John chapter 8 Beginning there at verse number
12, Then Jesus spake 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. The Pharisees
therefore said unto him, Thou bearest 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
whither I go, but ye cannot tell whence I come and whence I go. Ye judge after the flesh, I judge
no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment
is true, for I am not alone. But I and the Father that sent
me is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men
is true. I am one that beareth witness
of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.'
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered,
Ye neither know me nor my Father, if ye had known me ye should
have known my Father also." 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." Now, we have in these verses the conversation between our
Lord Jesus Christ and some Jews. Now the exact meaning of some
of the expressions which fell from our Lord's lips here are
things that are hard to be understood. And I don't know that I understand
them. But let us be thankful if we can glean just a few handfuls
of truth from these verses that I've read to you here this evening. Three things that I want to call
your attention to. Number one is this. I want you to notice what the
Lord Jesus Christ says of himself. Remember, he's having a conversation
between he and the Jews. mostly made up of those who were
Pharisees or, if not a Pharisee, closely akin to the Pharisee
because they had a Pharisee-like attitude and nature. He said,
number one, he says this about himself. He said in that twelfth
verse, I am the light of the world. Now, the implication here
is this, that the world of humans, the world of human beings needs
light. And naturally, this world is
in a dark and dreary condition. I am the light of the world.
The implication is that everyone needs light in this world, this
world that's comprised of human beings like you and I. Now the
vast majority of people, and you know this is true, that the
vast majority of people in this world right now neither see nor
understand the value of their souls. They don't understand
the value of their souls. They don't understand the true
nature of God, neither do they understand or see anything in
regard to the reality of the world to come. There's three
things that's vitally important that they are in darkness of.
The value of their souls, the true nature of God, and the reality
of the world to come. That's evident, isn't it? Those
things are elementary in our understanding as Christians as
we observe and as we walk to and fro in this world and rub
shoulder to shoulder with our fellow human creatures and our
fellow brothers in the flesh, that they are totally ignorant
of and in total darkness of the value of their souls. They don't
have any value. They don't understand that there's
something about them that will live forever. They don't understand
that this world is just a temporary shelter. It's just a temporary
abode. That this body is just a temporary
tabernacle. That soon they must put this
body of flesh off. And that which is of God, of
them, shall return to God which made it. They don't see no value
of it. And over and over in the Bible,
It talks about the value of a man's soul. As a matter of fact, our
Lord said, what does it profit a man if he would gain the whole
universe? If the whole universe would come
under his subjection, what value would it be to him? What would
he gain by having that if he was to lose his soul? Certainly,
the implication there is the implication of importance that
is placed upon the value of one's soul. The true nature of God,
they could care less who God is. They have their God. The God that they worship, the
God that they pray to, the God that they're comfortable with
is enough for them. They're completely satisfied.
by saying that I am the light of the world, excludes every
other light. He says, I am the light of the
world, therefore every other so-called light is excluded.
Every other so-called way is excluded. I, I myself, I'm the
light of this world, notwithstanding all the discoveries of the science
and arts of our particular generation, darkness still covers the earth.
And the Bible says, and gross darkness the people of the earth. Now what the sun is to the whole
solar system, that is the center of light and heat and life, the
Lord Jesus Christ is to the center. That's what He is to the center,
what the sun is to the solar system. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is to the center in this world. He is the life and the heat and
the fertility. He's everything to that poor
center. I am the light of the world. Now, I know that there's
many false lights, hundreds of false lights that rise. and flicker and beckon and cry. We are the light. Come to us. We are the light. We're the way.
We'll show you the way. Come to us. There's the light
of reason. There's the light of reason.
How many times I've run into that in my short life. Reason. Let's reason about this. Let's
think about this. Let's study about this. There's
a whole lot of things in regard to in regard to the Scripture,
in regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, that cannot be reasoned out.
