JESUS SAID - I Am The Light Of The World // One Church Podcast, 23rd February 2026

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There are some animals that they produce their own light.

Now you may know this, some marine animals, they call it

bioluminescence. That's where you produce your

own light from the chemicals you consume or whatever.

It's pretty amazing really. And up to 75% of animals in the

water are bioluminescent because it's so dark below the surface

of the ocean, which is quite amazing.

I am not bioluminescent. I do not produce my own light.

But here's my 4 favourite animals that produce light.

So here we go. This is a jellyfish.

Look at that. We we know jellyfish.

Jellyfish that they produce their own light based on some of

the things that they consume. And yeah, they light up the sea.

And if you ever see one, I don't think you'll be thinking, nice

light. I think you'll be thinking, ah,

a jellyfish. Next up, I've never actually

seen these in real life. Fireflies.

Has anyone seen real fireflies? Are they as light as they look

on the movies? They actually are.

One day, one day maybe they'll come to scrap toft.

I don't know. How about this one?

The anglerfish, we're thinking of Finding Nemo, we're thinking

of other things like that. And one that you might be

surprised by. An animal that emits its own

light is a puffin. So you're thinking a puffin

doesn't emit light. It's a, it's a bird, but we

can't see it. But when you look at a puffin's

beak and see the UV light it emits, you see this.

Oh, that's good. And nearly all of these things,

why do they emit light? It's a mixture of things, but

usually it's for reproduction purposes.

With most animals, it's for reproduction purposes.

So light emits light. They emit light, But the rest of

us, we rely on it. John, chapter 8, verse 12 says

John 8:12

this, and it's on the screen. This is the New International

Version of the Bible. When Jesus spoke again to the

people, he said, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have

the light of life. So John, Amen.

Indeed, John is not just my middle name.

It's the fourth gospel in the Bible.

In the New Testament, the new part of the Bible, the Gospels

are written to tell us about the life and teachings of Jesus

Christ and Jesus from the four different angles of the Gospels.

His life is wonderful, and the perspective of John's gospel,

it's really written to convince us of his glory and his

divinity. And throughout John there are

many things that happen. So there are two main sections

of John, and then a start and an end, a prologue and an epilogue.

And within this book of John you have amazing profound

statements, but there are seven I am statements of Jesus.

Maybe straight away you would know them, but the one that

we're focusing on today, the I AM statement, it's sandwiched

between two miraculous accounts. So whereas something is in the

Bible is significant, it's not just a series of stories one

after another, but when these books were composed, completely

inspired by God and written by people, we have these.

The way that a gospel is composed tells us a story as

well. It's amazing what God can speak

through His Word and we have an account, a miraculous account,

and then the declaration that Jesus said I'm the light of the

world and then another account. Those accounts are the woman who

is caught in adultery and then after a man who was born blind

and healed. But the bread of our sandwich,

which is here, the woman in adultery and the man born blind,

they help us understand the meat in the middle of the sandwich a

little bit more, where Jesus says I am the light of the

world. So first of all, light and life,

you may already know this, but life as we know it cannot exist

without light. And in Genesis one we have the

linking of light and life straight away.

Everybody say light, Everybody say life, Light and life.

There you go. That's a tongue twister for you.

OK, Genesis one in the beginning of the Bible says this.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty.

Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God

was hovering over the waters. And God said, let there be

light, and there was. So at the beginning, we have the

beginning of life as we know it, and it's light.

The first thing God says let there be light, light and life.

And at the start of John's Gospel, which we're focusing on

today, we read this prologue that I mentioned.

We read that Jesus is not just a man, He's the Son of God.

He's the word of God. He is God and this is what it

says in John chapter one. In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made.

Everything, the anglerfish, the puffin, all of him, through him

all things were made. Without Him, nothing was made

that has been made In Him was life and that life was the light

of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness has not overcome it.

The beginning of Genesis, the beginning of John Light and

life. Are you ready?

Well, let's take a little trip to the biology classroom.

You know what I'm going to say. Light and life.

