I can't think of a better hymn
to sing on the night that we observe the Lord's table than
that hymn we just sung. Because our Lord said, this do
in remembrance of me. Let's open our Bibles this evening
to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. And we'll begin
our reading in verse number 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. The Pharisees
therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself, thy
record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto
them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. For I know whence I came and
whither I go, but you cannot tell whence I come and whither
I go. You judge after the flesh. I
judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment
is true. For I am not alone, but I am
the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law
that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness
of myself, and the father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Then said they unto him, where is thy father? Jesus answered,
ye neither know me nor my father. If you had known me, you should
have known my father also. These words spake Jesus in the
treasury as he taught in the temple. And no man laid hands
on him for his hour was not yet come. Then said Jesus again unto
them, I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your
sins. Whither I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Because he saith, whither I go,
you cannot come. And he said unto them, you are
from beneath, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not
of this world. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am,
you shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, who
art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I have many
things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true,
and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of
him. They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.
Then said Jesus unto them, when you have lifted up the Son of
Man, then shall you know that I am, and I do nothing of myself. But as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me.
The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things
that please him. As he spoke these words, many
believed on him. Last time when we looked from
this passage of scripture, we saw the Lord Jesus Christ declaring
himself to be the light of the world. We began again with that
verse, verse 12, I am the light of the world. And we saw how
that by comparison and by contrast, the Lord Jesus Christ may be
typified by light. In the last chapter of the last
prophecy in the Old Testament, that is in the book of Malachi,
We read, but unto you that fear my name shall the son, S-U-N,
shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. 400 years transpired from Malachi
until the time of John the Baptist. 400 years and there was no word
from God. And yet we know in the fullness
of the time as Paul tells us, God's time. God sent forth His
Son made of a woman, made under the law. The Son, the S-O-N,
the Son of righteousness arose with healing in His wings. I am the light of the world. We also saw last time that the
words in verse 12 where He said, He that followeth me are synonymous or the same as
he that believeth on me." To follow Christ is to believe on
Him. To come to Christ is to turn
away from everything else and lay hold by faith on Jesus Christ
alone. He that followeth me are the
same as he that believeth on me. Tonight I'm going to point
out to us three things from these verses which I've read which
are true of every person of all who do not follow Christ. If
you tonight are not following Christ, these three things are
true of you. They are true of all who do not
follow Christ. All who do not follow Christ
walk in darkness. This is what he said, isn't it?
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. All who do
not follow Christ walk in darkness. If you tonight are not trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are walking
in darkness. Turn back to John chapter 3.
John chapter 3 and looking at verse 17, first of all. Verse 19, And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world. He said, I am the light of the
world. Light is, this is a condemnation. Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. All who do not follow
Christ walk in darkness. He is the light of the world. He has come into this world,
and yet men love darkness rather than light. Men continue to walk
in darkness. Now, they did not enter into
darkness when the light came into the world. They were already
in darkness. They were already walking in
darkness when light came into the world. They were already
in darkness and they were already condemned. And as our Lord told
that woman who was brought to Him in the first part of John
chapter 8, neither do I condemn thee. People say, well, He made
light of her sin, the sin of adultery. The Lord Jesus Christ
never made light of any sin. The truth of the matter is, she
was already condemned, as all men are, condemned because of
sin. Now, I want you to follow with
me, if you will, at a few verses of Scripture. But keep this in
mind. All who do not follow Christ
walk in darkness. Make no mistake. If you are not
following Christ tonight, you are walking in darkness. Look
with me first in Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26. These are the words
of the apostle Paul. He was standing before one of
the civil rulers, giving his testimony of how he had come. to be a preacher of the gospel. In chapter 26 of Acts, and beginning
in verse 15, he said, he's giving his experience, And I said, Who
art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. to make thee
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee, delivering thee from the people, that is the Jews and
the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. Now watch this. To open
their eyes. To blind people walk in darkness. to open their eyes, to turn them
from darkness to light, and the power of Satan unto God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. The Apostle Paul here clearly
says that the Lord appeared unto him and gave him his commission
to preach the gospel, and in preaching the gospel he would
turn men from darkness to light. All men are in darkness. All who do not follow Christ
are in darkness. Now look with me at Ephesians,
in Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
8. And remember, these are words
spoken to those who were following Christ. These are words not spoken,
but written rather. These are words which were written
to the believers at Ephesus. Verse 8 of chapter 5, For you
were sometimes darkness. You were. You were, I was. All who do not follow Christ
walk in darkness. You were sometimes darkness,
but now, aren't you glad for now? But now you are light in
the Lord. When I read those words there,
but now, but now, I have to go back to chapter 2, don't you?
