Light in a Dark World

John chapter 12, if you'll take your Bibles and go with me to John chapter 12 That's where we're going to be this morning in our Bible study John chapter 12 And I will tell you as we are making our way there to John 12 that this chapter in John's gospel Really wraps up Jesus's public ministry From this point forward into John chapter 13 through the end of the book Jesus ministers privately to his disciples and Of course, it includes his resurrection and his crucifixion leading up to his resurrection But chapters 13 through the end of the book deal with his private ministry to his disciples his crucifixion and his resurrection Chapter 12 ends his public ministry and he ends by saying some things Using terms that are actually terms that are found throughout the Bible and we're going to talk about the terms of light and Darkness, I want to draw your attention to John chapter 12 verses 35 and 36 John 12 35 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 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 one more verse jumped to verse 46 Where he kind of summarizes it for one last time John 12 verse 46 Jesus says I have come as a light into the world that whoever believes in me should not abide in Darkness, let's pray father. We thank you for this time together in your word We pray you would use it to speak to us that we would have open ears to hear and open eyes to see What you would want to teach us today and we thank you Lord in Jesus name and everyone said amen In these three verses I read here from John 12 verse 35 verse 36 and verse 46 Jesus uses the word light six times He uses the word darkness three times He's speaking here about light and darkness, you know light is a very Interesting topic light is made up of energy light travels in a straight line objects in its path

Cause light to bend or refract the speed of light is approximately 186,000 miles per second Traveling at the speed of light you could encircle the globe seven and a half times in one second There are different types of lights and each one has its own wavelength Some light is visible, but most light on the light spectrum is invisible to the human eye Invisible light for example gamma rays ultraviolet rays x-rays radio infrared rays microwaves Radar is even on the invisible light spectrum. Wouldn't you be able to like to see radar when you're driving? Light can cook your food light can take pictures inside your body light can kill fungi bacteria and viruses Light can treat illnesses such as skin disorders and seasonal depression light can be used in surgery to cut Tissue on and on what a wonderful thing God created when he said let there be light The first reference of light in the Bible Genesis 1 3 let there be light. Our very physical survival is dependent upon light light for the food that we eat Light for the oxygen that we breathe light for the heat that sustains life and in his gospel John here Writes more about light and darkness and quotes Jesus talking about light and darkness more than any other New Testament book in fact the number of references that John makes to light and darkness 24 in all is Almost as many references to light and darkness as Matthew Mark and Luke make combined So John likes this topic. He writes about light and darkness He quotes Jesus about light and darkness and he gives the final quote that Jesus makes about light and darkness It's what we read there in verse 46. If you still have your Bibles open look again at John 12 46 Jesus says I have come as a light Into the world that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. That's the last statement that Jesus made about light and darkness and when Jesus said this he means it both in a

literal way in the in in a physical sense and in a figurative way in a spiritual sense let me explain first in a literal sense when Jesus talks about being light and stepping into our world we need to understand that the Bible says that the very essence of God is light so in a very literal way Jesus refers to himself as being light well first John 1 5 says God is light and in him is no darkness at all so the very essence of God is light Albert Einstein once said that if you could travel at the speed of light 186 thousand miles per second time ceases to be which explains why in fact God is not restricted by time because he is outside of time and space because God is light he is eternal there is no time with God he is outside of the time-space continuum in fact in 1st Timothy 6 16 Paul writes God dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see so God is part of that invisible light spectrum but here's what God did light became visible tangible and audible when a divine miraculous conception occurred and Mary gave birth to Jesus when light wrapped himself in flesh and came to dwell among us and this is what John describes in his opening chapter again if you go back to John chapter 1 just take a look at the number of times that John refers to light and coming into our world and this reference to Jesus in John 1 first 9 verses of John 1 John says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and he was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness notice this language the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it there was a man sent from God whose name was John now he's talking about John the Baptist this man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe he John the Baptist was not the light but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world so you see that how much John loves this topic of light and darkness he writes more about it than any other New Testament writer and when John talks there in John 1 about the the the true light coming into the

