I Am The Light Of The World

Good morning. Good to see you all today and happy Thanksgiving.

At the beginning of the month, most of us, if not all of us,

we probably shared our opinions over the issue of daylight savings time.

You remember doing that? I think I even got a thumbs down from someone over here.

Some of you are loving this most recent change and if you had your way,

you would never change it back.

Some of you are like, eh, it happens every year. I get it twice a year.

I'm just going to go with the flow. It's not that big of a deal.

And some of you, if you're being quite honest, you are just downright grouchy about the time change.

And I would just say to you, that group, a couple of amens of people.

All right, right, right.

Those of you who are grouchy, I guess I'm talking directly this way.

Hang in there. Spring is coming. But one thing I think we would all conclude

when we come back to talking about this Daylight Savings thing is that life, light is essential.

Light is essential to our lives. You put it right up there with food, water, air.

Light is essential. It's a key to our lives. That is a fact.

I think we would all agree with that.

That includes like for our physical lives, that light is important.

For our spiritual lives, light is important. If you think through all the religions

that are out there, including Christianity with this, there is this symbol of

light that is always represented.

It's always represented as a good thing. It's always represented as a direct

contrast to darkness and evil.

Today, we are starting a new but short two-week series called Shine.

It's about light, the kind of light that Jesus taught about.

Turns out, if you didn't know this, light is a major theme throughout the Bible.

As a matter of fact, the first spoken words of God in all the Bible are, let there be light.

It's first mentioned in the book of Genesis, the very first book.

God creates the heavens. God creates the earth. It's void.

It's without form. And then he says this, light exists.

And there was light. If you fast forward to the end of the Bible,

the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, chapter 21, death is no more.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Things are radically different. There's a new heaven, a new earth,

a new city for Christians to be living in.

And John, the author of Revelation says this in verses 23 and 24, follow along with me.

The city, it does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it because God's glory illuminates it.

The whole place shines with his glory.

And its lamp, like the focus point there, its lamp is the lamb, a reference to Jesus.

And the nations, the Christians will walk in its light. How cool is that?

To live in a place That light, the source of light, it flows directly from God's shining glory. Woo!

The bookends of the Bible, Genesis to Revelation.

It is about removing darkness and bringing in light. It's about removing darkness.

It's one of the ways that you could sum up the entire storyline of the Bible.

Like every page of the Bible has its purpose.

All the pages of the Old Testament, all the pages of the New Testament,

all the pages, all throughout.

They have this consistent theme, this consistent moving people out of darkness and into light.

And on one of those pages is John chapter eight and verse 12,

a primary place that we will stay here for this morning.

Jesus said these words, I am the light of the world.

Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of light.

I hope today to present, I want to make three points. I want you to grasp,

learn, know, memorize, and above all that, believe.

Mario referenced the last series that we just came through with changed.

One of the ways we can change and grow spiritually is when we have right thoughts

about God, when we think correctly about him.

And today, I want to be the mouthpiece that says things about God that are true that you believe.

And that you hold and cling to. So here we go, first of them.

First, Jesus makes the assertion that walking in the darkness is a bad thing and not a good thing.

Now, he's talking about spiritual darkness, not physical darkness, that's true.

But I think, if you've lived any life at all, I think you can understand his

point from our own perspective and our own experiences of walking in the dark physically.

Have you ever walked in the dark?

I mean, like, the really, really dark. Like, it's dark, dark.

Anyone ever done any of that? Two people? Oh, boy. Okay, well.

I have. I thought there would be, like, hundreds of stories from people in this

room that could share about walking in the dark. And, oh, boy,

I bet there would be some funny stories.

I bet there would be some sad stories. And certainly, there'd be some scary stories.

That's where the boogeyman lives. Like, that would happen, I think.

But maybe not from this group. First service seemed to be a thing.

We're better than they are. They're better, okay. So I'm going to ask,

how many of you have ever been afraid of the dark?

Oh, okay. There's more honesty coming. Good. How many of you are still afraid of the dark?

I personally, I have my own collection of scary stories. I certainly have them from my kids.

I actually, I want to share a story, and it relates of a scary story that my

dad used to tell. I believe it's true. I believe that.

He tells of a story about a dark night when a robber entered into our home.

My sister and I were a very young age. We were living in a house in Pennsylvania,

and he had made his way upstairs.

I think the story is he made his way upstairs and was in my sister's room.

And if I'm being honest, I've always thought, like, I really hope he was in her room, not mine.

