John chapter 12. This morning we'll be looking
at verse 46. Jesus says in John chapter 12
and verse 46, I am come a light into the world. that whosoever
believeth on me should not abide in darkness." The light is Christ. The light is Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, just before
this, in verse 36, if you read that with me, said, yet a little
while is the light with you. walk while you have the light
lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth
not whither he goeth while ye have light believe in the light
that you may be children of light as Jesus was then even so he
is now He is the light of the world. He is the light of the world. He confesses himself to be the
light, which is the revelation of God to man. He is confessing
by this to be the Christ, the Christ There are many prophecies
concerning the Christ in the Old Testament that refer to Him
as this character of light, light. If you remember in Malachi chapter
4 and verse 2, it says, the Son, the S-U-N, the Son of Righteousness
rising with healing in His wings. This matter of the Son, what
is the Son? It is the light of the world. And Jesus Christ is confessing
Himself to be the Christ of God, the one promised. In Isaiah chapter 49 and verse
6, He says that He shall give Him, give Christ to be a light
unto the Gentiles. a light. So what he was confessing
to these, he is confessing to you this morning. He is the Christ,
the Christ of God, the promised Messiah of God. He is the light. Now, just for
thoroughness sake, I'm going to ask you a very simple and
rhetorical question. What is the purpose of light?
Why do you need light? You need light so as to see. If the world were in darkness,
then no one would be able to see where they're going. No one
would be able to experience any beauty or enjoyment because we
could not see anything. The purpose of light is to reveal
things. I know sometimes in my garage
the light switch is on the other side of the garage as I go in. So I'm stumbling around trying
to find this switch the whole time because there's no light
in there at night. I can't see anything. And so
what? I just stub my toe. I hurt myself. I fall down. Until what? Until
I have the light. Then I'm able to safely navigate
the treacherous dangers of my garage. Do you see? That's simple,
isn't it? It's just simple. You need light.
Light to see. The purpose of light is to see,
to reveal things, to scatter darkness. by exposing hidden
things that are covered in the night. That's what light is for. Over here in Isaiah, I'll read
it. It's Isaiah chapter 60. It says this, Arise, shine, for
thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall
arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, and
the Gentiles shall come to thy light. the kings to the brightness
of thy rising. You see the world by nature is
in darkness. So what then does the world need? It needs light. And Jesus is
confessing, I am the light of the world. I am the light. I am the Christ. I am the one
that God has risen. I am the one that manifests the
glory of God. There is no way for you to know
God except by the light. Jesus Christ. There's no way.
He said, I am revealing to you the Father. This is why He said,
when you believe on Me, it's not that you're believing on
Me, but Him that sent Me. He said, I'm revealing to you
the Father. I am revealing to you the Father
because I am one with the Father. So the light is revealing, first
of all, who He is. He's saying, I am the Christ,
the Son of God. Why do you suppose, then, that
the Lord used this word for Himself? He did it to reveal things. And this is what He's revealing.
He's revealing that He is the Creator of light. He is the original
source of all light. of all life. He is confessing
His deity. Consider what He's done in these
past few chapters. If you remember, He healed that
blind man in chapter 9. He healed that man that was born
blind. This was never done before. Who could do this but God? And
then after that, what did he do? He raised Lazarus from the
dead. Who else could do that but God? He was manifesting. He was showing
them who He was. He's saying, I am God, manifest
in the flesh. That's what He's saying. So when
you hear that, I am the light of the world, when Jesus is saying
that, He is confessing to you His deity, His person, that He
who was God and was with God created all things by the word
of His power. And I tell you that even now
this same Jesus sustains all things by the word of His power.
This world is held by His hand. It spins by His word. And not one thing happens in
this world without His direct permission, without His direct
decree, nothing happens. Everything is moving exactly
the way He determined it. Oh, we get so fretful about these
things. But consider this, in the light
of who He is, should we not be comforted that He controls and
rules all things after the counsel of His own will? Do you suppose that these things
that are happening in our country are by accident, that these men
are being elevated here, and put down here, and risen up here,
and it's being done according to His will? That's what's happening. Everything is moving according
to His will. He is the light, and He is the
life of men, and if He doesn't want man to do anything, He'll
just snuff him out, just like that. That's what He does. He
gives life, and I tell you, He takes life. Isn't that what it tells us in
Deuteronomy 36, 32? He said, I am God. He said, I kill and
I make alive, I wound and I heal. There's no other God. God said
the buck stops here. Jesus Christ is confessing to
you His deity this morning. He is confessing to you His deity,
that He is God. John says He In him was life,
and the life was what? The light of men. And the light
shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it
not. And John bore witness of this light, that he is the true
light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This
means that Jesus is the eternal, original light, and from him
comes all life and light of reason. Isn't that something? Don't you
see how foolishness things like evolution are? They're just foolishness. How do you suppose that they
come to this conclusion, this idiotic conclusion that things
just appear from nowhere without a Creator? How do you suppose?
