John 3:19, commentary and pictures

This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil, leaving unbelief without excuse in the face of offered salvation. The light come into the world is Christ Himself, purity itself, in whom is life and whose life is the light of men, apart from whom there is no light. Condemnation rests on deliberate choice and not on misfortune or circumstance, for people condemn themselves by their response to Christ, which reveals which side they stand on. Guilt and responsibility are proportionate to light and knowledge, so the more light received the greater the condemnation in rejecting it, while where light has not come there is no sin of rejecting it. He who believes is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, and coming to the light means humble repentance and walking in it as Christ is in the light.

Context with Nicodemus

This condemnation lies in rejecting light that has entered the world by loving darkness instead because deeds are evil. It was spoken to Nicodemus in teaching about the new birth by water and the Spirit, where the Son of man lifted up as Moses lifted the serpent gives everlasting life to everyone who believes. God gave His only Son from love not to condemn the world but to save it through Him, so belief leaves a person uncondemned and unbelief leaves a person condemned already for not believing in the only Son. Everyone practicing evil hates the light and refuses to come to it so acts are not exposed, reproved and corrected, while the one practicing truth comes to the light so it is seen that works are done in God. It belongs to the chapter to be read carefully by anyone who has not been born again, for those who have light are to walk in the light as Christ is in the light.

That vital teaching about the way of life began to lead Nicodemus from cautious questioning to faith, which he later held firmly even under persecution. Though outwardly correct and respectable in moral character he still needed to humble himself before God, renounce his own righteousness, and depend wholly on Christ, whose righteousness is received by faith. Entering life requires the same surrender from the morally upright as from the worst sinner. He received the lesson, became a true believer, and later spoke against the Sanhedrin's effort to put Jesus to death.

What Jesus gave to Nicodemus in their secret interview is almost the counterpart of John the Baptist's testimony that Jesus is the Promised One of Israel from above and above all. The two testimonies correspond because the same Spirit controlled Jesus and John, both lives were given to the same reformatory work, and both cleared the way for the ministry of Christ. Christ spoke this condemnation to Nicodemus as new light to bring him into contact with all light rather than leave him where doubt would be strengthened, giving practical points that what was needed was not learning or controversy but truth and a new heart. Those awakened and convicted yet held back by influences like Nicodemus resist because reasoning about differences with an unchanged heart brings no saving result and only strengthens resistance. Workers for God must follow the same method by keeping to the affirmative and refusing to be drawn into controversy over false theories, presenting truth that exposes wrongdoing and draws those who practice truth to come to the light where their deeds are shown to be done in God.

Light and Darkness Defined

The light come into the world is Christ Himself, purity itself, in whom is life and whose life is the light of men shining in darkness. In Him is no darkness at all, and He could not help being bright and shining because His very work was to shine. He came to a world marred with the curse and filled with deformity and impurity not to condemn it but that through Him it might be saved, to heal human imperfections and to seek and save the lost. He longs to flood the soul with the bright beams of His righteousness and to deliver from the power of evil as Burden-bearer, and to those who receive Him He is everything, their Comforter, safety and healthfulness, for apart from Him there is no light at all and light means revelation shining amid moral darkness.

The light is also the word of God and the truths of God's Word standing out plainly revealed, shining clearly from the written word, which believed and obeyed transforms life and character, strengthens intellect, ennobles affections and enlightens understanding. It is the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness brought by the invitation and conviction of the Spirit of truth. Together with John 1, John 3 defines true higher education, which is the only education of saving value, to be read verse by verse thoughtfully and prayerfully, whose full import cannot be understood until a person is born of water and of the Spirit but only through sanctification of the Spirit of God, requiring diligent study with the mind as a precious gift to be fully used.

That light discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart and reveals sin and the true condition of people, exposing and reproving the evil hidden in darkness. It tests works and makes clear the difference between those who serve God and those who serve the world even when they look alike outwardly, for people avoid it lest their works be exposed as not done in God. When Christ's purity shines, even those who consider their lives upright see their selfish motives, hostility toward God, impure desires and disloyalty to His law, showing that outward moral respectability and self-complacency cannot make a person clean. The purity and holiness of Christ and His faithful followers thus rebukes the selfishness and corruption of those who follow sin, and a life changed by Christ does not hate the light for that revealing but accepts it and rejoices in it, with Christlike words, spirit and actions testifying that God sent His Son.

