Light Revealed - Light Removed

John chapter 12, look at verse
32 first of all. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. We don't have to wonder
what our Lord is speaking about in this verse, for the next verse
tells us that he said this signifying what death he would die. Look at it, verse 33. This he
said signifying what death he should
die. Now I want you to open your Bible
back to John chapter 3 and let's read a verse here a moment. Now
when I began to study this scripture in order to bring the message
today, the first thing I thought of when I read that verse, and
I if I be lifted up from the earth, I thought about John chapter
3 verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now, I heard a preacher on television the other night, and I don't
mean to be critical. I want God to deliver us from
a critical spirit. You know, Paul said one time,
he said, I rejoice that the gospel is preached, whether it's preached
in contention, whether it's preached out of love, Whether it's preached
hoping to add to my bonds, I just rejoice that the gospel is preached.
And I rejoice that the name of Christ is presented publicly,
nationwide. But I heard a preacher on television
the other night talking about the lifting up of the serpent
in the wilderness. And he said this, looking to
that serpent in the wilderness seemed to be a foolish thing.
To the natural man it is a foolish thing. The lifting up of Christ
is a foolish thing. The bathing of Naaman in the
River Jordan was a foolish thing to the natural man. But to the
believer it is no foolish thing at all. To the believer it is
the wisdom of God It is the righteousness of God, it is the justice of
God. The believer sees in the lifting
up of that serpent and the lifting up of Christ the way that God
saves a sinner. Now that serpent that Moses lifted
up in the wilderness, that was Christ. You go through the Old
Testament, you'll find that the rock which Moses smoked, that
rock is Christ. When Moses smoked the rock and
the water came out, it is picturing, it is a type of our Lord being
smitten on the cross and the water of life coming forth unto
us from him. Also, the Passover lamb is Christ. When Israel slew the lamb and
put the blood on the doorpost and on the lintel, that wasn't
just what you'd call an unusual thing to do or a foolish thing
to do. That was a picture. That was
a type. That was showing us how that
Christ would be smitten and how his blood would be shed, how
he would be slain. The tabernacle in the wilderness
is Christ. The priest bringing the blood,
when he slew the lamb and brought the blood under the veil and
put it on the mercy seat, the mercy seat covered the law, the
broken law. And when that blood was put on
the mercy seat, that blood was Christ. It was no foolish thing
at all. And when our Lord is lifted up
from the earth as Moses lifted up the serpent, it's no foolish
thing. It's not a way that God chose
to save us. It's the way. It's the only way. Now let's think about that serpent
a minute. The people of Israel had sinned. They had murmured
against God's providence. They'd murmured against God's
purpose. And God had sent among them fiery serpents. And these
serpents had bitten the people, and the people were sick, and
the people were dying. And Moses went to God in prayer,
and he cried out for help, for mercy, and the Lord said, Moses,
make a serpent of brass like unto the serpents which have
bitten the people, and lift that serpent up on a pole, and whosoever
looketh will live. Now that serpent of brass was
made like the serpents that had bitten the people. Jesus Christ
was made like unto the cause of our distress, which is the
flesh, which is sin. Christ Jesus our Lord was made
flesh. That's where our problem is.
That's where our trouble is. That's where our sin is. That's
what is damning us and dooming us and destroying us is the flesh. And Christ was made flesh. And then the serpent was put
on a pole, publicly, as Christ was nailed to a cross, publicly. And then that serpent was lifted
up. And then Christ was lifted up. And his death was not a natural
death. His death was a violent death.
In a natural death, a man falls. In a violent death, he is taken
by the hands of others and he is lifted up and nailed to a
tree. His death was not a private death,
not one in which he slipped away by closing his eyes in a bedroom
surrounded by his friends, but his death was a public death,
a mocking death, a shameful death. And when we look back to Moses
lifting up that serpent, it was not just some strange and unusual
and foolish thing that God chose. by which to heal Israel. It was
a wise thing. It was a divine thing. It was a picture. And as Moses
lifted up that serpent, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. And in this is the wisdom of
God, and the justice of God, and the holiness of God. Our
sin was made public. Our shame and our guilt was judged
in the person of Christ. And he is shamefully and publicly
put to death under the wrath of God, and this is the offense
of the cross. Now I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 3. Now don't miss this. Don't miss
this. Don't get the idea that when
God said to Naaman, dip seven times in the Jordan, that that's
just some way God chose by which to cleanse Naaman in order that
it might be a strange way and a different way and a supernatural
way. It was a way that God was showing
how he cleanses a sinner. When the serpent was lifted up
on a pole, it wasn't just a strange thing, a supernatural thing,
a foolish thing. It was a picture. When Moses
smote the rock and the water came forth, it was a picture
of Christ. And you watch the second time
Moses got water from that rock. He brought judgment on himself.
