John 8:12 (Jesus, the Light of the World)

 

Scene: Day after the feast of Tabernacles

A)8 Day celebration -  Commemorate 40 yrs ….

 

B) Ritual each night – Light giant Menorahs – golden Candelabras - 

1)Symbolized – Pillar of Fire -  Shikinah in Tab

 

C) Jesus is in the temple court yard – teaching –

1) Woman caught in Adultery – dealt w/ beautifully -  

 

D) With that as a BACK DROP – Jesus makes this statement –   John 8:12/ 2nd I AM….

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." 

 

Dark world – News stand – Darkness – hate crime war

Radio /TV – Darkness in the form of perversity

 

Public Jr/ Sr high – listen kids talk – darkness

Friday nite Kirkorian{ football movie 89 swear

 

This morning I want to make SIX observations about Light – Give application to how Jesus is the Light of the World.

#1 Light is bright and obvious.

A)When a light gets turned on everyone knows it.

 

B) Doesn’t need to be identified – announced – explained – Obvious the light is on.

 

C) So too when Jesus came on the scene – He stood out as an obvious light.

1) Nicodemus came – We know you are a teacher sent from God …….. unless God is w/ Him.

 

D) Crowds were attracted – Jesus was different

1) For the mass of humanity dwelling in darkness – Jesus was a spot light – {

 

E) Shopping centers / what is that – People came out of sheer curiosity over the shinning of His light.

 

His light was far reaching – Light to the World

A)The other gospel writers use the word world a combined 15 times – Cosmos / John 77 times

 

B) It can mean the system – what makes things go around –

1) Been used to describe that which is against God

  The World – those who are anti God / heaven

 

C) But here John is using this word to describe Humanity – Light for Humanity

1) For God so loved the World – Humanity – mankind in the world

 

D) The world is going to dissolve – but man lives forever. - 

1) God sent His son Jesus to be the light for Humanity.

 

#2 Light brings illumination.

A)Light goes on see clearly – no longer tripping over things – shoes / toys / chairs { who moved that

 

B) See your way: clearly – walk with confidence – no longer tip toeing in the dark.

 

C) Jesus came on the scene – came into the world brought illumination –Concerning Who God is!

1) How to live! – What is important.

 

People wanted to Know God – wanted to know what God was like. 

A)As the light of the world – Jesus brought illumination about God.

 

B) The writer of Hebrews said this about Jesus – He was the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. Hebrews 1:3

C)John wrote John 1:14 - "We beheld His glory, the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth"

 

B) The word "full" means that He could not hold any more.

 

C)When John looked at Jesus he saw a normal man – on the outside - / No Halo / didn’t glow – Judas / No booming voice /

 

D) He wasn’t the Best Looking – had no special beauty or form to make us notice him;

          1)John saw a normal guy on the OUTSIDE

 

E) But what caught John's attention was the glory that he saw inside.

1) That is what he says was remarkable. / Attraction

 

Have you ever walked around a campground at night & seen lights inside the tents glowing in the darkness shinning thru the fabric?

A)That is descriptive of what John saw when he saw Jesus: he saw the glory inside. 

 

B)John says here is how it was manifested – Full of Grace & Truth !!!!

 

C) Grace = God’s undeserved Favor – Those who deserved Judgment Jesus gave Blessing / offered forgiveness

D) grace is "the generosity of love." Grace is love giving itself.

 

Truth is the manifestation of reality, the unveiling of what is actually there

A) It is the stripping off of all the illusions, veils, shams, phoniness, the facades, and getting down to what is actually there.

 

B) It is righteousness & rightness personified.

   1) All that is Right Just / true / Perfect – was seen in Jesus

 

C) Jesus was full of both grace and truth. He was the ultimate revelation of RIGHTNESS & REALNESS 

 

D) All that we want to know About God is found in

 

#3 Light pierces the Darkness.

A)A little girl who was camping described what her dad was doing as he walked toward them with a flashlight – in the dark

 

B) “Look Daddy is poking holes in the darkness

 

C) That is a good description of what Light does – It pokes holes in the darkness –  it pierces the darkness

 

D) There was plenty of darkness in the world when Jesus arrived.

Darkness of religion: Artificial light –

A)Left men still longing for intimacy with God and to be right with God

 

B) The religion of the Jews like most today primarily focused on cleaning up the outward man

1) Problem the heart was still dark and dirty

 

C) Jesus came to pierce the darkness of religion

1) Came to shine his light on the real problem

    HEART PROBLEM.

 

D) Man needed a change in his heart –

 

Darkness of sin – Moral depravity

A)Jesus shined his light on that area as well

 

B) Revealed that sin wasn’t just about our actions – but also our attitudes – Look w/ lust

1) Angry – Covetous –

 

Darkness may be more pervasive, but light is more powerful.

A)We turn on the lights; we don’t “turn on the darks” if the room is too bright!

 

B) The only way for darkness to prevail is the light has to be turned off.

