Jesus, the Light of the World

Jesus says, I am the light of the world.

Do you hear Him? I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. What a tremendous statement that Jesus not only gives light, He does that.

The statement is stronger than that. He is saying, I am the light of the world. And that the person who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. And at Christmas, we're celebrating that our Lord Jesus Christ comes into this world as the light of the world. All of us rejoice in that, don't we? But here's my question. Do you prefer the light or the darkness?

All of us would say we prefer the light, but isn't it true that we sometimes go into the darkness? The story is told of the desert nomad living in a tent in the desert, and he wakes up in the middle of the night, and he's very hungry. He lights a candle, and he begins eating dates. He takes one date, and he finds from the bowl of dates, he takes one, and he finds that there's a worm in the date. He throws it away. He takes another date, and he finds there's a worm in the date. He looks at the worm.

He looks at the dates that he's thrown away, and then he puts out the candle and quickly eats the rest of the dates as quickly as he could. Do you sometimes do that? Rather than facing the reality of worms in the dark, he chooses the dark.

Have you ever found yourself eating worms in the dark? Going to the dark side, doing things secretly, doing things in the dark, doing things that you know are wrong, but you keep doing them? You say you want to live in a light, but you keep returning to the dark. Let's learn about it by the man who knew darkness. If you have your Bible, open it first of all to John chapter 8, and we're going to read the verse I quoted, the famous verse, John 8 verse 12, and then we'll read a few verses from chapter 9. Fourth Gospel, John's Gospel, chapter 8 verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world, not just Israel, but I'm the light of the world. Whoever, notice that, it's not powerful, whoever, include yourself, that's you, that's me, whoever follows me shall not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Chapter 9. Verse 1, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sent this man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.

As long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent.

So he went and washed and came back seeing. Here we're introduced to a man who was born blind. He is blind from birth, verse 1 says.

It's one thing, isn't it, to lose one's eyesight in old age, quite another thing never to have seen at all. Can you imagine being blind from birth, never seeing your family, never seeing the blue sky, never seeing green grass, never seeing a sunrise or a sunset, never seeing a rose, never seeing a brightly colored bird living in total darkness, such as this man. He's lived in total darkness all of his life. He stumbles through life depending on others to help him, depending on others to provide for him.

We read in verse 8 that because of his blindness, he was reduced to begging. A man all of his life living in darkness. There is something worse than physical darkness, and that is to live all of your life and indeed all of eternity in spiritual darkness. We often, we as human beings, including ourselves here this morning, we often choose the darkness. Isn't that true? Do you ever wonder in our world why there's so much sadness, tears, failure, addictions, abuse, problems, arguments, divorce, betrayals, destructions, violence, crime, murder, and grief in our world? Do you ever wonder? How is that?

Doesn't seem to get any better with our civilization, does it? What's the answer? Spiritual blindness. Paul writes, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. Blind to spiritual realities. Blind to the truth. Blind as it were to the worms in the dark, which we continue to eat. Blind to the true light. Sometimes we get so used to the dark that we think it's normal.

Isn't that right? And we stumble around in the darkness, falling and injuring ourselves, and often as we're in the dark, hurting other people, even people that we love, and they're close to us, making a mess of our life. Looking down into the darkness rather than looking up to Jesus who is the light of the world. John tells us in his magnificent prologue in John 1 verse 9 that Jesus is the true light, says John, which gives light to everyone. The light is there. The problem is that we often choose the darkness. How are you responding to the light?

This past year, the light has shone, the light of Jesus Christ, the light of the gospel, the light of God who is light. See, faced with the light, have you noticed that sometimes we close our eyes to it? We don't want to. We prefer the dark.

We resist it. We want to keep on eating our worms in the dark, and we resist the light which shines into our life. John Chrysostom, the famous preacher of old said, He said, men with sore eyes, who find the light painful, while the darkness which permits them to see nothing is restful and agreeable.

Think of that. The darkness isn't so bad after all. We get comfortable with the dark. And Jesus says in John 3 verse 19 that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

We often prefer the dark to the light. And light as it shines causes some eyes to open and it blinds other eyes. If you're in John 9, go over to verse 39 for something very interesting. Jesus is in dialogue with the Pharisees. The Pharisees are very upset that Jesus has given sight to a blind man and are interrogating the man, if you know the context of John 9. And notice what Jesus says here in verse 39, For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. One of these, as it were, riddles, paradoxes that Jesus tells.

