Go with me, if you would, back
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I pray this will be a blessing
to our hearts, and I pray this will be an instructive,
practical help for our lives. I sincerely pray the Lord will
help us. We're going to need it. We're
going to need it. And if the Lord is willing, He
could truly help us for every single day that we live out the
rest of our life on this earth. Look with me here in 2 Corinthians
4 verse 6. It says, For God who commanded
the light, to shine out of darkness. The same God who back in Genesis
1 created something out of nothing. Alright, it was total darkness.
In the beginning, everything was total darkness. And God said,
let there be light. Let there be light. And the light
of life appeared. It exposed the darkness and it
removed the darkness. That's what happens when light
appears. Alright? It removed the darkness. When light comes, darkness goes
away. The same God has done the same
thing, He's done the same work, the same creation in the hearts
of His people. Verse 6 says, 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. We were all born into this world
without the light of God. We were all born without the
knowledge of God. We were all born without the
knowledge of the glory of God. We were all born without the
light of the knowledge that all the glory of God shines in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were born without, completely
void of that, in total darkness. That's what we were, total darkness. We thought the glory of God shined
in His law. We thought the glory of God shined
in our flesh. But God, verse 6 says, 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. Now that's what God did for us.
That's what God revealed to us, and God gets all the glory for
it. Every ounce of the glory for it. Because the light of
Christ has shown us that we were nothing more than earthen vessels. The light of Christ proves to
us that that's all we are. Just earthen vessels. Pots of
clay. He is the potter. We are the
clay. All of us came out of the exact
same lump. Every single one of us. But He
made a difference. He put a difference. He put the
truth in us and it was all by His hand. What are we but the
effect of the grace of God? We are what we are by the grace
of God. Isn't that right? That's all
we are. Verse 7 says, But we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Okay, now let's start right here.
All that being said, we acknowledge that, that's the truth, isn't
that right? All that being said, what do we have to glory in? What do we have to glory in?
Are we better than they? Are we better than they? Did we, of our own self, overcome
the darkness? We get so frustrated with people,
don't we? We get so frustrated with them. Did we, of our own
self, overcome the darkness? Did we shine light in here? Did we open our eyes and open
our ears and put life in our hearts? The answer is no. God
did it. God did it. And the reason that
this earth is still turning, the reason Christ did not come
back from last Sunday night and you did whatever it was you did
on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and now here we are again, the
reason we're here again And the earth is still going to rotate
another 360 degrees is because God is going to show mercy and
give light to more people. That's the whole reason it's
still going. He's going to. He's going to. Once the last one is called,
that's it. No more need. He is going to
do for more people what He has done for us. Isn't that excellent? That's excellent. He is going
to use the light of the truth to do it. He's going to use the light of
the truth to do it. He is going to use the light of His Word
to do it through the means of His people. Let me show you something
over in James chapter 1. James chapter 1 verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God
reveals the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person,
face means person, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
reveals that into the hearts of each one of His children and
they become little lights. And it's true. I've passed believers
on the road before and all of a sudden it just feels like I
passed a little light in this dark world. They become little
lights. Didn't our Lord say in Matthew
5, He said this to His disciples, You are the light of the world.
Isn't that what He said? Christ in a child of God causes
that child to become a light. They reflect the light of Christ. Christ in them is reflected back
out. Alright, now with that wonderful
truth being said, the Lord gives a warning to His people. Turn
with me over to John chapter 3. Now here's the sad reality. John
chapter 3 verse 19 says, And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. Now we know what that means,
don't we? Christ the light came into this world and this world
hated him. The love of God, for God so loved
the world, He sent His love. He sent His Son. The love of
God came into this world, and this world laid hands on the
love of God and nailed Him to a cross. The mercy of God came. The grace of God came, and this
world laid hands on the mercy and grace of God and nailed Him
to a cross. And He tells us, if my light
is in you, if I am in you, don't be shocked
when they treat you the exact same way they treated me. Don't
be shocked. Dear brothers and sisters, this
little group has been here for 11 years now. And God has caused
it to grow and grow and grow. And as it grows and becomes more
established and more known in this community, as God opens
up more avenues for us to preach this truth, I promise you, be
prepared. Don't be shocked when they treat
you like they treated your Lord. Don't be shocked. Turn with me
if you would to Matthew 10. Matthew 10 verse 22. Now this is what our Lord said,
and our Lord's words are so true and so faithful and so right.
