Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] If you haven't been with us in a while, you know that we're going through this series in John. And as we walk through this, the title that you may believe, a study in the Gospel of John, as you see there above me. And as we have walked through this, we've seen over and over that Jesus has been presenting himself as the Christ, as the messiah, as the one that people have been waiting for. So chapter eight is where we're going to start today in verse twelve. Like I mentioned last week, we looked at the infamous story, the famous story of the woman caught in adultery, verses 53 through eleven.
[00:00:35] Chapter seven, verse 53 through chapter eight, verse eleven. And so we walked through that last week. If you'd like, you can go back and you can listen. As we talked a little about last week, the placement of this passage, I won't get into the details today, but that's important for us to kind of keep in mind the placement here. That passage has been, depending on what manuscripts you're reading in John, placed in different places in the Gospel of John, in some of the earlier manuscripts. But what we see before that is really important for us to really hone back in on. Chapter seven walks us through a feast that's happening, the feast of tabernacles. Are you still with me? Can you say tabernacles? Not a feast that you and I celebrate regularly today, but this feast, the tabernacle or the feast of booze or sukkot, was the word that they used. And it was a feast that they were really told by God, clearly in Leviticus, that they needed to celebrate regularly the faithfulness of God bringing them through the wilderness. And so that's why they set up little booths or little, made of sticks and leaves. And they would set this up for a week, and they would bring their whole families out of their houses in the city or from the surrounding area around Jerusalem, actually, all over Israel. They'd come to Jerusalem and they would set up these little booths, and they'd live in them for a week with their family, and they'd be able to tell their kids the stories of God's faithfulness through the wilderness journeys for those years that they spent in the wilderness. Now, remembering the festival going on here is really important for what we're gonna look at today. Before we get into some of those details, it's important for us also to note that this whole passage that we're looking at today is truly about the identity of Jesus. Jesus comes back to his identity over and over and over and over again.
[00:02:31] And if you read through, starting in chapter seven, beginning of chapter seven, through verse eight, through chapter eight, you will find Jesus repeating over and over and over again who he is. He says, I'm the Christ. And he says, I'm the bread. And he says, I'm the life. He says on the bread in chapter six. And he goes over and over, he says, this is who I am. To all of those folks listening now to us here, we walk through chapter seven. If you look in your bibles, if you flip back a little bit, we were in the beginning of chapter seven a little while ago, actually. But if you were actually here, you see in chapter seven that Jesus went up to. If you flip in your bibles, you can there at the beginning, he says he went up to the feast of booze, and it was about midway through the feast. Remember the feast is how long, I said this earlier. You remember how long is the feast? A week long. So he goes up three or four days into it, and he begins to share some messages with the people listening. He begins to teach and preach there. And so he's talking about his identity again three or four days into the feast. And then what we are here is the end of the feast. So it's only been about, what, three or four days, right. That Jesus has been in Jerusalem teaching, but for us it hasn't been three or four days looking at these passages, has it? It's been like two months. So for us, we can look at this passage and say, yeah, I kind of remember Jesus talked about something a while back, but for them it was a few days ago. This was a regular conversation, a regular teaching time that Jesus was having. So if you want to kind of get a feel for this, you should really spend some time and just read through chapter seven and chapter eight in its completion. Just read through both of those chapters to get an idea of what Jesus is really trying to communicate and really the people listening, what he hoped they would believe here, because he's communicating the same truth over and over and over again. Have you ever told someone something and they didn't understand? They asked you to repeat it. Have you ever had to do that before? Then you maybe said then they didn't understand, or they said what? Or they asked for clarification and you repeated it a different way and then a different way? Have any of you been in that situation before? Especially if you have kids, you've been in that situation like, I don't understand. Can you say that again? Can you say that? What? What? You know, just over and over again. And after a while, do you find that you just have more peace?
[00:04:48] You probably get more frustrated, right? You think to yourself, didn't I just tell you this? And then you say it a different way. And then they say, so I don't understand. You mean this? And you're like, no, no, no, really, it's very clear. And you give them the piece of information, the instruction, whatever it is. Again, over and over, Jesus has repeated, this is who I am. This is who I am. This is who I am, and this is who you are. And over and over they're saying, what?
