Did you guys figure this out?
Still working on it? Okay. It's better. We need more microphones up here. You've got to have letters on
the back of them though, right? I hate electronics. I despise
them. You just don't know. The one
thing that frustrates me more than anything else is for a TV
or a computer not to work, because I don't have a clue what to do. Testing. Closer. Closer. No, I don't want it. We'll figure it out. Do we need
both of these now? We do? Okay. All right. What a distraction, I'm sorry. The Lord said to Martha in John
chapter 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth, and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Believest thou this? Oh, yes,
Lord. We've got no place else to go
but to believe you. All right, Bert, you come, please. We're going to do the hymn on
the back of your bulletin, so let's stand together. Blessed are the sons of God. They are bought with Jesus' blood. They are ransomed from their
grave. Life eternal they shall have. With them numbered may we be
now and through eternity. God did love them in his Son
long before the world begun. May the seal of this receive
when on Jesus they believe. With them numbered may we be
now and through eternity. They are justified by grace. Their dear Savior took their
place. All their sins are washed away. They shall stand in God's great
day. With them numbered may we be
now and for eternity. For a call to worship, could
you please turn to the Book of Mark, Book of Mark chapter 2. Beginning in verse 1, chapter
2 of Mark. And again, he entered into Capernaum
after some days, and it was noise that he was in the house. This goes well with this morning,
Greg. And straightway, many were gathered together in so much
that there was no room to receive them. No, not so much as about
the door, and he preached the word unto them. That is our hope
this morning. And they come unto him, bringing
one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come
nigh unto him for to press, they uncovered the roof where he was.
And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein
the sick of the palsy lay. This clearly shows the omnipotent
power that when God gets ready to call one of his lost sheep,
there is no foundation, there is no religion, there is no circumstance,
nothing in this world, when he gets ready to call one of his
own to himself. When Jesus saw their faith, could
you see now the Lord saying, there's mine, here he comes,
there's one of mine. He said, unto the sick of the
palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Lord, may you speak that
to our hearts this morning. There is no more important phrase
than to hear that, right there. But here's the contrast. There were certain of the scribes
sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. There's the issue.
That's where we used to be, reasoning, murmuring, debating. Verse five,
it's called believing faith. So verse seven, why doth this
man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? And immediately when Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto
them, why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it
easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, arise and take up thy bed and walk? But that
you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, he saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise
and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thy house. And immediately
he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, in
so much that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, we
never saw it on this fashion. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound. May we leave this morning that
amazed. Pray that if you're a child of
God, you are that sick Paul. See, that's how we came here
this morning, by the way. I know physically we drove here. But
spiritually speaking, if you're a child of God, the Lord carried
you on that bed here this morning. We're not sick, Paul. We're paralyzed.
That's what that means. We're paralyzed. I like to think
those three were his brothers. Three out of four, maybe that
was his brothers. I don't know. I pray that we'll leave it that
way this morning. Let's pray. Father of mercy, we again thank
you for bringing us here to this place. This is your house to
where you preach to your children, the glories of Christ. Oh, and
how, Lord, you know our desire, our confession is that you would
speak to our hearts and say individually, thy sins have been forgiven me.
Lord, that we may leave here, arise with your life, looking to you and resting to
you, resting in you. Lord, we know you're pleased
to do that and drawing your sheep when you gather your people,
are pleased to preach the gospel. Lord, would you do that now through
this man you've raised? And may you give all to us. Believing eyes, believing ears,
and a heart able to believe thee and worship thee. For we ask
it in Christ's name, amen. This next hymn, we're just going
to sing a cappella, no electronics. Would you turn to number five?
