I'd have you turn back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. We're just going to look at one
verse here tonight. And then we're going to go back
to the Old Testament for an example I hope that will kind of bring
all this together that I hope to bring tonight. In 2 Corinthians 4 and in verse
6, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." Do
I really grasp what that's saying? Do I really lay hold of that? Do I really rest in that? God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that same God,
hath shined in my heart. My, oh my, that ought to put
about a 40-tooth smile on my face, and it should never go
away. Back there in Genesis 1, I used
to tell people, I said, I'd like to start reading the Bible and
begin and read until I'm totally overwhelmed and have no idea
how to explain or to tell about what I'm reading. And I start
there in Genesis 1 and I read four words. In the beginning. God. And I just close it and
sit down and say, I'm overwhelmed. Can anybody get a hold of that?
Can anybody explain that? In the beginning. God was already
there. God already existed. And it said
in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This
vast expanse out there that goes light years and light years and
light years beyond any of our imagination. God created that
out of nothing. He just spoke it into existence.
He created the heavens and He created the earth. And it says
the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. Have you ever been down in one
of these caves, mammoth caves or someplace like that? They
almost always, the times we've been down in them, they'll get
you down in there way down in the heart of the earth. And there's
always lit passages, you know, you're going by some kind of
light. And that guide will say, okay, I want to show you what
real darkness is. Have you ever been down there? They'll flip
that switch. My goodness, I mean it grabs
a hold of you. It's like it smothers you, it's
so dark and black. Well, that's what the creation
was. God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth
was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of
that creation. And God said, let there be light. Let there be light. Can anybody
even begin to explain that? Let there be light. Now, you
know, I was always under the assumption growing up and not
doing much reading and not studying and not certainly spending much
time on the Word of God. Well, you just think, where did
that light come from? Well, it comes from that gigantic
star right there that's 93 million miles away. But according to
this book, according to God's Word, that wasn't put there until
the fourth day. This is the first day. In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth
was without form and void, darkness was upon the face of the deep,
and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God
said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw
the light and it was good. He divided the light from the
darkness. The light He called day, and the darkness He called
night, and the evening and the morning. It was first day. First
day. Light. God commanded that light
to shine out of darkness. Where did it come from? Where
did that light in you come from? Where did that understanding,
where did that faith come from? It came from the same God who
said, Light be. And He speaks into the heart
of a sinner. is that center of faith and hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Can we really get a hold of this?
And if we do get a hold of this, if we do rest in this, if we
do grasp this and trust this, it will be a blanket for the
coldest night. It will be a pillow for the hardest
burden we have to bear. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in Paul says here, in
our hearts. Now, who can lay claim to this?
Who can lay claim to this Scripture right here? This is in 2 Corinthians,
and it's written to a church of believers. It's not written
to the world. Don't take this down there on
the job and say, look here, God's commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, and He shined in your heart. This is not a
universal thing. Paul said it's our heart. Paul's
writing to believers. He's writing to the church there
at Corinth. He's writing to those believers at Corinth. And he's
saying our hearts, your heart, you here tonight. You that by
His mercy and grace, He shined in your heart. He shined in your
heart and given you faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said
if you've got that faith, he said you and me together, He
shined in our hearts. In our hearts. This is not for
everyone. This is for the church. Our hearts. It's our hearts.
It's for the church. It's for the local assembly.
It's for you here tonight that have laid hold of Christ, who
by His mercy and grace has given you faith, and you have fled
to the Savior, and you cling to and rely on and trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's shining in your hearts.
But it's even more personal than that. God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, that's shining in my heart. In
my heart. as if there was nobody else's
heart that it shined in. I read one time, some old writer
said, that sun that lights this earth, that sun's brilliance
and the light and the heat and all that that comes from it,
it's as necessary for that sun to be there and to shine on this
earth, whether it causes growth on the whole earth or whether
there's one plant on this earth. If there's only one plant on
this earth, if there's only one life thing on this earth, that
sun has to still be there and has to give out the same light
and the same heat and the same glory. That sun does. And it's
the same with the Lord Jesus Christ. He shined in our hearts,
but He shined in my heart. And that's where the believer
has his hope and rest and comfort. If we get a hold of this Scripture,
He's shined in my heart. It's in my heart. It's in my
heart. It's not necessarily in my head,
although it is in my head. There is a knowledge. You see
that? He's shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is knowledge. There absolutely is knowledge. Do you know something?
