All right, brother, let's turn
to John chapter 12. Lord willing, next Wednesday, John and Kathy Reeves will be
here with us. And so I'm going to put him to work. John chapter 12, we'll begin
verse 26. The Lord said, if any man serve me, let him follow
me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. Now is my soul troubled. And
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Am I going to say, Lord, take
this burden from me? That's why I'm here. It's a whole reason. That's for us. That's why he's
here. So he prayed. Here's what he said. Father,
glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
And the people, therefore, that stood by and heard said that
it thundered. Others said an angel spake to
him. Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of
me, but for your sakes. You get that? He didn't need
that. This is for their sakes. This
is for your sakes. It's simple stuff, isn't it?
He tells his place, it didn't come from me, it's for you. Now,
Now is the judgment of this world. Now, we've been talking about
this hour, isn't it? And this voice that's going to
glorify his name and glorified him. And he said, now, now is
the judgment of this world. Now, shall the prince of this
world be cast out right now? When did that start? When did
we hear about this? When did you and I start hearing
about this now? This right now? Back in Genesis
3. Did you know that? It said, "...and I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed,
and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
That's what he's talking about. It's happening. What happened? God declared in Genesis 3 in
purpose before time right now, right now. Verse 32, and if I,
and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, he's not saying that
there's a possibility he won't be lifted up from the earth,
he's giving us proof, will draw all men unto me. When this happens,
you watch it, I'm gonna be lifted up. and I'm gonna draw all unto
me. Does that mean he's gonna draw
everybody without exception, without denominational considerations
or whatever to him? No, of course it don't. How do
we know that? We compare scripture with scripture, don't we? He
said, no man can come to me unless my father draw him. He said,
if I be lifted up, I'm drawing all, mens in italics. Italics
means it's added by the translator. Sometimes that helps us, sometimes
it don't. I'm gonna draw all mine. To me, he said, hide and
watch it. If I'm lifted up, if I'm exalted,
who he is and what he did, if that's exalted, all his sheep's
gonna come to him. How am I gonna get these pews
full? How am I gonna get all of God's sheep, whoever they
may be in the 38 million people south of San Francisco, Bob,
how am I gonna do that? Exalt Christ, they'll come, he'll
draw. We'll keep them out. He said,
if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. This,
he said, signifying what death he should die. He didn't say
if I be stoned down low, if I be lifted up. When we first heard
about that serpent on the pole, wasn't it? That brazen serpent. Right now, that's when this is
happening. Verse 34. The people answered him. They're going to do some talking.
We have heard out of the law. That means, in this case, the
whole Old Testament. That means that Moses, the first
five books of the Bible that he wrote, and all the prophets,
all the scriptures that they had at the time, this is what
they're talking about. They said, we've heard out of
these. We've read our Bibles. We know our Bible. We've heard out of the law that
Christ abideth forever. And how sayest thou the son of
man must be lifted up? What are you talking about? Who
is this son of man? What are they doing? They're back talking, not bowing.
It's prevalent. Ain't nothing changed 2,000 years,
has it? Ain't nothing changed in 6,000 years. What they're
saying is you're going against what our carnal logic has deducted.
We read this stuff, that can't be right. We haven't figured
this out yet, that means it can't be possible. What are you talking
about? And who is this fella? You just said he can't die. And
then you say, who is he? They're disproving themselves
and what's coming out of their mouth. But they just wanted to
talk to him. I don't recommend making fun
of the word of God. You know what we call that? Making light.
We're going to be looking at walking in the light. And in
our modern words, we say make light. That means make fun, make
jest of, make little of. I don't recommend anybody making
light of God's word. I've had people mock it to my
face, and it ain't a good idea. Don't do it. I don't recommend
people mocking and making little of his preachers. Better watch
it. I care for you. It ain't going
to work out good for you. And I don't recommend people mocking,
making light, or jesting about God's people. You don't know
whose son or daughter that is. If we knew it was a mafioso's
child, would you make fun of them? No, you might get assassinated. Might get tortured or something.
