I want us to turn to 1 John chapter
1 tonight. You turn with me and just hold
your Bibles open as we look at the passage in this chapter that
is so very, very, very important. 1 John chapter 1. John probably wrote this epistle
when he was an old man. We are not told what the circumstances
were. But the subject matter is the
subject matter of great sobriety, and at the same time, matter
of great, great delight to God's people. John lived long enough
to see the Antichrist coming into the world in his day. He said many Antichrists have
gone out into the world. That is, men coming in the name
of Christ. coming in the name of God, denying
the doctrine of Christ, denying the person and work of Jesus
Christ, denying his gospel. John writes this epistle and
assures us of certain things repeatedly. He begins by assuring
us of the union of the holy persons of the Godhead, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, And he concludes the epistle the same way, in
chapter 5, verse 7, telling us there are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. John moves from speaking of the
union of the Godhead to the union of the man, Jesus Christ, with
the triune God, declaring that he is himself God Almighty. And this is so very, very, very
important that we never miss this as it's spoken of in Scripture.
Were not our blessed Savior God, totally, fully, absolutely God,
even as He is totally, fully, absolutely man, we could never
have been redeemed. He who is our Redeemer must be
man, for man had sinned. Only man could suffer and die,
but man could never satisfy the righteousness and the justice
of God. Man could never put away sin.
No, not if all men died and suffered the wrath of God forever in hell.
Not one sin could be put away, but he who is God and man in
one person. is of infinite worth, and not
only able, but has indeed put away our sins by the sacrifice
of himself. And John moves from that to speak
of the believer's union with Christ, assuring us that as surely
as he is one with the Father, we are one with him and one in
him. Now let's read the first five
verses together. 1 John 1 verse 1. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word
of life. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full." If you ever come to understand
this, truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. If ever you can grasp this in
some measure by faith, if ever God the Holy Spirit will cause
you to know it in the experience of your soul, your joy will be
full. Truly, our union, our communion,
our fellowship, our way of life, our existence is with the Father
and with His Son, Jesus Christ. So really and truly wrapped up
with the person of our blessed Redeemer that no harm can come
to us that does not first come to Him. That means they shall
never perish to whom He gives eternal life. Read on, verse
5. This then, this then is the message
we have heard. and declare unto you that God
is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now understand the message
he describes in verse 5. We'll look at it in just a minute.
But understand the message in verse 5 in the light of what
we have just read. He's telling us about the eternal
triune God and our absolute union with God in the person of His
dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is life and in whom we
have life. Now, this is the message. We have heard of Him and declare
unto you, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. In these opening verses of his
epistle, John speaks of himself as an eyewitness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the word of life, who is himself eternal
life. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men, we're told in John 1 verse 4. John here
declares the eternal deity of Christ and the blessed unity
of the Godhead, that which was from the beginning. Specifically,
he is talking about our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
God's Son, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting,
that which was from the beginning. The fact is, there was a beginning
before the beginning. I didn't say anything redundant
or silly. I said what I want you to hear.