world a reference to Jesus and when Jesus himself says what he did there in John 12 46 when he said I have come as a light into the world that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness it's not that the world lacks for natural light there's plenty of natural light it's a little bit cloudy today but God has created the Sun to give us light by day he created the stars to give us light by night even the moon reflects the light of the Sun so there are light sources but they're not talking about the lack of natural light when John writes there as he does about light and darkness and Jesus says what he does about light and darkness when they talk about darkness there's they're speaking about spiritual darkness that we are living in a world of spiritual darkness and these are terms of contrast and we get these terms right because light is often a reference to what is good and what is pure and what is right and darkness is often a figurative term for things that are bad and things that are evil and things that are wrong and Jesus talks about how he is the light who is pure and holy and perfect has stepped into a dark world full of evil and things that are wrong in order to save us this is why light has come into darkness but it's this terminology of contrasts light and darkness you know in a similar way we would say overt and covert you know things that are overt are visible and they're they're noticeable and they come out into the open that's that those are overt things things that are covert you know it's the cover of darkness it's not wanting to be seen not wanting to be noticed there's overt and there's covert you know those overt missions you know and there's covert missions we even see it in the animal kingdom there are overt animals and there are covert animals right there are overt animals animals that come out into the light they just like the light You know, first dawn of the morning sun, and the birds are out chirping. You know, they're chirping, waking, beautiful sunrise, there come the birds. They're overt, bees are overt. They're pollinating, going around, doing their little pollinating thing, you know. And then you have butterflies.

Butterflies, they love the daylight. Oh, butterflies love the daylight. These are overt creatures. And then you have covert creatures. Rats, and bats, and cats. You know what I'm saying to you? Of opossums, and raccoons, and skunks, you know, these are animals that come out at night under the cover of darkness. Why? To eat garbage. That's what they do. They're going to turn over your garbage can and eat trash. That's all that they do. They're covert. We have overt and covert kids. Your overt kid comes out into the light, admits everything, just by a look. All you have to do is look at that overt kid, and they want to come out into the light. They want to just confess. Even if they didn't do it, they were thinking of doing it. Just, I'm sorry, did you do it? No, but I was thinking of doing it. That's an overt kid. Just look at them, that's all you have to do. Our firstborn, Tyler, was an overt kid. All I have to do is look at him. Our secondborn, not so much. Our secondborn, Austin, was more covert. You know, Terry and I were reading James Dobson's book about, you know, how to discipline kids and Dobson says, you know, you shouldn't spank until they're at least one and a half and then, you know, never, never anything, you know, over the top, just, you know, gentle,

spanking, okay, 18 months, 18 months. I stood with a calendar over that kid. The sneaky ones, you know, just, you don't know what they're up to and where they are and, Johnny, what happened to the family cat? I don't know. Johnny, we've had a family cat for eight years. Why don't you know? I don't know what you're talking about. You know, that's the covert kid. The overt kid comes to Jesus quickly and volunteers for a mission trip as soon as they're old enough. The covert kid, you have to pray for a come to Jesus moment and you threaten them with a mission trip. That's the way it works. You better get your act together, Johnny, or you're gonna go on a mission trip to Nicaragua. You know what I'm saying to you? So we understand this like in the animal kingdom, in our own families. We understand, you know, missions, you know, military missions are overt, covert. There's things in the light. There's things in the darkness. There are things that are right and pure and visible and then there are other things that are under the cover of darkness, the seedy side of life. And Jesus talks about how he came as a light into a very covert and dark world. In fact, if you also look in John's gospel, chapter eight, go to chapter eight and look at verse 12, Jesus says another very similar thing. In John eight, verse 12, Jesus says, I am the light of the world and he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. When Jesus said this in John 8, 12, just underline that in your Bible, it says, I am statement. I am the light of the world, Jesus says, and when he says that in John eight, when you look back on John seven, what you learn is that the context of his statement is the Feast

