Dear Father, we thank you that
you have called us out of darkness into the glorious light of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and shown us our Savior. And Lord, as we
read from Genesis and we ponder your words which expound those
few verses from the beginning to us, We pray that you would
actually shine your light into our hearts. Cause us to see that
everything, everything in your word points us to your son, our
savior, our lord, our great creator. Who would think that he who made
all things and made us who are insignificant in ourselves would
step out of heaven and redeem us by his own blood. Such love,
we cannot understand it, but help us to ponder it, help us
to think about it, and constantly revel in it, in glory in it,
give you praise. Lord, we pray you'd bless us
for Christ's sake today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, Genesis chapter one. I don't expect to spend as much
time throughout the entire book of Genesis as I am on these first
opening verses here, but I can't rush through these next few verses
because they are so central to the entire revelation of Scripture
that we're going to look at them carefully. I'll just read from
verse 1 through 5. He says, In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. Now the word God there is the
word, if you look at it in the Hebrew, it's pronounced Elohim. I don't know Hebrew, don't even
pretend to know that. But that is what the word is,
and it's really a plural form of God's name. It doesn't mean,
it's not singular, it's plural, which means, it implies, it's
not You can't build a doctrine just on that one verse there,
on God's name, but it really is a plural form of God. And
elsewhere in scripture, it has to do, the Lord, Jehovah, is
said to be God plural. So we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
is one God, and yet three in one. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. And we know from the rest of
scripture that he did it by the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you
know that? Remember that verse we read last week in Psalm 33? By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of
his mouth. Verse 2, "...and the earth was
without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep,
and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." That's
us. We're dark. We're void. We're
empty. We're vacant. There's nothing
there that God can work with. It's a blank slate, formless
void, dark. But here's the grace of God,
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Now,
the book of Revelation, it explains what the waters has to do with
in Scripture, not in every case, but in this particular case.
When the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters over
this void and darkness, It symbolized God the Spirit moving upon the
peoples of the earth in order to save His people. Because in
Revelation it says, the peoples, the waters are the peoples of
the earth. I'm not going to take you to
that right now, but you can look it up later. I can give you the
citing. I believe it's in Revelation 17. But here the Spirit of God
moves upon the waters. This vast, empty, void, formless,
vacant form in which God initially created the world. And verse
3, and this is what God did when the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. Now I want
you to notice the things that God did here, three things. And
God said, that's the first thing, let there be light, and there
was light. And the second thing, and God saw the light, that it
was good. And the third thing, and God
divided the light from the darkness. And even the fourth thing, and
God called the day, the light day, and the darkness he called
night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. So God said, And then God saw,
and God divided, and then God called it. Those four things
you see. Now, I want you to notice this,
that it was God who commanded this light. It was His light,
and His light is the only light that shines into the darkness
here in the beginning. There was no other light. There
is no other light, but the light that God commands to shine. And
this is the light. This is the light that God commanded
to shine. The Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified into this dark world. And that's what we're going to
see today as we go through scripture. Christ is the light. Everything
else is not that light. Everything else is darkness.
Anything that's not Christ and Him crucified is of no value
to our soul. We need God to command. The Spirit
of God needs to speak to our souls and command the light of
the gospel to shine to us. Christ has always been the light
of the world. And all of God's people are given
light to see Him and believe Him. There is salvation in no
other, just like there was no other light in the beginning.
There's no salvation apart from faith in Him. We can't say that
Christ died for us unless we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But it is the faith, that faith that He gives, is His gift. It's
His gift, and it's a gift of grace, and He maintains it. We
don't just believe once. We believe and we abide in what
God has given us because that's the nature of the life of God
in our souls. The darkness has no power over
God's light. God commanded and it chased away
the darkness. The light shines into the darkness.
And the darkness doesn't comprehend it until God gives us understanding. Everything else in creation always
follows the light. The first thing that God does
in the lives of His people is He speaks to them of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is a continuing shining.
