From Darkness to Light

Jesus, according to the Scripture, grew up in Nazareth. But when He became old enough for His public ministry, He made Capernaum His home. It was the center of His activity, and it was there that he called Simon, Andrew, Matthew, and others to be His disciples. It was in Capernaum that he healed the centurions' servant, Peter's mother-in-law, the paralytic, and many others. In Capernaum He gave some of His greatest discourses of Truth and spiritual understanding. This all sums up to one fact, that Capernaum was a favored city, so favored that in it was fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah. We read in Isaiah 9:2, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light..."

Many preachers would like us to believe that the Jewish people and the people whom Jesus worked among didn't recognize Him, but the Word tells us that they saw a great light. Capernaum was a Gentile city, and Isaiah was letting them, and us, know that this light was so great that one could not veer around it and say they didn't see it. It's just as clear yet today.

Let's start giving God some credit. False religion wants to shelter false spirits ideas, and conceptions. They want to pad the judgment of God and make God good to everybody. Nevertheless, God is dealing with judgment in the text, and He's dealing in judgment yet today.

A prophecy was fulfilled. A people who had sat completely in spiritual darkness (Gentile people) saw a great light. It's impossible to be around Jesus or be around the pure Gospel preached under the anointing of the Holy Spirit without seeing something. We may expound some of man's ideas and talk about them for two hours, and nobody would be any smarter than we were, before we started. It's not so with the Gospel. When the Gospel light shines forth, people see light.

It's necessary that we look at this prophecy, "The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." When I talk about Capernaum, I'm not trying to just find fault with a city which existed back in A. D. 31, but there's a message here which should stir our hearts. Jesus performed more mighty works in Capernaum than anywhere else; those people saw a great light. The sad part of it is, they didn't accept the light; they rejected it.

That's exactly what's going on in our city and nation today. We're preaching to people who are not in darkness; we're preaching to light-rejecters. Capernaum rejected the light, and because of that, Jesus passed judgment on them. He said, "...if the mighty works, which have been don in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day" (Matthew 11:23).

Love and Judgment

When we preach about Jesus and even quote His words, many say, "That's strange," because that's not the kind of Jesus they're being taught about. Too many are being taught that He loves us and puts up with us, no matter what we do. I'll go along with the loving part, but according to the Bible, there's a line we can cross which is a place of no return and our doom is sealed.

Let's read Matthew 11:20-24: "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done [Why did He upbraid them?], because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

"And thou, Capernaum [His home town where He had performed more mighty works. Jesus only put up with some things so long, then He lays judgment on them. He healed their sick, fed their hungry, and gave them discourse after discourse on Truth, but they didn't repent.], which are exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day [Just think of that. Jesus, who know the hearts of all people, said this. We're dealing with an awfully vile sin when it puts us in a lower state than Sodom.] But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."

Those who are professors of religion, who have seen God's wonderful works but have not repented and cleaned up their lives, should get it fixed and settled in their minds: God will have more mercy on Sodom at the judgment than He will on religious professors who will not live by God's eternal Word.

They might as well get rid of those false thoughts the devil gives them: "I have tithed; I have attended church; I have done good; I have not lived like the world." The devil will try to pad the judgment of God's Word and make us feel that God is going to be tolerant with us at the judgment. We'd better stay with the Bible.

In Matthew, Chapters 12, 23, and 25, we can read where Jesus pronounced judgment on people. I want us to see that He was a preacher of judgment. That judgment message needs to be recovered today because nations, cities, and individuals are under the condemnation of God (definitely condemned by God) even though they make great pretenses in religion. False preachers give them a picture of God winking at their wickedness. Therefore, we must recover the portion of preaching of laying judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet.

Proverbs 29:1 tells us, "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." We read in Hebrews 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." These texts have been stashed away so long in some places that when a preacher pulls them out, they smell with moth balls.

Yes, judgment preaching is against drawing crowds. If we're just looking for a crowd, we'll have to put the judgment preaching in moth balls. Why? The crowds won't follow us when we put judgment to the line. The crowds didn't follow Jesus. After some discourses, all He had left were His disciples, and He wasn't sure He had them. However, we're not preaching to draw crowds. We're preaching the Gospel to let men and women see their true condition and to lift up Jesus Christ who can change their condition and make them fit for Heaven.

Revelry, Revelation, and Retribution

We must not be deceived. The handwriting of God is on the walls of our nation today as much as it was ever on Belshazzar's palace wall. The judgment is already written on our nation. We can prop it up, glue it up, and pick out all of the good points, but if we're going to be truthful to people, we have to admit that she's resting under the hand of God's judgment right now.

