THE LIGHT OF GOD’S GLAD TIDINGS

W. Dickson

Genesis 1: 3; John 8: 10–12; Acts 19: 1, 2, 5, 6; Galatians 4: 4–7

As we gather on an occasion like this, it is a good question to ask as to why we have gospel preachings. You might say, we have gospel preachings so that, under the message from the preacher, souls may be converted. The purpose of the gospel preaching is to present the light of God’s disposition to men, and for men to accept that light by faith and put their trust in the Saviour. That is why the gospel is proclaimed. It has to be so because the darkness that is in this world is appalling; the moral darkness which enshrouds even cultured men and women is appalling at the present time. The answer to it is the gospel. So I would have to say in regard to this gathering here tonight, in the words of the scripture, “Let there be light”. May the light from God shine into this room tonight! the light of the divine disposition in grace and blessing towards mankind.

What is the light of God’s disposition to you? Well, first of all there is a glorified Saviour up there in heaven. That is wonderful light! Have you received the precious light by faith of a risen and glorified Saviour up there in the presence of God? What light! None of the universities, nor any of these great seats of learning could give you light like this. The light comes from the word of God, by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, that there is a wonderful living Saviour up there, and that His hand is outstretched in blessing towards you. How has that come about? you say. God took account of man’s need and distance from Himself, and He fulfilled the promise that He gave at the beginning that the woman’s seed would bruise the serpent’s head. Think of God acting, amidst the darkness of the fall, when Adam and Eve fell, under the lie of the devil. What did God say? Did He say, I will shut them up in darkness for ever? No. The light shone that the woman’s seed should bruise the head of the serpent. That light has shone through in every dispensation; it shone through up to the flood and after the flood; it shone through the Mosaic period; through every dispensation, the light that the woman’s seed was going to come. It is a wonderful testimony that there is a glorified Man up there, and His flawless work has been completed. You can pick up any man’s handiwork in this world and examine it. Is it flawless? No, you will find a flaw in it. But you will not find a flaw in the work of Jesus, no, never.

That precious work of Jesus gives God a righteous basis to let the full flow of His heart go out to mankind, and bring men into blessing, including the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life. Think of it, what light has come in the glad tidings for man amidst the darkness. You walk through the streets of a city and observe the moral darkness; young men and young, women walking the streets in moral darkness. Yet God goes on patiently, giving His testimony, and the cry tonight in this room is, “Let there be light”. Is there a soul in this room tonight still in the darkness?

‘If you linger in the darkness,

You will surely miss your way’. (Hymn 154)

Do not linger in the darkness, put your trust in Jesus; stretch out the arm of faith.

In John 8 we find this wonderful passage in which the Lord Jesus says, “I am the light of the world”. He says that in contrast to the darkness the Jews displayed, the darkness of a Judaism that had rejected Him. There is no darkness like religious darkness. This poor woman had been caught in the very act of adultery, and they brought all the weight of the law on the case.

What did the Lord Jesus say? He said, “Let him that is without sin among you first cast the stone at her” (John 8: 7). That convicting light reached first one and he went out, then another and he went out, and so on; they went out one by one from the presence of the light that was there in Jesus. He says here, “I am the light of the world”. Did you know that? This is the gospel for all men, not just light for believers. He says, “he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. I sometimes try to put myself in the place of the ordinary person in the street, or in the place of a person whose conscience has started to become exercised about his state. He may ask, Have you got the answer? The answer is, Follow Jesus! Follow “the light of the world” and you will never go wrong.

Do you know what it is to walk in that light, the light of life? Could you walk in the presence of the greatest light that this world has ever known? You young persons, when you are at your work and all around you there is darkness, what is the answer? Follow Jesus, keep your eye on Jesus and you will have the light of life, walking in the light of that glorious Person.

How good it is to walk in the light and follow Jesus. Questions are asked, Do you believe this? Maybe you have to say, that is too deep for me but I follow Jesus. I follow Him by faith.

I say, that Person is my Saviour, and I walk in the assurance that He will guide me right to the end of the pathway unerringly. Do you know that? Have you the confidence that the Lord Jesus will guide you, and that you need never put a foot wrong in the path in which He leads you. Why? Because He is the light of the world. What a difference it makes when you see the light stretching in front of you. That is Christianity. You keep your eye on Jesus, the light is always there.

