I want to look at one verse here
in John 8. 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. Now this is a profound statement. As with everything our Lord said,
it is vast in meaning and impossible to comprehend fully. It was difficult for me to know
where to begin and to try to deal with it. But the thought occurred to me,
well, begin where God began. Go to the beginning. Look at the first chapter of
John. John chapter 1. We could just as easily go back
to Genesis 1. I will allude to that at the
end of the message. He said, I'm the light of life. I'm the
light of the world. If any man follow me, he'll not
walk in darkness, but have the light of life. The light of life. I'm the light of the world. Look
at John chapter 1. Let's read the first five verses. In the beginning was the Word.
Now, this is speaking of Christ, who is called the Word. And the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The saying, or the Word,
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him.
Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness. and the darkness comprehended
it not. I am the light of the world.
Christ did not say, I am a light. He said, I am the light, the
only light, without which Now, these verses are clearly speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You saw that, I hope. Jesus Christ
is God, in whom, verse 4 says, in him was life. Jesus Christ
is him in whom we live and move and have our being. Everyone
in here is drawing breath, breathing breath that Jesus Christ gave
you. gave us. This is what the scripture says.
In him we live and move and have our being. Our natural life,
our physical life, is given to us by Jesus Christ. That's what
John 17 says. Christ said God has given him
authority or power over all flesh. to give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. He said in John 5, As the Father
hath life in himself, even so the Son hath life in himself. Our natural life is in the hands
of Jesus Christ. He gives it to us. The breath
we have right now is borrowed. We borrowed it from him. He's
given it to us. Our spiritual life is in his
hands. I just quoted that to you in John 17. All authority,
all has been given into the hands of Christ to give life to whomsoever
he will. And life, spiritual life, and
light. We're going to look at the word
light, which means understanding. Spiritual sight is what it means. Understanding light is to know
him. It's to know Christ. That's what
he said in the next verse in John 17. He said, I have all
authority to give eternal life to as many as God has given me.
And verse 3 says, and this is life eternal. This is it, to
know him, to know Christ. Do you know that you are in Jesus
Christ's hands? Do you know that your life is
in His hands? Do you know that your spiritual
life is in His hands? That's what it means to have
life. That's what it means to have life. Understanding. Look
at verse 9 here in John 1. John 1 verse 9 says that, or
talking of that. But Christ was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Christ
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Does that mean
he saves every man, every woman? That's not what they say in there
at all. Not at all. Christ is called throughout the
scriptures, in Proverbs 8, Proverbs 4, all through the scriptures, Christ
is called wisdom. Jesus Christ is called wisdom,
okay? Colossians says, in him are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All wisdom and knowledge
comes from or is in Jesus Christ. Are you with me? All wisdom and knowledge comes
from him. Do you remember the story of
Joseph? How did Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the storehouses?
Do you remember that? Pharaoh put Joseph in charge
of his granaries and his storehouses. And if anybody got anything or
received anything, they had to get it from Joseph. Joseph was
the one who decided who got how much and what they got, when
they got it. This is the way it is with all
things. physical and spiritual with Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ is Lord over the
dead and the living, the Scripture says. In Him we live and move
and have our being, and everything we have we receive. That's what
the Scripture says. What do we have that we have
not received? And John said a man can receive
nothing except it be given from above. Well, who gave it? Jesus
Christ. the one in charge of the storehouses
of knowledge. If any man, any puny worm on
this earth knows anything, it's because Jesus Christ gave him
a brain and gave him the knowledge. That's right, all learning is
what Christ revealed. Whatever it may be, biological,
historical, scientific, mathematical, whatever knowledge man on this
planet has, he got it from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave it
to him. But now, wait a minute, mankind,
and now I'm talking about natural knowledge of the physical and
so forth. Are you with me? Everybody. But mankind, now mankind thinks
he's real smart and real intelligent and real brilliant and has some
wisdom and so forth. That's what Romans 1.22 says,
professing themselves to be wise, they became what? Why is that? Because of all this
knowledge. Romans 1 deals with this. Romans
1 says they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. I mean, the God that gave them
the brain. You know, John, Brother John, it
seems like the strongest believers on earth
would be somebody like a brain surgeon, wouldn't they? Wouldn't you think so? You'd
think a medical doctor would be about the strongest believer
on earth. That he could open that body
and see, like David said, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.
