The True Light

Introduction

For the last two weeks we have been in the Gospel According to John, and we continue to be in it today. Until now, neither Pastor Drew nor I have gone through an introduction to this gospel account, but I think that it is fitting to do so now. As best we can tell, through the traditions of the church fathers and from evidence found, John most likely wrote his account of Jesus’s life in the 80s or 90s AD while in Ephesus. The only question is, was it before or after his exile on Patmos? Either way, one can tell by reading this account that John is writing it to a completely different audience than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We know that it is to a Gentile audience because within the text, he will explain Hebrew customs and traditions, such as when he wrote:

John 19:40 ESV

So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

But we also can also tell that John is writing a gospel account unlike the three before his. There are similarities, but there are major differences. For instance, about 97% of what is found in Mark’s Account can be found in Matthew and/or Luke. That means only 3% of Mark is unique to his account. Matthew has 25% of it’s account matching Luke’s account and about 23% of Luke’s account matches with Matthew’s. There are differences to be sure. But John’s Gospel Account is different. Ninety percent of John’s Gospel Account is not found in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. John Neufeld argues, and I would agree that John is primarily writing to second or third generation Christians. Hence, when John wrote his account, he was writing to a people who had grown up with the other three accounts. They did not need the telling of the same story in the same way, but the telling of the story in a new way. And led and moved by the Holy Spirit, John wrote his account.

Every generation of Christians must make their faith their own. And for most children, they naturally follow what their parents believe until, that is, they experience the things of this world. And it is the natural tendency of parents to teach their children to believe until, that is, they become too busy or too bored or too wrapped up in the things of this world. John wrote his account for those second and third generation Christians struggling with their faith or at least struggling to remain faithful.

In our day, we use one of the verses we’re reading today—John 3:16—as the very first verse that anyone ever hears from the Bible. We introduce nearly everyone to Christianity using this verse, but the church went its first fifty years or so without ever having heard this verse before. So as we get into this text, while I’m not going to be teaching or preaching anything new, my hope and prayer is that each of us would see it with fresh eyes.

As we come to the text, we see that the True Light has Come, but we also see three assertions that, by God’s grace, will refresh our faith in the light. The first assertion is the Reason for the Light. The second is the Reaction to the Light. Finally, there is the Results from the Light.

The Reason for the Light

The Reaction to the Light

The Results from the Light

John 3:16–21 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

The Reason for the Light

The first assertion that John makes in these verses has to do with the reason for the Light’s coming. The reason he came was to save the world from darkness. That’s what light does, does it not? It expels the darkness and saves those in darkness—that’s physical light or spiritual light. When you’re a child and you’re scared of the dark, the easiest way to save yourself from such dread and horror is to turn on the lights. Even a nightlight will do. The nightlight, as small as it may be, expels the darkness and delivers the mind from distress. If you’ve ever been walking in the woods at night, you turn on a flashlight or your phone’s light so you can see. It saves you from stepping into holes or tripping over roots.

John, commenting on Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus, wrote,

John 3:16–17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

While John 3:16 is probably the most famous verses in the world, it is also one of the most misunderstood verses in the world. That’s mainly because people confuse the meaning of the word “so.” “For God so loved the world” tends to make people think that God loved the world “so much.” But that’s not the word that John used here. If John meant to talk about the magnitude of God’s love, he would have used the word “tosoutos” which means so much or so great. Instead, John used the word “houstos,” which means “in this way” or “thusly.” In fact, if you’re using the ESV, you’ll probably see there is an alternate translation that is much more difficult to misinterpret: “For this is how God loved the world...” The CSB doesn’t actually follow the traditional KJV translation; it simply reads, “For God loved the world in this way...” And he follows this line up with the purpose. The purpose—the reason—was so “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

And in case we missed it, John reemphasized and reexplained the reason for the Light coming into the world. It wasn’t to condemn the world—not so that the world would perish, but to be saved—to have eternal life—through him. What has been implied up until now, and will be explicitly stated in the next couple of verses, is that we are born already in the process of perishing. He came so that we should not perish, implying that we are in the midst of perishing without him. The light came to dispel the darkness, which implies that without Jesus—the light and life of men—we live in darkness. We are born into darkness. Paul talks about the domain of darkness in which we live. We are then transferred to the kingdom of the beloved Son. Peter says something similar—we are called out of darkness and into his marvelous light. He makes that way possible through the cross he endured.