The light is being withheld from them and their reason has become
foolishness. He gives reason and He takes
reason from men. So whatever we have as far as
wisdom or knowledge, where does that come from? It comes from
Him. It comes from Him. This man Jesus who claimed to
be the light is truly the eternal Son of God. And listen to me,
you should bow to Him because of this. Every one of you, look
at me, listen to me, you should bow to Him. The psalmist said, kiss the Son,
lest He be angry with thee. All people don't want to talk
about an angry Jesus, do they? They don't want to talk about
a Jesus of vengeance, but I tell you, He is. He is not only the
light that gives warmth, but I tell you, He is the all-consuming
fire. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry
with thee, and you perish in the way, lest His wrath be kindled
a little against you." A little. What is it that people say at
the end when He comes in judgment? They say, hide us from the wrath
of the Lamb. Isn't that something? That's contrary to human logic
and reason, isn't it? Wrath of a Lamb? A Lamb? Nobody's scared of a lamb. Not
now. Not now. I tell you, one day men will
quake in terror when the Lamb comes. You should bow to Him
right now. You should bow to Jesus Christ
because He is God. Why is it that men will not bow
to Him? Why is it that men will not come
to Him? Why is it that you have not come? You that will not come,
why is it that you will not come? I'm declaring to you exactly
what He said. He said, I've come a light into
the world, and whoso believeth on Me shall not walk in darkness.
Is that not great? That's the greatest message ever
spoken. It is the Word of God I'm speaking to you. It's not
my word. I didn't make this up. I didn't
go in my office and type this book up. This was here. This
is God's Word, and I'm telling it to you. And why won't you
come? Even because you're walking in darkness. If you won't come
to Christ and bow down, it's because you're in darkness. The
whole world is in darkness by nature. This is the total depravity
of man. Darkness has come upon Adam's
race. Adam was created in perfect light.
In other words, he knew a lot, didn't he? Adam was a wise man. Adam was the best of us. He was
the best of created man. Consider his naming all of the
animals. What kind of name do we give
our animals? human names, only Bob, Steve, George. I imagine
that's probably what we would have called a lion or something.
But he, he named all these, he had wisdom. He was not an ape
as man thinks that the first man was. He was an intelligent
being. He was created in perfect light
and understanding. The only thing he didn't know
anything about was sin. He was created in innocence. in
wisdom. Adam was perfect and innocent
and able to commune with God so long as he kept the commandment
that he should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. We don't live in a fairy tale
world of ifs. He did eat. This is the world
we live in. It is a world of darkness. When
Adam ate, his eyes were opened to sin, but his soul died. He became spiritually dead. And so did we when he died. This
is why men love darkness rather than light. This is why men won't
come to the light. Because they love darkness, they
love their sin, and they hate the light! His eyes were open to sin, to
guilt, but his spiritual eyes were closed as to how to deal
with the guilt. What did he do? He ran and hid. He made himself fig leaves for
clothes. He recognized he was naked, but
he had no idea how to cover himself before God. And this is the same
condition that you're in. You may feel guilt, you may feel
the burden of your sin, but you don't know how it is you can
be accepted with God. I imagine many of you don't care. Because you're in darkness. Because he was blinded by the
darkness of sin, his heart was full of darkness. He could not
see the greatness of his need. Without Christ, no man can see
the greatness of his need. Adam, as well as his race, was
blinded to their need of salvation, their need of cleansing, their
need of righteousness before God. Adam, as does all his race
by nature, have the law of God written in their hearts of stone.
but are too blind to see their need, blind to see the remedy
for their sins. Therefore, you go about to establish
your own righteousness. Why is it that there are so many
religions? Because man knows there's a God,
he knows God is just, but he has no idea how to please Him.
He doesn't know who He is. And so they're running around
in the dark, stumbling about, trying to find out what they
need to do to please God. They start making up traditions.
They start making up creeds and different kinds of things. Churches,
they have books, I mean huge books, of things to do, ceremonies
to perform. What are they doing? They're
stumbling around in the darkness. They have no light. This is what
man does by nature. Man uses the fig leaves of works
and religious exercise and their decisions for Jesus, their baptisms,
their church membership or attendance as a means to cover their sin.
But man by nature is blind to see that no carnal thing can
cover the spiritual need. Man by nature is naked before
God. And there's nothing you can do
to cover yourself. There's nothing you can do to
be accepted of God. But only the light can reveal
this. Only the light. Jesus said, I
am come a light into the world. For what? To expose you for what
you are. The light reveals. This is a
simple truth. This is a simple truth. Jesus
said this in Matthew 9, 12. Listen to me. This is as simple
as understanding what light's for. They that are whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick. Is that not a simple
truth? Now, I tell you, there are many
people that are hypochondriacs, right? They have a fake illness. I guess I will raise my hand.
