I was afraid to call and cancel.
We were supposed to get about two feet of snow up there, so
I just let things go as they were, even though I knew I was
coming back. And I'm really glad I did, because I'm so tired.
That's just a long trip for me. It was beautiful, loved the people,
couldn't ask for a better meeting than we had, and got to spend
some time with some preachers that I've not got to spend some
time with in a long time. really happy for everything,
for the meeting. So we're glad to have Drew here
this morning. And I'm going to ask him to come
down and bring the lesson to us. It's good to see you all once
again. We thought it was two years. I guess it's been three.
You guys were not in the building yet, wasn't finished. I got to
look at it. And it turned out really well.
I remember when we first came here with nothing in, no carpet,
it was echo. But that's been taken care of.
We had a similar issue with our church. So we get some sound
boards, put them up on the wall, and that took care of that. So
anyway, I'm thankful that Darwin, I guess I'm thankful he asked
me. You know, you get a little nervous every time you go somewhere
else. But I'm content. I'm content where I'm at. You
know, my mind, when I'm at different places, my mind is always with
the brethren, whether they're at Cape or Jackson. So they say,
they send their greetings to you. So as you remember, as we
remember, you remember us in a small group there in Jackson,
Missouri. It's a delight to be here. And
we got in last, yesterday afternoon, about four-ish, and got to spend
quite a bit of time with your pastor. And he's just darvin'. Just the Lord's given you a faithful
man and that's all you can ask for. Be faithful. And you be
faithful to come and hear the man. He has the message, the
grace of God. Turn with me if you would to
Psalms chapter 18. I'm going to say a few things. I'm not
a complicated I try not to preach over my mental abilities, which
means it's a simple message. But I do remember a man, well,
Bob Coffey, I don't know if you know Bob. We had him out a long
time ago. He was at 13th Street, Wunder
Hendry. And he used to teach the children's Bible class. And
I'll tell you what, he preached for us one mid-week service and
just as clear and simple that a 8-year-old, 12-year-old child
could understand what he's saying. So, if you're, you know, I'm
not going to complicate the message because then I complicate myself.
So we're going to look at Psalms 18. for the Bible lesson this
morning. And if you noticed in the prefix,
the title, he says, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, the
servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this
song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of
all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And then he writes
this, he pens this psalm under inspiration of God. But if you
read through it and you can see the struggles and the trials,
and it's also, there's quite a few passages or scriptures
in this that are messianic, that speak specifically of Christ
and his sufferings. And as with me, I like phrases
and words and things like that. And then he turns a phrase in
verse 28 He turns a phrase, he says, for thou wilt light my
candle. The Lord my God will enlighten
my darkness. That's gonna be our text. And
we're gonna look at it two ways, for unbelievers and those who
name the name of the Lord, Lord Christ. But perhaps this morning,
You're in darkness. You've heard the word, you've
heard the truth, you've heard the gospel numerous times and
yet nothing, nothing. It's just like water off a duck's
back. It just flows over but not through
you, in you. Or perhaps you're a believer
in a temporary storm of clouds and that's Mars, your vision
of the Christ. The truth of the matter is, like
this verse states, our candle, or our heart, needs to be lit. Our darkness needs to be enlightened. So no matter, the truth of the
matter is we, in and of ourselves, we have no spiritual light. Darver
and I were talking last night about the two believers on the
road to Emmaus, and Christ was with them, and they didn't recognize
him. So even after the grace of God
comes into our hearts, our mind and soul, we have to have him. We have to have him daily. Give us this day our daily bread,
not Monthly, not yearly, but every day. And he says, without
me, in the Gospels, Christ says, without me, you, me, can do nothing. So, if you're without Christ,
without hope, if you're dead and captive and bound in the
dark, it's damp and cold, and that grips you like old bunion
in the prison cell and you can't get out, You're initially without
God, without Christ, and without hope. Or perhaps you're a child
of the Most High, yet seasons have laid upon you, brought doubt
and discouragement, or even unbelief. Well, as I said earlier, the
need is equally to be met in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, my candle, the Lord my God will
enlighten my darkness. God still commands the light
to shine out of darkness. When he spoke, and light came. And that you'd be sitting here,
and I hope maybe this morning, if you don't know Christ, you've
come and you've anticipated hearing something And maybe God would open your
heart and your mind to the truth of Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. He
is the light. There is no other light. There
are many denominations and many religions, but there is only
one light. There's only one faith. There's
only one baptism. There's only one gospel. the
gospel, the full and free substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Psalms 27 in verse 1.
