설교 제660호: 빛—자연적인 것과 영적인 것
Notes
Transcript
Sermon #660 Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit
Volume 11 www.spurgeongems.org 1
1 LIGHT—NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL
NO. 660
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 12, 1865,
BY C. H. SPURGEON
AT CORNWALL ROAD CHAPEL, BAYSWATER.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And
the earth was without form, and void. And darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let
there be light and there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good: and God divided
the light from the darkness. And God called the light
Day and the darkness He called Night. And the evening
and the morning were the first day.”
Genesis 1:1-5.
THIS is, no doubt, a literal and accurate account of God’s first day’s
work in the creation of the world, but the first creation is not the subject
of this morning’s discourse—we would rather direct your minds to the
second creation of God. Every man who is saved by Divine Grace is a new
creation. The great work which Jesus Christ is accomplishing in the
world, by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is the making all things new.
We believe the old creation to have been typical of the new and we shall so
use it. May we all be taught of the Lord while so doing.
Observe, dear Friends, the state of the world. It is said to have been
“without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
Such is the state of every human heart till God the Holy Spirit visits it. So
far as spiritual things are concerned, the human heart is in a state of
chaos and disorder. There is no thought of faith, of love, of hope, of
obedience—it is a spiritually confused mass of dead sinfulness in which
everything is misplaced. It is void or utterly empty. Search the human
heart through and it is true of it as Paul says, “In me, that is, in my flesh,
dwells no good thing.”
Over the whole, as in the old creation a thick darkness reigns,
comparable to that of Egypt—a darkness that might be felt. This is true of
all men—not of the ignorant in the lowest haunts of London, whose
depraved parentage and education have prevented them from knowing
Divine things—but this is true of those who are trained up under the
sound of the Gospel and whose morals are good and exemplary. They are
still darkness, naturally, until God the Holy Spirit comes to renew them.
In the whole world, whether it is among kings, statesmen, or Divines,
there is not one who has so much as a spark of spiritual light unless he
has received it from above. And he can only have received it from above
through Him who is “the true Light which lights every man which comes
into the world,” who is enlightened at all. Dark, dark, dark is the whole of
humanity—it dwells in the black darkness of sin and must perish there
unless the same Divine power which said, “Let there be light,” of old, shall
bestow spiritual light. You observe that the first Divine action in
connection with the formation and shaping of the world, was this—“The
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
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The secret work of the Holy Spirit begins in the human heart—we
cannot always say precisely when or how. “The wind blows where it
wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell from where it comes
and where it goes: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.” In the hearts
of God’s chosen ones this Spirit works mysteriously and silently, but most
efficaciously. The expression translated, “moved upon,” conveys in the
original the idea of a bird brooding over its nest. The Holy Spirit
mysteriously quickens the dead heart, excites emotions, longings, desires.
It may be some of you are feeling His operations this morning. You have
not yet received the Divine light, but there are workings of the Divine
energy in your spirit. You are not easy in your present lost estate—you are
discontented to be what you now are—you are desirous to enter into God’s
marvelous light. For this I thank God and take it as a hopeful symptom.
And I pray that He may, this morning, if it is His gracious will, lead you
farther and make you feel today that early operation of Divine Grace by
which light is given to the darkened soul.
I. In considering the text, we shall notice FIRST THE DIVINE FIAT. God
said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The Lord Himself needs no
light to enable Him to discern His creatures—
“Darkness and light in this agree,
Great God they’re both alike to You.”
He looked upon the darkness and resolved that He would transform its
shapeless chaos into a fair and lovely world. We shall observe that the
work of Grace by which light enters the soul is a needed work. God’s plan
for the sustaining of vegetable and animal life rendered light necessary.
Light is essential to life. There are few operations which can be carried on
in the world without some degree of light and certainly no heart can be
saved without spiritual light.
It is light, my Brethren, which first shows us our lost estate—for we
know nothing of it naturally. We think that we are righteous, that all is
well with our souls. But when the Divine light comes in, we discover that
we are fallen in Adam and are terribly undone! Naturally we think that we
are no worse than others, that if we have offended, our offenses are very
venial and almost deserve to be pardoned. But when light enters, the
exceeding sinfulness of sin is discovered. This causes pain and anguish of
heart—but that pain and anguish are necessary in order to bring us to lay
hold on Jesus Christ—whom the light next displays to us.
No man ever knows Christ till the light of God shines on the Cross. You
may look at a picture of the bleeding Jesus. You may read the story of His
wounds, but you have not seen Christ—so as to be saved by His death—
unless the light of His Spirit has revealed Him to you as the great
Substitute for sinners, the Surety of the new Covenant, and suffering in
your place. You know Him not unless the mysterious light has led you to
read these words as your own, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.”
We can see neither our state, nor our sin, nor our Savior without light.
You who worship God but are not converted, are like the men of Athens
who worshipped an unknown God. You do not feel Him to be a real
existence. You do not come near to Him. You have no true love to Him.
You cannot cry, “Abba Father.” You are not made partakers of the Divine
nature. And you can never be brought near to God unless heavenly light
shall manifest God to you as your God who in eternal purposes chose you
to be His, and by the gift of His dear Son has bought you to be His forever.
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The great truths of Heaven, Hell, and immortality are not clearly
perceived till the light shines on them. But you receive them as matter of
settled doctrine because you have been taught them from your youth up—
He who brings life and immortality to light is Christ Jesus and, without
the light, life and immortality are mere names—not real things to you.
Beloved, if we could save men by the application of drops of water, or
by giving them bread and wine to eat and drink! If we were so besotted as
to believe that souls could be affected by physical substances and that the
hearts of men could be renewed by external observances, there would be
no need of light! But ours is a religion which appeals to the
understanding, which acts upon the will, which moves the heart—where
little can be done with men while they are in spiritual darkness. They
must have light, or else they cannot see. And if they cannot see, they
cannot receive—for looking to Jesus is the Gospel mode of receiving. So,
Beloved, the making of light was absolutely necessary in the world and
the creation of God’s light in the heart of man is a most necessary work.
Next observe it was a very early work. Light was created on the first
day, not on the third, fourth, or sixth, but on the first day. And one of the
first operations of the Spirit of God in a man’s heart is to give light enough
to see his lost estate and to perceive that he cannot save himself from it
but must look elsewhere. Come, dear Hearer, have you seen the Glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ? Are you resting upon Him as all your
salvation and all your desire? Have you light enough to look to Him and
be saved, leaving all your former boasting, nailing them all to His Cross
and taking Him to be your All in All?
It is a very early work of Divine Grace, I say, to show you that you are a
sinner and to reveal to you that you have a Savior! It is the first day’s
work and I have no right to believe myself to be a new creature in God at
all unless I have received light enough to know those two great and
weighty facts—myself lost in Adam but saved in the second Adam—
undone by sin but restored by the Savior’s righteousness! It is well for us
to remember that light-giving is a Divine work. God said, “Let there be
light,” and there was light.
O Beloved, how often have I said it and there has been no light
whatever! These eyes have often wept over benighted souls, but my
glistening tears could not give them a ray of light! Have I not bowed my
knee and prayed full many a time for the conversion of men and though
prayer has power because it links man with God, yet in itself it has none,
for our prayers for others can do nothing whatever for them till Jehovah
Himself says, “Let there be light.” Dear Hearer, the Lord must come into
distinct and direct contact with your spirit or else your darkness will
become the outer darkness of eternal ruin!
