John 8:12-30 - Caleb Richardson

Morning. Well, you know, this time of year is

always crazy, isn't it? Especially this summer

when there's a little sunshine, everybody scatters,

and it just so happens to fall when all the fish

are running, and yeah, that's where we're at

right now. Hey, how many of you are just tired?

Let me ask what I thought. I kind of feel it

today. And that's always what happens. And so...

You're okay. You'll get there. Here's my hope

for us today. That no matter where you're at

when here, that you will look to Jesus. And what

I mean when we say look to Jesus, that's set

your mind and your attention and your gaze upon

him. My wife yesterday, and this really kind

of relates to where we're going in this text.

But I don't know how many times she just kept

saying, I got to go sit out on the deck to get

some sunshine. She just kept going out there

to sit in the sunshine since she needed to get

her vitamin D. And it's much like what we need

with Jesus right now. If he was a big ball of

sun, we need to go sit under it. And so I'm going

to pray that as we get into this, that that's

where... your heart, your affections, your mind,

when you walk out of here today, your attention

and your gaze will be refocused on Jesus. Because

I know, I'm just like you, that if I take my

gaze off of Jesus, it starts falling apart. One

more thing, and then we're going to pray. If

you haven't read this book, especially if you're

out and about, it's a great audio book, by the

way. It's called Run Over by the Grace Train.

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

It's just straight up good news of Jesus in your

face over and over again. Who has read this?

Anybody? I have. So anyway, I just shameless

plug. Go get it. It's a really good book. All

right, let's pray and we'll jump into God's word

together. Lord, we need you this morning. desperately

need your involvement, your spirit to work through

what I'm going to say. I'm just a dude. And Lord,

will you by your spirit speak to our hearts?

Kind of help us let go of the craziness of summer,

the busyness, and just kind of focus in our gaze

upon you. So help us this morning. as we open

your word. Amen. So if you've been tracking with

us as we're working our way through John, you

probably noticed, in fact Jess mentioned it today

when she was getting ready to read up here, so

she's been reading that text, but you probably

noticed that it's kind of getting intense. There's

a bit of intensity going on in the life of Jesus,

and A lot of, as we get into these chapters,

we're going to see that intensity just continue

to increase. And it's going to take us right

up to his crucifixion. So things are getting

tense. And it's probably, the reason is, it's

probably because of the statement that Jesus,

that's causing the biggest stir in Jesus when

he says, it's these I am statements. There are

like, when Jesus says, I am, he is literally

saying, I have equality. I'm claiming equality

with God. So there are seven of these I am statements

in John, and we're going to look at one of them

today. But before, let me just, before we jump

into this, into this story today, let's just

catch up a little bit on our story. If you remember

back two weeks ago, the last two weeks, it's

been centered around this big celebration. It

was a yearly celebration that was done in Jerusalem

that was called the Feast of the Booths or Festival

of the Shelters. If you remember what that was

all about, it was this time that they would come

in and they'd set up these little tents and they

would pretend, in a sense, to go back to their

time when they were in the wilderness. wandering

of the children of Israel, wandering in the wilderness

because they'd been freed out of Egypt. So the

book of Exodus is where this is referencing.

But it was a time that they would celebrate this

journey where God provided for them over and

over. And they would remember back to the children

of Israel and their time frame and what happened

in the desert. So if you remember in John 7,

John 7:37

verse 37, when Jesus stood up and cried out,

if anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Remember when that happened? Two weeks ago, I

