seeking once again the help of
God, but to direct your attention to the chapter that we read together,
John chapter 8, and the text you'll find in verse 12. 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. A few weeks ago we looked at
the time in which Jehovah the Lord appeared to Moses in the
wilderness by the burning bush. And Moses was introduced to the
God of his fathers, the God who he had only heard about but had
never seen and never had that personal relationship with and
how God, Christ introduced himself as the I am, the Jehovah and
how from that moment Moses was commissioned by the Lord to be
that leader. to bring the people of Israel
out of Egypt and to lead them through the Red Sea and into
the wilderness and then come to that point by the River Jordan
where he was able to view the promised land but not to pass
over and we saw that then this great I Am appeared to Joshua
as I was with Moses so I will be with thee and we see that
God was a God who comes down, he stoops down and introduces
himself to his people. It is God who reveals himself
to his people. He's not a God who is distant
But he is a God who is near at hand. He is a God who is well
acquainted with every aspect of the lives of his people. He knew all about Moses. He had
been watching over him from a little baby. And at that right time,
he appeared unto him in his life and he showed himself. And we
saw last week that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of himself as I
am. He said that he is the bread,
I am the bread that came down from heaven. Your fathers, he
says, ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. But whosoever eats
of him or whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall
be completely satisfied. As we are satisfied when we eat
food, as the people of Israel were satisfied when they ate
the manna that came down from heaven, that manna was used to
sustain them. It was food for their bodies.
And so Christ is the living bread. He is the food that came down
from heaven, that spiritual food that whosoever believes in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. And he says that he is
the bread, the true bread that came down from heaven. And the next I am of the Lord
Jesus Christ is this one here when he speaks of himself as
I am the light of the world. As we saw, as the Lord spoke
to Moses, that I am is to be, that he is. He's the unchanging
God, the eternal God, the almighty God. He exists by himself. We are dependent upon God to
exist. Christ is independent, he is
self-sufficient and so he is the light of the world. As we read through this chapter
you would have seen that he uses this statement a couple of times. In verse 24 I said therefore
unto you that you shall die in your sins for if you believe
not that I am and you'll notice that the word he is in italics
that means it's been added into the scripture and so it just
reads if you believe not that I am ye shall die in your sins. And so Christ there puts that
statement that offends them. They realize that he is associating
himself with a divine nature. that if they don't believe in
him, if they don't trust in him then they are going to die in
their sins. We know the scripture tells us
it's only God that can forgive sins and so by using this statement
Christ associates himself as God. If you don't believe in
me you're going to die in your sin. I am the one who is able
to forgive you from your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Verse 28, again, he uses the
same phrase. And Jesus says unto them, when
ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that
I am he. Again, the he has been added,
so it is I am. When you have lifted me up, when
was the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up? As the serpent was lifted
up in the wilderness so the Son of Man shall be lifted up. The
Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up upon the cross in Gethsemane,
in Golgotha. He was lifted up upon the cross.
He says, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you shall
know that I am. And remember the confession that
the centurions spoke. Truly, this is the Son of God. And as there was that darkness,
that darkness was a testimony to the fact that they had raised
up the Lord Jesus Christ and that he was being that substitute
for sin. But what made them really angry
was that when he spoke to them about Abraham, they said that
they were the children of Abraham. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
to them, before Abraham was, I am. They knew that they were
looking at a man approximately 30 years old. And he was saying
that he existed before Abraham. To them he was a liar. They say
to him, you're not even 50 years. How can you be there before Abraham? Verily, verily, I say unto you,
before Abraham was, I am. By that statement, they knew
that he was associating himself as a divine being, as God. And immediately they picked up
stones to stone him. But Jesus hid himself and went
out of the temple going through the midst of them. And so he
passed by. And so the saying that Jesus,
as he places this I am in front of a statement, I am the bread,
I am the light. He is saying that I am the one
and true bread. I am the one and true light,
the light that came into the world. And he that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Every light must have a source. Light cannot
exist without there being a source. When we turn on the lights it
is light in here because of the light bulbs which in turn get
their power from the electricity. And so the light has a source.