Speak of what your free will can do—of what your creature ability can
do—alas, these can do nothing whatever for you! They will plunge you
deeper and deeper into the blackness of darkness forever. But into the
light of God you never can come and never will come, unless that eternal
voice shall say, “Let there be light.” Let us always remember this in
preaching the Gospel and never depend upon man, or upon the Word
alone, but be this our prayer, “Oh God, do Your work, for You alone can
do so effectually.” This Divine work is worked by the Word. God did not sit
in solemn silence and create the light—He spoke. He said, “Light be,” and
light was. So the way in which we receive light is by the Word of God.
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Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Christ
Himself is the essential Word and the preaching of Christ Jesus is the
operative Word. We receive Christ actually when God’s power goes with
God’s Word—then we have light. Therefore the necessity of continually
preaching the Word of God! If I preach my own word, no light will go with
it. But when it is God’s Word, then I may expect that light will follow. Oh,
to preach Christ’s Cross! My Brothers, choose no ministry but that which
savors much of God’s Word and especially of the Word Christ Jesus!
Better to preach one sermon full of Christ, than a thousand in which He
shall be left out.
“I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” The great magnet and
loadstone of Gospel attraction is Christ Himself! And if we leave Him out,
it is as though we should expect the world to receive light without the
Almighty Word. While light was conferred in connection with the
mysterious operation of the Holy Spirit, it was unaided by the darkness
itself. How could darkness assist to make itself light? No, the darkness
never did become light. It had to give place to light, but darkness could
not help God.
If your understanding could resolve darkness into its elements, can you
see anything in it which can help to bring the day? If you can, I cannot.
Look at your own fallen nature—is there anything there which could
assist in the great work of salvation? If you think so, you know not
yourself. The power which saves a sinner is not the power of man. The
power of man must die, for its only use is to stand out as far as it is able
against the power of God. The carnal mind is enmity against God and is
not reconciled to God—neither, indeed, can it be. You cannot extract out
of any amount of darkness a single beam of light. And you cannot extract
out of any amount of flesh—purify it, educate it, direct it, guide it as you
may—you cannot extract anything like spiritual light! That must come
from above. “You must be born again.”
Do not think Christians are made by education—they are made by
creation. You may wash a corpse as long as ever you please, but you
cannot wash life into it. You may deck it in flowers and robe it in scarlet
and fine linen, but you cannot make it live—the vital spark must come
from above. Regeneration is not of the will of man, nor of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, but by the power and energy of the Spirit of God and the
Spirit of God alone.
As this light was unassisted by darkness, so was it also unsolicited.
There came no voice out of that thick darkness, “Oh God, enlighten us!”
There was no cry of prayer, no note of desire that God would send light—
the desire and the thought began with Deity, not with the darkness. He
said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The first work of Divine
Grace in the heart does not begin with man’s desire, but with God’s
implanting the desire. Dear Hearer, if you desire to be saved by Grace, God
gave you that desire, for you could never get so far as that apart from
Him! Your darkness can be darkness and that is all it can be! It cannot
long for, or aspire after light. In fact, if your soul longs after light it has
some light already—a sincere desire is a part of that Divine light and life
and must have come from above!
See, then, the ruin of nature and the freeness of Grace! Void and dark,
a chaos given up to be covered with blackness and darkness forever and,
while as yet it is not seeking God, the light arises, and the promise is
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fulfilled, “I am found of them that sought Me not: I said, behold Me!
Behold Me, to a people that were not a people.” While we were lying in our
blood, filthily polluted, defiled, He passed by and He said in the
sovereignty of His love, “Live,” and we live! The whole must be traced to
Sovereign Grace—from this sacred well of discriminating, distinguishing
Grace we must draw water this morning and we must pour it out, saying,
“Oh Lord, I will praise Your name, for the first origin of my light was Your
sovereign purpose and nothing in me.”
Before we leave this point I must have you notice that this light came
instantaneously. The Hebrew suggests this far better than our
translation—it is sublimely brief. “Light be—light was.” Here let us observe
that the work of giving spiritual light is instantaneous. No matter through
what process you may go which you may conclude afterward to have been
preparatory to the light, and there is such a process, the Spirit of God
brooded over the face of the waters before the light came, yet the absolute
flash which brings salvation is instantaneous. A man is saved in a
moment! From death to life is not the work of years, it is done at once.
Saul of Tarsus rides to Damascus foaming at the mouth with threats
against God’s saints—Jesus Christ appears to him and Saul of Tarsus
becomes Paul the humble follower of Jesus—in a moment!
And all conversions, though they may seem to you gradual, must be
like this, for Paul says, “To me, first, God showed forth all long-suffering
for a pattern to them that believe,” as if Paul’s salvation was the pattern
upon which all others are cut. There must be a time in which you were
dead and then another instant in which you were alive. So with
darkness—there must be a period in which you have no light, and another
period in which you have some light and that transition must be an
instantaneous one. O that the Lord would work a great work this
morning—it is in His power, if He wills it, to turn every one of your hearts
to Himself!
Let Him but speak the word and say, “Light be!” and no matter how
dark the sinner’s mind, if the Divine fiat shall go forth, “Light be,” that
depraved, foolish, drunken sinner will, in a moment, feel his heart begin
to melt! As it is instantaneous, so it is irresistible. Darkness must give
place when God speaks! Some ascribe Omnipotence to the will of man and
lift man up to a sort of rivalry with God! Beloved, man has power to resist
the ordinary motions of the Spirit, but when the Holy Spirit comes to
effectual work and puts forth His mighty power, who shall stay His hand,
or say unto Him, “What are you doing?”
“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion,” is the Divine claim of old,
and it is true of our God to this day. Oh, how glorious is God when we
think of Him thus! I could not worship a little God—but when I think of
my great God as looking down upon the blackness and darkness of
human nature and saying, “Let there be light,” and light comes at once—
then I magnify God for His Grace and bless His name!
II. The second point is DIVINE OBSERVATION. We read in the fourth
verse, “And God saw the light.” Does He not see everything? Yes, Beloved,
He does, but this does not refer to the general perception of God of all His
works, but is something special. “God saw the light”—He looked at it with
complacency, gazed upon it with pleasure.
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I received, this morning, great satisfaction in turning over those few
words in my own mind, “God saw the light.” I thought to myself—“Ah, the
Lord looks with special observation upon His own work of Grace in His
people.” If the Lord has given you light, dear Friend, no matter though you
may only just now have received it, God looks on that light with an eye
with which He does not view other things. He sees all other things in His
Omniscience, but He sees this light in you as His offspring, as dear to
Himself, as His own handiwork—He looks upon it with complacency—He
sees it with tender observation.
A father looks upon a crowd of boys in a school and sees them all, but
there is one boy whom he sees very differently from all the rest! He
watches him with care—it is his own child and his eyes are especially
there. Brethren, though you have come here sighing and groaning
because of inbred sin, the Lord sees what is good in you, for He has put it
there! Satan can see the light and he tries to quench it—God sees it and
preserves it. The world can see that light and hates it and would, if
possible, extinguish it. But God sees it and He restrains the world that it
cannot utterly take from you the vital spark. Sometimes you cannot see
the light, and I do not suppose it is in the nature of light to perceive
itself—but God saw the light and that is better.
