God Exposes Your Sin in Order to Save You

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Does it hurt to come into the light and be exposed? Yes, it’s painful, there’s mourning, there’s tears, your whole self image is wrecked. The light will ruin you, as far as who you think you are. However, don’t be afraid, for it is good, healing light. God will not expose your sin to laugh at you or mock you or to ridicule you, He will expose it in order to make you one of His children.


What happens when we go into the light is it doesn’t just show us what we are, it doesn’t just show us how bad we are, the light shows us how precious Christ is. And look, don’t think, “Oh man, I guess I’ve got to do this so that I miss hell.” What happens when you come into the light is you don’t just recognize that you’re hell bound, suddenly God opens your eyes to who Christ is. You suddenly not only see yourself for who you are, you see Him for who He is. And He is altogether lovely. And when you look at Him, you don’t say, “Oh man, I’ve got to do this to miss hell.” You look at this and you see the beauty of Christ and you recognize nothing else matters now. It’s not just saving my skin from hell, I’ve got to have Him! There is such beauty there. Everything that I need, everything that is satisfying, everything that is precious, everything that is beautiful is there, it’s in Him. 

You see his blood for what it is. It is perfectly cleansing. You see His resurrection and the power of it for what it is. It’s absolutely transforming to me. You see in Him your every answer to every need. That’s what it does coming into the light. God is light. And so we want to draw close to Him and close to His light. Go to Him. Go look at Christ, the Light. 

In this book, the Bible, which is the Word of God, which is a lamp unto our feet, go there! And as you seek Him in here, Him who is light, you bring your sins out, you confess them before Him. You trust. Jesus said, “Believe in the light.” I mean, believe everything that the Light shows you. Believe it. Don’t run from it. Don’t be like the Pharisees that as it shined on them, “No! I don’t want anything to do with that! No, I’m going to believe what I want to believe. I’m going to believe I know God, no matter what my life is like. I’m going to believe that.” No, Jesus says believe in the Light. You believe in the Light. God is Light. 

The pardon for sin is the peculiar privilege of those who go into the Light. In the Light, the blood cleanses you. It’s in the Light. It’s not the privilege of anyone else. You stay in the darkness, there is no life, there is no healing. Deal truthfully with the Lord. All into the light. Those sins you’re so ashamed of, God says if you bring them in the light, I’ll just wash you perfect. All those things you’re ashamed of and you hold your head down. 

You remember that tax collector in Luke 18? And he just bows his head because he knows. He is just ashamed. And he brings it all, he brought it all. You know what, he brought it all out in one word. Two words, because there is an article there, which is pretty important- “the sinner” “God be merciful to me, the sinner.” Oh, isn’t that a good way to summarize all of it? What a confession! I’m “the sinner.” Not just “a sinner.” He comes to recognize himself for what he is. Just like Paul came to recognize himself for what he was – the chief of sinners. 

And that’s just it. Lord, that’s me. There it is. And what happened? Jesus says he went home justified. Which means what? Cleansed of all his unrighteousness. Cleansed. What did he do? All of it in the light. But the Pharisee, he was in the dark. “Look at me. I’m good. I’m not like this guy. Look at all of the good things I do. Let’s innumerate them: bang, bang, bang, bang.” He’s not in the light. He’s in the dark. He wasn’t confessing anything. He was boasting. 

You can see, you can see here, “God is light” has an implication on how you and I live our lives, on how you and I relate to God, on how you and I confess sin, and where healing is found. And it’s always found in the light. Some of you are in the dark. But if you’re in the dark, you don’t have to stay there. And you know what, the only reason you will stay there, is exactly based on the truth found in John 3. The only reason you’ll stay in that dark is because you hate the Light, because your deeds are evil and you really don’t want to be exposed. You will get exposed. 

Will it hurt? Yep. It always hurts when God smashes your pride. Because it’s you. But it’s like everything here. It’s momentary light affliction, in light of an eternal weight of glory. Does it hurt to come into the light? Yea, it’s painful. There’s mourning, there’s tears. Your whole self image is wrecked. I mean, that’s what happened to me that night that I sat there in Oshemo, Michigan and the light came on and it wrecked me. It will ruin you, as far as who you think you are. But it’s a good wreckage, because it’s God wounding that He might heal. 

Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. It is healing light. It is good light. God will not expose your sin to laugh at you and mock you, to ridicule you. He’ll expose it in order to make you one of His children, in order to make you worthy of being a wife for His Son. 

Lord, I pray that Your light would so shine, brighter and brighter to that eternal day. May it shine brightly in this place. May we find sinners running to this Light, the glorious light of Christ and of His salvation, of the power of His blood. Oh Lord, may this not be a place where sin is allowed to stay in the shadows. May the light of Your Word shine. May the light of Christ be real. Lord, we pray for the grace to follow Christ, not walk in the darkness. May the Light of life truly shine in this place, because God, who is light, has chosen to reside among a chosen people. Unworthy, but chosen. Amen.