[00:05:16] What? Oh, that doesn't make sense, or, I don't agree with that, or prove it all these different ways. And so Jesus lays out over and over for them his identity. That's truly what he's communicating very plainly in chapter seven and chapter eight. We'll get through the rest of chapter eight in the coming. But for Jesus, it's one conversation that's happening here. It's one presentation on the last day of the feast. So though this message happened 2000 years ago, for them, this message is very and was true and powerful, for them, it's also very true and important for us to understand. So in your outline, we're going to treat this interaction that Jesus is having with those he's talking to like a court case. Okay. Due to the legal terminology that you and I are going to see as we read through this passage. And so today is before we read through this passage, starting in verse twelve, we're going to mainly do three things. Okay. So maybe you want to jot this down to know that we're kind of tracking in the right direction. Firstly, the first thing we're going to do as we walk through this passage is we're going to understand the key concept that Jesus is trying to communicate. Remember I said earlier, you try to tell someone something and they don't understand it. What we're gonna do today is very clearly, again, understand the key concept that Jesus is trying to communicate. Secondly, what we're gonna do is understand why those people that he's talking to did not accept it. Why did he have to? He communicates a clear concept and they say, no, we don't like that. We're gonna understand why they didn't like what he had to say. And then thirdly, we're gonna understand how this claim of Jesus, how this claim that Jesus is making is applicable to you and to I today. Those three things, what we're gonna camp out in, in our time. Look at verse twelve with me. And then we'll read the passage and pray through verse 20. Again. So this again is connected. Actually, it's connected to verse 52 of chapter seven.
[00:07:10] Last day of the feast. He's talking to people we know. They're divided about his identity. We had that conversation when I brought the ropes out here. And we're going back and forth. Their hearts are divided about the identity of Jesus. 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. So the Pharisees, those onlookers there who are against the identity of Jesus. Those who are the religious leaders. Pharisees said to him, you are bearing witness. There's a legal term there about yourself. Your testimony. Again, legal term. Is not true. Jesus. And just note those legal terms as we walk through this. Jesus answered it. Even if I do bear witness. Legal term about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. You judge. Again, obviously, legal term. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge. But I am the father who sent me. In your law, it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself. And the father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, therefore, who is your father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple.
[00:08:40] But no one arrested him. Because his hour had not yet come. Let's pray together.
[00:08:46] Well, Lord Jesus. We come before you this morning. As a God who is worthy of our attention. And worthy of our praise. Yes, as we sung moments ago. Because you have redeemed us. You have died in our place. You have made us new.
[00:09:04] We also recognize that you are worthy of our praise. Not just because of what you have done before us. But because of who you are even before we existed. As a holy and righteous God.
[00:09:17] One who has power over all things. Lord, you deserve our attention this morning.
[00:09:24] And as you show us in your word here. As we just read that you are light. You are the light of the world, Jesus. You are who we need to look to for direction. And you are the one that gives us clarity. About all things in this dark world.
[00:09:44] As we walk through this passage today. Lord, I pray that you would open our hearts and our minds. You would shine a light into those dark places that may still exist inside of us and show us who you truly are and your desire for us to be whole and healed from any brokenness, any hurt that exists there in Jesus name. Everyone said, we'll start in verse 20. We'll actually jump to the bottom, look at the context. Okay? So we need to understand the context of what's going on. I know this is something that we sometimes start with, but it helps give us a better understanding of the message that Jesus is communicating to the people. So the context is point one. You could write that in on your outline before we read verse 20, which we already just did, but we want to understand what's all happening. So I talked about the feast of tabernacles, or the feast of booths before. History tells us this, that during the feast of tabernacles, we know that there's these little tent, these little shacks that they would make out of sticks and out of leaves, and these little booths they would make. We also know that a few weeks ago, we talked about Jesus being the living water. There would be this jar they would take, and they would go to the pool of siloam, and they'd bring the water back, and they. They poured on the altar, and it was a remembrance of God giving them water in the wilderness. We talked about that a few weeks ago. You can go back and listen to that message there. There's also something else that would happen to help them remember wandering through the wilderness. And so if you look back through the Old Testament in those passages and the books talking about their wandering through the wilderness, we know that one. They moved around a lot. They needed water, they needed food. And so God provided food for them. He provided water, which we've talked about, because they moved, they didn't set up any permanent housing. But remember, they also needed to know where to go at nighttime. How did they know where to go at nighttime? God provided a pillar of fire. So because of this pillar of fire that would lead them in a cloud during the day, they would know where God was taking them. So we fast forward some thousand, couple thousand years or so. We move forward in the, in the text here, and we see that