It is better that God should see Grace in me than that I should see
Grace in myself. It is very comfortable for me to know that I am one of
God’s people—I cannot have much joy and peace in believing unless I
have the gracious assurance of this fact. But still, that fact is not the
foundation of my hope, for, whether I know it or not, if the Lord knows it,
I am still safe. THIS is the foundation: “The Lord knows them that are
His.”
You and I are apt to say of someone, “What a Christian he is.” Very
likely his religion is all external show and the Lord has no regard unto his
offering any more than He had unto the offering of Cain. We look at that
Pharisee, standing in the Temple, with his phylacteries and hear him
saying, “God, I thank You that I am not as other men are,” and we envy
him and think what a noble saint he is, but the Lord knows him and sees
no light in him! But that poor humble publican who stands in the corner
and dares not lift so much as his eyes unto Heaven cannot see any light
in himself, but God sees the light in him and that man goes down to his
house justified rather than the other.
You may be, today, going down, down into the vaults of despondency
and even despair—ah, but if your soul has any longing towards Christ,
and if you are still seeking to rest in Him, God sees the light and He will
take care to discern between you and the darkness and to preserve you
even to the day of His Son’s appearing! Beloved, it is most pleasant to the
Believer to know that God’s eyes are never taken off from that work of
Grace which He has begun. Here is a promise! “I, the Lord do keep it: I
will water it every moment lest any hurt it: I will keep it night and day.”
Now this is—I must say again—this is a precious thought to those of you
who have watched and guarded yourselves and felt your own
powerlessness to do so and who are ready to give it up because you have
thought, “Well, I cannot watch always and I fear I shall become a prey to
temptation.”
The Lord watches you and HE sees the light. He has His eyes always
fixed upon the work of Grace that is in your soul. It is observable that in
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the New Testament we find the Apostles mentioning the virtues of the
saints, but very seldom that they say anything about their faults. Take,
for instance, Abraham. His faith is extolled, but nothing is said about his
equivocation. In the case of Rahab, her faith is magnified, but nothing is
said about her lying. Why is that? Is it not because God saw the light and
when He was writing this Book of the new creation, He said nothing of the
darkness? He saw His own work and would not regard the devil’s work
and the work of fallen human nature, too—He had respect only to the
light.
III. We pass on to the third point and that is, DIVINE APPROBATION.
“God saw the light, that it was good.” Light is good in all respects. The
natural light is good. Solomon says, “It is a pleasant thing to behold the
sun.” But you did not need Solomon to inform you upon that point. Any
blind man who will tell you the tale of his sorrows will be quite
philosopher enough to convince you that light is good. Gospel light is
good. “Blessed are the eyes which see the things which you see.”
You only need to travel into heathen lands and witness the superstition
and cruelty of the dark places of the earth to understand that Gospel light
is good. As for spiritual light, those that have received it long for more of it
that they may see yet more and more the Glory of Heaven’s essential light!
O God, You are of good the unmeasured Sea! You are of light both soul
and source and center. Whether, then, we take natural light, Gospel light,
spiritual light, or essential light, we may say of it, as God did, that it was
good.
But we are speaking now of spiritual light. Why is that good? Well, it
must be so, from its Source. The light emanates from God, in whom is no
darkness at all, and, as it comes absolutely and directly from Him, it must
be good. As every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, so
everything which comes from above is good and perfect. The Lord
distributes no alloyed metal—He never gives His people that which is
mixed and debased. Your Words, O God, are pure as silver tried in the
furnace of earth, purified seven times! The light of the new nature is good
when we consider its origin. It is good, again, when we consider its
likeness.
Light is liken to God. It is a thing so spiritual, so utterly to be
ungrasped by the hand of flesh, that it has often been selected as the very
type of God. Certainly the new nature in man is liken to God. It is, in fact,
the Nature of God implanted in us! The Holy Spirit dwells in us and is the
radix—the root of the new nature by which we become akin with the Most
High. The Spirit of adoption by which we cry, “Abba, Father,” is the Holy
Spirit Himself working in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure.
Ignatius used to call himself, Theophorus, or the God-Bearer. The title
might seem eccentric, but the fact is true of all the saints—they bear God
about with them. God dwells in His saints as in a temple. It is good, also
in its effect. It is good for a man to know his danger—it makes him retreat
from it. It is good for him to know the evil of his sin—it makes him avoid it
and repent of it. It is good for him to know a Savior’s love—it leads him to
trust the Savior and brings him to pardon, to justification, and to eternal
life. It is good to have the light which reveals the God of Love, for without
Him we are aliens, orphans, houseless wanderers. It is good to have the
light to see the world to come, that we may escape its agonies, that we
may seek after its glories. It is good to have light in all respects, for
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otherwise, like blind men, we should wretchedly and miserably wander in
a labyrinth and miss our way to glory and to God.
Light is good in its effects. It is good, moreover, because it glorifies God.
Where would God’s Glory be in the outward universe without light? Could
we gaze upon the landscape? Could we stand upon the hilltop and drink
in the view and then praise the glorious Maker who had made these
marvelous works if there were no light? I question whether those firstborn
sons of light, the angels, would have a song to sing before the
Eternal Throne, if light were taken away. Certainly, Beloved, spiritual light
brings glory to God! It prostrates us in the dust, but it lifts HIM up.
Spiritual light shows us our emptiness, our poverty, our wretchedness—
but it reveals in blessed contrast His fullness, His riches, His freeness of
Grace.
The more light in the soul, the more gratitude to God. The more we
know of Christ and the Covenant of Grace and of God Himself, the louder
and sweeter is that song which our glad hearts send up to the Eternal
Throne. Let me say of the work of God in the soul as compared to light,
that it is good in the widest possible sense. The new nature which God
puts in us never sins—it cannot sin, because it is born of God. “What?”
you say, “Does a Christian never sin?” Not with the new nature. The new
nature never sins—the old nature sins. It is the darkness which is dark—
the light is not darkness. The light is always light. It is not possible that
the Christ who dwells in us could sin.
I again repeat the words, “He cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
He keeps himself so that the Evil One touches him not. What sin there is
in the Believer comes from the remnants of corruption. The spirit which is
implanted never can sin, never can have communion with sin, any more
than light can have communion with darkness. It is good—so good that it
is the very same life which shall enter Heaven. You must not suppose that
a Believer will have a new life granted to him when he gets to Heaven.
Beloved, he will never die! The flesh dies, but the new Nature which God
gives to us is as immortal as God Himself—it can neither be quenched
here by temptation, nor there by the act of death. The love which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord is everlasting, ever living. And though corruption
and worms destroy this body, yet the new born spirit, like the light, will
never see corruption.
Jesus Christ has Himself said, “He that lives and believes in Me shall
never die.” The new Nature shall never die. Its light shall develop itself
from dawning twilight into the splendor of noonday and shall abide
everlastingly in fullness of glory, according to the promise, “Your sun shall
no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself: for the Lord
shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be
ended.”
