I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In John chapter 8, verse 12,
the Lord makes this statement. I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now think of this statement.
I am the light of the world. This is either the most delusional,
arrogant statement ever made, fueled by a narcissistic personality
disorder, or it's the truth. I am the light of the world. There's only one man who could
say this truthfully. If I said I'm the light of the
world, how offensive that would be. How untrue that would be. How arrogant that would be. How
delusional that would be. Put any other name other than
his name as the light of the world and you have blasphemy. But he said, I am the light of
the world. Light. We see by light. We see by the light of Christ
Jesus. The scripture says in Psalm 34,
6, they looked unto him and were lightened. Do you know that Jesus
Christ is the light of who God really is? You will not know
who God is apart from knowing who Jesus Christ is. He is God. He said to Philip, he that has
seen me has seen the Father. The only way we're going to see
who God really is is by seeing who Jesus Christ really is. The only light I have as to who
I am is by seeing Jesus Christ. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. When did Job
hate himself and repent in dust and ashes? When he saw the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isaiah said, in the year the
king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord high and lifted up. And that's when he said, then
I said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. And I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips because mine eyes have seen the king,
the Lord of hosts. Daniel said, when I saw him,
my comeliness turned to corruption. Now, if you do not see yourself,
as sinful right now. There's one reason. You've never
seen Him. If you've seen who He really
is, you've seen that you are a sinner. And when you see Him,
when you have light concerning Him, you see that He Himself
is salvation. I love what Simeon said, Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. Now I'd like to say some things
concerning sunlight. that give us some idea as to
what he meant when he said, I am the light of the world. And I
know this, before I get into these things, when he appeared
to Paul on the road to Damascus, he appeared above the brightness
of the sun. You know how bright the sun is?
He's infinitely more bright. The light of the Lord Jesus Christ. But let me say these things concerning
sunlight. You cannot see without light. To see, to be able to physically
see, there are two things you need. Number one, a seeing eye. The light might be bright, but
if you're blind, you can't see it. You need a seeing eye, but
you can have a seeing eye, and if you don't have light, everything's
in the dark. It's no different than if you were blind. You have
to have both a seeing eye, given by God, and light to see. You cannot see without light. Secondly, there could be no life
without the light of the sun. It's sunlight that works with
the plants to produce photosynthesis where the energy of the light
is turned into chemical energy. We get oxygen from that. There
would be no life without sunlight. It's the source of food. Light
is made of two properties. Sunlight is made of two properties. Particles and waves. Particles, they have density,
take up space. Waves, waves of energy, radio
waves. Sunlight is made of particles
and rays. There's not very many things
that are made of two things like that. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ
This represents His two natures. Jesus Christ is absolutely God,
just as if He were not man at all. Very God of very God. And He's perfect humanity, absolute
man, just as if He were not God at all. The God-man Christ Jesus,
He's not a blend of the two. He's fully God, fully man. The two natures of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Only one like Him can save us.
nature of God, deity, the nature of man, humanity. And darkness
cannot stop light. When light comes, darkness flees. You come into a totally dark
room, you can't see a thing, you turn on the light, where'd
all the darkness goes? It flees. Darkness cannot stop light. Darkness is actually the absence
of light. And listen to this. The sunlight
can come into contact with the dunghill and not be contaminated
by it. It can touch the dunghill and
not be contaminated by it. That's why Christ can come to
people like me and you and not be contaminated by us. Now there
is such a thing as artificial light. You use it every day,
and there is an artificial light. Satan is transformed as the angel
of light, 2 Corinthians 11 says. He comes as an angel of light,
not as the prince of darkness, who he is, but he masquerades
himself as the angel of light. He comes as a preacher, and his
ministers are ministers of righteousness. They don't try to tell you to,
well, you need to sin to be saved. No, they're ministers of righteousness,
right living, man's righteousness. But Christ, oh, he's brighter
than the artificial light. He came above the brightness
of the sun. You know, Paul wasn't blinded
till he saw the light. And when he saw the light, he
was blinded. You'll become blind to any hope
of self-salvation when you see the light, Christ Jesus, who
he is. Now, he said, I am the light
of the world. What a statement. I am the light
of the world. Now, the first time light is
mentioned is in the creation. And it was the first thing that
was mentioned. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was
on the face of the deep. The Spirit of God brooded on
the waters. The Spirit of God moved on the
waters. God said, let there be light, and light was. Now, you're
gonna find this very interesting. The sun and the moon were not
created until the fourth day, but he begins with light, and
this is the uncreated light of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the light Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, when he said, God, who
commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, has shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we know what the glory of
God is. Moses said, show me your glory. God said, I'll make all
my goodness pass before you. I'll proclaim my name before
you. His name is who he is, his attributes. And I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. That is all seen in the face
of the man, Christ Jesus. Now, in 1 John 1, verse 5, we
read this statement, God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all. God is holy. This is what this
means. Only He is holy. This is the beauty of His character.