You who love the Lord Jesus Christ? You who know something about
particular redemption? And you who know something about
irresistible grace, and you who know something about depravity,
what we are by nature, what we'll always be and continue to be
unless God does a work of grace in our heart. You who know things
about that. That's a hidden knowledge. You
have that. But have you experienced that in your heart? In your heart. I've often used this illustration.
I know I've used it to you all, but it's a good illustration,
I think. It's one thing to be able to
tell from books and facts and figures. It's one thing to tell
the description of Abraham Lincoln. It's one thing to say, I've read
Abraham Lincoln was six foot five. Abraham Lincoln only weighed
180 pounds. He had black hair and he had
a big beard and he always wore a big stovepipe hat. Very unattractive
man, gangly walking man. His wife's name was Mary Todd
and had children, had several children. I know all those things.
That's a hidden knowledge about Abraham Lincoln. And we have
that knowledge about who Christ is. Who Christ is. He's God's
Son. He's God in human flesh. And
He came down here to save a particular people. A people given to Him
by the Heavenly Father in eternity past. We know that. But everybody
can have that head knowledge. Everybody can have that. You
can study John Gill's Body of Divinity and you can come to
that. You can study that day and night and memorize that.
And you can have a head full of divinity. You can have a head
full of theology and a head full of knowledge and facts. Like
somebody can about Abraham Lincoln. But it's a whole different thing
if somebody steps up and says, let me tell you about Abraham
Lincoln. He's my older brother. You see what I'm saying? That's
the heart work. Let me tell you about it. Let me tell you about
my father. that you can get out of Bill. You can get facts of
when he was born and how old he was when he died and who his
wife was. Let me tell you about it personally.
Let me tell you about it. That's that heart work. That's
that heart work. That's that new birth. That's
that regeneration. That's that life from Him. That's
that indwelling of the Lord Himself. That still, small voice that
speaks to us and leads us and guides us and directs us. That
same God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has
shined in my heart. He has shined in my heart and
given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this knowledge. We have this understanding. We
have this teaching. We have these doctrines. Everybody
here could recite TULIP. John Calvin came up with this
way back at the beginning of the Reformation after those thousand
years of dark ages. And old John Calvin came up with
this and he said the Gospel is five basic things. It's called
TULIP. Total depravity. Unconditional
election. Limited atonement. Irresistible
grace. Perseverance of the saints. That's just plain and pure. It's
just the gospel. But we are totally depraved.
Do you believe that? Do you believe we're dead and
trespassing sin? Do you think we come forth into
this world from our mother's womb speaking lies? Do you think
that I am from the sole of my foot to the top of my head, nothing
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores? Do you think there's no
goodness in me? You think my righteousness, the
best I do on the best day I have, is nothing but filthy rags in
the sight of God? You believe that? I believe that.
I believe it not only with my head, because this book says
it, but I believe it in my heart because He's revealed it to me.
He's revealed it to you. Without Him, we can do nothing.
Without Him, we're dead and undone, and we're going to face Him in
wrath and anger. We're totally depraved. I believe that. I have
that knowledge in my head. But I believe it in my heart
because He's revealed it to me. He's done a work of grace in
my heart. Unconditional election. Don't we love election? Aren't
we glad that God elected a people? If He didn't elect a people,
there would have been no people. God elected a people. I know that. This book teaches that. This
book teaches that God elected a people before the foundation
of the world. God chose a people in Christ.
He gave those people to the Lord Jesus Christ, not for any goodness
in them, not for any merit that He saw in them, nothing that
He foresaw down in time that they would do or merit His goodness
or grace or mercy. It's like that Old Testament
nation of the Jews. It wasn't because they were bigger
and stronger and smarter. Well, they were actually smaller
than any of those nations. But it was just because God would
show mercy to them. And that's a picture of how He
does His people, how He does His sheep, how He does His children.
He calls them out of His love, out of His purpose, out of His
free will. He calls them. We love that.
We love that. But here's the amazing thing.
And here's the work of the heart. This is the work of His Spirit
in the heart. He elected me. He elected me. Do I believe that? I believe that. I've got a good
evidence of that. He's my hope. He's my rest. He's
my comfort. He's my peace. He's all those
things. He's my sent offering before God. He it is who gives
me a right standing before the Heavenly Father. I believe that
in my heart because He's done a work of grace in my heart.
He's taught me things in my head. Oh, He's poured it down into
my heart. The atonement. What about that?
Who did Christ die for? Who did He come for? Did He come
to save everybody? Not according to this book. Not
according to this book. According to this book. According
to God's Word that He's preserved and protected and defended and
given to us in a land of freedom. He says in here, the Lord Jesus
Christ came on purpose to save a particular people. A people
that was given Him by the Father in eternity past. And He came
and He did all that the Father required on behalf of those people.
