There is a very, very close affinity
between light and life. Wherever there is no light, there
is no life. Light is vital to life. We see this in the very opening
words of Holy Scripture in Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth. And the earth was, or the earth
became, without form and void. Chaos, judgment fell on the earth. Something happened. It became
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. As it was
in the original creation, so it is in the new creation of
grace. When the Lord God moves upon the sin darkened heart of
chosen sinners, when he sends his spirit to correct the chaos
of the fall in his redeemed. He causes the light to shine
in our hearts. Light shines to give us the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And the light
that shines in our hearts is Jesus Christ himself, the light
of the world. Turn to Isaiah's gospel. Isaiah's gospel, that's a good
way to put it. Isaiah's gospel. Isaiah chapter 42. Throughout
the Old Testament scriptures, Our Lord Jesus was spoken of
in type and in prophecy under the emblem of light so that the
Jewish commentators, the ancient Jewish commentators, all understood
clearly from the prophecies and from the types in the Old Testament
that when Messiah came, he would come to give the light of the
knowledge of God, that he would be light to the world. Light
to make God known to men in this world. The pillar of fire that
guided the children of Israel by night and the pillar of cloud
by day being the light. The Shekinah glory of God over
top of the mercy seat in the tabernacle being the light. The
son of righteousness is portrayed and our Lord Jesus is he who
rises with healing under his wings. The golden lamp stand
in the tabernacle and in the temple. All these things pointing
to Christ, the light. And in the prophecy here in Isaiah,
let's look at just two or three passages in Isaiah's prophecy
and see how this is stated. Verse one of chapter 42. This
is a prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord God
speaks by his prophet and says, Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Make that justice,
make it righteousness, make it judgment. That's what Christ
brought to the Gentiles. He brings in righteousness. He
brings in judgment finished. He brings in justice in the saving
of the Gentiles of his elect among the Gentiles. He shall
not cry, nor lift up his, nor lift up nor cause his voice to
be heard in the streets. That is, he will not cry out
in despair, in frustration, in helplessness, as though somehow
something is taking place against his will. Verse three, a bruised
reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not
quench. He shall bring forth judgment,
righteousness, justice, judgment unto truth. He shall not fail. He shall not fail. If it is so,
what we hear these days about Jesus Christ, that he tries to
save and fails. If it is so, that he wants to
save but is not able. If it is so, as we hear men proclaim,
that he died to redeem but some for whom he died are not redeemed,
then the Jesus we worship is not the Christ. But that is not
so. The prophet said he shall not
fail. Failure is an impossibility with
God. If the God you trust and worship
fails at anything, you worship one who is no God at all. If
the Savior you trust is a failure in anything, then you trust one
who is but the idolatrous figment of your depraved imagination.
He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. till he hath set judgment in
the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith
God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them
out, he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out
of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit
to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness
and will hold thine hand and will keep thee, and will give
thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles. Look at chapter 49, verse 6. God says, I'll give you my servant,
this almighty effectual savior, a light for the Gentiles. Isaiah
49, 6. He said, it is a light thing
that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles. What does that mean? That thou
mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. I'll give you
to be the light of the world for the saving of my people unto
the ends of the earth. Look at Isaiah 60. One more passage
here. Verse one. 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, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising. All right, now let's turn to
our text, John chapter 8. John chapter 8. In the light
of these things, when our Lord Jesus announced in the temple
treasury in John 8 verse 12, I am the light of the world. You can be sure those Pharisees
standing in front of him understood exactly what he was saying. He
is declaring himself to be the Messiah, the Christ of God, the
Son of God, God incarnate, the one and only light by whom God
is revealed. He shows himself then to be Christ
our God, Christ the Messiah, fulfilling the prophecies of
the Old Testament, fulfilling the types of the Old Testament,
and he speaks it to these Pharisees. Let's begin reading in chapter
8 and verse 12. Our Lord Jesus, you will remember,
was teaching in the temple, and these Pharisees had hatched a
plan by which to entrap the Lord Jesus. And they brought the adulterous
woman to him, thinking that he would surely either have to have
her stoned, and thus he would deny his own declarations of
mercy and grace, or he would send her away in mercy and not
have her stoned, break the law and violate the commandments
of the law. But the Lord Jesus found a way. He found a way to
forgive that guilty woman and maintain his law because he drove
away every witness and there were none to accuse her. And
thus it is that our Savior saves his people this day, not contrary
to the law, not in violation of the law, but because he found
a way by the sacrifice of himself to silence our accusers and to
send us away free, fully forgiven of all sin. And now our Lord
walked over after he had driven out those accusers from before
the woman. He walks over to the temple treasury,
the place where they kept the offering boxes. It was a prominent
place. They had a bunch of them. They
didn't want anybody to miss out on the offering boxes. So they
kept them prominent. And the Lord Jesus continued
preaching. Verse 12. Then spake Jesus again
to 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 barest record
of thyself. Thy record is not true. Jesus
answered and said unto them, though I bear record of myself,
yet my record is true. For I know whence I came and
whither I go, but ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go.