You remember the first time God said, Moses smite the rock and
he'll give forth water. And he came up to the rock, he
smote it, and it gave forth water. That's Christ. By his stripes
we're healed. He was smitten of God. He was
stricken of God. He was afflicted. And he gave
forth the precious blood that flowed from his side that cleanses
us of our sin. The second time Israel wanted
water, God said, Moses, speak to the rock. Don't smite it. Christ is only smitten once.
Speak to the rock. And Moses was angry. Moses got
in the flesh. And he stood out there by the
rock and he said to the people, you rebels, must I get you water
from the rock again? And he smoked the rock while
the water came forward. But God called Moses aside. He
said, Moses, you didn't sanctify me in the eyes of the people.
And therefore, because of this sin, you will not enter the promised
land. I'll let you look at it, but
you won't go in. Joshua lead the people. He had violated the
type. He had violated the type. He had violated the teaching.
And these teachings and these types are important. That art
was not just a boat. That art was built according
to God's dimensions and God's blueprints. That art is Christ.
Everything through the Old Testament is Christ. And it's not just
a foolish thing to look to a serpent, or a foolish thing to go in a
river, or a foolish thing to enter art. It is the wisdom of
God. And while it may be foolishness
to this world, it's not foolishness to us. Now, I want you to turn
to Romans 3. I know the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but it's not to those who know the reason
for the cross. Now, don't miss this. This is
the gospel. This is the gospel. If you miss
this, you'll miss life. Romans 3, verse 23. Now, watch
these four verses. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God." This is our condition. We have sinned,
we do sin, we shall sin. Somebody said the other day,
preachers aren't telling people what sin is. I agree with that.
Sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is to come short of
the glory of God. Sin is anything that is not perfect
love, perfect holiness, perfect deed, perfect thought, as perfect
as Christ. It's sin. And all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's our condition. Now
look at verse 24. Being justified. The word justified
there is forgiven, pardoned, counted as righteous, counted
as perfect, just as if I had never seen it, being justified,
freely, not by my merit, not by my righteousness, not in return
for what I do, but freely, freely, by His grace, what is grace? Unmerited favor, undeserved,
unearned, and unsought. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, through the ransom paid by Christ, through
the price paid by Christ. You are bought with a price. That price was paid. Now watch
verse 25. Whom God has set forth, God set
him forth. His death was no accident. God
sent him, God ordained him, God appointed him, God set him forth
to be a propitiation. What does that word mean? It
means this, it means a reconciler, it means a maker of peace. A
reconciler, a maker of peace. God, we have sinned, this is
our condition, but we have been justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ, whom God has set forth,
whom God has sent to be a reconciler, to be a maker of peace. through
faith in his blood." Without the shedding of blood, there
is no remission of sin, through faith in his blood. Now watch
these next two verses, to declare, and both of these next two lines,
it starts to declare, and then down to verse 26, to declare.
And let me make this as plain as I can. I know I can't make
it so simple that anybody can understand it apart from the
Holy Spirit. You've got to hear not the voice of a man, but the
voice of him who speaks from heaven through his word by his
Spirit to your heart. And these things are foolishness
to the natural man, the lifting up of the serpent, the smiting
of the rock, the putting of the blood on the door, the lifting
up of Christ. But to those who've been given
spiritual understanding and eyes to see and ears to hear and a
heart to understand, this is wisdom. This is God's righteousness. Now watch this. We are sinners,
unclean, from the sole of our feet to the top of our head.
There's no soundness in us. In the flesh, no man can please
God. That's what the Scripture says.