There was a beginning before the beginning of this world,
before the beginning of time. That which was from the beginning
is speaking of that which was done, established, and fixed
in God's covenant mercy before the world began, the beginning
of the suretyship of God's Son, whose goings forth have been
of old from everlasting. Let me show you this. Turn to
Micah chapter 5. I want you to look at several passages of Scripture
with me. Micah chapter 5. Our blessed Savior went forth
from the beginning as our covenant surety. He went forth from the
beginning as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He went forth from the beginning as that one who is our Savior,
our substitute, our righteousness, our redemption, our acceptance
with God. Micah 5 verse 2. But thou Bethlehem
Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be
ruler in Israel. Now watch this. Whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Whose goings
forth, his proceeding in the work of grace, his proceedings
in the accomplishment of redemption, his proceedings as our substitute,
have been of old, from everlasting. Turn to Proverbs chapter 8. I
took the time today to look up all those places in the scripture
where these words from the beginning are used. And in many places
they refer from the beginning of time. They refer to the beginning
of time. But here, as John uses the word,
and in these verses we're going to look at, he's not talking
about the beginning of time, he's talking about the beginning
of redemption. The beginning of redemption, the beginning
of salvation, was the accomplishment of it in the decree and purpose
of God. It is experienced by us in time,
and shall come to its consummation in eternity yet to come. That
is, when God has consumed all things and brought about the
end, when the kingdom is presented by our Savior to the Father,
and He says, Lo, I am the children which thou hast given me. But
this was done before time began, in the beginning. Proverbs chapter
8, verse 23. Our Lord Jesus Christ is here
spoken of in this personification of wisdom. That is, He speaks
of Himself as the personification of wisdom. He says in verse 23,
I was set up from the beginning, from everlasting, from the beginning,
now watch this, wherever the earth was. I told you there was
a beginning before the beginning. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, wherever the earth was. We're told in
Isaiah 46, you don't need to turn there, he says, I am the
God who declares the end from the beginning and from ancient
times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel
shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. He says, I declare
from eternity that which is going to be done in time and tell you
it's done and then I do it. In John's Gospel, chapter 1.
Turn there and look at this. John's Gospel, chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word. The Word. There are two words
translated in the New Testament, Word. One always refers to the
written Word of God. The word that is used here is
never used referring to the written word of God. This word is the
word logos. It is the word that is used exclusively
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of him who is the embodiment
of God in revelation. He is the word. He is the living
word by whom God makes himself known. He is the living word
by whom God is worshipped. He is the living word by whom
God is worshipped by men and angels. God cannot be known except
by this word, Jesus Christ, who was from the beginning. Now, please don't misunderstand
me. I'm not suggesting or implying
that our Lord's material body or even his human soul existed
from eternity. That is not the case. There came
time when the Lord Jesus stepped into this world in human flesh
and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. But he who is
the embodiment of divine revelation, by whom alone God comes to man
and by whom alone man can approach unto God, was from the beginning. The Word then speaks of Christ
as our mediator. That which was from the beginning
speaks of Him not in His eternal divinity, in His eternal Godhead
alone, but rather speaks of Him as that One in whom God Almighty
placed Himself and placed His people from everlasting. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The Word was with God, and really
a more accurate reading would be this, and God was the Word. The Word was with God, face to
face with God, one with God, one in the eternal trinity, and
God was the Word. So that from everlasting The
Lord Jesus Christ stood before God the Father, the triune God,
as our mediator, our representative, our surety, our savior, our substitute,
and the work of this mediator was done from eternity so that
he is looked upon by God as that one in whom we are from everlasting. Now I just used those words,
looked upon by God as. Now when God looks on something
as something, that's because that's the way it really is.
God reckons us one with Christ because we really are one with
Christ. Look in John chapter 6, verse 64. In Acts 15, We're told known
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. From
the beginning of the world. Look at John 6, 64. There are
some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not. And who should betray him. Now,
let me show you something blessed about this. 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. Verse 13, Paul is describing for us the
coming of Antichrist. He's describing for us the man
of sin, the strong delusion that God sends upon men who would
not receive the love of the truth, that they might be damned because
they would not believe God. And the only reason you and I
escape that blindness with which our hearts lived by nature for
the whole of our lives until God stepped into our lives, the
only reason we have escaped that bondage in which we were born
and in which we live with our fists shoved squarely in God's
face is this. But we're bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, Beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How? Through sanctification of
the spirit and belief of the truth. In the beginning, we're
told in Ephesians 1, he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Here, we're told that the reason
He did it, He chose us to salvation, to the obtaining of salvation. That was His object, didn't it?
