Blinded by the Light - Part A

Christ claims something about himself in verse 12. I am the light of the world.

We want to consider that. Then he claims something for those who follow him. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

Welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. Growing up, we're told to never look directly at the sun, but have you ever wondered why that is? Well, think of it this way. Your eye has a lens, and just like you can focus on the sun's rays with a magnifying lens, your eye does the same. Now I'm sure you've seen what happens when a magnifying glass focuses the sun's rays, so imagine that happening to the rods and cones which helps you see at the back of your eyeball.

Focus on the sun too long and they can get fried. Well, today in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, Skip Heitzig talks about how some people were blinded by a different kind of sunlight and why that didn't need to be the case. But first, let's see what's going on at the Connect with Skip Resource Center this month. America is reaping the whirlwind of bad fruit from a generation of young men who lack the influence of a father. We desperately need to educate men of all ages and stages of life to begin to turn this destructive social trend.

Listen to Skip Heitzig. Where's dad? That's a crucial question in our world today. When fathers abandon their children, a series of dominoes begin to fall with devastating results. We see young men rampaging through streets destroyed by drugs, then continuing the vicious cycle by creating fatherless homes. We need to educate boys and men of all ages about how dads make a difference. And that's the theme of our current resource package that includes my full hour video documentary called Where's Dad, plus seven of my most important messages to men.

I hope you'll order your copy now. Dads Make a Difference. That's the title of a critical issues package you can order now. The Dads Make a Difference package includes seven of Skip's most important messages to men and the full hour video documentary Where's Dad, hosted by Skip. I think it's pretty easy to see from just a reading through of scripture that it is dad's responsibility to set the moral, spiritual tone in the home.

Remember it was Joshua who said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Get this package in either digital download or CD and DVD when you support Connect with Skip with your gift of $50 or more. You'll be joining us as we take Skip's Bible teachings into more major cities.

Request the Dads Make a Difference package online at connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888. We continue today in John chapter 8. So if you'll turn there in your Bibles, we'll join Skip Heideck as he begins by asking a few questions. How many evolutionists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer, just one, but it will take millions of years. Question, how many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer, only one, but the bulb has really got to want to change. Question, how many real men does it take to change a light bulb? Answer, none.

Real men aren't afraid of the dark. Question, how many real women does it take to change a light bulb? Answer, none.

A real woman will have plenty of real men around to do it. Question, how many jugglers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer, one, but it takes at least three bulbs. Question, how many football players does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer, the entire team, and they all get a semester's credit for it. How many board meetings does it take to get a light bulb changed? Answer, this topic was resumed from last week's discussion, but it's incomplete pending resolution of some action items.

It will continue next week. Answer, how many Floridians does it take to change a light bulb? Answer, we don't know for sure, they're still counting.

Come on, it's only been 10 years since that election, you should realize what that's about. We come in John chapter 8 to the second significant I am statement made by Jesus in the Gospel of John. There are seven. The first one is I am the bread of life, that was chapter 6.

This is the second one, I am the light of the world. We in New Mexico understand that perhaps better than some because we have 310 days of abundant sunshine. We have a lot of light and that's a good thing because our chilis really need that sunshine.

We want to protect them babies, right? But over in the Pacific Northwest there is a phenomenon called light deprivation. It's an area where there's a lot of clouds and not so much sunshine. I've been in areas of the world where they monitor the sunshine by number of hours per year. That'd be pretty dreary to live that way. But with light deprivation, a person gets moody, there are mood swings and even depression.

There's even a scientific name for that, it's called seasonal affective disorder or the initials S-A-D, commonly called simply SAD, the SAD syndrome. And people that have that will bring light panels into their home during times of no sunlight and that kind of light from the lamp equals they try to match the Kelvin temperature of sunlight so that a person can make up for it. And what they have discovered in all of this is that we physically and emotionally need light. Our bodies, our minds require light.

That is why when they wanted to torture prisoners years ago they put them in dark dungeons. Man cannot thrive or even survive without light. I'm using that of course to segue to a spiritual truth. People can't thrive or survive spiritually without sunlight, S-O-N, light. The light of God's son, Jesus Christ. But sunshine can be intimidating, light can be intimidating. Light can be assaulting when you wake up in the morning and you first turn on that bathroom light or you open the curtain or somebody does it for you when you're not expecting and you go, oh, turn that off.

And then you turn that off. Your eyes are saying we prefer darkness rather than light because you've grown accustomed to that. The people in John chapter 8 are blinded by the light. It's the name of this message, blinded by the light. Those in the crowd, some of them, many of the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus Christ, the light of the world comes on the scene, shows up their darkness, they want the light turned off. Well, you'll recognize the title if you're old enough. In 1973, Bruce Springsteen wrote the song Blinded by the Light.