All of His attributes are holy, other, separate. He is absolutely
holy, originally holy, essentially holy, infinitely holy, eternally
holy, immutably holy. He is other. There's nothing
in this world you can compare Him to. He's incomprehensibly
holy. Oh, the holiness of God. What
did the cherubim say? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. The underrived holiness, otherness,
absolute purity of God. He who is of two pure eyes to
behold iniquity. God is good. God is holy. And God is good. When Moses said,
show me your glory, the first thing he said was, I'll make
all my goodness pass before thee. God is good all the time. Whatever
he does is good. When people ask the questions,
how could a good God or a loving God let that happen? Oh, so now
you can stand in judgment on God. He's good whether you see
it or not, whether I see it or not. And he brings good out of
evil. God is Good all the time. He's originally good. He's essentially
good. He's infinitely good. He's eternally
good. He's immutably good. He's the
highest good. God is light and Him is no darkness
at all. Now, verse six says, if we say
we have fellowship with Him, Him who is light, and then there's
no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship
with Him, A lot of people make that claim. I have fellowship
with God. I pray to Him. He hears me. He speaks to me. I have fellowship with God. I
have communion with God. A lot of people make that claim.
If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
we lie. and do not the truth." Now, is
he saying if we say we have fellowship with him and yet we sin in secret,
we walk in darkness and do not the truth? Well, am I talking
to anybody who doesn't sin in secret? I guarantee you do. If you say you don't, I say you're
a liar. You do too. Men are sinners. So he's not
talking about if we say we have fellowship with him and yet sin
in secret, we're liars and do not the truth. I'm ashamed of
my sin, but for me to say, oh, I never sinned in secret, well,
I'd be lying and you'd be lying too. What that's talking about
is the darkness of salvation by works. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, not seeing Christ as the light
of life, Christ as the way to the Father. If we say we have
fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, the darkness of
superstition and religious ignorance, we lie and do not the truth,
but if we walk in the light. Now that light, When our Lord
said, I am the light of the world, right before that, he said to
that woman who was taken in adultery, woman, where are those thine
accusers? Has no man condemned thee? She said, no man, Lord.
He said, neither do I condemn thee. After that, he said, I
am the light of the world. Now, he is the light as to how
he can look at this woman who is guilty. There was no doubt
about her guilt. She was caught in the act. And
he could say to her, I do not condemn you. You see, he's made
the way for God to be just and justify the ungodly. He's the
light as to how that takes place. Now, if we walk in the light,
the light of how he saves sinners, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now, I would like to
read in John chapter one, this glorious passage concerning the
person of Christ. Verse one, John chapter one,
in the beginning was the word. The Word didn't begin to be in
the beginning. The Word already was in the beginning. This is the eternal Son of God,
the pre-existent Son of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God as a distinct person, and the Word
was God. He is the God of glory, the second
person of the Blessed Trinity. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. Jesus Christ
is the Creator. Now listen to this verse four.
In Him was life. In Him was life. The only way
you and I will have spiritual life is through His life. In Him was life. And the life
was the light of men. The life of Christ is the light
of how God can save us. His life is the light of men. You see, His perfect life is
my life before God. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. If I'm accepted by God, it's going to be because His
life is my life. What he did, he did for me. He
took my sin, put him away, he gave me his life. That's the
light as to how God can accept me. His sacrificial life is how
my sins can be forgiven. He was put to death. My sins
were put to death. My sins were judged in Him. His
resurrected life is my life before God. He was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. If when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Paul went so far as to say, when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear. Did you hear that? When Christ who is our life shall
appear. His life is my life before God. That's the only light I have
is that his life is my life before God. Now look what it says next
in verse five. And the light, the light shined
in the darkness. and the darkness comprehended
it not. Now that word comprehended in
the original has two different meanings. First, it means the
way we would think of it, understood it not. The light shined in the
darkness and the darkness understood, comprehended it not. It didn't understand. You see,
the natural man, that's what you and I are by nature until
God gives us a new heart, eyes to see, hearts to receive. The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for
the foolishness unto him. Neither indeed can he know them
because they are spiritually discerned. He doesn't have the
spiritual eye to see the light. So if a man doesn't have God
the Holy Spirit teaching him, you can preach the gospel so
clearly and so simply and he's still not going to understand. The word also means seized or
overcome. The darkness cannot prevent the
light. When light comes, darkness flees
away. Darkness cannot put out light. That is the gospel. Now look
in John 3, verse 19. We read these words. This is
the Lord speaking. And he says, and this is the
condemnation. that light is coming to the world. And he did come into the world.
