The Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about the light of the gospel?

The Bible teaches that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ reveals truth to those who are spiritually blind and dead. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, the Apostle Paul writes that if the gospel is concealed, it is because those who are lost are blinded by Satan. This spiritual blindness prevents them from perceiving the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is essential for understanding God's truth. Just as a woman searching for a lost coin called for light, we too need the light—Christ Himself—to see and comprehend the gospel's profound truths.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

The doctrine of election is affirmed in Scripture, particularly in Ephesians 1:4-5, which declares God's choice of believers before the foundation of the world. The truth of election is rooted in Scripture, specifically in Ephesians 1:4-5, where Paul speaks of God choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. This demonstrates God's sovereignty and grace in salvation, as He selects individuals to be His own. The light of Christ reveals this truth to believers, allowing them to grasp the depth of God’s mercy and predestination. Understanding election is essential for embracing the full assurance of God's saving grace and for recognizing that salvation is ultimately God's work, not ours.

Q: Why is the resurrection of Christ important for Christians?

The resurrection of Christ is vital as it confirms His victory over sin and death, ensuring the believer's hope of eternal life. The resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. In 1 Corinthians 15:17, Paul emphasizes that if Christ is not risen, believers are still in their sins. The resurrection confirms that Jesus is the Son of God and validates all His claims—specifically that He has conquered sin and death. Because He lives, believers have the confident assurance of their own resurrection and eternal life. The light of the glorious gospel reveals this central truth, turning despair into hope for Christians who trust in Christ's finished work.

Q: Why is understanding substitution in the gospel essential?

Understanding substitution highlights that Christ died in our place, bearing our sin and providing reconciliation with God. The concept of substitution is central to the gospel and is crucial for understanding the nature of salvation. Romans 5:8 teaches that Christ died for sinners, taking upon Himself the penalty that we rightly deserve. This substitution not only reveals the depth of God's love but also highlights the extent of His grace, as He provides righteousness to all who believe. This understanding is illuminated by the light of the gospel, which helps believers appreciate the magnitude of their salvation and the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. Without grasping substitution, the fullness of the gospel's message is lost.