Light has to be created. go back to the beginning of time
the scripture tells us that there was darkness. Today is apparently evolution day. The
evolutionists believe that something came from nothing but we know
the scripture tells us that this world has been created by God. God spoke the world into being
and the first thing that he did was to divide the light or divide
the darkness from the light. In Genesis chapter 1, in the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was
without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. And God called the light day
and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning
were the first day. The darkness was there. It was
already there. God created the light but this
light didn't have a source. There was no sun, there was no
moon, there was no stars. God created a light without a
source. You could say that he himself
was the source of that light and he divided the light from
the darkness and that darkness and that night became the morning,
the first morning and the first night. There was only him. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. An impossibility of dividing
light and darkness. The darkness was, but light was
created. But as Adam and Eve were created
and they sinned against God, the world was plunged into a
spiritual darkness Man and woman was plunged into a blindness
by which they could not see God, they could not have fellowship
with God. God and man were separated. Man walked in the darkness, God
is in the light. The darkness in the scripture
signifies to us of an ignorance, of sin and misery and an unbelief
and unknowing. And we speak of people who are
in the darkness. We speak of people who don't
know something. They haven't had the news. They're
still in the dark. And so when the scripture speaks of those
who are in the darkness, they are separated from God. They
are ignorant of God. They're ignorant of his way of
salvation. They are living in the misery
of sin, still in chains to Satan and his kingdom. Satan's kingdom
is referred to as the kingdom of darkness. And the kingdom
of Christ is the kingdom of light. And so when Adam and Eve sinned
against God, this world was plunged into a spiritual darkness of
misery and sin and a hatred to God. But God did not leave this
world without a hope. He did not leave people to continue
on in that darkness. He gave them a glimpse. He gave
them a sight of a light that would come. a light to shine
in the darkness. And the Prophet spoke of this
light in Isaiah chapter 9. In verse 1 and 2 it says, nevertheless
the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation. when
at first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land
of Naphtali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by
the way of the sea and beyond the Jordan in Galilee of the
nations. And so this prophet is viewing
by faith this one that was going to come to bring them out of
the darkness. And he was going to walk in the
sea of Galilee, in the area of Galilee. And he sees, or he prophesies,
the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death. upon them has
the light shined and so the prophet sees in the future this light
that was going to come, he witnessed all the darkness of rebellion
around about him, he saw the idol worship and the nations
that were plunged in darkness and sadness and rebellion against
God and he sees this light coming. And as the scriptures go on it's
like the light becomes brighter and brighter and brighter and
greater revelation is given over and over again until the light
comes. Until the light comes which is
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 4 we read verse 13, and leaving Nazareth
he came and dwelt in Capernaum which is upon the sea coast in
the borders of Zebulun and Naptuli, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, the land of Zebulun,
the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness
saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and the
shadow of death, a light is sprung up. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is the fulfilment of that prophecy. the nations that were hid in
the darkness, that were shrouded in darkness, that were outside
of the covenant that God had made with Israel are now being
brought in. This promised one, this promised
light was going to come into the world. And this light was the light
of men. John uses this theme about the
Lord Jesus' name, about the Lord Jesus Christ. As the scriptures
begin, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth so John
begins his gospel with the same words. God Moses writing in the
Old Testament is speaking about that physical creation of the
world and God literally dividing light and darkness and bringing
day and night and a physical world into being. But John is
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was there at the beginning.
