 All right, so we're starting a new sermon series this morning and it's not going to be a continuous sermon series. It's going to be another random sermon series. So basically over the next several years or however long, that is I, you know, I reserve the right to add to this sermon series. It's kind of like a random characters in the Bible series. What this series is going to be called is it's going to be called concepts, concepts in the Bible, okay? So what do I mean by concept? So a concept is like a general notion, a general idea of something, you know, doctrines. You could say doctrines in the Bible. We talk a lot about doctrines, right? We talk a lot about doctrines. Think of it this way. Doctrines are made up of concepts, okay? Doctrines are made up of many concepts. So for example, you know, the doctrine of salvation. It's a big important doctrine. Obviously the most important doctrine, it's the gospel in the Bible. It's made up of several concepts in the Bible. It's made up of the concept of you being a sinner. It's made up of the concept of punishment in the Bible that, you know, we deserve punishment. That's a concept, right? That we've done wrong. We deserve punishment. You know, it's made up of the concept of grace, for example. It's made up of the concept of mercy. You know, there's a concept in the Bible. You know, mercy is a concept. And it, and all these concepts plug into the doctrine of salvation. So, you know, when I think about this church, and I think about that we, you know, may become an independent church one day. I think about the vision and the mission of this church. And of course, you know, the mission of this church, the first mission will always be the first works and preaching the gospel to a lost and dying world. But another, you know, goal and vision I have for this church is just to be educated. To be educated on the Bible and the concepts of the Bible. And look, as I've gone through a career over the last 20 years, one thing that I've realized is that not only are general, you know, doctrines and general things important, but the details are also important. And, you know, in my job, I've noticed over the last many years that it's all about the details, right? Because you could have a big, you know, general idea, but if you miss the details, you know, the whole thing could fail, right? So when we think about doctrines, we talk a lot about doctrines, I also want us to understand and be educated about the specific details, the concepts that make up those doctrines. And that will make us just that much more of a strong church of the Biblically educated church. So that's going to be the concept series, okay? So I may just jump into, you know, a sermon every now and then about just adding to the concept series, okay? And this morning, the first concept that I want to talk about this morning, and, you know, the sermon tonight is kind of, you know, produced this idea, but it's a good concept in the Bible. And I want to look this morning at the concept of darkness in the Bible. It's a concept in the Bible. It's a word that's used that means several different things in the Bible. So I want to look at, you know, the concept of darkness in the Bible. I want to look at, you know, what that means in different places in the Bible and how that applies to us and the world that we're living in, okay? So that's the first series this morning is, in the concept series is going to be this idea, this concept of darkness. You say, so what are you talking about? Look down at John chapter 3 and let's get right into it. Look at John chapter 3. Of course, John chapter 3, a chapter in the Bible that most of us are very familiar with, a very strong chapter, maybe the strongest chapter in the Bible regarding salvation itself and that doctrine. But look, darkness is mentioned in John chapter 3. Look at verse number 16. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Now, of course, John chapter 3, 16, we all have memorized. It's probably the most famous verse to anyone in the world that has ever even read the Bible or been to church, John chapter 17. But let's look at verses 18 and verses 19, where, you know, the beauty of John 3, 16 and John chapter 3 in general is not only does it tell us exactly how to be saved and explain salvation very clearly, but then it just gives us more of an explanation as we read further. And one thing that I always like to do, by the way, is, you know, all these verses that we use to go soul winning, we use so many verses and we have them all memorized and we use them again and again and again. I never want personally these verses in my life to become vain repetitions to me. I always want to remember what they mean. So every now and then I will go and I will read these verses and I'll read the verses before and I will read several verses after. And that kind of gives you the context of the verses that we use all the time. And it's a good refresher for you as a soul winner. And it'll keep things new for you if you do that. So I do that a lot. So this is just another example of what I'm talking about. Look at verse 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Because he hath not believed in the name of the holy begotten Son of God. You know, this is just explaining that, hey, you know, the people that before they believed, they're already condemned, they're already in trouble. That's why we go soul winning because the people that, you know, we're going to go give the gospel to, if nothing happens, if nothing changes in their life, you know, they're condemned, they're going to go to hell. And we don't want to see that, right? Look at verse 19. And this is the condemnation. So not only does he say, you know, they're condemned, but he gives us even more detail. And this is the condemnation, condemnation, that light is