Good morning, friends. Let us bow our heads and pray. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the gift of life. Lord, thank you for the grace extended to us, your mercy, your truth, your righteousness, your justice all around us, Father. And Father, as we experience pain for what's happening here in south of us and the many people who have been affected by the fires amongst our congregation. We have many who are out sick. Ralph and Bob and JR and many others, Lord, and we want to lift them up in prayer and Father, encourage them as they tune in to listen into the service. And those who tune in and listen to the sermon online, Father, we ask that you also would minister to their lives as you do to ours. Open up our hearts and minds to receive the counsel of your Word. that we may walk out differently than perhaps we entered this morning. And likewise, Father, as we consider your word, may it transform our mind more into the mind of Christ. And so we thank you. We bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen and amen. Well, a big shout out to Bob Osborne because he raised this bar so high that I could have to really do my due diligence here and I sharpened up my pencil and really focused in on the word for this week. I am the light of the world is the title and the text that we selected for this morning is found in John chapter 8 and if you notice John is not intending, the author John of the Gospel of John is not intending to be so much as historically accurate as far as being chronological or just really hitting, crossing all those T's and dotting all those I's of history. His focus is more theological. In fact, the term that we use in theology is he is really unfolding for us a Christological understanding of who was Christ. So this is the goal of the Gospel of John. It's presenting the divinity and the humanity of Christ fully displayed for us throughout the text that we read. And so in chapter 6, we quickly found Jesus in the wilderness by the Sea of Galilee. So he was crisscrossing, you know, from one side to another. He's in the wilderness, and then he gives this famous discourse of, I am the bread of life. Now, something that I want to just set in your mind and in your heart, All of these metaphors that are being attached to the verb I am and are very important for us because they build their foundation on what the Jewish theologians would call the wilderness tradition. Okay, the wilderness tradition. So when you think about the wilderness tradition, you have to go back all the way to when God delivered his people from Egypt. And when they were delivered from Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness. Hence, you get the wilderness, right? And for 11 years, these people lived in the wilderness. Okay? So the years passed by, and they were in the wilderness for so long. So you get this wilderness. So what happened in the wilderness? Well, they had free food. No, they had manna from heaven, right? That's what Jesus was saying, the bread from heaven. When you read in chapter six, the bread from heaven, right? Compared to the manna. Chapter seven, we find Jesus entering into Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Boots, or it's also known by other names. But this is basically one week of celebration. So from chapter 7 all the way to the text that we're in today, we find Jesus specifically teaching at the temple. And this is going to be very important for us because the festival of Tabernacles, again, has the implications and it's grounded on the wilderness tradition, right? This was very significant because the Lord provided water for them in the wilderness. the Lord provided meals for them in the wilderness, the Lord provided shade through a cloud during the day, and he provided light at night through a pillar of fire. So what do you pick up? You pick up the theme here, right? God provided. God provided. God provided. God provided, and again, again, and again. So this is why this is very significant when we're reading this part of the Scripture, because it's associated with God's provision for His people. And that's rather significant. And so chapter seven sets the whole context for us. Again, this festival of tabernacles, chapter eight, we get Jesus, he's teaching. Chapter seven concludes with some rather significant things there, but the end, towards the end of the festival. So something else happened in these festivals that was rather significant. what they would call the festival of lights. The festival of lights. So every night in the festivals, and we're going to look a little bit more, a little bit more context in that in the sermon itself, but the festival of lights, I mean, if you go to Christmas tree lighting ceremonies of the city, wow, those are awesome. right? Or if you see the New York tree lighting ceremony, that's awesome. Hopefully, maybe this year we can have a tree lighting service here at our church. I'm believing that that's maybe a possibility. So we can invite the community and have our Christmas carolers join us again this year and hot coffee and hot cocoa and maybe some pastries there and we can celebrate and sing traditional Christmas hymns, right? So again, but there was a festival of light and we're going to hear a little bit more about that. But nonetheless, God provided, but there's another motif that's occurring in the wilderness. What do you suppose that might be? God provided and how did the people respond? They grumbled. It's almost like they were filled with ungratitude and distaste. I