Jesus, The Light of the World

Redeeming Grace Church

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Jesus Christ the light of the world. I'm going to make this a part one because there's absolutely no way

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I can get through all this even though we're looking at one verse. I'd like to run not through every verse in the

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Scriptures when it speaks of darkness and light but I would like to look at those metaphors and draw your attention to this but first turn with me in your

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Bibles as we continue our wonderful study through the gospel of John. John chapter 8.

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We are at John chapter 8 and I want to just pick up at verse 12.

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Jesus is in the temple. He's in the outer courts.

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I don't know exactly how many are there but we know there's possibly thousands that are surrounding him at the court temple and I would like to imagine

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Warren Roosby gave an imagery here. He said that it's possible that the sun was shown brightly in day.

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We don't know if it was rising or falling but whatever the case is Jesus many times would draw people's attention to something in nature and then look to himself in the sense of that to draw the analogy and here he speaks of one of his favorite metaphors that he speaks time and time again throughout the

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Gospels and he says in verse 12, hear the word of the living God.

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Then Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world.

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He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

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May God richly bless the reading of his holy word from our ears to our hearts this morning please bow with me in prayer as we seek our

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Lord's face and favor within this hour of worship. Oh God our

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Father, our great Lord, hallowed be thy name.

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Lord we bow now in your presence before your word. Lord our attitude is told from your your word from Isaiah 66 that we should have an attitude of fear and trembling.

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Lord our hearts are as it trembles before your word we also give thanks for your most glorious revelation.

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What you have revealed to us, oh Lord, in your goodness and your mercy.

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Lord I pray this morning save each and every one of us from apathy, being over familiar with something we have heard time and time again and yet we do not understand the brevity and the height and the width and the depth of it.

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Save us from a hard heart of unbelief oh God. We beseech you this morning

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Lord as you spoke through your son the

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Lord Jesus Christ to one of the churches in the seven churches in Asia, Asia Minor and Revelation they needed eyesalve to see.

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Anoint our eyes this morning Lord. We cannot do this ourselves. We need your spirit, your

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Holy Spirit to help us to behold the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ who takes away the sin of the world.

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That Lamb is your Lamb and oh Lord I pray how we so much thank you and praise you for this great sacrifice this great light that has appeared in a gloomy dark world.

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Now this great light now shines the bright and morning star.

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Shines in and through us. Shines through your word.

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Lord I pray shine on us. Show favor to us

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Lord in mercy I would pray. Forgive us oh God for turning our backs upon you and forgetting you.

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Lord we thank you for this glorious gospel and I pray that it would make change our hearts forever to all of us that hear this word this morning.

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To believe you, to believe Christ, to follow Christ, to adore Christ, to love him and to keep his commands.

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Lord we would ask this by your grace and power and we ask this for your honor and glory in Jesus name.

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Amen. The scene now shifts to the treasury of the temple.

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This is where Jesus is in verse 20. It says that these words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple.

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No one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come and God's providence was not quite to his time to die upon the cross but he's basically about six months away from his crucifixion.

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He's two and a half years within his ministry and here we are in chapter 8.

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Multitude of the people was still following him and now we read he turned to them and made one of the many grand statements

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I would say once again to his drawing attention to his messiahship and he says

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I am the light of the world. Now keep in mind that this is, there are seven

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I am's of Christ. Seven's always a number of completion you see that throughout scripture.

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This is the second I am statements as he mentioned the first in John 635 in this wonderful book and Jesus said to them in John 635

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I am the bread of life. Then he says he who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

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And now here Jesus declares I am the light of the world.

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Naturally speaking that the world here is not necessarily the cosmos in which scripture sometimes speaks up but is actually speaks of darkness of sin that ignorance and the aimlessness of that sinfulness that people are in darkness.

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And Jesus appears and he says I am the light of the world. Apart from Jesus Christ let us keep in mind that there is no deliverance from the blackness of sin.

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Apart from Jesus Christ let's keep in mind that there is no guidance. We do not know where we're going along the way of life.

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We may think we do but we do not. There's a way that seems right unto man but the end thereof is death.

