Card from Aubrey and a t-shirt
that I wore with great pride. John Chapter 8. Mark Daniel will be preaching
for us tonight. I'm really looking forward to
that. Before I read this verse of Scripture,
imagine a world without light. Imagine nothing but darkness. Now, with that in mind, let's
read this verse of Scripture together. 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. You reckon we could spend the
rest of our lives considering this one verse of Scripture?
You know we could, and we would never exhaust its meaning. Now, this one statement by our
Lord Jesus regarding Himself gives us such light. He says,
I am the light of the world. God is said to be three things
in scripture. God is spirit. John chapter 4
verse 24. God is spirit and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And then we read
in 1 John 4, 8, that God is love. God is love. Beloved, let us
love one another, for love is of God. Everyone that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God, for God is love. Not here's love and God fits
the description. God is the definition of love. And then we read in 1 John 1,
verse 5, God is light. God is light. And in him is no
darkness at all. So when the Lord Jesus says this
about himself, he's certainly making a statement regarding
his deity. I am the light of the world. If a mere man said that, it would
be a statement of incredible arrogance and stupidity, but
when he says it, I am the light of the world. And when God said,
let there be light, and there was light, the sun, the stars
and the moon had not yet been created. Did you know that? They
weren't created into the fourth day. The light Spoken of in Genesis
1 3 is not created light. He's not saying this light was
created at this time. God simply said light be and
light was. This is no uncreated light. This
is a reference to the Lord Jesus himself. Do you remember the
man of transfiguration? When the scripture says his body
was transfigured before Peter and James and John. And the Bible says his face did
shine as the sun. That's remarkable. His clothes
glowed, the scripture says, and his face did shine as the sun. When he appeared to Saul of Tarsus
on the road to Damascus, Acts chapter 26, 13 says, a light
from heaven appeared above the brightness of the sun. Now, I
don't know how something can be brighter than the sun, but
he was above the brightness of the sun. We read in Revelation
chapter 21, verse 23 of the heavenly Jerusalem, and we read the city
hath no need of the sun nor of the moon, For the glory of God
did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Now the
light of the Lord Jesus Christ, He said, I am the light of the
world, is brighter than any physical light. I think that this is an
awesome scripture. Psalm 104 verse 2 says, He coverest
himself with light, as with a garment. Physical light is used as a covering. for the brightness of the glory
of his light. I am the light of the world. Now they tell me, who are they? I don't know, but they tell me
that matter, the stuff that occupies space is made of either waves
or particles. Now you fellas that are learned
in physics, you could, I think that's right. matter, that's
the stuff that occupies space, is made of either waves or particles
or atoms, whatever you want to call them, but I have heard that
light is the only matter we know of in the universe that has the
properties of both waves and particles. Which points to the utter uniqueness
of the dual nature of Jesus Christ. He is God. All that God is, He is. He is man. All that man is, He is. He is fully God. He is fully man. None can even
be compared to Him. Who are you going to compare
to Him? He said, I am the light of the
world. Now what's light for? Turn to
Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 13. But all things that are reproved
or discovered or exposed or see, but all things that covers everything,
but all things that are exposed and seen are made manifest by
the light. For whatsoever does make manifest,
that makes something seen, is light. You can't see without
light. Simple enough, isn't it? You
just cannot see without light. Darkness is what? The absence
of light. When you walk into a dark room
and turn the lights on, the darkness flees away, doesn't it? Where'd
it go? I don't know. But when the light
comes in, the darkness flees away. I love this Scripture. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6 says,
But God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness,
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Christ said, I am the light of
the world. Now, the only way I can see anything
is by His light. That's it. We can only truly see by the
light of Him and the fact of the matter is I really have no
understanding of anything apart from Him. Now I'm going to try
to spend the rest of this message making good on that statement.
I don't see anything apart from Now, in the immediate context
of our Lord saying, I am the light of the world. Turn back
with me there. John chapter 8. I am the light of the world.
We considered this last week, so I'm going to go back there
for just a moment. Verse 10 of John chapter 8. When Jesus had lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, Where are
those Zion accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.