I ain't doing that. That's the living God's child.
He's bought them. They're his child. Don't make
fun of them. Don't make a lot of them. There's a cartoon. If I said somebody's being a
cartoon or acting like a cartoon, what would you think? They're
foolish, right? Cause it's for kids. It's foolish. I saw a cartoon as a booth and
big old parking lot, huge line of people lined up behind it.
And it said, no Jesus, by watching a TV series. And next to it was
a booth that said, no Jesus, by reading the scriptures, by
knowing your Bible. And there was nobody in that
booth. What's that teaching people? These fellows read their Bible.
They were nowhere in that parking lot in that cartoon was there
a man standing on his hind two legs saying this is a true and
living God bow to him. How are people going to be saved?
Through the preaching of the gospel. They have to hear. Do
you think the Lord messed his words up? Do you think he's wrong? Do you think he's lying to you?
He said they're going to have to hear. How can they hear unless
somebody preached to them? How can they preach unless they be
sent? How can that happen? These fellows sat around. They're
going to sharpshoot the word of God standing in front of them.
And they're going to try to sharpshoot him with the word of God. Instead
of just bowing. He stood about and he said, this
is the hour. He just declared the whole Old Testament. He said,
I'm it, and it's happening. They said, you can't be right. They were always questioning
the Lord, wasn't they? They was always trying to entangle him in his words,
that lady. Well, there's this lady, she's been married to seven
different brothers. Well, which one's going to be? Oh, hogwash
hush. Knock it off. There's many theologians,
armchair theologians, they're prevalent, they're all over.
If there's nine billion people in this world, do you want me
to give you a guess how many people it is? Nine billion. And they asked rapid fire questions,
didn't they? I've had this experience. Asked questions after questions,
questions, questions. I ain't got a chance to answer the first
one. What do you think's happening? They just want to get it out.
They want to vent. They want to blow steam. That's
what they want to do. That's just sin. Wine on the
lees. I was talking to a dear brother
the other day about wine on the lees. Lees is yeast. And all that yeast,
what does yeast put off? A lot of gas, a lot of hot air. Dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap,
dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap,
dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap,
dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap,
dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap,
dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap, dap,
dap, d He did that to you, didn't he?
They weren't there to hear a word from the Lord. They just wanted
him to stop talking so they could say what they wanted to. He has
a word for those. Did you know that? Over in Matthew
10, he said, Hear and understand. It's not that which goes into
a mouth that defiles a man, but that which comes out that defiles
a man. It ain't what goes into you. Your whole life's wrapped
up in what you eat and what you don't eat. He said that don't
matter. It's what's coming out of your mouth that's defiling
you. And the disciples came to him and said, you know them Pharisees
were offended when they heard this? You hurt their feelings. Good. Maybe he's paying attention.
I'm serious. If I make you fighting mad, that's
good. That means you was hearing what I had to say. God might
save you from that. Good. Pay attention. He said, ever plant, which my
heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up. He said,
I don't care. Let them alone. Let them alone. They're blind.
Leaders of the blind. That means they're in darkness.
They can't see nothing. Do you understand that? Close
your eyes. I always think of the three stooges. So I can't see nothing. I can't
see nothing. And Moe said, open your eyes. They're blind. Leaders of the blind. And if
the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall in a ditch. That's
what he said. Verse 34, and the people answered
him, we have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever.
How sayest thou the son of man must be lifted up? Who is the
son of man? Calm down. And Jesus said unto
them, he didn't waver, did he? Yet a little while is the light
with you. Yet a little while is the light
with you. Just a little while. Walk while
you have the light. lest darkness come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whether he goeth. While you have light, believe
in the light, that ye may be the children of life. That seems
so simple and repetitious, doesn't it? That is so amazing to me. It is just unbelievably profound. He says, walk in the light while
you have light. What's that mean? Well, you see things. You can
see things. Did he say lay down on a nice
comfy towel on the beach and get you a tan while you're in
the light? No, he said get to walking. That's a verb. You will
get some calluses. What if you get some stones in
your shoes? That's going to happen. It's
going to hurt. What if you get tired? No, you're going to get
tired too. Walk. You know what walk means, boys?
