You would turn back tonight to
John's Gospel and look with me in chapter 3. I was sitting there thinking as we prayed Concerning the verses that we'll
look at tonight, the thought crossed my mind that I am sure, absolutely sure, that however God deals with each
and every son and daughter of Adam, He will be just in all He does. If you look here in chapter 3,
we come to this 18th verse. And I want to read verses 18
and 19 and 20 and 21. I read verse 18. because of what he says concerning
this judgment or this condemnation. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. And we looked at how faith is
not the cause of salvation, but the consequence of being saved. Because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they
are wrought in God." Now we read in that 19th verse, what the cause of this judgment,
this condemnation, What the cause of it is, and this is also why
it is greater, and why it is a just condemnation, a just judgment
of those who believe not. He says, for this is the condemnation
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil." Now when he talks
here about light coming into the world, he's not talking about
natural light. Not talking about that light
that was spoken in the hour of creation. And he's not even talking
about light as it may be revealed in the actions of God's providence. But he is rather, first of all,
talking about the One who is light Himself, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hold your place and we'll look
over in John chapter 8 and that twelfth verse where the Lord
Jesus Christ actually identifies Himself as this light. 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." The prophecy that we find, I
believe it's quoted in Luke's gospel, is that prophecy that was first
given in Isaiah chapter 9 concerning the Christ, the light. He says, the people walking in
darkness have seen a great light. on those living in the land of
deep darkness a light has dawned." And when the Lord Jesus Christ
was born in Bethlehem, when He Himself was come into this world,
the pre-existing eternal Son of God, All those Scriptures
around his birth there in places like Luke chapter 2, those various
passages, they all make reference in various ways to all those
prophecies concerning the Messiah. And one of them is that this
people who sat in darkness have seen a great, Light. You see, men and women are without
excuse. They cannot in any way justify
themselves because light, even though they be in great darkness,
light has come into this world. And Christ, as that light, is
the revelation of God. He is the one who is Himself
the truth. Now what you're going to find,
if you study the Bible any at all, is all the references, so
many references, that speak of the truth as being light. And Christ is himself, according
to himself, the way, the truth, and the life. He is the truth
concerning God. And he is the truth concerning
salvation, that salvation of God. He is the truth as to the
one way God can be worshipped, and the one way that any sinner
can be favored by God. He is the light. I thought about it, how someone
said a long time ago concerning all the commentaries that men
have written volume after volume about the Bible, about the things
of this book. And someone said this, they said,
it is amazing. how much light the Bible will
throw on these commentaries to show what is right and to show
also what is wrong. Christ is that light come into
the world. If you turn back to John chapter
1 where we saw these verses, but in this particular light,
They really are made manifest again. If you look in John 1
and verse 14, it says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Truth. Look down in verse 17. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. I believe it could be
said that grace and truth together are light. And when you look at that next
verse, in verse 18, it says this, No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son Which is,
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared. That's actually where that ends. He hath told Him out. He hath revealed Him. And so He is, in this sense,
the Light. And He is the Light. Now think
about this. He is the light and was the light
before all those Old Testament shadows of things that were to
come. I tried to tell you this once. In order for there to be a shadow,
and that is exactly What the Scriptures say that those Old
Testament priests and sacrifices and such, they are called in
the Scriptures shadows. But in order for there to be
a shadow, there has to already be substance. And not only does
there have to be substance, there has to be light. Because the
light shining on that substance is what casts the shadows. But what he's saying here is
that we are no longer simply looking at shadows. We are looking
to that substance that has come who is himself the light. And now this shows that the darkness
of this world is not mere ignorance. That's what so many would like
to make ignorance concerning God to be. But it is not mere
ignorance of God. It is actually rebellion and
enmity against God as He is revealed in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the Apostle
says here that men by nature, love the darkness of their own
hearts. They love the darkness of their
own thinking. They love the darkness of their
own idolatry. And they love their own way,
which seems right to them, but of which God says are the ways
of death. Men love darkness. They love darkness rather than
light. And they love darkness rather
than Him who is the light. And they love this darkness. which is characterized by trust
in themselves that they are themselves righteous or that they can establish
righteousness. Paul describes this darkness
as it was with his own nation and people. He says, for they,
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, listen to this, they have not submitted. You see that word? They have
not submitted themselves. unto the righteousness of God."