come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil, hatheth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. So this is saying that you basically, you can't be saved unless you admit that you're a sinner because not admitting sin, verse 21, because he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God, making manifest. Meaning realizing the obvious darkness that you are in. Okay? Because the light is shining on it. So it's saying, you know, in order to be saved, you know, you have to realize, you know, that darkness that you're in. You have to come to that realization. Look back at verse 19, he says he explains why men are condemned because light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than the light. And Jesus is what is being referred to here, that light is come into the world. Jesus is being referred to here as the spiritual light. And this is talking about spiritual darkness. Okay? Now look, shining light, shining the light on our deeds to show, make manifest, make obvious, that means, our position that we're in of darkness, our position of darkness. Okay? So, here's what's interesting. John chapter 3 is talking about spiritual darkness that we're in, that we were in before we got saved. Spiritual darkness that the world is in. And then Jesus coming into the world, being that spiritual light that shines light on, you know, men's sins, their position of condemnation, making manifest, you know, their evil. Their evil that they have done. Right? But here's another thing about darkness in the Bible, turn to Genesis chapter 1. So, we're talking about spiritual light and spiritual darkness in John chapter 3. But here's an interesting thing about this concept of darkness in the Bible is it works through and through. It works spiritually and it works literally in the Bible. Because God, if we look at Genesis chapter 1, look at verse number 2, God is the creator of literal light, of literal light in the world. I mean, it's such an interesting study, just this study of darkness in the world. But look at Genesis chapter 1 and verse number 2. And the Bible says this, it says, The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light and there was light. And God saw the light and that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness. So, here's an interesting situation where God creates. So, God here, he's creating literal light. It's like, you know, when somebody flips on the lights in the building, you know, they've created, well, they didn't create it. I'm not going to get into power generation this morning, but they're making the room have light by flipping that switch, right? God created literal light. We're not talking about spiritual light here, or spiritual darkness. We're saying that the earth was without form and void, and it was dark. I mean, there was no light there, okay? So, look, in the end is what's interesting though. When we speak about literal light in the end of the world, turn to John, or not turn to John, turn to Revelation chapter 21. Not only did God create the light in the beginning, but at the end, God will be the literal light. He will be that light. So, he created light at the beginning. Look at Revelation chapter 21. So, we see that, you know, he was the spiritual light. Jesus, who was the spiritual light in John chapter 3? It was Jesus, okay? And then God, we look back, God created the light at the beginning of the earth when he created the earth, and the Bible says that he created the literal light but then at the end, and this is pretty cool, Revelation chapter 21, look at verse 23, talking about, you know, the New Jerusalem, okay? The New Jerusalem, look at Revelation chapter 21 and verse 23, and the city had no need of the sun, which is interesting because the sun is the way that God created the light in the beginning. So, that's the means, that's the tool, that's the machine that God used to create that light, but at the end, it says that the city's not going to need the sun. Why? Neither of the moon, because that was the moon is created to be the light in the nighttime, right? The lesser light, and neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it. And even more specifically, what do we see? And the lamb is the light thereof. Look, God created the sun at the beginning, the literal light for us in this world, that's the light that we're looking at right now, it's the light God created at the beginning. In John chapter 3, we see that Jesus himself is the spiritual light that leads men out of darkness. And if they don't get out of darkness, it's because they love the darkness more than that light. Why don't people get saved? Well, because they love the darkness more than they love the light. You're bringing the light to them, and Jesus is that spiritual light. But the thing is, that light shines on their sins. So some people won't want to see that light, and we're going to get into that, but here's what's interesting. Jesus is not only the spiritual light, but he is at the end of the world in the New Jerusalem, he is the physical light. Man, I'm going to... He is the physical light. Literally! There is no need of the sun. I mean, it can't be an analogy here, because if you're in a city and there's no light, there's no sun, there's no moon, you're just going to be walking into walls. I mean, no one will be able to see anything. But Jesus, the lamb, is that literal light, along with the spiritual light in John chapter 3. So that's pretty neat. So let's look at this concept of darkness in a literal and spiritual sense in our lives this morning. Let's look at... Go back to Ephesians chapter 5. Let's go back to this idea of literal darkness. Let's talk about literal darkness first. So the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5, look at verse number 11. So we were talking about spiritual darkness in John chapter 3, but let's look at literal darkness. The Bible says this, and have no fellowship in verse number 11 of Ephesians chapter 5, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. So we see that this idea of darkness is also tied to this idea of things being in secret, being in private. What does that mean? If we do something in secret, if I'm telling you something in secret, that means that it's something else I don't want other people to hear. I don't want other people to see. I don't want... That's why it's important that it's done in darkness. Okay? Look at verse 13. But all things, and it's interesting because we see this word manifest, pop up again here. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by what? So they're made obvious. It says they're made obvious, they're shown, they're revealed. So these things that are done in darkness are made manifest by what? They're made manifest by light. By the light. For whatsoever doth make us manifest is light. So look, literal darkness is used to conceal things. The works of darkness is they're done in darkness because they're things that people are trying to conceal. They're trying to cover up. Think about things. You say, is this literal? This is literal. This is literal. You think about things that are done... Just think about things in our world today that are done in the dark. And you say, why? You say, why? Think about these things like casinos or think about these things like bars. Like it's always dark there. I mean, you know, clubs or whatever. I mean, in those types of places, when they want to get people to leave, what do they do? They turn the lights on. And then people, they scatter like cockroaches. I mean, so you say, why? You say, why are these places like bars and nightclubs and all these places? Why are they always dark? Well, I mean, here's why. Capitalism. That's why they're dark. Because if somebody had a bar and, I mean, look, people have figured this out. People have figured out this biblical truth and are putting it into practice, not because it's in the Bible, just because they know things work this way. It's a proof of the Bible. It's a secular proof of the Bible. You'll see those every now and then. We'll see some more tonight. But look, if they had a bunch of LED lighting and it was just like the surface of the sun inside their building, nobody would go there. That's why they do it. They have it in the dark because that's what people want. When they're doing those things that they do in that building, they want it to be dark. So it makes them more money. It makes their business more profitable to have it dark. It's capitalism. Okay? But look, men love darkness. To do the works of darkness in the dark. Okay? Look, it's not... Why? You ask why? Because it's easier on the conscience. That's why. It's easier on that law that God has written in every man's heart. You know, if they haven't seared it to the point of death, that it's easier to do those things in the dark. It makes people more comfortable to sin. It is basically what it is. I mean, even the words that we speak, if they're evil, it's easier to do them in darkness, the Bible says. I mean, think about it. Think about bad things people do even in their home. Think about this. It's like, yeah, I don't go to bars. Well, here it comes. What about in your own home? What are the things that people are doing in their homes with TVs, computers, video games, whatever? They're always in the dark. Are they not? Why are they doing it in the dark? Because they don't want the light shined on the situation. Turn to Luke chapter 17. I'm sorry, Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. Look, here's an idea. Look, we're talking about literal darkness. So there should be a literal application. Why don't you put a literal light in the room where your computer is, in your house? You know what, an LED light bulb is like seven watts. If you burn that thing for 24 hours a day, 87, 60 hours in the year, it's like, it's like $15 for the whole year. Just leave it on. Get rid of that literal darkness in that spot in your house. It's a good investment, 15 bucks. Get rid of some darkness in your house. Look at Luke chapter 12. The Bible says even words spoken in darkness. For there is nothing, look at verse number two. For there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever you have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and whatsoever you have spoken in the ear and closet shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. Look, these are actual actions that will be taken in darkness. Here's to Luke chapter eight. And this is something that Christians should always just remind themselves. Is that, you know, the things, if you're doing things in darkness, there's nothing that's going to remain hidden for you. I mean, why don't people get this? Why can't people understand this? The Bible is very clear here. So it doesn't matter for you Christian. The Bible says, look, it's going to be revealed. What you're doing in darkness is going to be revealed. What you're literally, physically doing or speaking in darkness is going to be out in the light. So just think about that. If you're doing things where you're just like, oh, it should be dark right now. Or you're doing things in the dark, you know, just imagine that being revealed to everybody. And then maybe rethink about what you're doing. Look at Luke chapter eight, verse 17. The Bible says, for nothing is secret. Again, seeing that darkness is related to being in secret. The reason that you're in darkness is because you want something to be secret. I've said this to people at work for years. People that work on projects with me, people that work for me, like, look, secrets are always bad. I don't know if that's completely 100% true all the time, but at work it generally is, and in your life it generally is. Secrets are always bad. If you're keeping something secret, why are you doing that? Yes. You know, look, it's always bad. And things done in darkness, things done in secret, that shall not be made... Look, here's that word manifest again. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest. Meaning obvious. Your secrets are going to be made obvious. They're going to have that light shine upon them. Neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. It's great how the Bible just defines things for us. I mean, how can you misunderstand the Bible when it just keeps saying like it uses a word and then it's like, okay, it means manifest. What does that mean? Neither anything hid. It's not going to stay hidden that shall not be known and come abroad. If it's manifest, if it's made manifest, it's going to be known, it's going to come abroad. It's not going to remain hidden. Your secrets will be coming out. So when you're talking about somebody, you know, when you're at work and you're trying to scheme against somebody or whatever, look, just imagine that person finding out because it's going to come out. The person that, and I don't know how many times I have to see this, but the person that is constantly talking, trying to scheme and scheme all these different things, whether it be for their career or their gain or whatever it is, it always comes out and they always just, everyone knows that, that's how you are. It always comes out. So that's, look, things done in darkness will be revealed. Things done in actual, literal darkness. They're being done in darkness because people want to keep them secret, it'll come out, it'll be revealed. Turn to Ephesians chapter six. What about spiritual darkness? And I mean, I can't really get into spiritual darkness because that's a whole thing. That's a whole year-long sermon series right there, all right, spiritual darkness. But let's just look at it, what it means. Spiritual darkness is very real. It's very real, it's in active control right now and it's something that we need to be aware of. Look at Ephesians chapter six and verse number 12. Look what the Bible says. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world and then against spiritual wickedness. So there's rulers of the darkness. What is it talking about? It's talking about spiritual wickedness, spiritual darkness. This is the darkness that Jesus is talking about in John chapter three, the spiritual darkness. But where is it? Where is it? Is it spiritual darkness in the lowest corners of the alleys in Fresno? Is it spiritual darkness? I mean, it's there too, trust me. I mean, you should have seen the mess we cleaned up this morning. That's spiritual darkness right there. But I mean, is it spiritual darkness in low places? No, it's worse than what we think, right? The rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places. It's in the highest places of power. This means that there's a very powerful high agenda. The word Romans 13 uses the same thing when it talks about the higher powers. This is what we're talking about. So the higher powers, there's high powers in this world, in this earth, on this earth. There's high powers. I mean, isn't that true? There's some seriously powerful people in the world. And the Bible says that there's spiritual wickedness in those places, in those positions of power. It means there's an agenda, here's what it means. There's an agenda against the Lord in those high places. Is that hard to see? There's an agenda against God in those high places. Look, it takes paying attention to see this, but it's there. Now, this topic is, like I said, it could be a whole thing. But let me just give you a couple things to watch for when we're talking about spiritual darkness. Here's the thing. Here's what to watch for. When you say, what should I look for? When I'm seeing what's going on in the world, when I'm watching my life or the worldly people around me and governments and all these things, what should I watch for? Well, here's the first thing you should watch for that's your first cue that there's spiritual wickedness happening. Here's the thing. Watch for things that would hinder the gospel being spread. Watch for those things. If there's things, if there's people, if there's policies, if there's things being done that would make it more difficult to get the truth to people, whether that be here, whether that be outside Fresno, whether that be in all the other parts of the world, just ask yourself, that's the spiritual wickedness. Right, man. Okay, you ask yourself, was it easier at this time last year to spread the gospel throughout the entire world or is it easier now? And we obviously know the answer to that question, so that's our first clue that there is spiritual wickedness at play here. Okay, we know. Here's another thing. You say that's the whole world. We can look at that, we can see that. But those things are coming from spiritual wickedness in high places. Okay, number two, watch for things that would hinder your Christian life. Watch for things that would come at you to hinder your Christian life. Look, this church is our fortress. This church is our place of spiritual protection in crazy times. It's our light. This church is our light, the fact that we're able to come here, the fact that we're able to gather together and exhort one another, the fact that we're able to be here and gather and fellowship and strengthen and sharpen one another. All these different things that we're supposed to be to one another, it's this church is that light for us. So watch for things that would hinder that. Right. What? I mean, that would make that not possible to come to church. Look, you'll be able, I guarantee you, if you see things and you point things out that, oh, this hinders me going to church or this makes it to where