There's nothing as important
in this world as hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These are the words of eternal life. Peter knew that. Peter said, you have the words
of eternal life. To whom shall we go? To search
these scriptures that God has given us to see Christ, to see
Him who is the light, the life of His people. To gather together
with brethren around the feet, the foot of Christ to hear this
gospel preached is how God gives life in the heart. It's how He
knits together the heart of His people. It's how He protects
His children in this earth from dogs and whoremongers. It's exactly
right. through the strengthening of
His people through the Gospel, the Word of God of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nothing more important. After
telling us of that which He witnessed with His own eyes and heard with
His own ears concerning the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and His return, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1 verse 19,
we have also a more sure word of prophecy. talking about the
scriptures, where unto you do well that you take heed. I've
titled the message, You Do Well to Take Heed. We have a more
sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well that you take
heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now the Scriptures that we hear
through the Gospel Declaration are as a light that shineth. That's what this word of God
is. It's a light that shines. He tells us here this is a sure
word. The reason it's a sure word is
because it's not man's word. It's a sure word. If it's man's
word, it's not a sure word. If it's God's word, it's a sure
word. You can count on it. It's the revelation of the mind
and purpose of God in the salvation of sinners. This is the will
of God we're reading about right here. The men that were used
to write these scriptures were divinely ordained and gifted
of God. Verse 21 says, The prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And these men who wrote
the New Testament Scriptures were moved by the Holy Ghost.
In Timothy 3.16 it says, all Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's the Scriptures that we have
here given by God. This is God's Word. That's why
Peter tells us we do well to take heed. We do well to take
heed. Search these Scriptures daily.
like the Bereans. They came to a place where they
could hear the Gospel preached. And they heard the Gospel preached.
And Paul preached out of the Scriptures. And what Paul preached
were the Scriptures. I know that. You know how I know
that? They went home and looked and searched the Scriptures that
he preached. They knew what he preached. They
searched these Scriptures daily with him in that place and then
And then in their time, wherever they had the scriptures to read,
they went there and read the scriptures. And looked these
things, looked into these things on a daily basis. And the scripture
says, and therefore many believed in that place. Many believed
in that place. Now the word is this, this is
what the scriptures say. Isaiah 8.10 says, to the law
and the testimony, If they speak not according to this word, it's
not that they're just a little off the mark. It's not that they're
missing the mark. Now, we will say things. I've
said things from this pulpit that I've thought, that's a bad
statement, and things like that. But what we're looking at in
this word and the tenor of our gospel, the total, complete,
The devastation of man in sin so that he can't save himself.
The complete and total thorough salvation that's accomplished
by the Lord according to His own sovereign choosing. According
to Him choosing His Son to do it. According to Him sending
His Son to accomplish it. According to His Son who did
accomplish it. According to the Spirit of God
who comes in power and regenerates and draws every elect child of
God to Christ. because it's a must. This gospel
is the gospel of righteousness. It's the only one. This is the
only word that is the gospel of righteousness. A gospel that
is of a God who loves everybody, but doesn't really save everybody,
that's not even righteousness. That's not righteousness at all.
If Christ laid down his life for everybody, but he didn't
save everybody, then sin's being punished twice. That's double
jeopardy. There's no righteousness in that.
The God of that scripture is not even holy. much less able
to save. The God of this Bible is the
only God who's a righteous God. He's a God who saves in complete
righteousness. Now remember, Scripture also,
we remember this, it's not interpreted in the light of human wisdom.
It don't matter what I think, and it don't matter what you
think. This word is interpreted one way, in light of the Holy
Ghost teaching us and comparing Scripture with Scripture. That's
what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.13, which things also we speak
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth. You say, why
do you read us so much scripture? Why do you quote so much scripture?
You can't get better than this. You can't get better than this.
