John 8:12-30: I Am the Light of the World

Well, we continue our series on the identity of Christ.

Jesus I am sayings that are found in the book of John, the Gospel of John.

And I trust that as we have been looking at these identity statements of Jesus, it's been good for you and it's been good for me to wrap our own identity around who He is and who He has revealed Himself to be.

And so we continue in that vein in the Gospel of John chapter 8, verses 12 through 30 this morning.

John 8:12–30

Hear now the reading of God's holy word.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

So the Pharisees said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself.

Your testimony is not true.

Jesus answered, Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going.

But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one.

Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.

I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.

They said to him, Therefore, where is your father?

Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my father.

If you knew me you would know my father also.

These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

So he said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin.

Where I am going you cannot come.

So the Jews said, Will he kill himself?

Since he says, Where I am going you cannot come.

He said to them, You are from below, I am from above.

You are of this world, I am not of this world.

I told you that I you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.

So they said to him, Who are you?

Jesus said to them, Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.

I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.

They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.

So Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

And he who sent me is with me.

He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

Let us pray.

Even as we've just sung, Lord, we ask and we pray that you would indeed reveal your glory, Lord, reveal your light to us this morning.

We thank you for the grace of your spirit that has pleased to impart light to us and to save us by your light.

And so, Lord, we ask and we pray you do this work once again among us this day in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Um, as we read these verses that we've just read, um, it is good to uh once again see them in light of the context of uh the life of Israel back in that day.

Light was a basic source of life to uh those in the nation of Israel.

And one of the celebrations of light uh was the Feast of Tabernacles, which was going on at this time in which Jesus gave these words.

A major feature of this feast of tabernacles was uh the lighting of these giant lamps, these giant candelabras uh in the temple court.

And so these giant lamps would once let illuminate all over the temple area and even into the city.

Uh the light from these torches would would be mesmerizing in the light that they gave off.

And and and and they could be seen from even every location in Jerusalem.

And the people would then gather to sing, to dance, and to and to praise God, and it was a reminder to the Jewish people of what God had done, that God was in with them in their wanderings in the wilderness in the past.

And we see the significance of this in verse 20 as we see that Jesus was speaking these words in the treasury of the temple.

Now, when we do a cursory reading through this, perhaps that seems somewhat of a throwaway comment, but it's actually very significant that Jesus would choose to reveal himself to be the light of the world in that very location in the temple and at that time.

Jesus was making an extraordinary claim here.

And we see the cost of this claim as we read, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

And so the stakes are high.

Jesus is making a claim.

This has huge implications.

What Jesus is saying here is that these lesser lights, as glorious as they were, these celebrations have been pointing to Christ, to the one true light.

And he was that light.

He is saying, I'm not a light or another light.

I am the light, the only light, the true light.

I am the light of the whole entire world, and I'm here in your midst.

And so you can imagine this causes a great stir because of the unbelief of the Jews and the Pharisees at this time.

And so, in the midst of this interrogation that starts to take place, stemming from their unbelief, Jesus is here in great condescension and lowliness of heart, and he continues to shed his light, to shine his light, speaking the truth about who he is and the validity of his testimony in their midst.

So I want our eyes to be fixed this morning in light of that, to be filled with his light.

There are three things I think Jesus would have us to see, to behold with our eyes about his identity as the light of the world.

The first is Jesus would have you to see that he is, in fact, the light of the world.

That's not a given.

Unbelief is something that we face.

Many are caught up in unbelief about who Jesus is.

But let's think about the light for a moment.

Let's think about light.

What is light?

Well, it's a basic source of life, isn't it?

Where there's no light, there's no life.

And so creation is full of light.

We witness light in the sun.

We witness it in the moon.

Lightning when it crashes through the clouds and pierces through the clouds.

I can light up and cause a dazzling display of light when the thunderstorms come.

Sun gives off warmth.

It gives off heat and it makes plants grow.

And we know that without the sun giving off heat, this world that we live in would be just a lifeless place of ice-coated rock.

Likewise, without sunlight, photosynthesis would stop, and so there wouldn't be any plants.

Animals, therefore, would not have any food to keep them alive.

We would struggle to live.

Our sleep cycles would all be affected, and health would be impacted.

Light is a basic source of life.

But light is also something that causes joy.

