"The Light of the World" (Salter) | John 8:12-20

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A reading from John chapter 8, verses 12 through 20.

John 8:12–20

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.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

Before we pray, a word about something you might see if you're holding your own Bible this morning.

Just above John 7.53 through John 8.11 in your Bible, the account of the woman caught in adultery is set off in brackets, or there's a footnote there.

We're not preaching that passage this morning.

And here's why.

The earliest and most reliable copies of John do not contain those verses.

And in the later copies that do, that particular section moves around.

It finds itself in Luke and John.

And when something like that moves around in copies and translations, there's a sense that it's not original to the original text.

So the best judgment that we made is that this is a true and a treasured story about Jesus, John 7.53 through 8.11.

But it wasn't part of what John originally wrote.

And so we're going to set it gently aside.

And it does raise a fair question.

You may be sitting there thinking, if I can't be sure about this, how can I be sure about any of the Bible that I'm holding?

Well, let me turn that question around.

The only reason we can see this is that we hold thousands of ancient copies to compare.

And the textual evidence is so rich that the few uncertain places can be spotted, marked, and measured.

There are only two substantial sections in the New Testament, here and the extra ending at the end of Mark, that we do not consider original.

And neither one of them affects the doctrine of our faith.

So I want to tell you this morning what I've just explained.

This is not a crack in your Bible.

This is a window into how carefully it's been kept.

So we'll go deeper on that in a podcast this fall.

We're going to address this a little more deeply in a podcast.

But for now I want you to know you can trust the book in your hands.

And so we're going to start at John 8, verse 12 this morning.

John 8:12

Let's pray.

Father, come now and speak to your people, even as we hear in this text, shine your light into the darkness that we may see who we are, who you are, and who we need to be.

In the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Well, on the last night of March in 1880, 10,000 people crowded into the courthouse square of a small Indiana town called Wabash, and they waited in the dark.

Word had gone around that something was going to be tried that had never been tried on a whole town before.

See, up on the courthouse roof, workmen had bolted four strange-looking lamps.

And a little after eight o'clock, a man flipped the switch.

And one described it, they said, the darkness did not lift, it fled.

They said a hard white silver light dropped over the square, over faces looking up, the horses, the rooftops, the river, even beyond the town.

They said afterward, you could read the time on your watch a block away because of those four lamps of electricity.

A loud 10,000-person crowd now silent in the light.

Some of them even were weeping.

The newspaper wrote that some men sank down onto their knees in the road.

A few cried out as if the light were more than a person could bear.

And here's what strikes me about that moment.

These were not people who had lived only in the dark.

They had lanterns, they had candles, they had fires.

They had lived their whole lives by a glow of light, and they thought they knew what light was, but they had never seen this.

Our passage this morning brings us into a world that was sure it already knows what light is.

And we're going to find that they are blind to the very brightness in front of it.

Into that world, God turns the true light on.

It's a Galilean named Jesus.

And he stands up in the temple and makes the largest claim a human could make about himself.

Two things this morning.

First, the claim who Jesus says he is, and then the ground of it, how he answers the men who will not have him.

So let's look at the claim.

Jesus makes, as you'll see in your outline, an exclusive and inclusive claim that he is the light of the world.

Now I want you to see this morning that this claim is fulfillment.

As I mentioned about the text 753 through 811, it really does make sense when you go back to 752 and then read 812 that that's exactly what follows.

The conversation just continues.

We're still in the Feast of Tabernacles.

And for a week, Israel has been keeping that feast.

You by now, I hope, know it.

After three weeks, it was a feast where they remembered the wilderness, so they went and camped.

I've called it Old Testament family camp.

The manna fed, they would remember the manna that fed them.

They would remember the water from the rock, and they would remember the pillar of fire that led them home in the dark.

Now think about that.

The Feast of Tabernacles remembers the manna.

John 6, Jesus says, I'm the bread of life.

The Feast of Tabernacles would remember the pouring out of water, and Jesus says, I'm the living water.

And the Feast of Tabernacles would remember light.

And here John records Jesus saying, I'm the light of the world.

Bread, water, light, and a person.

Every night at the feast, just like we heard about the water pouring out ritual, every night at the feast they lit four enormous golden lamps with vats of oil underneath them.

And the whole city around the temple would literally like glow.

And it reminded them of the pillar of fire.

And what they would do is they would celebrate.

The people would dance under the light and the glow with torches.

And the rabbi said, A man who had not seen it had never seen joy.

The nighttime under the light was a joyous festival with the people of God.

The lamps were pointing them to remember the pillar of fire.

Now don't miss verse 20.

These words he spoke in the treasury.

Very important.

Where was the treasury in the temple?

It was in the court of the women.

Why is that significant?

It's in the court of the women where the four huge golden lamps were lit.

Jesus has now moved on the last day of the feast from the water pouring out ritual site.

He has moved in the temple to the treasury so he could be positioned at the moment of lighting to make this proclamation.