We live in a day of revelry, revelation, and retribution. God is giving a revelation of Truth which is being rejected, and retribution is coming on us. Jesus pronounced judgment on those early cities for one reason---they repented not. They wouldn't yield themselves to the Gospel that He declared unto them.

Notice in Matthew 4:17 that Jesus' message began with, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Somebody may ask, what does it mean 'Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'?" The message is this: Right now, there's a controlling force which has a hold of our life that's leading us down, down, in sin. If we'll come in old-time repentance and confess our sins to God, He will change our life. He will put a new controlling force in our life. He'll lift us from the quagmire of sin and bring us into the Kingdom of heaven.

Did you ever notice that after Jesus preached to some people for so long, He changed His message "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" to "Repent, or else." The kingdom of Heaven is a great blessing; men and women can know the wonderful change of salvation and be made a part of a heavenly organism right here on earth.

Let's read in Luke 13:1-5: "There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." In other words, don't think because a catastrophe happens to somebody that they're a worse sinner than we are; except we repent, we'll all likewise perish.

Repent or Else

After light comes, the message on repentance changes. Light demands something. Consider the seven churches. To the congregations that He found something wrong with, the message was, "Repent, or I will remove the candlestick; Repent, or I will kill your children with death; Repent, or I will come on you as a thief and you will not know the hour; Repent, or I will spew you out of my mouth." It was "repent or else" after light had come.

I know this is a strange tenor of preaching in the kind of world we're living in. People are doing everything but offering green stamps to get somebody to the altar and try to persuade them to serve God. Every once in a while, we have the rare opportunity of preaching and teaching somebody who has never heard the Gospel. I count it a blessed opportunity. How precious it is to see them hear the message, and accept it, and gain a real experience with God. However, most of our preaching is to people where a great light has shown upon them, ones who have stubbornly refused to yield themselves to God. The message from Christ today is "Repent or else."

There are people who are ready to take you out of the pulpit when you preach from the Old Testament where God allowed the earth to open up and swallow a whole group of people or had others killed. They shake their heads and say, "That couldn't be God." Well, they need a fresh revelation of God. God is the best friend we can have, and He's the worst enemy we can have.

If Jesus had been like a lot of the preachers today, He would have cut the corners for Capernaum because it was His home town. (There is something about Jesus; He is just as straightforward with people who are close to Him as the people who are far away from Him.) He was laying this severe judgment in His home town where He had spent His time and did most of His mighty works. His judgment was so severe that he told them that Sodom would stand a better chance in the judgment than they would.

Why did He say that He would be more tolerant of Sodom? Do we know there's no other word in the dictionary which can describe such depth of corruption as the word sodomy. We all agree that Sodom was much more wicked than Capernaum. Sodom was guilty of many, many sins, but there was one sin she was not guilty of---rejecting Jesus Christ. That's the worst sin we can commit.

Too many times, we have the pews half filled with just respectable people. They pull up their self-righteous rags and say, "I'm glad I don't live like So 'n So. What a filthy condition to be in." Nevertheless, Sunday after Sunday, they reject Jesus Christ. They need to hear the message that people living in sodomy will have a better chance at the judgment than they will. People living in sodomy and other sinful conditions can come right around hypocrites and professors and get saved while those who profess sit there and reject the light of God's Word, service after service.

Those who reject Christ will go to a lower hell than the worst sodomist in this country. The measure of guilt and the severity of the judgment won't be in proportion to how many or what kind of sins we've committed, but according to how much light we've rejected. I'm not making room for sin. Certainly, everybody is going to suffer for their sins. I teach that we are punished, both by and for our sins. Plenty of people are lying with diseased bodies, being punished by their sins. Unless they come toJesus and get saved, they will end up in a lost eternity and be punished forever for their sins.

The Responsibility of Privilege

Too often, we overlook the sin of these people of Capernaum. It's one that's so easy to commit today, the sin of forgetting the responsibility of privilege. Whenever God gives us the privilege of sitting under the light, right away a grave responsibility falls upon us. We're in a world where people take it lightly; they turn it off and on like an electric light---they think.

When the light shines down upon us who have sat in the regions of death (in a spiritually dead condition), if we will meet the conditions, we can be made a new creature and brought from slavery to kingship. That's great light, and we commit sin when we forget there's a responsibility which goes with that privilege.

