Light of the World
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Mishnah
The Jewish oral law and traditions have been recorded in the Talmud and part of the Talmud is a collections of books called the Mishnah.
Listen to the description from the Jews about the festival that Jesus was attending in .
Mishnah Sukkah 5:1-4
The flute was played sometimes for five days, and sometimes for six. This was the flute of the place of water drawing, which does overrides neither Shabbat nor holidays. The Sages said: Anyone who has never seen the rejoicing at the place of water drawing, has never seen rejoicing in all his days.
At the departure of the first holy day of the festival, they would descend into the women's court, and they would arrange there a great arrangement. And four golden candelabras were there, and four golden basins at their heads, and four ladders to each one, and upon them were]four of the rising youth of the priesthood, and in their hands were jars of oil holding one hundred and twenty logim which is a liquid measure, which they would pour into each of the basins.
From the worn out pants of the priests and from their worn out belts they would tear pieces, and they would use them as wicks to light with them. And there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that was not illuminated by the light of the place of water drawing.
Pious people and men of great deeds would dance before them with lit torches in their hands, and says before them words of song and praise. And the Levites would play with lutes, and harps, and cymbals, and trumpets, and countless musical instruments, upon the fifteen steps which descent into the women's court, corresponding with the fifteen songs of ascents in the Psalms, that upon them the Levites would stand with their musical instruments and sing.
https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Sukkah.5.4?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
So that is the picture of what is taking place at the Feast of Tabernacles and in the middle of this feast, with men dancing around with torches lit and music being played we pick up our scripture in .
Please stand if you are able.
John 8:12-30
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
13 So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.”
14 Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
15 “You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone.
16 “But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.
17 “Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true.
18 “I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”
19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”
20 These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
21 Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.”
22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?
26 “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”
27 They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.
28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
Let’s pray.
John 8:12
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
I am the light of the world - possibly said as those with the torches were dancing around during the festival of tabernacles
Jesus often took something mundane or regular and moved it to a spiritual conversation
This is the second I AM statement in John -
I am the bread of life
I am the light of the world
God being the light is a theme throughout the Bible.
Psalm 27:1
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?
Psalm 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Psalm 36:9
9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
Isaiah 60:19
19 “No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, And your God for your glory.
Isaiah 60:19
John 8:12
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
John 8:12
Think about all the people around us that are walking in darkness.
And they love it.
John 3:19
We see it nearly every week on the news.
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
We know that those who do evil deeds are not followers of Jesus.
We see it on the news nearly every night
Rioting - Protesting - Vandalism - Shootings
They love it
But followers of Jesus are to be different.
We are to walk in a righteous way.
We walk in the light because we have the Light.
19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”
When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” those familiar with the Old Testament would have recognized that Jesus was claiming to be God.
John 8:20
20 These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
This verse is an important verse.
The treasury was in the Court of Woman in the Temple.
That means that Jesus was sharing this good news of being the Light of the World with everyone.
Jesus’ message is available to everyone.
Men and Women, Jew and Gentile
Luke 19:10
10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Every empty seat in this church represents another lost person
My heart breaks
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost - that was His mission.
Our mission was given to us by Jesus - to go and share the Good News.
So let’s get real personal
When was the last time you shared your faith in Jesus?
Who are you going to share your faith with this week?
Who should be sitting next to you?
Who is missing today?
Who will you pray for this week?
Who will you invite this week?
According to pastorresources.com”
“95% of all Christians have never lead another person to Christ.”
http://www.pastorresources.com/happy-are-those-who-share-their-faith/
What does that mean - we have a people all over Greeley this morning worshipping God and yet 95% have never lead another person to Christ.
That’s why Jesus’ message in the temple treasury in the Court of Woman is so important - Salvation is available for all
Jesus died for you - and the free gift of salvation is to believe in Jesus - look at what Jesus says
John 8:24
24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
Unless you believe that I am He - you will die in your sins
Look at your prayer guide - look at all the names we have listed that will die in their sins because they didn’t believe that Jesus came and died on the cross for them.
Jesus paid the penalty of death on our behalf and rose from the grave beating death
See Jesus did that for us and all we need to do is believe.
But that is a hard step for a lot of people
Twice this week I have had conversations about Jesus with non believers - and it is simply believing that Jesus is the way that these friends of mine are getting caught up and stumbling
One of my friends tried to argue that there is no such thing as sin - that whatever feels good is okay.
If there is no sin - there is no need for a savior.
But just because she feels that whatever feels good is okay does not mean that there is not sin.
Another friend told me - because God is love, and we love, therefore we too are God.
The original sin - the original lie from Satan that if we would eat from the tree of knowledge w would “be like god”
We are not god
My heart breaks - two people, lost, two seats unfilled, two names not written in the book of Life
I am tired of people I know dying without knowing Jesus
I know we cannot know the heart of people or where they stand with Jesus - but I know what they have said
A girl in my high school graduating class posted on Facebook that all of her cancer treatments have failed and the doctors have told her there is nothing more that they can do. She is a Muslim. Lost without Jesus. She will die in her sins without Jesus.
So is there good news?
John 8:28
28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
It’s interesting to me that Jesus said, “when you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He.”
When you see Jesus on the cross - you will know
When you see Jesus ascend to Heaven - you will know
We can’t see either of those two things - but we have the testimony of those that did
Matthew, Mark, and John
We have Luke’s recorded history
Conclusion
Do you know - Jesus loved you so much He willing went to the cross and died for you.
He died for every person that is not here today
He died for you and for me.
Are you ready to believe?
Are you ready to truly believe that Jesus died for you?
Are you ready to believe that He rose from the dead?
Are you ready to confess that Jesus is your Lord?