IV. Now I must, by your patience, take you to the next point, which is,
DIVINE SEPARATION. It appears that though God made light there was
still darkness in the world. Read the fourth verse, “And God divided the
light from the darkness.” Beloved, the moment you become a Christian,
you will begin to fight. You will be easy and comfortable enough, as long
as you are a sinner, but as soon as you become a Christian, you will have
no more rest. John Bunyan was no great poet, but sometimes he struck
out great truths in his rhymes. He has this one—
“A Christian man is seldom long at ease
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When one trouble’s gone, another does him seize.”
This is very true, because a Believer is a double man. There are two
principles in him. At first there was but one principle, which was
darkness. Now light has entered and the two principles disagree. So
observe this separation. One part of the Divine work in the soul of man is
to make a separation in the man himself. I will put this plainly and it shall
be a test between a child of God and the child of darkness this morning.
Do you feel an inward contention and war going on? Can you read these
verses and understand them—they are very strange verses—they are
taken out of the same Psalm and follow each other. “So foolish was I and
ignorant, I was as a beast before You. Nevertheless, I am continually with
You. You hold me by my right hand.”
There are hundreds of people who, if you were to preach from that text
would say, “Why the man contradicts himself. He makes himself out to be
a beast and yet he says he dwells near to God!” Ah, none but the Believer
knows that secret. You remember the Apostle Paul’s own words in the
seventh chapter of Romans. Many stupid people who are ignorant of the
inner life make it out that Paul could not have been a Christian at all
when he wrote those words, but he was an advanced Believer—and only
advanced Believers can sympathize with him. “For that which I do I allow
not: for what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do
that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwells no good thing: for to
will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I
do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwells in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present
with me. For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man: but I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind
I myself serve the Law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
Permit me to put these two verses together—“O wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” How can these two things be
consistent? Ask the spiritual man—he will tell you! “The Lord divides
between light and darkness.” Darkness, by itself, will go on comfortably
enough—but when the Lord sends in light, there will be a conflict—a
terrible conflict, too! And you will find your own self divided into camps—
you will find both Cain and Abel in your heart, Egyptians and Israelites in
your soul—and if there is a David in your heart, there will be a Saul, too.
Whereas there is a division inside the Christian, there is certain to be a
division outside. So soon as ever the Lord gives to any Believer light, he
begins to separate himself from the darkness. The world’s religion used to
satisfy him. If there was a pretty building and a good looking minister who
could put his words together well and garnish the altar finely, the child of
darkness did not care what he heard—whether the Gospel was preached
or not. But as soon as ever he receives light, he cries, “All this is nothing
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to me, millinery, or anything else! I want light and the Truth of God and I
cannot go to hear anything but the Gospel.”
He separates himself from the world’s religion, finds out where Christ is
preached and goes there. Then as to society, the dead, carnal religionist
can get on very well in ordinary society, but it is not so when he has light.
I cannot go to light company, wasting the evening, showing off my fine
clothes and talking frivolity and nonsense. Where are the children of light?
Very likely down in some Ragged School where poor men and women seek
to bless the little ones. That is the place for the child of light. It does not
matter what particular class of society the saints belong to, we shall seek
their society. We know we have passed from death unto life, because we
love the Brethren! The light gathers to itself and the darkness to itself.
My dear Brethren, what God has divided, let us never unite. God has
set an everlasting distance between the sheep and the goats—let us do the
same. Christ went outside the camp, bearing His reproach—let us,
therefore, come out from among them and be separate. Christ was holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners—let us be nonconformists to
the world. Let us dissent from all sin and be distinguished from the world,
even as Jesus Christ was not of the world. This is a work of Grace, then,
to make a wondrous separation.
V. Next notice DIVINE NOMINATION. Things must have names. Adam
named the beasts, but God Himself named the day and the night. Search
the fifth verse, “And God called the light Day and the darkness called He
Night.” It is a very blessed work of Grace to teach us to call things by their
right names. Why did He call the light, Day, and the darkness, Night,
except for this reason—He seems to say, “Let these things be
distinguished, let light wear its name of Day and darkness its title of
Night.” From which I gather that the good which God works in His people
must be good always and can never be described as bad.
The spiritual aspirations of God’s people never can be evil. Carnal
reason calls them folly, but the Lord would have us call them good. Here
is a man who is panting after Graces which will cost him great sacrifices!
He is panting after a spirituality which will separate him from men! It
cannot be evil for him to seek the highest possible degree of Divine Grace.
On the other hand, that which is darkness cannot be light and must not
be called anything but Night. We have heard of some who have taken the
sins of God’s people and said, “These are not sins in these people.” This is
a grievous error, for darkness is darkness and must be called Night
wherever it may be. If I find sin in my father or mother, dearly as I love
them and desire to have them perfect, yet I must not make excuse for it
and seek to call darkness Day. I must not in myself, when I discern
imperfection, find a soft name for it by which I may take away its
wickedness. I must call it what it is.
I remember hearing of a good man—I believe he was such—who fell into
drunkenness on one occasion. He was excommunicated from Church
fellowship and properly so. But afterwards he became very penitent and
he went about the streets like a man who really should die of grief and
ashamed because of his sin. He could not find peace. A dear Brother, who
knew something of him, took him aside one day and said, “Dear Brother,
have you made a full confession of your sin before God?” He thought he
had. “Now,” said the other, “it is a hard thing for me to ask, but I should
like to hear you confess this sin.” So he did.
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When he came to the act of confessing his sin to God, he said, “Lord,
You know I have indulged my appetites,” and so on. He was not a bit
better. “Now,” said his friend, “ My dear Brother, you had better unveil
your whole sin and hide nothing. Then he prayed thus—“Lord, You know I
got drunk.” It was all right as soon as he brought the thing out and called
the darkness Night and went no longer round about. The Lord will not
hear His people if they call the darkness Day. He will not attend to them.
He will have them call darkness Night. So, let us go where we may,
whether in ourselves or in other people, we must learn to call a spade a
spade, to call things by their right names!
There is a great deal, remember, in the names which we give to things,
because they are generally the index of our own estimation of what those
things are. It is a work of Grace to teach us always to call the light Day
and the darkness Night. “But,” says one, “can’t the right sometimes be
wrong?” Never, never! I am asked by a man this question: “There is such
and such a church. I am a minister there and there are some things I
don’t agree with and yet I swear I do. I swear that, ex animo, I agree,
although I do not. If I did not swear, I should lose my sphere of
usefulness. If I don’t swear it, I shall never have an opportunity of doing
good.”
My dear Friend, you have nothing to do with that! Whether you are
doing good or mischief, your business is to call darkness Night, and light
Day. Never do a bad thing, though you might hope to achieve a world of
good by it. Right is never wrong and wrong is never right. It cannot be
right for a man to do evil that good may come. Of those that hold such
maxims it is written, “Their damnation is just.” Let the light be called Day
and the darkness Night.
Observe again—this is somewhat remarkable—that we read in the next
sentence, “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Who
called it so? I do not find that God did, yet it is in the Book of God and
therefore I cannot take exception to it. How is it? The evening! Why the
evening was darkness and the morning was light. The two together are
called by the same name that is given to the light alone! What then? Why
Beloved, in every Believer there is darkness and there is light, and yet he
is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be
named from the major part of him—he is to be named from the grander
quality! He is to be named a saint because there is saintness in him
notwithstanding all the sin.