Open that head and see that pulsating thing called a brain and say,
oh, this didn't just happen. Someone wonderful made this.
If I touch it here, But man doesn't like to retain
God and His knowledge, so God gave them over, the Scripture
says in Romans 1, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. That
means a mind void of judgment. They don't have, in our language,
don't have good sense. Don't have good sense. Mankind now, especially man,
and man is in, especially concerning the spiritual world. He's in
utter darkness. I mean utter darkness. He doesn't
know anything. Everybody thinks they do. Everybody thinks they do. Everybody's
got an opinion of God. Can't found it on anything. Can't
tell you where they got it, but they think. I know where I think.
Everybody thinks they know God, know something about God. But
mankind's in utter darkness. Utter spiritual darkness concerning
God, concerning the things of God, concerning life, concerning
death, concerning life after death. Why do you think there's
so much absurd and ridiculous things going on by people? He's in darkness. He's groping.
The Scripture says that light We look for light and grope in
darkness. Verse 5, look at it. In John
1, verse 5, it says, The light shineth in darkness. The light
came on. The light shined in this planet. I mean a bright and morning star. The sun arose on this planet. But look at verse 5. Darkness
comprehended it not. Over in John 3, look over there
real quickly. Everybody quotes John 3, verse
16. Boy, they ought to run down to
verse 19. They ought to look a little further. John 3, verse
19 says, this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world.
Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are
evil. Light has come. Men love darkness. Darkness!
What is darkness? Well, sin is darkness. When does most of the crime take
place? Under so-called cover of darkness,
right? Most crimes are committed between
something like 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., most crimes. Darkness. Well, man is in the
darkness of sin. Man is in the darkness of ignorance.
Have you ever said this about somebody? He's in the dark about
that. He's in the dark about that.
Well, that's what man is about God. He's just in the darkness.
She is. I say man, ladies. I'm talking
to all of us. Man is in the darkness of ignorance,
willfully ignorant. I'm talking about that brain
surgeon. Peter talked about it in 1st and 2nd Peter 3. He said,
of this they're willing to ignore. That brain surgeon now, he has
all the education that a man could get. And he sees clearly
the invisible thing. He sees the power of God. That's
what Paul said in Romans 1. He sees clearly. He's without
excuse. He can see these things as some
wonderful and infinitely higher and glorious being. way and far
above excelling man and all his wisdom and creativity did all
this. He has to see that. He has to
see that. But Peter said this. He said
they are willingly ignorant. They're willingly ignorant. Men
choose willfully to not believe in a Creator. Why? Science just
proves it? No. All the so-called proof of
science today is utter nonsense. It's just a few scientists that
will admit it, but they will admit it's utter nonsense. My
daughter, one of her teachers, said the other day that all this
evolution is absolutely absurd. Her science teacher said that.
I'm so glad to hear that. It's absolutely absurd. No proof
at all. No substantial proof. Did you
get that article? Anybody get that article on the table downstairs
about the rock they're looking at? At any rate, man, Peter said,
is willfully ignorant. He doesn't want to create it.
Women don't want to create it. Why? If God made us, He owns
us. Right? Now, this is my suit. Right? Not your suit. Not your
suit, Henry. You wouldn't want it anyway.
