John 8:12 I Am the Light of the World 7/11/2004 ßà
#1. I Am (John 6:35, 7:29, 8:12, 10:7, 11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1, 18:5-6, Ex 3:14)
#2. Ye Shall Die in Your Sins (John 8:21,24, Jer 29:13, Rom 8:28)
#3. Then Shall Ye Know That I AM (John 8:28-29, 12:32, Phil 1:6)
Please open your Bibles to the Gospel According to John 8:6 (2X). Today we are covering verses 12-32 in this chapter. The sermon today is titled, I Am the Light of the World (2X), words taken from John 8:12. As most of you know, last week I gave a sermon on the 1st eleven verses of John 8. The scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman who was caught in committing adultery. I want to bring up verse 6 again. Here we see that the scribes and Pharisees were conspiring to bring:
Joh 8:6 This they
said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down,
and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
They tempted Jesus into saying something, with which they could accuse
Him. We look at it from a distance, and we say within ourselves, “What a dumb
idea to tempt the Lawgiver Himself with a violation of the Law, especially
if the Lawgiver is God Himself! What a perversity to rebel against God!
What blindness!” And then we see that they were totally in the dark
about who Jesus is? Why did they not recognize Him as the Messiah who was promised
all throughout the OT? They were the experts of the OT. But they did not know
Him because they did not see Him with the eyes of faith. God says in Heb 4:2,
“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as
unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with
faith in them that heard it”. The
shepherds in
Joh 8:12 ¶ 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.
Joh 8:13 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou
bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
Joh 8:14 Jesus
answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my
record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell
whence I come, and whither I go.
Joh 8:15 Ye judge
after the flesh; I judge no man.
Joh 8:16 And yet if
I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that
sent me.
Joh 8:17 It is also
written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.
Joh 8:18 I am one
that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Joh 8:19 Then said
they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my
Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
Joh 8:20 These words
spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands
on him; for his hour was not yet come.
Joh 8:21 ¶ Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way,
and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
Joh 8:22 Then said
the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
Joh 8:23-24 And he
said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I
am not of this world. I said
therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that
I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Joh 8:25-26 Then
said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same
that I said unto you from the beginning. I
have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I
speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
Joh 8:27 They
understood not that he spake to them of the Father.
Joh 8:28 Then said
Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that
I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath
taught me, I speak these things.
Joh 8:29-30 And he
that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always
those things that please him. As
he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31-32 ¶ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed
on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
The Lord Jesus used the incident with the adulterous woman as an example, to show how what is
the Light that He was referring to. Christ as the Light of men is the appropriate symbol of spiritual illumination wrought by Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit. For example, God says in 2Cor 4:6, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. And thus it is “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” that we must have received from God, and we receive it by grace. The scribes and Pharisees did not receive this spiritual illumination, they remained in the dark, and so they left. The woman and the disciples of Jesus had received this spiritual illumination, and so they stayed around Him. Let us now consider verse 12 again. Jesus said:
#1. I AM (John 6:35, 7:29, 8:12, 10:7, 11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1, 18:5-6, Ex 3:14)
These are two most important words. The Lord Jesus Christ is the great
I AM. This is prominently shown in the Gospel of John. Please turn a
few pages to your left, to John 6:35 (2X), and let me show you 9
examples of Jesus Christ as the great “I AM”. Here is #1. Jesus said, “I Am the
bread of life”. Joh 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the
bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst”. Jesus indicated that in the wilderness the
manna that came from Heaven was a picture of Christ as the Bread from Heaven. #2.