But, Brother Don, if we were saved from eternity, surely we
can't say we're saved in time. No, we can't, but God can and
He did. That which God did from eternity,
God does in time. And He chose us to the blessed
experience of that salvation in which we now live, that salvation
that was to be brought upon us these two ways, by sanctification
of the Spirit. by God the Holy Spirit coming
into us and setting us apart as his own from all the rest
of the world, giving us new life, giving us that holy nature that
he puts in us in the new creation, and belief of the truth. Oh, now, there you slipped works
in. Believing the truth is not a
work we perform, Larry. It's a work God performs in us
by the mighty operations of His grace. Oh yes, it is our faith. It's our faith because He's given
it to us. It's our faith because He works
it in us. And there is no salvation experienced
in this world or in the world to come apart from God the Holy
Spirit regenerating a man and causing a sinner to believe on
His Son. And if right now If right now
you find yourself believing on God's side, it's because he sanctified
you by his regenerating grace, because he chose you unto salvation,
because he accepted you in the beloved from eternity. Now, let's
go back to 1 John chapter 1. John assures us that his message
is no more and no less than that which he had personally seen
and heard. It wasn't second-hand information,
but that which he knew by personal experience. He said, I'm telling
you about that which we have seen, which we have heard, which
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon. That which
we have looked upon such a meaningful word, he says, I'm talking to
you about what we've handled with our own hands, and seen
with our own eyes, and have looked upon diligently with delight,
and our hands have handled of the word of life. And he's not
talking about this written word. Christ, who is life essential,
Swallowed up death in victory and brought life and immortality
to light by the gospel and causes us to see and to hear and to
handle Him who is life. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 1.
2 Timothy 1. Paul is writing to Timothy that
which he knew would be his last epistle. He is about to die for
the cause of Christ. He's imprisoned because of preaching
the gospel. And he's urging Timothy not to
be ashamed of him or of his bonds, but most especially not to be
ashamed of the gospel for which he suffered these things. And
this is his final word to his dear young son in the faith. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. This is what I'm talking about
when I talk about the gospel. God hath saved us. The scripture speaks in 1 Corinthians
1 of them who are being saved. Here he says, God hath saved
us. We are being saved in the daily experience of His grace.
But blessed be God, He hath saved us. Watch this. How do you do
it? and called us, named us with a holy naming, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Verse
10. But is now made manifest, now
revealed, now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, by Him appearing in our hearts, by Him appearing
in us through the revelation of grace, who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light. How did
He do it? Through the gospel. He comes
by the preaching of the gospel and brings life and immortality
to light in the souls of His redeemed. Whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles." All
right, back here in 1 John. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. John is not merely glorying in
the fact that he had physically seen and handled and known the
Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh. I read one commentator today,
one of the old writers, the other writers refer to a lot. And he
spoke of one of the three great things he desired. He said, oh,
that I might have seen Christ in the flesh. Well, isn't that a great desire?
Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? There were thousands of
folks who saw Christ in the flesh. And it did them no good. Thousands
of folks. On one occasion, he fed 5,000
men, not counting women and children. That comes up real close to 20,000
people. At one time, saw him break loaves and fishes and feed
them out of a little lunchbox. And you know what they got from
it? They got a taste of fish and some bread and nothing else. Nothing else. John's not here
bragging about or glorying in having seen Christ in the flesh.
Seeing Christ in the flesh never did anyone any good. And it wouldn't do you any good. People talk about having visions
of Christ. My poor dad went to his grave
with the delusion But his Savior was a 12-year-old boy. He was
convinced of it because his mother went to the grave with the delusion
that it was so. And this is what she told me.
This is what she told me. She said, I know Paul's alright. Because when he was 12 years
old, I was washing dishes, standing at the sink one day, and God
gave me a vision of a crown of thorns while I was praying for
him. That's nothing on this earth
but pagan superstition and Roman Catholic superstition. Nothing
but idolatry. Folks want relics, crosses, and
pictures of Jesus, and physical images, and oh, if the Lord Jesus
would just come and touch me by His hand, that'd make a difference.