You 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. It is also written in your law
that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness
of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Then said they unto him, where is your father? 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, here's the first
thing in the passage before us. It takes little evidence to demonstrate
the fact that this world is a place of darkness. Darkness. Moral degeneracy, spiritual
idolatry, religious superstition. Darkness engulfs the world in
which we live. We live in an age where men and
women are enlightened academically and philosophically, enlightened
with technology and have great degrees and have good education,
but the world still is a place where darkness covers the earth
and gross darkness to people. They meet with darkness in the
daytime. and grope in the noonday as at
night. They grope in the dark without
light. And he, that is God, makes them
to stagger like a drunken man. What darkness prevails. What darkness. Most people's
lives are lives full of darkness and being full of darkness, full
of turmoil. The cause, the reason for the darkness, This constantly
thickening blackness and darkness is simply the fact that fallen
men and women are devoted, utterly devoted to their own heart's
lust. This is how the spirit of God
tells us the darkness continually increases. They walk in the vanity
of their mind, having the understanding dark, being alienated from the
life of God through the ignorance that's in them because of the
blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given
themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with
greediness, darkness. Morality is not righteousness. Understand that. I'm not here
just to give folks lessons in morality. If I could make you
more moral, it would make you one bit more righteous before
God. But we live in an age with no moral compass at all. Wherever
men and women are most looked upon as enlightened, and society
looked upon as most progressive, most advanced, the greater the
perversity, the utter perversity. Perversity, commonly spoken of
these days, commonly spoken of, you wouldn't talk about in a
bar room with drunk men when I was a boy. Perversity, this
utter debauchery, and defended in the name of liberty, defended
in the name of enlightenment, defended in the name of social
advanced understanding. But greater than that darkness
is the spiritual darkness that prevails. Indeed, that moral
darkness is the fruit of the spiritual darkness. Read Romans
the first chapter. The moral degeneracy of society
is traced by the finger of God to the doorstep of idolatrous
religion. It is but the judgment of God
upon men who worship and serve the creature more than the creator.
We learned peoples of our day. The vast majority of men and
women in this world know absolutely nothing about their own nature,
the depravity of their hearts. They know nothing at all about
righteousness. Know nothing at all about the
need of a redeemer, a substitute, a savior. They know nothing at
all about the character of God. Know nothing at all about God's
grace and God's salvation. They're utterly, utterly, utterly
dark. Gross darkness. They walk in,
groping about in the daytime as in the night. Now I want to
be as personal as I possibly can. I'm not looking something to
say. I want every eye right here. Young and old. I'm talking specifically
to you. Specifically to you. If you're
without Christ. You live in utter darkness. I don't care how smart you are.
I don't care how many books you've read. I don't care where you
go to school. I don't care what you've achieved
in life. If you're without Christ, you are in utter, complete darkness. Darkness. Darkness that I can't
penetrate. Darkness that reason can't dispel. Darkness that religion won't
change. utter blackness and darkness
ever thickening because you choose to live in the vanity of your
own mind. Walking after your own conscience
in the depravity of your own heart after the lust of your
own heart. That's the first thing. Number
two. The Lord Jesus Christ the incarnate
God, our savior. He who lived and died in the
room instead of sinners, who sits now upon the throne of God
and rules the universe, the only true and living God. He alone
is the light of the world. Merle, without him, there's no
light. There's no light, not even a
glimmer, not the slightest. Without him, there's no light.
