Jesus is the Light of the World

The sermon is about Jesus being the light of the world, with references to physical and spiritual darkness. The Pharisees question Jesus' testimony, but he explains that he and the Father are witnesses. Those who follow Jesus will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. This light brings eternal life and abundant living. The sermon also references the Exodus story, where God provided a pillar of fire to guide and protect the Israelites. Hello, and welcome to Neely's Bend Baptist Church Sermon Archive. I'm Pastor Austin, and today we will look at Jesus being the light of the world, from John chapter 8 verse 12. Today we're going to be in John chapter 8. If you remember from last week, we're going to do a series through the I Am statements of Jesus, and the statements that Jesus made. Last week we talked about how Jesus was the bread of life. He said, I am the bread of life. Today we're going to talk about Jesus as the light of the world. Light of the world. Make sure my clicker is working here. There we go. Jesus is the light of the world. Have you ever been in a place that is completely dark? Just completely dark. No light whatsoever, just complete darkness. For me, I think of a lot of times when the power goes off. Especially at night time. And then you're like scrambling for a flashlight because you can't see anything. And you forgot where you put the flashlight, and you're just like scrambling trying to find the flashlight. There's no candles lit. There's nothing there. No light at all. Another time that I think of is when I was in high school and my family took a trip to Ruby Falls. How many of you have ever been to Ruby Falls? Oh wow, a lot of us here. Ruby Falls, if you don't know, is basically a waterfall in the middle of a mountain. And when I say in the middle of a mountain, I mean inside the mountain. And I remember as we were going to this fall, Ruby Falls, I think if I remember correctly, you take an elevator down into the mountain, you get out of the elevator and you walk through this like crevice in the earth for I don't know how long, for a good distance. And then you finally get to the fall, and it's just water just falling out of the mountain. You just look up and it's just water falling. And it's such a beautiful thing to see. If you've never been, I encourage you to go see it and just check it out. But it's a really pretty time to just see that, and it's just a joy. But the people that took us, the tour guides I guess you would call them, they take us down there and they say, all right, guys, so we're going to let you see it like the way the people who originally discovered this are going to see it. We're going to cut the lights off, and then we're going to shine it with flashlights. So they cut the lights off. And whenever I say it's complete darkness, it is complete darkness. You can't even see your hand in front of your face as this lady over here was waving her hand. You can't see your hand in front of your face. You can't see nothing. It is just, there's no stars in the sky. There's no moon in the sky. There is nothing there. And then they turned the lights on. They shone a light on the falls. And once you see the falls the way that they would have originally seen it when they discovered it, then turn the lights back on and you're able to walk back out all the way back to the elevator, take the elevator up, and then you're in the light again. And you're happy that there's light again. And while this is very much a physical darkness, I want to talk about a spiritual darkness. The darkness I want to speak on today is a spiritual darkness, a darkness that can be overcome by Christ, only through Christ. When was a time, or when was the last time, or a time in your life that you think of where you went through just a dark time? Maybe it was a trying time, a difficult time, just a trial that you went through, or just a hard time and it was dark for you. How did you try to fix that darkness? Did you look to your family? Did you look to your job? Did you look to money to try to fix it? Did you look to addictions or success? Did you look to yourself, hoping that you yourself could bring yourself out of that darkness? So many times, when dark times happen in our life, we begin to look to other things to try to give us light. When we experience those times, we look to other things to fix it, to solve that problem, to fix the darkness that we're in. Church, there is only one way to get out of darkness, and that is through Jesus Christ alone. Because He is the light of the world. He is the one that can bring us out of darkness and into light. And when we see Him as the light of the world, as the light of our lives, we begin to see light in the dark times of our lives. We will look to Christ in troubling and difficult times. But not only will we look to Christ, we will walk in the light. We will live our lives as people walking in the light, walking in obedience, not in darkness, not in sin. This should be our goal every day when we wake up. Every day when we wake up, to walk in the light of Christ. My purpose in preaching this sermon to you today is for you to remember that Jesus is the light, and that you have the light of life in you to overcome dark times in your life. If you recall from last week, we're going to spend the next several weeks, as we've already stated, working through the I Am statements of Jesus. Last week we focused on