Nothing of the kind. What's John talking about? He's
talking about a true, spiritual, saving knowledge of Christ. Now,
emphasize the word spiritual. All saving knowledge, David Peterson,
is spiritual knowledge. When my daughter was three or
four years old, I sat down and took the time to write out a
catechism. And I taught it to her. And she learned it. She'd
crawl up on my lap and recite a catechism for me. And before
she started in school, she could recite the whole thing. She started
in first grade. She'd already been in kindergarten
three years. Her mother was a teacher, but
she recited fine, answered every question. She knew doctrinal
truth better than any preacher in the county, except I hope
her dad. She knew doctrinal truth, but
that's not saving knowledge. I can convince you of doctrinal
truth. I can convince you from this
book, if you'll just listen to me, that this is the Word of
God. I can convince you that Christ
is indeed God the Son. I can convince you that Jesus
Christ did indeed put away the sins of His people. I can convince
you of doctrinal proof, but I cannot convince you of Christ. That takes the Spirit of God.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. I want you to see this. Paul is talking about this spiritual
knowledge. He says in verse 14, the love
of Christ constrains us. In verse 15, he tells us why,
because when Christ died, we died in Him. Now verse 16, wherefore
henceforth know we no man after the flesh. No man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh. What's he talking about? He knew
about the historic Jesus just like you did all your life. He
knew Him better than you did. He knew about Him and made it
His life's business to persecute Him. Made it His life's business
to erase the knowledge He had from His own mind. He said we
knew Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him
no more. We don't know Him after the flesh.
That's not how we know Him. All the carnal knowledge is as
dung. That's not how we know Him. We
know Him after the Spirit. And then John asserts to us the
believer's fellowship with God in Christ by this knowledge of
Him. He asserts his desire for every
believer's fullness of joy in Christ, saying truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son. Union being the ground of
communion. All that belongs to God the Father
and the Son in this blessed union is ours because we are in union
with Him. This calls Moses to say, Happy
art thou, O Israel. You are one with God. God has
made Himself yours and God has made you His. Now, this is the
message. God sent me to declare, he says,
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. In the context,
John is not simply declaring that God is that ineffable light
which no man has seen nor can see, which no man can approach
unto. He's not declaring that. He's not speaking merely of God's
supreme excellence. He's not speaking merely of God's
supreme purity. He's not speaking merely of God
being a consuming fire. But rather he's talking about
the revelation of God, whom no man can see and no man has seen
apart from Christ, who is both God himself and the light of
life by whom God is revealed. God the Holy Spirit has given
us the light. God is light. And in him is no
darkness at all. He gives us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Not ambiguity, knowledge. The man and prophet and priest
saying to him, know the Lord, they shall all know me from the
least of them to the greatest of them. That's his promise,
isn't it? God is light and in him is no darkness at all. The
knowledge of God is given to us then by the light of divine
revelation in the face of Jesus Christ as God the Spirit takes
the gospel and lights up our souls in the knowledge of our
Redeemer. Now, in the next seven verses,
John raises six issues that demand serious, sober attention. I can only touch on them tonight,
but I want to touch on them. Number one, verse six. If we
say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth. Anyone who professes faith in
Christ who professes to have fellowship with God, with God
who is light, and yet walks in darkness, John declares, by divine
inspiration, is a liar. His very profession of faith
is deceit. Those who remain in darkness,
that is, being ignorant of the plague of their own hearts, Ignorant
of the character of God himself. Ignorant of the person and work,
the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ignorant of that
salvation wrought by God the Holy Spirit walks in darkness. His way of life is darkness. His religion is deceit. His profession
is a fake. And he knows it. He's a liar,
and walks in darkness. Boy, you, you were really saying
something there. I didn't say it, and Baba Duff,
I wouldn't dare say it, but God said it. All the time you walked
in the darkness of free will, works, religion, you walked in
a lie, and God taught you so. God taught you so. We have an
unction from the Holy One. And we know all things. That's
what it said in chapter 2, verse 20. The anointing which you have
received of Him abideth in you, and you need not that any man
teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. Turn to Isaiah chapter
50 for a moment. Here in verse 10, the same spirit
of inspiration who gave John this word in 1 John 1 verse 6,
gives Isaiah a word that seems to contradict it. He says in
verse 10 with regard to God's people in this world, they walk
in darkness. They walk in darkness, but it's
a different kind of darkness. Who among you, who is among you
that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that
walketh in darkness and hath no light? What kind of darkness
is that? The kind of darkness no man knows
anything about except one who walks in the light. The whole religious world, the
whole religious world is doing its dead-level best to convince
you that you're good. And it's an easy job because
you're already convinced. And the whole religious world
is trying its dead-level best to convince you that if you walk
with God, now boy, if you pray enough and you read enough and
you go to church enough and you quit doing this and quit doing
that and clean yourself up and act right and give enough money
then you're going to be able to look inside you and say, now,
boy, I'm getting there. I haven't made it yet, but I'm
getting more like the Savior. I'm getting more holy. It's getting
less sinful. Look at the light. Oh, I've got so much light. It's
just darkness. God's people see no light in
themselves. No righteousness, nothing good. Talk to them about their graces. Talk to a religious man about
his faith and he'll act a little bit meek and then he'll start
bragging on it. He'll say, I don't have any faith.