Now I want you to open your Bibles
with me to the book of 2 Corinthians. The book of 2 Corinthians chapter
4. I was reading this chapter thinking
about a message from the chapter and there was a statement that
stood out prominently to me, so I entitled the message what
I found in this verse, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3 and 4. But if our
gospel be hid, unseen, unknown, it is hid to them that are lost. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost, in whom Satan, the god of this world,
hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest, now here
it is, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, the
express image of God, should shine under them. The woman who lost the coin,
the first thing she did before she began to look for it, she
called for a light. She knew there was no use to
look for the coin if she didn't have some light. And so she called
for a coin and called for a light and with the aid of the light
she found the coin. Now in the darkness of sin and
the depravity, the cold black depravity of our spiritual dead
state, if you and I are going to discover the truth of God,
the mysteries of his grace and gospel. We need a light. We desperately need a light. You can't find anything in the
darkness. You need a light. And there is
but one light. Our Lord Jesus said, I am the
light. There is but one light. And that
is the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. That's the
light. Now John the Baptist said to
those people who followed him, I'm not that light. I am not
that light. I'm sent to bear witness of that
light. You see, ministers are not the
light by which we see the truth of God. You could have the Apostle Paul,
the Apostle Peter, James and John teaching you, preaching
to you, and you still wouldn't see the truth of God unless the
light was shined in your heart. That light is Christ. The Holy
Spirit must shine the light. You see, ministers, they're not
that light. They're lampbearers. That's what
a minister is. He's a lampbearer. Christ is
the light and only in him, by him, through him are discoveries
made of the mercies of God. That's why we preach Christ.
We're just lampbearers. Christ is the light. Now then,
let's start with verse 1 of chapter 4. Start back with verse 1 and
see what Paul said that led up to this statement. The light
of the glorious gospel. The light. He says here in verse
1, therefore seeing we have this ministry. What ministry? What is our ministry? Well, in
the preceding chapter, chapter 3, he gives four statements about
our ministry, the lampbearers. He says in verse 6, God also,
verse 6 of chapter 3, God also hath made us able ministers of
the New Testament, of the new covenant. In other words, the
first thing he said about this ministry is this, we're not ministers
of the old covenant, the old law, the old tabernacle with
its shadows and types and pictures and sacrifices, but we're ministers
of the new covenant, the covenant of grace in Christ Jesus. We
don't go back and enforce these old holy days and Sabbath days
and ties and offerings and sacrifices, we're ministers of a new covenant,
a New Testament. And then he said in verse 6 also,
we're ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. We're ministers of the Spirit. Now, that can mean two
things and probably does. We're not ministers of the letter
of the law, the duties of the law. But we're ministers of the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit who quickens, who regenerates, who reveals
Christ. But we're ministers of the Spirit
in you that worships God. The woman at the well, she was
very religious, and she was talking religious but lost, and she was
talking to our Lord, and she said to him, you Jews, say that in Jerusalem
is the place to worship God. We Samaritans say in these mountains
is the place to worship God. And he said, you worship you
know not what. God is spirit. God is spirit. And they that worship God, worship
God in spirit, not in letter, not in duties, not in form, not
in ceremony, but in heart. That's where God is worshiped.
Paul, writing to the Philippians in chapter 3, said this. He said,
we are the circumcision. We are true Israel. We are true
Israel who worship God in spirit, who rejoice in Christ and have
no confidence in the flesh. So this ministry, seeing we have
this ministry, it's a ministry of a new covenant. All things
fulfilled in Christ. It's the ministry of the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit of God, who gives to us the true spirit of worship. And then thirdly, in verse 9,
he says this, he says, he calls it the ministry of righteousness.
He says, for if the ministration of condemnation be glory, If
there was a lot of glory, much glory connected with that tabernacle,
and the Shekinah glory of God appeared over the mercy seat,
it was glorious. But at that being glorious, much
more does the ministration of righteousness. Righteousness. We are ministers of not condemnation. The law condemns, but Christ
brings in a perfect righteousness. which unites us to God in him.
So we're ministering, we have a ministry. New Testament, New
Covenant, worship God in spirit, and we actually can worship God
and come into his presence because we have the righteousness and
