Well, I want to come back with
you to Isaiah this morning and the second chapter, Isaiah chapter
two, and I want to look with you at the first five verses. And I've called this message
the light of the Lord, because that's particularly the phrase
in verse five. Come and let us walk in the light
of the Lord. I wonder what were your thoughts
this morning concerning gathering for worship? I wonder, I know
it varies from person to person, but I wonder, what were your
thoughts? Were your thoughts that, ooh, there's that penance
that we have to go through. I suppose we'd better go, we'd
better be there, there's that duty, that, you know, we'll make
do, at least it's not too long. A bit boring, but not too long. Or was it as Psalm 122? I'll
just read this to you, just listen to this. I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord. Our feet
shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded
as a city that is compact together, whither the tribes go up, the
tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give
thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of
judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem. they shall prosper that love
thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions'
sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the
house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. You see, that's
the testimony of those who are glad about going to worship together. All that about Jerusalem and
David is talking about Christ and his church. gladness, happiness,
desire to commune with God and his people. Is it a time which
is a duty that we have to go through or a bit of a penance
and then we can get down to lunch or whatever else it is that we're
going to do? Or is it a delight? You know, when the rest of the
world knows nothing about communing with the living God, to come
aside with other believers and together even those of us separated,
as we are, by many thousands of miles in some cases, but together
to commune with the living God, to delight in being in his presence,
to delight and feed in our souls on the truth, the truths we've
been singing of in these hymns so far, they're just rich and
overflowing with truth. Is it not food for our immortal
souls? And we have genuine feelings
You know, I keep saying a lot that the truth of God is very
objective, and it is, it's in the Word of God, but don't think
for one minute that it only stays in there. If it doesn't come
down here, so to speak, metaphorically, if it isn't felt, genuine feelings,
a heart's desire to worship God, a hunger for the bread of life,
the water that Christ gives, a hunger for it, a desire for
it. Do we happily go through six
other days of the week and then most of the rest of Sunday and
we're quite happy pottering around like pigs in their pigsty like
to potter. We potter around in this filthy,
defiled world with all of its sin. Are we quite happy doing
that? And oh yeah, we'll just set aside an hour on a Sunday.
Or is it our heart's desire, our longing If to you it is a
penance, it is because you've never, what does the word of
God say? Taste, Psalm 34, verse eight, taste and see. What? That the Lord is good. Taste,
taste, savour that the Lord is good. You know, you like to taste
food, don't you? You like, if you're like me,
you love to taste music. You know, I know lots of people
that have absolutely no interest in the kind of music that I like.
None whatsoever, it just goes clean over their head and it
never ever tickles a nerve of excitement or thrill in them.
But those of you that know me well and know how much I love
so much classical music, I love all sorts of music, but especially
classical music. It produces feelings that are
just overwhelming. Is it not like that with knowing
the living God? I mean, that's a pale example
of what it should really be like for the child of God, to delight
in the Lord God. We're talking about the highest
calling of man here, the highest calling. Yes, there's all sorts
of good things in the flesh, but the highest calling of man
is walking, as it says in verse five, walking in the light of
the Lord. Now look at this verse 5, O house
of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Come ye and let us walk in the
light of the Lord. The first five verses are a prophecy
concerning the true church in these days, and though they were
written approximately 800 years before Christ came, we're talking
about the period The last days, whenever you read, look there
in verse two, it shall come to pass in the last days. You read
of the last days again and again. Whenever you read of the last
days, it's talking about the time from when Christ ascended
to glory, the time of Pentecost thereabouts, to when he comes
again in judgment. So it includes the days in which
we live. These days in which we live are the last days. Not
because we're very near the end. I mean, obviously the end is
getting closer with every day that passes. But it's in that
time, from when Christ first went back to heaven and when
he comes again. And in these days, he's talking
about the house of Jacob. This is a call, verse five is
a call to the house of Jacob. House of Jacob, come ye, let
us walk in the light of the Lord. The house of Jacob. Who is the
house of Jacob? Jacob is the people that God
has called, as Peter put it, we saw it in the epistle first
epistle of Peter, a couple of weeks ago, called out of darkness,
the darkness of this world, the darkness of spiritual ignorance,
the darkness of spiritual blindness, into God's marvellous light,
the marvellous light of what God is and has accomplished for
his people in salvation. The house of Jacob is the people
chosen of God. That's who it is, the people
chosen of God. You know this scripture well. You don't need
to turn to it unless you particularly can get there. Quickly, Romans
chapter 9. I've read it to you many times
before. Romans chapter 9 and verse 11.
