So we're just going to read verse
12 of John chapter eight, and then we will have a few thoughts
there on. John chapter eight, verse 12,
and this is what it says. Then speak 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. Then
speak 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. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading also from his word. It is my plan today to speak
about the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world. But before I turn to that, I'd
like to mention the first few words of verse 12 separately. These words, then speak Jesus
again unto them saying, because I would like us to notice how
faithful and persistent the Lord Jesus was in ministering the
word of truth and preaching the gospel. Here he was coming once
again to preach to these people. Then, John tells us, then speak
Jesus again unto them, saying, Now, I need to mention this as
well. I think I made a mistake yesterday
in my introduction when I sent it out to you. Without checking,
I had it in my mind that Jesus here in John 8 verse 12 was speaking
in Jerusalem at the Feast of Passover And I said he was speaking
during the week prior to his crucifixion. That wasn't right. Actually, it seems rather to
have been the Feast of Tabernacles. So this was likely six months
before his final Passover. So my apologies for that error. However, the point I want us
to notice is that despite the opposition and the disruption
that the Lord faced constantly from the Jews and from the troublemakers
who sought to disturb him, he nevertheless took every opportunity
to speak his message, to preach his gospel, and to teach the
people. He had preached all the previous
day under threat of arrest there in Jerusalem. Then, in the evening,
he had walked to the Mount of Olives, or perhaps it was to
Bethany, which is two miles from the city, in order to stay there
overnight. He was back in Jerusalem early
the following day and back in the temple to begin ministering
again to those who gathered to listen. Such was the Lord's diligence,
such was His commitment to His Father's will. Well might He
say, I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work,
which thou gavest me to do." He was always about his father's
business, preaching his gospel, preaching himself, his nature,
his perfections, his grace and his mercy, his mind and his will,
his redemptive plan, and his great salvation. This was the
Lord's business, to be preaching according to his father's will. And it's a delight to see and
be reminded here, just in the very opening of this verse, that
Jesus speak again unto them. But let us draw out these words
and apply them for a moment to ourselves. Let us ask ourselves,
how often must Jesus speak to me before I give heed to his
word? How often must Jesus speak to
me before I give heed to his word? As Almighty God, he need speak
but once. The wind and the waves obey him. It is a mercy indeed if the Savior
should repeat himself. It is a mercy if the Savior should
stand at the door and knock. There will come a time when Jesus
will speak no more. If he has spoken to you and you
have not answered, if he has spoken to you and you have not
followed, Whose fault is it if he passes by and speaks no more? Bartimaeus had one opportunity
as the Lord passed by. Each time we gather, Each time
we come together in a service like this, we seek a word from
the Lord. I do at least. It is my prayer
every time that the Lord will give us a word, that the Lord
will speak in what is said and what is done, that he will speak
to the hearts of those who gather. And we will be privileged if
Jesus speaks to us again today. But friend, do not presume on
his mercy. Do not presume on his proximity. Do not presume upon his persistence. Yes, Jesus spoke again to them,
but the time came when he spoke no more. May the Lord grant us
ears to hear and a will to answer his call. Now let us come to today's I
Am saying. As you know, it is my purpose
to think about these seven I Am sayings of the Lord. We began
last week with, I am the bread of life. Today, I want us to
consider, I am the light of the world. Then speak 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. And once again we remark Who
but the Lord Jesus ever spake like this? Who but the Lord Jesus
ever called himself, or could call himself, the light of the
world? It's an astonishing claim. The
Lord Jesus employs This phrase, I am, he employs this phrase
frequently in John's gospel. John records them. And at least
to the Jews, this was very significant. It was a powerful phrase, I am. It carried echoes of Moses' interview
with God at the burning bush back in the early chapters of
the Bible. and it spoke of Christ's divinity. The implications of Christ's
divinity, his claims to divinity, were not lost on the religious
leaders of his day by his use of this term, I am, which is
why they hated him so much. And here the Lord is speaking
in the temple. He has come again to the temple
and he is teaching in the temple in the early morning. And he
publicly declares, I am the light of the world. Now the phrase
doubtless stirred up thoughts and ideas of the son in the minds
of his hearers. Christ's analogy might well have
been prompted by the winter sun rising over the temple walls. And as they were in the temple,
perhaps in an open courtyard and the sun was beginning to
rise in the morning and came over the walls into the courtyard,
the Lord Jesus may well have been inspired to say, I am the
light of the world as it shone down upon them. bathing the courtyards
in sunlight and supplying some welcome warmth to those who stood
listening to the Lord's sermon in the cool, if not cold, morning
air. The sun is essential to all life
on earth. All natural processes of life
and growth depend on the sun. And Christ's words for those
with ears to hear would soon run deeper than just a natural
concept of the shining sun in the sky and would flow to applications
of spiritual life and spiritual healing to be found in him. nor would their ideas be misplaced. The Son of Righteousness is one
of many titles applied to the Lord Jesus by the Old Testament
prophets. As the Son of Righteousness,
the Messiah would arise with healing in his wings. for those
he came to save, for those who feared his name, as Malachi puts
it. We often talk about the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Son of God, S-O-N, but here Malachi speaks
of him as the Son, S-U-N, of righteousness, who would arise,
as he did indeed, After Malachi, Malachi's prophecy closed the
Old Testament, and here we are now in the beginning of the New
Testament with the Lord Jesus Christ having come incarnate,
the Son of God, and he was the fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy,
the rising sun with healing in his wings. And others understood
this of Jesus also. Old Simeon, who largely dwelt
in the temple waiting for the redemption of Israel, waiting
for the revelation of the Messiah. He drew on Isaiah's prophecy
when he spoke of this newborn child that had been placed in
his arms by his mother, Mother Mary, there in the temple. as a light to lighten the Gentiles
and the glory of thy people Israel. And so this idea of light attaching
to the Messiah, this idea of spiritual illumination was understood
to be a key attribute of the Messiah. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke as he did, as the light of the world, he was drawing
together these prophetic allusions, these prophetic statements, and
taking them to himself with all the scriptural references of
nature and its benefits and the character of light, applying
spiritually to himself. Our Lord Jesus is the creator
of all things. He was the one who said, let
there be light. He was the one who afterwards
said that he would create the sun and the moon and the stars
so that our Lord Jesus Christ created light. by the word of His power. He
formed the stars. He formed the countless suns
that fill the farthest reaches of our universe. And He teaches
us. hereby, that His own power and
glory, His divine power and glory, vastly surpasses the things that
are made. We look with wonder at the majesty
of the heavens and the glory of the sun and the pictures of
the stars that extend, as far as we understand, to infinity.