Light giving birth to life. That's right.

Here is a nice grown up diagram of photosynthesis.

Everybody. I feel photosynthesis is the

thing that people who do biology in the UK, they always remember,

like you just remember photosynthesis or a diagram of

the eye, always remember that as well.

But photosynthesis is what happens in plant life.

What we have is carbon dioxide, Water and light lead to the

production within a plant of oxygen and food or energy for

the plant. It's what makes it green and

also it's what keeps our atmosphere full of oxygen.

It's incredible light and life intermingling even in nature.

Literally, light brings life. This is a truth spoken by Jesus

in John 812. This is what we've read already.

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never

walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Jesus is light and Jesus is life, but not just spoken.

Jesus shows this reality in the two accounts either side of the

statement in John 8 verse 1 to 11 and John 9.

John 8:1–11

He is light and life to a woman trapped in her sin and trapped

in the judgement of others. Jesus is light and life and he

is light and life to a man born blind.

He is light and life and changes everything because wherever

Jesus is, light is, wherever light is, life is.

And simply to say to you today, Jesus is light and life to all

who come to him. Are you lost?

Do you feel like you're dying? He is light and he is life.

He is not just light and life. Jesus is perfect light.

So we've gone biology. OK, let's go to another science.

What would you rather have? Physics or chemistry?

Good physics. I'm glad you said that.

I've got nothing prepared with chemistry.

OK, All right. We're going to the physics

classroom now. There's a man named Adrian

Rogers. He was a preacher and an author

and he speaks of the nature of light.

And this is what he says. Light is pure, light is not

changed by what it touches. He also states that light is

made-up of those 7 colours which when combined make pure white

light. And he talks about the number of

perfection in the Bible, in God's word of seven.

And I enjoyed that. Light is pure, it is not changed

by what it touches. Not just that, light is

constant. Have you ever heard of the

theory of relativity? E equals MC squared?

If I'm honest, I don't understand it.

I just know that Einstein has something to do with it.

But I do know this C in the equation E equals MC squared is

a constant that is recognised throughout the whole of

universal law, and that is the speed of light.

It's the universal constant. And what is the speed of light?

300,000 metres per second? That's fast.

That's really, really fast. But I love that.

Light is the constant. Light is victorious.

It illuminates, it reveals, and it scatters darkness.

A question is posed. How do you get rid of darkness?

Do you use a shovel? No.

Do you use a brush and sweep it away?

No. You turn on a light and the

darkness flees. Light is victorious.

Not just that, but light is vital.

We need it. It brings life, Light and life.

We've already talked about this. And light is glorious.

Have you ever watched the sunrise?

Light is glorious. And consider Jesus.

If Jesus is the light, then what does that mean about him?

Jesus is pure. Jesus touched sin, but sin

didn't touch him. Jesus interacted with sinners,

yet he was blameless. Hebrews 4 verse 15 says this.

Hebrews 4:15

We have a high priest who's been tempted in every way, just as we

are, yet he did not sin. Jesus is pure.

Jesus is constant. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8.

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Jesus is victorious. John 15 The light shines in the

darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Light overcomes darkness and Jesus overcomes all things.

Jesus is vital. John 812 As we've said, that is

the light of life and also Jesus is glorious.

The sun is the radiance of God's glory.

Hebrews chapter one. This is Jesus, perfect light,

pure, constant, victorious, vital, glorious.

And Jesus, who is perfect light, is not just a distant God who we

hope to appease with our offerings, our prayers and our

time and service. We are talking about a Saviour

who came and took our place in our nest, who stepped into our

earthly timeline and into our earthly scene.

He took on our sin and bore our transgressions on Himself.

He is perfect light, and yet He came and made himself nothing on

behalf of those He loves. And He is the same Saviour who

today longs to offer and give you life in fullness forever.

He is perfect light, and when Jesus shines, darkness cannot

exist in His presence. Now let's think for a moment

about that first story. The woman caught in adultery.

Jesus is the one who illuminates what is unclear.

He exposes what festers in the corner of a room.