holiness of Christ who presents us before the Father, holy, unblameable,
unapprovable. But watch the next verse, verse
12. Here's our ministry, seeing then that we have such a hope.
Oh my, what a hope. What a hope. What hope is this? It's a good hope through grace.
I tell you, there's no hope in form. There's no hope in ceremony. There's no hope in law. There's
no hope in feeling or experience. But there's hope in Christ. There's
a good hope, a good hope through grace. Well, seeing we have this
ministry, listen, verse 12, we use great boldness of speech.
We speak boldly. Now, go back to chapter 4. That's the ministry he's talking
about, seeing we have this ministry. The people, the preachers of
God, his servants. As we have received mercy, and
that's how we got into ministry, that's how we learned the gospel,
the mercy of God. Paul said, I obtained mercy.
And as we have received mercy, seeing we have this ministry
and have obtained mercy, we faint not. We don't quit. We don't
grow discouraged. We do not give up. I tell you
this, the very best, most gifted man would faint and fail under
such a task if he did not have the mercy and grace of God. Even
the illustrious apostles said, who's sufficient for these things? He said, God always causes us
to triumph in Christ. We are unto some a savior of
life unto life, to others a savior of death unto death. Who's sufficient
for these things? But I'll tell you this, down
here in verse 7, look at that, verse 7. 2 Corinthians 4, we
have this treasure in an earthen vessel. I said a clay pot, a weak and
frail vessel. And there's a reason for that,
that the excellency of the power, if anything is accomplished,
if God is pleased to use this vessel in any way, it won't be
the vessel, it'll be the Lord. that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us, when the vessel's worn out, throw
it away. It's the content. It's Christ. I tell you this, we have this
treasure, this gospel, this glorious gospel of Christ in an earthen
vessel that the excellence of the power may be of God and not
of us. And he gives another reason,
in 1 Corinthians 2, you're familiar with it, verse 5. He said that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, but in the power of God. That's the reason. That your
faith. The whole thing, you see, we
have a ministry A glorious ministry. It's the gospel of the glory
of God. It's the light of the glorious
gospel of God. We're not that light. John said,
I'm not that light. I'm sent to bear witness of that
light. That's all I am. I'm a witness. But it's a glorious
ministry of a new covenant of the Spirit of God, of a righteousness
freely given, and of a good hope. And seeing we have such a ministry,
we're not going to quit. We're not going to faint. The
Lord said, I endure all things for the elect's sake. We're not
going to quit. Because the excellence of the
power is not in us, it's of God. And those who really hear us
will not put their confidence and faith in us, but in God. That's right. All right, notice
this next verse. Seeing we have this ministry,
we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. What does
that mean? We don't use people. We don't
manipulate people. We're open and above board in
this declaration of the gospel. He says we renounce those hidden
things of dishonesty. We don't walk in craftiness,
trickery. cunning methods to get converts. That's not our style, Paul said.
That's not our method. And next he said, we don't handle
the Word of God deceitfully. We don't corrupt it with our
traditions and our works and our philosophy. We preach it
as it is, the Word of God. We don't corrupt it. We don't
mix it. It's just the Word of God. Believe what God says and
be saved. Reject it and be damned. And
then he said, by manifestation of that truth, as we preach that
truth, as a man is straightforward with his message, and true in
his methods, and determined to glorify God, that's all the recommendation
he needs to every man's conscience and the sight of God. That's
all he needs. He doesn't need to defend himself or have anybody
to defend him. If he preaches a straightforward,
true message, with true methods of honesty, and an upright walk,
and preaching for the glory of God, and the conversion of his
sheep, he said, that's our recommendation. But, verse 3, but if our gospel
be hid, whose gospel? Preacher, he said before, it's
God's gospel, it's the gospel of God. It's the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ. Why does Paul call it our gospel?
Well, I think there's several reasons. Number one, I believe
he calls it our gospel because we've been saved by that gospel.
I love the gospel. I love the true, sovereign, free,
glorious gospel, don't you? I never get tired of the gospel. It's my gospel. Because I've
been saved by it. And then secondly, it's my gospel
because I believe it. I believe it. And it's our gospel
thirdly because God has called us to preach that gospel and
no other gospel. It's our gospel. This gospel
of God, this gospel of His grace, this gospel of Christ is our
gospel. But he said if our gospel be
hid, It's head to them that are lost. Those are strange words,
aren't they? Why would God purpose the gospel? Why would God, by his own blood,
purchase the gospel hope? Why would God, who loves sinners