Now, the only way this can be understood, this woman, as we
know, was caught in the very act of adultery. She was guilty
No way of getting out of it. She was guilty. And yet the Lord
Jesus, who is perfect in purity and holiness, spotless, who will
never wink at sin, who will never just let sin go under the covers. As a matter of fact, he would
die before he would let one sin go unpunished. That's how much
he hates sin, and that's how much he regards his Father's
glory. He was willing to go to the cross
before he would let sin go unpunished. That's what he thinks of sin. He looked at this woman who was
guilty of that crime and he said, I do not condemn thee. How? And there's only one light
I can see that by. That's the light of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because of Christ Jesus, God
can look at me and see no sin. Right now, when the God of glory
looks at this man that's looking at you right now, and this is
true regarding every believer, right now when God looks at me,
He sees no sin. He was manifested to take away
our sin, 1 John 3, 5, and in Him is no sin. In Him I have. You know, even when I say that,
there's all kinds of stuff I feel guilty about. That's just the
facts. You done any sinning this morning? It's still true, I have no sin. My sin was placed upon Jesus
Christ. It became his. He became guilty before God. Guilty as charged. My sin became his. And the proof of that is he died. Would God have killed him if
that sin wasn't his? Would He have killed him if he was innocent?
Absolutely not! My sin became His, and He died. And just as truly as my sin became
His, His righteousness is mine. And now God looks at me. He looks
at everybody Christ died for. He looks at all who believe.
And He says, I do not condemn thee. There's only one reason
why God wouldn't condemn me. That's because there's nothing
to condemn me for. I have no sin, I have perfect
righteousness before him. I've never done anything wrong
and I've always done that which is right. That is the status
of every believer before God. This is the privilege of every
believer before God. Now the only way I can understand
and have any light on this is the gospel. Neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Isn't that wonderful? I can't get over this. I really
can't. I cannot get over this. This
makes me so happy. I'm united to Jesus Christ. I'm
one with Him. And His identity before the Father
is my identity. And everybody wants to feel good
about themselves, don't they? Don't you want to feel good about
yourself? You know, when I do some kind of chore at the house,
I always say, Lynn, that makes me feel good about myself. I'm trying
to pump her up, you know, to make her feel good about me too,
you know, so, because I don't do much like that, but everybody
wants to feel good about themselves. Everybody does. You know what
my identity before God is? You know what makes me feel good
about myself? Jesus Christ. He makes me feel good about myself.
I'm united to him and God looks at me without And you know the only way we
can understand that is in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But does it give you some light? It gives me some light. He is
the light of the world. And I understand how God can
embrace me. I understand how I can smell
good to God. I can understand how he sees
me as altogether lovely through the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm
just real satisfied with that. Christ said, I am the light of
the world. But let's look at this. In even
broader terms, because this is this is such an important statement,
our Lord said, I am the light of the world. Now, here's the
first thing that comes to my mind. I've already seen what it means
in the context, and this is why I don't condemn you. But think
of this. He is the light of this book
we're looking at right now called the Bible. He is the light of
this book. This book is impossible to understand
unless I see that it all points to Him. Every bit of it. As a
matter of fact, if there's one portion of this scripture that
is not all about Him, then I don't understand what any of it means.
It is all about Him. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 24, the Bible will remain a closed book to you until
you have the key to the meaning of every passage. Luke chapter
24. Verse 25. Then he said unto them, those
ones walking on the road to Emmaus, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
You know, that hits me like a ton of bricks. When he says fools,
he's talking to me. Slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory? There's an ought to
this. There's a necessity to this.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? Why are you talking
about the Christ in terms of, oh, he got killed and we think
he's failed? Why are you talking like that?
That's what the Lord's saying to these people. And beginning
at Moses, Genesis 1-1, And all the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi,
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures. No, he doesn't
say in the scriptures which pertain to him. No, not at all. He expounded
to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And that's what the Bible is
all about. It's the things concerning himself. Now you take, you go
back into the Old Testament. I love that in the beginning.
