God's Glory in Salvation Through Judgment

Amen.

Well, happy Mother's Day Sacred Mission.

My name is Justin.

I'm one of the pastors here, and it's my joy and privilege to be able to bring God's word to you this morning.

A couple of years ago, uh, we made the decision to not do like dedicated special Father's Day and Mother's Day messages.

We just said, hey, where we're at in the text, where we're at in our sermon series, that's gonna be the message that we bring.

And so by God's providence, uh this morning, uh, we're gonna be talking about judgment for your Mother's Day.

Uh and so um I pray that you're encouraged in this.

I pray that you actually do see the beauty of God in this.

Uh, but for those of you who are with us for the first time, we started at the top of 2023 going through a two-year journey through the book of John.

By and large, the majority of our preaching is verse by verse through books of the Bible.

And so we're wrapping up John at the end of this year.

And what we realize is that the first 11 chapters of John cover the three years of Jesus' public ministry.

And then the last 10 chapters of John just focus on the last week of Jesus.

And so last week we had talked about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem during the Passover feast as he's preparing for his last week of life here on earth before his crucifixion.

And this morning we're gonna continue picking that up from where we left off.

Now, here's what I want us to kind of think through real quick is the Bible is a collection of 66 books written by 40 different authors over a period of about 1,500 years.

And so we can approach that fact, right, with this sense that it's kind of this mismatched uh grouping or collection of all these different works.

We've got to try to massage it to actually fit together and have some consistency and coherence to it.

But but what we find is that that work is actually very effortless because God, by his spirit and through his sovereignty, made it to where this story was being told in this singular voice by him, inspired by him, revealing himself to us that we might know him and worship him rightly.

We would say that the Bible is actually one singular grand story.

And what we look to is what we call the meta-narrative.

What is the story above the details that's being told within the scriptures that's revealing God to us as his image bears?

James Hamilton, a professor of biblical theology at Southern Seminary, states in his book that the grand story of Scripture is this: God's glory in salvation through judgment.

God's glory in salvation through judgment.

This is the storyline woven all throughout the scriptures.

We see that God saved Adam and Eve through the judgment of banishment from the garden.

God saved mankind through the judgment of confusion in Babel.

God saved Noah and his family through the waters of judgment in the Ark.

God saved the Israelite people through the judgment of Egypt in the ten plagues, and we're just through the first two books.

This storyline is meant to be a faithful guide to us that resolves in its ultimate culmination in this: the glory of God in saving sinners through the judgment of his son.

If we want to know how we're being led through the scriptures, how this storyline is guiding our hearts to see God most glorious and to know him rightly in the way that he loves us and shows grace to us, that this is what we're going to see.

This is the anthem of the scriptures.

God's glory, the glory of God in saving sinners through the judgment of his own son, the cross of Jesus.

As we dive into the text, Jesus is continuing a discourse that he had started to cover last week, where he had stated that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

He then went on to speak about his own death, but not just his own death, but the loss of life that his followers would have to endure if they desired to receive glory, honor, and eternal life.

Where we pick up this morning is in the continuation of the discourse where Jesus invites us into the emotion that he's beginning to feel as this hour is approaching, as he's being engulfed in the shadow of the cross, he invites us to understand what's going on in his chest.

And he says, This now is my soul troubled.

Now is my soul troubled.

You see, Jesus' innermost core is stricken with grief, and it's stirred with this unsettling disturbance.

But he puts forth this rhetorical question here at the crossroads, where the horror of his coming death and the zeal of his passionate obedience to the Father are colliding, he sets forth for us a rhetorical question almost as a means for truth and the purpose of God to cause obedience to drive away horror, or for glory to dispel shame.

He says this, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour.

By no means.

It was for this hour, it was for this very moment that he had come.

But but we can't necessarily conflate Jesus' purpose with the events of this hour, right?

The events that were going to take place in this hour were the means that were going to accomplish the greater purpose of which Christ had come.

They were a greater means to a greater purpose, the purpose of the glory of God.

