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 thou shalt 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. in the six branches that come
out of the candlesticks. And in the candlestick 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 they 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
read of. And it was one golden candlestick
with seven shafts. Seven represents the number of
perfection. This is 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 man, Christ, my provision. There was the 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. But one of the many passages in the Old
Testament, you just looked at it and thought, well, you know,
let's let's get on 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 114. And God said, let there be lights
in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night,
let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.
This is the fourth day. and let them be for life 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. Actually, it's 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 picture, 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
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. Simple, 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
sight 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 whole earth is full of His
glory. God is the 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 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 mouth 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 set her in the
midst, they said, 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 and that
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? Where's your mercy? They thought they had omniscience
fooled. 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 7. 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. Heedeth without sin
among you. Heedeth 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 unto 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 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 am 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 the study back
in 1 Samuel or 2 Samuel? Turn 2 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 had 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,
as 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 your gospel, isn't it?
Don't you love that? I don't continue. 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 continue. There's nothing there to continue
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 land is the light thereof. What about the mound of transfiguration?
He, 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, sounds,
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 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 like guarding
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 then, 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. Watch a description of me. Slow
of heart to believe. all that the prophet has 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, who 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 seed 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. 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 going to 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 didn't see me. At what? Seeing the Father. Turn to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter 1. God, who at
sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto 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 would love him 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 is 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 thee,
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'm meek and lowly in
heart. You think of His approachableness.
You think of His mercy. He's full of mercy. Oh, what
a glorious man is Christ Jesus. There's one Mediator. There's
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 know. It became
kind of a, what would Jesus do? What would Jesus do? And you're
supposed to remind yourself of that. What really bothered me
about it is that they wouldn't do what Jesus would do. 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, 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 reason is 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,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's
sake, I have such power with God, even as God for Christ's
sake has 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. You want some purpose? Now, 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. I realize that. I understand that. That's a bad
feeling, isn't it? 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 give it
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. It 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 saying, 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? Well, may the Lord enable us
to be lights. And I'll tell you what, we are
lights when we're saying he is the light of the world. Let's
break it.