Well, the Word of God that we
look at each week, each day, if you're a child of God, you
come to the Word of God. The Word of God gives the people
of God powerful reasons for hope in his kingdom. Christ came preaching
the kingdom of God. And we looked two weeks ago at
Peter's exhortation to the people of God to be ready always to
give an answer to anyone who asks us about the reason for
the hope that is in us. And why should we do that? The
answer to that is that they too might seek the Lord, that they
too might seek the Lord and find him and share that confident
hope of eternal glory, that confident hope of heaven. If this life
is all there is, is it not the most miserable? Is it not the
most pointless of all things? But to know Christ is to know
life, and as he said, to know abundant life. He came that they
might have life, his people might have life, and have it more abundantly. Now last week we were thinking
about seeking the Lord, and we looked at Malachi chapter 3 and
verse 1. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly
come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom
ye delight in, says the Lord of hosts. Well this week I want
to look at two who were seeking the Lord. They were anticipating
the Lord to come to his temple. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly
come to his temple. My prayer with this message for
anybody hearing it and anywhere it might go. As we look at these
two people, God's Spirit will enlighten. That's what it says
in verse 32, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of
thy people Israel. There are a couple of articles
in the bulletin about the light of God which shines supremely
and only truly in the Lord Jesus Christ. That that light of God
will enlighten the spiritual sight of any coming to Him. with
eternal truth and everlasting life. This is what we're talking
about, it's life. So follow with me and ask God,
humbly, ask God to illuminate your soul with divine light.
Maybe you know people that know Christ and relish the blessedness
and the bliss of knowing Christ, of having a hope of eternity,
but no, it's not for you, you just can't get there, it doesn't
quite work for you. Oh, ask God as you listen along. Lord, illuminate my soul with
the divine light that you have shined into the souls of others. Now, of course, there's a Christmas
background to this, and this passage is familiar at this time
of year. Tomorrow is what the western
world, the world of Christendom, calls Christmas Day. And we know,
to be honest, to be truthful, it has become, what it is, is
truly a pagan festival. I mean, for one thing, we've
no idea, truly, when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. what we call the 25th of December,
Christmas Day, almost certainly not. I don't know when it is,
but it's a pagan festival. It's something that's been adapted
from pagan religion for the darkest days of winter in the Northern
Hemisphere. Fundamentally, Christendom, you
know, as we saw in Revelation. is not Christian. Christendom
truly is Antichrist. It's the woman of Revelation
17. It's religious, godless, material excess, isn't it, everywhere
we look? It's a jamboree of blasphemous
irreverence. That's what it is. There's been
no doubt about that. There's only one good thing to
say about it, and that's that it brings families and friends
together. And if it does just that, well,
OK, good. It encourages friendliness. It encourages a helpful spirit. It encourages acts of charity. It encourages cheer in dark,
cold days. But perhaps some who haven't
thought before, perhaps some will be prompted to think more
deeply. But all good feeling, you know,
even the best of the feeling, is easily distorted by sin. And isn't it full of sin and
greed and self? So this isn't a Christmas message
as such. Nevertheless, some might be thinking
of God coming into the world at this time of year, if no other
time of year. An expectation of Messiah. That's my first point, an expectation
of Messiah. 2,000 years ago, in the land
of Israel, around Jerusalem, Judah, Galilee, all that area,
invaded by the Romans and under the yoke of the Roman Empire,
but nevertheless, people who knew their scriptures were there. And many, many of the people
expected God's promised Messiah to appear, for God had promised
that the Messiah would come, the Christ would come. They're
the same word but just in different languages, the Messiah and the
Christ. What it means is God in human flesh, God incarnate,
God become man. that God would come into history
for what reason? For one reason only, to redeem
his people from the curse of the law, from the curse of sin.
