Praise the Lord. I'm going to read a few verses
from John's gospel. John chapter 1.
Let's hear the Word of God, John chapter 1.
Gospel of John chapter 1 reading from verse one.
The words will come on screen for those online and we pray the
Lord will bless them as they see and hear the word of God.
We would encourage them if they want a Bible to contact us and
we'll supply them with a Bible in the will of God.
John chapter one verse one in the beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him and without Him was not anything
made that was made. And him was life.
And the life was the light of man, and the light shineth in
darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that
all men through him might believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
light. That was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not. He came on to His own, and His
own received Him not, but as many as received Him.
To them give He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the world was made flesh and dwelt among us.
We beheld His glory. The glory is of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John bear witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of
whom I speak. He that cometh after me is
preferred before me, for He was before me, and of His fullness
have all we received. And grace.
For grace for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. No man have seen God at any
time. The only begotten Son, which is
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
Amen. We know God, and stamp with His
own approval and blessing this reading of the Holy Scripture.
Now my text this evening is taken from John's Gospel chapter
1 verses 4:00 and 5:00. And it says in him was life, and
the life was the light of man, and the light shineth in
darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.
Now this evening I want to try and deal with the theme Christ
the Lord of Light in John. Chapter 1 verses 1 to 18 makes
for very interesting reading regarding the apostle John
because he's introducing us to the Lord Jesus Christ and he
wants us to teach us who he really is.
I believe John is led by the Holy Spirit in a very unique and
wonderful way, in contrast to Matthew and Luke, who begin with
the genealogy of Christ in real time.
They reveal that Jesus Christ is a real historical human figure,
not a mythical figure. But John, in contrast, begins in
eternity and he paints for us and presents a very stunning
portrait of who the Lord Jesus Christ really is.
We get asked the question, who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well here's the answer. Jesus Christ is the eternal word
verses one and two. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
The word was means he was already in existence.
There never was a time when He was not in existence.
He has no beginning. He has no end.
And of course, I told you last week that all heresy and false
religion and false cults and even false churches, one of
their glaring errors is they deny the full essential and true
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as deny his essential
and true humanity. And of course, the modern
Jehovah Witnesses deny the true deity of Christ, just for one
example. But Jesus Christ is also the
second person of the Holy Trinity.
Notice the words and the word was with God, with God speaks of
a distinct, separate person with God, speaks of relationship,
speaks of accompaniment, speaks of fellowship.
See, the Word existed in the closest possible relationship
with the Father. He is truly and fully God,
coequal and coeternal, and coexists A distinct person.
On top of that, the Lord Jesus Christ is also the creator of
everything. Look at verse 3.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. We read in verse 14 that Jesus
Christ is the Word made flesh, hears His incarnation and virgin
birth, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we
beheld His glory. The glory is of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth.
But we also learnt last week that Jesus Christ is the true
source of life. He says in the Scripture, in
verse 4, in him was life, that is, life physically, life
materially, life spiritually, life abundantly.
Life eternally is not only the true source of life, but he's
also the true substance of life or in Him is life.
And we thought about the purity of his life, the purpose of his
life, and the power of his life. I was on the cross.
He gave up his life unto death and shed his precious blood.
And let me close last, Lords, the evening with the secret of
life. And I tried to tell you that
faith is the key to believe that God is with us, Emmanuel, and
it's God in US dwelling by his Spirit.
And it's God for us on the journey and God working through
us. I can do all things through
Christ, which strengthens me. And one day he will take us.
John says in six and 29. And this is the work of God,
that you believe in him whom he have sent.
Now tonight I want to move on. I want to deal with another
truth here that's found about Christ.
Christ is not only the Lord of life, but He's also the Lord of
light. Three things now this evening in
relation to this subject. Firstly, the truth about the
light. Notice the words here.
And the life was the light of man.
Jesus Christ is saying his life. That's the whole of his life,
His person and work, every aspect of his being.
The whole reason for his existence is the light of man.
Jesus Christ is the true source of light in the world, the true
light that shines in a very Dark World.
Old natural light, spiritual light, eternal light finds its
source, finds its fulfilment in Him.
Notice the words and the life was the light of man.
Underline the word man. That's man created in the image
of God. The light of man means that he
is the revealer of the invisible God.
He reveals God's person to us, He reveals.
God's work, He reveals all that's invisible, the invisible
and moral attributes of God, and through the Lord Jesus Christ we
can discover something of God's eternal power in Godhead.
That's why the psalmist said be still and know that I am God.
God can be known. How can God be known?
Because not only is there life in Jesus Christ, but in him that
life is the light of man. He's not only the true source of
true light in the world, and remember, there's no light
without the true light, but he's also the sovereign light in the
world. Notice it's the light of man.
