Walk in the Light - John 8:12-30 - June 28, 2026

Besweri Wallujo: Good morning. Yeah, I was telling ⁓ I wanted to help Matt that like, you know what? You give me like two hours. I can preach for two hours, like ⁓ because like ⁓ if you have ever experienced African preaching or African service, ⁓ you have to prepare yourself ⁓ for lunch and for breakfast in one sermon. my name is Besweli Walucho or B dubs, ⁓ married to ⁓ Meredith Bad Walojo. We have ⁓ three kids and ⁓ two foster kids. ⁓ difficult to explain more about that but we are with Parker here and ⁓ Cecily and Kay and ⁓ we have our friend also from Uganda ⁓ is here thrice and ⁓ I'm grateful to be here ⁓ to be able to proclaim that gospel ⁓ to you And ⁓ to be able to lead you to worship God ⁓ through preaching. And ⁓ sometimes when ⁓ you can prepare yourself to preach or speak and things, ⁓ you just become nervous. I'm nervous. And ⁓ but just pray for me that God will help me ⁓ to lead you to see him, to worship him, and ⁓ to walk in a way that glorifies him, ⁓ that his goodness ⁓ may be proclaimed and ⁓ His kingdom ⁓ continue to advance in the lives of many. Let us pray. Father, thank you very much for today. Thank you for allowing us to be here. ⁓ thank you that you are our Lord. Thank you that you have given us ⁓ grace. Thank you for giving us joy to worship you. And God, thank you very much for the ministry of Harvest, thank you for ⁓ the elders, all the ministry leaders here. Thank for all them to lead your people to worship you, to serve you, to seek you. God, I pray for this morning as I read your people to worship you through preaching. That may you humble me and may you be exalted. And may you give me grace so that I can proclaim your gospel to your people. And may you be known in the lives of many. God, I pray that. For those who are here and have never come to relationship with you that they live this place when they have relationship with you. For those who have relationship with you that they live this place, encouraged. And willing to seek you more and more. Thank you, Father, for today. Thank you for this beautiful moment. Just make prayer and give thanks. Amen. ⁓ we are in John chapter eight, ⁓ verse twelve up to up to thirteen. And ⁓ one of the things just like I want just to imagine. ⁓ can you just imagine ⁓ the entire the entire I think the entire world ⁓ operates on internet, operates on the cable. And ⁓ without internet, like ⁓ men think they can't go well. And ⁓ here you can have no internet and ⁓ You may not feel it because you can get alternative. But back home, ⁓ during the the campaign for the president, they just some some of the days they put the internet off and takes like a week and like no one has no internet, you can't communicate. ⁓ but just imagine you were here, they announce like ⁓ for the next month the internet's gonna be off. And even ⁓ the guy of Starlink also says, like, you know what? ⁓ God has ⁓ decided like ⁓ there there will be no satellite ⁓ up there and like ⁓ all the satellite are gonna be down. There are gonna not be internet for the next month. And that's l you hear that announcement and ⁓ after a few minutes the internet's gone. And then you are there for three days, four days no internet. And then ⁓ imagine your ⁓ your phone just like ⁓ beeping. showing like internet services back. Or you just receive a message ⁓ on your phone, like ⁓ there's a guy who is selling the internet, and that guy is 100 miles away from your home. And ⁓ but you have to drive that to go to get the internet service. Because the you can't communicate. You just received SMS. Who is gonna sit not to drive that guy? Everybody's gonna write there so that they can get the service. And this is like the same context. ⁓ Jesus is with these people and ⁓ he says, What you know what? I am the light of the world. ⁓ when that's like ⁓ that's what we are gonna be looking at at John twelve thirteen. This guy's like, ⁓ you know what? Interest is gonna be off, it's been off for the entire week, but I have the internet. If you want the internet, you should come to my house. People are gonna go there. And ⁓ even those who who don't use the internet, maybe they use the internet at night, the entire day they have no time for the internet, they are gonna go there. Because the entire week they have been missing something. But we're not missing anything on the internet because everybody's been off. But in this case, you just imagine such kind of a world, and Jesus is coming telling these people, I am the light of the world. ⁓ John eight, twelve to thirty, where we're gonna see a life that embraces the gospel and walks in the light advances the kingdom of God. The life that has embraced the gospel, and that gospel is the light. And that walks in that light advances the kingdom of God. Starting with verse twelve to sixteen, where we see Jesus gave you a life when you started it for him. The woman says to follow him, Jesus gave you the life. And when you say like a twelve, again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will walk will have 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 them, Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I come from and where I'm going. But you do not know where I come from or where I'm 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. Jesus speaking to this audience that he is the light of the world. And when I say I'm light of the world, there are two statements in this statement. One saying, I am there, I am the light. Just I am, that's a big statement. Reminding them that he is the one who was with Moses in the burning bush, that I am, I am that person. Say I am I was with Moses in the burning bush. As Jeff Ford puts it like this: the name I am carries the promise of God's presence with his people and his action for his people. It's like I am the person who was there with