Well, turn back with me to Isaiah
and the end of the eighth chapter. I just want to read with you
as we start from verse 19 of chapter 8 down to verse 5 of
chapter 9. And there's so much in verse
6 of chapter 9 that we're going to stop short of that and save
that for next time. But beginning at verse 19, of
chapter 8, and when they shall say unto you, seek unto them
that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that
mutter, the phrase at the end of that verse, for the living
to the dead, that's the living people as basically appealing
to those that are dead. He says, should not a people
seek unto their God, verse 20, to the law and to the testimony?
If they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them, and they shall pass through it. hardly
bested and hungry, severe judgment. And it shall come to pass that
when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse
their king and God." They're blaspheming God, even though
they're in terrible condition because of their godlessness
and because of their disobedience. And look upward, verse 22. And
they shall look unto the earth, And behold, trouble and darkness,
dimness and anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness.
Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,
when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously
afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, in Galilee
of the nations. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast
multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy. They joy before
thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when
they divide the spoil, for thou hast broken the yoke of his burden. and the staff of his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every
battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled
in blood. But this shall be with burning
and fuel of fire." This is about darkness and light, obviously.
Do you know the greatest darkness? Children generally don't like
darkness. They always like to be aware that there's a light
on somewhere. The greatest darkness, though,
that you and I have experienced is in our souls concerning the
things of God. That's the greatest darkness.
In our souls concerning the things of God. Naturally, by nature,
we are blind to the things of God. We cannot see anything naturally
in our physical flesh, with our physical reasoning. Look at the
wisdom of men and the idiotic ideas they come up with instead
of seeing. the light of God in everything
all around them. We are indeed by nature in flesh,
every single one of us that has ever been born spiritually dead.
And you know what a dead man does not have? Any sense. Cannot hear. Cannot see. Cannot
touch. Cannot sense anything. Cannot
smell anything. Dead. Dead without sense. Dead
to the being of God. Naturally. There's that hymn
that we used to sing, we must sing it again, that when you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, earth around is sweeter
green, sky above is softer blue, something shines that Christless
eyes have never seen. If you have Christ in your soul,
then everything around you... Look at this on a lovely spring
morning. You look outside there and all the blossom on the trees
and the flowers and the grass is so green and the trees are
coming into... To the natural man, however wise
and respected they are, to Sir David Attenborough even, it speaks
of nothing other than a big bang billions of years ago and it
was bound to happen. And out of shaking up a great
big box of tricks by random processes, all of this happened. Yet, to
the child of God, the one who has a sense of the being of God,
it screams that God has made it all. The psalmist said when
he looked at himself, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. The being
of God. We're blind to it by nature.
We're blind to the holiness of God. Timmy was saying to me this
morning about the commandments, and he was saying the one that
is most profaned in our society today, even amongst children
all around, is not taking the name of the Lord your God in
vain. And he said, something happens, and it's, I won't say,
oh my God, oh this is what, they'd say it so flippantly because
they have no sense of the holiness of God. of the majesty of God,
of the character of God, of the justice of God. Others say, well,
it's all right for you to believe in your God, but you can get
along with that. No, no, no, no, I'm sorry. The
extent of the jurisdiction of God. How far does the rule of
God extend? I tell you, everywhere. You cannot
escape it. You're like a British motorist,
driving up and down the roads of this country and doing exactly
what you want and saying, it's alright for them to say they're
under the laws of the United Kingdom, but I'm not. You just
explain that to the judge, and you see where you end up. You'll
end up in prison for an awfully long time, because the jurisdiction
extends. God's jurisdiction extends over
everything. You see, by nature we're blinded
by Satan's lie. We're seduced by his Antichrist. We naturally worship his beast.
Do you remember chapter 13 of Revelation? Satan and the beast
and all the... It's the days in which we live.