Light be and light was. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
right there. He is the light. He is Abel's more excellent sacrifice. He's Noah's Ark. He's Abraham's
substitute ram. He's Isaac's well. He's Jacob's ladder. He's Joseph. Read the history
of Joseph. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every bit of it is just typifying Him. All of it. He's Joshua that
brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Moses
the Law couldn't do it. Only Joshua could do it. He's
Samson and the judges who by His death saved Israel. You go
on. He's the Son of David. He's the
bright morning star. He's the Son of Righteousness
risen with healing in His wings. Every story, every type, every
ceremony, He is the sum and substance of it. And if I don't see Him
in it, I just don't understand the meaning. And one of the things
that I love about this, you know, there's a lot of stuff in the
Bible. When I read it, I'm really not sure what it means, but I
know what it means. I know what it means. Do you
understand all the Bible? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I understand
it all. I might not understand the details
of how to get there, but I know it's all of Him. To Him give
all the prophets witness that by His name whosoever believeth
in Him should receive remission of sins. He is the message of
Scripture. I understand with him as the
light of the world, I understand that all of God's blessing is
in him. I understand that. You see, we
see by light, don't we? That's what light's for. We see.
You turn on the light, you see. I understand that everything
that God has for the sinner is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus. I understand
every blessing I have is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I understand
He Himself is the blessing, and I understand that everything
that God gives me by way of blessing, He gives me for Christ's sake.
He doesn't have to find a reason in me to do it. He doesn't have
to find worthiness in me to do it. He doesn't have to find merit
in me to do it. He does it for Christ's sake. I understand that. Now, I don't understand it as
much as I will one of these days. I'm going to understand it more
one of these days. And you know, I understand that more than I
did when I first believed. And I hope that if the Lord gives
me another ten years, I'll understand it more clearly then. But I understand
that salvation is for Christ's sake. And that all of God's blessing
is in Him. I understand regarding this book,
I think of all the precepts and the law. They show me my need
of him. I understand that. You take the
Ten Commandments. I love God's holy law, don't
you? Don't you? Don't you love the Ten Commandments?
I love God's law. I'm alive in the law of God after
the end of man. I love every commandment. I think
it's interesting of the ten, nine of them say no. Thou shalt
not. That gives me some life, some
understanding. I love God's law. But you know what God's law does
for me? It drives me to Jesus Christ every single time. You don't have any understanding
of the law that doesn't drive you to Christ as your only righteousness.
Scripture says the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Every doctrine speaks of him.
I don't care what doctrine we're dealing with in the scripture.
All doctrine speaks of him. You talk about justification,
we're justified by his righteousness, aren't we? If you talk about
redemption, we're redeemed by His blood. When you talk about
sanctification, being made holy, He is my holiness before God.
When you talk about faith, He is the object of faith. When
you talk about repentance, it's repentance concerning anything
contrary to Him. I don't care what doctrine you
talk about, the second, what's your view on eschatology? Well,
He's coming back. He's coming back. And I look
forward to it. Well, when do you think He's coming? Whenever
He comes, He's coming back, and I'm looking forward to it. Every
doctrine speaks of Him. We talk of the doctrine of grace.
Total depravity tells me my total need of Him. Election tells me
I'm elected in Him. Limited atonement tells me that
He is my atonement before God. His blood saves. Irresistible
grace says He's irresistible. Perseverance and preservation
says He has the power to preserve. I give unto my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. He is the key to all doctrine. He is the light as to who God
really is. Now, listen to me. I'm saying this with Job. In
my flesh, I see God. I see Him. Hell is invisible. I see God. All that God is is revealed in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all you're ever going
to see of God is Jesus. Christ. He said, he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. I've seen God. Now, why are you
saying that? I've never seen God's invisible.
God's a spirit. Listen, in my mind's eyes, in
the eyes of faith, and faith is the eye of the soul, I've
seen God. And I've seen God in the person
and work of Jesus Christ. All that God is, is revealed
in the person and work of Christ. You name any attribute of God,
I don't care which one you name, and it finds its all in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Talk about the justice of God?
Where do you see it most clearly? The cross. You talk about the
mercy of God, where do you see the mercy of God most clearly?
Christ crucified. You talk about the wisdom of
God, how God is so wise, where does that seem most clearly?
In the cross, where he's made a way to be just and justify
the ungodly. You talk about the sovereignty
of God, what about the cross? It's God's purpose being fulfilled,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. You go on and on,
whatever attribute you're talking about, It all finds its fulfillment
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Colossians
chapter 2. These are scriptures you're familiar
with, but I think they'll be a blessing to look at again.