of Tabernacles. Now the Feast of Tabernacles to the Jews, also known as Sukkot, was a feast that they celebrated for several days to commemorate the wonderful way that God delivered the Jews out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the promised land of Israel. And during the 40 years of their wilderness wandering, God provided for them, took care of them, and he was a pillar of fire by night to illuminate their way, and he was a covering of a cloud by day so that the sun wouldn't scorch them. And in biblical times, when the Jews would celebrate the Feast of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, on the last day of Sukkot, they would go to the temple area in biblical times and they would light four menorahs. Now menorahs are candelabras, seven-branched candelabras. They would light four of them to illuminate the whole temple courtyard area, to remind them again that God was the pillar of fire by night who illuminated our way for 40 years in the wilderness wanderings. It's in that context where Jesus stands up in John 8, 12, and he says, I am the light of the world. He who believes in me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. So that the Jews would have seen the correlation. The God who provided light in the wilderness, Jesus is now saying, I am that light, and God is the pillar of fire. is still illuminating today through Jesus Christ, dark hearts to bring us to the place where we are now in the light of Jesus Christ. He's still illuminating dark hearts, helping us to understand that we can come out of a dark world and dark sinful pasts and come into the light of Jesus Christ and be saved and reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Peter said it this way in 1 Peter 2, verse 9.

He says, you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. This whole theme of light and darkness is all throughout the Bible. By the way, Hollywood has captured that narrative. I mean, every Star Wars movie and every Marvel movie, the theme of light and darkness is very prevalent. Why? Because Hollywood understands what every human heart knows, that there's a real battle in the world between light and darkness, between good and evil. And Jesus steps into our world to say, I am the answer for an evil world. And I am the one who is holy and right and pure and just who have come to save you and rescue you from a dark world. Well, so light stepped into darkness. Jesus came to rescue us from four things. We're gonna rattle through these four things rather quickly. If you're taking notes, the first thing the Bible tells us is he came to rescue us from a dark world. This is John 3, 19 to 21. You know, we get this, right? We live in a morally dark world. You don't have to look very far. It's all around us. Sex trafficking and murder, abortion, cheating, stealing. And the most common form of dark morality in our world today

is the inversion of truth. Trying to convince you that what used to be called wrong is now to be called right. The things that used to be called right should now be called wrong. This is no new information, by the way. Isaiah, 700 years before Christ, condemned the culture that would do that. When in Isaiah 5, verse 20, Isaiah wrote this, woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Very next line, Isaiah 5, 20, who put darkness for light and light for darkness. 700 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah was saying, woe to the culture that does that. The things that are to be called good is what God defines as good. The things that are to be called wrong are the things that God says are wrong. And woe to any of us who invert that and who decide that we can be central to our lives instead of God being central to our lives. And we decide what is right and what is wrong. No, God decides that. And woe to that nation, woe to those people who substitute light for darkness and darkness for light. And here's what Jesus said in John 3 about all this. Now, in John 3, we're most familiar with verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. What a beautiful verse.

That whosoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Whoever believes in him shall not be condemned, but whoever does not believe in him stands condemned already because he has not believed in God's one and only son. Listen to the next verse. This is verse 19. This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. In other words, God so loves us, he sends his son Jesus, Jesus dies for us. A lot of people don't want to accept Jesus though. You know why? Because it's very vulnerable to admit that you're a sinner. It's very vulnerable to admit that you've done some things in darkness that you're not proud of. And so for that reason,

