Sermon Tone Analysis

*PLACE: BIDDULPH AOG.

DATE: PM THUR.

14TH DEC.

2006.*

*TEXT: JOHN 8:12.

THEME: I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.*

*INTRODUCTION:                READING: JOHN 8:12.*

*“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the LIGHT of the world.

He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the LIGHT of life.”

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Christmas is a time of lights, lights on the Christmas tree, lights around the living room and even lights outside the house.

At Christmas we want to bring LIGHT into our homes, mainly because of the dark nights.

On the first Christmas, there was even a greater LIGHT, when Jesus came, and the LIGHT of God came to LIGHT the world.

Jesus said “*I am the LIGHT of the world.”

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*Torch!

Torches!*

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*1ST POINT: THE BACKGROUND OF GOD IS LIGHT.*

*“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is LIGHT and in Him is no darkness at all” 1 John 1:5.*

*“The Lord is my LIGHT and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Psalm 27:1.*

A.

Spiritually, LIGHT stands for God; LIGHT represents the holiness of God, and is also the dwelling place of God.

B.   The Psalmist thought of God as being covered with LIGHT.

LIGHT is the place of God’s security and safety.

C.   LIGHT is a symbol of God’s favour and the joy this favour brings.

God’s goodness, perfection, holiness, truth, blessing, joy, faithfulness, refuge, security, safety, salvation, life, and eternity are all connected in the idea of God bring us LIGHT.

For this reason, a LIGHT was kept burning always in the Tabernacle and the Temple, as a symbol of the presence of God.

This was commanded by God, *Exodus 27:20-21 “And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the LIGHT, to cause the lamp to burn continually.

In the tabernacle of meeting.”

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In *“the treasury” *where it was spoken stood two massive golden lamp-stands, on which hung a multitude of lamps, lit after the evening sacrifice (probably every evening during the feast of tabernacles), spreading their brilliancy, it is said, over the entire city.

A major feature of the Feast of Tabernacles was the lighting of giant lamps in the temple.

The wicks were made from the priests’ worn-out garments.

The LIGHT illuminated the temple area and the people gathered to sing praises and dance, with great rejoicing.

The LIGHT reminded the Jewish people of how God was with them in their wanderings in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud which turned to fire at night (*Numbers 9:15-23*).

How fitting that during the Feast of Tabernacles, when the large lamps were burning, “*Jesus… said, I am the LIGHT of the world.”*

The world is in darkness, a symbol of evil, sin, and the lack of knowledge of salvation: *“The people, who walked in darkness, have seen a great LIGHT; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a LIGHT has shined” Isaiah 9:2.*

*“And this is the condemnation, that the LIGHT has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than LIGHT, because their deeds were evil” John 3:19.

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Taking this as a background of God and LIGHT.

Take a look at the opening chapter of the Book of John.

*“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

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*He was in the beginning with God.

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*All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

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*“In Him was life, and the life was the LIGHT of men.

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*And the LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

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*There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

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*This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the LIGHT, that all through him might believe.

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*He was not that LIGHT, but was sent to bear witness of that LIGHT.

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*That was the true LIGHT which gives LIGHT to every man coming into the world.”

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In Judaism every Friday night at the opening of Shabbat, God is honoured.

Just before sunset, the woman light candles and say a blessing, bringing the LIGHT, or symbol of God, into the house to surround her family.

Then, before the meal is eaten, the father blesses God for the provision of bread and wine, which are symbols of all that God supplies.

Jesus is the source of all of God’s provision and blessing.

Jesus gives us a revelation of God when He tells us that He is the LIGHT, He is the Bread, He is the Water, and He is the Life.

God is self-existing and He also meets our every need.

We do not understand LIGHT, but we know enough about it to turn on the LIGHT switch when we enter a dark room.

Just as the sun is the physical LIGHT of this world, Jesus Christ is the LIGHT of the World.

He is the spiritual LIGHT.

So any sinner today, though he be *“a fool and a wayfaring man” Isaiah 35:8*, can come into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The reason why we have problems today is that we have wandered too far from the LIGHT.

The world is just walking in moonlight, as it were.

What this world needs is to get back to the LIGHT which is Christ.

*“He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the LIGHT of life.”*

When Jesus said, *“I am the LIGHT of the world,”* this is what He was referring to.

Whenever and wherever the pillar of fire led, the children of Israel followed.

We are to follow Him in like manner, looking to Him as the LIGHT of the World.

*CONCLUSION:*

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*          *Jesus is the *“LIGHT of the world.”

*Jesus Christ is the Creator of life, and His life brings LIGHT to mankind.

In His LIGHT, we see ourselves as we really are (sinners in need of a Saviour).

When we follow Jesus, the true LIGHT, we can avoid walking blindly and falling into sin.

He lights the path ahead of us so we can see how to live.

He removes the darkness of sin from our lives.

*          *Do YOU know the true LIGHT of the world?

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*PLACE: BIDDULPH AOG.

DATE: PM THUR.

21ST DEC.

2006.*

*TEXT: JOHN 8:12.

THEME: I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.*

*INTRODUCTION:                READING: JOHN 8:12.*

* *

*2ND POINT: “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.”*

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*“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the LIGHT of the world.

He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the LIGHT of life” Verse 12.*

Here Jesus is saying, *“I am the LIGHT of the world.”*

He has just uncovered the sin of the scribes and the Pharisees who brought the woman guilty of adultery.

Because they were just as guilty as she was, they had to flee.

When one turns on the LIGHT, all the bugs crawl away.

Remember the coal cellars and the black pats?

LIGHT exposes sin, which is the reason the scribes and the Pharisees had to leave.

*“I am the LIGHT of the world”* is the highest claim that Jesus has made so far in the Gospel of John.

Jesus here made His second *“I am” *statement: “*I am the LIGHT of the world.”*

Christ shines as the LIGHT in the world of darkness and sin.

“*He that follows.”*

If one accepts and trusts the leading of that LIGHT, “*They… shall have the LIGHT of life.”*

We know God is the self-existing One, that He has all wisdom and all powerful.

The Lord Jesus came to this earth not only to redeem man but also to reveal God to man.

Jesus greatly expands our understanding by using the commonplace things like bread, light, and water to represent Himself as God.

He uses the ordinary to speak of the extraordinary,

The physical to speak of the spiritual,

The temporal to speak of the eternal,

The here-and-now to speak of the hereafter,

The earthly to speak of the heavenly,