explained this, where part of this festival was

pouring the water and they would raise this basin

up of water after they had drawn it. They made

this procession back to the temple and they're

going to dump water onto the altar. It's a remembrance

of how God provided water. And Jesus stands up

and says, if any of them is thirsty, let them

come to me and drink. Like he cries this out

in the temple. And the one who believes in me,

as the scripture said, will have streams of living

water flow deep within him. And Jesus says, I'm

that water. And I'm going to be poured out for

you. I'm the picture. All that stuff that happened

in Exodus is pointing to me. And I'm that. And

so now we enter in chapter 8, we see the same

festivals is still going on. And according to

John chapter 8 verse 20, we see that where they're

John 8:20

at, where this whole story takes place is in

a place called the court of the women. It's the

largest court in the temple. Now it means the

court of the women is the women were allowed

to come to this place, but they couldn't go beyond

it. But it was... The court of the women was

the biggest gathering place in the temple. I've

got a picture of it up here. It's kind of hard

to see a little bit, but it's kind of the big

area in the temple. It was the busiest part of

the whole temple. On the sides of that court

would be big offering baskets or chests, they

call them. They look like an upside -down trumpet.

And they were there, and there was 13 of these

on the wings. And this is where you would bring

your tithes and your offerings and you would

put it in. And each one of them kind of represented

a different part of the church budget, in a sense.

And so people were bustling in there and they

were, you know, this was actively a massive,

this was an active place. So there were two great

ceremonies that happened during this festival.

First was the one we talked about was the pouring

out of the water, where Jesus cries out. The

second, though, is called the illumination of

the temple. And it took place in this location.

The illumination of the temple took place in

the court of the women. So there's kind of the

treasury slash, this is the hangout, okay? So

in the center of the court are these four great

torches. You kind of see them there. One of the

young... A young guy would scurry up, have a

ladder system. They'd go up and they would light

off these torches. And the torches actually were,

the wicks on the torches were old priest's garments

that were used. And so they, I mean, this was,

but it was, it would torch off these big torches.

And then as the night set in, as these torches

were going, you got to understand, like, there

was no electricity. And so when it got dark,

everything ceases to stop, right? Except now.

Torches were everywhere. Big torches that lit

up the place. So if there's light, everybody's

going to come to that center point where there's

light. And now at that place, when that light

was lit off, they begin to dance and they would

sing. And in particular, the men would dance

and they'd be burning. They'd have torches in

their hand and they're dancing and singing songs

of praise. Countless Levites would be playing

harps and lyres and cymbals and trumpets and

every kind of musical instrument. It was a massive

music fest. It was a time of celebration. And

they're all celebrating the great pillar of fire

that led the people of Israel during the time

in the wilderness. This is really cool. They're

celebrating God's presence. And how he was there

and they're so, God, this is so good. You're

so good. You provided light for us, a fire pillar

at night. It's in this place that Jesus chose

to raise his voice again. Remember how he raised

his voice when they dumped the water? Jesus chooses

to raise his voice again to the crowd and he

proclaims another one of these very offensive

I am statements, showing equality with God. Look

what he says in verse 12. Jesus spoke to them

again. I am the light of the world. Anyone who

follows me will never walk in darkness, but will

have the light of life. See, this statement by

Jesus is absolutely massive. Like a big rock

dropped into a lake and the splash hits. but

then the ripples go from that. This is what the

effect of that statement is. Verse 12 is this

rock hitting the water and everything else ripples

from it. So let's just unpack these claims. There's

two claims, two things that are happening in

verse 12. First is that Jesus makes this claim

about himself. He says, I am the light of the

world. Now, I'm just going to warn you, you need

to be okay to be in elementary school brain right

now. You need to be okay with the metaphor just

kind of setting in this very basic metaphor.

And this is because I think Jesus wants us to

see how basic this is. He says, I am the light

of the world. These great torches symbolized

for the people what we call the Shekinah glory.

Kind of a weird word. The Shekinah glory refers

to the visible, tangible manifestation of God's

presence dwelling in humanity. And so every time

you'd see those four torches up there, you're

going, oh yeah, that's a picture of God among

us. His presence being visual and tangible. His

presence dwelling in humanity. Crazy. And so

they're celebrating his God come to them. It

represents the moment where the transcendent

God steps into the physical world so that human

eyes can behold his closeness. The dwelling radiance

of God. That's what it is. And so why were they

singing and dancing? Because God had come to

them. We see this appearance in the Old Testament,

most notably with the Israelites in the wilderness,

with the fire at night. God's presence was with

them, protecting them, or this brilliant light

and this heavy cloud that would be there that

would shield them from the Egyptians, but also

would feel a sense of, okay, we're not alone.

