this bleeding heart. Holy Spirit, all-divine, dwell
within this heart of mine. Cast down every idle throne,
Reign supreme and reign alone. Thank you, Robin and John. John
Chapter 8. The Gospel of John Chapter 8. One of the sisters said she read
the whole chapter today and she was just rejoicing. in the Gospel
of John. What a marvelous, marvelous,
wonderful book. John chapter 8, the Gospel of
John, verse 12. We're looking at one verse tonight.
John 8, verse 12. Then spake Jesus again unto 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." A short
statement, but so full of truth. So great that I don't know when
I've spent more time on something than this. Profound yet simple. Only twenty,
I think I counted, twenty-five words, I think. One three-syllable word, one
two-syllable, and twenty-three one-syllable words. Oh, how much
the Lord could say. This is what it means to be eloquent,
to take profound things and state them simply and wonderfully,
to be understood. I am the light of the world.
Now, it says, Then spake he again. You remember the context here.
The Lord had come into his temple. The Lord whom Malachi said that
you seek shall suddenly come to his attempt. And who shall
abide the day of his coming? He's like a refiner's fire and
fuller's soap. And he did. He cleaned his temple
out the first time, didn't he? When he came back and he sat
down and he taught the people. And the Pharisees and the scribes
came in and rudely interrupted him. The people came to sit and
hear him. They wanted to hear him, what
he had to say, to be taught of him. As do I, don't you? The Pharisees and self-proclaimed
masters of divinity, they come to accuse him, not to be taught,
to tell what they think they know. And they rudely interrupted
him. I love everything about our Lord. I admire everything about Him,
don't you? They didn't bother Him. Nothing
and no one bothered Him. Nothing could disturb Him. He
told us, He told His disciples in another place, in your patience
possess your souls. They came in and rudely interrupted
him, began to make demands of him, talking, they were all talking,
shouting at him. And he calmly and quietly, he
didn't say anything, he just stooped down, remember? And began
to write on the ground. Calmly, quietly, with dignity
and composure, then he raised himself up and made this short
statement, He that is without sin among you, They're going
to cast the first stone. I'm sure he was looking right
in their eyes. Now this is the light. This is Christ the light. And he said, everything done
in darkness shall come to light, shall be exposed. And buddy,
when the light shone through his Word like worms, they went
running back to their little dark places. And the thing is, if only we
could be like Him, huh? Let nothing and no one bother
us, upset us. He knew He had work to do, He
had people to save, and He was committed totally to His Father,
who judges the earth and reigns and rules. No one and nothing
bothers Him. Everything is ordered. The Lord
sent. Remember, the Lord sent, had these men bring somebody
to Him. If only we could not be so upset
over disturbances and things. Oh, I want to be like Him, don't
you? So that's why it says, Then spake He again. After they're all gone, after
that interruption, then He sat back down. And he spoke to the
people again, and he said, this short statement, I am the light
of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. That's all
he said. What a statement. And the context
is, What connection is that? Why did he say that right after
that happened? There's a connection. Because
those that came barging in were in darkness. Those Pharisees
and those scribes were in darkness, weren't they? They were in the
darkness of their ignorance, unbelief, rebellion, and superstition,
and under the law, and their ignorance of the law. They were
in darkness. He left them in darkness. He
left them in darkness. They left still in the dark. They didn't hear what He said.
They left. But that woman, now she was in
darkness. She was in the darkness of sin, in the clutches of the
rulers of the darkness of this world. She was held captive.
