Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 and verse 16. I think this is a very appropriate
place to be just by the Lord's providence. Just preaching verse
by verse through these chapters and verses in the Word of God.
We come to this one. At this time, verse 16 of Luke
8, no man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a
vessel, or putteth it under a bed, but setteth it on a candlestick,
that they which enter in may see the light. Another of our Lord's simple,
beautiful, instructive, vital, wonderful illustrations.
You see how our Lord teaches. A candle on a candlestick, not
under a vessel, not under a bed, sitting on a candlestick so that
everybody that comes in this room, you picture a candle right
there in the middle of that room. It would be a little bit more
light in the middle there, but you'd be able to see every corner
of this room to some extent with one candle. It's a big room.
And everybody that comes in will see by that light. If there's
no other, there's just one light. Just one candle. One flame. Charles Spurgeon wrote in one
of his books, I believe it was lectures to my students. He said
this, that illustrations are like windows that let light into
a dark room. And when I read that, I said
to myself, did he just give an illustration of what an illustration
is? Yes, he did. And our Lord did that all the
time. He taught that way all the time. Pictures, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto. All the time he did that, and
what a beautiful way to learn. What a simple, we need simplicity,
don't we? We need clarity. We need plainness.
And the more so, seeing we have such a hope. I pray that the Lord will give
us great plainness of speech. He himself used great plainness
of speech. In the parable of the sower,
the seed was the word of God. Here, the light is the word of
God. We have one light in this dark
Terrible world John 8 12 our Lord Jesus calls
himself the light of the world. Well, which is it Chris the Bible
or Christ? Yes This book concerns him. This is Christ written down on
paper It's what this is. Is that what it is? it's the
Son of God written on sheets of paper so that we can pick
it up and see him and He is the light he said in John 8 12 then
spake Jesus again unto them saying I am the light of the world he
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the
light of life. He also said to his disciples
in Matthew 5 14 you are the light of the world. A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle,
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Are you in the house this
morning? Am I in the house? Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven. Let your light shine. What is our light? We know that we're born in darkness.
We need light. Do we have light? If He's given
you light, you do. Our light is Him. Our light is
Christ. His Word, Him. Now our Lord said
that when someone has light, they always do something specific
with it. He said what they don't do with
it and what they do with it. And this is so plain and clear. They don't cover it with a vessel
first of all. They don't cover it with a vessel.
What is the vessel? That's us. We're the vessel. Paul said we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. You can put the light in a vessel
and carry it around, but don't cover it with the vessel. I don't
want the light to be covered by the vessel this morning or
ever. Do you? Neither did Paul. That's why
he said we don't preach ourselves We preach not ourselves for we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord Don't cover the
light with the vessel and ourselves your servants for his sake That's
all we are. We're his servant We're the candlestick
maybe but he's the light We're the vessel that holds it He's
the light We don't preach our own thoughts. We don't preach
our own deductions. We don't preach our own conclusions
from the Word of God. You don't need to conclude anything
from the statement that Christ is all. Do you? That is the conclusion. This
is the Son. Everybody knows that in a mathematical
equation when you reach the sum you're done Paul said this is
the sum quit calculating quit debating quit figuring This is
the sum we have such an high priest who has entered into the
heavens Christ has entered there for us having obtained eternal
redemption for us when he shed his precious blood That's the
conclusion. It's finished The sum has been
reached There's nothing more to calculate. He is all. Christ
is all. We don't preach what we think
about the Word of God. Don't tell me what you think
God said. Just tell me what God said. Don't
tell me what He meant by what He said. Tell me what He said.
And I'll know what He meant. We don't preach our own doctrinal
positions or any fleshly grievances that we have with men who disagree
with us. Paul said in Galatians 1 10 for do I now persuade men
or God? Am I arguing with men or am I
trying to? With all my heart To please to serve Am I wanting
men am I trying to? Convince me Or do we come here
hoping that God Will just turn the light on Do I persuade men,
or God, do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Let the light shine, don't cover
it with the vessel. May that be true of me. God forbid
that a sinner come into this room needing to see the light
and instead see this vessel or any vessel for that matter because
the light is obscured by a vessel. God forbid that we should glory
save in the Lord Jesus Christ and his cross, him crucified. And don't put it under a bed
either. Let not ever the light be obscured or neglected because
of a desire for convenience or complacency on our part. Don't hide it under the bed.