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Unless the light of the glorious gospel shines on us. Apart from Jesus Christ there is no knowledge as to the real meaning of life and the issues of eternity.

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And Jesus promised that anyone that would follow him believe in him would not walk in darkness.

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That's a promise. We would not walk in darkness but we'd have the light of life.

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That's the word of God. And here we see the apostle John the evangelist and I don't know if you know this as many commentators calls him the evangelist.

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Goes way back and there's a reason why he is among Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

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John is more evangelistic than any of the apostles that writes the gospel.

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He wrote this glorious gospel concerning Christ. Christ the son of the living

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God. He focuses on his deity.

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He's already used the light, the metaphor as I mentioned earlier for Jesus Christ in John chapter 1 as he is introduced to us in John 1.

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You can go with me there. I got a few verses I like for us to jolt our memory upon.

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I'd like to start with verse 1 to verse 8. Now hear the word of God here in connection to John 8 verse 12.

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He begins his gospel. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

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God and he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made.

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In him was life and the life was the light of men. Notice verse 5. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it or overpower it.

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Another translation would say. In verse 6 there was a man sent from God whose name was

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John. Now he's speaking about the forerunner here, John the Baptist. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe.

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He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, speaking of Christ here, which gives light to every man coming into the world.

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He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. So there you have the introduction of this wonderful gospel and there are three important words

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I'd like to draw your attention to. I did not make an outline here but I want to go just through this, draw your attention to it.

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As it's already been said in here in this gospel, there is life, there is light, and there's darkness.

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There is life, light, and darkness. And John has introduced the reader the contrast, the themes that we see occur throughout this gospel.

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Life and light are qualities of the Word which are shared by the revelation among the

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Godhead. John 5 26 says, for as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the

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Son to have life in himself. Now keep in mind

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Jesus says him and the Father are one. He says I and the Father are one. And also now he mentions, to those who would respond by true belief, which takes the

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Spirit of God to bring someone in the kingdom, to follow Christ may also have this eternal life dwelling within them.

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John 8 12, this is a great verse and like I said I'm going to break this into possibly two parts, maybe three,

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I don't know. There's so much here. When Jesus spoke to them again, again, I am the light of the world.

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He who follows me, underscore that, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

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Beloved, this is a loaded verse and we must have the illumination of the Spirit of God to help us, to show us that this awesome verse, what it really means, and what it really means to believe in Christ, what it means to follow

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Christ, what it means that Jesus is the light. We take light for granted so much, don't we?

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Now, I say physical light. How many of us has literally taken for granted the

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Son, the Son, S -U -N, that in which God has created? We need to be careful not to take the

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S -O -N for granted as well, more importantly. Many people have mistaken the idea that they can live without Jesus, without ever being born again of His Spirit.

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And that's actually what is happening today, that people are dead in their trespasses and sins.

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They're like walking zombies. So to follow Jesus Christ means to come to Him, but it must be a supernatural means, that the

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Father would draw His own to Himself, to receive new life, to come to Him, to come to Him in humble repentance, to come to Him in humble submission, to trust in Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to follow

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Him as Lord and Savior to the very end, and to commit ourselves to obey Him, to keep

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His words, and to love

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Him exclusively. Now, I mean this, exclusively.

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What do you mean, pastor, when you talk about exclusively? I mean that Jesus is to be the preeminent one in your life, in my life.

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That means He is to have first place in all that we are, in all that we do, in our living, in our being, in our walking, in our talking.

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It would show. Those that come to Him with this in mind, practice

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God's guidance in life. He guides us. The meek He will guide in judgment. Scripture says, there's a clearness, the darkness leaves, because there's the light of the glorious gospel within the soul.

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There's a bright hope beyond the grave, and we do not have to fear death. Now, there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

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Amen? And that's a glorious thing. Now, that's my basic introduction to this little text this morning, but it's a loaded text.

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Now, as you know as well as I do, throughout the entirety of the

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Scriptures, the entire Word of God, beginning with Genesis 1 -1, all the way to Revelation 22 -21, the last verse, that's from the first verse to the last verse, those bookends, there's much in the

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Scripture that speaks about light. Many, many verses that speak to us concerning light and darkness, by the way.

