the gospel of john: light of the world… ·...

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Transcript November 22/23, 2014

The Gospel of John: Light of the World Aaron Brockett | John 8:12-30

[Setting]

The stage and the church are dark. Aaron stood on stage and spoke into the darkness.

It’s dark in here. Might want to go ahead and shut that cell phone light off. I see a lot of those lights around the room. You could go ahead and shut those down.

Does this make any of you a little uncomfortable? We’ve identified the pick-‐pockets in our church. They sit right over here. But you can’t tell where I’m pointing because it’s dark.

How many of you could find somebody right now who is wearing a blue shirt? If you could just point them out to me, that would be excellent. If you are, I can’t see you so that didn’t really do a whole lot of good.

This should be a fun exercise – what if we all just got up from where we are and found a different seat? I don’t know that our church’s insurance policy would cover accidents of that nature. It would be funny to see on a policy though, that would be interesting.

How many of you are ready for this illustration to be over? Raise your hands. If you’re raising your hands, I still can’t see you so it won’t do any good. Some of you are giving me inappropriate sign language right now. I can feel it. We’re in church people.

[Aaron turns on a lamp.]

Do you know in Revelation 2 and 3 Jesus describes the church as a lampstand? This lamp that we have up here is pretty flimsy. It’s easily knocked over. In the midst of this really dark room, it is trying to light up the room. It only has a small reach to it. I can see some of you in the first couple of rows but I can’t really see anybody in the back. The darkness feels pretty pervasive. Jesus says that the church is a lampstand. In the midst of a dark world it will provide some light but not quite enough to illuminate and push back the entire darkness.

Now, if you do have a cell phone or an iPad this would be the time to pull those out and turn on the flashlight. Try not to shine the flashlight in other people’s faces but point it up to the ceiling. Now, I want you to look around the room. This is a pretty good illustration, it’s a visual picture of what Jesus intended for the church to be. As we shine the light of Christ within us, it pushes back the darkness in the room.

Now, if you look around we can actually see a lot better than we could a few moments ago. The room is still not completely illuminated. The darkness still feels pretty heavy in this room. But, we are at least pushing back the darkness. Now, if you would, shut off your lights. See, when we as Christ followers no longer follow Him faithfully, when we get frustrated, and confused, and are burdened, or maybe we’re just not courageous enough to shine our lights, then the darkness falls once more.

The Gospel of John: Light of the World November 22/23, 2014

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved. 2.

When a church is ashamed of declaring the glory of the gospel message, the darkness prevails. This is why we have to be reminded of how John introduces us to Jesus in chapter 1, verses 4-‐5. Do you remember? John says, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” I just want you to know that that does not mean that the darkness will not try.

We’ve been in this series through John’s gospel – we’re about half-‐way through. And the thing that I want us to understand is that if we are to ever come into the light – if you are to ever respond to the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ – the very first step, always, is to recognize that we are in darkness. This is what John attempts to do as he introduces us to Jesus in chapter1, and then, as he moves us through his entire gospel, he just keeps coming back to the identity of Christ.

Now, here’s what I want you to understand about John’s gospel. What John is doing, over and over again, is that he is saying, “Okay, this is who Jesus says He is and these are the responses of men and women to whom Jesus claims to be. These are called the great “I Am” statements in Scripture.

So, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” He says, “I am the living water.” He would say, “I am the good shepherd.” He would say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And maybe one of the most effective metaphors to help us to understand who Jesus Christ is and what He has come to do in our lives is in our passage this morning where He says, “I am the light of the world.”

Now, here’s the thing. That makes no difference to you if you don’t realize the darkness. Light doesn’t really matter all that much if you’ve become acclimated to the darkness in your life. Well, the darkness is just sort of normal. Just think about it for a minute. Let’s just imagine that you were born into this room, you grew up in this room, you were raised in this room, you went on vacation in this room, you ate all of your meals in this room and it was dark.

And then, all of a sudden, somebody turned on these lights. What would you think? “Man, this is invasive. This is threatening. This is foreign. I don’t understand this.” It’s because we’ve become normalized by the darkness. And when Jesus pierced our world 2,000 years ago in the form of a helpless baby, the light came into the world and people didn’t know what to do with Him. And they still don’t because we become normalized by the darkness.