in Christ, why would he hide his gospel? Well, this word,
hid, is not used in the sense of it being hid by someone. It's hid, first of all, and watch
this, the gospel is hid to natural men, first of all, because they're
dead spiritually, and they're blind, and their minds are defiled,
and it's right out in the open. That's what Paul said to that
pagan king. He said, these things weren't
done in the corner. When Christ was born in Bethlehem,
God put a star to be seen by all men. Some fellows said, we
saw his star, didn't they? The angels came down from heaven
and broadcasted who this was born in Bethlehem. When Christ
Jesus died on the cross, God shook the world, put a sackcloth
over the Son, and raised him from the grave. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to men because they're blind. It doesn't matter how many stars
God puts in the sky, a blind man doesn't see them. It doesn't matter how many times
God shakes the world, a dead man doesn't feel it. It doesn't
matter how many angels come down here and announce Christ, a deaf
man doesn't hear it. So it's not hid in the sense
that I say, all of you close your eyes, I'm going to hide
my handkerchief, I dare you to find it. It's not how it's hid. There's
the gospel right there. It's right there. And you know who sees it? Everybody
has eyes. But that blind man sitting back
there, he says, I don't see it. Where is it? Where is he holding
it, people? Isn't that right? Our gospel
be hid. It's not hid in the sense that
it cannot be found. It's hid because men are dead
and blind. Their understanding darkens.
Secondly, it's hid because Satan. See what it says here? The God
of this world hath blinded their minds. What does he use? He adds
judgment to judgment. He adds death to death. Our Lord
said, if that light which be in you be darkness, how great
is that darkness? It's a double darkness. And so
Satan clutters up our minds so we can't hear the gospel. He
clutters it up with pride. See, you can't honor Christ when
you honor him in the flesh. He said, how can you believe
that seek honor that comes from men? No way you can believe that. No way in this world, it's impossible.
Satan blinds men's eyes with the importance of themselves.
I'm somebody. He blinds men's mind and clutters
up their minds with tradition. This is the way I was raised,
this is the way I was taught, this is what I've always believed,
tradition. He blinds their minds and clutters up their minds with
philosophy. Man's wisdom is foolishness with
God, utter foolishness. You don't find the truth of God
through earthly wisdom. He said to Peter, flesh and blood
didn't reveal that to you, but my Father. So our gospel will
be here. It's out in the open. It's smack
out in the open. But men are blind. And they cannot
see. They're deaf. They cannot hear.
They're dead. They cannot feel. Our gospel is hid because Satan
clutters their minds, adds to the condemnation, adds to the
state of it. He puts his darkness in their
natural darkness, and they have a double darkness. And then thirdly,
it's hid to them because the gospel is in Christ and Him crucified. And to the natural man, religious
and otherwise, that's foolishness. What am I talking about? I'm
talking about Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, is God Almighty. I'm talking about Jesus of Nazareth
who walked this earth, followed by twelve unknown, uninfluential,
unrecognized men who were his apostles. Chosen by Him. That that's none other than God
Almighty in human flesh. That's what I'm talking about.
That Jesus Christ who went to the cross, they spat upon Him.
They scourged Him. They nailed Him to a tree outside
the walls of Jerusalem and laughed while He died. That's my Savior. That's my Lord. That's the one
bearing my sin. That's what I'm talking about.
The old time, old fashion, first century, eternal gospel of a
crucified Savior, of the blood that maketh atonement for the
soul, of the blood of Christ who washes us whiter than snow,
of a resurrected Lord and an ascended Justifier, of a seated
Mediator. It's hid to men because to the
average preacher and church member that's sheer nonsense, foolishness. That's what it says to the Jew,
a stumbling block to the Greek, Foolishness. Now look at verse
5. 4. We preach not ourselves. If we
did, men would understand us. That's right. Paul said we don't
preach ourselves, yourselves, or themselves. We preach Christ. If a man preaches morality and
works for salvation, natural men understand that kind of preaching.
You say, why are these buildings full of people, football stadiums
full of people, gone to hear certain famous preachers? They
understand them. They understand them. Why do they not come hear men
who talk about who God is, his might and power and greatness,
the living God, the substitute, the purpose of God? They don't
understand it. If you preach morality and works
for salvation, natural men understand perfectly what you're saying.
If I do this, God will do that. And I understand that. If man
preaches what we're to do for God in order to merit His favor,
every man understands that. Someone may say, well, these
preachers, they're such con men and shastas, and you just listen
to them. They say, send me your seed of
faith, plant this seed, and God will bless you. Send me ten percent.