So in chapter 19 of the Acts of the Apostles we find a most remarkable situation. Here is Paul, the great light-bearer, shall I say, and he comes to Ephesus and there were certain disciples there who were dark about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Well, is everybody in this room enjoying the blessed light of the coming of the Holy Spirit? That is precious light.

There may be thousands of true believers in this world who have no thought of the Holy Spirit; their understanding of Christianity is that through the work of Jesus on the cross they have forgiveness of sins and they will go to heaven when they die. But O, this wonderful light reached Ephesus and Paul said, “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?”

They had not even heard if the Holy Spirit had come. Has that precious light reached you? Is the Holy Spirit indwelling you, filling your heart with peace and joy? Think of that, the precious gift of the Holy Spirit! What light, and it becomes more than light, it is something that you know inwardly in your soul in a living way. How often do you speak to the Holy Spirit? A few years back we used to bring up this matter of speaking to the Holy Spirit, but there has been a tendency for it to lapse. Again I raise the question with you, Did you actually speak to the Holy Spirit today? Just challenge yourself, Did you do it? Do you know the joy and blessedness of speaking to the Comforter, and of His giving you a touch regarding Christ, that fills your heart with living joy? I would commend it to you. It is one of the treasures of Christianity. That verse in 2 Corinthians, “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable free gift” (2 Corinthians 9: 15), covers all the giving of God in the glad tidings, but chiefly it refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In that great city of Ephesus with its idols, its temple to Diana, and the work of the silversmiths, there were these believers who had been baptised to the baptism of John. The light of the Holy Spirit came in by the apostle Paul, and these men formed the nucleus of the assembly there, that was the apex of Paul’s ministry. It just shows what can happen when light comes in. The light shone there in all its brilliance.

In Galatians 4: 1, 2, it says, “As long as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a bondman, though he be lord of all; but he is under guardians and stewards until the period fixed by the father”. The children were held in bondage under the principles of the world, that was darkness. But then it says, “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship”. That is the Son shining in His radiancy, transcending the darkness of the Jewish system, the system of bondage of the past, so now there is heavenly light. What precious light, the light of sonship! I trust there is nobody here like the returning son in Luke 15, who thought that there might be room in his father’s house as a hired servant. The father had in mind nothing less than the place of sonship for his returning son. That young man in Luke 15 would remember the darkness of the far country, which he had left. If there is someone still in the darkness of the far country, say now, I will rise up and go to my Father.

And what would be in that house? I do not think they would have the lamps all shaded in that house. No, they would be shining with heavenly lustre. It says, “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So thou art no longer bondman, but son; but if son, heir also through God”. Take a rich man in the world, who has no family to satisfy his affections, and he adopts a boy to fill that void. He gives him his name and assigns part of his property over to that boy. That man, whoever he may be, can never do what God has done for His sons. He cannot give him his spirit. Think of the glory of Christianity, that God in His rich grace has taken us into adoption, that is the word, here, adoption or sonship, and He has given the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. How glorious Christianity is! How superior, transcending in its greatness, the best and brightest thoughts of men. That is heavenly light!

What does the hymn say?

‘That gives us now as heav’nly light

What soon shall be our part!’ (Hymn 64)

I presume most of you were at the Lord’s supper this morning. Did you see the light shining, the light of sonship, and the Spirit of God’s Son filling the hearts of those who were singing the praises of God’s Son? I expect you all came from Christian households this morning. What marks the Christian household? It says there was darkness in all the land of Egypt, but the children of Israel had light in their dwellings (see Exodus 10: 23). Is that not a precious thing? Think of coming up to the Supper, not out of darkness, but coming up from a household in which there is light.

All these things enter into the service of God and the heavenly light that shines in the presence of a risen and glorified Christ. I commend it to you. Do not walk in darkness any longer, walk in the light; follow Christ, keep your eye on Him and you will never go wrong as long as you are here. For His name’s sake. Amen.

Preaching at Glasgow
11 August 1991