“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” —JOHN iii. 19.
BY THE LATE REV. LACHLAN M’PHERSON, EAST WILLIAMS, ONTARIO, CANADA.*
- Mr. M’Pherson was one of the two ministers who protested against the Union of the Churches in Canada in 1875.—See Magazine, December, 1902, and November, 1903.—Ed.
THE greatest wonder that ever was heard of is this—that light should ever have come into this dark world. This is the greatest mercy that the world could ask for—the greatest good that could be done to it—and yet this is the thing which the world feels least thankful for, the thing which, more than anything else, it lightly esteems. This is proof enough of the world’s badness, and also sufficiently shows the justness of its condemnation.
I.—This world is in a wretched and deplorable state by nature—it is in darkness;
II.—The light that has come into it, to remove its darkness;
III.—The choice men make between the two—they love darkness rather than light.
IV.—The consequence—condemnation.
I.—The world’s sad state by nature is darkness.
The natural sun is the source of life and happiness to the world. What a sad thing would it be to the world, if by some accident it were turned out of its orbit, and made to wander away beyond the reach of the sun’s rays! But quite as sad is the thing that has happened to it in a spiritual sense. Sin has turned it out of its spiritual orbit, and sent it away from God, its Sun, and made it to wander in thick and interminable darkness. What has happened to the world in this case is not much felt nor deplored by the great majority of men, just because this is itself one of the effects produced by its apostacy. O what sad work has sin done in the world! Its state is represented by a being in darkness, and the metaphor suits the case well, for it is a world without a sun. Men are in their natural state, sitting in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death, and are “without hope and without God in the world.”
The world’s darkness is fourfold—(1) The darkness of sin; (2) the darkness of ignorance; (3) the darkness of guilt; and (4) the darkness of eternal damnation.
(1) The darkness of sin.
Sin is the original darkness from which all the others spring. Darkness is its proper name. It defiles and darkens the soul. Its works are called the “works of darkness.” And the world is completely under its power. They are its slaves—”serving divers lusts and pleasures”—”fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and of the mind.” Sin reigns in them as a king. The natural man knows not to do anything but sin. He is led to it willingly. His nature teaches him the art of sinning. O, what sort of a life is this to an immortal soul!
(2) The darkness of ignorance.
The god of this world hath blinded their eyes. (2 Cor. iv.) They know not what they lost—know not what they are—know not the way back to God. The world are utter strangers to God—groping like men in the dark. This ignorance makes it easy for them to commit sin, and makes them willing to continue in its service, and content to be without God.
(3) The darkness of guilt.
The world is under sentence of death—in prison, as it were. God’s favour is not towards them. His countenance does not shine upon them. A condemned state is a dark state. It is a dark prospect that lies before it.
(4) The darkness of eternal damnation.
This is the end of the world. This is the inheritance to which the sinner is born, and as soon as he is of age he shall come to it. “Children of wrath”—”condemned already.” This is the perfection of the world’s darkness—the “blackness of darkness forever.”
This is the world’s deplorable condition, the darkness in which it lies by nature. O what need of the light, and what a blessing it would be, if it should come! But—
II.—Light is come into the world.
(1) Let us consider what it is; (2) how it came; and (3) why it came.
(1) What it is—
“The bright and morning star,” the Sun of Righteousness—Christ, who is the brightness of His Father’s glory, the express image of His person. He is a great light. The people that sat in darkness saw a great light—a glorious sun, sufficient to enlighten the whole world. He is strictly this light. “I am the light of the world.” “The true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.—John i. 9. But the Gospel is also meant, which brings the offers of salvation to sinners and shows them the way to eternal life. It is through the Gospel that sinners come to see. It is called light—”the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ.”—2 Cor. iv.
(2) How it came.
The light came out from free grace—free grace sent it. A purpose of grace from eternity brought it forth. It was pure mercy to the world that this glorious light should ever shine upon it. God had compassion on the world; He so loved it that He sent this light into it.