How in the world can you reason out that Jesus Christ, born over
in Bethlehem in Judea, in a place that you can't hardly find on
the map, that no one knows where it's at, was born there as a
baby, and of humble parents, was none other than God manifest
in the flesh? How are you going to reason that
out? No way in this world you can reason that out. How can
you reason out that by Jesus Christ coming in this world and
dying in the stead and place and room of sinners guarantees
a man eternal life? You can't reason that out. To
understand that, you've got to have some light. You've got to
have some revelation. Jesus said, I'm the light of
the world. I'm the revelation of this world. False lights. on every side, crying out, the
voice of reason, the voice of philosophy, the voice of liberalism,
the voices of denominations, the voice of churches, the voice
here and the voice there, all crying, we got the light, we
got the light. Come to us, we got the light.
But in spite of all of that, Jesus Christ said, I'm the light.
Told these Pharisees here in their conversation with Him.
These Pharisees thought and taught. that the entrance into eternal
glory was in the observances of laws and statues and so forth. That if a man obeyed what the
Pharisees believed to be true, then in all probability everything
would be all right in the hereafter. But our Lord says that's not
true. That's not true. He just concluded here a a discourse and a manifestation
of his love and his mercy and his peace to a woman who was
taken in adultery. And he defied, he defied the
very tradition, the very tradition of these Pharisees, these scribes
and Pharisees. He told them, he said, he that
is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her. Let him
cast the first stone at her. And he stooped down and wrote
on the ground. And when they heard it being convicted by their
own conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the
eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone and
the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up Himself
and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are
thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now that
was contrary to their reason. That was contrary to their tradition.
Contrary to their philosophy. In the next verse, Jesus spake
again unto them, unto these Pharisees and those that were akin to the
Pharisees. He said, I am the light of the world. I am the
light of the world. Well, He only is the true light. who came into the world to save
sinners. He only is the one who died as
a substitute, a sinner's substitute on a cruel cross, and now sits
down at the right hand of God. In His light we shall see light. Light only comes from this crucified
Christ. Now, that's what He said about
Himself. There's a whole lot that can be said about that,
I'm sure that maybe you can think of some things right now that
needs to be said in regard to that statement, I am the light
of the world. But secondly, he said this. I want you to notice what he
says, not to himself now, but to those who follow him. In that
twelfth verse now, he said, I am the light of the world. This
is what he said about himself. Now he has something to say to
those and about those who follow him. He that followeth me, he
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. Now that's what he says to those
that follow him. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. to follow the Lord Jesus Christ
means what? It means to commit ourselves
entirely to Him as our Captain, as our Leader, as our Savior. Commit ourselves to Him, to His
safekeeping, that He'll be our Captain, and He'll go before
us, and He'll lead us, and what He says will go. And we'll not
question His ways. We'll submit ourselves entirely
to Him. Well, to follow Him means to
submit ourselves to Him in every matter, both in practice and
in doctrine, regardless of what it is. Following after the Lord
Jesus Christ, or that word following, in connection here, in the context
here, is just another word for believing. Following, in the
sense that it's put here in verse number 12, it means the same
as believing. I believed yesterday. I believed
twenty years ago. I believed yesterday. I believe
today. And by the grace of God, I'll
believe tomorrow. What am I saying? I'm saying
I've been following Jesus twenty years ago, five years ago, following
Jesus today. By the grace of God, I'll follow
Him tomorrow. You see, synonymous is the two
words in the context here. He said, those that follow Me,
those that believe on Me, shall not walk. in darkness. Well, it's the same
act of the soul, only seen from a different point of view. You
remember when the Israelites of old, when they came out of
Egypt under the leadership of Moses, of course, indirectly
through Moses, but directly through God who brought them out, and
God gave him certain instructions and gave him certain signs of
safety and security. And he told them, he said, now,
I'm going to give you a pillar, I'm going to give you a pillar
of cloud and fire as signs of leadership. And he said, when
you see the clouds and the fire move, Cloud by day and fire by night. And when you see them move, He
said, you move. That's what He said. You follow. And when the cloud stops, you
stop. And don't ask no questions. Just submit. Just follow. That's
what He's talking about. Just follow. When the cloud moves,
you move. When the cloud stops, well, then
you unpack your unpack your tent from this donkey and set up camp
right here. Stay right here. And when you
see that cloud move, then you start taking the tent down and
put it on your donkey and you move and follow after that cloud.