The plowing of the wicked is sin. In my flesh dwelleth no
good thing. Even my righteousnesses are filthy
rags. Even my prayers need to be forgiven. Even my repentance needs to be
repented of. I am flesh, and flesh is flesh
and cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And God is going to justify
us, he's going to pardon us, he's going to forgive us, and
he's going to do it freely in return for nothing, the gift
of God's eternal life. And he's going to do it by his
grace, not by our works, by his grace. And he's going to do it
through Christ to declare, first of all, his righteousness. God's holy. God can't just rub
out sin. God can't just overlook sin. God can't just say, well, now,
you've been a bad boy. Well, you promise not to be a
bad boy anymore. If you promise not to be a bad boy, I'll forgive
your sin, but don't do it again. God is righteous. God is not
only love, he's righteous. He's not only mercy, he's justice. And he set forth Christ to declare
his righteousness for the forgiveness of sins that have passed. That
is the Old Testament people, the people before the cross,
through the forbearance of God. Now watch verse 26. To declare,
I say it this time, his righteousness, and secondly, that he might be
just and justify the ungodly, that God might be holy and that
God might be merciful, that God might be just and that God might
forgive our sins, that Almighty God might be righteous and still
pardon the guilty. And that's the key out there
to the gospel. I've used it so many times and
I'll use it again. If a judge is sitting here on
a bench, and a criminal is brought before him, and that criminal
is guilty, and the law book is open to the place here, if a
man steals, it's two to five years. If a man commits murder,
it's life or punishment by death. If a man commits kidnapping or
rape, it's punishable by death. This judge on this bench is looking
at the crime. Here's the crime. Here's the
punishment. If he is a just judge, he's going
to send that man to prison. The man is going to pay for his
crime if this judge is just. Now this judge is a human being.
He loves this man. This man perhaps has been his
neighbor. Perhaps this man has been from his hometown and he
sees him. John, what are you doing here?
You're guilty of a crime. John, I have compassion. But I'm a judge, and the law
says this, and the law must be fulfilled. I'm righteous, John.
I love you, but I'm righteous. I'd like to treat you mercifully,
but I must treat you righteously and justly. So, John, I've sentenced
you to life in prison. Nothing he can do. It's just
like when Daniel when the King Darius signed that paper that
said anybody who asks anything or prays to any god except King
Darius for 30 days will be thrown in the lion's den. And he signed
it according to the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot
be changed. And when Daniel prayed and they
brought Daniel before King Darius, King Darius excused himself and
he went off into his chamber and the scripture said he walked
the floor all day long. Trying to figure out, how am
I going to turn Daniel loose and not break the law? And he
came to realize it couldn't be done. And God cannot pardon you. God cannot justify you. God cannot
take you to heaven unless your sins are paid for. He said, I
will in no wise clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth it shall
surely die. That's what the scripture says.
Sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. So sin must be punished
by death. Hebrews 9 says without the shedding
of blood there is no remission, no forgiveness. But wait a minute. God on his throne of righteousness
and judgment fulfilling the exact requirements of the law, every
transgression shall receive a just recompense of reward. He calls
forth his Son, who has no sin, who has no offense, and his Son
comes and his Son is numbered with the transgressor. His Son
becomes one in flesh and bones and body with the offender. His Son comes and represents
every one of them. And God's justice hauls his Son
off to the place of execution, hauls his Son off to the place
of shame, hauls his Son off to the place of infinite wrath.
And there he nails him to a cross, and there Christ dies under the
wrath of God, under the judgment of God, under the punishment
of sin. He dies as a substitute. Now, God can be just and set
me free. God can be righteous and show
mercy to me because my debt's been paid. You see that? That's what he's saying here.
God, we're criminals, we're sinners. God's going to justify us out
of his mercy. He delights to show mercy. God is love, for
God's the love that he sent his Son. So God puts his Son in my
place. Now God can be righteous and
God can be just, and the finger of hell cannot point at God and
say, You said you were going to punish sin. How come you let
that fellow fitzer go free? God said, I did punish his sin. I punished it at Calvary. The
finger of hell points at God and God's holy throne and says,
You've tainted your throne. You've denied your law. You've
dishonored your righteousness. You let that fellow Chambers
go free. God said, No, I didn't. I didn't
take my throne. I didn't violate my justice.
That fellow Chambers went to hell in the person of his son.