Driven by divine purpose, in zealous obedience to the Father's will and the determination to fulfill the mission for which he had been sent, Jesus responds to his own question with a passionate plea.

Father, glorify your name.

Glorify your name.

Don't save me.

No good will come from that.

No love will be experienced from that.

No glory will be held in that.

Don't save me.

There was a better end that resolved the troubled soul of Jesus than escaping the horror that lay before him.

You see, it wasn't the salvation of self that resolved the trouble within his soul.

It was the glory of the name of God for which he was sent.

Then, in this moment among the crowd of people who had ushered Jesus into the city as they were preparing to celebrate Passover, the heavens open, and this gracious voice speaks.

That God is revealing Himself in this way.

This it's a commitment seated above even Jesus' commitment for the purpose and mission of his coming and dying.

And it's the de it is the dedication of God to glorify God.

It is the dedication for God to glorify God.

I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

You see, God's voice is revealed from heaven one final time before Jesus' passion.

It had already been revealed at his baptism, it had been revealed at his transfiguration, and now in the troubling of soul, underneath the shadow of the cross, it is revealed again to declare emphatically to all that he will have his name glorified above all else through the faithful, obedient work of Jesus the Son.

God states that he has already glorified his own name.

In the sending of his son, he has glorified it.

In the proclamation of truth by his son, and even in the testifying signs performed through his son, God has glorified it, yet he declares that he will glorify his name again in this soul-troubling hour through the crushing of his son in the cross that stands before him.

I will glorify my name.

And that's good for us.

That is such good news for us.

I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

This is the fruit of the Sons and the Father's exchange here.

Father, glorify your name.

The Father, don't fret, don't be troubled, son.

I have glorified it, I will glorify it again.

At the height of God's purposes and pursuits is his own glory.

And church, this is good news for us.

This is good news for us.

God alone deserves all glory, and his glory he will not share with another.

Isaiah 42, 8 says, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, for my praise to be carved idols.

God is God-centered.

That is why we as his people are God-centered.

We are about the glory of God because God is about the glory of God.

And this is ultimately glorious good news for us.

This is how the Apostle John establishes this glorious good news in the very opening of his gospel narrative.

Do we want to see how God's pursuit of glory is good news for us?

He says in John 1.14 in the opening prologue, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And what?

We have seen his glory.

He's revealed it to us.

We've seen it, we've received it.

Glory as of the only Son from the Father.

What?

Full of grace and truth.

What happens for God's people when he pursues his glory?

Our ultimate goodness is received.

The fullness of grace and truth is given to us as his image bears, as his children brought in through the finished work of Jesus His Son.

What the scriptures show us is that our own ultimate good is found in God's pursuit of his own glory.

You see, it's in God's pursuit of his glory that grace was lavished upon sinners, that truth was revealed to deceivers, that goodness was poured out upon the undeserving.

Praise God that he will not share his glory.

Praise God that he will obtain his glory at all costs, even the cost of his own son, so that I might eternally benefit from such holy, self-interested pursuits.

It is in the fullness of the glory of God that I find my fullness of joy.

Glorify your name, Father.

Glorify it.

If this is the outcome, if it is me finding all satisfaction and joy in him, if it's the fullness of grace and truth being poured out on me and undeserved sinner, then Father, glorify your name.

He is utterly holy, meaning that he is holy other.

Meaning that his goodness is so glorious that it is alien to us as his humble creatures.

Therefore, the highest good that we can receive is when that glorious goodness is displayed to and known by all of creation.

James Hamilton, who I quoted earlier, puts it this way in his book.

What is the glory of God?

I would suggest that the glory of God is the weight of the majestic goodness of who God is and the resulting name or reputation that he gains from his revelation of himself as creator, sustainer, judge, and redeemer, perfect in justice and mercy, loving kindness and truth.

This is the glory of God.

This is grace and truth.

That God will glorify Himself.

This was the message of divine comfort that came to the crowd in that moment.

I have glorified it, I will glorify it again.

Imagine God's mercy and grace to the crowd who had just cried, Hosanna to Jesus.