In the middle of that blaze, Jesus stands up in verse 12 and says, I am the light of the world.

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

Jesus does not point to the lamps and draw a lesson from them.

Jesus is saying, I replace those lamps.

I'm the fulfillment of those lamps.

The pillar of fire was a picture.

I am what it was pointing to.

The feast was a night of torches where they would wait for the sun to rise, and Jesus stands outside of the treasury in the court of women and says, The sun has risen.

I am the light of the world.

Now remember what they had just sneered at him in chapter 7, verse 52.

No prophet comes from Galilee.

Well, if they had read their Bibles, Isaiah says, This of Galilee, that the people in that place who walked in darkness have seen what?

A great light.

The one they despise is the dawn they have been waiting for, but they're blind.

Now what is his claim?

One is exclusivity.

I want you to notice, hear the claim itself, because it is larger maybe than it sounds.

Jesus does not say, I am a light.

He says, I am the light.

Jesus does not say he is one lamp among the world's many lamps, but he's the one true light.

And outside of him, there is not any light at all.

You know, every age has its own lights for sale, its wisdoms, its causes, its self-help, its spiritualities.

The trouble is not that the world is short on light sellers.

The trouble is that none of them are the light.

Jesus here says, I am the only light.

So that Matthew Henry would note this.

What a dungeon would the world be without the sun.

So would it be without Christ.

Exclusive claim of the light of the world.

But it's an inclusive claim.

Notice what he says.

He is the light of the world.

It's not a light for us only, for one tribe or for one nation.

No, he's the light of the world.

His reach is as wide as the world itself.

And that way you can remember Simeon in Luke 2 when he held Jesus as a baby.

What did he call him?

A light to lighten the Gentiles.

Simeon at that earliest moment is saying, I am holding in my arms the light of the world.

The same gospel that says, no one comes to the Father except through him.

That exclusivity also says God so loved the world.

That inclusive the world, not just a particular tribe.

He is the only light, but he is the light of the world.

And this is thus the mission.

He must be carried to every last people group on the earth.

But listen to the deepest note in this claim that might be hidden.

Don't forget, when God first revealed himself to Moses, what did he do it in?

A light, a burning bush, on a fire that would not burn up.

And out of that fire, what name did he say?

I am who I am.

Now, the same God in flesh, in the temple, says, I am the light of the world.

You see it again?

Light?

I am.

But what is already unmistakable with this claim is this God is light.

And this man says he is the light of the world.

Listen, there is no middle shelf to set that claim on.

His claim is a clear claim of divinity.

One thing more, because he does not leave the claim just hanging in the air.

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

The light is the life.

Remember John 1, that's already been said.

But to enjoy life, what must you do with this light?

You must follow it.

A flashlight does you no good if you only admire it.

If you're in the dark and you only admire the flashlight, it does you no good.

You've got to turn it on and what?

Follow it.

Isn't that what Israel did?

They did not stand and stare at the pillar of fire.

No, what did they do?

They walked behind it.

Step after step, all the way home.

To have the light is to follow him into the life that is truly life.

The gospel is not information to file away, it is a person to follow as we navigate life in this dark world.

I want you to know this.

It is possible to be part of a church and yet quietly shrink Jesus down to a helpful glow on the edges of your life.

A light that you switch on for comfort and emergencies.

One lamp among the others you actually live by.

But I want you to know Jesus will not be shrunk like that.

He says, He is the only light there is.

So consider, knowing that Jesus is the light means we follow him through the darkness.

He is our only trustworthy guidance and navigator.

But so often we stray off paths to follow what?

Lesser lights when we need guidance and meaning as the dark settles in.

Let me ask you these questions.

What lesser lights do you really walk by?

When you don't know what to do, whose wisdom actually guides you?

When life becomes dark, where do you look for meaning?

Whose approval tells you you're okay?

What light are you following when the way of Jesus and your preferred path diverge?

Calling Jesus the light means following Jesus in the darkness.

That claim that's so big obviously raises a question on whose word do we believe such a thing?

You know, anyone can call himself the light, but why should you trust this man?

And that is exactly what Jesus takes up next in the second point.

Jesus reveals the basis for his claim.

And the basis for his claim is the witness of the Father who sent him.

When someone makes a claim like this, you must do something with it.

And watch what these men do.

First, you have the basis of their rejection.

And it's flawed judgment.

Verses 13 through 15.

They didn't argue with what he said, they attack how he said it.

Verse 13.

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

Your testimony is not true.

Simply put, here's their statement Testifying about yourself does not count.

They changed the subject from the claim to the procedure of the courtroom.

It's the oldest evasion technique there is.

Don't deal with the claim, go with the procedure and throw it out.

And when the light gets too close, argue procedure so that you can try to shut it off.

And Jesus names what's really wrong here in verse 14.

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.

He's saying, You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one according to the flesh.