For the children not yet being born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, that is to the mother of Jacob and Esau, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Do you know that the true God
said that? Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated, or have I left to himself? Jacob have I loved,
have I loved with electing grace before the beginning of time,
and with accomplished salvation by Christ in time. Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. They're the people who know God.
How do we know God if you're amongst the house of Jacob? How do we know him? We know him
by Holy Spirit revelation. That was how God revealed himself
to Jacob, literal Jacob. Back in Genesis chapter 32, you
remember he was terrified of meeting up with his brother,
Esau. And he separated himself from the rest of his wives and
his children and his flocks and his herds because he was terrified
of what might happen to him. And as he slept, God came and
met with him. The pre-incarnate Lord Jesus
Christ came and met with him, for Christ is the revelation
of God. No man's seen God at any time,
but the only begotten Son, he has declared him, he has made
him known. And he met with him, and he wrestled
with him. Do you remember that story in
Genesis? Jacob wrestled with a man, that man was Christ, it
was God. in a manifest, in a human manifestation,
came and wrestled with him. And Jacob said, he said, he said,
let me go. The man said, let me go. And
Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me, except
you bless me. And he gave him a disjointed
hip so that he limped. And when the dawn came, he'd
been called Israel. He said, you're no longer going
to be called Jacob. Jacob means deceiver. It means supplanter,
it means basically wicked, crooked, which is what we all are by nature.
He says, you're going to be called Israel. Israel, prince with God,
one who has seen God. And Jacob said, when the morning
came, he said, blessed is this place. He said, I have seen God
and yet I haven't died. I have seen God face to face. Who had he seen? Christ? Who
else can you see? How else can you see God? Oh,
if only we could see God, you might say. If only we could see
God. Don't you remember Philip saying,
oh, if only we could see God. Lord, please just reveal the
Father to us. Philip, have I been so long with
you? And yet you have not known me. Jesus said, he who has seen
me, he who has seen Jesus, has seen God the Father. You know
what it says in 2nd Corinthians 4 verse 6 it says God who at
the in the beginning shined light out of darkness has shined into
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God where in the face of Jesus Christ oh you must be inherently
good people to get this revelation you know anybody watching that
doesn't know this it must say oh well you must be inherently
good I don't know whether I'm good enough for this Jacob house
of Jacob naturally deceitful. What makes the house of Jacob
good? It's the righteousness of Christ,
and that righteousness alone. For he who knew no sin, Christ,
was made the sins of his people, and bore it, and paid for it,
that what? That Jacob, the house of Jacob,
might be made the righteousness of God in him. What was Jacob
in this life? Literal Jacob was a nomad in
this world, wandering from place to place, Is that not his people
in all ages, in this day? Are we not, as we saw in Peter's
epistle, the first verse of the first letter, scattered strangers? Is that not what we are as the
people of God? We're scattered strangers, and
do we not, like Jacob, for the rest of his life after this encounter,
he walked with a limp. Do we not, as it were, in a way,
because of our out of harmony, with the world and its thinking
and the things of the world and the values of the world and the
principles the world lives by and promotes and likes and values
and thinks are good. Do we not walk with a limp? Do
we not? You think of people you work
with and go to school with, do you not, compared with them,
spiritually, you walk with a limp in this world? That's like, that's
Jacob, that's the house of Jacob, but throughout, to the very end,
we're kept by God. As Malachi chapter 3 verse 6
says, the prophet is speaking the words of God and he says,
for I am the Lord, this is what God says, I am the Lord, I change
not. Isn't that comforting to know?
The God of the universe does not change. He doesn't change. He doesn't change his mind. He's
not fickle like we are. He doesn't plan something, make
a good start, and then fall flat on his face. He changes not.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. This is the Lord's
house. The Lord's house. Look in verse
2. It shall come to pass in the
last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established
in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills
and all nations shall flow into it. The Lord's house, it's his
church that he's speaking about. The house of Jacob is the Lord's
house. On the top of the mountains,
it's It's the church, the people of the living God. His people
called out of this world. It's Zion. We were singing last
week, glorious things of thee are spoken. Zion, city of our
God. It's multinational. All nations
shall flow into it. And it's above the plane of the
world and worldly religion. It's on a different plane. It's
established in the top of the mountains. Is it not? It cannot
be equated with the things of the world. It has no communion
with the things of the world. You know that in Roman Catholicism,
the Vatican is regarded by the world as a legitimate state.
