like Ellie did and just keep going. All right. You got to do what the pastor did. Amen. John chapter eight. Now we are walking through the gospel of John, but because of messages like today, it makes it take a little bit longer because we're not going to get out of verse number 12. We're just going to stay in verse number 12 today. One verse. John chapter 8 verse 12 the Bible says then spake Jesus again Unto them saying I am the light of the world He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness But shall have the light of life. I want to preach this morning on Jesus the light of the world What a truth that Jesus is the light of the world. In fact, the gospel of John begins with that truth. Take your Bible, go back to the first chapter. Look at John 1, and look at verse number 4, where the Bible says, and this is speaking about Jesus, in him was life. And by the way, if you're here today and you're not in Christ, you're not connected to Christ by way of salvation, you don't have this life. Eternal life comes through Jesus Christ and Him alone. Nothing else. In Him alone. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, the darkness of this world, and the darkness comprehended it not. And the darkness still does not comprehend the light of Jesus Christ. Verse six, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. This is John the Baptist, not the John who wrote this gospel, but John the Baptist. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, the light of Christ, that all men through him, through Jesus, might believe. He, let's talk about John the Baptist, was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. And you know, that's our job today. We are to bear witness of the light of Jesus Christ. My prayer is, as I stand in this pulpit today, I'll bear the witness of the light of Jesus Christ this morning. The Bible says in verse number nine, that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. It lights every man that comes into the world. In other words, God wants to save everybody. God wants to give everyone an opportunity to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and that comes by being exposed to the light of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the light of the world. Not the light of a certain group of people. Not the light of the elect only. No, he's the light of the world. Whosoever will may come. Whosoever will can be saved. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But if you get saved, it's gonna be because you came in contact with the light of Jesus Christ. Now, real quickly, we're in chapter eight, verse number 12. I want us to consider the identification of Jesus being the light of the world. He said, I am the light of the world. Now, here's what's one of the interesting factors here in this. where he says, I am the light of the world. When he says I am, what he's doing is he's reaching back and connecting himself to what God told Moses at that burning bush. When Moses wanted to know the name of God, when I go to Israel, or go back to Egypt to speak to Israel, who was enslaved in Egypt, and I tell them that God has spoken to me and called me to be the deliverer. of the people of God. They're going to ask me, what's God's name? And God said, here's my name. I am that I am. Meaning I am the ever-existing one. I'm the self-sufficient one. In other words, he is the great I am, therefore he needs nothing from anyone to sustain himself. God doesn't need your help and God doesn't need my help to exist. He exists because he is the great I am. He's the great I am. And what Jesus is saying, he's saying, I am the great I am. And as the great I am, I am the light of this world. I don't need you, but you need me, is what Jesus is saying. His identity, his identification as being the light of the world is Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world. But consider this, the illumination of Jesus being the light of the world. I am the light of the world. When you get exposed to light, light reveals how everything really is. Light reveals how things are supposed to be seen and how things appear. We're all good looking in the dark. Everybody's good looking in the dark. You flip that light on, some still are, most are not. That light makes a difference. That light reveals what someone is. And the light of Jesus Christ reveals who we are. The illumination. In fact, go back to John 3 real quickly. The Gospel of John, still, John 3. Look at verse number 19. Jesus said, and this. Actually, let's go, let's look at verse 18 first. He says, he that believeth on me, or on him, I'm talking about himself, he that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not, believes not on Jesus Christ, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and his name is Jesus. The light is coming to the world. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. You know why people reject Jesus Christ, the Jesus of the Bible? Now, this world has a fake Jesus, another Jesus, a false Jesus that they'll talk about, that they'll speak about, But you know why people reject the Jesus of the Bible? Because he is light, and his light exposes their evil deeds, and they love their darkness, and they don't want their evil deeds exposed and uncovered as being a sin. Look at verse 20. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Nobody wants their deeds reproved. In other words, no one wants to be exposed as being sinful and wicked and wrong. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants somebody else to say, you're sinning, you're against God, you're wrong. The Bible says this, but you're going another way. Nobody enjoys that. This world hates that. they do not come to the light, the light of Jesus Christ. If you reject Jesus Christ as your Savior, this more than likely is gonna be one of the main reasons why. You never wanted to deal with your sinfulness and your separation from Jesus Christ. People don't wanna deal with that. And we're living in a day where the devil has raised up plenty of his own preachers. And you can go to that church and you can live like the devil and still go to a church. And they'll still applaud you and they'll tell you that you're okay. I preached in Alabama this past week and I was talking to the pastor there and he was talking about a church, a very large church, a very growing church in their community, just one or two towns over. The Lord's church and that pastor, he will buy alcohol for his church members and drink with them. He has said from his pulpit that it's okay to look at ugly things on the computer and on your television if it's just between you and your wife. Jude said that's turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. What that is, that's a place who's pretending to have light, but there's no light at all. It's darkness. because when you come in contact with the light of Jesus Christ, it's gonna hang you out over hell. You're gonna realize I am a sinner, I'm condemned to hell, I'm worthy of hell, I deserve hell, that's what you'll see. And people don't like to hear that, but it's still the truth of God and we all need to hear it because when you hear that you're a sinner condemned to hell, what you can do is turn to Jesus Christ who will save you and take you to heaven. The illumination of the light of the world of Jesus Christ, He illuminates, He exposes who we are. One of these days, you're gonna stand before God. We all will. If you're saved, you'll stand before God at the judgment seat of Christ. That's immediately after the rapture of the church, the resurrection of the saints of God. At the end of the ages, you'll have the great white throne judgment. You're not saved, you'll stand before the Lord there, but we're all gonna stand before Jesus. And a lot of people have this idea that God will either compare their own life to other people's lives. And if I'm better than everybody else, he'll let me in. Or they have the idea or the concept that God will put my good works on one side and my bad works on the other side, and if my good works outweigh my bad works, I'll be let in. And they have this mindset of comparison. God's gonna compare me to something that I can be superior to, whatever that is, and I'll get in. Now I will say this, you're gonna be compared to something. God's comparing you right now to something. But it's not to me and it's not to anybody else in here. And it's not to anybody else around here that you could be superior to. You know who God compares us to? Jesus Christ. He's perfect, he's sinless, he's pure, he's never done anything wrong, never had a bad thought, he is absolutely holy. And none of us are. all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jesus is the glory of God, and we've all come short of the glory of God. We've come short of who Jesus Christ is. And because of that, when we're compared to Jesus, we fail the test and we're condemned to hell. You've got to be as righteous and as holy as Jesus Christ to get to heaven. And somebody may say, well, Preacher Wampler, I know good and well you're not. And I say amen to that. I'm not as holy and righteous as Jesus Christ. Well, how in the world do you think you're gonna get to heaven? Because Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. He paid for all my sins. He rose again the third day, and he promised that if I call upon him, trusting him for salvation, trusting him to save me from my sins, he would save me forever, and that's exactly what he did. I placed my faith in him, he came into my life, he saved me from all of my sin, he put me in Christ Jesus, And now when God sees me, he don't see me, he sees Jesus. And that's how we're getting to heaven. I'm going to heaven on the light of Jesus Christ, not on my darkness. The illumination of the light of Christ, the illumination of Jesus being the light of Christ. And the devil's doing his best to try to hide that light. Hold your place in John. We're coming back to John chapter eight, but go over to second Corinthians real quickly. 2nd Corinthians chapter number four. Look what the devil's up to. If you're here today, you're lost. This is what the devil's trying to do in your life. 2nd Corinthians chapter number four. Look at verse number three. But if God, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. in whom the God, notice that, that's the little g-o-d, God of this world, that's Satan, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Why would he do that? Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves for your sakes, for Jesus' sake. I said I read that wrong ourselves your service for Jesus sake for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness and shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ What the devil wants to do is hide Jesus Christ and his light from sinners If he can't He will hide your mind today He'll make sure you notice that little baby crying in this service. He'll try to get you to watch that person going to the restroom. Get your mind on something else. He'll try to get you distracted. He'll get you to think about your stomach growling and what you're going to have for lunch. What restaurant are we eating at today? He'll do his best to get your mind on something else other than the light of Jesus Christ. Why would he do that? Because you were created in the image of God. And it thrills Satan to see things that bear the image of God burn in hell. He'll never get God in hell, but he can get the image of God in people in hell. He wants to blind your mind and your eyes to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now go back to John chapter number But Jesus said, I am the light of the world. You know what we know that we know it's true. It's true about light. Light is always greater than darkness. You turn off these lights, it's going to be dark. But as soon as you turn them on, the darkness is gone. You can cut the lights out and it be pitch black in here and you can just turn on a little tiny pin light and you'll see it. You know why? Because it is greater than darkness. Satan wants to keep you in darkness, but I'm glad we have a God who's greater than the darkness of Satan. He wants to expose to you the light of Jesus Christ, the illumination. of Jesus being the light of the world. Why do I need to be illuminated? Why do I need to see the light of Christ? Because it shows you for who you are. And it shows Christ for who he is. And when you see who you are and that you need Jesus Christ, you come to him. I got saved because I realized what I was and who I was. I came to Jesus because I know who he is and I knew what he would do if I came to him by trusting him. You trust him. And trust that light of Christ. He'll save you from all your sin and save you for heaven. But notice number three, the influence of Jesus being the light of the world. Jesus said, he that followeth me, you get saved and you start walking with God. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. That's the influence of Jesus and it's light upon a person's life. You place your faith in Jesus Christ and you begin, I believe the very first song we sang this morning was follow on. One of the first songs we sang this morning was follow on. You begin to follow Jesus and walk with Jesus. Jesus says here that you will have the light of life and you won't walk in darkness. The very first message I ever preached here at Fundamental Baptist Church as the pastor, Was that a 1 John 1, verse number seven? Where the Bible says, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we walk in the light as he is in the light. I'm glad we have a God who is light. And when we walk with him, we walk in his light. And the darkness is expelled from us. We're protected from the darkness by the light of Jesus Christ. And this light that we walk in is the light of life. You don't know life until you're walking with Christ. You don't know life until you walk in the light of God as he is in the light. And the benefits and the blessings of walking in the light of Christ is so amazing. Which brings me to my last thought, the implication of Jesus being the light of the world. What does Jesus being the light of the world and you and I following him and walking in his light and having the light of life. That's what it says. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have or walk in the light of life. Life is the opposite of death. Life indicates health and strength. Death, that's sickness, that's disease, there's something wrong. But the light of life means it's health and strength. It's what we need. Begin to meditate on that as I study this verse and thinking about the fact that Jesus, when we follow him, we're not walking in darkness and we have the light of life. And I started thinking, you know, you hear it, you hear it in health class in high school, you hear it from medical professionals all the time. We need the sunlight. You need the sunlight. It helps you in the area of health, helps your life. And I thought, you know, I'm gonna do some research on that. I'm gonna look into that research. Anytime a preacher says, I'm gonna do some research, that means he's doing some Googling. He does some Googling. So I did some Googling. Because Jesus is the light of the world. The sun is the physical light of this planet. And they say if you walk in the light of the sun, the S-U-N, it has benefits. So I started looking into those benefits of the S-U-N. And I found this. Exposure to natural sunlight, you spend some time in the sunlight outside. It regulates, this is what Google said, it regulates the natural cycle, listen to this, of physical, mental, and behavior changes that the body goes through in a 24-hour cycle. You have physical, mental, behavior changes that you go through every single day of your life. It's called a circadian cycle. And it also affects the