Man in stark contrast to the angels.
You think of the angels who maintained their innocence and
kept their glorious state, not a reference to fallen angels who
sinned with Lucifer and LED a rebellion in heaven and are now
reserved in change of darkness. It's not a reference to angels,
not a reference to animals. Animals were made from the dust
of the ground, but they weren't made in the image of God.
Animals don't have immortal souls.
Animals live and die. They have not the life of God in
them, but it's the light of men. Men do have a soul.
Men do live beyond the grave. Men are not like the animals who
return to the dust and that's the end of them.
No men have immortal souls. We read in Genesis chapter 2 and
in the verse 7A tremendous statement it says and the Lord
God for man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.
And the truth is that man is a living soul needs the light of
Christ and the light of Christ is in the life of Christ and the
life of Christ is the light of man because he's the true light
that has come into the world and Christ is the true light stands
in contrast to counterfeit light.
Christ is the true light that has come into the world.
We read there and John chapter one, verse 9, that the true
light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
You'll read in this passage that John the Baptist was sent as a
witness to that light. John the Baptist was not not
true light, but was sent as a witness of the light.
Did you notice in the reading the reference to the capital L?
Verse 7? The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light capital L, verse 8.
He was not that light capital L, but was sent to bear witness of
that light capital L. And of course in nine that was
the true light, which lighteth every man that came into the
world, again, a capital L. Notice the repetition.
Now let's ask the question, how does the light work?
How does the true light enlighten every man?
Well, there's an answer. Doctor Martyn Lloyd Jones in one
of his sermons in John One verse 5 suggests this by the light of
general revelation of God in creation.
Remember what we read in Romans chapter one verse 20.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by things that are
made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse. In other words, everything
created in the universe teaches and testifies not only that God
exists, but teaches and testifies something about His
eternal power in Godhead, so that men are without excuse.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth showeth forth
his hand work, the psalmist said.
But also by the light of conscience, See, every one of us
is a conscience. The conscience goes tick tock.
The conscience teaches us all that's right and all that's
wrong. It's a good guide.
It's a reliable guide, not an infallible guide.
But the light of conscience bears witness to all that is
good and all that is true and all that is morally upright in
the world. It also bears witness to all
that is evil and wicked and bad in the world.
And let me just point out that true morality is connected to
true justice, and true justice is rooted in true biblical
morality. We'll illustrate.
Think of a clock. I've got a number of clocks in
the portacabin. They they don't work.
Some of them don't go TikTok. And the ones that do have got
broken hands. So you could just imagine,
here's a clock and it's doing TikTok and I'm looking at it.
But that clock keeps me in the dark in relation to time.
It's not a great help to teach and tell me the time and and
conscience is a bit like that. Not only by the light of general
revelation of God and creation, not only by the light of
conscience, but especially by the light of the new birth.
See the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 3 and in the verse 3.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except the man be born again, he
cannot see the Kingdom of God. The word see means to grasp and
to to understand every man that's truly born again of the
Spirit, born from above. That man has got new life, and
the moment he has got new life in Christ, he's also got a new
light. He begins to see things
differently. He sees a sin for the first
time. He sees that he's got a mortal
soul that needs to be saved. He sees and knows who the
Saviour is. He, he, he sees and learns truth
from the Scriptures. He begins to understand the
necessity of keeping one day and seven unto the Lord.
He, he, he begins to ponder something of the great truth
about the sovereignty of God operating in the world.
You see, Jesus stands and says I am the light of the world, and
as the light of the world, the true light that cometh into the
world, He sends and gives light. The Spirit of God takes the Word
because by the light of the Word, the Spirit of God takes
the truth of the Word of God and uses it to open the eyes of men
blinded and darkened. You see, when the light shines
in someone's face, in someone's eyes, you've got to think of
their exposure to the light. You've got to think of their
experience to the light. You've got to think of the
essence of what the light does. Jesus Christ is not only the
source of light and the sovereignty of light, but Jesus
Christ is the light that shines. Jesus is a shining light, we're
told in verse 9. He's the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He's the true light that shines in the darkness of the soul,
sinful world. And as a light that shines, let
me tell you very quickly, he's a powerful light.
Jesus Christ is the most powerful light in the world.
The most powerful light in the world fades into insignificance
in comparison to Christ who stands and says I am the light
of the world. You see, the light of Christ has
a power and an energy because of the life of the sun within it
and because of the life of the sun, it is a a clear, powerful
living light. It's a purposeful light.
Light is valuable light. Light has a purpose.
It shines on and on despite the darkness.
You see, the light of men found in Christ has a mission, has a
purpose, has a goal. It's not a static thing.