She was one of these, Scripture says, sitting in darkness in
prison houses. The Lord had her brought in here
to deliver her out of darkness into His marvelous light. And
I promise you, I guarantee you, she sat down. After he said, go and sin no
more, what did she do? I'm pretty certain that she sat
right down right there. And she heard him say this, I
am the light of the world. He had come to deliver her, lift
her out of the pit, lighten her darkness and put joy in her heart
and a smile on her face. I believe she had a smile on
her face for the first time in a long time. She's free. Alright, the first thing about
light, about this passage, that I'm the light of the world, go
with me to 2 Corinthians 4. We'll just go ahead and go straight
to that passage, John. 2 Corinthians 4. This is how we get light. This is how we receive the light. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. If you're here tonight,
if you're sitting here and you've been taught that Christ is the
light, and you walk in the light by faith in Him, following Him,
how blessed you are. The light has shone in your heart. Look at, and it's through the
preaching of the gospel. Verse 1, 2 Corinthians 4, seeing
we have this ministry, and he's talking about ministry of the
gospel, preaching the gospel, as we have received mercy. And
we faint not. We're not going to quit. We've
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, like those Pharisees. We're not walking in craftiness
or handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth
and commending ourselves to every man's conscience and the sight
of God. In other words, he says, we have nothing to hide. But
if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light, the knowledge of the glory of God, where is it? In the face. of Jesus Christ. And we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and
not of others. Oh, how the Lord has shined in our hearts through
the preaching of the gospel to see the light of the gospel. How blessed we are. There are
two things I hope for in this message. I hope, number one,
that we'll all see Christ clearly as the light and will come to
the light and walk in that light and live in that light, the light
of life. Now, the kingdom of God is called
the kingdom of light. The kingdoms of this world who are under the God of this
world is called the kingdom of darkness. That's what it's called. And He had come, Christ had come
to deliver us from the power of darkness, or the kingdom of
this world, of darkness, the ruler of the darkness of this
world, into His kingdom of life, into His marvelous light. That's
what the Scripture said. Darkness. Now, in order to appreciate
the light, in order to see the light, you've got to understand
something of darkness. If you go into a jeweler, You
know, buy a jewel, a diamond. When you men went to buy your
wife's engagement ring, diamond ring,
the jeweler brought out a black background, didn't he? Or a blue,
dark blue, satin background, velour. And they put that diamond
ring in the midst of that black background and it just It sparkled,
didn't it? So clear, so bright, against
that black and dark background. So the Gospel can only really
be seen as we know something about this darkness. The first mention of darkness
is all the way back in the very first chapter of Genesis, verse
2. God created the heavens in the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void
and darkness. It was in darkness, covered the
face of the water, and it was in darkness until God spoke and
said. What's the very first thing that
happened? He said, let there be light,
and there was light. And he went on to say that he
divided the light from the darkness. He divided, and his word was
what did it. That's Christ. That is man. That is us. That's this world
in darkness. And only when God gives the Word,
sends Christ the Word, sends the Gospel, the light of the
knowledge of Christ into our dark heart, will He enlighten
us. Only then, when He speaks. One
of the next uses is found in Exodus chapter 10. Exodus chapter
10, when the Lord sent all those plagues upon Egypt. And the next
to last plague, right before he killed all the firstborn,
was what? Darkness. It says the Lord sent
darkness in the land of Egypt. It was the last days. It was
the last days. His people were coming out, which
is a picture of God's people. And 1 Thessalonians speaks of
We're not in darkness as others, but we're waiting for our Lord's
coming, while the world's in darkness. In Exodus 10, it says
the Lord sent darkness in the land. It said it was so thick,
it was so dark, that you could feel it. Now, don't you feel
it all around us? Look around us, people. There's
never been a darker time. Oh, it's been as dark, but the
reason being, like before the flood, God looked down and said,
the whole earth is corrupt. The whole earth is corrupt in
His way, and darkness, darkness, sin, evil, wicked, corrupt. It's significant, isn't it, that
most people like to wear dark clothing? and dark things. Look at how
people mark their bodies up with skulls and crossbones and death. Why is that? Because that's this
world. It's in darkness, sin and wickedness
and corruption, isn't it? And God sees it much more than
we do. We just see a little bit. The reason. Why is the world
in darkness? Blame it on religion. Seriously. Blame it on religion. That's the cause. Our Lord said
this, if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is
that darkness. Christ came to light, didn't
He? And oh, when that light came and it illumined that little
bit of the world, it began to spread all over the world, didn't
it? Lights. Lights spread everywhere. Spread all over Europe, all over
the continent. Light, light. It spread so far,
it went across the ocean, came to this continent. Light, light. Then when they ceased to preach
the Word. Go with me to Isaiah 8. Isaiah
8. I jotted down, I can't tell you
how many pages, Notes, rough notes and scriptures, dozens
and dozens. I wrote them out by hand. I don't
use a computer. Wrote them out by hand. Many,
many scriptures speak of darkness, darkness, light, darkness. And
some of the most wonderful are found here in Isaiah 8. Darkness is the absence of light. Ignorance, sin, corruption. Superstition, tradition is the
absence of the Word of God. If there was as much gospel preaching
as they say there is today, there wouldn't be so much widespread
corruption. There wouldn't be so many traditions
and superstitions, so much ignorance, would there? Isaiah 8, look at
verse 20, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not
according to this word, it's because there's no light in them,
no truth, no word. Verse 21, and they'll pass through
this world hardly bestead and hungry, and it shall come to
pass when they shall be hungry, they'll fret themselves, curse
their king and their God and look upward. And they'll look
under the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness and anguish. They'll be driven under darkness.