mean, I've read one commentary on this manna from heaven, right? Somebody said, try eating oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you would be grumbling also. Okay, so so I don't know. I mean that that sounds pretty healthy, but I think it would be a little bit too planned So, um, I suppose you could color it with some cinnamon and sugar and whatever you want But but they didn't have that it was just straight manna from heaven, right? And so we read that. Okay, john chapter 8 verse 12 reads this again jesus spoke to them saying I am the light of the world Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Okay? So again, the context of this text will provide us a lot of clarity, but I will suggest something. It's always good to read the chapters before, and it's always good to read the chapters after. No text is complete without considering what precedes it and then what follows it. Again, five thoughts about this I Am Sayings that I hope would encourage you. And again, they might sound a bit technical, but again, no part of Scripture, regardless of how technical it may sound, it has something to inform our lives. All right, so here's the first one, the first of five things that I'm gonna run through this morning for you. Okay, so first, we are reading here Notice also what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do an inversion here, right? And this goes contrary to how we like to process information in our Western mind. I'm gonna start at the end. And we're gonna start from the end and we're gonna work our way back to the beginning. So we're gonna start in verse 20. And this is important because it gives us the location of great lights, okay? So verse 20 tells us, these words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple. But no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. That is a theme throughout the gospel of John, his hour had not yet come, for us to understand. It's a buzzword, right? Because we understand when you read chapter five, the Pharisees really disliked Jesus. And there we are told they sought to kill him. So Jesus sent off the disciples of Herod into Jerusalem for the festival of tabernacles, right? And then Jesus catches up to them and they find them in the temple and he starts teaching. And he starts giving this series of teachings in chapter five and in chapter seven, chapter seven and eight, he gives this discourse of teachings. And again, the Pharisees began to ask him all kinds of questions that were left in conversation back in chapter 5. And in chapter 5, the big thing that helps us understand what's happening in chapter 7 and chapter 8 is, where do you come from? Who are you? And Jesus' use of I and the Father, the Father testifies about me. So you can understand all that discourse as this way. The Father is the credible witness to the person and works of Jesus Christ. And this is important for us because in Bible language, in Bible understanding, God is the God of truth. Psalm chapter 19 and Psalm 119, right? So this is very important. So when we're understanding what this festival of tabernacle and the importance of the temple, look at the screen up here and you're going to see the temple. Right? I added for you the temple. And so where was Jesus at, right? Well, it doesn't tell you there in verse 20. It says, he spoke in the treasury. Well, one scholar said, would Jesus be allowed in the treasury? Probably not. So most scholars believe that Jesus was, the treasury was in this area here, but The Mishnah, as we're going to read in a little bit, the Mishnah is basically rabbinic writings, but it places Jesus right here in the woman's courtyard. Okay? That's what it was called. Or some people would call this area the middle court, right? Because here's the Holy of Holies, the temple, but here's the courtyard. And there's several gates, and you could see those gates as they come in. But this is the area where Jesus had been teaching. Very important, okay? Why? Because again, it's in this area that during the festival of tabernacles, Now, I can't tell you precisely where, but one could suspect, easily suspect that in these high points here, these four corners, or possibly these four towers here, what they would end up doing is they would build, can you imagine this, four giant candles on the corners. right in that courtyard, the women's courtyard, they would build these humongous candles, right? So you would think the column of the candle going up, and then right at the top of the candle, they would have this base in there, right? Like kind of like a bowl. They would fill that up with oil and hundreds of sticks, and then they would take linens and build a wick from it, and then they would light them up. And can you imagine, the light that radiated from the temple. And that's rather significant to the location of this because, again, the light that's radiating from the temple was rather significant, especially in the wilderness tradition. Because can you imagine being in the wilderness and this big old massive column of fire? Now, if you've ever... This is why I'm a very fanatic of football, right? So one year, I got to go to College Station, Texas. How many of you have been to College Station, Texas? Yeah. You know, the home of the Aggies, right? Aggie football. And something that they used to do, they can't do that no more because it's not legal, but they used to build this massive fire, you know, like, think about it, this big old giant, like, fire pit, or they would get logs and just stack them up against one