In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'The Light of the World,' he explores the profound statement made by Jesus in John 8:12, where He declares, 'I am the light of the world.' Dohm delves into the scriptural metaphor of light, explaining that it represents truth, purity, and the ultimate destiny of eternal day in heaven, contrasting with darkness, which symbolizes falsehood and sin leading to eternal night. He emphasizes that Jesus is claiming to be all that light signifies in scripture, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah as a great light to both Jews and Gentiles. Dohm highlights Jesus' transformative impact on believers, asserting that following Jesus, the light of the world, should result in an increasing presence of truth and purity in their lives. The sermon also points out that through His indwelling Spirit, believers themselves become the light of the world, tasked with shining His salvation to the ends of the earth.

Sermon text this morning is John 8 verse 12. I'm gonna read through verse 20. 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. The Pharisees therefore said to him, you bear witness of yourself.

Your witness is not true. Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one who bears witness of myself and the Father who sent me bears witness of me." And they said to him, Where is your father? Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. These words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come." Let's pray.

Our Father, please bless this time in every way possible. Bless the preacher, bless the hearers, and would your name be praised. In Jesus' name, amen. Title of the sermon this morning is The Light of the World. Jesus in our text declares Himself to be the light of the world.

And it is a marvelous text. In verse 2, Jesus is teaching in the temple courts early in the morning. In verses 1-11 we have the incident with the woman caught in adultery. The scribes and the Pharisees are after Jesus. They are trying to trap Him.

They think they have a set of circumstances and a question that will get him no matter how he answers their question. We saw that play out in the text last week. Now that incident is closed and he returns to teaching the people. And he begins to teach the people again by saying these words. And 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. It's a towering verse. So while on Monday we were planning to take a larger portion of the text, by the end of the day Monday we had decided together to just take this verse all by itself. We just have one verse as the scope of the sermon this morning. Probably the rest of chapter 8 is a single discourse, is one discourse.

It's possible that there's a break in there, but it reads to me like one continuous discourse. And there are going to be six more sermons. It's really dense. There's a lot of material. I would tremble to take it any faster than we're going to take it.

And so we won't start chapter 9 until June 24th, and that's even if we stay on schedule. So cross your fingers for that. This is when Jesus says, I am the light of the world. This is the second of the seven great I AM statements in the Gospel of John. We encountered the first one in chapter 6, verse 35, when Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me shall never hunger. So Jesus in John chapter 6, verse 35 says, I am the bread of life. That's the first of the I am statements. And he's saying that he is more necessary to spiritual life than bread is to your physical life, than food is to your physical life. Your spirit needs the Lord Jesus Christ to have life and then to have that life sustained more than your body needs food.

That's hard to imagine, isn't it? So now he comes with the second of these great I AM statements. By the way, I AM goes right back to Exodus chapter 3 and the burning bush. And God saying that he is I AM. It means he is the self-existent God.

So Jesus is really claiming that in these I am statements. Now, in our verse today, I am the light of the world. Let's go to our text in prayer. Oh God, how we need light. Anyone who has lived long knows that this is such a dark world.

We don't even have to look out there. We can look inside ourselves and see such stunning darkness. We need light. We're desperate for light. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who shines out of darkness, who conquers darkness.

I pray that Christ would be lifted up and set forth in his beauty and glory today as the light of the world. Thank you for laying claim to the Old Testament prophecies of a Messiah who comes to shine into the world. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So I really have just two main points if you're looking at the outline.

It's a very simple outline. First, what it means that Jesus is the light of the world. What does that mean? I'll spend part of the time unpacking that. And then second, what it means in the life of the believer.

This truth that Jesus is the light of the world has a profound impact on the life of the believer. And if Jesus being the light of the world hasn't had a profound impact on you, you should worry. Because the light of the Lord Jesus Christ is a transforming light. So let's launch into these. Number one, what it means that Jesus is the light of the world.