The Lord said walk in the light while you have a light. unless darkness come upon you.
You only have the light for a little while, isn't it? Well, while
you have the light, they asked this last string of questions.
Who's the son of man? And he answered, and he said,
yeah, a little while the light's with you. You're looking at him. Didn't
he already tell us that? Who's that light? What did he
say a while back to John 8? He said, I'm the light. If they've
been following him, if you follow somebody, does that mean you're
with them where they are? North-South, right? Yeah. Well, if you've
been following him, you're with him. You heard him when he said
that. He said, I'm the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You're gonna
see things. You ain't gonna stumble. Solomon
said that, too, for us that do see. He said, don't put a stumbling
stone in front of a blind person. Does that mean be kind to blind
people? Yeah, and it means don't try to thumb up somebody God
ain't gave light to yet. Leave them alone. Preach gospel
to them. Leave them alone. He's the light, isn't he? What's
walking in the light? He goes on, he says, believe
in the light that you may be children of light. It's believing,
isn't it? To believe the light. Who's the
light? Christ is. What's to walk in it? To believe him. Does that
mean agree with him? We're going to see that at the
end. That ain't what that means. You will agree with him if you
believe in him. He's everything. It's believe
in every word he says. What he says is true. There's
none good. Through the Apostle Paul, he
wrote, no, not one. Nobody. Well, now my grandma
was the sweetest woman. Surely she's in heaven. Everybody,
this whole nation and this whole world's justified by death. Somebody
dies and poof, they're in heaven, ain't they? Why are they in heaven? Well, they had to be. No, they were horrible. They
hated God. They're not. Paul said, wherefore you are
buried with him in baptism unto death, that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we should walk, walk in newness of life. Put off that old man.
That whole religious junk, and hoity-toity language, and flowery
stuff, and this memorizing things, and calling everybody their sister,
brother, and sister, and loving those. Well, now we just, that's
my buddy. Put that off. Bow to God. Walk
in His light. Walk in Him. If we've been planted
together in the likeness of His death, shall we not also in the
likeness of His resurrection? This is temporary. This is going
to burn. There ain't going to be nothing left of this world.
We have him. He is the resurrection. We know him. Oh, we just look
to him. And walk, go through this world
with the understanding of who he is and where he is. He's on
his throne. He's ordered all things. They're
sure. How do we walk? Turn to Hebrews 12.
Hebrews 12. That's just, this is speaking
to believers, isn't it? It says, wherefore seeing we
also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
What's that? We're surrounded by believers.
Where two or three are gathered. We're surrounded, we have a multitude
of believers. And they're a cloud of witnesses. To who? Christ. Christ the light. He abides in them, don't they?
They have a lot in them, and we're surrounded by them. So,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience. Paul adds on a little
bit, don't he? Do we walk with patience? Yeah,
get after it. This life's a vapor. Run. Run
with patience, the race that's set before us. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy The joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Where
is he? He's at the right hand of the
throne of God, because he is God. He's ruling reign and everything.
And for the joy that was set before him, he came to this earth
and lived for us and died for us. And he's our reward. He's our exceeding great reward
at the end of that race. Don't that make you want to run
a little faster? Make you want to get to it? Throw first Thessalonians. First Thessalonians 5. First
Thessalonians 5.5. You are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
others do, but let us watch and be sober. You know, the best
sleep you're ever going to get is in a room that ain't got no
windows. You get down to the basement somewhere and it's dark,
dark. And it don't matter if it's 2
p.m. or 2 a.m., it looks just as dark. That's a good place
to sleep, isn't it? Isn't that a good analogy to
this whole world? Everybody's asleep, because they're in darkness. You get that? They're sleeping
good. What's going to wake them up? A real bright light. Light's
going to have to wake them up, isn't it? Verse 7, for they that
sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken
in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting
on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, hope
of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we're awake in our minds or we're sleeping
in that sleep like Lazarus, we should live together with him.
Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another,
even as also ye do." How do we walk in light? Well, we edify
one another. We point one another to Christ, don't we? There's
gonna be days I get down and I'm overwhelmed and you said,
the Lord sent this? Isn't he? Is he on his throne?
Is he on his throne today? Yeah, he is. And then you're
gonna get down and I'm gonna say, ain't the Lord on his throne? Did he ordain this? Did he send
this? Don't we need to be reminded of Him and our walk in this world,
don't we? When are we to walk? When ought
we to do this? Well, I haven't. Well, I did
bad last week. I did bad last month. I did bad
last year. He saith, I've heard thee in
a time accepted in the day of salvation have I succored thee.
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
When are we walking a lot? Right now. What about this morning? You know, I did some stupid stuff
this morning. That ain't now. That was then. Walking lot now.
Profess him now. How we walk in terms of Revelation
2. We stay on the road. That make good sense? If you're
going to walk, which way? We're going that way. We're following
him. And we're going to keep it between the lines, ain't we?
You know, if you walk, walking, it seems so simple, but boy,
I just dwelled on this. It has a beginning. If I'm gonna
go from here to that door, I'm gonna have to start walking,
right? There's gonna be a beginning. There's gonna be a time when
I didn't walk, and then I started walking. And then there's a continuance.
There's a time, a period, I really get my stride down. I get a good
gait going. I get some work done. I accomplish
some distance. That race I'm running, And then
there's a culmination, there's an end. I get to where I'm going. Doesn't it? Whenever the Lord
gives us His love and His light shed abroad in our hearts, we
begin to walk. We begin to follow Him. We begin
to be where He is, where His people are. And we edify one
another. And we learn of Him. And then we go through this life.
He uses the analogy of children and young men and grownups, right?
We grow, we're going down that road. And then we get to where
we're going. But that whole time, I get focused on what the task
at hand, I get looking at these steps right now. I'm walking
right now, but I get looking at what the task at hand is.
And I forget, He shed light in me. He's who I'm following. He's the one ordaining my steps
the whole way. And I have to be reminded of
that. Look at Revelation 2 verse 1. Unto the angel of the church
of Ephesus write, Didn't he say the light while it's with you,
walk with him? Can you go to Ephesus right now
and listen to a good gospel message? You can't. Can you go to Corinth
right now and get you a good, I want to hear Christ lifted
up. It ain't there. Is there other churches in this
county that preach the gospel? Buddy, I hope so. But I know
it's here. What time it's here. My life's
a vapor in short time. I may be too old to preach. The
Lord may kill me. He may take me away. He may drive
that well up and then it's gone. So how do we treat it while we
have it? This may be the last time I ever preach. I don't know. Walking a lot while you have
it. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things
say he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who
walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy
works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst
not bear them which are evil. You can't stand that. You hate
wickedness. You love righteousness. And thou
hast tried them. which say they are apostles and
are not, and has found them liars. You're right in the throes of
it. You're right in the war. There's people that's getting
up and preaching something that's just so close that even the saints
would be fooled if it were possible. And you've sorted that out, and
you've protected the sheep, and you've done everything you ought
to be doing. And has borne and has patience, and for my name's
sake, has labored and has not fainted. You went out and walked,
and you walked hard, and you carried a big burden when you
was doing it, and you did a good job. And then, what's a believer
say? When did you ever see me walking?
I never put a backpack on. I never saw you hungry. He says,
verse four, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left thou first love. You got so worried about chopping
them heads off of dragons. You've left your first love.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent and
do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove
thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. That's that
lie, isn't it? But thou, if you stop there,
it's terrifying. Makes me want to work harder
and go study up on my first loves and everything else, doesn't
it? But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. to him that overcometh,
I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise of God." He said, that candlestick, remember your
first, remember Christ, remember who that light is. And you look
to him and look to him while you have him. Look to him while
you have him. How somebody treats God's preachers
and the assembly of the saints is how they treat God. Kevin,
that's just, you'll reach it too. That's what he said. You
do it to the least of these, you've done it to me. Isn't that what
he said? Saul saw how I persecuted a style of them people down there.
