May God now help us, bless us
as we turn to his word. We'll turn back to the chapter
we were in this morning, in the second epistle of Paul to the
Corinthians in chapter four. This evening, we'll read verse
six. Second epistle of Paul to the
Corinthians, chapter four, verse six. For God, Who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Well, this morning we were focusing
our thoughts on the previous verse, verse five of this chapter. And we were thinking about how
the apostle was always determined that it would be not him who
was exalted or his ministry, but rather that Christ Jesus
the Lord would be preached and believed on by the grace of God. He professed to be a servant. And we thought a little on what
that meant to be a servant, to be a minister, to be a slave,
to be an ambassador, and these different elements of service.
And that was the Apostle's great concern, that he would serve
to the glory of God. We considered how important it
is for us to remember that though we may struggle with pride and
the tendency to it, that we are, by God's grace if a believer,
a servant, and that we must seek only to serve him. Paul, in trying to prove to the
Corinthian church that he was indeed a called apostle, he preached
faithfully, and therefore had authority in the message that
he preached, speaks to them in this way, to say that the message
that I speak is Christ, not me. And then he goes on to say in
verse six that the application of that message and the blessing
of that message is through the work of God and not through him. He therefore, in speaking his
credentials, if he were, as an apostle, makes it clear that
because he is a believer in Christ Jesus the Lord, and because God
has shined in his heart, therefore he has the authority to speak
with the desire that God would shine in the hearts of the people
as well. God, who commanded the light, shine of the darkness,
has shone in our hearts, he says. It shone in his heart. On the
Damascus road, the light shone, and it shone right into his heart. He was illuminated, he was enlivened. The light shone in his heart,
and as he had received the light, and had received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so he was qualified, through that knowledge of Christ,
to speak to the Corinthian church. He knew what he preached. But what Paul is saying here
is not only regarding his own credentials, but is also of course
highlighting to the Corinthians the vital necessity that the
message of Jesus Christ the Lord was not just a message which
lodged in the head. It's not something just received
as knowledge but was received in the heart. As the light shone
into Paul's heart, so he desired the people would know the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ Jesus, and therefore
what was needed for them was the light to shine in their heart
as well. What he desired to see in the
church at Corinth were members who had been affected in the
heart, who have been changed within, who had, in the words
of Jesus, been truly born again. It's like if we, I hope we never
are, but if someone finds themselves at the doctors and is diagnosed
with a terminal illness, is told that there's nothing that can
be done or rather a great deal of treatment
which they must pass through. Now, if that news is received
and yet completely ignored and denied, then there will be no
hope. There will be nothing that can
be done if we pretend it's not happening and walk away from
any attempts of treatment. But you see, walking out the
doctor's surgery and saying, I'm not going to do anything
and I refuse to accept it does not stop it being true. The cancer
or the illness is there whether we accept it or not. What is
needed for there to be any hope is for it to be accepted and
then acted on. And you see, to be told that
we're a sinner Until we accept that, really, it doesn't affect
us. But it doesn't stop it being
true. To be told that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the only Saviour,
whether we accept that or not, does not stop it being true.
What is needed is for us to know it, believe it, and act upon
it. What is needed is for light to
shine in the heart. And this is what happens not
only in the life of Paul and the life of the Corinthian church,
but this is what is known in the heart of every believer today. Indeed, every believer who has
been and will be throughout all ages, the light to shine in the
heart. Have we known this light? Have we known this blessing to
be blessed with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ? Well, let us consider that question
as we consider this truth tonight. Have we known this? The first
thing to notice in this verse is that the light that is shone
is God's light. It is the work of God. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. Now in our reading this evening,
we read from the first book of the scriptures, the book of Genesis
and chapter one, and we read of the light shining on that
first day of creation. But what was there before the
light? We read that the earth was without form and void and
darkness was upon the face of the deep. There was nothing. It's difficult for us to grasp
that, but nothing had been created. There was nothing. It was void. It was without form. It was chaos. It was confusion. It was emptiness. It was useless. There was nothing
there. It was void and without form. And there was this darkness
upon the face of the deep. We can't grasp this darkness
really, can we? Now everything around us, there's
light from somewhere. Even on the darkest night, we
can generally see something. There's an element of light from
somewhere which we can absorb. to our eyes and we can see something,
but here was almost a tangible darkness. No light at all. The darkness upon the face of
the deep. There was no light because light had not been created.