It wouldn't fit you. But this is my suit. I can do whatever I want to with
this suit. Can I? It's my suit. Why, I can
burn this thing. Can I? Oh, you ought not do that. Don't tell me what I can do with
my own. I'll do what I want. God created this ball of dirt
and everybody on it. And Psalm 24 says, "...the earth
is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the inhabitants thereof,
are all the Lord Jesus Christ." He can do with it what he wants
to. And Scripture says, and this is a Jesus men don't know, in
Revelation he says, "...he has the keys of hell and death in
his sight." He has the keys, not man's will. He has the keys. He decides who goes where and
who does what. He does. He's Lord. That's what
it means to be Lord. In Him we live and move and have
our means. Sam is not a thing we do without
His divine permission or direction. Not a thing. He decides. Right? But men are willingly ignorant.
Don't want that. Isn't that what they said when
Christ was here? We will not have this man reign
over us. We don't want man reigning over
us. We don't want God reigning. Well, we'll make up some ridiculous
theory and we'll believe that. We'll just say there's no God.
Let's just say for the sake of theory, there's no God. And that's
what they do, Stan. They begin with an educated,
what's called a hypothesis, an educated guess. The things I'm saying is not
a guess. or a hypothesis, based on word, fact, of one who said,
no, heaven and earth is going to pass away. I'm the one that's
going to pass it away. He said, but my words will not
pass away. They'll rise up in a judgment
against us. A man is in the darkness of ignorance concerning God.
Ignorant. Don't want a God. Don't want
a creator. Don't want a judge. And superstition. If you don't
have a God, and if you don't have this book, why anything
goes, does it? What do you think? Well, I think
God is a flower. I think God is a flower. And
we're to enter into the petal of his love. This stuff goes
on. I think God is in the sun. Yes,
we'll worship the sun. They do that in Mexico. They
worship the sun god, called Cha. We go down there all the time,
and they have these ceremonies. And there's Western people, United
States people making their pilgrimages down there and standing around,
Cha. You think, you don't think so?
They actually do that, go down there and stand around and worship
the sun still. Well, here goes a comment by—oh,
it's a sign! Let's kill ourselves. What if you were mistaken? What
if it was a plane? Too late. Ridiculous. Absurd. Why? It's in the darkness.
Dark, dark. This is the light. Why is it that there's no danger
of anybody in here ever committing suicide or following, if I asked
you to do that or whatever, following me to do something like that,
why? Everybody's got the light on. And you see those, when you turn
the light on, and I'm getting way ahead of myself, when you
turn the light on, it reveals all the pitfalls. When you're
in the darkness, you fall a hole. When you're in the darkness,
the boogeyman can get you in. Well, when the light's on, you
can see the danger and the nets and the pitfalls and the snares
and so forth, can't you? And, boy, you can see the way.
When you're in the light and you've got a light on, you can
see the way clearly. Don't go there, that's danger.
Don't go there, don't look to the right-hand, look straight
on. That's where I'm going, buddy. How do you know? I've got the
light on. Christ said, I'm the light. the
light of the world. I'll enlighten every man that
follows me. You'll not walk in darkness,
but you have the light of life, eternal life, understanding and
the eternal life. See him, believe him. You know,
man's called a worm, isn't it? That's what the Scriptures call
a man, a worm. Where do worms live? Where do worms live? Where do you find worms? Now,
don't tell me down at 40 West Food Fair in the frozen food
section. Don't tell me that. I know they
have them, but that's not where they come from. They're in the
ground, aren't they? Where? In the dark. In the earth. They're earthworms. That's man. He's in the earth. He's in the
dark. It's about God. He's in the dark. What do you
think of when you think of the grave? Death. Everything points to the
fact that man is in darkness. What do you think of when you
think of death? When you think of the grave, you think of a
dark hole. What do people wear when they
go to funerals? Why? Why? Why a man choose blackness to mourn death? Because he's in the dark about
it. He doesn't have the foggiest
notion of what's out there after that. How's he going to know? Oh, it's just somebody come back
from the dead and tell us, which shed light on that valley of
the shadow of death. We know he did. And it's not
written in the Star magazine or the National Enquirer. Those
are a bunch of huckstery. He did come back. And he said,
I'm blind. I've been there. I know. Let me tell you about it. Christ
is the light. Christ is the light. He's called
the Word. We read it there in John 1, didn't
we? Christ is called the Word. Now, the light and the Word,
or Christ and this book, are inseparable. Inseparably collected. You can't know Christ apart from
this. You can't know this apart from Christ. Christ is the light,
the Word is the light. OK? This is like a window into
heaven. This is the window of the ark.