another, and then they would light that baby up. You imagine this massive fire in the middle of a field, right? And how it lights up the sky. And that's a city. I mean, here you're talking about a city with modern lights and everything, but here in the temple, this light would light up the sky. And so, if you observe the screen again, there's going to be a part of the Mishnah that I extracted, right? And in this part of the Mishnah, in Mishnah or the Sukh, chapter 5, verses 2 and 3, it reads this way, at the close of the first festival day of the feast, they went down to the court of the women. where they had made a great amendment. There was golden candlesticks there, with four golden bowls on the top of them, and four ladders, and each candlestick, and four youths of the priestly stock, and in their hands jars of oil, holding a hundred and twenty logs, which they poured into all the bowls. They made wicks from the worn out drawers and girdles of the priest, and with them they set the candlesticks alight. And notice this, and there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that did not reflect the light of the Beth She'ubah. Can you imagine that? What a wonderful sight to the eye. to observe all of this. And again, as I began to dig a little bit more, one commentator said it was at the backdrop when this final candle went out that Jesus began to say, I am the light of the world. Man, that was so Jesus, right? Take illustrations from real life to apply spiritual truth Right? And this is the force of the text. Now, that's the first one, but then we also have to consider how God is described as light throughout the scriptures. And for that, it is important that the Jewish understanding from the Old Testament was that God is light, which is our second observation this morning. God is light. Now, you're going to wrestle with this a little bit because you're going to say, well, I don't read that in the text. But you have to remember, this is the backdrop to the text itself and Jesus' use of, I am the light. Why? Because Jewish understanding knew that. If you were Jewish, you would understand. This was your formation since you were a little kid. understanding that God is the God of light. Ever since Genesis chapter 1, right? When everything and God created, right? What was the first thing He created? Light, right? He created light. He distinguished night from day. And so it's important for us to understand. Now, notice what verses 17 through 19 tell us. Now, in your law, that's the key word here, in your law, what was the law Or what was God's law to the Jewish mind? It was truth. But it was also like, read Psalm 119, 105. What does it say? Your word is a light. So the word, God's law, was a light for humanity to reveal who God was. So it's truth, it's light, it guides, right? Your Word is a light unto my feet and it's a what? A light to my pathway, right? We talked about it this morning in the discipleship class. If you're not in the discipleship class, I would encourage you, connect and come and learn and come and grow in your faith and in your understanding of the Scripture. But Jesus is saying, in your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, therefore, where is your father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father. Also now this is a very reading this on the surface. You might just think oh, you know, well, he's just talking to the pharisees But you need to understand who the pharisees were the pharisees were the gatekeepers of all orthodoxy The Pharisees were the scribes the Pharisees the they were the gatekeepers of orthodoxy of religion of religious purity So they were very knowledgeable and skilled on the law. So Jesus uses a wordplay here. He says, in your law. Jesus isn't belittling the law here. He's trying to help them understand, right? If you are a keeper of the law, if you are a keeper of God's Word, you must understand the importance of witnesses. Because no one could speak on his own. This is all chapter 5. Chapter 5, Jesus says, hey, I cannot do anything on my accord. I do just, he uses this language, the son does what he sees from the father. That's Jesus' discourse there in chapter five. So go back and read chapter five of John and you're gonna really appreciate everything I'm saying here. And Jesus uses that language, right? And he goes back and it drives the Pharisees nuts because they wanted to kill him because they figured out this guy is, he's equating himself with God. That's heresy. But Jesus is driving the point again. If you truly knew your law as it is written, in chapter five, he says, your law testifies about me. And there in chapter five, Jesus even says, even Moses wrote about me. So again, you're seeing how this is unfolding. I love this one quote I read. Someone said, the only man that cannot see the light is a blind man. The only man who cannot see the light is a blind man. Truly, these Pharisees had the written word, they had the traditions, they had the religion, but they could not see. There's something about this that's rather troubling to me, and I've always asked this. I said, James probably is the one who said it the most direct. He said, Dear friends, do not just be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. So I asked the question, is orthodoxy enough? Is orthodoxy enough? Because these Pharisees had orthodoxy. But they were severely disconnected from orthopraxis. they didn't have the practice that was reaffirmed from the truth. And so again, Jesus is alluding here that law, that word of