Word of Salvation – Vol.44 No.1 – January 1999
A Certain Light of Nature
Sermon by Rev D Baird on Proverbs 20:27 & Romans 2:19-14
Scripture Readings: Luke 7:36-50; Romans 2:12-16, 3:21-26
with Canons of Dort 3/4, Art 4
Suggested Hymns:
BoW 148; R 323; BoW 195; 497; 125; 159
Congregation,
There’s some very interesting people around, aren’t there? I realise some people are very boring and horrible. But there are many others who are quite interesting. The sort of people you don’t mind having as friends. When you meet these people at someone’s place, you feel you could talk with them all night. Interesting people, and pleasant. Such people make good members of any community.
But quite often, as you get to know these sort of people, you discover something else about them. And it comes as a big disappointment – a real let down. These nice people have no real interest in the Lord! If you try to encourage some interest, they don’t want it – they are perfectly happy as they are.
And, as I said, that’s a real let down. Actually, worse than that – it’s a puzzle. How can people be so nice when they are not Christians? How can anyone, on the one hand, be so pleasant; and yet on the other hand, not want to know God? And it’s not as if there’s just one or two of these people around – there’s a lot of them. It’s a puzzle!
I mean, it’s sinful that these people don’t seek the Lord – the Lord is God, he should be worshipped. And yet they are so good in other ways. How can good people be so sinful? How can sinful people be so good? That’s the puzzle.
ln exploring this puzzle l want to start with a proverb. Proverbs 20:27. However, I want to stick to the older reading which we have at the bottom of the page in the NlV. To me, it makes the point more clearly.
“The Spirit of man is the Lord’s lamp; it searches out his inmost being.”
So let’s first hear what God’s Word is saying here.
1. THE LORD’S LAMP.
We need to imagine a house without electricity. To see anything you need a lamp: Imagine a simple lamp burning oil through a wick. As you enter a room you hold up the lamp to see where you are going. There’s the chair, there’s the bed. What’s that over there? Someone’s left their dirty clothes in a heap on the floor. Ugh! And what’s that on the wall – it’s a spider!
Well, just like that – just like someone entering a dark room with a lamp, THE LORD enters our lives with his tamp. And maybe you’re thinking, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” No, that’s not it. Lt’s not talking about God’s Word. Lt says, “The Spirit of man is the Lord’s lamp.”
Yes, the Lord has a lamp alright, which he holds up in the dark comers of our hearts and lives, and that lamp is the spirit of man himself. And we are not talking here only of Christians. We’re talking about all humans – the whole human race. Even though mankind has fallen into sin, God has left a lamp there – the spirit of man. And that spirit within searches out our inmost being.
As human beings we are self-conscious, aren’t we? We are aware of ourselves and conscious of ourselves. And we are not just aware that we exist and are alive, we have a conscience within us which lets us know when we do right or do wrong. This conscience, this inner spirit, probes our inmost being, making us reflect on what we are doing and why we are doing it.
It’s like a lamp shining into the dark comers. This is not the Holy Spirit of God – no, this is the spirit of man, part of us, which God has created in in us to make us aware within us what is right and wrong. Even though we are fallen, this lamp is still there.
2. THIS LIGHT UNABLE TO SAVE.
The apostle describes this further in Romans chapter 2. He speaks of “their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them” (2:15). He’s talking about the Gentiles; those who are not Jews; those who did not have the Bible. Within them, their conscience monitors what they do – nudging them about right and wrong. And yet, they are not saved. “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin” (3:9).
ln our community, too, there are increasing numbers of people who know less and less about the Bible. But they still have this lamp of the Lord within them. These friends who are not seeking God can still be very pleasant and decent people. They are sinfully ignoring God and are not Christians, and yet, they are good people.
