Christ Teaching In His Temple

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus as the light of the world?

Jesus declares Himself as the light of the world, promising that those who follow Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12). In John 8:12, Jesus states, 'I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' This proclamation emphasizes the central role of Christ in revealing truth and providing spiritual illumination. When we follow Him, we are guided away from the darkness of sin and ignorance and brought into the light of understanding and hope. The metaphorical use of light signifies life, truth, and divine presence, contrasting the moral and spiritual darkness prevalent in the world apart from Him.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to know Jesus as a real person?

Knowing Jesus as a real person strengthens our faith and provides comfort, anchoring our hope in a personal relationship rather than mere doctrines. Understanding Jesus as a real person is vital in the Christian faith because our relationship with Him is what sustains and comforts us. In the sermon, it is emphasized that faith is not solely based on doctrines or creeds but on a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This relationship assures us of His care and promises, as reflected in passages such as 1 John 1:1-3, where John writes about sharing fellowship with the Father and the Son. The reality of Christ's person means that believers can experience genuine joy and peace, knowing they are loved and cared for by a real Savior who is actively involved in their lives.

Q: How do we know that Christ will fulfill His promises?

We know Christ will fulfill His promises because His integrity and divine nature guarantee the truth of His word and the fulfillment of His purpose (John 10:28). The assurance of Christ fulfilling His promises is rooted in His divine integrity and unchanging nature. In the sermon, it is articulated that Jesus has engaged Himself entirely to save and care for His people, making His promises dependent on His own character. For instance, John 10:28 states, 'And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.' The strength of this promise lies not in our faithfulness but in His reliability and the efficacy of His redemptive work on the cross. As believers, we take comfort in knowing that His word will not fail, and that He holds our salvation firmly in His hands, assuring us of our eternal security.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to gather and worship together?

Gathering for worship allows Christians to deepen their relationship with Christ and experience collective encouragement and instruction in faith (Psalm 122:1). The importance of Christian gatherings revolves around the need for fellowship, worship, and collective learning from God's Word. As stated in Psalm 122:1, 'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.' This reflects the joy and eagerness that believers should have in congregating to worship. It is not merely about attending church but coming together to genuinely encounter Christ, to support one another in faith, and to grow in understanding of His teachings. The sermon emphasizes that true worshippers are those who come to hear from the Lord, and that in His presence, they find comfort and strength, making corporate worship a crucial aspect of the Christian life.

Q: What does it mean that Jesus is the mediator of the covenant?

Jesus as the mediator of the covenant means He is the fulfillment of God's promises, ensuring a relationship between God and His people through His sacrifice. Jesus serving as the mediator of the covenant signifies His role in establishing and guaranteeing the promises of God to His people. In the context of Hebrews, He is depicted as the surety of a better covenant, where His sacrificial death fulfills the requirements of the law and establishes a new relationship between God and humanity. His mediatorial work ensures that all who are in Christ benefit from the blessings of this covenant, including forgiveness of sins and eternal life. This fundamental truth reassures believers of their secure standing before God and the unbreakable promises that Christ’s sacrifice affirms, anchoring our hope firmly in Him.