Keep reading. Look at verse 2 of the next chapter. But the people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light. Go to Isaiah 59. This is wonderful. Isaiah 59. Oh, how wonderful
God's Word is. The light. Isaiah 59, verse 4. None, he says, calleth for justice. Throughout the Scripture it says
God looketh down to see if there are any that seek Him. None calleth
for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity
and speak lies. Verse 6 says their webs shall
not become garments. Their webs that they weave, it
won't cover them. Their works aren't covered. I
see them. Verse 8, the way of peace they know not. No judgment.
Their paths are crooked. Verse 9, their judgment is far
from us. Neither does justice overtake
us. We wait for light, but behold, obscurity for brightness. But
we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the
blind. God can send pestilence. and disease and all this wrath
of God from heaven because of unrighteousness, they don't see
it. Like the Egyptians, they keep
right on groping, like the people in Sodom, groped for the door
that God smote them with blindness and they kept right on doing
what they were doing. How blind is that? How dark is
that? It's a dark day. It's going to
get light. We're going to have light in
here. The children of Israel have light in their dwellings. Hold on, you've got to see how
dark it is though. You see something of it. But this is what the Lord
says it is. And it says down in verse 14,
judgments turn way backward. Remember back in chapter 5 where
it says they call good evil and evil good. Sweet, bitter and
bittersweet. Backwards, opposite. Truth faileth,
verse 15. They didn't depart from evil. He's the prey. He's the one they're
after. God saw it. It displeased Him.
Verse 16. Keep reading. This is wonderful.
He saw there was no man. So, verse 17, He put on righteousness
as a breastplate. Who's coming? The Light. Christ
the Light. The Savior of His people that
walk in darkness. And in verse 20, the Redeemer
shall come to Zion. In verse 1 of chapter 60, rise,
shine, thy light is come, the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee. Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, gross darkness
of people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, his glory shall
be seen upon thee. Do you not see it? We don't have
many in here tonight, but I've got the greatest subject in all
the world. Christ said, I am the light of the world, but here's
condemnation. Here's condemnation. Why don't
more people want to come hear about Christ? Because Christ
said, here's condemnation. Men love darkness rather than
light. John 1 says, He was in the world,
the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. Light
shone in darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. He said men love darkness. They
hate the light. Look at John 3. John chapter
3. Go over there quickly. John chapter
3. Here's what the Lord said. And you know this story here
in John 3. Nicodemus came to Him. When did He come to Him?
At night. Why? He didn't want his fellow
Pharisees to see Him. He loved the praise of men more
than He's supposed to be a master in Israel and he's coming to
this poor rabbi. He's embarrassed to admit it. He's not going to stay that way.
After Christ is crucified, Nicodemus is going to come in broad daylight,
right to pilot himself and say, I want his body. confessing him and identifying
himself with Christ crucified. But look down at verse 19, John
3. This is the condemnation, that
light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. Everyone that doeth
evil hateth the light. You know, most crime and wickedness
and corruption is done at night. They don't come to the light,
don't come to the Word. People don't want to hear this.
It reproves them, right? And I want you now to ask yourself
this question. Verse 21, But he that doeth truth
cometh to the lights. that his deeds might be made
manifest, that they're wrought in God. Like a moth coming to
the flame, he's drawn to the flame. Those that have this light,
those that have Christ in them as light, they come to Christ
like the light exposes us, show us, reveal us, convince us, convict
us, reprove us, rebuke us. We want to be like you. We want
to follow you. We've been in darkness all this
time. We like light now. We don't like darkness anymore.
Is that you? I believe it is. I believe it's
me. This world has been in darkness
for 6,000 years. It's always been in darkness.