Moses. And then we see. That I am, then the second second statement, the light of the world. When you look at the light for them during that season, it was shaded with fire. Where there was light, there was fire. Probably there was fire. You couldn't see the lights and there was no fire. And so maybe now we can say, ⁓ there may be light without fire because the barbu is here, but there's no fire. But to them, when you could see the lights, it means like something is burning. There is fire over there. And if there's fire over there, I think I am the light, like I am the presence of God, I am here. Because to them where there is light, there was God. And as as he mentioned, like I am was there with Moses, I am, I am, I was I was there with Moses in the burning bush. He's intellectually telling the audience that he is God himself. And what you are seeing, you are seeing God Himself. In his presence there is no darkness. The light meant divine presence of God. And there are two arguments when he's saying now that statement of I am the light. There are two arguments he's trying to address. The first argument is addressing the people who have been influenced by the philosophers of that time. Who believe, like you know what? Where there is light, that's where. Knowledge is, that's where wisdom is. When there is light, that is the ultimate reality. Where there is light, you have to be knowledgeable to be there. And the philosophers are influenced people, and many people decide you know what? You must be in the light to have knowledge. When you have no light, it meant like you are what you are ignorant. You don't know anything. And if you don't know anything, it means like you have to seek the light. And now the light comes like I am the light. Don't seek the light. I am the light, I'm here, I'm present here. And those who want to know, to have knowledge, to have wisdom, they should come to me because I have the truth. And the question is, do you want the truth? Then follow Jesus, he has the truth. Then the second argument is talking to the people who were under the law of Moses. And they under the law of Moses, but they could not follow the law of Moses. And if you're not following the law of Moses, it means like you are under darkness. They had the knowledge about the law, but they had no faith in the law. This one reminds me about one of the trips we made with my wife when we just got married. ⁓ with our friend. We went to the game park. And the rules in the game park they are clear. You don't get out of the game park. You don't get if you get a game park, you don't get out of the vehicle. You have to be in the vehicle. You can see the animals, you can enjoy the animals. And for us, like I'd never seen the the leopard closer. And ⁓ you could say, like, yeah, you are in Africa, leopards are everywhere. No. I'd never seen the leopard closer. And then like we are with this driver, we are driving around the leopard rock. And ⁓ he said, like, the leopard is always here, but we have to find the leopard. We drove around three times, we haven't seen the leopard, and then we spotted the leopard. And then we drove around, but it's not it's not coming out. Then being wise enough, I said, okay, I should he said, like, let me switch off the car and let the car move. So that leopard will come out because there's no sound. And he switched off the car. And the car is not moving. Being wise enough, I got out of the car to push the car. And the car started moving. But the leopard is looking at me. We at that moment we obeyed the rules of being there in the in the park with our car, but I disobeyed the rule. I didn't have the faith in their rule of like don't get out of the car because I was just like a few meters from the leopard. And I think by God's grace it didn't jump on me, but I could die because there's no way I could even jump in the car into like in that split second. But the same time like they had the knowledge about the entire the entire law, but they had no faith in that law. And now Jesus telling them like you had no faith in this law, it means like you are living the darkness. Now I am the light. Now two groups of people. People have been influenced by the philosophers of that time. And now the people who had the knowledge about the law, but they could not obey the law, both of those groups are living the darkness. And just telling them, like, I am the light, I am here. Come to me, because I'm the one who can save you. Only Jesus can save you from the darkness. No one can save you. Jesus was sent on the mission to buy people of people of God from darkness to bring them to the light. Without Jesus, you cannot be saved. You cannot come out of your darkness. He is on the mission. Of getting of saving people from the darkness. Jesus sets man free from the darkness. Without him, we all perish in that. You may be here and so, like, you know what? That's too much. I have a lot of sins. There's no way Jesus can save me. Or like my sins are too heavy. You know what? Every Christian, everyone who is here, who is a believer, was once like that. He was ashamed of his sin. He was ashamed to come to Christ. He would fear that, like. God cannot forgive him. But you know what? When that person put faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ served him. And that's what we see in Ephesians, when Paul writes the to the people in Ephesus, in Ephesians chapter two, verse chapter two, verse one to five, it's like, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of air. The spirit that is now at work. In the sons of disobedient, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love which He loved us, even when we are dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace we have been saved. We are like that. We were disobedient people. We were ashamed of our sin. But God being rich in mercy, when we put our