May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
first epistle of John and the first chapter and we'll read
verses 5, 6 and 7. The first epistle of John, chapter
1 and reading verses 5, 6 and 7. This then is the message. which we have heard of him and
declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness
at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth 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. The subject really this morning
is the light of God. and how wonderful that light
is and how glorious it is and how necessary it is. And really the Bible concentrates
upon this great aspect of light right from the beginning of Genesis
right to the end of Revelation. And it's good when we can notice
these great and wonderful truths which exist. And of course, the
central theme of that light is none other than the blessed Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who, as we know, as we read in John's
Gospel, who is the light of the world. So as we ponder these
considerations this morning, to realise that light is so vital
and so important and of course it's the complete opposite to
darkness light is the complete opposite to darkness and the
reality is that every person spiritually is in darkness until
the light of the glorious Gospel shines into our hearts and we
have the evidence then of God's wonderful work within and what
a blessing it is and if we go back and we can think right in
the very beginning the first day when the Lord created the
earth the very first thing he did he said let there be light
and there was light on that very first occasion that was the wonderful
thing that God brought about and God created and how wonderful
and thankful we should be and as we just follow through and
come to right to the end of the word of God into the revelation
and the Lord there is speaking to us about glory and heaven
itself and we're told and there shall be no night there and they
shall need no candle neither light of the sun for the Lord
God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever. And it's wonderful to think,
therefore, that in heaven, there's no sun, there's no moon, but
the Lord himself gives that light. That's what really occurred in
the beginning, when the light came. And yet, all of us need
that light to shine into our hearts. You might think, well,
why did we read in Exodus that account of the candlestick, or
as we might say, the lampstand, which was of course placed in
the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the place
that the Lord commanded Israel to erect when they were traveling
in the wilderness. They were in the wilderness and
they'd been there for a little while. And the Lord gave Moses
commandments as to how that building should be erected. It was a building
which could be erected and taken down and erected again as they
journeyed from A to B. But there were certain elements
within it which of course were there and had to be carried from
place to place. And one of them was the golden
candlestick. And we may think, well, surely
that was just something that was needed. Well, it was needed.
But it's good just to think upon what it really represented and
what it formed. Now, you young people may be
familiar with what the tabernacle consisted. Years ago, we did
a whole series on the tabernacle. and it was very interesting and
very instructive but basically the tabernacle, there was an
outer court and that was all surrounded with what we might
say a fence and then an inner building and the inner building
was divided into two parts one was the holy place and the other
was the most holy or the holy of holies and in the holy of
holies there was the Ark of the Covenant that's what it's referred
to it was an object made from shitting wood which is a very
durable wood and it was covered with gold and it had a lid a
solid lid which was referred to as the Mercy Seat and over
the Mercy Seat there were two cherubims one each end which
looked down and inwards towards the box as it was and in that
box there was the Ten Commandments, the law which God had given to
Moses, on those two tables of stone. And that was there. And then in the Holy Place, which
was outside of the Holy of Holies, the Holy of Holies were separated
from the Holy Place with a very thick veil, a very wonderfully
embroidered veil. And in the holy place, outside
of the Holy of Holies, there were three items. One was the
table of incense, one was the table of showbread, and then
there was the candlestick. And the table of incense was
placed just outside of the actual curtain or veil where the Ark
of the Covenant was and then there were these other two items
the table of showbread and the candlestick which occurred at
right angles to that veil and then there was also curtains
which covered the other opening to this holy place. So in reality
the holy place was totally dark, the Holy of Holies was totally
dark. And we know that the Lord God
himself came down into the Holy of Holies and dwelt above what
we term the Ark and the Mercy Seat and refer to as the Shekhinah
and there was wonderful light of course from that but in the
holy place there was no light until the candlestick was lit
now it's interesting as we read it gave a description of what
the candlestick was like there's no size of it given actually
there's no size there's no height There's no breadth. All we know
is it had a central stem and it had three branches out of
it either side. What we do know is that it was
beaten out of one talent of gold. And that's an amazing feat if
you think about that. This elaborate candlestick with
three branches either side and a central stem was beaten out
of a talent of gold. Just for your young people's
interest, a talent of gold weighed about 75 pounds, and the density
of gold is about three times the density of iron. So if you
could imagine that being made in iron, if it was made in gold
it would only have been about a third of the size. so it wouldn't
have been a vast thing but obviously it would have been a sensible
height and probably something like about this height I guess
so that therefore the bowls which contained the olive oil and had
wicks which were lit and gave the light would have been very
available for the priests that came and carried out this operation
now you may say well why are you explaining all that? well