Ancient Egypt, as we just mentioned, Persia, Greece, all these supposed
wise societies, civilized, they call them. Rome. And now in our new world, new
modern world, England, France, Germany, the U.S., darkness. Look around, never been darker,
never been more corruption. Man can't see God. Man doesn't
even believe God is. How dark can you be? How blind
can you be? When the heavens declare His
glory and the firmament showeth His handiwork, day after day,
utter speech, clear. Clearly seeing the mirror of
darkness, they say, no God. No, there's no God. It's universally
believed, isn't it, that there is no God, no Creator, no Sovereign,
no Ruler, no Controller, no Judge, isn't it? It's universally believed
by all men. Not us. The light is shown on
us. Can't see who God is? Can't see
what man is? Like the Egyptians, they couldn't
see one another. It was so dark they couldn't
see one another. Couldn't see how corrupt, how vile. Couldn't see the wisdom of what
Christ says. Can't see it. Can't see it. I told a man, I said, how foolish
is it? This was an educated man, really
high up in education. The superintendent of some of
the largest schools in this nation. I spoke to him and I said, how
foolish is it to not sit and listen to the words of Jesus
Christ, who is wisdom personified, and in a line and a phrase of
what he says, eternal wisdom, light in this dark world. How foolish is it to not listen
to him, not follow what he said, but rather listen to people that
are in darkness, To listen to utter fools. To esteem what men
say as wisdom, and to esteem this as foolishness. God says
the opposite, doesn't He? And He's shown us, hath not,
brethren, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? And
the world by... And this gets back to where we
started. In the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. Because God has chosen the foolish
things to confound the wise, base things, things that are
not, to bring the not to things that are. What wisdom that is. I'm
so glad, aren't you? I'm so glad because I'm a nothing
and I'm a nobody. I believe he's taught us, hasn't
he? Bless God, John said, the Son of God hath come and given
us an understanding like That we might know Him that is true.
The day star has arisen. Peter said this, Simon Peter
said, You'd do well to take heed as unto a light in a dark place.
The Word of God. He said, You'd do well until
the day star rise in your heart. Until He dawn on you. Alright, let's look at this,
the text. He says, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness. I am the light of the world.
Meaning, if there's any light, if anybody has any understanding
whatsoever, it's got to be through Christ. It's got to be because
of Christ. Nobody knows what love is. Nobody
knows what truth is. Nobody knows the way, the way
to go. Nobody knows until Christ came
to show it. Christ is the light. By Him we
understand who God is. By Him we understand who God
is. By Him we understand what man is. We're lost. We're dead. Christ
said, I've come to give life. I've come to call. He said, the
day is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. He's our life. He's called us from death to
life, from darkness to light. He's come to show us we're dead,
we're blind, we're deaf, we're dumb. He's come to show us who
He is, why He came, for whom He came. He's the Redeemer, He's
the Savior, He's the Covenant Head, He's the Second Adam, He's
the Great High Priest, He's the Prophet, He's the Priest, He's
the King, He's God manifested in the flesh, He's Emmanuel,
He's all these things, He's the Way, He's the Truth, He's the
Door, He's the Bread, He's the Water, He's... Name something! He's it! The light of whatever
you need to know is known fully and completely only in Him. Everything
else is just darkness. He's given us light to understand
who He is and where He is now. Where is He? We can't see Him.
That's what they said to Simon Peter. Where's the promise of
His coming? We don't see Him. No, you don't. But His people
do. Clearly, by faith, they see Him. Where is He then? David?
They asked Him, where is your God? Where's your God? Ron, where's your God? He's in
the heavens. What's he doing? Whatsoever he hath pleased. He's
seated right now at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Say, I can't see him. I can't. Stephen did, didn't
he? As they were stoning him for
telling the truth. He was just telling the truth
about their darkness. That light came and they hated
darkness. And Stephen, as they were stoning and bashing his
brains out, looked up with a smile on his face and said, I see him standing
at the right hand of God. Oh, it made him even madder,
didn't it? Made him even more angry, didn't
it? And as they were beating his brains out, now here's life. He said, lay this not to their
charge. Just like his Lord hanging on
the cross. Father, forgive them. Lighten their darkness. Maybe
He did. Maybe the Lord did. That burning
light, like old Ridley Latimer, huh? Burned at the stake, old
Ridley Latimer said, we're going to light a lamp that will never
be put out. We're children of light. John
wrote, Paul wrote. We see where He is now. We see
He's reigning and ruling, don't we? We see His hand and everything.
As men, fulfill everything He did, or everything He said that
they would do. Worry, fear, dread, guilt, shame,
doom, gloom, and despair darken our hearts, don't they? Only
when we see Christ, who He is, and why He came, and
He came for us, and where He is now, and what He's doing.