But God, you require perfect obedience to the law. He fulfilled
it in my son. My Son was tempted in all points,
yet without sin. My Son became a man, became flesh,
the infinite Christ, became the infinite sacrifice to satisfy
the infinite justice and honor the infinite law of the infinite
God. There's no other way. And when
somebody comes to you and talks about the cross of Jesus Christ
being foolishness, it is to the world, but to me it's the holy,
immaculate, infinite, immutable holiness of God, justice of God,
righteousness of God, wisdom of God. Who could have devised
such a scheme? Who could have brought forward
such a plan? Who has the infinite love to
provide such a way? Only the Father. not foolishness,
it is to those that perish. And if that's all you can see
in Christ, you don't see the gospel. And if that's all you
can see in that brazen serpent being lifted up, I'll tell you
it's a holy, sacred, solemn hour when that high priest slips under
the veil in the Old Testament with that blood and puts it on
the mercy seat. That's Christ! It's a holy, sacred,
solemn hour when that old priest in the Old Testament put his
hands on the scapegoat and confessed the sins of Israel. And that
man, that certain man, that fit man, the Scripture said, takes
that goat and leads him through the people, out yonder across
the hill, down the valley, out of sight, turns him loose in
the wilderness. That's Christ bearing our sins
away. Separating them from us as far
as the East is from the West. It's not foolishness It's God's
wisdom and everything here is a porch to Christ to him. Give all the prophets witness
and Turn back to John 12 now here listen to the people's reactions
in John chapter 12 Our Lord said as Moses lifted up that serpent
they knew about that serpent They knew about Moses lifting
up that serpent. They knew what had happened.
They knew the results. He signified what death he would
die. Lifted up on the cross. They
knew what he was talking about. And this is what they said, verse
34. We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever,
that the Messiah lives forever, that the Messiah will not die.
How sayest thou The Son of Man must be lifted up. Who is this
Son of Man? The people argued here. They
said, Christ is supposed to live forever, and yet you say Christ
is going to die. Are there two Christs? Are there
two different people? Who is this Son of Man? Is the
Christ who lives forever and the Son of Man who dies two different
people? They knew nothing of substitution.
They knew nothing of divine justice. They knew nothing of the sin
offering. They knew nothing of the resurrection. And our Lord
knew that their eyes were so blind and their ears so deaf
and their hearts so hardened that they would not hear. And
he answers in this way. Now look at verse 35. Our Lord
answered these arguments in this manner. And I answer them to
you this morning. I've given you the gospel. I
said a moment ago, don't miss this, this is the gospel. Romans
3, 23, 24, 25, 26, this is it, don't miss it. And our Lord is
saying the same thing to these people. He's told them how he
must be lifted up. He's told them how he must suffer.
He's told them how he must die. He's told them about the cross
and about the way of life. And he says to them, yet a little
while, yet a little while, the light is with you. walk while
you have it. The darkness comes upon you,
and he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whether he goeth."
Three things I want you to see. First of all, our Lord says,
and it's a solemn warning, one One that we will do well to take
heed unto, for three times he says this in these two verses.
Walk while you have the light, yet a little while is the light
with you. In verse 36, while you have the
light. W-h-i-l-e, while you have the
light. Three times. Verse 35, yet a
little while. is the light with you. Walk while
you have the light. Verse 36, while you have the
light. What's he saying here? Our Lord
is signaling the end of gospel advantage. Our Lord is signaling
the end of gospel light. Now, three questions. First of
all, what is the light of which our Lord speaks? It's Christ.
He said, I am the light. I am the light. John the Baptist
said, I'm not that light. I'm sent to bear witness of the
light. I am the light of the world. He that has seen me has
seen the Father. But you say Christ is not here
in bodily form. How is it that we have the light? Well, the Word of God is the
light. The Word of God reveals Christ.
We have just opened our Bibles, and I read to you from Romans
3 how that Christ is the propitiation, Christ is the sacrifice, Christ
is the sinner. There's the light right there.
There's the light. I'll tell you another way that
the Light is with us. The Light is with us in the Word,
and the Light is with us in the preacher of the Gospel. Paul
said that. He said, we are ambassadors for
Christ as though God did beseech you by us. There was a man sent
from God whose name was John. The Holy Spirit reveals the Light.