I'm explaining it because of this there was a need for light
in that section in the holy of the holies otherwise it was dark
and the light formed by olive oil, pure olive oil and recently
we spoke to the Sunday School about this but olive oil generally
speaking, pure olive oil, beaten olive oil it doesn't actually
produce any smoke but it gives a very good light And therefore
there were seven branches, seven lights in this holy of holies
which was able to light this holy place. And the wall at the
back of the candlestick and also at the back of the altar of incense
actually was boards and they were all faced in gold so there
would have been a very good reflection from these lights to light this
room now the relevance was this the lights were never to go out
the high priest was to keep them alight so the light in that holy
place was never to go out the relevance of that was this all
the things in the tabernacle represented the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can follow that through
the Old Testament, you can follow it through the New Testament,
especially as Paul writes to the Hebrews. And we can see that
the relevance then, there was the light, Christ, the light
of the world, was simply shown forth from the candlestick giving
that continuous light. Now we know and we can be blessed
to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world and
his light never goes out. That's really the reference and
the relevance of what was the Tabernacle and of course it was
then translated after some 500 years when Solomon built the
temple and a very similar building then a similar situation and
again the candlestick was placed there so there was this light
which never went out and how important that is for us today
to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world now
These verses that we read together this morning in this first epistle
of John really elucidate that statement. Because John writes
and tells us, this then is the message which we have heard of
him. declare unto you this is the
word this is the message that John had to write and this is
the message that he wrote down so that you and I today could
benefit from it this is what he says this then is the message
which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is
light and in him is no darkness and at all. Well, that's a wonderful and
a glorious statement, is it not? To know that God is light. He
always has been. Always has been light from eternity. And again, that's a grand mystery
that you and I cannot really understand. But nonetheless,
the Lord God is light. And it goes on to say, if we
say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth. 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. So, as we just read these three
verses, surely we can appreciate that this glorious light is very
important. And it's very necessary. And
all of us, need to know that we possess this light. And this light really is the
gospel. It's really the wonderful way
of salvation. It really sets before us what
the Lord Jesus Christ did when he came into this sinful world. And what a great blessing it
is. The apostle, when he wrote, to
the Corinthians and in the second letter he wrote in the fourth
chapter this is what we read well first of all verse 3 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. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. So the Apostle doesn't leave
us in any doubt that this light which shines forth from the Saviour
is glorious. and how necessary it is for all
of us to have the blessed evidence of this light within us. Let me read that fourth verse
again. In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of
them which believe not. How many there are today who
do not believe the great and glorious truth of the gospel?
It's a great question for all of us, isn't it? as to whether
we believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's the words of the Apostle
and how relevant it is. Always has been and is today. And it is vital that we are amongst
those who do indeed believe, that we're not amongst those
who, as the word tells us here, believe not. We either believe
or we don't believe. Today, we all have to really
answer that question, do we not? If we are walking in the light,
the light of the gospel, it's because God has given us grace
to believe. If God has given us grace to
believe, that light will never go out. It's a wonderful truth,
isn't it? Like it was with that candlestick
in the temple and in the tabernacle, that light never went out. My
friends, when God gives us that light within ourselves, that
never goes out. It is a light which always exists. And it exists if we are amongst
those who truly believe the great and glorious word of God and
believe the gospel. My friends, it is vital people
today cast these things aside and put them in the background
and think they're not very relevant. Let me tell you this, they are
very relevant. They are very important. And
so here we have this statement here, which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel It's a wonderful statement, isn't
it? The glorious gospel. Today, what do you and I think
of the gospel? What do you and I think of the
way of salvation? Is it wonderful? Is it glorious? Do we rejoice in it? Do we praise
God for it? Do we thank him for the great
plan of salvation? And do we thank him indeed if
the light from heaven has shone into our hearts. Well, if it
has, you see, what a wonderful blessing it is. Lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For, says the apostle, 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 right in the beginning let there be
light and there was light and like it is today when God commands
that light to shine into our hearts let there be light and
there is light something that we never realised
before and as the Apostle gloriously tells us for God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, our
innermost being, our soul, to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's a very
succinct statement, a very simple statement, a very important statement
and one that you and I should truly bless God for and be concerned
that you and I possess the wonderful evidence of this within our own
hearts. It's a wonderful statement for
God who commanded that God does command. And you know when God