Talk to a religious man about his love for Jesus. And he'll,
oh, I wish I loved him more. And then he'll start bragging
on his love for Jesus. Talk to a religious man about his generosity. And he'll, oh, that's nothing. Oh, just my two mites. That gal who gave her two mites
gave everything. What was it you was talking about?
Talk to a religious man about his devotion. And he'll, oh,
not me. And then he'll start telling
what all he's done. Talk to a believer about his love for Christ, his
faith in Christ, his devotion to Christ, his sacrifice to Christ. Talk to a believer about the
good he does. And he honestly, not pretentiously,
seeks to hide his face because he knows You see in Him what's
not there, because He doesn't see any of it. Oh, but doesn't
God put those things in His people? Indeed, He does. It's called
the fruit of the Spirit. And He makes them active in His people.
But they never see anything good in themselves. They look out
of themselves to the Redeemer. Now, children of God, ever look
out of yourselves to Him. Is that what this is saying?
Look back here at Isaiah 50 verse 10. Those who walk in darkness
have no light, no light. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. The wicked walk in sparkles of
light, sparkles with which they dazzle themselves, sparkles of
light. Our grandchildren, first time
we lit sparklers for them, they would just dazzle, just shake
those things around. Just a little while, they wanted
two in each hand. Wave them around, make a lot of light. In about
less than 60 seconds, total darkness. Strike another sparkle pop. Wave
them around. And just enjoy the light. The
wicked walk in sparkles of light by which they dazzled themselves.
Sparkles of light struck in their own flinty hearts. But this light
soon goes out. And they've got to have the light
struck again, so they can dazzle themselves some more with new
sparkles of light. That's what it says, verse 11,
Isaiah 50. Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire, that can pass yourselves about with sparks, walk ye in
the light of your fire. God, don't let me do that. Don't let me do that. And it is ever my inclination
to do that. Yours too. You that kindle a fire, that
can pass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of
your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled, this shall
you have of mine hand. You shall lie down In hell. Back here in 1 John 2 verse 7.
Here's another instructive if. But, if we walk in the light,
not our light, the light. As He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin, All who walk in the light
that Christ is and the light He gives by His Spirit, living
by faith in Christ, are united to and live in fellowship with
one another. We are brethren. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I fully agree
with what Robert Hawkins said concerning this. Every word here
is bigger and more important than all the world. Nothing but
the precious blood of Christ God's Son could put away sin. Nothing but the blood of one
who is both God Himself of infinite value and man, a finite man like
us, could put away sin. The precious blood of Christ
God's Son cleanses us from all sin, past, present, future, inward,
outward, original, deeds of iniquity, acts of transgression, even the
iniquity of our holy things. And the precious blood of Christ
cleanses us from sin perpetually. I love the way John wrote, cleanseth. That means God, that which He
did at Calvary, He just keeps on doing it every day. He put
it out of the record book of heaven and He continually cleanses
my conscience from my own guilt and depravity. John Trapp said,
God beholding us in the face of His Son seeth nothing amiss. Let us ever behold ourselves
in His Son and see nothing amiss. Reckon ye yourselves also to
be alive unto God and dead unto sin. Verse 8, if we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Anyone
who denies he's a sinner, present tense, is a liar. Christ is not in him. All believers
know that they are sin. And the sin is mixed with everything
they do. Job said, this man whom God said
repeatedly was perfect and there's none like him in all the earth.