Jesus, please, please with the Father in this public prayer, glorify your name, and the heavens break open.

And he even says, This wasn't for my sake that you heard this.

This was for your sake that you heard the Father say, I will glorify my name.

Some thought it was the sound of thunder, others thought it was the voice of an angel, but Jesus assured them that it was the voice of the Father who had spoken for their sake, for their good.

We as God's people need to be comforted by this unwavering and unthwarted pursuit God has for his glory.

Because in it, our own ultimate good is discovered and known.

Verse 31.

You want to kind of stick with me in the text here because we're going to work through some things specifically.

He says this now is the judgment of this world.

Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

We gotta pay very close attention to Jesus' language here.

Now these things are gonna happen.

When's now?

The hour.

The hour of my death, the hour of my substitutionary sacrifice on the cross.

Now, judgment is coming, the ruler of this world will be cast out.

And when I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

John adds his own commentary.

He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

So, what does Jesus do for us?

Here, after the voice opens up, they hear, Jesus says, This wasn't for me, this wasn't for my comfort, this was for your sake you heard this.

Then he goes and he displays for us how is the God going, how is the God of creation, how's the Father of all living things going to be glorified in this moment?

It's in this way in bringing definite salvation through the judgment of the world.

How is God going to receive his glory in bringing definite salvation through the judgment of the world?

Now is the hour.

Now will God be glorified.

Now is the judgment of this world.

I would submit that this passage is arguably the clearest picture we have in all of Scripture of this glorious storyline that God is trying to guide us to the foot of Jesus' cross by.

This passage is the gospel on radiant display that God will glorify his name through the judgment of the world and the saving of sinners by the finished work of his son.

There are three important things to work through here.

First is this Jesus says, now is the judgment of the world.

Now is the judgment of this world.

How, how is, so here's what we have to ask ourselves.

How is Jesus going to the cross, executing judgment in this hour?

Right?

How is Jesus' sacrifice at the foothill of Calvary going to accomplish judgment of the world here in this moment for the glory of God?

In the condemnation of Jesus the Son, God condemns our sin.

That's how.

All sin at Calvary is decisively dealt with under the omnipotent jurisdiction of our Creator, and it is dealt with in Jesus his son.

This is how John dealt with this earlier in the gospel.

He showed us how this was going to happen.

This is happening now through the public ministry and teaching of Jesus.

John 5, 25, 4 through 28 says this.

Jesus speaking here.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

What does he say?

He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life.

Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming.

What's he saying in John 12?

The hour's here.

It's now.

It's coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

And he has given him what?

Authority, jurisdiction to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.

The Son of Man Jesus is referring to is this vision that God gave to the prophet Daniel in Daniel 7 of one like the Son of Man approaching the ancient of days, and the ancient of days establishes upon this Son of Man who was to come all divine glory and dominion and authority to execute judgment upon all of creation.

Jesus, this was a favorite way he loved to refer to himself as the Son of Man, the Son of Man.

He wasn't just simply referring to the man nature of which he took upon in his incarnation birth, but he's referring to this glory and dominion and authority that the Father, the ancient of days, bestowed upon him so that he can fulfill the mission.

Because that's the mission to judge.

But the glorious good news for us is that the judgment fell upon him in our place.

That's our only hope.

Is that in Christ the judgment that was supposed to be given to us was laid upon him, and now we have been crucified with Christ.

It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me.

His life becomes my life because my death became his death.

Notice Jesus is saying, we're not just looking for some future judgment to come.

We're not looking ahead out into this eschatological age where we stand before the white throne of judgment of God.

Jesus is saying, judgment is now.

Now.

And those who believe in him will not come into that judgment, but has passed from the sentencing of death to the free gift of life.

This is fulfilled in the judgment of the cross.

You see, the cross is the display and definite verdict of God's justice against sin and sinners.

When the wooden frame of the cross Came crashing down into its post hole, it was the courtroom of heaven's gavel rendering the verdict.

Judged.