I'm sure that I am, in some sense of the word, a hypochondriac,
okay? And so what it is, is what are
hypochondriacs? They're people who feel secure
when a doctor's near. They don't really have a disease,
but man, they feel good just having a doctor close by. Makes
them all better. All of the symptoms and sicknesses
go away when they got a doctor there. That's why when I guess
I go to the doctor, he asks, how are you doing? I go, fine.
Why are you here then if you're fine? And so it is in the spiritual
sense. If you don't have a need, if
you don't have a spiritual sickness, sure, you may like to have Jesus
near. You might like to have the great
physician near. It may make you feel a little
secure when you come to church and you feel good about yourself.
And I'll tell you what, nobody, nobody needs Christ unless they
are a sin-sick soul. Only those who are sick with
sin need Christ. I don't need Him just near me. I need Him in me. I need Him
to completely heal me of my sickness that I cannot heal myself. My
sickness is unto death. My sickness is urgent. And I
must have a healer. And His name is Jesus Christ.
I must have Him. My sickness is real. It's not
pretend. I need Him. I need a perfect,
complete Savior. Why? Because I am a perfect,
complete sinner. And if you've never been a perfect,
complete sinner, you don't have any need of a perfect Savior.
Many people need a partial Savior. I don't need a partial Savior.
I need a complete one. I need an absolute one. This
is who Christ is. He is the Savior of sinners. Sinners. I was talking to a young
man this morning, and he said, you're going to preach about
me, aren't you? I go in there every morning and talk to him.
But he said, this morning, you're going to preach about me. And
I said, sure am. I'm going to preach about sinners. And I tell
you, I'll preach about myself, too. And he said, oh, well, just
everybody's sinners, aren't they? I said, oh, no, no. I'm talking
about worthless, vile sinners with no hope. He said, I'm going
to talk about you and I'll talk about me. Sinners in need of
a Savior. Friends, Jesus Christ is the
only Savior. Do you need salvation? Because
I'll tell you what, you'll never come to Him unless you need salvation. If you need salvation, Behold,
the light of the world is Jesus Christ, and this is why He came,
to be a just God, and what? A Savior. A Savior. Are you sick of sin like that
woman with the issue of blood, always leaking sin? She was leaking
blood all day, every day. That's what we do as sinners.
We're full of sin and it just manifests itself, it just pours
out of us and we become unclean. Have you spent all you have?
I'll tell you what, if you ain't spent all you have on doctors
and grown worse, you'll never come to Christ. That's what that
woman did, didn't she? She spent all she had on doctors
and grew none the better but grew worse. I remember a message
when I was, oh, I must have been real little when Jack Shanks
preached this message. He preached the message on the
woman with the issue of blood and he started talking about
all the doctors she went to. Doctor feel good. Have you ever
been to doctor feel good? Well, all you need to do is just
cast off all that guilty stuff and just live life to the fullest. Then you'll be happy. Then you'll
be well if you just feel good. Just do what feels good. Isn't
that what the world says? Do what feels good. I tell you
what, I've been there and I grew none the better but grew worse. Dr. Legalism, he says, go to
the law. You just need to start, you need
to, you need to turn over a new leaf. You need to, you need to
start doing this and stop doing this. And you need to, you need
to obey the law. That's what you need to do. Dr.