This is our New Year's message now. Let's consider this on the
final day of 2017. Paul said in Romans 13 11, knowing
the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. What
does that mean? For now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let
us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. What
does it mean to walk in the day? What does it mean to redeem the
time? Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. and make not provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Boy, that's a good thing to think
about at the end of a year and the beginning of a new one, isn't
it? Put ye on the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the light. What do we do with the light?
We don't hide the light. What do we do with it then? We
put it on a canvas stick. The book of Revelation, in the
book of Revelation, the candlestick is widely considered to be the
gospel preacher, but really it's the ministry of the word, not
a person in particular. It could be any person, it doesn't
matter who it is. The Ethiopian eunuch had it right,
whether he knew it or not at the time, he said, how can I
know unless some man should help me? Just some man. God could
just use some man. It needs to be a man that the
Lord is using though, that the Lord has given the light to.
That the Lord, if they speak not according to the word of
this prophecy, it's because why? There's no what in them? No light. And so it's that man, but it
could be any man. It's not the preacher. It's the
word. It's the gospel. He said, I'll
take that away. He warned one of the churches
there, didn't he? I'll take it away. It's not the preacher himself.
He'd take me away and somebody better than me can stand up here.
That's not much of a threat of taking me away, is it? But, oh,
don't take the light away, Lord. Don't take the ministry, don't
take the gospel of Christ away. Don't take that away. But this
pulpit, this position, the office of preacher now, this is This
is important because God has made it so. This is the way that
God shines the light. Somebody dedicates themselves
to preaching the word. God causes it to be so. The light
is preached, proclaimed, openly shown. It's placed in a position
where it can best be displayed and where the most good can be
done by it. And according to God, it's right
here in this pulpit. It's this arrangement right here. It's not people sitting around
the house arguing about what God said. It's somebody, God
setting somebody apart, whether it's me or you or somebody else,
doesn't matter. It's God setting somebody apart
to the word, to the gospel, to find out what, by his grace,
what God said and just say what God said. God doesn't use worship
leaders. He didn't say, I'll give you
a worship leader after my own heart. The church doesn't need
religious cheerleaders. If you know anything about the
religion of this world, you know what I mean. The 12 apostles
said in Acts 6, for we will give ourselves continually to prayer
and to the ministry of the word. That's God's way of shining the
light. He said, put it on a candlestick. Even so, 1 Corinthians 9.14,
hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should
live of the gospel. Now in the context there, certainly
that can be understood of the gospel preacher being supported
in the preaching of the gospel. But think about it this way.
I believe this is included here, too, and it's throughout the
Word of God. This is true. The Lord hath ordained
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. In
other words, the gospel's their life. That's their life. That ought to be true of all
of us, but especially in the ministry of the Word. We will
give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Does
that mean that the gospel ministry is all about one man? The Lord
said, put the light on a candlestick. Men, put it on a candlestick.
Of course it's God doing it, but aren't you glad to be in
on it? Aren't you glad to be in on it?
It takes a group of committed believers, and the reason it
takes a group of committed believers is because God has ordained it
this way. If he ordained it another way, then that's what it would
take. It's nothing to do with them, really. Not anything. There's
no glory for it in us. Is that alright with you? There's
just not any glory for us in it. That's fine. We're nothing. He that planteth is nothing.
He that watereth is nothing. God gives the increase. He's
everything. But it does, by God's ordination
and purpose, it takes a group of committed believers to put
the light on a candlestick. It just does. God's doing it. God's got to raise them up. But
where there is not a group of committed believers who are willing
to support the ministry in a given place, there ain't no candlestick. You mark it down. The candlestick is not the light.
Let me make that clear. The candlestick is not the light.
Christ is the light. May he give us grace to lift
him up high. The candlestick just holds up
the light. But that's God's way now. That's God's way. Every time you come in that door
back there, you're putting the light on a candlestick. Every
time somebody vacuums the floor in here, or puts a dollar in
that box back there. You really think vacuuming is
that important, Chris? It's absolutely vital. It's vital. We let this place of worship
get neglected and run down and nasty. How are we going to worship
here? Think about that with me for
a minute. How are we going to worship if we just let this place deteriorate?
And I'm not talking about it would be less convenient and
comfortable for us if we let it deteriorate. I'm talking about
how are we going to sit here and worship God who we pretend
to be committed to? And we don't care anymore about
him. We don't care enough about him to vacuum the floor where
we worship him. How are we going to worship in
that place? And that's why I say these things
are important. Every part, everything that's
done, I wish I could impress upon us all that each of us is
necessary in this ministry by God's design. The word is preeminent now. The
word is preeminent. The word is, if you know, I don't
care how committed and zealous you are, we see examples of this,
don't we? Commitment and zeal, but no light.