Some of them are here tonight. Some of those people are here
tonight. I believe that. I believe that doctrine. I believe
that doctrine of limited atonement. That's not an ugly word. It's
not a bad word. It'll cause a fuss in certain
places. But oh, we believe it. We don't
believe that Christ came and died for the sins of everybody.
We believe He came and died for the sheep. He came and died for
His brethren. He came and died for those given
to Him by the Father. We know something about irresistible
grace. We know something from this Word,
from studying this Word and from God revealing to our head that
there is an irresistible grace. When old King David, he said,
is there any left of the household of Saul? Is there any left of
the household of Saul that I can show mercy to him for Jonathan's
sake? Him and Jonathan were knit closer than brothers. And Jonathan
had died. And he said, is there anybody
left in that household that I can show mercy because of my love
for Jonathan? And they said, yeah, there's
one over there named Mephibosheth. He ain't much. He's lame on both
his feet. He was escaping with his nurse
and she fell and broke both his legs and he's all crippled up.
And he said, this is David now. This is the king. And he said,
you go fetch him. You go fetch him. You go fetch
that man Mephibosheth. And old Mephibosheth came and
David said, you're going to eat at my table. You're going to
eat at my table the rest of your life. That's that irresistible
grace. That's that irresistible call.
God loved the people. He gave those people to Christ.
Christ came and died for them. And the Spirit, through the preaching
of the Gospel, that that you hear on a regular basis here,
that that you hear here when your pastor John is up here and
Frank and these other men stand up here, right from the Word
of God, thus saith the Lord, and attending that preaching
that gives God all the glory, And all praise goes to the Lord
Jesus Christ for what He's done for His people. He attends that
preaching of that message. Not another message. Not any
message or some message. But the Gospel. A particular
message. He attends that with the Holy Spirit. And that one
has sat there like I did for half my life. And one day, it
was effectual to me. One day, after sitting there
I used to tell everybody up there at 13th Street, and I was up
there when Cecil was up there, and Carla, and others here, Sharon,
Charles, all my life I've known these people. But up here on
the wall in the 13th Street church, there was a cold air return,
I guess it was, and it was full of holes. Big holes and little
holes. Any of you remember that? I hope you don't, because I do.
Shawn does. You know what I do? When Henry
was up there preaching this message, this gospel, I was up there counting
them holes. Up and down, I'd multiply them
in my head, and then multiply them little holes, and how many
of them there was, and I'd add them together. And then I'd go over
here to this other one. That's what I'd do. And then one day,
wait a minute, one day, I didn't see them holes in the wall no
more. I heard who Christ was and what I am. And there's only
one way to have that right standing before the Father, and that's
in that man, the Lord Jesus Christ. I heard that. It was an irresistible
call, the same way you heard it. And that perseverance of
the saints. Don't we love that? Who keeps
you? You keep yourself by your own
merit, by your own goodness, by your own study and prayer
and abstaining from certain things and doing certain things. Or
are you kept by our Heavenly Father? Well, we're kept by His
power. We're provided for. We're defended. We're loved and
we're cared for. I know those things. I know those
things. And I've found those things to
be true. out of reading His Word. But I know those things to be
true in my heart. This is a heart work. God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that same God
has shined in my heart. Your heart, Jim. Your heart.
Your heart. It's a heart work. It's a work
of grace. He does it. It's a regeneration. It's life
from the dead. Do you remember that? I love
that story over there. I think it's in Ezekiel, the
16th chapter of Ezekiel. That child was cast out into
the open field to the loathing of its person. And no, it hadn't
been washed and cleaned and it was dying out there and maybe
already dead. That's me and you. That's what we are in the flesh.
And he said, I passed by. Oh, and my time was a time of
love. And I spread my skirt over you.
See that dead child laying out there? dying, gasping for his
last breath. That's what we are. And he said,
I passed by and it was a time of love. And I cast my skirt
over you. And I said, when you was in your
blood, I said, live! Live! And we have life. We have life
because of Him. He commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. And that same God shined in your
heart. gave you faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you come running to cling to Him and trust in
Him and rely on Him. We have it all. We have it all. I've really had a problem with
these things around us. These things that go on here
around us, you know. Not here. But these things that... Our oldest son Adam is a high
school basketball coach. And they had a bunch of jerseys
made up one year. And this jersey said, for these
basketball players, it said, keep your eye on the ball or
leave the court. Keep your eye on the ball or
leave the court. He's shined in my heart. He's
shined in my heart. He's given me life. My sins are
forgiven. I have a right standing before
God Almighty. One day, He's going to come and
gather me to Himself and take me to be with Christ for all
eternity in a place where there's no sin and guilt and shame, in
a place of perfection and beauty, and we'll fellowship with the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have it all. We have it all. Why, oh why, do I get sidetracked,
take my eye off the ball, so to speak? Why do I get caught
up in these little nothing things? Are you anything like me? I hope
you're not. I hope you're not, but I can get fuzzed up over
something. Nothing. Just like that. Nothing. And you just want to shake myself
and say, Dale, you've got it all. He's given it to you. It's free. It's in Christ. I read a story once years ago.
