Luke chapter 11, let's read verses... just a moment, let me double
check myself here. Normally, I wouldn't even want
this, but there's quite a few people listening over at Mixler,
and I'm just pleased about that. People that cannot be here. Luke
11, verses 33 through 36. says, no man, when he hath lighted
a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel,
but on a candlestick. And as you know, the church is
called the candlestick. And that they which come in may
see the light. What's the light? Christ is the
light. His word is light. Then he says,
the light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye
is single, thy whole body also is full of light. But when the
eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed,
therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body, therefore,
be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full,
the whole body shall be full of light. That's when the bright
shining of a candle does give the light. Now, this is a very
sobering, convicting, needful, vital message from the mouth
of our Lord Himself. He began in verse 28 by saying,
Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. How blessed are they that hear. the Word of God, what we're doing
right now. This is the greatest blessing on earth. It really
is. He who blesseth himself in the
earth, Scripture says, blesseth himself in the God of truth. Truth. You know, the truth will
make you free. Christ is the truth. We're so blessed to hear this.
He said, blessed, happy are those that do it. Believe Him. Follow Him. Walk. with him and
like him. In verse 29, he said, when the
people were gathered thick together, this is an evil generation. They
seek the sign. No sign shall be given but the
sign of Jonas the prophet. We looked at that a little bit
last Sunday. But this is an evil generation. His generation is
our generation. The last 2,000 years is the last
generation. I give no thought They have no
interest in the Word of God, the Son of God. Oh, some pain
and interest. Our Lord said their hearts are
far from Him. People want signs, miracles,
wonders. They want to be entertained.
They want to see things and have fun and family church and fun. You need to hear that message
I recommended. in the bulletin by my pastor.
You need to hear that. Listen to it, okay? It's never
been more relevant and needful than right now. One of the ladies
wrote me a lengthy text, thankful and just saying amen to everything
that he said. It's never been more needful,
that message, than right now. Listen to it, okay? Oh, this is a material, sensual,
full of mirth generation. Jonah, he says, is a sign, then
and now. Jonah, in the belly of the whale,
is Christ and Him crucified. He's going to talk about judgment,
about Jonah rising up into judgment, and the Queen of South rising
up into judgment. That's what he's going to talk
about. Simon Peter, when he stood up at Pentecost to preach, the word that he preached convicted
3,000 people. There were 3,000 souls saved,
men, along with women and some children. What he preached was
a holy God, a Christ whom he sent to bear the sins of his
people. A Christ who was smitten, wounded,
bruised, smitten, bruised by our Lord and our God, punished
for the sins of His people, and then rose to sit at the right
hand of the Majesty on high, where He is now reigning and
ruling over all. That the souls of all men, women,
and children are in His hands to do with as He pleads. Not
this pitiful, weak Jesus standing outside people's hearts door
that false religion preaches, but a sovereign Lord seated on
a throne. And it struck fear in all those
people at Pentecost. It struck fear in them, realizing
that they had no thoughts, no care, no interest in the Son
of God. They said, crucify Him, kill
Him. They all said, we've killed the one in whose hands our breath
is. And so Peter said, save yourselves
from this untoward generation. He said, repent, believe, bow
to the Son of the Most High God. And bless God, God in mercy and
love and grace gave 3,000 men repentance unto life. And they confessed Christ. And
from then on, they were followers, believers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jonah preached repentance. John preached repentance. Our
Lord preached repentance. All the prophets preached repentance. It's still the message today.
The world today doesn't think there's anything called sin.
They don't think there's a God who will punish sin. So he said Jonah is going to
rise up in a judgment. He said the men of Nineveh repented
at the what? Preaching. of Jonah. Don't preach to me. That's what
this modern generation... Don't preach to me. Let's have
a share session. No. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. And those that are saved, the
preaching of Christ's crucified power of God and wisdom of God.
It's what you heard to convict you of your sin. And to show
you who Christ is and where He is and your need of Him. Make
you call on Him. Preaching. That's what our Lord
said. Jonah will rise up in the judgment.