So the Light, we have the Light. We have it here in the Word of
God, we have it here in the message that God gave me to bring to
you, and we have it here in the Holy Spirit who gives you the
understanding and love for the light. Now, the second question,
how is the light removed? Christ said, walk while you have
the light. Walk while you have the light.
You and I have it. We have it right here in this
book. We have it in a minister who preaches Christ. We have
it in the Holy Spirit who visits with us. Our Lord said, When
the Comforter is come, he will take the things of mine and show
them to you. He won't speak of himself. He
shall glorify me. How is the light removed? First
of all, men die and hear no more gospel. It is appointed unto
men once to die. And after that, no revival meeting. And after that, no personal opportunity. And after that, no second chance. And after that, judgment. It's
appointed unto men once to die after that judgment. Here's the
second way that light is removed. It's removed when men are judicially
blinded, when men who have had the light despise the light rejected
the light, turned from the light, and that light becomes darkness.
Now, we see that in the Jewish nation, but let me show it to
you in some scripture. Turn to Romans 1. Now, you can
call this a deadline, you can call it the end of the day of
grace, you can call it what you want to, it really doesn't matter.
But it's judicial blindness. It's when men sit and listen
to the gospel. and reject it and turn from it
when the light of God is revealed and they despise the light and
deny the light and reject the light. God said the light's turned
off. And they walk in darkness. They
walk, but they walk in darkness. They have eyes, but they don't
see. They have ears, but they don't hear. They become judicially
blinded. Now watch Romans 1 verse 24.
Wherefore, God gave them up. Now this is talking about those
people who changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into
an image, like birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. They
worshiped false gods, and God gave them up. God gave them up. Now look, if you will, at verse
26. For this cause, God gave them up. Who are these? These
are sexual perverts, homosexuals. The women did change the natural
use into that which is against nature, and God gave them up. God wrote them off. The day of
grace is over. Now look at verse 28. And even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, true
knowledge of God, true worship of God, God gave them over. God turned them over to what? A reprobate mind. I tell you,
I don't know of any condition a man could be in that would
be more horrible than for God to turn him over to himself.
God to remove his restraining hand, God to remove his restraining
grace, God to remove his restraining power, and just leave him alone,
just let him go his natural way, just let him go like the river
seeking the line of least resistance, God giving him up, God turning
him over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are
not convenient. In Hosea 4, verse 17, this scripture
says this, Ephraim is joined to his idols. Leave him alone. There comes a time in some men's
lives that God says, leave them alone. They're dead while they
live. They may live on this earth another
20 years or 30 years. It doesn't mean God's going to
suddenly destroy them, God's going to suddenly kill them,
God's going to suddenly take them to hell. No, he lets them
rot. He lets them fill up the cup of wrath. He turns them over
to the flesh. When God shines a ray of light
in your way and you despise it and you deny it and you reject
it and you refuse it, God will shut it off and let you wander
around according to your own darkened conscience and your
darkened will and your darkened understanding until you plunge
headlong into hell, justifying yourself. That's right. Turn to Matthew 15. If you don't
believe that, I'll show it to you again. Matthew 15, verse
14. Paul talked about that. Paul said, I bring my body and
keep it in subjection, lest when preaching to others I become
a castaway. Look at Matthew 15, verse 14.
The disciples came to the Lord and they said, when you preached
that sermon, verse 12, the Pharisees were offended. They didn't like
what you preached. You know, that's true. A lot
of religious people don't like what preachers of the word preach. They don't like it, so they were
offended. You know what our Lord said, verse 14, leave them alone. That's terrible. Brother Ronnie Lewis didn't like
my message this morning. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. Lord, Brother So-and-so didn't.
He's rebelling against the Word. Leave him alone. Give him up. That's what Scripture
says. Leave him alone. They're blind leaders of the
blind. And the blind lead the blind. They both fall into this.
Just leave him alone. Wouldn't that be terrible? Wouldn't
that be horrible for God Almighty to say, leave him alone? That's
judicial blindness. That's how the light's removed.
That's what Christ is saying in our text. You look back at
it again. Now, I expect anybody who knows God to turn away from
error. If it's error, you reject it.
If it's error, you try the spirits, whether they be of God. If it's
not the Word of God, reject it. Turn from it. Go somewhere else.