And they did that for 38 years, I guess, and didn't ask no questions. What was they doing? They were
marching on in faith and by faith, following the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith. That's what he means when he
said, I am the light of the world and he, the individual that believes
on me or follows me, shall not walk in darkness. We must follow
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. He that follows shall not walk
in darkness." What does that mean, shall not walk in darkness?
It means that he shall not be left in ignorance like many or
like the majority of those that are around about him. Now, we
know, being believers and followers and men and women who are dedicated
to understanding the Word of God, We've dedicated ourselves
to that, and given ourselves over to the understanding of
the Word of God. And we read it, and we study
it, and we make this our portion. Now, in light of that, we know
we can't help but notice those that we rub shoulders with, those
that we come in contact with, are not in light, but are in
darkness. They are in ignorance as to who
God is. They are in ignorance as to who
the Lord Jesus Christ is. They are in ignorance as to the
vicarious offering of our Lord Jesus Christ as a substitute. They do not have any purpose
in this life. They are religious. I'm not saying
they're not religious. They are religious, but they
are in darkness. You know they're in, talk to
them just a little bit, and they might be some of the best people
that you ever met. Some of the finest, trustworthy,
and honest people that you ever met. But when you start talking
to them about God, it doesn't take very long until you see
that these people are left in ignorance. Now those that follow
hard after the Lord Jesus Christ shall not be left or shall not
walk in ignorance, shall not walk in darkness, that's what
he says. That is, they shall not grope
about in doubt and despair and uncertainty, but they shall see
and know the way to eternal glory, they'll know where they're going.
He that followeth after me shall not be left in ignorance and
in darkness. Well, that's what he says. And
that's good, isn't it? That gives me a little encouragement
here tonight, a little encouragement to know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the light of the world, and that excludes every other light,
regardless of how bright that light might appear. That excludes
Him. That excludes Him. And if I know Him, if I know
Him in full pardon and forgiveness of my sins, if I've been wrapped
up and clothed in His righteousness, and He's the object of my affection,
and He's my Lord, and I'm pressing on and following hard after Him,
I know this. I'm not going to be left in ignorance.
I know where I'm going. I know where I'm going. People
are astounded and amazed if a Christian stands up and tells them that
they know where they're going. Well, I know where I'm going.
Well, I know where I'm going. Well, there's a lot of Christians,
I believe, that are Christians, but really they're just a little
shaky on this. They're a little shaky on knowing
where they're going. They're not sure of it. They
ought to be sure of it, like I told you this morning. Anytime
that a man who's a Christian, or a woman, or a boy or girl
who's a Christian is in uncertainty as to where he's going, to what
his final end will be, that depicts a an awful dishonor and disloyalty
to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, because really
what we're saying is that that which Jesus did on the cross
when He offered Himself, when He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification, He just did that temporarily.
He didn't make a once-and-for-all. His offering did not affect all
of my ruin and all of my guilt. That's what they're saying, see.
I don't think we ought to say that. I think that we ought to
understand what our Lord Jesus Christ did. We ought to understand
who He is, who it was that did this, and the value of the blood
that was spilled on that cross. And if we do, why then, we can
say, well, I know where I'm going. Well, how do you know? I know
because I know Him. I know because I know Him. Well,
who do you know? I know the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's God's only begotten Son. He's God manifested in the flesh.
What did He do? He came here in this life and
He lived a perfect life. Perfect in every respect. And
He satisfied every claim that God's justice had against me.
Satisfied it all. Every one of them. Every claim.
