Walking in the light notes

Intro: Walking in the dark while at Folk Polk Louisiana, falling into the ravine.

I. Jesus is the light of the world

This scene must be taken in context, The feast of booths/tabernacles had ended the day before (7:37, 8:1). This was a 7 day feast that meant to be a reminder of what God had done for the Jews during the wilderness years. It was a joyful reminder that God protected, preserved, and sheltered them during those 40 years. God’s provisions were so complete that the soles of their sandals did not wear out. During this feast the Jews were to live in booths (tents) made of fresh tree branches in commemoration of when their father’s lived in such booths after their exodus from Israel. Each night during the feast the huge candelabra was lighted in the temple as a reminder of the pillar of fire that had guided Israel in their wilderness journey.

In John 6 you begin to see Jesus building on the idea of Israel’s wilderness wandering, John 6:48-49 “I am the bread of life. “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.” This is the 1st “I am” statement, Jesus is saying that He is the manna sent from heaven, He is superior to the bread God sent to sustain Israel’s life in the wilderness, yet whoever eats this bread will not die but live (6:50-51). * On the last day of the feast Jesus say’s John 7:37-38 “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” Jesus is reminding the people of God bringing water to Israel in the dry wilderness as Moses struck the rock twice and water came out (Numbers 20:10-11), those who drank this water later died, including Moses and Aaron. Jesus is saying, those who have faith in Me as they did God in the wilderness will have a never ending flow of water to drink from.

Its the next day, the feast is over with and Jesus is teaching in the court of women, where the temple treasury is, and He is says “I am the Light of the World.” The Jews would not have missed the comparison to the Pillar of fire that guided Israel in during the exodus. This Pillar of fire was God! Jesus is God come to earth not just to lead Israel in the wilderness but to lead the world into Salvation. Light is the Greek noun phōs, and world is (n) kosmos, or the whole created order, the universe! Jesus is saying I am the Savior of the whole world, Jew and Gentile a like! Jesus is the true light that which, coming into the world enlightens every man (John 1:9).

Now, picture for a moment, the sun was rising as Jesus began to teach. The Jews saw the sun as a symbol of Jehovah God, Ps. 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Mal. 4:2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”

In our universe there is but 1 sun, and it is the center and the source of life. SO THERE IS BUT ONE GOD WHO IS THE CENTER OF ALL AND THE SOURCE OF ALL LIFE. John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” There is no mistaking what Jesus is saying, I am the Lord thy God who came into the world to bring Salvation!

During creation Jesus was the physical light that illuminated earth before the sun was created on the 4th day. He will be the light that illuminates the kingdom as this world fades away and the new one comes. Rev. 21:23 “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” But when Jesus came to dwell on earth He was the source of Spiritual life. The light that exposes the evil deeds of man and melts away the coldness of hearts leading people into a true relationship with God. Jesus’ name means Jehovah’s Salvation Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?”

This morning through the Gospel of John, the light of the world is shinning upon you, what will you do with it? I pray you will absorb it and follow it

II. Jesus is the light of life

During the wilderness years, though Israel sinned, God was with them. He lead them by day in the form of a cloud and by night in a pillar of fire. Israel camped and moved according to God leading.... they literal followed God. In a like manner Jesus says He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness. Followeth (verv) (akoloutheō) which means to go behind but the context it is the idea of being a disciple. Jesus calls us not only to Salvation but into a deeper relationship with Him so that we cam grow in the Spiritual light that He sheds upon us therefore when we follow Him we do not walk in the dark evil deeds that we once did, because we have been changed.

But the natural man (unsaved) loves the darkness (John 3:19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” ) In Jesus’ day the majority of the religious leaders rejected Him and continued in their dark ways, they held to the Law and justified their sin by hiding behind the Law. Jesus gives us an example in verse 8:1-11

The scribes and Pharisees brought a women that they claimed to have caught in the act of adultery. They set her in the center of the court and told Jesus that Law demands such women to be stoned. They did this because they wanted to kill Jesus, snuffing out the Light of the world because they were being exposed for who they truly were. Instead of embracing the fact they were sinners in need of Salvation they dug in their heels and continued in sin and walking in darkness. They tried to pit Jesus between the Law and the people. If He broke the Law He could be called a false Messiah and if He participated in the stoning the people would who followed Him we think that He really wasn’t as compassionate as they had thought.

Walking in darkness leads to death and during that walk you make very bad decisions along the way. .

ILL: Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. “Why,” he exclaimed, “when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark.” “Yes,” the hired man said wryly,” and look what you got!”

The Law states (Lev. 20:10 ) ‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” (Deut. 22:22-24) “If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. “If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.”

Jesus answered, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Slowly, one by one the religious leaders left, from oldest to youngest. Did they leave because they realized the accumulative total of their sin or did they leave in order to escape the embarrassing predicament they found themselves in. According to the Law both had to be stoned, but where was the man. According to Deuteronomy 17:2-7 the witnesses of a crime who had reported it to the authorities would be the first to cast the stones. Perhaps none of these had witnessed it as they said they had.

Jesus tells the lady I did not condemn you, Go and sin no more. Those who follow Jesus no longer walk in sin, instead they have the Light of life. Notice Jesus didn’t merely say they now walk in light. But they have the Light of life. Light is used twice in this verse. Each use is a noun which is an identifier of a person, place, or thing. Both uses of light identifies the Person of Jesus. Jesus is the Light of the world. Jesus is the Light of life. Those who follow Jesus do so because they have placed their faith in Him and they have recieved Him. In our text, “Life” is the Greek word zōē, it is often paired the word eternal. Jesus is saying that those who follow have eternal life.

Conclusion: Today I want to ask you, are you following Jesus? Or are you walking in darkness because you love your sin. If you continue to walk in the darkness you will fall into a deep pit, the pit of eternal death. But Jesus is the Light of the world… may your sin be exposed today and may you see your need for repentance and faith. Will you receive the Light of the world and gain the Light of life. I hope you do!

John 3:19–20 NASB95

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.