So the Jews were celebrating this dwelling radiance

of God among them. as these torches are lit.

John 1 verse 14 says, the word became flesh and

John 1:14

dwelt among us. We observed his glory as the

one and only son from the father full of grace

and truth. So John has already told us what Jesus

has done. And now Jesus is declaring, I am here.

I am the light of the world. I am the Shekinah

glory that's come. My presence, the God of the

universe has come to you and I am him. So as

Jesus stands up and declares, I am the light

of the world, in effect he's saying, do you remember

that pillar that came between you and the Egyptians?

Do you remember that in the Red Sea? That protected

you. And led you through the wilderness. That

was me. That was me. Wait a minute. What? You're

a physical human being. And he's saying no. Yes

I am. But I am also God. And I was there. Guiding

your people through the wilderness. I'm he. I

am God incarnate. I am the light of the world.

The opposite of light, though, is darkness. Think

for a minute about darkness. Darkness of this

broken world. See, sin has turned out the lights.

I want you to think, and we're going to have

a discussion here, and I want you, it's okay,

these questions may sound really basic, but we

need to go there because this metaphor begins

to come alive. That Jesus is talking about. And

he says this. So here's the question. What happens

in darkness church? What are the effects of darkness?

What's that? Depression. What else? What's that?

Say it again. Uncertainty. Confusion. What are

the effects of darkness? Blindness. You can't

see. What? Worry? Okay, you guys are going deep

right away, but some of the basic ones are what?

What happens if it's dark and you can't see where

you're going? Stumble. What else? What's that?

Weariness. Hopelessness. Fear. I mean, how many

kids are, is it when it's light out and you're

trying to go to sleep, go, I'm afraid. No, it's

when it's dark. I'm afraid of the dark. No, you're

afraid of what's in the dark or what you think

is in the dark. But darkness brings a sense of

fear. Now, if that's true, now Jesus says, I

claim to be the light. When Jesus claims to be

this light, what is he saying about himself?

What is he saying about himself? What do you

think? Let the metaphor run. He wants it to.

What's that? Okay. What else? Vision. All of

a sudden you can see. I said these are basic,

but let's go with it, okay? Because he wants

us to go with it. What else? What does light

do for you? Warms you. Safety. Direction. How

about it shows you the path. It makes things

grow. How well does a garden grow, Grandpa George,

if there's no light? It doesn't. What was that?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Happiness? Oh my

goodness, yes. It's like my wife going out like,

I just got to get in the sun. It makes me feel

so good. What's that? Wakes you up. It exposes

what's in the dark. It exposes the darkness,

doesn't it? But you know what? Light can also

hurt your eyes at times. You're like, ooh. Or

we've been talking about all the good things

about it, but light also can expose what's in

the dark. Like, eee, I didn't see that. It's

kind of like somebody turned on the light switch

and went, oh, the house is dirty. There's an

exposure that happens. It burns those heads.

Watch out, Chase. That's why I started wearing

a hat. Exactly. So Jesus is the light of life

in every way, is what he's saying. I am that.

So here's the question. As we think about this,

how are we, when we look at our lives every day,

like, are we actually looking to Jesus in those

things? Because what he provides is life. I don't

want to sound so basic here, but that's the reality

of it. Because how well do we do at running to

Jesus? I don't do very well. It's usually when

I slam into the wall a few too many times and

realize, ah, man, I have just not been paying

attention to Jesus. And Jesus says, no, look,

hey, stop walking in darkness. Come toward me.

