Christmas 2024: The Light of the World

John 1:1-13

Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Creator. Jesus is our Life. Jesus is the Light. Jesus Confronts the Darkness and Separates the darkness from the Light.

This book is about Jesus, told from someone who knew Jesus personally, walked with Him, talked with Him, saw Him die, and saw Him come back from the dead.

If you were to ask John, “John, why did you write this book?” Turn to John 20:31 - These things were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name...

This is what this book is about. And this is why we all should read it.

John starts off his book going back to Genesis 1:1 and points us to Jesus in this way:

In the beginning… was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

What can be known about the Word here?

I want to go through some of these, the first 3, very quickly and then focus on the last 2:

In the beginning, Jesus was - This points to the reality that Jesus is eternal. He has no beginning; He just was. 2. Jesus was with God - This points to His own Person-hood. We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 3. And Jesus was God. Jesus is divine, not created or made.

Jesus is Creator… So it makes perfect sense to say Jesus is the Life.

Jesus is the Life...

4. Through Jesus all things were made. The Son of God is active in creating all things. 5. In Jesus… there was life. There can be no life without the Son of God. Created things get their life from the Son of God.

Colossians 1:15-20 - Jesus is the image of the invisible God… All things were created by, through Him, and for Him. He holds all things together… And for in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell...

John 14:9 - Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

No one has ever seen God in His fullness… But the Son of God has made God known to us.

He is our Life. Jesus is Lord over your material life and your spiritual life. You would not have life or eternal life without Him. He holds you together. He will keep you together… Now and forever.

1 John 5:11-12- God has given us eternal life and this life is found in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God… does not have life.

“So what?” Jesus is Lord over your life - So, it does not make any sense to walk away from your Life today. But, it makes perfect sense for you to run toward your life today. Your life is in His hands. Your abundance of life is found in Him and Him alone.

You must run to Him, run to Life… to have life. And from His life, you will have the fruit from His life… and then, you may prosper in this life.

What does Jesus say to us in John 10:10 - “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly...”

Now Moving on: The terms Life and Light tie together in the Passage. In Jesus was life… and the life was light of men...

Jesus’ Life produces Light.

2. Jesus’ Life has been and forever will be... the Light of the World.

What has Jesus done? Jesus comes into the world and separates the Darkness from the Light…

We see this in Genesis and we see this in John. We see this this in the beginning and we will see this in the end.

Darkness was covering the face of the deep… until the Spirit came and moved over the face of the deep… And then the voice of God was heard throughout the heavens… And Light came to the darkness… separating the Darkness from the Light....

Darkness will exist until the light comes.

God does not want to keep creation in the dark.

God desires Life and He desires to be known. He desires to create and to reveal Himself.

So what does God do?

In Genesis… Before there was a sun, a moon, or stars in the sky… There was a Great Light that fills and or surrounds the cosmos...

Where is this light for the world coming from? I believe that it is coming from the Life of the Son of God… Who has always been the Light for the World.

Hebrews 1:3 - Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory...

… Someone is saying, “I would have loved to have seen that… to experience this...”

And one day, according to the Book of Revelation (Rev.21:23) … the sun and moon will go away again once more… and we will see this radiation of glory from the very Presence of Jesus and we will all live in the Light of His Life.

What else do we see God doing for mankind?

John tells us that Jesus gives light to everyone, to every person… God condescends, comes down to our level to communicate Himself … to everyone to some degree.

Remember: He desires His creation to know Him. He desires this and He makes it possible for all people to know Him at some level...

There is a little light given to every man, so that they are without excuse. From the American to the tribesmen… to everyone on the face of the planet… Light has come to all people, everywhere, to point people to God...

Romans 1:19 - For what can be known about God is plain to men… because God has made this plain to men… Because God has shown them… God has made Himself perceivable to the point that God can say that “men are without excuse.”

Which men? All men… Jew and Gentile. All people.

But what has been done since the very beginning of the world? People have rejected the light.

On the day of judgement… there will be multitudes who will be judged and sent to destruction because they rejected that which which they knew to be true. They will have rejected all that God has shown them… and they will be without excuse.

Why? Because they chose and they will choose to reject the light and live in the dark.

I personally believe that if Christ does not personally come to me and you and deliver us from our darkness… that is what will happen to us as well.

Left alone… we would live in the dark. And we would be left in the dark...

Listen: Without Christ coming to us… there would be no light for us. The minds and hearts of all creation would be without God, and all of creation would live in the dark forever...

Without Christ opening your eyes… you would remain in the dark. Without Christ stepping into your world and exposing the darkness… you will live in it forever.

If God would leave men alone… They would choose the dark, stay in the dark forever, and go to hell locking the gate behind them.

But what is the Good News today? Can we all sing that song by the prophetess Debbie Boone, from 1977…? “You… Light up my life… You give me hope to carry on… You light up my days and fill my nights with song...”

The Light of the World has come into the world. He did not leave the world in the darkness and in the chaos… HE has come to us and He is the Light of our World now and forever...

2. Jesus is Light (What else does Scripture Say)

Isaiah 9:2 – The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who have dwelt in a land of deep darkness… on them has light shone…

Isaiah 60:1-3 – Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the the glory of the Lord has risen upon you

John 8:12 – I am the Light of the World… whoever follows me will not walk in darkness…

There is only One True Light. There is only One True Life Giver. There is only One True God. And then, there is everything else… There is only creation after the Creator...

Well… What can creation do with the Light?

Creation can receive the light, enjoy the light, walk in the light, use the light, and reflect the light…

His life opens eyes of the blind to experience the light. His light delivers men from darkness and makes the darkness repulsive. Now you can experience the beauty of light... the beauty of God… and it is through His light that you can see life the way God sees life… and He is the only way you can really enjoy life…

C.S. Lewis said this: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

The Life and Light of Jesus does this.

I am not the True Light. You are not the True Light. Jesus is the True Light.

How shall we live with the Light that we have?

Let’s ask John the Baptizer: John 1:6 - There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. His mom and dad is Elizabeth and Zachariah. John was filled with the Spirit, even in the womb… And he was born to point. He was born to be a fore-runner… to God and to proclaim the light... before… the Son of God comes.

In John 5:35 - Jesus calls John a burning and shining lamp...

John was a man filled with the light, enjoyed the light, walked in the light, used the light, and reflected the light… All the while saying, “I am not the True Light...”

What was John about? He was a Christmas light... on a dark night… putting on a display, drawing people in… to point to the True Light of the World - Jesus Christ.

John had the Light of Christ inside of him, the Gospel of Light inside of him… and he was enjoying the light and using the light within him to point others to the True Light.

(context) It has been 400 years since God had spoken to His people. It has been 400 years of darkness. And when people were losing hope… When people were losing faith… When people were in need of some truth...

A light appeared...

We all may have been in some dark woods and swamps in our time… Maybe we have been lost… and that light in the darkest woods is the most gloriest sight you will see. That flashlight is beautiful in those moments...

Get This: John was a Christmas light flickering in the dark… Until the Son comes up… Until the Light of the World comes...

(Picture) I like a good light show. Go to TNT Farms. Go to Okefenokee Swamp Park. There are places all over Georgia and and the U.S. that has great displays of Christmas lights, this time of the year.

There is a house in New York that has over 720,000 lights on it. There is a place in Alabama that has about 65 acres full of lights to look at… It takes an hour to go through it.

And people from all over the world will go, pay good money… to see these lights… at night. They will not come during the day when… the Sun… is present… Only when the Sun is not present, and it is dark… That’s the time to shine.

That is the time to shine… to sparkle… this is the time to light them up!

This is what we are. This is where we are… in dark places… and John is our example for today.

A. John was not the Light, but a Witness to the Light

Jesus calls His disciples to be lights in this world. Matt. 5:14-16 – (Disciples) You are the light of the world…

This is what we are. This is what we are to be doing: Reflecting Christ’s light wherever we go.

Jesus’ disciples have the Life and Light of Christ dwelling inside of them… and now we enjoy His life and light, and we reflect it wherever we are.

As Witnesses of the Light… We are reflectors of the True Light.

B. Our witness of light is a necessity.

John came before Jesus to prepare others for Jesus’ coming. John pointed and he waited for Jesus to come. He lived to point. He lived in the dark world as a light reflector to draw others in… so that… He could point others up.

We must do the same. We must be witnesses of light. Christ has come and Christ will come again.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ… but how shall they hear without that preacher… without that light reflector pointing them to the Savior?

How will they believe without the Gospel of Light? The Gospel is the power of God for salvation...

2 Cor. 4:4 – Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers to keep them in the dark… to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

But here comes the witnesses, the light reflectors… Here comes the Gospel of light.

C. Our witness of light is not to be about us.

2 Cor. 4:5 - For what we proclaim is not ourselves… but Jesus Christ as Lord...

If people are looking to us… They are not looking for the Son. If you are standing in the light, pointing people to you… You are not pointing people to the true light… And all they are going to get is you… and your light.

Remember This: We are Christmas lights… in the night. Christ is the True Light… Not you. We are to enjoy Jesus’ light and use His light to point others to Him…

Not to steal the show...

We are to never use His light within us to draw others away from Him...

Life cannot exist or be sustained by a Christmas light… The World needs the Sun. People need the Son of God. Our job is to put on a show for Jesus and to point others to Him… Until the Son shines bright in their hearts, and until the Son of God comes again to bring an end to all things… Removing the darkness forever.

And Lastly:

3. Jesus Confronts the Darkness and Separates the Darkness from the Light. Verse 11 - Jesus came to His own… and His own people did not receive Him. The World did not know Him.

The Light of the World has come… The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness flees from it… From Him.

Those who love the dark… turn away from Jesus. Those who desire to live in the dark, will not come into the light.

Those who desire to live ungodly, immoral lives, impure lives, who do not want to live for God… they will turn from the Gospel of Light… Because they want to live in the darkness.

They love sin; they love to live in their own light, do their own thing… and draw all people to themselves… They love the darkness and they hate the light of Christ that draws them towards holiness and purity...

And in the end… This is where they will remain… In the dark, away from Christ.

But for those who know they are in the dark. For those who know they are lost, in the cold, and they feel the desperation of soul growing within...

There is Good News for you: There is a Light. There is Life. There is a God Who has come for you… to save you from the darkness and from death itself.

Come and see. Come and rejoice. The Light has come. Come and receive Him.

Verse 12 - To all who receive Him… Who believe in his Name, He gave/gives the right to become children of God...

He will come and deliver you from the darkness… He will drive darkness/sin out of your life… And your life will be filled with light.

And God will use you to shine for Him in this world until He returns.

Jesus is the Word. The Word is God. Jesus is God the Son. And God the Son is the Light and the Life of the World… He is your life and your light today.

What are you doing with the life and light that Christ has given you?

Have you received Him? Have you believed in His name?

What are you doing with the light that Christ has given you in this dark place?

Are we using the light to make much of us… or to point to Him?

It is a dark world. People are in dark places. Receive the Life and Light of Christ today… enjoy His light, use His light, and reflect His light until the Son comes again.

It is a dark place… But there are some Christmas lights who will put on a good show until the Son comes again.

Now is the time to shine for Him… Put on a show for Christ… Before the Son comes again.

Close.