The earth was without form and was void. So there was chaos
and confusion. And then God spoke. God said, let there be light. And there was light. Immediately,
by the voice of God and his power, immediately there was light.
Brilliant, bright light. Now consider the contrast. If
we are in a dark room and we suddenly turn on the light, we're
dazzled by its brilliance. Take a moment to adjust to it,
don't we? Imagine the total contrast to almost a tangible darkness
to the light of God. Let there be light. What a contrast. And what does
it do? Well, first of all, light reveals
things, doesn't it? Light reveals things so that
we can see what is there. But also this light created an
element of order. There was something there. There
was something that God had made. The chaos was becoming orderly. God said, let there be light. And he looked on the light, and
it was good. It was good. As he looks at the
end of each day at his creation, he sees that it's good. You see, he is well pleased with
his creation, well pleased with what he has spoken into being. What almighty power. If we speak and don't do anything, Nothing
happens. We do not have power just by
our voice to make things, to make anything happen. We certainly
do not have the ability to create things out of nothing. What we
do is make things out of things, or we adapt things, or we add
things to things, but we cannot make something out of nothing. And yet God does so simply by
His voice. He speaks. Let there be light,
and there was light. Man couldn't do this. Indeed,
this occasion, man wasn't even created when this happened. Man
hadn't even come into being. It was another five days before
man was created. And yet God can speak, and immediately,
there it is, He creates. I was going to say, he makes.
Make is the wrong word. He creates out of nothing. And
something utterly new, something that had never been seen before,
light in the darkness. He commanded it. And here we
see something of the power, the authority of God, the amazing
might of our almighty God. He is, he was, and he is well
able to do this. What a great God we have. So God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, the God who created light out of
darkness, the God who created order out of chaos, this God
is still working today, the apostle says. So it is the work of God. And then, secondly, this light,
where has it shone? Where has this light shone? God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts. This light has shone in our hearts. I said in opening, this is where
true religion is. This is where true religion must
be. Not just in the head, but in
the heart. And if it's in the heart, it will have an effect
upon us. It will have an impact upon us.
It will change us. It will do something. A religion
that does nothing for us, a religion which has no effect upon us,
has to be a questionable religion. If we can testify of being a
Christian and yet we are exactly the same as we always have been,
we view things in exactly the same way, we have the same sins
and we have no concern about it, we indulge in the same way,
we have no guilt, we have no desire for holiness. If there's
no change, then I'll go as far to say that we're not a Christian.
You see, the religion of the heart affects us. It must affect
us. Think of a car. A car might be beautifully looking. It might be a new, expensive
car. It might be shiny on the outside. It might have all the electronics
and all of the things inside. It might be very impressive to
look at. You might even have the manual to it and see how
it works, how it fits together. what it should do. But if you
put the key in and turn the ignition and it doesn't come to life and
it doesn't move and the engine doesn't work, then it's a pretty
useless car. You can look at the outside,
you can understand from the manual, but if it doesn't work, if it
doesn't have an engine, then it's really pointless. Now we
may have the outward, we may even have the manual. We may
know the manual, And in this sense, of course, it's the Bible
which tells us about ourselves and tells us about God. But if
it has no life within, if there's nothing which drives us, it has
no effect upon us, then really it's not doing us the good it
should be doing. It has shined in our hearts. Well, here is
then the light that shines. So what is the implication? Before
the light shines, There is darkness. Like the darkness before the
first day of creation, there is darkness in the heart of each
one of us by nature. Indeed, of everyone in this world,
there is darkness in the heart. And it's the same deep, almost
impenetrable darkness that was known before the creation. We cannot see in darkness. And
the unbeliever without any light cannot see. Cannot see things
that the Christian sees. Have you ever had a conversation
with someone? You're trying to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Trying to explain it as simply and clearly as you possibly can.
You can see it. You can see the beauty. of the
plan of salvation. You can see its application to
your heart. You can see the wonder of grace. You can see how Jesus Christ
came to die on a cross in our place. It's so simple. It's so
plain. It's so wonderful. And yet it's
almost as if you're speaking another language. Why is that? Because God hasn't
as yet worked and they are still in this darkness. In darkness
you cannot see. And you may see in a sense that
you may even understand the Bible, but you do not see its application.