Loving darkness rather than light is refusing to respond to that invitation, refusing to humble the heart before God, bracing against conviction, and refusing to open the windows of the soul and become doers of His Word. It is regarding one's own way and judgment as able to guide safely in self-sufficiency and self-confidence, not even wanting the Word presented and refusing to accept anything that does not harmonize with one's own opinions, treating one's own ideas as light to guide thoughts, decisions and counsel while rejecting evidence God has given. Cherished iniquity clouds spiritual sight so that truth appears dark and perverted and is neither valued nor diligently sought. Those who so choose enclose their souls in darkness and lose its bright beams, yet their choice does not dim or eclipse the light itself, whose glory still shines forth to others.

Nature of Condemnation

Condemnation is that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. The surrounding promise assures that whoever believes in Christ may not perish but have everlasting life, so unbelief is left without excuse in the face of God's word. They reject the offered salvation and refuse God's gift of His only begotten Son, and are without excuse. In the final judgment people will be judged according to their deeds, and those who reject that gift have no excuse. The darkness is not a lack of light, for truth has shone, but people refuse it and may find fault with the message rather than receive it.

Condemnation rests on deliberate choice, not on misfortune, circumstances, education, or temperament. Sin is guilt, and the light exposes sin, while those who cherish practices condemned by God oppose the truth rather than face that exposure. People condemn themselves by their response to Christ, which reveals which side they stand on and passes judgment on themselves. His call to self-surrender and fellowship in suffering draws those who listen to the Holy Spirit, while those who worship self show by their attitude toward Him that they belong to Satan's kingdom. Admitting truth and light yet neglecting to act on it and give God the heart and best affections, while eagerly pointing to fallen professors as an excuse, is loving darkness and reasoning on Satan's side, and no such excuse will stand when meeting God in the judgment before the Maker, the Judge of all the world.

Everyone who does evil hates the light and refuses to come to it lest deeds be exposed, reproved and corrected. They avoid the light so their deeds will not be exposed and reproved, being unwilling because they fear having their deeds reproved. They reject the light because they love darkness and do not want their darkness and error exposed and removed. Those who refuse the light Christ offers and choose darkness because their deeds are evil stand condemned. But he who does truth comes to the light so deeds may be seen as wrought in God. Those who dwell on what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely and praiseworthy do not love darkness rather than light but come to the light so their deeds may be shown to have been done in God.

He who believes is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already for not believing in the name of the only Son given so believers should not perish but have everlasting life. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten, sinless Son to redeem the fallen race, and sent Him not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. The gift is God's unmistakable expression of love to keep those who believe from perishing and give them everlasting life and to lead men to obey His precepts, while those who do not believe remain condemned already. Condemnation therefore falls on those who regard that intense love with indifference or unbelief and refuse to accept and obey the light God gives. This applies to professed believers joined together in church capacity who do not have all the truth, who are not obedient to all the commandments, and who in many cases are backsliders, yet if they had followed on to know the Lord they would have discerned the intensity of God's love for every soul, and the remedy is to follow on to know the Lord step by step as He leads, when He will give increased light.

Choosing darkness is choosing one's own way rather than God's way. It reveals an evil heart and brings condemnation, for people who do evil reject the light Christ brings and choose darkness instead because their deeds are evil. It shows little love for truth and a refusal to be freed from evil by coming to Jesus, and those who remain in darkness lack spiritual discernment and cannot rightly support or guide God's work. Choosing unbelief and resisting God's truth is not a sign of virtue or superior wisdom but reflects a mind unable to perceive God and is part of the deception that leads people away from the light. Some refuse Christ in this way, turning from God's truth because their deeds are evil.

Accountability for Light

People are accountable for the light that shines in their own day, and guilt and responsibility are proportionate to the light and knowledge given, especially when it is neglected or misused. Those who walk faithfully in the light they have received must act on it, and the more light and convincing evidence received the greater the condemnation in rejecting it, with retribution proportionate to that light. Rejecting Christ when greater light and testimony are available brings greater guilt, for turning from Him rejects truth, love and righteousness, closes the heart to heavenly light, and welcomes darkness and despair, while accepting Him brings light, peace and joy. Unbelief and prejudice against truth also intensify hatred toward those who cherish it.

