Services | Jesus - The Light of the World

Bulletin

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Jesus: The Light of the World”

Sermon Notes
Discussion on John 8:1 – 11
John 8:12 Jesus says “I Am the Light of the World
John 8:13 Pharisees say because it is only Jesus saying it, it is not true
John 8:14 Jesus’ response is even if He testifies about Himself, it is still true
John 8:15 – 18 But there are two witnesses, the Father and Him
John 8:19 They ask “where is your father – Jesus responds they don’t know Him or the Father
John 8:20 Jesus’ teaching and this confrontation happened in the treasury in the temple
John 8:21 – 27 Jesus says He is not of their world, but if they don’t believe in Him, they will die in their sins
John 8:28 & 29 Jesus says when they lift Him up (crucify Him) they will know that “ I Am He”
John 8:30 After speaking these things many believed in Him

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

Sometimes, a simple statement can have so much meaning. Jesus says, "He is the light of the world." Come listen as we unpack that simple one-sentence statement that He is the light of the world.

I hope you're here today, and I hope those who are watching on the various social media

are here to worship that one who not only hung on a cross, but was placed in a tomb

that rose again on the third day. So we've come to worship Him, and we've come to learn more about Him so that we might be more like Him. So in that vein, if you have your Bibles, please turn to the Gospel of John chapter 8.

Now, I'm going to do something that may be surprising to you.

In the last verse of chapter 7, you'll see a little, in many of your Bibles, you'll see a little notation, a little, almost like a parenthesis.

And at the end of chapter 8, verse 12, there's another parenthesis.

The reason for that is that there are a debate whether this passage belongs in the Scriptures.

Or you see, most of the older manuscripts do not have this passage in the Scriptures.

So either one or two things are about this particular portion. And that is either it's a true story narrative that got inserted by people copying John and said, "This is a good story that ought to be inserted because it's true." And they inserted it, but John did not originally write it. Or it's not a true story, and it was just inserted because it's a really good story.

Because I'm not smart enough to know whether this passage belongs in the Scripture, I don't preach on it.

What I do warn you is it may be an accurate story. It may not be an accurate story.

And so if you decide, "Well, we ought to read it and study it and whatever," my warning to you is that you don't base any doctrinal position on it.

Also to remind those who say, "Well, the Scriptures are written a long, long time ago, and you can't depend on them because men changed them in whatever." You see, this passage tells us we know what we know, and we don't know what we don't know.

Even though this passage was written a long, long time ago, we know that maybe there may be a problem with this passage of Scripture. So the Scriptures are reliable because we know when we should maybe put a pause. Now this particular passage of Scripture is a great story.

It's a story that says that they find this woman caught in the act of adultery, which means they had to be in her bedroom or his bedroom, or they were out on the street, you know. But they caught her in the act of adultery.

So they bring this woman to Jesus. Well, if they caught her in the act, where's the person she was committing adultery with?

They should be bringing that person as well.

And so, because adultery requires two things, well, three things. It requires a married person, and then the next person couldn't be a married person or not a married person. But if you're a married person, and the third thing, you have sexual relations with a married person, you have committed adultery. So even if the man was single, he would be guilty of committing adultery as well. And so they should have brought both of them to Jesus, but they didn't want to, because they wanted her to suffer the penalty.

And so they bring this woman caught in the act of adultery, and they say, "The law says we're supposed to stone her. What do you say?" Because they're trying to trap Jesus in some type of compassion to then violate the law or whatever. And so in this story, Jesus bends down and he starts writing things.

And then he stands up.

He says, "He is without sin, can pass, throw the first stone."

And then he bows down and he starts writing and so on. Now there's a whole lot of speculation on what Jesus is writing. Some people say, "Well, he's writing the sins of the people," whatever. I don't know. I'm not smart enough to know what Jesus is doing, but it's somehow impacting the people because they start leaving.