 

C)A little light can lighten a large area.

Satan is spoken of in Scripture as the Prince of Darkness,

A) but JESUS Light of the World conquers that darkness!

 

B)And there is no darkness in your life that HIS Light cannot overcome!

A little boy heard his Sunday school teacher – talking about how Jesus shines in the darkness

A)Responded – “ I wish He would come and shine at my house – it is dark over there.

 

B) When the Light of who Jesus is – shines in a home – it exposes the darkness –

1) Reveals exactly what needs to Change –

 

C) Person who dresses in the dark – hangs out in dark places – may not realize – not matching

1)Stripes with plaids –

 

D) Get into the light – another story – Hideous – what was I thinking -

 

E) When Jesus shines in a life He  Reveals exactly – what God wants to fix!

1) What doesn’t belong – Pride - / attitudes

 

Notice Jesus says – He who follows me = He who is committed to me – by product – doesn’t walk in darkness

A)He is a person who is no longer having those problems

 

B) Not in the dark – intellectually – beginning to understand – what is up. { Not religion

1) relationship.

 

C) Not in the dark morally – HS conviction -

 

#4 Light brings direction.

A)Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences.

 

B)Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer got after one of his farm hands for taking a lantern to go and call on his girlfriend.

 

C) What are you doing wasting the oil in the lamp for – when I went a courting my wife – I never carried a lantern – I just went in the dark

 

D) The farm hand replied – Yea and look who you ended up with!

 

As the light of the world Jesus shows us how to live

A)How to please God –Focus was fathers way….

 

B) Reveals how to love – washes feet / serves

 

C) Reveals – no racial barriers in God’s kingdom

1) Samaritan woman

D) Shows us the value that God places in one life

1) Goes out of his way to seek out Zacchaeus

 

E) He shows us about forgiveness – Sought out Peter after his Rez –

 

Notice not only did Jesus say that those who follow Him would not walk in darkness –

A)But He also said that they would have the light of life.

 

B) I like the way the NLT puts it.

12 Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."  NLT

 

C) Light that leads to real living!  Abundant life.

 

The captain on the bridge of a large naval vessel saw a light ahead on a collision course.  He signaled, "Alter your course ten degrees south."

The reply came back, "Alter your course ten degrees north."

 

The captain then signaled, "Alter your course ten degrees south.  I am a captain."

The reply:  "Alter your course 10 degrees north.  I am a seaman third-class."

 

The furious captain signaled, "Alter your course ten degrees south.  I am a battleship." 

The reply:  "Alter your course ten degrees north.  I am a lighthouse.

D) He will lead us into that abundant life – if we are humble enough to listen.

 

E) I can be just like that captain of the  battleship at times – strong / stubborn / I’m right / your wrong

1) Sometimes I just need to remove myself from a situation – open my mouth I will regret it.

 

2) Jesus is that Lighthouse – lead us if we listen

 

#5 Light brings warmth.

A)Did you know that one small candle, properly reflected, can raise the temperature of an igloo from below freezing to over 45 degrees Fahrenheit?

 

B) Light gives warmth.

C) In the Bible warmth is often equated with the comfort that God provides to the grieving, the rejected, and the oppressed.

 

It was a cold world that Jesus came into !

A)In Jesus day – people weren’t trusted: Because of Roman domination – there were spies –

 

B) So no one was trusted – cold in that way.

 

C) Coldness of religion – Pharisees and Sadducees

1) Stiff and sterile – rigid – coldness to the faith

 

Jesus came into a cold world – Brought warmth

Showed us that He cared / God cared !

A)Widow of Nain –raised her son. – Easily passed by

 

B) Man at the pool of Bethesda – Dog eat dog world

 

C) Blind Bart -  list goes on and on.

 

D) Light brings warmth

 

#6 Light can be reflected.

A)Jesus said I am the light of the World – but He also said  - Matt 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 

 

B) Little boy was sitting in Church- stain glass windows – who are those people - Saints

1) Saints are people the light shines thru!

 

C) Still a cold world – Our Candle

 

Matthew 5:15

15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 

 

D)there are two basic reasons people don’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior: (1) they have never met a Christian; and (2) they have met a Christian.

 

E) What Kind of light will you be!

On February 4, 1993, officials at the Flight Control Center near Moscow reported the successful deployment of a space reflector.

 

 This aluminum-covered disc was used by cosmonauts in the space station Mir to reflect light from the sun to the dark side of Earth.

With a twenty-five-foot disc in space, they were able to produce a two-mile circle of light on earth. At the time that move placed Russia in the forefront of this reflective technology.

 

A Christian is a reflective light – like the moon – no light in and of itself – Reflects the sun

A)We are to be reflections of the SON  -

 

B) Closer to the Son – the greater the reflection

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 

 

C) Sometimes we shine the brightest when we are cracked -  2 Corinthians 4 – turn

 

D) Gideon!

 

E) Your life a platform!