No, he said, me. They're one. I want to see him, don't you?
Until the end. Until the end. How long do we
walk? Peter said, for we've not followed cunningly devised fables.
We made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." He said, I didn't
come up with some fancy story. I just told you what I saw. For
he received from God, the Father, honor and glory. When there came
such a voice from him of the excellent glory, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. He said, I was there on that
Mount of Transfiguration when it happened. And this voice came
from heavens. We heard it. And when we were
with him in that Holy Mount, and he said, we've had a more
sure word of prophecy. You think that's something? where
unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light, as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and
the day star arises in your hearts." Take heed to his word, isn't
it? He said his word is to broadcast
light, isn't it? Because it professes Christ.
Ought to take heed to those things and look and tell when until
that day star That sun, isn't it? Isn't that the star that
makes our daylight come up? Until that arises in our hearts.
Look to him till he arises in your heart. Till he's lifted
up in your heart on a day-to-day basis. And look to him until
we're with him. Till we're made like him. Stay
with him. Paul put it this way. He said,
we're always confident knowing that while we're at home in the
body, we're absent from the Lord. We're going through all these
trials and these troubles and tribulations. And he said, that's fine. I ain't
with him, but he's got me here. He has me walking, he has me
doing something on purpose. He said, for we walk by faith, not
by sight. It don't look like what we're doing's getting, we
ain't making much progress. Two steps forward, or one step
forward, two steps back is what it feels like, isn't it? So you're
just putting the boys rowing in the boat. Remember that, and
John? That storm came and they're rowing, and they ain't making
no progress. Lord didn't tell them make progress, told them
row. He told you to walk, didn't he? And Paul said, we're confident
and willing rather to be absent from the body to be present with
the Lord. There'll come a day when this race will be won, when
this walk will be over, this sojourn, and this life will be
done, and I'll be with Him who started it. Right? And he says,
wherefore we labor? Because we know that. That don't
mean we sit on our laurels and do nothing. Because we know that,
wherefore we labor that, whether present or absent, don't make
a difference. We may be accepted to Him. We'll remember that first
love. We look to Him. Do whatever we
put in our hand to do, as hard as we can do it. Walk while you
have that. We assemble. We go out by the
sweat of our brow. Earn our bread. That way we can
further the gospel. Doing anything we can. Stay up
late. Work five to nine. That ain't four hours. Get up early and stay up late,
don't we? Paul said, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ, who walk not after
the flesh. They don't do what everybody
else does, but after the spirit. After, not in front of, chasing that
way. I'm gonna walk after him. Walk
where he walked, did what he did. It would be right, wouldn't
it? He goes on to say, we're heirs with Christ and this future glory
we have to come and God's eternal love to us. And no man could
separate us from his love. I wanna, as you said, I wanna
step it out. I wanna range walk, I wanna take
big steps. Get there quicker. How are we to preach? What ought
I do? You think, well, now there's
just a lot of things that changed over the years. Hogwash. Hogwash. He said it, not me, so I'll say
it. To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
This word, you take any experience you've had, any loved one, any
grandma and grandpa you know, and they didn't speak with the
law and the testimony and who he is and what he did and what
he accomplished and all these things. According to this word,
it's because there's no light in them. Back in our text, we're in John
12. I'll try to hurry. John 12, verse 35. And he said unto them, yet a
little while is the light with you. This life's a vapor, isn't
it? Walk while you have the light,
lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whether he goeth. And he says, while you have the
light, believe in the light. Believe in him. that ye may be
children, the children of light. These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself
from them. Did he lie to them? He told the
truth. He said, believe on the light
while you have the light. You ain't got the light long.
