LIGHT, LOVE AND JOY IN THE GLAD TIDINGS
M. Cowan
John 1: 4, 5, 9–13; 1 John 4: 8–19; Isaiah 61: 3
These scriptures bring before us three things on which I would like to base what I have to say. The glad tidings are so comprehensive that sometimes you feel a difficulty in selecting what you might speak about as a subject. Of course, Christ is the subject in any case, and above all, we would desire that Christ might become more to every soul who hears the glad tidings. I want to speak about these three aspects of the glad tidings; one is light in our first scripture, love in the second one, and joy in the third. I think these are three things that would be embodied in the glad tidings. Certainly without light there is little hope of blessing for any one of us. It is a wonderful thing to be conscious of enlightenment, and through the glad tidings God is pleased to bring light into the soul, into your soul and mine, dear friend. How
wonderful that is! God in His grace and in His mercy, in the propitious time that we are in, is not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and the knowledge of the truth. That is the God with whom we have to do; not a God who is acting in judgment or condemnation, but who in the glad tidings is commending His love to us. Another scripture says, “God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”, Romans 5: 8. What a God we have to do with, but, if we are to come into the blessing we need to have light entering our souls.
That is why I read the first scripture because that light centred in one Person, it centred in Christ. Scripture tells us that God is light; He is light and He is also love, two essential parts of God’s being, if I may speak reverently. He is these two things, and in the glad tidings we can speak about Him that way, as He has come into expression in a Man. God dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see. You think about that, how the Almighty God is dwelling in that state, in His own essential sphere far beyond the ken of man in that uncreated light. How wonderful it is that God has come out in light, shining in the revelation of Himself, in the Person of a Man, the Person of Christ. The Man Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. How marvellous that is; how near God has come! What a way He has taken! Indeed no other way could be effective but the way that God has moved, in coming into expression in Jesus as a Man here, God has been manifested in flesh, the wonder of the universe. God has come so near to every one of us in the Person of Jesus in this flesh and blood condition, as coming into the race. One can only marvel increasingly at the down-stooping character of the love that has marked divine Persons. It says, “Christ Jesus; who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”, Philippians 2: 6, 7. Think about that, dear friend, let it affect your heart that
God has come so near in the Person of Jesus. He came down from divine glory; that glory that we can know nothing of really, the glory He had along with the Father before the world was; glory known between divine Persons; but He came into these conditions in which we are. Think of what it meant for Jesus to come into these conditions as a Man without sin, and yet a real Man. Does it affect your heart that God has come so near in the Person of Christ?
So it says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”. The two thoughts are connected very closely, light and life. “And the light appears in darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not”. What a thing it is to be in darkness. There are many persons in darkness today. Sadly, many persons go on heedless of God, not thinking it good to have God in their thoughts, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. That is the present time we are in; no one can deny it that God is shut out of the thoughts of many. So darkness exists, but then darkness exists in every soul because we have come into a condition in which sin reigns, which none of us can escape from, that is that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now unless you feel the darkness in your own soul you will never feel the need of being enlightened, and what has brought in darkness is sin; sin entered into the race, and brought in darkness. It was not God’s mind; God’s mind was light, that man should be an enlightened being in relation to Himself, serving Him in conditions of enlightenment. But what came in through Satan, the devil, the enemy of your soul and mine, dear friend, was darkness, and it came in through sin. What an awful thing that is! Unless you feel that you are a sinner, that you are in darkness, you will not feel the need of enlightenment. So there must be conviction in your soul and mine that we need a Saviour. I trust we all realise that we need a Saviour, that we are sinners lost in our sins if we have not yet trusted in Christ and His finished work, and come to know Him as our own personal Saviour.
I trust that every one of us is convicted as to sin and sins, not only in the general sense but that I myself as in my sins need the Saviour. Light from God enlightens us as to our present condition and state before God. What you realise is that you are totally unsuited for the presence of God if you are in your sins. God can never tolerate sin in His presence; He is a holy, righteous God, who dwells in unapproachable light. God could never tolerate sin in His presence, or a person in their sins in His presence. That matter must be met. So it says, “The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man”. How wonderful it is when it dawns on your soul that there is an answer to that darkness, there is an answer to sin and sins because of the One who has come into the world. Jesus, who is light to every man. It is a fine matter to have to do with Jesus about your sins. The opportunity is given tonight to have that matter settled once and for all, to have it settled now for time and for eternity. Your soul’s eternal destiny can be settled now, without a moment’s hesitation, through faith in Christ and in His finished work. He is the One who can enlighten your soul.