Heaven came down, didn't it? in the person of Jesus Christ.
He is the kingdom of God among us. All right, let's look at
the gospel of John, John chapter 8. John chapter 8. John chapter 8. And let's look at one verse,
John chapter 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. And one of our ladies tells me
nearly every time after I preach, or at least most of the time,
I wish she would say this every
time, it might mean that I've done a little preaching, but
she says to me, And she means it as a compliment. She says,
you preach Christ, you make Christ so real. So real. And I appreciate that so very
much. I appreciate that. And that's
what I want to do every time I preach. I'd be a mighty poor preacher
if I didn't proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ very really, or
as he is, real. I'd be a mighty poor preacher
if I didn't, because he is real. Preaching is the setting forth
of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what true preaching is. It's not delivering a dissertation
on a subject. It's not setting forth doctrine
per se. It's the declaring of a real
person, a real Christ, a real Savior, a real Lord. And this
is our faith and this is our comfort. It's a person. Our faith
is not a creed. It's not a doctrine. It's in
a person. It's in a person. And this is
our comfort. This is all the believer's comfort. There's a real Lord and Master
and God who's reigning and ruling and controlling all things, and
we are in His hands. And in Him we live and move and
have our being. He's controlling us. and working
all things together concerning us, according to his all-wise,
immutable, unchangeable purpose. And everything he does for those
he loves and those he owns is good." A person. Now, you could state that as
a doctrine, but it wouldn't comfort your heart. But in knowing that
there's a real person, and you're in his hands, and he, Father,
knows best. And in Him we live and move and
have our being, and from Him we receive all things. Yes, Christ
is real. And we are really His. Those
who know Him, those who believe Him, those who trust Him, if
you believe Him, you're really His. You're really His. You're
not your own. You're bought with a price. And
He has... What's the word? He has engaged himself to take
care of, to save, to take care of, to do all things for and
concerning his people. Everything. He has engaged himself. His very integrity, his name, his word,
his person depends upon him. saving and providing and caring
for his own. The veracity or truth of what
his word depends on him saving everyone that he purchased on
Calvary's tree. His integrity is at stake. Our
salvation is at stake. His integrity is at stake. And
he said I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Heaven and earth shall perish, my words won't, and neither will
those I give life to." None of them. We're not our own. We're
bought with a price. And we're here, and he is our
life, physical and spiritual. Now we're going to look at this
one verse here tonight, verse 12. And we probably won't get
through all of it. Each verse, every word that the
Lord of glory said deserves a sermon in itself. I mean every word.
The Lord never uttered an idle word. The Lord never filled in the
blanks with words. Everything he said, every word,
was divinely ordained by God and has eternal significance. Our poor finite minds can't understand
it, but every word is significant. If we had the capacity, we could
spend an hour on each verse. Couldn't we? This one. Did that strike you when you
read that verse 12? You shall have the light of life. And would someone else like to
come up and attempt this? The light of life. I'm the light
of the world, the light of life. Well, I began studying this and
I went back to, let's go back to chapter 7 and look at verse
53. Let's begin again because in
verse 12 it says, you notice in verse 12 there in John 8,
you notice the little paragraph, the symbol of the paragraph. You see that? There's a reason
for that. When you read the scriptures Whenever you see that little
backward P, you see it? Is it in your Bible? That means
the beginning of a paragraph. Or that is, some time has elapsed.
Or something took place, it was a kind of a time period in there,
and now it's starting again. And sometimes it's starting again,
what, or picking back up what was started earlier, and there
was something in between. All right, well that's what happened
here. The Lord was teaching in the temple and he was interrupted
by the scribes and the Pharisees. You remember that? We looked
at that Sunday. He was teaching in the temple
and he was interrupted by these scribes and Pharisees and in
verse 12 is where he picks it up again. So that made me go
back to the beginning, back where it started. All right, let's
look at verse 53 again of chapter 7. Every man went unto his own
house. Every man went unto his own house.
Verse 1 now of chapter 8. Jesus went unto the Mount of
Olives. Every man went to his own house.
Christ went to the Mount of Olives. He slept in the hills. That's significant. I think there's a couple of reasons
why he tells us this. To show us