His people who would populate his kingdom in triumph, his people
who would be qualified to be there as sinless and holy, as
holy as God is holy, that they would be redeemed from the curse
of sin which is on every single one of them by God himself becoming
man to do that which God as Spirit cannot do. God as Spirit cannot
die to redeem people, but God becoming man in the person of
his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. fully man, son of Mary, son of
God, full of grace and truth. He, as a man, as a spotless Passover
lamb, Christ our Passover, as a spotless lamb, he can bear
the sins of his people as a man. And as a man loaded with the
sins of his people, he can pay its debt. He can pay its debt
so that there is no more debt to pay, so that when the judgment
books are opened and the sins of his people whom he bore on
Calvary are looked for, they're not there, because according
to the legal record, they're taken away in him. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is Christ that
has died. This is the blessed gospel of
grace. Now, 2,000 years ago in Israel,
the land of Israel, many expected God's promised Messiah to appear. The scriptures had prophesied
it. The religious leaders asked John
the Baptist, you know, the ministry of Jesus was begun with John
the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare
ye the way of the Lord. And the people had flocked from
Jerusalem out to John the Baptist in the wilderness to hear his
preaching of the kingdom of God, the preaching of repentance from
sin. And he was baptizing them symbolically, a heart desire
to wash away the sins that separated them from God. And the religious
leaders went out and said, is this the Christ? Why did they
do that? Because the scriptures had told them that about now,
2,000 years ago, the Messiah would appear. Daniel's prophecy. said that it would be about now.
All sorts of other scriptures said it would be about that time.
And the religious leaders asked John the Baptist, are you the
Messiah? No, he said, I'm not the Messiah.
I'm not the Christ. I'm the one who Isaiah talks
about preparing the way of the Lord. The Magi had come from
the East seeking him. People were seeking the kingdom
of God. I know it's later at the end
of the life of Jesus, after he was crucified, in Mark 15, 43,
Joseph of Arimathea, who wanted to give the body of Christ an
honourable burial, he asked Pilate, Pontius Pilate, could he have
the body so that he could bury it properly? And it says in Mark
15, 43 of Joseph of Arimathea, He was one who waited for the
kingdom of God. People were waiting for the kingdom
of God. People were looking for God's
kingdom. People were looking for a right
relationship with God, for peace with God, for acceptance in the
Beloved who is Christ. People who had heard God's revealed
truth expected the Christ, the Messiah, to appear and to establish
his kingdom. For many, of course, many like
the Pharisees, it was just an academic exercise. But for a
few, it was a heart longing. It was the pinnacle of all their
hopes. What? Their hopes were not in this
world like everybody seems to be in this day. Where can we
go? What can we do? What thrills,
what pleasures can we have? No, people longed. There were
people who longed for the kingdom of God, for peace with God, for
the righteousness of God. It was the pinnacle of all their
hopes. They loved not the world, they were looking for Christ.
Their confidence of heavenly bliss rested in him coming, because
God would fulfill his promise to redeem his people from the
curse of the law. Where does it say that? Throughout
the scriptures. These are they, said Jesus, which
speak of me. As a man he came. dying to pay
the sin debt of his people. In that are his people made,
the righteousness of God in him. There was an expectation of Messiah. Now let's look at two people
who were expecting Messiah to come and translate it forward
to our day. I know he's come, but he's coming
again. You know, he comes in the hearts of each one of his
people at his own time by Holy Spirit regeneration. If you don't
know him, I pray that something of this, something of these accounts
will move in your heart by the Holy Spirit that you might seek
and look for Christ. Chapter 2, verse 25, there was
a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was
just and devout. He was just and devout. It's
not because he himself was a holy man, for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God. The scripture's not wrong when
it says that, even about Simeons. It's not wrong. All, the pinnacle
of man in his relationship with God. Enoch walked with God and
was taken and was... Enoch was still a sinner who
needed to be redeemed. Job, have you considered my servant
Job? There is none like him. But Job
was a sinner, for he justified himself in his own self-righteousness
until he saw the Lord in all of his glory. But this was a
justified man who was dedicated to the knowledge and service
of God. A devout man, that's what it
means. He was dedicated to the knowledge and service of God.
