I AM The Light of the World

John 8:12-30

• Olentangy Indian Caverns (Extreme Darkness) Guide with the Light An AHA moment

• Jesus is Declaring that He is NOT of this world and that there is something MORE!

• At the end of this text… it says that as He was saying these things… many believed. It was Jesus’ words that God used to bring people to faith. No miracles being performed… just the Word. It created an AHA MOMENT for these who were walking in darkness! It happened to them… it can happen to you!

• Notice that Jesus is declaring Himself to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD… He is attributing that to having a relationship with The Father. He is reflecting LIGHT as a natural man who is dependent on the supernatural to live as LIGHT

• Famous Bible Teacher John Piper says…”Following Jesus is more than tagging along behind him. It means following him for who he is. Being so taken with him that you join yourself to Him.”

• BECOMING ONE WITH THE LIGHT
• And notice that when you follow him you have him — you have him as the light of life. “I am the light . . . Whoever follows me . . . will have the light . . .” You will have me, he says, as your light. If you follow me, you have me. I am yours. I am your Shepherd and your Sacrifice and your Living Water and your Bread from Heaven and your God, and your Light. Notice the last phrase of verse 12: “You will have the light of life.
• ”The eyes of our hearts are opened, and supernatural light streams into our mind, our heart and deep into our spirit. And thus we have the light of life. The light that comes from new, spiritual, eye-opening life — the life that gives sight to the blind soul, eternal life giving eternal sight.
• This is what God wants you to understand this morning… you are NOT going to find this kind of light anywhere else. Lots of us try to find the source of light in a lot of different ways… but honestly, there is only ONE WAY.
• If we don’t follow him, we do walk in darkness. And where is that darkness? It is in the world and in our hearts. So being “the light of the world” doesn’t mean removing all darkness from the world as he walks through the world.

Here’s what I think it means:

1 Jesus’s being “the light of the world” means the world has no other light than him. If there is going to be a light for the world, it will be Jesus. It is Jesus or darkness. There is no third alternative. No other light.

2 It means, therefore, that all the world, and everyone in it needs, Jesus as their light. If they decide no… that is their CHOICE but its more costly than they know

3 It means that the world was made for this light. This is not a foreign light. This is the light of the owner of the world. When this light comes, it not only makes sin plain as foreign and ugly, but it also makes everything good in the world shine with its full and true beauty. This world was made to be illumined by this light. This light of Christ is native to the world. its just that the god of this age… has blinded most people to this reality

4 And finally Jesus being “the light of the world” means that that one day this world will be filled with this light as the waters cover the sea, and all darkness, and all the works of darkness, and all the sons of darkness will be cast out. That’s why Jesus called hell “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). In that day, all will be light. Jesus, the radiance of the Father, will fill the world, and everything will be beautiful with the light of Christ.

But what about life now? What about all the different ways darkness affects us?

• He will be the light in which you see mountains and valleys and oceans and rivers and trees and animals and people. Nothing will be the same again when you have him as your light. Everything looks different in the light of Christ. Yes, even earthquakes and tsunamis and suffering and death. Until his light fills the earth as the waters cover the sea — until it and banishes sin and sickness and pain and earthquakes to the outer darkness — until then, even now, his light will help you bear the sorrows of darkness. It will be a soft glow to comfort you in your lonely room after the devastating loss. It will be a lamp on your troubled path. It will reveal the wise and loving face of God behind every frowning providence.

• We have to see him and receive him as the light of the world NOW!                          
• Or we will die in our sins and see it only when it is too late. 

• My prayer is that God will allow you to see and believe now.
• Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my LIGHT and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life… of whom shall I be afraid?