Jesus as the bread of life. We saw that Jesus is from God, that Jesus gives life, and that Jesus preserves life. This week, we are going to focus on Jesus as the light of the world. And just as last week, when Jesus uses the phrase, I Am, it is a very controversial statement. Very controversial statement. With the Jews and the Pharisees. Jesus is still identifying himself as God. And they don't like it. They don't agree with it. So as we continue this series, I want us to still look and remember who Jesus is. Remember who Jesus is. See Jesus for who he is. See him as one who is worthy of our praise. And worthy of our love. For us to love Jesus more. To love his word more. So in our passage today, from John 8, verses 12-20, we are going to see two testimonies of light in a dark world. Two testimonies of light in a dark world. Before we go there, let's read John 8, verses 12-20. Word of God says, Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge, but I am the Father who sent me. In your law, verse 17, 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? Jesus answered, Do 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. But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, We thank you for who you are, Lord. We thank you for how great and awesome you are, Lord. We thank you for being the God that you are, Lord. Lord, we thank you for sending Jesus to be the light of the world. And as we begin to dive into this passage, and to discover who Jesus is as the light of the world, Lord, help us to be able to remember it. Help us to be able to see it. Lord, I pray that as we're here today, that we clear our minds, that we clear everything, as all the distractions that's going on around us, and let us focus on you and your word, Lord. Lord, I pray that as I preach your word, I preach nothing but your word. Only your word. Just let me be a vessel for your kingdom, a mouthpiece for you, Lord. Lord, I pray that if there's someone here today who doesn't know you, that today is the day that they see you as the light of their world. And they come to know you as Lord and Savior. Lord, we thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So the first testimony that we see is that Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the light of the world. This is the first testimony that we see. John, the author of this book, the author of the book of John, has a few different major themes that you can track through the book of John. And one of those themes that you can track through the book of John is light and darkness. Light and darkness. I know that many of you are actually going through the book of John in Sunday school. And I hope that this is something that you have begun to see as you're going through the book of John. Jesus is always compared to the light. As the one who is against the darkness or overcoming darkness. And this is what we will see today in this passage. We will see that Jesus is the light of the world. Look with me at verse 12. It says, again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. He doesn't say, I am a light of the world. He says, I am the light of the world. And that's crucial for us to know. Jesus is the light of the world. And when Jesus said this, He was making a claim. A powerful claim. A big claim. This was no small claim. He was claiming to be the light of the world. And the Jews, the Pharisees, as we saw last week, they didn't like this. They didn't agree with it. Because just as last week, Jesus was making a claim to be God. Jesus was equating himself with God. And this is why the Jews responded to Jesus in the way that they did. Jesus gives two responses to the Jews about him being the light of the world. Read with me in verse 13 and 14. So the Pharisees said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered, Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I come from, or where I came from, and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from, or where I am going. This is the first response that we get from Jesus to the Pharisees here. Jesus is testifying of himself and his mission. He's testifying of himself and his mission. He was here on this earth for a purpose. A purpose. A good purpose. A purpose that would give life to those who would believe, as we will see later. The first thing that we need to ask ourselves here is, Why are the Pharisees so caught up on this testimony idea? Why are they so caught up on this? Why are they asking Jesus, or concerned about Jesus testifying of himself? Jesus answers in verse 17 when he says, In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true, and this is true. If you go back to the Old Testament law, we see in Deuteronomy 17, verse 6, it says, On the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, the one who is to die shall be put to death, a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. In Deuteronomy 19, verse 15, we see something very similar. A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall a charge be established. And so the Jews and the Pharisees are caught up on this. They are concerned with this. They are saying that you, Jesus, you're just one person. You're just one person. You can't be making this claim of yourself that you are the law of the world. And they're telling Jesus that his testimony is not true because of that. And this is why his testimony is such a big deal to the Pharisees. But Jesus responds to them. And he lets them know that