Tremendous Contrast

Ephesians 5:8, Romans 6:23

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Have you noticed how often the Bible uses contrast to teach truths? As you go through the Bible, you see good and bad. You see heaven and hell. You see people who are convicted or who are pardoned. And all of those are helping us to better understand what it means to have salvation in Jesus Christ as our Savior.

So the Apostle Paul was writing to the Ephesians in chapter five, verse eight, and he says,

You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

We’ve all had power go out in our homes at night and tried to stumble around to find our way. Well, that happened to the Ephesians, but not physically, spiritually. The Ephesians were without the Word of God and in darkness of unbelief. But it wasn’t just the Ephesians. The Apostle Paul himself. Even though he had the Word of God. The unbelief was so great in his life that he also was not seeing the truth. He was raised in a moral home. He had a great position that he boasted about among his people. He bragged about being able to keep so many of the laws. And yet there was still an emptiness in his heart until he realized from the word of God and was converted. He, too, was in darkness.

But then the Holy Spirit changed his life. And by faith, he saw things in just an opposite way. Everything that he had bragged about before, he now called garbage. And instead of thinking how great he was so much better than everyone else, he now called himself the worst of sinners who were saved by God’s grace.

Without the Holy Spirit, we also would be seeking for God in the wrong places. We really wouldn’t ever know the truth. But in the light of God’s Word, our sinfulness has been exposed. We realize that we cannot save ourselves. We confess our sins and Christ through the good news of the Gospel has forgiven us all our sins. Everything is taken away. We have gone from darkness to light. We are now a new creation. The old has gone. What a tremendous contrast that is.

Now we have peace with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. And what about our future? Well, we look forward to the time when we leave this world because we’re now foreigners here. What was once our native land, by our sinful nature, is now foreign to us. And instead, our inheritance is part of our citizenship, which is going to be in heaven. Talking about the amazing contrast of what’s going to happen to us. We know that verse from the Apostle Paul that says

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Let us pray. Gracious Lord, your word is full of warnings to us about sin, evil, death, and the devil. We pray that your Holy Spirit will help us see these dangers and flee to Christ. Who is our goodness, life, and salvation. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.