as they remember the booze, the feast of tabernacles, as they remember the wilderness wandering, they also set up something to help them remember the pillar of fire. How did they do this? What they did was, is they would set up these massive. Excuse me. They would set up these massive poles, and at the top there would be this, depending on who you talk to. Because again, we don't see this clarified for us in scripture. But history tells us they would set up these massive poles. It's like 70ft high in the air in the temple. So just kind of imagine that four major poles. And at the top there would be a basin with oil in it. And interestingly, the history tells us that they would actually use the old garments of the priests as the wicks. For these to light a candle. So you imagine this giant pillar, 70ft high. A basin at the top. And some say there was a few different. Some candles at the top. Others say it was just a massive bowl with a wick coming out of it. Made up of the clothes, the used clothes of the priests. And so what would happen is during the seven day feast at nighttime. They would light these wicks. And this would burn all night long. And so everybody there who's celebrating, they would be able to look. Even if they weren't in the temple. They would be able to look towards the temple. And see these massive lights shining in the temple. Are you with me here so far? And so even then, what they would do is, especially. Even the priests, the leaders, they would come to the temple and they would dance. And they would celebrate at nighttime. Under the brilliant light of these massive candles. That are raised up in the temple for everybody to see. So now you kind of have a picture of this parallel that happens. They are celebrating how God led them. How God directed them with this pillar of fire. And here they have these massive. This massive candle. Candles with fire coming from them. That everybody would be able to come to and worship and celebrate. And even when you left the temple, you could go, I wonder where the temple is? You see shining light there, right? This flame coming from the temple. That all would be able to see night after night after night. So that's important for us to kind of get a picture of. We also see is that these candles would have been put in the court of what's called in the temple, in the court of the women. And in the court of the women is also where the treasury was. Where is Jesus right now? In the treasury. Look at verse 20 in your bibles there. Verse 20 says that he was in the treasury. So this is a massive courtyard. And what would have happened is, in the temple, there's the court of the Gentiles, the court of the women. Then there's the court of what's called the Israelites. Where the men could only go. And then there's the court of the priests where only the priests could go. So jesus is in the court of the women, a massive area. There's these major massive candles around him or behind him. And because it's the. Not the start of the feast, but it's the end of the feast. It's daytime now. The candles are most likely extinguished. And so you have this setting. Jesus is maybe sitting somewhere, he's teaching and he says to everybody there, I and the light of the world. This is the setting that he begins to teach. And he begins to engage with the Pharisees who are there with him. Now what that means is significant for everybody there. Because now that the feast is over, people are getting ready to go. We remember that people came from all over the place.
[00:15:26] We also know that by this claim that Jesus makes. We see this in verse 20. What does it say, these words jesus spoke in the treasury. There's the context and location as he was in the temple. Again, location. But no one arrested him. Why is that even important? That tells us something significant. That tells us the claim that Jesus made here was something that should bring about his arrest.
[00:15:48] Because if no one arrested him, I mean, if he was just talking about something random and no one understood this is completely pointless for this to be here. But the fact that we see this tells us what jesus is about to say is worthy of his arrest. So what did he say? What's the claim .2 on your outline, verse twelve. What's the claim? We're going to spend a little bit more time here because this is the claim of Jesus that should have or could have brought about his arrest in illegal sense. So we'll spend a little bit more time here and a little less time in the follow up of what the Pharisees have to say. So again, jesus spoke to them. Notice how many times, by the way, it says again, you know, when we were talking about when someone gives instruction, it's like, I don't get it. And then again I said. And then again I said. And then again I said. Here again we see Jesus. Again he said to them, saying, I am the light of the world. This is the second of the seven I am statements that Jesus makes in the gospel of John the first. He says, I am the bread of life. And he connects that to the feeding of the 5000 they've just been fed. And he says, I am the bread of life. Here we see that Jesus is no longer connecting himself with the bread. But another aspect of what's going on in his surroundings. The bread. The feeding of the 5000 that happened a while ago. Right now, what's happening is the light has been extinguished from these massive candles in the temple. So he says, now I am the light of the world. These statements are here to help us understand his identity a little bit more. Keep in mind the context. I'm the light of the world. The lights behind him are extinguished even when they were lit. They were lights in the temple and maybe even the light of Jerusalem. But when something that bright can be seen in a city without streetlights or car lights, everybody in that city would have been regularly going, oh, that's where the temple is. Oh, that's. That's where the temple is. They would have clearly known wherever the presence of God truly was, because that's where the light was. And here Jesus is saying, not I am a light. Not I am the light, not even the light of Jerusalem, but he says, I'm the light of the whole world. This, clearly to everybody listening, is not just Jesus saying, them saying, well, Jesus, he's awfully prideful.