Jesus Christ is the light of who God really is. Colossians chapter 2, verse 9. in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body." That's glorious. That's how glorious
he is. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by sun. Here's all that God has to say.
My son. That's it. You don't have anything
else to say to me or you. My son, this is my beloved son,
in whom I am well pleased. Here he is. This is what God
has to say. My son. And look at this description
of his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also
he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high." What a description of Jesus Christ
the Lord! He's the might of Godhead, whatever
God is, whatever substance God's made of, whatever makes up God,
that's who He is. But He is also the light to me
as to what a real man is. If you want to know what a real
man is, don't look at a sports figure. Don't look at a war hero.
Don't look at some famous person from the past. Don't look at
some famous person in the present. If you want to know what a real
man is, What true manhood is. Jesus Christ is true manhood. All that a man is, he is. He's the true man. There's no
man like this man. You think of his character. I
love to think of his character. I love to think of his holiness,
his hatred for sin. He was willing to go to the cross
before he would let one sin go unpunished. That's his regard
for his father's justice, for his father's glory. But yet,
look at his meekness and his humility. This is so attractive. He said, I'm meek and lowly in
heart and you'll find rest to your souls. You can come into
his presence and be received. If you want to know what sin
is, Talking about looking at the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
light that's demanding. If you want to know what sin
is, anything that's not precisely like Him is sin. There's a good
definition of sin. Anything that is not precisely,
if it's not just like Him, it is sin. He is true manhood. There's one mediator between
God and men. The man. I like that. The man. Christ Jesus. Do you want to know what a real
man is? Here's where you find what a real man is. And I'm not
talking about real men do this and real men do that. It was
a religious movement. I can't even remember what it
was called. But whatever. There's one real man. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, He is the light.
Talking about Him being the light of the world. He's the light
by which I see everything. And it's a blessing what I can
see in this light. He's the light as to the cause of all things.
Turn to Colossians chapter 1. Verse 15. Who is? The image,
the image is what we see. Colossians 115, speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him. You want to know
why? There's the answer. All things were created by Him
and for Him. Why does God let that happen?
For Him. For His glory. Somehow it glorifies and honors
Him. For by Him were all things created, whether they be in heaven
or in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created
by Him and for Him, and He is before all things. And by him
all things consist. He's the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. That's what pleases God, that
all fullness dwells in his Son. And here's the point I'm trying
to make. This is not just theological
jargon. I understand all things in light
of him. I really do. I understand whatever
happens, it happens because he willed it to happen. He's the
head of providence. He's the control of providence.
You see, truly history, I could say, how do you interpret history?
Well, history is his story. Quite simply, history is his
story. And I interpret everything that's
ever taken place in light of what's His will being done. And
you think of what a blessing this is. When God gives you grace
to see that everything in your life, I'm talking about the painful
things, the things you don't understand, the things that you
can't really get hold of that don't, you've got this much peace. that it's His will being done. And whether you understand what
He's trying to do, it doesn't matter because you know He understands.
He knows what He's doing. And I might not, but that's okay. Whatever He does is right, perfect. It's that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. And I really believe that. I see everything in light of
His sovereign control over all things. I don't need to understand
as long as I know He does. And He's going to bring everything
to His own glorious end. His will is being done. Now,
He's the light for motivation. He's the light for interpretation.
We understand things in light of Him. Not that we understand
what He's doing, but we understand He did it, and we're satisfied
with that. He's the light, but he's also the light of motivation.
Now, why do I say that? Well, you think about this. The
Lord tells us to deny ourself. I just take that by itself. Deny
yourself. Self is pretty important to me. I'm one of those people who thinks
of nobody but themselves. I was walking out of a pharmacy
and I heard this guy say to his wife, you think of nobody but
yourself. And I thought, boy, I wonder how many husbands have
heard that and wives have heard that. I mean, it's kind of a
common way of people thinking. But the Lord tells us to deny.