He's preaching, and in the sign of Jonah, that's Christ crucified
in the belly of the whale. Then he spoke of Sheba, the queen
of Sheba. We're going to look at her in
the next message. The queen of Sheba is going to
rise up in the judgment. Look at verse 31. We're in Luke chapter 11. Luke
11, verse 31. It says, The Queen of the South,
this is Sheba, shall rise up in the judgment with the men
of this generation and condemn them. She came from the utmost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. This was a
woman, a queen of a country with many responsibilities. She heard
of Solomon. She traveled 1,500 Miles. One way. On a camel. To hear the wisdom of Solomon.
Most people won't walk across the street to hear about Jesus
Christ. Ah, this generation. And for
a rude awakening. It was a long journey. It was
difficult. She had many responsibilities.
Many responsibilities. She left everything and everyone
and traveled upwards of 40 days to sit and listen to Solomon.
Our Lord said, a greater than Solomon is here. Jesus Christ. Now, she'll rise up to judgment
with all the excuses that people give for not coming to hear of
Jesus Christ. I'm too busy. I've got other
things to do. Oh, do you? You will stand before
Him someday. Then he said, verse 33, this
is all in context, he said. It's all in context. Verse 33,
No man when he hath lighted a candle put it in a secret place, neither
under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see
the light. What he's saying very clearly is that Go back to chapter
8. He said this before. Chapter
8. Go back there. Our Lord said
this about lighting a candle and putting it on a candlestick
before. Right after He gave the parable
of the sower. That's the Word of God being
preached. Christ is the Word. See? And
when that seed, look at Luke 8, verse 15. That seed falls
on good ground. That is a good heart convicted
by God. A heart of repentance is a good
heart. A broken and a contrite heart. Over the Word. Over sin. Over rejecting our Creator. Over
rejecting Christ. Over unbelief. Over self-righteousness. A good heart. They hear the Word
of God and they keep it. They lay hold of it. They believe
the truth. And they bring forth fruit. Fruit. First thing he said here was
repentance. Fruit of repentance. Turn from the world. Turn from
sin. Turn to God, from your idols. Turn to Christ. Then he said,
No man, verse 16, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it
with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed, but setteth it on
a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. Nothing
secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid
that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed how you hear
the hymn that's given. Whosoever hath, the hymn shall
be given. Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away.
We've already looked at that. But what the Lord is saying is
He has no secret disciples. Not possible. When that woman
came and heard Christ at the well, She dropped her water pot, she
ran home as fast as she could, and she said, come see a man. She was from then on his disciple.
No secret about it. The church is a candlestick.
What's the church doing? Well, it's no secret, the true
church. It is no secret, the true church.
What's the true church doing? Preaching Christ high and lifted
up. Christ and Him crucified. That's what the church does.
It's the pillar and the ground of the truth. What is the truth?
Jesus Christ. That's all the church does. Not
fun and game. Not a place where the family
can come and be on the ball team. All sorts of outings and all
that. That's the YMCA. The church is
a house of worship. A house of prayer. A place where
God is worshiped. And that's what the church does.
And they preach Christ high and lifted up. That's the purpose
of a candlestick. That's what he's saying. And
when God lights this candle, when God builds His church, when
Christ forms His church, like that little place down in Kingsport,
what are they doing? One thing. One thing. Preaching the gospel. And the Lord is calling people
in. The foal. Sheep into the foal. And they're
beholding and they're listening to and they're hearing Christ
and Him crucified. So much so, they're having to
build a bigger building. The harvest is great down there.
The harvest is ending here. But the harvest is great down
there. And the Lord's calling them in, and they're building
a building, a big building, just to house the people so a man
can stand up and preach the gospel. They're not building a gymnasium,
they're building a house of worship. That's the purpose of the church. That they which come in may see
the light. Not the choir, not the band,
not to be entertained. That hopefully that they might
see the light of the glory of the gospel of God in the face
of Jesus Christ and be saved. Not entertained, saved. That's
what the church is all about. That's what Christ is saving. And that's our purpose. When
he said, you're the light of the world in his Sermon on the
Mount. You're the light of the world, meaning you're a witness,
a testimony of Jesus Christ. And once He's lit that light
in you, that candle, it's like a candle is. Oh, someday we will
behold His glory as the brightness of the sun. But until then, it's
like a candle. We see in part. We know in part.