See, a minute ago we were all impaired by the darkness. I asked you to do a couple of very simple things that would be very easy to do in the light. I said, “Hey, can you find somebody with a blue t-‐shirt?” And that was very difficult to do in the dark – right now, easily. I see a whole bunch of blue shirts over here. I see blue shirts down here. I see blue shirts over here.

A minute ago a simple task was totally impaired. I said, “Hey, why don’t we all just get up and find a different seat?” We could much more easily do that in the light and not hurt ourselves than we could in the darkness.

In John, chapter 8 as we read the read the Pharisee’s response to Jesus, this is very much what we see. Their perspective was impaired by the darkness. You know, chapter 8 of John is a 59 verse argument between Jesus and the Pharisees. They just go back and forth, and back and forth – so these guys are threatened by the light that He brings. So, they are challenging Him. They are putting Him on trial and they say, “Okay, now who are You?



And Jesus isn’t even speaking in riddles. He’s pretty plain. He’s pretty straight forward. They say, “Now, wait a second by what authority do You do these things?” And it just goes back and forth, back and forth because they are impaired by the darkness.

Have you ever been in a pitch black room? Well, yeah – just a minute ago. Have you just ever been in the darkness and you’re trying to feel your way around? When I was in high school I went to basketball camp and we stayed in the men’s dormitory. And late one night we decided to play Capture the Flag. Now, how many of you have ever played Capture the Flag? You put a flag on each end and one team tries to capture the other team’s flag and to get it back to home base without getting caught.

So, we turned off all of the light in the men’s dorm, we were playing Capture the Flag. We were up on the third floor – pitch black – I’ve never been up there in my life so I didn’t know the lay of the land very well. And a friend and I had the other team’s flag. All we had to do was get back to home base. And we were running down the hallway and all of a sudden we see some guys from the opposite team come through the door. We panicked. We were trying to hide. We were trying to get away from them.

Pitch black dark – we bust open a door and we’re trying to figure out what is in the room. And to our darkened eyes it looked like it was a room full of mattresses. I don’t know why a bunch of white mattresses would be in a room like that but I was like, “Sweet, it’s a bunch of white mattresses – dive!” And we dove into this room and it was a storage closet filled with rock salt. That’s where they stored it. And, on top of the rock salt was rake, turned up, alright? Because, that’s naturally what you do. That’s how you store rakes – turned up.

So, we dive and I landed on top of the rake. My friend landed on top of me and I’m bleeding all over this white pile of rock salt. We come out – they didn’t catch us, alright? We won the game. It was awesome. There’s no way I would have dived on top of a bunch of rock salt and a rake in the light. But in the darkness, why not? Because, you see, darkness confuses, darkness corrupts, and darkness distorts.

And all I want you to begin to think about is that some of us are beginning to come to some conclusions. Or we’re trying to answer some of life’s biggest questions like, “Why am I here? What’s the purpose of my life? Should I get married? Should I get remarried? Should I take that job? Should I go back to school? Does God really exist? And if He does exist, why did He allow that? And where is He anyway? And why does He work in the way that He works?”

And those are great questions. You should ask them. I just want you to begin to allow yourself to think that we are trying to come up with conclusions, with some answers, to these great questions but we are impaired by the darkness. We just can’t fully see. And, we have to at least factor that into the equation.

Job, chapter 5, verse14 describes it well. It says, “They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.” Do you just get the image there? You ever see one of those videos where everybody is in a dark room but they have a camera with night vision? So everybody is walking around bumping into things. This is the image I get in Job, chapter 5. It’s how he describes humanity as a whole.

In Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 20 it says, “Woe to those,” and that word “woe” just means hold up, hold up to those, “who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Why would anyone do that? Why would anybody call darkness light and light darkness? Why would anybody call something bitter sweet or sweet bitter? Well, we’ve been impaired by the darkness.