All things were made by him. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. The darkness
could not receive it. And so as Christ is that one
spoken about, that light coming into the people that are in the
darkness, So those that were in the darkness could not receive
the light. They rejected the light as we
see in the chapter that we read together. The Jews and the Pharisees
multitudes of them rejected the light that came. They were annoyed. They thought
he spoke blasphemous words when he declared, I am the light. Yet the prophets had prophesied
that a light was going to come. And when the light literally
came and stood before them, such was the hardness of their hearts
that they rejected this light as being blasphemous. But John
sees him as the light that shines in the darkness, he says. He was not that light. John was
not that light but he was sent to bear witness of that light
that was the true light which light is every man that comes
into the world. He was in the world. The world
was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his
own and his own received him not but as many as receive him. To them, he gave power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born not of flesh, which were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will
of God. And so John was witness to this
light, this light that had been prophesied. The Lord Jesus Christ,
as he comes into this world, he is tabernacled. amongst them,
the light to enlighten. And so when somebody comes from
the darkness of ignorance into the light, they have been enlightened. They've been enlightened to the
truth. They've been enlightened to the way of salvation. The way of God has been revealed
to them. They have experienced the sound
of the gospel which is referred to as the light of the glorious
gospel. It's the truth that is proclaimed. It reveals sin. It reveals Christ. And he says, I am the light. Jesus was very particular as to what he said and why he
said what he said. Many of the things in the Old
Testament were what is called types and shadows of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So when he comes he is the fulfilment
of what was being done years ago. And as Jesus declares that he
is the light of the world, he is doing so at the Feast of Tabernacles. In chapter seven, verses one
and two, it says, after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee,
for he would not walk in Drury, because the Jews sought to kill
him. Now the Jews feast of tabernacles was at hand. Now this feast was in the time
of October. It was a time when the men of
Israel would descend upon Jerusalem and to offer sacrifices it was
to remember the harvest, the gathering in of the fruits and
to give thanks to God for all that he had provided them with.
And so they went to Jerusalem to give thanks. It was a week-long
festival. It began with a Sabbath and no
work but to worship God. And it ended also with a Sabbath. And as Jerusalem is filled with
people, the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching in the temple. Now
at this feast, those who were visiting would
build booths and camp in the gardens and on the roofs of the
houses. And it was to remind them of
their wilderness journey. As they were brought out of Egypt
and they wandered in the wilderness, they were camping. They were
moving from one place to another, to another. They were sustained
by the manor. They were sustained by the water.
And they were led by the cloudy pillar and the fiery pillar by
night. And so Jesus is surrounded by
this multitude of people. Some of them are camping. Some
of them are locals at Jerusalem. Some of them are priests and
Levites and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And he is teaching
them. And they're remembering this,
the goodness of God. The manna that was provided.
The tents, the water. but also the light. And to remind themselves of the
fiery cloudy pillar they would light candles. Jerusalem would
be a city lit up in light. In the temple it is said that
in the court of the women there were four great candles lit every
year. And those candles reminded them
of God's light that led them through the wilderness. Now at the end of the feast,
as they're putting everything away, Jesus declares that, I
am the light of the world. You see they are remembering
the Lord's goodness. They're remembering that manna.
Remember that he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. Now he is saying I am the light
of the world. Children of Israel were led through
the wilderness and the Lord gave them light. When they were brought
out of Egypt, the fiery cloudy pillar was a light to them. And yet there was a darkness
to the Egyptians. And the Lord led them through
the wilderness. He was present with them. Every
day and every night that cloudy pillar did not depart until they
crossed over into Jordan. The Lord was there, Christ was
there with them, the angel of the Lord. And he was a light
to them. But now, this light that had
been promised from the beginning, this light that had been prophesied
that would be a light to the Gentiles, a light to the people
that sat in darkness. Now Jesus says that light is
no longer just going to be for you. No longer just you people
are going to remember the Lord's goodness by lighting candles. Now I am going to be the light
of the whole world. This gospel light is going to
go into the whole world and to those who are in ignorance, those
who are still walking in their sin, those who are still part
of the kingdom of Satan, kingdom of the darkness. They are going
to see a glorious light, the Lord Jesus Christ, the light
of the world. And those who see that light,
they are going to follow that light. Think of a lighthouse. A lighthouse warns people of