Well, it says, “He was in the world, and the world had its being through him, and the world knew him not”. It is much the same today, in a general sense the world knows Him not. I trust every one of us in this room knows Jesus; knows who He is and what He is and what He has done. But then it says, “He came to his own, and his own received him not”. He came to His own people and He was rejected. He was rejected of Israel, those who should have received Him as their Messiah, and given Him the place that He was so worthy of, the place that He will yet have in a day to come. Indeed what they did was they crucified the Lord of glory.
How sad it was that He was crucified by those who ought to have received Him and owned Him as their Messiah. He
will be owned in a day to come as King of kings and Lord of lords and every knee will bow to Jesus. The scripture says, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal beings”, Philippians 2: 10. What a day it will be when every knee has bowed to Him and owned Him in His supremacy. The time is right now when every one of us has the opportunity to bow the knee to Jesus, to own Him in His supremacy, to own Him in the glory of His Person, in the light of the work that He has accomplished to bring in salvation.
Then it says, “but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God, to those that believe on his name”. Many have no room for Him. He has been cast out and rejected. The corner stone has been cast out, rejected by the builders, but what a moment it is when you receive Jesus into your heart. Let Him into your heart tonight; let all that darkness depart from that heart of yours and let Jesus come in and He will enlighten and fill it, as your own personal Saviour. I commend Him to you. If any one has not yet trusted in Jesus and His finished work you may do so now. You may put your faith in Him and in His precious blood that has brought about redemption, meeting the matter of our sins entirely. Jesus had to die on that cross and His blood had to be shed in order to meet God’s righteous claims, redemption’s price had to be paid. The ransom has been paid, Jesus died for us. He took on the judgment.
He took on the penalty of your sins and mine; the whole issue of sin has been settled in the death of Christ. God is fully satisfied with Jesus, fully satisfied with the work He has accomplished. The efficacy of that precious work stands before God so He can come out in mercy. The mercy-seat is now towards you and me that we might have faith in that precious One. I commend Him to you that you might know what it is to believe in Him. John says, “to those that believe on his name; who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh’s will, nor of man’s will, but of God”. Instead of looking at things from a natural point of view, at things that
belong to nature, where we can never find an answer to our lost condition before God, how wonderful it is to realise that our blessing has all come from God. God is operating in wonderful grace so that there should be an answer from our hearts at the present time.
I want to say something about love in John’s epistle. John speaks with great clarity. I like John particularly, there are no grey areas. In John’s writings things are either black or white, so they are made very clear. How you and I stand before God is made very clear through his writings. John writes to bring home the reality of our links with God, the reality of that wonderful love where God is expressed, and to bring out an answer in your heart and mine to that love. How right it is that there should be an answer to that love, as it says, “We love because he has first loved us”. It is a great matter to realise that through the glad tidings we can come into the enjoyment of the love of God. It is a wonderful love, boundless, full and free. Who can measure its fulness? God has operated not only in light but He has operated in love. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”, John 3: 16. What a God we have to do with!
What a love it is, a love that gave His only-begotten Son. You read the gospels for an impression of the love that God had for His Son. The Old Testament scripture in relation to Abraham and Isaac gives one outstanding type. It speaks about them going up that mount to sacrifice, and it says they two went together. Typically it speaks of the Father and the Son and the wonderful love that existed between Them. How God loves to magnify His Son. The Spirit came down upon Him and abode upon Him, and a voice came out of the heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son”. On the mount of transfiguration the voice out of the cloud says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight—hear him”, Matthew 17: 5.
What a great matter it is to have some impression of the love that the Father Himself has for the Son. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in His hand. The Father has complete confidence in Jesus and, in a coming day, judgment will be given to Him too. It says, “he has set a day in which he is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed”, Acts 17: 31.