All who are in Christ, for whom Christ died, of whom would believe in the Son, would not be condemned by their sin, but would be found guiltless before the Father because Christ was condemned in their place.

This is the beautiful good news of John 3.16.

But not just John 3.16 alone, lest we kind of hijack some verse out of context to make it say something it never does, but the fullness of what Jesus is saying there in the text, all the way through verse 18, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to con uh uh into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned.

But whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Now let's not misplace or misread judgment and condemnation as the same thing.

John 3 is not saying that Jesus didn't come in to judge, it's saying that his judgment in rendered does not bring condemnation because those who have already remained in their unbelief, who will not call upon the name of the Lord to be saved, there's no condemnation to be done.

They're already in it, they're already dead, they're already judged.

But we who believe in Christ, we are no longer condemned.

But we have been brought from death to life.

All who believe will not perish.

All who believe will not be condemned.

The work of Jesus, the glorious cross of Christ, vindicated all of those who would believe at the moment of his hour.

All who do not believe will perish.

They stand condemned in their sin.

The work of Jesus was not to bear their judgment, but to declare their judgment.

If you trust Jesus this morning, you are united to him in his death.

And his death is your death.

Galatians 2.20.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And his condemnation is your condemnation.

Romans 8.3.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin.

He condemned sin in the flesh.

So God glorifies himself by bringing the final judgment into history so that his son can bear the sentence of condemnation for all who would believe in him.

It's the first way.

So he says, now is the time for judgment.

Second thing he says is, now is the rule of this world cast out.

In the same way, I think that we asked, how does Jesus going to the cross execute judgment of this world?

We have to ask, how is going to the cross casting out the ruler of this world?

There's a lot of opinions on this text.

I'm going to submit my thoughts after studying and working through it.

I'm going to submit my thoughts and I want to challenge you to receive them as you feel they are proven and supported by the rest of Scripture.

The ruler of this world is Satan.

And Jesus is declaring that in this coming hour, Satan will be cast out.

I think there are two things to consider to get our answer this morning.

Number one is the context of the discourse, and number two is the very nature of Satan.

So let's talk about the context of the discourse.

Jesus is saying, the hour has come for my death, my substitute sacrifice for sinners.

In this hour, in this moment, judgment is going to be rendered upon all of creation.

And those who are in me, who believe in me, will not be condemned, but will have eternal life.

And I will, he goes on, I will draw them to myself.

That is the definite salvation of Christ.

I will draw them to me.

To the nature of Satan.

The nature of Satan is the accuser of the brethren who labors to declare the children of God guilty day and night before his throne.

Revelation 12, 10 says this.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

When we see these things together, Satan the accuser, Christ the Vindicator, Satan declaring us to be guilty, Christ declaring us to be guiltless through the cross.

I would submit that Jesus is declaring the irrevocable judgment of our sin in himself.

That declares us guiltless and blameless, and is casting out Satan from heaven's courtroom along with his powerless accusations.

There is no accuser any longer because his accusations fail to hold any weight in the face of the finished work of Jesus.

How is the ruler of this world cast out?

His testimony against you is bound and thrown out with him.

This is the confidence and assurance that we have in Christ Jesus.

This is the definite reality of our own atonement in him, that there is no word of accusation, of guilt, of condemnation that can stand against us any longer.

I have been crucified with him.

I've been put to death in a death like his.

I've been raised to life in a life like his.

My condemnation rested upon him.

Devil, you can't say a word against me anymore.

There's nothing that you can plead before my father that would hold any guilt or weight or blame against me, but I stand in perfect righteousness of Christ the Son of God, and it's in his guiltlessness that I come boldly before my Father's throne, embraced and accepted as a child.

There's no longer condemnation for me.

Satan is cast out of the testimony of who I am and where I stand in the family of God.

Through the judgment of the cross, Satan is cast out.

His accusations are cast out because God's children have been vindicated and made righteous by grace through faith in Jesus' finished work.

The ruler of this world is cast out of the courtroom.

Our case is settled.

Our judgment has been passed.

Our sins are forgiven.

Amen.