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And again, there's no way we can exhaust this study, but we can, with God's help and grace, catch a glimpse.

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And that's what I like for us to do in this time of worship, that we would catch a glimpse, a small glimpse of the greatness of this light, and by God's grace be forever changed by it.

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That we would just not be feeding our heads just knowledge about it, but that we would take a hold by the

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Spirit of God, that it would change us from faith to faith, from glory to glory, that we would leave just not informed, but transformed.

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Jesus, I'll mention this probably twice, but Jesus says this on the

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Sermon on the Mount, in chapter 5, verse 14 -16, you are the light of the world.

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Now that's a reflection, like the moon, that reflects the sunlight and darkness.

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But that light does abide within God's people, and He teaches His disciples there, you are the light of the world.

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A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand.

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On a lampstand. And it gives light. Light gives. You hear that?

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Jesus says it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your

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Father which is in heaven. Basically, what is

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He speaking of there, is a holy, godly, Christ -like life in darkness.

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And I'm here to tell you, when we bring this light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ into a dark area, the darkness has to flee.

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Light bombards, you can take a candlelight into a very dark room, and light that candlelight and it will literally shine the room.

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Darkness, it spells. So it is with the Christian. So it is with the disciples of Jesus Christ when they give that light in a dark place.

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And it's a powerful, convincing testimony of the mighty saving power of God. The Bible opens by describing the universe that is formless and void, doesn't it?

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And then the creator of the ends of the earth, almighty God, Yahweh, breaks the silence by speaking a word of power into nothingness.

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And the story of creation, as you well know, we're so familiar with it, but how often we take this for granted, of the mighty power of God, that God spoke a word in this void and darkness, that God is the source of light.

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He is that light. Now, I speak of God, I speak of the triune God, I'm talking about the

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Father, the Son, and the Spirit, but it is the Son that is the word in which

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John introduces Christ as in the beginning was the

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Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And you could read in Hebrews, that is, in chapter 1, it is also tells us once again that God, who at various times and various ways, spoken times, time passed to the fathers and by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom

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He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

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He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, and that He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, the glorious.

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And then you go to Genesis chapter 1. If you aren't already there, please turn with me there, and let's look at this as we begin our study, and how creation of light all begins by the

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One that is the source of true light, the Father of all lights, as James chapter 1 says.

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And what does He say? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and notice this, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the

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Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, and then

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God said, let there be light. And what happened?

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And there was light, by the sheer power of God's word.

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No big bang theory here, folks. It's God, the person of God, the triune

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God, especially the Son, that spoke the word, let there be light, and there was light, and God saw the light, and it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

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He divides it. What did He do? Verse 5, God called the light day, and the darkness

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He called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

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No gap theory here. Literal days, literal days, we believe this.

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Six literal days, and the Sabbath, and the Sabbath, God created and He rest.

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He rested from His labors. Now you see this great creation in Genesis 1, 1 through 5.

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Now turn with me very quickly to Jeremiah. I'd like to tie this in, because Jeremiah the prophet speaks about this.

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Jeremiah chapter 4. We read our scriptures carefully, creation, and what

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God did was repeated several times. Don't have time to go through all the verses, but it's found also in the

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Psalms, particularly in Psalm 102,

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I believe. Could be 105, but it's repeated.

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But Jeremiah chapter 4, look with me to verse, look at verse 23.

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Notice what the word of the Lord says. Jeremiah says, I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form.

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Exactly what it says in Genesis from the prophet Moses, by the Spirit.

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Without form and void, and the heavens they had no light. And beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

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And I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. And beheld, indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all of its cities were broken down at the presence of the

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Lord by His fierce anger. It's interesting, isn't it?

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Both descriptions, both describe an inhospitable and a lifeless world, but the difference here between the two is that Genesis 1 and 2 describes the moment right before God in acting and creating is about to begin, while Jeremiah the prophet illustrates the uncreation by Yahweh.

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The uncreation. Both examples show the

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Lord is the source, and He is the agent behind His creation and the life.

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He is that source. And now in John, this wonderful gospel,

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John, and as I've read in John 1, the apostle describes

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Jesus as the Word, the Word, the Logos. And he says that all things including light was made by Him.

