A Call to the Light

Power of the cross. I can't think of a better song that fits where we've been in John chapter 12. I've been learning so much about the cross. It's right around the corner for Christ and his ministry. I'm looking forward to other things that we're going to learn out of this chapter as well. I'll go ahead and take your Bible and turn with me to John chapter 12. John chapter 12 will be in verses 35 through 43. Now John chapter 12 is a fantastic chapter in the book of John, the Gospel of John. It's got lots of necessary content and to be honest with you, it's fast becoming one of my favorite chapters out of the Gospel of John.

Here in this chapter, Jesus has been declaring for the very first time that his hour has come. I can't say that enough. I know several times I've asked you to note that verse, verse 23. Jesus is stepping up, stepping out in the public for the very first time and he is saying that my hour has come. Of course, this is speaking of the cross. Here we have the last of Jesus' public teaching ministry because after chapter 12, he really retreats from public life and he begins to pour into the lives of those that are closest to him.

Also here in chapter 12, Jesus communicates so much truth concerning the cross, great theological truths about the cross that are very necessary. In this teaching, we will see and have been seeing what true belief, true conversion truly is. Now we've just finished up a two-part message titled "The Cross Around the Corner." It was a part one and a part two. We covered verses 27 through 34. If you've not gotten those messages, I challenge you to go to the church website and listen to them because really all of these messages go together. I look forward to seeing how they all tie together in our minds and in our hearts.

Now this morning, we are still in this same setting. There is a crowd that's been following Jesus. There's some Bible writers and commentators that debate as to who was listening to this message from Christ. Verse 20 tells us that there was a group of Greeks. These would have been proselytes to Judaism. They had come to the Passover and they came seeking Jesus there in verse 20. Other commentators believe that this was the audience here, but many commentators believe that there could have been others from the Passover there in Jerusalem who had come just like the Greeks to speak and listen to Jesus.

I think that we will see evidence that there were others when we get to the end of the verses, verse 42. But this is the last time that we will see the crowds like this for quite a while. Like I said earlier, Jesus will retreat from public life until we see Him come to the cross. So we see this is a very, very large turning point in Jesus' earthly ministry, chapter 12. Now this morning, we will see that Jesus has what we would call an evangelistic invitation. He has an evangelistic invitation. He had been preaching and He had been teaching to these crowds on the cross, on His death, and all that that meant.

He is and was that great substitutionary sacrifice, and we've learned that He has been teaching that to the crowds. Now in these verses, we will see that He boldly and directly invites those who were listening to believe in Him. Now some of you here today might be saying Christ giving an invitation. Yes, that is the case. We will see that five times in verses 35 and 36, He uses the noun form of the word "believe." Now what's the significance? This is the invitation. He is calling these two "believe." This invitation is obvious, and we will see that not everyone in the crowds reacts the same way.

Now the title of the message is called "A Call to the Light." A call to the light. We will divide verses 35 through 43. We have three truths that we're going to examine. A call to believe in the light, verses 35 and 36. A rejection of the light, verses 37 through 41. And then a belief by some in the light, verses 42 through 43. Let's read these verses together starting in verse 35. And we'll go on down to verse 43. "Now Jesus therefore said to them, 'For a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you.

He who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.'" Verse 36, "While you have the light, believe in the light in order that you may become sons of the light." These things Jesus spoke, "And he departed and hid himself from them." There's that turning point from public life to private life. But verse 37, "But though he had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in him that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke. Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Verse 39, "For this cause they could not believe.

For Isaiah said again, 'He has blinded their eyes, and He has hardened their hearts. Least they see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be converted, and I heal them.'" These things Isaiah said, because he saw his glory and he spoke to him. "Nevertheless, meaning even of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him. Least they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." Now you see how we're going to divide these verses?

We do encourage you to discipline yourself to take notes because we want you to study and learn all that the Lord is going to give us this morning. So let's look at our first main truth. We see a call to believe in the light. Number one, a call to believe in the light. Here in these verses, verses 35 and 36, we see Jesus use familiar language in calling himself the light. We would remember that John has used this language in this Gospel before, all the way back in the beginning of our study in Chapter 1. In Chapter 1, verse 5, we learned that darkness could not conquer the light, and the light there in Chapter 1 is none other than Jesus.