27 verse 1, the Lord is my light
and my salvation. So he's connecting these two,
light and salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? The
Lord is my light and salvation. So that's what we're speaking
of here. We're speaking the grace of God and he owes
no man anything. He is not a benefactor by including
us in anything. He and he alone is the light,
and in him is no darkness at all. Psalms 43. Psalms 43. And verse 3, O send out thy light. and thy truth. Let them lead
me. Let them bring me unto thy holy
hill and unto thy tabernacles. Send out thy light." Basically, what I see here is
this is just another cry for mercy. In a genuine heart cry
for mercy, the Lord always answers. He always answers. Isaiah 42,
chapter six, yeah, 42, and verse six. Isaiah 42 and six. I, the Lord,
have called thee in righteousness and I will hold thine hand and
keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of
the Gentiles. to open the blind eyes to bring
out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness
out of the prison house. He's speaking about the light
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is preached and the
Holy Spirit enables whom he will and we see light. We see light
in the countenance of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must preach
Christ. Woe unto me, woe unto Darwin,
woe unto Bible class Sunday school teachers that teach the children
or whatever you have. Woe unto them who just use the
Bible to teach trivial data and historical facts. I love the example when Simeon,
when he was holding up the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, now
you can let me die. I'll die in peace. For my eyes
have seen thy sight. He was looking at a person. So
doctrine is important. And we don't shy away from doctrinal
truths. But I know whom I have believed. That's the key. And this right
here, if you don't know the gospel this morning, this is a cry. This is a light. my candle, light
my candle. These kids, they understand it.
We'll look a little bit more about this. Just as a plant's
greatest need is the sun, so is ours, the light of his truth,
the light of his gospel, the light of his countenance, the
light of his grace, and even in Revelations, Christ himself
is the very light of heaven. He's the very light of heaven.
But by nature, you and I, I'm not picking on unbelievers, I understand, we understand what
seeing sinful is, but by nature we all seek darkness more than
light. We despise the light because
the light exposes, it reveals, it does heal, and it cleans. And we love darkness more than
light. We're born in sin and that's what we do. Well I haven't,
it's not so much what we do, it's what we are. It's what we
are. So if you're here this morning
without Christ, without light, and without life, and without
grace, I implore you as an ambassador beseeching you to cry as this
simple text, light my candle, illuminate my heart, enlighten
my darkness, Light my candle, light me, grace me, enlighten
my darkness. We could go to two thieves on
the cross. One of them, he said, Lord, remember
me. Three words, three words, Lord,
remember me. We could look at the blind Bartimaeus. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. Light my candle, illuminate my
darkness. Or the leper, came down from
heaven, if you will, if you will. This word is abundant with different
phrases and sections of crying for mercy. And this, I don't
know what it was, but this thing of candles, it just, everybody
knows what a candle is. It's the children, they know
what a candle is. Now, we have gotten away from this. We come
in, we turn the lights on, and have electricity. As Tim James
would say, I don't know how it works, but it works real good.
And that, we get used to that. But I do know in areas such as
in our part of the country, when we have, we don't have much snow,
but we've got ice, and if it takes the electricity down, we
have candles. We have flashlights. But we have
candles, we do have candles. So secondly, as I said earlier,
or perhaps you're a believer, you're a child of grace, yet
you're troubled and downcast and heavy laden, same thing. Lord, sovereign, merciful, redeemer,
lighten my candle, light my candle. Now, I want to give you a little
candle education. We don't use candles like they
did 100 years ago. We like to look at two or older
homes, the colonial times and stuff like that. And a lot of,
some of the newer ones with the oil-based candles, they've got,
you know, you look up at the ceiling and you've got soot and
dirt and stuff like that from the candles. But here's some
candle education that I happen to look up. And I want you to
see this spiritual application of this as well. Number one,
in order for a candle to burn correctly, it must be trimmed. You remember hearing that word.
You can actually buy a little scissors, you know, and trim
them. I don't ever do that, I just light them up. But in order for
a candle to burn correctly, it must be trimmed. Kind of sounds
like the vine dresser trimming the branches. We need to be trimmed. made meat for the master's use.
Secondly, to prevent unsightly smoke and black soot, the candle
needs to be trimmed. That's us in this world. What
kind of reflection? Now I know the moon does not
have any illuminating qualities, but it reflects the sun. And
sometimes it's a half moon, sometimes it's a full moon, sometimes it's
a quarter moon, sometimes it's just a little sliver. What's
that say about our lives? Do we, are we, know what trials,
they don't, they're difficult, they seem difficult. But Lord,
trim my wick. Lord, trim my heart. Lord, help
me mortify the flesh. Help me to honor and glorify
you as you have created me to do so. Thirdly, the trimming
needs to be done correctly. You just don't just cut the wick.
Size and height of the wick needs to be removed correctly and properly.
Our great God always trims us in proportion to our needs. Everything
is working together for good. Now, we don't understand why
he's doing certain things in our lives, but wait a couple
days and look back and then you'll say, no, he was trimming. He
was trimming. And this one I love. When I'm
looking at this online, the lady, she used to work for Yankee Candle
Company, which is one of the largest candle companies in the
country, and she was showing all these different things, and
I'm like, well, this last one amazed me. Trimmed wicks make
for a clean burn. And an untrimmed wick actually
dulls and obscures the flame. And she had a little thing, and
she had side by side. One was trimmed, and the other
one, you know, in a little clear glass. And it looked like a mushroom. It was squatty, and it obscured. You're looking side by side.
You said, that's what I want to be like. And I don't know of a single
believer that does not wish or desire to be used to the utmost
glory unto Christ in our lives. We just need to be trimmed. We
need to be trimmed. Lord, light my candle, enlighten
my darkness, and okay, you've given me grace. I see you and
I love to gather together with the saints, partake of the table
and We have such things in common as we gather together. But you
know how we are. We're human beings. We have the
flesh. The flesh is with us. And it's like, well, why are
they doing this? Or why are they missing service?
Lord, trim the wig. Just trim it. Just
trim it. We talked about that this morning.
Dung around the tree. We don't dig it up. We're not
that, we're not apostles. We're not that responsible. We
don't know. Oh, we desire just to be a profitable, proper piece
of clay used for our master's honor, his exhortation in this
dark world. He says we are his workmanship.
We're his workmanship. Let us be found seeking his way,
his will and worship. As I said, even after salvation,
we must have Christ or the light or else we will fall and stumble
and muddle about. Peter, I believe, help my own
belief. But I will say this, once by
his free, unsolicited, unmerited grace through the preaching of
the gospel, you hear, that candle can never
be blown out. It can't be blown out. Now this
gives the preacher much encouragement. For ourselves, we're the chief
of sinners, and Paul says, it's not what I was, I am, right? I am the chief of sinners, not
that I was. So we see ourselves that and we minister to the best
of our abilities to try to glorify and honor Christ and comfort
his people, and if he uses the message, which he does, to save
sinners, but just once it's lit, we don't have to go about, and
I call them elders that peep, and make sure you're doing what
you're supposed to be doing, the candle will never be blown
out, though Satan, afflict, Though sin abound and the flesh haunts
us daily, grace reigns in righteousness. That good and perfect work of
grace, that lighting in the heart, shall endure unto the end. Those
who endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. We believe
that because we haven't saved ourselves. We've got no light.
He's lit us. And he uses means. And the scripture
says, for he that began a good work in us shall continue and
shall finish it. Why will it not be blown out?
Because the cost of lighting the candle, the death of Christ. If a candle, if that light could
be blown out, if the grace of God in a heart, in the center,
who understands and trusts in Christ and his righteousness,
If he could ever be blown out, then Christ, what he did, was
unsuccessful. No, the cost of lighting this
candle, or our candles, was tragic, it was unfathomable, and it was
severe. The cost was the death of the
Son of God. God must lay all of our sins upon his son. He must bear them. He must suffer
the agony physically and spiritually of the cross. He must drink the
full cup of the wrath of God for every one of his sheep. Why
would he cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We
were trying to talk about that this morning, last night. We're
looking through a glass, but it's dimly. We hope and pray
that the God of all grace, the God of this scripture, would
use a few things we say, and we desire to be as clear as we
can, and I especially can be so unclear at times. But we're so thankful that God
keeps, and not us. We're just so thankful. Brethren,
never, ever take for granted the death and substitutionary
accomplishments of your Redeemer. Don't ever take it for granted. For without His propitiation,
we could not receive His perfect righteousness, His unpolluted
imputation or His holy atonement. But this, there's one thing I
know. There's a few things I know of. One of them is when Christ
hung on the cross and accomplished salvation and satisfied the wrath
of God and the law and all things and ordinances against us, he
said, it is finished. And God has accepted the sacrifice
because Christ is risen and he's now seated at God's right hand
and we are purchased. The candle has been lit. And boy, we're thankful. Because
when we came here, I don't know how many churches we saw. It's
just like in Missouri. Churches on every corner. Feel
good. Emotionalism. False doctrine. Religion. Let me close and I'll
ask you a couple things as I ask myself this. Has God in Christ
by the Holy Spirit shined upon you. You know if you have a need
or not. I can't prefabricate a need.
That's what preachers do today, false preachers. They're trying
to prefabricate a need, trying to get somebody to come down
an aisle. You know if you're thirsty. Even these children
know if they're thirsty they're going to get a drink. And we
tell them where to get it. Secondly, are you lit and burning
for the glory of God? Or are you just in it for show? Are you in it because mom and
dad want you here, which you should be if you can't drive
yet. Kids need to be here. You do what your mom and dad
says, but they have your best interest. They have your best
interest in mind. Or maybe you're an adult. You
don't understand. Why you came this morning? You'd
rather be out doing something. Are you lit and burning for the
glory of God? Can we say as David in this passage,
God will enlighten my darkness? Verse 28, the last part. God,
my God, the Lord, my God, will enlighten my darkness. If you can say that, then verse
30 in the last part is also for you. He, God, is a buckler to all
those that trust him. That buckler, that word means
shield or protector. If he has enlightened your darkness, he is your shield and buckler.
Let me go back up and state an obvious statement, which I like
because I'm simple. And the kids would understand
this if they understand anything about a candle. Birthdays, you
know, you light a candle. Have you ever seen a candle light
itself? Obvious. Have you ever seen a
candle light itself? No? Never. Neither can we, who are evil,
do good. But God, with God, all things
through Christ are possible. He can take the vilest, most
corrupt, most unlovely, most despicable sinner and shower
him with mercy based on what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Bless the Lord and all that is
within us. Bless His holy name. He is a
shield, a protector to all those that trust in Him. Trust in Him. Who is He? He's the God-man.
Trust in Him, what He's done. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Trust in Him. Where is he now? He is seated at God's right hand.
Lord, light my candle, light my heart, enlighten me by your
adorable, sweet, sovereign love to such a sinner as I. That's
what Isaiah, he was pointing the finger, woe is you, woe is
you, you need to know this, you need to do this. And then when
he saw the Lord, when the Lord took away his idol, And he saw
who he was, he never said, he didn't say, what was, he said,
me. May God be propitious, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And I know we like to look around
and see if people are approving the children, is that right or
this or that? If the truth is being preached
from this place, it's the truth and it's worth believing. Don't
look at mom and dad, look to the Savior. and come to him for
he always hears the genuine cry for mercy. Light my candle and
light my darkness, brother.