Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Name of your Son, the Lord Jesus. Open our eyes to see more of your Son as we look into the Scriptures tonight. In His name I pray, Amen. Last time I shared with you, I shared with you that as a man brings, as God brings a man to salvation, there are three essentials that He gives.

And the Bible clearly states that God is life, light, and love. And that this would be, if you want a Scripture, this would be John 5, this would be 1 John 1 5, and this would be 1 John 4 8. And those three essentials of salvation come through the Son, the Lord Jesus, to us believers, those who put faith and trust in Him.

The New Birth and Receiving Life Through Christ

The Gospel of John chapter 1, a Scripture I know you'll be familiar with. You know, He came and was rejected, but to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the authority to become children of God, who were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, born of God.

That's how the life is received, by those who believe in Him. Okay? But, you know, everything that God has for us comes through the Spirit, right? You know, the Son reveals the Father, and the Spirit reveals the Son to us.

Remember when He was going away, He told His followers that, I'm going to go away and I'm going to send somebody else. I'm going to send the Helper, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and He will remind you of all the things that I've said.

There are some things that I can't share with you now, you're not ready for them, but later when He comes, He will remind you of all the things that I've said. He will bring glory to me. Okay? So, the life of God, the light of God, and the love of God come to us through the Son, through the Spirit, to believers.

God Is Light and the Three Ways He Gives Light

Now, tonight I would like to share with you about the light. What does it mean that God is light, and that God gives us light? What does it mean? You know, there's a number of synonyms for light. You know, it's revealing, revelation, enlightenment.

It means to teach, to train, to guide, to lead. Okay? All of those, you know, mean to bring to our understanding something that we didn't know before. We are enlightened. I like that particular word, enlightened.

So how does God bring light to us? How does it work out? I want to share with you three ways it does that. By His favor, in fellowship, and in forgiveness. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6 it says this,.

For it is the God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. In the face of Christ. You see, it's a face to face situation.

When we come to salvation, we come face to face with Christ through the gospel. Okay? From God who said, Let there be light. This same God has shone in our hearts the knowledge, okay, of the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

It comes through the Son, through the Spirit. John 16, 13 through 15 says, When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak.

And He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. From the Son through the Spirit to us. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10 through 13, God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. That is favor, fellowship, forgiveness, for example. Okay? And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, taught by the Spirit.

The Favor of God in Blessing and Grace

Okay, the first one, favor. Alright? God expresses His favor, for example, in His blessing, in His giving, in His graciousness. As the light comes from God to us and we begin to comprehend what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do, okay, He shows us His favor.

In the Old Testament, in number 6, starting at verse 22, The Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron and his sons, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel, you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.

Okay? So here is an example of the favor of God coming to His people. Okay? And it comes in three parts. How interesting. The Lord bless you and keep you. It's echoed in the New Testament, and Michael shares it with us almost every Sunday.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Again, a three-part blessing. Ephesians chapter 1, starting at verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

He destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us.

For He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight, in the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.

I mean, just blessing after blessing after blessing, okay? And we're still in chapter 1, and these blessings go on through chapter 2, through chapter 3, okay? Blessing after blessing, okay? And these are all revealed to us, you know, through His Word, by the light that He shines upon us, okay?

You'll notice here it says, let's see, for He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight, the mystery of His will. As you see, He's made known these things to us. He has uncovered them. He has enlightened us, shown them to us through His Word, His favor.

The Lord bless you and keep you, keep you. I like those passages in John chapter 10, you know, where Jesus says, you're in My hand and no man can snatch you out of My hand, but He will keep us. And we sing, do we not?

Quite often, you know, Christ holds me fast. Christ holds me fast. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. You see, He shines upon us. He makes His face to shine upon you. There are a number of places in the scriptures, in the Old Testament, where the phrase, the light of His countenance, the light of His countenance.

When you think about a friend, you know, at some point you meet a person and maybe they become your friend, and this friendship lasts over a number of years. Jill has a friend like that. They met in junior high school a hundred years ago, and it seems like it.

It's more than 50, I'll tell you that. Their friendship has grown over the years, okay? And, you know, think about the difference of receiving a letter, or today I guess you would get a text. You know, when I grew up, we wrote letters to people.

But a good friend, you know, there's joy in sitting down with a good friend and just enjoying one another's conversation, presence even, to see the light of their countenance, you know, the smiling face.

You know, do you picture when Jesus says, after He shared, at the end of one of His parables, He says to one of His servants, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You know, now I can see, this is, you know, this is an example of the light of His countenance, you know, the shining face.