sleep patterns of that day. I got to think, huh? The SUN regulates all of the natural cycles, physical, mental, behavior, all the things that I go through and you go through in a day, that SUN regulates it. Well, if I get that benefit from the SUN, Think about what I get every day from the SON. The light of Jesus Christ will regulate everything you go through in a day. When you walk in the light of Jesus Christ, it regulates every cycle. It regulates everything you face, every change that takes place in your life every single day. If you walk in the light of the SON. Google also told me this. Walking in and being exposed to natural sunlight improves your mood, reduces stress, and lowers the risk of depression. That's just the SUN. You walk in the light of the S-O-N, guess what's gonna happen? It's gonna improve your mood. He's gonna reduce your stress. He's gonna lower your risk of depression. Jesus just lights up the room, if you will. When you walk with him, he picks you up and gives to you joy that no one else can give. You walk in the light of the S-U-N, it produces vitamin D, which is crucial for bone health, Immune function and an overall health It just it helps you in every area of your overall health to have be exposed to the SU in You know what happens when you walk in the light of the SO in It makes you spiritually healthy as a person overall Every area of your spiritual life is strengthened by walking in the light of Jesus Christ. I like this one. Exposure to natural sunlight, and this is only moderately. You can't do this too much with the S-U-N, but moderately. If you get moderate sunlight every day, it can stimulate the production of collagen and elastin, improving skin tone and texture. If you're, just moderately, it will improve your skin tone and texture. That means it affects your appearance, your countenance. Now with the SUEN, you gotta be out there just a little while, or it can do some damage. But the SON, you can bask in his light all day long, and it'll affect your countenance. You know why some of us today, we don't have a very bright countenance? because we've not been walking in the light of the S-O-N. He'll brighten up the smile. He'll put something in your heart that no one else can do. Number five, also learn this one. Walking in the light of the S-U-N, it boosts the immune system, it's stated already, by stimulating the release of immune-supporting cells. Cells in your body that fight all sicknesses, the sun, the S-U-N, will stimulate the cells inside your body that help fight the sicknesses and disease. That's the S-U-N. The S-O-N, he'll strengthen the things in your life that helps you to be spiritually healthy. You walk in the light of the S-O-N, everything that God has put in your life to help fight off spiritual disease, it strengthens those things as well when you walk in the light of the Son of God. It helps lower the S-U-N, outside, helps lower blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease. Think about that. Spending some time in the light of the S-U-N every day helps lower your blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease. That means it combats the things inside us that could kill us. So if you bask in the light of the S-U-N, it's gonna fight against the things inside of you that could kill you, that could take your life, spiritually speaking. The S-U-N. strengthens and protects us from what's in us. So I got some things in me that's bad, spiritually speaking. You and I, we got some spiritual things inside of us that are damnable, that are evil, that are wicked, but the light of the S-O-N, walking in his light, reduces the risk of those things destroying us. It increases, number seven, it increases, the S-U-N. Increases alertness and energy levels throughout the day. It increases your alertness and energy levels throughout the day. That's just the S-U-N. That means the S-O-N. If the S-U-N can increase my alertness and give me more energy, think about what the S-O-N can do. Helping me to be more alert concerning Satan's attack does not the Bible say be sober be vigilant Because your adversary the devil walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour We have to be alert and we need the energy to live victoriously over him and his temptations our flesh and the s o n Does that very thing? We will walk in the light of Jesus Christ. It strengthens us, protects us, if you will. Number eight, it improves the S-U-N, outside. It improves cognitive performance, such as attention and memory. The more sunlight you get, it helps your attention span and your memory. Sounds like a renewing of the mind to me. You walk in the light of God's word, it affects your mind. It helps you think. as you ought to think. The SUN, I love this, one of my favorite ones. The SUN creates a sense of warmth. When natural sunlight hits an area, it creates a sense of warmth and comfort and well-being, enhancing the aesthetics and psychological appeal of spaces, of where you're at. In other words, it makes everything look better. It makes everything look more beautiful, the S-U-N. And when you're walking in the light of the S-O-N, it makes everything better around you. You say, but I'm having a bad day. The light of Christ will make it better. But I'm going through this, but the light