God doesn't shine the light just once. He has to continue to shine
his light. That's why we're always praying,
Lord, show us your glory. Show us your glory. Now I want
to take you to a few scriptures that teach us these things in
the New Testament so that you can see all the things that we
have time to cover today. Before you go there, look at
Psalm 27, verse 1. Psalm 27 verse 1, it was the
Lord who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. It's a natural question then,
if God commanded the light to shine in this physical world,
what does it mean spiritually? Because everything in this physical
universe is meant to teach us something of things we cannot
see. Here he says in Psalm 27 verse
1, the Lord is my light and my salvation. That's it. The light that shined
into this dark world is the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. And He
is my salvation. Look at Isaiah chapter 8. Isaiah chapter 8. He says in verse 20 Verse 19 he says, and when they
shall say, Isaiah chapter 8 verse 19. When they shall say unto
you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards
that peep and that mutter. Should not a people seek unto
their God for the living to the dead? We're to seek the Lord
Jesus Christ. Shall the living seek to the
dead? That's really what that last phrase means. No, we seek
the Lord Jesus Christ because we're living. Then he says in
verse 20, "...to the law and to the testimony. If they speak
not according to this word, it is because there is no light
in them." I said a moment ago that God's light is the only
light, and the light of God is the Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Moses spoke of Him. The Scriptures
speak of me, the Lord Jesus said. All of Scripture is about Him.
It's about His glory. in His saving work of His people,
and that's the light of Scripture. And if we don't have that light,
if we don't speak according to that light, then we don't have
any light. And then it goes on in verse
21, "...they shall pass through it, hardly be stead, and hungry,
and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they
shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and
look upward. And they shall look unto the
earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish,
and they shall be driven to darkness." Verse 9, I mean chapter 9, verse
1. Nevertheless, The dimness shall not be such as it was in
her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land
of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously
afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan in Galilee
of the nations." Now listen to verse 2. The people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in
the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. What is that light? Look at verse
6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this." Do you see that? The people that
walked in darkness, the Gentiles, it says in Matthew chapter 4,
that's speaking of the Gentiles. Galilee of the Gentiles. The
light has come to them and that light is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, look at another place in scripture. Look at 1 John 1. 1 John 1. We're going to look
at a number of scriptures here. To see the light that God has
shined to us is the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 1. I'm trying to get there. He says in verse 6, if we say,
1 John 1.6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him, with
the Lord Jesus Christ, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. If we walk in the darkness of
unbelief, if we walk in the darkness of enslavement to sin, we lie. We don't have fellowship with
Him. 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
cleanseth us from all sin. And he goes on, he says, if we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us. We're in the dark if we say we have no sin. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Grace provided Christ. Justice
justified His people because of His blood. Now, we walk in
the light when we walk in the truth of Christ and Him crucified. That's the light. And walking
in that light, we confess our sins. But if we say we don't
have sin, then we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now,
look back at John chapter 8. Because that's really the best
place I know in scripture that explains all of this most concisely
and most beautifully is John chapter 8. I just want to go
through this first 12 verses here of John chapter 8. We've
looked at this before, but it blesses me to look at it again
and again. Look at verse 12 of John 8. We
just read in 1 John 1.7 that if we walk in the light, as He
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. But here He says, Then
spake Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." We walk by
faith. We follow by faith. And walking
by faith, we see Christ, and we confess what we are. There's
nothing in ourselves but darkness. Now, if you have no light in
yourself, and if you can produce no light in yourself, if you
can't produce What God requires of you and you have no comfort
in your soul because the emptiness and the void that's in you, then
I have good news for you. Christ is your light. And I want
to show you that through the first 11 verses of John chapter
8. He says in verse 1 through 11, we're going to read that
together. But I want you to get the setting here. A woman was
caught, somehow, by the scribes and Pharisees and brought to
Jesus because they caught her in the act of adultery. And that's the setting here,
and their intent is to show that Jesus is actually opposed to
Moses' law. If they can prove that, then
they can prove that Christ is against the law of God, and therefore
they can completely silence him and put him, and also accuse
him of sin. But in verse 1 it says, Jesus
went to the Mount of Olives and early in the morning He came
again into the temple and all the people came to Him. All the
people came to Jesus in the temple. And He sat down and He taught
them. Now the lesson he's going to teach them really results
in this whole account that unfolds in the next few verses. And the
scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery
and when they had set her in the midst, that means right in
the middle of all those who were in the temple. In those days
men had very little respect for women. But the Pharisees had
an intent. They were going to use this woman
mercilessly. They had no regard for how it
impacted her. They were just going to use her
as an object to their end. Which was to bring shame on the
Lord Jesus Christ. To prove Him to be a lawbreaker.