This is what we have in John, chapter 8, verses 12 – 30. I want to read this passage. I’m going to spend most of my time in verse 12 and then I’m going to read the rest of the passage to basically build up to verse 30. So, let’s start in verse 12 where Jesus says this of Himself. He says, “Again,” Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

Now, first of all, we just need to acknowledge that the only way that statement is not certifiably insane is if it is true. It is not likely something that you will hear anybody that you meet this week say to you in a conversation. You won’t walk up to Tom at work and say, “Hey, Tom. How’s it going? How was your weekend?”

“Oh, it was pretty good.”

“How are things going?”

“Same ol’, same’ol’. However, I did find out last night that I am the light of the world.”

“Tom, you need some medical attention, bro. What does that even mean?”

Often I will sit down with a person and they will say, “You know, I think Jesus is a good teacher, He’s a good philosopher, wonderful guy. I think He meant well. I don’t ever think He really thought He was God. Well, He did say that He was the light of the world so there’s that. So, what in the world does that mean?”

Now, this statement means very little to us if we don’t understand the background, and the historical context, and the setting in which Jesus said these words. Do you realize where Jesus said these words? Jesus was in the temple. He was standing in the treasury in front of a giant candelabrum.

Now, understand the background of this. John chapters 7 and 8 all take place during something that is called the Feast of the Tabernacles. It is sometimes called the Feast of the Booths. And this was a Jewish, seven day festival in which they celebrated how God had delivered their ancestors, the Israelites, out Egyptian slavery through the wilderness. So, a seven day party is what it was. And all of John, chapters 7 and 8, when Jesus is teaching and as He is debating with the Pharisees is taking place during this festival and this is the final night.

During this festival they did a couple of things to celebrate. One thing that they would do – and this is why this feast gets its name, they would build these small booths or these thatched huts and they would live in them for seven days to remind them that their ancestors did not have a home in the wilderness and God provided for them. So they lived in these tents during the seven day festival.

The second thing that they would do is that every day they would just pour out this water and that symbolized the time when Moses struck the rock in the desert and God provided water from the rock for them in order for them to survive.

The third thing that they did was every single night of this festival they would go into the temple, into the treasury where this giant candelabrum was, and this candelabrum had all of these lamps in it, and they would ignite it and the candelabrum would illuminate – it was this bright light that is said to have lit up the entire city. And late into the night the people would go out into to the streets and they would dance, and they would celebrate, and they would fire up the orchestra. They would dance late into the night from the light that the candelabrum provided.



On the last night of the festival, they didn’t light the candelabrum because they were packing things up. They were cleaning things up after the party. Isn’t it always a little depressing to clean up after the party is over? How many of you have already decorated for Christmas? Christmas lights are up. Not very many of you, I feel a whole lot better about myself. How do you feel when you take the Christmas lights down the second week in January, the last week in March – whenever you do that? How do you feel when you take the Christmas lights down? It’s kind of depressing isn’t it? The party is over and we are going back to blah.

The last night of this festival they didn’t light the candelabrum, the party was sort of over and this is when Jesus chooses to walk in there and He stands in front of this candelabrum. Now get this. This is more than just the last night of the party, when the Jewish people would see this dark, cold, unlit candelabrum it would remind them that they had not seen the light of God’s glory for centuries.

This was called the Shekinah Glory of God’s presence. Do you know what Shekinah Glory means? It means His immediate presence on earth. See, in Exodus, there would be this cloud that would lead the Israelites through the wilderness by day and it would turn into a pillar of fire by night and it was the Glory of God.

In 1 Kings, chapter 8 when they first built the temple, the Glory of God came down upon that temple and do you know what happened? It was so powerful it knocked everybody off their feet. They hadn’t seen that for centuries. And so now Jesus walks into the temple, He stands in front of the giant, cold, dark candelabrum– do you think that was a coincidence? And He says this in verse 12, “I am the light of the world. I am the Glory of God come to you. What I offer you can be central, and what I offer you can be permanent. It’s right here.”

You need to understand. This is why Jesus is so central. This is why the life and ministry of Jesus is so pivotal. In Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 3 – I love how it describes Jesus. It says, “He is the radiance of the Glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.”