that Christ was a visitor here on this earth. He had here no
continuing city. He was a stranger and a sojourner
like he tells us to be. Doesn't it? A stranger, a sojourner
here. He had no continuing city here.
This was, this is not his kingdom. This world is not his kingdom.
He was passing through. Like I said Sunday, he was, he
was passing through on business. He was sent by God to do something. The business of the Father. Remember
that? You know, that's the first, the
first words uttered by our Lord upon this earth. Do you know what the first recorded
words of the Lord were? He was a 12-year-old boy. That's
right. He said, I must be about my father's
business. Now as a boy, he said that. I must be about my father's business. What was his business? What was
the father's business? When we read that back in John
16, he said, this is the father's will. Of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing. He said, this is the Father's
will, that all he giveth me, I'd lose nothing. Everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Christ came,
sent by God, to save a particular people, an elect people, chosen
by God. He said, all the Father giveth
me. shall come to me." And him that
cometh to me, he said, I won't cast him out. Well, I'll raise
him up. I won't cast him out. I'll raise
him up. I'm going to go to Calvary. I'm
going to live a perfect life for them, a righteousness that
they can't do. And I'm going to charge it to
them. And then I'm going to go to Calvary's tree and pay for
the sins that they can't pay for, because their sins are against
the Holy But I can pay for them because of who I am. And I'm
going to pay for every one of their sins, and I'm going to
justify them before God. I'm going to save them, all of
them. That's the Father's will. That's
the Father's purpose. And he chose a number which no
man could number. But he did choose a number, not
all men, and elect people. And he gave them to Christ And
Christ said when he was a 12-year-old boy, I must be about that business. And he came down here on business.
Do you know what the last words that he said on this planet were?
He was hanging on the cross and he said, it's finished. Don't you like that? I must be
about my Father's business. What's that? To save a people.
Every one of them! I'll save them," he said. And
he came down here to do that, a job that only he could do.
Hebrews 1 says, when he had by himself purged our sins, he went
back to heaven and sat down. Job done. Well, hanging on the
cross, he said, I did it. It's finished. Preachers tell
people all the time, now, God's done all he can do, now it's
up to you. No, it's not up to us. That's a lie. Christ said it's finished. There's
nothing left to be done. A woman told a young preacher
one time, a young heretic, I should say. A woman told this young
preacher, she said, there's a big difference between your religion
and mine. The difference is in two letters. He said, what are
you speaking of, ma'am? She said, your letter, your religion
consists in two letters, D-O, do, do, do, do. He said, she
said, mine is four, D-O-N-E, done. Christ did it. That's the difference in true
religion. That's the difference in salvation by the grace of
God in Christ alone and salvation by man's Do or done. Which do you want? Done. Paid in full. Which do you want?
Paid in half? You pay the rent? Paid in full. That's what every sinner wants.
Every helpless, weak sinner. Well, where am I? I'm right here,
trying to preach the gospel. Well, Christ came down here on
business, and he said, the scripture said here in John 8, that he
went to the mouth. He had here no continuing city.
He had, the scripture says, the foxes have their holes, the birds
of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man hath not where
to lay his head. This shows us that Christ came,
he didn't come to stay, and neither are we. Don't drive your roots too deep.
As Brother Scott said, don't hang on too tightly and God will
have to break your fingers. And he will. We're going to let
go of it. Well, he's showing us that. And number two, Christ
is identifying with the poorest of the poor and the lowest of
the low. The fact that Christ had not
a home He's identifying with the poorest of the poor on this
earth and the lowest of the low. Now, there's not a Mayan Indian
in Mexico living in one of those mud huts that we have visited
who is poorer than the Lord Jesus Christ was as a man. Isn't that right? Every man went to his own house.
It appears that everybody had a house there. He did. Well, let me ask you this. Do
you reckon he was content? Let me ask you this. Do you reckon
he was worried? Well, it might rain tonight. Do you reckon he was worried?
He's the one that's going to make it rain. Do you reckon he,
do you reckon the Father was going to provide for him? You
know, Christ as a man had to live by faith. He reckoned he
was worried that the Father would provide for him. He didn't have
a house now. He said, Oh, ye of little faith.
Didn't he? Oh, ye of little faith. My, my.
Well, look at verse 2 now, all right? You say, how did you get
that from verse 12? Well, verse 12 made me go back