We read that in the scriptures, light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

Now, I don't know if you like me love those mornings where it's been dark, you've gone to sleep, and it's been pitch black, and then you wake up in the morning and you notice a glimpse of the sun peeking through the shutters or the shades, and so you go over to the window and you wind up or pull back the shutters, and in streams this light, and it hits you on the face and it starts to warm, warm you, and it brings joy, doesn't it, to see that.

Or like uh when you face uh storms like this past week.

The storms come in, the cloud, the dark clouds roll over, and and uh, and and and there's a lot of more glum, dark days, and and yet the way it lifts our spirit when the clouds begin to part and the light streams in.

It's uh a thing that lifts our spirit.

Light is a source of joy.

But light is also something that's rebelled against.

The scriptures tell us there are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways and do not stay in its paths.

The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

And we know that by experience, don't we?

Whenever someone wants to commit something that they know is shameful or wrong, they seek to do it in the cover of night.

And so darkness is something that can be rebelled against.

And so light is something that is basic to life, it's something that brings joy, and it's something that can be rebelled against.

And so when Jesus claims to be the light, he is saying, I'm basic to your life.

I'm I'm a cause of joy, and I'm I'm I've come to oppose rebellion and unbelief.

Jesus is making the claim that there is only one light in this world that can be a source of light to all others.

And he is that light.

Jesus would have us to know that he is the light of the world.

Second, Jesus is a light to guide you.

Jesus goes on to say, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.

Now we may ask the question, what is the darkness?

Why do we need this light?

And the answer to that is the darkness is in the world, but it's also in us.

And so we need this light because Jesus being the light of the world doesn't mean that Jesus removes the darkness from the world as he walks through the world.

He doesn't remove all darkness from the world as he walks through the world.

And so we walk in the light as we follow him.

Now, what does it mean to follow Jesus?

To follow Jesus is more than following behind him, tagging along behind him, as it were.

To follow Jesus means that we join ourselves to his will and to his purposes, and in turn, he gives to us all of his life and benefits.

If you think about the Apostle Paul, we read in Acts.

Here he is, persecuting the church, seeking to throw Christians in jail and to persecute them.

And he's standing over the stoning of Stephen, and this he's walking along the road to Damascus, and then this light suddenly comes and pierces the scene.

And a voice says to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

I am Jesus whom you're persecuting.

Now what's interesting about that is Jesus, uh what is interesting about that is that Jesus does not say, Paul, Paul, or Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting them?

No, in persecuting them, he was persecuting Jesus.

And so Jesus is united to his people.

That's what he's saying here.

He says, I'm united to my people, and when you're persecuting them, you're persecuting me.

We are united to Jesus as his followers.

And we become partakers of his light and his life.

In other words, there's a quality about Jesus' light that we receive that is eternally life-giving when we follow Jesus.

There's a quality about his light that's attractive to us if you have the eyes to see it.

And so, if we have the Spirit, we know and have come to know something of the infinite worth of this eternal light, of the life-giving benefits of Jesus and the light that comes from him.

Now, sometimes his guiding takes us to places that are hard.

There are times that he takes us to places that are more like a desert than the sandy spot on the beach with the umbrella pitched and the deck chair laid out.

I know people who have lost jobs because they've taken a stand consistent with the light that has been revealed to them.

I know others who have faced opposition from other colleagues because they've sought to live and work before God and not men, and so they've made decisions, have not chosen to rip off the boss.

Others face open hostility for their stances in accordance with the light.

If we're following Jesus and his light in us, the scripture is clear that we will be opposing the darkness.

And there's no other way to say it, but that can be that can be hard.

That can be very hard.

But what sustains us in these situations is the quality of the light that Jesus gives to us.

Let's say I see something of value, um a nice evening by the pool with a family.

Uh and yet to get there I need to load up the car, grab towels, put kids' stuff on, uh, grab pool equipment and things like that.

And then and then we need to get in the car, and then we need to drive there, and then we need to pack myself like a mule with all this stuff, carry it into the pool, dump it down by the by the side of the pool, and then and then uh maybe, maybe I might get to sit on the deck chair, but I'm not sure sometimes.

Sometimes that's not the case.

And we might ask the question, well, why?

Why go through all of this trouble?

And the reason is because of the hope of what will eventually come.

A nice evening with the family by the pool.

I'm willing to go through all of that because of what's before me.

And let's raise the stakes a little bit.

What about love?

We have people in this congregation, in fact, who have uh even crossed oceans to find a way to be back with those that they love.