These things show us how much God loves His Son, but then God has expressed that love to us in that He has given His Son, He has given His all. Think of what it was for God that Jesus had to die! He had to come into that position where He would be taken and crucified by the hands of cruel men. Then He died and His side was pierced with a spear, and it says,
“immediately there came out blood and water”, John 19: 34. God felt every detail of those last moments of Jesus. You think of what it was for Him at the mount of Olives, where it says, “his sweat became as great drops of blood, falling down upon the earth” (Luke 22: 44), as He anticipated the awfulness of that hour when He would be that one sacrifice for sin and sins. John would emphasise the love of God. “He that loves not has not known God; for God is love. Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins”. I cannot add much to what the scripture says. How full it is, and how worthy of reception. I hope as you read these verses that you will allow them to come into your heart. Accept them and allow them to affect you inwardly so that there is a response secured from your heart now and for eternity.
Then it says, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God. God abides in him, and he in God”. The opportunity is given now to confess His Name. It is a very important matter to confess the name of Jesus. You need to accept Him as your Saviour, you can do that now while you are sitting in your seat; that is a matter
between you and Jesus the Saviour, you can accept Him as your own personal Saviour. Then it is very important to confess His Name. It says, “For with the heart is believed to righteousness; and with the mouth confession made to salvation”, Romans 10: 10. I would commend to you the real liberty and joy you find in your soul when you confess His name, accepting Him for yourself as your own personal Saviour. So John says, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God”. How precious that is that you are acceptable to God because of the confession of the name of Jesus, and not only acceptable to Him, but know nearness in a real way to God Himself.
It is very impressive the way John writes, he says, “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that even as he is, we also are in this world”. I think that is one of the outstanding statements in Scripture. You might say, How can it be possible? It can only be possible as we accept and come into the gain of the completed work of Christ, that we have been made righteous through believing in Christ and His finished work. Nothing of our own righteousness could ever stand in the presence of God, but, “even as he is, we also are in this world”. It means that we become like Jesus. That is what God would have in mind in the glad tidings, not only that we are saved from our sins, not only that we might have relief in our conscience and our heart as having that matter put right, but that there should be an answer in us in some expression of that blessed Man coming out in us. Even as He is so we also are in this world, so that when it comes to a time of judgment there will be no fear. It says there is no fear in love; we know that, even naturally speaking, if there is love there is no fear. It is the same in relation to God Himself, perfect love casts out fear. I commend it to you that perfect love has been in expression, and is in expression now in what God is toward you at this present moment.
Now I just to finish with a word on Isaiah. It is a great matter to have joy in your heart. If you have appreciated something of the light, and allow the love to affect you inwardly, I am sure you will find that you have joy. The Lord could take up the scripture in Isaiah 61 and personify it, “he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah” (Isaiah 61: 1, 2). What a day we are in, there will never be another day like it! The opportunity is given now for persons to come to repentance and acceptance of Christ, and come into blessing. It is, “the acceptable year of Jehovah”. Come in the experience of your own soul, knowing what it is to be broken-hearted. When you come to realise how awful you are in your sins; what a matter that is! If you feel it really and deeply before God it brings about this broken-hearted condition; but there is an answer to it, the answer is in Christ. Then He proclaims “liberty to the captives”. Sin brings in bondage; persons become in bondage to sin, but the glad tidings brings in liberty “and opening of the prison to them that are bound”.
How fine it is to be in the joy and liberty and blessing that comes by the acceptance of Christ as your own personal Saviour through repentance and faith in Him.
So other things are brought in, “beauty should be given unto them instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness”. These things are very beautiful and very real to the soul in our own experience, as we come to realise God is bringing us into a wonderful area of blessing. He has clothed us with the worth of Christ. What a garment we have been given; a garment of praise, something responsive is secured in your heart and mine. God will be satisfied with that response eternally; the response of the redeemed, the eternal song will fill His ear throughout the eternal day. The saints clothed, worthy to be in His presence, will be called terebinths of
righteousness, “the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified”. It is all of God, there is nothing we can take to our credit; it all redounds to God’s glory. May our hearts be responsive, may they be secured more fully at the present time, so that the response should be filled out in a greater and more blessed way to His own glory, for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Bo’ness
14 June 1998