“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:6.
"So I finish by mentioning, in the fourth place, THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THIS KNOWLEDGE.There have been considerable debates among the interpreters as to the precise meaning of this text and some of them think it means that Paul is giving a reason why he preached the Gospel. This makes the verse run thus—“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, that we might give out, again, the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” God gave light to the Apostles that they might show forth the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ to the nations. I do not know whether this is the exact run of the text, but I know it is true. Never is a gleam of light given to any man to hide away—and to spiritual men the great object of their lives, after they have received light—is to reflect that light in all its purity. You must not hoard up the light within yourself—it will not be light to you if you do. Only think of a person when his room is full of sunlight saying to his servant, “Quick, now! Close the shutters and let us keep this precious light to ourselves.” Your room will be in the dark, my Friend! So, when a child of God gets the light from Christ’s face, he must not say, “I shall keep this to myself,” for that very desire would shut it out. No, let the light shine through you! Let it shine everywhere! You have the light that you may reflect it. An object which absorbs light is dark and we call it black. But hang up a reflector in its place when the sun is shining and it will not appear black—it will be so bright that you will hardly be able to look at it! An object is, itself, bright in proportion as it sends back the light which it receives. So you shall find, as a Christian, that if you absorb light into yourself, you will be black, but if you scatter it abroad you shall be brilliant— you shall be changed into the very image of the light which you have received—you shall become a second sun! I noticed last Sabbath evening, when I came into this pulpit, that, at the angle of the building before me, on the left hand the sun seemed to be setting. And I saw the brightness of his round face and yet I knew it to be the wrong quarter of the heavens for the sun to be setting there. Perhaps you will observe that there is a peculiar window on the other side of the street and it was reflecting the sun so well that I thought it was the sun himself and I could hardly bear the light! It was not the sun, it was only a window, and yet the radiance was dazzling. And so a man of God, when he receives the light of Christ, can become so perfect a reflector that to common eyes, at any rate, he is brightness itself! He has become transformed from glory to glory as by the image of the Lord!
Brothers and Sisters, if you have learned the Truth of God, manifest it and make it plain to others! Proclaim the Gospel, not your own thoughts, for it is Christ that you are to make manifest! Teach not your own judgments, conclusions and opinions, but the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Let Jesus manifest Himself in His own light. Do not cast a light on Him, or attempt to show the sun with a candle. Do not aim at converting men to your views, but let the light shine for itself and work its own way. Do not color it by being like a painted window to it, but let the clear white light shine through you that others may behold your Lord. Scatter your light in all unselfishness. Wish to shine, not that others may say, “How bright he is,” but that they, getting the light, may rejoice in the Source from which it came to you and to them. Be willing to make every sacrifice to spread this light which you have received! Consecrate your entire being to the making known among the sons of men the Glory of Christ. Oh, I wish we had swift messengers to run the world over to tell the story that God has come down among us! I wish we had fluent tongues to tell in every language the story that, coming down among us, God was arrayed in flesh like our own and that He took our sins and carried our sorrows. Oh, that we had trumpet tongues to make the message peal through Heaven and earth that God has come among men, and cries, “Come unto Me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”! Oh for a voice of thunder to speak it, or a lightning pen to write it across the heavens—that God has reconciled the world unto Himself by the death of His Son, not imputing their trespasses unto them—and that whoever believes in Christ Jesus has everlasting life! I cannot command thunder or lightning, but here are your tongues, go and tell it this afternoon! Here is my tongue and I have tried to tell it, and may it be silent in the dust of death before it ceases to declare that one blessed message—that God in Christ Jesus receives the sons of men in boundless love!
Tell it, Brothers, with broken accents, if you cannot speak it more powerfully. Whisper it, Sisters, gently whisper, if to none other, yet to your little children and make the name of, “Emmanuel, God with us,” to be sweet in your infant’s ears. You are growing in strength and talent, young man—come, consecrate yourself to this. And you, gray-beard,before you lie down on your last bed to breathe out your spirit, tell the love of Jesus to your sons that they may tell it to their sons and hand it down to coming generations, that mankind may never forget that the “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of Grace and truth.” God bless you. Amen.
C.H. Spurgeon- "The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ"
No comments:
Post a Comment