Jesus, The Light Of The World (10/22/2000)

Let's turn to John chapter 7 this morning. That was the

Lord's Prayer pattern that he taught us and then by his holy spirit. He teaches us each moment how to pray

He gave us the pattern and then he gives us the words For the specific needs for his purpose

I want to speak to you this morning about the lighting of the temple We talked a little bit last

Sunday about the feast of the tabernacles And so we continue that theme this morning.

And if you remember last time there were two important aspects of that Time of the year when all of the men of Israel were required to come to Jerusalem One was called the pouring of the water

And if you remember they mixed the water with wine and picturing the blood in the water

I believe it came from the side of the Lord Jesus Christ at his crucifixion

And we talked about that last time there is a second event that takes place

During this festival every year and it's called the lighting of the temple In fact that they light the temple so bright that it almost lights the whole city

And so let's talk about that part of this feast this morning

Let's look at john chapter 7 in verse 1 and 2 just to Introduce this again in case you weren't here last time.

It'll kind of show you Where this all begins and we're going to end up over here in john chapter 8 and verse 12 for this morning's message

But first of all john 7 1 and 2 after these things jesus walked in galilee For he would not walk in jewelry

Because the jews sought to kill him Now the jews feast of tabernacles

Was at hand and so that's the time period The very time period of this feast.

It's in the seventh month, which is now it was Just in the last past week

The feast of the tabernacles is this time of the year. It's there. It's the fall festival that god gave his people

Let me read you this little description of it from last sunday's message the festive pilgrims

Come to the temple bearing lights and torches while in the temple Itself the golden candlesticks were lighted transforming the temple into a brilliant focus of light

Which illuminated most of jerusalem? And i've read that there were four enormous golden candlesticks 50 cubits

In height each isn't a cubit about as far as from here to here So it's more than 50 feet tall

And four youth would climb ladders with 10 gallons each Of pure oil and fill the lamps with oil and i've also read that They would use the old worn -out liturgical clothing

And they wadded it up and used that for wicks and So it would light

The temple area. In fact, there were more lights than this and it lit the whole city

And so you can imagine these people remember there were little tents put up everywhere The people were dwelling in tents because the lord had told them to do that To commemorate the wandering in the wilderness and god's provision and it also pictures

The coming millennial period even the rabbis believe that because when the 70 bullocks are offered

They say that that represents the 70 gentile nations of the world and how someday god will bring them

Into the fold, although they probably didn't like that part too much They did understand it and they talked about it at this time of the year

Now let's go and look at just a couple more verses in chapter 7 and that'll bring us uh

A good introduction into chapter 8 where we're going to be this morning John 7 in verse 10

But when his brethren were gone up Then went he also up into the feast not openly but as it were in secret

Then the jews sought him at the feast and said where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him for some said he is a good man

Others said nay, but he deceives the people And then look at verse 37

In the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying

If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water

And there's no reason to believe anything other than that this took place at the uh climax of the pouring of the water

That they did every year at this time and jesus stood and perhaps pointed at the water and said

I am the water And then in verse 43 there was division among the people because of him

You have to understand the jews knew what jesus meant because they were thinking with the jewish mind and when he would claim

Uh to be the son of god When he would say things like I am the water

They didn't have to guess what he was saying So there was great division among the people in verse 46

They asked the officers. Why didn't you arrest him as we told you to? And look what the officer's answer was in verse 46.

The officers answered never a man spake like this man They heard his words and it affected their lives they couldn't arrest him

And then verse 50 nicodemus Dealt with these pharisees now the pharisees went and met behind closed doors at this point

And began to debate what they should do about this awful fix that they were in there's a man out here claiming to be the water of life

And uh, so they're debating about this they're wanting to have him killed and so forth Nicodemus is an interesting character.

He was dealt with in chapter 3 of john In fact the whole chapter he's the one jesus was speaking to God's working in his heart

By the time we get to verse 50 It's quite a few days later Than chapter 3

He may already be saved if he's not at least we know the lord's working in his heart towards that end

And nicodemus said unto them He that came to jesus by night being one of them

Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth? And they answered and said to him art thou also of galilee search and look for out of galilee ariseth no prophet did anyone ever

Read and determine where jonah came from One of the greatest prophets of israel

So these pharisees were inaccurate when they made this statement Every man went unto his own house is how the chapter closed in verse 53

Now that's a sad ending to this episode the curtain falls

And everyone goes to their own house, which means they have now nationally rejected the messiah

And the one that they had spoken of through all their history presented himself in public and said