Find the truth. Let me know where it is. I'll
go with you. But if it's the Word of God, And you turn your
back on it. Our Lord says here, you walk
while you have the light. Yet a little while, yet a little
while is the light with you. It's not going to stay on forever.
Here's another way that men lose the light, and that's for God
to move his preacher. He did that several times to Paul, turn
to Acts 16. Acts 16. You look at this, in
the 16th chapter of Acts, in verses 6 and 7. Now, you listen
to this. Paul said in Acts 16, verse 6,
that when they had gone through Phrygia and the regions of Galatia,
they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. The Holy Ghost said, ìDonít you
go over and preach Look at verse 7. And after they were come to
Mysia, they wanted to go to Bithynia. But the Holy Spirit says, Don't
you go to Bithynia. Don't preach to them. I hope God never does that here.
I hope God never does that to me and to you. Don't preach to
them. They had the light. I gave them
the light. They held it in their hands.
It was all about them. It was in their hymnals. It was
in their preacher. It was in their services. It
was in the message. Now leave them alone. They are
judicially blinded. That's what happened there in
John 12. I read it to you a while ago. Isaiah said he blinded their
eyes, but not before they saw the light. He hardened their
hearts, but not before he gave them warning. While you have the light, he
said, believe in the light. Now this believing is the most
important act of your life, to believe. Christ said, if you
can believe, believe, believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth. Our Lord said to his disciples,
you go preach the gospel, this gospel of substitution, this
gospel of just and justifier, this gospel of divine righteousness,
you preach it. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. And he that doesn't believe it,
he shall be damned. Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith
it's impossible to please God. You say, well, I want faith.
All right, let me give you three suggestions. First of all, you
can pray for faith. Face the gift of God. The disciples
said, Lord, increase our faith. They prayed for faith. And then
the Romans sent to her and said, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Would you say faith is wisdom?
Of course faith is wisdom. Well, if any man lack wisdom,
let him what? Ask of God. What does the scripture say?
If you desire anything, if it be according to my will. Well,
I desire faith. Is faith according to God's will?
It sure is. He said, ask, and you shall receive. You have not
because you ask not. I'm going to pray for faith.
I'm praying for it now, and I'm going to pray for it tonight,
and I'm going to pray for it tomorrow. I want to believe. Our Lord prayed
about Peter's faith, didn't he? He said, Peter, I pray for you
that your faith won't fail. I'll tell you another thing. You not only can pray for faith,
but you can believe. No one can believe for you. You
can believe. You're standing at the banquet table. Don't just
stand there and admire it and study it and discuss it and argue
it and talk about it. You standing at the well of the
water of life, drink! You standing before the King,
bow down, bow down. Now, brethren, what are you talking
about? Believe what? Four things, I
think, will sum up this glory of God. First of all, it's to
believe that Jesus Christ is who he said he is. He's very
God of their God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. He's not just a great teacher,
a great reformer, a great martyr. He's the Lord of Lords and the
King of Kings. He's the God-man. It's the glory
of his person. Secondly, it's to believe the
efficacy of his blood. His blood cleanses us from all
sin. His blood has the power to put
away past sins, present sins, and future sins. The blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It is the atonement. It is the cleansing power. It
is the redeeming power. His blood, the efficacy of His
blood. I believe it. I believe with
His spotless garments on, I'm as holy as the Holy One. I believe
that. I believe that bathed in the blood of Christ, figuratively,
that I'm as clean as Christ himself. Do you believe that? Thirdly,
it's to believe the holiness of his righteousness. When he
came down here as a man, he represented me, just as Adam represented
me, Christ represented his people. And in the flesh he met every
law, the civil law, the judicial law, the ceremonial law, the
Mosaic law, the law of the home, every law, in every jot and tittle,
and as a human being he obeyed that law. And I have that righteousness
imputed to me, charged to me, reckoned to me, because he is
me, he represented me. And I believe that. And I believe
in the ability of his intercession. That's the fourth thing. I believe
that he is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now, last of all, I'm going to
close with this. Our Lord said, you have the light, you have
the light for a little while. Walk in the light, believe in
the light, that you may be children of the light. It was an old man
sitting in prison. Oh, he was an habitual criminal.