(3) Why it came.
To save the world. “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (verse 17). That the world might be delivered from its darkness, that sinners might come unto it, and be led to God and eternal life.
Now, put these three together and you have the light that came into the world—Christ, free grace, and eternal life. This is the light that shines in the world. Surely now men shall be saved.
III.—The choice men make between the two.
What would any one think but that there was no room left for a choice. Their own miserable state would say this. The preciousness of the blessing itself, and the peculiar way in which it came—as the free, rich, and sovereign mercy of God—would all say there is but one thing to be done, that is, to welcome and accept of the light. But, O wretched world, unworthy of such an offer, and deserving to be left to its darkness and perish forever, that knows not the day of its merciful visitation, but desires to be let alone, and despises the remedy that free grace provided and sent unto it! “But men loved darkness rather than light.” This was not simply making the best of a hard condition, but a testimony to their entire satisfaction with it. Light and darkness are put in competition, and the sinner gives his deliberate vote which of the two he thinks the better. And he does not thus give his vote simply as a judge, who has no other concern in the matter than to give his opinion, but he does so as one who is making a choice for himself. He loves darkness. It is no mistake, undesigned on his part, and falling out through inadventure; but he takes up with the thing that he has a liking to, and takes up with it just on that account—for he loves it.
Men loving darkness rather than light! Who will own this charge? I daresay the most of you deny it: it is too disreputable a thing to own. But it is nevertheless true of the most of you—yea, of every one of you, young and old, who are not in Christ Jesus, and thereby become new creatures. And as I bring this charge against you, I will endeavour to prove it.
(1) Men flee from conviction of sin.
They are troubled when the light gets into their conscience and begins to discover to them things they would rather not see. The sinner always tries to get rid of convictions. He tries to smother them and blow out the light. He will endeavour either to reason them away or forget them. Many are the means which are made use of for this purpose. Some go to the bowl, others to company and amusement, and others to their farms and their trade, to drown or drive away their convictions. And why? What harm will these convictions do to them? Why, no harm in the world, but rather much good, if they would only listen to their voice and forsake their sins. But this they are not willing to do, and therefore they hate conviction, because it makes them uneasy in their sinful courses. There is no clearer proof in the world that a man loves sin, than that he will continue in it even when his own conscience reproves him for it, and warns him of the sad consequences of it. And rather than be thus staggered in his evil course, he would rather his conscience had no eyes; and accordingly he tries to blind it. There is no witness that has so much power to convince a man as his own conscience. He may have something to say to our witnesses in defence of his practices, but this witness shuts his mouth, and he cannot stand to hear it. He must stop its mouth from saying anything—he must put it from speaking—for he cannot contradict nor disprove what it testifies.
Ah! how often do men shut their eyes against the light! They don’t like to know what they should do. They try not to know it, and then excuse themselves with their not knowing it. They are all the time afraid that some one will tell them of it, and they feel but little obliged to the person who informs them, or points out to them, their duty. Now, is not this true? I put the question to your consciences—the conscience of every one of you. Is it not true that you resist the light in your own consciences? Most of you very likely had some convictions of conscience, more or less, at some time or other; but you got the voice of conscience silenced, and you are yet continuing in the old courses. Is it not true that you shut your eyes against the light, and try to be ignorant of your duty, so that it may give you no trouble? Is it not true that when you find the minister coming too close on your sins, you feel uneasy, and, like the woman of Samaria, would like that he would break off and speak of something else? Is it not true then that you love to be in the dark? And O, why? Can you answer that? The text answers it for you, and more correctly than most of you are disposed to do. It is because your deeds are evil. You love your sins more than your souls.
(2) Men usually hate those who reprove them for their sins.
