according to John 8. John 8. I'm going to be looking in verses
12 to 20 today, and I'll plan to deal with these verses, and
I'll read them as we go down and expound each one of them. But before we do, let's ask our
Lord's blessing. Our Father, how wonderful it
is this morning to be able to be together, your people meeting
in your name. Oh, the fellowship that we enjoy
being able to call upon you. I ask you this morning, Lord,
would you bless the service? Would you help us to worship?
Would you teach us? We ask these things for Christ's
sake. Amen. I've actually broken this message
into two parts. I've entitled it, The Lord's
Witness of Himself. And I'm going to preach, or plan
to, part one. And then, Lord willing, next
week, Preach the second part. But in our last study, the Lord was teaching the people,
and the scribes and Pharisees, the Scripture says, interrupted
Him. They just had no regard. No respect. That's man by nature. No respect of God. And they had
found a woman that they had taken in the very act of adultery.
And they brought her in the midst, just put her right there in the
middle of those that our Lord was speaking to. And their arrogance,
they said, Moses says that we ought to stone this woman. What
do you say? They knew they had him. Well,
they thought they knew they had him. If he said, stone her, like
the law of Moses said that she's supposed to be, they would accuse
him then of not being a friend of sinners, like he said he was. But if he said, let her go, then
they're going to accuse him of being a lawbreaker. And our Lord, Who knew what they
were doing? He spoke and he said this, he
said, the one that is among you that is without sin, let him
cast the first stone. Now you remember this, the ones
that actually witnessed the event, whenever someone was caught,
whoever witnessed under two or three witnesses, I've said before,
do you ever wonder why it was two or three? Two or three? Well, if it was two and they,
you know, agreed, well then that's fine. That's two witnesses. But
if there was two that had kind of a conflicting story, a third
one would substantiate, and the two that agreed. As far as that,
that was the reason. So they had to have a witness.
Couldn't be just one. Had to be two witnesses that
agreed. Well, they found this woman.
They caught her. I mean, she was caught in the very act. And the witness that caught her,
the witnesses, they would cast the first stone. That was the
law. The Lord says, well, the one that is among you that is
without sin, let him cast the first stone. Well, obviously
there was none among the number of the scribes and Pharisees
that was without sin. The only one that stood in their
midst that was without sin was Almighty God. And He stood right
before them. They were convicted in their
hearts. They knew that there was that
which condemned them. And the Scripture says that they
began to leave. The eldest began to leave first
and then all of them left. Well, now the scribes and the
Pharisees are gone. And now the woman is gone because
the Lord told her. And he asked her, he said, is
there any that condemn you? Where are thine accusers? No
man accuses me, Lord. He said, neither do I. Condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. And we looked
at that passage, how that woman has a picture of the bride of
Christ. If you want to know, as we said
last week, if you want to know what the bride of Christ is in
herself, look at that adulterous woman. That's all of us by nature. And we saw where our Lord had
stooped. How He had stooped to be made
flesh first. Raised Himself up upon the cross. Stooped that second time, being
made sin. Died under the judgment of God.
Buried. And then that second time He
raised Himself up. of resurrection glory. And all
that He had everlastingly loved were raised with Him, justified
in Him. And now all of the hope that
this woman had was in Him that stood before her, the only one
that had the right to cast the first stone. This is the Judge. But in His mercy and compassion,
this woman had no condemnation. He showed mercy to her. Now this
morning, I want us to look and pick up where we left off. We stopped at verse 11. And I
want us this morning to look at verses 12 to 20. on our Lord's
witness of Himself. Now, there's seven things of
which I'd like to just look at three of them this morning concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, who He has declared Himself
to be. Here's the first thing, verse
1. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light
of the world. He that followeth Me, shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Now, to understand
exactly the meaning of light, I am the light of the world. We look at 1 John 1.4. I'm sorry, John 1.4. Here's what
it says, I'll read it to you. In Him was life. In Christ was
life. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The illumination. The understanding. Light. In this scripture right
here, "...then spake Jesus unto them, saying, I am the light
of the world." Light here is the source of, the foundation
of spiritual understanding. I am the light of the world. There's no life. Whether it be
physical or spiritual, I tell you, there's no life, there's
no light except from Almighty God Himself in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no understanding. Even
for an unbeliever. Anything that they know, anything
that they understand, you know that they were made by God Almighty.