Now, we’ll hear something like that and it just kind of glazes over us like, “Well, okay. Whatever.” But we often underestimate just exactly how powerful God is. The Glory of God’s presence is truly awesome. And we get a couple of examples of this. There were some individuals in the Bible who got really close to seeing God’s glory and didn’t quite fully get there.

In Exodus 33, Moses says to God, “God, I really want to see Your Glory.” And God says, “Moses, is will kill you but I really love the fact that you want to see it. So, let me hide you in the cleft of a rock right here, let me put some Ray-‐Bans on you – really, really powerful Ray-‐Bans – and I’ll walk by but you’re not going to get a chance to see it in its fullness.”

In Matthew 17, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain for His transfiguration. Do you know what really happened at the transfiguration? It’s almost as if Jesus’ fleshly body was barely holding in the Glory of God that existed within in Him because it says, “His face shown like a bright sun and His clothes became white as light.”

In Acts, chapter 9 when Saul was on the road to Damascus and God intervened and called him to Himself it says that, “Light from heaven flashed all around Saul.” It blinded him temporarily. God’s Glory is awesome.

Now, I say all of that to say this. In the person of Jesus Christ God sheathed His Glory so that you could see Him. In the person of Jesus Christ, God sheathed His Glory so that we could talk to Him, so that we



could interact with Him, so that He might have a relationship with us. It is an awesome, awesome thing and yet for so many of us we miss it. We just dismiss it like it’s really nothing.

Jesus is standing there in the temple and He says, “I am the light of the world.” And the Pharisees know all of the history. They know how the light of God had come, how He had led them, how the candelabrum was dark, and now Jesus is standing there.

Look at the Pharisee’s response in verse 13, “So the Pharisees said to Him, ‘You are bearing witness about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.’” Are you kidding me? This awesome statement, this declaration of the fulfillment of history and the Pharisees are standing in front of Jesus and they are like, “I don’t know.”

Do you remember what the Mosaic law – if you were here last week – do you remember what the Mosaic law, the Jewish law system, said about truth? That it had to be verified by at least two witnesses. This is essentially what the Pharisees are pulling on Jesus here. They are saying, “Well, I don’t know Jesus. Any true statement has to be verified by at least two witnesses and You’re bearing testimony about Yourself. So, we don’t think that any of this is true.”

They’re also picking up on something that Jesus said back in chapter 5, verse 31. Jesus said, “If I bear witness about Myself My testimony is not true.” So, you hear that and you’re like, “Well, this kind of sounds like a contradiction, Jesus. I mean, you did say that.”

Now, what does He mean? Wouldn’t you agree that if you hear somebody say something that it’s really important that you understand their words in context? Have you ever heard somebody talk and you take it out of context? Is it ever a good thing? It usually leads to a lot of misunderstanding. So basically, what the Pharisees are saying is, “We heard you say back in chapter 5, this. And they heard it out of context. So now they’re dismissing Him here in chapter 8.

Let me try to give you an example to try to help us understand. Imagine with me that later this afternoon you overheard me in a conversation with a friend of mine who is British. And I was talking to him and you heard me say this to him, “I never use the word “torch”.” And you are like, “Hm. That’s an interesting statement. I really don’t know what that means,” and you just walk away.

Let’s say that tomorrow you find yourself in a collapsing cavern and I run in to rescue you. It could totally happen, alright? So, let’s just say that the cavern is collapsing and I run in after you and I have a lit torch in my hand. And I run up to you and I say, “Hey, here’s a torch. Take it and follow me out.” And, if you’re like the Pharisees, you’re going to look at me and you’re going to say, “Wait a second. I thought I heard you say that you never use the word “torch”. I don’t even think that there is a torch here. You just contradicted yourself.”

Now understand. You didn’t hear what I said in context because in Britain they call flashlights torches and what I was saying is, “Well, I never use the word “torch” in relationship to a flashlight.” And you took it out of context. Now, when your life depends on it you’re like, “I’m not moving. You said you never used the word “torch”.”