I am he and they all just walked away And that brings us now to Chapter 8 and to another day

The next day there are some people who have tried to claim that the first Verses verses 1 through 11 are not really in the scriptures

And that can easily be proven false by the internal evidence of this passage

But I don't have time to get into that this morning and i'm not really preaching about this part about the woman taking an adultery but when you start with Chapter 8 verse 1 it says jesus went unto the mount of olives

And early in the morning he came again into the temple And all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them

And the scribes and the pharisees brought unto him a woman taking an adultery now

I'm, not going to teach on this story this morning many of you are familiar with it But one thing i'll tell you

Is that this story is so different? That there have been many people throughout the ages who have tried to remove it from this passage of scripture and say it doesn't belong there

The reason they said that in the early days is because they were trying to make a prudish Effort to keep a story like this from creating immorality among the people.

That's what their fear was But anyone who reads this passage Uh in the spirit of god will understand that no human pen could have written this story

There's no way this story would have ended this way if a man had written it And so this story is divinely inspired of god

In fact, it's used as a perfect backdrop Against The spiritual lesson.

Jesus is about to teach He's about to proclaim himself to be the light of the world

Now remember you have to picture yourselves being in jerusalem. They've just done the pouring of the water In fact, they've done that every day for seven days and the last day they circled seven times and they

Bored the water and mixed the water with the wine And he stood and said

I am the water of life And then they went home And then he comes back the next day and we find ourselves at the first part of chapter eight

And he begins to teach the people again and they have this temple So beautifully lighted they all have been thinking about the light

And he proclaims that he is the light of the world against that backdrop. So let's look down at verse 12

Let's start with verse 11 that kind of closes out the Physical example that jesus used to teach about light

And you see the men the religious men of his day could not understand what took place between verses 1 and 11

He says in verse 11 she said let's look at verse 10 when jesus had lifted himself and Saw none, but the woman

He said unto her woman. Where are those nine accusers hath no man condemned thee? She said no man lord

And jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee Go and sin no more

There's no way that the physical fleshly heart could understand that light

There's no way that a carnal man whether he be religious or not could have understood what jesus just said

It appeared to them to violate their own law And yet it did not

But only with the light of god. Could you have that understanding? And today we still have a problem with the last phrase in verse 11 where he said

Go and sin no more because we're so used to seeing people Come to evangelistic crusades and go down the front and get quote saved

And then go back and live a life of sin for the rest of their lives and we say well you know, they just I don't know what's happening here, but it's really sad

But you know when jesus saved somebody I like the old testament word for salvation is the word deliver

He delivered them And that's why he could tell her go and do that sin no more the sin of adultery

Don't do that anymore And i'll guarantee you one thing. I know one person I can name in the scriptures that never committed that sin again

I can really name two, but here's one right here this lady She never did that sin again,

I don't think king david did either after about psalm 52 was over And so you see salvation is not just The exchange from the destiny of Going from hell and then going to heaven.

That's what's been taught the last What 25 years? In fact, if one really understands the scripture one understands that no one that goes to heaven was ever really headed for hell

But yet that's what's been taught And People have talked that the whole idea of salvation is a one -time experience when

I got saved and it meant that my ticket Changed from hell and now it's going to heaven never has been the truth about it

But that's what's been taught. And so all of the emphasis is on the one -time experience

Stand up and tell me when and where Tell me when you got saved and where you were Glory, hallelujah.

Well, that is wonderful Because there couldn't be a life without a birth and I understand that But our salvation experience was a birth

Into a new life of living a life for eternity for our lord And it was also a deliverance from sin and from slavery and from the habits of the past They couldn't understand this without light and people today in churches all over this country can't understand it today

Especially the last part where it says go and sin no more That's why our churches are filled with fornication and adultery and i'll tell you what

You almost cringe to send a young couple to any church because that might be the very place where the man loses his wife to another man

Right there in church And there's a lot of wife swapping going on in churches across this country and a lot of them are deacons

And they remain deacons It's because there's no light Now let's go into verse 12

Then spake jesus again unto them saying I am the light of the world

He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness But shall have the light of life

The pharisees therefore said to him thou barest record of thyself thy record is not true

Jesus answered and said to them though I bear record of myself yet My record is true for I know whence

I came and whether I go but you cannot tell whence I came And whether I go

Now I want to stop there. We're going to read some more of the scriptures But I don't want to read through the whole passage for sake of time

But let's look at verse 12 in verse 12, there are two kinds of light spoken of and That's not seen just by reading at one time, but through study of the whole passage.