Then in Chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus explicitly claimed to be the light of the world. This emphasis on being the light of the world is so important to Jesus that he uses the noun form of this word five times in the verses. Go back and look at them. Jesus therefore said to them for a little while longer, "The light is among you. Walk while you have the light that darkness may not overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light in order that you may become sons of the light." So Christ has established himself as the light, and this emphasis needs to be understood.

Now with that in our minds, let's look at this call to believe in the light. Four observations I want to make here. First notice, Christ's time is short. Christ's time is short. All throughout these verses, Jesus is expressing the brevity of his presence. He knows that his time on earth is short. He had used language like this in previous chapters. In Chapter 7, verse 33, Chapter 13, verse 33, and in Chapter 16, verse 16, Jesus keeps saying, "My time with you is short." So Christ's time is short. Second notice, Christ's call is now. Christ's call is now. What does he say?

"Walk while you have the light." Then in verse 36, "While you have the light, believe in the light." Here the language communicates that Jesus is calling these people to true salvation, which can only be found in him. And this invitation needs to be seen in light of two facts. Now you've got to know what we've been looking at in Chapter 12 to understand this. But first, these crowds have been welcoming Jesus. Remember they welcomed Jesus at the Passover. Remember what they did at the Passover? They did welcome him almost as a triumphal warrior. They waved that prom branch. That was a symbol of victory in their day.

And they shouted, "Hosanna!" And they quoted Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. But we have to question whether or not they knew exactly what they were doing. Most Bible commentators believe that they did not know what they were doing. But they were welcoming Jesus as the Passover. But we see the majority of those in the crowds had it in their minds that the Messiah would be an earthly physical Messiah, not a suffering Messiah. Then second, their rejection of his previous teaching on the cross. In verse 27 to 34, Jesus had emphatically taught that the Messiah had come to suffer and die. But they had rejected this Messiah.

So what do we see? Here, the language communicates that Jesus is calling these people to salvation in light of how they have reacted to all that He has said and done. Jesus is pushing aside their expectation of the Messiah with His message of the cross. And He is inviting them to receive Him as the suffering Savior who would die as that substitute. So this call here is now. Then third, notice Christ's call is decisive. Christ's call is decisive. We need to look at verse 36 here. What does He say to them?

"While you have the light, believe in the light in order that you may become sons of the light." Now there are two words here in verse 36 which communicate the decisive manner in which Jesus called these listeners to become true disciples. And understanding these two words is key. First, this word believe. Go back to the verse. "While you have the light, believe in the light." Now the construction of this word is in what's called the present tense which means this is a continuous belief. One of the greatest examples of this continuous belief is in Peter's testimony in John chapter 6 when all of the crowds had forsaken Christ.

There was that great two day event and Jesus had preached the gospel and people after people, group after group left and Jesus looked to the disciples and He says, "Are you going to leave Me too?" But in chapter 6 verse 69, Peter said, "We have believed yesterday. We believe now and we will continue to believe tomorrow." Because what he said is exactly what is being communicated here in chapter 12. He said, "We believe yesterday, we believe now and we believe tomorrow." Then the second word is this word become. Go back to the verse.

"While you have the light, believe in the light in order that you may become sons of the light." The King James reads that, "Ye may be the children of light." Now the construction of this word communicates a once and for all becoming. Here with this word, Jesus is inviting them to once and for all become a son of the light. Jesus is saying that after they decisively become children of the light, then they can walk in the light. And that needs to be understood. This becoming right here is salvation. This is a decisive decision. While you have the light, believe in the light in order that you may become sons of God or sons of the light.

So we see here that this becoming is salvation and this walking is what we call sanctification. So Christ's call is decisive. And then fourth notice, Christ reveals the consequences of rejection. For a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light. The darkness may not overcome you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. So we see here that Christ is teaching them that when he is gone, because remember, his stay with them is short, they will be enveloped in darkness. Jesus is teaching that if they continue to reject him, that his time of grace will be removed. And then they will incur judgment.