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Made by Him. So far we see as Jesus' life and light in contrast to that darkness, there is a duality here.

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There's Jesus who is the light that's opposite of darkness. Very obvious.

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He is the light. And in John 1, verse 9 says, this was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

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MacArthur notes here on that verse, quote, he says this, the alternative reading in the translation, the words coming into the world would be better grammatically if attached to light rather than every man.

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And thus the translation should be the true light coming into the world gives light to every man.

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This highlights the incarnation of Jesus Christ in verse 14, end quote.

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In verse 14 of John 1, it says this, and the Word, the

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Logos became flesh and dwelt tabernacled among us and we beheld

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His glory. Isn't that what you desire this morning is to behold the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

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We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the

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Father full of grace and truth. Very similar, the same apostle as he began his epistle after he wrote the gospel, he says this in 1

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John, the first epistle of John chapter 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, our hands have handled concerning the word of life.

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The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the

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Father was manifest to us. And that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the

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Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

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You want true joy? Come to know Jesus Christ. Jesus said that He prayed this in His prayer in John 17, verse 3, that thou may know

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Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. That intimacy, that union and communion with Christ, that's how we can have true joy is coming to the light.

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And He's full of grace and truth. So in John chapter 1, we basically learn five things here about the light.

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Number one, Jesus Christ is the light of mankind in verse 4. Second, we see that the light is the source of life in verse 4.

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Third, we see the light is in the darkness and is not the darkness in verse 5.

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Fourth, we see John, speaking of John the Baptist, is not the light, but he's a witness to bear witness of the light, but John told others about that light,

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Jesus Christ, as being the messenger and the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And then fifth, we see that the true light gives light to everyone, but is also not recognized as well.

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Very quickly, if you jump over to John chapter 3, a very religious man, a

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Pharisee, a very religious man that devoted his life to religion. And I say religion on purpose because that's exactly what he was.

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He was very religious, and we have a lot of those among us today in the churches. But he has never been born again.

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His name was Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus by night. Isn't that interesting? John chapter 3,

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Jesus basically answers to him, and he made the comment, by the way, in verse 2, this man came to Jesus by night, said to him,

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Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, and no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

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Jesus gets right to a point. He did not take any flattery that he did these miracles.

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That's obvious. Christ was true humility and flesh as the

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Son of Man. And then he brings to Nicodemus' attention,

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Jesus answered and said to him, he answers him basically saying, most assuredly, or verily, verily, or truly, truly, basically what he's saying, amen, amen.

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He gives the amen before, not after. I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

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That's the reason I mention this, because in this chapter, if you go to verse 14, after he basically brings

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Nicodemus to the point where he speaks about what it means to be born of water and of the

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Spirit, that he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, it must be a supernatural miracle.

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We don't have do's and don'ts in how to be born again. It is a supernatural, sovereign act of God. That salvation is all of God.

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So if you're trying to be born again this morning, you can't do it. It's something

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God does within your heart. And there's a great change. Now, it doesn't mean that we cast aside repentance.

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Repentance is granted by the Father. Even repentance is something that God gives, a gift, to even to have the desire to turn away from sin and to hate sin.

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None of us can hate sin today unless the Spirit of God abides within us. But here,

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Nicodemus, he's clueless of what Jesus is speaking to him, and then Jesus has to reiterate and repeat

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Himself. He says in verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the

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Spirit is Spirit. Jesus actually brings the cookies low so He can understand it in an illustration.

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And He says, do not marvel. In other words, in our translation today, don't be surprised, Nicodemus, that I said to you, you must be born again, that you must be born from above.

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The wind blows where it wishes. You can't see the wind, but you can see the effects of the wind.

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You hear the sound of it. You cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes.

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So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. It is a supernatural, sovereign act of God.

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One hundred percent. You know, many churches, pastors, and I speak to myself, we need to constantly go back to John 3 and remind everyone that this is

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God's work. This is God's doing. And it's through Jesus Christ. Nothing of us.

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Jesus answered and said to him, Nicodemus says, how can these things be? Jesus lovingly rebukes him.