You will see this i'm sure He starts off saying I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness

But shall have the light of life Now This divides pretty easily into three sections,

I believe When he says on the light of the world, he's speaking of one kind of light

He's speaking of the kind of light that shines on every man that comes into the world It is the light of intellect

It is the light of Being able to tell moral differences between things.

It is the light of conscience And every human being has this light And it is he is jesus christ is obviously that light

And then he comes in and gives us a second point we could discuss and that is he says he that followeth me shall not

Walk in darkness, which implies very clearly that those who don't follow him do walk in darkness

So we speak of the light that comes on every man in the world, which is the light of intellect and conscience

And then we speak of a certain form of darkness that is upon all those who don't follow jesus

And then the third point we see is a different kind of light which he calls the light of life Which only those who belong to him have?

So I think we could discuss those things uh this morning Maybe not all of them, but we'll get started

Now i've got a little lesson I want to do some other time on the internal evidence that verses 1 through 11 belong in your bible

I'm, not going to take time to to do that this morning But there are many modern scholars who say this is not found in the best and oldest manuscripts

You got to watch that phrase anywhere you see it Because one of the best manuscripts that they call the best oldest manuscript is called the sinaticus

Which was found in the sinai peninsula In an ancient monastery and it was found in the room where they kept their trash

It was on the trash heap And that's supposed to be one of the greatest and oldest manuscripts well augustine made this he declared that This portion of scripture was stricken from many copies of the sacred story

Because of a prudish fear that it might teach immorality So augustine gives us a little history

Going back to oh, I guess ad 300 or so He gives us some history that This portion really was in the originals, but it had been stricken by people who didn't want it because they were afraid it taught immorality

So i'm not going to go into that any further today, let's get into this concept of light first of all, let's talk about Where jesus says

I am the light of the world The first type of light is spoken of it's on the backdrop of the story of the woman caught in adultery

And that story teaches the grace of god As well as any story in the whole bible

He says neither do I condemn thee Go and sin no more It is a perfect introduction to understanding the light of christ

There are three places in the scripture That I can find where the bible says god is something

God is something Other than the place in exodus 3 14 when he says he is the great is he says

I am I am if he if he had been saying that in texan if the king james were written in texan, he'd say

I is But he said I am But there are three other places besides this one is found in john 4 24

And it says god is a spirit Another one is found in first john 4 8 and it says

For god is love And then we have this one

It's also echoed in first john 1 5. It simply says god is light

So god is spirit god is love god is light Speaks of the very essence of god.

It's kind of an interesting thing to note that the first three gospels Speak of jesus against the backdrop of the jewish nation

But john is not that way John speaks of jesus as who he is in essence the son of god

And it makes a little bit of difference in some of the things that are taught Because the emphasis is on jesus the person jesus christ and who he is in essence

The very son of god in the book of john Matthew mark and luke primarily deal with him with how he relates to the jewish nation and So we get these little backdrops and let's go and let's look at the first idea the light of the world

I believe this means moral and intellectual light As well as the light of conscience.

I am the light of the world He is saying I am the one who has bestowed intelligence and moral sensibility on all men

The jew and the gentile the whole world the entire human race

And this is one of the things of course that makes man be different than the animals And so jesus is the light of the world in that sense in john 1 4

It says in him was life and the life was the light of men In john 1 5 it says and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not

In john 1 9 it says that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world

We speak of this Light of sensibility or intellect or conscience in romans chapter 1 verse 19

It says because that which may be known of god is manifest in them That means everyone lost and saved every human being every part of the human race

For god hath showed it unto them For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made by his creation

Even his eternal power and godhead so that they are without excuse romans 2 15 says which show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also

Bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing

One another so we see this type of light talked about in other places in scripture and Now let's look at the phrase where it says.

I am the light of the world Let's look at the phrase of the world for a minute And I want you to Take some notes on this part if you would this morning.

There's an awful lot of confusion out there in religious circles and especially Among the preachers,

I believe I think the preachers are more confused about this than the people are And so the people get confused by listening to different voices

What does the bible mean when it says the world? Have you ever wondered

I mean we've spoken about it from here before But I want to try to make it simple this morning because I don't think it's difficult

I think the most difficult problem that we have today is that we have lost good interpretative measures

We have not been taught how to properly interpret the scriptures How to use the context how to use the grammar?