Now this will be a comforting thought to those of you who are mourning
your infirmities. While I was talking about light, you said, “Yes, thank God
I have some. I know the difference between it and darkness, yet for all
that, darkness is my daily pest and trouble. Can I be a child of God while
there is any darkness in me?” Dear Brothers and Sisters, you, like the
day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning! From
the day you shall be called altogether, as if you were now perfectly what
you will be soon. You shall be called the Child of the Light, though there is
darkness in you still! You are named after what is the predominating
quality in the sight of God which will one day be the only principle
remaining.
Observe that the evening is put first. We naturally have darkness first
and it is often first in our mournful apprehension, as we have to come to
God with, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” The place of the morning is
Light—Natural and Spiritual Sermon #660
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스펄전 목사의 설교 **"빛—자연적인 것과 영적인 것(Light—Natural and Spiritual)"**의 전문 번역입니다. 분량이 방대하여 의미를 명확히 전달하면서도 스펄전 특유의 설교 문체를 살려 번역하였습니다.
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### 설교 제660호: 빛—자연적인 것과 영적인 것
**본문: 창세기 1:1-5**
**설교자: C. H. 스펄전 (1865년 11월 12일)**
“태초에 하나님이 천지를 창조하시니라 땅이 혼돈하고 공허하며 흑암이 깊음 위에 있고 하나님의 영은 수면 위에 운행하시니라 하나님이 이르시되 빛이 있으라 하시니 빛이 있었고 빛이 하나님이 보시기에 좋았더라 하나님이 빛과 어둠을 나누사 하나님이 빛을 낮이라 부르시고 어둠을 밤이라 부르시니라 저녁이 되고 아침이 되니 이는 첫째 날이니라” (창 1:1-5)
이 말씀은 의심할 여지 없이 하나님께서 세상을 창조하신 첫째 날 사역에 대한 문자적이고 정확한 기록입니다. 그러나 오늘 아침 설교의 주제는 '첫 번째 창조'가 아닙니다. 저는 오히려 여러분의 마음을 하나님의 '두 번째 창조'로 인도하고자 합니다. 하나님의 은혜로 구원받은 모든 사람은 새로운 피조물(새로운 창조물)입니다. 예수 그리스도께서 성령과 말씀을 통해 이 세상에서 성취하고 계신 위대한 사업은 모든 만물을 새롭게 만드시는 것입니다. 우리는 첫 번째 창조가 이 새로운 창조를 상징한다고 믿으며, 오늘 그 관점에서 본문을 살펴보겠습니다. 우리가 이 일을 하는 동안 주님의 가르침을 받기를 원합니다.
사랑하는 친구 여러분, 세상의 상태를 보십시오. 본문은 땅이 “혼돈하고 공허하며 흑암이 깊음 위에 있었다”라고 말합니다. 이것은 하나님의 성령께서 방문하시기 전의 모든 인간의 마음 상태와 같습니다. 영적인 관점에서 볼 때, 인간의 마음은 혼돈과 질서가 없는 상태입니다. 믿음, 사랑, 소망, 순종에 대한 생각이 전혀 없습니다. 그것은 영적으로 혼란스러운 죽은 죄악의 덩어리이며 모든 것이 제자리에 있지 않은 상태입니다. 또한 그것은 '공허'합니다. 인간의 마음을 샅샅이 뒤져보십시오. 바울이 “내 속 곧 내 육신에 선한 것이 거하지 아니하는 줄을 아노니”라고 말한 그대로입니다.
첫 번째 창조 때처럼, 그 전체 위에는 애굽의 흑암과 비길 만한, 손으로 만져질 듯한 짙은 어둠이 지배하고 있습니다. 이것은 무지한 자들뿐만 아니라 복음의 소리를 듣고 자라 도덕적이고 모범적인 모든 사람에게도 해당되는 진리입니다. 그들은 하나님 성령께서 새롭게 하시기 전까지는 본질상 여전히 어둠입니다. 이 세상의 왕들이나 정치가, 신학자들 중에서도 위로부터 빛을 받지 않은 자는 영적인 빛의 불꽃조차 가진 자가 없습니다. 오직 “세상에 와서 각 사람에게 비추는 참 빛”이신 그분을 통해서만 빛을 받을 수 있습니다. 인류 전체는 어둡고, 어둡고, 또 어둡습니다. 인류는 죄의 칠흑 같은 어둠 속에 거하고 있으며, 옛적에 “빛이 있으라”고 말씀하신 동일한 신적 능력이 영적인 빛을 주시지 않는 한 그곳에서 멸망할 수밖에 없습니다.
이제 세상의 형상과 모양을 만드는 과정에서 나타난 첫 번째 신적 행동을 주목하십시오. “하나님의 영은 수면 위에 운행하시니라.”
성령의 은밀한 사역은 인간의 마음속에서 시작됩니다. 우리는 정확히 언제, 어떻게 그 일이 일어나는지 다 알 수 없습니다. “바람이 임의로 불매 네가 그 소리는 들어도 어디서 와서 어디로 가는지 알지 못하나니 성령으로 난 사람도 다 그러하니라.” 하나님의 택하신 자들의 마음속에서 성령은 신비롭고 조용하게, 그러나 가장 효과적으로 역사하십니다. “운행하시니라”로 번역된 원래의 표현은 새가 둥지 위에서 알을 품는다는 개념을 담고 있습니다. 성령께서는 신비롭게 죽은 마음을 살리시고, 감정과 갈망과 욕구를 자극하십니다. 아마 오늘 아침 여러분 중 일부는 그분의 역사를 느끼고 있을 것입니다. 당신은 아직 신적인 빛을 받지는 못했지만, 당신의 영 안에서 신적인 에너지의 움직임이 있습니다. 당신은 현재의 상실된 상태에서 편안함을 느끼지 못합니다. 지금의 상태에 만족하지 못하고 하나님의 놀라운 빛 안으로 들어가기를 갈망합니다. 저는 이 점에 대해 하나님께 감사하며, 이를 희망적인 징후로 여깁니다. 그리고 하나님께서 오늘 아침 그분의 은혜로운 뜻에 따라 여러분을 더 멀리 인도하시어, 어두워진 영혼에 빛이 주어지는 저 초기 은혜의 역사를 경험하게 하시기를 기도합니다.
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#### I. 신적 명령 (THE DIVINE FIAT)
하나님께서 “빛이 있으라” 말씀하시니 빛이 있었습니다. 주님 자신은 피조물을 식별하기 위해 빛이 필요하신 분이 아닙니다. “흑암과 빛이 주에게는 마찬가지이니이다.” 주님은 흑암을 보셨고, 그 형체 없는 혼돈을 아름답고 사랑스러운 세상으로 바꾸기로 작정하셨습니다. 우리는 영혼에 빛이 들어오는 은혜의 사역이 반드시 필요한 사역임을 보게 될 것입니다.
**1. 빛은 필수적입니다.**
식물과 동물의 생명을 유지하기 위한 하나님의 계획에서 빛은 필수적이었습니다. 빛은 생명에 필수적입니다. 빛이 조금이라도 없으면 세상에서 수행될 수 있는 일은 거의 없으며, 영적인 빛 없이는 어떤 마음도 구원받을 수 없습니다.