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He says, you are a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Now if you move on through the chapter,

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Jesus basically points to himself as the great sacrifice. He's going to die on the cross.

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Jesus knows this. Nicodemus doesn't know this. He doesn't have a clue. But Jesus says in verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the

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Son of Man be lifted up. That means on the cross. Verse 15, whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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And then it comes that great burning bush of the Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten

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Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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Keep in mind that word perish is there, folks. But Jesus does not desire anyone to perish.

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Then he says in verse 17, for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world that the world through him might be saved.

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We just saw that last Lord's Day that Christ showed grace and compassion and pity to a woman caught in adultery in the very act of it and said, go and sin no more.

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He forgives her. He cleanses her. He has the power to do that. Aren't you glad?

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For such was us. But God was rich in mercy. He cleansed us.

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Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus, notice what he says here, and this is what I'm trying to get to. Verse 18 to 21, he who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten

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Son of God and this is the condemnation. Here it is, that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light naturally because their deeds were evil.

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Notice what Jesus says to Nicodemus, for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.

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But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God or wrought in God.

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I'd like you to keep in mind also about the woman caught in the very act of adultery that was brought and they were about to stone her.

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And by the way, as I mentioned last week, the one that was really qualified did not stone her.

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Matthew Henry said something wonderful here when she was caught in the very act and it speaks up in chapter 8.

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Jesus asked, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?

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She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you.

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Go and send no more. The command to go. So Matthew Henry had a wonderful quote here.

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I love this. Listen to what the Puritan says. Had she not been taken in this act, she might have gone on to another till her heart had been perfectly hardened.

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But sometimes it proves a mercy to sinners to have their sin brought to light that they may do no more presumptuously.

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And listen to this. Better our sin should shame us than damn us and be set in order before us for our conviction than for our condemnation.

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Hallelujah. You see the mercy? This woman was brought right there and they were going to stone her and then

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Jesus points out, He that is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.

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And they all left. But Jesus. Wonderful, isn't it?

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You see the grace? You see the mercy? This is the light, folks. This is the light.

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That is the attributes of God in motion, in demonstration, showing us that the light comes in the darkness.

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This woman that was caught in the act of adultery was in darkness, folks. Just like the woman at the well.

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Their life was a mess. If your life is in a mess today, folks, Jesus is the light.

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He does not condemn you. He comes to save you. He comes to wash you and cleanse you and to rescue you.

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He gives you hope. And a glorious hope it is. All the way to the end of your life until you enter into eternity.

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And I promise you there will be no regret there if you believe and follow Jesus Christ. Oh, the wonderful truth that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

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Amen? One preacher put it this way, Jesus is the way, without Him there's no going.

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Jesus is the truth, without Him there's no knowing. Jesus is the life, and without Him there's no growing.

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I don't know who came up with that, but it's good. Now if you go into John chapter 5, we move on a little further, and we see this in John.

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Jesus testifies about Himself and refers back to John the Baptist's testimony. He describes

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John's ministry as a lamp that burned and gave light.

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You see this in John 5. Excuse me. Look at verse 33 to verse 35.

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You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. This is Jesus speaking.

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Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

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He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in His light.

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But I have greater witness than John's for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness to me that the

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Father has sent me. And the Father Himself who sent me,

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And by the way, Jesus repeats this constantly throughout the Gospel. He sent me.

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He said, I proceed from the Father. He has sent me. This command I've received from the

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Father. He is in total submission, perfect submission under the Father's sovereignty and command.

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And He says, I've testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice or any time nor seen

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His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you because whom

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He sent, Him you do not believe. And He's speaking of Himself. And then

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He goes on to say, You search the Scriptures? For in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me.

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Notice He said, think? These people really thought they knew God? They did not have a clue of who

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God was. And the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, was standing right before them, giving the words of life.

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And the light was shining. Then He says, but you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

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Willing? But guess what? By the supernatural power of God, the

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Spirit of God can make you willing, beloved. You go on.

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Even though John gave light, he was not the light. He gave light, but he was not the light.

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And the same it is with us. We're like the little stars glimmering in the dark.