This is exactly what the Pharisees are doing with Jesus. They are dismissing, they are disregarding His testimony on a technicality. I just wonder if there is anybody here who is doing something similar. You’re totally missing the claims of Jesus Christ on the technicality.



Do you know what a smokescreen is? It’s a diversion, it’s a decoy, it’s a, “I don’t want to deal with that so let me try to bring this up over here as a diversion to take your attention away from the main thing. It’s a common tactic of my heart. Is it a common tactic of yours? This is what the Pharisees are doing with Jesus.

Here’s what I want you to see Jesus do. Jesus knows what they’re doing. Jesus starts off by saying, “I am the light of the world.” And they say, “Well, your testimony is not true.” Jesus could have said this, “Oh, you guys need a second testimony? Alright, take your pick. John the Baptist in chapter 1, any of the wedding guests at Cana in chapter 2, Nicodemus in chapter 3, the woman at the well in chapter 4, the lame man in chapter 5 – any of the 5,000 in chapter 6. But that’s okay.”

Jesus is willing to go on this detour with them in order to answer their objections. Hear me in this. He’s willing to go on the detour with you too in order to answer your objections. And that’s what He does from verse 14 to verse 30. Now, let me read it. It’s a little lengthy so I want you to stay with me or I’ll turn the lights out again, alright? Stay with me, this is all building up to verse 30.

Look at what it says, “Jesus answered,” now hear the compassion in His voice, “‘Even if I do bear witness about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent Me.’”

Now, understand that the word judge can mean two different things. You know this, right? It can mean to condemn or it can mean to assess the condition of someone’s heart. So Jesus will say in one place, “I’ve not come to judge.” In another place He’ll say, “I’ve come to judge.” Understand that He’s not saying, “Man, I’ve come condemn you. But rather, I have come to assess the condition of your heart and when God the Father and I do that – it’s accurate.” That’s what He is saying.

Verse 17, “‘In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the One who bears witness about Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness about Me.’ They said to Him therefore, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.’ These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; but no one arrested Him, because His hour had not yet come.”

That’s the second time that John has said this. His hour when He would go to a cross had not yet fully come. In other words, it could have easily come right now because of the claims that He is making. They could have taken His head off. But, His time had not yet come.

Verse 21, “So He said to them again, ‘I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin.’” Listen, that is a warning not a threat. There is a difference. Jesus is saying, “Hey, you can come to the light now – don’t die in your sin. I’m not condemning you in your sin. Just don’t stay in it. Come after Me. Step into the light.”

So He said, verse 22, “‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ So the Jews said, ‘Will He kill himself, since He says, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’” Really? Okay. That’s an interesting question.

Verse 23, “He said to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above.’” That sentence right there solves and answers so much of my tension between me and God. He is above and I am below. His perspective is infinite. Mine is finite. “‘You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are



You?’” This is beginning to sound like a who’s on second kind of conversation. They just keep asking, “Who are You anyway?”

“Jesus said to them, ‘Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.’” I think He was a little exasperated when He said that, “‘I have much to say about you and much to judge, but He who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from Him.’ They did not understand that He had been speaking to them about the Father.” Do you think?

Verse 28, “So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me.’” What happened when Jesus breathed His final breath on the cross? They knew what they had just done. The light finally came on. That’s what He’s referring to, “‘And He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.’” Now look at this in verse 30, “As He was saying these things, many believed in Him.”

That is the third time that John has said that in his gospel. In other words, the light came on for some of them. And how do you explain it, exactly? Well, you really can’t. There is sort of a mysterious nature to it but I’m just wondering does the light need to come on for some of you?

In my last seven years preaching here, one of the things that I have come to learn is that, generally, there are about three groups of people who are sitting in this room. There are those of you who are believers and you already know it. You need a little encouragement just like we all do. You need to be encouraged to grow just like we all do. But you are believers. You’re solid. You’re in Christ. I say, “Jesus is the Son of God,” and you’re shaking your head, “Absolutely. That’s a truth that I have claimed.”

There are others of you who are not believers and you know that as well. You’re honest about it. You’re like, “Yeah, I’m not there. I’m interested. I’m coming here, but I’m not a believer. I know that for sure.”