This is why our Confession talks about “The inadequacy of the Light of Nature” (Canons of Dort 3/4.4). Yes, there is “a certain light of nature remaining in man after the fall”. But it is not enough to bring anyone to salvation. Man “retains some notions about God, natural things, and the difference between what is moral and immoral, and demonstrates a certain eagerness for virtue and for good outward behaviour.” BUT, this light of nature does NOT enable man to come to a saving knowledge of God or conversion to him. What the light of nature cannot do God accomplishes by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So you have these two things together. You have this light of nature, this spirit in man, this conscience, prompting him to do good. But also humans are all under sin, dead in their sins. That’s obvious anyway. They have little desire for God and are not turning to his Christ. Yes, they have the light of nature, but they have total inability to return to God.
3. GOOD AND BAD PEOPLE.
ln the gospels there’s a story about a woman, who had lived a sinful life, pouring perfume on Jesus’ feet. “As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them” (Luke 7:39).
The host thought it a bit scandalous, but Jesus said, “l tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47). Think of that woman weeping with her tears dropping onto Jesus’ feet and then wiping them off with her hair. She knows she’s a sinner, she’s a pro. She sees that Jesus alone can save her. She can’t be saved by the light of nature, or by keeping the law. Jesus must simply say, “Your sins are forgiven.”
But what about the kind of friends we usually have? Those pleasant and interesting people l spoke about earlier. Usually they’re not weeping over their sins. Usually they feel they are good people. Their conscience tells them what’s right and wrong and they try to do what’s right. And they succeed in many ways, and they’re fine. Do they feel unwilling or unable to tum to God? No! They think they can come to God whenever they feel like it – they’re good people. Actually, their goodness is fooling them. They have no idea they are dead in their sins. They are slaves to sin and unable to change – but their very sin makes them blind to it.
The only solution is that they hear the gospel – that they hear the same gospel Peter preached at Pentecost – that they see that good people who ignore the Christ have committed a terrible sin against God. They have ignored God’s one and only Saviour – and declined to surrender to him as Lord. Actually they have also sinned against their own conscience. They haven’t kept to their own standard. But, even worse, they have ignored the Christ!
We are talking here about other people; because we are looking at this puzzle of how people who are not Christians can be so good. But we should also think about ourselves. Because churches are places which attract people who think they are good. People who are working hard at being good may like going to church – it makes them feel better. Their conscience is working well, they’re trying to be good, and they’re doing OK.
So here in church especially we should remember that being a Christian is not just about having a conscience and trying to be good. That will not save us. In fact, thinking you are good enough when only Jesus is good enough, is a terrible affront to him. To be a Christian you must put your hope in Jesus alone. Like that woman who wept because there was Jesus, her only hope.
Whether we are a pro off the street, or a respectable citizen, it’s all the same in the end: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23-24).
Conclusion
Let’s draw all this together.
We have seen from Proverbs that the spirit of man is the Lord’s lamp, which probes man’s inmost being. The Apostle Paul fills that out in Romans 2. But this does not mean man can save himself. ln fact, in Romans 3 Paul concludes that Gentiles without the law, and Jews with the law, are all under sin. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace in Christ.
There’s a good side and a bad side to this. The good side is: our non-Christian friends do have this light of nature within them. They do have an awareness of God that you can appeal to. They do have a sense of right and wrong which you can tap into. Even with friends who don’t SEEM to have any interest in God there ARE these points of contact which we can make use of.
The bad side is: this light of nature will not save them. Making use of this light of nature we should lead into the gospel which alone can save. Good people must be challenged in the end: what are you doing with the Lord Jesus Christ? GOD has declared him Lord by raising him from the dead, but you are ignoring him. That is a terrible sin for which you will be judged. You must ask him to forgive you.
And, of course, we here need to be convinced about this for ourselves. When we know Christ, we should be amazed that we do. Whether in the past we were good people or bad people, in ourselves we are neither willing nor able to return to God. The Lord alone has saved us though the power of the gospel. That he alone has done this is to his praise! It also makes us wonderfully secure!
Amen.