And they love darkness rather than light, he says, because
their deeds were evil. Now, I know what most people
automatically think, and this is absolutely part of it. They think in a verse like this,
that He is always talking about those deeds and works that are
evil in their sight. You know, we've got these people
who are always doing evil things in our world, You hear the politicians
raise the voices of indignation that these evils are all done. But these acts of evil are simply
the outflowing and the product of the real evil, which is the
rejection of the light or truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their works, which they cling
to as the basis of acceptance with God, being opposed to God's
salvation, which is salvation that is all in Christ and all
of His grace and gift, Because every work of fallen man, now
you just might as well mark this down and agree with what God
says and quit fighting it. Every work of fallen man is evil. But let me tell you this, more
than those evil acts that are poured out on every hand by sinners
in this world every minute of every day is that evil work,
greater evil work wherein we seek to do our own way to save
ourselves to call unrighteousness righteousness, to reject the
light and truth of God as it is in Christ. That's the greatest
evil work. That's the greatest evil work.
Because all these things that happen, the awful things that
happen in our world, they are simply the product of rejected
light. That's exactly right. It isn't
because men and women haven't had religious experiences. It
isn't because they haven't heard preaching of some kind. It isn't
because they don't have Bibles. It isn't because they don't go
to church and give and do all these things. It's because they
reject the light and truth of God as it truly is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that's exactly the way it
is. Every work of fallen man is evil
in God's sight if done apart from faith, true faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he calls it what it is, fruit unto death. If it's so good, If it's such
a blessing to God, the things that men and women do who despise
the gospel, why does he call it fruit unto death? He doesn't call it good works. You may call it benevolent works,
charitable works, all these things, but outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ, they are evil works. And when they stand before the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they are there gathered together in the
bright light of His infinite holiness, And they tried to make
the claim that we have in Your name done many wonderful works. He says that He will say to them
in that day, Depart from Me ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Now let me
show you an example. of what I mean by all of this
outward, blatant wickedness being the product of rejected light,
rejected truth. Turn over to Romans chapter 1. And I don't have time to spend
a lot of time here, but I want you to see this principle, that
it overflows and flows out of rejected light and truth. Paul has been talking about the
gospel of Christ that he says, I'm not ashamed of. But look at verse 18. He says,
"...for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them."
What's he talking about? In the conscience. Conscience. Until they come to that point
that their conscience is described as one as having been seared
with a hot iron, callous to such a point. He says they have this
witness within them, this conscience within them wherein they know
in their conscience this light. There is a God. And let me tell
you this, those who cry the loudest that there isn't, their conscience
is crying the loudest that He is. But now listen. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made." In other words, even the natural
light, the sun, the moon, All the created things, they bear
a witness, he says, of God's eternal power and Godhead. So that rejecting light in their
conscience, rejecting the light of God in creation, are they
innocent? He says they are without excuse. They reject the light. Because
that when they knew God, they knew there was a God, they knew
somebody created all this, sustains Him. They glorified Him not as
God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools. That's the
afternoon paper and the evening news right there. Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools. They rejected the light. And one who rejects the light
of God shows himself to be a fool. And they changed or exchanged
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping
things. But what was their first one?
What did they change God to in their minds, if not in a piece
of stone or metal or wood or something like that? They made
God like themselves, likened to corruptible man. And that's
what God charges us with. He said, you thought that I was
altogether such a one as yourself. And that's why a multitude of
sinners, mostly religious sinners, are going out into eternity to
face God that will be a shock to them. Because He's not like
us. But now look at the next word
in verse 24. Wherefore? Wherefore? since light has been rejected
in conscience, in creation. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed or exchanged
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and serve the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."