Number five, and you could please stand. Number five. Come ye sinners poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you. Full of pity, joined with power. He is able, he is able, he is
willing, doubt no more. He is able, he is able, he is
willing, doubt no more. Come ye, ye, ye, come and welcome,
God's free bounty glorify. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings us nigh. Without money, without money,
come to Jesus Christ and buy. Without money, without money,
come to Jesus Christ and buy. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is
to have a knee of him. This he gives you, this he gives
you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. This he gives you, this
he gives you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. Come ye weary, heavy laden, bruised
and broken by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous
sinners Jesus came to call. Will you turn back with me in
your Bibles to Zechariah chapter 14. Zechariah. Chapter 14. In fear of being clever or irreverent,
I considered not titling this message what I wanted to title
it, but I ended up doing it anyway. And those, I figured those under
50 years old would not have any idea what I was talking about
anyway. But the title of this message
is The Twilight Zone. That show scared the wits out
of me when I was a kid. As does many circumstances today
that I don't understand. Truth is, our text this morning
makes it clear that the believer lives in the twilight zone. Not some strange twist of events like that show had, but we have
not yet the fullness of light shed on the truth. We live in just partial knowledge. And my hope this morning is that
the child of God will take hope in knowing that their faith,
though it be weak, and the light, though it be dim, is still effectual
to the salvation of their soul. Because the truth is that we
don't see things clearly yet. Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13 that we look through a glass darkly. Now that glass referred to is
a mirror. Mirrors 2,000 years ago were
not like our mirrors made of glass, they were made of metal.
They had to be polished regularly in order to be used because they
would quickly tarnish and then distort the view of what was
being seen. That's the world that you and
I live in. The mirror of faith is tarnished
quickly. is tarnished by our sin, is tarnished
by the atmosphere of this world. And my hope this morning is that
the Lord will give us the grace to polish the mirror and get
just a little bit clearer view of who we are, of who God is,
and of how it is that God's pleased to save sinners. But even with
the light of the truth that shines in our hearts in the face of
Christ, that light is dim. It's dim compared to the light
that will be. Look at our text in Zechariah
chapter 14. And verse six and seven is our
text this morning. And it shall come to pass in
that day. What is the day? It's the day
of the Lord. What is the day of the Lord?
It's the day of the Lord's visitation among his people. And it's not
just his physical visitation as was seen in the first coming
and will be seen in his second coming. It is the visitation
of the Lord by his spirit every time They look to his word every
time they come together. It's his presence with us, opening
the eyes of our understanding. And what does he say? In that
day it shall come to pass that the light shall not be clear,
nor dark. Now, When God was afflicting
the Egyptians with those plagues, one of the plagues was three
days of utter darkness, and the scripture says it was so dark
that it could be felt. and that no man looked upon another
man for three days and three nights. Darkness that you could
not see your hand in front of your face. And then that same
passage of scripture goes on to say, but the children of Israel
had light in their dwellings. Now that's a description of the
world in which you and I live. Utter darkness. Men have not
a clue as to who they are before God. They are in the dark. Utter darkness as to who God
is. And utter darkness as to how
it is that God's pleased to save sinners. And unless the Lord
is pleased to shine light on truth, you and I will remain
in utter darkness. Blind Bartimaeus, what would
you have me to do for you? Oh, Lord, that I might see. I don't
want to be left in the dark. I don't want to be like the Egyptians
that can't see. Lord, I know the light is not
going to be perfectly clear to me yet. You remember that man
that the Lord gave sight to and he looked up and he said, can
you see? He was totally blind. And he said, I see men walking
as trees. I'm in a kind of a twilight zone.
It's not clear yet. And then the Lord took him by
the hand and turned his face towards the face of the Lord.
And then, the scripture says, he saw clearly. Clearly. The light in that day is not
going to be darkness. You're not in the dark. The child
of God has had the light of the gospel shine in their hearts.
But that gospel light is not yet clear as it will be in the
day in which we see him face to face and be made like him. But it shall be, look at verse
seven, but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord.
That day in which the light becomes so brilliant that there are no
shadows. That day in which the light becomes
so bright that there's no need for the sun or the moon anymore. The light of the gospel that
shines from the throne of God is the light we're looking for.
Right now it's not dark, but it's not yet clear. Lord, I'm
in this twilight zone right now. But it shall be. God says it
shall be, it shall be. You can rest the hope of your
immortal soul on that promise. It shall be. One day. Which shall be known to the Lord.