And so then the woman is there all along with Jesus because everybody leaves, because nobody's going to throw the first stone, because let's face it, we all have sinned. And so Jesus asked the woman, "Well, where are your accusers?" And said, "There's nobody but you." In essence, Jesus goes, "I don't condemn you."

But Jesus says something which makes this passage to me what our culture needs today.

Because he says, "I don't condemn you, but go and sin no more."

In our culture today, what we want, in our culture, I'm talking about the church, is that we think by having the grace of Jesus, we have a get out of sin free card.

So we can commit all the sins that we want to commit, and then Jesus will forgive us because Jesus forgives us.

But Jesus says to this woman, if it's an actual writing, "Go and sin no more." Now I can't base my theology on this, but several chapters ahead of time when Jesus healed a lame man who was trying to get in the water to be healed, he healed him, and then he comes back to Jesus, and Jesus tells him not to sin anymore, or it will be worse for him.

So Jesus' teaching is, "I forgive you, I don't condemn you, but I have come to set you free from sin, not to be able to sin freely."

So, if this passage is a legitimate passage, wonderful. But I won't take my theology from it, but the portion that I think is applicable to the church as a whole today is also found earlier.

So, going down to chapter 8, verse 12, I believe, I'll start teaching.

"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Now this one statement, "I am the light of the world," a short, very simple, concise statement yet has so much meaning, so much for us to unpack.

For you see, the Scriptures say that the Lord is my life and my salvation.

Jesus is saying, "I am the Lord, the light and your salvation."

Jesus is also saying, "I am the light," as in Psalms that says, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my back." Jesus is saying, "I am the Word of God. I am that which gives you the ability to be able to walk and to move in this world because you have my life."

Now you can have 20-20 or better vision, but if you are in a totally dark room, you can't see. It's like being blind. Jesus is saying, "I am that light that allows you to see, that allows you to move in this world without tripping and stumbling because you can see, because I have given you the light that makes you no longer blind."

And Jesus is going to later heal a blind man so that he might see, then he might have light. Again, if you're blind, you can't see, it doesn't matter how much light there is. And if you're sighted, but there is no light, you cannot see. And Jesus says, "I am that person." The very first statement in Genesis is, "Let there be light."

And then God separates the light from darkness.

The other aspect of light is if you remove light, everything stops.

If the sun were to cease shining in a very short period, all the plants and all the animals would die because there would be no stent sunlight to create photosynthesis.

There wouldn't be no light, therefore there would be no heat, and we would all die of full.

But by Jesus being the light, it allows us to grow and to live and to be who we are, to be, and to be warm in His life.

I'm concentrating on this because this is not the only time Jesus is going to make this statement.

As if I keep reminding you, if the teacher, when you're in class, says something more than once, it's probably on the test.

If Jesus, our rabbi, our teacher, our Lord, says something once, it's important. If he says something twice, it's really, really important. And if he says something three times, it's more than on the test.

He goes, "I am." Again, I am God. I am the light of the world.

"So the Pharisees said to him, You are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not true." Now the reason they're saying this is because the law says, "To confirm anything, you need the testimony of two or three witnesses."

Now they're making a false statement because something can be true and not confirmed.

So Jesus responds to them and says, "Jesus' answer has 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." Jesus says, "Even though it may require two or three witnesses to confirm something, it doesn't mean that what I say is not true."

And you know, there have been times when most of the time when we're kids, we're trying to make up stories to our parents to prevent from getting in trouble. But on a rare occasion, we may say, "This so and so happened.

My dog actually ate my homework."

And it could be true. Nobody may believe you, but it doesn't mean it's not true.

And Jesus is saying, "My testimony is true, even though you don't receive it, because you don't know me and you don't know my Father. You don't know because I've come from where I've come from and you have."

He goes, "Judge according to the flesh.

I am not judging anyone."

Jesus, their understanding is flesh. Their understanding is this world. Their understanding is limited to their understanding, and it is only partially cited. And Jesus, "You're judging me because you say my testimony is not true." And Jesus, "I'm not coming here yet to judge anyone, because he came to save us."