This is the window of the ark. Without this window is darkness. Christ is the light. Christ is
the Word. He's the Word. You throw away this book. You
throw away this book which speaks of Christ. and through which
Christ speaks and imparts all wisdom, this is where he gives
spiritual wisdom. Now, like we just read a while
ago, he gives all men by nature some degree of natural wisdom,
according to, you know, some people are just born smarter
than other people, aren't they? I have a friend over in England,
a professor, Edgar Andrews, who Man, he's forgotten more than
I'll ever learn. And he's brilliant. People are born now, I could
study all my life, eight or ten hours a day, and not attain under
that fellow's natural intelligence. You know what I'm saying? Don't
need anybody to say amen to what I'm saying. But it's so, isn't
it? Some people have, who, why, who,
who make Athena differ? Why does that mean it's who?
It's Christ. Just the same as I have a little
bit of understanding, well, down here's a mongoloid, down here's
a person as an imbecile, a person who's mentally handicapped or
retarded or whatever you want to call it. Who made me to differ
from that? And I tell you what, I don't
know who's the more blessed. I believe God saves everyone,
doesn't He? He saved the simple. Well, Christ
is the Word, though, and He's the Word which He speaks through,
and He imparts all spiritual wisdom, comes here. Spiritual
wisdom doesn't come by sitting out on the mountainside with
your legs crossed. Cramped legs come from that. Colds set in from that. Warmth sets in from that. Light,
understanding of God doesn't come by searching. That's what
Job said in the oldest book. Can a man by searching find out
God? Well, he can search all he wants to, but he can't see
Him. He's not going to find out until he dies, unless God reveals
Himself to him. How does God reveal Himself to
man? Christ, the Word. No other way. Well, I think wrong. God said, I bow thoughtest, but
you're wrong. He said, my ways and my thoughts
are as high above you as the heavens are the earth. You don't
have the foggiest. We don't have the foggiest notion
of God. We're in ignorance. Man will
grope in darkness. and ignorance. And like I said
a while ago, he'll, without this, without a knowledge of Christ,
he'll study, like I said, black holes in the universe. He'll
sit around looking through a telescope at a black hole in the universe. Think about that. Think of the
wisdom in that. Looking at a black hole. What do you see? Blackness. What's
in it? I don't know. I think I'll look
a little longer. You can look all you want, and
it's a black hole. I don't know anything about astrology, but
I know a hole's a hole. Well, now, look at rocks. Sit
around and study rocks. And we'll pay them millions to
do so. Look at rocks to determine If
there's life in that rock? Or in somewhere else? Well, I
study rock. I study a rock. And it's just
plain as day to me. Yes, there's life in a rock. Do you know who that rock is,
huh? Maybe you have some light. Do you know who the rock is?
That rock is Christ. And they're going to look at
that rock for years. And we're going to pay them billions
to do it. Now, this is what will happen.
Man's wisdom is so foolish. Without the light, he's in darkness. Without the light, he'll claim
that all this comes from a one-self creature. And that was made by
a big bang, big explosion. And then man's religious thoughts
are even more ridiculous. Man's religious thoughts are
even more ridiculous. Without a knowledge of Christ,
without a knowledge of this word, man's religious thoughts are
even more ridiculous. These are spiritual thoughts.