faith in his son, he saved us. He made us his people. Following Jesus means like you become, you bec you have become you you have become part of the family of God. And now, because we are following the light, it means We have the lights. We possess the light. Now the question comes like big debate. Do you become the source of the light or you become just you possess the light? In this case, we possess the light. We are not becoming the source of the light because Jesus Himself, he's the source of the light. When Hebrews is when when Paul writes that not Paul, ⁓ the right of Hebrews, people will say Paul, but the right of Hebrews will say in Hebrews chapter one, verse three, he is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint means he is the source of light. For as we possess the light. Now the question when you are possessing the light, what happens when you possess that light? Matthew 5, 14, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. We are possessing the light. It means like the argument is we have to advance the gospel. We can't now hate the light. We are possessing it. Means like we have to advance the light. We have to walk in that light. And that's like that's becomes the challenge for everybody. It becomes a challenge for every Christian that we don't just get this light. and seat, but we have now two shine. Mean living a life that's missional centered, walking a life that glorifies God, walking in the light in a way that people they will look at us and embrace the kingdom of God. In verse 17 to 20 said, your salvation is certain because of your relationship with Jesus. In this case, like your salvation is certain. Like if you have no relationship with Jesus, then your salvation is uncertain. But for those who have relationship with Jesus, their salvation is certain. And just like, it is certain. Like, don't even question about it. When Jesus is speaking, it's now like in the conversation, he's in this place ⁓ called the treasure, which was known as the court of the women. It was a section at the temple. And in this section, Jesus, when was speaking, Like everybody could hear him, because this section is where women could gather at the temple. The women they couldn't go beyond this place in the temple. They could only go beyond this place for the purpose of sacrifice. But if there's no sacrifice, this is where they could sit and listen, whatever they're teaching or what anything at the temple. And Jesus is standing over there, having this conversation with people, telling people this and this and this, and then male people were there, which means like women are listening. They are not cut off. Men are listening, they are not cut off. The other Jews are listening. And then the Gentiles who had just converted Judaism are listening. Because this is a crowd. These people are following him because they wanted the bread, they want to eat the bread. And now everybody's listening. It gave him a good position for people to listen. And they are listening, telling them, like, you know, people, listen. This is the testimony. I come from God. God is my father. And no one is they are not buying into that. They reject his testimony. The testimony was that he is the son of man or is the son of God, that he comes from God. They rejected that. He's like, You know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would now you you would know my father also. They reject that testimony. It's like, no, we don't know you. But among those people who rejected him, we are the Pharisees who are sitting, What are you saying, man? What are you talking about? At this point, when they are rejecting him, they thought that Jesus had crossed the line. Because there's no way in the real life he could call himself to be the Son of Man or to be somebody who is coming from God. He had crossed the line. And that statement meant that he has to be killed. And that's why Jesus in verse 17 is quoting. is making is quoting almost Deuteronomy seventeen, but in verse seventeen it's like In your law it's written that the testimony of two people is true. If it's one person, that's not true. But two people and three and beyond is true. And then when he quotes to them Deuteronomy, he tells them like Deuteronomy seventeen six like on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses, the one who is to die shall be put to death. A person should not shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. And now it's like you won't kill me, but like my testimony is true. And I have the witness. I am the witness and the father is the witness. To them, that was a blasphemy. And they wanted to arrest him and they wanted to kill him. It's like there's no way you're gonna kill me because I have the witnesses. I am the witness and the father is the witness too. When it says in verse eight, I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the father who sent me bears witness about me. That statement was already enough for him to be to be arrested. They were not waiting for anything. Now it's time to arrest him after that statement. He had made himself equivalent with Moses. And they were okay with that. It's like, you what? We're equivalent with Moses who deliver us the law. We are okay with that. But now he has crossed the line. He's making himself to be God. It's like, no, that's beyond. You are call if you are, if you are, if you say God is your father, it means like you were God Himself. ⁓ no, it's like that's it that's enough. Now it's time to arrest him and kill him. However, the dilemma is that rejecting the testimony of Jesus that he is the son of man or the son of God means that you are rejecting the gospel. And that's what they are fear too. It's like we are reject if we reject him, we are rejecting the message. And at this point they are confused. Can we arrest him or we should wait a minute? Because