I've probably told some of you have heard this story, but it's
a good one. There was a man about World War II time. There was
a man living here in the United States. And he had an art collection. It was the most fabulous art
collection in the whole world. He had Rembrandts and Michelangelos
and Monets. It was priceless, his collection.
And he was grooming this young son to take over the business,
take over his gallery. World War II came along and this
young man went into the army. And he became a medic. And he
was over there in Europe and he was helping those men that
were wounded in battle. And one day a terrible assault
came and this young man was killed. And he had a good friend that
he had met in basic training and went all through training
with. And he was with him when he died. He rushed to him and
pulled him up to him and done those things trying to keep him
alive. And alas, the young man died. And the word came back
to the father. He was devastated. He was crushed.
Went to his room and never came out of his room for a long period
of time. One day a knock came to the door.
And he went to the door, and this buddy of his son, this young
man, he was standing there at the door, had a package under
his arm. And he said, Mr. So-and-so, he said, I was with
your son when he died. He said, he's the best friend
I ever had in my life. And he said, I know you're an artist.
Your boy used to tell me about your collection and all those
fabulous artwork. He said, I dabbled a little bit
in oil. He said, I'm no good. But he said, I painted a picture
of your son. He said, I thought you might
like to have it. And that old man took that. painting, it was
wrapped up, and he tore the package, he tore that wrapper off. And
he looked at that and he said, it looks just like him. It looks
just like him. He took it in there in that gallery and moved
those other things out of the way, set that painting right
in the middle. And that old man went and wrote
his will. And he said, when I die, this is what I want done. Well,
years later, that old man died. And according to the terms of
the will, he wanted an auction. He wanted to auction off all
of his estate. And people come in from all over the world. Wealthy
men come in from all over the world to buy that gallery, to
bid on those fabulous artwork. And the auctioneer got up there
and they get ready to start the auction. And he said, now I've
got one order of business before we start the auction on these
fabulous paintings. He said, we've got to auction
off this painting. He reached and got that painting
to that young man. And he said, we've got to auction
this off first. He said, what's my bid? Nobody said a thing.
He said, we're not going any farther until this is auctioned
off. He said, somebody's going to buy this painting. And they
said, we didn't come here to buy that junk. We come here to
buy these priceless objects on the wall. And he said, we're
not going to go any farther until this is sold. He said, do I have
any bid? And there was an old man sitting back there in the
corner. He said, I'll give $10. And he
said, you'll get $10? He said, I'll give $10. Years
ago, he said, that young man was my paper boy when he was
just a kid. He said, I really liked him. He said, I'd like
to have that. He said, OK. He said, come and get it. Paid
his $10, took that picture, and he walked back. And that auctioneer
hit that gavel. And he said, the auction's over.
And they said, what do you mean it's over? And that auctioneer held up a
paper. And he said, according to the will of the Father, Whoever
has the Son has it all. Has it all. Do I know something
about that? I think I do. I think you do
too. We have the Son. We have the
Lord Jesus Christ standing in that bridge. Standing in that
bridge. You know they came there in the
garden that night. Do you remember that? They came in the garden. He had
been out there praying. He was sweating great drops of
blood. And they came there, them soldiers and them representatives
from the priests. And his disciples were back here behind him. And
he went out and met those people at Lynchmont. And he said, Whom
seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Remember that? He said, I'm He. They all fell
backwards like dead men. Well, they recovered and they
got up. And he said, Whom seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth. He said, If you seek me, isn't
this beautiful? Listen to this. I'll let these
go their way." That's me and you. That's me and you. We know
something about that. We know something about that.
Let these go their way. And he allowed himself to be
taken and beaten and slapped and his beard plucked out and
that crown of thorns pressed down on his head and they spit
in his face. And He went to the cross with
my sin on Him. And He died in my room instead.