No matter how lost we are in sin, there's a remedy, a cure. If sin is already working in our life, the malady is already there; it has brought spiritual death, separation from God. If we leave sin there, it will separate us from God forever. If we have sat under the light and are separated from God forever, we fall under eternal death for two reasons; first, because there was sin in our life; second, because we wouldn't take the cure.

Jesus taught this in John 3:19, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather then light, because their deeds were evil." What a terrible sentence to be pronounced on any people, that they loved darkness rather than light, sin better than holiness, hell better than Heaven. This is the test by which men are judged---light has come, and they are compelled to either receive or reject Him. Whether we go to Heaven or hell out of any spiritual true church congregation, we are going to go being the deepest indebted man or woman who has ever lived. If we make it into Heaven, we are going to go deeply indebted to God for His goodness. On the other hand, if we go to hell, we are going to go deeply indebted because God has poured out His goodness; He stopped at nothing to save us.

Did we notice what He said in Matthew 11:23, "And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell..." Now, what exalts a city unto heaven? ---the Gospel. When God sends His Word and confirms it with signs following, we are brought right to the door of Heaven. The great light (the presence of Jesus and the manifestation of Him mighty power) exalted Capernaum to Heaven's door, but when she rejected the light, she was to be cast down.

The Gospel can have a reversing action on us. When the Gospel reaches us in its straightness, fullness, and under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are brought right to Heaven's door; we are exalted to Heaven. When we reject it, we are cast down to hell.

The honor of a town is the Gospel. Do we know why we have good factories in our city? Do we know why men make good wages here? Because the Gospel is here, because the Church is here. You show me a people who will obey God, wherever it is, and I will show you God moving factories in to make work for His people.

The means of grace, if they don't avail unto true conversion, will plunge a man deeper into the state of condemnation. Abuse and contempt of the Gospel weighs heavier in the balance of judgment than the grossest sins that we could ever commit against the law of God.

God Hates Indifference

The sin of indifference is very deceptive. Capernaum didn't violently resist Jesus as they did in Nazareth. The unbelief was different than in Nazareth and other places where He couldn't work great miracles for the unbelief. He worked miracles here, miracle after miracle. Capernaum didn't crucify Him as Jerusalem did, yet the Word of God lets us know that they committed a terribly deep, black sin.

They were just like folks are today; they were indifferent and refused to repent. God hates indifference, in the Old and the new Testament. he said, "...I would thou wert cold or hot...because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16).

When people refuse to repent, the only alternative Christ has is retribution. Do we realize that neglect can kill just as much as persecution? I know there are people who advocate the thought that retribution will be brought on our nation by Russia or other nations. I don't know what may happen through Russia or other nations, but I now this for sure---calamities won't cause people to turn to God.

God has chosen only one means of saving the world...through the foolishness of preaching the Gospel. The Gospel is the only remedy. When we reject it, we sin against the remedy, and there's no hope for us. If the Gospel message that teaches us of God's love and of Christ's willingness to suffer and die such a ignominious death on the Cross of Calvary doesn't move us to a place of repentance, there's no other remedy.

How about the rich man down in hell? he said, speaking of his brothers, "...if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he [Abraham] said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:"30-31). Irregardless of what kind of catastrophe or what kind of miracles could be forth, the Gospel is the only hope of salvation.

This is exactly why the Church isn't getting a greater work accomplished; they are praying and looking for God to do something disastrous to wake the world up. If the Gospel won't wake her up, she will sleep on into hell. I challenge us to study where God poured out the fifth and sixth vials, the vials of wrath. We will read of all the sores that were on man and the suffering they went through. But how does it end up? They repented not to give God the glory. No matter what catastrophes fall on man, they won'tdrive him to a real experience of salvation. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every on that believeth (Romans 1:16).

A Personal Decision

After Jesus passed judgment on those three cities, He turned from the city to the citizen. He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Today, God is dealing with individuals. Regardless of what nations or cities do, you and I can find rest. There are two "rests" in that Scripture; that makes it a perpetual. rest.

In verse 29 He said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me...and ye shall find rest unto your souls." That's a rest we obtain by carrying a yoke and working for God. The greatest rest to be found is labouring for God for the souls of mankind. That's why the prophet spoke of Old Testament Zion (and it can be applied to the Church today), "...they have forgotten their resting-place" (Jeremiah 50:6). Where's their resting place? It's in the yoke of Christ, working for the Lord.

