Jesus: Light of the World (John pt. 24)
Text: John 8:12-30
Well Church; we’ve made it to John chapter 8. And We’re actually going to jump down to verse 12, and not read verses 1 through 11 this morning. And you say, “Why are we doing that Pastor Ken?” Well I’m glad you asked that question… If you’ll look in your Bibles… it’s not going to be on the screen… it’s in your Bible. And if you’ll look back to chapter 7… in between verses 52 and 53 it should say something like, “The earliest manuscripts do not include John 7:53 through John 8:11.” If your Bible doesn’t say that, then you probably don’t have a good study Bible, and you should look into getting one. The Ligonier Study Bible and the MacArthur study Bible are both excellent.
Now for some people; I realize that when they read something like that… it blows their theological circuits. Their minds are suddenly flooded with questions. They’re like, “Wait a minute… are you saying that the story of the woman caught in adultery isn’t actually in God’s Word? And if it’s not in the original manuscripts, how did it get there? Who added it? Why did they add it? If it’s not part of God’s Word, then why is it still there?” So I want to address those questions real quick, and then get on to our text. You know… that’s one thing you guys can say… You may not have the most eloquent speaker as a pastor… the most charming and charismatic guy who’s ever stood behind a pulpit… but I don’t avoid dealing with these kinds of hard issues we occasionally find in Scripture. You know… should this passage be in the Bible or not? If it shouldn’t be… then why is it? And we don’t want to go into a full; seminary type of lecture on this, and spend all our time dealing with it… We’ve got a text to examine, but we don’t want to just ignore it and pretend it’s not an issue. Because it is and issue…
So here’s the deal with this passage… it’s not found in the earliest manuscripts of this passage in John’s Gospel. And none of the early Church Fathers, Leaders, or Commentators ever even mention this passage. In-fact; it’s not really mentioned until around 1150 AD. It was added in to a Greek translation we call the Textus Receptus in the 1400’s, and the Textus Receptus is the version that the 1611 King James version of the Bible was based on. So by all accounts… it probably shouldn’t be included in our Bible… that’s why a good study Bible will have that footnote, letting you know it wasn’t in the earliest manuscripts. And that’s why we’re jumping over it this morning.
So where did it come from? Well… it was probably an oral… traditional story, that had been passed on from generation to generation. We know that some manuscripts had this story situated somewhere in Luke (again, not originally, but later manuscripts)… so it had been around for a while… but; like I said, it probably isn’t canonical… and shouldn’t be in the Bible… that’s why we’re skipping over it.
You see; as I preach to you, the only authority I have is the authority of God’s Word. So if I stand up here and preach something that isn’t God’s Word… or if I stand up here and do not rightly preach God’s Word, there’s no authority there. And if it’s NOT His Word, then there’s no standing on the promise of God that His Word will not return void. And since all the evidence and facts point to these verses being something that was added later on. It’s best if we just jump over them, and get into what we know for certain IS the Word of God.
Now if that causes you some problems… see me after the service, and we’ll sit down and I’ll show you why we can still trust the Bible. And please don’t get hung up on that, because I don’t want you to miss what God says to us this morning.
We’re in John… chapter 8:12 – 30 (READ).
Now if you remember last time, Jesus had just said to the crowds… “Hey, you know how God provided for you back in the Exodus… How He gave you mana from heaven, and water from the Rock? I’m the God who did that. So if any man comes to Me, he will never thirst again, and if any one believes in Me, he will have rivers of living water flowing from him.” It was a claim of deity. He’s saying He’s the God who provided for them during the Exodus.
Well, in verse 12 He does it again. He says, “Anyone who follows Me will not walk in darkness.” And again, let’s think back to the Exodus… remember how God led the people of Israel? It was a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire, by night. They followed this great pillar of fire… this great light, and it guided them, and led them. Jesus is saying, “I’m the same God who provides that light.” Basically what Jesus is doing here is preaching out of the Book of Exodus… Several times He’s said, “I AM” (Ego Eimi), which is what God says to Moses when He called him. Jesus say’s I’m the rock… if you’re thirsty come to Me. Now He’s saying, “I’m the light” Follow Me.
And when we take all of those together, we can see that Jesus is saying, pretty clearly actually, “Hey listen up… I’m the God who delivered Israel out of Egypt.” “I’m the God who provided for Israel in the wilderness.” “You know this entire week; you’ve been celebrating the Feast of Booth’s… celebrating how God provided… I’m the God who did all of that. So if you’re in darkness; you need to follow Me, because I’m the Light of the world.”
I’m sure all of us have tried to navigate through a pitch dark room before. It’s not an easy thing to do… especially if you’re not familiar with it. I’m remember once… quite a few years back, before I went into ministry… right when I was out of high school. I used to roof houses. Our company was out of (redacted) Kansas, but we did a lot of jobs up in Wichita… and if it was a big job, sometimes our boss would put his crew up in a motel room… but he was a cheap skate, so they weren’t nice motels… They were the kind with crime scene police tape in some of the rooms. Well it was one of those times, and me and my co-worker… a guy named Eric were in our motel room, and it was actually really dark. And I woke up in the Middle of the night and had to go to the bathroom. But I couldn’t see anything, and I didn’t want to bump into anything. So I was going to ask my friend Eric to turn on the light because his bed was closest to it. So I said, “Eric…” nothing… no reply… so I said it again, “Eric…” Still nothing, finally I said it a little more loudly, “ERIC!” He didn’t answer… he didn’t even move. I tried it once more, “ERIC!” Still nothing… so I got up and felt my way to the bathroom. Thankfully I didn’t bust my toe on anything… the next day I asked him, “Man didn’t you hear me last night?” And he was like, “Yeah, but I thought someone was in the room killing you, and I was too scared to move.”