Then there is everyone else who would say, “Dude, I don’t know what I believe. I kind of thought I knew what I believed, and then I’ve listened to the Bible being taught and I just don’t know what I believe.”

Maybe the best way for you to describe it is that you kind of feel like you are groping your way around in the dark. And I would just say, “Keep going. Keep feeling your way around in the dark, if you feel drawn to the light that’s a really good sign.” I’ll just tell you this though. It’s not a very comfortable journey. It’s painful. See, here’s the thing about the light. The light exposes everything.

How many of you have ever looked in a mirror – we would call it one of those flattering mirrors? Any of you know what I’m talking about? No – just me? Alright. Any of you walk into a bathroom, maybe it’s a restaurant bathroom, and the light just makes you look really good, way better than you really are. Any of you ever walked into this harsh florescent lighting or an unflattering mirror and you’re like, “Ew, never want to see that again. Break that mirror please. Break it. Put out that light.”

See, here’s the thing about stepping into the light. It exposes us for who we are and it makes us fearful. But here’s the thing. You’ll never be set free until you do. I love how Eric Metaxas says this. He says, “True faith is not a leap into darkness. True faith is a leap into the light.”

Now, most of the time when we think about stepping out of the darkness, we think about being exposed, we think about condemnation, we think about embarrassment. I want you to think about your worst moment, ever. Can any of you think of that right now? You don’t need to talk about it, you don’t



need to write it out – just think about the moment when you felt the most shame, the moment you felt the most embarrassment, the moment when you felt the most humbled.

Where did you go? Well, if you’re like me you probably went into a dark place, to lick your wounds, to hide – you didn’t want to be exposed. The last person you wanted to see is Anderson Cooper and his CNN crew coming around the corner and putting a microphone in your face, “Hey, tell us you’re most shameful moment. We’re going to broadcast it for the entire world to see.”

I feel that so many of us are afraid of being exposed and so, just like the Pharisees, we miss Jesus on a technicality. We’re good at smokescreens. We’re good at decoys. We’re good at peppering with lots and lots of questions. We’re good a deconstructing to the point that nobody has a house to live in. Everybody can just stay in the dark and that’s fine with us.

So, can I just ask you a couple of questions of application this morning? Do you recognize your need for light? Do you recognize it? In 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 9 it says that God is patient with us. He’s not willing that anybody should perish but that all might reach repentance. God is patient.

Please don’t be like the kind of people who Paul describes in 2 Timothy in chapter 3, verse 7 where it says, “Some people are always learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.” So, don’t always be like, “Okay, I just want to learn, I just want to grow but I’m never fully coming to the knowledge of the truth.” There are some very, very smart people who dismiss Jesus on a technicality.

So, Jesus beacons us. He says, “Hey, come and step into the light. Come and be exposed for who you really are and you will not find condemnation, you will find grace, love, and acceptance and life to help you grow.

Think about the essence of light. What does light do? Essentially it does three things. Light is the source of life. Nothing blooms until the sun comes out in the spring – and we’re already ready for spring around here in Indiana. Can I get an Amen? Light brings the source of life.

Light is the source of knowledge. I have been in this room thousands of times. I have preached literally hundreds of hours of sermons in this room. I know this room pretty well. If you were to shut off the lights, there’s no way that I’m sprinting from here to the back because I might trip and fall over something. But I would do it in the light. See, when the light comes on it exposes some things and it gives us a clear perspective of knowledge.

Some of you are waiting to get all of your questions answered and then you’ll say, “I’ll follow Jesus in faith.” But, you need to follow Jesus in faith and step into the light and then He’ll answer your questions. It’s fundamentally backwards – it’s different and I know that it seems counterintuitive to us but until you step into the light of Jesus Christ some things, the mysteries of God, will never, ever make sense.

Light brings life. Light is the source of knowledge. And the third thing, light is the source of joy. How many of you have ever had a little kid in your house wake up in the middle of the night crying because they had a nightmare? What’s the first thing you do? You turn on a light. You’d be a cruel parent to walk in there and make it darker, “I’m going to put these shades down. Here let’s put a blindfold around you. Does that help?” No, you turn on the light. And what does the light do? It sooths, it comforts, it brings joy.