사랑하는 형제 여러분, 빛은 먼저 우리의 상실된 상태를 보여줍니다. 본래 우리는 그것을 알지 못합니다. 우리는 스스로 의롭고 영혼이 평안하다고 생각합니다. 그러나 신적인 빛이 들어오면, 우리가 아담 안에서 타락했으며 끔찍하게 파멸되었음을 발견하게 됩니다! 본래 우리는 다른 사람들보다 나쁘지 않으며, 죄를 지었더라도 아주 경미하여 용서받을 가치가 있다고 생각합니다. 그러나 빛이 들어오면 죄의 심각한 사악함이 드러납니다. 이것은 마음의 고통과 괴로움을 유발하지만, 그 고통은 우리로 하여금 예수 그리스도를 붙잡게 하기 위해 필요합니다. 그다음 빛은 우리에게 그리스도를 보여줍니다.
하나님의 빛이 십자가를 비추기 전까지는 아무도 진정으로 그리스도를 알 수 없습니다. 당신은 피 흘리는 예수님의 그림을 볼 수도 있고 그분의 상처에 대한 이야기를 읽을 수도 있지만, 성령의 빛이 그분을 당신의 대속자, 새 언약의 보증인, 당신을 대신해 고난받으신 분으로 계시해주지 않는 한, 당신은 구원에 이르는 방식으로 그리스도를 본 것이 아닙니다. 신비로운 빛이 당신으로 하여금 “그가 나를 사랑하사 나를 위하여 자기 자신을 버리셨다”라는 말씀을 당신 자신의 고백으로 읽게 하지 않는 한, 당신은 그분을 아는 것이 아닙니다. 우리는 빛 없이는 우리의 상태도, 죄도, 구원자도 볼 수 없습니다.
**2. 빛은 초기에 이루어지는 사역입니다.**
빛은 셋째 날이나 넷째 날이 아닌 첫째 날에 창조되었습니다. 성령께서 사람의 마음에서 행하시는 첫 번째 사역 중 하나는 자신의 잃어버린 상태를 보고 스스로 구원할 수 없음을 깨닫게 하는 빛을 주시는 것입니다. 사랑하는 청중 여러분, 예수 그리스도의 얼굴에 나타난 하나님의 영광을 보셨습니까? 그분을 당신의 모든 구원과 갈망으로 삼고 의지하고 계십니까? 당신의 예전 자랑을 버리고 십자가에 못 박으며 그리스도를 당신의 전부로 받아들일 만큼의 빛을 받으셨습니까?
자신이 죄인임을 깨닫고 구원자를 발견하는 것은 은혜의 아주 초기 사역입니다! 그것은 첫째 날의 사역입니다. 아담 안에서 잃어버린바 되었으나 두 번째 아담 안에서 구원받았다는 이 두 가지 중대한 사실을 알 만큼의 빛을 받지 못했다면, 저는 제가 하나님의 새로운 피조물이라고 믿을 권리가 없습니다.
**3. 빛을 주시는 것은 신적인 사역입니다.**
하나님이 “빛이 있으라” 하시니 빛이 있었습니다. 오, 사랑하는 여러분, 제가 얼마나 자주 이 말을 했지만 빛이 전혀 생기지 않았던 적이 많았습니까! 저는 어둠 속에 갇힌 영혼들을 보며 자주 눈물을 흘렸지만, 제 눈물이 그들에게 단 한 줄기의 빛도 줄 수 없었습니다! 저는 사람들의 회심을 위해 수없이 무릎 꿇고 기도했습니다. 기도는 인간을 하나님과 연결하기에 힘이 있지만, 그 자체로는 아무 능력도 없습니다. 여호와께서 친히 “빛이 있으라”고 말씀하시기 전까지는 우리의 기도가 다른 이들을 위해 아무것도 할 수 없습니다.
여러분의 자유의지가 무엇을 할 수 있는지, 피조물의 능력이 무엇을 할 수 있는지 말해보십시오. 슬프게도 그것들은 당신을 위해 아무것도 할 수 없습니다! 오히려 당신을 영원한 파멸의 흑암 속으로 더 깊이 밀어 넣을 뿐입니다. 영원한 목소리가 “빛이 있으라”고 말씀하시지 않는 한, 당신은 결코 하나님의 빛으로 나올 수 없습니다. 복음을 전할 때 항상 이것을 기억합시다. 사람이나 말씀 자체에 의존하지 말고, “오 하나님, 당신만이 효과적으로 하실 수 있으니 주의 일을 행하소서”라고 기도합시다.
**4. 이 신적인 사역은 '말씀'으로 이루어집니다.**
하나님은 엄숙한 침묵 속에 앉아 빛을 창조하지 않으셨습니다. 그분은 말씀하셨습니다. “빛이 있으라” 하시니 빛이 있었습니다. 우리가 빛을 받는 방식도 하나님의 말씀에 의해서입니다. 믿음은 들음에서 나며 들음은 하나님의 말씀으로 말미암습니다. 그리스도 자신이 본질적인 말씀(Logos)이시며, 그리스도 예수를 선포하는 것이 역동적인 말씀입니다. 하나님의 능력이 하나님의 말씀과 함께 갈 때 우리는 그리스도를 실제로 영접하게 되고 빛을 얻게 됩니다. 그러므로 계속해서 하나님의 말씀을 전파하는 것이 필요합니다! 제가 제 자신의 말을 전한다면 빛은 따라오지 않을 것입니다. 그러나 그것이 하나님의 말씀일 때 빛이 나타날 것을 기대할 수 있습니다. 오, 그리스도의 십자가를 전파합시다! 형제 여러분, 하나님의 말씀, 특히 그리스도 예수의 말씀이 가득한 사역만을 선택하십시오. 그리스도가 빠진 수천 번의 설교보다 그리스도로 충만한 한 번의 설교가 낫습니다.
**5. 이 빛은 흑암의 도움을 받지 않았습니다.**
흑암이 스스로 빛이 되는 데 어떻게 도움을 줄 수 있겠습니까? 아니요, 흑암은 결코 빛이 되지 않았습니다. 흑암은 빛에게 자리를 내주어야 했지만, 흑암이 하나님을 도울 수는 없었습니다. 당신의 타락한 본성을 보십시오. 거기에 구원의 위대한 사역을 도울 만한 것이 있습니까? 그렇게 생각한다면 당신은 자신을 모르는 것입니다. 죄인을 구원하는 능력은 사람의 능력이 아닙니다. 육신의 생각은 하나님과 원수가 되며 하나님께 복종하지도 않고 할 수도 없습니다. 어떤 양의 어둠에서도 단 한 줄기의 빛을 추출할 수 없습니다. 인간의 육신을 아무리 정화하고 교육하고 인도할지라도 거기서 영적인 빛과 같은 것을 추출할 수는 없습니다! 그것은 위로부터 와야 합니다. “너희가 거듭나야 하리라.”