But it's the favor, okay, bestowed. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.

Favor comes through the light from God as He enlightens us to who He is, to the blessings that He gives, to the gifts that He gives, and to His grace, which is a gift, which means gift. The second is fellowship.

Fellowship With the Father, the Son, and One Another

Fellowship. And I'll read to you 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, which we have looked upon and handled with our hands concerning the word of life.

The life was made manifest and we saw it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we've seen and heard we proclaim also to you, that you may have fellowship with us.

That you may have fellowship with us. The people that He's writing to, He's interested in them having fellowship with His church. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son. With the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

And we're writing this that our joy may be complete. When John speaks of salvation, he speaks of life. And when John speaks of salvation, he speaks of fellowship. And when John speaks of salvation, he speaks of love.

Fellowship. When God saves a man, a person, He brings them into fellowship with Himself. Remember, these essentials life, light, and love represent the characteristics of God that He gives to us. And the Bible says that God is life, God is light, God is love.

And in a very real sense, when He gives us those essentials, okay, He gives us Himself. That's important. That was the last thing I shared with you when I shared this with you before. He gives us Himself, and so now we are in fellowship with Him, okay?

The next verse, verse 5. This is the message that we have heard from Him and declare to you, that what? Does anybody remember? God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

I hope you see that, okay? If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

Now this fellowship, again, okay, it is fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Okay, it's stated explicitly, okay, right here in 1 John. Alright? We also have fellowship one with another.

And we also have fellowship, it's not stated right here, but guess who with? The Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. That's exactly right, yes. We have fellowship with God. That means Father, Son, and Spirit, okay?

So, as we receive this light from God, we now have the favor of God upon us, we enjoy His blessings, and we have fellowship with Him, Father, Son, and Spirit, and we have fellowship one with another, okay?

You know, and that leads us into the, you know, the third aspect of the characteristic of God that He gives us, these essentials, okay, and that is love, right? That we love one another. In fellowship, we are to love one another.

You know, Jesus only gave one commandment, love one another, love one another. So, as we fellowship together, it's a fellowship in love, okay? But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

Again, salvation is personal. It's face to face with Christ. The gospel comes to us through the face of Christ, the light of His countenance. That brings us to the next one, okay? 1 John, chapter 1, verse 7, I'm going to read this one more time, but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and right in the middle of the verse, okay, I'm going to move to the next section, forgiveness, okay?

We have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son, Jesus, the blood of His Son, Jesus, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. So, if we walk in the light, okay, not only do we have fellowship, okay, we also are cleansed from our sins, okay, by the blood of Jesus, and we have forgiveness.

We have forgiveness. And that's all in 1 John, chapter 1, okay? Fellowship and forgiveness. It's interesting, when I went through those, they all start with F. I mean, I didn't plan that, but it just worked out that way.

Forgiveness, Mercy, and a Forgiving People

I have just a few more scriptures to read, okay, just in general, about the light that God brings, okay? Psalm 130, starting at verse 3, If thou, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

In Colossians 3, verse 13, Forbearing one another, this has to do with our fellowship, okay? We have to forbear one another. You may know that by now. Forbearing one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive.

And then Matthew 6, 14, If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

People who walk in the light, who know the forgiveness of God, are forgiving people. In the Old Testament, when Moses asked God to show me your glory, what he showed Moses was that he is merciful and gracious, long suffering, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.

You see, he is a forgiving God, and if his life, light, and love are in you, you will be a forgiving person. And I tell people, you know, if you've been born of God, you will take on the characteristics of God, just like if you are born of these parents, you will grow up becoming like them.

You will take on their mannerisms, you will take on, you know, their vocabulary, you will take on their language, you will become, you will even look like them. I mean, that's just the way it works. Now that's, you know, you won't be exactly like them, but let me tell you this, okay?

If you're born of God, you will become like God. If you want to become like God, okay, look at Jesus, the Son of God, who said of himself, okay, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, because he spoke the words of the Father, he did the deeds of the Father, did exactly what the Father asked him to do, and he did all that so well that he could say, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

And if you've been born of God, you will become like that. Don't misunderstand me. That's the plan, right? Romans 829, 828, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be, what? Made after the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and a few sisters. We're in fellowship one with another, we're in fellowship with God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

That's how light manifests itself, the light of God manifests itself in our lives. Let's pray. Father, I thank you and I praise you for your goodness to us, and I pray that you continue to enlighten us, that you continue to show us more of your Son, the Lord Jesus, that we might see the light of your countenance, that we might know your blessings, that we might know your love, and I pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.