You do not see what it means for you. You do not see the implications
it has for you. You're dead. You're like the
world before the beginning. Void. empty chaos. Those who are in darkness by
nature. That is where we are. That's
what we're born into. We do not see spiritual things,
though we may understand it in our head. But God, the same almighty,
powerful God who commanded light into the darkness on the first
day of creation, changes all of that. changes it all so that
those who sat in darkness can now see. See things they've never
seen before. Test your religion by this. Where
are you tonight? Do you see things you've never
seen before? Do you see yourself like you've
never seen before? You've heard about sin many times.
And yet you found it perhaps distracting, you found it boring,
you found it depressing. You didn't want to keep hearing
about that. Why do people keep talking about sin? And yet when
something of a light shines, that is when you see something
of the reality what's there, something's changed. You've seen
something you haven't seen before. You've seen that you are a sinner. As Nathan said to David, you
are the man. And you realize that sin is what
you are, not just what you do. And you cannot change it. And
you cannot make yourself better. Has the Bible become a different
book? Once a collection of stories and letters that you didn't understand.
But now it means something. Now it has teaching and application. I was speaking to someone recently
who's been recently converted and he says, I see Christ everywhere. He said, I was reading about
the flood and I saw Christ. Reading about other passages
of scripture and I saw Christ and I said, yes, you'll see him
everywhere now when you read the scriptures. You see it in
different eyes, in a different way. Do we know that? The Bible's become a different
book. And the gospel of Jesus Christ,
which once was just an idea or something that other people believed,
now means something because you're a sinner, you need to be saved,
and Jesus Christ is the saviour of sinners. There's a reality,
there's a something there which you need. Why do we see that
when we didn't before? Why do we recognize that when
we didn't before? What's changed? The light has shone, has shone
in our hearts. You know that man that the Lord
Jesus healed, who he gave him sight. And the man was questioned
by the Jewish leaders. Even his parents were brought
up to question them to see what on earth had been going on. He
didn't know all about who Jesus was, and many things he couldn't
explain and he couldn't work out, but he said this, one thing
I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. He had walked in absolute
darkness, in blindness, and now he saw. That was something which
couldn't possibly be denied, and it wasn't even denied by
the people who opposed him. They knew he was blind, and they
knew that now he could see. And even if he didn't understand
anything else, he understood that. I was blind, and a man
touched my eyes, and now I see. Maybe we may say, well, I don't
understand much. I don't really know what's happened.
I don't really know when it happened. But one thing I know, I was blind.
I didn't see things. I didn't understand things, and
now I do. I don't understand much. I don't grasp much. I'm
sure there's more to know. But I was blind. Now I see. Can we at least join with that
testimony? God, the same powerful almighty
God that commanded light out of the darkness, has also commanded
light into the hearts of his people. And it's the same power
and the same might and the same glory that has done it. Well then, if this light has
come from a powerful God into the heart of the believer, what
is to be seen in this? What is to be revealed? God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see, the knowledge of the
glory of God is this light that has shone. And true knowledge
of the glory of God is only to be seen in one way, in the face
of Jesus Christ. You see, the believer has been
brought to know the glory of God. Now, we do not fully grasp
the glory of God. Of course he is all glorious,
holy and pure and spotless. He's the almighty king of kings
and none of us have looked upon God. But where do we see the
glory of God? We see it in his plan. We see
it in his work. How have we seen the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God? We've seen it in the wonderful
truth that he is a plan of salvation, that he has looked upon the earth
and he has chosen his people. We've seen it in that he is a
God of love and has a deep love for his people. We've seen it
in his plan of election, in that in eternity past he chose a people
who were no better, no more important than anyone else, and yet he
loved them. We see his glory, the knowledge of the glory of
God in his work of salvation that he sent his son to die and
to suffer in the place of sinners. We see the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God and his grace in that he comes and works in
the hearts of his people today. Here is the glory of God. How
glorious that he would look upon a sinful world and come and save
them. How glorious that he would look
upon you and me in the 21st century, and our dark hearts, and he would
illuminate them, and give light, and give life. That's the glory
of God that we see. Moses said, didn't he, show me
now thy face. Now we do not see the face of
God, but you see we see something of the glory of God. through
the wonderful work of salvation, in his choosing and election,
in his grace and love, in his power to save, in his suffering
on the cross, and in his work in the hearts of the Christian
today. Here is the glory of God. That night that the Lord Jesus
Christ was born in Bethlehem, on the hillside were a group
of shepherds doing their normal business.
