The Sunshine of His Coming - John 8:12; 1 John 1:5-7

The Sunshine of His Coming

John 8:12; 1 John 1:6-7

©Copyright December 13, 2020 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

It is no accident that light plays a prominent part in the Christmas story. While the Shepherds were sitting in the dark of the night in the fields near Bethlehem, we are told

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. (Luke 2.8)

Later the Magi appeared, and they testified that they followed the light of a star to Jerusalem and then on to Bethlehem. They said, “We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

The Apostle John loves the metaphors of light and darkness and uses light as pictures of life with God and darkness picturing apart from God. The story of Christmas is about the light of Christ coming into a dark world. This morning we are going to once again look at the contrasts and the lessons that the metaphors of light and darkness can teach us.

We turn first to John 8 where Jesus says some powerful words,

12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

I do not believe this choice of words is coincidental. Back in the Old Testament when Moses asked God what His name was, God said, "Tell the people that I AM has sent you." His name is means the ever-present one! When Jesus started his statements with "I Am" the claim was not lost on others. Jesus was calling Himself God. When the religious authorities hear Him they were ready to stone Him for blasphemy. What He was saying was loud and clear.

John records seven instances where Jesus referred to Himself this same way using a metaphor of some kind.

· John 6:35 I am the bread of life

· John 8:12 I am the light of the world

· John 10:9 I am the door

· John 10:11 I am the Good Shepherd

· John 11:25 I am the resurrection and the life

· John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life.

· John 15:5 I am the vine

It is a good study leading up to Christmas to ponder these sayings of Jesus and truly appreciate who He is.

Jesus is the Light of the World

Jesus was not just the Light of Israel, He is the light of the world! He was the Jewish Messiah, but He came to be light and salvation for all peoples, nations, races, and gender. He is not merely the Christian Savior (or the American Savior). He is the Savior for anyone who will turn to Him as the sacrifice they need for salvation and are willing to follow Him as Lord. This was a concept that was hard for the Jewish Christians to embrace in the book of Acts. They believed a person had to become a Jew before they could embrace Christ as Savior.

God made His point to both Peter (when a tablecloth dropped from the sky with clean and unclean animals in it) and to Paul (on the road to Damascus) that the Gentiles (non-Jews) could embrace Jesus as they were. They did not have to become Jews first. That issue of circumcision is not a big issue today. People are constantly trying to create other prerequisites for salvation. Anytime you hear someone talking of Jesus AND something, they have missed the truth that He is the light for all people. You may hear people say :

· You have to become religious before you can come to Christ

· You have to join a certain church

· You have to have a certain experience

· You need to reform certain habits

· You need to be baptized in a particular manner

· You have to hold certain political views

· You need to embrace a certain culture

Sadly, the list is much bigger and seems to be growing all the time. Jesus reminds us He is the Light for every individual in the world who will turn to Him. There are no strings attached! There is no prerequisite other than the realization that you are currently walking in darkness. You do not have to reform, master certain information, or anything else first. Jesus invites you as you are, to come and follow Him.

If you are not in Christ, you are walking in Darkness

Jesus said, "if you follow me you will not HAVE TO walk in darkness." Don't miss this point! There are many who call themselves atheists who claim they are "enlightened." The Bible would say they are not enlightened . . . they are deluded. They call darkness light and light darkness.

Job said of his misguided friends,

12 These men say that night is day;

they claim that the darkness is light. (Job 17:12)

Isaiah wrote,

20 What sorrow for those who say

that evil is good and good is evil,

that dark is light, and light is dark,

that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. (Isaiah 5:20)

Eventually those deep in rebellion and sin are no longer able to tell the difference between light and darkness. They have convinced themselves that right is wrong and wrong is right. We don't have to look very far to see that in our own society. People call God's standards puritanical, the church becomes "non-essential," life is no longer sacred but disposable when inconvenient, morality is defined by society rather than by the Creator.

The Bible is clear: those who are not walking in obedience to Christ are walking in darkness! Why? Because God is light and there is no darkness in Him. If you reject the light you have chosen, the path of darkness. You can try to change the definitions of "light" and "darkness," but it doesn't change the reality.

Right and wrong are not moving targets. God sets the standards. God does not change His mind because of public opinion. A person who is not walking with Christ has taken up a position of opposition to God.

It is Only the Light that Leads to Life

These are fighting words in our society. When you tell someone Jesus is the only way to forgiveness and new and eternal life you will hear cries of bigotry and narrow-mindedness. What people really are saying is, "How dare you imply my way of salvation is not sufficient? (By being good, embracing another religion, being sincere). If that is what you are thinking, let me apologize. I did not mean to imply any such thing . . . I meant to state is clearly!

We have a sin-problem. To address that sin problem, we need supernatural help. Jesus is that supernatural help! He is God the Son in human attire. He gave up His physical life as a payment for our sin (our rebellion against HIM!) Only the Son of God has enough merit to trade for our lives.

Here is a truth to remember: Darkness will do anything necessary to get us to turn away from Christ. That includes casting Christians as evil people who are only trying to get their way. Television often portrays Christians and empty-headed and gullible. Satan work hard to keep people from actually thinking about the message of the Gospel and he will do this by calling followers of Christ names and labeling us as bigots. It is effective.

Many have taken a fatalistic view toward life. They believe you live, you die, and that is it. You cease to be entirely. All that remains when you die is a stone in a cemetery with your name on it! If that thought does not lead us to despair and selfish living, I don't know what else would. If all we do is live for these few short years and that's it, why not indulge freely, spend as much as you can get away with and then die and not worry about it? Such a cynical approach to life leads to abject despair and leaves us without any purpose or hope in living.