Job said, behold, I am vile. I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, Paul wrote, dwelleth no good thing. Look at verse
9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now let me tell you how this
message came to be. Late one night this week, I got
to meditating on those words, if we confess our sins. I told
you repeatedly, lay bare your heart before God. Strip yourself
naked before God. Light, shine in this dark heart
and see what I am. I'm sure that's there. But the
scripture speaks for itself and is its best interpreter. Do you
remember what Aaron, the high priest in Israel, did on the
Day of Atonement? He brought two goats, one to
be sacrificed to the Lord, the other the scapegoat. And on both
those goats, as the representative of God's people, he laid his
hands on the head of the Lord's goat and killed it. And he came
out and laid his hands on the head of the scapegoat, confessing
the sins of the people, and sent him away. This is what we do,
confessing our sin. Lord God, this is what I am. Nothing but sin. And I confess. I rejoice in my soul to confess
that Jesus Christ was made sin for me. My glorious Passover
sacrifice for me. and that when he was made sin
for me and died in my stead, my glorious scapegoat took my
sins away, and they are no more. And now I confess my sin to you. Doing so, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, remove all guilt, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
Here I am trying to preach to you. Do you know what I'm doing
with this sermon? I've been doing this with it
all day long. I'm doing this with it now. I've been doing
this with it. And when you're gone and everybody
else is asleep, I'll be doing this with it tonight. My God,
what sin. And I lay my hands on the head
of the goat. and confess my sin, and He cleanses
me from all. You mean even your studying and
preaching and your reading and your praying, seeking the salvation
of God's elect? Everything I do, I do with these
polluted hands and this polluted heart. God accepts it only for
Christ's sake. 1 John 2, if any man sin, I take my place right there. Brother Claus Peterson, anything
on this earth true of you, 24 hours of every day, 365 days
a year, all the years of your life, this is it. See it. Anything true of me, every day
for better than 56 years. This is it. Sin. Convince a man of his sin and
he's lost all hope. If God will ever convince you
of your sin, hope begins. Christ didn't come to save good
folks and he never will. He never will. The only ground
upon which you and I can approach God yesterday, today, and tomorrow
is sin. That's what I am. He takes sinners. If any man sin, you who walk
in the light, know the darkness of your own soul. Nothing has changed. We have
an advocate with the Father. And that means everything is
all right, because His name is Jesus, Savior, the Christ appointed
and anointed of God. The righteous, the only righteous
there is, the only one who is right and righteous and righteousness. And he, he is the propitiation. When the high priest took that
blood into the mercy seat, into the Holy of Holies, on top of
the ark of the covenant, God's broken law, was that golden mercy
seat. And he sprinkled the blood on
the mercy seat. And I'm just almost sure I know
what he saw. I'm almost sure of it. He saw the same thing
my Noah saw when the angel of the Lord ascended up in the smoke
of the fire as he offered a sacrifice to God. He did wondrously. God, in his Shekinah glory, showed
himself pleased with the sacrifice. The word mercy seat means propitiation. That publican cried, God be merciful,
be propitious to me, the sinner. And he is the propitiation, the
constantly accepted propitiation for our sins. He's our advocate. He is our representative in court.
Sometimes people will say, well, I know everything's all right,
because I've got a friend in court, and he's a friend of the judge. Are
you suggesting God can be bought off or bribed? That's not the
basis of His advocacy. We have an advocate with the
Father, whom the Father must hear. He cannot turn away the
presence of His Son, because He is Jesus, the Christ, the
righteous, and He is the propitiation, the satisfaction of justice for
our sins. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole. He nailed it to his cross and
I bear it no more. And because he will not impute
sin to me. It is well. Oh, it is well with
my soul. I pray God will make it well
with your soul that you may know the fullness of the joy of faith. Amen. Songs of Grace book number 78.