Jesus Is The Light Of The World

David Jones

John 2021 • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

John 8:12–20

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Jesus Is Light To A Dark World

Jesus is Light

Light represents pureness and righteousness. Jesus is pureness and righteousness. This means that he has never sinned and never will. He is the exact representation of the Father. If we want to live rightly before the Father we have an example in Christ to look to.

5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

This light gives life to men.

4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:4-5

Men did not comprehend that Jesus is the light because we live in a dark world.

Dark World

Richard Philips gives a good description of our dark world when he says:

John, Volumes 1 & 2 A Light for the World in Darkness

This is the darkness into which Jesus came as a light. Darkness consists of a lack of knowledge: ignorance, folly, and superstition; it has a moral dimension: evil and fear; it is experiential: bondage, misery and death; and it is judicial: judgment and wrath. What is true of the dark world is also true of every life apart from the shining of the light of Jesus’ gospel.

Ignorance and Folly

The darkened person doesn’t know that they are lost without a relationship with Jesus Christ. They have no fear of God and consequently live life to please themselves regardless of any boundaries.

As a result of this they live out of the evil motivations of their heart. they are ruled by the desires of the flesh and have no intuition of the Spirit.

This ignorance and folly could be by lack of knowledge or by choice. There are some people who have never heard the gospel and consequently are ignorant of salvation. Others have heard the gospel and chose not to believe and claim to be intelligent.

Bondage, Misery & Death

A person living in darkness is in bondage to sin. They serve Satan instead of God.

4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or [b]knows Him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil [c]has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is [d]born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is [e]born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: [f]anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:4-10

A person that lives in darkness is in bondage to their sin because they are of the devil. Jesus frees us from the bondage of sin. He conquers sin in our lives.

The result of living in bondage to sin and living in darkness is death. the Bible says the wages of sin is death. We all die once because we have all sinned, but the one lives in darkness dies twice.

Judgment and Wrath

A person that dies living in darkness must give an account for their sins. They will stand before a holy God and have to give reason for their sin and why they rejected the provision for their sin through faith in Jesus Christ.

This person will be judged and sent into the lake of fire to be tormented for eternity to satisfy the wrath of God.

We live in a dark world that has no hope apart from Jesus Christ. He is the Light of the World. We are called as Christians to share Jesus Christ with others. We are not to blend in into a darkened world we are to let the Light of Christ shine through us.

4 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a [f]hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a [g]basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matt. 5:14-16

Darkness Puts Jesus On Trial

The Pharisees claimed that Jesus testimony about himself was not true because He did not have any witnesses. He was was testifying about Himself on His own. They were using a rule that was meant for a trial involving murder. The law states that before a person could be convicted there must be at least two witnesses. This was not a trial but a proclamation.

Jesus obliged them and let them know that even if He testifies on His own it is true. But He does not testify on His own because His Father also testifies for Him. Not to mention all the other people that could testify that He is the light of the world.

You see this is not a matter of being right, it is a matter of unbelief. The Pharisees had made up their minds that they wanted to get rid of Jesus, so they determined in their mind to forgo truth and execute their own agenda.

Modern Day Jesus Trials

There are many people today who try to put Jesus on trial out of their darkened lives. They make their belief in Christ conditional. They say that they will believe if Jesus does something or even everything for them. Truth of the matter is that they won’t because they have decided in their hearts not to believe. The Pharisees saw Jesus miracles and did not believe.

I don’t mean to be crass, but your belief is irrelevant to the fact that Jesus is the Light of the world. Just because you don’t believe doesn’t remove Him from the throne. As a matter of fact the truth instead of setting you free will crush you. 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:10-11

There is coming a day when the darkened person will behold the light as they stand before Him in judgment.

You Cannot Know God Without Knowing Jesus

The Pharisees asked where Jesus Father was since He was claiming that His Father was a witness to his claim. They were talking about Joseph, Jesus legal father. Jesus was speaking about God the Father.

Jesus told them that they did not know Him or God the Father. He said that if they knew God the Father that they would know what He was saying was true.

This was an insult to them because they thought that they were the ones who knew God because they were the religious elite of the day. They are the ones who understood the Bible and were chosen by God.

Just as their forefathers had done, they turned their backs on God and rejected His promised Son.

All religions are not the same

You may hear people say that all religions serve the same God. This is a lie. There is only one God. He is a triune God. Father Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus said if you don’t know me then you don’t know the Father.