law. He's alluding to Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse six, and he's also alluding to Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 15, which both of them is law, and both of those parts of scripture emphatically say you need the witness of two Otherwise, what's being said is not true. And so, again, that had a judicial connotation to it. And again, this is why Jesus is using these words. This is why he's addressing it with the Pharisees. And again, driving this importance of God being light, right? Why? Because God, the light, throughout biblical language, symbolizes a holiness of God. Light also symbolizes or signifies God's presence and favor, right? We read that in Proverbs 27 verse 1. But it also signifies God's judgment, right? Notice the language of John chapter 1, right? When you're reading, especially in verse 4 where it says, you know, and the light of life came into the world and darkness could not, in verse 5, and darkness could not overcome it. Okay, so again, this is very important and when we're understanding this whole Old Testament concept of light. Now again, for us in the gospel of John and John's writing, or as one scholar would say, Johannine writings, right? And John's gospel, right? It's very important when we consider the concept of light and God. Why? Because the revelation of God's love, the revelation of God's love is found in the person of Jesus Christ. This is John's theology. Right? When you read the whole gospel of John. And again, you read that in 1 John 1 5-7. That's where you're going to find that. But then also, John also tells us and describes to us in John 8-12 and in 9-5, Jesus is the light of the world. One more time, in John 1 4-14, he tells us the incarnate word of God enlightens all people. But this is John's theology. So next we have to consider the importance of spiritual regeneration that testifies to Jesus's credible witness of light in God's kingdom. So look at this third one. Spiritual regeneration leads one to the light of God. How so? Notice what verse 15 tells us. Verse 15 and 16. You judge according to the flesh. You judge according to the flesh. Now, I know that we've been taught, and again, there's this tension, right, in all of philosophy and Christianity. If you subscribe to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, they taught that the flesh was evil and only spirit was good. The church, even in the 20th century and even in the 21st century, still has parts of Christianity that view that. Oh, the flesh is wicked. Well, if the flesh was that wicked, then why did Jesus become flesh? And would we dare say that all things that God created are good? Well, Genesis 1.30 tells us that. So how does this thing, what is Jesus talking here about the flesh? Well, here's what I loved about this. If you go down to John chapter three, there was a man named Nicodemus, who kind of snuck in behind the scenes to want to ask Jesus about his teachings, right? And so he asked Jesus, hey Jesus, in John chapter three, verse three, and on he goes, Jesus, what must I do to be right with God? And Jesus answered him, truly, truly I say, unless one is born again. Wait a minute. What is going on here? These are religious people. They are people so close to God. They have the truth of God, and yet something was missing. What had been missing? Spiritual regeneration, which means you could be sitting in a seat in church and yet not even be transformed. You might be attending your religious activities and yet not be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what that means. You can have all the knowledge you want and yet not be spiritually transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus. And so that's what Nicodemus was asking because he had the religious. He had all the traditions. He had all the knowledge. And Jesus said, unless one is born, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? He has the right question. how is it possible for me an old man to to jump back in my mom's womb to be and notice what jesus just told him right um he asked this in verse four and then jesus responded in verse five jesus answered truly truly i say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter in the kingdom of god that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit and this was the problem of the pharisees they were all letter and they had no spiritual transformation they knew the word of god they knew the religion But that's not enough. There has to be a spiritual transformation that occurs. And this is why we struggle. And this is why the flesh, because the flesh wants to glorify itself. It only wants to do stuff to please itself. But the Spirit is willing to bring honor and glory to God. This is the heart of what Jesus was getting at. He was helping them. He was trying. Jesus didn't come there and said, I'm condemning all your celebrations. He could have, I suppose. He could have taken that same posture that God took in Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58, they were doing all their celebrations and God said, your religion is ugh. I hate your religion. I hate your festivities. Why? Because God wanted more. And what did God want? He wanted, He wanted all. God wants our all. He wants our body. He wants our mind, our soul. He wants it all. But no, I'm not, I don't wanna. And this is what the Pharisees hid. They were judging Jesus by their flesh, by their reason. by their humans, once somebody said, by their carnality. And Jesus was very keen on this and trying to teach them, hey. Now, Paul in 2 Corinthians would write this, the following thing, right? 