You know, big, big, brave guy.

And somewhere, and somehow, God's sovereignty, my mom across the other side

of the house in their room, she heard this noise.

And she was like, Steve, Steve, someone's in the house.

And my dad was like, Nancy, just go back to bed.

And then she was like, Steve. And he was, and probably borderline TMI.

He gets out of bed and only his underwear. And he starts making his way.

I guess it could have been worse, right?

He's making his way across the house.

And somehow he must have spooked the robber because the robber makes a bolt,

a dash down the stairs and out to the front door to get his escape.

And my dad in hot pursuit, this is how the story goes,

He gets to the bottom step, and he has a complete crash and burn because of

the toys that were piled up at the bottom of the steps. They didn't get put away that night.

I don't know what my sister was doing, but she didn't do it.

And there he is, sprawled out, crashed, and the robber makes his way down the street.

That was a very scary story at the time. Now, we do get to laugh.

Everything was fine, as best I know.

There was a new rule in the house. Next day, no more toys allowed on the bottom step.

But it was a scary, it was a dangerous time.

And that's the point.

Darkness is dangerous. That's the attitude of the Bible when it comes to spiritual darkness.

What does it mean, walking in darkness? Well, it is a reference that is used

throughout the Bible. It talks about living in a habitual, sinful lifestyle.

It's characterized by persistently just being involved, engaging in activities

that, quite frankly, God hates.

And the term walk in darkness, walk is often used as a metaphor to describe daily living.

This is how you live. A person that walks in spiritual darkness lives this way.

And here in John 8, I am not going to give the full story. So you've got homework to do on that.

You can read the whole thing for you. But I'm going to tell you that here in

John 8, in verse 12, all around it, Jesus is giving a warning and a challenge

to a very specific group of people.

He is warning and challenging anyone who claims to have a relationship with

God, but lives and acts like they don't.

I think that's a real thing that still exists today. He's talking to people

who sound like Christians with their words, but their actions say differently.

And you need to know this about Christianity. I'm sure most of you do that Christianity

goes way, way, way, way, way beyond just words.

It is usually confirmed through actions.

So walking in spiritual darkness, it has less to do with what is said and more

to do with what is lived and living in spiritual darkness,

according to Jesus, I want you to know, believe, claim, hold to,

cling to is dangerous, bad, and wrong.

And he is concerned for this kind of people, this group of people,

so much so that he tells them a story.

It is a concern for people who say, I know God, but consistently live like they don't.

So that's the definition of walking in darkness.

Here's the story that he goes to tell. And I wanna say, let me give a little backdrop.

I think it's very helpful to understand where we're headed this on knowing when

and where Jesus was when he made this statement here in John 8,

John 8:12

verse 12, when he said, I am the light of the world.

He spoke these words at a time.

Let me say this. I think he could have spoke these words at any time and it

would have been like, oh, that's got to impact. That's good.

But he spoke these words here, directly at a time where there was this huge festival going on.

He seems to have a knack for saying the right thing at the right time.

He said it during a week-long festival. It was a festival known as the Feast

of the Tabernacle or the Feast of the Booths.

It was It was a week long where people literally, like they were staying in tents.

I don't know if that sounds fun to you or not, but this is what the Israelites

were doing. They still observe this, they still celebrate this today.

Today it's called Sukkot in Israel.

And it would be a whopper of a time to proclaim, I am the light of the road.

It would be the perfect time to say it, and here's why.

Every night, one of the nightly traditions of this festival holiday was to have

priests and they would light these massive oil lamp bowls, if you will,

that were located, elevated up high in the temple court area.

Historians describe this as a bright, bright glowing light that came out and

it would illuminate the entire city of Jerusalem.

I don't know if you went to light up Ocala last night, I kind of think Ocala

probably didn't match the same type of lighting up that was going here.

That's not no disrespect to our city. I love it, Ocala.

But here, this Jewish event, it is commonly described as a stunning, shining visual.

As these priests would climb up a ladder to these elevated lights,

and they would light these gigantic bowls, bulls.

It's reported that they lit these bulls using their old expired undergarments as the wick.

Now, I'm not sure why Underwood has made the sermon twice today, but it's kind of odd.

But nonetheless, that is what the historians report, that that's how they lit them.

And the point of lighting these big, powerful lights is this.

It was done to serve as a reminder of God's consistent presence being with them and leading them.

Like that's what they are remembering. They were remembering the 40 years of

wandering in the wilderness that as they were going through,

that there was a light that led them.

