130901 The Light of the World

The gospel of John is different from the other three gospels.  Matthew, Mark and Luke are very similar to one another and seem to present a chronological life of Christ.  John’s gospel was written last, near the end of the first century.  The other three were written a relatively few years after the events depicted.  I can imagine John, in the later years of his life, thinking about the marvelous events he had lived through during the days of Jesus’ life.  Rather than beginning at the birth of Jesus, or the beginning of his ministry, the Holy Spirit led John to begin writing “In the beginning” meaning the beginning of everything.

John tells us that Jesus is the creator of the universe and the light of the world. He also has one of the strongest statements about the divinity of Jesus Christ. In verse one, John tells us that, “the Word was God”. In the original language (Greek) the word order is different. It says, “God was the Word”. Now let’s read our text for today:

John 1:9-18,  The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

“The true light, which gives light to everyone,” does not mean that everyone is saved. It does mean that everyone has been exposed, somehow, to the light and are consequently guilty of rejecting the light. It is no excuse that mankind lives in…

The darkness.

Philip P. Bliss wrote a hymn more than one hundred years ago the first verse goes like this…

The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin; the light of the world is Jesus! Like sunshine at noon day, his glory shone in, the light of the world is Jesus!

Come to the light, ‘tis shining for thee; sweetly the light has dawned upon me; once I was blind, but now I can see; the light of the world is Jesus.

Darkness ruled when Jesus was arrested. Judas led the gang of thugs to the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives where he knew Jesus would be. He knew this was where Jesus went to pray. In fact, you can go to the Mount of Olives today and see the same olive trees that were there when Jesus was.

Immediately his disciples began to resist. In fact, Peter cut off the ear of one of the gang! Jesus quickly stopped that, put the ear back on, and then he said, Luke 22:53,  When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

Several times the authorities had tried to take Jesus captive. At the beginning of his ministry the people of Nazareth took him out to the brow of the hill to throw him off of the cliff. Luke’s account, which probably came from Mary, says that he passed through their midst and went on his way. Later, he would tell a story about the wicked tenants who refused to recognize the owner of the vineyard or his son. Recognizing that he told the story against them, the Pharisees wanted to take him but they were afraid of the crowd.

Later Jesus recognized the time had come for his departure. He told his disciples at least three times that he would be turned over to the Gentiles and be crucified. Then he said that on the third day he would rise again.

In Matthew’s account of this event Jesus said that he could’ve asked the Father who would immediately send more than twelve legions of angels to his defense. He could not do that because he came into the world to defeat death by dying and coming back to life.

Jesus recognized the authority of the Prince of darkness in the garden of Gethsemane. It is true today that…

The moral world we live in is in darkness. Let’s see what Paul wrote to the Ephesians in, Ephesians 6:12,  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Our struggle is not against people. That is sometimes hard to remember. It certainly looks — and certainly feels — as though people are the problem. But they’re not and we must remember that. Our struggle is against the rulers and authorities — the spiritual forces of evil in this present darkness.

The very first thing that God did after the creation of the universe was to call light into being. Adam and Eve came into a world of light. A world that had no spiritual darkness. For months, and perhaps years, the two of them live in glorious fellowship with the living God! Then sin came into the world in the form of a serpent with an accusation against God. Adam and Eve fell into his trap and spiritual darkness covered the earth.

Death ruled the world for generations. This sin of Adam was passed down from age to age. The Bible tells us that we are born in sin. But remember we are not alone in our struggle against the evil forces of darkness. In fact…

Christians are delivered. Look at Paul’s prayer for the Colossians found in: Colossians 1:11-14, May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We need to pray this prayer for each other today. We need to be strengthened with all power for all endurance and patience with joy. We need to give thanks to the Father because he has qualified us to have a share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Please remember that we are not qualified, in ourselves, in any way to share in the light. The Bible describes mankind as being darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God. In fact, before we come to Christ, we are described as being dead in trespasses and sins. I suppose that nothing is darker than dead.

The Father has qualified us to share in the…

The light. The Bible is filled with examples of the goodness of light. James describes God as the Father of lights. John, in his first little letter, tells us that…
God is light. Listen while I read, 1 John 1:5, This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

In the beginning of creation God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light! Of course there was light! God himself is light! Wherever he is seen in his glory he is light. When Paul met Jesus on the Damascus Road he was blinded by the light from heaven. Toward the end of the book of Revelation, heaven is described as being lighted by God no longer have need of sun or moon. God is light, and being part of the Godhead…

Jesus is light. The officers of the chief priests and Pharisees were sent to arrest Jesus and bring him back to the Council. They had returned without him! When they were questioned as to why they had not brought him back, they replied, “No one ever spoke like this man!” This angered the opponents of Jesus causing Nicodemus to ask why they were trying to condemn Jesus without a hearing.