He must find God. He must know that he's in a right
relationship with God. He must have the answer to Job's
question, how should a man be just with God? And he was waiting
for the consolation of Israel. He was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. That is a term which applies
to the coming of the Messiah. He was waiting for the Lord's
Messiah to be revealed. The Greek word there is paraklesin. He was waiting for the paraklesin,
which is the consolation, which is the comfort. It also means
a calling, or a summons, or an exhortation. It's not only comfort
in salvation, but that God would accomplish his call. God would call his people to
seek and to know him. That's what it means. It's the
waiting for the comfort of the coming of the Messiah whom he
would call to himself. As Jesus quoted in Nazareth,
a couple of pages on in Luke chapter 4 and verse 18. Luke
chapter 4 and verse 18 and 19. Jesus went, fully grown now,
this is 30 years later from the time of Simeon, and he goes back
to Nazareth, to the synagogue where he grew up, and they gave
him the book of Isaiah, and he found the place where it was
written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book and sat down. Do you know what he was
doing? He was quoting Isaiah 61, the first three verses. The
Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed, this is written 700
odd years before Christ came, and by the prophet, his anointing
by the Holy Spirit, He gave him the words that Christ would speak
in the synagogue at Nazareth. Because the Lord has anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek. To preach that call,
that call which contains the comfort of God, the consolation
of God. Why consolation? Consolation
for the forgiveness of sins. I have a sin debt which will
condemn me to hell from the presence of the living holy God. But here's
the consolation in this one who would come, who is himself God,
that he would come and that he would accomplish salvation. He
would accomplish the redemption of his people. And so that's
good tidings, isn't it? That's the gospel, which is what
the gospel means. It's good tidings, good news.
He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. That's comfort, isn't it? To
proclaim liberty to the captives. Oh, what joy, what delight in
liberty to the captives. Captives to sin, captives to
that that would condemn us to hell. he has come to comfort,
he's the consolation of Israel, and he calls people to himself,
the opening of the prison to them that are bound, come on
out, come on out, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
This is the year of the Lord, the year of salvation, the year
of release, the year of the cancellation of all debt, the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all that mourn. To comfort all that mourn. This is the consolation of Israel. This is the call from God to
his people, to come to him, to be comforted, to experience redemption
in the soul, to know what it is. My sin, O the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed
to his cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise
the Lord, O my soul. to find peace in the promised
Christ. Look, it was revealed to him,
the Holy Ghost was upon him. Oh, this was the Holy Ghost.
Verse 26, and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost. that
he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
It was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost. Do you know, man
in his natural state, and especially religious man, hates this very
concept. Man hates this idea that God,
in sovereign grace, should reveal to one and not to another. That's what man in his religious
pride absolutely hates. It's so unfair. Why would God,
if a God would do that, then that God's not worth following
is what they say. But you know what the scripture
says? It is of grace. It is not of him that wills,
nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. It is God
who opens the eyes of the blind to shine in the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
He had the truth revealed to him, O that he might reveal it
to you and to me. He was told by God that he would
see the Lord's Christ before he died. He's an old man in the
temple, he's been devout, he's looking for the right relationship
with God all his life, but he's been told by the Holy Spirit
that before he died, he would see the promise of the Old Testament
fulfilled. He would see the promise of all
the scriptures up to Malachi fulfilled. That he would see
the Lord whom he seeks suddenly come to his temple, and there
he is in the temple in Jerusalem, waiting for the Lord whom he
sought to come to that temple. He was told he would not see
death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And Mary and Joseph
brought the infant Jesus. Look back at verse 21 of Luke
chapter 2. When eight days were accomplished,
when Jesus was eight days old, When the days were accomplished
for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus. Why?