Where light has not come there is no sin of rejecting it, and the world is not to be condemned until it has had the light. Good men who died without seventh-day Sabbath light yet lived up to all they had are not responsible for light they never had, but those who now have light upon God's law are condemned if they reject it or are indifferent to it. Children who have not yet had clear light are not said to be condemned already, though love of pleasure and service to sin place them among Christ's enemies whom Jesus invites to leave that allegiance and follow Him, with rejection bringing condemnation and loss of eternal life. Those who never had the light and mourn their ignorance and thirst for knowledge of the only true God are not judged guilty, while the light calls others to leave evil and turn to Christ with compassion and a revelation of His love.

Even indifference to light is dangerous and is itself choosing darkness, and neglecting opportunity to receive light when time and truth are available is rejecting it. Erroneous beliefs cannot honor God because life is shaped by what is believed. Past disobedience by good men and present disobedience by professedly great and good men gives no excuse for transgression. To close the eyes and reject light heaven has sent is as real a rejection as when the Jews rejected Christ as Messiah and light of the world, and the same condemnation falls on those who see light on the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment and refuse to keep it, following the crowd and great men instead of walking forward in reform, choosing popularity, convenience and custom over obedience and leaving salvation without excuse.

Light refused hardens the heart and blinds the eyes in proportion to unbelief, resistance and contempt, so unbelief becomes inability to believe and conversion and healing are lost. Cherished iniquity clouds spiritual sight so truth appears dark and perverted and is neither valued nor diligently sought. Resisters mistake the Spirit's work for fanaticism and treat truth as dangerous error, clinging to false doctrines and refusing the spirit of truth in God's mercy, justice and love until unable to discern the light. Those who resist clear evidence and refuse to come to Christ harden in unbelief, reject His righteousness and refuse the Holy Spirit's work, and from those who so refuse Jesus departs and hides Himself.

Persistent refusal can lead to self-deception so deep that people think they serve God while opposing Christ, calling heavenly truth satanic and good evil. God does not force belief but gives sufficient evidence for choosing truth while Satan offers darkness, yet those who refuse correction, cling to their own ideas, and hate light despite evidence defile the soul, bring ruin, and risk becoming stubbornly deceived. Even powerful evidence including miracles cannot convince those settled on unbelief, as with the Jews who would not be convinced by arguments or great miracles once set against Jesus and who believed they served God by crucifying Him. Rejecting light leaves people captive to Satan's deception and more firmly bound in his power, mistaking light for darkness, and the more light rejected the greater the deception and darkness. Deceptive satanic influences can blind those who reject clear light and draw them toward falsehood, until sins seem small and moral sense is degraded, and those once convicted by the Spirit of truth may commit the worst crimes, as Herod who had nearly become John's disciple and knew John was a true prophet yet turned and had him killed illustrates.

Condemnation is having light and evidence and refusing it, with sentence of death at the judgment on all who refuse because they will not come lest deeds be reproved. Those who cling to sin rather than come to the light will perish with the author of sin. Refusing after receiving all evidence ever to be given grieves away the Spirit and defiles the soul unto stumbling and ruin, and those who not only reject but interpose between heaven-sent light and the people become parties to ruin of souls, trample the Word, do despite to the Spirit, while the only remedy for a world polluted as in Noah's day is belief and acceptance of light. The choice does not lessen guilt though made to avoid seeing sins unwilling to be forsaken, whether from base passions, fear of reproof, or love of indulgence, for such can see the light if willing. Light rejected becomes a denser darkness, there is a limit to God's forbearance, and continued resistance deepens rebellion and cuts off from salvation though they could yield, preparing them to reap what they chose, as with those given clear light on health reform against flesh meat, tea, coffee and spices who persistently disregard it and continue their own course.

Other reasons men refuse are lack of moral courage to leave customs, separate from the world, become peculiar and lift the cross. The world holds their affections so even when convicted that truth is truth they go away and forget the word spoken, unwilling to follow Bible teaching if it requires separation and a distinct position. Prejudice, doubt, and unwillingness to turn from practices and natural desires strengthen rejection, and God does not remove every objection the carnal heart can raise. Truth is unpopular because following Jesus requires self-denial and bearing the cross, yet the Holy Spirit continually draws and convicts while Satan misrepresents truth and makes error attractive, calling for response rather than hardness of heart when conviction comes.

History and Doctrine Examples

France received Bible truth that showed its power and holiness and reached cities and villages, yet thrust it out and persecuted those who received it, and when divine light was rejected the nation reaped its chosen course with evil maturing after God's Spirit was withdrawn in the Revolution. Sincere belief in serving God by persecution did not make persecutors innocent or guiltless, because they willfully rejected saving light that could have kept them from deception and bloodguilt and called good evil and evil good. Condemnation there was that light had come and men preferred darkness because their deeds were evil.