The next time Jesus spoke to the Pharisees as a group is recorded in, John 8:12, 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.”

This only made them even angrier but his time had not come yet to be arrested.

God is light, Jesus is light and…

Christians are light. In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus was speaking to his disciples when he said, Matthew 5:14-16, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus did not say, “You should be the light of the world.” He said, “You are the light of the world.” You see, when a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit comes to live in them. I compare the Spirit to light because of the other things said about him. We’re instructed not to quench the Spirit. Quench is a term used for extinguishing a flame and putting out its light.

We have a responsibility to let our light shine before others. There’s a poem the goes with the familiar chorus. It goes like this:

There’s a little flame inside us all; Some shine bright, some shine small,
The rains will come and the waters rise; But don’t you ever lose your light,
In this life you will know Love and pain, joy and sorrow,
So when it hurts, when times get hard, Don’t forget whose child you are.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

let it shine, let it shine, let it shine! ^{(Addison Road)}

Take note of the fact that you don’t “make” a light shine. However, you do “let”

a light shine by not hiding. Get out of the way! The light will take care of itself! We should cultivate the light letting it shine wherever we are because someday we’re going to be in heaven and…

Heaven is light. During his praise and worship the psalmist had a vision of God and it looked like this! Psalm 104:1-2, Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, ²covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.

What the psalmist saw was a God lifted up and clothed in splendor and majesty. He saw God covered in light.

In the year that King Uzziah died Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and his robe filled the temple. I believe that robe was a garment of light.

Paul had the same vision he described in, 1 Timothy 6:15b-16, he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Paul saw the King of kings and Lord of lords dwelling in unapproachable light.

In our human condition, living in the world of darkness, the light is unapproachable. But the time is coming when we will live in that light and rejoice in it.

Our God is light; the Lord Jesus is light; Christians are light; and heaven is light!

Darkness cannot win. Watching the news this day it would appear that the darkness is winning. That appearance is caused because…

People love darkness. Look at the words of Jesus found in, John 3:19-20, And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

It’s not a matter of people being in darkness and therefore unable to come to God. The condemnation is that the light has come. And John has already told us that the true light lights everyone. Again, this does not say that everyone is saved. This says that everyone is guilty who does not come to the light because they have been exposed to the light and they have turned away.

Mankind is dead in trespasses and sins but the light has shined in darkness and most people have loved the darkness rather than light.

As Isaiah said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” All have gone away even though the Lord has made arrangements for our iniquity. One reason mankind remains in darkness is that…

Satan seeks to keep them in darkness. Listen while I read, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The majority of mankind do not believe because they love the darkness and lust after it. Just look around you can see! The world we live in is increasingly dark. Not only that, the god of this world, Satan — or the devil, has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.

Take the time to read Romans 1:18-32. You will see that they knew enough about God to turn to him. But they did not honor him as God instead they became futile in their thinking. Three times in that passage you will find the words, “God gave them up”, because they turned away from the light — loving the darkness.

Please Lord, do not give me up to what I would be without you.

Praise the Lord!

Jesus overcomes him. Let’s read on, 2 Corinthians 4:5-6, For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! While the god of this world has sought to blind our minds and keep us in darkness the Ruler of the universe has come to let the light shine out of darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus’ first victory over Satan, as a man, was in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. After fasting for forty days Satan came and tempted Jesus. In every temptation our Lord quoted Scripture to defeat the enemy. One of the reasons why we should know Scripture is so we can use it as an offensive weapon on our enemy.

Jesus had victory over Satan hanging on the cross. There he said to the thief hanging beside him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” But the real victory came inside a garden tomb three days later.

Some of the disciples went to the tomb to finish preparing Jesus body for burial. They did not believe what he had said to them at least three times during his ministry. They did not find the body of Jesus. Instead they found the living Lord risen from the dead in a resurrection body having achieved final victory over death and hell.

The light had shined in darkness and the darkness had not overcome it. Praise be to God he has called us out of darkness into the Kingdom of Light and someday we will be all together in the light of heaven if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

A lot of things are explained by the fact that the world lives in darkness. When Jesus was born, the light came into the world. Satan did everything possible to stop the light from coming and now he does everything possible to keep the light of the glorious gospel from shining in this world. First of all, are you walking in the light? It is very important that you be certain that you are in the light. Secondly, are you doing anything about spreading the light where you live? You know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin is death! But thanks be to God he has given us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ! Everybody needs to know who Jesus is.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.