So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, light goes in the blank. What it means that Jesus is the light of the world. It's a really wonderful saying, isn't it? I am the light of the world. It's wonderful, it's memorable, but what does it mean?

You could stay vague and say, well, light's good, we really need light, So Jesus is good, we really need Jesus. Well that's true as far as it goes. But God wants us to get a lot more truth out of Jesus declaring himself to be the light of the world than that. I want to say it means overwhelmingly two things. First, it means that Jesus is all of the things that light is in Scripture.

Light is not just one thing in Scripture. Light represents several things. It's used in a few ways in scripture. But all those ways are related to each other. So first it means that Jesus is all of the things that light is in scripture.

I'm going to be arguing here that light and darkness are ecosystems. Light is an ecosystem. Dark is an ecosystem. What do I mean by that? An ecosystem is not one thing.

An ecosystem is many things which are interrelated, are in relationship to one another and in some ways interdependent. In biology, a reef is an example of an ecosystem. A reef is actually a collection of living organisms. So It would feel to us maybe like a rock, but it's alive. But a reef is never by itself.

There is a whole grouping of things that are part of that. There's a wealth of fish and eels and crabs and plant life and various food sources for all these living organisms. Water temperature is really important to what can live on the reef. The currents, the direction they're coming from matters in terms of how these things live together. In other words, a reef forms an end to end life cycle for all of these interrelated things.

A reef is not one thing. A Reef is many things which are interrelated. And uses of light in Scripture are like that. It doesn't mean just one thing. It means several things and they all are in relationship to one another.

A, I'm just saying A because it's a sub point. A, light means truth. In scripture, light is truth. Psalm 119 verse 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Or Proverbs 6.23, for the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light.

Physically we see by light. No light, no sight. That's the deal, right? If you don't have any light, our eyes are useless to us. And so, Light, the way scripture uses it, is that truth is the spiritual equivalent to light, and what it is to us physically.

We live in a hostile world of lying enemies. The world is our enemy. This world system that we're living in is an enemy and it's telling us lies all the time and saying this is truth, this is truth, this is truth, of false things, of things that are completely contrary to God and what He has revealed. The flesh is a hostile lying enemy. How many times have you been had by your flesh telling you something is good and desirable that it only leads to death, only leads to misery, but it made you this promise And your flesh told you it was true.

You found it was a lie. The devil is a hostile lying enemy. He comes and whispers things in our ears and makes us promises and he never delivers on them. He never fulfills them. He just uses those things to make you a slave.

And then he mistreats you. Well, Light is truth. Truth to be walked by. You have light and so you have sight. So you're not stumbling and falling into a ditch.

In Scripture, light means truth. Light is truth. B, Light means purity and goodness. In scripture, light is purity and goodness. And of course, truth leads to this.

So this is why I'm saying it's an ecosystem. These aren't two independent silos that never meet. No, no, no. They're woven together. Truth leads to purity and goodness.

You can never have purity and goodness without what God has revealed to be true of things. Here are a couple of references. Ephesians 5 verse 8. For you once were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Paul in Ephesians 5-8 is talking about your life, your patterns of life, what characterizes your conduct. And he says, walk as children of light. That means that there is conduct that is consistent with truth that God has revealed. So there is a conduct equivalent to truth and it is purity and goodness. It is how God acts.

Or 1 John 1 verse 5. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. John, the Gospel writer in his first letter, 1 John chapter 5, is talking about the utter holiness of God. How he's never sinned in thought, word, or deed from eternity past through eternity future. He's perfectly holy.

There's no mixture of light and darkness in God and the context there is definitely conduct because actually 1 John chapter 5 is calling us to be like God and It says to be like God, understand what God is like. He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. He is utterly holy. He is perfectly pure. He is perfectly good.

Scripture uses light like that throughout Scripture. These are just examples. I've pulled a couple of references for each one, but we could pull many more. C. Light is the representative of the endpoint of truth and purity.