Judgment will come later. Jesus certainly will judge, but he didn't come to judge his person.

But even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone in it, but I am the Father who sent me." So Jesus, "I have a second witness.

My second witness is my Father.

My Father confirmed exactly what I say and exactly what I say, who I am." So he goes, "Jesus says, "The law is confirmed. You can count on the fact that I am who I say I am, because I've testified and my Father has testified who I've met the requirements of the law.

Even if your law, it has been written that the testimony of two men is true.

I am he who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me." Notice what the law says. If the law says, "Two men can confirm something," Jesus says, "I got better witness.

I got me who's the Son of God, and I got the Father who's God."

Now in a courtroom, as an attorney, we make an effort to either credit or discredit the witness based on their past and their conduct, and maybe whether they've lied before or whether they have a financial interest. Jesus is saying, "Your law says two men.

You put the Son and the Father on the witness stand case over.

You win, because their testimony cannot be discredited."

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." This is a tremendous thing. You see, they are clueless. They're thinking, "Okay, what are you talking about? You're talking about Joseph? You're talking about whatever."

"You don't know my Father, because you don't know me."

And that is true today.

People who claim to know God but don't know Jesus, don't know God, because it is essential in the belief that God has set up for our salvation is that we believe in Him who sent Him. And if we don't believe in Jesus, we don't believe in God. We've set up a different God, a God of our own imagination, a God of our own desire.

But Jesus is saying, "If you don't know me, you don't know Him."

And these words He spoke in the treasury as He taught in the temple, but no one sees Him because His hour had not yet come. There had been arrest warrants out for Jesus that even sent soldiers to arrest Him, and they came back not arresting Him because they had said, "No one speaks the words that He speaks." And then they were criticized and ridiculed by saying, "Well, maybe you're also a disciple."

But Jesus, again, even though He teaches and even though the Pharisees vehemently disagree with Him, they're not able to do anything because His time did not yet come, because God is sovereign. Even in a world where you think things are just falling apart and you don't understand why it's not, God is still sovereign.

"Then He said again to them, "I go away and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sins, for I am going, you cannot come."

Now, what's so sad is they, as we'll see in the next verse, concentrate on the minor rather than the major.

Jesus says, "I'm going away, and you can't follow, and you will die in your sins."

You see, the Pharisees were very proud of following the law. They were so proud of following the law, they made up new rules that you were supposed to follow, even though they weren't necessarily scriptural, and then they were proud of following those laws. And they thought that by being so holy in their thought, their self-righteousness, and their righteousness based on the law, Jesus says, "You're going to die in your sins."

Now, if someone with the authority of Jesus were to tell me, "I was going to die in my sins," I'd panic, because the last thing I want to do is die in my sins, because if I die in my sins, I'm going to hell, and I don't want to go there.

But notice what they do.

So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself. Will these sins He says, where I am going, you cannot come."

They're so more concerned with whether we can follow Jesus or not, and whether He's contemplating suicide, rather than say, "Well, wait a minute, what do you mean I will die in my sins? I'm following the law, I'm doing extra stuff.

I thought I had an exemption to go to heaven and not be sinful, because I'm self-righteous."

That should be what their response should be, but instead it's, "Well, where's it going?"

Lord forgive me if I'm wrong. These guys are idiots.

Just because you're smart in religion doesn't mean you're smart in relations.

That is what Jesus is desiring, a relationship between.

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."

You guys asked the wrong questions, because you're here concentrating on what this world's talking about, what the rules and regulations of this world are. You're here, but I'm from heaven.

You're from the earth.

He says, "I am not of this world."

This is a great statement, so much so that you'll see it on t-shirts, not of this world. I think there's even a company called not of this world, because Jesus is from heaven, sent by the Father to save us, to redeem us. "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." You see, Jesus goes right back to the important, to the major.

They're sinful, and they're going to die in their sins, even though they think they're holy and righteous.