It's not like a lamppost shining at night.
The light of man is planning. The light of man is moving.
The light of man is alive. It's it's a living light.
It grows and extends. It reaches out.
It's the light of life. It's the light of the living
word. I'll tell you better than that.
It's a precious light, not only powerful and purposeful, but
precious because it's the lights that shines in the darkness.
Remember what the psalmist said there in Psalm 36 and verse 9.
For with Thee is the fountain of life.
In Thy light shall we see light? If I think of a dark room, I go
into the room to find an object. Let's say it's into my front
living room and I'm looking for the Bible, but I can't find it.
I can't see it. Why?
Because of in the dark. But when I switch on the light,
then the light makes things visible.
That's the idea. It's a powerful, purposeful,
precious light. That's the truth about the light
very quickly. And secondly, think about the
triumph of the light. We're told in John's Gospel
here, verse 5, and the light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehended it not. What two things are we learning
about the light? The light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth it not.
The word comprehendeth means not able to grasp it, not
understanding it, not grasping it mentally.
That's one of the meanings. It also means not able to
overcome it, not able to take it in hand, not in the sense of
mastering it. The darkness cannot master the
light. The light is more powerful, the
light is more purposeful and precious than the darkness.
You see the darkness here. The word darkness refers to a
world of evil and sin and unbelief, a world of rebellion
to God. And in the darkness, there's a
state of ignorance regarding the light.
In the darkness there's a state of wickedness because the
darkness also represents man's heart.
Not just darkness all around them, but darkness in him.
And remember what Jeremiah the prophet says in verse 9 of
chapter 17. The heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
And again we read in Mark's Gospel in Chapter 7, verse 21.
For from within night of the heart of man proceed evil
thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, theft,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, the viciousness and evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
All these evil things come from within and defile the man.
The darkness of man's heart is seen in their love for sin.
It's seen in their hatred of Christian doctrine.
I felt like standing it when I was in Belfast on Friday asking
people, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
I didn't, but I felt like doing it because so many of the older
generation were walking on past heedless and careless, and even
when we offered them wine, Christmas book, they were
shaking their heads. Some said no and walked on very
quickly. Do you know who Jesus is?
You see, man in the darkness of sin is ignorant of God Himself.
Man in the darkness of sin is ignorant of the message of the
Word that in Him was life and the life was the light of man.
They don't know the eternal Word.
They don't know He's the second person of the Trinity.
They don't know he's this world's creator.
They don't know that He's the only true life source.
And even in him they move and live and have their being.
They don't know that He's the true light of the world.
They're in the darkness. They cannot see the light you
see. Man in and of himself is
incapable of regarding the light, regarding of responding
to the light, regarding recognising the light or or
receiving the light. And yet despite his darkness,
the light, the true light shines all.
We live in a a world where we hear of war, rumours of war.
We're faced in daily with Islamic terrorism, mass
shootings. We've heard today of what has
happened in Bondi Beach in Sydney.
We hear daily of Christian persecution around the world.
In our United Kingdom, in the Western world, there's a woke
culture and there's a culture trying to degrade the Christian
Church and the Christian community.
We hear of so many gripped by addiction to drugs and to drink.
We hear of someone saddled by acute depression.
We get news that a loved one has been stricken with cancer or or
a loved ones die. See, this world is a dark place.
It's a world of tears. There's many unknown.
There's closed doors, there's discouragement, there's despair,
there's difficulties. There's many layers to the
darkness in this world. But in the darkness, Jesus
stands and says, I am the light of the world.
You see the light change on in the darkness, and the darkness
is not able to grasp it. It doesn't understand the light,
and the darkness is not able to overcome the light.
It's not able to gain the mastery because the light is
more powerful. Someone has said the darker the
night, the brighter the light. Does that not inspire you with
confidence? In a world of tremendous
darkness, the darkness will not win.
And that's true for the country, our United Kingdom.
That's true for the church. We should be focusing on Christ
coming to earth. When he came to this earth, He
came as the life of man, and the life of man was the light of
man. And he come to shine in the
darkness. And remember the darkness hates
the light. They hit the darkness because
their deeds are evil and in their darkness and they took and
crucified the only begotten Son of God.
They put him to death and Calvary a horrible death of
crucifixion. But he overcame death by death.
And he arose the victor and he conquered the devil and
conquered darkness. Because darkness is not able to
overcome the light. Darkness is not able to
comprehend the light that should encourage us.
This is not pie in the sky stuff.
I was thinking again that the open air on Friday of church
buildings throughout this province.
I was thinking of church doors that are open.
I was thinking of Bibles that are being carried by
individuals. I was thinking of sermons that
are preached, doctrines that explained those that are willing
to stand in the open air and give out tracts and booklets.