So A was light means truth. B was light means purity and goodness. C Light is representative of the endpoint of truth and purity. In other words, these first two things in the ecosystem. The truth of God, the light of God, and the purity and goodness of God, the light of God in this second sense leads somewhere.

They're a path that goes somewhere. Listen to Revelation 21 verses 23 and 24. This is when the New Jerusalem comes out of heaven, descends out of heaven. This is heaven. The New Jerusalem is the place where saints dwell for all of eternity.

Revelation 21, 23 and 24. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it." Jesus is figuratively the light of this world, and He is literally the light of that one. The New Jerusalem, heaven doesn't need a sun or a moon because it has Jesus.

The Lamb is its light. The truth of God, the goodness and purity of God have an end point. They take you to heaven where it's a day forever. There will never be a night in heaven because Jesus is there and His glory and His light is shining there. So you have This ecosystem, the truth of God, but the truth of God is transforming truth.

It works its way out in life. It is goodness and purity in the things that you think, in the things that you say, in the things that you do, and that is a pathway that takes you somewhere where it's never night. The lamb is its light. Of course, the scripture is the same in its uses of darkness. Darkness is sort of a competing ecosystem.

Darkness in its uses in scripture is not one thing, it's several things, a few things that are interrelated like the uses of light. It's really the polar opposites of light. So light means truth, Darkness means falsehood and deception and hiding. Scripture uses darkness. I haven't pulled references for these, but you can think of them on your own.

This is just for the sake of time, not for want of material to pull from. Darkness in scripture is often used to mean falsehood and deception. So light means purity and goodness. Darkness means sin and defilement. Again, the polar opposite.

Darkness is sin. Darkness is the stain of sin, the defilement of sin. So light is representative of the endpoint of truth and purity and darkness is the representation of the endpoint of falsehood and sin. So light is a pathway that takes you somewhere where it's always day. Truth and purity is a pathway that takes you somewhere where it's always day.

But falsehood and sin and defilement is another pathway and that pathway also takes you somewhere where it's always night. How many times is hell described in scripture as a place where you are cast into outer darkness? Where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Always night, an eternal night. As heaven is an eternal day, hell is an eternal night.

It is the end point of this cradle to grave ecosystem or life cycle. Darkness is the same. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. He is all that light is in scripture. Jesus is truth.

Jesus is the Word. He is the great channel of God's truth to mankind. Every word of scripture is a word of Christ. You have it because Christ is the word of God and he has given it as a revelation of God to mankind. Jesus is truth.

Jesus is purity and goodness. Jesus has come and from eternity past he has been holy but he lived a holy life on earth having taken on the likeness of sinful flesh. He lived a perfect life In perfect purity and perfect goodness. And this of course means everything to us, because it is the essence of the Gospel. Jesus can only be our substitute if that's true.

Jesus wasn't dying for his own sins on the cross. He was dying for my sins on the cross. The only way that happens is if he's completely undefiled. Jesus was completely undefiled in every day from his first breath to his last breath and the gospel depends upon it. Jesus is the end point.

The Lamb is the light of the New Jerusalem. It's never night there, it's always day. And Jesus shines and overcomes darkness for His people. We live in a world of falsehood and deception and hiding that Jesus shines into this world and has a victory over that. This is our great hope that light wins.

That light overcomes darkness. We live in a world of sin and defilement. Everything touched by the stain of sin. But we are not left hopeless in that. Jesus is the light of the world.

He overcomes that. The light overcomes the darkness. All the darkness of the world plunges millions into hell, but there is a place where it is always day. And Jesus is the king of that place. One last point on this section.

At the Feast of Tabernacles there was a tradition never mentioned in scripture, but It was absolutely in effect at the time of Jesus. And this tradition was that they would light lamps every night. Great lamps in the temple courts. Listen to what this study note in John MacArthur's study Bible says. During tabernacles, four large lamps in the temple's court of women were lit, and an exuberant nightly celebration took place under the light with the people dancing through the night and holding burning torches in their hands while singing songs and praises.

