Just Follow the Light - John 8:12-30 - Kairo Worship

• Remember the last time I spoke, I gave you all this background on the Feast of Tabernacles?
• I told you it was time for families to gather in Jerusalem to gather in these little booths that they set up for themselves, as a way to remember all that the Lord did for their Israelites when God rescued them from Egypt, and brought them into the desert for 40 years.
• And one of the things that was big was the whole ceremony to remember when God provided water from the Rock in the desert.
• And the way they commemorated this was to draw water from the Pool of Siloam every morning in a very festive celebration, people clapping and dancing and crying out “Save us, o Lord!”
• And at the climax of the celebration, Jesus stands up and says “If anyone is Thristy, let him come to me and drink.”
• Jesus totally interrupts the party, but at a time when it was so opportune because the picture before them was such a perfect analogy for who Jesus is… the Satisfying, life-giving, source of water.

• Well Jesus just has this ability to find the perfect moment for these claims that were so revealing of who he is.
• I say that because in this passage, he’s at it again!
• Setting: Still at the Feast of Tabernacles. Jewish families from all regions still gathered in celebration.
• Scene: The Temple court in Jerusalem. And now another big ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles.
• After the sun sets, two giant candelabra (two Menorahs, as in the PICTURE), were lit and they illuminated the whole the temple court. The giant lamps in the temple is said to even cast its light over the city of Jerusalem and the darkness was penetrated.
• It was a reminder each year that during the wilderness wandering the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night accompanied the people when they left Egypt until they crossed over Jordan into the Promised Land.
• Jesus stands up in the Temple courts, as people commemorate the light provided by God, and he shouts out in v. 12:
• V. 12…"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
• Jesus makes this bold claim to be the light of the World.
• Today, I want to look at this passage and answer the question: What does light do?
• I Hope our understanding of Light as Jesus understood it will teach us more about who Jesus is.

What does light do?
1. Light reveals and enlightens
• VIDEO: Not being able to understand.
• Now Jesus really exposes their ignorance and their lack of understanding. It’s clear from this point on that some of the Jews there talking with Jesus have NO CLUE whatsoever what’s going on or what Jesus is saying.
• Let me show you.
1. For example, in v. 14 Jesus makes known where he has come from and where he’s going back to.
• But he says “you have no idea where I come from or where I am going”.
• He acknowledges in the same verse that they have no clue what he’s talking about
2. In v. 18, he tells them his witness is the Father.
• Then the clueless Jews say in v. 19, “Where is your Father?” Thinking he’s some human dad in Jerusalem.
3. In v. 21 Jesus tells them that he’s going to go away, and where he goes, they cannot go.
• And then they say, “Will he kill himself”? What does he mean we can’t go?
4. Then Jesus says in v. 24, “If you do not believe I am who I say I am, you will die.”
• Then they say, “Who are you?”
5. Then in v. 25 Jesus says, “I am who I’ve been saying I am. I tell you what the One who has sent me has told me.”
• And once again it says they did not understand who Jesus was talking about, that he was talking about the Father in heaven.
• It’s clear that the Jews are totally in “The dark” about who Jesus is and what he’s saying.
• I mean, come on. How clueless could these guys be? It’s clear to us that Jesus is saying that his Father is God in heaven, that he is the Son of God. And no, he’s not going to kill himself, he’s going to die and resurrect and ascend back into heaven. And who is he? He’s the Christ, the messiah who has come to them from the Father.
• If you weren’t so sinful, you would see that! Would you?
• To be honest, if I put myself in their sandals, I don’t know if I would get it right away either.
• I mean, if you go back and read what he says, it’s kind of hard to gather all that without assuming what we know now.
• EX: I remember in 5th grade, our teacher did this object lesson to teach us about how to give good instructions and not to ASSUME the other people understand all that you understand.
• She asked us to write down instructions for her on how to make a Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich.
• Some would write: Put the peanut butter on the bread. Put the Jelly on the bread. Put the bread together.
• Others would write: Put the peanut butter on one side of the bread. But the jelly on the peanut butter. Eat.
• Her point was clear: Don’t assume understands what you understand.
• For us, the Pharisees and Jewish leaders didn’t have the wealth of information we have now, with the New Testament that we have and all the four Gospels that we’ve read over and over and, oh yeah, and the 2000 years of Christian tradition passed down to us!
• In this conversation, Jesus basically lays out the Gospel:
• He says he is the Christ
• He comes from the God the Father in Heaven
• He will die and resurrect and be exalted to heaven.
• They will go to hell if they do not put their faith in Him.
• But he says all these things without saying any of those things!
• If you look at it, we just assume he’s saying all those things because of what we already know!
• But put yourself in their shoes, and you too just might be like, “Eh?”

• But here’s the grace of God that gives me hope.
• In v. 30, after all the confusing language and difficult claims that Jesus makes, it says, “Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him”.
• What in the world? How is that? How is it that some of these people actually get it?