his testimony is true. For one, Jesus knows it's true. He knows it's true. Because of who he is as Jesus. He knows it's true because of who he is as Jesus. His testimony is true. Jesus also knew what his mission was. What his purpose was. Jesus knew where he came from. Jesus knew where he was going. Jesus knew what he was going to do on this earth. He knew he was the one who came from heaven. He knew he was the one who was going to go to the cross. And he knew that he was going to be the one who would return back to heaven to make intercession for those who would believe in him. Jesus knew he was going to be the one who would be the light of the world. And the Pharisees should have recognized this. They should have saw this in the Old Testament. Even today we can see this in the Old Testament. Because the Old Testament told them. Isaiah chapter 42 verses 1-9. I'm going to read all of it. But it's a prophecy of Jesus. It is a telling of who is to come. A prophecy from God himself of how he would be sending a servant. And Isaiah 42 verses 6-7 prophesies of a light. It says, I am the Lord. This is the Lord speaking. This is God speaking. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people. This is Jesus. I will give you, Jesus, as a covenant for the people. A light. A light for the nations. To open the eyes that are blind. To bring out the prisoners from the dungeon. From the prison, those who sit in darkness. Jesus is the light of the nations. The light for the nations. Another prophecy of Jesus that's very similar to this. Comes from Isaiah chapter 49 verse 6. Very similar. It says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved Israel. This is the Lord speaking of Jesus. Prophesying of Jesus. I will make you as a light for the nations. That my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Reach to the end of the earth. Church, Jesus is the light for the nations. He is the light for the nations. He is our light as believers. And He is the light for the nations. And this is exactly the reason that Jesus could bear witness about Himself. Because Jesus knew that He was the light of the world. He knew that His mission was to come and save sinners. Do you know what Jesus' mission is? Or was and even is still to this day? Do you know that Jesus' mission is also for you? Do you know that Jesus' mission is for the world to see Him as the light of the world? What are you doing to father this mission of Christ? To take the light of Christ to those around you. The first response Jesus gave was of Himself and of His mission. The second response Jesus gave is that the Father is also a witness. So Jesus then comes back around and answers the Pharisees' question of you have to have two witnesses. In verse 15-16 Jesus speaks of how Him and the Father are the ones who judge. They judge together. Hinting at how the Father is a witness. In verse 17-19 Jesus tells of how the Father bears witness also. The Pharisees made their point that Jesus needed two people. Needed two witnesses. And Jesus first responds by telling them that you don't need two people. Because I am the one who can testify of myself. And just to appease the Pharisees. Just to make them feel better about themselves really. He says in verse 18. I am the one who bears witness about myself. And the Father who sent me bears witness about me. The Father who sent me bears witness about me. This would fulfill the whole thing about two testimonies. Having two witnesses. But even then the Pharisees are still questioning Jesus. Church, Jesus is who He says He is. He is who He says He is. Let us not be like the Pharisees who question who Jesus is. God's word, the Bible has shown us who Jesus would be in the Old Testament. And Jesus in the New Testament shows us that He fulfills those prophecies in the Old Testament. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the light for the nations. The light to all people. That is the first testimony that we see. That Jesus is the light of the world. The second testimony that we see is that followers will have the light of life. Followers will have the light of life. And what a great promise this is for those who believe in Jesus Christ. For those who follow Jesus. We go back to verse 12. We can read it 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. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Within the last part of this verse there are two things I want to focus on. Two things I want to focus on. I want to focus on those who don't follow and those who do follow. Jesus said whoever follows will not walk in darkness. And this statement has an implication that comes with it. The implication is that those who do not follow will walk in darkness. Those who don't follow will walk in darkness. This darkness that Jesus is speaking of is a spiritual darkness. A life of one who has no hope. A life of one who has no eternal life. A life of one who has no Lord and Savior. This darkness is a darkness that consists of sin and looking in other directions but toward Christ and Him alone. They look to other things for answers and for hope. And ultimately because this darkness is full of sin it leads to death. It leads to death. Darkness ultimately leads to death. A good way to think of this would be like trying to live in total darkness. A physical darkness that is. Trying to live in a physical darkness. Imagine that right now at this very moment all the lights went out, the sun faded out and