Because the angel had said to Matthew, you shall call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He was
so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
And when the days of her, et cetera, et cetera, they brought
him to do that which the law of Moses said, that which was
the right which was given to Abraham. And what was he doing? Here is God contracted to a span,
submitting to this act of circumcision, of fleshly mutilation. He's saying
he's one. with the promised seed of Abraham. It says in Hebrews, he does not
give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed, not of
Adam, but of Abraham. Why Abraham? Because Abraham
had the faith of God's elect. And we read in Galatians that
all who have that same faith of God's elect are the children
of Abraham. The Jews are not the children
of Abraham. Those that are of faith are the
children of Abraham. Those that are of faith, like
Abraham's faith, are the true Israel of God. Not those who
can, if anybody can these days, and I don't believe anybody can,
trace their ancestry back through to Abraham. And he submitted
to circumcision. Why did he submit to circumcision?
You know, it tells us in Galatians chapter 5, verse 2, that if you
are circumcised, which is what the Judaizers were trying to
tell the Galatian Christians that they must be to be right
with God. He said, if you're circumcised,
if you submit to this one element of the Mosaic law, then you're
a debtor to the whole law and Christ will profit you nothing.
But he, Jesus, God contracted to a span, submitted to this
rite of circumcision, and became a debtor to the whole law. So
that when Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 says, when the fullness of
the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman. made under the law, there you
are, he submitted himself to the entire law, made under the
law, why? To redeem, to pay the recovery
price, to pay the buyback price of his people, to redeem those
that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And so then, he comes
into the temple. And verse 27, the Spirit of God
prompted Simeon to go into the temple just at the time when
Mary and Joseph brought in the eight-day-old Jesus to do for
him after the custom of the law. The Spirit prompted him to be
there at that very time. One of the articles I've put
in the bulletin is this little piece by Henry Mahan. I just want to read this now,
it won't take a minute. The word was made flesh. Here they are,
they come in with this little eight-day-old baby. Eight days
old. Henry says this, my friends,
if you will carefully consider it, this is the most extraordinary
fact ever declared in human language. God became a man and took upon
him the likeness of sinful flesh. He looked like any other man,
in other words. The ancient of days became an
infant of days. The son of the most high God
became a man of sorrows. He made the world, but as a man,
he had no place to lay his head in this world which he made.
He who made rivers asked a woman at the Samaritan well to give
him a drink of water. He who cast out devils was tempted
of the devil. And the author of life, the author
of life, the author of life died and lay in a tomb. Is that not
the most amazing fact? Think on that. Think about it,
pray about it. What amazing condescension of
the eternal God, driven by sovereign electing love. Verse 28. Then he took him up in his arms
and blessed God and said, and we'll come to that in a minute,
I'm sure most of you have held a tiny baby, eight days old,
something like that, a tiny baby. I'm not talking about one that's
starting to, you know, interact with, absolutely helpless, tiny
little thing. Here, Simeon, an old man ready
to die, ready to go to meet God, Ready to take his heavenly place,
this old man holds his God. God contracted to a span. He
holds his God in his arms. The God who made the very arms
that held the baby was in his arms. And the Spirit of God had
assured him that God had kept his promise. Here was his Messiah. Here was the Lamb of God, the
Passover Lamb, come to pay the sins of his people, come to pay
his sin debt, to make him the righteousness of God. Now, he
says, now I can depart in peace. Lord, now let us thy servant
depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. He's no longer fearful. You know,
there is a fear of death. in all of us. Hebrews 2 verse
15, Christ came to deliver those who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. And what does the world
do about this? It buries its head in the sand.
It gets drunk. It goes and does the most stupid
things. It lives as if there is no tomorrow.
But all the time there is that appointment which is appointed
to man to die once and then the judgment. And through fear of
death all their lives they're subject to bondage. But Christ
came to deliver his people from that fear of death. And so now
Simeon, having held his God in his arms, his Messiah, the Lamb
of God in his arms, he says, Lord, now let us thy servant
depart in peace according to thy word. to depart without any
anxiety, to depart without any fear. Robert Hawker says of this
verse, he says, how strong was the faith of the Old Testament
saints. He was an Old Testament saint.