It is not because they are able to disprove what they say, but rather because they know what they say is true; and they love their own evil course so well that they hate the man that would stop them in it. If you loved the light and your own souls, you would esteem him as a real friend who would reprove you for what he saw in you that was sinful. John Baptist reproved Herod for his sin, but Herod only hated John for this, because he knew what John said was true; but he loved his sin too much to forsake it. Ahab hated Micaiah for a similar reason, and the false prophets of old were esteemed and praised by many because they flattered them in their sins. So now, flatterers are esteemed while faithful reprovers are hated and evil spoken of, just “because men love darkness rather than light.”
(3) Men, for the most part, care not about hearing the Gospel.
This, as we have said, is the light. It is by it, instrumentally, that men are saved. But O, how many in this place scarcely ever come to hear it! Does not this evidence that they love the darkness rather than the light? And many who do hear it only come occasionally, when the weather is fine and the roads are good. When the Sabbath comes it puts people on making their choice; and O, how clear is it that those love the darkness rather than the light, who prefer to spend the day at home in sloth and idleness and in idle company, speaking about the world and worldly things, instead of coming to hear the Gospel! But there are many of the regular hearers of the Gospel to whom it is more a weariness than a pleasure, and whose hearts were never moved by it. It is called glad tidings, but to them it is dry, uninteresting tidings. They have nothing of that peculiar desire for it that the true people of God have. The same thing is true of the written Word. It is a book that is little read by the greater number of people. All this goes to prove that men love darkness rather than light.
(4) Men, for the most part, have a particular dislike to personal dealings with God.
“Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you.”—James iv. 8. The most of people are strangers to prayer, to confession of sin, &c. Now, can you say that you love God when you never pray to Him? Some of you never prayed in your lifetime, and yet I daresay you would say you love God. You are strangers to Him, and you desire to continue strangers, which is proof enough—were there nothing more—that you don’t love Him. Ah! no, you do not, for you have another object you love, and that is darkness. O, think what is it that you love—”darkness!” You love chains—sin—blindness—devil. Hell? But you don’t love hell. Ah! no. The devil does not put that in—he does not tell you to love hell—he does not offer this to you at all; for he knows this will follow the rest. But he offers what he knows you love—sin, darkness. But although he does not offer hell to you, yet God will offer it, and oblige you to take it, willing or unwilling.
Notice excuses and objections, &c. (1) Why sinners are not saved. The sinner says, because he can’t believe—a decree is against him—can’t transform himself—it was not given him—he got no grace, &c. Answer. No; we will bring you to the text, and hold you there. Hear it—”This is the condemnation.” What? Decree? No; but “loved darkness rather than light.” Did you try? You got talents. What did you do with them? Did you do as you could? (2) Where to put the light. Sinner says, “In the Bible.” But it must come nearer. “Then put it in the head.” But no; that won’t do. God says the heart. Here the sinner objects out and out. And why? The heart is the devil’s den. There he reigns, and carries on his own work, and he cares not as long as the “light” comes no nearer him than the head. The heart is sin’s den. All abominations are there. Darkness is there, therefore the light must not come there. Ah! there are many who have much light in their heads, who are yet loving darkness as much as though they had no light. The sinner would say to God, “O, trouble me not either with the light or with hell, and then I’ll be content.”
IV.—The consequence of the choice sinners make—”condemnation.” How?
(1) Because this blessing was vouchsafed to thee while God passed by the angels that kept not their first state.
He made a distinction between you and them, while He might have left you to perish, as He did in their case. Your condemnation is therefore greater than theirs.
(2) Because without the light you could not be saved, although you were willing and should try.
There is a difference between our sinning in despair and our sinning when a door of escape is opened up. There might be some kind of excuse for the former in this, that there was no inducement for them to love anything else but darkness, because their condition was eternally fixed, and nothing could alter it. But to sin when there is hope, is to sin in defiance of mercy as well as judgment, and the light coming into the world takes away every shadow of excuse that otherwise sinners might have. They are hereupon condemned, not so much because they had been sinners, as because they despised and neglected the light. Besides, this decides for ever the question of the sinner’s enmity to God. This shows his determination to continue a rebel, and to despise the means of reconciliation.