We see through a glass dimly and darkly. But we do see what
we see. Jesus Christ is all and in all. So that's all we do. That's all
we need. That's in our children. Our children
right now, downstairs, hearing about Jesus Christ. He's the light. Now look at verse
34. The light of the body is the
eye. The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine
eye is single, the whole body also is full of light. When thine
eye is evil, the body is full of darkness. The light of the
body is the eye. The eye is what informs your
brain and everything about you and directs your steps and many
things. The light comes in here, what
you see, and causes you to do what you do and go where you
go. The eye keeps you from stumbling. Or, if it's evil, you go after
evil things. If it's light, He'd walk to light,
like a moth to the light. Our Lord said that in John chapter
3. He that doeth the truth, he that
believeth Christ, cometh to the light. But He said, here's condemnation. Men are lovers of darkness rather
than light. Why in this building full of
people coming to hear the light, the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God, the light of His Word, the entrance of Thy
Word, Scripture says, giveth light. Why? Because men love darkness. Men
love sin. They don't love God. They love
sin. They're in bondage to the God
of His Word. They like it that way. They love lies. The truth
is enlightening. The truth is revealing. The truth
strips you naked. There's no hiding from the light. Men love darkness. So, now I
don't want to hear that. Don't tell me the truth. I like
my life just fine. Well, it's not life. It's death. But the entrance of thy word
giveth light, life, peace, joy, understanding, eternal life.
The light of the body is the eye. Now, Matthew Henry, I love
Matthew Henry, he said the eye is three things. It's the heart,
it's the understanding, and it's the intentions or the aim of
the heart. The eye is the understanding. Romans 1. Go to Romans 1 with
me real quickly. It speaks of the heart. The heart and the understanding.
The heart is the affection, the inner man, out of the abundance
of the heart. The mouth speaketh out of the
heart of the issues of life. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. The heart. But the understanding,
when God sends His Word, the light of His Word, into our dark
hearts, then our understanding is enlightened. We begin to understand
something of who God is. And He's not known, He cannot
be fully known by creation. Though the heavens declare His
glory, the firmament showeth His handiwork, day unto day,
other that speak. His eternal power and Godhead
is clearly seen, Romans 1, by the things that are made. Okay. But you don't know anything of
the mind, the will, the thoughts of God, the character of God,
how you may know God, what God is really like, except through
His Word. And His Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. The Word is Jesus Christ. Who
is God? Jesus Christ. What's God like?
Jesus Christ. What's his thoughts? He's mine. Jesus Christ. He said, the words
that I speak, not of myself, but the Father which sent me.
He's the manifestation, the declaration, the revelation of who God is. Alright? And he came. And this is a revelation of what
man is like. God came down here and what man
do? Kill him. They don't want him. Those that
said they were looking for Him were the ones that led the crucifixion. That's all mankind. Dead in trespass
sin. But Christ said, Sovereign God,
who is merciful and gracious, and He is love. He doesn't love
everybody, but He loves somebody. He came in love and mercy and
grace, said, I have come that they might have life, light. Give them life. Not offer it.
Give them life. Raised them from the dead, like
he did Lazarus, like he did Tabitha. Raised them from the dead, like
he did me. Raised them from the dead with his Word. And lightens our understanding,
opens blind eyes, opens deaf ears to hear the Word of God,
and opens a stony heart that breaks it over sin, and convicts
it, and gives repentance and faith. Life has begun. Alright, now look at this, in
Romans 1, where do we begin? Verse 16, Paul says, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation. Paul said, that's why I came,
to preach the gospel, that's what God uses. Preaching is the
means, gospel is the seed, is the message. The preacher doesn't
say, the preaching doesn't say, but the words say. But the Lord
used that means, like a farmer sowing seed. Paul said, we plant,
we water, but God has to give the entry. They said therein,
verse 17, the gospel is a righteousness of God revealed. Holy God, just
God, who by no means cleared the guilty. He will punish sin. You must be righteous and holy.