We're not having to wait for it. In my lifetime I've seen
these days come to the state that we're in now, seduced by
his Antichrist, naturally worshiping his beast, guided in all of our
philosophies, as a society by the false prophet of Satan. going
astray, all we like sheep have gone astray from God and His
truth. And even in these days, 2750
years or so ago, Israel and Judah, who were so privileged, who had
the oracles of God, the Word of God given to them, the patriarchs,
the revelation of God, the guiding hand of God, the experience of
the things of God, the temple sacrifices, speaking of the way
that God saves sinful people from their sins, So privileged,
and yet a people that was so unbelieving and sinful. Oh, aren't
they terrible? Hold on a minute, hold on a minute.
What about us today? Look at the privilege that we
have. Look at the privilege we have. We hear the gospel, I trust,
week by week. And not only here, but there's
so much rich provision on the internet. of our friends in America
and in other places in this country who proclaim the truth of God
in the gospel of his grace and there it is so clearly set before
us and how much in our flesh. Let's all admit it, me too, I
put my hand up, how much we live for the flesh. In Isaiah chapter
8 God had pronounced judgment and he used as his instrument
of judgment the mighty kingdom of Assyria. I told you I went
to the British Museum and I don't know whether I pronounced his
name correctly, but is it Tiglathpilnesir or something like that? It's
close to that. Please don't correct me if you're
an ancient historian. But there it is in the British
Museum to see, you know, it's real. And these are the words
were written in the time of that man, that powerful king of Assyria
who was used as an instrument of judgment. And that's what
we see in verses 19 to 22 at the end of chapter 8. You see, The people who should have known
the things of God were going after superstition, and wizards,
and spiritism, and stuff like this. Should they not seek unto
their God? These were the people whose God
was the Lord. Should they not seek to Him?
We have God's Word. They had God's Word. They had
the oracles of God's Word. You know, after the time of this
King Ahaz, Hezekiah was the next king. And Ahaz had closed up
the temple, and Hezekiah, his son, did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord. He opened up the temple doors.
He had all the filth cleaned out of the temple. He had the
word of God found and read and restored into its place. Should
not a people seek after their God to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word? They had his word,
but they'd hidden it. They'd let it become covered
in filth in the temple whose doors they'd closed. They should
have been looking at his word. And he says, they're going to
be judged for it. They shall pass through it. They'll be hungry.
They'll fret themselves, but it won't bring them to repentance
because they'll just curse their king and their God. And in looking,
they will see only darkness, but they'll see only darkness. If you treat with contempt the
light God shines in His Word, you will reap rewards. I tell
you, you young people, if you treat with contempt, like the
generation in which you lived does, if you treat with contempt
the light God shines in the Scriptures, in His Word, you will reap rewards
of spiritual ignorance, of darkness, and of superstition. What it
says there, dimness and anguish, and shall be driven into darkness.
And God would not have been unjust if he'd left all, every one of
us, to that state. But do you see the word at the
start of chapter 9? The very first word, nevertheless. Nevertheless. Isn't it good when
we see in the face of that which is dreadful and threatening and
nevertheless spoken by the word of God? There are degrees in
the darkness God sends for unbelief. The dimness shall not be such
as was in her at other times. We won't go into the details
of what these are. There are degrees of darkness that God
sends for unbelief. And here in chapter 9 and verse
1 is darkness with a nevertheless on it. A nevertheless. At times
darkness has been intense. In the days of Noah, before the
flood, all the people, God looked down from heaven to see if there
were any that did that which was right, and there were none.
But Noah, nevertheless, Noah found grace. Him and the seven
with him. Noah found grace in the sight
of the Lord. In Abraham's day, as a younger
man, he lived in Ur of the Chaldees with his father and his wife
and his family, who we know from elsewhere were all idolaters.
They were all followers of false religion, Abraham and his family. Nevertheless, God didn't leave
Abraham and Sarah and Lot there. He called them out. In Sodom,
there was the most rampant wickedness all around. Nevertheless, lot
was called out of it before the judgment of God fell. Israel,
and the world all around, under many of its kings, in total darkness. Nevertheless, there are times
when gospel light shines. What about today? Terrible, terrible
darkness, spiritual darkness all around, but the gospel truth
of God's salvation has never been more clearly and widely
proclaimed. Well, I think it's absolutely
marvellous. I find it incredible to actually see what God has
said in His Word coming to pass, and the instruments He's using.