it was just complete darkness. How many of you think we could make it to that door? It would be very hard. Very, very hard to do. How many of you think you could cook or go get food and cook in total darkness? You wouldn't be able to because you wouldn't be able to see what you're doing. You'd be trying to measure a tablespoon and you would dump like four tablespoons in there or something. You wouldn't be able to do anything. You wouldn't be able to survive. We would die. And that's what happens to those who are in a spiritually darkness. Who don't have the light of life. They die and spend an eternal life in hell rather than heaven. Physical darkness kills, but spiritual darkness kills even more. And if you're here today and you are not a follower of Jesus, you are walking in darkness. One day, if you don't believe, you will spend eternity in hell. However, if you follow Jesus and He says, Whoever follows me, Jesus says, will not walk in darkness. If you believe in Jesus, if you place your trust in Jesus, if you make Him Lord and Savior of your life and repent of your sins, you will not walk in darkness any longer. You will have the light of life. That is not to say that there won't be dark times or challenging times or difficult times, because there certainly will be. But it does mean that when we go through those dark times, those challenging times, those difficult times, we have a light that we can look to. Because we have the light of life inside of us. This leads us to our second thing to know. Those who follow will have the light of life. Jesus says, Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And I hope that this recalls some things that we talked about last week. About how Jesus is the bread of life. Jesus came not just to give light, but to be the light of the world. To be the one who gives life, eternal life. That is exactly what this life is. Eternal life. He, we, who follow Jesus will have eternal life. And he came to give it abundantly. And when we follow Jesus, we will have life abundantly. This makes me think of the Exodus. I referenced it last week as well. When we talked about how Jesus gave manna to the Israelites. And how that manna kept the Israelites alive. But this week, I want to talk about how, I want to talk about the thing that led the Israelites all the way through it all. When the Israelites were in Egypt. And Moses had came there and everything happened. That happened with all the templates. And they left Egypt and they're traveling toward the Red Sea. They get to the Red Sea and they're like, oh no, what do we do? And the Lord provides a way for them to cross the Red Sea. But before that, what does God send down? To keep the Egyptians who turned around and decided that, oh no. We've let these people go and we need them. We need to meet them. We've got to go back and get them. And he sends his army after them. God sends something down. He sends a pillar of fire. A pillar of fire. And it protects the Israelites. So they can cross the Red Sea. And they cross the Red Sea. And after they cross the Red Sea, the Red Sea collapses down on the Egyptians and kills them all. At least all of the army that was there, that was chasing after them. And the Israelites go on into the wilderness. What's there to lead them? A pillar of fire by night. And a cloud by day. Light is what led the Israelites through all of this. Light is what cared for and protected the Israelites through it all. Light. The pillar of fire by night. The cloud by day. The fire would protect them. And as long as the light was there, as long as the pillar of fire and the cloud was there, they were protected. Church, listen to me. Jesus is the greater light. Jesus is the greater pillar of fire. Jesus is the light of the world. A light to the nations. Whoever follows him will have life. They will have the light of life in them. Jesus said the Israelites were to follow the light and led them so too are we to follow the light of Jesus that lives inside of us. We must follow Jesus. We must walk in the light. These words follow here in this passage. It gives this picture of an active obedience to following Jesus. When we believed and trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the journey didn't end there. It just started. It just started. Because now we have to actively follow Jesus every day of our lives. Every day of our lives. Actively walking in the light of Jesus. We must be actively letting our light shine. As a kid growing up in church, I remember singing the song, This Little Lot of Mine. I think we all probably sung that song or probably heard it. I'm not going to sing the song because I am by no means a singer. So don't think I'm singing this song. But I only want to capture certain parts of this song. This little lot of mine, I'm going to let it shine. This little lot of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Everywhere I go, I'm going to let it shine. Everywhere I go, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine around the world. We're going to let it shine. Let it shine around the world. We're going to let it shine. Church, let's make sure that we are following Jesus and letting our light shine. Not just with our actions, but with also how we are sharing the light with others. Let our light shine to those around us, to those around you. In our sermon today, we have seen two testimonies of light in a dark place, in a dark world. We've seen that Jesus is the light