It is appointed unto man once to die, but that day of appointment
is not known to the man, but it's known to God. And in that
day, which is known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall
come to pass that at evening time, at evening time, that's where
I got my title from, at evening time, we're kind of in the twilight
of the evening. right now. I was up early this
morning, went outside before the sun came up, and I'm squinting
to look. It was just twilight. I couldn't
see clearly. You understand? That's what the
Lord is saying. In the evening time, then it shall be light. Then all your answers are going
to be questioned. All your questions are going
to be answered. All your troubles are gonna pass away. We're gonna
see him. Turn with me to that passage
of scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter
13. There was another time, by the way,
other than the time that God smote the Egyptians with an utter
darkness that could be felt. There's another time when the
earth was darkened with a darkness that could be felt. And that was when the Lord Jesus
Christ offered himself to the Father on Calvary Street, bearing
the sins of his people. And the scripture says that from
the sixth hour to the ninth hour, Now Jewish reckoning of time
started at sunrise. So we assume that was around
6 a.m. So from the sixth hour to the ninth hour would have
been from noon to three in the afternoon. And from the sixth
hour to the ninth hour, the sky was blackened. God had cut his son off. He saw sin on his son, and he
could not have any fellowship. And that's the reason the Lord
cried, my God, my God, why'st thou forsaken me? For three hours,
the whole land, the scripture says, was blackened. as the judgment
of God was being exercised in the fullness of His wrath, beyond
anything that this world could ever possibly know, justice was
satisfied in that hour. In those hours when Christ bore
our sins in His body, the sword of God's justice was satisfied
when it was wet with the blood of the Son of God. And that darkness
was experienced by Christ so that we would not have to suffer
the darkness of God's wrath. You have your Bibles open to
1 Corinthians chapter 13. Here's what our text is talking
about now. The child of God, the light is
dim. But though it be dim, it's not
dark. It's not dark. The light of faith,
you say, well, my faith is so weak. My faith is so weak. Oh, ye of little faith. The Lord didn't say, oh, ye of
no faith. You see, here's our hope. Here's
our hope. Though we have faith as small
as a mustard seed, we can say unto this mountain, be you be
removed and cast into the sea and it shall be done. You see,
it's not the amount of our faith, it's not the brightness of our
light, it's the object of our faith. And it's the fact that
we're not in darkness, that Christ has suffered our darkness for
us. And so the Lord makes it clear in verse nine of 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, for we know in part, and we prophesy in part. Here's the truth, and I know
you've heard me say this before, but it's my experience, and it's
played out in Scripture, and it's true for you. We don't understand
anything we believe. God doesn't say, understand your
sin problem. He doesn't say, understand who
Christ is and what He's done. He says, believe, believe. He calls on us to believe God.
Man says, well, I can't believe, I don't understand. And God says,
the only understanding you're ever gonna have is after you
believe. Believing God, that's what faith
is. It's not understanding God. We
know in part. That's what Zachariah's saying.
The light is not clear, but it's not dark. And there's gonna come
a day that the Lord knows, and it'll be at evening time, when
the twilight of life comes to its end, in the appointed day,
that the light's going to be made clear. and the fullness
of His glory is going to be made known. So Paul says, we know
in part, we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect
is come, I know there's been some who
said, well, that which is perfect is the canon of Scripture. No,
it's not. It's the Word of God. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. When that which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was
a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now Paul's saying, I'm but a
child right now. I'm but a child. I speak as a
child, I understand as a child, I hear as a child, I'm just a
child. But one day, when that which
is perfect has come, I'm going to be full grown. Look what he
says what happened in that day. For now, we see through a glass
darkly. That glass is the word mirror,
and the word darkly is the word riddle. or mystery. You see the imagery? I'm a child
looking in this mirror and the image is somewhat distorted because
the mirror's not perfect. And there's corrosion on it.
