Somebody once asked some preacher, if all you have is Christ, is
that really enough? And the preacher answered, he
is if he's all you got. Exodus chapter 25. Beginning
in verse 31. And that's what make a candlestick
of pure gold. of beaten work shall the candlestick
be made, his shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knops and his
flowers shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out
of the sides of it, three branches of the candlestick out of one
side and three branches of the candlestick out of the other
side. Three bowls made like unto almonds with a knop and a flower
in one branch, and three bowls made like almonds in the other
branch with a knop and a flower. So in the six branches that come
out of the candlesticks. And in the candlesticks should
be four bowls made like unto almonds with their knops and
their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches
of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and
a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six
branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their knops
and their branches shall be of the same. All it shall be one
beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven
lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that
they may give light. over against it and the tongs
thereof and the snuff dishes thereof shall be of pure gold.
Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it with all these vessels
and look that thou make them after their pattern which was
showed thee in the mount. Now in this tabernacle there
was one source of light, the golden candlestick that we just
And it was one golden candlestick with seven shafts. Seven represents
the number of perfection. It's a perfect light. This is
all the light we need. And it was made of one material. There's only one light. Christ, our only light. Now we saw in the Ark of the
Covenant what Christ is to the believer. In the ark, there was
the golden pot of manna, Christ my provision. There was Aaron's
rod that budded, Christ my life before God. That's becoming sweeter
to me. My life before God is the life
of Jesus Christ. That's where my confidence comes
from. The law was in the ark, Christ, my righteousness, the
fulfilling of God's holy law. And then there was the mercy
seat where we saw that Christ is our propitiation. He is the
reason God can be pleased with me. My sin is taken away. God is appeased. God is satisfied.
God has nothing to be mad at. Christ, my propitiation. And then in the table of showbread,
we saw Christ, our presence. I'm in the very presence of God
in the person of my Redeemer. And then in the candlestick,
we have Christ, our light. Christ our light. And this is one of those passages
that when I was a boy, if I would have read this, I would have
been bored to tears. One of the many passages in the Old Testament,
you would have just looked at it and thought, well, you know,
let's get on to something more interesting. But what could be
more interesting than Christ our light? I hope the Lord's
pleased to bless this so we can enter into the glory of it. He is the only light, and He
is the complete light. He said, I am the light of the
world. What would this tabernacle be
without the light of Christ teaching us what it all represents? It
would just be boring, wouldn't it? It would just be stuff. But oh, to see the glory of Christ,
our light in this. You know, the Lord said, I am
the light of the world. John the Baptist said in him
was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined
in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Now, one
of the jobs of the priests under the Old Testament economy was
to keep this light burning continually. Every morning and every evening
that light was tended to. Christ the light, Christ our
light. What a vast subject. Oh, that
God would be pleased to help us with this as we consider Christ
our light. Now, would you turn to Genesis
chapter one? The Bible begins with light. Verse one. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without
form and void. And darkness was upon the face
of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from
the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness
he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first
day. Now is this a literal account
of what took place? You bet. It surely is. But it's given to teach us spiritual
truth. Now the light spoken of in these
first five verses is not sunlight or moonlight. As a matter of
fact, these lights did not come along into the fourth day. Look
in Genesis 1.14. And God said, let there be lights
in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night
and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and
years. This is the fourth day. And let them be for lights in
the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And
it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to
rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the
stars also. And God set them in the firmament
of the heaven to give light upon the earth and to rule over the
day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness.
And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning
were the fourth day. day. Amazing, isn't it? The fourth
day this light is created, sunlight and the reflecting of the moonlight,
but on this first day we read light be. Now this is talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not created. He was not
created light. You know He's the eternal light.
He's always been the light, but this pictures, this illustrates
really salvation to us. Now you think of the earth. being
without form and void. Did God create it without form
and void? I don't believe so. I believe
something happened. I mean, I'm reading in between
the lines, but I think this has something to do with the fall
of Satan. I don't know when that took place, but it was something
catastrophic that took place. And all of a sudden, the earth
was without form and void, and darkness covered the face of
the deep. Now, what happened? I don't know. I don't know how...
I don't know how it got to be without form and void, but it
was without form and void. And the Spirit of God moved on
the face of the waters. Now, this pictures us in darkness,
sinful, but in darkness, unable to see, totally spiritually blind. And the Spirit of God comes and
moves and says, let there be light. And there's light. And our salvation, as far as
our experience goes, begins with light. We find out who God is. We see who He is. We didn't.