They're willing to pay for the ticket, they're willing to give their money to this, they're willing to go through the hassle of getting a passport and dealing with immigration and customs and whatever have you.

They have the ability to leave their own country.

Why?

Because of love.

Lovers are not content to give up.

They come after one another as a lover comes after the beloved.

And that's if that's true in regard to these transient lights, how much more true is it in regard to the light of Jesus, this eternal light that he gives to us?

Any transient obstacles that you and I face in this life as we follow Jesus is worth the cost because of the quality of the light.

The Apostle Paul goes on to remind us that these afflictions that we face are light and momentary in light of the unsurpassing glory that is to be revealed to us.

We may not see them in the moment as light, we may not think of them as transitory when we face them, but they will come, they will go, they will leave us, and the eternal weight of glory waiting for us will remain.

That is sure, that is steadfast, that is stable.

And so Jesus is a light to guide you.

Thirdly, Jesus' glory is the light to change you.

Uh, the greatest blessing for a Hebrew was to see the face of God.

And they couldn't see it without dying.

And you remember, uh the reason for that is because it was too intense.

God was too holy, and the closest anyone ever got was Moses.

And you remember Moses was said, Lord, I want to see your glory.

And he says, Moses, you can't see my glory without dying.

I'll hide you in a cleft in a rock, and you can see me as I pass by and see my back.

And Moses would come down off the mountain, and he had this glow, this derived glory from being in the presence of God.

He would have this glow.

He had this derived glory from being in the presence of God.

Think of the light of a welder.

Have you ever seen a welder's torch?

You can see that that light is so intense.

And uh a welder needs a welder's mask so they don't damage their eyes when they see the light of this kind of intensity.

Likewise, the glory of God is too much for us, so it has to be mediated to us.

And it is mediated to us in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says in verse 28, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He.

What he was saying here is, You don't see my glory now, but you will see it when I am lifted up on the cross.

At the time of the greatest darkness, there was also the greatest light.

And C.S.

Lewis's classic line of the Wish in the Wardrobe.

Uh one of the effects of the witch's uh spell is that it's always winter and never spring or summer.

And if you've read the books or the seen the movie, um you'll notice and remember that there's no warmth, there's no uh no growth in Narnia.

And and so snow and ice cover the ground, and it's always frozen, and there's no sunlight really to be able to come in.

And in the and yet in the hope of Aslan's return, the witch's curse is broken, and so the hope is toward Aslan, who will come.

And and when he returns, he brings with him this light and this life, and and so the ice begins to melt, and and the sun's light breaks through the clouds, and little flowers begin to grow.

Streams begin to flow.

And likewise the gospel tells us that because of Jesus' death and resurrection, the spell of the devil has been broken.

Spring and summer have arrived.

The power of the age to come has arrived to this present life, not in all of its fullness, but it is broken in.

And so as we behold the glory and the face of Jesus Christ, we receive this power.

We receive this glory.

We have access to that power.

But we all have times when dark clouds roll over.

Clouds roll over the face of our soul, the face of our soul, and they and they keep us from seeing that glory.

Do you have clouds?

What are those clouds in your soul that keep you from seeing his glory, from seeing his face?

Perhaps it's the cloud of distraction.

Uh you've been busy all week and life has gotten away on you, and and and you haven't had much time to receive the light.

You've been looking for it in the world, and it and it and it and it hasn't been a conscious Reality to you.

You've been distracted.

That is a cloud that can hover over the face of your soul and keep you from seeing the glory of Christ.

Perhaps it's a cloud of anxious and negative thoughts.

You're facing things in your life that are troubling you and concern you, and so it causes anxiety, and then these negative thoughts start to creep in and they creep in and they start to cast you down.

That's a cloud.

That's a dark cloud.

That can keep you from seeing the glory of Christ.

Or perhaps it's a cloud of doubt.

You're just not sure of the way that Jesus feels toward you.

And so you're doubting his care and you're doubting his love.

That again as a cloud that can hover over the face of your soul and that can prevent that light from being seen and experienced and felt.

My friend, the only way to deal with the darkness, the only day to deal with the clouds that hover over your soul is by looking to the light.

Look to the light.

Look to his blood sheet for you.

Look to his body broken for you.

Here we see the light in the most illuminating degree.

Jesus Christ doing, coming to the cross for us, being lifted up.

Greater love has none than this, we read, that a man laid down his life for his friends.