But you can't produce water. You can't keep the law. You break
every one of them. Just to think. Sinful thoughts
have broken the law. That's what Christ said. Christ said, I've come to be
the law keeper. To give them righteousness. That's
the gospel. The just, therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith. That is the righteousness that
God gives to his people through faith in Christ. The just shall
live by faith. His faith. But the wrath of God,
verse 18, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. They hold this
book and don't believe it. They suppress the truth and don't
say what it says or add to it or try to produce a righteousness,
bring men under the law, and on and on it goes. Verse 19,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them or
to them. God has showed it, an invisible
thing. of him from the creation of the world, clearly saying,
they understood by the things that are made, his eternal power
and Godhead. They were without excuse. When they knew God, saw
something of his Godhead, his power, they glorified him not
as God. They weren't thankful. Take his name in vain. Curse
him. Come vain in their imagination and their foolish heart was darkened. The understanding. The affection
darkened. No light. They don't even believe
there is a God. How dark can it be? And do you
not feel the darkness in this land? Like when the children
of Israel were being brought out of Egypt right before they
were brought out. It says darkness was over all
the land. So dark, so thick that you could
feel it. It was just pervading, overwhelming
darkness in the minds, the hearts of all the Egyptians. But, it
said the children of Israel had light in all their dwellings,
wherever God's true people are. I believe there's some in here.
We have light. What is it? Crying. We're not in darkness,
even as others are. We're not living in fear. Why? We believe Christ. We trust Christ. Look on, read on, it says, verse
22, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Our Lord said, if the light is
in you, be darkness. How great is darkness. How great. We'll go back to our
text in Luke 11. The eye is is the heart. The eye is the understanding,
the eye is the heart. If the heart is right, if there
is light in the heart, the whole body will be governed. Your affection
will be set on things above. Truly, the heart, the affection. Salvation is when Christ, the
great husband of his bride, comes and redeems her, buys her off
of that auction block like Hosea did Gomer. And he said, you're
mine now. You were wedded to, and committing
adultery with, and fornication with, all sorts of things, other
lovers that you were gone after. He said, I've come after you,
and I've bought you with a price, and now you're mine. He set his
affection on her, And then when he did that, she loved him because
he first loved her. And now she's his. She's his
from then on. She's his bride. She's his wife. And her affection is set on him. Oh sure, she gets busy and does
this and that and the other, but really, if you cut into the
heart and mind of every true believer, what you'll find is
a love for God, for Christ, for truth. These people. That's what the whole book of
1 John is. To walk in the light. Yes, He is in the light. And the eye is the aim or direction. Some of you men are hunters and
use guns or bow and arrow or whatever. Can you shoot at something
with both eyes open? No. You can't do it, can you,
Matt? You've got to close one eye,
don't you? The eye's got to be single. Right? To take dead aim. You're looking
at one thing. You're not looking over here.
You're not looking behind. You're not looking to the left. You're not
looking to the right. You're looking right there. Right there is in the
cross area. That's what I want. That's the one thing I'm after.
Isn't that what David said in Psalm 27? When you said, seek
my face, David said, I start seeking you. And he said, one
thing if I desire the Lord, that will I seek after. And Paul said, it's a pressing
matter. He said, I'm forgetting the things behind, and I'm pressing
for the mark. The mark. It's an old sailing
term. There's a mark. You head toward that mark and
look for another. Look for another. Look for another.
Where are you headed? You're trying to find land. going to the promised land. Well,
Luke 11, look at verse closing. The I is the aim, the direction. I was going to have you turn
to Proverbs. We may look at that. We will look at that in the next
message, Proverbs, where he told Christ, who is wisdom in Proverbs. He's the one speaking in Proverbs.
Not Solomon. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Christ. And he says, let your eye look
straight on. Don't look to the right. Don't
look to the left. Let it look straight on. He said, I'm wisdom.
I'm understanding. I'm life. I'm riches. Don't look
at all this. It's a lie. It's all a lie. It's
all a soap bubble. It's all fake and phony. It's
the God of this world trying to take your eyes off the one
thing needful, the pride, which is, not heaven, but Him, Christ. Luke 11, he says in verse 35,
take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not
darkened. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part
dark, the whole shall be full of light. That's when the bright
shining of a candle doth give light. He said take heed. How many times does Scripture
tell us to take heed? We ought to give them more earnest
heed. Heed is a good word. It means you hear it and you
do it. Hearing and the deed, the doing
of it. You hear it. You don't really
believe something unless you do it. Right? Our Lord said, Yesterday they hear these things.
