John  8  the true  light of men.

12     Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

13     The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."

14     Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.

15     You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

16     And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.

17     It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.

18     I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."

19     Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."

20     These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

 

 

My mother was schizophrenic.

I saw an ABC documentary that described schizophrenia as being like picking up the wrong set of glasses and trying to make sense of your world through them.  My mother tried to make sense of her world with a wrong set of glasses on.  Through her perspective, life was a frightening place. She believed my dad was the head of the KGB, and that made life frightening. If she was sicker, she believed dad was the head of the CIA. If she was sicker yet, she believed my dad was trying to kill her.  The wrong perspective can make life confusing.

Today there are many perspectives on life presented to us through the media.

There is the educator's opinion of how the world is 9many educators in the 70's were schooled in atheism as a dominant epistemology).  "Unless something is proved by empirical means it is not true."  And yet things that are unprovable by empirical means are still understood to be true, like love, and historical events, both unmeasurable by repeated test tube experiment.

 

Do you believe the news stories you view on TV? Often news stories are presented from the political or social stance of the media company they represent. The ABC presents news stories one way, while the other companies present them according to their own bias'.

I receive two satellite new s channels, one biased towards Russia and the other biased towards Arabic Islam. Often their stories are presented from opposite viewpoints.

And then there are the stories that are presented to us on tv. Years ago to read a story would take about a week. Via tv you can see a story every 2 hours on tv, sometimes more than 3 per day, and each is [presented from the perspective of the author.

We feel like saying with Pilate; "what is truth?"

John 18: 33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" 35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?" 36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"

 

 

Pilate came from the roman world. They had their panoply of gods that they worshipped, or rather didn't worship. The stories of the gods provided a way in which Romans could make sense of their world.

The god they really worshipped was the Roman Emperor. If they didn't worship his as god, they could be executed.

And besides the Romans had been influenced by Plato, who, influenced by the writings of Moses had come to the conclusion that there was only one God.

And amidst all this, Pilate was in Jerusalem, where that One God was worshipped.  Pilate came out of a surprising confusion of worldviews. No wonder he asked "what is Truth?"

And Jesus stands before Pilate, He who had said I am the way the truth and the life, is Truth itself incarnate.

 

We li ve in an increasingly pluralisitic world: there are so many perspectives that are thrust upon us each day through the media, the news politics and whatever, that life can be a very confusing place. What is truth? How do we know what truth is? Do we wind up saying what so many do today, "Well this true for me , and something else is true for you, so I guess we both right and everything is neither true nor false; perhaps there is  no true truth?"

 

When Jesus said "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

He was making an astounding claim. He was claiming to be Truth.

The background context of this statement by the Lord Jesus enables us to understand Jesus' statement.

The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated several things that were represented in the Temple that spoke of the History of Israel and its relationship with God.

There was the table of Shew bread.  John 6 reminds us of this when Jesus says "I am the bread of life".

There was the laver of water; Jesus reminds us of this in John 7 when He says He is the living water.

There were the two great lampstands that stood on either side of the altar of burnt offering in the Temple Court. When they were lit  up on that first night of the Feast of Tabernacles their Light lit up the Temple mount and down into the valleys and into the city of Jerusalem.

 

The two lampstands were reminders to the people of Israel of how the Lord had guided and guarded them through their 40 years wandering in the wilderness.

Numbers 9 15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. 18 At the command of the LORD the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. 19 Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not journey. 20 So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the LORD they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the LORD they would journey. 21 So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. 22 Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. 23 At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

 

The cloudy pillar the fiery pillar guided them, guarded them from Pharaoh's army, and presented to them the glory of God.

 

Jesus said I am the Light of the world.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John has followed this theme of light and truth through John's gospel:

John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

 

Jesus gives us the true perspective against human opinion.

In a sea of subjective human opinion, we need a transcendent one who can give us the Truth. Like a light shining in a dark place, we need One who brings us true truth in our confusion.

We need One who is above all human opinion. He being the Second Person of the triune God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, can give us that transcendent truth.

John 1:1    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shines in the darkness

 

Jesus said I am the Light of the world.

The Course of True Light.

 

Since Jesus is eternal and transcendent, there is true truth. Truth is not just one or other's subjective opinion.

John 8: 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.

17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.

18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."

19 Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."

 

Truth is Comprehensive

Truth is not relative to where or when you live.  Truth is something that is universal everywhere.  The world is round everywhere in the world.  Jesus is the true God and saviour who gives true perspective to everyone anywhere in the world.

 

Truth is Constant 

Truth is unchanging. Our understanding of a subject may change as our undestadning of that thing grows, but the truthfulness of it of itself does not change.  The Hebrew word for truth is 'ehmet' and refers to the faithfulness of God, the unchanging nature of God, and therefore the unchanging nature of truth. Aren't you glad that the truth about gravity doesn't change from day to day? It doesn't change because God is faithful and unchanging.