That's worse than nothing. That's less than worthless. Do you think God, though, those
of you who have read this book in this room, if you've read
this book, do you think God is going to bless convenient, lackadaisical,
sporadic worship of him. You reckon he will? May God give us grace to shine
the light. Nobody would light a physical
candle and put a vessel on top of it or slide it under a bed.
Nobody does that. And yet, if God doesn't have
mercy on us and bless us, we won't have enough sense to shine
that most blessed light, that most vital of all light, the
light of the truth of God as it is in Jesus Christ. We'll
obscure it with the vessel or we'll slide it under the bed,
we'll neglect and we'll just kind of Be lackadaisical about
it. May God give us grace to shine
the light. Let's tell sinners that there's
a Savior who came to live and die for His own and accomplished
salvation for them, finished the work of redemption for them,
obtained eternal redemption for them. Let's preach the successful,
victorious, mighty Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did The
work that the father sent him to do which was to save his people
from their sin. He's called Jesus for a reason.
Because he's going to save his people from their sins. With
us or without us. The light's going to shine. Don't
you want to be in on it? He finished the work and all
that's left for them, all that's left for his people is to find
out about it. And to fall in love with the
one who did it for them. That's all that's left. He's
already finished it. Have you found out about it?
Has he spoken to your heart? Has he spoken peace to your heart? The peace that he wrought by
his precious blood on Calvary? What a privilege it is to shine
his light. Christ didn't do all he could
do and leave something for dead sinners to do. That's ridiculous
and blasphemous and anti-Christ. What a privilege to shine his
light like the moon reflects the light of the sun. We are
the light. He said we're the light of the
world, but that's true in the sense that we reflect his light.
We shine his light. He's the light. We shine forth
his light. Here's who I want to be. Christ
said of John the Baptist, listen to this now. You want to know
what it is, what it means that he said you are the light of
the world? John 5 35. The Lord Jesus Christ,
speaking of John the Baptist, said he was a burning and a shining
light. A shining light. Have you ever
studied John the Baptist? In what sense, in what way was
he a shining light? What did he do? Behold, God's
lamb. You have any sin that needs taken
away, there's the lamb that does it right there. There's God's
lamb. He preached the kingdom of God.
You can't preach the kingdom of God without preaching the
king. And that's Christ Jesus. God said, I've set my king on
my holy hill. And he said, you better kiss
him. You better kiss him. Lest he be angry. John said,
behold the lamb. It says in John 10 41. How is
John burning and shining light? It says in John 10 41, John did
no miracle. I thought about that. I thought,
you know, all the apostles were given that gift and the Lord
Jesus went around. I wonder why John didn't do any
miracle. And yet, the Lord said there's never been a greater
man born of a woman than John. Called him a burning and a shining
light. But he never did a single miracle.
What did he do then? All things that John spake of
this man were true. He spake of Christ and he spoke
rightly. He spoke rightly. That's how
you be a hit in the light. You just tell the truth about
Him. He's the light. And He calls us the light. What
grace that He would say that about us. We don't have any light
of our own though. Just like if we don't abide in
the vine, there's no life in us. If we abide not in Him, there's
no light. We have no shining within ourselves. Here's what we preach, who Christ
is. Who is He? Who is the Light? He's God in
the likeness of sinful flesh. Why in the world would God want
to look like sinful flesh? Why would He want to become flesh
and dwell among us? Why would He do that? In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God. And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us. Reckon why? Why did he come? He came down here to save his
people from their sins. It's illustrated from cover to
cover in this book. Moses looked and there was a
bush on fire. And yet it wasn't consumed. It
just kept burning. It didn't just burn up and then start smoking.
It just kept on burning. Then Moses said, what's going
on over here? And he walked over there. And God spoke to him out
of there. And you know what he said? First
he said, take your shoes off. This is holy ground. This building
is not holy ground, but I tell you this, wherever he is, is
holy ground. Wherever he is. And then he said this, I've heard
the cry of my people and I've come down here to save them.
And I'm going to let you in on it. You read it and tell me if
that's what he said. I've heard the cry of my oppressed,
legally bound, and oppressed, and cruelly tortured under the
law people, and I've come down here to save them, and you're
fixing to get in on it. Is that what we're talking about
this morning? What a privilege. Our first reaction, like Moses,
I'm sure is, why me? I can't even talk. But God brought
him around, didn't he? God brought him around. It's
not about how good you can talk. It's about me being with you.