many don't want to step into the light for their fear that their evil deeds will be exposed. But the next verse says whoever comes into the light, God will make it plain that what has been done has been done through God. In other words, when you're vulnerable enough to humble yourself and to say, I need Jesus in my life, then the transformation that happens in your life will be evidence that God is at work. Nothing to be ashamed of. We're all sinners separated from God because of our sin and Jesus dies on a cross to bring us into relationship with God. And Jesus has come to rescue us from a dark world. You know how it is that when you go into a movie theater and you're in there for a couple hours and then you come out of the theater and you step into the parking lot and the brightness of the light is kind of blinding and you need. a moment for your eyes to adjust. It's not that the light was brighter than it was before you went into the movie theater. It's that your eyes have adjusted to the darkness. Listen to me church, do not let your lives adjust to the darkness. Step into the light. Jesus is the light. Number two, he's also come to rescue us from dark hearts. While it is, while it is easy to identify all the sin around us in our world as I've just mentioned, not as easy to see sometimes the hard issues in ourselves. The things that we don't necessarily act on but their attitudes and thoughts of the heart that are displeasing to God. They are hearts that are dark. Unforgiveness, lust, envy, hatred, prejudice, judgmentalism. Oh how quick we are to point out the injustice and evil in our world but not so quick to notice the attitudes and the thoughts of our heart that are displeasing to God. And

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4, 5, therefore judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. God save us from our own dark hearts. Number three, he's come to rescue us from dark deeds. Paul writes in Ephesians 5 this, for you were once darkness. Like in other words, before we come to Christ, we're just living in a dark world doing dark things like everybody else. For you were once darkness but now, now in Christ you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. Listen to what he's saying. When you turn from a life of darkness and you bring it into the light, it can be painful. But when you expose the things that are secret sins in the dark, you're going to be free. If you can find a trusted friend or a spouse to be able to say, these are some things that have been going on in my life but I want to bring them to the forefront, I want to expose them, I want Jesus to forgive me, it breaks the stronghold that happens when sin is secret in the darkness. The enemy, see Satan doesn't want us to come clean but the Bible says if we confess our sins to the Lord, he is faithful and just to forgive us of all sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Satan doesn't want you to be free. He wants you to be bound in the secret sins of darkness. But Paul writes there in Ephesians 5, when we come into the light, you see, then we have real forgiveness. In fact, John wrote in 1 John 1, 7 that if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. Last one, as Jesus has come to rescue us from dark minds. In 2 Corinthians 4 it says this, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing whose minds, listen, whose minds the God of this age, small g, the God of this age, who's the God of this age? Satan, small g. The principality over the darkness of our world is Satan. And Paul writes there in 2 Corinthians 4 that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them. There is a powerful delusion that Satan is bringing upon an unbelieving world to try to keep people from coming into the light of the truth of Jesus. This powerful delusion we're seeing in our world even today. We're living in these times. And why are we?

I'll tell you why, because Paul also writes in Romans 1 that when you remove God from your life, from the public square, when you remove God, he gives you over to a reprobate mind. And we begin to believe things that aren't true. We believe things that aren't right as if they were. And so Paul also writes there in 2 Corinthians 4 that even though the enemy, the God of this age, is working in a powerful way to keep unbelievers in darkness, two verses later, verse 6, for it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In other words, Satan might be at work trying to blind the hearts and the minds of people from coming into the light, but God is also at work, and he is at work. to bring people into the light of His Son, Jesus Christ. There's a great prophetic verse in Isaiah 9-2, which says this, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. Now let me tell you where God takes this, and then we'll close. All through the Bible, there's this contrast of terms about light and darkness, light and darkness. God is light. Jesus steps into our world, wraps Himself in flesh, visible, tangible, audible, dies for our sins to rescue us from a dark world, dark minds, dark hearts, dark deeds, okay? And then when we come into relationship with Him, He turns the table on us, and He says, now,

this is from the Sermon on the Mount, now, Matthew 5-14, you are the light of the world. You are the light of the world, and He adds there in verse 16, so let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So the one who is light steps into our world to die for our sins. We come into relationship with Him, and then He says, now you be a reflection of me in your world so that people can see me, can see Jesus through your life. Amen? Amen, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, that you stepped into our world, a dark world, to save us. And Lord, once we are saved, then you tell us to be a reflection of your light in this world that people would see our good works and glorify you in heaven. Thank you, Lord, for saving us and for dying for us. Use us, Lord, now,

as salt and light in your world to make a difference that we would reflect Jesus wherever we go, with whomever we talk, that we would constantly be a reflection of your light in a dark world. We love you and praise you and thank you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen and amen. God bless y'all. Have a great day. God bless you.