I Am the Light of the World

[0:00] John chapter 8 verses 12 through 21.

[0:16] This is the text for this morning's sermon.! If you would please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together. Again, out of John chapter 8 verses 12 through 21. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.

[0:33] Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the Pharisees said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true.

[0:45] 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 came from or where I am going.

[0:59] 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.

[1:10] In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself. And the Father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, Therefore, where is your father?

[1:25] Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple.

[1:37] But no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. So he said to them again, I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin.

[1:50] Where I am going, you cannot come. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Would you please be seated? Huddled together with your family, you can't help but tremble.

[2:09] Shielding the ears of your children with your hands to muffle the sounds of the wails and howls of mothers and fathers as they wake up early in the morning hours to discover the horror that their firstborn sons have died.

[2:22] You slip your hand down to the chest of your son, your firstborn. And there are comforted to feel the steady beating of his heart.

[2:38] He is alive. So are you. So is your wife and your other children. You glance down at your hand over your son's heart and you there notice the dried drops of blood on your sleeve.

[2:56] It's not your blood. Nor is it the blood of any of your family members. It's the blood of the unblemished lamb that you were instructed to sacrifice and with whose blood you were to coat the doorposts of your home with.

[3:13] The blood that has spared you from the wrath of God. As the angel of death, the destroyer has swept through the land executing one last final judgment against the Egyptians for their rejection of the one true and living God.

[3:33] They did not heed his warnings. They rejected his instruction. And had nothing to shield them from the righteous wrath of God.

[3:47] Now the time of your exodus has come. Your entire life. And for much of the past 430 years, your people have known only slavery.

[3:59] You've never ventured far from this land of oppression. But the Lord has heard your prayers and your cries.

[4:10] He is setting you and your people free. So you fasten your belt. You load what you can take. You fling it over your shoulders as you prepare to finally leave Egypt.

[4:22] But where will you go? Thankfully, that question is soon answered as often the distance you see a brilliant light. The Lord has manifested His presence in a dazzling pillar of light.

[4:38] Moving ahead of you. Guiding you on your way to freedom. But this light, the light of God, heads in a strange direction.

[4:50] It brings you to the Red Sea. You and your people don't have a boat. You don't know how to swim. You make bricks.

[5:01] But those skills won't help you now. And as you ponder this, the ground beneath your feet begins to rumble and quake, sending tremors up your spine.

[5:18] As you turn to see, Pharaoh's forces are now pursuing you. Their swords are drawn. They're ready to fight. Pharaoh has had a change of heart.

[5:30] His mournfulness has now turned to murderous rage. And you are pinned in a death trap. With the uncrossable sea before you, and Pharaoh's army closing in behind you.

[5:50] You look down to your family again, then scan the horizon to see the multitude that is with you, and you realize together with them that you have no chance to survive.

[6:06] You don't have weapons. You haven't been militarily trained for this. You cannot fight back and win. You are no match for this well-prepared and well-equipped army that is swiftly descending upon you.

[6:29] You, your family, and your people, you realize, are about to be slaughtered. The carcasses of your people will be picked apart in the wilderness by wild animals.

[6:47] This is how it will end. Total annihilation. But perhaps, you think, there's still time.

[7:00] We can plead for Pharaoh to have mercy. Yes, he will punish us. There will be punishments to bear. People will die. Pharaoh will want retribution, but some of us may be spared.

[7:15] You hope. And so you lend your voice to the masses who are now crying out to Moses, your intercessor, to apologize, to make concessions, to turn back, and to plead for mercy.

[7:29] But instead of groveling for pity from your pursuers, Moses looks at you all, and he says, Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today.

[7:44] For He continues, The Egyptians which you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent.

[8:01] Silent. Sounds preposterous. What's He talking about, you think? He must have lost His mind. But then suddenly, Moses, under the instruction of the Lord, lifts His staff, and the impossible happens.

[8:21] Your ears are instantly filled with the sound of a mighty rushing wind as it comes crashing upon the sea before you. The waters begin to part.