Every jot and every tittle of the law that demanded that I
die and go to hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
that demand, and then went on to the cross and paid what was
my due in His own body. God raised Him from the dead
and highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every
name. And at the name of Jesus, every
tongue shall confess and every knee shall bow that Jesus Christ
is Lord. I know. See what I'm talking
about? I'm like encouragement. I am
the light of the world. And he that followeth after me,
he's not going to be left in ignorance and darkness. Well,
I'm afraid that I didn't live up to the rules and regulations. I'm afraid that I didn't do this.
I'm afraid I didn't do that. Brother, it's not what we do
or what we don't do. It's what He did. It's what He
did. It's when God sees the blood.
When God sees the blood. That's when He'll pass over us.
Don't tell me that that's a spirit of rebellion. That's a spirit
there that will produce in a man's heart a humility before God. that will produce in a man a
place, will put him in the place at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the dust. Oh, no. The man says, well, I
know. I know because I know. I know
because I know. That's not presumption. Is it
presumption? Is it presumption on the part
of a man to believe what God said? And it's not presumption
to doubt what He has said? Oh no, it's not presumption for
a man to believe the Word of God. Don't you ever let anybody
convince you that it's presumption on your part to accept the Word
of God verbatim whether you understand it or not. That's not presumption. It's not presumption for me to
say to you tonight that the Lord Jesus Christ, that I'm the light
of the world. It's not presumption for me to say then that all the
Camelites who believe that baptism is the entrance into glory is
going to go to hell when they die if God doesn't intervene.
That's not presumption. I'm just stating the fact. It's
not presumption for me to say that every Catholic that's trusting
in the Virgin Mary, or trusting in eating the wafer, or trusting
in their confession to the priest, in order to justify them before
God, unless God intervenes, hell is their home. Not presumption. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the light of the world. Not me, plus something else,
or half a dozen other things. I am the light of the world,
to the exclusion of everything else. And he, the man that believes
this, the man that follows me, I'm
not going to leave him groping around in ignorance and uncertainty
and doubt as to where he's going and how he's going to get there.
I'm not going to leave him that way. No, sir, God will not leave
you that way. He'll give you some understanding.
He'll give you some comfort. He'll give you some peace. He'll
do it. He'll do it if the Word of God's
alive. And I can't believe that. I can't believe that. That's
what he says. All right? I said, our Lord Jesus
Christ had this to say about Himself. And secondly, He had
this to say to those who followed after Him. And thirdly, let's
see what He said to His enemies. This is what he said to his enemies.
He told the Pharisees here in verse number 19. Look at that.
He told the Pharisees here in all of their so-called pretended
wisdom. They thought they were so smart.
They thought they knew it all. We know it all. We know it all. In the presence of the revelation
of omnipotence himself. in the presence of the Son of
God Himself, and they knew everything. Couldn't tell them nothing. Couldn't
tell them nothing. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells these
Pharisees with all of their pretended wisdom that they were what? They're
ignorant of God. That's what He tells them. Verse 19, Then said they unto
Him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered and said, Ye neither
know Me nor My Father. You don't know Me, and you don't
know My Father. You're ignorant of who My Father
is. If you'd known My Father, you'd
know Me. If you'd known Me, you should
have known My Father also. That's what He told them. I tell
you, brethren, this ignorance is not uncommon, is it? It's
not uncommon. There are thousands and thousands
of people tonight who can talk about religion. They can converse
about religion in an educated manner. And they can quote historical
facts from the Word of God. And they can cite the various
quotations of the Apostle Paul and Peter and even James and
John. They can tell you about what
they had to say on certain issues. They can even argue about religion
and about the Bible and who's right and who's wrong, and yet
know nothing really about the God of the Bible. Don't know
anything about Him. They can cite you chapter and
verse. Yes sir, in Romans chapter 2
verse 13 or in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, they can just cite you. Lots
of people can do that and argue and argue and argue and argue,
but yet never know nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ who said,
I am the light of the world. They know enough to argue and
they'll argue with you about it. Well, there's such a thing
as God, or such a being as God, they admit that. But as to His
character as revealed in the Scripture, His holiness, His
purity, His justice, His perfect knowledge, His electing grace,
His sovereign grace, His distinguishing grace, His unchangeableness,
His love, His mercy, His peace, all these things they are not
equated with. As a matter of fact, The subject
of God's nature and God's character makes them uncomfortable, and
they say, let's not talk about it. Do you know what they tell
you? Preachers will tell you this. They'll say, well, we don't
believe in doctrine. That's how they get by with it.