He uncovers what is covered up, and he is the righteous and

perfect judge of all things. Jesus is in the business of

bringing light to darkness and bringing darkness into his

light. Now if you've ever been part of

Reach, which is our club that we run here at one church midweek

for 7 to 11 year olds, you've probably played hide and seek in

the dark. We encourage our kids around the

one centre, our church building where our offices are in the

city centre. We encourage them to go and hide

in different places around the building.

We've got some rules. No boys toilets, no girls

toilets. That's unfair.

Of course, no kitchen, no one under the stage, don't go in

anywhere that you think you wouldn't be allowed to and don't

go up any stairs. And we let them go free.

We're talking open hands, donations, they're inside,

they're ready. We're talking undercoats, we're

talking underneath tables around there, inside cupboards.

I remember once when a child find a cupboard that had some

leftover Father's Day chocolates in, and when we went into the

cupboard we found a very suspicious empty wrapper lying

on the floor. They had a good game of hide and

seek that day, but what happens is you have kids hiding

everywhere in the dark, and then you turn the light on and

suddenly what was a great hiding place, you've got a kid kind of

posed like that against a wall or hanging over something.

When the light turns on, it's amazing how clear it is where

all the kids are. And actually, sometimes it's

amazing how obvious where the kids are as well because they're

laughing and smiling and simply cannot stay quiet.

When Jesus shines his light, we see things as they really are,

and maybe that's why sometimes we can be afraid to give him

full control. Let's think about the woman that

we read in John 8 at the start of the chapter where we read

Jesus is the light of the World. What I'm going to do is just

summarise the story a little bit.

Jesus has gone to the temple courts in Jerusalem to teach,

and as he teaches he has sat down.

People would have gathered around and listened.

And in that moment, the teachers bring a woman who's been caught

in adultery, in unfaithfulness, in her marriage and stands

before the group, and they challenge Jesus because what

they're doing is not about trying to do what's right.

They're trying to catch him out. In fact, in John, it says it's a

trap to try and accuse him. And the people, the teachers say

in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.

Now what do you say Jesus? And Jesus bends down and writes

on the ground with his finger. What did Jesus write?

I'm going to speculate later, right at the end, OK, I've got 5

ideas for you, but that's fine. And their questions continue.

And Jesus looks at them and says this.

Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a

stone at her. And he continues to write in the

ground and one at a time. I love the the drama of this

moment. One at a time, starting with the

oldest and then the youngest and eventually everyone, they leave

one by one. We imagine the stones falling to

the ground and it says that just Jesus and the woman were left.

Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?

Jesus says to her, No one, Sir, she said Then neither do I

condemn you. Jesus declared go now and leave

your life of sin. So do you see Jesus heart in

this moment? He doesn't ignore the fact of

what she has done wrong, but what he does in that moment is

he gives her an opportunity to be transformed and changed from

that moment onwards. He says neither do I condemn

you, go now and leave your life of sin.

How can it be that Jesus, if he's a perfect judge, would see

the woman's sins that are things she has done wrong?

It's never denied by Jesus. But in that moment he says, now

go and leave your life of sin. Start again, start afresh.

What gives Jesus the right to say this?

It's because he was the one who would go on to be condemned.

And in this moment, Jesus almost points to the future, something

that is to come. Jesus was condemned to death on

a cross for women like that woman who was caught in

adultery, for men like the man born blind, and for people like

me and for you. Jesus was condemned to death on

a cross even though he had done nothing wrong.

He was perfect light, yet he was condemned.

Our condemnation was on him. And because of what Jesus has

done, now all of us can walk in his freedom.

We can be given another chance to begin again.

We have the opportunity of new life, but we have to choose to

walk into this freedom. And there are two choices in the

book of John and in the whole Bible.

We either live in the darkness or live in the light.

We walk in the darkness or we walk in the light.

