THE THREE R'S OF REDEMPTION (Division II A)

II. RENOUNCE SIN AND SATAN - Acts 26:18b                 

     “To turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (26:18b).

Introduction: One meaning of “To turn . . . from darkness” means to change directions. Before I was saved at the age of 18, though I was not a Christian, I thought was following Christ—well, maybe at a distance.  I thought of Jesus and me as going to heaven together, I imagined it was  kind of like we were going around a tall mountain, 14,000 feet high.  Jesus was going around on the south side of the mountain and I was on the north side and we would finally meet on the west side, and He would usher me into heaven. I thought He was taking the serious side and I was taking the scenic side, the more exciting side. Actually, I kind of liked it that way, supposedly following Jesus at a distance.  

My two high school friends who counseled me the week I was saved told me, “You might think you are taking the scenic route to heaven, but “you will never meet Jesus during your journey.”  I started to say, “How dare you say that to me!” Then I remembered that one of them was the heavy weight golden glove champion of Oklahoma that year, so I didn’t say anything. They told me I was going in the wrong direction.  They meant Jesus was going up and I was going down. I got the point.  I needed to turn around. 

A. Renounce the Practice of Sin – Acts 26:18b

“To turn them from darkness to light” (26:18ba).

Before I say more about turning, I want to talk about “darkness” which is used in many parts of Scripture as a metaphor for the sinfulness of man. Jesus came to save humanity from the devil’s darkness: “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79).

The Apostle Peter wrote to some Christians these wonderful words: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (I Peter 2:9). A person who is not saved is walking in spiritual darkness.  He does not have spiritual sight. He is actually spiritually blind. (cf. I Cor. 4:4; I Jn. 2:11)

I only remember one time that I experienced complete darkness. When I was a young cowboy working on a ranch in Western Oklahoma, some ranchers, who lived ten or fifteen miles to the east of where I worked, had invited me to supper, to visit, and probably to play cards or dominoes. It was late and the night was very dark when I mounted my horse and headed west to go back where I lived, That night I was riding a good young horse, but he could buck and he liked to buck.  Ordinarily, however, he obeyed my commands. 

After riding a couple of hours, I came to a place where I had to turn. I could turn right, go a mile and turn left, then go aanother mile and turn left again, and from there it was still another mile to my destination. BUT the ranch was one mile west of where I stopped to think. I debated, “Should I or should I not take the short cut through this ranch?”  If I took the long way around, I would have to cross several wooden bridges.  One was particularly long, and the others didn’t have any side rails.  I could imagine what my horse might do when his hoofs hit the planks of a wooden bridge.  It would sound like a bass guitar.  I had been over those bridges in the morning and he hadn’t like the sound then, so he certainly wouldn’t like it at night.

So why not take the short cut through this man’s ranch? As I rode, it had been getting darker and darker.  At this point, it was so dark I couldn’t even see my hand when I held it up in front of my eyes. I was under some dark storm clouds that just hung there for over an hour. It would be dangerous to take the short cut because the pasture I would cross had a small canyon which split the ranch in two. It was about 30 feet across at the top and 100 feet to the bottom. Now, there was a trail straight west for a half a mile and it would come to a dividing fence from where I would have less difficulty negotiating my way home. Since the old ranchers used to say a horse could see in the dark, I decided to take the short cut straight across the ranch for half a mile, thinking that the horse would follow the well worn path. So I gave the horse his reins, which would have been a bad idea even in the day time.

After riding about an hour, I began to have second thoughts, third thoughts, and thousands of thoughts.  Where was my horse going? We should have reached that dividing fence within fifteen minutes. I was definitely lost. About that time, I realized the horse was lost too. because he ran into the fence. I dismounted and felt the fence, but I didn’t know whether to go left or right. I took three or four steps to the left holding the top barbed wire, and lo and behold—I came to the canyon! The horse evidently could see the canyon and had followed it all the way across the ranch. Obviously, the only direction to go was away from the canyon.  I got back on the horse, and I would check every few steps to see if the fence was still there. Finally, I came to the top of a hill where there were two tall posts, and by this time there was just enough light that I recognized where I was. I still had to go a half mile west.

I rode for about three minutes, and the horse began to buck!  With all my might, I stopped him and got off.  Something was badly wrong with my horse.  I could think of no reason for him to buck. I couln’t see, so I began to feel all over him, and finally, I found a wire hanging under his tail.  I pulled hard and it came right out.  I got back on the horse and made my way home.  Once again, this is the only time I can remember riding when it was that dark. It was like being blind folded. The world champion cowboy could not ride a bucking horse very long blind folded.

A person who has not committed his life to the Lord is spiritually blind folded. There are analogies to this in the Scriptures. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, a religious leader who certainly thought he was enlightened, He said: “¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (Jn 3:19-20).

Our text says: “To turn them from darkness to light” (26:18ba).  Growing up on the ranch I loved to hunt with a rifle or with dogs. Many years later a pastor friend and I went fox hunting with a rancher who was about our age. As we waited for the dogs to tree a fox, I was talking to this rancher about spiritual things.  He said, “You know, I think I’ve got something figured out. “Repent means ‘Turn right and go straight’.” Later I told this story to a well-known theologian, and he said, “Give me a minute.”  He pulled a note pad out of his pocket and wrote down this definition of repentance. 

Following are some verses on repentance and turning:

(2 Chr 7:14)  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 

(Prov 1:23)  Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 

(Jer 8:6)  I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.

(Joel 2:12-13)  ¹²Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: ¹³And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

(Neh 1:9)  But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

 (Ps 119:79)  Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.

I will close with one more passage that, interestingly, describes turning though it does not use the word:

(2 Cor 7:10-11)  ¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death^{. 11}For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

To be continued: This was Division II. A.  Next Tuesday I hope to Division II. B.  I welcome constructive comments.