[00:18:03] Here's Jesus making some big statement. It's. This is a clear, messianic statement about himself. What he's doing is he's calling himself the messiah. He's calling himself God.
[00:18:16] Why do they think that they might be able to arrest him? Because this, if it wasn't true, is blasphemy. To call a human, to call himself one with God, according to the law of Moses, the law of God was worthy of death. Now, what reasons would there have been for this opposition? One. Yes, it's a messianic claim. It's one of deity. He says that he is God. And so they say, well, why on earth would we even begin to believe you? But there's more. Only God was thought to have this kind of power. He's also claiming a level of exclusivity around life. He says, whoever follows me, not whoever follows the things that I teach, not whoever follows those other people over there, whoever follows me. And he uses this word interchangeably with believe. It's not that he's teaching something different, but rather, when you walk with light, when you're with the light and there's darkness out there, you're moving with it. He says, whoever stays with me, imagine a lamp in my hand. Whoever stays with me stays where the light is.
[00:19:24] Whoever decides to walk away from me, well, there's no light over there. So if you want to experience light, you will stay with me. You will follow me. Now, for us today, it doesn't say Christian. You will follow other christians. It doesn't say, you will follow the celebrity pastor. It doesn't say that you will follow this theologian or that commentary guy or that church. It doesn't say any of those things. Jesus says, if you would like to have light in your life, you will follow me. And sometimes today, even today, yes, we can say I have more attention or more esteem for people and the words of people there who even talk about good christian things rather than the words of Jesus Christ that are sitting before us. We can have more attention at times to people who talk about Jesus rather than the actual words of Jesus. What does Jesus say?
[00:20:16] I am the one who has light. Who is light? I am the one who will guide and direct you. So to those listening, this is what Jesus says.
[00:20:27] I am the source of life and the only way to have direction in your life. If anyone follows or accompanies me, like you would a light, you will avoid darkness often, by the way, considered to be sin or death, and you will walk in the light, or you will walk in safety and walk in life.
[00:20:48] They took. If you take a candle into a dark room, the room becomes less dark, doesn't it? What happens when you remove the candle? The darkness comes back in. We recognize this as well. There is a promise that Jesus makes. The world is dark, and without me, it will stay dark.
[00:21:09] No matter how many good people and good things and good activities may happen without Jesus presence, there is no way to have the world that we live in illuminated by God.
[00:21:25] Just as God illuminates, as we consider both of these things together, just as God illuminates your way from slavery to the promised land, so too will Jesus illuminate your way and my way from the slavery of sin to the promise of salvation. He's using this situation at the feast to show people that he is the light to lead people from that dark room, from that dark world. He says, if you would like to experience light, which everybody thinks everyone would like to, the only way you're going to move from darkness to light is through me. Now imagine everybody else there who sees themselves as a teacher of the law, a scribe, a pharisee, a sadducee. They're thinking to themselves, I think I can lead people from darkness to light. I think I can do that. And then Jesus steps onto the scene and says, no, you can't.
[00:22:14] That's not very nice, is it, Jesus? It's not his mission in life to be nice. His mission in life was to tell the truth. And people are dark without him. The hearts of mankind is dark without him. They also would have been thinking some passages from the Old Testament. Isaiah 42, six seven says this, I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. Here Jesus is saying, I am the light of the nations. So everybody there listening when he says, I am the light of the world, or, I am the light of the nations. Everyone there, especially the priests, the Pharisees, the scribes, they would be like, I know that line. I would write that as a scribe, I am the light of nation, or, I will give you the light of the nation. That means he is saying, he's the messiah.
[00:23:10] They clearly would have understood what Jesus just said here. And so look at their response or their counterclaim. That's .3 on your outline, verse 13. We'll walk through what Jesus says. We'll break it down a little bit more, a little later on as we look at some application. But before, let's look quickly here at the rebuttal or the counterclaim of those listening on. So the Pharisees, verse twelve. The Pharisees said to him, you are bearing witness about yourself. Thus your testimony is not true. In other words, anybody can have words by themselves. Anybody can wake up in the morning and be like, you know what? I think I'm God today. I think I'd like to lead a religion today. I think you could make up all sorts of stuff, but there's no one to support what you have to say. And that's their response to him. You make this massive claim about your identity, but there's no one here to support you. They accused Jesus of an invalid claim because he was making it about himself. In other words, there's no witnesses. Remember also, this claim is an illegal claim. By making this claim of being God, he's saying.