• Here’s how: The Light Reveals it to them.
• I believe that Jesus will reveal truth to those he will reveal truth to. Those that the Father allows to know the truth, those that the Spirit enlightens, those that see the Light of Christ.
• V. 30 proves to me that Jesus meant it in Ch. 6 when he says that no one will come to him unless the Father grants it.
• It proves to me that Paul wasn’t joking when he said in 1 Cor. 2 that “these things God has revealed to us by the Spirit of God” and that these rulers did not understand otherwise they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
• Guys, that is the Grace of our Lord Jesus. That Jesus would shed his revealing Light upon you. That he would reveal and enlighten truth to you in a way so that you’d get it. That’s what light does.
• EX: It’s kind of like the parables, where to some it was super confusing, but to others, they got it.
• Jesus says, to those who had hard hearts, they would never understand. Though hearing, they never hear.
• But Jesus said that those who were given the ears to hear, would hear. Those He gives light to, will see.
WE NEED JESUS, WE NEED THE LIGHT TO REVEAL
• EX: This week I was thinking about baby Evan. And I have to tell you that it’s kind of scary being a 1st time parent. Like seriously, I freak out about trying to figure out what we’re supposed to do, and what we’re not supposed to do. Like seriously, what if I do something terribly wrong? I was think this week about how utterly dependent Evan is on us. Like for example, how do we know if he’s burning up, or if he’s freezing cold? Like what is a baby’s bodily temperature like? I asked the nurse, and she said, “Oh, he’s human like you. So if you’re hot, he’s probably hot. If you’re cold, he’s probably cold too.” I said, “Oh, simple!”
• Problem is, there were so many nights this week where Monica’s like burning up, and I was actually cold because we had the A/C pumping. If Monica’s human, and I’m human, then which human is this human like? Is he hot, or is he cold?
• And I thought about it… it really stinks for Evan. He has no ability whatsoever, to help himself; to cover himself if he was cold, or to strip off blankets if he was hot. He doesn’t know how to.
• It doesn’t even cross his mind. He simply just cannot know how to adjust himself.
• He is utterly incompetent on his own. He has no clue how to do any of these things.

• At some point in our Christian lives, the bible says we are like infants who need to grow in our knowledge and understanding. But even before that, we are like fetuses who have no clue what the truth is, unless God opens up our understanding for us. He has to do enlighten us. We cannot figure it out on our own!
• You can study and investigate all you want, which you should do if you’re a non-believer. But ultimately God needs to reveal the truth and enlighten you with his light.
• You might think you get it here (in your mind), but God needs to enlighten you here (in your heart), so that you could understand it in a way where you actually embrace the truth as life.
• Jesus says “I AM the Light of the World. Follow me, and you will not walk in darkness.”
• For those of you who believe, you might be thinking, “It’s easy. The Gospel is so simple. Jesus died for my sins.”
• But realize, you were once a spiritual fetus that had no clue as to what the truth was.
• Can I remind you how much light Christ has shed on you. Think about how much grace was given to you.
• Do this for me right now. Take a step back. Peanut Butter Jelly time.
• You believe:
• There is only One God, but he’s three completely different persons.
• God, the indescribable, creator of the heavens and earth became man.
• God, the man, was born of a virgin, just divinely conceived, dwelling in a woman was God
• He turns 2 fish/5 loaves of bread to feed 5000 men, he spit in a dude’s eye and caused him to see! He walked on water.
• He died on a cross, and that death covers all the billions of sins committed… every sin your believing grandfather ever committed, every sin your believing grandchild will commit.
• You bank your eternity, you altar your life, on this understanding.
• And not only does he die, but resurrects! Not right away, 3 stinking days later!
• And he doesn’t just resuscitate, he goes up into heaven and all of a sudden this man beaten to death by man, is ruler over man AND all angels and demons and spirits in this universe.
• It’s foolishness I tell you!
• Please DO NOT tell me that that is easy for any normal human being to understand. Please do not try to tell me you understand that on your own.
• Somehow, God has enlightened you. The Light of Christ has revealed to you the truth, he’s opened your eyes to see.
• You could not do it on your own, you were completely helpless.
• You were a spiritual fetus before you were born again.
• But by the grace of God, like some of those guys in v. 30, you saw the Light and you were enabled to put your faith in him.
• Light reveals, and Light enlightens. Praise Jesus! Now, what else does light do?

2. Light leads and guides
• Jesus says “I am the Light of the World.” This is one of Jesus’ 7 “I AM” statements.
• In Exodus 3, God reveals himself to Moses and tells him to tell the people who he is.
• Moses says, “What shall I tell them when they ask who sent me?” And God said, “Tell them, I AM who I AM”. I AM is my name. IAM has sent you.
• It was the holy name of God. I AM was the God that was among them.
• And then I AM, or as we know it, YAHWEH, makes himself known physically by appearing before them in a Cloud by day, and a great Fire by night.
• His light from that fire was to guide them as they traveled through the dark wilderness.
• It was the presence of God among them, the light that led them and guided them.