We read they were watching over their flock by night. It was
dark. In a natural sense, in the night
time it was dark. There wasn't the lights that
we would have today, so it would have felt pretty dark. And suddenly,
the glory of the Lord shone round about them. The angel of the
Lord appeared to them, and they were sore afraid, but Then they
heard a message. Unto you is born in the city
of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. What has come? The
light of the world has come. The light of the world. They
who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and the light
of the world has been born in Bethlehem. And he has come to
shine the brilliance of the gospel. And he has come to save his people
and work in their hearts. The darkness of the night on
the hillside of Bethlehem, to the brilliance of the glory of
God, to the message of the light of the world. What a joy it was
for the shepherds. What a joy it was as they saw
him and went on their way rejoicing, telling other people of what
they had seen. What had they seen? They had
seen something of the glory of God in the face of the babe Jesus
Christ. And this is where we see the
glory of God in its fullness, in the face of Jesus Christ. This Jesus Christ, who came to
this earth, came to love, came to seek, came to save the lost,
came to meet Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree, Came to meet the
tax collector, Matthew, at his work. Came even to pardon a thief
on a cross. See the glory of God in the love
and grace of Jesus Christ when we look at him. We're told, aren't
we, that in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is fully God, and when we
look on him and what he's done, this is where we see the knowledge
of the glory of God. We see it in him when he says
to his disciples and says to us, you have not chosen me, but
I have chosen you. Isn't that the glory of God? that he should look on those
disciples and millions others throughout the ages and say,
I chose you. Not because of anything in you
or anything you have done, but because I chose you. I just simply
chose you. And it's not for us to question
that. It's not for us to try and understand it even. It's
for us to accept it. He's chosen them. Isn't that
something of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?
We see it in his work. Not only in his choosing, but
in his work. In that he said to his face to go to Jerusalem,
in that he said to his disciples, arise, let us go hence to the
garden of Gethsemane. He says, arise up before my betrayer
is at hand. He must go to Calvary. And we look on the face of Jesus
Christ in the judgment hall. We look on the face of Jesus
Christ as he carries his cross. When we look on the face of Jesus
Christ as he bears the sins of his people, for surely he has
borne their griefs and carried their sorrows. When we look on
the face of Jesus Christ as he pardons those who crucify him,
Father forgive them for they know not what they do. We see
the face of Jesus Christ as he turns to the thief, today shall
they be with me in paradise. So we see the face of Jesus Christ
as he bows his head and gives up the ghost, a mighty conqueror,
an almighty savior. What do we see? The light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When we see that Jesus Christ
has come to us, unworthy us, sinful, rebellious
us, And each one of us have lives
that we're ashamed of. And each one of us have done
things that we wouldn't tell each other. And yet if we're
a Christian tonight, that Jesus Christ has come to us, that the
light has shone in our hearts and shown us what we are and
shown us a savior. And we have seen something of
the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore we have seen the glory
of God, that he could love us. This light as it shines has the
same effect as it had in the light of creation. The light
of creation created the brilliance, but it also brought order into
the chaos. It showed what was there, it
set the beginnings of the further work that was to be done in the
coming days. It showed the power of God and he declared it to
be very good and this is the same effect it has in our hearts. It brings order from the chaos,
from the chaos of sin. and the confusion of a rebellious
life heading directly to hell. It brings order, it brings stability,
it brings certainty in the face of Jesus Christ. It reveals what's
there as our sinnership and as God as our saviour. It shows
the power of God in giving us life when we were dead and God
declares it to be very good. God looks in the hearts of his
people. And this is amazing, isn't it? When God looks in the
hearts of you and me tonight, as he saw the light, and he saw
that it was good. It was good because it was his
work. And when he sees his work for
the power of the Spirit that is done in our hearts, he looks
upon it and he sees it is good. It's a good work. It's his work. It's a work that won't fail.
It's a work which won't cease. It's a work which cannot change
and cannot die away. He looks and sees that it is
good. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. Have we known this then? Does
this Jesus Christ mean something to us? Do we see things we haven't
seen before? Has there been a change in our
heart? Or has the not? You say, well,
this is an encouraging message for the Christian, but what about
me? What about me who doesn't know? Hasn't known this blessing. Still feels to be in darkness,
still feels not to know the Jesus that others speak of. How am
I to find him? How am I to receive light? I
can't do it. So I want to know light, I want
to see things, I want to understand the Gospel, I want to know Jesus
my Saviour, but how on earth can I give myself light? You
can't. You can't. So what are you to
do? This, God. This God can command
light. This God can create light. This
God can speak light. He spoke light into being. And
if we approach unto this God, He can shine into our hearts
too. Pray to Him. Seek Him. Plead with Him that
you might know what you seek after. And the light will come. And the reality will become known.