I can't do this and that. You know, whether it's your job or whether it's policies or whether it's whatever, look, I guarantee you'll be able to trace it back to spiritual darkness. Guarantee. Guarantee. So that's just things to look for for spiritual darkness in high places, things to notice. Just watch things that would hinder your own spiritual growth and know that they come from places of spiritual high places, wickedness in high places. And then, of course, watch for things that would just stop the gospel, because that's the whole thing. That's the whole thing. That's the whole reason you're like, what's the point? That's the point. That's the point is to get the gospel out and show that truth to the world, show that light to the world and anything that would hinder that is not coming from a good place. Blanket statement. I don't like blanket statements, but there's one for you right there. So let's get back to ourselves. Why go back to John chapter three? Why, let's explore this. Why do we love darkness? Why do men love darkness? I don't like darkness myself personally. I don't like literal darkness. So in the winter time for many years, for many, many years what I do in the winter is I walk around like this. My wife is very annoyed with this, but she puts up with it. This is how, if you come to my house, anytime in the evening, you'll usually see me walking around like this. Maybe I shouldn't tell you all the details of my life. But here's why my wife doesn't like it. Because it's like, what's that, honey? What's going on? What's the problem, brother Francisco? Look at me. But look, this thing, it makes the darkness light. It's like I'm walking around in the daytime. Outside of my house with this thing on. It's great. So I mean, that's how I cover up, you know, literal darkness. I mean, that's why it's so important you wanted to have something for your kids to do, by the way. You know, a kid needs to learn how to hold a flashlight when his dad's working on something, okay? This is kind of an off thing. But you know, here's the value of learning how to hold a flashlight for your dad. You can't hold a flashlight and be like this and then be like, hey, hey, attention, I'm in the dark here. Oh, that's how it goes. They need to learn to focus and pay attention and help, okay? And pay attention, not like, you know, pay attention for three seconds. We're going to talk about this evening. It's over time. Pay attention the whole time. I'm trying to put a knot on a bolt here, hold it steady, steady. So, no, that's a valuable lesson for a kid. Teach your boys and your girls how to hold a flashlight. Okay, back to the sermon. But look, why do we love darkness is the key here. Why do we love literal darkness and spiritual darkness? It's because of our sin. That's the answer, okay? And our sin affects us whether we're saved or not. So, darkness conceals sin, so why do we love sin? Turn to Romans chapter six. Because our flesh tells us, and we're going to always have this flesh, our flesh tells us that sin is what we want. That sin is something that's good for us. It's what makes us feel good. The Bible tells us different. The Bible tells us different. The Bible says that sin is full of consequences. Sin is full of consequences. No, turn to Proverbs 14. I'm sorry, I misled you. Turn to Proverbs 14. You know, the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. And if you're not saved, it's going to be a spiritual death. But look, if you get into sin as a saved person, it could be your physical death. It could be an early death. I mean, the wages of sin, the consequences for that is death. Look at Proverbs 14 in verse number 12. So our flesh, we love darkness. Our flesh loves darkness because our flesh wants to sin. Our flesh loves sin, so we want to have that darkness. We always want to be, so look, that's a sign. If you're loving darkness, you want to get in the dark and do things in the dark, why are you doing that? Because your flesh is ruling you. Your flesh is ruling you. So look at Proverbs 14 verse 12. What does the Bible say about sin? The way which seemeth right unto a man, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the M thereof is the ways of death. Look, that's talking about sin. The things that your flesh wants and wants to lead you into will lead you into sin, into darkness, and ultimately into death. Think about the man in the Bible. You know, David Saul, Saul sin literally led him to death, to an early physical death. He said, what's your problem? We're saved. Well, the solution to physical darkness is light, like the headlight, right? The solution to spiritual darkness is the Bible. It's the Bible. It's following God's law. It's avoiding sin. That's why we come here and talk about sin so much. And ultimately, it's why most people out there that aren't saved aren't interested in the gospel. You're saying you're telling me that sin is bad, I know, but this is why most people that aren't saved aren't interested in the gospel. Because the first thing that it will do when you show up on someone's door, what's the first thing you talk about? You're going to shine the light in their darkness on their sin. And people don't want those things made manifest. They don't want people seeing those things. They don't want... But look, if somebody does make those things manifest and know that they're, you know, admit that and now we have a chance of having the light be successful there. Because they'll give up that idea of wanting to be in darkness for the light. Okay? You can't be happy in the dark and get saved. You know, you have to first... That's why you have to first admit that you're a sinner. Otherwise, what are you even being saved from? I mean, it's not just in sin, by the way. People are in spiritual darkness out there, in false religion, in false beliefs. They're