[8:35] The manifestation of God's presence in the cloud, which has gone before you, now repositions itself behind you. And as the sun sets, it lights up like a torch, divine and supernatural in its brightness, illuminating you and your people's path through those divided waters, which, and while simultaneously, it blocks Pharaoh's army from being able to pursue you any further as you safely cross over on dry land between these two massive walls of water arriving safely on the other side.

[9:28] And that happens throughout the night and into the early morning. Your people, you and your people, cross over safely as the pillar of light continues to burn brightly, giving no indication that it will ever go out, that it will ever be extinguished.

[9:44] And when the last few cross over, the word of the Lord says, and in the morning, watch the Lord and the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptians into a panic.

[9:57] And the Egyptians said, let us flee before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. And then again, upon instruction from the Lord, Moses drops his hand over the sea.

[10:13] The wind dissipates. The walls of water break, come crashing down, swallowing up, consuming and obliterating the enemy.

[10:24] And sealing them off from you in your path forever. And you rejoice. Wouldn't you rejoice?

[10:37] God has delivered you by His power. He has guided and protected you by His light. He has cut your enemies off from you, vanquishing them in the flood of His wrath.

[10:54] If there was ever any doubting before, now you know that your God is a warrior. That your God is a protector.

[11:04] That your God is a defender and a deliverer and a guiding light that expels darkness and illumines the path to salvation. It will be a generation before your family will take possession of that promised land, but they will.

[11:20] And again, it will be because their God, your God, is a warrior, a defender, a protector, and a guide. The one in whom salvation is received.

[11:33] For now, this is a day of celebration. And it is an occasion that the Lord has instructed you and your family to celebrate from generation to generation generation that they never forget what God has done for them.

[11:51] And now we flash forward from then 1400 years into the future. About 1400 years into the future. And here we arrive at our text which we've just read today in John chapter 8.

[12:06] We see that Jesus is in the treasury and He is teaching. Now the treasury was not a building but referred to 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles where the people would give their offering and contain their offerings.

[12:21] And that was located in the court of the women in the temple. The second outermost court. And so all of these events were taking place there in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles.

[12:36] These events also again take place during the Feast of Tabernacles which was a day of celebration following the Day of Atonement. A five day celebration.

[12:50] And it was joyous. It was a time where the Jewish people remembered God's continued provision and protection during those 40 years where they wandered in the wilderness and how He delivered them from Egypt through the pillar of fire and cloud.

[13:08] And so during this feast there was a ceremony and it was called the Illumination of the Temple which involved the ritual lighting of four golden oil lamps or candelabras and they were all stationed in that court of the women.

[13:29] And they were 75 feet tall. Every night they would light these lamps these candelabras and it said that they gave off so much light that the entire city of Jerusalem was filled with light in the evening because of these giant candles.

[13:50] What did they symbolize? Well what we've already talked about. They symbolized the pillar of cloud and a fire that appeared on the day when the people were led out of Egypt.

[14:06] How that pillar of fire and cloud stood between them and the Egyptian armies as they crossed safely through the Red Sea.

[14:17] How that same pillar of fire and cloud accompanied them in their wilderness wanderings prior to their occupation of the promised land. And so during this celebration men of Israel would take torches and they would dance every night around these giant lamps and they would sing songs of joy and praise remembering what God had done for their people but also anticipating a future promise found continually throughout His Word that God would one day send another light.

[14:57] The light. A Messiah who would renew and restore Israel's glory release them once again from bondage and restore their joy forever.

[15:11] Isaiah 9 2 is one of the places where this prophecy is foretold. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

[15:23] Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shown. And so we understand now with all of this imagery in the minds of the people as they are there on this evening celebrating the feast of tabernacles and what God has done and how He was the light who guided them, who protected them, who led them to salvation and as this is going on Jesus stands up and He declares, I am the light of the world.

[16:01] Do you think they knew what He was talking about? What He was claiming to be? And He said, whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

[16:15] See, long years before this declaration, the cloud of God's glory had once filled the temple, the Holy of Holies, though it had later departed because of Israel's sin, but now in the temple, the light has returned.