Whatever happens, God will take us through. God gives His children a peace that the world cannot give or take away. We have to lay aside thoughts of what nations, cities, or communities are going to do. We must decide what we're going to do as individuals before God.

Not only did Christ turn from the city to the citizen, but He called churches to repent. Five of the seven letters to the churches in Revelation carried the message, "Repent or else." Those five congregations failed to repent, and we can't even find the city now, let alone a church; the cities no longer exist. When Jesus said He was through, He meant it. We'd better wake up and shake ourselves loose from the dust of this old earth, get a bright experience, put on the yoke of Christ, and get busy.

Christ again turned from the institution to the individual. He wrote seven letters to the seven churches (congregations), and when He came down to Revelation 3:20, He turned and the institution (the organism, the Church) and turned to the individual. he said, "...if any man hear my voice..." In so many words He is saying, "I tried to talk to the Church and they wouldn't hear me. Now I am calling to anyone who will hear my voice." He doesn't care what we have or have not been associated with; He's collecting a group of anyone. He's not looking so much for institutions or organizations, but He's looking for any man or woman who will hear and obey His voice.

I'm not doing away with the message of the Church. The Church is made up of individuals who hear and obey His voice and walk in the light of His Word. The Church is visible. Augustine taught that God has two Churches, an invisible and a visible. No, the Church is visible. Somebody may ask, "Is a saved person out in Babylon (false religion) a part of the Church?" Yes! Every one of them is a member of the Church, but God has promised that He's going to bring the members and place them in the visible, working body of Christ as it pleases Him. They're members, but they are not visibly together with the family, the Church.

We read in 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body..." That new birth is an induction that makes us all members of the body of Christ. We are baptized into that one body, however, verse 18 tells us, "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body [the Church]..." He doesn't place sinners in the Church; they become members when they accept Christ. he then places them in the visible, working body of Christ, the Church, as it pleases Him.

If we're truly born of God and yet in a group that's a part of "religious confusion" (teaching much that is contrary to the Bible)...when they get their ears perked up and begin listening, it's not going to be long until they'll hear the call of God to come out of Babylon and back to Zion where they belong. We need to come to where we're born in and let Him place us in the visible, working body of Christ.

This is one way that sectism keeps the members of the Body of Christ from getting excited. They read in the Bible about one body, and the false minister will quickly say, "Oh, yes. You are a member of the invisible Church; all of us are." There's no such thing as an invisible Church. I am so glad that we can live for God even if we're never a part of any institution. Christ is dealing with "anyone", and He is gathering in an assembly of people who will hear His voice.

Harden Not Your Heart

We're probably all well aware of the fact that James 4:17 says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." When we allow in our lives what our godly conscience condemns, we sin against light. When we grieve the Holy Spirit by sins of omission, commission, or disposition, we sin against light. When we sin against the influence of a godly father, mother, wife, husband, or child, we sin against light.

Not only is Jesus the light of the world, but the Church is the light of the world. When godly parents, companions, or children live a godly life and we rebel and reject it, we're sinning against light, just as much as if we heard the message preached.

Think with me about sinning against light. We may boast that we're not a sodomite, but neither was the rich young ruler. He kept the commandments of the Law from his youth up, but he went away sorrowful. In the end, he went to hell. When he turned Jesus down, he rejected light. The old Law was a light; it is symbolized in the Bible as the moon. But when Jesus came with the New Testament, the sun (the Gospel) arose in full strength, and it's called the great light. That young man wanted to hang on to his great possessions and live under the light of the Law, but he rejected the light when he rejected Christ.

We are face to face in God's Word with a fact of truth. It's the sin of "do nothing." If we're not doing anything about our soul, that's a sin. It's called the sin of omission.

I believe our generation has sinned against more light than any other people. We have all the Gospel light of the past generations plus the light that God is revealing today from His Word. This generation is more responsible as far as light is concerned than any generation which has ever lived.

What can we say to people who reject more light than any other people who have ever lived? There's only one thing I can say; it's in the song,

Oh, do not let the word depart,
And close thine eyes against the light;
Poor sinner, harden not your heart,
Be saved, oh, tonight.

Tomorrow's sun may never rise
To bless thy long deluded sight;
This is the time, oh, then be wise,
Be saved, oh, tonight.

The Bible tells us in 2 Chronicles 36:16 that we can reject the message until the wrath of God is stirred against us and there will be no remedy. The Gospel is the ONLY remedy for our condition, and when we reject the Gospel, there is no other remedy.

[The End]