The Levitical orchestras also played. Just imagine this. Every night, this is a week long feast, every night of the feast, they're lighting these four great lamps in the darkness of the temple courts and the people come and they sing and they carry torches in their hands and they sing and the Levites are there playing their instruments along. This was symbolic of the pillar of fire that led Israel in the wilderness. So you remember the pillar of fire, right?

It led the people in the wilderness. Tabernacles is all about remembering God delivering the children of Israel from their bondage in Israel and then caring for them all throughout the wilderness wandering. So they came together and lived in tents again for a week to remember their time in the wilderness. This was part of that. This was a tradition to support that remembrance.

Remember, God was the pillar of fire that led us safely through the wilderness for 40 years. Now remember for a couple of weeks ago, there was another tradition, also never mentioned anywhere in scripture, but definitely happening during the time of Jesus where they would pour a daily ritual where they were pouring water on the altar every day and on the seventh day, seven times pouring water on the altar to remind them that God gave them water from the rock to sustain them in the wilderness. And then in chapter 7 verse 37, Jesus stands before the people and says, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Right on the heels of seven days of this ritual of pouring out water. Here's Jesus, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

And now we have a nightly ritual of the lighting of the lamps, and Jesus stands before the people and says, I am the light of the world. So that was first. It means that Jesus is all of the things light is in scripture. Now second, it means that Jesus is the Savior promised by God. Make no mistake, every Jew who was semi-literate in The scriptures understood what Jesus was getting at when he stood before the people to say, I am the light of the world.

He was laying claim to a mantle. It was the mantle of what the prophets had said would be true of the Messiah. The Jews understood from the prophets that the Messiah was to be the great light. There are multiple places that we can go in the prophets, but I want to focus on Isaiah because I think the best and clearest ones are in Isaiah. And it makes for a good use of time also.

Turn to Matthew chapter 4. I say Matthew chapter 4 because Matthew is going to quote Isaiah. Actually, Matthew chapter 4, Matthew the Gospel writer is going to quote what Josh has already read from Isaiah chapter 9. Matthew chapter 4, I'll begin in 12. Matthew chapter 4, 12 through 16.

Now when Jesus had heard that John, this is John the Baptist, had been put in prison, he departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned." Matthew the Gospel writer is connecting the dots between what Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah chapter 9 verses 1 and 2 that a savior would arise out of Galilee and shine on a land that was cloaked in darkness. And Jesus, he's making the connection there.

Matthew understands that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 9 verses 1 and 2. And of course, as Josh read on in that text, when you get to verse 6, we get more that we know about Jesus. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders and his name will be and then there's a list of wonderful names that Jesus fulfills all of. Every Jew would have understood Isaiah 9 as messianic, as about the Savior that God was promising to send. Jesus is a light to the Gentiles.

Turn to Isaiah chapter 42. Just gonna keep sort of piling up the instances of this same thing. And that's why I'm saying it's so pervasive in the prophets that the Messiah, the promised Savior is to be the great light that no Jew would have been able to miss this when Jesus stood up and said I am the light of the world. Isaiah chapter 42, I'm going to read 1 through 3 and then 6 and 7. I'm skipping a few for the sake of time.

Isaiah 42, 1 through 3, then skipping to 6 and 7. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench." By the way, this is more that is quoted in the New Testament of Jesus. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench. By the way, this is more that is quoted in the New Testament of Jesus. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoking flax he will not quench. It's another New Testament quote that Jesus fulfills.

He will bring forth justice for truth. Skipping down to verse 6. I the Lord have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the peoples, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. Here again, this promised Savior is a covenant to the people, a light to the Gentiles.

Those who sit in darkness in the prison house are going to be led forth from the prison by by this great Savior. Jesus is laying claim to this in John chapter 8. Turn over to Isaiah 49. More, more, Isaiah 49. I'll be reading verses 5 and 6.