And so they brought her and sat her right in the middle and they
accused her of adultery. They caught her. She had nothing
to say. Can you imagine the shame that she felt? And how small
she felt with all these people in the temple, the place of worship,
and Jesus, the one to whom people flocked. And she felt, I know
that she felt a cringing in her soul. She felt the darkness in
her soul. And she had no light, void, vacancy, formless and without any light. So they set her down in the midst.
And then they say to him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery
in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? Here's
a woman, guilty, helpless, one on whom Jesus would have mercy. Because they asked him, why do
you associate with publicans and sinners? And he said, because
I came to save the sick. I came to seek and save that
which was lost." So here's a lost woman, guilty, shameful, and
helpless. And you know the heart of our
Lord in mercy went out to her. And yet they said, Moses said,
such should be stoned. So there's a big dilemma here. Do you stone her or do you have
mercy upon her? You can't do both according to
the scribes and Pharisees. There's no way. You either have
to uphold the law, Or you have to be merciful and just let it
go. But that's not true. There's
another way. And that's the way that Jesus
explains here. They said this, it says in verse
6, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. These were
the children of the devil. The devil uses God's law to accuse
his people. They don't care about them. In
fact, it's their end goal to destroy God's people. With God's
law. With God's judgment. Bringing
it upon them. Now these men were actually themselves
more guilty than the woman. These men were actually the spiritual
adulterers that they accused the woman of being physically.
because they denied the Lord Jesus Christ. They claimed to
follow Moses, and yet Moses spoke against their sin and spoke of
Christ, both of which they denied. They denied that they were sinners,
and they denied the Lord Jesus Christ. So they were most guilty.
So they said this, tempting him to accuse him. And in doing so,
they were actually accusing themselves, which he's going to do in a moment.
But Jesus stooped down and with his finger rode on the ground
as though he heard them not. Now, when Jesus wrote on the
ground with His finger, does that remind you of anything?
Doesn't it remind you of when God wrote on the two tables of
stone with His finger, the Law of God, and gave it to Moses
to give to the people? Exodus 31, you can read about
it, verse 18, God sent, He called Moses up to the mount, He said,
bring two tables of stone, Moses brought them, and God wrote the
law on those two tables with his finger. Moses goes down after
40 days, and when he goes down the mountain with these two tables
of stone, the people below him, all the children of Israel, are
dancing around naked before an idol, a golden calf that Aaron
made them, and they're saying, and Aaron told them, say this,
these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the
land of Egypt. So they were giving credit to the idol for bringing
them out of Egypt. This is exactly what man's religion
does. Man's religion gives credit to
his will or his works, that's what idols are, the works of
men's hands, for bringing them out of their sin to freedom. They make it contingent upon
their will and their works. Moses saw them dancing naked,
having defiled themselves and made themselves vile in the eyes
of God and their own enemies, making the enemies of God blaspheme.
And he cast those two tables of stone down, breaking them.
And that signified Moses was a prophet. What he did and said,
not only said, but what he did signified God's word to the people.
He broke the law tables because the people had broken every commandment. They were worshiping this idol
and made themselves vile. So that was the first writing.
So Jesus here stooped down and with his finger wrote on the
ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued,
because they heard him not. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and he said to them, He that is without
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. Now that
first writing, was a conviction of their sins. They had broken
the law. And when Jesus did this, he stood up and he said, whoever's
without sin, cast a stone at her. You brought her to me and
asked me, what is God? You said that Moses' law demands
that she be stoned. And I say to you, if you're without
sin, then you cast that first stone. Because only one without
sin can judge from God's law. God is the lawgiver and the judge,
not us, only God. So it says in verse 8, And again
he stooped down, and he wrote on the ground. And when they
had heard it being convicted by their own conscience, they
went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even to the last.