if they arrest him, they are rejecting the gospel, they are rejecting God. This ⁓ and with that they it they had no space to make an adjustment. Jesus was not fitting their box they had made that would fit the Messiah. They had their own box. They had made their own box, like this is the box. If the Messiah or the Son of Man comes, this he has to fit our box. Not according to scripture, but according to what they have made. And Jesus wasn't fitting in their box. This is like saying, like. You know what? I love Jesus so much. I love him so much. When he does, fill in the blank. Jesus is my savior when he does. I will follow Jesus when He gives me Fill in. That's like you have made Jesus according to your your thoughts. And that Jesus you have made has to fit in that box. If he doesn't fit in that box, you reject him. He's not my Jesus. He doesn't fit my box. And that's a dynamic we are in. It's like the moment we reject him, people are gonna look at us, they're gonna be cra these are crazy people. They read the scripture every day, but they're rejecting the Messiah. And now they have either to accept him or they have to let him go. And what they did, they had to let him go. Because when it's like the hour, by that time, the hour has not yet come. They didn't arrest him, they let him go. Even though he wasn't fitting their the their box, they had to let him go. But Jesus, as the Messiah, was coming to pay the price, to pay for the ransom for his people to be saved from the From the slavery of sin. But at this point, when he was speaking with them, the time has not yet come already. And when the time came, he went on the cross and paid the price. And paid for the ransom for his people. He was crucified when the time reached and paid that price that you and me would be saved. And with that price we are set. We are saved by his blood. He went on the cross and redeemed us from the kingdom of darkness. The price was paid. And we may think, no, it wasn't paid. No, he paid a price. His resurrection is the receipt that the payment was received. And when resurrected, his cast, like you know what? I've already made a payment. You are free. I've paid a price. Now you belong to God. You no longer belong, you no longer people who belong to the kingdom of darkness. Now you belong to the kingdom of light. Because the price has been paid. The payment has been received. If you have no faith in the Son of Man who paid the price, who is gonna pay for your ransom? Who is gonna pay? He's going to make the payment. The son went on the cross. He made a payment that we can be redeemed from the slavery of sin. And in verse 8, continue chapter 8, verse 21 to 30, where we see, as beavers, let us fix. You fix your eyes on the cross and ask Jesus always to lead you. You know what, we we we we can say we love Jesus so much, no problem. But like when our eyes they are not our eyes are off the cross. Our we don't our eyes are are not on Christ, but it's just a reminder that since you've been you've been saved, now fix your eyes on the cross and ask Jesus to always lead you. Jesus having that conversation with these ⁓ with these people, telling them like, you what? I I I I come from God. I am the son of man who is karmic. Like, no, that testimony is wrong. And now he continues this conversation, thing like, because at this point they are rejecting him. They are not embracing that gospel. They have refused. They are not embracing that gospel. Jesus continued. That's you guys you have received you have you have heard that gospel, but you have refused to listen. And it means like now. It's gonna be too late for you. The time is coming, it's gonna be too late for you to be saved. Either you have to believe I'm the son of man who has come to pay the price, or reject it and die in your sins. And if you die in your sins, the penalty you are gonna end up in hell. You never come out of that. And it's gonna be too late. when you die. But since you have time now, now you have to believe. And everybody's like, No, what you are speaking is wrong. That's what we see. And to them, that message of Jesus it was a blasphemy. But because how could they knew him? He's a son of a competitor. They knew where he was coming from. And I think there's no way you can be the son of man. There is no way you can be our Messiah. And with that you we we we cannot believe in you because you cannot redeem us. The message they were rejecting it was the message of redemption from sin and they refused it. In verse 24, I told you that you would die in your sin. For unless you believe that I I am He, you will die in your sin. Unless you believe. Are they willing to believe? I don't think so. Because the way the story is going, they're not willing to believe that he is the Son of Man. Without believing in Jesus as the Son of Man, it is certain that they are gonna die in their sin. And without you believing that Jesus Is God who paid that price is very certain that you're gonna die in your sins. Here we see Jesus giving opportunity to them to embrace the gospel before it's too late. And Jesus gives us the opportunity to embrace the gospel before it's too late. That when we hear the gospel, it's our time to embrace the gospel before it's too late. In verse 27, it's like they did not understand that he was 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 am not, I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. This event is talking about that it's gonna you see the man lifted up, the son of man lifted up. This event will confirm to them that Jesus is the Messiah, but at that point it's gonna be too late for them. They will not understand. because that time had already gone. He said like when when you now is telling the Jews who are listening, you the Jews who are here at the temple, who are listening, when you people Have lifted up, when people have lifted