He said, if you hear these things, happy are you if you do them,
if you follow them. He said, we ought to give no
earnest heed. Take heed that the light that is in thee be
not darkness. We need to examine ourselves,
Paul said, whether we be of the faith. What's the faith? It's
not a creed, it's not a doctrine, it's not a denomination, it's
a person. He's talking about the body,
the whole body full of life. If someone were to ask us, what
is our good body of divinity? What body of divinity do you
ascribe to? Gil's body of divinity, or Thomas
Watson's body of divinity, or this body? Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. bodily. He's all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. He's all, you know. If light was in you, you'd be
Christ. Your whole body, your whole being
is full of light. The whole body of truth. This
is a body of truth, isn't it? From Genesis to Revelation. If
God will If it enlightens your eye and you understand your heart,
you'll see Christ everywhere. Everywhere, from A to Z. From
Adam to Zerubbabel. If you've never heard of Zerubbabel,
wow. That's Christ if there ever was
a picture of Christ. He said, I'm the beginning, I'm
the end. He said, I'm the Alpha, I'm the Omega. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. Well, John said, that
God who created is Jesus Christ. And then the revelation, what's
that all about? Future events, Armageddon, it's about Jesus
Christ. That's how it began. The revelation of Jesus Christ.
Matthew the Gospel began the generation of Jesus Christ. The
life that He gave. Do you see? You've got light. You have light. Christ in you. The hope of glory. But boy, if
it's not full of light, it's darkness. Darkness. Go with me in closing to 2 Thessalonians
5. This is wonderful. 2 Thessalonians
5. You remember one time we just
read the whole book on Wednesday night together. But look at this. Here's light. Here's light. Here's the whole body. The whole
body. several exhortations that the
Lord gives through Paul. 2 Thessalonians 5, look at verse
16. Rejoice evermore. Oh, but look
at the world. Look at what's all going on.
I'm sorry, 1 Thessalonians. Sorry. Thank you, Irene. She
punched John and said, 1 Thessalonians. Thank you. I mean, people, the
other day, I make, I'm human. I got briars. Spit them out,
okay? 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 16. Rejoice evermore, brothers
and sisters. This world is in darkness right
now, Ant. Sad and sorrowful. And I look around, it makes me
sad for them. It looks like a science fiction
movie, everybody walking around like, oh, scared to death. Brothers
and sisters, we are not in darkness as others. The Lord reigns. The Lord Jesus Christ did this,
and when He decides it's over, it's over. Rejoice in the Lord. And again,
I say rejoice. Okay? Believe Him. Christ said,
why is it you have no faith? No faith after everything I've
told you. After everything I've done for
you. After all the life I've given you and provided for you
and protected you. Why now would you not believe
me? We're such pitiful believers. Rejoice in the Lord. Verse 17,
pray without ceasing. Because without Him, we can do
nothing. In everything, give thanks. This is the will of God
in Jesus Christ concerning you. In everything, whatever it is,
good, bad, what we think is bad, Christ said it's not bad. All
things work together for good. Quench not the Spirit means listen
to Him. Don't take heed to what He says. Follow what He says. Listen.
Don't quench Him. Despise not prophesying. Preaching. Oh my! Brothers and sisters, I don't
know everything. I don't know much of anything.
I know one thing. I know Christ is all. And we're learning together.
And boy, I still listen to preachers. That message I sent you to hear
about my pastor, man, it just... Prove all things, verse 21. Prove
all things. Try everything in this world. How? By the light. Bring it to the
light. Hold fast that which is good.
What's that? God's good. The Word is good. Christ is all the goodness of
God that He's passed before us. Mercy and grace and the love
and the salvation of God is in Jesus Christ. This is good, what
we're doing right now. It doesn't get any better than
this on earth. This is good. Abstain from all appearance of
evil, verse 22. What's that mean? It means exactly
what it says. And the very God of peace, listen, here it is,
the very God of peace sanctifies you, sets you apart, preserves
you, Holy. Your whole person. I pray God. I pray. You pray. I pray for
you. That your whole spirit and soul
and body. The whole man be preserved. Blameless. Like a chaste virgin
waiting on her husband. Under the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now you're going to want to read the next verse.
Faithful is he that calleth. He's going to do it. He that
hath begun a good work in you. He that hath given you light. Oh, it's going to grow and grow
until the day dawn, and the day star arise, the sun of righteousness
come with healing in his wing, and all of God's The world is
going to go, oh my God, He's here. And they'll weep and wail
and gnash their teeth. But all of God's people are going
to say, oh my God, He's here. Because they have light. No darkness
in them at all. Thank you, John.