And He said in Matthew 10 verse 22, And you shall be hated of
all men for My name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall
be saved. Verse 24, He said, The disciple
is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple
that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they
have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more
shall they call them of his household? They didn't like what he preached
back in his day. In this world, men and women
still do not like the truth that Christ preached being repeated. They do not want it repeated.
God has convinced us of sin. He has. He has convinced us of
absolute, complete corruption from sin. Total corruption. Sin without, sin within. All of our bad deeds, all of
our bad thoughts, all of our bad motives, it's all sin. All
of our good deeds, all of our good thoughts, all of our good
motives, it's all sin. Isn't that right? We are convinced,
based on God's Word, that man is totally sinful. But you tell
people that. as opportunity comes up. You
tell people that and they're going to say, why in the world
would you bring that up? Why on this earth would you want
to go there? Sin, that kind of stuff is up
the devil. That's Beelzebub right there. Why would you want to
bring us down with something so offensive? We'd rather focus
on more uplifting things. Why would you want to talk about
that? God has absolutely convinced
us, through this word right here, that He has chosen to save whoever
He wants to save. Isn't that right? We are convinced
of God's election, but as soon as it gets out that that's what
you believe, As soon as that information gets out, I promise,
you will be persecuted for it. A person cannot, this is just mind-blowing to
me, but this is the truth. A person cannot believe what
God has written in His Word and not be condemned for it, and
not be shunned for it. A person cannot believe God's
Word. and not be condemned for it.
God has absolutely convinced us through His Word that the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that blood that was poured out
of Him, that blood was only poured out for the souls that God the
Father wanted to save. Only. God has convinced us that
the only sins that were nailed to that cross were the sins of
the people that God purposed in His heart to show mercy to.
Only once. But you let it be known that
God has revealed to you that the payment Christ made on that
cross was a particular payment for a particular people. only those people, not for everybody. You let that be known and you
will be hated for that. Men hate limited atonement. They hate it. They hate it. Let it be known that God has
revealed to you that salvation is not yours to accept or reject. If God's grace comes, it's an
irresistible grace. Let it be known that your perseverance
all the way into glory has nothing to do with you. It's ordered
and sure because you're kept by the power of God. It's not
in your hands. It's not in your decision. You
have no say in the matter. You have no glory in the matter.
Once that gets out, the world is going to mark God's people
as the enemy. Now, they are not the enemy of
us. They're not our enemy. We do
not want to be enemies with this world. We want peace. That's what God's people want,
is peace. Our heart's desire in prayer to God is that He might
save them. Isn't that right? So they're
not enemies to us. But unfortunately, when the truth
draws a line in the sand, when the truth is on the line, they
will consider us to be their enemy. Our Lord told us it's
going to be this way. He said this many times. He said
this is exactly how it's going to be. But He said in verse 26,
don't be afraid. Matthew 10 verse 26. Fear them
not therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed,
and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness,
what I speak into the darkness of that heart, what I give to
you, that speak ye in light. And what you hear in the ear,
that preach ye upon the housetops. Now, as we continue our walk
through this life, we are going to constantly be confronted with
situations that we feel the glory of our God and the truth are
on the line. We're always going to be confronted
by it. And it's going to vex us. We're going to constantly
be confronted with blasphemy. Constantly. And it shouldn't
shock us. All that the world can do is
blaspheme. There's no light in them. There's
no light in them. That's all they can do. We are
going to constantly be confronted with spiritual ignorance, spiritual
darkness. And again, what else can the
world produce? There's no light in them. As we continue through this life,
and as we see and hear all of the blasphemy, all of the self-righteousness,
everything that is so contrary to the Word of God, we are going
to constantly wonder, It's going to constantly roll through our
minds. How should I respond to this? What should I do? What should
I say? What would God have me to do?
