I'm traveling. I'll be leaving
tomorrow. I've got another eight-hour drive
ahead of me, so remember me in your prayers, if you will. Now,
let's begin our worship service with hymn number 51, Praise the
Savior, even though Him. Praise the Savior, even though
Him. Who can tell how much we owe
Him? all we are and have. Jesus is the thing that charms
us. He forgone faith, wins and arms
us. Nothing moves and nothing harms
us while we trust in Him. Trust in Him, He stands forever. He is faithful, changing never,
neither fortress nor garden-saver, thus He loves from Him! Keep us, Lord, O keep us, pleading,
till Thyself I am still believing, till the hour of my receiving,
promise, joyous living! Then we shall be where we would
be. Then we shall be what we should
be. Things that are not and never
could be. Soon shall be our own. Number 485. Number 485. We praise Thee, O God, for the
Son of Thy love. For Jesus who died and is now
born of love! Alleluia, Thine the glory! Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Thine
the glory! Revive us again! We praise Thee, O God, for Thy
Spirit of life, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night! Hallelujah! All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain Who has borne all our sins and has pleased
every slain Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Hallelujah, all things! Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Remind us again! Hallelujah. Hallelujah. If you have your Bibles with
you, turn to John chapter 3 and we're going to read verses 20 and 21. John chapter 3. For everyone
that doeth evil hasteth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that they are wrought in God. Let's pray. Our Father,
we thank you for the clear declaration of Scripture that teaches us
without question, you hath the Son hath life, and you hath not
the Son hath not life. We are thankful, Father, that
you shed your light abroad in our hearts, that you opened our
eyes and our ears and our hearts to receive the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We lay in darkness for a long
time, and we enjoyed being there. Our
deeds were evil, and we loved the cover of darkness. But it wasn't until you shone
that light that we saw our own filth, our degradation, our depravity. And it made us thirsty for righteousness
and hungry for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for making
us thirst and hungry after Him. where you said those who are
hungry and thirsty are those who are blessed and they shall
receive. Father, we pray for those families
that have lost loved ones. Pray that we be with them and
comfort them. Pray for those who have been
diagnosed with cancer. Ask the Lord to be with them. Tell your Father to pray for
Wanda and Jerry and Mike as they deal with the loss of Sam. Pray
for ourselves tonight as we gather here that you might be pleased
to give us an understanding and appreciation of the words of
our Lord here. Help us to know and to believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. That you went to the cross for
us, Our sins were laid upon you.
You bore the punishment for our sins and died the death that
we owe God for our sins. And we who know in our hearts
how corrupt and evil we are by nature are assured by your word
that we stand accepted in the blood. That you have made Christ
to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. and to the elect he is all and
in all. Help us, Lord, to worship him
tonight. We pray in Christ's blessed and
holy name. Amen. This passage is the conclusion
of the conversation between the Lord and the man who came to
Jesus by night. Jesus Christ is coming to the
light. That's the term used for believing.
Throughout scripture, the Lord uses different terms in that
way. He said, if you're thirsty, come unto me. And what he was
saying later in the same chapter, a couple of verses down, it says,
he that believeth on me shall never thirst. So when the Lord
talks about coming to Christ, it's not a physical move. It's
not a physical thing that's done at all. It's a thing of the mind
and the heart. That's how we come to Christ.
We come to him with the faith that God has given us. So he
talks about coming to the light in this passage. those who won't
come to the light and those who do come to the light. It's set
forth here both negatively and positively in the final part
of this dialogue where he says that for every one that doeth
evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light. He hates
the light and doesn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Then
he says but he that doeth truth cometh to the light. That's the
one who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. These words are
not merely the end of the conversation but are a conclusion that forms
a synopsis of what our Lord has said to Nicodemus thus far. They
are the doctrine of what the old theologians used to call
the doctrine of reduction that brings all things that have been
spoken to its plainest and simplest form This is the division of
the importance and consequence that describes everyone who has
ever lived on the top of the earth. They either believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ or they don't. Only those two things are true
in all who dwell upon this earth. All other divisions and schisms
that separate people are of no eternal consequence. Here, as
it were, the rubber hits the road, the difference between
life and death. Again, it's important to remember
the situation that occasioned this interchange between Christ
and Nicodemus. Nicodemus came to the Lord under
the cover of darkness. Under the cover of darkness.