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 16 and 17, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Verse 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. And this is the power of the gospel. Why? Because it destroys, it transcends, it enters, it penetrates all our hurt, all our disappointment, all our bias, all our culture, all our form of thinking, of trying to box God in some limited form. And God transcends all of that, and He revolutionizes us, and He transforms us. Why? Because light shines in the darkness and it just illuminates all things. Which leads us to the fourth thing here. Observe how the light of Jesus really exposes how black the situation was, how bleak, how dark, right? I would say it this way. Darkness is the absence of light. So light becomes the antithesis of darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. Look at what verses 13 and 14 tell us. So the Pharisee said to him, right? The Pharisee said to him, you are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Why? We know because they were judging Jesus by merits of the flesh. This is why, you know, when Jesus, later on in this chapter, right, Jesus starts talking about Abraham, and they start questioning, well, we are children of descendants of Abraham, right? And Jesus said something like, oh yeah, that Abraham guy, he was all happy the day he saw me. And the Pharisee said, wait a minute, you're only 30 years old. How did you know our father Abraham? And then he says, before Abraham was, I am. Whoa, it rocked. It rocked all of their theology. Right? It rocked all of their theology. You know, how so? You know, I have a little theory there. I'm going to pause here. I'm going to rabbit trail. Read Genesis chapter 18. What happened in Genesis chapter 18? Moses is sitting out in his tent. Three men dressed in white appear to him. My theory is that one in the middle was Lord, That was Christ. That's just my theory. That's Pastor Pablo. You don't have to quote me on that and don't take that. But the Bible says that Abraham worshipped him, right? Angels don't receive worship. How so that the one in the middle receive it, right? And Jesus' use of this, you know, when Abraham saw me, he, yeah, you know, he was happy. And again, he just drives the point, right? Your law, your law, your law, what's written in the Bible, what's written in the Scriptures, right? They testify about me. They knew they were waiting for a Messiah. They knew that when the Messiah would come, He would perform miracles and He would confirm what had been written in the Scriptures. But for whatever reason, They were so stuck on all the T's and dotting all their I's that they could not see the spiritual manifestation of the Living Word in front of them. And that's why in chapter 7 you close off with this big debate. They were fighting amongst themselves. They were divided. And you know who reappears there right there around in chapter 7 verse 50 somewhere around there? You know who reappears? Nicodemus. The same Nicodemus that was in chapter 3 that went to ask Jesus a question. And Nicodemus said, hey guys, does not our law say that if you're going to judge somebody, there has to be witness, proper witness, and there has to be a proper trial. You just can't go on killing people just because you don't like them or you don't like their theology. Right? And so Nicodemus again, he spoke words of wisdom to the situation. Now here, the absence of light, verse 13, the Pharisee said to him, you are being witnessing about yourself, your testimony is not true. Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. the living truth, the true vine, the true bread of life, the true light, right? For I know where, and this totally blew them out of the water. This is like, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I'm going. And this, when you read chapter five, this is why the whole debacle started. The guy is from Nazarene. No prophet ever comes from Nazarene. That's why in chapter 7, when Nicodemus says, hey, you got to give the guy the proper trial, and you have to bring... But he said, what, are you also a Nazarene? Are you also from the same town Jesus was? Because no prophet ever comes from there. You know, this is why it has led many scholars to think that Jesus was multiracial. He was born in Bethlehem. He was a refugee in Egypt. Then he comes back and then he goes up to the area of Galilee, right? And so, you know, where was he from? Was he from Judea? Where was Jesus from? But yet they couldn't come to terms with it. And Jesus all along had been saying, I come from where my Father is. And they couldn't figure it out. it just drove them nuts. And again, Jesus in John chapter 5 verse 31, if anyone alone bears witness about myself, Okay? So if I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true, alluding to Deuteronomy 19.15. Okay? And again, Deuteronomy 19.15 will tell us that, right? A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime. This is a judicial thing, right? This was in a courtroom, but the religious leaders were accusing him or of any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established. You know how wrong this was? Whether you believe, whether you believe, I'm gonna give you a very technical, you've probably heard this, or you have a Bible commentary, you could read it right there. John chapter seven, verse 53, all the way to John chapter eight, verse 11, doesn't appear in the early