Light of the World

Introduction

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to John 8:12-19

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

Sermon Series

Meet the Real Jesus

A sermon series talking about who Jesus is

What did Jesus do?

Why is he important?

Goal: Believers to understand deeper and feel confident to share who he is

Goal: Unbelievers to know him and follow him

Opening

Hard Truths

Illustration about being told something I did not like (glasses to play baseball)

Hard conversations and hard truths must be told

You dont have to understand, you dont have to like it, but at the end of the day there is always just one truth

Three overarching Points

1. Jesus is the light of life

2. Jesus needs to be your witness

3. To know God you must know Jesus

If you are able to stand, I ask that you please do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it as you follow along,

12 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.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “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. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 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. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 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.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 8:12–30.

This is the Word of the Lord - You may now be seated

Background

Jesus and the pharisees

Jesus and the religious leaders

Originally, when the pharisees first started it was a good thing

It was men seeking to to devote their lives to God and to follow him as close as possible

However, little by little they started going to extremes and started to introduce laws that werent from God

They began to rely in actions - and the better your actions followed the laws - the more righteous you were

This is why the pharisees kept trying to trip up Jesus many times based upon his actions or words

But in this account we find the pharisees trying to trip up Jesus based upon what he says

And In our context they are trying to trip up Jesus based upon the law

Jesus is the light

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Historically speaking, this conversation is believed to have happened right after the Festival of Booths

The festival of booths came about to remember the Isrealites journey out of Egypt on their way Cannan

Leviticus 23 tells how God made the Israelites live in booths as temporary shelters

Fast Forward and at the Feast of Booths the Israelites would make these temporary booths and live in them

And one of the ceremonial rememberances that they did was to light many candles in rememberance of the flame of God that led them

So coming out of the Feast of Booths, the pharisees and those around have this fresh picture and rememberance of the light of God

And in Jesus’ saying he is the light of the world, he is saying that he is God

Further, claiming his divinity, he makes the claim that all who follow him will have God

And those who dont follow him will be in darkness apart from God

In Exodus, God says to Moses “I am who I am”

And here is Jesus saying “I am - the light of the world”

The author of this book, the apsotle John makes it a point to give the accounts of Jesus making this claim and continuously uses this in his other books

John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 9:5 Jesus says, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.””

John 12:35–37 “So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

What Jesus is saying in our text is no small claim

Jesus is claiming divinity, and claiming to be the only way to have the light of life

The only way to have everlasting life - and to never be in the darkness again

Law -

The pharisees do not like Jesus making this claim and basically tell Jesus that he is claiming is not true

And so what we have now in this conversaion is a “he said - she said” moment

And what do we do when we come to “he said - she said moments?”

We look for witnesses.

Are there any witnesses that can give testimony as to the validity of the claim

And Jesus knows exactly where the pharisees are going with this and he aint having it

Jesus basically tells the pharisees that the burden of proof is not on me

Jesus has evidence and Jesus has someone who testifies on his behalf

So Jesus goes on to say

“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. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 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. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

There are two things we want to pull from this

Jesus says I know where I came from and I know where I am going - so I know my claim is true

And 2 - God the Father is the judge, and because I and the Father are one - we are the only ones who can judge

Jesus is from Heaven

When Jesus makes the statement that I know where I came from and I know where I am going

Jesus is bolstering his divinity by pointing to the fact that he came from heaven

If any of us are asked where did we come from, we would just say our mom and dad

There was no pre-existence of you until you were conceived in the whom

And none of us even remember that

Maybe someone does but I know the majority of people don’t even remember their birth

But Jesus being fully God never had a beginning, he has always existed with the Father

And so he knows where he came from -

He knows what heaven is like

He knows what its like to live with God the Father

AND he also knows what its like to grow up as a human

That he was born of his mother Mary and went through kid, pre-teen, teen, young adult, and adult stages in life

I’m sure he was picked on, I’m sure he tumbled and got scratches on his knees, he hungered and thirst

Jesus and Jesus alone is the only person who has been fully God and fully man

AND he also knows where he is going - He knows he is going back to the throne room

He knows his mission on earth

He knows his time here is short

That he must give up his life for the sins of Gods people

He must endure the torture that is to come

He must conquer sin and death on the third day by arising from the grave

He must commission the disciples and his followers as he leaves

He must ascend to heaven

He knows what he must do and where he is going

And so he is telling the pharisees, I know I am giving witness about myself

But nonetheless it’s true - and there is no way you can possibly know it

You wouldn’t know the truth if it was literally staring you in the face - which it was

Judgement

And so Jesus makes this statement to them 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

The pharisees judgement is incomplete

The pharisees judgement is based off of appearance

The pharisees judgement is based off of the world

And Jesus, on this particular mission, at that present time didnt come to condemn

But he did come with authority from the Father because it is the Father who sent him!