Though the Lord's words deal with spiritual darkness and spiritual
light, the Lord often used His surroundings as a particular
situation to teach the spiritual truth. When he was talking to
his disciples in the grape arbor, he said, I am the vine, and you
are the branches. You can do nothing without me.
You can do nothing without me. Another place he said, I am the
shepherd. You are the sheep. In another
place he talked about the difference between the tares and the wheat. He talked about seed falling
on fallow ground or good ground. These things he used. And now
he's using this scenario where this man came to him by night
and he's ending the conversation talking about darkness and light. There has to be some significance
in that. The Lord has already established
that believing on Him is the revelation of whether a person
is condemned or not. He says that he that believeth
in verse 18 on Him is not condemned, and he that believeth not is
condemned already. So He's already established that.
The understanding that a person is not condemned is conditioned
on God-given faith, faith in Christ. Him having finished the
work of salvation is the revelation that one is not condemned. That's
what faith tells us. Faith doesn't cause you to be
not condemned. Faith realizes and appreciates
the fact that you are not condemned because of what Christ did on
Calvary Street. Faith does not relieve men of
condemnation. It reveals that they have been
relieved of condemnation. That's important to understand.
The fact that light, that is Christ, has come into the world
discloses this condemnation and the only hope of its removal
is light. Him being the light of the world,
the light of every man that cometh into the world. He is that light. And that is both the condemnation
and the removal of the condemnation. That light is. That's what it
says in verses 18 and 19. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed on the name of the Son of God. And this is
the condemnation, that light is coming to the world, and men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Light, the property of light is that it discloses everything.
It casts away darkness. It exposes that which is in darkness. Paul writing to the Ephesian
church in chapter 5 said this, but all things that are reproved
or discovered are made manifest by the light. Whatsoever doth
make manifest is light. That's how whatever's going on
in darkness is discovered, you cut on the light. You cut on
the light. And over in 2 Corinthians chapter
4, it talks about this recovery this recovery from condemnation
it says it this way in chapter four verse five and six of second
corinthians for we preach not ourselves but jesus christ the
lord and ourselves your service for jesus saint for god who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The explanation of this condemnation
or lack thereof is found in our text tonight in verses 20 and
21. The motivation and inclination and affinity and action is revealed
in the affection of these two opposing dynamics. In verse 20
it says this, For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. And then on the other side of
that dynamic is, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest that they were wrought in God. Men and women do not come to
Christ because they love darkness. That's why they don't come. Men
hear darkness set forth as a covering, a way and a means of doing what
you love. That's what they're doing. They
hate the light. They love the darkness. They
love darkness rather than light. They love darkness and therefore
will not come to Christ. This is the disclosing of the
effect and result of imputed sin. Adam, when he was in the
Garden of Eden, freely and willfully, eating of the fruit in the garden,
was a revelation that he loved darkness. It was a revelation,
rather than light. The light was, this is, everything
in this garden is yours. Every beast you're gonna get
to name, everything belongs to you. But one thing, don't eat
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now was that
a bad tree? God put it in the garden. Was it a bad tree? No, it's a good tree, because
everything, he said everything was good at that point. Everything
was good. Only thing got bad after he ate
of that tree. That tree was a good tree. That
tree was a good tree. When he ate of that tree, that
was what God forbade. Everything's yours. You can't
have that. I won't have it. Why? Because he loved darkness.