and start reading all that, you see. It made me go back and start
where he started here. All right, verse 2 says, early
in the morning he came again into the temple. He came to his
temple. This is the messenger of the
covenant. I'm not careful, I might Get sidetracked on that, but
Malachi 3 says that the Lord, whom you shall seek, shall suddenly
come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant whom you delight
in. Behold, he shall come, the messenger of the covenant, the
Word made flesh, the messenger of God, the Word of God. the
declarer of God, the revealer of God, the revealer of the covenant,
the head of the covenant, the surety of the covenant. Folks,
you've got two hours. He said every word. He came to
his temple. All right, it says the people
came to him. This is the Christ. This is God in human flesh. And
the people came to him. What people came to him? He said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. Neither of God heareth God's
words, he said. The people came to him. And you
know, right here, this was a crowd
of people that came, it says they came to him. You see that? It doesn't say they came to church. That's what most everybody says,
don't they? Let's go to church. And I'm not trying to be clever.
Somebody else said that. They said, you don't go to church. You are the church. If you're
a believer. And besides, you just don't... The church, the true circumcision,
like Philippians 3 said, true believers worship God. They come to worship God. They
don't just go to church. They don't come because it's
time to go to church. They come because they're glad when they
sit under me. Let's go to the house of the
Lord. To do what? Worship. Let's go worship. Let's hear what the Lord says.
Let's hear what the Lord has to say to us. That's what we
do, we come to him. That's what these people did,
see. I have reason to believe that the people he's talking
about here were true worshippers. They came to him. They came to him. And it says
he sat down. He sat down right in the middle
of them. Must have been two or three gathered there, John, in
his name, because he sat down and taught them. know that he
would sit in our midst. He said, Dad, where two or three
are gathered, I'll be there. And he'll teach his people. He
teaches them. He teaches them. How may he teach
us? You know, in his presence, and
this is what the church wants. This is why they come. They come
Because they want to give thanks. They want to praise and exalt
and glorify their God for the great things he's done for them,
the great one he is. He's worthy to be worshipped.
That's what heaven's all about. That's what eternity's going
to be spent doing. Worshipping God. Anybody that,
if that's not their motive now, they're not going to be there
then. If that's not the joy and rejoicing of the heart of someone
now, they're not going to be there then. Is this going to be a gathering,
a congregation of people who delight to worship God, who want,
who are going to be eternally happy just to be in His presence? And He is going to be with them,
that God will dwell with them, the Scripture says. The psalm says, in thy presence
is fullness of joy. Fullness of joy. Let me ask you
this. The psalm, we sing a psalm sometimes,
in that, in this glad hour. Do you, the psalm also says,
I was glad when they said unto me, let's go to the house of
the Lord. Is this a place of glad tidings?
Are you just glad when it's time to come here? Huh? Why? Why is it, those of you who nodded
yesterday, why is it that you find such satisfaction when you
come here? Christ is your satisfaction when
you hear of him. Huh? Why is it that you find
peace when you come here? If you hear Christ, who is your
peace? you'll find peace. Comfort. Why do you get comfort? Joy. Have you noticed when you
come here and Christ is proclaimed, His Word is declared that doubts
and fears go out the window? Just as soon as you sit down,
as soon as the Word starts being proclaimed, in its certainty,
in its surety, Christ is your surety, doubts and fears just
fly out the window. All your worries go away. You
notice that? Why? Because Christ sits down
and he teaches you concerning himself. That's exactly what's
happening. It's not this old boy, I ain't
much of a comforter. I'm not much to look at and I'm
sure not much of a speaker or preacher. But if Christ comes,
like I've said so many times, he spoke to Balaam through that
ass one time, didn't he? They can use any kind of means
like that. Well, look at 1 John. Turn over
to 1 John, chapter 1. 1 John, the epistle of John,
1 John 1. Look at this. And if you'll,
sometime in your own reading, just compare 1 John 1 with John
1, you'll be amazed at similarity. First John 1, look at these verses
here. Now John here, John is talking about a real person.
Deborah, he's not talking about a doctrine. Now listen to what he says here
when he's writing this epistle. John is, can you see him writing
this, Rick? How are you going to describe
the one that John, in five chapters of a short book, short epistle,
he's going to write to these people concerning this one that
they lived with and witnessed for three and a half years, things