It's about me being with you. It's the message that I give
you. He came, his name is Jesus, for a very simple and vital reason. For he shall save his people
from their sins. And that's the difference between
the Christ of the Bible and the false antichrist of every religion
of this world. He did exactly what he came to
do. It's that simple. He came to save and he saved. Men and women start reasoning
from that and they'll, before you know it, they'll either hate
him or love him, one of the two. I came down from heaven not to
do mine own will, not to do the will of a man, but to do the
will of him that sent me, to do the will of the Father, to
do the will of the God-man. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, If you
want to know who they are, read John chapter 17, mark it down.
You want to know who they are? All that the Father giveth me.
I came down here so that all that he gave me, I should lose
none of them. But raise them all up again at the last day.
And in order to lose none of them, he had to live for them
and he had to die for them. He shed his precious blood for
their sins. What did he do? Why did he come?
To save. to redeem a people. What did
he do? What he came to do. He accomplished
exactly what he came to do. Having done always those things
that pleased his father as my representative man. He is the
last Adam. Adam was my representative in
the garden and in him I fell. The reason I was born a sinner
is because I was born in Adam, under Adam. Adam was my representative. The reason I stand before you
sinless this morning is because Christ is my Adam also. Christ
is the last Adam. Christ is my representative before
God. And therefore I stand without spot or blemish or any such thing
in the presence of God. He is the representative man
and having lived, having done always those things that please
the Father for me as me and having been obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, having shed his precious blood for my
sins, burying my sins in his own body on the tree and paying
the price for them, suffering the wrath of God for them. He
said, as he gave up the ghost, it is finished. And it was. It is. He came to do the father's will,
all of it. It's finished. He came to save
his people from their sin. It's finished. He came to obtain
eternal redemption for his elect sheep. It's finished. Why did he do it? Because he loved his own. Not because he loved everybody
that was ever born, because he loved his own. Listen to this
verse of scripture now. When you think about this past
year, see if there's any evidence of this truth in your life. See if you're in on this. See
if you can maybe enter into this a little bit. Now before the
feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come,
that he should depart out of this world. You think about what
that means now. He didn't lay down in a bed somewhere and die
like most of us probably will. How did he depart this world?
You think about that. When the hour was come that he
should depart out of this world. unto the Father, having loved his own which were
in the world. He loved his own which were in
the world. And having loved them, he loved
them unto the end. He loved them with his last breath. He loves them now as he sits
upon the throne. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with chords of loving
kindness have I drawn thee. Where is he right now? Where
is he now? Where did he go? Stephen, as he was being stoned,
saw him on the right hand of the majesty on high. And that's where he is now. John
said, Behold, a throne was set in the heavens and one sat on
it. One sat on the throne. That's
where he is now. The Lord hath also highly exalted
him and given him a name that is above every name. So that. Listen to it. Why did God give
him a name above every name? Why did he give him this name
above every other? Listen to it. Wherefore, God also hath
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. That. So that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth
and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's where he is now. And you'll
either bow this morning with all your heart owning before
him that he is Lord indeed and not being happier about anything
else than you are about that. or one day you'll bow before
him anyway and you'll still confess that
he's Lord in spite of yourself and he'll throw you in hell where
you belong. Now one way or the other you're gonna bow. You'll bow, I'll bow because
he is Lord. He is Lord. Paul said in Hebrews
7 24, this man because he continueth forever hath an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore, he is also able to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. That's where he is
now. Somebody said, I always forget
who it was. I can't remember. But bless my
heart, I'll never forget it, I don't reckon. Somebody said,
if you could hear right now, if we could hear, The Son of
God in that next room over there praying for us, what would you
be worried about? But then he said this, he is
praying for you. He is praying for you. He's always
praying for you. He said to Simon Peter, Satan
hath desired you that he might sift you as wheat like he did
Judas, but I've prayed for you. I've prayed for you that your
faith fail not. That tells us two things now. That tells us
if not for him, how long is your faith gonna last? What's going
to happen to your faith without the intercession of our Savior?
And it tells us this too. How important is faith? How vital
is that? I've prayed for you that your
faith fail not. Lord, increase our faith. May
we lay hold of you a little bit tighter this morning than we
ever have in our lives. May we fall more fully upon you.