That's a degree of reprobation right there. But now look at
Paulus. For this cause, God gave them
up unto vile affections. For even their women did change
the natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their
lusts one toward another, men with men working that which is
unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error
which was meat. And even as they did not like,
to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over. to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient, being filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud boasters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable and merciful, who,
knowing the judgment of God, hath like, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them." All of those wicked acts described
there, he traces back to the rejection of light, which is
the truth as it is in Christ. And if this be true of conscience
and creation, if it be true of Christ's coming Himself into
the world, How is it multiplied with the gospel? You see, when
Christ came, the light of the world, the gospel came. Oh, it had been in type and shatter
and all, but what did it describe Him as doing? Preaching the kingdom. Preaching the gospel. And that is why light is not
only identified as being one with truth, but especially of
gospel truth. Gospel truth. In Psalm 43, This word of prophecy,
O send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, let
them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. What's
the psalmist talking about? Guiding him and bringing him
into the tabernacle of God? Light and truth. Again, in Psalm 119, thy word
is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I've always thought
that had twofold meaning there. As a lamp unto my feet, it shows
me where I am right now. What I am. As a light unto my
path, it shows me the way in which I'm to go. It shows me
Christ who is the way. And not only that, but those
who preach the gospel, those who bear witness to the gospel,
the people of God, how does He describe His Zion, that city
on a hill? And this is Matthew now, Matthew
5. He says, you are the light of
the world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid. That's how Zion, that's how the
Lord's church, Jerusalem, is pictured as a city on a hill.
He said, you can't hide a city on a hill. And the only light
and truth, the light of this world, now that Christ himself
has ascended up into heaven, that's why he can say, you are
the light of the world. You bear witness to Him who is
the light, the truth. The Lord's people in every age,
though they be few amongst the many and the multitudes, they
have been the light of the world and continue to be. Isaiah 5,
"...Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter." He pronounces a woe to those
who look, and in the face of the truth, of the gospel, of
the grace of God, they call that darkness. They call that darkness. They put darkness for light.
They hold up before men and women what they call a light, but it's
not a light at all. It's just even greater darkness. And this is why men and women do not want to hear the gospel.
Now, they can say the preacher preaches too loud, too long,
whatever it is. And they've all said it all about
me at one time or another many times, I'm sure. But the real
reason, The real reason is they don't want to come under the
revealing light of the truth. If you got an old dirty shed
somewhere that you haven't taken care of and not cleaned up and
you just let things go to pot, you don't want anybody throwing
their door open on that. They do not want to study the
Word of God. They hold those who preach the
truth in contempt. Why? Because they love the darkness. Don't tell me that my good works
preacher count for nothing. Don't tell me that that old decision
I made years ago under a false gospel and a false prophet, don't
tell me that that experience, that decision, that baptism,
whatever it is, don't cast any light on that. That's my hope.
I love that. Don't tell me that the only righteousness
there is, is that righteousness God gives in the Lord Jesus Christ. Like that woman asked me one
time many years ago, she said, are you saying that I don't have
anything to do with my salvation? I said, well, not exactly. You
did all the sinning, but God must do all the saving. Men love
darkness rather than evil. And the proof of it in verse
20, he tells us, is this. For every one that doeth evil,
hateth the like." He's not just talking about drinking, cussing,
running around, stuff like that. He's talking about, first of
all, trusting themselves or trusting a false god. All these other
things are just the byproduct of unbelief and deception. But first of all, he says, for
everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Remember what I said
about Matthew 7? What men call good, Christ said,
iniquity. Neither cometh to the light. You don't want to be anywhere
near the light. You're not going to sit under the preaching of
the truth because it just They would say things like this,
I think he's saying that I'm lost. You know I have never,
been preaching over 30 years, I've never looked at anybody
in the eye and pointed them out or called their name and said,
I believe you're lost. I never have. I might have thought it,
but I never said it. But when the light of the gospel,
when that free grace, When Christ alone as our Savior is proclaimed,
when that light begins to shine, it hides all the evils of men's
hearts. That's why our Lord said to those
Pharisees, you will not come to me. Oh, you say you search
the Scriptures, and you think in your search in the Scriptures
you have life, but you won't come to me that you might have
life. The proof of it is He hates it.