There is no mid ground, there is no shadowy middle land, but

there are some dark sunlight. It is we walk in darkness or we

live in the light. And Jesus gives this woman a

glorious, gracious, loving opportunity to not be condemned

by the crowd around her, but to now get up, stand up, and leave

her life of sin and be changed. Did you know that no matter what

you've done, you can be saved? Did you know no matter how far

you've fallen short, Jesus is enough for you?

Do you know how no matter how much you feel condemned by

yourself and others, He took your condemnation on Himself and

now you can walk in freedom. Did you know that you can pick

yourself up out of the dust of the ground of this life like the

woman caught in adultery? You can stand and you can follow

Jesus instructions to leave your life of sin and walk in light

and freedom. This is an offer to you today.

Oh, it takes sacrifice and it takes honesty, but it's an offer

given to you. We don't know how she reacted.

We don't really know what happened to her next, but today

we have a choice of what happens next in our lives.

Finally, Jesus is not just the one who gives light and life.

He is not just perfect light, and He's not just the one who

gives light in the darkness. He's the one who gives light to

the blind. And after He declares of himself

that I am the light of the world, He then brings light to a

man who has only seen darkness. Jesus sees a man blind from

birth. And the disciples ask him.

They say, Jesus, let's talk about the man.

Let's not talk to him. Let's talk about him.

Was it his sin or his parents sin that mean he was blind?

And in that moment they've missed the point.

It's the person in front of them.

And Jesus says this, this happens so the works of God

might be displayed in him. Are you prepared today for the

reality that your blindness and struggles in life may simply be

an opportunity for a display of the wondrous works of God?

Perhaps the canvas of your pain and persistent prayer of many

years God has intended to upon which paint a masterpiece of His

Majesty, healing and restoration.

He says the words that we think about today.

Jesus says again, I am the light of the world.

He spits on the ground, he makes mud and he puts it on the man's

eyes. He says go and wash in the pool

of Siloam. And the man comes back seeing

his neighbours, friends and family are shook up.

They are they're rattled. They can't believe it.

They think it's a look alike it says.

They think it's he's got a twin and he sent a twin to try and

trick us. But anyway, the Pharisees, the

teachers of the law, they bring him in front of them and just

like the disciples, they start to grill and they start to ask

questions. They ask him, they ask his

parents, is he really, was he really born blind?

Is this really true? What's happened?

How is this possible? Who did this?

And the man's response sums up the wonder of the whole account.

Whether Jesus is a Sinner or not, I don't know.

One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see.

And the Pharisees say you were steeped in sin at birth, how

dare you lecture us? And they throw him out of their

presence. Jesus hears of this and he finds

the man because that's what Jesus does.

He hears of a man thrown out of the Pharisees presence and he

goes to find him. And Jesus finds the man and he

says this. Do you believe in the Son of Man

which is one of Jesus names? And the man says, tell me so

that I may believe in him. You have seen him.

And Jesus looks at the man and what's his response?

The man born blind, who's been miraculously healed, He looks at

Jesus and says, Lord, I believe and he worships him.

No matter what others have said or questioned or done, in this

moment, he makes a decision to say, Lord, I believe and

worships him and his words. I was blind and now I see are so

much more than just his physical eyes being opened.

He has been spiritually brought to life.

His spiritual eyes have been opened to see Jesus, the Son of

man, the one who can save and heal, but also the one who calls

him into new life and he chooses to worship.

I was a Wretch and now I'm saved.

I was lost and now I'm found. I was blind but now I see.

So today, how do we how do we now take some of the truths

we've talked about and where do we go from here?

What's our next step? I'd suggest to you today that if

our next step is to go good one. Jesus, fantastic.

You're the light of the world. Thank you very much.

Coffee, flapjack, one of those little brownies.

If you, if you get there quick enough, little shortbreads, have

a nice chat to someone and go home.

We, we perhaps have missed a moment that could change our

lives. We perhaps have missed a woman

in adultery moment. Maybe we've missed a man born

blind moment. Because right now Jesus is here

and he's able to take you on the next step.

I think the first, the first moment of response for us today

is an easier one than the second, but also it is vitally

important. It's the choice to declare.