And I'm trying to figure out the mystery of the gospel. I'm
trying to understand. I'm trying to believe God. But
my faith is mixed with the corruption of my sin. I'm like, I'm like
Rebecca who went before the Lord and said, why am I thus? And
what'd the Lord say? It's because there's two nations
in you. And these two nations, one's
going to be stronger than the other, but the older is going
to serve the younger. Who were those two nations? It was Esau
and Jacob. It was the spirit and the flesh.
And here's what the child of God says, Lord, I can't believe
like I want to believe. I can't see like I want to see.
And God's saying, I know. You look through a glass dimly
now, darkly. You're looking at the gospel. I'm revealing just glimmers,
just slivers of truth. You're living in a twilight zone. But when the twilight is over,
then the fullness of His glory is going to be made revealed. Right now, right now you have
need for faith. But in that day, you won't need
faith anymore. Your faith will be your experience. Your hope will be your sight. And the only thing that's going
to exist in that day is pure and perfect love as you revel
and glory in the presence of your God. That's what the Lord's, that's
His promise. You know, we get so doubtful,
don't we? We get so confused. It's because
we don't fully understand yet. And now we see through, we look
into the mirror of mystery. But then, but then when, when that which
is perfect is come, that's the story of the Lord giving the
blind man sight to where he squints and he says, I see men like trees
walking. And then he takes him and he
puts him face to face with him. But then, face to face, now I
know in part, but then shall I know even also as I am known. That which I long to see, oh
and we do, we long to see Him. Paul said, with great compassion
and great Great zeal. Oh, that I might know Him. I've not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me. I don't know Him as I ought.
But this one thing I do, I press towards the prize for the mark
of the high calling in Christ Jesus. I'm looking to Christ,
and that's all I want to know is Him. The power of His resurrection,
the fellowship of His suffering. He knows me fully. One day, when
I see that which is perfect face to face, I'll be made like Him. And in that day, right now, right
now abideth faith. You see this in verse 13? Right
now, abideth faith. Child of God, you know, my faith
is so weak, it's so fickle, it's so up and down. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's because you're living in the
twilight of the light. One day, you won't need faith
anymore. There's no faith in heaven. No
faith in heaven. Hope? No hope in heaven. Why would you hope for something
that you can see? You hope for that which you see not. The greatest of these is what?
Love. Because that's the only thing
that's going to be in heaven. Love. Perfect love. Turn to me over a few pages to
2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Verse three, but if our gospel
be hid, what is the gospel? It's the good news that salvation
is of the Lord. It's the declaration of the successful
sovereign savior who put away the sins of his people, who suffered
that blackness of separation from God, the full fury of God's
wrath. In order to satisfy justice. It's the it's the glory that's
given to the Lord Jesus Christ. And being the lamb that was slain
before the foundation salvations of the Lord. It's it's our hope
in him. And yet we look at a mirror that's
tarnished. That's what we're doing. Faith just keeps working on polishing
that mirror. Oh Lord, I want to see a little
more clearly. One day in the twilight, one day in the evening
time, God's got the day set. Oh, the heavens are going to
be opened and the full flood of His glory is going to be revealed
to you, and you're going to see Him face to face and be made
like Him. I know that's what you long for. It's coming. It's coming. But if our gospel
be hid, it's hid for them that are lost, in whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. You
see, they've got no interest in the gospel. The God of this
world has blinded their eyes, and they have no faith, they
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants,
for Christ's sake, for God, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. What's the first thing we hear
about in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1? And God said, let there be
light. And if God doesn't say let there
be light, there won't be any light. The earth will be without
form and without void, and darkness will cover the deep of it. That's
the description. That's the spiritual description
of the world without the light of the gospel. Oh, Lord, shine
the light of the gospel. And he has, he's given me faith
to believe on Christ. And yet the accuser of the brethren
is so often to assault us for not believing as we ought. And
what do we say? No, I don't. But you know what? He believed God perfectly. Though
the light might be dim, it's light. It's light. Isn't that interesting about
light? You take the darkest of rooms
and turn on the smallest of the light and you're going to see
that light, aren't you? In other words, darkness never
overcomes light. Light always pushes away darkness. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. You see, everybody that believes
gospel believes that God gets all the glory through the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied righteousness. He
fulfilled justice. He's my salvation. He's my hope.