I am the light. I bring light to this jacked

up dark world. Don't run into the world. I am

the light of life. And in verse 12, Jesus also

makes a claim, not only about himself, but those

who follow him. Look, he says, anyone who follows

me will never, underline that word, never walk

in darkness, but will have, underline have, the

light of life. Okay. For the Israelites in the

desert, if they kept their eyes on the pillar

of fire at night and the cloud during the day,

there was no confusion and no stumbling and no

fear. It's when they took it off and they started

doing things their own way that confusion and

fear happened. The word here in that statement

is really important. Not only do we have the

light of Christ come into us, but we in a sense

become a radiant reflection of him. That's what

it means to have. You have it. It's come to you.

It's not just boom. It's actually changing you.

And the effects are in you. Ephesians 5 verse

Ephesians 5:8

8 says this. For you were once in darkness, but

now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children

of light. Matthew. Verse 5, chapter 5, verse

14 says, you are the light of the world. A city

situated on a hill cannot be hidden. That's you,

church. He talks about a lampstand in that same

section. He says, don't cover it. This is you.

It's in you. So we have this incredible claim

by Jesus. For those who follow Jesus, it is absolutely

life -changing. If somebody's walking around

and there is no light, even if they go to church,

even if they claim to be a follower, there's

no light, something's going on. Something's wrong.

Jesus says, look, the light affects you. But

sadly, not all those who heard Jesus claim thought

it was wonderful. Some rejected his words, and

this is what happens now in the rest of this

little chunk of Scripture. is there's a battle

for surrendering to the lordship of Jesus, just

like we struggle with today, right? Jesus says,

I make this claim, this is who I am, and this

is who you are as my followers, and others go,

I don't like that. That's what starting in verse

13 and on is about, okay? So Jesus, look at verse

13. Here we go, Caleb. Okay. He says this. So

the Pharisees said to him, you are testifying

about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.

Even if I testify about myself, Jesus replied,

my testimony is true because I know where I come

from and where I'm going, but you don't know

where I come from or where I'm going. You judge

by human standards. I judge no one. And if I

do judge, my judgment is true because it is not

I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent

me. All right, what's going on here? Jesus is

responding to those who don't believe. What consistently

got Jesus into so much trouble is that he would

say that he is the Son of God. And that he and

the Father are one. And that is the authority,

he's saying, that I stand on that authority.

These claims about being the light of the world

is because I and the Father are one. I claim

quality with God. Now, if you looked at Jesus

and you couldn't get your head wrapped around

that, you would think he's a heretic. A pretty

offensive statement. Jesus just doesn't back

down. Anybody thinks Jesus is kind of a wimp?

Ever heard those? They don't get that. This is

some serious confrontation that begins to happen

right here. Now look at verse 17. Even in our

law, in your law, it is written that the testimony

of two witnesses, and they're going back to Old

Testament structure here, that the testimony

of two witnesses is true. I am the one who testifies

about myself and the father who sent me testifies

about me. I believe Jesus is referring in this

statement to his baptism. So think back to when

Jesus, John the baptizer is baptizing, Jesus

comes in and he said, and John baptizes Jesus

and two things happen in his baptism. The first

thing that happens is the heavens open up and

God the father speaks out loud, behold my son.

in whom I am well pleased, witness number one.

And then the second, the Spirit of God descends

on Jesus like a dove, witness number two. Verse

19, then they said to him, where is your father?

You know neither me nor my father, Jesus answered.

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

What Jesus does when he encounters this very

religious people who say they serve God, he says,

you cannot simultaneously claim to serve God

and reject Jesus. You can't do it. Jesus is God.

And this is what the tension is. And this is

very offensive to them. He says that this is

the truth. To know God is to know Jesus. Verse

20. He spoke these words by the treasury while

teaching in the temple, but no one seized him

because his hour had not yet come. Now, John

is telling us in this that Jesus is still in

control. Even when he gets... Even when he gets

arrested, tried, and crucified, he's in control.