Please turn to John 7:29 (2X). There we see another I Am. Joh 7:29, “But I know
Him: for I am from Him, and He hath sent me”. Here Jesus
indicated, “I AM” from above and you are from below; I came down
from Heaven, and you came from your father Adam, who was made from the dust of
the ground”. Every single one of these “I AM” statements is pointing to the
Lord Jesus Christ as God. #3. Please turn to John 8:12
(2X). Joh 8:12, “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. Jesus said “I Am the light of
the world”. But we also read in 1John 1:5, that God is light. So, Jesus said
that He is God. #4. Please turn to John 10:7 (2X). Here
Jesus said that He is the Door unto salvation. Joh 10:7, “Then said
Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of
the sheep”. If Jesus is the Door, and Jesus also said, “I and the Father are
One”, then it follows that “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me”,
which means again that Jesus Christ is God Himself. #5. Please turn
to John 10:11 (2X). There the Lord Jesus pointed to all the sheep for
whom He was going to atone for their sins. He said in, Joh 10:11, “I
am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”. He
was referring here to Psalm 23:1, where God says, “Jehovah is my
Shepherd”, and thus again Jesus Christ is Jehovah. #6. Please
turn to John 11:25 (2X). Here Jesus claimed to be God on the basis
of what He is doing. Joh 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live”. How can the dead believe? Of course the dead cannot do
anything except if God first made them alive. But no one else can give life,
except God. #7. Please turn now to John 14:6 (2X). We have
touched on this one already. Joh 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me”. This is a necessary result of Jesus’ statement, “I and the Father are
One”, which means that Jesus and the Father are One God. #8. Please
turn to John 15:1 (2X). Here the Lord Jesus claimed to be the
only True Vine, referring to a perfect grape vine. Joh 15:1,
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman”. Here the vineyard
is not left in the hands of men, but God Himself is the vinedresser. God’s
providence arranges everything in and around this vine, because it is a part of
God Himself. #9. Please turn to John 18:5 (2X). Jesus is
being arrested in the
And so we see that by these two words “I AM” the Lord Jesus
affirmed His Deity, because these words refer to the literal meaning of
Jehovah, which means “I Am that I Am”. We read in Ex 3:14, “And God said
unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children
of
Joh 8:12 ¶ 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.
“Then spake Jesus again unto them”. Who was this referring
to? The Lord Jesus was teaching His disciples and all those who wanted to hear
Him when He was rudely interrupted by the scribes and Pharisees, who brought
before Him this woman caught in the act of adultery. Now Jesus resumed His
teaching. He was provoked, but it did not affect His focus: He came to
teach the Gospel to the nation of
Joh 8:12 ¶ 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.
Who are those that follow Him? They are those who have been saved.
God the Holy Spirit has given them a “Born Again” soul and has given
them faith, because the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the guilt for all their sins
on
The unregenerate have light. They are capable of weighing moral
issues. They have a conscience which either accuses or excuses them. God says
in Rom 2:15, “Which shew the work of the
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another”. They also have the capability to recognize all the
evidences which testify to the existence and the attributes of our Great
Creator, so that they are without excuse. God says in Rom 1:19-20,
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath
shewed 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, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse”. But spiritual light they do not
have. Therefore, although they have moral discernment and intelligence in
worldly matters, spiritually they are in darkness. This was the reason the Lord
Jesus said, “he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life”. The implication is that the world of the unregenerate
is in spiritual darkness. They do not recognize their priorities. They do not
see the true character of God, or the worth of their souls, or the judgment to
come. And so, what does it mean to follow Christ? It is to commit
ourselves without reservation to Him as our only Savior and Lord in our doctrine
and in our conduct in this world. And to all those who faithfully serve
Him the Lord Jesus promised, “Ye shall have the light of life”. It means
that we can trust Him. It means that He will never let us down. It means that
Christ will be faithful to those who are His faithful servants. You may have
heard the rumor, “The church is dead. You must leave your church, or
else you will come under condemnation”. This is an outright lie. Christ
will be faithful to those churches who serve Him faithfully. He will not
abandon those who put their trust in Him, because He has promised, “he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”.
We can examine ourselves and receive the assurance that Christ
promised here. Now let us turn
#2. Ye Shall Die in Your Sins (John 8:21,24, Jer 29:13, Rom 8:28)
Joh 8:21 ¶ Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my
way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye
cannot come.
What ominous words! To whom did the Lord Jesus speak these words? The answer is in V. 24,
John 8:24, I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins
Three times in these two verses does the Lord Jesus say, “Ye shall
die in your sins”. What do we see here? Having refused the Light of the
world, they shall continue in darkness. Having despised the only Savior,
they shall die in their sins. Having rejected the Son of God, it shall
be impossible for them to come where He has gone. These scribes and Pharisees
had come to listen to the most gracious preacher that ever lived. They
have heard the Gospel from the lips of God Himself. They have seen
the most wonderful miracles that were ever performed on this earth. They knew
all the OT Scriptures which prophesied of these events. And yet they remained
unsaved, hardened in their heart, and developed a hatred for the Lord Jesus to
the point of willing to commit a murder. They were like the children of
But now we are also puzzled by the statement in verse 21, “ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins”. How can we harmonize this with what we find in Jer
29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart”? Obviously these two verses say quite the
opposite of each other. When do these two verses apply? The sovereignty of God
is prominently in view here. To those who are God’s elect Christ would never
say, “ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins”, because God knows
that they shall not die in their sins. On the other hand, to those who are
reprobate Christ would never say, “And ye shall seek me, and find me,
when ye shall search for me with all your heart”, because God knows that
they will never find Him. Therefore, since Jesus knew that these scribes and
Pharisees were among the reprobate, therefore said He unto them, “Whither I
go ye cannot come”. Did they understand His words? No! For whom did
God record these words? For US! God is reminding us once again that He
is sovereign. But these reprobate scribes and Pharisees were there for a
reason. They were there to cause Jesus to be crucified on our behalf. They
were there within the plan of God, who orchestrated all these events. And God
determined that Christ must be crucified in order to atone for our sins,
so that salvation for His elect will come. And that is the good that flows
forth from everything that comes to pass around us. That is why God could say
in Rom 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”.