manuscripts. It's missing. What story is that? That's the story of the woman who was caught in adultery. When that woman was caught in adultery, they didn't bring the witnesses. They just said she was caught in adultery. We need to stone her because the law says to stone, if you're caught in adultery, to stone you. Whether that story was put, as some believe, by a church father later on, we don't know. But it doesn't rob from the scripture itself. It just reinforces what was occurring here in the text. They were not following the law. And if they had been following that law, they would have found out that Jesus was the Messiah promised to Israel. That's how the situation was. So their judgment was faulty. They didn't know Jesus, His true origin. Not because they could not, Not because they could not know, but because they had rejected his light. It is a terrible thing to reject the light of the gospel. It is a terrible thing. And finally, finally, finally, if we are to experience God's light in our lives, we must land where the text begins in verse 12. Notice what you're going to see here. Trusting and obeying Jesus will lead you to that light. Now, again, I am not saying, or please don't walk out of church saying, well, Pastor Pablo is saying that if we do, then we receive. No. Vice versa. Because again, the gospel of John is clear. Here, he who believes, receives. It's not about doing, it's just about simply believing. trusting. But that trusting will lead you to one more thing, to action. And that's what's going on here. Notice again what verse 12 says, and Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Here's the action steps. Whoever follows me, so if you say that you believe in Jesus, then here are two things you must do. You must follow, right? Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Why do I say it involves two things? Well, definitely it involves the trust. You cannot, we always talk about church, right? One of the big questions that I had as I came here about a year ago, does your staff trust you? Does the congregation trust you? Does the elders trust you? Those are basic questions. And I would respond to that. If they do not, this church will not go anywhere. Because when people cannot trust, hey, there's no way forward. There's no path forward. And we don't trust just because it's Pastor Pablo and he has a title and all. No, we trust because the Word of God asks us. Submit to your leaders. Oh, I can't do that. I don't trust no man. Then you're disobeying the Word of God. But I've been burned. Well, something about Jesus, you won't get burned if you trust His Word. And Jesus said it the best way. If you want to be His disciple, you must what? Deny yourself, pick up a cross, and follow Him. And He even said it one way. He said, hey, if you want to be My follower, you must lose your life. He took it a step further. What does all this mean? Well, Notice how the text starts, again. So this isn't the first time Jesus is talking about this. That's why the text there in verse 12 tells us, again. This isn't the first time it's happening. This happened before. So now he's again. Jesus spoke to them. Who's the them? Well, people are divided on who's the them. Some people believe he was just addressing the Pharisees. Others believe he was addressing the crowd. Because Jesus said, I am the light of the world, whoever. He says, whoever. This is both for those of us who consider that we've been believers for so long, but it also includes those who are lost without Jesus. It's both and. Whoever follows me. Oh boy, friends, I love that. Whoever follows me. You know, again, Jesus didn't come to condemn their tradition. But they, notice it, those four candles that would illuminate physically throughout all of Jerusalem, right? They had the light. If you study Old Testament text, Israel was the light of the world. This is why Matthew chapter five in the Beatitudes, Jesus says, you are the light of the world. A light isn't put under a cupboard. It's not put under a bed. It's not hidden. It's placed on a table, on a desk for all the world to see. It's the only time in scripture that will say, let your light shine. Contrary, we're always told in church, hey, don't be so boastful. Don't let people be humble. Don't hush hush. Don't do this. And Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, he said, let your light shine for all men to see so that they can bring glory to your father who is in heaven. That's the same concept here. So they have the light in their temple, but they had spiritual darkness in their mind and in their hearts. Why? Because they were dead in sin. How is it possible that so religious people are dead in sin? It is possible to be so blindsided by what God is doing in our midst. And Jesus standing there, the light of the world, was there, and they had their joyful festivities, and all the priests, but they were dead in their sin. And the festival itself could never give them life. You know why? Because we party today, and tomorrow we want more. We eat the best bread freshly baked, and we want more. We drink water and we get more thirsty. But Jesus said, whoever eats from this bread shall never be hungry. Whoever drinks from this water shall never thirst. Whoever believes in this light will never be in darkness. Wow. So, if you study the, if you use the NIV or the ESV study Bible, there's several things here that I really like this one comment that the ESV study Bible added. When he writes this, he says, the Johannian witness theme in turn, what