Now this is taught all throughout the Old Testament and all throughout the New Testament, especially in Paul's teaching. So in these verses, we see Jesus issue a call to true salvation. And he uses light and darkness to illustrate what salvation should look like. Now Jesus did something similar to this back in chapter 5 verse 24 of John's Gospel.

When he used death and life, verse 24 reads, and this is Jesus speaking, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me as eternal life, he does not come into judgment but has passed from death unto life." So this is a decisive one-time event which has lasting consequences. Now notice the positive consequences. For those who believe, they enter a state of belief and it continues. What did Peter say? "I believed yesterday when I was converted. I believed today and I will continue to believe." That is the positive consequences of becoming a child of the light. But notice the consequences that are negative.

And that is for those who do not believe, they reject and they do not believe, and we see them all throughout John's Gospel. Now I want to take some time here to make some specific application. And I really want you to pay attention to how this speaks to meaning here today. First of all, I want to issue a warning to some of you. And that warning is, the time is short. You do not know how long you have to hear the Gospel. Do not fool yourself and procrastinate and believe that you will always have the Gospel witness before you. You do not know what tomorrow holds. You do not know what your life holds.

You do not know where you will be tomorrow. Meaning of these Jews, many of these Greeks no doubt thought that they could hear Jesus tomorrow. But verse 36 says that he withdrew. I'm thinking about a young man who was attending here at one time. I begin to question his conversion. I really didn't have much of a conversion. Fairly good kid. If I can use that language. But not converted. Raised in a home, taught the Bible, brought him to church. He began to question with his parents about who he was spiritually and what he was spiritually. But lo and behold, a set of circumstances took him out of his church.

And I'm sad to say he is in a church today where he does not hear the Gospel. He does not hear preaching like this. What am I trying to show you? I'm not trying to scare you. But Chris is trying to help you be sober. Because there are some of you, you're praying about who you are. You're praying about the validity of your faith. Some of you are really realizing you're not biblically converted. And I want to warn you, do not put off being sober about diligently seeking to know who you truly are. Because tomorrow you might not have what you have today. I want to also give you an explanation. For this explanation can be a correction.

There are a lot of people that have faulty understanding about conversion. A lot of people confuse sanctification with conversion. Now sanctification is a process. Conversion is a historical event. That is exactly what's communicated in verse 36. While you have the light, believe in the light. In order that you may become. That is a decisive event. The construction of the language communicates that. You cannot deny it. You have to be a faulty student of the Word of God to communicate anything but a decisive particular time when one is converted. Now there are people who are converted and they have a hard time articulating what went on.

Especially those who are unchurched. I've listened to people's testimonies and read of testimonies where people were converted out of a purely pagan background. And the leaders of the church questioned the validity of their conversion because they just didn't know how to explain it. But over time as they understood what the Word of God said, they were able to look back and say, "That's what happened to me. That's what took place in my life." There's an error there, out there today. A lot of people communicate it like this.

"Well I really don't know when I was converted, but I just have fruit in my life." That's contradictory to what Jesus is teaching right here in this verse. That's contradictory to what Jesus taught in John chapter 5 verse 24. Because when someone goes from death to life, they will know it. It is a decisive time in their life to see for some of you it explains who you are. But for some of you it corrects the erroneous teaching that you've heard. Now I'm not saying you've got to have a conversion like mine. No. Whether you're nine or nineteen or ninety-nine, you will go from darkness to light. From death to life, you will become a child of God.

You will not assimilate. And then the next thing in application I want to say is I want to make a plea. Brother Chris is making a plea to you. Don't procrastinate. Don't procrastinate. Pray. Diligently seek the Lord. Counsel with me and Brother Keith will pray with you. Seek to be found if you really believe that you're lost. Because listen, there comes a time when those who reject Christ are enveloped in darkness. I've known people who are in the position that some of you are in right now. And over a period of time, after you begin to see what happens, they live a life of darkness. I can't understand it fully nor can I explain it fully.