He says, I am the light of the world. John's gospel, you know,
was specifically written, written by the finger of God and inspiration. to teach us the eternal deity,
the glorious Godhead of Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, the incarnate
God. John was intended by God to show
us clearly that this man, Christ the Lord, is God Almighty in
human flesh. John's gospel begins with that
declaration. 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
the life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Seven times,
seven times, the Lord Jesus uses these two words. I am. Seven times. To describe himself
in some character as our Savior, while at the same time declaring
himself to be the eternal God. Seven times the Lord Jesus says
I am and John is inspired of God to record these as none of
the other Gospel writers were why because he's showing us Every
time you read in the book of John every time you read in the
book of God that the Lord Jesus said I am Understand what he's
saying He is standing before men in a body of flesh just like
this, declaring, I am the self-existent eternal God who spoke to Moses
in the bush. I'm the light of the world. I'm
the bread of life. I am the door. I am the good
shepherd. I am the resurrection and the
life. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am divine. Not only does he describe himself
that way, but more than 50 times. I didn't have time to count them
all, each one, but more than 50 times in the gospel of John,
our Lord Jesus said, I am more than 50 times. You remember,
of course, that most famous of all, when the Savior spoke to
those who came to arrest him in the garden and he said, I
want you to be sure you understand who you're dealing with. Who
are you looking for? We're seeking Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, I am. And they fell away as dead men.
They fell away as dead men. And he raises them up and said,
now you understand who I am? Who was it you said you were
looking for? I am. So John here tells us when he
speaks of our Lord declaring, I am the light of the world.
He's telling us that this one who's talking declares himself
to be God, the eternal son. And being such, he is light.
John picks up on this in his first epistle. Turn there if
you will. First John chapter one. First John chapter one. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. For the life was manifested and
we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life, which was with the father and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you that ye also
may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you that your joy may be full. What things? What I've just declared to you.
We've seen the word and we've handled the word and the word
is God. Now watch this. What are these
things that cause the fullness of joy? This then is the message
which we've heard of him and declare unto you that God is
light. And in him is no darkness at
all. pure, absolute light. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanseth us from all sin. The crucified Christ, like the
risen son, light he's risen to diffuse light and life and peace
and Salvation to darken souls in the midst of a dark dark world
What the Sun is to our solar system Christ is to our souls
He's the center of everything the center of light of life of
heat of warmth of rest He's the center of all He only is the
true light who came into the world to save sinners. Now, having
declared this immediately in verse 13, back in John chapter
eight. In verse 13, the Pharisees jumped
on his words and quoted what he had said back in chapter five.
You remember, our Lord said in chapter five, verse 31, if I
bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. And the Pharisees
didn't forget anything. In verse 13 of chapter 8, the
Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou barest record of thyself,
thy record is not true. They thought we got him now.
We've got him now. We'll take him in his own words.
But when they thought they had had him strapped, they got him
in a tight place. Now, the Lord Jesus seized the
opportunity and asserted that he is God one with the father. Look at verse 16. And yet if
I judge, my judgment's true, for I'm not alone. I'm not here
by myself, but I and the father that sent me. He didn't say I
and my father. He said, I and the father. Here
I am. And I am here with the father. The father of lights, the father
who is God, creator, ruler, and father of all. The one who is
acknowledged by you to be the father. I am not alone, but I
and the father that sent me. We're both standing right here
in front of you. It is also written in your law that the testimony
of two men is true. I'm one to bear witness of myself
and the father that sent me. bear witness of me. So the Savior
is speaking to them and it speaks to us. People like to debate
and argue about whether or not the Lord Jesus ever claimed to
be God, ever claimed to be Messiah. What stupidity. He speaks so
plainly. The Pharisees on one occasion
picked up stones to stone him. And he said, wow, what what evil
work have I done? Is it not a work? Not a work
you've done? Because you being a man make yourself equal with
God, we're going to kill you. They understood exactly what
he said. And our Lord here speaks to them. He's I and the father
are standing here. And the father bears witness
of what I say and I bear witness. And according to the law in Deuteronomy
19, where two men bear witness to the same thing, it's verified
as true. And so the Lord Jesus here identifies
himself as being one with the father and God standing in front
of them in human flesh while he's on the earth looking at
them just as I'm looking at you. As they looked into his eyes
just as you look into mine, he said, I'm seated with my father
in heaven. And my father standing right
here with you in the midst of you in this body with me. I and
the father are one. And as he claimed to be the Messiah,
as he claimed to be the son of God, as he claimed to be the
savior of the world, as he claimed to be the light of the world,
his father bore witness to that which he claimed. At his baptism,
this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. On the Mount
of Transfiguration, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased. When he died, he cried at last,
it is finished, and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost,
and the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom. And
the earth quaked and shook. And then when he arose and ascended
on high, the father bears witness to the son again, pouring out
his spirit as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel concerning
the Messiah. Christ Jesus, our Lord is the
light of the world. He alone reveals God to me. He alone shows men who and what
God is. He alone reveals man to himself. He alone reveals salvation to
sinners who accomplishes it. And he alone shows us how it
is that God can be just and yet justify such as we are. All right,
here's the third thing. Believers are people who follow
Christ. Our Lord said in verse 12, he
that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, following Christ. That's what it is to be a believer,
a disciple, one who follows, one who follows. If you watch church signs and
activities. You'll see every couple of years
churches of every kind will have discipleship classes. You know
what discipleship classes are? Those are classes to teach people
who claim to be believers to act like they're following Christ
when they don't. You get to be a believer and
then we will teach you how to be a follower. To be a believer
is to be a follower. Not a follower of men, not a
follower of religion, but a follower of Jesus Christ the Lord. To
follow Him, Larry, is to submit to Him. To follow Him, Bob, is
to bow to Him. To follow Him is to walk in the
path He directs, to follow His doctrine, to follow his precepts,
to follow his leadership as the children of Israel followed the
light of fire, the pillar of fire by day and the pillar of
cloud by night. When the pillar moved, they moved.