And all too often in our culture, in our world, and it doesn't matter whether it's 2023 or 1723, everybody thinks, "Well, I'm better than that guy, I'm better than that woman, so surely God will let me go, or I have done more good than bad, therefore I'm entitled to go to heaven."

Jesus, "No, no, no. You are going to die in your sins, unless you believe that I am He."

Again, over and over, people keep talking about Jesus being a good teacher. Well, His teaching is, "I'm the Son of God, you must believe in me."

And if you don't accept that teaching, and that teaching's not true, then why say He's a good teacher? Ignore Him, and unfortunately most of the world does.

But the basic minimum requirement, the Jesus said, is that we are to believe in Him, that the Father sent Him.

And He doesn't say this once, He says it over and over and over.

This mild, neat, gentle man who wouldn't hurt a fly has said, "Unless you believe in Him,

you will die in your sins."

So they were saying to Him, "Who are you?" And Jesus said to them, "What I have been saying to you from the beginning." It's like, "Guys, pay attention."

What I say, oftentimes people will say, "Well, there are no stupid questions." And I make an exception, there's one stupid question.

If I say to you, "2 plus 2 is 4," and as soon as I say that, you say, "How much is 2 plus 2?" That is, by nature, a stupid question, because I just gave you the answer.

So you're not paying attention. And so in essence Jesus is saying, "I just gave you the answer.

I just been telling you, and so this question is stupid.

Who are you?"

"What have I been saying to you from the beginning?"

"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 you." Jesus is saying, "Guy, to get my first teaching and believe in me, I have so much more to teach you."

Unfortunately, we are kind of in the churches today, locked in the very same thing with believers.

They become baby Christians and never learn to crawl, and never learn to walk, and never learn to run, and never learn to trust, as we just sang in that Old hymn. Those who trust him holy, H-W-O-L-L-Y, find him holy. But if you only trust him partially, I suspect you'll only find him partially.

But Jesus said, "I have so much to teach you, but if you keep not understanding the first statement, the first answer, how can I go on?"

If you don't get 2 plus 2 is 4, how do you get to trigonometry and calculus and all the other math?

You got to learn the basics of even.

Guys, I'm ready to do advanced teaching, but you're not getting it. Unfortunately, many times in church, you can't go on to advanced teaching, and even Paul will say, "Man, I have more to teach, but you haven't figured out the first part."

They did not realize that he had been speaking to them about the Father. They're so focused on this world, and Jesus kept saying, "I'm not of this world," that they don't understand that Jesus is talking about Father God.

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 you."

"He who sent me is with me, and he has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him."

He's the same. Guys, I haven't come to glorify myself. I've come to glorify the Father. What the Father tells me, I do. And what the Father tells me to say, I say, so that he may be glorified.

Most of us are happy not doing the negatives.

Well, I didn't commit adultery today, and I did murder, and I didn't steal, and I didn't tell, but I'm a good guy.

I'm not just doing the things that I'm not supposed to do. I'm doing the things I'm supposed to do.

And that's what we, as Christians, we're not concentrating on what we're not supposed to do. We should be concentrating on what we should be doing, glorifying the Father.

He says, "I'm always doing what pleases the Father." And he goes, "You want to know how you'll be able to believe when you crucify me."

And if you will, that's the ultimate death.

He is believable because he was raised from the death according to the Scripture.

And therefore, we know what he taught about the Father and him. We can rely on and believe because he has shown us the ultimate truth and wonder and mirror his resurrection.

And after all that negative, here's a positive.

And as he spoke these things, many came to believe him.

Even though the Pharisees were accusing him and debating him and opposing him and not understanding him, there are those who still come to faith.

And that's the same today.

It doesn't matter what the majority is. Jesus will say, "Narrow is the way in few who find you." Stop looking what the majority is doing, what the world is.

And concentrate on the life of the world who is not of this world and to understand to believe in him means our sins are forgiven.

And to fail to believe in him means we are still in ours.

But a God who loves so much that he sent his son, that those who believe in him would not perish but have everlasting love. That he placed his son on that road, that we might be forgiven.