I Am: The Light of the World

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If you have a bible please open them up to John Chapter 8 This morning. I have titled the message this morning, “I Am: The Light of the World” This is the Second of the I Am Statements in this gospel the first one was I am the bread of Life, and this statement is fitting for Jesus. All the way back in the beginning of the gospel of John. We saw this idea of Jesus being light, and light is a perfect description of our Lord and savior, and as the light of the world he came for a powerful purpose, and that was to make his light known to men, and his light was not just like the Sun, and we are going to see that very well in the text we are about to get into. In todays Text he is teaching in the treasury at the temple. a place where people would give there were thirteen chests. Each chest would be in-scripted with how the money would be used.

Before we read together God’s word, pray with me…

John 8:12–30 ESV

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. 21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 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 do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

The main Idea: I want you to get this morning is this: The Great I am came as light to the world so that his children would not die in their sin.

The great I am is the savior of the world. He is this kind of light that shines so bright, it destroys the power of all darkness. It overcomes sin, and death, and saves those who are his. So that all who believe in him have light and life.

And as we see the text today, this idea will unfold today. First thing I want you to write down is this…

The Light of the world is to be followed.

If you look at the end of verse 12. Jesus says, Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Many people don’t quite understand the significance of what is means to follow Jesus. It has become a popular term to be quoted as a follower of Jesus Christ. For many its been something they have latched on to because of past hurts from denominations, or not wanting to identify themselves with something other than Christ, but I think many dont see the the sacrifice’s of following Christ.

To be a follower of Christ it means that you must give yourselves over completely to the person we follow. Its a reality that most people attach to the words follower of Christ don’t do for themselves. I am preaching to myself as I tell you this, but what we think is a following Christ often does not correlate to what it means to follow Christ. We have the terminology right but the practice wrong.

One illustration could be the north star has long been attributed to many because it always lead people in the right direction when they were lost. People would trust that the light produced by that star would get them to where they would need to get.

But even more so this text alludes to an idea found in the book of Exodus 13:21 which says this…

Exodus 13:21 ESV

21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

The people of God had this pillar that would guide them to where they needed to go. It was evidence that God was with them and directing them, and following it meant for them they were following God.

To follow God today, and proclaim that he is the light means we must actually do what he asks us to do. Luke helps us understand this in his gospel in the ninth chapter.

Luke 9:23–27 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

In order for us to completely follow the great I am we must follow him by denying all the world has to ofter and doing what he does and asks. In order to be sold out to him, we must not sell out to the world. And when we don’t sell ourselves out to the world we can have the light of life, and not the darkness. Walking in Holiness helps us follow him faithfully.

We when walk in the light darkness will have no hold upon us, and this is because the work of the light who conquered darkness for us. and we can be sure of this because of the second point I have for you today…

The light of the world testimony is true.

Again in this text we see this attacking of validity of Christ ministry, and deity, and teaching, and again they think they have Jesus in a place where they can condemn him.

The law makes it clear in the book of Deuteronomy in chapters 17 and 19 that if you don’t have the witness of two or more people than its not valid. John 5:31 Jesus himself even says,

John 5:31 ESV

31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.

And that’s what they were accusing Jesus of, bearing witness about himself.

And Jesus counters them saying John 8:14

John 8:14 ESV

14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

He is telling them my origin is heavenly, and because of where I come from I have authority that I don’t need you to tell me if what I say is true. THOUGH HE HAS MANY WITNESSES.

If you were with us several months I go I preaches a message regarding the witness of Christ. How John the Baptist, Jesus works, God the Father, The Word of God, Moses, and believers testify that Jesus is the Christ, is the great I am as we see in this test.

But Jesus goes further to say.. My Testimony is true, because I am the great I am, I am the light of the world.

He is telling them they do not know. They don’t know where he comes from or where he is going. These people talking to Jesus are thinking in flesh are judging the testimony of Christ in the flesh. I judge no one according to the flesh the way you do.

You because your in the flesh can not righteously judge me. Cannot see that I am the light of the world, and because of this you are are missing who I truly am.

But even though I don’t need your testimony to bear witness that I am true I have one. He turns the law back at them, and tells them I have someone else who testifies about me. And that is God the father. So two person’s of the trinity testifying together that Jesus testimony is true. If you remember God the Father testifies about Jesus during his baptism, and transfiguration.

So rather than them saying ok you are right they wanted to know who Jesus father is? They said who is your father? His earthly Father was Joseph many think its possible he is dead by this time, he isn’t mentioned during the ministry of Jesus. But Jesus rather than Answering says you know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me you would know my Father also.

There is this connection that Jesus tries to make over and over again to the people of Isreal, and this is whether its the common people, the Pharisees, the scribes, and its the idea if you know God the Father you will know me, and he is really accusing them of not only denying Jesus Testimony, but the Testimony of God himself. They don’t really believe God the Father, and they denying God the Son.

And despite them not believing this testimony, still no-one arrested him, because the hour had not come.

and despite all those who claimed the testimony of Christ was false, he is backed up by the law and the testimony of the Father that his witness is true. And because of his witness he can save his children from their sins.

Third point I want you to take note of today is this…

The light of the world exposes the darkness of the world.

In verse 21 there may be a breach of time that passed or it may be the same conversation, but either way Jesus speaks of some of the same things we have already seen in the text. And Jesus in the verses to follow is going to expose them, because light that he has, and this results in belief by some of them. by many of them, and those who are believing they are going to see the great I am came as light to the world so that his children would not die in their sin.

And they are going to see this because the light overwhelms the darkness.

And because they are in the darkness Jesus says they will die in their sin. And they can’t go where Jesus is going to go unless they believe in him.