which it's impossible. Look at it. That which was from
the beginning. which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, our hands
have handled." Is he real? "...of the word of life." The
life was manifest. We've seen and bear witness and
shown you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. That! He keeps saying that, doesn't
he? How are you going to describe
this God-man, this thing that's never been before, this person,
the God-man? Isn't that the way the angels
said it when they announced his birth? Remember that? Remember when the angels announced
the birth of Emmanuel, God with us, to Mary? that holy thing
that's in you. They didn't know what to call
it either, or him. They had many names in Isaiah
9, 6, many names. They could have quoted those
names. Call his name Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Government's on his
shoulders. Call his name Jesus. He shall
save his people from sin. Call his name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted, God with us. Call his name Mediator. Call
his name that. Would you say that? That one. Verse three, which we've seen
and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship
with us. And here's your fellowship, not
around a doctrine. Not in the church, per se, but
truly our fellowships with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ. He says, "...and these things write we unto you, that
your joy may be full." Your joy! Christ said, what's your joy?
Christ said, My joy I give unto you, which no man taketh away. The joy in knowing that there's
a real, live person seated on a throne in heaven, and you're
in His hands. Christ is real, all right. And
I, the mighty poor preacher, if I don't preach, he's real. And he really speaks to his own.
He really speaks peace, just like he did to those disciples
of old. Now, this was recorded 2,000 years ago, where Christ
said to those apostles there in John 14, He said, Let not
your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me." Oh, he said, in my Father's house
are many mansions. If it weren't so, I wouldn't
have told you. And I'm going to prepare a place
for you, that where I go you might be with me. If I go, I'll
come again and receive you to myself. Well, Thomas said, wait,
wait, wait, wait, Lord, where are you going? We don't know
where you're going. We don't know the way, he said. I'm the way." Didn't he? Philip chimed in. Philip said,
well, show us the Father. Philip, have I been so long time
with you? I am the Father. It's me. Has he been so long time with
us? Do you believe that believer? Do you believe Him, that? I said it right, didn't you?
Do you believe that? Huh? Him, he's real. Ours is not a
concept. Ours is not a doctrine. Ours
is not a systematic theology. Ours is not a creed. Ours is
not a religion. Our religion is a person. Your
comfort is a person. Your salvation, Teresa, your
salvation is in a person. And it's not that silly fellow
with a fish head on his head sitting in Rome. It's the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords, it's the most high potentate. Jesus Christ, and
he's seated not on a puny man-made piece of wood, but on the throne
of majesty on high. And you're Teresa Patterson.
His name is engraved on the palms of his hand, and he looks at
it every day. I'm talking a real person. And
he has ordered everything concerning you, and every, everything, down
to the very hairs that are in your head, or the ones that come
out. He determines it. Now, if he's
that concerned about his people, numbering the hairs of their
head, what are we to worry about? I'm talking a real person. Look
at Psalm 37. Oh, people, look at Psalm 37.
I love this. David was a man after God's own
heart. David, Ed David, Christ hadn't
come yet, had he? But he knew him. He hadn't come
yet. Ron, he didn't know that, he
didn't know Jesus and Nazareth and all this that was up, but
he believed. He knew, he knew. He knew him,
didn't he? Well before that, Abraham. Christ
hadn't He knew. Christ said that. He said, Abraham
saw my day. He rejoiced to see my day. He
saw it and was glad. Before that, Moses. Moses, long
time ago. He said, Moses wrote of me. Well, before that, they say Job
is the oldest book in the Bible. Job, they say that was written
back right after Adam. I don't know. Could be. At any
rate, Job said in Job 19, he said, I know my Redeemer liveth.
I'm going to see him. He's a person. He's going to
walk this planet. And I'm going to walk with him
someday. A person. Well, David here, look at Psalm
37. David walked with him. He knew him. Didn't know his
name, but he knew him. And David was an old man now,
and he'd walked with him for many years. Fifty, sixty years
maybe. David was fifteen or so when
he slew that giant. And now he's about seventy years
old. It's been fifty some odd years David's been walking with
the Lord. Now look at what he says here. In Psalm 37, he says
in verse 25, I've been young, and now I'm old. Yet have I not,
I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
for Every day. Every hour. He's ever-merciful. He lends us. His seed is blessed. His seed is blessed. His seed