Isaiah 49, 5 and 6. And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel is gathered to him, for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Indeed, He says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth talking talk about promising a Savior here Here God through the prophet says nope. It's too small for you to save Israel It's not enough.

You're too glorious to just be the Savior of Israel. Now think, this is God's people throughout the centuries, and there are millions of them, nope, too small. Not enough glory in that. It's only enough glory that you would have an inheritance of nations, that you would be a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the ends of the earth. Jesus stands up in John chapter 8 and says, I am the light of the world.

Good Jews would be thinking about this in Isaiah 49. Finally, Isaiah 60. This will be our last stop in Isaiah. Isaiah 60. More familiar verses.

Isaiah 60 verses 1 through 3. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people. But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and the kings to the brightness of your rising." I'm not sure we have anything particularly new in this, but we have a repetition of it.

The point is, again, the Jews would have recognized this as being about the Messiah. Isaiah 40 and forward is filled with prophecies about the Messiah, promises made by God that would be fulfilled by the Savior that he was promising to send. At the birth of Jesus, so now we're back to the Gospels, At the birth of Jesus, there are two godly men who prophetically recognized that Jesus, the baby Jesus, was fulfilling these prophecies. They prophetically connected these Old Testament prophecies to the baby that was there. Turn to Luke 1.

The first of these godly men who prophesies is Zacharias, John the Baptist's father. You remember the angel came to say that his old wife was going to be pregnant. And he's not so sure. And so his reward for his lack of faith was to be silent until the baby, until God's promises were fulfilled. But when he gets his voice back, God gives him this wonderful prophecy.

It begins in Luke chapter 1, verse 67, and now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, so now I'm gonna skip down, there's a lot about Jesus in this, excuse me, there's a lot about his son, the forerunner, John the Baptist, but I'm skipping that and going right to the part about Jesus beginning in verse 76. I'm reading in Luke 1 verses 76-79, which is a prophetic utterance. This is God speaking through Zechariah. And you child will be called the prophet of the highest. John the Baptist is the prophet of the highest.

For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the day spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." The prophecy is that John the Baptist makes ready for Jesus who is a light to those who sit in darkness. He's practically quoting Isaiah chapter 9 there. It's a prophetic utterance. Quoting a prophetic utterance. Connecting these Old Testament prophecies, promises to send a Savior to the baby who would be born, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now look just to the next page here to Luke chapter 2 verses 25 through 32. This is Simeon and this is when Joseph and Mary bring Jesus into the temple. Luke chapter 2 verses 25-32. And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, He took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel." This is just another instance where a godly man prophetically connects the prophecies of the Savior, a light to the Gentiles to bring salvation to earth being fulfilled in this baby before He had ever said a word or done a thing. God was testifying through prophets.

In John chapter 8, in our text, in our one verse this week, when Jesus stands before the people and says, I am the light of the world, He's just saying what the Holy Spirit through these men have been saying. That's all he's doing. He's just laying claim to being the fulfillment of the prophecies. Here's the conclusion for our first main point. Jesus is all of the things that light is in scripture.

He's truth, He's perfect purity, and He is what light represents, which is a place where there's only day, there's never night. And Jesus is the Savior promised by God. The Messiah as the great light is everywhere in the prophets. And every Jew, when they heard Jesus say, I am the light of the world, would have understood what he was saying about himself, what he was laying claim to. So that was the first main point, what it means that Jesus is the light of the world.

Now number two, what it means in the life of the believer. If you have the light of the world, if you have Jesus, it transforms your life. Period. If I have the light of the world, it transforms my life. If my life is not transformed, I do not have the light of the world.

You can say it really both ways. Like the children of Israel followed the pillar of fire. Just go back and read those accounts. They would stay. How long would they stay?

As long as the cloud was there by day and the pillar of fire was there by night. However long that was. A day, a week, a month, a year they would stay. As soon as the cloud lifted or the pillar of fire lifted, they were on the move. They went where He went And so it is to be of us.

