More of Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God

The High Life in God is the life you want to live. It’s the life you’ve been looking for. Jesus called this kind of life the ‘abundant life.’ Stanley Jones describes how eight years of strain as a missionary in India had broken him. Even after leave, he kept collapsing. He saw that his missionary career was in ruins unless he regained his health. Then during a meeting at Lucknow, while in prayer, a voice seemed to tell him to turn his problem over to the Lord. He did. A great peace settled into my heart and pervaded me. I knew it was done! Life—abundant life—had taken possession of me. I was so lifted that I scarcely touched the road as I quietly walked home that night. Every inch was holy ground. For days after that, I hardly knew I had a body. I went through the days, working all day and far into the night, and came down to bedtime wondering why I should ever go to bed, for there was no trace of tiredness of any kind. I seemed possessed by Life and Peace and Rest—by Christ himself…. I seemed to have tapped new life for body, mind, and spirit. Life was on a permanently higher level. And I had done nothing but took it!¹ The High Life is what we are talking about in today’s podcast. However, we are going to look at it from an unfamiliar perspective. “Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God.” This is part two of this series and our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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When Is It Right to Fight?

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Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

Choose to strip away every trace of hardheartedness. Keep your heart open and sensitive to God. Be slow to speak, quick to hear, and quick to repent.

Join the Conversation

Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

Question: Which manner of living produces the satisfaction that you know that your heart craves – the Light Life of humility or the Dark Life of hardheartedness? The answer is obvious. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of Ephesians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 45 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 40 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Podcast Notes

The High Life: Why It’s Your Life

Ephesians 4:17–22 (ESV) — 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

So, what we see in these verses and part of what we discussed in a previous podcast, is the rhetoric Paul uses to describe a life we used to live.
Used to live means we don’t live that life anymore; instead, we are not supposed to.
We must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.
Gentiles here don’t just mean non-Jewish.
It means unbelievers, those who are not in covenant with God.
Heathen would be just as suitable a synonym.
Followers of Jesus must live the High life.

Matthew 10:38–39 (AMP) — 38 And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me. 39 Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].

High Life or Dark Life: The Choice Is Yours

So, life is associated with the two kingdoms working on planet earth.
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of light.
The Kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of darkness.
There is a light life and a dark life.
We could say it this way: there is a High Life and a Low Life.
There is a life that lifts both you and others, and the opposite life pulls you and everyone else down – high life, low life.
The choice is yours as to which life you choose to live.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (ESV) — 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

Per the verse we read in Matthew’s gospel from the Amplified translation, living the high life is embracing the crucified life.
What are we crucifying?
Paul gives us a list in these verses.

The Anti-High Life

As I said earlier, we are looking at the High Life differently.
We are looking at it from the anti-side.
Paul gives us a sample description of the Anti-High Life.
Those who choose this life choose to do the following.
They choose to…
- Walk in the futility of the mind.
- To have their understanding darkened.
- Be alienated from the life of God because of inward ignorance.
- Live hardhearted.
- Be callous.
- Walk in sensuality.
- Operate in greed and impurity.
- Entertain deceitful desires.
We’ve already focused on the first one in this list: walking in the futility of the mind.
Futility means being incapable of producing results with your thinking.
You must resign to the truth that the only results you will ever experience are via your intimate connection with the vine.

John 15:5 (AMP) — 5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

That’s game, set, and match.
We’ve already resigned the chess game we were playing with God over this matter of trying to produce apart from him.
We’ve already quit, given up, got it through the thick skulls that must operate and flow in Him.
Now let’s move on.

The Anti-High Life: Darkened Understanding

Ephesians 4:17–22 (ESV) — 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do… 18 They are darkened in their understanding,

The Dark Life is that – a life flooded with darkened understanding.
The Greek word darkened is one we want to look at, and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The word darkened means to blind the mind.
It’s dark darkness that is being referenced here.
Total blackout.
The tense of this word implies that darkness was because of a process completed in the past having present results. It shows the finished and permanent result of sins blinding of the mind.²
What process occurred in the past and led to this set-in-stone state of darkened understanding?
What is being referenced here is the age of accountability.
You see, the human spirits of babies and young children are alive to God.
They don’t have to be ‘born again’ because their spirits are alive to God.
But, there comes a time when a child chooses the dark life of sin instead of the high life in God.
At that moment, they die spiritually, just as Adam and Eve did in the garden.

