A Witness To The Light

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 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.

Ok…now, I assume most of you took English Class in high school...

If we were to take this range of verses, copy it down, and turn it in for our English Paper....

We would probably get a D+...

Why?

Because if you look at the structure that’s used here…it’s seems ODD to say the least...

We just reconfirmed for ourselves…that last week we saw this amazing INTRODUCTION to Jesus Christ....

Our first verse today is verse 6 - and in verse 6 we see John here then introduce John the Baptist...

verse 7 and 8...

and then - in verse 9 we see what?

“The TRUE light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world”

In verse 9 - it’s - BACK to Jesus again.

And so from a STRUCTURE standpoint, we have an...

Intro to Jesus Christ...

Then a jump to an intro to John the Baptist…very briefly...

Then a jump BACK to Jesus...

Any English professor would tell you - NO - you finish the intro to the FIRST character...

and THEN you introduce the next character....

BUT - - as we know - what we see in the Bible was inspired by God himself...

Even the structure...

SO WHY would God do it THIS way??!!

Why - begin to declare who Jesus is...

and then break off into - Well here is this guy named John

and then - Oh and Jesus is the Light of the world!

Well, let’s see if we can see a pattern here in Scripture...

Let’s go to Exodus chapter 3...

Exodus 3:7–10 ESV

7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

So God here says - I will deliver my people! I will do this!

COME - I will send you!

I - God - will DO this - through YOU....

I want to FREE MY people from the Egyptians...

I want to DISPLAY my power before them...

I want my voice to THUNDER down in their midst...

I want to give my people a LAND flowing with blessing forever more!

I want to LOVE them…

and I want to FLEX my muscle - as the God of ALL things...

And here’s HOW i’m going to do it!....

Hey Moses, shepherd boy....come here.

Now - just to clarify…Sheep Herding has NEVER been - historically - a sexy job...

And yet - THAT’s how God works!

God didn’t SHOW up and physically tell Israel that He was gonna free them...

No - He goes to one sheep herder and says - Hey, I’m gonna free My people…and I want YOU to go BE ME...

Now - remember this passage here in Exodus, because we’re going to close today with it!

Another one - let’s go to Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6:8–10 ESV

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

So here again - we have God wanting to SAY something - to move - on the people of Israel...

And He says - WHO will i send?

Who will GO for us?

Again - God wanting to FLEX His muscle IN THE WORLD…and instead of just DOING it...

He comes to a man and says - I want YOU to be the conduit through which my power flows...

NOW - God doesn’t AWLAYS HAVE to do it this way!

He doesn’t always HAVE man carry out His plans...

Sometimes God just DOES HIMSELF what He pleases...

Sometimes He’d raise up an army to destroy a people...

But sometimes, like at Sodom and Gomorra, He just blows the whole thing up Himself...

In the book of Daniel - we see a story of a King who was just living life - doing as he pleased...

- and it says that GOD’S HAND shows up - and writes on the wall of the palace...

“You are going to die”

And so, sometimes God takes matters into His own hands...

But sometimes - He OFFERS His people the opportunity to be USED by Him…for His purposes...

- And so ALL throughout the OT we see God continually call MAN to GO and BE Him to the world...

to go and flex God’s muscle to the World...

to go and tell the world of God’s love...

and then - for 400 hundred years - SILENCE...

The OT testament ends - and - SILENCE...

Not a word from heaven...

Not a sound...

And then?

John 1:1–5 ESV

John 1:6–8 ESV

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

SLIDE: The Call of John the Baptist: Bear Witness to the Light

The Call of John the Baptist

BE the conduit through which God’s power would FLOW!

John the Baptist was sent BY GOD - to prepare the way for Jesus Christ...

And as we’ve seen so far - this is not surprising!

John the Baptist was used by God - as a FLASHING STOP sign...

to stand up and say to the world - YES - this world is DARK - but THE LIGHT is coming!

So John the Baptist is LOOKING FORWARD to what is coming - the Good News that is coming...

And he’s sorta like the CONCERT PROMOTER - who tries to get the WORD out that this AMAZING concert is coming to town!** (Shane & Shane - brought them 3 times)

OKAY - now - fast forward to TODAY...

we read this NOW - looking back at the AMAZING CONCERT that took place on the cross - and we see in VERSE 5 where it says that the DARKNESS has NOT overcome the Light...

And yet we LOOK around (out these doors) and can say - Well - it looks like Darkness is doing just fine!

I mean - just turn on the news… it looks like DARKNESS is doing just fine!!

But - go to Matthew 28

Matthew 28:16–20 ESV

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Understand what happened here...

Jesus - RISES from the DEAD...

He conquered DEATH...

He CONQUERED the GRAVE...

Where DARKNESS once REIGNED - It REIGNS NO MORE...

And Jesus comes back and GATHERS His children together and SAYS - OK...

I’ve conquered DARKNESS - NOW GO and PUSH it OUTTA here!

And so where we’ve seen the Call of John the Baptist was - to Bear Witness to the Light...

We see now OUR Call...

SLIDE: The Call for Us Today: Bear Witness to The Light

The Call for Us Today

it’s the SAME CALL...

Where John the Baptist was SENT by God to bear witness to the Light that WAS coming...

WE ARE SENT by God to bear witness to the Light that CAME!!! And is coming again!

Jesus Christ CAME and CONQUERED...

And when we look at every other religion - They believe that we need to DO MORE than just bear witness about the Light...

IF they believe in Christ at all - they believe that we must EARN a place in heaven...

That we must COOPERATE with God’s grace in order for it to - TAKE AFFECT

That our WORKS help SOLIDIFY our place in heaven...