The Church of God isn't. Jesus said, my kingdom is not
of this world. If it were, my servants would
take up swords and fight, but they don't because it isn't.
God's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. a kingdom in the hearts
of his people. That's the kingdom of God. Thy
kingdom come is that kingdom of perfect communion between
God and his people. And verse 3, many people shall
go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us
his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall
go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Is
this not what we were reading in Psalm 122? It's mutual encouragement
of the people of God. Fellowship, encouraging one another.
Come, let's come together. The church of God. The church
of God, the church of the God who saves Jacob's. I'm a Jacob. Are you? I'm a Jacob. Are you
a believer? You're a Jacob. You're saved.
Those people desiring to know God and his ways, to live as
he directs in accordance with his law. What's his law? You
say, oh, it's the Ten Commandments. Well, that's the perfect expression
and all the other laws that go with it. the do this and live,
the covenant of works, but do you know how is it fulfilled?
It's not fulfilled in the flesh, for by the works of the law,
no flesh shall be justified in his sight. If righteousness come
by the works of the law, then Christ is dead in vain, says
Paul to the Galatians. No, this is his commandment,
1 John chapter 3 verse 23, this is his law, this is his gospel
law, that we should believe. on the name of his son Jesus
Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. The
Jews asked Jesus in John chapter 6, what must we do that we do
the work of God? And he said in verse 29, this
is the work of God, this is the work of God, it's God's work
really, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he has sent, on Christ whom he has sent. And verse 4, It talks
about government in this church, in this house of Jacob. He shall
judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people, and they
shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. This
is a church which is governed by the Lord. You know, how many
times in the Old Testament do we read of David ruling his nation? David, the literal king, was
but a fleshly picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God,
who rules his people, who governs his people. He chastises his
people. He shall rebuke many people.
God chastises us. Why? For our good. Because if
we're his children, he corrects us. He corrects us. He forms
us into a kingdom of peace, which is his church. This is the house
of Jacob. This is the church of God in
Christ, in this world, in our day. And it's altogether separate
from the world around and the religion of the world all around. The kingdom of God is a kingdom
of peace and righteousness, and it's established in the law of
the gospel of grace in Christ. What is it that so much separates
this house from the world in general? What is it that so much
separates the true Church of God from the world in general? Verse 5, O house of Jacob, come
ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. It is the light
of the Lord that makes the difference. It is the light of the Lord that
marks out the true Church of God. You see, there's a call
to it. This is my next point, the call.
O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the
Lord. Come ye, come ye. It's certainly
a call from God's Spirit, certainly, for sure, but let us walk in
the light of the Lord. Let us Not you go and walk and
I'll stay where I am. No, let us come and walk in the
light of the Lord. It's brethren. It's members of
the house of Jacob, of God's house, of his church, calling
one another to come and together to walk in the light of the Lord. It's preachers preaching to their
hearers. Come, let us walk together. Not
you go and do it and I'll sit back. Come together. and walk
in the light of the Lord. It's older believers encouraging
the younger, come, we've got experience, we've been through
this, this is blessing, this is truth, come, walk in the light
of the Lord. It's younger converts who've
recently experienced the first flood of that first love for
Christ. You know, when a sinner discovers
that their salvation and their acceptance with God is accomplished
entirely in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, there's that first love that
he writes about to the Ephesians in Revelation chapter 2, the
first few verses, you have lost your first love. Oh, find it,
it's the most, don't bother about anything else, get that first
love, that heart love for Christ. And it's those There are new
converts that have discovered this, who are encouraging the
ones older in the faith who have perhaps grown a bit dull, who
have perhaps grown a bit passive in their faith. They've become
careless, because being passive leads to carelessness, and being
careless leads to conformance to the world. Ask ourselves,
are we being careless in the things of God and conforming?