그리스도인은 교육으로 만들어지는 것이 아니라 창조로 만들어집니다. 시신을 아무리 씻겨도 생명을 불어넣을 수는 없습니다. 꽃으로 장식하고 주홍색 옷을 입혀도 살릴 수 없습니다. 생명의 불꽃은 위로부터 와야 합니다. 거듭남은 사람의 뜻이나 혈통이나 육정으로 되는 것이 아니요, 오직 하나님의 성령의 권능과 에너지로 되는 것입니다.
또한 이 빛은 요청받지도 않았습니다. 저 짙은 흑암 속에서 “오 하나님, 우리를 비추소서!”라는 목소리가 나오지 않았습니다. 기도의 부르짖음도, 갈망의 음성도 없었습니다. 소망과 생각은 흑암이 아니라 하나님으로부터 시작되었습니다. 인간의 마음에서 은혜의 첫 사역은 인간의 갈망으로 시작되는 것이 아니라 하나님께서 갈망을 심어주심으로 시작됩니다. 사랑하는 청중 여러분, 당신이 은혜로 구원받기를 갈망한다면 하나님이 그 갈망을 주신 것입니다. 하나님 없이는 당신 스스로 그렇게 멀리 올 수 없기 때문입니다! 흑암은 흑암일 뿐입니다! 스스로 빛을 갈구하거나 열망할 수 없습니다. 사실, 당신의 영혼이 빛을 갈망한다면 이미 어느 정도의 빛이 있는 것입니다. 진실한 갈망은 신적인 빛과 생명의 일부이며 위로부터 온 것이 분명하기 때문입니다!
인간의 파멸과 은혜의 값없음을 보십시오! 혼돈과 공허와 흑암, 영원한 어둠에 덮여 있던 상태에서, 우리가 아직 하나님을 찾기도 전에 빛이 솟아올랐습니다. “나를 찾지 아니하던 자들에게 찾은 바 되고 내게 묻지 아니하던 자들에게 나타났노라”라는 약속이 성취된 것입니다. 우리가 오물로 더러워진 채 피투성이로 누워 있을 때, 그분이 곁을 지나시며 주권적인 사랑으로 “살라” 말씀하셨고 우리는 살았습니다! 모든 것은 하나님의 주권적인 은혜로 돌려져야 합니다.
마지막으로, 이 빛은 **즉각적으로** 임했습니다. 히브리어 원문은 우리 번역보다 훨씬 장엄하고 간결합니다. “빛이 있으라—빛이 있었다.” 영적인 빛을 주시는 사역은 즉각적입니다. 빛이 오기 전 성령께서 수면 위를 운행하신 준비 과정이 있을지라도, 구원을 가져오는 절대적인 번뜩임은 찰나에 일어납니다. 사람은 한순간에 구원받습니다! 사망에서 생명으로 옮겨지는 것은 수년의 작업이 아니라 단번에 이루어집니다. 다메섹으로 가던 사울이 예수님을 만나는 순간, 그는 즉시 겸손한 추종자 바울이 되었습니다!
또한 이 빛은 **거부할 수 없습니다.** 하나님이 말씀하실 때 흑암은 물러가야 합니다. 어떤 이들은 인간의 의지에 전능함을 부여하여 인간을 하나님과 경쟁시키려 합니다. 그러나 성령께서 효과적인 사역을 위해 권능을 발휘하실 때, 누가 그분의 손을 막거나 “무엇을 하느냐”고 말할 수 있겠습니까? “내가 긍휼히 여길 자를 긍휼히 여기고 불쌍히 여길 자를 불쌍히 여기리라” 하신 하나님의 말씀은 오늘날에도 진리입니다.
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#### II. 신적 관찰 (DIVINE OBSERVATION)
4절을 보십시오. “하나님이 그 빛을 보시니.” 하나님은 모든 것을 보시지 않습니까? 그렇습니다. 그러나 이것은 일반적인 통찰이 아니라 특별한 것을 의미합니다. 하나님은 그 빛을 만족스럽게 보셨고 기쁨으로 응시하셨습니다.
오늘 아침 저는 “하나님이 그 빛을 보시니”라는 짧은 구절을 묵상하며 큰 위로를 받았습니다. 저는 이렇게 생각했습니다. “아, 주님은 자기 백성 안에 있는 은혜의 사역을 특별한 시선으로 보시는구나.” 만약 하나님이 당신에게 빛을 주셨다면, 당신이 이제 막 그것을 받았을지라도 하나님은 다른 것들을 보시는 눈과는 전혀 다른 눈으로 그 빛을 보십니다. 주님은 모든 것을 전지하심으로 보시지만, 당신 안의 이 빛은 그분의 자녀로, 소중한 것으로, 그분 자신의 손길이 닿은 작품으로 보십니다.
아버지는 학교의 수많은 소년 무리를 보지만, 다른 아이들과는 전혀 다르게 보는 한 아이가 있습니다! 그 아이가 자기 자녀이기 때문입니다. 형제 여러분, 여러분이 타고난 죄성 때문에 탄식하며 이곳에 왔을지라도, 주님은 당신 안에 있는 선한 것을 보십니다. 그분이 그것을 거기에 두셨기 때문입니다! 사탄은 그 빛을 보고 끄려 하지만, 하나님은 그것을 보시고 보존하십니다. 세상은 그 빛을 보고 미워하며 할 수만 있다면 소멸시키려 합니다. 그러나 하나님은 그 빛을 보시고 세상을 억제하시어 그 생명의 불꽃을 당신에게서 빼앗지 못하게 하십니다. 때로 당신은 스스로 빛을 보지 못할 수도 있습니다. 그러나 하나님이 빛을 보시는 것이 당신이 스스로 보는 것보다 훨씬 낫습니다.
우리의 소망의 기초는 이것입니다. “주께서 자기 백성을 아신다.” 당신은 오늘 낙심과 절망의 골짜기로 내려가고 있을지도 모릅니다. 하지만 당신의 영혼이 그리스도를 향한 갈망을 가지고 있고 여전히 그분을 의지하려 한다면, 하나님은 그 빛을 보십니다! 그리고 그분은 당신과 어둠을 구별하시고 당신을 보존하실 것입니다. 하나님의 눈은 시작하신 은혜의 사역에서 결코 떠나지 않으십니다.
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#### III. 신적 승인 (DIVINE APPROBATION)
“빛이 하나님 보시기에 좋았더라.” 빛은 모든 면에서 선합니다. 자연의 빛도 좋습니다. 복음의 빛은 더욱 좋습니다. 영적인 빛은 우리가 하늘의 본질적인 영광을 보게 하므로 선합니다.
왜 영적인 빛이 선합니까?
1. **그 근원 때문입니다.** 어둠이 조금도 없으신 하나님으로부터 직접 나오기 때문입니다. 주님은 불순물이 섞인 것을 주지 않으십니다.
2. **그 형상 때문입니다.** 빛은 하나님을 닮았습니다. 신자는 하나님의 성품에 참여한 자입니다.
3. **그 효과 때문입니다.** 자신의 위험을 알게 하여 도피하게 하고, 죄의 악함을 알게 하여 회개하게 하며, 구원자의 사랑을 알게 하여 그분을 신뢰하게 하므로 선합니다.
4. **하나님께 영광을 돌리기 때문입니다.** 영적인 빛은 우리를 티끌 속에 낮추지만 하나님을 높입니다. 우리 영혼에 빛이 많을수록 하나님께 대한 감사가 넘칩니다.