in that darkness. They have to let go of that darkness for the light, for the truth. They have to know that they're in the dark, is the bottom line. And they have to get out of the dark. You know, I mean, people... We met some people the other day in false religion and it's just like... They're just... They're in the dark and they don't care that they're in the dark. They want to stay in the dark. Well, that's condemnation. The Bible says, and that's what it's going to be. So for us, we need to understand that our sin is darkness. For others, we need to understand that unless people realize they're in the darkness and want to come out of the darkness, they will never be interested in the flashlight that you show up with. Okay? Now let's look at another third idea of darkness. This is what's going to tie into tonight's sermon. So we see spiritual darkness, literal darkness. We see Jesus is the spiritual light and he's the physical light. As God created the physical light. It's a beautiful contrast. But turn to Isaiah chapter 45 or just look at the front of your bulletin. Isaiah chapter 45 and look at verse number one. So this is a prophecy from Isaiah that happens. It's an amazing prophecy from Isaiah that happens 200 years before it's fulfilled. Okay? Now Isaiah, who was Isaiah? So Isaiah was, he was an actual prophet that was a prophet to the lower kingdom of Judah. He was a prophet during the time of the northern kingdom being taken off, being destroyed, being wiped off the face of the earth by the Assyrians. And he was also, he lived during the times of Uzziah. The Bible says Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in the lower kingdom of Judah. Look at Isaiah chapter 45 and look at verse number one. The Bible says, it says, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus. So what I want to talk about before I read this is this idea of the treasures of darkness. Okay? This idea in the Bible of the treasures of darkness. We saw literal darkness, spiritual darkness. Let's look at the treasures of darkness. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus. Whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him, I will loose the loins of kings, to open up before him, the two leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and I will make the crooked places straight. I will break in the pieces, the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee, verse number three, the treasures of darkness. And hidden riches of secret places, notice the darkness and the secret still being tied together there, that thou mayest know that I am the Lord, that I the Lord, which shall call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. So who was Cyrus? And who, I mean, he's being called the Lord's anointed here. I mean, so that's a pretty important role that whoever Cyrus is has a pretty important role. We have to do a little bit of study to figure out who Cyrus is. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 50. I'll explain to you who Cyrus is. So Cyrus, even, look, secular history knows all about Cyrus. Things have been found about Cyrus. Let me just read you a little bit of a little write-up on King Cyrus. He was a Persian king. So, of course, the lower kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity a couple hundred years after Isaiah by the Babylonian Empire. And then after the Babylonian Empire, after 70 years, this Persian Empire came in and took over the Babylonians. And Cyrus was the king who was in charge of Persia at that time. Now, listen to this. In 1879, British archaeologists, digging in Iran, discovered a barrel-shaped cylinder made out of clay. Inscribed on the cylinder in ancient cuneiform was a decree by King Cyrus of Persia. In the 40-line decree, the king recalled his defeat of Babylon. Funny how secular things they dig up constantly just prove the Bible true. Again and again and again. King recalled his defeat of Babylon and clearly outlined a number of policies designed because what did King Cyrus do? We'll get into that, but he immediately released the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city. See Ezra and Nehemiah. You can find his defeat of Babylon, this 40-line decree recalled his defeat of Babylon and clearly outlined a number of policies designed to defend the rights of the conquered. So he was a merciful king. He was a merciful king that respected the rights of people that didn't even have his beliefs. Think about that. You can find this incredible artifact called the Cyrus Cylinder in the British Museum. That's something that I would like to see some day. Something like that. That's cool to me. Just this constant secular, I've always been interested in those things. They'll never find anything that proves the Bible false. Never. It only backs it up. This cylinder confirms the historical records showing that King Cyrus displayed a tremendous and heretofore unprecedented. That means that kings before this, think of the Assyrians, go read up on the Assyrians. They were incredibly brutal to the point where I couldn't even tell you the things from the pulpit. They were brutal. Even the Babylonians were brutal in many ways. But this cylinder confirms the historical records showing that King Cyrus displayed unprecedented respect and tolerance for peoples he conquered. The United Nations says that the Cyrus Cylinder is the world's first charter of human rights. Then the United Nations make a quote and ruin the whole thing. But anyway, Jeremiah chapter 50, are you there? So in Jeremiah chapter 50, we see the Bible account of this actually happening, of Cyrus taking over. And the Bible is saying in Jeremiah chapter 50 in verse 37, of course, Jeremiah being a prophet that was alive during the captivity. He was warning about the captivity and then it happened during his tenure. The Bible says in Jeremiah 50, 37, a sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots and upon the mingled people that are in the midst of her and they shall become his women. A sword is upon what? Her treasures and they shall be robbed. So the Bible gave us this idea that these treasures of darkness were going to be given to Cyrus. God promises him that. So look, Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Turn to Daniel chapter 4. Turn to Daniel chapter 4. We just have to do a little bit of history here and then I'll explain to you how this ties into what we're going to talk about this evening. Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Whom God, in Daniel chapter 4, look at verse 33, Whom God humbled. God humbled Nebuchadnezzar. And if you read the Bible in Daniel chapter 4, I mean, you could pretty much say or I believe that Nebuchadnezzar got saved. Nebuchadnezzar was a saved man. He was a saved king. God humbled him. You know, if only God would do this to people that need to be saved. Because it's worth it. Right? It's worth it. If people need to be put down to get saved, you know, that's a prayer you could have for somebody. That somebody be, you know, brought low. So they'd be humbled. Because what stops people from being saved? They're pried. Look at Daniel chapter 4 in verse 33. This talks about God humbling Nebuchadnezzar. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. So he was given this prophecy, this vision, and he was driven from men. He did eat grass as oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown out like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven and my understanding returned unto me and I blessed the most high and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. God brings him low to the point where he takes away his mind and he's literally living like an animal. His nails and his hair grows out. I mean, we can picture it. I'm sure we can. All right? Turn to Daniel chapter 5. Now his grandson rules. Now his grandson rules. So God humbles Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar, by all intensive purposes here, I mean, in fact, in the Bible, it looks like he gets saved. He acknowledges God. He gets saved and he recognizes God as the God who reigns from generation to generation as the eternal God that's telling us. Look at Daniel chapter 5 in verse number 1. Now we have, you know, his grandson ruling. It says, Bel Shazzar, the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand. Bel Shazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden silver vessels that were his father, Nebuchadnezzar, has taken out of the temple, which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princesses, his wives, his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God that was at Jerusalem. And the king and his princesses, his wives, and his concubines drank in them. So he's having a party. And the Bible says he's been given over. He worships other gods. And I'm not going to get into all the wickedness of this man. But he's basically having a party and they're getting all drunk and, you know, having this party out of the vessels, the golden vessels from Solomon's temple. I mean, Brother Ryan talked about this on, you know, in his sermon on Sunday night. Please take a look at that if you haven't watched it. It's a great sermon on the temples. Verse 24. Now you see the handwriting on the wall. This handwriting on the wall happens. He sees this hand right on the wall and Daniel goes and he interprets what the writing means. And the Bible says in verse 24, then was the part of the hand sent from him and this writing was written. And this was the writing that was written. Mine, mine, tickle a parson. And this is the interpretation of the thing. Mine, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tickle, thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. Pair is thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar and they called Daniel with scarlet and put the chain of gold upon his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. And in that night, look, his kingdom ended this night that he had this party. It was over right here. And in that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom being about three score and two years old. Well, Darius the Mede, who's that? What about Cyrus? Well, let me just not get into this, but I mean Darius is basically, it said it was a split kingdom. It was the Persian Median Empire. Darius was a king under the Cyrus. Cyrus was the main king. Darius was the Median portion of that kingdom. Look at verse number six, or Daniel chapter six. How do I know that? Well, Daniel chapter six, verse 28. Look at verse 28. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. So it was Cyrus that was over this whole thing. Darius was a subordinate king to Cyrus the Great. And that same Cyrus, by the way, turned to Ezra chapter five. Ezra chapter five. So we have that same Cyrus, which matches, you know, the Bible tells us this about Cyrus, but it perfectly is backed up by the Cyrus cylinder that we saw that shows how respectful and, you know, how he allowed the rights to the people that he conquered. Look at Ezra chapter five and verse number 12. The Bible says in Ezra chapter five, verse 12, but after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven under wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon. So it's talking about how that the first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar when he came in and he conquered Jerusalem, but the Bible says in verse 13, but in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God. So right away, when Cyrus takes over, he sends them to build the second temple, okay? And he sends the rubble back, of course. That's a great story in the Bible. But look, all that to say this is back in Isaiah 