[16:37] But not in the form of a pillar of fire or cloud, but in a person, the person, Jesus Christ.

[16:51] the Word of God become flesh. He's back and He's declaring, I am the light. Follow Me. So our main idea for this morning's text, what is the main idea here?

[17:07] What is John trying to tell us? What does he want us to come away with? Well, I think it's this. Jesus is the light of the world who gives life to those who follow Him.

[17:18] Jesus is the light of the world who gives life to those who follow Him. Those who reject Him will die in their sins.

[17:30] Jesus is light in life. Those who reject Him, He says, will die in their sins. Now, one would think that in hearing this, in understanding this, that sinners would rejoice in this truth.

[17:47] that they would run to the light. But in a strange paradox, people, the Bible says, love the darkness instead.

[17:58] The darkness that ensnares them. Jesus made this case in John 3, verse 19, to Nicodemus, and this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and the people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.

[18:19] And so, like a drug addict who continually fills their veins with a poison that is killing them, refusing treatment, or an abused wife who suffers physical, mental, and emotional distress from her angry husband, refuses to seek help or shelter, sinful mankind clings tightly to their sin, which kills them and condemns them, wanting instead to dwell continually in darkness, and rejecting the light.

[18:50] But there's good news. God does reveal to us, has revealed to us through His Word, that there is hope, that those who repent and trust in Christ, who turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ.

[19:13] Acts 26, 18, they are rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son, Colossians 1, 13, becoming sons of light and sons of the day, no longer of night nor of darkness, 1 Thessalonians 5, 5, because God has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light, 1 Peter 2, 9.

[19:41] And so here John states to us, if you remember, if you recall way back when we were in John 1, that this is the case.

[19:52] There are those who come to the light who are saved and those who reject it. John 1, 9-13, the true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

[20:03] He was in the world and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him. But, to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

[20:31] So my question for you to think about now as we continue through this sermon is, are you following the light? Are you following the light?

[20:44] Have you been filled with the light of Christ? And if so, then I want you, and I hope that you understand, if you don't already, that you are called by Him to be a bearer of that light.

[20:59] That collectively we are to be a city on a hill. That you are to be a lamp that is placed on a lamp stand wherever you are producing the light of Christ, the good news that Jesus saves, that a dark world needs to hear.

[21:18] But if that's not the case for you, then I hope that you will listen to the testimony of Christ contained in this passage, who is the light of the world. That you would understand that there are consequences for those who reject the light.

[21:37] Jesus says that you will die in your sins. You will be forever cast out and away from Him into outer darkness, described as a place where there will only be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[21:57] And so my hope and my prayer today is that as you hear the Word of God, that the Holy Spirit will illumine you with the truth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.

[22:11] In John 7, 37-38, if you remember, Jesus presented Him as the source of living water. And now here in our text, He testifies to another outstanding claim about Himself that He is the light of the world.

[22:26] This passage contains a promise and a warning to those who either receive or reject His testimony.

[22:37] So first, let's look at the promise found in verses 12-18. Those who follow Christ have the light of life. This is the promise. Those who follow Christ have the light of life.

[22:52] Let's look again at verse 12. And 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.

[23:05] And so what we must understand here before we move on is what Jesus is claiming about Himself right here at the very outset. He says, I am the light.

[23:16] And when He says that, what He's doing is He's declaring, I am God. Don't be mistaken. I am God. He is using the covenant name of God.

[23:29] I am Yahweh. I am God. I am the light of the world. So He's saying very clearly in their hearing, I am the light of salvation to a sin-cursed world.

[23:45] I am the light of truth that has come to expose darkness and falsehood. To the darkness of sin, He says, I am the light of holiness. To the darkness of sorrow, He says, I am the light of joy.

[23:59] I am the darkness of death. He says that, I am the light of life. Jesus then said that He is the light to be followed.

[24:14] He says, follow me. Just as Israel followed the pillar of fire in the wilderness, so Jesus calls you today. Follow Him. what does it mean that Jesus is the light?