Jesus says, “I’ve come to be a light.” To the darkness of falsehood, He is the light of truth. To the darkness of ignorance, He is the light of wisdom. To the darkness of impurity, He is the light of holiness. To the darkness of sorrow, He’s the light of joy. To the darkness of death, He’s the light of life.

Jesus says to us in this gospel, we’ll get there in chapter 14, He says, “I am the way, the truth,” not one of the truths, “and I am the life,” not one way of life but “the life” – and that angers us, it irritates us, we think that it’s unfair.

Understand what Jesus is saying there. Jesus is simply saying, “Hey, other world religions, other worldviews may be moons – and what does a moon do? Well you can see light off of the moon, only because it reflects a part of the sun’s light. But Jesus says, ‘I am the sun. I’m the One who has bridged the gap between you and God the Father.’” He’s not saying that those other systems of belief are dumb, or stupid, or false He’s just simply saying that they are irrelevant. They can’t give you life. They can’t turn the light on.

Here’s the second question I want you to ask. Are you ready for what that light might expose? John 3: 19-‐21says, “…the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

A few years ago I was sitting down with a young man in my office and he had been caught in a particular sin and I was talking with him about it. I’ll never forget his words. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and he said this. He said, “Aaron, I’ve known for several years that I would eventually get caught and I’m glad I finally have.” Here’s the irony about darkness. We think that we’re safe and really we’re in slavery and only when you step into the light will you find true freedom.

Here’s the third question. When you do that, are others able to see the light of Christ within you? It’s this simple question, “Am I living right now with consistency and integrity? Do others notice the light of Christ within me? Do others notice something different? Is it counter-‐cultural? Not in an obnoxious way but in a way that says, “Why in the world would you be that selfless? Why in the world would you be that humble? Why in the world would you be that others focused?”

See, in Ephesians chapter 5 it says, “…for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore ,” here’s the invitation, “‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

The way the Bible describes it is “spiritual slumber” it’s “spiritual sleep” and that’s what we do in the darkness, isn’t it? We go to sleep. And the Bible asks, “Would you awaken from your slumber, awaken from your sleep?” Some of you in this room are doing some things in the darkness and you’re hiding them from your spouse. Some of you are doing things in the darkness and you’re hiding them from your friends, and you’re hiding them from your family, and you’re hiding them from the people that you love the most. And the longer that you stay in the darkness the harder it will be to step into the light.

I can think of a jillion reasons why we would say, “I just want to stay in the darkness.” And Jesus says that you’ll find freedom – there may be consequences, there may be pain, there may be discouragement



but here’s the thing. Scripture tells us that eventually the light will come on and anything that is done in secret will be shouted from the rooftops.

Here’s the last question. It’s very simple. Would you step into the light? I think I’d be totally remiss if I preached a sermon like this and didn’t offer a very clear, plain, straightforward, simple invitation to just ask you to consider stepping into the light and doing so before you actually talk yourself out of it.

See, right now, if you are spiritually asleep and you begin to get roused and the alarm goes off, it’s tempting to hit the snooze and say, “Well, maybe next weekend, maybe next Sunday, maybe next month. Let me get some stuff in order.”

How do you know you’re being roused? How do you know the light is beginning to come on? Part of that answer is when you feel a little bit uncomfortable. Maybe you even feel a little bit agitated. Some people have described it to me this way, “Oh, man. I’m squirming in my seat.” That’s actually a really, really good sign.

Early in the mornings when I go into my kids’ rooms to wake them up before the sun comes up, I flip on the light and pull up the shade. Do you know their response to me like, 100 percent of the time? “Nooooo.” They pull the covers up over their heads, they’re agitated, they’re annoyed they’re not very fun to be around. Maybe some of you right now are a little bit agitated and annoyed. The claim that Jesus is the way just angers you. That’s actually a pretty good sign that the lights are on and the shades are up. And you can choose to pull the covers up over your head or you could choose to respond to the light of Jesus Christ.