Beloved, I am telling you nothing new when I say that we live in a society that knows nothing of the true meaning of the cross. We live among a generation known as religious “nones.” When asked what religion they affiliate with, the response is “none.” Twenty-eight percent of Americans now claim no religious affiliation, and it is mostly out of Generations X and following. Many in my generation and those younger than me have never made their faith their own. They really know nothing of the cross and so we should not be surprised when they know nothing of the true meaning of Christmas. We ought not expect them to celebrate it as if they do. If we do not honor the Christ of Calvary, there’s no point to honor him as the Christ of Christmas. Without Calvary—without the cross—there is no reason for Christmas.

We look back at the first Advent by lighting candles because the Light—the True Light—has come to save us from darkness and death. But we also light them as we look forward at the next advent when, like John, we shall see his glory, glory as of the only Son of God. And in between these Advents, we want to pray and prepare, labor and love, help and herald the good news of Jesus Christ to reach those who do not know and do not understand.

The Reaction to the Light

But this leads us to the next assertion. The first was John’s assertion as to the reason for the light, but now we see he asserts the reaction to the light. It is not pretty.

John 3:19–20 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

John was deliberate in his word choices here. The people loved the darkness rather than the light. Therefore they hate the light and do not come to it. We need to let that sink in for a moment. One cannot love their own darkness and love the light of Jesus at the same time. Light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time—especially when it comes to the soul.

John wrote that this is the judgment, in other words, it’s the verdict. This is the conclusion that has been made. It is axiomatic—self-explanatory—that people love the darkness; they love their evil works. And one is tempted to argue against that. “I don’t love wickedness; I don’t love darkness; I don’t love evil things.” But we will say that because we take it upon ourselves to determine what is wicked, dark, or evil. So long as we define the terms, we can say we aren’t “that.” The moment God defines the terms, we hem and haw and complain and explain away and excuse our darkness, wickedness, and evil. We excuse our evil because we love our evil. We complain about what God determines as dark because we love the darkness. It’s what we know; it’s what we are comfortable with.

If you’ve ever seen the movie, The Miracle Worker, you will remember that Anne Bancroft plays the part of Anne Sullivan the young woman who taught Helen Keller who was both blind and deaf from the age of 19 months to communicate. Though the movie was off on a few areas, it was right about the terror that Helen Keller had become as a young girl. She was a girl lost in her own darkness and anyone who tried to help her at once felt her wrath. Anne was determined to bring her out of such a dark world, willing to do whatever it took. At the end of the movie, there is a scene that begins at breakfast. Having spent a few weeks from Helen’s parents, who tended to coddle her, Anne had taught Helen how to sit and eat with a fork or spoon. During this breakfast scene, they were back among the family, and Helen refused to do as she had learned. In the scene, Anne kicked everyone out of the dining room, licked the doors, and battled with Helen until she finally ate her eggs. By the time she had done so, it was dinner time and everyone was exhausted. Once again, she was to sit and this time she took the water pitcher and threw water all over her teacher. Anne grabbed the pitcher, grabbed Helen by the arm, and went out to the water pump. It was here that Helen realized what Anne had been doing in her life for so long. In her autobiography, Helen Keller wrote,

“As the cool stream gushed over one hand, she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that ‘w-a-t-e-r’ meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!”

Her entire world changed in that one moment. Light had come. Freedom had come. She had been fighting it for so long, loving and despising her life before language because that was all she knew—all she could remember. But in a moment everything clicked; she could not stay in darkness any longer.

But moving to the light from the darkness is scary. Light exposes the darkness; it exposes the evil. It’s scary because we love the evil, but also because we deny the evil; we lie about how wicked our deeds, thoughts, and words really are. Exposing the evil to light means we are confronted with what is within us, and so we have a visceral reaction against it. When someone confronts us about our sin, rarely do we admit it and forsake it. It is much more likely that we defend it, excuse it, blame it on others, blame it on our past. Rather than bring it to the light, we try to keep hiding it in darkness. We are ashamed of it. We are ashamed of ourselves. We are fearful of what others might say if it came to light. Or we simply love what we are doing—love it more than we love Christ himself. We love our darkness and do not love the light, so we do not come to the light.

The Results from the Light

But this takes us to the last assertion from John. He first gives us the Reason for the Light, then the Reaction to the Light, but now we see the Results from the Light. The first result is that the light was given. John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” He sent him to live the perfect life that we could not and would not live, and die the perfect death that we deserve to die. But in that, we find further results that we often do not pay much attention to; we find these in verses 18 and 21.

John 3:18 ESV

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 3:21 ESV

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

There is a difference between the purpose (or reason) and the result. One can have a reason for doing something but not get the result he/she was hoping for. The intention behind an action does not guarantee the result—unless you’re God. God set out to save those who believe in his Son and that is exactly what will happen.” Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” The result and the reason are the same.