is going to be blessed. He's going to seed His seed. He's going to seed them all.
He's going to seed them all the way through. The Lord will see
to it. Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will see to it. See
to everything about them. and see to it that they all get
to be with him. He said, Father, I will that
they be with me where I am. And in that last day, he said,
here they are. Behold, I and the children. He lived with those disciples
three and a third years, and they didn't have a home. They
left everything. They didn't have a job. They didn't have
any of these things. And after he was about to go,
he said, all this time I've been with you. He didn't like anything
yet. like anything. Well, we've had
over and above that which we could even think or ask for,
they say. We've seen, that's the reason
John said, that which we've seen and heard, and
we declare unto you that your joy might be full. Person. Person. Now, with all that said, We ought to be able to go home
tonight and get in bed and go to sleep. Huh? He that keepeth Israel shall
neither slumber nor sleep. He giveth his beloved to sleep.
That's what that means. Rest, peace, contentment, knowing,
stayed upon Jehovah. Not a shade of worry. stayed
upon Jehovah. He said, I gave Ethiopia and
Saba for your ransom, Egypt for you. I was out today checking on the chickens. Charles
was checking on the chickens. They're all there. I'm still
a pretty good chicken keeper. Not one of them. Well, one of
them was lost. Fox got him. But the ones I've
got, I've had for a while. I'm going to keep them. And I
see to them all the time. See to them all the time. Now,
somebody tell me what a chicken's worth. Would you? What do they cost in the store?
What do they cost? Man, it was a pound, chicken a pound. Somebody
tell me. A dollar thirty-nine a pound?
Is that cheap or too expensive? The point is, they ain't worth
much, are they? Well, I go out and see through
those foul, feathered fowl of mine all the time. And here come
the cats. Now, what's a cat worth? I get
amen out of Rick Williams on this. Cats? He says real men
don't have cats. Well, maybe I'm not a cat man. But I got down on the ground
and I was calling the cats and the chickens and I was just delighting
to feed all those animals. I'm just looking around my little
flock. It ain't much, but they're mine
and I've determined to keep them. And according to the power that
I have But it's in me, I'm not going to let anything happen
to them. And I'm going to feed them. It just delights me to
feed them and keep them, and I'm not going to let anything
come now to them. Now, do you see the point? Our
Lord said that, didn't he? He said, there's not a bird,
there's not a sparrow that falls to the ground out there without
your heavenly Father, without his directive will. Not just
him knowing about it, him directing it. Him causing it to fall. So he said, he's worth a little
bit more than spares, a whole lot more than spares. Talking
to a believer now, God gave his son, he that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? Huh? You're not going to let
anything happen to us? And shouldn't that comfort you?
Shouldn't that comfort you? Well, Stan, I didn't even get
to verse 12. Is that all right? We'll pick it up. We'll pick
it up. Well, here's it, and I want you
to see this, though, all right? Now in verse 12, in verse 12,
our Lord was interrupted there, wasn't he? Remember that? He started teaching, and he was
interrupted by those scribes and Pharisees. They came to him,
these people, but he was interrupted. And then those fellows left after
he, I'd like to go into that again, wouldn't you? That divine
interruption, wouldn't you like to go into that? What happened
there? What happened in those first,
those 11 verses were, the Lord was teaching his people that
had come to him Sovereignly, by his providence, but one of
them was late in getting there. She had to be brought, but she
got there nonetheless. Came in late, but she got the
same thing that the rest of them got. But she, at any rate, after all
that went on, and they left, those fellows left, then, verse
12, then he starts back again. After those self-righteous scribes
and Pharisees, and we describe them, after they left and got
out of the picture, now he's going to speak to his people
again. See, they were still there. True worshipers that came to
him. And verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,
look at, I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Now,
I'm going to go into this more fully on Sunday. I don't have
time now. I'm going to quit. But let me
just point this out to you. He said, He that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Christ said, I'm the way, truth,
and the life. He says this all the way through
the Gospel of John. What does he mean by that? What
does it mean? Well, light is understanding,
isn't it? In Christ is hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. You can't know God apart from
Christ. You really can't know yourself. You can't know the
Word of God apart from Christ. He's the light. He is what illuminates