Christ came just as he was dying. How strong was the faith of Old
Testament saints. They had no fear of death when
once they had seen Christ. Have you seen Christ? Have you
seen Christ in all of his saving grace, in all of his glory? Then
the fear of death will depart from you. Because he came to
deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. He says why he can depart in
peace in verse 30. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Mine eyes have seen the one through
whom you will take away my sins, that I will be right for all
eternity. And like everyone in Hebrews 11, the faith gallery,
Satan's evil kingdom could do what it would to them. By faith,
by the sight of the soul, by that gift of God, they had seen
God in Christ, accomplished their redemption from sin's curse,
and that guaranteed their eternal security. They didn't fear what
man could do to them because they knew him who had redeemed
them from the law's curse. And verse 32, a light to lighten
the, here he is, this light to lighten the Gentiles. You see
in the articles I've put in the bulletin about this light supremely
being seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. A light to lighten the
Gentiles because by nature we're darkness. The people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light because Christ has come.
So quickly, I want to go on. Anna, Anna, in verse 36, look
down in verse 36. There was one Anna, at the same
time, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asa.
She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years
from her virginity. So she was married very young,
but seven years later, I mean, it would have been customary
for her probably to be married about 15 or 16, something like
that. And she'd lived with this husband for seven years, so she
was 23, and he died. And she'd then been a widow for
four score and four years, for 84 years. I know you can read
these. numbers different ways, but let's say it was like that.
She's well over a hundred now. And she departed not from the
temple, but served God with fastings and prayers, night and day. She was very old then, greater
than a hundred. Another one, like Simeon, who
was dedicated to the knowledge and service of God. She was looking
and waiting patiently for the promised Saviour to appear. She departed not from the temple,
but she served God with fastings and prayers night and day. So
she was devoted to the knowledge and service of God. And she saw
Simeon, she came in and she saw Simeon and Mary and Joseph and
the baby and she gave thanks to the Lord. She coming in, verse
38, she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the
Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption
in Jerusalem. Thanks to the Lord because now
she could see by Holy Spirit enlightenment, now is the promise
fulfilled. The Lord whom I've been seeking
along with other faithful saints has surely come to his temple,
not just the temple which was that pile of stones in Jerusalem,
that second temple which didn't have the glory of Solomon's temple,
not until Christ himself walked in it when it had that glory,
but he came to the temple of his own body. Destroy this temple
and I'll raise it up in three days, he said in John's gospel.
And they couldn't understand him, but he spoke of the temple
of his body. The Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple. He'll come to the body of his
temple, the body which the Lord has prepared for him in which
he will accomplish redemption. And this is all revealed by the
Holy Spirit to them. Years of patient waiting on the
Lord has been rewarded with the experience of the promise being
fulfilled. Faithfully, according to the
Scriptures, Psalm 27 verse 14, wait on the Lord they waited.
Psalm 37 verse 7, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.
They rested and they waited. One day, like we wait for the
second coming of Christ. When is he coming? He's never
coming, he hasn't come so far, so why on earth would he come
now? Patiently wait, patiently wait. Psalm 37 verse 34, wait
on the Lord and keep his way. Wait patiently, wait upon the
Lord. He will do it. He will do it.
Wait on the Lord. Isaiah 40, verse 31. They that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount
up as eagle's wings. You know that means they'll be
given faith to stay faithful. Lamentations, chapter three,
verse 25. The Lord is good to them that
wait for him. to the soul that seeketh him.