Send me this, that, and the other. And people just keep sending.
Why? Because they understand that. It's value received for gift
presented. And they're willing to take a
gamble. They're willing to take a gamble,
and people understand that kind of talk. But you get up here
and say, sacrifice and offerings, thou hast not found any pleasure
therein, Sabbath days, holy days. We don't understand that. If
your man preaches farm and ceremony and will worship, let's all light
a candle. They understand that, it gives
them an object. Let's hold hands, let's gang up on God. Surely
He won't turn all of us away. We'll make an unbroken circle
around the building, and we'll all close our eyes while the
organ softly plays, and we'll get our emotions psychologically
built up within us, and we'll feel real good. Wasn't that a
precious service? Wasn't the atmosphere so good? It was all outside. It's all
outside. But people understand that. They
understand that. And Paul says, we don't preach
ourselves. We don't preach yourselves. We
don't preach themselves. We preach what? Christ Jesus,
the Lord! That's who we preach. We don't
preach real worship. We preach Christ Jesus, the Lord.
We separate to the gospel of God concerning his Son. Christ
incarnate, Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ enthroned,
Christ our righteousness, Christ our wisdom, Christ our acceptance,
Christ our sanctification, Christ our advocate. To the Jew, that's
a stumbling block. To the Greek, that's foolishness.
But to everybody in here who knows something about the living
God, it's the very power and wisdom of God. You're worshiping God in spirit. It's got to come from within,
not motivated from without. So we don't preach ourselves,
Paul said. This gospel's here. This light
of the glorious gospel. If a man's going to find anything
about God, he's going to have to have light. He's going to
have to have light. All right. Now, preacher, where'd
you get your light? You say you preach Christ, you
preach the one gospel, the true gospel. Why aren't you in darkness,
like the people out there in the world? Why aren't you blind
in your mind and your understanding? Here's the answer, verse 6, for
God. For God. I didn't take a course
on how to find the true light. One day in my darkness, God,
One day in my deadness, God. One day in my depravity and rebellion,
God. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and ye can hear the sound, but ye can't tell whence it cometh
or whither it goeth. So are they that are born of
God. For God who commanded the light, that's what we've got
to have, light. to shine out of darkness. What's this talking about? Talking
about Genesis 3, Genesis 1-3. Listen. You know it by heart.
Genesis 1-3. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form, and
darkness, darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit
of God moved over the face of the water, and God said, that
there be light. What a difference. What a difference. You know what darkness is? We
don't know what darkness is. This darkness is darkness that's not even,
can't even comprehend it. So thick somebody said you can
cut it. where you couldn't even see your hand if you held it
right in front of your face. Darkness. Darkness was upon the
face of the deep. Darkness was over all this old
cursed earth. And God said, and God said, let
there be light. And there was light. And there
was light. And that's what happened to you.
That's what happened to you. If you know the gospel, if you
know anything about God, that's what happened to you. He might have found you in the
pulpit, but you were still in darkness. That's where Saul of
Tarsus was. He might have even found you
down at the altar, serving religious people. You're still in darkness. He might have found you out there
in the cesspool. It doesn't matter. A sinner is
a sinner wherever you find him. But he's in awful black darkness. And the first move must come
from above. Now, I hear preachers say, well,
if you call on God, he'll call on you. No, if God calls on you,
you'll call on him. If you take the first step, God
will meet you. No, if he takes the first step,
you'll meet him. But people understand that sort
of thing. God, who just like back down in the original creation,
said, let there be light, listen, hath shined in our hearts, hath
shined in our hearts, in our innermost being, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God, the true glory
of God. God said, let there be light.
Oh, that that would happen tonight. It has happened for many, hasn't
it? And you can say, that's right, preacher. I am what I am by the
grace of God, but oh, that God might do it again. Oh, William
Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, meant a lot to a lot of
people back yonder years ago. I don't know what it is now,
but I know what it was back there when it first started. And he's
buried over there in Europe. And there was a fellow walking
through the cemetery, and he saw this man kneeling and praying
beside William Booth's tombstone. And he heard him say, Lord, do
it again. Do it again. Raise up another one. And wouldn't
that be something if God, I can't do it. I'm not the light. All I can do is hold the lamp.
God will have to give you eyes to see it. All I can do is preach
the word. God will have to give you the