Here is what God has to say on the matter, okay? This is what
God has to say about it. As lights in the world, we are
to let the light of Christ shine in us. Matthew chapter 10 begins
with our Lord calling His apostles and telling them to go out and
preach the gospel. What are we supposed to do day
in and day out? Preach the gospel. Tell men the truth. Press toward
the mark. And that's what He told them
at the beginning of this chapter. But He said in verse 16, Behold,
I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore
wise as serpents and harmless as doves." He did not say, I
send you forth as wolves among wolves. He did not say, I'm sending you
forth as lions among wolves. He said sheep. are completely defenseless animals. Totally, totally defenseless
animals. Wolves are killers. Wolves are cunning hunters. There is only one thing that
a sheep can do in the midst of wolves. Run to the shepherd. That's the only thing a sheep
can do in the midst of wolves. The only hope that a sheep has
in the midst of wolves is run to the shepherd. He must stay
right with the shepherd. He cannot get away from the shepherd. He needs to stay right behind
the shepherd. And our Lord is saying to us,
that's how I'm sending you forth. I'm sending you forth completely
dependent on me, first thing. I tell you, nobody, I don't believe,
I'm not boasting, but I don't believe anybody in this congregation
is confronted with religion and this and that as much as I am. I get phone calls all the time. I run into people all the time.
All I have to do is tell them what I do for a living and here
we go. And our Lord, first thing, the next
time this happens, the next time you're confronted by something,
first thing, what should we do in this situation? First thing,
run to the shepherd. Run to the shepherd. As soon
as you see him coming, run to the shepherd. Lord, call on the
shepherd. Lord, would you handle this? I don't even want to handle this.
I can't. I can't handle this. I'm a sheep in the midst of wolves.
Would you please not leave me in this situation alone? I'm
defenseless. I need you. I need you. What
would you have me to say? Would you put the words in my
mouth? I need you. Don't leave me right now. Verse
16 right here in Matthew 10, Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. That's what our Lord said to
do. Now let me read to you what Charles Spurgeon had to say about
this. This is wonderful. He said, The serpent is an exceeding
wise creature. And it has need to be, for it
lives in a world where it is hated by a deadly foe. It is natural to man to hate
the whole serpent tribe." They're all hated. The very thing you
do if you see a viper is to look for a stick to kill it. He's
comparing serpents to believers. Our Lord said, you're all going
to be hated for my namesake. You're just going to be a hated
tribe. for my name's sake." And he said,
every time you see a snake, first thing you do is grab a stick
to try to kill it. He said, everybody is the enemy of serpents. And
if they are to exist at all, they must be very wary in this
you are to copy them. What does a serpent do to prove
its wisdom? First, it gets out of the way
of man as much as it can. He said, you must be with them
in business, but while you are with them, you must not be of
them. He said, do not court, don't
date, don't flirt with, quarreling and controversy, but avoid all
disputing upon the gospel. How many times have we heard
the statement made? I've repeated it because I've heard it. How
many times have we heard that statement made? The gospel is
not to be argued. The gospel is not to be argued.
Don't argue the gospel with people. If they are willing to hear,
if God opens a door, that's a whole different thing. If God opens
a door and they are receptive and they're willing to hear what
God's word has to say, then tell them. Declare it with all boldness,
all volume. Declare it. Lift up your voice.
But just arguing the gospel will not bring glory to God. It will
only bring glory to the arguer. That's all it'll do. So Spurgeon
said, avoid all disputings upon the gospel. He said, your workmates
will chafe you and no doubt you will receive many abusive slanders. for it being known that you believe
the Word of God, once that gets out. He said, but neither provoke
this treatment nor resent it in any way. It's all of God,
isn't it? He said, don't provoke it and
don't resent it. He said, do not cast pearls before
swine and do not introduce religion at unseasonable times. Hold your
principles very firmly, but when you know a man will only blaspheme
if he hears you name the name of Jesus, do not give him the
occasion. He said, stand up for the Lord
Jesus when the time is fit, but do not exercise zeal without
knowledge. He said, at another opportunity,
when the occasion is more favorable, Then endeavor to instruct and
persuade, be very prudent, and hold your peace when silence
is better than speech." Prudent is wisdom. We need wisdom. And
how do we get wisdom? If any man lacks wisdom, Lord,
I don't know what to do. I can't do this. What would you
have me to say? I don't know what to say. I don't
know what to say. People ask me, what do I... I don't know.