How to use parallel passages in the bible other passages that teach the same thing the same truth

So that we can be sure what a certain word means there are many words that Have different meanings in the english language and certainly in the greek language

And the only way we can tell the meaning meaning is by the context that the word is found in And this word world

Certainly is such a word So I want to give you several uses of this word that are found in the scriptures

Because it comes to play in understanding this particular passage that we're in today Let me give you five different usages

And the only way you can tell which the true meaning of the word is is by the context

Now there is another word that can be translated world And that is the word aeon which sounds like eon in english

And that could be translated age So i'm not talking about that word that makes it easy if you go to the greek and you find out the word world means aeon

It just means the age But most of the places in the new testament. It's from the word cosmos

And this becomes difficult because this word can have several different meanings. Let me tell you what they are and i'll give you some scriptural examples

And then I want to come back to our verse here Where jesus says I am the light of the world and we'll see if we can figure out which word it means here

First of all, it can mean the ungodly lost world world Um, it can mean the seed of satan the ungodly lost world

Let me give you an excellent example of that second peter chapter 2 verse 5 And he spared not the old world

But saved noah the eighth person a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly

Another one so you we might call this the world of the ungodly Now sometimes in scripture all you'll see is a verse it'll say the word world in there

And you don't know what it means, but it means the world of the ungodly It can mean that and the only way you know

It is by the context whereas other verses make it very obvious such as second peter 2 5 It literally says the world of the ungodly.

So that's one kind of world that's spoken of in the bible You find that same world spoken of very clearly in first john 5 19

And the interesting thing about first john 5 19 is it uses the modifier whole world

It says the whole world and you would think by normal rules of grammar that that has to mean every human being in the world

But it does not mean every human being in the world and it's clear from the context The only way you can tell is by the context first.

John 5 19 and we know that we are of god And the whole world lieth in wickedness

Now if whole world meant every human being then it would also mean that all of god's children lie in the wicked one

And we know that's not true So the context teaches us that the word world in first.

John 5 19 is the world of the wicked the world of the ungodly Matthew i'm, sorry first.

John 3 and verse 1 Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of god therefore the world

Knoweth us not what world would you think that is? Is that every human? Well what humans does this refer to Someone tell me the lost world

The world knoweth us not because it knew him not so this world of people don't know god

Now it's interesting to put Matthew 7 23 together with it because turns around and says he doesn't know them either

In matthew 7 23 it says and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity

So this is a part of the world that never knew god And god never knew them or at least jesus says

I never knew them Never for all eternity past all eternity future and the present.

He doesn't know them Now this is the lost world. So that's one now.

Let me give you a second one A second meaning for the word world in the bible can mean the world of the elect

Just like we can mean the world of the lost The word world can mean only the world of the elect now

The word itself may not say that it may just say world But the context is what happened.

We have to go by to understand the difference Uh the world of the elect christ's seed or abraham's seed.

Let me give you some examples that are clear first john 4 14 And we have seen and do testify that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world

Whosoever shall confess that jesus is the son of god. God dwelleth in him and he in him

And we have known and believed the love that god hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwells in god and he in him now this defines very clearly who it is

That dwells in god and he in him uh We have known and believed the love that god hath to us the word us is very clearly born again people

Verse 17 herein is our love made perfect That we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world

Now verse 18 is a very peculiar verse. It's difficult to understand sometimes but it when you start

Taking it in the light of what we're studying this morning. It makes a lot of sense In fact what we're studying helps it make sense.

There is no fear in love But perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love

Do you know that the lost world is not made perfect in love? Because they don't have god's love

And so therefore they have fear and they have fear of torment And they sense within their hearts if they ever do give it any thought at all

That they don't have god's love upon their life and that they are not his And verse 19 says we love him because he first loved us.

The only reason we as his own children love him because he loved us Now when you see a verse like john 4 14 where it says that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world

How do we know what the word world means? It could mean the lost world

It could mean the elect world And then there are several others we'll get to in a minute that it could mean let me read to you

What arthur pink says about this a great writer um He's probably written the very best exposition on the book of john if you ever want a commentary just for the book of john

It's about that thick And it you go on a vacation sometime when you have time to read and just sit and read and it's like Bathing in the scriptures.

It's just an amazing This man's an amazingly clear writer, but arthur pink says this about this particular passage

It is true that in a number of instances the world has a restricted meaning

But these are not difficult to determine Either the context or parallel passages show us when the term is to be understood in its narrower sense

The principle of interpretation Is not an arbitrary one Um When something is predicated of the world, which is true only of the redeemed

Then we know it is only the world of believers which is in view So he makes it very simple.