And then he left. Frightening thing. Verse 37, but though he
had done so many miracles before them, Yet they believe not on
him. He spoke to them. He's done a
whole bunch of, I can't do miracles. And I ain't God. And for some
reason, this dumb head, I think surely I can make this as simple
and just beat it and enough and go and go and go. And people's,
I mean, the ceiling's gonna bust and lives gonna be changed. If
he ain't willing, it ain't gonna happen. And if I could do it,
there's a problem. And then I think, you know what,
I could have just the worst message that I think I could ever come
up with, and I'm fumbling through. I just got a whole bunch of texts,
and I got maybe a sentence fragment over top of each text we're looking
at. And if he's pleased to bless it, I can't keep him from blessing
it. I can't keep him from saving his people. He says he's done so many miracles
before them, verse 37, yet they believe not on him. Why? What
good could that be? That the saying of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled. which he spake, Lord, who hath
believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe,
because, as Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes, and
hath hardened their hearts, that they should not see with their
eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and
I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw his glory and spake of him. He blinded their eyes. How did he blind their eyes?
Well, they could see good and then he didn't know. He just
didn't shine his light in them. How did he harden their hearts?
Like we've talked about before, remember concrete trucks? Concrete
trucks were spinning. Why? Because if it stops, that
concrete will harden up. That's its nature. How does the
Lord harden a heart? Leaves them alone. Leaves him
alone. Look at our whole nation, just
delusion and silly fables and he turned them over. That doesn't
mean that, you know, he just led them to themselves and kind
of run wild, don't he? Don't get frustrated with blind
people. I'm telling myself this, don't get frustrated with sleeping
people. I could scream to the rooftops, and it ain't gonna
wake nobody up. Awake! He has to do it. The Lord has
to do it. Verse 42. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, also many believed on him. Now, if we compare scripture
with scripture, we gotta see the context, don't we? Well,
if they believed on him, they're good to go. They said at one
time 20 years ago, that's the gospel. I believe that. I'm a
Christian. Well, what'd they do? But because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
scene of God. Oh, we believe it. They heard the truth. And
they wouldn't confess him. That ain't God's people. His
people confess him, don't they? Why did they do such a thing?
Well, maybe they had a hard time. No. Verse 43, for they love the
praise of men more than the praise of God. Titus said they profess that
they know God, but in their works they deny him, being an abominable
and disobedient, unto every good work a reprobate. Now, I believe
God, but I ain't gonna go against mommy and daddy. Now, I've met
believers time and time again in different continents, all
over, throughout time, throughout the world. And when the Lord
does a work in their heart, they see the value of their soul and
their concern for the souls of those they love. And immediately,
they knock the religious garbage off. And I said, they don't know
God. They believe the same thing I used to believe. And God saved
me, and God needs to save them. And now they have a concern for
other people's souls, don't they? And they've heard the good news,
they wanna tell somebody good news. They don't hide it under,
that candle ain't hidden under, we're a candle that's on a hilltop,
ain't we? We have light, we're walking
in the light. You talk about who you love, you talk about
who's done something for you, don't you? That's what comes
up in conversation. And it ain't the same God that
other people have. They wouldn't profess him. His
people profess him for their old religious friends. His people
profess him for their drinking buddies in front of family in
front of everybody else said God's right. I was the liar.
And he needs to make a liar out of you. Or you're in trouble. Come here about a man. and bowed
to him, bowed to him. He said, didn't he say that?
These fellows just said, I believed all of it. Now, they didn't want
to lose their spot in the church and they couldn't offend those people
they used to go to church with that they, well, he spent decades and decades
together, many, many years. Well, we used to fellowship and
do this and that. He said, whosoever therefore
shall confess me before me and him, I'll confess him before
my father, which is in heaven. He said, but whosoever shall
deny me before men. that don't profess Him. He said, go preach
to them and baptize them. And if they believe and are baptized,
they're saved, ain't they? He said, whosoever shall deny
me before me and him also will I deny before my Father which
is in heaven. But if we know Him, is it hard? No, it ain't
hard. We see light. We see these things. Who's made you to differ? Him. We see these things plainly.
And how can we be calm with somebody that's blind and deaf and asleep?