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But Jesus is like this momentum, the huge, massive star, like the sun, the

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S -U -N. And that's what it is. And then you go on to chapter 8, verse 12, as we're looking at today.

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Then you jump to chapter 9. We head in this direction. Let me just give you a quick overview here. In chapter 9, a man born blind receives sight.

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Jesus passes by. He saw a man that was blind from his birth. Disciples came to Him, asking

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Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? They figured, well, sin might have had something to do with it.

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Listen to what Jesus said. Neither this man nor his parents sinned. Jesus said that.

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But that the works of God should be revealed in him. That the works of God may be manifest.

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Notice what Jesus says, I must work the works of Him who sent me, while it is day, the night is coming when no one can work.

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And as long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. You know, may God help us as believers to give us an urgency like this.

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That we have a short time on this earth and to know God and to make

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Him known to the uttermost parts of the earth and brighten the corner right where you are.

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To be that light in darkness. Jesus says,

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I have come as a light into the world that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness.

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As we see, the illustration of light was apparently one of our Lord's favorites. Such a powerful metaphor.

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He refers to himself as the light. Apart from Jesus Christ, men are in deepest darkness.

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C .H. Spurgeon said this concerning this verse, particularly in John 12,

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I'm sorry, jumping to John 12, verse 46,

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I have come as a light into the world and whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness.

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Spurgeon says the world is as dark as midnight. Jesus has come that by faith we may have light.

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He has come so that we no longer sit in the gloom that covers all the rest of humanity.

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Whoever is a very wide term, and it means you and me.

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He goes on to say, if we trust in Jesus, we will no longer sit in the dark shadow of death, but we'll enter the warm light of day that will never end.

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Why do we come out into the light at once?

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End quote. Now I want to conclude on an application. Drawing our attention to some of these verses in Scripture, the light who is

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Jesus Christ, also found in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament conveys

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God's presence, his identity, his blessing, his guidance, his help that we may see clearly in the coming to God by the light of the truth found in the

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Scriptures. Let me just read a few. I don't have time because I'm going to have to break this up.

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There's so many verses we can look at, especially in the Old Testament. But here's just a few.

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Psalm 27 .1 The Lord is my light and my salvation. Notice how personal that is to David.

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The Lord. Capital O -L -O -R -D. Yahweh is my light and my salvation.

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Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life.

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Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 13 .3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my

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God. Enlighten my eyes lest I sleep a sleep of death. Enlighten me.

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He must enlighten me. Notice how he's crying out. God, you enlighten my eyes. Psalm 18 .28

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For you will light my lamp, and the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

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Psalm 36 .9 For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light.

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Only in God's light we can see light. We can't conjure it up.

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We can't make it happen. God has to come and do this. In his mercy and grace.

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Psalm 104 .1 and 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul. He continues that.

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Notice it starts in Psalm 103, but Psalm 104. Bless the

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Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You're clothed with honor and majesty who covers yourself with light as with a garment who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.

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And of course that great prophecy in Isaiah 9. You go to Isaiah 9.

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This is a messianic prophecy. Isn't this wonderful? This is just not for Christmas.

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This is all year long. Isaiah 9. It says in verse 2,

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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. That Jesus is that great light.

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Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. And notice he goes on to say,

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You have multiplied the nation, increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest.

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As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For you have broken the yoke of his burden, the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor.

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As in the day of Midian, for every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and the garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire.

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And then he says this, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called

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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.

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Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, and to order and to establish it with judgment and justice that from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the

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Lord of hosts will perform this, folks. That speaks to so much about the first coming, the second coming of Christ, but it's all

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Christ. A great light has come.

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Isaiah 60, verse 1 -3. Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the

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Lord has risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people, but the

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Lord will arise over you and his glory will be seen upon you. Hallelujah.

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The Gentiles shall come to your light. See, it's just not the

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Jews, it's the Gentiles. The kings to the brightness of your rising.

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And as another scripture says, he will come with healing in his wings. He is the brightness and the glory of God in flesh incarnate.

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You can jump to Isaiah 60. Look at verse 19.

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Look at this. God, the glory of his people, the sun shall no longer be your light by day.

