TESTIMONIES OF TRUTH

Introduction

-Over the past few months I have been following a story online about a pastor who is part of the United Church of Canada who, a few years ago, declared that she no longer believed in God. But she wanted to keep her position, so there actually was a bit of a controversy about whether or not she should remain as pastor of the church.

~I want that to sink in for a second…{there was actually debate in the ruling council of the denomination over whether or not she should continue to pastor and preach in one of their churches}

~The story gets weirder—the ruling council of the denomination, the church, and this lady pastor came to a confidential settlement that allows her to keep her job and remain pastor of this church—and the article says that the majority of the congregation are supportive of her and her views

-Although there’s probably a million different things that could be said about this, I want to direct us toward one thought:

~Today is Sunday, and in Canada there is someone behind a pulpit today in a church giving testimony about something she doesn’t personally know or believe in—and that being the case, how can she testify about the truth?

-If you don’t know the truth, and you don’t believe in the truth, how are you going to stand up in front of others to testify to truth?

-It’s a bizarre world we live in when you can speak authoritatively about something that you know nothing about or don’t even believe in the authority that actually testifies about it.

-But ours isn’t the first day and age where this happened—the gospel of John speaks a lot about the Jews believing in unauthoritative testimonies about Jesus and God from sources who know nothing about what they’re talking about—and what I’m finding as I’m studying the gospel of John for this series is that a lot of what John is doing is recording how Jesus is setting the record straight

-And this is important because our world now is so interconnected and intertwined through technology and social media and the ability to easily travel anywhere in the world; so, we are being exposed to so many different ideas and testimonies and interpretations and worldviews with their ideas about reality, such that we need to take a step back and hear from the authority about how things really are

-And we find in our passage testimonies of truth about how things really are right from the source Himself, Jesus Christ—and my prayer is that we know it, we believe it, and we shape our lives in response to these testimonies of truth

John 8:12–20 ESV

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness 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 judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “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; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

I) The testimony about the world

-In v. 12 Jesus sets Himself in contrast to the world—so to better understand Jesus I think it is important that we understand the contrast

-And what Jesus tells us is that the world is a spiritually dark place—it is dark because somehow mankind’s fall allowed Satan to gain some sort of temporary authority here, or at least he is able to heavily influence what happens in this world

-For this reason, Satan is called the god of this world, and his influence is referred to as the kingdom of darkness----and this is not only the place, but also the authority under which all of humanity is born.

-So, the world system is opposed to God and His ways. And Jesus came to free us from that. That means Jesus died to free us from the authority and influence of the Prince of darkness and the system that he has set up.

-And as Christians we love God and Jesus and are grateful that we are saved—but then we have to ask ourselves why we allow ourselves to return to the ways of the world.

-We immerse ourselves so much in the ways of the world that we allow the world system to shape our thinking and decisions more than the One who saved us.

-And so, it may be a slow fade, but what we used to know was wrong according to God we no longer think it’s wrong because the world says it’s OK. We cling to ideals that are unbiblical. Why? Because we allow the world of darkness to influence us more than the Word of God!

-But God said in His word—

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (Jas. 4:4 ESV)

-To give you a picture—Imagine, if you will, that you were born in 1939 smack dab in the middle of Germany to German parents. If that was the case, you would have been born in a place that was under Nazi control and Nazi authority. Everything that was around you and had influence on you was Nazi. So, you did the goosestep and the Nazi salute and all that. It’s all you would have known for years.

-This is us. We are born in a sin-cursed, dark world; with a sin-cursed, dark nature; under the power and authority of the god of darkness.

-But suppose that someone came along and enlightened you to what was wrong with you and the whole Nazi regime you were a part of, showed you a way to be free from Nazi control and a way to get out of the country and out of their influence, and this person paid for your freedom themselves so you could get out and they gave you this freedom as a gift?

-That’s what Christ did for us. We are in a world of darkness that is run by darkness for now. But Christ paid the price to get us out and set us free.

-Now after having been freed from the Nazi regime, and you get out of that country, and you are grateful to be free, you want to start this new life. Do you think you would revert back and start acting like you were still part of the Nazi regime? Would you go around the US and goosestep and give the Nazi salute and harass Jews and other minorities and all that? Wouldn’t that be a little insulting to the one who freed you?

-Yet here we are—free in Christ! Part of a new kingdom with a new authority, but one of love and grace and mercy. And we are free from the old ways. Why would we go back and fall back in love with the world and ways of the world, and allow the world to dictate our life and our agenda?

-Yet that’s what we do when as Christians we allow the world to dictate to us how we act and think and talk. We go back to the old regime. We go back to the kingdom of darkness.