Who would have thought 40 years ago there would have been a thing
called the Internet on which a little gathering like this
now could be broadcast and received anywhere in the world if you've
got the suitable piece of equipment within the reach of virtually
anybody. The devices that can receive this are virtually all
over the planet. Absolutely amazing. Nevertheless,
in darkness, nevertheless, in these days, salvation has never
been more clearly and widely proclaimed. You and me, we are
living in privileged times. Take note and listen. Do you
know Jesus said to those who are hearing him, he said to them,
take heed how you hear. Take heed, take care how you
hear. Don't treat it lightly. Don't
dismiss it as not relevant to you. Take heed how you hear. These might be the most important
words you ever hear. These five verses of Isaiah 9
declare how, in the midst of natural darkness, God graciously
shines the light of his gospel. We see, firstly, truth revealed,
secondly, a people saved, and thirdly, liberty accomplished
in victory. First point then. Truth revealed,
that's in verse 2, the people that walked in darkness have
seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. I've called
this message the shining of a great light. The people, the people,
not all people. God is sovereign in His grace.
God is sovereign in showing His grace to a people of His choice. And those people, the people
who walked in darkness naturally, have seen a great light. What
does that mean? A people has been made aware
of the fact that they're walking in darkness. When the natural
man all around has no idea that he's walking in spiritual darkness,
he can see physical light, that's good enough for him. Eat, drink
and be merry, for tomorrow we die. but under the workings of
the Spirit of God, a people that's walking in darkness along with
the rest of the world are made aware that they are walking in
darkness. They are given a sense, and some
of you I know will be able to testify to this, a sense that
there is something of eternity that I need to know but I don't
know it and you're searching and you're looking because God
has put that desire there in you and you try all sorts of
different things and eventually God causes your path to cross
the path of a preacher who preaches the truth of his word and declares
the gospel of grace to you. And you hear it, and that which
you knew you had a sense that there was something there, but
you couldn't find it. you found it in the preaching.
The light came in the preaching of the Word of God. The truth
was revealed. This is the first moving of God's
Spirit upon a person, making them aware that they are in actual
fact in spiritual darkness. As with physical darkness, awareness
of things you can't see for want of light. You know, when you're
in a dark room and you're looking for something, it can be very
frustrating because you are aware that the thing you're looking
for, you can't see it because there's no light there. So it
is spiritually. You're aware that there is something
God is giving you by his Spirit, a sense that there is something
that you need to know of eternity, of the truth of God. But because
you're in spiritual darkness, you cannot see it. You need light.
You need spiritual enlightenment. And where are you going to get
that spiritual enlightenment? It's not of your own finding. It's not of the people to shine
the light on themselves. It's not of them to illuminate
themselves. The desired light must be shined
upon them. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. Look at the last clause. Upon
them, upon that people, upon them hath the light shined. Somebody else has shined it.
Who is that somebody else? It is God who has shined that
light upon those people of His choice, walking in darkness but
shining a light upon them. You hear the gospel week by week. It's so accessible in these days. But has God shined his gospel
light upon you? You can hear with the hearing
of the ear. But as Job said, I heard of you
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye sees you. By faith, mine eye sees you.
And I know exactly where I stand before the living God. Has gospel
light shined in upon you? Has he illuminated your soul
with the light of his being? If he has, he's done it in one
way and one way alone. There is no other way. You will
not find the light of God by going off on some mystical retreat
to some offshore island and getting alone. No, that won't work for
you. Don't do that. None of that is of any practical
use. You won't get any light by going off on a pilgrimage
or a retreat. You will get that light in one
way only, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way,
the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. It's in Him and Him alone. Look
at Luke chapter 1. You don't need to turn there,
but this is the account of when John the Baptist was born. And
in verse 76, do you remember the father of John the Baptist
wouldn't believe to start with when he was told by the angel
that his wife Elizabeth was to have a baby and he was to be
the one that would prepare the way... He was to be, later on
in Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye
the way of the Lord. He said, this child's going to be born
to you and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, wouldn't
believe and so he was struck dumb for the term of Elizabeth's
pregnancy until it came to the time of naming the child. And
they all said, well, he's going to be called Zechariah after
his father, isn't he? And they gave a tablet and a
chalk to Zechariah What's his name to be? And he wrote down
the name that the angel had told him. His name will be John, John
the Baptist. That was to be his name. And
when he wrote down John on the tablet and they all saw it, his
speech was restored to him. That which was taken from him
for disbelief was restored to him. And he prophesied, and we'll
break into the middle of it in verse 76. Thou, child, shalt
be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt, this
is talking of his own son, John the Baptist. Thou shalt go before
the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of
salvation unto his people. Who does he give knowledge of
salvation to? His people, by the remission of their sins.