He says if the topic is a topic That can only obviously be applied to saved people from all the other scriptures that you know in the bible

Then the word world means the world of the elect And uh many many great scholars of the past including arthur pink right

Have much to say about this, but there are some today who mock these phrases And uh, they say no, it's not that way

But I like to go back to the older writers. I think they had a little more sense now Look at second corinthians 5 19

I'll give you another one To wit that god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself

Not imputing their trespasses unto them Now many people in modern times have taken this to say that jesus christ god was in christ

Reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them now that part not imputing their trespasses to them is very important Because if you take the word world to mean every human being

Then it means that jesus christ's death Literally removed the sins of every human being and that their sin is no more imputed to them

Do you remember what imputed means from earlier studies we've done? It's kind of like an accounting term

And what jesus does with his own is he takes our sins and imputes them to himself and takes his righteousness imputes it to us

There's an exchange there Therefore we end up with the very righteousness of christ and he ended up with our very

Sinfulness and was crucified because of that There's an exchange an imputation

And so in second corinthians 5 19 many modern scholars believe this means that in christ

God reconciled the world. They mean every human being the whole world and that their sins are not uh imputed to them

Well the problem with that As as we could we'll see later in our passage in john chapter 8 jesus actually

Makes a statement that proves that to be wrong The problem with it is that if jesus died literally for the sins of every human being

And that therefore their sins were not imputed to them, but were in fact imputed to him while he was on the cross

Then if that human ever ends up in hell there has been a great breaking of the law and god himself broke it

Because that would be double jeopardy Now I know this is theological and and uh, that's not always the time sunday morning to get into that But i'm just saying

If jesus christ died for every human being in the world, I don't believe he did.

I believe he died for the elect It's no problem for god to know who they are since he chose them

I believe he died for the elect But if as the modern world teaches he loved everybody and he died for everybody

We have a major problem with that because those people are going to be in hell In fact, jesus said most of them.

He said narrow is the way and few there be that enter into the gates of heaven The great vast majority of the human race is going to end up in hell

And if jesus died for those people And their sins were not imputed to themselves, but to him on the cross

Then he died in vain for those people because they went to hell So they had jesus paid for their sin once and then they had to go pay for it again.

That ain't gonna happen If there's anything we know about our father he is just If there's anything we know about him is that he keeps his own rules because he chooses to and it pleases him to do so And so there's a great theological problem

By saying that jesus died for the whole world if what you mean by the world is every single human being

But it's not difficult if you understand as as most of the older writers understood that sometimes the world means the world of the lost

Sometimes it means the world of the elect Now, let me give you another one a third meaning for the word world is the cosmos in its literal meaning

Now cosmos means primarily order and arrangement It can be translated ornament or adornment

But it always carries the idea of order and arrangement It can speak of the earth and it can speak of the universe

In matthew 13 35 is a great example of this That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying

I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world

That obviously means the beginning of the earth or it could mean the foundation of god's universe including the earth

W .e vine the great greek scholar who wrote the book the expository dictionary of new testament words said this

It had this meaning among the greeks Owing to the order observable in it so if you read greek literature

Not scripture, but I mean just profane greek literature when you see the word cosmos used

It always means the universe Or the order of the universe or the order of the world the earth

And so that is the more more literal rendering of it and sometimes in the scripture That's what it means not all the time.

You have to tell the only way you can tell is by the context Let me give you a fourth meaning It can mean the entire human race now

This is where I want you to begin to pay attention because I think I can Uh teach you some things this morning that will eliminate any problem in your minds about some of these

More difficult verses that have the word world in them and who that means and who it replies who it applies to It can mean the human race according to vine once again

And vine gives these examples of places where it means the entire human race Matthew 5 14 you are the light of the world

Okay um A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid we as christians are supposed to be the light for the entire world

We don't know who the elect are We can't tell who they are until after the fact after they're saved and then sometimes we don't know sometimes we judge incorrectly

John 1 9 says that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

That's the human race John 3 16 now this this this is vine saying this this is not me

I'm going to tell you what I think about it in a minute, but this is what we vine includes john 3 16 in this section under The word world meaning the entire human race for god.

So loved the world We vine would translate that this way for god. So loved the human race

And all that god made That he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life

And then in verse 17, it says for god sent not his son into the world to condemn the world You see we see the word found many times the word world, but that the world through him might be saved

Vine says that means the human race And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil

And so we vine says that when jesus died on the cross he did it because he loved the human race

It doesn't mean that he died to save every individual because he knows not every individual will be saved

Only those that the father gives him as a love gift will be saved We don't know who they are. We have to preach the gospel to everyone because we're not god

But god knows who his children are and has always known his children and so Uh, jesus died because he loved the entire race and do you know what when god reached down and he saved that little remnant of humans

The flood is a perfect example of it Why did he save noah? It says noah was found righteous in the sight of the lord.