He's my life. He's the one I long to see. Who
did he say he's coming to redeem? Who did he say? Those that are
watching and waiting. Watching and waiting for what?
For the evening to come. For this twilight zone to be
over. and for the full light of his
glory to shine forth. That's what we're waiting for.
In the meantime, we have this treasure, verse
seven, we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency
might be of God and not of us. You see, that's why, that's what
causes the twilight, isn't it? It's the earth and vessel. It's
the earth and vessel. But the glory is not in the vessel. The glory is in the oil that's
in the vessel. You see, it's the object of our
faith, not the amount of our faith. Men put faith in faith,
thinking that that's going to save them. And we're tempted
to think the same way. And that's what our Lord's telling
us in Zechariah 14. The light's not clear. I know
that. It will be one day, but it's
not now. But you're not in darkness. The light of the gospel in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ is shining in your heart to give
you faith, to believe on Christ, We are troubled. Verse 8. We are troubled. That's what
our faith is. It's troubled. Oh, we believe
and we don't believe and we just get... We hate our sin and yet
we love our sin. We hate this world and yet we
love this world. We're just a contradiction to ourselves, aren't we? Why? Because the light's not yet clear.
It's not yet full, but it's coming. In the twilight, it's coming. We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. You see, faith never quits. Faith
never stops believing, regardless of how much trouble might be.
Faith continues to be faith. You can't stop believing, can
you, believer? You just can't do it. You try every day, don't
you? But you can't. We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We are perplexed, yet not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing in the body the
dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
12. goes on in our passage in Zechariah
to say that when we didn't read this let's go back hold your
finger in Hebrews 12 and go back with me to Zechariah chapter
14 verse 5 and you shall flee to the valley of the mountains
that's fleeing to Christ The valley is where the church is
gathered together. For the valley of the mountain
shall reach unto Azel. Yea, you shall flee like as you
fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of
Judah. And the Lord my God shall come
and all the saints with thee. Amos chapter one verse one tells
us that there was a great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, and the
people had to flee the land because of the earthquake. All right? So he's saying, just like you,
when the, you ever been in an earthquake, the ground, I mean,
you think, well, one thing that's sure is the stability of the
ground. Not in an earthquake. No, the world begins to shake
and the foundation of everything is shaken. Now go back with me
to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 25. See that you refuse not him
that speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that spake
on earth, how much shall not we escape if we turn away from
him that speaketh from heaven? God has spoken from heaven. He's
speaking from heaven now. "...whose voice then shook the
earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake
not the earth only, but also heaven." And this word yet once
more signifying the removing of those things that are shaken
as of things that are made that those things which cannot be
shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receive the kingdom
which cannot be moved. You see this twilight zone that
you and I live in through all the conflicts of the world against
the church and all the conflicts that we have within ourselves
and the dimness of the light that we squint sometimes to see is God's way of shaking those
things which can be shaken, which is everything in this world. in order that we come to see
that that which cannot be shaken remains. Let us have grace. Let us have
grace whereby we may serve God acceptable with reverence and
godly fear. Let us have grace. That's how
we come, isn't it? That's how we come. Feel like you live in a twilight
zone? I do. I do. It's confusing sometimes. In the end. The fullness of his
glory will be revealed. From faith to faith. Our Heavenly Father, we pray that you would forgive
us for our unbelief. And we ask, Lord, that that sin
which doth so easily beset us and cause so many other problems
would be covered by the blood of thy dear Son. And that you
would once again just polish that mirror a little bit more
Cause us, Lord, to be able to set our affections on things
above. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 75, let's stand together,
number 75. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord, with
me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, Help of the helpless, so abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need thy presence every passing
hour. What but thy grace can foil the
tempter's power? Who like thyself my guide and
stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, oh,
abide with me. Hold thou thy word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. As morning breaks and earth's
vain shadows flee, In life, in death, O Lord, abide
with me.