It's a declaration. Jesus challenge to the man born

blind was this. Do you believe and he was able

to declare that he did and worship Jesus Throughout the

Bible we see these passages where we're encouraged to

believe in the light of the world to Samuel 22, it's on the

screen if you want to glance or just to listen and receive you,

Lord, in my lamp the Lord turns my darkness into light. 2

Corinthians 4 of us 4 to 6. The God of this age is blinded,

the minds of unbelievers, they cannot see the light of the

gospel that displays the glory of Christ.

God who said let light shine out of darkness, made His light

shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of

God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Some of us in the room have been blinded.

Circumstances, the work of the enemy, things that we've

experienced, hardness of heart, whatever the gods that have

governed our lives. Some of us in the room today are

blinded and we would say that we are on that category of

unbeliever or we don't know where we are in our belief.

The good news is we know someone who can help us in our unbelief

today. Jesus, the light of the world,

stands with arms open wide to you.

He says that no matter what you've done, where you've been,

or who you are, no matter the unbelief that you have lived in

today, He welcomes you to come to Him.

He says that He's the answer that you've looked for.

He's the one that you've searched for.

There is only one and His name is Jesus.

There's only one way, and His name is Jesus.

He is the truth for every question, and He is life and

light for all who seek Him. And today you might simply want

to say, yes, Jesus, today I choose to say I believe in you.

I believe in what you've done, what you've done on the cross

that we sang about and have talked about.

Today what you've done is you died in my place on the cross

and you rose to life. Look, I believe in you and I

believe in what you've done. I want to put my trust in you

and worship you. I don't know how it all looks

yet, but I want to say today that I declare that I believe

and I put my trust in you. Just like the man chose to

believe and worship Jesus after the miracle he'd done in his

life, today you can declare that you believe in him too.

And now something that's incredibly personal for each of

us, transformation, the call to leave our life of sin.

Jesus himself Stoops down into the dust.

He finds you where you were, covered in the the mess of what

you've done. Maybe you've been ridiculed by

others or maybe you've simply been lambasted by yourself.

You've been struck down by yourself and you carry the guilt

and shame of things that you've done in the past or things

you're engaged in right now. And you know it's not God's best

for you and you long to leave your life of sin, but you don't

know where it begins today. Jesus said I am the light of the

world. He offers you a life of light

and fullness of life. He offers you the opportunity of

living your life of sin. In Isaiah 9, the people walking

in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the

land of deep darkness. A light has dawned.

His name is Jesus and He can rescue us from the depths of any

sin we have found ourselves in one John one verse 5, God is

light. In Him there's no darkness.

If we claim to have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,

we lie. We do not live out the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have

fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son

purifies us from all sin. So what did Jesus write in the

dust? Some people think that he wrote

the sins of the people in the crowd and as they saw it, they

realised that they had sinned. Some people speculate that he

wrote the names of those people who had also sinned alongside

her in her adultery and then in that moment they realised they

were just victimising 1. Some people think that Jesus

wrote the 10 commandments to remind them of those things.

And some people think that Jesus was simply distracting people

from her shame because it was likely that she was indiscreetly

dressed at that moment. However, for me my favourite

observation is this. In the beginning, when God

created the heavens and the earth and said let there be

light, he took the dust of the ground and he breathed his

breath into the dust and he made a man.

And in this moment he Stoops into the dust of the ground, and

he begins to trace his finger in that dust from which he made

people, and he begins a process of recreation in her life.

New start, a new life. You're forgiven.

You're not condemned. I take your condemnation on me.

I give you an opportunity to be made new.

And Jesus, through whom all things were made, who brings

light and life to everything. Jesus begins a process of

recreation and today you were made by him.

But he wants to get down on your level, to get into your dust and

the mess of your sin and mistakes.

And he wants to recreate you. He wants to reform you.

He wants to heal your heart. And he wants to whisper a

challenge to you and say, and now it's time.

I'm not condemning you here. There's a way.

There's a way to be free. But it's time to leave your life

of sin and it's time to follow me.

It's time to walk in the light. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.