Sermon
Jesus Is The Light Of The World
November 17, 2002
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bible today and we're going to turn to John's Gospel again, for there we have been studying for some time. If you're going to read the notes, the Scripture portion is at the top of the notes. You will notice the notes today are the same as they were last Sunday. And you know the reason being is because we didn't get started with the notes. I gave you the background to the story that's before us and the setting of our text.

We suggested that chapter 7 and chapter 8 of John's gospel are the record of Christ's visit to the city of Jerusalem at a particular festival. It was known as the Festival of Tabernacles. We learned last week that that occasion was a celebration that lasted eight days, and that during those eight days they celebrated the 40 years of the journey their ancestors had made from Egypt to the Promised Land. It was during that journey that God met them in so many ways; He parted the Red Sea, He sent manna from heaven and quail, He gave water out of a rock, He had manifested His glory and His power in so many ways, and they as a nation did not want to forget God's goodness. So annually they met in Jerusalem for this occasion.

Remember, there were three festivals that all male children that lived within fifteen miles radius were required to go to. There was the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of the Passover, and the Feast of Tabernacles. This record that we have before us is the record of the words of Christ as He's under attack. He's got enemies there in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, the religious people, did not like Him. They were out to get Him. And as a result, this chapter is one of the most intense in the gospel of John because Jesus wrestles with His critics in a most reactive way to their vicious attacks on Him. And it has some deep, tremendously deep, theological truths in this chapter. So we're just kind of taking it almost word for word, and verse for verse, because I think it is an immensely important chapter.

Now the portion that we have come to is a portion that has followed an event that we studied two weeks ago. Remember, the record began in the seventh chapter. But immediately we get to chapter 8 there's the story of those Pharisees who were out to trick Him. Even amidst all of His busyness and His teaching, those Pharisees bring to Him a lady that they say they caught in the act of adultery. And as a result, they wanted to corner Jesus. They wanted Him to come with a reaction or at least a declaration that would somehow turn the masses against Him or would turn the religious leaders against Him.

Jesus was very wise. He knelt down in silence and began to write on the ground, and they continued to badger Him; What do you say? Remember He stood and said, he that is without sin you cast the first stone. He knelt down and started writing again and they started walking away. And the Scripture tells us that after all had departed Jesus stood there alone with that little lady and He said something very startling: He said, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

Now after that experience we come to the text we're studying today. Here's what happens:
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself: Your witness is not true."
Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I came from and where I am going.
You judge according to the flesh." Or you judge with human limitations or restrictions; "I judge no one.
And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.
It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."
These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not come.

Now if we were to back away and just kind of make a survey as to what the gospel of John -- the theme. You would find that John has two major themes that he's going to talk about throughout these passages. The first theme is life. The second theme is light. In fact, on the subject of life he references it 35 times, and the subject 'to live' he uses fifteen times. So on 50 different occasions he talks about this life. Now he opens his gospel with these two themes.

Would you go back just to chapter 1 of John in your Bible and I'll show you how he begins. It says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. There are the two themes. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through Him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

So he's introduced his themes: Life and Light. And you'll notice when we go right to the back pages of his gospel -- go with me to John 20 -- and you'll notice the theme is still on his mind. Because here's what he says in John 20:30 -- he says, And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life and His name.

Life -- when He speaks of life Jesus is talking about the opposite of condemnation and judgment. He says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish that have everlasting life." You see, He puts perish opposite of life. So when Christ speaks of life He's speaking of that which is opposite of judgment, condemnation, and eternal death.