He found mercy and grace in the sight of the lord How did he do that? Was he perfect? Was noah a perfect man

Did he find grace in god's eyes by being a good person No, there were probably many a good person that drowned that day over the next few days

But he found grace in god's eyes because god loved the human race and he was saving it

Because the entire race would have been destroyed And when jesus died on the cross he did the same thing

God loved that which he made he created humans. He created men now This is what vine believes and and I don't believe he's far off at all

But I do believe the passage that we're studying this morning gives us even more light than that Vine goes on to say that there are many times it means the human race also in john 4 42

He says many times in romans first corinthians and first john the word world means the human race

It does not mean specific individuals, but it just means as a as a whole the human race

Let me give you a fifth thing the word world can mean and this is where we come into our passage this morning

And this is really something that only the jewish mind would understand unless we were taught about it To the jewish mind when jesus christ came and he said

I am the water of life They would tend to think that that meant for the jew

But when he comes back the next day and he stands And they've got the backdrop of the beautiful lighting of the whole city because the time of year it is

And he stands and he says I am the light of the world Do you know what the jew knew he meant by that?

And do you know why they got so angry at him? In fact, you go down to verse 59 you'll see how this whole story ends then took they up stones to cast at him

But jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by Have you ever hidden from somebody by going through the middle of them?

That's what he did You know why because it wasn't his time yet But uh

Why were they so angry? Because he said i'm the light of the world now to the jew, what did that mean the word world meant the gentile world

And to them that was in a bad context. It's like when we christians say worldly worldly people, you know

That's in a bad context But when the jews said the world they meant the gentile nations of the world

And jesus said i'm not only the light for the jew I'm, not only the water for the jew and i'm not only the light for the jew, but i'm the light for the gentile, too

I am the light of the entire human race both jew and gentile

That's what they thought he meant and so therefore that's what I think he meant I think he was speaking to them part of interpreting the bible correctly is

Sometimes looking at the context and looking to see who he's speaking to and what he's talking about And so I believe he meant the word world.

He meant not only the jew, but also The gentile there are many places where we see this very clearly in romans chapter 11 verse 12

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world And the diminishing of them the riches of the gentiles how much more their fullness?

So we see we're talking about the jew and the gentile and then in verse 15 of romans chapter 11 It says for if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world

What shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead speaks of the reconciling of the gentile?

Part of the human race as well as the jewish part of the human race The word world interestingly enough is only used 15 times in all of the first three gospels

Matthew mark and luke the reason is because they give jesus as a backdrop against the jewish nation, so they don't talk about the world

But in john where jesus is being revealed as who he is in essence the very son of god

The word world is used 77 times It presents christ as who he is in essence in his own person.

John treats the deity of christ And as god he is the creator of all and therefore the light and the life of all of his creatures

Well, I think john, uh Uses this sense of world to emphasize to the jew that the gentile nations are not excluded from god's plan

And I believe you know if you take that you go on into john chapter 3 verse 16, it makes it very clear

If you have a theological problem and you say well if he loved the whole world If that means he loved every single individual and died for every single individual

Then his death was in vain for many when they go to hell if you have that theological problem The answer of it is to understand that when he said

I love the world. He means to the jew. I don't just love the jew I love mine throughout the entire human race

I came and I loved the human race so much. I died to salvage it because had we not had the ark

Which is a picture of jesus we would have had no human race The race would all have ended up in hell

And so he saved the race because he loved the race and I I really believe that is the best

Interpretation not only the human race but to the jew he's also telling them the race includes gentiles, too

To me that clears up a lot of things Now, let's go back to this idea First of all in john 1 4 he says in him was life and the life was the light of men

In john 1 29 he says the next day John saw jesus coming unto him and saith behold the lamb of god that taketh away the sin of the world

That can't mean every human in the world It means in the world of his elect

But it also means his elect are found throughout the human race among jews and gentiles

First john 2 1 is another very important place where we see that the word world is

Teaching the jew that it can mean the gentile as well John 2 1 my little children these things write

I unto you that you sin not And if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous

And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world

Now you see a lot of people take that idea of propitiation To mean that he is the propitiation for the whole world meaning every individual now if it means that it means god's wrath is satisfied

With respect to every single human, which means there is no hell Everybody would be saved if that were true.