[00:24:16] He's saying something that can get him killed. And later on, did it get him killed? It did. We know that his hour had not yet come. So that time did not come. But this claim was something that they would have grabbed onto. And then they. Jesus then kind of steps into this. Actually, in a minute, Jesus will step into this. Look what it says. You are bearing witness about yourself. In other words, their law says you need two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy 17, you could just write this down if you want. But deuteronomy 17 six says, on the evidence of two or three witnesses is the one who is to die. The one who is to die shall be put to death in other words, in order for there to be a capital punishment, when a capital crime happens, there needs to be two or three witnesses. We saw this, didn't we, last week with the woman caught in adultery. Remember that, Jesus? Then he's talking to this woman, and he tells them, whoever has not sinned can throw the first stone. One of the things they would have remembered there, and actually Moses law says, is the person who would have thrown the stone first is the person who was the witness by no one throwing the stone shows that there was no witness. Here again, we see deuteronomy 19, a witness, again, shall not suffice against a person for any crime, unless there are two.
[00:25:31] So Jesus points this out clearly. Now, sadly, today, the response from many people regarding Jesus is not so different than their response. They hear a clear declaration of truth about Jesus and somebody you even might have had conversation with, people, Jesus loves you. He cares for you. He died so you could have a relationship with him. And their response might just be, prove it. I don't believe that. Why should I believe that? And regardless of what answers you might give them, the response is still, I don't know about that. That happened a long time ago. People make up stories, so that's good for some people, but it's not good for me. There's all sorts of excuses. In their case.
[00:26:13] We're not going to believe you because there's no one supporting you. Now, Jesus is going to debunk this in just a moment. But if you find yourself having a conversation about Jesus and the other person is resisting what you have to say about Jesus, ask this question. Maybe you've been in this situation before. Is there anything that could happen or that I could say that might cause you to change your mind?
[00:26:37] And sometimes the answer is no. No.
[00:26:41] Now, most likely, no matter how much more you say in that conversation, is it going to go somewhere? Because their heart is positioned in a place where they say, no matter what you have to say, my pride, my opinion, is going to stand firm. So what do you do?
[00:26:58] Stay involved in their life. One, two. Pray that God softens their heart.
[00:27:04] Pray that God softens their heart so that as God does, they might come back to you and say, hey, you talked about that thing that one time, and maybe I'm not ready now to counterclaim everything that you say or to rebut everything that you say. Maybe I actually am ready to listen for the Pharisees. For many of them, not all of them. For many of them, they were in a position of saying, nope, we're going to reject everything that you have to say. But Jesus is going to break down what they have to say. I should say their rebuttal in, .4 the confirmation of his credibility. You can write that in if you'd like. In, .4 verses 14 through 18, Jesus now replies to the pharisees who have just spoken and said, you have no grounds for this declaration of your deity. You have no grounds. And here Jesus is going to say, at least in three points that you'll see in a, B and C. He's going to say, actually, I do, and it's something that you should pay attention to.
[00:27:59] He goes on. He speaks particularly in verse 14. You could write it a in your outline is this. He speaks of his origin and his destination. His origin and his destination. Look what it says. Even if I bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For when you see the word for like that, it's a, I'm going to give you a reason. I'm going to help you understand why my statement is now true. So because I know. Here's his reason. Two things. For I know where I came from, that's origin, and I know where I am going, that's destination. And he goes on later to say, but you don't know where I came from or where I am going. Again, you don't know my origin and you don't know my destination. His claim is valid. Here's what he's saying. He says, my claim of being the Messiah, of being the light of the world, is valid because I know where I came from and I know where I'm going. Here's what he's saying. My identity, my home is heaven, is yours.
[00:28:55] Are you from heaven?
[00:28:58] Are you from the throne room of God? No, you're not. His credibility is because he is from heaven and he's going back to heaven. And heavenly beings are not bound by earthly rules.
[00:29:14] Heavenly beings are not bound by earthly rules and laws.
[00:29:18] Like, for example, you have to have two witnesses. If an angel showed up and said, we saw this with John the Baptist's dad, right? An angel shows up and tells him something. Now, Zechariah could have said, do you have another witness?
[00:29:30] He kind of did. He was like, I don't know about this. And then the angel said, ah, you're going to be mute for a while. Didn't go well for him here. The same Jesus. He should be able to speak and we listen, not say, mmm, Jesus. Can you prove that?