He also tells us that this kind of life is eternal and He references it as those who believe have the gift of eternal life. Not only a life that lasts forever, and ever, and ever, but a life that is full. Because the implied is that God imparts to us His very life. And thus, not only is the life eternal, we possess the very life of God, the Spirit of God, when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior. So life is eternal; the life He gives us is His very life, and the life that He gives us He speaks of the fact that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly. The implied: it's life in Christ that gives life its fullest richness, its greatest meaning, and its purpose. It's in Jesus Christ that life is abundant and glorious. Long-faced Christians are really out of place, because Christianity is a religion of joy and peace, the very life of God throbbing through us -- life. And he says we have this life if we'll just trust in Jesus Christ, the Light of the world; for He is the Light, the Light of men

Now we come to the next subject, the next theme today, and that's the theme of light. In John 8 Jesus makes a startling announcement at this feast. In Jerusalem there was this massive worship center known as the temple area. On the outsides of the temple, and I'm speaking of hundreds of feet, was this massive the court known as the Court of the Gentiles. Then you took 15 steps and you had the Court of Women, and then you take more steps and you have the Court of Men, and more steps and you have the Court of Priests, and more steps and now you have the very center, which is the worship center, known as the Tabernacle.

Now when Jesus came to that festival, where He stood was in the Court of Women, because that was the largest court and it was the most active court. And in that court there were four massive candelabras. The posts were very, very massive and they were all covered with gold. And the Bible tells us that these pillars were 50 cubits high. A cubit is the equivalent of 18 inches. So that would be the equivalent of 75 feet high. That's massive. On top of these large massive candelabras were large bowls. Every day the young priests had the assignment that they used ladders and they climbed up these ladders with the oil for those bowls. And they would fill these bowls during daytime of oil, and they had these massive wicks that were almost big ropes. So you have this column 75 feet in the sky and to this large bowl and these massive wicks, and then during the eight-day festival every night they climbed to the tops of those candelabras and lit those massive wicks afire.

Now in those days Jerusalem was but a village and all of the houses were low silhouette, so you can understand why four massive columns with fire 75 feet in the sky would illuminate a whole city, and Jerusalem was filled with the light of those columns. You say, why? Well, during this festival their celebration included all of the great events. They had the priest at one time going down to that Pool of Siloam and taking pitchers of water and pouring it on the altar which was symbolic of the water that came out of the rocks. And when they lit those large candelabras it was symbolic of the presence of God known as the Shekinah Glory, God's very presence amongst them.

And during those eight days they would read these stories and tell these stories to the children so that the entire festival was a time of remembering these great events of their ancestors who came out of bondage and went into the land of promise. And when Jesus said, I am the light of the world, He used a title for deity because one of the titles used for God in the ancient text was light.

When He said, I am the light of the world. He turned on the imaginations of that Jewish crowd that day. They remember the ancient text which says when the earth was formed it was formed without void and darkness covered the deep, and God said let there be light, and immediately at the word of God, God gave this chaos light and turned chaos into cosmos. And He's saying, I am that light.

They remembered that when God came down in Egypt and was bringing them out of the land of bondage, God evidenced His presence amongst them with a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. They knew that God was with them. He manifested Himself in that cloud and in that pillar. And so they knew God to be the God that was always with them. He was their God. But something interesting happened -- they are leaving the land of Egypt, they are being chased by the Egyptian army, the Red Sea is out here, and they need divine protection. What does God do?

God drops that cloud out of the sky right to the ground between the army and the Red Sea. And what happens? Exodus 14:20 says that cloud became pitch darkness to the Egyptians. They couldn't go any further. They had to stop. On the other side of the cloud it's light. It's the light that guides them across the Red Sea and on to safety. And what Jesus is saying, I am that light.

When they finished building the center of worship for the camp, it was known as the tabernacle. All the dimensions were given to Moses. And Moses minutely made sure that all of ropes were right, all the coverings were right, all the furniture was right, all the worship areas were correct; and it says when he was finished, the Shekinah Glory of God so enveloped that place that the priests couldn't even enter it to worship because God had manifested His presence in His marvelous Shekinah Glory.