As the pillar of fire was to the children of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ is to us. He transforms us and has this effect on our lives. We don't walk in darkness, we follow Him. Let's reflect on what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. Turn back to John chapter 3.

Jesus has already really covered this ground with Nicodemus. First I want to say this, if you believe you follow Jesus. The New Testament knows nothing of Christians who believe but don't follow. And The New Testament knows nothing of Christians who believe but don't follow. And the New Testament knows nothing of Christians who follow but don't believe.

They always go together because remember we've been encountering the word believe. Salvation is based on faith, on belief alone. If you believe you are saved. If you don't believe you are damned. There are no other criteria.

It is belief or you are damned. But if you believe you are saved. As we've encountered this word again and again and again, I keep saying the same thing. It has two elements to it. Ascent and consent.

Your mind ascents to truths about Jesus. The Bible says things about Jesus. When you believe, you believe what the Word of God says about Jesus. You can't make up your own Jesus. Believing in Jesus is believing what God has revealed about Jesus.

But there is a second element. It's also consenting to the person. It's not just an intellectual exercise. It is a throwing yourself upon the Lord Jesus Christ in trust. It is a putting of all of your eggs in one basket to consent to Him.

You take Him as King. Both of these are part of what it means to believe as it's used by John the Gospel writer. So with that in mind, Jesus and Nicodemus in John chapter 3, I'll be reading 14-21. John chapter 3, 14-21. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

Speaking of the cross. That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Here's where we are so far.

Jesus went to the cross so that faith would save. If Jesus doesn't go to the cross to take your place, faith can't save. So Jesus went to the cross, the Son of Man had to be lifted up so that faith would save, so that this would be true, that all who believe would be saved. And Jesus went to the cross out of love. So this is where we are in the text so far.

Jesus went to the cross so that faith would save, And God did that because He loved the world. He loved His creation. Now continuing on, starting in verse 18, and this is really what's relevant to what Jesus is saying in John chapter 8. He who believes in Him, He who believes in Jesus is not condemned. But He who does not believe is condemned already because He has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light, does not come into the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes into the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." Verse 19 gives us the condition of the natural man. In other words, what is anyone like in their natural condition? Before God breaks through, what is a person like?

Well here's what's revealed. Even though the light, Jesus, has come into the world, people love darkness instead. People want nothing to do with Jesus. Not because he's not good, but because they're not good. And they want to protect that and persist in that, in continuing in evil because they love evil, they love darkness.

They love falsehood. We love falsehood in our natural condition. We love sin and defilement in our natural condition. We have our feet on a path that is taking us to a place where it is always night and never day. Why do we love darkness?

Because we are walking in darkness in our natural condition. We love the things that God hates. And we don't want the light flooding in on that. We don't want anyone touching that, what we love. So Jesus sets before us this tremendous difference.

Some hate light. This is the natural condition of mankind. Hating light because we're walking in darkness and we don't want it exposed. But then some come to the light. Some come to the light.

And are saved and are transformed by the light. To walk in darkness is to have a pattern of life which is characterized by falsehood and deception and hiding and sin and defilement. And it's just a road that leads to outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is a pathway that leads to eternal regret and sorrow. Can you imagine the insanity of walking a pathway that leads to eternal regret and sorrow.

And yet the madness of our nature, the insanity of our nature, since we plunged ourselves into sin, it won't do to say, well Adam's his own man, You know what? You inherited from Adam. That's the bad news. But the good news is that you can inherit from Christ, the second Adam. Our natural condition is to love darkness, but it's not so with those who have come to the light of the world.

They follow Jesus. They have the light of life. The light of life. I believe that phrase, the light of life, communicates that Jesus as the light of the world, imparts and sustains life. He is the light of life.

He imparts life, meaning you're dead. But He can give you life. He can impart life to you. He can raise you from the dead. And then not only impart life, but sustains life.