danger. It shines brightly in the night
to enable those who are sailing their ships to avoid the collision
course onto the rocks and to shipwreck. So it's a light that
saves. It also lights that guide and
direct. We have headlights on our cars
which we use at this time of year which shine upon the road. If you've ever been to an airport
there are those landing lights in which the pilots line up their
aircraft and they come and they are able to see the way, they're
able to be guided and directed. And so lights can be used for
all manner of things and so the Lord Jesus Christ is the light
of the world He is like a lighthouse in that he warns people of the
danger. He shines a light upon the consequences
of sin and judgment to come. The gospel that goes forth, it
first goes forth and reveals to people their sin. God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It shows
them the danger. It shows them the need of the
Lord Jesus. And so Christ reveals. The light of the gospel also
draws people to himself. As a plane comes down to land,
it is directed to that right path, to that landing. And so
the gospel light, it directs people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It points them in the right way. And Christ is the light that
leads his people, that they follow him. He leads them in paths of
righteousness. They no longer walk in the darkness. They're taken from ignorance. They're taken from sin. They're
taken from the chains of Satan, the kingdom of darkness. And
they are brought into the kingdom of light. They are part of the
children of God. They belong to this family of
the living God in whom God is their father. and he leads them
in paths of righteousness. They're enabled to see. The scripture says that those
who are in the darkness, the God of this world has blinded
them. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3
it says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost, in whom the God of this world has 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 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 us the light of the knowledge
and of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the gospel is presented
to us as a light that goes forth with power and enters into people's
hearts. If you think of the Holy Spirit,
We know the work of conversion, regeneration is done by the work
of the Holy Spirit. And he comes and he shines a
light within our hearts. We see things that we have never
seen before about ourselves. We see sin that we never knew
existed in our lives. And he shines into our hearts
and reveals to us our sinful nature. So we are disgusted.
It is the light of the glorious gospel. shines within our hearts
and so when we see our sin we look outside of ourself we cry
out there is no hope here there's no good and so we are pointed
to the greater light the source of that light which is the Lord
Jesus Christ God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
Christ Jesus came into the world, came to them who were in darkness,
that he might be the light of life to them. The glorious gospel,
the gospel, the light of the glorious gospel. Is it glorious
to you today? As we have experiencing today,
this lovely day after the clouds and wind of yesterday, And we
experience today the sun shining. Do you know something of this
glorious light? Have you experienced the storm
that brought you to the light of the gospel? Have you experienced
the light of the Lord Jesus Christ shining within your heart, showing
you your sin and your uncleanness? Have you been drawn to that light? the true light in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. It's to follow Christ. Before
you are following the ways of the world in ignorance and unbelief,
but now you're able to walk in the light. You're able to see,
you're able to understand, you're able to view the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith as you never viewed him before. You're not in ignorance
of the truth, for the truth has been manifest to you, it's been
revealed to you. You are filled with the light
of knowledge, the knowledge of Christ. the knowledge of purpose. The unbeliever doesn't know where
he is going. He may have goals set in his
life for things that he wants to achieve, but only the Christian,
the one who is in the light, knows where he is going. The
light has been shined upon the path and the light has been shined
upon the final destination, which is heaven. and they are following
the Lord Jesus. They're no longer walking in
the darkness. Everything is clear and laid bare. They know his
greater purposes in their life. Yes, there are times when we
walk in the darkness and we don't see any light. That's because
of trial and difficulty and unbelief we walk in that darkness. But
once our eyes have been opened, Once we've seen Christ and we've
walked in the light, we know that God has a greater purpose
in our life. Even if we go through trials
and those things that cause us to stumble, yet we know ultimately
God is going to bring us through. We know that Christ has a purpose. The scripture tells us in Psalm
119 about God's word. In verse 105 it says, thy word is
a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway. We know that
God's word is his revealed word here in the scriptures. And it
acts as a lamp and a light to direct the Lord's people. It
is truth. It gives us knowledge. It gives
us knowledge about God. It's food for our souls. It directs us in the way in which
he would have us to go. We are no longer walking in the
ignorance. concerning God. We are able to walk in the light
and so God's word is a lamp. But then the Lord Jesus Christ
as we saw in John, he is the word, the word of God and he
is the light. Verse 130 says, the entrance