Genesis 3:4–6 (AMP) — 4 But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.

What happened when they ate the fruit of the tree?
Just what the Lord said would happen, they died.
But here is the thing, they died spiritually first.
That death was immediate with the first crunch or squish of that piece of fruit in their mouth.
But, look at verse four and think about it for a moment.

Genesis 3:4 (AMP) — 4 But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,

This is the greatest of deceptions here.
Satan was speaking of physical death.
God was speaking spiritual death that leads to physical death.
Adam had to fight because he didn’t die physically right away.
That took another 900 years.
There was a mental battle here that Adam had to fight because he didn’t listen to the word of the Lord.
What was the mental battle?
He didn’t die physically right away.

Genesis 3:17–19 (AMP) — 17 And to Adam He said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life. 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

Was it going to be today, was it going to be tomorrow, what about next month or next year?
Year after year went by, and he didn’t return to the dust of the earth.
He didn’t die physically.
Did Adam really understand what those words meant in the first place – returning to the dust of the earth?
I don’t know.
What I do know is if he hadn’t disobeyed and partook of the fruit, he wouldn’t have had to look over his shoulder his whole life.
Now, Adam knew something had changed when he partook of the fruit because he realized that he was naked.
Naked meaning, he knew he was missing something that he had.
Adam was clothed with the Glory of God, and it vanished with the first bite of disobedience.
The point is that Adam sinned and died spiritually.
Here is the same truth in the New Testament.

Romans 7:9–11 (ESV) — 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

Paul is saying that there was a time in his life when he was alive to God.
That’s what he said in verse land I was alive apart from the law.
Now comes the “but.”
When the commandment came, what did that mean?
It means he was confronted with God’s Word, commandment, and law at a specific time.
He came to a realization of what that commandment meant and chose not to obey it.
The scripture then says sin came alive, and Paul died
This all the Greek word darkened that we’ve been looking at.
Sin coming alive and slaying the spirit of a child as the age of accountability is the dark, dark referenced here.
They are having their understanding darkened.
Total blackout.
The lights are out.
Our spirits being illuminated by God’s life and nature, something necessary and needful for all men, is no longer available.
That’s one reason Jesus came to undo this process.
To get the lights turned back on.
You know someone has to pay the bill to get the lights on in your house.
Jesus paid the bill for you and me.
The spirits of men have come alive again via the new birth.
Revelation is now flowing once more.
The eyes of our understanding are now enlightened instead of darkened.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians and offered these words up to God.

Ephesians 1:16–18 (KJV 1900) — 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

You see, everything is working now.
You see, the only answer to this kind of darkness in the life of God is found in Jesus.
Revelation is the answer to a darkened understanding.
The journey begins with the new birth, where the life, light, and nature of God come into a man’s being.
Then from that seat of inner transformation and a lifestyle of feeding on the Word of God comes the renewing of the mind.
Your life before you came to Jesus was life wet with ignorance.
But now, we are not ignorant any longer.

2 Corinthians 2:11 (AMP) — 11 To keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.

The word “ignorant” here in this verse is the Greek word that refers to one’s ignorance or lack of specific facts.
And with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.
I modified this illustration a bit because I think the core of what’s being said is proper.

“Why is it that the vast majority of Christian believers remain largely unexposed to Christian learning? Why do bankers, lawyers, farmers, physicians, homemakers, scientists, salespeople, managers of all sorts, people who carry out all kinds of complicated tasks in their work and home, remain at elementary school level in their understanding of scriptural principles? How is it that high school age church members move easily and quickly into the complex world of computers, foreign languages, DNA and calculus, and cannot even make a beginning interpreting a single text of Scripture?³

You can readily see that ignorance is a choice.
Rick Renner says this about this word ignorant, and here is the Quote of the Day with that thought.

The word ignorant depicts someone who is in the dark or without a clue. Because this person lacks understanding, his conclusions are faulty, erroneous, and misguided. This is where we get the word agnostic, the official name used to describe individuals who claim they don’t know what they believe. So when someone claims to be agnostic, he is literally claiming to be ignorant!⁴

The Anti-High Life: Alienated, Ignorant and Hard-Hearted

Ephesians 4:17–22 (ESV) — 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do… alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

This darkened understanding is a road that leads to somewhere.
If you punch an address into Google Maps, that app will give you step-by-step directions, leading you to where you want to go if you follow them.
If I might piggyback on this idea, your spirit is Google Maps for your life.