he's talking about this conversation between Jesus and the religious leaders, right? It had a larger trial motif when Jesus would finally be arrested, but according to which it was not Jesus who was put on trial. So these religious leaders in the flesh were accusing they were going to condemn Jesus, they were going to crucify him, right? But the ESV offers this one word and says, all of this, this condemnation and this trial by the world was not what this is about. Rather, The world was put on trial by Jesus. Why? Because that's what light did. It exposed the wickedness of humanity. But God just didn't do it to condemn the world. He brought salvation through his son Jesus Christ into it. And this is why I want to end up with this. If you do just a word study, right? This is what I love about study tools, right, and technology. If you do a word study of the word light in all of the Gospel of John, it appears 24 times, the word light. Of those 24 times, 23 of those times, it's a noun. One time, it's used as a verb. I'm gonna read this as fast as I can, because we're gonna conclude right now. John, I'm gonna start in John 1.4. John 1.4, in him was the life and the life was the light of men. John 1.5, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. 1.7, he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. 1.8, he was not the light, but the light, speaking about John the Baptist, but came to bear witness about the light. 1.9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John 3.19 And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and the people loved darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. 3.20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light. lest his works should be exposed. 321. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. John 5.35. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. John 8 12 again Jesus spoke to them saying I am the light of the world whoever follows me will not walk in darkness But will have the light of life John 9 5 and as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world John 11 9 Jesus answered Are there not 12 hours in a day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world. John 11, 10. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. John 12, 35. Jesus said to him, the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. The one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. John 12, 36, and this is the only place where the word light is used as a verb. While you have the light, believe in the light, that phrase right there. Believe in the light is used as a verb, that you may become sons of light. John 12 46. I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. Here my friends at Clovis Free, we define a disciple of Jesus this way, and that's my last slide. A disciple is one who has been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Growing in the word, Do you have a passion for growing in the Word? Or do you, like, we have to force you to come to a Bible study? Or you have to be dragged to come and learn God's Word? Or you think you're self-sufficient, you know it all. Maybe you should be preaching here. But we here, we all want to be transformed by the gospel, but we also want to be growing in God's Word. But notice that. called to just grow in God's Word and be transformed. We are called to invest. Do you invest in God's kingdom? Do you give more to God than just your Sunday? Do you give up your talent and your time and your resources to His kingdom? That's what this is asking. And then, who is actively following Jesus? We're not just called to be passive Christians. We are called to be active. We are called to be doing and moving. And that's it, folks. That was the sermon of this morning. The end. El final. I don't know any other language, so sorry. Father, perhaps this morning we're listening, and this sounds like a hard message at the end, Lord. And it is. And I think it was very hard for the original audience who heard it. But Lord, something that many of us could attest to those of us who have been in this pathway for a long time. The words of the writer of Hebrews says, righteousness or discipline produces a harvest of righteousness. Father, in your economy, to serve is to be a slave of all, like we heard this morning in the discipleship class. To serve you is to give ourselves and lose our pride, our perception, our attitudes, our bias, and lay those at the foot of the cross. And it's not that we neglect them and deny them, but that we set those at the foot of the cross because we desire your perspective, your will, your way. your standard, your light, your truth, your wisdom. And so, Father, help us as we process and wrestle through the scripture, Lord, to grow to be more like Jesus, to be transformed by the light of the gospel that reaches every area of our lives, our minds, our hearts, our emotions, our will. And Father, pursue actively after you. Lord, if somebody listening this morning would say, I too want this light. I want to be transformed by this light. Father, I would pray that they would confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And secondly, Father, I would pray that they would invite you into their life to be their Lord and Savior. But for us, Father, encourage us, encourage this church. Keep building us up, because it is ultimately you who causes the growth. May we be your people as you have redeemed us and called us to being a people of the light. All of this we pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.