It was made famous in 1977 by Manfred Mann. The lyrics of that song, however, speak about being blinded by the light of fame and wealth that comes with the rock and roll industry. We want to talk about the light of truth and being blinded to that light. We're going to begin in verse 12 of John chapter 8.

We'll read down to verse 20, a verse we remarked on last time. 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 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 came 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'm not alone. 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. 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. There's three groups of people in that story or I should say one individual and two groups. There's Christ himself. There are then Christ followers that he mentions in verse 12 and then there are Christ haters, the ones that confront him.

Look at it this way. Christ claims something about himself in verse 12. I am the light of the world.

We want to consider that. Then he claims something for those who follow him. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of light. But then third, we see what happens to those who deny his claims and that is the rest of the verses.

I principally want to hone in however on this verse, verse 12 this morning. Let's consider that first claim. Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world.

You should know a little bit of the background to help understand this claim. We saw last week that Jesus was in the treasury. It says that down in verse 20.

That is the court of the women. The treasury is where they had these collection boxes known as trumpets because they were in the shape of a trumpet, narrow throat on top that broadened out beautifully on the bottom and collections were taken. So there was a lot of people, a lot of traffic in that area of the temple because everyone was required to put in one half shekel of temple tags.

So these trumpets or like fancy agape boxes were there. That's where Jesus was teaching. But do you remember a couple of messages ago when we said that one of the celebrations at the feast of Tabernacles formed the background for the claim that Jesus made? Remember how we said when they poured water on the stones of the temple is when Jesus said, whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink. It was a very poignant moment and place.

In the same way, where Jesus spoke this and when Jesus spoke this, there's some background to it that will help. The feast that just ended was the feast of what? Tabernacles.

It lasted one week. That was done. The very next day, Jesus comes into the temple, goes to the court, starts teaching.

That's where he is now. They bring a woman caught in adultery. That's the setting. When that feast of Tabernacles began, the very first night, there was a ceremony called the illumination of the temple. The illumination of the temple. They put four huge candelabra in the court of the women where Jesus was. Now, if you can look over to this piano here, this is a candelabra.

It's a very small one. It's a menorah, a symbol of the state of Israel and what was in the tabernacle. But the ones that were placed in the court of the women during the feast of Tabernacles were as tall as the very walls of the temple itself.

Huge. And you see these little cups? The ones on those four candelabra? 65 gallons of oil apiece.

So imagine how immense. 65 gallon vats atop the candelabra. There were four of them.

Huge wicks that came out of them. So when those puppies were lit, everything was lit up. And according to the Mishnah, on that first night, which was the great celebration, the illumination of the temple, all of Jerusalem was reflected with the glory that they could see in the temple. It lit up everything. And the Mishnah says that the wisest, godliest, holiest, most learned men of Israel would dance through the court of the women singing psalms and listening to psalms of praise all night to the early morning. That is the place that Jesus says, I am the light of the world. It's one week after that illumination ceremony.

A question. What do you think with that illumination of the temple they were celebrating? What happened in the wilderness? What did they see in the wilderness? What did they follow in the wilderness that made them celebrate that with fire now? A pillar of fire, right? The Bible says there was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. So wherever they went, it was lit up. So here is Jesus, in effect, saying, you had one great celebration where this whole city was lit up for one night.

One night. If you follow me, however, you won't just have light for one exciting evening. I will light up your life.

I am the light of the world. Now, you'll notice that in verse 13, immediately there was hostility. The Pharisees answered and said to them, you bear witness of yourself.

Your witness is not true. You ever wonder why they were so immediately hostile to Jesus? Whatever he did, whatever he said, they were just like on his case, on his tail, especially when he says, I am the light of the world. Why would they be so hostile?

Listen carefully. They were hostile because they knew that he was making a very huge claim. The language, light, according to Jewish terminology and Jewish scripture, was a title reserved for one person alone, and that's God. So here is Jesus saying, I am the light of this world. And they were Bible nerds. They were Bible scholars.

They knew every text in the Old Testament, or many of them. And listen, here's a sampling of a few texts from the Old Testament, familiar ones. The Lord, Psalm 27, verse 1, the Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is. Isaiah 60, verse 19, the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God shall be your glory. Job 29, his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light, I will walk through darkness, speaking of God in heaven.

