The Light of the World

Introduction

It’s November but let’s talk Christmas.

Christmas carol memory game

Joy to the world, the Lord has come…let earth receive her king!

Hark! The herald angels sing…glory to the newborn king.

O come let us behold him…born the king of angels.

Q. What do these three hymns say about Jesus? He’s a king.

Jesus wasn’t born in a palace and on earth he never sat on a throne but He is a king with a kingdom.

We often think about Jesus as the savior which is right but the Bible also reveals that Jesus is a king.

The Father sent the Son to rule the world.

In fact Jesus came announcing this very truth. Look at Jesus’ first recorded words in Mark 1:15 “and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””

Does anyone know what gospel means?

“Gospel” means good news.

The good news is that Jesus came to defeat the guilt of our sin and secure for us citizenship in God’s kingdom.

Being in God’s kingdom means that we can have an impact on the world we live in.

Even in a dark world we can be the people of God’s marvelous light living as kingdom people showing the world a better way to live before a better king.

Pastor Joel mentioned 1 Peter 2:9 in his sermon on Sunday. Let’s read it now…

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Jesus is the entrance into God’s kingdom and what we understand about Jesus is really important.

A lot of people believe a lot of things about Jesus. Q.What are some of the things people believe about Jesus?

God’s Word tells us that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the defeater of death, and hope for all those who turn to him and trust in Him.

Recap: Week 1: The Spiritual world is real and God is bigger than anything we face. Week 2: True Satisfaction comes through God. Week 3: We all sin and healing is found in Christ.

Tonight we’re going to learn more about King Jesus.

1. Jesus is the light of the world.

Q. What’s the first bible story that comes to mind when you think about Jesus?

The gospels tell us these stories and many more. After everything God’s Word does record about Jesus look at what John 21:25 says “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

Jesus spent his life doing truly amazing things. Everyone who witnessed these things should have bowed to Jesus as their God and king. But there were some who didn’t like him.

He reminded powerful people in charge that God is the true king over their lives.

If you remember the cave allegory, Jesus is like the light outside of the cave, it’s wonderful once you’re living in it, but it can be shocking to those in the darkness.

We are safe with Jesus but our sin is not.

Jesus wasn’t just a good moral teacher and he didn’t come to just do miracles.

Jesus came to be the light in a world of darkness and defeat the work of darkness in the world.

This is more than a mere human can do. Our second point is…

2. Jesus is human and divine.

Paralyzed man’s friends do a lot to see their friend healed.

Jesus heals the mans body but that wasn’t the most shocking thing about the story.

Look at what Jesus says in Mark 2:5–7 “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?””

Who is the only one who can forgive sins? God.

This leads us to an amazing truth about Jesus. He is fully man—he was born like us, walked like us, ate like us, and slept like us. He felt pain like we do.

Jesus is fully human, but not only human.

The Bible also calls Jesus the Word of God. Look at John 1:1–4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

When God came to rescue us he became one of us. This is called the incarnation.

Jesus didn’t just speak about God; Jesus spoke as God.

Can anyone tells us the story of Jesus briefly?

Jesus got up close and personal with darkness—he even let death take him captive for a time.

But no chains are stronger than God’s love for His people. The grave couldn’t hold Jesus and because of His victory over death, our sins can’t hold us either.

The story of Jesus is good news but it’s not just good news of the past; it’s good news for us now!

3. Jesus is with us today.

God’s kingdom isn’t a thing of the past and it’s not just a future reality.

God’s kingdom is alive and well today.

And you and I are called to live our lives as kingdom ambassadors now.

Q. What does an ambassador do?

How do we do that? How did Jesus do it?

In Luke 4 Jesus preaches in a synagogue and chooses a passage about himself.

Luke 4:18 ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”

That’s a tall order but we don’t do it alone.

This is good news because this means that Jesus is with us today as we seek to be ambassadors representing his kingdom.

Jesus has not just left us but lives with us now.

God the Holy Spirit is with us as we seek to be kingdom people living for God.

We too are called be light in the darkness like Jesus is. We are called to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the world. We are called to proclaim liberty to the captives. And we are to point the bling towards Christ.

Conclusion

Jesus is a king and wants to be your king.

If you’ve trusted Christ as your savior He is also your king. How are you doing at following your king?

If you’ve never put your faith in God let me ask you: “How’s that going?” How is it living in a kingdom where you are the ruler?

I bet your tired, confused, and hurting. If that is you come to the king who will lead you well. Let’s pray.