up the Son of Man or the Son of God, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, when you have crucified the Son of Man, then you will know that I am again going back to the great statement. I am. Then you know that I am God, I am the Messiah. At that point, you know that I am. He is talking about his crucifixion. And making a reference from Numbers twenty-one, nineteen. When he says when Moses like they are in the desert, they are going to the promised land and like people are dying from the snake bites. And now Moses makes the the bronze serpent. And here Moses tell here God tells Moses. So Moses made Moses records ⁓ the recording, what happened? So Moses made a bronze serpent. and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bite anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. Like the question is, were people being made alive healed because of looking at the serpent or because of the faith in the serpent the faith in the bronze serpent? It was they are being saved because of what had happened. Like the faith. They told them to look. If you don't look means like you have no faith. You have to look at the blonde supper so that you can get well. And now Jesus telling them, like, you know what, when the Son of Man is lifted up, that's when you will know that I am He, I am ⁓ God. Numbers twenty one nine points to the crucifixion of Jesus and how the Messiah will be treated when he comes. And this is exactly how Jesus was treated. And when Jesus is quoting, he's reminding them that this is gonna happen to me because I am the Messiah. Did they believe that? No. Even they couldn't believe their own scripture. That was that was the scary part. Even they knew the scripture but they couldn't believe their own scripture. But As Jesus was confirming them that he's gonna be crucified, that he's gonna be hanged on the cross, he's calling them like now it's time for you to put faith in me, because I'm gonna be hanged for the sins of this world. The and like if you if I'm gonna be hanged, if you have no faith in me, now you cannot leave. And now the question comes are we willing to look at at Jesus Christ to save us? And if he has saved us, are we willing to fix our eyes on him to continue to walk in the light so that he can be glorified and he can be he can be worshipped. Those who look at the cross are saved. Because by that time there were there were three crosses when Jesus was crucified. But there's only one cross that could save people. There's only one cross that saves people. It's the cross in the middle, the cross Jesus was hanged on. Just as the people in the desert were being saved, by fixing their eyes on the bronze serpent, the same way we fix our eyes on the cross and we're being saved. And like, It was only one cross that could save man and that cross was in the middle. That cross Jesus Christ was hanged on. Before you were saved, before you were saved, you looked at the cross to be saved. But now you have been saved. You are called to continue to fix your eyes on the cross so that you can live a gospel centred life rather than human centred life. You may be here, you hear that gospel every Sunday, but you have never given your life to Jesus Christ. Do not wait for the return of Jesus. That it be that will be too late for you. Do not miss this opportunity as you hear the gospel to come to faith. As they missed the opportunity to fellowship with God in human being or in human form. They missed that opportunity. Don't miss the opportunity to come to God. For they were waiting and looking forward for the coming of the Messiah. They were waiting. Everybody was waiting, the Messiah is coming. And they were looking. For the coming of the Messiah. When is he coming? And he came and they didn't even bless him. And for us, we look at what the Messiah did on the cross and say, Thank you, Jesus, what you did on the cross. What he did when he overcame the power of death, sin. Grave when he became victorious over them and we wash him because he has done it for us. He has won it for us, he has given us victory. Now it's our time to walk in light, it's our time to wash him, it's our time to advance his kingdom because of what he has done for us. He calls us to wash. And this is the moment maybe sometimes we may feel like, you know what? I am so broken, I am so I'm a sinner. You know what? I I don't deserve to be saved. No. His grace is enough. He went on the cross to die for you, to die for the worst of the worst. He was not the worst of the worst. He went to die for the wicked. He didn't go there to die for the righteous people. He went there to die for the wicked. And he died for us. And he's calling us like, embrace me because I am the light of the world. Move up from your darkness and follow me. And if you have moved up from your darkness and you are following me, now walk in the light. Be missional in your life. Advance the kingdom. Let people see. That we have been redeemed by the blood of the Son of Man on the cross. May you embrace Jesus today and walk in light. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you, we praise you for today. We pray that God may you save your people and may you encourage those who have heard that gospel and who have believed in that gospel. Encourage them in a way that they will worship you and they will seek you. They will live a life that proclaims your goodness. God with prayer. For those who Who are doubters? They doubt the message and they feel is still far from them. We pray that God may you just take away their doubts and allow them to embrace the gospel and come to worship you. Thank you, Father, for this beautiful moment that we are able to be here to worship you through singing and through preaching. God, I pray that may your kingdom continue to advance and may you be worshipped. In Jesus' name, we pray and give thanks. Amen.