The Lord is good. Wait for him, seek him. The Lord
is good to them that wait for him. The promise is realised. There, Simeon and Anna have seen,
and they give thanks to God from the heart. And it says, she spake
of him. She spake of this baby as the
Messiah. The baby I have seen in the temple
is the very one that fulfills Malachi chapter 3 verse 1. I
have seen the baby in the temple that is God fulfilling his promise,
the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. This is God,
our Redeemer, because in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead,
bodily, as Paul said. This is infinite God made man. I quote it so often, what the
hymn writers say, our God contracted to a span. Sinless man to take
his people's sin and pay its sin debt so that his people are
made the righteousness of God in him. Where did I make that
up from? I'll tell you exactly where.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Look it up if you don't believe
me. That's what it says. was made a sinless man. God was made a sinless man. God
the Son was made a sinless man in order to take his people's
sin and pay its sin debt in full so that the people for whom he
paid that debt, the people for whom he died and shed his blood,
that those people, you and me, if we believe in him, are made
the righteousness of God in him. How should a man be just with
God? To be made the righteousness of God in him. Then you'll be
right with God. Oh, praise the Lord. that we
are in him, fitted for heaven, justified, declared just before
divine justice, assured of eternal peace and acceptance. To whom
did she speak? All them that looked for redemption
in Jerusalem. That's who she spoke to. There
were people in Jerusalem. Where would you go to find out
about eternity and the truth of God? Many knew it. You would
go to Jerusalem because that's where God had revealed himself.
All them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. There were people
there looking for redemption. There was the Ethiopian eunuch
years later in the time of the Acts of the Apostles. Why had
he gone? Because he knew the truth of
God and eternal life was to be found there in Jerusalem. He'd
gone on a pilgrimage there for that reason. Of course, we don't
do that now. There's no need for anything
physical of that nature now. But then they did. They looked
for redemption in Jerusalem. How few look for redemption today. How few feel any need to be redeemed
from the curse of the law, of the curse of sin. How few seek
peace with God. They shake their fist in the
face of God. How few seek peace with God. How few aspire to God's kingdom. Jesus said, when the Son of Man
comes, will he find faith on the earth? How few do this. How
few cry with Job, oh, that I knew where I might find him. I would
even come before his presence. Do you look for redemption from
sin's curse? Do you look for the price to
be paid for your liberty, liberty to the captives? Captive to what? Captive to sin, we're in the
thrall, we're in the bondage of sin, naturally, in the bondage
of Satan, but he came to proclaim release for the captives, redemption
from sin's curse. so that you can confidently look
for assurance of peace with God, that you can confidently expect
acceptance in the Beloved. When the Old Testament saints,
when they stood outside the temple or the tabernacle in the wilderness
wanderings, and the high priest, according to the instructions
God had given to Moses, went in to the Holy of Holies, with
the blood of an acceptable sacrifice, but once a year. They knew that
if any of them had gone in any other time, they would have been
struck dead instantly. When the Ark of the Covenant
was being recovered from the Philistines in the days of David,
and they'd lost sight of the scriptural instructions, and
they placed the Ark of God on a cart, on a new cart towed by
oxen, rather than the Levites carrying it, which is what the
Word said. I think the roads there must
have been similar to the roads round here, full of potholes.
And the cart wobbled as it went down a pothole. And Uzzah, so
sincere and well-meaning, reached out his hand to grab the ark
to stop it falling off, and God struck him dead. Because that
was how strict, strict, strict was the righteousness and justice
of God. Knowing what our God is, a consuming
fire, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. Oh, to have the peace instead
of knowing acceptance in the beloved, of knowing release from
the bondage of the fear of death. You know what I said Hebrews
says, Hebrews 2, 15, all them, he came to release all them who
through fear of death were all their lives subject to bondage,
to be released from that. in Christ, the Lord of glory. That's where we're released.
He's no longer a helpless babe. He's no longer what the world's
religion portrays him as. He was, but for a short while,
the helpless babe of Bethlehem. the helpless babe in his mother's
arms, he's Christ the Lord of glory. He's revealed in his word. The light of heavenly truth shines
clearly in him and in nowhere else. If you would find the light
of life, that true light which is from God, you will find it
in him and him alone. For God, who shined light in
the darkness at the beginning when he said, let there be light,
has shined, says 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, he has shined in
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Come to him believing. You say,
oh, it's not so easy, isn't that? If you struggle to come to him
believing, but it's what you want to do, Take the lesson to
heart of that poor man in Mark's Gospel, chapter 9, verse 24.
He came to Jesus pleading for his child who was sick. And the
Lord said to him, do you believe? And he said, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. Will you pray that prayer to
the Lord Jesus Christ? Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Because if you believe, you will
find life.