But those who reject and those who procrastinate and those who put it off will find themselves being enveloped in darkness. So we see number one, a call to believe the light. Let's move on. Let's notice truth number two. We have rejection of the light. But before we get into this rejection, we need to note that there is a change. And I've already mentioned it in verse 36. What do we see? These things Jesus spoke and He departed and He hid Himself from them. Here we see that Jesus hid Himself from the people. This tells us two pieces of information. First, the people were still seeking Him. They've been seeking all along.

This had been the case since verse 20 when those Greeks sought Him out as well as other places throughout the Gospel. But second, He would not let Himself be arrested until the time had come. There were many times when the authorities sought to kill and arrest Jesus. And of course, we do know that His arrest and His death is less than a week away. But what do we see here? Things change in verse 36. But notice truth number two, a rejection of the light. Let's look at verse 37.

"Though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him," verse 38, "that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which He spoke. The Lord who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they could not believe. For Isaiah said again, 'He has blinded their eyes, and He has hardened their hearts. Least they see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted.' And I heal them." Verse 41, "These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory and He spoke of Him." That's verse 41.

Now, here we see some very serious verses which communicate some very serious truth. Now, honestly, there is much debate here, there's much misunderstanding, and there's many, many misapplications of these verses. We will see that these verses must be understood, and they must be taught in balance. And that balance is, there are two paradoxical or seeming contradictory truths here. And I will use a simple, yet good illustration to help us, help keep us from falling into error when we deal with these verses. Let's continue by dividing them. Let's notice three observations. First, the signs to the light. The signs to the light.

Go back to verse 37. "But though He had performed so many signs before them." Now, those of us who have been in this study since the beginning, we are familiar with this word, signs. John has used this word many times in his gospel. The synoptic gospels use the word miracles, but John likes this word sign in describing the miracles that Jesus performed. This is because the sign or the miracle was to direct people's attention to Jesus, not to the miracle itself. You see? The sign, the miracle, was to point people to Christ. Now, go back to the verse and notice this word meaning, verse 37.

"But though He had performed so many signs before them." Now, in the original, this word meaning is used for quality as well as quantity. So what can be seen here? John is saying that Jesus performed many signs and they were great signs. Some translations use that word great. John is saying that they were quality, which was all the more reason to believe as a result of those signs. There were many signs and there were many quality signs. And look, those many signs, those quality signs pointed to a quality Messiah because He was deity, God in the flesh. So that's another layer.

These signs, these many signs, these quality good signs, these great signs were meant to point to Jesus. And second, notice, "Those who hardened their own hearts." Verse 37, "Yet," this is the second portion of the verse, "they were not believing in Him that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which He spoke. Lord, who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Now, these are those who hardened their own hearts. Here we see these Jews, they reject Christ. They exercise their will by rejecting Christ, even though such a great number of great signs were performed before them.

But this was not outside of the knowledge of God. It was not as if this snuck up on God. This was a fulfillment of God's Old Testament prophecy. Again, this did not sneak up by God on accident, therefore He had to write these Old Testament passages. This was a fulfillment of God's Word and God's purposes. This was a part of His sovereign plan. So they exercised their will and they hardened their own hearts. Then third, notice, "Those whose hearts were hardened." Those whose hearts were hardened. Look at verse 39, "For this cause they could not believe. For Isaiah said again, 'He has blinded their eyes and He has hardened their heart.

These they see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them.'" Here we see that God Himself has blinded their eyes. That God Himself has hardened their hearts. So they could not be converted. Now this is right where people get confused. This is where a lot of people sometimes will ignore these verses or they will try to explain them away out of fear. But we cannot make this tragic error. What we have here is the judgment of God on a rebellious people. Remember who these Jews were. They were representative of the nation of Israel and they had been rejecting and rejecting and rejecting God for generations.

John MacArthur helps us here, this is a quotation that really summarizes this. And I quote, "Israel's rejection of Jesus Christ was the culmination of years of rebellion, misused privileges and forsaking the divine truth. The terrible result was that when the truth came in the person of Jesus Christ, many could not believe." This is the judgment of God on a continuously rebellious people. So what do we see here? We have the paradoxical truths of man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. Not only are these truths seen here, but we have them working out parallel to one another.