You judge by the surface, by appearances.

I do not.

I judge according to the Father.

And this is the darkness of verse 12 in action.

They are so sure that they can see, but they are looking straight at the light and can't.

They're religious.

And they're blind.

You see, that night in Wabash, only the blind would not have reacted when the lights came on.

They wouldn't have seen what the big deal was.

They're blind.

The basis of his claim is then made further in verses 16 through 18.

He now puts them in the dot.

Look at 16.

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.

This is fantastic.

Their law required two witnesses.

And Jesus says, Very well then.

How about me and my dad?

How about me and my father?

We'll be the two witnesses.

We're eternal, we're perfect, we're unchanging.

Case is closed.

They quote Moses to convict Jesus, and Moses acquits him and convicts them.

Because the two witnesses are father and son.

You see, you don't hold a lamp up to the sun and judge the light.

The two witnesses here are not two strangers agreeing.

They are the father and the son, one light shining together.

And here is the verdict you do not know the Son, and therefore you do not know the Father.

See, they think they have him on the stand.

But the verdict falls on them.

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

Remember last week they had said, like, well, you can't be the Christ because the Christ is going to be born in Bethlehem.

And it's like, yep, you haven't connected anything.

Well, here they say, Where's your father?

They know nothing of his birth.

He's been saying he comes from the Father.

They may only know Joseph of Nazareth.

They're really confused.

They ask, Where's your father?

And he says, You don't know him.

Because you don't know me.

You realize what fighting words that was?

To the religious leaders in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles?

You don't know God.

Because you don't receive me.

That's what he says.

You know neither me nor my father.

If you knew me, you would also know my father.

This is the whole gospel in one little sentence.

The Father is known only in the Son.

Listen to who is being told this.

I can't say this enough.

Not pagans.

It's Bible experts.

It's temple regulars.

It's people who could recite the law and memory verses, and they're told, you don't know God.

Why?

Their knowledge about God had never become knowledge of God because they rejected the Son of God.

I'm here to tell you, this should make every churchgoer go quiet.

This is preached to the most religious people in the room.

It is possible to know a great deal about Jesus and not know him.

It is possible to master the Bible, keep the rules, fill the pew, and never have come to the Son Himself.

So I want to ask you plainly this morning.

Are you trying to get to God without Jesus?

By being sincere?

By being moral?

By being religious?

By being decent?

Can I tell you there's no back door to God?

The Father is known only in the Son.

Thus Calvin would say, whoever aspires to know God without beginning that Christ wanders in a labyrinth.

In other words, every road to God that goes around Jesus is a dark maze.

There is only one door.

And notice who was really on trial.

They thought they were judging him.

They were the ones being weighed.

And so are we this morning.

The question is not whether you have opinions about Jesus, the question is whether you know him.

And whether you follow him.

And so the verdict falls, not on the light, but all who were sure they could see, left alone to themselves, left alone to ourselves, we're blind.

So I want you to consider one thing.

Consider caving.

Never done it, won't ever do it.

Not built for it.

Cavers know a darkness apparently unlike anything most of us have experienced.

If you go deep enough past the light of the daylight, if you turn your lamp off, like your eyes will not adjust.

You know, sometimes in the dark your eyes adjust and you see light, not in a cave.

There is nothing to adjust to.

You wave your hand in front of your face, you see nothing.

If your lamp dies out, there is no amount of straining your eyes because the problem's not your eyes.

The problem there's no light.

That's the scene where we find ourselves left alone.

Left alone to ourselves, we are in a cave without a light.

Complete darkness.

And I want you to notice how the passage ends.

Verse 20.

His hour had not yet come.

But the hour would come.

At a cross.

Where this light goes down into the dark on purpose, and the world goes dark.

He did that to save the very world he had every right to condemn.

He had every right to condemn those trapped in the cave, stuck in the dark, because we trapped ourselves.

The Father who sent the Son and bears witness to the Son is the Father who gives the Son for us.

The judge came the first time.

Not to condemn, but to save.

We did not bring that light, we could not make that light.

The light came down to where we are, to the cross in our place on purpose, and he then takes us out of that cave with the brightness of his splendor and leads us out of the darkness all the way home.

It's not whether you can see, it's whether he'll come get you, take your hand, and you'll follow the light and live.

So this day, hear this.

Jesus is the light of the world.

Do you see him?

If you don't, you don't know the Father.

Would you pray now, even?

That God would remove your blindness?

That you might see the light?

Let's pray.

Father, I pray that prayer for those who sit here and say, I don't see him.

I don't see it.

I don't believe it.

Remove their blinders now.

That today might be a day like those in Wabash when the light came on and they were undone.

For those of us who do see you and believe in you, help us to see that we are called not just to look at the light, but to follow the light, to walk in the light.

Help us now as we come to the table.

We are so thankful that the light of the world entered the darkness of God's wrath on the cross that we might be in the glory of the light forever.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.