Ask them who God is and about the unchangeableness of God and
about the election of God and about God's justice and things
of that nature. You know what they say? Well,
we don't preach doctrine. We have no creed but Christ.
We have no book but the Bible. That's what they say. To close. To close our ignorance and to
get off of the subject. We don't want to talk. We're
uncomfortable. That's really what's troubling us. We're uncomfortable
and we don't want to talk about it. We believe in the being of
God. We believe in Jesus Christ. What about His vicarious sufferings? Why he suffered. Tell me why
he suffered. And who he suffered for. Tell
me where he's at and what he's doing. We don't want to talk
about that. We want to talk to you about
how many we had in prayer meeting last Wednesday night. We want
to talk to you about how many we got on the book. We want to
talk to you about how many church buses we got. We'll talk to you
about how big our building is. We'll talk to you about how educated
our preacher is and how educated our deacons are. Ah, you see,
in fact, in fact, when the subject of the nature and the character
of God is brought up, they're very uncomfortable. They don't
want to talk about it. Well, lastly, let me say the
secret now of knowing God. The secret of knowing God is
to draw near to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
we know God. You can't know God apart from
Christ. I know the Unitarians believe
that. The Unitarians don't believe
in the Lord Jesus. That's the reason they don't
know God. That's the reason that the Jews don't know God. They
don't believe in Christ. That's the reason the Universalists
of our day don't know God. They don't know the Lord Jesus
Christ. They don't believe in Him. The Jews, you don't have
to talk with them, but just a little while, and if you want an answer,
they'll give it to you in regard to what they think and who they
think Jesus is. So it's an impossibility, it's
an impossibility for any of those Jews to ever come to a right
factual knowledge of the character of God Almighty apart from a
knowledge of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Now, if you want to
know God, you've got to draw near unto God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's all there is to it. You've got to approach God from
this standpoint. And if you approach God from
this standpoint, through the Lord Jesus Christ, then God is
the sinner's friend. But God outside of Christ, that's
something else. God outside of Christ is not
the sinner's friend. See? God outside of Christ is
what? A consuming fire. That's who
God is outside of Christ, a consuming fire. And that's how come that
when this thing's all over with, when it's all over with and men
are brought up to that great last judgment fire, and they
face God, where they are going to face God apart from Christ. And God will not be the sinner's
friend, but He will be the sinner's enemy. But God in Christ is the
sinner's best friend. You see, God in Christ is full
of love, full of tenderness. full of gentleness, full of longsuffering,
full of mercy, full of grace, full of peace. That's God in
Christ. How can that be? Because the
Lord Jesus Christ satisfies all God's demands. Every demand that God has demanded has been fulfilled and satisfied
in Jesus Christ. God said, this is my beloved
son. I'm pleased with Him. So God in Christ is the sinner's
friend. He's the sinner's friend. The
only friend that the sinner really has, the only friend that you
really got, is the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't count on the
arm of flesh of being your friend. You can't do it. You can't do
it. I know that there's There's some
men, there's some women, and some boys, and some girls will
be your friend until death. They'll go through thick and
thin for you. But brethren, there's some that
will not do that. So don't trust in the arm of
fletch. Don't do that. They're not your
true friends. They are your friends in a sense,
But their friendship cannot be compared to that friend who sticketh closer. Not sticketh to you like a brother,
but sticketh closer to you than even your brother does. So God
in Christ is the sinner's best friend. You see, I told you why,
because God's laws demands are satisfied in Christ. He is, in
one word, the way and the door by which we must ever draw nigh
unto Him. You see, if we know Christ, we
shall know the Father. And now what he told those Pharisees?