I was like – “Wow! Thanks a lot man...” Actually… Eric did save my life later on… but that’s for another time. Let me just say this though… If not for him, I most certainly would not be here today, and I would not be a pastor… I’d be 6 feet under.
The thing is… if you’re in darkness… you’re going to stumble around… you could even wind up hurting yourself… you could fall… you could get lost, and that’s the way it is spiritually for those who are without Christ… They are in darkness. They stumble around in their sin and can’t see the path of righteousness. They need a light. They need to be shown the way out of the darkness. And again… this is an analogy that Jesus is giving them here. They would’ve understood that He was referring back to the pillar of fire that guided the nation of Israel through the wilderness… And just think about that pillar for a second. It not only provided light for the camp. It protected them against the Egyptians… it led them in the way they were supposed to go. It wasn’t a flashlight that they could turn on and turn off so that they could find their own way. It led the way. They followed where it led. And that’s what Jesus says here in our text… “Whoever follows Me, will not walk in darkness.” We don’t USE Jesus to find the way. He IS the way. He leads us.
Of course the Pharisees hate Jesus… and they attack Him on this. And in verse 13, they basically call Him a liar.
Now Jesus comes back at them and shuts them down with three points. In verse 14 He says, “I know where I came from, and I know where I’m going.” And if you’re not careful; you’ll miss what He’s saying here. So remember the context… the Pharisees are accusing Him of being a liar. And His first answer is, “I know where I came from and I know where I’m going.” Jesus came down from heaven right? From the Father… and eventually He’s going back there. Revelation 21:8 says that people who make a practice of lying are not going to heaven… So basically what Jesus is saying here is: “I’m going to go back to heaven. I’m going to be seated at the right hand of the Father. Liars don’t get to do that. Therefore, I’m not lying.”
His second point is that they judge by appearance, when they should be judging by what is true. Most likely Jesus dressed like a Galilean and had probably even picked up their accent. The Pharisees are judging based on outward appearance, not on the facts. Jesus was born of a virgin, He was born in Bethlehem. His ancestry was directly linked to David. He met all the criteria to be the Messiah, but the Pharisees could only see the outward appearance. They were blind to the truth, and they wouldn’t listen to the truth. So Jesus was saying, “Your judgment is flawed by your bias, and unwillingness to examine the actual facts. You’ve already got your agenda, and nothing is going to move you from it. Not the facts, not the truth, nothing.”
I don’t know if you’ve ever met someone like that… but it’s one of the most frustrating things ever! You lay out the whole counsel of Scripture… you show them exactly what God’s Word says about something, and they’re like, “I don’t care. I’m not going to believe that or accept it.” They’ve already made up their mind, regardless of what God’s Word says.
The Bible calls people like that “Stiff Necked”, or “Hard Hearted”. And that’s what these Pharisees are… they’re not willing to look in to the issue, or even consider it. Their minds are made up. And Jesus points that out to them. Not that they could see it, or that they would agree with Him, but He still points it out.
The third point Jesus makes is that God has been bearing witness to Him ever since He began His public ministry. First at His baptism, God spoke from heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God has been bearing witness throughout Jesus ministry by the signs and wonders and miracles. None of the Pharisees disputed that Jesus was doing those things. They couldn’t deny that He had done amazing things. Remember; that’s why Nicodemus came to talk to Him in the first place. He said, “No one can do these things unless God is with Him.” And Jesus is saying here, “All of those things are pointing to the fact that I’m the Christ. I’m the Savior! I’m the Messiah! I’m the Son of God.” “They all bear witness to Me.”
So Jesus has refuted them with three points, but He doesn’t let off the hook just yet.
Look at verse 21 (READ).
Now this shows you how hard hearted and spiritually dead the Pharisees really are. Jesus has just shown them how all the evidence points to Him being the Savior… the Christ… and then He tells the Pharisees that they are going to die in their sin. Basically He’s saying to them, “You boys are going to die and go to hell.” And they mock Him, and continue to reject Him, and deny Him.
What a horrible state they’re in.
Here’s the message of this passage… JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. But most people are going to reject Him because they love darkness rather than light… but verse 30 tells us that there are some who will believe in Him. But what about you? What do you believe about Jesus? You can say you believe all kinds of things, but what does your life, and your walk, and your behavior say you believe?
You see; at the beginning of this passage Jesus says “I’m the light of the world.” But then He says, “Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” True saving faith is never just intellectual agreement. It’s a following faith. It’s a faith that obeys the commands of Jesus. It’s a faith that says, “I’ll go where Jesus goes. I’ll live like Jesus lived. I’ll obey Him, and follow Him, and walk with Him.”
You see; the Bible actually talks about people who “believe”; they have intellectual assent… but they don’t believe UNTO salvation. We’re going to see that next Sunday… Verse 30 says, “Many ‘believed’ in Him…” But then a few verses down, Jesus tells them – their father is the devil.
Here’s what Jesus is saying, and here’s the point for you and me. He’s saying, “I AM GOD! And do you remember the first commandment in Exodus 20:1-2. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” So it’s ok… and good even… to remember how you were provided for. But don’t ever forget WHO was doing the providing. Who it was that fed you that mana from heaven, and gave you that water from the rock, and guided you by a pillar of fire and a cloud.
CLOSING