Salvation by, you cannot have salvation unless sin is remitted,
is put away. Through the tender mercy of our
God, whereby the day spring on high hath visited us. This is
speaking of Christ coming, God coming in the person of his Son. To do what? To give light. to
them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to give
light. That's why he came. Knowledge
of salvation unto his people, to give light to those that are
in darkness. In John 8 and verse 12, the Lord
Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry, he said one of the I am's, you
know, the bread of life, I am the door, I am the good shepherd,
I am the light of the world. He is the light, spiritual light
of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. He's not a way, he is the way,
the only way. There is no other way, no other
way. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, said Peter
to the crowds in Jerusalem. None other name, none other name,
none other name. Your God will not do if He is
not the Lord Jesus Christ of the Scriptures, the One who came
in the flesh, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies,
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, Him, that One, the
God who came in the person of His Son to sovereignly save His
people from their sins. He is the One. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the light. We know this verse so well. God,
in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6, who in the beginning caused light
to shine in the darkness, when he said, let there be light,
and there was light at the beginning of creation, has shined in our
hearts, in the hearts of his believing people, to give us
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? In the
face of Jesus Christ. Nowhere else. He is the one who
came down from heaven to tell his people heavenly things. This
is what Jesus said to Nicodemus. I'm the one that came down from
heaven. You know nothing of these things,
you leaders of Israel, you spiritual leaders who ought to know the
truth because you've got the word of God. I've come down from
heaven to tell you of these things. He's the light from eternal glory. Come to reveal divine truth,
to reveal the righteousness of God. to declare the justice of
God, to satisfy the justice of God, to accomplish salvation
from sin for His particular people. This is the will of Him that
sent me. Of all that He gave me, I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up at the last day. Those are the ones that
He came to save, of eternal reality. This is what Christ came to do. We read earlier in Ephesians
and chapter 5 where this theme was was was echoed and in verse 8 he
says to believers who should be separate from this world in
its thinking ye were sometimes darkness just like everybody
else but now are ye light in the Lord therefore walk live
as children of the light walk in that way as children of the
light you know I rebuke myself when I read those
words, and I think what I'm like. Knowing the light that we have,
walk as children of the light. This shining of spiritual light
is entirely in the sovereign gift of God. Natural man, religious
man, hates that idea, because they think anyone, by taking
thought, can find out God. But he, God, must shine the light. Upon them has the light shined. Upon them hath the light shined.
Because God has shined it. He must do it by sovereign grace. He must shine that light into
your naturally darkened soul. He must quicken, make alive you
who are, as Ephesians 2 says, dead in trespasses and sins by
giving you spiritual sense, spiritual life to see, to hear, to See
that light from on high. So you say, well, it's all of
sovereign grace, so there's nothing I can do about it. Oh, my friend. You know, there's a hymn that
I love. Savior, dear Savior, hear my humble cry. While on
others thou art calling in your sovereign grace, this is my prayer,
do not pass me by. So there's a people saved in
verse three. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased
the joy. They joy before Thee according
to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide,
they spoil. God has multiplied the nation. God has done it.
They haven't done it themselves. God has done it. Jesus was to
be called Jesus because why? He shall give his people an opportunity
to be saved. No, he shall save his people
from their sins. He shall save the nation of his
elect from their sins. They're a fixed number from all
eternity. They're a fixed number from before
the beginning of time. But during time, as time progresses,
there is an appearance of multiplying as they are called out. Those
ordained to eternal life believed, says Acts 13.48. And it's not
passively either. They don't just go, oh, isn't
that a good thing that I'm now counted amongst that number?