commands something, it happens. You and I might say things, it
doesn't happen. When God commands something,
it happens. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. Remember, we're born in darkness. What a mercy if God's commanded
that light to shine into our hearts. And only you can tell
whether that's happened. I can look at you, you can look
at me, we don't know. We might think so, but you know
in your own heart whether that light of the Gospel has shone
into your heart. And if it has, you rejoice in
it. We come back really to this wonderful
statement that we read here together in this seventh verse which tells
us, one with another, true Christians
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, cleanseth us from all sin. So I hope we get the message
of the gospel. Let's hope we get the understanding
of the great truth that it contains, who God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hath shined, in our hearts remember this is
in our innermost being it's not just what we might think is something
that you and I can absorb in our heads we can learn it and
it's right to learn it but the way of salvation the gift of
God the glorious light is more than that it works through our
head into our heart And it brings the light of the Gospel. Hath shined in our hearts. The Apostle had had it shine
into his heart. He tells us, doesn't he? When
he was on that Damascus road. There he was, walking contrary
to God. But on that never to be forgotten
day, the light of the Gospel shone right into the heart of the Apostle
Paul. That's why he's able to give
us such a wonderful and gracious account and wonderful truths. He's able to write these accounts. The Apostle refers to that we
term conversion a number of times and in the Acts of the Apostles
particularly perhaps that time when he was before King Agrippa. A very eminent people that were
listening to Paul to give his defence. And the Apostle was
never ashamed. If you read through the Acts
of the Apostles you will find out the Apostle was always very willing
to speak of his conversion. It wasn't something that was
hidden. And he tells us this. in the
26th chapter of Acts, and verse 12, he says, Whereupon as I went
to Damascus, with authority and commission from the high priest,
at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven. Now
we may not all obviously see it just as Paul saw it, but in
measure the light will shine into our hearts, and it will
produce a change. above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me, and them which journey with me. And when
we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto
me, saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks, that means pricks of conscience, the apostles have
been fighting against. Well, perhaps in your life and
my life, we can remember at times when we fought against truly
believing the gospel. We didn't really want to believe
it because we knew there would be opposition, but thankfully
God worked powerfully in the life of the Apostle Paul and
in our lives. Again it may not have been quite
so in such an amazing situation and as you may know I often quote
at the same time that case of Lydia who the Apostle Paul went
to preach to by the riverside. There was a group of ladies and
they met for prayer and the Apostle preached to them and we're just
simply told this with regard to this lady Lydia whose heart
the Lord opened there wasn't a great demonstration of the
brightness but the light shone into her heart and it was opened
to receive the truth of God that really is the essence of the
work of God the light shines and it works within us and so
that's what happened to the Apostle Paul, and Paul said, Lord, and
he said, who are thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
for I have appointed unto thee for this purpose to make thee
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee. Well how useful the Apostle Paul
was and how he was able then to write in his epistles the
great glorious truth of the gospel and the great glorious truth
with regard to the light shining. This God who commanded the Apostle
Paul, he had first-hand knowledge of it. It wasn't something that
it had just been passed down to him. He knew it in his own
heart And my friends today, you and I need to know it in our
own hearts. It's not just a theory. It's
something real. When that light shines into our
heart, it shows us what we are. It shows us we're a sinner, like
it did to the Apostle Paul. Yes, it doesn't let us off lightly.
It shows us that we're a sinner. But also that light directs us
then to the Lord Jesus Christ as our great and glorious Saviour. Jesus Christ is the Saviour of
sinners. Hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And he just goes, and I'll just
read the next verse because it's really relevant. He says, but
we have this treasure. And what a treasure it is. Why is it a treasure? Because
it's an eternal treasure. It will never go out. Once in
Him, in Him forever. In earthen vessels, that means
He was just an earthen vessel, like you and I are. We're just
dust really. If we die, we just return to
dust. An earthen vessel. That the excellency and the power
may be of God and not of us what that really means is this God
has done something for the Apostle God has done something for all
the Church of God all the people which you and I could not do
for ourselves and we have to then give honour and glory to
God for his wonderful work for his wonderful blessing that you
and I have received and so we're told this 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, cleanses us from all sin. And it's just interesting,
a statement like this, because this great blessing and this
light shining does bring that love and that unity to other
believers. It's quite an amazing truth that
we may have met someone who we've never met before in our life
and some of us, as you know, have travelled quite a lot in
the world and you can meet people you've never met before far off
and yet there in their life is the evidence of the light of
God shining forth and therefore what it produces is fellowship
between one and another. It's an amazing bond. It's a
wonderful blessing which God brings to pass. Well then, this
light of the Gospel, it shines then in the face of Jesus Christ. And what does that really mean?
