João 1:9

DISCOURSE: 1595
CHRIST THE ONLY TRUE LIGHT

João 1:9. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

AS in the material world there is but one source of light to all the heavenly bodies; so in the spiritual world there is one Sun of Righteousness, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. There are other lights: John himself was a burning and a shining light. But he, and all the rest, shined with a borrowed lustre. Christ is the only true source both of light and life; as St. John has told us; and as I propose in the present discourse to shew.

I. He was the only true light previous to his incarnation—

As being the Creator of all things, it was He who said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” As the Former both of angels and men, he gave to each their intellectual and moral powers. Men, the lower order of beings, he endued with reason and conscience; distinguishing them by these faculties from the brute creation, which possess only that which we call instinct. When man had fallen, and lost, to a considerable degree, the faculties with which he had been invested, the Lord Jesus, agreeably to the covenant he had entered into with the Father, undertook to restore to man such a measure of light as his necessities required. This he did,

1. By the republication of his law—

[It was the Son of God who led his people out of Egypt through the wilderness: for that people, by their murmurings, we are told, “tempted Christ [Note: 1 Coríntios 10:9.].” The law, therefore, both moral and ceremonial, we suppose to have been given by him. At all events, we are sure that they were, each of them in its place, rays emanating from him; “he being the end of both [Note: Romanos 10:4.],” the end to which each looked, and the end by which both were fulfilled. The moral was “a schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith [Note: Gálatas 3:23.]:” and the ceremonial shadowed him forth, in all his offices [Note: Colossenses 2:17.]

2. By a long train of prophecies—

[It was “by the Spirit of Christ” that all the prophets spoke, from the very beginning [Note: 1 Pedro 1:12.]. And thus, with progressive clearness, was the mind of God revealed, relative to the restoration of fallen man. Whatever was made known respecting the Father and his eternal councils, it was all declared by the Lord Jesus Christ [Note: ver. 18.]. No information on these inscrutable subjects ever proceeded from any other quarter: all the light that was in the world emanated from Christ alone; and was confined to his chosen people. All the rest of the world were left in the grossest darkness that can be imagined [Note: Isaías 60:2.]

Moreover,

II.

He was the only true light, also, during his sojourning on earth—

[So he himself repeatedly and strongly affirms [Note: João 8:12; João 9:5; João 12:46.] — — — He explained the law, which had been obscured and corrupted by the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees [Note: Mateus 5:21; Mateus 5:27.] — — — and made himself known, in the plainest terms, as the only Saviour of the world: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me [Note: João 14:6.].” Nor was he less a light by his example, “shewing, in the whole of his deportment, how men ought to walk and to please God,” even “by following his steps [Note: 1 Pedro 2:21.],” and “walking as he walked [Note: 1 João 2:6.].” Hence he cautioned the people of that day: “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light [Note: João 12:35.].”]

I add, that,

III.

He is the only true light at this day—

[“God, in covenant, gave him to be a light to the Gentiles;” “to bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and to lead them in paths which they had not known; to make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight [Note: Isaías 42:6; Isaías 42:16.].” And all this he does at this moment, even as St. Paul has testified respecting him [Note: Atos 26:23.]. What other source of light has any man but the written word, which our blessed Lord has inspired? or what other teacher has any man but his Holy Spirit, which Christ has promised, “to guide us into all truth?” The heathen philosophers, so far from adding one ray of light to the Scriptures of truth, have only “darkened counsel by words without knowledge.” “The truth of God has been foolishness to them;” and “their wisdom has been altogether foolishness in the sight of God.” Indeed, as the blind cannot see even the meridian sun, so “neither can the natural man, by any faculties of his own, discern the things of the Spirit [Note: 1 Coríntios 2:14.].” “The eyes of our understanding must be opened by the Spirit of God, before we can be fully brought out of darkness into the marvellous light of his Gospel [Note: Efésios 1:18.].” As “the Day-spring from on high hath visited the world, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide their feet into the way of peace [Note: Lucas 1:78.];” so must “the Day-star arise in our hearts,” before we shall have any just discernment of “the things which have been freely given to us of God [Note: 1 Coríntios 2:9.].’]

Inquire then, I pray you,
1.

What light you have received from the Lord Jesus Christ—

[I ask not what proficiency you have attained in worldly knowledge; for that, however excellent, can never save the soul. But I ask, “Has God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, shined in your heart, to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ [Note: 2 Coríntios 4:6.]?” — — — This is saving knowledge: this alone can save you [Note: João 17:3.]. And this can be obtained from none but the Lord Jesus Christ, whose office it is to “open the blind eyes [Note: Isaías 35:5; Mateus 11:5.],” and to “make you wise unto salvation by faith in him.” To every one amongst you, then, I say, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light [Note: Efésios 5:14.].”]

2. How far you are reflecting around you the light you have received—

[This is done by all the planets, moving in their orbits: and this must be done by all who profess to receive their light from Christ. All must “be as stars in his hands [Note: Apocalipse 1:16.]:” all must “reflect his virtues [Note: 1 Pedro 2:9. the Greek and 2 Coríntios 3:3.]:” and, though it must of necessity be, that “one star should differ from another star in glory,” yet “must all shine as lights in a dark world [Note: Filipenses 2:15.];” and, in all who are truly and savingly enlightened, “their light will shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day [Note: Provérbios 4:18.].” Let it he seen then, my brethren, by your life and conversation, “whose you are, and whom you serve.” Let Christ be your pattern in all things: endeavour to “walk in the light, as he is in the light [Note: 1 João 1:7.]:” so shall you be found “children of the light and of the day [Note: 1 Tessalonicenses 5:4.]:” and “Christ shall be glorified in you,” both in this world and in the world to come [Note: 2 Tessalonicenses 1:12.]