It makes us think that those who do not see may see, and those who see, like the Pharisees, they think they see, but as they are exposed to the light of Jesus Christ, they resist it and so continue in their blindness. Are you living in the dark? Or are you living in the light?

How would you have described your life over 2021? I heard a man say to his son, a teenage son, and I wonder, men, how many of you could say this? If you're married and you have children, could you say this to your son or your daughter, a teenage son or daughter? Could you say this to them? A man said this to his son. Son, you can watch what I watch. You can go where I go. You can read what I read.

You can look on your iPhone and see all that I see. That's a man, isn't it, who's living in the light. A man not living with some darkness, hiding some things. Men, could you say that?

Suppose you've got a son, daughter, 15, 16, 17. That your life, as it were, is an open book. That you're living in the light rather than living in the shadows. Today, the call of Jesus comes to all of us. As we're thinking of some of the titles and designations given to our Lord Jesus Christ as the King, as the Messiah, as Immanuel, as the Savior, now the title is this, The Light of the World. I want you to hear the call of Jesus today.

Do you hear Him? He's a living Christ. His Word is eternal. I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me shall not live in the dark, but will have the light of life. I want you to follow Jesus and live an extraordinary life in the light. You say, John, that would be wonderful.

So it is. First of all, experience the light. I want you to experience the light. The Bible says that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. In Jesus, who is God incarnate, in Jesus the light of heaven has come to earth. And the light, says John, shines in the darkness. And the light reveals how we really are. That light shines into our hearts, into the inner recesses of our being, revealing our selfishness, revealing our rebellion, revealing our proud hearts, revealing our greed and our lust, and all that is involved in our human existence. You see, this light, God's light, the light of Jesus, has no shifting shadows. This light never flatters. Someone comes to us and says they messed up, and we try to say, they say, oh, it didn't really matter.

That's OK. No, it's not OK. This light never flatters. This light always is truthful, and it shines into your heart and mine. This is an amazing story in John 9. Here is a man, blind from birth. Now, there is no question whether or not Jesus has the power to heal the man and give him sight. Jesus is God, and with one spoken word, he can give that man his sight. After all, he's the one who in the beginning said, let there be light, and there was light. No question about the power of Jesus to heal this man. The question is, is the man going to obey?

Is the man going to respond? Did you notice what Jesus said in verse 7? Go wash in the pool of Siloam.

Some of you have been to Israel, and we go, we go to the pool of Siloam, and think of the story. Now, Jesus does something very unusual. You say, it's a bit gross, isn't it? He takes some mud, and he spits on it, and he puts it on the eyes of the man and says to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

Strange, isn't it, to do that? Imagine if the man had argued with Jesus. This is a poor way. This is a little disrespectful to me. You're making mud, and you're putting it on my eyes, and then you're telling me to go and wash it off.

Why did you put it on in the first place? But the man doesn't do that. The man obeys Jesus. One old Puritan writer says he obeyed Jesus blindly. That's faith, isn't it? He's in the dark, and he's going to step out into the light. But he's going to do so on the terms of Jesus, and before he's going to experience the light, there has got to be the obedience of faith. There's got to be the step of faith from darkness into light. Sometimes people say, well, you know, faith is stepping into the darkness.

No, it's not. Faith in Christ is stepping into the light. You're stepping out of your darkness into the light, and this is illustrated brilliantly in this story that Jesus tells this man, now you go and wash in the pool of Siloam.

And we read at the end of verse 7, so he went and washed and came back seeing. Marvelous, isn't it? Have you ever stepped out into the light from your darkness this past year?

Could you think of some examples? That step of faith. Perhaps it's an initial step of faith, entrusting Christ as your Savior. Stepping from your sin, we thought of it on Christmas Eve. Repenting from your sin and embracing Christ. Trusting Christ as your Savior. Or perhaps, now that you are a follower of Jesus, it's the step of faith. A few months ago, Gudnir reminded me, and I needed to be reminded.