Jesus and the rest of the Bible tell us a different story. He tells us this life is only a prelude to a greater life that goes on forever. He also tells us God will judge His people. Those who turn away from Him will spend forever apart from Him. Those who followed will be granted eternal life with the Lord.

There are some who say they prefer Hell to submitting to God. They say all their friends will be in Hell anyway. They say they have no interest in being stiff and religious for all eternity. They have a skewed perspective. They seem to think choice is between a party with God and a party with your friends. That is NOT the choice. It is between an eternity with the Lord and all His blessings (Remember, GOD is the source of every good and perfect thing!), and an eternity apart from God in endless torment and profound loneliness.

Jesus is our only hope of life beyond the grave. He alone can provide the payment for our sin that is required, because of the sinful attitudes and behaviors that are so much a part of us. When you reject His invitation you are turning your back on your only hope of eternal life.

Light in a Life Changes the way a Person Lives

Listen to these words from John in His letter at the end of the Bible.

6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7)

John says you can't have it both ways. You can't live in the way of the world (or the way off the Devil) and also follow Jesus.

I heard Mark Hall of Casting Crowns say, "Sometimes you hear people say, "I need to get back to it (meaning the practice of their faith). The problem is the word "it". Being a follower of Christ is not a class you take, a discipline you practice, or deeds you perform. It is a relationship!" We need this reminder. Being a Christian is not static, it is vibrant and active. It is God working in and through us.

Our life should be about following, loving, and talking to Him! We try to make time for the people who are important in our lives. So, when we don't have time for the Lord, the conclusion must be: He is not important to us.

Those who live in the light are practicing truth. Believing the truth and living the truth go together in someone with genuine faith. When you understand God’s passion toward you, you will want to do whatever possible to honor and glorify Him.

Unfortunately, the lives of many professing Christians are often at odds with their profession. We are quick to affirm the Bible as the Word of God, but we are unwilling to do what it says! This means we either do not really believe the Word of God is the Word of God, or we don’t care anything about the Word of God.

John says we are not practicing truth when we live in spiritual darkness. That means we are following a lie. We are building our lives on the shakiest of foundations. We are heading in the wrong direction! Obviously, it also means when we live according to the directions of the Lord, we are practicing truth, honoring God, and bringing enrichment and joy to our lives.

The next thing John tells us is Those who are practicing truth will be in fellowship with others who are practicing the truth. There will be a unity in the body of Christ when we are walking in the truth. Why is this so?

First, if we are walking in the truth, we will be putting the Lord’s values and priorities above our own. That means we will not be entrapped by the petty disagreements that divide God’s people. We will not be nearly as sensitive as we sometimes are. Instead, we will work to find unity and understanding. We will be quick to forgive and eager to reconcile.

Second, if we are walking in the truth, we won’t have the double standard that is often present in our lives. Here’s what I mean. If someone does something that you don’t like you take offense and make all kinds of judgments against the other person. If you are the offender then we respond saying, “You need to be more understanding. You don’t have the whole story.” In other words, we want justice and retribution toward those who offend us while we want mercy when we are the offenders. When we are walking in the light that disparity will disappear. We will be more inclined to extend mercy to each other.

You can see this fellowship sometimes at Christian concerts and conferences. You are there with a big group of people who claim Christ as Savior and Lord. There is an uncommon ease as we talk to people. We put our focus on our shared commitment to Christ. You might start talking to someone you barely know as if you had been friends for life.

Yet, we have a problem when we must deal with believers from other churches in our own area. This is because we have drawn conclusions about them that are unfair and often just wrong. We are building our own little kingdoms rather than working to build HIS kingdom. We view other believers as the competition rather than as members of our own family because of Christ.

Those who embrace Christ and show this by living in the light can be sure their sins are forgiven. Don’t miss those last words: “<Christians> can be SURE their sins are forgiven.” Let that sink in! Those things in our past or present we are so ashamed of we haven’t told anyone . . . forgiven. The foolish choices . . . forgiven. The humiliating failures . . . forgiven. As we make bad choices, God is constantly applying the blood of Christ to the ledger of our lives.

That cute little baby in Bethlehem came to earth to do something incredible: He came to give His life as a payment for our sin. The coming of Christ at Christmas is our way of being forgiven and made new. It is God’s way of declaring His love for us. The coming of Jesus changed the world, but it also should change us!

How would your life be different, and how would your joy be deeper, if you could just believe that you are fully and truly forgiven? What regrets could you let go of? What shame could you release? What peace could you enjoy? It is true!

Conclusions

There was talk back in the days of the Senior President Bush of 1000 points of light. The idea was that if everyone does something to help others those 1000 points of light suddenly become a bright light that others MUST notice. It is a nice concept. If we work together as fellow believers, others will want to know what is going on. It is a great time to tell others about the true light; the light that has come seeking them.

We have been reminded that doing good is admirable. However, without a supernatural work in us that “turns on the light” and changes our heart, we could do nothing of lasting value. The emphasis today has been on the truth that Jesus is the ONLY way to be made right with God. He alone makes it possible for us to be forgiven and to have new life now and on into eternity.

The Christian life is not just about what happens when we die. It is about Jesus being Lord in the here and now. May I ask you a question: What is your basis for the hope of heaven? Are you hoping you are “good enough”? Are you praying God grades on a curve? If so, you are in trouble. We cannot live a life that is “good enough”. Our only hope is to humble ourselves and come to Jesus for new life. Christmas is about God’s rescue plan.

Have you done this? If not, this is an excellent time to humbly ask the Lord Jesus to save and transform you. Cry out to Him today. His arms are open.

Sadly, when Christmas is over most people will just go about their business until Christmas rolls around next year. But those who meet the Savior; those who receive His sacrifice for their sin; those who have experienced His light ablaze in their life . . . will never go back to the way things were. They will be gloriously changed forever. This Christmas my prayer is that one of those people will be you.