of the world and we've seen that followers will have the light of life. Those who believe in Jesus and trust in Him as Lord and Savior will have the light of life. In dark times, we are able to look to Jesus, the light to lead us. Now that we've learned that Jesus is the light of the world and we are followers of the light and we have the light, how are we to walk daily following this? How are we to live it out? So I'm going to give you two ways to live it out. The first way to live it out is to look to Christ in dark and trying times. Look to Him and Him alone. Look to Christ in dark and trying times. If Jesus is the light of the world and we as His followers have the light of life in us, how much more do we have a hope in trying and difficult dark times? In those times, we can look to Christ and He will be a light to us. He will lead us through them. I think of Psalm 23, verse 4. It says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. You are right on your staff and they comfort me. I just think of someone walking through the valley of shadow of death and it just being such a dark place. Don't fear. Look to the light of Jesus. Trust in Him. Trust in Him. The second way to let your light shine is to let your light shine. Just let your light shine. As we sung the song, Let the sizzle of light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. As followers, we have the light of life in us. Why would we not want to let our light shine for Jesus to those around us? Among us, I think of this as letting our light shine immediately goes to Matthew chapter 5, verses 14 through 16, where Jesus talks about, You are the light of the world. Verse 14, it says, You are the light of the world. This is Jesus speaking. He's speaking to the crowd there, and believers in particular. You are the light of the world. A city set 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. 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 lives in heaven. Church, Jesus is the main light, but we as believers are lights to the world. Be a light to the world. Let us be a church that is set on a hill, brightly shining for Jesus. Let us be a people who doesn't put our light in a lamp basket or under a lamp basket, or under a basket, whatever. But let us be a people who puts our light on a stand for people to see, so they can see the main light, Jesus Christ, so glory can be brought to God. As I prepare this sermon, come to an end here, my mind begins to think of the word glory, as is in the last part of Matthew chapter 5, verses 16 there, because God's glory is a radiating thing. It radiates. Glory can be described as a radiation of light. It's why Moses wasn't able to look at God when God passed by. It's why God said, Hey Moses, I'm going to put you in this cleft of a rock and I'm going to pass by and I'm going to let you see the back of me. Because the radiation of God's glory would have killed Moses, would have let him go. It's why when Moses come down from the mountain, no one could look at his face because it was radiating so brightly. Glory is ultimately what led the Israelites in the wilderness. God's glory was the filler of fire at night and the cloud by day. God's glory would eventually come in the form of Jesus. And now that glory is given to those who believe. But this glory isn't just given to those who believe just for themselves, it's given to them for us to reflect back to the Lord. To reflect back to God. To glorify Him with. Therefore, when we have the light of life in us and we shine our light, we are ultimately glorifying God. And as we begin to do this as a church family, this church will begin to become a church that glorifies God. Because we will be reflecting back to Him. Glory. Glory. If you're here today and you don't believe, you're here maybe exploring Christianity. Maybe you've been here all your life. Maybe you're an atheist, just don't believe. But you're here today and you do not believe in Jesus Christ. You're here today and you do not have the light of life. Or maybe you're looking for something, looking for answers to all the darkness that is surrounding you. Let me tell you, your answer is Jesus. Your answer is Jesus. The one you are seeking is Jesus. He is the light of the world and He wants to be the light of your life and give you the light of life. And all you have to do is believe and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Believe that He was born of a virgin. Believe that He lived a sinless life. Believe that He died on the cross, a sacrificial death. Believe that He rose again 30 days later and now He sits at the Father making intercession for those who believe. Believe that. Believe in the works of Christ. Repent of your sins. And place your faith and trust in Jesus alone and He will give you life. Eternal life. If that is you, I'd love to have a conversation with you. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we praise You for who You are, Lord. We praise You for being a God that radiates glory, Lord. We praise You for being a God who sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that He could be the light of the world, so that He could give us, those who believe, the light of life. Lord, we praise You for that. Lord, I pray that as we go through our weeks, these coming weeks, Lord, I pray that we remember to let our light shine, that we have. Let it shine for Your glory, Lord. Lord, we thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.