fear of evil
a. VOICE-But those who listen to me now will under divine
protection; they can rest knowing they are out of harms way
V.
Proverbs 1:24-The Might
of the Light
A. God calls wisdom and
light his hand (strength and power)
1.
His
hand is his strength and his power and he said I offered my strength and power
to you when I offered wisdom and light to you
a. Wisdom and light is the power of God to overcome the
deception and darkness of the enemy
b. God gives help by giving light, by giving wisdom; Some
believers don’t want light and wisdom they just want God to do something; they
want God to help but they don’t want the help God is giving, they want to
ignore the light, despise the light and have Him help anyway
B. Why didn’t they pay any
attention to it? It wasn’t spectacular enough for them