This is the glory of God in judgment through salvation.

Number three.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

This is the definite salvation of Jesus for those whom the Father had given him.

Let's work through this text.

Jesus is speaking to the way that he will die.

John adds his own commentary at the end of this, right?

In case we were wondering, what's Jesus talking about?

When I am lifted up, I will draw people to myself.

John adds, in case you didn't get that, he's talking about the way he's gonna die.

Okay?

This is verse 33.

He's gonna be lifted up on a cross and crucified in the place of helpless, guilty sinners.

But now we have to ask ourselves, how does this reality, being lifted up and drawing all, communicate definite salvation for us?

First, we have to look at the language of draw.

I will draw, will draw all men unto myself.

This language of draw we saw throughout the gospel of John.

And the language is one of force.

It communicates more dragging than wooing, right?

We might come and be tempted to look at I will draw all men unto me in this like wooing of Christ, right?

Because we want to romanticize him and soften him and effeminize him for some reason, but that's not what he's communicating.

This language is one of a force, a dragging, a seizing us and taking us to himself.

Christ will draw.

This is his promise to us as his people.

This is our hope that if he truly was condemned for our sin, we might find the absence of condemnation in Christ, dragging us to himself.

In all power and all might, that he might have all of whom the Father gave him.

This is John 6.44, where we see the same drawing, right?

No one can come to me, no one, no one can come to me how, unless the Father who sent me draws him, unless the Father who sent me seizes his will, seizes his rebellious heart, and brings them to himself.

You see, we don't want Jesus in our sinful natural state.

We're not going to be drawn by his wooing as some siren on the coast of the shore calling a sailor in from port.

No, this is Jesus hunting us down, finding us where we are at in the pit of our rebellion and sin and seizing hold of our rebellious will and saying, You're mine.

You're mine.

I hunted you down in the darkness of night, and I found you, and I've claimed you as mine.

That is glorious good news for us.

It is impossible for us to come to Jesus unless the Father draws us.

Jesus will draw us when he is lifted up.

This is the merciful seizing of those for whom he would die and lovingly dragging them to himself.

Praise God.

So Christ will draw, definitely and assuredly, he will draw all.

All.

Now, mine and your translation reads all people.

If you have a different translation, a probably weaker translation than ours.

I'm just joking.

I felt like for like Mother's Day, I had to do some joke.

This is like a heavy.

Hope you guys enjoy brunch.

Um so some translations might say, all men unto myself.

ESV, the language we use, the translation we use in this in here at Sacred Mission says, all people unto myself.

What I want us to understand is that that people or that men is a translator's conscious choice to be inserted into the text there.

That's not in the manuscript.

That's the way that they insert this for readability.

They felt that there was a conscious, reasonable choice in inserting this word in the scriptures that's not there.

We're okay with that.

We're fine with that.

That doesn't mess up our theology by any stretch of the imagination.

But if we understand it rightly, what it reads in the original manuscript is, and when I am lifted up, I will draw all to myself.

What is that all?

That's the question on the table.

What is that all of whom Christ will draw to himself?

All whom the Father has given him.

All whom the Father has given him.

Let's return to Jesus' words in John chapter 6 because he uses the same word all here in this passage.

John 6 · chapter mention

All that the Father gives me will come to me.

And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

That is a grace-filled promise of confidence for us.

He will never cast us out.

Why?

Because I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

What is that will?

This is the will.

This is the will of him who sent me.

That I should lose nothing of all.

I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Jesus goes on to say in other parts of the Gospel of John, and throughout the Gospel letters and throughout the pastoral epistles, we see the same sentiment that there is a sheep for the shepherd.

He says later on that I still have sheep that are not of this fold, that I have to bring them in.

He's speaking of the nations of whom Christ would die, that it wouldn't just be for this geopolitical people group of Israel, but it would be for every tribe, nation, and tongue.

There's a sheep that are known by the Father, that are preserved by the Father and given to the Son.

And the will of the Son was that through his own judgment would bring salvation to the sheep of God, that his flock would not be scattered, but would be gathered in into the loving, shepherding care of himself.