And they use this word. They look for light, but they're
open to darkness. Some use the word, but don't
see Christ in it, therefore. And this is what one of the brethren
and I were talking about Wednesday night. If you can come to doctrine,
you can understand some doctrine from this book, but you don't come to a knowledge
of God that way. And I tell you what will happen
eventually. If you just come to understand doctrine, you'll
change it. You'll change your doctrine somewhere
along the line. I know a fellow who started out
preaching the doctrines of grace, and I'm getting around to like
that kind of thing. I hear people say, ever since
I came to acknowledge the doctrines of grace, that ain't salvation. Dr. Dredge never say. Christ said. That this man started
out preaching the doctrines of grace where he is now. He now believes God loves everyone. Now why did that happen. But
he came to doctor. But here now if you start with
Christ If you come to a knowledge of
God, this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only
true God, you'll realize that he can only truly save one way.
He can only truly love one way. You come to know God, you understand
what I'm saying, Nancy? You come to know God, your doctrine
won't change. It'll become more grounded and
settled. The more you come to know this
person, the more grounded and settled you'll become. Right,
Stan? The more dogmatic you become,
this is God. You say, you don't start out
with doctrine and say, well, I believe, I don't believe God
loves everybody, I believe. And then another fellow says,
well, let's figure this out. And you change that. You come
to a knowledge of God. You meet God. Anybody that says that, or really
believes that, that that's what's happened to you, you hadn't come
to Christ yet. And this is what they'll say.
This is what they'll say. Well, God made, this is what
religions say, God made the universe, but he has no hands but yours.
This is religion without a knowledge of a sovereign God and sovereign
Christ, only come through the light. They say, God made the
universe, but he has no hands. Boy, I can't understand that.
I mean, that just must be so wise that I'm scratching my head. God made the universe, but he
has no hands, but you're. He made you, but you're his hands. Well, that went over my head.
God controls all, they say. God controls all, but He can't
do anything without man. Now, wait a minute. Does He control
man? Well, yes and no. Yea and nay. He controls me, but like the
preacher in town said, you control the one that controls you. Well, say, God is all-powerful. God is all-powerful if man lets
him be. Well, is he all-powerful or not?
Is he? Joe, is he? I mean, is he all-powerful or
is he not? Well, if man lets him. Boy, that's just stupid
is what that is. They say God will send men to
hell. Who's going to send men to hell? Is that right? Ain't nobody going
to jump in voluntarily. I had a fool tell me that one
time, Rebecca. I had a fella tell me that one time. He said,
God doesn't send anybody to hell. I said, you mean they're lining
up to jump in? You mean that's where everybody
wants to go? Willingly? Voluntarily? He left the light on. He said,
I had utter ignorance. They say, God sends men to hell,
but he can't get them into heaven. He can't get them into heaven.
He can get them in there, but he can't get them in there. That's
up to them. Which is harder. Isn't it ridiculous? They say
God loves everybody. God loves everybody, but he might
send them to hell anyway. Let it be like me saying, Hannah,
I love you dearly, and blowing your brains out. Huh? Does that make good sense? No, man has a reprobate mind
when it comes to God. He's in the darkness. Christ
sheds a little light on him. Oh, my God. He sheds the light
on him. Who does God love? Who does Christ
say he loves? All that the Father giveth me. He said, I came for my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them. I love them. My
Father gave them to me. I came to save them. Who'd Christ
die for? He said, I lay down my life for
my sheep. They say, men are saying everywhere, Christ paid for your
sins. He paid for the sins of everybody. If Christ paid for
the sins of every man, every man is saved. Why? Because it's the blood of Christ
that saves. It's the only thing that does
save. Let's say, no, it's your faith.