He is the Creator. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. So everything
being created by Almighty God, He is the source of it. I am the light of the world. And the life, John 1 verse 4
said, was the light of men. The Scripture sets forth that
Christ Himself is the understanding. Now you think about as He talked
to these people. And they were in Him. There's no love for Him. And
he's speaking to them and he's telling them, I am the totality
of all understanding. They're listening. He knows them. I am the light. Everything that
men behold, not merely physically, but everything that men know
spiritually, I am the source of that. Spiritual white is divine knowledge,
and here the Lord sets forth and tells them, if there's any
to be had, I give it. I disperse it. I impart it. Here is the one that was prophesied
of Isaiah. Isaiah 9-2. The people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Light. Spiritual light. I want you to
look at 2 Corinthians 4. As we've said before, if you
want to understand how things are, what does the Scripture
say? If you want to know how things
are, not what men say, not what men think, what does the Word
of God say? 2 Corinthians 4, 3-6. But if our gospel be hid, It is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach
not ourselves." That means we don't preach ourselves as being
the source of light. Honor is not to ourselves. We
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves,
your servants, for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Our Lord is the light. Back in John 8. Our Lord, verse
12, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. My, what a promise. He that followeth. I can't get past ever. I think
about that The statement of Brother Henry says at ETH, he that followeth,
and followeth, and followeth, he that endures to the end, he
that continues, he that followeth me, not man's works of righteousness,
not the creations, of man's imagination, he that followeth me, he that
believes on me, he that trusts me continually, coming to me
by faith. And let me just inject this. How many times have you found
yourself? We walk by faith, not by feeling. If our feelings If our feelings
is what dictated where we stand, I'm just afraid we'd be in a
world of hurt. Because there's times that our feelings are deceptive. I just don't feel. I just don't
feel like that. And I struggle. Struggle with
myself. I told you, struggling to pray. Struggling to ask. Struggling
to seek. I think about Peter. They'd been
fishing all night and the Lord said, did you catch anything?
No. No. He said, well, cast your
net on the other side of the ship. And Peter, I think about
those words. Lord, we fished all night. probably caught himself pretty
quickly on that statement, don't you think? But Lord, it's your
word. It's your word. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness. They shall not live and follow
after the dictates of rebellion against God. Now listen, I'm
telling you, think of the promise. He that followeth me, if any
man, any woman follows after Christ, they do so by the grace
of God. And they shall not. They shall not walk in the darkness
of the unregenerate. They shall not. I mean, what
an emphatic statement. Almighty God purposed it, ordained
it, and brought it to pass. They're not going to walk. Why? Because He keeps them. He keeps
them. Keeps them by power. Keeps them
by grace. Keeps them by mercy and compassion. How many times have I had this
Scripture go through my mind? If you marked iniquity, who could
stand? Lord, this frail creature of
dust, thank You that You don't leave me to myself. Those that
follow after Him that shall not walk in darkness, they were blind, but now they see. And they know
whom they have believed. And they are persuaded. They
don't walk in the darkness of rebellion. Darkness of tradition. They walk in the truth of the
glory of Almighty God as He set forth in the gospel of God's
free grace. He that followeth after me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have. He shall have. The light of life. They shall
have Christ. They shall have Him. He's theirs. And they're His. And there's
communion. And there's fellowship. And I'm telling you, the closer
they draw to Him, by the grace of God, the more they see of
themselves. And the more they realize their
need of Him. Lord, help me. 1 John 5.20 says this, And we
know that the Son of God is come and hath given us understanding
that we may know Him. That is true. Even His Son, Jesus
Christ. This is the true God in eternal
life. I was going over my notes this
morning and read that Scripture again. And a word jumped out
at me. I read this, and we know that
the Son of God is come and hath given us understanding that we
may know Him. That's a word of permission.
The Lord had told a group of people, He said no man can come. That's talking about ability. No man has the ability to come
except the Father which has sent me to draw him. But here, John
says, we know that the Son of God has come and has given us
understanding that we may know Him. Yes, you may. Remember,
as a child, you'd raise your hand. Can I do that? Well, you
may. That means you've got my permission.
to do so, that we may know Him that is true, even in His Son,
Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. So the first thing that we know
concerning Him is that He is the light of the world. He is
the illumination. He is the understanding. Anything
you know of Almighty God that is consistent with these Scriptures,
God taught you. God taught you that. How did
you learn it? He taught you. He taught you.
He taught you. Verse 13 to 15 says, The Pharisees
therefore said unto him, Thou barest record of thyself. Thy
record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto
them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true.
For I know whence I came, and whether I go, but ye cannot tell
whence I come, and whether I go. Ye judge after the flesh, I judge
no man." You see, these Pharisees thought that his record of being
the light of the world was false because In their opinion, he
was bearing record totally of himself. Now, same thing about
the woman that was taken. Had to be more than one. Had
to be more than one witness. Can't be just one. Now your record,
they said, your record is not true. Because, they said, you're
just bearing record of yourself. Well, the Lord answered them
by declaring his record was true. And their ignorance of his origin
didn't change the fact that his record was true. Here he speaks
of his oneness, his equality with the Father, the one that
also bears record of him. He says of the Father, he spoke
The Father bore witness of Christ from heaven. His miracles bore
witness of Him. John the Baptist bore witness
of Him. You're speaking only of Himself.