(3) Because of the nature of the light, which enhances the value of it beyond all reckoning, and makes it the most precious thing that God could offer.
It is Christ, Free Grace, and Eternal Life! “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation.”
(4) Because the Gospel has come to you.
You might be in ignorance of all that God has done for sinners. You might not hear that light came into the world, as is the case with many of Adam’s race. But God sent you the Gospel, and this is the condemnation, that you love the darkness notwithstanding.
And now what say you to it? This light has come to you to-day. An offered Christ, an offered salvation, and eternal blessedness, and all this through free grace, are set before you for your acceptance. Will you go away declaring that you will still remain as you are, the servants of sin, and the children of wrath? Are you resolved to keep your backs turned upon Christ? And is this the answer that we must bring back, that you would have nothing to do with Him? If so, then know it, that the Gospel is the saddest thing for you that can be. It were better for you that you never heard it. O, the time is coming when you will curse the day that ever you heard the Gospel! Yes, the infidels of Lobo, the carnal, worldly professors of Lobo, and the self-righteous Pharisees of Lobo will curse the day that they heard the Gospel, and you will count them happy who never had the happiness of knowing that light came into the world.
Let me plead with you before we part, touching this matter, old men and old women, and young men and maidens too. What are your thoughts about it? What was your purpose this morning about it when you made up your mind to come to church? Did you then make up your minds that you would this day come out to hear the Gospel in order that you might come into the light and cease from henceforth to love the darkness? Was this your purpose and your business in coming here to-day? Or is it not rather the reverse? You came, it is true, to hear the Gospel, but with no intention to obey it. You came with your minds made up to remain in darkness, and therefore the Gospel is but a small matter to you—a thing with which you have no thought of having to do. O, how long shall it continue thus with you! What is it that makes you to hate the light? What is your reason for not coming unto it? If you only once came, you would be repenting all the rest of your lifetime that you had not come sooner. Is not light preferable to darkness, life to death, heaven to hell? What is there in the darkness that comforts you? You say, “It pleases ourselves, and that is the comfort we desire.” Well, allowing that you have this comfort of which you speak, yet let me ask you, “Will it comfort you when the darkness of death comes; when that sun that now shines so pleasantly over you shall shine on you no more; and this world, with all its pleasures, temptations and allurements, with which it deceives you, shall bid you adieu?” It will be dark then, O sinner, when you must part with all you know and love in the world, and with the world itself too. What comfort will the darkness afford you then? And will it comfort you when the shadows of the everlasting evening shall stretch themselves over you, and the blackness of darkness forever shall close in upon you? Oh, Christ is on His way, and His appearance will be terrible to you who love darkness. Prepare yourselves to meet Him, for meet Him you must, once at least, that you may see Him who is the “Light of the world,” and know and be convinced whether you have done wisely in preferring the darkness to Him. “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.”—Rev. i. 7. For “He shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel or our Lord Jesus Christ.”—2 Thes. i. 7, 8.
O how can you then look Him in the face, high and lifted up on His great white throne, and come to be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believe! (Verse 10.) You will then be ashamed to think that this is the person that you so much despised. Oh! you will say, “We never thought that Christ was so excellent a person, and that those who obeyed the Gospel should have so rich a reward. Alas! what have we done, wretched creatures that we are, that could have chosen darkness rather than Christ! O Christ, we will come to Thee now; we will believe Thee now, and will never more love darkness.” But no; you have said to Christ—”Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways”; and He will now say unto you, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire; ye loved darkness, and therefore unto the blackness of darkness forever ye shall go.”
Acknowledgments.
Mr. Murdo Macleod, missionary, Stoer, begs to acknowledge, with thanks, £1 for the Sustentation Fund, received from “A Free Presbyterian, Ontario, Canada.”
Rev. Neil Cameron, St. Jude’s, acknowledges, with thanks, 10/- for Bibles for the Rev. John B. Radasi’s School at Bembesi, Matabeleland, from “A,” Kincardineshire.