to the things of the world. And that conformance to the things
of the world leads to coldness and indifference concerning the
things of God. We need fellowship and encouragement. Come, let us walk in the light
of the Lord. Come, you house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord. You see, there are lonely
believers today, and I know that there are some of you out there
now with us, worshipping, watching, on your own, because there's
no church to go to. Anywhere near you, there's nowhere preaching
the truth of the gospel of grace. But is it not encouraging that
Psalm 68 says God sets the solitary in families? even if it's by
internet communications. Isn't it good that God sets the
solitary in families? He gives us fellowship so that
we can encourage one another, even if it's by sending emails
to each other, or doing FaceTime communications, and all of these
other things. It's good. to be mutually encouraging
in the things of the faith and thereby we say come ye let us
walk in the light of the Lord but what is it thus to walk in
the light of the Lord well often the scriptures use the term walk
for live live your life let us walk those who walk according
to the Spirit. There's no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus, those who walk according to the Spirit
and not according to the flesh. Walk. Live your life. To walk
is to live your life. Let us walk. Let us live. We, members of the house of Jacob,
we, the Lord's redeemed ones, his church, we are called, we
call to one another to live our lives in this space-time creation
in the light of the Lord. That's what we call one another
to do. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Now you know
that compared with God, we are naturally in darkness. If you
read a few chapters further on in Isaiah, in chapter nine, you
know, the well-known passage leading up to all of the incarnation
of Christ, you know, and the, for unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, et cetera, et cetera. All of those glorious words there,
they're preceded in verse two of chapter nine with the people
that walked in darkness. We naturally live in darkness. We live our lives without true
spiritual knowledge of the true God, of who he is and what he's
like. You think about us in our natural
state. We don't know where we're from,
do we? In our natural state. You look
at man without any light of the Lord, and you look at the stupid
ideas that they concoct as to where they come from, that we
came from a mindless soup of evolutionary nonsense. That is because of darkness.
That's because of a lack of the light of the Lord, that they
think that. That's what flesh thinks, naturally,
because it's darkened. We don't know where we're going.
What's going to happen to you? Well, your opinion's as good
as mine. Anybody's opinion. Everybody has an opinion. Well,
I think it's going to be like this. Well, you think what you
want, but God's Word speaks the truth. of what the situation
is. No, naturally we're darkened.
We don't know where we're from, we don't know where we're going.
And in our minds which are naturally spiritual, we set up idols of
our own inventing. That doesn't mean that we go
and carve a totem pole out of a lump of wood, but we might
as well Because in our minds, in our darkened minds, we invent
all sorts of false ideas about God and eternity and what things
will be and what things will not be. Yes, I'm not saying that
mankind has no natural light at all. Yes, they have some natural
light. There's the light of education.
We think it's good to send our children to school because you
learn to read and write and you learn about history and where
we're how our society's developed. There's good knowledge, there's
scientific knowledge, there's technical knowledge that have
greatly enhanced the things that we have and the way in which
we can live and communicate. That's all good knowledge. Yes,
there is some light. There's limited human understanding. limited. You say, well, it's
vast, isn't it? Yes, yes, in a way, but compared with God,
it's very limited, very limited. And without God, it's darkness. It's only in the light of God
that we truly see things. Yes, man has a certain moral
conscience. Most people know the difference
between right and wrong. Most people do. There's an image
of God. Let us make man in our image,
said God in Genesis 1. Let us make man in our image.
And after our likeness, man is a sentient being who thinks,
who wonders why he's here, who relates to other people. He's
on a higher plane than the animals. Don't believe that nonsense that
tells us that we're just highly evolved animals. There's such
a gulf between us and the most intelligent of animals that It
is silly to make the comparison. No, we're made in the image of
God, in our natural state. But, compared with the truth
of God, compared with the light of God, even if we have the very
best of all of that, We're in darkness. We're the people who
walked in darkness, who so desperately need to see a great light. But when gospel light shines,
all is different. When gospel light shines, when
gospel light shines, when that light of the knowledge of the
glory of God shines into our hearts, our spiritual eyes, that
are naturally blind to the things of God, are opened to divine
truth. And the scales, as it were, the
shields blocking what we see, they come away. And by God's
Spirit, we see the truth of God. We see that true light resides
in God alone. True light. We're in darkness
naturally, but true light resides in God alone. 1 Timothy 6 and
verse 16, speaking of God, Paul writing to Timothy says, God
only has immortality. He's the only one who has life
in himself. And he dwells in the light which
no man can approach unto. No man in his natural fleshly
state can approach to that light, whom no man has seen nor can
see. You can't see God with your natural
understanding, your natural senses. You cannot. It's impossible. for where sin and darkness and
he is light. 1 John 1 verse 5, we read it
earlier. God is light and in him is no
darkness at all. There is no darkness in God at
all. But we see God's light. Where? Where do we see the light of
God? We see it revealed in Christ alone. That's where we see it. When Jesus was ministering walking
this earth, and in Jerusalem, John chapter 8 and 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. Isn't that
amazing? Here's a man standing in Jerusalem. at one of the feasts, and he's
speaking, and he says, he stands there. Have you ever heard a
man, you've heard people make some arrogant statements, but
have you ever heard such an arrogant statement as this, I am the light
of the world. He was either utterly deluded,
or he was who he says he is, who is God come in the flesh,
and he is indeed the light of the world. And if we follow him,
those that follow him shall not walk in the darkness of this
life and of this flesh, but shall have the light of life. The light of life. In John 1
verse 4, the gospel of John, in him Christ was life. Where's this life come from?