He will shine. for he is able to command the
light out of darkness, and your darkness isn't too deep and isn't
too impossible for his light. Your sin, great as they may be,
are not too great for the blood of Jesus Christ. This is all
the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Christian. Therefore
there is nothing to be proud of, Nothing to exalt ourselves. The Apostle says we preach not
ourselves. We are servants for Jesus' sake. And here is another reason why
the Apostle didn't preach himself. And the Apostle knew himself
to be a servant. Reason number one we considered
this morning. The message is Christ Jesus the Lord. The Gospel
is Christ. And that's what he proclaimed.
Reason number two. God can command light, and not
Paul. God can work in the heart, not
Paul. The God who commanded light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. Paul preached
Christ, and he believed the Spirit would take the message and work
in the hearts of the people. Therefore, he said, we have this
treasure in earthen vessels. I'm but a man who one day will
be laid in a grave, but the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. These are the reasons why we
can have encouragement and hope in preaching the gospel today.
The message is the same, Christ Jesus the Lord, Him only. The work of the Spirit is the
same. shining light into the darkness and revealing the knowledge
of Christ, the glory of God in the face of Christ. We are the
same earthen vessels, treasure in earthen vessels like Paul.
And yet God is still working. Though the excellency of the
power may be of God and not of us. So what a privilege it is
to be a servant What a privilege it is to be his slave, his ambassador,
because he will work through our service that the power may
be seen to be of him and that the glory, as a result, will
go to him. Well, this wonderful truth, this
work in the heart of the believer, this is what it is that will
sustain us on our way. If we have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, and we're told to walk in him, if we have known the
light to shine in the darkness, then we are to walk in the light
that he has blessed us with. But what will there be? Well,
the apostle tells us, there'll be trouble on every side. They'll
be perplexed. They'll be persecuted and they'll
be cast down. And so will we. We'll have times of trouble all
around us. We'll have times of being perplexed,
not understanding the way that we're going. What is God's plan
for me? We'll have times of persecution,
if not outwardly, certainly inwardly in our hearts. And we'll have
times when we feel to be cast down. And yet because the Apostle knew
Christ Jesus the Lord, and that by his grace the light had shone
in his heart, which he knew had once been very, very dark, he
could say that we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed,
always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. The apostle had this hope and
this assurance that because God had done this for him, Whatever
trouble came, whatever difficulty, whatever opposition, he would
not be destroyed, he would not be distressed, he would not be
in despair, because the work that had been done in his heart
would remain. And the Jesus Christ whom he
had seen and had received was the same yesterday and today
and forever. And it's the reality of these
things, of Christ and the darkness that's been turned to light that
will hold us on our way and will keep us when we are troubled
on every side. You see how vital it is to have
a religion founded in Christ and a religion that affects the
heart. That is what keep us, that is
what will stand us in good stead. And that's what the apostle preached.
And that's what I hope we all receive. Well then, whether considering
tonight our own position and our own salvation, or whether
considering the concern we may have for the salvation of the
souls of others, The vital thing is to remember through all of
these truths that the glory must redound to God for our salvation
and the salvation of others. And the only way that the glory
redounds to God is when we proclaim Christ as the way and when he
works and we are used simply as servants in his hand, his
message and his work. Therefore, there is hope. there is hope. However you may
feel, however far outside you may feel, there is hope. There
is still a Jesus Christ and there is still the light giving spirit. Whether we have family, friends,
particular concerns on our hearts, we feel to be far off. We don't
know in the sovereignty of God what may happen, but today there
is hope. We have not come to the point of despair. We have
not come to the point of giving up in our prayers, in our labors
as servants for the Lord. Why not? Because Jesus Christ
the Lord still saves and because the Spirit still commands light
from the darkness. So there is hope. So may we continue
to seek him for ourselves and continue to seek him for the
blessing in the hearts of others and take this commission And
take this calling that Paul had as an apostle, as a servant,
as a minister, as an ambassador, and say, we ourselves are also
your servants for Jesus' sake. And we will take this message.
And with God's help, we will sound it clear. God has the power
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not. us. Well may he add his blessing
to all that's been said and done today. Amen.