The Jews rejected Christ because His teaching exposed their hearts and reproved their sins as self-righteous teachers of error, and because His truth, purity, humility and sympathy for all classes condemned their man-made exactions and ungodly conduct. Fearing exposure they refused to come to the light lest deeds be made known, clung to traditions suiting sinful practices, refused to investigate, and held to doubt and teachings without foundation though Messiah and evidence of His identity were within reach. That refusal blinded them morally into self-deception until they believed crucifying the Son sent as messenger of light and hope was service to God, and their rebellion brought Jerusalem's destruction and scattering when their time of decision for or against Christ came. Receiving His truth involved a cross they would not bear, so they abused privileges and mercies, refused invitations and warnings, and chose darkness and disobedience rather than truth and obedience.

The world condemned itself by enduring its Redeemer only about three years of public labor in self-denial, disinterested benevolence, purity, suffering and devotion, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowful, walking on the sea and stilling it by a word, casting out devils, raising the dead, and holding thousands by words of wisdom. Hearts blinded by prejudice and hatred stubbornly rejected Him despite that evidence, answering with persecution and insult, driving Him from Bethlehem by a jealous king, rejecting Him at Nazareth among the people He labored to save, and condemning Him to death without cause at Jerusalem.

Priests and rulers chose darkness when Christ's life and mission revealed God's love and holiness as light against their hypocrisy, selfishness, darkness and error, and their hatred was bound up with unwillingness to have evil brought to light. Even His miracles and evidence of Messiahship did not soften them but increased hatred until they sought to extinguish the light by killing Him, and those rejecting God's law follow the same course by shutting eyes to light, hardening conscience, and treating falsehood and false witness as acceptable. Papal leaders likewise hated Scripture light because it exposed sin, and with God's law removed exercised unrestrained power in vice.

Reformers who pointed people to truth and lived its principles shone like lights in darkness, yet the world preferred darkness to light so their efforts only briefly checked evil's downward course and could not stop it. Romanists who loved darkness and iniquity rather than the pure holy character of God's word rejoiced when Luther was excommunicated. Rejecting truths preached by John the Baptist prepared people to turn from evidence that Jesus was Messiah and left them more deeply surrounded by darkness.

Disciples who left Jesus rejected God's counsel and salvation because vanity, pride, self-righteousness and love of the world made them unwilling to accept rebuke and correction and the humble life that leads to salvation. Those refusing God's law and warnings follow the same course, closing themselves to light so greater evidence deepens hatred, hardening them until they use falsehood and deception to reach their ends and treat it as acceptable.

Cornelius shows condemnation comes from rejecting given light rather than lacking full understanding, for without yet having understanding faith in Christ he believed prophecies, looked for Messiah, reverenced God, prayed, did faithful duties and generous acts in love and obedience to God and moral law. That faithfulness brought him near God and prepared him to receive the Saviour when Christ was revealed.

The light is the plain truth of the fourth commandment and seventh-day Sabbath God sanctified and blessed, and where light has not come there is no sin of rejecting it, as with keeping an earlier starting time before light about the correct time came. But those who say they see and then refuse to walk in it leave sin remaining, and the same condemnation that fell when Jews rejected Christ as Messiah and light of the world falls on those who see Sabbath light yet refuse to keep it for popularity, convenience, custom, following the crowd and great men, excusing disobedience as harming none, risking transgression while trusting mercy, and trampling the Sabbath without compunction so they cannot harmonize with truth-cherishers. They take the Jews' position toward Christ, are accountable for light shining in their day with indifference itself dangerous, and cannot be saved as law transgressors trampling the Sabbath any more than a thief, murderer or adulterer in transgression.

Those set against truth close themselves to light so greater evidence deepens hatred rather than changing hearts, as Jews rejected Christ despite miracles and sought to kill Him. Sabbath opponents who have set themselves against the law may therefore reject even a heavenly messenger, interpret a heavenly message as from Satan, keep repeating answered objections, and refuse to come lest darkness and error be exposed and removed, which is choice rather than lack of argument. Refusing God's law is loving darkness rather than light because deeds are evil.