[24:32] Well, I mean, this was hard for me because eventually I had to just stop because there's so many scriptures and there's so many places where we could go to, and we would be here all day.

[24:43] And I respect your time, but you know, I know you love to be here, right? But come on, all day. But I thought of John 14, 6, and what Jesus says about Himself there very explicitly and compare what He says there to what it means that He is the light.

[25:02] In John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way. Again, I am. I am God. I am the way and the truth and the life.

[25:13] No one comes to the Father except through me. And so, as light is needed to guide our way, through darkness, so Jesus guides our way out of the darkness of sin into eternal life.

[25:30] We hear the gospel and we realize that we are sinful. It is exposed, but then we turn to Him in faith and trust, and we know that He is able, as Nick read earlier, to cleanse us from all our sin, from all unrighteousness.

[25:43] He is the way. He is the light that illumines the way. He is the light that illumines our minds with truth. You think about our cartoons, whenever they want to depict somebody realizing something, they have a what?

[25:59] A picture of a light bulb. A light bulb has come on in my mind. I realize something now that I didn't before, and in the same way, our Lord illumines our minds with the truth of the gospel that fills our minds and our hearts with understandings of who He is.

[26:17] we know that there is a truth, and that truth is found in Jesus Christ. And He's given us His Word. The source of truth is Christ.

[26:28] His Word is something that we can come to continually to be reminded and filled with the truth that Jesus Christ has come, that Jesus Christ has died for our sins, that He has risen again on the third day and He is coming back.

[26:41] And just as light gives life, so our Lord gives eternal life to those who believe in Him.

[26:54] Just as the sun's light is necessary for life, for things to grow, so too God gives us life through faith in Jesus Christ.

[27:06] Jesus commands that those of us who have been illumined by Him, who know that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Again, He commands you and I to reflect that light into a world that is consumed by darkness.

[27:22] I feel like we've read this Scripture a lot over the past couple of months, and we probably will continue to, Matthew 5, 14 through 16, because what a great time for us as believers to live as light in our nation.

[27:36] You are the light of the world, Jesus says. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

[27:49] In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

[28:02] Brothers and sisters in Christ, you have been illumined by the light of the Holy Spirit. You have been illumined by Christ. It is your mission to reflect that light wherever you go, and the world is a dark place in need of the light.

[28:18] As I was thinking about that, it reminded me of a time some years ago now where our church in Leavenworth, I don't think I was the youth pastor anymore, but I was helping with the youth, but anyhow, we took them to a retreat area, a camp, Camp Windermere, and some of you maybe have heard of it before.

[28:38] Lots of great things to do there. We just went for a retreat. Get them away, get them plugged into the Word, have time of devotion. There's also a lot of fun things to do. Some of the things that we didn't realize that were available until we got there, one of which was to go spelunking in a cave.

[28:58] And so we went to eat one night, and we came back, and we're like, hey, look, there's a cave. And there's signs, and they say that you can go in the cave. And so we're like, great, you know what, don't have time to do it tonight, we'll come back tomorrow night, and we'll do it.

[29:13] And I think Danny or somebody contacted one of the staff there, because we were like, well, we probably should have somebody help us go in the cave. We don't know at all what we're getting into.

[29:24] I thought we were going to go into like this big tavernous cave, kind of like maybe not as big as this sanctuary, but, you know, there's going to be lots of room. It's going to be dark, but, you know, we'd be all right. So we go, and we are in shorts and t-shirts and flip flops.

[29:39] And our guide, who's a young guy, is there with a helmet on, and he's got the whole gear and stuff, and he's got extra flashlights, thank goodness, because none of us brought a flashlight.

[29:52] Can you believe it? And so he looks at us, and he's like, you know, are you guys ready for this? And we're like, oh, yeah, yeah, take us, let's go.

[30:04] And so we walk in, and it is wide, but then it gets really narrow. In fact, it's a narrow little hole. And he's like, okay, you're going to crawl through here. And we're like, you're crazy, right? And so we had about a group of 30, and I think we had about five flashlights between us.