And Jesus says, When I am lifted up, when the judgment has been rendered by heaven's courtroom, I will draw all of them to me.

We don't have to doubt, we don't have to fear, we don't have to live in some sense of shame about are we in Christ?

Does he love me?

Is this truly the salvation of Jesus that I'm experiencing?

If we confess Jesus is Lord, this is our confidence that our judgment was rendered in that hour, that we were found guiltless because of the guilt of our sin placed on Jesus.

And when he was lifted up, that we were drawn to him by the way of his relentless pursuit of us, because the Father had given us to him, and we are safe and secure in him.

So when Jesus is lifted up, who will he draw to himself?

He will draw all.

All that the Father gave him, all of the elect of God who were foreknown by the Father and predestined to be vindicated by the judgment of the Son through the glorious cross, and who find their blamelessness in believing in his death and resurrection.

That's what he's saying.

I will, oh man, with with with all power, all knowledge, all presence, I will draw all of them.

Can you see?

If you are in Christ this morning, can you start to see how God's pursuit for his own glory is glorious good news for us?

God's pursuit for his glory is glorious good news for us.

So we have the Father speaking from heaven that he will glorify his name.

The Son declaring that he will do it by judging the world and casting out the ruler of it, through being lifted up on the cross to gather all whom the Father has given him into his saving work.

We have definite salvation through the judgment of the world for the glory of God.

Another way to say it.

This is the glory of God in saving sinners through the judgment of his own Son.

This is the gospel.

This is the best news you could hear as a mother this morning.

This is the best news you could hear as a single person, as a married person, as a human being, as an image-bearer of God who could do nothing of your own strength and power and might to make your rebellious self right with your Maker.

This is the best news you could hear.

The glory of God in saving sinners through the judgment of his own son.

What a marvelous mystery! What a glorious pursuit.

Father, glorify your name.

This is why we will be about the glory of God.

Because it is the pursuit of the glory of God that is the best news for wayward sinners.

The last section of this text this morning is wrapping this up.

So the crowd answered him.

Verse 34 We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever.

How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?

Who is this Son of Man?

So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.

The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

So here's what we're invited into with this part of the story.

The crowd was really struggling to understand what Jesus was saying.

What do you mean?

What do you mean that your hour has come?

What do you mean you're going to judge the world and cast out the rule over?

What do you mean when you're lifted up?

We don't understand any of this.

We don't comprehend what you're speaking of here, Jesus.

And I can imagine that there's many of us in this room that can't comprehend that marvelous mystery, right?

And this is the pursuit of our life, to understand and see the beauty of the gospel in everything that we do, that we might see it as this gem that every time it turns, another cut facet shoots forth this prism of radiant light that we might see its beauty and glory and grace.

This is the pursuit of our lives, to know and to adore the gospel of Jesus in deeper and more faithful ways.

For some of you in this room, this might sound absolute nonsense.

What do you mean?

The glory of God in saving me through the judgment of his own son.

I love Jesus' response.

Jesus doesn't respond with some like apologetical argument.

He doesn't come in and try to walk them through the entire Old Testament text to see how every word of it pointed to this moment.

He does later, but he doesn't do that now.

Jesus meets them where they're at in the midst of their misunderstanding, and he says, just believe in me.

Just believe in me.

The light is here.

This morning, church, the light is here.

I don't know that there's another way of which we could put forth the radiant light of the gospel for you this morning.

The light is here.

The other side of that is Jesus says, but there's a darkness lurking.

Before the darkness overtakes you, Jesus is calling us to do one thing: not understand all of this, not comprehend it all, not be able to articulate it all, not be able to write it all on some neat and clean blog post that no one actually reads, right?

He simply says, believe.

Believe that you might become sons of light.

The radiant light of the gospel of Jesus shines brightly before you this morning.

The radiance of the glory of God in saving sinners through the judgment of his own son shines brightly before you.

Believe in it.

Believe in it now before the darkness overtakes you.

Believe in it now that you may become sons of light in Him.