of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple. so the believer no longer walks
in the darkness as they're following the Lord Jesus Christ. They are
no longer walking in the darkness, they're walking in the light
of God's revealed will, of God's truth, not in ignorance but in
knowledge. They know where they are going,
they know the final destination, although the pathway is difficult
they have the word of God which is a lamp to their feet and a
light to their pathway. When that word enters into them,
it gives light, it gives knowledge, it gives understanding, it gives
spiritual strength and nourishment to enable them to go on. And Christ gives life. As we
saw, the bread that came down from heaven, it gave eternal
life. So this light of Christ gives life. When you were at school, maybe
homeschooling, we used to put seeds in a cardboard box, a shoe
box, and put a hole in one end and a seed on some cotton wool
on the other end and leave it. And that seed would germinate
and it would grow and it would grow across the box to the light,
it would be drawn to the light because that light gives life. If there is no light that seed
will not germinate, it will just stay there. But when there is light in our
soul may be faint but it has a drawing
power and it draws us closer to the light, the light of Christ. I wonder if we have that today. Are we completely in the darkness? Like Jesus, like it said of those
who were in the Gentiles, it came The light came to them that were
in the darkness and they rejected it. He came unto his own and
his own did not receive them. They're just in the darkness. But there were those who recognised
the light of God in Christ and they were drawn to that light. That showed there was life. These people we read about here
they rejected the Lord Jesus, they loved the darkness more
than they loved the light. Are you and I drawn to the Lord
Jesus? Is there spiritual life inside
of our soul this morning that we are drawn to him? Maybe faint but there is some
attraction that we have this light of the world. As that little seed germinates
it is drawn across that shoebox to that hole where it springs
up. Are you drawn to the Lord Jesus
Christ this morning? Do you have that desire not to
walk anymore in the darkness but to walk in the light of life? Do you have a desire to want
to know where you are going? to follow the Good Shepherd on the way to heaven, to be with
the one who says, before Abraham was, I am. He is the light of the world. And as the bread gave spiritual
sustenance to the people, so this light gives divine direction,
revelation. No longer walk in ignorance anymore,
but walk in the knowledge of the truth of the word. And his record is true. He doesn't
bear witness of himself. He says, the Father sent me.
He came down from heaven as the bread that came down from heaven,
as the light that shines even today came down from heaven. So the Lord Jesus Christ is that
light of the world. Whosoever looks to him and believes
upon him shall not perish but have everlasting life in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ will be
the light of heaven. Today we have the sun, the moon
and the stars. Now the sources of the light
that we have. We have the bulb, light bulbs
and all those things. There is a source. When all these
things are folded up, a new heaven and a new earth is created. The Lord Jesus Christ will be
there. In Revelation 21 it says, And
I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty, the Lamb,
are the temple of it. And the city had no need of sun,
neither of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. O Christ, the Lamb of God, which
takes away the sin of the world, he and his glory is going to
be the light of heaven, and the nations of them which serve,
which walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth to
bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall
not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there,
and they shall bring glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall be no wise enter
into it anything that devileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. And so those who see the light,
as it were, in this world, who are drawn to the light of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who come to a full knowledge of the truth,
of the light of the gospel in this world, will be with the
Lamb forever and ever and ever, not basking under a created light
but basking in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb. is the light thereof. May the
spirit illuminate our hearts that we may see our sin and look
afresh to the Lord Jesus Christ, the I am, the light of the world. We no longer walk in the darkness
but in the light of life. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Our final hymn this morning is
from Gatsby, 324 to the tune 815. 324, though troubles assail and dangers
affright, though friends should all fell and foes all unite,
yet one thing secures us, whatever be tide, the scripture assures
us the Lord will provide. 324. Yet one thing she gives us all
day long. that fills us with fear, with
triumph by faith, ye dare not take. Lord will provide. The strength of love, Lord, let
us reclaim. Yet since we have learned the
Savior's great name, in this our safety we hide. The Lord is our power, the Lord
will provide. O'er the perilous fight, O'er
the ramparts we watched, Dear Lord, we do thank Thee for
the provision of the light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we pray that we may be given that. drawing power that thou
draw us unto a hymn that we may look and that we may live. We
ask that thou dismiss us with thy blessing and do return us
here this evening in peace and in safety. May the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.