ear to hear it. All I can do is declare who Christ is. God
will have to give you the heart to love him more than you love yourself. Can you, can I comprehend what
it means to have the light? The light, I have the light.
You know that guy, who was it, saying, I saw the light, praise
the Lord, I saw the light. Oh, I wish he had. I saw the light. I saw the light. The light's a person. The light's
not an experience. The light's not suddenly coming
to a state of reformation. The light is Christ. Christ said,
I'm the light. Can you comprehend what it means
to have the light of the glorious gospel of Christ? Let me give
you briefly just seven things. I'll give them to you briefly.
But these seven things God reveals to us through the light of the
glorious gospel that the natural man does not understand. Number one, by the light of the
gospel, We see the trinity of persons in one God. You hear me? We see the trinity
of persons in one God and have no problem with it. Yet our God
is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Cecil read in the
study tonight, that passage of scripture in John 10, where Christ
said, I and Father are one. And not one man in there among
the 25 or 26 had a big bit of problem with it. John says there
are three that by record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Spirit. And these are one. Talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, Isaiah said the government will be on his shoulders, and
you call his name Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. And the believer has no problem
with it. He's equal with God. He's expressed
image of God. Thy throne, O God, is forever.
Explain it. I can't believe it. It's easy. God is who he says he is. And
I don't have to explain it. God doesn't send us to explain
his gospel. He sends us to proclaim it. And
when we get in trouble is when we go to try and explain it.
We preach it. And the Holy Spirit gives light
to believe it. Secondly, by the light of the
gospel, we can look back into eternity. Yes, sir, I can. And I can see what God purposed
before the foundation of the world. That's pretty strong light,
isn't it? How far does your light shine? It shines way back under
when it says, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. It shines way back there in the
beginning of which Paul said, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heaviness, according as he chose us in Christ, therefore
the foundation of the world. And this light of the glorious
gospel of God Almighty. Somebody says, I can't see election.
You can't see anything else either. Election's not your problem.
Light's your problem. A blind man in a dark room can't
see anything. He can imagine he sees it. He
can conjure up in his mind some images. But to actually see,
he's got to have light. And I'll tell you, when this
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, by the power of God,
shines in your heart, you can see, I see, I see, I see God
in his matchless glory. I see back yonder before the
world began. Almighty God calls a council
of peace, a council of redemption. The council was held to set forth
a covenant of grace and designated the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. And the people of the world sit
and listen to that, even the natural religionists. You say,
he's some kind of fool. He's some kind of fanatic. He's some kind of fool. Yeah,
Paul said, I'm a fool for Christ's sake. And the wisdom of God is foolishness
with men. But by the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, I can see an eternity past. I'll tell you
something else I see. By the light of the gospel, the
Old Testament types and shackles and pictures come alive. Christ is our Passover. When
they selected that lamb, I see the Father selecting my lamb.
When they slew that lamb, I see the Father wrath, like he talked
about, falling on Christ. When his blood was shed and blood
put on the door, I see the blood of Christ apply. Oh, Christ is
that rock. As Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness, that's not just a snake on a pole, that's
a Son of God on a cross. I see that so clearly. As Jonah
was three days in the fish, so shall the Son of Man be three
days in the heart of the earth. I see. Christ is a priest forever. After
the order of Melchizedek, everybody sees Melchizedek. Talk about
Melchizedek. He blesses Abraham. He appears. He blesses Abraham. He disappears. They say, who has this got? I
know. I got some light. And there's
nowhere knowing without the light. You don't see the cities of refuge
without the light. Preacher not very long ago was
up preaching and he said, some preachers think that that scarlet
line hanging out the window that Rahab threw out represents Christ.
This one does. I don't think it, I know it. I know it. He didn't say it.
God never did say let there be light. Or if he ever does, you'll
never have any trouble with this and we'll never have any trouble
with you. If you ever say it. If you ever say, I saw the
light, maybe I'll call this sermon, I saw the light. That won't get
off my mind. But if a man ever sees the light,
the light of God, the light of Christ, the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, third, fourthly, By that light
of the gospel, we discover the great mystery of incarnation.