And I go free. I go free with His perfect robe
of righteousness on me. Wow! We've got it all. We've
got it all. Well, I've always used this illustration. Anytime I do this, don't ever
forget that I've got one finger pointing to you, but them other
three are pointing back to me. And I'm preaching this to myself
and you're all just listening in. I want to learn this. I want
to get a hold of this. I want to act like that I do
indeed believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has saved me with
His own blood and given me a perfect standing before the Father. And
I hope by His grace to let these insignificant things go. I've
got an illustration quickly back in the Old Testament in the book
of Esther. Esther chapter 3. After these things did King Ahasuerus
promote Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and advanced him
and set his seat above all the princes that were with him."
Who advanced this guy? The king did. It was the king's
choice. It was the king's sovereign command. He advanced this man. Like the
Lord Jesus Christ has called us by His grace. Like we've been
placed in the Lord Jesus Christ by our Heavenly Father. We have
that. Haman was advanced. He was advanced
above all the princes. This man was wealthy. He had
the finest home. He had the finest clothing. He
had ten sons. He was famous. Everybody knew
Haman. Every time he left the castle, everybody, there goes
Haman. He's number two in command. The king has elevated him. That's
what me and you are. The King, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's elevated us by His grace and mercy. Verse 2, And all the king's servants
that were in the king's gate, they bowed and reverenced Haman,
for the king had so commanded concerning him. Now you see this
man Haman? This man Haman's got it all.
He's got it all. He's living the American dream. And he goes out, and the king
said, now everybody, when you go out of the castle, Everybody
is supposed to bow and show homage to you, reverence. And old Haman
goes out and everybody falls down and gives him homage, shows
reverence to Haman for who he is, what the king has done for
him. The latter part of verse 2, Mordecai
didn't bow. This is a Jew. They're there
in captivity. This is a nobody from nowhere
as Henry used to say. This is a Jew. This is a Jew. And he didn't do him no reverence.
Haman was standing way over in the corner. Old Mordecai goes
out to the local deli for lunch, you know, and when the gates
of that palace open up, everybody that's in the court, there's
Haman, they fall down. Old Mordecai is way over there.
He don't fall down. He ain't going to reverence him.
He ain't going to reverence him. Old Haman doesn't even know it.
He doesn't even see him. He's not even aware of it. Verse 3,
the king's servants, which were in the king's gate, they said
to Mordecai, How come you're not bowing?" Mordecai said, I'm
a Jew. I'm not going to bow to her.
Haman didn't know this was going on. Now it came to pass, verse
4, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto
them, then they told Haman, aha, now we've got a tailbearer coming
to this man that the king had elevated to a place of wealth
like we are. And somebody comes and says,
hey, do you hear what so-and-so said about you? Do you know anything
about that? Do you know anything about getting
upset, getting all in a twist over something like this? Something
going on outside here? We've been given it all. We've
been given forgiveness and a right standing before the Father. Our
sins have been taken away. And yet we... And when Haman saw that Mordecai
bowed not or did him reverence, Haman was full of wrath. And
you all know the rest of the story. Not only was he content
with just doing something to Mordecai, he set his wrath against
all the Jews in the land. And then God interceded. And
God intervened. You remember that story. And
the Queen Esther, she went in to the king and she said, my
people are going to be killed. He said, who's done this? She
said, Haman's done it. It started out just a little
nothing. It started out as a little insignificant something. Everybody
in the whole kingdom bowed to Haman, except this one man. This one insignificant nobody
named Mordecai. He didn't bow. You see the connection
here? You see the connection here?
I want to learn this. I want to learn. I haven't learned
it. I haven't learned it fully. But I want to learn this. I want
to learn. I want to know. I want to rest
in my heart. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken
away my shame and guilt. He's given me a perfection that
even the Heavenly Father is pleased with. He's taken away all that. He went to the cross in my room
instead. He died at the hand of His Heavenly Father so that
the justice of God Almighty can be satisfied on my behalf. And
He's given me life and eternal life. And not just the length
of it, but the quality of it. It's going to be a sinless life.
It's going to be a perfect life like our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's given me all that treasure. He's given me all that
treasure. This man had the whole treasures
of that whole empire. And yet one little thing got
him out of the way. I don't want that to happen.
I don't want that to happen. I pray the Lord give me grace.
And I pray the Lord if anybody here is prevailing under that
same thing, The Lord gave us all grace to rest in what we've
been given. God came down in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's gathered me to Himself. He's
given me life and hope and rest and comfort in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And nothing, nothing, nothing should ever, ever get
in the way of that gratitude and joy and peace and hope I
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this has been a comfort
to somebody. Thank you.