And what the lost world and every other religion CANNOT grasp is what Jesus said on the cross...

…WHEN HE SAID - It Is FINISHED!

And it reminds me of the Bible Study from last Monday (Unbelievable!)

EVERY religion on this planet OUTSIDE of the Protestant Faith - LIVES out Hebrews 10:11

Hebrews 10:11 ESV

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

Take the RELIGIOUS labels off the table…they don’t matter...

LOST people continue to LIVE out this verse - thinking that their works/sacrifices will = EARN them favor with God...

And so they - LIKE THE PRIEST - what? - STAND DAILY...

The work is NEVER done!

ALWAYS standing!

AND YET -

Hebrews 10:12 ESV

12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

It IS - FINISHED!

Jesus Christ - Having CONQUERED darkness - SAT DOWN at the right hand of God!

The darkness HAS not overcome the LIGHT...

And so our call is to - GO - push back the darkness...

BUT what KEEPS us from doing so?

Because by and large…this seems to be the case...

SLIDE: Dr. James White

So why do you think this is true?

Yes, of course for many church-goers, they’re simply not Christians and have NO DESIRE to spread the message of Christ...

They do NOT possess the Good News so they have NOTHING to share...

We get that...

But what about TRUE BELIEVERS who just struggle embracing the courage - to GO and make disciples…???

Maybe we heard this message today...

We heard about John the Baptist - being sent by God to bear witness to the Light of Jesus...

We KNOW that we’re called to DO THE SAME…but we don’t seem to find ourselves living it out...

The biggest culprit is FEAR...

Instead of FEARING the LORD - we FEAR men...

We fear persecution...

We fear backlash

We fear slander

We fear retaliation

We fear being laughed at

We fear REJECTION

We fear ALL of these things!

Which means - we have a LACK of trust in God.

When you look at Moses - when God asked him to go to pharaoh...

What did he do?

He ELEVATED his inadequacies before God!

He tried to say - Well - I’m not good at speaking....so I’d be a bad choice...

But understand what’s going on in that...

SLIDE:

When we elevate our inadequacies before God, we minimize His power to accomplish His purposes through us

When we say NO to God because we feel like we’re the WORST PERSON FOR THE JOB...

We’re actually telling God that He’s not powerful enough to get this thing done...

Not smart enough to figure it out...

And so if you think about it...

Saying NO to God by elevating our weaknesses, is one of the most prideful things we could do as humans...

And so what’s it gonna take for us believers to REALLY BELIEVE and REALLY TRUST - enough to - GO and MAKE Disciples...

GO and BEAR WITNESS to the Light of Christ?

I think the ANSWER is that we need to better understand the conduit through which God’s encouragement flows!

Because I think we COMPLETELY miss the mark on this!

Let’s go back to Moses to find out…(stop after v11)

Exodus 3:11 ESV

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

OK - What’s Moses doing here in v11?

He’s doubting

He’s ELEVATING his inadequacies! - - WHO am I?

He’s NOT trusting God...

And maybe that’s YOU RIGHT NOW…in your life!

Maybe you’ve been hearing GOD calling to you...

Wanting you to DO this thing for Him!

Wanting you to BEAR WITNESS to the Light...

And you’re JUST LOOKING for some HOPE -

For something to HOLD ONTO so that YOU KNOW God will - REALLY GET YOU THROUGH IT!

That God will REALLY help you bear witness to His Light!

Well - you ready for the answer...

Do you want to know - HOW you can be ASSURED that God WILL HELP YOU THROUGH IT?

That GOD WILL HELP YOU BEAR WITNESS to the Light?

That GOD WILL HELP you talk to your friend at work about the Gospel?

That GOD WILL be with you when you go DOOR to DOOR to share the faith?

Here’s the answer…next verse!

v12

Exodus 3:12 ESV

12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Do you see what this just said?

Moses wasn’t REALLY sure that God was going to ACTUALLY HELP HIM IN THIS...

Moses wasn’t REALLY sure that God was going to COME THROUGH...

God WANTED to bring His people out of Egypt - and He wanted to use Moses to do that...

And so what does God say?

He says - The SIGN that I WILL BE WITH YOU…is this: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain!

Unbelievable!

The SIGN that I will be WITH YOU Moses - IS - your obedience

And so I don’t know what it is for you!

Maybe it’s:

just opening your Bible to read

coming to Bible Study

teaching a class here

picking up the phone and calling someone to encourage them in the faith

laying down your own preferences for the sake of someone else

speaking Christ into a conversation at work

praying for someone and keeping with it

going down and serving at the food ministry

speaking downtown at the food ministry

going door-to-door when we pass out Bibles

speaking to your neighbor about Christ

I don’t know what it is - but it’s SOMETHING...

God is WANTING YOU to DO SOMETHING…for Him...

He is INVITING you to participate in this...

And you’ve BEEN HOLDING out...

You’ve been OFFERING Him your inadequacies...

You’ve been lacking in TRUST...

He’s wanting you to BEAR WITNESS to the LIGHT...

And yet - you doubt!

Well He’s telling you now - You want something to hold onto - TO KNOW that I will BE THERE for you?

Ok...

then OBEY!

THAT will be the SIGN that I am WITH YOU...

God is saying to you right now...

Be a WITNESS to the LIGHT of LIFE - Jesus Christ...

And if you’re AFRAID...

OBEY!!

THAT’S where COMFORT is found...

OBEY!…and we’ll rejoice TOGETHER - on the other side of your obedience!

Let’s PRAY!

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