Legalism, he starts putting the tasks on you. I've been there
and I grew none better, grew worse. Dr. Freewill, All you need to
do is make a decision. You see, God's did all He can
do. Man, if you don't make that decision, sure enough, you'll
go to hell. I don't know how many decisions I made for Jesus
and grew none better but grew worse. And it was only till I
spent all I had that I realized that Christ is the only Savior
for sinners. It was only then I found His
righteousness to be all, to His blood to be all my atonement. It was only then that the light
shined out of darkness into this wicked heart and revealed the
light of the glory of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. I found Him to be the Great Physician
and you know what He did? He healed me. He healed me of
all my sin. and gave me righteousness." Second
of all, not only do we see our need of salvation when the light
comes into our heart, but Jesus has come alight to know our need
of cleansing. Cleansing! Cleansing from sin. Sin is a stain upon the souls
of men. You remember in the law that
the priest was not able to approach unto God unless he had that white
garment, that linen garment on. That's telling us that we cannot
approach unto God except we be righteous as God is. But there's
a problem with our garment. It's stained with sin. Stained. We're unclean. God requires all who approach
unto Him to be robed in perfect righteousness. Look over in Revelation. Look at Revelation chapter 19. Notice who's before God. Notice their apparel. Revelation 19 verse 6. I heard as it was the voice of
a great multitude and as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready, and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in what? Fine linen, clean and white. And what is this? For the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints. Who are going to
be singing in glory? Who are going to be in heaven
worshiping God? Only those who have the robe
of righteousness. Only those who are cleansed of
all the spot of their sins. Only those who are as righteous
as God Himself. Those are the only ones going
to heaven. Look over a couple of pages there
in Revelation chapter 7. He's talking about these same
people. Revelation chapter 7 and verse 14. Look at this in verse 13, it's
one of the elders answered and said, what are these that are
arrayed in, notice, white robes? And whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation, notice, and have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. in the blood of the Lamb. How
are we cleansed? How are these robes made white? How can you make your robes white
before God? The saints make their robes white
by washing them in the blood of the Lamb. Have you seen your garment to
be stained with sin? Come, God says, let us reason
together. Remember, light is understanding. Come to the light and let us
reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. How's that? How shall God cleanse
us? God's not ignorant of your stain,
is He? He's not pretending you don't have a stain. I'm sure
that when Cheryl, when the kids come in, they got a big old stain
on their shirt. A lot of times she wants to pretend it ain't
there so she doesn't have to clean it. I'm sure that's the
case when she sees my clothes over here, she says, oh, they're
not even there. I just don't even want to see them. God's
not that way. He knows. He's not ignorant of
your stain of sin. He knows your sin has stained
your soul. and that there is nothing you
can do to cleanse it. He knows that. The soap of religion
and law only spread the stain. By the knowledge, the law, the
law is the knowledge of sin. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. And so what do we do when we start becoming legalists?
Disdain only spreads when you try to cleanse it. It doesn't
get any better. How then are we cleansed? Only
when the justice of God is satisfied. That's how. God says, let us
come and reason together. And though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. How? By the blood of the Lamb. God, listen to me, God has provided
Himself a lamb. He's not only provided for Himself
a lamb, He has provided Himself the lamb, a spotless lamb. Therefore, behold Jesus Christ,
the wisdom of God, whose blood alone can wash away your sins. Zechariah says, in that day there
shall be a fountain open to the house of David. For what? For sin and for unrighteousness. for cleansing. There's a fountain open. Listen
to me. There's a fountain open. You
that are stained, there's a fountain open. It is the blood, the blood
of the Lamb. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the light of the world, and your sins will be washed
as white as snow. All the sins of God's elect were
made to meet on Christ and he satisfied God's justice. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. This is a question that separates the true gospel
from all others. Was Jesus Christ successful? This is the difference between
light and darkness. This is the difference between heaven and
hell, life and death. Was he successful? I heard this
this weekend. I was blessed to hear the message
this weekend. I heard this. It was really good. Our Savior
knows a lot about agony. But He knows nothing of failure. Isn't that wonderful? He knows
nothing of failure. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. You shall call His name Jesus
for He will, He shall save His people from their sins. His death
accomplished redemption for His people. Accomplished it. Finished it. It's done. Oh, friends, don't look to some
plan of salvation. Don't trust your soul to any
prayer you might have prayed. Don't trust any man, preacher,
priest, or pope. Look only to Jesus Christ and
you will be cleansed of all your sins. I like that kind of reasoning. That thrills my soul. You mean I could come with this
sin-stained garment, with this vile nature, and I could be cleansed? Only by the blood of Christ.
Jesus said, I am the light of the world, he that believeth
on me shall not abide in darkness. I see him by the eye of faith
so clearly as all my salvation and all my cleansing. Do you? Then you are children of light. Now my faith didn't make me a
child of light. My faith just was evidence that
I am. I was born again of the Spirit
of God. You who believe, you see the light and you love the
light because you've been born of God. He that believeth on
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Not by the will of the
flesh nor of the will of man, but of God you are born again. You are children of light. Has God revealed Himself by Jesus
Christ to you? Has the light shined in your
heart? It is my prayer that every one of you see Christ. But I know this, it is only up
to God to reveal Him to you. As we read in our text, I know
this, many of those Jews did not believe on Him. Why? Scripture says that God hid this
from them. He hath blinded their eyes. Isn't that something? He hath
blinded their eyes that they should not see. Harden their
hearts that they should not see, and their eyes nor understand
with their hearts, and be converted, and He should heal them. I know
this, salvation is of the Lord. But I am thankful that He has
promised to reveal His Son to many. Who? As many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. That's what the scripture says.
And you who believed, was it not because you were ordained
to eternal life that you believed? Therefore let us give praise.
thanks, give thanks, not murmur, not complain of our lot, give
thanks that the light has revealed to us, He's exposed our sin,
exposed our need, and not only that, He's exposed the remedy
Himself. And therefore we lay hold on
Him because of His grace. I'm so thankful for the light,
aren't you? The light of the world. I pray
that He would even reveal Himself to you this morning. Let's stand
and we'll be dismissed in prayer.