And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Remember what happened in the Old Testament? After God wrote
that first law, that first copy of the law in stone and Moses
broke them, God said to Moses, come back up the mountain, bring
two tables again. And God wrote on those second
tables his law again with his finger. You can read about it
in Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 1 through 5. So God wrote the
second copy of the law and then he sent Moses down the mountain
and he told Moses, put this copy in the ark. in the Ark of the
Covenant, over which was the cherubim, looking down on the
mercy seat, where the blood was sprinkled that made atonement
to God. Remember? And so Moses put those
two tables in the Ark, along with the golden pot that had
manna and Aaron's rod that budded. The golden pot that had manna,
that was what God fed the Israelites with. Year after year, day after
day, year after year, for 40 years in the wilderness. And
it represented Christ, the bread of life. All of God's people
live and eat in faith on Christ. That's what the manna represented.
And the rod that budded was Aaron's rod. That represented that God
had chosen Aaron to be the high priest. God chose the Lord Jesus
Christ and appointed and anointed him to be the high priest over
his people. He is the only high priest. He's
the only one who can make atonement. The only mediator between God
and men are Lord Jesus Christ. But there the tables of stone
were also laid. And those tables were also put
in the ark. Because the ark represented our
Lord Jesus Christ. In His heart was to do the will
of God. He said in Psalm 40, I delight
to do thy will, O God. Verse 8 of Psalm 40. So here
the Lord Jesus Christ goes about His life. And in the end of his
life, he gives the ultimate sacrifice of love to his father, in obedience
to him, and love for his people, in sacrifice for them, taking
their sins and offering himself under the wrath of God, bearing
the punishment and the suffering their sins deserved. That was
the obedience written in the law. Romans 13.10 says, Love
is fulfilling the law. Christ fulfilled the law in his
love. Greater love hath no man than
this, than to lay down his life for his friends. And he says
in Romans 5.6 that Christ gave himself for us when we were his
enemies. This is what Christ did. He's the Ark of the Covenant.
In His heart was to do the will of God. And He did that and fulfilled
the law. But His blood also was sprinkled
on the mercy seat. And when God looked down upon
that blood, He was made favorable to His people. Because He was
propitiated. His wrath was appeased. Our sins
were cleansed and taken away from before God's sight. This
is what happened. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ
stooped down the second time, it signifies not only that he
is God who gave the law to Moses through the angels on Mount Sinai,
but he also stooped down the second time to write it because
he himself would fulfill that law in his condescending, coming
into this world as man, taking not only God's law in his hand,
but our sin and bearing the wrath of God against us. So he took
this woman's sins and bore them too. And so he stands up. In verse 9 it says, he was left alone with
the woman. And when Jesus lifted up himself in verse 10, he saw
none but the woman. This woman was adulterous, guilty,
and shameful. And there was no hope for her.
She had no hope in herself. She was convicted publicly. This woman represents every believer.
She is the Church of Christ in typical form. And so it says,
when she was there with the Lord Jesus Christ alone, when He had
lifted Himself up, having finished the work that we just described,
the work of atoning sacrifice, He was made sin for us, He who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. He stood up, He saw none but the woman, and He said to
her, Where are those, thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?"
Nothing to condemn her for. She said, no man, Lord. And Jesus
said to her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. This is the light of the world.
Verse 12. Then Jesus spake and said, I am the light of the world. Do you see the light here? This
is the light of God's glory. This is the glory of God shining
into the darkness of this sin-cursed earth and into the darkness of
this woman's heart. The light of how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. Justify the ungodly. Do you know
that's what faith is? Look at Romans chapter 4. We
believe in God who justifies the ungodly. If you're dark in
yourself, you have no hope, no light, no comfort, and no reason
why God should be merciful to you in yourself, then the light of Christ
is the only light you see. Romans chapter 4, he says in
verse 4, "...now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned
of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Do you see that? Do you see the light of
the world here? Look now at John chapter 3. Look back a few pages
from John 8 to John chapter 3. I want to look at this with you
also. Just try to take a few moments of your time to see.