It really means that it directs us to the blessed and glorious
saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came into
this world, as the Apostle Paul tells us, to save sinners of
whom I am chief. He didn't come to save the self-righteous. He came to save sinners. Sinners
can say, and none but they, how precious is the Saviour. Because you and I realise this
great and glorious God, none less, has looked down upon us
and shone that light into our hearts so that we possess the
great blessing of this new birth. The new birth, it means really
that we are born again of the Spirit of God. Yes, we must be
born again, says the Lord Jesus when he spoke to Nicodemus. I remember in the third chapter
of John, that very wonderful account where the Lord met with
Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night and
he asked him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come
from God, but no man can do these miracles that thou doest except
God be with him. And Jesus answered and said,
and it's very important to realize that the Lord ignored what Nicodemus
said. But he went right to the most vital thing. And
this is what he said, except a man be born again, except the
light shines, he cannot see the kingdom God and it's interesting
Nicodemus said how can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born and
again Jesus ignores that statement? And says very very I said to
you except a man be born of water and of the spirit He cannot enter
into the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is
flesh that means you and I are born naturally the flesh we're
all born of the flesh and And that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. That which God does when he shines
the light of the Gospel into our hearts, that is being born
of the Spirit. And that is so important and
so vital for us. And he says, marvel not that
I said unto thee, ye must be born again, without any exception,
without any exception. All of us must be born again. We must have a light shine into
our hearts. What a glorious privilege it
is to realize as we meditate and think, well, bless God, that
light has shone into my heart. I'm a different person. I'm a
changed person. I see things differently. I understand
things differently. It's because I'm a born again
Christian. It's a phrase which is used.
It's a very important phrase. And it's wonderful if it is so. And the Lord goes on to tell
Nicodemus, he says, The wind bloweth where it listeth. That
means wherever it will, you know the wind. We don't know where
it comes from, do we? Now here is the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Well today, my friends, may we
know the wonderful blessing of this light shining into our souls. How essential it is. How important
it is. Unless that light shines, we
will all be lost. But if that light has shined
into our hearts, we are saved. We are eternally safe, without
any doubt. It cannot be removed. The light
remains. Bless God for the wonderful favour
of our blessed Lord. David, in the Psalms, wrote many
glorious truths. He wrote about this in the 27th
Psalm. In the very first verse, the
Lord is my light. and my salvation. He joins them together. Wonderful,
isn't it? True it is. If you possess salvation,
it's because you possess light. If you haven't got light, you
haven't got salvation. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Who should I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? What that really means is we're
eternally safe. Safe in the arms of Jesus. What a wonderful truth that is. The light has shone, my friends.
You and I are eternally safe. And we're not blessed, God, for
it. That light has shined. We can look forward. We can look
forward to an eternal place in glory with a Saviour which can
never, never be taken away. And so can we today bless God
for the great and glorious truth of the Gospel, the light, the
light of God. Remember, that light shines in
the face of Jesus Christ And if you and I have the evidence
that that light has shone, it's because we have by faith viewed
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. He's brought us to that
position that before him We've bowed down and truly sought for
forgiveness, repented of all our sins. Yes, my friends, you
won't just sin lightly. You won't think, well, that's
of no consequence. When the light shone into your
hearts, you'll have some evidence that your sin has caused the
Lord Jesus Christ to suffer so that you might receive the forgiveness
of sins. That's why we have this glorious
statement in this seventh verse. We are fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all
sin. The Lord shed his blood when
he died upon that cross at Calvary. And my friends, that takes away
all sin. We're clean. We're washed in
the blood of the Lamb. What a wonderful thing it is.
Because that is so, when we come to that great day, to stand before
the judgment seat of Christ, we're clean. We're washed. There's no sin. Because the Lord
has paid the price. to have all that sin taken away.
And never underestimate, never underestimate the cost of our
salvation. Realize that Lord Jesus Christ
had to give his life that you and I might receive the gift
of life. What an exchange, God took our
sins and gave us His righteousness. What a blessing. What a favour. And it will never be taken away.
It'll never be taken away. What a mercy. And what a wonderful
favour it is to have the evidence in our hearts that God has shone
His light, the light of the Gospel, within us. so that we are clean,
so that we are washed and we are cleansed from all sin. There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate
of heaven to let us in. There's only one way of entry.
the glory and that's through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the Apostle Peter
tells us he had a right value of it and he tells us the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin and he says that I will
cleanse through the precious but with a precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Well, this
morning, I hope we really value the blood of Christ. I hope we really value the death
of the Saviour. And I hope we really know that
we have the light of the glorious gospel shining into our hearts
to know that we are clean and if we are then we're saved and
then we are eternally safe and we can say in all humbleness
in answer to that great question is it well with your soul? We can say it is well. Amen.