I don't know. Solomon, he said, there's a time
to speak and there's a time to keep silence. Spurgeon said,
how else does the serpent act? It glides along very quietly. He said, it can hiss, but it
does not very often do so. As it glides along, it neither
sings nor roars nor barks. It does not court observation
and it's not trying to be noticed. It slips off quietly, gracefully,
swiftly, and without noise. I tell you what, that sounds
like a coward. That sounds to me like a coward. No, that sounds
like God's Word. Look with me at Matthew 10 verse
23. Our Lord said, But when they
persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. You just slip
off into another. For verily I say unto you, you
shall not have gone over the city of Israel till the Son of
Man be come." Well, don't you think we ought to stand up and
fight? Don't you think we ought to stand
up and fight? Our Lord said, if my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight. Spurgeon said, there may be times
when it may be well to ring the great bell. If you can get multitudes
of people together to hear the gospel by all means, ring the
bell as loudly as you can. But as far as you are personally
concerned, do not make a fuss. Do not blaze on abroad what you
are going to do. Do not call upon everybody saying,
come see my zeal for the Lord of Hosts. Everybody look at me,
I tell you what, they're all a bunch of cowards, but I'm about
to straighten this situation out. You want to see who's going
to take this in hand and stand up for the gospel? Here's what
he's getting at with this. The problem is, Who's getting
the glory in it? That's the problem. Who's getting
the glory in it? Constantly desiring to be a fighter
with the gospel. Constantly desiring to be God's
fist is self-righteous. That's what it is. It's self-righteous.
God won't bless it. Don't turn back, but in James
chapter 1 verse 20 says, The wrath of man worketh not the
righteousness of God. The wrath that wells up in man. It does not accomplish the righteousness
of God. Yeah, but I get so angry. I get
so fed up with everything I see and everything I hear. I know. I know. But it's not the way our God
told us to deal with it. Paul said, fight the good fight
of faith. Lord, help me. I don't know what
to do. I need you. I can't leave. Would
you stay with me? What would you... Could you speak
to this person? Would you handle this? Well, then I guess we just shouldn't
say anything. That's not the answer. Look at verse 27 here
in Matthew 10. What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light, and what you hear in the ear, that preach
ye upon the housetops. We are to spread this gospel
at all cost. We're to preach this gospel to
all the world. But here's what he's telling
us. In doing so, we must be wise as serpents and we must be harmless
as doves. Harmless as doves. Spurgeon said,
you are to be gentle and easily entreated. You are not to fly
into a passion because you are contradicted. nor to be angry
because you are reviled. He said if they contradict you,
don't fly off on them. If our Lord was reviled, what
did he do? He reviled not again. Spurgeon
said you are to endure contradiction and slander with tenderness and
gentleness as a dove bears all things. That's our Lord, isn't it? Didn't
our Lord say, you take my yoke upon you, learn of me, I'm meek,
lowly in heart, you'll find rest. These things are not going to
be easy. The walk of a believer is not easy. Our Lord never said
it was going to be easy. These dealings with the world
over the issues of the truth and the word of God, they're
going to trouble us. Every time something comes, it's going to
trouble us. We're all troubled about it together. These dealings
are going to perplex us. We're going to be persecuted
for them. Every time it happens, we're going to be cast down,
brought down. But turn back with me to Matthew
chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Verse 12 says,
no, I'm sorry, verse 10 says, blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake, for Christ's sake, because of His Word, because
of what He said, because of what He's done. Blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." It's difficult. It is difficult, but
he said every time it happens it ought to be a reminder of
how blessed we are. We are so blessed. We're being
persecuted because the kingdom of heaven has been given to us.
That's the reason. We're being persecuted because
an eternity of glory is waiting for us. An eternity of peace,
unity, love. I'll close with this. Go back
over to the text. 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, it says, 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. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us, 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, as He endured it and was delivered
from it, so will we be. If we're His people, exactly
as He was delivered, so will we be. If we're in His death
and in His resurrection, no matter what troubles us, we get so troubled,
and I'm so thankful when the Lord removes the trouble, but
I know the next one's coming. The next one's coming. We get
so troubled, but no matter what troubles us, no matter what perplexes
us, no matter what persecutes us, no matter what casts us down,
if we will just look into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the answer. If we will
just look into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll see
the glory of God in it, whatever it is. We'll see the glory of
God in it, and it'll give us a reason to rejoice. We're not
in distress. You know, we get to thinking
about the life of a believer and think, poor, pitiful me.
You know, I've been selected for this, for the whole world
to, uh-uh, we're not in distress. We're not. We're not in despair. The reason is because we're not
forsaken. And we're not going to be destroyed.
This is my prayer. May God give us boldness with
wisdom. And may God teach us to deal
with people in harmless humility. Look into him. begging him, Lord,
don't leave us. And I pray he'll bless it. I
pray he'll bless those dealings. Call out his sheep. All right,
let's all stand together.