We do now. We have a completely different
side of Him than we did. And we see who we are. And we
see who Christ is. The light of God. The Bible begins
with light. Our experience of salvation is
light. Now, God is as He is. God is holy. Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God of hosts. The old earth is full of his
glory. God is a spirit. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. God is love. I love that verse of scripture,
1 John 4, 8. God is love. Not here is love and God fits
in that definition. God is love. And God is light. John said in 1 John 1, 5, God
is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now I want you to turn
to John chapter 8. This is a, I believe this is
one of the, all the Bible's significant. I realize that, but this is one
of the most significant passages of scripture in all the word
of God. In John chapter 8, verse 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now, what is the context of our
Lord making this statement? I am the light of the world. Well, look up in verse one. And
Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning
He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto
Him, and He sat down and taught them. And the scribes and the
Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery. And when they'd set her in the
midst, they said unto Him, Master, This woman was taken in adultery
in the very act. We caught her red-handed. I mean,
there's no doubt about what this woman was doing. We caught her
red-handed. As a matter of fact, I believe
it was a set-up. I believe they set this up in order to bring
this objection to the Lord. But they caught her. This woman
indeed was guilty of this sin. Now, Moses in the Law commanded
us that such should be stoned. And that's what Moses did command.
What was to happen to the adulterer? They were to be stoned until
they died. That's God's law. That's what God said to do. Now
Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But
what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him. that they might have to accuse
him. You see, they thought that they had the Lord in a predicament
that he couldn't get out of. If he says, forgiver, they'll
say, well, where's your respect for the law? The law says stoner. If he says stoner, they'll say,
well, where's your mercy? You act like you're such a merciful,
gracious person. Why, why, why, where's your mercy? They thought they had, they thought
they had omniscience. Fool. Boy, these Pharisees are
stupid, aren't they? They thought they could fool
omniscience. It's so ridiculous. We finally
got it. But Jesus stooped down and wrote
with his finger on the ground. I love this statement as though
he heard them not. what they were saying really
wasn't worth listening to. But he stooped down and he wrote
on the ground, what do you reckon he's writing? I feel like I know exactly what
he was writing. I've heard some people say names and dates, maybe,
but I think I know exactly what he was writing. He was writing,
thou shalt not commit adultery. You see, the Bible never tells
other people what to do. It only tells you what to do.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Remember when the finger of God
first wrote, that was one of his commandments, wasn't it?
Thou shalt not commit adultery. He stooped down. Verse seven. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that's without
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And I feel like he's not just
talking about sin in a generic sense. I think he's talking about
this sin. This sin. If you haven't committed it actually,
you've committed it in your heart. this sin he that's without sin
among you he that's without this sin among you let him first cast
a stone at her and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground
and they which heard being convicted by their own conscience went
out You see, when you're convicted by your own conscience, you'll
feel guilty. You'll feel bad. But what will you do? You'll
leave the presence of Christ. They went out one by one, beginning
at the eldest, even under the last. And Jesus was left alone. And the woman standing in the
midst. What a wonderful place to be. Left alone. with the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no better place to be. Verse 10, when Jesus had lifted
up Himself. Now I think this is very significant.
There were two stoops. Two stoops. First He stooped
and wrote down, wrote on the ground. That's His incarnation.
And here's His second stoop. That's His stoop on the cross.
Oh, how He stooped when He was made sin. You think of the condescension
of Christ. He whom angels praised all of
a sudden is made a worm. What a stoop! Now He raises up
again and He speaks to this woman on resurrection ground. This
is so significant. He speaks to this woman on resurrection
ground. When Jesus lifted up Himself
and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, no man Lord. And Jesus
said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them
saying, I'm the light of the world. I am the light as to how
this can be. This woman was caught red handed.
She was guilty. She was guilty of a horrible
crime. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who's holy, the one who's absolutely just, the one who
will not let sin go by. He says to her, I do not condemn
thee. How is that? Because she's not
That's how he doesn't condemn her. She's not guilty. He's speaking
to her on resurrection grounds. You see, this woman's sin became
his. He was punished in her place,
in her room, and in her stead, and his righteousness is hers,
and she is not guilty. Duane was reading in the study.
back in 1st Samuel or 2nd Samuel? Turn to 2nd Samuel 22 for a second.
Now this is David speaking, and we know he's speaking prophetically
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's also David speaking. And David says in verse 20, He hath brought me forth also
into a large place. He delivered me because he delighted
in me. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands
hath he recompensed me. Now, you know, verses of scripture
like that used to scare me to death. How could that be? How could the Lord reward me
according to the cleanness of my hands? Because the life of
Christ is my life before God. And He does reward me according
to my righteousness. You see, the obedience of Christ
is my righteousness. The cleanness of His hands is
the cleanness of my hands. Oh, I don't condemn you because
there's nothing to condemn you for. And that's glorious. That's the best news I've ever
heard. That's the gospel. And Christ is the light as to
how that is. That's a gospel, isn't it? Don't
you love that? I don't condemn you. Christ says to me, and he
knows me all together. He knows me a whole lot better
than any of you folks know me. He knows me a whole lot better
than my wife knows me. He knows me through and through. And he
says to me, I don't condemn you. There's nothing there to condemn
you for. Oh, Christ is the light as to how that can be. The scriptures are full of Christ
being the light. I read that passage of scripture
from Revelation chapter 21 in heaven, no sun, no moon, no need. The lamb is the light thereof. What about the mound of transfiguration?