No. No. He said, you judge after
the flesh, according to the outward appearance. You're judging by
what you can see. He said, I judge no man that
is in that manner. He is Almighty God. He knows
the heart. And He sees things as they are. I want you to turn back to John
2, 24-25. John 2, 24-25. Now, let's read
23. John 2, verse 23-25. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day. Many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus
did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men. And
need it not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was
in man." If you remember that word in verse 24, commit. is the same word as believed
in verse 23. Many believed in His name. Scripture
says in verse 24, the Lord didn't believe them. He didn't believe
them. He knew what was in man. Almighty
God does not judge after the flesh, after what's seen with
the eye. How things appear, He knows the
heart. So here's the second revelation
of himself. He's not alone. He's not alone. Most Pharisees spoke and said
of him, your record is not true. He says, I judge not only of
myself. Here's the second point. It's
in verse 16. And yet if I judge, My judgment
is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent
me." His truth is truth because He is Almighty God. He judges
according to His oneness with the Father. One time, He was
forsaken. He said in verse 16, I am not
alone, but I and the Father that sent
me. I'm not alone. One time, He cried from the cross,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It does not matter how our little
fickle mind tries to understand the Lord of glory being forsaken
of God and not being alone. John 16.32 proves this. You say, well, he was by himself.
He was alone one time. John 16.32 says this. Behold, the hour cometh. Yea, it is now come that ye shall
be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone."
They will leave him alone. And yet, I am not alone because
the Father is with me. How can God Almighty forsake
his only begotten Son, and he's not alone, because he said he's
not. They accused him and his witness
as being false. They said, you're bearing witness
totally of yourself. He said, no I'm not. I'm not
alone. My Father, which is with me,
John 8, 17, 18, it's also written in your law that the testimony
of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of
myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me. Here our Lord rebukes those that
claim to know the law. The ones that says that he's
bearing witness of himself. And now our Lord sets forth the
record of his Father with him. But with their next question,
here he is. He's the light of the world.
That's the first thing he reveals himself. The second thing he
reveals of himself, I'm not alone. The Father that sent me is with
me. Here's the third thing. We'll
stop after this. This question concerning Our
Lord and Savior. Verse 19. Then said they unto
Him, when He told them, He said, The Father that sent Me, there
is witness to be. Then said they unto Him, Where
is our Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know
Me nor My Father. If ye had known Me, ye should
have known My Father also. So here's the third thing about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing Him. is to know the Father. The only father that they thought
that he had was Joseph, which was not his father. And seeing
him by faith, according to our Lord's words, is to see the Father. Beholding the faithfulness of
Christ's obedience is to see and to know the Father who demanded
obedience for His elect. Seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
as the substitute at Calvary was to see and to know the Father's
justice in putting away sin for all that He had everlastingly
loved and gave the Son. Seeing the resurrected Lord is
to see and know the Father's acceptance of His sacrifice. Let me give you an example. Hopefully
I can make good on what I just said. To see Him. This is what
He said. This is the third point He revealed
Himself. He said, You don't know My Father. You don't know Me. If you knew
Me, you'd know My Father. You see Me, you see My Father.
I've got four kids. One of them is here this morning.
Four children. As I've raised and tried to raise
my children, my hope, my desire was to teach
them, to instill in them what I sought what I wanted, what
I demanded for respect. Respect before me. Respect before
their mother. Respect before other people.
Obedience. Obedience. If I told them something,
a minute, a minute. And I would desire That as the
children were coming up, being raised, that when people saw
the way that they acted, they were seeing. That's what their
mom and dad demands. He's his dad made over. See what
I'm saying? Respectful. Obedient. Kind. The Lord said, if you knew
Me, you'd know My Father. You see the respect that I give
Him? That's what He demands. You see
My obedience before Him? That's what He demands. You see
Me upon the cross? He demands justice. You see Me,
you see My Father. I am a father of one. If you had known me in regenerating
grace, you should have known my Father also. As the sovereign
electing God Almighty. And the Scripture says, verse
20, and here we'll end, these words spake Jesus in the treasury
as He taught in the temple. And no man laid hands on Him,
for His hour was not yet come." It was not the will of the Father.
They resented Him. They despised Him. They called
Him a liar. And He set forth Himself. I am the light. I am the illumination
of this world. Anything that you know, Anything
that you behold by faith, I've taught you that. I'm not alone. I don't bear witness
of myself. My Father bears witness of me. My Father sent me. And if you
want to know what the Father demands, if you want to know
what the Father expects, You look at me. If you'd known me,
you'd know my Father. Because I do always only those
things that please Him. If there's any hope for a sinner,
look to Him. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but he shall have the light of life. May the Lord bless these words
to our hearts, for Christ's sake.