He said, if ye had known me. Look at that 19th verse, that
last statement there. If you Pharisees had known me,
ye should have known my Father also. What does the Scripture
say? The Scripture says, no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. Does that not make This first
statement in verse 12, so much more significant, I am the light
of the world. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And if a man comes unto me, he
shall know the Father. If a man follows after me, he
shall not grope in uncertainty and doubt and in darkness, but
shall have the light of life. You see, ignorance of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the root of the ignorance of God. If you're wrong
here, you're wrong every place else. If you're wrong up there
in verse number 12, I'm the light of the world. You're wrong there,
you're wrong every place else. Got to be right there. I am the
light of the world, the Lord Jesus. Where are we? Do we know? Are we living and
dying in kind of a fog right now? Where are we going? Do we
know? Can we give a satisfactory answer?
Oh, my soul tonight, listen to me now. Don't leave nothing uncertain
that pertains to your eternal salvation. You know there's thousands
and thousands of people right today in this world that have
gone out of existence in utter uncertainty as to where they're
going. Oh, let's follow Him. Let's follow
Him. The man that says, I will not
learn anything till I know something will never learn anything at
all. I don't care who he is. The man that says, I must first
understand everything before I become a Christian, I'll tell
you what happened to that man. He'll die in his sins. Let us begin now by following
hard after the Lord Jesus Christ. Following is believing. I believed
yesterday, I'll believe today. By the grace of God, I'll believe
tomorrow. That's following. That's following. Our believing,
our believing will exemplify itself in our actions, our following,
our following. It will not leave you in darkness
and ignorance. When you lay down on your deathbed
and the death rattle comes up into your throat, you will die
with some assurance. You will die with some assurance.
There won't be no uncertain day. Oh, I wonder where I'm going.
I'm scared to death. I'm scared to death. Hold on to my hand!
I'm scared. I'm scared. There won't be none
of that. There will be some calmness, some sereneness there. There
will be an attitude of perfect submissions to God and perfect Well, I can't think of the word.
A perfect tranquility of the soul will be manifest when a
man comes down to the end of the way who has Him for the light
of the world. And he knows it. He knows it.
God's revealed it to him. Doesn't leave him in ignorance.
And when he comes down to die, and comes down to die. He's not going to dishonor God
when He dies and shout and holler and carry on and kick and fight
and try to hold on to the bed rail and refuse to give up. Oh,
no. He'll submit Himself gently into
the hands of the Holy Ghost who will bear Him up to the Father.
Ah, boy, that'll be worth something. That'll be worth something. People
don't speak in light of it now and make fun of us. They make
fun of you. Yeah, you're too religious to
go to church all the time. All you want to do is study the
Bible and talk about the Bible. I'll tell you, brethren, they
don't talk like that in hell. They just talk like that here.
They don't talk like that in hell. In hell, they don't make
fun of people studying the Bible. In hell, they don't make fun
of people confessing the Lord Jesus Christ and following hard
after Him. In hell, they don't make fun
of people going to church. In hell, they don't make fun
of people singing praises unto His name. In hell, there's no
talk like that. You can only find talk like that
here. Why? I'll tell you why. Because
men, for the most part, are still in ignorance. They're still in
darkness. God help us. God help us follow
on, to believe, to come to Him. Come unto Me. I'm the light of
the world. Come unto Me. I'll give you the
light of life. I'll leave you in darkness. Thanks
be unto God. There's some in this world He's
called unto Himself and they responded to the call. They're
not in darkness. And I'm glad. I believe I'm one
of them. I believe he called me. I believe he called me. I don't
know why. I don't know why. But he did. I'm grateful. I thank him. I praise him. I'm
following hard. I'm following hard. Not as hard
as I want to follow, but I'm following. You know, where are you going?
Give them a satisfactory answer. Do it. That stand will be dismissed.