She said, it is step by step. When life is difficult, and sometimes you feel you can't put one foot in front of another, what is the call of the Gospel? And it seems there is darkness, and there seems to be confusion, and it seems sometimes you don't really want to go on. Life seems so difficult.

You ever been there? Have you ever felt life is so difficult that you wonder, how am I going to get through this? This is what the Christian does. It's one step. One step from your darkness, your confusion, your grief, your heartache, whatever it is, one step at a time with Jesus. I am to follow Him. Here is the promise of the Gospel, that if I follow Jesus Christ, I will not walk in darkness, but I'll have the light of life.

I want that. One step at a time. If you're like me, you want all of your life to be mapped out by the Lord, so you know exactly where you're going and the circumstances that will go, that will happen.

That is usually not the case. He calls us to obey. And it's often one step. A step of faith. And with Jesus is always, always a step into the light. When the Holy Spirit works in your soul, when you hear the Word of Jesus, as it were, go wash. Obey Christ immediately.

Do you hear me? Obey Christ. Did you hear Jesus speak to you this past year in His Word? Perhaps it was, go and get baptized, and you've never done that. Perhaps it was to trust Christ, you've never done that.

Perhaps it was to serve Him in some way, and you've never done it. Perhaps it was to take that one step of faith, and you so far have not obeyed. Will you take that step of faith?

You know what it is. You say it's hard, you say it's difficult. No, it's not that difficult. It's much more difficult for you if you stay in your darkness, because the light of Jesus Christ dispels our darkness. On the cross, He takes all of the darkness over sin. He arises from the dead. He offers us the living Christ, forgiveness of sins, and He offers us, in this promise in John 8, verse 12, He promises us a life in the light. Now that doesn't mean to say life is always easy, does it?

But it's always in the light. And this man, who obeyed Jesus, had a growing experience of who Jesus was. I'm saying to you, experience the light.

Do you know this? Verse 11, how He refers to Jesus. Verse 11, He answered, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash. His first reference to Jesus is the man called Jesus.

Verse 17, then He refers to Jesus, so they again said to the blind man, what do you say about Him since He opened your eyes? He said to them, He is a prophet. First of all, He refers to Jesus as the man Jesus. Secondly, He refers to Him as a prophet. And then verse 33, as they examined Him, He says, if this man were not from God, He's a man. His name is Jesus. He's a prophet.

He's from God. And then finally, in verse 38, He said, Lord, I believe and He worshipped Him. A man called Jesus, a prophet, someone from God, now He's the Lord, I believe and I worship Him.

What's the point? As you follow Jesus Christ, you have a growing and wonderful deepening of your faith and a deeper and deeper understanding of the wonder of our Lord Jesus Christ. To those who respond and take that step of faith and experience the light, God reveals more light. He tells me, John, you take this step. I take that step into the light. He reveals another step.

And there it is. To those who respond, more light is given. To those who don't respond, they stay in the darkness. Have you experienced that in your Christian life, brother, sister? Proverbs 4 verse 18, the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that grows brighter and brighter to the full day.

That's it. The wonder of following Jesus Christ. To experience an ever-increasing light as I follow my Lord Jesus Christ in the ups and downs of life. First, experience the light. Secondly, follow the light. What guided the children of Israel through the wilderness? GPS?

No. You know what it was. God provided a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They followed the light. In the darkness, God led his people by a supernatural light. He gave a light. But now, in the full revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus says, I am the light. Not just that I'm giving a light, I am the light.

And He is our guide. In the darkness, we have secrets, we have habits, we have lifestyles that we don't want exposed. But in the darkness, the smallest obstacle can trip us up.

That's why, if you continue your life in the darkness, more and more you make a mess of it. But Jesus says, if you follow me, you'll not walk in the darkness. Remember King David, Psalm 27 verse 1, the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear.

The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid. Jesus will never lead you into the darkness. Now, if you follow other people, even good people, they can lead you into the darkness. They can give you bad information. They can lead you to do wrong things, but my Lord Jesus Christ always, always leads me into the light.