I'd rather say more just reading this to you and sort of guide
you to these scriptures and let you read them for yourself than
for me to just stand up and tell you a bunch of stuff that I think
that won't do you any good. You can't get better than what
the Holy Ghost teaches. It just can't get better. I hear
folks preach and they'll say so much and say so much and then
when they come to scripture they'll just read it so fast like it's
almost tedious to them and bothersome to have to quote scripture. Let's
look these Scriptures up. Let's read these Scriptures. We speak not in the words which
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual things, comparing Scripture with
Scripture. He says here in verse 20, we
know this first. No prophecy of the Scripture
is of any private interpretation. This is given of God. And it's, we find out what this
word means through the Holy Spirit, looking at Scripture to Scripture.
The best commentary you will ever find in your life, you're
holding in your hands right now. You want to know the commentary
on Scripture, look at the Scripture. It's the very best. Somebody
said one time, the Bible will shed a whole lot of light on
all those commentaries we have in our library. And it sure will.
And not the other way around. Not the other way around. Remember
that. Don't search the scriptures to
prove what we think is true. Search the scriptures to see
what God says is so. The scriptures are able to make
you wise unto salvation. Wise unto salvation. Verse 19
says, where unto you 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. Now, Peter's writing here concerning
the second coming of Christ, he's speaking of this throughout
this second epistle. And we're yet, as believers here
who are waiting that day when he comes in great light and brilliance
and majesty, we're yet in a dark place. We see through a glass
very darkly right now. And there's coming a perfect
day, a perfect day when Christ shall return in his full brilliance
and the perfect day shall dawn and the day star shall arise. There's coming that day. But
let's first consider this in light of a sinner's conversion.
And then secondly, we'll look at this in light of the believer
waiting on that day to come. Now, let's look at this word
about a dark place. It says here, it says, a light
that shineth in a dark place. This world is a dark place. This
world is a dark place. And there's no darker place in
this world than the natural heart of a man. the heart that we're
born with. There's no darker place. God
withdrew all spiritual light when Adam sinned in the garden.
When the scripture says, by one man death entered. And it says,
and death passed upon all men. It says, for by one man all died,
by Adam all died. This is a death that is so much
worse than that death that most men fear, that physical death
that most men fear. This is a death that's way worse
than that. It's a death that is so dark
that we don't know we're dead. It's a death so dark that a man
can't know he's dead. That's spiritual death we're
talking about. When Adam sinned in the garden, man suffered a
total eclipse of God's light so that we have no spiritual
light. We have some natural light of
reason and conscience and it leaves us accountable. It leaves
us without excuse. We can look into the heavens
and we can see the stars. We can see the sun. We can see
the moon. We can see how this world is set on a course and
we can see how that body is made and these natural things. And
it leaves us without excuse. These things didn't just bang
into being and start evolving all by themselves. This is God's
creation. And a man's without excuse. Without
the light of God shining in our hearts, we're all together in
darkness. Let me read you a few scriptures. You're welcome to
turn here. Isaiah 60 verse 2. The Lord said, Behold the darkness. Isaiah 60 verse 2. He says, Behold the darkness.
shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. But the
Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon
thee." The world's in gross darkness, and as Scott pointed out this
morning, that darkness is getting worse. That darkness is getting
worse. Because when they knew God, Romans
121 says, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened. Now, you may be sitting there
and thinking about yourself and think, well, that's not a description
of me. I'm an intellectual sunbeam. Well, that might be true. You might have great brilliance
when it comes to natural knowledge and natural understanding of
things and being able to study and figure things out. You may
have great light when it comes to natural disposition. You might
be Mr. or Miss Congeniality. You might
have great knowledge in how to obtain and accumulate and keep
wealth, but what you don't have, what no man has by any natural
thing in us is spiritual light. No man has that. God has to give
that. We have by nature, our understanding
is darkened, we're alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in us because of the blindness of our heart.
That's the truth about us. That's Ephesians 4.18. There's
two things the natural heart cannot see. Two things that the
natural heart cannot see. Sin and righteousness. The natural
heart can't see those. We need light to see the darkness
of our own sin. We need the light of God. God-given
spiritual light to see our own darkness. You ever been in a
cave and they turn the light out. When you're in a cave and
they turn the light out, you can't see the darkness. When they turn the light back
on, that's when you realize how dark it was. When the light's
out, you can't see anything but darkness. You don't even know
you're in darkness. It's the light that makes you
be able to detect the darkness and see how dark it is. We need
light to see the darkness of our own hearts. We need light
to see the righteousness of God. That's the problem. We think
we're righteous, and we think we're not sinners. When God shines
a light, we find out we are the dead, dark sinner, and that God
alone is righteous. Christ Jesus is righteous alone. How does that come about? 2 Corinthians
4, 6 says, God, let's look at that. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, that's who put the sun in the sky. God,
He did it by His command. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts. That's what we
have to have happen. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's when
we're going to see righteousness, when we see Christ. When we see
God the Son, that's when we'll see righteousness. So, our text
tells us this is a sure word of prophecy, the scripture. And
we do well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place. Do well to take heed to this
word, to hear this gospel because it's the light. It's the light
that shines into the dark place of the human heart. It's the
light shining in this world. And we do well to take heed unto
it until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Now, let's talk about this day
dawn and this day star. Now, we're looking at this, first
of all, as it applies to a sinner being born of God and converted
by Christ Jesus to life. Like every day that dawns, there's
some things that are the same in each center. When the heavenly
light shines and day begins to break in the heart, there's some
things that are the same. Just like every day when the
sun comes up. And there are some things not exactly the same.
Not exactly the same in every center. Let's look at a few of
these things that are the same. Everybody has got to hear the
light of truth through the word. Everybody's gonna have to hear
the gospel of Christ revealed in these scriptures. Faith cometh
by hearing. That's not my word, that's God's
word. Faith cometh by hearing. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's God's word. After
that man by his own wisdom couldn't come to God. It's God's word. When you look at these scriptures,
I don't care how much you oppose that word and say that these
scriptures are the final say, you're gonna read the word of
a man when you read this word right here. You're gonna read
a word of a man that God used to write these words down. That's right, he uses means,
God does, and that's his prerogative and that's what he does. We have
to be taught the scriptures because we have to be taught about this
darkness of our own heart. Man by nature wants to skip over
that. Man by nature wants to, that's the thing about studying
and having a, you know, I can tell John Gill what he can tell
me. I can tell John Calvin what he can tell me. I can turn the
page. I can do the same thing picking
this book up right here. But when God speaks in the heart,
He confronts us right where we are, puts His face down in the
dust of our own wretchedness, and makes us see what we are. We have to hear it, because as
it is written, as it is written in this book, there is none righteous,
no not one. We have to be taught that. That
has to be revealed in our heart by the Spirit of God. Every sinner's
got to be taught that Christ is all the believer's righteousness.
We've got to have this taught. He's come. He's God come in human
flesh and he has accomplished the work of perfecting his people
so that believers born of the Spirit of God created in righteousness
and true holiness rest in Christ through God-given faith. We rest
in him. There is a rest that this Jesus
has accomplished that Joshua didn't accomplish but this Christ
did accomplish and God brings his people into this rest. He's
our Sabbath rest. And every sinner that's brought
here is brought the same way. And we're brought to the same
Christ. And the same cleansing fountain that cleansed this sinner
is going to cleanse all of God's sheep. We have to come to the
same cleansing fountain. All are justified and made the
righteousness of God the very same way. By God the Father's
own choosing by God the Holy Spirit's regenerating and creating
anew by the Son of God who came Christ Jesus the Lord and put
away the sin of his people by the sacrifice of himself. It's
all by grace and it's through faith. That means it's not of
our doing at all. It's all of God. All of God. If our gospel's hid, it's what
the scripture, if our gospel's hid, it's 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,
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them." You've got to hear this word.
Look with me over at Numbers 24. Who is this day star? This day star is the same. The
day star that's going to arise in every sinner's heart is the
same. You see, It's not a gospel of another
star, of some strange star, and then the true day star arises
in the heart. The gospel that's sent to God's
elect is going to be the gospel of the same day star that's going
to arise in the heart of His people. Because it's the day
star that's sending it. It's the day star that's sending
it. The sun is the day star. You get the analogy here of nature. The sun coming up in the daytime,
at daybreak. And that twilight when it's coming
up. And that day star arises and day breaks. And there's that
day star. There's the sun shining in all
its brilliance. And it comes up. It comes up.
Numbers 24, 17. That day star, that light is
Christ Jesus the Lord. This same Lord is going to be
made manifest in the hearts of each of His people. Look, 24,
17. I shall see Him, but not now. I shall behold Him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of
Jacob. This one who was coming through
the lineage of Jacob came through the lineage of Jacob. There shall
be a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and
shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children
of Sheth." Now look over at Revelation 22. Revelation 22. I'm going
to read a few scriptures to you while you're headed there. Revelation
22. This is what the Word said in
Malachi. The last chapter of Malachi says this. It says this,
Unto you that fear my name shall the Son, the S-U-N, the Son of
Righteousness, talking about the S-O-N, Christ the Son of
Righteousness. Unto you that fear my name shall
the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings. And
you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, and you
shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be as ashes under
the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith
the Lord of hosts." And he ends there by saying, before I come,
before that great day comes, I'm going to send Elijah the
prophet to you, and he's going to turn the heart of the fathers
to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers
before I come. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
was here, he told his people, his children, Peter, on that
day of that transfiguration we saw last week from second Peter,
that day he told, they said, what about Elijah coming? And
he said, if you can receive it, he's already come. He's John
the Baptist. He came first, and then the day
star came. The Son of Righteousness arose
with healing in His wings, so that His children tread upon
the wicked in this world right now by His grace, by the light
of His grace. Look at Revelation 22, 16. And I, Jesus, have sent mine
angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am
the root and the offspring of David. David was Jacob's son,
right on down the line. The root and offspring of David,
the bright and morning star. He came through that lineage,
just as He said He would. And Christ said, that's who I
am. I'm the bright and the morning star. When He was born, those
men came to see Him, and they said, we've come to see Him who
was born King of the Jews, because we've seen His star. We've seen
his star in the east. That was a token that the day
star's come. He's come. The day spring from
on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death to guide our feet in the way of
peace. It's Christ our Savior who abolished death and brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's who
this day star is. He came forth and He was made
sin, this one who knew no sin, and by His bruise and with His
stripes, He declared, God alone is the justifier of all who believe. It's not according to any work
a man does. He is the justifier. This is
the great light He set forth in the earth. When the Son of
Righteousness arose, the great light that He manifested is God's
righteous, and this is how He saves. You're going to come to
God in this one, or we ain't coming at all. Christ fulfilled
all the law. He fulfilled all the prophets.
He's the everlasting righteousness of his people. That's what this
light is all about. He comes forth and says, I am
the light. I am the light. He shows the
righteousness of God. He is that righteousness. We
got to completely, you care about the law. Does anybody here care
about the law? The law of God's holy. The law
of God is just. The law of God is good. We have
got to obey God. We've got to obey God. And we're
born disobeying God. We're born already disobeyed
God. Already dead. We've got to obey
God. We've got to fulfill His law.
That law is righteous. That one who came. and not through
any extra exertion, just because it was in his heart, because
it was the very stuff that his very being was made of. He obeyed God because he's the
righteousness. He is himself the lawgiver and
he is himself the righteousness set forth in the law. And he
came forth and he obeyed God. He walked this earth and did
what no man's ever done. I'm never going to get tired
of telling you this, if God keeps me. I've read a lot of sermons,
and I've read a lot of histories, and I've read a lot of different
biographies, and I've read a lot of men, preachers who've died,
and said on their dying hour, said, I wish I would have preached
Christ more. I never read a one that said,
I wish I'd have preached more on church government. I wish
I'd have preached more on morality. Not a one of them, but I've read
a bunch of them that said, I wish I'd have preached Christ more.
Christ Jesus is the righteousness of God. He's the fullness of
God manifest in the flesh. And he went and laid down his
life. What a sorrow he bore. None like unto his. Nothing like
what he bore. Never in the history of man had
an innocent person ever taken the place of the guilty. Never. And to be made what his people
are, that God might be just in pouring out punishment upon him.
It's beyond me, I don't know, but that is exactly what God
did. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Not just
the iniquity of one or two, but the iniquity of all His elect
people throughout every age was laid upon Him, and He was made
the cursed thing, and He bore the wrath of God, and He put
away the wrath of God forever for His people. That's why he was able to inherit.
He's the prophet. He's the prophet. He's not only
the king. He's not only the high priest. He's the prophet. He's
the one who teaches his people in the heart. He's the one who
did all the little intricate things that needed to be done
in every personal life of every person sitting in this room right
now, this hour, to bring you right here this hour. and to
bring me right here this hour and put this very thought in
my heart right this minute to tell you that He's the one that
does this, to bring His people to hear His gospel. Because He
made the sun, He can turn it back ten degrees if He wants
to. You think He's going to have much trouble redirecting your
path when you wanted to go somewhere else today? I want to see you
all here and I want to see you here. This is one thing that
I have, one great consolation I have. If you're here, God did
the gathering. And if you're not, it might be
our own rebellion that makes us not be here, but this is certain.
If God wanted you here, you'd be here. That's right. That's certain. That's certain. And he spake, this one who is
the prophet, and he said, I'm the light of the world. He that
follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. The sun shines, and when it shines,
just out there in nature every day, when the sun is shining,
you go out there and walk today, you're going to walk in the sun.
Whether you want to or not, you're going to walk in the light. Because
you can't stop it. You can't stop it. And this one
who says, I am the light, says, he that believeth on me, he that
followeth me, he won't walk in darkness. He's going to have
the light of life. And that's the other thing that
this light is the same as the dawning of the day. It's irresistible. It's irresistible. You can resist
me, and you can, and you will. You'll resist every word I'm
telling you right now until this day stardawns in your heart.
You will do that. But when you hear this day stardawns,
you can't stop it. The Holy Spirit of God Lord Jesus,
when He was talking to Nicodemus, He used the illustration of the
wind. He said the wind blows wherever it wills. You can hear
it. You can hear the sound of it. You can see the effects of
it. But you can't stop it. It's coming. You can't stop the
wind. And the Holy Spirit of God uses the same illustration
here with the sun, the day star. When it comes up, try to stop
it. Get out there and do whatever
crazy thing comes into your heart and try to stop the sun from
coming up. It ain't happening. It's coming
up. The sun is coming up. When this star rises in the heart
of one of his children of grace, ain't anybody gonna stop it.
that you mothers and fathers got children that you're worried
about, concerned about, and they're trying to run wild. I can tell
you from this one standing right here in front of you, I was that
child. I was that child. I was that
child running headlong straight away from my mother and my father.
I can tell you, I won't tell you, but I know what the child
is doing. I know exactly what they're,
I've done it. If it's there to be done, I've done it. And God
stopped me dead in my tracks. Stopped me dead in my tracks.
That's consolation to a mother and a father, to a sister and
a brother, to somebody that loves their child and wants to see
them come. Nothing's going to hinder the
Son of Righteousness from shining. They're going to have the light.
If it's determined for them, they're going to have it. And
when He starts this work, He don't ever stop it either. When
that sun comes up, it starts from one side in the east and
it starts going in. You can't stop it. It's going to make its
circuit. You can't stop it. And it's the
same with this light. He that's begun a good work in
you will perform it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We can be little clouds all we want to and get all dark and
grumpy and try to rain and scream and shout Thunder and lightning,
but we're not stopping this son from shining when he comes shines
in the heart He's gonna make the clouds roll back and he's
gonna make the sunshine and we're not stopping it He'll keep this
work going from that day forward But there's some things that
may appear different about the breaking of the day you know
For some, this light comes suddenly. That's how it came in the case
of Saul of Tarsus. It came suddenly. But for some,
like Nicodemus, it came very slowly. It came very slowly.
You may be like the blind man. He was given sight and he looked
up and he said, I see men as trees walking. His vision was
very blurred. He had some sight, but he couldn't
see clearly. And all we see at first are clouds.
We see the clouds of our corrupt nature. And it almost overwhelms
us with despair. That's going to be the same.
You're going to see some light. When you have some light, you're
going to see something about what you are, the darkness you are. That's
going to be the same. But it may come a different way.
Some days, the sun comes up and it's cloudy outside. And we don't
see the sun shining like we do on other days. But the sun's
still there. It's still the same sun shining,
even though there's some clouds in the way. And the sun's gonna
shine through. What do you do in that case?
And now let me talk to you who are sitting here right now who
are experiencing this, and you believe you got some light, and
you're starting to see some things about yourself and about the
Lord. What do you do when that is the case? And this thing,
you can't see clearly. You don't know. You think you
know, but you just don't know. I think I see, but it's blurry
to me still. What do you do? Wait on the Lord. Just wait on the Lord. When Christ
is arisen in your soul, you will know it. You will be able to
do nothing else but repent from your sins and believe on Him
and follow Him. That's certain. Intellectual,
logic, understanding, that's not saving faith. It's not saving
faith. I'm not interested in what you
know. That's not saving faith. Christ quickens the inner man
into irresistible desire for Christ. But there's a, he creates a good
lust in the heart. He creates a lusting for a hunger
and a thirsting after righteousness. After him who is our righteousness.
And when his light shines, he claims the entire being. He claims you. And you'll know
it when that light shines. It drowns out, this light is
so brilliant, it drowns out all the natural light that we thought
was light that we were walking in. You ever have the light shine
so in your heart that you sit there and wonder, is this the
first time I've ever seen the light? That's how brilliant this light
is. It drowns out all light. He tells us to forget those things
that are behind. When he shines his light, he'll
make us forget them. I gave you that illustration
one time of how we used to shine the spotlight on the traffic
lights out in the street, and you'd shine a a million power
candle power spotlight on a street light, and the street light just
goes out. He thinks it's daylight. That's what all that little natural
light that was kindling of our sparks that we thought was light,
when this light shines, it'll make that light be nothing. It'll
make that light be nothing. I want to give you this. I'm
going to run a little short here, I think, but Psalm 19. Let's look at this. We got time. Psalm 19. In natural creation,
when the Lord made this atmosphere, He made it a tabernacle for the
natural sun. In the new birth, the believer's
newly created heart is made a tabernacle for Christ the Son. And He enlightens
the eyes. Look at this. Psalm 19, 5. It says here, verse 4, He says
at the end there, that he set a tabernacle for the sun, which
is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber rejoicing as a
strong man to run a race. You get the picture of the sun
coming up in the east and strong, running the course from east
to west. running the court like a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber, like a strongman sent to run a race.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit
until the ends of it, and there's nothing hid from the heat thereof.
That's exactly how this word will be when it comes in the
heart. Look at verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. That's what it'll do. That's
what it'll do when it comes forward. Look to Christ, the light of
God's glory. Don't look to self, don't look
to knowledge, don't look to experience, don't look to a profession. Surest
way you know you're looking to a profession is when you can't
let a profession go, when you keep on bringing that up. And that's gonna tune your organ
on every note you hit. your profession is. I tell you,
your tuner's out of tune. Your organ's gonna be untuned.
This is the truth right here. Don't look to that. Read this
word seeking Christ's face, not the saved face. Now, the scriptures
tell us that the path of the just is as the shining light
that shines more and more unto the perfect day. Now, let's talk
about this in light of the believer who's waiting on that perfect
day when Christ returns and that light will shine, that day star
shall arise. As of right now, you who believe,
we're still in the twilight before the perfect daybreak of glory.
That's where we are. Even though we believe, even
though we have the light of Christ, for now, shadows surround us. and we see very, very little. But every artist, anybody that
paints a picture knows this. In order for there to be an object
to stand out on that canvas, it's got to be light and it's
got to be darkness. It's got to be both. And all
these shadows and all this darkness that we have to go through in
this life is needful for us to be set and our eyes set solely
on the object of our faith, who is Christ the Lord. That's necessary. There's shadows of spiritual
ignorance that's yet in our path. We understand by God's grace,
but how little we understand. We know Christ by his grace,
but how little we really know. We don't know much at all. We
know in part, Paul said, we prophesy in part, but when that which
is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away. That's what Peter's talking about. Peter said, it's almost
here for me. I've seen how the Lord's told
me I must put off this tabernacle. It's almost here for me, Peter
said. But he said, Paul said that when that is come that's
perfect, then that which is in part will be done away. When
you were I came up here, and most everybody that's sitting
here now that's 15, 16, 17 years old, the things that you enjoyed,
the things that you liked when I moved here four years ago or
four and a half years ago, now you think, those are childish
things. I put those things away. I don't
like those things anymore. I don't think like that anymore.
I put those things away. Because when you were a child,
you thought as a child, you spoke as a child, but when you became
It's older. When you grow up, you put away
childish things. Paul said that's exactly how
this day is. It's like a day for children.
Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I
know in part, but then shall I know even as also I'm known. There are even cloudy days when
we can't see Christ. There's cloudy days when we can't
even see Christ alike. Job said, I went morning without
the sun. I stood up and I cried in the
congregation. Look over at Hebrews 2. Hebrews
chapter 2. Unless we're walking in the light
that God has given us, unless we're walking in the light as
He is in the light, we're not able to detect when we're without
the light. I hope you let that sink in. When we're not heeding the light
that God's given us, we don't even know how misled
we are by the light we have. Give diligence to dwell as closely
to Christ the light as you can. Give heed to Christ's word as
much and as often as you can. We do well to take heed to this
gospel until that day dawn, until that perfect day come. We do
heed to hear and search his word. Look at Hebrews 2.1. Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Go over to Hebrews
10.25. We're talking about this dawning
of the perfect day of glory, the dawning of that perfect day
when Christ returns, the Son of righteousness and the brilliance
of the noonday sun and all His majesty and glory. We see here
in Hebrews 10.25, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see that day approaching. So much the more as you see that
day approaching. The most important thing is to
gather with your brethren and hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the most important thing. Each believer's presence
matters, and never think otherwise. Each believer's presence matters.
We have the thought, we think, well, it won't hurt if I don't
show up. Imagine if you were the only
one that did. And everybody else had that thought and said, it
won't hurt if I don't show up. And you were the only one that
did show up. It's that discouraging for your
brethren when you're missing. You didn't know you were that
important, did you? It's so. It's that discouraging for your
brethren when you're missing. Give heed so much the more as
you see the day approaching. Well, look at Job 37. I want you to see this. We face some shadowy clouds and
strong winds of providence as we're trying to go through this
life too. Look at Job 37 verse 21. see not the bright light which
is in the clouds, but the wind passeth and cleanseth them. Now
you think about that verse. You think about that verse. God
often uses strong wind and of painful providence to cleanse
us, to strip us, to bring us to where we're supposed to be,
to his feet. He often does that. But even in those dark, dark
clouds and those strong, strong winds when we can't see Faith
that knows that Christ is our light, faith which knows Christ
is our light, even when I can't see the brilliance of His light,
I know, I believe, I trust Him. Faith that trusts that Christ
is our light, even in the troubling clouds, will be guided by the
bright light that is in the clouds. We'll be guided by Christ's light
and not taken away by troubling clouds. You understand that? That faith
strengthened through this word. It's take heed to this word,
even when we can't see Him, even when that strong wind of providence
and we can't see the bright light in the clouds. By faith we walk,
not by sight. And we know that He's guiding
His children and He's gonna guide us and we won't fall away in
that strong wind and that dark cloud. Don't live so much with
our eye on this day. Don't live so much with our eye
on these present clouds and these present troubles and these things
that we go through. Live with the eye set on the
horizon of the future glory. Paul said, looking for that blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior
Jesus Christ. live this life looking for that
day. And then there's a valley of the shadow of death. That's
a valley of shadow we go through. You know, it was never as dark
on this earth. Ever. Ever. Not before and not
since. It's never been as dark on this
earth as it was when our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross.
Never. When the light of the world bowed
his head to bear the sin of his people and the wrath of punishment
that was due to his people, the Son, the natural Son, bowed to
him and refused to shine. And there's never been the light
of God's glory shining so bright in the middle of that darkness. The greatest moment in the history
of this world, right there at Calvary Street, Christ-alike,
Christ-alike, putting away the sin of His people. Well, He's
risen now. He's risen now. And here's the
sweetness of this light. Here's the sweetness of it. Because
of His death, because He conquered death, because He so destroyed
death. Death is just a shadow to a believer.
It's just a shadow. There's no substance to it. it's got some substance to it.
Death's just a shadow. Death's just a shadow. There's
no sting to it anymore because Christ put away the sting. He's
put away the sin of His people. And for the believer, there's
no sting to it. It's just a shadow. It's just a shadow. He said,
if a man keep my sayings, he'll never die. We'll be like Simeon
in that day. By His grace, the same grace
that called you in the first hour, the same grace that's kept
you every hour, the same grace you need today will be the grace
that God gives to His child when we face that dark shadow. and
He shines the brilliance of His light and makes it appear, makes
the shadow flee away. It will be like Simeon who held
the light in his hands and said, now Lord, I can depart in peace. I've seen your salvation. When does that day dawn for the
believer? When does the day start to rise for the believer, in
the heart of the believer? Sometimes we close our eyes at
night and you close your eyes at night and you lay down and
just go straight to sleep and it's just that quick it's time
to open up your eyes again and time to wake up. That fast. You see that dear saint? That dear saint who trusts the
Lord that God's called him by his grace. maybe they're sick,
maybe they're up in years, maybe they're aged, maybe they're whatever
the case, but you see them take their last breath of this sin-cursed
toxic air. The very next breath is in the
perfect atmosphere of perfected holiness. That day star just dawned in
their heart. That breaking of the eternal
day just dawned. Can't you just picture it? But for others, there's gonna
be some that'll be here still when he returns and he's gonna
come back and that day starts gonna dawn when he comes a second
time to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all those
who believe. And it'll be the same kind of
thing. It'll be in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. We'll
be with him. We'll be with him. Well, I wanna
close. I want you to turn over to Song
of Solomon, chapter four. Song of Solomon, chapter 4. This is a few pages before the
first chapter of Isaiah. In just a little while, I tried
to tell the kids Friday night, would you bankroll your whole
eternal soul? on the time span you have between
now and when that jug of milk in the refrigerator meets that
expiration date and expires. Would you just give up everything
for that little space of time between now and when that jug
of milk in the refrigerator spoils? It's not very long. Not very
long. That's what we do if we spend
90 years of this life living for this world and die and meet
God without Christ. It's just that long. We just
wasted it. Just like on an expired jug of
milk. It's just going to be a little while and the day's going to
break and the shadows are going to flee away and the believers
are going to bathe our souls in Christ's full, unclouded,
endless light. It's going to be as the light
of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without
clouds. We like a bright, sunny day,
don't we? It's going to be like that. There's
going to be no need of the sun, going to be no need of the moon.
John said, the glory of that city, God lights it. And he said, and the Lamb's the
light thereof. You think on that day. Think about the day when
you'll see Him as He is. Think on the day when there won't
be any more night of sin or any of its effects. It'll all be
gone. Now the exhortation in our text
is very simple. It's very simple. God has to
make us believe and walk. But the exhortation is very simple
that a child could understand it. We have a more sheer word
of prophecy where unto you do well that you take heed. as unto
a light that shines in a dark place, from now until the day
dawn and the day star arise in your heart." Now let's heed this
word of exhortation. Let's heed it. We do well to
take heed to these scriptures. But don't just go home now and
say, well, I heard all that. Go home and search the scriptures. See if these things are so. The
notes will be on Free Grace Media. Dot-com by the ties a dot-com
or dot-net free grace media dot-com by the time you get home this
afternoon get settled down You can read it. They'll be there
pull them up and read them again and look the scriptures up see
if this is so Look here at this first. I like this Solomon 4
6 Until the daybreak Until that
day breaks and the shadows flee away I'll get me to the mountain
of my and to the hill of frankincense. Brethren, if the day breaks between
now and next Thursday, I'll see you, my fellow believers, in
the mountain of Myrrh. We'll be there at his feet. But
if not, I'm coming to this hill of frankincense where I can worship
him in the mountain of Myrrh. That's where I'm coming. How
about you? How about you? I pray, I do pray, that God will
give us the light to take heed. And I hope to see you then. Amen.