[30:20] So it was dangerous, and I probably should have turned back and been like, you know what, guys, not today. Let's do it another time. But, you know, the other part of me said, I guess, we've got to do this.

[30:35] Without concern that, you know, I might be fired because we might come back without a kid that we took or something like that. So he gave us these flashlights, and so it was really important that we spread them out amongst the kids, and we give them to kids that were responsible.

[30:48] And so it was really important because, I mean, this was a legit cave. It was tight in places. There were places where you could drop and or get stuck really badly, and so it was really important for the person who had the light to shine it everywhere.

[31:05] Look down, look up, look to the side, look to the other, and those who were following them to look at all of these different things. And for the person who had the light to make sure that people were paying attention to where they were shining the light, and also to give direction.

[31:19] Hey, watch out for that. Look out for this. Look out for that. Thankfully, we made it in, and we made it out okay. I think only one of our adults bumped his head, but I won't say anything more about that.

[31:30] But to say that just as the Israelites, as they were brought by God out of the bondage to slavery and were guided to the promised land, and that light protected them, and that light fought for them, and that light delivered them, and that light was God, so we have the light.

[31:50] We have the Holy Spirit. We are ambassadors for Christ. We have been redeemed from the bondage of sin and death. We have been guided in the ways of truth.

[32:03] We have eternal life. We have the light. And so we are called by God to reflect that light. Again, to a world that is filled with darkness.

[32:17] With our hope and our prayer being that as our light shines for Christ, that people would see. God would save them. But unsurprisingly, the Pharisees, when they heard this and they took into account everything that was going on, they didn't accept Jesus' claims.

[32:37] In verse 13, it says there that they said to him, you are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. And so again, according to the Old Testament law, every fact and illegal matter had to be established by the testimony of more than one witnesses.

[32:52] Jesus. And so the Pharisees didn't want Jesus to be the Messiah. And so they were looking for whatever reason they could find, no matter how superficial it was, to deny that he was the Messiah.

[33:06] And so they dismissed his claim here on a technicality. You're bearing witness about yourself. It doesn't count. But then in verse 14, Jesus answers them.

[33:17] And he says, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, I know where I'm going, but you don't know where I came from or where I am going. Now obviously, we know that the testimony of one person can certainly be true.

[33:34] It doesn't have to be corroborated by another person in order for it to be true. And Jesus certainly had revealed up to this point that he was a trustworthy person, let alone that he was God, let alone that he was the source of truth and capable of lying.

[33:50] But nevertheless, Jesus gave his opponents three evidences to support his testimony. First, Jesus supported his claims by referencing his divine origins and destiny.

[34:02] He knew where he came from. He knew where he was going. They had no clue. Even though they had the prophecies that they could look into. Even though they had the demonstration of his miraculous works and his amazing words, and even though they would later see that the tomb on the third day was empty, still despite that evidence, they would not believe.

[34:30] Jesus continued in verses 15 through 18, 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.

[34:43] In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who bears witness, who sent me, bears witness about me.

[34:57] So again, we've already talked a little bit about how Jesus has had his testimony confirmed by the Father, certainly in past sermons. But again, who else or how else could these things be done unless Jesus was divine?

[35:14] But still, we have at the outset of Jesus' earthly ministry, a great testimony given by the Father of his Son.

[35:26] Matthew 3, 16 through 17, And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

[35:38] And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Pretty convincing evidence.

[35:51] But they refused it, and they rejected it. But here Jesus says that despite that, he and the Father were one, and they were one in their judgment. But here he says at least that he does not judge anyone.

[36:06] But we must understand at least not yet. For the time would come when he would judge, and his judgments would be true.

[36:23] Again, going to John 3, 16 through 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that in order that the world might be saved through him.

[36:44] In his first coming. Mission. To save the lost. If you have the light of life, rest assured that your judgment has been taken away from you.

[36:56] But it hasn't just been extinguished or wiped away. It was placed upon Jesus Christ on the cross. For your sins. He died in your place.