Jesus as the light of the world doesn't change.  He was the Saviour and redeemer then and He is still the Saviour and redeemer now. He is still the authoritative course of truth.

 

Truth is Cohesive

Truth fits together with all other truth. All truth is God's truth.

Truth is Coherent

Truth is understandable and knowable.  We may not know much truth but we can know truth.

We can know the truth of Who Jesus is and what He has done for us, and because He is a Person, we can know this not only as propositional truths, but also in a Personal life affecting way as we are in a relationship with Him.

 

2. The Force of True Light

 

I flew over Russia at night to arrive in the UK a few years ago.  I was actually thrilled and excited to fly from Hong Kong over northern China and Siberia, places I would be terrified to go to.

It was night I opened the planes window ( the slide, not the window). And do you know what I could see? Nothing!   It was dark. No light at all for much of the way. But every now and then a light would pierce the darkness. Sometimes a single light, sometimes a cluster. We were flying at 30,000 feet, and yet here and there a little spot of light. I imagined some Russian family sitting around a fire in their farm house below. Here and there a village- little clusters of light, piercing the black darkness.

The Light. John 1: 5 And the light shines in the darkness

The Light Reveals!

The Light Reveals our Bondage.

John  8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

To become free you must first be in Bondage.

The Light reveals to us our bondage to sin.

CHRISTIAN:  Tell  me  then,  what was  it  that  brought  your  sins   to mind again?

    HOPEFUL: Many things, such as:

    1.   If I merely met a good man in the street; or,

    2.   If I heard anyone read from the Bible; or,

    3    If my head began to ache; or,

    4.   If I was told that some of my neighbors were sick; or,

    5.   If I heard the bell toll for someone who had died; or,

    6.   If I thought of my own dying; or,

    7.   If I heard that others had suddenly died; or,

    8.   But   especially,   when   I   considered   my   own   imminent   appointment with judgment

There were several thing that brought this upon me,  and especially sayings such as these, "All our righteousnesses are as  filthy  rags,"  and  "By  the  works  of  the  law  no  man  shall  be  justified,"  and  "When  you  have  done  all  things,  say,  We  are 

unprofitable,"  and  many  more  like  these  besides.

  So  from  this  I  began  to  reason  with  myself  as  follows;  if  all  my righteousnesses  are as filthy rags, and if no man can be justified by the deeds of the

law, and if when we have done all, we are still unprofitable, then it is  sheer  folly  to  think  of  attaining  Heaven  by  means  of  the  law.  I  further  thought  as  follows:  if  a  man  runs  up  a  debt  of  a  hundred  pounds  at  a  local  shop,  and  then  subsequently  pays  cash  for  everything  else  that  he  buys,  still  the  original  debt  will  remain  unsettled;  and  in  this  case  the  shopkeeper  will  probably  sue  him  and have the debtor imprisoned until he pays the debt in full.

    CHRISTIAN:  Yes  I  understand,  but  how  does  this  apply  to  yourself?

   HOPEFUL:  Well  I  reasoned  as  follows  concerning  my  own  condition.  Because  my  sins  cause  me  to  be  greatly  indebted  in  God's book, and all of my present reforming will not pay for what I  owe,  therefore  I  should  ponder  what  use  are  all  of  these  new  improvements.  For  how  shall  I  escape  from  the  damnation  that  endangers me on account of my former transgressions? 

   CHRISTIAN: That is a very good application. But I do ask that you continue.

    HOPEFUL: Another thing that troubled me, even concerning my recent amendments, was this; if I looked very closely into the best of what I now do, I still see sin, new sin, mixing itself with the best of   what   I   do.

   So   now   I   was   forced   to   conclude   that,   notwithstanding my former fond c

onceits regarding myself and my duties,  yet  I  had  committed  enough 

sin  in  one  duty  to  send  me  to  Hell, even though my former life had been faultless.

  Isa. 64:6; Luke 17:10; Gal. 2:16.   Gal.  3:10.    Rom.  7:21. 

 

The Light reveals our ignorance of our Bondage to sin

John 8:33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"

 

The Light reveals our true parentage

34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."

39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.

40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

41 You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father --- God."

42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.

44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?

47 He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

 

Do you love Jesus? Do you hear His word?

The force of the True Light is it redeems

John  8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

Freedom from darkness 

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

 

Freedom from death

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

He took death's sting to make you free from the power of death.

Freedom from the Dominion of Satan

He delivers you from the domain of darkness and transfers you to the Kingdom of God's own Son (Col 1:14)

Family Adoption

And He makes you a child of God!!

3. The Source of True Light

 

Faith

John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 "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 Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

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

 

John 12: 35 Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.

36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

 

 

Follow

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

John  8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

Have you trusted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour and Lord? He gives Light, and brings truth into your life.

Are you following the Lord Jesus? He will bring more truth into your life; truth that liberates you from slavery to sin's darkness , slavery to death, slavery to the dominion of Satan, and brings you as a child into God's own family.