Where it went, they went. When it stopped, they stopped.
So it is that God's people, all of God's people are followers
of Jesus Christ the Lord. Walking in the light, we recognize
that light. And we recognize how it is that
God Almighty works in the hearts of men, how it is that God saves
sinners by the sacrifice of his son. We understand the method
of God's grace. Those who walk in the light,
those who walk in light following Christ are made to see clearly,
made to see clearly what it takes for a sinner to stand with God
in glory. I'll come back to this, I promise
you soon. Five things. Five things are absolutely necessary.
Five things are absolutely necessary. There's got to be a resolve.
Not on your part, on God's part. Salvation by choice, by God's
choice, by God's resolve, by God's determination. But God
doesn't save sinners just by resolving to save them. Salvation
comes to sinners only by righteousness. God Almighty demands righteousness. And that righteousness he performed
in the person of his son by the obedience of his son in our room
instead. But righteousness, obedience
will never get you to glory. It won't do it. Having obeyed
God's law won't do it. Justice must be satisfied. Sin must be put away. And so
redemption is necessary. Christ Jesus accomplished that
by the sacrifice of himself. Walking in the light, we understand
that. But that's not enough. You mean, preacher, the blood
of Christ is not enough? No. No, it's not. No. Now, I know some folks are going
to jump on that and run wild with it and That's all right. That's all right. It's not enough.
You've got to have something more than blood and something
more than a righteous record. You've got to have a new nature.
Regeneration is just as necessary as redemption and righteousness.
You can't get to glory unless you're born again. Is that what
our Savior said? Except a man be born again. He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. You must have a new nature. That
old nature can't enter the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. Well, we got to have God's resolve,
got to have God's righteousness, got to have God's redemption,
got to have God's regeneration. And you got to have something
else. Because God didn't just save your soul. The Lord Jesus
didn't just save your soul. He saves the whole man. from
the whole of the fall and makes his people whole. And there is
something else necessary. There must be a resurrection. These bodies must be changed
into that which is incorruptible. Walking in the light, we understand
that the light has different effects on those upon whom it
shines. If you are walking in the woods
and you pick up a rock, or you roll over a log, you'll see hundreds
of bugs and insects just scurrying everywhere. Not because they're
afraid of you, but because they're creatures of darkness. And to
creatures of darkness, the light's repulsive. And that's the way
it is with the preaching of the gospel of our Redeemer. When
the light shines, Those who hate the light scatter. John chapter
six. Our Lord Jesus had fed the multitudes,
and then he began to shine the light. And they said, this is
a hard saying. Who can hear it? And many of
his disciples turned and walked no more with him. The Lord Jesus
in John chapter eight, verse one through 11, there in the
temple. And he stoops on the ground.
And I had no idea what he wrote. But man, the light must have
shown. And they scattered. They scattered. The light is
repulsive to those who love darkness. Not to those who love light.