He said, I am the light of the world. This is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather
than light. because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds might be made manifest, that
they are wrought in God." Now here's why men, the natural man,
hates the light of the gospel. The light of the gospel, the
light of the Lord Jesus Christ, this scripture says, exposes
all their deeds as evil. Do you hear what that's saying?
If you have light from Him, if you have the light of life, you
see that everything that comes from you is evil, is sin. And that's why the natural man
hates the light. They don't want to be told that everything they
do Even the good stuff. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags, the scripture says. Everything they do is sin. But
he that doeth truth, that's the man who believes the gospel.
He comes to the light. He runs to the light. He's glad
to come to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that
they're wrought in God. You see, the reason I'm not ashamed
to come to the light is my deeds are what God has done. Not what
I've done, what He has done. And I'm not ashamed to bring
what He has done to the light. Oh, we come to the light. Now, I want to go back to John
8, verse 12. Once again, I want to read the
rest of the verse. Then spake Jesus again to them,
saying, I am the light of the world. If you have any light,
it's Him. You'll know who God is only through
Him. You'll know who you are only through Him. You'll know
how God saves only through Him. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. He's the light of the world.
He's the light as to how God can accept me or you and receive
me or you and embrace me or you. He's the light as to how that
could be. I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now, I love what he says after
telling us that he is the light of the world. He says, he that
followeth me. Now, you can't separate faith
in Christ and following Christ. He that followeth me. And there's so many things implied
in following Christ. Like I said, you can't separate
it from faith in Christ. I love it when the Lord said
to Matthew, follow me. He rose, forsook all he had,
and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the light of the world,
he that followeth me. Now, I know this about following
someone. Hebrews 12, two, looking unto
Jesus. And that word looking means turn
your eyes away from all other subjects and fix your gaze only
at that one subject. If you follow Christ, you're
not looking behind you. You're not looking at your experience.
Oh, I must be saved. I remember when this happened
or that happened and try to find the assurance from something
behind you. You don't look at your feet. You don't follow Christ
and look at your walk and try to examine your walk and figure
out whether or not you're saved by your walk. You don't do that. You don't look to the side to
look at other people at their example. Oh, I get so discouraged
by looking at other people. Well, don't look to other people.
Following Him. Looking to Him. He that followeth
me. Now when you follow Him, when
you look to Him, that means you're not looking to yourself. You're
not looking to your works. You're not looking to your faith.
You're not looking to your experience. You're not looking to your feelings.
You're not looking to what you intend to do. You follow Him
by looking at Him, looking to Him, and looking nowhere else. That's what it is to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. You look to Him only. You keep your eyes on Him. He said, look unto Me. and be
ye saved all the ends of the earth. For I am God and beside
me there is none else." Now look what he says. I am the light
of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. If I'm not looking to him, following
him, and keeping my eye on him only, I am walking in darkness."
There's no light in that. The only light there is, is in
looking to him and following him as the light of the world. Now, he that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now here is what the light of
life is. His life is my life before God. His perfect obedience is the
righteousness that I stand before God in judgment. That's the light
of life, His life. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. I understand looking to Him,
this is the light I have. that I have His life, and the
reason He says, neither do I condemn thee, is because there's nothing
to condemn me for. I have His perfect life. He took my sin. He bore my sin
in His own body on Calvary's tree, and He put that sin away.
He made it not to be. When He said, it is finished,
my sin was gone. The sin of everybody he died
for was gone. He put it away. And just as truly
as he put away my sin, he bore it, he gives his righteousness
to me so that it is actually mine and I stand before God with
his life as my personal life before God. I love what Revelation
19a says about the church. They're clothed in fine linen,
clean and white. And this fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints. This perfect life of Christ,
His perfect righteousness is mine and I am justified because
of it. and the only light that I have,
that God loves me and accepts me and receives me, is the light
of life, His life being my life before God. I find out my history,
my actual history, is His story, and I stand complete and perfect
in Him. I am the light of the world. May God enlighten my eyes and
your eyes to see that He Himself is the light of who God is and
how God saves. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neidler at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
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