He loved darkness. How do we know that? His actions
proved that because he sought to cover himself. To hide from
God. That's darkness. That's why men
do their deeds in the darkness, because they don't want to be
discovered. So he tried to hide himself,
and then he ran and hid from God when God showed up, and then
he blamed Eve for what went on. All the time. What's he doing?
He's trying to hide in darkness. He's trying to cover himself.
Christ's entrance into the world discloses this darkness, and
men will not come to Christ. They will not come to the light
because they refuse to give up what they love. Men love sin. I love my sin. My nature still
loves it. That hasn't changed. Nature don't
change. Our carnality does not change. Thank God His Spirit, through
His Word, subdues it, stars it to death, and one day it will
die when we die. But up till now, our nature is
darkness, and it still loves sin. It still loves sin. Christ's entrance into the world
was a light. It cut it on. It cut on that
light. Men love their evil deeds and
do not desire that they be exposed. The fact that Nicodemus came
to Jesus by night may indeed suggest that what he did was
evil, even though it may appear as only to be curiosity or inquisitiveness. Christ, though he believed, Nicodemus
did not openly confess the Lord Jesus Christ, though he believed
on him, because he feared the censure of his peers. That's
a kind of darkness in itself. Was that his spirit fearing him?
His spirit didn't fear Christ, his spirit loved Christ. Later
on he was a man who showed up to defend Christ, and he was
a man who showed up with his bird up to take his body to the
grave. He loved Christ. Did his spirit deny Christ? No,
his flesh did. That's the war that's always
going on. That's the darkness in us. The
fact that he came to Jesus by night does suggest this. This
is probably why he came to Christ by night and at least had the
appearance of evil. The evil disclosed that he was
in darkness because he knew nothing essential of Jesus Christ. Now,
he thought he knew some stuff about Christ, but he didn't know
anything essential about Christ. And this is what Christ spent
time doing. Between verse 4 and verse 21, where we're at tonight,
He's teaching him what this means, what this meant. The evil disclosed
is that he was in darkness because he didn't know anything about
Christ. He asserted that he did know something about Christ.
We saw that in chapter three, in verses one through three.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi,
I teach you. That's a thing of honor. And
he thought, I'm honoring this guy. never called himself Rabbi,
and he told people not to call him Rabbi. But this man called
him Rabbi because that to the Pharisee was a thing of honor.
He said, we know that thou art a teacher. We know that thou
art a teacher come from God because no man can do these miracles
except God be with him. He knew something. He asserted
that he knew something. He believed that he had light.
He believed that he had life. And verily, Jesus said unto him,
verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he
cannot see. He said, this is what I've seen.
I've seen miracles. I've seen you do these miracles.
I know you're a man from God. He said, you can't see. You're
missing something. You're missing something. You're
missing what's essential. I mean, he went on teaching the
difference between the flesh and the spirit. Scripture says the natural man
receives not the blessings of man, but foolishness to him,
neither can he know them nor discern them. It was foolishness
to him. When the Lord said you must be born from above, you
must be born again, there has to be a rebirth here. He said,
what are you talking about? You mean I go back in my mother's
womb and be born all over again? That's carnality. That's what
we are, my nature. He couldn't see it. He proved
with those words that he actually didn't see what Christ said he
needed to see. Darkness was upon him because
he was foolish and astute. But darkness can appear as light. Spiritual darkness can appear
as light. The devil, his name is Lucifer. bright and shining light. Over
in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, we see who his ministers are,
the false prophets that go into the world, the minions of Satan.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 13 says, for such are false
apostles. transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. They're not the apostles of Christ,
but they appear to be. They say they are. And no marvel,
don't be amazed at this, for Satan himself is transformed
into what? An angel of light. An angel of light. Therefore it
is no great thing that he is a minister, but also be transformed
as ministers of righteousness. in shall be according to their
works." Angels of light. Satan is not out here driving
people to go to the bordellos and the beer joints and the drug
houses. He's not doing that. He's driving
them to these places, to sit on those benches and open this
book I believed that for many years
before the Lord taught me the gospel. That's what Satan does. Satan doesn't carry a trident
and have a red face that looks like a goat and horns. No, Satan
is handsome. He's beautiful. That's what that
meant. The serpent in the garden was the beautiful, shining one.