Ephesians chapter 2. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world. according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all, we all had
our conversation. In times past, in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
someone said, I've always been a Christian. To which the preacher
said, that's too long. That's too long. You haven't
always been a Christian. You may have been brought up
in a Christian home and taken to church and sat under the preaching
of the gospel, and thank God if you have, but you haven't
always been a Christian. Because as the apostle here says,
we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, that's what we deserve,
by our fallen nature, even as others, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy, For His great love, wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. But God. All who do not follow
Christ walk in darkness. Alright, look at another verse
in 1 Thessalonians. Just a little bit farther in
the scripture. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And verse 5, you are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. Now he's writing this again to
believers, to God's children. Now you are the children of light. All who do not follow Christ
walk in darkness. You are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. Look down to verse 9. For God,
why is it? Why is it that you no longer
walk in darkness? Why is it that you follow Christ? Well, here it is, verse 9. For
God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we
wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. One other
verse, 1 John. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 9. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 9. He
that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in
darkness. Now notice, even until now. In other words, no matter what
a man says of how he loves Christ and how he's followed Christ,
if he hates his brother, he's still in darkness. He has not
passed from darkness unto light. if he hates his brother. So that's
my first point. In the verses that we're looking
at here in John chapter 8, all who do not follow Christ walk
in darkness. I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life. Number two. Second, all who do
not follow Christ do not know the Father. Notice that in verse
19. Then said they unto him, where
is thy father? Jesus answered, you neither know
me nor my father. Now watch this, if you had known
me, you should have known my father also. The Pharisees charged
him in this passage with bearing witness of himself, to which
he responded, that if he did bear witness of himself it would
be true. It would be true because he knew
from whence he came and where he would go. Then he reminded
them that in their law that the testimony of two or three men
made something certain. He and the Father both bear witness
unto him. He and the Father Now that means
there's two persons. Those people who call themselves
Christians and do not believe in the Trinity of persons in
the Godhead worship another God. There's one God, but yet there
are three persons in the Blessed Trinity. And both persons here
bear witness to Christ, both the Father and the Son. All of
those who do not follow Christ do not know Christ, nor do they
know the Father. Because you see, knowing Christ
and knowing the Father are inseparably connected. All who claim to know
God and yet do not acknowledge the Son of God, they must know
another God than the God of the Bible. Because to know Christ
is to know God. There's no other way to know
God. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Look at his words in John 17
in verse 3 in his prayer. What am I saying? I'm saying
all who do not follow Christ do not know the Father. It doesn't
matter What men say about how they know God and how they love
God and everything else, if they do not follow Christ, if we do
not follow Christ, if we do not trust in Him, we don't know God.