When Solomon prayed his prayer over his temple, building the great temple that David had left him all of the instructions, one of the most magnificent structures of all times, if we would build it today the architects tell us it would cost billions and billions and billions of dollars to replace Solomon's temple. When he is all done praying it says that the glory of God so filled that temple, that again, the priests could not minister.

So when Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He was claiming deity -- the God of light, the God who provisioned protection for them in the ancient past, the God who manifested His glory amongst them. And here Jesus stands with those colonnades and says, I am the light. And as we notice in that particular text as we read it, this angers those listeners. Because here they think that He's that peasant Galilean that's come down to preach, and that's who they think Him to be, but He says, I am the Messiah.

Then He goes on to say another thing: he that follows Me will not walk in darkness. Now think with me just for a moment. I want you to put yourself standing there, as it were, beside Jesus and He looks at this mob of people who have come for this religious celebration. He sees them so enveloped and wrapped up in religiosity that religion has become burdensome and cumbersome -- it had no joy; it had nothing to it that had the dimensions of God's love and grace and mercy. And He saw them as a people burdened down in the darkness and groping in religion without a knowledge of God. And He's looking at them and He sees them as a nation, that Paul said, a nation that was more blessed than any other nation. God had given them His covenant. God had given them the beautiful worship of the tabernacle. God had manifested Himself in so many ways. He had so many promises, and last of all, God had sent His own Son to the Jewish race. And if ever a people ought to know God, they should have! But their religion has taking them into deep darkness and they were religious, but didn't know God.

And He looks at them and says, if you would just follow Me, you wouldn't walk in darkness. You know, that's a truth that we can apply to our lives -- without Jesus Christ, ladies and gentlemen, you may be alive, but you're not living -- you are existing. The only source that gives life dimension and meaning and purpose is to know Jesus Christ the giver life. The pastor Leighton, in his communion address, told us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and the person without Christ's life vibrantly alive within them, is a person dead to the presence of God, dead to the joy of God, dead to all the spiritual meaning of life, totally dead. Living, existing, yes, but dead.

Jesus says if you let Me come into your life, I'll change your chaos into something that's beautiful. I'll change your world into something that's lovely. I'll take you and make life what it should be. Not only does Jesus take us from our chaos out of our darkness, He reveals Himself to us. It's a wonderful thing, and I watch this week after week as God speaks to hearts and Christ becomes very real and personal and in the hearts of many. And to watch the transformation that takes place within the life -- because as Christ comes to live within us He reveals His purpose, and He reveals His desires to us, and all of a sudden things that we never discerned to be wrong or sin all of a sudden the light of His truth shines in upon us and it starts that process of transformation and we're changed into the likeness of Christ.

A few weeks ago I had a couple come to church. They were a couple who had lived together without the benefits of a Christian marriage. And when they knelt gave their lives to Christ and the light of God's truth came in on their hearts, they went home and the first thing they said to each other is, we can't live this way any longer. This is not pleasing to God. No one had said anything other than the spirit of God. Christ, the light of the world, had beamed that truth down on that couple and they came to be the next day and said, Pastor, we've got to do something about this. And we did.

But when Christ becomes our life He turns His truth in upon us and all of a sudden we see ourselves as God sees us, and there's that burning desire to please Jesus and to turn from our sins. We become sensitive to what hurts the heart of God.

I remember years ago, and I tell this story frequently, and we were building our building over in Colma and a sailor boy came to know Christ on a Sunday morning, and he talked like a sailor and he had a sailor's language. And he said to me, Preacher, is there anything I can do to help? I said, yes, you can come and help us on our building project. We're working this Saturday. So he came with his hammer, and we're hammering away putting plywood up and he hits his nail. And boy, I mean, he sounded like a sailor there for a while.