No, look, not increase the joy. I think that's talking about
repentance. by repentance. God doesn't call you and leave
you going, yes, I think I'll intellectually embrace this now,
this seems quite good to me. No, he brings you to repentance,
to sorrow for sin in showing you what he is in his glory and
his holiness. He brings his people to repentance. It's a gift of God, his repentance.
Acts 11, 18, as the Gentiles received the word of God and
believed it, the apostles and the people with them in Jerusalem
said, then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto
life. He breaks down first that he
might raise them up. This is what he does. He breaks
down first in repentance. He brings sorrow for sin. Not
remorse as to what it might do for me, but sorrow at the offense
against God, but joy for the removal of sin. How much more
is the salvation felt when the burden of sin is removed? I remember
when I was about, I think I was about 15 years old, maybe 14,
and I went on my first overnight hike in the Lake District with
two friends. And the object of the exercise
was we were dropped off in the village of Grasmere, and we were
to walk up the track of an old Wordsworth poem, up at Greenhead
Gill, all the way up Dollywagon Pike, and then onto the top of
Helvellyn, and then camp overnight by Red Tarn, which is one of
these glacial tarns, a bit of the hillside scooped out by a
glacier in the past. We had very basic equipment in
those days. It was probably about 1965, something
like that. And so there was an iron-framed
rucksack, which was very heavy. There was a tent in a bag which
had steel poles in it, which was very heavy, and I bet for
boys of 14 and 15, we had backpacks on which must have been 50 odd
pounds in weight each. They were very heavy bags, these.
It was like half a sack of coal on your bag. And we climbed up,
and we were absolutely exhausted, and I remember getting to the
edge of Red Tarn on a lovely evening and setting up to camp,
and I remember taking that bag off my back and putting it down. Talk about walking on the moon.
I remember it to this day. We couldn't believe how fantastic
it felt to take that enormous weight off your back. Now do
you see what I'm saying? Do you see the illustration?
God brings you to feel the burden of your sin. He brings you to
feel that burden so that you know the elation of having that
burden removed, the joy of complete forgiveness. As Psalm 51 tells
us, that joy of being forgiven. Let me read some verses to you.
Psalm 51 and verse 7. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. The burden will be lifted away.
Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast
broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and
blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from
thy presence. and take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Restore to me the joy of thy
salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. You see that
sense of the lifting of a burden when the cleansing from sin is
made known to the soul. God comforts his people with
these things. 2 Corinthians 5.18, God who has
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. It's such a blessing to be reconciled
to an angry God who justly should condemn you for your sins. It's
so good to be brought into the family of God, brought into a
family, adopted as sons. And when I say sons, of course,
I mean male and female, no distinction. But 1 John chapter 3, and the
first three verses, behold what manner of love. The Father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore
the world knoweth us not, because it knew not him. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God. You see, from being enemies in
our sins, having offended the Holy God by the gospel of grace,
having received the adoption as sons, as Galatians 4.4 tells
us, Now are ye the sons of God, it does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. He gives us this great
hope, a good hope of eternal glory. As Lamentations in the
Old Testament says, Lamentations 3.26, it is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It's
good. Yea, though I walk. Look in verse
2. The land of the shadow of death.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
says Psalm 23. To know that God is with us.