Choosing darkness is disobedience placing a person on Satan's side, while obedience to God's commands leads to eternal life. It includes professed Christians siding with the world rather than Christ in business for lack of practical godliness and failing to grasp the difference between kingdom principles and world principles, knowingly using worldly methods and wronging others for gain, serving wealth rather than Christ, and giving first place to possessions, human praise, vanity or unbelief instead of God. It also includes refusing God's law so as to remain ignorant of divine things and unable to explain the atonement, and dwelling on despair and gloom unto murmuring instead of rejecting pride, selfishness and sinful indulgence for a pure life following Christ. Resisting warning instead of seeking God's help to receive it can make that warning testify against a person in judgment.

The light also includes laws governing physical life and God's gracious warnings exposing danger and showing duty, including clear evidence on health reform against flesh meat, tea, coffee and spices. Those understanding them yet continuing harmful indulgences, persisting in the wrong course, despising counsel, trusting own wisdom to discern and avoid evil, and remaining in corrupting company and indulgent appetite choose darkness rather than light, incur God's displeasure and are left in thickening darkness that mars life and family. Light rejected does not leave the rejecter where he was but becomes denser darkness, and there is a limit to divine forbearance.

Religious ceremonies and church membership do not remove condemnation when people do not love truth or bring character into harmony with it, and the verse applies to professed believers joined in church capacity who lack full truth, disobey commandments, and in many cases are backsliders. Evil speech, suspicion and dishonest acts darken the path, weaken faith, and leave souls feeling separated from Christ, guilty in conscience and life and eager to hide from God, avoiding light lest deeds be exposed and reproved. Turning to God in penitence brings acceptance and forgiveness with holiness formed within, while hypocrisy and profession without corresponding works meet Christ's condemnation, and those with much light who fail to live by it may be less ready than converts from sin. The remedy is to follow on to know the Lord step by step as He leads, discerning the intensity of God's love in giving His Son not to condemn but to save so believers should not perish but have everlasting life, and He will give increased light with deeds made manifest as wrought in God.

God's own people come under condemnation and lose blessings when they provoke Him by idolatry and union with worldlings, choosing false guides, disregarding given evidence and making no difference between truth and error. Unless often-reproved ones make decided change, the Spirit will not always strive but leave them to uncertainty and falsehood, and bestowed light will become darkness how great. Turning from light includes despising testimonies that reveal duty and condemn one's course, showing little love for truth, as in refusing counsel and light to follow one's own course, with thorough repentance and reformation the only hope.

Walking in Light Daily

Those who have light are to walk in it as Christ is in the light, leaving the darkness of error for the light of heaven and living by faith that works through love and purifies the soul. Choosing God means separating from the world, while neglecting God and refusing the truth and message from heaven is choosing darkness and calamity. Coming to the light means humble, thorough repentance and dying to self so truth does its good work in a consistent life and godly conduct honoring present truth. Choosing darkness instead deadens and blunts the moral senses by sin and wrong, sears the conscience so sacred things are brought down to common things, and leaves character spotted with imperfection, sin and corruption to be found wanting in the day of God.

A life changed by Christ does not hate the light for exposing and reproving sin but accepts it and rejoices in it, with Christlike words, spirit and actions testifying that God sent His Son into the world. Those who delight in the light strengthen spiritual vision by it, rather than fearing reproof and exposure of condemnation as doers of evil do. In the last days God's people must not choose darkness but seek and receive the light shining from God's Word, and as they walk in it truth is revealed more clearly, moral darkness is dispelled, and character is improved and sanctified through the Holy Spirit.

Parents must keep before them that condemnation is loving darkness rather than light because deeds are evil, with evildoers hating the light and staying away lest deeds be reproved and refusing to be brought to God by Christ the Just dying for the unjust. They must examine whether they are transformed in word and spirit and have submitted way and will to God so they deal with wrong in the home with wisdom, patience, kindness and love instead of anger. When time, strength and energies are consecrated to God the light shines first and most strongly in the home among the most intimate associates and then extends even to the world, to many a savor of life unto life, while refusers who will not see or walk in it because deeds are evil come under condemnation in a very dangerous position. Their refusal excuses no one from letting light shine, for as a lighthouse keeper keeps lights burning all night throwing beams far into darkness and is guiltless when ships wreck by disregarding the beacon yet would be blamed worldwide if the light went out and a ship perished for lack of light in the tower, so household light must not go out lest all in the house be in disastrous darkness, while watchful souls discern whether lives are drunken with cares or preparing for immortal life and whether home influence trains children for heaven.