And I'm sitting there watching him, and finally a tear trickles down his cheek. He said, you know, Pastor, I've never heard myself talk before and I just listened to what I said. And he said, I want God to forgive me, and I want you to forgive me. And I'm laughing by this time. He says, why are you laughing Pastor? I said, I'm laughing with joy because a week ago you weren't sensitive to your language and now that Jesus Christ lives in your heart you're sensitive. And I'll tell you he grew to be one of the great men of our congregation and became an elder, and was always for years a tremendous strength. But when Christ comes in He reveals Himself as to how He wants us to live in a way that pleases Him.

Now Jesus said something very interesting. He said, He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness. I want you to turn in your notes because that is an interesting word. At the bottom of the page 3 -- what does it mean then to follow the light, or what does it mean to follow Jesus? Down at the bottom about six lines up -- We often speak of following Jesus; we often urge men to do so. What do we mean by that? Well the Greek 'to follow' has five different but closely connected meanings. So what does it mean to follow Jesus? What does it mean to walk in the light?

First of all, it's the word that is often used for a soldier following his captain. Now I never served in the Army, but I know one thing, a private never argues with a general. Yes sir! That's what I'm told. You never argue with authority. And the word to follow Christ is the same word that marks the action of a soldier responding to authority: Yes sir! When Jesus says it, when His word declares it, when we're following Him we just simply say yes sir. And we do not doubt His word. We do not argue with the sacred written Scriptures.

Secondly, it's often used of a slave accompanying his master. I've watched, many times as I've been downtown, one of these big limousines drives, and I watch that driver hurriedly get out of the car and run to the back and open up the door -- yes sir. It's the joy of a servant serving his master. It's the same word that Jesus said if you follow Me, if you will enjoy this experience, you'll never walk in darkness.

Look at number 3; I'm at the top of the page 4. It is often used of accepting a wise counselor's opinion. The Christian is the person who guides his life and conduct by the counsel of Christ. His word becomes our director for living.

Number 4; it's often used, the same word 'to follow', of giving obedience to the laws of a city or a state. The Christian, being a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, accepts the law of the kingdom and of Christ as the law which governs his life.

And fifthly; it's often used of following a teacher's line of argument, or of following the gist of someone's speech. The Christian is a person who has understood the meaning of the teaching of Christ. He has not listened in dull incomprehension or with slack inattention. He takes the message into his mind and he understands. He receives the words into his memory and he remembers. He hides them in his heart and he obeys.

A few weeks ago we had a young lad come in and give his life, and now when he comes to church he's got his Bible, notebook, and commentary underneath his arm. He's watching with diligence. He's listening to the teacher. He wants with all of his heart not to miss anything. He wants to grow. He asked me, can I join your leadership class? I said, sure, because he has a heart that wants to learn and to follow.

To follow Christ is to listen to His counsel. To be a follower of Christ is to give oneself body, soul, and spirit into the obedience of the Master; and to enter upon that following is to walk in the light. To follow Christ is to commit ourselves unreservedly to Him as our only Lord and Savior in doctrine and conduct. Just as the cloud led Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, so the Lord Jesus leads the believer from this world to heaven. And to the one who really follows Christ the promise is, he shall not, like those around him, walk in darkness.

Light in Scripture, is sometimes the emblem of true knowledge, true holiness, true happiness; while darkness is the figure for ignorance and error, guilt and depravity, privation and misery.

The lesson today is this: without Christ they grope in darkness. We groped in darkness, spiritual darkness.

I left my house at 5 o'clock this morning and I live in a cul-de-sac. And in the night I stood there knowing I was going to talk about Jesus the light of the world. And I thought to myself, Jesus said, when I go, you're going to be the light. Ye are the light of the world. He transferred the responsibility of being a light to us. And I stood there in the darkness of the morning and I looked around my cul-de-sac, and realized I live in the midst of people groping in darkness and I have the divine assignment to be their light. So do you. And that's our assignment this week: may the light and life of Jesus shine through us to the darkened world around us. Amen?

Father, may your love now flow through us and may the light of Christ's presence touch our world around us through us because of You. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. God bless you.