So here we have this now Jewish holiday for the Jews.

And each night they would light

these lights and they remember God's faithfulness. And it was a party.

There was celebration, lots of music, lots of food, lots of dancing,

and lots of shining light.

And now with all these people gathered and all these massive lights shining

somewhere during this celebration, Jesus steps up and says, I am the light of the world.

Perfect timing, Jesus.

The lights that you see here, they are limited.

They light up Jerusalem. I light up the entire world.

These lights that you see, they burn temporarily. They're going to make it through

the night and then they're going to be extinguished.

I am the eternal light of the world that never ends.

Jesus rocks the festival, seizes the moment, declaring just as the previous

generations followed the light in the wilderness, I am the light to be followed.

That's the second point to grasp, second way to grow spiritually,

to believe, to trust that Jesus is the light.

Jesus used the lights at the festival, used to represent God's faithfulness

and presence and his leading,

the leading of the Israelites in the wilderness as an opportunity to say that

he was the light to be followed.

He is the light that will lead people.

Now here's the third thing to grasp. I think this is a very extremely important

point for us to comprehend.

Jesus saying, I am the light of the world has a major focus on the two words, I am.

This is not the only time that Jesus would say this type of a phrase.

He said it several times, actually. And every time, or most of the time, he says, I am.

It is usually followed with an illustration or a metaphor attached to it, just like we see here.

This is how he was teaching the people then. It's how he still teaches and works

in people's lives today.

So if you don't know this, you need to know this about Jesus.

Anytime he spoke the words, I am, he is declaring himself to be God, to be the Messiah.

And of course, this is true.

And of course, just as in Jesus's day, as is now, there were people that when

he made that type of proclamation, they became very angry.

To the point that they were looking to even kill him.

It's still true today. Declare Jesus as God and some people will still get angry.

But it's interesting here that the words I am, they originally come from a time

when God spoke to Moses through a burning bush when he was out there in the

wilderness. Anyone remember that story?

It's in Exodus chapter three, where Moses, he asked God, God,

if the Israelites ask, who's sending me?

Who's telling me to do all of this stuff. What do I tell them?

And God responds, tell them, I am who I am is sending you.

I am is one of the names of God.

Everyone at this time would unquestionably, they would unquestionably,

they would understand the name I am was a name for God.

And now Jesus is repeatedly, he's using the same name to identify himself.

So you get the picture here? You've got a guy walking around town,

emphatically declaring himself to be, I am.

That would get the attention of people. And it did.

And when Jesus declares himself to be, I am, there's this metaphor that he always

attached, seemingly always attached to it.

There are seven times in the book of John, Here they are, in John 6, I am the bread of life.

Jesus makes that statement right after he's feeding 5,000 people in the wilderness.

You talk about making a right statement at the right time.

I am the bread of life. In John 8, I'm the light of the world.

We'll come back to that one. In John 10, I am the door.

Jesus is emphatically making a statement. No one enters the kingdom of heaven

except through me, Jesus Christ.

I am the good shepherd in chapter 10.

Portraying what does a shepherd do a shepherd

provides great love great caregiving great protection no matter what it may

even cost the shepherd and we know what it costs jesus the shepherd his life

chapter 11 i am the resurrection and the life.

He makes this statement right before

raising lazarus from the dead he has a knack for making a big splash with his

comments and his actions first john 14 i am the way the truth and the life,

Heavy emphasis. I am not a way. I am not. I am not a truth. I am not a life.

I am the way, the truth, the life, in the same way that he is not a light.

He is the light of the world.

And finally, in John chapter 15, I am the true vine.

John 15 · chapter mention

Just as a branch has to be attached and connected to its life source,

the vine, to produce fruit in the very same way.

A person has to be connected to Christ to have that kind of power to produce

that kind of fruit of living.

So Jesus makes these statement time and time again throughout the book of John. I am.

And there are so many layers that can just be peeled away from these statements.

For the one that we are looking at today, I am the light of the world,

layer upon layer upon layer of his goodness can just keep folding and unfolding

and unfolding. I am light.

I am light of truth.

Truth is revealed because of the light. I am the light of wisdom.

I am the light of holiness. I am the light of joy.

I remove the darkness of sadness and sorrow. I am the light of hope.

I am the light of eternal life.

So that is the third point, that throughout the book of John,

Jesus declares himself as I am.

And each time, he is declaring himself to be God. you need to know that believe that cling to that.