In Him, in God, in Christ was life and the life was the light
of men and the light shines in the darkness of men's darkened
hearts and the darkness comprehended it not because man in his natural
state which is dark doesn't understand it. Verse 9 of chapter 1 of John. He was the true light that lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. Verse 18. No man has seen
God at any time. The only Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, God in flesh, He has declared Him. He has made Him
known. He has revealed Him. Who is He? Hebrews 1 verse 3. Hebrews 1
verse 3. Speaking of Christ, Christ being
the brightness or the outshining is what that word means. Being
the brightness, the outshining of God's glory and the express
image of his person. If you would see the person of
God, you need an image. Christ is the express image of
his person. And so it is he that shines in
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He who is the Word, who is God,
speaks through His written Word, by His Spirit. Psalm 119, you
know that's the one with 185 verses I think it is, and verse
105 says this, Thy Word is a lamp, unto my feet, and a light unto
my path. What is the written word of God
is the expression of the mind of God. You know, Christ is called
the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. Without him was nothing made
that was made. The Word, which this text written
in these pages before us now that we have, is the expression
of the mind of God. It is Christ who reveals himself
to his people, who shows the way of salvation to his people.
And this Word is a lamp to our feet. Let us walk in the light
of the Lord. Where are you going to get the
light of the Lord from? His Word. Well, don't lots of people read
the Word and they don't seem any wise? That's because they
don't come at it in the right way, seeking God's Spirit. We
must have God's Spirit to guide us and to teach us. Thy Word
is a lamp unto my feet. A lamp to show us the way. You
know when it's dark and you're trying to find your way along
a dark path, down a dark lane, and it's very, very hard to see
where you're going and whether you're going to step into something
dangerous or unpleasant. But if you have a light, If you
have a torch, you can shine it in front of you and you can see
where to put your feet so that you don't come to any danger.
Your word, this book, as we walk through the path of this life,
this book is the lamp that shows us. It's the light on our path. How should we then live? This
book, this book. Gospel precepts, this book. Gospel
truth concerning righteousness and propitiation and being right
with the living God and being at peace with the living God,
the light to our path, the lamp to my feet, it's in this book.
So Christ, by his very being, the Word of God, by his Spirit,
through the objective medium of his written Word on the page,
shines the light of God into his people's hearts and minds,
into our understanding, but into our experience of knowing God.
And this is why. What do you do? What do you do?
We preach the Gospel. We preach the Word of God. We
preach the truth of God, because it is the light of God that guides
us. You know, I hear a lot about
the need for pastoring of various people. Do you know what I think
is the most effective way that any one man, any one pastor,
can pastor the people? Preach the Gospel to them. Preach
the truth. You don't want me being your
spiritual social worker. Preach the truth of the gospel.
That's why we preach this gospel, because it shines the light of
the truth of God onto your path. That light for your feet, so
you can see where to tread through this life. And what is the light?
Let's think about that for a few moments. What is the light that
he shines, that God shines through his word, by his spirit? Is it
not this? How would we know the nature
and essence of God but for his Word? Yes, we can see in creation
all around that there is a great God, but how would we know that
our God is holy, who dwells in unapproachable light, that our
God is infinitely pure in righteousness, that our God is above all things
in power? How would we have the right view
of God were it not for the light of his word, showing us by his
spirit the power of God. Do you know the true people of
God understand the power of God? Something of it. Whereas the
religious world doesn't. The sovereignty, because he's
powerful, all-powerful, who can stay his hand? Who can tell him,
what do you think you're doing? You can't do this. He's sovereign
over all things. You know, there are so many religious
folks that portray God, a disaster happens, a great flood or an
earthquake, and they go, oh, where was God in all of this?
Oh, God was trying to help us, but we wouldn't let him. And
God's sitting on the sidelines going, oh, these people, oh dear,
why did I make them like... God is sovereign over all things. God is powerful. He can do all
his holy will. He says, I create good and I
create evil. Would you believe that? That's
what the word of God says. All things in this world. He's
not the source. He's not the author of sin, but
all things he uses for his purposes. All things are in his hands. You wouldn't know that were it
not for the light of the Lord. He teaches us through His word
about His justice, how He must punish sin, how you are a sinner,
and the soul that sins, it shall die, and that it is appointed
to man once to die, and then the judgment. And how will you
be if you stand before the throne of holy God in your sins, longing
to be right with Him for eternity, but in your sins bearing your
own sin, and His strict, strict justice demands absolute payment. Where would you be? In terms
of knowing that, were it not for this book to tell us the
truth, to shine the light of God into our hearts. But bless
God, He doesn't just leave it there, telling us about His holiness
and His power and His justice. But above all, He shows us His
grace, His grace. his graciousness to sinners in
salvation, his grace in coming in the person of his Son to save
his people from their sins by establishing and satisfying justice
for all his people in the person of his Son. He shows us in this
book his love, his infinite love, his infinite love and grace that
chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the world to
save them from their sins. It shows us that He providentially
cares for us, that whatever state we're in, whether it's a state
of plenty or a state of difficulty, that we need be careful for nothing,
worried about nothing, for He controls all things. And His
ultimate aim for us is our eternal good in eternal glory. He leads
us providentially. He guides us. His light shines
on our path to show us the way. He shows us His eternal good.
He shows us through His Word, by His Spirit, what it is to
know the living God. What it is to learn of Him. Grow
in grace and the knowledge of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ,
says Peter in the final verse of his second epistle. Grow in
that grace. Learn of Him. Grow in knowledge
of Him. commune a rite with him. How
do we know what to pray for? Ultimately we don't, but the
Spirit groans for us. But He teaches us how to commune
aright with Him, how to come before Him. Lord, teach us to
pray, said the disciples, and Jesus showed them. Not just a
form of words that you repeat like religious folks do by rote,
but principles of how we who are sinners, saved by grace,
come before God, who is holy and a consuming fire, and we
call Him our Father in heaven. Our Father in heaven. Hallowed
be thy name, hallowed be thy, thy holy, O Lord, in this fallen
world, be holy above all things in this world. Thy kingdom come,
thy will, etc. to commune aright with him. This
is the light that we get. He teaches us, he shows us, to
desire his presence and his favour. He shows us that. Why do we want
to come to worship? Don't come out of duty, come
because you want to come. I want to come, I was glad when
they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. I was
glad, let's go, I want to go there, to learn of him, to commune
with him, to know to spend time. He doesn't want much speaking,
he says, don't be like the heathen who think they'll be heard for
their much speaking. No, no, no, we don't need to do silly
religious things like that, but to commune aright with the living
God. This is the light of the Lord
that he teaches us. To desire his presence and his
favour. To love him, to love him. Peter,
Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love
you. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love
you. This is what he says to each of us. We're all Peter in
that respect. Do you love me? Do you love me? To love him and
to worship him. to have that hope. Why do you
have a hope of eternity? Because this book tells us that
there is eternity to come. It's the light of God that shines
on our path. In his presence, without sin,
in eternity, that's our hope, isn't it, in this life? Have
you seen that light? Have you? Have you an appetite
for the light of the Lord? Come, house of Jacob, come ye,
let us walk in the light of the Lord. Have you an appetite for
that light of the Lord? Have you privately asked God
to shine his light into your heart? Any that don't know him,
any listening now out there on the internet, hear him, have
you asked God, Lord, show me, show me your truth, shine your
light into my heart, shine it there. Though we remain children
of dust in the flesh as believers, though we remain sinners by nature
and this flesh never improves, We remain in bodies that retain
darkened cellars of worldly understanding, don't we? It's still there deep
down inside in places. There's all the superstitions
of the old flesh hiding away there, which were to subdue by
the spirit of God, of the new man that he plants within. But
even though we're in those bodies of flesh, with those darkened
cellars of worldly understanding, yet believers have seen the light
of God in Christ. Is that not what you desire?
The light of God in Christ. O house of Jacob, come ye and
let us walk more and more in the light of the Lord. Amen.