But the other consequential result is that whoever does not believe is condemned already. Remember that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it. That salvation was conditioned upon faith: “whoever believes in him should not perish.” But the fact remains that Jesus did not come to condemn anyone, but what he would do is expose the condemnation that they were already in. One can imagine a nasty kitchen nightmare being exposed by Gordon Ramsey. As he peals back some gasket, a colony of cockroaches scatters. He did not put the cockroaches there anymore than Jesus put condemnation upon the people in darkness. All he did was expose the condemnation that accompanies the darkness we are born into.

But the Light does more than bring about the reason into reality. The Light also exposes where the works of the believer originate. Or another way to say it is that the power and position of every believer’s work is perceived because of the Light of Christ. The power and position of every believer’s work is perceived because of the Light of Christ.

John says that the one who does truth and by that he means that the one who seeks to live truly or sincerely comes to the light, as Matthew Henry wrote, “He has his infirmities, but he holds fast his integrity.” So the person who desires to do truth comes to the light. He’s not trying to hide his works. He is not ashamed of them, even if he fails in fulfilling his desire. He wants his deeds exposed because his deeds are not about him and his power. His deeds exposed by the light, show that they happened only because of the power(carried out) and position (in God).

Church family, some here might be paralyzed by fear. You want to do right. You truly want to honor God with your lives; you do not want to disappoint him. You desire to do his will but are afraid to do anything because you don’t know if it is his will. Some here might not be paralyzed but there is naturally concerns about being in God’s will. Is this the job I should take? Am I leading my family in the right directions? Am I doing family devotions/worship correctly? Should I or should I not seek a spouse? You have all these questions about what you should do and could do.

Then there are others who look back, and you too have questions. Did I do what I should have done? Did I make the right decisions? Did I rear my children in the right way? Did I blow it by taking this job or that? And the list of heartbreaking questions go on and on because jobs or children or marriages or life did not turn out as you imagined they would.

May I encourage all of you, you who are paralyzed, you who are concerned, and you who have so many regrets to take verse 21 with you throughout your day and move forward with your endeavors and answer your questions. What John states here in verse 21 is that when we sincerely (even if imperfectly) live our lives in a way, make decisions in a way, rear our children and love our spouses in a way that welcomes God’s light and does not hide from it, then we can rest assured that God is at work. He can take our imperfections, yet sincerity of affections toward him and do a mighty work, and often does so in ways we weren’t expecting, and probably in ways we would not initially agree with. But in the end, we will say, “Well done, good and faithful, God!”

Again, I quote Matthew Henry:

Here is the character of a good work: it is wrought in God, in union with him by a covenanting faith, and in communion with him by devout affections. Our works are then good, and will bear the test, when the will of God is the rule of them and the glory of God the end of them; when they are done in his strength, and for his sake, to him, and not to men; and if, by the light of the gospel, it be manifest to us that our works are thus wrought, then shall we have rejoicing.

~Matthew Henry

Conclusion

As we close out this passage from John, we have seen three assertions that we need to take to heart: First the Reason for the Light is to bring darkened sinners to glorious salvation. Second, The Reaction to the Light is hatred and rejection because we naturally like to be in the dark places and to do the dark things. Finally, we have seen the results from the Light. Not only does he accomplish what he set out to do to bring our salvation, but he also accomplishes what we set out to do to his glory!

You see, we don’t move into the light once when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. We certainly do it then, but we are moving to the light each day of our lives—waking each morning with a desire to move further into the light, closer to the light—as we seek to conform our living, our thinking, our speaking, and every other part of us to the way Christ lives. We can judge our works based on the light we desire to be shed upon them.

Remember that John was writing to a bunch of second and third generation Christians, calling them to make their faith their own. They could not live by the faith of their parents or grandparents. This had to be theirs. It is possible that many were going through the motions. Some, perhaps, were hiding their deeds in darkness—all Christiany when others were around, but shrouded in darkness when alone. Some were just unsure. Were they living the life that pleased God, because it sure didn’t feel like it at times. In essence, things haven’t changed that much have they? We at Highland View, you in your home with your family, are dealing with these same issues just in different ways. May I encourage you to continue to come to the true light and let God do his work in and for you.

Prayer

Our heavenly Father,

Grant us your strength, your grace, and your mercy that we may walk ever closer to the light. Take our failings, our sorrows, our weaknesses, and sins, and transform them into something more glorious than we could ever imagine. Strengthen we who are fainthearted, be merciful to we who are weak, correct we who are idle. In Jesus’s name. Amen.