Seated, reigning, brutally expecting. We're in His hands. We're in
His purpose. We're in His love. We're in His
covenants. That'll lighten our darkness
every time. See, Christ lightens us, gives
us wisdom. Christ said these things like
this. Listen, He's light. He's understanding. The world
looks at the world and says, oh, look, look, look, look, look.
Our Lord says, it's damned him. But, but, but, but, it's damned
him. It's better than perishing. It's temperament. It won't last. Look what all he's got. Look
what all he's got. It's loss. The Lord enlightens us. It's loss.
Gain is loss. Loss is gain, He said. The world
says, I don't understand. I do. Don't you? I do now. The world says, look
at this couple. They're traveling all over the
world and they've got it all. They're seeing the sights and
they're living a good life. Oh, are they? I think Barbara
Ross has it made. She has food at Raymond. She
knows Christ. She's content. And she's about
to go meet Christ any day now. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. That's light, isn't it? Two things enable us to see. Light is sight. You've got to
have eyes. You've got to have light. Right? Scripture says having eyes to
see what they don't see. Hearing is the same thing. You've
got to have ears. You've got to speak to. The seeing eye,
the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made them
both. Oh, Lord. Our Lord said, My kingdom is
not of this world. He said, In my Father's house
are many mansions. Not in places. I go to prepare
a place for you. And at His right hand are pleasures
for evermore. This is not pleasure. This is a dark, The cloud of doom hangs over
this world. Yes, it does. The Lord lightens
our darkness and parts that cloud and we see a kingdom of light. And our Lord said here in the
text, He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness. He that
followeth Me shall not walk in darkness. The disciples left everyone and
everything to follow Him. What did they lose? Nothing. Old Matthew sat at that receipt
of customs and he thought he had it all. What a miserable
life. Somebody said about a rich person
we know, said she's so poor, all she has is money. What did they lose? Nothing.
They left all their worries. Where the treasure is, that's
where you're hardy and that's where your troubles are. They left
their worries. What did they gain? Everything.
Everything. They wouldn't have traded their
previous 35 years or however long it was for one year walking
with the Lord. What did they lack? Nothing.
What did they learn? Everything. They thought, boy, were we stupid.
We thought boats and nets was living the good life. They had joy that no man and
no thing could take from them as long as they were walking
with Christ. As long as they were following Him, they had joy that nobody
could take from them. They had peace that nothing and
no one could disturb following Him. He said, follow Me, and you won't
walk in darkness. What is it to follow Christ?
What is it to follow Christ? Well, it's to hear His Word.
It's to hear His Word read and read the Word yourself. It's
to follow His commandments. If you hear His Word, you won't
fall into despair and disgloom. We're all guilty of this. We
sit at home. We turn on the TV, the computer. What do you hear? Tell me. What do you hear and what do
you see? Do you see any light? Do you see
anything that gives you any peace whatsoever? Any hope whatsoever? Anything? It's all darkness. It's all darkness. It's all corruption. We go home,
we sit, and we look at that stuff, and it brings us down into a
pit of darkness. Our minds, our hearts begin to
just... You're in a dark hole. Turn that
off and go to the window. You know that ark had one window?
If you want a light, if they want a light, they have to go
to that window. And they may have been sitting in the dark
and worried. Go to the window and see the
light. Oh, my. Come sit in the sunlight. I tell this to everyone. Come sit in the sunlight. He
won't be afraid for the arrows that flyeth by day or the pestilence
that walketh by night. Come sit in the sun. Have you
ever felt bad or have you ever been gloomy and whatever, and
if it's a nice day outside, you just go sit in a chair and just
sit and bathe in the sunlight? Huh? Have you? It makes you feel
better, doesn't it? Huh? or a gloomy day, or a dark
day, if the sun would just come out. It doesn't even matter how
cold it is. In the dead of winter, I used to like to walk in the
snow in the dead of winter, ten degrees, whatever. But if the
sun shines, there's nothing cold in it. The wind's not blowing.
But if the sun shines, you're just bathed in sunlight. Well,
that's by design. That's the Lord telling us. Now,
He is the light. Believe Him, trust Him, to follow
Him is to believe Him and trust Him and look to Him and bask
in His light. It's to believe Him. Go in closing,
go with me to Ephesians 5. It's to hear His wisdom, hear
His Word, hear His knowledge. To follow Him is to believe Him,
knowing He knows where we're going. And He knows how to get
us there. He is the way. You won't follow
somebody unless you believe they know where they're going. I personally, you ever been in
the dark, out in the woods, and you have one flashlight? Anybody? Well, Rick and I want to be the
one, don't you? Well, it depends on who it is.