We see this taught beautifully in the life of Pharaoh all the way back when God was calling his people out of Egyptian captivity. We see man's responsibility and then we see God's sovereignty working in Pharaoh's life without contradiction, working parallel to one another. In Exodus chapter 4, chapter 7, chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10, chapter 11, chapter 13 and 14, we see Pharaoh harden his own heart ten times and then we see God harden his heart ten times. Again, what do we see? God hardens their heart because of judgment. Again, I give you another quotation from another Bible commentator that helps us here. His name is D.A. Carson.

And I quote, "God's judicial hardening is not presented as a capricious manipulation of an arbitrary potentate, cursing morally neutral or even morally pure beings, but a holy condemnation of a guilty people who he condemned to do and to be what they themselves have chosen." So what do we see? God is judging these people because of their rebellion. Now an application, I want to give you a warning and I want to give you a danger. First the warning. We cannot misunderstand God's character. God is not fickle. God is not manipulative. God is not high handed. He is not a high handed power, just zapping and unsuspecting people here.

God is a just judge who is exercising a patient, just judgment on a people who were deserving of a holy and righteous judgment. In summary, He is good and they are guilty. And then here is the danger. We cannot move off of the train tracks. I told you I would give you a good example. And the train tracks are this. In one rail we have man's responsibility and in the other rail we have God's sovereignty. And these tracks are running parallel. And we cannot violate one at the expense of the other. Now when we study the scripture, sometimes one of these tracks is hidden but we still see the other.

Sometimes we see on the surface God's sovereignty. Man's responsibility seems hidden. And then sometimes we see man's responsibility and God's sovereignty seems hidden. But we cannot manipulate these two. They run parallel to one another. And when you alter them in any way, what happens? The train comes off the track. Bad doctrine. And then we get into trouble. I give you an example here of how these two run parallel to each other. That is in the issue, the subject of conversion. Now how was the man converted? I'll read you some passages and you see if you can tell me where these passages fit.

John chapter 6 verse 44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." John 12 verse 32, Jesus says, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself." Now what track is that? That's the sovereignty of God in the conversion of man. No man can come to the Father unless God works. No man can seek God. No man can cry out. No man can pray to receive Christ unless God first sovereignly and by an act of His own will out of His good grace and mercy works. That is the track of the sovereignty of God. So then Paul in Romans 10 verse 9 through 10, what does he say?

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Verse 10, "For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." And then Romans 10, 13, "For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved." That's an Old Testament passage out of the book of Job. Now what are those two verses? What side of the track are they on? That's man's responsibility. And all of these are accurate. And all of these are true. And they run parallel with one another. So what am I trying to illustrate and show you?

All through the Scriptures we have the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of men. And right here with these U's we have both of the train tracks on the surface. They rejected Jesus. They rejected Jesus. They rejected Jesus. The signs were there, great signs, wonderful signs, many signs pointing to His deity. They rejected Jesus. They rejected Jesus. And they were just like their forefathers. And ultimately God judges them. In essence God is saying this, "Your forefathers rejected me and you're rejecting me and now I will reject you by judging you." So we need not be afraid of these verses. We need to understand these verses.

Truth number three, I want us to see a belief by some in the light. Verse 42, "Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him. At least they should be put out of the synagogue for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." So we see the belief of some in the light. Now in the midst of this difficult gospel, remember how difficult this gospel has been all along? Jesus is saying He's going to die. He's going to go to the cross. And this judgment of God that we see on those who would not believe they were stiff-necked and they were hard-hearted.

Jesus is saying He's going to die. They're saying, "No, we want an earthly Messiah." And He judges them. But in the midst of this difficult gospel, some did believe. All the translations use this word "believe." And the Bible commentators believe that this points to true converts. And so we see that there was a harvest of true believers, but notice where? From the actual rulers and the religious leaders. The vast majority rejected Him, but there were some who did receive. Now in the gospels we have the names of only two. First there's Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus in John 3 at night.