So it cannot mean that and yet a lot of people don't stop to think about it What it has to mean in this context is that he is not only the propitiation for us saved jews

But also for the elect throughout the human race the gentile nations, too And so there are several examples now

How does that fit in with the study of the tabernacles that we're studying? Last sunday in the day.

Well, remember that the rabbis believe that the 70 bullocks That are offered during the tabernacles represent the 70 gentile nations that would eventually be brought under the light of god

And so jesus when he says i'm the light of the world to the jew that means i'm the light of the jew

And he said to the gentile also and that's when they picked up the stones They don't like that They don't like the fact that he says that because to them it doesn't fit what they already believed about god

They had been taught to believe that god was the god of the jew the god of the jewish nation And to them jesus was conflicting with what they had been taught all their lives

And yet jesus is telling them the very truth The old testament attests to the fact that jesus was the savior of the world

Both the jew and the gentile in many places Isaiah 42 6 said

I the lord hath called thee in righteousness And will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light to the gentiles

Rise with healing in the beams of light And ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall so the jews had this information

But when jesus claimed that he was it that I am that light they picked up the stones to kill him

Now what that brings us to is what we're going to discuss next sunday The spiritual darkness that you have when you don't have spiritual light

I believe that at the first of verse 12 when he says i'm the light of man He's talking about the light of intellect the light of conscience

The light that makes a human different than an animal and every single human has that But at the end of this of the sentence

He says but shall have the light of life. Not every human has that Only the elect get that And that is the light of salvation

And so in between those two lights Is a terrible thing And is the darkness

That one has who has never given the light And that's what we'll discuss next sunday

And It is it is not a pleasant discussion Is it it is a discussion of what a natural man is like when he doesn't have the light of jesus christ in his life

This morning What we should do is close this Message By praising god each one of us for that time in our life

The time and the place where the light was turned on many of you can remember that time

I can remember it. I was in my car on the way to work one morning between hueco and mejia

And you can remember where you were perhaps And that light was turned on and we were taken from the world of darkness into the world of light

Into his marvelous light and it's never been the same since has it? I want to close this morning by Reading to you an old testament passage that relates to this festival

This entire fall festival is spent teaching the children about the light and the water

Isn't that a beautiful thing? Wouldn't it be interesting to spend a week? Staying what if you took your week off?

during the feast of the tabernacles And you got a tent now you at you go home and ask your children if they would enjoy this now

I know what you're thinking you adults and I know what we're thinking but ask your kids. Would you enjoy this? We'll get a tent

And we'll go out somewhere take a week off We'll go to the park or out by the lake and we'll put that tent up and we will dwell in tents for a week

And during that week we're going to discuss water and light And what jesus christ is to us and we're also going to do some fishing and Camp out.

Do you think the kids would enjoy that? I'll bet you they'd like that better than going trick -or -treating Well, did you know that all of these feasts are going to be coming back in the millennial period

I want to read you a section that specifically speaks about the feast of the tabernacles

And I want you to notice how it mentions water and light In the passage we'll close with this this morning just if you'd like to look up zechariah 14 1

And read along with me All throughout the millennial period for a thousand years the feast of the tabernacles will be kept by all both the jew and the gentile

The jews and the gentiles will keep this feast and it lists many other feasts that we will all keep

But they will be kept as a memorial Looking back at the cross looking back at jesus as he stood there that day and said

I am the light of the world I am the water of life Zechariah 14 1 behold the day of the lord cometh now that sets the setting doesn't it?

We're talking about the second coming is about to come I don't think it's that far away from from our vantage point

So it is not that many days before This will take place I believe our vantage point will be a spiritual one from the heavenlies as we serve the lord after the rapture

But there will be others who go through the tribulation period and are left alive at the end of it The entire jewish nation that is still alive at the end of it will go right into the millennial period those same people

And we'll go into that thousand year reign Behold the day of the lord cometh the spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee

For I will gather all nations against jerusalem to battle. Have you read any of that in the newspaper this week?

If you've read the newspaper you have And the city shall be taken and the houses rifled

And the women ravished and half of the city shall go forth into captivity and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city

Then shall the lord go forth Wow Capital l capital o capital r capital d jehovah

The lord jesus christ shall go forth and fight against those nations As when he fought in the day of battle and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of olives a literal return to this earth

By the lord jesus his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of olives

Which is before jerusalem on the east and the mount of olives shall cleave in the midst thereof

Toward the east and toward the west the mountain shall split in half When he sets foot on it

And there shall be a very great valley created by this And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half towards the south and it shall come to pass in that day that the

Light shall now listen to this the light shall not be clear nor dark But it shall be one day which shall be known to the lord not day nor night

But it shall come to pass that at evening time. It shall still be light.