[00:29:43] But again, Jesus goes on, he gives another reason. Why should we confirm the credibility of what you say. Or how does he confirm the credibility of his statement? Secondly, be on your island. His judgments are made in union with God. Verses 15 and 16. Lay that out clearly. You judge according to the flesh. Human tradition. That is, I judge no one. And you might add on actually according to the flesh, I judge no one the way that you do. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For. Notice that word again. He used that in verse 14 for or because it is not I alone who judge, saying, I don't make independent judgments, but I and the father. There's the union who sent me.
[00:30:30] So he says, my judgments are made in union with God. The God, by the way that you worship, the God that you believe, the God that is true. And just. The Pharisees, they go around judging people because of how they dress, how they pray, how they worship, how they act, all of these things. God, does he look at the outward appearance? No, he looks at the heart.
[00:30:54] External judgments is not what Jesus does. He judges according to the heart of mankind.
[00:31:00] External judgments. By the way, this is true for us today, not just them 2000 years ago. External judgments are often inaccurate judgments, though. They're the judgments that we make all the time, not that they're always bad. There are times that you and I need to make judgments. Is that a safe place for me to go? I don't know what's there. I can just look at it from the external, from the outside, and say, I'm not really sure. But in regards to judging a human being, the soul of somebody, God is the one who knows. We can look at fruit, but we don't know the heart. Jesus is saying here that his father is God, and thus his judgments are always just. And if all your judgments are made with the one in line with the one who is always just, your judgments will always be true. Lastly, see on your outline. His judgment or his identity is supported by his sender. So the one who sent him, look at verse 1817 and 18. In your law it is written. He's quoting back to Leviticus 17 and 19. In your law it is written that the testimony of two people, or two or three people is true. I am now here. He's going to go back to the law. He said, if I were to live under your law, here's what this would look like. I am the one who bears witness about myself, one. And the father who sent me bears witness about me. His testimony is true because it's also supported by his sender or his father. As he says, God sent Jesus as the light of the world. And because God, the one who they claim to believe and to worship. Is the one who authenticates the identity and the mission of Jesus. They, too, should listen to his claim and respond. So let's just briefly review his claims there, his points there for why they should believe him. Looking back at your outline as well, on the next slide. Jesus lays out why you should believe what I have to say. My origin, my destination, my judgments are in union with God. My identity is supported by my sender. Or by my father. And Jesus. As you might have been in this conversation. Go back to the beginning when we were talking about. When you tell someone something and they say, I don't. What'd you say? I don't like that. Can you say that a different way? And you go back and forth and back and forth. Jesus knows that they're going to keep resisting. And resisting. And resisting. And yet, in true kindness and the mercy of Jesus.
[00:33:32] He continues to talk to them.
[00:33:35] He doesn't blow up a hand and say, well, forget you. You're not going to listen to me anyway. We have to remember something. There's also hundreds of other people listening right now. This is not just a conversation between Jesus. And a few people who are resisting him. There is a crowd of people around him. And Jesus is using the resistance of these folks here, these pharisees here, to say. I'm going to use this as a teaching moment for everybody else here. These others might actually have some of the questions that these pharisees do. And so I'm going to reply and have a conversation with these pharisees. But I know everyone else here is listening. They might also wonder, where did he come from?
[00:34:14] Who sent him? Why are his judgments actually true? So now we come to the conclusion of that we know this crowd is listening. We know these pharisees are talking with Jesus. Jesus brings about. It's listed on your outline as a closing statement. But really, it's a brief pause before verses 21. And following that, we'll look at next week. Look what he says. Verse 19 in your bibles. They said to him, right. This is the key question. Now, based on everything that Jesus has just said.
[00:34:42] They asked this question.
[00:34:45] Where is your what?
[00:34:48] Father? I mean, so much of his argument is dependent on my father this, my father that, my father this. And so, a reasonable question. Then after that is. Where is this father that you're talking about? And I say, reasonable to us who haven't. Just read chapter seven.
[00:35:05] Okay? If you've read chapter seven, you would know clearly who he's talking about because Jesus is very pointed about this. But again, we see the same question coming back. Again, who are you talking about? Who is your father? Who are you? He's like, well, if you like, scroll back a few days, you would know exactly what I am talking about. So they say to him, where is your father and Jesus? I don't know the tone that he had. I know what tone I might have, but it probably wouldn't have been like the tone that Jesus had. Jesus answered him answered, you know, neither me nor my father.