Well, we was too, wasn't we? He's a patient, long sufferer
of me, so I'll just, they yell at you and they cuss at you,
and you say, well, that's all right. I've had that happen a lot, too, in
the family. Just light you up, buddy. Tear you up one side and
another, and say, well, that's, just pray for him. Maybe God will save them. They
won't die in their sin and go to hell. Clinging to their ways
and their thoughts and their families and their friends and
their cohorts. He declares in verse 44, Jesus
cried and said, he didn't weep. He screamed. You get that? How loud do you think that was?
Me and Thomas was talking. Our lord was a carpenter. You
reckon them chairs he made was pretty good chairs? Do you think
he said, well, that's close enough. That's good enough for government
work. I bet you they're still, they don't know who they are.
I bet them chairs are still, somebody's still sitting on,
they don't even know it. Imagine him screaming, him yelling. His
voice thundereth marvelously. I couldn't imagine. But he's
meek and comely. I don't know. We'll hear him
one day. Jesus cried, verse 44, and said,
He that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent
me. You believe me, you believe the Father. How could that be?
We're one. He said, look at them dead knights,
and I'm God. He that seeth me seeth him that
sent me. That's who he is. I am come a
light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide
in darkness. And if any man hear my words
and believe not, I judge him not. For I come not to judge
the world, but to save the world. That doesn't mean he come only
to save every human that has ever lived. For this time right
here, this time he came, he came to do something. This hour he's
coming to. He's come to save his people,
to sit on that cross and die and bleed for it. Now next time
he comes, whoo, look out. He that rejecteth me and receiveth
not my words, hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken. The same shall be a judge in
the last day." What's his commandments? Everything that come out of his
mouth. And for his people, go read the Ten Commandments. If
God commanded the light to shine, what happened? Light shined. He says, Thomas, you ain't gonna
have no other gods but me. Guess what's gonna happen? You ain't gonna have no other
gods but him. He'll make it happen, won't he?
For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me.
He gave me commandment, what I should say and what I should
speak. And I know that His commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. He's telling
us the truth, isn't he? We could walk in his truth. Like
Dave said, your precepts and your statutes and your law, it's
lovely. It's beautiful, isn't it? I want
to make every decision I have to make in light of him. Seeing him. Doesn't that change
everything we do? what kind of car we drive, or
how we react with people, or how we walk through this, how
we literally walk through this world. If we have light, we ain't
stumbling. Because we see some things. It's
all simple, isn't it? Oh, that we could see. Oh, we'd
have more light, hadn't we? You get in a dark, dark place.
It was in a cave, I told you that before. I had a watch that
was illuminated. And it was in Mammoth Caves there
in Kentucky. And they turn the lights out,
and you're a half a mile underground. It's pitch black. There is no
light at all. And you can't tell if your eyes
are open or closed. You can blink all you want. It ain't no difference.
And after just a couple seconds, buddy, that light was on my watch.
It looked like I was in Star Wars. Whoa, whoa. Kevin said,
cover up, watch it. And I look and I mean, everybody
was looking at me. I mean, just itty bitty thing. If you're in
darkness, you get an itty bitty piece of light and that light's
precious. And what happens? What would everybody do if we
was down there and in trouble? If we is in that cave, it's pitch.
We're in a pit, right? It's pitch black, we're in darkness,
and there's just a little bit of light. What would everybody
in that cave do? You'd come to it, wouldn't you?
You'd come to it. All right, let's go to him in
prayer, and then we'll sing a song. Father, forgive us for what we
are. Lord, we're so prone to close
our eyes, keep our eyes fixed on Christ the light. Lord, make
us walk through this world as those that see him and believe
him. Make us run this race. To have him at the end, the one
who called us in the beginning, the one who's ordained all of
our steps and willfully ran race our race for us. all that we
can praise him along the way. Thank you for this word. Thank
you for this hour, Lord. Be with your people, their suffering
and heavy trial that you've sent and make them walk in light. In Christ's name that we ask
it. Amen. All right, brother, we'll stand and sing hymn number