And so Jesus tells them, even if I did judge, my judgement would be perfect

My judgement would not be based off of appearance or the world

But that my judgemement would come from heavenly perfection

How do I know about heavenly perfection?

Because I have been there, I have lived it,

And I am here because of the Father and the Father will testify for me

Heavenly Father

And so the pharisees says fine, bring your father before us

19 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.”

They want to see Jesus’ physical father

They would want Joseph to testify before them

But Jesus has not been talking about his earthly father, rather the Heavenly Father

In this moment we find two different paths

We see a path of earthly knowledge, with the law, physical evidence - trusts in what can be seen

We see a path of truth, freedom from the law, and it requires faith

And so when Jesus responds to the pharisees, he doesn’t try to explain the trinity of God

He doesn’t try to convince them that his Father can’t be seen

Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

He gives truth here on how one can know the Father

How can someone know God?

They must first know who Jesus is

And when someone is in pursuit of knowledge, bound to the law, and trusting in what they can see

They are in darkness

And how does one get out of darkness?

With the light - who is Jesus

Application

Jesus is the light Vs. 12

Do you know Jesus as the light?

In a world full of darkness,

In a world lacking of hope,

In a world that constantly leaves you empty

Ther is only one who fills, gives hope, and drives out the darkness

And here is the thing about the light and dark

You can’t mix the two

Like you can never confuse if you are in the light or darkness

Little kids know if they are in the light or in darkness

In the same way, as we live, God knows if we truly have faith in him

You cant trick God

The Pharisees were tricking the people - trying to portray legalism as righteousness

But they cant trick God

We as people can try to pretend to be righteous but God sees and knows the depths of our hearts

God knows wether we are in his light or in the darkness

His judgement is perfect, his wisdom is perfect, his love is perfect

Living in the Light

freedom - people, mankind inherintly want control, want freedom, want to be free to choose

And in pursuit of wanting to be in control of our own life, we want to dictate what is wrong for us to do and what is right

BUT - morality has to be dictated by someone perfect

It can’t come from imperfect people

And for those who think that humans have the cpacity to dictate morality, just turn on the news and see what happens when society thinks that it can make judgements on what is right and what is wrong

And this one of the biggest hangups that people have with Christianity in particular

That Jesus is restrictive, overbearing, outdated, keeps you from having fun

But I want to encourage you to see Jesus with clear and proper lenses

That because Jesus is God and God is perfect

God defines what is right and what is wrong

That God defines what is righteous and what is unrighteous

God defines what is good for you and what is bad for you

And so here are the paths - Mankinds morality - or - God’s morality

Man takes morality (right and wrong) and depending on the century, decade, year

Man changes the standard of morality over time through the law

Sometimes for the better and sometimes its for the worst

And so you can walk down the path of man, being part of a system, in a subjective word

OR

You can walk down the path of Jesus

Of one who is God and is divine

Who is perfect

Who does not change

Whose law is perfect and does not change

And man being imperfect, can sometimes twist God’s word, use it to be overbearing, use it to burden others, using it to be restrictive

But that is user error - that is a perfect illustration of mans imperfection

That is a perfect illustration of mans darkness - that though man may do these things

It does not take away from who Jesus is

The darkness cannot extinguish the light

But that the light overpowers mans darkness

So when we are walking in the light - you are not walking down the path of manmade religion

You are not walking down a path of rules of do’s and dont’s

You are walking down a path in a relationship with a perfect and Holy God

That despite your failings, (lets not point fingers here) he continues to love and forgive you

And this brings freedom to know that you are not following in mans fallen morality

But you are walking with Christ in his perfect freedom

Freedom - Jesus becomes your witness before God

Christ becomes our witness, Christ becomes the payment for our sins

Jesus knew where he was going

You can know where you are going

Wether we like it or not, there is a judgement coming

And the judgement wont be by man, but from a Holy and Righteous God

And on your own - because of your failings here on earth you stand condemned

But when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation

When you walk down his path of righteousness

When you stand before God in judgement

Because Christ is your witness, because Christ paid the penalty of your sin, you are made righteous

Your judgement will be one of righteousness

No questions asked, Jesus is there with you - enter my gates

freedom - in the spirit

To know God you need to know Jesus

When you have a relationship you recieve the Holy Spirit

And the Holy Spirit helps to reveal the truth of God to you

illumiates God word to you

intereceeds for you in prayer

convicts you when you fall into unrighteousness

If you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation

Pursuit - live in the freedom of Jesus Light, live with confidence as Jesus is with you, and live in the spirit ever pursuing the truths of God

If you havent put your faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation - do so today - start pursuing these things - start pursiong Jesus

assertion - evidence - commentary - application