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And by the way, this ties into exactly what John the Revelator, what the revelation of John the

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Apostle saw when God showed him all of the end times that was coming, but the end and the consummation right here and Isaiah saw it.

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The end of all things. The sun shall no longer be your day, light by day, nor the brightness shall the moon give light to you, but the

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Lord will be to you an everlasting light. And your God, your glory, your sun shall no longer go down nor shall your moon withdraw itself for the

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Lord will be your everlasting light and the days of mourning shall be ended. Also your people shall all be righteous.

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They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

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That's the reason right there, folks. It's all for the glory of God. A little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation.

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I, the Lord, will hasten in its time. So much more.

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Proverbs 6 .23 For the commandment is a lamp in the law, a light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life.

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Psalm 119 .105 Very familiar verse here. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

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A light. Psalm 112 .4

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Unto the uprightness there arises light and darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous.

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Go with me to Romans. Now let's go to the New Testament. Romans chapter 13. So many verses.

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So many verses, but I know we're jumping around a lot, but this has a lot to do with Jesus Christ being delight.

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Now we're talking about application, folks. How does this apply to me? Well, it does.

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If you're a believer, verse 13.

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I'm sorry, chapter 13, verse 11. It talks about putting on Christ. And do this.

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And do this. Now this is sanctification, folks. Knowing the time is now, is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than we have first believed.

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The night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.

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What does he say? How do we do this? We put on Christ. It's like putting on the whole armor of God.

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You put on Christ, He is the whole armor, folks. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in reverie and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the

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Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. Folks, that was the verse that Augustine came to salvation by hearing.

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He heard a voice, it was a child speaking, I believe, and says, pick up the book, pick up the book, and it fell to this verse.

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And the Spirit of God got a hold of that man and he was supernaturally changed. What the

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Spirit of God can do. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no room, make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust, its desires.

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It must be mortified by the Spirit. How does that happen?

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Go with me to 2 Corinthians 4. Brother Zach briefly touched on this in his opening.

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This is a great, great chapter. 2

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Corinthians 4. Therefore, since we have this ministry, we have received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced, we have renounced, amen, we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

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But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds,

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Satan has the minds, the God of this age has blinded.

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By the way, Satan is a fallen angelic being that was a light bearer. That's what

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Lucifer means, a light bearer. He fell. Now he's blinded those that do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God, should shine on them.

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And Paul gets right to it. The only one that can deliver us is

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Christ, because it says in verse 5, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the

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Lord, and ourselves your bond servants for Jesus' sake. And notice what he says in verse 6, for it is

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God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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Hallelujah. Ephesians chapter 5.

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Chapter 5 is loaded up. That whole chapter talks, the first portion of that chapter talks about walking in love.

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In the middle of it, walking light. Then he talks about walking wisdom, and then he speaks to the wives, and the husbands, and the children, to the family.

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But notice what he says in verse 8, for you were once darkness, you were once darkness, but now you are light in the

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Lord. Now since we're light in the Lord, what are we supposed to do? Walk.

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That's everyday conduct. Put on the boots. I think Brother Keith gave a picture yesterday of some old worn out boots.

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Amen. We put our boots on, folks. We put our shoes on.

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We walk as children of light. Children of light.

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And then he tells us, how does the light look like? Verse 9, for the fruit of the

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Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

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Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness.

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Cut yourself away from the works of darkness. Because God hates it with a vengeance.

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The wrath of God abides on them. But does that mean we're not to give them the good news? No, give them the good news, but you're not to have fellowship with them, folks.

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But rather expose them. Wow. For it is shameful.

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It is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. It's terrible.

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But all things are exposed who are made manifest by what? The light. For whatever makes manifest is light.

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Therefore he says, Awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead.

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And Christ will give you light. Notice what he says, Arise from the dead. People are dead in the trespasses of sins.

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They're in darkness. They're blinded. Their minds are blinded by the God of this age. And the only one that can give them light is

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God spoken to the void and darkness when he says, Let there be light. His word, folks, has the power to give life and light.

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1 Peter chapter 2. I'm almost finished. 1

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Peter chapter 2. And this brings us to this conclusion.