[37:12] If you don't know Christ as the light of the world, as the way and the truth and the life, then the warning here is that a time of judgment is coming for you.

[37:26] if you refuse Christ as your only way. We've seen the promise. Now here's the warning.

[37:39] Verses 19-21. Those who reject Christ will die in their sin. Those who reject Christ will die in their sin.

[37:52] The Pharisees said to him, therefore, where is your father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father.

[38:03] If you knew me, you would know my father also. 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. See again, we must understand these men thought and it was perceived of them by other people in this culture that they knew the Father, that they knew God.

[38:26] They thought they knew the truth. And they were very religious in their activity. But the reality was, as Jesus pointed out time and again, they were blind.

[38:39] And they were blind guides leading the blind astray. Today we have the same thing, don't we? You turn on TV and if it's a person preaching, not all the times, but a lot of the times they might say something to you that sounds something good to your sinful flesh, that there's many and multiple paths to heaven.

[39:03] That there are many and multiple lights. But don't be fooled and understand that Jesus, as we've read explicitly already, said, I am the light.

[39:15] I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. There's only one way.

[39:26] And there can only be one way because Jesus is God. Because Jesus was able to come, the second person of the Trinity, the Son, who lived the sinless life that you and I could not live, who died on the cross, suffering and enduring the wrath of God for our sins that we who believe in Him receive His righteousness and we are set free from our bondage of sin forever.

[39:48] And on the third day He arose from the grave as proof, as testimony that He is all that He claimed to be. This man truly is the light of the world. So belief in a God or an afterlife or being a good moral person will not save you.

[40:07] And that's not me saying that. That's what the Bible says. That's what Jesus says. Verse 21 again. So He said to them, I am going away. You will seek Me and you will die in your sin.

[40:19] Where I am going, you cannot come. And then later in verse 24, just in case maybe they misunderstood or misheard what Jesus said, He restates it.

[40:30] John 8, 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.

[40:40] And then eventually we will get there in John 9, 1-17. Jesus has this amazing interaction with a man born blind. A physical illustration of what happens to us spiritually in salvation.

[40:54] As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, it was not this man's sin or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in Him.

[41:11] We must work the works of Him who sent Me. While it is day, night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

[41:24] Having said these things, He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. He makes eyeballs out of mud. Then He anointed the man's eyes with the mud and He said to Him, right, putting them in there and they instantly, because Jesus is God, turned from mud into one of the most complicated organs in the human body and said to Him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent.

[41:52] He went away and washed and He came back seen. This is what happens when Christ saves a person. They are blind.

[42:04] They cannot see. He gives them the ability to see. He sets them free from their blindness so they can see. They see Him as the way, the truth, and the light.

[42:17] As the light of the world. So what should you do knowing that if you do not come to Him, you will die in your sins? Well, very plainly, as Jesus said, repent of your sins.

[42:31] Turn to Him. Believe in Him. Understand that you have sinned against God and God has sent His Son to die for you. To take His wrath from you.

[42:43] That you will have eternal life. Turn to Him. You will see the way. You will know the truth. You will have the light of Christ who is the light of the world.

[42:58] Charles Spurgeon, the great London preacher, wrote many sermons and I couldn't help but wanting to look at what his sermon was on this chapter called, The Light of the World.

[43:14] And I didn't copy his sermon but I did copy this and I'm going to give him credit for that. It's a little lengthy but man, it's great. He said to his church then, Do any of you shun the light?

[43:29] I know some men slight in the privileges they ought to prize. They do not want to know Him who's going forth as the light of the morning when the sun rises. They never read the Bible or search into the history, the prophecy, and the promises.

[43:45] They do not like an earnest ministry. They have a sort of happy-go-lucky style of religion. They take in whatever anybody else tells them. They attend their place of worship as a matter of habit and observe all the properties of fashion.

[44:00] But as to doing right or seeking light, they seldom or never give it a thought. They do not count it desirable. Too much light would expose much that would not bear inspection.

[44:15] Dear friend, if you are afraid of the light, be suspicious of yourself. For it is deceit that dreads detection.