but it was the Lord Jesus Christ who made these things and He
proves His infinity. He proves His divinity by the
things that He has made. Light dispels darkness, so does
our Saviour. It brings warmth and comfort.
It inspires life and enables growth, so does Christ. Light illuminates, it informs,
it directs, and Jesus leads his people forth, drawing us after
him, leading us forward, directing our path as he directed the path
of the children of Israel as they followed the pillar of fire
in the wilderness. And it is following the light
that the Lord first speaks of here. So here the Lord says that
he is the light of the world. And then he goes on to speak
of what it means to follow him. He that followeth me, he says. I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me. What is it to be a follower of
Christ? Well, his immediate disciples,
Peter, James, and John, and Andrew, and Jude, and Bartholomew, these
men, they knew something of following Jesus because they followed him
when he called them to leave behind their earthly occupations
and become his disciples, become his ministers, ultimately his
apostles. Follow thou me. And for some,
that is still valid. There are those who are called
to service for the Lord. But in our verse here, in this
spiritual way of speaking that the Lord employs, it is to follow
the Lord is trusting and believing. who the Lord Jesus Christ is
according to the scriptures, and acknowledging him as our
King, our Lord, our leader, our guide. He who has won us by his labours,
redeemed us by his blood, ransomed us from our captivity in the
kingdom of Satan, and quickened us with spiritual life and enlivened
and animated us that we might follow after him. Following is
active. It's a doing thing. We follow. Yes, we are passive in our salvation
insofar as our Savior by Himself purged our sins and cleansed
us from all unrighteousness. Nevertheless, all for whom Christ
died, all who are called effectually by the Holy Spirit to follow
the Lord Jesus in conversion, do thereafter follow in the steps
of their Saviour. follow after righteousness, follow
after Christ, having been made like Him, having been made conformable
to Him, united to Him, one with Him in a single body. We walk
with Him. We are members and He is our
head. Let me ask you this. Are you
a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Search your own heart. Being a follower of Christ isn't
about how much knowledge you have of doctrine or the Bible. That's not what being a follower
of Christ is. He teaches us when we follow
him, He teaches we follow to get His wisdom. He enlightens
those who follow Him with wisdom from above. So being a follower
of Christ isn't about what we know in our heads. Being a follower
of Christ isn't about never sinning, about never making mistakes or
getting things wrong. In fact, to be a follower of
Christ is to recognise that we are sinners and need his salvation. Our Lord's leadership leads us
out of sin. It isn't about being perfect.