We do not have His actual conversion experience, but He is identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and identified with the believers. This is a religious leader who has come to faith in Christ. And then there's Joseph of Arimathea. He was the one who cared for Jesus' body and buried His body. And even though we only know of two individuals, John tells us that there were many who did believe. Now in application we must see that we cannot make the gospel message easier, nor can we make it harder. We must understand the gospel according to the Word of God.

We must study faithfully and thoroughly the Word of God so as to present the accurate gospel according to the eternal, wonderful Word of God. And this is a warning. We need to be vigilant every day we are in the life of the church, in our homes, and as we relate to individuals. And that warning here is to stay true and accurate to the gospel message. If man has a nature, his nature is to make the gospel easier. If man has a nature, his nature is to make the narrow road a little wider. If man has a desire, it is to make the gate a little easier, but we cannot do that. We see this in the life of many churches. We see that around us.

Lots of children's ministry material. Lots of vacation Bible school will have the simple ABCs. I listen to some of our ladies. My wife was one of them this week, talk about how much VBS material pushes and pushes and pushes to evangelize children. Now listen here, you pastor, I believe a child can be converted, but a child is converted the same way an adult is converted. We're not going to change the message. We're not going to give them three boxes to check. We're not going to ask them three questions, and if they nod their head, we're going to issue them into the Bible street. No, that is changing the gospel.

That is changing conversion, and we reject that. For adults, we've seen people who are victims of decisionism, victims of just making decisions. Now I know I've cut against the grain of a lot of what goes on in the life of the church. I was talking to a leader in a church this week, and he was talking about how in his church there are thousands on their church row, but only about 200 come. And I believe all made decisions for Christ. Decisions don't work, people. It's only when someone passes from death to life, from darkness to light, then they truly become a child of God.

Our roles and our communities and our families are riddled with people who've made decisions. Now what am I trying to show you? We don't have to change the gospel. Just preach it. Prove the power of the gospel to change lives, and lo and behold, when you least expect it, you look up and there are some who will believe. There are some that will come to faith in Christ because what? It is His gospel, it is His conversion, and it is His work. Jesus didn't alter the gospel.

As I move to the conclusion, I'll remind you of the title of the message, "A Call to the Light." And here we see Jesus inviting those within the crowd to come to true salvation. Today this morning, I want to do the same as Jesus did on that day. I want to invite you to come to Christ, but on His terms. That's why it's so radically important that you get every message, every verse, every paragraph, everything that we look at in the preaching and the teaching ministry, because we must see what God is unfolding for us. And so I invite you to come to Christ, but on His terms, not on mine.

God by the power and the work of the Holy Spirit is calling you. That's the sovereign work of God. If He is reaching into your life and He is drawing you, I implore you to trust in Him and believe in Christ. Based on what Paul taught us in Romans, you'll be saved. But I want to issue you a couple of warnings here. Quit trying to make Jesus and salvation be something that you've created. Many times people are hindered, they're hindered in their coming to Christ because they're trying to make Jesus, they're trying to make salvation be something they created. Is it not what the Jews did? They misquoted Scriptures.

They stood up and said, "Well, we've always believed this. All they were doing was trying to make Jesus and salvation be something different." And I see people do that sometimes today. They try to make salvation, they try to make Jesus be something that they have created. Another warning is, see, conversion is a one-time event. It's a historical event, people. Listen, it should be the high point of your life. Never get over it. Never get over it. Whether you're nine, 29, 39, 59, it does not matter.

When God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has come to you and revealed to you who you are and revealed to you the beauty of Christ and salvation and you go from darkness to light, you go from death to life, listen, that is a one-time event that will mark the rest of your life and you will be in a continuous state of belief. And then the other warning is don't harden your heart. But there's something else with that warning. Don't harden your heart because your hardening of your heart could affect the one sitting next to you. Don't harden your heart.

Your spouse could be dealing with a conversion and you could be hardening your heart, thus affecting the condition of your spouse's heart. So I say come. Come to the light and be converted. Find the peace that passes all understanding. Quit groping in darkness. Quit groping in your religion. Quit groping as a slave to sin and come to the light and be set free and go from darkness to light and have a story and a testimony. And therefore your life will bring Christ glory. Let's pray.