This is the truth of scripture. The light has come into the darkness.
The light of Christ. Look at verse 12 of John chapter
3. Jesus said to Nicodemus, Remember,
this is the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world. If I
have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall
you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? The earthly
things are meant to teach us the heavenly things. If Christ
can speak truthfully about earthly things and we don't believe it,
how are we going to understand and believe when He speaks to
us of heavenly things, which He's about to do? Verse 13. No
man has ascended up to heaven. But He that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven." This is saying that
Christ is both in heaven and He's on earth. He's the Son of
God from heaven who came to earth as the Son of Man. And no other
man but He is the mediator between God and men. Verse 14, "...and
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness..." Remember
that serpent lifted up on the pole? That brass serpent put
on the pole there for all those bitten by the serpent to look
and live. "...as Moses lifted up that servant,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth
in Him..." "...should not perish, but have everlasting life." That
is the light. And then in verse 16, "...for
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." The light of faith. The light of Christ in us, producing
faith in us by God's gift of grace. That's the light of life. Of everlasting life. There was
no life on earth until God spoke light into the darkness in Genesis
chapter 1. And there's no light in our life,
there's no life or light in our life until God speaks the gospel
of Christ to us. Verse 17, For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through him might be saved. Are the entire world saved? Is every person in the world
saved? He says, God sent His Son into the world not to condemn
the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Those
that are saved make up those to whom God is referring. Those
who believe have everlasting life, therefore that's the world
God came to save. The Lord doesn't fail in anything
that He does. His love cannot be frustrated. His grace will not be turned
away. Christ's blood will not go...
for nothing. It won't be shed in vain. God's
people will be saved. Those people are given faith
by grace. Verse 18, "...he that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God." And this is condemnation. Listen, that
light is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather
than light. Because, why? Their deeds were
evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. Lest his deeds should be, sorry,
I'm sorry, I got confused here. He says, in verse 20, Everyone
that doeth evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. What does it mean here? Everyone
that doeth evil comes to the light. What does it mean, he
that doeth the truth? To do the truth is to hear and
believe God's word. Remember, in 1 Peter 1.25, this
is the word which by the gospel is preached to you. And the gospel
is preached for the obedience of faith throughout all nations.
To do the truth, as Jesus was just describing here, he that
believeth on him has everlasting life, therefore that is doing
the truth. To do the truth is something we believe. It's what
we do when we turn from the darkness of our unbelief to faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So everyone that does evil hates
the light and doesn't come to the light. To do evil is what
we are by nature. By nature we're evil. And we
remain in that evil unless God is gracious to us and speaks
his gospel to us and brings us out of the darkness of our unbelief. And we don't come to the light.
Why would we come to the light? What does the light of God do
until we see Christ? All it does is convince us of
sin. And who wants that? Sinners don't want that. Sinners
don't want that mournful. feeling of guilt before God,
that shame that this woman... The Pharisees didn't bring themselves
as sinners to Jesus. They didn't accuse themselves.
They didn't come to the light. Whoever confesses his sins comes
to the light. But he that says, I'm not a sinner,
he's in darkness even till now. 1 John chapter 1. So here, no
man by nature will come to this light. Because we love the darkness. We love the darkness. If we love
the darkness, we hate the light. And if we hate the light, then
we hate the truth of God. By nature, we're opposed to our
own salvation. But he that comes to the light
is coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. God has to shine his light. And
then it says here, In verse 21, "...but he that
doeth truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God." To do the truth is to believe
Christ. All those who believe Christ come to the gospel light. We come to God's Word and we
hear God's Word teaching us and convincing us that we're sinners.
And we don't like to be sinners, but we come openly before God.
Lord, I have sinned. I am a sinner. And Christ is
my only hope. And that's why Christ is good
news to us. The light. If God had created
the light in the beginning, what significance would the light
even mean to us? But it shines into the darkness.
So everyone who believes Christ comes to Him, confessing our
sins, that their deeds might be made manifest that they are
wrought in God. What? What deeds are wrought
in God? All the work of Christ for us.