Self-righteousness, self-serving, self-seeking, selfishness. We're
called upon to deny ourself, to take up our cross, to take
up our cross. This confession of Christ that's
going to bring the hatred of the world and the contempt of
the world. You're not going to win any popularity
contest taking up the cross. And we're called upon to follow
Him. We're called upon to crucify the flesh with the affections
and its lusts. I mean, these are hard things
to do. You know, it's not easy to be a Christian. It's not. Now, by grace, it is. But as far as what we're going
through, it's not easy to follow Christ. Now, give me some motivation
for it. He said to, and that is enough. If He tells me to wade through
Hell, I don't need another reason. We do what we do for Christ's
sake. That's the glory we see in Him.
I really mean this. I hope I do. If He's glorified, I'm satisfied. And I don't care what happens
to me. I really don't. If he's glorified,
I'm satisfied. And you know every believer in
this room says, me too. If he's glorified, I'm satisfied. I don't need any other reasons. I really don't. We do what we
do for Christ's sake. Well, I'll be baptized. Why go underwater? That seems
like a weird religious ritual. Why do that and come back up?
Because He said to. Why rest? You know, there's a
rest for the people of God. Why rest? Because you think resting,
that means you don't do anything. Why rest? Just rest in Him. Why do that? Because He said
to. You need any other reason? He is our reason for motivation. He's our reason. Here is the light of our conduct. What would he do? Regarding everything. What would
he do? Now, that's precisely what we're
to do and how we're to do it. Now, I realize that religious
people are very selective with their WWJD. You look at the WWJD
bracelets, what would Jesus do? It's supposed to remind you.
You look at that bracelet, you'll be reminded as to how to conduct
yourself. And what I find so aggravating
about this is these people are not willing to do what he'd do
because it'd cost them too much. They talk about it, but if it
came to where it would cost them something, they'd never do what
he would. But that being said, forget that. What is my rule
of conduct? What would he do? That is what I am to do, precisely
as he did it. Now, that covers everything,
doesn't it? You want some light as to your conduct? What would,
would he forgive? You forgive. Would he remain
firm? You remain firm. Whatever, whatever
it is, you can just take this in so many different directions.
What would he do? That's how you are to do it. What he would do is perfect light
and all else is darkness. Now back to our text in John
chapter 8. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me. Now, you know what the. He's
saying, follow the light. You know, if you're if you're
in a dark place and there's a light, that's the direction you go with
it. There have been occasions, spelunking. It's always such
an exciting thing here. I used to do that a lot. And
it's an exciting thing to come out when you first see the light,
when you've been back in that cave for a long time and you
see the light, you know which direction to take, don't you?
You go toward the light. Following him is following the
light. Now notice what he says. He that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness. And that walking in
darkness is talking about the darkness of human religion, the
darkness of salvation by works. You know, in any form of salvation
by works, there's such darkness because when have you done enough?
What exactly do you need to do? You can't answer those questions.
It's darkness is all it is. Darkness. Oh, the darkness of
men's religious superstition. It's such darkness. But he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. Now, what is this light of life?
Now, there's two things that are absolutely necessary to see.
We've already been talking about one. Light. You can't see a thing
without light, can you? It's impossible. But you know
what else is needed for sight? A seeing eye. If you're blind
as a bat, light won't do you any good. You have to have a
seeing eye, a living eye. And Christ speaks of the light
of light following him. We have the light of light. That's the new nature that is
the living eye that sees. Following him. We have the light
of life and the light of the personal work of Christ. I see the insufficiency of any
kind of salvation by works, don't you? In light of him, I mean,
you don't understand. You just think it's theological
jargon unless you see him. And when you see him, you see
the complete insufficiency of salvation by works. If righteousness
came by the law, then Christ died in vain. Understand that. In light of Him, I see my completeness
in Him. You see, when I see Him, I see
my own sinfulness. No doubt, you do too. I see my
own unlikeness to Him, but I also see my completeness and the sufficiency
of Him. I see that. I really do see that. And I see everything else. I see everything else in this
life. I've got some understanding. I know why everything happens. It's His will being done. I see
the only message to preach. I see what Paul meant when he
said, I've determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I understand that. And I see
my reason to live is glory. I am, our Lord said, the light
of the world. Isn't that a wonderful statement
regarding the glorious person of Jesus Christ the Lord? Let's
pray together.