Do you know what we're doing when we do that?
We're being a witness to the light.
We live in a land that is a rich Christian heritage and even
though at this present time thousands and thousands of
people are not rejoicing in the light, in fact, worse, they're
rejecting the light because this is a day of apostasy and
religious downgrade in the clench.
And yet, despite the day, despite what's happening in the
Church of England or the Church of Ireland or any other
congregation, the light shines on.
The light is purer, the light is brighter, the light is better
than the darkness. That's the triumph of the light.
One final thing. In our time has gone, the
trusting of the light. The light shineth if the true
light has come, and it has. For he announced I am the light
of the world. Here's the question, do you know
Him as the light of the world? Remember we read in John chapter
3, verses 19 and 20, and this is the condemnation that light has
come into the world. And men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds are evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light.
Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be
reproved. Verse 21 But he that doeth truth
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that
they're wrought in God. You see, the light of the world
is either received by faith or rejected.
The Bible tells us there in John one verse 11, He came unto his
own, and his own received him not.
They rejected Him, not only his life, but as the light of man.
Look at verse 12. But as many as received Him.
There are those who rejected Him, but there was those who
received Him. And it says, But as many as
received Him. To them give you power to become
the sons of God. The word power means authority
or right even to them that believe in His name, which were
born not of blood, not hereditary, nor of the will of
the flesh, not of your own will or the will of man, but of God,
not by Pope, priest or preacher, but born of God.
Do you remember the scripture tells us that God is light and
Him is no darkness at all. And the light of man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He has come to reveal the Father to us.
He has come to make us aware of God's absolute holiness and
purity, to teach us that sin cannot exist and abide because
God is light and Him is no darkness at all.
And the power of Christ as the light of man shines in this Dark
World, and He calls sinners to come to enjoy and experience the
knowledge of God in and through Him.
He has chosen us in Him, He cleanses us in Himself by His
life's blood, and He claims us as His own high by those who
believe in Him, trust and accept and rely on Him.
But those who receive Him, receive Him by faith, not just
believe truthful propositions about Him in our head.
Many do that. But you need to go a step
further. You need to receive Him by faith
from your heart, or receive Him by faith with your hand.
The head and the heart and the hand work together.
The empty hand reaches and takes the eternal life offered by
Christ. Let me finish.
There's no veneer. Preacher.
One time preaching in Glasgow, I believe it was Glasgow Green.
I've never been there preaching, but he was preaching and after
he was preaching for a time, there was this, we call him a
smart aleck. He got up and he said to the
preacher, I would like to say a few words and this is what he
said. I quote, I do not believe a word
that this preacher has spoken. I don't believe there is a God.
I don't believe in heaven, don't believe in hell, don't believe
in Jesus Christ, certainly don't believe the Bible, and I don't
believe all this supernatural stuff about being saved that
this man has spoken about. And he walked down and of course
the crowd was there and they were stunned.
Some were open mouthed, some were gasping, some were nodding
their head in agreement. They didn't believe either.
Well, well, another man kept forward and he said to the
preacher, well, just before you say anything, do you mind if I
say a few words? So he got permission and this is
what he said in response. Listen to me folks, We all are
Glaswegians. I do not believe in the River
Clyde because I can't see it. I don't believe there's grass
under my feet. I don't believe there's trees
all around me or before me. Now before you asked why I don't
believe in the River Clyde or that there's grass under my feet
or that there's trees all around me, Here's the answer.
I can't see them. I was blamed and I am blamed.
This fool here that's just spoke, he doesn't believe in
God, the Bible, heaven or hell. And why does he not believe?
Because he's spiritually blind and he needs the light.
Now that was the right answer because many are spiritually
blind as well as spiritually dead and they say we can't see
and understand it. It's because they need their
eyes opened, and the only one who could open their eyes is the
light of men. And how could they get their
eyes opened? By believing in the light of
man, but also by receiving Him by faith.
One is the outworking of the other.
If the true light has come, if He announced I am the light of
the world, the light of man, And you want to know the Father and
you want the Father revealed to you and you want to know that
you're part of God's family, then you must believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You must receive him.
I finish with this. But as many as received him to
them, to those that receive him give he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe in his name.
And it's linked up to the new birth.
The Spirit of God implants the gift of faith, enabling us to
receive and rest in Christ alone for salvation.
There has to be the trusting of the light.
Christ is the Lord of light. The truth I've tried to set
before you. I've tried to get you to
understand the triumph. The darkness can't overcome or
master the light. The darkness can't understand
the light. And here's the truth.
The light is to be received by faith.
May the Lord take these few thoughts and bless them to you
and give us understanding and wisdom in the reception of the
Word of God.