That's what's worked in us. And our faith too. Our deeds
are wrought in Christ. His obedience, His blood is the
only thing that makes us acceptable. And faith given to us teaches
that in our hearts so that we look to Him. The light shines
in our soul, and we say, Christ is all my salvation. He has worked
it all out for me. And I just want to read this
verse from Isaiah 26 to you. I think it's Isaiah 26. Let me
see if I've got it here. He says in Isaiah 26, in verse
12, I think it is, he says, Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us,
for Thou also has wrought all our works in us, or for us, says
in the margin. O Lord our God, other lords beside
Thee have had dominion over us, but by Thee only will we make
mention of Thy name. Now turn to one more scripture.
Do you see this light? Do you come to the light? Do
you come as a sinner to Christ and do you find you're only joy,
true joy and peace in your soul is hearing what God has said
concerning His Son? And that you're accepted because
of what God sees and receives from His Son? Is that your only
hope of salvation before God? Look at Micah chapter 7. I want
you to see this beautiful scripture here in Micah chapter 7. And
I'm going to pick it up in verse in verse 7 of Micah chapter 7. Just a couple verses and we'll
close. He says in Micah 7 verse 7, "...therefore will I look
unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God
will hear me." Now that is the prayer of a believing sinner.
My God will hear me. He's a sinner, and yet he says,
I will wait for the God of my salvation. He wouldn't need a
savior unless he was a sinner. Verse 8, Rejoice not against
me, O mine enemy. Here is his confession. He stands
by faith in Christ's victory, and he looks at his enemy, his
own sin, and the devil, the world, the curse of God's law, the bondage
to it, death, everything. He says, Rejoice not against
me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light to me. Isn't that what Psalm 27 says?
The Lord is my light and my salvation. When I sit in darkness, here's
the cry of faith. I sit in darkness. My sin and
the confusion of my mind, my own stupidity, my own willful
rebellion against God is darkness. And yet He confesses His sin.
The Lord shall be a light to me. And there's the hope. Verse
9, I will hear, I will bear, I'm sorry, I will bear the indignation
of the Lord because I have sinned against Him. until the Lord,
until He plead my cause and execute judgment for me." When did the
Lord plead my cause? Well, He pleaded it at the cross,
when Christ offered His own blood to God. God received His blood
and Christ pleads that blood at the cross. Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. Remember His plea? And
He pleads it in our conscience when He gives His word to us
and gives us faith to see Oh glorious grace, God has given
me salvation in Christ alone. I can look as a sinner to Him
because He's all my light. I don't look within myself because
there's no light there. That's just peering into the
darkness and void and vacancy of my own formless soul. But
he says, I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned
against Him until He plead my cause and then again in judgment. And now, between now and judgment,
He will plead my cause because He's my intercessor, my advocate,
my mediator. Until He plead my cause and execute
judgment for me. When the Lord Jesus Christ gave
Himself, His face, His back to the smiting and His face to them
that pluck off the hair, and to spitting and shame, because
that was what our sins deserved. He brought God's judgment against
our sins in Himself. He executed God's judgment. He
Himself absorbed. He drank that cup to the very
dregs. So I'm going to wait until the
Lord plead for me and execute judgment. Not only did He execute
judgment there, but because He executed judgment there, and
God's justice now declares His people justified, then we say,
Lord, answer my enemies. Who is He that condemneth? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. And
who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Romans 8, 33 and 34. What a blessed light this is,
isn't it? The light of the gospel that comes to sinners and it's
only good news to those who are in the dark, to those who are
ungodly, because faith is believing on Him who justifies the ungodly. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for your grace and mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord that
you would justify those who in themselves had no righteousness
but you worked out all of their works for them. And then you
gave them this grace of your spirit and faith to see that
Christ is their all. So fixate our eyes to see him. Open them, Lord, and keep them
abiding on Christ our Savior. We are sinners and great sinners
and deserve your indignation and feel it too in our conscience.
but we will wait until you execute judgment and plead our cause.
Declare yourself, dear Lord, to be our answer to God and justice,
to be all of our righteousness, that we might come to you in
the boldness that you describe this boldness of faith and confidence
in Christ to rejoice in your salvation and give you glory
too. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.