Even when we come across dreadful verses such as John 8:21, we can still be
comforted by these. Then Jesus said
Joh 8:23 And he said
unto them, Ye are from beneath; I AM from above: ye are of this world; I
am not of this world.
“I AM from above”. Here is
another one of the “I AM” statements of the Lord Jesus, confirming to us
His Deity. Then He said, “ye are of this world; I AM not of this world”. Most churches these days
believe that we presently live in a church age. But when the Rapture of the
believers has come then Christ will usher in a Jewish age of 1000 years wherein
Christ will personally reign from Jerusalem and all the blood descendants of
Jacob will be evangelizing the world for Christ. There are many problems with
this idea. First of all, the entire NT does not support this idea. God does
not lie when He says in John 1:13, “which were born, not of blood”,
meaning “not by bloodline”. God does not poor His favors on someone
because he happens to be a blood descendent of Jacob. No one goes to Heaven on
the coattails of one of his ancestors. The remnant chosen by grace does not
follow certain bloodlines, but is entirely according to the good pleasure of
His will. God chose His elect people out of every tribe, and nation, and
tongue, and people. Secondly, God does not lie when He says in Gal
3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus”. God
does not have two different plans of salvation, one for the Jews and one for
the Gentiles. Moreover, the Lord Jesus stated in John 8:23, “I AM not
of this world”. The Lord Jesus repeated this statement in John 18:36,
where He said, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this
world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the
Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence”. We need to keep in mind that
on this earth Christ’s Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom. As long as we live on
this side of eternity we live on a sin-cursed earth, which must be destroyed
because the heathen have defiled it. Christ would not be pleased at all to set
up a kingdom on this dunghill. But for cockroaches a dunghill is a
beautiful place with plenty of food. It is only after we have arrived on the
other side of eternity that we will fully agree with God to destroy this
dunghill. Let us now turn to verse 28.
#3. Then Shall Ye Know That I AM (John 8:28-29, 12:32, Phil 1:6)
Joh 8:28 Then said
Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that
I
am, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I
speak these things.
When you have lifted up the cross on which I will be crucified, then shall you know that I AM. The word “he” is in italics, so I can leave it out. Again here is one of the “I AM” statements of Jesus, confirming that He is God. And not only that He is God, but also that those who have lifted Him up shall know that He is God. Historically we do not see this prophecy fulfilled. There is no record of the salvation of all the Roman soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross and lifted up the cross. But who nailed Jesus to the cross? We nailed Him to the cross. It was for our sins that He had to be crucified. This is the only way Jesus’ statement in verse 28 can be satisfied. Moreover, Jesus spoke of His crucifixion also in this way in John 12:32. Please turn to John 12:32 (2X). There the Lord Jesus said,
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all (men) unto me.
Who are the “all men” that Jesus would draw unto
Him? This could not refer to all the males in the world. The word “men” is in
italics. Even so, the Lord Jesus would not draw everyone in the world to
Himself after His crucifixion. Only a remnant chosen by grace will be drawn to
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died for their sins. And so
just like the word “world”, we see here another word, the word “all”, that must
be interpreted based on the context. It is true that many have been and still will be drawn to the Lord Jesus as
their Savior, but it still is only a remnant chosen by grace. Please turn again
to John 8:29 (2X), and here the Lord Jesus said, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me
alone; for I do always those things that please him”. This enormous principle applies both to Christ and to
US. Just like Christ was not abandoned by the Father, so Christ will not leave
us alone. He will not abandon us. “Being confident of this very thing, that
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of
Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). He will not abandon His faithful servants.
We can be very confident of this very thing. When Christ said, “I Am the
Light of the World”, He committed thereby to be our Light in this
world, so that we will always do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
And therefore He will never leave us nor forsake us.
AMEN. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.