May we fall upon the rock. Where is he now? But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. When he offered his own precious
blood in that holy place not made with hands, he did what
no priest ever did in the Old Testament. He sat down. Because
it was finished. Where did he sit down? On the
right hand of God. on the throne of heaven, from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Why is he sitting down? For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He's my light, the one who accomplished
salvation for me. He perfected, he sanctified,
he perfected forever Same word when he said it's finished. He
has completed perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. That's
where he is now. He's sitting down having obtained
eternal redemption for me. On the right hand of God by his
grace, I know where he is now. And by his almighty grace. I
know something else. I know that where he is now.
That's where I'm fixing to be, too, one of these days, real
soon. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. What's heaven? Where I am. Where
I am. Christ is the light. Put the
light on a candlestick. How do I do that? How do we put
the light on a candlestick, Chris? Shine forth the light of Christ
everywhere you possibly can. Not casting pearls before swine.
not talking about him to somebody that's just going to blaspheme
his name and you know it before you ever say it, but when he
gives opportunity, when he gives liberty, when he gives an occasion, if a question is asked, or you
as a parent, you know when the right time is as a parent to
shine the light? All the time. All the time. Shine for his glory. And live
for His glory just in what you do. Every decision you make, do you
know it has something to do with Him? Everything you do. Live for His glory and not your
own. Paul said, I reckon that if He
died for us, we ought to live for Him that died for us. That's a pretty good way to reckon
things. Live for His glory and support
His ministry here, where you are, in every imaginable way
possible. Do you ever just sit around and
think of ways you can support the ministry? It's not just about
paying the light bill, although I'm kind of glad we have light
this morning, aren't you? This kind of light, too. It's all
right, too, isn't it? It's pretty good. That comes
from Him, too, doesn't it? How can I support the ministry,
Chris? Well, just bring a roll of paper towels every once in
a while. We use paper towels up here. You say, well, there's
already somebody that does that. Yeah, usually. Yeah, there is
somebody that does that. Sometimes, though, it's gotta
be you. It's gotta be me sometimes, isn't it? It's gotta be me. Pull
some weeds. Put ten bucks in the offering
box in there and write something on it. Maybe this is for this
or just whatever. Let me make a couple of things
real clear about that. And you get the point. It doesn't
matter. Be a part of it somehow. Be a part, let me say it this
way, be a part of it every way you can. Every way you can. The woman with the alabaster
box, she did what she could. What can you do? By God's grace,
by his provision, by his design, what are you able to do? What
are you capable of doing? Let me make a couple of things
clear. Number one, God does not need you. He does not need you. He does not need me. He don't
need me. He don't need you. He don't need
our money. He don't need our time. He don't
need our talents that he gave us, by the way. All of it, he
gave us all of it. He gave us the time that we have.
He gave us the money we have. He gave us the abilities, the
skills that we have. He can do everything that he's
doing, everything, just as well without you and without me. Is
that clear? Do you believe that? Now let
me make something else clear. By His grace, we can be in on
it. By His grace, we can be in on
it. And there's no greater privilege
on this earth. Absolutely none. David said,
a day in your courts, Lord, is better than a thousand. He said,
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God. I'd rather
stand back there and just open the door for the ladies and say,
come on in, it's good to see you this morning, than to dwell
in the tents, than to dwell, than to live at Trump Tower or
wherever. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
his house. Do you feel that way? Oh, I want to feel that way,
don't you? It all has to be, it all has
to be about this now. It all has to be that the light
might shine. It all has to do with that, doesn't
it? It's putting the light on a candlestick. If you do it for
recognition, you've messed it up. You've wasted, you've worse
than wasted your time. You've messed it up and you're
a bad example for everybody else. If you brag on yourself, if you
get any glory out of it, our Lord said where we quoted while
ago there, let your light so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your father. If they glorify
you for them, it wasn't a good work. It was a bad work. It's all about his glory and
one final thought on the last part of our verse in our text
this morning. One final thought. He said this,
the last part of the verse, that they which enter, that they which enter may see the light. There's light in this room this
morning. There's more than one kind of
light in this room. Is there any light outside of
this room? Not for a good ways. Not that
I know of about you. Not for a good ways. And notice that it is that they
may see the light. That they may see the light.
Now you might think, well you don't light a candle in order
to just see the flame. You light it to see the way. Yeah, but in spiritual things,
the light is the way. Christ is the way. I am the way.
I am the truth. I am the light. I am the life. You see other things by the light
of Christ, you'll see how wretched you are. You'll see your sin.