Micah, chapter 7, verse 8, when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be light to me. So when he says, I am the light of the world, like all of his other claims, they understood this guy is claiming not just to be a guy, he's claiming to be our God. Now, if there's one thing I hope by now you have understood about the Gospel of John is that is his theme. Over and over and over and over and over and chapter after chapter after chapter, John wants you to know that this guy, Jesus, always claimed to be God in a body, and that's why he gets into trouble. They celebrated a week before the illumination of the temple, the Shekinah glory of God in the wilderness. Here's Jesus saying, that light that guided you in the desert and protected you and directed you, that's me.

I am the light of the world. Now, for those of us who are Christians, we're not surprised that he would make this claim because, if you remember, as soon as Jesus was born, it was predicted, even before he was born. But at his birth, significantly so, they brought Jesus a little baby to be dedicated in the temple. And Simeon, remember that old guy who took that little infant and raised that baby up and looked up into heaven, uttered a beautiful prayer and a prophecy, and he said in Luke chapter 1, because of God's tender mercy, the light from heaven is about to break upon us and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide us in the path of peace.

What an astonishing claim, Christ. If you look at the second part of verse 12, there's a shift that takes place. He turns from claiming something about himself to now claiming something about those who follow him.

He said, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. Picture the scene. The Pharisees had just been there. They had stones in their hands, ready to throw them at that woman caught in adultery. Well, they dropped those stones. They fled the scene. Jesus was left alone to deal in mercy with that woman caught in adultery.

But that crowd was still there. And now Jesus is addressing them in verse 12. He said to them, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.

That crowd had just seen a group of men with rocks in their hands with darkened hearts ready to kill that woman. It's as if Jesus is saying, you don't have to live that way. You don't have to live with that kind of darkness. If you follow me, if you follow me, you will walk in light. You will have the light of life. And because most of us here this morning are followers of Christ, I want to spend really the book of this message applying that second part of verse 12. That phrase, that second part of verse 12 says something to us about our internal condition. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

In a word, confidence. If you follow Jesus Christ, you should have confidence in your life where you're walking. Think back to the wilderness. As long as that cloud of protection by day and that fire was with them by night, they didn't have to worry about where they were going.

They would just follow, right? And at night, no matter how dark it was out in the desert, that pillar of fire lit up everything. They didn't have to have any kind of fear. They didn't have to stumble around.

They were never confused. And following Jesus Christ is like following that pillar. The way is lit up. Your life makes sense. You have the light of life. You have the spark of life. You have the joy of life. The joy of life.

The lift in your step. I was watching the other night on television a little segment on health care and health trends in America. And one of the moderators made the point that Europeans have a longer lifespan than Americans.

And they were trying to show that the health care here needs to be like their health care, et cetera. And they're talking about life expectancy. And so as I'm listening to this, I'm thinking, yeah, but it's one thing to live longer. It's quite another thing to live better.

You see, medical science can add years to your life. But only Jesus Christ can add life to your years. You'll have the light of life. Just like a flower won't blossom without sunlight, your life will never be what it ought to be without the light of Christ.

In fact, people without Christ are very disoriented and very confused and very apt to follow so many other things, anything almost, to navigate this life, and at the end often become very, very, very pessimistic. I have read so many quotes, and I have heard those quotes by some famous people who've reached their goals, become famous, had lots of money, and at the end go, I'm empty. One of the most depressing quotes I ever read, I brought with me this morning, aren't I? A nice guy.

Dr. Albert Zent-Georgi was awarded the Nobel Prize, the Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology. He was asked the question, if you were 20 years old again, what would you do? Listen to how low his answer gets.

He said, if I were 20 years old today, I would share with my classmates the rejection of the world as it is. Is there any point in studying and work? Fornication, at least that is something good. What else is there to do? Fornicate and take drugs against this terrible strain of idiots who govern the world. Happy guy.

Would you go to him for counseling? Now, why so fatalistic? Well, it's simple. Without the light of life, the world is disorienting, depressing, and senseless. It's sort of like trying to navigate through an obstacle course with a blindfold. We need light for life to thrive. And the sad thing is, is when Jesus came into the world, He brought the very light we most desperately needed to shine in the darkness of our souls.

And yet some found it too blinding and therefore chose to reject it and live in darkness. Is there anything we can do about that? Well, we'll continue with our study next time and see if we can find that out. And if you'd like to get a copy of today's teaching, it's available on CD for just $4 plus shipping when you call us at 1-800-922-1888. Or you can always write us at P.O.

Box 95707, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87199. Either way, we look forward to hearing from you soon. We'll talk more about why some are blinded by the light of Christ and why it's still important for us to shine it as brightly as we can. Next time here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection, connection. Connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.