He had lived all his life in crime, drunkenness, thievery,
all kinds of crime, until finally he was sentenced to life in prison
as an habitual criminal. One day a minister was among
the visitors in the visitors' room. He was introduced to this
gray-haired prisoner. He began to talk to him about
Christ and about the gospel, about eternal life and salvation.
The old prisoner sat there and listened, and tears glistened
in his eyes. Finally he looked over at the
next table, and there was a little blond curly-headed boy visiting
with his prisoner daddy. That old habitual criminal, sentenced
to life, rotting in jail, knew he was dying in jail, reached
over and put his hand on the curly-headed boy, and he said,
Preacher, there be hope for me. There'd be hope for me if I could
become like this little boy again. There'd be hope for me. Well,
my friend, that's exactly what God does for those whom he saves. He makes them new creatures,
new people, children of God. That's what it says there, children
of the light, children of God. Somebody wrote one time, I wish
there were some wonderful place called the land of beginning
again where all our heartaches and all our mistakes and all
our poor selfish grief could be dropped like a shabby old
cloak at the door and never put on again. There he is. It's at
Calvary. It's when we meet Christ. It's
when we come to know him. It's when he comes in to dwell.
We're not the same old person. We have the same nature. with
which there's so many conflicts, but we have a new nature and
a new person. My friends, I've learned some
things in the last few years, three or four important things
that have brought me peace. Now, I don't expect everybody
here to understand what I'm about to say. Perhaps some of you will.
Perhaps some of you will. But I've learned some things.
And it's brought me peace. It's brought a peace of heart,
it's brought a peace in soul, it's brought a great rest to
me. First of all, I've learned this.
I'm not as important to the Kingdom of God as I thought I was. If God saves me, it'll be by
his mercy and by his grace in Christ Jesus. And if God passes
me by, It doesn't matter whether I've preached or been a deacon
in the church or a Sunday school teacher, what I've been. If he
passes me by, his infinite justice will be honored. That's so. I know that. I'm like old Mephibosheth. I don't deserve what God has
done for me. I cast myself on his mercy. I
wait upon the Lord. But I'm not as important in the
kingdom of God as I thought I was. God saves me, I'll praise him
forever. If he takes me to his kingdom,
if he makes me like his son, I'll be forever his bond slave
to sing his praises and his glory throughout endless eons of time. But if he passes me by and allows
me to slide into hell, I'll have to say, well, I got what I deserve. I've learned this, I'm not nearly
as important to God's honor and the accomplishment of his purpose
and the function of his program on this earth as I thought I
was. I do know this, without him I
can do nothing. But without me, his program will
still proceed according to plan. His law will still stand. His
honor will still be victorious. I'm the one that'll miss the
blessing. Not God, and not his kingdom,
and not his church. He says the gates of hell won't
prevail against his church. Do I want to be used for his
glory? I sure do. But his glory does not depend
upon my being used. He can put me aside and raise
up somebody And the third thing that I've learned, and I hope
that you have learned it as a child of light, this is light. Let's
not walk in the darkness of deceit. Let's not walk in the darkness
of our self-importance. I'm not as important to others
as I thought I was. This is God's world, not mine.
This is God's church, not mine. This is God's message, not mine.
This is God's family, not mine. This is God's ministry, not mine.
I am only and I am but a part of the body of Christ. Now catch
this, and I believe this with all my heart. I am but a part of the body of
Christ, which is youthful to his glory and to his honor. and the accomplishment of his
purpose only as that part of the body is in harmony with the
rest of the body. Now you think about that a minute. And only as that part of the
body lives for the peace and the happiness and the glory and
the joy of the rest of the body, Why do we get fretful, irritable,
depressed, and upset? Why? You know why? Because we
want the body to be in harmony with us. We want the body to
be in harmony with the little The little toe cannot take its
place as only a part of the body, as only being useful as it serves
the body, and as it's in harmony with the body. As that little
toe starts acting up and cutting up, it disturbs the whole body.
It disturbs itself and it disturbs the whole body. And we'll find
peace when we find out that we're just a part of the great, eternal,
purchased body of the living Redeemer. And we're useful and
we bring glory to Christ only as we find our place to function
in harmony with his cause and his kingdom. Children of light.
God give us light. Walk while you have the light. Believe in the light. Believe
in the light that you may be children of the light.

Light Revealed - Light Removed

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Light Revealed - Light Removed

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