45, we see that it was this Cyrus that God anointed to judge the Babylonians. He anointed him and to free the children of Israel from the captivity of the Babylonians after 70 years. Okay? And it's realized in Daniel chapter five and Jeremiah chapter 50 and some other places. But look, Cyrus is not only anointed by God, but he is given the Babylonian treasures. Are you still in Daniel? Look at Daniel chapter five in verse number 23. You say, why Baal Shazzar? Okay? He had a party and he disrespected the temple and the things that came from the temple, not the temple, but the things that came out of the temple, the holy things. You say, but why was God just hammered down on this guy? Look at Daniel 5.23, Cyrus is given these Babylonian treasures and we see something about these treasures. Look at verse 23, but this is Baal Shazzar, but has lifted up thyself. Look, this is his real problem. His real problem wasn't the party. The party was a symptom. Okay? This is the disease right here. Okay? But has lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven and they have brought the vessels of the house before thee and thou and thy lords and thy wives and concubines and have drunk wine in them and thou hast praised gods of silver and of gold and of brass, iron, wood and stone, which see not nor hear nor know. What are these gods that are made of wood and made of gold? They're nothing. They're dumb. They're dumb idols. They're pieces of material, whatever it is. That's not the problem. The problem is that you turned on the Lord. The problem is that you turned on actual God for something that is nothing. For something. It's a treasure. It's made of gold, but it's nothing. It's not a lesser God. It's not like, oh, this is little God. This is big God. No, it's nothing. It's a piece of gold. It's a piece of silver. It's something that has no spiritual value. It's darkness. It's spiritual darkness. It's spiritual nothingness. It's being in spiritual darkness, worshiping all these stupid things. But the real problem is that you turned on the Lord Himself. You turned on the light and now you're just focused on something that is nothing. On something that is nothing. That is the treasures of darkness. That is the treasures of darkness. All these things that they worshiped. All this gold and silver and all these gods that they used to turn against God. When I read this, it makes me think of a lot of people that won't hear the Gospel today. It makes me think of hard-hearted people. You go to upper-class neighborhoods. A couple of weeks ago, we were in an upper-class neighborhood. You walk into these places and look, there's a lot of treasures of darkness there. We walked into one house. There's all these big gargoyles out in the front yard. It must have cost thousands of dollars for these huge things. It's treasures of darkness. It's just spiritual darkness. Look, but even aside from the gods and the idols, it's just the houses and the cars. And all these things, they're just very comfortable with their treasures. And they're very comfortable with those treasures that keep them in darkness. In some cases, they may be literal idols, but in other cases, they might just be treasures that keep them in darkness, in spiritual darkness, in comfort. That's the whole problem with our country. That's the whole reason that people won't get saved is because they're prideful and they're just like, look at all my treasures. What could you tell me? And those treasures, those literal treasures become their spiritual darkness. So remember, I mean, remember, and we'll talk about this tonight, but remember that God's blessing on your life could become treasures of darkness for you. And as we go into the sermon tonight, I want you to just remember that. And we'll talk about it in more depth tonight. But look, we're talking about darkness this morning. We're talking about fixing literal darkness. We're talking about, you know, flashlights and lighting up your life literally. We're talking about, you know, shining some light on some situations. And then if you like darkness, why do you like darkness? We're talking about spiritual darkness. You know, you need to be aware of it. You need to pay attention to it. I mean, this isn't just for the unsaved. And then of course, we're talking about all these things and treasures of darkness. I mean, we saw, you know, Wednesday, how the lessons of nations, we saw a couple of weeks ago, Wednesday, how the lessons of nations in the Bible can be directly applied to us personally. And that is a perfect example. This treasures of darkness is something that we can take from the Bible, from nations, and apply it to us personally. To make sure that the things that God has blessed us with don't become spiritual darkness to us. Don't drag us into spiritual darkness. I mean, look, blessings, I pray that blessings come on all of you. But if those blessings are going to become darkness to you, I don't pray for that. So you have to be careful. So we're going to talk about these things in great detail tonight. And we're going to really dig into this concept as well. But that's the balance that must be struck by the Christian. Okay? So look, darkness is a concept in the Bible. It's a great concept in the Bible. It shows us why we're going to go out and we're just not going to be successful with everybody out there preaching the gospel because men love darkness. Men love literal darkness. Men love spiritual darkness. And then I just love the contrast of God being the light physically in the beginning with the sun. He creates that machine that creates light for us and it becomes the literal light at the end. Jesus is that literal light. The glory off of the Lamb is the light that lights the city. It's just a great application in the Bible. We need to be aware of it. Let's bow our heads and pray.