He, the scripture says, his face did shine as the sun. What about
when he appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and said there
was a light above the brightness of the sun? That light was the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. He appears to Paul and all you
can see is a light above the brightness of the sun. Now, I'm going to say something
that I don't know what I'm talking about, but I read it and it sounds
awful good to me. I'm not a scientist, but they tell me that matter,
the stuff that occupies space, is made of either waves or particles. Now, most of you probably don't
know. I don't know what that means, but I sort of do. Waves. Sound. You know what sound waves
are. It's not something you can physically touch. It's made of
waves and everything else, all the other stuff, stuff that is
tangible, stuff that is material. It's made of particles. But light.
is the only thing there is that's made both of waves and particles. Christ, our light. That gives us some idea of the
dual nature of Christ. He's fully God. He's fully man,
Christ, our light. You know, there's nobody like
him. And aren't you thankful for this revelation? Christ,
the golden candlestick, Christ, the light. What would this tabernacle
be that we're looking at? And all these materials and the
loops and so on. What would they be without some
understanding of it being a portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now,
Christ, our light. First of all, he's the light
regarding the Bible. I love that verse of Scripture,
John chapter 5 verse 39, where he says to the Pharisees, he
says, you search the Scriptures. And they did. They spent all
their time reading the Bible, trying to study it, trying to
memorize it, trying to keep its laws and so on. He said, you
search the Scriptures. And in them, in the Scriptures,
you think you have eternal life. You think if I can just figure
out how to obey these rules and keep all these ceremonies and
so on, I'll have eternal life. And he said, and they are they
which testify of me. Every single one of them. Turn to Luke chapter 24. This
book is possible, impossible to understand unless I see that
it all points to him. Luke chapter 24. Verse 25. And he said unto them,
O fools. And slow of heart to believe. All that the prophets have spoken. What's a description of me? Slow
of heart. To believe. all that the prophets
have spoken. He says, Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things? Is there not a necessity to them?
God purposed it. It was all part of His decree.
It's the only way sinners would ever be saved. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expanded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now every scripture, every story,
every type, every ceremony speaks of him. He is the seat of woman
that's going to crush the serpent's head. He is Noah's Ark, the only
place of safety. He is Abraham's substitute ram. He is Isaac's well. He is Jacob's ladder. He is Joseph,
the favorite of his father. You know, I love to read about
Joseph, how he was the favorite of his father, because I can
see the Lord Jesus Christ in that. You know, his father made
him that coat of many colors. And we think, well, how can that
be fair? It's totally fair. He's Joseph. He's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the altogether lovely one.
He ought to be the favorite of His Father. Do you have any problem
with Him being the favorite of His Father? I like it that way.
He is the favorite. He is the favorite of His Father.
We bow down and worship. He is. the Passover lamb. He is Joshua
who brought the children of Israel into the promised land where
Moses couldn't do it. He is Samson who delivered Israel
by his death, by his voluntary death. He saved Israel. Everything speaks of him. He's the substitute of Isaiah
53. There's no exceptions to this
rule. God's law is given for this purpose to show us our need
of him. He is the key to understanding scripture. He's the key to understanding
every doctrine. What is any doctrine apart from
him? There's no life to it. There's
no power to it. You talk about, for instance,
total depravity. And what a depressing subject
unless you see it shows us our need of Him and His perfect righteousness. When you talk about unconditional
election, oh, it's so sweet when I see I'm chosen in Him and I
must be saved. When we talk about limited atonement,
his atonement for the elect, oh, his precious blood must put
away sin, it must save. When we talk about irresistible
grace, it's his grace that's irresistible, and we find him
irresistible. When we talk about perseverance,
if he keeps you, of course you're gonna be preserved. Every doctrine
of the Bible, justification, sanctification, the second coming
of Christ, it's all sweet, it's all powerful in light of his
person. He's the light of who God is.
You know, the Lord said, he that had seen me at what seeing the
father. Turn to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. God who
at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in times passed
into the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his
glory. and the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when
He by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high." Do you know all that you and I will
ever see of God is Jesus Christ? That's good, isn't it? That's
the way we want it to be. You see that one by faith. nailed to a tree, bleeding and
dying, that is the full revelation of the person of God. Every attribute
is manifested and displayed in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I see such glory in His death. I say this reverently. I hope
I say it with fear. I hope I say it with some understanding.