And just as a lighthouse acts as a warning to ships, when I follow Jesus, when you follow Jesus, there are these warnings, aren't there? Don't do that. Stay away from that. You're getting off course. Stay on target. Keep your eyes on me. Is your life a bit of a mess at the moment, truth be told? You've got off course.

Off course. And you need to admit before God that your eyes have been of Jesus. You are not walking in the light. Psalm 119 verse 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Every day, the Lord Jesus, through His Word, shines on my feet, shines on your path. When you keep following Jesus Christ, you will never go into the darkness. Now, I realize the darkness is often alluring, isn't it? There's something attractive about the dark, isn't there?

It's called temptation. Our enemy beckons us. So, we follow Jesus and we're in the light. There's the allurement of the darkness beckoning us.

Come and try this. And so easily, we can get our eyes off Jesus. The light exposes the darkness. I remember when God and I first arrived in the United States, we experienced culture shock. It was very exciting, but things were very different. And we were living in Big D, Dallas, Texas, where everything is bigger. And we enjoyed it. It was fascinating. But there was one aspect of life in Dallas that Goodney never got used to. Personally, I thought it was a bit of an overreaction, but I'm a sensitive husband and I try to take care of my wife and she has no idea what I'm going to say. It's OK, dear.

I love you. She didn't like cockroaches. We had never seen cockroaches. You don't get cockroaches in the Faroe Islands, it's far too cold. I mean, and you don't get cockroaches in Scotland. The only cockroach I had ever seen before going to the United States was in our biology class. I had to bisect or dissect a cockroach, which turned out just to be a massive, just a, like, wax.

I mean, a total mess of it. That was a cockroach. So, we go to Dallas and there are cockroaches.

They're really harmless, aren't they? I mean, I'm not sure why we're afraid of cockroaches. We go into our apartment and you put on the light and there's the cockroaches. And very quickly, they're moving to their dirty little halls. The light exposes the cockroaches. The cockroaches love the darkness. The light comes and it exposes their evil deeds, and they disappear.

Is that what it is? With your life, you need the Word of God. The light of Jesus shining into your life. That's why every day you need to be in this book. That's why at Calvary, in our worship, in our preaching, in our teaching, it is biblically centered. It's not just some inspirational little storytelling. It's focused on the Word of God.

Why? Because we need to be exposed to the light, don't we? We get off track. We get in the darkness and the light shines and tells me, John, get back on track. I'm asking you today to follow Jesus. First, to experience the light.

Secondly, to follow Jesus. He always leads you into the light and allow His light through His Spirit and His Word to shine into your heart. David says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and see if there's any wicked way in me. Lead me in the ways of righteousness.

End of Psalm 139. Search me, O God, through the Word that we will always be living in the light. The darkness can be alluring. It can be fun.

It can make you very comfortable, but it ultimately is destructive and it will suck you down and ultimately you'll destroy your life and often destroy the lives of those around you. Follow the light. Follow Jesus.

Finally, be a witness to the light. It's interesting when the disciples meet this man who's born blind, they enter into a theological discussion. I mean, how is it this man's blind? Was it the sin of the parents or was it his sin? The disciples see a direct correlation between physical sickness and spiritual sickness, sin. But, I mean, if a man was born blind, how could the blindness be caused by his own sin? That didn't make sense.

So, how was this? When the disciples see a blind man, there's an opportunity for them to enter into theological debate about suffering. When Jesus sees a blind man, He brings healing.

He wants the glory of God, verse 3, to be displayed through this man. Will you be a witness to the light? In our world, will you tell others about the light? We have a program led by one of our pastors called Be a Light.

Be a light in your neighborhood. You've received the light. You're experiencing the light. You're following Jesus.

Now, we are to shine. We're to tell others about Jesus. Be a light. The religious leaders specialized in religious ritualism, but in so doing, they stayed in the dark. Here are the Pharisees, and the scribes, and the elders, and they've got religion, and they've got their Bibles, and they've got the rules and the regulations, but they stay in the dark.

They resist the light. I've found over the years the most difficult people to explain the gospel to are religious people. Give me an outright sinner. Even give me an atheist to speak to.

But when we have religion, oh, we feel we're all right. I remember going door to door in Scotland on a mission, and people telling me, oh, I'm a member of the Church of Scotland. I was baptized.