[00:35:43] Now, if anyone had been listening for the last few days or even the last maybe 20 or 30 minutes of him teaching, they would know that Jesus father is God and he's claiming to be Christ. You know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. This is not the first time Jesus has said this before. And those listening on could be thinking, well, okay, that didn't answer my question. But you know, when someone asks you the same thing over and over again, do you give them the same answer over and over again? Usually you try to tweak it a little bit and then after a while you say, do you even want to hear the answer? Do you care any more about what I'm saying? But there are some listening who actually do. And so his closing statement is, you actually, I don't know if you do care. And for some listening, they did and they would have remembered, okay, we do want to know about who Jesus is and where he came from. And I remember 20 minutes ago when he said who his father was.
[00:36:47] Some think that Jesus reference here might have been, some people ask him about this, might have been referring to his earthly father.
[00:36:54] Again, most likely because of all of those listening, they would have known that's not who he's talking about. If you've listened to Jesus for any length of time, he didn't fall into the bait that they laid before him and left this powerful closing statement, you will know me for who I am if you truly know God the Father. And Jesus makes this promise earlier on, if you were to read just a few chapters prior, he says this, if you actually want to know the will of God, you're going to believe me. If you actually believe what you say, you believe, you will listen to what I have to say. What's Jesus point here? You don't actually know me. You say you know me, but you have no idea who I am. Jesus next week will see him lean into this point a little bit more and talk about his identity to the same crowd that we see today.
[00:37:45] In closing, before you close your bibles, I want to give you some kind of closing thought here and then some application questions for us to really mull over as we take ourselves back to chapter, to verse twelve. Because verse twelve is the key claim of Jesus that really we have to lean into today. What does Jesus mean when he says, I am the light of the world? What does he mean to us? What does that mean to us? Jesus says that if you follow him, if I follow him, we will not walk in darkness. Right.
[00:38:21] Jesus being the light of the world, though, does not mean that darkness is gone. Okay? So think critically about this for a moment with me. Just because Jesus says I am the light of the world does not mean the world is now void of darkness, does it? Because is Jesus the light of the world? Friends, is there still darkness in the world we live in? Yes. So just because Jesus said, I am the light of the world does not mean all of the darkness is now gone. So what then does Jesus mean? And what does that say to us? A few things. Maybe you could write these things down. One, it means this, the world has no other light.
[00:38:59] There may be false little, if you will, lights that try to pull people's attention one way or the other. But there is no other light in the world. There's no other source in which we get clarity and we get direction, we get purpose, we get vision for life and for who we are and understanding of our identity other than Jesus Christ. Secondly, it means that all the world needs Jesus as the light. Because unless people believe Jesus as the light, they will, as we all do. When you're in a dark room, you look for some source of light.
[00:39:34] And if it's not Jesus that they're trusting in, they will look somewhere else for someone else to make up a smaller source of light. Hey, would you like direction? Follow me. Hey, would you like purpose? Follow me. Hey, would you like meaning? Follow me. Would you like peace? Follow me. Would you like joy? Follow me. And Jesus says, those are all false lights. I, though, am the light of the entire world. Thirdly, it means that this world was made for this light, the light of Jesus.
[00:40:03] The creation was made for the light of Jesus. Creation was made for Jesus. Right? Scripture is clear about that. All things in the world were made to glorify and point people to him. And fourthly, and lastly, it means that through this light, the light of the world, Jesus Christ, you and I can now see the world for what it truly is.
[00:40:25] You know, this to be true as well. When there is darkness in a room, you can't really see what's out there. You might be able to feel around and go, what is that? This feels like this, but I'm not really sure. It feels good. It feels hard, it feels soft, whatever it is. But when you turn the light on, you see what it really is, don't you? There are many in the world today who see the world and say, this just doesn't feel right. I can't figure out why. Is this all there is to the world that we live in? Is there more? Is there less? This just doesn't make sense. I don't like it. And then in walks Jesus Christ. In walks the light of the world. We open the word of God, and then we say, the world makes sense now because the light of Jesus has shown over it. Does it mean the darkness is gone? No. But now I see the world for what it truly is. So we ask the question, why are there so many bad things in the world? Why is the world falling apart? Why is there pain and sin in the world? Now I know through the lens of scripture, I know through the light of Jesus why those things exist. I can answer those questions now because the light of Jesus has shone in those places. Because sin is real and sin is powerful, and the devil is real, and the devil is powerful and wants to tear apart the creation of goddess. But if you don't know Jesus, if you don't know the heart of Jesus and the work of Jesus as the light of the world, we look at that and people in your life and my life look at that and say, what's going on out there?