It is about trusting Him. It is about trusting the merits
of His precious blood to keep us safe despite our sin and our
imperfections. By speaking here as He did, He
that followeth me, the Lord is distinguishing between some who
do and some who do not. So I ask again, are you a follower
of Christ? On which side of that divide
are you? It is a personal question that
requires a personal answer. And you may be older or you may
be younger. You may have had many years sitting
under the sound of preaching or it may be relatively new to
you. But I want you to be honest and
I want you to be earnest and I want you to ask that question
of your own heart. Am I a follower of Jesus Christ? The Christian life is often presented
as a journey. Being a follower of Christ means
that our sight is fixed on Him. He illuminates our spirit. He
energises our soul. He warms our heart with love
for Him. And He opens our understanding
to divine truth and eternal hopes and promises. May God grant us
grace to follow Christ. The next thing the Lord tells
these hearers is that Those who follow the light. I
am the light of the world. And then he says, those that
follow me, what of them? Shall not walk in darkness. They shall not walk in darkness
because our saviour illuminates the way that his people go. Christ and his teaching is a
lamp to our feet to guide us through this dark world. Under
the gospel, we shall not walk in darkness, but in light. He lightens and he brightens
our pathway. He leads his people. He calls
us out of darkness into his marvellous light. John tells us elsewhere,
in him was life and the life was the light of men and the
light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it
not. And just as Christ opened the
eyes of the physically blind he opens the eyes of the spiritually
blind to see the light and to know the truth, to see the light
of the gospel, to see the light of Christ, and to know the truth
of all that he has accomplished for us. Darkness brings bondage,
but Christ brings light, and that light brings new life and
liberty. Christ shines the light of spiritual
life into the heart and mind and soul of those he came to
save. Light, even just by nature, is
empowering and enabling. And he who is the light of the
world gave himself that we might live and empowers life within
us. We shall not walk in darkness. We shall not walk in darkness. These words of the Lord are not
aspirational. They're positional. He's not
saying, I hope you won't walk in darkness. He's saying you
don't walk in darkness. You shall not walk in darkness. Not if we are Christ. Not if
we follow Him. Not if we are in the light. If
we are believers, if we are followers, we do not walk in darkness. We have been translated from
the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Christ. God the Father
has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son. He has made us meet, that
is, He has made us suitable. by taking away our sin, by taking
away the guilt of our sin, by not imputing sin to us anymore,
by seeing us as righteous and holy and perfect and pure in
the Lord Jesus Christ, He has made us suitable to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. No follower of Christ
is a blind, ignorant fool in spiritual matters. We might not
know everything, but we know whom we have believed. Every
believer is wise unto salvation and walks the way of life. They know the truth, and that
makes them free in Christ. And again, Not walking in darkness
doesn't mean that we never sin. It shows rather the direction
of our walk. We lean towards the light. It reveals the tenor of our life. It reveals that bias that we
have. Our hearts desire the things
of God and of Christ. We seek righteousness. And when
sin abounds, we rejoice that grace much more abounds. A believer
is not dominated by Satan and by Satan's lies. When we are
tempted and when we fall, we know that there is a way back.
We know that there is a means of restoring the peace that has
been lost and of regaining a conscience void of offense towards God.
Peace with God is what those who do not walk in darkness desire
most of all. And we find our restoration and
recovery even when we fall in that one who is the light of
our life. It is Christ's gift to his people. Finally, the Lord says in this
verse 12, we shall have the light of life. That is his promise
to us. Those who follow the light shall
have the light of life. We shall have what we follow
after and desire. We shall have a life free from
sin and death and judgment. We shall have abundant life. We shall have eternal life. David, in the Old Testament,
he knew that. Isn't it lovely that we made
reference earlier about Elijah heading on his way to Zarephath
and thinking to himself, oh, the Lord has prepared a table
for me in the presence of mine enemies. And here are we. What is that? Almost 3,000 years
later, also referring to David's words and dwelling upon them
for the spiritual sweetness and blessing that they provide for
us. David knew, the Lord is my light
and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Jesus
Christ gives his people everlasting life and brings us to heavenly
glory by attracting us to follow him, by drawing us sweetly, purely,
beautifully. He says, he that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. He is the light that leads to
heavenly life and to heavenly glory and we shall have him. We are following the Lord Jesus
Christ to heaven. Some of us are further along
that road than others. Some of us are on the very threshold
of stepping into eternity. But we are merely on that pathway
which we have been walking on for perhaps many, many years. It is the path that leads to
heaven. The one who is the light of the
world is the light of heaven also. He is the light that shines
in glory, and we shall shine there with him. John tells us
in the book of Revelation, the city, that is the heavenly Jerusalem,
the streets of that city, the city had no need of the sun,
neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof. The one who is
the light of the world is also the light of heaven. And yet,
while we remain in this world, we have an active role to play
as children of light. We who follow Christ, who trust
and believe according to the scriptures, are ourselves Lights
shining in a dark place. We are called the children of
light. The Lord Jesus Christ said, ye
are the light of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the light of the world. He tells us that we shall not
walk in darkness. He tells us that we shall have
the light of life. He calls us the children of light. And then in Matthew chapter five,
verse 14, he says this. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid. So not as here, I am the light
of the world, but rather you are the light and I am the light. We are the light of the world. We bear a light. We bear a likeness
to Christ And as he is the light of the world, so we bear a likeness
to him, so much so that we are the light of the world. We are
a city, or like a city, that cannot be hid. And what a blessed
role this is that we fulfil on our Saviour's behalf. The children
used to sing a hymn, this little light of mine, I'm going to let
it shine. Well, I like that. Our testimony
as believers is who we are and how we live in this dark world. Christ has given us his light. I am come a light into the world
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
He sets us a light. He gives us His light, a living
flame, when He indwells us by His Holy Spirit. He makes us
to shine. This was the great commission
shared by the Lord's disciples and by the Apostle Paul. They
would shine forth the glory of Christ in preaching him and his
gospel to the ends of the earth. In all the world, Christ would
be lifted up as the light who would draw to himself his people,
those for whom he died, for the gathering in of his elect, to
open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith
that is in Christ Jesus. May the Lord set a light in our
hearts and make us followers of the light and believers in
him who declared, I am the light of the world. Amen.