By salvation we're saved. And then finally, liberty accomplished
in victory. In verses 4 and 5. Thou hast
broken the yoke of his burden. and the staff of his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every
battle, this is a verse of war, every battle of the warrior is
with confused noise and garments rolled in blood. But this, this
day of salvation, shall be with burning and fuel of fire. A great
victory accomplished is what it's talking about. Liberty accomplished
in victory. And of course, if we were to
go on into verse 6, we'll see next time, how is it that God
accomplishes all these things? This is the fact of what He has
done. But how does He do it? In verse 6 and 7. But in verses
4 and 5, this is salvation from sin experienced. When the burden
is taken off your back, you feel it lifted. when God sovereignly
shines his gospel light into your naturally dark soul and
gives you eyes to see and ears to hear and faith to believe
his word, all that would justly condemn you to hell is lifted
off. That burden is lifted off. Romans
5 verse 1, Therefore, because of the gospel Paul has preached,
being justified by faith. Being justified by what? By your
act of believing? No, by what you believe in. By
looking to Christ who has paid the penalty. We have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God. God is angry
with the wicked every day. Our God is a consuming fire.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. In the gospel, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. What a blessed, glorious revelation
of divine truth. Romans 6, 14. Sin shall not keep
you enslaved, shall not have dominion over you, for you're
not under law, but under the grace of God. The oppressor spoken
of here in verse four, his oppressor is Satan, keeping us in bondage
and in darkness. But God, in the gospel, has broken. What's he broken? He's broken
the yoke of his burden. He's broken the staff of his
shoulder and the rod of his oppressor. He's broken those things. How
has he broken them? He's broken them by Christ. You
see, those things come and would seek In the court of divine justice,
Satan is there arguing that the people of God should not be there.
They're not justified to be there, for they're sinners, they're
his. He claims them. They're not allowed to be in
the presence of God. But who is he that condemneth?
For the people of God, it is Christ that has died. Read Revelation
12 again, you know, the child caught up to heaven. He'd accomplished
his purpose. It is Christ that died, yea rather
that he's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who makes intercession for us. The charge comes to nothing. Who is he that condemneth? He's
got nothing to say, nothing to condemn with. For Christ has
paid it. The law's curse on sin has been
broken. Galatians 3. I know these are
familiar verses, but verses 13 and 14. Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is
written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. that the blessing
of Abraham, the blessing of the promised seed, the blessing of
eternal life might come upon the Gentiles even, through Jesus
Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. The attraction of the world fades. When you see that, when you believe
that, there's some good things to see and experience all around
you, but when you've seen the truth of eternal salvation, the
attraction of the world has faded. The glitter of all of its baubles,
all of its jewels, all of its glittery things has been outshone
by what? Jesus himself gave the example
in one of the parables, the pearl of greatest price. He and the
gospel of his grace is the pearl of greatest price. And when,
he says, when one finds that pearl of greatest price, that
great big box of jewels that you used to value so much suddenly
becomes worthless in your sight, of no value. What does matter? What does matter? We all know
people that are going through physical sickness and with very
poor prospects. You know, people that are in
old age close to death. Others that are much younger
with terminal diseases that all of a sudden have what they thought
were years of their own stretching ahead, have that snatched away
from them. And what is of value then? I'll
tell you what's of value. You know when Job had everything
stripped away from him, when he had all his family, and all
his riches, and everything that he thought so highly of, and
his own righteousness, and everything else, Job said in Job 19, 25,
and 26, I know. They said to him, what do you
know? I know that my Redeemer liveth. Is this not such a precious
thing to be able to say? What riches have you got? I know. Everything's been taken away,
but I know this. I know my Redeemer lives, and
He shall stand at the latter day on the earth. And though
after my skin worms destroy this body, worms destroy it, yet in
my flesh shall I see God. Whatever might happen physically,
yet in my flesh shall I see God, and therefore, As 1 Corinthians
15 says, death has lost its sting. The grave's victory has been
taken from it. In God's light, I fear death
no longer. You know, those people who through
all their life, through fear of death, were subject to bondage.
And he's taken it away in the victory that Christ has accomplished
when Christ came and conquered and bound the strongman, and
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it." That's Colossians
2.15. What a contrast from the darkness of our natural state.
What glorious divine light. Oh, the blessedness of living
in that light, whatever our immediate natural situation, isn't it?
Oh, the blessedness of a solid hope of sinless eternity in the
presence of our God, who dwells in light that no man naturally
can approach unto. What if it's not yours, and yet
you have a desire to know that it's yours? Hear the words of
Jesus. Hear the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ in his earthly ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
7. He says this, ask and it shall be given you. Ask, and it shall
be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth.
And him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Has He given you a
sense of darkness, spiritual darkness? Ask, shine that light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
into my soul. Oh, that all who hear this might
seek until they find, and knock until they have the door open
to them.