That's what his name meant. He wouldn't be tempted by something
scary to learn out of her. He was tempted by a really fine-looking
fellow. who was a serpent. He was a serpent. He was snake-like, but he was
shiny and bright and beautiful. He was light. He tried to give
her some light. She said, the Lord said, we can't
eat of that tree. He said, you know, the Lord knows. If you eat of that tree, you're
going to be like Him. You're going to be like God.
He uses the word Elohim. You're going to be like Elohim,
the great and powerful God. He was shedding some light on
what she thought she needed to know. Angels of light. Darkness can appear to be light.
It did to Nicodemus. He was in darkness, but he thought
he had some light. And he came to Christ. In verse
21, the distinction is made between those who love darkness and those
who have been given faith to love the light. One is said to
do evil and the other said to do truth. Interesting. The one who comes to the light,
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, is not said to do good, which
is the opposite of evil, but is said to do truth. Truth is
set forth as the opposite of evil. The word doeth has several applications
in scripture. It means to do, or commit, or
bring forth, or bear, or show. It means many things. But the
grammar makes the word to be in the present tense, in the
active voice, in the participle phrasing, so it means that it's
a thing that's happening now and ongoing. The word truth here means addressing
the facts to the matter under consideration. That's the use
of the word truth here. Sometimes it means a body of
evidence or a body of doctrine. But here it means addressing
what's transpiring here. He that doeth the truth. This
is interesting because this makes Nicodemus know that he's not
doing the truth. Because he's not addressing what's happening
here. He's still in his nature. The
matter under consideration is what? Well, self, flesh and spirit,
the old birth and the new birth, spiritual and carnal, light and
darkness, belief and unbelief, life and death, all these things
are under consideration by the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that
Christ is the truth. We know that God's word is truth.
And we know that grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ,
says this in verse 18 of this very same book, chapter one.
Whatever the application is, the result of doing the truth
is that the doer comes to the light. He that doeth truth comes
to the light. He comes to the light, he comes
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The doer of truth comes to Christ,
he believes on Christ, and comes that his doing or his deeds says
may be beneficial. His deeds may be manifest. What
He does may be manifest. That means openly exposed and
disclosed. It's as if He comes to Christ
with His doings of truth in His hands, openly displayed for Christ
to behold. You say, well, something don't
seem right about that, now. Coming to Christ with our deeds
and our doings? That doesn't seem right, but
He does it so they'll be manifested, so they'll be openly displayed.
What a thing that is. This would seem audacious if
it were done for recognition or for evidence of salvation.
But the last phrase debunks any notion. This phrase forms a kind
of disclaimer, a heavenly asterisk, if you will. It says this, that his deeds may be manifest
that they are wrought in God. We bring our deeds before the
Lord. We do the truth before the Lord.
to show that God did it. That it's really of God and not
of us. In Hebrews chapter 13. Verse 20 and 21 now. God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, to make you perfect in every good work, to do His
will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. verse 10 of chapter 18, but by
the grace of God, I am what I am. Your grace was bestowed upon
me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all.
That's doing the truth right there. Yet not I, that there
wrought in God, but the grace of God which was in me. That's
where it comes from. That's where it comes from. Philippians
chapter 2, work out your own salvation Fear and fear for it's
God that worketh in you to will and to do of His good pleasure.
This is what worshiping God is. Doing the truth. Coming before
God with our doings that they might be manifest. So there can
be no question that if anything good comes from me, it has to
be from God. It can't be from me. This is
a confession of all who come to the light. It's simply this.
If anything good comes from me, Where it's found in me, it is
entirely the work of His grace and not of my own. To Him be
glory forever and ever. Amen.