One of the biggest falsehoods that we can buy into is to say, “Well, I’ve just got to fully come to understand all of this before I finally step into the light.” No, Jesus says, “Actually step into the light and then the light will allow Me to help you come to an understanding of who I really am.”

Several years ago I got the chance to go to Africa for the very first time. It was 2006. I went and one night we went over to one of the missionary’s homes. It was a lady and she was an American and she lived by herself. She had us over to eat and after we were done eating we were sitting in her living room and she began to tell us her story.

She was probably in her late 50s or early 60s at the time and she told us that when she lived in the states, she was an attorney and she was married. She and her husband had been married 20 or 30 years and he was an attorney as well. They never had kids. Neither one of them were believers. She said that they were atheists. They made a lot of money, were very successful.

And she said, “We were making plans for retirement but early one morning I woke up and he was gone. The closet was cleaned out. He had cleaned out the bank account. He left me a letter and disappeared. I’ve never even seen him again – totally devastated me, blindsided me, I didn’t see it coming.” So, she worked a little bit longer than what she thought she was going to have to. She was very lonely.

And she said, “You know, I don’t even really know why.” But she said, “Late one night while I went back home and was by myself, I decided to pick up a Bible.” She said, “I was an atheist but I had to actually be honest with myself. I had never read the Bible.” So, she picked up a Bible and she said, “I started in Genesis and I just started reading a little bit every night.” And she said, “Mostly I read it as interesting literature.”



She said, “I read through the entire Old Testament and then I got to the New Testament.” And she said, “I understood, basically, the gist of the Old Testament. The Israelites were looking for a Messiah, they were looking for the Glory of God to come.” And she said, “I started in the New and I started reading Matthew. And then I read Mark.” And then she said, “Then I read Luke.”

“By the time I got to the end of Luke, I was really happy for the Jewish people because they finally had their Messiah.” Then she came to our boy, John. And she started in John and she said, “When I got about halfway through,” I don’t know exactly what chapter. Maybe it’s about where we are now, she said this, “I sat down my Bible and, with tears in my eyes, I dropped to my knees.” She said, “The light came on and I realized that He died for me too.”

See, until you make it personal, you’ll become a master of decoy. You’ll become a master of deflection. Looking into the deep resources of your soul, have you come up with any good answers yet? Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Would you just trust Me? Would you just take that baby step into the light?”

I just want to give you a simple invitation this morning. Would you do it? Or will you hit the snooze button one more time? Some of the most tangible, most powerful ways that we respond are physically with our body. Your mind can say one thing and then you can stay in your seat and walk out and dismiss it. But there’s something tangible about getting up from wherever you are and walking down an aisle, stepping into the waters of baptism.

Here’s what I want to ask you to do. We’re going to take communion together as a church as a part of our response. The team’s going to lead us in another song. I’m going to be down front. We’re going to have prayer counselors down front. Here’s the thing, I’ll be right down in front. I don’t want to make this into a formal thing, but if you want to respond to the light, if you just want somebody to pray with, man – I’ll be right down front. I’d love to receive you as your pastor and friend and just pray with you.

Am I going to make you sign anything? No. Am I going to stamp you with a big “C” and say you’re a Christian now? No. I just want to pray with you that you would have the courage to take that step into the light.

Father, we come to You right now and we thank You for Your love and Your grace. I thank You that You’ve come to be the light. God, it’s the temptation of every single person in here, beginning with me, to just want to hide in the darkness afraid of what the light might expose, afraid of what others might say, what others might think, what others might feel. You’ve offered us this tender warning. It’s not a harsh threat, it’s a tender warning – don’t stay in the darkness and die in your sin. Step into the light and find life.

God, I pray if there are individuals here who are being roused by Your Spirit, that they wouldn’t roll over and hit the snooze button, and pull the covers over their head, and dismiss You on a technicality but that they would have the courage to stand up and flip on the light and say, “Here I am. Here I am.”

So, in these next few moments Lord Jesus would Your Spirit meet us in this room? Could we just feel the thickness of It, the density of It. Not feel crushed by it but changed. And we ask this in Jesus name. And the church says, Amen.

the gospel of john: light of the world… ·...

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