the Word of God. He's the light of life. He that
followeth me, he saith, shall not walk in dark, nor stumble
on pitfalls," and so forth. Nets and traps and gins and snares
following him. Let me give you this illustration.
I've given it to you before. You may have forgotten. Remember,
we were down in Mexico. And I'm not going to tell you
exactly how I told you the first time. We were in Mexico. Walking down in the midst of
that capital city, MÃ©rida, Mexico, a million people or so, and I
believe they were all downtown that day. And it was just a mass
of humanity. That place was just a mass of
humanity. And, you know, just cars and
buses and people and bicycles and vegetables and just, it's
just, you can't describe it. And it stinks, and it's just
a mess. And I tell you, if you knew where you were going,
about half knew you were going, you probably couldn't get there.
Well, we were walking through town, and my dad, my father,
was leading. He was in the lead. Now, Walter
Gruber had been living down there for 25, 30 years now. And Walter,
as you'd expect, kind of tagging along back there, Rick, you know,
just, you know, what Walter does. Well, my father was in the lead,
you know, and I was following him. And I think it was Todd
or somebody behind me, we were following, you know, kind of
like, well, Pied Piper, you know. Well, he was walking along, all
of a sudden he stopped. I said, what am I doing? He said,
I don't know where I'm going. You remember what I said that
he said? Well, I'll paraphrase it. He said, I'm just like one
of these average preachers today. He said, I'm leading everybody
and I don't know where I'm going. I'm doing the leading and I don't
know where I'm going. He said, Walter. So finally Walter
got up there. Now, now that man knows where
he's going. And according to how well he
knows where he's going, he's going, is whether or not we'll
get there. Right? Now, I have implicit faith
and confidence in Walter Gilgore when I go to Mexico. You'd have
to, to ride in a car with somebody driving down there. You'd have
to. But I'm just confident Walter
knows where he's going. And so I'm not concerned. I don't
know where we're going, but Walter does, so I'm going to follow
Walter. And Walter's going to get us
there. He's never failed yet to get us where we're going,
in the midst of that mass. Well, Christ said, follow me. Lord, I don't know where he...
Follow me. I do know. I know what I'm doing. I know where I'm going. I know
where you're going. Just follow me. Just follow me. Whoa, whoa, what about him? Never
mind him. Never mind what happens to them.
You follow me. Walk in the light I've given
you, and I'll give you more light. And we'll go into that a little
more on Sunday, OK? Follow him, and you'll not walk
in darkness. He is the light of life. Your
life. All right, let's stand and be
dismissed. Our Heavenly Father, we preach in part, we know in part, and we grope for words and for
understanding like those that are in the dark. Yet, Lord, you
have shined in our hearts to a degree. You've shined in our
hearts to give light the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, in a person. We see all the wisdom and glory
and fullness of God, salvation, everything we see in Christ.
Everything that we see, we see that's in Christ. We know in
part, though, we believe, we just, the half hasn't been told.
But what has been told us, we see, we believe. that Christ
is all. And O Lord, may we find our confidence
there and our assurance there in him. that he is there at your
right hand and ever lives for us, make intercession for us
and direct everything in that covenant concerning us. The overseer,
the head of the covenant and everything about us, he directs
it and he gives it or he withholds it. He does it. He's Lord in
the dead and the living. He's our Lord. This Lord is our
Lord and our God. O Lord, may we rest right there.
Stayed upon Jehovah, Sid Kenneth, the Lord our righteousness, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, give your people comfort,
peace, and great hope in Christ. We pray. And we thank you for
your word, and we ask that you would Apply it to our hearts. Let us go home tonight and rest
in what you've said to us, what you've taught us. We give you
all the glory for it all. In Christ's name, amen.

Christ Teaching In His Temple

What does the Bible say about Jesus as the light of the world?

Why is it important for Christians to know Jesus as a real person?

How do we know that Christ will fulfill His promises?

Why is it important for Christians to gather and worship together?

What does it mean that Jesus is the mediator of the covenant?

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Christ Teaching In His Temple

What does the Bible say about Jesus as the light of the world?

Why is it important for Christians to know Jesus as a real person?

How do we know that Christ will fulfill His promises?

Why is it important for Christians to gather and worship together?

What does it mean that Jesus is the mediator of the covenant?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

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