-It’s hard and this world is full of temptations, but Jesus gives a promise that He can and will guide us through the world so we can get through it in a way that is pleasing to Him…

II) The testimony about Jesus

-Jesus says I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

~Jewish law required that there needed to be 2 or 3 witnesses to settle any matter—so for Jesus to testify of Himself that He is the light, the Jews are like WHATEVER

~But Jesus says that God the Father testifies to this—earlier in the gospel Jesus had pointed to John the Baptist testifying to this, and the miracles testified to this, and prophecy testified to this

~So there are plenty of witnesses that testify to Jesus being the LIGHT OF THE WORLD

-He is the light that shines in the darkness, leading us toward love and purity and hope and peace and salvation----this light is the complete opposite of darkness----that means He is not a part of the world system, but is its antithesis

-But I want us to also think of Him being the light of the world in another way by considering the context in which Jesus said this

-What’s happening in this passage is that Jesus has been in Jerusalem for several days participating in the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths—it commemorated the Jews living in temporary shelters as God led them out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the Promised Land.

-Now, there was a particular ceremony that was part of the Feast of Tabernacles that I think gives us the context of Jesus’ testimony

~In the temple was the menorah lamp we are all familiar with, but out in the courtyard of the temple, where much of the festivities took place, were four huge candelabras

~One evening during the Feast they would hold a special ceremony of lighting those candelabras and the light of the candelabras reflected elsewhere in Jerusalem, so the whole city would see its light

~But they did this as a reminder that during the years of wandering in the wilderness God led them—there would be a pillar of cloud by day that would lead them where they needed to go, but this ceremony reminded them of the pillar of fire by night that led them through the wilderness—the light led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land

-So picture this: the Jews are lighting the candelabras to remember the pillar of fire that brought them safely to where they were headed, and then all of a sudden Jesus shouts out I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

-There are so many implications for this:

~First, this was a claim that He was God Himself—He was the One to lead them through the wilderness

~Second, this was a claim that He was the Messiah that was prophesied to bring light to the places of darkness

~Third, this was a claim to be the only source of salvation because the Jews would not have made it to the Promised Land without following the one light—and there is no finding God or getting to heaven without following this One Light

-But then I want to contrast this light to the darkness—consider that the pillar of light helped the Jews go safely through enemy territories to reach their destination

~The lands that they went through didn’t belong to them—they wandered through various countries and nations to get to where they were going before getting to the place they could call home

-When we are in Christ, we no longer belong to the world of darkness, no longer part of the kingdom of darkness, so everywhere we go now is enemy territory—we don’t belong here, we are no longer part of the system, so we are in the midst of a hostile place

-If we are going to safely traverse through this world, we have to keep our eyes on the light of the world and set our steps to follow where the light of the world leads us

~If we decide to wander off on our own, we are groping in the darkness and we will not be safe

-Let me ask you—are you following the light of the world to get you through this land of darkness, or are you trying to get through this life on your own?

~Sure, you’ve made a profession of faith in Jesus, but are you following Him—there’s a difference

~And it makes all the difference on whether or not you will victoriously navigate this life, or bumble and stumble in your own power and might

-Quickly and finally:

III) The testimony about God the Father

-Jesus talks about being sent by His Father, and the Jews ask Him where His Father was (because they are thinking some human guy)

~But Jesus tells them they don’t know Jesus Himself and they don’t know the Father

-But then Jesus says something revolutionary: They don’t know the Father because they don’t know Jesus—if they knew Jesus personally and intimately then they would know the Father

~Jesus is testifying that if you want to know what the transcendent Creator Father of all the known universe is like, all you have to do it look at Jesus—when you see Jesus and hear Jesus and know Jesus, then you see and hear and know God the Father Himself

-Religious people and theologians and philosophers have been debating for centuries about what this God is like, and Jesus made it very simple for us—when you know Jesus you know the Father

-Later in the gospel of John Jesus said:

I and the Father are one." (Jn. 10:30 ESV)

-And then even later Jesus had this conversation with his disciple Philip:

8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me (Jn. 14:8-11 ESV)

-When you look at Jesus you see that God is loving and merciful and desires all mankind to be saved, but He is also holy and righteous and completely just and will uphold His perfection at all cost

-But God satisfied both love and justice and the cross of Christ, whom He willingly gave for you and me----that is the testimony about God

-So, you say I want to get to know God more—in order to do that you need to get to know Jesus more—so draw near to Him and He will draw near to you and reveal Himself to you

Conclusion

-In working on my dissertation I’ve come across a lot of worldviews with a lot of crazy ideas about reality and about God—and I have no doubt that the testimony of Jesus as recorded in Scripture is completely true and accurate

-Jesus said:

11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness (give testimony) to what we have seen, (Jn. 3:11 ESV)

-And that testimony is that the world is dark, but Jesus is the light, and through Him you can know God the Father

-So maybe you are here today having tried to reach God yourself—believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved

-Maybe you know Christ but you’ve been wandering in this world on your own, in your own power, and you need His guidance—come to the altar and commit to following His light

-Maybe you are looking for a church home that gives an accurate, biblical testimony about the world and about Christ and about God—you’ve found it, commit yourself to this family…