How do you know? He will not come to the light.
I can remember looking at pages and verses in my Bible many years
ago, and when they would begin to kind of shoot a beam into
my brain as to what it was really saying, Can't be right. I'm going to
hide my face today. I'm not going to think about
that verse anymore. It's kind of like this, what
we say sometimes. They say I have my position.
Don't confuse me with the facts. I love this darkness I'm living
in. Don't shine any lights this way. I don't even want to see
a flashlight beam. The light of the truth exposes
a foundation built on the sand of error, a false god, another
Jesus, another spirit, the way of death. But you know what God says? He
said it a long time ago. He said to the law and to the
testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, it's because there is no light in them. No light in them. Verse 21, he says, But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light. That's like doeth righteousness. They both, first of all, first
of all mean believe on Christ. That person who truly has Christ
as his hope or her hope, who truly has been shown by that
light what He is as a sinner and sees that hope of the gospel
being saved by Christ alone in His finished work, they come
to the light. Give me more of that light. "...that His deeds may be made
manifest that they are wrought in God, or that they are according
to God. I am so happy for anybody to come with me in the light,
the light of God's Word, not what they think it is, not one
verse here and one verse there, but in the light of God's truth,
and see if what I believe And what I preach is the truth. If
it's not, I told a lady a while back, I gave her something to
read, I said, but you don't read this without your Bible in hand.
You check every reference, you read every verse so that you
can know whether or not what's being said is according to the
Scriptures. Scripture said that the Bereans searched the Scriptures to see
if the things that Paul preached were true. They shined the light
on his sermon. You see, the only remedy for
this darkness of heart and mind is light. The only remedy for us is for
God to take the light of the truth and make that command like
He did with the natural light. Let there be light. And light was. Let there be light. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. It's talking about this ministry
that God has given him, this gospel ministry. Verse 1, he
says, Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God." He's saying,
we've preached the truth, we've shined the light. But if our gospel be hid, And
we know by that very statement following that that's what he's
talking about. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. Satan doing everything he can. to keep every sinner blind, hidden
from this light. So often times, when people do
not come to hear the gospel, all it is, is Satan seeking to
hide them from the light. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." We're nothing but earthen vessels, but we have
a treasure, and it's the gospel of Christ. And we preach so that
God may be pleased to shine the light in your hearts as He did
in ours. Paul said to the Ephesians, for
you were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. He
went on to say, but all things that are approved are made manifest
by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest
is light. What reveals the reality, the
truth of the situation, that's light. He said, to the Colossians, giving
thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet, or fit to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. You are children of light and
the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness." He writes to Timothy, he says,
"...but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel." But you are a chosen generation,
Peter says, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people
that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Then Peter said something that
was even greater than the fact that he had seen the Christ visibly. or that he and those other men
had been up on the Mount of Transfiguration when he was transfigured. He said, but we have also a more
sure word of prophecy. Whereunto ye do well that ye
take heed. He's talking about the Gospel,
the Word of God. That you would do well to take
heed as unto a light. that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." That
day star is the sun, and it's most particular here, the son
of righteousness who rises with healing in his wings. And then
I'll just close with this, what John says in his first epistle. But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin. If we walk in the light. Somebody
says, that means if you walk the straight and narrow Christian
life. Do you really think that any sinner even after converted,
could ever walk in such a way as to earn the right into God's
presence and fellowship? What's he talking about then?
In the light of the truth of the gospel. In Christ, we have
fellowship with God in the same fellow. In the light of truth. We have
fellowship with God. May the Lord bless and help us. Give us more light. Father, this
day we give you thanks and praise for your goodness and mercy to
us. You prove your faithfulness to
us. You prove your grace to us. Your mercy to us moment by moment
of every day. And most especially when we moan
and complain and fret over the things of this life. Give us light and let us walk
in that light and rejoice in that light, which is the light
of Christ. We thank you for Him. We thank
you for that salvation, for that bloody shed. And we pray in His
name, Amen.