To those who love darkness. Not only is the light repulsive,
the light is revealing. In the light of Christ, we see
God. Know who God is. The light of
the glory of God. shines in the face of Jesus Christ
the Lord. We see God Almighty, the triune
God, in all his glory, shining forth in the salvation of our
souls by Christ the Savior. The light's revealing, and the
light revives and refreshes the earth. It causes the earth that
has been dormant to spring with life. And so, when Christ shines
in our hearts, he brings life to our souls. And when our souls
are empty and barren, and the Lord
Jesus rises again, he revives and refreshes and brings life
to the soul. And the light, when the sun shines warmly, it
gives rest. And you just kind of nestle down
and rest comfortably. And so it is that Christ gives
rest to his people. And the light is always reflected. It's always reflected. The moon
reflects the light of the sun. And we, our Savior says, in whom
he shines, reflect his light. He says, ye are the light of
the world. A city which is set on a hill
cannot behead, neither do men light a candle, but put it under
a bushel, or neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are
in the house. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Now, I'll be honest with you,
I've looked at that, and you can find it for yourself in Matthew
chapter 5, verses 14, 15, and 16. Let your light shine before
me. And Mark, you're going to get
good work from Mark Rexnor, or whatever they call that place
out there, the FKI Logistics, I think. And how are you going
to go about letting your light shine before those folks out
there so they see your good works and glorify God? bow down when I start to have
my bologna sandwich at lunch and give thanks for it, then
they'll see my good works and glorify God. No, they'll see
your prayer and say, boy, he's a good Christian. There's a big
difference. Well, if I take great care that
I talk with a certain manner of speech and I have certain
voice tones when I talk about God and holy, Oh, how holy. Then they'll see my good works
and glorify my father, which is heaven. No. No, they'll see
your behavior and say he might act a little funny, but he's
devoted. And glorify you. What? Well, if they see that
I pay my taxes like I should, and you ought to do that. You
ought to do that. By all means. Oh, he's an honest man and he'll
glorify you. No. No, they'll say he's an honest
man and they'll glorify you. How on earth can you walk before
men and let your light shine? Let your light shine. Let your
light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father in heaven. There ain't but one way. You
point them to Christ, the light of the world. who alone is your
righteousness, who alone is your redemption. And if they ever
see him, they will glorify your father, which is in heaven. Our
business is to shine the light on him who is the light of the
world. Now, here's the fourth thing.
Those who follow Christ shall not walk in darkness. We were blind, but not anymore.
We were once unbelievers, but not anymore. We once knew not
God nor his son, but not anymore. Now we walk in the light. We
know that we're in Christ and Christ is in us. We know that
we're in the covenant of grace and in the love of God. We know
that we're going to heaven and have an eternal inheritance with
Christ in glory. All because we walk in the light
of him who shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. And we're not going to walk in
darkness. It's not going to happen. Christ is the light. The only
light there is in this world that can't be quenched. All the
lights that men take for themselves. Some of you know from experience
what I'm talking about. You have a little light and you
hold on to your little religious experience, your little religious
profession, your little religious tidbit and you hold on to it
until Some dark, heavy trial comes. And your light flickers. And you then are brought into
this valley of the shadow of death. And your light's gone. There's nothing, no light, no
light, nothing to see. nothing to hang on to, nothing
to believe, nothing to comfort, nothing to sustain. But with Christ, the light of
the world, if he shines in your heart, the darker it is outside,
the brighter it is inside. The more all other comfort is
gone, the better the comfort he gives. This is light. that cannot be quenched. And
in verse 19, our Savior says, if you don't have this light,
you don't know God. If you don't know me, you don't
know God. Then they said unto him, where
is your father? Jesus answered, ye neither know
me nor my father. If ye had known me, You should
have known my father also. The man Christ Jesus, our mediator,
the sinner's substitute, our surety, is the only saving revelation
of God. He is the wisdom of God. He is
the word of God. What's that mean? To know him
is to know God and to enter into eternal life. To be ignorant
of him is to be ignorant of God, totally ignorant. To walk with
him is to walk in the light of God, who is light, in whom is
no darkness at all. To walk without him is to grope
about darkness in the daytime as in the night. As I prepared this message, all
the time I've been working on it the last several weeks, I've
been praying for two things. For you, whom God would gather
to hear it. I've been praying for you. I've
been calling your names before God. God, make the light to shine
in your heart. Oh, God, give you light to know
him, to know the son of God, the light of the world. I've
been praying for somebody else. I've been praying for me. Oh,
son of God, shine in my heart more brightly with every passing
day that I may know thee the only true God, my Savior and
my Redeemer. Oh, that I may know him in the
fellowship of his sufferings, in the power of his resurrection
being made conformable unto his death. God give us such light. Amen.