[00:41:58] And now you and I have the opportunity to walk into the room or into the conversation, say, let me tell you why.
[00:42:06] Because I am now looking at the world through the lens of the light of Jesus Christ. I can see where there's darkness. I understand why the darkness is there. And I know how, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to dispel darkness by inviting Jesus into those places.
[00:42:22] Three closing questions for you. If Jesus, this is very personal question, particularly for you as you listen wherever and whenever you do. Particular pointed question, not for the person next to you, but for you. If Jesus were to address a part of your life that you have not allowed, his healing, his cleansing, his revealing light to shine, what would he point out?
[00:42:50] If jesus were to step into a conversation with you and you were to say to Jesus, Jesus, what part of my life have I not let your light, your healing, your clarity, your wisdom, your truth. Speak into my life. What would jesus say?
[00:43:03] Would he speak about some brokenness or some hurt from the past? Would he speak about some lie that you're believing? Would he speak about some anger that you're holding, some resentment, some bitterness? What would he speak about in your life where there's still darkness, where you're not allowing the love, the healing, the grace, the forgiveness of Jesus to permeate into your life? Identify that, maybe write it down. Spend time with Jesus and let him heal that. Speak truth into that. Let his love permeate those parts of your heart.
[00:43:32] Secondly, Jesus says he is the light of the world. And since his spirit lives inside of you and I, we now are little lights, lowercase lights, lights in the world. Thus, when people see you, do they see something different in you? Because truly, as one who carries the light with us every time we walk into the room, it would make sense for us to be different.
[00:44:02] Do you forgive differently? Do you love differently? Do you forgive? Do you manage your household differently? Do you manage your marriage differently? Do you parent differently? Do you talk differently? Or does it look like everything else and everyone else out there? And here's the promise of Jesus. Those who follow me will not dwell in darkness. That's a promise that Jesus makes, not those who try to take on your way of life to the best of your ability and do it all yourself. I'm trying to be a good Christian. I'm trying to be a good Christian. And suddenly you become a brighter light. That's not how it works. It's, I spend time closer to the capital l, closer to the light, and closer to the light. And closer to the light. And just like Moses on the mountain, right, steps back into the dark world, and he's radiating the light, the presence of God, to a people who had not experienced that before. How did he do that? Not by sitting at the bottom of the mountain and trying really hard, but by getting away, getting alone, and spending time with the creator of the universe. Thirdly, there is great danger in ignoring the words of Jesus.
[00:45:06] What words of Jesus do you know are true, but might not be practicing? Pick one. Think of one. Let Jesus lay one of those on your heart. Ask the question why? And explore that with the Lord and ask him to change you. Ask him to grow you, to point you and pull you towards him.
[00:45:27] As we step, you and I step out into the world. Remember that. Look at the world as a place that needs the capital l, the light of the world. And Jesus has sent you and I out as lights. In the world as people who display his power and his presence, his love and his grace, his mercy and his justice in a world that desperately needs him. Let's pray together.
[00:45:54] Oh, Lord, we come before you this morning as your children.
[00:46:00] For those of us who have trusted in you, who have desired to lean on you, because we know we need help. We come before you today as forgived children under the cross.
[00:46:15] We come before you today, Lord, as people who have your spirit dwelling inside of us, we just ask now, Lord, that you would illuminate parts of our heart that may still be dark. You would reveal to us areas of our life that you want us to change and to grow.
[00:46:32] Lord, thank you. That you were willing to step into a dark world to show us the way, the truth, and the life that is found in you alone.
[00:46:42] Thank you. That we're able to open your word like we have today and be reminded of who we are in you and of what the world needs, which is you. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:46:56] If you've never trusted in Jesus as your Lord and savior, you realize today I am the person sitting in darkness. My heart feels dark. It feels lost. And I know I don't like this.
[00:47:09] Jesus promises that if you step in to a relationship with him, if you say, yes, Jesus, I believe in you as the answer to the sin problem that I have. He promises that not only will his spirit step inside of you, but he will guide and direct your life. You might have been a place today where you have been resisting and resisting and resisting. Maybe you know, I've heard the gospel over and over again, and I've just pushed it away and pushed it away. I need more proof. I need more proof. Today, Jesus is calling you to do this. Surrender your heart to him. And he promises that he will never leave you and never forsake you. We're going to sing a song about Christ being the only place that we find our hope, the only one that we can rest and find true peace in. Let's stand and singhenne.
