The Light of the World
Text: John 8:12-30
I. Jesus declared he was the light of the world
A. Light represents righteousness and darkness is evil
1. God is Light - I John 1:5
2. The contrast is shown in Proverbs 4:18-19
B. Why do you suppose these are chosen?
1. Light reveals. Darkness hides. - I Thessalonians 5:4-11
2. One small amount of light can be seen from afar - Matthew 5:14-16
C. Is light the absences of darkness or is darkness the absence of light?
1. You can add light to a room, but to increase darkness you have to take away light.
2. Evil then is the absence of righteousness
D. So what was Jesus declaring?
1. He was the one who reveals the truth of God
II. The Jews rejected Jesus’ statement because it lacked proof
A. It is only your claim, they said, therefore it is not true.
B. Jesus pointed out that truth exists outside the one who is making the claim.
1. Jesus’ statement cannot be declared as false simply because it came from one person.
2. In addition, Jesus stated he had greater knowledge than they. How can the person who knows less about a subject judge something as right or wrong?
C. The problem is that their judgment is only based on the physical (the flesh)
1. Jesus has not pronounced judgment. This is not to say he would never make judgment. He is simply saying that he wasn’t going around calling others liars.
2. If Jesus did make judgments, it would be accurate because both he and the Father would be making the decision.
III. The witnesses to Jesus
A. The Old Law required two or more agreeing witnesses to establish truth.
B. The first witness is Jesus’ own statement
C. The second witness is God’s own statement - Matthew 3:17
1. The Jews challenged this witness.
a. They still thought in the physical world
b. They wanted Jesus to present his Father so they could interrogate him.
2. Jesus pointed out that they don’t recognize the Father and therefore cannot recognize the Father’s son.
3. This upset the Jews, but no one tried to arrest Jesus or harm him. God was intervening.
IV. Jesus foretells is death
A. He stated he was going where these people could not come.
1. They would look, but they would not find him
2. They would die in their sins and would not be able to go to where Jesus will be.
B. The Jews understood he was talking about death, but they thought Jesus was planning to commit suicide.
C. Jesus told them again they are looking at things from the wrong angle
1. They were of the world (i.e. wicked, in sin)
2. Jesus was from God
D. The only way out of their sins was to believe on Jesus.
1. Not just a verbal acknowledgment, but a belief that drives one to obey their recognized Lord.
E. This confuses the people, “Who are you?”, they ask.
1. Jesus points out that he has been consistently telling them, but they refused to see.
2. He was things still to say and decisions to make, but the message he brings is from God and is the truth.
F. The ultimate proof will be when they kill Jesus on the cross
1. Then they will realize that Jesus was being obedient to God - Hebrews 5:8
2. Jesus’ purpose is to please the Father, as all of us should.
V. What is interesting that as confused as many Jews were over Jesus’ statement, many came to believe on him.
