Take your Bibles now and let's
take a look at a few verses here in John chapter 1. This has been a profitable study
for me. I hope it's been the same for
you. We talked last week a little
bit out of verses 15 through 18. concerning the ministry of John
the Baptist. John was declared to be, back
in verses 6 and 7, a man sent from God. He was sent from God
to be a witness of the light of God. Now, what is light? What's he talking about? He was
a witness of light, but what is that light? The light of God
is anything that communicates the character and attributes
of God. That's light. Anything. He talks
about in Romans 1 how creation itself is a form of light that
communicates. He said, by creation, we know
something about the eternal power and Godhead. Creation can't create
itself. It necessitates a Creator. It
can't maintain itself, so it necessitates someone to maintain
it. It declares the power of the
eternal Godhead. And conscience declares God. Conscience is a light in men
that tells them that they're guilty and tells them that they're
wronged God. Anything that makes known or
communicates the character and attributes of God is light. Anything
that makes known the purpose and will of God. Now these things
can only be known in Christ. You can't discern the purpose
and will of God out in the woods. You learn that in Christ, in
Christ alone. Anything that makes known the
ways of God is light. Listen to this scripture over
here in 1 John 1 verse 5. The same man writing here that
we are studying over here, the Apostle John. And he says in
verse 5, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and
declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness
at all. He is all light, altogether light. And God was in Christ, therefore
all the light of God was in him. You see what he is saying here?
He is the communicator of light in that respect. He alone can
communicate the light of God's purpose and the light of God's
will and the light of God's harmony of character in all of His attributes
all at the same time. And so while you might learn
a little bit about the justice of God by considering the judgments
and disasters of this world, you can never learn anything
about the perfection of that justice except at the cross.
You see what I'm saying? He communicates that. All of
the darkness and all of the ignorance and confusion is in us. It's
not in Him. There's no darkness in Him. The
darkness is in us. We're born in darkness, surrounded
by darkness. Look back at verse 5. He said,
"...and the light shineth in darkness." This light that John
came to bear witness of, it shined in darkness and the darkness
comprehended it not. The reason we don't understand
God is because there is no light in us. If we had anything in
us, anything at all in us of that light, then we could comprehend. But we don't comprehend. That
light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it
not. But in the purpose and wisdom of God, it was ordained that
all light, everything that could be known concerning the person
and purpose of God should be made known in this Man, Jesus
Christ. In Him was life, and that life
was the light of men. In Him was life. No life before
Him. All life by Him. Without Him
was not anything made that was made. He's the light of creation. Listen to the correlation of
the Scriptures. I want you to see this in the
Scriptures, not just because I'm saying it, or not just because
I read somebody who said it. I want you to see it in the Scriptures.
Listen to this. In 2 Corinthians 4-6, Paul draws
a straight line, and we're going to go here after a while in 2
Corinthians 4-5, and we're going to look at some things. But I
want you to notice this correlation, this line that Paul draws between
creation and salvation. Watch what he says here. For
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, when did
He do that? First day. First day. Has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And over and over the Lord draws
these comparisons so that we can understand that creation
itself is designed according to and in conjunction with this
light. Everything that's around us,
everything that has its being. Paul said to those Greek philosophers
on Mars Hill, he said, in Him we live and move and have our
being. All these things have to do with
Him and His purpose and His will. All of these things have to do
with that light which He has purposed to shine. Listen to
this. This is a beautiful psalm, Psalm
19. David said, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech,
no knowledge, where their voice is not heard. Their line has
gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of
the world." Now listen, what did they say? What did they say? There is nowhere that escaped
the message. What was the message? Listen to this, "...in them hath
he set a tabernacle for the Son, which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race."
What is it? It's a picture. All creation
in itself, the sun and the moon and the stars and everything
that is, is a picture of this redemption. It's a picture of
the Son of God who will rise in the hearts of those who believe.
You can read about it over in Peter. He said, until that day
dawn and that day star arise in your heart. What's he talking
about? He's talking about back at the beginning of creation
when that day star arose out of darkness. That's what he's
talking about. And there wasn't a thing on this
earth that escaped its heat and its warmth and its light. Nothing. It goes all the way around. He
said there's no beginning to where it begins and there's no
ending to where it goes. It's a picture of the Son of
God, a picture of His light. And all through the Scripture
you'll find this. You'll find God questioning Job
back there and asking him, have you entered into these things?
Have you entered into the hoarfrost and the migration of the geese?
Have you entered into those things? Do you know what those things
are talking about? They are talking about this light. Talking about
this light. It is going forth, David said,
from the end of heaven and a circuit unto the ends of it, and there
is nothing hid from the heat thereof. He is in himself the
very life and light of God. Being God, dwelling with God
in the harmony of His person, in Him is life. And I want you
to think about this, in Him is purity of life. We have no concept
of this life. Now I'm telling you, we're not
born with it, we have no understanding of it, and if left to ourselves,
we'll sit around and draw up imaginations of what it might
be or what it could be or what we thought it was. And as many
people as you meet out here in the world, you will find a different
conception about this life of God. But in Him was a purity
of life, y'all, pure. I don't even have a word. I sat
and looked at this in my study. There isn't a word in the English
language that can explain what that's saying. I've got nothing
to compare it to. So God sends us one in whom we
can see. And there's where the comparison
is. That's where we see it. That's where it's revealed and
unveiled. In Him. Not in me. In Him. In Him. I know folks talk about,
religious folks, we're always talking about, you've got to
let your light shine. And even when we were little
kids, they used to get us up and we'd all have this little
candle and we'd hold it up. This little light of mine, I'm
going to let it shine and so on. And they'd get up and preach
that that's That holiness in you is how the world sees God. Well, that's not exactly how
John put it. Over there in 1 John, here's
the way John put it. He said, let that light so shine
in you. His light. Not my light. His
light that's in me. You let that shine. So that men
might see your good works and glorify Him that's in heaven.
They're not going to glorify you. They're not going to see
you. They're going to see what God does in you. And they're
going to glorify Him. He's the light. And that light is the very glory
of God. Isaiah saw it and talked about
it over in chapter 6. He said when he saw that light,
he said the train of Christ filled the temple. Completely filled
it up. He couldn't see anything else
in it except the train of Him who filled the temple. And the
angels chanted. They chanted, the whole earth,
they said, is full of His glory. All of it. That's what the angels
said in His presence, covering their eyes. And God has purposed
to show this glory in the redemption of sinners. How will He do it?
Well, the Word Himself will become flesh. Isn't that what John said?
The Word is going to become flesh. Grace and truth are going to
come by Jesus Christ. All in a man who is both God
and man. In this man is all the fullness
of the Godhead. And pure is the only Word that
comes to my mind. Pure love. Think about it. Nothing
mixed with it. Nothing to taint it. Unwatered
down. It's pure love. I just can't imagine. The only
place I can see it is in Him. Isn't that what John says again
over there? He said, not that we loved Him.
Not! That's what he said. Not that
we loved Him. I can't even see my love for
Christ and see that love. But that He loved us and gave
Himself for us. And we see that love. Pure. Pure. We didn't deserve it. We didn't
earn it. We didn't do anything to bring
it about. But yet He loved us. Loved us. You can't explain that.
That's pure love. Pure love. Pure grace. Not a gift hoping for something
in return. A lot of times we give something
and we hope somewhere down the road to get something back, don't
we? A little disappointed if we don't get something back.
It's not a gift that hopes for something in return, not something
given that demands something back. It's not a gift with certain
restrictions, but full, free, sovereign grace. He just gives
it because he purposes to do so. You listen. You listen to this
world preach. Turn your radio on, TV. I'm not
afraid. Turn it on. Listen to what they're
saying. Everything they say, Demands a return. It demands
a return. The stipulation is for the return.
For the return. When God gives, He just gives.
That's the difference. That's pure grace. Pure mercy. Think about down that old Roman
dungeon down there sat a man guilty, condemned, already judged,
awaiting death. He could hear the carpenters
out there banging them crosses together. He could hear the crowd
out there chanting, give us Barabbas, give us Barabbas. He was guilty,
going to die, no hope. He wasn't seeking God. He wasn't
looking for God. He wasn't looking for anything.
He didn't know anything. And they came to him and they
said, you can go free. Well, who caused that to come
about? Now, come on, who brought that to pass? God did. In His
providence, freely bestowed mercy on this murderer, on this man
who was guilty of sedition, this old man who had lived a life
in rebellion to God and just in rank idolatry. God showed
him mercy, sovereign mercy. And they said, another has been
chosen to die in your stead. You are free to go. That is mercy.
That is pure mercy. Pure mercy. Oh, I tell you, when
we finally do begin to seek God, we keep looking for a reason
in ourselves for God to show mercy. The reason's in Him. It's in Him. I wrote an article
on this not too long ago. When we look inside, you're looking
into an empty pit. Ain't nothing in there. None
of these things are in there. That love's not in there. That
mercy's not in there. That grace is not in there. Goodness
is not in there. I don't see too good, but God
sees all. And He said, I look down from
heaven to see if there's any good, and there's none good.
I look down to see if there's any that seeketh after God. None
sought after God. All went astray, all of them.
It's an empty pit. And then think about this, pure
kindness in Him. Pure kindness. I want you to
just stop and think for a minute about the kindness of God. We
don't hear much talk about that, do we? The kindness of God. Listen
to this over in Isaiah chapter 54. In verse 5, he said, For
thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and
thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth,
when thou wast refused, saith thy God." Now here's the picture.
Here's this young woman betrothed to be married. And the day approaches,
and the young husband leaves her sitting and goes to another. And there she sits. No husband. Cast away. Unloved. Grieved in heart. Grieved in
heart. Here she sits. Broken hearted.
Rejected. Unloved. Now listen to what he
says in verse 7. For a small moment have I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I gather thee to myself." Everlasting kindness. Can you imagine? For this, he
said, is as the waters of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn
that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so
have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke
thee. For the mountain shall depart,
and the hill shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord, that hath mercy on us." That's kindness. That's
kindness. Nothing in us to love. That's
where He has to bring you. You've got to be brought to that
spot. This whole thing is an experience of grace. It's not
just doctrine. I can go anywhere in the world
and find me a believer, and he'll sit there, and he'll sit there
with his head doing this, because he knows what I'm telling him
is the experience of his heart. And therefore, for a moment,
it appears that God has left thee, and forsaken thee, and
went off to marry another, and left you there with no husband,
unloved, rejected, and there you sit in your sins, and in
your ugliness, There you see it. But he said, it's just for
a moment. Just for a moment. And it was
for your good and my good that he does that. But he said, oh, in this kindness,
this everlasting kindness, I'm going to gather you to myself.
I'm not going to be angry at you anymore. That anger has departed. I'm not going to be angry. Here's
the light of God. And men see something of this
light, but it's mixed with their darkness and ignorance, because
the darkness comprehended it not. And the beauty of this life
is its harmony, pure love, pure grace, pure mercy, pure kindness,
yet in harmony with pure justice, and pure holiness, and pure righteousness. And it's only in Christ that
that pure light of God can be seen. Righteousness and peace
kissing one another. A just God and a Savior. And
John's message is this, back in verse 18 of John chapter 1.
No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Now read
these next several verses with me. Beginning here in verse 20. This is the record of John when
the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who
art thou? And he confessed and denied not,
but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then?
Art thou Elias, Elijah? And he said, I am not. Art thou
that prophet, that prophet of whom Moses spoke? And he answered,
No. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou that we may give an answer to them that sinneth?
What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, down here in verse
23, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight
the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. And he said
that back in chapter 40. I mentioned that to you last
week and the week before. Now here's the heart of these
verses. Here's what's going on. Natural men have a Jesus. The
Jews had one, Joshua. They had a Jesus. They had a
Savior. They had one that they looked forward to. They had a
Messiah, a Christ. Sure they did. They looked forward
to it. That woman at the well, when the Lord confronted her,
said, We know that when Messiah's come, He's going to tell us all
things. He's going to straighten this thing out. Right now we've
got sects. We've got Sadducees and we've
got Pharisees and we've got Doctors of the Law. We've got all these
things. We've got priests. We've got all these divisions
and sects in our religion. But when the Messiah comes, He's
going to straighten us out. He's going to tell us all things. But I'm telling you this, the
Jesus they had had no past. And in that, I draw a line to
the natural religion. I say it often that the Jews,
natural Jews and natural religion, they're just the same thing.
It just reads like yesterday's newspaper. They have a Jesus,
but He has no past. What John did was call their
attention to the past. Their Jesus was going to be a
man like Solomon and a man like David, and He was going to come
and He was going to establish an earthly kingdom with earthly
blessings. Earthly recognition. And He's
going to raise up His people again like He did in the days
of Solomon. And they're going to be known
worldwide. And the Queen, like the Queen of Sheba, was going
to come in and said, the half has not yet been told. That's
what they looked for. That's what their Messiah was
all about. Well, what's the Jesus of this generation? What do they
say is going to happen? They say He's going to come and
He's going to establish a big kingdom here on the earth. They're
saying the same thing. They're saying exactly the same
thing. All these things they look to, all these outward signs,
the man's wealthy, he said, I'm blessed of God. Not necessarily.
But they think that. He's got a fine home and a good
job, he's blessed of God. Maybe not, might be a curse.
It was to the rich young ruler. You see what I'm saying? They've
got a Jesus, but He has no past. This Jesus of whom John was sent
to witness was the Jesus of eternity. That's the difference. And what
we declare here in this church is a Jesus with a past. His past, He was with God and
was God. He's the Jesus spoken of in the
Garden of Eden when they talked about the woman's seed. going
to come and bruise the serpent's head. He's the Lamb of Abel. And you can just go on and on.
He's the Ark of Noah. He's the Lamb all down through
time. All these pictures, all these
things of Him. He's a Jesus with a path, and
therefore He talked. I talked to you a little bit
about it last week up here, this grace for grace. This is a provenient
grace, a grace that went before. And without that understanding
of what took place before, we don't have a clue what took place
when He appeared. And neither did they. You see,
this Jesus that appeared didn't fit their ideas. It didn't fit
their conception. And neither does the one I preach,
or Paul preaches, or John. And so God sends witnesses. He
sends men. There's a man sent from God.
That's what John was doing. That was his whole purpose in
coming. That's the whole purpose in preaching the gospel today.
We point to Him. To point to Him. And to tell
men, this is the Christ of God purposed in eternity. Pictured
throughout the Scriptures. Appearing down here in the manger
of Bethlehem. Being raised from the dead and
seated at the right hand of God. Everything religion has to say
begins in the manger and stops at the cross. Well, brother,
the gospel doesn't begin and stop there. It has no beginning. Paul said over in Romans, he
said he was separated under the gospel of God. It's as old as
God, and it'll last as long as God lasts. How long is that?
That's everlasting. And that's what he calls it,
the everlasting gospel. God sends a man. And what did
John say he'd come to do? He said, this voice, he said,
I'm a voice of one crying in the wilderness. What did the
voice cry? He said, make straight the way
of the Lord. Now I want you to hear me a minute.
Some of you have got Bibles like mine. Mine has a picture back
in the back. I'm not real big on pictures,
but this thing is a map that shows the wilderness. and the
journey that Israel took from the time they left Egypt. So
you just imagine this big thing looking like the state of Florida,
because that's kind of how it looked with the Red Sea over
here on the left. And he brought them out of Egypt,
and he crossed that sea, and they come all the way down to
the bottom of this thing, and then went up a little ways, and
then they went around in about three loops. And then they went
up here, and then they come back down, and then they went back
up. What was that? That was crooked, wasn't it?
All they had to do was leave Egypt and come right over here
to Canaan. But they wandered all over this wilderness. I mean
40 years they wandered out in the middle of nowhere. They just
wandered around. They went out in the wilderness
with no water and cried and God gave them water and they went
to the another place, and He gave them that rock and smote
it and brought that water forth, which is Christ, and the bitter
waters of Marah, and all through. They wandered, they were crooked.
And Israel as a nation, You go back and read and see if I'm
telling you the truth. All the way through the Old Testament,
Israel as a nation wandered. They'd wander this way and they'd
wander this way. And they'd come over this way
a while and then they'd go up and then they'd go around circles
a little bit and they'd come back. They had no straight path. They had no straight way. Here's
what John's doing. John came to take that rock back
in Israel and go straight to the cross. He come to take those
waters of Mer and go straight to the cross. He come to take
that sacrifice and that tabernacle and take it straight where it
belongs, straight to Christ. Make straight the way of the
Lord. That's what He came to do. And I don't care what it
is they wanted to talk about in the Old Testament, John took
it straight to Christ. Straight to Christ. That Lamb
of which Israel was so enamored, that Lamb, that spotless Lamb
that had just withered in their religion down to an old, just
whatever they had left over they were bringing in. And they got
in the temple with the money changers and the whole thing
had just become an abomination before God. And John said when
he saw Jesus coming down that path, he said, there's the Lamb. You see what he's saying here?
Make straight. Make straight the way of the
Lord. I don't care where I'm going to preach from this morning,
I'll tell you where it's going to go. It's going to go in a
straight line to Christ. And I'll tell you this, when
you read this book, if you'll just take that line and just
draw it straight to Christ, you'll understand what you're reading.
You'll go back and read those old battles and you'll see Christ
in them. You'll go back and read those old covenants and you'll
see Christ in them. You'll rejoice in them. That's
what he came to do, draw a straight line. That witness that God sends
takes whatever he sees, and he goes to Calvary. He goes to Calvary. He sees that in the priesthood,
and he sees it in the sacrifices. He sees it in the kings. He doesn't
see David seated on a throne, having taken that land of Canaan.
He sees Christ on that throne, the Son of David. He makes straight the way of
the Lord, and it's the way of eternal purpose. Nothing comes
about in time that was not determined by God from eternity. I don't
know when we're going to understand that. Things don't just happen.
They don't just happen. There's nothing going on here
this morning that God didn't determine from all eternity. It's us who are born in time. It's us who see things in time.