of Christ will improve that, make it better. He'll comfort you. He'll strengthen you. And you can see what he has in your life more clearly when his light is shining upon him. The last one that Google told me about. Was that the S.U.N. improves your mood and increases happiness. The sun on the outside. It improves your mood and increases happiness. Guess what Jesus is like will do. It improve your mood. It'll increase your happiness. Nehemiah 8, verse number 10 says, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. There is the real possibility we have somebody in the building today saved, saved on your way to heaven. But we can't tell by just the appearance of your countenance or your attitude. There's been some damage, there's been some trouble that has come into your life. Some discouragement. It's affected, it can't help but affect you. Storms and trials, difficulties, they can't help but affect us. They cause stress. They cause disappointment. And here you are. You have to fight your own emotions, fight your own mind. You contemplate thoughts of quitting, walking away, trying something different, putting something in your life that ought not be there. All kinds of thoughts can take place. But Jesus said, I'm the light of the world. If the light of the S-U-N can be a great benefit to you and I, Just think what the light of the S-O-N can do for you. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship, one with the other. And the blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin. Sin is that darkness. Sin is the thing that separates us. Sin is the thing that gets in our way. And by the way, sin can be something other than lust and murder and hatred. Sin could be just a lack of faith. Sin could be trusting yourself instead of God. Sin could be allowing yourself to stay in a bad mood. That's sin. Because you're saying, I'd rather stay in this mood and get connected to the joy of Jesus Christ. I'm not fussing at anybody today. I'm trying to encourage you to walk with Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean that every single day is going to be a bed of roses. Every single day, you're going to be on a mountaintop. Every single day, you're going to have revival. That's not what's implied, but it is implied. every single day of your life and mine, we can live in the light of Jesus Christ. And it gives us help. It gives us strength. It gives us guidance. It helps us know who we are, where we are and where we're going. The light of Jesus Christ does all of that for us. But when we do not follow Christ, and we don't walk in the light of life, even to save people, we'll get into some darkness that can be very dangerous for us. So let me ask you today, child of God, are you walking in the light of the world, the light of Jesus Christ? Jesus said, he that follows me shall not walk in darkness. but shall have the light of life." It is not God's will for God's people to live in darkness, to live and bask in disappointment. It's not God's will. It's not God's will for you and I to live in despondency and confusion Life's hard. Whether you're saved or not, life's hard. And when you get saved, you got a whole new set of difficulties just because the devil's now mad that you're saved, and your flesh is mad about it. And now you got extra conflicts because you're saved. Life is difficult. Life will throw curveballs that you can't hit. It'll confuse you, you'll scratch your head and wonder, what is going on in life? It'll affect your home, it'll affect your marriage, it'll affect your relationship with your children, your relationship with your parents. It affects you on your job, just life and its difficulties. And you go to bed at night, and the lights cut out, the sun goes down, and you have a hard time getting to sleep, because your mind is just going through the day and going through all the things and thinking about all the stuff. You can't cut your mind off. You're fretting and stressing, how am I going to face tomorrow? But then, the S-U-N comes up. You know it's true. You went to bed, I don't know how I'm gonna face tomorrow. The S-U-N comes up, problem's still there, but you have a little more glimmer of hope. The Neelans used to sing a song years ago, And the sun's coming up in the morning. Every tear will be gone from our eyes. This old clay's gonna give way to glory. And like an eagle, I'll take to the sky. The sun's coming up in the morning. The S-U-N. It comes up every day and it brings a little more light and help and hope. Well, let me remind you, the SON, he woke up one morning and walked out of that tomb victorious over everything you and I would ever have to face. And that son will never go back down again. He's always up, he's always risen, he's always alive, and he's ready to strengthen you no matter what you're having to deal with in your life. The sun came up that morning, and it ain't going back down. It's not gonna get dark again. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and he wants to shine upon your life if you'll walk in his light. He'll approve everything about your situation. Now, the situation may still be bad, but just the light of Christ will make it better. Let's walk in his light. If you don't know it, you are walking in darkness. You don't even know the light.