하나님이 우리 안에 두신 **새로운 본성(New Nature)**은 결코 죄를 짓지 않습니다. “그리스도인이 죄를 짓지 않는단 말입니까?”라고 묻겠지요. 새로운 본성으로는 죄를 짓지 않습니다. 죄를 짓는 것은 옛 본성인 어둠입니다. 빛은 어둠이 아닙니다. 우리 안에 거하시는 그리스도가 죄를 지으실 수는 없습니다. 요한일서의 말씀처럼 “하나님께로부터 난 자마다 죄를 지을 수 없나니”라는 것은 바로 이 새로운 본성을 뜻합니다. 우리가 짓는 죄는 남아 있는 부패함에서 나옵니다. 이 빛은 선하며, 장차 천국에 들어갈 바로 그 생명입니다. 이 새로운 본성은 하나님처럼 불멸하며 결코 죽지 않습니다.
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#### IV. 신적 분리 (DIVINE SEPARATION)
하나님이 빛을 만드셨음에도 세상에는 여전히 어둠이 있었습니다. 4절을 보십시오. “하나님이 빛과 어둠을 나누사.” 사랑하는 여러분, 당신이 그리스도인이 되는 순간 전쟁이 시작될 것입니다. 당신이 죄인으로 있을 때는 편안했을지 모르나, 그리스도인이 되면 더 이상 (육신적인) 안식은 없습니다. 존 번연은 이렇게 읊었습니다. “그리스도인은 좀처럼 편안할 때가 없네. 한 고통이 지나면 다른 고통이 찾아오네.”
이것은 믿는 자가 '두 가지 원리'를 가진 이중적인 존재이기 때문입니다. 전에는 어둠이라는 한 가지 원리만 있었지만, 이제 빛이 들어왔고 두 원리는 서로 충돌합니다. 하나님은 신자의 영혼 안에서 분리를 일으키십니다. 당신의 내면에서 갈등과 전쟁이 일어나고 있습니까? 시편 기자의 “내가 이같이 우매 무지함으로 주 앞에 짐승이오나 내가 항상 주와 함께 하니 주께서 내 오른손을 붙드셨나이다”라는 고백을 이해하십니까? 어떻게 짐승 같으면서 동시에 하나님 곁에 머물 수 있습니까? 신자만이 이 비밀을 압니다.
로마서 7장에서 바울은 “내 속 곧 내 육신에 선한 것이 거하지 아니하는 줄을 아노니... 내가 원하는 바 선은 행하지 아니하고 도리어 원하지 아니하는 바 악을 행하는도다”라고 탄식했습니다. 이 탄식과 “그러므로 이제 그리스도 예수 안에 있는 자에게는 결코 정죄함이 없나니”라는 선언이 어떻게 공존할 수 있습니까? 성령의 사람은 압니다! 주님은 빛과 어둠을 나누십니다.
내면의 분리가 있는 것처럼, 외적인 분리도 반드시 일어납니다. 빛을 받은 사람은 어둠으로부터 자신을 분리하기 시작합니다. 전에는 세상의 종교나 형식적인 예배에 만족했지만, 이제는 그리스도가 전파되지 않는 곳에는 견딜 수 없습니다. 사교 모임에서도 공허함을 느낍니다. 대신 빛의 자녀들을 찾아가게 됩니다. 우리가 사망에서 생명으로 옮겨간 줄을 아는 것은 형제를 사랑하기 때문입니다. 하나님이 나누신 것을 우리가 결코 합치지 맙시다. 그리스도께서 영문 밖으로 나가 고난을 받으셨듯이, 우리도 세상으로부터 나와 구별되어야 합니다.
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#### V. 신적 명명 (DIVINE NOMINATION)
사물에는 이름이 있어야 합니다. 아담이 동물의 이름을 지었지만, 하나님은 친히 낮과 밤의 이름을 지으셨습니다. 5절을 보십시오. “하나님이 빛을 낮이라 부르시고 어둠을 밤이라 부르시니라.”
사물을 올바른 이름으로 부르는 법을 배우는 것은 은혜의 축복된 사역입니다. 하나님이 빛을 낮이라, 어둠을 밤이라 부르신 것은 이 둘이 분명히 구별되어야 함을 의미합니다. 하나님의 백성 안에 있는 선함은 항상 선한 것이며 결코 악한 것으로 불릴 수 없습니다. 반대로 어둠은 아무리 미화해도 밤일 뿐입니다. 우리는 죄에 대해 부드러운 이름을 붙여 그 사악함을 숨기려 해서는 안 됩니다. 죄는 죄라고 불러야 합니다.
어떤 그리스도인이 술에 취하는 죄를 지었습니다. 그는 회개하며 기도했지만 평안을 얻지 못했습니다. 친구가 물었습니다. “하나님 앞에 죄를 온전히 고백했습니까?” 그는 “주님, 제가 육신의 정욕에 굴복했습니다...”라고 대답했습니다. 친구가 다시 말했습니다. “더 솔직하게 고백하십시오.” 그러자 그는 이렇게 기도했습니다. “주님, 제가 술에 취했습니다(I got drunk).” 그가 어둠을 밤이라고 정직하게 부르자마자 평안이 임했습니다. 주님은 당신의 백성이 어둠을 낮이라고 부르는 것을 듣지 않으십니다.
마지막으로 주목할 점은 “저녁이 되고 아침이 되니 이는 첫째 날이니라”는 구절입니다. 저녁은 어둠이고 아침은 빛입니다. 그런데 이 둘을 합쳐서 빛에게 주어졌던 이름인 '낮(Day, 하루)'이라고 부릅니다. 이것이 무엇을 의미합니까? 사랑하는 여러분, 모든 신자에게는 어둠과 빛이 공존합니다. 그러나 그 안에 죄가 있다고 해서 그를 '죄인'이라 부르지 않습니다. 그는 더 고귀한 성질, 더 큰 비중을 차지하는 성질을 따라 '성도'라고 불립니다! 당신 안에 여전히 어둠이 있을지라도, 당신은 곧 완전해질 그 모습에 따라 '빛의 자녀'라 불리는 것입니다.
저녁이 먼저 나옵니다. 우리는 본래 어둠 속에 있었고, 종종 “하나님이여 불쌍히 여겨 주옵소서, 나는 죄인이로소이다”라고 고백하며 하나님께 나아갑니다. 그러나 아침이 찾아옵니다. 당신의 이름은 저녁이 아니라 아침에서 따온 것입니다! 당신 안에 여전히 어둠이 있을지라도, 하나님 보시기에 지배적인 특징, 그리고 언젠가 유일하게 남게 될 원리(빛)를 따라 당신을 부르시는 것입니다.
당신의 새로운 본성은 결코 죽지 않을 것입니다. 그 빛은 새벽의 미명으로부터 정오의 광명으로 발전할 것이며, “다시는 네 해가 지지 아니하며 네 달이 물러가지 아니할 것은 여호와가 네 영원한 빛이 되고 네 슬픔의 날이 끝날 것임이라”는 약속대로 영원한 영광의 충만함 속에 거하게 될 것입니다.
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*번역 제공: AI 언어 모델 (Charles Spurgeon 설교 전집 참고)*