• Here, Jesus comes among the people, and all of a sudden, in the midst of this great lighting ceremony that was lit in celebration to remember the time when Yahweh, the Great I AM, was among them shining his light…
• Jesus stands up once again and proclaims, “I AM the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
• AGAIN. Jesus, the boldness and audacity of the guy, claims to be the TRUE GOD who is among them, the Light of the World.

• What does light do? Light provides leading and guidance for those in darkness.
• What did God do for Israel? He led and guided them in the darkness.
• So if Jesus is the light, in what way is he the light?
• Jesus leads and guides the people into God’s truth.
• He is saying that in Him is truth. He is THE truth, personified. And if we follow after him, we will never walk in darkness. We will be saved from the darkness of sin and corruption.

• Now I want to point out something from this passage. Salvation is not one time belief in the truth. It is a lifetime of following.
• It isn’t just knowing, it’s doing. Just like we’ve learned before.
• Notice that Jesus says, that whoever “follows me”, will never walk in darkness.
• Whoever walks in the light, will not be in darkness. But the idea here is that we must be walking and following!
• EX: When we were in Taiwan, we went to a national park and decided to take a hike. ON the trail were these long tunnels cut through the mountain. It was already getting kind of dark outside, so when we entered these tunnels, it was absolutely black. Like, blacker than black. Have you ever been in a cave where there is absolutely no light? It’s the most eerie thing.
• Where you literally could not see your hand in front of your face. And I remember Monica was freaking out because it was getting dark, AND we’d have to go through these tunnels to get back.
• If I had a light, it makes little use for Monica to say “I Believe You have a light!” and that’s it.
• It wouldn’t even be of use for her to say, “I believe that you have the light, and you are the only way for me to get out of here safely!”
• The only way she would be able to escape the darkness, would be if she made the active decision to follow me step by step. To follow the light.
• When I turn right, she turns right. When I turn left, she turns left.
• If she follows me, and as long as she follows me, she will not walk in darkness. She will be walking in light.
• Jesus says “follow me”.
o Let me ask you, does he ever say “Acknowledge me”? Yes
o Matt 10:32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.
o Does he ever say “Believe in Me”? Yes
o John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”
o But here he extends to the truth by saying you must ALSO follow me. Walk with me.
o If you follow him, you also acknowledge him and you also believe in him.
o This command to follow is the greatest commandment because it presupposes that you are already believing and have already acknowledged him.
• EX: Driving a car.
o I can tell you that in order to drive a car, you must have a key.
o I can also say that in order to drive a car, you must start the car.
o Which are both true. But you can have either of those, and you can still to be driving a car!
o But if I say, in order to drive a car, you must be able to press the gas peddle to move a car, it is the ultimate requirement.
o It’s true that you need a key, and it’s true that you must start the car. These are absolutely necessary. But if you don’t press the gas peddle, the car ain’t moving!
• We must believe, we must acknowledge that Jesus is the truth… but we must start following him and walking according to his ways, or we will still be standing in darkness.
• Now, will you respond and follow him? Will you walk the rest of your life in the light by following Jesus?

• CLOSING: I want to close by leaving you with a challenge.
• Many weeks ago I challenged you with a 7 day challenge of living in obedience. I don’t know how many of you guys tried it, but I did.
• And I learned a lot. In fact, I wrote a list of reflections on the challenge.
• I won’t give you the whole list now, But one thing I learned is that you really have to be intentional and really think about what Jesus has said and what he has taught.
• I want to challenge you again to another 7-day challenge. And it’s very much like the last one.
• But instead of asking at the end of the day, “What did I do in obedience to Christ today”, I want you to ask yourself throughout the day, at every significant decision you’re faced with… “How Would Jesus Lead Me in this?”
• WWJD: Many years ago, there was this huge fad where everyone had these braclets and stickers and bible cases that said WWJD? And it was a challenge to ask yourself in each situation, What would Jesus Do?
• I remember Ted talking about how he didn’t like the whole concept. Why? Because it doesn’t matter what Jesus would do… WE”RE NOT JESUS.
• It’s like if I were a basketball coach and I gave you each a WWJD bracelet, What Would Jordan Do?
• So in the last 10 seconds of the game, we’re down by one, look at your wrist and ask yourself what Jordan would do.
• Well it doesn’t matter what he would do! He would soar above the rest, and on his way down, switch hands, rise again, and dunk on y’all. Cuz HE’s JORDAN. But you’re not. You can’t do that stuff.
• His point was, doesn’t matter what Jesus would do. If a guy was blind, Jesus would spit in the guys eye and cast the devil out and he’d see again!
• So my challenge is, don’t ask WWJD. Ask, HWJL. How would Jesus Lead?
• How would he want you, _____________, to live this decision out as a follower of Christ?
• And then go, and do it. God and just follow the light.