Now, before we go to the Lord's Supper, I want to make two closing conclusions, I guess. One is this.

Jesus, I am the light of the world, means there is no darkness so great that he cannot overcome it.

There is no darkness too dark for Jesus.

John 1, 1 through 5. In the beginning was the Word.

Word is another name for Jesus. In the beginning was the Word Jesus.

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

He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Jesus,

and apart from Jesus, not one thing was created that has been created.

Life was in him, and that life was the light of men.

That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

Jesus shines stronger than darkness.

Jesus shines longer than darkness. Jesus overcomes darkness.

This is how Jesus is ending darkness, bringing in light into the world one person at a time.

Do you remember those who are saved now and once were unsaved,

not a Christian? Do you remember the days of not being a Christian?

When Jesus shines into a person's life, darkness is no longer the master.

Darkness is no longer the bully that owns you and rules over you.

Before a Christian, we are left to our own. You can do it, Doug.

We've got this fighting spirit in us. You can do it. Try harder. Keep the rules.

Keep going. don't stop mentality. We've got our own set of good morals,

maybe, and we're really self-disciplined.

Eh, ain't good enough.

And all of that changes when a person becomes a Christian. There's this magnificent power swap.

What once was a spirit of darkness controlling is now replaced with Holy Spirit controlling.

There's a new master, and it is a life game changer.

So that's the first conclusion, that there is no darkness too dark for Jesus.

The second conclusion of Jesus, I am the light of the world,

that light needs to be followed.

Follow the light. Follow me and you will not walk in darkness.

Follow don't follow follow jesus don't follow jesus it's the proverbial spiritual why in the road.

Because here's the thing, Jesus is on the move.

Just like the light was on the move before the Israelites and they were to follow

there in the wilderness.

When the light moved, they moved.

Jesus now has spent his life telling people to follow him.

To the rich young ruler, he said, sell what you have. give to the poor, come and follow me.

He still says that to people today, to his disciples, both the ones that were

with him in the day, disciples that are now.

He says, come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Like we should be talking, like how's the fishing going in your pond?

How's it going? How's the fishing going? Following closely to Jesus,

to all would-be followers. Deny yourself.

Pick up your cross, take up your cross. Come, follow me.

Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow me.

And to be real, real clear, this is not the same kind of following that we are

offered in social media.

How many followers do you have? I'm following this many people.

I am super thankful that I do not do social media, like very little.

I think it's really a freedom.

But I watch people follow, and they do this. This is what I observe.

Oh, like.

Heart.

That is not the following that Jesus has in mind here in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

The following he has has more of the feel of a soldier reporting to a commanding officer.

Here for duty. I'm following. You're telling me to do that? I'm doing that.

It has the idea of this dedicated teacher with this dedicated student.

The teacher is giving it all he's got, telling, instructing,

and teaching, and teaching. and the student is just this big old sponge taking

it in. I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it.

Following has this idea of I'm listening, listening, listening and learning, learning, learning.

Following has this idea of I'm watching, I'm watching, I'm watching and I'm

doing, I'm doing, I'm copying it, I'm doing it.

That's the idea that Jesus has here to follow. Follow.

John 8, 30 through 32. As he, as Jesus was saying these things,

I am the light of the world. Don't walk in spiritual darkness.

Follow me as he's saying these things. The next word is fantastic. Many believed in him.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you continue in my word,

if you continue following in my word, you really are my disciples.

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

And to that, I say, and I hope you say it with me, thank God Jesus is still shining.

And thank God people are still believing and still following the light of the world.

It's how he's removing darkness, one person at a time. Let's pray.

I was thinking through like there's a little song that I remember singing shine Jesus shine,

do it Jesus do it shine keep shining keep removing darkness peel back the evil

and the wrong reveal your gospel light,

Father, let us have a heart. We do have a heart.

I want to pray for all who are in spiritual darkness, whether in this room,

in Ocala, in Florida, in the world,

that the spiritual darkness would be removed,

that that evil bully would be crushed and replaced with the Holy Spirit and a new master.

That there would be the continuation of your mission and followers of Jesus, the light.

And Father, for those that you have already called and are following you,

what a blessing to live in community with people like this.

And my prayer would be,

that we'd be right on the heels of Jesus following really closely,

watching him really well listening with perked ears,

and then doing what you say to do and saying what you say we should say.

And why pray this way?

For your glory.

That your name would shine and receive its due worth and honor and praise,

throughout the lands.

Thank you, Jesus, for shining and being the light of the world.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.