Jesus as the light of life is life giving and life sustaining. That's what he's saying here. Listen to what he said in John chapter 5. By the way, John chapter 5 is where all the trouble started for Jesus. He healed on the Sabbath and then he made himself equal with God and they wanted to kill him.

So John chapter 5 is really the origins of all the trouble that he's experiencing here in John chapter 8. But listen to two verses from John chapter 5, verse 21 and 26. John chapter 5 verse 21, For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. Then a few verses later in verse 26, He says, For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in himself. Jesus is the light of the world and that light gives life and that light sustains life.

And that makes Jesus equal with God and That's a big problem with the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests and the Jewish leaders. Applications. I have three. Unbeliever. Jesus is the light of the world.

He gives the light of life. He can raise you from the dead and sustain you through your life. Even though you are too weak to make it to the end of your life in faith, He is the light of life. He has life within Himself. He is life giving.

He is life sustaining. Run to Him. There's nowhere else to get truth, to get purity and goodness, to get a home where there is never a night? Only Jesus. Listen to what J.C.

Ryle says. J.C. Ryle says, None could truly say this but one who knew that he was very God. No prophet or apostle ever said it. Isn't that true?

Where is the prophet that made a claim anywhere near this? Where is the apostle that made a claim anywhere near this? Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Not a light in the world, the light of the world. Such an enormous exclusive claim.

This man was either crazy or God's Christ, or God's promised Savior. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. There is only one place to get life. If you have your feet on a pathway that leads to a place where it's always night, a place of eternal sorrow and regret and torment. Today, life is offered to you through Jesus Christ.

He is the light of the world. He saves sinners today. Number two, believer. Jesus is the light of the world. If you are following Jesus, Light should be increasing in your life.

This is a mark that you are actually following Jesus, that you belong to Him. If He indwells you by His Spirit, He is transforming you. Truth and transparency, purity and goodness should be growing in you. Falsehood and deception and hiding should be shrinking in your life. This is the pathway to a place where it is always day.

Not that we are earning heaven. Growth in grace should never be misinterpreted as if now I am starting to earn wages from God. That's not how it works. It's just evidence of grace. It's evidence of the transforming work of God in your life that the Holy Spirit, if He's indwelling you, He makes you holy.

The Holy Spirit goes to work in unholy people. He begins to conform them into the image of Christ. It seems so slow sometimes, but there is progress. There should be growth in grace. There should be a shrinking of hiding, and secrecy, and falsehood, and deception.

There should be a shrinking of sin and defilement in our lives. There should be evidence that we are being transformed. Number three, Finally, because Jesus is the great head of His church, living in and through us by His Spirit, we who are born again have become the light of the world. Because Jesus indwells His people by His Spirit, the Holy Spirit indwelling believers, we have become the light of the world. This is a fantastic byproduct of Jesus being the light of the world.

When He indwells you, you become the light of the world. We have this on His own authority. Listen to Matthew chapter 5 verses 14 through 16. Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter 5 verses 14 through 16.

You are the light of the world. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, our text is Jesus saying, I am the light of the world. Here in Matthew 5 he says, you are the light of the world. Which is it?

Well, Jesus by His Spirit indwells His people and we become the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your God, your Father in heaven." God glorifies himself and the earth in many ways. One of the big ways is that he transforms his people so that they shine.

We become the light of the world. The mission of Jesus is to shine salvation into the ends of the earth. One of the ways that he does that, one of the key core ways that he does that, is by indwelling and transforming his people. And they do good works, not to earn heaven, but because there is evidence of the transforming work of God in their lives. But people, onlookers, see it and they glorify our Father in heaven.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for sending light into the world. Thank you for sending your Son the light of the world. We're Gentiles. Sitting in the shadow of death.

Sitting in darkness. Thank you for truth. Thank you for the purity and goodness of your son that makes him an acceptable sacrifice. Thank you that the Lamb is the light of the New Jerusalem. There is a place where you are taking us where there is no night.

There is never a night. Because the Lamb is its light. We worship you in Jesus' name. Amen.