Begging the question, doesn't it? But do you know Jesus? Are you following the light?

Have you been saved by the grace of God? Don't resist the light. People come to Calvary Church, and sometimes they don't come back.

Why? Because they find the preaching of this word too strong. They hide themselves. Instead of dealing with it, they turn from it. Light obeyed results in increased light. Light refused results in increased darkness. When the light of Scripture, when the light of Jesus shines, when God speaks to you, obey Him. Take that step of faith. If you refuse it, you go more and more into the darkness. And this man who received his light admitted that he couldn't answer all of their theological questions.

I love it. He says in verse 25 regarding Jesus, whether he's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. The Pharisees are trying to argue with him. And the man saying, look, I can't answer all your questions about this man. This man called Jesus, he's a prophet. He's from God. Now I understand he's Lord.

I'm going to worship him. I don't understand all of this, but one thing I do know, once I was blind, and now I see. That's the compelling argument of a life transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.

Is your life transformed by the power of Jesus Christ? Do you tell people about it? Do people see in your life something of this light? No, you don't have all of the answers.

None of us do. Life is difficult. There are mysteries in life.

There's mysteries about God. There's much we don't understand, but there's much that we do understand. And what we do understand is this, that the light has come and shines into our hearts. And if I respond to that light, the darkness of my sin is forgiven, and I live a life following Jesus, the light of the world, and if I do that, I will never live in darkness.

That I do know. Let your light shine. Faced with the light, you have a choice. You can turn from it and continue in your darkness, or you can come to Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Don't close the eyes of your heart to the light of the world. Don't do that.

Don't close your eyes. Have the light of Christ at the very center of your life as we enter this new year. Can you make this commitment that whatever the new year holds, whether it's the best of your life or the worst of your life, this, with God's help, I will do. I will follow Jesus Christ.

He's my light and my salvation. It is only to the extent, please hear this, it's only to the extent that you follow the light that you will fulfill God's purposes for you. Don't you do God's will in 2022?

I do. I want us to do God's will at Calvary Church 2022. Not my will or your will. I want God's will to be done. Do you want God's will to be done in your life? Surely you do.

Here it is. To the extent that you follow the light, you will fulfill God's plan for your life. You say, I would like God to plan out my life. He's done that. But I'd like Him to tell me about that.

I would like to know the blueprint. I'd like to know where I'm going to go. I'd like to know where He would lead me.

So would I. But usually He doesn't. Sometimes He does. Usually He doesn't. Usually He says to us, take that next step, bit by bit, step by step, I'm going to keep my eyes on Jesus Christ.

And Jesus commands us to let our light shine. You say, well, I'm a new Christian. You say, I'm only a boy. I'm a student at school.

I work in a very difficult environment. At work, I'm asking you to shine. We used to sing in Sunday school, this little light. I was going to start singing it, but I think I went off key right away. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. You say, a rather silly little chorus.

Yes, it was, but it got a truth. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. And no one's going to extinguish it. And Satan and the forces of hell try to extinguish that light. The wonderful truth is this, that all of the forces of darkness can never, ever extinguish the light of Jesus Christ.

It's the most powerful light in the world. And as we, as we follow Him, we have the wonderful privilege of being His light, of being a witness to the light. Is there any greater privilege than sitting down with someone and explaining the Gospel to them? Is there anything greater than following Jesus Christ?

Listen, it's a dark world. I want you to hear what Jesus is saying. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. Are you going to follow Jesus?

In God's grace, I'm going to do that, step by step. From my darkness into His light, into the wonderful unending light, because that light will lead me all through life, through death, and into His eternal presence. Father, we thank you for Jesus who comes not to condemn us, but comes to save us that that light shines throughout the world tonight. Think of Christmas with the thousands and thousands of messages and churches and schools throughout the world, preachers and parents and others telling this message of the Gospel. I pray that many, many people will come to saving faith in Jesus.

We pray for that tonight. We thank you for those who profess faith in Jesus Christ on Christmas Eve. And for those here now, Father, I pray your blessing. Give us a fresh appreciation of the light. May it shine bright in our hearts that we keep looking to our magnificent Christ, and that light and His reign will last forevermore. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen.