What The Light Reveals | John 8:12-30

Opening Remarks: We started in this passage last week and mostly just focused on verses 12-13.

Jesus calls Himself the light of the world, but the Pharisees don’t like His claim. Because saying you’re the light of the world is claiming to be God, and the Pharisees, the religious leaders, did not accept that. And they led many others to reject Jesus as well.

And the reason they couldn’t see, even though Jesus presented clear evidence, was because they were walking in darkness. When you walk in darkness, you miss what should be obvious.

READ Vs. 12-30

This exchange is almost frustrating. Jesus wasn’t hiding His identity. He laid it out. But walking in darkness keeps you from seeing clearly.

TITLE: What The Light Reveals

PRAY

INTRODUCTION

The Pharisees had light. But rather than focusing on what the light revealed in their lives, they turned off the switch and it caused them to miss Jesus.

Introduction: Have you ever stayed at a bad motel?

Traveling in Arkansas years ago, walked into the room, turned on the light and cockroaches scattered.

What would you do in a situation like that?

Here’s what most of us wouldn’t do:

Turn off the light and say, “It won’t be bad if we just keep the lights off. As long as we can’t see what’s going, everything will be fine.”

I don’t think so.

We would never do something like that in a bad motel room.

But we do it spiritually all the time. The light reveals something in our hearts, but rather than fix what it exposed, we simply turn off the light switch and ignore the problem.

We hear preaching and don’t like what is revealed, so we turn off our brains.

We read God’s Word and aren’t happy that certain things are exposed, so we close it.

We hear truth from someone that reveals a shortcoming, but we don’t like it so we walk away.

And What The Light Reveals remains the same rather than being fixed.

When you walk in darkness, you miss what should be obvious.

That is essentially Jesus’ message here in John 8. He’s talking to a group of people that are walking in darkness.

When You Walk In Darkness:

I. You Can’t See Jesus For Who He Is

The amazing part about this whole exchange is how stubbornly blind the Pharisees are to the evidence.

They tell Jesus, “Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.”

As if to say, “Because you said it, that makes it not true.” Strange logic.

Look at Vs. 14. Jesus says, “Just because I said it doesn’t make it a lie. If anyone should know my origin story, it’s me.”

Jesus was claiming to be God, no question about it. He came with the unique responsibility of revealing the Father to the world. He came to shine a light on what the Father is like. To help people wrap their minds around God.

And He used a perfect illustration for it. Behind Him in the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles were these massive lamps on 50-75 foot bases that lit the Temple and could be seen throughout the city.

So it’s almost as if he says, “These are impressive lights that light up the Temple. I am the light that lights up the world.”

This was Jesus claiming to be God. Because those lamps pictured the pillar of fire that God used to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness.

The Jews recognized the pillar of fire as God Himself. )Exodus 13:21)

So when Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” He was claiming to be God, and they said, “Whoa! Time out! We don’t accept that.”

They refused to submit to His claim to be the Son of God because they were blinded by their pride. They refused to see what sat in front of them.

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, And an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Pride is one of the primary reasons people never come to Christ. It blinds us to who Jesus Christ is. Plenty of people will die and spend eternity separated from God because they were too proud to submit to Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

Pride makes us think our sin isn’t so bad.

Pride makes us think we know what’s best for us.

Pride makes us want to do our own thing rather than submit to someone else.

But friend, pride will keep you out of Heaven, just like these Pharisees.

Vs. 15-18 - Jesus says, “Your coming to conclusions based on what you can see. The flesh. You think you understand based on what your eyes tell you, but that’s a tiny part of the story. When I judge, I see everything. I see motives. I see hearts. I see the spiritual part of men. And I’m not judging on my own. My Father confirms everything I say, just like two witnesses would.”

But the Pharisees couldn’t see it. They were hung up on the fact that Jesus looked like an average man.

Like the saying, “Can’t see the forest for the trees.” When the answer is right in front of your face, but you’re blinded to it.

My wife the other day, “Has anyone seen my reading glasses?’ My daughter started laughing and said, “They’re on your head.”

Sometimes the answer is right there and we miss it.

That’s what happened to the Pharisees. Jesus was right there and they couldn’t see it. He looked like anybody else, so they couldn’t see it.

They say in Vs. 19, “Where is your Father?” Maybe they were thinking about His earthly father, Joseph. And the fact that there’s not much said about Him after Jesus’ childhood means he had likely passed away.

But even this is illogical. They’re saying, “Because we can’t see your father, you must not have one.”

They’re so blinded by their pride and their hatred for Jesus, that they can’t see the forest for the trees.

Is there a spirit or attitude or sin in your life that is preventing you from focusing on God?

Maybe you have different expectations of Him and it’s affecting your spirit toward Him.

Maybe He hasn’t answered your prayers like you thought He would.

Or maybe He has allowed things in your life that have left you skeptical of His love.

Or maybe there’s a spirit of pride that keeps you from accepting Him or submitting to Him .

Is it time to humble yourself so you don’t miss what God is trying to reveal to you?

When You Walk In Darkness You Can’t See Jesus For Who He Is.

But #2, When You Walk In Darkness…

II. ‌You Can’t See Yourself For Who You Are

The Pharisees couldn’t see their sinful condition.

Vs. 21 - Jesus says, “You’re so blinded right now. But one day you’ll beg me to go where I am and you won’t be able to because of your sin.”

Wen you walk in darkness, you can’t see the dangers in front of you.

Have you ever tripped over something you couldn’t see because it was dark?

At camp this summer, walking back to cabin in the dark, fell down ravine.

Walking in darkness keeps you from seeing the dangers.

But here’s what Jesus says to the Pharisees in vs. 21, “The most dangerous thing in our lives is sin. And you don’t see it. You will die in your sins unless you see the light.”

Nothing is more dangerous than sin. “The end thereof are the ways of death.”

That’s what Jesus tells the Pharisees. But they couldn’t see it.

Vs. 22 - They were so off base it’s almost laughable.

Vs. 23 - Jesus says, “I see everything and all you can see is what’s in front of you.”

Storm chasing friends, great view of things from the ground, but the lead meteorologist has all the angles. He can see the radar, he can see the view from the helicopter, he has multiple people feeding him the information. There are plenty of times when the lead meteorologist tells the storm chaser to leave his current position and go south or go east in order to avoid danger. Why? Because he sees all the angles and the storm chaser only has the view from the truck.

That’s God’s perspective compared to ours. He sees all the angles. He sees the future. We must trust His perspective. Remember this when it comes to…

Salvation - Your flesh will tell you you can work your way, but Jesus says, “I am the way.”

Trials - Your spirit will get bitter, but God can turn our difficulties into something positive.

Obedience - “I don’t see how this is going to work.” But God says just trust me and I’ll bless your faith.

Jesus has eternal perspective. All we see is what’s in front of our faces.

Vs. 24 - That’s what Jesus came to expose. Our Sin.

The light reveals our sin. When we see Jesus for who He is, we see ourselves for who we are.

Reminds me of Isaiah in Isaiah 6.

He wrote, “I saw also the Lord siting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”

Then Isaiah said, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.”

When Isaiah got a glimpse of who the Lord is in all His holiness, all he could do was hit the floor and say, “I’m a sinner.”

It could be that darkness has hidden your sin from you. You think you’re doing pretty well. But if you could catch a glimpse of the holiness of God, you’d say, “I’m a sinner in desperate need of a Savior.”

When the light reveals our sin, we must take it seriously.

God didn’t send His light to simply give us information.

God didn’t send His light to reveal other people’s sins to us.

God sent His light to reveal our sin to us.

That’s what Jesus is saying. He says, “I am the light of the world. If you don’t believe, you’ll die in your sins.”

Unfortunately, the Pharisees missed the message. Look at vs. 25.

Think of it this way, “Who do you think you are?”

I can’t imagine talking to God in the flesh like that. But that’s what happens when we walk in darkness.

We don’t see Him for who He is - the holy God of Heaven

We don’t see ourselves for who we we - sinners facing judgment

And it creates a dangerous spirit in our lives. Makes us question Him and His motives. Makes us think we don’t have to submit to Him.

“Who do you think you are?” That’s where darkness lead us. So Jesus just says, “I’m who I’ve said I am from the beginning. I’m here to reveal the Father to you and do His work.”

And here’s the telling verse - Vs. 27.

They missed everything. His point for coming was to shine a light on the Father, and they didn’t realize that’s who He was talking about!

Darkness blinds us. Don’t miss what the light reveals.

When we walk in darkness:

We can’t see Jesus for who He is

We can’t see ourselves for who we are

#3, when we walk in darkness…

III. It Keeps Us From Acting While There’s Still Time

In vs. 28, Jesus talks about the crucifixion (read vs 28-29). “It won’t be until you’ve killed me that you’ll finally recognize who I am. That I speak for my Father. That I was simply obeying what my Father sent me to do.”

Here’s the ultimate consequence of walking in darkness: Not only do we miss Jesus and miss our sin, but darkness makes us wait until it’s too late to act.

Have you ever realized something too late?

Illustration: Ever rear-ended someone? Did in college. Looked up and it was too late to stop.

Realizing something too late happens to all of us.

At times I’ve seen people that I should have recognized but didn’t realize it until later.

At times I’ve looked back on opportunities to do something or invest in something but I missed the window,.

Like passing an exit you were supposed to take. You know it’s too late but you can’t get over.

We’ve probably all missed an opportunity to say something to a friend but it was too late.

I hate the feeling of regret I have when I miss something I should have seen. But can you imagine missing Jesus?

Missing it when He speaks to you about some sin in your life, only to wait and have it hurt you.

Missing it when He prompts you to say something and you never do, and you regret it later.

Missing His calling when He leads you to surrender something or make a decision, then feeling later like you missed the window.

Or even worse - He speaks through His Word to your heart about your need for salvation and you put Him off.

You say, “I’ll do it later.” Or “I’m not that bad.” Or “How do I know this is really Him prompting me?” So you put Him off for an unimportant reason. But the tragedy doesn’t end there. Because denying His work in your life doesn’t just mean you miss the moment.

It means if you die, you miss the opportunity to spend eternity in Heaven.

It means you miss out on having eternal life.

It means you don’t spend eternity with your loved ones. With Jesus.

Listen to the words of Christ in vs. 21, “I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.”

Can you imagine being so blinded by darkness that you miss your one shot at the light?

CIT: Our lives change the most when stop ignoring the light and focus instead on what it reveals.

What is the light revealing to your heart right now?

If you ignore it, nothing changes.

If you respond to it, everything could change.

Don’t turn off the light and pretend the cockroaches don’t exist. Do something about what the Light has revealed.

IV. CONCLUSION

The fact that you’re here means God is trying to get your attention about something.

Don’t miss it because you’re bored.

Don’t miss it because you’re thinking about lunch.

Don’t miss it because your mind is somewhere else.

Don’t miss it because you’re skeptical.

The light is shining on your life.

Jesus came to reveal the Father to us.

He also came to reveal our sin to us.

In this age, He uses the Light of His Word to do it.

Open your eyes and see wha the light is revealing.

Follow the example of those in vs. 30.

They responded to what the light revealed.

Rather than walking around turning off the lights, they paid attention to what the light revealed.

That needs to be our mindset today and honestly, any time the Word is read or preached. Or someone confronts us with truth. That we turn off the light. Rather, we deal with what it reveals.

Be willing to submit to whatever God has revealed through the light of His Word today.

So what do we do?

Vs. 30 says they responded to what was revealed by making a choice.

What was revealed?

Jesus is God

We are sinners

Accepting those two truths will change your life. We must believe like they did:

That He is God in the flesh, sent to earth by the Father. (Vs. 16)

That He lived a sinless life and pleased His Father in all things. (vs. 29)

That He was lifted up on a cross to die as a substitute for your sins. (Vs. 28)

That He was raised from the dead and returned to His Father. (Vs. 22)

That if you don’t believe, you’ll have to die for your own sins. (vs. 23)

That one day it will be too late to do anything about it. (Vs. 21)

Your life will the change the most when you stop ignoring the light and focus instead on what it reveals.

Stop being defensive, what does the light reveal?

Stop shifting blame , what does the light reveal?

When someone points something out, rather than saying, “Yeah, but look at them,” say, “What has the light revealed?”

Don’t question the motive. Don’t get mad that it’s shining. Don’t be frustrated that you’ve been found out. Just accept what the light reveals as the cockroach in your life that you must deal with it.

And once you believed what has been revealed and make a decision about it, your life will change.

What has the light revealed in your heart this morning?