The Light of the World John 8:12-19

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!"

-Jesus is the light that gives us life by leading us to God.

Jesus is…

I. The Light that Gives Us Life v. 12

In our passage this morning, Jesus is ministering in the wake of the Feast of Tabernacles, a time dedicated to remembering the children of Israel and God’s provision for them in the wilderness

As part of this festival, a candle was lit to remember God’s leadership: He guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night

If the people wanted to follow God to the Promised Land that He had prepared for them, they would have to follow the light!

Jesus makes it clear that He is that light

His light is given to the world and it is for all of us to follow

His light is the truth and we do not have to wander in the darkness anymore

His light gives us life; it directs us to the promised eternal life that God has for us

This is a powerful truth: We cannot have the life that God intends for us unless we are walking in the light by following Jesus!

Back in 2014, our family moved to north Alabama. Our very first week, Maggie had a field trip to Cathedral Caverns near Grant and it was my first trip into a cave. I can’t say that I loved the experience, but I think everybody ought to try it at least once. We walked nearly a mile into the back of the cave. The trail ends at a gigantic open room where the big moment of the tour finally arrived. The guide gathered our group close together and gave a warning before turning out the lights. I’ve got to confess that it was a darkness unlike anything that I had ever experienced before. I’ve found myself in some dark places since then and I find it helpful to remember that there is someone there who can turn on the light!

II. The Light that Reveals the Truth vv. 13-16

The Pharisees respond to Jesus with a strong accusation: They deny His identity completely

Why do they deny Him? On some level it’s just a raw statement of opposition. They refuse to follow Him

However, their justification seems like wisdom: They do not believe Jesus because He is testifying about Himself. It seems boastful and self-aggrandizing

Jesus does not back down at all on this:

Jesus makes it clear that He is testifying about Himself, because He knows Himself

He knows where He is from and where He is going

These Pharisees judge Jesus as untrue, because they are judging according to the flesh: they have a very limited insight

Jesus does not make it His to judge them, but if He were to judge He would do it rightly

How can Jesus judge rightly? Because His judgments are consistent with the judgments of God, His Father

God is speaking here and His judgment is right:

He knows where we have come from

He knows where we are going

We must listen to Him!

We can accuse the Lord of being a liar, we can try to shut Him up, or ignore Him, but He is able to show us who and what we really are. We can listen to Him and walk in the light or we can continue to stumble in the darkness!

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott The Judgment Is the Revelation of Things as They Are

“The judgment of Christ, the Son of Man, is the revelation of things as they are. His judgment does not change the judged: it simply shows them.… The judgment of God is the perfect manifestation of truth.… In our present state a thousand veils hide from us the motives, the thoughts, the conditions which give their real character to men and the conduct of men.”

SOURCE: Brooke Foss Westcott, The Historic Faith: Short Lectures on the Apostles’ Creed (Macmillan, 1890), 96.

III. The Light that Shows Us the Father vv. 17-19

Finally, we see Jesus give a bit of justification

There are other witnesses to Jesus; His Father has given us a testimony about Jesus

How has God spoken?

With an audible voice at His baptism

Through miraculous signs

Through the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies

In the testimonies of John the Baptist and other faithful witnesses

By the power of the Holy Spirit

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct, yet each person of the Trinity declares that Jesus is the Christ and the only way to know the Father is through the Son

1 John 2:23–25

[23] No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. [24] Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. [25] And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. (ESV)

d. If I want to know God and experience the life that He intends for me, I must look to Jesus; He is the light!

There is a fable about a man who lived in the desert. He would wake up every morning and follow his shadow. So as the sun moved across the sky from east to west the man essentially walked in a large oval. At sundown he ended up where he had started. This continued for years. The man walked in circles day after day, following his shadow. One night the man heard the voice of God in a dream while he slept. The voice told him to stop following his shadow. Instead, “Follow the sun,” the voice challenged, “And you will experience life as you have never dreamed it could be.”

The man thought for many days about his vision of God while he continued to walk around in circles in the desert. But one day he mustered up enough courage to break away from his shadow. Little by little, step-by-step, the man began to follow the sun. And he discovered a kingdom that was, heretofore, way beyond his wildest dreams and imagination. Ultimately, he became friends with the Son.