Oh, people are so confused about this man, Jesus Christ. They're so confused about this
man, Jesus Christ. Our Lord said to the disciples,
he said, what are they saying out there? And the disciples
said, well, some of them say you're Elijah. Come back from the dead. Some
of them say you're John the Baptist. Some of them say you're a prophet.
He said, what do you say? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And my Lord said, blessed
are you. Blessed are your eyes, they see.
Why? They got light. Blessed are your
ears, they hear. Blessed are you. blessed of my
Father in heaven." Oh, I have no problem with this man, Jesus
Christ. He's God. He's God in human flesh. God was in Christ. He's the only
revelation of God men have ever had. When the angel of the Lord
appeared to the Old Testament prophets, that was Jesus Christ. Every appearance of God to men,
I don't care Old or New Testament, is Christ. That's right. God reveals himself in Christ. No man knows the Father but the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. They said, show us
the Father. He said, you're looking at him.
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. They're one. Why
don't we preach that? Don't have the life. Man has
the light, he has no trouble with who Christ is. Their God
of their God. Not just a representative, though
he is, not just the Son of God, though he is, but God himself. God himself. And then fifthly,
by the light of the gospel, we see another mystery opened. The
mystery of substitution. Representation. For the Son of
God, God himself, came to this earth in the room and stead of
guilty citizens. And wherefore by one man sin
entered this world, and death by sin, and death passed upon
all men. In Adam we die. By the obedience
of Christ we are made righteous. And by the obedience of Christ
we live. There are two Adams. First Adam,
second Adam. And Paul tells us who they were.
The first Adam is of the earth, earthly. The second Adam is the
Lord from heaven. In that first Adam, by representation,
we died. And death passed upon all men.
In Christ, the second Adam, we live. And as we have borne the
image of the earthly, by God's grace, we'll bear the image of
the heavenly. God looks at two men. He looks
at the first Adam. And he sees us in darkness. He looks at the second Adam.
If we're in him, by grace, by choice, by faith, by life, he
sees us righteous. Representation. It's not what
we do at all, it's what he did. That's so. You see substitution,
substitution, substitution. He was wounded? Far, my transgressions. He was bruised? Far, my iniquities. He came just for the unjust that
he might literally bring us to God. The sheep didn't hunt the
shepherd. The shepherd hunted the sheep.
The sheep didn't follow the shepherd home. He carried him home. I tell you, when we let sentimentality
and emotionalism run away with us, I turned on the television
this morning to watch our program, and there was another just going
off. And this sounds so religious. It sounds so pretty. They had
an organ playing. Some fellow was reciting a poem.
And I just knew a lot of people were really enjoying this thing.
He's walking along through the sand. There were two sets of
footprints. The Lord was walking with him.
You ever heard this poem? And then he went through some
trial and trouble, and it was on one set of footprints. He
thought he was walking alone. And when he got out of the trouble,
two sets again. And he said, Lord, you said you'd
never leave me. And you walked with me back there,
but here you didn't walk with me. He said, my child, I carried
you. Let me tell you something. There
never has been two sets of footprints. Nowhere. Never has been, never
will be. He's carried me from the day
He conceived me, and chose me, and called me, and redeemed me. He's carried me. He's carried
me. I'm not holding His hand. I'm
in His hand. We need to get our... I tell
you, when you get light, you see things. And you get light. And darkness is not beautiful
anymore. It's not beautiful. And you hear
these sentimental, emotional things that sway the hearts of
people. Just lies. That's all it is.
And that's not even beautiful anymore. That poem stinks. That's
right. Some fella gave his life to writing
that thing and got bouquets for writing. Oh, preach, don't be
so hard. If they ever turn the light on for you, you'll be plain
and bold. He said, seeing we have this
ministry, we use great boldness of speech. Isn't that right?
Great boldness. When you have the light, you
see substitution. And then in the sixth place,
by the light of the glorious gospel, you see the resurrection
of Christ. Well, everybody believes in the
resurrection. No, no, I beg your pardon. There's more to be learned
from the resurrection of Christ, our Lord, than can ever be stated
by any man. or written by any man. There's
more that can be learned by the resurrection of Christ. The scripture
says, God hath appointed a day in which he'll judge the world
in righteousness by that man, by that man whom we crucify.
And he gave to this world this declaration, by which he gave
this evidence. He raised him from the dead.
He raised him from the dead. What's that saying? It's saying
this, the claims of Christ are justified. Everything he said