You're not going to see it any other way. But the light that
shines from Calvary. Christ crucified will shine the
light on your black, wicked, wretched, vile heart. And you'll
see yourself as you are too. But you know what? You don't
want to see yourself as you are without seeing the light himself.
We shine the light that they may see the light, not anything
else. The light. It all has to do with
him, doesn't it? You see the light because you
see the light is how you see your sin. As it is, but the light
himself also is the remedy for sin. What we need to see is the light
himself. People say, you know, that religion
talks this way. The Bible is a light. You know,
so that we can see how to live. Christ is how to live. Christ
is all. He is life. He's not just how
to live. He is life. They talk about that. They use that verse out of context.
Talk about more abundant, the more abundant life. Christ wants
to give you the more abundant life. You need life. And you need life that's better
than the life you came into this world with. That's what he's
talking about, more abundant. He didn't die just to make your
life better. He died to give you a better kind of life, if
you're his. The abundant life is spiritual
life. It's life in him, it's life that's
had by being finally united to the divine. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. And that same God, Paul said,
shine in our hearts. Why? To give the light. You see, when the light is put
on the candlestick, and God does it, He just is gracious enough
to let us in on it. I hope I've made that clear this
morning. I want to impress upon you what a privilege and honor
it is to be in on it. But I hope I've impressed upon
you, too, that God doesn't need us. I'm glad, aren't you? I don't want to serve a God that
needs me. Do you? Think about that. What a privilege
it is, though, to serve the one, to do everything we possibly
are able to do for the one who don't need us. What an honor
that is. But when that light is put on
the candlestick by the means that God has ordained, God, when
he's pleased to, he'll shine that light in somebody's heart.
God who commands the light to shine. He don't beg you to see
the light. He don't give you an opportunity
to see the light. I pray this morning that he's
pleased to command the light to shine in somebody's heart.
That's the only way it's going to shine. He commands light to
shine out of darkness. Paul said he shined in my heart.
Why did he do that to give light? This kind of light, the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. How am I going to know
God in his glory? You're going to look into the
face of Jesus Christ, his only begotten son. That's why Paul
said we preach Christ and what he did for sinners. We've got to see the light. God
will shine that light as he's pleased in the hearts of sinners
God shined in my heart What I Can't tell you how happy
it makes me to be able to say that God has shined His light
in my heart and in the face of his son. I see his glory How
did God do that by what means Somebody somewhere back in the
rug and And I didn't even notice it when
I walked in. If it hadn't been vacuumed, I probably would have
noticed it. I didn't even, I didn't say, boy, this rug, this carpet
sure is nice and clean. Didn't even notice it. Somebody
paid a light bill. And I completely took that for
granted. I just assumed when I walked in there, it wouldn't
be dark. I never even gave it a thought. And somebody By God's grace, 30 some odd years
before I ever walked in the door, had been called to shine the
light. There was a candlestick in that
place. And somebody was set aside to the ministry by God. They
gave themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. And
they got up and they opened this book and they spoke the truth
of God The light of life shone forth in that little place in
New Caney, Texas, on Laird Street. And the preacher preached a message
called this, Are You Thirsty? He preached from Revelation 22,
17, and the spirit and the bride say, Cough. And let him that
hear it say, Cough. Have you heard? Have you heard
the Lord himself say, come? Through the preaching of Christ
crucified? Then you say, come. And let him that's thirsty, let
him that's thirsty come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. And as that word was preached,
I found to myself to be thirsty. And by the grace of God, I drank.
And I thank God for everything it took from the day I was born,
even before I was born, of course, in his purpose of grace. But
from the day I was born until that day, everything it took
to bring me to that place and for everything. You realize a
lot has to happen in order for what's happening right now to
happen. A lot has to happen. And God made it all happen and
he used a bunch of people to make it happen. And those whom
he uses, you know what they say? We're nothing. But bless God by his grace, what
a privilege it is to plan and to water and to watch God, to
stand still and see his salvation, to watch him give the increase. And not only is he gracious to
give the increase, but how gracious he is to just let us in on it.
Isn't it wonderful? Yeah. To be in on it. Thank God for including us. May
He use us in 2018, if there is a 2018. If there's not, that's
good. I'm good with that, aren't you?
If there's no 2018, I'm good with that. But if there is, may
He give us grace to be stewards, good stewards of His grace. And
may He use us, may He graciously include us. Like David said,
who are we, Lord, to be able to even give you back what you
gave us? What a privilege, what an honor. May he be pleased to
honor us in that way. Let's pray together.