Romans 8:14 (AMP) — 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Punching in “darkened understanding” into the spirit of a man leads that man to alienation from the life of God.
Let’s look at the word alienation.
The word alienation means to be estranged.
It means to be a stranger, to be a foreigner, to be separated from and excluded.
So this person is on the wrong end of a perfect game.
Do you understand what a ‘perfect game’ is?
A perfect game is a baseball term for a pitcher who first throws a complete game shutout and who gives up no hits.
So this is a spirit that is totally shut out from the life of God, no hits, no runs, nothing — all goose eggs on the scoreboard.
You’re alienated.
You’re a stranger, foreigner, separated from, excluded.
Because of the darkened understanding, there is a great gulf between you and true life.
You may go to work every morning, kiss your wife, kiss the children, pay your bills, go to the kid’s soccer games, give to charity, maybe even go to church — good moral citizen — not even a parking ticket and be as lost as you can be.
No life in your heart because your understanding is dark.
Indeed no High Life.
So, what you are excluded from is what you want.
Excluded from the life of God, the High Life, that’s what you want.

John 10:10 (AMP) — 10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

The Greek word life is zoe, which means God’s life.
We could say it this way, the life that God lives — that’s what zoe is.
The life of God is true life.
It’s the life you’ve been looking for, the life you have been dreaming about.
If you go to a McDonald’s restaurant and order, you may be asked if you want your meal to be upgraded to super-size.
You can have a regular burger, or you can have a super-sized burger.
Zoe is God’s version of super-sized living.
There is earthly regular-sized human life and super-sized zoe God life.
The idea of a super-sized life is located in the word ‘abundant.’
Jesus didn’t just come and bring us life.
He came to bring us abundant life.
The Greek word abundant means profuse or going beyond what is necessary⁵, ‘
Another dictionary has this as, that which is more than enough, beyond the norm, superfluous.’ This adjective describes quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate ⁶.
Another way of saying abundant life is to ‘have it in (all) its fullness’ ⁷
This life is a rich life, a full life, a satisfying life, a ‘no holes in your heart life.’
J.B. Phillips’s translation of the Bible translates abundant life as ‘I came to bring them life and far more life than before’ ⁸.
Darkened understanding shuts you out of the possibilities of an extraordinary never-ending life.
Jesus said I came that you might have life.

John 6:47 (AMP) — 47 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, relies on, and has faith in Me] has (now possesses) eternal life.

Eternal life is zoe life.
It is quality of life, not quantity of life.
That’s a vital distinction to make.
Everyone has quantity of life.
Man’s spirit is forever.
It’s forever in heaven in the presence of God or permanently in hell in the Presence of evil.
Jesus didn’t come so that you would live forever.
You already had that before He came.
He said you might enjoy a quality that only comes from an enlightened heart.
We have some more to talk about here.
You guys have a great God Week, and we’ll see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

How to Develop a Highly Effective Confidence in God

___________
References:

John Stott, The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott, ed. Mark Meynell (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018). ↩
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 106–107. ↩
Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002). ↩
Renner, Rick. Sparkling Gems From the Greek Vol. 1 (p. 128). Harrison House Publishers. Kindle Edition. ↩
BAGD Bauer, Walter. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Translated and adapted from the 5th ed., 1958 by William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich. 2nd English ed. revised and augmented by F. Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979. ↩
LNLN Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene A. Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1988. ↩
WBC Beasley-Murray. John. Word Biblical Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999.; REBREB The Revised English Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, 1989. ↩
Phillips, J. B. The New Testament in Modern English. Rev. ed. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1960. ↩

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More of Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 28

by Emery Horvath

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Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of Ephesians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

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Podcast Notes

The High Life: Why It’s Your Life

High Life or Dark Life: The Choice Is Yours

The Anti-High Life

The Anti-High Life: Darkened Understanding

The Anti-High Life: Alienated, Ignorant and Hard-Hearted

Listen to the Audio

Click Play to Listen | Right Click to Download | Subscribe in Stitcher Radio

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of Ephesians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Podcast Notes

The High Life: Why It’s Your Life

High Life or Dark Life: The Choice Is Yours

The Anti-High Life

The Anti-High Life: Darkened Understanding

The Anti-High Life: Alienated, Ignorant and Hard-Hearted

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