(The following sermon was preached at Finsbay, Harris, at the Induction of the Rev, Duncan MacLean, on Wednesday evening, the 24th October, 1979).
In this chapter of God’s word we read of the Saviour foretelling his death. He speaks of Himself as the light, and He counsels the people to walk while they have the light lest darkness come upon them. He exhorts them to believe in the light that they may be the children of light. The evangelist John tells us that although He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him, that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Then we read that among the chief rulers also many believed on Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
We hear from the Word that Jesus claims equality with the Father and that He is one with the Father. “Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth Him that sent me.” Then Christ declares that He has come a light into the world, that whosoever believes on Him should not abide in darkness.
From the words of our text, as enabled, I will in the first place make a few remarks on the ‘world’ as brought before us here by Jesus; secondly, the Person here speaking and His declaration regarding Himself; and thirdly, the profound truth He states — that whosoever believes on Him should not abide in darkness.
Firstly — the world.
In I John 2:16 we read ‘for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.’ This is the deplorable character of the world, lost, fallen in Adam as a covenant-head, and manifesting by their sins that they (the world) are fallen, corrupt and lost. In Genesis 6:5 we read ‘And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The same is true in this age and the multitudes of the world, lying in wickedness, are proving this to be the truth of God although they do not lay it to heart. Men like to believe that there is much good in the heart of unregenerate men and women, but it is our wisdom to believe the word of God.
We read of the judgment of God upon those who persist in their sins and evil ways, and who die unregenerate, impenitent and Christless. We find that in Jude verses 14 and 15, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. O, friends, poor sinners, make sure that you will not die in your sins, flee to Christ while you are in the room of mercy, while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near. ‘Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.’
Secondly — the Person speaking and his declaration regarding Himself.
We hear from the holy lips of Jesus His divine message ‘I am’ — the ‘I am’ declaring, ‘I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not walk in darkness.’ In I John 1:5 we read, ‘This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ And Jesus Christ is God, and great is the mystery of Godliness, God manifest in the flesh. Here is brightness coming into a world of darkness — infinite, eternal, uncreated brightness, even the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person.
We see a ray of this brightness, penetrating the gross darkness, in the first promise that there would come of the seed of the woman that would bruise the serpent’s head. From Adam’s fall until the divine promise came, whatever duration that was, the world was in spiritual darkness without a ray of hope for light. O, the darkness of fallen, guilty, sinful, wretched man! Then this penetrating ray of light, emanating from the brightness of infinite glory, even the Father’s glory, shone through the darkness of the world — I am come a light into the world. This is what we have in the first promise, ‘And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’
We see Noah, a preacher of righteousness, preaching to dark, ignorant, obstinate men and women, and warning them faithfully of the judgment of God because of their sins. He was building an ark — a type of Christ. Here we have the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, by His servant Noah, shining into a lost world. And so it is to this day, dark and wicked as this generation is, Christ, by His own ordinance of preaching the Gospel by His servants, is shining upon a lost world, and saying loudly, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
In the types and the shadows — Aaron in his beautiful, priestly garments with the breastplate of precious stones — we see Christ, the brightness of the Father’s glory, shining as the Sun of righteousness upon a dark world and lovingly declaring, “him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” Friends, read Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 and then Malachi 4:2. What have we there? We have this light of the Gospel, though dimly, shining into the world — penetrating rays of divine light shining into the hearts of men and women, convincing sinners of their sins, their guilt and misery, and revealing to them savingly the Way of Salvation. O, dear fellow sinners, our great need of the Holy Spirit to bring home to our hearts the truths of God, to reveal to us the things of the Spirit of God!
Now we come to see the light shining exceedingly brighter. We hear the heavenly host, the angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men, for unto you this day in the city of David is born a Saviour and His name is Christ the Lord.” And we see, in Bethlehem, the Child Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger — God manifest in the flesh — ‘I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not walk in darkness.’ Here we have, revealed to us in the Gospel, the blessed Saviour, the Prince of peace, in our very nature, come ‘to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
Thirdly — the profound truth He stated — that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
That is, that whosoever believes savingly in Christ should not remain in spiritual ignorance of his lost state by nature and ignorant of God revealed to sinners in the scheme of Redemption. The sinner believing in Christ, by the saving operation of the Holy Spirit, will not remain in ignorance of the Fall of man and in ignorance of the Way of Salvation. O, our need of an experimental saving knowledge of being brought into a state of saving union with the Person of Christ.
Now, the people of God are the light of the world, we read in Matthew 5:14 ‘Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.’ At night in a city there are lights and also here and there we see lights above and brighter than the ordinary lights. And so we have in this city of God, the Church, the true believers in Christ and the Ministers of the Gospel sent out by Christ. With respect to their office, talents and gifts, anointed by the Holy Spirit for the great and noble work of the ministry, they are brighter lights than other believers, as we read in Daniel 12:13 ‘And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.’
In wartime, in a city as you know, there must be, for the safety of the city and its inhabitants what is known as a ‘blackout’ in order to keep it hid from the enemy. But that is not so in this city of God that has warfare continually without cessation or abatement. There must be no ‘blackout’ or dimming of our lights in this warfare. We are exhorted in Matthew 5:16 ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’ In our own day when we have to a large extent night over the face of our nation, spiritually and morally, we the people of God, born-again believers, ‘wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ This is the warfare in which we are engaged, and it is a fight to a finish, and “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” The chief target of the enemy, Satan, and of the religious and irreligious world, is the ministers of Christ, and in their hellish bombardment of the servants of the Lord their chief aim is to blast their character. But no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper; the Lord’s promise to them is ‘Lo, I am with you, alway even unto the end of the world. Amen.’ The ministers of the Gospel and the people of God, in this warfare, are “enduring hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” on their way, under the Captain of their Salvation, to that city of which we read in Revelation 21:23, “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
We are here tonight gathered at the induction of a minister of the Gospel to this congregation and I seek to encourage the Lord’s people, and especially my brethren the ministers of Christ, by the word of God. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Now, what have we to say to you sinners, who are darkness, (Eph. 5:8), walking in darkness, and on your way, if you will not repent, to the blackness of darkness forever? Come, O come to Christ who is come a light into the world that whosoever believeth in Him should not abide in darkness. To you He calls, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”