[44:27] Who are the people that are like darkness rather than light? If it were put to a meeting of the inhabitants of London, who would vote for putting out the gas at night, turning off the electricity?

[44:40] Well, I warrant you, every burglar would. Every garriter would. And there are certain libertines who would rather like it.

[44:53] Every man that does evil hates the light. I do not mean to compare you with these gentlemen. Still, the saying is very comprehensive. He that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

[45:09] He continues on asking, are you, my friend, conscience of anything you need to conceal? Look closely at it yourself.

[45:23] Recollect that you will have to look at it in that great day when the secrets of all hearts will be exposed. When Jesus comes to judge the world with righteousness and his people with equity, from the light of justice, from the heat of judgment, nothing whatsoever shall be hid.

[45:43] He concludes with this exhortation, Be wise, therefore, to repent now of the evil, lest calamity reach you when there is none to commiserate.

[46:00] If you're hearing this and realizing that you have been in darkness and Jesus is the light of the world, that he is your Lord and Savior, I want to know, we want to know, so that we can continue to pray for you and to disciple you.

[46:17] And so, if you want to, you can come during the invitation time. I know that's not, that's uncomfortable for a lot of people. Just reach out to me one way or another after service in an email, in a text, a phone call, whatever.

[46:29] I'd love to know that. I'd love to talk to you more, even if you have more questions about who Jesus is. in him being the way, the truth, and the life.

[46:42] So, our four applications for us to think about, to consider tonight when we gather again here at 630. First of all, why do the claims of Christ eliminate the common idea that he was a good religious teacher, but he is not God?

[46:57] We hear that a lot today, don't we? But we have his claims. So, why do the claims of Christ eliminate that idea, that common idea that he was a good religious teacher, but he is not God?

[47:09] Second question, how does Christ's call to follow him conflict with our culture's call to individualism? How does Christ's call to be a follower of him conflict with our culture's call to individualism, to be you, to know your truth and to live it?

[47:31] Third, how can you best reflect the light of Christ during a time of national division? We've experienced that. This nation is pretty much split in many of its views and beliefs and there is division.

[47:47] And how, as we, as the church, how can we reflect light, the light of Christ during this time in our culture? And then, fourthly, what superficial reasons for rejecting Christ have you heard when you've shared the gospel?

[48:05] And how can you best answer these questions? What superficial reasons for rejecting Christ have you heard when you've shared the gospel? Just like the Pharisees said, well, there's this legal thing, there's this matter of who your father is.

[48:17] We hear them all the time and we need to be prepared with an answer for the excuses that men and women have and children for why they reject the light. Again, our prayer and our hope would be that we would be that city on the hill whose light shines brightly in a world filled with darkness, that people would look at us and give glory to God.

[48:35] Amen? Let's pray. Lord God, we thank You that we have the light of Christ. That the light has come. The light has been revealed.

[48:49] The light that guides us, that protects us, that delivers us and fights for us. That light being Jesus Christ, Your Son. Lord, we praise You that the light has come and we are thankful that we have been saved by the truth found in Your Gospel that Christ has come, that Christ has died, that Christ has risen again, that Christ is coming back.

[49:19] Lord, we know that in these lives that You've given us to live, that You have asked us to make the most of them, not for ourselves, not trying to bring Heaven to Earth or to experience Heaven on Earth for ourselves, but to know that this world is not our home and it's passing away.

[49:38] Our home is with You. Until then, Lord, we have a mission to let our light shine, to declare the good news of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for our church that for Your church during this time, this time that You've given us to be the ones who reflect Your light, that we would do that and that we would do that well and that You would be glorified by what results.

[50:03] Lord, for those who have heard and they realize that they have rejected the light, Lord, we pray and lift them up to You. Our prayer and our hope would be that the Holy Spirit illumines their minds and their hearts.

[50:16] They'd be set free from their bondage of sin, that they'd have the light of Christ dwelling within them now and forevermore. These things we ask and pray in Jesus' name.

[50:27] Amen. Thank you.