There is no knowing God apart from His Son, Jesus Christ. And this is life eternal, verse
3, that they might know Thee, the only true God. and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. All who would know God in a saving
way and have Him as their loving Heavenly Father must begin with
the Son. There's no other way, no other
avenue of acceptance or approach unto God Almighty apart from
His Son, Jesus Christ. Third, All who do not follow Christ
shall die in their sins. He said this twice in these verses. If you look in verse 21 and again
in verse 24. In verse 21 he said, I go my
way and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. And verse 24. I said therefore
unto you that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe
not that I am, you shall die in your sins. There's no worse place to die
than to die in your sins. We've read stories and seen on
the news of babies dying in dumpsters, and that's awful. But there's
no place, no condition worse known to man than for a person
to die in their sins. Here's four things that are true
of everyone who dies in their sins. To die in your sins means that
you die unforgiven. That's what it means. It means,
first of all, that you die unforgiven. And I want you to please notice
that the Lord Jesus did not say that you shall die in your sins,
die unforgiven, because your sins are too great to be forgiven. No, He didn't say that, did He?
In another place, he said, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven unto men. No, he didn't say that you shall
die in your sins, die unforgiven because your sins are too great
to be forgiven. No, he said you shall die in
your sins if you do not believe that I Number two. First of all, it means to die
unforgiven. Number two, it means to die unreconciled to God. Unreconciled to God. To be at
enmity with God. To be God's enemy. That's what
it means to die in your sins. It is to die and to go out into
eternity without peace with God. Number three, to die in your
sins means to die unconverted. To die unconverted is to die
without a new nature, a new creation, a new nature that can enjoy heaven. I read this story the other day
and I want to include it It's a story about a preacher a number
of years ago who was traveling and he was riding on what we
would call a stagecoach. And he was up on top, sitting
next to the driver, who he called the coachman. And the coachman
was one of those unhappy men that think nothing is to be done
without swearing, without cursing, without taking God's name in
vain. The coachman, he was cursing,
swearing, blaspheming, taking God's name in vain for many a
mile, as they wrote on. As he drove along, he would fly
into a passion, now beating the horses, now cursing and swearing
again. Such were some of the coachman's
ways. At last, the preacher who was
sitting next to him, and been sitting there quietly, he said
this, I am exceedingly afraid about
you. Sir, said the coachman, what
would you be afraid of? All is going on right. We're
not likely to be upset, that is to overturn. Coachman, said
the preacher again, I am exceedingly afraid about you. Because I cannot
think what you would do in heaven if you go there. There will be
no cursing in heaven. There will be no swearing in
heaven. There will be no horses to be
beaten in heaven. Oh, said the coachman, that's
your opinion. That's your opinion. No more
was said. and years passed by, then one
day a person told this preacher that a sick man had moved into
the community and he wanted to see him. The preacher went to see him
and he found a man who was dying that he did not know. Sir, said
the dying man, you don't remember me. No, I don't. Sir, I remember you and what
you said to me. You said, I am afraid about you,
because I do not know what you would do if you got to heaven.
Sir, those words laid hold upon me. I saw I was not fit to die. Those words worked and worked
and worked in my heart, and I never rested till I repented of sin
and fled to Christ and found peace in him and became a new
man. And now, said he, by the grace
of God, I trust I am prepared to meet my God and meet for the
inheritance in light. To die in your sins is to die
unconverted, without a nature, to enjoy heaven. A lost man,
if he could get into heaven, would find it hell. He would
find it hell. Because heaven is a place where
Christ is honored and worshiped and served and loved. And the
last thing, to dine your sins means to spend eternity in hell. to be in that place that our
Lord, the Lord Jesus, referred to as hell. A place, he said,
where the worm doth not. And we believe that worm means
the conscience. The conscience. The conscience
does not die, but throughout eternity suffers, suffers, and the fire
is not quenched. And in his parable that he told
of the king who made the great supper and came in and found
that man there that did not have the wedding garment on, he said,
bind him and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. To die in your sins will be to
spend eternity in outer darkness. What did he say? If you believe
not that I am. That he is God. That's who he
confessed to be when he said that, isn't it? He was a man
and we're going to celebrate in just a moment the bread which
represents his flesh that was broken for us and the wine representing
his blood that was poured out for us. And yet that man is God. God-man. And his one sacrifice,
because he is God, puts away, removes all the sins of his people. I trust the Lord would bless
this word to all of us here tonight.