If your wife's with you, she'll trust you. She'll trust you.
She won't close behind you. You've got the light. She can't
see. And you say, just follow me.
I know where I'm going. And Christ said, you don't know
the way. I am the way. Just follow me. Just trust me. Just trust me.
Follow me. To follow him is to observe him.
John, we just read that in 1 John, didn't we? That which we have
seen and heard and handled, which our eyes have looked upon and
handled, the Word of Life is manifest in them. To follow Him
is to walk with Him, to commune with Him. When you're walking
with somebody, following somebody, you're generally talking to them,
communing with them. And He talks to us and He communicates
with us. He doesn't leave us in the dark.
We might know His good and perfect will, the way that we should
walk. He said, here's the way walking.
It's to emulate Him. To follow Him is to walk as He
walked in this world. It's what we just read in 1 John.
He that walketh in the light also walk as He walks. To follow
Him, to walk as He did in this world in wisdom, circumspectly,
in love. In mercy, look at verse 1 of
Ephesians 5, Be ye therefore followers of God, of Christ,
as dear children. Walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us. Remember John said, He that hateth
his brothers in darkness. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and given himself for an offering, a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling Savior. That's what we're to do. Give
ourselves. Down in verse 8, you were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light. Here it is. The fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, truth, proving what is acceptable
or an accepter one of the Lord, and have no fellowship with unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them. This is why Paul
wrote, he said, how can light have fellowship with darkness?
It can't do it. Light won't rub off on them, but darkness, the
other way. It can't, because the light reproves,
you see it. Our Lord walked in this dark
world for the purpose of enlightening his people. Verse 12, it is a
shame to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
All things that are approved are made manifest by the light.
Whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Awake thou that sleepest,
arise from the dead. Christ shall give thee light.
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming
the time. The days are evil. Be wise, not
unwise, understanding what the will of the Lord is. To walk,
to follow Christ is to Walk open. Honest. Up front. No guile. No hypocrisy. Nothing to hide. Nothing in secret. Nothing in
secret. Open. Open hand. Open heart.
Open face. Open. People that do things in
secret have something to hide. Secretly. Open. Honest. Our Lord was honest. Up front. Open. Walk that way. Nothing to hide. Nothing to fear. Right? Nothing to fear. Nothing
to fear. Lord, open me up. Open my hand. Open my heart. Open my eyes.
And our Lord said in John 8, and you know, this was the biggest
subject I've ever tackled, one of them. The light of the world. But in verse 12, he says in closing,
you follow me, you'll not walk in darkness. You know how to
go, where to go, where you're going. You'll see things as it
is, not fall into the traps, the pits and nets. You shall
have the light of life. The light of life. Live the good
life, as Peter wrote. The light of life, sin, unbelief,
wickedness, corruption, hatred, anger, all of these things, the
works of the flesh, is a dark way. It's not life at all, it's
death. People that live in sin and unbelief
are just dying a slow death. The life, here is life. Here
is life. Righteousness, peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost. That's life. That's the good
life. Life. You lay down in peace and
you wake up in His light. In His light. Walk in the light. You'll have
the light of life. Christ Himself, He that hath
the Son, hath life and light and joy and peace and righteousness. Those in darkness. Lord, bring
us out. Bring us out. Okay. Stand with
me. Our Lord, Your Word is truly
a lamp. under our feet, a light under
our path, O Lord. We see, though, through a glass
dimly. We are ashamed of ourselves. We fall back into darkness so
often when we need not, when we just follow Thee and look
to Thee call upon Thee and seek Thee and listen to Thee and heed
Thy Word and look into Thy light and ask for oil for our lamps
to burn brightly. Oh, Lord, it's our fault. It's
our fault. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us
that we bring this misery on ourselves. We walk in darkness.
Oh, Lord, lighten us, we pray. Send the light of Thy truth into
our hearts at all times, that we might walk with Thee in paths
of righteousness. For Thy great name's sake. O
Lord, we want to walk as You walk. We want to walk with Thee.
We want to have the light of life. Life, life, life. We want to shine as lights in
this dark world. O Lord, use us. Show someone
else Thy light. In Christ's name we pray and
met here tonight and ask these things. Amen. Very good.