No, it doesn't say that anywhere. It says, the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. It says, the blood maketh
atonement for the soul. It says, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. So everybody Jesus Christ died
for will be eternally saved. That's what Christ said. Well,
then did he die for everybody? No. He said, I lay down my life
as a sheep. Oh, that sheds a lot of light
on the atonement. I shed a little light on the
atonement? I see. If Christ paid for my sins, then
what? They're paid for. If Christ put
away my sins, that's what atonement means, cover. If he covered them,
they ain't there, are they? They're not there. He said, I
blotted out the handwriting of Orpheus. If it's blotted out,
it's blotted out. And when I stand before God someday,
there won't be nothing against me on the record. No condemnation. Why? Christ. See that? Whom does God love? All that
he gave to Christ to do this for. Will he damn any of them? Not a one. Not a one. He said, I've loved thee with
an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31. An everlasting love. That means he always loved none.
And I always loved that girl right there, as long as I live.
And I'll never blow her brains out, unless I lose my mind. I love her. I'm not going to
kill her. I love her. God is perfect love. Perfect
love casteth out fear. Perfect love. Christ sheds all
the light we need, a man of God and of salvation. Let me read
in closing. Let's just close with this. 2
Corinthians chapter 4, okay? 2 Corinthians 4, and we'll read
this verse in closing. Christ said, I am the light of
life. I am the understanding. I am
the revelation. spiritual eyesight of the spiritually
alive, the light of life. Those who are alive under God,
they see Christ. They see Christ. And they see
through a glass dimly. This is like spectacles. This
is like eyeglasses, which God allows us to see Christ through
or in. And though we see through a glass
dimly, yet we do see. Yet we do see. We see Christ. And he is our light, our understanding. And that's life. Man is blind. Men and women are blind to these
things, unless God reveals them to us. Now let me ask you. When God first created life on
this planet, I said we ought to go back to
the beginning, didn't we? When God first created life on
this planet, what did he first create? Deborah, you go ahead and tell
me. Say it. You've been teaching your children.
First thing, God created light, right? The first thing he said,
it says, and God said. In other words, God spoke. In other words, the first words
spoken. The word spoken was the first
word. Let there be light on the first day of creation
of life. There's no life apart from light.
That big ball of helium, hydrogen up in the sky, that's what maintains,
physically, humanly speaking, life on this planet. Without
it, and that's what's going to happen some day, it's going to
explode, and there will be no more life on this planet. Christ is the Son of Righteousness. Christ is the Light. Christ is
the Word. And when God Almighty begins
a work, a spiritual work, when he begins to regenerate—that
means life, create new life, spiritual life—when he begins
to regenerate a dead human being in darkness, in sin, in ignorance,
in superstition, the first thing he does is create light. And you know what I'm going to
read. Look at 2 Corinthians 4, verse
6. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where is it? What is it? It's in the face
of Jesus Christ. Light. Christ in the light shined round
about him. And so do all that God meets
on their road to Damascus. Wherever God meets them, Christ
comes and reveals himself to them and says, I'm the light.
And they follow him. And from henceforth they no longer
walk in darkness, Barbara, they're no longer in darkness. They're
children of light, children of the day. They walk with Christ. You know, my habits have even
changed. Now, this is just funny because,
see, I used to be one of those creatures of the night, one of
those moles. These creatures out there, you've
seen them, haven't you? Spines and creatures. They looked like creatures.
That's what I looked like. Thank God I never got a tattoo
or earring. If I'd lived now, I probably
would have. Creature! I looked like a creature
of the night. That was me. The other day, Mindy
came to bed, and I was fast asleep. What time was it? She said, well, you've changed.
And I don't love darkness anymore.
Can't wait for the morning. My soul watches for the morning,
for the day. I'm not a lover of darkness anymore. I love her the light. No, I'm
out there gribbling in the dirt and the muck and the mire and
the garbage. Oh, I'm sitting at the king's table. I told I'd
rather sit here and eat. Well, Joe, do you have a psalm
picked out? 228. 228. Number 228. Stand with me and
let's sing the first and the last stanza. First and the last. I. I. If He would, He would, for He
shall flee. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My great position deals the same,
the lost he came to slay. For me his precious blood he
shed, for me his life he gave. I need no other argument. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Thank you and your dismays. Bye.