And again the Jews think with their minds in physical ways. Saying if we cannot come with Jesus is he going to kill himself. There was a common belief in that time that if you killed yourself you would go to hades, to hell, and they themselves believed that they would not be going to hell. They were very self righteous.

In their interactions with Jesus they missed themselves that they needed him, and he said they would die in their sin because of that. Because they were so self righteous.

Jesus tells them in the verses to follow really two judgements. You are from below, and you are of this world. He also tells him two proclamations about himself He is from above and he is not of this world.

In exposing them he says you are from below, and of this world. And this means that they are from earth, below him who is from heaven. And in another letter John comments on what this means by saying the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. They are controlled by the evil one. Paul speaks of this in Ephesians as he says. Eph 2:1-3

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

notice the language dead. they were like those zombies you see lifeless because they belonged to the world. They followed the power or the world are disobedient. Carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind. They are children of wrath. This is the kind of people Jesus was talking to, and the kind of people we see in the world, and before we are in Christ we are the same.

And again he reminds them they are going to die in their sins. Unless they believe. So not only are they self righteous, not only do they belong to this world, they don’t believe. Though the evidence is right in front of them.

The same goes for anyone here. If you dont believe in the great I am, Jesus Christ you will die in your sins. It says unless. You either believe or you don’t its that simple. We are reminded of the promises that come to believers all the way back in John 1.

John 1:12–13 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

If you are born again we wont die in our sins, but our unbelief drives us away from the light. His light is so powerful that is breaks through our unbelief.

Some don’t believe because there ignorant of Jesus, of the word of God. And to be ignorant means lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated. And this is what they are in the text. They are ignorant of Jesus and his teaching.

For some its because they chose not to care for others they didn’t pay attention.

They wanted to know who he was and he said I have been telling you already. My existence dates back longer than you, I am from the father, a heavenly place, and I am telling you all the father is telling me to tell you, yet you dont believe you dont understand.

You don’t understand what the father is trying to teach you through me, and because of this you will die in your sins, but better yet you are going to see something in your lives that really show my light among you, that really shows your darkness, and that is when I am lifted up.

Isaiah 52:13 ESV

13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.

He will be lifted up on the cross to die for sinners, to glorify God, and he will be lifted up into heaven to return back to where he was before. And on the cross, he show who he really is..

I like what one man said, “One of the functions of the cross is to reveal who Jesus is. That is when the Jews will know the truth. By this John is not saying that all of Jesus’ opponents will be converted in the wake of the cross. But if they do come to know who Jesus is, they will know it most surely because of the cross. And even those who do not believe stand at the last day condemned by him whom they ‘lifted up’ on the cross, blinded to the glory that shone around them, yet one day forced to kneel and confess that Jesus is Lord”

There is going to be no mistaking how bright the light that comes from the cross will be to this dark world.

If any of you have ever heard of blackout curtains the idea behind them is that your room will remove any bit of light that typically comes in throughout the night and day, and with these curtain they at-least attempt to remove all the light from outside the walls, and what many people do today is they themselves put up this curtain between themselves and God hoping that the light won’t convict them of their sins, or there own need for him.

But the power of the light of the gospel is more powerful than the darkness of the world.

Jesus is confident of that very idea, because of his mission, and because of who sent him for that mission.

The Great I am came as light to the world so that his children would not die in their sin.

as we think about the three points today I wonder where you are at with your own belief and practice today.

The Light of the world is to be followed. As Christians we do alot of talking, but our action does not often correlate with what we believe about God. As followers of Christ we need to be quick to look for guidance from God and his world, and not the guidance from the outside world. With that being said. Jesus calls us to be light. We need to shine so bright so that others wonder why we follow the light of life. Wherever God has put you be light to those around you, so they ask why do you believe this way. Follow Jesus as he calls you to.

The light of the world testimony is true. Do you believe in the great I am today? Do you believe in the testimony of Jesus the scriptures speaks of. Do you believe that Jesus is the light of the world. Do you believe that he was lifted up on the cross for your sins, and that he bore the wrath for you on the Cross, and that he died on the cross, but he rose on the third day, and because of that his light is continuing to shine until this day. Do you believe it.

Finally, The light of the world exposes darkness of the world. This includes your sin. Do you let Christ, the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit poke, and prod your darkness, because honestly we all have that darkness, we all have sin, and part of growing in your relationship with Christ is seeing that he exposes our sin, Jesus died for us knowing how bad we are, but he lives knowing who he wants us to be.

We must be in this constant state of examination ready to remove all the darkness in our own lives. Many of us have been exposed to the light so long that we have forget how dark we truly are, and how much we still need the light. Christian I am talking to you. Don’t put up those blackout curtains in places you don’t want the light of the world to expose. That could be certain sins, that could be certain relationships, that could be your finances, your health, ect.

All of us have these blinders that we don’t want Christ to remove from us. If you have been a believer long sometimes you will struggle with something for so long, and the grace of God will come and remove that and the next day you are back to struggling with something else. This is because there is so much sin in our lives, and that is why we constantly need the light of the world to expose it.

Let God’s light shine so bright that you want to remove all darkness from your life.

For the unbeliever this morning, I am talking to you. Two times in this text it talks about dying in your sin if you don’t believe. There is punishment for denying Christ. Is Hell. Hell is a place totally separated from God. A place where there is the absence of light. Where darkness will forever reign, and hell is a real place, BUT Heaven is also real, Jesus is real, his life was real, his death was real, and so was his resurrection, and all who believe in him, and repent of that darkness which is sin, can have eternal life today. Because as we said the main idea today was The Great I am came as light to the world so that his children would not die in their sin. You can be his child by repenting of that sin and trusting in Christ for salvation.

How you respond to the word of God matters, respond however he leads today, and remember.. The Great I am came as light to the world so that his children would not die in their sin.

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