We're the ones subject to time, not God. And what happens in
time is what God determines an eternity. And if God establishes
an everlasting covenant in eternity, those little covenants down the
line, they all point back to that one. They all point to that
one. And I'll tell you this, if I'm
brought to that place where I need a Savior, let me see Him whose
name is Wonderful. Wonderful. I'll tell you, if
He ever brings you to that place, That would be one word in your
vocabulary whenever anybody wants to talk about Christ. Wonderful.
It's wonderful. Counselor, representing me before
God. He is the mighty God. He is the
everlasting Father. To see Him is to see the Father.
He is the Prince of Peace. And I'll tell you this, the way
of the Lord is an everlasting way, and the way of the Lord
is covenant redemption. Not going to be anybody saved
apart from that everlasting covenant. It's not going to happen. And
they can cry universal salvation and universal atonement to the
end of the world. The way of the Lord is eternal
election. Nobody is going to be redeemed
in time who was not chosen of God in eternity. It ain't going
to happen. And the way of God is eternal
adoption. whom He did foreknow, them He
also did predestinate." Choosing us and putting us in Christ,
we are predestinated under the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
And the way of the Lord is substitution and representation. The way of
the Lord is regeneration and faith. Nobody will ever receive
Him Isn't that what John labors to tell us here in these first
12, 13 verses? Nobody is going to receive Him.
Here is 6,000 years, Winston. If somebody is going to receive
Him, they are going to receive Him during this time, weren't they? Nobody
received Him. He came into the world and the
world didn't receive Him. He came to his own, his own didn't
receive Him. Who received Him? Those who were born, born of
God. And they were given power to
become the sons of God. The way of the Lord is holiness.
We are His workmanship, Paul said, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. And we are going to walk in them. Religion has all kinds of different
sects divided in all these different issues. We've got them today. They call them Sadducees and
Pharisees and priests. They sent priests out, by the
way, to John. Do you know why they sent priests
out? Because John was a priest. Did you know that? His father
was a priest. John was a Levite. He was a priest.
They couldn't send anybody else out and still follow the letter
of the law. So the Pharisees who sent it.
Now, here's who sent it. The Sanhedrin. They sent him,
the 70 Pharisees who elect, who sent as a jury, who decided what
things, actually what they said the Scriptures meant determined
the very revelation of God. Now that's what they thought.
And they sent out these priests so they could follow the letter
of the law to question John as to who he was. They didn't want
to know who John was. They already knew he wasn't a
Messiah. They sent out those spies for
information so they could condemn him. That's why they sent them
out. And for the most part, they can
tolerate one another. But let one man be sin of God
who will stand and declare the way of the Lord, to make straight
the way of the Lord, and they'll all ask the same question, Who
are you? Who do you think you are? Isn't
that what they asked John? They heard what he was preaching
and they saw what his preaching was accomplishing. And I'll tell
you this, when you declare these eternal things of God, Winston,
there's no refuting them. You're trying to tear down the
counsel of God and the wisdom of God when you go against the
gospel. It can't be done. All you can do is hire false
witnesses and stir up trouble. That's all you can do. You can't
refute the truth. You can't take this book and
disprove what I'm saying about the gospel. You can't do it.
You can't do it. And you sure can't do it in the
hearts of God's elect. He said there's coming a time
when even the elect of God would be deceived if it were possible. But it ain't possible. Because
the truth of God is revealed in you. And His Spirit bears
witness in you that you are the sons of God. And that's what
these men were doing. Who are you? Who do you think
you are, John? Who do you think you are out
here testifying of Him and saying, this is the Christ? We're the
Sanhedrin and we don't know who He is. How do you know who He
is? Because I'm a man sent from God. Alright. Well, let me just tell
you this. This is something I saw on the
Internet, and I'll have to look it up and tell you who said it. I want to say it was Drew Dietz. He's got an article in there
about Moses, when God sent Moses down to Egypt. And Moses said,
you're sending me down here on this great errand, and I'm going
up against the greatest ruler this earth has ever known. Who
am I going to tell him to send me? And you know what the Lord told
him? He said, I'm not just sending you. Surely I'll be with you. And
that's all he said. He didn't say to Moses, I'm going
to give you the ability to speak, and I saw something. He didn't
say anything. He just disregarded Moses altogether. He said, I'm going with you.
And when I stand up to preach, and these men of God stand up
to preach, I don't have to defend myself, and defend my character,
and defend my past, and defend this, that, and the next thing.
I'm telling you this, if God's with me, you're leaving Egypt.
Now, that's just the way it is. And the reason you'll leave?
Because God's with me. And he told Moses, he said, later
on we'll rejoice up on the mountain. And they did. God took him up
on the mountain when he died.