Why do you think that is? Because the light of the world is giving off the light. It's the lord.

Jesus christ And it shall be in that day. Look at this that living waters

Do you see how the jews for thousands of years have had this festival of the tabernacles where they did the pouring of the water?

And the lighting of the temple the pouring of the water and the lighting of the temple every year They had to teach about the living water and about the light of the world

And this all coming up to their millennial kingdom, which is predominantly It's it's jewish in the sense that jesus sets up his sovereign rule in jerusalem

It all points towards this and it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from jerusalem

Half of them toward the former sea and half of them toward the henderson I suppose that's the mediterranean sea in the in the dead

Sea in the summer and in winter shall it be This water shall run all the time in the summer and in the winter

It will always be there always flowing like a fountain of life And the lord shall be king over all the earth in that day shall there be one lord and his name one

And men shall dwell in it and there shall be no more utter destruction But jerusalem shall be safely inhabited

And this shall be the plague where with the lord will smite all the people that have fought against jerusalem

Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets

That's a perfect picture of a neutron bomb Neutron bomb doesn't destroy anything

Physical like buildings or concrete But it destroys flesh. It just disintegrates all flesh

Clinton just gave the neutron bomb to china in the last three years We were the only nation that had it and now red china has it because clinton gave it to them

Now who do you think may send this over? To the world this particular thing that makes this happen

Perhaps it'll be the chinese, you know, maybe maybe it'll be us that sends a few out. You never know But it says when this happens their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet before their corpse can hit the ground

Their flesh will be gone. They'll just be bones And their eyes will be dissolved out of the eye sockets And it says it's the lord that is smiting these people who fought against jerusalem

And their tongue shall consume away in their mouth Before they hit the ground And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the lord shall be among them

And they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor

Do you see anything like that going on right now over in israel? neighbors fighting neighbors

I love the way they always say the palestinians are throwing stones and the israelis are shooting them And yet you watch the film you can see shooting going both directions

They want to picture the the palestinians like they're just chunking rocks And judah

Also shall fight at jerusalem And the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together gold and silver and apparel in great abundance

I guess to fund this battle And so shall the plague of the horse the mule and the camel and the ass and all the beasts that shall be in these tents as this plague

And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all nations Which came against jerusalem now, this is at the end of the battle of armageddon going into the millennial period

Shall even go up from year to year now all that is left of all the gentile nations

It says shall go up from year to year to worship the king the lord of hosts and to keep the feast of tabernacles

Isn't that amazing? It specifically mentions this one feast They'll go up every year all of the gentiles from the whole world that are left in the millennial kingdom will go

Every year and the men of those nations will go And keep the feast of tabernacles

Before the lord in jerusalem that tells me there may not be a whole lots of people left after that war Because if all the men from all the nations the whole world can fit in that one little town of jerusalem

That's a fairly large town, but they will go up from year to year And keep the feast of the tabernacles

And it shall be that whoso will not keep come up from all the families of the earth. You see the word families

That's the gentile nations Unto jerusalem to worship the king the lord of hosts even upon them

Shall be no rain So very clear it goes off into the millennial period in the future

Everyone will be keeping these feasts, but the specific one mentioned there is the feast of tabernacles that we've just studied and It will be a memorial of the wanderings

Of mankind throughout the wilderness until they got the water and they saw the light

They received the water And they saw the light of the world And we'll be doing that throughout for a thousand years and remembering what god has done for us remembering the provision of the lord

And that's what this feast pictures now as far as best I can tell we've now studied all the feasts

And uh My goal in that entire thing was to help us to see that if we would take some time during the appropriate time of the year to Teach our children what these feasts picture

It'll be far more meaningful to them than the pagan Feasts and festivals that have been placed into our lives through the roman catholic church and the pagan religions

That was my whole point in this whole study, and I think everybody knows that at this point but uh

Isn't it a beautiful backdrop against which to teach or to see jesus standing up and saying

I am the water of life And I am the light of the world Now we won't discuss the feast anymore.

Uh this feast anymore next time, but I do want to go in and finish the passage And john ate and talk about the darkness

That is uh present when there is no light from jesus No saving light and then we'll end up the study

Uh studying on the light of salvation, which is a different kind of light than the light of intellect

So let's stand and we'll be dismissed this morning Brother russell, would you dismiss us?