Verse 21. Then he said to them again, I am going

away. You will look for me, and you will die

in your sin. Where I'm going, you cannot come.

Jesus is telling the best of the best. You remember

his audience. These are the really good, church

people. These are the most religious, the best

rule -keeping, Sunday -going people. He says,

unless you surrender to Jesus, you're going to

hell. It doesn't matter how good you think you

are. Unless you're fully surrendered, unless

you say yes to the lordship of Jesus, you could

be the priest in the temple. But if you don't

surrender to Jesus, you're going to hell. The

gospel tells us that we are only saved by what

Jesus did on the cross. Not our good works. Your

good works will not save you. Verse 22. So, the

Jews said again, he won't kill himself, will

he? Since he says, where I'm going, you cannot

come. You are from below, he told them. I am

from above. You are of this world, and I am not

of this world. Jesus is saying, we're not even

playing the same game here. Your rules are from

down here. Mine are from up there, verse 24.

Therefore I told you. that you will die in your

sins. For if you do not believe that I am He,

you will die in your sins. Apart from Jesus,

you are going to die in your sins. Apart from

Jesus substituting Himself for you and for His

atoning or paying for your sins by taking your

place in his death. Unless you surrender to Jesus

as Savior and Lord, you're not going to heaven.

You're going to hell. That's what he's saying.

I've heard this, Pastor Caleb. He's talking to

church people. Verse 25. Who are you, they questioned.

You just feel this tension. Like there's just

a battle going on here about whether they will

surrender to Jesus or not. And there's this battle.

Who are you, they questioned. Exactly what I'm

telling you from the very beginning, Jesus told

them. I have many things to say and to judge

about you, but the one who sent me is true. What

I have heard from him, these things I tell the

world. They did not know he was speaking to them

about the Father, so Jesus said to them, When

you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know

that I am he, and I do nothing on my own. But

just as the Father taught me, I say these things,

the one who sent me is with me. He has not left

me alone because I always do what pleases him.

As he was saying these things, many believed.

Okay, Jesus is basically saying, he says this,

you don't get me right now. I know you don't

understand, but when I go to the cross, you will

then make sense to you. When I go to the cross,

what I've come for, when I substitute myself

for you, when I hang upon that tree that you

will send me to, your sin sent me there, then

you'll make sense. Then you'll understand. And

I love this last part of verse 30. He says this

in verse 30. As he was saying these things, many

believed in him. Many believed in him. Do you

believe in Jesus or that he exists? That's the

difference. Remember when Craig was getting baptized,

he said that was because we've mentioned this

before. He says that was what changed for him.

He had always believed in God. Or that there

was a God. He always believed that Jesus existed,

but he hadn't fully placed his faith in him.

Like Jesus, you're central. You're number one

in my life. That's what believing in Jesus meant.

Is he your Savior and your Lord? Are you following

the light of the world? Do you believe, yeah,

I believe that he's light. No, but do you believe

in him as light? Verse 12 again. Jesus spoke

to them. I am the light of the world. Anyone

who follows me will never walk in darkness, but

will have the light of life. I don't know where

you sit today. I don't know. I don't know where

you're at. The most important question you'll

ever answer is what do I do with this Jesus?

What do I do with him? Let's pray. From those

in this room, Lord, that have been walking with

you for a long time, the call to keep their eyes

fixed on you, to see you as the light of the

world never stops. To many of us in this room

who are struggling to walk out what it means

to follow you, Jesus, it's getting our gaze back

on who you are as the light of life. And for

those, if there's anyone in this room this morning

that don't yet know you, pray that they will

believe in you as Savior and Lord of their life.

I just ask today, Lord, that you will draw them

to yourself. You're so good. Thank you for lighting

up our jacked up, dark world. Bringing hope for

us in a world that's so hopeless. Thank you for

a text like this that just gives us hope when

we think about who you are. In your name we pray.

Amen.