The amazing mystery of the age is that Jesus has chosen you and me to be a light by entering into us as the eternal light.

It's the most profound of all realities.

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christ's eternal light in you, so that you may be a light.

And that his light may expand and go all over the world.

And that means even the darkness of death is no match for the light.

When we look at our bodies and we notice them aging, the back is sore, the knee isn't healing, the arm doesn't throw like it used to.

Wrinkles begin to show.

Even then, because we have this light within us, we are being renewed day by day.

And that means even the darkness of death cannot match the light.

There was a young boy, Charles Spurgeon, who came under the influence of this light.

I love the story that he tells of a time in which he came and wandered upon this little primitive Methodist chapel and of a snowy day.

And he comes upon this chapel, and there might have been a dozen or fifteen people there.

And the minister didn't come that morning because he was likely snowed in.

And Spurgeon comes into this chapel, and a poor man, a shoemaker, a tailor, went up to the pulpit to preach in his absence.

And the text was, Look unto me, and ye be saved, all the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 45, 22.

He says, There he says, There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in the text.

The man began, my dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed.

It says, Look.

Now that does not take a great deal of effort.

It ain't lifting your foot or your finger.

It is just look.

Well, a man need not go to college to learn to look.

You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look.

A man need not be worth a thousand a year to look.

Anyone can look, a child can look.

But this is what the text says.

It says, look unto me.

I he says in broad Essex, many of ye are looking to yourselves.

No use looking there.

You'll never find comfort in yourselves.

Then the good man followed up his text in this way Look unto me.

I am sweating great drops of blood.

Look unto me, I am hanging on the cross.

Look, I am dead and buried.

Look unto me.

I rise again.

Look unto me.

I ascend.

I am sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Oh, look to me, look to me.

When he had gone about that length and managed to spin out ten minutes, he was at the length of his tether.

And then he looked at me, says Spurgeon, under the gallery.

You can be thankful that you're not called out like Spurgeon was at this time, right?

Here's Spurgeon being called upon in the gallery.

He noticed him being somewhat new, perhaps.

He says, I dare say with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger.

And then he said, Young man, you look very miserable.

Well I did.

But I had not been accustomed to have remarks made on my personal appearance from the pulpit before.

However, it was a good blow struck.

He continued, and you will always be miserable, miserable in life, miserable in death, if you do not obey my text.

But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.

And then he shouted, as only a primitive Methodist can, young man, look to Jesus Christ.

There and then the cloud was gone.

The darkness had rolled away.

And in that moment I saw the sun.

And I could have risen that moment and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the precious blood of Christ.

Friends, this is not only unique to Spurgeon.

This is not only unique in Jesus' day.

But friends, because we have the power of the Spirit, this power of the Word that said in the beginning, let there be light, and there was light.

That kind of power is the power that moves people still today.

In our midst, God is here and is among us in our midst today.

He is the great I am.

The powers of the age are here.

In our midst, we have access to Christ.

The sacrificial Lamb of God.

His presence is here.

We are able to witness God in the flesh.

We are able to look upon him and see his person.

We are able to look upon him and see his works, to see his life, to see him lifted up, crucified on a tree.

We are able to see him and know that our sins have been put away completely and finally, as far as the east is from the west.

We are able to behold his face.

The same face that we will see in eternal glory.

And in doing so, we are changed from one degree of glory to another.

All of this is among us today.

So why would we want to be anywhere else?

Why would we want to look upon any other face?

Have you been given the eyes to see this glory?

Has this light dawned within your soul?

And are you basking in it?

Jesus is the light of the world.

He would have you to be his guide.

He would have you have his light to be your guide.

And he would have his glory as a light to change you.

Amen.

Let us pray.

Oh gracious, loving Father, we sit back and we can think of no other thing than to say thank you.

Lord, thank you for revealing your light.

Thank you for guiding us.

Thank you for saving us.

Thank you for bringing us out of the darkness by revealing your light to us, your glory to us.

Father, we thank you for continuing to lead us and to keep us in your light.

Lord, we know we bring nothing to the table, and yet, Lord, you have been faithful.

You are good.

And we thank you for your love.

Thank you for your love, Lord.

We we come with full hearts thankful for all of the light that you have given to us, and therefore the life that you have given to us.

And we pray and ask all these things in the anticipation for the f when the fullness of light will come, and we will bask in all of the glory that you have prepared for us.

In Jesus' precious name we pray.

Amen.