Choosing close association with rejecters of God who love darkness and refuse to come to light lest evil deeds be reproved is perilous, and Christians should seek the company of those who love God and obey His commandments. To choose darkness is deliberately to place oneself as far from light as possible by separating by personal choice from lovers of God and choosing friendship and society of the irreligious and disloyal who openly break God's law, which is delusion, for no one will ever be where there is too much light. Magnifying, commenting on and despising others' imperfections and condemning brethren is forbidden, and instead the love for fellow creatures enjoined in the last six commandments is required by restoring others and following Christ's example, who came to a world marred by curse, deformity and impurity not to condemn but to heal imperfections and seek and save the lost, so that believers are not condemned while unbelievers are condemned already for not believing in the only begotten Son, with evildoers hating exposure and doers of truth coming so deeds are seen as wrought in God.

Truth of the light must be lived and openly proclaimed amid evil as well as good report even though evildoers who love darkness oppose it. Followers of the light testify against the world, and Jesus' servants must carry God's truth and every claim to every person without yielding to custom, reducing responsibility, or withholding any part of counsel. The light given brings judgment, with neglect or turning away judged and condemned by it, so God's people are to live as holy examples that the world may be enlightened, convicted or condemned according to its response. Even in moral darkness some light shines in God's little flock, unpopular because the world chose darkness for evil deeds, with Satan claiming this world as his kingdom and seat and covering it with darkness. To be lights they must open the mind to receive Christ the Light of the world, have the mind of Christ, know Him by personal experience, and walk humbly before God.

Some who have not accepted truth may have lacked a fair chance to weigh arguments and compare Scripture with Scripture, and presented clearly in suitable circumstances its clarity may win them. Discussions are therefore not to be sought, for lovers of evil reject light because they do not want darkness and error exposed and removed, and arguments alone cannot make them welcome truth. They may persist in the same objections even after answer, and repeated arguments will not change opposition when they refuse to come to the light. Light comes constantly through God's messengers to where a person is so he may come if he will, and messengers must not be despised because they are not expected or understood, as in asking Is not this Joseph's son when Jesus was not the Christ expected, for God sends by whom He will without satisfying curious questioning yet His word will not return void. To turn from that great light after knowledge and choose darkness is willful rebellion, joining the enemy's ranks and refusing salvation purchased by the Son of God.

Error loves darkness and resists investigation in the light, and people convicted by Christ's appeals and evidence may still refuse and oppose Him. The world is not to be condemned until it has had light, and the light calls people to leave evil and turn to Christ, so they should be approached with compassion and shown Christ's love rather than condemned beforehand. Stepping from under Christ's banner to Satan's ranks is deliberate, growing from desire for power and popularity and showing itself in doubts, questionings, skepticism and dark thoughts and feelings breathed to others, making one a valuable agent for Satan's kingdom whose intensely powerful deceptive thoughts cause many souls to be deceived and lost through that one soul's influence. Likewise turning from evidence of God's Spirit and power and resisting His ways and sent counsel is choosing darkness, revealing blindness to God's things and placing people on the enemy's side.

Refusing to walk in the light while it shines is walking in darkness and being unable to comprehend it through choosing darkness. People remain in darkness by neglecting light and opportunities, and those with much light who fail to live by it may be less ready for Christian character than those accepting truth after a life of sin, while turning to God in penitence brings acceptance and hypocritical profession without corresponding works meets Christ's condemnation. Those resisting the Spirit's appeals become hardened and less able to respond to further light, while those with less light may be more receptive, and those who never had light are not judged guilty but mourn ignorance and thirst for knowledge of the only true God. Accountability reaches even those who refuse opportunities for light, comfort and knowledge without directly hearing and rejecting the message, for avoiding light lest deeds be reproved is choosing darkness because deeds are evil. When light and knowledge involving eternal interests are brought yet men feel no need, will not partake of the heavenly feast set by God's servants, and refuse to see, condemnation comes upon them.

Heaven constantly invites yet none are forced against inclination, and light will shine on all who cherish it. Those who hate light despite receiving its evidence defile souls and bring ruin on themselves, for rejecting the Spirit's work leaves no remedy of accepting truth. Refusing the Lord's messages of warning and reproof leaves them without greater evidence later and brings punishment, including such resistance as trampling the Sabbath of the fourth commandment without compunction, which cannot harmonize in spirit or path with those cherishing truth as solemn reality. Neglecting or turning from given truth brings judgment by that very light according to response and deeds in the final judgment, leaving rejecters of God's gift without excuse. Resisting a warning instead of seeking God's help to receive it, as in choosing to serve wealth rather than Christ, can make that warning testify against a person then.