about himself and about us and about the Father were justified
when God raised him from the dead. Isn't that right? He is who he said he is. all that he came to accomplish.
When he cried, it's finished, when God raised him from the
dead, God said, also it's finished. That's what it says. That's what
happened when God raised him from the dead. If you don't have
the resurrection of Christ, you don't have any gospel. You have
nothing as your goal but the grave. And thirdly, He said,
when he raised him from the dead, a while ago, he said, my iniquities
have carried me away, as Otis said, my iniquities are heavy
upon me. And Tom said he bore, he was
made sin for us, and he bore all the iniquities, transgressions,
and sins of all his people, and he called them his own. They
weren't his. They were his. They were put
on him. How do we know he paid for them?
God raised him from the dead. That's right. That's how you
know it. God had never raised him if he hadn't put away all
those sins. God raised him. And fourthly,
because he lives, and only because he lives, I'm going to live.
The day will come when all that are in the graves shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they're going to live. Oh,
what life! What life! Because he lives,
I live. Paul said, if Christ be not risen,
you're yet in your sins. If Christ be not risen, we're
false witnesses. If Christ be not risen, we've
lied on God. If Christ be not risen, Abraham's
perished. I believe we ought to preach,
Tom, a little bit more on the resurrection, don't you? The
resurrection. And then last of all, by the
light of the gospel, we discover And we talked about this a few
minutes ago in the study. We discover the exaltation and
enthronement of the Lord Jesus Christ, the man. The man, Christ
Jesus. Scripture is plain to point that
out. There's a man in glory. That's
right, there's a man, flesh and bones, in glory. There's a man in glory who was
born of a woman, a fallen woman. Now, you think with me a moment. Who's going to stand in his holy
presence? Who's going to ascend into the hill of the Lord? He
that has never sinned. So that lets all of us out. Heaven's
a holy place prepared by a holy God for a perfectly holy people.
And that lets us all out. But we can take some joy from
this if we can have a little light to see that there is a
man in the presence of God. There's a man who lay in a woman's
womb for nine months and then was born, who sucked a mother's
breast, who was diapered just like any other kid, who stood
by his daddy, his foster father, Joseph, and cut wood, and planed
wood, and made tables and chairs. There's a man, a man in glory,
who drank water, who sat out thirst, who sat down and thanked
people for giving him something to eat, who cried, who wearied
with a journey and had to sit down and rest. A man of solace,
acquainted with grief, a man tempted in all points as I am.
He's in glory. But if I can ever find out what
that means by the light of the glorious gospel, I just may have
a little hope that there could be another one there. And another one, and another
one, just as long as all of them in Him, because He's our representative,
our forerunner. The forerunner is one that goes
before. Our forerunner has entered within the veil. Do you know
what that is? Nobody can go within the veil
but the high priest. That's right. But if you are
the high priest and you are in him, you can go. And our forerunner
has entered into the holiest. And there he intercedes for us. The light of the gospel. You say, but you didn't say anything
that I didn't already know. Thank God for that. Boy, you
ought to say, thank God for that. I'm sure glad he didn't tell
us anything new. Because it's the old, old story.
Tell it again. When you have caused to fear
that this world's glory costed me too dear, tell it to me again.
One more time. One more time. the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ. And I say, I'll tell you in closing,
one other thing I see. I see that that man in glory is the Lord
of hosts. Open up ye doors, open wide ye
gates, the Lord of hosts is coming in. The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord of hosts. What's this mean, the Lord of
hosts? He's bringing a host with him, multitude with him. He's not coming alone. He wouldn't
have any glory that way. He couldn't show the riches of
his grace that way. He's coming in and he's bringing
with him a host of people to whom God one day said, let there
be light. that there be light. And the
glorious light of the knowledge of God was seen in the face of
Christ Jesus.

The Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ

What does the Bible say about the light of the gospel?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is the resurrection of Christ important for Christians?

Why is understanding substitution in the gospel essential?

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The Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ

What does the Bible say about the light of the gospel?

How do we know the doctrine of election is true?

Why is the resurrection of Christ important for Christians?

Why is understanding substitution in the gospel essential?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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