I love his death. Now, I wouldn't love it if he's
still dead. I mean, he's risen from the dead. He's the living
Savior. But I love his death because his death, it's my salvation. That's my sin payment. I love
his death. I love his life. I love his resurrection. He's
the light of who I am. I thought about what Daniel said. Daniel said, when I saw him, my comeliness, the things that
I thought were good about me, the things that I thought could
be attractive to God, when I saw him, my comeliness turned to
corruption. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ears, but now my eyes have seen me.
Wherefore, I hate myself and I repent in dust and ashes. Now,
is it hard in light of who he is? Is it hard to see yourself
as a sinner? It's not at all, if you see who
he is. Now, if you don't see who he is, that issue gets clouded. You may start thinking high things
about yourself, but if you see who he is, you won't have any
problem seeing who you are. He's the light of true manhood.
I love what Pilate said, behold the man. Do you want to know
what a real man is? Don't look at war heroes. Don't
look at athletes. Don't look at famous historical
figures or great men of the past or the present. Look at Jesus
Christ the Lord. He is the man. Do you want to know what a real
man is? It isn't some macho guy with a real deep voice. A real
man is the man Christ Jesus. Perfect manhood. His life is
summarized by this. He went about doing good. You think of His holiness. You
think of His obedience to His Father. You think of His faith.
He trusted His Father completely. You think of His courage. You
think of His zeal. And yet, His humility and His
meekness. The Son of God was humble and
lowly. He said, I am meek and lowly
in heart. You think of His approachableness.
You think of His mercy. He is full of mercy. Oh, what
a glorious man is Christ Jesus. There is one God and one Mediator
between God and men, the Man. The man. Oh, what manhood. The man, Christ Jesus. Oh, manhood. Beautiful, isn't
it? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
man. He's altogether lovely. He's the light as to the cause
behind all things. Now, would you interpret history?
Would you understand what's going on? Well, I can tell you what's
going on. I got some inside information on this subject. I know exactly
what's going on. His will is being done in all
things. You can't take that too far.
You see, he's sovereign and he controls everything and everything
that happens is neither more nor less than his sovereign will
being done. Period. That's great, isn't it? I got some light on this. He's
the light for our conduct. Now, just like you do, I hate
those WWJD bracelets people wore there. I don't guess they, I
don't know. It became kind of a, what would Jesus do? What
would Jesus do? And that you're supposed to remind
yourself of that. What really bothered me about it is that they wouldn't
do what Jesus would do. You know, they said, what would
he, you know, but, but still that aside, that aside, what
would he do? That's what I'm going to do.
That's my rule of conduct in everything. What would he do?
I want to be just like him. He's the light of our motivation.
We do what we do not to be saved, not to stay saved. No, our only
motive, the only motive that is needed is his glory. And we
do it for Christ's sake. Here's the perfect example of
what I'm trying to talk about. God said to Abraham, take now
your son, your only son, whom you love and offer him up as
a burnt offering on a mountain that I shall sow you. Now, somebody
says, now, wait a minute. That's murder, isn't it? Killing your
own son? That's murder. Would it be right
for him to do that? If God said it, it's right. Period. Might not understand
everything. And you know that he told him
to do that and offered that and supplied the substitute ram.
I realize that, but if God said to do it, it was right to do
it. And the only reason we need to
do something is for Christ's sake, because he commands it.
No other reasons needed. Does that move you? Will you
do something for Christ's sake? Not for reward, not for recognition,
not for human praise, not to avoid punishment. Will you do
something simply for Christ's sake? That's the only reason
that's needed. I love that Scripture. Be kind,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's
sake, that has such power with God, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. Christ is the golden candlestick. Now let me give you one last
thought. And this is an amazing thought. In Revelation chapter
one, Christ walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. And
we know that those golden candlesticks are the churches. Christ says
to his people, you are the light of the world. Now, how is it
that I know that Christ is the light of the world? Because somebody
told me. And he says to every one of his
people, you are the light of the world. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter five. Huh. You want some purpose. And this is to every believer.
I mean, every one of us, sometimes we feel my life is worthless.
I'm spinning my wheels and so on. And I, I realize that I understand
that that's a bad feeling. It's a very bad feeling, but
look what the Lord says regarding every one of his people. Verse
14, you are the light of the world. A city that's set on a
hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
father, which is in heaven. Now our job in this world is
to reflect his light. Now, I realized that in reflecting
his light, it's not going to make everybody praise you. Really,
if you reflect his light, it's going to make folks hate you.
They will. It will. But wouldn't you find
it an honor to be hated for his sake? I'm not talking about just,
you know what I'm talking about. I don't want everybody to be
a jerk. There are some people that are hated because they're jerks. I realize
that. That's not a good reason to be
hated because you're a jerk. But to be hated for Christ's sake. Is there a greater honor? May the Lord enable us to be
lights. And I'll tell you what, We are
light when we're saying He is the light of the world. Let's
pray together.